Book Of Doing Daily Challenge

The Book of Doing..Everyday Activities to Unlock your Creativity and Joy.

today l opened the book on a random page.

My project for today is to:

Adopt a Holiday That You Have Never Celebrated Before
Its an opportunity to learn something about another culture and try some new food, songs and expressions.



I have chosen Diwali.
Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights which represents the start of the Lunar New Year
Diwali comes from ancient Hindu word Deepavali which means light.  Deepa and Avali which means a row of lights.
Symbolically it represents an escape from Darkness.

It allows Hindus to focus on the positive in every day life.  Each year the festival, which takes place in October/November, is started with fireworks.  Families light candles and lamps in their homes to welcome Lakshmi, Goddess of prosperity and wealth.


I think l chose Diwali for a number of reasons.
I have always wanted to visit India. I love Indian food. I love Indian clothes and costumes. I love the vibrancy of colours associated with India. I do enjoy Indian Music, its very conducive to meditation or quiet time for reflection.  India is somewhere l hope to eventually get to visit. Myself and himself always say we will go when we retire.

In terms of the festival, l love candles and lamps.  I love entertaining and having friends over.
I can see myself having a Diwali gathering this year with lots and lots of candles, Indian food and friends gathered.

My mum always called me her indian princess, l think this was due to my love of bright colours and my huge collection of scarves and shawls and pashminas. I wear one every day wrapped around me. I love the brightest of colours.

So this year. I look forward to celebrating the Hindu Festival of Lights- Diwali.

Doing

A most beloved person in my life gave me a present of this for my birthday

It is jam packed with challenges. Fun things, things outside your comfort zone, things to make you laugh, think, deliberate...but as name says Full of things to do.   I have undertaken to complete one challenge per day. I will record each challenge as I go🙋

Homemade pesto.

Home remodelling..on a tight budget💶

Maybe it was the horrendous winter and all the time spent indoors, coupled with the long awaited arrival of spring and all the energy it brings, but I'm all consumed with 'doing up" the house.   My evenings are spent online drooling over wallpapers from John Lewis and Laura Ashley. Paint ideas from Farrow and Ball, furnishings from Meadows and Byrne, Avoca. It's endless(I love it)

Who knew you could fall head over heels for a colour!!!! Oh Duck Egg Blue, how I adore you, cerise you enthral me, Sage Green so soothing and calming.

This is all well and good but as I may have mentioned in previous blogs....a million times...I'm on a career break so there is the financial glitch there in realising my home makeover dreams. This of course has spawned Pinterest folders galore such as the folder "Dream House", Fab Furnishings, Outside Spaces and so on.
The good thing about Pinterest is the cheap and cheerful ideas to transform your home.
I have been putting it into practice. I started with our bedroom. I got new Teal Curtains in Penneys€20.  I got new bedside Lamps, €12 each in Dunnes. The rest was down to scarves...of which I have MANY....  Instead of having headboard of bed reupholstered, I covered in a beautiful bird print scarf which I tacked on. I also made new tie backs for Curtains...yes you've guessed it, from a scarf..
I gave the room a good clean and declutter and I must say. It's feeling fresh and new all for €44😊😊

This is one of the many pics from my Pinterest folder, beloved Colours

☕️☕️☕️☕️Teatime

Buffet for friends💕😊

To all the amazing women in my life. I salute you,
For all that you are to me, all that you help me be,

The secrets shared, the problems solved,
The plans made, the joy, the sorrow, all lived through together.

The looking ahead, the looking back, the revisiting, the remembering, the guiding through, the helpful hand, all shared together
With laughter
With love
With tears of sorrow,
Holding hands,
the knowing glance,
Unspoken words,
Twinkling eyes,
Cheeky grins,
Heads thrown back with belly laughs
All together.

To all my beautiful female friends, thank you for sharing the journey with me. I love you and am grateful to have you in my world💕💕💕💕👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭👭

Fresh Start. Reclaim Your Life

Breathe:   

Kind. 

