DIY Projects, Boiler Cupboard and Painting Fences!

A productive and busy family help out type week! 

Click here to watch the vlog or see below. 

I beautiful family I looked after the week before, brought in a lovely card and bouquet of flowers to say thank you. It was perfect and so beautiful. I always love having fresh flowers in the house and these were perfect for the kitchen. 

I also treated myself to some bakery goods. Wollaton Bakes is a newly opened bakery that is on the way back from my cousin's house. They have been advertising all over social media and sharing their goods, which of course has made me crave them. I finally got around to visiting at the very end of their opening week and treated myself to a few of their options. I got a chocolate cupcake, two brownies (aero and biscoff) and a biscoff cookie pie. The cookie pie was dreamy. I would like one every week to be honest and I was very impressed that it lasted me 3 desserts and the price was super reasonable. The biscoff brownie was nice but I was a little disappointed by the other two to be honest. I thought the muffin was very dry and the aero brownie was just bland. 

I worked a bunch of night shifts in a row, having my very last shift with masks on. I defintely have mixed feelings regarding masks going. I've actually really enjoyed wearing them, but I know the majority of my colleagues hate them. I've got used to waking up, showering and leaving without having to do makeup. In all honesty, since taking them away, I've had 2 day shifts and I haven't bothered with makeup anyway and I have felt just as comfortable which is nice. 

I ended my last shift as an extra twilight shift, which is a 1800 - 0000 or 1900 - 0100. I ended up working 1800 - 0030 and it fit me perfectly. I slept great between my shifts, went to work, ate when I got back and then slept for about 6 hours. I probably could have slept a little longer, but I had a joiner coming to fit my boiler cupboard so I didn't quite get the chance, but nevertheless, it worked well. I have written a full post for the boiler cupboard, so read all the details here. 

It was a busy week with family. On the Wednesday, my dad came over a little last minute. I was actually at university 0900 - 1400 so didn't spend too much time helping initially but we did end up getting a lot of the DIY jobs done around the house: hooks, carpet, skirting, door threshold, door frame, drilling. Then I gave him a list of things to do in the garden which took the majority of the time. He halved all the bushes, hedges and trees, hung a mirror, planted some new plants and then we tag teamed to do a big tip run to remove some old planters (including the dreading bamboo!) that the previous owners had annoyingly left behind. A B and Q run ended the day, before he returned back to Wales. I was very thankful! 

The next day, my mum came down for the day. With a lot of things going on with my grandma at the moment and her health drastically deteriorating, it's been difficult for her especially as the lead carer. I think she wanted the break more than anyone and whilst she did come to help with garden fence painting, we also had some lovely family time. My cousin and nephew met us at a local Chinese restaurant (my favourite!) and we enjoyed a delicious 3 course meal, before heading to the house. We had lots of fun, but we were somewhat productive, getting about a third of the fences painted. 

I feel so incredibly stupid recording and sharing the last clip, now watching it over a week later, but it's the raw reality of my mental health and the sad ups and downs I'm currently going through. Life is hard and I know I'm incredibly lucky, but that doesn't mean it's always perfect.