Yay! It’s time for another list of the things that have made me happy! And that makes me happy! The week has kind of gone by in a weird blur. I’m always jinxing it, but we finally had a little breather from the constant winter illness. I thought I was learning to love winter, but I am kind of getting over the whole ‘always being cold’ and/or sick thing. Let’s hope this ‘healthy’ streak continues!
Here’s my little list…
Family time
It’s been great having Mr Unprepared back from his recent little getaway to Melbourne. We’ve been really busy lately and it was getting difficult to find time to connect as a whole little family. On Saturday, our original plans fell through and we decided to make the most of it. We went for a walk down to our local waterfront, with the Little Mister practicing his bike pedalling/braking skills. We had a naughty ‘front shop’ lunch ( sausage rolls and the like), the Little Mister dazzled us with his play equipment climbing skills, and then we made our way back home. Fun was had and it was nice to get outside and be active together. I’d really missed that time as a little group of three.
Crazy evening dance breaks with the Little Mister
Lately, I’ve been putting on some music to get me through the end of what is usually a long day. It gets me motivated to do annoying tasks like cooking dinner, tidying up, doing the dishes etc. Often this turns into an all out epic dance session with the Little Mister and his moves really impress me (or make me crack up). It often stops me from sighing a lot and counting down to his bed time, which is nice.
Time to paint my nails
For me, a sign that self care is happening is when I am able to sit down and do my nails. If my nails aren’t done, I know I haven’t been taking care of myself. It’s my way of reminding myself to stop and do something for me. I like making my nails pretty, but the ritual is important for me too. It’s a selfish activity – you can’t touch anything or anyone (haha) while you’re doing it. It takes time and concentration, so you have to be in the moment. It makes your hands look nice, which is a good feeling and something to take pride in.
I started this little self care habit in 2010 after a really rough year of trying to take care of everyone else. I was completely drained, emotionally raw, grieving and running on empty by the year’s end. Any kind of self care felt really difficult but I knew I had to get back to me again. I had forgotten how to give myself permission to find the little pleasures in life and it was really overwhelming, so I decided to take baby steps. The first activity I did was take the time to paint my nails. It was really healing. I guess that’s stuck with me ever since. It’s become my thing. If my nails aren’t painted for a while, I know it’s time to stop and ask myself if I’m OK. I know that out of context, my last sentence sounds like something a vapid reality TV celebrity would say, but I hope you get what I mean haha.
I got to do my nails a couple of nights ago and it felt great as my fingernails had been bare for weeks – which is rare for me.
Online shopping
I love it. I have really embraced it lately. I ordered my groceries (AND WINE!!!!) this past week. I got myself a little bluetooth speaker, so I can play my music nice and loud from my various electronic devices (you know – for epic aforementioned dance breaks). I ordered some new PJ pants (best ever). I got myself some comfy hoodies to lounge about in (they were on sale of course). It’s quite convenient. And addictive. I have really had to hold myself back, because I keep thinking of new things I can buy. Oops.
The Little Mister’s new improved bed time routine
The Little Mister has really been leaping forward in his independence lately. It’s fantastic (even if at times it takes a lot of patience – mine). The part I’m loving the most has been that he has started putting himself to bed! Of course, we are there emotionally (we read stories and kiss him and all of his comfort items goodnight), but now he is turning off his own light and shutting his bedroom door behind us! Like he actually stands by his open door and bids us goodnight. He closes the door like he’s just had us over for a dinner party and now it’s time for us to leave haha.
This is awesome because up until very recently, he insisted that he couldn’t fall asleep without his bedside lamp on and the door ajar. This meant that we had to wait until he was asleep, then tiptoe into his room to turn off the light and close the door properly. This was annoying because we had to watch him on the video monitor for the first half hour to determine that it was safe to go in. It also meant that if we were dead tired, we couldn’t go to bed yet because we had to wait him out.
Now, once he’s in bed, that’s it for the night! Of course, this could all change again at some point, because kids are kids and they change their moods and preferences just to keep us on our toes, but for now it’s lovely!!
Other stuff that’s made me happy:
- Adult conversations with people who I am not related to – as much as I love the people who I am related to, this mama needs to get out more.
- Watching my AFL team (West Coast Eagles) win. I love attending games. For the record, I did not participate in any booing. I am also happy to say that those West Coast supporters who are disrespectful are not representative of me. Even our coach thinks we can be better than that and that makes me happy. Maybe this could be a topic for another blog post, but I just had to slip it in there! Don’t mind me…
- Watching aeroplanes as they made beautiful vapour trails in the sky yesterday.
- Mr Unprepared cleaned the toilet so I didn’t have to. It was taking some hits thanks to the Little Mister getting some target practice in. Glad I dodged that job (this time) haha.
- Comments on my blog posts – you guys are so awesome and I love hearing what you have to say!
- Falling down a YouTube rabbit hole, which resulted in me finding a whole bunch of songs (from 1996) that I loved when I was 11/12. Those were some formative musical years for me and I still get shivers when I listen to 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins. And that video? It’s EVERYTHING.
What’s been making you happy this week? x
