Category: Life

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Life momentous events More about me

Weighty matters

I read Scott Pape’s column from time to time. “The Barefoot Investor”, he calls himself, as he comments in a down-to-Earth, no nonsense manner on all matters financial.

One particular column stood out recently, on “investing in a good night’s sleep” where he hummed and hawed about purchasing a weighted blanket, did lots of research, then finally shelled out the money for one. And the results – much better sleep – were surprising.

So I did the same. I’d heard of them, and been pondering looking into the idea for a while, however Scott Pape’s article had me thinking ‘if it’s good enough for him…’ so I copied his process. Did my research, bought the blanket I thought was best… and I am literally AMAZED at my sleep now! It’s been 6 nights and I feel like I’m sleeping better than I have in decades. Seriously. It’s like I’ve reverted to my sleeping habits from my early twenties, when I’d fall asleep quickly, stay asleep (or fall asleep in minutes if woken up) and then awaken refreshed. It’s crazy!

It’s made me happy about the idea of sleeping again. And I can honestly say this is the one. I shan’t be buying another blanket ever again.

Have a restful day yourself, dear Reader!

KRidwyn

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Life More about me Random thoughts

Shoe size

I don’t own many shoes; I’m just not the type. (Sorry, those of you who are!) So when Hubby convinced me to join his gym several years ago, I splurged on a second pair of sports shoes, to use there. Fast forward to a few weeks back, when I looked at them and realised I should probably replace them.

So I did. Unfortunately though, the shop I went to (and didn’t have time to get to another) didn’t have any size 8 1/2 left – so I bought size 9 and decided to just deal with it. They weren’t too large anyway, I discovered, after wearing them to the gym a few times.

The following week though, school returned. And as per usual, I wore my size 8 1/2, non-gym sports shoes, on the day staff wear sport uniform.

By 3pm, I noticed not only did my shoes feel tight, my feet were really rather sore! Perhaps I’d been wrong all along, and am actually size 9 instead of 8 1/2?

So it was off shoe-shopping again yesterday. And I’ve concluded I really don’t like the current trend of sports shoes. Where have the colours gone from a few years back? Buying plain white or plain black sloes makes me feel like a school kid again. Sigh.

Have a pain-free day today yourself, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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family anecdotes Life Technology

Constructing

I’ve been amazed by my son’s mind ever since he could communicate. He’d show me things and I’d marvel at how he viewed the world; so differently from me. And then once he could talk – which was later than most children due to his autism – I could admire his creativity still more.

He’s always had an affinity for technology. I remember him setting up the playstation, every plug into its correct place, without any hesitation. He was two years old. Which shouldn’t have surprised me, seeing as his seventh word (after ‘Daddy’, ‘Mummy’, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’) was ‘iPad’.

But I’m still surprised by the creations he makes. Like on Minecraft: check this out.

I took the photo for this blogpost, then he asked, “Would you like to see it in the daylight? It looks different there.”

Oh! Love him!

Anyway, I just thought I’d share this with you. Have a creative day yourself, dear Reader!

-KRidwyn

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Life Random thoughts

Resistant…?

Visitors to my home quickly notice housecleaning is not one of my strengths. Far from it. I’m a believer in ‘good enough’ rather than ‘good’ in this area; living with a husband and three cherubs aged 15, almost 13 and 12 – none of whom I’ve managed to train with any huge degree of success in ‘tidiness’ let along ‘cleanliness’? – this is a battle I choose to NOT pick. Sanity trumps in this matter.

Not that I enjoy the clutter and dirt. I do what I can, within the limits of my sanity and potentially-undiagnosed-OCD-ness. And preparedness helps too.

For example, I buy clothes which don’t need ironing. And which don’t require specialised ‘wash-by-hand’ instructions. Yes, I’m one of *those* people who read the clothes labels!

The other day though, I was bamboozled, flummoxed, mystified (pick your adjective because I’m still so puzzled by this turn of events, I can’t!) because I read the label on my new five-pack of sports socks only when I was home, removing the tags.

Did you catch those bullet-points? The bottom one proudly asserting these socks were resistant to washing and dry-cleaning?

Resistant to washing. Really. On SOCKS???

If there’s anything you’d want for socks – arguably the clothing item prone to the most dirt and smell – you’d want them to love being washed! To embrace the process of cleansing; to relish the removal of smell and dirt and grime from their pores. To long for it, be eager for it, desiring all else to be clean, be greedy for the water and soap detergent more than any other clothes, to savour the cleanliness at the end of the process… and so on and so forth.

To deliberately design clothes – especially socks – with ‘washing resistance’? I don’t know. I guess I’m missing something here. Because to me, that simply beggars belief.

Here’s hoping you have a more enlightened day yourself, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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Life More about me

46 / 52

As a teenager, I owned a couple of budgies. As a Mum of a teenager, I was happy to acquiesce with Hubby’s suggestion that we convert the kids’ old cubby house into an aviary. Space underneath gave plenty of flight area, and the ‘house’ itself was excellent weather protection and for breeding box placement.

Well, breed they have. Clutch number one had two chicks raised and weaned successfully. Clutch number two had seven, from seven eggs.

Exhibit A: Sherbet and Huffle, two babies from this second clutch. We kept five and sold two. And now, their Mum has seven more eggs ready to hatch in about a week. Seven more! Bringing our total to over 20…

It would seem I am now in the budgie breeding business. (If you’re interested in their antics, my Miss14 posts photos and videos on Instagram: budgie_buds__ and she’d love more followers…)

Have a “fruitful” week yourself, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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Life momentous events teaching Work

25/52

I wrote last week about my operation… well, kinda.

So I had surgery on the Tuesday, and had Wednesday and Thursday off work, and returned Friday – which also happened to be my birthday.

