a brick room with wooden ceiling and furnished with two bedsImage by Man Pan on Unsplash

 

If you are thinking of buying a summer house, there are many benefits to be enjoyed, and with some careful planning, the unit can be the ideal overnight accommodation for friends and family that visit. If you already have a unit in place, you are halfway there, and with some additional furniture, this will make the ideal luxury accommodation.

 

If you would like to see some cosy wooden summer houses with a view to buying one that can be used for overnight guests, there is an excellent supplier who has an extensive range of Nordic Pine summer houses, and some of the larger units are specifically designed as independent accommodation, with bathroom and toilet facilities built in.

 

Space is The Issue

 

Obviously, the summer house has limited space, and with folding beds and other furniture, you can achieve a lot more, and a bed that folds into the wall would be the ideal arrangement. If the summer house is big enough to accommodate the double bed and still have ample space to move around, then you have a choice. To be honest, a bed that doubles as a sofa is perfect, as a single item of furniture gives you two essential features, and with some thought about the layout, you can plan the space with two guests in mind.

 

Heating & Ventilation

 

Obviously, you will need to make provisions for climate control, and a portable electric heater would likely be ample. With adequate insulation and double glazed windows, it shouldn’t require too much energy to heat such a small space, and in the summer, you can always leave the windows open, just make sure you have insect screens fitted. LPG heating is not a good idea, as the enclosed space is a health risk, and a small electric convector heater would suffice.

 

Kitchen and Bathroom Facilities

 

The larger units can be accommodated to include these essentials, and if you are not much of a DIY enthusiast, your local handyman would be happy to oblige. These are, of course, optional, and it might be easier for the guests to use the facilities in your home, which wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience.

 

The Décor

 

With a little creativity, you can do wonders to make the place more homely, with some tasteful wall art and a few rugs to give warmth underfoot, and if you would like some interior design inspirations on how to best decorate a guest bedroom, there is an informative article. Cosiness is a must with a guest room, and soft lighting and colours will go a long way towards turning the interior into something suitable, and make sure you leave fresh towels and bed linen in a drawer, which your guests can use.

 

If you are looking at summer houses with a view to adding a guest room, there are specific summer house designs that make this a simple transformation. Buying a quality unit will ensure that the summer houses lasts for many years, and like any other structure, it will need some maintenance from time to time.

This is a collaborative post.

After a busy week last week I was kind of hoping this week to be less so. It hasn’t really turned out that way. I’d have loved to have had a week full of pyjama days, but that was not to be. It would have been nice to have had a week of fun days, but we haven’t even managed that. Apart from the usual shopping, it’s been appointments taking up our time.

G.P. appointments, clinic appointments and an appointment at the hospital for Star.

The good news is that we are getting lots of help for both The Little Man and Star from the Clinic (although for Star it means our least favourite treatment, but we’ve done it before so we’ll do it again.) The Little Man is being referred elsewhere which means he will be assessed for Autism or just to see what’s bothering him.

Then at the hospital we saw the maxillo-facial doctor who assured us that her jaw would get better in time and that the problems she had were quite common. I know, I already have a daughter who has had it for 18 years! The difference with Star is that she has Elhers Danlos Syndrome which means she has lax ligaments. If her jaw doesn’t improve quite quickly then it could cause permanent damage. Because of this the Doctor is going to see her again. Fingers crossed that it just improves with the exercises she’s been given. I hate to see my little girl (okay, not so little anymore) in pain.

What have you been up to this week?

The Reading Residence

 

 

Easter School

We have another week of the holiday left here. In fact we have a whole week and two days because the kids don’t go back until next Wednesday. That is apart from Boo who is doing Easter School in the mornings this week. She needs to get the extra practice in for her SATS in May. I could get on my soap box about the SATS but I feel I’ve done that enough already; and it’s totally up to Boo whether she wants to go to school this week or not. She can’t go every day because we have a few appointments that clash.

Stickers

Last week turned out to be pretty busy, I actually went out four days in a row! Of course, I had to go to hospital for two of those days. Then we did some food shopping and then some more fun shopping. The kids ended up with lots of new goodies last week, but mostly books, pens and decorations to use on their Littlest Pet Shop toys. It’s amazing how thrilled the girls are to be in possession of a new packet of shiny stickers. I also bought them some clay to do some customisation’s. The Little Man wanted a Minecraft Sticker book which was a good buy as he has spent ages sticking in it. He also enjoyed sticking his football player stickers into his Panini World Cup album.

