Procrastination

 authorblog: Weekend Wandering

This week, David asks the question, "Do You Ever Procrastinate?" Well the answer is a resounding Yes! Don't you?

The problem is, there is usually something much more interesting to do than the job in hand. It is sometimes more appealing to leave an unpleasant task for another day. Things like cleaning the oven or turning out heaps of muddles can make me feel better after they are done. Especially jobs that have been nudging and nagging  me for ages. So why do I sit down and blog or start some new venture or waste hours trying to shoot a butterfly ( with a camera, in case people start to ring the RSPCA!) when I could be tackling the jobs that will make me feel better afterwards? Probably because the blogging or other ventures, make me feel better NOW!

Is procrastination the same as laziness? Not according to my  Collins Thesaurus. Laziness implies doing nothing or being lethargic. When I procrastinate, I am busy doing other things and delaying doing the thing I'm supposed to be doing. A different thing altogether.

So, is procrastination a bad thing? Only if it means the delayed job never gets done, I would say.

The photo I used today, contains something which I strive and  endeavour to be, but am probably not! Can you spot what it is?!

Bling Fling

 Arte y Pico Award.

This unusual award comes from Jeni from Down River Drivel. She says that the Arte y Pico award was specially designed to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talents. This can be through writing, artwork, design, interesting material or contribution to the bigger community. It is a special honour to receive it.

The award should be sent to 5 other bloggers who meet this criteria.

I first "met" Jeni through David Mcmahon when he invited her to take part in his Sunday Roast.

I am glad that I left a message on her blog, where I felt immediately "at home," so why not look her up?

Now I have to choose 5 others to pass this award on to.

A Mask To hide Behind other wise known as Girl With The Mask. Humorous every day!

Missing You Already where Mya hangs out! Saucy but very funny!

Crazy Cath's Reflections where some superb photography is taking place!

Gone Back South went away for a while then came back, changed her blog & writes short posts that are action packed and very good!

Expatmum is well known for her book, her interesting American perspective and her toilet stories!

So there we are! All done and dusted!

The Story Of The Three Bears!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This is a photo story hosted by Cicily and MamaGeek. It is held every Friday. It is my story and my photo.
This week I have again taken a photo to fit the story. I expect you are thinking that my pictures are not up to scratch and that I am really a story teller.
The sad looking bear in the blue scarf and jumper was mine when I was a baby. So he is a bit older than me, I should think and survived World War Two! However, he was to undergo many other things in his life, as my slightly younger brother knew just how to wind me up when he flung my bear repeatedly out of the upstairs window and onto the rockery below. It is no wonder that he has lost much of his hair and has a gammy arm. (I am talking about my bear now, not my brother!) I have never wanted to part with my bear that was called, Teddy, who sits on top of a book case with some of his friends.

The bear in pink is five years younger and belonged to a friend who I don't see now. He looks as though he had an injury over his right eye, but she didn't have brothers or sisters to knock him about. She must have done it herself! I don't really know how I came to have him in the first place. Maybe she wanted to clear up her house and thought I was an eccentric person to pass it on to! If she is reading this, please take him back.
Little bear belonged to my daughter when she was a bit older than a baby. He is a "suck a thumb" teddy and has a little open mouth & a huge thumb to stick in it. I think she took it to her house when she got married and I'm sure her boys played with him when they were much younger. One day when I was staying over at her place I noticed a big bag of toys that were bundled up for charity and I couldn't resist looking in! "What!" I exclaimed, "Are you throwing out 'suck a thumb' bear?"
I took him home & he sits near my computer. Mad or what?
Next time I will try and pick a real photo!

The Story of the Roly- Poly Poo!

When I was a child I lived in a tiny two bedroomed cottage on the edge of a small town in Lancashire. It had a lovely garden and I was very happy there. Because of the cramped conditions, my brother Godfrey and I had to share a bedroom.

I distinctly remember one night, lying in bed, when I was about four years old. Godfrey was already sleeping in his little bed just a few yards away. Downstairs I could hear my mother in the kitchen ironing the clothes. Every time the iron went down, the table she was using made a squeaking sound. The radio was on and she was obviously listening to a play, that she really enjoyed on the BBC Home Service. I found these sounds very comforting as I lay in bed, but that night I was restless and did not sleep. Too bad I needed to poo!

The toilet was downstairs and to get there I had to pass the kitchen. I would be disturbing my mother if I went down and it did seem a long way to go. 

There was a potty under the bed but we were only supposed to wee in it. I got out of bed and before I could help myself, I'd done a large poo in it!

"Now what shall I do?" I pondered.

Suddenly, inspired by an idea, I rolled it into a ball using a page from an old magazine.

There was a window on the landing that opened outward, overlooking the lovely back garden and directly below the window, was the sloping kitchen roof.

"If I roll it down the roof it will land in the garden and no one will know it was me," I thought.  

The plan seemed to work very well until the ball of poo got stuck on the roof only an arm's length away.

"Now that would be noticed," I thought, "Better get it back!"

