My week in review

                                

This post is coming a little late today, for a few reasons, the first is I completely forgot that I was meant to make the banner for this yesterday, which meant I then had to rush to do it this morning.

The second reason is I've strained something in the back of my neck and sitting at the computer too long aggravates it and makes it quite sore, so I had to take a break,  between the making of the banner and the writing of the post.

So what's been going on in the Solheim house, this week? 

Kye is still doing a great job dragging his heels when it comes to his work.

 This week he has been primarily working on his times tables and he's not a fan of those and I don't blame him really, I loathed them too when I was younger. So I can understand why he's dragging it out. That said this is an area the hubby feels is really important for him to learn and so I'm giving it my all to help Kye get to grips with it. 

If you have any tips for making the learning process easier, with regards to times tables, please let me know in the comments below, both Kye and I would really appreciate it. 

Talking of comments, I have been so bad this week at getting around everyone's blogs and responding to your lovely comments here on my own blog. I will get to it, don't worry about that, you're just going to have to bear with me till I'm feeling a bit better. 

Now, I already told you about my neck, but sadly that's not the only health issue I have this week. In fact, it feels as if my body is well and truly out to get me, right now. 

My back has been kicking out pain in a really bad way for most of this week. It's not fun, but I find I cope better with that than other things, I guess because I've become used to, it over time. 

What I haven't been coping very well with is my chest. All through December, I had a cold that would be bad for a few days then would seem to get better and even go away completely for a few days before coming back again. It was driving me mad, but I put it down to being worn out as I was having trouble sleeping at the time. 

When my sleep patterns got back to normal, I figured that would sort itself out too. Sadly it didn't and throughout this month, I have had problems with mucus building up in my chest that has got so bad that it has been making me very short of breath and my chest very tight. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and have now been put on antibiotics to try and clear my chest. The doctor seemed very concerned because normally in a situation like this you would be coughing up mucus and I haven't, it just isn't clearing out at all. 

When I was 16, I was rushed to hospital, where doctors told my mother that they didn't think I would survive the night. Turned out, I had double pneumonia. Now clearly, I did survive the night, but ever since I've been warned that because I have had such serious pneumonia before that I am more at risk of getting it again and this was the doctors main concern when I spoke to him yesterday. 

I've now been put on antibiotics, but if that doesn't clear the mucus I have to go straight back to the doctors because if it sits on my chest too long I could end up very unwell indeed. So at the moment I am keeping everything crossed that the antibiotics work. 

In other news, my darling husband broke the LCD screen on my IPad last night. Then sheepishly put off telling me, until he couldn't any longer because I was asking for it. I guess he figured I'd go spare, I'm pleased to say he was wrong, because I was very calm about the whole thing, even if I did tease him the rest of the night. His wallets now £40 lighter, as he's had to buy an LCD screen replacement, but thankfully he's a very handy sort of guy and can repair it himself. 

I couldn't be too tough of him though, because this week he got me a pretty early valentines/anniversary gift, in the form of my new kindle and case. My old kindles been black screening on me and though the black does seem to disappear after a while, it was incredibly frustrating. My kindle has done well though I brought it back when kindles first came out and I know a lot of kindles have been broken or died a lot quicker than my old one, so I'm pretty proud of it. 

I love the touch screen on my new kindle which I wasn't sure that I would as well as the way that you can touch a word for a definition, which is great for my son, and also keep a record on the kindle itself of new words you come across, what a great way to improve your vocabulary. 

All in all this week,  I've actually been feeling pretty happy. Between the downs, there has still been a lot of giggles and laughs that's helped to keep my spirits up and although in some areas I have fallen behind a little, in others I have managed to stay on track and actually get ahead of where I intended to be. 

For example:

My planner set up is really working for me at the moment and is looking really nice, plus seeing everything laid out so clearly, really helps to keep me motivated. 

As you can see from my monthly tracker for January, I've really been keeping busy. 

