I am liking the words this week for Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge, which are ‘cheer’ and ‘call.’ I have taken a bit of a liberty with the ‘cheer’ part of the challenge and have taken it literally!
I decided that I would write my haiku about the changing colours of the trees in autumn.
Autumn pays a call
Yay, time for a new outfit!
Does orange suit me?
I have been invited by the effervescent Ritu to take part in this relatively new challenge that is going around at the moment. I am sure most of you are already familiar with Ritu’s blog, a mix of wisdom. scrummy recipes, laughter, love and lots more. If not, then go over and say hello, you will be made most welcome.
I particularly like this challenge as it all about being thankful. Sometimes it is so easy to take the most basic things for granted, yet for others, it is something they aspire to. or might never have.
So without further ado let me give you the challenge rules:
*Share this image in your blog post
*Write about 5 people in your life you are thankful for
*Write about 5 things in 2015 that you are thankful for
*Spread the love and challenge 5 other blogs to take part
Five people who I am thankful for in my life:
Coming from such a large family this is going to be really hard!
My Mum: Although my mum is of the generation that traditionally stayed home and looked after the home, my mum went out to work when I was young. She qualified as a registered nurse but gave up after marrying my dad. However, things didn’t work out between them, and although divorce was not that common, mum went ahead and did it anyway. I should imagine she had plenty of gossiping to deal with but ignored it. She then went out to work, forging a career for herself in Social Services. This showed me that it is possible to break with convention and to do what you believe is right, whatever others may think!
My husband: Yes, good old Mr Grump. He is very supportive of whatever I want to do, and encourages me to challenge myself as he has faith in me.
My daughter: I was beginning to think that I would never have children, for one reason and another, but along she came when I was 37 years old. She makes me laugh and drives me mad, in equal measure, but I love her from the very bottom of my soul.
My younger sister: I call her Mrs Masterchef on here. We share the same birthday but are two years apart, so are very similar in many ways, especially with our sense of humour. She is there when I want to have a moan, and I always get a warm welcome, whenever I go to see her.
My older sister: She has always been there as someone I can go to when I am feeling upset or down. When we were younger, she looked out for us quite a bit (as well as telling us off)! As with my other sister, she is very family oriented.
Five things in 2015 that I am thankful for:
The rest of my family that I didn’t mention. Despite us all not living that close to each other, I know that when needed, they are there, and it is always lovely to catch up with them at family dos!
My health: I know I have been moaning about my cold, then feeling sick (now I have got cold sores all over my top lip), but in the grand scheme of things I am bloody lucky really. Some people would love to be able to get up in the morning without pain, or actually be able to walk to the shop. I know how lucky I am to be able to do these things and so much more, and am very thankful.
My job: I know I have only just started this job but I am thankful that I have it, and am really looking forward to actually getting ‘stuck in!’
My blog: I am so thankful for my blog which helped so much with my depression, leading me to meet some wonderful people.
My friends: I actually do not have many friends as such, that I see, as I am pretty unsociable! However, I am very grateful for them, and always love it when I see them.
My Nominations: I am going to have to break the rules on this one, as I cannot choose only five people who I want to share the love with! If anyone fancies having a go at this challenge, then please, consider yourself nominated!
http://hughsviewsandnews.com/2015/10/17/hughs-photo-challenge-week-2-whats-in-the-cupboard/I really wanted to have a go at Hugh’s photo challenge this week, but thought about the state of my cupboards (Hugh’s is so clean) and decided not to show myself up!
However, I forgot about the cupboard staring me in the face in the front room. The one we rarely use, as most of the music has been (painstakingly) transferred to the computer by Mr Grump.
So this is one of the few that we have which houses both mine and Mr Grump’s music collection! Ahem, most of it is actually his as mine doesn’t count for much of it at all. There are quite a few 70s and 80s compilations in there which are both of ours, but Elvis, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Meatloaf are all mine, as is Keane (I used to love them, where have they gone)? Mr Grump has got Natasha Beddingfield, Kylie Minogue (surprise, surprise, what man straight or gay doesn’t like Miss Minogue?) and one of the Now That’s What I Call Music albums amongst others.
I must say, as a rule, he actually does like more modern stuff than me, and I go mad when he puts on some of his ‘rave’ stuff or whatever the hell it is. Very fast, buzzy music which makes my head spin! Still, bizarrely we both like Eminem! If it comes on in the car, we piously flick it off as Miss Hap rolls her eyes, annoyed at being denied the chance to sing along with some of the obscenities she already knows are there!
Of course, her music is all on her phone, which is a good thing. Or maybe it isn’t as I know she likes some of this ‘bump and grind’ kind of stuff, which has near naked people gyrating around all over each other in the accompanying video! A bit of a far cry from the ABBA albums I have in my cupboard!
I have been lucky enough to have had coffee and cake with the wonderful Sally. Not only that but David was there too (the best hugger in the world, as well as a wonderful author and I got to meet Viv. She started writing after recovering from 2 strokes and has become a published author.
TJ has set quite a challenge this week, giving eggs as the prompt to use. His photo and Haiku were beautiful. (He always manages to make everything looks so special, even the humble egg)!
Mine, of course, has got an entirely different take on it than his!
Here goes:
Standing tall and proud
The egg, such a brave soldier
knows the end is near!
What a crazy whirlwind of a week. I was so looking forward to getting started in my new job, so of course getting the mother of all colds set me back a bit! Luckily for 3 days I was just across the road and could walk to work!
