Little things that make a big difference

[innocent_lex]

This kind of thing is always really personal (as in, each person has their own, not as in my deepest, darkest secrets). Still, I've had a few little things that have made a huge difference of late:

- I bought a couple of little thermoses that I use to take a mug full of tea with me on the train in the morning. The difference this makes to my brain and my peace of mind is entirely out of proportion to the scale of the little hot drink, but I'm not asking questions.
- I implemented the concept of a 'doing day' instead of trying to have tasks done every day. This means I don't worry on normal days that there's an endless list of stuff that still needs doing. Today is one such day. Am having a break for tea and t'internet.
- I have a to do list app on my phone that I use when I'm having a 'doing day', so I can tick off absolutely everything I've done - no matter how small - and feel much progress has been made
- Thornton's Viennese truffles. I bought some a few weeks ago and they're scrummylicious to have with tea. I've known that for years, but for some inexplicable reason I keep on forgetting they exist.
- Watched a 17 minute video review of yet another tablet simply to get an itch out of my system that I need one. It's shiny. I don't need one. More importantly, I don't want one. 17 minutes saved me £300 of impulse buying. Huzzah!
- Use of my amazon wishlist. I think I've mentioned this before, but when I want some DVDs or a book or something, I add it to my wishlist. I come back a week later to see if I still want it. Then give it another week. Then sometimes more time. More often than not, stuff just gets deleted from the wishlist.
- Also have created a 'to watch on film rental' wishlist on Amazon - if I have an urge to watch a film and have no idea what, I can check that list out.

Any wee things that work for you, dear flist?

Comments

[stop_thinking]

So I should check before I order you anything from the wish list? :)

My wee things that make a big difference? My little pleasures? Hmm.
1) Not having Mum here for a week? :) (she comes back tonight)
2) Cafe Parisien instant coffee.
3) Thorntons Chocolate Caramel Squares (I wish I could forget how good they are)
4) Google Calendar and Exchange Calendar. I can sync them both with all my computers, and with my Ipad and mobile phone. With everything I have to remember right now,work-wise, and with my dreadful memory for anything else, knowing I can update or access the one calendar anywhere gives me a lot of peace of mind, and makes me much more organized than I used to be.
5) Having super-fast broadband. Love it, love it, love it. Can now download video to watch later, and can watch video online without it stuttering. I've gone from a frustrating 1.5Mbps to at least 19Mbps (at times even 32Mbps).
6) My Ipad. The ultimate device for consuming the internet. Not tired of it yet.

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

A peaceful week - huzzah! Bad work for stepping into the breech...

Still don't want an ipad, but I have seen how addicted you are to yours *g*

[superbadgirl]

I stopped hitting snooze on the alarm clock. Actually, I have stopped using the alarm clock, period - it's a back up only. I usually wake on my own twenty minutes before I have the alarm set.

Unplugging from everything when I'm on the bus or walking into the office. I'd forgotten how nice it was to not have something always playing in my ears. Of course, when annoying culinary art student boys sit behind me in the morning talking about their exploits in booze and partying the night before, I put the buds back in.

I eat ice cream every Saturday. Only Saturday.

I use the childish "you can't have dessert until you finish your peas" rule for everything. I can't read until I write, I can't sit until I finish mopping the floor, etc. I don't do lists, but this seems to work for me.

Stopping and actually taking in the awesome beauty of where I live. When I first moved here, I couldn't stop staring at the mountains. I lost that, but now, it returns.

I soak my feet in essential oils (peppermint, ooh tingly!), Epsom salt and hot water, give myself a quick pedicure and a reward to my feet for working so hard all week.

I do not go to the grocery without a firm idea what to buy (I do do lists here).

Snuggle with kitties. Play with kitties.

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

When I don't use my alarm clock (actually my phone, where I set about 6 alarms on a weekday morning) I'm asleep until around midday. It's always been the way since I was a kid. I've heard that you don't need as much sleep as you get older - I'll be fascinated when that actually happens.

Kitty snuggling is excellent and v important. My two snuggle with me more and more as they get older. This is a good thing.

BTW, like your icon, all pretty and swirly and squirkly.

[superbadgirl]

I used to be like that. Somewhere around when I got my cats, everything changed. I'm sure they're the ones waking me up, but they're not loud or obnoxious or anything (until I'm actually upright, then Roy meows nonstop for food), I must hear them sitting right outside my door or feel them staring at me through it. ;)

I <3 snuggling with the cats. They've been wonderful for my mental health. Even if they drive me nuts sometimes, the other times, when they're bumping my forehead or purring on my lap totally make up for it.

Thanks! I need to find more fractals. Used to use them a lot for icons.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm totally with you on the Amazon wishlist thing. I've put tons of stuff on it, and once in a while I'll go back and check it. I've deleted a lot of stuff off of it-mostly books I'm no longer interested in after the first surge of MUST HAVE IT!! And if I keep on not buying it when I have the chance, that must mean I really don't want it as much as I thought it did. This goes for the stuff, too.

I need my alarm on in the morning, or else I sleep til the point I'm supposed to be driving Mermaid (my daughter) to school at ~7am in the morning. Not good.

I tend to overbuy digital scrapbooking supplies. I already have more than I'm ever going to use, and I've started to ask myself, Do I really need this? NONONONO!

Little pleasures...going to a local coffeeshop and buying a cup of coffee for me and a croisannt (OMG, best ones ever) and an cheese & spinach empanada. Is heaven. The kids love the pastries there, too. And *it's not a chain*!

I do love visiting the local farm/animal rescue The Gentle Barn on Sundays at least once every six weeks. And going out without the kids (rarely).

Sometimes I like turning off the NPR radio at home when I'm alone because I get so tired of listening to the same news over and over. Silence can be golden.

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

It really is the little things that are wonderful. I'm still on a high from the eclair I had the other day.