Hello my lovelies!

I hadn't realised it has been quite as long as this.  I have been working on a new project.

This has taken me to pluck up the courage to create a wordpress website where I can now create my bloggyness too.

So pop on over to HappinessBackpack.com to see me there!  Every Thursday I am hosting a Thankful Thursday gratitude blog party, so anyone with a blog can join in & link us all together.  It would be rocking awesome if you wanted to play too!

So, how has everyone been?

We have had, just after my last post, on Valentines day, the bombshell diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes for my little girl Bini.  It has since been a total rollercoaster of overcoming needle phobias (hers and mine), managing food plans and dealing with the scary this-could-actually-lead-to death hypos.  Luckily hers have been mild so far and she can spot them coming on, but it is still stressful and a couple of times she has become uncooperative.

We have also had some issues with her school.  Although these have been resolved now, we are considering home schooling for this next term to help get her health restored & plug any gaps in her learning before she starts secondary school.

It has been a big learning curve for us all, and it feels like it is only just the beginning.  Which it is, really.  This is her with diabetes for life now, scientific cure notwithstanding.  She has been amazing, and is really handling it well.  Better than me probably.  What a shit thing for an 11year old to deal with.

I am off now to count carbs.  Its a new field for me, as I have never considered the carb content of anything.  Wish me luck!

oh yes, and rather excitingly, I have had my first guest blogpost published at the lovely Tia's site http://inspiredlifeblog.com/2013/03/01/are-you-happy/
xxx

Thankful Thursday 24th January 2013

Today I am grateful for:

• A gentle day to rest in, and allow my cycles of energy to just Be.
• A clean bedroom & house.  Oh boy did I go frenetic on the cleaning and decluttering front.  I had to skype my husband to ask him if there were any parts of the house that he was particularly attached to before I threw everything out!
• SNOW.  Oh we had a long weekend thanks to the white stuff & managed a fair bit of sledging and throwing snow.  Obviously that also resulted in some crying and whining but mostly it was thoroughly enjoyed.  And now its mostly all gone & its safe to drive again.
• MinestroneSoul.com's Jo Bradshaws Branding course that I am in week 3 of.  Really looking forward to our first group call tomorrow.
• A hot bubble bath to start the day.  How bloody decadent! 
• Create your incredible year workbooks.  Yes, I know I have mentioned them before, but still loving them.  Got my business one printed out yesterday.  whooohoo.  (Still not too late to get yours if you want to kick butt on 2013!  Thanks to everyone who has got theirs thru my link.  Love you!)
• Empty laundry hamper.  oh yes.  breathe in in Jacs, it is a brief moment of content!
• Green smoothies.  Detox here I come.
• Tintin animatedly reading us the opening chapter of the story he's writing.  It involves teenaged zombies.  Nice.  I love 8 year old boys, soon to be 9.
• The full cupboards of delicious food Roo & I shopped for yesterday.
• The Fire starter sessions book by Danielle LaPorte.  Really juicy stuff.

Happy New Year!

Well, I hope you enjoyed all those brilliant imaginary blog posts I constructed for you.  I hope you agree with me that they were hilarious, witty and moving all at the same time.  I also hope you got them by telepathy, since I failed to use the more normal channels!  Why do I do that?  Think of great things and then never commit them to paper, or to update the phrase, commit them to binary code.  This will hopefully change & you might get to see what I have to say!

Meanwhile, in other news, I am loving my 2013 yearplanner from Leonie Dawson.  If you haven't got one, I heartily recommend doing so.  If you'd like to use this affiliate link I would love you forever,  honest.

One of the projects in the life version of the year planner, is to write out a list of 100 things to do in 2013.  I am currently at at 59.  It is surprising how hard it is to come up with 100!  They can be anything and indeed are ranging from '#58:Get a new car' (I know, right?  eeek) to '#56:phone Brandon in Hawaii' to the mundane '#41:get wills updated' (blurgh) and '#41:work out how to get photos off phone and onto blog'.  Some of them I have already done, like #4&5:spring clean kids toys, but not #41, else I would have a picture to show you what it all looks like!

