Category Archives: books

mad haiku skills

Posted in books, family, house - gardens, Journal, me, Project Life, Teresa Wentzler by

This last week has been a bit of a rush. I clearly didn’t take on board the topic of forgiveness and not holding a grudge, as I was awake all Saturday night so angry at my SIL, who often makes quite derogatory comments very casually and without thought. I had to vent but that went horribly wrong, with me screaming and throwing things at the other half. Not cool. I need to call her on it but I didn’t want to rock the boat at M’s birthday dinner. I’ll have to develop some techniques but right now I have no idea.

The youngest has turned five and LOVES school. He cuddled in last night and went over his homework – hey mum, I get to do this at home too! – and this is a blessing. He got a new, larger, scooter in his haul and wants to ride to school, ‘cause everyone else does (read: five other people in his class do). Grandma will be getting some intense exercise keeping up! I’ll have to take him to the waterfront path at Te Atatu, wide concrete paths and you can see for miles.

Prompt 36: List 5 things you intend to do TODAY

  1. Drink Less Coffee – but sadly this just increased the volume of tea. Helpfully the office coffeemaker went on strike too with a missing seal.
  2. Read – I ploughed through Mary Magdalene by Diana Wallis Taylor. Recommended by a random at the library yesterday. In turn I endorsed the Lineage of Grace series by Francine Rivers that she was carrying. One of the few fiction I HAD to buy in paper format. I’m mad about Ruth. Awesome woman. Did you know she is only one of five women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy?
  3. Work – although I am very bad at this today. Stupid people are not using the spreadsheets sent to them, so I am constantly going back for more detail. And stupid suppliers are sending stuff we haven’t ordered, despite me nagging them weekly since April. Same sh*t, different purchase order.
  4. Stitch – I have finished the base pieces of my TW exchange (did two as I changed out some colours to suit the second fabric) which leads me onto #5
  5. Research – the person I’m sending to has finishing skills. I need to step up my game (so doing two might be very, very handy) and research some ornie finishing techniques beyond the norm.

Prompt 26: The answer is ‘Yes!’ What is the question?

Do I like to read? Do I flit from project to project? Do I procrastinate on the housework? Do I love my family? Do I have plans for our house? Do I want a new car? Do I want security around my job (I’m on a maternity contract)? Do I like Calvin & Hobbes? Do I like art? Do I like music? Do I need music and art?

This could go on forever.

Prompt 29: List 5 flowers that you love. Are they in your garden? Will they be in your garden? Have they been in your garden? Why are they your favourites?

I’ve always loved the old roses – you know, the ones that SMELL and grow like mad things. At the old house I had an Alberic de Barbier (1900; have to get a cutting) that bloomed from September thru to May every year. S hates it as it has thorns and does grow massively every year. I’m thinking that I would like this on the fence at the front right of the house, at the end of the parking space and spreading out over the shed. The shed might need reinforcements tho.

http://www.rosesnz.co.nz/category-1/50-alberic-barbier.html not the best photo but a good price.

I also have a Fairy rose that I was given when L was born. It’s repotted every few years and I had thought it was dead one house move ago but as I procrastinated (thought of it as housework J) and left the plant alone, a shoot popped up in the garden next to the pot. So it doesn’t look very pretty and I think I should probably just plant it in this garden. Not sure where tho!

Magnolias & Gardenias – I have recently become aware of the beautiful colours and scents. Thinking a magnolia out the front then gardenias along the fence line in between the fruit trees.

I don’t really have other favs. I do not like orchids, or carnations, or lilies and anything else I can pretty much take or leave. Altho I just remembered cherry blossoms. We had a gorgeous tree at Otumoetal and when the wind blew, the petals would float around like confetti.

My planting list is becoming quite large.

Prompt 33:Sand in your toes and grit in the sandwiches. How do you regard the beach?

Beaches for me are cleansing. By the time I’ve walked along the sand, dipped my toes in the sea and just enjoyed, whatever has been bothering me is gone. As I’ve said before Bethells is my favourite “me” beach, but as a family we also enjoy Waiake/Torbay, Cheltenham (very safe for little ones) and the Mount.

