2025 Q3

 I haven't worried much about monthly blogging this year. But when I eventually got around to backing up my photos I remembered that it is a really good practice to look at them every month and reflect. At this point in the year I am feeling pretty satisfied with my goals for the year. They weren't hard goals I had written down, but I guess healthy ambitions that I was keen to practice!

One was to learn a bit about chalk pastels and this is my own original cloudscape. Goal achieved!

Took my annual holiday with my sister and we did a massive bunch of walking at Carnarvon Gorge. This is "the amphitheatre", on one of the side trails, we came in through that sliver of light which gives you an idea of the size of this space.

Another stop on the road trip was Lightening Ridge, and in the spirit of adventure we all sang at an open mic night under the stars. That wasn't on my bucket list but I feel it is a notable experience!

Did pottery in term 3. I took in the vases I made at home, this is 2 of them glazed and fired. I'm pretty pleased, they have been good to use now I have poppies! 

Another goal I achieved was growing poppies from seed. I have cracked that code. Germinate on paper towel, transfer to potting mix, then plant in the garden when established. The challenge is the late autumn, I want to get them started early but they hate the heat.

I did quite a lot of throwing practice, to work on larger lumps of clay and getting height. I got a lot out of it. I won't go back in term 4 because I've probably made enough progress to satisfy my goals for now, I need to set a new goal or stop making so many things, and also the extra driving and such is kind of tiring. I've been going to work in the afternoon because work has been busy, so it's not like when I was working 4 days and could rest after class. So that is that for now. 

I'm building out a gallery wall of stored frames and stored art. This is part of the decluttering. Little sketches and little frames, marrying them up and cutting glass to fit. 

I'm still chipping away at decluttering. Keeping my eyes open and finding sneaky pockets of clutter here and there. I took a small box to the op shop today. I also threw out a vintage plate from granny that has a crack. Building the "let go" muscle. 

My annual house improvement has been done - a skylight in the kitchen. It's actually an LED light with a solar panel so it is a fake skylight, it mimics real light. It's quite good. The kitchen is a lot less gloomy now. I think my 2nd hand leather couch is due to be replaced next. 

I've been fairly consistent with my discplines of morning quiet time and evening walks. My steps are a lot higher than last year, which was my very achievable goal. 

Morning music practice has fallen off, lost that battle. But I did learn 2 pieces in the meantime so I feel that if I refocus on it I can consolidate them and finish the year with some small but solid gains.

I used an app for much of the year to consolidate my calendar and reminders into one pretty list, to help me set up housework and other habits through the week leaving me more free time on the weekend. This actually has been successful and I no longer use the app because some of these habit have now glued in and I'm reaping the benefit! Music practice sadly isn't one of them, but I now feel like getting a bit of housework done before work gives me a win before work, as well as clearing my free time on the weekend to achieve chunkier things. And I can come home on Friday and things are clean and fresh for the weekend instead of all a to do list for the next day. 

Overall I am grateful for this year so far and the little wins. I haven't seen my family enough, so that's something I am keen to prioritise more, and I have a plan, so we shall see. I am planning to use my flex days to do 9 day fortnights through term 4. I collected work stress in my back as per usual and I have now actually booked an appointment with a remedial massager that hopefully I can get some regular maintenance from to stop my annual back issues from getting in the way. That has been on my to do list for years! I hope she's good. 

I've been journalling most evenings, I think I want to do something different next year again, but it's been good. Maybe something visual to incorporate more creativity, but it needs to be manageable, I don't have a lot of creativity after work. I like this idea I saw at a bookshop, one colour a day. I will be doing the calendar cut up on the wall thing again. 

2025 Q2 Decluttering check in

Started a low-spend year again after a gap of a year. I tried last year and forgot in April. So I'm now loosely doing a budget challenge to not buy new things just replace essentials. The obsession has evolved to also using up things in the fridge, pantry, bathroom and dresser... and then to become a full declutter challenge. 

I'm working decluttering one thing a day. And because I don't like putting things in landfill, I have a range of options!

1. LANDFILL and RECYCLING

It's unavoidable that some stuff has to go in the red bin. Things I've let go of this way include my old non-stick fry pan. A pottery class fail. 3 pairs of bad tweezers (and I bought 1 pair of tweezermans to replace).

Recycling: I put my 20 year old uni textbook in the recycling last week. I've taken my old laptop and random cables and things to Officeworks ewaste, I worked on that project for a week, resetting and deleting data and gathering things together for the drop off. 

