So far so good

It has been a long, successful time between blogging. This time of year tends to descend into chaotic disaster and misery, so for me to sit here, on my child's birthday, breathing a sigh of relief at having gotten through one party and two actual birthdays without too many tears and frustration (on my part) is a significant achievement.

I credit this amazing change to the blogging experience, bolstered by the Springsteen & ESB experience and in part the culmination of the efforts I've been making for a few years now to reorganise my life to reduce the stress, chaos and improve calm and happiness.

I've come out of this with a few realisations and tips:

1. When your life is hectic take a look at local venues that do children's parties. With a bit of negotiating it is surprisingly possible to have a no-fuss party that caters to your own needs and for which you do zero preparation (well I made a cake), yet spend no more than you would for a party at home!
2. Don't take people's comments on board. If they offer to help, believe it after you are wishing them a thankful goodbye, anything before that is not guaranteed to happen and can lead to disappointment. Along this same vein, if someone is critical, take it as a reflection of them, not you. The negative energy isn't yours.
3. Slow down. The busier life is, the more you need to slow down and take things one at a time. This has really worked for me in the last few weeks, and I hope it continues to keep me functioning until this busy time of year is finished. I don't think about what isn't in my immediate future, I don't worry about anything but what I'm doing next. The rest will eventually take care of itself or become the 'next thing' in its turn.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my part in the children's birthday's this year and am grateful for the learning experiences that have helped me to put it all into perspective. Making this cake was the relaxing, enjoyable event that it used to be years ago. I'm grateful for learning the tips above so that all I had to concentrate on for the party was the simplicity of this fun cake.
 

How long does it take to lose oneself? It's just a jump to the left?

That's me right now. Stuck in a time warp. Apparently it takes one week post-party to have regressed to a state of household chaos that very much resembles pre-party house chaos. With the addition of post-party mind-bending, Springsteen tour ending, hormonal panics. And a husband with a very very sore gum.

And how do I feel overall?  I feel rather remarkable.  I've only had to remove 2 items from the kitchen windowsill in a week, that is pretty good going for my compulsive surface covering hubby.  There are no extra do-dabs or non-belonging items on top of the bookcase.  The pantry is a little chaotic, but I'm onto that.  The laundry is getting a bit dodgy, but again, I'm keeping it in check. The kitchen table and kitchen bench are suffering post-party agonies (I can't see either)

On the flip side I have my blackboard, I have my daily quotes on it. The untidy 'hot spot' dumping ground near the stereo is tidy.  The fridge is tidier than it used to be.  The chaos at the moment is within me, but I'm also calmer with this month's hormonal cocktail.

Time is fleeting.

I am feeling a strong sense of that at the moment. That I must make choices that are best for the whole family.

At the moment that doesn't seem to include a trip to Santiago, much as I would LOVE to see Bruce and the E Street Band in concert again on this tour, I think I will miss out, in favour of the following range of alternate activities:

• walking the 5 km (or 10km) part of the local marathon.
• spending 5 days on the Gold Coast in a special 'children-friendly' resort 
• campervanning in the September school holidays
• my daughter's only gymnastics competition this year
• spending some time alone / with other women crafting / crocheting as an 'escape' for me
• visiting my Aunt as she celebrates her 90th birthday
• anything else that seems healing and energising that doesn't cost a small fortune in airfares.

But for now, I'm a bit in the time warp. About to turn 40. Listening to live music as I type that is tonight soothing and quietening the conflicts within.

I met (for the second time) a lovely man today, who hopefully has given me the direction and strength I need to deal with family conflicts. He's certainly given me a large list of things to look after. Who'd have thought a solicitor would be so helpful. Hopefully his charmingly brusque and forthright manner will help see me through the chaos there.

I've put on weight from doing so much Tai Chi and less walking (and lets face it, eating too many jam drops and chocolate cake slices!). I'm sure there is a balance there, but hubby needs to get out and exercise himself. Maybe some of our walks can include the children. I would love that, although its hard to get them all in the one place cooperating!

Have I said anything tonight? Probably not, but

"With a bit of a mind flip, you're into a time slip", so what does it matter?

:)

PS I learnt tonight how to change to a nicer font, yay me for conquering HTML. Also it occurs to me that blink and you miss a whole 7 days. What did you do with this week?  (tramps* don't answer, I know if you're in Europe what you've been up to!)  Blink again and 6 months have gone by.  Morale of the story? Blink infrequently, and make some memories every day.  Today's memories are of my daughters delight at jumping, her kisses of Grandad and the glorious smell of dinner cooking when I arrived home. Tomorrow I will aim for more memories and less chaos.


