I've recently been working on something that I'm hoping will help other people keep on top of their perfectionism. As I worked on it, it got me thinking that to feel like you have reached "perfection" it may be worth jotting down some random perfectness from our days.
For example, I've been trying to teach my 3yr old to jump off an object. He can jump on the spot but he won't jump off anything. It's always been something he struggles with so over the half term holiday we concentrated a lot on it. Jumping off steps on to the beach etc. And Wednesday, he jumped off (on numerous occasions) the horse and the beam at his gymnastics class! Very proud mummy moment and a little bit of smug perfectness that I was part of him learning that.
Yesterday, we spent the morning at the beach with a "perfect" blue sky. We enjoyed it so much we almost forgot to go home for lunch!
Today, I wrote an article from beginning to end and was actually happy with it! Another tiny bit of perfectness from my day!
What have been your perfect moments today? (Anything from cleaning the bathroom to show home standards, to having a perfect meal with your loved one). xx
Friday, 5 June 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Update on me! Shops and education and various other things!
Wow! What a few months I've had! Such exciting news! I have my crafts stocked in two shops locally to me and I am making sales! Not a huge amount at the moment, but enough to pay the shelf rental so right now that is good enough for me. I am still getting orders trickling in from my facebook pages and my etsy shop so again, all good. I have written several articles and am currently working on a book - details of which will be revealed at a later date!
So all in all I am a happy bunny!
My baby boy is now 3 (yes, THREE!! How did that time go so fast!?) and we are just about embarking on our Early Years Home Educating journey. I know, for some, this is a bit superficial until he turns 5, but to us it is a big deal. Our older children went to school as per "norm" and are still there and him not starting nursery in September is the start of our next chapter and an exciting one at that!
Again, being a perfectionist means that I am constantly battling with myself as to whether our home environment is enriched enough for him to be able to learn properly. However, thankfully, my perfectionism hasn't rubbed off on him and he just plods along in his own way doing what he does without worrying if it's good enough. I am grateful that when I am in "mum" mode, I let go of the perfectionism and allow them to just be themselves - something that I am getting better at every day - so much so that I don't even always THINK perfect thoughts any more, never mind suggest them!
So, you can view my shop at rubysatticuk.etsy.com or on facebook.com/rubysattic so if you fancy, pop over and say hi! x
So all in all I am a happy bunny!
My baby boy is now 3 (yes, THREE!! How did that time go so fast!?) and we are just about embarking on our Early Years Home Educating journey. I know, for some, this is a bit superficial until he turns 5, but to us it is a big deal. Our older children went to school as per "norm" and are still there and him not starting nursery in September is the start of our next chapter and an exciting one at that!
Again, being a perfectionist means that I am constantly battling with myself as to whether our home environment is enriched enough for him to be able to learn properly. However, thankfully, my perfectionism hasn't rubbed off on him and he just plods along in his own way doing what he does without worrying if it's good enough. I am grateful that when I am in "mum" mode, I let go of the perfectionism and allow them to just be themselves - something that I am getting better at every day - so much so that I don't even always THINK perfect thoughts any more, never mind suggest them!
So, you can view my shop at rubysatticuk.etsy.com or on facebook.com/rubysattic so if you fancy, pop over and say hi! x
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Exciting times
So, I opened my shops at the end of 2014 and have actually made some sales on and offline so that's really exciting. I'm now officially a self employed writer, artist and crafter - yes I know - all or nothing with me - I've told you that before! I couldn't just settle with being a writer (I have spent the last 4yrs on and off completing a comprehensive writing course with the writers bureau which has been hard work, wonderful, educational and lots more besides. The feedback from my tutor was brilliant and I am so glad I struggled on, despite varying things happening in my life over that time, including my youngest (now 2yrs9mths) coming along. But it is now completed and I hope to get going with my various writing projects I have in my mind now I don't have to be completing assignments.) - The artist side of me has been desperate to get out for a long time. I was a very keen artist at school but didn't do so well in my final exam which totally zapped my confidence. I still doodled here and there, and was the main artist for the many wall displays we had in my workplace (nurseries and pre-schools) but it never really occurred to me to take it any further. Well, that is about to change. I hope to put some of my work in my Etys and Folksy shops. I have already started painting gift plates, but I hope to put some more unique artwork up there too...watch this space!
