It’s been very hard for me to ignore. 😆

It’s the football Europa League Final tonight and I am surrounded by some very proud Rangers fans. They are playing Eintracht Frankfurt, in Seville, after an amazing journey through the league. It’s stuff that dreams are made of.

I’ve just seen two Rangers tops walk past the front window as I write this! It’s everywhere.

So I’ve decided, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em so I’m going to watch the game tonight. It’s impossible not to get caught up in the excitement!

Craig came home from work, did a food shopping, cleaned the house, walked the dogs…. What’s not to love?! 🤭😆

I woke up at 3am this morning and couldn’t stop thinking… overthinking. I finally got back to sleep but then felt drugged when Craig’s alarm went off at 4.45am.

The Farm was really hard this morning! Lots of arm work. We were knackered after the class and sooooo got and sweaty.

I get into the shower. Wash hair. Shower.

NO TOWEL!!!!!!

Honestly…… I couldn’t believe it.

The morale of that story is when your gym bag feels light… it is light for a reason. I did a mental “clothes for work” scan… yup all there but the bag was light so something was missing!

I had to dry myself with my sweaty gym gear…. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Work went really quickly but I got loads done so all good.

So nothing else for it but to settle down with some pizza, alcohol free beers and some good friends and see how this goes down.

I soooo hope that they win. It would be pretty special.

Stay safe everyone 💙💙💙

It’s so lovely to get caught in a rain shower sometimes. It clears your head.

I walked out the door and the heavens opened. Too late to turn back, I just got wet.

It’s mild out there today so it was kinda warm rain…. Everything smelled so fresh and looked so green. This last week of rain has brought so much growth.

The sky is lovely despite the rain.

It’s been a testing day… I’ve been a bit too reactive to outside triggers but the triggers are all mine and mine to control.

It’s hard work being in my head sometimes. I think too much, worry too much, care to much, yeah all of the above. If I could switch it off I would have done it long before now.

Healthy eating still on track which is something! I’ve made every meal and eaten fruit and veg I’ve not eaten in months!

And not just for Tuesdays….

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Such a dull, dark, dreich day. It’s been dark since 5am… well obviously it was dark all night but you know…… 😆

There was a lunar eclipse last night.

Yup I missed it. 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🤦🏻‍♀️

To be fair it poured with rain all night and…. I was also asleep. It has rained almost all day. Super heavy at times.

I was very interested in this… strange feelings may arise….. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🙄😬🤣

I’ve felt so much better today. Only felt a bit dizzy at the Fit Body Farm this morning and that was totally understandable…. given the fact I was having to wheech myself up and down off the ground at a rate of knots!

It was hard this morning but I enjoyed it.

I honestly feel so much better now that I’m back. It was really hard getting up at 5am. I could have cried and felt really sorry for myself. Once I’m out the door it’s fine.

My head has been so much better today. I’ve had healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner! All prepared in advance. I actually smiled to myself as I served up dinner.

I dislike stir fry as much as I dislike period drama…. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣 I’m really enjoying this exploration of my likes and dislikes. Still not a huge fan of stir fry but it was tasty. Love that Bhruic and Freya were so excited by it.

I was super nervous this morning and yet it passed really quickly… I’m sure working out helps my mental health way more than I even thought possible. I’ve felt calm and in control of my emotions today. It’s such a relief after feeling so out of sorts yesterday.

I love this next one. 💜

And this….. just sums up my life!!

And I am more than happy to be Kermit the Frog 🐸

I’m finishing this with a big smile. Kermit the Frog… bring it on.

Stay safe everyone ♥️🐸♥️

Day 777 and that’s the best title I can come up with?!?!

My day started early and I sat out on the garden with the dogs for a bit… this is how my morning rolled.

There was a cool wind so I came back inside and put a Downton Abbey on, just to keep quiet until Craig got up. 🤭😬🤣

Claire messaged to see if I fancied a trip to Silverburn Shopping Centre as she knew I was heading to Braehead this morning to take some clothes back. Silverburn had the same shops so that sounded good to me.

