Things I Need

What's important to your world?

~me~

I see

yesterday

I see

faults

I see

everything I wish I didn't

Someone else's eyes

see a beautiful soul

someone else's eyes

see love

someone else's eyes

see me

Today

I 

will believe

that I can be everything

that other people see

~Me~

Sunday

Those vibrations are back
they come from Sunday's chores
Sunday's hours
moments filled with
mundane,
purpose and
everything that a Sunday should be

Hurray for a Sunday
that gave me a piece of me
a piece of work done
and the allowance of love
to flow into the
universe

Today, I like Sundays

the stories of life...

Downloading the stories of my life;

I see flashes of children, 

scents of flowers

and essences of home.

But,

Where am I to be seen?

Is it time to take a moment for me?

Counting Up, Counting Down

Well, well, well. Twould seem that there is some mischief afoot in the blogosphere. My dear friend "Me" has tagged me in a little game of quizzes, compliments of her friend Bubba. And surprise, surprise (to me anyway) I rose to the challenge and answered all her questions pretty quick. The harder part will be coming up with some new questions for the poor saps that I pick on to play along in the shenanigans, but I'll work on that.

So here are the rules of engagement;

The requirements for taking part:

1. You must post these rules
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post
3. Create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged
4. Tag eleven people with a link to your post
   
5. Let them know you tagged them

Drum roll please, as I roll out my answers....

1. Did you have an imaginary friend when you were a kid?  Details, please!
Umm, nope. Spent all my time with a nose in a book. They were my friends.

2.  Ever seen a ghost?  Met a psychic?  Had a prophetic dream?  Just about everyone, even if you don't really believe, has had some sort of supernatural experience.  What's one of yours?
That is worthy of a whole blog post I suspect. I am hoping that my dream from last week wasn't prophetic, but there have been moments when I wonder. While I have never had a Demi moment with Patrick, my hubby has made his presence known on more than one occasion.


3. What is your biggest addiction?
That is sadly too easy to answer - social media. I work, play and learn all day, every day

4. What do you want to be when you grow up?
ME! And a writer. ;-)


5. What was the last concert you went to?
Iron & Wine in the fall with none other than the lady that tagged me "Me"


6. What was the last movie you watched?
That one is harder, unless you count kids movies. Watched "Shrek 2"  and "Finding Nemo" over Friday night pizza with my kids tonight. And caught "Soylent Green" for the first time about a month ago. It's People!!

7.  Beatles or Stones?  Why?
Ok, I suspect I will get yelled at for either answer, but I just don't care. I probably would have picked the Sex Pistols from that generation or maybe the Mamas & the Papas. I am just kind of lame that way, but could sing along with most songs from either band aforementioned in a pinch, I bet.


8. If you could be invisible for twenty-four hours, what would you do?
I think I have been invisible before. It is called not seeing others. I lived in that state for the better part of a year. It wasn't much fun. I much prefer the company of those that love me, surrounding me with occasional moments of alone time to balance life off.

9. You're on death row.  What do you request for your last meal?
Got to be lobster, with sides of king crag, scallops, shrimp, mussels and any other seafood you come across. Yum!

10. We all have a few regrets in life.  What's the number one thing you regret NOT doing?
Although I really wouldn't change it, I would love to know how my life would have turned out if I had gone to Egypt during my African Adventure. Hmm, dreamin...


11. You ran off and joined the circus.  What's your act?
Probably a clown, but maybe I would be the scantily clad lady holding a hula hoop for the lions to jump through?!


Taa-daa, I did it! Now the harder part of coming up with questions. Hmm...

1. You are all grown up now and can look back on the days of your youth fondly. What did you like best about your hometown?


2. Time to shake off the rose-coloured glasses. What did you like least?


3. Where is your favourite place to go now?


4. Which location makes you cringe at the thought of approaching it?


5. Who would you take with you take with you to #3? Why?


6. If you have to go there, who would you want to accompany you to the worst place in the world?


7. I am thinking of a colour. What is it?


8. Not very good at this are you? How about you just share what your favourite colour is then :)


9. Have you ever been in love? How did you really know? How did it make you feel?


10. You are sitting fireside around a campfire singalong. What song do you request and/or play?


11. Dare I ask about a bucket list? Whether you have one or not, what secret dream have you always held onto & do you think you will ever make it happen?