We decided to stay in all weekend, but the Little Man still popped out with his Dad to run some errands. It really has been a life saver having Graham driving. He’s only had his licence for just over a year but he does most the driving now. I’m still waiting to see if the DVLA will let me have my licence back after medical checks. I haven’t been behind the wheel in a long time. Fingers crossed that I won’t lose my licence, I’ll be devastated at the thought of never driving again.

Plans

 

This week will be busy later on with hospital and clinic appointments for Star and the Little Man. We are also hoping to fit in something fun but I have to be careful now as we overspent last week.

Next Monday we are going out for a meal on my niece’s birthday which should be a nice family get together. I’m thinking of going without my wheelchair, if Graham can drop me right outside the door I know I can navigate inside the pub on my crutches.

I have felt some benefit from my treatment last week, although there was a wobble this weekend when I ran out of medication. Graham went to pick it up from the chemist that had my prescription on Saturday morning, but it was closed. I survived on a lower dose, but I really noticed the difference.

While I was in hospital last week the nurse asked me if I’d considered having the treatment at home. I was a bit flabbergasted and told her I knew nothing about it.

It then got me thinking so I asked about it on my help group. A few overseas patients take the immunoglobulins with a subcutaneous injection so I looked up the system that they used. It is available here but it depends on whether your consultant can get it approved and you have to be trained how to use it. The more I think about it the more it appeals to me. I will think about asking my consultant next time I see him. But I’ll also ask that nurse for more information too.

 

Debs Random Writings

 

Mancala in Pyjamas

 

Earlier this week I published a post about gifting your children with your favourite pastimes and I also introduced my kids to Mancala.

Originating in Africa, this is an ancient game of moving markers around a wooden board. The rules are simple enough to learn as you go along, but once learnt that’s when you start your strategies. Thinking ahead is vital and children also learn counting skills. It’s also great for teaching a little finger dexterity.

My mancala board and stones are more than sixteen years old! I’m surprised that I’ve never lost one of the little glass stones, which look like flattened marbles. I think the main reason is that they never have to leave the board an when playing is over the board folds up with the stones inside. If I did lose some though they could always be replaced with garden stones, buttons or basically anything so long as they were not too big. Sometimes you end up with quite a few in the little pot.

If you didn’t have a board though, you could always make your own. Egg boxes are perfect as you have the six little pots needed. You’d just need two with two end pots. I like this egg box up cycling version

photo from artcrackers.com

 

Have you ever played Mancala? Have you passed on one of your favourite games to your children?

 

Photalife

 

Sunday Snap

Some days motivation is just so hard to find don’t you think?

I’ve been feeling like this for while now and I’ve been trying to get out of this slump. I’ve been reading motivational posts and looking at motivational quotes and nothing. I’ve felt no motivation at all.

So, I’ve decided to take a different approach and look at what kills motivation.

Impatience

I always pride myself as being a patient person. In fact a lot of people have praised me on my patience. Many people have admired my patience and said things like ‘I wish I was as patient as you.’

Sometimes, I don’t feel patient. In fact lately I’ve been looking at my life and thinking ‘what the hell!’ How did I get so far along without achieving anywhere near as much as I had hoped to. There are so many things I wanted to do, so many things I still wanted to do. Then it creeps into me, that nasty little word, impatience. Time is running out, get it sorted now. Do it now. I can’t wait anymore, I want it now.

In a way, it’s hard to get past. I know I’m running out of time. I know I have so much still left to do. But feeling impatient isn’t going to help  me. If I run out of time I have to accept it. I have to accept that not everyone achieves everything in life. Would I go back and change it all? Well, it would be nice to be somewhere else in my life right now, but changing it would change the things I have right now, and  that’s not all bad. In fact there are so many things I wouldn’t change at all. Which brings me nicely into my next motivation killer.

Ingratitude

You know when you are told to keep a gratitude diary, or even to just write down the things you are grateful for? Well, I’ve always found this so hard. Yes, I’m grateful for my family, I’m grateful for the roof over my head, errr, I’m grateful for the sky and the sun and the stars and the moon and bloody hell, I’m so ungrateful, my life is a load of crap. Who would be grateful for legs that don’t work properly, for constant pain day and night, for arguing siblings, a partner who doesn’t understand, the shit way my life has turned out.

There it is, ingratitude, rearing it’s ugly head…that didn’t take too much digging did it!

