My Sunday Photo Week 122 H is for Holiday

I'm not actually on holiday, despite the photo of the Burj Al Arab, a holiday destination, where I'm currently sitting, drinking coffee, only 3 miles down the road from where I live.

I've travelled 23,000+ miles since March 27th from Dubai to the UK, back to Dubai, to Hong Kong, back to Dubai, the UK and finally reaching home in Dubai on Friday morning.

Child 3/5 and his girlfriend are visiting for a week and I've decided I'm not going to get anything done while they're here so I'm treating this week as a holiday, staying in one place, chilling out and relaxing.

Week 5 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

Not a good week health wise, but a great week for the weather, sadly I've not been able to take advantage of the cooler days and evenings, but the garden is doing well and seeds are germinating. Hubby is away next week, he's taking back gifts for family and friends, birthdays, mother's and father's day, up until the end of June. I felt much better on Saturday and cycled to the Burj Al Arab for an ice-cream and to watch the Dubai Cycle Tour. I also made up some new curtains for the kitchen with material we bought from IKEA on Friday, we had our first row trying to get into the car park and walked around the store in silence.

Sunday Day 31 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎project366‬ this is the only photo I've taken all day other than 'my month of mornings' which will have to wait till tomorrow now for posting. I've had a stinking cold all day and the threat of a migraine hanging over me. I've spent all evening on the internet which hasn't helped either. I decided it was a 'no work at home night' I've written blog posts, watched Harry Potter, read and commented on linkys and I painted my toe nails and had a soak in the bath. Safely tucked up in bed with tablets and a wheat pillow. My Sunday Photo was the World Record LED display on the Burj Khalifa.

Monday Day 32 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎project366‬ late with posting but photos were taken on the day. Home from work early with a migraine, hubby cooked dinner, fetched me plenty of drink and looked after me.

Tuesday Day 33 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎project366‬ the migraine and flu required a trip to the hospital in the evening to spend an hour or so hooked up on a drip as I was in severe pain and could no longer manage the pain. The cat seemed to know I was poorly and didn't leave my side all day. Animal Tales this week is about the advice we were given when camping in the wild in Canada on what to do if we saw a bear.

Wednesday Day 34 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎project366‬ spent most of the morning sleeping before nipping into work for a couple of hours to get next weeks planning done, the cat was pleased to see me back home and lovely to have her want to be with me even after she'd been fed.

Thursday Day 35 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎project366‬ feeling sad today, it's our daughters 28th birthday, our nieces 24th birthday, and there are various other family birthdays on the horizon, it's days like these that I regret our decision to leave the UK. The only positive I can get right now is that Peter is in the UK with work in 2 weeks and will get to visit the family on our behalf, today's photo is the Al Wasl Road, I'm grateful for the fact it's warm and safe here in Dubai to walk Bob, alone at night.
HDYGG? January in the garden, the seeds are germinating and bulbs finally peeking through the soil/sand. 

Friday Day 36 #onedailypositive #project366 the weather is perfect in Dubai right now to spend as much time as possible outdoors. I have coffee, bacon butty, a pile of magazines to read and a gardening book to consult. Later on we're off shopping to spend some of my first pay check on a garden table for outside the back door and some more plants for the garden. I blogged today but how it feels to have an adult child in care 1000's of miles away and the self imposed guilt, which Mumsnet featured as their blog of the day.

Saturday Day 37 #onedailypositive #project366 We visited a garden centre today to get some ideas and I've created a little corner of happiness with the gazebo, lights and scatter cushions, that we already had so I can sit outside in the late afternoon with some shelter from the sun.

Feel free to link up and join in with either a blog post or a selection of photo's from your week. I'll read, comment and send out a link to your post in exchange for you reading and commenting on at least 2 other posts.

The bottom of Africa

Agulhas, the Southernmost Tip of Africa is an absolute must. Apart from Guest Houses and a couple of local shops and restaurants, there is little else to do in Agulhas, but for us that was the whole point of staying there.

There is something amazing about standing at the bottom of Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meets.

 

 

Stuck in a rut? Baby steps, is all it takes

Today is a day for Blogging...well it's the last day of the month and the internet gets reset tomorrow, so it would be silly not to use it up.