Note the big forgot to record on blog commenting. The few times I was hoping around blogs, I totally forgot I was meant to be marking it down. 

As for my word counts, I also keep them in my dodo pad. So don't tend to write them in here till mid month or the end of the month. 

Another area where I'm really proud of myself is my reading. I am well ahead of where I intended to be at this point and have already managed to get through 10 of the books I intended to read and review this month. Look at all those shades in hearts! 

                                       

Which reminds me, I've always thought of pukka pads, as pretty good pads. That said, the pukka pad I am using at the moment is anything but, check out the bleed through...

                                           

And that's from a pen that doesn't normally bleed through too badly. Even when I switched to a basic Biro, the bleed through was terrible. Meaning if I use a pen, I have to tape quotes to the back of the pages to hide all the bleed through.

The result, I've taken to writing in pencil most of the time. It's the only thing that doesn't bleed through. Not happy!!! 

I'm not going to waste money replacing it, mainly because I am trying not to just spend, spend, spend all the time, but I will be glad to reach the end of this pad because it's really annoying me. 

So what else has been going on Thai week, well, we've signed up for our first steam rally of the year. It's not till April but it's something to get excited about. 

And I signed up to probably the best app I have ever had. It's called Babylon and for £4:99 a month, you can have as many consultations with a real doctor as you want, via a phone or video call consultation. If it wasn't for this app I probably wouldn't have done anything about my chest. Instead. I booked a consultation that took seconds and was able to talk to a doctor the same day. Being able to talk to a doctor in my own home was great and my Perscription will even be delivered to my door although you have the option to collect it from a pharmacy of your choice too. 

Now naturally, if you need a physical examination you need to go and see your regular doctor at your local practice, but for minor things or if your not sure if your health issues warrant a trip to the doctors, this service is great. 

With my chest he was able to diagnose me through the app; however, if the antibiotics don't help I will need to go into my local practice so that my chest can be listened to and the next course of action be taken. 

Having anxiety disorder this app is brilliant for me, it means I know longer have to sit around worrying when something is wrong because I am too scared to go to the doctors and I think should the Babylon doctor feel that I do need to go in, knowing that it could be something to worry about that needs to be looked at further will help me fight my anxiety and get it done. 

Well that's it from me for now. I hope you've had a good week and I look forward to reading your comments below. 

Love and hugs

Joss xx 

P.s. If this is a bit rambling, I apologise, but my poor health at the minute is wearing me out and I'm a bit blah this evening. 

For the love of cuteness!

I woke up this morning, looked at my calendar and saw Blog post and I thought "oh no, what am I going to blog about today."

It wasn't that I didn't have anything on my "Things to blog about list" because I did. There was the beautiful bookcase my husband got me for Christmas, and a whole heap of other cute stuff I have been gathering about me of late as well as some family news.  Well, I decided in the end that I would cover it all to a degree as well as throw in some little extra tip bits along the way.


So first off, my canopy on my mobility scooter nearly came off yesterday in the terrible wind we had. I've always worried about that canopy and was scared out of my wits when it nearly took off. All it took was a gust of wind forcing it's way in beside the perspex sheet at the front and it nearly lifted the whole thing off. Well, I have had it with that thing now. I'd rather get wet than deal with the stress of it, so it's going to be sold and Speedy McNipster and I shall brave the elements alone. :)


Something I am hoping my new bag can cope with, given I did not consider waterproofness as a necessity. Hay, when I bought it I had a canopy I wasn't too afraid to use. (Really I am just using this as an excuse to move on to all the cute stuff inside my bag although the bag is indeed not waterproof yikes.)

Eshow Men's
 Casual Flapover
Canvas Cross Body Messenger Bag, Brown

 Now, due to having to use crutches sometimes. (also cute! hehe) I have t have a bag that is as none cutesie as possible, because my husband will not carry it if it can in any way be considered cute. GRRRRR!!!!

