If you’ve ever had trouble communicating please sponsor me! If you haven’t, think about how awful life would be if you did and then sponsor me! I hate running but I’m doing the Adidas 5k Women’s Challenge because I believe in the cause. Now, who’s with me?

Go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelPictor and sponsor me!

I’m new to running (apart from some hellish experiences in my school years) so I’ll be buying trainers, checking my running gait and probably jogging around Stroud looking like an idiot for the next few weeks. My sister is running too and I’ll let you know if she puts a sponsorship page online. I figured if you were happy to sponsor me you might as well sponsor her as well! I may even update you periodically with details of my training progress which I’m sure will be fascinating.

If you’d like to send me training tips feel free to leave them as comments at this post or tweet me if your tip is 140 characters or less!

This means that many everyday tasks which cause most people to glaze over their eyes, fall asleep or tear their hair out with anxiety or annoyance are actually enjoyed by the ‘happy’ people. Perhaps you think of them as cartoon characters like Ned Flanders or other fictional creations like Mary Poppins. Maybe you don’t think these people even exist?

That’s because nobody actually says “Okaly doakaly” or “spit spot” but it doesn’t mean they’re not out there! These people are optimists. These people are enthusiastic about life. They get things done. They feel happy most of the time.

Sounds good doesn’t it?

I am not Ned Flanders or Mary Poppins. I am a real person trying to be an optimist and get things done. I used to be more like Moe the bar tender or Mr Banks. Actually scrap the bit about Moe – I don’t need that kind of association! But I was a bit like Mr Banks, plodding along, not seeing the joy in everyday life and set in my ways.

Now I alternate between the two. Some days I’m Mary Poppins and I get lots done. Some days I am Mr Banks and I trundle through my tasks like a reluctant school girl. Most days are Poppins days and I’m glad.

You can’t always choose what happens but you can choose your response and you can also choose to be proactive. Sometimes, like Mr Banks, you might need someone or something to give you a push in the right direction.

If that’s you then start looking for that push right now. What have you got to lose?

Have you ever realised half way through the day that you’re spending a lot of time thinking about and doing things that you don’t really want to be doing? These are the things you do because you should.

I should clean my car out

I should finish the DIY

I should write that blog post

I should finish that book

I often catch myself saying these things in my head. When I want to do something, I normally just do it straight away, or as soon as possible. I don’t use the word ‘should’. Instead, if I think about it, I say “I can’t wait to get home and finish my new book”, or, “I hope the client gets back to me soon so I can start that blog post!”

There is a world of difference between ‘should’ and ‘want’. Life would be a lot easier if we could organise ourselves so that we only do things we want to and there are no ‘shoulds’ in sight! One problem: unless you are an extraordinarily happy, upbeat sort of person you will never get rid of the ‘shoulds’. That’s why for most people a day at work is a bag of mixed blessings. You hated the early start but you loved the weekly catch up meeting. You were depressed by that phone call but you enjoyed learning about saving kittens.

But what about those days when everything is a ‘should’ and you’ve forgotten what it was you ever wanted?

Perhaps it is time to change your career, or take up a new hobby. But before you act, take a little time to reflect and ask yourself some serious questions:

1. Why did you take the job?
2. Have you ever enjoyed it?
3. Is there anything at all you still like or enjoy?
4. If you left, how would you cope financially and what could you do instead?
5. Is it reasonable to do what you want for a career? (I.e. can you make enough money while living your particular dream?)

Sometimes people feel stuck in their career- especially in the midst of a recession and it’s not always possible to quit and follow some crazy dream. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about it. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to find a way to balance out the ‘shoulds’ and the ‘wants’. Maybe you think that’s impossible, but have you really considered the options? We don’t always have to stand still.

It’s reasonable to expect a little rough with your order of smooth but when the rough becomes the main course, not a side, it’s time to rethink!

So what do you want?

At school, I got in trouble for being a pedant.

Friends would enthusiastically push their essays under my nose and say “what do you think of that?” When they realised I thought it was good, except for “the missing full stop here, the spelling errors here and the poor syntax almost everywhere” they didn’t seem so happy. Even if I could tell what they were trying to say and thought the ideas were really great, the observation of spelling and grammatical errors always dampened the mood.