Well now, I managed to come up with a few questions of my own somehow. Cool! Now for the last part of this cursed task that has been sitting in my draft folder for far too long - to find people to include in the fun;

I would be interested to see what Ron, Shelley, Possum, Stranger, Mijayami, Me, Brian, PattiKen, G-Man, Monkey Man and YOU might come up with, but realize that some of these good folks have already played or just don't have the time. And as I am often in the time-constrained boat myself, I completely get it. Really, that's fine too, as me tossing out names has more to do with me being curious and caring about their two cents worth (might have to up that to a nickle I guess, as the penny has now been made defunct in Canada). Regardless, if you have the inclination to join in or throw an answer or two into your comment, I would be thrilled. If not, have a great weekend folks! I love you anyway!!

Resolutions

~
It's
Saturday
New Year's Eve
Time for reflection
for resolutions
for peace
for me
Me
~

~

words 

written down

grown strong and 

confidant in themselves

still linger on  fingers

afraid to reach 

out for 

you

~

~

time

its time

to step beyond

embrace the unknown

fling myself open

without caution 

nor prejudice

into life

~

Saturday's Email of the Week: Can the Funny Bone Cure the Common Cold?

Saturday's Email of the Week

It's Saturday and I am still sick. Just a cold mind you, but snotty as ever & its been almost a week now. I wouldn't mind so much, but with a lower than usual energy level the house has taken a toll. Confetti litters the living room floor, remnants from the snowflakes that now hang gaily on the window above. Counterspace is hitting max load in the kitchen, almost too much for this poor soul to bear. I don't even dare look at the kid's playroom.


groan...


But I shall ignore it all a little longer, as the girls head to roll and tumble the last of the morning away. I myself will see if I can sweat out the last of my germs while I am at it. And despite thinking that all the emails that I received this week were not worthy to share, upon second look there are a few nuggets in there that offer a smile or two. Actually there were three from a certain blogger friend of mine that all made me smile. She even got a spotlight on a community poetry blog that has been rocking the web as of late. The one that I am most interested in though, holds some links to a story that she promises will touch my heart. I can't wait! Plus there was a cute animated advent calendar from a distant aunt, a notice for a new writing contest (Canadians only!) that I am mulling over, updates from clients and a barrage of emails regarding Christmas drinks with my book club. What to choose though?