Christmas for us was, like many people it seems, a succession of poorly people interspersed with some loveliness.  Luckily we were at least at my Brother's house before my Beloved became ill, so we got to hang out gently with lovely family.  Then when back at home, we just did lots of watching Christmas movies and occasionally getting some fresh air at the park.  Interestingly, it was absolutely perfect.  Just the holiday that everyone needed.  Funny that.

So, a very Happy New Year to you all.  Lets make 2013 the year that Rocked!

Breathing through the manic

Well.  I don't know about you but I am really trying to remember to breathe through the mayhem.

There just seems to be so much to do, and get done and wrapped up.  I always feel that I need an extra week at this time of year.  This year though, I am determined to do things a bit differently.

Although there is alot to get done, partly because I set myself grandiose home-made gifts, I am going to let myself off by the weekend.  Once the kids have finished school, then I am going to glide into Christmas.  Honest.

And in the meantime, this week, I will also be remembering to breathe, deeply and slowly.

How is your run up to Christmas going?

Inspiring 2013 comin' your way!

Oh my goodly goodness Leonie Dawson has unleashed this next years workbook & planner.  I have printed off my copy already.  So utterly excited and inspired.  And this year I have printed it out in full glorious colour, because I am worth it, dammit!  Oh it looks so inviting.

For the first time, this year she has also done a business version, with specific focus on creating and expanding your own glorious biz. 

I think I am equally in love with both!  The life edition has greater focus on personal stuff, although there is some personal in the biz edition, since lets face it, if you are your business then it needs to contain all of you in a good & healthy way.

Haha, and double excitement, on checking out that my affiliate link is working, I discover that I am on her page with testimonial.  I think I may have actually squealed out loud, but luckily I was alone at the time.

What I love about Leonie's workbook, is the way you focus on the coming year in a deep, expanded spiritual way, but with action steps and planning too.  It comes with a lovely calendar that you can use to plug your dreams straight into.  I use my own calendar because I like my own one, but what I do love about Leonie's is lovely little offerings in some of the days.  Like, today is love yourself day and sweet drawings & pictures.  Like all of Leonie's stuff, it is a visual feast that lifts me every time I go to it.

If you have been thinking about trying out some of Leonie's glorious offerings, then this is a really well priced entry point.  And something you can enjoy all through 2013.

If you decide to get yourself some of this loveliness, I would be girl-crushingly grateful if you could use this link.  Thank you scrummy one!

Click here to get your inspiring 2013

What are your big dreams for 2013?

Jaci x

Thankful Thursday. 1st November 2012

Today I am grateful for

• An easygoing gentle halfterm
• Happy Ever Arter on the full moon with some of my Best-ies
• Helping run the craft session at the community cafe.
• Watching my 3 shades of blonds feeding the ducks with a bag of duck-grain.  Bini got much braver than usual and actually took to stroking the larger white one & was besotted with how soft it was.  Wish I'd remembered my camera.
• A night out at this talk last night.
• A really lovely connection with a beautiful soul at the talk.
• A weekend of Brothers.  Hanging out with G & D with assorted womenfolk and children's.  So lovely to spend time with them.
• Playing a riotous game of Pit with my brothers.
• Lots of lovely logs.  Thanks Mum!
• Getting my studio cleaned up.  Ready to get gloriously messy again!

Darkening changes

This coming wednesday is Samhein.  Which I think is the beginning of the celtic new year.  

So a good time to take stock and do a bit of soul searching.  As we move into the cold.  The dark.  With the clocks going back today, tonight will come early.  Will I rebel & rail against it as I often do.  Or shall I make this year a different experience.  After yesterdays sunshine, today is a grey day.  Pale grey, with a sky almost low enough to touch.  How can I make this day of change work smoothly for me and mine?  

Like yesterday, I think some outside time is the best option.  Nurturing food.  Warm soup.  Porridge.  Lighting the fire and sitting together around it.  An early night.  

Its a crazy plan but it might just work!

