:: Reflections on Sunday #17 ::

• My husband is on a shopping spree. Just before he went back to work after a two-month holiday, he updated his garderobe. I could tell why, there was quite some stuff that has had its time. But now he’s back, he sees nice clothes everywhere. And he got into online shopping. Not the ideal situation (he promised me to stop though). In my mind I’m already thinking about the christmas holidays and the almost inevitable spending that comes with it. I know people will ask what to get him. I know I want to give him something he likes and I can root for. I read a very interesting article on woolen shirts that need a lot less washing and now ironing. I already looked at the site and I know it’s exactly the style my husband likes. I might consider looking for the same materials, as I’m easily sweating since my last pregnancy…

• In my instagram saves, I found also a post about a French brand that makes belts of old tires: la vie est belt. I have a box with three leather belts my husband managed to destroy all in one week. We discovered there are barely any leather repair shops anymore. We had two closeby and they both stopped. Anyhow, I was intrigued by this brand. Upcycling, an interesting philoshopy and beautiful products. He might get one of these for Christmas.

• In my mission statement I wrote homebaked goodies were high on my priority list to make this place a safe haven, warm and cosy, especially during the fall that is setting in. I wanted to focus on simple cookies, and though I would find a plethora of cookbooks in the library that focus on cookies. Hmmm. I found only one (ironically one I removed from my personal collection), that makes 100 kinds of cookies with more or less the same dough. In my opinion, it’s especially the glaze and the aroma that’s different, but it has some good ideas. Luckily, there is always my go-to recipe for cookies. They’re espacially fun to decorate!

• I also finally gave in and got myself and Audible account. I first tried the American one, becaus you get two originals extra, but apparently you can only chose from a 6 book list and you don’t get to keep them. I mainly wanted to focus on surrounding myself with French, so I bought the French translation of Sapiens and then stopped my subscription, before I got to pay after the trial. Now I subscrined to the French version and I have a few interesting reads on my wishlist already. I’m used to podcasts, but audiobooks is something I was very hesitant about. My favorite podcasts are almost always two people discussions. An audiobook is read by one person and it does take some getting used to. But Sapiens is an interesting read, with just the right amount of repetition to stick and sice I started that, I started ironing again too! And… audible.fr is slightly cheaper per month, if you don’t care for the two extra originals.

What was on your mind this week?

:: let there be… a mission ::

Something must have clicked, because before I doozed off to sleep, I was allowing myself to make mental pictures of my ideal at home situation – mainly focusing on the kids. I decided to make a list (don’t you love lists) with the things that in my opinion would help make this place a cosy nest, glowing with warmth and solid connections. I focused mainly on what I could do and provide, and tried to incorporate things that are already happening.

Let there always be something homebaked to nibble on

Okay, I admit, that is really my perfectionist side coming through. Let me defend myself: I love cooking. I’ve never really had a thing for baking though, because I’m not that much of a sweet tooth. Enter my kids. Especially when they come home from school and they are hungry. Even with full lunchboxes and snacks they always seem on the edge of starvation the second they run through the front door at 3.30 pm. So I provide snacks. Fruit and a cookie or something similar. And I want that cookie to be homebaked for some reason. It just seems the perfect way to show some love. And they can help me bake in the weekends or on afternoons. And I’ll up my baking game. Nothing but wins here.

Let there always be something to read by someone who wants to read it

That’s a biggie and we are already good at it. My youngest quite often asks me to read alout, totally neglecting the screen. And now that my boy starts to read by himself, he does his own bedtime story just before I tell hem a chapter from a chapter book. But I would love to have more reading time during the day, especially for my son.
I try to model reading as often as I can (doesn’t cost me much of an effort). When you ask my son what his mother likes to do, he’ll answer without hesitation: read books. In peace. There would be a lot more peace in the world if everyone just read instead of bickering.

Let there be games for all of us to play

Game night. I know quite some families who rock the concept. Not ours. Personally, I never really cared about games. But my children like it. The thing is: they can learn a lot from games. Biggest challenge: accepting bad luck or not winning. We have a lot of small games to play, but I have the feeling my 6 year old will be ready soon for some more extended board games. If you know some good board games, especially those that don’t focus on playing against each other, I’ll happily take suggestions.

Let’s go outside

Again: something the kids won’t mind at all. For me, it’s a different story. Especially when weather is bad and you have to put on coats and boots. We have some decent places to walk here, but it already takes the same time to get there by foot. I’m always losing my puff on that part. Two weeks ago I randomly decided to take a walk in the woods and drove 15 minutes to go there. It was rather fun and we came home tired and energized at the same time. I want more of that, but it seems so counterintuitive to drive somewhere to spend time outside. See all the ‘buts’? It’s merely in my mind. I should get over it, especially during the colder months that are coming. My oldest has soccer practice and game, and a weekly youth club where they spend the afternoon outside, so he’s covered. My youngest though… she could use some fresh air!

Let’s say nice things about each other

I’ve never wanted to be a yelling mother (who does), but I have to admit that I’ve totally become one. I try not to be mean, but with my kids, I’m losing my temper rather quickly. I don’t say hurtful things but even then, yelling is not okay. Instead of focusing on stopping the yelling (which I have tried already often times), I’ll try to model the behavior I do want to see in my kids (and hopefully I’m too busy doing that and the yelling will lessen a lot). I’ll make a special effort to double the nice things I say to my kids. To aknowledge they make me happy and to point out what I appreciate in their behavior. The same goes for my husband: I want to focus on all the things I like about him (which is plenty) instead of nagging about where he got it wrong. It’s something I personally want to work on, but I hope this will spread out naturally and reinforce our natural kindness. We are kind people after all!