Prompt 31: Set 3 goals for next month – these can be home/work/art/journal related – or choose another aspect of your life.

Three – right. Should be easy but I am surrounded by indecision!

  1. Stitch at least 3 times in the week
  2. Sort the kitchen pantry out & make the baking stuff more accessible. Bake!
  3. Start up Project Life again – start with now, work backwards, don’t be focussed on the “picture per day” but on the story as a whole. Complete the journal cards even if I haven’t printed the photo.

Good thing S found my printer cable again. I can’t wait for the android Project Life app – it’s quite tempting to get an iPhone just for this app. Wonder if I could pick one up cheap of Trade Me?

Prompt 35: A Haiku is a simple form of poetry. Three lines – 5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5 syllables. Write one about Summer – this summer or any summer.

Sand between my toes

Wind rippling in my hair

Gulls cry surrounds me

Inspiration from reading

Posted in books, me by

The books that I “keep” and re-read usually inspire something, or are ones that make me think. Lately I’ve been thinking about forgiveness, as I know I truely still hold a grudge against a previous manager, despite the fact that A) I’ve learnt to be a lot stronger mentally, B) that incident didn’t penalise me financially and the agreement reached with employers was beneficial and C) I am far happier now that I was for the last 6 months of that employment.

Holding this grudge benefits me in no possible way. I am very unlikely to come across this woman again yet why can’t I leave it alone in some locked off part of my head?

So on that theme I came across a Christian romance by Susan May Warren. I’ve read some of her other lighter, humourous stories but not following her on FB or Twitter means I haven’t read her in years. This is book one of a series (yay, prefer series with the good authors) and one of the key drivers in the story is forgiveness. As she says in her blurb online (http://www.susanmaywarren.com/books/take-a-chance-on-me) we live in a blame world.

We’re quickly spiraling into a society without mercy. Without grace. Without forgiveness.

So two chapters in I am enjoying this story unfold and the thinking opportunities.

 

Never saw the sun shining so bright, never saw things going so right…

Posted in books, family, Journal, me, work by

Prompt 20: Do you have a favourite colour? Paint it on your page and write about it.

I can’t paint this page blue but it’s my favourite colour in nearly all the shades. I love those perfect days out on the water (sailing or kayaking or just lazing around) where sea and sky meet.

House walls are often Resene Half Spanish White or from their Karen Walker range, Butterdly White. I love the paler shades as everything else “pops” and Resene paint is just so easy to use, low smells and cleans up with baby wipes.

Click to access Karen_Walker_Chart.pdf

I think I’d like to try Half Robin Egg Blue or the darker Clouded Blue in my bedroom, but that would also require a carpet change and that isn’t till later on in the Five Year Plan.

Prompt 22: What was the most amusing thing a child has said within your hearing?

Z was just five when I found out I was expecting Mase. It was a surprise pregnancy (I’d been told I could never get pg again years earlier, which triggered a massive time of uncertainty & pain). I experienced 3 migraines in as many weeks when normally I’d get that many in a year, so our GP ran a few tests. It was Christmas Eve and we’d broken the news to the kids and rather stupidly I took them grocery shopping at the supermarket. In the checkout line I was talking with our old neighbour and across a few lines to a friend when Z suddenly piped up in that annoying loud voice kids only have when you don’t want to hear from them – Mummy, what did you do to get pregnant? Cue a moment of silence then roars of laughter.

Last year Granddad II said that he would buy the older boys laptops for their homework. I was quite reluctant but one of the winning arguments came from B (then 13). He earnestly promised me he wouldn’t use it to find prawn (porn)!

M makes me laugh nearly every day with his view of the world. I can’t remember anything specific just right now so I’ll have to edit later.

L used to mangle her words so we have an unique nomenclature – hobital, mazagine, serbice station and so forth.

Prompt 23: Light or heavy! What are you reading? What do you like to read? What is the most interesting thing you have ever read?

This prompt was clearly written just for me! Thanks, Myfanwy!

Like I’ve said before, I am an avid reader and if pushed, will even flick through fishing or hunting magazines if nothing else is present. I don’t read trash such as “women’s magazines” as I have an aversion to gossip and bollocks, and I won’t touch the 50 Shades genre but I will devour a lot.

