Do you like my new mug? It came free when I finally caved in and resubscribed to Country Living magazine. I don't want to like Country Living, but I just can't help myself. It's so pretty. And when I spotted an offer of £10 for six issues and a free mug, I couldn't resist. 

It's nice having something pretty and delicate around the place for a change. As you can see, we're still in the middle of, well, every job you could think of, all at once, so the rest of the house is all boxes and wood and drills. The triumph of the week is that the landing floor is now finished, and I can't tell you how pleased that makes me. 

It's hard to appreciate floorboards until you've been without them for a while. For the last month or so, we've been gingerly stepping over this mess - and hopping between joists in your bare feet in the middle of the night is not the easiest of tasks. My balancing skills have been finely honed.

But now we have a floor - a combination of the original floorboards, some Victorian boards being thrown out by the neighbours over the road, and new boards, all cut into slightly bizarre shapes to fit the wonky walls and mismatched floors of adjoining rooms. I've never been so excited about a floor before. It almost seems a shame to cover it with a carpet. 

In fact, we're going to be able to enjoy the floorboards for a little longer, as the carpet is staying rolled up while we plaster the walls - my job this weekend while Peter fits cladding to the bathroom walls. Well, that's the plan anyway... 

My route to visit my family takes me across the Snake Pass. It's a beautiful route, and over the years I've become more familiar with it. I always mean to stop and take photographs, but I'm usually running late, and so I've never quite got round to it. 

On Saturday I deliberately say what time I'd be there, so technically I couldn't be late. It was a glorious day and I managed to pull over a couple of times to take photographs - first of Ladybower Reservoir, which always catches my eye glittering in the sunshine, and then of some of the more upland areas as the road weaves up into the hills. 

The sun had disappeared as I got further up, and there are fewer places to pull over, so these pictures don't show just how special it is up there. 

I always feel like I shouldn't enjoy driving. I spent many years identifying myself as an environmentalist, and didn't learn to drive until quite late, and vowed I'd never own a car (oops). I still wouldn't go out just 'for a drive', but I confess this bit of this journey I really do enjoy, and I'll miss it if it's no longer part of the route once we've moved house. We're lucky to have such beautiful scenery so close to home. 

Yesterday I did my 50th Parkrun in the sunshine, meaning I now qualify for a free t shirt. Hooray! It's only taken me since 2011...

Running, and exercise more generally, has meant different things to me over the years. When I was younger, it was something to be afraid of, something I couldn't do, something where people left me behind and I felt puffed out and embarrassed. 

When I started running in my twenties, it became something I wanted to do, and enjoyed while I was actually doing it, but was always reluctant to go out and get started. I often abandoned it for long stretches, lost the small amount of fitness I'd gained, and became disheartened about starting again. 

I had quite an active life at that point anyway. I didn't have a car, and regularly cycled 10, 15, even 20 miles to get to places I wanted to go. I was never fast, but I always got there in the end (although I did sometimes complain about it). 

Later I got more sedentary, and running became something I felt I should do. I still enjoyed it when I did it, but again left long periods between bouts of enthusiasm, and never really built up much fitness. I sometimes entered races, but rarely trained for them, and usually came last.  

In my thirties, I started taking things a little more seriously and found myself talked into a marathon. I'm no expert, but a marathon isn't just something you turn up and do on the day with no training. I started running more regularly, and found myself getting a lot fitter quite quickly. It was actually rather enjoyable. After race day though, I abandoned it again and didn't run for months. 

At the minute I'm in a period of relative enthusiasm. I've got a few races coming up in the next few weeks, and while I'm hardly going to win any of them, and in fact it's likely that I'll come last, yet again, I'm enjoying the process. One of them is a triathlon, and I'm enjoying the variety of swimming, cycling, running that the training brings. 

I've joined a gym - something I've done before, but rarely used. This one, however, is in the building I work in, and it's quite satisfying to finish work for the day and spend half an hour in the gym before walking home. 

I think my attitude's changed lately. I've been listening to those little voices in my head, and trying to figure out those unwritten 'rules' that are in there about exercise. 

Well, how's about we just let those little voices fade into the background. Yes, it's pleasant to be outside on a sunny day, but sometimes getting half an hour in at the gym means exercise, whereas walking home, getting changed, getting the bike out and going back out again means I'm more likely to flop on the sofa with my tea. Yes, I could cycle to work, but it's only 1.5 miles away, and down a large hill - meaning it'd take longer to get the bike out of the house than to cycle there, but longer to cycle home than walk. Yes, I'd get fitter eventually, but I enjoy the walk and it's not really a pleasant bike ride. Yes, I've only run once, but it's better than nothing. 

