New Year Fun - 2013 Edition

Joining in with Sandra's New Year Fun.

Here are the rules:

Post the first sentence of your first blog post of each month. You can also add a favorite picture from each month.

 
January 2013

[no posts]

February 2013

Beautiful.

Beef lasagne...haha (if you're British you'll get that)

March 2013

My longest bloggy friend Michele shared a quote on her lovely new blog Our Daily Work, in her post 'Becoming Yourself'. [NB: Michele has now closed this blog]

Sneaky crocus that I never planted has appeared - a lovely surprise.

April 2013

We spent a night away at the Lake District - Windermere to be exact - we had a lovely time.

May 2013

O' [Sarah], Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain.

Boots being helpful

June 2013

As I hung the washing out this morning using my Nan's old wooden pegs, I thought about all those years she spent hanging out her washing.

July 2013

Well, I'm so excited! It's a new beginning.

August 2013

It's late here, but here's a post!

September & October 2013

[no posts]

November 2013

So spoke the wanderer.

[No pics in November]

December 2013

Helllooooo anybody out there?

Happy New Year!

New Year, New Beginning, Renewed Hope

You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.  Psalm 65:11

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day [year!] with no mistakes in it yet?" Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

Oh my goodness, I'm so excited!  New Year is almost upon us.  I love the hope, the plans!  It might not work out but each year, each day, each moment is a new beginning in Christ.  His grace is eternal, His love unrelenting, and our hope in Him never ceases.

This year has been a hard year in so many ways, and yet as I look back I have learned so much and grown so much.  Let me not look back with regret, but thank God carrying me through it all and to look forward to tomorrow.  I'll make LOADS of mistakes! I know I will. But I must believe HIM, concentrate on God's Word which strengthens our hearts and minds to pick ourselves up and move forward.

My family and I have suffered as we picked ourselves up from the deceptions of our old church.  But the suffering has refined us and burnt off some of the dross that we carried.  More dross to be burnt off, that's sure, but He will carry us through it, He will bless us, He will love us, these things are sure.

FOR MY HOPES AND DREAMS:

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Phil 4:13

…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:31

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.  Psalm 20:4

MY PLANS MAY FAIL, BUT GOD'S PLANS PREVAIL - MAY I DO THE GOOD HE WILLS: 

Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:13-17

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

FOR WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED, GOD'S PLANS WILL EXCEED ALL WE COULD EVER HAVE DREAMED OF:

Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.  Habakkuk 1:5

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

MAY I SERVE FOR HIS SAKE, NOT TO IMPRESS ANYONE:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

TIME IS SHORT, LET'S LIVE LIFE WITH PURPOSE:

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.  Psalm 90:12

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. – Ecclesiastes 3:1

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  Isaiah 43:18-19

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14

GOD WORKS THROUGH JESUS TO MAKE ALL THINGS NEW:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  2 Corinthians 5:17

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  1 Peter 1:3

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  Lamentations 3: 22-24

 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.   And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.   Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”  Ezekiel 36:26-28

WE ARE ETERNAL IN CHRIST. WE ARE MADE BEAUTIFUL IN HIM:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

MAY I ALWAYS SING HIS PRAISE IN THIS NEW YEAR:

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.  Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96: 1-3

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.  Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,…  1 Chronicles 16:11-12

Spending our Christmas money :)

As well as some lovely presents, we all got a bit of Christmas money from various relatives this year.  It's fun to have something to spend on fripperies for a change.  The girls spent their Christmas money yesterday on some painting stuff.  They had lots of fun.

Squidge going for an imaginative candle picture

Chatterbox painting, something orange and blue...not sure what it is yet. :)

I spent mine on some new cushions and some light shades.

See the blue one, it took me ages to find the right blue.  You see I started decorating the living room before Christmas.  Our walls were cream and this awful orangey-terracotta colour, so I've painted the chimney breast blue and the rest of the walls will be cream.

Looks nice eh? I'm pleased with it.

And here's one of my new light shades.  It's hard to tell but the shade is cream with gold pattern flocking, with some nice dangly bits LOL.  I have three of these, this one in the hall (see below) and then one half-way up the stairs and one on the landing.

You can just see the top of one of the girls' new scooters.  When you use the brakes on them sparks fly.  It's all very exciting! :)

On the above picture you can see one of Chatterbox's paintings, which looks really nice in my red hall.  I've took a close up (below), it's a bit blurred. #proudmummy.

