Welcome to
Life As-Pland
A helping hand.
...From Chaos in Kent to a Life As-Pland
Welcome to
Life As-pland
A helping hand.
From Chaos in Kent
....to Life As-Pland
New! Get Organised Workshop
New! Get Organised Workshop
Latest Blog Posts
Putting it off – making an easy job a challenge
Why do we do it? We have these jobs we know we need to do but we keep putting them off. By doing this, we make the job appear even more difficult than it is. We give it a power and then even more amazingly, we start to believe the hype we have created.
Self care: Me too not Me First,
Self care isn’t about making you the number one priority and ignoring the needs of everyone around you. Self care means “me too”.
Hello!
I'm Debs, and you've found
my little corner of the internet
I am a happily married mum of three. Our house is home to myself, my husband, three children and a huge variety of special educational needs and disabilities (ranging from severe visual impairment to autism, from speech and communication issues to dyspraxia and from osteoarthritis to vertigo) and it's also home to one very very nutty dog.
Life is never ever dull!
I hope you enjoy reading my posts, please
feel free to leave your comments and thoughts.
Debs x
Happy Clients Have Said...
Recent Blog Posts
Eat the ugly Frog first
If we eat the frog, (ie get that awful job done out of the way), then the rest of the day has got to be a breeze but what if you have more than one frog item on your list?
Review – Teen Calm Box
The aim of Teen Calm is to help young adults develop a routine that builds self-regulation skills so they can cope with those annoying doubts and insecurities
To Do List, Planning and Scheduling
“a plan Is what, a schedule is when. It takes both to get things done” Pubilius Syrus Lists Are you a list writer? Do you have lists everywhere? Or maybe even lists organised in one lovely book – yes I’m talking about you – or maybe you have amazing mind maps that you’ve spent hours …
Incomplete Compassion
Compassion – a strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others and a wish to help them” Cambridge English Dictionary Everyone, with the exception of perhaps some psychopaths, has the ability to feel compassion towards others. Studies have shown that some psychopaths have the ability to feel compassion but …
Focus, focus, focus
If you are anything like me, you are possibly involved in several projects. Maybe you’re not involved in lots of projects, but you are trying to juggle work, home, me-time, keeping fit, being a mum/dad, and somehow trying to find time to write that book or redecorate that room. or learn a new skill I …
Failure, then success
Fear of Failure Why are we so afraid of failure? Failure means different things to different people; due to our upbringing, beliefs, values and obviously the standards we set for ourselves. Failure for one person may not be a failure for someone else. First of all, you need to really be clear about what failure …
Do what you can
Start where you are Do you put things off because you are thinking of the end result too much and it seems so far away? Want to run a marathon? Want to lose a few stone? Want to start a podcast? Want to change career? You know what you have to do, don’t you? Start! …
Give the world the best of You
Self Care – Not a priority, sorry! How often do you put you first? How often do you do something that is just for your benefit and no one else’s? How often do you make time for yourself, to have a pamper, go for a run, meditate, write, read, watch a movie, paint, crochet, go …
When you discover the joys of DNA triangulation - or more accurately, you work out step one and now need to watch 1001 more YouTube videos to work out what to do next.
I love genealogy, took my DNA quite a few years ago now and have managed to work out bits and bobs but now wanting to do much more with the tools available online.
If you ever need to start with your family tree, please shout as this is a real passion of mine - I love finding the stories behind the ancestors. Many people start and want to see how far back they can get but I promise you that getting to know your ancestors and finding details of their social history is much more rewarding.
#DNA #triangulation #genealogy #familyhistory
Comment on Facebook When you discover ...
Debs Aspland I can’t get my head round any of the DNA 🧬 results 🤯 😥 record searching I’m brill at but this is a new level of interpretation of information xx
The first thought I had today when I woke up was “yes! Today is the day”.
The inauguration (6pm GMT) is going to be watched and celebrated here. Thank you, America. It’s been a long four years.
#bidenharris #byedon
PD: photo of President Elect Joe Biden with the words “Bye Don”
Comment on Facebook The first thought I ...
Can't come quick enough- and the world can let out a sigh of relief x
Sunday - the day I plan a lot but do absolutely nothing.
I love planning. I have the most amazing plans. Can you relate?
Sunday is “update the Master List” for me. I go through messages and emails and add things to my “master list”. A master list is the one we all have (or need), the one with everything we need to do - be it something around the house (buy bulbs for the kitchen), an appt to make, a project related task (name of paint for stairs), a phone call to make, an email to send on or a family related item (complete Section A for son’s EHC Plan).
I love a master list. For me, it’s in my bullet journal but for some, it’s easier to have it on their phone.
Do you have a master list? Getting it all out of your head, so you’re not worrying about trying to remember it, takes the pressure off. Yes, the task still needs doing but trying to remember everything, when you know you often forget why you walked into a room, is a challenge we don’t need and is easy to avoid.
#bujojunkie #masterlist #braindump #getorganised #sundaytasks #smallstepsbigchanges
Stripping old paint off the stairs ready to sand and paint. Just in case you were wondering, it absolutely stinks!
I’m blaming @carriegrantsays for sharing her wallpapered stairs - fell in love with the idea but children at home has delayed the process. Today we decided just strip the old stuff first and then we can sand . Will have to wait for schools to return to paint it properly. But it’s now started.
Anyone else starting a job they’ve been meaning to start? Aka putting off tax return!
Comment on Facebook Stripping old paint ...
Did that to mine .... and the rest of the house 30 years ago ..... last year repainted some of the banister lol. Love wood though. Have fun and careful with nitromors..... never before you go to the loo tell the hubby.
