4 simple goals (before 2014)

As is often the case I’m a little late to the party, but yesterday I stumbled across this post on A Beautiful Mess.  

image : abeautifulmess.com

This is such a wonderfully simple idea and it is really resonating with me.  As the year draws towards its end, and the mayhem of the holiday season draws closer, it’s tempting for me to ramp up the busy and the crazy and try to do a million things in no time whatsoever.

But I don’t want to play that game this year.

I also suspect The Husband would divorce me if I did!

I’ve been off my feet for nearly 7 weeks now with this chest infection and, to my amazement, we have survived.  I find it disconcerting that the guys at the local pizza delivery know our order by heart and either discount our bill or add extra cheese because we’re such good customers.  And that I’m super thrilled with myself if I make a bowl of chilli (mainly, because it’s not pizza!). But…the house didn’t fall down, the kids don’t have rickets, and we haven’t choked on dust bunnies.

So, although I’m most definitely on the mend (and thank you all for your kind thoughts and good wishes) with only a few more days of meds, I think I’m going to give myself a little more breathing space until the year end.

No massive lists.  No “I must achieve 732 critically urgent tasks before 10.37am tomorrow morning”. No “I will lose 10lbs, make 4 dresses and landscape the garden before the end of the week”.

I only exaggerate a little bit.  I can be as mad as a badger when the list making bug takes me.

Instead, I’m going to give myself 4 simple activities that will, hopefully, be enough to stave off the crazies, but will also enrich my life, and therefore my family’s life, over the next couple of months.

The rules of engagement are as follows:

1. Choose simple goals that will make your life richer and happier on a daily basis. Choose things you may not otherwise get done, but that are not difficult to accomplish.

2. Do not choose result oriented goals, choose activity oriented goals. for example…. instead of “lose 10 pounds”, choose something like “eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day”. Get what I’m saying? Positive actions instead of just the end result!

3. Choose goals that are personal that you believe will truly make your life richer just by doing them! They can be daily, weekly or one time experiences.

4. Choose a reward for each goal as it is accomplished! It can be a small or large reward- it’s up to you.

5. Blog about your goals, each one as you achieve it and a big post when they are all finished before the new year!

I found it really easy to decide on my 4 Simple Goals.

1. Eat whole

I’m really not joking about the pizza.  And I miss cooking.  I’ve also been doing a lot of reading whilst I’ve been laid up and investigating the best way to eat to support my health.  I’m itching to get back into the CrossFit box, and to avoid a recurrence of this chest infection any time soon.

Time and time again my path has brought me back to the Paleo and Whole30 protocols. So my goal is to aim to eat whole food every day, without refined sugar, dairy, grain or legumes.

I hasten to add that I will NOT be following this over our anniversary weekend. At Northcote I shall be eating everything that gets put in front of me…and probably surreptitiously licking the plate too!  Oh…and there’ll be wine too! 😉 And we have a birthday tomorrow.  I know how good the foods going to be then too.  I’m making it (modest, much?).

Seriously though, I think this goal will not only start me back on the path to healthy, but also force me to get cooking again, which will be so rewarding in so many ways.

2. Get moving

Words I never thought I’d hear myself say include “I’m missing working out”. I’ve always been the poster girl for idleness, until I stepped inside my CrossFit box (see what I mean! “my” CF box!  What’s going on?)

I’m giving myself another week to clear my meds and then I’m getting back there. I’ve already met with my trainers and we have a strategy to get me working out very gently at the beginning to start building up my stamina again.

I’ll admit to being faintly horrified at the prospect of being considerably less fit than I was when I started there…but confident that if I practice this goal 3 times a week, I’ll make swift progress.  Hurrah!

3. Practice creativity

What?  Creative?  Surely this whole blog is about creativity?

Well, yes…and no!

I always see myself as a maker of things rather than a creative.  It’s an odd distinction that even I probably can’t fully articulate.

I make things that other people have created.  I use patterns and recipes and directions to make clothes and food and a home.

