I thought I might start a new section called 'Ten Up Thursday' (or maybe it might be 'Weird Ones Wednesday' or 'Sexy Things to do on Saturday'). I think you get my drift! So today, I thought I would tell you ten things that I do that makes me laugh at myself and realise that I too, am just human… oh the honesty!
1. It's kind of ironic that when I go for a 'sit' on the toilet, I play a game on my phone called 'Unblock Me.'
2. I dye my hair with a full head of colour and foil highlights every six months or so, because I'm actually proud of the little grey highlights that are coming out from only one side of my temple…
3. Reason for No 2... it helps stop people saying to me that I look too young to have a 12 year old and a 10 year old (and now, a child starting high school). Ironically, they still don't notice the grey hairs and still say I'm too young.
4. I am told I'm a good writer, but alas, I don't speak very well… I tend to race through my thoughts and speak at the same speed, but also my grammar when I speak is horrible, so I tend to speak softly because I'm afraid that it will all come out wrong… So for 2014, I've decided to break that habit and begin going to Toastmasters meetings. (there will be another blog about that hopefully next week… stay tuned!)
5. I am the instigator… if I see a potentially funny moment where other people get in harmless trouble and I can walk away, like whipping the tea towel (dish cloth) at my sister when another sister is in close range, I will do it and watch the trouble unfold!
6. I have crazy sleeping hours… when I feel tired, and I don't have any appointments or commitments, I will grab a 15 minute, 30 minute or hour cat nap in the middle of the day, but then wake up at 3am, 4am or 5am to get some work done or surf the net because I can't sleep.
7. I don't drink caffeine (coffee, Coke, tea, tiramisu, mocha, iced-coffee, etc), but have a Berocca every day to keep me awake because I tell everyone I'm 'high on life!'
8. I took my son to a Robbie Williams concert in standing room only when he was 5 years old because I was so obsessed with him and I dearly wanted him to be as obsessed with my idol as I was… he wasn't allowed on my shoulders, so I had to carry him on my hip for the whole night, but then he decided to fall asleep in the midst of a stadium concert, so he wasn't only heavy, he was a dead weight… maybe next time I'll make sure we have seats!
9. I've got horrible feet that I have to live with… they aren't ugly, just a pain in the rear end to buy for - they have a high arch, they are so wide that they are almost triangular, I've had swollen ankles since I was about 16 and they range from 9.5-10 (about 40 European) in size… you'll never see me in a pretty dainty thing as my feet are made for thongs (flip flops), hiking boots and old people shoes… really stuffs up the point when people think I'm 'young.' I'm really at my happiest when I'm barefoot.
10. I'm learning to be apart from my iPhone. It literally is like a best friend you can't be without, but I do have moments where I take the dog for a walk without it, leave it in my bedroom with the door closed so I don't hear it for hours, or even escape to my lake house where there is no phone service for my network and am actually happy not having it by my side. Have to have more days where I'm not so reliant on it (or a job which isn't so pressured to be reliant on it).
Anyway, that's my 'Ten Up Thursday'… not in any order, just a few fun facts. Hope some of you can relate, but I guess, having a little bit of a laugh about yourself with yourself is a way to accept you for who you are, and sometimes, we just need to put it all into perspective and be OK with who we are.
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Thursday, 16 January 2014
Beating the Heat
As some parts of the world are at record low deep freezes, the south-east of Australia is in the midst of a massive heatwave. Melbourne has had 3 straight days of over 41 degrees Celsius including a top of 44 degrees today (111.2F) and many people reporting their cars on the outside are registering temperatures of 45-48degrees (113-118F). Our emergency maps are dotted with yellow, orange and red triangles showing where all the bush fires are and there are not many parts of the state that isn't covered (luckily, for now, my little piece of paradise is not affected). Train services have pretty much come to a stand still because of buckling tracks and breaking down air conditioning systems in the trains, power failures have affected almost 100,000 homes and businesses because the city is using 10,000mW of electricity, 4000mW more than a usual summer's day. And they actually called the Australian Open tennis to a halt because of the heat, with almost 1000 spectators treated for heat exhaustion. And we have another day of 44 degrees predicted for tomorrow.
