Is that a ship I see on the horizon..?

One of my photographs has been published. I knew fame and fortune had to happen sooner or later...
Switch the view from map to photos and take a look at the "Merrion Square" photos under "Attractions and Landmarks". I think mine is about the 4th one
:-)

about this whole turning-over-a-new-leaf thing...

I bought a book last Sunday, called The Secret". I wasn't sure what to expect but it has a cover that sort of makes you want to open it and see what's inside.
So I did, and I started reading it, and it blew me away. You have to read the book to know what I'm on about but it's all about how our thoughts shape our lives. It's not just enough to agree with this, you have to know it.

It talks about a lot of stuff, but one of the things I picked out was what the author says about weight. Now, I don't exactly battle with my weight - my whole life I've been one of those fortunate people who can eat what they want without picking up weight. So I wasn't concerned when I put on a couple of kilograms over the winter - after all, haven't I always been able to lose them again easily enough? Only, I seemed to carry on picking up weight, until my favourite jeans became so tight I could barely sit down in them. And I started wondering if perhaps what they say about it getting harder to lose weight as one gets older is true. And the waistline kept expanding and the butt continued to droop.

So when the author of this book said that the trick is to Think yourself Thin, I figured I'd give it a shot, and for the last 4 days I have been telling myself that I am my perfect weight, and that I look great... and I've been believing it to a point where I've actually seen myself looking nice and slim when I look in the mirror. There was a minor glitch this morning when I put on my black work trousers and they felt really tight, but I persevered and kept believing I look great.

And now comes the punchline...
I was standing at the printer this morning and a woman I work with walked past, stopped, turned around and said, "You're looking lovely and slim, Terri..."
It was all I could do not to laugh out loud! I just smiled and thanked her but inside I was laughing my ass off (haha, get the pun?!).
There's something to be said for this Secret!

So here's my good vibe for today: Have a fantastic weekend, all of you!
xxx

some random things

Friday we had "Smart-Casual day" at work. It is no longer referred to as "Casual Day" due to the vast quantities of belly-rings and other attire deemed unsuitable for a corporate financial institution that were in evidence a couple of years back. I don't really mind; it makes no difference to me. I like "Smart-Casual" days 'cos I get to wear jeans to work. I feel comfy in jeans and I believe it actually improves my productivity. They don't occur very often - normally only on Fridays preceding a Bank Holiday Monday weekend. This was an exception.
This "Smart-Casual Day" was to mark something called "Work / Life Balance Day".
The irony was not lost on me that this particular day was being celebrated on the 29^th of February... a day that only comes around every 4 years.
And I had to work late.
I found this all terribly amusing; I'm not sure what that says about my sense of humour or my state of mind.

Despite being on-call for work all weekend, it actually wasn't all that bad, as weekends go. Yesterday, in particular, turned out to be a good day. I awoke slowly, in my own time, which is always a bonus, a few minutes before there was a light tapping on the door and when it opened there were my stepchildren bearing coffee and muffins. I was just wondering what on earth Hubby and I had done to deserve such special treatment when they grinned and wished me Happy Mother's Day. Ah, right, so that's what it was. Cool! Breakfast in bed came complete with flowers and a card too. I was really touched (and not just in the head!) and all in all I ended up having a pretty damn good day.

So I'm trying to start again. Every now and then when things get crazy at work and I get all stressed out, then I get tired and start getting ratty at home too. I can be very difficult to live with at such times; I dislike myself so I can only imagine what the people I live with must go through. I get irritated really quickly and all I see is the stuff that isn't done, or isn't done right (i.e. MY way) and I feel like a fishwife, banging pots & pans in the kitchen or flinging odd socks around the place.
Well yesterday I was browsing around a bookstore and I came away with a couple of books to help me readjust my attitude. I am going to think positive about everything; I am not going to allow work to stress me out; I am going to be more pleasant to be around.
But ya know, it's just not that simple. I was doing so well this morning and then BAM! One thing follows the next, follows the next and the next thing you know I'm biting my tongue not to shake someone until their teeth rattle. Is this the Universe's cruel sense of humour?
"Uh-oh, quick, she's starting to relax, let's see just how much it takes to make her crack and return to her bitchy ways!"
Can I please get a break over here???!
I will win out, you know, in the end.
I have to.

time bombed

Well goodness me and golly gosh, where does the time go?!

I'd say I spent the last week as follows:
Work: 50%
Sleep: 40%
Housework: 3%
Shopping: 2%
Watching TV: 3%
Email / Blogging, etc: 1%
Getting my hair done: 1%

A couple of things to note here:
1 - Only about half the shopping was boring old groceries. Cinderella and I went shopping just for fun on Saturday and bought some clothes for ourselves just for fun. It was my kind of shopping: cheap stuff that I don't expect to last more than 5 washes but that's OK 'cos at that price I get to go shopping again soon to replace it.

2 - On the Hair thing: I forgot to mention that we went out for dinner with friends on Saturday night in honour of my new haircut. I HATED the last cut and it had finally grown out to point where it could be fixed so I decided to celebrate. Well I had to have some excuse for going out, didn't I?

So what was the point of this little exercise? Well I'm not 100% sure, mostly because I'm too bloody tired from working so hard to even think straight. This post could, in fact, have started life as a rant about work but I just don't have the energy.

It ties in well with what I'm really trying to say, though: 1% on email AND blogging (etc^[1])?! That's just not good enough. I'm supposed to fancy myself as an amateur writer of sorts... like a hobby that maybe might one day turn into something I could retire to do full-time. Blogging is a great way to keep the writing juices flowing. On those days when you don't have time to work on that story you've been writing, you write up a quick post for your blog, just to keep in practice.
Having half an hour a week to write is just not cutting the mustard! It's been bugging me... but I've been too weary to do anything about it.

It's really annoying.

Having said that, I did manage to do a little bit of creative writing over the weekend, late on Sunday afternoon. My friend Jason Evans is hosting a little Short Fiction contest over at The Clarity of Night, you see, and the photograph he posted for it did it's job well and inspired me to pick up a pen (figuratively speaking, of course - nobody uses pens anymore!) and add my contribution.
You may read the fruits of my labour here.
It's not exactly my finest literary masterpiece but it's better than what I've been writing lately which is pretty much, um, nothing.

Thank you, Jason, for spurring me out of my slump for an afternoon.

Now, if everyone could just spare me 10 minutes of free time over the next few days, maybe I'll finally get to spend some more time with you guys in Blogland. For now, sleep beckons....

~

^[1] The "etc" is the dreaded "F" word - Facebook. It just seems rude not to poke people back y'know?