I have this thing that I have to be there for shops opening. Not sure why I have that rule in my life but I do. If I don’t go first thing and be there before everyone else then there’s no point in going. If it gets busy then I was there first? 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 I subjected Claire to that rule this morning. 🫣

We had a lovely wander around and I took some clothes back and Claire got some amazing bargains. A successful trip all round.

We stopped for coffee in Starbucks and I had the most lovely piece of Pistachio loaf with raspberry icing and a Coconut decaf latte (of course the decaf was thanks to Claire as I always forget to ask for it!)

I’ve honestly not felt right since. I assumed at first they’d given me caffeine. I had a few head spinning dizzy spells towards the end of our time at the shops. I did actually say spizzy dells in my head when I was writing that and couldn’t figure out how to spell it… then corrected myself 🤣🤣🤣 I was scared I might fall over but they passed pretty quickly.

Something doesn’t feel right. I don’t feel Sick just occasionally my head is swimming.

I like the sound of this next one…

When we got home I lay down for an hour but couldn’t sleep. At least I rested.

I spent a bit of time up in the spare room separating out clothes and stuff for charity. I just don’t feel quite right. Uneasy, out of sorts.

I’m actually not irritated but I don’t quite know what to do with myself or where to put myself.

It must the 2 day weekend…. 🤷🏻‍♀️😆🤣🤣

I’ve had a lazy rest of day…. There’s a chance I think I have finished Downton Abbey!!! What will I do with the rest of my life 🙄😬🫢

We cooked roast chicken, potatoes and veg for dinner. Just how Sundays should be.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Will the real Julie please stand up?

I went to bed a slovenly, junk shovelling slob and woke up ready for action…. to take on the day and have taken back control of my fitness and healthy eating. Who knew that was gonna happen?!?

I have no idea what triggered this overnight, or, indeed, how long it may last. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve said so often that I seem to be better at things when I sneak up on them, surprise myself, rather than actually planning it.

I woke up at 6.30 something, went to the loo and back to bed and started thinking that there was a Saturday class at the Fit Body Farm that I could go to… I had no intentions of going…. I’d read a FB post last night where someone said they’d really enjoyed it yesterday and I knew it would be the same session.

I lay there and thought for 20 minutes.

I said the words to Craig… “I can’t believe I’m even saying this out loud but I’m thinking I could maybe have gone to the Farm this morning”. As soon as I said it I regretted it. As he said go, go, go, I cuddled into the covers and thought no way!!

But the seed was planted. At 6.50am I jumped out of bed to get ready. My plan was to hit the supermarket on the way back to get some food in too. 🥴😬

So yesterday’s carb fest seems to have been the last straw of my stuffing-my-face week.

It’s a lovely, watery looking sun but a quiet start to the weekend.

I am taking back control.

Now I’m not gonna lie, that was very hard work this morning, the first day back is always the worst…. But I did it and I can honestly say I’ve felt amazing as a result. (I say that lying on a bench in the garden thinking that I probably need a nap but it’s a different kind of tiredness. It’s not the lethargic feeling I’ve had this week, it’s a genuine tiredness because I did so much, so early).

I went straight from the Farm, very sweaty… to Aldi for a food shop and bought loads of healthy food. I felt like I was on a roll.

Came home and cleared out the fridge to put it all away… always hate that bit but needs must 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 and then I made a raspberry smoothie for breakfast. I mean, I’m impressed even if no-one else is.

Not gonna give you the recipe 🤣🤣 it was “ok”… did the job but tasted like a smoothie made without following a recipe.

Then I took the puppers out for a walk.

It’s a lovely morning after all the rain we’ve been having but it feels like everything has grown so much since I last walked round here. Even the drive to the gym has sprouted greenery over the last week.

I’ve never noticed this ancient gate before.

Back home and had my shower, washed and dried my hair and got a wee table set up in the back garden so I could work on stitching together my crochet blanket!!! I look like an old wummin ootside wi’ ma knitting’ 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 (Scottish accent necessary!)

