When I first starting writing these posts back in 2009 (ooh, this year is the tenth anniversary then!) I used to bosh them out in a hurry during the last couple of days of the year. Becoming a parent put and end to that so now I try to get them drafted up across the course of December. So I’m here on the 9th December starting to put fingers to keys are reflect back on the last 12 months of …
Category: Sustainable Life
It’s almost a whole year since I wrote my first blog post about sustainable life changes. It’s been an interesting journey and, in many ways, a real rollercoaster. I’ll be honest from the beginning that one of the biggest negatives of the changes I’ve made is that by making a few changes it’s only made me more aware of the waste in all aspects of our lives; I am genuinely struggling with “Eco Anxiety” these days; Every time we do …
I’ve noticed a common trend these days. On the rare occasion I find myself with time to sit down with no washing to fold or bags to pack, and where I’m not falling asleep, I get my laptop out and then find myself unable to summon the words to write. Throughout the day I have streams of words flowing through my head but somehow they are gone by the time the washing-up is finished. It’s incredibly infuriating! But I’m shall …
I’ve always been obsessed with plants so it was no surprise to me at all that as soon as we bought our first house, I developed a real love of gardening. Gardening as a mother has always been tricky though. In my previous life I was able invest solid hours or days out in my patch of the outdoors, doing whatever I needed to. But that freedom of personal time is rare now and needs to be spread across more …
Over three years ago now, I read about a concept called ‘Slow Parenting’ – a topic which I researched quite a lot and wrote a blog post about at the time. The premise is about not feeling the need to over-schedule our children and give them time to just ‘be’. It’s something that has stayed with me ever since then and an approach I have become more and more converted to since becoming a mother for a second time. With …
Since my last update at the start of March, our weekly routine that sees the girls going to nursery and me heading to work has become a bit more normal. After a couple of tougher nursery weeks during weeks three and four, Little Z got back into the rhythm and has seemed to enjoy her time there since. Her key worker has said that her personality is really starting to shine through and most afternoons when I collect her she …
It’s been six week since I went back to work and four of those have been doing my full three days in the office with the girls to look after at home on the other two. It’s gone far more smoothly than I had anticipated (to date…) but it has been quite a reality check, reminding me that keeping-up a job alongside small children is like tightrope walking whilst juggling plates: one unanticipated gust and I go crashing down, smashing …
Life when I wrote my last update feels like a world away now. I have just read it back to myself and the focus was all about preparing for returning work and the party for the Big 4. Yet those events have now happened and we are in the throws of adjusting to our new normal. I’ll be honest, I’m still coming to terms with the fact my Maternity Leave has ended. I’ve definitely got a huge wave of nostalgia …
I started an update on our eco activities about a bazillion weeks ago and have never finished it. It became long, unwieldy and something not even I wanted to read; which let’s face it defeats the point of the post since these posts are mainly re-read by me! So I’m breaking it down a bit. When I first started writing the original post, I felt like we hadn’t made much progress but in reality we have embedded some good changes. …
Sam and I were watching Mary Portas’ round-up of 2018 shopping habits the other night (What Britain Bought in 2018). One fact that she mentioned was that the average person spent £1000 a year on takeaways – about £83 per month. Some of the interviewees said they bought 2 – 3 every week. We were genuinely surprised that people buy-in food so often. Then the following morning the BBC had a headline article entitled “Children ‘exceed recommended sugar limit by …
