The Five Languages of Love

We had breakfast in bed this morning.  Pureed fruits for the little one and he loved them.  We've been reading the Five Languages of Love by Dr Chapman, a book given to us at Christmas.  It's a must for anyone wishing to make sure their emotional love tanks are full.  It is clearly written with a simple questionnaire at the back to help you find out your primary love languages.  (There's also a  website)

I had never thought of it like that before.  We're still in the early days of marriage but it makes sense to make sure we are both aware of what language the other is speaking so we can keep each other's love tanks topped up.  I love that - love tank - I'm filling you up baby!  According to Dr Chapman there are five different languages -
Words of Affirmation,
Quality Time,
Receiving Gifts,
Acts of Service,
Physical Touch

So if your partner's primary love language is Quality Time, yet you perform Acts of Service instead, then pretty soon his/her love tank will run low and you may have problems arising.  Unless you know the difference between the languages then you won't be able to keep each other topped up.  You think you are doing all you can for your partner, washing up, vacuuming, cooking dinner, looking after the baby, mowing the lawn, yet they still don't show you the love you want.  It may be that they are needing you to spend some time with them, talking to them, listening to them without interrupting or trying to solve the problem, going to the theatre or for a walk together.  The love languages are different.

I'm not going to go into detail here, the book is much better at that and worth getting and reading yourself, it has many case studies in it and touches on the same love languages in children and how to recognise how your child loves and be able to keep them emotionally tanked up throughout their growing years.  It was a revelation to me to read this and great that Jam read it too.  There is a case study of someone that tries it on her own, her partner doesn't think anything is wrong so refuses to get help, but eventually he comes round, it's a big journey to take to repair faulty relationships, but so worth it in the end if you can persevere and regain the love.  It's worth reading before any relationship goes wrong in order to prevent it from doing so!

I thought it would be a preaching Christian orientated book, but even though there is reference to Jesus,  Love speaks louder than religion here.  It's made our conversations much more fun and we're aware of each other's needs emotionally. Ach, we're so in love, it's sickening!  I want to give it to all my friends and family...

Baby Squawks

Oh can you take him...
I can't take it. I'm gonna go mad.  I'm going mad. I've gone mad. I'm mad. I'm better. Right I'm going out. I'm out. I'm in. I'm losing it. I've lost it. I'm lost. I'm found. I've found it again.  I'm going mad. I've gone mad. I'm mad. I'm bad. I'm good. I'm ok. I'm going out. I'm out. I'm out of it. I'm ok. Really. I'm ok.  Honestly I'm fine. It's fine. I'm ok. I'm back. I'm not. I'm gonna go mad. I'm going mad. I've gone mad. I'm losing it. It's wrong. I've lost it. I've had enough. I can't take it.
Oh give him to me...

The Wallpaper Strip - Part 6

Yes, there's more.  Only two rooms left.  First let's go to the bathroom. 

Believe it or not this is actually paper.  We thought it was tiling.  It's very thick card like wallpaper. Very clever.  This room has been hit badly by the damp so unfortunately the wallpaper is falling away from the walls at the top in the corner on the exposed wall.  The colour is something else, my photography makes it look dull, it's not, it's very pink, salmon pink.  I've not come across any pink bathrooms before, I'm just glad it's not the whole bathroom suite that is pink as well!  This is quite a spacious room, lots of storage space in pink cupboards, makes a change from boat living! 

Secretly I love this wallpaper outfit.  The embellished border, with a metallic shimmer to it, running into the grey mid-level paper and the tile-paper - genius!

Now wash your hands...

Birthday time (again)

Isn't the internet wonderful!  Log on to google today and there's a picture and link for Paul Cézanne, the french artist and post-impressionist painter who shares my birthday. He's a little older than me, admittedly, and has a great moustache in the picture ~ I just have a few stray eyelashes on my chin.

Anyway, it got me thinking about other people I share this birth date with.  I only knew one person who had my birthday, up until today, a friend's mother, then I found out that one of my neighbour's shares it too.  Apparently, I read in a fortune telling book I was given many moons ago (did anyone see the moon set this morning??? Jam saw it, but apparently it will be even more amazing tomorrow...) that if you have 12 people in a room at a dinner party then two will share the same birthday... Hmmm...

I share my birthday with Dolly Parton, Robert Palmer, Edgar Allan Poe, Janis Joplin, Jenson Button, to name but a few.  Who do you share your birthday with?

