So….about twelve days ago I stopped sleeping. I mean, I sleep a bit, but not much. I think it might be the socialisation of the season. In normal times, I keep socialising to a minimum and only during the day. However, it’s a bit harder at Christmas. Then I get so over stimulated I can’t seem to switch off…so no sleep.
This is going to be my last post for 2023. It’s going to be a long one because I have much to say 🤭
2023 has been a good year for me.
Family Stuff
Charlotte
At the end of last year, Charlotte got engaged. August this year she got married. Ads has lived with us for the past three years and they’ve been together for over four. Marriage suits Charlotte. She is managing her health much better. Having a husband to sometimes make difficult decisions for her and being strong enough to take the consequences has taken a huge pressure off her. They still live here, but aim to move out as soon as Ads finishes his degree (in April next year).
Charlotte has been working as a book seller in Waterstones for the past couple of months and she LOVES it. It’s just part time at the moment but she is going to try out full time in the new year. The whole job thing was definitely a God thing, from start to finish. I’ll not go into it now, because it’s too long a tale. But I will say that her boss has a daughter with exactly the same disorders as her. So he understands completely how difficult life can be for her.
Lillie
This year, Lillie completed her internship at the church. After, she was asked to stay on for another three months to see the new youth leader in. The year spent with the youth has been an amazing experience for her. Her confidence is gradually going up again after the bullying at uni.
New Uni
In February she felt healed enough to consider going back to uni but obviously a different one. She applied to the University of the Arts London (UAL). She got an unconditional offer and began in September. Oh my goodness. This is number two university in the world for studying arts and it is a world away from her last experience at uni.
They have huge classes with many tutors. It’s friendly, all inclusive and they have an absolute zero policy on bullying. She is loving every minute, has made lots of lovely friends and I think it fits her like a glove. She was offered and given therapy by the university to help her get over not just the trauma of the bullying but also the fact that the university refused to do anything about it. Lillie is completely back to the gorgeous confident Lillie we all know and love, only there is a steeliness to her now and I am confident she won’t ever allow herself to be bullied again.
Lil is also in a longterm relationship with a lovely young man she met in America working on a camp for adults with learning difficulties…sound familiar? Yes, that’s because it is – Gary and I met in America working on a camp for adults with learning difficulties. It’s funny because JJ (Lillie’s young man) is just like Gary in personality. He’s incredibly loyal, incredibly hard working and loves Lillie in just the way she needs to be loved. Things look good for Lillie ❤️
Thomas
Thomas is also in a long term relationship with his lovely girlfriend. They’ve been together almost two years and Jess is best friends with both Lillie and Charlotte. Thomas is very serious about joining the army. He has been in the reserves for the past two years and has been working up north for the past six months with the engineers in the Army. He also was on tour in Africa for a few weeks and sent us the most glorious photos of all sorts of animals in the wild (elephants, giraffes etc). I think he has found his tribe in the army. He loves it and it has worked miracles on character development. He’s not sure what his future will look like but at least some of it will be army shaped.
Abigail
Abigail has had a fabulous year. She is fast becoming her brother’s double in personality: super responsible and incredibly hardworking. She loves all the groups she belongs to from Explorers to cadets and working in a voluntary capacity in so many roles. It has taken her a while to feel like she fits into cadets and most people would have given up but she is so tenacious. She refuses to change for anyone and just happily goes about being herself…and eventually she began to fit in and make friends. Abs will be in cadets for as long as they allow her to be. In fact, she is heading to Belgium in the spring to go and see all the world war 1 sites.
Becs
Becs has really come into her own this year. She has so many friends and is constantly chatting to them on the phone and plays Minecraft with them at the same time. It’s wonderful to see her thriving socially, although she’s a bit like me and finds socialising exhausting! So she takes herself away every once in a while and has a few days on her own and then rejoins her extensive network of friends.
She took up football this year and hasn’t looked back. She is a complete natural as a goal keeper and has made lots of lovely friends there as well. And s he and Gary have become very close because he takes her to all her games and practices and frankly adores being a football dad!
That said, she still a little mummy’s girl and wanders into my office multiple times a day for a quick snuggle before heading back to her work. How blessed am I?!
After a few really hard years with Charlotte’s health and Lillie’s problems at uni, this year has been rather wonderful for Gary and I as parents. Really all you want as a parent is to see your children healthy and happy, nothing else really matters. And for now, all our offspring are living their bast lives. Mama and papa are very content 😌
Health and Fitness
I am ending it with 24Ibs less fat than I started with in January. I have not conquered my food demons but I think they are becoming smaller as the healthier habits crowd them out. That said, I still find it waaaay too easy to slip back into old patterns. I think I am most proud of having walked Harvey for an hour five times a week (my mum walks him at the weekend) and having gone to the gym regularly for the first 8 months of the year. I know if I’d managed to carry on at the gym until the end of the year, I would have easily lost the 2 stone goal I set myself.
