Beautiful...

Day 25: Something someone told you about yourself that you'll never forget (good or bad)

Just the other day, a complete stranger called me beautiful.

To be honest, before that, I don't remember being called beautiful EVER!

P.S. Happy New Year's Eve!

Worst Traits

Day 24: My top 3 worst traits

1: Unable to say NO when I have a right too
2: Unable to control my EMOTIONS when I'm angry, sad and even happy
3: My short fuse

Bugeting

Day 23: Things you've learned that school won't teach you

I've learnt, since working, on how to budget on a *cough* low salary *cough* in order to be able to:
a) Pay your parents board for living at home (since you can't afford to rent or get your own place)
b) Buy stuff you'll want/need,
c) Save for emergencies,
d) Save for travels, and
e) Still have an attempt of a social life.

In school you think you'll land up with a good job and will be able to do things. When you land up with a job that doesnt pay well...you work a way to budget on what you have.

Touche..

Day 22: Rant about something. Get up on your soapbox and tell us how you really feel. (a pet peeve, a current event, a controversial topic, something your husband or roommate or neighbor or boss does that really ticks you off)

Hmmmmm....where to start!?
I'm sick and tired of feeling like I'm being used both on a work level and a personal level.

I'm going to leave it at that...especially since I'm not sure who will read this blog...but I'm sure you could use your imagination!

Can't find the links...

Day 21: A list of links to your favorite posts in your archives

This is a tad hard to do right now...but I think my favorite posts have been the happy ones! :)

Yes...another short one...

I'm single... ...and hating it right now!

Day 20: Get real. Share something you're struggling with right now.

I'm single and hating it right now. Every December, when it's my birthday, Christmas and, coming up, New Years Eve, I say: Well, I hope this is the last year I'm single.
Every FREAKING year.

I don't think people notice or do it purposely, but I find most 'events' that take place over December is always couples couples couples...or maybe I just notice it because most of my friends are married or in a relationship. It sucks to be honest especially this time of year (for me at least). There are days and months where I'm cool with being single and sometime thankful I am...but December is one month that I'm not. And God knows that and He knows I'm angry about it. He gets a lot of vent from me every December.

So there...something I'm struggling with!

Blogs...

Day 19: Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them

Hmmmm....I don't have five...but there are two I do like:
Emma's blog: We've been friends for a few year and it's always nice to see what she's up to in Namibia
Sarah's blog: She posts cute photos of her son!

Yes...it's a little short but MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope you've had a blessed day!

A story....

Sorry...I forgot my password! *blush* But I'm back...

Day 18: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

I'm not sure how old I was, but I think 13, when I had the worse bicycle accident of my life.

I was in Port Elizabeth visiting my cousins as I did most summer holidays. My cousin and I decided to ride bike down the hill (they lived in a valley). It's always fun until someone get's hurt.
After some time, we decided to swap bikes...and I didn't know the brakes were opposite. So I went up the hill, got the clear from my cousin that no cars were coming and headed down. This bike went a bit faster than the one I had been on and I realised that I was going to hit a thorn tree, so I pulled the brakes...what I thought were the back breaks. The bike stopped dead. The handlebar digged into my abdomen and I went flying...over the thorn tree...and blacked out. I woke up with the dog licking my face and my cousin making his way down the hill slowly since I hadn't giving him the clear to come flying down.

It was a scary time, especially when I saw the blood coming through my shirt...but something we can laugh about now!

Photo

Day 17: A favorite photo of yourself and why

I like this photo simply because it's me with my first published book!

Something difficult...

Day 16: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

This one is a tough one but I think it's working with people that you've lost respect for. It makes it really hard to come into the office and talk with them. How am I working ot overcome it...I guess only time will tell.

*Blush*

Yes...I'm clearly bad at doing this!

Day 15: A Day in the life (include photos from throughout your typical day - this could be "a photo an hour" if you'd like)

 

Well...a day in my life kindof goes like this:

 

06:20 - Hit snooze on the alarm

06:30 - Drag myself out of bed

06:45 - Drag myself out of the shower and get dressed

06:50 - Grab breakfast

07:00 - Take asthma pump and brush teeth

07:10 - Pull out of driveway

07:13 - Pull into colleagues driveway

07:14 - Hit traffic

07:30 - Arrive at office

07:30-08:14 - Make coffee, check emails, social media

 

08:15 - Staff devotions

08:45 - 12:30 Work

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13:30 - 16:30 Work

16:30 - 17:10 Drive home in traffic and drop colleague off

17:12 - Put car away (depending on day)

17:15 - 18:00 Watch tv or write

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18:00 - 18:30 Eat supper and do dishes

18:30 - bed Watch tv or write or gym or squash or reflect on life or chat on whatsapp or talk on phone or hang out or listen to 'the parkrun show' .... 

