Which way? That way? Honestly?

Last week I put the beginning of my surrealist journey in your hands....catch up here if you missed it.

Into the random page generator (read bowl of bits of paper with numbers on) goes: 2, 100, 154.

 Sorry Tangled Lou and Paul, unfortunately there is no page 42 in the book...but I think you knew that Lou ;-)

And the winner is (I was never that great at holding the suspense) 100, picked by Tim Green on Twitter. Talented comic artist and also in need of your votes in a competition see here!

So, Page 100...

Flip forward 5 pages...gives me....

This is a Virtual Reality

1. Make a list of your personality traits

2. Take those traits and exaggerate or embellish them. Create a character (or avatar) with these traits as superpowers.

3. Create several superhero accessories  Examples: Her excellent organisational skills make her fully prepared for every potential crisis. He repels enemies with his love of garlic. She has a great ability to find things in messy spaces. He is a timing expert.

I don't think I could have picked a harder challenge to start my surrealist journey by myself, so thanks for this Tim. Not so challenging in terms of defacing books, yet probably the hardest task in the book for me. I have to find positives in my personality!!

Wish me luck ;-)

And seeing as it is still Tuesday there must be a tune....excuse for a little Stereophonics anyone??

What are your superhero traits? And do you have a cape??

Day 12 NaBloPoMo - Monday Moments

If you know me you know I like to set my self rules and then break them, well I like to live life on the edge occasionally.

Monday moments this week is a kind of flexible term, they are more moments from Saturday to Monday that have made me smileand be grateful for life.

Have you ever been randomly flipping through a book and a particular line jumps out at you. I have suddenly discovered this fabulous phenomena since starting at the library (I flip through a lot of books in a day), share one in the comments if this has ever happened to you. Today's little snippet comes from a book by Darynda Jones called 'Second Grave on the Left'. Now please note I have no idea what this book is about or even if it is a well written book, however the title caught my attention and this is what I found on a random flip through the pages, the main character appears to be talking about a close friend:

"We were like those people who met and just seemed to know each other"
 

This quote just seemed like a perfect addition to the lovely weekend I have had in terms of friends making me believe I am worth it (at least for a minute or two)

On Saturday I met (in person and totally not imaginary way) Loki-Lou, The Modfather. She is as hard working and funny as she comes across on her blog and cannot wait to meet up again, this time with cakes instead of saws I think ;-) I am thankful that she wanted to meet me too and actually is ok with seeing more of me :-D

Sunday came along, now let me set the scene for you.....Two beautiful girls, one tired and not so good Mummy and a Daddy off learning how to be a better football coach. We had food shopping to do with the promise of a lovely craft fair to go to. How do my 'angels' behave, hmm by jumping in bed and kicking me in the face before we even started the day followed by tantrums over clothing choice - apologies to the eldest, how am I supposed to know that my thirty plus years of experience have taught me wrong and wearing a thin chiffon top is appropriate in temperatures of around five degrees. Any way slightly stressed would be a way to describe my day....

So back to the moment I am thankful for, I read this from Tangled Lou at Periphery and I cried. Amongst the chaos and screaming that I was trying to ignore I cried to the point munchkin number 1 came to see if I was ok. I know, I know sappy right?!? I don't have a very good opinion of myself, possibly from years of never really fitting in and people never really thinking as much of me as I do of them. To have someone I regard as truly articulate and wonderful say such nice things about me comes as a little bit of a shock, a nice shock but a shock all the same, hence the tears of joy and thankfulness.

Now, in all the madness of Sunday I had a two minute slice to be so proud of my girls that I cried again. Bit of a weepy day I think, but all for nice reasons. On the 11th minute on the 11th day of the 11th month we stand still and reflect for two silent minutes. A mark of respect to our fallen hero's. I rarely make it to any kind of official service or parade, however I always observe the silence. Usually the girls are at school or nursery and we cannot share this moment together, this year was different. Over breakfast we talked about why we wear poppies in November and what the silence was for, I was suitably shocked at exactly how much they knew and understood. At 11 o'clock we sat at the table hand in hand, silent, for a whole two minutes. This is unheard of, the munchkins can't usually keep quite for a count of ten let alone two minutes. Proud would be an understatement here, then normal stroppiness resumed!