*aka Bruce Springsteen fans.

Rainbow Jelly Cups

Yes, that's it. Rainbow Jelly cups are the pinnacle of my life right now. (this could just be another way of saying that without seeing Bruce Springsteen and the band in Europe, life is meaningless!)

But back to the Jelly Cups and the strange things I am learning from them.

If I can just do this one hard thing, everything else will fall into place.
Firstly I'm learning that I have a wonky way of seeing myself.  I seem to think that if I can conquer rainbow jelly cups for my daughter's party, then somehow I will manage absolutely everything else.  Interesting in theory.

I'm busy doing this one hard thing and don't want to stop.
I'm also discovering that I'm obsessed with these jelly cups. I am having to stop myself from losing all perspective and force myself to attend to other party needs. Perhaps having lost the passion fruit jelly today, only to find it much later, and then discover that it isn't purple at all, its YELLOW. Not helpful when you're up to the "indigo and violet" end of the spectrum!  Having stalled in the jelly construction has at least given me time to continue the cleaning.  Which brings me to another party realisation.

Facing facts - I'm extrinsically motivated.
No matter how much I try to develop intrinsic motivation, or to appreciate whatever is intrinsic, the bottom line is I'm extremely extrinsically motivated. Excessively so even.  I'm finally having a party, my daughter's best friend is coming over for the first time, and I suddenly have the guts and wherewithal and all tools needed to tackle that dusty pile of messy stuff on top of the stereo.  In the past 2 years is there really a reason I couldn't have found this ability for myself?  Apparently not.  When I do things for myself the time frame is slower and infinitely more painful.  This extrinsic stuff really pumps my juices. Extrovert anyone?

And talented at layering cold fun stuff.
But wait, there's more to this blog and more realisations.  This one's a quirky one.   Apparently I'm good at making layered cold stuff.  I should try more of it, for the Mumma ego boosting qualities.  Logical reasons why layered cold stuff ought to be challenging are that you have to spend a prolonged period of time devoted to the construction, which also seems to involve technicalities around the exact timing versus what you're trying to achieve.  Apparently I kick arse at this.  So far my repertoire is rainbow jelly and frozen 'discovery' icebergs.

 

 

Just in case you desperately need to know -here's how to make Rainbow Jelly Cups. (pictured above minus the infuriatingly not present purple jelly)

 

How to make Rainbow Jelly Cups

1. Buy plastic cups and 2 packets each of red, yellow, green, blue and purple jelly.  My layers are uneven because of differing amounts of jelly. Plus if you stuff up its always good to have backup. You could also try simply buying orange jelly and sticking to one packet each. It depends whether you like the blended look between my red and yellow better than the neat layer between my yellow and blue.

 

2. Make up your red (or purple) jelly and pour into cups evenly. I made 12 cups from one packet of each, but I think I'll need 2 packets for the top layer as the blue is a little thin.

 

3. Wait for it to set.  If you are layering to blend colours, make up a new jelly (in mine I did red then yellow) and when it cools to just warm, pour over the red and refrigerate quickly. The red and yellow will blend to make orange. I then did a new layer of yellow.  If you are not blending colours, leave the new jelly to cool to room temperature and add to the layers in the cup.   Repeat for all colours.

 

or you could go to the source of my Jelly adventures at Pink and Green Mama and see if her version makes more sense :)

 

Its simple really isn't it?  I have taken 3 days to make these, but I'm in no hurry. While I'm making jelly I'm not worrying about the other million party preparations. Its supposed to be fun,right? Well apparently jelly cups are my idea of fun :)





Juggling all the balls

I've had my eldest child back for nearly a week now, and survived the transition after bringing her home Monday night and having a blood pressure spike on the same night.

What have I learnt during this past week of chaos, mayhem, stress, fun and frustration?  Not a lot I'm afraid. I've learnt that I feel like a hamster in a wheel, spinning round and round and achieving only a bad headache and temper to match. 

In contrast I've also enjoyed the small things. Because as so many times we are reminded by little inspirational memes, they ARE the big things.

I've hugged my boy so tight, I've giggled with my baby. I've heard my elder girl explain to me her economic theories of life. I've enjoyed a visit with Dad where we held a normal conversation about his living arrangements, and how we would both prefer he be somewhere else.

I've felt blessed by all my family this week, as well as infuriated!

And I have no answers. Not one. All my blogging, and theorising and mantras continue to boil down to the fact that I have to make a huge effort for happiness, that it doesn't just 'come' and that order in my life similarly doesn't come easily.

