It’s not much, that beats, crawling into a freshly made bed, after a long warm bath.
Hey, Frodo, scoot over! You’re hogging my space…
Ahhhh…..
Would you believe it, today is my one year anniversary. One year! I’m sure for people out there, who have been at this for years, one year is nothing, and I get that. Hopefully I will be among those one day. But for me, here, today, one year of blogging is significant!
A year ago, I decided that a goal for 2014 would be to shed on average one item a day. And I got this idea, that I would start a blog to keep me on track, which as you can see, I did π
So why is celebrating one year such a big deal? Β Well, you see, when I started out, I had this intention to blog for a year, but to be quite honest with you, I wasn’t really sure if I would actually manage to stick with it. I’ve tried journalling before and never succeeded (and I’ve tried several times), so why would writing a blog be anything different? Β But believe it or not, here I am, one year later, still posting the occasional words on my blog, and that’s why one year is such a big deal. Not only was I able to stick with it, but I’ve found that I like doing the occasional writing, and being part of a blogging community.
Little did I know, when I started out, that this world of bloggers, would enrich my life, as they have truly done.
This year, I have changed some of my ways. I’m sure some of this change would have come about any-ways, because of the journey I’ve been on the last few years. But there are no doubt that I have changed even more because of the blogging community.
You never know, I might let you in on some of these changes, over the next weeks and months π
It’s funny, how when you start a journey, it’s like the universe align itself to help you out, and put the right people in your path. And that’s how it feels, one year in. Starting a blog seems to have been one of the better decision I could have made. Through my blog, I’ve met some wonderful and creative people, who’s writings I can’t help but to be influenced by.
I’m really looking forward to continue this journey of mine, together with all of you, who so graciously have invited me into your “homes”. Without you, this blog would surely no longer exist!
I can’t wait to see what the next year will have in store for us all π
Happy anniversary!
Lately I’ve gotten into a bad habit of turning the TV on early, and even though I don’t always look at it, it steels my attention and the result is that I’ve been spending way (and I mean waaaay) too much time in front of the tube. Yesterday I realized I need to give myself a detox. A TV detox.
Now, since there are a couple of programs that gives me immensely joy to watch, I’m giving myself a daily limit.
And my daily TV limit is – 1 hour.
I know for some this sounds like a lot, but from where I’ve been going lately, this is a severe restriction.
The same goes for my smartphone/iPad time. I tend to get a little engrossed when surfing the web, and before you know it, it’s been hours. So just for measures, I’m going to throw in some restrictions on this as well.
So here it is – no more than 1 hour combined Smartphone/iPad/PC use daily.
There might be one and only one exception to this rule! Sometimes preparing a post takes me longer than an hour. So should I run into that issue during my enforced detox, I have hereby granted myself permission to finish my post π
Now, how long will this detox last? Hmmmmm, let’s see… Why don’t I start with two weeks and see how that goes.
So what if I fail? Then what?
Then! I get no TV whatsoever for a while….
When do I start? Well actually, I started today π
Why do I do it? Because I need to be more mindful on what I spend my time on…
And to steal a detail from my friend over at What I shed TodayΒ – Shedding style: reduce π
I can’t believe this is my 100th post!
Little did I know when I started out, how much having a blog would mean to me, and I never thought about all the milestones I would go through having a blog.
My first post – The start of my journey!
Suddenly I had my first like and my first follower, woohoo… But how on earth did they find me?
And thank you Jen over at Me woman you manΒ for making the first comment on my blog – oh my I was excited. The cool thing! She is still with me π
Soon followed the 10th postΒ Taking a stab at my bookshelves, my 10th like, the 10th comment and my 10th follower – Ed my dearest friend π
Fast forward and I’m hitting my 100 likes, my 100 comments and after a while my 100th follow by My botanical garden.
