Day 1313 Remembrance Day 2023 🌺

I went to visit Beith’s remembrance memorial this morning. I took my breath away.

A lovely lady in Beith made all of these. I can’t tell you how lovely it is to spend some time among them and I probably thought more of Remembrance Day than I ever have. It made everything seem so much more real.

I think this one is my favourite out of them all.

Sadly one of them is no longer there. Either stolen by people or I prefer to think, foxes.

It’s a super frosty and cold morning but as the sun rises, it’s calm and there’s a warmth in the sun. It’s a very poignant tribute.

Beith Auld Kirk as a beautiful building in its own right.

I had already been out with the 3 OG puppers as soon as it got light this morning.

It’s still quite icy at this time of the morning, I don’t know if you can see it in the photo. The sky was stunning and full of promise for a sunny day.

I went to the little gift shop today to help Gayle plan for some of the Christmas events she’s doing this year. She’s changed the shop since last week!

It just smells so lovely.

By the time I got home it was about 1.30 and I’d planned loads of housework.

The sun is so lovely I felt like I should do something outside and yet i don’t want to shut the dogs back in again…. So I’m outside and lit my very own fire pit… I’m sitting here by myself… if you are ever by yourself with 4 dog….. and I’m enjoying the sunshine with the extra heat of a wee bonfire. It’s just bliss.

It was a wee bit smokey to start with but only because the stuff in the bottom is still wet…. Note from Craig for future reference.

Oh I must see if I can link the Scottish Dog Behaviourist YouTube page as he’s posted a video of Khaleesi on a lovely walk the other day. It’s so cute. He’s so good at creating video content. I could watch this for days… here goes. Khaleesi at Loch Shore.

Fingers crossed that works!

I’m just sitting here listening to old tunes on Spotify, adding wood to the fire as we go.

Had a lovely chat with my mother in law there and now Craig’s home!

Happy Saturday night y’all.

Stay safe everyone 🔥🔥🔥

Day 1312 a lovely day trip to Edinburgh Castle with Mum & Dad 🏰

A super frosty, foggy early start this morning, catching the train to Edinburgh to meet Mum and Dad for the day.

It’s 8.51pm and I’m already north of Glasgow on the train. The freezing fog still hasn’t lifted. It’s like pea soup. 😂

I’m half an hour early I think, but I booked my ticket through Trainline. Last time I travelled to Edinburgh it was £41. This time it was £25.90 because I booked in advance. I also upgraded to allow me to take any train today. I think that was an extra £3 or so. It was well worth it… hence the being half an hour early.

And just like that the sun burns through the fog just outside Falkirk. If you zoom in you can see a bank of fog in the distance. It’s going to be a beautiful day… didn’t bring sunglasses either. 😎

You can see the heavy frost in the foreground of this photo.

Crossing the viaduct.

I have arrived!

I went for a wander as I was a half hour early. It’s the most beautiful day now.

I met Mum and Dad up the top of Cockburn Street.

We decided to head straight up to the castle.

It’s so nice to see it without the Edinburgh Tattoo scaffolding on the Esplanade.

Edinburgh is so much quieter than the last time mum and I were here during the Festival.

I say that and there were a LOT of people I the Castle during the middle of the day.

Looking down to the east end of Princes Street and the Wallace Monument.

The one o’clock gun!

St Margaret’s Chapel.

Mons Meg.

When we were wee this was kept inside. It’s obviously been preserved enough to bring it back outside.

We stood up here to watch Edinburgh’s 1o’clock gun go off. Even when you know it’s coming, you still get a fright.

This is fired every day except Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day, to let ships in the Firth of Forth know what time it is.

Here is Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags… the crags aren’t particularly visible due to the sun but if you zoom in you might see them.

I’m sorry but does this gold roof not remind you of something?!? 💩

You can see they are setting up for the Christmas Markets down in Princes Street Gardens. Think it opens next weekend.

I have so many more photos but I think I might break WordPress. 😂

I love this shot of us leaving the castle… the longest legs in the shadows!

We were SO lucky with the weather. It’s been very cold but a beautiful day. It’s so lovely to make these memories together, rather than sitting around inside a house.

I even got a nice shot in Edinburgh Waverley.

It’s dark now and I’m just north of Glasgow again where the blog started.

Thanks to mum and dad for such a lovely day.

Happy weekend!

Stay safe everyone ♥️🏰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Day 1311 a lovely sunrise and sunset with work and a haircut in between!

