Posted on

Bookathon to Finish 2018

Heyyy yyyyyyooooooo!

Yesterday I shared my routine for keeping my productivity up. Today I want to share one of the things on my Master To Do List… I have a list of 16 books that I have started but bot finished. 2 are on Audible; 4 are on Kindle and the rest are hard copies. I am what I would describe as a snail like reader. I have dyslexia which means that my reading speed to understand is on average 11 words a minute… isn’t it cool what they can tell you from a test for dyslexia. So really this is a massive challenge! At the moment this is really exciting! we shall see how long it takes for me to realise that immensity of this task.

The list is a mix up of genres so at least I won’t get stuck on one type of book. Here’s a little run down of each book…

Blog For Creatives by Robin Houghton… This is the 1 of 3 books on this list that I haven’t actually started to read. The reason it is on this list is that I think it will help me make this blog better for you lovely readers.

Ecstatic Pudding by Joy Rice… This is a fun poetry book that was sent to me recently by the author. You can find her on facebook https://www.facebook.com/ecstaticpudding/ drop in and say hi… she is lovely and her poetry is hilarious!

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder… I have started this every year but never finish it. This is the year people!

The Dark End of the Street by a collection of Authors… This is a collection of short stories that are all in the crime thriller family. They all have the theme of sex and crime. I got this recently from The Book Farm that I will likely do a whole post about at some point. It seems pretty good so far… I am not often attracted to collections as I have been dissapointed in the past when some of the stories were not very captivating and then it sort of overshadows the good stuff. Time will tell.

Golden Thoughts by Jarrold… is a collection of poems of varying themes. This book I have read before many times but it’s a book that my Mum gave to my Grandad. I want to read it again because it connects them in my mind and in some small way I hope it will bring me some joy thinking about them both while I read. I am intrigued to see if the effect of the words will be different now that both of them are with God now.

Darkside of Sunset Pointe by Michael Allan Scott… I started reading this earlier on this week. I had managed to find some time in a coffee shop while Isobel was asleep and found myself without a book. Luckily I have the Kindle app on my phone and this book was on there. It is free when you sign up for his newsletter on his website for a short time only. Just google his name or find him on Twitter to get your copy.

May Day by Jess Loury… This is 1 of the books that I haven’t actually started reading yet (along with the next one for the same reason). The Author of this book is looking for critical readers for her future books. I haven’t read anything of hers as yet so before I apply I will read the first 2 of her books. Why 2?… because there are plenty of fluke great first books…

June Bug by Jess Loury… See above.

Friend Request by Laura Marshall… Again I started reading this earlier on this week. It was on my kindle and it was staring at me. I mentioned it in “Day 2 – In bed by 9pm” blog post and I received a message from a friend who had read the post and had read the book. She recommended it to me so that was that.

God is Closer Than you Think by John Ortberg… I started this book a few weeks ago and it was put on hold because (and I should probably not so openly admit this) I had run out of highlighter and had to wait for new ones to arrive in the post. I don’t highlight in every book… but there are a lot of books that I read more critically than others. This book has so many little treasures in it already… I have a future blog post planned that will explore some of the concepts in this book. For example… What has God and Where’s Wally (Waldo) got in common?

Facepaint by Lisa Eldridge… This book is about the history of makeup. My friend gave it to me for christmas a couple of years ago and I have dipped into it many times. Now that I don’t work in the beauty industry I think I can read it with fresh eyes and for pure enjoyment.

The Girl in the Spiders Web by David Lagerarantz… My hubs (who will be home in 24 hours!!!!! Yessssssssss!!!!!) gave it to me when it was first released. It is supposedly the follow up to Stieg Larrsons, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy. I started reading it straight away but ‘the voice’ is not in keeping with Stieg Larrson… It has taken me a while to accept this and now I think I will finally be able to read it and give credit where it is due.

The Passage by Justin Cronin… I have read this book twice before on my kindle. It is the first in a trilogy. As far as I am concerned it is up there with Game of Thrones. It would definitely be on my favorites list! Anyway, Mat and I are listening to this on Audible at the moment as they are bringing out of TV series based on this trilogy soon.

Encounters With Jesus by Timothy Keller… This is what I am listening to on Audible on my own at the moment. I should be finished this by the time I have finished writing this. It has been amazing and I have put the hard copy on my Christmas Wish List as I need to get my highlighter on it!

