It’s time for another Taking Stock post – these are always fun 🙂
Taking Stock #3/2022
The way I approach these Taking Stock posts, is to write a response to the prompt without giving it too much thought, so be aware it’s usually the first thing that pops into my head. It helps to keep my brain nimble!
Starting in February, I’ve been trying to do a Taking Stock post early in the month and I’m alternating with the Taking Stock prompts – last month I used an earlier version and today I’ve switched back to the more recent alphabetic prompts – it keeps life interesting!
Let’s get into it!
Admiring: Resilience in all its forms – flood victims, those in war zones, parents of toddlers…
Becoming: A bit cynical with all the political stuff going on. But at least the election date has now been set!
Curious: Continuing to be curious about life is a great way to stay young at heart.
Delighted: To have a few days away in the city with some of my family. (Thanks to my daughter for this happy snap at our morning tea stop).
Excited: About further family visits coming up over the next few months.
Feeling: Sad at having to help prepare my late Mother-in-law’s property for auction – going through her life and deciding what to do with her things has not been an easy task for any of us.
Going: Quite well with my challenge to exercise more, drink more water and watch what I am putting into my mouth. There’s still room for improvement though.
Helping: Make the world a better place – in any way I can. (My ‘I am’ app gives me lovely messages throughout the day like this one below).
Imploring: Peace is what we need, not war.
Joking: Playing with my grandchildren and hearing them laugh. Even a simple peek-a-boo game can elicit squeals of delight.
Keeping: My equilibrium despite feelings of overwhelm that threaten me at times.
Loving: Our early morning strolls to the beach while away from home.
Making: The most of the warmer weather on the coast – frosts aren’t too far away at home.
Next: I think I’ll have another cup of tea.
Observing: Life in the big smoke – it’s so different to my usual lifestyle.
Pleasing: To see the sun and feel the warmth after such awful rainy times of late.
Reading: The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth – With honesty and true understanding, Sally Hepworth pens this poignant story of one of today’s nightmares: early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Staying: In an Airbnb in the Northern Beaches of Sydney for an extra long weekend.
Trying: Not to be too judgemental – (my daughter told me I was being too judgy) – trying to see the reasons why people live in a busy city and pay so much for that lifestyle choice. It’s not better or worse, just different.
Understanding: That we have the best of both worlds – we live in a small country town and enjoy going to the city and the beach for a visit but don’t have to live there with all the traffic, people and expense. Yes it’s a much quieter life but it suits us just fine!
Viewing: The world from above in a hot air balloon – that was so much fun!
Welcoming: The opportunity to look after our grandchildren for the afternoon/evening while their parents attend a wedding.
X (our choice): Our family’s A Word a Week photo challenge has been going well with words recently being: Neighbourhood, Flora, Man-made, Buttons and Key – see if you can match the words to the photos below 🙂
Yes: To welcoming Autumn – it really is my favorite colour!
Z – (our choice): A day at Taronga Zoo with my grandchildren 🙂
How about you?
Are you going along OK?
How would you answer any one these prompts?
I always enjoy doing these posts and I’d love to hear from you 🙂
Have a great week.
Deb xx
Joining Denyse for her fortnightly #lifestories linkup
Coming Up:
- Letting you know that our monthly What’s on Your Bookshelf post which is usually the 3rd Friday of the month will be a week later on Friday 22 April as we’re participating in a special event – Friendly Friday Photo and Blog Challenge! So mark your calendars with the later date for the WOYBS challenge for April only.
- Our WOTY monthly link up is Friday 29 April – hope to see you there.
You can also find Deb’s World in lots of other places – stay in touch by clicking any of the buttons below.
Everyone has a story to tell! Deb is a young-at-heart & active 60+ blogger/retiree, after being made redundant from her 22-year career managing education programs in a men’s correctional centre (jail). She now spends her time reading, blogging, riding her ebike and travelling. Deb was awarded a Bravery Award from the Queen when she was 17 after a tragic accident – a definite life changing moment! She is married with 3 grown-up daughters & has 4 grandchildren. She never imagined being Granny Debs would bring so much joy to her life! You can read more of Deb’s story here
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Deb's World 
You are gifted with a writing ability! This is excellent. Thanks for sharing!
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Oh thank you very much Deborah, what a lovely comment!
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What a fun post! I really enjoyed how you used the A to Z theme in it! LOVED IT!
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Thanks Trisha, it’s always a good post to do and reflect on what’s on my mind! The A-Z makes it great for April A-Z too but I didn’t think of that until now!
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It is always just so sad going through a departed relative’s things. It is the sum of their life in material possessions. It makes you miss the person’s presence so strongly.
You answers the alphabetic prompt so well and I am really looking forward to you joining in the Friendly Friday Challenge!
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Yes it is a sad time and feels awful to throw or give their things away. I’ver written my Friendly Friday post so I’m all ready to go and looking forward to it too.
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Yay! Can’t wait to read your upcoming post.
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This is always a fun post Deb!
Going through our loved ones things is a holy and bittersweet task.
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Thanks Carol, the fact that Ruby died in December 2020 also makes it hard as it’s been so drawn out.
