Author: Fee Writes

Fee Writes

Random

The Colouring Book Phase

Are colouring books still a thing? And how did or do you treat this particular trend?

Cleaning out a bookshelf the other day, I came across a colouring book that my darling daughter had given me. It is a sweet little book called “Mindfulness colouring”, and not only does it have some beautiful pictures, but it also has some highly thoughtful quotes.

Surprisingly enough, I’ve never used it. Why is that surprising when I’m a creative bunny? Because I don’t have the patience to sit and colour something.

It got me thinking about whether this colouring gig was just a phase or if it really did have merit.

Oddly enough, my patience also wears thin with sewing, even though I’m pretty good at it. I can knit and crochet – hey, I’m a product of my generation! – and, again, unless I’m knitting small stuff like dishcloths, I can get majorly agitated (to put it mildly) if I make a mistake. However, I can sit for hours and do a jigsaw and, back in the day when my easel was up, I could stand for hours and paint with my pastels or acrylics. Go figure!

I get the whole thing about the colouring books being a meditative exercise, and I’m sure they have their place in bringing calm to those who need it.

Onto Google I went, well not Google but DuckDuckGo, which, by the way, is an excellent search engine who doesn’t follow you around with ads or store your search history or your personal info.

Enough of the unsolicited testimonial – back to colouring books.

There they were, under the search “colour books for adults”, dozens and dozens of websites offering everything from where to buy or download actual books through to colouring apps. I have now concluded that the colouring in for adults is still going strong.

But does it help? A further search showed me that indeed it does. Just like my jigsaw puzzles, colouring helps to:

Put your brain into a meditative state.
Relieve stress and anxiety.
Removes negative thoughts.
Mindfulness is achieved through focus.
Unplugging from technology and stimulating creativity.

So, will I be taking up the pencils and crazy images to colour? Nope, probably not, but I will keep the sweet little book for another day. Instead, I’ll start a jigsaw, or maybe knit another dishcloth… where is the wool?

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Fee Writes

3 More Bizarre Facts

I get a kick out of ferreting out the weird and wonderful, so I hope you enjoy them.

The last time I posted some bizarre facts, post: My top 3 Bits of Useless Information, it appears you ate them up. Obviously not literally, that’s an impossibility, but you did seem to enjoy them according to the analysing data I have at my fingertips.

So I’m intrigued to see if this lot piques your interest as well. Today’s topic is birth control. Feel free to share.

1. In Egyptian days, when Pharaohs ruled and pyramids were built, crocodile poop was used as contraception. I kid you not.

It appears that amorous women would use the dung as pessaries. Yup, they’d insert the stuff and, because it is slightly alkaline, it worked a bit like modern-day spermicides. Mind you, just how they got the dung in the first place is thought-provoking, as well as wondering if it had to be fresh or could it be old. What about the smell? Surely that would turn off the suitor, and that would be the contraception? I’ll leave it to you to ponder.

2. The Greeks were also a bit loopy. Now they did have some very effective plant-based contraception, but they had some weird ones also, like, sneezing. The ancient Greek physician Soranus recommended that to prevent pregnancy, the woman, after having sex, should squat and sneeze. My curious mind wonders how the sneeze would happen. Perhaps they had a form of snuff in which to bring on the sneeze. Of course, this method didn’t work, which probably pissed off a few women and wouldn’t have given Soranus a good name!

3. In medieval Europe, this one would have to be the most bizarre. These Europeans believed that hanging weasel testicles around the woman’s neck during sex would stop pregnancy. Again, my mind is flying in all directions. I’m going to assume the weasel wasn’t attached. But it also begs the question, “did they have to be fresh, or did the woman have these testicles in the bedside drawer?” All I can say is, “Eweeee!”

These weren’t the only ‘charms’ that had magical powers. Donkey poop, a mule’s uterus, or a specific bone from a black cat’s body were also used.

So there you have it, my 3 bizarre facts that should brighten your day.

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Fee Writes

Random

Little Act of Kindness

My parents used to tell me that you could count your true friends on the fingers of one hand. True friends not only are fun, but they are there for you when needed.

