My Shining Reflection #atozchallenge

This is the post where we reflect on the happenings of the 2015 A to Z Blog Challenge.

I woke up far too late in this challenge.  I decided literally the day before the challenge was to begin, to take part.  I was number 1098 on the list!

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but I knew my decision was the right one.  I knew what I was getting myself into because I've done the A to Z Blog Challenge 4 times previously.  It's hard work and if you don't plan and schedule posts, it becomes extremely stressful, especially being a working mum with a very busy life.

I had to write posts at night after the kids had gone to bed.  Being creative after 9pm at night is hard for me.  I'm not a night owl, I'm an early-to-bed gal so I took strain because I didn't get as much sleep as I used to. 

I never really thought why I took up the challenge at first, because I hadn't been blogging for months on end and I had no intentions of starting it up again.  I stumbled on Alex's blog and the list to sign up for the A to Z Blog challenge.  This was the day before the challenge started, what was I thinking?!?!

It was only on the 3rd of May that it became clear to me why things had happened this way.

Today, on the 3rd of May, I went to the A to Z Blog Challenge website to find the linky for the Reflections post.  I read the post about Tina, the sunflowers and her passing.  I was shocked at first.  This was the first time I'd heard about Tina's passing. 

This was also the first time, I'd realised that this year's challenge was dedicated to Tina's passing and the sunflower post touched my heart.  I slowly read about the planting of the sunflowers, it blooming on Day #1 of the challenge and how things unfolded.  This story both warmed my heart and made me sad, because this is how I found out about Tina, but then it hit me.  I suddenly realised why I'd signed up in the first place.

RIP Tina.  My A to Z Blog Challenge was for you and I didn't even realise it until today.  My nostalgia theme was so appropriate and I'm glad to have been a part of this Challenge!  There always is a deeper meaning for getting involved in something like this - even if you don't realise it initially

Here's the stats:  I only gained 5 new followers, but I'm putting that down to the fact that I didn't have enough time to visit and comments as many blogs as I wanted.  I am now following 10 new blogs thanks to the challenge.

an incredibly significant challenge.   

Zebedee and Zep

Well, Plonkers it's the very last day of the A to Z Blog Challenge for 2015 and I've done it.  Without any prep, without too much scheduling, I finished.  Shoo! 

It's been an incredibly busy month with daily posts, Tweeting, Facebooking, Instagraming, 4 times a week training at the gym, 8 publication deadlines at work, a long awaited pregnancy announcement (not mine), 5km runs every Sunday, a brilliant holiday to my folks down at the coast, a trip to the vet with my viciously grumpy Jack Russell, 4 sessions of healthy meal prep, date night with the Boerewors that was cut short, a horrific experience at the dentist, a long awaited engagement, toothache for an entire week, hiding my entire body in a old army trunk,  a special dinner with a friend who I hadn't seen in 3 months and was missing terribly, an infection in my jaw and a One Direction concert with my youngest.

So, I'm in much need of a wee bit of "time out".  I plan to stay in my PJs this long weekend, watch ridiculous amounts of crappy TV (and some good shit too).  Bring on Outlander, perhaps a peppering of BlackList and a spoonful of Greys Anatomy and Elementary.  A bowl of popcorn the size of my head and a soda that would drown a small child.

Yes...that's what I will do.

Back to the Letter Z

I love the old stop animation cartoons of the 70s, you don't quite get anything like them anymore.  All the cartoons these days are full of monsters, zombies and super heros with names I don't understand.  These days anything with a cape and who has super powers is Buck.  What happened to good, old fashioned moral- teaching toonz? 

The Magic Roundabout was a favourite of mine when I was in my single digits, and I remember running home from school at lunch time to watch it on telly.  Glue to the box for half an hour, while crisping up my snow-sodden mittens on the kitchen radiator, and eating a bowl of my mum's hot tatty and vegetable soup.  Then sprinting back to school in record time for the lunch bell to reminder us about afternoon classes.

Zebedee was my favourite.  I think it would because he has the least human or animal-like characteristics.  He had a large spring for her legs and wore a particularly dashing Mexican moustache and bright bow-tie.  Who could fault his style?

Dougal and Pollux had swag, but was Zebedee who always made a flamboyant entrance with his loud "Boing!" sound and  predictably said at the end of every episode, "Time For Bed and there's been enough magic for one day".

