108 spiders are a girl's best friends

Whitefeather8

Squats and abs completed and 3,000 yellow pages picked up. I ended up with four rounds as DS wants to earn some money for himself too, £200.00 each. DH has been recruited on the grounds that he is getting numerous ab and cardio workouts for free. He does not seem particularly enthusiastic...............

Continuing on the spider theme - I read yesterday that we have a ‘spider’ at the centre of our brains! Apparently there is a layer or “veil” of protective tissue called Arachnoid (the word means ‘resembling a spider’s web’) that surrounds the innermost parts of our brain called the pia mater (tender mother).

At the centre of the web is the pituitary gland, which ancient wisdom likened to a spider that connects us directly to our ‘highest self' once our pineal gland, third eye, is activated.

No wonder we are afraid of spiders!! A fear of reaching our true potential, whatever that might be????

Onwards and upwards!

Day 47

Two hours delivering YP. Spend the rest of the day organising the house and month to motivating music, then my abs and squat challenge again. That sounds like a major triathlon :eek:.

Whitefeather8

Yesterday we had our first thick frost of the winter. As I was out delivering YP's with DS in the evening, I looked up at the sky and saw the most beautiful, rainbow lunar corona (crown), like the one below. I stood as mesmerised as a hound dog while DS finished the whole street!





I looked up the meaning in the farmer's almanac and it said it was the sign of a big storm coming!


Spider Step 48


Enjoy a duvet day !

Whitefeather8

After my 'Triathlon' on Wednesday, I couldn't seem to get moving yesterday, so I changed my spider step to, "enjoy a duvet day". I am pleased to report that I very successfully completed this arduous task . I did rouse myself at 9.30 pm, to do my abs and squats, but that was about it. I was rewarded with another NSD. I have not spent any money in December yet!!

Today will be fun, but I will need to open my purse. Dear aunt and I have a pensioner friend who is severely autistic and periodically we are summoned for an excursion.

We never know where we are going, but he has a schedule and three watches up each arm, that are all correlated to us being at certain places at specific times. Alarms go off all the time and I drive about like Penelope Pitstop in the whacky races, trying to beat the clocks.

It is all completely bizarre. What I do know is that it always ends at a fish and chip shop where I am rewarded with a huge hug and told that I am forgiven for being a completely incompetent nincompoop. :rotfl:

Spider step 49

Flow with the flow and enjoy the fish and chips!

Whitefeather8

I really enjoyed yesterday; dear friend and dear aunt are an amazing couple of characters and they were both in very good form. There was an added bonus too, dear aunt insisted on paying for all the 'fish and chips', so remarkably it ended up as another NSD.

Dear aunt was in the paper again as she has become a figurehead for a major campaign to catch the perpetrators of what has now become 10 attacks, mainly on female pensioners, in a very small area.

There was one incident last week in which the 91 year old 'victim' fought back and wapped the pepetrator on the head with her handbag forcing him to run off. This account seems to have galvanised dear aunt and she is working with the police and the council to see what can be done to help both herself and her neighbours.




I'm thinking of dear Sassychick too, today, who has had some very sad news.

Spider Step 50

We are off out tonight and I was asked to bring a dessert. Normally, I would buy something nice from M&S, but I picked up a lovely recipe from Slimming World club for 'Double Chocolate and Berry Pavlova'. I have the ingredients, so I will take that as a sign to release my inner Mary Berry and get baking .

supersaver1000

Pavlova sounds lovely. What was the verdict? DD does a lovely low cal cheesecake pud. She does it individual short tumblers so it's easy to cart around. It's easy to make too. Last time she made it with my HM lemon curd, it was very refreshing.

Whitefeather8

Morning,

The pavlova morphed into blueberry muffins and a bottle of red wine, as I only had two eggs. The muffins were very nice, but the Pavlova might have been special, so I will get organised and try and make it next week for another occasion. That cheesecake recipe sounds amazing, maybe you could post it on your diary??

