23 Minute Recovery time needed

I heard an interesting fact while listening to a podcast last night, that writers take 23 minutes to get into the flow of writing.

The point being discussed in the podcast was that when a writer is disrupted it takes another 23 minutes to get back into that flow.

I've been working on writing a course for jobseekers, and yesterday was extremely frustrating for me because my phone kept ringing right when I had the house to myself for a few hours and could 'get into it'.  And, with annoying frequency, the damn phone rang.  Each time telemarketers despite my being on the Do Not Call list.

Anyway, I am really enjoying Jonathan Milligan's 'Blogging Your Passion' podcasts since I discovered them less than a week ago. 

1 year Anniversary

Happy Anniversary, me!

I never imagined twelve months ago today when I started this blog that I would soon discover a new love in blogging, and that my blog would reach over 8000 page views and that I would have written 118 posts.

I am so glad that I finally took the step to create a blog, as blogging has taught me that I love writing more than just novels - I just simply love writing.

Did I achieve the goals that I set out for myself?

- Blogging - yes.
I blogged a lot more than I thought I would - I 'hoped' to write two or three posts per month.  I ended up writing just for the Char Mesan Writes blog 118 posts.  I also opened up a couple of other blogs and wrote articles and posts for those blogs; it makes it that my 'hope' was very conservative in estimate.

- Weight Loss - no!

I started the year off (like all good New Year's Resolutions) really well, but by late February, early March I was losing momentum.  I've since realised that every summer I naturally lose weight because I love eating fresh seasonal foods like cherries, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, plums and mango to snack on, and it can get too hot to cook so I enjoy salads and grilled or BBQ'd meat for dinners. With all that healthy, non-fatting foods, and the natural increase in drinking water to stay hydrated against our soaring temperatures, I tend to 'slim down' about a dress size without really trying.  The only time I don't lose that weight slowly is if I eat too much ice-cream to cool down.

But then winter comes back and the summer foods that I love so much disappear from the supermarket shelves, and the weight slowly creeps back on again.  As much as I would love to be slim again and at my ideal weight, I've worked out that I don't stick at fad diets or 'get fit' kicks.

So, this year's resolution was to just accept my size and try to eat healthily without resorting to diets that once I fail at only cause me to become fatter afterwards.

Although I set the goal for myself to walk four days per week, after a fall where I skinned and bruised both knees quite badly because my poor night eyesight caused me to not see a huge 'pothole' in a grassy gravel section I had to walk through, I ceased going for walks on my own, especially because it had taken me ages (after badly injuring my right arm at work two months earlier) to get back to my feet.

Though, you may be interested to know, that my non-goal setting or following son, moved out of home and made improvements to the foods he now cooked for himself, and he lost the ten kilos that he had wanted to lose not from following any diet or exercise program but from simply (finally) adding salad and vegetables to his diet - I know, I know, why did he fight me all the way for so long! 

- Change Employer - yes.

I applied for a lot of positions outside of the Employment Services industry which I was getting increasingly fed up with, (ultimately) without success.  Too many employers interviewed me and later said that I was too over-qualified for the job, even though I had removed a lot of my great skills from my resume so I wouldn't be dismissed for lesser roles when I applied for them. Unfortunately, although I was getting results in that I my applications were working and I was being invited to interviews, overall I was not successful in being offered the jobs because I didn't disguise my higher abilities during the interview and employers felt I would get bored with a role which involved me just coming to work, doing my job and then going home. Maybe they were right for the long term, but it was what I was craving for the short term.

After setting the goal and following a strong action plan and technically still not getting success, plus with my current employer continuing to place even greater demands on its staff that was simply impossible to achieve, I realised that I actually genuinely love helping people gain work; and that it is just the different focus on placing people into a job, any old job, whether the client wanted to do that type of work or not, that I didn't like about the employment services industry and the work I was doing, plus the constant demand to do more, achieve more and never being given any time to do any of it that was what was causing me to hate my job so much. 

So, one day, I just resigned.


My mum was sick with chemotherapy treatment and had needed me to act as a carer for a few weeks, and the employer expected me to put my work ahead of everything including my mum and told me that if I take the time off I would be expected to still place the same amount of clients into jobs when I got back, so, worried about Mum and also developing a few health issues myself, I resigned.


