Tag: being organised

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Blogging challenges Life teaching Technology Work

#28/52 On the return to Term 3

Phew! What a week it’s been!

Yesterday morning, I drove Kiya, with Mum and her dog Trav, down to Brisbane for an appointment. It occured to me that last Saturday morning (7 days earlier) I had also collected Mum… but instead, to go car shopping. We’d visited a quite rusty Suzuki Jimny, locally, before heading down to Brisbane to look at a 2020 version – which sold en route. We then pulled into Suzuki at Nundah, and ended up buying a brand new Ignis, before stopping at CostCo on the way back up the Coast.

This week was

  • the return to school (that’s right, I have a 0.9FTE teaching job as well)
  • the collection of Mum’s car on Wednesday
  • Miss 16’s trip to QldTransport to have her photo taken for her Learners
  • the (hopefully successful) migration of this website from one host to another
  • Miss 19 job-hunting and speaking with prospective employers, and finally
  • yet another big trip yesterday.

Today, I’m playing violin at church, then spending the afternoon with my parents and godfathers who are visiting from NZ.

Phew! again…

Hope it’s been a productive week for you, too, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
Random thoughts Work

27/52 On habit creation

So June ended, and with it, the challenge to publish a daily blogpost for #blogJune.

And it took a number of days before I stopped thinking ‘oh! I haven’t posted yet… and this’d make a good post!’ so… I guess that means I’d created myself a daily blogging habit?!

But it’s definitely July now, the first Sunday of, so it’s time to resume my Sunday blogging schedule. And today marks 27 of the 52 posts I had set myself back in January 🙂

So keeping with the topic of ‘habits help you to get things done’ I just wanted to post this photo right here:

That’s right. For a mere $25K you could own your own barrel organ. How cool is THAT?!! (Ooh! I’ve never seen one of these intact before, as Nemo’s teacher would have said)

Seriously though: it’s incredible to think of the dedication that the creation of this instrument must have taken. Not only the mechanics of making the instrument actually work, but also the incredible craftsmanship in the painstaking attention to detail in the instrument’s decorations! A true work of art.

And such incredible-ness can ONLY happen through habit-creation. The dedication of doing small amounts consistently, day by day by day by day by day.

Without this, the instrument wouldn’t exist.

And this day by day process is not just for weeks, nor months, but YEARS.

Inspirational dedication, that. An aspirational habit.

And with that thought, I’m off to go be productive for the rest of my day.

Have a great week, dear Reader, and I’ll see you next Sunday!

– KRidwyn

 

Categories
#blogjune

#BlogJune Day 23

Today was sunny, without too much wind.

It was Sunday. Church day. Meet my friends and worship God together day.

I bought a roast chicken for lunch with the kids; it was delicious.

I watched a movie and crotcheted, then Hubby and I walked Kiya together.

I was able to clear up a GoCard issue (very needed) and now I”m heading for an early night, in preparation for a big week ahead.

It’s good to be able to count blessings, isn’t it?

Have a blessed day yourself, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
#blogjune

#BlogJune Day 21

Today’s been big. Master15 had his Athletics Carnival, necessitating a 90 minute drive each way, and now I’m waiting outside a fitting room in one of our local shopping centres while Miss16 finds clothing suitable for a week of ‘Uni experience’ next week. We’re going to start the ‘formal wear’ hunt today too, I think.

Phew! Bring on the weekend, I say!

Hope you’re having a great end-of-week too, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

Categories
Reading

21/52 On being ahead of schedule

I’ve been a fan of the annual “Goodreads reading challenge” for years. Anything which pits me against me is good. Pitting me against others? Not so interested. But an app which challenges me to read, and keeps me accountable? Totally a fan. The fact that others can see where I’m up to is just added incentive.

