Five good things

As you may or may not know, years ago I suffered from an eating disorder called binge eating disorder, or emotional overeating. When in therapy trying to sort this out, my phsycologist asked me to list five good things that happened to me during the day, and to do this every single day. What a daunting task! Five good things! 5! My life was one big depressing mess, I never had even one good thing happen to me during the day, let alone five...

Or did I?

When I first started keeping this list, it was very difficult. I would list things like 'The cat jumped on my lap' or 'The sun was shining today', trying to make it to five. But then, I started to pay more attention during the day, knowing I had to fill out the list at night. And after two or three weeks, I also started listing things I had an active part in, not just stuff that 'happened to me'. So I would list that I had enjoyed a nice cup of tea in that same sunshine, or that I had given the cat a good brush and then had a nice cuddle with him.

This family lists five good things every evening at the dinner table, for a completely different reason: to share how their day has been. And they even developed a nice little booklet, to make it easier to keep track of things.

Try it out! You'll be amazed at how many 'good things' happen during your day!

New Art Journal!

Yes, yes, I know I still need to upload the picture of the Art Journal I finished, and I will, but I'm too proud of the new Art Journal or alterered notebook/ringbinder to not show it off now.


Started off with gesso-ing the covers. Not my favourite part, because it always seems to take forever to dry, and I just want to move on!


Then I painted the cover, added some hand painted paper strips, but I wasn't feeling it. I added the 5 in buttons, and 5 buttons on the back, but it still wasn't 'right'. And then I knew what to do...


I covered it all with slightly wrinkled tin foil. Yes, that was much better!


I painted it all in bright colours, but it wasn't finished just yet...


I added some black paint (water with black paint mixed into it, instead of the other way around...) which made that the colour was still shining through.


Then I finished the inside cover... Helloooo new Art Journal!


I already put cardboard boxes and old folders in it for the pages and have started with a little button on the first 'page'. I can't wait to really get started!

Has it really been that long?

Wow, I had no idea it has been this long since I last wrote a blogpost here. And I still don't have all that much to say, really. So here are a few pictures from the last month or so:


We decided to take our health more serious, and start swimming once a week. I started off with 20 laps, which I thought was pretty good for someone who hasn't seen the inside of a swimming pool in at least 15 years. The next time I managed 26 laps, and last week 30. I think 30 is a comfortable amount of laps, will try and keep doing that for a while.


Where were you when...? I was watching TV, like billions of others...


Sold out, but we managed to get a seat anyway! Yay!

My Art Journal is nearly finished, will be posting pictures very soon! Oh, and I'm working on a loose leaf ring binder that I will start using for my Art Journal. Makes more sense, it's more sturdy and easier to add pages to without it falling apart. Watch this space!