Lazy day

I think the bit of running we did yesterday about wore the dog out, he didn't want to get up this morning, then he just went into the garden for his morning duty then straight back to bed. He didn't get his morning walk until nearly lunch time.

It isn't really morning is it?

Smelling the flowers?

Today I had a green smoothie for lunch; chard, celery, melon and mango really good.

Running

Very busy day today today. I put on my running shoes with the intention of running the dog, I haven't run for about 2 months since I hurt my hip/thigh muscles (not a running injury) so it was a bit exciting/scary. Anyway I managed to do walk run for about 20 minutes, and I felt better about it after each run.

Then I went to pilates and did an hour of that. After pilates I came home and did some cleaning and tidying and had a bit of a rest.

After lunch I went to the allotment, I cleared and weeded one bed, spread compost on the other beds and dismantled the compost heap. After that I gave up and came home.

From this

To this

For tea I had a large salad with my new oil and balsamic vinegar for a dressing.

Dogone it

I've got my daughter's dog for 5 days while she's away. I'm not a dog person at all and I'm VERY scared of dogs I don't know, he is blind and getting old so he sleeps a lot and doesn't walk far or fast, she says. Ha, I've walked him 3 times today only along my street so I can run home with him if another dog appears. I've just taken him for a walk before bed and he has run me the full length of the street in both directions twice. He wanted to go again but I only had my crocs on my feet - I'll wear my new running shoes in the morning!

Green smoothie today for lunch

 and my happy thing was trying the new fancy olive oil and balsamic vinegar I bought at the weekend, they are yummy.

Potting bench

The happy thing today was OH has made me a temporary potting bench in the garage until my new shed is up and running, so I spent a couple of hours pricking out and potting up seedlings.

Nephew came round to finish the work on his motor bike so after I'd played with my plants I made lunch, I had a salad sandwich but forgot to take a picture :(

After lunch I weeded some more in the back garden and booked nephew for some time next weekend to help me with slabbing in case my missing builder is still missing.

I had a side salad with my tea.

Quilt show

I went with the quilt group on a day out to Uttoxeter Racecourse where there was a quilt show. I got the material I needed to finish my bag and admired many of the quilts on show, some of them were very intricate and complex and most have taken hours and hours to complete.

After that we went to Trentham gardens where there is a shopping village type place with quite a lot of smaller up market type shops selling designer pottery, artwork etc. very interesting but I had had enough by then so I went for a cup of tea and a sit down.

No salad today :(  Chinese take away for tea :)

Strange day

I was just getting ready for Knit and Natter this morning when I found I was a bit early so I decided to check my emails. It was a good job I did because Amazon had emailed me to say the trainers I ordered yesterday would be delivered sometime today (quick!) between 7 am and 7 pm. Obviously I I couldn't go out and I couldn't do anything noisy cos some of the couriers knock with a sponge and they are all very fast if you aren't at the door in a flash they're gone.

So, what a shame, I'll just have to do quiet indoor things like sewing and knitting :)

I've finished knitting all the parts of my pig, he's ready for sewing and stuffing, I lined my new bag

I finished my funky bird's feet

and I made a case for my tablet

My trainers finally came about 5 pm and this is my happy picture, I'm going to try running again next week to see how I get on.

Finally my salad today was a green smoothie, chard, celery, Kiwi fruit, banana, ice and water.

New project

Thursday is my designated rest day when I don't do any planned exercise session. Today I needed it, raking and clearing that neglected corner yesterday was more strenuous than I thought and my shoulders are quite tight today. So this morning I did lots of bits of jobs: bought some stitch markers from somewhere in China for 68p including postage (how do they do that, it costs more than that to post them within UK), bought some new trainers, renewed my library book with the knitted pig pattern and tidied up my craft worktop.

This afternoon was quilt class and I've started a new project, a sampler quilt. I managed to cut, sew and press some strips ready to make the block called spider's web.

My salad for today was just a basic mixed salad with cottage cheese, a bit bland but OK.

More weeding and mowing

There is a patch under my apple and plum trees that I have been ignoring and it's got seriously overgrown with weeds. It's a need to be in the right mood thing and today was it!

Before

After cutting, raking and mowing

The happy thing today was using my tablet to take pictures, I've never done that before :)

And finally, my salads for today were a green smoothie made with chard, cucumber, banana and kefir and a tomato and onion side salad.

Early start

I woke up very early this morning, long before it was light, so I put on the little fairy lights I got from Ikea, they were very cheap but are beautiful.

Nothing very exciting today but a happy and content pottering sort of day. Knitting while listening to a story CD, weeding this afternoon when it stopped raining (you can tell my garden has been neglected by the amount of weeding I'm doing), made some pickles, watered the seedlings etc etc.

No salad today, I made myself a celeriac gratin for lunch and just wasn't hungry later. I'll try to fit 2 in tomorrow.