Right now, the "crafter" part of my self employment has been a couple of crochet items, the plates and plaques, however, I am currently in the process of making some gemstone/crystal and silver plated costume jewellery which you can view over on my other blog Catherine Creates but I am such an all round crafter no doubt I will find other things I want to do too. Catherine Creates has lots of my past work/gifts/swap presents so you may see some of those things popping up on my shop at some point... again... watch this space!
In my last post I spoke about having more family time. Well, last weekend, as a family, we went by train to a town about half an hour's train ride away. F, who is nearly 3, was SO excited by this that I suddenly felt guilty that he doesn't get to do it more often... and then I thought that actually, it's probably better that he DOESN'T do it more often so that when we do he will bounce for joy like he did last weekend and talk non stop about all the things he could see out of the window! We got to the town and had a lovely walk along the river.
Right now, the "crafter" part of my self employment has been a couple of crochet items, the plates and plaques, however, I am currently in the process of making some gemstone/crystal and silver plated costume jewellery which you can view over on my other blog Catherine Creates but I am such an all round crafter no doubt I will find other things I want to do too. Catherine Creates has lots of my past work/gifts/swap presents so you may see some of those things popping up on my shop at some point... again... watch this space!
In my last post I spoke about having more family time. Well, last weekend, as a family, we went by train to a town about half an hour's train ride away. F, who is nearly 3, was SO excited by this that I suddenly felt guilty that he doesn't get to do it more often... and then I thought that actually, it's probably better that he DOESN'T do it more often so that when we do he will bounce for joy like he did last weekend and talk non stop about all the things he could see out of the window! We got to the town and had a lovely walk along the river.
We were only there for a couple of hours in the end but we all had such a lovely time. Despite it being a city centre, it was very peaceful and such a lovely sunny (if cold) day. Edited to add... those photos make the river look very brown and murky but in reality it really wasn't like that at all! Might need to photo shop it!! Ha ha! x
Thursday, 1 January 2015
Feeling thankful
Wow!
What an amazing end to 2014. We have been given so much these past couple of months I don't even know where to begin. My parents in law moved house so were getting rid of some things so we have inherited a new washing machine and a tumble drier!
Ok, so to some people these may not sound that exciting - but to us (ok, me) it is wonderful! Our own washing machine is truly rubbish and never makes the washing smell fresh. Plus with five of us and it being winter our entire house is constantly looking like a laundry which isn't ideal when the house isn't huge and as I say, there are five of us (one of us a 2yr old with big toys) so it's pretty busy anyway.
Plus my lovely lovely parents have given us some money to buy a new car. This is much needed as although our current 14yr old car is still going, it is very much on it's last legs (or wheels as it were!). The suspension has totally gone and to say it's an uncomfortable ride is an understatement. Also, with my dad being in his 80s we really felt the next car we got was a 7 seater so that if there comes a time that he can no longer drive (mum doesn't drive), it really would be a help if we had enough space to fit them both in as well as us all.
So that is our current aim. To find a car for a good price that will last us til at least the big two grow up enough to make their own way... which actually doesn't feel like it will be that long! Eeek! N is now 12, C is 9 and F is 2yrs9mths. It's all going so quickly.
We've had a small blip with N recently. She's had a friend who wasn't really very nice to her which seemed to be making her constantly angry, especially towards C. A couple of weeks ago he was really not kind to her at all and she has decided not to see him or speak to him any more. I think it's such a brave brave thing for her to have decided as this is someone she has known for several years and been very close to for the past year. I do feel she needed to do this for herself. He seemed to be making her not feel good about herself and that's not a good thing. I do feel sorry for this boy though as I feel he's a bit lost somehow as he feels he needs to threaten his friends if they don't do as he says.
Anyway, since she has stopped seeing him we seem to have our lovely little girl back. She's been so much happier and content. No anger towards her brother and eagerly wanting to do things with us again rather than wanting to just sit in doors or be out with this "friend". She suffers with anxiety at times so it could be partly that she is off of school for the Christmas holidays, but I feel it is more than that - I asked how she felt about not seeing him and she said that although she's a bit sad, she also feels free and happier. It's sad that she continued to see him regularly even though he made her feel that way... but it's also great of her to give their friendship a really good go before she walked away. I love that girl so much.My children really do mean the world to me.
DREAMS FOR 2015
We went to our local wildlife park today for the first time in ages. We all had such a lovely time despite the cold grey day. On the way there we talked about our hopes for this years. We agreed to do more family things and adventures which I'm really looking forward to. I'm going to compile a list (oh how I love lists!) of things we must do this year so watch this space for thing we want to tick off our list.
