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dear diary :: a new beginning

Happy New Year to all my followers and readers.

After a very late night I eventually surfaced around 10am…bleary eyed, so I am quite late changing my blog header…..but here I am to wish you all the best of what this year will bring for each of you.

As always I am excited with the prospect of a brand new year stretching before me – not just an empty page, or an empty chapter but a whole empty book. By the end of 2020 just what will be written on these pages. Who knows….and that is the magic of this time of year, we really don’t know.

I can map out what I am hoping for, what I am striving to achieve, what I am going to work hard at to accomplish, but I cannot predict any of those unexpected twists and turns along the journey, the ones we have least control over.

This year as many readers will know my chosen word (whether you like this idea of choosing a word or not – it works for me) is Flourish. Maybe an odd choice you are thinking, but as one of my readers said it is very apt for me as it is often a term used when caring for plants and as my passion is for gardening then it fits so well.

One of my intentions this year will be to continue with minimising and simplifying. It is not something that happens overnight – it requires a lifestyle change and developing a different mindset. For as much as I love the space I have been creating around my home I can still fall for buying completely unnecessary items….you know the ones that ‘spark joy’ when you come across them when out shopping. John Lewis does it for me every time and TK Max! My joy seems to come from objects rather than clothes these days…and don’t forget the garden centres – I could spend a fortune there even though my borders are really jammed packed full.

As the manufacturers continue to design and market new and tempting merchandise displayed in the shops I will always find it hard to say no. Like eating a healthy diet finding that balance of moderation is hard and one I am constantly working on even though every time I go to a decluttered cupboard I feel a sense of satisfaction and that spark of joy….it is often just not enough to deter me from buying more.

Some areas of my life I have well under control – my bathroom cupboards for instance only hold what I use – you won’t find anything lurking there that is not something I use most days to keep me clean and presentable. Other areas of my home are still a work in progress and the decluttering continues but it is the stuff that still comes into our home that is the problem because that is the stuff that ironically will almost certainly become part of my future decluttering. There is very little that we need (other than a new car perhaps….oh and maybe that new kitchen) but somehow I still manage to find things to bring home!

I haven’t run our year end tally yet to see just what we spent – I can assure you when all added up and displayed in a report it is frightening. Even those odd cups of coffee and snacks we buy when out and about do add up to rather a lot.

It has been a hard year for us trying to cope on the one state pension, our savings have dwindled considerably as prices continue to rise and our family circumstances are such that we have had a lot of travelling up and down to North Yorkshire. I won’t even mention the cost of all those events we laid on or attended!

This is the time of year when I have a good look at where I overspent, then promise to myself to be more careful….and it works, usually….well for the first few months!

I aim to be more green too. I say that knowing full well that I bought a plastic fridge container yesterday…a small blip. In all honesty though when I am shopping I am going to be more mindful – the wooden toys we bought at Christmas for the grandchildren are all lovely and don’t have those awful jangly tunes and songs in American accents coming out of them, (sorry USA readers but the Fisher Price toys do all begin to sound the same), in particular the ABC song which must be coded into every activity toy. My granddaughter, who is only five and like many children, now talks with a slight Americanism about cookies, movies, garbage and trash – the influence of TV and activity toys!

But first….. my aim this month – the new health and fitness regime, guaranteed to make a difference – you just have to keep at it. I am not so bold as to start today….no today is for recovery and reflection and maybe a sprawl on the sofa watching a film or two.

And I will get back to answering the comments from yesterday.

I hope everyone has a good day today for the start of the year…somehow it does make a difference if the very first day starts well.

Welcome to my new followers on the journey – I am hoping the road this year will not be quite so bumpy as last year. x

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dear diary :: the close of the year

I thought I knew what I was doing today but then life happened. DH received a phone call from the garage about our car – they are having difficulty getting a part and it will be Friday before they can do anything. He asked if they had a courtesy car to tide us over, as my little car is away on holiday in Norwich with my daughters until Thursday………. but they didn’t. Then 30 minutes later they rang back and said they had managed to rearrange things and if we could get down to the garage in town straight away they could give us one.

So my original plans for today changed in a few seconds and we had to scramble around to get our things together and walk down to the village for the bus. It was one of those local independant bus companies that set up using the old cast off buses that are sold on from the main companies – Metro and First buses in our region. The bus called Tiger buses was bright orange and so clapped out I did wonder if it was actually road worthy as we rumbled and rattled our way into town. It was the ride from hell; I swear it had square wheels. I just managed not to be sick down the women sat in front of me ( a morbid fear of mine when I am on a bus).

Opposite us was a young family, mum dad, baby in a pram and young teenage daughter. It hit home how lucky we are to have a car and how difficult and expensive it must be when you have to use public transport. The journey cost £2.70 each into town – it is 7 miles so too far to walk. The young daughter must have been going to stay with a relative or friend overnight as I overheard the mum saying that she was to pick her up at 8pm tomorrow evening. Because there are no buses running on New Year’s day she would have to organise a taxi to go and collect her -I wonder how much that will cost her on double time.