It’s all in the title 😆

I woke up to torrential rain pummelling the window pane this morning. 5.30am.

By the time I left for work, the heavy rain cloud was moving on.

I suddenly noticed the bright star next to the moon…. I believe it was actually Venus.

I’ve never seen anything that bright, that close to the moon.

It was a lovely drive in this morning, no rain and pretty skies.

I was in work early again and got loads done. I love feeing organised when I finish on a Thursday.

It’s my weekend!

I rushed home to get my haircut in the garden room straight across the road from the house. It’s so cool to have your hairdresser over the road.

There are no pics as I just sat and watched the last episode of House season 4 and I cried….. 😂😂😂

The sunset was pretty too.

I saw this earlier and I really liked the sentiment of it. I’ve read it through a lot.

I’ve spent so long raging at the river that I am honestly say acceptance and being present in the moment if so freeing.

I’m listening the Diary of a CEO podcast at the moment. It’s fascinating me. Todays episode said we wear busy-ness like a badge of honour. We expect to be saluted for working all the hours god sends, for having the busiest social life and actually we all need to reward each other for taking time out and looking after ourselves. That needs to become the new norm.

I used to go in early and work late. I thought that’s what was expected of me.

I carried on doing it for most of my career… I began to resent it.

I told everyone how busy I was, how stressed I was, how hard I worked, I was proud of it all while despising it.

I LOVED my job title. It defined me.

I was never happy with what I had. I always wanted more.

I earned a lot of money and yet it was never enough.

When I finally broke and went off sick I felt like a failure. I felt like that for a very long time.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get the occasional pang of failure at times when I left my mind overthink…. But mostly I am truly grateful at having the chance to really think about what it is important in my life. Sadly too many people only experience this after some kind of trauma. If you have felt experienced this without having rock bottom then bottle whatever that is and sell it.

I finally don’t worry about what people think of me (but if you don’t like me please don’t EVER tell me as I would carry that about for years… 😳😆) I don’t care about the job title, about the money, about the things. I just have to do what’s right for me now. Instead of putting everything else first.

It’s true freedom.

Until the next wobble.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1310 a much calmer day in my head but atrocious driving conditions first thing 🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️

I’m back. I feel so much better today. Phew. It’s such a relief.

I’d go as far as to say I felt no anger or irritability today. Well…. not too much. 🤷🏻‍♀️😌 There’s always a little 😬 but nothing like yesterday.

I drove to work in atrocious weather conditions this morning. The rain was so heavy that I actually couldn’t see the road. I had to switch off the stereo so I could concentrate. How crazy does that sound?!

There was an accident on the A736 at the Barmill/Burnhouse crossroads. A white van and a Mill’s Milk Luton van had hit each other. Mill’s Milk coming off WAY worse.

The Police had turned their car to shine their headlights up my lane. With the amount of water on the road, you couldn’t see anything with the bright shine of the headlights on water. I had to approach at about 10 miles an hour. I suppose that’s the plan… 🤷🏻‍♀️

When I drive past something like that, I always have a huge gulp of emotion ride up that brings tears… didn’t help to have water in my eyes when I already couldn’t see the road! I hope no one was hurt.

I forgot to say yesterday that I have finally started Collagen and Tumeric supplements in the hope that might help my joint stiffness.

My friend Helen did a lot of research into Collagen so I just copied her rather than doing my own. This shakes into a drink. The mandarin flavour is lovely. The tumeric is just a capsule. I’m also taking Magnesium and have been for a few months now. Surely some of it will help?!

Forgot I took this photo earlier. Here are all the Tartan Campers parked up for the winter…. I put a sign on each of them saying that so no one drives one.

We were on Channel 4 at lunchtime today… hopefully that’s some great advertising.

I’m jumping around all over the place today….

When I got home, Craig had a lady in the living room!!!! 😳

She was from the Office for National Statistics and she asked us lots of questions about our working lives. We’ve had a few letters from them and I replied last week but she just turned up on spec. It took about an hour between us to answer all the questions. I quite like stuff like that. Not sure why?!

Anyhoo…. It’s been good to feel calm and in control today. The National Statistics lady asked how happy I was with my life and I was able to answer 9/10. 😌

I think that’s pretty damn good for anyone to be able to say. 💜

I’ve found some peace and realise that happiness is what you make it. Happiness isn’t living for the next holiday. It’s in the sunshine and the heavy rain, in the wind and in the leaves falling from the trees. It’s in every day.

