I thought a good idea was to look back at the week and reflect on what I’d done and if I had achieved what I set out too. Did I walk somewhere I hadn’t been before? Have I been mindful? Did my day have purpose? I was going to write this last night but I became distracted by the Saints – Rams NFC Championship game in the NFL. Rams won – yey!
Monday – managed to book all holiday things that are budgeted for the year. We’re off camping in Holland this year and we’ve booked direct with the campsite. When entering our address, the UK didn’t exist on the drop down menu (my husband helpfully suggested I try Britain, Great Britain, England, maybe it wasn’t listed alphabetically etc.). It did however have Norfolk and the Isle of Man as options. A little curious, but I went with the latter – the Isle of Man is close enough to Cumbria! Made lunch for the week – sweet potato cakes and a brussel sprout salad with new potatoes. Mindful of trying out new things in all those veggie and vegan cook books I bought last year. Turned out nice!
Tuesday – grotty day. Felt ill thanks to hubby so I watched Bad Moms which was just what I needed. I did manage to tidy out all the cleaning stuff a la Marie Kondo (read the book before you watch the Netflix series – it’ll make more sense trust me). I seemed a bit more enthused than hubby! Did manage to get out and play netball later on and we won 26-20 – only one defeat since September. GO RED DRAGONS! Not much walking so far but netball definitely helped get my step count up. Hubby got home from work at 6 after a 2 and a half hour journey home looking like death.. the only words he could get out in between coughs before going to bed were ‘Lemsip’.
Wednesday – spent the morning at the allotment. Also did my first stint of volunteering for odd jobs at the school. I helped to take the book shelves down in the library and half put them up somewhere else. Although I did feel like I was more of a hinderance than a help, especially when the guy I was with insisted I go ask the secretary for a brew!
Thursday – big walk day up Walla Crag (see previous blog). Definitely a big tick on what I want to achieve. 6 miles walking and plenty of mindfulness had – the Cumbrian fells are and always will be a great place to clear my head and I’d not done Walla Crag before so it was great to add another Wainwright to the list. Later on it was cauliflower steak with cauliflower rice – the steak was alright but why have I not introduced a cauliflower to my food processor until now? The cauliflower rice was delicious with a bit of onion, garlic and chilli! I think I need to blend more stuff.
Friday – car insurance, zzzzz!!! On recommendation from my friend, I tried the Joe Wicks work out on Alexa. I feel like Alexa is one of those things you have but never really use it to its full potential. Ultimately we’ve used our Echo to play the radio, do fart noises and do a disney princess quiz (which I schooled my 6 year old daughter and husband at). But it turns out you can do loads of stuff with an Alexa. I also did some stretching and then the work out. Hubby watched on (yes, he’s still suffering with man flu) with a look of pity on his face. But it did make me mindful about the amount and variety of exercise I’ve been getting. Definitely do more of that plus I’ve hooked my Headspace account up to the Alexa too. Probably doesn’t exactly go with the chippy tea we had later on!
Saturday – mindful again of my work out thanks to the aching in my shoulders and arms. Upper body strength is not something I have in bucket loads that’s for sure. Went on a walk with my 6 year old in the morning. Took her on one that I had found a couple of weeks before. It was a great walk – she talked the whole 4 miles but the things she was talking about were certainly varied and it’s the only time I really find out what she’s been up to at school. Turns out her and her friend have started a club. Ghost club. There’s 3 levels within the club (bronze, silver, gold) and certain things you have to do to enable you to move up a level. Gold involves slaying the king ghost, whereas bronze you have to capture a ghost called Mr Spaghetti Pants. I asked how I could join Ghost club, but she said the first rule of Ghost club is she couldn’t talk about it, I pointed out that she had already been talking about it so she corrected me, the first rule of Ghost club is she can’t talk about membership rules for Ghost club. Then I found out hubby is a member! After the walk I bought some popcorn for film night, the kind you put in the microwave which was a revelation to my daughter.
Sunday – a lot of time spent in the car but that was to go and see a puppy! As I drove I started to wonder if I’d ever find out more about Ghost club membership admin rules! Anyway, the puppy! Eek! A little mini schnauzer just like we had when I was younger. Both me and daughter were smitten (hubby still too ill to get out the house so stopped at home in bed). Afterwards we went to see old friends and their kids for a couple of hours which was really nice. Mindful of trying to see more of people at the weekends – really nice catching up. That was followed by American Football and a late night!
Stats for the week – miles walked = 9.7, total steps = 86,000, minutes meditated = 0. Got the miles in but didn’t take the time to meditate per se. But writing this down does make me feel like I’ve tried to be mindful in other ways – eating healthy (mostly!), spending time helping others, getting exercise and spending time with friends. I think I’ve packed a lot in, let’s see what this following week brings!
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Mindfell Walker 