By this time, I had completely fallen in love with writing and blogging and desired being a full time writer; and after discussions with my children once Mum was over the last of her chemotherapy and had 'survived' her cancer, I decided to become self-employed again.

A number of years ago I worked for myself as a typist and resume writer, and now having even greater experience and those same abilities to type and write quality resumes for people, I figured I may as well return to working for myself so that I could once again focus on helping the client without the push to place and keep them into whatever work we managed to gain for them.

And, for the short amount of time I have been operating the business, I'm starting to get more and more work - which I am happy about.

This year, I am going to keep writing resumes for my clients (I love seeing the delight on their faces when I give them their new resume), and writing articles to help with their jobsearch (I love readers telling me that they are finding my articles and blog posts helpful).  I have a few 'ideas' up my sleeve, which I will be working on during my 'quiet' business periods.

So, Happy 1st Anniversary to me; hopefully this time next year I'll have even more positive results to share!

Gonna start updating

Over the coming weeks, I am going to upgrade and unify the look of my pages and blogs from each being different in style and appearance to establishing my 'business brand'. The first step I'm going to need to take is to create a banner that I will be happy with, instead of using the generic designs that come with Blogger.

Once I have a decent banner, I'll then begin making changes to each of my blogs. I need to complete this as soon as I can, because my (jobsearch training in particular) business is starting to gain momentum, and, with an increasing amount of my time now being directed towards earning income, keeping business records and completing small business management training, I want to upgrade my blogs' looks so I can continue writing articles and posts - especially for my Job Training and Reviewing blogs.

I will be a bit quiet on this my personal blog for a while, but rest assured that over the next three months I will still be 'writing, writing, writing,' and loving every minute of it!

My novel is on a temporary back-burner again, but I'm not upset by this; once my business is firmly established and generating enough income, I will hire a part time or casual staff member to act as my personal assistant and admin to free me up so I have personal free time again.

I'm feeling so excited about what is ahead for me in 2014.  I'm hoping it will be one of the best years I've ever had!

Season's Greetings!

Bon Voyage, oldest daughter

Am feeling rather down: I just got back from the airport to see my daughter fly out of the country to start a 2 year travel adventure in England and Europe and I am going to miss her greatly despite the conveniences of modern technology!

I am simultaneously proud that I have raised an independent, adventurous young woman who has the confidence to take such a huge step.

Bon voyage, my darling child.  May you remain happy and safe; and remember to come home eventually!   

I've said it before, and it is worth repeating here again: the best thing about having the Internet while being a writer is that you don't have to stop the writing flow for very long to research a quickly needed fact.

It's been MANY years since I last went to school, and although my children could probably have rattled of the answer if they had been home, I needed to quickly research the parts of a circle because I wanted to know what the line going from circumference to circumference via the centre was called (the diametre, for those that would need to look up the answer like I did).

Time taken: approximately ten seconds to open browser, type in 'parts of a circle', hit enter and click on the second result that looked like it might be what I was after (it was).  Priceless!

Inkscape

Oh dear,  I've let myself become distracted from my novel writing today.

I started off re-reading my manuscript so far, and wasn't quite sure I had all the elements needed for the scene included, so grabbed one of my writing tips resource folders for Self-Editing and Proofreading, and flipped to a checklist that I created for myself when I wrote the first manuscript I finished a few years ago.

That got me to thinking that other writer's would probably find the checklist quite useful, and being NaNoWriMo month, it would be a great time for me to create an 'infographic' so that NaNo'ers could use it. This of course then lead me to research programs with which to create an infographic (which I've never made before), which lead me to downloading an awesome vector graphic program called Inkspace, which lead me to freak out and think that the program is just as difficult to use as Photoshop which I never understood, which in turn lead me to discover the program's tutorials - which I have now watched all that are included with the program and then head back to the website to view the ones that weren't included.

I've always wished I had the talent to draw pictures... and maybe, after having viewed a number of the tutorials to have learned how most images are just extensions of basic shapes, I might be able to create electronic images! Although a distraction to my writing progress, I'm pleased I found Inkspace and am keen to explore other parts to my creative side.

 

I've had a great week

Last weekend I played around on the computer designing the business cards for my new business.  I used the avatar I created and the Char Mesan logo and then placed an order online at Officeworks for pick up at my local store.

