Yesterday, our new car arrived, just in time for the Christmas rush. My daughter is so excited with the car’s mp4 connections and because it is red, so really life is complete!

As I woke up this morning, I looked out to the drive, the new car is out there covered in snow, there is no noise and the whole street is picture perfect. All made me think that for me, what is making me really happy this Christmas is having my all my family around for our big family reunion and all what comes with that, sitting late at night laughing and cheering, being tired and making a mess in the living room and my last minute search for things I already bought and wrapped but can not remember where I hid it!

Praise God for all his provision for us and giving us a loving family and wonderful friends.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

All I want for Christmas is ...... nothing!

As the search for the right present intensifies, there are more unusual gift ideas online to come to the rescue of those of us who are struggling. But, here is an idea that really made me smile. You know those people who say "I do not want anything for Christmas this year" and you really never sure what to get for them, here it is, their wish of "nothing". The grantee on the site (gettingpersonal.com) is that:
This gift is guaranteed to do absolutely nothing. If something happens, return for a full refund.
There is only one more thing to say, they charge you 3.95 for the gift of nothing! Genius.

I had the chance to go and attend the El Divo concert. It was FANTASTIC. The whole production was great and the group were amazing. The energy in the Apollo was electric and people (mainly women) were over eager to see them and hear them sing. On the way to the theatre, we can see the marks of husbands and boyfriends been dragged to the venue :). But the majority of men in there were on their best behaviour except one gentleman who sat at the end of my row who let us say, had more drinks than he should (and I am not talking about orange juice). Midway into the show he was shouting things out load to those in front of him and 10 min later the lady who was with him took him outside and they never returned. I think she just needed a word with him!
For me, the whole night was wonderful and the performance was one of their best ever and I can not wait until I have another chance to see them again, better start saving!

IL DIVO...I CAN NOT WAIT !

Back for good...

Today and after 14 years absence, I joined the church choir for the Christmas carols. I was so emotional sitting there and singing with everyone. It has been a LONG time for me not being in a choir. So much has happened in the last 14 years and I kind of lost an important part of “me”. I am trying to go back to basics and the wonderful time I had serving my God, including singing and worshiping Him. Trying to find my “first love” to God and to get my priorities right. Being in a choir might be a simple thing for a lot of people, but for me it has always been my love and joy and it is wonderful to be back. Praise God that we have a wonderful story to tell and joyful news to share with everyone, that He is great. Happy Christmas everyone.

Hairy day 2

After the success of hairy day, here is the sequel. I am glad to report that I was offered another hair colour free of charge together with an apology to correct what happened before (see previous blog).
Funnily enough, I was the one who was apologising about complaining and I made a note to myself: be happy with whatever they do today, do not book another appointment soon and relay on yourself (as I used to) to do my own colouring.
The end results were good, mind you, it is “colour that respect your hair”, never mind respect the customer, however, I am glad that I do not have to wear a hat for going outside anymore :)

Hairy day

Today I went to the hair dresser as a routine visit, I thought I will treat myself to a hair colour and nice style. At the point where they bring the mirror to show you the back of the hair, I do not think in the history of hair dressing, that anyone actually said: I do not like it (sounds like little Britain sketch), except for today. I found some courage inside me to just say: is it supposed to be that ORANGE?
I felt I had to say something. The funny thing was the explanation that came after that. As the “colour consultant” was called to have a look (presumably told that there is a difficult woman who doesn’t like her hair colour), she came and had a look and said to me: it is lighter than usual but this is because you are here under the light. Ahh, that explained it, all I need to do now is to conduct all my activities at night and avoid being out in the day time, I resisted to reply. The great thing is the ad for the colour “ A colour that respect your hair”. True to the point!

I am a parent...get me out of here!

