Summer memories

Some pictures from Bulgaria last summer.

The sun and the sea, what else do you need?

Pictures are from Sunny Beach.

September snails

 

It's September and I found these snails in my garden.

My greenhouse

I planted this Summer cucumbers and tomatoes in my greenhouse. First time ever!

"Life begins the day you start a garden." -Chinese proverb

Doughnuts or exercise

 

A few weeks ago, or exactly one and a half week ago I decided to bake doughnuts instead of going to crossfit. This can sound like a wrong decision. Why bake something unhealthy instead of exercise, which is healthy. 

Well, it was the right decision. Exercise is good. Balance even better.

And here we come to the question: how do you know, what is the right thing for you to do?
Today it can be one thing and tomorrow another thing.

"I've learned that you can't have everything and do everything at the same time."
- Oprah Winfrey

Tody as help for cleaning

Maybe a month ago we started using Tody to remind us of all the daily cleaning chores. We have been renovating our house for a long time, and cleaning has not been a priority one.

I don't love cleaning. Who does? Still it's nicer to have a cleaned house, than a house with lot of dust.

When you start using a new app, even cleaning can be fun at first.

First our kids loved Tody, because you can write all the chores for every room there. Then when you have finished the chore, you can mark it done. And when the chores pile up in one room, the picture of the room will have stains.

When you don't have time to clean, there are red dots reminding you of all the things that should be done. This is the point when the kids say: "We can't clean all the time". I agree. It's not possible.

The best thing about Tody is, that you will remember to do the chores in right timing. For example you can set a reminder for vacuuming once a week, or every second week. 

And if it seems like some chores should be done all the time, just fix the settings.

Good things about Tody:

• The to-do lists
• You can make specific tasks for every room
• It will show you when something is undone (you can see stains)
• It feels good to click on the things that are done, and get the instant feedback
• More motivation

And the annoying things:

• The to-do lists, it seems like something should be done all the time
• How can something be overdue again?
• It will show you when something is undone (you can see stains)

Even though it seems like some the annoying things are also the good things, Tody has helped us with household cleaning routines.

Bullet journaling in progress

Oh my. I started bullet journaling in an old notebook. Because I have many half-empty notebooks.

This whole bullet journaling thing is very interesting. The system should be quite simple, keeping track of your long time and short time goals and daily or monthly tasks. 

Basic symbols are used to mark the entries (task, note, event, signifier).

Can I do this?

Now I have everything ready in my notebook to start journaling.

I feel already exhausted. The first day of my journal remains empty. What did I do yesterday?

People use bullet journaling for different purposes. My purpose is to keep track of the daily tasks and also long term goals. 

It´s good to find out what tasks are not finished, and you can add them to next month´s list.

The plan is to create a habit of journaling and the I can add colors and some illustrations to the pages. We will see.

This is bullet journaling part one. If this becomes a habit, you can read more about my experiences of bullet journaling.

Kaunas in Lithuania as a part of the road trip

 

Last Summer Kaunas was a part of  our road trip. The city was not familiar to us, and it surprised us with it's beauty. On a road trip it's very usual to select places where to stay based on the location. And you need plan the route to avoid too long driving days. So, that's how we found Kaunas.

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania, and the city was the European Capital of Culture 2022 together with two other European cities.

Kaunas Castle was built in the 14th century. This castle guarded nearby cities and served as a strategic outpost.

From Santaka Park, next to Kaunas Castle, you can see two rivers. The rivers are Nemunas and Neris.

Visit Kaunas

Why is exercise good for you?

I guess everyone knows, that it is good for us to exercise.

It's easy to start and feel energized for one month (usually January). After that the calendar starts getting filled with "more important things". Those more important things makes it almost impossible to find time for exercise.

The most common reason why people don't exercise is that they don't have time. Another reason is the lack of motivation. 

In fact, there are a lot of reasons, why people don't exercise.

Maybe the more important thing would be to look at why we should exercise.

There are many benefits.
Exercise is for example improving memory and brain function, heart health and quality of sleep.