We collected the rather striking red and white Citroen C3 (doesn’t quite fit with DH’s image – he is hardly a boy racer!) and drove round to Sainsbury’s with some returns and to get a bit more fresh food and bread. Then round to TK Max to exchange a fridge container that we bought yesterday, and was later found to be broken, for another one. I confess it is plastic but not single use and should last me for years even if we change the fridge. I already have one or two in the fridge and they are so useful to keep like things together and pull out so that you can see everything at once and saves me having to contort myself whilst trying to rummage to the back of the fridge past many jars and packets.

I aslo bought a few reduced Christmas cards ready for next year. They are handy to have in case I don’t get to make my own or don’t make enough of my own next Christmas. They are packed away now already for next year.

Before Christmas I made a selection of ‘Thank you’ notelets intended as a gift for a friend who uses a lot of them; but then decided they were not really good enough to give as a gift but are OK for me to use. So that is what I am about to do now – write my thank you cards so that I can give them out when we see our friends tonight for our new year gathering.

In fact I need to get a move on so I have time to have a shower and do something with my hair. It is not a dress up evening just smart casual – it is lovely to be able to end the year amongst good friends if you cannot be with your family. My mum is with my sister and BIL down in Torquay, my daughters, partners and grandchildren somewhere on the coast in Norfolk and my brother does not do new year – so we are so lucky to bring in the new year and share a meal and a festive tipple with some of our oldest friends and that they live close enough for us to walk round there and leave the C3 at home.

I hope whatever you are doing this evening you have some pleasant memories of the passing year and I wish you health and happiness for the coming year.

Thank you everyone who reads my blog and for those who frequently comment and those who drop me a line only once in a while. It is lovely to hear from you all with your good wishes and good advice. I send greetings and hugs to you all. x

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020

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creating health :: being prepared

I have a large stack of books by the sofa on loan from the library; health books, exercise books and recipe books. If only I could sleep with them under my pillow and the information transfer overnight by osmosis and I wake up healthier…..nice thought but I suspect this will not happen and getting healthy again is going to take a little bit of research, hardwork and determination.

There will be some changes to make to overcome some of the ‘lazy’ habits I have slipped into recently – it is never that evident to me how these habits form so quickly especially the bad ones…..funny isn’t it that good habits are always harder to establish.

Before I can change my health for the better I need to be clear on exactly what it is that is wrong. And this is the first problem, as most of my niggles are just that….niggles, no precise illness that I can name. I am a few pounds heavier than my ideal weight and my muscles and joints are often stiff and aching especially in the mornings and around my neck and shoulders as if I have slept in an awkward position. I also feel that I am lacking in both strength and vitality and my eyesight and tinnitus are slowly becomming worse and the Baker’s cyst behind my left knee refuses to go.

In other words at 65 I suppose I am feeling my age.

On the good side I do not suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes or heart problems and my cholesterol is not too bad given that my thyroid condition does increase the level. It is hard to know if my muscle problems and tiredness are all due to being on thyroxine medication – some of it may be down to the mechanics of my feet and legs not working as they should because of my fallen arches. I should wear the support insoles I had made but they never fit into any of my shoes.

So far in my reading I am reminded that being healthy isn’t just a lack of ‘disease’ but a feeling of optimal health and vitality. There is a code for renewing health called the heirarchy of healing – I followed this method when I had the cancer in 2008 and it had a profound effect on limiting the extent of the spread and reducing the nodule size in my thyroid gland before the surgery to remove it. Although I had cancer I was otherwise in the best of health!

This is the list I followed back then – unfortunately I have no idea now where I read this but it encompasses all the aspects you would expect in building a healthier life. It reads in order of importance for the biggest effect on promoting good health:-

  • meditation and sleep
  • relaxation such as a relaxing massage or facial
  • exercise
  • diet and supplements
  • complementary therapies – herbal, acupuncture etc

It is now known that we are continually renewing ourselves approximately every 9 months – so I am definitely not the person I was last year! When I look in the mirror I can see that I am not the person I was as there are marked changes – a few more wrinkles here and there, bits of me heading south and flabbier – so the renewing process is not doing so well as I age but the fact that we do renew is good news as it means we can adjust and make changes that will help the regeneration – I am supposing here that how well we regenerate may depend on how good a diet we eat and how much we exercise.

So this is my starting point….my journey to a healthier life (and DH too as I won’t be cooking any separate meals for him).

Before I can begin on our healthier diet I need to remove all the unhealthy foods from my kitchen, pantry and freezer. As I am not willing to waste food, even knowing it is not such ‘good’ food in terms of nutrients we will be eating up the last of the Christmas cake, crisps, pies and anything else on the ‘naughty but nice’ list over the next few days whilst increasing our intake of healthier foods (though I can’t promise I will be cutting out all temptation of eating the forbidden foods – rather minimising them).