Now I can safely say that I am approaching the honourable position of being a “teenager’s mum” very fast. This is not because my daughter is going to be a teenager soon but she is sure on her way when it comes to difficult questions, debates, opinions etc. It is great that kids have their own views and they are not easily lead, [sometimes I wish they are easily lead just a bit, like when it comes to convince them that more TV is not really good, or letting the cat in now is not a good idea especially that it is not our cat J ]. Last night, we had a great debate over baptism (I know!). My daughter’s view was that she was so little to decide which church, what dress to wear and who to invite and that it is not fair that I said no to another baptism. She said she wants to make her own decision which I completely respect and I said that when she does, I am happy that we can have a blessing (and a party of course). But she wanted to be “dunked in water” she said. ARRRRGH!

Now, why did God create Adam and Eve as adults? My guess is that even God wanted to avoid the growing up bit. There were no terrible twos, or tantrums, messy rooms, or constant “why” in Eden. But on a serious note, if they were kids in Eden, they would have been perfect and how could that be? Even as adults they messed up and we are where we are now. But praise God for His mercy and for our kids. I just need to pray to have more wisdom (quick).

Back from the stone age..

So, at last I have now made it back to the 21 century and got an Internet connection back. It felt so strange without my Internet but glad to say that "I am Back".
Thank you all for your kindness. So, I will get ready for more blogs as there are no excuses now :)

Making it to the other side

So....at last, we have moved! Praise God for He is so great. We have been blessed with so many wonderful things and above all, great friends and family who helped us great deal in the last 2 weeks. Moving day itself was so much fun and we had so many helpers and so all was done by lunch time. I counted 95 boxes and about 20 large bags + the furniture items and endless last minute carry bags. Tomorrow, it will be 2 weeks since we moved to our new place and it already started to feel like home. Not having a phone line or an internet connection was so difficult but after a while we started to enjoy just sitting down together and not getting interrupted by anything. So, as we resume normal activities, a big cheer for all our friends and family and for all those who were praying for us and showing us God’s love in a very practical way, may we one day do the same for you.

Staying sane in the face of ..... packing!

Last night I drove my car at mid night to our 24 hours Tesco store to get...BOXES, as I am packing to move house. We ran out of boxes last night and I went to get some more. So far, the house looks pretty much the same and in addition there are about 35 boxes around everywhere (and still counting). Today, I spent all day packing my daughter's room and I never knew how much crafts and games we had. Staying sane in the face of it all is a challenge. Trying to focus on the positive, for example, how many boxes I have already done and finding things we have been looking for for some time and not to think about "how on earth am I going to sort it all out when we actually move to the new place". As I picked the boxes from the store, a nice sale assistant asked me: "do you need a hand?" I said to her: "I am fine here, I need help filling them up". She laughed.
Trusting God with all and sure of his presence in every step.

Computer Blessings

Today, I got this prayer from a dear friend of mine. so nice

Every single evening
As I'm lying here in bed,
This tiny little Prayer
Keeps running through my head:

God bless all my family
Wherever they may be,
Keep them warm
And safe from harm
For they're so close to me.

And God, there is one more thing
I wish that you could do;
Hope you don't mind me asking,
Please bless my computer too.

Now I know that it's unusual
To Bless a motherboard,
But listen just a second
While I explain it to you, Lord.

You see, that little metal box
Holds more than odds and ends;
Inside those small compartments
Rest so many of my friends.

I know so much about them
By the kindness that they give,
And this little scrap of metal
Takes me in to where they live.

By faith is how I know them
Much the same as you.
We share in what life brings us
And from that our friendships grew.

Please take an extra minute
From your duties up above,
To bless those in my address book
That's filled with so much love.

Wherever else this prayer may reach
To each and every friend,
Bless each e-mail inbox
And each person who hits 'send'.

