Jan 2024

This year, as I promised, this blog might be different. I think it will be more random. This month I've summarised my current feelings.

2024 goals: a "make do" challenge (minimise discretionary spending); and guard my tongue better.

I’ve been thinking a lot about interior design, decluttering and all things Home. I saw a short video ages ago from the school of life, which was about the sense of Home being something like when our space reflects our soul, when our surroundings are things that we like and have meaning to us it feels right. 

And I have suddenly noticed after my own efforts that there is a real joy in “decorating” your house and making it less generic and more personal. And also in making it more functional, more private, not just aesthetic changes. Making it a space that is an extension of you in a way, bc you feel more comfortable in it both physically and emotionally. Putting thought and effort in and even spending money. I’ve always liked rearranging furniture and not having ugly stuff, and but that was about it. I tended to think that it’s a superficial material thing but it’s not. Feelings are important and how you feel at home is suuuuper important. Even removing annoyances and repairing and maintenance is a part of it. 

I was blessed to share my home with friends over the new year, including one who hasn't visited in years and has been through a lot. It was precious to give her a place to have a holiday that she could afford, and reconnect with each other. At the end of her stay I realised however that I was in introvert burnout after 10 days of hospitality, so I will have to factor that in, in the future, especially as I still had more to go!

I ran music at church for one of our combined summer 5pm services which was amazing, and then got up at 5am on Monday to go to Summer school, where I stayed with my sister and her family. It was really lovely, and a good time of bonding especially with her kids. It was, however, to intense for me, the house had no bedroom doors so I was around them all the time, or around 2000 other people at the sessions, so it was hard. It was also hard for them as a family! And there was added logistics from the wet oval so no car parking. A few meltdowns but we made it through and grew closer.

I was so glad to be home and alone for a weekend before returning to work. My soul needed it and I decided to move furniture around in preparation for my new couch and also to just freshen things up and update the vibes. I got my old couch down this narrow hall with only minor wall damage. The TV unit and everything from the back room is now in the front room.

Returning to work was hard, I've been back 2 weeks now. The first week was a blur, it was so hard to focus and it seems that the year started at high speed not a slow build up. The second week was better, I did some immersive work which helped me feel focused and calmer. Thankful to not have home group or church music for a few weeks and build my weekly routine up slowly.

Me forcing myself out of the house on Australia Day, it was so hot even the beach was hot.

On decluttering. I received 2 boxes of nostalgia from my parents, and I also had a cupboard fall apart so I have been shifting storage and shelves around to try and make do without buying another cupboard or shelves for a while, because the long term goal is built in shelving in my wardrobes, not a whole bunch of random bookshelves and such.

Back to the nostalgia boxes and the things IN the storage. I cried while I threw out some toys, ended up keeping a couple I don't really want but it will be a multi stage process. I realised that they brought back memories of my childhood, especially my cosy safe bed and cute kiddy pyjamas. It was a whole thing remembering that time is gone, I'm an adult on my own in the big world now. It is however important to get rid of things anyway. "It's hard to let go of things but it is easy to live without them" (Caroline Winkler). I've taken some things to the op shop, I've photographed things and thrown them away, and I'm going to give some things to Elsie and my nieces at appropriate times. Due to the aformentioned storage situation, I decided to unpack my "glory box" full of random toys, fancy work and sewing supplies, and turn it into a toy box, so everything is in one child-accessible place now. I did a bit of a sort and cull of the sewing stuff but I'll do it properly later.

A pyjama cat.

Interesting to see pre-computer asignments. I loved these Arthur Boyd Nebuchadnezzer paintings, strangely obsessed. 

I have a lovely morning routine at the moment, after breakfast I take my cup of tea into the garden and listen to the morning Lectio on the app. Taking a moment to be outside in the fresh morning air and pause to breathe, listen and pray, is really really lovely and because it's lovely it's not a burden on my morning routine, it's a pleasure I anticipate. 

I'm discovering some prayers and poems this way too.

https://catieloveless.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/hear-me-quickly-lord/

Big note to finish on. This is my brother and G's baby, my new niece, Elsie Mae. Thanks be to God for her safe birth!

December funs

Last post for 2023! And next year I'm going to do a different sort of post. I didn't have time at the end of December or start of Jan, so this will probably be short due to 2 weeks extra memory fade.

Some pretty zinnias from my garden. 

 

Well I had Covid at the end of November and I can't remember if that continued into December as well, but I think so, so I enjoyed this show:

I think I used my recovery days in iso to do some culling, here is what I reduced my jar collection to. I did a similar magic on my container collection.