It will be worth it!
When your @apple HomePod mini arrives - just as you’re planning a weekend of chilling!
Podcasts, audiobooks and more will be played this weekend as I recover from 26 days of isolating due to Covid in the house.
Please stay safe everyone. This has been a really difficult and challenging time, feeling very isolated.
Thanks to those who have checked in on our patients throughout the last month, and a huge thanks to those who have checked in on me.
Lovely to have all my family in the same room for the first time in almost a month.
I now have a raging ear infection so a weekend of rest for me. Very much needed.
“Williamson urged parents to report teachers they thought were failing to meet the government’s new targets for three to five hours of remote learning each day, and said inspectors from Ofsted would be called in"
May I suggest that parent and teachers do their own reports about Gav’s failures to their local MP:
Let’s make it fair and look at the things our children are judged on (because we of course cannot judge him fairly on being able to deliver quality education because his background is selling fires and he’s not qualified to teach).
How do we think he is doing with the following areas:
- Attitude to learning
- Not backing up work with evidence
- Listening & attention
- Understanding
- Speaking
- Behaviour
- Making relationships
- Health & self care
I look forward to hearing your views, but somehow I don’t think Gav is going to be as happy.
Would love to see your thoughts on how he is doing in each area.
In case there is any doubt, let’s just say my thoughts are possibly not printable. We cannot create chaos and then expect calm. Oh and just to clarify, I am not a head teacher, a teacher or a teaching assistant. I am a mum who has spent the last month trying to explain this man’s numerous nonsensical decisions to my children.
I moved a set of my Xmas lights from the front of the house to our garden. I only did it because our garden light has died and husband is isolating so can’t fix it.
However, the joy this brought me last night has made this one of our best decisions in 2021 and my eldest who helped me string them up is feeling very pleased with himself too.
I now want to buy more and make my garden a garden of light
#making2021agoodyear
Comment on Facebook 2770648803195307
I love them 👏👏
we moved our Christmas lights to the garden last year. They make me so happy. We’ve been talking about getting more. 🥰 yours look fab xxx
Not just for Christmas x
😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
Love it! X
This arrived yesterday. Perfect timing.
A handbook for when things go wrong. I sat up late totally engrossed. Every page offered me something new and something I needed.
This is definitely the book for Lockdown 3.
If you don’t follow @elizabday and her podcast (How to Fail) then let me suggest you head over and remedy that quickly.
You will not be disappointed.
#elizabethday #howtofail #failosophy #currentlyreading #lockdown3
PD - “Failosophy” book by Elizabeth Day.
Happy 4 Jan - the first Monday of the year.
For many it’s the time to really start on those goals. Oh the pressure this brings to us. I talked the other day about how I detest that “New Year New Me” sh*t. I think after the year that was 2020, we need to approach 2021 in a different way.
Over in my membership group, we are focussing our goals on how we want to feel at the end of January. We have each chosen three words. When we want to eat that chocolate, skip that workout, skip that hour of planning, skip that hour of writing content or being productive at our desk, we can ask ourselves “will doing this help me achieve how I want to feel?” As the month progresses, we may realise that we only want to feel one way and the other two words can wait.
How do you want to feel at the end of January? Choose three words.
Well, last night brought about the lockdown we’d all said was coming.
Today I wanted to make you smile in the middle of the “WTF” and 😢.
This is my favourite photo on the internet. It always makes me laugh and last night as I sat thinking about how, due to the self isolating, it will have been 11 weeks at home when my crew go back after half term and the chaos this will bring, I searched my photos for this.
I hope it makes you smile today.
PD - two middle aged chunky men with t-shirts lifted, leaning their stomachs against a wire fence to create a six pack effect.
#justsmile #itiswhatitis #cantchangeit
Most Popular Posts
The Happy Diary Monday, 25th September 2017 It only takes 5 days and is not a diary you complete every evening, forever. You just do this for 5 days and then when you need a boost, you do it again. (102)- Review – Teen Calm Box Wednesday, 17th June 2020 The aim of Teen Calm is to help young adults develop a routine that builds self-regulation skills so they can cope with those annoying doubts and insecurities (91)
- Visualising Success Monday, 19th February 2018 When I first heard about Vision Boards (aka Dream boards), I thought “oh that’s nice but I don’t have magazines and glue sticks lying around and I have no intention of buying them”. I moved on. (88)
- Me, My Notebook and I Friday, 9th October 2015 Making the bullet journal wok for me. Me, my notebook and I. (74)
- Baker Small (BS), what were you thinking? Sunday, 12th June 2016 This company were not just celebrating a win, they were laughing at the parents who had lost. Somehow, the child at the centre of this didn't appear to be even considered. (64)
Most Popular Posts
- The Happy Diary Monday, 25th September 2017 It only takes 5 days and is not a diary you complete every evening, forever. You just do this for 5 days and then when you need a boost, you do it again. (102)
- Review – Teen Calm Box Wednesday, 17th June 2020 The aim of Teen Calm is to help young adults develop a routine that builds self-regulation skills so they can cope with those annoying doubts and insecurities (91)
- Visualising Success Monday, 19th February 2018 When I first heard about Vision Boards (aka Dream boards), I thought “oh that’s nice but I don’t have magazines and glue sticks lying around and I have no intention of buying them”. I moved on. (88)
- Me, My Notebook and I Friday, 9th October 2015 Making the bullet journal wok for me. Me, my notebook and I. (74)
- Baker Small (BS), what were you thinking? Sunday, 12th June 2016 This company were not just celebrating a win, they were laughing at the parents who had lost. Somehow, the child at the centre of this didn't appear to be even considered. (64)