March 2024 Financial Round Up - A Spendy Month

It's been a pretty spendy month this month, despite my thinking that it wouldn't be. I think I've been in a bit of a spendthrift mindset to be honest, but sometimes, if you have the money available to you, it's nice to be able to treat yourself to a few new things, especially if your body and lifestyle is changing for the better.

I have purchased a few things for myself this month that weren't essential, such as some wireless headphones and a kettlebell, both of which I purchased using a staff discount at work. I am very happy with these purchases. The kettlebell and the more recent purchase of some dumb bells, I see as an investment in my future health and fitness. The headphones I use regularly in the gym, when walking the dog and now for the Couch to 5K that I've recently started and they have made a big difference to my enjoyment of these activities. They are much simpler to use than wired earphones too.

I've needed to spend quite a bit of money on LB this month, namely paying towards some new glasses and sunglasses. She needs decent eyewear and it's difficult for her to afford these as a student. I'm hoping they should last her until she finishes her studies and finds a job, if she looks after them.  I've also bought her some clothes for a forthcoming family wedding in May. They haven't been delivered yet, but I'm hoping that out of the things we ordered, at least one item will be a good option for her to wear.

Other things I've purchased this month include some new storage boxes for some of my fabric. They weren't a huge outlay, but they seem to be working well enough so far. I haven't quite finished organising them yet, but once I have, I will post about them.

This month, I decided to buy myself a few new clothes. This was mainly because many of my existing clothes were just getting way too big and did not look good. I have to admit that I also wanted to celebrate my weight loss by buying a few items that actually fitted me well at my new size. This included some new jeans and an outfit for me to wear to a wedding, plus a few other things. Most were bought from charity shops or car boot sales, so haven't really cost a lot of money.

I have also put some stored clothes that didn't fit me for years, back into circulation in my wardrobe this month, so these, combined with what I've bought, should see me okay for the immediate future, but I don't rule out picking up a few more bits, if I see anything I like.

I am hoping that I can be a bit more restrained in April though and can reign in my spending. I need to, because I am now working less hours than I was over Xmas and the first couple of months of this year, and as such I will be earning quite a bit less going forward, although I will be getting a higher hourly rate at work from April, which is good news.

I am still putting money aside each month for birthday/wedding/Xmas presents, so any events that come up during the year should be budgeted for, rather than having to find the money at the time. I'm hoping to continue with this throughout the year.  I've also put some money into savings this month, for the first time in quite a while and I hope to continue with this too on a regular basis.

I have no birthdays or expected expenses coming up in April, save to pay for LB's dental check up and any treatment that she might need following her appointment this month. That's not to say that expenses might not crop up in the coming month. Once we make progress with the garden, I may find that I want to spend some money on some plants to fill in some gaps, but we'll see what happens.

I'm looking forward to a new month, and to accepting the challenge of being a bit more careful with my spending. It's not really very frugal to be in a spendthrift  mindset and I need to make a concerted effort to snap out of it and spend less.

I hope you've had a good month financially in March and have a good month in April.

Feeling a Little Overwhelmed W/E 30th March 2024

The week began with my working again on Sunday afternoon. I had a couple of extra shifts this week in the lead up to Easter. I don't mind this, as the opportunity to earn a little extra is welcome, but there is quite a lot going on at home right now, what with LB coming home for a couple of weeks for her Easter holidays and with the garden renovation, etc.

If I'm honest, I've been feeling a little overwhelmed for a while, by the amount of stuff that we need to do in the next few weeks. I also feel the need to do a bit of a spring clean in the house too, but maybe it's better to wait until the majority of the garden work has been done, as we'll be traipsing in mud and carrying debris through the house for the next couple of weeks at least.

I guess I just need to be realistic with regard to what I can achieve on a daily basis and not stress over it. Baby steps will have to do for the moment. It will all get done eventually.

Work was okay today. Very busy on the job I was doing, so it passed quickly. In the evening, OH and I continued to watch a new series on Netflix called The Three Body Problem. It's a bit weird, but good and very well made.

I woke on Monday after a good night's sleep, which I was grateful for. I had a leisurely morning getting up and pottering, catching up on jobs and my finances, etc. I needed to wait for LB to come home, as I was heading out of town shopping and she wanted to come with me. I made good use of the time, and also got to try out my new hand weights, that I'd bought at the Tip shop. They are quite heavy, but I need to progress to heavier weights, even if I can't do as many reps.

