These are a few of my favourite things…
I had that rare moment to myself the other day whereby I wasn’t being beaconed by one of my two older children, in that tone of voice that I enjoy hearing so much, kind of as much as fingers down a blackboard.. old school reference I know! I wasn’t needing to change a dirty nappy or place Miss 1
on my hip only to impair my lower back just that little bit more! YES…I went shopping by myself, managed to do the “Big” shop alone and uninterrupted, without navigating and negotiating the tribe through the isles, distracting them at every turn. It was a rare and very pleasant moment I had. These moments are the ones that I actually deeply appreciate. I love as a person…it lifts my soul. They give me time to think of nothing, which to be fair, being the busy beaver I am, I find somewhat challenging, but more so it gives me time to reflect and think on things in my life. I found myself grabbing at a handful of button mushrooms, and thinking to myself…I really love that fact that you use paper bags for mushrooms, takes me back to the early 80’s when you still got groceries in large paper bags at the shops, and had someone helping the checkout operator pack up your goods. So whilst I am on this blog about all things personal I thought I would also share some other quite frankly probably mundane bits about ME to let you in more on the woman behind the Man… AKA Jimmy Halfpenny!
Lets start off with this little beauty… I find it such a chore to fill up my car with petrol.. gets on my nerves more than it probably would in your average Joe! I offload this painful exercise on to anyone willing to undertake what I consider to be a huge pain in my life – aha first world issues here! I let it go, every week to the last minute, to the last sniff of petrol dribbles around in the barely wet tank. Eventually… I summon the energy to get out, kids in tow and fill the beast, with what at times just feels like pouring your hard earned cash into a black void of nothingness and fill that
baby up! sigh…hate it.
Random alert. On the flip side, however…I love smelling my Miss 1’s Curly Shirley hair, wisps of deliciousness, some matted together, a gorgeous aroma of Sweaty Betty personified after a warm night of wriggling and snuzzling around in her cot, but to me this is my own little indulgence. I cannot get enough.
I love trying to beat the checkout people at their game in ALDI! I find myself getting my “pack face” on, geared up and ready for the scanning onslaught minutes before they have even clocked that I am waiting with baited breath. Its game on at the first blip of the scanner, and I am off and racing… I see it as a personal challenge & battle and it has to be said, more often than not, I triumph. I implore you to gear up for this challenge the next time you find yourself in Aldi buying a whole host of items, much like IKEA, that you really didn’t go into to buy, or need for that matter, you too will feel triumphant for slam dunking that challenge… owning your medal…wearing it with pride! I love looking at my kids when they sleep at night. My husband and I often will look at each other whilst watching TV, and exchange a knowing glance…no not that type ;)… our glance is “lets go and look at them!” We go room by room and stand there looking down on our little creations in all their sleepy glory and finally at the days end, no matter what the challenges have been, know that we created these little people, whom we totally adore.
I love coming to work..this work that is, not so much my before No. 3 child work…but I truly love Jimmy Halfpenny and what we as a team are becoming. Full stop. Finally I can say that… and boy
does it feel GREAT!!
I love being social, I love chatting at my kids school and being in the sisterhood that I believe motherhood brings. Whilst there are always going to be those peeps of whom you cannot find you flow with, I generally get on with everyone, love a chat, love hearing people’s stories, love getting them to open up, hearing about their excitement, annoyances, grievances & mothering challenges, probably stemming from my background in counseling and digging dirt on people! Love the diversity of people and their life stories.
I love the warmth in the air as summer closes in on us. I love the breeze that sweeps across our house in the afternoon, easing you into the evening with cool reprieve. I love the feeling of DIY’ing to completion. I love winning on Ebay…I love adding Ebay finds to our gorgeous home, breathing new life into the old and adding even more soul and life to our home with its old walls, chinked skirting boards with their rustic patina, the dings and scratches that have a tale of their own.
I love the last look my kids give me as a I wave goodbye to them from the car at the school drop-off every morning, that last glimpse before they go off for their day of fun & learning.
I love the sound Miss 1 makes as she munches on foods hitting her taste buds for the first time, the chomping of her gummy sporadically toothed mouth kills me, so divine!
I love trying to appear presented and at the very least pulled together when I’m out & about. I think we are so lucky to have such huge levels of access to blogs, Instagram accounts and the good old internet to update us on current lifestyle, interior and fashion trends that it makes more acceptable than ever to rock your own individual look. With the never ending access to such a huge range of online retailers and more select boutiques and fashion offerings, you can style up an original style storm relatively easily and at a reasonable cost! Whilst I do not always hit the mark, I like making an effort. Even better when its doesn’t go unnoticed!! So I implore you next time when you are feeling a little under the mothering weather, grab one of your necklaces, joosh your hair up in some messy top knot, throw on some wardrobe staples and you’ll feel like a million bucks… well maybe not a million but more than a bucks worth!
I LOVE my morning coffee, would you believe I own a coffee machine, but have formed such a close relationship with my local patisserie owner that every morning, brace yourselves… generally before 7am, I pile my 3 kidlets in the car and drive to our local shops to get my morning brew. Its a
very sad thing to admit, but I find tackling the morning, with making lunches, pulling together uniforms, most of which have been chucked into wardrobes without being washed by said kidlets, developing new and improved hairstyles for Miss 9 and wiping crusty noses as we all fly out the
door, much more do-able with that caffeine hit under my pulled together belt!
So whilst I could quite easily ramble and blog on forever, this was just my little offering for you. An insight into me, and a therapeutic tapping of keys on my gorgeous iMac to get my working day underway!!
Take time to stop and revel in the little insignificant moments in your life, let your appreciation for the small things, including those kids of yours grow. Breathe in that summery air, exhale & do an imaginary fist pump in the air when you manage to nail the “Beat the Aldi Checkout Operator Challenge”, and bask in that first mouthful of coffee as you my friend, have successfully survived yet another morning in the land of being a Mother.
