All the Small Things

Tags

Blogging, change, Happiness, january, life, Resolution, Wellness

So JaNEWary has been and gone and we were already a fair amount through February before I blinked! Or at least it feels this way. So what did you get up to? Did you try anything NEW or stick to a resolution? I do hope all is going well over at Excessive & Composed with the 2019 walking challenge.

For myself there wasn’t anything too life altering going on yet I’m feeling in a positive place right now. I mean it might well be sleep deprivation instead of a healthy glow this morning but meh whatever works. 😀

So what did I do new?

Tasted (and cooked) Meatloaf for the first time- Nope I had never had this before and please tell me if this sounds wrong, but it kinda reminded me of a looser consistency burger. Like the beef and onion flavour was there but the meat wasn’t as compressed so it was somewhere between burger and mince (or if you are in the UK then kinda like a slice of a faggot)… does this sound right? It doesn’t sound right to me now I say it like this haha. But it was tasty! Tasty and cheap: two very important factors for food in January. If you did want to try it out for yourself then here is the recipe I used from cafedelites.com.

Meatloaf recipe

Watched a Jackie Chan film. Ok so I have seen his films before but I wasn’t a fan (tries to ignore the gasps). It was either something to do with me not liking slapstick comedy or the fact that I dated someone who basically had his films on a heavy rotation: either way, I was not a Chan fan. Though I guess this was not the typical Jackie Chan movie either – The Foreigner was a serious Chan figure, no slapstick but still all the beautifully choreographed action (hey, just because I said I didn’t like it, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the skill). I’m not going to give you any spoilers except the trailer incase you haven’t watched it  and want to. Yet you can probably tell from this that it seems like Liam Neeson was there in spirit.  Overall I enjoyed the film and wished Chan had been in it more as I preferred him to Brosnan (whose accent I just can’t get my head around)…maybe I shall go back and rewatch an old film of his with a new perspective now.

Took some walks outside (ones that were not needed) – you might not think this is new but oh yes it is for some. If I don’t have to go out then chances are I usually avoid it. Not only is the world out there cold, wet and full of smelly people (well on public transport) but it’s also very expensive! I’ve never been someone who can go outside without having some emergency cash or just stopping by a shop to pick something up I didn’t know I needed. So yes, it was safer for my wallet to stay inside. Yet I have been trying to get out there and take a breath of fresh air and not spend any money. It’s been hard, and I’ve failed but I’m getting better. Now if anyone can recommend a good leak proof water bottle that won’t cost the earth and I can refill, this would be great.

Actually used my fancy stationary! – This is probably the strangest one, but I love fancy stationary and nicely designed note books but then I never feel like I can use them. It’s as if using them is going to be wasteful and I somehow need to keep them for times I will write neater or have a tidier desk to house them. But the problem with saving things for best is that ‘best’ never comes around so you are just left with a stock of unused things that might have made life a little happier but you felt were too precious to use. Just like lots of WoW items that never reached their full potential (yes my pally kept her holy mightstone) so too am I starting to get a stack of beautiful notebooks or amusing post it’s that I was just too afraid to use. Well no more …. Things are getting scribbled on!

Actually enter competitions – In game I have bad loot luck, just ask my guildies they will tell you its true… just look at my 330 off hand if you don’t believe me. Yet I never really questioned that this bad luck wasn’t just brought across into the real world. I never really believe things that seem too good to be true and consequently I never really enter competitions because I just assume I won’t win anyhow so it’s a waste of time. Yet something magical happened during JaNEWary and a post that I had retweeted (just for the sake of helping to share if I’m honest) turned out to be a winning competition entry. So now thanks to the awesome @MischiArt I’m going to be the proud owner of some new artwork which I’m delighted with. MischiArt is also open for commissions at the moment so go check out her fantastic artwork, you won’t be disappointed.

MischiArt

So there you go peeps … you have to be in it to win it… obviously. All it took was some tiny changes from me but they have created a lovely butterfly effect for the year and its feeling like it’s only going to get better. 😀

P.S If you do play Vanilla WoW as a paladin for the love of Holy Light just use that mightstone when you get it 😀

Don’t end up like this

JaNEWary is here!

