Those Rentrée Resolutions

Wow, the Rentrée is proving very busy! As well as school for three of us, we have workmen on the patio roof! Apologies that I'm not blogging much at the moment, either as a reader or a writer...

Anyway, I said I'd let you know a bit more about my resolutions. I'm going to list them on my sidebar so that I keep them in mind!

I need to watch the French news regularly, both to improve my French and to keep in touch with national and world events - somehow having headlines on the internet or even by email doesn't seem to work for me.
The cycling is something I've been doing for more than a year now - I cycle with the boys to school and then I go on and do a tour round the local coutryside. It's great for my fitness but also to remind me of the blessings of living in France. Unfortunately, my journey to work takes me through some of the most uninspired outskirts of Toulouse, and if I'm not careful it begins to appear to me that I exist on a series of industrial estates and motorways. By getting out on the bike, I see the country lanes and learn more about the rural history of our town.
I've kept a spiritual journal, or prayer diary, for about 15 years now, I guess. The books have varied in size and content, as I sometimes think I should buy a very cheap book to show I'm not swayed by fripperies, and sometimes I decide to get a really special notebook to indicate the importance of prayer! Just goes to show, it probably doesn't matter... In some volumes I've just written, sometimes I get all creative with coloured pens, while some of the books have lots of newspaper cuttings pasted in and annotated. It's an important way for me to get the right focus my life, but I need to make an effort to keep it up - the less you spend time on reflection, prayer, study etc, the less you feel you need it...
The resolution to avoid committments if I haven't the time to do them properly is going to make my blog just a little different. I've felt bad recently that I've not been able to pay proper attention to following up tags and awards, so I've reluctantly decided to make the blog tag and award free for now. I shall keep the lovely awards that people have given me on here for a while, and then I guess I shall have to delete them or the announcement: 'This is an award and tag-free blog' will look a bit silly! Please realise that I am really grateful for the pleasure and recognition your awards and tags have given me, but that I just don't have the time to follow them through properly this year.
Please don't forget to sign up for my Rentrée Giveaway! The button's to your left...

PS - I was actually trapped in a Vide Greniers yesterday evening! The stuff of dreams, or of nightmares..? More to follow...