Tuesday 5 January 2016

It's a New Day

To be perfectly honest 2015 has been a bit of a bummer. 
  • I decided to take voluntary redundancy.  Although I'm viewing this decision as a positive, this is a bit of making the best of a difficult situation caused by massive budget cuts.
  • I have had a few health issues associated with the menopause.
  • The company Jean-Luc works in is subject to a hostile take-over.
  • My father died.
  • Our village flooded. Badly. On Boxing Day.
.Well it's 2016 now and I'm expecting much better things from this year thank you.
I have three months until I leave work and I have quite a lot to get ready beforehand.  Not only do I have a few work projects to finish up and some handing over to prepare for and do; on the domestic front i also have some preparations.  
I have to sit down and do some detailed budget reviews and planning - I've done some already but I feel the need to delve deeper into our household accounts and do some fine tuning.
I have a few supplies I want to lay in and some things I want/ need to buy while I still have a regular wage coming in; including some new glasses and a new winter coat - my current coat has what has turned out to be an unrepairable hole on the shoulder.

 A christmas present - some delicious yarn from Attic 24 - the crochet hook is already in use.

I also want to plan for my time off.  I have some largish projects I want to do - such as clearing out and repainting the pantry; and a long list of things I want to try, such as getting to grips with baking bread, optimising our veggie production, lots and lots of quilting, crochet and knitting, learning to use Pearl my sewing machine and making some clothes, improving my soap making, more organised foraging and a whole load of preserving experiments.  I'd also like to learn to make cheese properly.
Not bad for three months!
I know that some things will not get done but I don't want to get to the end of my three months and realise I've done nothing with this wonderful opportunity.  I'm hoping some planning will help me make the most of it.

My christmas present from Jean-Luc - a Japanese puzzle box.
I haven't solved it yet and it is absolutely beautiful.
Here's to solving some beautiful puzzles over the next year.

4 comments:

  1. Wow - your list of goals is a thing of beauty. Good luck with it all. I hope 2016 will be a better year for you in every way.

    P.S. Breadbaking is easy - don't let it scare you. :)

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  2. Whata beautiful box!

    You have a lot of goals for 2016...you put me to shame!!

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  3. You certainly will be a busy lady. I haven't begun to think of any goals yet. I hope 2016 is a great year for you. I hope the flooding is under control. What beautiful colors of yarn! Can't wait to see it done.
    Carol

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  4. I know.. my list is excessive but I know just how fortunate I am to have this opportunity and I have a real fear of waking up at the end of my three months off and finding I've frittered it away on day dreaming and feeling that I've somehow wasted it. I don't expect to do everything but I want to be able to look back and see I've done 'something' - whatever that might be. :-)

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