A - Z Challenge - Z is for Zenith

My theme for this challenge is family and relations.

Zenith “the culminating point or stage”

Woo Hoo – I made it!

This is the first real blogging challenge I have taken part in and I’m so pleased that I managed to complete it.  When I first saw a link to it from a blogging friend I was like, “I couldn’t do that!”  Partly that was due to the notion that it was aimed at writers and that’s not something I’m currently aspiring to.  But then I did some more checking and realised that all sorts of people join this challenge.  I’d already decided that I wanted to get back into the habit of blogging so I decided I would sign up and see how I got on.

I decided to choose a theme as I thought it might be easier to prepare posts in advance in case life got in the way and I didn’t have a lot of time on any given day.  In the event I didn’t do much advance blogging but preparing the ideas for the letters did help.  Of course there were days when things didn’t quite go to plan but somehow my posts got written and posted.

I’ve tried to visit other blogs but the huge number of participants means I’ve only scratched the surface.  As I’m writing this I note that I’m 1035 on the list (I started at 1252) and I’ve managed to check out the first 255.  I also started working down from my own entry and I’ve found quite a few interesting blogs that I’m currently following and will continue to do so.

One thing I have found myself doing is trying to ensure my writing is grammatically correct and that it flows.  Sometimes I know I can write huge long sentences and it’s not easy to tell what I’m writing about!  My husband’s pedantic trait (especially regarding grammar) is rubbing off on me.

I hope to continue blogging on a regular basis and to find interesting topics.  There are also a few meme type blogs that I might join in with now the pressure of this challenge is over. 

 
If you’ve been following me, thank you.  It means a lot to know I’m not completely in a void with this.  This may be the zenith of this particular challenge but tomorrow’s a brand new day.  I hope you’ll continue with me on this journey.

A - Z Challenge - Y is for Y Chromosome

My theme for this challenge is family and relations.

Y chromosome “that which makes us male”

At a lot of points in my life I’ve had 3 males in the house. Sometimes my daughter has been there too so it was 3:2 but often it was 3:1. They are all typically male in that they drink beer, (and various other alcoholic drinks), they watch football, they’re messy, they’re noisy and sometimes they still leave the toilet seat up! (They’ve all got better with that as time has gone on. I can be a very persistent nagger!
 
They are also caring, well-adjusted and mature adults that are good to have around.
 
Apart from the times when hubby has had just a little too much alcohol. This changes him for a relatively quiet person to someone with verbal diarrhoea. That would be bad enough but it’s usually argumentative verbal diarrhoea. It’s also usually when he’s been out on his own and he returns to wake me up from sleep, wanting to chat. He of course cannot comprehend that I do not want to chat with him, let alone get involved in a disagreement when he is incapable of being rational. Due to his irrationality he then gets more argumentative when I won’t engage in the conversation. I’m sure you get the picture. But the really annoying thing about this is that he never wakes up with a hangover!

A - Z Challenge - X is for X Chromosome

My theme for this challenge is family and relations.

X chromosome “that which makes us female”

Well I was really struggling for an X letter word, especially one that fits in with my theme.  Of course I resorted to the dictionary and this seemed appropriate.

I’m definitely female but I’m not a girly girl.  I’m much more likely to be found in casual clothes, usually jeans than smart stuff.  I don’t enjoy shopping for clothes like some people do.  I’m also not very adventurous in my choices.  As for shoes, my days of wearing high heels for any length of time are long gone.  In fact it’s hard to get comfortable shoes at all due to issues with my toe joints.  (I had operations on both my big toe joints as a teenager to correct bunions which meant reshaping the joint.  As I’ve got older they’ve become quite painful on and off especially depending on the shoes I’m wearing.)

One of the best presents my hubby ever gave me was a personal shopper experience.  I needed an outfit to attend my daughter’s graduation but I also needed new clothes as well and the personal shopper was great at getting me to try on things I never would have even looked at let alone try on.  Some I still didn’t like but some things surprised me.  It was a really useful experience.

I’m also not great at looking after myself as in manicures/pedicures facials that sort of thing.  Now that I have more time on my hands maybe I should spend more time on looking after them!  A good start would probably be throwing away my old nail polishes and starting afresh! 

The one concession I do make for myself is getting my hair done regularly.  I went grey quite early and I progressed from having just a few highlights at first, then to a full colour and now I have a full colour with highlights.  I have it done professionally so it’s expensive but it’s my one luxury and I don’t plan on giving it up, job or no job!  There are times when I wish I hadn’t started the whole colouring thing but I know I would look much older in my natural grey colour so I guess in that respect I’m definitely a girly girl with plenty of vanity!

A - Z Challenge - W is for What's Next?

My theme for this challenge is family and relations.

This post was going to be Wives “married women” but you’ve heard a lot about me already in my other roles so I’ve decided to go with What's Next?  It’s appropriate because yesterday was my official last day at my job that I’ve had for 14 years. 

I’ve not actually been going to work for the last two months as my GP decided I was not fit for work so the passing of the last day was a bit of a non-event.  As was last Friday which would have been my last working day.  Friday was hard as I did not leave my job through choice.  It’s true that I resigned but only because I felt I had no alternative.

What’s next?  I’m not sure yet.  I have a long list of things that need doing.  One of which is to look at our finances and see if I need to get another job or not.  If I do I will need to consider what sort of job I’d want and I’d need to revamp my CV.  If I don’t need to work I’ll need to decide if I want to work or if not how I will fill my time.

It’s all a bit scary.  I’ve started making lists but now I have to start crossing things off the list.  (Did I ever mention that I love making lists but not very good at doing what's on them? lol)

Friday was a sad day for me but today was better.  I needed to go to the Vet’s to pick up some tablets for my cat so I walked there.  It was about a 3 ½ mile round trip but the weather was nice and it was good to get out in the fresh air.  In the afternoon I made some plans for a family gathering we are having on Sunday for my hubby’s 60^th birthday.  It’s good to keep busy.

I’ve seen a few people who have a “101 things in 1001 days” list and I might think about that.  Having targets and things to look forward to is good.  One other priority is taming the toilet demon.  (For anyone who needs that explaining check out this post.)  He reared his head again yesterday and I nearly didn’t go to watch the London Marathon.  But I’m glad to say I dealt with the demon and made it.   

It was important for me to go as my youngest son was taking part.  Unfortunately he must have been running past us so fast that we all blinked and missed him!  He wasn’t running that fast of course but with all the crowds it’s difficult to pick people out.  He managed to complete the course in just under 4 hours which was his aim so he was pleased with himself and he raised money for charity.  We did get to meet up with him at the end and it was a good day out.

What’s next? Time to get this post posted and then to bed. I'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.