Where did that year go?

I didn't realise it had been as long as a year since my last update.

Spring Harvest went really well...
then it was the church AGM ...
then sorting out pulpit supply ...
then before you knew where you were it was time for the Scripture Union Summer Mission week doing childrens work every morning, team time in afternoon, youth work and family work in the evening during the week and other stuff both weekends ...
then a few days to recover at work ...
then I threw myself into helping with Butefest with storms and mud and music and friends and fun and late nights and early mornings ...
then my mum and her husband came to visit for Highland games ...

then it was late August and I broke,

I broke me.

It's been a long 6 months of coming to realise I can't do all that on top of 40hour weeks at work and stay sane, or in touch with friends or even family and keep my house tidy or clothes repaired or diet healthy.

I've had to learn to say no when I want to say yes, but really can't,
I've had to learn to listen to those that care about me when they say I'm doing too much but I feel I'm not doing enough as I'm not not doing anything properly, or completely finishing each job.
I've had to learn to let go of perfectionism, sometimes basic and done is good enough
I've had to learn somethings I can stop worrying about as I can't fix how other people see things.
I've had to learn I cant make everybody like me by working harder or longer
I've had to learn some people will never be happy with what I've done or am doing and thats their issue not mine.
I've had to learn to recognise when my reactions to situations are over reactions and try and talk myself down off the mental ledge rather than fly off the handle

I'm still learning all of these and more.

But last week I also learned how to quilt!

In amongst my bombsite of a craft room/spare room I found a pack of fabric squares I must have bought 15/20 years ago. still in their packagaing. As I'd unearthed the sewing maching recently and was trying to have some 'me time' I thought I'd give patchwork a go.

I started simple, just after Christmas, nothing fancy, I put some squares together and made a cushion cover. Just sew the squares together and then add a back.



Then I found a beginning quilting series on Diary of a Quilter.com http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/beginning-quilting-series

Amy made it look really simple and not as scary as it felt. So this week I made a quilt.
I'm ridiculously happy about it.
It's not very big and it's not very thick, and the sewing is a bit wonky, but its mine and I made it and that'd good enough.

Hopefully I'll manage to update more this year but I'm not holding myself to any deadlines or framework.

If you've managed to read this far take care of yourself and yours this year and I promise to take better care of me also x

Half Term Report

Ok February and most of March seem to have got away from me.

I have managed to scrap some more of the Vegas trip photos but not any of 2015 yet.

• I’ve manage to get in a couple of walks but not managed to get for a run or a swim.
• I’ve taken some photos but not managed to keep to one a day.
• I didn’t make any cards but have found the Easter ones from last year so will make sure they go out this year.
• I have done a bit more cooking, still loving the slow cooker but remembered how much I love the simplicity of stir fries and made scotch broth (ish) for church.
• I’ve not managed any baking but have been playing games with the Youth club and decorating cakes.
• I have managed to declutter more of the living room and the bedroom cupboards so another pile of bags for Cancer Research.  However the craft room is still a chaos zone.
• Not visited anyone since the new year but have had regular dinners with Dad and calls with Mum and occasional chats with Brother.
• Shortly going on holiday to visit family and friends take in a trip to the beach and sing my heart out at Spring Harvest.   

So half term report, not a complete disaster but could do better :) 

Thinking of my holiday I'm trying to work out a capsule wardrobe

5 vest tops, 4 t-shirts, 3 bottoms, 2 long sleeved tops, 1 dress and 1 skirt for 14 days to include travelling, sightseeing, working, poss beach and church induction. 

Any thoughts?

Starting well..

January has started well.

I have been taking time for me, going for walks, taking photographs and even started a plan for scrapbooking again.

I'm trying a photo a day challenge from #theidearoom and 9 days in still going.

I've also bought a project life kit from Create and Craft and am starting to work on my Vegas holiday picutres. Just 4 years late :) I'm really liking the simplicity of how pages can come together.

I'll probably use this method to deal with my photo challenge photos as well as recording things I'm thankful for or positive about throughout the year.

Happy New Year (little early)

2014 has been a rough year for a number of reasons.
There have been good times but also some really low times.

I've decided I need to make some changes this year and actually put in my calendar and diary time for me.
This may be time to exercise, time to craft or just time to chill and do nothing but it's my nothing and it doesn't mean I'm not doing something important.

