My New Blogs!

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you know I have begun a new blog dedicated solely to fashion.

Please take a look!!! I know fashion blogging won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but please pass on my new site to anyone you think would be interested. I would appreciate ALL of your support!!!!

So, after deliberating on addresses and names and so on – I have gone with ‘i of fashion’ at http://bbhough.wordpress.com

I have been mulling over the idea of a fashion blog for a long time, and have decided to give it a go and see what happens. So, I am ‘officially’ a fashion blogger now!!!!!

So, keep your eyes peeled for more fashion articles on bbhough.wordpress.com!!!!

Many thanks,

Bex

Two Steps Forward

Two steps forward, and hopefully, this time there will be NO steps back!!!!!!!!!!!

Why, well I have made POSITIVE progress!!! YEH for me (happy face included)!!!!!

I am now a volunteer for a NGO here in Madrid, and I am feeling mightily proud of myself!!!!!! Today was my first day, and I have been busy completing some research for them; which is a task I love doing.

At the moment I am not ready to relate all the gory details of what I am exactly doing, not yet anyway. It is after all early days. Needless to say I have begun positively, and hope to remain that way too; fingers and toes crossed please!!

Since discovering the volunteer options available here in Madrid, I have noticed there has been a subtle change within myself. This little new spark of, positivity perhaps, has made everything seem a little ‘rosier’. OK, the change isn’t so dramatic that I could take on the world, and conquer it single handedly; BUT, I feel I am moving forwards instead of stagnating in that rotten rut. I have, I think and HOPE, taken a sledge hammer to that rut and demolished it!!! Hehe!!

For the next few days though, I will be away. We have booked a short holiday to Valencia, which we are looking forward to!!!

Upon my return, I look forward to recommencing my progress through this exciting new chapter of possibilities in my life!! I also have ‘Madrid Meet Up’ groups to attend, which should be interesting!!!!!!!! Who knows what new wonders will await 🙂

ONE LAST THING – I just want to THANK everyone who has been so kind in providing me with support during my ‘ranting and raving’ and negative moments. I have appreciated each and everyone of your kind wishes, advice and comments left as response to my posts. You are all truly wonderful, and kind people, who I feel privileged to have bumped into within the WordPress blogshere!!!

THANKS TO YOU ALL, and have a wonderful weekend!!!

Turn Over A New Leaf

Since my last post ‘A Helping Hand’, I have been trying to reconsider my position or imposition.

I do not propose to dwell upon what I wrote, although I realise it will take time to change what I feel I might be missing within myself or my life. Yet, at the moment I am looking at reassessing myself. I am on a mission of self discovery – I want to relocate exactly what I am all about as a person, to try and redefine me. Since I last checked – I have changed, just as my situation has. This is something I have to accept, come to terms with, work with and not run away from.

So, I took on some advice from those bloggers who responded to my last post (BY THE WAY – THANK YOU!!). I have obtained a copy of ‘What Colour Is Your Parachute’ – which is helping to push me into quantifying myself, to ask myself questions I might be a little afraid of.

I am looking into what ‘meet up’ groups are out there in Madrid for me to get together with people who might be of interest.

Once again I am looking at volunteering positions, and perhaps taking on whatever part time jobs might be available.

I cannot say for certain if any of these things will bring me what I look for or indeed even come to fruition; yet, I will try.

What I do believe is that where I am now, is where I wanted to be. I have gotten exactly what I required, and also, what I needed. I shouldn’t therefore see this as a wasted opportunity – it is a gift of time out from things that injured me. When I am ready to re-engage with whatever I lost or left behind or I buried inside – I will, and not one moment before. I can’t force myself to do, be, or become anything until I am ready, until the time is right. So, I accept what is, I will try to progress and find a direction, BUT, I propose to just enjoy what I have, as that is all there is.

Thank you, sincerely, to the bloggers who responded and provided advice and expressed concern.

I appreciate your input and all you shared with me.

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Home, But Not To Roost

You know when you are back in the UK when;

Every road seems to have been dug up for some sort of repair or another – causing traffic mayhem and general annoyance.

The temperatures become colder towards Spring than warmer – snow has again been promised.

Jeremy Kyle (a morning talk show similar to Steve Wilkos), is classed as entertainment.