I binned this very worn out pillow. I now regret this because I found covers this size at HnM. But I have no shortage of cushions. This one came from the op shop with my green velvet couches many years ago.

I sold some shares! Selling shares is a harder decision than buying them, this decision took ages. But I just wanted to move a chunk back into my mortgge offset account, while they were ahead, and I heard December was usually an "up" time of year. I achieved my aim of making a profit while interest rates were low, and now rates are high there is less gain to be made in shares. Plus it has been so volatile, it's a bit more in safety. Still got some in the market though.

Here are some of the Christmas things! Drinks at the homestead on one of the hottest days.

Dinner with my home group friends, Kate is a wonderful cook and host.

Putting up JKs Christmas tree and watching Christmas movies.

 December was mostly full of music, rehearsals, performances etc. I played cello with the counterpoint choir. I also played cello in the church carols. These two events were very high level music. I was very relieved to get through them both.

On the last day of the working year I baked a cake for my colleagues 60th bday which is on 25 Dec. It was a lovely way to end the year with a morning tea with the last faithful workers.

I did music at the 9pm Christmas Eve service as usual. I kept it simple because I knew numbers would be small this year, since we already had a 5pm service. 

Here is the ample table space we now have for Christmas at the parents new house! I brought cheese and snacks, devilled eggs, and the game Dixit to play while we waited for everyone to come for lunch. I improved my devilled eggs production this year.

I put special effort into my behaviour lol. Lunch went well. Here is our Christmas gift time after lunch. I received 2 hammock chairs for my garden! They are great. So relaxing for reading. Sleeping.

After Christmas I had a few days of nothing, except pilates, and I thought a project would be a good thing to do to break up the TV watching. Something involving bunnings or spotlight. And I had the genius idea of curtains for my living room! This has been on my list for years but I just don't use the room much so it didn't need to be done. But when I have my new couch, I will be using the front room for TV. So time to give it some privacy. I went straight to spotlight from pilates as soon as I got the idea, hoping I had the right measurements for the windows in my head.

Turns out I did not, so the curtains I made went in my bedroom, and I went back the next day to return the tracks and purchase more material and rods etc. 

It was extremely tiring to do pilates and make curtains for 2 days in a row. I was physically exhausted. But the results are AMAZING! And really quite affordable. Spotlight had 40% off their curtain fabric. Note that rods and brackets are cheaper at Bunnings, I bought some from both. I think these came to something like $80 per window. More for the bedroom I think.

One change I made (I had curtains in bedrooms already) was to put the curtain rods right at the top of the wall instead of just on the top of the window frame. It's a cleaner taller look.

Heather was keen to kayak while she was here, so we (and mum) went up Wallis Creek, which is a fun little paddle with a lot to see.

Here is one of the hammocks!

And then Elsie arrived on Friday and G arrived on Saturday and we went to the Farmers Wife for lunch!

On NYE we went to 5pm church, shared dinner there, and then picnicked at the river until the fireworks. We had my huge blanket for all the food and for me, G, E, JK, Naomi, Ros and Sweep. A lovely night. Good to be back to normal after all the covids and such.

And we had our traditional swim, although the water and weather were not very pleasant, it meant we got the best car park!

I have started 2024 with a new plan for journalling: using a similar format and questions to the Monk Manual. It's aiming to be more reflective than productive, and I'm also going to keep my prayer and bible reading notes in the diary as well, so it'll be a place for all the growth and reflection. After 2 weeks of semi regular use I am enjoying it.

November challenges

November was fairly busy with a couple of extra little pushes. Overall my energy was good and I enjoyed making the most of this month! I am finishing the month sick with Covid though.

First of all, I got my teeth stuck into a pilates challenge, 16 classes in Nov. I had to push very hard to fit them in, I did 5 classes in one week, and I would have finished it, but for the last 2 classes and Covid. But I did feel the benefit of pushing myself harder for a week or two, and I will aim to do that again. Get away from the maintenance rut.

I went to Woolies especially to get some goats cheese on special, and because the tag price was different, I got it for free! Over $20 of free cheese!

I challenged myself to finish the children's book because I actually did have time if I prioritised it, and it is currently at the printer!

I played cello for a piece in an ensemble of school students at a performance of the counterpoint choir, which is an amazing local choir. I will be playing again in December.

I bought a foil balloon for Lucy for her birthday, which was just fabulous, and Lucy has wonderful manners.

Zinnias have started flowering already, the weakest died and the strongest survive, so that means I have a lot of orange which I did not even buy, but there you go. Oh well, it is a vibrant fun mix!