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Hi Deb – what a fabulous Taking Stock post to read. I love the A-Z version – I’ve not done that before! Still can’t get over how many people are in that hot air balloon basket. How does it stay up in the sky? Eeeek! What fun though! So lovely you’ve had some time away with family and I have to agree that Autumn colours are just so beautiful. I was like a kid at Christmas when we did a trip to Tasmania in late April/early may in 2015 – there were Autumn leaves everywhere. I was beside myself. We don’t see that much here in Brisbane so it was a beautiful feast for my eyes! Hope you have a wonderful week. xo
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Hi Min, the A-Z was Denyse’s idea and I love mixing the two versions, alternatively each month. The hot air balloon didn’t feel over heavy once we were up but I know what you mean! Brisbane doesn’t get autumn colours as we do down here, but I’m looking forward to escaping our winter with a trip up north in June!
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Hi Deb – loved all the photos and the time you got to spend with family. Ours are coming down for a visit in a couple of weeks and it’s such a lovely time isn’t it? Your balloon adventure was amazing and it’s nice to see you out and about enjoying yourself (and I don’t get why people would choose to live in the city either 🙂 )
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Hi Leanne, it really is a lovely time with family as the kids get a bit older and interact. I love it! I’m trying to understand the lure of the city but whatever floats your boat I suppose!
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What a great post, Deb. It looks like you are having a great year so far.
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Thanks Carla, the year is going well so far but time is flying isn’t it?
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I love your A – Z style! Your Autumn colours are gorgeous! We are doing are best here to welcome Spring…but it SNOWED all day in Central Vancouver Island. There really should be a law against that.
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I really enjoyed the A-Z prompts Donna and admit to thinking a bit too much about some of my answers. I saw that it snowed there, how weird!
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Wonderful autumn shot, Deb. And here I am, waiting for spring 🙂
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Enjoy your spring when it arrives!
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Those beach strolls sound amazing and like the beach photos you shared –
Also – best wishes going thru MIL items! I know how hard that can be.
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It was such a lovely change to walk along the beach and I’m glad the weather calmed down while we were there. Yes it’s been a very hard time sorting through Ruby’s life.
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☀️😊
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Listing A-Z is a great way to get “everything” in . I’m posting Grand Prompts to Ask Your Grands in the AtoZ challenge all month.
https://antoinettetrugliomartin.com/blog/
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Yes Antoinette it’s a great way to get things down in the A-Z version. I look forward to reading your posts!
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An entire alphabet of positivity. Thank you.
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It’s a fun way to reflect on what’s in my head!
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I love A to Z things and appreciate your short and sweet responses. You told us so much in just a few words! I’m not sure I could be so pithy and interesting. Thanks for sharing what’s going on in your life.
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Thanks Pat, that’s a great way of looking at it. I try to use as few words as possible and I’m so pleased you enjoyed my efforts!
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Hi Deb love your Taking Stock and you certainly are ‘living life your way’. It’s great that you have been able to spend time with family, spend time in my ‘busy but beautiful’ Sydney where I was born and spent the first 30 years of my life, and of course being bold talking a hot air balloon ride. So much to be thankful for. xx
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Hi Sue, it’s a fun way to clear my head and think outside the square a bit. The time with family was really good as was the change of scenery! Sydney is a beautiful place to visit.
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Love this and decided to have a go myself. https://wordpress.com/post/ethatsmeagain.wordpress.com/221
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That’s great, I’ll go and have a look at your post!
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Another great Taking Stock post Deb. Looks like the past month has been very kind to you. I’ll check out the Friendly Friday Challengec
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Hi Jen, yes it’s been pretty good apart from some bad weather. Thanks 🙂
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I really like how this one can stretch your responses. Sometimes I feel stuck in the format of what I write and do. So many of your responses really resonated with me. Well I don’t have any ocean and waves but many of the other answers really touched me. Bernie
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That’s lovely to hear Bernie. I always enjoy stretching myself with these posts and it gets me out of a rut sometimes. I’m glad some of my answers resonate with you!
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A wonderful stocktake – I love your balloon ride, what an experience. Toni x
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Thanks Toni, it was such a great experience. I always enjoy these posts.
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How lovely to have time with the grandkids – bet the zoo was a real JOY! #LifeStories
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It was a superb day Lydia and the harbour was sparkling!
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Oh I loved reading this. Thanks for using the A-Z prompts. You’ve reminded me that I took could do that. I recently saw a psychologist and said something about ‘trying not to judge’ so harshly or whatever and she said JUDGING is one of the hardest things to either reduce or overcome. It’s about keeping us safe I guess by comparing our situation with another’s. I also LOVE the word curious and think I need to find more use of it. Oh did you see I “dedicated” my blog background to you this week!! On home page. Thank you so much for linking your blog post up for Life’s Stories my fortnightly blogging link up at Denyse Whelan Blogs.
I appreciate your support and continuing blogging connections and friendships.
I will be back with the next #LifesStories link up on Monday 25 April 2022.
Denyse.
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Thanks Denyse, the A-Z prompts are fabulous! Yes to your comment on judgement. Curiosity is so important to keep as we age in my opinion. I did see that you dedicated your blog background to me this week, many thanks for that!
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Another busy month for you Debbie. There were a lot of people in that balloon!
I loved your autumn photo, such beautiful colours.
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The balloon was full but it didn’t feel too bad and we managed to get up and stay up so I was happy with that! I love autumn here, it’s always such a beautiful season.
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I agree not too hot and not too cold, hope it lasts a while
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