People insist on wearing nothing but ‘sports’ wear even though they never actually partake in ANY sports activity.

Adverts constantly tell you how to win millions on gambling and then advise on fast track loans – logic please!

Young men think it is OK to assault young girls in front of onlookers in a busy supermarket. Great to pay witness to that whilst buying your Brussels Sprouts. Yes, I did intervene too.

Insurance companies think it is OK to refund you peanuts after a burglary – though you have paid for years on a policy for such an eventuality.

The Chancellor Of The Exchequer lowers the prices of alcohol instead of increasing people’s salaries, or anything else remotely useful.

You can wait forever to have a Doctor’s appointment, as the Receptionists feel they are the medical experts, and know YOU are not an emergency!

People say thank you even when they are being practically smacked in the face!

These are things that make Britain ‘Great’ – yipppppeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Is Hell

So, waiting for my flight back to the UK to be confirmed, I am left cooling my heels and feeling the angst of the mini catastrophe awaiting me there, build about me like a dark shadow.

I truly am angry and upset. I am shocked and looking for revenge – yes, revenge!!!!!!!

After posting ‘M’ Is For The Many Ways I’d Maim ‘Her’ , and re-reading what I have stated there, I could laugh!!
“Rise to the bait and it is you who are maimed” said I, even though I knew I would always respond so angrily; even if someone had crossed me half as much as they have this time!! At this moment I really couldn’t give a damn if I burn in Hell for feeling so angry or so full of malice. I mean at the moment I feel I am in Hell, so why not consider the many ways I could maim those people who have hurt me. They deserve it for what they have done; how they rip people’s lives apart in one moment, and don’t care.

Basically, if I could grab the very fabric of the ethereal world that surrounds me, and use this as a weapon to wrap around those people, I would try to suffocate them, I would!!!

I really have seen this as a final ‘slap in the face’, the last ditch attempt of some messed up universal plan to ‘pull the rug’ out from underneath me. I feel I can go along and all is fine, and then suddenly, wham, bam, slap and down I go. It is like the universe is saying; ‘Hey Bex, you can’t have too much of a good thing. We have to ensure you get slapped back in line’.

I mean if I explained to you all the dirty tricks I’ve had played on me you’d probably say; ‘no way, I don’t believe it’. Yet, life, me and cosy and wonderful don’t go hand in hand. Never or ever!

Yet, until now I haven’t mentioned it, I haven’t harped on about it, I haven’t been sour over it – I just accept that is life and move on. Yet, this time, I feel my level of tolerance and the ability to move on has suddenly vanished.

I am truly dented; angry, hurt, and I am fed up with being pushed around by unseen decision makers who govern ‘fate’. Why is any of this considered as character building?? I could live life quite happily forever and ever without any more such ‘character building’ antics, thank you very much!

I am left feeling paranoid – this could happen again, I am at the mercy of things I can’t control. I have no power to alter anything. I am just me and I am not enough. I just want to go back to before this – so I don’t have to feel this way.

I have posted this, because I need to get some of these emotions out in the open. Stating them to the whole world (OK, exaggeration I know), but letting others see how I feel at this moment, well, it might just help me to release the negative and damaging vibes. I can’t explain in any detail anything that has happened, so I am just miscellaneously venting in a way, but that is OK, as I feel a weight could be lifted from my soul by merely doing that.

I basically need to vent!! I need to scream how I feel from the roof-tops, but I am trying to keep a lid on it too for everyone else’s sake. Others are worried and affected by all of this also. So, it isn’t so fair to load them down with my own selfish needs.

Consequently, you my wonderful WordPress readers are my free counsellors, my helping hands, my sounding boards, my sanity.

THANK YOU FOR READING!  Though I know none of it really makes a whole lot of sense!

Thanks Again!!!

Just want to say THANK YOU to a few bloggers that have included me in a couple of award nominations, and also a ‘tagging’ request!!!!! Thanks for your consideration of me – and including me!!!!!

I APPRECIATE THE EFFORTS OF YOU LOVELY PEOPLE AS ALWAYS!!!!!

And appreciate YOUR appreciation of my writing! THANK YOU!!!

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO…………….

So You Think You Can Think  for including me in another ‘tagging’ post.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO…………….

