Things that are making me happy

The three I'm currently switching between - and I
didn't pay more than £6 for any of them!

I was going to come on here and grumble – summer is coming, and with it my annual flail about being fat – but you know what? Grumbling's no good to anyone. It won't solve my problems (not unless I flail at aerobic levels for at least 30 minutes a day, at any rate) and it won't brighten your day. So, instead of that nonsense*, here are some things that are making me happy.

My handbags
Like perfume and most jewellery, handbags always fit. (Actually, my 1930s bride's book would probably disagree as it was very strict about larger ladies not carrying delicate bags, or petite ones carrying large bags, but never mind that.) I spent most of the winter toting my leather crossbody bag around out of sheer laziness, so it's been wonderful to get back into carrying my vintage boxy bags again. Switching cards, lipsticks, keys and so on in the morning can feel like a faff, but a nice and appropriate bag certainly brightens every day.

The Urchins
They're cutting a swathe through the local wildlife – Mr Robot had to rescue two different slow worms from Pippin on Sunday, and ended up sleeping in a pair of trousers last night as he was having to get up so many times to take frogs back outside – but I love these furry idiots.

Planting things
I've put together a few pots of seeds over the weekend. Tomatoes – I always grow tomatoes each year, regardless of anything else I do – plus some flowers. Marija sent me some seeds for lovely big daisies, so they're in one of the pots. There's also nemesia, cosmos and a few other things. I need to plant some more herbs too; nothing beats basil or coriander fresh from the garden.

My garden is a bit of a tip right now, but I have been enjoying being out there. Slowly it's all coming together again – a bit of weeding here, a bit of sweeping there, and it all looks better. We do have trees to cut back, which will keep us in wood this winter, and serious rubble-moving to do at the end of the garden, but that's okay. Just being outside is lovely. It's so peaceful, when Mr Robot isn't racing after the cats saying, “LEAVE THE SLOW WORMS ALONE” in a stern voice.

The kitchen

Mr Robot putting things back after we repainted.

It's done! Repainted, new floor laid, and a new cooker to boot. (The old cooker, which is the one in the photo, was so decrepit all the numbers had worn off the dials, which made deciding what temperatures to bake things at a bit of a challenge.) I'm so pleased with the chequerboard floor. We used to have modern, large tan tiles, and the colour didn't work half as well with the rest of the room. They were all broken so needed replacing. Now the kitchen should need nothing doing to it for at least another five years. Fixing up bits around the house has made us both take better care of the house in general, to the point where I love being in my home. It really is my happy place.

My clothes
I should look at the ones I like wearing, rather than the ones I would like to wear, right? I took all my knackered old longsleeve tops to the rag recycling recently. They were about a decade old and had reached the point where they never looked nice. There's no point wearing things that make you feel shabby, and I realised that I'd be more likely to buy tidy new ones if I got rid of the old ones first. Ditching the shabby things means I wear things I'm happy with. Okay, I'd like a bit more variety, but I don't go out feeling like I look horribly scruffy. I also found an excellent pale olive wool tweed skirt in a charity shop, so my chazza drought is over. And in a fit of mag deadline stress I bought another 1960s dress. Oops. I always end up shopping when I'm on deadline...

What's making you happy right now?



*And anything about Br*x*t, which sucks.