Juneathon last day!

I didn't see my trainer today, she changed it to Thursday so I did Ballet Fitness with Nicky McGinty, luckily there isn't much actual ballet in it because I'm not exactly graceful :) but it is a good workout.

Next I rested and did some sewing, a cushion and the flying pig needed a little hat (forgot photo so will do it Wednesday), then I sorted sending a parcel by Hermes courier. I haven't done this before but it was surprisingly both easy and cheap, hope it arrives at its destination OK. This is my happy pic.

After that I took 3 bags of garden compost from the allotment out of my van and went to do the monthly supermarket shop and put it all away.

Lunch, a green smoothie, then loaded up some more compost from the allotment to take to Kate's.  Spread and dug in compost along a whole border and dug up and moved some plants from the back border to the newly dug area.

Gave up, came home and made tea, shepherd's pie made with left over goose, very nice.

Worn out!

J Day 29

This morning I went for a 'run', the effort is run but the speed is walk.

This is my happy pic because it is the first time, since I hurt my hip, that I've managed to complete Week 1 of C25K. The acid test will be whether I can walk tomorrow or not.

I was a bit faster than that, the time shown includes chatting with my running partner both when she arrived and when we finished.

Later daughter and her partner took us out for a meal for Father's Day, it's a bit late because we have all been a bit busy or not here. It was a lovely treat and that made me happy too :)

J Day 28

More activity than exercise today. We moved the filing cabinet (no easy task number 1) in my new shed so I could get at the windows and I cleaned them and put static cling frosting up at the end 2 windows so people just walking past can't see inside. We put the filing cabinet back (no easy task number 2). After that I had a little play and put up some dangly things, this is my happy pic.

I did some clearing and weeding then rain stopped play.

Inside I sorted out a load of card making bits to post to a niece (sort of) who has started making cards. This was fun because I was looking through stuff I haven't used for a while and I've cleared out quite a bit of space.

After that I roasted a goose breast that I bought from the pick your own farm the other day. I've never had goose before and wanted to try it. It is a much darker and denser meat than chicken with more flavour, we liked it a lot and will probably have it for Christmas.

J Day 27

I must say I'll be glad when Juneathon is finished, I'm very tired even though some days I'm only doing half an hour of yoga. I expect at my age and level of fitness I ought really to have a couple of proper rest days each week but even on my rest days I'm doing yoga and gardening, shed painting etc. Anyway only 3 more days to go and I said I'd do it so I'm determined to see it through :)

This morning I walked part of the way into town for knit and natter, about 2 miles between rain showers.

My happy pic is from the knit and natter group. I was knitting a little jumper for charity the other week and a couple of the ladies asked for the pattern, well they also have photocopied it and today I was given a whole pile of the jumpers and more to come. Sometimes people are kind :)

On the way home I called at Kate's for a cup of tea and to plan what we are doing, and where we are going, next week.

J Day 26

Exercise for today, skipping. I can honestly say I'm rubbish at this but 5 or 10 minutes of trying is a serious cardio exercise. I then did a couple of goes at hopscotch and then 20 minutes of yoga to calm me down. 

After breakfast I finished painting the outside of the shed, the last 2 walls were given 2 coats of paint. Just some small bits of tidying to do round the door and it is completely done.

Had a shower and went to quilting class for a rest! I'm finishing the background for the tumbling blocks so it's hand sewing and quite relaxing :)

Shed is the happy pic for today.

J Day 25

I've had a brilliant day today :)

Started off with half an hour of yoga, then felt energised enough to sort and clean the fridge. This might not seem a major task but I've been putting it off for about a week.

Then went to pick up Kate and we went to Seldom Seen Farm  
http://www.seldomseenfarm.co.uk/ to pick strawberries. the weather was lovely and sunny but not too hot, the views from the farm are amazing and so are the strawberries, this is my happy pic.

