Week 1 of accomplished! I went to my sister's yesterday and she offered me a glass of wine and I said no. That was alright.

Currently reading: Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff 📚

I am trying out this self-kindness thing and have been for the last couple of weeks. I have started talking out loud to myself sometimes even, saying things that are a bit reassuring or encouraging when I’m feeling a bit of a mess. It is sort of nice.

I’m still not convinced that it will sink all the way in and help me accept myself and actually believe that I am a worthwhile person but… I dunno… it costs nothing to try?

I can sort of understand how you might be able to learn to ‘reprogramme’ yourself a bit to think that you can rely on yourself, and then that might give you a bit more confidence and stuff and things would improve from there. But there’s that assumption right at the start that you can reprogramme yourself like that, and I’m not super convinced. If thirty-something years of experience has led to the impression that I can’t trust people and that I don’t belong, it seems a bit of a stretch that a few months of work could undo all that. Like it’s a bit wishful thinking, you know?

Knotwords (iOS) Review / Thoughts

🎮 Knotwords (2022) - ★★★★★

Knotwords poster

Knotwords is a nice iOS puzzle game. I like that there’s no subscription, you buy it once and that’s it. It’s a kind of crossword combined with anagrams sort of word puzzle. Every day there are 3 new puzzles to solve: Daily Mini which is quick and easy, Daily Classic which starts off quite small and simple on a Monday and gets more difficult as the week goes on, and Daily Twist which gives you an extra set of clues in the form of telling you how many vowels are in each row and column.

There’s also a ‘puzzle book’ section which gives you 60 puzzles each month.

If you use an external keyboard you can use the arrow keys and the tab key to navigate around the board and of course you can type in your answers. I really like this bit as it feels very fast and fluid to enter letters, there’s no fighting with the interface while you’re actually trying to see if your idea is right or not.

Finally the coolest thing is you get an almost Wordle-like animation to share after you’ve solved a puzzle which I think is awesome even though I don’t actually use it:

A gif showing a crossword-style grid. Animated so that the boxes steadily fill with ticks to show when a correct letter is entered or a cross to show an incorrect letter. The overall effect shows the progress made when completing a puzzle without giving away the actual solution

🎵 My “jam” at the moment is Boris Brejcha. I don't know a damn thing about electronic music but this is awesome for focusing and I actually got stuff done at work while listening to it.

Each track never really goes anywhere and I find it kind of hypnotic

songwhip.com/boris-brejcha

My key organisation

I’ve been trying to keep things minimal / useful when it comes to what I carry around in my pockets or bag. Recently I’ve re-done my keys.

I have 3 little command hooks stuck on the wall in my kitchen. The first hook has my front door key attached a Nite Ize Cinch-A-Lot Mini Stretch Strap. If I’m just going for a walk, that’s the only key I would need so I just grab that and put it in my pocket

The next hook has my car key fob on a tiny splitring. The last hook has a slightly bigger split ring with my back door key and keys for my Mam’s and sister’s houses.

So some of the time I just need my house key if I’m just walking somewhere. Sometimes I’ll be driving, so I take the car key and attach it to the little S-carabiner on the Cinch-a-lot. If I need to let myself into a family member’s house for whatever reason, I can add that larger keyring on that odd occasion.

So I get to just carry around the smallest keychain that I need, without making things too complex with regards to swapping things in and out.

The cinch-a-lot has an elastic loop which is big enough to get a couple of fingers through so it’s nice to use to be able to get your keys out of your pocket, or I could potentially fasten it around a belt loop. Because it has the little metal slider I could potentially use it to attach something else to the keys, like my Airpods or something, although I can’t really imagine wanting to do that. Some of the reviews of the cinch-a-lot said that the locking thingy on the s-biner was a bit fiddly to use, I don’t find that to be the case but I have tiny hands so maybe that’s why I don’t have an issue.