The great thing about the Melbourne heat is that it's dry. The heat prickles your skin and you can actually get through the day. The humidity is 17-25% and we are getting thunderstorms with trickles of rain in the evening raising the humidity a little higher. But it's still hot. The overnight temperatures are getting to about 29 degrees (84.2F) at 6am, but have been as high as 36 degrees (96.8F) at 3am. We are lucky to be living in a ground floor solid brick apartment and it's much cooler inside than out, and we are surviving with a couple of fans around the place (no air conditioning). We went down to the beach a couple of nights ago, but you actually come back hotter and stickier, because its a fair hike up to the carpark and you get hot again and more annoyed because of the sand sticking to you. There's nothing that beats a cold shower on days like this.
Our dog Dexter has resorted to chewing on ice-blocks and lying on the tiles and not doing much at all. I try to take him out for morning and late evening walks, just to get him out of the house, but we don't go very far because he just wants to lie in the grass and not move at all. Who can blame him?
But it's not just our pets that are struggling… there have been pics of koalas sitting in a pool lapping at the water because the gum leaves are so dry, there are stupid parents leaving kids inside locked cars to get their bottle shop fix, and there are retailers who open up to a ghost town of a street because no one is daring to go outside to browse or buy their essentials, unless its in some air conditioned supermarket or shopping mall.
I am one of the silly ones who actually loves this kind of heat, but I also love extremely cold as well. To me, it makes you feel alive with the elements on your skin. But I am also one who's not stuck out in it for too long… I was driving in my car for about 6 hours on Tuesday when it hit 45 degrees on the temperature gauge on my car, but I have the luxury of air conditioning, and having that balance of being inside the car and out makes it liveable. Believe it or not, I actually had one of the best night's sleep I've had in months last night… with the window open slightly, lying on top of my doona, head at the foot of my bed and the fan blowing quietly. I mentioned it to one of my work colleagues, and she said she was a freak too, because she finds herself sleeping blissfully too on these kind of nights.
So one more day of extremely heat before we have temperatures back in the low 20s (70sF). I might actually be happy to see it go by tomorrow ;)
The great thing about the Melbourne heat is that it's dry. The heat prickles your skin and you can actually get through the day. The humidity is 17-25% and we are getting thunderstorms with trickles of rain in the evening raising the humidity a little higher. But it's still hot. The overnight temperatures are getting to about 29 degrees (84.2F) at 6am, but have been as high as 36 degrees (96.8F) at 3am. We are lucky to be living in a ground floor solid brick apartment and it's much cooler inside than out, and we are surviving with a couple of fans around the place (no air conditioning). We went down to the beach a couple of nights ago, but you actually come back hotter and stickier, because its a fair hike up to the carpark and you get hot again and more annoyed because of the sand sticking to you. There's nothing that beats a cold shower on days like this.
Our dog Dexter has resorted to chewing on ice-blocks and lying on the tiles and not doing much at all. I try to take him out for morning and late evening walks, just to get him out of the house, but we don't go very far because he just wants to lie in the grass and not move at all. Who can blame him?
But it's not just our pets that are struggling… there have been pics of koalas sitting in a pool lapping at the water because the gum leaves are so dry, there are stupid parents leaving kids inside locked cars to get their bottle shop fix, and there are retailers who open up to a ghost town of a street because no one is daring to go outside to browse or buy their essentials, unless its in some air conditioned supermarket or shopping mall.
I am one of the silly ones who actually loves this kind of heat, but I also love extremely cold as well. To me, it makes you feel alive with the elements on your skin. But I am also one who's not stuck out in it for too long… I was driving in my car for about 6 hours on Tuesday when it hit 45 degrees on the temperature gauge on my car, but I have the luxury of air conditioning, and having that balance of being inside the car and out makes it liveable. Believe it or not, I actually had one of the best night's sleep I've had in months last night… with the window open slightly, lying on top of my doona, head at the foot of my bed and the fan blowing quietly. I mentioned it to one of my work colleagues, and she said she was a freak too, because she finds herself sleeping blissfully too on these kind of nights.
