Life Behind The Purple Door: 10 things

Thursday, 3 May 2018

10 Podcasts I Actually Listen to

As an introvert, I recharge my energy with quiet and alone time.

But sometimes, being alone needs some noise in the background.

I love listening to podcasts when I'm walking (although not walking the dogs) and when I'm pottering in the craft room tidying up and sorting my space.

10 great things about summer

I saw this post shared in a blogging group a couple of weeks ago where the writer wanted to flip around her negative feelings about winter. We were right in the middle of a heatwave here in Queensland (defined as 3 or more days of higher than average temperatures), so it inspired me to take note of the post and borrow the idea for myself. Because while I don't always whinge about the heat on facebook, I don't enjoy it at all.

blogging from the heart | 10 things you don't know about me

In five years, I've probably written lots about me. But if I think carefully, I can probably find something you know nothing about.

Like the fact that I have a tattoo. It's a butterfly. Yes, nice girls do have tattoos.

stretch marks and all

And I haven't visited the dentist for a long time. Because once-upon-a-time, a dentist said to me "the reason you don't like needles in your mouth is because it's so close to your brain." Without even considering that I didn't like needles, because I didn't like needles.

I was involved in student politics when I was at university. And I fiercely believed in feminist mothering (and I met Andrea O'Reilly at a conference in 2005)

I was going to leave Steve about six months ago. I was fed-up with the constant excuses for not-doing-stuff and the constant you-fix-it attitude. The not-doing and attitude is still there, I just deal with it differently.

I don't like peas. In any form. Because when I was a kid, I watched my cousins squeeze the guts out and leave the skins on the side. The idea that peas have an inside and outside just makes me gag. Silly, I know.

I don't like spiders. But I'm the resident spider-catcher in our house. I have an aunt who is so deathly afraid of spiders that she gets the pest control man to remove the carcasses after he sprays.

Families-of-origin are hard work. I'd love to be able to spend time with my sister in a way that nourishes us both, but I'm lucky if I can spend an hour with her once a year without losing my patience and yelling at her. And I don't know how to change that, because we live so far apart that we never get the chance.

On the other hand, my brother lives around the corner. Literally. On the same street as me. He used to live downstairs!

I used to be a waitress. And I loved it! But I loved working functions best; one-off events where I could help make it successful by providing a service that every one enjoyed. But I hated working at the footy.

My not-quite-finished university degree was a Bachelor of Arts. I had finished one major, in ethics, and was working on two minors, in counselling and family services. My GPA was a pretty average 4.8. I don't have any plans to return and finish in the foreseeable future (in fact, I think they phased the degree out in 2008, so I'd have to start from scratch somewhere else.)

10 things I've learnt from photos

linking up to 10 things [Shimelle suggested 10 things you've learnt, in honour of Learn Something New Every Day]

I learnt that everyone loves new sheets

I learnt that sometimes my ideas work the first time. [today's project for And Sew We Craft.]

I learnt that a beautiful cover can make all the difference when writing.

I learnt to check jars more often.

I learnt that once everyone else has the fun things to play with, he will want them too.

I learnt that sometimes you just have to wear the hat.

I learnt everything in boxes keeps the wildlife out.

I learnt that a boy with a stick is entertained for hours.

I learnt that I didn't have enough changes of clothes for a toilet-training boy on a camping adventure.

I learnt that I don't mind taking selfies if I've got my sunglasses on.

What have you learnt this month?

10 things on the tenth

This is the first 10 things I've been on time for all year

ETA - somehow, my intro is gone. This is my list of blog post ideas for July.

150 days to Christmas - there was a great response from readers about writing guest posts for the 2012 project, so much so that a whole new topic idea has come out - Christmas in other countries! Keep an eye out for more information on July 28th

Scouting - there is a wealth of knowledge about scouting, but most of it is locked away inside dens and leaders, not easily shareable. Or there's no new voices online. So I'm going to start sharing some of the information that I find.

Brisbane blog buddies - I've share before that the Australian blogosphere is growing at a very quick pace. There's a group of bloggers pretty local to me who are all looking for support to take their blogs to "the next level" (in whatever way that means to each blogger). Our first meeting is this week, and it's bound to be a huge learning-about-other-people session, way out of my comfort zone!