I am liking this new setup though. Takes up the minimum amount of space in my pocket and it’s very slim so there’s as little bulk as possible, and it’s easy to swap keys in and out as needed

In the spirit of being more gentle with myself: none of that business with the GPs was my fault. It's annoying but I've done well to keep things going at least. And I went to work afterwards and survived that so that's something too

GP appointment cancelled this morning. Originally called to make appointment in mid-December because I didn't think my Sertraline was working. Rescheduled to the 18th. I tell them my medication will have run out by then. Receptionist says she'll see the GP about it.

I check on the NHS app and the prescription is there but it's dated 01/01/1900. I can't get to the pharmacy until Monday. Will they actually fill it I wonder?🤔

Very helpful to my anxiety on what was also my first day back at work!

Default Apps 2024

Recently been trying to keep things simple and since I bought an iPhone 13 a while back to go with my iPad I’m more and more sold on using Apple stuff so there’s a bit of a theme here!

I think some of this will change soon as I do want to get a bit more into blogging and that will involve trying different things out, and it’s been on my mind for months that I kind of want to buy a macbook. Not exactly pocket money that though, is it?

Music: Apple Music

Podcasts: Apple Podcasts

Password Management: Bitwarden

Books: Kindle

Todo: Apple Reminders

Calendar: Apple Calendar

Mastodon: Ivory

Blogging: Micro.blog and Epilogue for micro.blog

Notes: Bear

Journaling: DayOne

Not apps:

Bullet journaling: Scribbles That Matter B6 hardcover dotted notebook.

Meal planning: whiteboard on my kitchen wall

Going to try and read 25 books this year. One book a fortnight seems to be about right when I'm in a half-decent habit. Want to try tracking and writing a little bit about them on micro.blog too, instead of GoodReads

Tree, decorations and lights all put away. House is back to normal. Don’t get me wrong, I like having the space back and of course you’d be fed up if things didn’t change back but it always feels like New Year just dumps you like ‘that’s it, show’s over’ into the long, cold dark beginning of the year

Does anyone happen to know where in the UK you can get B6 hardcover ? Either dot grid or squared. I've got a nice Scribbles That Matter one at the moment but they don't seem to do B6 any more and that seems like such a nice size to me

I started my current on the 1st of January 2023, and I'm about two thirds of the way through it, so I'm just going to keep going with it. I estimate it will last me until around March.

Seems like a bit of a shame to not get that nice fresh start like last time in the new year but at the same time, good chunk of it not used, plus I can't seem to find any notebooks like this one any more and I like it

First attempt at making an ambigram. This was pretty fun!

Currently reading: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers 📚

Read book 1 a couple of times. Really liked it the first time, thought there was something a bit off about it the second time. Still made me feel quite cosy so I’m hoping book 2 will be similar in that regard.

I think I'm gonna try doing next month

Time for a new post now that chosen a new instance for my account.

Hiya, I'm a 30-something shy nerdy gay lass from the north-east of England. I also suspect that I am autistic and at the moment I'm dealing with the mental health that comes with... well... all of the above. I'm here for nice stuff, I won't be talking about politics or anything like that.

Things I like:

including
recently , before that

Lego bonsai tree - my first Lego in years and years

This is what I’ve spent a very pleasant chunk of my day today doing. I haven’t had Lego since I was little and I’ve really enjoyed building this. The finished product looks good on my shelf too!

The box for a Lego Botanicals Collection Bonsai Tree The box The pot for the tree built The pot for the tree built The main trunk built The main trunk built. I missed a step right after this because this is the part where you're supposed to add the 'pebbles'. It's a little more awkward to do after the leaves are on! The base that the pot stands on The base that the pot stands on Completed Lego bonsai tree Completed Lego bonsai tree!

This was definitely the coolest Christmas present I got this year and I’m going to love having this on display in the house. I might have to look into getting more Lego some time 🤔

Currently reading: You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney 📚

Trying out an Apple One subscription. I’ve used up all my free iCloud storage so I had to do something. Already use apple music. Will I waste all my time on Apple Arcade and regret subscribing? Maybe!

Currently reading: Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff 📚