Four Simple Goals Update III

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Time for another update on the Four Simple Goals Project. Way back in September my first goal was to 'bring music back into my life'. I'd envisaged doing that by finally getting the iPod I got LAST Christmas up and running but that still hasn't really happened. Instead I've found inspiration in some unlikely places.

The first place was my car. For the first time in my life I have a car with a CD player (sure it has iPod-compatability too but I digress...) so I've been able to drag out all my old, unloved CDs and play them end-to-end to see if there is anything worth saving. Turns out there is and I've been mentally compiling flamenco, big band, 60s and indie pop playlists ever since.

The second place was watching Glee and listening to the Glee CDs with the kids. The great thing about kids is they have no pre-conceived ideas about what's cool and what isn't (Henry took a 'Chicken Dance' CD to daycare last week and a Debussy CD this week). Through Glee they've become very excited about KISS, Madonna, U2, Lady Gaga, The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald which I think is great.

The third, and perhaps most unlikely place, was the Rock Chicks concert where I saw Nat Allison wielding the most beautiful guitar in the world - the Gretsch White Falcon. I simply could not take my eyes off that guitar (which is almost as big as Nat!) and went home and dragged out my own acoustic number for a bit of a strum. Like many things (the tennis racket, sewing machine, flamenco shoes...) my guitar has spent way too much time in the cupboard over the years. I used to love playing guitar alone in my room and it seems my newfound enthusiasm has rubbed off on the kids because they've both asked Santa for guitars! Who knows perhaps we'll start our own retro band...

Four Simple Goals Update II

Originally uploaded to Flickr by Flor A

You may remember that some time ago I pledged to complete Four Simple Goals before the year is out. One of those goals was to get more sleep. My aim was to go to bed by 10.30 every night. As any mother of small children will tell you chronic sleep deprivation becomes the norm after a while and you find yourself regularly struggling to get 6-7 hours a sleep a night (especially when a certain someone wakes you up at 6am every single morning). By this time of year, however, my body starts to tell me in no uncertain terms that that is just not enough - I start to feel more anxious than usual (and that's really saying something!), I develop eczema and I start to find the constant juggling of work, home and family more of a struggle than usual. At times I've been so concerned about not getting enough sleep that I've jettisoned reading in bed in favour of half an hour more sleep. Before long I realised that all I was reading were newspapers and magazines (and blogs!) and that it had been many months since I'd read a book cover-to-cover.

So what's changed? Well, I can honestly say that most nights I am at least on my way to bed by 10.30 (stopping to tidy the living room, take off make-up etc) if not actually in bed. Interestingly, what I've found since I've been reading in bed again is that I drop off to sleep much more easily if I've spent some time in someone else's head. Without reading I just turn off the light and lay awake ruminating over the events of the day and worrying about things that may never happen in the future - very counterproductive. It's still a bit of a struggle to keep myself from wandering around the house doing odd-jobs at midnight but I think just being conscious that I have a choice has to be a good thing.

Are you a bit of a worry-wart too? Do you ever worry about not getting enough sleep?

Four Simple Goals Update

At the beginning of September I pledged to complete Four Simple Goals by the end of the year. I've been a bit slow getting started but this weekend I finally cracked Goal no. 4 - ressurect the vegie garden. Taking advantage of this weekend's glorious Spring weather weekend we traipsed off to Bunnings to buy some seedlings, seed raising mix and compost. I wanted to plant an edible garden so we only bought things we love to eat - tomatoes (Grosse Lisse, Sweet Cherry and Roma), strawberries, blueberries, rocket and dwarf lemon and orange trees. We also planted lettuce and beetroot seeds and added mint and parsley to our herb garden. The kids had a great time planting the seeds in yoghurt pots they'd been saving all week and I'm very excited about the possibility of keeping us in blueberries over Summer. Have you ever grown blueberries before? Any tips?