And as a contol freak (and probably unrepentant over-achiever) I have to be ahead. It helps to be ready for any eventuality, yes? And finishing MURTAGH by Christopher Paolini yesterday keeps me on the ‘six books ahead of schedule’ margin which is my comfort zone. After all, there’s the mountain of marking assessment which I’ll be buried under for the next few weeks, to consider! Plus: it was a really good book… much much MUCH darker than anything I’ve read for simply ages, but so well written, it was hard to put down 🙂

Anyway, this is something I’m proud of this week. What makes you happy, dear Reader?

  • KRidwyn
Categories
Life Review

7/52 On transparency

Today’s the 18th of February. In less than a month, we’ll be heading to the poll booths to get ourselves the next four years’ worth of local politicians.

So the other week, I thought I’d look into who’s running. In my region, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, both our Mayor and our Deputy Mayor (who was also my divisional councillor, just for interest) have decided to not run again… meaning I’ll have two newbies in these roles.

I headed off to Google to find out who’s been nominated. My first hit seemed to be the go: three mayoral candidates with a bit of a blurb on each. Impressive… until I realised that according to sunshinecoastnews.com, there’s six candidates for mayor, not three!  Jason O’Pray; Wayne Parcell; Ashley Robinson, Michael Burgess, Rosanna Natoli, and Min Swan (apparently listed in the order they appear on the Electoral Commission of Queensland website). I guess the original article made sense when I re-looked at the title “meet the latest candidates”… I’m guessing they’d already had an initial article with the other three hopefuls.

And in my own division, there’s three choices: Kristy Taylor-Rose; Jenny Broderick; and Stan Nowrocki.

Trying to find informaion on each of these nine people though, proved problematic. Surely there’d be a news article where each candidate was linked to their own page, which detailed (or even just outlined!) who they were and what they stood for? But nope.

So I tried Facebook. Nothing. Even a request to the Sunshine Coast Council’s offical Facebook page only produced this:

Hmm. So off to the ECQ website. Several clicks later, I can see that no, the list order must have changed since the 13th of February, when sunshinecoastnews.com published its article. No matter. There’s still 6 mayoral candidates, and 3 candidates for divisional councillor. Links to their websites though? Nope.

So I’ve decided that I’ll do it. I have my own website, yes? And an interest in getting this information out so people can actually be informed about who it is they might vote for? Well, here it is. For my division, as least. And they’re in alphabetical order (I’m a librarian, remember!)

Sunshine Coast Division One Councillor candidates:

Jenny Broderick

Stan Nowrocki (LinkedIn was the closest site I could find)

Kristy Taylor-Rose (again, no dedicated website; this one’s a news article and this is LinkedIn)

 

Sunshine Coast Mayoral Candidates:

Michael Burgess

Rosanna Natoli

Jason O’Pray

Wayne Parcell (this site takes a while to load…)

Ashley Robinson

Min Swan

Something I noticed about the mayoral candidates: numbers of them say they’re interested in transparency. So I’m guessing that when they inherit the Facebook page, the policy of ‘giving residents the information they’d like’ will change? Hmmm.

Enjoy, dear Reader! And feel free to share / comment etc as you see fit…

  • KRidwyn

 

Categories
momentous events Random thoughts

5/52 On clutter…

This Facebook meme made me laugh the other day, so I shared it so my friends and family could laugh too. “Wouldn’t it be funny / cool / amazing to cross things off my own To Do list!” I thought to myself. “Very cheeky… but how freeing!”

And then I scrolled on, and life continued.

My thoughts kept returning to that idea though. Of how cool it would be to have that freedom.

And then yesterday, making space on a bookshelf by working out what books I’d probably never read again and deciding to donate them, it hit me.

Why not? Why shouldn’t I do that?

Most items on my To Do list are just ones that I wrote there anyway! So will the world end if I remove them without doing them? Or am I, in fact, just decluttering my life of self-imposed obligations, expectations and deadlines?

I’m a fan of the TV series Space Invaders.

In it, de-cluttering guru Peter Walsh calls ‘cluttter’ anything which gets between what my life looks like now, and what I want my life to look like (a bad paraphrase, but that’s how full my mind is right now).