Well I was able to pick them up on Thursday, and all-in-all, I'm pretty happy with the result - okay, I'm not completely happy that the Char Mesan Enterprises is a bit fuzzy compared to the text for the rest of the business card, but that is because it was added as an image rather than text, and the image must have been low-resolution.  Live and learn, they say.  Oh well, when I need to reorder them I will fix that up.

And, a former colleague referred a client my way, and because her budget was limited and she had some computer skills, I negotiated with the client that I would Lookover (or critique)  her resume, making notes on her existing copy, and then she could go back and fix it herself so she could afford to get the professional help she desperately needed.

And, I'm really glad that she told me she needed it back ASAP too... because she had just learned about a job opportunity with an employer she would be happy to work for - because someone had just resigned - and wanted to submit her improved resume to the employer before they advertised for a replacement... because it worked!  She phoned me today, and rather loudly and excitedly, told me that she got the job and starts on Monday.  This lady has been looking for the same type of work for at least seven months, and the help I had just given her 'is the start of positive changes in my life'.

I don't know about you, but I always feel good when something I have said or done makes someone else's day.

The only 'downside' to my week was having a competitor steal away three referrals on a jobsearch forum that the admin person had directed the person needing assistance to me. I was talking to the person, and this pushy '**tch' hijacked the conversation, shamelessly promoted her own services and invited the three to private message her - which they then did.  I was really upset about this at first, I mean how rude and pushy are some people?  But then I realised that that business mustn't be very good because why else isn't her diary filled with work and why aren't her clients referring other people they know to her services.  When I have other Employment Consultants asking ME to help them fix up their resume, and referring people who aren't eligible for free help to me when I have only been operating for less than a month, was enough for me to lose my anger and feel sorry for her.  Pity the people she poached didn't see her actions as ethically poor - but in order to secure their business, she publicly declared she would do parts of the work for free, and that is the poorest business sense.  I've operated a business previously, enough to know that undercutting the competition isn't good for your reputation or bottom line.

But enough about the downside.  I'm planning on getting out and about now so I can hand out my business cards, oh, and because my updated Training and Assessment certificate finally arrived in the mail, I can now approach some of the training organisations and start trying to gain more work as a trainer and assessor - my dreams feel like they are becoming a reality!

I've had such a great week, that I've even worked on my novel WIP!

Life spins

Life has been spinning me in a new direction.

When I resigned from my last employer feeling exhausted and burnt out, I didn't have another job to go to.  I wanted to head off on the path of training and assessing and pursuing my writing ambitions,, and to achieve this I enrolled in a bridging course to upgrade my training and assessment qualifications to the latest requirements, and registered a business name and commenced offering typing, training and resume writing services to people who wanted my services.

Then, when I least expected it, I gained a short term contract to 'fix up' the paperwork of an individual, which has led - quite strangely - to me last night having enrolled in Certificate of Registration course so I can gain on-going work for my business doing the accounts for a Real Estate Agency.

Being unemployed - even temporarily - was supposed to have given me with plenty of time with 'nothing to do' that I could use to sit down and work on my manuscript. Instead, 'unemployment' has caused me to become the busiest I have ever been gaining a day's work here and there, and running around doing the necessary things to get my business off to the great start it has seen.

So, just as all that was starting to 'settle down' and I would finally have gained the odd day or two of the desired 'nothing to do' I now have assignments and quizzes and lots of studying to do to enable me to finish the self-paced course quickly.

So, once again, I am all quite on the blogging and writing front - but I will pop by with a post or two when I can.

Scary Bushfire drama

So, a bit of 'drama' for the day to get the heart rate pumping...

photo from Yahoo.com.au

I was helping a client-friend with sorting out business paperwork today when the phone rang, but we were unable to find the telephone handset to answer it in time.  My client rang back the number of the missed call and then said, "that was strange. I it was a warning call advising that there is a bushfire in the local area."

We didn't think much of it, even though we could see that outside was a 'touch' smokey, but my client had barely hung up the phone when there was a knock at the front door.  While my client went to the door and worked out that it was locked and needed to get the keys, I caught glimpse of a uniformed police officer through a nearby window.

My friend hurried back with the keys and opened the door, and the officer advised us that we needed to vacate the area, as a bushfire was heading in our direction and the entire suburb was being instructed to evacuate as soon as possible.