I'm kinda cheating today for my musical finalé portion of the post.

It's a band that doesn't quite start with the letter Z, but fekkit, I'm a rule breaker and I'm gonna play some Zep - Led Zeppelin.  Guitar Solo please, Mr Jimmy Page.

Enjoy!

YouTube It

Everyone knows if you want to search for new music, new film trailers, any video sharing....we all head to YouTube. 

In April 23, 2005, Jawed Karim uploaded a video to a new site called YouTube that he helped create.   The World Wide Web was a completely different animal nine years ago - that's like 50 years in the digital age.  We didn't talk about social media, we didn't talk about Twitter yet and Facebook was but a baby among college students.

There were no advertisements tied to the videos back then, no Hashtags.  It was straight up silly videos and nothing went viral for a while.

In November 2006, it was bought by Google for $1.65 billion. 

Vlogging took off and it was the best way of growing your audience and putting a "face to your blog name".

Here are 20 of the oldest YouTube Videos.  Oh boy, you're in for a rip-roaring treat....

Xmas Xylophone

This is one of the first generation Stylophones that had a transistor oscillator. 

My sister and I were gifted one of these babies in the 70s at Christmas one year. 

We learned to play the French nursery rhyme "Frére Jacque" on it and probably drove my parents insane!  I often wondered why the batteries were ALWAYS flat or we couldn't find any.

The first thing that always went on the Xylophones was the wire on the stylus, which apparently was a common thing.  Also, the metal parts around the "keyboard" usually came undone - ours was no exception.  This was a great wee toy that my sister and I enjoyed for years!

Today's music are the best auditions from X-Factor

Under The Bramble Bushes

Remember clapping this Playground Classic?

My sister and I used to do clapping games at lightning speed - I still do it with my lassies too.

Under The Bramble Bushes
Under The Sea
Boom, Boom, Boom
True Love for me, my darling
True Love for you.
And When we Marry,
we'll raise a family.
Under The Bramble Bush...

We used this and other songs for clapping and skipping games too.

I loved skipping (with double ropes too) and Chinese ropes (which was just a bunch of elastic bands joined together).  You and a friend stood face-to-face about four feet from one another, hooked the elastics around your ankles and the person playing the game jumped in and out and on the elastic bands in time to the syllables of the song.

Not last night but the night before
24 robbers came knocking at my door,
I ran out, (run out of rope), to let them in, (jump back in)
and this is what they said to me :

Spanish dancers do the splits, (jumper doing the commands after each)
Spanish dancers do the kicks,
Spanish dances turn around,
Spanish dancers touch the ground,
Spanish dancers get out of town, (run out of rope, end of turn) 

 and loads of  risqué ones too

When Suzy was a school girl, she said miss, miss I can't do this I've got my knickers in a great big twist.  When Suzy was a teenager ... She said "ooh, ah I've lost my bra, I've left my knickers in my boyfriend's car".

I much preferred playing marbles in the dirty with the boys though.

Today's musical interlude is my favourite band as a teenager. I was so much in love with Paul Hewson aka Bono and had all their records.

Enjoy

Tank Girl

Tank Girl is a movie based on the British cult comic-strip, our tank-riding anti-heroine fights a mega-corporation, which controls the world's water supply. 

It's a fun film filled with quirky in-yer-face humour, sexy half-nude girls and great one-liners.




Look, its no Schindler's List, but if you're in the mood for a feel-good girl empowering film, this is the one to get you smiling. 

It's simple and predictable and full of sarcastic wise-cracks.





Spongeworthy Seinfeld and a Velvet Scrunchie

It was the nineties and Seinfeld was huge!  It was a really funny family weekly sitcom that was a massive success.

Who was your favourite Seinfeld character?

Elaine was always my favourite.

She's gorgeous, sassy, selfish and incredibly self-righteous.  I just love her signature "Get Out!" shove, and all of them never changing their ways - never learning from their mistakes.

It was a brilliant show and never lost its edge.  They made it on the cover of Time magazine and won countless awards.  It was actually embarrassing watching the Award shows in the 90s , because Seinfeld always pretty much cleaned up!