LB came home around midday and soon after we headed out. We had a nice afternoon out shopping, just spending time together and catching up really.

On Tuesday, after not sleeping well, I needed to be up to walk the dog, as OH was cycling. I needed to get out early, as my class at the gym started at 11.15am and it can take up to two hours to walk the dog, now she is older and slower. We made it back by 10.30am, so I had half an hour to catch up on a few chores and then headed out to my class. I went up in weight with my weights today in an attempt to progress. It wasn't too bad.

I was working on Tuesday night. It was reasonably quiet at work, thankfully, although it did seem to pass a little slower as a consequence, but was largely stress free.

On Wednesday morning, I got the chance to have a lie in, as it was OH's turn to walk the dog. After not sleeping well on Monday night, a good night's sleep and a lie in were very welcome. Once up, LB and I started looking for a dress for her for the upcoming family wedding. It will be good to get that done in the window of opportunity that constitutes the Easter holidays, as it is more difficult to collaborate, when she goes back to University.

I then booked myself into the gym for a session, which I enjoyed. With no extra free classes and gym sessions for the next 4 weeks, I'll be going to the gym more often. Now the weather is picking up, I may even attempt to start running. OH has booked me into a free local 5k run in May, so I need to at least give it a go with that in mind. If I don't end up participating in the race, it's no big deal. I'm not sure I'll be ready to participate so soon.

I was working again on Wednesday night. I found out that my pay rate at work is going up by over £1 per hour very soon, which is good news.

On Thursday, I had a day off. I got up slowly and enjoyed pottering around at home. I decided to sort through some stored summer clothing and tried most of the items on to see which things fitted well and which things were now too big and needed to be donated. I'm still finding it hard to part with a few favourite items from when I was bigger and I did keep some of them. I did put aside quite a few to be donated though and there were a few old pairs of jersey leggings and a t-shirt that I ended up cutting up for dish cloths, as they were not suitable to donate.

A few items that straddle seasons were put in the wardrobe. This included some very nice old favourites that I haven't been able to wear for years. I am really looking forward to wearing these again. Some of the very summery items I returned to storage for the time being, until I can safely put away my winter woolies and have more room in the wardrobe. 

Later, in the afternoon, OH and I ventured to Wickes, (DIY store) to check out some fence panels for the garden renovation. OH is going to order them to be delivered, along with some wood, as he is going to build the fence along one side of the garden himself. We still need to dispose of the debris from the old fences, but we couldn't get booked into the Tip until Easter Sunday. I'm looking forward to finally clearing it all out of the garden then.

In the evening, I picked up a book that I'd part read, that had been sat beside my bed for months and finally managed to finish it. This felt very satisfying. I will be donating it, as it wasn't a keeper. I still have another 3 part-read books to finish. Hopefully, I'll get around to finishing them sooner rather than later, as I have a large stash of unread books to work my way through.

On Good Friday, OH was attending a cycling event all day, so I dropped him off in the morning, so that I could keep the car to go to work later. On the way back, I stopped off and walked the dog. It was lovely and quiet early on, as lots of people up and leave London for the weekend, or have a lie in on a Bank Holiday. London at it's best. By the time we got home, people were starting to come out and it was getting much busier.

Later, after lunch, I decided it was a good day to start the Couch to 5K app on my phone. Mainly because I didn't have time to go to the gym as I was working at 4pm and also because of it being a Bank Holiday weekend. I figured I could do a run on Friday, another on Monday and then maybe one on Wednesday if the weather is okay. 

The first run was hard. My legs felt like lead weights. I must look a real sight, but I did it. I'm hoping it gets easier. I figured out a good route to use for these runs though, so that was a good start. I have to say that the app is really good and really coaxes you through it, giving encouragement along the way. The first week is running for 60 seconds, walking for 90 seconds repeatedly, so a nice gentle start. I struggle when the running time increases. I'll just have to see what happens this time around.

When I got back from the run, I had half an hour to recover and then it was time to get a shower and get ready for work. I used the time to do a bit of financial month end stuff, which was another item off the to do list. 