Interestingly I did see this YouTube clip about how as we get older, we see time as speeding up; and that if we increase our new, novel experiences, we improve our memory making, and our sense of time going more slowly, with more meaning.

This inspired me to stop complaining and to start moving. At the moment that means working a little more towards some travelling, and also to look at seeing more live music, getting ready for 2 birthday parties and doing something meaningful with this last week of school holidays.

Seems like a lot doesn't it?  It IS a lot. No wonder I'm tired just thinking about that, plus all the other details!  Maybe that's what I need to work on next / most of all - how to make everything SEEM simpler!  Get the 'clutter' out of my mind!

Health & Happiness Challenge Day 1

I have started two new blog posts tonight, as well as a spreadsheet to help me keep track of my challenges for the week.

Today was an extra work day for me while the children saw cousins with their Nana and Pop. So it didn't leave a LOT of time for exercise (I did a quick 10 minute walk before being picked up from work), or for reaching out to friends (so I emailed photos of the children to the family).

My Bruce time was mostly during the walk, although I did have my mindful Bruce attitude all day, holding my head up higher, and being happy in myself.

I'm grateful for another 2 hour drive home without tears and wailing from the little children. I'm grateful my cat survived a second day without his midday medication.

My diet could have been better as I had iced coffeee (yum!); but I also have had 1/3 of my water and I've eaten plenty of Kale today.

I phoned my father, it was lovely to speak with him after a busy day yesterday, and to hear that the private physiotherapist I have in to see him weekly was a highlight of his day as she took him for a longer walk than the staff usually do.

My excel spreadsheet looks a little like this:

 

Was flat, now a new week of challenges!

I'm a bit frightened. I have psoriasis coming back. New outbreaks on my legs, and my arm scar tissue is doing the opposite of fading.

There are so many things that I can attribute it to, but my gut says it all boils down to that extra special spark of happiness post-Springsteen and the E-Street Band concerts. 

I know I've eaten badly, for enough weeks that it is affecting me, so perhaps it is that. I know my exercise has dropped off with the cold wet weather, illnesses and extra child at home.

I know that my stress levels have skyrocketed with various unavoidable dramatic personalities, including my son's exhausted end-of-term teacher-inspired nervousness at everything. 

What I don't know is how to make it better. I have written so many words in my searching for various motivations and direction, yet still manage to come to this place where things go horribly wrong despite my best intentions.

I feel like I need a plan, or a mantra and a plan. Goals. I find it difficult to cope with when my goals aren't met on time. I was pretty heartbroken when I didn't reach my goal weight at the end of April. Since then I've tried to be more flexible, but then, without a solid goal, it is easy to slowly seep into excuse making by default. That place where you don't actually make excuses, but you excuse yourself from having to be responsible. 

I did this for a whole week recently over my son's school troubles. In some ways the week of 'not dealing with it' gave me some breathing space, but on the other hand, what kind of emotional state was I already in that I needed to re-create an emotional buffer that took a week in the making?

Part of the problem might have been that I've let the blog get out of control, so instead of having a daily reflection on how I'm doing, its barely a weekly review.

I'm sure I did  this list only a few weeks ago - exercise, blog, Bruce, gratefulness, Tai Chi, friendship.  I think its time for another 'challenge' where I focus on these elements as well as the special school holiday additions of children-time and cleanout-time. Challenge week time it is. First challenge will be getting to the blog daily!

I also left out diet! After naming it as the second most likely cause of disease disaster, I need  to remember at least the basics of no bread, 3 bottles of water and some Kale every day.

Exercise and tai chi are self-explanatory - daily!

Bruce - get some of that him daily too!

Gratefulness - a daily record of what I'm grateful for, at LEAST.

Friendship - connect with my exercise mates, or phone a friend

Children and cleanup time is part of my school holiday plan to begin with.

Wow, that is a very structured, full kind of challenge.  Perhaps it is about time.  I do wonder where in there I'm going to fit other things, like the evil budget word, or following up to fix my Dad's hearing aids.  So so many things. 

First a little bit of Tai Chi and a little bit of gratitude followed by the necessary fixing clothes for work tomorrow.

I hope you've made it this far through this very inwards and reflective journal for today!

If so, how wonderful is this? This is Evan's man-hug, from his sign request for the same.  It might seem crazily out of context, but its here because Evan's story makes me smile, and reminds me of how amazing it feels to be so close to someone who has such incredible energy and zest and shares that on such a magnificent scale.