2. DONATE IT.

Not original but I have made it a satisfying regular thing to do, just have a box on the go and take it every few weeks. I have a favourite op shop and I wash and iron things before I donate them. I've donated my Big Soup Pot - that gave me so much cupboard space! And I can't remember when I last used it, I just kept it because it was part of a saucepan set and I had used it in the past so in my mind it was useful. In the last while I've culled tote bags and small hand bags, washing and ironing and wiping things so they look decent to be used if they are wanted. 

3. USE IT.

I have almost 10 year old lip balm and 20 year old body wash. I know. Nothing wrong with them, but they are non-favourite non-habit things I never reach for. I don't want to waste it so I'm just putting lip balm on extra-dry winter skin on feet etc lol. 

Things being non-favourite is a theme I've noticed. Non favourite clothes or food. A podcast ep suggested a good challenge for clothes is to wear the things you never wear. Then you know! It either is NOT going to ever be worn, eg, no pockets is annoying. Or it might actually be a thing that works but you just haven't taken the risk with it, or you've been saving it for an occasion that never happens, and you start wearing it. 

Other things I've been using up is cards, I've been writing and posting cards to kids and thankyou cards to adults. 

And I have a collection of frames and drawings/art I'm going to hang on the walls instead of just keeping in the cupboard for one day. 

I've done a lot of cooking to use up random ingredients. In future, I've decided not to keep leftover ingredients from one-off recipes if I can just use them up as soon as possible. Eg a 1/3 packet of pistachios. I will just add it to my meusli or a salad. I'm annoyed that I have rice flour and corn flour, what are they for? I'm just mixing them into other baking now, and hope to never buy them again. 

Using things is a slow steady project. Donating and binning is an instant gratification thing (if you find it easy), but using is very slow... but when I reach the end of a jar of spice or a tube of moisturiser I feel triumph! 

NO STORAGE

My home won't look more minimalist after this, in fact it might be more maximalist with pictures on the wall. But the difference will be in the cupboards. I want to whittle down the stored stuff. Slowly but systematically. And I hope that by doing this at the same time as my low spend year, I will reinforce the low spend habit, reset the habits of accumulation a bit. Seeing all the things I have and making decisions about them is quite an antidote to buying more. I would really like to commit to slow mindful consumption. 

My dad said recently "We're in the stage of life we don't buy things" and I think I'm in a stage of life where I will still buy things but I want to finish this year with less not more, and anything I buy it's with an eye for what I know from my mid-life experience that I value.

If you are decluttering, here are some other thoughts.

• We always acquire stuff, it trickles in even if we don't buy it, and also our needs change, so moving things out of our life is a healthy thing to do. We don't have infinite storage. 
• It's hard to let it go, but it's easy to live without it. This is my favourite mantra (quote from Caroline Winkler). If it's something I don't need but I still feel oddly torn about getting rid of it—my business textbook from uni, for some reason—this helps me, because I know it is true. My life is fine without my business textbook which I never read after uni. 
• There are times when a purge is good, but there's a lot to be said for slow and steady, because at the end of the day the change is you. If you practice something mindfully and regularly there is more chance of you learning it and absorbing it. You clear a small area and you have a win and move on to a bigger area. You feel the pain of getting rid of something that seems like a waste of money to lose, and that pain is a lesson to learn not to make that mistake again, and you feel the relief of not being reminded of it anymore after it is gone, and you are encouraged to let go of the next things that has been causing guilt. I see a lot of youtube videos of people doing a massive purge in one weekend and I wonder if that will last or if they will continue in their current habits of mindless shopping and aquiring until they do the next purge, repeat the cycle? It's probably not like that, it probably gets a bit better each time, in which case you may as well go slow and steady. Especially if you are sensitive and want to be really thoughtful about the process. 

ART

I have successfully done a chalk pastel of a cloudy sky! 

Next term I am going back to ceramics. I think the main reason is because otherwise I cannot make time to do creative things. I can't make it a priority in my normal life, and some of the reasons are because I am distracted by the jobs I need to do and I do them first leaving no energy, and because creativity is a risk - it might turn out bad, and then I've wasted precious weekend time. So now I've got a commitment to do it every Wednesday morning whether it looks good or bad, whether I have undone chores or not. 

2025 Q1 creativity check in

Argh we are 1/4 through 2025! 

