Day One

Worst Apocalypse Ever

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Barbara

Found this on Facebook

Posted in Jokes, Life | Tagged 21/12/2012, Apocalypse, Comic Book Guy, Mayan Calendar, Postaday, Simpsons | 3 Comments

Life, by the Dalai Lama (Actually from ‘Life’s Little Instruction Book’ by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Barbara

Life goes on…..

This list was attributed to the Dalai Lama, but is actually from ‘Life’s Little Instruction Book’ by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Wherever they actually originated from, they are a great list to live by. I always have a copy in my kitchen somewhere.

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

Follow the three R’s:

– Respect for self,

– Respect for others and

– Responsibility for all your actions.

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

Spend some time alone every day.

Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

Share your knowledge. It is the way to achieve immortality.

Be gentle with the earth.

Once a year, go somewhere you’ve never been before.

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

There are lots more that could be added to improve the list 🙂 Please feel free to add more in the comments section, here’s one I found on the ‘Life’s Little Instruction Book’ website that I will definitely have to add to my next reprint:

Call your mother

PS I have just found this great group ‘Bloggers for Peace‘ We hope someday you’ll join us…..

Posted in Life, Wilson | Tagged B4Peace, Fulfillment, Guidance, Happiness, Life by the Dalai Lama, Life Instructions, one day at a time, Postaday, Self Help, Wilson | 8 Comments

20:12 20.12.2012

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Barbara

Americans miss out on this special date 😦 Here is a photo of Wilson pondering its significance

Wilson Pondering at Box Hill

Posted in Animals, Numbers, Pets, Photography, Special Dates, Surrey Hills, Wilson | Tagged 20/12/2012, Black Cocker Spaniel, End of the world, Mayan Calendar, Numbers, Numeromology, Photography, Postaday, Special Dates, Wilson | 4 Comments

From Sofa to Marathon – Week 1

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Barbara

Last week at 12.12pm, on Wednesday the 12th of December 2012 (12.12.12 12:12) I posted my New Years Resolution. A bit early I know, but because this thing is going to take me way more than a year to achieve, I thought I’d better start early.My Resolution is:

I have thought about doing something like this for a really long time, but always the second the thought came into my head it ran for the exits as fast as its little feet could carry it!!

Recently I have started getting fit again at last. When I say started, I mean…. I did 2 weeks and then injured my Achilles’ tendon which is only just healing (sorry), and now I have a recurrence of my sinus infection which incapacitated me for weeks in April. But the thought won’t go away! It keeps getting stronger!

So I’ve decided, I’m not going to train for the 2013 one. That’s a bit too soon considering I’m only managing an average of one day a week so far!

2014 Winchester to Salisbury cross-country marathon here I come!

Now it’s official! I’ve hit he ‘Publish ‘ button!!

12.12.12.12.12

I have decided, inspired by the ‘Focus On: Blogs for 365 Days, 52 Weeks, and More‘ post by WordPress to provide a weekly update, as in composing this I will be reminded what I’m supposed to be doing, and how far I have come, or not since the last week.

I am a complete novice to marathon running. I did sprinting in school and was a member of two athletics clubs until I had my children. I competed at club level for a few years, so I have some experience of training 3 – 4 times a week for a sustained period, and have some understanding of running techniques, the aches and pains, the twinges to work through, and the pains that mean I’ve overdone it.

So far I’ve done nothing. 😦

I have been ill, quite horribly so over the last week. I’ve had dreadful headaches that I thought were sinus headaches, but in fact are caused by neuralgia, so i am in agony, just waiting for the inflamed nerve to calm down so I can resume normal life!

What I do want to do this week, is get a plan together. Have a look at some Marathon training blogs & find out what I need to be doing. When I trained before I never gave a thought to my food or lifestyle around the training. I ate loads as I was working off lots of calories, and had no thought for whether I should be eating a certain food group or not!