I made a lovely salad lunch! Check me.

At 2.17pm precisely I cut the last end of wool! It’s finished!!

Hallelujah! I think this has been on the go for years. 😆 It’s in the washing machine now so I can square it all up to dry it.

Now what to start next??? I have been wondering aimlessly for the last hour and a half not sure what to do with myself. I’ve hung up a washing but thinking I might go find some other wool to start crocheting something else. I do have plenty of wool to be getting on with. 🫣🤭

I decided to make an early dinner instead… Prawn Pad Thai…. Forgot photos as it was so tasty. Followed by a wee Limoncello dessert. Ooooh I can taste the booze.

I haven’t cooked a single meal for over a week and here I am with 3 today.

I’m heading into Claire’s for a Nosecco and munchies evening…. Which sounds just lovely to me!

Happy Saturday night when it comes!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

I am actually like a volcano today. 🌋

There’s a sentence I never thought I would say.

A bubbling cauldron of molten lava is ready to spew. Could I be any more dramatic?!?

It’s Friday 13th today and for those of you who are superstitious, I found this rather lovely way of looking at it.

And also this…. Which did make me laugh!

I feel incredibly overwhelmed today. I am overthinking and worrying about things that haven’t even happened. Purely because things don’t seem to be going as smoothly as Little Miss Perfection Pants would like.

Now I know that there’s a chance a lot of this is down to my lack of exercise and very poor diet. A roll with egg and tattie scone for breakfast, chips and curry sauce for lunch and the odd cake thrown in along the way… I could just be buzzing with too many carbs.

I experienced a huge after lunch crash. My teeth feel like they are bleeding sugar, my body has blown up into my clothes and yet my mind is still racing around a 100 miles an hour.

It’s very, very loud inside my head.

I tried writing some of my worries down. it’s one of the techniques they advise and it does help.

It’s this simple. We are very lucky to be very busy at work and I’m all over the place trying to determine what we do for the best. It’s not even my sole decision but I’m just going to fill my head with worry.

Worry is such a waste of time.

I know that it’s only because I care.

I’m home now and we’re having a movie night tonight so I’m in my comfies all ready for a relaxing weekend.

Of course the anxiety has all gone now.

And this time last week we had just freed Abbie the Camper van from her mud pit so today has been way less stressful on the grand scheme of things 🤦🏻‍♀️😳😆

Let’s just put it down to being one of those days.

I hope you all have a lovely, calm weekend.

Say safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

I have no words of wisdom tonight. I’m tired. I woke really early and just lay and dozed until the alarm.

It was a busy day at work and I came straight home and got stuck into the housework. It had been neglected after our weekend away.

I did a quick run round and the house feels much better.

I just had Mini Cheddars and cheese for dinner… I know…. I’m still just self indulging. 🤣🤣 other call it being lazy!

I have to work tomorrow as we have a customer in and there as no one to cover. You know I hate a 5 day week but I need Friday and Monday next week for a weekend away. At least this gets my 2 day weekend out the way….. listen to me. I used to work 10-12 hour days and now I’m tired at the thought of a 5 day week. Funny how you change your mindset.

At least I have a 4 day weekend to look forward to next week!

That’s all from me! The washing’s ready to be hung up. Housework Thursday could become a thing. 😆

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

I woke up at 23.37 last night and worried I’d be awake all night… not so… up at 6.30am with the alarm.

I’m punishing myself a bit by not going to the Farm. My knee has been sore and I feel a bit down so I can’t be bothered making the effort. i can’t be bothered shopping, eating and looking after myself.

I know exactly why all of this is happening and that it’s a vicious circle. I feel more lethargic as a result of my bad diet but my bad diet helps me feel better at the time and cheers me up…. I think feel more lethargic after the sugar rush crashes.

I need to allow myself to rest and it’s ok to stuff my face sometimes but I wish I had a bit more willpower.

Anyway.. I was all over the place this morning at work. Very anxious. Overreacting to everything.

