Still Love this blog after a Looooooooooooooong Hiatus

Re-read these articles
I realised that I'm glad that we create this blog
It reminds me of the fun of sharing
the Happy/Sad
Smart/Silly
cute daily things we shared

Note to Self: Just take Time & Effort to make your life Fun & Exciting

AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!

THAT was exactly how I felt this morning after my phonecall was rudely ended by a grumpy menopausal WOMAN on the other end of the line !!

In order for you to have a clearer picture of this I need take you back to a conversation I had with Robert which led me into making that "fateful" telephone call. He expressed some concern about me being at home 24/7 since resigning from my job (i.e. not meeting anybody, not having any friends = no other human contact apart from him and my in laws etc.) After a brief reassurance from me he seemed to have accepted my explanation and decision of not returning to work for the time being. However I could still feel that he was not convinced enough. So I thought maybe the answer is to consider looking at doing some voluntary work instead as that will get me out of the house for a few hours which will please him and as it is voluntary expectation of my performance wouldn't be too high (I hope).

Initially I wasn't sure what I could do or where to look for volunteer work apart from physically knocking on every local charity shop in the village. However I soon realised how vast the data on the internet is as after only a few minutes of browsing, I found a couple of websites with lists and lists of any type of voluntary work you find.

So armed with that information we talked about it over our morning coffee and (surprisingly) he was very supportive. He suggested the RSPCA as I had expressed an interest earlier on in the year while we were at their show that I wouldn't mind helping out in the kennels. So we researched a little bit further into it and found that they are advertising for volunteers to walk their dogs. I will need to attend a few classes before I will be accepted of course but I thought there and then "Great! ". However as the job involves working with cats and dogs there would be quite a good chance that I may get bitten or scratched. And as a health and safety guideline (in the UK) I will need to show them that my tetanus injection is still within date . Who knows, maybe, in case my arm falls off I cannot sue them as they have taken every precaution! LOL!

Luckily (well I said luckily as I have got a scar now) I had that injection when I cut my foot earlier in July but I need to have some paperwork to say that I had that done. So I phoned my doctor's office to try to find how do I go about getting that, but instead of speaking to the doctor I was put through to one of the secretaries instead, I always do - "speak to the doctor, no he is far too busy to speak to you". I thought "Oh no, I know how well this is going to turn out!" as I have never ever had a good experience liaising with any of those women there so why should this time be any different. Lo and behold, I had to explain my dilemma to a "dragon" (believe me, this is a "nice" description of her) who was the least interested in whatever I had to say. I was then put on hold twice before I heard a big KLUNK (!!) and the line was cut off !!! Let me stress that all that time when I was given very rude and abrupt answers to my questions, I, on the other hand, held on very well and remained calm and good natured throughout. And what did she do - she cut me off !!! Oooooh was I MAD !!! I was livid to say the least !! If I could reach down the phone her neck would have been broken in few pieces!!

I decided that I had to cool off before calling them again to avoid getting into an argument over the phone. The second time however I did manage to speak to my doctor's secretary and I must say, she was a breath of fresh air !!. She was really nice and polite to me . On top of that she said that I can have the paperwork within 2 to 3 days time! However that is meant to be seen yet

For the time being - it's FANTASTIC!

THE "TREE"

This sad looking "thing" (I call it a tree as it's about 8 feet tall) has been "sitting" in a pot in a corner of our lounge looking sad for itself for the pass months. So I thought I will give it a bit of tender loving care i.e. a trim here and a tidy up there in order to revive it a bit.

It took me a few hours and I was glad that it was beginning to look quite good. So I continued to untie all the stems away from the pole to see which ones needed to be trimmed down, i.e. the bare and dried up stems etc., to make it look a bit more lush and green. Well that was the idea, anyway.

Unfortunately it was a lot more unhealthy than I first thought !!! The more I untied the more less leaves it had on!! In the end all that was left was a bare pole!!! Basically it was a massacre!! A tree no more!!

Well, then I thought "Now what ??"

Out hunting we went to the garden centres looking for another plant which hopefully will get to the same height given a few years time - that is of course, if I hadn't kill it by then !!

So this is it here - all lush and green. Its called a Yucca. Robert had one during his bachelor days and according to him it is very easy to grow - that we will see in the later months - wait till it has the "Waine" therapy ! LOL! We got this at a bargain - that is my theory anyway. It is about 4 feet tall and it had a £10 price label on it. We saw a few other (totally similar) ones with a different price - £24.99 (!!) Initially we thought there must be something wrong with the lower priced ones or else why were they more than half priced and it wasn't like there was a sale on at that moment. Well. we couldn't see anything different. My thinking is someone has been mistakenly priced them as while we were queueing up to pay I saw much smaller plants with a £10 price label on them !

HAPPY DAYS !!

What a mess !!

This was given to us by our very good friends before they emigrated to Singapore to work about 3-4 years ago. It has been unwell for a few months and nothing I do seems to please it anymore. So today I decided to take a few hours off my project to try to give it a face lift.

Who knows - we may end up with nothing !!!

Told myself that I am not going to shop but gone into Primark and saw these !!

New Project!!!!

This is the new project I have started on. Its a (rough) sketch of a melon. When we were in France there were fields and fields of them out there. Sarah asked if I can paint one for her - her birthday present for herself. That reminds me I need to reply her e-mail as she doesn't know that I intend to do it. If she still wants me to paint it for her we will then decide on the size.

At least my fingers are less "itchy" since they have been kept busy.

I am very excited about this and willl keep you posted of course!

A year since ........

......I left the rat race.

Since I have so much time on my hands nowadays I have been doing a lot of soul searching (unintentionally of course!) I don't know why but at my age? My sentiment exactly! What I had as a job was not what I would call a career nor one that I would choose to be in either . It was what I had to do to pay the bills when you are the eldest in a family full of financial restraints. I was never asked about what my amibition was, let alone any advice was given as to which profession would benefit me for life. I had to take what was given. The first job that landed on my lap was as a receptionist in a legal firm. It was good to begin with and was learning something new every day but as time went on all that slowly trickled away. Though I am proud to say that I've worked up the ranks through those 25 years but it was hardly easy as I had to put up with a lot bullying and a lot of "kow towing" in fear of being dismissed for insubordination if I dared question anything.

Now as I am getting restless with the time on my hands I am thinking I need to focus on something new again. I need to look for something to do with my time but the question of what kind of work would I want to go into is still unanswered. THAT itself is a big question. People say if you enjoy what you do you wouldn’t describe it as work. Now I know what I enjoy doing but that ain’t gonna bring in moneyll So I am back to looking at what there are out there for me – which I am capable of doing and all I can see are clerical/admin stuff which spells out LOUD and CLEAR “NOT MY CUP OF TEA" . So here I am finding myself going round and round in circles !!! I don’t want to go back to their so called “rat race” . So what if you win you are still a rat at the end of day !! Is this what having a mid life crisis feels like I wonder ?