Nobody's tracking my exercise, other than me. Right now I'd much rather do something I enjoy and increase my overall fitness than feel I had to be constantly running and more running, and starting to dread it and avoid it like I have done in the past, and if that means I'm going to be last, yet again, in the half marathon, then so be it. Running is a way to get out into the countryside, see more of the city, listen to a cheery podcast, and yes, sometimes unwind in the gym at the end of the day. 

And it's a bonus if you sometimes get a free t shirt or a medal at the end of a race. 

No running for me today though! I need a rest after yesterday's Parkrun efforts. The sun's shining, and I want to get something done in the house that will inch us towards our move. Watch this space... 

I wasn't really sure what to say this morning, when I remembered I regularly used to use the Simple Woman's Daybook format - a lovely set of prompts for writing about where you are, right now. So, right now, this is where I am. 

For today... I feel quiet. The end of my first week back at work, and I've been out most evenings too. I ache after yesterday's gym session. I'd like to stay in my dressing gown for another few hours. 

Outside my window... the sky is grey, and the lilac leaves are starting to emerge. 

I am thinking... that soon I must get dressed. The plasterer is coming, and I have a wedding to prepare for (not mine! But a friend's, this afternoon, and we are all taking food to share)

I am thankful... for a good night's sleep, and an hour to myself first thing in the morning

I am wearing... my purple furry dressing gown. It's the only thing I've ever bought new with a 'label' (Jasper Conran) but I had a gift voucher and just could not resist its softness. I've had it two years and it still feels as good as new. 

I am creating... nothing much at the minute. Food for the wedding. Knitted socks. A renovated house. That's enough. 

I am going... to a wedding, this afternoon. So many people have been involved in making food, decorations, music. It should be fun. 

I am wondering... at what point in my life I'll learn to leave enough time for the things I need to do. Not today, clearly. 

I am reading... Kate Humble's book, Humble by Nature. I idly picked it up in the library, not expecting much, but I'm actually quite enjoying it. The link takes you to the farm she's set up (I haven't got that far in the book yet!)

I am hoping... that soon we will have a fully functional floor on the landing. There's nothing like tiptoeing over the joists for several weeks to make you appreciate an ordinary floor. 

In my garden... sticks, weeds, rubbish. Not the most glorious garden at the minute! But also lilac buds, catkins, flowers, rhubarb. 

In my kitchen... dust, wood, bags to be put away, coats. Too many things. 

A favorite quote for today... 'she woke up one morning and threw away all her excuses' (Kobi Yamada, I believe). 

If you'd like to join in yourself, go to The Simple Woman's Daybook.

I've gone back to work this week, and I'm trying to hold on to some sense of holiday. 

One thing that means for me is noticing. Noticing the magnolia tree as I walk between buildings. Noticing the tea kitty has run out of milk, and popping to get some more even though it's not my job, because nobody should have to go without tea. Noticing the sunlight streaming through the office windows. 

It's so easy to slip back into a spiral of head-down work, staring at the screen, dashing from one room to another. Mine is interesting work, and so it's easy to forget when I'm there that there's a life outside. But I'm noticing this new job has a seasonal quality I didn't have in my old job, that the pace and type of work changes with the seasons, and after a winter and early spring of frenetic activity, I'm looking forward to some long, lazy summer days of reading and working in the garden (maybe even a new garden). 

(Having said that, there's plenty I don't know about this job yet, and chances are I'll be back in September, wondering where my long, lazy summer went).

Yesterday was the last day of my fortnight off work. We headed out on another hunt for a nice place to live - north this time. 

It was a sunny day, which always makes everything feel better - and we'll have to make sure we revisit the other places in the sunshine too, just to be fair. 

This area feels more rural and village-y than some we've visited, and is also closer to the city, and therefore rather more expensive. There's always a compromise, and we're not sure yet which direction our compromise is going to be (do we go closer to town, with a smaller garden? Longer commute for more space? We'll see). 

Obviously there was a cafe involved, a no-nonsense little place on the edge of the Trans-Pennine Trail. I've never cycled any of this trail, but might have to make plans to do so in the future. Not sure I'll manage the whole coast to coast route though. 

The skies seemed bigger out there, and we spent a lot of time watching the clouds changing. 

That's north, south and east we've done now. To the west of the city is the peak district national park - we spend a lot of time out there anyway, and are unlikely to be able to afford a house that meets many of our criteria in that direction. There are still a few more local places we'd like to visit though, but we can do those after work now the lighter evenings are here. 

