5 things that I'm working on getting better at..

The prompt from my Blogging from the Heart course by Susannah Conway was "5 things you are really bad at".. make it fun she said.. Me, I am a self improvement sort of girl so here are 5 things I am working on improving.. (or not) as my writing eventually revealed..

1) keeping my herb and vegie patch alive. Only resilient and rampant herbs and vegies (and unidentifiable inedible weeds) survive in my edible garden. I have great intention. Twice a year, I raze my bed and plant whatever takes my fancy in the garden shop. I pay attention for about a week watering, nurturing, until the rest of life intervenes. I love the idea of growing and using my own herbs and vegetables. I just forget about them. Some days I survey my garden bed and am surprised to see the lettuces that I planted a few weeks ago are making progress (or not). My family jokes that my garden does best when we let the lavender or the mint just take over. Note to self, maybe the family are right on this one..

2) throwing stuff out. I loved donating my "big" clothes when I lost weight and I can throw out broken things but be blowed when it comes to sentimental stuff (like old letters and my son's baby teeth, I kid you not) or gifts that I have been given but will never use. I have found a charity that loves getting my preloved books but I can't find homes for some of my other stuff that is brand new and unused. I am in a dilemma do I give away to charity gifts I have been given that I won't use or should I conquer eBay and sell some of my beautiful space fillers (I have a set of crystal wine glasses, given to us as a wedding present 27 years ago that are just too good to use) Note to self clutter is clutter so maybe I just need to work out who to give it to or sell it..

3) remembering jokes and funny stories. When I remember a joke, or a funny story, I can usually elicit a laugh. But my family is so tired of me always telling the same handful of life stories for a laugh, they get a kinda "we've heard this one before" look on their faces whenever I start. Now I tend to preface my story telling with, not sure if you have heard about.. most people say yes you told us before! Note to self, time to keep a note of funny things that happen to me, one a day.

4) embarrassing my family in public. I love to dance and my son and husband are both dance-shy. So I usually dance by myself in public when-ever the music moves me. Sometimes in the city, a busker will set me hip wiggling.. Sometimes, my self conscious self steps in and stops me..Note to self dance like no-one is watching every day

5) improving my cake icing and decorating. I can cook a tasty cake but my capacity to make it look pretty or just appealing is really limited. My cakes look as though they have successfully escaped from a torture course. The icing usually runs off the cake, or the decoration looks lumpy. I try so hard but I just fail to improve this skill. In desperation, I mostly sprinkle everything with icing sugar and hope it still looks fresh on arrival. Note to self, it doesn't matter what it looks like, it's the taste that counts

What are you working on improving?



Crappy cake icing October 2011