Alphabet Wednesday: C is for...

C is for

Challenge
Look at a problem as a challenge - it removes some of the obstacles
Charity
Giving a helping hand to others - you can participate in walks, runs etc. to help support a cause (in the past my causes have been: MS, cancer, breast cancer, fresh water for Africa, Unicef etc.)
Christmas
Favourite time of the year: X-mas cards, glögg, eggnod, Santa Claus
Chocolate
Unlike most women, I don't eat much chocolate - give me a hot cup of chocolate instead
Cínnamon
Hmmm... baked goods with cinnamon
CocaCola
The only not healthy thing that I refuse to give up - but I don't drink that much of it anyway
Crafting
Letting go of everyday stress and just create something with your hands and imagination
Creme Brûle
Love that dessert - the fascination of it in the movie "Amelie from Montmartre" is soo true to my heart
Curry
Hmmm... Indian Curry food... ok now I'm hungry

Alphabet Wednesday: B is for....

B is for:

Baking
You have to love the smell of freshly baked bread, cakes etc.
Bath tub
This is a holiday thing: a book and a few candles.... perhaps a glass of wine...heaven
Blogging
Just putting radom thought out there - and sometimes getting feedback
Blue
Not just a state of mood but the refreshing color of the ocean, the sky.....
Books
You enter a new world - pherhaps with your favorite characters...
Brave
In awe of a lot of the people I encounter at the hospital when getting my monthly MS treatment - how a lot of them stay positive

Just One of Those Days....

Bet you know them - those days where you create something and somehow is does not look like the result you were aiming for??

Having one of those days today when trying to do this weeks Mojo Monday Challenge - well will not submit nor publish my result... not satisfied with it - however it has just given me an idea to a card, but need to buy printertoner before I can make that happen - can use some of my own pictures as embellishment.....

This weeks challenge - well the sketch looked like this.....

But despite the not completed challenge this week - can not wait for the next one = "fresh start"

And there was a side bonus for this weeks challenge for me: I have a new idea in my folder just waiting to be completed.... hmmm guess that glass is not half empty but half full :o)

Anybody Want to Join Alice for a teaparty in Wonderland?

If you live close to Manhattan, you actually have the opportunity to join Alice for a teaparty in Wonderland - only Wonderland is Central Park where you will find this statue...

So visit Starbucks or perhaps your favourite coffee/ tea house - buy that cup of tea and bring it to the statue.... I have dozens of pictures of this statue incl. close-ups.... my mind are always filled with fond childhood memories including this book so my mind really wanders when I am close to this statue....

On the other hand - instead of a CocaCola,  Coke Zero, Snapple or what your favorite movie-bevarage might be - buy a cup of tea this time and go see Tim Burton's version of this story at the cinema - you won't regret it....

Tell Me the Truth.....

You might have experinced a friend saying those words in order to ask you for your honest opinion...

... Do you like it?

... Do you think, that it's a mistake if....?

If your immediate answer is:

... Are you sure?

... Okay.... (followed by a long pause)

Then the friend might start to get nervous, offensive etc.

A quick assessment of the situation is warrented, but it might not always be that easy to give it straight away... no matter how honest you actually wish to be.....

If you know the question asking that question you a often likely to be able to provide a good answer - but other times you need to figure out if:

... It just might be a subtle excuse for not having an "own opinion" about something and they need to provide one

... The person needs to have confirmation if the thing/matter is handled correctly

... A hidden way of always getting acknowledgement about something that person did (with out asking directly for acknowledgement)....

So what do you think?

Friend or.....??

Facebook can be a good tool when you want to locate old friends and class mates - I use it to keep my friends updated of my whereabouts as my plans sometimes shifts to the unexpected.... and I only allow trusted friends to see my profile on Facebook.

My friends values this shifting of plans and love that I am able to live more carefree than they can and still trying to be in synch with the MS.... but they are also aware that I usually never change plans that I have made with them (brunch, coffee, cinema, birthdays etc.)...

But facebook can also be an annoying place - Sometimes you want to give people a second chance and you just might accept to be Facebook-friend with such a person..... Some people changes as they get older - but some people end up hurting you more than before...

"I preserve the right to choose who I want to be friends with" - is that too much to ask??!!

