To do list

Take cloth napkins to work for post lunch clean up

File nails (points?)

Refill fountain pens with green ink

Buy corks

Choose new weighty tome for lunchtime reading (War and peace?)

In the year to come

I’ve tried various approached to new year resolutions over the years, but I’ve never really found one that I was happy with. India knight provided me with the reason in this marvellous piece from The Sunday times .
Basically we change when we are ready and not just because it is the first day of the year. I also think that we need to practice making changes. We try to make a change and fail and then maybe try a dozen times or more before we are ready to actually make the change because by then we’ve found a way to work with it.

So I am not making resolutions this year. Instead I have put below a list of things that I may or may not do this year. Ideas, dreams and maybes. The important thing is that I have written them down so that when I am ready to do something or make a change I already have thoughts about what it could be.

Do the 2009 Moonwalk; Learn how to listen; dress like a rock chick; Grow vegetables; Plant raspberries; Get a tattoo; Learn 10 songs on the bass; Take singing lessons; Refashion rather than buy; Restock my etsy store; Clear out everything from cookbooks to coat pockets to cupboards; Finally get rid of the last boxes that came from my parent’s house; think positive; Do NaNoWriMo; Make a crazy quilt; Adopt an older person; Learn to raise one eyebrow; Comment on more blogs; Book a foraging course; Decide what to do with prettylittleparcels.co.uk; Write more letters; Organise photographs; Buy an album every month; Research my family tree; Take moments to just breathe.

My week off

I had a week off work last week. I’m very bad at using leave. Normally if I have a week off I spend the entire time trying to have a ‘proper rest’. The issue is that I’m not sure what I mean by a proper rest. Do I mean sitting and doing nothing? Curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and book? Meditating? Having cleared all the jobs on my list?

I never know what time to get up. Should I set a time for each day? Or force myself to go back to sleep? Should I go to bed later then usual?

I always come up with a ridiculous job list. Just like I always pack loads of paperwork to do on long journeys and then don’t bother to look at it. Just have the joy of moving it from A to B and back again.

So last week in change from the norm I was busy all day every day. I got up just after Dear Heart had left for work. Then I had breakfast. On a couple of days I went to my allotment first thing. On other days I stayed at home. Apart form clearing out the pantry none of the things I id were really major projects. Just day-to-day stuff like doing loads of washing, going through bank statements and washing the recycling boxes.

In between I relined my winter coat, hennaed my hair and packaged up all the Christmas gifts I have bought so far. I stopped for tea breaks and lunch breaks now and then, making sure I really enjoyed sitting down with my book and something warming for a quarter of an hour or so.

I didn’t plan my week to be like this it was just the way it turned out. But I didn’t feel exhausted or panicky or that I should have been making better use of my time once. I enjoyed being in the moment and undertaking the tasks I was doing.

My conclusion is that I don’t do very well at taking things easy. I like to be busy. My grandmother used to say that she was not made to be a lady of leisure. I found that I was so keen to get on with things that I didn’t want to go to bed. But I made myself go so that I could get a good start in the morning.

I’ve also often found that I snack all the time when I am on leave. Not so this time. I assume it was a combination of being occupied (and not bored) and stopping for regular breaks.

Strangely though I was less interested in looking at the Internet. I didn’t post here apart from the first day. I used twitter a lot less. I didn’t check any of the blogs that I regularly visit. I did use my computer in the evenings to type my nanowrimo instalments

I’m going to try and apply this process of getting up early and having lots of small tasks to do during the Christmas break. If it proves to be effective I should start January feeling fabulous.

Things I love Thursday

Deciding to sign up for NaNoWriMo

Spending a few days at home with Dear Heart

Celebrating 14 years with Dear Heart and getting 14 red roses as an anniversary present

Christmas shopping on etsy

The variety of badges for tilt on icing

Fried tofu

Bank holiday TV

I came across this on the BBC website this morning and it makes me sad that people choose to spend their day off watching TV. I suppose if they weren't watching TV they would be shopping.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend and I've got so many things on my activities list:

• Met my sister and her man for lunch and drinks and hear about her holiday and have a general catch up.
• Cook pittas from scratch and store in freezer
• Visit my allotment for a digging session and harvest veg to give to my sister
• Hang new sash window in bedroom (if it's delivered on time)
• Eat long breakfasts with Dear Heart
• Go for a country walk and pick blackberries (and apples if they are ripe)
• Play with my sewing machine
• Sit around reading and drinking wine while my face pack dries
• Put henna on my hair
• Take some time to think about the next few months and plan out things I need and want to do

I hope I can fit it all in!

What have I been up to over the last week?

Using a hot gun to strip paint from a cupboard door.

Picking vast quantities of courgettes

Enjoying the video to The Hoosier’s Goodbye Mr A and speculating with Dear Heart what on earth it’s about and who Mr A might be.

Trying to sit in the garden and write (writing OK, garden sitting less successful due to wind tunnel effect).

Drinking wine with girlfriends and gossiping.

Trying to find new homes for possessions I no longer need. Anyone want a gas poker?

Watching meteorite storms with Dear Heart while lying in the garden wrapped in blankets.

Figuring out exciting new clothing combinations after realising that the clothes I loaned to Dear Heart’s sister are the 20% of my wardrobe that I wear 80% of the time.