After an early Friday night we were wide awake at 7am. It’s a beautiful day though the grass was white and frosty. It’s meant to be a high of 5C or something today but it feels way warmer in the sun. (I should add here that throughout the day, if the sun did disappear then it felt THAT cold!!)

Here we all are in the van ready to go somewhere nice to let the dogs have a big run, it’s not the best photo…. I’d made the bed up with a blanket on it to keep the van reasonably clean.

I’m sure can imagine me horsing across to try and get a photo of it flying away?!? It’s no a braw picture 🤣

It took me about 352 swan photos to get these 3 for the blog…. 😂🤣

And then I go and spoil it all.

We’d put the dogs in the van and I open it up to see the mess. Muddy paw prints everywhere and I lose it. We’re trying to tidy up and I don’t know where to put anything, I don’t care where I put everything as in my overreactive head the van is ruined. My day is ruined. Why is everything always so hard with the dogs, why can’t we just have some time to chill and relax somewhere without always having to think of them. We had put them in for a sleep and they create a mess so I’d rather have left them out.

I turned what was a lovely morning into a big drama.

Got home and emptied the van. Got a bowl of hot water and washing up liquid and had it clean in about 15 minutes and even then that’s exaggerating. You would never know they’ve been there. It’s back to normal. Honestly.

Even after all this time, all the work I’ve put into my recovery I still blow up at nothing. Something triggers my stress and it blows. I have managed to control so much but sometimes its out before I even realise it. It’s another thing for me to work on in Kinesiology.

So…..onto nicer things. We went up to see Craig’s mum and step dad today! First time since a present drop off on Christmas Eve.

We’ve had the loveliest few hours with them. For one thing it was so nice to be in their garden without the pouring rain we’ve had on any other lockdown visit and more importantly it was so lovely to see them after all this time. It seemed like a normal day.

Now….. CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!

This……. is a YumNut…… a yum yum in the shape of a doughnut 🍩 with raspberry topping. Out. Of. This. World.

I got to drive the new car home. What a lovely drive, honestly zero effort needed. With the van I’m looking for potholes like crazy to avoid them all. The Touareg sails across a pothole like it’s nothing. A lovely drive.

Bhru has a sore paw after her big run today. We’ll have to keep an eye on her and see how it is in the morning.

Stay safe everyone 🐾🐾🐾

I had a wee lie in this morning until 7am… managed to roll over after Mr Sporty Spice got up for the gym at 5.45am….. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

AND…. I didn’t actually get out of bed until after 8…. wow. How times have changed.

Now I did laugh with all of yesterday’s chat about spending the weekend away from Camper vans and dogs and FB thinks thinks I would like this hoodie. I honestly swear FB reads everything and I think it listens too…. 🤣🤣

We had a wee trip to the Little Coffee Caravan and the girl asked how the Rambling Sloth was going?!!! You wonder why I love that wee place. They are just so friendly.

Then on to B&Q and Dunelm Mill…. I can’t say the name of that shop!

Just heard on our way home that HRH Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh has died this morning. At the age of 99.

Of all the tributes in the news this afternoon, my favourite is the following photo.

He has stood by the Queen’s side since their wedding in 1947. Sad to hear this.

Back down the road and had our cinnamon bun with another coffee outside in the sun….

About 10 minutes later it was actually snowing!!!!!!

Honestly it’s actually hysterical…. I’m writing this and I hear him wittering away in the background. I’m trying to react in all the right places but he had kinda caught me out a few times. 🙊😂 we’ve actually had a lovely day doing nothing together.

Getting a takeaway tonight. We’ve found a Chinese called Mimi’s in Kilbirnie on Just Eat and the food is really good. That’s my holiday treat.

Stay safe everyone 💛💛💛

So it’s 6.51pm and I’ve been working since 7.15am.

Into Tartan early as I had a load to catch up on. Another great morning. Got lots done.

Left at 1.15pm and had to stop in a lay-by to catch a dog behaviour call before 2pm! Got home at 2.30pm and had a quick bite to eat and then upstairs for my Tapping session with the girls from 3-4pm. Then back onto dog behavioural calls until 5.45pm and now have a puppy zoom call at 6pm.

