Slow down; live day by day

This week has been a stagnant, cold week: but very typical for this time of year. We've had a lovely mackerel dish this week and I made a horseradish cauliflower cream. Yum. Squid tonight as I raided the deli counter the other day for the special offers.

This time of year when we can't escape outside as easily, the girls test my patience and pull my heartstrings more than anything. They have very small attention spans so staying inside for a whole morning or a whole afternoon can be testing, especially when it gets dark so early. We've been out for frosty dark walks to get us all out and ready for a nice warm bath. It feels like the ground is constantly hard and frozen. It's strikingly beautiful. More so than the summer, I reckon. It feels like we've been put on hold and the weather is telling us to retreat back into the warmth and hide away. But we have toddlers, so they need to get outside and thrive off that fresh air to banish all their ailments away.

Everyone has a cough that is lingering. Everyone is waiting for Christmas. And we're going away for the winter break tomorrow. We've spent this morning packing up the house and getting prepared for leaving. It's a mammoth task but necessary to escape the cold freeze and find our lovely cottage to explore a new place from. The presents are wrapped, the cards have been written and sent. The world seems balanced.

Unfortunately, the new road I wrote about last week has ended up being a dead end. But these abrupt stops in a pathway means that I'll have to go through a few brambles to find my way through to a new path instead. I'll bounce back after feeling a tad flat because opportunities always come our way when we are least expecting it. I can carry on enjoying the volunteering work I am doing now, and see what comes up next year. Now I can switch off.

I can totally slow down now. No more Mum groups to organise, no more lacrosse coaching sessions to plan, no more Christmas parties to organise. Just me and my little family and the open countryside.

A special thanks to my sister for inspiring my title this week.

Comments

Through the bleak grows hope: January 2025

One of my friends said to me last week that January is for organising. She's a vegetable gardener. More will follow about this later, but currently, I'm upstairs in our bedroom after a very average sleep. --- I managed the above three sentences before I was interrupted. It's now very common with three little lives that come bursting in on me in the morning. We had to get ready for the school run so off I went to convince them to stand still for more than a few minutes just to get them changed. I rudely interrupted their game of MumandDad. They really have the sweetest games. But this post isn't about 3-4 year old games. As always, I never know where this writing will take me but I have a vague idea and I know that I need to write. So I write. I'll crack straight on with this first post since March 2024...my mission is to use this blog to write every month. I have showered and dried my hair. Alone. A luxury in this Mum world I'm currently in. It isn't just ...

Another New Chapter: Full of surprises...

I'm writing this when I should be hanging the washing out. Logging on has made me realise that I haven't written since last year. It was on a book about the independent sector of education. I have had a lot of eye opening and life changing moments since that last post. Firstly, we are expecting our third baby...it still seems surreal to be writing that. I feel so lucky and overwhelmed with how busy our house will be and how much love can be in one home. A total surprise and I now have to navigate another fork in the road of my teaching career. Sometimes, life takes over and you just have to surrender to the family. It reminds me to slow down: how I'm here to love them, our children, and not my job. Yes, we have the most ginormous toddler tantrums with our middle one, but the cuddles she can give are just phenomenal. I wish I could cuddle her at this age forever. Our eldest is getting ready for school in September and is nearly 5. She is just so grown up. I wish I could rem...

First, Second, and Third Summer Reads, 2019: Donoghue, Westover, Rooney

Here marks the first three books of my summer reads 2019. The reviews seem to get longer and longer the further into the summer I go (maybe my brain starts to be more productive after being zapped of any energy with the busy GCSE preparations). So, firstly, a parent of an influential, talented pupil suggested the following novel to me last year during Parents' Evening. The following week, I gave the book to her daughter as a present and I've finally got the time to read it. This young lady in particular is an amazing writer and I hope she continues to read, write, and love the cathartic sense of writing. 1. Room by Emma Donoghue A few days in to summer holidays and the first read was already finished. I clearly wanted to indulge into a non set text novel. I whizzed through in a few days whilst I recovered from a busy summer term. I was impressed with the narrative voice and the storyline is shocking. At the beginning, it was brilliantly written from a young boy whose ...

Quetzalcoatl

Search This Blog