But I have ideas.  They are milling around my head like tourists in London in August.  And I want to explore them.  Even if it’s just sitting with a sketch book and doing some godawful drawings that no-one else will ever see.

Just to see where the process takes me.  Just for the fun of it.  And for playing with pencils and colour.

4. Organise

We are planning a wholesale redo of our home over the next year or so.  In my head it’s called “Project Shabby to Chic”.  Our home has been very much lived in over the last 5 years but not overly lavished with TLC.  So, with both kids at school now, it’s time to do some building work and make this place a fabulous space for us all.  It’s a project I’m really looking forward to.  I have some great ideas for this little house of ours, and am thoroughly enjoying browsing the interwebs and shelter magazines for ideas and inspiration.

However…before I can get to do that I need to clear boat loads of stuff, particularly in the sewing loft, so we can actually start ripping stuff out and putting it all back together again in a much more useful and appealing way.

It’s daunting prospect.  There is a lot of stuff up there.  It’s a giant mess.

So…I’m breaking it down.  Every day I will do one little bit of organising.

Clear a shelf.

Empty a drawer.

Pack one box of books.

Something.

I’m quite looking forward to seeing how I get on with this.  I’m not making any other lists.  Nor am I going to force the issue.  I may fall flat at the first hurdle. This might be a roaring success.

I’ll report back on a weekly basis…more for my benefit than anything else.

But I do know that today I’ve pulled up some recipes and printed a menu planning sheet so I can be organised for my food shop for next week.  I’ve done a little sketching whilst out having a coffee and come up with a cute idea for Boy that I can’t wait to try.  And I’ve cleared out a 5 drawer unit of kids craft supplies that I’ve mean meaning to organise for nearly a month (it took 30 minutes!).

I haven’t decided what reward I’m going to treat myself to if I make it to Christmas without my usual flurry of mayhem.  I’m already seeing the fruits of my lack of labour and that might just be enough.  I’ll give it some thought.

Whaddya think?  Am I on to something here?

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Sock slugs

Half term.

A small phrase that sends shivers down the spines of many parents.  Especially at this time of year when the weather is less than clement and you can’t tip the little horrors darlings into the garden and let them burn off some energy climbing the hedge.

Don’t get me wrong.  We are so ready for half term.  It’s been a tiring few weeks for all of us, and my little ones need the break.  It was lovely today not to have to leap out of bed and herd everyone out of the door, but to take it gently with tea/milk in bed and a leisurely breakfast.

Still…they need plenty of entertaining when they are out of school. So today, although the storms skirted us and the most we’ve had is some blustery winds and rain, otherwise known as normal service in these parts, I was really glad to have a lovely, indoor, activity organised for the kids.

Our local bookshop, Ebb & Flo, is a delightful and child friendly place.  

Diane, the owner, is always ready with a great book recommendation, whether for your own child, or a birthday gift. She’s also really good at organising fun events, especially children’s ones for the holidays.  

Today it was a story time and activity session with Fiona Woodhead, author of Once-Upon-A-Slime:

We had so much fun!

Apart from the subject matter…slugs, slime, and all sorts of things that make children roar with laughter and parents shudder slightly…we transformed old socks into slug companions, that even Boy managed to make with only a little bit of stitchy help from me.

Fiona is delightful…a vivacious and charming lady with an amazing rapport with children…and a passion for these tales which were originally the bedtimes stories told to her and her siblings by their father.  She’s also pretty amazing…she writes, illustrates and self-publishes this small range of books, as well as running these fabulous little workshops.

My two were mesmerised…no small feat…and the whole event was made more delightful as they were joined by their cousins and a school friend.

This was a lovely morning that included all my favourite things…family, friends, crafting and books.  The slugs are a huge hit and have entertained the wee people far more than I could have imagined.

I’ve a feeling we’ll need to do this again, sometime soon.  And if you’d like to make your own sock slug, which I highly recommend you do, then visit Fiona’s website for details.  

Have fun!

I’m out!

