Christmas Calendar 2016 # 4
Christmas Calendar 2016 # 3
Christmas Calendar 2016 # 2
Christmas Calendar 2016 # 1
I love Christmas time. It develops its own energy starting from December 1. In our family, the festive season begins with advent calendars, the daily dose if chocolate that never fails to bring a smile. I hope to replicate this positive feeling by posting a daily inspiring quote.
Spend Your Time Wisely
Do you have a wish list of dreams you want to achieve? Most of us do and the good news is that with focus we have the power to make them happen.
Like water through peculation turns into amazing coffee, we can focus our energy into achieving our dreams and watch them develop before our eyes. Yes, it takes time. So does anything worth having. Because quality is never thrown together.
Give this, let’s think about how much of our spare time can redirect into focusing on our goals. Most of us could spare half an hour a day with a little tweaking. Do you realise that even as little as half an hour a day, every day for a year turns into 182 hours.
How are you spending yours?
Share Your World – 2016 Week 46
Are you a traveler or a homebody?Â
I love travelling. I find exploring new places, their history and culture fascinating. Unfortunately, the longest time I have traveled is 6 weeks. However, I look forward to spending my long service leave travelling to far off lands in the next few years.
PS. Most of the world is far off when you live in Australia.
What kind of TV commercial would you like to make? Describe it.
I don’t think I would want to make a TV commercial, although I have been in two and not actually paid for either. The first was planned and I was shopping for baby goods in my friends’ parents baby shop. I was young and it was fun making it.
The second commercial I was in was for the first season of The Voice in Australia. I had seen the battles being taped live and as we were leaving they asked for our opinions. I must have done a great job as suddenly people were telling me I was on TV advertising The Voice. Personally, I was never lucky enough to see me on TV but it had my family, friends, colleagues and patients talking for weeks.  Fortunately, one of my friends sent me a photo of it on her TV. Gotta love technology these days. I think that I look okay for midnight. 
Describe yourself in a word that starts with the first letter of your name.
Maternal, mindful, motivated
List some fun things for a rainy day.
- Skipping in the rain
- Jumping in puddles
- Sitting by an open fire reading a book
- Playing board or card games with the family
- Sleeping especially under a metal roof
- Baking
- Planning my next holiday
- Mindful colouring-in
- Art and craft work
- Spending the day in a museum
- Blogging
- Writing
- Playing Wi games with the family
- Swimming but only if there is no lightening
Bonus question: Â What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?Â
Last week I was grateful for family time celebrating my son’s birthday. Â Even though he was overseas, my husband, daughter and I went out and enjoyed his favourite food.
This week I hope to finish painting my kitchen cupboards and finally decide where things will belong permanently in my new home.
Coffee Catch-Up #17
If we were having coffee I would tell you that I can’t believe its been two months since our last coffee. Moving and having no or limited internet access changed my world and blogging wasn’t a simple task. It made my world quieter but didn’t stop me from connecting with my fellow bloggers, by reading their blogs during my limited windows of time. I finally have the internet connected I plan on getting my blogging back on track as I think it helps me communicate more efficiently in everyday life. By this I mean I waffle less because I focus more on short concise sentences. It feels great to be back and I realise from your kind words how well we all support each other.
If we were having coffee I would tell you I have been at my new job three months and I feel very much a part of the team. I am also slowly learning the differences between the two hospitals. It has been weird but freeing to go from knowing most things at one hospital to knowing little and needing to build up my knowledge source at the other. I think I am winning although I definitely still learn new things daily.
If we were having coffee I would tell you the weather is warming up in Australia and I am looking forward to my first swim of the season. I was excited about a month ago when I realized that according to Dr Goggle, the beach is only half an hours walk from my house. I definitely hope he’s correct because what a great encouragement to walk regularly. In Sydney I never got to the beach because it takes hours and parking especially is a big hassle.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was last Friday to have my new washing machine delivered. Talk about small things amusing small minds. Wow! What a difference having one on site makes. I think I definitely took doing the washing for granted before. It was just something annoying that needed to be done. My new washer I have made my friend and it even tells me how long before the load is finished—a very helpful tool. Another thing related to washing that I had forgotten is how cool Hills Hoist Clothes lines are. They move around in the breeze, carry a lot of clothes and dry the washing so much faster. Mine may be an oldie but its a goodie.
