How not to impress potential house-buyers...

I did wonder if the skirt was a little bit too figure-hugging when I put it on this morning. After all, I don’t quite have the flat tummy I had a few years ago but Michael assured me it looked fine (he usually tells the truth whether I like it or not!). Off we went to look at a house and all was well until the estate agent got chatting to me about my job and said “so, you’re having a little one of your own then.” Needless to say, the skirt is now going in the charity shop pile.

Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive

Negative comments and criticism often seems to hold more weight than positive feedback. Unkind remarks, criticism, hurtful comments – all these take root, echoing round and round in our heads. Compliments, on the other hand, seem to be forgotten much more quickly – sometimes even dismissed instantly. Are we afraid to take them on board because we are afraid of becoming conceited, or just because we don’t really believe them? I once started keeping a “compliments book” to try and help me focus on the positive words not the negatives. Five years on, I’ve still only managed to fill a few pages.

When not to write...

I should really know better by now than to try and write my 100 words just before bedtime when I’m tired and feeling frazzled and my creative energy is at its lowest. I think I end up leaving it so late because I’m hoping that I can write about something that happened during the day but when it’s been a fairly ordinary day (go to work, come home, have dinner and watch TV, go to bed), there’s not a lot to write about and I can’t remember what it was that I’d thought of writing about earlier in the day.

Posters and politics

One of the good things about the forthcoming election is the spoof posters being circulated online. Particularly the ones taking off the “I’ve never voted Tory before, but...” style posters. My personal favourite is “I’ve never voted Tory before because I’m 7 and I like the Power Rangers.” In terms of poster coverage, the Tories seem to have the upper hand though – I can’t remember seeing a single memorable poster for the Labour party and even the spoof anti-Tory ones still bring the focus back to the Conservative Party. My vote isn’t likely to be swayed by poster campaigns though...

Full of the joys of spring

Spring seems to have finally arrived – what a beautiful day it has been. The sun has been shining, the trees are covered in blossom, the daffodils I planted two years ago have finally made an appearance in my garden, I’ve been able to put washing on the line and best of all, the traffic has been free-flowing resulting in stress-free journeys to and from work. Plus hubby came home from work earlier than expected so we get to spend the whole evening together. Will the good vibes last through to tonight’s pub quiz? It’s been ages since our team won.

Catching up and crash-landings

I seem to end up working most bank holidays so it made a nice change for Michael and me to both have the day off and be able to spend it together. We went to visit a couple of friends for lunch followed by Michael flying his helicopter in the local park which unfortunately was also followed by Michael crash-landing his helicopter and breaking the blades (fortunately the crash-landing looked worse than it actually was and the damage wasn’t too extensive). It didn’t stop the helicopter flying though – the rest of the afternoon was spent flying the little indoor ones.

Easter activities

The day started well – a lovely early morning walk with some people from church (and our minister’s very cute, very friendly Labrador puppy who was very excited about going for a walk with everyone, but much less keen on going on his first bus ride to get to the start point!) followed by breakfast at church before the morning service. I did an Easter egg hunt with my Junior Church group before going in for the second half of the service where we decorated the cross with white flowers in memory of loved ones who are no longer with us.

Dismantling the labyrinth

There were a few more visitors to the labyrinth today thanks to the coffee morning and Phil and Tany also came over to have a wander through the labyrinth and then pose for a few photos for the website (plus a couple of comedy ones which won’t be on the website!) Most of the afternoon was spent dismantling it all – fortunately lots of willing helpers (where were they all when we were building it?!) and so it was very quick – had I not suggested trying some atmospheric lighting for tomorrow’s service, we would have been done and dusted by teatime.

Easter labyrinth

When I left the labyrinth earlier this morning it wasn’t quite at the finished stage – tools still lying about, stations not completely set up, lighting not fully programmed. It looked good, but seeing the end result yesterday was even better. Michael has done an amazing job at turning Elizabeth’s (our minister) plans into reality and even though there weren’t that many visitors yesterday (town was a little quiet in general), the ones who did come found it very striking, and thought-provoking. Hopefully they will tell their friends so that we have more visitors tomorrow and coffee morning should also help.

Building a labyrinth

I’ve been helping Michael build this year’s Easter labyrinth at church. Last year, the labyrinth was constructed using chairs to mark out the route – it worked, but looked a bit like a furniture warehouse. This year, Michael is on board and therefore we have lots of staging and fancy lighting (which also means a lot more work was involved!) I spent nearly all of last night at the church helping with labyrinth construction (and dozing on a chair when not needed). Pulling an all-nighter when on call is probably not the brightest idea though – fingers crossed for no babies tonight!