So…a visit to the doctor on Tuesday morning decided my participation in KCW. Another course of antibiotics with a side order of steroids. Both in bigger doses than before.  Eugh! I started taking them immediately and by Tuesday afternoon was feeling even more out of sorts than before. The lovely side effects of dizziness and insomnia meant that by yesterday morning I was fit for nothing but sitting on the sofa knitting and hand sewing.

It does mean that I’ve made progress on some mitts I’m knitting as a favour for a friend:

and the hexie quilt is coming along nicely, thank you very much.

But the sewing loft is closed for the time being.  I’m fine with that.

And whilst I knit and stitch and watch movies, I’m dreaming of our wedding anniversary weekend in November, because Alice-who-isn’t-a-cat and Ma and the Stitches-in-law are treating us to dinner.

But not any old dinner…nooooooooooo!  Dinner at the scene of the original crime!

Northcote Manor

I may have wept with joy when I opened the envelope.  It’s such a wonderful treat and a complete surprise.

We are very, very, VERY excited…as you can imagine. And, with a fair wind and a bucket load of drugs, I’ll be feeling fine by then.

In the meantime, I’m off to the sofa.  I have mitts to knit! But…I’l leave you with cute cats.  Just because I can.  And they’ll make you smile.  Which is a good thing, no?

Vicki Kate Makes…

…the most delightful dinner companion!

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Vicki Kate has made some lovely Tofino pyjamas and was modelling them in her hotel room.

In Preston.

Which is very close to where I live.

So we agreed that the next time she came to visit we’d meet up.  Which is what we did last night.

Trying to explain to the mums at the school gate the nature of our friendship was fun. You guys get it, but the general response was “soooooo…you’re off to meet a random stranger you met on the internet?  On your own?   Oooooooooooookaaaaaaaaaaaay!”

Which just makes me laugh.

But not as much as I laughed last night.  Vicki is such wonderful company.  She’s smart and funny it felt like we’d known each other for ever and were just picking up from a conversation we’d had yesterday.  We talked about our kids, and sewing, and home making, and sewing.  About working mothers and crossfit and paleo diets.  We ate a delicious dinner (not paleo!) and talked some more.

We talked so much I completely forgot to take pictures.

Which, I think, is a pretty good indicator of a fun time!

I can’t wait to do it again.  Come back soon, VK.  And bring your menfolk with you.

Yarndale

Well, this post is just a little bit ridiculously late, so I do apologise.

I’ve been rather poorly.  The chest infection I had at the beginning of the year has been back with a vengeance and it’s floored me.  10 days of antibiotics didn’t shift it…I’m currently on a dose of steroids.  Not thrilled by them but at least I can breathe a little easier than I could. Although the cough sounds like I’ve smoked 60 Woodbines a day since I was 3!

I was coughing on the day we went to Yarndale, but, like the trouper I am I put on my big girl panties and set off for a yarny adventure. 😉

The sun shone and whilst we’d heard tales of traffic chaos and huge crowds on the Saturday, for our Sunday visit we swung straight into a lovely parking space and walked into the venue to be greeted by the sweetest woolly faces.

Now at this point I’ll ask you to excuse the crappy smartphone pictures and focus on that wee adorable face.  I tried desperately to get my partners in crime travelling companions to agree to a shared ownership of an alpaca, in much the same way as you’d share a racehorse, but with built in lawn mowing and yarn.

They weren’t buying it.

And as the deeds for our house limit livestock to chickens and goats, neither did I.

Nor did we smuggle this beauty out in our handbags!

But enough of the cute and fluffies…I suspect what you’d like to know is “how good an event was Yarndale?”

I have to tell you it was amazing!  I haven’t been to Woolfest so I can’t compare, but I have been to the Twisted Thread extravaganzas at Harrogate and Alexandra Palace, and I’ve been to The Festival of Quilts.  Yarndale is by far my favourite event.

Yes it’s smaller, but we still managed to spend the whole day meandering in and out of stalls, stroking yarn, coveting spinning wheels and looms, and generally squeaking and swooning at all the loveliness.

I also feel it’s far better curated than the bigger shows.  Less tat!  More of the good stuff.  This is a Very Good Thing.