No, the policeman didn't really care that my friend had firefighting equipment because my friend knew he lived on acreage next to a large nature reserve, and was every summer at risk during bushfire season. So, while the policeman moved on to door knock the rest of the neighbourhood, my friend and I madly gathered up all the important business paperwork that we had been working on and threw them into the boot of my car, along with his business laptop and family photo albums. 

I left amid the smoke becoming very thick and lots of smoldering embers falling upon us, and drove these 'devastating-to-be-lost' perishables to safety while my friend rounded up his many pets, secured his house, and got the firefighting equipment ready in case he needed to use it protecting his own and his neighbours properties.  It was only as I was driving out of the driveway that I could see just how close the bushfire was - in such terrible winds driving the fires to burn faster and furiously - when I saw a helicopter fly almost directly overhead and into the black and red haze ahead of me. And the idiot neighbour had stopped in the middle of the road, blocking exit, so he could video the helicopter dumping its load of water in attempt to dowse the destructive path.

I had no hesitation to drive over someone (I hope, his) front lawn so I could get around him, and exit the estate and get the hell away from the threat that hadn't been there a mere hour and a half earlier when I had arrived.

Lucky I knew all the backroads home, because all the major roads I would normally use were blocked because there wasn't just this major bushfire that the local rural fire brigades were fighting - the evacuation route that residents of Windsor and Richmond usually have to take to get to Penrith were blocked as well, as a separate bushfire of similar size and devastation caused traffic to become extremely (and unusually) heavy.

It was quite freaky being THAT close to an uncontrolled bushfire - it is almost a dark as night, but with a strange orange and red glow in amongst black and dark grey, choking smoke. It is scary having bits of ash and cinders floating down onto your windscreen; but nothing scares you more than feeling how strong the wind is blowing behind that fire in your direction.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire, and later downgraded the area to having to remain on 'alert' but no longer having to evacuate (but not yet able to return if you had evacuated).  My friend phoned to let me know that although he can see live flames from his front porch, the fire didn't get too much closer than when I had left.

I can tell you now... when a police officer instructs ME to evacuate, I didn't stand around arguing or questioning!

You can piggin do it

I was browsing Ebay tonight when I came across this gorgeous little weight loss figurine entitled 'You can piggin do it!'

Piggin

Cute, huh! ?

The affects of a positive work environment on the soul

After months of being told by my former employer that I'm 'not good enough' - which slowly eats away at your confidence even when you know they have it all wrong - today I enjoyed a really pleasant working today being appreciated and praised.

An old friend who runs his own business and I ran into each other after many years of lost contact and within a few minutes my friend was asking if I had any spare time to help him out in relation to his business paperwork which had become 'umm, sort of back-logged' and now had reached 'desperation point'.  He told me he wouldn't be able to pay me much - if at all - but once it was all sorted out, there was potential for me to gain paid work down the track if I was interested.  Already starting to get a bit bored and isolated while I look for work and complete my qualification upgrade, I figured there was no harm in doing something for someone else.

So I started doing the paperwork for him whenever I am free, and today, after making quite a significant dent I was pleased to be thanked, appreciated and praised for simply doing something that I enjoy and am good at.

It made me realise that it is not your employer who determines whether the working environment is positive, neutral or negative; it is the people who work alongside who make the impact.

For months I've been working alongside grouchy, fed-up, tired and overworked colleagues, who grumble and complain - and dare I say it, bitch - about everything - colleagues, the company, the industry - to make sure everyone else within the workplace ends up feeling the same way, creating a toxic workplace. No matter how hard you try to 'rise above it' or make changes for the better, without even knowing it you become one of them; and what you once enjoyed is soon no longer satisfying, and it is hard to get out of bed each morning and find the drive and motivation to return.

So it has been a very pleasurable day today not being under extreme pressure, working alongside happy, positive, enthusiastic and inspired co-workers.  Today is a day for me to stop and appreciate that my decision to leave that toxic workplace was the best decision I have made in a long time - although I wish I had of found the courage to do this sooner.

Feeling happy and content with life right now.

Char

Teaching an old dog TWO new tricks!

Yesterday was Father's Day here in Australia and I spent the day over at my dad's house sitting down and letting him feed me with his (delicious) homemade cakes and biscuits and drinking one cup of tea after another.