I’m bothered by something at work. I feel I could have done something better and I experience intense guilt at anything like that. Irritated by what’s gone wrong and think of a million things that might have presents a different outcome. I should say this is far from the end of the world but I realised mid morning that it was eating away at me.

It created an irritability, a panic that was bubbling over into everything else. The work I was trying to do today got the brunt of it. I didn’t trust my instincts and mistrusted any answer I gave.

As soon as I realised what was causing it, I relaxed.

I had a lovely lunch in the van but this time with my feet up!

The afternoon went much more smoothly. Jeez I can be hard work at times and today was one of these days.

My knee has been a million times better today so maybe it’s on the mend.

I went to bed after 5 when I got home as I was so tired. I got the electric blanket on and cooried in…. With 3 (bloody) Border Collies…. Who’s ears pricked up at every sound… but I must have conked out! Mum called and we had a good chat and she told me it was 6.50pm…. 10 minutes to crochet!!!!

I jumped out of bed, shoved clothes on and picked up my phone… only to find it was cancelled. I must have slept through that 😆🤣😘

So, with encouragement from the crochet girls, I’ve decided it’s ok to be self indulgent.

So cheese and biscuits it is… and Downton… yeah maybe some Downton… again.

Hmmm we have no biscuits… so cheese it is 🤣🤣🤣

Stay safe everyone 🧀🧀🧀

The whole point of my blog was to let people see that you can appear like you have it all, but things might not always be as they appear.

I have always been a very bubbly, happy person. I was always there to help others, to make other people feel happy and feel good about themselves but unbeknown to me at the time, I was chipping away at the old block and making myself very unwell as a result.

The girl who goes into her first “real” job after Uni and makes polite small talk as she knows if she gets her boss chatting and talking about their weekend or evening the night before, then they will be less likely to be snippy during the day. Encourage conversation out of them to get them on side. Ask lots of questions. Let them slowly bring you into their confidence. They are way less likely to shout at you if you are “friends”…. I can’t even begin to explain how much work that was. It wasn’t just with bosses. It was the same story with everyone else. I was working away in the background of my mind ALL the time.

I just wanted people to like me. For them to be pleased with me. Happy with things I had done or the way I had treated them. If I could control how other people around me were feeling, then I could control their influence on me.

I mean seriously…. Read that back a minute… if I could control how other people around me were feeling?!?!? Why did I even remotely think I could do that and yet I seemed to see it as my life’s purpose.

All the while…. Literally breaking up inside as over the years it got harder and harder to do. Let’s face it, it was an impossible task!

I know that’s this is a lovely photo but inside my heart was breaking. There was nothing wrong with my marriage, nothing wrong with the lovely house I lived in or our lovely dogs….. everything was wrong inside me. I could barely hold it together. I was so very, very sad.

I’d spent so much time trying to keep the world happy that I had nothing left… an empty shell. I started to think that everyone would be better off without me whinging and whining and being sad all the time.

Anyway I am so pleased to say that I am far removed from that now. It’s taken years of baby steps to build my confidence back up, but I am one of the lucky ones. I can say that I am still learning every day and no matter how bad things seem at times, I do need some reflection to remember that nothing is as bad as it was.

I’ve had the chance to unlearn everything that I thought was important and relearn what actually is.

I just want everyone to realise that we have no idea what other people are really thinking. What you see is not always what is.

I was loud, I was chatty, I wanted to be in the centre of everything. I wanted to be seen, be heard.

Now the opposite is true. I am quiet… and I love it. Quiet is my new strong.

Claire sent me this and it makes me laugh a lot…. It’s so very true!!

I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me as a result of The Rambling Sloth. It’s very good to talk and share how we are all feeling…

We all need to learn to live in the present moment and enjoy each moment of life for what it is… even when you get your Camper van stuck in the mud… Especially then! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

Stay safe everyone 💚💚💚

I actually had the best sleep. I only woke once at 4.21am with such a pain in my knee. I had to get up and take tablets it was so bad.

It ached all day yesterday. It seems to hurt more in bed, must be something to do with the way it bends when I’m lying down.

Anyway, up just before 8am to another lovely breakfast.