I decided to go to the effort of hanging my fairy lights up this year. Last year we had JK's lovely tree, and I still don't feel like owning a tree, but I do feel like little bit of ambience around the house. And I found some tiny clear 3M hooks specifically for decorations, so I don't have to put holes in my painted walls again. And if I take the lights down, the hooks are invisible. They go around 3 rooms! 

I couldn't resist going to TK Maxx and smelling the christmas candles, and I had to buy this one, because it hit a nostalgia nerve TWICE. It hasn't triggered me when I've burned it at home, but it's a nice subtle smell and just the jar itself counts as a nice Christmas decoration.

I've got out my Christmas cup and plate for breakfasts. And that is all!

I had a Friday night with nothing and nobody so I decided to catch the Taylor Swift movie before it finished, and I am glad I did. A very fun concert movie.

I also organised an Austenland viewing with the church gal pals, at another girls house who has the room for it, and I made a lemon GF cake from recipe tin, highly recommend, quite easy and very light and yum.  Like a tea cake.

And even MORE socialising, there was a dinner at Honeysuckle with friends on a Friday night, I even put on special earrings and a going out shirt. It was horrendous finding a car park so I won't be doing that again in a hurry.

Back to my happy place, my home, and my current obsession, interior design. I often get an obsession for organising, but never for decorating. I'm loving watching Caroline Winkler on youtube, and some others. It has inspired me to get out some the paintings and things I've had stored away, and hang some up. I still have a lot of large blank walls which I enjoy as white space, but I've copied her way of clustering smaller groups of things in corners and narrow walls and also been encouraged to layer things. 

I had a day off to go to the oral surgeon and podiatrist. It was an exhausting day, and I discovered more horrendous parking situations in Newcastle at Charlestown, but I got my weird gum lesion biopsied, got my feet scanned for new orthodics, and then after a little rest I took my newly finished x stitch and the one G did that matches it, out to the framers and chose frames for them. 

I also got a few wee small frames and for now I have filled them with some native bird cards. 

I also went to a 2nd hand furniture place, so that was fun. I am obsessed with facebook marketplace so I'm trying to get around to the vintage shops as well. I have been avoiding excess furniture but if I can fill some empty gaps at a good price, that would be nice.

And then late in the month I suddenly settled on a couch I liked. On the website it had a lot of different small sizes which helps me a lot, so I could get a half sized ottoman for example, or a 2.5, 3 or 3.5 seater lounge, because I do not have the space for a big modular thing or even a large ottoman. So I went in to Nick Scali last saturday and sat in it, and I have to say it was comfier than I expected.

It is not the MOST comfortable, but it is one of the cheaper ones there so you get what you pay for, and the sizes sealed the deal. If I had the room to be generous, I would have bought the Iva, it was supreme comfort plus ticked some of the same boxes, but for small rooms, the Atlanta fits better and has the price. An insta friend recognised it as the model she is looking at which her SIL also has, so it seems to be the pick for small rooms. It was black friday sales so that helped, I spent $2550 on a 3 seater, armchair and small ottoman, which is now priced at $3300.

On Sunday I was tired and had a headache, but it wasn't a surprise bc it had been a very busy week, and I probably forgot to drink water on Saturday. I had a bit of a weird throat but that is not unusual, and the headache was the main issue for me.

On Monday though, after singing on Sunday night (we sounded great though!), my throat was WHACK!!! So congested and raw and kind of lost my voice. That was a surprise. I've had a raw throat before after singing, because as I said, bad throat is not unusual. I didn't feel sick, but I did a covid test, it was OK, so I went to work thinking I just sang too hard.

Started to get tired around lunchtime so I went home and slept. Had dinner and it tasted bland and weird, I thought I better get some more RATs. Parents dropped me over a few on Tuesday morning, as I was definitely sick, and they were positive.

M from church dropped me over some bread, bananas, chicken crimpies and lollies. Super thoughtful. This time around has been better, more like a cold than a flu. Throat congested but not tonsilitis so it doesn't hurt as much. Aches and tiredness, blocked nose. I watched a Christmas movie, some Friends, now I am checking out Murder House Flips. Sad to be missing the end of the pilates challenge and the work Christmas lunch (I get to keep my secret santa gift lol, always get something you want is my tip!). But, when I am feeling better I hope to do some little decluttering and organise some little areas, like the jar cupboard!

I have also been pretty regular with my new habit I am trying for journalling for more self reflection and bible reading and personal growth. Starting small and simple, with a notebook my Pastor gave me called Resilient Rhythms. 

So I do feel like I had a good November and had a few challenges and did my best and spread some joy. What else can you ask for.