My dad lives an hours drive away so with him always off busy doing things and my having worked full time until recently it had been some months since I last physically saw him (though we have spoken on the phone regularly).

Dad told me about how he and his 'girlfriend' (they've been together for years now) are going on a month's overseas trip in late October - and instead of telling me his travels plans, such as WHERE they will be going, my dear old dad excitedly told me how my brother (who he recently visited) had set him up with Skype so he could stay in touch while out of the country.

Dad whipped out a brand new funky little modern laptop with touch-screen capability (that he bought recently because it is light and easily fits into his backpack), and fired up Skype to show me (very proudly) how easily he can type messages to my brother and proclaimed that he can even 'if we are both online at the same time, talk to each other by video!'

I had to laugh.  Dad hadn't even tried to do any of that yet, my brother had just told him it was possible.

So, I took control of the keyboard/touch screen, added my own Skype contact, and because I carry my mobile phone every where with me and have the Skype app already installed, soon video chatted with my dad all the while having him sitting next to me.  He got all excited, and at first (because he is significantly deaf without his hearing aid) shouted at the screen as though I was hundred's of miles away (yes, I use the words miles instead of kilometres because my dad was raised on using Imperial measurements, and although he later learned metric, my maths genius dad always falls back on his imperial measurements if he is unsure of the accuracy of his metric answer); but he soon worked out for his own self that he doesn't need to shout - though I think we still will need to because of his lack of hearing.

At some point I said to him he should probably consider having a facebook account.  Both dad and his girlfriend were horrified by this suggestion to begin with, but I told them how it is just as easy to use as Skype - and actually allows for much better means of staying in touch with the family (seeing as we are all on facebook and not really on Skype).  It was enough for them to be happy for me to log into my own account, show them the types of things they can do - which soon got them past their 'horror' of joining facebook, and so, to make it easy for them, I opened up an account and sent friend requests to each aunt, uncle, cousin, and sibling relevant for my dad.

Soon, friend requests had been accepted, and lots of 'congratulatory' messages for joining facebook were flooding in keeping dad and his girlfriend busy and excitedly reading all these family contacts. I showed him how he can private message his contacts, upload photo's (so we can see the highlights of his trip before he even gets home - to which he got even more excited about).

So all in all, I had a great day teaching my dad how to use for his own benefit some modern technology.  Here I've been using facebook for years and its is just 'ordinary' to me - but it was an exciting new world for my 72 year old dad.

Happy Father's Day, dad.  May we have many more to celebrate together!

Happy Father's Day

I just want to wish all the father's out there a very special and happy Father's Day.

I'm off to go and have lunch with my dad - I haven't seen him in a while so it will be great to catch up on all the family gossip and spend some quality time with him.

Busy, Busy

Busy, Busy!

Since I finished up with my former employer, my stress levels have reduced dramatically, and without the daily 'you're not good enough' message being drummed into us, I'm starting to really appreciate no longer working in such a toxic work environment.

I'm feeling more energetic, and am enjoying my life again.

My blood pressure has returned from its dangerous level back to a safe and normal one without me needing to be put on medication.

And since 'becoming unemployed' I have never been so busy in my entire life - including when I was running around after three young kids!

I'm currently upgrading my Training and Assessment qualification to the new Training and Education one, because from July 1, 2013, in order to deliver accredited training and assessment, trainers must have the new qualification.  So, I enrolled in the Upgrade modules, and am now busily working on completing one (very large) assessment, because once deemed competent, I will be issued with the updated qualification and can start teaching and assessing - woohoo!

I've also been gaining work from a couple of sources.  The first is with a Registered Training Organisation, who have kindly been providing me with occasional 'bits' of trainer administration work, to help reduce the stress on and workload of the RTO's existing trainers where they can (there is more that I can't do than what I can, until my upgrade goes through, but I am enjoying getting the work and learning about the new industry).  The second is with a former employer, doing Accounts and Administration. Again, the work is only in 'bits and pieces' but this is freeing me up to pursue my own interests and goals while simultaneously earning some money to live on.

I've been busily setting up the Char Mesan Job Coaching blog, and have a number of posts that I look forward to writing over the next couple of weeks.  I have a bit of spare time on my hands left to also work on the Char Mesan Reviews blog that I set up some time ago but haven't really done anything with, until now.

