A Family Oriented Week - W/E 12th April 2025

This week, as I've already mentioned, LB was home from university and it was great to have her around. The week began with a mother/daughter trip out to the Car Boot sale. Like me, LB loves a mooch around a Car Boot and as OH was still up in Yorkshire visiting family, I drove us out to our regular Car Boot venue. It was a lovely sunny day and it was super busy again, with even more stalls than the previous time I'd visited. 

We started off mooching together, but soon went our different ways, as we both look for completely different things to buy. I was mainly looking for tops to wear for work and sewing items, but to be honest, there wasn't much that caught my eye. 

I started my purchases on the fruit and veg stall where I bought two bowls of avocados (6 in each bowl) for £1.50 each, which is way cheaper than buying them in the supermarkets.

I didn't find a whole lot else to buy, just some coloured felt and a vintage sewing/knitting basket for the living room, which is quite good for coralling all my current bits and pieces together in the hope of keeping things a bit tidier. Here's a picture of it:

It cost just £1 and is made with a pretty ditsy floral fabric. I also bought this vintage Irish made ceramic jar for 50p (which is now housing my collection of vintage knitting needles)

and a couple of small cross stitch kits for 50p each, which I mainly bought for the wooden hoops that came with them, although the thread will also come in handy.

My final purchase was half a dozen tomato plants for OH, as he'd been looking for them on his previous visit. They cost £1 each and I got 3 Moneymaker, 2 Italian plum and one cherry tomato, which will be great for the allotment. We no longer grow them from seed, as it is much easier to buy small plants grown by other people. We can't get them for £1 where we live, although OH did think that these were expensive.

In total, I spent £15 and came home with £5 left out of my usual £20 Car Boot budget. I did see a beautiful brand new M&S summer dress which was being sold for £7, but I resisted buying it and then kind of regretted it, when I ended up going home with cash in my pocket. But such is life.

When we eventually got home, we chilled for a while until OH came home from his travels and updated us with the story of his weekend with his family. I then did a bit of research on holiday accommodation for our summer vacation and earmarked a few villas in Portugal. We probably need to book something quite soon if I can secure the time off work.

Talking of vacations, later, we began to watch the NOW TV series The White Lotus on TV, as OH signed up for a membership specifically for us to stream and watch this series. LB was keen to watch it too, so we all spent the evening watching it together. Once we've finished watching it and anything else they are showing that takes our fancy, he will cancel his membership.

On Monday, it was weekly shop day and LB was happy to come along with me, as it meant that she'd get to visit a few shops she hasn't been to in a while. I stopped off at the library on the way to return the books I'd take out a few weeks ago, then I picked up a prescription from the nearby pharmacy, so I was able to combine a few errands en route.

We started off the shopping in Home Bargains, as I needed a few things from there. As usual, I managed to pick up a few extras and some foods that I don't always get, but I was fairly restrained for me and most of the shop was either food or necessary toiletries.

Next stop was Tesco, where I dropped off our soft plastics recycling. I needed to buy some seed sowing compost for OH which cost £5, and managed to find some yellow stickered bargains to fill the freezer, so I was happy. LB wanted to go into TK Maxx, so I joined her in there and ended up buying a few small gifts for OH's birthday next month. I like to start early and spread the cost.

We did stop off at the charity shop, but I only bought one item of clothing for £2 and that was a shirt to wear for work, which is on my list of things to look for when thrifting, so I was happy enough with that. I did  try a few other things on, but they looked terrible, so didn't come home with me.

The last stop was Lidl, where I did most of the food shop. It was an expensive week this week, as I did buy some things that I wouldn't normally buy, due to LB being home, and I threw in a few extra bits here and there. 

I've started to be a bit more mindful when shopping this week and am trying to buy as much as I can without packaging. I used to do this, but have fallen out of the habit and need to get back into it. 

When we got home, I made a roast chicken for supper. It's kind of our Easter meal celebrated early, as LB will be back at Uni for Easter and we won't be able to celebrate with her then. I'll be sending her back to Uni with  her egg and a couple of other small gifts.

On Monday night, I hardly slept, so was quite tired when I woke on Tuesday morning. I was booked into a class at the gym, so headed off there. When I got home, I had lunch and then felt really tired, so headed to bed for a nap. I woke at 6pm, so it was a bit of a lost afternoon, but I must admit I do like an afternoon nap on the odd occasion that my body needs it. It feels kind of self indulgent, but sometimes it just has to be done.

Wednesday was another homey day. LB had some uni work to do and I went for a run and did some sewing in the afternoon. I hadn't done any in a while and was getting withdrawal symptoms. It's kind of my happy place, so always refills my cup, so to speak.

On Thursday, I was booked into the gym at 10am and when I got back, LB wanted to go for a family walk in Epping Forest, which is a large ancient forest on the outskirts of East London, about a half hour drive away. We had a lovely chilled walk and then retired to a cafe for lunch before heading home. It was good to get some fresh air and exercise outdoors.

We finished watching the first season of White Lotus on Thursday night. It was okay, but didn't exactly grab me as some series do. I'm not quite sure if we'll continue to watch it once LB goes back to Uni. We might give the second series a try, but we have also started watching the series of The Day of the Jackal, which was also on Now TV and it is really good.

On Friday, I went out for a 5km run and then spent the rest of the day sewing and chilling at home. A friend of LB's came over and they went out all evening, so we didn't see much of her on her last night home, but we were happy that she was out enjoying herself and catching up with friends.

Saturday was quiet. OH was out cycling all day and LB left to return to her flat at lunchtime, so I was home alone most of the day, which I don't mind. It gives me time to think, catch up with myself and think about the week ahead. I had a late lunch and pottered around tidying up after LB's visit, doing some laundry, etc. It was another lovely day. I miss LB when she goes back, the house always seems quiet, but she's got a busy last term ahead of her and lots of work to do on her final project. She always likes to get back at least a day before her week starts so she can settle back in and be ready for the week ahead.

I wanted to do some work on my hexi quilt in the afternoon, but I didn't have any hexies made and needed some papers printing off my computer. I don't have a connection to a printer at the moment, so I couldn't do this, so instead I got out an older English Paper Piecing project that I hadn't worked on for nearly 2 years and did some work on that instead, as I did have some paper templates to use for it. It will keep me going until OH sorts out the printer connection for me and it was quite nice to work on something different and make some progress on an unfinished project.

It was a nice and relaxing week all together. I enjoyed it, but it's time to get back to reality now and go back to work. I hope you had a good week.