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. – Melody Beattie”

Time to turn that around on it’s heals.

It’s so easy to feel ingratitude, but feeling grateful is so much nicer.

Let’s get back to writing that list. I’m not grateful for the constant pain, but I’m grateful for the doctors that listen to me complain, take all my worries on board and provide me with treatment.

I’m not grateful for arguing siblings, but when they play together they make me feel so happy. Everyone has to experience the little bad things to appreciate the good things more.

I’m not grateful that my partner doesn’t understand, how could he, would I really want him to feel the same? I am grateful for everything he does for me. He doesn’t always get it right, and sometimes he drives me up the wall, but I wouldn’t be without him. Never mind losing my legs, without him would be like losing my arms as well.

As for the way my life has turned out, well, it could have been worse. I could have still been with my ex husband (haha, sorry if you read this Dave, but it’s true, what a nightmare for us both.) I could have never had children, I might never have experienced some of the wonderful jobs I’ve had, met the lovely friends I’ve met, oh I know life could have been so much worse. With every bad thing there has been good. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems.

If you have trouble finding gratitude in life, then try this simple thing.

Write a letter, or a note, or a card to someone you care about. It could be a friend, a family member or even someone as obscure as a bus driver or shop assistant. Let them know what you are thankful for, minding your kids, helping you out, always being friendly, being someone you can talk to….anything at all, big or small. You don’t even have to give them the letter afterwards if you don’t want to, but just writing it down has given you the opportunity to express gratitude and unlocking the fullness of life.

Envy

I’ve always prided myself as not being the jealous type but sometimes envy gets to everyone. Are you on Facebook? Do you see posts of friends enjoying fabulous holidays that you know you could never afford, or someone showing off their brand new house, or baby or even kitten? Maybe, if you are a blogger, you see someone reviewing the latest gadget that you really would have loved to have reviewed, or going to the most fantastic event  that you would have loved to have attended.

Hands up! I pride myself as not being jealous, but that’s only because I would never admit it in public. The truth is, there is always someone who is going to be ‘seeming’ to be bigger and better than you. But I say seeming to be, because that’s just it. Life is what you make it and if you let envy get in the way then you are less likely to go out and make it better for yourself.

Envy is a trick, it will make you forget that the only life worth living is your own!

Being Overwhelmed

Ever felt that there is just not enough time in the day? Ever feel that you have so much to do you just don’t know where to start? Ever feel that life is passing you by and all you can think about is everything you need to do?

I know I do. I know I get overwhelmed a lot.

Being overwhelmed can take over your entire life. When I’m overwhelmed I struggle to get out of bed because I’m thinking of everything I have to do, then I get on my computer and mess around on Social Media or play silly games, read lots of pages that are interesting but not really helping me get everything done that I need to do. By the time I get to bed in the evening I’m still feeling overwhelmed and I can’t sleep because I didn’t get everything done that I needed to do that day.

How do you get over being overwhelmed? Certainly not by getting everything done, because then you’ll have a whole heap of new things to do.

It’s a case of breaking everything down. Start by making a list of what you need to get done. Then strike out everything that is not absolutely necessary. Don’t put things off , strike them off. Then think about what you really need to do first, maybe it’s a little thing that you’ve been putting off because you have so many bigger things to do. Just do it, get it out of the way.

Schedule your tasks and work your way through them at your own pace. Once you’ve cut down your list of things to do and got the little things out of the way you probably won’t feel so overwhelmed by the rest.

So, I’ve done all this, taken my own advice, but still feel overwhelmed. The next step is not to be so hard on myself. I’m not superhuman, I can only do what I can do. I’m going to stop beating myself up over what I’ve not achieved and appreciate myself for what I have.

Poor Health

Health and motivation go hand in hand. If I’m ill then my motivation to do anything at all just disappears. Last week I was so poorly for a few days and I achieved so little. This is probably why I’m so overwhelmed this week, I’m playing catch up!

Sometimes you can’t help being sick, I couldn’t help it last week. But, if you look after yourself properly then even though you can’t always beat the bugs, you can keep yourself going throughout the day.

So, just by eating better, getting as much sleep as you can and taking a little exercise you can boost your energy and your willingness to get things done. Get rid of the sluggishness and get yourself motivated instead.

 

I hope you’ve found this interesting or helpful. I’d love to know how you stay motivated or what kills your motivation?

 

Naptime Natter
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