So one more day of extremely heat before we have temperatures back in the low 20s (70sF). I might actually be happy to see it go by tomorrow ;)
Friday, 10 January 2014
The Day That Changed My Life...
It's almost 4 years ago to the day that I met the most influential person of my life. He was so beautiful, so loving, so involved with nurturing the community, so respectful of personal situations, yet so conflicted in his own life. And you see it time and time again… people who on the surface look like they have it all together with their public personas, yet underneath it all they are crumbling apart.
When we were involved, I helped him overcome some of his conflicts, helped him understand what he needed for himself to survive, helped him value himself over giving so much to people who didn't appreciate him. I believed I did help him. And I believe he knows I helped him… and in so many ways, he helped me develop the needs I needed in life - to be the best mother I could be, to respect myself enough to not be a push over anymore and to appreciate the goodness I give people, even though I still struggle to believe that I am valued because of other failed relationships. And I will always thank him for giving me the belief in myself that I didn't have before we met.
He gave me a voice… a voice I didn't allow myself to have. I now stand up for myself, my children and my belongings and I refuse to allow any of us to be pushed over. Before him, I used to think I was silly and let things slide, but they used to build and build inside me that things just weren't fair, and he gave me that opinion, that comfort and that support that I wasn't being silly - that I was right to stand up for myself.
Over the last 18 months, he has fallen to rock bottom in his personal life only to come up shining and being appreciated and loved by the people he wanted to appreciate and love him. Yet by doing that, our communication is now limited, and I miss him terribly, but I'm glad he has found the happy place he was searching for when his inner being was falling apart.
And that's what people do when they love someone… they forsake all their own happiness to ensure that the people they love have what they always wanted, and if they aren't part of the equation, because of time and circumstance, then you live with that fact that your time is not now, or ever, and you just value that you actually had a chance to feel that intense happiness, that joy, that eternal feeling of greatness and gratitude that made you feel complete… even if it was just for a moment - a day, a week, a month or a year… you had an opportunity to actually 'FEEL JOY.' As 'joy' is the height of happiness and contentment.
So since that day, I have become a better mother, I have valued my place in the community and I give where I can to make a difference, I have valued myself within my business and personally and have stopped being bullied by people who feel they are superior to me, I have developed friendships that are true friendships, I have found my soul in nature and through travelling the world and I have dived deep inside myself to find my writing soul.
So everyday I thank him with all my heart that I found him. I just hope that he hears me…. He is someone who is affiliated with my heart because he touched it so deeply that he cannot be forgotten, even though we can no longer be together, he will always be remembered for bringing out the beauty, I never thought I had inside me, but somehow, he found it… in me.
When we were involved, I helped him overcome some of his conflicts, helped him understand what he needed for himself to survive, helped him value himself over giving so much to people who didn't appreciate him. I believed I did help him. And I believe he knows I helped him… and in so many ways, he helped me develop the needs I needed in life - to be the best mother I could be, to respect myself enough to not be a push over anymore and to appreciate the goodness I give people, even though I still struggle to believe that I am valued because of other failed relationships. And I will always thank him for giving me the belief in myself that I didn't have before we met.
He gave me a voice… a voice I didn't allow myself to have. I now stand up for myself, my children and my belongings and I refuse to allow any of us to be pushed over. Before him, I used to think I was silly and let things slide, but they used to build and build inside me that things just weren't fair, and he gave me that opinion, that comfort and that support that I wasn't being silly - that I was right to stand up for myself.
Over the last 18 months, he has fallen to rock bottom in his personal life only to come up shining and being appreciated and loved by the people he wanted to appreciate and love him. Yet by doing that, our communication is now limited, and I miss him terribly, but I'm glad he has found the happy place he was searching for when his inner being was falling apart.
And that's what people do when they love someone… they forsake all their own happiness to ensure that the people they love have what they always wanted, and if they aren't part of the equation, because of time and circumstance, then you live with that fact that your time is not now, or ever, and you just value that you actually had a chance to feel that intense happiness, that joy, that eternal feeling of greatness and gratitude that made you feel complete… even if it was just for a moment - a day, a week, a month or a year… you had an opportunity to actually 'FEEL JOY.' As 'joy' is the height of happiness and contentment.