Today I'm grateful that Evan shared his moment with so many Brucebuds.  I'm especially grateful to get home at night with two happy children (as compared to the screaming to get out of the car variety). I'm also grateful that my cat did ok by himself for the day. 

What are you grateful for today?

EDIT: note to self for this week - turn out the light!

Taking care of yourself - an epiphany.

I've had an epiphany. Not a very pleasant one, but an incredibly poignant light bulb moment. I'm sitting in my broken down car, on the side of the highway, waiting now for over half an hour for a row truck to collect myself and my disabled car in the pouring rain.

I have been watching European concerts for Bruce Springsteen with increasing agitation and envy  (check this link for why); what if this is his last tour? What if he stops touring and goes home to New Jersey for the next 2 years? These thoughts are what fuels my desperation to see him one more time, while I can.

And then there it was. My 'oh hell' moment, when I realised that had I argued more, or better, 10 years ago to have my frequent flyer points reinstated after they expired when my credit card company stopped automatic affiliation with the frequent flyer points, then I would have enough for my family to travel to Europe. (This happened in the traumatic year my mother got ill and died, so I was not paying attention to such things until it was too late).

What this is teaching me is that to not take care of something might seem to only have 'imaginary' consequences, the reality is that I am now sitting in THAT moment, where my much saved, loved points would have transported me from my suburban existence and taken my whole family on an amazing overseas holiday. My consequence for not sticking up for myself 10 years ago is right now, this very minute, realising that yes, that vague time in the future does come around! It's like when you are young the idea that smoking will ruin your health is a vague notion at best - some imaginary calamitous future disease - it does come to pass!

Here's my tow truck - the consequence of not paying attention to my car - now it's broken :(

Lesson for me? Take care of things, all the things. Just like my health, the whole of my life is my responsibility and there are consequences to doing a half hearted job.  I knew that eventually this new sense of self-actualisation regarding my health must begin to permeate the other facets of my life; however I'd always imagined that the transition would be more instantaneous, in the way that seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert instantly transformed my perspective on my responsibility for my own health well-being occurred overnight.  I had imagined that overnight I would have the exact same goal oriented, no-setback accepted, driven and calm resolve about decluttering my house.  This somewhat obscure little 'light bulb moment' that annoyingly seems to require me to find every distasteful incomplete or neglected task in my life and place it as a matter of priority is not what I imagined as the next logical progression of realising my life is wholly my responsibility to live in a happy way.  It may take some getting used it, despite the way I already see parallels between the concept of 'jobs left undone' and the state of clutter in my house. I see many instances of too lazy to find a home for items, or too lazy to return items to their proper place; of jobs half done rather than completed.

Perhaps the link isn't so obscure after all, and this will have a significant affect on my life's clutter!

Household madness and other cleaning conundrums

Has three months of blogging helped me to keep the house cleaner? If I look at the question critically, then the answer would be not a great deal.  The state of the house is still very chaotic, my 'hot spots' where junk collects appear to have grown in size and number.  However overall there are a few positive differences that would not have happened without blogging.  These make the optimist in me say YES, blogging has made a difference!

The most obvious change is my entry. Having followed "Inspirational Thursday"  and taken the advice of my friend, I 'made over' the entry over a month ago.  And it is still looking pretty spiffy compared to the mess of bags and shoes on the floor that I had previously.

I am happy with that result!   The second change is more subtle, but possibly has a much greater affect on our household. Since blogging, and my Bruce Springsteen experience, I have been much calmer and happier. My husband has  therefore been calmer and happier, we have better routines and it has become unusual for the chaos to get as out of hand as it used to when we were under pressure.  Now that I think about it, I think I've achieved a little glimmer of 'being prepared', something I so admired in my mother in law during my first week of blogging.

The more time I take to contemplate my household management and cleaning, the more I realise that the progress I'm making has everything to do with my positive attitude.  It is amazing what can get done when you stop finding excuses and simply begin doing!  This is particularly inspirational to me today, as yesterday I was feeling a bit unwell, I felt my positive attitude and energy had left me, yet I managed to cook 3 meals for a weekly cook-up with my hubby, and still went for a 20 minute walk for exercise.  Pre-Bruce, pre-blog, neither of those things would have been achieved on a 'bad day'.  I would highly recommend blogging, or journaling to anyone who is struggling with progressing in any aspect of life. Writing things down and practising self reflection are incredibly powerful tools for positive change!