Tags

2019, Inspiration, JaNEWary, january, life, New year new me, New Years, Resolution

So I have never really been one of those people that begins the New Year spouting about how it’s going to be a ‘new year new me’. Mostly because I know I am terrible at keeping resolutions anyhow, so why would I purposely be putting myself under extra stress trying not to fail at some ridiculous notion of exercising and dieting….it’s just not gonna happen.

But perhaps this year I can at least attempt something, something tiny, something minuscule but ultimately something New for me. So instead of proclaiming a ‘new me’ for 2019 I am going to be renaming and celebrating JaNEWary!

So what is all this nonsense you ask? Why are you just spelling January incorrectly?

Well instead of committing to a whole year of being able to pull off some kind of resolution then instead I am taking the laz…easier route of using January as a month to try out something new. It might be something small, like a new book genre or film that I wouldn’t usually watch. Perhaps I could try cooking something new or tasting a new food. Anything new will count; perhaps I might even find a new hobby.

Whatever it is I’m going to be doing it in the next few weeks and that will make up my JaNEWary. I’m not even going to forecast how many new things to find to do, I will just pin them up on Twitter when I find them. Hopefully just the notion of finding new things will invigorate me to do more than I have so far this year.

If you have any ideas for me then let me know, or maybe you want to join in? If so please let me know how you will be celebrating your JaNEWary, perhaps we can all find a little bit of inspiration from each other.

Best Wishes for 2019 everyone 🙂

Let #JaNEWary commence!

The Blog Post With No Name

Tags

Blogging, Christmas, Creativity, Felting, life, Recommendations

Ok, I’m doing this ..

*taps at keys a little while before holding down the delete button and sighing

No .. nope..hmm

So I would like to make a blog post, or at least feel like I should especially after all the lovely shout outs I’ve been getting on twitter from @nic_calavera but I feel like at a bit of a loss for it because I haven’t really done anything interesting of late so I haven’t really got a legitimate blog subject.

I guess I could share some felt creations however apart from my weird little meat fairy which I shared on Twitter then the other need to be kept under wraps because they will be gifts.

I thought that the pinkish felt was quite pretty until someone pointed out that it looked skinless..

The only other thing I’ve done is watch Netflix really so I can at least recommend that you go and watch The Christmas Chronicles if you are looking for a new Christmas film that ticks all the boxes. Kurt Russell as Santa Claus is an amazing concept and the film is splattered with amusing pop culture references and has just enough cheese to be good but not so much that it’s bad. So put that one on your Christmas watch list!

So that’s it, my tiny dull update however this does mean I can add some appreciation here to Kingdom of Monsters and also send you off to check out his first podcast and give some support 🙂

 

Take care and be kind peeps!

The Little Things

Tags

breakfast, change, healthy, Inspiration, life, lifestyle, mindfulness, TuesdayThoughts, wellbeing

For two days now, I’ve woke naturally at 7:30am and then had porridge and orange juice for breakfast – this is the longest voluntary routine I’ve had in years.

But this is not an achievement I hear you say, this is normal life; I hear your pleas but I’m going to congratulate myself on it anyway. For me, this is a step in the right direction, especially if you compare this with the usual, no breakfast or <insert random item here>. As much as it sounds good, chocolate fudge or leftover pizza are probably not the best breakfast foods, and today I discovered that apple and blueberry porridge is actually quite nice.

 

So where am I going with all these revelations?

Well I’m not entirely sure, but I’m hopeful, and open to change, and I wanted to just declare that fact.

…

Well, at least before my flippant brain goes back into hibernation *winks*

Missing in action: February

Tags

Future, Hope, March, Organizing, otter, Spring

Where the hell did February go?

Apparently I blinked and missed and missed a month, or at least this is what it feels like. There were definitely some good intentions there, and perhaps a little early Spring cleaning, yet overall, I can’t say that I really remember much of February at all.

Well all I can do now is roll up my sleeves and get stuck into March before that gets away from me too. Now where did I put those cute looking ‘To do’ pads from Ooh Deer.

