Hello April! Stay Warm In Your Heart!

The UK weather was very cold in March, and particularly in my city of Exeter. It snowed twice in a couple of weeks and lasted a few days. The snow looked pretty, but particularly the 1st time, a lot of places were closed and there were tons of people at the supermarket afterwards, flocking to stock up on food again. This was the second bout of snow. Like the first bout, it stopped public transport so I could not see my dad for his birthday, 19th of March – so he had to have a second birthday 3 days later. I was worried about my girls, (guinea pigs), so was rushing around like a headless chicken both times to stock up on hay and food for them in case no shops were open.

Whatever the weather, I hope you stay warm in your heart.

Love of love, write soon and stay quirky

Sandra xx

Flowers From Vet In Memory Of Snow!

I don’t want to dwell but I wanted to share with you pictures of my beautiful flowers sent from the vet, in memory of my beautiful Snow.

What Would It Be Like To Have A Carrot Cottage ?

Snow knows!

Welcome to the new look guinea pig cage and new Carrot Cottage for Snow and Chestnut.

If any of you have been keeping up with my posts, you will know that Snow had to have emergency surgery on her teeth about 3 weeks ago. She had stopped drinking and barely eating.

The vet found the one off condition – her tongue is attached to her cheeks!! And from now on she needs an operation on her teeth, 3 times a year, forever, because her teeth overgrow as a consequence of not being able to chew normally. Plus check-ups every two months to make sure she does not end up in a critical way again. I am going to be doing overtime at my day job to help pay for this, starting tomorrow – today now!! During promotional periods. The insurance company may pay up to a maximum of half this year and could exclude it next year, and it costs a lot. If you have read my reply to Ralph in the last post, you will know how much!

I changed her cage around and bought her and Chestnut this cottage made out of carrot and other lovely stuff, so it’s edible too – if she wants to try to grind her teeth down more, she can. She was just munching away on Apple.

Until next time, embrace your quirky and each others.

P.S. I have an awesome video coming up for you, it has taken me a while to get this one uploaded and I am still working on the thumbnail!!!

Love you
Stay quirky and write soon
Sandra

Quirky Fact Sandra Bellamy Still Has A Baby Tooth!

Baby Tooth – I still have a baby tooth after all these years. It often looks like I have a tooth missing in videos or photos, but I don’t.

Snow’s 3rd Birthday Piggie Party Photos!

Snow’s party was amazing, she zonked out after her video. The video is currently taking hours to upload to my http://www.youtube.com/quirkybooksTV channel, and it’s under 20 minutes in length. It’s longer than a lot of my other videos, but well worth watching when I do publish it, as Snow and Chestnut are quite the characters, and there was a surprise for me at the end!

Here are Snow’s 3rd Birthday Piggie Party Photos.

   
    
    
    
    
 

Happy 3rd Birthday Snow!

Snow is on the right at Chestnut's Birthday party. Today is Snow's 3rd Birthday.

Happy 3rd Birthday my Snow White princess.xxxxxxxx

Tonight is Snow’s 3rd Birthday party and I will have some new photos and a video on my http://www.youtube.com/quirkybooksTV channel that I will post here; although it may not be today because we are at the party.

Last night I was hard at work on the final amendments for the printed version of my Break Through The Barriers Of Redundancy To Get Back Into Work – An A-Z ‘How To’ Guide. I am simultaneously working on a few updates/amendments to the already published Kindle version. A DEA – Disability Employment Advisor, no longer exists at the Job Centre with that title. Also, ex Dragons Den star and entrepreneur Doug Richard, who I mention in my current Kindle book, has had charges brought against him, which he is currently denying, but I still think it’s best to remove his name from future copies. The problem with my original master copy Kindle version that I created in Word for Mac 2011, is almost every hyperlink has turned black and I can’t turn them all back to their original orange colour. Some have unhyperlinked themselves, so I have to manually re-do each one.

Have a quirky good day.

Write soon
Sandra

Remembering Snuggles with Love

Hi everyone

Thanks for your wishes for my 4 year Bloggerversary.

