It’s been 17 days since I last wrote a blog post, which is blooming terrible, especially as I’ve actually made a rough plan for the next few too. How do I know it’s been 17 days exactly? Well the last one was on New Years Eve (seems like ages ago now) and because I’m currently keeping track of some of the things I do regularly, in order to see the places areas of my life than ‘need work’. More about that in a minute.
Did you think about a One Little word for your 2016?
Despite my concerns about ‘putting it out there’, several friends have mentioned how positive they found my last post. How it made them think about their 2016 and have picked words too, including CONFIDENCE, RESTORE, STRONG and HAPPY. Each word definitely reflects the individual that chose it and I can’t wait to see how it impacts their year ahead.
I’ve been busy test knitting a garment for the next issue of the magazine, due for release on the 26th January – eek! Deirdre and I have also been swatching samples for the Yarn Review feature, but I’ve spent the best part of the last fortnight stuck in front of my pc or unpacking and sorting out craft supplies, in order to begin scrapbooking my One Little Word.
Nearly forgot to mention that I made Deirdre a hat. It’s the Orbitus Hat by and I love it. Hopefully she does too 🙂
This pile of ends is also an indication of things completed…
I’m happy to report that I’ve finished the granny square blanket I had been making for my youngest, Kye.
He was thoroughly chuffed when I told him it was for him and he loves it. I might add another couple of rounds to it some time in the future, but for now I think the 75″ square is the perfect size for that extra bit of warmth. Much needed at this time of year, especially if you live in an old farmhouse that seems to eat the heat.
Talking of cold, it really has been rather chilly of late. I finally gave in on Thursday and broke out the thermals, unable to take the sensation of numb legs anymore. It’s lovely to get out for a walk in the Winter sun, but I’m finding no amount of layers are keeping my hands or ears (?) warm.
Today the sun hasn’t even been able to poke it’s way through the grey overcast cloudy sky, but I’m happy to see the fog lifted after last night. It was so thick that I found driving home in it close to terrifying and I would never think of myself as a nervous driver. I took my dogs out for a walk on the farm at 10pm last night, because I hadn’t had time earlier in the day and I couldn’t even see two fence posts ahead along the track with my torch.
We’re in full ‘getting ready to publish mode’ and we keep getting messages from people telling us they can’t wait for the next issue. It’s easy when you’re so busy to forget to look after yourself and I’m extremely guilty of doing this, part of my hopes for the year ahead was to try and stem the chaos a little and have faith in myself. Putting this plan into action late again as per usual (but better late than never), I’ve started to keep a track of some of my daily routines and habits so I can see where I’m falling down.
The table is basic a diary of sorts, there’s plenty of lines to fill in the things you want to monitor and the boxes on the right represents the days of the month. By checking or colouring in the boxes for the things you’ve achieved that day, you can see at a glance what’s happening. I only really started it on the 9th of this month, but it was easy to back fill some of the boxes.
For me personally, I’m trying to establish a ‘baseline’ in some areas of my life, so I can work on them in the coming months. In no particular order I’ve tried to include things that I like doing, things that need doing, social media is there to ensure I remember, things I have to watch and things I’m aiming for.
Knitting & crochet is there at the top as this is my sanity, meditation and mindfulness time all wrapped up in one. A day without even a little time spent with my needles or hook can be too long for my head. As you can see, I haven’t spun or wove since the beginning of the year. I have worked on other crafty pursuits which is great, but I desperately want to try and make spinning and or weaving part of my daily routine, in order to improve my technique. I also find I totally switch off whilst doing either, which equals a happy head too.
The next section is all dedicated to the magazine, Leftfootdaisy stuff, social media and blog posts, which is why I know it’s been 17 days and having the chart hanging next to my desk has been a constant reminder.
The next group of items are areas that I want to or should be watching. Walk the dogs, is so I do just that, it would be rare that I wouldn’t and if I couldn’t someone else would. Keeping tabs on it, just gives me that little extra nudge to do it myself. Washing (clothes not myself) is listed because it seems like my washing pile is never ending and I’m hoping that by seeing ‘washing free days’ it will help me to realise this just isn’t the case.
I’ve added ‘eat’ and ‘pain’ and have included a traffic light system for keeping check because these are two areas in my life that are a interconnected, a bit of a priority and in need of work. I’m planning to use this months results to make changes in the coming months. (more about in another post)
The next few entries refer to actually getting in the car and leaving my house, it’s rural so you have to drive and although I’ll invariably have gotten out to walk the dogs it’s not really the same. Looking back at the last post, in which I mentioned trying to create some more ‘joy’ in my life, I thought it would be good to note how often I see my friends, even if it’s for the briefest moment.
Bed before 12 – the X’s are because I haven’t achieved it. It doesn’t even mean bed and sleep, I’m just working on trying to train myself to actually go upstairs to bed before 12.
Last item for this month says ‘read or listened to’, because I always enjoyed reading a book and can’t remember the last one I actually completely read. I started listening to audio books about a year ago as a way to fill this need, but even that has begun to fall by the wayside now I’m not driving backwards and forwards to Midleton several times a week.
I’m currently listening to The Way of the Kings by Brandon Sanderson, all 76 chapters, 0r 45 hours and 34 minutes of it. I’ve a little over 33 hours left, but am getting a little confused with the names of the characters.
I’m trying to read Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, but I haven’t managed to get that much read. The basic principle of the book is doing less, but better, which kind of ties in with some of the things I’m trying to fix.
I’ve made my ‘Daily Habit’ chart available to download as a pdf if you’d like to try keeping a check on your daily routines here.
For now I’m dreaming of knitting this yarn up into an Orbitus Hat for myself and working on my first prompt of the Ali Edwards One Little Word workshop. and thinking about my word FAITH.
Doesn’t she and the view look lovely?
Look a little closer and you can see it’s ice in the tyre tracks because it was freezing and bless her, she was sitting because she was tired (she only has 3 legs).
Happy 🙂
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