But yay for goodies from @ohh_deer now I can stop procrastinating and get on with it in style 🙂 pic.twitter.com/NHjI2JV5VH

— Gwendlyn Drayton (@GwendlynD) January 10, 2017

 

One thing can be encouraged is the return of the light mornings and everything around us growing. I hate the whole changing of the clocks though: all this really does is make me grouchier. But I do so enjoy the month of March, everything is just that little bit more open to hope and change for the better. If nothing else then it’s just a great excuse to aww at all the cute baby animals that are born.

 

 

Choosing your path

Tags

Blogging, choice, Decision, goal, life, passion, path

Ever have that feeling of being too thinly stretched in life and wanting to push forward but not being sure of the direction you want to go?

Well I get this all the time.

I have always been slightly envious of those people who have seemingly got it all together, who know what they want out of life and just go for it. People that have a clear passion for something or a true calling if you will and they just work hard in that area to become the best they can be at it. How do they do that?

No matter how much I would like to I simply cannot sit still with one area of life for long so instead I find my interests flitting from one thing to another and then back again as whim demands. In fact I think my longest standing relationship with an interest must actually be with World of Warcraft and even now I am finding less time to enjoy this and more time wanting to focus on more productive outlets.

It’s not that I am actually as flippant as it appears, I do love and have a passion for all the things I do (well except the obligatory things) but I cannot just keep to one particular thing, I feel my crafting highlights this best of all. Yet I am starting to wish that I could at least settle in one area for a while and explore how far one can go or at least get organised enough that I do something instead of waste time wondering what I actually want to do.

3am and still awake

Tags

awake, Blogging, Insomnia, life, Motivation, passion, thinking, work, Writing

I don’t know what it is about 3am but I always feel more alert, more alive somehow. Even though most of the day has been spent walking around feeling like a zombie with my brain only working on autopilot: there is something about this time of night (or morning) that kicks it into gear.

It might be the fact that my body finally feels balanced with all its levels or perhaps the caffeine taken earlier to prop me up for the day finally comes into to its own. It could be the fact that 3am allows me to actually just enjoy silence and finally I feel relaxed enough to enjoy it. I’m not sure what it is about 3am – I only know that it works for me.

Ideas race around my brain and I begin to think about all the possibilities (and sometimes the impossibilities) that life could hold and feel more inclined to want to reach out and grab them. Maybe it’s just my brain working overtime but in the dead of night is when things actually feel possible.

I start to plot together ridiculous ideas of future plans and how I can leave the rat race and focus on something more fun, something I can throw some passion into – This is about the time I start to believe that sitting in a box, staring at a screen whilst making money for somebody else is a terrible idea and maybe I could just use some creativity and keep myself afloat without the daily grind, or at least make the daily grind something I can feel happier doing.

Then I get to thinking about all the things that I want to do and all the things I should do, then all the things I need to do…and alas I’m back at square one knowing that I have to at least try and sleep so that tomorrow isn’t even more terrible.

I guess tomorrow I can at least say I updated a neglected blog (even if it is only inane wittering) so that’s one thing more than I did yesterday…slow progress is still progress I guess 😉

Social Media: Friend or Foe?

Tags

Appreciation, Blogging, Business, Community, Reading, Review, Social Media, Time, Twitter, Writing

After a strange kind of a day it’s only fitting that I rattle off a strange kind of post, and today I have been thinking a lot about social media and our (or rather my) use of it. It strikes me that a lot of my time is taken up with (or willingly given to) social media these days, even when I’m not being particularly sociable in my own world. In fact I think I would go so far as to say that when I feel at my most unsociable point in real life, this is when I enjoy trawling through social media such as Twitter or Facebook the most. It makes me  wonder if I’m alone in this or whether this is just the usual thing.

Are we all using social media to subconsciously interact with people whilst maintaining the stance that we are indulging in our ‘own quality time’ , or are we just looking habitually and secretly resenting the loss of time?

