Life is good and I'm happy.  Mainly because of I've realised that I don't have to do things in order to enjoy myself and relax.    Boy, it feels good to just 'be' and 'do' without guilt.  When I worked outside the home I spent an amount of time on housework and related stuff like that.  For some reason ever since I retired I thought I should spend my time cleaning and doing. Duh.  The time I spent at work can be 'me time' and now that I think that way it's amazing.

I coloured my hair a different colour today, a purpley red that is gorgeous.  I love it, Chel chose it for me.  Good choice on her part methinks.

And I've almost finished doing my nails.  I've used a do it yourself acryllc tips kit. It worked out pretty well although I haven't added a coloured varnish yet.  I  forgot how hard typing is with long nails......and it will be interesting seeing how long these last compared to professionally done ones.  These are far cheaper by far.  Watch this space.  I'll try to remember to post an update eventually.

Today was changeover day for our phone and broadband supplier.  As far as I can tell it all went well.  We are now up and running with O2. Fingers crossed.

Andy is happy so far in his new job. It's strange having him home about 4.30 every afternoon though but it's great having him so happy.




 
I'd written a bunch then Firefox decided to crash or something and I lost what I'd done. That is a pain in the neck way down at the lower part of the back.  I'll try to remember what I was saying. 

Easter has been and gone.  It's the first time in about 12 years that we have all had the full Bank Holiday off together.  Our friend Helen was kind enough to come in and see to the dogs so we could go out for the day on Saturday without having to watch the clock.  We had a lovely day at Chester Zoo, one of the best I've seen.  They have plenty of room for the animals, try to stimulate them and simulate their conditions in teh wild as much as possible.  The weather was ideal, not too hot, cold, windy or wet.  Nor was it crowded = bonus.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about why I feel the need to 'work' all the time.  To explain what I mean, I can't enjoy myself reading or playing in general if there is housework to be done.  No matter how good I leave it at night, and how nice it looks, I always feel that I 'should' be doing something useful.  How stupid is that?  Sure, there is always something to be done if I look for it, (or even if I don't) but this is taking the work ethic thing too far.  I'm trying now to live in the moment and am finding it wonderful.  Instead of daydreaming, I try to stay aware of what is going on around me.  And part of that is realising that I do not have to be using every minute to work, but have earned the right to do things I enjoy without feeling guilty about it.  That isn't to say that I can just play all day every day, but there is a happy medium.  Way hay, new ground for me.  Let me add here that no one pressures me to do anything.  Andy and Chel like me to relax and enjoy life.  All this is self imposed and I'm working out where it comes from and why, although those answers don't really matter.  It's the behavioural/thinking changes that
are important to me.

Also, when I'm in pain I go to bed for a while.  I can get comfy on my pillows and let the pain ease.  I may/may not fall asleep but it seems to be doing me good.  I still take the meds but taking the pressure off my neck and shoulders seems to help a lot. 

And now I'm off to bed for the night before it gets silly late.  I will just 'put the downstairs to bed' before I go up so I can come down to a nicer place in the morning.  This makes me feel good.......



 
A lot of trees are in blossom and more are flowering daily.  There are daffs in the garden, and grape hyacinths and plenty of tulips getting ready to bloom.  I love the spring, seeing everything coming to life.  To watch the trees when you can notice the changes every few days from twigs to a hint of colour at the ends, to tiny leaf buds, then little leaves etc.  It's the beauty that gets to me.

I'm well and happy.  Busy but happy.  I've been mixing with people more, online and in real life and that is good for me.    I seem to be always busy but I've also been sleeping a lot.  I get up earlier but have an afternoon nap.  Must be doing me good though.

Chel often has the radio on in her car when we are out and about.  I've started to listen to the same station when I'm busy around the house and am finding my joy in that again.  Current fave is Bruno Mars.  There's just something about his voice and music that I like.

Last night we put Sky Arts channel on to watch/listen to Andre Rieu.  Well, he got me in  floods of tears with his solo of Brahams Lullaby.  I've just found someone playing it on a harp on YouTube.  I used to sing it to my children all those years ago and haven't heard it or remembered it for years.  I really think music is the language of my soul.  It can affect me so deeply.

Jess dog ate my grapes this afternoon while we were out.  Don't even wonder why they were on top of the printer at the back of the desk.......but she got 'em and ate 'em all up.  I wanted them.  That's why I bought them after all.  They were exceptionally nice ones as well.  Trouble with a tall dog, and a lurcher certainly is that.  As a former lucher owner said, they are designed like a giraffe.  (Thanks for that Maggie.)  No matter what she does we can't really get too annoyed with her - and Stevie loves her too.    One night she woke Chel by trying to curl up in a laundry basket of clothes in her room.  Pretty funny.   I caught her trying to get up on a shelf in a cupboard because something was on her bed.....she is soooo funny.  And very loving too.

Well, that's it for tonight.  My bed is calling loudly so I'll go keep it company. 
Thank you for reading this blog, BTW.