It seems lately, that the world has gone completely mad. Everywhere I look or listen, in the news and on social media, there are protests/riots, flooding, price rises, potential shortages, doom mongers, etc, etc. It's pretty overwhelming. I find myself just wanting to focus my attention on staying home and doing things that make me feel good, such as working on our garden or sewing. I try not pay too much attention to all the doom and gloom out there, and I don't usually like to talk about it here on my blog, as I like to keep things positive, but there's a balance to be had, between keeping abreast of what's going on in the world and just burying your head in the sand.
Anyway, on Monday, LB came with me to do the weekly shop out of town. It was nice to have company. We did visit the charity shop this week, as LB wanted to go in and I don't need an excuse. I did buy a couple of things. I made sure to fill the car with petrol whilst out, as it is cheaper where I shop and who knows when or if it will become harder to get hold of, I don't want to get caught out. We don't use a lot of petrol in a week, so it lasts a while. It was actually quite a nice sunny day, but for the remainder of the week there was a lot of rain forecast.
Tuesday, I headed to the gym for Zumba, which was good. It was raining on and off all day, so I spent the afternoon in the house. I decided to do some sewing. I finished an alteration job on the hand crank machine, then cut out the fabric pieces for a skirt I'm making. I also completed a garment bag for the wardrobe and repaired the hem on a pair of trousers, so quite a productive afternoon.
In the evening, OH and I watched a movie called Nebraska, which was funny. It was about an old guy who is convinced he's won a million dollars and is fixated on travelling from his home in Montana to Nebraska to claim it. It's a funny film about family, purpose and getting old, but was very entertaining.
Wednesday, was my day for going to the Green Gym. Despite the rain, I decided to venture out, only to find via a voicemail once I'd got there, that the session was cancelled. Having spent money to catch the train, (as my new travel card doesn't cover travel on the train route) I was determined not to waste anymore money on the journey home, so as I had plenty of time, I decided to try to find my way home using my free travel pass. It was a bit confusing at first, but I soon found a pretty quick route involving two buses and a tube and was home in more or less the same amount of time as it took to take the train. In the end, this did me a favour, as I'll use this route in future and save myself the £4.60 fare each time I go. Have travel card, will use it. I also still managed to get 5000 steps in and get out of the house, so all was not lost and I also ended up with an afternoon to do as I pleased.
For the remainder of the afternoon, I decided to do a bit of re-organising of my Xmas gift drawer, which is slowly filling up and also sort out some of my fabric scraps, which were overflowing, on account of the alterations I've been doing lately. Small jobs that needed doing and felt very satisfying to get done.
Thursday, was probably the driest and sunniest day of the week. I attended a class at the gym in the morning and then after lunch I did a bit more painting of the greenhouse panels. I managed to get a second coat on a few more pieces, which brings us a little bit closer to being able to construct it. OH then finished work early and completed the painting on the remainder of the panels, so it is now ready to be constructed when he gets some time over the weekend.
I did a few other jobs that I've been meaning to do once I'd finished painting. First, was to make some more homemade air freshener and deodorant, as I was running out of both. I then put some more jam on the stove, as I'd managed to acquire a few jam jars that I could use. I'm using smaller jam jars these days and I don't actually have that many, so I save them as we empty them of their contents and when I've got enough to make a batch of jam, I clear the freezer of a bit more fruit. I am now struggling to find room for the made jars of jam though, as the pantry shelf is almost full, as is the fridge.
Friday, was a bit of a lost day, partly on account of having a long lie in and partly due to the fact that I didn't really do anything very productive. Not every day has to be productive though, as everyday life isn't like work. It should be enjoyable and restful sometimes. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
It didn't help that it was raining for most of the day. I did venture out to the postbox to post off some financial details regarding some shares I own, so they can pay me some potential dividends and then I went to the allotment, but there wasn't a lot going on there. It was a bit grim really, as it's been very wet.
We finished the evening watching Celebrity Traitors which does frustrate me a little, as it always seems to become more like a popularity contest, than a genuine attempt to find the traitors, more especially with the celebrity version.
On Saturday, I made a point of getting out of bed early and making my way to a new gym for a free gym session. It is the same free Over 50's session that I used to go to, but it is in a different venue. I caught the bus there, as it is a bit further away, probably a 35 minute walk and I needed to be there for 9.30am. It was a good session, although I did take it quite easy as it was my first time in the gym for probably a couple of months and I didn't want to pull anything. It was nice to see a few familiar faces, including the instructor. I've completely lost my gym mojo lately, so I'm hoping it will help get me back into going. I'm going to try to go there regularly from now on.
I did a bit of top up shopping on the way back home and then treated myself to a sourdough turkey bacon sandwich for lunch, which was very tasty. LB returned home around lunchtime. She had stayed over at a friend's for a Murder Mystery night, which she'd enjoyed. Sounded like fun.
Saturday afternoon was chilled. It was stormy with high winds and super heavy rain, especially later in the evening, but most things withstood the onslaught. We watched the first episode of East of Eden on Netflix tonight, which was good. I do love John Steinbeck novels. I've read quite a lot of them.
On Sunday, I felt tired after not sleeping well. I had to be up early, as a friend of OH's was dropping off their dog at 8.30 am and OH was out cycling. We agreed to look after him for the day as their family were all going out to celebrate one of the kid's birthdays. I did a few jobs around the house before heading out with him for a walk. It was a lovely bright sunny morning after the storm, but the wind did pick up at times, so I had to keep away from the larger trees just in case.
I've been looking into joining Walking Cricket sessions in the sports hall of a Leisure Centre in another part of the borough. They're for over 50's, both men and women. I used to play a lot of cricket at primary school and really enjoyed it, so I thought it might be fun and a bit of a different way to keep fit. I may go along on Friday of next week. I also created a new Pay As You Go multisite gym membership, as my previous one had run out. Now I'm 60, it only cost £1.75 for the year. I did this mainly because it entitles me to free swimming in the borough and I can go to the open air Lido for less than £2. I'm not sure if/when I will brave it, but it's good to have the option for such a small fee.
On Sunday afternoon, OH started to construct the shed. Before he started, I managed to do some drastically needed pruning to the plants in one of the beds around the decking. I've just not been able to get to it, as there's usually so much stuff on the decking, but OH had moved it all off in order to give him room to construct the shed, so it was an opportunity not to be missed.
We both spent two or three hours putting the shed together. We didn't quite get it finished, as there's still the doors to hang, the roof to go on and the whole thing to be screwed down to the base, once it's properly squared up, but it's looking good so far. I peeled all the sticky plastic off the windows and cleaned them up while OH did the construction. They all came up well. I'm excited to get it into it's final position and get everything put into it. OH may need to build a couple more shelves or pieces of staging though at some point as there's currently only two shelves in it. I'll post again when it's finished and moved to it's proper position in the garden.
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