I walked down to the side of the River, this was under water yesterday!

The tent’s all gone!

I love this tree… took too many photos of it!

Craig tried to drive Abbie the camper van out of her spot and she was having none of it so I had to phone Willy the campsite owner again. 🤦🏻‍♀️

He had a sick Ewe to deal with and of course we told him we were in no rush. We took the dogs for a walk.

Up and over the bridge.

It’s a beautiful morning!

And all of a sudden Willy is back with his quad bike and he towed Craig straight out! The wheels spun all the way but they got there.

I woo hoo’d when they stopped! Willy said “come on now, you can’t say that wasn’t fun…” 🤦🏻‍♀️

🤣🤣🤣 “ok yeah… that wasn’t fun… at all!!”

Again so lovely of him to help us otherwise I’d be moving in there! Actually that sounds very lovely.

I scattered mud all over the road as I drove home.

Got everything unpacked and the van all cleaned out when we got back.

I’ve spent the WHOLE afternoon writing the blog and updating the photos from the previous few days.

I’m tired now. It’s been a testing weekend… emotionally… but we’ve had a great time other than that.

Highly recommend Catrine House Campsite. It’s truly beautiful and what a service!

It’s good to be home…. She says…. From bed… with an electric blanket on. Check me!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

I was about to say I didn’t have the best sleep last night….

But given the angle of the van it’s hardly surprising. It’s on an incline to the passenger side and downhill so I spent the night sliding into the near side wall and off the bottom of the bed. I had to climb my way back up the bed several times starting at 3.21am precisely…

So all in all it was actually a great sleep as I never really surfaced until 7.30 and this was the view out my window.

I never even heard them get up! What a view though eh?!

So first of all a few photos from last night.

It’s lovely here. The dogs are loving the freedom.

The sun came out and it was a lovely evening.

The fire was super toasty!

I loved watching the smoke billow up into the trees.

It’s getting dark it’s been a lovely long evening.

So we had bacon 🥓 in soft pitta for breakfast with coffee in the Jet Boil and decided to take the dogs for a big walk on the River Ayr to the Ballochmyle Cup and Ring Marks.

They are fascinating!

Craig took sneaky pics….

This is the 1751 inscription… Craig spotted it!

These next couple even look like they have ink still showing.

This rock is the other side of it, back on the main River Ayr Walk. Sadly graffitied now.

We start off on the woodland walk. This part is not actually alongside the river but much higher. You can look down on it.

We came up to the Ballochmyle Viaduct which was built from 1847-1848. There are 7 arches but the centre arch is the largest masonry railway arch in the UK.

This is the view point and to be honest, you can’t even see the 7 arches, let alone the span of the centre arch!!

This is us walking under one of the smaller ones.

There are beautiful bluebells everywhere.

Just like a carpet!

This photo doesn’t do it justice but it’s a really deep ravine don’t to the river.

Looking uphill there are fallen trees right across it. I did say to Craig we could recreate the Dirty Dancing movie scene on that flat log up there. Imagine falling off that?!?

We walked down into this field and I got a lovely gate photo in the sun.

The walk continues on through the style but we decided to turn around and head back.

We decided to turn up to the left to look for Kinencleugh Castle. We knew where it should be… but never actually got to it. The map didn’t take into account that there was a huge ravine in between our path at the castle. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

It was a lovely walk trying to find it though. Came across these giant badger lairs… or that’s what we assume they were. We had to cross them!

We got back on the River Walk path and headed back to the campsite.

The Catrine Show 2022 was being held in the field just across from us. It was fun to see them setting up and as we walked past we had a good nosy in at the cows, sheep and horses on show.

This lovely beach is just around the corner.

They all went for a paddle.

The bridge is stunning. The dogs have caused these ripples in the water.

Back at camp and the river has gone down a fair bit overnight. The dogs love going down paddling and it feels safer today!

Spot the Collie!

She who watches.

So I have swapped my camping gear and 3 Border Collies for lovely warm house, Downton Abbey on TV and the most gorgeous Gordon Setter, Elsie, for company!

