Five Minute Friday - 11/1/19 - Better

Well I've cheated a bit here today because this is my second five minute stint.  The first one just seemed to be a rerun of my Friday's Fave Five post and I'm sure I can do better than that.

But there's the thing.  Why do we always feel we need to strive to do better when actually we're probably doing ok?  I'm often berating myself for not doing things or achieving  things but it's hard sometimes to work out what's really important.

Yes it's good to have a clean and tidy home and get through my to do list but it's also good to just do things I enjoy.  Like blogging, even though it can become very time consuming, especially when you start visiting other blogs, leaving comments etc and then find yourself completely down a rabbit hole and an hour (or more) has passed by.

Or just spending time with family and friends.  Just being still and enjoying the view.  Doing something that wasn't on the to do list but made you feel better.

Time's up.  I'd better get this posted!

26th October - 31 days/Five Minute Friday - Moment

In an effort to get blogging on a regular basis it seems I need a challenge.  I've opted to try and complete this one as it's only supposed to take 5 minutes each day.  Of course it takes a bit longer than that to get the post presented how I want it but the content was done with a timer.

If you want to find out more, join in or just check out other participants click on the image above.

Today’s prompt is Moment and here's my 5 minutes' worth:

Hey wait a moment, today’s prompt was listed as Capture. What?  That was yesterday?  Oh no, I’ve missed a day, mainly because it was hard to capture a moment to myself yesterday.  I was on Nathan duty as usual but it was his Mummies’ wedding anniversary too so they went out for dinner and I babysat for them.  Hubby joined me for the evening but by that time I had managed to get Nathan to sleep and he stayed asleep until after his Mummies came home.

Anyway I didn’t get to do a post – by the time we got home it was almost midnight and I admitted defeat.  I’ve done one too many midnight dashes the last week, it’s been busy, and I just needed to sleep.  Especially as the night before I hadn’t slept well at all.

Hubby and I are travelling to Canada next month and then on to Vermont to celebrate Thanksgiving with our son’s in-laws.  It should be very exciting but….

We have to get an electronic visa waiver to enter Canada.  Mine was processed within an hour.  Hubby being his usual honest self, declared the various minor offences he has from the past, all to do with driving.  Nothing major, just a few silly mistakes.  But ….. the response from Canada was he now needs to produce a Police Check.  You can imagine my initial reaction.  Panic.  Police checks can take a while.  We don’t have a while.  Fortunately we have more than a few moments and we can pay for the privilege of having a response within 2 working days.  It took almost that long to get the necessary photo and paperwork together, scanned in and submitted!  By me.  Hubby is technology challenged.

Provided there are no glitches it should all be fine but I’ll be relieved when everything is sorted.  It was obviously playing on my mind the night before last.  I dreamt I was on a plane, stuck in my seat with hubby nowhere to be seen and he had my suitcase!  I really was captured but thankfully only for the moment it took me to wake up.

Who says there no sense in our dreams?

Today I’ve had more than a few moments to myself.  I decided that as Wendysday got taken over by laundry etc Friday would be Myday this week.  After sorting out the police check paperwork I’ve spent what was left catching up on blogging and TV and anything else that has captured my interest.

12th October - 31 days & FMF - Praise

In an effort to get blogging on a regular basis it seems I need a challenge. I've opted to try and complete this one as it's only supposed to take 5 minutes each day. Of course it takes a bit longer than that to get the post presented how I want it but the content was done with a timer.

If you want to find out more, join in or just check out other participants click on the "31 days" image above.

Today’s prompt is Praise and it's also the regular Five Minute Friday promt.  

Here's my 5 minutes' worth:

Despite the fact that, like most people I’m sure, I like being praised I’m not actually very good at accepting it. I tend to qualify whatever I’m being praised for or complimented on. It’s clearly to do with confidence, or lack of it and not feeling worthy.

Sounds daft I know. I think it partly stems from doing well at school from a young age but not enjoying the attention that came with it. Coming top of the class was an achievement that brought praise from teachers and my parents but didn’t always endear me to my friends. Or the parents of the other kids. I missed one set of exams due to a bout of mumps. A mother of one of the boys remarked to my Mum that she was sorry I was unwell but at least it would give others a chance of getting the top place. I only ever tried to do my best.

Now I’m better at accepting praise and compliments. A simple thank you is usually enough. I also try and make sure I give praise. Being positive is much better than being negative but that’s still something I struggle with. But acknowledging I can be a glass half empty person is a step in the right direction.

I know that I have a lot to be thankful for and definitely worth praise.

Phew just about getting this posted on the day!  My other name must be Cinderella.

5th October - 31 days - Share

In an effort to get blogging on a regular basis it seems I need a challenge.  I've opted to try and complete this one as it's only supposed to take 5 minutes each day.  Of course it takes a bit longer than that to get the post presented how I want it but the content was done with a timer.

If you want to find out more, join in or just check out other participants click on the  image above.

