Five on Friday and... I'm back with the PT

1. I am surrounded by photos, cards and presents in this study and I've had enough! A good batch was done this week and I think I sent off/ handed out about 15 cards and presents. I really have to finish the rest of the cards this weekend so my study can go back to a state of order again.

2. Yesterday we had our work Christmas lunch. I got D to drop me at work, caught a lift there with one colleague and caught a lift back home with another colleague. All this to maximise connections and it was fabulous :) I think I got and received some of the best gifts around the table...I am SOOO not into gag gifts, like stupid drinking games. Last year one of the girls got her person a really thoughtful gift and she got a drinking game gift. One look at her face was enough to know it did not go down well. I bought a beautiful photo frame (distressed and with the word family, just like on the blogs!) and I received a set of 4 vases, fused together with L O V E on the front. Beautiful. At the moment they have a red candy cane in each - looks very pretty.

3. When I got home yesterday I decided to take Connor on a mother-son date (you know why, MandyE) so we went late night shopping (from 5:10 to 6pm). He LOVED IT (my quality time child). He was charming, well-behaved but way too energetic for that time of the day. I even caught a guy saying to his girlfriend, "we'll have a little boy like that one day" LOL We went to print TONS of pics from this photo shoot. Once I made a new folder (Pics Marcia Loves) and focussed on those pics, I started loving the shoot. I particularly love these ones of me and D.

4. We got our increase letters today and I am beyond thrilled. This is the highest of the 7 increases I have ever received at this company. It's been a record money year for me at work. Brilliant bonus, free money and a good increase. Things are looking up and my savings account is looking healthy again. I think I'll get a cleaning lady for a 2nd day a week from next year. On the other hand, it's also been the worst year for my business in about 5 years! There's much more to the story but that's for another post. Maybe on the private blog.

5. I don't think I'm going to go to Sting simply because I can't find anyone who wants to go with me. Normally I'm not a girl who needs anyone with her to do anything (movies, restaurant, shopping, etc - I love being alone) but a concert is not something you go to by yourself, right? L from work booked her tickets in the 2nd row (!) about an hour after they were announced so that's not an option.

On the bright side, Michael Buble will be here in May. The not-so-bright-side is that he's performing at Sun City (2.5 hours away...) so it will have to be a granny babysitting thing... South Africans, are you going?


What did I do for me this week?

Well, I woke up on Tuesday, tired again. Yes, it is that time of year but I'd just had enough.

I know that I always feel better about ... well, everything... when I'm exercising. I make better food choices because I don't want to stuff up my hard work in the gym, I imagine I'm more muscular, have a flatter tummy, etc, sleep better, don't stress so much, and and and...

"Enough of this nonsense!" I said and the minute I got to work I phoned the personal trainer. The one I kind-of fired.

Amazingly the stars aligned and she said she'd resigned but she'd send me the new girl's details.

I contacted her, went to the gym that very afternoon to work out by myself while the new PT and I got acquainted and had an expectations chat.

She emailed me her bank details, I paid her a lot of money and I started with her the next day.

She's tall, blonde, has a beautiful smile and while she's lovely, doesn't put up with any nonsense.



She is KILLING me but when I see results I'm going to love her. Actually, I already do.

I can't believe I've been to the gym THREE times this week (the last time that happened was Feb) and it feels fantastic.


So what did you do for yourself this week?
Are you going away over December?

We're not but I can't wait for the rest of Joburg to leave so I can catch up on my work!

This week's me time

I actually had a fantastic week of me time.

1. On Wednesday morning I checked my diary, saw that I only had my first meeting at 12 and decided to take some time off to go run some errands.

Well, in the space of 1 hour 15 minutes I attended to 5 errands in one shopping centre. Unheard of with kids in tow.

It was bliss.

Christmas music playing, beautiful decorations, not many people (!).

I only got to work at 10:50.

I got some books for Caren's kids that she wanted to get for her friend's kids. Well, I even had time to go browse around the bookstore and found similar.

I phoned Caren and she says, "why are you not at work?" or something similar.

But really, sometimes you just need a time-out for your sanity.

And of course when I got to the office I was super-productive so it didn't feel like I'd even had that time away.


2. Then, Hayley and I finally met up on Wednesday night and it was great.

I was late because the kids were a bit crazy. My fault, as I thought I could arrive at 6:10, quickly change into jeans and then rush out 10 minutes later.

No sirree.

They wanted to chat, hug, etc. which in the grand scheme of things is totally fine with me.

Hayley was very gracious when I eventually pitched.

You're all dying to know what I thought of her, right?

She was open, honest, positive, shared freely and of course, passionate about Jhb and South Africa, everything I imagined and then some.

I really enjoyed myself and we've decided we need to do this supper date thing more often. Hopefully next time she'll also eat (I was starving and tucked into my scrambled eggs - that Mugg and Bean makes DELICIOUS scrambled eggs)!

I also have a client near where she works so if things work out time-wise, we'll try to meet up in the CBD and walk somewhere. I can't wait!

3. Yesterday I took a half day (I know, you're wondering if I got any work done this week!) and went to get my hair re-Brazilianised.

The hairdresser and I hit it off and we chatted so much I stayed about 10 minutes longer showing her pictures of my kids, etc.

She said she'll do my hair again at the Groupon rate if I come back so I'm totally taking her up on that.

We finished very early - 1 hr 15 minutes - and so I decided to go back to the mall to finish up some shopping for a Christmas gift I have to buy. We each pick a name and buy that person a gift. I got the new boss!

I ran into TWO people I knew and was really glad my hair at least looked decent :)

4. But my main news is this - I bought a new camera! I walked in, spent about 5 minutes looking and handed over my (debit) card.

Somehow (and this annoys me) I felt I had to justify why I was making such a huge purchase so quickly and I muttered something to the guy about having previously done my research. Ugh!

By the way, I do realise I was emotionally spending (this was my first day in over 6 years of not reporting to my boss) but this is something on my list - I just got it a month earlier.

Oh, it's a Canon EOS1100D - twin lenses. Something like that. I've taken a few pics and love the feel of the camera in my hand but I know squat so I'm not getting good pics yet. I really need to read the manual.

