So, I just leave it be and let more talented and enthusiastic people paint.
Another thing I love about painting by numbers is the relaxation effect. I can put in an audiobook, get out my motive and paint. I can actually do that for hours. Loveley.
The same effect I get from painting Mandalas, knitting and cooking. Lately even from doing the dishes. That's why I do my dishes - what there is - every evening, before I get ready to go to bed.
Another double effect: I get the dishes done and I relax before I go to sleep.
So, what have I been doing in the year, that I have not written? I've been working, dissolving so called friendships, that ended up not being real friendships, made new friends, stopped going to choir practice, got a housecleaner for my flat, demolished my closet to be replaced by a new one, moved my sofa into the bedroom, got a new easy chair, moved my furniture around in the living room,
learned how to change youtube videos into audiofiles, knitted socks, read books, went to London twice (and I saw Richard Armitage LIVE and in Coulor. Though the colors were mainly grey and black and dark brown. Well, I saw him in "The Crucible", so there was no reason to expect flaming colors and I didn't.
This year I saw the Musical "Beautiful" based on the musical beginnings of Carole King. Highly recommendable. I went there rather spontaneiously and had a great seat, where I could see the orchestra and the stage and the seats left and right of me remained empty, though the theatre was well frequented.
I also went on a whim to see an exhibition about Audrey Hepburn in the National Portray Gallery and into a little exhibition about Music in WW I. The Great War, as it was called then.
Apart from that I came back to idea of kindling a life in the french style. I found books about this by Jennifer L. Scott and Anne Barone and I liked them. I have linked their names with their websites.
This way, if you are interested, you only need to click the names. :-) If not, you just don't.
Then I have been watching "Extreme Couponing", which fascinated me very much. For one thing, we can't do that here in Germany and for another I wandered, why a family of 7 needs more the 270 Tubes of toothpaste or a family of 3 needs 400 Rolls of kitchenpaper....
There whre a lot of things, that I didn't understand in this scheme and I also wondered: do they factor in the cost for storing (especially things for the fridge and/or freezer), gas, shelfs, spaces, time? Because all that is costly too. There was one woman who preferred cutting out coupons to playing with her kids on the beach.
And what I didn't understand: why, when my storage room is full, do I need to purchase items, that I already have in abundance? Like cleaning detergent for instance? Why does a household of one person need a stockpile for a family of 10? Even considering, that the kids come and get some of the stuff...
What I did like was the report about families who got a lot of stuff for free, but only to give it away to foodbanks, their church or just neighbours. Who used their skills to help others living better.
Also I learned, that it is possible, albeit harder, to buy healthy groceries. So that is a relieve as well.
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Another Show I've been watching was: "Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners". One of the reasons, I got myself cleaning help. While I didn't understand some of their mannerisms, I liked how they helped the hoarders and messies they went to. It wasn't always easy, for either side, but they accomplished quite a lot and something, both sides could live with. They brought back a quality of life and sometimes improved their own, as they hoped they would. This show was often my incentive to clean my flat. On the long run though, it is better to have someone doing the heavy stuff and I just do my best to keep up the good work
That's about it for now. I think I'll end this post with a picture and not a video. Just to go back to the roots of this blog (when I didn't know, how to upload clips). And this time it might even be a photo, I did myself. Who knows. :-) This is a street in London. I took the photo, because I liked the street. It is a photo from last years trip though.
