2024 Week 26 - One Daily Positive, Project 365 and A Selfie a Day.

June

Only 4 weeks left in work. I'm very sad about leaving. The hardest part for me is that I've made some really good friends, I've found my fit in a team and felt like I really belonged and was valued. We've promised to carry on meeting up.

176  Monday Peter drove me to my Neurology appointment at the hospital for 9am. I didn't feel like the hassle with parking etc. Neurologist has upped my preventative medication, booked a MRI and will see me in 3 months time. If the increase in meds doesn't work, he's referring me to the QE in Birmingham for new meds.

177  Tuesday Into work to collect a student from home. I'm really worried about the family from September onwards. I've handed over to Pastoral and a friend in work will over see the 2 children if needed. Another student almost cried when I told him I was leaving and asked 'who will look after me now?' I've bribed another friend. I then left for my Job Interview which is at an autistic school, just outside  Malvern. I returned to school late morning and resumed my normal duties. Peter met me in town for a coffee. I had a phone call and was offered the job, starting in September. Home to a pile of post and birthday presents, my friend called round also. We planned the raised flower beds.

178  Wednesday Happy Birthday to me. 53? How did that happen? Lovely card from colleagues, I took some cake in as is the tradition, but I often miss out as people don't always bother with a gluten free alternative. After work it was coffee as usual with friends. Home for dinner and an early night. Peter started work on the raised beds.

179  Thursday Into work till lunch time then off to Hereford for my Dermatology appointment as the chemotherapy cream for the patch of skin cancer on my leg hasn't worked. They're booking a biopsy in the next few weeks.

180  Friday Normal day in work and only 3 weeks left to go. We all met up at the train station to go to Worcester for a meal and a night out. I had a fantastic evening and was home around midnight. A parcel arrived from my son and his girlfriend in Australia for my birthday, a gift for my mum and I of Afternoon Tea and gifts for the their nephew and niece for me to forward. 

181  Saturday Spent the day mainly at home just pottering. We did pop out for coffee and a bit of shopping and had a BBQ in the early evening.

182  Sunday Off to Gloucester to visit Stephanie and try to persuade Peter to buy some pink or purple wood stain for the raised flower beds he is building, coffee and lunch out and a bit of shopping. I spent the evening filling in an application form for a Year Leader vacancy that has come up unexpectedly at my current work place.

Books read this week: Make Me - Lee Child

Words written towards book: 0 Job Application form 3500 words

Clothes bought: 2 x pairs of jeans. I've lost a whole dress size and I can take my old jeans on and off without undoing the button/zip. I've held the weight off for more than a month so time to make the investment £62 WhiteStuff.

On the blog this week: My Garden in June

Things that made me happy this week: Birthday wishes, night out with friends, video calls with grandson, BBQ.

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28th - 30th June 2024 Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

It was my 53rd Birthday this week. Lots of lovely gifts, cards and messages, coffees, catch ups and a night out this evening with my work mates. I'm starting a new job in September, but we've pledged to keep to continue with weekly coffees and nights out.

We'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter, tag us and we'll RT. You can find us on twitter here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby 

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Garden in June

After a visit to Gardener's World 2 weeks ago, there has been much inspiration for the garden and quite a lot achieved.

Peter is going to build me one of these for the bins, but without doors.

I've thinned out and repotted the succulents with the intention of growing them on top of the bin tidy.

Then I saw this at Gardeners' World and want to do this instead.

I've taken a lot of inspiration from this show garden.

The second smaller shed finally came down. It's amazing how much space we now have in the garden.

It was reduced to 3 large sacks for the tip.

A green house was purchased and erected. It was an easy build.

And looks so much better than this temporary one I've had for 4 years.

Compost and new pots were purchased with my birthday money and more cucumber, pea, bean and courgette plants from the students at work were purchased now they have a home, safe from the slugs and snails we seem to be over run with this year. Plants from our trip were potted up.

No idea what this plant is but I loved the colour so bought it.

Next up is the construction of the raised beds. We're in two minds as to have them uniformed and fill this gap as per the plan or go a bit rouge and have random shapes. I'm so looking forward to getting rid of all this excess soil and remove the conifer to create a new path.

We still have the sun umbrella to be erected (it's been lying in the lounge for months) At least the sun has been out recently, which makes a nice change.

We're still undecided about the front garden. I'm considering clearing the bed under the window and moving the fig tree there and train it along the wall, similar to what my friend has done at her house with a different plant.

In the rest of the garden there has been a crop of potatoes.

The side of the house has been tidied up. This is the before shot.

There have been BBQs, letter writing and reading taking place in the garden.

I had some lovely gifts from my friend in South Africa.

And I finally identified the pink flowers that have been growing in gardens I've owned for many years.

How's your summer garden going?

2024 Week 25 - One Daily Positive, Project 365 and A Selfie a Day.

June

It's getting harder and harder with the selfie a day. Peter allows me one photo and I have to use it, regardless if anyone is smile, eyes are closed or funny faces being pulled.

