In the beginning ...

... there was Eden.

The Eden Project has been the beginning of our holiday for the last two years (previously it had always been a very long, but worth-it day out). We stop on the way down and stay at their wonderfully quirky, unusual youth hostel. It is the perfect start to our holiday and never fails to send me off feeling so positive that I can change...

Because change is good - a bit scary sometimes, but good. Life is taking one of its frequent sideways shifts and I will be time rich again, which I love 😍 but frugality beckons - it's those swings and roundabouts again. However, after some time at Eden, I start to see a path through the wilderness. Less buying is never a bad thing (not sure Daisyfay is totally on board with this in practice; there in spirit but ...) and priorities need focus. Our priority is always the Miracle Girl and the summer - so less spending is back, but I am going with the fact that what do we really need?

The main exhibition at Eden this year is Earth Story - one part of it, about extinction, reduced me to tears - I just stood there thinking it's all about money. Other parts were so inspiring about how to do more. So for me this year is going to be about do more - we do try, but once on the hamster wheel it's hard to keep focused. Don't get me wrong, we all need the money ... but there are some positives to having less of it, and some more time.

So I have a plan (again), my journal is up and running, I'm writing 😀, and I'm positive (I love an Oxford comma almost as much as an ellipsis...).

An inspiring place, with so much to challenge you...

Plan B ... or is that C ...?

Well, that didn't work. I have not regained my life. Not in the slightest. I thought for a moment or two that I would, but that idea crashed and burned... looking on the bright side, we are relatively (money-wise, for us, it is always relative...) solvent at the moment.


The big news is our trip - we did a wild and reckless thing ... and it was fab! Instead of saving my extra money for the summer when I can't work, we went to Disneyland Paris, and to Paris too. Life's too short and all that. We had such a good time.


Back on the frugality train now - but saving to go back too...


Trying to assert control of wrack and ruin land too - slowly but surely I am denting disaster - any progress is progress, however tiny.


I didn't know what to expect of Disney, but I loved that bubble of positivity - it's sticking with me, anything is possible ...

Whittling not carving...

Carving out time, that's what I've been trying to do, since the beginning of December - but all I've been managing is a bit of whittling ... a very little bit ...


But, things are about to change, and today is the first day of change, today is the first day of THE new SCHEDULE. We've been revving up towards it this week, me and Daisyfay - increasing our implementation of THE SCHEDULE each day. I knew I was on it last night, when, washing under control, I made mini vegetable crustless quiches for packed lunches alongside cooking dinner. Uber-mommy or what? And tonight ... something unheard of has happened... I am sitting in the armchair in front of the fire writing this. The washing is controlled, I sat with Daisyfay for an hour doing schoolwork without time stress (admittedly, late schoolwork), Paul is cooking dinner... I could find jobs, our house is the sort of house that always has jobs ...but nothing is pressing.


 And why? Well, THE SCHEDULE, obviously!!


And, possibly, the fact that it is the Thursday evening of a typical week and we are not at climbing, which we have been every such Thursday since 2011! Climbing has moved to a Monday - this has necessitated much reorganisation of my week - but tonight it is paying off ... who'd have thought...? Even Daisyfay noticed - "Isn't this nice?" she said as we did her work, "We never do this, it's so much better."


So ... is it THE SCHEDULE ... or is it climbing moving ...?


Not sure yet, but have definitely managed more carving tonight ...

Carpe Diem

Oh my ...

Seize the day - that's what it means - and we did!

Been contemplating recklessness this week - probably impending poverty rearing its head! Got that "how bad can it be" feeling. I know about sensible, but I'm also seeing these days how quickly time slips away. I don't want it to be gone before we did it, every bit of it...

So we bought a campervan. ... oh yes we did ... 

Really...

Banana bread or pancakes?

There's more to that question than meets the eye - if I'm asking, it means I have time. It means I have time to be über-mommy and make fancy breakfasts. More often than not though, this is a distant dream - for both me and Daisyfay (who is rather partial to both banana bread and pancakes).