We all still have some money to spend, well G hasn't spent any of his yet.  He's saving for a new guitar, so perhaps the money will go to that.

Did you get any nice presents this Christmas?

Hellooooo, anybody out there?

New year's resolution: Post more on blog.

How was your Christmas?

Swa cwæð eardstapa

So spoke the wanderer

Ye olde English...isn't it cool?...or pretentious, whatever. LOL

Anyway, I am still alive. If you were worried of course... :)

So, what's new with me?

I've gone through quite a 'thing' recently.  Before I went AWOL I was not in a great place church-wise.  In fact until quite recently I just felt sort of dead, numb...you know...not very spiritual.  I felt cynical about anything church/Christian related. Worship music? Just so annoying.  Bible? Couldn't read it. Prayer? Very little.  Preaching? Made me panic.

No, not in a great place.  In fact I even asked God - am I losing my faith? Is this what it's like?

But I just could not give up Jesus.  I know He's real. I know He's alive. I know that He is AWESOME.  I did acrobatics with my mind, but whichever way I looked Jesus was in my life.

No, every time I analysed my feelings my conviction about Jesus was still there.

I was so confused though.

Sitting in a Women's meeting at church listening to a lovely lady speak I suddenly had my epiphany.  I am not losing my faith, God is stripping away all the dross.  All the rubbish I had been fed since being a child.  All the twisting of scripture.  All the misrepresentation of God.  All the lies about what a 'real' church is.  The setting up of the pastor as mediator between me and God.

It all had to go.

I had to be emptied in a way. Cleansed.

I cried that night when I realised this.  Cried with relief.  God hadn't given up on me.

Jesus had to be my absolute cornerstone.  God had to take away the shaky foundation.  He can't build on sand.  It all needed stripping away until all that was left was Christ.  My Saviour.  The reason for my faith.  The reason I live.  He had to be my everything.

All of that old church tradition, religion, legalism, burden, chains, cage, gossip, criticism, idolisation of a man, lies, mixed up theology.  It all had to go.

Even then though, I didn't feel any great 'spiritual awakening' until the following Sunday.  People were invited up after the preaching for prayer.  I went up ostensibly to ask for prayer about fear.  I've always been anxious and I can see it rubbing off on my two lovely girlies.  Two people prayed with me and I was so moved by their words.  They prayed that my fears would go, but what they also said spoke so deeply to me.

They are precious words that I don't want to share on my public blog, but from that moment it was as if my Bible was reopened to my eyes and my prayer-life is back.  The zest has returned.

I still have scars to heal, I have lots to learn, but the last brick of my jail-cell was taken away and I am now free.

My desire now, my passion, is that others will be free too.

[L]et us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

~Hebrews 12: 1b-2a

[NOTE: If you're new here, my family and I recently left a cult-like church...that is where the re-processing of my faith stems from.]

A drive-by hello

I've not forgotten my blog and I've not forgotten my blog friends. Just a little busy right now. In the words of Arnie: I'll be back. x

Happy Homemaker Monday - 12th August

For more HHM posts visit Sandra

The weather...

Rainy but quite bright.  Going to be about 15 C today. 

Right now I am...

Listening to Chatterbox playing Temple Run and Squidge playing City Island.  The music is quite annoying. :)

Thinking...

That I STILL haven't cut the grass and now it's raining!

On my reading pile...

Jane Eyre

On my TV...

Last night we watched Number 23 with Jim Carrey.  It's all about something called the 23 Enigma and this chappie who gets obsessed about it.  Apparently, Jim Carrey agreed to do the film as the 23 Enigma is something he is fascinated with.  I think the film was a pile of tosh and very boring.  There's 2 hours of my life I'll never get back! :)

What I found while surfing the net...

I rather like this post from The Moxie Wife: Love for Love's Sake

And this post from my hubby:  Children

On the menu for the week...

I have some tuna steaks, some steak pasties, and some chicken in the freezer...I'll probably do something with those but I haven't made a plan.

On my to-do list...

Mow that grass!!  *shakes fist at clouds n rain*
Do my usual Monday 'home blessing' as FlyLady calls it
Shopping
Ring the Child Tax Credit people

In the craft basket...

Nothing at the moment

Looking forward to this week...