And That’s All She Wrote for my nomination for:

I APPRECIATE THE NOMINATION SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO…………………….

Jenni Burke Yoga for my nomination for:

I AM HONOURED TO RECEIVE THIS NOMINATION ONCE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO………………….

Life On Wry for my nomination for:

I AM ECSTATIC TO BE NOMINATED FOR THIS ONCE AGAIN – Life On Wry YOU are TOO KIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

10 Things I Hate

Pic from: hartlove.wordpress.com

 

Going on our merry way through life, we all tend to pick up things that rankle us. Whether they are designed for such purposes or not, they do.

Sometimes it is as though the universe itself converges upon me, just with one thought at heart; to annoy, cause disharmony, disrupt and blatantly infuriate me!

With all this in mind I sat down and considered, funnily enough not for long, what my top ten most hated things were (in relation to situations mainly).

So, here they are – enjoy and hopefully you can empathise too?!

1. Where ever you sit down or park your car – doesn’t matter how empty a place is, someone HAS TO situate themselves near you. WHY? Is it herd mentality?

2. Bad manners. Now this I cannot abide. Manners cost nothing. It is a sign of courtesy, a display of appreciation which makes everyone’s day a little more pleasant. Whether it is a ‘thank you’ or holding a door open for someone; the sentiment behind the act is priceless.

3. People who wear summer clothing just because they see a glint of sunshine in February (or any other time of year when it is equally as freezing cold)!!

4. Those people who never truly listen, but merely wait for their turn to speak. This is not conversation, this is not empathy, this is not courteous. This type of discourse only makes for frustration, and a feeling of being under-valued.

5. People who bring all their problems to your door, but when you need an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on they run for the hills. This is not friendship, but a free counselling service!

6. Queues. Whichever queue you join it will be the one that takes the longest to get served. Fact!

7. People who drive whilst brushing their hair and applying make-up, speaking on a mobile phone, texting their friends, whilst reading a map or whilst using a laptop (yes, I actually have witnessed a truck driver doing this very thing)!

8. People who do not know the meaning of giving way whilst walking on a sidewalk. They negotiate the sidewalks as badly as they drive. I know here in Madrid getting from A to B can be a free for all – pushing and shoving, whole groups of people blocking your path and taking over the whole sidewalk; even dogs and children running into you. I hate it – MOVE OVER and let other people be on their way PLEASE! Regardless of what you may think, you DON’T own the sidewalk!!!

9. People who just STARE at you for no reason, as though they haven’t seen another human being in about 10 years. WHY!  

10. People who inflict their BAD ATTITUDES on you for no reason other than you happen to be near them at that moment. I actually experienced this quite recently whilst I was visiting my Grandmother in Accident and Emergency. Some psycho woman thought it was OK to ‘get up in my face’ just because she was having a bad day. Like I wasn’t!!!! Oh well, she was having a bad day, well then that behaviour is excused and all is OK – just go ahead and make my day even more awful, just as long as you get all your anger off your chest; errr, NO!

Just 10 things?? WOW, I really feel I could ‘vent’ 10 more!!!!

WHAT ABOUT YOU??? Have any of YOU anything to add to my modest list of annoyances????

PLEASE – LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!     

Award Nomination – THANKS!!!!!!

I give thanks once again to http://tuttacronaca.wordpress.com for nominating me for;  ‘Very Inspiring Blogger Award’.

I gratefully receive the nomination – THANK YOU!!!!!!! I am please to have such validation from my fellow bloggers – who knew that I could be inspirational!!!!

 

 

The rules of being nominated:
1. Copy and place the award in your post.
2. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
3.  Tell 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 10 bloggers for the award, tell them by posting a comment on their blogs.

 

Here are my 7 things:

I love to travel, I like being warm but I love the cold, I enjoy feeling inebriated, I love wearing black clothes, my music taste is eclectic, I have a library full of books, I have won awards for singing whilst I was a teenager 😉

More info about me, please check this post out: 7 Things I Believe In

My Nominations:

Now comes the nominations of those blogs I enjoy reading. These bloggers speak their own truth, voice their opinions, offer up interesting information, they encourage comments and also lend support to their fellow bloggers.