And not to forget! My first award, aΒ Liebster award, quickly followed by a second Liebster award I sadly never wrote about, which was given to me by My Light BagΒ who got it from Laura at The next 50 years who got it from me π Β My third award was a Sunshine award and I believe I have a fourth award waiting for me (from Heather at Simply Save) whenever I get my act together to write about it π
And here I am; 170 followers, 3956 views, 735 comments (I believe the stats are counting mine as well, so half maybe?), 63 countries later, doing my 100th post!
It never dawn on me, starting out, that I would find kindred spirits, make blog friends, and feel like I belong to a community. Or how I would miss people when they stopped blogging (hopefully only for a while). Or how bad I would feel when I don’t have the time or energy to keep up with my community (I guess it’s just like with regular friends).
I never thought about how much pleasure I would get out of having a blog. How my mind is forever making post in my head, even though sometimes they never make it down on “paper”.
Or how I would be changing during the course of blogging and moving along my minimalistic path. How other bloggers have made me think about all sorts of things from taking better care of the environment, become more thrifty, eat healthier, travel more, single living (nice to know I’m not alone) and take better care of my health. I even believe the blogging community helped with my decision of taking a time-out!
I just want to thank you, my faithful followers, commentators, bloggers, for making my days more cheerful, mindful, reflective and sometime just plain happy π
Thank you!
I’ve been out of touch the last couple of weeks, so what on earth have I been up to?
Well, let me tell you. It’s been really, really busy, and fun π
September this year, I’m turning 50 years young π
I figured a 50 year birthday is worth celebrating properly!
On my actual birthday I’ll be in Houston, celebrating with a bunch of friends and loads and loads of margaritas π
But I decided I needed to have a Norway celebration as well! So last weekend I threw a PARTY, with friends and family at this end of the world. Woohoo!!!
The plan was for an outdoor grill party, but the weather gods for some reason just wanted to throw rain at us, so it turned out to be an indoor grill party. Good thing it was a smallish group with only about 20 people, since my house ain’t that big π I do however, feel sorry for the grill-chef that had to spend all her time outside gilling in the rain (I did fix a temporary roof over her, but still…).
Even if it was a small group it was a wonderful mix of family and friends. Mum and brother from UK, stepbrother and girlfriend from Bergen, friends I haven’t seen in like forever, mixed with friends I see all the time. It was a great opportunity for all of us to catch up.
It was a party filled with fun and loads and loads of laughed, I don’t think I have laughed that much in a long time (yes, tears rolling).Β I love throwing parties like that π
Definitely worth a repeat. Now if I could just find an excuse to throw another one… π
My little furry friend is gone, and it’s all quiet in my house again!
The owners came home a little earlier than planed. The owners dads (who normally keeps Molly, is terminal sick) suddenly took a turn for the worse, and they needed to cut their trip short. π¦ My thoughts go out to them.
Out of the blue, they showed up to pick up their little girl, and within minutes everything was packed and they were gone!
As much as I was “looking forward” to get my house back, it sure is weird now that she’s gone.
I find myself looking around to check on where she is, even though she isn’t here anymore. It’s funny how quickly you adapt to having a pet, and change your routines.
Guess it’s going to take me a moment to get out of that again.
I feel like an empty nester π¦
We are having the most wonderful summer here on the west coast of Norway. Temperature has been in the 80s for weeks, now add a lot of sun to that, absolutely no wind.. and NO air-conditioning inside, and we have been sweltering here lately.
It’s been hard to keep the temperatures down. I keep all windows and doors opened, just in case I can get a little breeze through.. but even so, it’s hot, and the poor little fur-ball are struggling. Yesterday I even had to wrap her up in a cold wet towel for a short while, just to give her a cool down.
I don’t know if it’s the heat that does this, but the last two days her morning routine has changed quite a bit, and as result, I get next to no sleep (now I should say, that the heat could very well be affecting my sleep pattern to.. so I’m not blaming all on the dog π Β )
Molly, my little furry friend, quickly settled into a routine of sleeping downstairs. Β And every morning about 5:30-6 am she comes upstairs, jump onto my bed and lays down by my feet (making sure she wakes me up in the process π ) and then she sleeps either until I get up, or she needs to go outside whichever comes first.
