Chuckles Chuntering

Hi everyone! I've sort of been like The Ghost of Chuckles over the last week to ten days and I'm sorry to have been absent in mind and body. As a bit of background I have suffered from stress and depression since 2001 and normally it is pretty much under control with mostly good days but some bad. All the little worries and niggles that can normally be shut out all just piled up to overwhelm my system-the state of the house and garden, things on the news, worry about the rental neighbours and what they might be like, the last dental treatments, being behind on all the computer stuff etc. I went into a bad depression fit and just sat around the house pretty much doing nothing this whole week and feeling like crap. It wasn't a good feeling and I hadn't been like that for a long time.

Then I woke up on Wednesday morning and just suddenly felt back to normal! I celebrated the end of the dental treatment (yea!), I started reading, I started blogging and I feel GOOD! I even got some of those book reviews done as you'll notice! I'm a bit behind in comments on my blog and visits to your blog but I'll catch up on that over the weekend. I took a lot of time to really think about my blogging and how to make life easier and I think I've come up with a few things to try until the end of the year to see if that makes a difference to a less stressful blogging life!

Starting with Top Ten Tuesday. There is a lot of topic repetition and lots that just don't interest me so I'm making changes to this. I like to write out my lists weeks in advance but I can often struggle for days to think of a twist or replacement when the topic doesn't suit me. From now on, I'll be concentrating on getting the TTT topics I like written and dated ready to use. If I think of twists that are quick to get ten for, I'll work on them next or if I have a topic of my own ready to use I'll do that. Otherwise I'll just totally skip the topics I don't want to do and save myself time.

Get the Book Review Backlog done. I now feel ready to tackle all of the backlog reviews and finally get caught up fully. Then I only need to write a review each time I finish a book, keeping me on top of things and no backlog to deal with. That should really make a difference! I am planning to use the whole weekend to catch up on comments, blog visits and getting posts ready to use in advance, leaving the week free for reviews as I read, and stuff off the computer!

I'm focusing less on stressful subjects too. I've been getting too irate about things on the news which I have no control over, so now the news is off limits all day as I blog! I'm watching things on channels like Quest, DMax, Sky Two, Discovery, NatGeo etc so lots of the type of reality TV I love like Deadliest Catch, Bering Sea Gold, Outback Opal Hunters, Timber Kings, Outback Truckers, My Kitchen Rules, Masterchef, Gold Rush, Wicked Tuna, Yukon Gold, Cold Water Cowboys, American Ninja Warrior...I love tough job TV shows, fun tough athletic style game shows, cookery contests...so my dad and I are enjoying episodes of this kind of thing all day which is much more fun! I take a quick look at the news for ten minutes at the end of each day and that is more than enough right now! Nights are split between reading and watching films and favourite box sets. I needed more fun in my life!

We've decided not to get a new carpet because it would mean trying to get all the furniture moved around twice in one day to get a guy in to fit it-that includes seven bookcases, a heavy TV unit, a huge heavy cabinet...ugh! Instead we are getting that wooden flooring that clicks together and I'll be putting that down in sections so we only need to move a few things at a time. It'll take a few days more but could be less stressful overall so we're looking at wood next week hopefully. Everything is on a big list ready to be ticked off as we get it done. Hopefully a good few things will be done by spring!

I want to thank all of you who have been so supportive, offering advice and suggestions about how to get the blogging sorted. Looking at what you guys said and talking it all over with my dad helped to clear my mind and get me to focus on what I WANT to do rather than what I think I should be doing. I guess it's about training the mind, right?! I do want to say thank you because your imput really helped me during this period and I now feel blogging refreshed and ready to go!