Wednesday 13 January 2016

joy

  






                                                         (words via here)





                                    In serious need of joy! 


 

Thursday 7 January 2016

2016













 ~ a trip to a beautiful place







  


~ new friends


~ destination: home



~  home


  




 ~ my new toy (I must have been a good girl )



 ~ back to school in a couple of days



Have a wonderful New Year!

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Happy Advent!




                                                        This is my favourite advent calendar. 
                                                    I always like revisiting it every year.



   
                                                     Happy December!

Thursday 4 June 2015

June 4th

                          

                                                          Is it really the 4th of June?

Where has the last month gone? One day I'm thinking -moaning and groaning -  it's still two months before the end of the school year and all this commuting, and today I realise it's less than two weeks!!!  Yay! Sometimes I hate it that time flies, say, when I'm thinking my son is 10 (10!!!) already, and sometimes I love it, like now.

 We're home today - my son woke up with a temperature and I  took today and tomorrow off to look after him. It's a slow day; he's doing ok. I'm doing ok. An unexpected gift of extra time - though I wanted to save the days off for the winter. Never mind. Today is here now.

Chicken soup is on the menu. Light and nutritious, for sick boys and trying-to-look-after-themselves mums.  I got distracted for a while. Remember my clean(s)ing plan? Slowly getting back on track.

Hubby is abroad for work this week. It's not the time to decline job offers. One of them is a six-month project abroad, starting in July. It's going to be hard on my little guy - and his dad, too. Me too, of course.

Summer holidays start soon. There's lots of driving planned - to my village, to the sea- and some flying probably.  I love travelling by plane and I love staying at hotels. But most of all, I love visiting new places.  There'll also be lots of rest and relaxation at my dad's yard, among the flowers I've planted in spring. They're doing great he's telling me.






Have a great summer!

Monday 4 May 2015

May










At last...
spring is here, weatherwise, too !
May is my favourite month
- with flowers blooming and birds singing...
I love it!

These flowers are at my dad's,
where I spent the long weekend,
planting tomatoes, peppers and other nutritious veggies
and enjoying the colours around the garden. 
Lots of green, pinks and reds and white as well. 

A little fragrant bunch came home with me
and greeted me happily a few minutes ago when I came home from work.

Enjoy May!

Yiota


Wednesday 22 April 2015

Sunday at home (on a Wednesday)

{reading about natural cleaning remedies in this book}


The first week after the holidays is always the longest one 
-at least, that's how it feels-
so I made sure I had plenty of rest and relaxation on Sunday and
some visuals for future reference (namely, a feeling-exhausted-mid-week afternoon, like today)
(Saturday was a housework day, so I won't bore you with the mundane,
though I also started organising and prettifying the balcony, which was fun).

Hubby was away, so it was just my son and me.
The weather was cloudy and chilly, a perfect day
for staying at home. 

Here are some moments of our Sunday at home for two.



 {breakfast}






                                                              {crafts - creative time}







                                   {lunch}                                                          



 {giving my seeds an identity}







  {getting ready for bed}



Have a great rest of the week!



Sunday 19 April 2015

spring clean(s)ing














 





I've never been much of a 'spring cleaning' person;
I've never had the patience or energy required for this.

So I just did a bit of cleaning here and a bit of decluttering there;
the result was a decent home but never a perfectly organised one.

Procrastinating is my middle name and as long as the flat is
clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy
it was fine by me!


This year something changed, though.
I'm not sure I can put it to words.
It's this need I have for simplifying;
for having less stuff,
having fewer obligations,
having more time for my family and for me.

So before going away for the Easter holidays, 
I looked around for inspiration
- blogs, pins, spring cleaning lists-
and kept some notes on my,
truly inspiring, Susan Branch wall calendar.
My biggest challenges were the bedroom walk-in closet,
the kitchen glass cabinet (it's huge) and the balconies.

I'm proud to say I managed to do them all.
There are still cupboards and drawers to be sorted out
but I have a plan
and a whole month ahead.
Of course, with schools starting again on Monday......
we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Wow! Look at how much I've already written.
And to think that it's the cleansing part I'm mostly 
interested in.
I'm trying to look after myself a bit (or rather a lot) more.
I eat healthily and try to walk as much as I can. 
(going to the gym is not an option for now)
I love seeing my fuel -salad-  all washed and ready to get in the fridge.
I make beautiful combinations; yes, beautiful.
I take my bowl to the study and search the net for spring images.

Finally, the most important part.
I seek inner peace.
I want to get rid of any past bitterness and find the strength in me to forgive.
I need to stop reproducing mean dialogues in my head.
It's the only way I can think of 
to move my life forward.
Cherishing the simple things and enjoying the gifts I was given.
Making others happy.
It's not easy. I've been through a tough period
and quite often I didn't even like myself.


So spring clean(s)ing it is, then.

Wish me luck
and do stop by.
I'll do my best to do so, too.

Take Care!
Yiota