A Weak End
I’m bummed at myself that I’m not ending the year as strong as I started it. When I had the insomnia appointment, the lady I talked to told me it sounded like I had a circadian rhythm disorder and perhaps if I didn’t get up so early I’d get more sleep. I told her at the time that if I don’t get up early, the time I get to sleep gets later and later and it really doesn’t work for me. But I promised her I’d try it. In retrospect, I should have trusted my own judgement. I’ve had insomnia since I was born. I know it intimately. I know what makes it worse and what improves it. No lie, I look about 80 at the moment, my bags are so large!
She wanted me to try it for two weeks and keep a sleep journal. Handily, this ends around Boxing Day, so come Wednesday I am back to getting up early. Hopefully that will kick my sleep back into action 🙏
I think I need to just tell myself that I am better off health and fitness-wise now than I was at the beginning of the year and that is good enough.
Small Business
This has definitely been the most exciting thing to happen to me this year. Doing something just for me feels very healthy, especially at a time when my children are all grown up, moving out (Thomas), getting married (Charlotte), settling into serious relationships (Thomas, Lillie and Charlotte) and have a social life that astounds both Gary and I (Lillie, Abigail and Rebecca!). Empty nest syndrome is a thing…but not here. I feel incredibly blessed to have spent each and every day with all of my children and because I have done this, there are no regrets. I am ready for them to grow up and fly the nest one by one. We all have amazing relationships with each other. Homeschool did its job ❤️
A Weak End
Needless to say, I have a bit of spare time on my hands…well, not really, but you know I always like to over schedule myself so I don’t get bored. Claire bored means a mischievous Claire…and nobody wants that. Well, actually, I think my children quite enjoy a mischievous mother! Anyway, I digress. Spare time. Yes, this small (more like tiny) business of mine is a bit like having a baby which needs lots of time, love and attention with a huge smattering of creativity.
This year, I opened a shop on Etsy, created greeting cards and sticker sheets and notebooks from my art and began a second YouTube channel to record my journey into all things creative. Being creative fulfils something deep inside of me. I think homeschooling was also a creative pursuit for me, so my art business is perhaps an extension of that. Whatever the case is, it rocks!
I feel very satisfied by all I’ve done regarding this tiny business of mine and am looking forward to continuing it in the same vein next year.
Masters
I started my second year studying for a master’s degree in Childhood and Youth. I chose to do this because Gary and I would like to adopt or foster one day and I thought doing some in-depth study about children and young people in the care system might be helpful preparation. Every assignment, I focus on looked-after children and young people and have learnt so much already! This year my module is called Critical Practice with Children and Young People and is very policy and practice heavy. I’m not sure I’m going to do as well as in my first year because in order to get the higher marks I need to reflect about working with children, bringing in policy and practice. We’ll see. I’m really struggling to find anything practice related to reflect on.
We do get quite a lot of choice in our assignments so my goal is to just focus on learning as much as I can about children and young people in care, rather than trying to get high marks. I’m already planning my final assignment which I want to do on therapeutic parenting. Somehow I need to fit it around one of the modules of the course but The Open University is amazing at trying to help you follow your own goals for your study, so I’m sure my tutor and I will figure it out.
Reading 100 Books in a Year
I think I will probably do a separate post for this because I not only managed 100 but surpassed it! And I want a place where I have all the books I read in one place. I intend to increase next year’s reading to maybe 150 books which I think I’ll be able to do this because I began my list this year in April. I LOVE reading so very much and definitely want to stretch myself a bit more this year.
Mesopotamia Unit Study
This year I made a concerted effort to finish this. I began a YouTube channel to collate all the videos showing how to carry out all the fun hands on activities. I’ve created lots of free printables as well as some larger and longer ones which I plan on selling with the actual curriculum. I’m also incredibly close to finishing the read aloud book which is the main part of the curriculum.
It is here I become unstuck.
I actually think I am putting off finishing it so I don’t have to let it out in the public arena and be judged on it. The reality is that I’m not sure it’s any good, but a huge part of my heart went into writing it because it is a book which contains a lot of memories from our own homeschool. I think my heart might break a tiny bit if it isn’t well received. In short, I’m not sure I’ve got the courage to finish it 😔
Homeschooling
Right now, I homeschool two girls (aged 12 and 15). Both work fairly independently and require less and less out of me. Becca has really enjoyed being independent. Both girls work quite slowly, but I guess that is the freedom homeschool offers – students can study at their own pace.
Blogging
I’ve loved getting back into blogging this year. Spending time writing each day is also very good for me. It kind of calms all the chaos inside my mind and makes sense of it for me. Needless to say, I shan’t be stopping any time soon. I do think, however, that the format of my blog/journal will change somewhat.
I’ve not quite worked it out yet, but I think I’d like to write a sort of online magazine format, where I post once a week but within that post will be an eclectic collection of everything I’ve been up to during each week. I’ll include everything I usually write about but in just one post. I still want to write every day but I don’t think I want to post everyday.
That brings 2023 to a close. It’s been a good one and I am optimistic that the coming year will be just as good. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. It wouldn’t be the same without you. I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and a very, very happy new year.
I’ll be back in the new year with my yearly ridiculous New Year’s resolutions 🧡
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