Apparently it is - one person ended up hurting me again, so I removed that person from my friends list after giving my honest opinion about that person's behaviour. Somehow another friend supplied my email-addres to that friend who has now spammed med with emails about me being rude, shallow etc. - that person's email is now blacklisted as spam on my email-account... Then the person wrote about me disconnecting him as a friend on his Facebook update, and did not realise that other people might disconnect him as well when reading it.. They too preserve the right to choose who to be friends with.....

MOJO130 Card Challenge

Another week and another MOJO Monday challenge :o) The card has been finished since Tuesday night, but scraps of paper, ribbons, stamps etc. has been all over my appartment as I suddenly had several ideas that I "needed" to turn into cards.

This week's sketch looked like this:

And my result ended up like this:

What I used to make this card:
PaperCraftInspiration freebies (ribbon and pearls)
Scissor and scalloped scissor
Double sided tape from PanduroHobby
Paper: valentinoise + FancyPantsDesign: Meadow + DreamStreetPaper: Oh la la + Me&MyBigIdeas valuepack paper

Alphabet Wednesday - A is for....

A is for....

Acceptance        
Need to accept that a disease is meddling with my life in order to move on
Admiration         
A multi-handicapped lady who had the strenght to help me see possibilities
Adventure         
When unexpected chances to do something completed new occurs
Apple                
Doesn't always keep the doctor away - but still tastes good :o)
ApplePie           
Can you ever get tired of apple pie....
Appreciation     
Friends and colleagues who are always there when support might be needed
Art Deco          
Wish I could afford to buy some lamps in art deco style.........

Body Language

We hear a lot about body language and what signals the indivial unconsciously sends with simple body posture. My parents told me never to cross my arms when speaking to somebody as it might send out the wrong signals - for me not doing that is a normal as common table manners etc.

Just before my vacation I facilitated a meeting with a foreign business partner - due to recent changes in the company, I have changed responsibities a bit (added some tasks and reducing the scope of others).

One of my colleagues started out with a body posture that was totally rejective towards the guest and the face - that was the scary part: I've never seen that person's face looking soo grumpy before, it was almost like a kliché. The guest obviously was aware of this and was really strugling to ease the tension.

Wish that I could have taken "before and after" photos of my colleague, because the guest luckily suceeded to get my colleage to relax and have a much more pleasant attitude towards.

Afterwards I had a cup of coffee with the guest who asked me for my honest opinion about my colleague: the colleague might appear harsh and with a fiery temperament but once you get to know the colleague you find out how gentle that person can be - yes might be feisty one minute, if you screw up, but holds absolutely no grudges and might be joking with you the next minute. I was not affraid to share this with the guest as other business partners have expressed the same description about my colleague: some of the business partners have actually been kind of afraid of my colleague, but once they got to know my colleague, they absolutely likes the colleague a lot, since the honest opinion is always aired.

When taking classes in innovation techniques, we were often discussing body language, but it is actually the first time that I have had the change to really observe what effect body language might have on meetings etc. So did I learn anything from this experience? Yes, I am more alert about body language when meeting other people.

The Knitting Project: Mission Accomplished

Tada.... finished my knitting project: total result 30 baby hats - all of them will be sent via Save the Children to Africa to help reduce child infant mortality :o)

Finding the QuickKnit really helped a lot - example of a hat knitted with the gadget is below - and now time for other projets, that have "knocked on my door" - when I am doing creative stuff my mind creates new ideas so lots of ideas to choose from.....

Off to the nearest coffee house an pamper myself with a steaming cup of chai latte..... :o)

Hidden treasures...

Sometimes when looking for a specific item, you stumble across an item, which you had forgotten all about...

Turning back the clock a little - or the pages on the calendar - I wrote about doing some sketches to a blog-post, that have been lurking in my head.... but I've been totally absorbed by my knitting project, so it will have to remain in my head just a little longer.

Even though I have "slept like a baby" on my vacation at home, I feel tired all day long - yes it just might be MS fatigue - but actually I don't think so... I don't wake up at the same hour every night as usual... nor do I have to go to the bathroom.... I am dreaming about a lot of creative ideas, and while dreaming even more new ideas pop up - I write them down while eating breakfast everyday, and the wall above my desk is covered with POST-ITs.

