It's The Little Things!
Great Little Newsletter - April 2025 Edition
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the April 2025 edition of the “Great Little Newsletter”!
A very warm “Hello” to those of you who are new to Great Little Insights - There have been quite a few more of you lately, which is absolutely delightful! You are so very welcome! 🤗
Please note: If you’ve opened this in your inbox, you will likely need to continue reading in your browser, as this ‘jam-packed’ newsletter usually reaches Substack’s email length limit pretty quickly - But not because I drivel on, it’s because of all the fabulous photos! 📸
Hi! It feels like it’s been a while… maybe that’s because it has… Yup, I’m late getting this out to you, yet again… sorry! 🤦🏽♀️ The thing is, my mind flip-flops between… “I really must write my Newsletter - My readers are waiting for my brilliance” 😉 and… “Get over yourself, nobody gives a tiny rat’s arse!” 😆 Maybe it’s time for a quick poll… why not… Everyone loves clicking buttons, right?!
News From My Life
This is the bit where I tell you what I’ve been up to over the last month, whether I think it sounds interesting or not, so if you’re not here for that, feel free to move swiftly onto the recommendations further down… No hard feelings! 😃
Mother’s Day
That sucks a bit doesn’t it? All that pressure to make your mum feel appreciated and buy her flowers that have been hiked up to five billion times their usual price! Not to mention that you’re supposed to relish in the fact that you are in-fact a mother yourself (if you are) and squeal with delight when your child brings you some kind of paper crafted flower… that she made in a panic that afternoon, when she realised you actually probably DO give a shit that it’s mother’s day, despite repeatedly saying that it’s just another normal day and not to worry about it - My poor kids - All the mixed messages!
Side note: I am of-course joking about not appreciating the paper flower and I do love my kids dearly - Just in case there was any doubt.
I also really appreciated walking in on yet another blocked toilet, as I dragged myself blurry-eyed out of bed, after a lie in of approximately 2.3 minutes! 🤣 I’m afraid that’s a lie… my kids are 15 and 9 years old… I got a three hour lie in!! To those who have younger kids, I’m sorry, NOT Sorry!! I DID MY TIME!! 😏 Oh, by the way, the blocked toilet was (unfortunately) NOT a lie… Look away now!
I should say, that after many, many prompts from Mark (the boyfriend), the girls did get their shit together and pop to the shops to get me some of my favourite chocolate and a really cute heart ‘palm-pal’ (If you know, you know😉). They were so proud of themselves, bless them. ❤️
Spring-Time Walks 🌺
Ok, it was one walk… but that’s an achievement for us! Believe me, we would love to go for more, but unfortunately it’s quite rare that I’m able to walk further than to the end of my road, without either feeling faint, too hot, breathless, all of the above, or being in so much pain it’s just not worth it! 🙄 (For those wondering what the hell I’m talking about, you can read about “Why My Life Sucks” HERE)
Anyway, the one walk was absolutely gorgeous and I really do love Spring with all the pretty flowers popping up everywhere. The blue sky and sunshine re-appearing after the long dreary months of winter is really so wonderful… and I love that it is not too hot yet for my perimenopausal body - Perfect! 👌
That’s a Bit Sketchy!
This is the bit where I share any Art & Crafty things I’ve been working on - You might remember the dodgy Monkey sketch from March’s Newsletter - Yikes! 🙈 Well, I’m happy to report I had a bit more success this month and I’m actually super proud of my colourful crocuses - I usually just stick to pencil, but got brave and added some colour this time and I’m so glad I did!
The Process
Some of you lovely people have asked to see more of the process of my sketching, so I have included this here for those who were interested - Thank you so much for asking, I love hearing from my readers by the way, so do reach out anytime. 🥰
A Gorgeous Art Retreat
I was absolutely delighted to be able (and well enough) to attend ’s gorgeous Flow & Flourish Retreat which just happened to be taking place very near me in Farnham, Surrey.
