Reasons to be Cheerful wk22

Thursday is #R2BC day, and much like Mich at Mummy from the Heart, I was struggling to come up with reasons. I have also been feeling like blogging has not been high on the list of priorities of late.



That is actually one of my reasons this week, the fact that, for the first time, I haven't been stressing about the consequences of not blogging very much the past week or so. I'm putting it down to the fantastic weather last week, just being out and about more and so i've not had the same opportunities or inclination to sit and blog. And rather than worry about stats and pageviews, etc, I've not. I've thought, so what? What will happen? Nothing. Nowt. Nada. Niet. Rien.

And I put that attitude partly down to trying to follow some of the 'teachings' (don't like that word, too formal, but can't think of a better one) of F**k It.

Describing itself as "the ultimate spiritual way, ... without the sandals", being a F**kiteer is about letting go of the little things and about the things over which we have no control. Check it out, don't be put off by the title (the more you see/say it, the less offensive it becomes, which is the idea). And no, this is not a sponsored post or anything, just my own opinion. I went to a F**k It Away Day in March, which I always meant to post about, and worried about not posting about. And then I thought "f**k it". Oh, it works!

Another R2BC for me this week is that I've just booked a wee holiday in July for B and I to go to York for a few days. Not only that, but we've got company this time, for both B and I, so lots of fun to be had for mummies and kids! It may not be a 2 week break on some sun-kissed island, but it'll do for us. Next stop, the Railway Museum! Just have to do some praying to the sun-gods to come back out.


For more R2BC, blog hop on over to Mich at Mummy from the Heart.

The Gallery - Easter

An Easter-themed gallery this week. Our Easter this year has been particularly busy. B and I have been on the move alot (although not always at the same time or same place!) At the risk of repeating myself a little from my previous post about our little holiday last week, Easter this year has gone a bit like this:


A weird few days of this:

Freak April snow at our holiday park

Lots of this:

... oh, and waaaay too much of this!:

From caravans to castles

A week or so of galavanting about up and down the country has meant an enforced blog break this past week. 

After freaking out about what would happen if I didnt blog for a whole week - turns out the world does keep on turning, imagine that! - I feel that the break has re-energised my blogging enthusiasm. It's also allowed me to remind myself why it is I started blogging, and am still blogging. I do think this sometimes gets lost in the mists of stats, memes, twitter and the rest. It's good to blow away the fog from time to time.

One of the reasons for my blog-free week has been our little mid-week Easter break up to Perthshire. Given my current lack-of-money status, luxury 5* accommodation is not a possiblity so I plumped for a caravan in a small holiday park. Always a bit wary of caravans, as I've had good and bad experiences in the past few years. Luckily it was a lovely caravan with actual central heating - something which was definitely needed given the freakish april snow!

Our holiday highlights, in no particular order:

1. We actually got there! Might not sound a big deal, but given the predicted snow on the day we were travelling, and the silly people who panic-bought petrol and emptied out the majority of the petrol stations, I was having serious doubts. But I outran the snow and fortunately the fuel hysteria was subsiding by the time we left.

2. B managed all the car journeys without any car sickness. He's been feeling rough on long and short journeys, and I thought the twisty roads would provoke the yucky feeling. But miraculously he felt totally fine. Bonus!

3. Our fun days out.

Glamis Castle, with its Kings and Queens - and ghosts

Scottish Deer Centre

4. Just chilling with B in our caravan, playing games or watching Tom and Jerry.

The only down side has been that all the fresh air and outdoors time has left me exhausted (doesn't seem to have done the same to B), and I need a rest to get over my holiday!

Reasons to be Cheerful - Week 13

So, Reasons to be Cheerful this week. A bit of an 'up and down' week. Late to school, awake half the night for no apparent reason. But looking forward to the holidays. So I'm cheery this week because:

• The unseasonal fantastic weather this week. I know it's not original or clever, but it is amazing just how much the good weather lifts your mood. Even though we all know it's going to go back to 'normal' March/April weather soon enough!
• Two weeks break from the school routine come tomorrow. B is definitely in need of a break now, he's been a bit grumpy the past week or so, tired, so the holidays can't come soon enough. 
• I'm going on a kind of 'spiritual' Away Day on Saturday in London. Not quite sure what to expect, but looking forward to finding out! I'm sure to post about it next week.
• Also B and I have a few days away during the holidays, just the two of us. I am in need of a change of scene so am looking forward to it. Hoping the weather doesn't turn too nasty in the meantime!
• My volunteering role I've been doing for the past 10 months finished this week. A strange reason to be cheerful, yes, and it is bittersweet. But I know it was the right decision to make and I now feel freed up to look for more paid work or to explore other options.

