A Head to Call my Own!

You may recall my recent bemoaning the end of school and a six week stretch of listening to bored child demanding that I fill each day with entertainment. No? Well, it went something like that. Last week we camped by the sea, it was lovely thank you! This morning I deposited him at a PGL Kids Activity Holiday base, conveniently local to where we live.
Arriving home there was I, desperately looking forward to 'writing time', practically dancing with the dog through the front door whilst repeating the word 'peace' like a mantra.
And now? Now...I miss his chatter, his questions, his enthused energy and need to be fed, which also ensures I take breaks from here! The silence is quite depressing...
Just yesterday he landed at my side dragging his laptop with him and we sat lost in our own virtual worlds - but together. He played amongst strange weevil friends who live in bins and penguins with far more interesting lifestyles than anyone I know...
I sighed frequently and drew on my ever decreasing reserves of patience, two weeks into the hols with no respite.
With zero awareness of the frequent disruption he was causing to my writing state he badgered me for quiz answers. Correct answers would result in him netting more money/tokens to beautify his internet friend's abodes.
Before long I was surprised to hear myself advising him on the necessity to spend wisely and install the necessary white goods first before choosing wallpapers and items of a frivolous nature. What?!%
Oh School, where art thou when I need you?
Now I sit here wondering if he is enjoying it in that strange place (well it is his first time) and munching on chocolate.
However, this blog post didn't just write itself and I have two whole days of - a head to call my own!
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A Head to Call my Own!

I have just the THING!

Yes, you've guessed it - I'm feeling better! Well, better than I've felt all week thanks to a nasty throat infection. Sadly, too ill to Tweet. However, my nose and I have become quite friendly with several toilet rolls. What a way to start the school holidays...

My eleven year old son decided to make me a saucepan of tea as this would make me feel better. Several teabags and half a pint of milk later - I managed a couple of cups - the bathroom sink managed the rest...It was a sweet thought though!

My new exercise regime was most definitely out the window...still not quite up to that...no really, Im NOT! Just a couple more days...I need to get my strength back first.

Anyway, back to this morning...and back on my beloved Laptop - although it's not a good idea to put it on your lap is it? All those EMF's flying about your nether regions. Then again, my beloved Tabletop doesn't cut it either...hmm. This requires a little re-think...but not now, I'm trying to tell you something!

During a daily scouring of my email subscription to Freegle - a local Free Cycle organisation that has gained us some wonderful items cast aside as another's rubbish - we've also managed to clear some of our unwanteds into the outstretched arms of fellow recyclers...

Oops...Where was I? Oh yes - I happened upon a 'Wanted' post for 'Office chair with rise and fall' - and further down - 'Hello all, I am looking for an old tatty office chair with a good set of wheels and a rise and fall gas strut, the seat condition is not important as this will not be used.
Thanks'

Ahh! Thinks me - I have just the thing! However, the seat condition is pretty damn good. Does it not deserve to be sat on? This slight grievance swam through my mind quickly followed by the vivid image of my tatty, brown office chair and trying to imagine an alternative use for it besides plonking backside on. So, with much excitement anticipation (no, I haven't been out for a while) I emailed him back and managed to refrain from enquiring into the future function of said chair. However, this investigation is now well and truly open and I shall keep you posted!
Bye for now, Kzee ;)

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I have just the THING!

School's Out for Summer!!!

Don't know whether to laugh or cry. Good weather will help, so here's hoping... Six weeks of daily routine going to the wall, bored child, frustrated writer - that will be me - just more so than usual. We have a few plans in place, but 6 weeks?! Not only that - but we're also dealing with the imminent fallout of saying goodbye to his primary school for good today. During his last week at there Louis has gone from rampant school hater to bereft child, adamant he is not leaving there under any circumstances! Bless!
So, with recent days spent on much consoling and reassurance, assemblies, plays, parties, gifts and outfits - I'm basically...well, knackered before I start. Nothing new there then!
So, back to the hols, anyone out there in possession of some good tips? How to survive the school holidays? Please post and share. I'm sure I'm not the only one!
Tata for now!
Kzee :) ...still smiling...just x

Home-baked chocolate gifts for teachers too!

I'm not usually this efficient - honestly! ;)

Happy to post the recipe if anyone wants it -

they're really rather yummy!

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School's Out for Summer!!!

Energy Saver!

I feel like a Mum with her first newborn - really haven't a bleedin' clue what I'm doing! Thankfully it's not keeping me awake at night - yet.
Huge appreciation on its way to those who don't mind sparing a little time - I shall help you to find this extra time below ;)
So please - some tips, relevant posts/articles on the following from you old timers out there...you know who you are!

• How to entice people in to your blog
• How to encourage them to come back and hopefully subscribe/follow
• What we can and can't put on our blogs
• Anything else related!

Meanwhile, for your efforts here is some advice I came up with recently following a friends bemoaning the burden of this familiar household chore...

Free up your time for writing, creating or anything else!

That's all folks, Kzee :)

Energy Saver

If your iron depresses

More than your clothes,

Turn your thinking to more

Than the lie of your hose.

It needn't be necessary

To waste so much time,

Flattening the daylights

Out of what's on the line.

Simply shake, slap it

Then smooth it out,

The electricity saved

Will help dispel doubt.

As for the energy

Expended by you,

There is more now to use

On a pleasure or two!

Kzee

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Energy Saver!

Right place right time!