Time with G tonight as the girls are staying at my friend's for a sleepover. :)

Looking around the house...

I can now hear the girls screaming as it has just started to absolutely pelt it down with rain and hailstones and they're trying to fasten up the waterproof cover on the guinea pigs' hutch.  Haha, good timing! LOL

From the camera...

From our friend's camera:

Chatterbox getting hugs off two little girls at a church kids club

On my prayer list...

Friends of mine who are having family issues
My husband and his health issues and his hospital appointment tomorrow.

Bible verse, devotional...

Here's the verses I'm memorising today (I'm memorising Psalm 91):

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
WhoShall abides under the shadow of the Almighty
I will say of my God the LORD, "He is my refuge and
My fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."
Surely He will shall save you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.  (Psalm 91:1-3)

OK I'm going to check I got that right...not bad, a few small errors. :)

Here's a few devotional thoughts:

On Gratitude:
Waiting till you're happy before you give thanks, is like waiting to be healthy before you take your vitamins ~ Ann Voskamp

On forgiving others:
For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life - namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things. Consequently, Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word of what we have said about them needs to be unsaid. But it does want us to hate them in the same way in which we hate things in ourselves: being sorry that the man should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that somehow, sometime, somewhere he can be cured and made human again.~ C.S. Lewis

Have a blessed week! Hugs.

Friday's Fave Five

I've not done this meme before, and it looks fun.  I'm trying to really focus on my blessings.  Focusing daily on our blessings, and having gratitude for them, has been shown to improve mental health generally.  This has apparently been proven in some scientific studies.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. ~Proverbs 17:22

Before I get to the meme I just wanted to share also that I watched an interesting programme on BBC2 about this: The Truth About Personality, this chappie suffered from lifelong pessimism and insomnia.  He undertook a series of experiments to improve his general outlook, two of which were meditation and spending time each day focusing on photographs of happy people.  Sounds strange but it really did work for him, I'm not sure that it made him into Pollyanna or anything, but it did change his brain-wave patterns and made him look automatically for the positive rather than the negative.  It was SO interesting.  Do watch it if you have time, it's an hour long but fascinating:


Humour is also a good way for me to 'look on the bright side' too, nothing like a good chuckle to cheer you up. :)

So anyway, here's my Friday Fave Five!

Visit Susanne at Living to tell the Story

1. Our holiday

Every year my Mum and Dad take us away on holiday.  We never have enough money to pay for a holiday ourselves so this is a great great blessing.  This year we went to Cornwall, to a place called Bodieve near the small town of Wadebridge.  We had fantastic weather, only a couple of days of drizzle and cloud - which in England is a huge bonus!  Cornwall is a beautiful place, I've always said that my dream is one day to retire there in a small old cottage on the coast.

2. Birthday!

I turned 40 on holiday!  Yes, I know, I don't look a day over 21.  Here I am opening my cards in the cottage.  My Dad looking resplendent in his slippers and Squidge still in her jammies.  It was a lovely day.  They made my breakfast, and I got some lovely presents! I am loved. :)

3. Eden Project

One blessing we see often, but daily take for granted is the beauty of plants. Trees especially are essential to our survival, they provide oxygen and are an integral component of the water cycle.
Whilst we were there, we visited The Eden Project. The project aims to educate about and protect the earth's plants.  There are two biomes to visit, the rainforest biome and the Mediterranean biome, plus a whole host of other things to look at.  It's fascinating. 

Inside the rainforest biome, which is SO humid and contains butterflies and birds flying around, there is an aerial walkway.  It is unbelievably high up.  It is suspended from the top of the biome by wires, so when you're walking up the steps and standing on the platform it is swaying.  Also, the floor is metal mesh, so you can see right through.  It is not something for the faint hearted!

The high suspended walkway

Photo from the platform

A butterfly in the rainforest biome

Outside the biomes, the metal-man you can see at the bottom right is made from discarded electrical equipment

4. Birds of Prey and Jellyfish

You know, God has created some amazing beautiful creatures.

Whilst we were there we also visited the Cornish Birds of Prey Centre.  What an wonderful place.  It is immaculately clean, the birds are all well cared for, I think all of them are rescue birds.  Birds that have been mistreated or given up by their owners.  Apparently the Harry Potter films led to lots of people deciding to keep owls!  What on earth possesses people to think that they can keep owls as a domestic pet?  Anyway, here are some pictures.  Such beautiful creatures!

