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| Hello, my wonderful friends! Just popping in because SM reminded me that it was my account anniversary. Thought I should leave a brief update. 2025 has been a transformative year for me so far. I started decluttering at the beginning of the year and it has been...life-changing. I've always believed that I'm a naturally messy person, and maybe that's true, but it's impossible to keep a house tidy when you have more items than you have places to put items in. When I tidied, I was just moving stuff, but not achieving anything lasting or that I could maintain. Now, my house is much tidier, and I'm starting to work on the cleaning side of things. I'm using The Organised Mum Method which is basically a way of doing small amounts of cleaning regularly, rotating through the different areas of your house so that over time the whole house gets and stays clean. For many of you, that'll be something you do naturally. For me, it's a game changer. For the first time ever, I don't have to rush around and panic if a surprise guest turns up at my door or calls to tell me they're coming round. It's so good. Decluttering has required a huge mindset change. I am the family historian and many of you will remember that I had collections of sentimental things and heirlooms that I wanted to pass on to future generations. Nope. My in-laws have just downsized into a retirement village and so we've been decluttering their stuff too, including antique heirlooms and sentimental items that they desperately wanted us to give a home to, and it has taught me that the STUFF doesn't matter. Too much stuff becomes a burden, not a gift. I need to focus on spending quality time with my loved ones, not leaving them stuff to remember me by. They will remember me if I create memories with them, not by the items I leave behind. Huge mindset change for me, and I've still got some work to do on decluttering sentimental and heirloom items, but I'm getting there and it's awesome. What else? I'm mostly recovered from surgery at the beginning of the month to remove my gallbladder, and last night my quiz team came first. Woohoo! I miss having a blog. I miss writing up and sharing these kinds of posts. I miss you guys too. I can't possibly scroll through all the newsfeed posts, so if you want to, drop a comment here and give me an update on yourself. Even if my inbox gets full (  ), I'll be able to read them all when I next pop in. |
| "Invalid Entry" A brief update, and a warning that, as fantastic as I still believe this site to be, I won't be renewing my membership in March. I may be back one day, but for now, my focus is on other parts of my life. Please feel free to connect with me in the following places:  40tofabulous  elle.schroder |
I will be sorry to see you leave Elle   . But sometimes, real life interferes with our virtual life here online. WDC is a website for writers, and I've written very little in the last 365 days. I have done a bit of reading. I remain active by sending a few reviews each month, and creating a daily post in "Smile! (Groan?) You Know You Love These!" . One day my Muse will return and I'll write again. Until then, I'll do what I can, write what, and when, I can. You said you might return, I hope you do. Until that day arrives, live your life the best you can, be happy, be loved and give love, return when/if you can. We'll be here waiting of course. Love to you and yours. Jim |
| Just popping in to say thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. I wanted to share something I wrote yesterday: I love that my birthday falls in Neurodiversity Celebration Week. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year at age 43. So many people think that these days diagnoses like ADHD are more about having a 'label' or belonging to an exclusive group than anything else. They're wrong. When you're undiagnosed and most (if not all) of the items in the school lost property are yours, the teacher thinks you're either a forgetful twit or too lazy to pick up after yourself. When you're undiagnosed, you spend countless lunchtimes writing lines for not doing your homework and you're labelled naughty, irresponsible and defiant. When you're undiagnosed and you're caught daydreaming in class AGAIN, you're told that you obviously don't care about your future. When you're undiagnosed and you start your assignment an hour before it's due, you're told you'll never live up to your potential. When you're undiagnosed and you fail to finish the fourth university degree you've started, you're told you're obviously just not smart enough for higher education. When you're undiagnosed and you can't keep your room/house tidy, you're told you're not fit to be a wife or mother. When you're undiagnosed and you can't maintain consistent routines or rules, you're told you obviously don't care enough about your children. When you're undiagnosed and you are continuously, repeatedly late to everything, you're told that you obviously have no respect for others. Sometimes those messages come from