Just as I had to learn that I'm good enough to use my 'good' dishes and cutlery and any day is good enough to wear my 'good' clothes I will learn that I am important enough to have time for me.

So if I say no to something next year please don't take it personally it's simply there may be more things to do than I have time to do them.

Some of the things I'm hoping to do in 2015

• Run
• Walk
• Swim
• Take photographs
• Make Cards
• Scrapbook
• Sing
• Play Games
• Cook
• Bake
• Visit family and friends
• Get to a musical
• Visit the beach
• and lots more.

Happy New Year!

Conquer Worry

Last week at work I had a mini meltdown over something that was actually quite small but managed to reduce me to tears in the middle of a meeting.  This coincided with a friend sharing a tweet from @ConquerWorry

Struggling? Would you like to join us for the July Jump Start Challenge? conquerworry.org/jump-start-cha… pic.twitter.com/eYjKFHwtjW

I took time to read through the pages and realised I've let myself get back into a place where I am just working, sleeping and worrying without having time for me or friends or exercise. As a result my physical and mental health is stretched which contributed to my meltdown. 

I was going to start July following the Conquer Worry Jump Start Challenge and began over the weekend thinking of things to be grateful for.  However, as Burns said "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men  Gang aft agley." Translation - the best laid plans of mice and men often go wrong.

I started the weekend with an allergic reaction that made my right eye swell up like I'd been in a boxing match and as that went down my cheek started to swell up. This turned out to be an abscess so my 1st of July started with an emergency dental appointment and extraction. 

The Jump Start Challenge has some steps to get us started 

1. Pick three Daily Tasks
2. Do each task daily for 21 consecutive days
3. Record your results
4. Record one thing you are grateful for.
5. Record on positive experience that happened that day
6. Start over if you miss a day.

My tasks I'd picked were to exercise, get 20 mins sunlight and work on daily prayer. This is my attempt to record how I got on,

For exercise I'm counting the walk to work, the walk from there to the dentist, the walk back an hour and half later and then the walk home to recover.  

As it was a beautiful sunny day yesterday I'm counting that as my sunshine exposure as well. 

I'm not sure I should count the praying it would end during the trip to the dentist but I do keep a prayer list and when the painkillers had kicked in later last night I did work through it.

The positive experience of the day was, unlikely as it sounds, the extraction itself. My dentist was amazing and took her time to make sure I was fully aware of what would happen and comfortable at all times. The extraction itself was the least painful I've ever had, not counting those when I was younger when they could still knock you out :-) 

I'm grateful for the support of colleagues, friends and family when I was feeling lousy and those who contacted me to make sure I was ok. 

Extra Time

Earlier this week I was praying for more time in the week (or even in a day), I felt like I was running around like a headless chicken but getting nothing done and getting further and further behind.

It's been a hard and busy couple of months trying to juggle work, family, church and time for me seems to have been reduced to sleeping and eating inbetween everything else.

Decluttering has slowed, running has paused and crafting is non existant.

I got an answer to prayer on Tuesday in an odd way. We were overstaffed at work so our boss was offering an extra hour on the lunchbreak, unpaid buy hey an hour extra is an hour extra :-)
in that hour and a half I managed to get to the shops to buy a gas canister for my heater, get to the bank for the bits you can't do online, cook lunch instead of a sandwich, do all my dishes, clean the kitchen start some decluttering of the living room and have 10 mins just for me to sit and remember how thankful I am that I have a family, a job and a loving church. Amazing the difference an hour makes.

Going to try and have a productive hour at least a couple of days each week.

I've taken today as a holiday as its my birthday tomorrow and I'm going to catch up on all the Dr Who programs I've recorded over the last couple of weeks. So may be a bit timey-wimey for the next 24 hours.

If you haven't watched the minisode 'Night of the Doctor' yet I urge you to do so now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01lhhv4/Doctor_Who_Mini_Episode_The_Night_of_the_Doctor/

You may scream at the screen a little - or as I did a lot.

Winter Cooking

I've decided as the weathers going straight to winter that my cooking should follow suit so been working on my stews and soups. However, most of my recipes are from weight watchers and can be a little heavy on the tomatos which seems to set off my joint pains, so I wanted to try some other options and have found several great budget ideas and some that are just really handy.