What are your reasons to be cheerful this week?

My Small Stuff

Inspired by Letters from your Mum, who was in turn herself inspired by Is there a Plan B?, I've been thinking of my Small Stuff, the stuff that's not supposed to be important, but in reality it's the stuff that matters the most.

Is there a Plan B? quotes from Bob Crampton from The Guardian:

The small stuff, ..., that you think is the small stuff,  

and then you get older and realise that the small stuff is what actually matters. 

So here's just a small selection of mine:

A good mood day, i.e. a cold clear day with warm sunshine.

B doing his repertoire of funny faces. B watching himself in the mirror doing his repertoire of funny faces. B doing a really good impersonation of his little friend's Yorkshire accent and not realising he's doing it. B's delight every morning at seeing his friends in the school playground, as if he's not seen them for ages, but it's been less than 24 hours. 

news.discovery.com

A double or triple rainbow, but I'll take a single one too. The orange night sky just before it snows. The silence of falling snow.

Suddenly noticing the vastness of a clear sky at night. Picking out all the stars, but not knowing any of the constellations. Using my new star-map app to spot in which direction the planets lie. Pointing out Venus and Jupiter to B and competing to see who is the most excited and in awe of being able to see actual planets!

The first trip of the year to the beach, usually when it's not quite warm enough to take your coat off. But sandcastles still get built and ice-creams still get licked. Then every trip to the beach after. Going for a walk along the sea-shore, shoes and socks off, having forgotten the feeling of the sinking sand and cold sea on your bare feet. Clambering up a big bank of sand, then running back down again.

Cuddles from B.

The words 'heebie-jeebies' and 'nincumpoop' (no, I didn't just make them up now).

Viggo Mortensen. Hugh Jackman. Not in any particular order.

Drinking sparkling wine from proper champagne flutes.

Waking up thinking it must be time to get up and the clock reassures me I've got another hour of snooze-time. Waking up to B's padding feet and a 'Good mornin' cheeky little face right next to mine. Getting that same wake up call when it's later than 7am (that one is a rarity, sadly. But one day...)

Being complimented by friends.

Watching B do a rolie-polie down a grassy bank.

Ticking off jobs on my to-do list. Writing nice tasks in my to-do list like 'book holiday' or 'arrange lunch with ... friend'.

Image Credit: tomstuart.org

Clambering on climbing frames with B. Still being able to clamber on climbing frames.

Playing Hide and Seek. Playing B's version of Hide and Seek where he tells me where he's going to hide. Or when he hides in the same place I've just hidden. His face when he finds me (especially if it's been a "really good hide place")

The smell of washing when it's been line-dried outside. My pink ugg slippers. Garlic bread. Daffodils.

* * *

I could go on. And on. Once you get going, the list of small stuff is endless. And it'll leave you in the best mood!

What's your Small Stuff?

#R2BC - Home, Hols & the Little Devil

It's #R2BC time again. My mood is not quite as buoyant as it was last week, but I will dig deep for some Cheerfulness. Positive thinking, 'n all that.

 1. I'm going back home this weekend, the first time I'll have seen my dear ol' Dad and my sister since Christmas. That's quite a long time for us, I usually manage to get home at least once a month with B, as we're only an hour a way. We're also going out for a nice lunch as we usually do when I get through (although a bit more difficult to book anywhere given it's Mother's Day...)

2. I'm booking a couple of days away for B and I for the Easter Hols, just waiting for confirmation from the holiday park. It's not far and it's not fancy, but it's going to be a different four walls which is all I am looking for, really. That, and some nice weather, obviously.