I was a geek, a boffin. I was the party-pooper highlighting errors and inaccuracies while everyone else just wanted to get on with stuff. It didn’t make me popular and it didn’t make a great impression on fellow students. Outside of school, I find there are still a large number of people who don’t consider good spelling and grammar a top priority. I’m fine with this, so long as these people aren’t relying on their writing skills as part of their job.

If you work in customer service and need to write letters, every spelling error, typo, or grammatical clanger will be posted out as a representation of your entire company. If you paint signs on the road, any misspelling will reflect badly on your employer. If you work in marketing, PR or copywriting, it can be the kiss of death to your career! I have seen or heard about all of these things happening to all kinds of people.

Whilst it’s true that writing ‘their’ when you meant to write ‘there’ won’t bring about the apocalypse, it will create a bad impression of you and your company for the people reading it. Every blog post I publish puts my reputation on the line just as much as every piece of work I submit to clients. It’s the same for all forms of written communication that people use in the course of their everyday business. Not everyone will notice the occasional small error but they can change the meaning of an entire article or distract us from what the writer is trying to say.

Conversely, we’ve all come across pieces of writing that are just perfect. Writing that is easy to read and understand, engaging, with a nice flow or rhythm. This is good writing – using grammar carefully and breaking the rules only to create special effects.

If you’re worried about your use of grammar and spelling it might be worth investing in a proofreader. They can highlight any inaccuracies and assess your writing in a way that automatic spell checkers can’t.

Alternatively, you could go back to school, read some books or maybe go on a writing course?

If you’d like to ask questions about grammar or share your own ‘favourite’ grammatical bugbears please use the comments section at the bottom of this post. If you’d like to hire me for a proofreading or copywriting job then get in touch!

Ingredients:

• 1 can re-fried beans
• 1/2 can fried onions (or 1 small onion, chopped and fried lightly in olive oil)
• 1 red pepper, chopped or sliced
• 1 handful of sweetcorn (fresh or frozen)
• 1 handful of fresh coriander or 2-3 teaspoons of coriander paste
• 2-3 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 1-2 teaspoons of hot paprika (or half and half crushed chilli flakes and sweet or smoked paprika if you can’t find hot paprika)
• Salt and pepper
• A dash of olive oil
• 4 wraps
• Grated cheddar and guacamole to serve

Method:

1. Fry the peppers and spices for a few minutes before adding the onions and re-fried beans. Don’t be scared of how the beans look in the can – they taste better than they look!
2. If you’re using coriander paste, stir this in now
3. Put the sweetcorn in when the bean mixture has heated through and give it a couple of minutes to defrost
4. If you’re using fresh coriander, scatter it in, stir through and remove the bean mix from the heat
5. Place your wraps under the grill to warm through but remove them before they crisp up
6. Spoon some of the bean mixture onto one side of the wraps, sprinkle over the cheese and fold the wraps over to cover the beans
7. Return the wraps under the grill to crisp the top (you can also flip them to crisp the bottom if you like)
8. Serve with guacamole and tuck in!

These wraps are full of fibre and protein but don’t let the health benefits put you off! They taste great too.

That’s why I jumped at the chance to volunteer for the Cotswold Listener when I saw it advertised on Twitter. It won’t take up too much time, the office is within walking distance of my own and the work sounds fun and exciting! Assuming I don’t screw up this evening, I’ll be a reader for the Cotswold Listener audio magazine. It’s for blind people in the Cotswolds to keep them up to speed with local events and news but they also have features just like normal magazines.

I’m really looking forward to getting started! It’s very different from the ‘workplace enforced’ volunteering I did when I was in ‘normal’ employment. Back then I used to help out with school gardening projects. It was fun but I think I’ll prefer being a reader more.

There are lots of opportunities available for people looking to volunteer and it’s a great way to have fun as well as being a CV builder. You can even try and arrange your own voluntary projects – you don’t always have to wait for the opportunity to find you! I enjoy donating to charities but I know I don’t have the financial resources to help everyone. Why not donate a little time instead? It all helps!

