0 comment Monday, May 19, 2014 | admin
I have been saving up for the past few months with the sexy Outdoor Languishment Couch in mind: this is a pretty posh bit of kit and I was of two minds when it came to investing in it. After all, it's expensive and I've never paid this kind of cash before (even the garden works was charity money and so therefore didn't really feel like "mine"). But due to the back DLA and tax credit payments, I decided "Well, fine, I may as well spend that money on - gasp, dare I say it? - enjoying myself." Especially during the summer months and with child as we move more and more towards the possibility of child being in residential school - the days I spend with my child are now more precious than ever.
The Wump has a long standing habit of needing to be on top of me or exactly in the chair I'm occupying. This is often a problem as the loungers aren't built for two! More to the point he has a tendency to jam his elbows and knees right into my pressure points. Now I know he's doing it for the sake of affection, and I don't want to discourage it, but I need space to be comfortable, my legs raised, and protection from the sun. So something was required but it needed to be BIG. This seems to fit the bill, will allow me to sprawl and for him to curl up with me.
I've been saving for a few months and though it's been covered by back payments it's nice to know there's still a little cash left over so I can spend a bit on other stuff like more potting soil or getting sprog something he needs or wants (such as putting on an Easter Egg Hunt party, something he's been wanting for a while now and I can finally indulge him - I'm slowly accumulating all the stuff for the party and inviting some of his friends and mine). I've already bought art supplies and it's sort of a nice "hurrah for me!" for getting some work into print and sending off to various contests for the first time.
Last week was another big purchase. In light of health problems, I decided to invest in a home recumbent bike. Now I've had a gym membership for a year but the truth of the matter is, I rarely went - just getting to the gym was exercise in and of itself and by the time I got there I was too exhausted to work out! Couple that with missing one week of out six due to half terms, and not being able to go during the summer at all and losing all motivation entirely...meh, just wasn't worth it. I've been keeping my eye out for recumbent bikes due to their stability (the standard bikes won't hold me!) and their need to not be plugged in, and so forth. I can install it in my bedroom and work out first thing in the morning, every day. I know it sounds like a New Year's Resolution about to go terribly wrong but I used to be an athlete - motivation hasn't been my problem, but sheer exhaustion and real-life-getting-in-the-way has been a huge issue. For the past two weeks I've been allowing my son to go to bed a little later so he gets up around seven. For myself, I'm still getting up around six; that's enough time to get up, stretch a bit and then get on the machine for a workout, then stretch a bit more, get the juicer fired up and then get sprog ready for his day.
Now I'll be able to work out at home whether I'm on childminding duty/half term madness/having my menses/too tired to make myself look presentable. Truth of the matter is, the chest twinges weren't just twinges - it's now, dramatic or not, life or death for me to somehow get back into shape. I'm not expecting miracles in the mobility department (which is why I have a piece of equipment rather than "why don't you do walking?" as everyone suggests who don't know how agonising that is for me) but cardiovascular strength and taking some of this excess weight off is a definite goal.
Of course growing my own food plays a big part in this: the fruit out there is going to be most welcome, and I'm eyeing the baby leaf lettuce covetously as it gets bigger and bigger! Potatoes are being planted and the shallots are in now, carrots being stagger-planted along with some buttercrunch I just planted, and will follow up with purslane and some curly leaf lettuce (I loves my salads, I does!). While I haven't had much luck with germinating peppers and toms I do have the Rocket Gardens Salsa Garden as a fallback option!
Today's mission is to break out the vinegar-based weedicine and see how it does on the rather wild bit of the top of the garden which isn't paved, getting everything there good and dead so I don't have to keep breaking strimmer-thread every time I hit something I shouldn't when trying to deal with the bloody weeds! If it works well there, then I'll nuke some other patches which I can't quite bend down enough to dig, and we'll see how it goes out there. I've also got some trim-backs on some rather bloodyminded shrubbery that I need to be beat back with some loppers.
And on we go - soon, My Son, soon time for ice cream and barbecues (which he has been asking about since March!).
The Wump has a long standing habit of needing to be on top of me or exactly in the chair I'm occupying. This is often a problem as the loungers aren't built for two! More to the point he has a tendency to jam his elbows and knees right into my pressure points. Now I know he's doing it for the sake of affection, and I don't want to discourage it, but I need space to be comfortable, my legs raised, and protection from the sun. So something was required but it needed to be BIG. This seems to fit the bill, will allow me to sprawl and for him to curl up with me.
I've been saving for a few months and though it's been covered by back payments it's nice to know there's still a little cash left over so I can spend a bit on other stuff like more potting soil or getting sprog something he needs or wants (such as putting on an Easter Egg Hunt party, something he's been wanting for a while now and I can finally indulge him - I'm slowly accumulating all the stuff for the party and inviting some of his friends and mine). I've already bought art supplies and it's sort of a nice "hurrah for me!" for getting some work into print and sending off to various contests for the first time.
Last week was another big purchase. In light of health problems, I decided to invest in a home recumbent bike. Now I've had a gym membership for a year but the truth of the matter is, I rarely went - just getting to the gym was exercise in and of itself and by the time I got there I was too exhausted to work out! Couple that with missing one week of out six due to half terms, and not being able to go during the summer at all and losing all motivation entirely...meh, just wasn't worth it. I've been keeping my eye out for recumbent bikes due to their stability (the standard bikes won't hold me!) and their need to not be plugged in, and so forth. I can install it in my bedroom and work out first thing in the morning, every day. I know it sounds like a New Year's Resolution about to go terribly wrong but I used to be an athlete - motivation hasn't been my problem, but sheer exhaustion and real-life-getting-in-the-way has been a huge issue. For the past two weeks I've been allowing my son to go to bed a little later so he gets up around seven. For myself, I'm still getting up around six; that's enough time to get up, stretch a bit and then get on the machine for a workout, then stretch a bit more, get the juicer fired up and then get sprog ready for his day.
Now I'll be able to work out at home whether I'm on childminding duty/half term madness/having my menses/too tired to make myself look presentable. Truth of the matter is, the chest twinges weren't just twinges - it's now, dramatic or not, life or death for me to somehow get back into shape. I'm not expecting miracles in the mobility department (which is why I have a piece of equipment rather than "why don't you do walking?" as everyone suggests who don't know how agonising that is for me) but cardiovascular strength and taking some of this excess weight off is a definite goal.
Of course growing my own food plays a big part in this: the fruit out there is going to be most welcome, and I'm eyeing the baby leaf lettuce covetously as it gets bigger and bigger! Potatoes are being planted and the shallots are in now, carrots being stagger-planted along with some buttercrunch I just planted, and will follow up with purslane and some curly leaf lettuce (I loves my salads, I does!). While I haven't had much luck with germinating peppers and toms I do have the Rocket Gardens Salsa Garden as a fallback option!
Today's mission is to break out the vinegar-based weedicine and see how it does on the rather wild bit of the top of the garden which isn't paved, getting everything there good and dead so I don't have to keep breaking strimmer-thread every time I hit something I shouldn't when trying to deal with the bloody weeds! If it works well there, then I'll nuke some other patches which I can't quite bend down enough to dig, and we'll see how it goes out there. I've also got some trim-backs on some rather bloodyminded shrubbery that I need to be beat back with some loppers.
And on we go - soon, My Son, soon time for ice cream and barbecues (which he has been asking about since March!).
Labels: Garden, Good Life, Sprog