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

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!

CampNaNoWriMo: Lets do this!

Tags

Blogging, CampNanowrimo, Distraction, Handwriting, Motivation, Writing

It’s that time again, yes CampNaNoWriMo is here again, and this time I’m determined not to fall behind even on those days where I really don’t feel like writing. I just need that little kick to keep me going.

*sets daily alarm to add a nudge

This also means if you see me hanging about on Twitter for a lengthy period of time then feel free to give me a poke and tell me to stop procrastinating as I will just be there avoiding the writing.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing because I do, I just lack discipline to do it daily and tend to drift to it only at times that I feel the need to. I (like everyone else) get a little preoccupied with all the other things going on and Twitter is really a rabbit hole for me, I think it’s actually even worse than WoW. At least with WoW I have to be at my PC but Twitter can even catch me which on my notebook or phone.

I have tried handwriting and keeping away from the electronics but let’s be honest once you get out the habit of handwriting it becomes almost alien to do so and it’s slower. In my case it is often illegible afterwards too or gets lost, so a word document is definitely the best way to go for me.

So that’s my warm up exercise complete, let’s get stuck into the storytelling and see where it takes me.

Reading news is bad for your health!

Tags

Angry, Blogging, DUPcoalition, Firefighters, Government, NHS, Police, Public sector, Theresa May, Tories

There is a very good reason that I try and stay away from the news and often shy away from talking about politics: this is mostly because it just makes me very, very angry.

Sometimes I have to just try and turn away from the world because it doesn’t really make any sense and I feel like such an insignificant part of it that I know that it doesn’t matter what I feel. So if I get angry about the general state of affairs, and all the horrific ways humans treat one another then I only really hurt myself in the process.

We can all rally against our annoyances or take up our picket boards to the streets but all that really seems to do is give the overworked, underpaid police force even more hassle to contend with.

So what has got me rattled enough this morning to vent about?

Result from the Commons

Nose, and eyes to the what now??

This outdated, antiquated, ridiculous way of governing a country: making all politicians appear to be a childish rabble, with their squabbles and taunts. There are children that behave better and have calmer debates. Perhaps we should introduce a ‘talking object’ into the house of commons so that they can finally converse like socially functioning adults!

The basic line being that Tories and DUP voted not to give our public sector a pay rise: after all of their heroism and hard work in the recent events. After firemen putting their lives at risk because some idiots wanted to save some money to make a building more aesthetic for richer neighbours. After hundreds of casualties and deaths in the UK; after the bravery of the police in the face of terrorism. After the horrendous fallout from all of these events that staff from our NHS dealt with: even though their budgets and workforce are stretched to the limits.

Even after having to waste police time to use as protection for visits into public areas so a prime minister wasn’t set upon by understandably angry mobs; after the public commendations and acknowledgement of all this hard work.

Even after all of this – our government do not believe that any of these people deserve a small scrap of a pay rise.

And worse than this they cheer about it!

Sunshine Award – Q&A

Tags

Blogging, Inspiration, Interaction, prompt, questions, Sunshine Award, Writing

A special thank you to MJ Cobra for tagging me in for this little Q&A and making sure that I have been writing rather than staring at a blank screen. Check out her great blog  HERE

Hope you enjoy the answers:

1. What’s number 1 on your bucket list?
Erm maybe to start a bucket list? I actually don’t have one, I prefer to just take the opportunities as they come rather than sigh at a list every time another year goes by without the accomplishment.

2. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
Watching really cheesy films (especially Christmas ones), I don’t just mean bad chick flicks, I mean full on Hallmark type romance ones. Sometimes it’s just nice to get that heartwarming ending that is expected of that type of film.

3. How do you envision your handwriting if it were a person? Would you be friends?
My handwriting is a little bit unstable and tends to change depending on circumstances and moods. As a person I imagine it would be pretty much the same a little whirlwind of emotional baggage that changes every hour of every day…wait did I just describe myself? I think we could be friends, well some days.

4. If you could bring someone back from the dead, who would you choose?
Eww this just sounds gross, I’ve seen some of those zombie movies and they ain’t pretty. Although if we are talking in a nice clean skelatal form like Scraps from Corpse Bride then I will opt for my cat so he can once again stroll around thinking he is a dog.

5. What is your kryptonite?
Cute helpless animals – No matter how angry I am a cute baby otter can sway my attention – Anyone seen finding Dory?

6. If you owned a restaurant, what would be the best selling dish?
Surprise stew! Sometimes it works out spicy, sometimes bbq style and sometimes just plain with dumplings. I don’t really start out with a plan but it always seems to work out in the end.