5. I'd been waiting for 5 parcels in the mail - 4 purchases and 1 from Jess. One arrived yesterday, one arrived this morning and Jess's one arrived this afternoon. (Hopefully my moo stuff and my photo book will arrive early next week)

Of course I squealed.

I am overwhelmed by her generosity to me and the kids. The kids' things are in their rooms - Connor got a bow tie and Kendra got a headband. And she wrote me the loveliest card too :)

What a blessing you are, Jess!

 I honestly love everything - everything! - but I love this most of all. When I sent Jess a thank-you email, I told her I'd had something yellow on my "to buy" list for months and now I have it. Yellow just screams summer, doesn't it.

I already wore it tonight :)

Then I took it off with my rings...

and here's where I realise I've been reading Katelyn James too much. She always puts the wedding rings in unusual places :)

look - the background is suitably blurry and I haven't even read the manual yet.

So that's me - a very full week of me time and I am sufficiently recharged. We have nothing but church on for this weekend and I couldn't be more glad about that.


How was your me time this week?

PS all pics taken with the new camera

So that's why handmade stuff costs so much

Well.

So I had all these bright ideas to make a handmade gift to give to my infertility support group recipient.

I also had to prepare some gifts for people I will probably not see before Christmas.

Source: theletter4.blogspot.com via Marcia on Pinterest

For the friend gifts, I made one batch of peanut butter chocolate cookies (delish!) - I get 30 - and so each of the 3 people got 10 in a scrapbook-paper-wrapped small formula can with a ribbon, a "from the kitchen of ....." tag and a cupcake tag on the top :)

Sadly there are no pics but they looked cute enough.

And then I thought it would be quick to throw a mini scrapbook together.

All I can say is... I am either deranged or very ambitious in my thinking.

I'd had some 12 X 12 chipboard covers cut into 6 X 6 at work as well as some papers and I honestly thought the cutting would be the main time culprit.

How to make a year in review mini book:


What I used

• 2 chipboard covers
• 2 binder rings
• washi tape
• free printable quotes from internet - one for cover, some for random placement
• lined paper in 3 different colours - yellow, green and pink
• scrapbook paper
• some other bits and bobs
• stickers
• ribbon

What I did

• I arranged a 2-page spread for each month
• Put numbered stickers on each page - 1 to 12
• Arranged co-ordinating scrapbook paper - yellowish opposite yellow, etc.
• I decided once I'd started that the book felt too flimsy so I pasted each of those papers together to be sturdier. It took l-o-n-g.
• Punched all the paper and the other quote inserts
• Inserted binder rings
• Put ribbon around the binder rings
• Decorated cover with printable quote, washi tape, a handmade for you by Marcia tag on the back

Here's the thing - all of that took about 2 hours and I only finished at 12:30 am!!!

I was knackered.

Thursday I got home, started attending to emails while D played with the babies and at 6:45 I think, ever so casually, "C's coming to collect me at 7".

And then, "OH MY WORD, THAT'S IN 15 MINUTES".

Present not wrapped, card (instructions) not done, nothing.

Fortunately I'm relatively organised in here.


For me, pressure's a good thing with writing because I wrote out a very long card (quite a nice one) in about 2 minutes flat, straight from the heart.

In addition to the year in review book, I also made a bit of a creativity pack. Two notebooks, 12 strips of decorative tape (that I made myself - I'm starting to rock this thing - I really need to blog it), fabric tape, about 10 two-inch circles and some flower shapes too, and a glue stick :)

My gift went to someone I don't know but apparently (she could have been lying though, whoever knows?!) it meant something to her. Or maybe she just liked my note.

Can you tell I really liked my note? :)


So this week I had 1) one night of baking and crafting and 2) one night of catching up with friends.

It was a wolnderful evening, although verrrrry cold and slightly weird (for me, at least). We were so involved in the group for so long (especially me and C) and yet there are all these new girls who we don't know.

A lovely thing happened yesterday too - the one girl who, at the talk I did in March, said, "what good can come of ICSI'd eggs?", fell pregnant and had her baby yesterday after 9 years of infertility.

Amazing!

There is NEVER enough time to chat to everyone - my friend Nat had to say to me, "can you please sit next to me at dinner (I say "supper") so we can catch up?".

C & I only left at 11 and were home by 11:29!

I don't even have one picture of any of the crafts, Christmas function, NOTHING.

 All that means is I'll have to do another one at some point and actually take pictures





Linking up to MandyE's 52 weeks of me post :)

What did you do for you this week?


And do you say supper or dinner? :)

PS I read on Annie Blogs (the courage blog) about some Scottish phrases she picked up while living there. D and I had a lovely time reminiscing now. He says a very South African Scottish thing to say is "Hen" or "Pet" as a term of endearment. Strange because we didn't hear one person say Hen or Pet to us while there! Ha!

Can you think of any foreign words or phrases you've adopted since hearing them? Now and again, I like to pretend I'm in Dublin in a Sheila O'Flanagan novel and I say, "I'm gasping for a cup of tea" :)

Five on Friday and some washi tape therapy

1. You know you're reading too many British books when you find yourself saying to the nanny, "V, a word, please" LOL I honestly said that. I've been enjoying the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella so much that I've already read my 5 books for the month. Hopefully I can make up for last month too.

2. This week I still got some get well soon gifts - I love it. I'm the girl who likes to stretch out birthdays and so on, so I love getting "late" presents. When we got married we were still getting gifts a year later! What's the latest gift you've ever got?

I got a lovely vase with flowers from a client in Dubai (which the kids said were from "Aunty Roz" - apparently all the flowers come from Aunty Roz - isn't that sweet?) and a bulb with the most detailed instructions ever from my friend Natalie. I loved the instructions so much because she knows I kill things.

I also got two packages from Etsy this week (technically one arrived last week while I was off sick) - full of washi tape. Yes, I squealed. I'm getting braver - I ordered orange and yellow this time around.

However, the fabric tape on this book is from a South African online store.

3. I am done with that photo book and when I say done, I mean done and DONE! I almost never want to do one again, but I know I'm just being extreme because of my bad experience. Do not use mymemory.com.

Speaking of photos, every time I look at our sneak peek on J's site, I get more excited. Everybody's loved the pics, even the lady who first told me that "the grungy look is not my thing" when I was drooling over Newtown pics one day. My best is my boss who said, "you and D do a good job of pretending how in love you are". LOL What?! You don't send the link of your pics to EVERYONE you know?!