It never occurred to me just how dangerous this was becoming. I now had to really stretch to get it. At last it was in my not so clean hands!

I decided to put it back in the pot and say nothing and with this resolved, I got into bed and fell asleep.

Funnily enough, nothing was ever said about the strangely shaped ball of poo with newspaper wrapped around it!

Fears In Abundance!

"The things That I Am Afraid Of!" is the subject that David Mcmahon from   authorblog: Weekend Wandering has set us this week. Well where do I start? There are lots of things and I am going to sound neurotic if I list them all. Well you seem to like it when I'm honest and bare my soul. I think I have touched on some of it before. So here goes...........

Number one on my list has to be the fear of depression, as I have had two very bad bouts of it in the past and I always realize that there is the possibility of "it" taking me over again, like Churchill's Black Dog! 

I mildly think about Altzheimer's disease and the possibility that I might be affected one day and the ensuing chaos it would cause to my family if I did. Following this, I think it would be awful to lose control of my body and have to be completely dependent on other people.

I am afraid of abandonment. This is because when I was a child, my mother used to say, "I will walk out and never come back." When I was getting on her nerves.

So my last post "Life feels Like A Storm" made me feel a bit like that and even though I am 66 years old, I felt very like I did as a small child again. This runs very deeply and I am still traumatized by this kind of thing. As it turned out, it was not such a terrible thing, as Sam called round yesterday and checked the computer and seemed just like his normal self. He said that Kaiko is fine and is so pleased to be in her own place. Well that is natural. I could not have lived 11 months with my inlaws, no way! Sam is bringing Amber over this afternoon as she has a birthday party to attend nearby. I am also finding I am less stressed and much more peaceful having the house to ourselves and so is Harry! Well, I am getting off track now so will move on to the next fear.

I think you all know my very real fear of my computer or router failing and not being able to get it fixed. No more blogging! That would be a nightmare. I really hate it when I am not in control of situations!

I hate public speaking and will never volunteer in church to read the lessons. I am a background person, snug in my little corner!

Well that just about covers all my major worries and all the little things like spiders and heights and flying, I can usually muster up the courage to do! Scoop up a spider, avoid heights, fly if I have to!

You might be puzzled by the photo that I used for this post? Well there is always hope or help round the corner. The triangular piece of sky is peeping through the clutter of trees and house and represents light, hope, help, God even. So that just about covers the subject!

Life Feels Like A Storm.

I feel all my creativity has gone! I am feeling incredibly sad, although I know it will pass.

The sadness, almost despair is because my family have moved out in anger. 

I will not go into details and I am not blaming anybody, but after nearly eleven months of living in our house, it became obvious that Kaiko and I, both of us incredibly stubborn, have become constantly edgy with each other and disagreed over certain issues that couldn't be resolved.

It was not supposed to finish like this. Everyone knew they would be going eventually and this was only ever meant to be a temporary solution.

Sam owns a property in an other part of the city. He needed to sell it in order to buy a property locally so that Amber could continue attending the school where she has been really settled and popular. Millie the youngest was about to start nursery near by in Sept and her name had been on the list for a good while. But this house is not selling so they are now living in it. However Sam intends to bring the children by car every morning on his way to work, so that I could take Amber to school and Granddad could pick her up while I am at work. 

Millie is to go to a child minder on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays but on the other two days, Granddad & I will look after her between us.

I wish Kaiko and I could understand each other but I don't think she will ever want to be close to me neither has she ever been.  I like to talk things over but the Japanese do not disclose their feelings. It is impossible to know what is going on in her dark, fathomless eyes. I have tried and failed!

I don't know how practical it will be to keep Amber and Millie at the school near here and feel I we will lose touch with our little granddaughters if they start new schools.

I expect most people will think that it was an impossible situation anyway. In laws living together and some said it would only last a month! Well at least we proved them wrong about that. At least they are in the same city and not the other side of the globe.

However, I am upset at the suddenness of it all. No time to adjust.

On a practical level, I know the time will come when something happens to my computer or router that I cannot deal with. If I go away for any length of time, don't think I have abandoned you. I have not the same technical support at hand, that's all!

Sorry to go on about all this. I expect time will heal. In the mean time, please be patient with me.

Little Bronze Jug.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This little jug is very old. Maybe getting on for a hundred years! In fact it belonged to my Grandmother. I don't suppose it is valuable as it was being sold in a market place, where it was stolen. It was stolen by my mother, when she was a small toddler. She must have been attracted to the colour because when the two of them returned home, it was firmly clenched in my mother's hand. 

My Grandmother, who was a very honest and upright lady, went straight back and paid for it. So in the end, it was legitimately hers.

I always liked this little jug when I was a child, so recently took the photo to go with the story. Is it supposed to be the other way round? Oh well... that's the way it was!

I am reasonably pleased with the photo. I took several and this was the best of the bunch, but it is not perfect!

Any way, I'm sure you'll agree it does come with an interesting story!

Visit Cecily and MamaGeek  for Friday Photostory.