She belongs to my friend Evelyn and they are out tonight so I am Elsie sitting.

I’m having the loveliest time (not even sure if that is English!) We went out for a walk in the park across the road and she got a bit of a fright when she saw this stag painting. I had to talk her through it and tell her it was ok! She was a good girl!

I then met a lovely lady and her dog Charlie and we had a lovely chat while the dogs had a blast!!!

Look at the lovely spread that I have for the evening! I’ve had some AF Gordon’s and tonic, some Ritz crackers and cheese and I am not opening the Maltesers as I will eat them all 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

Elsie was all worn out when we got back 😆🥰

She’s tired but a little bit sad when I leave.

It’s a good drive back to the campsite thought I’m scared to get there in the dark. Fear of getting stuck again. Craig walks

I’m back safe by 10.45pm and in front of the campfire again. It was a loverly interlude!

Off to sleep at a strange angle again!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

So the day starts well. To be fair it is pouring with rain but that doesn’t bother me in my van. I woke at 5.23am. Wide awake. I read for a bit then decided to go for an early shower.

I put the heater on to heat the van up for when I get back.

The campsite is lovely. There’s only one shower but it was lovely and warm and great to get in before everyone else gets up.

There are only 4 other vans on the site and no one is moving at 6.30am.

I get back to the van and there’s no heater working. I figure despite following all the “rules” around these heaters… maybe I didn’t actually switch it on so I try again. I make a coffee and sit down to enjoy it…. But it’s cold… the van that is, not the coffee.

I leave it because you shouldn’t be switching these heaters on and off loads….. they get very upset…. till about 15 minutes pass and I try again.

It’s 15C, I’m in my jammies and I’m cold. I have some cereal and decide since I’m still cold, just to pack up and head back home early. I was going to get my nails done today anyway as I couldn’t get another appointment. I have to be there for 10.30 so I went via the house to see if Craig needed anything brought down.

So toenails done and back down to the campsite. This is where it all goes a bit drastically wrong.

Now I may have said yesterday that Craig wanted to go to this site as they have a wild camping area down by the river. Willy who owns the campsite suggested we could have the tent on one half of the pitch with the van on the other. The pitch is right down on the River Ayr and it’s been raining heavily all night.

I reverse back down the small dirt track and I am so damn chuffed with myself… I don’t need Craig going left a bit, right a bit.. I get to where I want to be and reverse a bit further so I can pull up onto the spot I want to stop on.

Figured I’d be easier driving onto it than I would be reversing. How wrong could I be?!

Abbie the T5 heavy weight camper van slips about 10 inches to the left… towards the river and I am stuck. My cockiness comes back to bite me in the ass big time.

I took a photo after we both had a try but she just kept on slipping sideways.

We called Willy (the campsite owner) and he came down to save the day but honestly it took about 3 hours of hours. I was devastated I caused all that. At the time it seems like the most dramatic and terrifying thing in the world. Instead of staying calm, my anxiety had me in shock, half in tears, half shaking. Ridiculous looking back.

He basically dug her out…. With a shovel and bricks and complete patience.

He almost got her driven out completely when she slid sideways again and we were almost back to where we started.

The “leave no trace only footprints…. oh and loads of dug out gouges and tyre tracks” mantra ringing in my ears.

He decided that he was going to have to go use the quad bike to try and tow her out as digging wasn’t working.

Then starts the…. “Find the manual”…. “Where’s the front towing eye” …. All of which heightens my anxiety levels. You all know how well I react under pressure. We finally find it… a learning curve for us all… and thankfully I remember that I actually have the towing eye itself, in a bag in the back of the van.

So he threw some huge rocks on the front of the quad to give it weight and gently towed her out… Craig driving of course. I was far too scared to have that responsibility yet I felt dreadful for “making” Craig have to do it.

He then tried to tow her back into the correct position… by this time I just wanted to go back up to the main campsite. Or home maybe.

I was all over the place… just like the van.

