Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Today I'm thankful for Saturday morning sleep ins, because I'm really not good at mornings. My plan this week was to start waking up at 6am, and I haven't made good progress so far, but hey, there's always tomorrow!

(image from http://uppercasemagazine.com)

Anyway I think it's good to ensure you get the sleep you need, and I am pretty renowned for having power naps. I never get sick anymore, (touch wood), because as soon as I feel run down, I sleep, and it seems to keep my immune system ticking along happily. 

I owe a lot of this napping style to my sweet Dad, who has always felt relaxed about taking a nap when one is needed. He is a night owl like me, and compensates for lack of night sleep hours by crashing out during the day when he can.

I also owe my belief in napping to the incredible SARK, a writer of colourful self-help books who wrote this one to my utter delight:

If you're into napping, this book will help free you of guilt. I've had my own copy for years!

Anyway, who doesn't love the look of a welcoming bed?

(image from http://piajanebijkerk.com/)

In the 1001 Ways to Relax book, which is a fantastic book for ideas to beat stress, you can invite peaceful sleep by doing these things:

"Lay your head on a pillow or cushion to release anger and tension. Imagine it's a sponge sucking and absorbing all the tensions and frustrations out of your mind, like blotting paper, from which they evaporate into the air."

"Select your bedtime reading carefully. Current affairs can re-renergise your mind at the wrong time. Restrict yourself to poetry or fiction suitable for mulling over as you drift off to sleep."

(image from http://davidrobertsbooks.com)

"Never take work to bed! However tempting it may be to read a report in bed, this will blur the boundaries between work and rest, making it more difficult for you to switch off from work concerns when it's time for you to sleep."

"Make peace with the world before you go to sleep with a simple prayer of forgiveness for yourself and
anyone else who may have disturbed your equilibrium."

"Use images to prime restful sleep. Some people can cue pleasant dreams by meditating on a positive subject - a cherished friend, a much-loved landscape, or a masterpiece of art - for a few minutes before they go to bed. Choose a subject that evokes calm. Meditate on it before sleeping and after waking from nightmares to avoid slipping back into the same bad dreams."

Enjoy and celebrate sleep, and take that nap if you need it!

Linking up with Maxabella Loves 52 Weeks of Grateful.

and Rusty and Redone's Keep It Simple Saturday

 xx

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

I have been reading the most inspiring book by Mike George, called 1001 Ways to Relax. It has many wonderful ideas for taking the stress out of life and finding the perfect calm. Here is one I plan to enjoy today:

"Lie on the ground and gaze at the sky: From this perspective we can appreciate the true vastness of the sky as it arches above us, holding both the Earth and ourselves in its supportive embrace. We become more deeply aware of our intrinsic connection with the cosmos, the small but vital role we play in the order of nature."

This works well during the day, and at night.

Two totally different sights, but both encourage a feeling of awe!

Give yourself the opportunity today to look up to the skies, even for just a few minutes.

Go outside tonight with your family and lay on a blanket on the grass, looking up at the stars. Feel relaxation and serenity course through your body. Say a quiet prayer of thanks for the gift of life.

xx

I am linking up with 52 Weeks of Grateful at Maxabella Loves

and Keep It Simple Saturdays at Rusty and Redone.

A Project A Week - 4 projects in my journal

Just in case you were wondering if I'd managed to simplify my life at all, I'm bringing you 4 pages of my A Project A Week journal today.

Not to say that these projects are absolutely complete, but I've definitely made some progress!
This is the cover of the journal I am using:

And these are the introductory pages
(click on the pic to enlarge, if you like):

My first project was to update my blogs: Achieved!

The Second Project was to sort through my magazines - what a job! I went from 150 magazines down to 20. I'm pretty pleased with that, so this project is now finished and achieved!

Project Three involved going through my hard drive and external hard drive, to find, organise, and label all my photo folders, mainly so that I could find all the photos we have taken of our backyard over the years. My beautiful hubby has done so much work in the yard recently, that it is finally the yard we have always wanted! I will do a post soon, just about our Backyard Blitz,

so you can see all the Before and Afters. 

As I go back to work next week, Project Four has been about planning my year's overview for school, units of study, assessment folders, parent folders, the first week's daily workpad, and generally thinking of ways to make my classroom look fresh and appealing.

My next project is to plan my term's teaching in detail, and then I'm going to move onto doing some of my art for my etsy shop.

I can't wait! xx