General

I found this intense video whilst surfing about this morning, dripping honey on my keyboard.  I can’t decide what’s creepier, the smile or the music.

Puts Harold and the Purple Crayon in a whole new light, doesn’t it?

creepy pencil harold and the purple crayon

Hey, it’s Mother’s Day. I’ll do what I want.

I got a “Stöckchen” from Michaela. In case your thinking “A what?” (Which is what I was thinking), a Stöckchen is a sort of on-line chain letter, a sort of “meme“, if you will.

So here goes:

5 things found in my bag:
1) my mobile
2) three pens that don’t work
3) at least one used kleenex
4) my reading glasses
5) a hoof pick

5 Things found in my purse:
1) my ATM card
2) coins and a few bills
3) several sticky business cards (mine)
4) several more sticky business cards (someone else’s)
5) an anonymous telephone number on a no longer sticky post-it

Fav things in my room:
1) two old framed dressage prints
2) a fun rococo mirror
3) Eva’s red sweater
4) my dog’s bed
5) a santa mug

The person who tagged you is Michaela
Your 5 impressions of her
1) she’s creative
2) she’s a big city girl
3) she’s open
4) she’s up on what’s going on
5) she’s knows what she wants

So, it’s your turn:
Adrian, let’s hear about you and what about bek, another cross-cultural person, and my dear friend Werner 
 

I’ve been terribly busy the last days (good) and haven’t had time to blog (bad), but I just had to throw this quickie in.

For all of you who think that I have a short temper (admittedly, sometimes I can get in a bit of a snit about things that others foolishly qualify as insignificant), have a look at this (watch carefully at 00:33):

He beat himself bloody. And then he won. :-)

Many of you have pointed out to me (some nicer than others…) that I have not kept to my self-inflicted self discipline rule (Sundays whatever, Wednesdays English, Fridays Head hunting).

This is true. I did for a while. But I didn’t much enjoy it.

As soon as the “have to’s” came in to it, it wasn’t any fun any more. Blogging really is supposed to be about spontaneous writing and, well, fun. I started doing this because it sounded like it would be a great way to put some thoughts to my keyboard and just sort of have at it. And it was great - until I decided to regulate it.

So, I’m going to do what my sister has always told me to do in these sorts of situations. If you make a decision you don’t like, then just make a new decision. And here is my new decision:

I hereby change my writing schedule to whenever I feel like it.

Is this okay?

Won’t you come on in. Miracles I guess still happen now and then. Step into my heart. Leave your cares behind. Welcome to my world. Built with you in mind. Knock and the door will open. Seek and you will find. Ask and you’ll be given the key to this world of mine.

I’ll be waiting…

Today is December 22 and Christmas Eve is near.

The Winter Solstice has passed and the days are finally getting longer. Wini and I always begin the countdown sometime in late November or early December. It depends on the weather. The colder and foggier it is, the earlier we begin counting.

Winter Solstice brings new hope, new promise and new life. The days once again begin to get longer and with that, they bring the promise of coming warmth.

Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad. May 2008 bring you success, love and happiness.

To those of you who brought me laughter and joy, thank you for making my 2007 such a wonderful year. To  those of you who brought me sadness and strife, thank you for helping me be strong and teaching me, yet again, to lift my head, square my shoulders and continue.

Happy Holidays to you all.

Now, I’m not a bird person, not by any means. They tend to remind me of Hitchcock’s Birds, and I get nervous if I see more than two per tree. They give me the willies (especially because of their beady little eyes).

But, having said that, here’s a fun link I got from Nikk (and she’s not a bird person either, so go figure…). It’s a dancing bird - but not just any old dancing bird…

Presenting Snowball, the medium sulphur crested Eleanora cockatoo, who can really shake a leg… (drum roll)

I found the cutest video on Possums Welt (this one’s in German, so steel yourselves). It’s a commercial for razor blades. I don’t usually like ads with babies in them (never been the softy type) but the fight for kisses commercial is a scream. Boy oh boy, don’t feed this baby late.

[strong baby]

As some of you may (or may not have) noticed, I changed my blog’s title from “Lisa’s Blog on Communication, Headhunting and Horses” to “Lisa’s Blog on Stuff”. It seemed more appropriate.

When I started this blog, I wanted to present myself from my purely professional side. I wanted to leave personal things out of it and concentrate on business related topics (with a wee bit of horse to keep it light). 

I tried to do that, I really did … sort of.

Pretty early on I realised that it’s not going to work out that way. The main problem seemed to be that I don’t have an undiluted professional side.

The many sides and aspects of my life flow together and are downright impossible to keep strictly divided.

For many years I spent 8, 10 or more hours a day in an office “working”. Afterwards I would go home and have “leisure time”. These two parts of my life were clearly non-related and were spent in absolute opposition to each other.

Work was, well, work. And leisure time was fun. Lots more fun than work, because work was work.

Finally (after the usual soul-searching) I figured out that it doesn’t have to be that way. I can work and live and be me all at the same time. It was only my attitude towards work that I had to change (and some of my habits). By changing my attitude (and those nasty habits), I also changed my priorities and became a much nicer person to spend time with - and work with.
Work became fun because I allowed all areas of my life to flow together - creating an infinitely more holistic me.

Life is too short. If all we do is work and forget who we are, then we have nothing at the end of the day (except maybe the large bank account that we could have anyway). If we are able to combine our work, our hobbies, our families, our friends and ourselves into one big package, then we have life - not just life, but with all probability a prosperous life.  We’ll never worry about having to work until we’re 66, 69 or even 85. We’ll want to. Work is enjoyable - if we are allowed to integrate our lives into it.

That’s work-life balance for me.

So at any rate, my blog got a new title and I got rid of the stress of trying to make all this sound business related. It is business related.

For those of you who are still having some issues in this area, here’s the blog of workplace wellness via yoga (in case reading my blog hasn’t already helped).

[work life balance]

Rita ::  and Grace
Comedy :: Tragedy
Polar ::  Bear
Idiots ::  and Children
Perception ::  Deception
Infected ::  with Lice
Fake ::  Beard
Relating ::  Communicating
Distraction :: Men
Gamble ::  Casino

You can play, too: http://subliminal.lunanina.com/um/ind/week_241

unconscious mutterings

I  don’t know about you, but I’m a mother.

Now, generally and under normal circumstances, I consider myself to be an intelligent, sensible and sound person. However, like I said above, I am a mother.  And it seems that being a mother can sometimes override any intelligent thought that you might otherwise be likely to entertain.

Situation 1: We’re in the kitchen. I’m showing my son (16 years old) how the bread cutting machine works. I explain the various buttons and how you can adjust the slice width and rotation speed. Satisfied with my demonstration, I turn to leave him to his own devices. I haven’t quite gotten out  the kitchen door, when I suddenly go maternal, “And don’t cut your fingers off.”

Good thing I said that - perhaps he didn’t realise that it would be bothersome if he did.

Situation 2: We are at a friend’s house, enjoying a comfortable summer evening outside. Because it sometimes gets cool in the evenings here, we have a camp fire to sit around. The fire begins to get low, and my son asks where he can find wood. We show him the pile and without warning, a serious Maternal-Moment rolls over me, “Careful not to let your clothing catch fire.”

Ahhh, right - fire can burn.

Situation 3: We are standing on the balcony, looking out at the back garden. The Cat is generally not allowed on the balcony, because she dances on the railing and generally plays with her own mortality out there; but at any rate, my son is holding her, letting her look out with us. Major Maternal-Moment: “Don’t let her fall.”

(”Oh please, mom, just  this once….”)

mother teenager worry stupid statements maternal children