Current read is deeper – Robert Hutchinson’s The Last Days of Henry VIII. Next will be lighter but I added over 50 biographies to my Sony this weekend along with the Skulduggery Pleasant series for Z on his. In physical format I discovered the GOT in graphic form, yay for libraries! Also yay for Kindle apps on my phone/tablet.

Prompt 24: Money can’t buy happiness, but what is the one thing that would make your life easier if you bought it? Maybe it has yet to be invented…

I’d love a house cleaner, but Si is too private for that. Or cheap, take your pick. And prescription sunnies as I’m not a candidate for LASIK and with my blindness, those things aren’t cheap. I could buy a small country for the price of those things. Interestingly the government i.e. my tax pays for contacts – which I then forget to renew as they are such a PITA to wear. Half the time I forget to put them in then when I do my eyes get so dry in the aircon. Glasses are easier.

I’m going to skip a few prompts as I just don’t have the answer yet for a few.

Prompt 27: Everyone starts the day in a different way. Do you eat breakfast or skip it as fast as you can? What was your first meal of the day?

On workdays breakfast is in the lunchroom with a consistent group of co-workers. It’s usually worth a laugh or two as we dissect the news (both real and imaginary) and generally take the piss out of each other. Usually muesli, yoghurt and coffee – I didn’t last too long when I tried to live without caffeine.

Breakfast on the weekend is usually solitary as it’s often my only quiet space. Toast and coffee (Copeland’s fruit toast is a fav) back in bed with my book or journal (if everyone else is up) or in the sunny patch in the lounge if everyone else is still asleep. I want this time to myself so much I even set my alarm early on Saturdays so I’m in a good headspace before sport takes over my day.

 

If you’ve got to the bottom of this, the reward is the beautiful Ella Fitzgerald and her song, Blue Skies. I used a couple of lines of the refrain in my title.

Lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/blue-skies-lyrics-ella-fitzgerald.html

Vocals options are also on that page 🙂

journalling, days five & six

Posted in books, Journal, me by

Playing Catch Up!

Prompt 5
Do you love to lose yourself in a good book? Drama? Detective? Maybe you would rather watch a good film or TV programme instead? Or maybe you just prefer to read the paper with your breakfast. Write about which you prefer.

WRITTEN ON JULY 7TH
Mostly I read, and mostly I’m a book slut. There are lines drawn; I won’t read 50 Shades for example (it won’t float my boat and the grammatical errors I saw in her fan fiction made me want to hurl the laptop at her head) and the Stephen King/Dean Koontz type horror (I like to sleep) but pretty much anything else is fair game. This week I’ve slogged thru The Princes in the Tower (Alison Weir), a couple of trash books (Kitty French, Toni Aleo) and lots of magazines. Now that I am trying to stitch each night I am reading less (and eating less, woo hoo!), but it is still part of my essential everyday routine. I have a couple of eReaders left over from Whitcoulls that awful place I use to work and one goes everywhere with me. Even my youngest knows not to try to take it away from me!
Having said that, there are a few programmes or movies I’ll put the book down for. If they are book-based, they have to be true to the book – I have to be able to visualise the book in my mind and there shouldn’t be any plot gaps (looking at you here, Nora Roberts’ adaptation crew). Current list is:
• Justified – Elmore Leonard. I could listen to Timothy Olivant all day.
• Banshee – not sure if this is book related, but the cast and script are top notch. NSFW so don’t search out on YouTube. You were warned.
• Game of Thrones – George RR Martin. I love how a lot of the detail in the books has translated visually.
• Nashville – pure escapism. Dallas for country music lovers?
• Anything Pixar.
• Anything by Peter Jackson.
• Anything with Mark Whalberg in it.

Prompt 6
Think hard about your day. Tell us about one thing that you do every day.

To paraphrase Fatboy Slim & Calvin Harris – Eat Sleep Read Repeat 

Prompt 7
What can you do with an egg?