I think I'm going to just take the whole disk and get it all printed. I have so many I want BIG (like enormous)  and I can't wait. I think it's partly because I decided I wanted a shoot like this last year and I've been waiting to get thinner (okay, 2 kg is not what I had in mind but better than nothing although since the shoot I've lost another kilo yet my tummy is more bloated from the op) for a whole year so my expectation is high.

4. I know I need to do an update on Nanny V. Two of you wrote to ask me and my unscientific law says that there's at least 20 of you wondering :) But it's gotten worse and I'm done talking. I'm still hell-bent on NOT sending them to a pre-school (this is a topic of another post, one Blogger ate while it was half way so I'm kind of annoyed at having to rewrite it) so if worse comes to worse, I'll get someone else.

5. This says a lot about me... I haven't found my 2012 diary yet! I know!!! Shocker - I'm one of those people that buys mine in Aug/ Sept already... I'm debating between a moleskin 18-month one again (except the colours are so boring and do they make them running from Jan 2012 - June 2013? Suppose I could always washi tape the heck out of it) and the same week at a glance one I have as my 2nd one for my desk this year. It is DIVINE to the touch and made by Christian Art Publishers. I do know I need a week at a glance. That's one of my non-negotiables.

 

And what have I done for me this week?

• Took off Monday and Tuesday. YAY. Have been working slightly shorter days but am determined to leave at 2 tomorrow.
• I've been reading up a storm and it's been glorious.
• I also cancelled a coaching appt instead of trying to "push through" and I think it will be better because of that.
• I gave myself permission to have some washi tape therapy :) The parcels arrived at work and I couldn't resist starting so I beautified my binder clips while talking on the phone.

What have you done for you this week?

How is your self-care?

PS our next craft day is this week Thursday :) are you ready to link up?

Five on Friday

Okay, I just typed about half the post and blogger ate it so this version's going to be short.

I did 6  mini-projects last night which all turned out exactly as I planned (actually, slightly less cute, except for my year in review book) and then I did some cards which were soooo not cute.

I have ideas on how to cutify them tbough and I'll be attempting the new ones this weekend - have to get them done as they are gifts for some special people ;)

Interestingly enough, I got overwhelmed by all the washi tape goodness and didn't do a single one.

Confession - I took an inventory of all my stuff and I bought some more washi tape in colours I don't have (and want) like yellows and oranges, and I have two unused rolls to sell. I have a green one with white dots and a bright pink. Any takers? They're going for $3 each (I paid $4 plus shipping) - otherwise we can swop? I'm looking for chalkboard paint pens if anyone's keen...

Don't forget to link up!

*******************************

I've just had a call from a publisher in the US to talk about my book. I had to say, "it's not a good time as it's the middle of the night here" LOL

*******************************

I decided that the stress of all the personal admin is not good so today I left work at 3:15 and tackled 3 things on my to-do list.

I went to Hi-Q to buy a tyre, get them swopped around and wheels balanced (R665 = peace of mind, finally), then went to FNB to get my stuff for SARS, and then went to swipe my card at the gym.

Felt super-productive because I also paid Telkom and Jhb Connect (wanted me to pay R4000-odd and the girl figured out that they had problems on my account so I actually paid R1611 - SCORE!)

*******************************

Tomorrow a cousin is getting married (very informally) and we're supposed to be going, except I have no idea how to get there and she hasn't given me directions. These things stress me out, big time.

Still, her gift is ready (and looks beautiful with one of the macaroon tags and some washi tape!) so if worse comes to worse, I'll meet her for lunch somewhere next week.

The only reason I'm really keen to go is to see her mom (one of my favourite aunties)

*******************************

Tomorrow is 1 Oct and I'm supposed to be starting a series on the Organising Blog, one post a day. I can do it if I've planned out the topics but of course I haven't done that. I should have followed my gut earlier this month and asked a dear friend, J (yes, you!) to help me organise the content. 

And for me?

I was forced to take it easy from Tuesday due to The Back.

I said to a friend today that it felt worse than after my C-section, and I'm not exaggerating. At least then if I lay still, I had relief. 

With this bad back I could not get comfortable and the meds were doing zip!

I did almost nothing this week but I believe that my body needed it to regroup.

On the children side, I've had a BALL with them because I came home, lay on my bed and they played around me, we chatted, kissed, hugged, etc. Adorable-ness. The cuteness is way, way too much at the moment.

I'm going to start scheduling 30 mins a day in the gym - 5 mins warm-up and then some work on my upper body one day, and then lower body the next day. I have a programme from my previous favourite PT, Sara.

And it's not like I have all this time, but it's an investment in my health.

So what did you do for yourself this week?

Five on Friday

There's a video of me talking (eek!) here if you haven't had a look yet.


Thank you for the fantastic comments on the potty training post. Truly awesome content in the comments.

1. This week has been crazy and sadly, it's not over yet. I have one day with my babies and then it's my work conference on Sunday and Monday. Let's just say it's going to be interesting.

2. I almost hope the music at the event on Sunday night is boring so I don't feel tempted to stay up dancing and instead can go to bed and recharge. Right there I'm showing my age.

The mothers in the office have been debating whether we'll sleep or dance - my vote is to read since I feel very behind on my reading (I haven't even finished 2 books for the month yet and it would be nice to finish with 3).

3. Today I took time off work to go to my friend, K's boy's first birthday party. Here is the baby shower we threw for her last year. I raced home, fetched V and the kids (so glad I took V with me so she could run after one baby) and raced there. Arrived only 10 minutes late.

It was an animal party and she had bunnies, a tortoise, a sheep, goat and pony there. Of course, my kids ate the bunnies' carrots instead of feeding it to them. We fed them a good lunch before the party so they weren't hungry (chicken, potatoes, butternut and spinach) but carrot sticks are their snacks...

I learned that I need to teach Connor to share...my one friend's daughter came to fetch me to "tell Connor to give me a chance" - too sweet!


4. This crafting thing is getting out of hand. I don't know how you guys with tons of "supplies" do it. I have one drawer, about 4 scrapbook paper pads of 30 pages (of course I've used LOTS of the paper) and another small basket and already I'm feeling like it's too much.

