I have woken up craving lemons, well more specifically it is lemon curd that I am craving. I eye-balled some in the supermarket the other day and resisted the impulse to sneak it into my shopping trolley. But now I am wishing I had given into my desires.
However…I did buy lemons and with other ingredients I already had, I baked some lemon slices which I am taking over to a friend’s home later this afternoon. I keep wanting to gobble one, but I am going to be good.
Well…it is thinking of lemons and lemon curd that has inspired me to write about a person I want to share with you, in connection with my nomination from Michelle, the creator of Mws R Writings for the Random Acts Of Kindness Award:
https://mwsrwritings.com/2018/11/17/raka-random-acts-of-kindness/
I started a new job back in August. New jobs are always a bit nerve-racking aren’t they. Well, so far, it seems to be going well. I am a bit worried because I think we are going to be even busier leading up to the holidays and I am still not as fast as my other colleagues. I am getting there bit by bit. But every week there is something new.
All of the other staff have been very lovely and very helpful. I am so glad to be part of a team who are so kind and have been so patient with me.
But I wanted to mention one of my colleagues particularly. She is Italian and like most of my Italian friends, is very lively and vivacious. She is very good at her job and is super diligent. She is soooooo helpful. There have so many times when she has kindly explained things to me and shown me how to improve my work. Not long after I started she bought me a delicious lemon curd muffin from a local coffee shop. She is indeed a very kind person who commits random acts of kindness all the time! I am sure everyone loves her as much as I do.
I was thinking about work. I really like my new job and especially the people I am working with, but I have had some really tough situations to endure in previous employment. When you have difficult, obnoxious colleagues – they can make your working hours a nightmare. I am sure I am not the only one who has been in a job that is hard to endure. Have you had the feeling of dread when you think about facing your workmates again? Or perhaps it’s the clients or customers that make the job unbearable? Have you ever had days at work when you were close to tears most of the day, or had that feeling of wanting to walk out on a job and never go back?
Well, kindness is sometimes the ray of sunshine that keeps you going. So of all the places to be kind (and home should of course be the foremost haven of kindness) please remember to be kind to your workmates and colleagues. Some of your workmates may not have a kind word waiting for them at home, they may face hostility or abuse. A kind word at work can help dissipate stressful situations. Kindness can sustain the heavy hearted. You might not have any idea how close to tears your colleagues might be.
I keep meaning to bake and take something into work for my new colleagues – it’s just that I don’t have any time on Wednesdays to bake, so I would have to make something on a Tuesday and then take it in on Thursday… I am going to have to work out when I can bake something and take it in so it is fresh for everyone to enjoy. That’s the very least I can do after all the kindness that has shown to me by my new colleagues!
It is becoming a much loved habit of mine to try to keep up with all the songs posted by various other bloggers onto “SONG-LYRIC-SUNDAY”.
I mean maybe the two of us were a bit of an extreme example. Moi – truly trying to eat sensibly, so because of the rest of my shopping basket being so virtuous I could hold my head up in good conscience with the bottle of red in the middle. (Though I had stacked my salad on top of it.) Man – looking as if he cares not about the shape of his body and his health. There we were, side by side, the righteous and the unrighteous of shoppers!
There is a difference between man shopping and woman shopping isn’t there? I must be careful what I say now. I am sure there are many responsible men out there capable of a well-rounded shop. I am going to relate to you one or two real-life experiences of shopping that mean I would not trust every man with my weekly food shopping. I remember times when we were a bit gobsmacked when we trusted a man to go shopping on his own.
Well there was a big sack of potatoes in the cupboard. But half of them were inedible. We sorted through them and washed peeled and sliced all the decent ones. We also found lots of kidney beans and tinned tomatoes and spices. So, we improvised a sort of chilli with all this. We all scraped some money together and sent the boys out shopping for drinks and other food. We were hoping they would bring back some useful food. When they returned they had spent the entire amount on beer and crisps. The twelve guests were scratching their heads about the strange chilli and mashed potatoe we served them. But the boys in our group thought it was great. The females of our party were red-faced. But the lads had no idea why we were making a fuss. To be fair – I think us girls were truly shattered after the skiing. We were not overly happy to be told twelve guests were coming and we had to cook for 23 for no other reason than that we were female.
My friend told me that just after he and his wife married, she sent him shopping with a list thinking nothing could go wrong. He was puzzled by her wanting 100 rolls though and wondered if she had decided they would have a BBQ and had not told him. So, he came home with 100 bread rolls. She was shocked. She said, “loo rolls”.
Then we would put everything in the suitcase. She didn’t like her neighbours to see her shopping so when we arrived back she would walk along with her squeaky little walking frame and I would pull the suitcase slowly trying to make sure no bottles clashed. It was hilarious really.
Caramel 