Making things stick in 2020 with some gumption

It’s almost the end of January, and unusually for me I’ve not shared my word of the year yet. Nor have I posted a decade in review, and in all honesty I probably won’t post anything in great detail. The 2010s were a decade of house refurbs and holidays and many happy times; there were job changes for us both, but we also lost more good friends and family than ideally we’d have liked. We celebrated milestone birthdays, and ten years of marriage with family and friends, and by all accounts we should feel grown up by now, but I’m not sure we really do.

At the start of 2019 I was looking forward to facing the year with tenacity, and I predicted it would be a busy one. I wasn’t wrong. At work for half of the year I covered the junior role on my team as well as my own, and by November, it was tough. MOH too had had a stressful time at work too, and so our holiday in December was a much needed break for us both. It helped recharge our batteries, and for me reduced some of the overwhelm.

This year I think there’ll need to be more of that tenacity, but also more discipline to stick at things. I know I can make things happen, at home and at work, if I stick to them. I also know that I need to stick at the things that are important, and not just the things that shout loudest and seem most urgent. I’ve also recently learnt that I ‘over give’ so while I can stick at things, I need to stick at the right things.

So that’s why gumption seems to fit. This year being I’m certain that being ‘shrewd or spirited initiative and resourceful’ will stand me in very good stead.

The year though has already started with a bit of a health scare for MOH, though now it’s been identified as kidney stones that’s helped, and I hope he’s well on the way to being fixed. We’ve a couple of breaks booked already to look forward to. We’re heading off to Lyon next month and a cottage in the Lake District in early summer. There’s another family wedding, this time in Yorkshire, and milestone birthdays for both of our siblings.

We’ve plans for some work on our house, and in the garden - which we made little progress on last year - and I’m planning to make sure there’s time for crafting too. That all means there’ll be plenty to share here, and 2020 will be as busy as any yet I’m sure. We also think that the decade ahead will be a big one for us.

But with added gumption* who knows what successes 2020 will bring?

Photo by Daria Volkova on Unsplash

* I clearly didn’t give imagery much thought ahead of choosing gumption as my word, a G was the closest I could get!

Reflecting on my week #114

The wool that I told you about last week arrived, and is just as pretty as in the picture. I’ve still no idea what I’ll make with it, but that’s a whole other project. Isn’t it pretty?

It was a chilly start to the week here and walking to work was more of a challenge than I’d like it to be. Strangely though walking home was less cold, and preferable to the morning walks. MOH had his first appointment with the consultant, and while that went well they wanted some blood (again) and that wasn’t quite so successful and he’s going back again to give them some more this week.

After a few days not giving him so many errands or jobs, I made the most of it on Thursday and he did well. I could get used to having a house husband (I couldn’t - I wouldn’t want to go to work either!), he’ll be back at work this week and hopefully the consultant will also give him some news, and treatment, to lessen the pain, and to get the little kidney stone out.

We headed out to another new-to-us garden on Saturday, this time Nymans in West Sussex, another National Trust garden. That’s two in two weeks, and both first time visits for us. It was a little foggy on Saturday though, but that made for an atmospheric walk around the gardens. We stopped for lunch, and will be back again when the weather’s nicer to explore some more.

Our visit did provide our first snowdrop viewing of the year though. MOH tells me we have some out in our garden but i’ve not ventured out there for a bit, so I’m taking his word for it. It’s funny to hear him describe them - he’s still learning plant names - but we’ve also got cyclamen flowering, and some geraniums which are bucking the seasons. There’s much to do in our garden, but, perhaps not just yet.

Next door’s work is continuing. The scaffolding’s still up (note the orange ladder) but there’s progress with deliveries and multiple workmen, during the week. Another good thing about MOH being home! Saturday morning was a hive of activity, and new tenants moving into the rented flat next door too. And yes, I was that neighbour who needed to get out…

This weekend through our meals we’ve given a nod to both Burns Night and to the Chinese New Year, with haggis on Saturday and Kung Pao prawns yesterday. There’s a bit of haggis left and my plan is to concoct some kind of haggis, lentil and vegetable ‘shepherds-type’ pie, which MOH keeps wrinkling his nose at, but I’m confident will at the very least, be edible!