After I publish this post, I'm going to make a list of projects I have "supplies" for (do I annoy you when I keep using ""?) and choose which will get done on Thursday. I feel like this is such a novelty for me hence the "".

Are you ready?

5. This week I received two random acts of kindness - two BIG bags of Pampers. Worth R350. I am blown away. And I just remembered that another friend gave me an envelope at the party. I love my gift, Roz, and now I have to do a project in my study for a magnetic board.




And what did I do for me?

Zip!

Except getting through this week :)

And ordering a programme from my old personal trainer because I recognise that I need to make time for exercise again.

And I suppose taking off the afternoon. My kids were LOVELY today - we chatted all the way there and home.

One conversation happened in the traffic just outside the Rosebank Gautrain Station.

Connor (shouting) Mummy! DRIVE! (hates that we have to wait at stop streets and traffic lights)

Me Connor, I can't drive yet. These are the rules of the road.

Connor (thinking I'm talking about our house rules) Please, Mummy, drive. (in a nice, pleasant, non-screamy voice)

Me Aaawww, you're asking me so nicely, boy, but I'm afraid I still can't go (we're jammed in by buses, cars, etc - all in a day's driving in Jhb)

Kendra We're STUCK

V and I laughed

Me Yes, baby, we're stuck!

On Tuesday I have a massage planned and I can't wait! I'm going to need it because I have an A4 page full of tasks ready for me at work. Somehow I feel better because it's a neat and consolidated list. Isn't that crazy?

What did you do for you this week?

Five on Friday

1. Just got a new-old coaching client. She coached with me for a long time, and then stopped for 5 months and is now back. Since she's trying to lose weight I told her I'd join her in trying to eat better and exercise more this week.

2. Two random acts of kindness for me this week - someone bought me a piece of sinfully delicious fudge and my boss bought me a box of popcorn today. May I add that the popcorn was salted just enough. I'm fussy about the salt - I don't like salty foods - and this was perfect.

3. I asked my old personal trainer, Sara, to do a programme for me and it's just come through on my email. Really, this girl is fantastic and so nice, you can't help loving her. PTA ladies - if you want her details, mail me.

4. I'm 100% done with Connor's clothes. He has MORE than enough shorts and t-shirts, and after a vest-buying spree, now has enough short vests too. We might have a pj problem soon though because those legs have grown.

5. I have to check if V sorted the last of Kendra's winter clothes properly. She tends to be less ruthless than I am in what is too small. Otherwise, I'll be posting some clothes to my sister and then donating the rest. I've labelled everything in sight (punched circles with my 2 inch circle punch and attached to plastic tubs with prestik)

And what did I do for me this week?

1. I went out with a friend for pasta on Tuesday night. It was LOVELY to catch up with her and we said we need to do this more often. Next month is her birthday so that will keep the momentum going.

2. Amazingly, I dragged my butt to gym on Wed despite my headache. I had to leave 10 minutes early when it got really bad but 40 minutes is better than nothing, right? (I was 10 minutes late too!)

I forgot this not-so-little reason I don't enjoy the heat - headaches! I've had headaches about 3 out of the 5 days this week.

3. And I finally coloured my hair. It was about two months overdue but the thought of Louisa seeing all that grey tomorrow moved me to do it :)

4. I've been dog-tired at night so reading only 15 - 20 minutes before falling asleep. That's not going to do so I've started reading an extra 20 minutes in the mornings BEFORE getting dressed for work. Do you know how decadent that feels?

How was your week?

What did you do for your self-care?

Five bits of fabulousness on Friday

1. This morning a team member (the one who likes hours and hours of meetings) walked in with 4 bunches of roses for the 4 girls.

She said she's been stressed and a bit b*tchy and this was to make up for her behaviour. My one colleague said, "well, I haven't noticed a thing but can I still keep the flowers?" LOL to which I said, "ditto for me".

So now I have a beautiful bunch of yellow/ orange roses on my dining-room table.

2. Just before she walked in I had a delivery at work. Whenever I buy online I always get the stuff delivered to work - firstly, almost everything arrives quicker and if they need someone to collect it from the post office, we have people to do that, so it's super convenient. Anyway, I'm now the proud owner of two punches (I can't stop making rounded corners - it's addictive) and some more binder rings!

3. I made my book for the 30 days of lists today. It's not quite what I had in mind but I actually like the new version better. Who's in?

4. I had lunch with my dear friend, Roz, today. I have met my match in people who give good directions. She had to direct me to her work, and then to my hair appointment, and she gives FABULOUS directions. Exactly the way I like them - road names AND landmarks :)

It was so wonderful to chat and of course, time ran out just at that point you want to get some tea and talk some more.

I don't know why we haven't done this before because it only took me 8 minutes to get to her office from mine (okay, speeding a bit, but still).

5. I had my Brazilian Blow Dry today and someone asked before if it was a South African thing - no it's not - I read about it on a US blog for the first time! Very interesting experience. I bought my voucher on Wicount for R800 (they said it cost R2000) but I think they might have inflated their prices to make the new value seem cheaper. Anyway, it took two full hours (they warned me when I made my appointment) so I took my Karen Kingsbury with me and nearly finished my book after I planned blog posts on the organising blog for the next two weeks.

The guy who did my hair obviously tried to sell me the expensive products (shampoo R200; he said you can use normal conditioner) but I was very proud of myself for saying no and that I'd look around first and come back if I wanted theirs. I'm going to see if my hairdresser stocks similar for cheaper. I'm in no rush; I'm sure I could go a week without needing to wash my hair.

My hair looks stunning except for the grey roots showing (no time to colour hair as I was sick when I had time!) so I'm going to get D to take some pics. Even Kendra said to me when I got home, "Mummy pretty hair" - my words of affirmation girl :)

plus one more

6. Tomorrow I'm meeting someone I've wanted to meet for at least a year - Cat. I can't wait!

It feels kind-of like a date but yet not, since we're both open and honest on our blogs (and in the behind-the-scenes emails) and I do feel like I know her.

I'm taking D and the kids with me as we've wanted to check out this particular venue for ages and this is a good opportunity to do so.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

How was your Friday?

P.S. Unashamedly copying MandyE with fabulous five :) (Mandy, it won't let me link to your specific post)

Five on Friday

Thank you all for participating in the cry baby linky - it's not too late if you haven't done yours yet.