Well, this one from my aunt got a giggle. Hope you have a great weekend!

~~~

Just in case you need a laugh: Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane ... but only a high school diploma to fix one ... a reassurance to those of us who fly routinely. After every flight ... UPS pilots fill out a form ... called a 'gripe sheet' ... which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems ... document their repairs on the form ... and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers. By the way ... UPS is the only major airline that has never ... ever ... had an accident. P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement. S: Almost replaced left inside main tire. * P: Test flight OK ... except auto-land very rough. S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft. * P: Something loose in cockpit. S: Something tightened in cockpit. * P: Dead bugs on windshield. S: Live bugs on back-order. * P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200-feet-per-minute descent. S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.. * P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear. S: Evidence removed. * P: DME volume unbelievably loud. S: DME volume set to more believable level. * P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick. S: That's what friction locks are for. * P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode. S: IFF is always inoperative in OFF mode. * P: Suspected crack in windshield. S: Suspect you're right. * P: Number 3 engine missing. S: Engine found on right wing after brief search. * P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!) S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious. * P:Target radar hums. S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics. * P: Mouse in cockpit. S: Cat installed. * And the best one for last * P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer. S: Took hammer away from the midget.

A Little Promo

I have been doing some looking.

More than just looking at cute strangers too. In fact, I have been looking at me. Scary! Worth a look every now and then though. And what is it that I see, you wonder?

Normally I spend my day writing, often trying to come from other people's voices or perspectives, but as of late I have turned the magnifying glass around to inspect myself. What I am trying to see is a professional writer scraping out a bit of a living. I am trying to envision this business person that works for a living and does the job at hand to the best of my ability. There is attention to detail there and yes, an eye to the clock for timeliness as well. Hey, those are good qualities and worthy of a nod for my chosen profession, right?

This process does not flow so easily though. I am not sure if you noticed or not, but I had a suggestion to polish up my professional image here, so did a little housekeeping. I revamped my pages and tweaked a thing or two. If you get the time, I would love it if you checked it out and let me know what you think. When I was going through the process though, it forced me to take a look at me. Truth be told, it wasn't so bad! If I look at my resume of people that I have worked for, variety of subject matter attacked and timeliness in making it all happen, I am a little impressed. I have written more than an article or two, and some of them are quite good! Looking at them from a potential new employer's eye, the trick is to decide which articles are most worthy to share though. FYI: Much harder than I thought it would be. I am still not sure if I did myself justice either.

That bring me to today. When it comes to the marketing of me, I could use a lot little more practice. I become shy and reticent. To humble to boast, I am unable to sing my praises, despite knowing that I do have a modicum of talent. Again, I feel all gangly here; barely able to spit out a cohesive thought.

You want me to talk about me? Oh geez! What's to say?


The problem is, I have to get over that. I have to put on my biggest smile and sing my praises as loud as I can, because it is only through marketing, in the world of writing and social media, that your voice can be heard louder and in more places. And I do have a book that I would like to see in print in the near future, so I need the practice. And while in my little blog, I have been content to use my own small voice to gently share thoughts, poems and prose, that needs a little dose of confidence thrown in now and again. I have to find my big girl voice.

So in my best Big Girl voice today, I am going to ask of you a favour. Kahemm...

You see, while my first love is to the beauty of words, Mama gets a new pair of boots via selling those words (Winter is coming up fast and I noticed that my old winter boots have a hole in the bottom of them).

Oh geez, I am doing it again! Blathering to the point of LOSING the point. So,

I would appreciate it if you would all visit some of the sites that I work for and comment on whatever you might find interesting. If you do find something interesting, it would be even better if you could SHARE it too, like on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon or Google +. Heck, you could even follow them! My clients are pretty generous folk, but a little more turnaround would be beneficial to keep me working.

Thank you

In Your Neighbourhood - DIY, house, home & real estate, plus a cool FOLLOW THE FLIP of 2 houses
CLC Tree Services Blog - focus on trees, plus general gardening tips, landscape lighting & Christmas Decor

Saturday's Email of the Week - Time to Breathe

Saturday's Email of the Week

My week has been a whirlwind of activity. With two new clients, plus a few other existing clients, I have had to learn how to better utilize my time management skills. Hmm, yeah. Have to say that they have sucked so far this week. Up late most nights and crossed eyed in the morning over coffee. What with a "Meet the Teacher" night thrown in mid week, a PA day at the end of the week and a house full of guests expected for the weekend, I feel like I have not had a minute for me at all. We still made it to swimming lessons, ergo a dip in the pool for me too, but my aquatics class was vetoed due to eye appointments for the girls. Always at the bottom of the list it would appear.

I don't mean to sound like I am complaining though. I am thrilled to have new clients. In fact thrilled to be able to say I have clients at all! Last year at this time, I was blogging away for myself like mad, half-heartedly blogging for a baby boutique and doing some basic PR work for a friend's blog talk radio show. Better than nothing, but not like this year. Can I tell you a secret? I even had business cards printed out a while back, as it looked like I just might have need of them. And oh boy, I have! Well, I have given them out to friends, family and a few other souls, but still!

So before the rooster crows morning, I will leave you with a brief look at what my week has looked like via my inbox.

"you okay?" - SL


"send along the info about this story you mentioned" - DC

"Can I drop off your wood about 1:30?" - CM


"retweeted to 729 followers" - AI


"Check out my stuff" - MC


"today i am in a very awkward state. i could use a word or two from a friend. my love to y'all in an attempt not to hate." - JT


"I'll get back to you on time, but dinner first would be fun" - CA 


"Let me know so I can present the idea to the board" - ME 


"A new device named "home" logged into your Facebook account"


"LAUGH!!!!!" - BL


"Register before September 23rd" - LSBC


"Would you consider writing a press release" - MC


"My goodness! I'm speechless for once. Thank you so so so so much." - SP


"I hope all is well" - CM

I like that last one. How about one more that put a smile on my face from BL. I hope you all have a great weekend and find time to stop and smell the roses! I sure am going to try (after I vacuum the house, wash the sheets on the beds, mop the floor, buy some groceries, clean the counters and put away the salsa that I canned a few days ago). Agggghhhhhh!

~~~

 The couple were 85 years old and had been married for sixty years.
Though they were far from rich, they managed to get by because they
watched their pennies.

Though not young, they were both in very good health, largely due to the
wife's insistence on healthy foods and exercise for the last decade..

One day, their good health didn't help when they went on a rare vacation
and their plane crashed, sending them off to Heaven.

They reached the pearly gates, and St.. Peter escorted them inside. He
took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold and fine silks, with
a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath. A maid could
be seen hanging their favourite clothes in the closet.

They gasped in astonishment when he said, 'Welcome to Heaven. This will
be your home now.'

The old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost. 'Why,
nothing,' Peter replied, 'remember, this is your reward in Heaven..'

The old man looked out the window and right there he saw a championship
golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever built on Earth.

'What are the greens fees?,' grumbled the old man.

'This is heaven,' St. Peter replied. 'You can play for free, every day.'

Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with
every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood to steaks to
exotic deserts, free flowing beverages.

'Don't even ask,' said St. Peter to the man.. This is Heaven, it is all
free for you to enjoy.'