A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers… This is a collection of 5 stories about 5 of the most inspiring women of the bible. This book was given to me as a gift when I was confirmed earlier on this year. I have read the first story in it so far and it is literally mindblowing. My only thing is that Rivers has so seemlessly written it that I can’t tell whats factual and whats the fictional blanks that she has filled to make a coherent storyline. I look forward to wondering and being inspired by strong women. I will likely see the factual once I get through more of The Bible which is the 1 book on this list that is a permanent on every reading list I will ever have.

So that’s it! I have until New Year’s Eve to get this list done. I really don’t want to go into 2019 with half read books on my shelf.

I would love to hear what’s on your current TBR (To Be Read) and if you are thinking of reading anything on this list. If you have read anything off this list what did you think of it? no spoilers please!!

My email is [email protected] or comment below.

Love and Blessings!

Loopy xx

Posted on

Tips I have used to manage home and kids

Hey yoooooo!!!!

So I have got through a week of effectively being a single parent (for new readers my hubs has been away for work). I apologise firstly, for the amount of moaning and over thinking I have likely done over this week. This blog has definitely been used as a coping mecanism. I don’t find it easy to share what’s going on for me in the moment so I wrote it down. I have always found it easier to write than to talk my feelings… which is weird as I love to talk about everything else!

This week has been everything I didn’t expect. What I expected was that it would be the early mornings plus night time sleep interuptions from Isobel that would be the hardest thing. I was also really concerned about my fibrolyalgia kicking off and many scenarios played out in my paranoid mind box. Obviously missing my equal half was also a concern… although, I knew we could manage that from being away from him when Mum died.

I am not going to try and claim that it has been plain sailing as my previous blog posts will prove me to be a liar… but looking back over the week I am proud of how it has gone over all. The tricky bits have mostly been low energy and not being able to drive. Not having the back up with everything has been missed and I have struggled to take care of my health both physical and mental over this week. That being said… I haven’t taken it out on anyone else (which is my natural instinct for some reason). I haven’t been asking for help other than the occasional asking one son to go tell other son that dinner is ready or to take the bin out for me. I’ve mostly carried on walking the dog myself and all my normal household jobs have been done, plus a lot of the hubs jobs, plus quite a lot of organising and sorting (I am currently on a mission to de clutter and make the house more of a home). [book recommendation: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo]

I am going to put it out there that the things that society dictates are not really work in terms of raising a family and taking care of home is in my opinion a bunch of bull shirt. I find it difficult. I also find that it’s the best part of my life in terms of my little family are everything and give me purpose when I don’t always think of myself as a worthwhile human. I just have to look at my kids and my hubs to know that I must be pretty cool to have these humans calling my Mum or wife. This is how I fake it til I make it!

One of the many things I learnt from my Mum was to utilise To Do lists. Now my way of using them has been adapted by merging a few different techniques I acquired from others.

Number 1… I have a master To Do list. This is a lined notebook that I literally brain dump everything as I think of it. The list is not in any order as I am way to scatty to think of things in a logical order straight up.

Number 2… From there I have my planner. Each day has a double page spread and I pick my 3-4 things from the master list. I also note a quote of the day; what I plan on eating; shopping list for that day if necessary; expenses; exercise; my water intake; self care plan; and there is a space for random notes. Once a week I will incude a priority to do list for the week. This will focus on bigger tasks that may need breaking down over the week into more manageable chunks.

Number 3… Regular jobs get put straight into the calendar on my phone and on Mondays I calendar block for the week. This gives me an idea of what and how much I am aiming to get done that week. However, if I am having a high stress time the calendar blocking can be dropped as I find that my phone pinging me all day can be jarring if I am not feeling focused.

Number 4… I have list book (from paperchase) that I use for meal planning and shopping lists. It has little tags in it too that I can use to mark the recipes I (or the hubs) is going to use.

It might seem like a lot but it’s what works for me. I can look at a glance what I need to do today without the overwhelming master list either panicking me because I can see how much I want to achieve or its floating around in my brain taunting me and slowing me down even more. It’s part of my morning routine to set myself up for the day and I’ll admit it is something I look forward to. It helps me get excited for the day ahead.

I’d love to hear how you organise your time or what you might try from my routine! comment below or email [email protected]

Posted on

Standing Ground Where Hope Can Be Found

Heyyyyy yooooo!