The Jedi art of Under-reacting

I realised the other day that one of the biggest contributors to my stress level was my own reaction to potentially stressful events and news. Confronted with any hint of bad news I tend to immediately and unknowingly spend quite a few moments dramatising the problem. By dramatising I mean focussing on it, extrapolating the first information out into the future implications as though all possible negative outcomes were absolutely going to come to pass.  After that I have even developed the habit of laying blame for the problem, wasting time identifying how and why the problem even occurred.

For example when my husband recently came home from a job interview with the news  that he was starting work next week; my immediate reaction was dismay that his first day of work was going to be the very day after my own first day back in 2 years.  I wasted valuable time and energy worrying about how I'd cope looking after our young toddler after a long day at work, and then doing it again all week, as well as doing all the school drop offs and pick ups. What I said to my husband wasn't 'oh great you managed to get my workday off'; but 'why did you arrange to start the day after me?'  I turned his good news into a negative, and triggered off panic-hormones that have serious consequences for my autoimmune disease. 

It might seem simple to you reading that this wasn't the perfect or even a moderately reasonable way to react to his good news, but it is a terrific example of being stuck in the rut of negativity!

How did I change this?   I wanted to be all Jedi like, and not flapping around in a panic.  You know, like Yoda, with all that little Jedi dude Hmm Hmm'ing?  I especially like this quote too:

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. --YODA, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Well, I realised that the way to Jedi under-reacting enlightenment was to IMMEDIATELY look to the solutions and waste not a moment on the problem.  Or, turn away from the fears and focus on the hope.  I've been trying this for a few days and seeing a remarkable difference!!

When it came to the potential exhaustion of working all week between us, as soon as I began to think positively about the solutions I realised that this week is not a full working week, as in Australia we have a public holiday on April 25th, for ANZAC day, which means that despite potential tiredness on Tuesday and Wednesday, I will get a 'holiday' on Thursday, an extra day of not worrying about school runs, lunches and early mornings.  I was so happy to apologise for my negativity and to let my husband know that it was all going to turn out fine this week,with an extra day off for our first week!  The change in how I physically felt when thinking positive was obvious, I was smiling, I felt taller and less hunched, I believed in myself more, I didn't have chest pains from tensing up, and I've had so much more energy since taking this 'solution focus' on board.

One positive thought led to another, and I've made plans to have my friend look after the small person so that I can still do my Tai Chi class on Tuesday; again giving me a bit of a break and a chance to catch up for a cuppa as well!

So my newest lesson is that of focussing on the solution, not the problem. It is amazing how this simple change of focus can make such a huge difference emotionally and physically. I also hope to be re-teaching my children a new way to look at problems, to worry less and enjoy the moment, including all the little hurdles that cross our paths.

Perhaps, if I'm lucky, the new attitude and way of working will rub off on my husband, who tonight gave a brilliant demonstration of 'problem focus' - I was very happy to be able to stay calm and centred and quietly point out the communication misunderstanding when he was ready to think about solutions :)



 

Getting off my arse! Inspired to Exercise!

You might by now realise that I have a sizeable hoard of inspired feelings happening as a result of going to three Bruce Springsteen concerts. He and the band put on such marvellous shows and have such incredible positive energy that it’s hard not to bring home life lessons to apply. I already mentioned my amazement at Springsteen's energy in this post.

The most glaringly obvious lesson for me was that of health. As I sat on the first night I was amazed at the incredible vigour and energy of this man.  It wasn't until later that I found out he was 63 years old!  I was stunned, thrilled, and quite honestly put to shame at the pitiful state of my health by comparison. It was a sobering thought, as my own Dad, who was 63 when I was just 17, was possibly just as fit and vigorous at the same age, playing Badminton fixtures and doing hard physical work without breaking too much of a sweat. I have been complacent and lazy. There is no other way to describe it. I have indulged in the first-world habit of plenty, used my boring desk job as an excuse for sedentary behaviour and suffered the health consequences including rheumatoid arthritis and high blood pressure.

It seems obvious that turning forty this year is a sure indicator that theoretically my fittest years are behind me, and those to come will be harder health wise. I see no reason therefore to make them harder yet by holding onto all this excess weight, or to ever again blame my circumstances for what is quite simply, poor prioritising.

These revelations haven't all come from concert-going. Earlier this year I had a conversation with my doctor about the value of health.  I saw him in January after gaining considerable weight spending almost five weeks by my father's beside in hospital when he had pneumonia. I sat around on my arse enough in December to gain 10 kilograms. This didn't count Christmas foods as we had a salad picnic in the backyard on Christmas Day, because my father was still in hospital. It was just too much arse sitting, and probably too many sandwiches from the hospital cafeteria.