In short I am thankful that my girls are amazing even when they are more like devils than angels, this I already kind of knew. Mostly I am thankful that I matter, I am worth something (outside of being Mum) to other people in this tiny little world.

There is always something to make you smile and be thankful, sometimes you just have to look a little harder than others.

Random pretty picure from my favourite park :-)

Oh and I have hit over 3,000 page views today, yep when I realised I did do a funky and slightly weird victory dance round the living room. Each person who visits, each time you come back for more (do you need your medication?) I am very grateful, thank you for making it all worth while!

Day 5 NaBloPoMo - Monday Moments

Seeing as I have signed up to this NaBloPoMo and committed to blogging on a daily basis I am going to steal a couple of ideas from more experienced and infinitely more talented bloggers than me, they know what they are doing ;-)

For the duration of November, and maybe going forward, Monday's will see me sharing moment(s) for which I am thankful during the day. Aka doing a Tangled Lou ;-)

This Morning

An e-mail from a friend
Just the trick to keep me
Smiling through the pain.

This Evening

An e-mail from a different friend
Just the trick to make
The day that has past worth the effort.

All that and just in the nick of time :-)

In the second of my shout outs to those nominated for the Wonderful Team Readership Award goes out to Tangled Lou at Periphery. As I hinted at above Lou has been blogging for what seems like an eternity compared to me. Shes a talented writer and all over superhuman, who is really a dirty old man ;-) Please nip over and visit, you will not me disappointed!!

Dancing in the rain

Audience participation, the two words I used to cringe at when someone uttered them or eluded to them. I would start to slouch down in my seat and pray that my eyes would not connect with the torturer.

Something in me has changed, I don't know if it is blogging or the direction my working life is taking (I employ audience participation on a frequent basis) but the words kind of fill me with excitement now. Although I am not sure I could get up in front of hundreds of people and karate chop a lump of wood (I saw that once in a Shaoulin Warriors show!). So when Tangled Lou at Periphery shouted audience participation I got all excited and shouted how high (ok whimpered I'll have a think).

Cliché's love them or hate them they have become ingrained in the way we communicate. They are useful in some circumstances, but to tell someone with short or no hair to 'let their hair down' is absurd. That is about as insightful as I seem to be getting on this subject. However, my mind does work in very mysterious ways and this is what I did come up with, I hope you like it:

 

It's time I kicked these shoes off

and go dancing in the rain

It's time I let my hair down

and live life with no shame.

 

It's time I stood on my own two feet

not wait for a hand to hold

It's time I opened the other door myself

and get used to feeling alone.

 

I'm tired of walking a mile

in someonelse's shoes

It's time I put my own back on

and enjoyed my slice of now.

 

 

If you read my post on Tuesday you will know I was dithering over doing something that scared me a little, something just for me. Please don't think any worse of me, remember I did say I am a wus, I was scared of driving. I know, I know stupid right. I was going to avoid something I enjoy just because it meant driving to a city that I have never driven in before and worse still having to do it alone!

 

Well I 'bit the bullet' (sorry Lou) and I went. I took myself to Liverpool and had a morning all to myself. I had a danish and a coffee walking through the city shops. I wandered down to the dock side buildings and stood for a moment; the breeze on my face, the taste of salt in the air, the sound of seagulls drifting around. Relaxed and energised I enjoyed an hour of beautiful art work at the Tate Liverpool. An exhibition of impressionist art work was what I had gone to see. The later paintings of my favourite artist Monet, mentioned before here, were on display along with some work from Turner and Twombly.

 

 

I may post about the exhibition and the thoughts it stirred in me at a later date. I will however say that; I smiled, I laughed (quietly to myself), I sat and floated with the waterlilies, I cried (see definitely a wus) yes a painting brought me to tears! I don't know if it is the memories I have attached to the Monet pieces, or the way the Twombly works seem to depict the turmoil I feel of the here and now but I have become an emotional wreck in the space of one day. It is as if someone has messed with my emotional switch. I have felt more creatively alive in the last 24 hours, I am just not sure why it has to come with an emotional roller coaster ride!