In my new group, Fit4Mums, they are suggesting using a food diary, and keeping an eye on what I am eating. I’ve never done that before, so it will be interesting! I tried doing an online one for a few weeks, but it was very fiddly, and I kept having to guess the calorific content of home-made dinners! Also I have a very bad habit of occasionally eating whole multi-packs of chocolate bars (330 calories per bar x 4) or a whole pack of biscuits, when a ‘serving’ is counted as 4, or a whole tub of Ben & Jerry’s, with natural yoghurt & flake on top. I also rarely eat breakfast, regularly forget to have lunch and then have a massive dinner at the end of the day & then snack all evening. Sorting out my food is a big part of what I need to do in order to be able to train for a marathon at my age!

So progress so far:

0 But I have still been thinking about it, about once I’m well I’ll be starting again, back on track, hopefully within a few weeks increasing my days training to 2 days a week. The good thing about this neuralgia, is that i have been forced to stop doing anything, and rest a lot, so my Achilles is much better 🙂

My target for next week:

Do some research on what is involved in training for a marathon, sort out some goals, and have a look at the food issue!!

See you next Wednesday – Find out if I’ve left the sofa yet?

If this was my sofa I probably would never get off it!

Week 2

Posted in 40, Athletics, Diet, Getting old, Health, Keeping Fit, Marathon, Neuralgia, Running | Tagged 52-Week Project, Dysfunctional Eating, Getting Fit, Marathon, New Years Resolution, Postaweek, Sofa to Marathon, Training | 7 Comments

Word a Week Photo Challenge: Light

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Barbara

I took a photo of my tiny 25cm (11″) Christmas Tree decorated with mini lights & wanted to share it!

Baby Christmas Tree

We have a small full-sized tree too (The children were worried about the presents!)

This is my first entry into the ‘Word a Week Photography Challenge‘ I might have to submit some back-entries, I notice last weeks was Blue! My favourite colour!

Here is the link to This Week’s Challenge; Light

Posted in Photography | Tagged Christmas lights, Light, Mini Christmas Tree, Postaday, Tannenbaum, Weekly Photo Challenge, Word a Week Photograph Challenge | 9 Comments

Olympics 2012 London Cycling

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Barbara

The first real impact of having the Olympics staged in London 2012 for us, was when they decided the routes of the cycling time trials and road races, and both the races were to be through where we live.

In late 2010 roadworks that were long long overdue started being done on select sections of roads, but other often busier roads much worse damage were being left in a poor state of repair. In 2011 all became clear, the route for the time trials were released, and all the recently repaired roads were on the route

Trial runs were done in 2011, and then final preparations were made. As the torch began its tour of the country, the reality of the actual Olympics being held in our city in our lifetime began to sink in. The route of the cycling time trials was decorated with cycling related symbols, and many of the roundabouts had great sculptures or flower designs placed in them. Flags for London 2012 and Inspire a Generation adorned the route.

On a few of the roundabouts nearest our home some beautiful decorated bicycles were covered with flowers and made a great impression driving by. After the Olympics they were removed, and I wondered where they went

Today I found them while visiting the council offices in Esher. My favourite is the yellow one decorated by Molesey Community Centre, but I also Love Sunflowers 🙂 it must be something about yellow flowers, they make me happy!

Which is your favourite?

My first Transportation post, also about Bicycles 🙂

To find out more about this weeks Travel Theme, hop over to ‘Where’s My Backpack?‘

This week’s Travel Theme is transportation

Posted in Blogging, Cycling, Keeping Fit, London, Olympics, Photography, Travel | Tagged Bicycles, Cycling, cycling time trials, flower designs, Postaday, Surrey, Time Trials, transportation, Travel Theme | 2 Comments

Apology Letters To Spouse

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Barbara

Hi Sweetheart,

I am sorry about getting into an argument about putting up the Christmas lights. I guess that sometimes I feel like you are pushing me too hard when you want something. I realize that I was wrong and I am apologizing for being such a hard-headed guy. All I want is for you to be happy and be able to enjoy the holiday season. Nothing brightens the Christmas spirit like Christmas lights! I took the time to hang the lights for you today; and now I will be off to play golf.