The result of this weight gain was an increase in my blood pressure, that required more medication. In January, I was given a form to have my cholesterol tested, in 6 weeks time, and told to go back home and make every day count with my diet and exercise. In that 6 weeks I lost 5 kilograms, my blood pressure improved, and I was walking on the beach and doing tai chi regularly with no excuses. I thought I was doing well. I aim for a raw diet (I miss, but that’s the idea), high in Kale and Cos Lettuce, and theoretically low in empty carbs and sugar (no bread, and little pasta or rice). That’s just the type of food intake that works for me. My cholesterol came back at a spectacularly healthy 3.5 and my doctor was thrilled, told me to go home and keep doing what I was doing.

March didn't prove quite so fruitful, my weight has hovered, I've missed Tai Chi classes, and I didn't go to the beach at all. Seeing Bruce Springsteen in Melbourne became as much a mission to get in 3 hours of non-stop dancing and jumping and arm waving as it was about the show! I was certain I needed that time, in the GA standing area to get the absolute most out of my experience. Sitting down for so much of the Brisbane concert really grated on me as a wasted opportunity (shame on your oldies who insisted my daughter and I stop dancing!)  Going back for a second session of exercise for Melbourne night 2 was a no-brainer for my health!

The Melbourne experience of 2 concerts and spending time with my exercise conscious friend taught me that I was more capable than I thought. I hadn't jumped up and down for years because of arthritic pain in my achilles. Yet mid-concert I found myself jumping up and down with excitement, and then again a few days later, playing in the park with my children!

I’m finding it very easy to keep up with the persistence to exercise and to eat healthily because of the realisation that there is such a large gap between my fitness, and that of someone more than 20 years my senior. I think that part of the inspiration comes from the Joie de Vivre that exudes from not only Bruce Springsteen, but the E Street Band, and indeed, the crowd at his concerts! I have been doing Tai Chi with a 92 year old, managing to just keep up with her and had never felt the same urgency to step up the pace. Tai Chi isn't really a discipline that encourages hastiness, although it has increased my fitness, it is surprisingly energetic, but very non-competitive.

Sharing my enthusiasm and determination with friends has provided me with some extra moral support to stay focussed this week.  Two of my friends are now exercise buddies, both from Melbourne, who are keeping me company on my fitness journey through texting reminders to walk, and motivating each other to keep at it, even on a 'lazy' day.

So far I don't seem to have achieved any shift in weight at all for the past 6 weeks or so, however, today a friend commented that I'd lost weight; she reasoned that I'd had 2 workouts at the concerts and that muscle weighs more than fat! I love her thinking! My skirt is doing its best to fall off over my hips, which is good enough for me, and the stubbornness of the scales is motivating me even more to see them shift back under 90 kilograms.

My big goal, which will take quite a bit to achieve, is to be 80 kilograms by my birthday at the end of winter! It’s been 8 years since I was that weight.  Having written down these goals, I realise that I am going to call in the assistance of a personal trainer, to at least help with planning a realistic strategy, in keeping with the wise words of this article, which notes that successful people do not simply repeat an activity over and over again, but seek expert feedback on their performance.  The article has contributed a great deal to my motivation, and partially inspired this previous post about 'Motivational Thursday". 

I'm looking forward to checking my progress in a few weeks time. At the moment I'm walking every day, and doing Tai Chi at least 4 hours a week. Whether my diet intake is strict enough to make a difference remains to be seen. I think I mostly eat healthily, however there is always the temptation of sweet biccies and too much dairy. This uncertainty is the reason I'm going to employ the principles of seeking expert feedback on my progress from a personal trainer, because a good trainer will give assistance with a food diary and be able to provide advice on nutrition as well as moral support.

I'll probably send the occasional tweet about exercise and update the blog if there is any significant news or change to the routine. I'm still a complete twitter noob, but you can find me here if you want to follow my day to day updates. 
I would love to hear your experiences with illness, exercise and health. Did anyone who went to all 10 Australian concerts spontaneously find themselves feelng fitter and more well I wonder? I know I came away standing taller and with a greater sense of belief in myself :) 

Organising tools ahoy!

Hello, a quick update today about yesterday's shopping trip to Officeworks. I was out, child-free for a change and while in Officeworks found these funky tools that I'm already getting great use from.

This little A5 zip-up folder is to put in my handbag as a portable office. I am too cheap to pay freight for FlyLady's "Office in a Bag" so I'm having a go at the version for under $10! It already has some medical bills for my Dad in it that need to be delivered to Medicare.

