Learn Something New Every Day - Say Cheese! Day 11

The soul never thinks without a picture.

Aristotle

So far, this has been my favourite learning day ...what i learned was:

• I have quite a few photos that I'm really proud of
• There are more photos of me than I had expected
• I prefer to be the one taking the photos
• It was really hard to narrow down my favourites
• I really took a photo every day last year
• I have way more "rubbishy" shots than I have good ones
• I am not very good at deleting even the worst of photos
• I need to backup my photos to a safe place
• I should scrap more of my photos
• I am still heartbroken that I don't have the kids' baby albums anymore
• That some of the best memories are stored in our photos
• That I would like to have a new dslr
• That my iphone has become my favourite way to snap daily photos

Some of my favourite shots

A Photo A Day

I'm all caught up!!! Here are today's photos

October: Secret(ly) washed woof

March: 7pm making dinner

April: what I do when I'm alone

May: Outside my window

September: becks explore(s) the forbidden cupboard

A Photo A Day - Day 14

I was going to correspond my LSNE posts with my Photo a day ones, but writing those posts out takes much more thought and effort, so I decided to get up to date with photo a day and take it from here :) 

So, here are today's and the missing 14th of the months photos

14th October: My favourite space... Cyberspace where else?
14th April: Water
14th May: Not very inspirational but we Need(ed) these 
14th July: Yes, this little guy IS edible, though I can't bring myself to eat him.

A Photo A Day ... Day 13, just one more and I am caught up

It is getting rather late and I am getting rather tired, but I want to get caught up before the year is officially over (even though I have decided that I am now on Nicky New Year). So, here are my day 13 photos...

October 13th: Becks watching me closely
September 13th: Unexpected to see the sky through the shed roof
July 13th: 4 o'clock yet another load of washing done
April 13th: Rather boring View from my bed
March 13th: My bluetooth speaker and favourite headphones deliver Sound

Learn Something New Every Day - 10 Things on Day 10

Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

That is pretty much how I think of myself... maybe that is a sign of my having a great mind? Or maybe it just has to do with the fact that both Goethe and I are German.

My challenge for this "Learn Something New" thing was to get to know "me" better.. but honestly, I am not so sure I actually like that idea very much anymore. 

A Photo A Day - Almost caught up now Day 12

More filler photos for the 12th of the month:
shadow.. cooper's new toy has TWO shadows
Mother(s) My Grandmother, My Mother + Me (hard to believe sometimes that I'm a mother too)
below .. my husband below me on the escalator
11 o'clock .. this was a coincidence, the post arrived at 11
In the middle ... this is Cameron in the middle (it's hard being a middleton apparently)

Learn Something New Every Day - Listen To Learn Day 9

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Epictetus

I must confess, I am not a very good listener... my attention span just isn't all that good. I always used to (and still do) love to listen to my Mum's stories about her experiences as a child during WW2. Some of the stories made me cry for her, and still do to this day, others make me laugh and yet others have taught me some great tips and tricks.

Often, not listening carefully results in some rather akward or embarrassing situations for me. Sometimes, I escape hurt and confusion by not listening too closely to what people have to say.

I am also very literal, so I have a tendency to just take everything "as it is said" and I can not filter out the social contexts and nuances.

My favourite listening revolves around picking up family recipes... I jot down the general meaning of these in my "Mum's cooking" notebook and always think that I should write them out properly for my kids one of these days.

Anyway, today presented a perfect listening opportunity as Dominic has a mystery basket assignment for Tuesday and wanted to cook something authentically German from the North Rhine area. Having listened carefully for once, I immediately came up with the perfect idea: Schnibbelskook 

The only problem was that I hadn't actually made any in ummm twenty years or so... probably even longer!! So I had to resort to my ever on call personal chef and rang Mum. The result of our conversation:

A Photo A Day - Getting there with Day 11 and backlogs

This is one HUGE catch up as it goes back all the way to March, when I first fell off the 365 wagon. Maybe I should be proud that I'm overcoming some of my rigid thinking patterns and that I am catching up. I switched a couple of prompts around, like "I wore this" in June obviously didn't work with the clothes I wore in October, but I realised afterwards that I inadvertently still used the right word for the day which was "m is for" (mirror!!!)

