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Twelve ideas for mum to help relieve stress
Stress is hard to contend with. It shows itself in different ways. For me its achy legs, grumpiness and tiredness. Do you have days where you just want to shut the world out? Days where your bed and duvet are much more inviting than the day ahead? Days where despite loving and adoring your children you would like to be sat in a relaxing spa miles away? Days, when going to work is the last thing you want to do? Don’t get me wrong, I do actually really love my job, but there are days when that can get too much as well.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Anything purchased through it will earn me some commission which will help to pay for this blog.
Am I normal? It is just being human? Being female? Being a mum to two small children? Or being a wife? Is it just to much stress and pressure?
Wives, mum’s, women many of us seem to carry the world on our shoulder’s. Some of us do it better than others. Me, maybe not so well. I have days in the car where I will scream and cry. Then compose myself when I meet people, I’m alright really!
I have a family I love, I have a job I enjoy. So, why stress? Life’s challenges, it would be boring without them. The need for more, the need to prove to myself that I’m actually worth something. Quite often I feel worthless. I’m mum, I cry, stress and nag. I’m mum, quite often ignored. Also, I’m mum organising bills, presents, birthdays, Christmas, Mothers day, Father’s day, Easter. Insurance, doctors appointments, washing, shopping, the list goes on.
As a mum, I often forget to look after me. Me who holds up everyone else. They say if a plane is going too crash then you should breathe into the mask first before passing it to your dependents. I’m sure I heard that somewhere. So, maybe us mum’s, women, home financial officers, do need to put ourselves first more. Our families need us!
So what can we do to relax, look after ourselves and ease the stress?
1. Put you feet up and relax with a mug of Herbal tea2. Watch your favourite DVD
3. Listen to an audible book
4. Cuddle up with your favourite author book or Kindle US and Kindle UK
5. Listen to your favourite music
6. Walking in the woods or by the sea.
7. Gardening– taking your stress out on the weeds
8. Relax with Bath oils
9. Relax with a Bubble bath
10. I started my blog due to stress. Writing for me is a good stress reliever.
12. Trying to believe in yourself. Right now I am writing my first novel. Trying to keep positive and motivated as I type. 34300 words today. I am not half way yet!
We all know that stress is not good for us, though many of us feel it. Many of us continue to work on through it. The “I wants” from the children carry on and we do our best. I took my children to B and M this afternoon to buy a garden broom. I could have been in and out in minutes. Instead, I was chasing them up and down the aisles and explaining why I wouldn’t buy the things they wanted.
They were slightly better in Morrison’s buying some plants but not much better. So, I wanted to buy container plants. Trying to work this out, Google on my phone and the kids saying “what about this one?” Does not help to make a decision. I ended up with two Gerberas and two Hollyhocks, which now I’m home I’ve found out they grow too big for my containers. They will soon be moved to the flower bed. Yes, I love my children very much!
I’m sure many dads feel it as well. Some dad’s I’m sure do much more than others. Daddy here will get up in the morning, letting me sleep at weekends which is honestly a huge bonus, I need my sleep! The kids adore him as they have him just where they want him. Daddy often says yes to their wants, mummy is the bad guy!
So, what do you do to stay calm and relaxed? Do you feel as stressed as me? Do you ever feel the need to shut out the world? It’s not easy being a mum but so many of us do it and we do a fantastic, amazing job with it. We conduct our own appraisals. I’m sure some of us carry out our appraisals more than others. I did mine today whilst bathing my five year old, twice as covered in mud. Black face, then mud in her hair all due to coating herself in Sun cream. I had to run a separate bath to wash her hair. Yes, mum fail, I should have made sure that I applied the sun cream.
Yes all the joys of being a parent, as I bathed her I regretted not taking a photo, it was frustrating but quite funny really. Maybe one of those times where we should have been laughing rather than me kicking myself once again.
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Care bear love and our nostalgia
This post on Care bear love and our nostalgia, contains affiliate links. Anything brought through it, at no extra cost to you, will earn me some commission that will help to pay for my blog.
So who remembers Care bear love? Their faces have changed a little over the years but they are still as cuddly today as they were when they were first made into cuddly bears by Kenner in 1983. They were then developed by American Greetings, Those Characters from Cleveland. Some of my bears are older purchased through ebay. My first care bear was Bedtime bear purchased around 2003. The care bear love and our nostalgia. have for me meant that my daughter now has a large collection. How can you not love the Care bears? The idea of the land of Care A lot up in the clouds with cute cuddly care bears watching over you.
As you can see, we have rather a lot of bears, I could not get them all in one photograph, Some are E-bay second hand and some are Amazon. My 5 year old adores them.
These bears were originally created in 1981 by artist, Elena Kucharik. to be used on American Greetings, greeting cards. They were a little later made into a TV show and then films, then toys. According to Wikipedia there are 218 care bears to date.
The photo above shows an earlier version of Share bear with her ice cream on her tummy. The large purple bear above is also Share bear but an updated Share bear. Over the years some of the belly badges have changed and bears have changed gender. Funshine bear was a female in the 1980s but in 2004 she became a boy. In the picture above is Playful Heart Monkey and Loyal Heart Dog who are both Care bear cousins, Here is a list of all the Care bears and Care Bear cousins.
Here you can see some of our large Care Bears. We have 9 in total. Good for mega cuddles!
Here is Good luck bear from about 2003 and older birthday bear, both with tags. White Tenderheart Care bear in the middle is special as he celebrates 25 years of the Care bears.
The Care bear love from our childhood is still here today as these bears are still as much loved. My daughter also has a Care bear duvet.
