Hello all Well it is Tuesday, shrove Tuesday... Pancake day !! The beginning of lent tomorrow and my thoughts turn to 'what are we going to give up for lent?'. At the tender age of 40 I have given up a lot of things during lent and seeing the benefits of some have continued to stay 'given up' after lent had finished.
Some years ago, having run out of things to give up, I turned the tradition up side down and decided to attain something rather than give up something. In past years this has been new habits, or new ways of doing things. A couple of years ago I decided that I would do laundry as soon as there was enough to make up a load. This one 'new habit' changed my life for the better almost instantly. Gone was the weekend dealing with all the laundry, gone was the huge ironing/put away pile. Over night all my laundry related tasks were greatly reduced. Ok so I was still dealing with laundry but in a 'little and often' way rather than a huge amount at the weekend. Last year I worked at emptying the dishwasher first thing in the morning, stacking the dirties into it straight from the table and running it as soon as it was full, or last thing at night, which ever came first. This too revolutionised my day and I began to wonder why I didn't do it before. This year I had great difficulty thinking of anything to either give up or a new habit to attain .. am I that perfect? No, but I really struggled to think of anything LOL, maybe it is too late in the day. To be honest I always try to set realistic goals, I never agree to something that I know will fail. This doesn't mean to say that I don't challenge myself, I just know what I am capable of, what I can do and what I will fail miserably at. I have learnt to be realistic, after all I know me better than anyone else LOL. I 'plan' not to fail. So this year whilst I was trying to think of something to give up or something that would make me a better housewife I stumbled across the idea that maybe I should stretch myself, challenge my preconceived ideas, move my boundaries further out and consider the impossible as being possible... So for Lent this year I have decided that I am going to stretch myself and my preconceived ideas. I am going to push myself that extra mile. So when something needs doing, or something is suggested rather than use my usual set of boundaries I am going to stretch them and try to do a little bit more. The best way to explain this is by an example; this evening whilst we were sat at the kitchen table having our evening meal DH suggested that we clear out the living room ready for a possible invasion of kitchen stuff (we are thinking of having the back of the house extended, if we go through with it, it will mean emptying the conservatory and the kitchen into the living room whilst the building work goes ahead). Our living room is small, very small, even by English standards. The thought of putting all the kitchen appliances and the contents of the conservatory into it is mind boggling to say the least. Going by my current set of rules my answer was 'no way, it won't all go in there'. Having thought about it and having decided to stretch my current set of rules it is possible ... My old set of rules would of said hire a storage facility for the stuff we could do without for a short period of time and keep the essentials on hand. Now I am faced with rethinking the whole thing. I know this probably doesn't make sense to a lot of you, I know what I mean but I am just not good enough with words to explain it. Lets just say that with my old set of rules I would of cancelled the whole project as 'unworkable' whilst we still lived in the house and that with my new 'stretched boundaries' that it is possible. If I have set myself up for chaos then at least I will learn from the experience. Having lived without a bathroom and toilet for 2 weeks and lived to tell the tale I am sure I can manage without a fully functional kitchen for 2 months, after all aren't we're campers with an attic full of camping gear !!! Makes me think that it was easy the year I gave up biting my nails or the year I gave up sweets LOL. Happy Pancake day Louise
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