Reader, writer, music lover, library nerd, mother and wife. I have big dreams with little time and no funds to pull them off. Join me as I try to dream my way through adulthood.
'Get busy living or get busy dying' Stephen King
Over the last couple of days Larissa at Pappa is a Preacher and Katie over at Nested have alerted me to the fact that Google is changing. It is ditching the Google Reader page, basically the bit that keeps me from forgetting what blogs I follow etc...
For me this couldn't come at a worse time, my memory is fickle enough at the best of times, recently it has been a nightmare. I swear I am going to end up poisoning myself with all the pen I plaster on my hands at the moment, and there just isn't room for all the blogs I follow too!
Thank heaven for Larissa and Katie, without them I would never have found Bloglovin. Tanks you guys!! So rest assured that I may not read every word of every post, I may even have skipped a few altogether of late, I will never forget about you completely. And when I am all better and headache free (yes I still have it...3rd month and counting) I will be able to find you all easily.
Sometime ago Larissa at Papa is a Preacher discussed the concept of Buckets lists, or at least my mush of a brain seems to recall commenting on something vaguely along those lines before and of course can I find the post....nope!!
Any way, fragments of this along with the last few weeks have had me re-evaluating the concept of a bucket list. I have always had ambitions, a wish list of things I wanted to do....at some point. The concept of a bucket list, however, always seemed a bit morbid to me. But as I eluded to in my last post I have been converted to the advantages of bucket list.
So last week I began by choosing the perfect notebook from my considerable stash (come on admit it we all have a stack of notebooks waiting for that perfect project....don't we?) And I started to note down the memories I want to make; mostly with my girls, some are just for me and others to make with other half or friends. I have to admit the list has started to get a little long, already!
So far I have 20 items on the list, ranging from 'visit a pick your own fruit farm with the girls' to 'attend a masquerade ball' via 'keep a daily journal'. I have been adding items almost daily and have even managed to tick a few off. So in one of my brain waves I have decided to add another page to my blog to keep a track of how my bucket list is shaping up. Click here to see what is on there, you can even help me fulfil one or two if you like, I have a feeling I am going to be a very busy bunny, I may need the help!!
Don't run out of time, make every second count! A philosophy to live life by. Have you ticked anything off your list lately?
I have had the best New Year in probably about 16 years. We had no plans, no wild parties, no fire works, no-one else to celebrate with......just us. Now we never make plans and never celebrate with any one but usually end up in bed before the dongs.
I think that is what made this year so special, simplicity!
New Year's Eve: The kids didn't last till midnight (although I didn't expect them to) so a glass of wine, a log fire and New Year's Eve the DVD it was. Corny in it's entirety but I loved every minute!! (my previous best was baked beans on toast al a carte)
New Year's Day: A sunrise, coffee and a note pad. Followed by a family walk on the beach and a hot chocolate to warm up with afterwards...I tell you what the pictures tell the story better.
Blue sky and sunshine we could be anywhere, right?
Sunbathing like this?? Um No!
Yep, that's more like it!
We splashed over the rivers in the sand
Spotted Nessie (although there was some debate about this one!)
Click on this one to see a bigger picture and you will realise that we definitely weren't in Kansas (yes it was a little windy)
Yummy warm up treats and a spot of me time, only a spot though....
Because Jessie showed up Yee Haw :-)
I hope your New Year transition was a magical as mine. What did you get up to?
Oh and I have discovered the joys of Jared Leto and 30 Seconds to Mars. I have loved everything I have heard, favourite so far being Hurricane, but had to share this....they have covered one of my all time favourite songs and did it justice :-) Plus the topic seemed to fit given our wander today!!
All as part of your Random Thursday's broadcast from Sleepy Joe, linking up with Larissa at Papa is a Preacher (head on over she is cool and loves hot chocolate as much as I do!)
I am stuck in these four walls for yet another week. Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, while my people loving outdoor craving mind tries to assimilate this new information I will treat you to the conversation it had with it's self earlier today:
'Four walls, I guess that means the generic four outer walls of the house'
'Yeah but this house is semi-detached, so technically it only has three outer walls'
'The room then, four walls in a square room'
'Do walls with windows in count as a full wall?'
'Hmm what about all the little corners and little bits of wall'
'If we count them up this room has 10 walls'
'So you're counting the wall that is mostly archway as a wall then?
'Why not?'
'Then why not count all the wall in the dining room, technically they are part of the same room seeing as it is open plan!'
And just because the video and band name are totally apt for today's post
Ok, enough of my crazed mind for today!! This is the life of Sleepy Joe this week as part of Larissa's link up party.
PS Don't forget the Fairy Tale Friday Challenge, have a look here to catch up, there is still time to pen your adaptation. Deb at Kicking Corners has been keeping me well and truly entertained with her version of Little Red Riding Hood with not one, or two but a three part story to date with more to come.
Today has been a strange day, getting stranger by the minute due to the strong pain killers the nice doctor gave me ;-)
It is a strange feeling to go from complete panic to everything is ok within the space of half an hour. It kind of leaves you a little deflated, if that makes any sense at all. You set yourself up for the impending war, you make your battle plans, you psych yourself up for the fight. Then someone comes along and says, oops mistake, you can go home now. My brains initial reaction to this kind of news today was to do a William Wallace and pull a mooney at the opposition (sorry couldn't find a clip of Mel Gibson's bum). However as it was a nice doctor saying I wouldn't need surgery after all and she was offering drugs to go with the news so I accepted graciously and have now taken up residence on the sofa! Is it really bad that my first thought at the prospect of emergency surgery was, 'oh hell there goes November NaBloPoMo and I have nearly convinced myself to continue into December'
I do however have a huge amount of gratitude for the amazing support machine known as The Other Half, who today has been my all not just half. I am not sure I could have made it through without him! Not only was he a rock of support at the hospital, since getting me home he has done some Christmas shopping, folded some washing and thrown the vacuum round. I have been blessed with an angel today, I just wonder if his angelic ways will stick around for the weekend or not???
