Monday 26 January 2015

January Week 4!

Start a trend

I don't even follow them so starting one was a little beyond me this week I'm afraid!

Celebrate the banana

I don't really like bananas to be honest but I felt I had to make at least some effort so I thought I'd celebrate them by using them to amaze and astound people rather than actually having to eat one - mind you, having said that...just wait til next week's experimental cooking day!

Anyway, I digress.

I saw the below trick on the Davehax Youtube channel (I'm definitely going to try the balloon trick at some point too!) and I thought Mine Truly would be suitably impressed so I practised on a couple of bananas until I had the technique right and then prepared one ready for his return from work.

What I didn't account for was;

a) he doesn't like bananas either
b) people who don't like bananas don't understand why you're trying to force them to peel one
c) out of the 3 bananas I had somehow managed to choose the one that just would not peel for my actual 'live' attempt

Gratifyingly Mine Truly was indeed suitably impressed once he'd managed to peel the blummin thing and insisted on being told how I'd achieved this feat of wonder - strangely he wasn't convinced that it was purely the power of my mind.

            

Monday 19 January 2015

January Week 3!

Send a letter - I sent a couple of birthday cards, does that count?

Well, just in case it doesn't here are a few of the best (in my opinion) movies about letters!

(this isn't released yet but I think it might be good)







And this one - which made me bawl my eyes out!



Look on the Brightside - if I'd made a real and proper new year resolution this would probably have been it! I'm trying (very hard at times) to not get as stressed and wound up (and miserable) about things which I have very little control over. I'm doing my bit and then walking away and letting things play out as they will, and instead of trying to deal with the, usually avoidable, fallout I'm instead directing it to the the people who are actually responsible for the situation :-)

It's amazing how much easier that makes it to look on the Brightside!

Monday 12 January 2015

January Week 2!

Break a Resolution in Spectacular Fashion

Yep, managed this one! It wasn't so much a resolution, it was more just a determination to eat better and get fitter. I thought I'd start with a 10 day kick-start detox by using up all the left over cambridge and lighter life packs in the cupboard - I got past teatime on Day 1 and realised that there was no way I could continue to survive on the increasingly vile tasting pasta 'meals' and promptly gave up!

Walk, swim or pogo stick to work

I always walk to work but this year have started to go the long way round so my 7 minute walk has become a 25 minute walk each way. This week I also thought I'd try being wind swept to work and back - craaazy weather!!

Try to do a press up and fail

Another easy one this week although I'm proud to say that I can now plank easily (words I thought I'd never say) and am practising my tricep dips (against the wall for now) so hopefully (with the aid of yoga - although not in time for the forthcoming 'Try a press up and succeed Day' I'm sure) I'll eventually be able to do a press up!

Monday 5 January 2015

January Week 1!

New Year's Eve!

It was another fabulous evening at Messrs Matthews and Clare's, I made a pavlova as usual (one of my most well risen I have to say) and headed off to The Palace to find a beautifully laid table ready for our lovely menu of delights!

Mine Truly was unexpectedly able to join us before midnight which was a lovely surprise and made for an especially happy new year for me!

 







 
 
As midnight approached I did the traditional reading of Robert Service's The Passing of the Year;
 
My glass is filled, my pipe is lit,
My den is all a cosy glow;
And snug before the fire I sit,
And wait to feel the old year go.
I dedicate to solemn thought
Amid my too-unthinking days,
This sober moment, sadly fraught
With much of blame, with little praise.

 
Old Year! upon the Stage of Time
You stand to bow your last adieu;
A moment, and the prompter's chime
Will ring the curtain down on you.
Your mien is sad, your step is slow;
You falter as a Sage in pain;
Yet turn, Old Year, before you go,
And face your audience again.

 
That sphinx-like face, remote, austere,
Let us all read, whate'er the cost:
O Maiden! why that bitter tear?
Is it for dear one you have lost?
Is it for fond illusion gone?
For trusted lover proved untrue?
O sweet girl-face, so sad, so wan
What hath the Old Year meant to you?

 

And you, O neighbour on my right
So sleek, so prosperously clad!
What see you in that aged wight
That makes your smile so gay and glad?
What opportunity unmissed?
What golden gain, what pride of place?
What splendid hope? O Optimist!
What read you in that withered face?

 
And You, deep shrinking in the gloom,
What find you in that filmy gaze?
What menace of a tragic doom?
What dark, condemning yesterdays?
What urge to crime, what evil done?
What cold, confronting shape of fear?
O haggard, haunted, hidden One
What see you in the dying year?

 
And so from face to face I flit,
The countless eyes that stare and stare;
Some are with approbation lit,
And some are shadowed with despair.
Some show a smile and some a frown;
Some joy and hope, some pain and woe:
Enough! Oh, ring the curtain down!
Old weary year! it's time to go.

 
My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New:
Old Year! a parting word that's true,
For we've been comrades, you and I --
I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now! Old Year, good-bye!

And of course it wouldn't be New Year if there wasn't at least a little bit of inappropriateness!


Give in to legwarmers

Nope, I chose to give in to armwarmers instead rebel that I am! Bernie got me these fabulous things for Christmas and they're perfect for either home or the office so I can carry on doing whatever I need to do (knitting, typing etc) and keep my hands and arms warm at the same time.







I also gave in to handwarmers in the form of these similarly fabulous things from Kevin and Ray for Christmas, these I like to 'pop' and slip into my coat pocket before I head off to walk into town :-)

Thursday 1 January 2015

January Mission!

This month my mission is to find a new way of looking, to;

Look up when others are looking down
Find the angle which helps me see that we are all one and all is well with the world
See opportunity where others see adversity, challenge where others see problems
A glass half full instead of empty

Look on the BRIGHTSIDE!