I'm loving this busy-ness, and I realised the other day my dreams and aspirations of gearing my career more towards writing than employment consulting is actually happening.  This is both an exciting and scary thing, following your dreams!

New Blog

Sorry I have been really quiet on the blog post front over the last two months. I became inundated with work which was not good for my health in the slightest. I have now finished up with that last employer and after spending two days at home catching up on sleep and housework, I am feeling rather revitalised, and have embarked on the journey of working for myself again doing what I love: teaching and inspiring jobseekers and encouraging people to gain necessary skills.

I'm pleased to report that I am already starting to pick up contract work as a Typist, Resume Writer and Contract Vocational Trainer.

The most page views on this website have been in relation to my book and product reviews, and any time I relate things to Harry Potter.  But the pages that are most returned to are the ones where I share my knowledge and insights for job seekers.  And this got me thinking...

I've accumulated a lot of valuable knowledge about resumes and job searching over the last ten years, so, I decided to create a blog which I have entitled Char Mesan Job Coaching to help people with their job search.  Let's face it, people will always be looking for work at some point in their lives, and not being experts, often make all manner of mistakes trying to figure things out on their own - many times getting things wrong which stops them gaining work.  I've only just created the blog yesterday, and some of its pages are still under construction, but if you want to check it out, you can find the blog here.

Update 25 August 2013.  I have just written my first real post for the Char Mesan Job Coaching blog.  You can check out my post "3 Application Mistakes Job Seekers must avoid".

Other people don't always know best

I resigned from my job.

Normally, I would (like most well meaning people) advise that it is best to stay in the job and leave to go to another job rather than resign with no job to go to.

But a week and a half a go, I couldn't take the negativity of such a toxic environment any longer, I decided to put my health and well being before anything else, and to great criticism resigned from my role as overworked Employment Consultant with no alternative job to go to.

There was a number of considerations that went into my decision before I decided to act: I spoke with each of my children and gained their support. (Each of their reactions, although different from one another, supported me: my son, simply stated that it would be nice to see me happy and unstressed which he hasn't seen in a while 'you know, have my real mum back again'; my middle daughter, in perfect imitation of the advice I would normally give just said 'have you really thought this through, mum?  It's easier to find another job when you already have one'; and my baby daughter, sucked in her breath when I told her out of concern but an hour later came up to me and said 'August would be a good time mum, seeing as I'm going away with dad and all, so the only person really effected would be yourself.') I considered the type of work I could apply for, and know that I will do what many of my job seekers are not prepared to do: go out and face to face market myself to employers and accept any sort of work for which I am capable in order to gain employment quickly. I am also already prepared: I know my skill set and have my resume already up to date, and have interview clothing already purchased and set aside, so I can make a neat, good appearance.

The relief I have gained just by resigning has been paramount, and I still have another two and a half weeks before I actually finish up, because I had to provide four weeks notice.

One of the things I am looking forward to most, is that when I am not job searching, I will be able to spend a bit of time doing what I love: working on my novel.  Who knows, I might even be able to work for myself -  I have a few ideas to think about.

Me, Fuddy Duddy Daredevil, Quad Bike weekend

The last month has just come and gone so quickly for me.  Most of it has been focused on my job as Employment Consultant, with the 30th June bringing with it not only the end of month and end of quarter, but our performance contributing to the highly-critical government performance star ratings (results due sometime in August).  I've come home each evening mentally and physically exhausted as management unrealistically pushed to get not just one or two but ten to twenty more placements to increase our ratings, and yet other managers pumped out emails by the hour demanding this be done, and that, so one never actually got to complete any of the urgent admin tasks they wanted completed by close of business, within the hour, by the end of the week.

When the too short weekends finally arrived after very long and never ending work days, I rested as much as I could.

The downside was that I didn't have the time, or was too tired, to do what I love doing: writing.

But last weekend, with the end of month and quarter behind me, I broke out of my usual weekend routine of doing nothing except recover, and accepted the invitation from my middle child to come away with all three of my children, and some of their cousins from my ex's side of the family, to the country, where they had a weekend of horse-riding, quad bike riding, trail bike riding, four wheel driving and shooting ahead of them.

Did someone say quad bike riding?  Isn't that one of the items on my imaginary bucket list?

Count me in!