How do you define...? I've got a couple of definition questions I'm thinking about this month. Creativity is taking up a lot of brain space, and so is blogging.

Craft books - one of the topics we chose for posts over at and sew we craft was craft books. I don't have many books about sewing, but I have lots of scrapbooking books. It's been fun going through those books again, to write my post (you can check it out here)

What Do You Think? - as I work my way through the 31 days to a better blog ebook, I'll have questions for you, dear reader, about my blog. And it's a good excuse to play with survey monkey.

Less pinterest more do - at the end of the month, I'll pick a scrapbooking layout from my boards, and share it in the hopes that someone will be prompted to venture out and create something, me included.

Keyword searches - I don't know much about SEO, but I enjoy looking through google analytics to see what searches have brought people to me. The most searched for words that land people on my blog are "chicken spinach filo", and about six other variations and combinations.

A secret project - I don't often get involved in PR opportunities, but I was recently chosen by one of the big supermarkets to trial some new products, which I'll be doing later this month.

Blog love - I've got an idea for sharing some blog love for some of my regular readers and commenters.

To see more 10 on the tenth posts, head to Shimelle's blog

10 things on my mind

1 - I'm heading off to my first scrapbooking retreat at the end of the month. Is it too early to pack my bag?
2 - Facebook has bought instagram. Will that change how people use instagram?
3 - I have to finalise my cub scout and Joey scout term program this week. Will it be fun for them?
4 - I've been working through online training for scouts today. Learnt that some very old-fashioned, and in my opinion revolting, ideas that guide the principals of scouting.
5 - I'm still trying to work out creative practice. I started writing morning pages this morning.
6 - There is no perfect way to keep my head organised. But using a clipboard and binders/notebooks is working so far.
7 - When I can afford an iPad for myself, I'm going with 3G enabled. For those random waiting-for-children moments.
8 - Speaking of iPads, I finally figured out how to put PDFs on it without emailing them to kindle. And it's all kinds of awesome, being able to read documents on the iPad, although I still need a notepad nearby for random notes.
9 - I'm still working on a nice blogging rhythm and schedule. For now, three times a week is working, and any random moments in between.
10 - to read more 10 things posts, check out Shimelle's blog. I'll be reading and commenting tomorrow, cause it's getting late today.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

meanwhile, in other news | 10 things

linking up to Shimelle's 10 things

Part of the reason that I'm finding myself being able to almost-keep-up with posting every day is because I spend chunks of time writing and scheduling blog posts. I keep having ideas for new posts while I'm doing that, but I haven't got good about writing those ideas down, so I thought today I'd share a list of the ideas that are rumbling around in my head in the hopes that I can clarify and actually write the posts!

1 - I'm thinking about starting a monthly linky party called "see it, pin it, make it" I pin so much stuff with the best of intentions and inspiration, now I need to make myself DO something.

2 - my one little word for 2012 is already rasing it's head, so I'm working on a post to explain how I came to it, and what I hope it will mean for my 2012

3 - sunday scrapping is going to become a weekly feature. In 2010 I called it 53 Mondays and shared my creating, in 2012 I want Sundays to be specifically for scrapping. I need to flex those muscles again.

4 - I have signed up for Reclaiming My Time and Move More Eat Well 2012. Karen inspires me with her words and ability to fit so much in to her day, and I'm hoping that working alongside Cathy for a year will give me a boost of motivation that I haven't had this year. Expect at least one post on each class before Christmas.

5 - scouting has suddenly become a big part of my life. I want to share how it came about, and what my plans are for remembering this time in my life.

6 - I love Lee's thoughtful and thought-provoking posts, and I'm really enjoying her new series, hello Monday. I think it's a great way to celebrate the start of each week.

7 - more Christmas posts. At the moment I'm thinking about the music we play, the movies we watch, and just recently the books we read at Christmas time. There's also more baking, photo ideas, and I'd love to have some Christmas giveaways, but I'm still thinking about that. (my shy-even-online-self can't quite bring myself to email anybody and ask if I can give away something, although I'd love to giveaway a JYC class and 12 Days of Christmas from BPC)

8 - Douglas has his very first double digit birthday fast approaching. His big brothers are coming for a visit, so there's bound to be a birthday and brothers post.

9 - Beverly came up with a great idea for 11/11/11, so I've been busy putting my post together.

10 - one last list of 10 things for 2011