It was my birthday this week. It was all a bit of a mixed bag as Chris was away and I had work so it was an early start for me at the boys (5.45 to get everyone to school or daycare then me to work for 7! My goodness!). It worked and it was fine. By bedtime, I was struggling a little hopefully the make up celebrations when Chris is home will balance that all out a bit. Happy Birthday to Me!
For now I thought I’d start with a sort of review of the year…
Looking back…
What are the highlights of the last year?
Getting to travel a bit more this last year. Copenhagen has such good links to Sweden and Norway that it was quite easy to get on a train or ferry and explore some more.
We had 3 or 4 trips back to the UK. Two were all of us trips and then 2 were just me heading back. Then there were the new places, most recently Rex and I took a train trip to Køge, we’d been through it on the way to other places but hadn’t actually stopped properly. It was a good trip but I probably needed to plan what to do a bit better.
All four of us took a train trip up to Helsingør which turned into an overnight trip to Helsingborg (Sweden). It was unexpected but such good fun! Another ferry trip was a “mini-cruise” from Copenhagen to Oslo. We could have done with longer there as there was just so much to see and do but we packed in what we could and we’ll definitely go back at some time I’m sure.
In the summer, last year we went to Vineyard Nordic Summer Camp which was at a Conference Centre place outside Jönköping. We didn’t get to see the actual town we were near but it was lovely to experience more of Sweden. While we were away, Rex went down with chicken pox – so I saw a lot of the inside of the caravan!
What goals did I achieve or what steps have I taken to get there?
Around this time last year, Rex had settled in at vuggestue and so I was looking for a job. I have loved running my own business (Daisy Media) and I still have a few people I’m working with but it wasn’t really working for me. I couldn’t really sit around all week just in case a client needed me. I started looking for a job and wrote to a lot of the yarn shops here in Copenhagen on the off chance they might have something going but at least so far I’ve had to luck. I got a part time job as a housekeeper for a company here who rent out shared apartments. It was an okay job but part of going out and getting a job was to be part of a team and speak to other people and that wasn’t happening. I’d work 12-20 hours a week and unless there were residents at home when I was cleaning then the only person I met during a shift was my 2-3 training shifts. Anyway, I left that mostly because of what it was doing to my mental health (I said that the loneliness I was feeling at work was the loneliness I felt at home sometimes just it had change postcode).
Earlier this year, I started a new job as an “All Rounder” at a local hostel/hotel. It’s been a crash course with lots of learning. It’s getting busier as we have school trips and other groups visiting the city. It can be hard going some days especially when I’m doing night shifts. I used to be very much a night owl but since the boys have to be so on it (Jaxon and Chris leave before 8 now!) I try to go to bed by 11 to make sure I’m actually asleep by midnight. This means that getting enough sleep in the day to be able to take on my night shift is hard (and getting harder as the days get warmer and sunnier). I think I’m going to have to invest in a eye mask to block out the light. I have been basically sleeping with one of Rex’s t-shirts over my eyes but it just makes me really warm lol.
Another goal of sorts was taking my health by the scruff of the neck and doing something about it. Around October, I went to see the GP about a couple of issues and we did have the “If you need surgery for this thing, you might need to lose weight before the surgeon will do anything” OUCH. At which point, she suggested I met with the Dietician – Okay…. well I knew mostly what was going to be said but maybe I needed someone who wasn’t me or Chris or my Mum to be kicking me in the butt and making sure I was doing the right thing. Well C the Dietician is the best – she’s so lovely and so helpful. There was a little hiccup and I haven’t seen C for a few weeks, so I need to get back in contact with her and get a new appointment booked.
Did I make any mistakes? What did I learn from them?
Oh definitely! Especially in the last week lol. I had an incident with the washing up trolley this week when I was at work.
Quitting my cleaning job at church for the new shiny job that didn’t last was definitely a mistake but I guess I needed to make the mistake by leaving to then make the choice and leave the new job for my own well being rather than sticking it out because I should or something like that (so not a mistake and a mistake all at the same time – that’s possible right?)
Looking Forward
What do I want to do for my next birthday? What plans do I need to make?
I don’t know… One of my goals now I have a job was to start saving towards taking my Mum to Rome as she’s always wanted to go. Well my Dad was on that one and they are doing that later in the year to celebrate their big wedding anniversary. So Mum and I need a new trip… I’m wondering about up to Scotland or maybe her coming here and then we’ll do the Oslo Cruise or something like that. I was trying to think of something that she’d love to do but wouldn’t normally be my Dad’s kind of thing.
What do I need more of in my life?
All sorts probably lol. My birthday present from Chris arrived today and I’m super excited about it. (It’s a gorgeous pale blue bike with flowers on it… It came in a big cardboard box and I had to assemble it. Once Chris gives it the once over and helps me with the bits I couldn’t do then I’ll be off for a bike ride even if it’s just around the block to make sure it’s all good.
Back in 2018, I took this picture (above) of a bike in Go Outdoors, I had wanted to get riding again but actually saving the money to buy a bike was going to be a little challenging but I loved the look of it. Well imagine it’s pale blue and you have the bike that Chris got for me.
Then I’m going to work on some adventures. If I drop Rex off in the morning once Jaxon leaves for school then I can get a train with my bike and go explore. I figure if I take the train somewhere, get on my bike and then head for home. If I vaguely follow the train route then if I need to, I just head to the closest stop and take the train the rest of the way home again or something like that. It was a very vague idea as I was getting cross at the nuts and bolts I couldn’t undo lol.
What goals do I have for the next year?
Well to begin with, the 40 Before 40 list actually needs to be finished and not just a “one day I’ll get on with that” kind of list.
Clear my TBR list a bit, I asked in a reading group on FB for suggestions of reading books to try and get out of the “chick lit” rut I’d found myself in. That was great but the list is now like 350 books long… which is crazy! So I guess maybe narrow that down based on what I’d actually like to read and get started. I’m trying to use both the physical library and the eBooks that come with my library card here a bit more so I’m hoping I can request a lot of the books that way but it could take me some time. I think I need to break it down into batches and then work like that some how. I need to think about that one some more I’m sure!
Next up, get posting here more. I set out with the best intentions then don’t always get there but there’s things to write about like the Oslo trip and how we ended up in Helsingborg for the night. That will take a few posts I’m sure!
So Happy Birthday to me.