So it’s 8.05pm and I’m now on holiday! No camper and, dogs or puppies for the best 3 days….. oh ok I still have 3 dogs…… dammit…. and I drive a campervan…… ok yeah will cope 😇🥰

So back to the title… my wonderful husband has gutted the house, he’s polished, hoovered and cleaned all the floors, there were candles burning when I came home and the house smelled lovely.

A clean house is an amazing thing…. I realise how lucky I am that he did all that without me asking. I will find some odd things in random places for the next wee while but let’s park that and move on. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣😘 Very, very, very grateful!

So yeah, it’s been a crazy few days and my head doesn’t have any space for the usual pearls of wisdom I might spout at this time of night.

Normal service will be resumed when I have some time to swing a cat.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Not gonna lie…. I’m pooped.

5 hours and 45 minutes spent being a campervan conversion lady this morning. Great morning. Got lots done. 1 hour for the drive there and then home again.

Home via Home Bargains as I had run out of deodorant?!?!? I have NEVER EVER run out of deodorant…. I usually have at least 3 or 4 floating around the house. I have now been 2 days without….. it’s actually all good…. I question whether I actually need it but I’ve bought two to get the minimum stock level back up. Lack of shops open in lockdown had obviously contributed to stocking levels. No…. not stocking levels. Jeez, I am tired….

So back home, quick hi to Craig and the dogs and upstairs to be dog behavioural enquiry lady and the calls have taken me ages. Things are ramping back up again which is great but it’s just been a busy week as I get used to the morning job.

There is a chance this will be the shortest blog ever but I’m hungry and need some dinner. I’ve been snacking all day without taking real breaks. Yes, I know this is wrong and note to self….. I just have this drive to get it all over with so I can relax.

It’s 6.43pm now and I have my jammies on. Dinner is in the oven a la Craigie.

The fire is roaring as it’s still very cold. Not that I’ve been aware of the weather much at all today.

I was very lucky to have my blog featured by another blogger yesterday! Jacob Nyamake features a different writer every Wednesday and it was yours truly yesterday. I can’t tell you how proud I am that he took the time to contact me. He’s a lovely guy and his blogs are a great read at Jake in the City .

Click on the link below to read my interview. I’m one wee proud cookie.

https://jakeinthecity.wordpress.com/2021/04/07/wednesday-writer-the-rambling-sloth/

Hope you all had a great day.

Stay safe everyone 🍪🍪🍪

A different Julie woke up this morning thankfully….. with a silent head. Ok I lie…. it wasn’t silent…. it was so much quieter than it was yesterday.

Mr Sporty Spice was out the door to the gym just before I got up at 6.30am. Shower, hair wash (was desperately needing done!) and out the door by 7.20am and guess what?!?? The windscreen was frosted over!!! In April?!?! So Mrs short ass can’t scrape the windscreens of a VW Transporter… I just have to wait for it to defrost…. note to self….. get scraper on a broom handle?!? Can’t be hard can it?

So I’ve been working ALL DAY. Oh diddums…. I hear you say… it’s a beautiful day but it’s baltic again……. so very cold. I did Tartan from 8-3 and then Pawsitive Solutions from 3-5 but stayed in Tartan Campers while I did the dog calls. Funny calling someone and remembering “which” Julie was making the call.

It was a good day. I’ve enjoyed it and been calm throughout. Thank goodness.. she says politely.

Oh the reason I stayed at Tartan for so long was because one of the guys was working on my reversing camera!!! I can now see out the back!!!! Of the van…… stop it.

So I had to rush home for Kinesiology tonight. I’d booked a session to try to take some of the stress out of my current working life. It was amazing as ever and I cleared some fears based around being unable to achieve others expectations of me and a belief that I would have to be the previous version of my working self… 24/7…. and that’s not me anymore. I know my limits and I know what is right for me. So Kinesiology will have taken the stress out of all of these things so I can sleep soundly tonight.

Shelagh suggested this opportunity came along at a point that I was well enough and ready to handle it. Which is so very true. I just haven’t felt like I was handling it very well these last few days.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Well I think it’s safe to say my mind has been well and truly closed for the last 24 hours with all sorts if noise and rubbish flying around inside it. Oh my god…. it’s no wonder I am shattered half the time. It’s hard work overthinking this much.

I have allowed my brain to blow it all day today. And all night last night.