Sorry I can't quite recall the right months but they were all the 11th:
I love doing this, Something beginning with M, Important
a smile, what i did today (my paperless chore list) , I wore this
something  funny and detail

Learn Something New Every Day - New Skill Day 8

Always desire to learn something useful.

Sophocles

As you all (well, all three of my blog readers that is) know, I just love to make amigurumis. To my utter surprise, I have been asked by people to make custom ones. Since some of these go to very small children, I was nervous about using my usual technique to give the amigurumis eyes... and, as I had run out of tiny safety eyes, I had to figure out a better way to make cute embroidered faces. This is the result of some trial and error.

But for some REAL learning new skills, I have applied for quite a few distance learning courses, I am not sure yet what subject I want to study.. the enquiries reach from Professional Blog Design to Psychology (something I've been fascinated with since I did my Alevels). Hopefully the next "new skills" day will involve some real progress!!

A Photo A Day.. catching up with catch ups of catch ups Day 10

These last few days have just taken on a life of their own it seems... I just about managed to take my photos and make quick mental notes for my LSNE project, but as far as hopping on here and updating the blog was concerned, well, it just fell off the agenda. I am learning something NEW every day though, but more about that in the right post. So, here are my catch ups of the catch ups...

10/10 Hands
10/06 YOU again.. there are only so many photos of me I'm willing to take, so i used a portrait my daughter made of me way back in June actually!!
10/04 A place.. this is a memorial plaque/art thingy in our marketsquare

Learn Something New Every Day - Literally this time Day 7

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn"

Alvin Toffler

I think I am getting all the "assignments" muddled up and mixed up.. but I am learning that it doesn't really matter, that sticking with it and doing the challenge is what actually is important. For the "learning something new" prompt I was quite literal and took off to Walsall Art Gallery and then spend some time online finding a course I would like to do in the new year. So, here is what i learned:

• A sheep suspended in formaldehyde is ART.
• Pieces of wood, string, tin cans and other random items glued together, with a provocative sign slapped on the front is also called ART.
• Security Guards at Art Galleries are very nice people.
• There is a new exhibition coming by an artist called Ged Quinn that looks very interesting and worth a look at.
• I can learn a lot by just sitting and listening.
• There are literally millions of courses available and opportunities to learn are endless.
• Education does not mean the same as learning.

A Photo A Day and then some extras to make up for missed time

I was going to  leave this blog post until errrr later today... but insomnia strikes again and I find myself sitting here with nothing much to do other than wait for sleep to arrive, so I figured I might as well cross something off my "to do" list and hop onto my blog.

Here are today's (actually yesterday's now) photo and the missing ones from previous months.

March:another torturous self portrait (at least it was a faceless one)
May: snack and
today: Pink (i used to have lots of pink stuff but it was a challenge finding something today!!)

A Photo A Day - Day 8 and a couple of cheats

Nothing exciting to offer you all I'm afraid... I did take a trip to the art gallery but will have to use those photos for something else :) At least I am definitely catching up and my 365 app is filling up nicely.

Today's word: corner, Way back on 08/03 favourite and May was shape.. this cube and book caught my eye in Birmingham.

Learn Something New Every Day - Gratitude Day 6

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.
Lionel Hampton

I have a hard time with gratitude and thank you... no, not when I have to say those words or show my appreciation, but when it is directed towards me.

I have pondered the prompt and I actually have the book "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin on my ipad... but it is one of those "i will get around to reading this some time soon, honest" reads! I think that will have to change and it will have to make it into my top 10 next books to read lists.

Things I learned today:

• I often feel taken for granted by my family.
• I don't stop often enough to count my blessings and be thankful for what I do have.
• I find it hard to accept that others could appreciate what I do for them.
• I should dust off my gratitude app and start being thankful for something each day.
• Often, the smallest gestures leave the biggest impressions on our hearts and minds.
• Gratitude is not always obvious, but it is there.
• Being kind is a form of gratitude.
• More people appreciate me than I give myself credit for. 

These were given to me as a sign of appreciation by:
Michelle, Kim and my husband (yes, he had been horrid to me)

A Photo A Day... still closing in on those missed out months

I'm good at making lists, so I thought I'd make a list of all the missing days.. BIG BIG BIG mistake!!! Now I feel like I'm not going to manage to cheat out the year this year... we'll see i guess. 

