Today I’m 37 years old, so let’s have a Birthday Sale! 30% because I’m REALLY in the depths of my thirties now.
So for TODAY (21st February GMT), you can get 30% off anything in the shop with the code HAPPYBIRTHDAY.
Let’s make it a good one!
misc.
February – Things I’m enjoying right now…
(None of these links are affiliated – I just like this stuff.)
– I recently treated us to our second set of Stabilo Cappi pens. I like that we can keep them all together, and not loose the caps (though it does mean that when we use pens at friends houses, my three have to be reminded to put the lids on the ends of the pens or the lids go everywhere!)
– With the launch of her second book, I felt compelled to pull out Margaret Bloom‘s Making Peg Dolls, and pull out my precious collection of wood peg dolls I had brought over from the US by my father-in-law. We gobbled up the 25 dolls in two sessions. Luckily they are more widely available over here now, but I could easily spend way too much money on more. And I have plans for Easter that I probably should get started on as soon as this season of birthdays calms down.
(Wee Wonderful wrote a great review of both books here, and really it’s her fault that I grabbed it off my shelf. Not that I’m complaining. I completely agree with what she’s written. ps. Her book is fantastic too!)
– The mini Orchard game got pulled out of the cupboard when Granny came over on saturday, and the children taught her how to play it. In return she taught them clock patience, which I’m sure we’re going to be playing a lot more of, and I should hunt out some packs of cards and make them more available… (can you tell I’m now just talking to myself? I can’t be the only one who does that, right?)
– TV-wise I just finished watching Galavant, which was delightful. Who doesn’t love watching Magnitude from Community and Hugh Bonneville doing dance routines and singing about being land locked pirates?
– Audio-wise our Sarah & Duck love continues and now we have found there is a podcast you can stream here (scroll down to the bottom of the page.)
– On Saturday I turn 37 (though I’m not very happy about it tbh.) so there will be a flash sale at the shop for 24 hours. But I’ll post more about that later.
The word for 2015 – Open
Over the last couple of years, I’ve finished the year with Unravelling by Susannah Conway. I find it really interesting to go back at the end of the year and see how much I have written down has actually happened during the year. I’m sure writing it down settles it enough in my brain to actually start things happening. It’s become part of my Christmas ritual, and I think it’s well worth the time I put into it.
This year my word is Open – I want to say yes more to my children, I want to break out of some ruts that I have going on, I want to be more flexible, and less scrunched up in how I go about things.
I read a quote in the last couple of days that really resonated with me, because frankly I feel compelled to write it after that last paragraph:
One thing I’ve learned: when people end whatever they’re saying with “idk, I’m probably not making any sense,” it usually means they are telling you something very close and personal to them, something that’s such an integral part of their being that they have trouble putting it into words that do it justice.
I often feel compelled to write things like that. I like to tell myself that it’s ok, because I’m not a writer (while stuffing down my secret hopes that actually I could be, maybe?)
But hey, I’ll be honest here a little bit. I want to be open to – for example – breaking out of my jeans and a tee shirt uniform, without breaking the bank, and while keeping my ‘me-ness’.
I want to be open enough to honour my children’s learning explorations, even when they feel overwhelming. I want to say yes, not just put off their requests to some point in the future.
I’m still trying to figure out how to hold myself accountable for the changes I want to make. Maybe I need to break them down more into do-able steps? Maybe I need to review the things I want to do regularly and work out what is working and what is not working?
I’m sorry this isn’t a ’10 steps doing doing whatever’ post. (I love those posts too.) It’s more a ‘here I am in the midst of it all, trying to work out how to do it too.’
Right now I’m using a habit tracking ap on my phone. This way I don’t have to keep everything in my head. (I talked about Bullet Journalling here – I’m getting better at getting things out of my head, and it definitely helps me get more stuff actually done, rather than just dreamed about.) I always have my phone in my pocket (except for right now, when FB is using it to listen to an audio book, while he plays with his lego), so I can go through my list several times a day, and use little pockets of time to get things ticked off before the end of the day.
I try to build in some slack though – I want to be able to count doing something 5 times a week a win, rather than reaching for 7, not being able to achieve it, and having to concede the win for the week. Doing something (taking my vitamins for example) 5 times a week, is better than quitting and not taking them at all, and the improvement I get (in my own head at least) of reaching high enough, without insisting on perfection), is better for it.
Again. I hope this makes sense.
So after a year of Brave (2013) and a year of Nourish (2014) comes a year of being Open.
It’s up to me to make it a good one.