Campfire Stories

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I just want a Lie in!

I was riding a goldfish, searching for an elusive treasure, sure I would find it on the next dive when my dream began to melt away.   Back in bed wide awake, I knew that it was sleep that I would have to find now.  The goldfish swam away and would have to search alone. I had been rudely dismounted by the noise of a chainsaw.

I gave up, so was up early once more, on a Saturday morning.  My neighbour’s attempts the day before to squeeze a 30 ft palm into a  6 ft skip had failed and he was back this morning with grit, 300 teeth and a can of petrol.  I got up, made a coffee, put some washing on and took the rubbish out, and found in the process, a plastic dial I had discovered abandoned on the floor of my daughters’ car.  The spindle had broken, I had brought it in to fix it some weeks ago.  Coffee made, paper down, super glue out, I would make use of the Saturday void, nobody else wanted to start the day just yet.

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Campfire Stories

 

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My house feels too Big

I woke up this morning and my house felt quite big on me.   The rooms are hanging loosely,  and the bathroom definitely does not feel as tight as it used to.  I’m thinking I might have to go down a size soon.

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Campfire Stories

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SEO and my Blog.  I have no idea

Last day of this process.  I have read everything and clicked through a lot of blue windows.  I now know that  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.   I  knew that when I asked Google he answered.  I never, ever thought about how he found it.  Like the kids, clothes are worn and dropped, then appear laundered and folded, it just happens!

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Campfire Stories

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Boys, Stop drawing penises on my blackboards

other than that you are OK

I have been working in an all boys school for the last year and a half now. I took the job to do a ‘Jamie Oliver’ with the food in the canteen or tuck shop, depends on who you ask. I have fed so many people from many different places.  The rules of food prep and service remain constant, the logistics are the slippery beast, but that’s another Blog.  I have popped a little tool into my knife roll from each job. On the whole, here my learning has been about the adaptation of familiar recipes so I can cook them in astounding quantities and the fight to balance healthy eating, with a low price point.  I have found that adolescent boys like to eat food they can hold, whilst karate kicking another boy, it must also be the size of their head and cost less than $2.50.

 The real learning for me has been about the boys themselves.  Girls Rule OK, but boys are pretty cool too.  They just do stupid stuff.

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Campfire Stories

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The Course continues – I need to catch a bigger audience

Day Eight: Resurfacing and Sharing Content.

I have to make a social media calendar, spread my wings and tweet a lot.   I think I have reached my limit now, I am too old and unmotivated to get involved in more social media.  My stats will help me promote older content and attract new traffic.  I had a mental image of me standing on the corner, in a spangly bikini and a placard saying LOOK AT ME.  It was not nice, and I have had to push away the chocolate cake I was eating.  I might just sit here at home and do my thing.  I do not think I have the energy to have thousands of followers.  I have linked stories of the same content together which is an awesome idea and is the stand out for me for day 8.

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Campfire Stories

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My son is home – a happy dance

Yay, I have just picked up four loads of washing and a boy from Auckland airport.  We knew the plane was coming in early from Perth because technology is amazing, so we smugly set our alarms to a little earlier than planned.  It was very confusing then, to be woken by my husband shouting, ‘you have three minutes, get up, get up.’

I sat in the car and wondered if I had the right pants on, I knew I had no socks on and was wearing my daughter’s coat. I yawned a lot while my husband explained that the flight was early. I looked at the neon clock on the dash, ‘yeah right, we sorted that and are on time, slow down.’

African shoes

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Campfire Stories

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I don’t want to talk to my neighbours.

The course continues Day 7.   To all those that have graciously hit the follow button, I apologise for the avalanche of material in your email folders. Sorry.  I will get back to my regular once a week self by Sunday.

Today’s task: visit three blogs that are new to you, and make a comment on each one.

Yuck, yucky, yuck. Just No.  Why do I have to do this?  I am not a fan of I’ll you show mine if you show me yours.  I have already promised to LIKE more.  I closed my computer.

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Campfire Stories

black-and-white-alien-mdIt Can all get a bit weird

Am I an Alien?

I can be doing anything, cooking, eating, sleeping in the middle of a conversation and I have a random thought.    I look at other people, do they do the same, are they havingblack-and-white-alien-md weird images, the first verse, I can not tell, their eyes do not flicker. Sometimes I ignore it, sometimes I explore it, sometimes I wonder if it is mine and throw it away.  But it always returns and sits cold, unformed.

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Campfire Stories

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Old Life New Life

10:50 pm   I’m tired I’m going to bed now, coming with me or do you want to stay up late and annoy me?  Bed, oh good, let’s go then.  Just help me get ready and we can finish that chapter, then sleep.

12:15 am   Stop trying to close my eyes, it’s so annoying.  Let me read, just two more pages. No?  Actually, I agree it’s the sensible thing to do, can you help me just turn out the lights? What, I was just drifting off. Why are you asking now? I could have continued to read. Ummm I guess, I feel a bit uncomfortable, a little more than normal yes, something has changed, not much, but something.  No, I have not eaten properly today, ok for a while. Stop talking, you’re the one that started closing my eyes. I am not in the mood for this discussion. Goodnight.

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Day Three: Get Read All Over

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Day Four: Give ‘Em What They Want

The course continues.  I had never seen myself in different formats, I use a desktop and so my big fat screen gives me lots of space.  I happily wrap my text around pictures and play with quotation marks.  Day three asked me to test my site and make sure it works on different formats.  Whey hey, I had inadvertently chosen a responsive theme, so I fit everywhere.  I’ll have a cup of tea then, and look at my words on my phone, who knew.

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