3. After experiencing B's Jekyll and Hyde moods all week and going through the emotional turbulence this brings, I feel better having accepted this behaviour as obviously a brief phase (such that I've seen before), connected to a growth spurt or whatever, and he'll return to his undevil-like self soon enough. I just need to keep myself calm in the meantime so that other parents in the playground don't need to wonder why the bonkers mummy is crying at 8.40am in the morning.

4. I'm constantly in awe of the amount of information and learning B soaks up in school, with his letters, sounds, common words and numeracy (although he always has been a bit of a genius when it comes to numbers...)


That's about my lot for this week. Hop on over to Mummy from the Heart to see other Reasons to be Cheerful.   

The Gallery - Light

For The Gallery this week, the theme is Light.

 

I immediately thought of this series of photos I took a couple of years ago, during a long weekend holiday in Perthshire. I guess a bit of a cliche in terms of a Light theme, but I love the feeling of them and the memories they evoke.

Of course, photos (at least ones from your bog standard digital camera like this one) can't do the real thing justice, because the colours in this sunset were so intense. What really struck me, I remember, was that it didn't look like I was gazing out over the countryside in the middle of Scotland, but rather an African  landscape (somewhere a bit hotter, anyway!).

Check out other Light photos at Sticky Fingers.

The Gallery - Landscapes

This week's The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers was a tough one to choose which landscape to post. I did think about showing off Edinburgh (where I live just now) in all its glory, as I have plenty of shots to choose from, but I kinda have done that in other posts. I then trawled through some more 'exotic' shots of holidays (and when I say exotic, I mean European...), but they all felt a bit 'postcard-y', I wanted to find something a bit different.

So I have plumped for somewhere inbetween. These shots were taken on a rocky beach in Northumberland. It was B and I's first holiday away together on our own last year, and we had a fab few days. I would definitely go back there.

We stumbled upon lots of these strange stone structures which were dotted about all over the rocks. There were built purely by balancing stones on top of each other. It felt as if we were being challenged to stop and see what sort of structure we could build. 

Our effort, in the shot below, in the foreground. It may not have been the tallest or most elaborate of stone towers, but we put a little shell hat on it so we like it!

Blog-hop on over to Sticky Fingers to see some other amazing landscapes.

Listography

From Kate Takes 5 Listography- Things I Did This Summer

1. I started blogging!! After much procrastination, I decided to give the whole blogging thing a whirl and see where it takes me... followed swiftly by all sorts of stress about am I blogging right? Am I blogging enough? Should I be commenting/following more bloggers? When the heck do I have time to do all this? etc etc. Still feel like a newbie blogger with lots to learn, but having great fun writing and reading along the way.

2. Got on an aeroplane for the first time in four years. Serious plane-o-phobia (don't know the correct terminology on that one...) since my late teens, for no particular reason. Tried various 'cures' over the years like hypnotherapy, self-help books, fear-of-flying course, but alas no Eureka moment has ever presented itself to take away the fear. So a big deal to fly after such a long time, and hey! I survived!!

3.  Celebrated my wee boy's 5th birthday and before catching breath, watched him turn into a BSB - that's a Big School Boy to the uninitiated... 2 1/2 weeks in to term, he's still not quite settled in yet, and I'm still coming to terms with the emotions and anxieties its raises within me. It's amazing the effect a polo shirt, trousers and a jumper can have on a mummy!

4. Applied for very few jobs as there are just not many of the suckers out there worth applying for - which meant I also continued to spend more of my redundancy payout to keep us ticking over. Hoping the autumn will bring more opportunities...

5. Spent lots of time with my boy: going for days out and the odd trip to the beach (what?! we had sunshine this summer?!), a couple of mini-breaks to York and Northumberland, little walks in the nearby woods, and just mucking about at home.

Phew! It's been a blast! x

Holiday

I got away for a little (4 night) holiday abroad last week, my first one abroad in nearly 4 years. An old friend was getting married in Malta. B and I were both invited, but I decided I needed a well-deserved bit of “me-time” to enjoy the hen night/wedding without worrying about B, so it was decided a girly holiday was the way to go and another friend came as my ‘plus one’.  Here’s a few Malta memorable moments...

