November is for...

.. accepting Fall is really here

... starting my 10 month study to beome an HR employee

... finishing up re-organising my study

... drinking lots of tea

... getting started with the preperations for our big christmas dinner.
    Starting with making and sending out the invitations

... the annual "all you can eat fish night" at the village where we used to live. My father-in-law
    organises it so we "have " to be there ;-)

... crocheting some wristwarmers and a scarf for myself

... and finishing up some crochet-projects I have been working on this year

... including my "mood blanket" that I am a bit behind on. I want to be all caught up before the busy       december

... a birthday party and sleep-over without Abby. She will be staying at a friends house

... getting better at the whole work and play balance

... learning to say "I want.." instead of  "I must.."

... thinking about my project life plans for 2015

Oh I can already tell this month will be so busy!
What are your plans for this month?

No Spend March

Yesterday I posted about my intentions for this year.

One of them was to be a smarter spender. And spend less money on buying stuff I want rather then spening my money on stuff I need.

As I wrote yesterday I am very good at convincing myself I really "need " something. When I can probably live without it very well. So I spend a lot of money on things I don't really need.
Which leaves little room for saving. Or buying things we really need.
I found that I often go into town and browse the shop just to be out of the house.

I would really like to be a smart spender but I fear that I might have become addicted to buying stuff.
So I have decided to do a whole month of not spending.
Today I made a list detailing things that are allowed and things that are most certainly off-limits. As you can see I am not going down to the bare minimum. And I'm not affecting others with my not-spending.
For me this challenge is more about breaking a shopping habit as it is about saving money.

We are now 5 days in and I am finding it harder than I expected. My mind keeps thinking "oh I could go into town and pick up..." So I am keeping myself busy with cleaning, napping and taking Abby for long walks which she doens't enjoy that much.. she is a lazy doggy..

I'm hoping I can break this thinking and keep this up for the whole of March.

One Little Word: Intentions

It has taken me some time but I have finally managed to get myself into action and do something with this.

The sketchbook was just laying here on my desk the whole time but it just didn't feel right. I kept moving it around because it was in my way .But never felt ready to start.
Until this weekend when I saw a "no spend march" picture on Instagram.
In that moment it all just clicked into place and I knew where I wanted to go with my word.

I ditched the sketchbook; it just felt restrictive. I repurposed a folder I had laying around and filled it up with some blank paper and lined paper.
First up after that was to write a list of my intentions for my word over the whole of 2014.

My intentions for finding the balance between all and nothing:

I really want to change my spending habits. I have what we here in Holland call a "hole in my hand" and am very good at shopping small little tidbits I don't actually need. Which means I have a very hard time saving money for things I do really need. I really want to change this.
I want to find a happy medium between spending nothing and having some money to spend but leave enough for things I need. Inspired by all the people who are having a "no spend"-month I am going to give that a go. Just to break the habit of going into town when I don't actually need things but come home with stuff.
More on my no spend challenge tomorrow.

I really want to spend more time togheter with other people. I spend a lot of time home alone during the day and would really would like to have a more active social life. But that means I have to get out there and I'm not quite shure where to start. I made a small step by going to a monthly game-night at a local game store Not a playstation/xbox type gamestore but with actual "old fashioned" boardgames and stuff like that. It was really lots of fun! And I am making plans to do stuff like that more often.

I have a massive amout of hobbies. And for all those hobbies I have stuff. And some of it wasn't cheap. But because I have so many things I want to do; I don't have time to do them all. Which leaves me feeling hugely guilte for the things I don't do often enough. And I have an enormous to-do list filled with projects I want to do.  So I feel I might have to edit it. And make a selection of a few things I really love. And file the rest under "maybe/someday"

As a result of my hobbies and spending I have a lot of "stuff" no need to call a hoarders-helpline, it isn't THAT bad. And all that stuff is weighing down on me. So I need to clear it out. And select which things I really need and what can go. My study or the "reat room; since that is also where the rats live has become somewhat of a dumping ground. And is in need of a clear-out.
I hope that with having less stuff my brain will feel less cluttered.

