This week...

 

The power of blogging proves its worth once again - what you see above is the front cover of the photo book I’ve put together with loads of memories from a 6 year period using photos from my phone. I started it within minutes of my blog post the other day, and have sent it to print today. In true frugal fashion I also found a 50% off code too which allowed me to make a decent sized book at a really quite sensible price. 

Also this week, lots more walking, 4 more of Alice Liveing’s challenge workouts, and yoga each day. I’m getting more used to the Yoga with Adriene stuff now, and have actually enjoyed some of this week’s practises, but I’m not convinced I’ll ever make a committed yogi! The Alice workouts this week have been tough but not unbearably so - and thank goodness I have been far less stiff after these than the first one last week! I’ve now covered just over 83 miles of tracked walking this month which I’m pretty pleased with - it means I’m firmly on track for breaking the back of my 214 miles virtual Thames Path challenge before even getting to February. I’m also about to sign up for another of the RAF Museum challenges too - this one is on a rather longer timescale than any of theirs I have done before as it runs through until May, and also has several different distance options. Allowing that I will be combining walking and running anyway, I’ve decided to sign up for the longest - 500km, and I’m also planning some fundraising alongside it. 

The freezers are definitely looking emptier - although there will be a bit of an influx of additions tomorrow as it is farmers market Saturday. Although due to lockdown the market is not operating in the usual way this month, the regular stall holders are working on a click & collect basis, and we’ve placed orders with three that we like to buy from - 2 lamb breasts and a couple of packs of liver from Highbury Farm Lamb, bacon and sausages from Great Garnetts, and sliced haslet and some of Catherine’s rather wonderful beef and horseradish sausage rolls from Foxholes. All three local small businesses that do excellent produce. Tomorrow will also be meal planning day, and so will orchestrate the use of lots more of currently frozen items through next week. I’ve not made bread this week as we plan to breakfast on the bread items that we already have in the freezer - bagels and the leftovers from previous weeks bread - those always get frozen for future use, they toast perfectly using the frozen setting in our toaster! 

So all in all things are running along quite smoothly - lockdown this time is definitely feeling less stressful than the first one, I suspect due to a combination of the time of year (it’s less appealing to want to spend lots of time outside when the weather is cold, damp and grey) and also that I’m more aware of the challenges it creates this time and so am dealing with them before they really cause problems. A little self care definitely goes a long way!

Robyn