Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What would you do if you had more time to yourself?

I'm thinking if every day was, say, 36 hours long & you didn't have to work any more hours - what would you do with those extra hours?

Have been musing this for a while and so far, have come up with:

Sew more

Read more

Write more

Probably sleep more

Blog more

School my horse more

Work with parrot more

Meditate more (actually, have been so monumentally crap in recent times re this that even 10 mins a day would be amazing)

Ditto reiki

Get back into yoga

Cook more

Listen to podcasts more (could combine this with above)

Study more (feeling the need to start up my Buddhist Philosophy course again) - there's just so much out there that I'd like to know more about

"be in the present" more - this is not so much about lack of time but when one is rushing around it is so hard (which is ironic because, of course, that is precisely when one really needs to get a grip & 'be in the now')

Hhhhhmmmmm.......... that's all I can think of so far ......... it is 1:16am & it has been a long day.

Night-night to you all out there in the blog-iverse

xxx

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Remember me?

Head is hung in shame - 'call yourself a Blogger!?' I hear you cry

Your derision & censure is well deserved I've been rubbish.

However, in my feeble defence it has been tough to blog about nothing in particular.

Obviously we still have no news from Nepal despite hearing about 6 weeks ago that our paperwork has been officially accepted by someone official to look at - gee, thanks, its only been 14 months+.

Then, we hear that a Minister has been finally appointed to our Ministry so of course now the creaky, rusty, intermittant wheels that HAD been turning now have to stop whilst Minister is brought up to speed.

Meanwhile, Little Chap is approaching his 2nd birthday - we met him at 4 months. This is hard to deal with - but we remain philosophical (in our more sunshiney moments) and er, let's say 'less' sunshiney* in our bad moments (*feel free to insert whatever adjective you feel appropriate to summarise our feelings at those times).

In a positive note, life in Dubai continues in a largely happy way.

Myself & Mr Trousers have just celebrated our 7th (yes, SEVENTH!!!) wedding anniversary & work remains interesting.
It is easy to get bogged down with sadness but I try hard to reflect on all that is good in our lives and, it has to be said we have MANY blessings:

= The love & unwavering support of our parents & their continuing good health *touches wood as cannot help being bit superstitious!!*
= Interesting & largely rewarding work
= Good friends all over the world - who we hold close in our hearts & help us more than they will ever know
= Our continuing good health *again, she does the wood thing* - a few extra pounds gained, whilst aggravating does not constitute anything to have a meltdown over
= I'm proud of the fact that we do make a great team & so, I'm glad we are navigating this nightmare together
= We have a nice place to live and our menagerie of creatures are nothing but a positive influence in our lives
= In this time when so many are struggling with uncertainties we are, so far, (you see, I just can't help but worry about jinxing things) still lucky to have work.

And so, just before I sign off, the current thing that is bringing us a real lift and much excitement is our impending trip home to Hong Kong to:
* eat ourselves into a potential guest on the Jerry Springer show,
* shop like the most shallow Paris Hilton wannabes (but only if it is a bargain!!),
* hang out with our very special HK buddies
* Spend some time & laughs with the Folks and
* Simply, just wallow in the bosom of a place that is home like no place else on the planet.

HONG KONG HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I can only apologise AGAIN for shocking blogging frequency.

No excuse other than simple not enough hours in the day for work, horses, dogs, books & computer time.

I've said it before but I will endeavour to raise my game somewhat in the coming weeks/months.

Drop me some 'comments' and then this might encourage me ... ?

Friday, September 19, 2008

And still ........ we wait.

Still no news.

Still the sadness and frustration. We are in a suffocating purjatory with approx 12 other families in a similar Holding Pattern.

It appears that in the recent reshuffle (after the previous Minister for Women, Children and Social affairs had resigned - not entirely sure why) no-one was rushing for the post and so .......

...... it remains 'unfilled' (you can put my poor grammer & bizarre use of imagery down to a good old fashioned ratty-ness).

