My lockdown successes and achievements

I can't believe that it has been over two months since the children were sent home from school, followed by the lockdown a few days later. Those two months seem to have gone so quickly and there is a scientific explanation for this, it's to do with the fact that when every day is the same you aren't creating new memories, so when you look back you feel as though time really has flown (you can read more about the science here!)

However despite my anxiety being pretty high for most of that period, and finding it difficult to concentrate and get on with anything, I have actually been quite productive within my home and garden boundaries. So I thought I'd share a few of my lockdown successes and achievements!

* I have kept us all fed. I plan meals and can now keep us going easily on one weekly shop instead of popping to Asda every few days. I generally do keep our food cupboards quite well stocked, and we bulk buy when the food that we eat is on special offer, so luckily I was quite prepared when the initial food shortages happened. The lack of flour and yeast did catch me out though!

* I have upped my exercise. My husband was already working from home when the schools closed, so we had got into the habit of going for a daily run together. We have continued this over the weeks, and have recently been going out on our bikes which had been gathering dust in the garage.

* As well as this exercise, as a family we have explored the local area, going for walks on the golf course nearby, to the beach (only once, it turned out to be 40 minutes walk away), up the nearby hill and out into the fields around our village. 

* I have set up the vegetable patch and garden by myself, as my parents haven't been able to come down and help me with it. I've grown vegetables and other plants from seed as the garden centres were shut.

* With the lovely weather we have all spent lots of time in the garden, playing, keeping the weeds under control and enjoying pizza from the pizza oven, barbecues, and our fire pit. 

* I have been homeschooling the children. Some days go better than others but thanks to a comprehensive programme of work from the school I don't think we are doing too badly.

* I have been reading a lot. I've turned to comfort reading, I've worked my way through both the Anne of Green Gables and the Little House on the Prairie series of books!

* I started a 100 day project of drawing and painting and I'm enjoying setting aside half an hour a day or so to paint with watercolours and create some pretty pictures.

* I've also made some excellent progress with my other craft projects, including a large diamond painting of Starry Night by Van Gogh which is almost complete.

* I've managed to keep up with the housework. In fact having a housework plan has helped me with my weekly routine, as I know that certain chores need to be done on certain days!

So although the last two months do feel a little bit like an empty space with nothing to fill it, when I look back I am actually not doing too badly!

And in case this blog post sounds just a little bit too smug, look out for my post in a few days where I'll be sharing all my lockdown failures!