Wordless Wednesday - Ice Cold

linking up here, here and here

Rainy Days

Got very muddy

I hate it when I mostly write a post, then something happens and I don't finish it for a while, then it seems too late to post. Happens way too frequently here at the moment, so I am going to post this one anyway. I started it about 2 weeks ago....

It has been cold and wet here for far too long here. Finally yesterday afternoon the sun came out to play and it lifted my heart.

But how do you make the most of rainy days? Maxabella wrote a great post here about how she feels about cold rainy days, and I couldn't agree more. However, my family isn't like that (wanting to snuggle up inside), and they like to get out, which often means that I have to get out too. As much as I would prefer to curl up inside on cold rainy days, I often feel quite exhilarated when I make the effort to get out. So, I thought I would share a bit about my long weekend...

We went for a walk near the river on a foggy morning

Fairfield boathouse, where more sensible families are cosily having breakfast :)

Even the spiders are wet and cold

We went to the zoo on a grey morning, and avoided the crowds.

Jumped in Puddles

Got very muddy

'washed' hands with wet grass

Had lots of fun :)

Love

Smothered by love? That's all I have to say today. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.
xx

Wordless Wednesday - Nature

Linking up here

Shafts of Light

You know the feeling when you don't return a phone call or an email right away, and then you start putting it off, and feeling guilty, and the more you put it off the worse it gets? That's not just me, right?

Well, I have that feeling now with my blog.

It has been so neglected this year, and I'm now at the point where even the thought of reading other blogs is making me feel guilty. So, I figure I just need to get something down here to try and get over the hump. Honestly, when I logged back in here after not having a look for weeks, I must admit I was almost surprised that it is still here. I thought it might have wandered off, feeling neglected and unwanted. But it isn't unwanted, just an indulgence that I have felt has to be a last priority this year.

If you are reading this now, then thanks for sticking with me, and this little blog of mine.

The indulgence that I have been letting myself do is photography. I just love it so much, and can't get enough. I have also been learning more about Lightroom, and might blog a bit about it in the future.

Wordless Wednesday

My beautiful girl. 

My gorgeous friends got married!  Wedding was magic. 

Linking up with wordless wednesdsay here

My bucket was full, so I emptied it a bit..

I heard a great analogy a few years ago when I trained to become a Mental Health First Aid Instructor.
Here is my take on it.*

Everyone has a metaphorical bucket inside them
Some people's bucket is small, some are large. 
Some are made from strong, durable material; some are pretty flimsy. 


Everything that comes up in our lives that is stressful starts to fill our bucket. 
Stress can be positive or negative.
Exams, break-ups, illness, deaths, are all examples of negative stress that add to your bucket starting to fill up. 
Positive things are stressful too, like holidays, a new relationship, a new job. 
As more stressful things happen, your bucket becomes fuller.


When someone experiences a mental illness, it is because their bucket is full and has started to spill over. 
Which mental illness (anxiety, depression, psychosis etc) you have is probably due to genetics, or other personal factors.
But why one person has a mental illness after a couple of stressful events, when the person next to them is fine, comes down to how big and strong your bucket is. 

So anyway, over the last couple of months I have been trying to become a successful Thermomix consultant. I have been trying to excel in studying Law. I have been trying to be a good friend. I have been trying to be a good daughter, and sister. I have been trying to be a perfect mother and wife.

I have not felt like I have been doing any of these things as well as I would like to be. I talked earlier this year about wanting my word of the year to be Joy. I haven't been feeling much Joy at all this year. I've just been too busy.

So I decided that something had to give, and that thing is Thermomix. I'm not giving up cooking with it, that I love and it feeds my soul (and my family!).
But I just didn't feel like I took to the sales aspect of it, and it was taking up precious space in my bucket.
I felt like my bucket was starting to drip, so I tipped out the sales.

It wasn't an easy choice, because I felt like I had given up, like I had failed.

But it was the right thing to do.

I feel lighter now.

How full is your 'bucket' right now? I'd love you to share....

x Sannah 

* Apologies to the owner if it is quite far from your initial description. Alternatively if you want to take credit for it, just drop me a line.
** And no, our poor little blue bucket didn't survive a couple of boys throwing bricks into it to make the splash. I hope no one ever throws a brick into my metaphorical bucket.