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my novel-in-progress Random thoughts Writing

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I’ve decided, instead of New Year’s resolutions for 2019, to try implementing two pieces of advice I’ve been given in the past several years.

The first was from a nurse helping me through depression following the birth of child number 2. Her piece of advice (among many others, most of which I use regularly) was to have realistic expectations – for myself, as well as for others. That’s a tricky one for me – but one I’m going to try to remember in 2019.

The second was a few years ago, from New York literary agent extraordinaire, Janet Reid. She wrote a blogpost responding to a question I’d sent her; the gist of her answer was for me ‘to focus’. Again, something which is going to require more than a little training, for those of you who know me IRL… but something that’s worthwhile, I think.

So in 2019 I plan to ‘focus’ on my writing. The novel-in-progress, that is, not my blog. Hence the plan to post photos each week. Starting with this:

 

The view from one of my early-morning writing spots. Peaceful. Quiet.

Amazing, hey!

Anyway, here’s wishing you a wonderful week, dear Reader 🙂

– KRidwyn

Categories
Work

On chocolate and other seasonal treats

Hubby and I were talking about weight the other day. He’d been bemoaning his weight increase since having to cut back his gym sessions a few months back, on account of his arthritic hip diagnosis. But when I mentioned that I, too, had a little extra on my waistline I wouldn’t mind losing, he said, “Well, don’t eat so much chocolate then.”

Oh, to be felled by a simple phrase! Less chocolate? The world would cease to spin!

Once the initial shock passed though, and the world recommenced turning, the truth became clear. How can I honestly expect my gym sessions to assist my waistline reduction plan, when I supplement my diet with sugary treats every time I’m offered them?

And, at this time of year, it’s easier than ever to consume that sugary goodness. Every second Christmas gift from students or colleagues is chocolate. Or cupcakes. Or rocky road. Not to mention the Christmassy food that other staff open, and share with everyone. Great for exercising willpower… not!

But that, I guess, is what it all comes down to. Willpower means effort. Means intentional decision-making, not just reacting to the situation without a pre-planned “if this, then that” course of action.

If offered chocolate, say, “Thanks, but no.”

If given chocolate as a gift, thank the gift-giver, then open AND SHARE.

Limit sugary intake.

Maintain exercise routines as much as possible.

And most importantly: rethink waistline expectations. Perhaps that waistline measurement goal is more realistic for end-of-January, not end-of-December.

And seeing as today’s the 17th of December, perhaps releasing myself from my too-hard-not-going-to-make-it goal would be best for my own mental health…

Would you agree, dear Reader?

KRidwyn

Categories
Random thoughts

What will you do?

Squeezing the marrow out of life (well, sucking it, actually) is an idea I was pondering the other day. Life happens. It passes so quickly… although for some, I guess, they’d believe it passes slowly. My viewpoint is different.

So, my question: how to squeeze everything out of life that I could possibly want to?

I recall once reading an interview with Susan Sarandon, who said, “The trick to life is to be awake in it.”

This is the @KRidwyn version of that same idea: ‘You have five minutes. How will you fill them?’

Live life in five minute intervals. What will I do in the next five minutes? If I only have five minutes left to live, how will I spend my time?

Most people, I guess, would *not* say ‘just waiting around’. No – the short time frame forces us to consider options. ‘Many’ get narrowed to ‘several’, depending on location, probably, and available resources. These ‘several’ are then discriminated between, depending on… hmmm. Likeability?

Because I’m thinking, that that’s what it all boils down to.

What do I *like* doing?

Hugging my kids, my husband. Writing? Reading?

And that, dear Reader, is time up!

Have a great week!

— KRidwyn

PS Five minute intervals. What will you fill them with?

Categories
Life Random thoughts

On sleep…

So I’ve been a self-diagnosed insomniac for years now. And I’ve kinda always prided myself on what I’ve been able to accomplish on minimal unconscious time.

But I’m coming to the realisation that these days I can do less and less.

And that saddens me.

Time was, I could go to bed at 2am, get up at 4am, do a 16 hour day, or an 18 hour day, or perhaps even more… and do it all again the following day.

No more though.

I’ve always been an early riser. At the moment, I’m up at around the 4 – 4.15am mark. And I love that. I love my morning routine, and I never want to give it up.

But it’s meaning that I can’t stay up too late at night. And that’s the bit I don’t like. I crave the ‘me’ time I get, after the cherubs are in bed for the night. Perhaps I’m just being a little too selfish? Wanting ‘me’ time prior to 6am, and again in the evenings?

I’ve been told I’m a pragmatic person. Realistic. Maybe I am; I don’t see it myself. And I certainly don’t want to acknowledge it in this particular set of circumstances! I want to have my awake time and keep my patience (and my sanity) too 🙁

I guess that’s my arrogance talking though, yeh? And that’s a little embarrassing.

So I’m going to stop typing now. And try this week to (as a wise friend once suggested) be ‘rhythmic in my rest’. Feel free to join me in a ‘seeking sleep’ quest this week 🙂 or not, too 🙂

Either way, have a great week, dear Reader!
— KRidwyn

Categories
Life places to visit teaching Work

[This post is a cheat]

Well – kinda.

It’s still me writing, at my desk, putting words onto the little white rectangle on the computer screen in front of me.

But it’s not Monday morning, the 17th of September, 9am.

