Cupcakes and Cadenzas

Can you believe it? Can you believe that I have only recently discovered how useful Frixion pens are? I have always preferred to use a pencil when writing in my diaries, address books etc. I have a real ‘thing’ about scoring out and re-writing diary entries and I hate to see address books with addresses and phone numbers scored out and rewritten. I know many people feel that this is all part of a complete record of events but I’m not one of them. It’s just one of my (many) pet hates however, I have noticed lately that in many of the blogs about planning and organising, people colour code their diary entries and I decided to investigate this further. Here is what I discovered. F R I X I O N by Pilot Pens Now, I have heard of Frixion pens and I have seen them in use, but the point that had completely passed me by was that these particular pens are erasable. Doh! You can write with them, erase any mistakes and then rewrite whatever it was that you were writing – without the mistak

This is a beautifully written story and I found it very easy to read. The chapters are fairly short and it didn't take long to get through it. This book isn't what I would call a page turner but it was a thoroughly enjoyable tale and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys books with a ghostly theme. The story is set in the winter of 1928 in the South-West of France. Freddie Watson has gone there for a holiday in the hope that it will help him get over the death of his older brother George who was killed several years earlier in the Great War. Whilst driving in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, Freddie encounters a severe snowstorm and when his car skids off the road he is forced to take refuge in the village of Nulle for several days. Whilst the villagers are friendly enough Freddie feels that all is not quite as it should be. Who is the beautiful but mysterious Fabrissa and what exactly happened that night at La Fete de Saint-Etienne? More importantly will Freddie be

© Violka08 | Dreamstime.com Yesterday I read an interesting article in The Telegraph. It was about school sports days and discussed various aspects of the day such as the parents' race, the new government initiative for 'Games Festivals' and the history of school sports however, the thing that concerned  me, was a little bit on the future of sports days. It would appear that more and more schools are removing the competitive element of sport, the idea being that there will be no winners or losers; instead everyone will be winners just for taking part. This is already happening in schools across the country. Now, I am a fairly competitive person. I feel that if I take part in a competition I should at least give it my best shot. If I win then I'm very happy. If I lose then I 'm not so happy, but that becomes my driver to improve and do better next time. But what if that competitive element is removed? What if, no matter how hard you try, you are never rewa

© John Takai | Dreamstime.com This wasn't the post that I was originally going to do today but something happened yesterday which prompted me to write this instead. Some Background Stuff For years I have worked with people who lack confidence and who sometimes have low self esteem. In order to fully understand their issues and to help them I have spent a lot of time studying Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), how to enhance confidence and how to raise self-esteem. I, myself, use NLP every day in life to stay positive and focussed on my goals Back to the Post Some people go through life carrying monkeys on their shoulder. Sometimes the monkey hops on first thing in the morning  and sometimes it hops on at some point during the day. Occasionally the monkey has been there for a very long time and becomes increasingly annoying and can become too heavy to bear and many people find that the best way to deal with these monkeys (in their opinion) is to get rid of them - by passi

Yesterday morning, after much debate between my Good Self ("No, no Denise you mustn't! You shouldn't!"), and my Other Self ("Go on lady you want to own it, you need to own it!"), I ordered the beautiful Siena personal Filofax from Filofax UK  (guess which self won) and this morning it arrived. As always the service from Filofax was first class. And so it was with trepidation that I opened the parcel. Having coveted this Filofax for over a year I was worried that I might be disappointed. I had loved it from the minute I saw it on the website but felt that my pink personal classic was enough however, when my sister pointed out a couple of days ago that it was now half price on the website, I just couldn't miss out on it. Anyway, back to the parcel. The first thing I found when I opened the parcel was a box. Not the normal 'slide in' box that many other Filofaxes come in, but a proper box with a lid. The lovely box protecting my Siena I