Scrunchies were also massive in the 90s and every girl had at least two or three of them. Some lassies were lucky enough to have one in every colour to match every outfit.  Some lassies were even smart enough at sewing to make their very own scrunchies from old dresses and t-shrits  (how very Blossom of them).  I was never very good at sewing.  I still suck at sewing and making stuff....och, in I'm shite at anything crafty.  My stuff is usually featured on those sarcastic "Nailed It" posts on Pinterest.

Don't HATE, Roller skate!

We're heading down the final stretch of the A to Z Blog Challenge.  It's be a rockin' ride...I've visited over 70 blogs already and found a handful that I'm newly following.  Keep going, don't give up, we're almost there.  Enjoy...

When we emigrated to South Africa from Scotland back in the early eighties, I had my very first birthday party. It was my tenth birthday and I got to invite all my friends from my new school, eat truck loads of sugar and have a few friends sleep over.  It was brilliant!  A dream come true.  

I got a pair of roller-skates and a puppy!  I'd always wanted a puppy and wee Skipper was the cutest thing ever. 

My roller-skates became an addendum to my body for about two years after my tenth birthday.   I lived in, or is it on, my roller skates.

I would put them on the minute I got home from school and not take them off until bed time.  I wore out my wheels and front stopper more times than I can remember, and I think I actually slept with them in my bed that first night I got them.

Today's vintage music is Robert Palmer.  Every teenage boy watched the music video over and over to watch the hotties pretend to play guitar and shake their arses all over the place.

Enjoy.

   

Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible by Dan_of_the_Land

Quickly, Qbert

Who remembers the puzzle arcade game Q*bert by Gottlieb from the 80s? 

The most adorable wee orange character with an elongated nose and his comic swear speech bubble.  The controls with the diagonally oriented joystick and the purple snake enemy Coily and the green enemy Slick.

20c got you a few goes with this diagonally hopping orange weirdo.  He even got a part in the awesome animated movie Wreck It Ralf.



Today's musical interlude is from Queen.  Good old vintage Freddie Mercury in the 80s at Live Aid.
 

Psych! It's Paddington.

When I was growing up in Scotland, Paddington Bear was everywhere - books, telly, stuffed bears, comics, endless merchandise.  He even has his own Royal Mail stamp!

Paddington Bear was created by a BBC cameraman in the late fifties, after buying a neglected Teddy Bear for his wife one Christmas at Paddington Train Station.  Hence the name.  

He went on to write a book about Paddington Bear and many books were published after that first one.

Adorable wee Paddington wears a grey dufflecoat and closh hat most of the time and carries an old, battered suitcase with a hidden compartment. He sometimes wears wellies, has the cutest accent and adores marmalade!

Do you remember watching him? The TV show was a mixture of 2D and 3D animation and that's what made is so special, well, for me anyway. 

Paddington Bear is so well-know he has even met royalty! 
 

The Voice of Michael Horden

 

OMG! It's The Osmonds!

The Osmonds began as a barbershop quartet group with all the older brothers. I think there were five of them and later the younger boys joined, which made them seven in total. They started the band in order to raise money to buy hearing aids for their two oldest brothers, who were born deaf.

Their only sister, Marie, poor wee thing, didn't really sing with her brothers, but she went on to have a successful solo country career.  They grew up a very religious family and were very clean-cut.

Handsome Donny was, by far, the most popular of the brothers and quickly became a heart-throb and front man of the Osmonds.  Later, The Donny and Marie TV show took off, but it only ran for 3 years before they went bankrupt.   

It seems they all went to the same dentist as they all had the same row of shiny, perfectly shaped teeth.  Perhaps that is why they really went bankrupt?  Tooth high in dentist bills...

Although they had  a clean cut image, their family always seemed to be riddled with scandal.

Here's one of Donny and Marie's hits.

 

Nifty Nanny. Oy vey!

Remember that Nanny named Fran who spoke through her nose and laughed like a hyena on acid?  Yeah, I loved that TV show too. 

I thought Fran was hysterical with her grumpy Yiddish grandmother, Nanny's short skirts, colourful wardrobe, big hair and opaque tights.  Oh she was soooo 90s and such a quirky character.  I loved that she sometimes looked directly into the camera when delivering one her of snappy sarcastic one-liners.  I love her Mum, who had even bigger hair than Fran, that was forever shovelling food in her face and that she believed Barbara Streisand walked on water.