teachers, family members, friends, and other people whose opinion we value and take to heart. Sometimes those messages come from ourselves as we ask ourselves 'Why can't I do it when everyone else makes it look so easy?' A diagnosis, and the knowledge and understanding that comes with it, is so powerful. It is the first step to overcoming a lifetime of being told that we're not good enough. It is the first step to believing that maybe we're a fish being judged for our ability to climb a tree, and that instead of berating ourselves for not being able to climb that tree, and spending our whole life trying, we should celebrate that we're damn good swimmers. This week, let's remember all the people who said wonderful things about us. This week, let's celebrate all the things that make us so amazing. Because I am, and so are you. (Continued in comments because of the character limit) |
| While I do not have ADHD, I do have a disorder that affected me throughout my school and adult life until I was diagnosed in my early forties. It did set me free to know why I behaved the way I did and thought the way I do. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Stay true to yourself. Stay strong. John |
Hey, I'm going to go on hiatus for a while. I don't know when I'll be back. I'm going to try and stay away for at least a year.  That'll be the longest I've been away from this site since I rejoined in 2010! I just need to focus on some other things right now, but don't worry, everything is fine! If you miss me, follow me on Instagram: 40tofabulous. It'll mostly be photos of me exhausted as I do my training for my big hike coming up next month, but that's where I'll be if you want to say hi. And for those in "The Snail Mail Group" , I promise I will send letters and cards while I'm gone. I will miss you guys!  Elle |
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I just watched this and found it inspiring and interesting on both a diary-keeping level and a family history level. Thought some of you might appreciate it. |
| Validates my 5000+ page journal and my blog entries here. Yes, I should reread some. But... if I don't, so be it. Maybe someone else will and have a glimpse into a time and place which by then will be gone... |
| This reminds me of why I write my poetry. I'm not a journal-writing person. But poems come easy for me. Especially when I'm in one of my depressive moods. Writing keeps me from the truly darkest depths. And this also reminds me of when my mom gave me my grandfather's book/journal that had poetry in it. Though it has just poetry in it, it was a glimpse of what he was like. |
Congratulations to these members who have recently earned merit badges over at "The Snail Mail Group" : ![Merit Badge in Snail Mail Achievement 25
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Congratulations on your new merit badge! Thank you for supporting the Writing.Com community with your inspirations, participation and activities. We sincerely appreciate it! -SMs](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Snail_Mail_Achievement_25-1982168_14.gif) Schnujo's having school probs  ![Merit Badge in Snail Mail Achievement 10
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Congratulations on your new merit badge! Thank you for supporting the Writing.Com community with your inspirations, participation and activities. We sincerely appreciate it! -SMs](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Snail_Mail_Achievement_10-1982168_14.gif) Kit  ![Merit Badge in Snail Mail
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*^*Greetl*^* Hallo! This badge comes to you from [Link To Item #snailmail] ! *^*Greetr*^*
*^*Starstruck*^* We appreciate all the letters, cards, postcards and packages you've been sending out! *^*Delight*^*
*^*Snailb*^* Thank you for being such an active member of the group! *^*Suitheart*^* *^*Snailo*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Snail_Mail-1982168_14.gif) THANKFUL SONALI On Hiatus  WakeUpAndLive~lifestyle change  AmyJo-me, myself, and I I'm planning a hiatus soon, so the wonderful Annette  has offered to take over running the group. If you're keen to join, don't hesitate to let Annette know.
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Kåre เลียม Enga  The forum is open again. Items are automatically set to private when they get transferred. It's late here. I will take care of everything else on Thursday or Friday. |
Ever since ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy  disappeared after her diagnosis of Alzheimer's, I did a search every now and then for her obituary. It's maudlin, I know, but... I did the same with my old boss and recently found that he passed away in November last year. Well, today I found Ann's obituary. It was under her maiden name, which is why I didn't find it earlier.   You can read more at this link . Some of you might recognise her in the last photo, as it reminded me of the one she used to have in her port with the turkey on her head.  Please feel free to share your memories of Ann at "White Case Memorial" .