I've been reading a book called "Feel the Fear and Do it anyway" by Susan Jeffers that my lovely friend K lent me. It's such a fascinating book and makes total sense. Not sure how much it is going to work yet but it's already got me thinking about how I don't make the most of other areas of my life. Right now it's the house and the children and not much else. The book encourages you to remember the other parts of your life too and to give 100% to everything you do... which to be honest, I find really hard. I find I flit between jobs and don't give 100% to anything I do right now whether it be time spent with the children, household jobs, work or anything else for that matter (not that I have much time for anything else which is part of the problem).
So my dreams for 2015 include being there 100% for the children but also making time for other things in my life, even if only for an hour a day... but during that hour I will put 100% into it. I guess it's like mindfulness (another subject I would like to read up on).
Here's to a wonderful 2015!
What an amazing end to 2014. We have been given so much these past couple of months I don't even know where to begin. My parents in law moved house so were getting rid of some things so we have inherited a new washing machine and a tumble drier!
Ok, so to some people these may not sound that exciting - but to us (ok, me) it is wonderful! Our own washing machine is truly rubbish and never makes the washing smell fresh. Plus with five of us and it being winter our entire house is constantly looking like a laundry which isn't ideal when the house isn't huge and as I say, there are five of us (one of us a 2yr old with big toys) so it's pretty busy anyway.
Plus my lovely lovely parents have given us some money to buy a new car. This is much needed as although our current 14yr old car is still going, it is very much on it's last legs (or wheels as it were!). The suspension has totally gone and to say it's an uncomfortable ride is an understatement. Also, with my dad being in his 80s we really felt the next car we got was a 7 seater so that if there comes a time that he can no longer drive (mum doesn't drive), it really would be a help if we had enough space to fit them both in as well as us all.
So that is our current aim. To find a car for a good price that will last us til at least the big two grow up enough to make their own way... which actually doesn't feel like it will be that long! Eeek! N is now 12, C is 9 and F is 2yrs9mths. It's all going so quickly.
We've had a small blip with N recently. She's had a friend who wasn't really very nice to her which seemed to be making her constantly angry, especially towards C. A couple of weeks ago he was really not kind to her at all and she has decided not to see him or speak to him any more. I think it's such a brave brave thing for her to have decided as this is someone she has known for several years and been very close to for the past year. I do feel she needed to do this for herself. He seemed to be making her not feel good about herself and that's not a good thing. I do feel sorry for this boy though as I feel he's a bit lost somehow as he feels he needs to threaten his friends if they don't do as he says.
Anyway, since she has stopped seeing him we seem to have our lovely little girl back. She's been so much happier and content. No anger towards her brother and eagerly wanting to do things with us again rather than wanting to just sit in doors or be out with this "friend". She suffers with anxiety at times so it could be partly that she is off of school for the Christmas holidays, but I feel it is more than that - I asked how she felt about not seeing him and she said that although she's a bit sad, she also feels free and happier. It's sad that she continued to see him regularly even though he made her feel that way... but it's also great of her to give their friendship a really good go before she walked away. I love that girl so much.My children really do mean the world to me.
DREAMS FOR 2015
We went to our local wildlife park today for the first time in ages. We all had such a lovely time despite the cold grey day. On the way there we talked about our hopes for this years. We agreed to do more family things and adventures which I'm really looking forward to. I'm going to compile a list (oh how I love lists!) of things we must do this year so watch this space for thing we want to tick off our list.
I've been reading a book called "Feel the Fear and Do it anyway" by Susan Jeffers that my lovely friend K lent me. It's such a fascinating book and makes total sense. Not sure how much it is going to work yet but it's already got me thinking about how I don't make the most of other areas of my life. Right now it's the house and the children and not much else. The book encourages you to remember the other parts of your life too and to give 100% to everything you do... which to be honest, I find really hard. I find I flit between jobs and don't give 100% to anything I do right now whether it be time spent with the children, household jobs, work or anything else for that matter (not that I have much time for anything else which is part of the problem).
So my dreams for 2015 include being there 100% for the children but also making time for other things in my life, even if only for an hour a day... but during that hour I will put 100% into it. I guess it's like mindfulness (another subject I would like to read up on).
Here's to a wonderful 2015!
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