I found 'A girl called Jack' through a friend on twitter and she has some really great budget tips as well as costed out recipes. I'm bookmarking this one as someones added their lentil soup recipe in the comments :)
http://agirlcalledjack.com/2013/10/03/lentil-and-spinach-daal-66p/

I found a packet of broth mix in the cupboard and was stuck for what to do with it so googled it as you do and found 'Carolines Kitchen Diary' not had a chance to really look through it yet but wanted to keep the broth recipe handy.
http://carolineskitchendiary.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/my-scotch-broth/

and finally 'The Great British Budget Menu' my minister and his wife have been using these recipes for the past couple of months and the food is amazing. We had the hairy bikers lasagne last night and I've decided I must have a go myself.

What are you cooking this winter and where do you find your ideas?

Back to running

I had been regularly running 5km a run at the start of the summer using the Loch Fad loop but damaging my ankle in July cut back on my running and I was just getting back into it start of September when my Step-Mum Katy died very suddenly from a heart attack.

Today was my first run in over a month so only did one lap of the park loop :) fellt good though and my ankle was fine, looking forward to longer run on monday/tuesday. My (big) wee brother Johnnie recommended the Strava app for the mobile and it makes logging my run so much easier. Gotta love brothers <3 span="">



Also got some decluttering done gave drawer full of mettalic table confetti packs to our works table top sale, I could never get them to stick to cards so no point keeping them. Did notice a gap in the market as no-one doing hand made cards so may think more about that.

Still a bad blogger

Life has been a busy place over the past year and instead of giving me lots to blog about its taken up too much time and effort and i've not blogged at all, I am a bad blogger.

Tomorrow is the first of August so I'm having an August resolution to do more blogging we'll see how it goes.

My friend Kat posted recently on her blog http://mylifesingredients.blogspot.co.uk/ that she's working through a photo scavenger hunt so I may have a go at that and also Ancestry.co.uk  http://www.ancestry.co.uk/1911Census have announced Free access to the 1911 Census – limited time only! Find your family’s stories in our England & Wales 1911 Census, free until 23:29 on 14 October. shame it doesn't include Scotland but I might find something. 
theres also my continued attempt to declutter, lose weight and get fit. 

We'll see if any of that provides blogging matterial for the month.

Decluttering - Phase One - Clothes

I decided it would be easiest to start my de-cluttering with clothes as really there's only so many choices to make.

• They either fit or they don't 
• They either suit me or they don't 
• I'll either wear them (like them) or I never will (hate them, even if they fit)

My clothes have been piling up on the bed, dressing table, chairs and floor as my wardrobe and drawers were full and going through the piles, drawers, cupboards and wardrobe in my bedroom I seem to have had a lot of clothes but nothing to wear. Sound familiar?

I made the decision to do one drawer/cupboard/pile at a time and not try and pull out everything at once.
I tried everything on even if I was sure it would/wouldn't fit.
And to make myself happy I started with my 'to slim into drawer' - I'm sure everyone (women at least) has a drawer like this in their house.

It was actually a lot of fun, helped by finding six, yes SIX pairs of trousers I can now fit into properly and wear in public :-)
It was also a bit like journeying through my past as I found outfits and items of clothing from years ago 80's and 90's that brought back lots of memories.  I'm keeping the memories and ditching the clothes :-)

I put everything that was going into big black binbags and when each one was full moved the bags out of the room and refused to look in them again as I know from experience if it sits there I'll start taking things back out and inventing a reason to keep them.

Several days and lots of clothes and dust later I won the battle of the wardrobe.

I had SIX black bin bags and one carrier bag to go to Cancer Research.

I didn't even have to worry about what was good enough to donate or not as they also get money for rags so anything they can't sell in the shops is still useful.

And they even have an option to Gift Aid it now.

My friend Hazel helped me take all the bags to the shop in one go so I wouldn't be tempted to start rummaging :-)

No more piles of clothes on the floor or surfaces, my clothes now all fit in my wardrobe and dressing table drawers.
However, I admit, I have started a new 'to slim into drawer' but its a lot smaller than the previous one.

Next phase - books!

Serious de-cluttering time

I have way to much stuff, all types of stuff and me and my house are drowning in it. 

Craft stuff, sewing stuff, genealogy stuff, music stuff, 

books stuff, dvd stuff, clothes stuff, paper stuff, 

exercise stuff, diet stuff, cooking stuff and oh yeah organisation stuff! 

Up till now I've done some minimal decluttering but mainly I've been trying to get organised more and find places and ways to store all the stuff I have. 