******************************

banner I put up for D's birthday - don't you love it? I really wanted to leave it up forever...

1. I must admit I get very annoyed by "group blogs" (I don't know what the official name is) where there is nothing for ages and then more than 2 posts a day. Drives me batty and ensures that I just click "mark all as read". Is it just me or do you feel the same?

2. A lady I work very closely with was on leave for two weeks. I was in heaven as she's one of these "6 hours of meetings in a row" sort of people. She is clearly back because I went somewhere for 20 minutes and returned to about 8 meetings in my diary, two hours each. Ugh!

3. I'm a little ticked off. A long while ago there was a solicitation for people who wanted to write for a certain blog. I thought I could contribute and add a non-North American flair :) so I sent them not one, but two emails with links to some of my favourite posts and heard nothing. I've since seen all these new bloggers' posts in my reader and sadly, I'm feeling a little disgruntled and maybe even a bit jealous. I know I need to get over it but remember, I have problems letting go.

4. I realised last night I have somewhat of a problem. There are some cute crafty things I'm in the process of doing but I can't post them as I'm nearly 100% certain I'll gift some of these things to others. Does this then mean I need to do more than 2 in a month so I can have 2 to show you? Or am I over-analysing things?

5. We can't WAIT for our boss to get back from holiday on Monday. Strange statement? Not so much as we're all eagerly awaiting our bonus letters. The corporate grapevine is all aflutter as "everyone" has received theirs. The jury's out on whether we're getting good bonuses or bad ones. I am always grateful for anything as I see it as all FREE money. Although I did get a spectacularly good one last year. This is how they reward good performers

and now, what I did for me...

Well, last Sat was my birthday.

This is my birthday gift to me - pink genuine leather bag and green wallet. Also, love my Baggu bags.

I went to Zumba on Wed which was lovely if exhausting. I hold my breath every time while they scan my card to see whether my contract's been cancelled yet. I have to go twice a month and you guys know I don't... so clearly they're taking the average and I have 24 visits over the year.

Of course I took the day off on Monday and went to see a movie and did some other things.

This week I had to flex my boundary muscles twice - it wasn't the easiest thing to do but I felt great afterwards :)

How was your week?

Five on Friday

1. When you skip ONE day of reading blogs and your reader announces that you have 120 unread items, it's time to declutter blogs. I'm also thinking about re-categorising my blogs into those I comment on and those I don't, so that I can focus my attention if I'm pressed for time.

2. Last night I was really, really not in the mood to socialise especially after the website story (I'm sure you guys are so tired of hearing about this - imagine how I feel!) but we had our fertility babies six-weekly get together. As usual, it was lovely to get out and connect with the girls, talk nonsense, laugh at other people's parenting issues knowing you're all in the same boat and just have a good time.

3. Straight after my post, I had two coaching calls, one of them with my coach. She listened, listened and listened some more, we chatted a bit and then she prayed for me. I then sent her a section of this post and she sent me the MOST wonderfully encouraging email last night.

4. I've been on a mentoring course for the last two days and it has been fabulous. I'm not much for a lot of theory but I had tons of insights which I have noted down should I feel the need to blog these at any point :)

5. And I've got to say it's really, really nice when the thing you think you're awesome at (for me, coaching) is affirmed by total strangers. They require us to use some specific models with our mentees which I don't use in my business but despite all that, the process still felt very natural to me and the woman had to pry us out of role play (me and my partner) because we were so into it.

And for me?

Well, I have not been getting to bed quite as early as I'd like but it has been earlier than last week.

I haven't exercised this week and I won't go tomorrow morning either.

But I have been kind to myself.

I worked really hard when in the office this week (all of two days!) and even though there are things that are undone, I'm not going into my work email to work this weekend.

I cancelled a workshop that I felt was just too much to do at this point.

I have not been beating myself up about this website. I breathed and wrote to the web person and am taking it easy. Well, for me.

I asked God for clarity and the best way to fix everything and today I twigged that I could take down the hacked page while the website is being fixed. So hopefully things look alright now, otherwise tough. I am done.

What have you done for yourself this week?

Five on Friday

Before I officially start with today's post, tomorrow I'm going to hold a Link party. I want to see your phone and hear why you like it/ don't like it, etc.

Yes, you read right - your phone. I'm convinced I have the oldest phone around (I've had it for nearly 4 years and of course I never get the top-end option so it could be *gasp* 5 or 6 years old!) but MandyE may just give me a run for my money.

So are you in? Tomorrow.... I'll try and post earlier in the day when the kids nap.


1. Life as a stay-at-home mom even if only for a half day, is hectic.

I know that I would be thinner... or maybe not ... as I ran after these two the whole day, shovelling some popcorn in my mouth for lunch at 3:40.

I sat down for the first time when D got home around 6 pm.

!

We had about 3 time-outs for Connor. Kendra has responded beautifully to 123 magic.

One morning this week she ran away with my phone and I said, "that's 1". She whizzed around and as she was running toward me with the phone, said, "no, Mummy, stop counting" LOL

****************************

2. Nanny V is supposed to arrive no later than 7:30 but has been arriving 7:45 - 7:55 most days for the last two months.

This sends D over the edge...

I asked her very nicely to please, PLEASE be on time on Wed as it was D's birthday.

She arrived at 7:55.

La la la...

D announced to me this morning that he just wants this weekend over with and then he is sitting her down and having a serious chat with her.

And of course at 7:55 I checked my phone and found 3 missed calls, all from 7:39 so not very much notice.

It was a male (her boyfriend/ father/ I don't know - she is verrrrrry private) telling me that she is sick and won't be coming to work.

Of course then the scrambling began.

We both decided we wouldn't again phone D's mom to come over (we don't want to impose) and that we'd split the duties.

I had two meetings this morning so I went to work first and then took a half day so I could come home to relieve D.

It all worked out well in the end.

******************************

3. We're having some people over for our birthday party tomorrow and we'd originally booked V to come help with the kids. Of course she won't be well so it's going to be fun trying to host and eat and control the kids. Hmmm.

The birthday banner is up :), the cupcake toppers are ready and I want to get out all the paper plates, serviettes and cups now.

If V were here, I'd use real plates but there's already so much work with the kids. Gosh, they mess when they eat.

Actually, I may still use real plates. I'll let you know. What's your vote? Real or paper plates (they are nice paper plates - I bought the good stuff just in case)?

