Monthly Archives: February 2012
Creating Cookies
Day 28: Love creating
I wish I was more creative, I often look longingly at the creations of others and think, how did they do that? what a great idea why didn’t I think of that? Maybe when I am a mum I will be better at being crafty… maybe it’s just practice, or perhaps, I just don’t have it… I can on the other hand create in the kitchen, granted nothing original, just things out of recipe books, but creating all the same. So that’s what I have done today, loved creating in the kitchen…
At the beginning of the week I rotated to a new site with work, one which is much closer to home which is very exciting. What is also exciting is the fact that my new site has provided me with the perfect opportunity to cross something of the list…
Today was my first team ward meeting and as the roster would have it I was on for Morning Tea, giving me the perfect opportunity to create and cross ‘number 83 – Bake something for work’ off the list. So here is my proof, a fresh batch of my choc-chip cookies…
It’s a Dog’s Life
Day 27: Love cats (or dogs or bunnies)
Firstly I am not a cat person… bunnies take them or leave them… so today will be about Dogs… well Dex
Dave and I like to go for walks when we are able, and being the good dog owners that we are more often than not we take Dex with us. He has gotten much better at being on the lead in fact most of the time he actually does really well. Sometimes when we walk I am a little slow so Dex will stop every few meters to turn around and check that I am still coming, which is nice, he does the same if Dave is every lagging behind although this is much rarer. Recently though Dex has decided that he no longer wants to just walk on the side that Dave puts him, instead he wants to walk right in between us like a little child, and even though its really annoying I love it… why because I love that he knows where he belongs and that he loves us back… on another note I love coming home from work and finding him sitting on the chair like he is the king of the world…
It’s in the eyes
Day 26: the look of love
It’s all about me
Day 25: Love yourself
I really hate having to write today’s blog… I know I don’t have to if I don’t want to but look I have done 24days already, I can’t miss one now. I also know the fact that I blog and am a self confessed social media junkie would imply that I am self obsessed, but the truth is I hate having to ‘love myself’ out in the open. Don’t get me wrong there are lots of things that I am proud of and like about myself, I just don’t really like sharing them, it feels a bit stuck up… but what I will say is that I am proud of who I am, the things that I have accomplished, I am proud to say that I haven’t made it yet and that I still have a lot to learner. I am proud of my status as a wife, sister, daughter, friend, dietitian amongst other things. I am proud of my random collection of interests as they make me who I am, and I am proud of the fact that finally after 24 years (almost 25) I am comfortable with who I am regardless of what anyone else thinks… well most of the time anyway. So there you go… I can now cross love yourself off the list…
Acts of Love
Day 24: Acts of love
This is a blog that I have been umming and ahhhing about writing for a little while now, I think I may have touched on the topic before, but its one thing to mention it in passing and another thing altogether to write a whole blog about it, but given that I have a set topic which it fits… so here it is anyway.
Before Dave and I got married, we did some pre-marriage classes which as far as I understand is pretty standard, but during this we were able to discuss lots of things around expectations, money, food, kids etc etc. Anyway I can’t remember if it was during one of the classes or as a result of one of the classes but Dave and I once again found ourselves discussing something called ‘The 5 love languages’. Its actually a really interesting and helpful thing to do and if you want more information about it you can check it out here.
Anyway, in most things Dave and I are pretty compatible, except for one particular area… love… now before I you start to panic, its not a big deal, but it is one that frustrates us both, maybe Dave more than me… The thing is we have very different love languages, that is, different ways we express and receive love… A little while ago, I repeated the online survey and these were my results…
What this means is… give me some kind words and spend some time with me and I am the happiest little monkey going round, what it also says is that way down the bottom of my list of things that make me feel loved is acts of service… do the dishes, clean the house, clean the toilet, fantastic, it will make me thankful that I don’t have to do it, but it won’t make me feel anymore loved than I already do.
Where is the problem I hear you ask? Well the way you receive love is often the way you give love… and Dave’s love languages are pretty much the opposite of mine. In fact his top one is acts of service… which I think is crazy, but that’s just the way it is! His least effective is also both my top two which is just as annoying, but appears to be less of an issue at the moment.
The problem is I have avoided housework and cleaning for most of my life, don’t get me wrong I love things to be neat and tidy, but I don’t ever want to do it… especially by myself, every now and then I will get a burst of energy and go nuts cleaning, but they are few and far between, unlike Dave who rejoices in clean counters, empty bins and wardrobes that close! I know housework is a common enemy of most people love, in fact I think I am not alone when I call it a necessary evil, but the thing is now I find myself married to a man who feels most loved when I put my shoes away, when I clean the dishes and then I remember to put the washing on. So over the last 10months I have found myself doing some of these things occasionally, I wouldn’t dare say regularly, because that would be lying, but I am getting better. For me these things that I hate have had to become acts of love, not service, because I need to show Dave how much I love him in a way that he will appreciated and understand, not in a way that works for me because other wise it is pointless. I still hate doing them every time, but I love the feeling of telling Dave that its all done and the encouragement that I get back. It’s appreciated much more than a little note, a present or even date night is. Who knows maybe one day I might even enjoy get used to it. But for now they are my acts of love.
The Greatest of these is Love
Day 23: Words of love
1 Corinthians 13
1If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship
that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud.
5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Wordless Wednesday – Day 22: Baby love
Seeing the other George’s
Day 21: Plan to do something you love
I love to go on holidays, even more than that I love going to places that require a plane to get there. I love going to the airport, checking in, using my passport and seeing places I have never seen before. If I could I would go overseas every second week, but going away is expensive, and I live in a country that is far away from everything… except one place… New Zealand.
I had come to terms with the fact that this year I would not be going overseas, despite how much I wanted to as we had just been away on our very elaborate honeymoon to the states and now we are trying to save up for a house of our very own which means sacrifices need to be made. And in all honesty I was ok with this… secretly I was starting to plan something for 2013, but I was ok with giving 2012 a miss. But guess what I am going away this year… its true… well that’s the plan anyway, hopefully Dave and I will be heading to that close country called New Zealand to join in the celebrations for his grandparents 60th wedding anniversary and I am very excited. I have never been to NZ before, well I have been to the airport but that’s it… and while we are only there for a very short time, I will get to see where Dave’s family is from which is all I really wanted to do in NZ anyway. Hopefully we will be able to go for a little longer on another occasion but for now this is perfect. I am planning to do something I love in a year which I didn’t think I would be able to and I will get to do it with people I love… so much love.
with love from…
Day 20: Love notes
Love notes are a dying art… but one which I appreciate more than I can write, which disappointing seeing as we are talking about love in written form. Anyway, I have to confess, I am very blessed and I have received a number of love notes in the years that I have been with Davo. There have been short notes, long notes, public notes in the paper (the Valentine’s Day love book of course), text messages and post-it notes and I love them all. I have tried to write notes in return, but I have to admit that I am not as good at it as Dave is, no matter how hard I try.
There seems to be extra magic in a love note, the words mean more, and I honestly think that it is purely because it takes more effort to do. It’s easy to easy to talk, to phone, to chat on the internet, but to actually sit down and write something takes time, effort and thought. Love notes seem more permanent too, they are written down and kept, stored away for your kids to find one day. They are often unexpected, but they always seem to contain the words that you need to hear.
So here’s to love notes, may they never die out, may they continue to be written until the end of time, may they always be sealed with a kiss and may I get better at them with a little bit of practice.
The Most Curious George 