Not a bird, but still a beautiful creature! :) Squidge having fun on their zip-wire

This made us chuckle.  Poor Romeo.

Speaking of fascinating creatures, here are some jellyfish from the beach. Chatterbox was not impressed one day at the beach, there were hundreds of them in the sea.

Apparently this kind of jellyfish can give you a painful sting

 

Investigating jellyfish in a bucket - these kind don't cause a painful sting - but we didn't touch their tentacles just in case!

5. Family

I just love the summer holidays.  I love them because I get to spend more time with my girls and when we go away with family it's even better!

Have a most blessed weekend!

7 Quick Takes vol 228

--- 1 ---

My cat, as my blog-friends will know, has mental issues.  She drives my husband mad.  I often wonder what a pet psychologist would think. I talk to her about her issues. Oh yes, I talk to my cat, it's not as bad as talking to plants!  Anyway, applying psychology, I think she is suffering from separation anxiety.  Yesterday we went for a short walk and she followed us to the end of her little territory and then started making the weirdest noises (which Boots is rather good at), sort of like, "A-ROW-ROW-ROW, A-ROW-ROW-ROW", in a deep sort of possessed cat-voice.

--- 2 ---

Speaking of pet psychologists, this clip from Frasier is hilarious:

--- 3 ---

Our latest favourite comedy programme is The Big Bang Theory.  Don't you just love Sheldon? Jim Parsons plays the part amazingly well.  I love the Rubik's cube tissue box, I saw it on eBay. WANT! But we're a bit skint at the moment so it'll have to wait.  I had to look up how to spell Rubik's...I thought it was Rubix, but obviously it was a cube designed by Rubik, hence Rubik's cube.  See? Apostrophe for possession, so helpful.  Just saying. :P

--- 4 ---

One of my favourite Big Bang episodes, Penny takes Sheldon to Disneyland and comes up against some custody issues with Leonard. :D

--- 5 ---

Speaking of Leonard. Sheldon calls him homunculus, which generally refers to a small perfectly formed human. This is now Squidge's new name.

--- 6 ---

The girls have been enjoying themselves at a church holiday club all week. They love it. Chatterbox is helping to look after the younger children. She just loves it, and they love her. She has a real gift with little ones.

--- 7 ---

Speaking of Chatterbox, she is 12 in just under 2 weeks. Twelve! Where did the time go? They grow up so fast. These school holidays are such a blessing, to spend lots of time with them because it goes so quickly. *sigh*

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

His mercies are new every morning...

...and this is His gift of grace.

Good morning.  I'm sitting with my toast and marmalade and a lovely steaming cup of coffee. Mmmmm.

I am try to get into the habit of prayer at set times again.  When I go away on holiday it all becomes a bit hit and miss.

Add caption

A morning prayer
Lord, I light this candle because you LORD, are, "My light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?"
Without your light, Jesus, I am blind and living in darkness, for You said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  May I always live in Your light.
I pray, Heavenly Father, as a child of yours, that I remember always that I have the light of Jesus within me.  May I carry that light to others and always walk as a "child of light".
You tell us Lord, that we your children are, "The light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house".  May I today be a light in my home for you Lord.
Kindle in me a flame by your Holy Spirit, may the oil in my lamp never run dry, may I always turn to you to be filled with life and light.  May I always be awake and alert.
And now, Lord, help me to meditate upon, learn and live your Word today.  May your life giving Word be, ...a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
In Christ Jesus, who was and is and is to come, amen.

[Scriptures: Psalm 21:1; John 8:12; Ephesians 5:8; Matthew 5:14-15; Matthew 25:1-13; Psalm 119:105.]

I have a few things to do today, the garden is the most pressing...that and Squidge's toenails!  My word, I think she's been digging in the garden with them!  LOL. 

Haha, now there's a to-do list:

Laundry
Gardening
Toenails

You don't often see that on a to-do list. ;)

The garden is jungle like.  I'm pretty sure that whilst we have been away on holiday someone has been pouring miracle grow on the weeds!  No doubt as I am mowing the lawn I will uncover David Attenborough making a documentary about gorillas or something. "Here, in someone's badly maintained garden, we see a whole new eco-system has exploded."

Anyway, must get on.  Finish coffee and then smoke family out of their beds.