1.  Pre-holiday colouring in.  I am very fair-skinned, blue-eyed blonde (typical Scot!) and am not able to tan – just burn. Normally I’m not bothered about being pasty white on hols (it amuses me the disbelieving stares from bronzed locals), but for my friend’s wedding I decided to give in and get a fake tan before I went. I plumped for a spray tan, but hadn’t ever had one before.  I went to a local beauty spa i’ve been to before, with the usual whale music, dark wooden floors, vanilla scented rooms. Very calming, peaceful. Until, that is, I am directed into a small cupboard – sorry, treatment room - with a harsh bright ceiling light, black curtains on two walls and an ominous-looking grey machine in the corner with various tubes and nozzles. Oh, and the most frightening item of all, the packet of paper pants... So after I had deposited all clothes - and dignity – in a bag behind the door, I am instructed to stand spread-eagled in my paper pants while i’m blasted with a cold blast of tanned air, and in a few minutes the whole ordeal... oops, treatment... is over. Phew! Only thing left to do is to somehow get back into normal clothes feeling very sticky and odd-looking.  But at least i’m no longer a spray-tan virgin! The tan got darker over the next 24 hours, but after that settled down and I would say I would definitely get it done again – at least the next time I won’t look like a startled rabbit as the girl comes at me with the spray machine!

2. Flight or Fright? As i mentioned, I’ve not been abroad for 4 years, and i’ve not been on a plane for 4 years either. A fairly long time, especially if you have a “bit” of a phobia about flying! I’ve tried loads of stuff to help over the years:  I’ve read self-help books, been on a Fear of Flying course (pre-9/11 when you were still allowed into the cockpit) and even did hypnotherapy. None of which ‘cured’ me, but which have given me a few techniques to try and use to avoid the serious anxiety/panic which used to grip me. Flying Ryanair for the first time too, I am also expecting cattle-herding and no leg-room to add to the panic.

Dropping some Bachs Rescue Remedy onto my tongue as we board (not any more cattle-like than any other airline, I am pleased to note), we find seats and my friend starts the distraction game until we’re up in the air (take-off and landing worst bits for me). Leg-room not too bad either, although we both have fairly short legs!  A few more drops of Bachs as we taxi onto the runway and we’re off,  my hands gripping the arm rests so tightly as if the plane depends on it to get up in the air. Just as I start to worry that there isn’t enough runway left (yes, phobias really do produce illogical thoughts...), we take off. Then my friend reminds me to breathe...  An uneventful flight follows, my nerves calming, helped slightly by a ridiculously expensive miniature bottle of Ryanair’s finest red wine (pre-midday drinking not good but needs must!).

 I feel very proud of myself for ‘surviving’ the flight with my nerves intact and vow to take B on holiday next year for some fun in the sun.  I know the next flight may not be any better, but at least I know i can cope.

3.  "Man and Wife”.

 I know every bride looks radiant on their wedding day, but she really does look stunning, beautiful. I haven’t seen her for several years as her fiancé and she emigrated a few years ago, so it is emotional just seeing her again. It is an idyllic setting, as the guests face the Mediterranean sea a few metres away, the sun highlighting the cruising boats and yachts in the distance (and the odd annoyingly noisy speedboat). Add in the usual wedding emotions, and the very personal issue of the fact that it is the first wedding I’ve been to since my own marriage went t*ts up (I still struggle to know how to describe this situation...), I am glad I had used what space was available in my small clutch bag for a packet of tissues. A great evening is had post-ceremony, and no wedding with Scotsmen involved would the same without the obligatory “what’s under yer kilt?” revelations... In the 30 degree heat, they are perhaps a little too keen to tell us. *averting my eyes now*

4. Home time. With the early flight out and late flight back, it ended up being 6 nights I was spending apart from B, the longest time apart we’ve had. Luckily, both of us were kept busy for the week, B being looked after by Daddy, staying at Gran’s, with big cousin around too, so plenty to amuse him. I thought he may be a bit off with me when he came home, just while he settled back in to normal routines again, but I got the biggest hug and “I missed you Mummy” which he repeated at various intervals over the next few days.


Bless ‘im. We love our huggles! Long may they continue.

So back to reality now, trying not to stress out about B’s upcoming birthday party, and getting ready to start school. Now where did I put the Bach’s?