Here are my day 6 and 7 catchups and current photos for yesterday and today:

6th of any given missing month and October:
broken (biscuits), Transport, chair and 8 oclock (German time when i ring my Mum)

Day 7 of  any given missing month and October:
F for Flame/Fire, Where i am, Fear (heights.. well the falling bit) and what i saw

Learn Something New Every Day - Recurrences Day 5

Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.
Samuel Beck

The theme for today's Learn Something New actually was aimed at "time".. i am useless with time keeping as well.. even if i plan, make lists, write it in calendars, set my idevices to remind me.. you can guarantee, i forget. Much to my husband's dismay, I still cannot get our anniversary right. In saying all that, I found a much more important recurrent theme to my life: Failure
If I can fail at something, I can guarantee you that I will. I have pondered this all day (yesterday) but I was too exhausted to blog about it, though i managed just about to take a photo to use for this post. 

I did manage to get to the Moxley Crop... but once there, it all turned into a huge failure.. it wasn't anyone's fault but my own. I once again realised that i just don't fit in, that social situations scare the living day lights out of me and that i lack social skills on all fronts. A couple of ladies tried to make conversation but soon left me alone, I ended up shuffling some paper around and then made a hasty retreat before I was noticed. 

This is the makaton sign for bad/wrong, the right one for fail escapes me and the boys don't remember either.
But bad/wrong falls into the category of fail.. so ill stick with that

What I learned:

• I'm not ready for social situations
• No matter how much I want to trust people, I always end up being the idiot.
• I think I did my best, then it turns out it wasn't.
• Sometimes it is ok to give up.

A Photo A Day.. on a day that didn't go to plan

It was bound to happen again.. me falling behind that is. I keep letting life and problems get in the way of taking those few minutes out for myself. But, as a last ditch attempt, i have moved the missing 6th to November and did my best to fill at least a couple of past missed 5th (I'm getting too tired to add the 6th, so will have to do those tomorrow morning).. 

5th ... Afternoon: Looking at some new clothes
Paper

Learn Something New Every Day ... A Place Called Home Day 4

"Home is any four walls that enclose the right person."
Helen Rowland

Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memories, friends, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.
Tad Williams

What I learned today:

• I am very protective of my home and do not like strangers invading my four walls.
• I still call my Mum's house "my home".
• I am fighting a losing battle trying to keep this place neat, tidy and clean to a standard that agrees with me.
• I have moved 10 times, sometimes with only a few days notice to pack the entire household.
• I really am not very settled or fond of our current house.
• It is really hard to decide on where I want to buy our "forever home".
• I spend a lot of time in one corner of our house, this is where all my creating, thinking, working and socialising takes place.

A Photo A Day - Doing all the missed 4th today

I am getting there with all the catching up I'm having to do. It is a strange concept for me to get back into something like this, there is a small voice at the back of my head telling me that I am cheating, that I "can't just go and take a photo today and pass it off as one taken in March,April, May or any other month than October". But, as part of overcoming my learned behaviours, and especially getting rid of those that are not beneficial to me or counter productive, I am going to just have to force myself to accept this year as it was and is.

So, here are today's photo and my catch ups.

In motion (Natty was driving), This happened today (husband bought me flowers!!!)
(never)Alone with one of these, Lucky Cornish Pixie and Fresh (not very original i know)

Learn Something New Every Day - Steps Day 3

"Even the longest journey must begin where you stand."
Lao-tzu

Note to self: Time to change the crocs to something more weatherproof!

What i learned:

• When you are preoccupied thinking about challenges, you will walk out of the house with unsuitable footwear.
• The twelve steps program for codependency is much harder to implement than it looks; I am still struggling along with step 1.
• I like finding quotes to fit in with learning something new.
• That even the smallest step in the right direction is better than a huge step in the wrong direction.
• That I should use my SatNav more often... when meeting up with Kim the other day in Birmingham I happily went past my turn off and carried on, turning a 12 mile trip into a 47.3 mile trip.
• That not ALL men know the roads better than women. The two men I asked for directions on how to get back to the NORTH bound m6 were adamant that I already WAS on the north bound motorway, when I knew that London is definitely SOUTH from us.
• I still cannot tell my left from my right and it even exasperates my SatNav. (I am waiting for the day he says "No the OTHER right!"
• That distance is not always the same for me and everyone else! The next man i asked about how far it was to the next exit from said motorway reckoned... "oooh in about 6 miles or so." when my TomTom shortly after cheerily told me to take the next exit in 800 yards.
• That even the longest journeys come to an end, even if sometimes the destination is not quite where you wanted to be. 