Bring on the plain boring bag tp the left.

Ok, so it's not that bad and I do still like it but it is not as bright and cheerful as I might have choose, given the choice.

So, naturally I had to make up for this lack of cuteness on the outside by filling the inside with cuteness beyond measure.

Filofax time YAY!!!!

Yes, I am still loving my Filofax, I have the A5 Domino, patent, in the Hot Pink. It is beautiful and feels great to hold too which I love. Plus I really like the elastic, which I didn't think I would.

Isn't it beautiful, even if it does blend in somewhat with the awesome hot pink blanket. My lovely mother-in-law got me for Christmas and which everyone keeps trying to steal. dogs, cats, SAMMY!!!!!

Well, my Filofax has become a real labour of love, it's something that you have to play around with until you find what works for you and be warned it can become incredibly addictive. 

I have spent a bit too much money already on my cuteness parade and so I opted for creating my own tab sheets among other things, but I'll give you a a bit of a walkthrough of what I have done so far. 

So this is what you will see when you open up the cover of my Filofax. Post-it reminders on the left. Some doggy I-clips there also as they are good for holding the long todo lists I keep at the back of my Filofax in place. Some spare note paper in the build in pocket and then in the clear plastic pocket. Photo's of my hubby (it looks like a mug shot, I really need to get a better one in there) and my son when he was just a babe, along with some flags and the post-its.

Behind them is the  sheet I made for my spare I-Clips. I didn't take too much time over this as it was just somewhere to store my I-Clips, but I might make it better at a later date. For those of you who don't I-Clips are like little magnetic markers/ bookmarks.

This is my meals, tab, behind this is where I do all my menu planning. From here I can keep track of what we are eating for the week, what I need to buy in the shopping for those meals as well as in general, what items I need to pick up from the farm shop and also my favourite recipes. 

The"this will be the year" page was part of a free print out set I found. That came with all sorts of goodies, including a yearly planner, which I actually have behind this tab. It also came with month on one-page calendar which my son is enjoying using at the moment. There was so much more too, so if you want to take a look and maybe print some of the items off yourself you can find them here.  I also have my bucket list behind this page too. 

Next is my to do list tab. Which I probably doesn't need any explanation. I am not to happy with this one and think I might change it. It just didn't come out quite how I wanted, but we shall see. 

This is my Todo list itself. I keep mainly things that I do on a regular basis here. So normally they would have four rows of seven for roughly a months worth of ticks, but having only started using this method two weeks ago. January only has that on it. I keep things abbreviated and have a sheet that reminds me what things stand for and things I complete, like books I am reading. I cross through with little lines as you can see with the SE, EIM and FL todo's :) So the circles are Monday through Friday and I just colour them in if I completed the task on that day. This  show's I am slacking on my WIP oops. 

Then there is my notes tab. I love this and doubt I will ever change it. Behind this, I keep my lists for my reading challenges. A wish list. A list of books I want to read. My son's attendance record. I like to keep track of this as he suffers from asthma pretty bad and this means he can at times miss quite a bit of school. 

Next is my gratitude journal. I absolutely love this. the idea behind it is that at the end of each day you right what you are thankful for inside and that keeps you thinking positive, which is always a good thing right. I used print outs that I absolutely love for this. They come in black and white but with a little bit of effort you can make them all colourful like mine. :) Want some? Then go and find them here.

The calendar tab is next.  This one took me hardly anytime at all to make, it's simple but I like it, plus I can pull the post-it for the year off, come the new year and easily replace it. So I don't need to make a whole new divider. 

Year at a glance next. (sorry for the shadows on these pictures but my Kitchen light is sadly in the wrong spot.) I just pop colour coded dots on here for when something important is happening, or little lines across the corner of the square if my son has a school holiday that day. It's pretty straight forward and means if I am in a rush I can quick glance to see if anything important is happening that day. 

