Monday Poem

A Monday Poem

Work

I do not "work"
Instead, I "fun"
I try to goof
And get things done

At the same time
Love what I do
Do what I love
And then can you

Honestly say
You do not work
You simply fun
And do not shirk
Until it's done

The object then
Midst all this strife
Is not to work
A day in life

For if you love
That which you do
It is not work

Now
I am through

Rich Melheim (2004)

Brighten Someones Day (E-Card Swap)

Knowing Me, knowing You

I picked up this tag/meme from Monday Morning Power


KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU


Copy this entire list of questions and change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then tag and pass it along to other blogging friends. Let’s see how well we can get to know one another!


1. What is your occupation?
I am a high school teacher (grade 8-12)

2. What color are your socks right now?
I am barefoot.

3. What are you listening to right now?
The humming of my computer.

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
Chicken and hawain stir fry with spaghetti

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
Yes

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Blue

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My Nephew JP - Jean Pierre

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Of course

9. Favorite drink?
Affagato - shot of espresso, honey and ice-cream

10. What is your favorite sport to watch?
mmmmm Soccer (formula one or one day international cricket)

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Yes.

12. Pets?
None - My sister had and my daughter has.

13. Favorite food?
Macaroni and cheese, with beans curry or Roti and mince with a carrot salad.

14. Last movie you watched?
Rendition

15. Favorite Day of the year?
My birthday !

16. What do you do to vent anger?
Cry or scream

17. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Nothing comes to mind immediately. View finder.

18. What is your favorite, fall or spring?
Spring

19. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs (depends on whose doing the kissing hehehehe)

20. What kind of pie?
Cheesecake (I checked out Wikipedia and cheesecake falls under sweet pie)

21. Do you want your friends to email you back?
Yes

22. Who is most likely to respond?
Most of them

23. Who is least likely to respond?
Claire (her e-mail is at work, it is difficult for her to respond to all e-mails, she is more likely to call or sms me)

24. Living arrangements?
Me,my husband, daughter and the rest of the Boys Dorm ( high school and College boys/men)

25. When was the last time you cried?
Two weeks ago

26. What is on the floor of your closet?
Shoes

27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to?
I am not sending this to anyone. I will let anyone who wants to participate, participate.

28. The friend you have known the shortest amount of time that you are sending this to?
See # 27

29. Favorite smell?
lavender and jasmine

30. What inspires you?
Various books, a few blogs I read, music, poetry.....

31. What are you afraid of?
Not belonging

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?
spicy hamburgers

33. Favorite car?
Volvo

34. Favorite cat breed?
Don' t have a favorite

35. Number of keys on your key ring?
4

36. How many years at your current job?
1 year and 3 months

37. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday

38. How many cities have you lived in?
About 6
(Durban, New Jersey, Pietermaritzburg, Annerly, Heidleberg, Helderberg)

39. How many countries have you been to?
About 6.
(Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, and USA)

Let me know if you decide to play along.

Coffee?

You Are an Iced Coffee

At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you're out with friends Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

WW Thursday Edition

Surprise

Playing Heads or Tails hosted by Skittles

Easter Surprise Cupcakes

"An Easter cupcake with a surprise egg inside." from All Recipes

The Easter Bunny (Acrostic)
By Kathy Armijo

The Easter Bunny

© By Kathy Armijo

Too many colored eggs

He has to prepare

Every child needs their share

Eating them is not a chore

Always wanting more

Still,

There is a limit to the

Egg’s

Repertoire

Believe me when I say

Until you’ve had to eat three dozen

Nobody wants to be

Near you

Yelling at you to “Stay away!”

Emerging Once Again

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the Master calls a butterfly.

Richard Bach (quote 7 from Crytalinks)

Its been a hectic two weeks. In between I have been reading a lot, spending time with family and rethinking the direction my life will be taking.

I am at a crossroad with major changes taking place at the moment and on the horizon.

I am adjusting to wearing one hearing aid. My menstrual cycle problems have not been resolved despite the two courses of treatments completed - now i need to decide whether to give a my body more time and maybe look for an alternative treatment or to just go to the gynae and let him put on the pill ( I truly hesitate).