This weeks #groovymum challenge by kateonthinice is all about Baby steps and how to take them through a variety of challenges that Kate sets each week. You can link your blog post here http://kateonthinice.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/what-are-the-baby-steps-to-changing-your-life/

I have till Monday to put this blog up, but life throws me enough challenges and I have more than enough to do without creating new ones, so in time honoured tradition (this blog hop has only been running since September 2011) I will reflect on the week and see where I met these challenges.

1. Body – Sign up to do a Sports Relief Mile. Check out http://www.sportrelief.com/the-mile There are challenges of varying types for different levels of fitness so do take a look whether you are a rampant runner or a slouch potato.
OK NOT FOR ME, UNLESS ANYONE KNOWS HOW I CAN DO THIS FROM SOUTH AFRICA, BUT I'M ALREADY GIVING MY TIME FREELY HERE AND SWIMMING A MILE A DAY IN THE POOL AT THE GYM

2. Mind – Do you have a favourite artist? Would you like to know more about art? How can you incorporate more art in your life? Blog about it and tell us more.
NO I DONT HAVE A FAVOURITE ARTIST, BUT I KNOW WHAT I LIKE AND WHAT I DON'T LIKE AND I HATE/LOATHE (TOO STRONG?) I CAN'T STAND THE KIND OF ART THE EVOKES THE 'EMPORERS NEW COAT' REACTION. HUBBY WAS GIVEN THIS PIECE OF ART WORK, I THINK MY YEAR OLD NIECE COULD DO IT, IT MAY BE WORTH A FEW HUNDRED POUNDS, BUT IT'S WORTHLESS TO ME AS I DON'T LIKE IT.



3. Spirit – Have you ever meditated or found other ways to calm the soul? Is this something you might like to investigate further? Tell us about it and then we can all learn new methods that might work for us.
I'VE TRIED RELAXATION TAPES, USING THE ONES GIVEN OUT AT TRAINING COURSES, YOU KNOW THE TYPE ON TEAM BUILDING DAYS. IF IT'S SUGGESTED I RELAX, OR I'M FORCED TO RELAX, MY STRESS LEVELS GO THROUGH THE BLOODY ROOF...SO NO SUGGESTIONS, JUST EACH TO THEIR OWN.

4. Blogging – You are a woman and you will have women in your world, alive or dead, who matter to you. Why not write 90 words (or more or less) about her and link up to this charity blog hop for Breakthrough Breast Cancer? Cllick here to take part or to read stories of some rather wonderful women http://kateonthinice.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/i-am-looking-for-90-bloggers-to-support-breakthrough-breast-cancer/
THERE’S NOT AN EVENT OR OCCASSION THAT GOES BY WITHOUT ME THINKING OF MY GRAN. SHE WAS STRONG, HELD FORCEFUL OPINIONS, BUT SHE WAS PROUD OF ME AND SHE NEVER FAILED TO TELL ME THIS.
SHE DIED ON OCTOBER 14TH 2005 AGED 92 OF OLD AGE, HELPED ALONG WITH LUNG CANCER.
I WISH I COULD TELL HER ABOUT MY NEW LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA, OF HOW WELL THE CHILDREN ARE DOING AND SEND HER ENDLESS PHOTOS AND LETTERS SHE COULD SHOW OFF TO HER FRIENDS.

I'm afraid I was very taken into hospital a few days after this picture was taken with viral meningitus, hence why I look so ill.
I WISH SHE WAS HERE.



5. Special Days – It is National Storytelling Week and you can find out more here http://sfs.org.uk/nswevents2012 Why not ring the changes and write up a short story on your blog?
YOU WANT A SHORT STORY FOR MY BLOG. I DON'T HAVE A SHORT STORY BUT I DO HAVE CHAPTER ONE OF A STORY I'VE BEEN WRITING YOU CAN READ HERE
http://www.chickenruby.com/2012/01/chapter-one-unedited.html


6. The Big Question – Who are you? Take this as you will. Blog about who you are or perhaps write an “About Me” page for your blog. Is it easy or challenging to say who you are? What can you learn from that?
UP AND RUNNING, INFACT BEEN ONTO IT TODAY CHECK OUT WHO'S THE CHICKEN HERE http://www.chickenruby.com/p/who-is-chicken.html