Willy was so lovely all the time he worked on it. A calming influence telling me it would be ok and that he’d thought it might be worse when I called him…. He never complained.

This is where he left her and she’ll stay for the remainder of the weekend.

I’m puppy sitting tomorrow night so I’ll have to take Craig’s car for that… ain’t getting Abbie out now til Sunday.

So how do I feel…… absolutely shattered, exhausted, fearful, sad, you name any bad word and I’ll own it. I can’t take the “this could happen to anyone”…. I need to use it to beat myself up with.

Yet again I’ve proved that despite my love for camping… I struggle to cope with things that don’t go according to plan.

I’ve ruined the day. I’m stressed to the hilt, at the same time trying to soak up the atmosphere and breathe but I’m watching the dogs every move. Jumping at the slightest thing.

In a bid to get some kind of normality, Craig made a lovely dinner…

He had spicy wings and I had curried chicken breast on rocket.

The location is stunning. The river is much higher than it was last night. It’s dramatic and flowing like fizzing Coke due to the peat in the water.

I am trying to keep calm, trying not to worry, trying not to panic, trying not to snap at the slightest thing. This is meant to be fun….

I’m doing a lot of soul searching today. Questioning everything all because one thing happened that could have happened to anyone…. just not to anyone who would have had the common sense to reverse onto the pitch first. Hey you live and learn and today was a huge learning curve. If the road isn’t tarmac’d I ain’t driving it 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣🤣

None of the photos are loading but I’m publishing anyway… maybe they’ll come through. Maybe not. It’s the words that matter.

(It didn’t publish so I’m back home adding to this now!)

We took a wee walk further down the track and found this lovely wee hut that he lets out. It’s at the end of the path and so very private with only the river in front of you.

The puppers are allowed off lead down here and they are in their element.

I am, of course, waiting for any possible thing that could go wrong, to go wrong… another dog to appear, people to pass who don’t like dogs, I invent every scenario I can in my head.

None of that happens and we have a lovely evening. Especially when the dogs go to bed and finally I can switch off the ridiculously high alert status.

I am calm though slightly shaken. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣 and off to sleep at a 45degree angle!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Me again! Another lovely day camping but not enough signal to load any photos…

Home tomorrow so expect The Rambling Sloth camping spam to come soon…. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

Abbie the Campervan drama today so watch this space for when I get signal. Nothing every straightforward!!!

Stay safe everyone 🚐🚐🚐

Abbie the Campervan drama today so watch this space for when I get signal. Nothing every straightforward!!!

Stay safe everyone 🚐🚐🚐

I had the best sleep last night! Slept right until the 6.30am alarm. That’s only because I wanted to be up a bit earlier of course… 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

I had to finish packing the van AND drive to the Fit Body Farm to pick up my water bottle which I’d left yesterday…. Not the end of the world you might think but I do use it all the time and wanted it for my weekend away. Note to self…. Actually go and drink out of it now while you think about it so the trip seems worthwhile…. 🤣🤣

So I got to work at 8.04pm. It’s been a busy day but I finished bang on 4 and washed the van before I left on my wee overnight camping trip.

I’m in Catrine House campsite just outside Mauchline. Since I got here I have set up the van, been for a big explore….. cooked dinner, ate it and am now cooried up with an Alcohol Free Gin and tonic, some Dolly Moxtures and some Candied Stem Ginger shortbread… which is amazing. A present from Craig!

There are some stunning trees… all very different.

A wee exploring shelfie as Sean Connery would say…. 🙄😬🤣

The campsite is on the River Ayr Way which is a 44 mile path from Ayr to Glenbuck Loch.

I took this photo from a stunning old bridge that crosses the River Ayr but I don’t think I have any photos of the bridge itself!

The campsite also has wild camp pitches…. Craig will be staying in one of these tomorrow night. I may join him 🙄🥰

It would appear these are the on-site facilities down in the wild camp area…. 😬 maybe I’ll stay in the posh bit….

Wait till Calaidh, Bhruic and Freya meet this big guy tomorrow. He walked right over to me as I got the phone out to take a photo… no messing!!

