Tag: enjoying life

Play time

“Let’s go into the field and play”. I heard one of the school children say to another one evening when i went to pick my son up from school.

“That would be a good idea”, I thought to myself. I got out of my car and I hopped along with the kids as they ran into the field to play. They were in several small groups of same age and some of same sex, they played different games and ran all over the large football field.

I kicked my slippers away and jumped up and down with reckless abandon. It felt so good to be free and happy like the children. It had been such a long time. I envied the kids, i started to wish I could do this again.

“Mummy SonTer, mummy SonTer, ah, mummy SonTer”. Someone was calling out to me, I felt a light tap on my hand and when I turned to look at the person who had been trying to get my attention, I realised it had all been in my head. I had been sitting in my car all the while, wishing I was out in the field, playing with the children.

Making Time

My eldest sister is a very busy person, she is a mom, works a 9 to 5 job, makes pillows and coaches people on mental health. In the middle of all this, she reaches out to the world. Yes, the world. Every now and again I get people telling me how she reached out to them and so and so.

She considers me to be equally busy, I am a mom,  I work a 9 to 5 and I run a bake shop and I make time to talk with people who need my time. In the midst of this, I write, listen to a lot of music and I catch up with the latest movies and my favourite series.

One thing my sister has always wondered about my extra activities, is how I get to see the latest movies in the midst of my own busy life. I guess the answer is simple; I make time.

I have trained myself over the years to make time for stuff. Only a few days ago my immediate older sister commended me on how I was doing with blogtober and said she wondered how I was able to do it. I had the same response; I think I just make the time.

How to make time for stuff:

  • Create a schedule and stick to it: at the beginning of any week, I usually make a plan for what I plan to achieve. This includes movies I would like to see, series to catch up on, people I would like to catch up with and other activities. I often create a plan for this and I try to make sure to stick to it.
  • If you miss the scheduled time, push it in: this is very important to me because if I miss a plan, I frown. So if I miss a scheduled activity, I find a way to push it into the next day’s activity.
  • Submit yourself to someone: this has always remained my number one solution to almost everything. Make yourself accountable to someone. The normal human has a way of shoving things aside when there isn’t anyone to hold us responsible. That is why I always make my plans known to someone and have them remind me about them.
  • Remember the reason: the reason for a thing is the key to every execution. If we fail to remember why we want something then there is no point to it, is there? Remembering how important something is helps us to get it done.

Bottom line is: if something is important to us, we have to learn to make time for it. Some important things may not be a life or death affair, it may just be a leisure activity that could keep life better and easier for us.

PS. I think my sister makes time to reach out to the world and I must applaud her for that.

Body Jump-Start

A few days ago I shared about my relationship with carbohydrates. It has been hard to manage. I never had any problems with carbs until late into my twenties. I began to notice that my body was taking its good time with digesting foods. My metabolism had slowed down.

Carbohydrates contain sugars that take long to digest and break down. Every now and again I try to speed up my metabolism and I also completely cut off carbohydrates. This allows me to jump-start my entire body and make it happy for a period of time.

How to speed up metabolism:

  • Replace carbohydrates with lots of protein
  • Drink lots of water
  • Take at least 10,000 steps daily
  • Drink green tea and coffee
  • Eat a lot of pepper and other spicy foods
  • Get at least 8 hours of sleep

How do I know if my metabolism is slowing down? Your metabolism may be slowing down when you feel some of these symptoms;

  • When you begin to gain a lot of weight
  • You notice that you are getting tired very easily
  • You start to get dry skin/hair and your nails break easily
  • You feel constipated
  • You get nagging headaches that dont go away
  • You get a feeling of sadness and depression

Some of these signs may not be related to your metabolism so it is recommended that you speak with a health specialist before coming to any conclusions.

It is very important to note that Carbohydrates are essential for the body as they are its main source of energy and so cutting them off completely for too long can be dangerous to health.

A book for November

“Mimi always does the coming over” . This is what one of my sisters said. I don’t know which of them said it, but after that had been said, they all agreed to come over to my town and spend my 40th birthday with me.

My three sisters live in the same city; almost 300 kilometres from my own town. Every now and again, I get to go over to the city for family events and celebrations. My dad happens to live in that same city and some of these celebrations are about him. Most of my close cousins and niblings live in that same city too. So yes, Mimi always does the coming over. I usually enjoy the trips because they give me a breather from my usual life schedule.

Two of my three sisters were able to come and they spent my 40th with me. I was super excited to have them around and I will never forget how it felt. My eldest sister had to take a work trip to London in the same week and she couldnt make it. She kept on saying how sorry she was for having to miss being with me on that day.

She brought me a book while she was away. A book by Alexander Potter titled Confessions of a forty something f##k up. Having been used to reading e-books for a while, it felt good to have a paperback in my hand, plus, the title suited just fine.

I went through the summary, praises and reviews of the book and I must say that I am super excited.

Dear Dough, thank you.

Thank you Dough. I will jump right into my book after blogtober.

Assumption

I recently started a job and the office premises had not been fully furnished and so one day, when there was a very important meeting of the top officers, my department had to vacate our office temporarily for a couple of days. Our office was bigger and better equipped for the purpose of that meeting.