I also bought a frozen free range goose breast to try. The farm is famous for its Christmas geese and I've never had goose but often wondered about it so I took the plunge. We'll have it for tea on Saturday.

After taking Kate home I came back home and watered garden and greenhouses then went to Knit and natter at the garden centre in Enderby.

I got back home again just before 5 and went to the allotment to water and bag up some compost to bring home for the new garden bed.

Salad for tea and T20 cricket, a close game and a good end to a brilliant day.

J Day 24

I went to pilates class this morning for an hour, it was very hard today because my muscles are so tired from yesterday's workout. The strength exercises were hard but the stretches felt good.

After breakfast I went and played on the allotment, weeding, watering and planting up my autumn leeks.

My happy pic for today is heavy grey clouds taken at about 4 in the afternoon. This is happy for me because the soil is bone dry and it looks like I might get at least a bit of rain.

Update:

It did rain but not much and not for long, all that it will do is bring out the slugs and snails without actually watering the soil :(

J Day 23

Brilliant day today. Started off doing some serious cutting back, digging up etc in the back garden, then my trainer came and we/I did a high intensity body weight workout (and with my body weight that's a real workout), as soon as she left I went to B&Q to get some more shed paint.

After breakfast I made some strawberry fridge jam (so called because it only has one third of the sugar and must be kept in the fridge) and a few small scones ready for when Kate comes round later.

After that I planted any flowers that were left in the greenhouse in the cleared back garden and gave it all a very good watering and washed my seed trays out at the same time. It looks quite good now.

I have 2 green bags of garden waste for the tip, 3 for the compost heap on the allotment, one full of plants I've thinned out for Kate's garden and a bush for the tip.

The garden made me happy but my happy pic for today is afternoon tea with Kate using my posh little tea set.

I didn't manage a salad or raw veg today, I planned to have some for my evening meal but I was still full so didn't bother. I'm going to stop posting pics of my salads or green smoothies cos it is very boring.

J Day 22

Early start today, I was at The Fabric Guild on the other side of Leicester by just after 8.30 this morning and there were quite a lot of people already in there. I bought some more material for my sampler quilt to give me more choice. This is my happy pic

On the way home I did a shop for salad stuff for tea, then to B&Q for shed paint. Sadly by 10.15 am B&Q was already rammed and I couldn't be bothered waiting to park so I came home.

OH and I then went down to Stoneygate street market and had a look round, I bought a full tray of jamming strawberries for £3.50 and they are in lovely condition. They are in the freezer for smoothies not jam. I also bought a fancy green tea with cherry leaves and I'm going to do an afternoon tea tomorrow.

On the way home from there we called at our local DIY shop and bought the shed paint :)

I had salad for tea for today's raw veg.

J Day 21

Long day today. I was om the allotment by 7 am weeding, watering and a bit of planting, I'm really pleased with how it is looking this year.

Came home about 9.30 am and had a green smoothie and fresh picked strawberries for breakfast, I know the smoothie has the nutrients i need but my brain isn't satisfied unless I've chewed something!

OH and I then started the side garden, which is having a total revamp this year. First we cut back a lot of bushes and raked gravel to clear an area for edging, then we put the edging in - simple, well not quite. There was an old metpost in the ground and we found that, many years ago, we had concreted it in so that took ages to remove. So a lot of work and all we have to show is a piece of wood :(

After we'd done that we did the small bed by the greenhouse, this was much easier and completed, just needs planting up now. This is my happy pic.

Then I gave the side and the back of my new shed 2 coats of paint. I'm not keen on the colour so I'm going to paint the front and the other side (the bits that show) in a different colour, watch this space.

Finally I cooked some eggs and potatoes and we had salad for tea. So I had both a salad and a green smoothie today :)

J Day 20

I watered my greenhouses and garden this morning first thing and again this evening. The weather is hot and sunny and it hasn't rained much for weeks, just the odd day of rain and a bit of drizzle now and again.

