Pulling out weeds, and so much dead foliage. The last tenants had not cared for the garden.
I slowly saw the messy, dead earth transform, to scarred dirt, loosened, fresh. I added some new soil, the new to the old bringing life back to the earth.
I planted bulbs. I scooped holes in the fresh earth, and planted them deep inside. Covered back with earth, and watered. I won't know if the bulb will flower until the spring.
Transformation, from my hands, the old dead earth, refreshed, anew with the possibility of new life.
Waiting with cautioned hope, with restrained sadness.
Trusting the opinions of others, trusting the outcome, trusting myself, trusting God.
Filling waiting hours with searches for answers, with normal life, with tears, with hardened resolve, with questions, with prayer, with sleep, with work, with hugs, with chocolate, with trust.
Waiting, teaching me patience, teaching me to trust, to let it go, to keep moving forward.
"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Saviour." I love that this bridge is repeated time and time again, to the point where a regular song wouldn't keep repeating it.
Repeated, those words wash over me, enter the blueprint of who I am, changing my hard wired thinking. A knot of energy under my rib cage grows, as the words become truer and truer to me.
The power of a song, of a refrain, of a repetition, to enter a soul by osmosis- this is something we all know about. It's a part of the human experience- the impact of a special song that happens just when you need it. "My soul will rest in Your embrace I am Yours and You are mine"
Matt and I are moving to a new place the next suburb over! It has a garden and a garage (both of which we do not have now), not to mention a bath and a conservatory and an extra room. All for less than we pay now! We're excited.
But, there is one sad part of leaving.
For those of you who are my friend on Facebook, you will see we have gained a cat friend here over the past few weeks.
We've managed to piece together his story. He is a cat from a neighbour , he is a teenage cat, oh and he is maybe a she (yes, we looked.) We wrote a note and put it on his collar to get the neighbour to contact us. The note went, but no contact. According to other neighbours, the cat owner is a bit shifty. I don't really know cat behaviour, but he seems to be starving when he comes here, and devours any food we give him. On the other hand, he has a lovely shiny coat, and seems healthy.
He spends a lot of time with us. I feel sort of bad about this, but we have tried to contact the neighbour to see if this is ok (no response). To me it seems like the cat wants some love, which Matt and I give, cos we're big softies. Yes, the cat may have spent some nights on our bed (don't be horrified, Mum!).
He visits all the time, even though we hardly feed him now.
Matt and I are allergic to cats, so we both have a semi-stuffiness going on right now which isn't great. But we figure, it's only till next Thursday so we can cope.
In my heart, I wish we weren't allergic to cats, and I wish we could take this one with us!
I'm already enamored by him, and think leaving will be hard, especially with a few cat welfare thoughts floating round.
Cat, you're not even mine, and I don't know your name, but I will miss you and your playful spirit and your cute meow!
If you live anywhere like where I live, you won't be able to go for a run whenever you want to because of the weather. Rain, hail, sleet- you name it, and it's summer here. When I wanna work out on these days I could go to the gym, but I'm just not loving the gym at the moment. So I invested in a pair of adjustable dumbells, and have been doing a whole lot of you tube video workouts.
Here are my top ones:
Cardio
I try to get some cardio in on days when I can't run.
This next one is a KILLER (I got the shakes and a headache after), and I would only do it every now and then. It claims to burn 1000 calories (a normal workout would be 200-400 calories.)
Core
Oh Abs, how hard you are to attain! I'm doing core workouts nearly every day, and s.l.o.w.l.y seeing results. Apart from the vanity of wanting a toned tummy, core strength is really important for every day life and fitness. You can't ignore it in your exercise routine.
Because many people find the tummy to be a trouble area, there are HEAPS of core workout videos out there. Just remember to do a video that has cardio in it, or do it after cardio (cos you need to burn fat to reduce tummy size, to get abs.)
This guy is a little crazy, but your abs will be burning after, so worth it.
This is cool because there is a 'beginner' and 'advanced' model you can watch to adjust your moves.
Upper Body
I like working my upper body for a few reasons. 1) For my job (sign language interpreting) having good strength and flexibility is really important to reduce injury. 2) This is an area I can easily see improvement (yes I have vain tendencies.)
Here's an upper body workout with cardio thrown in.
This next one is a killer, but so good
All over flexibility and toning
I often do more Pilates/yoga based training on a day where I need a bit of a rest.
This one might look easy, but ouch, I was hurting the next day
Here's one that will focus a bit on your legs
I don't do any training specifically for my legs. Mostly because the legs get worked out in most other types of workouts anyway. And I see running as a workout for my legs too.
You can see I like Fitness Blender's workouts! They suit my needs, and let me work out hard without leaving my own home. Oh and they aren't boring, so I don't lose focus. But there are heaps of different types of online workouts out there, so find something that suits you!
