Lightening the mental load

This morning I started getting stressed; I was mentally listing all the things I wanted to accomplish this weekend: meditate, practice pre-race meals, go for a long run, catchup with friends, go to The Paddock, go food shopping, go clothes shopping, make calls, visit Dad, watch football, clean the house, do laundry etc. etc. 

When I tried to go out at lunch time to get two types of shopping done (as well as eat) I knew I was pushing the boundaries of manicness and decided to stop. I looked at my long to-do list for the weekend and decided to focus on a couple of priorities:

1. Go to The Paddock - it's been three weeks and I need to know if any of the plants are still alive.
2. Catchup with friends - a couple of friends have just moved back to Perth after a couple of years in England. I don't want to cut short our catchup to go shopping or running or anything else.

Everything else can wait. I won't starve to death without more groceries, I don't NEED that new shirt this weekend and if I don't manage to meditate or go running for one week it's not the end of the world.

I'm sure I'll manage to fit in a few more things but by focusing on my priorities I can relax and enjoy the things I do have to do, without worrying about all the things I don't.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Stop and smell the ratties

Its been a beautiful winters day here - the sun is shining and it was warm standing in the sunlight at lunch time. I went and stood in the garden for a while to top up my vitamin D and to stretch my legs. As I was standing there thinking about the things I had to do this afternoon and this weekend I saw a rat move inside the hedge less than a metre away.

The movement immediately brought me out of my reverie and into the present moment. Now I could SEE the hedge in front of me, the tiny white flowers on display, as well as the tiny nose and whiskers of the aforementioned rat. I'm quite fond of rats; I've had five pet rats over my life and know they are beguiling and intelligent little creatures. 

Even the slight movement of my body as I started (when I noticed the rat) was enough to keep it hidden for a few minutes; as it relaxed it ventured out in front of me again and I stood still as a statue watching it for as long as I could. I want to thank that little rat for those minutes of meditation while it brought my attention to the present.

We share this world with so many beings we attach the label 'ewww' to; but they can give us so much if we allow them to share our lives. Here is an old picture of me and my rat fiddy (yes, he's eating a corn chip).

Restyle on the Runway: Photo-a-day Op Shop Challenge

I am WAY too excited. I just found out that this year the Perth Fashion Festival is holding a Restyle on the Runway challenge - talk about up my alley!

To fill you in, each year the Perth Fashion Festival holds a 'Restyle on the Runway' event which showcases clothing found in second-hand stores (called opportunity shops or Op-Shops in Australia). This year several bloggers are each representing a charity op-shop; they select clothes from their op-shops to wear in a runway show - about half a dozen complete outfits each.

This year they are adding a dimension to the event by creating a photo-a-day op-shop challenge. See the list below; I'm going to try to find something that represents each day at my local op-shops and then photograph the item (possibly with me wearing it).

I love to shop at second hand clothes stores, and if they happen to be charity shops (which most do) then it's even better. I can get a few new items of clothing for under $10 each and by buying second hand I'm reducing land fill (by wearing clothes that would otherwise be thrown out) and reducing pesticide use and my carbon footprint!

The carbon footprint of new clothes is insanely high, as is the pesticide use on all non-organic cotton. Once the cotton is picked it is shipped before making fabric then it is shipped again to make clothes which (you guessed it) are shipped again around the world. That $4 tee has probably seen more of the world than you have, and if YOU aren't paying the price for all that shipping, who is? The environment for one!

Who wants to join me to have the best excuse to go op-shopping ever?

The running in winter blues

I have a friend who loves running in winter - he says it's better because it's not so hot outside when you run, well duh! It may be nice and cool in winter but it's also dark, wet, windy and a lot scarier as a lone woman running (in the dark).

Today I'm due to go for a short run after work but I'm looking out the window at black clouds and a setting sun and I won't be home for over an hour yet. It's definitely harder for me to keep up my motivation in winter and I'm contemplating hiring a treadmill for next winter so I can run at home and keep warm, dry and safe while training.