Home made gifts

I started this post before Christmas.  When we had snow... 'It snowed even more last night, so much that we were snowed in this morning.  So plans for today were cancelled and that gave me valuable time to try and make some more gifts.'  That was as far as I got, honestly, these days I don't seem to have time for anything, you'd think I had a little baby or something!

These home-made gifts though are very simple to make, you can make it as arty as you like and it doesn't cost very much at all yet is greatly appreciated and treasured by your loved ones.  I made a batch for family Christmas presents and am going to make some more as thank you's, although how I shall find the time to do this all again I do not know!

Footprints first.  We wanted to try handprints but his little hands grab grab grab so they didn't look too pretty.  We painted the bottom of one of his feet with the paint, then planted it on the card, holding firmly and making sure his toes touched the card, then whipped it off and wiped off his foot before the paint got everywhere.  He was fascinated by the whole process, reaching forward to try and touch the card.

Jam came up with the poem, we printed it off on lots of different coloured paper and used my pinking shears to cut, which I wouldn't really recommend because they are meant for material not paper and are not cheap!  You can get zigzag scissors.

A quick tour of local charity shops finds lots of interesting picture frames.  We tried to make each one different, using different coloured cards and cuttings, after all, each footprint was different.

 A close up of a finished one ~

Fun!  We also made lots of chutney and jam.  There is something so rewarding about making things for people, especially when you don't have much money and would rather make something anyway.  I'm on the case with knitting.... and shall show you my Squirrel when I've sorted out his tail.

Gratitude

A Day of Gratitude

I've had a wonderful weekend away for a friend's birthday ~ country house, beach walk, laughter and giggles.  It's quite bizarre though, for they live right next to my Dad's first wife.  A couple of years ago they hosted a friend's wedding and used her garden for the venue and it wasn't until at the party that we discovered the link.  I was hanging upside down on the beams of the yurt with legs all over the place and a lopsided grin at the time, drunk to the hilt on champagne and she was talking to my husband saying 'I think that lady needs help', quite...

My little brother, who is also a musician, has come back to ours to record some of our music for another friend's wedding in May.  They are getting married abroad first so want to have a recording of the music to take with them.  I'm typing this as Jam is playing in the snug, it's such a treat to hear.  Music is everything, without it the world is like a flat bottle of coke.  Or do I mean a bottle of flat coke?  Music is the fizz of life.  Music makes life sparkle.

When I got home there was a parcel waiting for me and it was my friend's beautiful poetry book that I had ordered online from Lulu.  She's such a warm-hearted, kind, funny, generous and inspiring lady and I am so pleased to have her in my life.  We met whilst volunteering at a charity shop together in London.  She has inspired me to get on with my own poetry collection.  That is my project this year.  It's exciting.  Squeak!

I am so lucky to have so many beautiful people in my life.  It's nice to step out of the usual routine and take some large gulps of fresh air to clear out the system and be reminded of everything wonderful in your world.  Sometimes when there is a big change, or lots of changes it's too easy to get bogged down in the trivial daily matters and lose yourself in a depressing cycle of miserableness, worrying about silly things and forgetting the big picture.  So, cheesy as it is, I'm thankful for my life, for all the joy it brings to me and my family and friends.  I'm glad I have not forgotten how to smile at myself, and to others.  And I'm so pleased that since having my baby, my boobs are enormous.  Ok so that won't last and they will probably be around my ankles when I finish breastfeeding, but I will surely have something else to be grateful for when that happens.

Negligee, sorry neglect...

I'm neglecting you aren't I?  Would rather be sorting out my knicker drawer than writing my blog, so it seems but you're wrong, I'm sorry, I hope your heart is growing fonder and I shall be back with a vendetta sorry vengeance, just as soon as I remember how to write, fit everything in and get my child to sleep on his own without him needing to be on my boobs all day! ;)

The Wallpaper Strip - Part 5

Click click - and you're back in the room...

Happy New Year, excuse my absence, visiting family and friends, changed plans and no time for writing.  Shocking I know, but hey - it makes me feel like I've got a life!!

Now, the room we are in this week is the spare room.  It has the most incredible wallpaper, it confuses me slightly too, for Jam's mother says it was his grandad's bedroom, but I hope that I am mistaken!

I'm loving the border, it looks hand-painted.

 I'm not sure I am capturing the brightness of this paper, it is hard to capture, it is bright, very bright, much brighter than this.

 Of course, with a contrasting curtain and lovely pelmet. (I believe that is what the white thing is called.)

Yes it's on every wall!  This room is a small double.  It has built in wardrobes in each corner, that seem to disappear into the walls.  It has the fabulous bed-head complete with lamps and drawers.

 Lovely ornate handles and knobs to match.