This is the most recent drama in the life of Sleepy, who is now feeling very sleepy. I think I just about have time to link up with Larissa and then off to shoot some zzzzzzzzz
How has your day been? Have any angels crossed your path today?
So apparently it is Mindful Writing Day today, find out more at Writing Our Way Home. Thanks Lou for pointing me in their direction.
As far as I can gather you simply have to slow down and notice life, then put it into words (put slightly better than my feeble description here)
This is my attempt:
A click, a pull
Warmth rushes to my face.
Black and cracked, ash and glow
Another log, crack and pop
You'll keep us warm a while longer
I'll miss you when we're gone
In other news on this fine Thursday I have been given another award, this time I get to gush about the people that make blogging worth while....readers!
Who thinks I am worthy of such an awar? The Modfather of course and with a name like tthat who am I to argue. My most recent blogging crush, and she is, as she says, a fellow Lancastrian who makes cupcakes and doesn't shave over winter (unless certain celebs come a knocking). Certainly worth a visit!!
There are rules, but it is late and I have packing to do so I will revisit this another day this week. Great topic for one of my daily posts...Yep that's right, I was feeling left out, everyone else has signed up to something this month if it wasn't NaNoWriMo (sorry to much of a whimp this year, maybe 2013) it was NaBloPoMo. I don't like not being at the party so in a rash decision I have signed up to the November challenge (sorry Deb no novels this year, the blogging daily challenge)....Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh *runs screaming from the room* Wish me luck!!!!
Speaking of parties, this was all for Larissa's Tit Bit Thursday Link Up Party, visit her at Papa is a Preacher.
I am soooo late it is silly and I can't even excuse myself because I just forgot. Larissa is such a sweet host, another link up party on a (ahem) Thursday.
This is just a quick post to share something that made my heart ache at work today.
It seems that it is a fact of life in the modern age that families fracture. It is no longer a given that Mums and Dads live in the same house with their babies. It makes me sad but sometimes staying together would give rise to a toxic environment that is no good for anyone involved.
Today my heart broke at the sight of a Dad's heart visibly breaking. I do not pretend to know the circumstances or the reasons, but I watched a Dad today arrive in the library 45 minutes before a visitation with his son which had to be supervised. I saw him bring bags of toys and colouring things in so he could play with whatever he wanted. I saw the joy on his son's face at seeing Daddy for the first time that week and I saw the Dad try to maintain his smile as his son walked away, all the time his heart breaking under the facade waving bye bye until next week.
Like I said, I do not know why, I'm not even sure I want to know why, this Dad finds him self in this situation. It just broke my heart to watch. I pray to whoever listens that they come through this time stronger for it.
I have been invited to a party :-D and the general gist is to talk to you about what I have been up to.
Now when I saw the invitation I immediately jumped up and down and accepted. Then I regretted it, what on earth was I going to waffle about that would be worthy of such a gathering of bloggers?
Today, however the powers that be (who ever they be) shone down on me and handed me something to write about.
At work toady we got a little bundle of joy in the post, something that lifted my spirits and starting me jiggling on my way to today's victory dance. What was it you ask? An envelope stuffed with fan mail.....yes you heard me right, myself and my colleague received an stack of 35 letters of thanks and appreciation from the students of a local school that came to visit the library. I was their princess in one, queen in another, told I should be proud of myself in the next. They asked me what my favourite book was and told me they would like it very much if I could visit them at school.
Yes I nearly cried (ok read here teared up like a baby) and my heart leapt, it is one of the best feelings in the world to be told you did a good job, that your enthusiasm has been infectious and that you are wanted.
My day just kept getting better with a great weight loss at weigh in tonight...victory dance well in swing (not a pretty sight but I didn't care).
Today I feel on top of the world, today I have my mojo back.
Thank you to Larissa for organising and inviting me to this link up party, now I am off to see who else is at the party. I am dying to know what everyone has worn ;-)
Sometimes in life the smiles, the motivation, the words don't come easily or readily. At times like these I fake it just to make sure my face doesn't forget what it feels like, I plod on even though it feels like I am wading through mud and keep typing even if it is gibberish that ends up on the page (apologies if you can't understand any of this today!)
I mentioned a happy post yesterday that I wasn't in the mood to post, I am not really in a much better mood today but this might just help me fake it ;-)
My inspiration for this post is Larissa over at Papa is a Preacher. She wrote a lovely post about the beauty of being yourself.
I came to a realisation of my own over the last few months that I was drifting perilously close to becoming a mirror. Just reflecting what other people wanted to see, being what others expected me to be. All to try and be popular? be liked? I don't know.
The thing is my quirky nature kept on trying to break through, it was becoming harder than keeping an excited child contained trying to keep it locked up!
My saving grace and my wake up call was my new job. Individuality is positively encouraged and I have begun to discover what I used to love about me!
I am a hippy with a twist
I love daisy chains
Oh and daisy rings.
But they don't last long so I have a back up ;-)
I love quirky little every day things that make me smile when I use them (do you like the new box the other half got for us - there is six, all with different pictures and they fit inside each other...he knows me so well!)
May favourite welcome, my love of water and the woodlands all in one place!
My babies a such a huge part of me and if all else fails they always find a way to raise a genuine smile every now and then!
As well as my eclectic tastes in music, art work and reading materials I guess I am a quirky and eclectic person who has never really grown up at heart...and I never intend to!
Enjoy our favourite family dance tune of the moment ;-)
Here's hoping that your motivation and projects are still going well! Until tomorrow...
