little white truths

I've managed to get up early without the kids noticing this morning (fingers crossed), so I wanted to get a peaceful post in before they realise I'm awake and start hounding me for breakfast and playgrounds and god knows what else.

And because I've been doing my monthly positives at around this time each month, I felt like writing this one in the silence (fingers crossed again) and saving a review post for later when the hounding begins and my husband dutifully takes the terrors to the park (thanks in advance, Mex ; )).

So let's get started while the going's good!

We've had extra family time lately

Dad's birthday is in May, Mum's and mine are in June, my sister's was yesterday and one of my brother's is in early August. So we have plenty of birthday dinners and lunches around this time of year, and it's nice to catch up with everyone at once - which is often hard to do because we're all busy. The only bad thing here is that my other brother lives in Amsterdam with his family so they miss the annual birthday festival, but they're coming out for Christmas (as they do every year) so we'll be seeing them soon enough.

Anyhoo. What I love about catching up with my siblings and parents is not only seeing everyone together, but also watching them interact with my two kids. It's so important for kids to have relationships with adults who aren't their parents I reckon, and I love seeing my siblings play with my kids and watching said kids give my parents some cheeky attitude, as they invariably do. These moments matter, and we're blessed to have them.

My tax is done

While this sounds boring AF, I still get excited when I've finished my tax and sent it off to our accountants because that means I don't have to face spreadsheets or receipts for a whole year. Also, Mex and I rush to get our tax done because we know we'll be getting refunds that will feed the mortgage - so we have a reason to get things done early and that always helps!

Also, as you may know we skipped family holidays this year so we could put that money towards getting solar panels (the installation has started and will be finished shortly) - but solar panels are expensive so we had to draw down on the mortgage to fund them. Our tax refunds will help wipe out that draw down so our monthly repayments will reduce again shortly. Hip hip hooray.

My obsession with buying new makeup and skincare has dulled (a bit ; ))

I've been obsessed with trying new makeup and skincare since I was 31 (I'm 39 now), and while I still get excited about trying new things, the tides have turned for me over the past two years and I don't feel the burning desire to get my hands on every new product that tickles my fancy.

And while my beauty spending has never been ridiculous (I'm too concerned about product waste for that, plus we don't have the money for it), I have been guilty of buying too much for one person and then having to put myself on no buys so I can get through what I have before buying more.

Something's changed, though. I'm a lot more excited these days about sustainable items (eg replacements for plastic wrap, reusable coffee cups, bamboo toothbrushes etc) - and that has to be a good thing. My love for makeup and skincare will always be there because applying those things and engaging with that process is my meditation, but having too much of that stuff isn't great for the planet and I now prefer to send my money to companies that are doing good things for the environment. Yay to that.

I have a lot more work on these days

Although I've continued to work while I've had little kids because I work from home and have been able to find the space to do that, the amount of work I've had on has quadrupled this year and I couldn't be happier.

I'm one of those people who needs to work to feel on the level, and while the blog has kept me on the level through the past five years of pregnancies and newborns and toddlers, the kids are old enough now that I have the space to do more brain work so I can contribute more to the social wheel.

Thankfully that work has been growing, and it's nice to be engaged in my profession again on a more consistent basis. Previously I was feeling that I wasn't doing enough towards the greater good, but I'm doing more now - and even though I'm only saving spelling/grammar errors and sentence structure mishaps (rather than, you know, saving lives), we all have a role to play in society and I suspect that many of us feel the need to play that role in order to feel content. Content is good ; )

Next up, an integrated toilet/sink system

This year was the solar panels, and next year we're looking at putting in an integrated toilet/sink combo in the downstairs bathroom (ie, one of those toilets that has a washbasin on top so the grey-water from the basin flushes the toilet, rather than precious clean water).

We've started the research now because the downstairs bathroom has obviously never been renovated since the house was built in the 1930s (you can tell by the style and design), and it's a small bathroom so not only would an integrated system save on space, but more importantly it would also reduce our water consumption. And given that the bathroom could do with a complete makeover, we're looking at doing the whole thing when we put in the integrated system - and that means looking into ways to do it sustainably while keeping costs down. Exciting times.

The year after that? Who knows. I'd love an electric car, I'd love to get an integrated system in the bathroom upstairs... We have to do these things incrementally because we don't have the money to do everything at once, but in the meantime, we'll just keep on planting more trees.

In sum

That's all from me!

I hope you enjoyed this post and that you have plenty of your own positives for July. Let me know in the comments if so: I'd love to hear.

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

* All images courtesy of unsplash.com