Have a blessed day!

Hugs.

More humour therapy...

Hahahaha this so looks like Boots.  Perhaps she has a secret life.

Anyway, G is on the phone to his sister, so a brief post. Boots has finally calmed down after coming home from the cattery.  She's been so stressed out, poor kitty.  Last year, knowing her stress levels, I got her some tablets from the vets to calm her down whilst she was in there.  Perhaps I should have done that this year too. On the first day back, she was purring away happily, then turned on me full claws hissing crazily.  She was cat-on-the-edge.

Yesterday I had a brief snooze...well it turned into 2 hours but that's another story...fortunately Boots decided she was hungry.  I woke up to her licking my elbow.  When I woke up she said, "Mew" hopefully and then ran off down to the kitchen.  Which takes me to this funny cat picture:

Today she's been very chipper, following me around meowing and rolling around showing her belly so that I will scratch it.  Life's never dull with a cat.

Humour as therapy

Haha, after writing the previous post, which to be honest was rather cathartic [I just checked the dictionary to see if I was using the right word there - well I was, but I just want to make it clear that it has nothing to do with my bowels!] I watched the video I added to end of the post and saw this picture.  I don't know who the author is, someone shared it on Facebook, but it really made me chuckle.

 

So, on that note, I'm going to go put some music on and get on with my day.

Happy Homemaker Monday - Post Holiday Chaos!

The weather...

Rain, rain, rain.

Right now I am...

Sitting on the bed typing this with a finally relaxed pussy-cat snoozing on my feet [we've just got back from holiday and being in a cattery totally stresses her out]

Thinking...

That I need to get tea going.  Hubster is on his way home and Chatterbox is going to a youth event at church tonight, so she needs to have had her tea soon.

On my TV...

Catching up on Big Bang Theory.

Top Gear.

I watched the revealing of the actor who will play the 12th Doctor (Doctor Who) last night on BBC. I wished I hadn't because it's much more fun to find out when he regenerates in the TV programme...but I'd have found out anyway, the papers, TV, radio, Facebook and Twitter have been talking of nothing else. Plus I find Zoe Ball a most annoying presenter.

What I found while surfing the net...



On the menu for this week...

Tonight, pasta bolognese I think.
Tomorrow chicken drumsticks and mash

I haven't really thought further than that.

In the craft basket...

Nowt.

Looking forward to this week...

Getting the house sorted out!  And the garden.  My word it's overgrown!

Looking around the house...

Mess.  An orchid that needs serious attention.  Snoozing cat.  The girls making jewellery at the kitchen table.

From the camera...

Crazy cat:

If I photoshopped her eyes red...scary! LOL


On my prayer list...

My hubby has a Urology appointment coming up soon, hopefully they will find out what is going on with his kidneys, etc.  I'd be grateful for prayers.
Our next door neighbour's mum has just died suddenly, I'm praying for her.
My cousin and a friend are both going through painful separations from their husbands both of which were precipitated by the husband have come as such a terrible sudden shock to them.

Bible verse, devotional...

Deuteronomy 31:8
"The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

For more Happy Homemaker Monday Posts visit Sandra.

Excuse me I'm an introvert!

I've just found an article that explains me so well!

10 Myths About Introverts

Here are a few quotes:

"They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days."  

This is so me.  I really struggle with small talk, particularly with people I don't know.  Even with people I know I can find it hard to think of things to talk about. But I can talk for England about things that I'm excited about, and I am genuinely interested in people.

"Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting."  

Yes, I am baffled by all that beating about the bush and pretending.  I'm always shocked when people are dishonest or can talk about nothing when there is something more important going on. Plus, pretending all is well with small talk is just silly when you know that there's something up.  Makes me so frustrated.  Get it out in the open people and we can talk about it!

"Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts...But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with."

That is true. I do enjoy being with people. I love sharing ideas and talking about a variety of things.  But I do also need time alone.

But this one was so helpful to me:

"Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways."  

So true.  It explains so much about why I react to things like I do.  The church we are in now is very, very social, which I love.  But I also need peace and space and I find it stressful if I have to do too much.  I can't be doing with people in my face all the time; yet, I love people and I love to talk and find out things about people. However, a whirl of social activities get's me where my head feels too full of stuff and I crave space.  I can't cope with going to church where everyone's lively and in top emotional state and then have to do something social and busy straight after.  Well, that's not true, I can do it and have done it and enjoyed it, but I find it exhausting and need a day to recover, lol.  Being out every night gets my head in a total spin.