Work on Good Friday was very busy. I was back working on my favourite section, recovering the section at the end of a very busy day. It was tiring, but the time passed very quickly and I enjoyed it. I didn't realise that the shop shut an hour earlier, so that was a nice surprise and I was home a bit earlier.

On Saturday, OH was cycling again, so I took the dog out in the morning. It really felt like a Sunday today. Once OH got back, we all spent the day at home. LB spent the afternoon making a bag from an old favourite pair of jeans that no longer fitted her, using my sewing machine, whilst OH and I took turns to nap on the sofa. I made some homemade dog food, as the dog has been a bit picky lately and always enjoys eating it.

Later, we ended the week with a takeaway for supper, which is a rare treat in our household and I did a bit of work on my hexi star quilt project. I have just 15 more diamonds to make and then I've completed all the blocks. I've also now got to the point where I need more plain navy fabric, so I will need to head out to my favourite fabric shops to find some that matches what I've been using as well as possible. It will make a nice little outing once LB goes back to Uni next week.

I hope you are all enjoying your Easter weekend and send you my best wishes for a very Happy Easter.

Making a Start on the Garden Renovations

On Saturday afternoon last, it was lovely and sunny, so OH and I took the opportunity, to get out into the garden and start work on our planned garden renovations. Here's a recent picture of the garden before we started work:

There is a now a new fence down one side of the garden, put up by our neighbour with OH's help.  As mentioned in a previous post, we need to replace our fences around the other two sides of the garden, as the existing ones were in very poor condition. Before we could do that, OH needed to empty and take down the old shed, as we have plans to replace it. 

It's always surprising how much junk you tend to hang onto when you've got a shed. We had quite a lot, much of which never gets used. 

Once OH had taken everything out, I had a look through the contents, in order to decide what to keep and what to let go of. We had some camping equipment.  Not a lot, just a tent, a camping cooker and a few pans and plastic plates, etc. We decided to keep all of this, as we may use it in the future. I washed it all and packed it away in some boxes, as we're going to store that in OH's office until we get a new shed.

I also sorted through some garden tools and transferred a few useful things into the greenhouse and some others into the little shed, that we are keeping for the time being. It doesn't fit much in, but it should keep some things dry until the new shed is built. Much of the rest was probably going to be taken to the tip or be donated.

OH, meanwhile, proceeded to remove the fence panels. Luckily, all of our adjoining neighbours (there are three of them) on the remaining two sides of the garden, had their own fences in situ, so this made it possible to remove our fence panels before putting up new ones. Whilst he did this, I began cutting up the vegetation that was dislodged by removing the fences. 

There were climbers along the bottom fence, which took a while to chop up. We will be removing these completely, as they are quite invasive and don't fit in with our plans, as they will become difficult to control in the future. They have been lovely to have there and have provided a lovely backdrop over the years, but more recently, they've become a bit of a problem, as they tend to multiply and smother anything they come into contact with.

Here's a photo of the garden with all the fence panels taken down:  

We almost don't even need to put our own fences up, but it will give ourselves and our neighbours much more privacy and provide a more cohesive look.

As you can see from the above photographs, by the time we'd finished there was a lot of debris to remove and take to the tip. OH will be hiring a van to do this, hopefully some time this week. Once that has been done, there will be room to move once again and to progress to the next job, which will involve a lot of pruning to get some of our trees under control. I know it's probably not the best time of year to do this, but it needs to be done. Once it is done, OH can start to rebuild the fences and we can prepare the bottom of the garden for a new shed/garden room.

I'll keep posting as work progresses. It's very exciting, I can't wait to make more progress.

Yorkshire Charity Shopping Haul

As promised in this week's blog post, after visiting family in Yorkshire for a few days last week, here's a charity shop haul from our few days away. The items were bought in several different charity shops over the course of the few days we were there.

The first few items were bought from Age UK. This particular shop had lots of nice things in it. I tried on about 6 different items, but came away with just two items of clothing, a pair of sandals and some new tights. I paid approximately £15 in total.

The first item was this lovely linen mix blouse from George at ASDA. It's a big size, but looks okay.  The embroidery on the sleeves caught my eye and I liked it when I tried it on. It will be good to throw on with a pair of shorts on hot summer days to walk the dog or do some gardening. It cost £2.99.