Well now where do I begin with today… I woke today and got started with the day as planned. Nothing was going wrong. I had slept pretty good last night. Pain levels were manageable. Isobel had a couple of “tantrums” but nothing to crazy. My lovely friend came to visit me with a lovely new lip colour (which is as anyone who knows me well is up there with the gift of a good book or flowers or candles… damn I am quite easy to gift! lol). Yet… I spent the day feeling stressed and sad. I kept “having a word” with myself; I made sure my to do list for today was low key. That I had something to look forward to tonight for my relaxing/self care time. Even completing everything on my to do list didn’t help. THEN to top it off… spider attack! It has survived… it was the size of my palm and it ran straight at me and went under the couch. I have one of 2 reactions to spiders 1) freeze or 2) scream. Unfortunately for Isobel it was the second option today… adding something to the “mothers guilt” list. I had planned to do some Yoga when Isobel was in bed but that has not happened as the spider is likely still in there waiting to attack again… so I have banished myself to my room… I’ll be honest, I am 100% good with that.

Once Isobel was in bed I sat down to write this. Unlike every other night I couldn’t right anything straight away. You guys have been my sounding board while Mat has been away… and he would, I am sure, testify that I have no problem letting the day out when needed. I definitely needed to off load so why did I hesitate? Well, something special… a moment of clarity.

Normally what happens when I feel rubbish is I hold it in and then erupt at some point with no real rhyme or reason. Alternatively, I off load to Mat or Mum. Today I have that suspicion would have been a Mum day… hence the sadness. I said to someone earlier that I don’t know how I was a single parent for 8 years previous to meeting Mat. If I let myself I would wonder it even more now realising that for most of them years I didn’t have this connection with Mum that I had gained in the last few years. Although, what has clarified for me tonight is 3 fold…

  1. I had a really close connection with my Nan who supported me as much as she could when I was a single parent. My Mum was truly an amazing human being but my Nan was my constant and consistent through my whole life. What allowed me to cope with my Nans decline into Parkinsons was becoming closer to Mum…. Now thats all gone. I still have Nan in body at least for now but she is not able to comprehend reality too much now and she thinks I am Mum cause we look so much alike. In the hierarchy of family… I no longer have anyone above me leading the way….
  2. The above is heartbreaking but it won’t be soul destroying. They raised me stronger than that… today was just a sad day.

My soul will be with theirs again one day, but for now, by His Grace “I will stand my ground where hope can be found” (O’Lord, Lauren Daigle)

Love and Blessings, Loopy xx

Posted on

Day 5… Re organisation and building my tribe!

Heyyy yoooo!

I hope you are all well. Yesterday I was impatient to watch Hocus Pocus and may have been slightly guilty of rushing through my blog post…. eeek! I am positive that I am not the only one that rushes through something important to get to the next important thing. Even so, I promise to try and not do that again as anyone reading this and especially those that stick with me by following this blog and becoming part of this tribe of amazing and inspiring people, mean everything to me! If you would like a personal invite to follow this blog then drop me an email to [email protected] and I would be privileged to send that invite.

So today I focused my energy on starting to think about what will come next for Loopy Laura… I have so many things I want to do and so many exciting ways to hopefully entertain and build a beautiful and positive community that can support each other through tough times and celebrate the triumphs in life. So watch this space… things will be happening soon and I hope we can go on this journey together.

I went to Bedworth and did the little bit of shopping and errand running that I had to get done and then took Isobel to the park to run that energy off. This plan meant that I could get quite a lot done this afternoon. I set up my new organisation system. Its similar to what I had already been doing before my Mum died (mentioned in previous blog posts) and for obvious reasons fallen out of the habit of doing. I have tweaked it and streamlined it a little more but I am happy with it. I am brain dumping all of my to do’s onto one big list and each day I will go through that list to pick my 3-4 things for that day. Most days I get a lot more done than them 3-4 things but it does make sure that the most urgent things are seen too before they would flash red on a A&E target board.

The next thing I sorted was the things I have to do everyday and allocated them to my calendar so I don’t even have to think about what I need to do next as my calendar will tell me what I need to know.

When I got to Bedworth Isobel had gone to sleep in her pushchair (I feel like she has got it spot on to go to sleep everytime she is bored hehe). I took advantage of this situation by going for a coffee so that I could check my list and plan my attack on the shops. It turned out that I had done a pretty good job of my list and it was pretty straight forward (what a bull shirt excuse to sit and have a coffee!)… so having left the book I was reading at home I started a different book that I had on my phone. It called Darkside Of Sunset Pointe by Michael Allan Scott and I was rivited immediately! I actually can’t wait to keep reading!

Another thing I did today that was exciting for me… I may regret sharing this in a public way but I downloaded a dictionary app… it gives you a word of the day… this makes me very happy… probably a little to happy… but hey its free and I clearly have not filled my days up enough! Here’s todays word of the day!…

That’s about all I have today…

Love and Blessings, Loopy Laura xx