I'd like to hear how other people keep up their motivation during winter or what they use to feel safer in the dark (reflective clothing? flashing lights? pepper spray?)

Let me know your thoughts...

How important is routine for a productive life?

I think the answer to this one might be subjective, but I'm interested in how people manage their time in a day-to-day manner. I'm not sure if most people would like to accomplish more each day but I certainly would. To be honest I completely begrudge every minute spent at work because it could be time spent doing things I like, and selling my time to pay the bills seems like a pretty wasteful thing to do with my life (but that's another post entirely!)

The thing is, I used to be a shift worker which came with a lot of negatives like not seeing friends or visiting The Paddock regularly. I tended to work short shifts though: about 6 hours usually from very early in the morning or from after lunch through to evening which always left me with half a day to do my own thing.

Now I'm working full time hours I get half as much done at home - I'm too tired to get stuck into anything tricky like sewing after the 10-hour round trip to work and back. The dogs are lucky to get a trip to the park in the dark! So that leaves my weekends which I tend to fill with socialisation with friends and family, trips to The Paddock or Rest & Relaxation if I haven't had any for a while. I miss my half-day time slots to sew something or otherwise set time aside for a task.

I kept thinking once I had settled into a new routine at work I would get back to making things but that all seems to have ground to a halt. How do other people manage to do the things they want AND have a job, be a parent etc.? Do you make routine work for you?

Looking for help on how to talk to my father about death

I'm looking for help on how to talk to my father about death: has anyone else had to broach a difficult subject with a loved one? My Dad was diagnosed with myeloma in January and has been in denial ever since. I would like to be able to talk to him about what he thinks happens after death - it's a subject that has never been discussed in our family. 

What I want to say is, "Dad, what do you think happens when we die?" but I have fear of upsetting him because he will get emotional in front of me which he does not like. My parents were born in the 1930s which is only relevant because they were each brought up in families which did not discuss difficult or emotional issues. My mum still believes the best way to deal with difficult situations (like my fathers illness) is to smile and not make a fuss.

That is her way of dealing with it and I haven't pushed things, thinking at some point we'll have to talk about the development of the disease and prepare for the future, but any attempts to discuss the subject are met with flat denial. My dad says "I'm not dying, that's not what the doctor said", despite the fact that he has a terminal cancer. The cancer WILL kill him unless something else does first, isn't that the definition of dying?

Of course in that regard we're all dying. I'm aware that I will die and I've done contemplation meditation to walk myself through it, I think it's natural to prepare for your death as you would a birth or marriage; I'm concerned that this inability to talk or think about death will make my father's death a frightening experience for him. I'd love to be able to help him to a place of calm before or during his death, but if we can't even talk about it how can it happen...???

Upholstery Course Result: view my amazing bench!

On Saturday I finished my Upholstery Course at the Perth Wood School and am thrilled with the result. The course took an extra week (five Saturday afternoons instead of four) to complete, however the time spent learning the details was definitely worth it.

The toolkit we used to make the benches were for sale so I bought mine (for $320AU). This included:

• an apron or 'pinny' made from leather which holds the tack hammer, scissors and staple removers
• tool basket for needles, loose tacks, staples etc.
• tack hammer
• scissors
• staple remover
• pincers
• regulator
• buttoning needle
• hand-made web stretcher
• the pneumatic staple gun

Thus, the first purchase as an upholsterer has been made. I've already started listing the materials I will need to source, cost and purchase to cover my next project: a huge armchair.

I think it is important to start on that project in less than two weeks so I don't lose the momentum of the course. Randa has been kind enough to give us her email address so we can stay in touch, which I imagine will come in handy when I need help.

I'm still contemplating starting a home business doing the furniture upholstery at weekends; most nice fabric stores in Perth only sell wholesale so I would need to in order to buy the nicer fabrics available. In the meantime I'll stick with lower-end fabric and online stores until I can test the market.

Here is my finished bench! (Randa did the corner folds for me).