The next item, I thought was so pretty. It's essentially a high necked, long sleeved, ribbed sweater, but it was the detailing on the sleeves that sold it to me. It has a net frill on each cuff which is so pretty. At £4.99, this was definitely coming home with me.  The high neck was also surprisingly flattering. I may still get some wear out of it this spring, if not, it may be a new favourite next autumn.

One of the first things I saw, when I walked into the shop, was this lovely pair of Clark's navy suede sandals. There were actually two pairs. One pair was a mustard colour, half a size larger and had some marks on the suede top, then there was this pair, which are a size 6. I tried these on first with socks on and they fitted okay and felt really comfortable. They are pretty immaculate. I don't think they've hardly been worn at all. At £5.99, they were an absolute steal. I have a few navy coloured things that I can wear in the summer months and I thought these would work great with them.

Lastly, at Age UK, I picked up this pair of seamed tights from Primark in size Large for 99p. I'm hoping they fit, as I tend to wear their size large these days.

A couple of doors away, is a great British Red Cross shop. They often sell quite a lot of new Zara clothing. I bought a new with tags Zara dress here last year, for a family wedding we went to in June. This visit, they had this lovely, new with tags, Zara dress: 

I thought it was so striking that I had to try it on, despite it being size XS. It didn't actually look that small, as it's quite full, being tiered, so I thought I'd give it a go. I was very pleasantly surprised when it did fit quite well, a little snug on top, but otherwise very comfortable and so cute. It is quite short, but I decided to buy it, as I loved the machine embroidered design and it went well with the navy sandals I'd already bought. 

My legs are more toned since I've been working out on a regular basis, so I can hopefully get away with wearing it. I thought it would be great to wear for another family wedding we're going to later this year. I may have to wear tights with it. This dress cost £20, which is quite a lot for a charity shop, but it is new and was originally £49.99. It is a bit of a gamble, as I may chicken out of wearing it, when it gets nearer the day, we'll see. I really love it though.

I paid one more visit to another charity shop and found this pair of grey gym leggings.  

They too, look as if they've never been worn. They are a bit on the snug side, being a size M, but wearable with a long T-shirt. I'm currently finding that as I'm losing weight, some of my gym leggings (and trousers generally, for that matter) are getting way too baggy and I need to size down. This is more of a future proofing purchase, anticipating possibly more weight loss, but they are also wearable now. They cost £5, which I thought was a very good price and they look good quality too, but the proof will, of course, be in the wearing.

My/Our final charity purchase was made at the Tip Shop, which is run by a local Hospice charity at the local refuse tip. Here I found this great set of cast iron dumbells for £10. 

I thought these were very good value, as they include the dumbell bars and locks and 4 x 2kg cast iron plates. Unfortunately, 4 x 1kg plates that should have been in the set weren't there, which is a big pity, as it would have made them much more versatile, but regardless, these should help me to progress with my strength training, as I try to increase the weights I work with.

In addtion to this set, there was also a set of 4 x 5kg cast iron plates for sale for £20. We thought this was quite a good deal, as to buy these online you have to factor in postage which is expensive due to how heavy they are or alternatively travel to collect them from sellers. They are in very good condition and are the same make as the dumbell set and I made sure that they could be attached to the dumbell bars for use.  

These are mainly for OH to use, so he paid for them, as they are too heavy for me at the moment, but on their own they could be used in some exercises. Unfortunately, they didn't come with a long barbell bar, but if I can find one at some point in the future, then this set could be very useful going forward, for both of us to do more weight work at home. I was really thrilled to buy all of these, as I'd been looking online to buy some in recent weeks and then just stumbled upon them. Serendipity at work, maybe.

So, as far as I was concerned, it was a very successful couple of days in terms of thrift shopping, in spite of spending quite a bit of money. I feel it was very much worth the outlay though, because of the usefulness of the items we/I bought and how much I liked them. I hope you liked this post. What did you like the best from the items I bought?

A Change of Scenery W/E 23rd March 2024

The week started with me getting up early on Sunday morning. I hadn't slept well, and in the end I just got up and had a shower to wake me up. This, and the fact that OH wasn't cycling this week and took the dog out, did mean that I had lots of time to chill on Sunday morning and stitch. 