I finished off my holidays with a bit more knitting, of course. 

My socks are developing strange knobbles and tucks, which I can only assume are the result of wrong stitches and not paying attention. But this time I will plough on regardless, and hope it all works out in the end.  

Today I went back to work, and it was a fairly gentle re-introduction. It was nice that my job, which is still quite new, after all, felt familiar, and it was good to see my colleagues again. I just picked up where I left off, no stress. I confess I never quite believe people who get all het up about having '500 emails!!' when they get back to work after a break. I had 231, and after 45 minutes with a cup of tea, whittled it down to less than 20 that actually required me to do anything, and after working today, I just have four left to deal with. But then I don't work on an IT helpdesk, don't manage anyone, and everyone knew I was away, so what do I know? Maybe there are people who really do get 500 emails, none of them circulars or duplicates or notices-to-put-in-the-diary, and all of which require an hour of work. If so, I'm very glad that's not my job.

Still, I've been trying to find ways to bring the holiday attitude into my working days. I took pictures on the journey to work this morning, and again on the way home, and made sure I took plenty of breaks for tea today. I went to the library twice, and the second time spent 15 minutes just wandering up and down the shelves - one of my favourite ways to pass a bit of time. I spent the whole day feeling ever so grateful for this most cheerful of jobs, doing just what I like, close to home. 

Yesterday dawned rather soggily, but with a good deal of grumping I did head to the park for my 49th Parkrun. One more and I get a free t shirt! 

It was more of a plod than a race for me yesterday - and I enjoyed the shower afterwards more than the run itself. Afterwards I was cold and damp, and spent much of the rest of the day pottering around the house and garden. 

​I discovered that Victorian Farm is now on YouTube, and spent a happy hour watching the first one with my knitting. I loved this series, and the ones that followed (Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm, Tudor Monastery Farm). I love learning about everyday lives in the past. It makes me want to be even more self-reliant. 

At some point in the afternoon, the rain stopped. I went outside to rearrange the pots I'd shifted for the men to replace the windows. 

It was so nice in the afternoon sunshine that I got slightly distracted planting new plants and digging up part of the willow hedge. 

I've had a love/hate relationship with this hedge. I love that it grows so much (and also hate that I can't keep on top of the maintenance). I love the way it looks like a big furry boundary - but I also acknowledge that this type of 'unusual' boundary probably isn't going to help sell our house. Out it comes (slowly - it's hard work). 

I found a rouge potato. 

In the evening I did some work on my long-ignored permaculture diploma, a spot of tidying, and half an hour of wallpaper stripping. A slow, gentle, perfect day. 

Today the sun's shining again, and I'm back at work tomorrow, so we're off for our last house-area-hunting day of the holidays. Can't wait. 

I didn't go far yesterday, as I spent the morning hanging around the house while two lovely men replaced our large downstairs double glazed windows, all three of which were misted up. This is one of the things the estate agent recommended we do before selling the house, as the windows are large and let in a lot of light - except they didn't, because you could barely see out of them. 

The difference really is quite shocking. I'm startled every time I walk into the kitchen, because the street outside looks like some kind of hyper-reality. So clear! So vivid! So colourful! It's one of the few things we weren't willing to attempt ourselves, although having watched the men and listened to them working, I think the main difficulty is making sure you don't drop the glass. I think with a smaller (downstairs) window, this is definitely something I'd attempt myself in the future (after a good bit of reading, of course). Still, as we only replaced the glass, and as it only took a couple of hours to do all three windows, it didn't cost much at all. Another job off the list. 

The plasterer is coming back this week to measure up for scaffolding. The job itself is straightforward, but the ceiling is so high you can't reach it with a ladder. It was boarded many years ago, but never plastered, and it's been annoying me the whole time I've been here but the last quote we had was so extortionate we put it out of our minds. This is another job the estate agent suggested we tackle, as it really does make the room look scruffy, and looks like it will be difficult to fix, so will put people off. 

I've asked the plasterer to quote for the job I was planning to do myself, over the stairs. I'm not entirely happy about being too wimpish to do it myself... but his quote was reasonable and I'll still have to paint it (a job I can do standing on the landing, with a paint pad and roller on a stick). One day I'll accept that you don't have to do everything yourself (that day is probably not going to be today, though). 

Still, in our year of house preparing, these are the only jobs we've had people in to do. Everything else we have done, or will do, ourselves. It's been difficult at times, and yes, we have complained. But let's assume it's going to take us another six months - that'll be eighteen months in total. My guess (and I'll work it out properly when we're done) is that we'll have spent around £1500 in total on doing up this house to sell - including the plasterer, windows, and all materials we've bought. 