Sunshine at last.  Today, moved into those cold bright autumnal days where you start to get a sore throat and runny nose.   Well, maybe it was there all along and just chose today to show its pretty face.

Today though was spent with my family.  Almost all of my siblings.  Both my brothers & their assorted people were at my mothers for the weekend.  So we all got together and chopped logs.  Isn't that normal behaviour?  All together there were 15 of us.  The young lad at the chip shop couldn't quite believe that we needed that many chips!  I didn't tell him we were missing 5 who were awol abroad.

Nearly there!

Turns out its rather challenging this writing everyday lark.  I really need to work out how to schedule this into my life better.  And to ignore the distractions of emails & the book of faces.  And a world of weird on youtube.  Oh, and did I mention my kindle addiction.

Gadgetry and wizzamibobs

Oh my goodness, but we are being so thoroughly modern its making my head spin.  We seem to have suddenly catapulted ourselves into the 21st Centurary.  And we are running to catch up with our own tails.

In our attempt to not become (or to stop being, perhaps) old luddite codgers, we have both got ourselves smart, touch screen phones with cameras, a central control storage box, movies on laptop to TV, not to mention this apple macbook pro I am writing on.  Oh yes, and a won Kindle.  And we have given ourselves the added complication of mixing both PC, Apple and Android technologies.  We don't do things the easy way.  We really just hurled ourselves in at the deep end.

At the moment we both feel like we are frantically splashing around trying to find the shallow end to put our feet down and catch our breath.

I know it will get easier.  I had a similar feeling when I decided to start this blog & get to grips with the digital camera & blogging world.

And that eventually we might remember to take our portable technology with us & I will not get calls from my beloved, as I did the morning, asking me to check his phone on the side to see what appointments he had today.  But oh my he does look hot in negative effect on the new camera phone.  Think I might need to have a lie down.

Scrumping Lemons

Normally at this autumnal time of the year, it is traditional to go scrumping apples, or pears if you can find them.  Basically scrumping,  for those who don’t know the word, is nicking ripe fruit from someone else’s trees.  Usually involving a clandestine bit of hopping over fences and good old fashioned trespass.

Being the law abiding citizen that I am, I tend to err on the side of just climbing on the fence if I can reach the apple.  And now we have generous neighbours with an orchard of trees who take all the fun out of it & say pop round any time.  Although this year is an abysmal one for apples, leaving thin pickings.

However.  This autumn we have spent a week in sunnier climes.  We have just got back from a week in Cypress, visiting my sister.  Which demanded a different kind of scrumping.  Oh, yes indeed.  We got to scrump some lemons for our tea.

One very proud nearly-4 yr old with his lemon.  Yes, it looks like a lime, but its a green lemon, honest.

When I am going to bed I am going to be 4, mummy?.

Well, it finally happened.  Roo turned 4 on the weekend.  As my youngest brother put it, 'He seems to have been 3 for an inordinately long time'.  I guess we must have been saying he was almost 3 for a month or so before his birthday.

Self portrait with a bit of camera stealing!

Sunday, however, he woke up to find himself 4.  Which he was very pleased with himself about.  Sadly we were all too jaded from our red-eye trip home from Cypress to really make a big old song and dance about it.  But over the past week he got to have a cake in Cypress with cousins, Dorset with Grandparents & Auntie and next weekend another family celebration with more Grandparents and Uncles, in Hampshire.  Its all good, being an international jetsetting 4 year old!

Jus' writin'. Everyday.

It is time.  About bloody time.  I am going to just write.  For one week.  For seven days I will  write, write, write, even if it is total drivel.  AND I will hit the publish button.  Every day.  One post a day, imperfectly.  Wish me luck.

It is an interesting one, this desire for perfection.  The classic ‘what is your weakness’ in an interview question.  A stupid question if ever there was one, for which there seemed to be an expected answer.  'Oh, I can be rather perfectionist.'  Which was secretly considered a good thing.  Aha, here is someone who will really care about their work.  So I did on occasion use this on the ole CV/application form, although I never really believed that I was a perfectionist.  I was far too slapdash and disinterested in minutiae.  Which employers were less than enamored with.  (Case in point, before spellchecking these sentences, minutiae and enamored were incorrect.)