******************************

4. In my meeting with my boss this morning, I said something like, "oh, my life is so hectic at the moment" and ended up telling him about the personal trainer (because I had to cancel today's session...).

He agrees with all of you that the attitude is not on. Surprising as he is usually very objective about these things.

I also told him that I'm loving my meetings where I get to take charge and control the agenda. He says, "that's not surprising, Marcia" Ha!

Seriously though, I participate more, I don't let things get off track and best of all, if we're finished ahead of time, we stop (the tendency in corporate is to just talk and talk and talk - drives me nuts).

However, since I'm more emotionally aware (since my course last week :)) I also noticed that when one particular person holds meetings, I totally just relax, shut down and don't say a thing. She is a VERRRRRRYY strong personality. That's my issue though. The boss said actually I need to give her that feedback. Um, heck no!

5. And then last but not least, what did I do for me this week?

(I really love participating in this challenge as it forces me to think about prioritising myself)

I took off Wed from working on the business. D and I had our supper, watched Friends reruns and nearly spat out our food it was so funny. I just love Phoebe, LOVE her. Of course Monica is the one I'm most like.... sadly. Which Friends character are you most like?

I sorted out my part of the lounge. We bought a new TV unit (with some of the free money :)) and my videos (yes, don't laugh), DVDs and photo albums are sorted. CDs are always sorted because that would make me crazy (okay, right there, I'm showing my Monica tendencies).

BTW, what is the best (and cheapest) way to get old-style prints scanned and jpged? I don't have a scanner so tell me where is best. I've also heard of a machine you can buy to do it for you - anyone???

I made appointments with the dentist and gynae, and tried to make one with the biokineticist but we're playing telephone tag and keep missing one another.

I also made an appointment to have one of these Brazilian blowout things done and lunch with a friend beforehand.

I feel so good that my lists are shorter as we go into August.

Next up I've got to update my 36 things list and make my next one. I also want to do a new list of accomplishments, something I saw on Laura's blog that inspired me.

What did you do for yourself this week?

On receiving & what I did for me this week

I am really, REALLY bad at receiving help or things from people.

Really bad.

When I'm like this, D calls me Independent Marsh.

Normally, he just calls me Marsh :)

So a couple of things happened:

I got 3 gifts from one friend all within the space of a month. Two cards and a Keep Calm brag book (I just love the keep calm thing).

I don't think she planned them (or maybe she did?) to all arrive quite so close together.

I LOVE that people think of me and think to send me nice things that they'll know I love but I started feeling bad.

And I couldn't understand why.

Why do I have issues with receiving?

It's like I want to even things out because I don't feel right about being in people's debt or some such weird thoughts...

Anyway.

I still don't know why I feel like this but God challenged me in that moment.

I love to give other people things so I need to learn to receive things gracefully too.

ooh...

When I'm in that moment I really have to challenge myself to breathe (Lynette's word for the year) and gratefully receive what the person wanted me to have.

So of course there have been a couple of things I received after this "lesson" on receiving:

• * someone who did some work for me sent me a mail saying I didn't have to pay her and that the work was a gift to me
• * people buying me tea at work
• * lovely, blank cards arriving on my desk (they all know I'm a card-giving freak - LOVE it)
• * lovely Nicole offering to go out of her way and buy me my precious binder rings (and I am having a BALL with them - I will show you soon)
• * someone at work baking and bringing me ginger biscuits (cookies) - I LOVE ginger biscuits
• * talented Mandy doing the giveaway for me on my blog of that gorgeous beach bag. Mandy also surprised me and told me she made me a Kindle cover - I am SUPER stoked and can't wait to get it. That did not take much work on the receiving part - I so very willingly receive it.
• * Caren sending me all those pics which was such a labour of love - downloading, compressing, emailing. I know the schlep of sorting photos. I love and appreciate it so, so much and I gushed in an email back to her :)

I wonder if I've learnt my lesson yet? :)

And what did I do for me this week?

1. I turned off the computer at 10:30 on Monday and Tuesday. Huge for me.

Of course then all h*** broke loose with the website and I more than made up for that by only going to sleep at 1 both Wed and Thursday. Oy. I'm too old for this stuff.

(BTW guys, I happily paid someone to fix the website and she did what she could but then she couldn't fix the other part and that was what stressed me out. That and the fact that it's all unnecessary spending. It's not like I'm raking in the big bucks in my business. Things could be a LOT better.)

2. However, Wed I had a massage. When I got my reminder SMS, I replied and said, "I can't WAIT. I've been counting the days since last week". That seemed to please her.

3. Yesterday I had my session with my coach who tried to tell me I should go once a month but I said no, I'm very happy weekly because it keeps me sane... and moving forward fast. She said something very nice to me - speaking to me is like free coaching for her too because I make her move on things she's been procrastinating :)

4. Tonight I made scones - from a packet, but I added my own twist by putting in some cinnamon sugar. Yip, delicious :) I've been craving for a nice scone and we've both had a tough week. My poor husband is so stressed by work he's in bed by 9:30 at night.

5. And some of you will get this but I also totally organised all the party stuff (paper plates, cups, decorations (all my birthday banners!) and other overflow crockery in my sideboard and that was also ME TIME! There's nothing like a bit of order for my sanity.

6. But the thing that made me feel so good this week is this (and please don't laugh, Jayme) -

I wrote down two long to-do lists (master lists) - personal and business - and now my mind is empty, my shoulders are relaxed and the bits of paper are all off my desk. Bliss.

Tackling them is another thing as there are 14 personal and 22 business things. Good times :)

7. Oh, and I went back to the personal trainer and worked out twice this week. Miracle in this cold!

So that's me.

What did you do for yourself this week?

P.S. I just had a little boy run from his room to come sit on my lap for a two-minute hug. When he was done, he jumped off, said, "come" and off we went to tuck him back in. How precious! I love these little moments that only he and I share.

And now I'm off to bed, only 23 minutes past my deadline.

The blogger thing and self-care

Thank you SO MUCH for all your comments on last night's post. Especially all the delurkers :)

I do realise all the logic around the whole blogging/ blogger meet-up thing.... it's just those were my feelings and they are valid.