Things are starting to look up, since my 5 weeks of sadness, and intense tender hooks with my guineapigs. Losing Cinnamon, and then Snuggles exactly a month later, has been a huge blow.

Thankfully, Snow is on the mend from her operation for a bad mouth abscess. She is going to be on antibiotics for another month, and still being looked after by my mum.

I have to say, I am still grieving for Snuggles. Despite the fact, I still have Daisy and Chestnut, it is a lot quieter than it used to be in my flat, and the atmosphere is different. I am trying to get used to it, but it’s hard.

Someone upset me in my day job, by making insensitive comments about my guineapigs and laughing. I won’t go into what they said, but it caused me to cry. At the end of the day, they apologised, but it made my grief worse. Add to that, some colleagues had not been happy with me taking time off for my piggies, it has made me think about the situation a lot more. Instead of just focusing on the future, like I was trying to do, and coping with my loss, I feel I have been grieving, and back in a head place that’s not as healthy. Although my Grandma died in June, her ashes have not yet been scattered.

Having said all of that, I am still looking towards an awesome future. I have just relaunched my newly designed http://www.blogtrainer.co.uk site, that is much better than the previous version.

I have been mentoring some people in their businesses and now starting to officially launch my QuirkyMentoring.com services, as part of my Quirky empire/business. Specialising in Quirky Mentoring reports for businesses. I have yet to build the website; but I just launched on Twitter with my http://www.twitter.com/quirkymentoring and Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/quirkymentoring.

I am already getting a lot of followers for my http://www.twitter.com/quirkycoaching account on Twitter, and I haven’t finished building the site yet. I just launched Quirky Coaching on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/quirkycoaching As you can imagine, being quirky, it’s like no other coaching that I know of on the planet. In the fact it breaks the codes and conventions of traditional coaching, by mixing advice and coaching together. Rules are, you don’t give advice in a coaching session. From my own personal experience of being coached, that’s what I didn’t like about traditional coaching. I want to think up ideas myself, but if I can’t, I want advice from someone with experience, knowledge or information, that may help me to advance my career quicker – Hey presto, that’s what Quirky Coaching is all about. Incorporating the 6 principles of Quirky Coaching success: Consult/Advise/Mentor/Coach/Train/Evaluate. Using a combination of some, or all of these, to get the desired result.

I want to take this opportunity to remember Snuggles with love, and post a never seen before photos of me and Snugs, along with photos of the plant, the vets sent to me, with their condolences. They also sent me a belated card for Cinnamon’s death.

Snuggles licked the tears from my face, after my Grandma died, when I was in my home alone. She was physically there for me, when others weren’t. That’s priceless and special, I feel I owe her so much. I hope I can move on and the hole in my heart will heal. I miss Snuggles so much. Love you my baby forever xxxxxxxx

As I type this, I am poorly with a tummy bug and flu like symptoms. I went to sleep yesterday for the night, just after 5.30pm. That is unheard of for me.

I know I haven’t commented much on your blogs recently, and for that I apologise. I often think of you, I am just flat out with so much work at the moment, and not getting as much time to blog. I need to build and finish 6 websites before Christmas, and finalise my Break through the barriers of redundancy book. Thanks for your patience, loyalty and support. It is very much appreciated.

I hope you have a great week and I will write as soon as I am able to.

Sandra

Be a Warrior in Your Own Life!

Hi everyone

Thank you deeply for all of your beautiful wishes regarding the death of Snuggles. It’s hugely comforting to know we have been in your thoughts and prayers.

Snow had her second birthday on the 15th of October and I have an awesome video of her, on her birthday, to share with you in a future post. Plus, I still have a ton of Disneyland Paris photos and some videos from there too. Do not miss the video of me screaming on a rollercoaster, it’s hilarious.

Unfortunately, Snow was rushed in for emergency surgery on Monday 27th. She couldn’t eat or drink and I found an abscess on her left cheek. She was cut open and now has a tube through her cheek, that is acting as a drain. My mum is looking after her and she has a checkup tomorrow. Daisy is also going to the vets tomorrow for a lump check.

Be a warrior in your own life, is exactly how I am feeling right now.

