Category: Home Life

Months after we took over Wye View, weather starts to get better so we finally begin to take on some outdoor jobs that need doing.

First of all, the old turkey shed. It’s in a state of beyond repair, so the only solution is to demolish the whole thing.

So here he goes…

 

 

 

and set it alight…

That was quite a fire!

1 shed down, 2 more to go?

今天清晨, 我失去了另一位親愛的家人, 我的公公. 雖說生老病死是人生必經的歷程, 但是在碰到是自己親愛家人的情形下, 心裏的悲傷難過實在不是言語可以形容的.

 

 

很痛苦但非常必要的一門學習課程.

I don’t agree with her choice but I learn to respect that decision. Life is short, I need to be responsible to fulfill my duty of take care and respect myself from now on.

“Live your life authentically!”

I have heard of this phrase many a time since January this year.

Didn’t pay much attention to it at first, then out of blue, one day I found myself  stare at this phrase and questioned myself the same thing. How gorgeous would it be if we can live our life authentically!

Deep down in my heart, I know I haven’t managed to that in the past, I was younger and inexperienced, many compromises were made and others’ opinions always seemed to matter more than my own thoughts and feelings.

So far, 2014 has proved to be an important year for me personally in many ways. Several big changes, it’s the end of an era!

• Turning 50! No more being 40 something. I  don’t know about other people, but for me, older I grow, happier I become. I am more sure of myself.
• Half of my life living in the UK.
• Married for 25 years.
• Resolved to respect the actions/decisions my eldest daughter made. Though I don’t necessary agree to those decisions, I learnt to respect them. Everybody has to learn to make their own decisions and be responsible for their own actions after all, who am I to interfere another person’s life? I reckon if I have tried my best to guide her through her growing years, then I should be at ease with my own feelings, no guilt required.
• My two young babies are going to be 17 in June. How exciting!
• Sold the oriental grocery business that we built up from scratch 9 years ago. Truthfully, it was not an easy subject to talk about when we first thought of selling it. Through these years, we worked hard to grow it into a healthy business. However, time has come for us to part with it as I don’t think that I hold the same level of enthusiasm as I had that many years ago to push the business to its next level which is what it needs in my opinion.  When there is no sparkles left, it’s time to let go before I fell out of love with it.

All in all, it seems to be telling me it’s me to change.

Feeling inspired, I would love to see this as my ultimate challenge – Live life authentically!

 

Read this on www.mom4real.com and thought it would be good if I can try to cut down the quantity of chemical cleaners I buy.

It’s so incredibly easy to make your own! You only need a few ingredients, and those ingredients will last for such a long time and yield many bottles of cleaner 🙂 Plus, you can use them for other things as well!

You will need:

An empty spray bottle

3 cups of water

1/2 cup of white vinegar

2 teaspoons of baking soda

10 drops of essential oils (optional) I used lemon.

Add the vinegar to the bottle, then the water. Next, add the essential oils, then the baking soda. Mix gently. Be sure to add the ingredients in that order, or you will have a fizzy overflow from the vinegar and baking soda mixing together. Simply spray down your countertops, tables, sink, toilet, whatever you like, then wipe clean with a paper towel or clean cloth.

The vinegar has a high acidity level which helps to kill bacteria. The baking soda also acts as an antibacterial, and mixed with the vinegar, it’s a really powerful cleanser. The lemon essential oils act as an additional antibacterial, and also as a degreaser, plus it smells super fabulous!

昨天是我的49歲生日. 就如我所願的這麼淡淡的過去. 早晨和家人到Bradgte Park 去晃盪, 享受難得一現的陽光, 都已經是春天了, 天氣還是這樣的刮著冷風. 然而站在山丘上俯視遠望, 心裡頭卻舒暢不已.

多年前讀過一本書叫做”40歲的心情”, 書中的諸位作家經由文筆流露他們的感觸和遠望. 我在30 多歲時讀了但不懂得體會, 心想等自己到了40 就或許懂得吧! 40歲來了, 也去了, 還是沒有太大的感觸. 如今再捧起這本書, 讀了兩三篇就看不下去了… 不是覺得感動, 而是覺得這些文章的源處是”為感觸文章而寫的感觸” 有些為賦新詞強說愁的感覺. 或許我沒有資格, 不該這麼批評這些名作家.

不得不坦白承認的是, 雖然有時很羨慕那些有才華, 有權勢的人; 當個平凡人到底是比較簡單的事. 管別人怎麼想, 只要仰俯無愧, 心中光明, 不辜負自己的生命 就也算是及格過關吧!

Collected these two beautiful girls from RSPCA Leicester today. For some unknown reasons I just can’t stop singing “big girls you are beautiful” in my head ever since I saw them. It’s all Mika’s fault. :’)

Have this chandelier put in our dining room today. Took a while to dress the light up, fiddly but worth the effort in the end. The result is fabulous.  Didn’t realise that a black chandelier can look so stunning until now.  🙂