Dinner was lemongrass and coconut prawn and noodle stir fry. I could have made this in the house all week but never fancied it. Yet it was so simple and very tasty.

And this is me now! At time of writing the Dolly mixtures and gin are gone and I’m two pieces of shortbread down.

I have my diesel heater on. A book to read and my crochet to work on but I am really content. It’s raining but that’s ok.

Getting up now to get some water to justify the fuel spent on the drive to get the water bottle 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

Stay safe everyone 🚐🏕♥️

Where on earth did that come from?! It was such a vivid dream last night. I honestly had a dream that my boss set up an explosion for a whole load of vans, hundreds of them and we decided to put Abbie the camper van in it and it ended up on its roof with the windows blown out and I was really sad…. I thought it was so true when I woke up! (Forgot to tell the boss that today… probably for the best.. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣).

Thankfully she was sitting outside the house ready for me this morning.

I actually drove to the Farm this morning and then on to work, marvelling at the reflections in the puddles as I drove over them.…

Now.. I hear myself there and even I think WTF…. But it’s a lovely place to be. I love appreciating everything around me when I am calm enough to see it.

It was all misty and full this morning after some heavy overnight rain, but everything is so green and fresh. May is obviously the month that everything grows. The hedgerows at the side of the road are blooming. The grass in the fields is starting to grow, it’s like everything is coming alive.

I’ve had a great day at work and achieved things I’ve been meaning to do for ages. Check me!

I can’t stress this enough. Gratitude is the answer to everything.

I am grateful for my day.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Wide awake at 5.30am on my lie in morning… of course I was. 🤣 I got up through the night as my knee was sore and it woke me.

I’d had a sore head from about 3pm yesterday and had taken tablets to try and clear it but nothing touched it.

This morning I felt my eyes were blurred… I couldn’t see clearly. Like reading without glasses on but my glasses were on. They were so sore I looked it up and self diagnosed…. Wait for it….. tension and anxiety…. Like I could have written that down 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣

I ended up eating my healthy lunch by mid morning and I did feel a bit better after that. I tried to drink some more water on the hope that would help.

It would seem the only real help was Mac n’cheese and chips that I ordered for lunch 🤦🏻‍♀️ it didn’t even taste great but I felt so much better after that!!

Needless to say my new size 14 jeans were less than impressed with 2 lunches and I felt like I was going to explode out of them all day…. It was such a relief to get home and into my jammies. 🫣🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

I’ve been on my feet since I got in…. Getting clothes and stuff ready for our wee weekend away. Soooo looking forward to the break.

I’ve had a lovely dinner as Claire popped in with a portion of pasta bolognese for me! I had a cheek to eat dinner but it was very tasty!

So I’ve now got my feet up and I’m not moving for the rest of the evening.

My friend Anne sent me this today and I really, really love it. I wish I could fix the world but have to be content with continuing to fix myself first.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

It was like pea soup this morning when I left for work…. I drove through fog on and off all the way there. At least the roads were quiet today as most people were off work for the Bank Holiday…. and fast asleep at that time or the morning. 🫣😬🤣

I was up at 5am and back to the Fit Body Farm…. There was a lot of running this morning. 🫣

Pleased to report that my knee held up and it hasn’t been sore today. Maybe foam rolling has helped it though I didn’t do enough of it…. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

Work was busy today but I got loads done.

I came home and went out with the dogs, gave them a good run. I’m amazed at how green everything is after the rain on Saturday. It’s so vibrant even under dark cloud.

I came home and made myself some dinner and I’ve actually logged my food on My Fitness Pal for the day….. Check me. How long will that last?!?

It will last as long as I fit into these size 14 skinny jeans. My whole body breathes a size of relief when they’re undone!!

Actually I just said that for the laugh…. I’m sitting watching Downton Abbey in them now so they can’t be that bad!

I did warn you that the blog would be dull today. All work and no play make blogging a dull…….. eh…. Can’t even think of a rhyme for it. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

I’m actually really tired tonight. Early night I reckon with a good book!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️