I must admit the kids were annoying and so was Maxwell, but I enjoyed the butler's gags.  Nile and Fran always ganged up on CeeCee, ripping her apart and playing daft jokes on her.

Who was your favourite character in The Nanny?

Todays music is 90s boy band 'N SYNC.  Certainly not my favourite boy band, but they were extremely popular in the 90s.

Happy Listening.

Making Out in the Eighties

Growing up, I always wanted a real horse.  I used to spent hours drawing horses. I used to dream about having my very own pony.  I used to imagine what I'd name him and how I'd spend my time after school brushing his silky mane and plait his tail. 

I loved anything to do with horses, so when My Little Pony came on the market I wanted one! 

I'd spent ages combing the hair, washing the hair, re-combing the hair and the art was to keep the curl in the tail in tact.

It were a great wee Hasbro toy - small enough to hide in your school bag or pocket.  You could ALWAYS have your horse with you.  If your mum and dad were wealthy your Little Pony could have pretty transparent wings.

Linolium is Like So Hot Right Now!

Remember those awful sixties and seventies linoleum kitchen floors?  It was dead trendy at the time, but looking back, those patterns were like a frikken eye test.

Gosh, they were uglier than a bag full of arseholes.

My folks used to change our linoleum at least every year.  I guess my mum loved keeping up with the trends...or is that keeping up with the Jones'?

For those of you who don't remember what lino is, it's a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil, pine rosin, ground cork dust and wood flour.  Rolls of lino come in thousands of different patterns and colours.  Seems like the majority of the sixties designs were vomit coloured.

Do you remember putting on your fluffiest socks and sliding along the linoleum floor?  It was a blast!   Happy Times.

I also remember sitting at the kitchen table, my mum nagging us to eat our vegetables and, to pass the time, I counted the blocks in lino.  It takes me back in time to when my mum cooked us Mince 'n Tatties and always seemed to burn the tatties.  When I went to someone else's house to eat the same dish, I was always surprised to not taste the burn.  My mum never watched Martha Stewart, or owned a cook book!  Bless her!

Today's musical interlude is Led Zeppelin.  I adore Led Zep, they made some brilliant music and both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are legends!  In my opinion, they weren't the best at playing live but Robert made up for it with his on-stage performance and charisma.

Enjoy.

Jaggie Jellies and Jack White

We're almost half way through the A to Z Blog Challenge and today's letter is the letter J.

Back in the wondrous eighties, the fashions were Fugly and Crazy. These Jelly Shoes were certainly no exception.  They came in any colour you wanted and because they were super cheap, you could afford to match your shoes to any colour outfit.  

There were a few things about these shoes that made them horrid.   They made your feet incredibly sweaty and stinky!  They also pinched your feet until you got blisters and came in various styles, sometimes with glitter.  You also got an awful tan from the lattice pattern...so gross.  You could also get matching bags and belts!

Today's music feature is Jack White, back when he was half of The White Stripes with drummer and ex-wife, Meg White. My favourite band and my favourite artist...

In this track and video, Jack records on his couch while Meg sleeps.  Its a great melody and a sweet song.

We are Going to be Friends

 

Inspector Gadget

Inspector Gadget is a cartoon that revolves around the adventures of a bumblin, dim-witted cyborg detective.  He was a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body. He'd say "Go Go Gadget Arm" and is bionic arm would shoot out and screw something up.

I used to watch this on a Saturday morning and he always made me giggle.  

Gadget dressed like Inspector Clouseau with his dodgy trench coat and cloche hat that turns into a helicopter. He drove a minivan and had a really smart dog called Brain.

They catching theme tune stuck in your head all bloody day.  Do-do-do-do-do Inspector Gadget.  Oooo-Hooo!




Today's music feature is Iggy Pop.   His antics on stage were completely acid-injected and you can clearly see who is huge musical influence was by how he performs on stage...Jim Morrison?  Strange fellow...

Hall Rules and Heebie-Jeebie Horsefeathers

I'm going way back in time now...this is almost a cheat post because nothing about this time makes me nostalgic, but I do love watching Downton Abbey.  

This period drama series is set during the Edwardian era and quickly moves through time to include pre- and post World War and then through the swinging twenties.  

