Simplifying Life - Mark II

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
As usual am here apologising for my absence. Lots of people in my real world needing support but things thankfully seem to be resolving themselves for them.
All fine and dandy here. The small person has been doing the Remberance Day parade...he looked so grown up in his new scout uniform and it was an amazing atmosphere during the ceremony. Today my simple thanks is for the peace we enjoy and I for one all too often take for granted in this beautiful country of ours.

The following is for those who are hard upon themselves and comes from a card sent to me which I found very moving:
Believe in Yourself
I guess the best thing anyone who cares about you can do is hold up a mirror and help you see yourself as others see you.If I hold up a mirror for you would you see your strength, your warmth, your kind and generous heart? would you see the truth of who you are and how much you do for everyone else? Today, I want to remind you to have the courage to believe in your self because you deserve the best things life has to offer.
I hope you enjoy it
Arilxx

ceridwen

Hi Aril

You never need to apologise for any "absence" - we know you'll be back again at some point and perhaps with another nice quote for us:D

glad things are resolving themselves a bit with your "circle of people". Hope you had the chance for a good Halloween/Samhain celebration.

mary43

Nice to see you Aril and with such a beautiful quote as always. You do always seem to manage to spread a bit of calm around.

Well, today has been spent mostly googling for a fleece wrap for my Mum for Christmas. She's got a bed jacket -and it looks just that, so I wanted to get her something she could wear if and when she sits in her chair.
Much hunting and I found some lovely ones.......floral patterns, just the thing, only to find it was an US site and no uk delivery ! So back to the drawing board and after various permutations of fleece/wrap/shawl etc. I found a whole load.........mostly much the same and being sold through newspaper (Telegraph, Guardian, Mirror etc.)...........price was right. Colour limited -navy or red..........Mum never had a lot of colour so I'll opt for the red one I think. Then I thought........umm.......some bed socks would be nice for her............back to google and, well, can't believe the price of some of them !! So, have given up on that, for now anyway.
With this wretched cough which has now moved to being a sore throat (last pill been taken and really they've not made much difference) I can't see me travelling 20 miles to our nearest Poundland/poundstretcher -whichever it is.
Bit of despair with hoovers...........our little lightweight one really isn't ample for our traffic of two teenagers, three cats and us two.......so we're getting a Henry ! OH's boss's wife has one and he says if its good enough for her its good enough for us ! I know there are loads of other cleaners around at soaring prices (I've looked) but Henry will do. OH says he'll be too heavy for me so, I'm biting the bullet and going to get someone in to do it. No sense looking at the muck building up and getting frustrated or trying to do it and doing my back in at the same time. Someone younger and fitter is needed O think...........so I'll ring around a few out of work people I know who just might want to earn a few quid.............failing that I'll advertise for a 'lady to do'.
Apart from those little hiccups -plus me still coughing - all is well here and our youngest lads first week at school earned him a gold certificate for good behaviour !!!
Right, now off to find the comfort of the sofa..................:o

ceridwen

mary43 wrote: »

Nice to see you Aril and with such a beautiful quote as always. You do always seem to manage to spread a bit of calm around.


Apart from those little hiccups -plus me still coughing - all is well here and our youngest lads first week at school earned him a gold certificate for good behaviour !!!
Right, now off to find the comfort of the sofa..................:o

:rolleyes: Well......youngest lad HAS been listening well then to your next door neighbour's daughter then;) I can feel another "Mary Special" coming on here on the Christmas present list...;)

mary43

ceridwen -don't mention christmas lists.......:eek: I've done all I'm doing in the so called 'creative' way (concoct is a better word I think) and everyone is wrapped up..................just Mum and I was hanging on to see how she was before I decided on anything.........still feel I ought to wait couple of weeks maybe, just in case.

All my cards have been done for ages.......sorted out those to do for Mum then found I'd completely forgotten baby grandson :eek: How bad is that ???

So, maybe tomorrow I'll have a go. Feel much better today (I think -unless I'm used to it) - slept well last night till about 5 this morning and woke up coughing - think it was more a case of jaw dropped open and mouth went all dry............anyway, this morning, so far, no cough mixture or cough lozenges...........just something for my throat and thats been it. Here's hoping I'm on the turn (oh dear...........not a good choice of phrasing there -makes me sound like some kind of ripening vegetable:eek: )

ceridwen

Found a permanent link for the programme on Dartmoor made by Satish Kumar that some of us enjoyed on the first "Simplifying Life" thread - so, for those who missed it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=377595686481237910

a beautiful film - which shows clearly what/why we are trying to preserve Nature.

Charis

ceridwen wrote: »

Found a permanent link for the programme on Dartmoor made by Satish Kumar that some of us enjoyed on the first "Simplifying Life" thread - so, for those who missed it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=377595686481237910

a beautiful film - which shows clearly what/why we are trying to preserve Nature.

Thanks for that link Ceridwen. Satish is as enigmatic in real life as he is in the film. A lovely, modest man and so grateful just to be a part of all that is.

I have something to celebrate today. No one else knows yet. Not even DS, as he is out at the gym after college.

After scratching around to make up the balance of £4½K, I have just paid off my mortgage. :j :beer: It was only £35K, taken out six years ago to buy a property when I moved to this area, but I was downsizing from a four bedroom house I owned outright and at times I thought I must have been mad to take on another mortgage for a smaller property. It was worth it though, as I have a completely different life in this rural market town and have made some lovely friends both on and off line .

Justamum

Congratulations Charis :beer:

ceridwen

Yay - Charis - you go gal....£35k in 6 years...that's pretty good going there.:beer:

Time to break out the champagne methinks....party!!!!

You proved you were right on that one then. Now you can have the added security of not having that "millstone" round your neck. Now repeat after me "Thank goodness I don't have a mortgage any more"....you'll get the hang of it....I've long since lost count of how many times I've repeated that little mantra to myself....best mantra there is methinks....beats "Om Mani Padme Hum" anyways....ooh whoops...that sounds a bit "irreverent" (wasnt meant to be:o ).

ceridwen

MARY

Whilst I'm thinking about mortgage payoffs - you were due to have yours finish about now if my memory serves me aright....is that 2 bottles of champagne then yet?