This thinking started after a conversation about the validity of a full time job,  purely in social media and if a business should recognise this role as a valid position within a company. Personally I think it’s becoming more important than ever for a company to have a virtual ‘face’, to get ahead they need to at least have a foot on a rung of the social media ladder just to be part of the modern world. For instance, if checking out a new place to visit or to make a purchase, the first thing I do these days is input it into Google. I’m not saying I am always swayed by reviews, however if the company doesn’t have an easily accessible website or information I can readily find online then I am less likely to want to trust them. I also know of people that put all their faith in review sites and only eat or shop at places that have what seems to be proven worth. But from what I can gather as a consumer we tend to read reviews more than we write them, and even then tend only to write them due to wanting to complain about something. I guess I should admit to falling prey to this way of thinking sometimes too.

The main reason I started to use Twitter was to complain, as it was the only platform which companies seemed to be listening to at the time. Since then I have received better results from customer services from making one angry tweet than I can get via a phone call, email or an online help desk: so it’s no wonder that we keep complaining in this manner. We also get to read all of the negative stories in the press about internet trolls and how they affect other’s lives, mostly read by people who don’t use the internet and therefore don’t get to see the other side of the coin.

Whilst I have been on Twitter I have at least attempted to put back in some balance to the negativity. Lately I’m making a conscious effort to review items I have purchased, or places I have visited. I know that there are many good bloggers, companies, places, charities and people in general contributing to social media that I interact with on a daily basis that seldom get the praise and appreciation they deserve.

So maybe it’s about time that the positive side of the coin gets shared.

Here are just a few posts/links I have read today that I have appreciated, so maybe you will too.

Inspirational places to visit

Inspirational people

MMO Games: Still in World of Warcraft

Damyanti Writes: Insecure writing

Brain pickings: How stress effects emotions

OlivejuiceJu : Growing up

Easter Crafts

Nerds & Geeks: How about we ditch the labels?

Felt me up designs

Epic Rap Battles: Stephen King vs Edgar Allan Poe.

Facebook: Little Silver Hedgehog – Animal hospital & silver jewellery

NB They are in no particular order and are quite varied in subject matter but I hope you enjoy anyway.

Which writing path to take?

Tags

CampNanowrimo, Decision, femalefiction, fiction, Ghost, humour, Romantic, Scifi, Stories

The cabins are setting up once again for the camp & I have been lucky enough to settle back in with some of the people from last year’s camp, but now I am still in a ponder which writing route to take.
I know I had wanted to say my April story to carry on with in November however now I can’t seem to settle on one thing to choose for my story/genre
After the indecision about is it female fiction, is it adult fiction post I am still no where further really except that I do have some words down and ideas to spring from..
And though I am usually a bit cagey about sharing my stuff I thought I would at least put out a few snippets to see if anyone could help sway me in a direction.

Some CampNaNoWriMo choices

1- The geeky futuristic one

The ground shook all around them as they hid in the confines of the projectile room. The world had slowly been changing around them for centuries and now there were only ten left from the Viverios community. For the last year they had been surviving, but only just.
It had been 4 days since the last big attack and they were still reeling from the impact. Julian had come off the worst after receiving a bite during the ambush and now he lay in a fitful sleep, sweating profusely and shivering under the flimsy covering. Lisandra kneeled beside him and tried to provide comfort but the sight of the blood, thick and sticking to his face was making her uneasy.
“Do you think he will make it?”
Her voice wavered at the question, knowing that they had already lost five people to similar wounds in the last month. Every time they had found a new place to hide and felt a new kind of safety, the Warth hunters would somehow find them and thin their numbers. Lisandra was tired of running, they all were, she looked around the room with its windows barricaded and the floor around Julian covered in rags thick with blood and sweat.

2- The historical one

Anne stood transfixed as the men clenched their muskets tightly, preparing for war. The smallest man closest to the window started to light a match cord and drew a paper cartridge from the bag at his waist. She watched as he used his teeth to tear the paper and spat the tip out onto the floor. He opened a latch on the top of his musket and poured in the gunpowder, then tipped the musket and poured the rest down the barrel, taking care to keep the lit cord tucked away. He then dropped a musket ball into the hole and followed it with the screwed up cartridge paper. Anne watched in surprise as the musketeer pulled a long stick from the side of his weapon and proceeded to poke it down the barrel.
‘Hey, Charlie careful you don’t forget to take it out’, one of the men shouted, ‘don’t want you firing sticks at these mongrels, again’
The others roared with laughter as the young man blushed; Anne felt a smile spread across her lips. It was soon replaced with a gasp as she heard the muffled thud of a cannon being fired against the wall of the building. A small hand tugged at her sleeve, looking down she recognised the young face as one of her grandfather’s stable lads. She nodded at him as he gestured to the wide open door.

