A little bit of nature

Daisyfay went to forest school. She loved it - so much so that I had to pay for a second day. Loved her enthusiasm and the fact that she would tell me about everything she'd done - and it reminded me about what I want for her, which is so much not what our education system is now. It's how to avoid it though. Anyway, forest school, and a little bit of nature, certainly kept her happy. Muddy face, muddy boots,  fabulousness ...


The tangled thoughts are slowly unravelling, and I'm working my way towards a plan. I have been ebaying, and am plotting car boot domination! Enough to cover the tooth crown and MOT trauma would be a good start ...


Campervan ... feeling a sense of urgency ... and recklessness ... maybe it's time for direct action!


In case you're interested, highly recommended ...

Green Wellies Forest School https://www.facebook.com/groups/1761166610781643/

Campervans ... nature ... adventure ... there's a world out there ...

Brain Tangle

My brain is tangled. I have too many things to think about. They are difficult thinks, some of them, so I find it tricky to find the end of them.


I need to focus. I need to find a way forward. I need to remember that any step forward is a step in the right direction.


So, in an effort to untangle, I am revisiting my starting point:


* I want a campervan


Do you know I feel no closer than I was, despite pretty constant work? On the plus side, the whole destitution thing has died back. Always good.


I started this to help me focus, and see if anyone else could point me in the right direction - so here's me, a few years on, saying ideas please.


I'm on this now - the blog helps - I will untangle my brain - there's an answer out there ...

Rising hysteria

I am feeling slightly hysterical, I keep laughing, possibly inappropriately! On Sunday I am doing The Great North Run. Honestly. Me!

I'm quite proud of myself, and will be more so when I've done it - there's been so many times when I've thought I'd have to back out. But, despite the panic when I haven't been able to train, here I am. I did twelve miles last Friday, just to prove to myself that I could get near to it! So, off to Hartlepool Premier Inn tomorrow - oh, the glamour of the athletic circuit! I'm going to do it, I'm going to finish it, and it's all a bit wow! And Daisyfay and Paul will be there too - I think I'm most excited about her seeing me do it. At which point, collapsing in a quivering heap probably isn't an option!

I'm getting sponsored on https://www.justgiving.com/Liz-Prosser2/   It's for Guide Dogs - an amazing cause. Since Daisyfay started climbing with her climbing club it's become a cause she has felt more and more strongly about - her club trains paraclimbers, many of whom are visually impaired/ blind - and it's made her think. She sponsors a guide dog called Freddie with her pocket money, he's not a puppy now, he must be getting close to getting out there - and changing someone's life for the better.

So all you readers out there that I don't know, you could always sponsor me - I could exceed my target...!!

And get watching on Sunday ... me and Mo ... we'll be heading for the same finish line, albeit with a bit of a gap ...

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 ...

Jezebel

My beautiful cat - our beautiful cat - died.

We got back today and she wasn't here, sitting on the window seat, waiting for us.

It was the 17th July, only nine days short of her 14th birthday. Just before we went away.

Makes you think - that little scrap of fur brought so much joy and laughter and love into our lives ( as well as driving us to distraction sometimes!).

Miss her ...

Milk

It's a bit in the news, isn't it? And rightly so. We try and buy local, and as unmessed with as possible, but, I have to admit, milk sometimes slips through the net. Thing is, it's so damned cheap - and, hey, that's the point. But where's my point of difference...?

Now, going back a bit, I got some Abel and Cole boxes - breathe deeply - it was frugal (though no one could claim local) and, obviously, organic ... I got a recommend your friend code plus fourth box free deal - would go with this if you get the chance, as it is surprisingly reasonable: it works out as four for the price of two ... and they give you free gifties! You have to remember to do the cancelling thing at the end though ... vigilance is the key!!! 

Anyway, one of the gifties was milk, organic, non-homogenised milk - it was gorgeous. And it wasn't just me, DaisyFay was bowled over, and ever since I've had, " Can we have the creamy milk.....?". And I looked ... I asked in all the farm shops for non-homogenised milk ... Nope! I remember milk on the doorstep as a child, with cream on the top. And, strangely(or not), no lactose intolerance. Apparently, homogenising spins it all around and breaks up all the fat, and makes it harder to digest ... oh, and easier to keep. I'm no scientist, but that makes sense.

We've been buying non-homogenised milk here in Cornwall, even better, made on the farm milk, their cows, their milk - the tiniest farm shop ever - Treleague Farm Dairy - if you're ever down this way ... They've not got a website/FB page (yet) - I'm sure it will come ... but, the milk - absolutely fabulous - and (this might sound odd) what convinced me was: it went off, there was a tiny bit of our litre left after 4 days, it should do that! What do they do to supermarket milk to make it last so long? Sorry, I may be veering into hippiedom, but I want my food as nature intended please.

