A Time of Change and Learning

Last night my mother asked me whether I intended to continue with my blog? My one word answer was “Yes”.
I confess, I have left you all sadly neglected of late whilst I have allowed myself to wallow in self pity and other other such feelings that we as human beings tend to indulge in from time to time.
This year however, is a time of change, learning and growth for me and I confess to missing the interaction that I have with you all as I go through these changes. So here’s to a new change on that front.

I’m sure that to many of you it seems as if my life is always about learning and growth. You only have to read back through many of my past blog posts to see that.
I liken myself to a pot plant. I grow and thrive when the conditions are perfect (good food, great atmosphere etc) but die back when neglected or something becomes lacking in my daily care. Only to come back better and stronger when looked after once again. And since it is me that looks after myself, then I get what I put out ha ha.
A better comparison may have been a phoenix rising from the ashes but I think that a pot plant suits me better. 😀

Of Rainbows, Unicorns and Happily Ever After

Don’t you just wish that my title summed up life?
I know I do and more often than I care to admit.
Yet if there is one thing that I have learned over the past months and weeks is that any ‘happily ever after’ is entirely up to me!
That’s right.
Me!!!!!
Kinda puts a lot of responsibility on a gal you know?
Having the sole responsibility for my own happiness is a big deal.

Happy Easter

This morning is Good Friday. Happy Easter to you all.

As I sit at my computer and listen to the sounds of the world waking up outside, I heard the noises of the grandchildren waking up inside.
I went to check on them and this is what I found.

One is still sound asleep but the other two are quietly reading.
I love moments like these.

Happiness Tip #1

Tell others you love them

On a Sunday afternoon in July 2009 I was pottering around my home when the telephone rang. Picking it up, I heard “Hi Sis”.
It was the voice of Peter, my baby brother calling from his hospital bed.
Although Peter had been ‘through the mill’ health-wise over the years, battling leukaemia and GVH (graft versus host disease) after a life saving bone marrow transplant, he had been admitted to hospital a couple of days earlier as a precautionary measure following a routine visit to his oncologist. In the days prior, Peter had been knocked low with the ‘flu and his blood work didn’t look too good so he was now found himself occupying a hospital bed.

Hello…….

…. is it me you’re looking for?
(Thanks Lionel Richie for the blog title today).
It feels as if I have been away for eons but it has only been a week or so since my last post.
As I write this, I have a day off work and I am meant to be working on my research project however I have been checking out some blogs, responding to emails and listening to a CD that I picked up from a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. When I say CD, it is actually a 4-CD set called “These Were Our Songs – A Festival of Folk” and I paid $2 for it. Not bad value as I am spending so much time reminiscing. Of course it isn’t helping my studies too much as the reminiscing keeps pulling my thoughts away from my research topic.

Create Something Remarkable

No matter our age, our circumstances, our abilities, each of us can create something remarkable with our lives.

– Joseph B. Wirthlin

Happiness is…..

Joey at Joeyfullystated did a post last week (after she was tagged to do so) about happiness. I loved Joey’s approach to this in breaking it into sections. I also loved the things that make her happy. She sounds like a pretty alright-kind-of lady to me. 🙂
Joey broke her happiness post down into things that bring/brought her joy, bliss, happiness and contentment. I think that this was an awesome idea and so I’m going to follow suit.

Walking on Trampolines

Back in 2013 I posted a review on a book that I had read entitled “Walking on Trampolines”. At the time, I didn’t realise that it had only been published within Australia so if any of my followers who might have been interested in reading it were overseas, they wouldn’t have been able to find it.
Now it appears, that it has hit the shelves in the U.S. and Canada and Frances Whiting (the author) is a little beside herself with excitement. Remember my rant about a particular author? Well it wasn’t Frances (who I also follow on Facebook). Frances is witty, funny and real. I have read all of her books and I laugh quite often at her weekly newspaper column filled as it is with the witty observations of a wife, mother and dog owner living life in this mad world of ours.