If I’m still in bed when she needs to go outside, she’s starts acting so funny.. She becomes restless, walks around in my bed and “throws” herself down on the bed, just to make sure I notice π give it a few minutes and she’s up moving around and throws herself down again, then a few minutes later here we go again. About the 5 or 6 times I realise it doesn’t matter how tired I am, it’s time to get up π
All this suddenly changed two nights ago when she decided that jumping into my bed around 4 am was a much better deal! Promptly waking me up, and (this is when we are starting to blame the heat) the result was, not a lot of sleep that night π¦
Last night, even worse… 2:24 am, this cannonball lounge herself onto my bed again, snuggles up close to my body, and I can’t hardly move without “bumping” into her! With the heat.. you guessed it, not much sleep!
I was finally starting to dose off again, when she must have heard some noise outside and started up with a bunch of yapping, barking and a lot of growling noises! at 4 AM!!! I very politely told her to quit it, but even after several “stern” corrections, she was still “mumbling a lot”… and I threw her out of the bed and told her to go downstairs! Which, to her credit, she did.. but still mumbling under her breath!
If I hadn’t been so tired, I would have thought this quite funny. You would too if you had heard her, mumbling while she “tiptoed” down the stairs.
Ahhhhh, final some peace and quiet!
Despite the heat, I did manage to get a few more minutes of sleep before I woke up at 7 am. But sitting here writing this, I notice, I’m tired as a puppy!
Now the “puppy” on the other hand! Is quietly sleeping nicely tucked in, on my sofa… life is just not fair π
About a week or so ago, one of my neighbours a couple of streets over, stopped to chat with me while I was working in the yard. Telling me they were going to Houston for a trip to visit his parents. Somewhere in the conversation a question came up, “would I… could I… possible consider keeping an eye on their dog while they were gone?”
The question caught me a bit off guard, first off all we are only passing “friends”, you know, the type of acquaintance where you meet them while walking or working in the yard, and you stop and chat for a few minutes. And second, looking after their dog for more than two weeks, the first time around, seems a bit long, I mean, what if the dog don’t like hanging out with me?
Now having said that, almost every time I run into them they have their dog with them, and she is the cutest thing, and since I love dogs, and can’t help myself, I always end up petting and playing with the dog.
I understood there had to be a reason why they would ask an “almost complete stranger” to look after their dog so I decided to say yes!
Turns out I was right. The person who normally look after their dog are sick and seriously so, and have taken a turn for the worse lately π¦
So last Thursday night my life got turned upside down, when I got “invaded” by this tiny fur-ball called Molly, a small Yorkshire terrier, who loves to play π
She is the cutest thing on four legs, with a big personally to match. She has already taken ownership of the whole house. As I mentioned, she loves to play and her toys are spread all over. Her favourite place is a corner of my sofa snuggled into a furry pillow and my favourite blanket!
She thinks she’s the boss (which she really isn’t.. well… maybe… just a little) and that makes for some interesting “tugs of war”, especially when I’m done playing, and she’s not π She’ll look at you with that cute face and with a wimpy voice, and with the look of “seriously you can’t possible mean we are done playing… pleaaaaaseeee!!!!” And then she’ll “kiss” me, which makes her super hard to resist!
The last couple of days she has gotten into a habit of stomping all over my bed when she thinks it time for me to get up, it’s a tall bed, but she can just about make the jump to get up there.. And that’s the end of the sleep for me. I think I need to put a stop to that right away.. if not I’ll never get my “beauty sleep” π hmmm, maybe she’s the boss after all π
This morning for some obscure reason she decided that my thumb is a much better chew toy than her rabbit (which is her favorite toy), I’m not sure how much I enjoy having chew marks all over my fingers, you’d think she’s a baby teething rather than a grown dog… but I’m sure I’ll survive π
It’s been a while since last I had a dog living with me, so this makes for a couple of interesting weeks! She’s great company though…
To be continued!