Hello on the last day of October

I was thinking that I might want to start old-school blogging again.

I do often need a change of pace and I can quite easily hammer out a post for 15 - 20 minutes while at work.

At home, it's much more difficult because I'm practising in the evening before supper, straight after supper while D does reading with kids upstairs, and then I collapse.



Anyway, let's chat.

1. So today is Halloween.

My feelings are well documented on the subject here. But I'm thrilled our school doesn't do anything for Halloween!

Maybe it's all the unsubscribing I've been doing but there are only about 3 people I read/ follow that are into the Halloween so yay!

A friend has an issue with all the pumpkin wastage :) Must say I didn't think of it like that but it's true.

 

 

 

2. 11 days to exam time

And I think I will make it.... but I had a dream night before last, so vivid I still remember every detail.

How, of the 10 exercises, I was only able to do TWO and then the examiner said, "right, that's it - we've run out of time"

So I'll be practising DAILY til the exam. At the lifts, at the pause area, in the boardroom later once they all disappear.....

3.  Cooking

With all our realignment at work, all people who do the same job as I do are now sitting together. The bad part is the department only ever has at most 3 - 4 of us here at any one time (out of 14). Remember I'm an extrovert and I love the buzz.

The good part is there is someone who I'm very friendly with, and she cooks. I've gotten such a lot of good ideas from her so far.

E.g. you can cook chicken, potatoes, carrots with salt and pepper on low for about an hour and it is delicious. I've made this for my crew twice in October and they LOVE it.

Another tip - she always makes pastas two at a time. Then freezes the second one in the glass pyrex dishes ready for during the week. I used to do that with sauces anyway. But I did it this weekend with the pasta itself and it gives me such pleasure knowing there's a meal ready for us :) :)

4 - 10 - can be found here if you feel like reading about my October highlights and lowlights

What are you guys cooking in this heat?

Nine on a Monday

I'm running a 5 love languages of children workshop at #thehousewiththeview in Jhb on Sat 19 Nov, and I'd love you to join me if you're local. Space is limited so let me know to book your spot. 💙💗 There's a post up on www.organisingqueen.com about one of the ways I show love to my kids 💗💙 #5lovelanguages

A photo posted by Marcia Francois (@organisingqueen) on Oct 10, 2016 at 11:27pm PDT

1. Remember the stolen laptop? They only started investigating today....5 weeks later. I must admit, I was very irritated and told the guy there really is no point because that laptop is looooong gone. Anyone who's read/ watched crime stories knows the first 48 hours are crucial :)

2. Three lessons left before exams.... my right ankle is starting to give a little bit of trouble. It probably doesn't know what's happened with all the action over the last while....

3. If you're local, I'm holding a 5 Love Languages of Children workshop on Sat 19th Nov at 11:30. Bring a friend/ partner and you each save 10%. R200 per person or R360 per couple. It will be held at my house - hope to see you there.

4. If you're not local or you prefer a private 1:1 Skype/ Facetime/ Whatsapp session, send me an email and I'll hook you up.

5. Tonight Kendra told me while I was practising my dance, "Mummy, you look ready to me". Bless! I love her heart and she knows my love language!

6. I'm doing something quite radical to my kitchen. This decided Friday night and put into action today. Tomorrow it will all be done - I hope it looks how I imagine it in my mind...

7. It's remarkable what some good rain will do. The jacarandas are out, the views are amazing from my house and seeing all that purple just makes me super happy.

8. Oh, did you read about my social media fast? That was (honestly!) one of my favourite weeks this year and if you've never done this intentionally, I thoroughly recommend it. Cassey, I've answered your comment on that post in the comments ;)

9. Dare I talk about money? Money seems to be pouring out. I'm making a list because at least when I look at my list I feel a little more satisfied that things are getting done. But let's face it - most things are super boring things like plumbing and electrical.

Now I want to hear from you.

What are you loving right now? What do you hate/ strongly dislike right now? What do you need?

Crunch time

So I decided to enter the exams.

I told the teacher if she feels I'm not ready she can pull me out at the last minute.

However, I'm dancing my little tush off every 2 - 3 days.

D knows the rhythms, C and K imitate me and I have a cute little video of K saying "dig, across, dig, across, stamp, dig, dig".

Basically, if I'm not ready, I feel like at least I'll have given it my absolute everything.

And some things are already exam-ready. 

I still have 1 min 13 sec of the dance to learn, but I can't do some of it at speed yet. It'll come though. The good thing is I tell myself these things like - my body can do it, I just have to practise enough.

So you'll find me in the pause area or at the lifts at work, doing little bits of the dance, with not a care in the world about what people think.

In some ways I feel like I'm further along than I was last year... with exam prep... but that could be my imagination.

I have 5 lessons left and then it's show time :) And then I can chill til next year!

What's happening in your life?

PS old school blogging with no pics

5 on a Friday - books, babes and Bernadette

1. So, this is my haul for September. I'm truly having a fabulous year of reading. I feel like I'm reading more than enough, so much so that I sometimes think to myself, "am I not forgetting to do anything?" The answer is no.

And I have the mix just right - I listen to non-fiction audios and podcasts in the car, I read fiction at home, and I read non-fiction on my occasional Gautrain trips.

The best is that we have that which we always wanted - children who are readers. Reading is their currency and there are TANTRUMS in this house if they lose reading time so it is very effective as discipline.

2. Most disappointing books this month - Where'd you go, Bernadette, which I found way too weird for me. Those of you who like strange books might like this. And then Love Warrior, which I found to be very depressing with none of her blog's lightness/ sass/ spunk. Read full reviews on Goodreads.
 

3. The babies (kids) were on school holidays this week which was quite lovely except for the phone calls I received complaining about the other one doing who-knows-what.

Connor spent one day at a friend's house from 8.30 - 5.30 so he was knackered when he got home. He slept until 8.30 the next day!

Let's talk twins for the moment. D is not in favour of Connor doing something without Kendra and my view is that our job is not to make life rosy for them. There are lots of things that one will be invited to and the other not, so to compromise, I said I'd check if her friend could come over. If not, tough. Kendra's friend was able to come so all was well.

D happened to work from home that day and said two girls playing together are SOOOOO different. It was quiet and peaceful the whole day without all that testosterone :)



4. It's sandal season again. So I went to have a medi-heel treatment. Have you had one done? Best R70 you'll spend on your body. I promise!


5. Last but not least, the jacarandas. I've seen a few more, all in Illovo, but none anywhere else in Jhb. I was in Pretoria on Wed and there are jacarandas there. Beautiful, but nowhere near last year's beauty.

And that's it.

Which B things can you tell me about today?
How was your week? Tell me in the comments.