I want to watch less tv during the day. That would give me more time to do things that I want to do. I also found that watching less tv during the day helps me feel more energised and less depressed.

And last but not least I want to pick up yoga again. Apart from walking Abby 2-3 times a day and having my bike as my main mode of transport I don't get much excersise. I did yoga for a while and found it really helped with my fybromyalgia. But when we moved I never got around to finding another yoga studio.
I am going to try and do yoga at home.

So these are the ways In which I am going to try and find some balance in my life in different area's.
Some will be easier to do and some will be a challenge to incorporate.
But we will see how it goes.

My 2014 projects

A new year, time for some new projects.
I always see lots of interesting projects on several blogs, Instagram and Pintrest. But there is only so many I can realisticly take on.
In the spirit of not taking on too many major projects (one of my intentions for this year)  I made a small selection of projects that I want to focus on this year.
All of the other projects I come across will be put on the "maybe/someday" list. That's where I keep track of all the things I want to do someday.

The Projects for this year are:

* The mood-blanket 
I am jumping on the "mood blanket" bandwagon. I will crochet a granny square every week in a color that reflects my mood. I stmbled upon this project on Instagram. It's a mind-child from mummy_stacey.
I went to the wool-shop yesterday and selected some awesome colors. More details on that in an upcoming post. I also made my first square yesterday. Along with crocheting I also keep a small journal about wich colors I choose for wich week. And why I chose that color.
There's also the option to make (by crocheting, knitting or what ever method you prefer) a daily square instead of a weekly square. But with all of the other things I have going on (work, the house, a social life, Abby and the ratties) and my fybromyalgia I opted for the weekly square.

* Draw everyday
I really want to pick up drawing again. I'm folowing Lou Niestadt's advice and intend to make a small drawing everyday. I would like to ge inspired by the things around me but will also use the doodle-a-day prompts from ellolovey of Instagram.
I bought a small planner for this project. It's just a cheap one with poor quality paper. I hope that will cure me of the 'blank-page-fear" and the need for me to make perfect doodles.

* The Currently challenge
The Currently challenge is a mind-child from Kristin from rukristin.com. It is all about taking a moment, no more than 5 minutes, and record what is going on in your life right now. I have been doing this for a few months in 2013. I love how easy she makes it with those very cute little printable cards. I really only takes 5 minytes to fill out all the questions. At the moment I paste them into my journal (the december ones went into my December Daily album). For 2014 I'm thinking of making them into a mini-album ...

*One Little Word
A project by Ali Edwards. It's about chosing your Word for the coming year and seeing how it fits into your life. I've seen some of my favorite bloggers take part in this and loved how they worked with their word.
This is the project I have been debating about wether or not to do for the longest time. Partly because I had no intention of siging up for the actual class. And without the structure of a class or assignments to hold on to the idea of what to do with my word was a bit vague.
But this one word kept calling me. So I intend to make an art-journal about my word. Not exactly shureabout the actual content but I will just let it develope itself.
The word I chose, or rather the word that chose me, is : Balance.
It is a thing I struggle with everyday. So it will be interesting to see how this project unfolds in the course of 2014.

So these are my main projects for 2014. It's a little bit of everything that I love to do.
What are your major projects for 2014?

My Intentions for 2014

I am not really a fan of resolutions. For some reason they don't work for me. Maybe it's because of the pressure to be perfect. So the moment I fall "of the wagon" I quit on them all together. So usually by the half of january I just forget about them..

Some years ago I started with "intentions" rather than "resolutions".
Now I'm not saying that I am better at sticking to them. Well at least not all of them. I always try to make my intentions a do-able as possible but sometimes Life gets in the way.
But I like starting each year with an idea of where I want to go. And what I would like to achieve.
I find it hard not to be too ambitious and keep my intentions to a manageable number. I try to chose only 4 or 5 items. And forumulate them as clearly as possible. A clear plan makes it easier to accomplish.