The story is not only about the aristocrats and how they live, but more interestingly about the servants and the "downstairs" way of life.

It has such awesome costumes and the polite dialogue is completely foreign in the beginning.  It often makes you think what it would be like to living during those times when women were oppressed and men called all the shots.  Not even your inheritance, as a lady, was secure...land could only be passed on to male heirs.

It was time when high-tea was served by servants in the posh drawing room at the request of a bell and mail arrived by hand.  When women wore gloves and everyone dressed for dinner.  No-one got Half-seas over without getting side-ways glances.  Everything was so sophisticated and formal.  

Servants had strict Hall Rules;  "No Swearing or indecent language while the cloth is on the table" or "No one is to be suffered playing cards in the Hall before 6o'clock in the evening".  If they did they were fine thruppence!

Here's a true story of Life below stairs which is really interesting.  Enjoy!  See you tomorrow.

Gag Me With A Spoon

Let me take you back to the 80s for the A to Z Blog Challenge Letter G.

The eighties were definitely NOT the best era for flattering fashion.  In fact, the fashions and styles were downright ridiculous and often ugly!

This particular item brings back awesome memories for me. 

I started being a serious gym bunny when I was 17 years old and I haven't stopped since.  If I don't have a gym contract or working out, I feel that something is missing in my life.  I've been through aerobics, step aerobics, calanetics, kata box training, zumba, weight training, circuit training, you name it, I've probably tried it at one time or another.

G-String Leotards

My exercise routine started off doing classic aerobics in the late 80s, when the fashions in the gym were sexy and risqué! 

G-String high-cut skimpy leotards with flesh coloured footless tights, wide coloured belts and head bands and not forgetting the fuzziest, brightest coloured leg warmers you could find. 

Don't forget the LA Gear hi-tops, which any dedicated Gym Bunny just HAD to have, with the same colour laces as your fluffy roll-down socks, of course.  Nothing demure about the eighties! 

LA Gear

Oh yeah, those were the days of Jane Fonda educating us on "feeling the burn" and squeezing our glutes until we thought they'd actually fall right off!

Today's retro music feature is George Michael.  I thought I'd stick with the eighties...

Remember, You Gotta Have Faith! 

Fuddy-Duddy Clifford

So many A to Z Participants this year! WOWZER! Its quite overwhelming!

The April A to Z Blog Challenge has come a long way from its first year way back when. Its a great blog challenge and I've met so many awesome bloggers through this challenge and through Alex. It's always a wild ride and completely different every time.

Back to the Nostalgia Theme.

Something that makes me nostalgic and takes me way back, is my very first car I bought and owned.

I was so proud that I'd saved enough money to buy my very own second hand car.  I even named him!  Clifford, my MK2 Ford Escort was a bargain and I could wait to drive it!  

A couple of days into owning my very own wee car, I realised why it was such a bargain... It was only running on only 3 cylinders, which meant I had to avoid steep hills and going up certain roads, because it was only a 1300 to begin with. Clifford had pretty much no power.

That didn't put me off!  I was young and my motto was... "have car, will drive" and drive I certainly did.  I went everywhere in wee Clifford.  My Ford Escort was baby blue with a trendy vinyl roof and I thought I was the shizzle.  I even bought matching fuzzy car seat covers and put in a tape deck so that I could play my MixTapes.

Loads of fun was had in that wee car.  Clifford could even tell a few stories about the Drive-In...

Enjoy this track by Fleetwood Mac....Go Your Own Way from 1977.

Eat My Shorts!

Happy Monday, Pretty Plonkers.

Today is the letter E for the 2015 A to Z Blog Challenge.

As you know my Nostalgic theme is two-part; the first part of the post will be something retro or vintage that I remember from my childhood, or something that I remember my mum and dad talking about or passing down to me.

Today's feature is ta-raaa - The Easy-Bake Oven.

What little girl in back in my time DIDN'T have an Easy Bake Oven? And let me tell you, if you didn't own one, you were cramping your fingers writing countless letters to Santa begging him to bring you one.  It was every wee lassie's dream.

Many hours were spent playing with the oven, but when your mixes and accessories ran out it was pretty much useless.

Today's nostalgic tune is the 80s duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart in the Eurythmics.  They had plenty hits but this one is pretty catchy.  Enjoy and sing along!