Helen is an Illustrator, watercolour artist and creative workshop host and you can find her here on Substack and on her Website, or read more about her HERE. I can 100% recommend Helen as a fantastic host to have at one of your events, where she can paint live portraits of your guests! 👩🎨
It was a real honour to see Helen in action on this lovely day retreat, which also included a calming breath-work session at the beginning, to get us all in the right head-space for creating beautiful artwork. As well as a beautiful Calligraphy workshop from the lovely Jodie Rose, who is a Modern Calligrapher & Engraver.
Great venue, great hosts, great food… Great Day! Thank you
& Jodie!
Recommendations
Books
I’ve been reading two great books recently… One is a self-help, parenting book… Oh no, not another one! 🙄 I know I’m always banging on about the fact that there are far too many of them, and that as a result we’re all so fucking confused and have been reading ourselves out of having any of our own instincts anymore! BUT… this really is a great one (I’ve read them ALL, so you don’t have to! You’re welcome!) 😉
Raising a Happier Mother by Anna Mathur is great because it’s more about what we can do as parents to care for our own wellbeing and catch ourselves snapping, etc… and see this as a ‘warning sign’ that we’re lacking in something we need… be it sleep, food, five minutes to ourselves, etc…
Anna talks about the importance of caring for our own wellbeing and how that positively impacts our children too. By modelling effective self-care and prioritising ourselves, we are showing our children that it is important to care for ourselves too and that we are worth looking after. The ripple effect can be very powerful indeed. ❤️
If this has made you want to take a hop skip and jump to order this book - support local bookshops (and me 😉) and use THIS link. 🙏
The second book I’m really enjoying at the moment is Checking Out by Nick Spalding - I may have mentioned Nick a couple of times before and it’s no secret that I’m a bit of a fan! Every book of his that I’ve read (and there have been a few), I’m immediately pulled into the story and usually laughing out loud after a couple of pages. He just has this way of writing that is instantly relatable and his observations about situations and people’s behaviour is absolutely spot on! 👌
Film & TV
No movies to report on this month (I know, booo!) and just one TV show that really stood out for me. I’m going to get a bit serious for a minute I’m afraid and I was in two minds about whether or not to bang on about this particular topic on here. But it’s important, so I thought “Fuck it… People can take it or leave it”.
“Buy Now” – Netflix
I can’t remember who recommended that I watch it, but I did and I was shocked to the core! It’s a very cleverly created and impactful deep dive into the worsening issues of fast fashion and over-consumerism. It highlights the issues that keeping up with this “demand” creates. Such as, the speed at which a new trend immerges and how that creates an UNIMAGINABLE amount of clothes/products ending up in landfill/the ocean. A lot of which has NEVER BEEN worn/used… NOT EVEN ONCE!!! 😢
Side Note: For those who don’t know, I’m a little into doing what I can to help the planet and I am by no means saying that everyone else should be doing this too. I do it because I enjoy it and I’ve made the time for it. But it’s often quite difficult (and expensive🙄) to replace products with eco friendly options. I have tried and tested quite a few over the last few years and if you WANT to know more about those, I made two little (really embarrassing 😳) videos HERE and HERE.
Anyway, back to “Buy Now” - Basically, it’s a great eye opener, brilliantly produced, entertaining, shocking and really quite interesting… in my opinion.
If you want to get really depressed about what a dyer situation we’re in, take a deep dive into The Dark Side of Fast Fashion.💔
Warning: Be prepared to feel an immediate and powerful urge to “break up” with several of the big companies, who are the worst culprits of some of these dreadful effects that people and the planet are facing. Amazon being one of the worst - Nooooooo! It’s so bloody handy! Damn it! Yes, I have indeed broken up with Amazon! I’ll write about it in a separate post, because it’s too long to go into it now. Phew! I hear you think… 😆
Favourite Articles
In no particular order, here are some of the favourite/most interesting articles I’ve read over the last few weeks - Not all from Substack, but mostly.