The 10 I nominate are:

rogerjgalbert.com
http://greenembers.wordpress.com
kchapmangibbons.wordpress.com
http://colinkellyblog.wordpress.com
http://gwendolynndedanaan.wordpress.com
http://psawomenpolitics.wordpress.com/
http://rhiofhearts.wordpress.com//
http://malcolmscorner.wordpress.com/
http://brandonbored.wordpress.com/
http://drosophilacerevisiae.wordpress.com

 

Thanks again, Bex 😀

Nominated For The Liebster Award!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK folks, just want to give many, many thanks and big appreciation to http://thelissachronicles.wordpress.com for my nomination for the Liebster Award!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was TOTALLY unexpected!!!!! I am completely happy and shocked that my fellow bloggers feel my writing, and blog, is worth being nominated 🙂

THANKS goes to YOU my readers; thanks for being fabulous, all of you!!!!!!!!

I think I have to answer some questions now, so here goes;

• Why do you blog? – I blog because I love to ‘write’. I have a passion I can’t contain for the topics I cover. I need to blog to tell everyone how these topics make me feel, what I think and also to raise questions regarding these topics too. I have to get the info out there, I have to ‘discuss’ these things and engage with other bloggers and my readers. I love and 100% value the debate generated, readers input, their comments and opinions. Writing is empty without interaction and feedback – so I thank my readers for their support.  
• What do you do for fun? – I find fun in anything I do! Fun is enjoying the moment I am in and being content in who I am, and where I am. Fun is also spontaneity; whether an impulsive trip away or a picnic in the park – the unknown is fun for me. Also fun is laughing; being with those I value most and good conversation!       
• Who is your favorite person and why? – I have no such thing as a favourite person. There are favourite things within the people I love; if that makes sense?! People who are genuine, people who want the best for me, those who are always there (on my side), people who are kind because they want to be and expect nothing in return, caring people – giving of themselves without reservation, people without egos the size of a house, those who value life and love and happiness, those who aren’t materialistic, those who value individuality and those who encourage me. I could go on and on with this question!!!!!!!   
• What is your favorite book and why? – Oh dear me, I confess I’m not so good at choosing favourites! Sorry! I have loved so many excellent books throughout the years, how can I choose?! OK, to be amicable; at this moment my favourite book is what I am currently reading ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’. Why – well, Lady C questions her life and people, her place and purpose; and that for me is relevant and resonates. We all have done that at some time.        
• What makes you laugh? – The strangest and also the most usual of things actually. A silly word, gestures or action/reaction. Silly antics, misbehaving in the supermarket, hide and seek, misinterpretation of the normal world, Billy Connolly, Super Hans (Peep Show), sharing stories, experiences, a ‘Guess what just happened to me’? moment, and of course bad politics 🙂    
• What makes you cry or sad? – Hearing stories of vulnerable people, and also of animals; being hurt or abused. Feeling I have upset someone by being snappy or unthoughtful. Being upset by someone who has attempted to make me feel bad about myself, and attempted to belittle me in front of others.     
• What is your favorite television show? – I have 3; Downton Abbey, The Borgias and The Walking Dead.  
• What’s your favorite post on your own blog? –  Struggling To Make Ends Meet
• What is your favorite season? – Autumn/Winter (if it is cold and maybe snowing – great)!! 
• What is your favorite food? –  Yoghurt coated raisins (or my white gold – as I call them. I won’t share them either as they are too precious)!  
• Where do you write? – My ‘living room’ always seated on my cosy couch and often in my PJ’s!!!!! 

Thank YOU!!!!!

 

I just wanted to write a quick post THANKING all the readers of my blog.

Whether you leave me comments, re-blog, pin-back, like my posts or merely just read the words I put out there – THANK YOU!!!!!!!

A blog isn’t a blog without PEOPLE being engaged with the writing!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU for YOUR support, interest in my posts and the time your spend reading and responding!

I appreciate all YOUR input and opinions too. I also value the ‘discussions’ and debates generated in response to my posts.

I have enjoyed ‘speaking’ to and making some interesting and kind internet ‘buddies’ 🙂

My blog has come along way since September, and I THANK ALL OF YOU OUT THERE for that!!!!!!

Ever appreciative,

Bex 🙂