I was due at work on Sunday afternoon again, my first shift in 6 days. I love having so much time off. I can get on with projects at home and get my exercise in, which suits me perfectly. I worked a 4 hour shift, followed by some staff training afterwards, which we needed to stay for.

LB flew to Northern Ireland for a few days on Monday morning, to stay with a friend from Uni, so we caught up on social media on Sunday before she headed off.

After the Monday morning dog walk, I booked myself into the gym and headed off there. I had a good session and managed to use my headphones to listen to a podcast whilst I trained, which made the cardio part of the workout (not my favourite) much more bearable. Usually, I can't get a signal in the gym, but for some reason I could on this occasion, which I was really happy about.

Later, after lunch, I did some food shopping locally. We had arranged to go away for a few days on Tuesday. OH had booked us some accommodation in Yorkshire, to visit family. I was really looking forward to getting out of London. I still shopped though, so that we had food to come back to on Thursday. (It was all perfectly fine in the fridge whilst we were away and saved me shopping when we got back)

I had booked my usual class at the gym on Tuesday.  I walked the dog first and then went off to the class. LB was expecting a parcel to be delivered, which wasn't that convenient as we were going away later, but luckily it arrived before we set off. It was her new glasses and sunglasses from Specsavers. She'll be excited to get them. They had an offer of two designer frames for the price of one and as LB had seen a couple of frames she really liked, OH and I agreed to split the cost so that she could get both prescription sunglasses and regular glasses.

Once the parcel had arrived, I'd showered and we'd finished packing everything into the car, we set off to Yorkshire. I picked up a prescription at the chemist on the way out and, as always, I had packed a lunch and snacks for the journey.  We were lucky to have a relatively clear run and got there around 5.30pm, which wasn't too bad.

OH had rented us a house in a large village not far from where his parents live. We'd never stayed there before, so it made the trip a bit more interesting. We rarely stay in the same place twice, preferring to try out lots of different accommodation and areas and this property was pet friendly, had good reviews and was reasonably priced. 

We stopped off at OH's parents first and stayed there for a couple of hours chatting before heading to the accommodation.  It was very nice and recently renovated, so it was immaculate. We cooked a quick supper of some pasta I'd taken with us, and then we could relax for the evening.

On Wednesday, we returned to OH's parents, but stopped off at a couple of my favourite charity shops on the way. I bought some very lovely things there, to potentially wear at a wedding in a few weeks time. I'll post separately about my purchases from this trip, as I bought a few different things from various different places.

OH's sister was at his parents' house when we got there, so we got to catch up with her, which was nice and OH was able to do some repairs that his mum needed doing, so it was a sociable and productive day. Later, I went off to visit a couple of my favourite local shops for a couple of hours and then eventually, we left OH's parents and met my sister for supper at a pub not far from where we were staying.  We had a lovely evening catching up. It was good to see her and her husband.  Eventually, we got back to the house and chilled for the rest of the evening. It had been a busy day, but we'd achieved quite a lot.

Thursday, we were heading home. I woke really early as I didn't sleep well. I think I'd drunk too much diet coke the night before and the caffeine kept me awake. Anyway, I had a shower, packed up, cleaned up the kitchen and then I took the dog for a walk around the village and stopped to take a look at the local market. There was a stall selling dog treats, so I bought a few different ones for the dog.

We packed up the car and left soon after, but before heading back to OH's parents for a final visit, I got in my usual Boyes visit. I didn't buy too much this visit, but I did need some makeup that I use regularly, and LB needed me to get her a particular ball of wool to finish a project she had started. I can't return to Yorkshire without visiting this store. It's like a home from home. The area of the town in which it is situated, is a very nostalgic place for me, as both my parents were brought up in the area and we often visited our grandparents' homes there when we were young.

After a final visit to OH's parents, during which OH and his mum took lots of rubbish to the nearby tip, we set off for home, dropping in at the Tip Shop on our way, so I could take a look around. We ended up buying some great items that I was looking to buy anyway, at a good price. Again, I will post about these separately.

The journey home was pretty good too. It was so good to get home and get back to our normal routine. We always enjoy going away, but we love returning home.