After that I had a green smoothie for breakfast

This morning I went to my Friday knit and natter group, my exercise for the day was walking part of the way into town but only about a mile and a half, not much really.

My happy pic for today is 2 sticks of rock. OH went on a bus trip to the seaside and brought them back for me :)

J Day 19

Successful/unsuccessful day.

For the first time for ages I have done no exercise at all today, nor have I had a salad or a green smoothie :( although  have had some raw fruit and some cooked veg for tea so not totally lost.

My muscles are still very weary, not sore just tired out so I chose to spend most of the day sewing my tumbling blocks together, I finished that this morning.

This afternoon I went to my quilting class and completed a whole block called rail fence. This is my happy pic

J Day 18

I slept like a log last night for 8 hours + and I still felt muscle weary this morning so I declared today a rest day. I did my yoga stretches and gave the bedroom a deep clean, behind the drawers and the bed etc.

I had a green smoothie today as my raw fruit and veg.

This afternoon I went to the cinema with a friend and we saw 'Belle' we both enjoyed it very much.

I tried to put a picture from the film on here as my happy pic but I lack the necessary technical skill so it will have to be a picture of the clean bedroom.

J Day 17

I didn't get to pilates this morning cos I was too busy doing some serious housework while OH is away, but I did 30 minutes of yoga from a dvd and then some additional stretches for my poor quads and hips.

After that I went to the allotment and did lots more planting and weeding. The broad beans look better after I tied them up and they have bean pods on them so not long now to first crop :)

The allotment is looking quite good and this is my happy pic

For tea I had a salad and a slice of cheese on toast.

J Day 16.

Back to Monday and my personal trainer - I love working with her, she makes me work far harder than I would by myself :) we worked with weights today doing strength training so my arms and shoulders will be a bit stiff tomorrow.

My niece came for the day so after I picked her up we went to the supermarket to pick up food for her lunch - free choice of everything the supermarket offered and she picked frijj milkshake (yuk, really thick and sweet), cheese twists (yummy but full of fat, I had one), Pringles (disgusting) and a chocolate dessert type thing. Good job I don't feed her regularly or she would be very ill.

I showed her how to crochet granny squares, she got on really well, in the pic, which is my happy pic for today, the pale square is the learning square using chunky yarn and a thick crochet hook. The coloured square she did entirely by herself, using dk and a 4mm hook, impressive :)

J Day 15

I had a pottering about sort of day today. OH has gone to Thetford Forest cycling for a few days and he left around lunchtime so I walked the dog, went shopping, changed sheets, did some cleaning etc etc. While he is away on holiday I treat myself as though I were on holiday too. After lunch daughter came for flying visit to reclaim the dog and I did some cooking.

I made a moussaka for tomorrow's tea and shepherd's pie with mashed roasted butternut squash instead of potato, it was an experiment but I'll definitely do it again it was yummy. I served it with a side salad and a glass of wine, then home grown strawberries for dessert.

My exercise today was 40 minutes of yoga

The pic is both my salad and my happy pic for today.

J Day 14

Today's exercise walk/run in the park with one of my daughter's friends who has just started running and wanted someone to go with her. She's already improving steadily and I can't keep up (she is just over half my age and considerably less heavy than me) so we use an old running track in our local park and I cheat and go across the middle while she runs round the track properly. Doing it that way means we can meet up and chat at regular intervals, which is good.

Today's offering

When I got back I had a green smoothie.

Ingredients for smoothie, together with kefir and ice

While I was out OH put me a couple of locks on my shed and this is my happy pic for today.

J Day 13

Today I was tired from yesterday so I did some stretches this morning as my exercise.

I went to knit and natter and learned how to do a new crochet flower and a knitted one, they are both very easy.

This is my happy pic

I had salad for tea but not much because I wasn't very hungry.

The dog has come to stay again for a couple of nights so I took him for a walk about 8.30 when it had cooled down a bit.