Photo Credit: Google
If we were having coffee I would tell you how our new house was robbed over the October long weekend. They broke through forcing the door and cherry picked there way through the small amount of belongings we had left at the house to begin work. Its funny the thing that made me suspicious that something was wrong was the fact that I couldn’t find the old radio tape player to give me music whilst I painted. Â So, I did what wives do. I rang my husband assuming that he had moved it and together we realised what had happened as he listed things and I tried to find them. The worst part was that I then had to wait alone in what was now a scary house for me for the police. I couldn’t concentrate on painting so I read but the police didn’t come. Eventually I rang the police assistance line again only to be told that they would be coming the next day and had left hours ago but nobody bothered to tell me. I was annoyed but at the same time relieved to be able to go to the safety of my mothers house.
The next morning I arrived five minutes before the policewoman agreed to meet me and walked around the back only to find the back door wide open. I ran, panicking to the safety of my car  and willed her to come quickly. Fortunately she was on time. She then lead the way through the house to find that whoever was there had definitely left. She finger printed the back door and showed me how she believed they had gotten in. Now our house is locked like Fort Knox but at least it feels safe again. On reflection it gave me insight on how some people must live, as while a few things may have been sale able, most of what they took from us was edible, drinkable or for home care.
If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Its been a while so I hope life has been good to you. Let me know in the comments.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Tiny
TINY LIFEGUARD AT LENNOX HEAD, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA
Coffee Catch-Up #16
If we were having coffee I would tell you what an interesting week I’ve had. Working less opens up more exciting opportunities that I would have normally missed out on.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about Parramatta Toastmasters 50th birthday celebrations on Thursday night. It was a special night with stories from Russ Walkington, the gentlemen whose ideas and  hard work made it to happen in the first place. What a dynamic speaker. He said it took a lot of convincing however once Parramatta Toastmasters Club started in September 1966 it had been a great success.  I was a little surprised however that for the first 25 years it was a men’s only club, with women not allowed to join until August, 1990, actually 2 days before my wedding. The women joining of course brought them even more success and in 1996, Parramatta Toastmasters Club was recognised as the fourth top Toastmaster club in the world.
Also at the dinner were many past members who have gone on to do great things as well as a few charter (original) members. One of my favorite thing was the parade of past Presidents of which there were 19 of the 49 present on the night. They were piped in by one of the current club members wearing his kilt and took up 3 lines on the stage.
Happy Birthday Parramatta Toastmasters Club
If we were having coffee I would tell you how exciting it was to hear Toastmaster’s 2016-2017 International President Mike Storkey, DTM speak at Parramatta’s 50th Birthday. He was an inspiration and encouraged everyone to focus on the future not just  live on past successes. I agree. Life is definitely a journey, with the more interesting views coming after a challenging climb.
If we were having coffee I would tell you what a great day I had on Friday at Better Homes and Gardens Live. Better Homes and Gardens is  Australia’s favourite TV show and magazine, which brings together ideas for renovating, decorating homes and gardens as well as advice about pets. From the shows stars I learnt about chalk paint —making furniture restoration fun, quick and easy desserts and how to cook the perfect roast pork. Once we have finally settled into our new home, I look forward to testing out these and other ideas from my day out.
Education aside, I would have to say the most fun was had at the end of the day with Fast Ed attempting to make pigs fly. He attached helium balloons to his pig shaped shortbread cookies and willed them to fly. In the end it took 3 helium balloons to finally get lift off and they kept going until they rested on the ceiling.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about supporting my husband yesterday by going to the cinema with him to see The Beatles Eight Days a Week—The Touring Years. This documentary by Ron Howard  made sense of the Beatles Journey. Prior to this my knowledge of the Beatles was minimal however they really were game changers in more than the music scene. The movie is based around their 815 shows in 4 years performed around the globe. It was fascinating to see from old footage, the impact The Beatles had in a very different world and to consider problems like early crowd control. At the end of the movie came half an hour of seeing the Beatles live at Shea Stadium, New York concert. It was the biggest ever concert at the time involving 55,000 people. Amazing results, especially when you consider that they couldn’t hear where they were up to in the songs because of the loudness of the fans screams. If you get the opportunity, even if your not a big Beatles fan, take a break from today’s world, travel back 50 years and take in some history. Its well worth it. Ron Howard, you did a great job.
If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Let me know in the comments.