Friends and Flowers

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever."

― Lord Alfred Tennyson















I have been thinking a lot today about friends and how well we know the people we love (yes blogging friends you only have yourselves to blame). Tangled Lou and Margi at The M Half met up recently and their experience coupled with a.eye's post at Shouldn't Life Be More Thank This? really got my thinking cogs turning.

Have you ever been really down in the dumps; missing something or someone so much it hurts, or simply fed up with what life is throwing at you? Next thing you find out a friend is on the downside to. Suddenly your troubles don't seem so bad, you are now occupied trying to figure out how to cheer said friend up. Does this happen to anyone else or is this just another quirk d'Sleepy?

 

It hurts when you look so down

How can I disappear your frown?

It hurts when you look so stressed

I wish I could help you worry less!

It hurts when I don't know what to do

Making me realise I really don't know you

Let me in and tell me why

Before your pain causes me to cry.

 

In times like these I just hope they know I have a very pretty and colourful garden (at least in my head anyway!) I just hope that that is enough!

Motivation: Day 10 Just to be random

Sorry no wise words today, just a random thought I had at lunchtime....

Why when you pop the can

You never get the diet coke man?

I could have quite done with a diet coke moment today, it didn't happen. I think I will be going back to Pepsi!

Loves till tomorrow, fingers crossed for wiser words!

Oh and bob on over to Tangled Lou at periphery, she may need a swift kick in the....sorry I meant heartfelt encouragement ;-) and don't forget Deb at Kicking Corners, much encouragement is needed for their imminent deadlines!

Motivation: Day 5 Guiding Light

There have been some beautiful, heart warming and inspirational posts around this week, from my friends Tangled Lou at Periphery and Jewels at Frazzled and Frumpy. As usual with these lovely ladies, and the rest of my blogging friends, they got me to thinking. However unlike normal my thoughts for a blog post this one required some research.

My musing and research led me to the following conclusion:

YOU ARE ALL GODDESSES!

(or Gods, not wanting to be sexist)

Let me take you through my thoughts / research. Hold on tight it could be a bumpy ride!!

Motivation has been on our minds this week, the motivation to start, continue with or complete our current projects or dreams. We are all aiming to help each other with this, the most elusive of emotions...motivation. Why you might ask? Because a friend asked us to, it is as simple as that! Nip over to Kicking Corners to find out how Deb is doing, it's all her fault ;-) 

What is motivation? How can we find it?

The Oxford English Dictionary 1993 Ed. defines 'motivation' as:

'to motivate

The (conscious or unconscious) stimulus, incentive, motives etc... towards a goal esp. as resulting from psychological or social factors; the factors giving purpose or direction to behaviour.

The degree to which a person is motivated; enthusiasm, drive.'

Ok, so what is the definition of 'motivate'?

'Supply or be a motive for....

provide a person with a motive or incentive.

Stimulate the interest of a person in an activity'

Sensing a train of thought yet?? Microsoft Word lists the following synonyms for 'stimulate':

'rouse, arouse, kindle, excite, inspire, motivate, encourage, fuel'

What is it to 'inspire'?

'Arouse in the mind, instil (a feeling, impulse etc...)'

Or even 'inspiration', where does that come from?

'Divine prompting or guidance.

The prompting of the mind to exalted thoughts, to creative activity etc...'

Divine prompting huh? From where? For a writer or artist this divine prompting is often said to come from our 'Muse':

'Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne regarded as the inspirers of learning and the arts.

The inspiring goddess or adored woman of a particular poet

or a poet's particular genius'

or

'The action of musing; a state or fit of abstraction

Be absorbed in thought'

Ah, so you have to have guessed where this little train is going now, right??