Happiness is knowing that the bad days will pass. When you lower your expectations in life then you have a greater chance of happiness.

I’m tracking the Aurora again and toying with the idea of heading out later. Will see….

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1309 an angry monster day 😡😤 then calm 😌

She who lives in the present moment, appreciates the smaller things in life, is calm and chilled out these days, showed a whole lot of ugly today…

I woke with the alarm at 6.15 which is unusual… but I was aware of feeling strange before the alarm went off. I know how ridiculous that sounds…. I felt breathless and antsy… nervous…. There is nothing to be nervous of today.

I just felt off.

I got up and found that wonderful time of the month had arrived. I believe this was on account of me missing 3 progesterone pills this month…. I forgot to take them one night and yesterday I found one floating at the bottom of my water bottle. To my terror. I thought it was a wasp?! Go figure.

Anyway…. I have a reason for my grouchiness….. but I’m like a volcano of irritability…. Sparking off at anything and everything…. Not actually keeping it inside. Even my boss mentioned how I piled on the heat firing questions at him before he even got into work.

I was incensed and yet nothing was any different today than it was yesterday. Except my reactions.

We can choose how we respond to day to day life. I wasn’t present enough in the moment to respond properly today. I was kicking off as if everyone was out to get me.

I heard myself say… “everything is going wrong”… “everything needs done 2 or 3 times”… “this is too hard”. I gave myself a difficult day. My inner child threw her tantrum arms up in the air all day.

The truth was it was a beautiful day. I took these photos at 7am out in the garden with the dogs.

The moon was a perfect crescent although it’s more of a dot in this photo. 😬

My lilies are beautiful.

And, despite having a thumping angry headache all day, I came home and went over to the hall for Kinisi-flow and I loved it. It would have been so easy not to bother.

I worked hard, I felt strong and the headache finally left.

I love it when the calm finally breaks through the noise.

I appreciate the calm even more.

Here’s the sky at 4pm.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1308 a very dark and rainy afternoon!

It was SO dark this afternoon… torrential rain when I left work. I really had to concentrate on driving home. There was flooding everywhere.

The photo doesn’t do it justice… it looks brighter than it actually was. It was so gloomy!

On the plus side there was a lot of cake today. I fasted for 20 hours and then had a lovely lentil soup for lunch followed by CAKE. I’d taken the remnants of the Macmillan Tea into work. Then ate too much of it. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 I binned what was left as it was starting to turn and I’d have still kept eating it. 😂

Poor Khaleesi and Bhru were very unhappy with last nights fireworks… I know friends’ dogs were the same.

They were panting for hours. It’s so sad to watch. We wrapped Khaleesi in a blanket to try to calm her down. Bhru just hid down beside a seat.

I’m also GUTTED to see how beautiful the Aurora was at Kilbirnie Loch last night…. This is where I went and got spooked and couldn’t stay. This photo was taken by FrankBoyd Photography . He got such an amazing shot. I’m so impressed. It’s exactly what I wanted to see!!

Well done to Frank for capturing it so well. Please take a look at his photos on FB.

So yeah, not much else to report. I’ve had dinner and back on to fasting already. It’s the only way I can stop myself eating. 😂

My head is still pretty good just now. Fairly organised at work…. Trying not to overreact when things don’t go the way that I hoped. I am pretty calm.

Long may that continue.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1307 Macmillan Afternoon Tea 2023 in the village hall 💚💚💚

Let’s start by saying that the Aurora is kicking off big time tonight and I drove down to Kilbirnie Loch to try to see it…. And was TERRIFIED by myself in the dark!! 😂😂 literally switched the headlights off and thought nope… no can do!! Headlights back on.

How funny eh? The darkness was overwhelming…. I immediately felt like there was someone in the back seat of the car 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

So if there’s Aurora to be had tonight, I ain’t seeing it.

They say it could actually be visible in the South of England. It’s off the charts!

There were some stunning shots from last night. Just out of this world.

I’m so annoyed with myself but I just couldn’t do it. 😂😂

Back to today… we had the Macmillan Afternoon Tea in the village hall today. Holly has just announced that it raised £1,005 , isn’t that amazing!

A few pics from today.

I was on the raffle today. Really enjoyed it…. We made £345.50 on the raffle table, with guess the cuddly toys age, among other things. Pretty amazing eh?!

