This could potentially be my last week of furlough (I highly doubt this will be the case but we seem to be working in 3 weekly increments so I guess I’ll find out by the end of this week), I don’t know if the past few weeks have gone quickly or not – I’ve lost all sense of time now and it has all just blurred together which is why these furlough diaries are so helpful, at least I’ll be able to look back and see what I’ve been up to!

Tuesday 21st April
It was grandad’s funeral today which would be sad enough under normal circumstances but needless to say a socially distanced, limited to 10 people funeral was horrendously sad. It’s been a sad day but I’ll be going to bed tonight feeling better that we can put the last few weeks of stress and upset behind us a bit ❤️

I spent the morning trying to keep busy, my strawberry plants arrived (they were not in great condition at all as had spent 6 days in the post but they look like they might survive) so I planted those into their tiered planter.

Parts are slowly starting to arrive for our ‘Japanese Garden’ area and hopefully, it’ll be transformed in the next few weeks, these solar lights from Lights4fun will look great sitting in the white stones.

After the funeral, we chatted in the car park for a bit (it was so nice to see my family) and my sister gave me my birthday presents which consisted of a BebeBoxes box full of bath bombs and chocolate treats and a Rainbow Cake kit which I’ll be cooking at some point this week!

Wednesday 22nd April
I am exhausted after today!
My Poundshop.com order arrived which was nice as I’d forgotten mostly what I’d bought we’ve now got plenty of treats to last us the next few weeks and I’ve got some new face masks to try out.

I spent the morning emptying out the sideway, I didn’t realise just how much stuff we had in there!

My ‘birthday skip’ (I’ve had a skip delivered for my birthday for the past 3 years running, so it is somewhat of a tradition now) turned up at lunchtime and I spent the rest of the day organising, sweeping and chucking stuff in the skip.

Thursday 23rd April
What do you think of my new garden shoes? They arrived this morning (I only ordered them yesterday!) they are the same sort of material as crocs but they are 1000% better because they don’t have holes to let the mud in AND they are vegetable themed! I bought them from BackDoorShoes.com and they are very comfy and practical for when I’m in the garden, Dean hates them which makes me love them more

Today has been a day for digging, sorting out some blog stuff, tidying up the fridge (I froze some leftover yoghurt in ice cube trays to be used in smoothies) and some more digging.

Not gonna lie, the lawn levelling is harder than I expected, the digging isn’t the problem it’s just trying to get an even fall that’s the challenge. If I dig too deep at the top end I might end up a foot out overall and my brain just can’t do the maths

Friday 24th April
I don’t know where I’ve got my energy from today, especially after all that digging yesterday!
This morning started with the postman popping my TeddyEva Scents delivery through the door, all the melts smell amazing (Dean commented on how nice the house smelt when he came home from work) and I’ve popped a teddy melt in all the burners in the house

I spent near on an hour and a half scrubbing kitchen windows trying to get some sticky marks off them that have been there since we moved in. Before we moved in my sister lived here and she was known for throwing big parties, the last party she had was a Halloween one and they put some kind of sticky cobweb stuff over the window that never really came off – It’s been stuck on the window for nearly 6 years! I nearly fell in the sink but it was worth the effort as they look nearly as good as new now, there are still a few stubborn marks but the majority of it looks pristine again.

I also sorted out the ‘man’ drawer, it’s been a job on my list for ages as stuff keeps getting wedged in and stopping it from opening, it had become a dumping ground for anything that would fit in there.

I organised it all nicely and I was very excited about my bits and bobs box and presented  it to Dean when he got home…he didn’t really get why I was so happy with it ‘it’s just a box of batteries’

After dinner I ventured into the garden to plant up my pea sprouts, I’ve put them into a large pot so that I can build a cane wigwam for them to climb up.

I had a nosey in the flowerpots to see what had bloomed over the past day and a bit and my first Petunia Night Sky had opened up, it’s just a beautiful as the picture on the label and looks just like a galaxy print!

Saturday 25th April
I finally made my birthday cake
It was a well-deserved treat after a long day in the garden.
We’ve managed to get about half the way across the lawn now and have broken out the base of the old flower bed and a washing line post stand. This job is deceivingly big, we kept saying ‘I reckon we can get most of it done today’ and then nearly collapsing 10 minutes later, it’s clay soil so it’s heavy but add in the sun and it’s just exhausting work.

Sunday 26th April
Didn’t do too much today, I spent the morning giving the plants a good soak as the little pots were drying out quickly. We got a bit more of the lawn done but it was mainly just a nice lazy one.

Monday 27th April
This morning started with some patchwork!
It’s just a quick project using a ‘scrap’ pack I ordered from AliExpress, it’s nice quality patches and the colours go really well together Around lunchtime I got a surprise delivery, (I say surprise because I haven’t had any dispatch notifications for it) it was my water feature! I was very excited to see it turn up and spent about an hour and a half positioning it and getting it set-up. There was quite a bit of fiddly manoeuvring with the pump line and light cables but I got there in the end, and, I am in LOVE with it!

The ‘Japanese garden’ area is nowhere near finished yet but it’s starting to take shape and it’s looking just how I wanted it to. It’s so hard to get a good photo or video of how it all looks of an evening with the lights but hopefully, this gives you some idea!