More weeding

I went to the gym to work with my trainer this morning. We didn't do any heel raises or stuff that puts strain through my foot but I did step and spin bike with her (amongst other things) and I did cross trainer and treadmill as my warm up and my foot was fine :) I think I'll wait till next week to start running though.

This afternoon I went food shopping and then I weeded the back garden so it's ready for the summer bedding and some bark mulch. The builder is due to come over and finish of the patio slabs then the back garden will be neat and I can concentrate on a total revamp of the side garden.

The salad for today was a large mixed salad with some fried pork strips and for a dressing I deglazed the pan with blackberry vinegar. Very tasty.

Wet day

Lots of good things again today.

• My foot is still swollen and starting to turn a bit black but I can put my trainers on and walk around fairly comfortably.
• My nephew came to visit so that OH could help him with his motorbike service. We haven't seen him for a while so that was good.
• Because it was raining, I wasn't tempted to play outside so I got quite a lot of the knitted flying pig done.
• I made some cherry buns.

Salad for today was a cheese salad sandwich, I made some for all of us at lunchtime.

mixed fortunes

Some really good things today and one really bad thing.

This morning OH and I went to the lottie to take down an old fence panel and put up a bit of trellis for the honeysuckle. We were also picking up 9 slabs which are needed at the house for the new shed base. We were getting on well until I knocked over two slabs that were on the sack barrow and they hit my leg and landed on my foot - ouch! Foot bruised and swollen but everything moves and nothing feels out of place just sore, but  we finished both jobs.

After lunch I looked through my material because I needed some green to finish off my bag and I have the exact piece I need, that doesn't happen very often and will save me going out tomorrow morning to buy some :) 

Salad today was just a side salad to go with the pasta and sauce I made.

Productive day

I was supposed to go knitting and nattering today but I really wanted to go to the lottie and do some weeding so that's what I did. 

From this

to this

I did another bed as well and then I came home, showered and sewed. New bag coming on well, I love this material :)

My 'salad' today was another green smoothie cos my jaw is still sore and I couldn't face chewing a plate of raw veg.

After the dentist

After going to the dentist yesterday my jaw is very sore so the first of my 2 salads (to make up for missing a salad yesterday) was a green smoothie as no chewing was required.

I felt quite second hand so I just did a few jobs and then settled down to some sewing. I'm making a shopping bag on the same lines as peas and beans bag (see earlier posts) but bigger. I found some material that is perfect for me and I love it.

The second salad was just a bit of salad veg and some ham, not very exciting.

and are there crumpets still for tea?

Sorry Rupert Brooke. I went to the dentist today and had a very large, very old back filling replaced, three injections later the side of my face feels like I've been hit with a bat - ouch.

Two happy things: it's all over for 6 months and Asda silly crumpets for early tea, I couldn't be bothered to make anything else.

No salad today, wasn't at all hungry after the crumpets. Failed my own challenge :( I'll have 2 tomorrow to make up :)

Legs alive

My legs were fine this morning when I got up  :D I did pilates and then went to make a start on my friend's garden while she and her dog are away. We are removing everything from one border, spraying it off cos it is full of twitch and then replanting and moving in plants from the back border so we can make more lawn which is much easier to look after. I've taken of the weed flower heads, dug out the plants she wanted to keep and sprayed weed killer on it.

I came home and decided my legs had done enough so I sorted out piles of old magazines, a few to keep, a few to the charity shop and heaps to recycling.

Salad for today

Gym and sewing practice

Very happy day, today I did a full on workout with my trainer and my legs didn't object at all. The physio said I could start running again after Easter so it looks like I'm well on track for that, this is the best news.

Came home from gym and pottered around changing sheets, hanging out washing, cleaning bedrooms etc as I don't like to stop when my trainer has finished with me or I'll seize up. It's just a very long cool down.

Then I played with my new toy, very exciting.

The picture is just a few of the stitches it will do but I learned a lot of other things about it as well :D

Salad for today was crudites with cottage cheese, hummus and a drop of left over dressing from yesterday.

Exciting day

I got my new sewing machine today :D :D It's a computerised one that does lots of whizzy things; it's the basic end of the computer machines but it has things like speed control, stop/start button, automatic buttonhole etc etc. I'm going to play with it tomorrow cos today I'm just too tired to concentrate properly and I don't want to mess it up and be disappointed.

My salade du jour was just a nice big mixed salad with oil, lime juice and mustard dressing.

Shed demolition

Daughter and her partner came round today to help us take down the old shed ready for a new one to go up. All that in exchange for a meal :)

Salad for today was tomato and onion with blackberry vinegar dressing.

Salad and sunshine

I started a green smoothie challenge on 1 April but I'm not doing very well. Food needs to be chewed not drunk :( There is too much fruit and not enough chewing involved so I've changed mine for the rest of the month to eat a salad every day, here is today's pic of my cottage cheese and salad lunch.

For my happy day pic it's just my mug on the table outside. It was warm and sunny enough to sit out in between spells of weeding :)