However, as I have gotten older, I have realised that I do have perfectionist tendencies.  A tendency to overplan, analyse and overthink things.  Spending far too much time in the planning stages and failing to get to the actual doing stages.  Like my imaginary blogging.  Like waiting until I have the great photo to go with that post, until I am ready, until all my ducks are in a row.  And guess what.  Those darn aquatic birds fail to line up so frequently that it never gets done.

My brother D is a great one for just doing it.  He doesn’t spend time agonizing over whether he made the right decision.  He just makes it and moves on.  Lives with it.  And gets things done.  Now, his way of living might just make me feel breathless, I need to live at a slightly slower pace I think.  

But I am willing to learn something from him.  And its probably going to be his latest ‘kick Jac’s butt’ saying of “Better Right Now than Right.”  Or as Christine Kane advocates in her Uplevel your Life program,  Take Imperfect Action.  I have even made myself a poster of that phrase.  I took that sentiment to make me start my Happy Ever Arter circle.  And it worked.  I started, adjusted and continued.  It is a whole lot easier to continue than it is to start.

One of my favourite Renaissance souls

I would like to introduce you to one of my favourite Renaissance souls, who has just started his own blog.  With a bit of persuasion from me {read nagging sister}.

Oh yes, ladies and gentlefolk, this is none other than my own sweet brother.  A true renaissance man and multi passionate creator.  His latest post on his foray into cravat making really made me laugh.

G Rex

And yes, I do believe he did actually make that hat himself.  A multi-talented man who is also a scientist and a gardener.  Check him out!

Allotment love time

This weekend I finally made it down to the allotment.  oh boy, does it ever look neglected.  I need a strong man down there to tame the grass & weeds.  :)

On the plus side, I did manage to get a small punnet of raspberries.  The largest crop yet.

At our annual allotment meeting with the parish council this week, I have paid up for another year of what my husband calls 'slug farming'.  I wish I could argue this one with him, but it is sadly accurate.

Time now to dream great plans, and be prepared for landing a little lower than the moon.

And in other news, I do now have a grownup phone with a camera.  I just need to work out how to get photos from there to here!

Business Goddess Course

I want to be a business person.  I want to bring my gifts out into the world in a joyous and adundant way to support me & my family. I would like to have an online business too.   I am searching and exploring deep stuff at the moment.  What do I want to do.  How do I want to do it.  y'a know that kind of stuff.  And how do you download photos from iphoto onto blogger.

Leonie Dawson has set up a business around a seemingly impossible niche, and proved that you can make good money while still keeping your heart open and creating beauty in the world.

On one of her latest videos she revealed that she has only just got herself a dedicated office space.  I kinda knew that she went to various places to do her blogging & videos etc, but I hadn't realised that was because she had no space!  So she has built a 6 figure online business with the most basic of ingredients, upgrading as her business did.

It shows what is possible and I do find this girl an inspiration.  She just gets on with it and doesn't moan about stuff, or make excuses.  And she keeps turning up.  Consistency seems to be the key that I keep misplacing.  It seems to be my life lesson at the moment!

So, if you are looking for a business course, you could do alot worse than to join us on Leonie's Business Goddess Course.  She really spills the beans about how she does what she does, in useful techie detail too.  Conventional wisdom says 'don't train any potential competitors', but I love the vibe that Leonie and others embody of a deep belief in the beneficence of the universe to support all of us.

You can download the course here, or you can join the Goddess Circle (soooo recommended!) & work through the course with a supportive group of amazing women.  You will also get all of the other courses and meditations she offers.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the Goddess Circle has changed me for the better.

The next run of the Business course starts October 1st 2012.  I will be co-leading it with two awesome goddesses!  Join us! 

Full Disclosure: I am also an affiliate of the Goddess Circle, as well as a circle guide for her there.  So those links are affiliate, where Leonie will give me a wild donkey and a bag of carrots if you join.  Maybe.

Do you come here often?

No I clearly don't do I.  I think about it often, but don't get to show up.