When you update your Heavenly list
On your own Great CD-ROM,
Bless everyone who says this prayer

We spent last week in Wales with the church in a bible holiday and what a week it has been! nice weather, great teaching, fellowship with the church family and fun activities, what more do you wish for. Coming back I was thinking that the hard bit was not reading and studying the bible or getting on with other Christians who we may not really know so well but the hard part is living this out back in the real world, when it is stressful and challenging and upsetting some time. Praise God for He is the same yesterday, today and for ever and He is the source of our strength and energy. Amen

Last night I had a very nice time watching Joeph in the theater.
What a story and what a prduction. Amazing!

Ready for another challenge?

After a successful run last weekend, I got my eyes set on another challenge, a 10 Mile (16K) midnight walk in September. So, my count down clock is back on, the training is on its way and I am back to more pasta and rice!

So, the day came and the count down was over and I had to take my place and run my 10K. what a day it was! wonderful and fantastic. I really enjoyed it immensely. The pasta and rice I had last week paid off and i finished in 77 min which is a new record for me.

high point: passing on Westminster bridge and realising I passed the 8K mark and not 7k, I was over the moon.
low point: seeing the fast runners on the other side of the Thames while I am still trying to get to my 3K mark.
great comments: the crowds were fantastic and some were thanking me for running for Diabetes UK charity.
nice slogon: a guy with a T shirt that said : Give me a hug, I am special

As I crossed the finish line, there were people handing water bottels followed by some people handing leaflests about upcoming running events! now, talk about good timming and trying to pick a good moment to ask people to do a half marathon run just after a 10K.

the good news was that i finished my run and raised a lot of money for Diabetes UK, the bad news is that I have to be at work all day tomorrow :)

Pasta, rice and rest

Yesterday, I ran my longest distance so far 8.4 K in 65 min! Was too hot but felt great after that. My personal trainer suggested that this should be the last run before my big day. She said it is recommended not to do the whole distance before a run so I can keep pushing myself on the day. So, from now till the day of the run, it will be pasta, rice and rest.

keep on running

As the date approach for my 10K run, I started to go to the gym every day in an attempt to calm my nerves and get more training. Today and for the first time, I ran 7K and I am so pleased with that. 5K was my barrier and it was more of a mental barrier than anything else. I do not feel any pain at the moment (who knows about later on). The funny thing is that, as I run I can see how many calories I have burned and at a point when I feel like death, I look at the machine and see that I have burned 70 calories and I am filled with despair as I am sure only looking at a bar of chocolate will make me gain 70 calories!
my aim now is to run faster and get to 10K in one piece before my actual race.

thank you for the music

The weekend was lovely and I really enjoyed listening to a performance by our local brass band. The theam was movie and theater music and it was so nice and a great evening. so thanks for the music that lift up our moods and this is for fun... not a real image from the band :)

How would you like your shoe-laces today sir?

Having choices seems to be the name of the day...choices in every and anything we have, buy and do. But, how many choices do we really need to do up shoes laces? MANY is the answer and here are some ideas....enjoy and good luck trying them out. (thanks to my brother for sending me this).

As last summer was cancelled, the minute I saw the weather forecast for the weekend, I decided that being on the beach was the sensible thing to do. It was PERFECT. We had such an amazing time, lovely sun shine, sea air and the most important ingredient: fish and chips. Let us hope this lovely weather lasts.

to facebook or not to facebook...that is the question

One of those nights where because of insomnia, I am sitting to write after all else failed to help me sleep.
Now when it comes to keeping up to date with technology to help keep in touch, I feel I am doing ok, except for one thing that is facebook! It seems now that everyone and I mean everyone is on facebook and the number of invitations I got to add people (even though I am not on facebook) is really big. apparently, people do not call anymore and emails seems too slow, even facebook will soon be not cool enough as twitter is taking over. So far I have resisted joining face book, but I feel it will not be for long. I still do not have faith in facebook but time will tell.