I cannot tell you how much yarn I nearly bought.  I had set myself a limit of some sock yarn for The Husband, some yarn for Aislinn v2.0 and nothing else.

Yeah…that really worked!  As it was I bought:

Drops Fabel Uni Colour 

Drops Baby Alpaca Silk in Red

Rowan Felted Tweed in Seasalter

And that was restrained.  There were a couple of patterns too.  And maybe some dpns.  But that was the yarn.

It was hard though. The crocheted Alpaca blankets were calling my name.

I could have bought my body weight in beautiful patterns.

And the yarns were, if you’ll excuse the pun, to die for! Titus from Baa Ram Ewe, anyone!

Yarndale is a knitters and crocheters paradise.  I made sure to buy a programme, which has a list of all exhibitors, for future reference. 😉

For sure there needs to be some improvements for next year.  The tea and coffee arrangements were nothing short of hopeless.  It took at least 15 minutes for Lara Croft to buy 3 cups of tea…and, as is always the case at these things, the lack of seating caused some people to lose all sense of how to behave in polite company.

But it was their first rodeo, and they did an amazing job.  I’m not in any hurry to go back to the big shows, but I’m already looking forward to next year’s Yarndale.

And, I’m hoping they’ll keep the bunting and it will become their trademark. Because its really beautiful, and kind of sums up this lovely, homespun but delightfully yarny event.

The gift

I’m sure by now you all know just how blessed I am with friends.  I am surrounded by funny, clever, ballsy women who grab life by the throat and shake it until it gives up the goods.

They are astonishingly well read, well travelled and talented.  And they are generous in never making me feel less than them, even though I’ve not read as much, seen as much or been as well educated.  It might seem like an odd thing to note, but trust me, I’ve know enough folk who would happily try to belittle folk even when they hadn’t got the wherewithal to pull it off (and no, I don’t spend time with them any more.)

For as long as I’ve know her my friend C has suffered from end stage renal failure. This has resulted in her life being made smaller by her illness.  Her food choices are restricted to only the blandest of things.  Her travel is limited by the need to be close to her hospital.  Hospital appointments come thick and fast. She gets tired. And, most recently, she has been on dialysis.

And let me tell you, dialysis is brutal.  BRUTAL.  Don’t be fooled by the TV images of folk sat around in big comfy chairs chatting whilst the machines do their work. Think bruises worthy of a car crash.  Lumps and swellings.  Painful surgeries to insert the necessary gubbins.

C has borne this with a grace and calm that I don’t possess when everything in the garden is rosy.  Never mind when I’m exhausted, nauseous and in pain.  I’m crap with a cold.  I cannot imagine how I’d deal with a life threatening illness. Certainly not without complaining…which C never does.

She is pretty bloody amazing, you know.

And on Thursday of last week…she got The Call.

You know the one.  The one that has you out of bed in the wee small hours and on the way to the hospital for a day of more tests and interminable waiting.

Waiting for the kidney to arrive.

Waiting to know for sure that it’s all going to go ahead.

Waiting to know if the transplant has worked.

On Thursday my friends and I turned the phone lines red hot as we waiting with her.  Constant texts and emails kept the information flowing and our spirits up as we hoped for the best, and tried not to explode with hope and joy.

Late in the night, C sent a final text.

We waited and prayed.

And at a little after 8am on Friday morning, she texted again.

The kidney was in, it was working and she was feeling fine.  Sore yes, but most definitely fine.

She’s still in hospital, of course.  But is making great progress.  Fast progress. She’s on her feet and will be home very soon. We are beyond all words to express how grateful we are that our amazing friend will be well again.

But we have not forgotten the family that lost someone they loved so that we could feel this joy.

They have been in our thoughts and prayers these last few days.  We don’t know who they are, but we are humbled by their gift of life at such a heartbreakingly sad time for them.

Most probably they will never read these words, but I hope that in some way they know that across this land there are families and friends of people whose lives have been transformed beyond recognition, and our gratitude and thankfulness is as deep as their grief.

Let’s not forget that we can all change someone’s life.  I’m not sure of the position in other countries, but here in the UK, at the moment you need to register to donate your organs.

