That Sunday Night Feeling

We all know that feeling – the Sunday night blues – when the fun and relaxation (unless you have spent the whole two days ferrying children around!) of the weekend is almost at an end and a week of work/study/demands is within sight. Whatever you have done over the weekend – seeing family and friends, a short break away, family time or just simply having time to do very little other than catch up on some reading and tea drinking – it is hardly surprising that people begin to feel anxious and a little despondent as this time begins to reach its conclusion. In fact, anxiety about the looming working week officially starts at 4.13pm on a Sunday, according to a poll.

Fire

However, we seem to have got into a habit of planning really lovely Sunday evenings, which end up being so enjoyable that we don’t even think about the impending week. Hurrah! They generally consist of one of two activities, the first being a family movie night – all snuggled down together, the woodburner roaring away, huge bowls of popcorn (especially now that we have recently discovered the joys of making our own candied popcorn – so bad but oh so good!!) and a great family film. The only challenge to me with this one is staying awake! The second one, which we enjoyed last night, does involve the children having homework to finish off or doing their own things in their rooms – some time alone for me and D, enjoying a bottle of wine and lots and lots of yummy cheese, again in front of the woodburner, and usually an episode or two of our current Netflix series (currently Lie To Me – brilliant!). Both options are so lovely and relaxing– either family time or adult time, both of which involve all the dogs snoozing in front of the fire with us – and they really have stopped all hints of the Sunday night blues.

Cheese

I have to say that I do look forward to a healthy juice for breakfast on Monday morning though after the popcorn or cheese excesses of the night before! It’s all about balance, right?

Wine

Happy Friday 20.03.15

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And so it begins.

I’ve been intending to keep a gratitude journal for so long and have never quite got round to it, so I decided that this would be a great place to do so, by celebrating ten things which have made me happy during the week on Happy Fridays. I do believe that being more mindful about the little things which bring you joy and happiness can really improve your outlook on life, and documenting them can only help that (I hope!). So here goes:

  1. A family trip to G’s school show last night. She wasn’t in it, but the school always put on such fantastic performances and it’s amazing to see the amount of talent in such a relatively small school. And I always love a good musical!
  2. A little project I undertook this week to transform a smallish tea tray into one that now has pride of place on the coffee table, to keep everything neat and tidy. It was pretty simple but I’m really pleased with the transformation.
  3. Wearing our family ring. One of my sisters mentioned this to me this week – my Mum and all four of us daughters have the same ring, but I don’t wear mine too often, as it’s gold and I wear more silver jewellery, but I have really loved wearing it again this week. Happy memories of a fantastic mum, who passed away 9 years ago.
  4. Lighter evenings! I’m loving it still being light at 6.30pm. I’m always ready for the new season when it comes around – and spring starts tomorrow, right?
  5. Gardening- I spent a couple of hours this morning out in the garden, tidying up and turning over the soil, in the warm sunshine. I love how this has two benefits – it makes the garden look much better and is a pretty god work out!
  6. Progress on the house. We modernised a lot of the downstairs of the house before Christmas and have decorated the children’s bedrooms, but we have had our bedroom and the dining room re-plastered this week, which means they can shortly be decorated.
  7. Maths Challenge! Not my performance in it, but G was part of a small team representing her school this week at a Maths Challenge competition and they did so well, coming 7th out of about 35 teams. Very proud moment.
  8. A new nail varnish I bought earlier in the week. It’s not quite the shade I wanted but I still love it.
  9. Mother’s Day – of course! I had a lovely day – beautiful cards from the children, a lovely breakfast in bed made by G (cinnamon swirl pancakes and bacon – amazing!), very thoughtful homemade gifts and a surprise lunch out at one of my favourite places, The Pear Tree Creperie. They gave all mums there that day a primula plant to take home which was a lovely touch.
  10. Organisation! I do love a good, achievable “to do” list and this week’s went well, despite being much longer than usual, with various documents, payments and currencies being needed for upcoming school trips. So satisfying to tick things off!

Have a great weekend, everyone!