I'm back to looking for gaps again, and was mightily relieved that today was my last day before half term, when I can race around like a mad thing trying to catch up with everything. Starting with the washing. My mastery of the washing is now officially below expectations, caused by missing its' slot. Washing happens most days, but not on Mondays and Tuesdays, when no time slot is available as work, tutoring and Daisyfay's social whirl overpower me. Washing then emerges with a vengeance on a Wednesday, at which point it has usually reproduced at an alarming rate. It is intersperersed with marking, as I multitask like a whirling dervish, and has to be well on the way by the time The Miracle Girl goes to choir at 7 o'clock. It's like dominoes, if it doesn't all happen at the right time everything that follows collapses. It collapsed. Instead of washing/ marking, I spent two and a half hours traipsing from town to town (literally,), from shop to shop, looking for fernicketing ( I made that up, like Lewis Carroll) black P.E. pumps. Now it's not that I object to buying the pumps per se ( well, to be honest, in this particular case, I do - but that's another story ... ), what I object to is the last minute notice which steals my time. I don't have a lot. I am engaged in continuous striving to maximise what I have, so that I can be there for my child - when my time is stolen I lose those minutes, I'll never get them back. So, P.E. pumps, they fit badly - you can't just buy them, you have to try them on, and check they don't fall off if you move. And not everywhere stocks them at this time of year, and not everywhere has all the sizes, and even if they have the correct size that doesn't mean they will actually fit - hence Clarkes size 2 is too small, size 2.5 too big! Took 4 shops, in 2 separate towns, factor in the petrol ... pumps bought - knock on, no washing, no marking - need to get up early to do marking so children can do today's lesson - not a happy bunny.



And time has other aspects - it does that flying thing - the memories you make, the photographs you take, the events and milestones you expect to have - when someone steals those, it makes you very sad ...



This is not my most positive post ever, but I cried - the thief of time, was that a book ...? I'll live - the sun'll come up tomorrow - I checked the weather forecast ...

Connecting

It's been a bit of a week or so for it - in the last few weeks we've managed to see most of our family, including some fairly far-flung members. It's been great - Daisyfay has seen all of her various cousins, I love the relationship she has with them all.

We live quite a way from all our from all of our family, and I frequently feel guilty that we don't see them all enough. But life is what it is, often for them as much as us - it's not intentional. My sister-in-law and I have decided we need to plan dates that are set in stone, and then it will happen, otherwise the weekends will fill up. I'm a big fan of Facebook, it's great for keeping in touch. I've noticed that the most common criticism from people who don't is that people tell you what they're eating ... I don't! And that everyone can see ... that's  up to you, you choose who sees what. I love the fact that you can keep in touch so quickly, time is my most precious thing! 

We have my uncle and aunt over from New Zealand, which is great, and I felt quite sad when we left them yesterday. I would so love to go and see them, but I guess that's pretty unlikely ...

We also saw my baby cousin who has babies of her own ...

Connecting is good, but there's lots of ways to do it - and with the busyness of life for lots of us - the technology can be a boon - it keeps you on it! I need easy ways to keep on it!

Just because I didn't tell you lately family - I love you ...

The stretchiness of time

I have added up the hours I need this week. I have added up the hours I have this week. They do not match. I have significantly less hours than I need. It's that gap thing again...

This week is bonkersly busy, so was last week, and the one before ... it should calm down a bit after this weekend ... a bit...

Daisyfay has Grease this weekend ( my mum is coming - no hours allocated for cleaning - eek!) - dress rehearsal Friday (clashing with Summer Fair at my school) - two performances Saturday (clashing with Summer Fair at her school ... I promised cakes in lieu of presence ... not holding out great hopes at present, but am determined to try...). Tomorrow is Parents' Night for her, she should be at swimming for her assessment and it is Brownie Entertainments Evening, for which she is supposed to be half an hour early ...swimming is biting the dust ... hopefully we will get away from Parents Night in time to drop her at Brownies, so we can then arrive half an hour later to be entertained! I also have to finish my reports - getting there, but the hour count, compared with my typing speed, slightly worrying. Then let's add in the normal time slots for : school choir, community choir, climbing, athletics, tutoring ... oh bugger!!

But, you know what, in the middle of my chaos, I am revolting!! On Thursday instead I could gain hours, but I am not, I am having my bi-annual hair-do, hopefully - and I do not care...
...ish!

Next week - many things, but less, especially on the clashing front - but still ... things can only get better... can't they ...?

Restarting again

Yes, I know, I'm pants!
Where has time gone - climbing competitions, musical theatre exams, Joseph, OFSTED...!!!

I'm still dreaming, still not decluttered, still not financed by the sale of my junk, still running round like a lunatic.

Back looking forward, with my butt in gear - I will try to blog more often ...