I've, I think, found a dairy back home that will deliver me unhomogenised milk. I'm not sure how local though. Think I'd rather have less but better - and support dairy farmers - we may need them one day...

Hair Straighteners

I didn't buy any. I was all resolved to, but then - there's an awful lot of different kinds of straightener, you know ... so I wasn't sure which to buy. And then I thought: the only reason I really want them is to straighten my fringe, because how often do I actually "do" my hair really - and then I thought, if that's the case, is there any reason why the Rapunzel tongs won't work? The Rapunzel tongs were one of Father Christmas' better ideas - they have different attachments and are rather nifty. They aren't straighteners but, after some experimentation, they do straighten my fringe, more or less, albeit with a bit of a flick at the end! Frugality triumphs.

Anyway, now my fringe has grown, and is now summer streaked and salt softened, it is quite wavy, and not very controlled, and feels more me than when it is straight. Maybe what I need is just a longer fringe - the answers are sometimes very simple ...

Comfort Zones

Funny things, comfort zones ... too easy to get stuck in.

Now, there's nothing wrong with a bit of security - I've been enjoying a period of relative, if slightly bumpy on occasion, security for a while now - and it's been rather nice - especially after the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants period which preceded it. But it doesn't encourage you to think, or change, or write blogs, or do anything except get on getting on...

I've been getting on getting on, and enjoying the moment. Daisyfay is nearly at the end of Year 4 now, and I am still trying to enjoy every minute and not panic about how fast everything is passing. We're a lot further from destitute than we've been in a very long time, though still not very close to the campervan ...  and that's what got me writing this again: I mean to, I enjoy it when I do, but I allow the getting on to get in the way. So I've decided that the enjoying the moment philosophy needs a bit more of me in it ...

I'm feeling all inspired to look forward (as I sit here in the echoing, noisy splendour of Splashzone, watching Daisyfay and the Forever Friend - friends since they were two, she is the calm to the Miracle Girl's chaos - and they're planning on staying friends forever - I really hope they do...) ... yes, feeling all inspired because someone got me out of my comfort zone, twice, in one week - takes a pretty special someone to do that!

So, here goes me, writing this, planning on buying some hair straighteners, and investigating the actual price of a completely untrendy, non-VW campervan (think that's a dream too far at the moment!).

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and life is full of possibilities ...

The Slippery Slip

I had to concede defeat ... on the hair, rebellion was beaten by reports! And cakes (guiltily) bit the dust too. But managed the rest, plus nine jars of blackcurrant jam...

And now am contemplating the Slippery Slip - have I mentioned The Faraway Tree before - the slow starting, but gathering speed, descent into holidayness! In two weeks time I shall be sitting next to a barbecue outside a caravan in Cornwall with a glass of wine and a book ...

But before that ... work, well, it's a school, so the normal excess of things to do. Brownies, climbing, swimming, choir - still rolling ... Performing Arts has finished: Grease last night and the Miracle Girl was fab - v. proud.

Need to get organised:

1) invitations for Christening to sort
2) send back booking forms for Village Hall
3) holiday shopping list
4) holiday packing list
5) make blackcurrant compote/ ice cream
6) pick more blackcurrants
7) make blackcurrant cordial??
8) make cakes for climbing
9) BOOK HAIR APPOINTMENT 
10) buy new collapsible BBQ from Go Outdoors
11) book surf school for Daisyfay
12) make gooseberry compote
13) order Tesco vouchers for days out in Cornwall 
14) find National Trust 2014 car sticker which I have somehow mislaid...

Life - a series of events with no gaps - good job it's fun ...

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 ...?

Yoghurt

Very into yoghurt at the moment - generally for breakfast - and have entered the featured competition to win a campervan several times - you never know - serendipity and all that...!

Been making more money too. Have sorted the Miracle Girl's clothes - her drawers and wardrobe are a place of beauty - the piles of sorted stuff are huge! We have tip, pass on, could we sell ...
Plus window-that-resides-in-the-garden is on ebay and has bids!

And the tax man payeth ... at last... we have paid for the caravan in Cornwall... I can't wait!

Still not truly solvent, certainly not steady, but, you know, we're getting somewhere... slowly ...

For the first time in forever ...

... there'll be music, there'll be light!
Well not quite, but there will be a sort of balanced bank account at the end of the month - which I have to say is cheering me up more than music and light could probably manage...

(Have you seen Frozen? We have, it was good, the music was excellent! But you can have too much of a good thing - the Miracle Girl loves it - she knows all the songs off by heart - and sings them very dramatically at top volume - all the time ...)