Thus it seems that without a Minister in place (pro-international adoption or otherwise) - nothing can/will happen.

The Prime Minister has taken the post as an interim measure but, I'm guessing, will be looking to appoint someone as he has enough on his plate.

The good news is that Sagarmatha Childrens Home http://www.childrennepal.org.np// has been given the governmental 'thumbs up' - this means that whenever the international adoption process starts again (ie for new applications), the government has inspected the practices of the Children's Home and has found it to be ethically sound.

There is much written about in the press about the problems of trafficking of children so those of us who are so closely connected to it wholly support anything that ensures the children are legitimately (though of course tragically) available for adoption.

No one who has or is adopting a child would / could argue that it is not better for a child to be with his or her biological family and within he or her own culture.

We could not sleep at night if we thought there was any chance that any child we adopted had been coerced away from a family that wanted & was able to keep him or her.

Bottom line:
our Arms,
our Hearts,
our Home,
our Families,
our Friends are all open and ready to welcome in any soul who's journey is supposed to bring him or her to us - we will not / must not judge the circumstances in which we will find each other.

Just as we do not judge others journeys to create their family.

We are not saints. We just feel this is meant for us.

HOWEVER, this is a darn hard road. Would we have started it had we had a Google Map for the WHOLE trip complete with a full breakdown of the hazards we would have come across on the way?

I don't know. I guess the key to it all is what happens in the end. If we end up at the destination we wanted, it will have been worth every tear shed, blister acquired.

When we set out we were armed only with a mini-A-Z and we only got one page at a time!!!

And so ......... on we plod..... one foot in front of the other......

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Heeeeeeerrrrrreeee's ............ MING!!!!








He's our new cat.


He's Devon Rex - which means he has a curly coat.


He's the cuddliest snuggliest thing in the world.

As we have a cat named after Alan Shearer the footballer (as he came to live with me during Euro '96), we have decided to name him 'Ming' in honour of Yau Ming the Chinese Basketball player who carried the flag for China in the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Beijing.









I am a HUGE Olympics junkie and have been watching any and every sport/event that has been shown (am now something of an officiando on HandBall, fyi).







Got so carried away after watching the Chinese team gymnastics I felt I needed to demonstrate some of their moves at work ...................... and hurt myself.


Apparently 39 is not the optimum age for starting olympic level gymnastics - huh, who knew?



HongKong has been the venue for the equestrian part of The Games which, of course, is the sport I'm most superly interested in.
The coverage here in Dubai of that aspect esp the dressage has been quite good and I'm now determined to ride for my country, HongKong, in the dressage team.......um, shall we say, one day when I'm grown up and leave it at that??






Sunday, August 10, 2008

Some more!



At the top of Glastonbury Tor with Becky, Jim & dogs (who aren't looking at the camera) Sam Lloyd



Artistic wall?


Is it so VERY wrong that I quite liked that!





This was the hotel we stayed in during our time in Chedder Gorge - was actually IN THE GORGE & our room was the one with the balcony. You can see the 2 columns.














View from our room up The Gorge.
What a great few days that was with our wonderful friends, Becky & Jim plus dogs.
REALLY REALLY great time we had. A real chance to spend some time together rather than a quick few hours etc.
Loved it and love them.
*sigh* such a happy few weeks.
Hey-ho - please stay tuned for next blog when we introduce you to the newest member of the Lloyd-Green 4-legged menagerie.
I shan't post any details till I know anyone is out there reading this sooooooo ....... you better let me know if you're there and paying attention!!!!!!
:)

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

A sorry excuse for a Blogger!








Just quickly I thought I stick some photos of our recent trip to the UK.

Had a really fabulous time catching up with our wonderful friends and of course, celebrating the wedding of Brother Trousers and his lovely new Pants.

Enjoy!

Got to go to bed now but I'll continue soon, I promise!