I’ve talked about friendship before somewhere in this blog… ah, found it! …. Lost My Phone when I enlisted the help of a dear friend to go searching under cars in a public car park!

And I still get a real buzz when a friend steps out and goes beyond to give me something I was not expecting.

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to tell a friend of mine that I really should go and buy an edge trimmer to tidy up all the messy edges I have around my garden.

She told me to hold off for a moment as they had one, but now they have no edges to trim; my friend wasn’t sure if it had been given away or not – she would ask hubby.

A few days later, I was talking to her and asked about the said machine. Sadly, no, it was no longer in their possession. Never mind, I thought, I’ll get one when the stores re-open after lockdown.

Then one sunny, but windy day while I was happily creating a new recipe in the kitchen, I looked up to see the hubby, as mentioned above, arrive at the door.

By the look of his attire, I guessed this was not a social call as he was in old clothes and was carrying a leaf-blower of all things. A very quick hello, and he told me he had a fellow ‘gardener’ with an edge trimmer, and they were going to sort out my tangled mess of grass and weeds.

Machines roared, and before I had finished my epic cooking creation, both the front and back yards were in pristine condition.

A quick ‘cheerio’ from the lads, and they were gone leaving me quite emotional and forever grateful for generous friends who took time out of their day to make a person extremely happy.

Life blows you kisses when you least expect it!

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Fee Writes

Memories | Random

Never Give Up

How often have you heard the saying “never give up”? But isn’t there a time when one should rather say “change direction”?

There’s a dream I’ve had for many, many years, and that is to have an online business. The reason? So I’m not stuck in one place. It would mean I could travel around. So this is my story and why, rather than “never give up” I’ve chosen to “change direction.”

Sure, travel is a bit stunted right now, but I do see a day when I’ll be able to head back overseas to hang out with my girls and grandies. And wouldn’t it be just fab to be able to take my work with me? That’s always been the plan.

I’m not sure when I started my first online business, I think it was around the mid 2000’s, but I remember that website building was extremely clunky, nothing like the beautiful sleek sites we have today.

To let you in on a little secret, here’s one of my very first websites. www.paintingwithpastels. It’s a rather large site and, of course, doesn’t have the ability to be mobile responsive. (We didn’t have smartphones back then). The program I built this one is now completely obsolete, although I still do have it on an old computer.

It’s on the ‘to do’ list to bring it up into the modern age, BUT it’s a marathon job, and I’m not sure if I have the patience. Mmmm, maybe I should as it still does work and I still sell the occasional item. Oh, and if you did go through and take a peek, you’ll see it’s under a different name – that’s what we were taught back in the day. But you will see some of my paintings there which can be corroborated by friends who know they still hang in my home.

Over Coffee (this blog) isn’t designed as a money-making site (although if you want, you can always click through any ad that’s showing at the bottom, don’t have to buy – just clicking gives me a couple of cents).

Getting back to the heading – never give up, which the cartoon below has sat on my desktop for YEARS!!

Confession Time

I have given up.

Not on the dream, but more on the product that I’ve offered. I’m not sure why perhaps not passionate enough about the subject, or could see that it wasn’t working. And that’s where the “change direction” comes from.

Hence I made a new cartoon.

My online business has morphed from website building in the early days which flopped completely – hey, we didn’t have social media, and I was competing with the ‘big boys’ who had money to advertise. I built my sites of which some are still active and bring in a few pennies each month without me doing anything. I wrote books and still sell them on Amazon, again, not a huge moneymaker. Ghostwriting was good – I’ve had a few clients with that, but – it still ties me to here, so it’s not conducive to the dream, and I don’t do it anymore.

I tried my hand at virtual coaching (for people going vegan/plant-based). Even paid big bucks for a business mentor, to no avail. Spent about 18 months and many dollars with absolutely zero takers on that idea. The money ran out and so did the will to do it. But there are always ups to any downs and I created the resource website Gold Card Vegan which, although doesn’t earn me anything, I’m proud of as it offers great information.