I know – we’ve all heard it before. Just because everybody says it doesn’t make it true. But it is true!

Thought you couldn’t pick up a new language? You can! Thought your writing/reading/painting/drawing/maths/science skills were doomed to be terrible? They’re not! Even if you are the worst rugby/tennis/football player ever born, guess what!? You can do better!

If we all set aside a little time and make the commitment we can learn new things and get better at doing stuff. So go and do some stuff!

A few days ago I had a pizza topped with cajun spiced chicken and the other half ordered some spicy pasta. My chicken was delicious but I also loved the smell of the pasta so I thought I’d try and put them together. This is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

For the spice mix…

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin (seeds or ground)
• 1 teaspoon paprika (hot, sweet or smoked)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Chilli flakes (to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Garlic salt
• Black pepper

Other ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, skinless
• Casarecce or other short pasta
• 1 carton tomato and basil passata
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• ½ courgette, sliced (optional)
• Olive oil
• Grated cheddar to garnish

Method:

1. Mix the spices together and coat the chicken breasts. Bake for 30 minutes at 200 degrees C in a covered dish with a little olive oil
2. In a pan, heat some olive oil and fry the chopped onion and pepper for a few minutes
3. Add the courgette if you’re using it and cook for a further couple of minutes
4. Add the passata and keep the mix just warm
5. When the chicken is cooked leave it covered while you cook the pasta
6. When the pasta is nearly ready chop the chicken and add it to the warm sauce
7. Stir in the cooked pasta and serve covered in grated cheddar

This recipe makes a tasty but mild dish. If you like more heat feel free to play around with the spice quantities. If you’re short on time or don’t have a ridiculously overstuffed spice cabinet (like me) feel free to use a ready mixed cajun spice blend!

I made this cake at the weekend with leftover tinned pears. Unfortunately, there weren’t quite enough pears left so I added a few peach slices too. The peach worked well but this is designed to be made with just pears and if you have enough you should cover the whole base of your cake tin with them! Serve it either way up.

Ingredients:

• 6 oz flour
• 4 oz butter
• 2 oz vegetable oil
• 6 oz caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 teaspoon almond essence
• 2 eggs
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tin of pear quarters with juice, sliced
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• Some grated nutmeg and a pinch of ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Cream the butter, oil and sugar together
2. Add the eggs and beat them in along with the vanilla seeds and almond essence
3. Pour in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
4. Beat well to a smooth mixture
5. Place the slices of pear over the bottom of a greased cake tin
6. Pour the cake mix over the pears and bake at 170 degrees C for 20-25 minutes
7. When the cake has cooked, test with a skewer and set on a wire rack to cool in the tin
8. After 5-10 minutes remove the side of the tin or flip it to remove the cake
9. In a pan, heat the juice from the can of pears with some honey and the spices
10. When it has reduced to a thick syrup pour it over the cake
11. Serve alone, or with a dollop of crème fraîche or mascarpone

NB: You can use self raising flour and omit the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda

Pear and almond cake, flipped

Last night I made this dish with a thick, satisfying lamb sauce and roasted vegetables. It has become my new favourite pasta dish to make at home and it’s really versatile as it could work equally well with beef, different vegetables (like aubergine or artichoke) or the addition of olives.

Ingredients:

• 400g ground lamb
• 1 ½ bell peppers (med-large chunks)
• ½ a courgette (medium slices)
• 1 red onion (large chunks)
• 3 medium tomatoes (quartered, seeds removed)
• Olive oil
• 1 can or carton of tomato and basil passata
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• Garlic salt (or normal salt and fresh crushed garlic)
• Ground black pepper
• Casarecce or other short pasta

Method:

1. Bake the vegetables with some olive oil at 200 degrees C for 20 mins
2. Fry the lamb in a little more oil
3. When the lamb is browned add the chilli flakes, seasoning and passata
4. When the vegetables are cooked stir them into the sauce
5. Drain cooked pasta and mix into the sauce before serving.

I served it with crispy garlic bread but it would be good on its own too. Enjoy!

PS. For a complimentary wine try this Tre Torri!