I usually write them down in my journal and then make a copy that I paste in my planner. Because out of sight equals out of mind.

These are my intentions for 2014:

* I will try to listen to what my body tells me. That means making sure I get enough sleep, sticking to my diet to keep my troubles with the fybromyalgia to a minimum, taking my meds and not taking on too many projects.

* I intend to keep my desk clean and organised. That means tackling bills and stuff when they come in and not letting the to-do things pile up. It also means that I will finish projects and put my creating-stuff away when I finish a project.

* I want to expand my blog and post regularly. With that I mean I want to write more posts in advance, find a balance between Life-posts and creative posts and apply to write guest-posts at some of my favorite blogs.

* I want to try generating an income by making things.
   Maybe an Etsy store, having a stall on a market.. yet to be determined...

* I want to expand on my snail-mail activities.
I want to send more postcrossingcards. Well maybe not more (sending out mail across the globe costs a small fortune) but at least on a more regular basis.
And I would like to find a penpal. Someone who appreciates the art of sending letters. (If your interested drop me a line via email of leave me a comment).

I think this is a nice list of things I would like to achieve in 2014.
Do you have any intenstions or resolutions for 2014?
Leave a comment and let me know...

december is for...

* december daily!!

* "sinterklaas"

* setting up the Christmas tree

* sending Christmas-cards

* lots of planning and shopping for our christmas-dinner

* christmas-dinner with the family on the 25th of December

* visiting a christmas-market in Haarlem

* drinking lots of glühwein

* baking "Oliebollen" on december 31st..

* cocheting ( within my limits..)

* cosy evenings in front of the television snuggled up under a blanket with Abby 

* my brothers birthday

* my father-in-laws birthday

* setting off fireworks on new years eve

busy busy busy..

What are your plans for December?

Today is for.....

.. getting up early to go to work

... not having to walk the dogs in the morning because Nico has a day off

... working in Oosthuizen

... taking the car to work

... Horseraces in Enkhuizen

... having a (well probably more than one..) drink with friends and Nico in Enkhuizen

...  after I'm finished with work that is

.... having Chinese for dinner

... buying some new nailpolish because it was "buy one get one free" =)


** idea borrowed from the nerd nest

Summer has arrived..

We’re already halfway through my summer vacation but the summer-weather only arrived a few days ago. With temperatures around the 25 /30 degrees all I do is trying to stay cool.

Wich means staying indoors during the afternoon heat and taking the dogs out for their walks early in the morning and in the evening when it’s cooler.  In the afternoon we only do a small round around the block.

The dogs are also suffering from the heat. Abby doesn’t want to walk at all. And Keyser hobbels along for a small walk. But mostly they just lounge around and take long naps.

The weather also means I am way behind on my summer projects. 
First of all I am way behind on my Find your Voice project. I have filled out the worksheets up to week 4. But I’m having a hard time with the prompts.  I have lots of ideas about what to do but my inner critic and prefectionist is telling me I can’t do it. And frankly at the moment it’s too hot to tell him to shut up.
I’m printing out lesson 5 later tonight so I am keeping up with the worksheets. And taking notes of all the ideas that pop into my head so I don’t lose them. 

Secondly I’m just not getting around to finishing up all sorts of “little” projects I have been saving up to do in my vacation. Still on my creative to do-list:

 * make a fold it in album of Abby’s  doggie trainng.
* finish  my “lines” album
* make some stamps; I promised to make a stamp for a friend and also want to make some for myself. The materials finally arrived so I could start…
* Sew some new hammocks for the rats
* I need to shut up my inner critic and get started with the prompts from Find your Voice.

But sadly my creative to-do list is often pushed aside by my other to-do list. The one that includes vacuming, doing the dishes, an endless amount of laundry and other small household tasks.

How do you keep your creative goals from being overrun by your daily tasks??