So, while the rest of my family headed up to Oberon some two hours drive away on the Friday night, I followed up next morning where I met up with the extended family group at Oberon's Royal Hotel for a pub lunch.

I wasn't overly hungry when I arrived, and the menu included lots of very big, highly filling meals, so, without realising I was choosing items from the kids menu, I ordered some chicken nuggets and chips, with the tempting 'chilli cream' sauce.  I expected to get a couple of commercially produced chicken nuggets along with my chips and different sauce; but what I got was absolutely delicious homemade chicken nuggets and chips smothered in the most delicious sauce I have ever tasted... so great start to my mini-holiday!

From the hotel, it was a short fifteen minute drive out of town and along a dirt road to reach the farm where we would be horse and quad bike riding.  It was pouring with rain, and everyone of us was excited to get drenched and dirty.

Unfortunately, the lady running the horse and quad bike riding trails made sure we were aware that she wanted us to reschedule to the following weekend, and we had to act highly out of character(s) and develop thick skin(s) against her persistent attempts to make us feel bad about inconveniencing her despite our letting her know that three of our group had travelled directly from Sydney this morning just to come out horse or quad bike riding.

Our thick skins won out, and the lady although she dragged her heels in doing so set up the horses and then took the group on the horse trail.

Okay, for readers of my blog, I set out at the beginning of the year with the good intentions to lose weight and become healthier. Well, umm, I have failed miserably.  I started out going well, and I lost almost ten kilo with my new healthy eating and regular exercising plan.  The only trouble is, 'life' got in the way, and over the last two months, all my good work was undone as I resorted to quick and easy meals over healthy cooking, and dear me, my poor treadmill has sadly gone back to being an unused white elephant again, resulting in me now being about three kilo heavier than before I tried to improve my health and well being.

So... there was absolutely no way on earth that I would ruin some poor innocent horses day by having me on its back, so I was more than content just to sit on the back of my nephew's four wheel drive ute and watch my children and their cousins go for their hour horse ride.  I contented myself taking a few photo's, wandering around the property to moo back at the cow, laugh with amazement as the obese pig ran downhill to come and stand at the fence next to the cow just to oink at me before turning its non-curly tail to slip and slide as it then tried to walk back up the slope to where it had come from, and explore the old-fashioned wood cottage reminiscent of our settlement days complete with a hollowed out tree trunk as a trough for the farm animals to drink out of while I waited for the riding party to return, any my turn at fun to begin.

My nephew and I, who hadn't seen or spoken to each other in over ten years, still hadn't run out of things to catch up on when the riding party returned and then packed away the gear and returned the horses to rest.

And soon the quad bike riding party were in an enclosure being shown how to operate the bikes and then allowed to take it for a test drive inside the rink.

I've never ridden even a motorbike before, but I soon got the swing of things.  Out of the six of us quad biking, I was positioned third, behind my youngest daughter who was behind the guide.  I had my middle daughter's boyfriend immediately behind me, and then my daughter, my son, and one of my nieces.

We were ushered through a gate into a paddock quickly, before the goat that was trying hard could escape, and then, we hit the motor trail!

Now, unbeknown to me, the handle brake on the left hand side did not work. I didn't work this out until about half an hour and lots of right hand curves into the trail.  For some reason, no matter what, I easily managed to control - even without the brake - taking left hand turns, but whenever I had to follow a right hand bend, I went off track, and the only way I didn't manage to stack it, or any other horror was because I instinctively let go of the throttle button controlled by my right hand thumb.

What I later worked out was that the right hand brake did work - only, my hands are too small to operate the throttle AND have my fingers on the brake handle, so I was forced to rest them on the handlebar grip pad which was just 'perfect' and comfortable.

So, I felt a bit guilty after losing it on almost every right hand bend, and whenever the distance between my daughter in front of me and myself grew too large because I knew my 'fuddy duddiness' would be causing all behind me to go slower and less recklessly than they wished, but I was overwhelmingly embarrassed when the guide circled back to my daughter's boyfriend behind me and asked him if he was having trouble keeping to the track and if he needed any riding tips - the poor boy has grown up riding trail bikes, and was being blamed for my mistakes!  But it was worse than that!  I raised my arm to admit that it was me running off track and in need of some advice - remember this was my first time, and I have a shoulder injury which was starting to cause me even more loss of control - but the lady didn't even look at me.  She just shook her head, disbelieving my daughter's poor boyfriend, and she returned to the head of the trail for us to continue.