For me these bears are pure Care bear love and nostalgia. The short episodes and movies are always happy and positive. My favourite bear though is Grumpy bear. I can often empathise with his grumpiness, Cheer bear is always too happy for me. However, these bears do make me smile when I look at them, happy nostalgia.
As you can see above, there are also smaller care bears. Despite their size my daughter loves these too. Rainbow Care bear, purple with sparkly fur above, is another special bear, celebrating 35 years of the Care bear love.
Here you can see Lotsa Heart Elephant and again some older bears from 2003 as well as new.
The Care Bear cousins lived in the Forest of Feelings, (You tube video). The Care Bears lived on Care A lot, up in the clouds. The video gives me warm fuzzy feelings, “home is in your heart”. Trying to help children talk about their emotions.
In the UK the medium sized bears come with a DVD, I am assuming that this is the same in America.
We also have smaller plastic Care Bears, These are safely hidden in my daughters room at the moment.
If you have a young child or if you are reading this feeling nostalgic then Amazon have a lot of bears. Some of the bears out there are rare. I was hesitating to purchase Grams Care bear. There appears to be alot of old Kenner Care bears available.
As you can imagine when I have moaned previously about my daughters room being a mess. It is partially my fault as these bears live there too. However, they are very much loved.
So, do you have Care bears? Do you still have some from your childhood? Or have you bought one for your child or yourself? Is your child as mad on the Care bears as mine is? And are you as nostalgic as me?
For more see, 7 ideas for school holiday and our dramas
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7 ideas for school holiday and our dramas
Note this post contains affiliate links. Anything purchased through them will at no extra cost to you earn me some commission which will help to pay for my blog.
The school holiday is nearly over with the stress of spending time with my two wonderful children and trying to think of ways to keep them busy. Following here are 7 ideas of what we could have done this school holiday.
But firstly, what have we done this week? It is amazing how fast it has gone, looking back I wish I had had the money and energy to do more.
Past school holidays we have visited castles, walked in the woods and walked by the sea. This holiday was more about just relaxing with each other. However, spending time at home is not that relaxing.
So, this week, Monday we went and got our hair cut. Disaster because we went to a different hairdresser. This meant when I asked her to tidy up my hair that had not been cut since 2017, she picked up her scissors and cut it chin length. From nearly half way down my back to chin length was a bit of a shock. She also cut out any sign of blonde, not a good look.
I am now booked to see my normal hairdresser next week. It now needs to be re cut so it looks more me and dyed blonde again. Needs must, my hair has become an unexpected emergency so the cost is justified.
Tuesday, we went to town. Anyone else struggle to find jeans that fit? So, two kids and a Debenhams changing room. The jeans were all to short and I’m only 5ft 6. This story ended with them finding an air freshener and destroying it. Purple leaves everywhere and a sticky floor, I had to advise the assistant of what had happened, she was not amused.
We had a picnic in the park which was lovely and the kids enjoyed running and playing. I also bought some yummy cookies.
Wednesday we stayed at home with daddy. I am a hoarder but spent most of the day sorting through clothes and then making a pile of all clothes that were to small or I just no longer wanted. I only filled two bin bags but was a good achievement for me.
Thursday was shopping and we donated the clothes to charity. I am now thinking of clothes I donated and thinking, no I should have kept that. Yes, I find it hard to part with stuff.
I had ordered my 7 year old some swimming shorts for swimming next week. He will be 8 in June. I ordered age 7 – 8 hoping they would fit. They are massive on him, so then had to find a smaller size. 5 – 6 actually fit him but he refuses to wear them. So, off we drove to Asda and bought him size 6 -7. They are still a little big but should be alright. My son is a healthy weight but, he might be 9 when his 7 – 8 swimming shorts actually fit him.
Friday, my son tried to help tidy my daughter’s room. We did some more food shopping and purchased a Door stop Pug -America and Door stop Pug -UK. The children have named him Todd.
A few days ago, I emptied my purse of receipts and left them on the side. Today I swept them into the bin. Luckily before emptying the bin I got the receipts back out and checked them. There amongst the paper I found a £20.00 note. I have not got a clue how long I had been walking around with it, but, it was a nice find.
So that was our week. What else could we have done this school holiday?
1. My sister and nieces take part in painting town rocks. Yes, they paint rocks then hide them around the town. This is something that alot of people join in with, a real community effort. My sister, Laura, uses Yacht spray to paint them. My children would love this so I really should do it with them. (The photos are my sister’s, posted with her consent). Here is a news article, that tells how the rock painting started
2. I tried to get the children to read to each other. To maybe share a book and read different sentences. Both children told me no but, it would have been a nice idea.
3. I tried to read to them but all they are really interested in is their gadgets, playing Roblox and Minecraft. Both children need to read more. Now at the weekend I need to make more of an effort now to get them back into school mode.
4. Walking is always good and a walk in the woods, as long as the weather is good, is always fun. Wellies and a warm coat always help too.
5. The children spent time in the garden. Balls next door and the tractor and a coat were left outdoors all night. Plus, I had mud over the kitchen, aren’t kids great? Would they tidy up? Err no. However, time in their own garden is good (if they are better behaved then mine)
6. Watching a film, getting the children to put down their gadgets and cuddle up under a blanket together. Quality time definitely needed.
7. Visiting castles with English Heritage membership. We have given up on castles for now as have visited so many times, however I am sure we will be rejoining soon as my kids love them. Walking around the Zoo, children love the animals.
So, here we are at Saturday. Daddy is at work and after I have posted this I plan to see what is on Netflix. I want cuddles with my kids and to stop and relax with them.
So, what have you achieved during your school holiday? Have your children behaved? Or are you looking forward to Monday?
For more see, 10 tips to help ease the stress of children and being mum
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