Achievements in July

July has been a tough month for me. I have been feeling really tired. Not my fairly frequent ‘I haven’t slept for weeks’ kind of tiredness, something worse and not normal for me at all (think falling asleep sitting up whilst working). This has made getting up early and going to the gym regularly difficult. Difficult, but not impossible. If there is one thing I feel like I have achieved this month, it is the fact that I have walked at least three times each week, if not more, and I have gone to the gym at least twice a week, if not more, even though I haven’t wanted to. This is massive for me! Now, I usually walk five times a week and go to the gym three times a week. So I still haven’t done badly but I definitely haven’t progressed at all.

Fitness and Health

One thing I have begun is swimming alone on a Saturday morning. I was trying to add an activity which is different to what I usually do. I thought changing things up might help. This was really sensible and I have very much enjoyed this new addition to my exercise regime.

Regarding the tiredness, I have been to the doctor’s. They have done a chest X-ray and taken three lots of blood. The only thing that has come back that I know of is that my Vitamin D levels are low. I am having a telephone appointment this week with my doctor so he can tell me all the results, so I guess I’ll find out more. I see some Vitamin D supplements in my future though…

Another thing I have changed is to take Harvey for a walk in the local woods each morning. I have so enjoyed this, and it makes a lovely change from pounding the streets. Dog walkers are simply the friendliest people ever and by the end of the walk I have met and smiled and chatted with so many other walkers and their dogs that my spirit is lifted and my mouth aching from all the smiling!

My goal for the coming month is to start taking my vitamin D supplements, as well as a multivitamin (just in case). I have also been reading about gut flora, so I may take a gut supplement, just to see if it makes any difference to my energy levels. Just on the off chance that the tiredness is down to me doing too much (I honestly don’t think this is the case) I am taking the rest of July off and I am doing very little. Come Monday though, things are going back to normal…

Homeschool

We have finished homeschool, although I do still have some Mystery of History lessons to finish off, and I need to add some photos to Becca’s files for her textile project and send it off for marking. The rest of the holiday will be used for organising revision for Abs in psychology and sociology for her GCSEs next summer. I also need to figure out her other courses for next year. I plan to work on homeschool for about an hour each day and then make myself stop after that.

I don’t think the lack of routine is helping in terms of getting done what I want to get done. I have always worked much better to a schedule of some sort. Usually we work through July but due to the excessive tiredness I finished a few weeks early. I’m giving myself to the end of July to rest, recuperate and try to get a bit of my energy back before going back to a scheduled day. Tired or not, I am happier knowing what needs to be done each day and simply doing it, than leaving each day up to chance.

Writing

This month I joined my blog Seasons of Joy with my other blog Angelicscalliwags. This was, for me, a good decision. I feel like I am now writing in my home (Angelicscalliwags is my electronic home 🏠 ) and writing just for enjoyment. I haven’t felt like that for a while and I happily welcome it. I also had some help to turn the comments back on for Angelicscalliwags (I’m not sure why, but they turned themselves off last year when I changed certain elements of my blog) – the WordPress people turned them on again which means I am thoroughly enjoying some conversation with you wonderful people, which I love so much ❤️

I intend to continue writing in my blog daily. I love that I have cultivated this habit of writing and I want to nurture it as much as possible.

Now I have more time on my hands going into August, I want to make a mad rush to finish the book/curriculum I have been writing for the past 18 months. I only have another 10-15 000 words left to write, although it will probably go over that and I’ll have to edit it down a bit!

I know I won’t have time to do any major writing on it come the new academic year as Abs will be doing her GCSEs and I’ll be doing my master’s degree, so I need to force myself to see down for at least a couple of hours each day and GET IT FINISHED! <——– note to self!!

With the writing of this book comes the filming of my videos over on YouTube. Each video I film complements part of the book and will hopefully give homeschool mums using my curriculum an idea of how we do the hands on stuff in our homeschool. I am completely naff at filming videos and hate hate hate being on screen (so awkward!). However, I love, love, love the process of filming and the creativity of editing (although I am also fairly naff at that!). My goal going forward is to make videos as each activity comes up in my writing so that I don’t have heaps to make at the end once I’ve finished the book.

In addition to the read aloud book I am writing, I have also designed project books to go along with the curriculum and note pages for each chapter that children can write on. I’d like to some how gather all the notepages into one printable file that I can offer with the read aloud book to complement it, so I shall try to find the time to do this over the next month.

Painting

I seem to be painting a double spread of my art journal each month. This month I painted some ducks and dragonflies near a pond. This has been both the hardest thing I painted and also my favourite so far. I was really struggling to make the white duck look 3D instead of the flatter looking 2D. It’s all a learning curve and I do try to keep everything as simple as possible so I only have to learn one skill at a time.

Painting is a perfect afternoon activity as I seem to be at my lowest energy levels then. I pop on a podcast or audio book and paint for about an hour, sometimes less depending on what I am painting – sometimes I have to down tools to let an area or layer dry before attempting more.

Over the next month I will be continuing as normal. I haven’t decided what my next painting will be but I’m thinking of a hedgehog one to go along with my mouse painting. My long term goal is to have paintings that when put together make a nice cohesive pack of greeting cards.

Small Business

Having decided to slowly pursue starting up a stationary business using my art, I have been doing bits and pieces to make this a reality. Firstly, I designed myself a LOGO and I am so happy with it. I have also created a line of notebooks using my sea life picture. These are now up for sale on Amazon. It was great to have a logo to put on the back of the books!

I have also ordered 250 cards with five of my designs, printed on recycled card and with recycled brown Kraft envelopes. Opting not to put them in cellophane covers, I have designed some small card catch stickers using my logo. This are easily removable stickers which hold the card and envelope shut and together. I ordered 250 of those too.

My goal for the coming month is to take a deep breath and take samples of my cards up to the local village gift shop who have agreed to stock my cards.

I will also be taking photos of the cards in anticipation for setting up an Etsy shop in September.

In addition, I want to teach myself how to design sticker sheets using elements of each of my double spreads to create themed sheets. The goal here is to create a sheet onto which I can add any small pictures for the stickers, thereby ensuring there is continuity between each sticker sheet. Another chance to use my new logo! I have tried to teach myself this a few times but I have not yet figured it out to a standard I am happy with. Hopefully, by the end of the August I will be an expert!

What have you been up to this month? And what are your goals for August?