It was one of those nights I felt like I was wide awake, permanently switched on. Yet I wasn’t as I did sleep for some of it but I think I was almost having a mild panic attack as I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned, I did the tapping balance at least 3 or 4 times which worked for a bit them before I realised I was back rabbiting away to myself again. I tried thinking through the opening of some of Suzanne Robichaud’s meditations and that completely calmed me down only to find a few minutes later the chatter came back.

Am I now officially insane?!? Talking to myself in the middle of the night?!? Those who hear my on a daily basis can only imagine what it’s like to listen to all night. 🙈🙉🙊

I think this is what it’s all about……

Something I asked for a while back did arrive very suddenly and it’s swept my feet out from under me.

So I had all the patience in the world when it came to my future. I knew it would be ok. I knew it would all work out. I always knew. I had patience when I had nothing.

I now have two jobs…. my attitude leaves a lot to be desired, let me tell you….. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I am all over the place. ALL OVER THE PLACE.

I know it’s irrational.

Gone is the credit that I should be giving myself for having 2 jobs and being busy. Replaced with a baseball bat that I am hammering myself with.

I have this thing that I need to get everything done so that I can relax. I can’t relax until everything is done. (:same thing yep) If this means getting up earlier and working longer just to get some chill time then so be it. I need to remember that the stress involved with juggling all this is the only reason I need the rest.

This next one is part of the problem. I don’t know precisely where I am going and that bothers me.

I am stressing on the journey rather than savouring it. Boom…. hits nail on head with said hammer. 🔨 (actually it was a baseball bat….)

Lovely early morning walk with Bhruic and Freya this morning as Calaidh is away to the groomers this morning. it is beautiful but it is FREEZING!!!!! Absolutely Baltic!

Went to collect Calaidh from BrawCuts Grooming in Barmill. Auntie Megan did a great job. She’s all floofy and fluffy!!!

So I’ve spent the rest of the day making calls and hanging out washing also had a cuppa with (and moaned at) Claire, chatted with (moaned at) mum on the phone. You get the drift.

Thanks for staying with me with me while I moan again.

You’ll be glad to know I booked Kinesiology for tomorrow night as I need this Tasmanian devil tornado if stress to calm the f right down. ‘Scuse French. Needs must.

Maybe my mood today has just been like the weather, blowing hot and cold. All day.

Enough already.

Stay safe everyone 🙉🙊🙈

Who remembers these?

My Dad says Smarties and Yorkie were are the cutting edge of 1970/80s Easter egg technology 🤣🤣 we used to love collecting the mugs! I remember my brother and I getting about 12 big eggs each and loads of smaller ones too!

I would say in our life without kids, Easter is just a word. I forgot to buy eggs for anyone this year, it’s not on my radar. Mind you we’ve been in lockdown for so long I can hardly remember why day it is…..and I’ve also been a bit busy these last few weeks. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

So up quite sharp this morning and down to Gro Coffee for breakfast again….. 3 weeks in a row doth a habit make!!?

Back home before 11.30 and I went straight back out with Calaidh and Bhruic.

Ok enough of the daffodils… I have another million photos of them but I also have a million pics of Calaidh and Bhru in the burn!!!

So back home and it’s only 1pm and the blog is nearly done. Check me. Planning way more chilling time today though the weather has turned so it will all be indoor chilling and not outside!!

So I hope you all have a lovely Easter.

I always emoji my journey from an egg hatching to an eagle….. and eagle seems a bit much but that’s the giggle…. I might just stay a hatched chick…. but it seems pretty apt for Easter.

🥚🐣🐥🦅

Stay safe everyone 🐣🐥🦅

It’s been a busy week. I ent to bed at 9.30pm last night and managed to sleep until 8am.

Craig always says “what do you have planned today”….. my answer today… “absolutely hee-haw”.

I have sat outside in the sun all day. I wore factor 15 suntan lotion which is a commitment from me. It smells of coconut 🌴 🥥….. it smells of holiday. I shut my eyes and In the heat of the sun I could be anywhere. I open my eyes and I am still home but it’s the loveliest day. Clear blue skies, very little breeze and just the sound of the birds chirping.

I have crocheted, I have taken photos of the dogs, I have caught up on WhatsApp chats and FB group posts.