Cake, Candles and Birthdays

I was so busy in the last few days preparing for my daughter birthday party. Lots of organisation and preparation, from invitations to organising food, presents,etc. Deciding on how to design the invitation was like the middle east peace process negotiation. As my daughter wanted the invitation to be in the shape of a little book of information, pictures and stories given to each one of her friends. I voted against giving a "dossier" to each child and at the end we reached a compromise and we agreed to make the invitation long enough but not too long. As my daughter wanted a sport party, the decision was made to go for rock climbing and archery party (instead of cannoning and high rope which I felt was going to push my blood pressure to the limit with all aspects of health and safety). Praise God the party went really well and all had fun and more importantly, all were in one piece by the end of the 4 hour party celebration. At these times, I thank God for his mercy and that birthdays are only once a year. So time for me to have a little rest before we start counting down to Christmas :)

Bring on the excuses

As a parent, I know that kids are very clever and they know which buttons to press. But recently, I awarded my daughter the first prize in inventing excuses to get away from doing homework or music practice, etc. Here are the best excuses she has come up with (so far that is):

*I can not leave the cat alone and do my homework or else I will hurt his feelings
*I do not want to practice my music as my friend is not practising today and I do not want to be the only one who practice
*I need a back massage before I get changed to go to school
*I do not want to go swimming as I will get wet
*I have a bad headache can not do my homework but must watch TV to relax!
*I can not go to sleep because I m so tired (my favourite)

Run, run, run

Today, I went for to a village fete with one of my friends and we joined a 5K fun run as part of our preparation for the 10K run in July. It was very warm and the run started at mid day, so the heat was intense however, it was a good training for the big day. I finished in 42 min which is a good record for me as it used to take around 48 or 49 min. The funny thing was, as I went to collect my medal, I was given a medal with the number 1 written on it. It soon became apparent that this was the wrong medal for me and as much as I like to keep such a medal, I went and changed it to get the one I deserved, and here it is.

What is in your basket?

Today, I was helping at my daughter's school all morning. It is a great chance for me to give a hand to the teachers and support their work. This is something I have been doing for a long time, but today for the first time I was looking at all the kids in a very different way. I was thinking about Mouses and his mother. This mum was so worried about her little boy, afraid for his life and decided to do something very brave just to -may be- give him anther chance to live. She had no choice, she wanted to try and have one last attempt at saving his life. I was thinking about her getting the basket ready, making it comfortable for little Moses, covering the outside of the basket so it does not sink in the river. When she put her little son in the basket, what did she see? I think she saw a helpless little boy, a baby who can not defend himself, she saw a tiny person looking at her for protection and love. But God saw something else, He saw a leader, a great man, a man who will have problems and make mistakes, but a man who will trust in God and lead Israel.

So, what does that got to do with anything? I felt overwhelmed with the idea about what we see in our basket. seeing the kids today, learning, laughing and having fun made me think that sometimes as parents we see just what is under our nose, but God sees something else in my basket. A great child, a wonderful individual, a promising future. All I need is to tune in to God's vision and see what He sees in my basket.

Behind every great man..

I was asked to give a short presentation for a meeting at work. The session was really interesting and it ran till 8 pm. Sitting down listening to various speakers, I scanned the room and there were about 25 men and 4 women attending this meeting. It made me think that behind every great man there is a women. But what about great women? I think behind every great women is an army of people, friends, family and good kids. So, big cheer for those who are working behind the scenes for so many people.

I am the teapot short and stout...

Today I got a teapot and matching mugs to go with it. There should be nothing significant about this, however, it felt as a milestone towards being "old"! The idea of having "a proper cup of tea" with a nice teapot and matching napkins, a milk jug and some scones. I think the time of poring hot water direct from the kettle has gone and now I have to sit down and have my cup of tea at certain time with some cream cakes. I told my friends that with this new addition to the kitchen, there should also be no "pot noddles" and no out of the cans fruits! So, tomorrow I will enjoy my outdoor run followed by a nice cup of tea from my new teapot. I may be reading too much into this but I feel a bit older already with that new teapot.