The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife.
'Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods and the
decaffeinated tea?' he asked.

'That's the best part,' St. Peter replied, 'You can eat and drink as
much as you like of whatever you like and you will never get fat or
sick. This is Heaven!'

The old man pushed, 'No gym to work out at?'

'Not unless you want to,' was the answer.

'No testing my sugar or blood pressure or....'

'Never again. All you do here is enjoy yourself.'

The old man glared at his wife and said, 'You and your fucking Bran
Flakes.

We could have been here ten years ago!'

Tuesday Trackbacks

Heck, I forgot to share photos from the recent wedding I went to. For shame! And today was Tuesday, not Monday, and I still did not fly across the pond for my regular traipse through Africa. What is going on here? Can I blame it on late summer fun and road trips. Why not! Well, despite the late hour I can rectify at least one of my lapses, I suppose. This evening I will strut my stuff here in a photo walk from the wedding day. Enjoy!

Last week was a busy week for me writing wise, but this week might be a more sedate. I slammed out about nine articles, wrote a little poetry and still had a few letters in me by the end of the week. This week not so much so far. With it being a short week, I will have to play catch up as well. And both my babies started school this morning, so I have just not been feeling the words flowing oh so nicely. We all have days like that though. 

Happy Couple's 1st dance

So the night of the wedding, we ate, danced and made merry. There were hors d'oeuvres, much wine being poured, succulent main courses, dessert, more wine, a dessert table, late night sandwiches, more drinks, and of course movies under the table for the kids. Gotta love portable DVD players. 

I fear that my eyes are about to cross though, so must go to bed. If I don't get my beauty sleep, no amount of makeup can improve my kisser. I go from the belle of the ball, as seen above to more like this self-portrait below. NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT! Ha! Fare thee well & good night all.

Where's my coffee?

Saturday's Email of the Week: A Smorgasbord

I have to say that it was a bit of a slow week for interesting emails. A gazillion recipes, lots of comment stream on Linked In, a few cutesy emails, but nothing that made me roll on the ground laughing or inhale sharply at the shock of it. Oh well, they can't all be banner weeks I guess. Perhaps I will just present you with a smorgasbord of images and snippets from my week via my life-line to the outer world - email. I hope you have a fabulous Saturday!

So on Thursday the kids and I went for dinner, then hit Canadian Tire to pick up a new inner tube for T's bike. We wandered around and as we were in the exercise-type aisles, I also picked up a step-counter.  The kids were gung-ho to buy some hand weights as well, but I managed to convince them out of them.

Why a step counter, you ask? Well, I have to admit that I fear all of this writing stuff might be a bit of a detriment to my waistline. I missed my weekly yoga class and didn't feel like I managed to squeeze in quite enough activity to make up for it. All the surfing I do just doesn't amount to quite enough calories burned I suspect.

So on Friday I strapped on the step counter, left my laptop behind and hit my gardens for a little fresh air and slugging of mulch. My shoulders got a mite rosy from my exertions, but my mood was elevated. By the time the kids came home I had burned off 150 calories, according to my new toy! While the girls ran naked through the sprinkler (first time this year!), I lovingly planted a few new specimens that we picked up from the garden centre on the way home. Yes, I love my gardens!

The forecast now calls for rain for the near future, so I stayed late into the evening to feel the grass between my toes. A discovery that our rhubarb was coming ready was cause to celebrate, so a bundle was picked. I think that perhaps tomorrow I can make use of one of those recipes that came in last week;

Aunt Norma's Rhubarb Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 12 cup muffin pans or line with paper cups.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the brown sugar, oil, egg, vanilla and buttermilk with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour in the dry ingredients and mix by hand just until blended. Stir in the rhubarb and walnuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, filling almost to the top. In a small bowl, stir together the melted butter, white sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of this mixture on top of each muffin.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for at least 10 minutes before removing.

I will let you know how they turn out! 

For now I will leave you with a cute little poem that resonated with me from the week. I am sure I have read it before, and probably you have too, but it made me smile to re-read. Maybe I will vacuum and work on that sticky floor tomorrow after the muffins go into the oven...

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;

They don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils

Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,

Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough

Doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what

The vacuum just sucked up...

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'

And get their answer when a little

Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

A Little Bit About Me Today.

Well now, isn't that a pretty thing! I have seen them around, but this lovely spring-feeling award comes from a new blogger that I've recently met. I found Sara from Starving Novelist on Twitter. While I am still feeling my way through the ups and downs of all things Twitterness, she seems to have it all down pat. She was very friendly and welcoming to me as well, which I am prone to like. And now what does she do, but present me with an award! Woohoo! I will take the cheap flattery and parade it around with me for the day, cus I'm like that I guess. You know that there are always strings with these things though. Drat.