Yesterday Mr. Sat Nav (I don’t like the woman’s voice bossing me about) directed me to my training in a calming, relaxed manner, and having a trainer that was tremendous fun made it all the more enjoyable. There were actually at least three of them this week that were mad as hatters, but made dry subjects so much more palatable by their unique presentations.
So today I was to actually start work and I was pretty excited. Despite the fact that it was lashing down with rain, and my nose was now dry and a bit crusty, I was undaunted. I put on my uniform, (luckily I had not given back the old one yet, and it is the same), cadged a lift with Mr, Grump as he was off and I didn’t want to get wet, and arrived nice and early (well, too early if truth be told).
Eventually, someone signed me in and I got to meet my new team. I ordered my uniform, filled in some paperwork, then went out on some visits with my new boss.I was really impressed at the way they worked and it was really nice visiting people in their own homes. I already met some characters, one of the ladies answered the door topless, but after working in the hospital, that did not phase me as many of the patients loved to strip off given the chance.
I had not brought lunch as was unsure what I wanted and there was a shop close by the office where I could get something anyway. However, as we were handing back to the office about 2pm, I realized that I felt really sick. I put it down to not eating and bought myself a chicken and stuffing sandwich from the shop. I didn’t want it actually but made myself eat it.
About an hour or so later I went out with another nurse to do one last call. She is not a local lady so used her Satnav to get to the address. I did not ask her where we were going, and we had a nice little trip out in the countryside along nice bumpy lanes, and my tummy was churning about all over the place.
Oh God, I felt sick, and wished I had not eaten that bloody sandwich. Anyway, we realised what had happened as soon as I heard the address. I actually knew where it was anyway, and we soon got to where we needed to go.
When we arrived, I almost jumped out of the car, trying to get some fresh air as I felt bad. I had not mentioned to anyone at all that I felt rough, as for some reason, I thought it might be car sickness (I used to suffer when I was a child) and that would not bode well in the job! (I am fine when driving myself, by the way)!
The lovely elderly lady was cooking her dinner, but the smell although nice, churned me up a bit more. I then was asked to help with the leg dressing, and in fact, redressed it myself, which involved kneeling on the floor, something which along with the wound, did nothing to ease my volcanic stomach!
We got back to the office half an hour later than I was supposed to leave and it was really lashing down with rain by now, but I decided that I didn’t want Mr Grump picking me up as I had more than enough of cars for one day!
Wow, this week has whizzed by! In many ways, I am glad it has, but it also means that October is going way too quickly and before I know it NaNoWriMo will be here, and I am not quite ready yet!
I have had a very hectic week but have still managed to have found four fantastic posts for you to enjoy; all of them very different but very appealing in their own ways.
From This Day Forward This was a lovely post about memories associated with one thing in particular that many of us take for granted.
Tea and Paper Now I love a tutorial.. especially as there are so many things that I cannot do. As soon as I am feeling better I am going to check this one out as I have an account for ages and never used it.
Jen’s Pen Den More good advice. I like it when I am shown examples of things so that I can see how it is put into practice and Jen does just that. I think this is going to be very useful to me.
Smorgasbord – Variety is The Spice of Life I love Sally’s short stories, and this new series that she has recently started is brilliant. She draws you right into the story and has you wanting more!
Please take the time to visit all of these blogs if you haven’t already done so. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Happy Friday!!
Well, as you can see by my pic, I am still not feeling well! Despite the dark circles under my eyes from the lack of sleep and the red and sore nose from the snotty nose, not to mention the aching ribs from constant coughing and sneezing, I have now finished the first stage of training and nearly completed my first week.
There are always positives though so this is what has been great about this week:
I have been pretty lax at reading blogs this week due to early nights and feeling grotty. I am going to try and catch up a bit tonight and over the weekend. That is why I have not commented much on anyone’s blogs.
Well, this week I have managed to remember that my ‘Wacky word Wednesday’ feature should actually be posted on Wednesday! I have got a hyphenated word for you this week (sounds posh, but is far from it) which I have heard right from when I was a little girl, and actually now refer to myself as being it, before anyone else gets in!
Cack-handed. This word is very often applied to left-handers such as myself but, is also ham-fisted, heavy-handed. awkward and inept. Someone who is incompetent and incapable. clumsy and cumbersome.
They are butterfingered and burdensome, bungling, and bodging everything up. Graceless and gauche are their middle names, as they barge about their business clomping about like cart horses, breaking things or knocking them over!
I thought that this wonderful quote by Thomas Edison was a great way to start my post on perseverance.
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they came to success when they gave up.
This quote really speaks to me as it seems that in our culture of instant gratification, many people do not want to wait for something that takes time. If they have tried and failed at something once, they often tend to lose heart and give up altogether, despite being a whisker away from success.
I have seen this myself; a few of my fellow students at university had failed an assignment and rather than retake it, they decided to give up completely. This was right near the end of the course! Not only did they not graduate, but they were demoted as well!
I might have mentioned before that the school motto at my primary was something like, ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.” This always stuck in my mind, and if nothing else, I am certainly determined! I did not like school, was not allowed to go to college afterwards (my mum was mad I didn’t try at school), but always regretted not getting many qualifications. It might have taken me many years, but eventually I did it!
I also don’t get people who have given up smoking for something like five years then go back to it again! It is hard enough giving up in the first place, to go back on it after such a long time is such a shame. I was determined to give up,and have done it at the second attempt, Fingers crossed I won’t go back there again!
In life, we are constantly challenged to learn new things, or unlearn old things! With a little determination and a hell of a lot of perseverance, it is possible to achieve success, After all you might be a lot closer than you think!
This was inspired by Ronovan’s BeWoW posts
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