This groovy little sideways piece of plastic is to go on the wall beside my computer. I'm going to store current bills in it. Previously they went into piles, which grew and grew towards the ceiling. With this slender wallet on the wall there will be a limit to how many bills fit in at once, so I'll be forced to keep up to date. I really need this kind of visual reminder.

These very boring looking magazine holders are already seeing use. Back in December I photographed my cousins's sorting system where she kept these all decorated up as sorting systems for school and extra-curricular activities for children. At the moment I've already stocked 2 of them, one with my daughter's school notes, tuckshop bags, and other important documents relating to school. The second one is what I call "home and motivation" and it contains my dreams workbook, housecleaning notes and other nifty house organising references.  Once I have the system working I will decorate them and re-post.

I'm doing well with side-ways pictures today! These labels are for storage in our fridge. We are often confused about whether food has been 3 days or 5 days - which can make a difference. If we label the leftovers I figure thats one more part of life we've saved time and made easier. We both share cooking so its easier to be able to open the fridge and see whats in it. Especially good for my husband who finds it difficult to think about anything once it is inside a container unless there is a label.

And these little beauties are re-useable labels for anything. I figured my husband who loves labels can find a use for them.

What organising tools do you use?

The Clean Floor Game

One of the jobs for the weekend was to do a cleanup of the floors all around  the house. On a whim this morning, I decided to turn that into a game, to keep things interesting. I'm a big fan of UFYH (Unfuck Your Habitat) and enjoy their phone ap - I find the randomness of the suggestions really suits me.

So I found a container to use as a 'jar' and wrote the names of all the rooms /areas of my house on scraps of paper and tossed them in.  The idea being that I would draw out a room, clean the floor in that room, and then take a break doing some jigsaw puzzle in between rooms.  I get tired quickly from bending over jigsaws, so the break would be self-limiting automatically.  This is the jigsaw:

It worked beautifully. The first room I drew was the kitchen, so the whole floor had toys and random stuff picked up and was swept.  Then my break was a little bit of jigsaw and some X-box games with my son. My daughter got caught up in the enthusiasm, and did her own little bit of cleaning of a junk room upstairs (she lucked out and drew a hard spot to clean).  Here's the extremely simple 'pot luck' container:

Many interuptions later, the front verandah got thoroughly cleaned up, cat litter changed and swept. Then the stairs which in my house tend to collect things at the bottom that need to go up, plus other random flotsam were cleared off all the clutter.

Sadly my cleaning spree was not to be however, and I spent most of the day visiting and caring for my Dad.  I finished this special something for a friend while with him.

In the end, I am tempted to keep up this game as a way of getting through the tidying up more often.  I can see me using it on floors, but it might work for other things, like '27 fling boogie'. In such a big, cluttered house with a husband who tends to leave things on the floor, I find it difficult to be in 10 places at once to pick up after him and the children. This little game will make it easier, particularly if I'm lucky enough to have a day at home when we are both able to play it, in 2 different rooms at once.

I hope that your weekend has been as productive as mine. (and that you are more prepared for Monday than me - thats my job before bedtime - getting lunchboxes ready and uniforms ironed)!

Cleaning habits, Challenge week works!

I've come to a realisation about the creation of good habits. Small good habits, or small efforts made repeatedly, lead to a self-regulating habit. Just like this post on "Habit V's Guilt" I am discovering that baby steps do indeed make cleaning progress. Not only do baby steps eventually lead to real changes, but the slow creation of habits over time creep in.

There is something about confidence that makes a contribution here too. The entire theme for this post started out when I happily noticed that the laundry has managed to stay in a state of what I'd call controlled chaos since the great laundry challenge week (updates found here, here and here).

The state of the laundry looks pretty awful at the moment, but the reality is that I'm getting through my 1-2 loads a day from beginning to end and for the most part, everything is where it should be. The same kind of thing is happening in the kitchen. Sure the hard-to-wash-up stuff sometime lingers, and there always seems to be leftover washing up, but its not the same dirty pot sitting here on Thursday that was there last weekend. Its a new pot, replacing the cake tin.  I think when I am more confident, and my habits are even better, I can raise the expectation that no dirty dishes will be there from one day to the next.

I think I'm getting all my concepts mushed up in a mess here, but what I'm figuring out is that by giving myself permission not to be perfect in my habits, while simultaneously keeping up some confidence that I'll get these things done, I'm managing to keep on top of some routines.

All I need to do now is keep up with the decluttering and slowly add in more routine cleaning.  Seems so simple but I suspect it will be a slow road.

Something also seems to be brewing in the wider family as this evening my husband has swept the floor without any prompting. 