While we were displaced, we had to make do with a room that had only chairs and no surfaces. On the second day of being displaced, one of the staff who had worked there longer than most us had, came into our temporary space, beckoned to me and said; “madam, please come”.

I was instantly upset because he didn’t wait for me to accept, he began walking up the stairs to the floor where his office and our vacated office was. I walked behind him, murmuring silently. You see, we had tagged him already as a person who was very full of himself. He was the kind of person who had an air of importance and spoke with a kind of pride we did not understand. A few people had even complained that he didn’t respond to their greetings.

When we got to the floor, he said to me: “Madam, we have an extra table and I want you to have it. you can move it down to the space you have occupied. You can return it when you move back to your office”.

I said thank you and went to get someone to help me move it.

When I settled behind my new table, I started to wonder, what if we dealt with people without assuming. Easier said than done right? I honestly didn’t know why he called me, but I just assumed it was for no good. It turned out it was totally for my own good and of no benefit to him at all.

I made a few notes to:

  • Call myself back to order when I start to make assumptions.
  • Keep my mind open.
  • Ask questions when I am not sure.
  • Listen with my mind and ears
  • Avoid emotional reactions and try to stop them when I feel them surfacing.



I only hope I can remember to keep to them.

My Favourite Music Genre

Music is such a beautiful thing. I don’t know what I would do if there was no music. I probably wouldn’t do anything because I definitely wouldn’t know what music was if there was no music.

Music is so beautiful; it connects people, no matter their tribe and tongue. It is felt and understood very easily.

I enjoy every genre of music but my favourite genre is country. Some times when I listen to people like John Legend, Meghan Trainor, Bruce Springsteen, Avril Lavigne and a few others, I get uncertain about my choice for a favourite. But I stand firm with my choice. Pop, R & B, Soul and Rock are lovely but country music makes my heart sing.
Chris Stapleton gets me so confused about picking my favourite song of his. I am constantly stuck in between ‘what are you listening to’ and ‘fire away’. This doesn’t erase the fact that the others are absolutely amazing. I often wonder if he is my favorite male country musician or if it’s George Strait.

Oh, George Strait, his performance with Stapleton in ‘when did you stop loving me’ drives me crazy. My favourite song by him is ‘Give it all we got’. It gets me every time.

Tim McGraw is good for me especially when he sings with his wife Faith Hill. My favourite song from the duo is ‘It’s your love’.

If you are not a country music lover, I want to suggest a few good artists and my favourite songs by each of them; I am hoping you will give them a try and eventually love them too.


Jordan Davis – Buy dirt
Luke Bryan – Play it again
Blake Shelton – Home
Reba McEntire – Does he love you
Faith Hill – It matters to me
Miranda lambert – The house that built me
Luke combs – Must’ve never met you
Keith Urban – Tonight I wanna cry
Brad Paisley – Whiskey lullaby
Jason Aldean – Tonight looks good on you
Rascal Flatts – I melt
Dierks Bentley – Black
Chris Young – Drowning
Brett Young – Like I loved you

What do you think about country music?

I would love to get a feedback.

Things I do in my free time 1

Every once in a while, i find myself sitting alone; in my car, waiting for someone/something; like when I go to pick up my son from school but the bell has not gone yet or when I am sitting in front of my bake shop when I don’t have too much to do. In the aloneness, sometimes I begin to watch people as they pass by. With everyone who passes, i get to think a thing or two about them. I sometimes wonder who they are, who they left at home. Who they are responsible for and what inner demons or angels they face every day. Sometimes I assume situations for them.

On one of such days, I started to wonder if this was unusual and I remembered that everything is on the internet and so I searched.

Below is an excerpt from what I found:

People-watching or crowd watching is the act of observing people and their interactions as a subconscious doing. It involves picking up on idiosyncrasies to try to interpret or guess at another person’s story, interactions, and relationships with the limited details they have. This includes speech in action, relationship interactions, body language, expressions, clothing and activities. Eavesdropping may accompany the activity, though is not required.

For some people, it is considered a hobby, but for many others, it is a subconscious activity they partake in every day without even realizing it. People-watching is not to be confused with naturalistic observation. Naturalistic observation is used for scientific purposes, whereas people-watching is a casual activity, used for relaxation or inspiration for characters or characters’ mannerisms in their own creative works. It should also not be confused with street photography; while the street photographer necessarily does people-watching, they do so for the purpose of taking photographs of the people for art and documentary purposes

Wikipedia

I am glad to know it isn’t unusual. I think I like it because it keeps my mind busy, especially when I don’t want to occupy myself with my phone.

I get to observe people and how they react in different situations and I learn a thing or two from their actions and reactions.

Hurting with Hope

A couple of months ago, I started a Bible reading plan with 4 amazing women. It was a 6 day plan that was meant to run from June 4th through June 9th. Some how, I didn’t go along with them. I decided to catch up some days ago.

It turned out that I really needed the words from the plan in this point of my life. I am sharing a word from day two and I am hoping someone needs it as much as I needed it.