So since that day, I have become a better mother, I have valued my place in the community and I give where I can to make a difference, I have valued myself within my business and personally and have stopped being bullied by people who feel they are superior to me, I have developed friendships that are true friendships, I have found my soul in nature and through travelling the world and I have dived deep inside myself to find my writing soul.
So everyday I thank him with all my heart that I found him. I just hope that he hears me…. He is someone who is affiliated with my heart because he touched it so deeply that he cannot be forgotten, even though we can no longer be together, he will always be remembered for bringing out the beauty, I never thought I had inside me, but somehow, he found it… in me.
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Taking Some Time Out
The best thing about the summer holidays in Australia is that you are actually forced to take some time out. It's time to catch up on things you wished you could have done throughout the year, like catching up with friends, going to the beach, reading a book, finalising the taxes, looking up study courses you might be interested in, starting a fitness/healthy eating regime, and most of all, giving your kids as much time as possible while you all have time to enjoy each other.
The last few weeks, we've done a bit of everything - lots of sleeping in, lots of staying up late watching movies, catching up with old friends, spending time up at our lake house with new friends, the boys spent time individually with their friends, we started walking our puppy to get him used to a lead and everything was done without worrying about the time, worrying about when the next appointment was and worrying about when meal times were (as we just snacked or had a meal when we felt like it). It was all just cruisy.
So with only 4 more official days of relaxing before work really starts up for me, I reflect on the fact I could incorporate some more of this relaxed nature into my work day… and I know one day I will… but it won't happen for another 12-24 months…. well, that's the plan.
But for now, we have to work ourselves up to the fact that my oldest son starts high school in less than 3 weeks, my youngest son will be at school without big brother by his side for the first time, and while I have my finger in three business pies (my copywriting, my holiday house letting & the promise of cutting a book deal this year), we know we will be extremely busy, especially with juggling a puppy in our lives.
The sad thing for me is, that since my oldest son is starting high school, it's also the start of him being truly independent… the days of going to the movies as a family are numbered, the days of taking a day trip somewhere, going to the city together, or having a family board game night will be considered lame by a teenager, but then I hope I have raised him right and he mingles with the right types of friends, and he will value all the good things that makes our family worthwhile. Hence, the reason why we need to make the most of these last few days.
The last few weeks, we've done a bit of everything - lots of sleeping in, lots of staying up late watching movies, catching up with old friends, spending time up at our lake house with new friends, the boys spent time individually with their friends, we started walking our puppy to get him used to a lead and everything was done without worrying about the time, worrying about when the next appointment was and worrying about when meal times were (as we just snacked or had a meal when we felt like it). It was all just cruisy.
So with only 4 more official days of relaxing before work really starts up for me, I reflect on the fact I could incorporate some more of this relaxed nature into my work day… and I know one day I will… but it won't happen for another 12-24 months…. well, that's the plan.
But for now, we have to work ourselves up to the fact that my oldest son starts high school in less than 3 weeks, my youngest son will be at school without big brother by his side for the first time, and while I have my finger in three business pies (my copywriting, my holiday house letting & the promise of cutting a book deal this year), we know we will be extremely busy, especially with juggling a puppy in our lives.
The sad thing for me is, that since my oldest son is starting high school, it's also the start of him being truly independent… the days of going to the movies as a family are numbered, the days of taking a day trip somewhere, going to the city together, or having a family board game night will be considered lame by a teenager, but then I hope I have raised him right and he mingles with the right types of friends, and he will value all the good things that makes our family worthwhile. Hence, the reason why we need to make the most of these last few days.
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Positive Affirmations
As I scan the pages of Facebook, Twitter, internet forums and even my private text messages, there is a 'positive' movement out there to cleanse yourself from all the hurt, sorrow, anguish and bad influences in your life. Phrases like 'how to be happy… delete all the toxic people out of your life,' 'happiness is the best revenge,' 'keep people in your life that truly love you, motivate you, encourage you, inspire you, enhance you and make you happy,' and 'be around people who love you just the way you are' are just a few that make you think about who you invite into your life and who you keep in your life.