Happy Easter

Old letter...same reality

Few days ago, I was going through some of my old cards and letters. I found this old letter from 2 of my friends which they sent me in the first term of going to university. We were in the same school, studied together and they went to university to study medicine and I went off to do dentistry. The letter was 6 A4 sheets (front and back) and it was all written in a poem style apart form the first part which included names and info about different people, teachers, lecturer, etc that were going to be mentioned later in the letter. It was hilarious to read then and when I sat and read it again it still is. All through the letter they explained about their frustration about the system and the different attitude in university life in comparison to being in school. How that success was not anymore dependant on your studying and more on how on board you were with students life and connections. Difficult tutors and problematic lecturers. That was a long time ago now but the experiences is still the same for many students I deal with on a daily basis. My friends now got their PhD and I did too, and it seems that we were not put off by the first change that we all encountered in the first few months of university life. We now miss being students and think back of these days and remember all the good times and the fun we all had. After reading the letter I thought I must get in touch with my friends again before our kids make the same learning choices and end up writing to us with similar letters!

It is Bond, Jasmine Bond

Last night as my daughter was getting ready for bed she wanted me to make up a story instead of reading a book together. I tried to resist of course (making up stories need rather hard work and concentration) however, she insisted and I started a story under clear instruction avoiding any nasty kings, bad knights or mean witches. So I went about a story that did not have any of the above trying to maintain some kind of excitements at the same time. So I started and said: "Long long ago, lived this nice king with his 4 daughters. One day in his big palace, there was lots of work as everyone was getting ready for the big day, one of the king's princesses was getting married..." before i went on my daughter stopped me and said:"mum, can i ask you something?" I said: "sure, go ahead", then my daughter said: "can you make one of the kings daughters be a spy agent?"

At that point i could not contain my laughter, it was so hilarious and so i asked my daughter if SHE would like to tell me the story, as she has all the ideas, what to include and what not to include, and what kind of daughters the king should have. Now what name could i give this rather nice spy agent? I thought Jasmine would be nice and so we can call the movie (there must be a movie later) "live nicely another day" or something like that!

Robot Mum

Here is the poem that my daughter and her class presented to all the mums for mother's day. Wonderful.

It never gets cross if you're messy
It picks up your rubbish and toys
If it sees a sad film on the telly
It won't make a snuffling noise

It's got a device to make pancakes
And another to polish your shoes
It will sweep up your crumbs from the carpet
Without never blowing a fuse

It shampoos the dog in a jiffy
It does all your homework as well
And never lets on to the teacher
You program it so it won't tell

It makes you whole cities from Lego
Sorts out your socks into pairs
It will cook you a bowl of spaghetti
The same time as cleaning the stairs

But its kisses are cold and metallic
It can't give you hugs if you're glum
It never says how much it loves you
I think I prefer my real mum.

(author anonymous)

Found out red handed

Last weekend I went to a girls night in with some friends from church, it is nice to get together and chat and catch up. The evening was nice and we decided to get some takeaway food, so I suggested my favourite takeaway and we chatted as we waited for the food. The door bell rang and my friend opened the door and as she was looking for the right change I offered to help and suddenly the delivery guy said: “you do not live here, you live at ....(and he told us my full address), you are the quite one who always asks not to ring the bell) :) Now, I was in a real dilemma, shall I congratulate him on his very good memory and excellent observation or shall I die in shame. Not only does he recognised me, he also remember where I lived and that I always ask them not to ring the bell (who wants to wake up the kids). All I can think about was how it is a small world and my friends were impresed although it doesn't reflect well on my cooking that I am so well known to my local takeaway !