I compare the dreams to the dreams, where you have been really active, and you wake up feeling like you might just have finished a marathon run.

The day is not yet over - and still I have already made 3 baby hats.... And just how is that possible? Well my hidden treasure it the QuickKnit I bought a few years back, and it is soo easy making the hats, 'cause my QuickKnit have just the right size for the baby hats. I will have used all the yarn sooner than expected - finished my project (last submission date is April 1st) faster than expected leaving time for new creative projects..

Problem is chosing which project to be next....   :o)

MOJO129 Card Challenge

I am starting to try something new - okay making cards is not new to me, but participating in challenges are.

I've been following the sketch blog Mojo Monday for a while, and now it was time to give it a try - mainly I will try to complete these challenges for me: getting new ideas and refining my cards are my top priorities...

This weeks challenge sketch is as follows:

And my humble result is this:

Hmm... for me this is an okay beginning with challenges - and will look forward to next week's challenge. I already have some ideas to what I could have done differently but honestly: the ribbon was giving me a headache. I have worked with ribbons in cards before, but usually not as a bow...

The Knitting Project: Mailing Batch No. 1

A while ago, I started my Knitting Project (see old post here): to knit baby hats for SaveTheChildren and help reduce the infant mortality rate in Africa.

Today I mailed the first batch of 15 hats - and still have until the end of the month to knit more hats. Have almost used all the left-over yearn, that I had and will soon start using the yarn I was donated at the baby shower (see old post).

I am actually having a vacation right now (had to use the remaining days, before the new holiday year starts) - but for once I have decided ot to go travelling but instead to be creative, to go for long walks every day, to read books.... In other words just relax and actually save a lot of money. So plenty of time for knitting more hats and also to see if I can make a drawing to put on a blog-post for a topic, that has been lurking in my head since Tuesday....

Not the best picture I ever took - but I wanted to mail the parcel with the knitted hats before the local post office closed for to day.....

Is a One-Way Street Really a One Way Street.....???

Yes if you think of a one way street in traffic.... yes it is ONE WAY... people still trying to drive in the wrong direction should have their heads examined: do they even realise how many people, that they might endanger by this selfish act?

In some old towns taking a "wrong" one way street might lead you into a labyrinth of one way streets, that you can only navigate safely, if you already know this area, or if you are accompanied by a really accurate GPS.

New cities have a more comprehensive grid of street, where you can make a turn at the next intersection - it might be a one way street or the usual two-way street.....

Sometimes I think of life of going down streets, where you constantly have to take choices - forward, left, right or even a u-turn....

I think of my life of the old parts of town with the labyrinth of one way streets - ended there due to road constructions forcing me to change direction right into that part of town - and I forgot the map... Took a while to find the way out of the labyrinth and now I know how to navigate it most of the time...

My MS diagnosis was the unforeseen road construction leading into a labyringh of uncertainty and rediscovering me and my strenght was my way out to the well known "part of town".... road contructions - my my case the MS attacks - can still occur, but I found out how to navigate away from them most of the time.... The day I truly believe that I reached a dead-end road....then I have given up to the MS... And right now - that is light years away.

Mr. Murphy - why did you decide to make this a crazy day??

Just one of those days, where you feel like you have been fighting with Mr Murphy's nasty presence and just....

Everything that can go wrong will go wrong

One of my colleagues told me, that Mr. Murphy have taken advantage of it being a Tycho Brahe's day (named after a Danish astronomer who supposedly found out that certain days of the year is unlucky) - and according to the calendar, is actually one of those days today.....

 

I fought like a good little soldier to make things happen anyway.... glad my colleagues acknowledged that I did everything I possibly could - and two of them even compared me to an energizer bunny... what me??!!

At the hospital, it took 4 attempts before the IV unit was in place for the monthly MS-treatment - feel like a needle cushion....

Ok time to pamper myself with my favourite cheese, bacon and tomato pie: pie dough - check....... cheese - check... bacon - check..... chopped tomatoes - sold out.....WHAT!!???? Ok time to improvise - it didn't come out the usual way but luckily still eatable......

While eating my pie and writing this post, I suddenly remember the Garfied cartoon strips, where he absolutely hate Mondays.. I now have a big smile on my face, and can not wait for tomorrow to happen, because things can only get better from here........

:o)