3- The er fiction (a tame snippet)

She sat cross legged, head tilted against the cold soft leather, her mind trying to decipher his thoughts. It had not been noted before how intensely he looked whilst talking about something he felt passionate over. His eyes, a pool of darkness that she would eagerly bathe in, his mouth an inviting landing which teased her with each movement. As she watched him deep in conversation she felt a pleasant feeling inside that made her outwardly shudder.

“Are you alright?” he asked with concern in his voice.

Anne-Marie bit her lip softly and replied with an embarrassed mumble “just something that tickled my neck” She gestured at the ribbons hanging on the saddle she had been leaning on.

“Oh” He nodded acceptingly and carried on talking oblivious to her subtle smirking.

4 -The Ghostly one

A sea of top hats and long jackets

Eyes like that can haunt a man…

Every night after closing I would see her alone on that stage. At first she would just walk to and fro in her delicate way, her long chiffon dress rustling in the gloom. Back and forward. I would watch her, sometimes she would pick up speed as if about to jump, and then she would hesitate, and stop frozen in her tracks. A pretty little thing she was; her hair was not honey or chestnut like the other girls but a mixture of the two and it fell in ringlets right down her back. And her eyes would call you in soon as look at her, huge round green eyes. They glistened like emeralds but were soft and pale, she was different in every way. Mouse, the other girls called her. And so she was as quiet as one too, never heard her speak in the spotlight. In fact, only time I ever heard a peep out of her was when she was all alone up there. Then you could hear her if you listened real hard, and if you did you would hear the slightest of humming that would dance upon your ears and echo inside your heart. Her tiny voice would have caused a stirring amongst a better audience. Not that these variety types would take any notice if she wasn’t juggling balls or rolling on skates.

5- The light hearted one

His chest glistened with a sticky golden hue as she lapped at the sweet scented nectar. Just a small drizzle, it would be fun like in the movies she had thought. Yet here she was with her hair matted and feeling as though she had been dragged backwards through a treacle tart. To top it off she now had to listen to the grumblings of Gerald, who was full of the satisfactory glow of ‘I told you so’.

‘we are too old for this nonsense, I told you’

Francesca rolled her eyes at him. It had taken such an effort to talk him into trying something new in an effort to revive their twenty year old marriage, but now she was left wondering why she bothered trying.

“yes ok, you win” Francesca snapped as she handed him a baby wipe.

She knew that her experiment was doomed for failure as soon as he had mentioned the use of plastic sheets. Really, how sexy were plastic sheets ever going to be!

Soo those are some of the projects I could carry on with…anyone have any thoughts or favourites that might sway me to finish them?

‘Female’ fiction or ‘Adult’ fiction, where to go from here?

Tags

CampNanowrimo, Community, Decision, erotica, femalefiction, fiction, Random musings, Support, Writing

So I noticed today that there are only ten days to go before the next CampNaNoWriMo begins to get underway and I am already in turmoil about which piece of writing to carry on with. All I know for sure is that I am looking forward to getting stuck back into the everyday writing and I hope that previous cabin mates will be rejoining for the July camp as they were so encouraging and supportive

*crosses fingers*

I know that I want to save my last storyline and perhaps get stuck into that for November (yes I am now a full convert to Nanowrites) and use this one for something different.

Lately I have been catching up with some poetry writing that tends to usually come in drabs and spurts yet lately I have been feeling somewhat inspired, obviously some weird conversations have aided me in this 🙂

I also had some wonderful and fun prompts given to me by friends both knowingly and unbeknown so that has been fun and some even taking me out of my usual style of writing. A few bits even leading into what could only be described as risqué, which is fun to write however it can be a little blush worthy to share.

So the question is do I just throw myself over the hurdle or reign things in and call it ‘female fiction’ which just sounds so lame.