“Mind The Gap” – Article from ‘Access Art’ about the Gap in National Curriculum in Art for Primary Schools and Ofsted
“Unleashing Creativity” – 10 Key Take Aways for Parents from “Your Brain on Art” Written by
“Creative Wrestling with AI” by of Wonderlust
Slow & Steady – April: “Believe” – Great Tips and Prompts! by
The Imperfectionist – No Escape & Be a Disappointment Two GREAT articles… I love how he just says it as it is!
“Honour Your Sensitivity while Writing on Substack” – Great Tips from and her new Publication Therapeutic Writers on Substack
The Journey Back – Should we Revisit Old Journals - Great Prompts! Thank you 🥰
Favourite FREE Resources
Your Cool Self-Care Ritual – You are not Alone by (Complete with a Gorgeous 8 Min Meditation)
Without a doubt one of the BEST free resources I’ve come across recently (recommended by - Thank you Anna 🥰) is…
The Anti-Burnout Club
This AWESOME space is run by the absolute legend Bex Spiller, who is the founder of the club and author of The Anti-Burnout and Overcoming Overwhelm Journals (pictured below - yes I bought them both - but not from Amazon 😆).
The Anti-Burnout Club is FULL of FREE stuff - like meditations and journal prompts - and well worth a look! 👀 There is an App too, so you can have everything handy on your phone. There’s a really lovely community of like-minded people, simply there to feel less alone and take some time to care for themselves and feel supported. ❤️
In Other News
Spring Clearing
We’ve been busy clearing out the shed (I had to pester Mark about it a few times, but we got there in the end 🙄)… Every year I’m like, “what the fuck is all this shit, where does it come from!” Then as we’re clearing it out onto the lawn, I’m like, “Oh, yeah… most of this is mine” 🤣 Anyway, so that’s done for another year, yay! 🎉
I love the middle one with Mark admiring his handy work… we both kept walking around in there saying things like, “It’s like having another room” and “look at all this space!” and “We have to keep it like this” - Then both looking at each other thinking “Yeah, right!” 🤣
Then, just as we’d recovered from the shed fiasco, I started pulling all the stuff out of Child no.2’s room and moaning about the epic amount of CRAP that piles up in there! When I say “crap”, I mean endless “lovely” creations made out of paper, cardboard and five million rolls of cellotape! 😏
Anyway, we finally got her a new (proper) bed - She’s been in one of those “shorty” beds since she was a toddler… She’s now 9! 🤣 We needed more storage for all the afore-mentioned “crap”, so we got one with tonnes of drawers - Yay!
Some Good News!
I may have mentioned (once or twice) that Mark and I don’t often get out for meals (or any other “normal” thing a couple might go out and do). Luckily, we quite like being at home and have a great time just hanging out… mostly laughing at people on TV! 🤣 Anyway, we made it out for lunch one gorgeous sunny day and it was lovely! My favourite - Pizza Express - Never fails! 🤤
That’s a Wrap!
Blimey! I feel like this month’s Newsletter has gone on forever! I’ve had a lot of fun putting this together though and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. Just before you go, I put a little playlist together of some of the songs I’ve been listening to whilst writing and here it is… a little gift from me to you… Enjoy! 🎶🥰
In Case You Missed Them
Just in case you missed some of my recently published bits and bobs, I’ve attached them here, so you can easily access them if you want to…
Thank you so much for reading to the end - You legend! ❤️
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Until next time! 😃
Eva! what a wonder you are - soooo much included. Also, I didn't vote, but I don't mind when your email reaches my inbox - I have lots that I subscribe to and I'm not sure when they all usually arrive, so it's just a joy when they do!
Wow what a jam-packed newsletter Eva! I appreciate all the effort that takes, and thanks so much for including my post in your recommendations - feels nice to know you found it interesting 🥰
Hope you’re doing ok and keep smiling xx