One of my incredibly wonderful colleagues decided she’d make me a cheesecake – both to cheer my up after the operation and for my birthday.

Made.

From scratch.

Using Oreos – SOOOOO scrumptious!!!

And all for me 😀

Wasn’t it pretty? And it tasted even better than it looked! I am so lucky!

Here’s wishing you a blessed week too, dear Reader!

Categories
family anecdotes Life Random thoughts teaching

20/52

My very first hairdryer was a gift from my husband. We’d been married several months and he decided I needed one. Sweet, really. He’d seen me depart for work each morning, hair wet, and thought this would improve my quality of life. And so I became the proud owner of a hairdryer.

[Just to clarify: I wasn’t anti-hairdryer before then. I’d just been oblivious to the whole ‘hair management product line’ before that time. Yes, I know – a bit of a sad indictment! But it is what it is…]

Fast forward to 2019. Miss11 is using the hairdryer (yes, the same one Hubby bought me!) and the back fan-guard breaks as she’s packing it away.

‘Oh well,’ I think. ‘It can’t be that important.’

The following day I reassess its importance as I’m using scissors to remove the hairdryer from its proximity to my scalp…

It takes several weeks, but I finally go to buy myself a new hairdryer. I’m intrigued by one which advertises a retractable cord, so I buy it:

And I fall in very-deep-like with it!

The retractable cord part it what makes me smile every day. Honestly, pulling out the cord sounds like pulling out the cord on one of those kids toys, which then speaks something funny at you while the cord goes in (I can’t remember ever having one as a kid, so this is my opportunity!) and the cord whips around crazily as it retracts, so that’s fun too 🙂

So there you go. A whole blog post about my new hair dryer. The one which Miss11 laughs at and says, “You really love that hair dryer! You tell us every time you’re going to use it!”

My poor kids. Sometimes I wonder exactly what kooky memories they’ll have of their childhood, with me as their mum…

Have a great week, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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Life Random thoughts teaching Work

Out the window…

Holidays! A time of refreshing and renewal. A break from routine (and yeh, I needed *that* one like a kick in the head) and a needed period of not-regular-activity so that time with family and friends can happen.

Some routines should never be broken though. Eating and sleeping, hygiene, etc, these must all be maintained at some kind of a minimal standard. I think pretty much everyone would agree with me there. Sure, the work – school routines can go ‘out the window’ for holidays, but I wonder what other ‘important stuff’ we let slip without meaning to, or even realising.

I remember when I was a girl, reading ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott. The four daughters decided to take a break from their routines for a week, and see what would happen. Laziness, slothfulness, uncleanliness, and arguments resulted. By the end of the week, all four were keen to get back into their normal routine.

But the lesson wasn’t over. Day 1 of routine again, and the discovery was made that their pet bird had died. No food or water for a week had killed it. Tragedy had resulted because some things had been let go, which should never have been.

Relationships fall into this category. Does that mean that relationships are just routines? Like the apostle Paul I rush to say, “Perish the thought!” But that doesn’t mean that we can’t, out of necessity and convenience, consider them routines for the sake of this example. Because when these get neglected, tragedy strikes. They die.

So. These holidays, I have resolved to relax the ‘work’ standards and improve the ‘relationship’ ones. Let’s see how well I do…

And have a great week, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

Categories
Life Random thoughts

On sleep…

So I’ve been a self-diagnosed insomniac for years now. And I’ve kinda always prided myself on what I’ve been able to accomplish on minimal unconscious time.

But I’m coming to the realisation that these days I can do less and less.

And that saddens me.

Time was, I could go to bed at 2am, get up at 4am, do a 16 hour day, or an 18 hour day, or perhaps even more… and do it all again the following day.

No more though.

I’ve always been an early riser. At the moment, I’m up at around the 4 – 4.15am mark. And I love that. I love my morning routine, and I never want to give it up.

But it’s meaning that I can’t stay up too late at night. And that’s the bit I don’t like. I crave the ‘me’ time I get, after the cherubs are in bed for the night. Perhaps I’m just being a little too selfish? Wanting ‘me’ time prior to 6am, and again in the evenings?

I’ve been told I’m a pragmatic person. Realistic. Maybe I am; I don’t see it myself. And I certainly don’t want to acknowledge it in this particular set of circumstances! I want to have my awake time and keep my patience (and my sanity) too 🙁

I guess that’s my arrogance talking though, yeh? And that’s a little embarrassing.

So I’m going to stop typing now. And try this week to (as a wise friend once suggested) be ‘rhythmic in my rest’. Feel free to join me in a ‘seeking sleep’ quest this week 🙂 or not, too 🙂

Either way, have a great week, dear Reader!
— KRidwyn

Categories
Life Random thoughts teaching Work

Weekend-ing away

I like my bed. My bedroom, my ensuite, my kitchen, my laundry, my lounge room, my garden. I miss them when I’m away.

Having said that though, I like not having to cook, and clean. I like the time away from ‘normal’, ‘everyday’ responsibilities, and the gratitude that I feel towards my home comforts when I’ve been away for long enough.

Take these past couple of months, for instance. I spent a week in Sydney/Canberra, on camp with my Year 7 and 8 cohorts. I returned late Friday night, spent Saturday washing and packing, then left very early Sunday morning for another week away, this time with family and friends camping on Fraser Island.

This last weekend was another work-related one: Friday afternoon through to Sunday evening down in Brisbane with six Middle Schoolers who were invited to the State finals from our regional Opti-MINDS challenge. Fast forward a few weekends and I’ll be away again, with Hubby this time, down the Gold Coast.

I enjoy my time away.

But I really, really, REALLY like my own bed. I think I mentioned that?

Have a great week, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn