Will a brick wall work magic?

Do you hit one of these often? No, not head-on, smack-bang-into-the-middle-of-a-brick-wall-leaving-you-with-a-bleeding-forehead sort of hit (tempting as that may sound) but, metaphorically speaking.

I feel like I have.

My words are all clogged up, rammed into the backs of each other, in the deep chasm that is my mind. I have paper, I have pen, I have laptop. But nothing gels no matter how hard I try. Somewhat ironic that my jumbled-mind has hit an ordered and neatly structured object. Maybe the force of the impact will somehow throw all the words, that are waiting to be written, into the air where they will miraculously work themselves out and settle into perfectly structured sentences one after the other, waiting to exit via the conveyer belts that are my hands and the motor that is my mind?

On the other hand, perhaps a bout of cake baking and house cleaning (in that order, please) are the solution?

We'll see.

Honest Scrap about Me

Tell 10 honest things about myself.

Pick 10 honest bloggers to pass it on to.

Boots from two cats in the yard, was the lovely blogger who chose to share this with me! I will break one little itty bitty rule and that is rather than choosing 10 bloggers, I ask you to please copy and paste the details if you would like to participate.

10 Honest Things about me (in no particular order):

1. I am ambidextrous, a trait which a year 10 teacher told me is shared by dyslexics; I have since then always wondered if I am one but am hesitant to get it checked out, not that it would make any difference.

2. My paternal grandmother taught me to crochet and knit when I was three; I still remember how to do both.

3. I have never had a manicure or a pedicure and I am often reminded by those who have them what a great thing it is I am missing out on.

4. I love to cook but can get a little obsessed with one recipe if it proves popular...and then it isn't so popular!

5. I cherish time I can spend on my own thinking/making notes about all the books/plots I want to write...

6. I am woman enough to admit that I can get very passionate (bordering on the visceral) about the things that I deeply believe in.

7. I love Spring cleaning...(sick mind = sick habits!)

8. I have an obsessive compulsive streak and have been known to return home to check that the oven is off and that the doors are locked and to check that the oven is off, again...

9. My dear hubby and I never really had a honeymoon but plan to change this next year...Paris, here we come!

10. I love dunking my biscuits into my coffee, and then spooning up the soggy remains at the bottom of the cup - only if I am alone of course! And, you will definitely not be seeing me do this at the bottom of Le Tour Eiffel!

Thank you Boots and to You for reading.

Return

Like a spider weaving its glistening web

In preparation for what is to come,


Like an excited couple

In anticipation of their special day,


Like a patient mother-to-be

Counting down to the day of birth,


Like a naive child

On Christmas eve,


Like a potential author with a deadline in their hand...


I am jittery, I consider, I start to type...

I log on to my blog.


Why is it that the longer away I am from my blog, the more difficult it is to start again?

I wait for my friends for I have missed them. I long to visit their blogs too, and will.

Can't wait!

The photo above was taken by me on the morning after my husband went away for a few days with our youngest son, Mr. 7 . This is a habit we started with our eldest son where we each spend one-on-one time away with one of our children at some stage of their development (admittedly it has only happened a couple of times so far with Mr. 16 and only once with Miss 12., but they remember these breaks away so distinctly). It is a little hard for the parent not away, but well worth it in the long term, we believe.

Do you do something similar with your loved ones?

Dedication to you

This short post is dedicated to all of my dear readers. Thank you again, for your support. I recently told my mum of all the wonderful well-wishers, some of whom are across the other side of the world, and she smiled brilliantly. A smile I do not remember seeing in a long, long time. And furthermore the elimination of her back and leg pain has made her absolutely radiant.

As a result of me doing all I can to help her, I have less time to post and to visit your blogs, so I apologise.

See you soon.

Absentee Note...

Dear Sir/Madame,

I hope this note finds you in the best of health. I miss posting regularly and really miss visiting all of the lovely blogs I have grown to love. I have had the busiest month in a long time. Our renovations are coming along (although there was a bit of a lull there for a while). As Project Manager (I truly believe this title deserves capitalisation) for our built-in pool and attached cabbana/pool-house, I have been busier than a bee on the first day of Spring (which, incidently has come and gone for us in the southern hemisphere). However we are now booking tradespeople (and paying tradespeople), booking supplies (and paying for supplies) as well as making last minute decisions about things I had not even considered. And I thought I was so, so organised! I have also had to make many decisions on my own as my darling hubby had two overseas conferences in a row (poor sweety had to go to Singapore one week and then Spain the next). Consequently, he underwent many sessions of therapy...retail therapy that is, to allay his feelings of guilt, of course. Admittedly however, the results worked like a charm. He has excellent taste and brought back some lovely goodies for me.

I have uploaded some images of our project, below, for your perusal.

Yours sincerely,

Mervat
Project Manager extraordinaire!

Concrete jungle:

The pool-house aka lego:
Lego in motion:
One door-frame successfully erected:
Working, working (my wonderful brother aka Head Foreman!)
Thinking, thinking...
After a few weekends, walls and roof come together (lots and lots of family help: thank you to each and every one of you)

The windows go in: NB: The half-head (!) and gloved hand on the left in this last image are mine...

See you on your blogs soon, I promise!