It's so nice to realise I'm normal...ish. :D

-------------

Hat tip to Leila.

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 227)

It's late here, but here's a post!

--- 1 ---

As I'm doing Jennifer Fulwiler's 7 Quick Takes Meme I'll also mention one of her other posts from this week that I rather liked: Organizational hacks for the rest of us you know one of those posts that makes you sigh with relief when you realise it's not just you that struggles with perfection - LOL.

The notion that I have a medical condition (Housework ADD!) that prevents perfect housekeeping was just the excuse I needed for my chaotic ways.

I am unable to stick to a schedule, but I LOVE putting them together. A Home Management Binder! It will be beautiful.  I like making the folder, spending hours picking the font colours, working out how long each task should take, colour coding each task dependent on its nature, etc.  Such fun.  I never finish it though. I think I have about 4.  Equally, I am unable to stick to my perfectly thought out schedules.

Here's why:  Say I decide to clean my kitchen, it can go one of three ways...

1) I start off cleaning, then I notice my cupboard is a bit dusty inside, so I take all my pots and pans out, but then I notice that some of the pans at the back of the cupboard are grubby with rust spots, so I then get on the internet to see how to deal with rust spots on cooking equipment, I find an article but notice that it links to another article about learning to crochet and I would like to learn how to crochet, but I wonder how much hooks are on eBay so I look them up, then I remember I need to finish off in the kitchen, as I get to the kitchen I notice the time! It's 3.25pm and I am late for picking Squidge up from school, I leave the kitchen in a state of devastation, messier than it was before.

Or, 2) I start cleaning the kitchen, I notice the light fitting has cobwebs, I clean the light fitting, whilst I'm up on ladders I notice the top of the cupboards are a bit mucky so I start to clean them, but because the kitchen air is greasy the tops of the cupboards aren't just dust - I need some Vim, so I get more cloths out and a bucket to start cleaning with that and then notice that mucky water has splashed on the cupboard fronts, so I start to clean those, as I'm cleaning the doors I notice my cupboards are really grubby inside, so I empty them all out, I then notice the clock and it's 3.25pm and I am late for picking up Squidge from school and I leave the kitchen in worse devastation than it was before.

Or, 3) Knowing that my kitchen is a Pandora's box and quite possibly one of the seven circles of hell I avoid cleaning it and spend all day pottering about generally wasting time only to finally look up after getting distracted by the boxes of children's artwork, deciding to sort it out and spending hours reminiscing about their childhood and how cute their pictures are or some such nonsense to see that it is 3.25 pm and I am late to pick up Squidge from school and my kitchen is in a worse mess because I have, during the course of the day, contributed more pots from lunch and snacking, plus I now have artwork strewn about the living room that wasn't there before.

--- 2 ---

If you read all of --1-- and its excessive use of commas and never ending sentences, you deserve a reward.

--- 3 ---

So how do I manage my Housework ADD (or whatever)?  I set a timer.  15 or 10 minutes per room.  I put on some jolly bouncy music to motivate me.  My aim is to do everything as quickly as possible so that I get lots done before the timer goes off.  First I have to tidy the room (I have a box to throw things in that belong in other rooms, which I return to their correct location when I reach that particular room), if I still have time left after tidying I start to clean the room.  As soon as the timer goes off I have to move onto another room.  After I've been through all the rooms (I don't have a big house) I have a nice break.  I then do 15 minutes ironing, or something else.  If the house needs a thorough cleaning I will start again at the beginning with the timer.  I can use the timer on other projects that tend to get out of control, like filing or sorting photos, etc.

--- 4 ---

We've been in Cornwall this week.  It's been lovely.  The cottage we have stayed in is comfortable and roomy.  But I'm really looking forward to my own bed.  There's nothing like your own bed is there?

--- 5 ---

I have a new camera and have been playing around with various settings.  Here are some macros I took:

--- 6 ---

I'm looking forward to picking up Boots from the cattery.  I do miss my cat!  Sad I know.

--- 7 ---

It's Chatterbox's birthday soon.  She'll be 12! Moving closer to those teenage years.  I'm not sure I'm ready. :)

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!