The problem is now every surface, corner, cupboard, drawer, box, shelf and table are stacked high with stuff. And while I do know what it all is and where its all kept and can usually find things quite quickly when I need to,  I can't really do much with what I've got as there is no room left for actually using the stuff.

My life has becoming continually maintaining the organisation of piles of stuff. There has to be more.

I've finally come to understand Flyladys comments when she says you can't organise clutter.

So, enough is enough!

I'm starting on properly clearing out years worth of stuff and as I haven't moved home since I was 3  I have a LOT of stuff and some of it is going to have emotional attachments but quite a lot of it won't.

Some of it I've kept for fear of offending the people that gave stuff to me, ornaments I don't like, books I won't read and clothes that don't suit.  

I've decided as my house is now so cluttered I never invite them round anyway how would they know if I kept their gifts or not, and would most of them even remember what they gave me.

Flylady had a little list that may help

• Do I love this item?
• Have I used it in the past year?
• Is it really junk?
• Do I have another one that is better?
• Should I really keep two?
• Does it have sentimental value that causes me to love it?
• Or does it give me guilt and make me sad when I see the item?

I'll post here as I work through the various stages, and hopefully writing it down will help when it comes to some of the harder decisions of what can go and what can stay. 

Anyone up for joining me or any suggestions on making it less painful, feel free to comment. 

New Phone and a Question

I'm still working on my To-Do list from last month and ticked off a couple.

I've managed to get extra hours in the day by taking this week off work and making serious inroads on my housework and sorting all my paper clutter. I'm trying to set up proper storage spaces for bills, sunday school lessons, craft classes, magazines & newspaper clippings as well as find a way to deal with junkmail as soon as it arrives not just pile it up on the kitchen counters.

I also bought a new phone at last. Only my fourth ever mobile and the first to really do pictures and internet. So now in the midst of getting to grips with the touch screen and rotating display and a keypad that keeps appearing and disappearing I'm also trying to navigate this new world of 'apps'.

• What are they?
• Do I need them?
• If so which ones?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Ten things on just after the Tenth :)

I was going to post this yesterday as part of Shimelles 10 things on the tenth but still getting to grips with my new phone and couldn't get it to type an entry only the title. I recently signed up to twitter so sharing 10 people I'm following.

glittershim also known as Shimelle Laine

Spring Harvest Christian conference I volunteer at each year

jake humphrey F1 from BBC, best in the world :)

twitturgies personal liturgies in 140 characters

ProfBrianCox everyone needs a bit of science

Natwivity Twitter Nativity

timminchin don't agree with all his views but he is an amazing musician/comic/writer

NASAVoyager2 I know I'm a geek

BrainyQuote Some of it has to rub off on me at some point

stephenfry isn't everyone?

If anyone wants to follow me you can do so here but I cant promise I'll be any more consistent with my posts than here :)

Things still to do this year!

Things still to do this year (in no particular order)

• Update craft blog
• Update family tree blog
• Update family tree website
• Tidy and organise craft room
• Organise and tidy family tree files
• Defrag PC and delete the bad digi photos
• Start craft class
• Find time to craft and sew and research family tree
• Find the other 12 hours a day I would like to have to do the above
• Turn my spare room into a Hogwarts(ish) room of requirement that i can use for crafting, sewing, genealogy and occasional visitors
• Take more photos
• Get back to running
• Record more stories
• Spend more time with friends
• Get a new mobile phone

10 on the 10th

10 Things I'm thinking about today

1: Headaches and sickness bugs :(

2: Sunday School classes

3: British F1 GP win for Ferrari and points for Michael Schumacher

4: Housework :(

5: Shimelles 4x6 Love layouts

6: Weather

7: Running plans

8: Punch art ideas

9: Which of my Vegas photos to scrap next

10: Whats for tea?

Its July!!!

Ok I know I said I'd be back in a week but its been a busy month :)

I had to make up some time at work so have worked the past 3 Saturdays and that really eats into your creative and organising time. So much for working to live!

I have manged to get some things done though - I got out for a run, only two miles but I'm back at it. I had a play with my Bigshot and I scrapped! I'm quite proud of myself.

Its been a while since I did any scrapbooking. I keep meaning to get started and I read lots of blogs and forums and look at lots of ideas and then think - I'll do it later.

Well at last later caught up with me. I'd seen a sketch on Shimelles blog and immediately thought of one of the photos I'd bought on my recent trip to Las Vegas so here is my oversized picture layout of my trip to the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay.