I’ve consumed way more sugar that I should have done. A whole lotta cake!

I ended up having to call the raffle and having to do the closing thank you address. I only found out about that when we had about 5 raffle prizes to go 😬😳 but I did it.

Now shattered, full of sugar, sitting on the couch… wishing I was braver to be out in the dark waiting on the Aurora. 😂

Oh I also go apple car play installed in my car today. The stereo that was fitted, wasn’t great and I always listen to podcasts while I’m driving. I’ve not been able to do that properly since I got the car. I’m so pleased with it.

And finally a TV show recommendation if you have Netflix… “All the light we cannot see”…. Is really good. We watched all 4 episodes last night and highly recommend it!

Right enough rambling.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1306 the little gift shop, housework & a bonfire 🔥

I woke at 5.53 with a sore knee… actually it was a Calaidh bark that woke me and sore knee kicked back in again. Still not bought Tumeric or Collagen which I’ve been meaning to do. Should add that to my to do list and then it might get done. 😂

I got up to the loo and just never went back to bed. I tidied the kitchen, put another washing on and then headed out with Calaidh, Bhruic & Freya.

It’s a lovely calm morning and the three degrees are all very well behaved.

Gayle had messaged me last night to see if I could pop down to the little gift shop as she’d been doing her Christmas displays and she needed a bit of extra help clearing up….. was I free?!?! I’d move heaven and earth to be free!! (I only moved housework so it wasn’t that dramatic!!)

The shop is such a magical place to be. I love it!! It was great to catch up with Gayle and see some lovely customers that I haven’t seen in ages! I took some photos… of course I did!

I had such a lovely morning! Coffee and chocolate too…. What’s not to love.

So back home for soup and then I got on with the housework. More things pulled together for charity… you’d think there’d be nothing left by now but I’m being so ruthless. I am literally walking past ornaments and thinking that I don’t need that anymore and someone else could have some joy from it…. I did all the hoovering another load of washing and cleaned the dogs room.

By that time Craig had a fire going in the fire pit outside. It’s a lovely peaceful evening. It’s cold but not next to the fire.

We sat out for about an hour. I love being outside. It’s been too long since we did that.

Back in for dinner and look at Khaleesi sleeping on the couch.

Bless her.

Have a lovely Saturday night!

If you’re near Gateside we have a Macmillan Afternoon Tea in the village hall from 2-4pm tomorrow. Please come along!

Stay safe everyone 🔥🔥🔥

Day 1305 I have had the best day!!

Awwwwww have had the wee best day to myself….. I t’s 4.51pm and just getting dark.

It’s a lovely sky.

It’s been nice all day today. Calm and quiet after all the wind and rain we’ve been having. It’s cold but not freezing.

I woke at 4am with a really sore knee. I took ibuprofen and paracetmol and went back to sleep, until 7.15am! A long lie!

I made a pot of soup, in the slow cooker, before 8.30am… Ellison’s lentil soup again!

I headed straight to the Post Office to get some change for Sunday’s Macmillan Afternoon Tea in the Village Hall. Then onto Lidl for a “cheap” weekly shop…. It was still over £100!

I came back and unpacked the shopping, stirred the soup and headed off out with Bhruic and Freya.

Checking up on mumma! They look like a two headed dog.

The trees are a lovely colour.

One of the really old gates has disappeared…. That’s so sad!

It looked a bit like this one. I hope they didn’t bin it. To be fair, they are so old they’re not much use these days but they are relics.

Back to drop Bhru & Freya off and pick up the two Cal’s…. Calaidh and Khaleesi.

I let Khaleesi off the lead for the first time and she had a great run around. I have to limit it so she doesn’t run too far in her sore paws.

She followed Calaidh around and it was so lovely to watch.

Safe to say someone had a lot of fun this morning. She’s out for the count now.

Back on lead to calm down a wee bit.

There’s a lovely warmth to the sun when it comes out.

When I got home Khaleesi jumped up into the centre of the wee couch. I shouted the other 3 and suddenly got this amazing photo, without even really trying. It’s nice to have a lovely one of the 4 of them.

I did a poo pick in the garden 🤮… then spent the afternoon doing a washing, emptying and filling the dishwasher, cleaning the cutlery drawer, collecting things for charity, cleaning ALL the windows and generally pottering.

I have honestly had the loveliest day. Apart from a fasting panic yesterday, I’ve felt really good these last few days.