Gone are the days that people held onto grudges with family members and released them at their funeral knowing that that people who hurt them, destroyed their spirit or couldn't muster up anything nice to say about them when they were alive could no longer affect them anymore, as they were no longer with us. The late Baby Boomers and beyond are more courageous now to let their feelings be heard, and if they aren't heard, then the silence is deafening. More and more, you hear of family members who haven't spoken in years, sometimes decades, and sometimes they can't even remember why they weren't speaking… but other times you hear the bitterness in their voice because when speaking of that person, the episode or episodes that lead to the silence remains raw. No longer is blood thicker than water. Loyalty remains when their is mutuality, and once that mutuality becomes lop-sided, then that relationship has past its expiry date.
People post these positive affirmations in social media to make a public stance. To announce that people are no longer going to hurt them, to appreciate the people in their lives that make them happy and positive about themselves, to affirm to themselves what's right to remain. The private stances are the unfriending on Facebook and other social media, the reduction or elimination of phone calls, emails or visits. And it depends on your maturity level of you choose to publicly defame someone who's deeply hurt you by throwing their belongings on the front lawn, naming them in a derogatory way in social media, defacing their car, all those wonderful things you see on the news, in movies or comedians talk about that are stranger than fiction.
Getting on with your life and allowing positivity to shine through is the only way you can move on from your past and appreciate your future. You come to a point in life that you can only get on with your life by eliminating the people and aspects in your life that no longer work for you. The poison in your lives can vary from people being unsupportive, showing a lack of compassion, putting you down for everything you do or say, not appreciating you, using you, destroying your self-esteem, physically harming you, judging you when you do something that makes you happy and going out of their way to destroy relationships that mean the world to you. You don't need people in your lives that kill your spirit. You need people who support you one hundred percent.
So, as I read more and more of these publicly posted shouts of people moving on with their lives, I see more and more people coming to terms with loving themselves more than the circumstances they find themselves in. It's great to see so many others have the courage to do what's best for themselves, and surround themselves with those who deserve their love the most.
Gone are the days that people held onto grudges with family members and released them at their funeral knowing that that people who hurt them, destroyed their spirit or couldn't muster up anything nice to say about them when they were alive could no longer affect them anymore, as they were no longer with us. The late Baby Boomers and beyond are more courageous now to let their feelings be heard, and if they aren't heard, then the silence is deafening. More and more, you hear of family members who haven't spoken in years, sometimes decades, and sometimes they can't even remember why they weren't speaking… but other times you hear the bitterness in their voice because when speaking of that person, the episode or episodes that lead to the silence remains raw. No longer is blood thicker than water. Loyalty remains when their is mutuality, and once that mutuality becomes lop-sided, then that relationship has past its expiry date.
People post these positive affirmations in social media to make a public stance. To announce that people are no longer going to hurt them, to appreciate the people in their lives that make them happy and positive about themselves, to affirm to themselves what's right to remain. The private stances are the unfriending on Facebook and other social media, the reduction or elimination of phone calls, emails or visits. And it depends on your maturity level of you choose to publicly defame someone who's deeply hurt you by throwing their belongings on the front lawn, naming them in a derogatory way in social media, defacing their car, all those wonderful things you see on the news, in movies or comedians talk about that are stranger than fiction.
Getting on with your life and allowing positivity to shine through is the only way you can move on from your past and appreciate your future. You come to a point in life that you can only get on with your life by eliminating the people and aspects in your life that no longer work for you. The poison in your lives can vary from people being unsupportive, showing a lack of compassion, putting you down for everything you do or say, not appreciating you, using you, destroying your self-esteem, physically harming you, judging you when you do something that makes you happy and going out of their way to destroy relationships that mean the world to you. You don't need people in your lives that kill your spirit. You need people who support you one hundred percent.
So, as I read more and more of these publicly posted shouts of people moving on with their lives, I see more and more people coming to terms with loving themselves more than the circumstances they find themselves in. It's great to see so many others have the courage to do what's best for themselves, and surround themselves with those who deserve their love the most.
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