Ann was outrageous and proud and determined and hilarious and generous and eccentric. She could be oh so trying, but I miss her long snail mail letters and her fierce defence of those she loved. Ann, you are missed. I've missed you since you got Alzheimer's and couldn't be here anymore, couldn't write to me anymore, but now? Now I'm a little bit heartbroken.  Here is a poem I wrote for Ann back in 2016: "Invalid Entry" I opened your letter today, and you sat in the armchair beside me, cup of tea in hand, as we gossiped like two old women. Of mutual friends, and Molly, of dreams and fears and life, and all the while, we laughed, and prattled on as only two long standing friends can do. When I reached the letter's end, I was quite surprised to find myself alone, as at the start, only the memory of your smile and your words to remind me of all we had said. |
| Does anyone here Bullet Journal? While I heard about Bullet Journals years ago, I thought it was just another way to keep a journal, and I didn't think much of it. I couldn't have been more wrong, and I wish I'd looked further into it years ago. But at least I'm on to it now! Would love to hear from any other BuJo users on WDC. "Invalid Entry" |
| I've always wanted to get into it but I don't know if I'm a stable enough person to pick up the habit and keep it up. |
| Jessica M. Sedgwick - I think, if you follow the official version and not the pretty arty ones you see on social media, it's actually designed for disorganised, forgetful people. The creator came up with it as a way to manage his ADHD. And the way you utilise it, if you do happen to neglect it for a while, you can just pick it up again where you left off. There's no allocation of pages for certain days/weeks/months so you don't end up having to skip pages, you just keep going from where you stopped. And it's designed to make you more organised, more stable. But I don't want to sound like I'm trying to sell you a car or life insurance. Definitely worth checking it out though, in my personal opinion. It's way more than I thought it was at first glance and perfect for me with my ADHD. |
![Merit Badge in Elle
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Congratulations on your new "Elle" merit badge for your group, [Link To Item #1938829] ! Thank you for supporting the Writing.Com community with your inspirations, participation and activities. We appreciate it! -SMs](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Elle-1938829_15.gif) Yes, I know you're all busy with site birthday celebrations, but I had an idea for a newsfeed merit badge challenge, so I'm running with it! You can earn the exclusive Elle merit badge (above) or your choice of any non-exclusive merit badge. I'll do random draws for as many as I can afford. My husband's lovely aunt (which makes her sound ancient, but she's not much older than me!) has joined Writing.com - please welcome H❀pe . I must admit, when she first mentioned joining, I did have a mini panic. I'm not the same at family gatherings as I am on here! And there's some things in my portfolio that members of my family (let alone my husband's!) would be, er, shocked by. But I took a deep breath and reminded myself that WDC is a safe space to be ourselves and it'll be fun to get to know each other better outside of family gatherings. I nearly wrote 'polite family gatherings' but my husband's family are all loud and all have ADHD (which means NO FILTER) and they love a laugh. So there aren't really any polite family gatherings, but since she and I both married into this loud, crazy family, we are the quieter ones.  Anyway, for your chance to win a merit badge, share one aspect of your online personality that your family wouldn't recognise, or one item from your portfolio that you'd be reluctant to share with your family. If you're exactly the same with your family as you are online, well, you don't need a merit badge, my friend, because you are already winning at life. |
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm social with several people from the, uh, "other" side of WdC, the side where most dare not to tread.  Mind you, I don't really read their stuff, but I do socialize with them and several have fanned me.  Naturally, I've taught several how to link to their interactives and chapters as well. |
| A big congratulations to Schnujo's having school probs who just earned this exclusive merit badge over at "The Snail Mail Group" : Members earn a merit badge for every 10 pieces of mail they send, then we have special merit badges for those who earn 10, 25 or 50 Snail Mail merit badges. Yes, that means Jody has sent more than 100 pieces of mail! And yes, we do have one member who has already sent more than 500 pieces of mail. 
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| Aw, come on, people! I gotta see what you guys write for the "Blogging Circle of Friends " prompt today. “Just for the record, the weather today is calm and sunny, but the air is full of bullshit.” ― Chuck Palahniuk Link your entries here (as well as in "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum" of course). This post is not affiliated with Annette 's earlier post - "Note: Fair warning, this is a little gross, but nobod...". |
| Did you know that if you don't change your default settings, you're missing a whole section of this site? As per "Content Rating System (CRS)" , 'the default setting for the Writing.Com content rating filter is E thru 18+.' You might think you don't need to see GC or XGC rated items, because you're not into reading about explicit sex or violence. But did you also know that if an item has more than two F words in it, it's generally considered GC? So if you're like me and you don't mind an F bomb or two, you might be missing out on some cool stuff. Some of our best bloggers on this site have their blogs set at GC or XGC due to cursing. You can change the filter on the newsfeed using the dropdown at the top right.  And if you're a blogger who enjoys a good rant (with or without curse words), but you missed it because your filter was set too low, check out "Note: If you're a blogger who needs to rant and you..." or just head over to "JAFBG" .
