Retail Therapy

As I said in a previous post during the week, it has been a very trying week. Last Monday both my inlaws went into a care home to give them (and us) two weeks of respite. It was a very difficult day, emotions were running high, and they continued in that vein most of the week. The care home is about a 25 minute drive from here and EVERY day I received a call from my m-i-l asking for something to be brought to her. There were a few days when the trip had to be made twice. I didn't mind when it was important, such as a call for certain medication to be got and brought there, but there were a few calls when the requests were really rather trivial. My m-i-l has a very kind heart but she is VERY demanding and things when done for her are usually not right!

As well as this, James had two appointments this week. One was with the Orthoptist. This usually is not a problem but this visit she had to put drops in his eyes. Not a pleasant experience for anyone to have done, but he reacted very badly and took a little while to get composed!

On Friday he was to have a tooth removed due to an abscess. Have a guess how that went.....?!!
Needless to say the tooth fairy did not have a reason to visit, the tooth is still in place and a referral has been made for him to have it removed at the hospital under General Anaesthetic!! I dread it!!

So Saturday dawned and we were determined it was going to be a GOOD DAY. It was!

We began at Coffee Bean Deli for breakfast. The kids chittered to each other and Peter and I relaxed over lovely coffee and the morning newspapers.

Then it was off to the library. The kids browsed and borrowed a few books and I took out the following....

Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting Betsy Hosegood
Mr Rosenblum's List Natasha Solomons
Cleaving Julie Powell
The Future Homemakers of America Laurie Graham (Audiobook)

Peter went off to golf after that and the kids and I decided to take good old public transport and go into Belfast on the bus and indulge in some SHALLOW BUT PLEASING retail therapy!

Avoca is one of my favourite shops in town. Their clothes are beautiful...to look at! They are just a touch too expensive! However they also sell the most GORGEOUS homeware. I already have the button mugs and love to browse the rest of the range. Today was mostly "sensible" stuff though! A Greengate washing up brush, a Greengate teatowel (you can never have too many!! LOL!), some Avoca soap and some Rice scouring pads.

The kids then enjoyed browsing in Build-a-Bear and the Disney Store. A little bit of pocket money was spent! I got a little bit of reading material....

When we got home a parcel from Amazon was sitting so some sewing will have to be done!!!

Tea is now over, kids are ready-ish for bed, and I am sitting doing this and planning a night of reading with the following in hand.....

A lovely end to the week! Bliss!