7. What is your favourite part about blogging?
The random interactions. In the real world we are all so stuck in our own little bubbles, and penned in by our status in life that we often don’t interact with people that we would always choose but by those people our surroundings choose for us. Through blogging you are able to find interesting people that might not be within your usual sphere.

8. Do you have a crush on any fictional characters?
*thinks*
I’m guessing the obvious one would be Mr Darcy but if I’m being honest I’ve always had more of a thing for Brontë’s Heathcliff anyway. But if I’m steering away from the classic then I think I would opt for the odd choice of Geralt of Rivia – yes this is me crushing on the Witcher. He has just about the right amount of passion, fight and oddness to make it work for him, and if you haven’t read the books then these come recommended. He has, shall we say complex relationships yet there are definitely some heart racing moments in there.

9. What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received or heard?
I can’t remember the exact words but it was a pep talk email from NaNoWriMo and it said something like –

Even if you think it’s crap then just keep writing, even perfect roses need fertilser

10.Which of your blog posts is your favourite?
I think perhaps this one – Creativity meets Warcraft
A combination between two great loves and something I wrote after discovering a really friendly twitter community among Warcraft players.

The rules for this award are as follows:

Rules

• Show the award on your blog.
• Thank the person who nominated you.
• Answer the given questions.
• Nominate a blog(s) and give them questions to answer.
• Link your nominee(s) and let them know of your nomination.

 

However being a rule breaker and not wanting to try and being unsure of who would appreciate a nomination and who would not need the extra writing then I am not going to choose but I encourage anyone to take up the mantle and if you are so inclined then here are my questions.

1. If you could be a comic book hero/villain then who would it be and why?
2. What was the last film you saw in the cinema and did you enjoy it?
3. If you could only eat only thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
4. Do you enjoy reading and if so which genre do you enjoy most?
5. Would you rather be in a life like an old Western film or a Sci-fi one?
6. If your characteristics were an animal what would it be?
7. When you were a child what did you wish you could be/do?
8. Given the choice would you want to be cryogenically frozen?
9. What landmark have you always wanted to see?
10. Is there any advice you would give to your younger self if it were possible?

If anyone does use these questions for a blog post then please drop a note in the comments and I would love to pay a visit and read them.

Also

Have fun 🙂

 

 

The Invitation

Tags

Blogging, Inspiration, invitation, prompt, words, writers block, Writing

It lay, glaring at me.

Bold as brass but far more flashy. It wasn’t meant to cause offence of course, just inspiration: an invitation from a friendly source with the aim to inspire.

Yet it lay on my screen, blinking out it’s gesture in defiance of my inability to react. It sat, expectantly in my list, silently demanding a reply with its innocent face. For a time I stared back, waiting to see if I could scare it into submission, assert my own blank dominance and allow it a healthy retreat.

But the invitation stood its ground, raising my heckles and taunting me with its propitious  prompt. It mocked me for idleness, chided the brain numbing sloth I had succumbed to, and spurred me into action.

The singular word became clear.

It was an invitation to write.

 

via Daily Prompt: Invitation

 

2017: The catch up year

Tags

Blogging, books, Challenge, goodread, Inspiration, january, Reading

 

After finally feeling the urge to actually get moving and do something, I realised that what I need are a few nudges here and there to start the momentum and if left to my own devices I can happily just eat cheese and binge watch Netflix. So in order for this not to happen  (erm continue happening) I felt it was about time to find myself some new challenges or goals .. easy ones to begin of course.

One of the oddest things about last year is that I didn’t really seem to find the want to read, which is a strange place for me since I love reading and always have done, even as a child I would rather sit and read a book than play kerby (yes that exciting game of hitting a ball off a kerb and waiting for cars to pass) or tag with the other kids. Yet for some reason 2016 just was not a reading year..at all. In fact I can’t think of one single book I read over those 365 days which is not only sad it seems alien to me. Now I think it is time to put something in writing so this doesn’t happen to me again. How can anyone expect to write if they don’t also read? .. ridiculous!

So today I took a look around at some blog challenges and decided to register with Goodreads in order to nudge me to get at least 12 books read this year, also I found The Herd Presents blogspot that encouraged me to actually read outside my usual material. So this year I shall be trying a different genre or three.

 

Now I just have to find something to read … runs off to window shop

P.S Any recommendations are welcomed.

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 😉

Ridiculous Red

Tags

Art, Blogging, Canalboat, coloryourworld, Nostalgia, Photo, Rosie & Jim

Gone are the days of painting the town red

Now I’m just blogging red photos instead

 

#coloryourworld – Red

Was nice to see a blast from the past though:

Gah now I will have this stuck in my head!