Making time

My lovely friend who is my mentor/coach/counsellor posted this in our wee FB group yesterday and it hit home hard.  I've been forced to stop and make time for being really not well all week.  And I've said to my Headteacher and Occupational Health I'll probably not be back next week either.  No point going back to teach 19 lively 4 and 5yos when I'm not almost 100% fit and well.

When I fractured my ankle earlier this year I took the time to pause and reflect on life.  And for a while I did slow down and make more time for myself.  But oh how quickly I slipped into bad habits and let the job and teaching a new stage dictate my life.

Clearly the universe decided to give me another wake up slap!! 😂  Ok I'm listening and paying attention now!

Starting with breakfast this morning, I'm going to make sure I stop and eat one instead of grabbing something on my way out the door with my travel mug of coffee.  And because I've not been eating breakfast at home I stopped taking my morning supplements.  Taking them on an empty stomach with black coffee makes me throw up!  So I made some porridge and added home grown blueberries from the freezer, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, some nuts and turmeric infused honey.  Then I took my supplements.  Instead of coffee I had a herbal tea.  Cutting out coffee normally gives me headaches but since I've had a permanent headache for 8 days I figured a few more days won't hurt!

I wasn't hungry at lunchtime as breakfast was late so an early evening meal of gf toast, avocado and egg went down nicely.  I've slipped a bit recently and not been as careful at sticking to my gluten free and dairy free eating.  I think my body is telling me to get back to it!!

I also bought something a few weeks ago that will help with my lack of exercise.  Ironically I haven't even opened the box 😳 but I will soon and report back!  Eating well, taking my supplements, exercise and generally making more time for myself are the priorities.

So as we gain an hour tonight (clocks go back!) and head into Winter, I am making time for my wellness because frankly being unwell sucks!

A standstill

 

Yep, things are at a complete standstill here as I'm off work with a nasty virus 😢 I did a PCR test to make sure it wasn't you-know-what (it was negative) but I have all the classic symptoms of a flu like virus.  I'm double vaccinated and I've had my flu shot so it's 'just' the nasty virus doing the rounds 🙄 Like an eejit I tried to keep going all last week but by Friday I was burst and had to stop.  And I've been mostly in my bed since.

I've been binge watching Your Home Made Perfect on BBC iPlayer and anything by George Clarke on Channel 4 Catch Up. I'm getting loads of ideas to finish off my kitchen and bathroom then I can finally get the rest of the house and garden done.

In other news, my youngest son's girlfriend moved into the annexe with him.  They're saving their money for a house deposit.  Both have good jobs with the NHS and are very sensible with money.  They've got their eye on a new build development nearby that starts next year so hopefully they'll be able to get on the property ladder soon.  It's not as easy for the younger generation these days as it was for us in the 80s.  When I got married at 20 (I know!!!) we had a mortgage 4 times my ex's annual salary of £7,000 and interest rates were 15%!  But no deposit required.  Both sets of parents helped us out and now it's my turn to help my kids get started 💖

Sneak preview

 

The installation is finished!  Now I just need to decide on paint or wallpaper for above the tiles and flooring.  I'm leaning towards a yellow colour and have ordered samples of wallpaper and tester pots of paint.  

I rather like Daisy as it has yellow but on a white background.  All from Wallpaper Direct if you fancy a nosey.  I'm still undecided about the flooring.  Laminate or lino? 🤔

Finally!

 

Finally, it got started today!  And they're working pretty quickly.  They had all the old stuff ripped out by lunchtime and some of the tiling started.

I decided not to replace the bath as it's a fabulous deep cast iron tub.  It may be original to the house (1967) or from the 70s.  It's actually in very good condition.  We've replaced the taps and plughole so they're modern.  The installer suggested re using some of the panelling taken from the sink cupboard to finish off the bath panel.  Fab bit of recycling!  All I'll need to do is sand and re paint. 

I chose white subway tiles, to keep it classic and to make it easy to sell if I have to at some point.  Don't want to put buyers off with my quote "wacky colour schemes." 🙄😂

The shower enclosure has been taken back to the bare bricks.  I'm assuming they're putting in a protective waterproof layer of something before adding the splashwall.  Can you guess what colour I chose???

Not a great photo of the colour but I hope you can see it's shocking pink! 😎

Dog, seeds and woodchip

 

I had an overnight doggy visitor at the weekend.  This is Molly, she's adorable and only a year old.  She happens to belong to my ex husband and his wife.  Long time blog readers will know how I feel about them (short version is I wish them no harm but I don't have to like them) but he's my children's father so I make an effort.  They'd been let down by their dog sitter and no one else they trusted was available at short notice.  So I said I'd have her.  They know how much I love dogs and have years of experience of owning labs.  They were suitably grateful and I gained some Brownie points.  Family harmony and all that!!

I ordered some some wee brown envelopes to store my saved seeds.  I finally got round to packing and labelling them.  It somehow made me feel like an organised gardener! 😁 

My bathroom installation was due to start today.  But it didn't 🙄 Fingers crossed it goes ahead later this week as promised.  My lovely mum came to help finish stripping off the woodchip wallpaper with 3 layers of paint (pink, yellow and lilac).  It was a terrible job.  I always knew it would be but kept avoiding it.  The walls under it are in remarkably decent condition so I'm thinking after a quick sand and filling some holes I can just paint it.

I have to keep telling myself that all this kitchen and bathroom chaos will be worth it!!

No heat

 

I chopped up the chillies I harvested last week, ready to pickle.  It took aaaages!!  But sadly when I taste tested them, they had no heat.  Not spicy at all!!  Not even the red ones! 🌶 They tasted more like bell peppers than chilli peppers.  Nice but not what I expected!

I went ahead and pickled them any way with a simple vinegar/sugar/salt mixture.  I'm sure they'll be tasty with some Tex Mex style food even without the heat.  Nothing goes to waste in this house!

There's also no heat in the weather as it's turned very autumnal this week.  I'm back to wearing boots and woolly cardigans to work.  We've not been out as much in our P1 garden as it's been very wet and windy.  Luckily we have just 1 week left of school then it's our October break.

My new bathroom gets installed then! 🛁🚽🚿