169  Monday And so the job hunting begins. Why does everything have to be so complicated. It took me all evening to fill in one application online, copying everything into several boxes. Why does no one accept  CVs and letters of applications these days? Peter took mum home and after work I did some online autism training. I took a break from the job application and went on a dog walk with a friend from work.

170  Tuesday The job application form filling paid off and I've been offered a job interview next week. I also applied for 3 other jobs, 2 of which were upload a CV and a covering letter. Guess what? I didn't actually have a current CV, after all the complaining so had to write a new one. Peter met me in town after work and we went for a coffee. The rest of the evening was spent blogging, ironing and watching TV.

171  Wednesday Into work and coffee with a friend from work afterwards, I didn't get home till 7pm. I feel so sad not to be working with these lovely ladies after the end of this term, but we've still got our WhatsApp group where I'll throw in some daily sarcasm so they don't forget me, weekly coffee dates and once a term nights out. Rest of the evening spent blogging and watching TV, an early night.

172  Thursday Into work, homework club till 4pm. I met Peter at the retail park and we bought some compost and had a coffee. Home to pot up some plants and I sat in the garden reading. My friend called round for some tips ahead of her job interview next week.

173  Friday Home from work. Peter was out visiting Stephanie and doing some shopping. I met up with a couple of friends from work at the pub for a drink or two and got home at 11pm. whoops.

174 Saturday Did some gardening then off to Worcester with a friend from work to get our nails done, they were running over time so I didn't get mine done. We met another friend for coffee who has been off work sick, we took her some vouchers and a card from a staff collection. Son, Dil and grandchild came round early evening for the night. They've not stayed over since the middle of April, we had a BBQ.

175  Sunday The second shed came down and was cut up ready to go to the tip in the week. Morning spent pottering then a walk into town for my birthday lunch out and a bit of shopping. Home to just chill out, sand pit and paddling pool out.

Books read this week: The Monkey's Raincoat - Robert Crais

Words written towards book: 0

Clothes bought: £12 shirt, £2.50 trainer socks. Primark.

On the blog this week: A day out at The Gardeners' World, NEC Birmingham

What's made me happy this week:

Birthday flowers, out with friends (work colleagues) sunshine and repotting succulents.

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21st - 23rd June 2024 Post Comment Love

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

Mum and I had a lovely day visiting The Gardeners' world Show at the NEC in Birmingham on Saturday. I came away with quite a few plants and plenty of ideas for our garden, mainly from this show garden.

It's my birthday next week and we're spending this weekend with our son, Dil and granddaughter. The plan is to assemble the new green house I bought after getting home from the show that was delivered yesterday, while Peter and son dismantle the 2nd shed, followed by a BBQ, then out on Sunday for a birthday meal.

We'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter, tag us and we'll RT. You can find us on twitter here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby 

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

A day out at Gardeners' World. NEC Birmingham.

I was fortunate enough to win tickets with Stephanie over at BosworthLife for The Gardeners' World and Good Food Show at the NEC in Birmingham last weekend.

It clashed with The Three Counties Show in Malvern and I'd originally planned to attend both events, but as we'd been in Brighton for my Uncles funeral we missed the Malvern Show, it was a nice treat for mum at the end of a difficult weekend.

Whilst The Gardeners World Show was a lovely event to attend and it is nice to go somewhere different, it was very similar to The Three Counties Show in terms of plant and food sales, the venue was bigger but it attracted more people, but it did have a huge advantage of being mainly indoors should it have rained or become too hot, unlike the Malvern show which is mainly outdoors.

However, with a 90 minute train journey each way and the added cost of the journey and travel time, it's not somewhere I'll be going again as Malvern is on the doorstep with the added extras of entertainment and a wider variety of stalls.

If you're living in Birmingham though or getting to Malvern is too far or you rely on public transport then I do recommend getting up to the NEC next year. We had some great bargains with the plants going on the last day and waiting till the end of the day to purchase plants at a considerable discount and I got some great ideas for the garden as well getting to look at a wide range of green house and bin tidies for future planning in the garden.

There were lots of interesting displays.

I'd love a Bonsai tree one day, but they're so expensive.

Mum was disappointed I wouldn't let her buy any of the display plants, she may have had her shopping trolley with her, but there was no way these were coming back on the train with us.

My nan grew fuchsias in pots. She had hundreds in her garden.

Hydrangeas remind me of my Gran her garden was full of them.

These gladioli's smelt amazing.

My dad's favourite flowers on fathers day.

A fun display.

School displays outside for bee garden design.

I have a variety of tea pots and old pans etc outside filled with succulents. I want a dog too.

These flowers have been growing in various gardens my whole life, I finally know what they are called now.

Raised bed ideas. Triangular shaped to fit a gap.

I love everything about this garden display. Wondering what I can incorporate into our garden.

I love this bin tidy with more succulents growing on top.

I came home and ordered a mini greenhouse.

Our Tain journey and walk through the NEC was an interesting one as Anime Con event was going on at the same time and I had to explain to my mum what a Furry was.