It’s a really simple thing to do.

It doesn’t take very long.

But should, God forbid, anything happen to you, your organs can save another’s life. And not just one person.  But several.

So please, please, please…before you read the next blog, or make another cup of tea, go to NHS Blood and Transplant, or your country’s equivalent, and register to donate your organs.  Tell your family members of your wishes, and, if you can, get them to sign up to.

Thank you.

Mad as a box of frogs

Hello…remember me?

I used to write here on this blog.

Seriously…this week has been a bear.  The kids are unsettled by the new school year.  The dog is unsettled by the start of the new school year.  I’m unsettled by the start of the new school year.

Add in a houseful of tired peeps and I can assure you it’s not been our finest week. No picturesque Pinterest shiny family here this week.  More like a box of bonkers frogs.  So time I should have spent doing the fun stuff has been spent trying to corral the crazy.  And clean up the evidence of the dog being unsettled.  And stop the house smelling like a boarding kennel as a result!

This weekend is also super busy but I’m really hoping that next week things will settle, and at the very least I’ll get the time to photograph a couple of gorgeous treats that Ma has made.

In the meantime…have a great and crazy free weekend. I’m going to try for the same!

School

The house is quiet.

Both of them are at school.

Button was a little fazed this morning, but as soon as she bumped into her friend at the gates, she was fine and off like a rocket!

Boy has been wired all day waiting to go…he’s only in for half afternoons all this week.

It feels like only the blink of an eye since they were these two tiny people at nursery.

Now they are both school children.

I’m a little bit sad that we don’t have babies in the house any more. But much more proud of the amazing people they are growing up to be.

We are entering a new era, and I have no idea what it will bring.  I’m looking forward to finding out.

Vintage by the sea

I’m always amazed that someone other than my family reads this blog.

I was thrilled when Simplicity contacted me to do the review (there’s still time to enter the giveaway, don’t forget) and last week I was delighted to receive an email telling me about an event happening on the 14th September.

The Vintage Festival takes a one day trip to Morecambe to help celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the iconic art deco hotel , The Midland.

If you’re not familiar with The Midland

it’s a beautiful Art Deco hotel on the North West coast, which has recently been restored and in it’s heyday was

a favourite haunt of celebrities such as Coco Chanel, Sir Laurence Olivier and Noel Coward, along with many of the actors and musicians performing at The Winter Gardens. Today it stands restored to the glory as the jewel in the crown of the British coast.

It’s the kind of place you expect to bump into Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings.

Personally, I’m thrilled that Wayne Hemingway has decided to hold this festival. Morecambe is a typically English seaside resort that has faded over the years. Events of this type help to bring a new lease of live to the area, and to put Morecambe back on the map.

The Festival sounds like it’s going to be a great day out – shopping, vintage hair and make-up , creative workshops, a food market and beautiful classic cars.

The fair is on from 11 – 6pm and entry to the main event is free, although you can also stay for a vintage dinner in The Rotunda!  Oh my, the glamour.

I’m really grateful to Rachel for bringing this event to my attention.  I’m surely going to do my best to get there…I’ve always wanted to visit The Midland and this is my kind of day out!

The bags made me do it

Today we had to go and look for a new fridge freezer.

Ahhhhh, the glamour.

I can think of a bajillionty things I’d rather do on a Saturday, but our old one has been on the blink for ages and is finally giving up the ghost and leaking like a sieve.

We’d already looked them up on line but I wanted to check it out “in person” before parting with The Husband’s hard earned cash, so we headed off to the local retail park. Thankfully it wasn’t too busy, and a decision on the fridge freezer was quickly made.

A few doors down from the electrical store is a TK Maxx.  It’s a store that I normally avoid like the plague as it’s a bit too jumble sale-y for my taste, but we decided to pop in to see if we could get some cheap workout gear. They didn’t have any, but what they did have was these two beauties:

Swoon!

I couldn’t resist!

And yes…they really are Osprey!

With 60% off the retail price it would have been rude not to.

So I didn’t.

😀