Colouring for Adults: Have you tried it?

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There’s something so soothing mindlessly colouring, the only thing worrying you being whether you should be using red or carmine for this particular spot!

When GG & BB were younger, I used to print loads and loads of colouring pages for them, based on their favourite character of the day. In the process I also used to print some for me or used to sneak out some from their stash!

Even before adult colouring books became so popular, I loved colouring. But, and a big rider to this is that I only like to colour specific things. I love geometric shapes and mandalas and last week when I was cleaning out a cupboard, I came across a fat file full of mandala print-outs all ready to colour.

These days, these colouring books for adults are all the rage, the book which started this craze is Secret Garden which I hear has sold over 2 million copies since it was released in 2013. We see loads of such books in book stores, some even specifically themed. GG & I saw a Harry Potter coloring book and GG wanted me to purchase it for her! These books are quite expensive, retailing over SGD 35 per book and each time I see them and am tempted to buy, the price always puts me off!

But what is the lure of these books? Some people believe that the repetitive motion and confined space in which you have to colour triggers some kind of mental nirvana and gives you the peace of mind that digital devices distractions are forever chasing away. These help you to unwind and kick off the stress of the daily grind. I’ve since discovered that Carl Jung, the pioneering analytical psychologist often used colouring therapy as a means to get his patients to relax way back in the early 1900s and himself used to draw and colour mandalas every morning.

Colouring also trains our minds to focus, so that we do not go out of the line and live in the moment, which is getting to be critical life skill in our lives. It’s a given that colouring helps with fine motor skills because it requires both hemispheres of the brain to communicate and this activity improves fine motor skills and vision.

When I realized I could not get myself to buy the colouring books, especially since there were not many books which catered to what I like to colour, I discovered colouring apps! I can’t remember now where exactly I heard of them, but once I did, there was no stopping me. Most of these apps are free to use with in-app purchases. I’ve yet to pay for any, so keep reusing the same free prints that are available.

I downloaded a bunch of colouring apps and then deleted some of them almost immediately. Like I mentioned before, I prefer to colour geometric shapes and mandalas and those that didn’t have a good selection of those, didn’t make the cut and were deleted.

Colorfy is one where I where I mostly use the blank geometric patterns and make my own. This one has around 2 free palettes and a free daily palette which is usually shades of a single colour.

Another good one is Adult Colouring which seems to have a good mix of pages or books as they call it. Their free colour selections are also the most extensive, but sometimes the colours tend to overlap in palettes and it gets confusing after a while.

ColorTherapy is the last one I frequent. Again a good mix of themes to colour and this one also has a lot of festival-centric pages. Free colour selections are limited though!

All the apps above are from the Apple App Store. I do not know if they are available on Android phones and are free/with in-app purchases.

In My Hands Today…

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A Nail Through the Heart – Timothy Hallinan

Travel writer Poke Rafferty was good at looking for trouble–so good that he made a little money writing a few offbeat travel guides for the young and terminally bored. But that was before Bangkok stole his heart. Now the expat American is happily playing family with Rose, the former go-go dancer he wants to marry, and with Miaow, the wary street child he wants to adopt. Yet just when everything is beginning to work out, trouble comes looking for Poke in the guise of good intentions. First he takes in Miaow’s friend, a troubled and terrifying street urchin named Superman. Then he agrees to find a distraught Aussie woman’s missing uncle–and accept an old woman’s generous payment to find a blackmailing theif. Soon, these three seemingly disparate events begin to overlap, pulling Poke deeper into dark, unfamiliar terrain. Gradually he realizes that he’s been gliding across the surface of a culture he really doesn’t understand–and that what he doesn’t know is about to hurt him and everyone he loves.

2016 Week 12 Update

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This was a very short work week for me. Since Monday, I’ve been feeling uncomfortable in my stomach and on Thursday it became worse. So at lunch I came home after speaking to Big B and went to the doctor who diagnosed it as stomach flu. So the rest of the week I decided to work from home and I just love working from home – I get a lot done without having to look and speak at people I dislike!

I’m down to 29 working days here now and am even more confused if that’s possible. I spoke to the site manager of the company which notionally employs me and according to this person; even they don’t know what is happening. The headquarters of this company is undergoing some savings plan and contract staff comes under this. Supposedly more clarity will be made available soon and everyone will know where you stand. I did speak to them about potential future employment opportunities and was told they can try something elsewhere, but only once they get clarity from my company.

Then on Friday we got the formal notification that the company is moving – and this move will mean a longer, maybe tougher commute for me. The move is going to happen around 18 months down the road and so will probably not impact me, but that’s also a factor in deciding to stay I guess. On one hand, I will be happy to leave the irritants and some of the work I detest, but the thought of being unemployed, dependent on S for money is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies! Also the thought of starting out from scratch……enough said I guess…..

I’d mentioned earlier that we were planning to get some work done in the house and we finally did it last week. Specifically we renovated GG & BB’s rooms, their study tables and BB’s bed. The rooms look a lot bigger now, but this also meant that we ended up spending quite a bit more than we planned. We need to buy BB a new bed and a bedside table and we should be done. Then some electrical work which should happen next week and painting! After this, I am going to save up some money and do my bedroom and the hall next – there are some built-in furniture which I dislike!

So that was week 12 for us. Happy Monday everyone and hope this week (another short week because of Good Friday and Easter) is great for everyone!

2016 Sec 1 Week 12 Update

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This week was the school holiday week and which is essentially a term break here for primary and secondary students.

Both GG & BB were home some days and had to go to other places for workshops etc. GG went back to school one day to practice with her choir for their performance next month and then had to go to a public library far away in the east for a workshop conducted by the National Library Board. BB on the same day that GG went to the library workshop had to go to the opposite side of the country for an environment workshop.

Speaking of BB, I was super upset at him this week. The workshop he was to go was because he is the Environment rep in his class, a responsibility he took up willingly. But for some reason, he didn’t want to attend the day-long workshop and so he lied to me that he was given the consent form in error. Initially I accepted his statement, but then on thinking it over, it didn’t feel right. If the form was given in error, why was his name and class on the form? So I asked again and this time, I told him I knew he was lying and I will call the school to check. I also told him to tell the truth. He confessed. I was so mad at him!! But ultimately on the day of the workshop, he developed stomach pain and decided not to go for it after all, such an anti-climax!

GG had a wonderful time at the camp and I am really glad she enjoyed it. The camp is a prelude to a book and reading competition and the best part is that GG was nominated as the best participant of the camp and got a book prize for it. According to the teacher who nominated her, she displayed leadership skills, and this is something I’ve known for a while. I absolutely hate when schools choose leaders and prefects based on grades – and it’s a documented fact that good grades do not equal to someone being a good leader!

Anyways, school starts tomorrow and both BB & GG now have to start preparing for their first semester or mid-year exams….

In My Hands Today…

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Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV – Karleen Koen

After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get—including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. Every woman wants him. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love.

But there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven to be more powerful than Louis ever thought—a man who could make a great ally or become a dangerous foe . .