J Day 12

OH and I went to Hunstanton for the day, the weather was glorious. We walked along the beach and looked at the new cliff falls caused by last winter's raging storms, there are some quite large sections that have fallen.

For lunch I had cannelloni served with chips and salad. The portion was very large. OH ate a lot of my chips and even so I couldn't finish the cannelloni. I didn't take a photo of the salad because we were inside and the flash would have gone off - I can't have people saying ' Look at that loony taking pics of her dinner'

For today's exercise we walked at least 2 miles, half of which was on sand.

Happy pic, sunny Hunny.

J Day 11

First day I haven't managed some sort of 'proper' exercise, but I have done a lot of activity. OH and I put up the stand for my tools and also the shelving in my new shed; it's nearly complete now :)

I've been to the allotment and transferred 4 x 100 litre bags of wood chip from my van down to the lottie and spread them on my paths, I'm just a little bit short and then that job is complete.

I've done some stretches.

I've been to knit and natter at the garden centre near me and that's my happy pic.

I had salad for my tea.

J Day 10

Beautiful sunny day today. Walked down to pilates class (and, of course, back) only about a mile and a half altogether, so that with the hour long pilates class is my exercise for today. 

After my breakfast green smoothie

I watered the greenhouses and then cleaned inside my van, the dashboard and all the twiddly bits were inches deep in dust, this is my happy pic.

This afternoon I went to the garden centre for tea and cake with a friend, oh and we bought some plants too :)

J Day 9

Personal trainer day. We (I) did a lot of upper body and arm stuff with a 7.5 kg kettlebell so I expect my shoulders will be a bit sore tomorrow.

OH is off work this week so we spent the rest of the morning putting my work bench together in the shed. This is definitely my happy pic.

I saw my friend today and gave her the flying pig I knitted and she loved it.

Sadly no salad or green smoothie today, I'll try harder tomorrow.

J Day 8

Today's exercise was yoga stretching for about 30 minutes. For Janathon I did lots of more strenuous exercise and I needed more recovery time so this time I decided to do one day hard exercises, eg cardio, intervals etc and on the alternate day I would do pilates or yoga and, so far, it is working OK.

After that I went to my daughter's and cut her front hedge (a bit more exercise)

For lunch I had a bit of home made cabbage slaw and left over pizza, very nice too.

This afternoon I finished my flying pig and this is my happy pic.

J Day 7

Went running/walking with a friend this morning, I did just over the 2 miles according to Endomondo.

Came home and made a green smoothie. This was 2 portions, breakfast and lunch.

This afternoon, when the rain stopped, I finished the 2 coats

of paint on the inside of my shed walls. We can start putting my stuff back in tomorrow.

This is my happy pic :)

J Day 6

Exciting day my new shed came. It was really lucky I was in; I rang the shop this morning, as advised, to see what time they would be here and was told lunchtime around 12. I was getting ready to pop out for some paint when they came at 10 am.

It took the two men less than half an hour from start to finish. One of these is definitely my happy pic

My exercise for today was a 45 minute yoga DVD, and I really needed stretching after yesterday's session doing upper body and core.

I spent all afternoon putting 2 coats of paint on 3 of the walls inside so I don't expect to be able to move my shoulders tomorrow!

By the time I finished I was totally done so I called at my local supermarket and bought a pizza, some salad and a bottle of wine. Had a shower while the wine chilled. Brilliant day :)

A poor excuse for today's salad.

Juneathon Day 5

Weather much improved, dry some clouds and a bit breezy.

Exercise today was personal trainer and we did a lot of upper body and core stuff, I can feel it in my shoulders so I think they'll be stiff tomorrow.

Did a few errands then went to the allotment to do some more planting, the sun has brought out the bees.

Leaf beet seedlings

I had my green smoothie for breakfast and a coleslaw type thing that I made to go with my jacket spud and cottage cheese for tea.

My happy pic is the strawberries in the greenhouse, I have ripe ones ready to eat :)