I’ve been in control, clear headed, ticking things off lists,. I feel content with my life. I’m trying to appreciate every moment, the days seem longer than usual, I’m getting more done.

I’m happy.

Check me.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1304 I told you I’d be sensible 😘

I couldn’t do the fast today.

I have no idea what was wrong but I knew by about 11am, that I wouldn’t manage any prolonged fast today.

I regularly manage 16-19 hour fasts on a daily basis. I love the feeling of being hungry and knowing that I’m not gorging myself on food unnecessarily. I am eating less in between meals now as I am fuller for longer.

I woke at 5.49am this morning and felt instantly hungry. That’s unheard of.

I packed plenty water, peppermint tea bags and lemon and ginger tea bags and set off confidently into my day. My head was in a good place… I’d done lots of research, I knew what to expect and I was ready.

I don’t know what changed but today clearly wasn’t the right day. I felt really bad by the back of 11. I was dizzy, lightheaded and shaky. It ended up being 1pm when I finally got the chance to eat and I felt an instant relief.

Did my mind talk me out of it? Maybe…. I had no set target in mind. I wanted to try 4 days but was going to take it one day at a time and none of that was possible.

I had to order lunch from work and didn’t even enjoy what I ate.

I actually think it was the wrong time of the month for me. I’m mid way through the Progesterone which usually means the week of the month where I’m more likely to feast than fast.

I was upset, there were tears in my eyes but I just didn’t feel right. So I did the right thing.

It was a cold and frosty morning today.

Work was really busy again. I’ve been in early every day this week and still not getting through everything I need to do…. But I’ve really enjoyed the challenge this week. We had a great meeting last week and have made some changes and there’s a right good buzz about the place and I love it! I’m happy. (Check me!)

The sunset was brief but stunning this evening. I stopped in a layby on the way home from work.

The photos don’t actually do it justice.

I only live about 5 minutes drive from here and it was already gone by the time I got home.

It made it a lovely journey home.

Got my toes painted a lovely autumnal auburn red tonight at Viv’s Nails and Beauty ….not that anyone will be seeing my feet for at least another 5 months! 😂

Soooo tired tonight. Looking forward to a weekend without too much planned except a McMillan coffee afternoon on Sunday. that would have been interesting on an fast. 😂😂

Stay safe everyone 🍁🍂🍁

Day 1303 1st November 2023 already?!? 😂

I actually drove home through a perfect autumn storm.

All the trees have really turned in the last few days. The roads home were avenues of red, orange and yellow. ♥️🧡💛

It’s been an awful weather day today. It’s rained so much and the wind picked up as the day went on. Bertie Beetle was slapped with orange, red and yellow leaves all the way home. It was raining and swirling autumnal leaves. 🍁 🍂🍁🍂🍁

It was really dramatic. The sky was dark navy blue, heavy with rain but there was light that highlighted the colours of the leaves… jeez who even am I these days?!? I have no photos so I have to be descriptive!

I can’t believe it’s November already…. Where has the year gone?!?

I’ve been awake since 4.52am and went into work early as I still have so much to do. I got a fair chunk of it started today which is something. It was a another blast of a day that disappeared in a heartbeat.

So some of the many dogs that we seem to have, seem to be moulting again… Craig’s just brushed Freya….

How can she even have that much extra hair?! I don’t remember two winter moults before but hey… they seem to come as a surprise to me every time they start moulting. 😂

So…. I’ve made a lovely dinner and scoffed it all up and am seriously thinking of trying an extended fast this weekend…. I’m putting it out here and I may not manage it. I feel super positive about it. I’ve read up on it, watched YouTube videos and am well aware of what to expect…. And I’m still going to try it.

Today I was asked why….. I’m not sure I have any idea, really. I just want to. It feels right. I usually want to shove everything in my mouth 24 hours a day. Time limiting it means that I can take control of my calorie intake. I have a lot of willpower when I put my mind to something. I don’t give in easily.

So who knows what this might bring. I might say all of this and cave at lunchtime tomorrow.

Please don’t worry about me as this is very good for your body. My body can cope, it knows how to manage this. Our bodies were built for periods of famine and feast..

It’s just my head that will hurt. It’s the brain that tries to tell you otherwise.

I promise if it gets too much I will stop.

I have a very quiet weekend planned with a list of things that I can catch up with in the house so I’m not putting myself through too much.

One day at a time and just see how it goes.

Stay safe everyone 🍁🍂🍁