Reason, Season and Lifetime

Given the comments left by HerSpiritWithin on my previous post, I had to go looking for this poem as I had never read it before and it makes total sense why she referred me to it, thank you xx

Reason, Season and Lifetime

People always come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,

it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty,

or to provide you with guidance and support,

to aid you physically, emotionally, or even spiritually.

They may seem like a godsend to you, and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time,

this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

...

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they just walk away.

Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand,

What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.

The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

...

When people come into your life for a SEASON,

it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.

They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.

They may teach you something you have never done.

They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.

Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

And like Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Fall,

the season eventually ends.

...

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;

those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway);

and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas in your life.

It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being part of my life.

Swords and Wands of change

This has been muddling round my brain for a while, not the content as such but how to present it so that people would understand my intention behind it. Please also know that I am not writing this to hurt those around me either, you don't always choose the journey you are taken on but you are responsible for how much you learn from that journey.

A while ago a man appeared on my doorstep who belonged to my past. It was a strange, intense period of time for both of us. We were both at a crossroads for different reasons and in hindsight we were there merely as signposts to another journey and nothing more. Sadly, because of the way our connection ended it means that I will never hear if the destination was a success or not for him. I hope so as everyone deserves a happy ending.

What is important is the things learnt. Some of you may know that I use tarot cards, mainly the Mythic and for those of you familiar with these cards he presented as the King of Swords and the King of Wands both in person and in spreads. Both are cards of leadership and change especially relating to new ideas, which he embodied and the sense of being able to achieve anything was so strong it was almost infectious. In terms of the Hippos we are entering a new sphere of change, both professionally and personally. In hindsight he arrived to awaken that sense of change and ideas within me which had lain dormant for too long. It is not unladylike to be ambitious - which I am. It is not unprofessional to want things done properly and well, which I do.

Deep down I am the same giggly person that gets a kick out of being silly or howling at something funny or relying heavily on my girl friends while we support and ground each other. However, I have to accept this person turned up for a reason so that I could take the strenght of the swords and wands and make the Hippos a real success. Even though it was short, but not entirely sweet, I am glad it happened as everything happens for a reason.

Hippo been tagged!!

The lovely Indigo Flea tagged me in a blog challenge!

The rules are you must post 12 facts about yourself, answer the questions set by the tagger, and then create a further 12 questions for the next bloggers you tag - and that you share these rules. So here goes, 12 fun facts about me:

1. My nick name really is Little Hippo - something to do with a geography class aged 12 but the rest is vague!!
2. I am left handed as are all my eldest cousins on my Dad's side, but everyone else is right handed
3. Discovered I am dyslexic
4. I can make my toes bend at right angles
5. Hate wearing shoes but own loads of them
6. Favourite ballet is Hobson's Choice
7. I dream in colour
8. Used to be able to read Welsh
9. I laugh like Woody Woodpecker
10. Get lost fantastically easily
11. Get bored ridiculously quickly
12. Have done a parachute jump

Okey dokey, now the questions that were set for me by Indigo Flea:

1. snow or no snow - eek, love the stuff but only the new crisp stompy stuff especially at dusk
2.middle name - don't have one
3. can you sing - err nope! got drummed out of a Welsh choir at school!!
4. why do you blog - mainly to promote the Hippos, but also as an excuse to share my silliness
5. allergies - weirdly allergic to broken polysterene and privet hedging!
6. funniest joke you know - I don't really know any, still giggle at things like the Beano!
7. feet size - 3, or 2 if they are Dr Martens :)
8. siblings - one brother now living in Southern Ireland
9. favourite destination - tricky, love Paris in the early evening but so many places I'd love to visit too
10. what do you do to relax? huge fan of chick flicks - so bubble bath, plonk, popcorn and a bit of Drew or Reese and I'm sorted! But also giggling with friends is a massive relaxer for me
11. hot or cold - eek, not sure - really don't like being too cold but faint nicely in the heat too!
12. what makes you happy? seeing others happy, or in some way helping them get to their happy place

My 12 questions to those being tagged:

1. What's your favourite smell?
2. Your earliest memory
3. what you wanted to be at aged 6 or thereabouts when you grew up
4. if you could meet anyone, who would it be?
5. if you were a superhero what special quality would you have?
6. your favourite body part - keep it clean folks!!!
7. favourite place to be when it rains
8. worst chat up line ever heard (or given!)
9. best chat up line ever heard (or given!)
10. if you could be an animal, what would you be?
11. your favourite word (made up or real)
12. at which question did you think, eek I've got to think of 12 now?!

Now to find 5 bloggers and tag them:

Kate; LittleMouseLily; PlanetPenny; Musings from the Den; The Other Mousie

The Hand Painted Mini

For those of you of a certain age you will remember that we painted cars! For the younger ones amongst you I will be the strangest thing on the planet - but these are some of the stories connected to the Hand Painted Mini. For some of you, you will remember us tootling round in this and the fact that each person usually added their own little bit as time went on.

 

It all started with a boring Sunday afternoon, the boys were playing paintball and we were bored. So, in a random statement I suggested we paint the car. Ok said my friend, without any hesitation - so we did! Up until now it had been a standard silver mini with no distinguishing features, however these pictures show the finished results. Sadly only 4 pictures exist in the world, 3 are here and 1 is lost to me now.

Personally the funniest bit was returning home after staying at said friend's house, strolling into the kitchen and calmly saying err before you go outside I'd better warn you I've painted the car. Mum just said 'oh red? purple? what colour?', at this point Dad walked back in and just said 'oh yeah, she's painted it all right!' I was a good Hippo though. I dutifully drove to the Police station and asked the duty officer if I needed to inform DVLA of changing a car's colour. While pushing a pen around he asked 'have you changed the colour much?' I pointed to the mini outside and after he choked on his tea, and with as much formality as he could muster said 'err no, I can still tell it's silver underneath, that's fine'.

I miss the fact that we don't paint cars now! It was fun :)
 

Photo A Day - new start Day 1

Thought I'd try and get back into this, but just using random photos.

This is a picture of the 3 Musketeers who should have arrived in eary June but sadly never quite made it. Thank you to Mrs M for all her support xxxxxx

 

Social Media from the Hippo perspective

Given the amount of time I have spent on line recently, whether through twitter, facebook, pinterest and various other forums I thought I would share some of the things discovered so far. Most of you are well versed in social media, and for me this has been a very steep and quick learning curve so apologies if any of this comes across as teaching granny to suck eggs! But some of it might be useful - if not, you can just giggle at my howling errors along the way.

So these are my observations so far!

1. many people have many accounts and you tend to see the same names - lots of people know lots of other people, so play nicely! No-one likes to follow someone who only sells or constantly whines. Personally I like to chat on platforms, tell you stupid things my cat has done and also show you what we've made. My feeling was always that people buy from people and our greatest sales have always come from those I've spoken to and giggled with.

2. Don't just open accounts because you feel you should - for instance if you like facebook, stick to it. Don't feel obliged to use twitter if you hate it - tweeters can tell as can facebookers. Play to your strengths and where you feel comfortable.

3. Please don't automatically link your posts, or if you do please do it selectively - refer to point 1!

4. Interact with people - the clue is in the name 'social' media, sorry if that sounds slightly patronising but there is nothing worse than someone that just says 'look what I made' all the time. Yes we're on there for business but we like to giggle too, and I will much more readily share links and promotions of people I feel connected to and vice versa.

The observations from the Hippo brain, probably more later as I learn more!