Again, I am very sorry for the way I acted yesterday. I’ll be home later.

Love you..

_____________________________________________

Her response –

Hi Honey,

Thank you for that heart-felt apology. I don’t often get an apology from you, and I truly appreciate it. I, too, felt bad about the argument and wanted to apologize. I realize that I can sometimes be a little pushy. I will try to respect your feelings from now on. Thank you for taking the time to hang the Christmas lights for me. It really means a lot. In the spirit of giving, I washed your truck for you; and now I am off to the mall.

I love you too!

Posted in Blogging, Families, Jokes | Tagged Apologies, Christmas lights, christmas spirit, holiday season | 11 Comments

Long standing problem? Try Kneeling

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Barbara

I’m not good at getting on my knees. It’s the one thing I really don’t ‘do’

I was raised a Catholic, and went to a Catholic convent secondary school. We studied the lives of the saints. How they starved themselves, beat themselves, meditated for days, put themselves through incredible torture just to be closer to their God.

In transcending pain we can sometimes attain a trance like state. I discovered this when I was 12 and eager and earnest about my faith. The school used to have Mass at 7.30am in the morning. You can’t eat 1 hour before communion, so this meant I would go to school early and without breakfast.

Our school chapel had hard wooden kneelers. There are parts of the mass when you could chose to sit or kneel, but all the really holy nuns kneeled all the way through the mass. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be a good girl. I was training to be a saint.

So I knelt there, tired, cold hungry in agony for having knelt too long on hard wooden kneelers. Sometimes I would slip down onto the tiled cold floor just to give my poor knees a change of scenery.

I regularly achieved a trance-like state in those days. I left the church an hour later feeling like I was floating. Separate and apart from the rest of the world.

Later in my teens when my self doubt, self hatred, self loathing really took a hold, I drew on my experiences in the church those mornings to transcend the pain of self harm, and hide it so nobody could see it. (If someone found out it wouldn’t count, the whole effort would have been wasted)

I used my ability to transcend hunger when my anorexia developed. I knew that if I did it for long enough I would get into that trance-like state where nothing could hurt me

So, aged 30 when my life fell apart due to addiction and self abuse, and I finally got help. When my sponsor told me ‘”you must get on your knees twice a day” I said “F*** That” That’s addictive behaviour for me.

She sacked me.

I found a new sponsor who understood my difficulty with kneeling and we got past it! The God of my understanding doesn’t need kneeling!!

Nowadays kneeling is not a problem for me, but I don’t pray like that. I do forget to pray every day though, and that’s not good for me. I need to hand my day over, especially days like today, long before I try & take control of the outcomes again.

So I was taking my nose drops this morning, following the instructions on the leaflet:

A message from my Higher Power

My Higher Power has a funny way of sending me messages. I got it 🙂 I said my prayers. I asked for help today. I asked for the strength to get through all the different appointments I have to attend, I asked to be reminded that today is Monday not Tuesday (I seem to be running a day fast at the moment) I asked not to have to take too many painkillers so I am safe on the roads. I asked to be given the strength to handle the outcomes of today, whatever they are.

Posted in Addiction, Anorexia, Blogging, Health, Life, Neuralgia, Pain, Photography, Self Harm, Sinus headache | Tagged 12 Steps, Addiction, Alcoholism, Anorexia, Higher Power, one day at a time, Praying, Self Harm, Serenity Prayer | 6 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge; Delicate Nanoscale work at Royal Holloway in the Clean Room

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Barbara

I love fiddly jobs, i like when i have to mend things invisibly, sometimes I think I should have been called Cinderella. When I have to sort out hundreds of multicoloured beads into their individual colours, I don’t dread the task, I plan when I’m going to be able to be able to do it, what containers I’m going to use, whether I need tweezers, labels, Sellotape ……

Most people think I’m mad. I do too if I’m honest, but hey ho, it’s fun!

One of my favourite modules when I was studying for my degree was Nanofabrication

At Royal Holloway we were lucky to have a clean room in our physics department, so all ‘Nano-fab’ students got to dress up as proper scientists