As you know, I often think of life events in terms of stories, right now, I see myself as a warrior, protected by a suit of armour. Being knocked down to the floor and getting back up time and time again. Fighting through life’s challenges. Rebuffing, the constant unpleasant surprises snd thinking of the time when I will be in a field of daisies with the sun beaming down on my golden hair and helmet comfortably tucked under my arm.

I still think life is beautiful. I still see its wonder. I try to be mindful of the present, while looking to the future.

3 deaths so far this year. My Grandma, Cinnamon and Snuggles.

Life is a test, be a warrior in your own life and let nothing stop you from feeling its amazing beauty and that it’s fantastic to be alive.

Keep pursuing your dreams, keep moving forward with your life, keep looking to the future and keep fighting to live, survive and thrive.

Be a warrior in your own life and be truly unstoppable.

Embrace your quirky and write soon

Sandra

How do you ensure you find time to write?

Hi everyone

I am so sorry I haven’t been able to visit many of your blogs recently. I have had to put myself in a Creative Lock Down mode, to knuckle down to creating websites and writing. This is the only way I can ensure I find time to write at the moment. How do you ensure you have time to write?

I have had a children’s publisher interested in my idea for a series. I sent them a rhyming picture book manuscript and although it wasn’t suitable because it was in rhyme; the Editor thought my idea for a series was strong, and one that kids would find compelling.

I am a member of the Association of Freelance Writers. Part of my membership entitles me to one free appraisal per year of up to 3000 words. This is ideal for picture book manuscripts because mine are usually under 500 words.

In order to strike while the iron is hot, I have written a non-rhyming picture book based on my idea for a series, and sent it off to be appraised. If it comes back and is deemed to be of publishable quality, I will send it off to the same publisher to find out if it’s suitable for them. I have also written a second book in the series, but I haven’t sent that one off for appraisal yet.

Besides my writing endeavours, I am currently working on creating my new design http://www.beatredundancyblues.com website. As well as my new http://www.BlogTrainer.co.uk site. I have clients waiting for the sites to be built, and that is why there is a sense of urgency to complete their creation.

I create all of my own websites using WordPress.org. It doesn’t help time wise, when I have recently found faults with some of the WordPress.org themes, which has meant I can’t use them and I have to reselect another. This is not good, because many businesses build their websites using WordPress.org.

Taking all of this into consideration, I have had to put myself into a Creative Lock Down mode, and will have to continue to do that on a regular basis until my mission is complete. This is so I can be utterly focused on getting my work done, outside of my day job working hours. For me this means:

● Either switching off my phone or putting it on silent

● Putting a notice on my Facebook wall, which states I am going to be off Facebook on my days off, or all evening, to focus on my work. Also, that I will have my phone on silent or switched off.

● Using my breaks in my day job for catching up with friends, posting new blog posts, replying to Facebook comments and Tweets. So I can use my days off and evenings for focusing on work, without distractions or going off on tagents. My breaks are very short, and currently I can’t keep up during this time.

● Working extra hard to group tasks together, to take time out to do my work. Such as washing up, administration and shopping. This also applies to checking emails; replying to blog comments and Tweets.

Unfortunately, I can’t interact as much as I would like to at the moment. I am working until the
early hours most days at the moment, and going to sleep at silly o clock. I went to sleep just before 4.20am today and had to get up for work in my day job at 8.20am.

I hope you will continue to be part of my wonderful world of quirky. Although I am locking myself down to work; I always want to be in your blogging life.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Have you ever put yourself into a Creative Lock Down mode? If so, how successful was it for you?

Write as soon as I can
Sandra

When are you going to hibernate?

Hi everyone

I am now in hibernating mode to finish my Break through the barriers of redundancy book.

I finished re-working and amending the Preface and Introduction today. I now have a total of 9 days off from my day job, and go back to work on Wednesday 2nd of April. I am determined to finish my book by then. I went out shopping for food and Mothers Day presents today. Now it’s time to batten down the hatches and have what I call ‘cave days’. I will be less active in the blogosphere until the 3rd of April.

When are you next hibernating?

Write when I am able to
Sandra

Ps. I already miss you all. Xx