Hi there,
It's that Friday feeling! My day has been pretty good so far...I went and joined one of those Gyms for Women: Ladypace with the timed circuits. Not up to the standards of my younger - and fitter - days workouts but quite enjoyable nonetheless. You may or may not have gleened that I once worked in the fitness industry...before my dodgy foot decided to put a stop to that! ( I broke it in a car accident back in !$%&*:#)
So what was it that prompted me to visit there? A few changes are in dire need, namely to get fit (before my op), lose weight and cross off 'buy larger clothes' from my list.
A lovely woman called Lizzy put me through my paces and while I was there her colleague informed her that another member of staff would be leaving. Lizzy and I had been chatting about my background in the industry and she turned to ask me whether I'd be interested in the post on a part time basis.
Given that this kind of luck doesn't come my way very often I was lost for words to say the least...

My foot is due for an operation in September, so we decided that I'd get that out of the way and see about it then. Meanwhile I agreed to gather my qualifications together for their perusal.
Just a little positive glimmer through the window of my life but enough to put a spring in my step all the way home. Which leads me to another advantage, the gym is 5 minutes walk from where I live!
Funny how life can open right up when we put ourselves out there isn't it?
Anyway, I really must get back to my writing before collecting my son from his school disco...
Bye for now, Kzee :)
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Right place right time!

Shrek Smoothie!

What  a GORGEOUS day! My morning started with the usual routine - getting my son out of the door and in the car in time for breakfast club at his school. However, verging a little on the neurotic I like to make sure he has a good starter for the day...before the cardboard toast and polystyrene cereals descend on his system. Yes, it's what's on offer and they expect their brains to run well on that, hmm... So the only way I can let him go is by making a fabulous Shrek Smoothie for us. We did run a bit late today, owing to my determination to capture my green glop progress on film.

Can I just say please bare with me? I have a new laptop and camera but at the cost of my beloved design software; Photoshop and Quark, which I can't afford to replace. So things are looking a little amateur this end, much to my horror as I battle with various Freeware off the internet that is supposed to resemble my preferred programmes but really doesn't.

Anyway I digress, this is how it goes...

This is what makes it green!

Some of our home-grown veggies.

This is what makes it yummy!

Large slice of pineapple, large orange, banana, blueberries, leaves and flax seeds (1 tbsp pp) Add filtered water...approx 8oz for this amount - this will make 2 huge glasses...or 3-4 smaller!

Pith haters - leave it on! Your cells will thank you for it :)

Raw-fooders, apologies - I don't believe in juicing but I do believe our bodies are designed to break stuff down and digest and a smoothie allows us to do this. It also makes use of all the fibre - the whole deal, not just the juice. Liquidisers are a lot more economical too. Let me know your thoughts?

Preparation complete. Give it a whizz...

Absolutely!!

Bye for now!

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Shrek Smoothie!

Blog Virgin

Yes! I admit it... I'm a Blog Virgin! (hangs head in embarrassment).
So please help me to burst out of my naive little bubble and come join me...amidst the shameless delights of blogging.
My birth name is Karen-Zanda, but please...Kzee to you.
I have rather had to talk myself into this one, being a fairly private person. Alas, it became more and more difficult to ignore the fact that if you wish to write and have people read what you write it's an absolute necessity to enter the ring and make your presence felt!
Over the past weeks I have poured over blogs and Twitterers, links and kindle posts, seamlessly filling my waking hours with an inexhaustible array of 'how tos' and 'what nots', until my head was crammed so full as to render me incapable of 'writing' a single word of my beloved Novella.
A satisfying recent read - 'Wild Mind' by Natalie Goldberg nataliegoldberg.com urges us to write our insecurities out so, as I had been struck by a large dose of self-doubt I decided I would give it a go. If this isn't true sharing and baring  then I don't know what is!
Here we go....
Top of the Plops -
'I feel like a writer version of one of those really bad 'Britain's got Talent' Acts, who actually believe they have something to offer but don't. Deluded comes to mind - I've just begun another fiction book after promising myself I wouldn't, because although I love to read them it distracts me from writing my own stuff. All I want to do then, each morning when I wake and before I go to sleep is read it...and escape. So I shut down my own writing process and become engrossed in someone else's - which is cool - but it won't get my book written! Then of course I'm stricken with that comfortable old slipper of infurr-iority because I can't possibly write to their standard or for as long as they do. Who would want to read my amateur dribblings anyway? What am I thinking?
The anxious rumblings creep in...So what am I going to do if I don't write? But I want to write, I need to write!
I fantasise about writing forever - my world existing between a pen and paper...or keyboard and screen, whichever... I shall write the plot to top all plots - I said plot not plop!  I will write...it will come to me sooner or later for I am a writer!
I experiment with several plots a day in my head, only to watch them shrivel and die before my eyes as I pick them to bits or don't even get that far. That was obviously not the one. Having never been a patient sort I tell myself that my lesson in this futile exile is to learn exactly that.
So I wait each day for inspiration to strike, the elusive story that will transform me into a proper writer - I said proper not plopper! I even introduce the characters, mess about with them a bit and tell myself, 'they'll decide what they want to do next'. True to my word they curl up comfortably between the pages and sleep dreamless sleeps.
'I have no imagination!' That's it! and 'But I don't have as interesting life experiences as those other writers!'
Next days ponder - 'I'm just not all that clever then...'
I write myself off - not on - as a future writer. Maybe I just need to find a coffee shop like Ms Rowling and write there.
How did she do that? In front of people? Wasn't she distracted? Self conscious?
Ok, one more book might just do it - 'Writing Down the Bones - Freeing the Writer within', again nataliegoldberg.com. Another superb read that did manage to get my juices flowing. To the point where I was waking at 4am and writing a whole chapter!
Bearing in mind this is the first time I've attempted the challenge of a longer piece, being more familiar with short stories and poetry...I am now questioning whether I should break it down into bite sized fiction as I'm feeling a little impatient...' ◦

Blog Virgin