Over the coming month we will of course be making soup – lots of it and I will be dusting off the juicer and putting it to work once more to pack in more nutrients to my diet. I will also be taking one or two supplements and trying out different exercises and some of the suggestions and tips I have been reading about and let you know if anything is having any effect.

New Year’s day is not the best time to begin. We will be out with friends on New Year’s eve until early morning I suspect so my contribution will only be a gentle walk and lots of relaxation and I will begin for real on Thursday!

At the moment we are having to walk everywhere or catch a bus as our car broke down yet again on Christmas day. The suspension was still not right but this time because they had replaced the sensor we did get a screen message to tell us the suspension was failing and managed to drive home slowly at 45 mph all the way – which was hairy on the faster roads. We took it into the garage this morning and they ran a diagnostic report for a mere £100 as they could not locate the problem which turns out to be something with the hydraulic pipes and leakage – anyway it is now being repaired for an eye watering £700. Not the start to a new year we were looking for!

Maybe our car needs to be on a getting healthy plan too!!

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dear diary :: looking back and looking forward

It is that time of year in the quieter lull between the Christmas festivities and New Year when I always start looking back over the past twelve months; remembering all those unforgettable moments both good and bad that are etched on my mind for ever.

It has been an eventful and productive year, if not a little exhausting at times, beginning with the birth of little Freddie in January and followed by two Christenings, a 1st birthday and 40th birthday celebrations. Phew.

It was the year I grew more vegetables, started knitting again, made a christening gown and many of my own cards. In and amongst we had some lovely days out at the open garden events as well as in Scotland and a very memorable day at the seaside in Saltburn with Little L.

It was also the year we remodelled the downstairs cloakroom turning it into a walk in pantry. I did think at the beginning of the year that we would have made a start on the kitchen too – but that was not to be and we continue to live with our truly retro kitchen, patching and repairing it as we go along.

The cottage was put firmly on the back burner again as a difficult situation arose in the summer that required our full attention. The unexpected issues we had to deal with took all our time and are best forgotten – I remind myself we did our best and that hindsight is always better than foresight. If there are any regrets or niggling thoughts that I should or could have done things differently or better I just think that we are where we are and nothing can change that now all we can do is wait for the day when the issues will be resolved for better or worse.

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I don’t know about you but I am already pondering on my next actions and thinking about my word for 2020. ‘Transition‘ was my focus word for 2019 learning how to incorporate many changes into our lives as we moved from working to retiring.

Try as I might I have failed so far to get into a new satisfactory routine since leaving work and my life is certainly a lot different and feels like I am going at a faster pace than ever, trying to accommodate all the changing needs of our wider family who are all in transition too it seems and if anyone ever asks how I am coping my answer is always that I have less time now I am at home than when I worked.

Letting go of the familiar to sail blindly into unchartered waters is not easy and we have not entirely found our footing….but we know where we are headed and have made a start. I realised this year that to do all the things we want to do in retirement and have a long retirement, enjoying more time with both our chosen activities and our ever growing family, then our good health is key.

So I have been giving a lot of thought to this recently – I know our health could be better – I do not want to slide down the slippery path of having to take medication for those old age ailments that with a bit of attention from me I can prevent or reverse before they take hold.

Of course regular readers will know I am reliant on taking thyroxine medication as my thyroid gland had to be completely removed in 2008 due to cancer. This tiny gland that sits at the base of your neck at the front regulates metabolism – energy, heartbeat and temperature and how well you burn calories and digest food. It can be hard to balance the amount of Thyroxine I need daily to keep me stable – that is neither hypothyroid nor hyperthyroid – get it even slightly wrong and the side effects are not good.

Having a healthy diet and plenty of exercise does help my body overcome the lack of a thyroid gland but it can be hard to keep it up when we live such a pressured life.

January will be the month then that I will be focusing on my well being, diet and exercise in gradual small steps.

Over the year I also want to concentrate more on craftwork – sketching, sewing, making more cards – any creative activities would be nice. I feel this year I have laid the foundation and 2020 will be the year to build on this.

Minimalism and simplifying as you know are subjects dear to my heart and I will continue to reduce our impact on the environment by being mindful of what we buy and what we waste.

With all this in mind the word that has kept coming back to me is….

‘ Flourish‘

meaning: ‘grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, to grow or develop successfully’

I do not just want to grow and adapt during the changes to our life but to do it with good health and a positive mind. The word Flourish to me just fits the picture perfectly.

I will be beginning in January to take our health seriously – maybe not on New Year’s day but the days after. Presently I am reading and planning for the changes I want to make and I aim to record these daily for anyone else who might want to follow along with me.

It will be more of switching to healthier choices rather than a diet as such or anything too extreme. I did this when I had the cancer and it saved my life back then – I hope it will prolong my life in retirement now.

Have a lovely weekend and welcome to my new followers. xx