A Little Bit of shopping

Has taken place on the clothes front recently as my wardrobe needed slightly updating.  I have received some beautiful items from Shein and I posted on them in my previous post on Saturday 14 June 2025 Link here:

Salad Days and Looking After Myself

Delivery from Temu:

Yesterday, I also received a delivery of items from Temu.  

Notably a new Loo seat.  I had been looking for a sea based toilet seat for quite a while but refused to pay over £40 for the ones that I liked.  Whilst browsing on Temu, I found a sea shell one for £18.  I therefore sent for it and it arrived yesterday.  G has fitted it and I am very pleased with it.  Nothing fancy but something a bit different and it fits in with my sea theme for the the little room and the bathroom.  I will try and take a photo later, for some unknown reason the photographs are taking  their time to load.  Hopefully will all be sorted out soon.  Here we go.

I am still waiting for a few more things to arrive mostly on the clothes front again, tops, Tee shirts, cardigans and jumpers and some shoes and sandals. In fairness I have not had clothes for a few years, apart from the odd thing here and there.  My clothes I do look after and they are in excellent condition I just need to get altering some of the clothes as they are too nice to loose and I would not get anything as nice these days without paying an arm and a leg.  I have a thing about shoes, perhaps because I am restricted on wearing some styles where I used to be able to wear them now I cannot.  However, I do feel that there is so much more choice than there used to be when it comes to shoes, sandals and boots.

I also bought in some more cross stitch and embroidery kits.  I mentioned in the previous post linked above that I had a love for Bees.  I cannot keep them here even though I have had training in the past, I have never actually kept them.  If and when I get my dream of moving to the countryside this is definitely something that I will follow up with though.  We all need the Bees to pollinate the crops so that we in turn can eat. Such a small but very valuable insect that is very under-rated.

In the interim, I have bought some Bee related cross stitch and embroidery kits which I will work in due course.  I will eventually have an inspirational Bee based gallery.  However, I have my very large Cross stitch lady to continue working on.  No new kits will be started until this one is out of the way with.  UFOs might get inserted but no new cross stitch or embroidery.  I want to achieve at least one serious project a year if not more.  No doubt some more new kits will arrive as I go along as well.  However I am concentrating on the major kit first and foremost.

I have also had a kitchen sign personalised.

I often get a little low; for the best part it is due to a combination of things, problems with G and his health, my own health and having to pull up my big girl's panties and take charge.  When I am low I do find inspirational quotes and verses inspiring.  I have therefore acquired a couple of signs to pop on the wall and to keep me going when I am low.  You have to plan for all eventualities good and not so good.

At the moment my focus is really the house and trying to get as much sorted as I possibly can this year.  I want my house back.

I have a lot of machine sewing to do but cannot lay my hands on the cable for my sewing machine at the moment.  I am therefore piling up the projects to work through en-masse for when I do find the blessed cable.

Plans for Sunday

To carry on potting up the plants.  As soon as I have them done, will then be able to come into the back bedroom and start on that again.

What actually happened on Sunday

Today is Father's Day in the UK.  Sadly my Dad left very suddenly and without permission approximately 16 years ago.  He had Non-Hodgkinson Lymphoma - Stage 3 when he was diagnosed and was on limited time, but he went a lot quicker than anticipated. We did not get to say goodbye/au revoir.  That is the bit that still rankles.  Today he has not been far from my thoughts. Perhaps the best day to do the gardening overall.

Little Jack Russell was up at 5:00am.  I managed to stay in bed until 7:00am and then could not settle.  I went downstairs and was out in the garden putting out washing (I had done some more last evening) and then potting up from 7:30am onwards.  That is where I have been for the best part of the day apart from about 40 minutes where I had to nip to B & Q for more plant pots.  Quite a lot of plant pots over 150, and I am not sure I have enough now.  I also managed to find some Cucumber plants which I have been looking for, for the past couple of visits but unable to find.  Four came home with me at £3 each.  They are for the snacking Cucumbers.  They are not massive plants and so I am going to pot them on into bigger planters straight away.  So a big ouch for the purse today.  However all were needed and I may have to go back for more yet, not as many as today but a few more are required and some of the bigger sized ones too.  I had not bought many of them the last time I went, and today did not buy any.

It has been a quite a full on day where I have not stopped.  I still have not got everything planted up, but will carry on until it is dark to actually get as much done as I possibly can.  I still need to water up for this evening as well.  