At the beginning of the latest round of lockdowns, a friend suggested that I build websites for small businesses. In her business, she is constantly coming across people who don’t have a website. Here’s an unashamed plug for her: www.pipipromo.co.nz

Voila, a gap she could see me filling.

Geez, I’m 70 next year – BUT it’s never too late to try again 🤪 and reboot that dream

You see, building websites, doing graphic designs, writing content for social media, blogs, and newsletters are all fun things for me….. can’t you tell? Look at the graphics so far on here – SUCH FUN!

So at the start of lockdown (round 2), I morphed my White Rockit website into a simple, modern, snazzy wee business website telling you what I can offer.

Now comes the marketing of the said business. This time I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve.

I know where the best place is to be seen (for free).
I have my Pipi friend in my corner cheering me on.
I love doing this shit!

Not about to give up on my dream just yet. It’s been there for such a long time, moving and morphing, poking at me to keep going, and it’s so close I can almost touch it. I’m not going to give up my day job, but we’ll give this one a crack and see.

Damn it!!! I can make this happen.

ps: That ad is coming up …

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Fee Writes

Random

Ask For Help

Somebody is always willing to help when you need it. All you need to do is ask.

Growing up, there was a saying my father would often come out with and that was “Just ask.” He would usually quantify the statement with “after all, what’s the worst that can happen? The person can say ‘no’.”

I took that saying, lived by it and taught it to my children.

Recently I did some DIY and used my power drill. Yes, I have a power drill – I don’t have a tool belt, but I’d like one! Somehow I got the drill bit locked into the drill, and for the life of me, I couldn’t get the darn thing out – it was stuck fast. No matter what I did, that bit was not going to budge, and I didn’t have the strength, nor the inclination, to put pressure on it.

My neighbour, who I would have turned to in this scenario, was away, and so, as I was heading to the grocery store anyway, I decided to take it into Mitre 10 and see if one of the staff could help fix it for me.

In I go to Mitre 10 with the drill in hand. The staff I saw at the desks were busy, so I wandered around the store looking for someone in an orange shirt who wasn’t doing anything.

Do you think I could find one?

When you want a staff member, they usually are either already with someone else or on a break and just not there. The reverse applies when you don’t need assistance.

So I’m walking around looking down all the aisles looking for someone… anyone… please… Next minute I spotted a very tall young man standing next to the nuts and bolts, arms full of ‘stuff’ and deep in deliberation about which to choose.

I thought to myself, ‘well, here’s likely lad, I wonder if he’ll be able to help’.

Without any thought of my personal safety or that I was going to look foolish, I turned into the aisle and approached the guy with a big smile and an “Excuse me.”

As soon as he looked up, I asked if he could please help me. He had a puzzled look on his face, but I explained that I live alone, can’t find a staff member, and all I need is to get the bit unstuck from my drill.

Immediately he put all his things down, said he was happy to give it a try, took the drill and, I kid you not, within about 10 seconds, he had the bit and drill apart.

Here was one case where I asked for help and received it easily and effortlessly.

I now have my drill back in working order and immediately put it to good use, creating my little birdseed tray (screwed the cup to the saucer).

Many of us, especially men, seem to have a problem asking for help and yet, it is the greatest gift you can give anyone.

You see, when you ask for help, it gives the other person a sense of value. You must know how rewarding it is to be able to help a friend or even a stranger.

Remember, the next time you need any sort of assistance – Just Ask.

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Author: Fee Writes

The Colouring Book Phase

Are colouring books still a thing? And how did or do you treat this particular trend?

3 More Bizarre Facts

I get a kick out of ferreting out the weird and wonderful, so I hope you enjoy them.

Little Act of Kindness

My parents used to tell me that you could count your true friends on the fingers of one hand. True friends not only are fun, but they are there for you when needed.

Never Give Up

How often have you heard the saying “never give up”? But isn’t there a time when one should rather say “change direction”?

Confession Time

Ask For Help

Somebody is always willing to help when you need it. All you need to do is ask.

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