When all else fails, fake it, cut corners & take a shortcut!

Today is a day of cutting corners. In the end, that is what has made it a successful day.  All the corner cutting has paid off with a hefty dose of "hey I did it". Sometimes faking it till you make it really is the magic formula!  I've heard people say that before - its certainly written in the book I'm reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. After my experience today, I would agree that there is a lot to be gained in terms of getting things done and positive energy in having a go at this strategy!

There are a never-ending number of ways you can 'fake it', some of my favourite cheats and shortcuts include:
- putting on music for little ones to dance to to buy a few minutes of instant fun
- making 'fake' dips, like 'corn relish' dip - blend some cream cheese and a jar of corn relish - voila, tasty dip, looks homemade! A similar dip can be made with a packet of french onion soup, as shown here, or you can also make up about 1/4 of a cup of soup first, it make the blending easier!
- applying a thin layer of wax to a clean stovetop to make spills easy to wipe off - I'm yet to do this one, it is pinned to my new "Organising Energy" pinterest page, here.
- pouring some vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher to kill germs
- adding vinegar to washing up for an extra sparkly finish
- deliberately hugging for at least 30 seconds or more even when I don't feel like cuddling, because thats how long it takes endorphins and other good hug-hormones to work. This one really works a treat!
- I've already mentioned my inability to do birthdays weekly here. So I make do with my post office issues, and send them quarterly. Everyone still gets a card, and while I've had a few comments on the earliness / lateness of the cards, what I haven't felt is guilty for not sending one at all. It really bugs me. I think birthday cards are important, no matter your age. So when I don't send them (like I haven't sent any this year!) I feel quite bad for the lack of respect and love I've shown my family and friends.

The special fake-it day I had today involved quite a few moments of making do, and getting on with it. This is the story of my fake-it day.

Today I attended a local birthing and mother's community group. It is a bring-a-plate thing. So I took these rather ordinary jam rolls bought from the supermarket, and dressed them up a little!

I simply cut each roll into thirds, tured them onto their sides and suddenly I had little mini rolls. Sure, everyone probably knows they're store bought, but they're now snazzier! For a children's function you could add some icing writing on the plate to make little snails!

 

Going with the theme of shortcuts - I always wash out stains that needs a bit of a handwash while I'm in the shower. It is strangely soothing using your feet to clean while relaxing. One of the advantages of the shiny new shower, inspirational place to do the handwashing!

We even 'cheated' at taking my son to school today. I dropped him and his Dad off, reassuring him that Daddy couldn't leave as I had the car! Separation anxiety eased. A great schoolday was had and the school library got a parent helper for an entire day!

I'll leave you with a cool idea for some down-time play, especially on these crazy, rainy days.  I had some flour that had for some reason been left with its lid off, so we made playdough! The no-stove recipe I use is:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 tablespoon Cream of Tartare
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup of hot / boiling water
stir, knead and add food colouring.

And when you are all done playing, store the homemade playdough in the fridge for next time in a ziplock sandwich sized bag!

Thats it from my day of short cuts and 'faking it"

101 Dreams

For Christmas I bought myself this book from Kikki-K.

I am not sure what I hoped to acomplish with it, perhaps I was hoping to get some organisation from the sinking depths I felt I was in at that time. What has surprised me, is to discover, when I reopened the book after it has been hidden behind junk for a while, is the following entry:



Dream #11 - write a blog!

And here I am, writing. Its not the blog I had in mind, but this blog is absolutely the one that needed to be written. It contributes nicely to dream #5 - live in a clean house.

Its a bit different to writing a bucket list, this 'dream' idea. While my bucket list might list 90 places I'd like to visit, my dreams are constructed of slightly different stuff - things like visiting my relatives; taking a family vacation.  After 2 months, it still only has a list of 30 dreams, but they're heartfelt and meaningful to me.  I think I'll be keeping this dream book a little closer :)

We are having internet problems here with heavy rainfall and flooding nearby, so a blog with pics is on its way, stay tuned!

When Things break whats really important?

Some days it all just goes to hell in a handbasket, doesn't it? Today is one of those days. I've drunk the water, done some cleaning, done my level best to remain civil to those I love. And it still just feels like a horrid day. Perhaps thinking about money, work, trying new things, and my 40th birthday all at once was brain overload?!! First world problems. Blog will resume with some tidbit of knowledge and learning from the day if some's to be had.

	Women Of History (@WomenOfHistory)
15/02/13 8:50 AM Never let a problem to be solved become more importantly than a person to be loved. -Barbra Johnson

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And that's it! When all else fails, remember love. