Hey it's Friday and I'm here! Time to look back
and reflect on the good things from the past week although as there was no FFF last week I'm looking back on the last two weeks.
This meme is hosted by Susanne over at "Living to Tell the Story". Pop over there to see who else is taking part.
1) Christmas celebrations going to plan. Our quiet dinner for 4 plus Grandson Nathan developed into dinner for 12 plus Nathan and a dog thrown into the mix. Fortunately I'm used to planning and cooking for large numbers so it was all fine and I think we all had a good time!
2) Quality time with Nathan and his Mummies. We stayed there from Christmas Eve until the day after Boxing day.
3) Quality time with Noah and his parents. They arrived last Sunday and are here until Sunday. It's been lovely having so much time with Noah and I babysat him last night and he didn't make a peep.
4) Being in the right place at the right time. I popped into my GP surgery today to organise a prescription and I also wanted to make an appointment for a women's screening procedure and was told I could have it done there and then. I was a bit taken aback but decided to get it over and done with. No time like the present!
5) Being retired. I couldn't have done all what we've done over Christmas had I still been working or helped out at the drop of a hat like we had to on Wednesday. Our son and DIL arrived back from Vermont to find they had been burgled while away. They've lost 2 laptops and some cash and the place was a tip where all their drawers and cupboards had been emptied out but there was no real damage done and thankfully they are insured. We scooped up our DIL and Rory and brought them back here while our son waited for the police to come and then we kept Rory all day while they put things straight. The thieves must have watched and known the flat was empty and they were clearly professional. Hopefully their insurers won't take too long to process their claim.
So a busy couple of weeks but lots of quality family time and that continues this weekend as we're getting together with all our kids and Grandsons for a belated family Christmas. No complicated meals this time though!
Happy New Year to you all.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 2nd, 2020,
is “a picture you’ve taken in the last week.” If you don’t want to
share the photo itself, talk about it. If you haven’t taken any photos,
talk about a moment you wish you had. Have fun!
Well my picture wasn't taken this week but I wish we had a matching one:
This one was taken last Christmas when we fortunate enough to have all 3 Grandsons and their parents with us. For the 2 youngest it was their first Christmas so quite special.
This year we were with the eldest (Nathan) again but the younger 2 were with their other Grandparents so we haven't got a Christmas photo - yet! We're all getting together this weekend to exchange presents and spend some time together. Hopefully the photo will be recreated although they all look a lot different now!
These prompts are brought to you by Linda G Hill.
Go here for the rules of the Just Jot it January challenge.
Go here for today's prompt and links to other participants.
Technically it's now Thursday here but still Wednesday in Linda's timezone so here goes - definitely bad to the bone!
(Not my arm fortunately - my daughter's following a trip over her son's scooter! Yes definitely an ouch! This was taken over a week ago and it looks much better now.)
These prompts are brought to you by Linda G Hill.
Go here for the rules of the Just Jot it January challenge.
Go here for today's One Liner Wednesday posts.
Well my failure to complete my 19 in 19 list of objectives hasn't deterred me from trying again this year. I've tweaked the list to try and be more specific, removed some things and added others and came up with the following:
1. Fill out weekly/daily planner
This replaces last year's "be more organised, plan ahead and waste less time" which was a bit vague. This year I'm being more specific. I have a weekly sheet that's pinned up on the fridge that hubby and I sit and do together and I've bought a new daily planner that I hope might keep me more on track. I know that |I do better when I jot down tasks for the day and work through them so I've invested in a hardback planner that looks like this:
I've also bought some new coloured pens so hopefully I will be inspired!
2. Garden projects: Get window boxes for front garden plus big planters. Stepping stones for rear garden.
3. Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal/outing)
I still think it's worth trying this.
4. Eat at 6 new-to-me restaurants
5. Complete the A – Z blogging challenge
6. Plan Family weekend for my birthday
7. Take up an exercise class (pilates)
8. Plan a road trip/holiday with hubby.
9. Visit the beach
10. Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year)
11. Keep a gratitude diary (I tried to keep a journal but wasn't very successful but I have been jotting down something I'm grateful for each day which seems more manageable.)
12. Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)
13. Take a photo each week and blog about it. (Again more specific than last year's "take more photos")
14. Read 12 books on my TBR pile. (Again a specific target - this equates to one per month and in theory is manageable.)
15. Finish knitting WIP (blanket of squares) (Another specific target that hopefully will produce a result!)
16. Try out a new recipe or do a bake each month (Weekly was definitely over optimistic last year!)
17. Visit/see Noah every month
18. Get damp treatment done in house (Another specific target and the most pressing job that needs doing.)
19. Maintain weight (I think this might be more achievable than trying to lose 20 pounds!)
20. Be kind to myself. Whilst I think it's good to set myself challenges sometimes life gets in the way or I just have days where I really can't be bothered. I need to accept this and not be hard on myself when things don't go to plan.
Definitely a more SMART list than last year which hopefully will see better results. But as I know from past experience, sometimes life or health issues get in the way, which is why I set up #20. It's good to have these aims to keep me focussed and motivated but it's not the end of the world if they don't all get done.
Interestingly, having looked back on my 18 in 18 summary, one of the things I noted in the final round up was that I needed it to be less target driven because this added pressure. Hopefully I've found a balance this year of being specific so that I know what I'm aiming to do but also being realistic as to what I might achieve.