(this is the stuff I say to friends and clients, so I'm extending the same compassion to me :))

Quite honestly, I just jumped into blogging as I do most things and yes, it is mainly an outlet for me.

And no, I don't want any social media and the whole popularity contest to take over my life. I much prefer to connect with people one on one in a meaningful way.

But... of course there is a part of me that also wants to feel included and part of things.

I'm not seeking PR/ giveaways/ etc, but I do love a good giveaway for YOU guys. It's fun to bless people and helps with my other mission of doing at least 4 unexpected random acts of kindness every month.

(of all my things on my 36 list, this has been the easiest to implement and keep up with)

And gosh, I never expected to have a proper invitation - my thing is seriously, how on earth do you know about these things? Was anyone saying spread the word, or here is a link to go read more? Etc.

So, conclusions:

1. I do have a mainly international crowd - very true - and I love it!
2. I don't run in the popular blogging circles - LOL - and I was absolutely reminded that blogging (and life) is about who you know :)
   
3. I do think we should have a blogger meet-up in Jhb.

Can anyone suggest some good, child-friendly venues for those who want to bring their kids along?


Moving along.... (and I actually wanted to write an update on 1, 2, 3, magic..... I know you can't wait :))

*********************************

I listened to one of Jennifer Louden's audios late last week. This one was a follow-up to the Satisfaction Finder.

And I heard something quite profound.

That when you're super stressed, when everything freaks you out, and you're on edge, check your self-care!

Quick point to this because my blogging time is nearly up - I have been super stressed about my website being hacked.

I can't explain the tension I had in my back and shoulders last week.

My massage appointment is only this Wed (can't wait) and I was sooooooo tempted to be that client who insists that she move my scheduled stuff, but I couldn't fit it in anyway.

And a few other small things.

So I thought about it and yes, I haven't been getting to bed as early as I need to and my sleep is compromised.

Yes, it is normal to be stressed about a hacked website but for me, the extent of the stress was unusual.

Usually I'm not that fazed by things.

If you're freaking out about a lot of things, check in with yourself.

Are you sleeping, are you eating properly, are you exercising, are you taking time for yourself?

PS This week my rule is computer off by 10:30 latest - that is it. If you get emails after that (Julia!), tell me to get off and get to bed.

Me time and a very cute giveaway - handmade beach tote

So can you believe we're half way through the year?

I know it's crazy.

I wrote on my other blog last night that in terms of me time/ self-care, etc, I'm doing great. This area is the best in my life at the moment after the babies of course.

I'm reading a lot, having massages, hair, personal trainer, etc. The weight is not quite falling off but I look better which was the whole point anyway.

This week I took a sick day (HUGE for me) and didn't go to work out with the personal trainer (this is big for me because I write these things down as goals and I hate not accomplishing goals. yes, I have issues).

I also spoke to the boss about not doing things properly and he admitted he was wrong and apologised profusely.

And tomorrow I'm going shopping with some of the free money :) Don't get too excited - I'm buying paint for outside the house.

Anyhow enough about me.

*********************************

Dollimama, MandyE and Andrea are hosting a giveaway thing and since I'm a regular participant to 52 weeks of me, I'm participating.

Now here's where I love blogging.

Mandy who is Suzy Homemaker is a sewing whizz and has offered to make something very cute and gorgeous for a reader of this blog.

We haven't finalised exactly what it will be yet (since she's doing her floors or something Mandy-ish) but It's going to be for you, the woman behind the baby/ies :) and is a FABULOUS beach tote with a wet bag inside!




I'm so jealous I can't get this myself :)

Mandy will be opening an Etsy shop soon and this will be a great way to see her cute stuff.

This giveaway is open to EVERYONE in the whole wide world (I will pay the shipping to wherever you live), mother/ non-mother, everyone! I'll draw the winner on Friday 8th at 7 pm SA time.

So if you'd like to enter the giveaway leave a comment telling me what you'd do with an extra hour a day :), or what you did for yourself this week. Big or small, I'll celebrate them all :)

If you want more entries, follow my blog. You'll have to leave a 2nd comment so that both count.

Date afternoons, the next best thing

As you know we don't have anyone who can babysit the kids at night so we can't have date nights.

The next best thing is date afternoons.

Very 60-year-old couple thing to do but this is the life stage we're in right now.

So Nanny V comes to work on one Saturday a month and D's mom comes to babysit one Sunday a month, and we use those times as our date afternoons.

We usually go run an errand or two that we can't do with babies (look at furniture/ house stuff) and eat out in the Nanny V time, and go see a movie in the MIL time.

Today we were both off from work and Nanny V worked so we hung around til the kids went to nap and then took off.

By the way, these babies never sleep as long for us but with her they nap about 2 hours usually, today 3 hours!!!!

I have NO idea what she does to make them sleep that long.

Anyway, I first ran a quick errand by myself (D said he'd rather not come with me to stand in a bank queue - I can't think why :)) and went to close my three accounts at the red bank.

For my non-South African readers, there are 4 major banks in South Africa and they each have a separate colour - red, green, blue and turquoise.

I was with the red bank for 25 years and opened a new account with the turquoise bank two months ago, and have only just managed to find some time to officially close the accounts. I transferred everything out except the R1000 I'm supposed to keep in the one account.

I am quite sad because the service today was good, the best I've had in YEARS but way too late.

Moving on...

We tried to go to an early movie but D is a stickler and if the movie's been on for even 10 seconds, he will not watch it.

So walking through the mall while deciding where to have lunch, we run into some old friends of ours and stood talking right there for one hour!

I had a brainwave and phoned through our order to Mimmos so when we arrived it was ready, we ate quickly and then went to see the Lincoln Lawyer (based on Michael Connolly's book).

Michael Connolly is one of my favourite authors ever (I have not rated one of his books below an 8) and I actually even met him once.

You know how no-one looks like their bio photo?

Yes, well, there was this man at the table with us at the author breakfast and I was chatting away to other ladies who had never read him but came to the author breakfast (who does that anyway?!) about how excellent his books are (you know how passionate I get about things I love) and how you can get any of them and won't be disappointed, and on and on.

Anyway, then the lady starts the proceedings and says, "please put your hands together and welcome Michael Connolly" and THIS GUY stands up.

!

I nearly died as I quickly scanned my memory bank wondering if I'd said anything bad. D assured me that I was very complimentary and only wondered how he (MC) kept a straight face through all of that. Teehee.