Today's strings are simple enough;

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.

2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.
4. Contact the winners to congratulate them.


Easy peasy right! So a big shout out and thank you to Sara Burr for including me in the fun. Your random facts were a lot of fun. I can tell that we are going to get on just fine. 


Now I have to contemplate some random facts that you lovely people might be interested to know that I haven't already shared with you. Hmmm...

1. I seem to have always been able to spin a decent yarn. Way back in grade school I wrote a speech for the annual public speaking contest. Everyone in the school had to write one and the best one from each class then had an opportunity to read their speech in front of the whole school. Well, I wrote a delightful little speech about some of the inventions that my Grandfather concocted, like the gotcha stick, the discomboobulator and I cannot remember what else. Anyway, I got lots of laughs in my class and was rewarded with the honour of reading my speech in front of the entire school! Accolades!!!
2. Accolades aside, I was terrified. Fact #2 is that I was an extremely shy child that hid behind her mother's skirts whenever we were out in public. I did have a few neighbour friends, but most of my friends lived in the pages of books. Humourful or not, speaking in front of a rather large group of people was horrifying to me. I did it, but spoke into my pages and had my friends in the first row using stage whispers to encourage me to speak up that were louder than my own mousy tones. I would not be going on to speak in any wider circles after that fiasco, but I did eventually loosen up a tad. Friends and associates now would be shocked to learn that I was ever quiet.
3. I might have been afraid of public speaking as a child, but I wasn't afraid of snakes. One summer while my sister and I were staying out at my Grandparent's house in BC, my cousins came to visit. My cousin Mike was a) a boy & b) a year older than me. That made him the leader of our little pack for some reason (there was him, me, my sister, who was 2 years younger than me, & his sister, who was a year younger than my sister). He came up with an idea to while away the hours on our senior citizen retreat island - putting garter snakes in people's mailboxes. Oh fun! Yup, we gathered up enough snakes to put one in each of the 6-7 mailboxes that sat at the side of the road, just up the hill from my grandparent's house. Hilarious, except for the fact that shortly thereafter we all went out for a drive and Grandpa decided to check the mail before going too far. Rats! Plan foiled and dirty looks were sent all around to us nasty kids in the back of the pickup. Fun while it lasted, but probably best that it was my Grandpa that found the snakes vs some poor little old lady who might've had a heart attack.
4. While I frequently flew out to BC to spend summers with my grandparents, my first flight was a much longer affair. At 5 1/2 months old I had the pleasure of my very first airplane flight, all the way out to Cape Town, South Africa. I have no idea if I was a good baby or not or really anything about the visit at all, but that was my first flight. Not my last flight to South Africa though, as you all well know. :)
5. Really, seven is such a large number! What else is interesting? Well, I don't think much of it, but most people think I am a bit of a freak as I don't like bacon. Not turkey bacon, or back bacon, or even that pre-cooked bacon (that looks pretty darn scary on the packaging and doesn't make me want to even consider it). My last bacon meal was a starvation-induced, bacon or nothing affair after a night of drinking at a friend's house. It passed my lips that morning, but no more (keep your knickers on though, as I can pick bacon bits out of a salad if I have to!)
6. I also don't like olives, but feel less conspicuous about that. I use olive oil. I will eat pickles (home-made by ME of course) or pickled mushrooms, and have tried green and black olives on more than one occasion, but I just don't care for them. Sorry!
7. Oh ho! Number Seven! Wonderful. Interesting fact number seven is that ... ummm ... errr... well... I, ah. Oh frig, you probably know more about me now than I do! How about, while my handwriting is generally legible, my signature is far from it. Scrawl! 

Woohoo! Did it. Oh wait. You say there is something more that I have to do? Lord have mercy! Ok, let me scroll back.

Dum-te-dum...


Oh yes, right, right, right! I am supposed to pass on my little award to some of the newest bloggers that I have discovered. Okey doke. how about we pick on Meg at Big London/Little London. She was in my recent writing class and could use a little love. Mama Zen at The Zen of Motherhood has been around for a while, but it hasn't been that long since I have been following her, so I am going to toot her horn today as well. Possum is also relatively new to my roster, as is Suzanne at Words that Work. There are probably others I could pick on, but I am tired and I am supposed to go let these lovely folks know that I have plagued them with this quiz awarded them for their merit! If you have read all the way to the bottom, good for you. This post has taken me longer to write than most and is all about me, me, me (so hopefully didn't lull you into sleep/an early grave).

Thanks Sara! It was fun!