So - the epiphany ... I feel I can't really keep going with it as a theme - it's stretched out far too far to be classed as an epiphany any more ... more a slow ascent into changing things - it's not such a catchy title though! Anyway, so far, I have:
* beaten my cup-a-soup habit and started drinking fizzy water in school instead
* had prunes and yoghurt or grapefruit for breakfast most days
* whooshed fresh beetroot, orange and carrot juice most mornings
* cut down processed carbohydrates (especially bread - no "bought" bread, only from the proper bakery or homemade - and only at the weekends... )
* made healthy salads with lots of nice stuff in for lunch, and taken nuts and dried fruit for snacks
* eaten more fish
* been running ...
* been for walks and just got outside more
         
Next I am planning to:
* go to bed earlier to get more sleep ... so that I could contemplate getting up earlier, and then go running ...
* drink less wine (repetitive refrain ...)


Quite pleased with myself...

Epiphany on the horizon

It is - I've made a plan - and we all know how well that usually works ...

* house - pretty okay - even stretched to a bit of gardening...

* exercise - chest infection improved  (but not gone sadly) - been walking ...

* positivity in place - have created a plan!

Tuesday is the day - new me and all that ... I have a menu plan sorted for a couple of weeks, into May ... Primal, sort of  - still can't get my head round the legumes, and potatoes ... but it's a start... And I have timetabled exercise - again not tons but it's a start... And wine - Primal eating approves (!) - but I'm intending a reduction...

Starting slow - hoping to up the running rather than walking once I feel better - and yoga, I want yoga back ... and I'm contemplating early get ups and going out then ... now it's light and sunny ...

I want it to be achievable, I'm aiming at 21 days, then I can review it ... but if, if (!), I can get that far I should be on a roll ...

Heading for the horizon, full of the joys of spring ...

Trying to epiph

I promised epiphanies, I think. Rather a long time ago. I'm having lots of good intentions in the direction of the aforementioned epiphany, just need my willpower to co-ordinate...

Steps needed for an epiphany:
1) get house into a fit state so that you can think...

2) get going with some fitness stuff...

3) feel all positive...

The sun is shining - that's helping too. I have been for a long walk on two mornings this week. I was going to run but, as always seems to happen when it's the holidays, I've not been well - chest infection - antibiotics - dodgy breathing - hence walking not running!
Step 2 is getting there.

Today the seesaw tipped and I glimpsed the end of the cleaning tunnel - the house is starting to look like I'm in control...well, almost! I have sorted most of the craft stuff, to the point of sorting sequins into separate compartments in a hobby box ... there's something telling me that's probably not good...!  The downstairs is basically fit to allow other people in, and I feel better ...
Step 1 is getting there.

And positivity - I've always been okay at that ( although I wasn't last weekend, feeling all ill and self-pitying) - and with sun and tidy house and a fair wind behind me ...

So, an epiphany ... running - less wine ( yes, again!) - less wheat - more fruit and veg - fresh air ...

And this will lead to feeling good and saving money - which will in turn lead to savings - which may yet, one day, in a post-epiphany life, lead to a campervan ...

Please ...

Keeping up appearances...

A comment recently - about the importance of ... keeping up appearances, no matter what - really made me wonder...

Is appearances hair, and nails, and make-up...? Is it expensive ( or anything above basic, to be honest), designer clothes...? Is it really all about this superficial stuff...?

Oh dear, I hope not, Otherwise I've really lost the plot!

And the campervan, seeing as how that is the point, wouldn't be even a figment of my imagination if I had an appearance to worry about ... not that it's much more than that still!

For the last eight years plus all that has come so far down the list, and Daisyfay has come so much farther up - am I wrong?

Feeling a bit inferior ...

Cannons to the right of them ...

... cannons to the left of them, Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred ... At least I think it was six hundred, not so sure now I look at it ...

Told you I was restarting, you didn't believe me, did you?

Cannons - today is the day - I've cleared all the things that normally happen on Thursday out - head start on the washing last night, no reading at school this afternoon (they've got a spelling bee), general    

tidying is shoved to the sidelines ... and now battle can commence - the Battle of the Bedroom! Daisyfay's bedroom that is. It is a tip. Not just normally hideous, but truly dreadful, and I've been putting it off in the spirit of not zigzagging ( I have dented the living room, but then ruined it by having a big sort of school stuff, but it's sort of getting there...) - today I will conquer the bedroom! By the time we go to climbing it will be, whilst probably not a vision of tidy organisation, at least manageable ... 

This is not backsliding into a zigzag - more of an asymmetrical decoration on the edge of the pattern!

So, the school run beckons, then off to dodge the cannonballs ...

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 ...