I can bake with an egg – ever since childhood an egg (by itself) is a reminder of illness. Today I’ll only eat eggs in baking or a quiche (very, very limited) and won’t touch Bacon & Egg pie. Apparently I do make a very good one, however.

I’m assuming we’re talking chicken + egg here – not the Cadbury type?

Journalling Prompts

Posted in books, me, project 365 by

In the aftermath of man flu I am struggling a little when it comes to creativity. So I found this little gem, and am hoping that the daily prompts kick start some thinking and more to the point, some journalling. I am woefully behind when it comes to Project Life but yay! at least found the printer cable yesterday so that excuse is now gone.

http://fabrilicious.wordpress.com/

Sign up and see what it brings you 🙂

On a reading note, I have slogged thru Julia Fox’s excellent Jane Boleyn and Alison Weir’s well researched, detail heavy The Lady in the Tower. Interesting to compare the two very different views of Jane, Lady Rochford, who supposedly betrayed Anne Boleyn and her own husband, Anne’s brother. Ewuu. However I’m not sure she is as clean as Fox portrays her, and she was certainly very stupid when it came to her role as Katherine Howard’s court.

amazon links:

You might want to read the Weir in print however, as all the Appendix notes are annoying in e format, and I have not read many at all…

 

Writing Motherhood & PL updates

Posted in books, family, Project Life by

Based on (I think) an Ali Edwards recommendation I ordered Lisa Garrigues’ Writing Motherhood. It’s a workbook/course designed to get you to start writing again, even if it’s just a quick journal each day, despite all the other pressures that might be on you. Of course I ordered the print version and then saw on the jacket that it’s available as an ebook (oh whatever!) and it’s great. Full of starters that you could use to write or conversate with. Brilliant.

  Bran adapted it for Sunday night. It was his birthday and thankfully (as we lost power in the storms) he’d decided to eat out at Fortuna Sky City. We have a tradition when we eat out – everyone takes turns in my notebook to write down their current favourites – which might be anything from TV show to breakfast cereal to toy to car, depending on who helps generate the list. Bran decided that we would journal on our Project Life cards and also the topic, which clearly, was Bran. His categories?
  • Favourite memory of Bran (mine is, I am reliably told, when he was born)
  • Favourite Food to eat with Bran (he relaxed this somewhat and we were allowed to write down where we like to eat with Bran)
  • Favourite TV show to watch with Bran (clearly some forward planning going on here) and lastly,
  • Favourite Place to go with Bran

He was exactly right to choose to put these into our family PL album. I am finding more and more that we are looking back on these and it’s a fantastic way to keep everything together. I know that the kids won’t have their own albums, but when I die, they can copy these as needed. They’ll have school reports, projects, awards, writing notes, tickets, postcards, letters – it’s all in the one place and the pressure is off. I know that they will have the memories when I am gone. That’s amazing peace of mind, considering how little I have. Altho Dad told me a tale on Christmas Day that I had to record – can’t believe I did that! Well, in retrospect, maybe I can…

Promise – layouts will be up once I have the bucks to buy a printer cartridge. Those suckers are expensive.

And recieved an update from Jill. Back on the boat, making me jealous! And still dedicated to the Pirate Gag. Apparently the sword is an antique Iban head hunting sword (which runs me off into GoogleWorld). Awesome. I’d have that white one behind her (no, the BIG one). Bet I could get volunteers to crew it without too much hassle!

 

The boys

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Bran & Zac started a blog today (it’s linked to my profile) as they have started the Waitakere Library’s summer reading programme. I have high hopes that comprehension will improve – to their dismay I am asking them to tell me, with the book shut, something they have learnt from their reading today.
There was a small outcry. LOL.

Kathy Lette

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Random House brought Kathy into the office today and she was FANTASTIC – funny, kind, funny – one could forgive her for being an aussie. She’s on Campbell Live tomorrow night (she was going straight there to shoot the interview with John Campbell, which makes a bit of a mess of the name!) and then on Breakfast and Good Morning on Wednesday.
Try to catch her! I guarantee you’ll laugh. The new title is “To Love, Honour & Betray” – the last one was “How to Kill Your Husband, and Other Household Tips”. Of course you can get them at Whitcoulls!