Mind

Move

Gently

Smile Often

Love

Health

Remove bad

Simplify

Purify

Cleanse

Stop

Assess

Think

Move on

Visualise

Nourish

Believe

Cant Cook/Wont Cook. VERY VERY BASIC RECIPES FOR THE RELUCTANT COOK

 In an earlier post l described how l had been hearing more and more of people saying they cant cook, and in one or two cases ..that they dont DO cooking.
These people were relying on their partners to do all the cooking, or in some cases, they were looking to in laws to cook dinners for them.

When l was working with young people who were separated from their families we tried to break down cooking into its simplest forms, not always pretty cooking, but simple and achievable.

I thought I would put some recipes out there that might help somebody who wants to cook but thinks they cannot so they wont even try.

I am not a chef, a cook, l am not an authority on cooking, nutrition or anything of the sort.
I am just somebody who cooks for her own family every day and spent years working with young people trying to give them some skills so they could embrace independant living and fend for themselves, and their own families.

PESTO PASTA/OR SPAGHETTI

You will need:
One packet of pasta shapes, or spaghetti
1 "brick" of frozen spinach
2 cups of frozen peas
jar of pesto
1 vegetable stock cube, or a chicken stock cube
Cheddar Cheese.

What to do:

*fill a pot with water and bring to boil
*add some salt, about a tablespoon
*Add the pasta, or spaghetti and stir it a few times just to make sure it doesnt stick together
*Then add peas and spinach
*pasta can take approx 12 mins to cook but check your packet to be sure as they can vary
*When the pasta is ready get a strainer and pour the pasta into it.  if you can, try to save about a half cup of  water at the end of the pot.
*add the strained pasta and veg back into the pot
*add three tablespoons of pesto sauce and stir through gently, make sure all the pasta is coated.
* put the pasta into a serving bowl
*Grate parmesan or cheddar cheese on top and mix in gently

* serve with crusty bread and side salad.

THis is a very tasty simple dinner and could easily serve about  6 people a decent bowl of pasta.

Cleanse for the kidneys.

Lots of people do such drastic detoxes, their systems must be traumatised.   I found a lovely cleanse for the kidneys. God knows they work bloody hard. Why not give them a bit of pampering😊

 This is all it takes

Use a bunch of fresh Parsley.

Rinse it under water, then chop it finely

Then fill a saucepan with water, add in the parsley and bring it to the boil.

Then once it has boiled turn the heat off. Pour the water through a sieve into a jug and leave to cool. You are left with a cool, light green water bursting with vitamins and minerals.

I poured the cooled water into my beaker, into fridge and got it nice and cold. I sipped it for the rest of the day. 

Projects for myself and kids

I ave to say how much I love Pinterest. I have a whole folder there where I find and store ideas, especially I ally things to do with kids. This is today's task. The kids have tennis after school. When we get home we will do homework first and then this.  

Can't Cook OR Won't Cook

Over the last number of years l have met a number of people who have told me that they cannot cook. Not that they are limited in their repetoire, or not the most confident or competent in the kitchen. They literally said they CANNOT COOK.

Those two words baffle me.  I mean, l have never done a rack of lamb or attempted a souffle, but l can cook.

I started gently as a teenager and bit by bit over the years have build up a repetoier of family dinners that seem to go down well.  Some dishes l make just for me, as himself and the kids will not eat them. Others are firm family favourites. Then there are dishes that are great for feeding a large group of family or friends that are tasty and simple to make. I am talking straight up dinners here, nothing fancy at all.

Anyway, the cannot cook thing has me stumped. What intrigues me more though is the extent to which the CANNOT COOK individuals will go to validate this. Recently somebody told me she was broke from getting take aways.When l asked why they had so many take away meals she said, "sure I can't cook".

I asked what she meant by that. She said "I'd burn water".  When she saw the somewhat bewildered expression on my face she quickly launched into a rant about how sexist it was of me and that nobody would ask a man the same question.

To be fair I would ask a man the same question.

I was with my mother in law recently and a lady she knows was cooking a lasagne for her son to take home. He was calling for it on the way home from work. I asked why?  

His wife doesnt do cooking. Not that she cant cook, or is unable to cook...she doesnt do cooking.

I just do not get that at all.
How hard is it to make a simple meal.
Any man, woman or teenager has the means to make a simple meal for themselves in a short amount of time and without any huge effort required, especially in this day and age when the range of foods, fresh and frozen is fantastic.