Learn Something New Every Day - Day 2

So, the prompt is to reflect and come up with something that has to do with someone who taught me something.. are you following that? No? Never mind because it had my poor, literal mind all confused.

I hated school, absolutely, utterly hated it... well, i hated the social aspect of school and never got the hang of it, but I have always LOVED learning! I am very good at teaching myself, I taught myself to read before I even went to school (which surprised not only my parents but also the teacher), I taught myself to crochet, knit, cook, speak different languages. I realised very early on that I love technology and computers, so I taught myself how to design websites, how to get around the net and even (at one time) how to hack. I love learning new things, however, I have a zero attention span. Once I have mastered something, I don't hang around to refine the skill, I move right along. If something is too easy, I move along... nothing is ever too hard though. I hate being taught to this day and prefer to go about my own research and learn things on my own. I am one of those people who throw out the instructions manual and figure it out... on my own. I think it is exciting to have a world of knowledge at my fingertips, all the time, wherever I am. 

This quote sums me up perfectly:

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.

Winston Churchill

Knowledge at my fingertips... all my gadgets

A photo a day (here goes with the catch up)

Exciting stuff... day three of October and I'm still with it for this month and also managed to fill some holes from March and April.

A is for an array of bras, This is really good... maltesers reindeer
and me today!!

A photo a day (or three)

I kind of touched on the fact that I have slipped on my 365 challenge on and off during this year... what did I tell you all about 2013?? I can't wait for 2014, when things will be even again.

Anyway, as a way of making up missed days in previous months, I have been taking the prompts on the right days, in the wrong months. So I am slowly catching up again. Some of the prompts I missed simply because they were just too "difficult" .. especially the ones centred around emotions. I tend to overthink everything, then there was a phase where I got intimidated by all the artsy, creative, brilliant master shots other people were taking. So I had to rethink a lot of angles for the challenge. I think I'm getting there though and making it my own now. 

Light, Colourful, My name begins with and Happiness is..

Learn Something New Every Day - Day 1

I have been learning quite a bit (mainly about myself) these last two days! Poor Kim is trying her best to help me out here, but nothing seems to be helping... so I thought, I would start with a bullet list of things I have "learned" since yesterday:

• I take everything way too literally (I blame my autistic traits)
• I am really bad at committing things to paper or writing things down.. in fact I seem to be avoiding it at ALL cost.
• Girly days out ARE fun
• It is great catching up with a friend, especially when you haven't seen them in a while.
• The camera does not break (as I had feared) when someone takes a photo of me. I may not LIKE it very much, but it is OK and doesn't kill me.
• Buying underwear for teenage girls is hard work, especially when the teenager involved tags along.
• The new library in Birmingham is indeed great, even if it has you suffering with vertigo!
• Starbucks shortbread has a mind of its' own... ask Kim!!!
• I need to make more time for "me" and not feel guilty about it.
• I take myself way too seriously sometimes... Lighten up a bit girl!
• "Life is a learning experience, only if you learn."
• I've learned way more over the last couple of days than i thought.

Vertigo can be conquered

Kim in her pod..taken from MY pod

Shortbread with a mind of its' own

My poor unloved, neglected blog

I always knew I wasn't the best at keeping up with stuff... but the way this poor blog has been neglected shames even me. I suppose the main reason is that i don't have a horde of followers, desperately waiting for the next installment of "my happenings".


I could lie and say that my 365 challenge is going just fine... but it isnt... some days are better than others and I took a big, fat break in the middle of the year. I am trying to catch up though, and make myself take a photo for each day on the RIGHT day, but in the wrong month. I figured that, by the time it is 2014 i won't remember when each photo was taken anyway... so it is cheating but not ;)

Why resurrect the blog now? Today? Well... Kim has challenged me to "learn something new every day". Being that I am already stuck (despite numerous prompts from Kim) on day TWO, I think I had better start somewhere, in fact anywhere would be good right now... so, here i am.. learning something new everyday.