Does any one else partake of imaginary blogging?  I think up interesting posts, deep retrospection, hilarious commentary.  But it never quite makes it on line.  Sorry about that.

Tomorrow I am waiting in all day, as you do, for a delivery.  This delivery is taking me into the 21st Century.  Hopefully I am finally joining it.  With a touch screen phone.  Samsung galaxy ace, with camera.  yay!

Who knows, once we get to know each other, I might be able to take pictures and blog 'em straight away.  Not just imaginary.  Wow.  Imagine that!  Really getting my thoughts out there.

Here's hoping. x

Educational soul searching & naked teachers

Another link for you to listen to a version of Goyte's 'Somebody I used to know'.  I know, I still am a bit obsessed with this.  I seem unable to listen to it just once.  Always going back to it at least twice.

This is a very funny, intellegent parody, without jibing at the original. And it has a naked teacher. Enjoy!

This is particularly relevant to us at the moment, as we are having a big ole time of looking at the educational options for our kids.  Again.  This morning we went round a local high school which is a much closer option for our daughter than the one we are allocated.  And we loved it.  Which is not the path of least resistance & requires some work of applications etc.  But worth gaining nearly an extra hour in her day from reduced travel.

This song really reflected for me my current thoughts/angst around how much I have used my education & what is the best type of education for each of my children.  Made me laugh at it too!

Last gifts of Summer

As usual for this time of the year, I am lingering fingertip to fingertip to summer.  I really try to soak up the last of the warmth, to keep me going through winter.

This week, my children went back to school on different days.  Giving me a whole day with just my daughter.  A rare and welcomed treat.  And treat ourselves we did.  An expensive but expansive trip to our local health food & gift store.  Then, and I am embarrassed to admit that its our first trip this summer,  we made it to the beach at long last.

image courtesy I didn't have my camera. It was even sunnier when we went!

Oh it was so heavenly.  The beach we chose, while a bit further to get to, feels so secluded, even in a built up area.  As we had no pushchair, went down the steep steps to access it.  The dappled shade of the trees gave way to a glorious wide open vista of sea, and expanse of beach.  All to ourselves, with the exception of one couple enjoying the rays.  The sea was sparkling and glittering, and you could see the Needles on the Isle of Wight.  So delightful.  I felt my heart expand and release all the tension I didn't know I was carrying.

Later, when Bini had played in the sea, & I had read to her whilst she was making a sandcastle, we went back to the nearby castle.  She wanted to visit it, so in my expansive mood I agreed to fund a visit.  As if this day couldn't get any better, we get to the entrance & see that it is free today because some of the castle was closed off for a function!  So we got to see an lovely textile & painting exhibition in some of the rooms & try on replica victorian clothes in the great hall.  There was very few people there  so we wandered around pretending to be mistress of the house & servant.  I was the maid if you were wondering!

image credit

All in all, it was a gorgeous end of summer holidays day.  Even Tintin wasn't too upset to have missed it as he had finally got to go fishing with his uncle on his last day of the holidays (he was been wanting to go for a couple of years).  And he caught a fish for his tea.

Love Letter to Head Lice

Dearest Headlice & Nits

Thankyou so much for coming to stay with us.  We have really enjoyed your visit.

Thankyou for allowing the space for me to spend time with my children.  I have loved having their sweet heads in my lap while we watched our family movie, gently going through their heads with the nittygritty comb.  Feeling the warmth from their bodies against my legs while we went through the routine.  And there is a certain perverse pleasure in evicting you!

I would also like to thank you for your special attention to me.  In the process of combing out my hair with half a bottle of conditioner & leaving it in for a while my hair has become more conditioned.  And the fact that you wouldn't leave with the first eviction notice allowed the process to be repeated.  So much so, on my trip the community cafe the other day I was complimented on my glamourous hair more than once!

Well, my nitty friends, its an ill wind that blows no good as my granny used to say.  Thankyou for your visit.  Please feel free to move onto a new destination at your earliest convenience, but it has been a lesson learned.  Thankyou.

Much love

Jacs x