 

*BIG SMILE*

So, ummm, sorry! I went to the doctor on Friday, felt sick most of the day and forgot to blog...for the whole weekend. Like I said, this 30 day blog challenge isn't working well for me this year.

ANYWAY,  Day 14: Ten things that make you really happy:
1.       Family
2.       Close friends
3.       Writing
4.       Photography
5.       Coffee
6.       Mind challenges
7.       Music
8.       Time alone
9.       Holidays
10.   Sport – playing or watching

:)

I’m sorry….

Day 13: Issue a public apology.

Dear Blog reader,

I am sorry for whatever made you want to read this blog. You will notice that, this blog in particular, will be a waste of your time. That’s correct, a waste of your time. I’m really sorry about that. I’m sorry that you are still reading this! Really, you can stop now. There isn’t going to be any hidden information or secret or a hint to what my novel is about! There is no point to this post. So please, just do yourself a favor and stop reading this. I may decide to just keep writing for the heck of writing. Although, is that a reason to write? Do I want to write for the heck of writing? I guess for a novel, yes….but not for a time wasting blog like this one. Are you seriously still reading this?? Stop! Really, just close your web page or move onto the previous blog that I posted and read that. No, I’m not going to tell you what it’s about, you need to go look for yourself. Was it interesting? I can’t remember…GO LOOK! What’s next? I don’t know! I haven’t got there yet! That’s tomorrow’s challenge so you’ll just have to check back tomorrow. Yes, I hope to write one tomorrow. No, I don’t think it will be a waste of time and no, I’m not totally sure about that either. That’s right! I did warn you this was a waste of ‘reading time’. Okay…you can go now. Yes, I promise, there is nothing more coming. Okay…yes? No, I’m not crazy. Goodbye!

I miss it A LOT…

Day 12: What do you miss?

It may seem odd, but I miss my ‘asthma free’ days! I love playing sport and exercising but I hate what asthma does to me when I have to use my pump and how low I feel after an attack.

 

Yip...short and sweet!

Selling myself....

Okay...so clearly this "30 day blog challenge" is taking WAY longer than 30 days for me! In all honesty, life got busy and then I went on holiday and then I forgot. BUT I'm back thanks to my friend, Hannah, who keeps bugging me about writing!

So onto day 11's challenge:

Day 11: Sell yourself in 10 words or less:

I am a creative, crazy, funny and caring person.

Eish!

Day 10: Most embarrassing moment:

WOW….ummm, I don't know. For now I'd have to say it was falling UP the stairs.

I was heading to a meeting upstairs where I tried to skip steps while advancing up the stairs at a fairly quick pace when I misjudged one step and my coffee went flying everywhere as I failed to regain my balance and landed, hard, on the stairs…unable to get up. Needless to say, I never made it to that meetings. Instead, I sat in my office with an ice pack that moved to various parts of my body. I don’t do that anymore….

Snap

Day 9: A moment in your day (this can be just a photo or both a photo and words)




Early morning doing parkrun at Modderfontein Nature Reserve!

NNNNnnnnoooooOOOOO!!!

Day 7: The thing(s) you're most afraid of:
·         Being murdered while being home alone and no one finds me for days,
·         Going blind or deaf, and
·         Being in an accident and the person/people in the car with me die and I don’t.
There are probably more that I can't think of right now....

What I do…

Day 6: If you couldn't answer with your job, how would you answer the question, 'what do you do'?

That is a good question. Right now this is hard for me to 'answer' because life/work is uncertain...and don't know what is happeining...soooo this is what I do as in today.

• I do reports.
• I do BOS.
• I do schedule change.
• I do photography.
• I do videography…granted it’s been a while.
• I provide comedy relief…normally at my own expense.

Otherwise, what I do do most days is...WRITE! It's my outlet from this world...

Random Ramblings:

Day 5: Publicly profess your love and devotion for one of your blogger friends. What makes them great? Why do you love them? If you don't have blogger friends, talk about a real-life friend or even a family member.

I don’t follow many blogs but I follow my friend, Emma’s, blog. She writes interesting blogs and now she posts a lot about her baby’s updates as it continues to grow inside her. Her blogs are always interesting, in one way or another, and she’s good at writing regularly. You should check her blog out:

http://emma-randomramblings.blogspot.com/

Messing with an Author….

Soooooooooo....

I've missed day four for more than a week due to being sick and then forgetting! So, here is 'day 4' however many days late:

 

Messing with an Author….

Today’s task is: Favorite quote and why you love it

I think, currently, my favorite quote is: 

                Don’t mess with an author.

                They may just put you in a book and kill your character off.

I'm not an official author (yet) but I love it simply because it does, surprisingly, make you feel better and it works for me….and you don’t need to worry about any jail time!!

                                                I’ve just scared you….haven’t I?!?!

Uncomfortable...

So I missed yesterday's blog due to being sick...so it's a day late:

Day 3: Things that make you uncomfortable

Interesting. These things make me uncomfortable:

·         Parktown Prawns!
·         Awkward silence
·         Confrontation
·         Tight clothes
·         Being in a large group of people

That's all I can think of at the moment.....