I dipped into my stash of cardstock and designer paper mixing in a bit of pink with the blues to match my top and the coral. I used my new Top Note and Fun Flowers Dies for the Bigshot and some embossing folders to add some texture. Then I had great fun making my Shark lettering with chipboard letters, various shades of blue inks, crystal effects and lots of time and patience :) Crystal Effects advises 30-60 mins to dry if using a thick layer but don't believe it. I always leave mine overnight. Just to be sure :)

I'm please with the final result and glad to be back scrapping. Hopefully more holiday layouts to follow soon.

I've also treated myself by ordering all my holiday photos from Las Vegas and the Cruise in 09 from photobox they arrived yesterday and make a huge pile.

May need to browse for inspiration.

Belated 10 things on the tenth!

It's half way through 2011 and all my good intentions have fallen off the wagon and well by the wayside.

I took Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers a couple of years ago and this year I signed up for her new class Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers but life has got in the way and I've not managed to do more than read the prompts and tech bits so far although they have got my imagination fired up and raring to go. My new problem is: Where to start?

Originally this blog was just a place to keep things I wanted to remember, then to share my love of crafting and more recently, ok last year, my tentative steps into running. As my crafting changed to demoing I set up a craft blog and to keep track of my family tree stuff I setup a family tree blog and website. Result - to much stuff in to many places and none of it co-ordinated or organised and so I forget to update or cant decide what should go where.

So my belated 10 things on the tenth are 10 things to do

1: Start with a post a week on each site

2: Decide what goes where

3: Possibly merge my blogs into one to cover everything

4: Pick a look that is me as I am

5: Find or make a template or theme to match the look

6: Make time to craft, run, blog and live

7: Take more day to day photos

8: Try to be on time more.

9: Have a plan of action

10: Work to live not live to work

I'll let you know next week how I'm getting on :)

New Year

Well that was 2010. It went by quite quickly seems like no time at all since I posted this entry in December 2009.

" I'm going to concentrate on what I CAN do and how to do it not what I cant. "

This year I managed to lose a stone in weight and can now run 4km so I'm going to keep the word CAN for another year.

I CAN lose more weight, I CAN run further, I CAN be more organised, I CAN keep in touch more, I CAN enjoy life as it comes.

To do this I will

• Continue with Weightwatchers and get to grips with their new ProPoints system.
• Keep up the weekly runs and stretch my distances with the Running Bug
• Set up routines and good habits with Flylady
• Do more than just play games on Facebook

Roll on 2011!

Quote for the year ahead - "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." (Herm Albright)

Trying Friday Fill in's

Ok I have nicked this idea for a post from Kat's blog as it seems quite interesting and as its my first go I'll try both. For more info on Friday Fill-in's try here

*This week, I'm going to give you a choice of fill-ins OR a different kind of fill-in (or both). A friend emailed me a list where you have to identify Christmas songs by the initials of the first words of the first line of each song. Each Friday until Christmas Eve I'll post 9 more of these songs and if you'd like to play along, great! So...here we go! *

1. The best thing about a birthday celebration is my mum singing happy birthday on my ansaphone.
2. I cant believe the speed of the passage of time.
3. I went shopping recently and the most interesting thing I bought was spices, sad but true :)
4. Doublers was a child's game played with tennis balls.
5. The reason is because!
6. Getting fed up of snow and cold.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Sleeping, tomorrow my plans include taking photos at Santa's Grotto and Sunday, I want to run!


AND/OR
1. HYAMLC:
2. TFNTADS: The First Noel The Angels Did Sing
3. GRYMGLNYD: God Rest You Merry Gentlemen Let Nothing You Dismay
4. ICUAMC:
5. SNHNAICAIB: Silent Night, Holy Night all is calm all is bright
6. OTFDOCMTLGTM: On the first day of christmas my true love gave to me
7. DTHWBOHFLLLLLLLL: Deck the halls with boughs of holly falalalala lala la la
8. YBWOYBNC:
9. JTTWTLHC: Joy to the world the lord has come

Journal Your Christmas 2010

It's that time of year again, Journal your Christmas with Shimelle.

I started JYC in 2007 did some more in 2008 and read the prompts in 2009 this year 2010 I'm going to at least keep notes (every day if I can).

Dec 1st - Manifesto - why am i doing this? much the same reasons as I did in 2007.01Dec07