MEscovery

The past couple of weeks have been emotional. We almost lost my 99 year old grandmother and my whole family rushed home to be with her. The lady knows how to pull a crowd. She miraculously pulled through, but while spending a week with her in hospital I learnt a few important life lessons. There are so many practical things my grandmother could teach me about as she is such a strong, talented woman, but here are 5 things she unknowingly taught me last week. 1. Sometimes you know better than those in charge There are times when others will tell you what they believe to be the right thing to do is, other times you will have blind faith in others' abilities to help. And then there are times when you should just ignore all others and do what you feel is right. You never know, it may just be the one little thing you do that makes all the difference. 2. Be honest, especially when that's the hardest thing to do Taking the time to have an open and honest conversation - an...

Here's the way I see it. This social media thing. I look through a tinted window at all the people I follow. I see their pictures, read their blogs, watch their vlogs and laugh at their snaps. I can see them, but they can't see me. Sometimes, I tap on the window - a comment, a picture, a like - and someone who I follow, follows me back. Then we have opened the window and we can see each other. We can communicate. Each one of the people who I see through my window is facing the other way. Looking out through a window of their own, experiencing their own social media world. They are watching their own little show - handpicked to fit their interests and likes. Occasionally they look around and through the open windows have a chat with their friends, with me or you.  Sometimes we forget that our windows are tinted though. That what I see through mine is very different from yours. Especially when we tap on the window and say "Hi, I see you!" and find that the...

Ever feel like you just want someone to come and remove all the junk from your house? The stuff: the kids toys they never play with (but happily scatter around the house); the unread books,  the clothes we've outgrown (yet the kids will still pull out, discard in the washing basket unworn for you to wash over and over unknowingly); the things lurking in drawers and cupboards; the things you trip over in the garage. The stuff. This minimalist, Scandi-style is all the rage lately. But after having spent 3 years aiming to reduce the amount of clutter in our house, I can only conclude that I have been defeated. We seem to bring in far more than we get rid off. It's so tempting to get the black bin liners out and just swoop from room to room chucking everything out. Because it's the sorting through, the planning how and where to take things to (tip, charity shop, donate etc) that takes up all the time and makes me loose the will to live. OK, maybe not to live, but at least...