Yes, we could have moved an awful lot sooner if we'd have spent several thousands more getting people in to do awkward jobs and even just decorating for us. Peter's spent hours sourcing things (doors, floorboards etc) from Freegle and Ebay and Gumtree, and borrowing tools from friends, when we could have rocked down to Wickes and bought new. At times, I confess I've been impatient and wanted to do things right now, wanted to make a problem go away by throwing money at it. That's essentially what I'm doing with the plastering over the stairs, and I still don't feel comfortable with it. 

I'm not saying we've done the right thing - I'm not even sure there is a right way of going about such things. You might be reading this and thinking 'for goodness sake woman, stop agonising and just get someone in to do the lot!' But as much as I've had moments of wanting to do that, I know that in the long run, we'll thank ourselves for having taken the slow route. 

I think in some ways we're saying goodbye to this house. 

We spend a lot of time saying 'in our new house, we'll....' but I know we'll miss this place. We'll miss the creaky floorboards, the wonky walls, the people walking past the windows and the children playing in the street. We'll miss being so close to both town and the countryside, and to friends and cheerful cafes. We'll miss the enormous windows and the skylights, and the many, many stairs. 

But I won't miss having my eye distracted every time someone walks down the street. I won't miss knowing anyone walking past can see into my entire garden. I won't miss having the kitchen doubling as a music room. I won't miss having to park several streets away sometimes, having my wheelie bins fall over in the wind because there's nowhere flat to keep them, and hearing people walking past shouting on their way home from the pub. 

Slowly, we're getting ready, both practically and emotionally. 

Crikey, I don't know where all that came from - I planned to talk about knitting! After saying I was going to continue with my wrong version of the pattern, I changed my mind and unravelled the whole thing, and am now doing it right. It's much better (I'm not sure you can tell the difference in the photo, but it's much easier to knit it the right way).

I'm now back up to where I was before I unravelled it, and things are progressing nicely. 

Today it's raining, and I'm trying to keep warm after a soggy Parkrun. I don't plan to go much further than the sofa for the rest of the day, although we might pop to a cafe for lunch if we're feeling adventurous. Got to make sure I'm well rested before going back to work, after all. 

Yesterday me and my foldy bike went off for a little ride, this time to the Monsal Trail - another one of those ex-railway cycle trails that criss cross the peak district. If you click on the link you can hear the voices of people who remember it as a railway before it closed in 1968, very interesting. 

The sun was shining, and this trail is slightly prettier than the section of the high peak trail I was on last week, so it felt altogether more jolly. 

The route passes through several tunnels, well enough lit that you can see people coming, but dark enough to be a little bit eerie when you're in the middle by yourself and can't see either end. Especially when someone starts making strange ghostly noises which echo around the walls. Ahem. 

I cycled for just over five miles before reaching the tea van - the place we usually turn round when I cycle here with friends. It's an old station, and the platform makes a nice place for a picnic in the summer. 

Not much of a picnic for me yesterday - I'm meant to be 'training' for this triathlon after all. So just a quick stop for a banana and I was on my way back again. 

I enjoy these little cycling excursions. Obviously it would be quicker to cycle from my house, especially when I'm going on my own and just for an hour. But it's hilly where I live, and my 'proper' bike is in the cellar, and probably needs a bit of repairing. I'll have to do it before the triathlon of course, but for now, I prefer to just sling my foldy bike in the car and cycle up and down these trails.

I've usually got a Radio 4 podcast in one ear so I'm always learning something as I cycle along - for example yesterday I was listening to an interview with Helen Sherman, the first British person in space, who was apparently involved in designing and making the Mars ice cream (as in 'ice cream Mars bar', not 'ice cream from Mars'). Who knew? 

The weather started to turn as I turned round, so I raced back to the car - fortunately this trail does slope slightly downhill on the way back so everything feels easier. Ten miles done, just over an hour. That'll do nicely. I might try and squeeze in another ride before I go back to work. 

Today is a bit of a this-and-that day. I've got two very nice men here this morning, replacing the big panes of glass in the downstairs windows. They've done the kitchen already and I was quite startled when I walked back into the room - it's so clear, it looks like there's no glass there at all! (There is, I checked). I've got a couple of life admin things to do (an appointment to make, a couple of phone calls, an email to send) and then I plan to potter, knit, and spend a good long time in the swimming pool I think. 

My time off work is coming to an end and finally I'm starting to feel properly relaxed. I just need to figure out how to keep hold of that feeling when I go back to work...