The forum has a few curse words in it, but what you put in your blog is always up to you.  |
Where are all my folks who like to write and read non-fiction? Ðåvê R¥åñ  is working on a memoir about his experiences with bullying and living with the aftermath of those experiences. If you're interested in reading his work in progress and offering your feedback, please do so!
I enjoyed reading his progress notes in "A Blog Of No Importance" and am now feeling inspired to not only read and review his work (which I will do as soon as I can dedicate some uninterrupted time to it) but also to work on my own memoir! |
![Merit Badge in Food Cooking
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Thanks for sharing your delightful recipes with the rest of us in the 'National Eat What You (really) Want Day' challenge! *^*Bigsmile*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Food_Cooking-625.gif) It's been a while since I ran a newsfeed challenge. There are two ways you can enter the draw to win one of TEN Food/Cooking MBs (pictured above). 1. Read "Invalid Entry" and tell me which food on my list you'd most love to try (or if you've tried one, what you thought of it). You can do this as a comment on the blog or as a comment on this post. 2. Tell me about a food that's only available in your country (but it'll only count as an entry if you're the first person to nominate that particular food!). Please do this as a comment on this post so they're all in one place (make it easier to see if someone else has already nominated a particular food). To start with, let's just stick to one entry for each of the two categories per person. I know some of you can go nuts, but we'll give everyone a chance to join in. |
A E Willcox  - A lot of our food is very British, with the rest being Pasifika I guess. I found the food in the UK very similar to what I could get here. Actually, there was virtually no culture shock at all going from here to the UK. Some of the foods you mentioned were ones I had growing up. We had scotch eggs, toad in the hole, steak and kidney pie, trifle, scones, etc. Having said that, my parents were both born in England, so it's possible that my upbringing was slightly more British than my peers. I had haggis when I was in the UK in 2014 and was surprised to find it quite tasty. My husband loved it so much he had it every single day for the week that we were in Scotland, and my kids loved it too. I actually had a haggis Cornish pasty (I bought it in Inverness) and that was delicious. Was fun to combine two unique foods in one! I had Cornish pasties on my second visit in 2018 and found the pastry to filling ratio a bit much for me that time - I think I prefer a traditional meat pie rather than the pastry-heavy pasty. It could have been just that one bakery though, rather than all Cornish pasties. I've not heard of lava bread before, that's a new one for me. And I don't know what a star-gazey pie is either. I do like chicken tikka masala, although of course butter chicken is far more popular here (and my kids especially love it). Actually, we had butter chicken (homemade) for dinner last night. |
| Elle For some reason, the link took me to the dreaded 404 but I searched the website and found the recipe. I can't wait to try it. It sounds delicious! I am posting an xlink to it hoping maybe it will work. It seems like the same address but we'll see... The Ultimate Ginger Crunch |
| It is so hard going from 1,000 items in my portfolio to 250. This is an epic purge. [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
| Elle please tell me one of them is not Roots and Wings...can't remember the b-item for that group as I am writing a Newsletter article for it (RootsTech 2023) |
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I've been feeling pretty poorly and though last semester I managed 4 classes with a perfect grade point average, I only have 2 and am failing both now. It's not going well. My primary care doctor isn't too concerned, so my neurologist decided to care. Too bad my next appointment isn't until January, but at least he did schedule some bloodwork, so that's good.
I joined another writing organization, but they're focused on actually publishing. They have a very different approach. They have an organized program you're supposed to follow. Naturally, if I'm failing classes, I'm not doing particularly well there, either. lol
Anyway, I really miss you and am glad you stopped by! Take care of yourself! I'm glad you're doing better from your gallbladder surgery and a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS on your decluttering!!! That's fantastic!!! I know that's not easy to do at all!!! It sounds like you're rocking life! Keep it up! We'll be here when you get back!
Good luck.
NJ