I have also got rid of some more rubbish off the patio slabs today and that has gone into the front garden.  Tip day on Tuesday.

I had cause to go to the shop to get some milk and one or two other bits and bobs.  I came back with more reduced Raspberries and these have now been added to the freezer.  Jam making will commence soon.

Initial Plans for Monday:

G is away fishing again on Monday, and I will be on my own with the animals.  I therefore plan to get stuck in the bedroom and sort as much as I can to tidy it up as best as I can and to also get other items which are currently elsewhere in the house in here and sorted.  It is going to take quite a few attempts to get this sorted but it will be worth it in the end.  I also need to riddle a lot of old compost for use in the bottom of planters and also to level up the slabs on the patio.  

Change of Plan:

I need to nip into town to get some paint and decorating supplies to tackle the cupboard under the stairs on Friday this week.  Once this is bottomed out, cleaned, repaired and painted, G can then put the flooring in.  That will free up a lot of space in the dining room.  I can then sort the contents of the cupboard out and re-pack them in.  This should help in clearing the contents of the dining room first by emptying it out and then re-packing it, including any extra items from the dining room.  I also store a lot of my preserves under there so the shelves will get re-covered as well.  I have a pale green polka dot vinyl to put on the shelves.  I am going to ask G to pop some batons on the shelves as well to give a little bit of extra support.  Once this has been achieved, I can then set about the Fireside cupboard. A similar operation is needed for this as well.

In view of the fact that I have a lot of gardening left to do and I want to get as much done as I possibly can on Monday to start with is definitely going to be a gardening day.  My reasoning for this is that as we are going to the Tip on Tuesday I want as much of the garden rubbish out of the garden as I can for the trip on Tuesday.  There will be more as the garden is recovered but if the rubbish is out of the way it helps me work better if I can move more easily.  You are dealing with the original tumble tot here!  I trip over anything and everything.

I had bought a chicken to cook for tonight (Sunday) , but G was not really into eating a big meal and so I went and got a few bits from the Chinese. I like Sweet and Sour King Prawn Balls and G's dish is called a Wandering Dragon. A spicy dish with all sorts of meat and prawns in it.  That has gone down very nicely indeed.

Now time to tidy up and water up.  I did not get all the plants sorted, but will deal with the rest tomorrow morning.  It will be an early start again.  However all the bending with the planting, writing labels, moving stuff around has tightened my back up a bit and it is now time to sit down    I will reconvene again on the plants in the morning.  It is very much going to be a gardening day tomorrow.  Hopefully I will get some flower planters potted up tomorrow as well as I need the space in the Tomato greenhouse for all the seedlings have potted on.  Plus there are a few seeds as well.

I have been sat for a couple of hours riddling some old compost for use in the base of pots and also for levelling up the slabs on the patio.  There is a lot more to go, but I have two large Pots full of recycled compost already.  A load more to do tomorrow at some point.  As I am wading through the pots, it is starting to tidy up the patio slabs a bit as well.  So everything is interlinked and is slowly getting sorted.

We are having a roast Chicken with some veg for tea on Monday night.

Plans for Tuesday:

Several trips to the Tip are envisaged for Tuesday.  There is a lot of rubbish to shift, and a lot of it is recyclable.  It will take whatever it takes to get stuff done.  Once the Tip runs are done, I will then get back into the garden again to do more.  Clear things up a lot more and get things organised and settled.  Maybe even get the garden cleared a little more.  

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Plans for Wednesday:

Wednesday is going to be Kitchen Day.  I have been doing bits as I have gone along, but I need to progress the kitchen on Wednesday.  

Plans for Thursday:

Finish off the kitchen and go into the Bathroom and Little Room.

Plans for Friday:

I want to go under the stairs and turf it out and completely empty it, wash it out and then get filling any dents and sand down in readiness for painting out.

Plans for the Week Generally:

Gardening will take place as it needs to take place this week    It is on the priority list but so is the house.  Quite a bit of work will happen as and when as it is needed.

There will be lots of washing going on as well.

I do intend to get into the back bedroom of an evening for a couple of hours to do some work there where I can. This will be just a bit here and there to start with until I get things a bit more organised.                    

Right, it has been a long day and I am right royally cream-crackered.

Hope everyone is well and has had a lovely weekend.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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