We have entered a different stage of the process for applications for working visa's to Ireland. I need to start wrapping things up at work and home and at the same time things could still go wrong and could end not going. Not sure if I mentioned it earlier but my husband has gotten the job in Northern Ireland.

Family

Not a very flattering photograph of me. But we spoke so much over the weekend we did take pictures and now it was time to say goodbye and we have no idea when we will all be under the same roof again. The last time we were all together was three years ago at my dad's funeral.

So that is me with the Winnie Pooh blanket, then Janine, Debbie, Ashley and my Mom Elizabeth.
What a busy week. No time for blogging and surfing.

My mom has arrived here safely. We are off to Citrusdal for the Easter Weekend holiday. For the first time ever we booked a house (we normally go camping). Looking forward to a break and lots of reading.

Mosaic

1. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 102, 2. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 130, 3. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 128, 4. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 124, 5. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 123, 6. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 118, 7. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 117, 8. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 115, 9. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 116, 10. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 120, 11. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 112, 12. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 106, 13. Walk and .... 12 Dec 07 07114. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

I am Back - Sort of

Arrived safely home. It will take me a little while to get into the full swing of things again.

Till then I would like to leave y0u with the following thought.

WW - Tuesday

PS
Blog Party Post below and I have managed to make all my comments today. Thank you for your comments.

Kids at my School's Valentine's Function
Taken By Claudelle's Photography

Commenting

For some odd reason I can't seem to leave comments. I tried at school today in my free period and gave up. I have come home and the same problem.

I promise I will return the compliment and party on by leaving comments. I am going away for a few days so it might take me a while but I will do it.

Ultimate Blog Party 2008

Hi

Thank you for stopping by.

This is my space to share, create, have fun and express myself. I have a lot of interests and this is reflected in my blog. So when you visit you may find some digital scrap booking, family photos, reviews and thoughts on books and movies, poetry, music, health issues, depression, spirituality, something about a swap, quizzes, something that inspires me etc.........

My favourite meme is Wordless Wednesday.

Here is my daughter and I in our party clothes.

View from my Office Window

The first three views are from my classroom window.
The second three are from my home office window.

Treatment for heavy menstrual flow

Got my gynae on the phone. Says we are basically fighting a hormonal problem with hormones. There was no guarantee it would have worked. He has now prescribed me a supplement Autrin for the prevention and treatment of anemia and Cykokapron to stop the bleeding.

Slept a lot today. My lower back pain has come back. Trying to avoid taking a whole lot of meds. Wish I had an effective alternative method.

Menstrual Cycle Problems

Its funny that almost exactly a year ago I wrote a number of post on a similar problem. Last it seems I definitely got a virus and had menstrual problems.

This time it seems it is sinusitis and menstrual problems. I have to the gynecologist and he has put me onto a program of 10mg of provera for 3 weeks. But half through the treatment I blood flow has increased and I am now experience pain that I did not experience before. Cramps which come and go. The worse is the constant back pain. Walking, stretching, massaging etc. have not helped.
I have tried getting the gynae on the phone no luck.

After desperation I went back to chemist and they gave a anti-inflammatory Ponstel and Scopex for the cramping. I don't think I would have made it through work today without that.

I came home and I just could not function. I finally went to bed a 4pm and I got up now at 1am. Hoping my husband and daughter managed to do homework and eat properly. I know she woke me up st some stage to show me her painted face and to give me a kiss.

I know that I have a lot of small cysts in my womb and that is causing me to bleed weeks and weeks. Blood work test came back normal. So apparently its just my brain not sending the right message to my ovaries - so I skip 2 months then bleed for 7-8 weeks afterwards. This time is going onto 10 weeks (it stopped for 5 days when I started the Provera). The gynae also said that this problem will increase my chances for Cervical Cancer.

You may be wondering why blog about this. I never experienced problems with my cycle before. I would love to here from other women who have a similar experience and I know when I did a search last year to get more info I did not find as much I wanted to. I don't have any answers but at least other women can know they are not alone in dealing with similar problems.