I missed the end of Feb blog, so its approximately the end of March. Yesterday was my birthday. Didn't want to do much but G came up and we had a nice day, quite leisurely, which is what I wanted. A slow day. A late start. Late pilates class. Lunch. A rest. Reading in the park. Walk dog with R. Dinner at tre viet. Watched TV. And a good nights sleep! I felt very rested which is rare. 

So some creativity from the last 2 months.

I've been playing the piano before work most days, and I have memorised Liz on top of the world, and most of Dawn, from P&P 2005. That movie is TWENTY YEARS OLD. Bucket list goal of being able to sit down anywhere there is a piano and play dreamy Austen soundtrack music from memory ACHIEVED.

I picked a lot of tomatos and made 4 jars of green tomato relish! Remarkable crop and didn't lose many to caterpillars. I did used tomato dust, this wasn't an organic miracle. I've got a good number of lemons on my potted tree, too. It has rained a lot!

A friend invited me to walk mereweather to newy, really appreciated how beautiful the whole coast is here, and it was good to break my usual saturday routine of pilates and housework. Routine is good, but forgettable. This was tiring, delightful, memorable. 

I've done some sewing. Made 2 pants and a dress so far. The pants are very useful. The dress I am moving the pockets. Trying to not always do a sewing marathon, and practice doing a bit and then stopping and coming back later. 

I've been doing more housework after work, to free up weekend time for pottery and pastels. I bought a bag of clay on a day off and I've decided to just make vases, with coils mostly. I had some ideas for decorating, but didn't like them, and went back to carving. I just love carving. 

I have an idea to colour the carving too. I don't have any glaze yet though. 

And these are my pastels so far. I put them on the wall and gave one to someone in my home group when we were meeting at my house. 

So reflecting on my original goals for the year, slow down, keep up spiritual habits, change my schedule to allow more creativity, read some more books... going OK. Every day isn't perfect and there isn't enough time to do it all but I'm overall doing the things. I have no big stressors this year which is nice too. 

Start of 2025

 Counting January a success. After new years eve, I did my first creative goal for the year, a chalk pastel class. So good. I have been meaning to redo it for practice but I haven't yet.

I did summer school in Katoomba for 3 nights in a hotel, which was very convenient, saved my energy to get the most out of the event, and got to know my friend better. Then an overnight stay with AM at her newish house, a little bushwalk and a free air plant from the nursery. 

Then getting ready for work and the year ahead! But the Sunday before returning to work I did a pottery class with my sister, which was her christmas gift from me.

I have no big plans this year, but I am trying to set up some small habits to slow down and enjoy my every day life more. So, slower mornings where I do some piano practice or some crochet, for 5-10 minutes of something creative with my hands, instead of just charging off to work. And also continuing my Lectio time because that is very helpful for slowing me down. 

Another focus is moving housework from the weekend to before or after work. Just one small job each weekday. So laundry mid week now. Clean my bathroom on Thursdays. It's going to make my work days a bit longer and fuller, but actually I don't hate housework, and I do enjoy podcasts and audiobooks, so it's good to not be sitting in front of the TV as much at night, and ultimately the benefit is I don't have to spend as much weekend time doing housework. 

I also decided to aim for a higher average number of steps this year. Not a number each day, just a higher average than last years average. One way is by doing an evening walk. This has turned out to be a really pleasant thing that I enjoy. At 8pm, it's quiet, it's still light, it's cool, it's a lovely time to be outside after a day in the office. It's a sensory thing really. 

Thoughts on doing what feels good. Saw a NYT reel where people slowly savoured a piece of cheese and a cheeto and compared the experiences. The cheese has a rich, lasting flavour and aftertaste. The cheeto has an immediate wonderful burst of flavour and sensation but after the first crunchy chew, it has a kind of weak fake flavour and gross feel, which you need to remove by eating another cheeto. What an analogy for dopamine. When you actually take notice of how things feel, what feels good isn't what you think feels good. What I think feels good is scrolling on my phone while watching TV. What actually feels good is being immersed in a story in some form. Or my evening walk. So I hope I can sustain feel good choices next month and onwards, because it's tiredness that hobbles me, makes me feel like it's too risky to expend effort on pleasure.

Last year I dropped my habit of monthly visit to Singleton because life was busy and there were so many birthdays to see them at, so on the Aus day weekend I spent Saturday arvo there, helped with some deep cleaning, just hung out with the kids, and there was an event in the park where I learned basket weaving and the kids queued for face painting. It was a reminder that social events like birthdays aren't the best time to hang out with kids, they are much more relaxed on a regular saturday in their home clothes. I got some special moments.

Little creative progress updates to end with.