On Friday, I booked myself into the gym. I needed to work off all the food I'd eaten whilst we'd been away. It's very hard to stick to my regular routine and calorie allowance when we're constantly visiting people and out and about. I hadn't eaten too badly, but I had gone over my calorie deficit most days.

When I got back from the gym, I had a lunch and then had a few hours to chill and catch up with jobs before I was due to go to work on Friday evening. Work was good. I even got to leave a little early, which was nice.

I wasn't working on Saturday, which was good. I didn't go to the last gym session of the term as I'd gone the day before, but I did walk the dog , as OH was cycling. It was a lovely sunny morning, so I wore my new sunglasses for the first time on the dog walk. We had a lovely long walk.

In the afternoon, OH and I set to work on our garden renovations. Initially, it was just clearing the existing structures and vegetation. OH proceeded to empty and take down the old shed and all of the remaining damaged fence panels. We were able to do this as our neighbours adjoining gardens all have their own fences insitu. Whilst he did that, I spent my time sorting out the shed contents and chopping up vegetation to go into our brown garden waste bins.  

Our local council are starting to charge residents for garden waste collection from the beginning of May, which made it all the more important to try to get on top of the garden before that comes into effect. OH doesn't want to pay a yearly charge, so we'll probably do tip runs when we need to get rid of our garden waste.  We do compost what we can too.

Our work in the garden was interrupted by hail, but we'd virtually finished at this point. It is now looking worse before it gets better, as it is filled with debris that needs to be taken to the tip, but at least we've made the most of probably the best spring day so far this year and got started. I'll show you the progress we made in another post.

In all, Saturday ended up being a very productive day for us and than later we could just relax and enjoy the evening. This week has gone by so quickly, but it's been a varied week and the change of scenery going up to Yorkshire was beneficial.

I hope you've had a good week.

A Varied Week and a Fabric Stash Count - W/E 16th March 2024

This week has been quite a mixed one. It started off with some bad news for LB. There was another incident at her Uni halls, which shook things up. She was away at the time with her work placement, which I am grateful for to be honest. 

The weather was filthy on Sunday, grey and rainy all day and night. Horrible. I'm over all of this rain, although I know we need it to replenish the water table. Despite the rain, OH and our neighbour managed to get a few more fence panels up, which was good.

I was working on Sunday afternoon, so after a leisurely morning sewing and pottering, I headed off to work. It was not as crazy busy as the previous Sunday had been, so passed without incident. I even left a bit early. 

LB, meanwhile, was travelling back from the event she'd been to over the weekend, but unfortunately the minibus got a puncture and they had to call the RAC, who came out to them. Luckily, they were at a service station and not on the motorway, which was something else to be grateful for.

As a consequence, she was home later than expected, so OH and I picked her up from the drop off point and brought her home. It was good to get her home, especially as it sounded like she'd had quite a manic weekend. She needed to rest and get a good night's sleep before heading back to Uni the next day.

On Monday morning, LB packed up and headed back to Uni. I dropped her off at the station and then took the dog to a different place we don't often go to for a walk, which made a change. It was another grey and depressing day. I'm really looking forward to some sunshine now, when we do eventually get any.

Later, I did the weekly shop locally, as I was due to work in the evening. The time flew by and after putting away the shopping and having some lunch, it was time to get ready and go to work.

On Tuesday morning, I'd booked into my usual class. I made sure to book the day after last week's class and got a place easily for once. It felt good to go back. I did appreciate it more for missing the previous week's class. Three sessions in the gym in one week was too much for me, I prefer a bit of diversity in my exercise regime.

After returning from the class and having lunch, I decided to hole myself up in the sewing room and do an audit of my fabric stash, which I posted about earlier in the week.  It was an interesting and enlightening process, when you actually quantify your fabric collection.

On Wednesday, I had a quiet day at home. I just didn't really want to go anywhere. OH took the dog out and dropped in at the allotment to plant some potato seeds and then when he returned, we moved a few things around in the garden to straighten things up after work was done on the fence at the weekend.

I spent the rest of the day working on my Hexi Star patchwork project and then continuing with the fabric count I'd started the day before. This time, I tackled the fullest drawer of fabric. It felt very satisfying to get this one done.  The remainder of my stash is divided between various locations in the sewing room, so it will be a case of working my way around the room, digging out, measuring and documenting every piece. There's no real hurry to complete the count, so I'll just do a bit here and a bit there when I've got some spare time and the inclination, until it's all been accounted for. I'm quite enjoying the process, but spending at most a couple of hours at a time on it is quite enough.