What am I good at…

Day 2’s task is: Educate us on something you know alot about or are good at. Well…I’m not too sure what to write on as I’m good at a few things:
·         Braai’ing
·         Writing
·         Photography
·         Eating
·         Sleeping
·         Talking
·         Listening
Soooo….I think I’ll tell you how to listen to music:

Step one: Pick an artist you like.

Step two: Place CD in CD player or switch on MP3 device…or whatever you decide to use.
Step three: Turn volume up to a decent level…don’t blame me if you put it on too loud and destroy your eardrums!!!
Step four: Make sure the speakers are on or put the headphones on your ears
Step five: Press play
Step six: Enjoy! Bob around in your chair, dance or clean house to it…whatever you decide to do!

Just Me...

So...after telling my friend, Hannah, we should do this 31 day blog challenge...I'm finally getting started while she is on day 17 or something. So here we go with Day 1

Today’s assignment is: The story of your life in 250 words or less…so here I go:

I’m the youngest born of four children, a laat lametjie. I was fortunate enough to be home with my mom in my younger years (no preschool for me); siblings looked after me in school holidays. I went to Aston Manor Primary School and Sir Pierre van Ryneveld High School. I lived for sport in my school days playing Softball and Cricket and participating in Athletics, both track and field. I went to college and continued playing cricket until I began working at TWR. I am still at TWR after 9 years. I now have 3 siblings-in-laws, 4 nephews and 3 nieces. I love writing novels in my spare time and hope to publish one soon. I enjoy being with my family and close friends. I enjoy playing squash, even if I get my butt whipped and doing 5k runs (or walks).

That’s it….short and sweet and way under 250 words!

Until tomorrow....

Running with a barcode in my pocket...

No...I'm not running away from authority after taking something with its barcode still hooked to it but I'm "running" a 5k race with my barcode to track my time.

It's been a frustrating hard year so far with many things weighing heavily on my heart and mind. Last year, when I was having my neck problems, I found out that my Physio plays squash...so we decided to play squash starting this year. I think it's been one of the best things for me this year as she has not only challenged me with squash, but gotten me involved in 'running'...I say 'running' because:

A) I'm extremely unfit for running (those who play squash know its a total different fitness),
B) I don't have the right 'figure' for running but I give it a go anyway, and
C) my asthma doesn't particularly like running....
....but I'm waking up fifteen minutes later than the time I get up for work and doing it...to the surprise of many who know I LOVE my Saturday sleep-ins...and to my own surprise, I'm enjoying it.

The best part is that, as I slowly work at beating my personal best, every weekend that I do it I feel like I've accomplished something which, right now, is something I don't feel I'm getting to do in other areas in my life...Other than novel writing. I've been wanting change (odd I know) and, although this isn't the change I was expecting, I'm taking it on with excitement and I'm loving it.

Sometimes in life we get in a rut and life just happens and as much as my weekly routine still feels like a DEEP rut, my life has been changed by a new friend, a change in routine and a barcode on Saturday mornings.

So as I slowly work on my fitness with a few goals in mind...I can't help but think that this will be the start of a new season in my life....

 

 

Life is like a trail on the cliffs...

I just got back...well, on Sunday, from a holiday down at the coast visiting my brother and his family. The lifestyle down there is SO different, easy paced compared to the rush back here in Joburg - I really didn't want to come back.
Anyway, last Saturday my brother and I did a trail hike along the cliffs. It was a BEAUTIFUL long hike that had its own steep downs and ups. My brother does this trail almost every week - it's an 8.5k trail - and he half runs half walks (there are parts where there is no way you could run up it) - but we walked it....in 2 and a half hours.
When we hit the first 'rough' section of the downs and ups, my brother turned to me and said:
"You do know that for every down there is an up?"
"Yip." I said.
As I slowly worked my way down the section we were on, I found I was already dreading the up that was about to follow. Thankfully, after an up, you get a nice flat-ish section to walk where you don't really have to look where you're walking and can enjoy the view and breeze.

In life, there are ups and downs too...with some flat areas in between where life just goes on. It feel like, for me, that my life the past few months has been a trail on the cliffs with ups, downs and flats - sometimes all three in one day! You're down in this area but up in another or down for a few day on one thing and you're waiting for that UP to come and make you feel better - not happy in the flat sections when if feels like the world is passing you by....
Sometimes, in these times, it's even hard to trust - specially when you're wondering "What next?" or "Surely this isn't what God intended!"
Although I know it's true, as it's happened in the past, it's hard to know that in this frustrating time, God's timing is perfect. The ups and downs of various things happen at the right time for us...even those flat frustrating times when you're waiting, hesitantly, to see if there is an up or a down to come next.
I guess, as I have been for who knows how long, I'll just need to wait and see what will happen next.