We’ve started to watch the docu-drama Chernobyl, based on the real life events. MOH watched it on the plane to/from Barbados and thought it so good he bought the DVD, as he wanted to watch it on a proper sized screen. We’re three episodes in, and it’s shocking, as we obviously knew it would be, but probably more so with the real stories that are told. It definitely makes you think, and makes you wonder about comparatives to current events.

Stay safe peoples.

Reflecting on my week #113

It’s been nice to see this sun this last weekend, and so like many other people we made the most of it with a trip to a local National Trust garden. it’s only around thirty minutes or so away, near Sevenoaks, but it was our first visit to Emmetts Garden which has some great views over the Kent and Sussex countryside. I’m sharing a couple of photos today, but there’ll be more later in the week.

There was plenty of mud about too, unsurprisingly, and my trusty ‘car boots’ (which live in the boot of the car) came into their own. I’m not a huge fan of mud, but it’s marginally more cope-able with the right shoes. These boots, Timberlands which I bought on our first trip to the States in 2000, are a little tight on me, and a little knackered, and could do with replacing. They’re ok for occasional use but not that comfortable any more for repeated use - my feet need more room these days!

Anyway, plenty of other people had the same ideas about getting out and there was a small queue to get into the car park, and a much larger queue for tea and cake both times we walked past the stables, so we left with a huge bar of chocolate covered marzipan instead. It was nice to get off the beaten track and adding seven thousand steps to the days total is always a plus.

I’m sure we’ll be back at some point, and it’ll be good to see the garden in different seasons. Today though, apart from the mud, there were paper thin hydrangeas, heathers in flower and some fantastic views. We followed a trail which saw us cross a road, which we weren’t expecting and then when we saw a signpost for the garden we questioned our wisdom and headed back the way we’d come.

The preceding week had been a bit of a funny one. MOH has still been suffering with unexplained pain in his side which I was beginning to think was something more serious than we’d voiced between ourselves. Thankfully though, the results from his scan last week, had some answers. A small non-blocking kidney stone is the culprit and he’s further tests and appointments to follow. I think just knowing that it’s been identified has helped with stress levels, now to get on and fix it - though he’s not so keen on knowing how it’ll depart his body. He’s under the impression it will dissolve of its own accord, maybe it will but if so, what’s it doing there in the first place…

I’ve also started the sessions for my online coaching session with Nicky Kentisbeer. You may know Nicky as a blogger, but she’s also a business coach and her online coaching appealed to me when I was close to empty towards the end of last year. The title appealed to me - Get out of your own way - as Nicky’s right when she says that often we know what’s holding us back, and yes, it’s often ourselves. I’m looking forward to doing what it says on the tin.

Work has been as busy as before Barbados, and now I know I will never get to the bottom of my to do list. Knowing that I won’t do everything is kind of liberating, and has helped me refocus on doing what needs to be done rather than the stuff that I think will take me five minutes, and invariably takes much longer, and in the scheme of things isn’t really that important.

I’ve booked a few nights away in Lyons in February. We’re staying in a plush, spa hotel in most probably one of their smallest rooms. It’s got the potential to be quite quirky as it’s got a mezzanine and a bath on its own level - I can’t help but think of our stay at Coombe Abbey in the autumn, but I’ll find out when I get there.

During the week, even though MOH has been cooking dinner each night (yay!) there hasn’t been much time for crochet, so this weekend I’ve put that right. Now with these ‘Jean Senior’ squares completed, i’ve ticked off section three from my colourful Vintage Hearts throw. There’s eleven sections in total, so I’ve a few more to go, though it’s not quite as bad as it sounds as I’m taking an industrial approach and completing all squares of a single design, no matter which section it appears in. So I’m optimistic that all of a sudden I’ll be sewing it up.

That’s probably just as well, as somehow I appear to have ordered some wool for another new project. I’m not quite sure exactly what I’ll use it for, but it was way too pretty to leave on the virtual shelf.