Mr Nike Says....

Note to Self

You're bored.

You're getting fat.

You have a whole list of things that you could do but instead you keep looking for new ideas and adding them to the ever growing list of frustration

The List...

• Start scrapbooking again. Use up some of those expensive supplies I have stashed away.
• Make some birthday cards to have handy instead of having to rush out and buy them.
• Carry on writing down my memories for the boys..make a decision, handwritten or typed.
• Collect some pebbles from the beach and paint them
• Start an Art Journal...you have already bought THREE blank journals and all the art supplies you need.
• Learn how to use the treadle sewing machine properly
• Finish off Alexander's Noah's Ark cross stitch you started 13 years ago - for his birth!
• Look for bargains for the summerhouse interior, junk shops etc. Then do them up.
• Clear space in the garage for the exercise machine - and use it.
• Clean up the bike, pump up the tyres and cycle along the beach road.

The excuses..

1.  I'm too busy doing housework, running around after the kids, taking the dogs out etc etc
2.  I need to find a job - gets laptop out, ends up on Pinterest or Blogger or Etsy.
3.  Need a craft space so I can leave things out.
4.  Dining room carpet is cream
5.  Need inspiration....looks on Pinterest, or Etsy or Google
6. Too much crap in the garage, waiting for OH to clear his stuff.
7. Easily distracted, phone notifications..blah blah..

Time to get up off my backside and start doing things. 

Then maybe I won't have time to eat anything.

Lost in Pinterest

Once upon a time there was a middle aged woman who spent her days and nights doing the same things as most other middle aged women. Working, ironing, cleaning, running around after two boys, two dogs, a newt and a handful of tropical fish. You know the kind of thing.

Then one day, while sitting down with a rare mug of coffee and her laptop, something red and curvy caught her eye while browsing Safari.

She'd never seen this icon before....she tentatively tapped a few keys to see what it was.

There to her amazement was the most wonderful website. A website full of pictures of things she couldn't even have dreamed of. Cute things, stylish things, funny things, sparkly things, gardeny things and much, much more. 

It reminded her of a game she used to play as a child when she would borrow her Nana's catalogue and go through the toy section pretending that everything she touched she could have. But this website was like an endless toy catalogue that had hidden chambers full of toys and doorways into toy land.  What she didn't realise back then that it was really a MONSTER!

A monster that offers you sweets laced with a potion making you want to stay there forever, wrapped up in a warm cosy duvet of your hearts desires.  

Oooh....

....want....

..if only....

And stay she would if she didn't have delivery men, family and friends distracting her all the time. Fortunately, she found a way to stash away all her favourite images in a neat and tidy, orderly way, which pleased her immensely - being a little OCD about things like that.

She set up her own little treasure chest of images, put them into their own sections, called them what she liked and added new images by clicking one button.  She rampaged through other peoples images, pinning like a woman possessed. Things that reminded her of her childhood, music, people, films, cars, holidays, food and really good ideas that she would never get around to doing.

...and then the phone rang... 

Not my cup of tea to be honest....didn't pin this one!

So when you are wondering where I am, not answering your calls, texts, emails, tweets etc etc, you will probably find me in Pinterest. Oooh'ing and ahhhhh'ing over things I love but will probably never have, do or make.  

But we can all dream...

If you want to join me in Fairyland I'm gaila88. 

Come steal some pins.

A Whippet's Life

1. Whippets don't do floors. Only the warmest, cosiest of beds and blankets will do. 

2.  If there is a beam of sunlight a whippet will find it, follow it and lie with it until it's gone.

3. Whippet's ears are a law unto themselves, especially when puppies and teething. Kizzy has had a few 'Bad Ear Days' recently.

4.  When out and about whippets become stealth like. Alert to the tiniest of sounds such as crisp packets opening and the smell of a hot dog half a mile away.

(and yes, she has outgrown her coat!)

5. Keeping an eye on the family from a prime viewpoint, making small talk with the older, furry ones.

6.  Practising stealth manoeuvres with Mum's potpourri.  Followed by the "wasn't me!" look. 

(Whippet amateur dramatics)

7.  Whippet love...you just can't help it!

Yes I'm Rubbish at This!

You may have noticed if you have been to some of my previous posts that the images are missing.  This was because in my wisdom I decided to move my blog from Wordpress to Blogger to have all my 'stuff' on Google...for ease of use etc etc.

However, in the process I must have 'done something' because the pictures didn't follow the blog.  I'm sure some bright spark out there would fall over themselves to tell me that I should have done.....blardy blah.......yeah, yeah all well and good now...

I have managed to trawl back and redo some of the more recent posts, and will endeavour to do the rest....unless I die of 'cant be aresed-ness' first.

So sorry for my incompetency but you can't have talent, charm, good looks and ICT skills.....I know, I have a family consisting of mostly ICT people.

Back on the Rock and Roll

You know when you just get on with your job, doing your best to make sure everything you do is done to the best of your ability and you put yourself out for the good of the team..blah, blah..and then it all goes to pot in the time it takes to say "..unfortunately we have been forced to make the decision to put the company into liquidation..."

There were signs, but when they employed you just four months previously, naturally you are less aware of them as the others who had been there much longer.

So, "It is what it is" as they say these days.  I am once again on the unemployed list, one more statistic to be badgered and lectured by those who pay me my Job Seekers Allowance from the pockets of people heading off to do a decent day's work and supporting the likes of scroungers and folk like me.

I'd like to console you with the fact that I do not intend to use 'The Bank of You' for long.  You won't be seeing me on Jeremy Kyle...or even watching it! Nor will you find me loitering around the town, smoking, spitting and having foul, loud arguments with an equally foul and loud person on the end of a mobile phone.

You might see me looking a bit of a sight in my scruffy trackies and trainers, hair a little wayward and no makeup, if I need to nip out to get something and I've just been, or about to go out with the dogs and can't be arsed to get changed - but you'd probably just cross the road to avoid the 'bag lady' anyway.

This week I have places to go and people to meet. Three in fact. Yesterday's meeting went the way I expected. Freelance, low rate of pay and not much chance of improvement, but it is local.

Tomorrow I have the one I am most hopeful about. It 'could' be the best offer, but could also be one I have to put on the 'for consideration' list.  It all depends on if it's employed or freelance.  Government Funded Training these days is tricky.  Companies who have been around years, suddenly find they can't compete with the big guns for contracts and have to make the same decision as mine.

Thursdays meeting I already know is a freelance position, is local but may be worth considering depending on the terms and conditions.  I am fairly confident that I would be offered all the above having spent the last 15 years working in all kinds of training roles with all the 'essential and desirable' skills and qualfications usually found on job descriptions, but these days who knows.

Fingers crossed...Mrs Irritatingly Optimistic isn't in the gutter yet!  Everything happens for a reason, and I'm sure something good will come along - or I'm forced to look at other options.  Maybe freelance work would open the door to things I hadn't been able to consider before.

Keeping Smiling