When I started exercising after a break last September, I was not feeling very motivated at first. After a some weeks I could feel the energy and good effects that came from exercising.

I enjoy CrossFit, because it has constantly varied functional movements and challenges for every time you train. It's good to remember, that you compete with yourself rather than with others!

Exercising doesn't always have to necessarily be intense, walking has a lot of benefits too.

14 Health and Fitness Benefits of CrossFit

5 surprising benefits of walking

Roadtrip with old car

Last Summer we made a road trip with family. We drove through eight countries: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

In ten days in June we drove 4400 km, with an 16 year old car (Opel Vectra). During the road trip the car surpassed 320 000 km. Well done, for an old car!

We drove from Umeå in Sweden to Trondheim in Norway, and forward to Larvik in the south.

The first picture is from Sweden and the others from Norway.

During a road trip there is not always time to stop and take pictures. When we were driving in Norway, I tried to catch beautiful views with my camera. 

These pictures are taken through car window.

Route map

Our road map route in Sweden and Norway.

Mindset and limits

 

Repost from 24.8.2015 (Sky is the limit)

"The limit is not in the sky. The limit is in the mind."
-Unknown

It’s really hard to change the way we are thinking. We all have our own limits. Many times we limit ourselves more than we should. That results in "playing it safe." Not taking unnecessary risks and only doing things we are comfortable with. Sometimes also spending all your time with people you know well and avoiding to get to know new people. It's easy and nice. You could also call it boring. 

In reality there are many possibilities in life to learn new things and jump outside the comfort zone. Making your dreams come true usually needs some bold steps to be taken. And nobody else can take them instead of you.

Can we really achieve things we dream about? People dream about extraordinary lives and many times end up living ordinary lives. Maybe it's the lack of confidence and fear of taking risks, that stops us from going after our passion. Life should be an adventure, right? 

Sometimes I wish there were more people who would say: "Go after your heart" than those try to make you understand how impossible your ideas are. The voice of doubt is always there. It seems like we are usually encouraged to "play it safe." Every now and then I have to tell myself: "I think it's possible". Every dream come through starts somewhere. Without taking risks you will never find out. If you have a new idea or something you want to achieve, it's always worth trying.

"We can not become what we want to be by remaining what we are"

-Max De Pree

I believe, that you can do more than you think. It's true, that every person has special gifts and can do some things better than others. Still also practicing  is needed. Nobody becomes a skilled musician without practice. Also writing needs practice. How much do you want to learn something new?

When we started renovating our old house together with my husband we had no idea what we were getting into. There were lots of new things to learn and sometimes you learn only by making mistakes. That way of learning takes a lot of time. Always the result is not as good as it could be, which may lead into doing the same thing one more time. While learning wallpapering the walls did not look as they should. Some years later it bothered so much, that we did the walls one more time. Another thing was grinding the walls. Learning to do that took time and patience. The machines are not that hard to use. But getting a smooth wall is challenging. And if you don't take the time needed, the wall will look very bad when it has paint or wallpaper on it.

What do you want to do?

This is my own list for taking steps outside the comfort zone

1. Learn new things
Life is about learning. Be curious and practice new skills. The lifelong practice of learning is what makes us humans and our lives worthwhile.

2. Be ready to make mistakes
Turning thoughts into deeds requires confidence.I guess nobody really wants to make mistakes. Still it's impossible to avoid them if you want to do something new. There is a saying that "Mistakes are the steppingstones to learning."

3. Seize the opportunity
Keep your eyes open. When the opportunity comes, be ready!

Not my goals for 2023

Happy New Year!

In January it's time to look at the goals for next year. You know how hard it is to usually achieve your goals and promises for the next year?

I have considered myself as a lazy person. And the goals for year 2023 are the goals of a very lazy person. So why not make it easier? 

Here are my goals:

I will not climb Mount Everest.

Not start training CrossFit four times a week and get involved into competitions.

And I will not start ultra running for a few weeks or what ever.

I will not become a vegetarian.

I will not eat chips every day.

And I will not read a book every day.

Very easily done. What are your goals?