Quick summary of an ordinary life

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I like to think I live a very ordinary life: husband, son, snake (escaped), cat (disappeared) and hens (killed).

I’m overwhelmed with work lately, so in this post, I just want to quickly share with you some brief moments in my life the week.

When a child grows up and flies away, you tidy up their bedroom and reminisce of the time lost. Since the fox killed our hens, we did the similar thing: cleaned up their house.

If you haven’t seen a modern chicken coop before (which looks like an old iMac), here are a few images after we’ve dismantled it.

Continue reading →

Inspired. Entertained. Treated. Sponsoring.

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Last night, I had a rare Girls’ Night Out evening. Two friends invited me for a ‘girls’ evening’. I don’t normally do ‘girls’ things on a big scale. Socially, I’m comfortable with no more than 3 girls.  A social Girls’ Night Out involves hundreds of women. It was a scary thought. My friend bought me the ticket, so, to improve my social skill and to expose myself to new challenging environments, I gave it a go.

I told my friend that I was worried about ‘girls’ thing, but she joked that I was becoming a grumpy old woman.

The event was held by World Vision. It’s a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.

The Girls’ Night Out event promised that we would be inspired by Carrie Grant (a celebrity), be entertained by Jo Enright (a comedian), and be treated with goodies and delicious sweets. As Jo Enright was ill, Carrie Grant’s husband, David Grant (also a celebrity), took her place and entertained the audience with an engaging sing a long choir session. Continue reading →

Eerily quiet today

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I’d never realised that my house could be that quiet. Eerily quiet.

This morning I’m officially a woman without her chickens. Two remaining chickens were killed, possibly last night.

I saw feathers scattering around in their chicken run this morning. One dead chicken was under a bush. One was gone. The fox must have taken her for her babies. The fox would come back again for this one, so we decided to leave the dead chicken in the garden for the fox’s collection.

Once I realised I’ve now lost all our chickens — 5 in total, since last summer, I felt a sense of loss. Suddenly the complete silence commanded the house. Continue reading →

Eyes: money and fear

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Yesterday I wrote about my expensive eye care in the UK.

The total cost to my optician yesterday was £457 before a discount. I also bought 3 items recommended by my optometrist. These are an Eyebag called MGD RX (£20), eye drop and an eyelid hygiene liquid called Blephasol. These items cost £39. The total cost for my eye care yesterday before a discount was about £500.

(My non-designer plain titanium frame cost £192 (the cheapest I could find; I needed a titanium frame because of my skin allergy to alloy) and the lenses cost £215. The examination and photograph fees were £50 in total.)

A few days later, I did a quick search online, and found that if I had chosen to buy the 3 items online, I could have saved myself at least £12.

Image by jjjohn via Flickr

Image by jjjohn via Flickr

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Choice or illusion?

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My glasses snapped last week. I went straight to my optometrist at Rawlings. After thorough examinations and photos taken of my eyes, and a new frame and lenses, the total bill was over £400. I chose a non-designer frame.

Do I have a choice? No. Because I needed the service and my new glasses.

The alternative was to pay into an 18 month plan (at £8.50 per month). This covered free eye care, and the cost of my glasses and lenses will be cut by 25%. Continue reading →

Love me love my dog ? Part 2

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One day, coming back from swimming, I opened the door to be confronted by a distinct smell. I asked my husband a stern question, “Has CC (name of neighbours’ dog) been in the house?” “Yes! But how do you know that?” Husband apparently didn’t quite understand my question.

I told my husband that the smell of the dog’s presence was overpowering. If my husband had had a woman in the house, I would also have been able to detect the scent of a woman too. Scent is subtle. I can smell it. I don’t like bacon, for example, as its smell is too overpowering. A dog’s smell in a house is overwhelmingly strong if you’re not used to it.

Then we had a row. Continue reading →

Love me love my dog?

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Sorry I haven’t been writing for a while.

I visited my friends the other day. Their dog barked at me, non-stop. I was smiling, speaking to the dog softly, praising him. His master also asked him to be good. “Darling, it’s ok, good boy!” They tried to calm the dog down.

The dog jumped on me, barking even louder. My friend said, “Janet, CC (dog’s name) is actually waiting for you to give him a stroke. Give him a stroke and he’ll be fine.” Continue reading →