While I was doing all this, Craig washed my van and tried to polish out some marks AND cleaned all the windows. How lovely was that?!?! I didn’t even ask him to do it. I have to confess I’ve not even been out to see it yet. He’s worried it will be dirty before I actually do go for a look 🤣🤣

He also cleaned out the greenhouse ready for the new spring planting 🪴 all while I sat on my backside.

I had an over the fence catch up with one neighbour, I had a cosy nap in the sun in Grans chair and had our other neighbour in the garden for drinks early evening.

I feel calm and rested. It feels like a holiday and obviously the weather helped. We have the heating ramped up to try and thaw out now as it did get a bit chilly towards the end.

Eleven hours outside in the fresh air, what’s not to love??

Hope you all had a great day.

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️

I did not see this weather coming…. it was frosty early on and Mr Sporty Spice had to scrape the car at 5.30am when he got up for the gym. Bloomin’ middle of the night! 🤣

I managed not to wake up which is something but at 6.40am I sat up with a giant panic that I’d slept in. Also freaked thinking the client I was meeting this morning didn’t know our meeting point…. she did. Of course she did. 😳🥱😬

I did not feel good this morning. In face I felt positively dreadful. So exhausted and so nervous and so overwhelmed with everything that’s gone on this week.

I feel like I’ve been catapulted into some crazy world these last few weeks and you know what, it has been crazy. Tartan Campers came from nowhere and was never part of my new life plan. It came from nowhere (yeah you said that) and has taken over a whole lot of hours. I’ve done 21 hours of work with 4 hours of travelling which is a lot of a week when you consider I was getting up at 9 and walking the dogs and then making some calls and sleeping, crocheting or reading for the rest of the day.

My days feel soooo much longer. I’m obviously getting way less sleep as a result. However, in comparison to my previous working life it should be a positive breeze! And yes, that’s where I beat myself up. (I know never start a sentence with and….. ) The old me would have scoffed at these hours. The new me is scoffing at my exhaustion….

One the me’s just needs to give the other me a break! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I was all over the place this morning. Nervous, butterflies mixed with calm determination…. I knew I’d be fine but with a thumping tension headache as racing heart, all brought on by my own mind. My own lack of self confidence.

Like my mini meltdown yesterday, I can’t stop myself when I’m it it….. Yet I drive to the park, pay for parking and head into the park and conduct my first face to face puppy consultation and even I wouldn’t have known how I felt beforehand.

It went really well.

I guess deep down I knew it would.

That doesn’t seem to help though…. 🤦🏻‍♀️

So I was home by about 1.30pm and was still wired to the moon. I’m obsessed with how tired I feel and the desperation to get some sleep….. but there was a thing today…. the sun was shining ☀️☀️☀️ and it was glorious.

She who sun worships cannot be inside sleeping whilst sun is shining…. so she chooses to stay awake and fight it for the good of some vitamin D.

We then got invited to our neighbours garden for some drinks at 4pm. It was so lovely to be outside chatting to people. Almost normal. We’ve missed that over the winter. Of course I took my 0% With me, this time Peroni.

You know what, I feel so much better, I forced through the tiredness and looking back I can see how much energy I put in to feeling tired. It causes a lot of stress for me.

The stress has gone, replaced by some nice chat with lovely people. Guess that’s the way to do it.

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️

A good one from my new job!

So I had a chance to have a lie in today…. had the Osteopath this morning at 9.30 so could have an extra 2 hours in bed…. no… I chose to get up early, clean the bathroom, put a washing on, have a shower and wash and dry my hair and then head to my appointment. Result. 5.15pm and I’m exhausted.

I literally hammered myself into floods of tears.

I had another good few hours at Tartan but overran a bit and had a dog behaviour call scheduled for 2pm. I couldn’t make that so apologised just before 2pm. It was an enquiry call so not a paying client but I just seemed to go into a mini meltdown. I was in a spiral of panic. I drove home about 45 mins later than I should have, beating myself up for that. Then thought the van had some wheel wobble and I beat myself up for that. Then I spoke to Craig who said my handsfree has really bad interference so I was raging at that. Still don’t have my reverse camera fixed because I’m so busy I keep forgetting to ask. I literally hammered myself into the ground and the result was floods of tears.

Then I see this….

My day has been good. I’m tired. I’m doing more than I have done in a very, very long time. I’ve not had to think this much for years.

I’m gonna leave this here tonight. Need to get some sleep. 🛌😴💤

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️