I have done my abs and squats and in theory I am off running with dear friend. Surprisingly , the cold and drizzly weather seem to have dampened her enthusiasm for pounding the streets, and she did not respond to a text last night, so I may just need to go along with a bucket of water to get her moving. Just joking …………

It will be a minor miracle losing weight, staying within budget and spring cleaning over the next few weeks as there is so much going on and a lot of it involves eating, but I am going to do this and here is a bit of motivation for all us DFW’s from the guru Bruce Lee.

“The doubters said, “man cannot fly”.
The doers said, “maybe, but we’ll try.”
And finally soared in the morning glow
While non-believers watched from below.”

TTFN x.


Spider Step 51 - Go running with or without dear friend.

Whitefeather8

Good morning,

Dear friend had been out partying on Saturday night, and you should have seen the expression on her face as she opened the door to me in my joggers. Never has a person been less pleased to see me. To her credit she still came out and I enjoyed the run.

I went to sleep last night after reading Sassy’s post and started thinking of my own grandmother who died on the 8th August 1988. I remember reading that the 8/8/88 was an extremely lucky day in Chinese culture, and it seemed very incongruous that I should be experiencing the death of someone I dearly loved.

Interestingly, the number 8 is such an important date for the Chinese that the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was held on 8/08/08 at 8.08.08 pm. They did get 15 more gold medals than their nearest competitor the USA.

In last night’s lucid dream I was at a funeral service and nobody was listening to the speaker. Children were playing on the platform, people were talking and walking about. His voice got quieter and croakier and the audience started to walk out heading towards the reception for a good drink. He left too and I was all alone in the hall.

Spider Step 52

Today, 8/12, I am attending the funeral of a friend’s daughter. She has died after a very long and painful battle with cancer. She has the same first name as me, is the same age and the person giving the talk is the man that was in my dream, that has visited her regularly in the hospice. I will listen carefully to what he has to say!!

This was the poem read out at my grandmother’s service. She was known for never passing a rose without smelling it, and truly marvelled at life.

“Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the sky.
I have run and leaped with the rain, I have taken the wind to my breast.
My cheek like a drowsy child to the face of the earth I have pressed.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I have kissed young love on the lips, I have heard his song to the end.
I have struck my hand like a seal in the loyal hand of a friend.
I have known the peace of heaven, the comfort of work done well.
I have longed for death in the darkness and risen alive out of hell.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I give a share of my soul to the world where my course is run.
I know that another shall finish the task I must leave undone.
I know that no flower, nor flint was in vain on the path I trod.
As one looks on a face through a window, through life I have looked on God.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.”

Amelia Josephine Burr

sassychick2014

Hi hon

So sorry to hear you were attending the funeral of your friend's daughter today. I hope it went as well as can be expected of these things.

Loved the poem too. xx

Whitefeather8

Thanks Sassy,

It was another sobering day of reflections. I have had quite a number of those this year. It has been a year of endings. 2015 is going to be the year of new beginnings.

The thoughts that stuck in my mind were the words of Solomon and then Benjamin Franklin;

"Better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of every man, and the living should take it to heart."

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

I was also thinking of the number 8 as a huge hour glass wherein we only have a certain amount of sand to play with, so why not do it joyfully and purposefully.

Finally, I saw a massive red rose that was still in bloom, despite the wind and frost that we have had recently. I had a good sniff and felt at peace.

I hope the next couple of weeks are not too hard for you all.

TTFN xx.

Whitefeather8

I was thinking about 2015 being the year of new beginnings and I would really like to give the house a good spring clean before then and declutter all my drawers too . I think it would be very therapeutic.

We are motoring through the yellow pages, doing a couple of hours most nights, so my deadline for completing those is Sunday. I will then move on to the house, utilising the same time slots. My abs and squats are on track and my other income is trickling in, college is going well.

We are flying out on the 21st December to see my dear dad and his wife, so I am really looking forward to that, and will not be back here until the New Year.

These next nine days are going to count!! I am finishing this year strong.

Spider Step 53

Plan the next nine days carefully and stick to my plan .

" I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination". - Jimmy Dean.





Final sobering thought from yesterday:- Ecclesiastes 8:8 "Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, so no one has power over the day of his death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. In the face of death, evil will not deliver those who practice it."