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thehappysideof40

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School holidays so I’m going easy this week. We should have been in a caravan in Wales but the sunshine and birds singing in the garden is more than making up for it (sort of). And *technically*, as I’m on holiday, surely it’s not too early for a cheeky vino?!

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Bit late to the party, but here’s my layouts for April. Two weeks in and how are we doing? It’s a process isn’t it. I’ve already abandoned my overly ambitious, highly unrealistic plans to be Super-Home-Schooling-Fun Mum. And settling for more of a let’s-try-not-to-kill-each-other approach. AND I’m also attempting to set some boundaries around time for myself. It feels hugely selfish to say, but I’ve told the kids that on Fridays they need to occupy themselves while I get on with other things. We’ll see how that goes!

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You may have noticed that I talk about bullet journaling rather a lot these days 😄. For me it’s my sanity, my creativity and where I find a lot of joy - we all need a bit of that round about now! And if you’ve been wondering what it’s all about, I finally wrote a blog post explaining the basics (link in usual place). In the meantime, here’s a flip through of my March bullet journal pages. Only 2 weekly spreads this months, I just couldn’t plan ahead after that. As the new norm has settled a bit I’ve found myself creating daily plans to give myself (and the dreaded home school) a bit of structure. And I’ve even introduced the 6 year old to bullet journaling! I’d love to see what your planner pages looked like this month, share them in Stories and tag me so I can see and share them too 🧡

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How are we all doing this weekend? I must admit I’ve struggled this week. Turns out I don’t have the patience or energy for teaching and seeing other people use this time to create great things at home has left me ... well, feeling VERY unproductive.
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So our Nurture & Thrive group mentoring call on Thursday with @josephinepbrooks couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m letting go of my expectations for the next few months and just concentrating on the things that can be achieved in the pockets of time that I have. Everything is split in to 10/20/30 minute tasks so when there’s a window, I can go straight to this list. How are you finding this time, super productive or not so much?

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We’ve just started 14 day isolation after the youngest had a high temp yesterday (he’s fine now though thankfully!) so I created a 14 day meal plan and grocery list to try and figure out whether we’ve got enough for lunches/dinner while we’re stuck at home.
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It’s surprising when you sit down and write it out, how many meals you can create from what you’ve already got. I think I learnt about meal planning in school Home Ec classes, it seemed like an old-fashioned skill then. Back when we just had to pop out to a supermarket and assumed that’s funds permitting we could have whatever we wanted, whenever we needed it. A lesson in humility for us all me thinks!
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Anyone else trying to plan meals a bit more efficiently? I’m creating a printable version of this grocery and meal planner spread if you’re interested. Just pop over to the link in my bio and drop your email in the subscription box, it’ll go out to my newsletter subscribers in the next few days.
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#stayinandcreate #bulletjournalinspo #14dayquarantine #plannernerd #plannerobsessed #bujomealplan #bulletjournaljunkies #bujobeauties #showmeyourbulletjournal #bujobeginner

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As much as I love my kids, it’s ok to need something for yourself. This came from an amazing chat with Katie from @ceramicmagpie, recorded earlier this month and now available on the Being Heard podcast. It has taken on a whole new meaning this week as we prepare for schools to close and home-schooling becoming a way of life for a while. We were originally talking about how Katie discovered a love of pottery after taking a career break with her kids. She wanted to find something that was just for her, not as a mum or a partner but simply as Katie.
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Now more than ever, this fact still holds true.
Yes we want to make our kids time at home enjoyable, yes we want to maintain their schooling and yes we want to take advantage of the unusual chance to spend more time together as a family. But in amongst all of that, it’s also ok to feel daunted by the prospect. To feel slightly (or massively!) terrified by the lack of personal space, and the need to absolutely rewrite any goals or plans you had for the next few months.
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As the old saying goes, we cannot be the parents we hope to be if we are drinking from an empty cup. So please don’t feel guilty about factoring time in for yourself in the new home routine. Whether it’s during nap times or reading time, or most likely with my two boys - device time. Take a moment when you can to do something just for you.
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To hear my conversation with Katie, just search for Being Heard in your podcast app 💕

#beingheardpodcast #womensupportingwomen #momentsofcalm #quietchaotics #mykindofmum #myslowandsimple #capturequiet #aslowmoment

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✨#Marchmeetthemaker / Help✨
My word of the year is testing me in ways I could never have predicted a few months ago. With so much uncertainty around, trust is hard to muster. Even on a more trivial level, I told myself I’d trust in the process of building a business. But easier said than done when you spend all week working on one product, get it 99% complete but then struggle to finish that last little part.
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In my case that tricky 1% was trying, and failing, to figure out how to add a customisable word of the year print to my shop 🤦‍♀️. Any tips gratefully received on how to add a simple customisable product to a Woocommerce/WordPress site! In the meantime, if you’re looking for a custom printable of your word of the year - drop me a DM 😄

#trustintheprocess #heytheremaker #easiersaidthandone #dustyourselfoff #tomorrowisanewday #bepatientwithyourself #wordoftheyear #wordoftheyear2020

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This is just of the things that came up in my recent conversation with Jo from @madandsadclub which resonated so deeply with me. I can well remember that daily sense of being permanently on edge and feeing like I was clinging on by my fingertips.
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Jo spoke about her own experiences of mental health breakdowns and how it made her reevaluate the unhealthy relationship she had with her work. As a result she left her corporate job and is now using her experience to help others figure out a way to work that allows them to manage their mental health and to stay healthy.
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It’s only after leaving the job that I was in and taking some time out that I’m now aware just how unhealthy my relationship with work was. That heightened level of stress and anxiety does not have to be my normal anymore and it doesn’t have to be yours either. To hear Jo talking about this more, our conversation is on the podcast now - just search for Being Heard or go the link in my bio to access it on my website.
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#worklesslivemore #agentlehugforthesoul #moreflowlessno #anxietyandme #livingwithanxiety #slowthingsdown #tellyourstory

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✨Close-up✨ Day 5 of #marchmeetthemaker and for me, this one is all about perspective. In close-up I often see the microscopic errors in my lettering work. And yet I love nothing more than zooming in on another artist’s piece to revel in the fine detail. I don’t see their ‘errors’, but yet I obsess about mine.

I’m trying to teach myself to let go of that self-critical eye and bullet journaling has definitely helped. Each week is a new layout and a new opportunity to try again. Maybe I should adopt that attitude for the rest of life 😄

#doneisbetterthanperfect #littlebitsof_life #createmakeshare #capturemycraft #makersformakers #doitanyway

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Oh the irony. Day 3 of #marchmeetthemaker is Time and I well and truly ran out of time to create the image I had in my head 🤦‍♀️. But you can probably get the gist - I wanted to talk about how short the hours between school drop-off and school pick-up feel. How the clock seems to speed up between the hours of 9 and 3 and there’s never enough time to get the work done that I think I *should* be able to.

That was the plan at least, but between podcast editing and World Book Day costume sorting, I ran out of time. Again. So here’s the shortened quickly-put-together version. Tell me it’s not just me who feels like this?! #neverenoughtime #howispendmydays #makersgonnamake #schoolrunmum #workingmumlife

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