May 2026 Goals

Home: Once again I'm pleased with the progress made in April. The new curtains and blinds for two of the bedrooms have been installed and all the beds moved to the correct rooms. The room for the lodger is nearly ready - the chest of drawers and the arm chair arrive this Thursday, and then it will just be a case of photographing the room and placing an advert on SpareRoom. 

I'm currently dealing with quotes and availability for the odds and ends in the kitchen to be finished off, the last few bit of electric sockets and lights (which I decided to add at the last minute because after living with the new electrics for a few months I realised that I needed some extra sockets in the living room), and also the re-plastering in the living room and maybe the hall. I've ordered the IKEA cupboards for the study so I'm hoping to get those fitted as soon as possible too. Hopefully I can get the majority of this work completed by the end of this month, although I haven't pinned the plasterer down to a date yet! Once this work is done, all I'll be left with is three rooms to decorate.

Garden: M is working on the garden as I write this. Today the focus is on creating the shape of the lawn and digging out the new flower beds - I have clay soil so this is hard, heavy work and Niall is outside helping her. I've ordered a bulk bag of top soil, which won't be here until tomorrow, but that's to raise the level of some of the flower beds. So far only the Crocosmia Lucifer has been planted, but by the end of the month I hope the beds will be ready for some new plants - I have a very long list (of course!) but I won't be buying everything this year. Also the remaining perennials still in pots have to be found new homes in the flower beds.

Music: I've been playing the piano, but I'm not really back to practicing daily, so that's something I want to rectify by the end of the month. 

Photography: I'm still pressing on with the photography. It's not quite how I want it to be and I'm not really using my big camera, but I am taking photos and I am having fun, so will keep doing what I am doing!

Swimming: There was no change in April. This is what I wrote at the beginning of last month - I'm not sure whether to keep this in the list as we never seem to get to the pool! It is an activity that will be good for me so maybe I'll just leave it here as a reminder to myself with the aim of getting back to swimming once I've finished with the home improvements.

Reading: I listened to some more audio books during April and have read a couple of paperbacks. 

Healthy lifestyle: My health is still not good. I have had to have two of my May hospital appointments postponed as my GP surgery hasn't changed my medications, which has to be done at least two weeks before the hospital appointments. The hospital is writing to the GP again to get the process started, so there will now be a delay before I get the results, which is frustrating. 

Socialising: Despite all the illness, my social life is still plodding along nicely.  I achieved most of the activities I listed in my April post, and enjoyed them all. There's a bit more on in May; as well as seeing friends I have these events planned so far ...

• May 2nd: coach trip to Brixham Pirate Festival with Niall - I wrote about it here

• May 4th: u3a Canasta group

• May 18th: u3a Canasta group

• May 28th: u3a Something Snappy group 

• May 29th: local amateur production of We Will Rock You