Sunday 20 March 2016

Sunday Snippets, Spring and a Swap


Joining in with Jocelyn for Word of the Week

Baby steps all the way this week. Little by little I'm making progress, well I feel I am anyway :) 

Last week's feelings of being unsettled have drifted away as the sun has begun to shine. It's quite amazing how just a little bit of warmth and fresh air make everything seem a little more positive.

I've tried to be a little more constructive this week in how I spend my time and have made some tiny effort to get things ticked off my 'to do' lists. I'm feeling stronger each day and feel more able to do things and so I've made a start!





Firstly  I hit the garden centre. I am definitely not a gardener, despite years of frustration on my grandmother's part to turn me into one, so it's much easier just to buy what I need, rather than try to grow anything. However I have been pottering (No pun intended) trying to grow some seeds and store bulbs for replanting, so maybe some of that green fingered wisdom is seeping through!
I was recently given a book on small container vegetable gardening that I was surprisingly excited about, you see progress...I might make a gardener yet.:)


I am also making small steps in slowly moving back into my own place. Having rented out my house for the last few years I'm now in the process of moving back in. I've taken time to get it ready, get some building work done and painted a bit, so it's just about ready to move back into.  It's going to be strange living back on my own after 18 months living with my grandmother.


This wasn't on my to do list! But then I decided that I hated the terracotta colour of the porch thingy at the front of my house and so my next project is to repaint it. I managed to pick up some paint from the local 'free for all' (where for a couple of quid I came away with a large tin of Dulux) and I'm poised and ready to go! 


My daily walk has definitely been improving this week. I started off 3 weeks ago, very slowly taking about 20 minutes to walk half a mile. Little by little I've walked a little bit further each day and stopped when I was in pain or too tired. This week I'm now up to walking 3 miles and at a much quicker pace. I know its's not a great deal in the grand scheme of things, but for the 'post op me' I'm pleased with what I'm doing and more importantly I'm really enjoying getting out of the house and getting some fresh air.

So  progress has been made and I'm feeling optomistic. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and spring is here.:)

Another lovely thing happened this week is a fabulous parcel I received from Ellie @ Feltabulous. It was part of a stationery swap set up by Tracy at http://madaboutbagsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/super-stationary-swap.html
It was a great idea to send items of stationery to our swap partners...and who doesn't just love stationery? Any excuse to have new notebooks and papers and pretty things!

My parcel was lovingly wrapped in some pretty spring paper. It was all very exciting!

A whole bunch fabulous stuff was inside.


Some lovely paper and a notebook- just my colours too!

A beautifully handmade patchwork book mark, some sticky notes ...and as a teacher..I just love a good sticky note!....and the cutest little fox peg clips.

How lovely! Thank you Ellie.
Another smile to end the week. Hope you've all had a good week too.
Amanda x

The Reading Residence

8 comments:

  1. Some lovely photos - glad to hear you're feeling good and able to get out and about more :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Louise. As long as the sun still continues to shine I'll try and get out and about, maybe it will kick start me into going further afield :)

      Delete
  2. The weather is getting better and it's great to be out and about a bit more. I'm no real gardener either, but planting the odd bulb or two does brighten up the place in Spring
    #WoTW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have such a lot to learn! Makes you feel good though just to have a bit of colour in the garden doesn't it? Thanks for popping by.

      Delete
  3. Progress all round, and sounds like you've plenty on at the moment. It's lovely to add splashes of colour to the garden, isn't it? Oh, and look out for a stationery swap coming up soon on my blog, too :) Thanks for sharing with #WotW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love a good swap! Thanks for hosting and for popping by :)

      Delete
  4. What beautiful things to receive! And it's good to hear a lighter note in your voice today. As I well know, recovering is actually hard work! A step forward, however small, is still a step forward. I will be thinking about you in that lovely scenery as I take my own walk today :).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like you are living up to your word of the week. I'm glad you enjoyed the swap and it has been lovely to see what everyone sent and received X

    ReplyDelete

If you'd like to make a comment I'd love to hear from you. Thanks :)