Month on two pages next. This really works the same as the year above so I really don't know if I am going to keep it in or not. The only plus point is I can actually write what the event is here but really as I just glance at my main calendar that isn't needed.

My main Calendar is a week on two pages and yep, that is this week. It's been a busy one. As you can see my goal to be more productive is going well. Everything I want to get done during the day goes down here. On Sundays, I plan my week out but I also add to this as I go through the days. I'm pleased to say that for the most part I am achieving all the goals I set. Just working on my WIP to improve on. I plan to make the first priority next week.

My weight loss journal is next. You might recognise the picture. It was one I used on my blog recently. It was created for the blog originally, but I thought it would work great as a divider  Behind it I currently just track my weight but I might start to track stuff to do with my weight loss too, like what I am eating. This week I lost 2 pounds. Which given I had quite a few cheats. Isn't too shabby.

Next is my tab for the Bible study I am doing with Proverbs 31 ministry called "keep it Shut."
Notes from that are naturally kept behind this as well as the daily pray they gave us.










There are a few other sections to my Filofax although I have yet to finish making the tabs for them. They are a blog section for all my blog ideas, plans and such. There is also a writing section for story idea's and other writing related items. At the back, I have my to-do list pad for the one off items that I just rip a sheet off and post at the front of my planner as needed and a little clipped on plain notepad too.

So that's my Filofax and the course of my new Filofax addiction. Do you have a Filofax addiction too? Or have you never had a filofax and think perhaps you might like one? Maybe dare I say it, you tried Filofax and couldn't get on with it? Whatever the case I would love to hear from you and hay, if you have a filofax you don't love, I am more than happy to take it off your hands ;) Gotta be worth a try right.

Next up in my cute-fest is my new pencil case, who's sole purpose is to hold all my pens, that I use with my Filofax, along with a few page flags too. I loved the dreamer written on the front, because that is me to a T, and all the artwork too. Just a beautiful pencil case. This is a Santoro's gorjuss pencil case. Encase you want to look for one and just to clarify. I am not being paid to advertise any of this stuff on my page. I am showing it because they are items I have bought and am proud of and thus would just like to share with you guys, because they bring me joy. 

And the back of my pencil case, also gorjuss.

Next is my I-pad case. I can't for the life of me remember the name of this now but I got it off Amazon so type in cute I-pad case and it should come up. Hubby is not so keen on this one because he does like to use my I-pad a lot. I have this on an I-pad air, but I do believe they had them for several different I-pads but you would have to check. 

This is my newest Filofax which I actually won in a competition, it's the Filofax Petal Pocket organiser in Pink. There is not a lot going on in this one just yet as I have only just got it, but I intend to use it to keep a record of my son's behaviour as we are currently trying to determine if he has ADD or ADHD and it's a really nice size for this.

Another item from Amazon that I can no longer remember the make of. Is my I-phone 5 case. I love, love, love this. I did consider getting the one that matched my I-pad case, but I have a bit of a thing for butterflies and saw this and just had to get it.

And that brings us to the final item you are likely to find in my bag. Well, beside my Kindle or possibly a paperback and yes, my Kindle case has pink in it too.

This is my new wallet. I am loving these longer wallets right now and bought a longer one for my friend for Christmas too. They just feel so good in the hand and I just love them. Especially as they are no longer old fuddy duddy designs. This one is made by Samilon and I suspect will be in my bag for years to come.

So that's what's in my bag. How about you? Do you like things cute, stylish or perhaps you just go for practicality over style? what ever the case I'd love to hear from you. So be sure to leave a comment.


According to Grammerly, there are 24 mistakes in this blog post. If it weren't so late, I'd fix them, but I think you are just going to take me as is on this one, because I have loads to do and not enough time to do it, due to a sudden and unplanned day out with family. Still life is for living right.

Here's wishing your weekends are going great.

love and hugs
Joss xxx