Why I'm Always Cheerful*

*Not necessarily true

My last few months have been peppered with sad news, shocking news, news of struggle and hardship

I consider myself truly blessed and one of the luckiest girls in the world but life is so short and sometimes very cruel. I've spent this year writing 'Reasons to Be Cheerful' Posts on my facebook page, now in these posts I try to leave out any moans, the purpose it not to pretend my life is perfect (as some have suggested) but to see and list positives every day. Its a reminder to me that you have to be grateful for what you have A sort of fake it until you make it plan if you will.

Now don't get me wrong I could moan every day about world politics, housework, mess, workload etc, we all can its easy to get bogged down. Its really easy to forget to 'cherish every moment' when the kids are driving you crazy or you have a million things to do and 4 people want your attention now.

Let me give an example, this week after 3 nights of no sleep, I decided to build a wardrobe whilst having a child off school sick, said child never stopped climbing on me or asking for stuff which is normally fine but , you know, flat pack assembly isn't that great...  Eldest, came home full of attitude and angry pants-ness, littlest joined her brother in 'lets not let mammy have any personal space', I burnt the tea, which was flipping spaghetti on toast! No one wanted to go to bed, except for sleep deprived mammy and the bloody wardrobe had a broken hinge so is still not finished, resulting in a house full of mess and displaced furniture. This mammy sat in silence waiting for her eldest to come home feeling 'touched out' , useless, totally exhausted and overwhelmed. Then I went to bed and started writing my post.....

And I felt a little better

So faced with all the sadness I've heard of recently I'm going to try to make more effort to grab every moment. to use the good china, wear the nice undies, spray my favourite perfume every day. But most of all I'm going to try really hard to not sweat the small stuff, who cares if we don't have perfect hair on a morning, or we don't get dressed until lunchtime on a weekend, if we are happy and healthy then that's just fine with me.

And I'm going to try for another year of finding reasons to be cheerful,to put my gratitude out into the world.

If you like to join me you can head to my page by clicking on the facebook link above and jump in whenever you want .

My Thankful Thursday

I feel Iike I may be repeating myself here but this week I have a simple thankyou...

 

After a good few weeks of poorliness I'm saying THANKYOU NHS for providing medicine and doctors and open access to services, for having staff who care and are helpful and for being open and free  to all (even those who don't show their appreciation). THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU 

First World Gratitude

When I found out I was expecting my little peanut I was standing in a guest house in South Africa. The night before I took that test there had been a power outage, perfectly normal and infact the first of around 10 that I encountered in the 2 weeks I was there. But scary would be an understatement, imagine standing alone in the large open grounds of aguest  house, which is in the middle of pretty much nowhere and the lights go out. The darkness was all encompassing I mean not even enough visibility to see your own hand in front of your face, the worry that those animal movement noises you can hear, well they could be anything! 

So this week whilst I have had to spend days without water and electricity my mind wandered back to those days in South Africa and I have been counting my blessings that my power cut was planned, I got a polite letter of explanations with plenty of advance notice that my power would be off between certain times. When the water went off unexpectedly, I was asked if I needed any emergency assistance because I have children at home. Obviously my answer was no, theres a tesco a minute away I'm sure I can stretch to bottled water! But what about those countries where water and electricity isn't avaiable? Where darkness and dirty water are just how life looks? We may complain about the inconvenience of these things but seriously we are blessed beyond belief, and this in turn has led me to start a very huge and scary and exciting batch of research. Research into how we can physically help people who need it, and go somewhere as a family and work to improve the lives of others and show our children how to make a difference to the world. But that my friends is a post all on its own.....

This weeks reasons to be thankful...

Gratitude Through Disaster

This is how our house looks right now...

It could seem like I've not much to be grateful for, but I beg to differ. It turns out that in times of need the reasons to be grateful shine through...

• A good insurance policy
• Free cocktails from a sympathetic hotel
• Cooked breakfasts
• Kind friends
• Offers of assistance
• Supportive words
• Late summer sun
• A good builder 
• A tidy builder
• The offer of washing and ironing
• Children who take things in thier stride
• A brilliant laundry service
• Tea from a pot
• School lunches that the kids enjoy
• Church playgroup

Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou

Well it's been about 3 months since my last linky, when I decided to take a break for the summer so I could spend time with the family and enjoy some travelling. We've had a lovely break and while I feel like I could have more time with the kids I still have lots to be thankful for and this week I'm going to make a great big list ....

I'm thankful for....

• The chance to have holidayed lots with my family
• Singing impromptu with peanut in a busy theme park
• Celebrating Termites1st birthday
• Unprompted kisses from my boy
• Painting my nails
• Blogging and the opportunities it brings
• Insurance companies
• Safe new cars
• Newly decorated rooms
• Pinterest and it's ideas 
• My boy telling me he loves me
• My girl telling me she loves me
• My termite needing me still
• A whole summer with my kids
• A new bike
• A beautiful coast to ride along
• A free, safe and supportive education
• The freedom to choose 
• Healthy children
• A loving supportive husband

Thank you for reading, I look forward to reading your posts x

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Tinterweb!

I remember a conversation when I was around 15 (thats around 20 years ago you nosey lot)  with an IT Manager, who was the Dad of one of my friends. He described the Internet as boring and slow with not much to offer! Can you imagine?

I also remember hearing the dial up tone waiting to connect to try to research my university work, and the feeling of dread if you got disconnected, that wait all over again!

This week I have written reviews, planned holidays, booked appointments, done banking, shopped, helped with homework, and connected with friends. All thanks to the Internet ! So this week I'm going to say a great big thankyou for the internet, it makes the world a smaller place and an easier one to manage when you have a busy life.

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