That's when my daughter cracking up with laughter caused me to cry with guilty laughter. I tried to own up, but the lady had been determined that she knew who the guilty party was!

So when we waited for her to close a paddock gate as we progressed to the second of about five or six paddocks, I then offered to take the last spot, so I could fall a bit behind when I needed to, as I was starting to cotton on that all was not completely my fault - having no brake was a highly contributing factor.

I loved being in last position!  On the downhills, I was able to be as fuddy duddy as I liked, but I am pleased to say, my inner revhead assisted me in catching up so none ahead of me were any the wiser when we reach the top of the hill.  (Later, my children each complained that the lady had taken the course a lot slower than they had wanted to go, but I can attest, if they had of been in that last position and were desperate not to get caught having fallen so far behind, they wouldn't have been complaining they didn't get to go at top speed - I got air-born a couple of times going over mounds! At least my son caught me once tearing it up the hill to know I do have some little bit of daredevil inside me).

I think we were still in the second paddock when tearing up the hill my niece who was now directly in front of me somehow managed to get air born and then flip the bike so that it landed on her just as I became airborn behind her and could not control where I would land - dangerously close to on top of her!

But, I managed to land early and skid to a stop to the left of her, and andrenalin helped me to remember to use the engine kill switch so I didn't have to worry about parking the bike so I could jump off and go to her assistance to get the bike off her as everyone else ahead of us remained blissfully unaware that a major stack had just occurred.  I whacked my left ankle quite hard in my effort to dismount the quad.  Somewhere while I ran behind my quad so I could get to her, she managed - I don't know how she is so tiny - to get the bike off her and stood up.

She was in shock, and didn't answer my questions of 'Are you hurt?" "Are you okay?" etc.  My niece just raised her hands up for me to see, so I asked 'Is it broken? Is it sprained?" as she just showed me her mud spattered hands.  I looked beyond her to the others just coming to a stop at the top of the hill, we were still only a quarter the way up, and I waved for the guide to come back.

Relieved that the guide was tearing back down to assist me, my niece still just staring at her hands, holding them up for me to see but not answering any of my questions, both frustrating and worrying me, my niece finally answered in a soft disbelieving voice, "I have shit on my hands."  It didn't occur to me to find that funny.  I just said, "I know.  But are you alright?" just as the guide reached us.

My niece turned to speak with the guide who had arrived at the other side of her, and oh dear, she had horse shit on more than just her hands.

My niece was still in too much shock from stacking it and having manure on her hands, and decided she didn't want to do any more quad bike riding, so the guide returned her to the others before coming back and getting me restarted so I could rejoin our group.

We were all quite shocked that she had stacked it, but we pressed on knowing she wasn't seriously injured.

No further incidents occurred, though at one stage after a long downhill where I became quite far behind that I was out of site to the rest of the group through the long grass that they all feared that I had had a stack as well.  The guide was just about to come searching for me when I came 'fuddy duddying' into site which caused my kids to all laugh at me.

Before long, our hour and a half was over.  And I had just had great fun. And we all returned to my other niece's house where my kids would be staying the night.

I returned to Sydney because I had things I had to do, including feeding some friends cats for them because they had gone away and I had agreed to do this before the invite.  So I had a lovely drive back along the winding foggy road - for a while there, I was the only car on the road going in either direction.

But the beauty of turning the music off, so I could fully concentrate in poor driving conditions was that my mind came up with another story idea.

And another bonus was the cabin I mentioned earlier was exactly the image I had in mind for another storyline I have been working on, so I can now add these photos to my image book to help me with my writing when I need inspiration.

And then, to top off what was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time (do you know how great it was to not tell people I'm not interested in doing something that I am actually interested in doing because I couldn't afford to participate when what I really wanted was to get in there and join in on the fun instead of watching from the sidelines?) today I woke up with a sore throat, and after becoming pissed off over something at work yesterday, decided to treat myself to staying home sick. I was pleased when my doctor advised me to take the next three days off sick, and after a long sleep fighting off a temperature, I felt relaxed and well enough to write the draft outline of my new storyline, and tonight's blog post.

Ah I have missed writing!