Category Archives: Fun

The Peanut Butter Paradox: working from home

Posted in Fun, Life, Writing by

Is there anything better than peanut butter on the spoon? What about being wrapped in double layer bathrobes while nodding your head to grooveshark, AND eating peanut butter on a spoon? Cause I’m doing all those things right now. Plus – let’s add some extra joy – actually doing work as well. Like, work I get paid for. (It’s a miracle!)

Ever since arriving in Canada, Zsolt and I have been trying to find our space but it’s been slow going. For some reason our plan of ‘show up and let it fall into your lap’ didn’t quite work out. Of course I’ll never ever want to retract our summer of loveliness that involved little else but family, fun and gelato, but it did mean that upon arriving in Canada – finally separated from England’s happy nest – we were starting from scratch.

And from scratch I’ve begun a small business of blogging/writing/and social media-ing for other people. Unlike copywriting, copyblogging this doesn’t make me want to hit my head – cause it’s fun. The topics are fun, and I can choose what areas to work within. Obviously writing is a passion. Now it’s becoming a passion that (soon) pays the rent. Fantastic.

But you know what the downside of working from home can be? I’m sitting here in two bathrobes, licking peanut butter and have yet to take a shower. And if I stay like this all day than I’m officially a total slob.

So I propose a work-from-home support group. What this involves is meeting others who work from home at Starbucks or Bridgehead or your public space of choice (like the library if you have a good one . . . no one of those depressing ones) and working together. Yesterday afternoon this is exactly what a girl friend and I did, and it not only got me outta the house, it also gave me reason to shower, look pretty, and exercise (cause I walked).

And we went to the cafe, sipped on our teas, read our papers/wrote our stories, and time-to-time chatted to one another. Almost like working in a open concept office where the boss doesn’t stare down your neck, except the tea wasn’t free. It was productive in so many ways that I have to recommend it.

The stay-at-home and work support group – aka: the Time for Tea and Get Yourself Pretty For Once support group. Getting you out of the house, one coffee or tea at a time.

;P

Loving the unforgettable

Posted in Canada, Finding Home, Fun, Life, Love by

It’s cloudy outside and the rain is cold, but I’m here sitting in our living room as Nat King Cole sings his classic Unforgettable in the background on the record player. It’s smooth, slow and romantic.  Today is a day that’s perfectly lovely.

Saturday often translates into cleaning. Cleaning day. Except that this morning my entire family (mom, dad, Zsolt and I) were positively knackered. Maybe it’s the weather. Well, actually, more likely it was all that dancing Zsolt and I did last night while attending a friend’s stag & doe party.

So we cut back this morning to focus solely on the living and dining rooms. They were covered with things from my grandmother’s apartment, which had been sitting around for weeks. Amongst the items were her record collection and record player.

There’s all sorts of ways you can know a person; going through their music is a particularly rich experience.

Zsolt wired everything up (it’d been disassembled during the move) and put a record on the player. The sound of Hawaii flooded into our living room with its hypnotizing sounds coupled with visions of women in bright coloured leis, gently moving their arms like the waves. I bet Lulu and Benoit used to play this music during their midnight parties.

We began to clean. Packing dishes, moving spice racks, looking at tea pots and serving trays. And as we cleaned, we kept on listening. Hawaiian songs were followed by a Starlight Concert and its incredibly beautiful compositions of Hungarian Rhapsody, Czardas, and something familiar from a Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Then I pulled out some Bing Crosby and was reminded of A White Christmas during this wet spring day.

And all the while, I was just so happy. So glad. Here we are with my family, enjoying each other’s company and doing trivial little things that are coupled with such lovely memories and emotions. Happy, healthy and cancer-free.

It’s for days like this I moved back to Canada.

Good times, hard times, stressful times, out-of-work times, simple times, lovely dancing times . . . all part of the journey, I suppose. And today is a good time. So I’ve got to be thankful for that.  And for Nat King Cole and his beautiful voice. And for the memories and impressions that come through music. For memories of Lulu. For my family. For good friends. For Zsolt. I guess, for a whole lotta stuff in general.

That’s when it jumped in!

Posted in Fun, Life by

Oh my goodness!

So I’ve been quite computer-screen focused these past couple weeks. Just banging away at the key board, working to help a great client with her vision, and getting really productive while Zsolt is away. (I sound really cool and calm while writing this, but right now I actually feel very: “!!!” and you’ll soon hear why.)

Right, so working and staring at the screen and concentrating for periods that are unwise

[On an aside note, I’m realizing I need to work on my time management skills, because whenever I get deep into one project, my other projects suffer – and meanwhile my ultimate baby, the fiction portion of my life, goes neglected. . .well not 100% neglected, but I won’t be happy until it starts receiving more time, which, I think, means I need to schedule more strictly.]

Anyhow!

So having stared at a screen for way too long, it seemed that post-lunch before dinner was a great time to enjoy the luxuries of living at my parents. There are pros and cons to living at home for a married woman who is nearly thirty, as you can imagine, but the pros are really quite substantial – and one of them, that is the hot tub in the back yard, is also very tempting.

Right – take a break and take a soak. Life is good.

I change into my two piece (yes!) sans false boob as always, and grab my ‘newest’ Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent, which is really quite ancient and it’s probably my third time reading this particularly novel . . . stop to help my dad choose glasses online at his favourite webpage, 39dollarglasses, and finally head outside to the tub.

Open the tub. Sink into the water.

And, oh baby, that’s good.

Relax. Breath. Enjoy.

Then *splash* something dropped into the tub and I look at this thing thinking it’s a fish that’s fallen from the sky – except NO. It’s a freaking chipmunk swimming around with me in the tub.

Basically I gasped and rose up (no screaming, interestingly) and the little chippy turns a circle and scrambles out of the tub lick-ity-split, and I’m left there partly in shock, and partly debating over whether to stay in the tub – cause I still need that break, and the water is divine.

Fortunately my Dad comes out with a print out of possible glasses frame and as I tell him the story, he suggests I get out of the tub. Clear thinking.

So, my mom  is going to freak out. But I had to tell this story because it’s ridiculous and I’d never be able to keep it a secret anyhow. A freaking chipmunk!

And there you go. Break time is over. 🙂