little white truths

While I do still have review posts coming out of my ears, it's nearing the end of the month so I would like to get my monthly favourites and monthly positives posts up today if I can. 

That way I've left this coming week open for the projects - Pan that Palette, Project Pan and Project Dent - all of which need to be looked at soon so I've got my work cut out for me.

Let's get straight into it. I'm feeling rather foggy this morning so positives could be a challenge ; )

We're nearing the end of winter: I hope

In theory the beginning of spring should be this week because it's September in a few days, although the seasons do seem to be getting later so we may be facing the cold a bit longer yet.

I'm not cut out for winter, really I'm not. The cold is perhaps the biggest reason why my husband and I decided that we couldn't live in Berlin indefinitely as we'd first planned. We didn't even make two years there, and one god-awful German winter was enough. Having said this, the winter we saw in Berlin was apparently the coldest since World War II, so we didn't get a good one.

Anyway. I don't mind the cold in theory but in practice I'm sick of being chronically freezing, sick of facing shorter days and less light, sick of the toddler running inside and outside all day and leaving the back door open...

Sun. Warmth. Less than six layers of clothing. I'm ready.

Number two has started childcare

This is a big one. My daughter started two half-days of childcare when she was 11.5 months old (she does three half-days now), and we'd put my son down to start at around the same age but a spot opened up a little earlier so he started a couple of weeks ago at just over ten months.

He was definitely ready and he's loved it so far, and it's meant that I now have two mornings each week that are completely child-free. Can you believe it? It's been so long that it's felt like some forgotten freedom that would never return.

The big thing now will be for me to find some more consistent work - I'm self-employed so some months I have too much work and some months I have none; that's just how it goes - so then I can start contributing to household expenses with more frequency.

Sure, as a primary carer my role has properly been to raise the kids, but I'm not cut out to do that 24/7 and finding more consistent work will bring some balance back to my life. Can't wait.

I was a bit naughty this month, and I don't regret it

You may remember that my husband was away for four days earlier in August, was then back for two, and then away again for another four. 

The second trip was a business one but the first was a holiday to go and visit his sister in Sydney, so since he left me all alone with two sick, teething kids (which, granted, I'd wanted him to do so he could have a proper rest), I of course decided that I was allowed to spend some beauty money. Only fair.

So I did. I didn't go crazy, but I have a couple of new skincare kits to play with and I also bought myself a fancy tinted moisturiser that I can't wait to try. And then there was the Priceline sale...

Yep, it hasn't been a good month for the credit card, that's for sure. But I do believe I earned it!

Panning is starting to pay off now

I've been a Project Panner for years and it's tough going so you have to really want to do it, but it's been this year more than any other that I've started to see the benefits. Watching whole bronzers and blushes vanish from your collection gives you a buzz that you wouldn't have thought possible (I mean, you're just finishing makeup, yes?) - and there's something so satisfying about seeing the empties bin stack up.

Also, over the past year I've started doing makeup inventories - which is a scary process but also a rewarding one - and I've since been watching my collection get closer and closer to my eventual goal of less than one hundred products. I might just make it in September, and August has brought me close to the line.

Who knows, next year I might pitch for eighty. We'll see.

Panning has encouraged decluttering in other areas

Funnily enough, moving stuff out of my makeup collection has felt so good that it's inspired me to apply my 'decluttering eye' to the rest of the house. 

While I've never been a hoarder so we don't have too much stuff, things do still accumulate and I've spent the last month going through each room and removing anything that doesn't need to be there.

It's felt good and I've developed this 'remove one item a day' habit that's serving me well. So every day I make sure that I throw something out or add it to the charity bag. Even if that means going through the pantry and including something that's nearing expiry in one of our meals so I can toss the empty box, that's still one less thing in the house and I like it.

In sum

That's all from me! I hope you enjoyed this little post and that you have plenty of your own positives for the month. 

Please note: I'm aware that I often repeat myself in these posts (I mean, we've heard about the virtues of panning before), but the thing is, as a primary carer my life is one big Groundhog Day so that's hardly surprising ; )

Now, August favourites...

Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x