A little bit of history for you; there are said to be 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne:

Calliope - Muse for epic poetry

Clio - Muse for history

Euterpe - Muse for flutes and lyric poetry

Thalia - Muse for comedy and pastoral poetry

Melpomene - Muse for tragedy

Terpsichore - Muse for dance

Erato - Muse for love poetry

Polyhymnia - Muse for sacred poetry

Urania - Muse for astronomy

Although a Roman scholar, Varro, posed that there were only 3 Muses:

Melete - Muse for practise

Mneme - Muse for memory

Aoide - Muse for song

Mythical beings that inspire the best in us, creatively speaking??? I'm not sure about that!

'No Muse-poet grows conscious of the Muse except by experience of a woman in whom the Goddess is in some degree resident'

Robert Graves

Ok, this makes more sense to me, the Goddess can reside within someone. I only have to be around certain people or talk with others and inspiration hits!

A few days / weeks away from this group of friends who inspire me and my writing dried up. There were no new ideas, poems were started and not finished, blog posts were sporadic and hard to piece together. A few days back to regular blogging (writing, reading and commenting!) and the inspiration flows.

'O Muses, O high genius, aid me now!'

Dante Alighieri

I must reiterate the sentiments of Jewels and Tangled Lou, even if I cannot put it so eloquently. I have met some of the kindest, supportive and inspirational people since I started blogging, with the exception of 2 people I have never met any of you! Is that weird? Maybe. Do most of the people I interact with n a daily basis think I am delusional? Probably. I do get looks like I am a child with an imaginary friend when I talk about you all!!

This brings me full circle, and just under the wire too Masked Mum will be proud (11.50pm and counting) ;-)

YOU ARE ALL MY GODDESSES!

(and Gods)

You all inspire me whenever we have cause to meet, you arouse my creativity and for that I cannot thank you enough!

Here is a little light relief  in the form of Muse, Guiding Light. It always makes me think of when I started writing.

I hope your projects are all coming along just fine, let me know how you are doing. For now Love, hugs or a crack of the whip if that is what you need ;-) See you tomorrow.





Random Thursday - Grumpy Ass Mood

I had all really great plans to write on Tangled Lou's post about thoughts on cooking. Best laid plans and all that. I have managed to get as far as 'I like food'

Today the problem is the mood I woke up in! My Mum would say 'Someone got out of the bed on the wrong side' Well, I always get out of bed on the same side, how can one day it suddenly become so wrong?

I have snapped at people all day; the other half, friends at work, people on the phone. One would be forgiven for saying that I should have gotten back into bed and stayed there for everyone's safety!! The most frustrating thing is that I have absolutely no idea why.

I tried loud music on the way to work...nope still grumpy! I tried going for a walk at lunch; I took my self off the beaten path and listened to the birds...nope my walking pace got faster and faster until I nearly fell and my breathing was ragged. I stopped and sat under a tree, slowed my breathing and stared up into the canopy, the translucent lime green of the new leaves and the dappled sunshine...nope, I just ended up with tears of frustration etching their way down my cheeks. Ok time to surrender, music back on, a nice bass line that beat in time to my heart, and surrender to the sobs. That was a little better, but still not great.

view original here

A little more snapping later and finally the end of work. Even though I had a meeting this evening, at least it was at the pub and I could enjoy a nice shandy whilst sitting in the sun talking about girls football.

After all that,  I have had my shower, settled down and read some lovely bloggy words. I am feeling much more human! Just one of those days to write off, put behind me and start tomorrow with a much clearer head. Hopefully I will be much more productive tomorrow.

Please tell me you had better days! Tell me your happy stories before I go to bed and lets hope the pixies have turned my bed back to the right way before I get up!

Feel the love

I have been so moved today by the love drifting around in the blogy world that I had to share it with you.

We all know what it is like to feel so overwhelmed by life that before you realise it that little bit of 'me time' has disappeared.

Over at Periphery there is a mission under way. Following her links to four under 4 (plus two) I was in awe of a fellow blogger and her honesty. I have joined the mission and commented on her post, offering my two pennith of support for a busy lady trying find time to write. Join the mission too, head on over, you won't be disappointed, I certainly wasn't! I have a nice new blog to follow to boot :-D

Share the love!

lucky heart found here