So that's my "I met a famous person" story.

The movie was OUTSTANDING - go see - and we both loved it.

That's what I did for me this week - I took leave, spent some quality time with D and I may have also bought a couple of cute notebooks for me.

You can never be too rich, thin or have too many notebooks, right? :P)

And I'm so glad those bank accounts are closed because that's one less thing I have to keep on my mental to-do list.

What have you done for yourself this week?

P.S. I've just prepped my talk for Monday and have also done the handout so that's another 4 things off my list and a total of 7 out of 15 :)

This week's me time

I've been in a strat session from 8:30 - 6 pm today.

By the way, the clock in my car is 10 minutes fast. That is part of the title of the CD I'm listening to, and yes, 3.5 degrees celsius.


We'd all agreed to go in and not come out til we got something sorted out, no matter the time, so yes, a long day but decisions made and lots of action items.

I love leaving strat sessions with things decided!

Especially when I see sunsets like this...


Absolutely gorgeous :)


Anyway, I have such a lot to talk about but I'll keep it easy. I was going to start my blog featuring thing today but you'll have to wait for tomorrow.

But first, how did I take time for myself this week?

1. Well, despite this week being the coldest week of the year (there was snow in some parts of SA, or so I hear), I braved the elements and went to gym not once, not twice, but THREE times.

I feel so virtuous.

Every single time I told myself that I must be the maddest (most mad?) person in the city to be out in this cold but I went.

Two of those were personal training sessions and one was a dance class.

The dance instructor is a new girl (well, new-to-me since I haven't been in over 2 months) and I was sweating and exhausted, and when I checked my watch, only 15 minutes had elapsed.

!

Somehow I made it and I felt AWESOME afterwards. I forget in between but I SO love dancing!


2. Then I hired a new coach this week. We had our intro session last week, I felt we connected and when she sent me details of her packages, I picked one (a weekly coaching package which I'll transition to monthly after 3 months, or maybe not, if I'm enjoying the weekly accountability), paid and am signed up.

It's for my business but we're going to focus on spiritual and family goals too. Woohoo.

I did my goals form last night - all 3 pages and emailed them through and we start next week.

3. Tomorrow I'm going to the hairdresser to get my hair blowdried and I can't WAIT!

4. My nails were painted purple earlier this week but I wasn't loving the colour so Wed night I took off the colour and painted my nails with clear polish. The next morning when Kendra came for snuggles, she goes, 'where's the purple?" Hilarious! This child notices everything!

What did you do for yourself this week? Did you have a fun one?

PS new post here

Five on Friday

1. I guest posted over at Dolli-Mama yesterday on I got my mojo back. Go read and please comment :) - everyone else that has guest posted has tons of comments. Eeeek.

2. You know how we all have good intentions about keeping track of our babies' likes/ dislikes/ milestones/ favourites, etc? And then how 90% of us don't actually do it (I am very firmly entrenched in that group)?

Well, here is the answer. One Rad Mother is a genius. Seriously. I'm in awe.

3. Men are not designed for party planning. Or maybe it's just my man. Do you know we had a 30-minute discussion last night addressing just two areas - theme and venue - and we are still undecided?

Do you also know how frustrating this is for me? I make decisions very quickly and then take action, and this is just about driving me batty.

We now have a party planning date for tomorrow afternoon. I can't believe I'm writing this. As Rebecca would say, kill me now!

4. The babies got put in time-out about 3 times in 30 minutes this morning. They got into the bin in my bathroom and emptied out all the stuff ALL over my bedroom. D was awake but in the shower; I was asleep.

When I woke and saw the stuff on the floor, I went, "Kendra!" because I know she's the instigator and wherever she was in the house, she got such a fright she started crying. And D and I both laughed.

5. As you know, Connor is VERY attached to his bear, Friday. Wherever you see Connor, there you'll find Friday. It's safe to say that it is his most treasured possession. So this morning (this is why you have to write down these things; they happen all the time) he hands Friday to me and then told me he wanted my phone. It was sweet of him but the phone is still off-limits :)

And for me?

I cancelled my personal training session for this afternoon. I consider this taking care of myself because I have not been able to walk properly for 3 days now. I'm still walking on my tippy-toes to relieve the pressure on my calves. Sigh.

I came home with a headache last night and instead of rushing around cooking, I did sweet NOTHING and just lay on the bed for an hour, reading. Bliss. I've now finished another book :)

And then I did no business work for 2 days besides client stuff due to (3) above.

Can you believe I can't WAIT to get home to tidy my study? I just function best in an ordered environment (don't laugh, Jayme) and it's going to make me happy!!!

What kind of home environment do you function best in?

The one good thing about Blogger being down

is that I left work this afternoon at 3:25, with only 1 email in my inbox and all my work up to date.

And a clear Google Reader.

Miracle!

That's because I couldn't post and the gazillion other blogs I read couldn't post too.

Of course I also couldn't comment on the older posts so please know I've read but I'm not going back to everything just to comment :)

1. Because of that, I went to get my hair done. Okay, that's not strictly true.

This morning I'd just had it with my hair and I phoned her while walking from the basement parking up to our office for an appt.

2. I'm also going to a women's thing at church tomorrow with a friend. Can't wait. We're having something to eat afterwards and a nice chat.

3. The other thing I did for me this week happened yesterday.

We have a two-hour meeting every two weeks which always runs over. Always.

And that means instead of having time to attend to one or two things, I run between meetings and end up feeling stressed because I'm not actioning anything.

So yesterday, at 2:10 I excused myself and said I had some things to attend to before my next meeting at 2:30. I did have to contact a few people so I didn't feel bad leaving; instead I like that I maintained strong boundaries.

And tonight I'm going to curl up with my Tony Parsons and get properly stuck in.

Some other tidbits...

I start working with the personal trainer again next week . It's going to take some getting used to because it'll have been 7 weeks and I am lazy.... and it's now winter whereas before I was exercising in summer.

I hope to get to goal weight by the time the babies turn 2 (nice milestone to aim for).

I am nowhere closer to deciding on a birthday party theme (Mandy, D was not keen on the book theme unless something specific like Alice in Wonderland, etc.)...any other ideas or blogs/ websites are welcome.

What did you do for yourself this week?