Now those books I’d collected, with the idea of reading them or re-reading them at some point – the hard, physical objects collecting dust on my shelf – were clutter.

But who’s to say that clutter is just physical? Can’t mental items – thoughts, expectations and obligations which sit there, collecting dust on the shelves of my brain – be just as much ‘clutter’ as physical clutter?

So: “Crossing things off my to do list. I didn’t do them. I just don’t want them on my list any more…” I’m giving myself permission to do this. Those self-imposed expectations of ‘I want to do THIS by THIS DATE’? I’m deciding that – for me at least – it’s okay to let these things go. Maybe if they’re not helping me, they’re hurting me? I’m certainly feeling more free, just even thinking about it!

May you have a ‘freeing’ week yourself, dear Reader 🙂

[And if you’d like someone else’s permission to free yourself of self-imposed obligations and expectations, here it is: have mine!]

See you Sunday 🙂

  • KRidwyn

 

Categories
momentous events Reading teaching

New Year, new start

Welcome back, dear Reader!

Last year was a ‘photo’ post each week, which challenged me to improve my photography skills. Which worked… to some extent. In fact, I even considered challenging myself further and committing to a years’ worth of “selfie” posts (because those ones are like, a zillion times worse than actual photos. Well, for those of us who remember a time before the internet was even invented. Am I right?)

But no. Perhaps next year. But I’ll still attempt to include a photo with each post this year. Let’s see how we go with that, huh?

But today’s post is still about challenges. Specifically, the Goodreads challenge I set myself last year. 3 books per week. That’s 156 books in the year. Which seems a lot.

And I made it!!! So proud of me 🙂

Admittedly, numbers of those were the picture books which I ended up reading to my classes after being made redundant mid-year and being blessed enough to get Teacher Librarian work in July. But still 🙂

So. Goodreads challenge this year. 208 again – because I can! and it’s only 4 per week. right? – but the aim this year is to have only one picture book per month. Perhaps two. But no more than 24 of those 156 will be picture books. Because, well, why not? 🙂

How about you, dear Reader? Are you planning on reading books this year? How many? And if you’re also on Goodreads, want to connect?

Oh! And I almost forgot. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

– KRidwyn

Categories
momentous events More about me teaching

28/52

A new semester starts today.

For 4 out of the 5 in my household, today marks the start at a new school too.

Exciting times!

(Feel free to guess the kidlets’ schools from their uniforms…) And have a ‘new’ week yourself, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

Categories
Work

On chocolate and other seasonal treats

Hubby and I were talking about weight the other day. He’d been bemoaning his weight increase since having to cut back his gym sessions a few months back, on account of his arthritic hip diagnosis. But when I mentioned that I, too, had a little extra on my waistline I wouldn’t mind losing, he said, “Well, don’t eat so much chocolate then.”

Oh, to be felled by a simple phrase! Less chocolate? The world would cease to spin!

Once the initial shock passed though, and the world recommenced turning, the truth became clear. How can I honestly expect my gym sessions to assist my waistline reduction plan, when I supplement my diet with sugary treats every time I’m offered them?

And, at this time of year, it’s easier than ever to consume that sugary goodness. Every second Christmas gift from students or colleagues is chocolate. Or cupcakes. Or rocky road. Not to mention the Christmassy food that other staff open, and share with everyone. Great for exercising willpower… not!

But that, I guess, is what it all comes down to. Willpower means effort. Means intentional decision-making, not just reacting to the situation without a pre-planned “if this, then that” course of action.

If offered chocolate, say, “Thanks, but no.”

If given chocolate as a gift, thank the gift-giver, then open AND SHARE.

Limit sugary intake.

Maintain exercise routines as much as possible.

And most importantly: rethink waistline expectations. Perhaps that waistline measurement goal is more realistic for end-of-January, not end-of-December.

And seeing as today’s the 17th of December, perhaps releasing myself from my too-hard-not-going-to-make-it goal would be best for my own mental health…

Would you agree, dear Reader?

KRidwyn