Childern In Need? more like Parent In Need

For so many years now, Children In Need been going on as a charity and lots of funds been raised to help lots of people and today it is a big night for comic relief with more fund raising. As I listened to one comedian talking about children in need saying: "when did you ever see a child who is not in need? they are always in need of the latest toy, fashion item, etc". That made me think of starting my own charity: Parents In Need :) This is just about simple needs like
*A good night sleep.
*An uninterrupted bath.
*A small hand bag that actually has YOUR things and not your kids stuff (only mothers know that the size of your hand bag relate to how old are your kids and how many kids you have. The younger the child is the bigger your hand bag size).
*A trip to the shops without buying GOGOs figures or Pokemon cards.
*A night out without having to look for the push chair and then remember that you do not actually have one with you as the kids are already asleep at home.
*Not having to eat the rest of the kids meal (and pretend that you -in fact-love the chicken nuggets cold.
*A time to brush your hair in the morning before you get called to help one of the children in the bathroom.
And so many small requests that will make a difference to tired parents allover the country. Being a parent is a great blessing, so let us give a helping hand to parents and give them a chance to do the wonderful job that God trusted them with. Hooray for Parents In Need.

Boring is good

Today, I had a routine eye test. As I sat waiting for my turn, I was told about the new test to take a picture for the base of the eye showing arteries and veins supplying the eye (similar to the picture here). I had the test and went through all the various letters detection, test of eye pressure, glaucoma test, etc. It was all OK and the ophthalmologist told me, "you do not need any glasses..boring is good" he said to me as he handed me the test results. It means that good results are boring (to him I am sure) and he did not mention that good results means also No Money for buying frames, lenses etc. So let us celebrate "boring" if boring means "No Treatment Needed".

A History Lesson

History lessons used to be sitting down half asleep in a full class room listening to a middle aged teacher going on about something happened trillion years ago (in the eyes of the students anyway), but not any more. In the last few weeks my daughter's school been working with the kids to learn about the second world war and the climax today was to go to school and relive an evacuation day. The build up to the day has been great with lots of attempt to find suitable cloths that the kids could were to look as kids did back then. There was also another small matter of making a gas mask box with labels, etc. Today, arriving to school we felt as part of history and seeing the kids lining up with their name labels hanging from their outfits looked very strange, they looked like suite cases more than kids. As my daughter protested about her outfit 2 days ago branding it "not cool", I thought that is just the point of this exercise. The day was great and with special WW2 lunch and old time toys, the kids had a wonderful time reliving this part of history. I do not want to think of what they are going to do when they are studying Egyptian mummification techniques!

Pain pain go away come again another day..

OK, you know i am trying to keep to my fitness program to get ready for the London run later in July. So, yesterday i was at the gym and i felt great, I ran 3.5K and did 13K on the bike. Now, it was all well and good while i was still at the gym and after i came back. However, today the aches and pains are very evident and it seems that they are here to stay. So, let us hope that i can get over that and move on as time is running out.

Faster..faster..

Another Monday and another work journey. But as i ran to catch my train this morning, my mussels were hurting less and my heart was not beating as fast as it used too. So i am glad to report that my workout is working now for me and i started to see benefits already. One side effect is my personal trainer -who is a very nice lady- but all she keep saying to me is FASTER FASTER! so whenever i am running or cycling and swimming, i can hear her saying to me FASTER FASTER..i hope to be faster next time i am working out. i know that if i am faster, i will get on my train with time to spare :)

As the count down continuo for my 10K run, I am trying to keep fit and go to the gym as regular as I can. So today after an hour of working out I felt great, the only problem with my gym is that it is next door to MacDonald J so the temptation is always there for a little treat after a workout. The funny thing is that after working out for 30 min I can see how much calories I have burnt (it is like 68 or so) and I know that if I eat doughnut I will need to workout for about 3 days to burn the calories in it. So, not only do I have to keep strong and train, but keep strong and say no to fast food. So far so good and I am doing my best. Let us hope I carry on with that.

World’s Strangest Inventions

I came across this site today and here are some interesting and very strange inventions:

This is for the crowded train journey


this one i love very much and could actually be very useful for us

This one is great to prevent anyone from using your mug at work, just unplug it before your go :)

for more of these check http://villageofjoy.com/30-worlds-strangest-inventions/