It’s last week (well, it will be last week, by the time you read this – and I know that this sentence isn’t grammatically correct from when I write this, but it’ll make sense when you read this later… I hope!) and yes, there *is* indeed a very valid reason for this cheating post, which I’ve written and scheduled ahead of time.

I’m in Canberra right now. Or Sydney. Or en route to one of those places. At this point in the planning of the event (because it hasn’t happened yet) I’m still a little fuzzy on the details.

But Hubby is at home with Miss10 and Master9 and my mum, keeping the house fire burning (although maybe not, because the weather’s starting to warm up nicely and it might be too hot by the time this post is published, to need a nightly fire) because Miss13 and I are with sixty-nine other 12- and 13-year olds, enjoying (ha! hopefully ‘surviving’, at least) a week-long camp to our nation’s capital and other ‘worthwhile to visit for educational purposes’ places.

Hence the need to post ahead of time. I have absolutely no idea where I’ll be at 9am on Monday 17th September, but I *do* know that multiple kids will be there. All with pre-teen and early-teen needs, which is to say MULTITUDES!

Sigh. I’m tired now, even just thinking about it. And I haven’t even started packing yet.

So. That’s what my week’s going to be like. How about you?

– KRidwyn

Categories
More about me teaching Work

in which I get pragmatic…

I’m directing a musical at the moment. Performance dates Thursday 9th and Saturday 11th August. That’s pretty close! And it’s a pretty huge undertaking – over half the student population of my school is involved, in one way or another.

So because everything’s ramping up and I’m getting even less time to blog than I usually would, I’m going to make this post short and just say, YAY! We’re alive and have the chance for happiness, both for ourselves and to bring happiness to those we interact with every day 🙂

Here’s praying you have a wonderful week, dear Reader – a blessed week, a happy one!
– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity momentous events

Sipping from the saucer #24

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #24. And yes, it’s super late because on Saturday last, when I picked up the heavy washing basket full of wet towels, I felt my spine ‘give’ and thought to myself ‘Great – not – I’ve thrown my back out again.’

But the truth became more clear with x-rays on Monday late morning. Nope – it was a herniated disc. Hmmm.

But back to the blessing: between the pain and the x-ray, guess what Hubby went and bought for me:

What a good man I have – and what a relief to be able to live in a country and have sufficient funds to be able to purchase pain meds!

Here’s hoping you also had a blessed day, dear Reader 🙂

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges

Sipping from the saucer #21

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

And now? For blessing #21.

And this post *should* have been published yesterday – but with the craziness of this week, I’m going to chalk that one up to ‘lack of timely organisation’ and smile cheesily at you. Sorry about that.

This blessing comes courtesy of Miss10, who I’m guessing was inspired to look for blessings while reading this blog the other day. You see, yesterday afternoon, Mr9 vomited.

He’s not normally a vomit-y child; it’s been while since he’s done so. But yesterday afternoon was one such occasion.

It wouldn’t have been too bad if we hadn’t been driving home at the time. Or if he’d warned me. Or if I hadn’t been in the fast lane, on a traffic-laden main road.

Oh well. This stuff happens.

So how is this a blessing exactly, you may be asking? You know, I was thinking exactly that when Miss10 suggested it too.

The blessing comes when you realise that yesterday, I was driving our Toyota Aurion. The six year old car, which I wasn’t actually meant to be driving. The car I *was* meant to be driving was the 3 week old Toyota HiLux.

Aha! The blessing!

I have a feeling that Hubby would have hit the roof had our son decided to redecorate the inside of the new car. The old one? It was, well, not quite ‘okay’ but certainly a lot more palatable. (Ha! Wrong word right there, yes? Although I’m chortling as I type, so maybe it was the right word for me… now I’m cleaned up the entire mess, and slept, so it’s yesterday’s story and not today’s reality LOL)

Anyway, I’m choosing to agree with Miss10. Thank you, LORD, that I had driven the Aurion yesterday. Because cleaning that one, was far preferable!

Here’s hoping you could find blessings in your day too, dear Reader 🙂

– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity Random thoughts

Sipping from the saucer #19

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #19.

Have I mentioned it’s been COLD???

(And regular Readers of this blog may remember that I absolutely HATE cold, with a capital EVERYTHING)

so these are the blessings I’m counting today:

my fireplace 🙂

and:

my electric blanket 😀 😀 😀

Stay warm, everybody! And be blessed today!

– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity Random thoughts

Sipping from the saucer #18

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #18.

It’s a busy time of term (of semester, actually) at work – I’ve noticed I’m pulling more hours just to get things done, and the amount of time I’m spending staring at my laptop screen is just sad.

I’ve also noticed I’m wearing my glasses more and more. I can complete work faster if I’m wearing them, so they’re on my eyes while I’m at my desk, more often than not.

And I’m starting to realise just how much I’m relying on them. Not that that’s a bad thing; it’s probably just an ‘inevitable’ thing, instead. But no, it’s just that today I was thinking: I’m glad I have them. I’m glad I have the opportunity to put something on my eyes to assist me in doing the things I need (or want!) to do. So many? Don’t. I wouldn’t want to hazard a guess at exactly how many people there are in this world, who need assistance just to be able to see, but who can’t get that assistance for a variety of reasons.

So that’s what I want to thank my God for today. For the sense of sight. And even though it may not be what it once was, for the blessing I have of owning a pair of glasses which assist me to still read, and write, and… well, everything.

They’re pretty cool 🙂

Here’s wishing you a blessing-full day as well, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn