Linda G Hill | But I Smile Anyway...

#JusJoJan – January 11th, 2018 – Humiliate

11 Jan 2018 41 Comments

by Ritu in #jusjojan, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #jusjojan, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Humiliate, Jim Adams, Linda G Hill

Day eleven of #JusJoJan!

I’m going to try to write on each of the prompts!

Today the prompt is:

Your prompt for January 11th, 2018, brought to you by the very wordy Jim, is “Humiliate.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Jim at his blog, “Jim Adams Author” link: https://jimadamsauthordotcom.wordpress.com/

Thanks Jim!

Humiliate

I’m not sure I like today’s word… because I hate the thought of humiliating someone, or being humiliated.

But it happens.

There are people out there who go out on a limb to create embarrassment and hurt to others, and then there are those who sometimes don’t realise their actions or words may cause a feeling of humiliation in another.

I often laugh off things that may cause humiliation… sometimes I don’t take it as an insult, but equally, I can speak before thinking, and before I know it, sensitive souls may have taken my words to heart, or thought I was out to hurt…

Why don’t I think first…?

So a Tanka:

You injure my pride
Take away my dignity
Humiliate me
Intentional actions hurt
Can I face the world again?

Ritu 2018

See you tomorrow!

If you want to find a full list of rules and the daily prompts visit here.

#JusJoJan – January 9th, 2018 – Coffee

09 Jan 2018 54 Comments

by Ritu in #jusjojan, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #jusjojan, Barbara, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Coffee, Linda G Hill, Nescafe, Tea, Teleportingweena

Day nine of #JusJoJan!

I’m going to try to write on each of the prompts!

Today the prompt is:

Your prompt for January 9th, 2018, brought to you by the lovely Barbara, is “Coffee.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Barbara at her blog, “TeleportingWeena link: https://teleportingweena.wordpress.com/

Thanks Barbara!!

Coffee

I can’t stand coffee!

It just doesn’t taste good to me.

I am firmly a tea drinker.

Being as I am an Indian, born in England to Kenyan-born Indian parents, I think there is a heck of a lot of tea culture flowing in my veins! After all, tea is the drink of the British and the Indians, and tea grows in India, and Kenya… (Though Kenya is a coffee-growing nation too!)

But then when I see people drinking coffee, they appear much more grown up. Does that make sense to you?

It’s as if my naturally sweet palate can’t take the bitterness of the coffee beans.

I have tried it, sipped tiny sips, attempted coffee cake, and even sweets, but no!

And if I was to find that random coffee sweet in a Marvels packet – I want to be sick!

One of the hardest experiences in my life?

I worked for a call centre for Nestle, and we dealt with the catering side of the business, and in order to be able to discuss the various coffees Nescafe have to offer, we were invited to head office to have a coffee tasting session!

The rest of the team knew I hated the stuff and they watched me throughout the morning, as I was subjected to what felt like hundreds of tiny cups of various coffees. And the worst thing? I couldn’t just quickly swallow it either! There was a need to swill it around the mouth, kind of like wine-tasting, the writing down how it tasted on all parts of the tongue! Ewww!

Having said that I can’t stand the stuff, I am pretty okay at making a decent cup, apparently!

I make Hubby Dearest a daily cup in his travel mug to take to work, and I can make a frothy coffee by hand, after being taught by an employer from a long time ago, who liked her coffee sweet and milky. I used to add the coffee and sugar, a drop pr two of milk and then whip it up a frenzy, until it was a creamy foam at the bottom of the cup. When the water was added, and the extra milk, it was almost cappuccino-like!

But no, I definitely don’t want to drink the stuff myself.

Then you get my 12-year-old son who loves the taste of coffee sweets, and I won’t allow him to drink coffee regularly, as I think he is too young for caffeine (no, my kids don’t drink soft drinks either, unless its a very special occasion!) but when he gets a chance, a Latte from Costa is his thing!

Is he more grown up than me? Oo-er!

But no thank you – I’ll stick to my cup of Chai!

See you tomorrow! Oh, and yesterday at school was a manic day, as I thought it would be, but I’m still here, as I always am, and am counting the days to the weekend lol!

If you want to find a full list of rules and the daily prompts visit here.

#JusJoJan – January 8th, 2018 – Pants

08 Jan 2018 29 Comments

by Ritu in #jusjojan, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #jusjojan, Back to work, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Linda G Hill, pants, Pensitivity 101

Day eight of #JusJoJan!

I’m going to try to write on each of the prompts!

Today the prompt is:

Your prompt for January 8th, 2018, brought to you by the many-layered Pensitivity, is “Pants.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Pen at her blog, “Pensitivity101” to read her post and say hi! 😀 Here’s her link: https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/

Thanks, dear Pen!!

Pants.

That is how I feel this morning, actually!

Because I’m back at work today.

It should have been last Thursday, where I could have eased my way back into a new term with two INSET (staff training ) days, but because of the impromptu sick bug visit to our house, I was incapacitated, and unable to go in.

But that means back to the grindstone today… with all the children in too, and me feeling like a fish out of water, as I honestly don’t feel like I know what I am doing today!

It’s been a long time since I have felt so bleurgh about going back to work.

Hopefully, it’s just the post-holiday blues…

Oh well.

See you tomorrow, where I hope I will be able to tell you things are all just fine and dandy at school!

If you want to find a full list of rules and the daily prompts visit here.

#JusJoJan – January 7th, 2018 – Indelible

07 Jan 2018 33 Comments

by Ritu in #jusjojan, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #jusjojan, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Image and Word, Indelible, Linda G Hill, Ruth

Day seven of #JusJoJan!

I’m going to try to write on each of the prompts!

Today the prompt is:

Your prompt for January 5th, 2018, brought to you by the fantastic photographer, Ruth, is “Indelible.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Ruth at her blog, “Image and Word” to read her post and say hi! 😀 Here’s her link: https://imageandword.wordpress.com/

Thanks, Ruth, for making me think!!

Now, the first thing that came to mind when thinking of the word indelible, was permanent marker!

A little backstory…

When Lil Man was truly little, we used to live in my in-laws’ house. Even though just the thought of that makes some peoples skin crawl, it was actually a great thing. I had so much support when I first got married, getting used to wifely duties and when my kids were born.

Though there was something I was hoping to change, slowly, and that was the decor. When we got engaged, there was this interesting maroon and gold flock wallpaper, reminiscent of the old school Indian restaurants, in the main living room.

Oh, it would have been pricey paper, but was just so old-fashioned! I saw the paper in our engagement photos (it’s a long story, but in certain stages of a Sikh engagement, traditionally the girl and boy aren’t together – that explanation deserves another post!) and was a bit alarmed!

As the wedding date was set, there commenced a big renovation project at Hubby Dearest’s house; walls being knocked through, new kitchen and bathroom, and lots of redecorating!

I was unable to be involved at this stage as I wasn’t formally part of the family, and there were no girls in the household, bar my Mother-in-Law. I gently encouraged my Hubby Dearest and his brother to go out with their parents to choose things for the house…

The reports I got back from some of his friends were that the woodwork looked great… there was loads of space… there wasn’t patterned carpet… Fantastic!

When we were finally married and I walked into the main living room as a bride, the room was full, and I mean FULL, of family and cameramen, ready to record this precious moment, lights blaring and all… and I thought I had stepped into Aladdin’s cave!

Because the flock paper had given way to more gold and maroon paper! It wasn’t flocked this time, but more embossed, and the in-laws’ had been sold it by some guy in a shop who had told them it was the in thing! And it was EXPENSIVE! (And no, the boys had NOT been there to help with this decision!)

Anyway, I had to learn to live with it, after all, I wasn’t the demanding daughter-in-law, and wasn’t about to get the whole place redecorated after they had spent so much money, with such love!

Now, back to the indelible part!

As kids grow up, they like to experiment. We all know that.

My son was no different. After he reached one, I went back to work part-time, and my in-laws’ looked after him.

One day my two/possibly three-year-old ( can’t remember his exact age when this happened!) was toddling around the house, as he was apt to, then went all silent.

My Father-in-Law likes to have writing implements all around the house, in case he needs to jot things down. Biros, pencils, markers: they are everywhere.

Lil Man took full advantage of this fact.

I arrived back from work to find that the front living room, the posh one, you know, the Aladdin’s cave, had been redecorated in one corner. Not a discreet, ‘we can hide it with a sofa’ corner, but up high, in full view, on one of the walls!

And with indelible ink!

Yes, in one pot, my Father-in-Law had left a permanent marker, a black one, which looked fun to draw with, and Lil Man used all his artistic abilities, defacing the wall, and his hands!

Thankfully the family saw the funny side, and who can be angry at a little child with the cutest of smiles?!

But we obviously couldn’t rid the wall of the stains, and my brother-in-law was getting married soon after…

So the big redecoration happened, and with me helping to choose, we decided upon no paper this time, but painted walls! It only took 9 years! And I’d already moved out of the house by this time!

See, that is one indelible memory!

See you tomorrow!

If you want to find a full list of rules and the daily prompts visit here.

#SoCS Jan. 6/18 – #JusJoJan Day 6 – Eco

06 Jan 2018 33 Comments

by Ritu in #jusjojan, #SoCS, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #jusjojan, #StreamofConsciousnessSaturday, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Eco, Linda G Hill, Socs

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “eco.” Find a word that starts with “eco” or has “eco” in it, and base your post on that word. Have fun!

Well, I could have gone all safe and thought about eco-friendly things. We could have talked about recycling and saving the Earth… but no…

I thought I would try and find a few words with eco in them, and see what I could think of to write.

Meconium – for those of you not in the know, that is the name given to a baby’s first poop! It’s a strange black treacle-like substance that oozes out of that cute butt, and takes forever to scrape off!

Shuttlecock – My kids love playing badminton. Hubby Dearest played as a youngster and he got the kids involved in lessons for a while. It was great to see my son involved in a sport that was not ‘typical’ for his age. And he’s good at it! As a smaller than others kinda kid, he would get overlooked for certain team sports, even though he was good, like Football, but in badminton, he is his own entity and can take on the best of em! And Lil Princess enjoys it too. If there is an activity that gets her off her tablet for a while and involves her in physical activity, then I’m happy!

Decongestant – It surely is the time of the year for all those flu and cold remedies. At any one time from October to around March, at least one person in our family is suffering from the sniffles, a blocked nose or a cough. I’ve tried so many shop-bought decongestant medicines, but sometimes its the simple things like Viks that help, or my mother in law’s favourite, toasted ajwain seeds, wrapped in a hankie that you inhale the odour of!

Decorations – Mine are down now. They usually go down by the 1st Jan, because of our darling kitty. Sonu Singh has a field day in the tree, and I usually find baubles batted off the tree, and in all sorts of places. This year, the addition of my son thinking that the ornaments are great targets for his Nerf gun meant that I couldn’t wait to put the tree away! I have actually had to throw some things away this year because his over-zealous target practice has meant that some of the baubles have got dents in, or plain shattered! And yet, as I glance around the house I find things I’ve forgotten… Drat! Another trip up to the attic to put them away too!

Records – I mean the vinyl sorts. I was lucky enough to manage to unearth some classic vinyls that my parents had stashed away at home last year! It was like stepping back in time, finding gold dust, that was not just western music, but some old Bollywood soundtracks, and some Punjabi bhangra classics too! It’s just a shame that we can’t get the record player working!

Recorder – That was the first instrument I learned how to play! I still play a mean Polly Wolly Doodle, if I get my hands on a recorder today! It’s a shame hardly anyone knows the song!

There… I think I’ve streamed my consciousness enough to even satisfy my #JusJoJan goal too!!!

Happy Saturday Peeps!