Later, on Wednesday evening, OH and I watched a good film on Netflix called Infinite Storm.

Thursday, was a busy day. When I got up, I needed to I take my 4 weekly body measurements and selfies, as part of documenting my fitness/weightloss journey. My weight loss has once again slowed down this last week, which is disappointing, but I guess that's just part and parcel of the process. I still lost 1/2 lb and my measurements reduced very slightly, but I just have to be patient and consistent and hopefully things will continue to move in the right direction. After having lost 2 and a half stone since last June, I'm down to losing the last 10 or 11 pounds to reach my preferred weight goal and I kind of expect it to be more difficult at this stage and possibly take much longer. I may need to change some of the things that I'm currently doing to get the eventual outcome that I'm hoping for.

After doing the above, I took the dog out for a walk and then after lunch, I booked a gym session and headed off there.

In the evening, OH and I had been invited to an art exhibition opening night, by an artist friend of his, so we headed into town for that, which was quite exciting, as I've never actually been to one before. It was taking place in Soho in Central London, so we got the train and tube to Oxford Circus and had a nice walk around the area on our way to the event.

It was a nice sociable evening meeting and talking to people I didn't know well. After the opening, we retired to the pub for an hour with everyone and then headed off on our own to get something to eat before coming home.

On Friday morning, I came across an interesting course that I fancied studying locally, whilst scrolling Instagram. Sometimes doomscrolling can have positive outcomes. I applied for the course. It starts in April through to July and it's a Level 2 qualification. I won't give details yet, I'll wait and see if I get onto it. It's not too expensive for what it is and I may be able to get help with the cost, or possibly even pay it in installments over 10 months, which might be a good option.

Once I'd eventually got up, I needed to pick up the car from where we'd left it near the train station the night before, so I took the dog for a walk and picked it up en route. Meanwhile, our neighbour had rented another van and he and OH loaded it with all the rubbish and debris from the fence replacement work and took it to the tip. They then put up the rest of the new fence. It was nice to come back to a completed fence, no rubbish cluttering up the decking and and raised beds newly unearthed and ready to sew some salad seeds into. Here's a picture of the progress:

All I needed to do was sweep up the debris left behind on the decking and through the house which was very easy. I then decided to do a bit of pruning and hang out some bird seed. Our next job will be to dismantle the shed and heavily prune the trees on the other side of the garden, so that we can take the old fence panels out and put new fence panels in. Exciting. I can't wait to get stuck in and get it done. We just need some dry weather to be able to get on with it.

After lunch on Friday, I retired to the sewing room and then promptly fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon. I must have needed it.

On Saturday, I headed off to the gym first thing and got in a free session. Next week is the last free session until the end of April. The end of term comes around so quickly. 

OH picked me up from the gym, as we had an errand to run. There was another Zero Waste event today and I had a bunch of stuff that had been clogging up the landing to take and donate.  It felt good to drop this off and clear the space.  There's just one bag left that I need to take to the charity shop and a couple of items I need to drop off at the Little Free Library. With the pile of doom gone, it looks a lot better.

I wasn't working this Saturday and OH was out cycling in the afternoon, so I had the house to myself to potter around in. I spent most of it sewing. The Hexi star quilt is coming along nicely and is currently a joy to work on. I love having a hobby that is so inexpensive to participate in and brings me such pleasure.

Ultimately, it's been a varied week this week, with some progress being made, which makes me happy.

Allotment at the Start of the Growing Season

On Friday morning, I stopped off at the allotment on the dog walk, mainly because the dog wanted to and because I saw that the brown garden waste bins from the site had been emptied that morning and they needed to be put back on site. I did this and then decided to take a few pictures of the plot at the start of this year's growing season, just to document it really.

Here's a couple of pictures:

OH put some potato seeds in this week to get things started.

There were some lovely white bluebells growing around the compost bin.

The strawberry plants had started growing.

and my rosemary bush was looking lovely and healthy.

It's always good to take some photos of it at the beginning of the season when it's bare, all the better to appreciate the difference when the growing season really gets underway.