WW

Interview with Nicole Graham

Interview with Nicole Graham, Business Goddess of Journals for Empowerment

Today we welcome Nicole Graham of Journals for Empowerment. Nicole is the co-author and co-publisher of the guided writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

1. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Sydney, Australia however I’ve not lived there for the past 9 years. I moved from there in 1999 and have lived in Melbourne, Darwin (in Australia) and now I live in Hong Kong with my husband and 2 furry cats.

2. How long have you been writing?

I found that when I moved from Australia to Hong Kong that I really started to enjoy writing. I have been keeping journals on and off for years, and it really depended on what I was going through at the time as to how much I wrote. The move to Hong Kong found me writing about my experiences in a new culture, as well about our adventures on our travels. I started a personal blog to keep family and friends up-to-date, and have been blogging ever since. I still journal as this is more personal and for me only.

3. Why did you decide to create this journal?

My initial desire started with creating a cost effective journal that would inspire me to write in it. Living in Hong Kong I found it difficult to find a nicely covered writing journal that wasn’t overpriced. I then thought maybe I could create my own and sell them through my online store, www.moderngoddessgifts.com. This is when I contacted Tara to talk about using her paintings in her online gallery www.nirvanavisions.org as covers of the journals. From there we brainstormed and realised that we both had a passion to create beautiful, inspiring writing journals that empowered women.

4. How has creating this particular journal affected your life?

I’m so proud of what Tara and I have achieved. We started from an idea and have created a beautiful journal. On a more personal note, publishing the journal is just more evidence that when I set my mind to something and I allow the Universe to support me, I can achieve great things. It has given me the confidence to step out of my comfort zone and trust that the Universe will conspire to help me move forward and grow. It has given me faith that I can work with another person to bring such an empowering project together.

5. What do you do for fun?

There are a couple of things I really enjoy... spending time with my husband out and about in Hong Kong, travelling and we’re very blessed to be able to do this, spending time with the girls either out or at book club, painting, reading and photography.

I also enjoy my time watching fun, romantic comedies... I’m a sucker for romance.

6. Do you have any special offers for those reading this interview?

Yes! We are currently on our Virtual Book Tour promoting our journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess. Followers of the tour can enter our competition to win a Meditation Kit consisting of a ‘How to Guide’ to Meditation, a pack of incense sticks, gratitude /meditation beads, 5 Goddess affirmation cards, an amethyst gemstone (the stone of meditation). To read more, visit our Competitions page - http://www.journalsforempowerment.com/virtual-book-tours/competitions/

Simone, thanks for interviewing me and being one of our hosts for our virtual book tour.

Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

About the Journal for the Modern Goddess:

This beautiful hard covered, spiral bound writing journal helps women uncover the beautiful, unique and powerful Goddess that they really are.

The journal features 6 coloured inserts with inspirational quotes, guided questions, affirmations and 204 lined pages for journaling. The coloured inserts divides the journal into sections - Gratitude and Happiness; Moving Forward; Dreams and Visions; Journal Pages; Guided Meditation; and Sanctuaries and Sisterhood.

The companion guided meditation CD features 3 tracks that provide women with sacred journeys that inspire and encourage them to create positive life patterns. These tracks help them to recognise and invite magic, inspiration and loving energy into their lives.

The journal retails for $34.95 AUD including GST.

To view or purchase the journal, please visit Nicole and Tara’s website, Journals for Empowerment. Please click on the banner above this blog

The next stop on our virtual book tour is over at Diva Promotions where we are talking to Emma’s readers about ‘Working with Affirmations’. Emma’s blog is http://divapromotions.wordpress.com/

Tails # 1

Heads or Tails hosted by Skittle.

Tails -List 7 things from any category of your choice.

7 Movies I have watched over and over again:

1. Grease
2. My Fair Lady
3. Sound of Music
4. Joseph
5. Jesus Christ Superstar
6. Fiddler on the Roof
7. A knight's Tale

They are all musicals. There are a few others but these are the ones I own.

Quote for the week

Others can stop you temporarily - you are the only one who can do it permanently. ~Zig Ziglar