Day 2: The Invisible World

At any given moment, there’s always more going on than what we can see with the naked eye. If you’ve ever spent any time stargazing, you know this is true. On a cloudless, dark night, when you are far from civilization, it’s possible to see as many as five thousand stars. But on a cloudy night you might not see hardly any. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there—there are always stars in the sky—you just can’t always see them. So it is spiritually. You must not rely on the naked eye. Faith is the telescope that allows us to see the spiritual realities at play all around us.

The apostle Paul taught about this in one of his letters:

We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Every moment of every day, you are in an invisible battle that rages on—as real as the ancient ones you read about in history class and as current as the clips shown on the evening news. This is the war: every moment of every day, we must make the all-important choice of whether we will rely on the naked eye.

Will you trust what we can see is there or believe what God says is there?

Hurting with Hope – Levi Lusko

I shared it with my sister and she had this to say:

“I always want to believe and choose to believe that everything is working for my good even though I don’t see it.

That there’s a plan, a carefully laid out process that I’m being led through by God to get to where he’s taking me.
… but the journey with God, from my own experience hasn’t been straightforward. It’s been hard, I know, for all of us here but I’ve come to see that it’s part of the process of building us into the person he wants us to be”.

FATHER OF THE BRIDE

As a TV screen lover, I have a dislike for things I consider to be unnecessary sequels and repeated titles of movies and TV series. I hear you…asking what I mean by unnecessary sequels. I won’t explain, however, I will mention a few examples… Sex and the City 2, Dirty Dancing; Havana Nights and The Blues Brothers (2000).

As a huge Andy Garcia lover and fan, I jumped at the movie Father of the Bride 2022 the moment I saw the cast. Ordinarily, after seeing the “first” Father of the Bride and its sequel staring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, my mind may have conditioned itself to be unreceptive to any other movie with that title because I would have assumed that nothing else could be better. I decided to do a little research about the brand new version and I was pretty surprised to find in my search that what I thought was the first ever ‘Father of the Bride’ was in fact the second film with the title.

The first ever was a 1950 film starring Elizabeth Taylor as the young bride. It was a film based on a novel of the same name, written by Edward Streeter. I immediately made a note to see this first edition and also read the novel. I have done the former and I loved it. The father of the bride (played by Spencer Tracey) made the film really interesting with his sense of humor and wit.

The second film was released in 1991 with Steve Martin Playing the role of the father of the bride. This particular production had a sequel in 1995 (Father of The Bride Part II). I learnt that it was a remake of the 1951 film; Father’s Little Dividend. Father’s Little Dividend is a sequel to The Father of Bride (1950).

In the latest film, Garcia plays a very reluctant and hesitant father who must come to terms with the fact that his daughter is not only getting married but is also moving away to Mexico. Although he is not as funny as the previous fathers of the bride, his character and charm will draw you into this film.

All three versions are beautiful and tell almost the same “father of the Bride” story and I must admit that I am undecided about picking my favourite. One thing is for sure, Garcia still has that charm in him and I really got a good laugh throughout this latest movie.

I would recommend all three any day.

2022
1991
1950

Story of my likes

Last week Tuesday, on the 23rd day of August 2022, I turned 40 years old. For this milestone, I baked for myself a four tier cake; one tier for every decade.

I had made at least three different sketches of what I wanted the cake to look like and on the fourth sketch, I had just what I wanted. The cake was meant to be a combination of the things that make me happy.

To determine the components and to properly plan this cake, I had to go through my mind to find out exactly what makes me happy. Coincidentally, my pastor thought it was the best time to take a few weeks to teach on happiness, a topic he has never taught on before. I decided I was on the right track. Praise God.

What did I find? I found that I was usually happy when I knew I was in the right place with Jesus. That place where you are certain He is smiling at you and giving you a pat on the back. I also found that I am really happy when I know that He is in control and I have nothing to worry about in my mind and soul. I found that my heart literally swells when I feel His presence. I didn’t know how to put that on a cake. That was the moment I decided I would spend that day telling of the goodness of God in my life at a breakfast prayer meeting. I did and I enjoyed it.

What did I put on the cake? On the cake, I decided I would put up things that keep me going in this busy and tedious world we live in. The things that keep me going when I am stuck or when I need a push. Things that help me relax after a long hard day. I found five things; coffee, wine, books, music and motion pictures.

The cake

The Base: On this tier, I made four roll ups of some of my favourite motion pictures (films and series) like Seinfeld, The Office, Downton Abbey, The Big Bang Theory, Mamma Mia and lots more. On the body of this tier, I placed screenshot images of songs by Dierks Bentley, Maverick City Music, Elevation Worship, Brett Young and so many other lovely musicians.

The Second Tier: This tier displayed a few of my favourite books to appear as though they were on a shelf. My favourite book is The Purpose Driven Life.

The Third Tier: I made this tier in the shape of a barrel. I love to have a good glass of wine or whiskey at the end of the day, especially a very hard day. I think it is one of the reasons I love Olivia Pope.

The Top Tier: This, I made in the shape of a Nescafe coffee cup. It is how I start a good number of my days.

This is the story of my likes, crowned by Grace from my God. These are the things that keep me happy.

What are your likes? What makes you happy?