Today’s prompt is Share and here's my 5 minutes' worth:

I always tried to teach my children the concept of sharing from a young age.  I also tried to be fair with them which wasn’t always easy – dividing things into 3 can be tricky.  Of course there were times, particularly outside the safety of our home that things weren’t  fair and they had to learn the hard lesson that life isn’t always fair and not everyone knows how to share.

One of the anecdotes of hubby’s family though is that whoever was cutting a cake or a pie to share with other siblings etc. got the smallest piece.  I think they are all experts at cutting things into equal shares.

Sometimes though, we all feel we have more than our fair share of worries or hardships but it’s then we have to try and remember that there are also times when we seem to have more good things going on in our lives than others.  

I’m off to post my other regular Friday post now – Friday’s Fave Five which is a good way of counting your blessings.

Getting back on track

Well it's the end of September and I'm slipping.  I'm not living up to my potential - that was the prompt for 5 minute Friday this week but I was just too tired to compose a post.  Even for 5 minutes.  I've signed up for the October challenge of writing for 5 minutes every day.  Five minutes doesn't sound a lot but some days it's hard to find them.

Actually it's not that hard but finding the motivation is.

Friday was busy - I had a hair appointment first thing which meant an early start and from there I went on to visit Rory and his Mummy.  The evening was spent catching up on some TV and I did do some blogging just not the 5 minutes Friday.

Yesterday was a lazy day until the afternoon when we went to babysit Nathan so his Mummies could have a night out.  We had a lovely time bathing and putting Nathan to bed - well when I say bed we got him to sleep in his buggy.  He is not good at going to sleep on his own and is usually in bed with Mummy.  That may change now because on Saturday morning Becca woke up to find Nathan standing next to the bed, telling her Bye Bye.  (His favourite phrase at the moment.)  Somehow, despite being in a "Grow Bag"  (think sleeping bag with shoulder straps) and a bed rail, he'd managed to get out of the bed. 

Anyway he slept well in his buggy for us but stirred and got a bit upset just before they got home but I had managed to get him back to sleep.

I love it when he's snuggly!

Anyway tomorrow is the start of a new month so I'll be polishing off my bullet journal, planning ahead and trying to find five minutes everyday for a post.  I hope you'll join me.

Five Minute Friday - 14/9/18 - Crowd

If you want the full details of how this works click here

The main idea though as you've probably guessed is just to write for 5 minutes on the prompt which today is CROWD  (and if you want to check out other posts click here)

This is my attempt: 


I am not good in crowds.  I definitely don't like feeling out of control and in my experience that's what I am when in a crowd.

I distinctly remember one New Year's Eve (probably about 1981 or 82) when a group of friends decided to celebrate in central London in Trafalgar Square.  I'm not sure how I was persuaded to go but I did.  It was extrememly busy and crowded but it was bearable until just after midnight when everyone began to disperse.

There was a sudden surge in the crowd and you just had to go with the movement or risk being trampled.  Our group was separated and it was definitely scary.  Especially give that I don't remember mobile phones being common at the time.

Eventually some of us were able to get together and make our way home but since then I've never felt the need to celebrate New Year anywhere other than at home or at a friend's or family member's house.

I'm not a lover of fireworks so I'm just as happy to watch it all on TV, raise a glass of fizz, wish hubby a Happy New Year and retire to bed. 

Well that was my five minutes but I did spend some time checking some things such as when mobile phones really became popular and also the year - it must have been 1981 because the following year 2 people were actually trampled to death when crowds got out of control.  If I had been wary of going before, that would definitely have made me more sure of my decision to stay home.

Five Minute Friday - 7/9/18 - Rain

Well I've only joined in with this a couple of times and that was a long time ago but I'm determined to blog more regularly so this seemed a good bloghop to get back into.

If you want the full details of how this works click here

The main idea though as you've probably guessed is just to write for 5 minutes on the prompt which today is RAIN (and if you want to check out other posts click here)

This is my attempt:

When I think of rain I often think of a summer holiday we spent on the west coast of France.  We were camping with one of hubby’s sisters and her family and the weather had been lovely.

One afternoon I noticed that many of the French campers were digging trenches around their tents.  We didn’t know why but they were very intent on this.

I insisted that we needed a trench too.  Hubby was not so keen, especially as we did not have a proper spade like the seasoned French campers did – just a small child’s spade.  Watching him trying to complete the trench was quite interesting!

However, later that afternoon we began to understand.  Suddenly the wind came up from nowhere and before we knew it we were in the middle of a terrifying storm which lasted well into the night.   

We were so glad we’d dug a trench although we were still frantically moving everything into the middle of our groundsheet and lifting up the edges to keep things dry.  Thankfully the bedroom areas had built in groundsheets so that was okay but it was very scary.  We were hanging on to the sides of the tent to stop it blowing away.

The rain came in torrents and with it hailstones the size of golf balls.  Evidence of these was visible in the form of small dents on cars the next morning.  The lightening was also amazing and took out a tree at the bottom of the site.

It didn’t put me off camping but made me think more carefully about what we packed and how we stored things in the tent.

Image courtesy of Pinterest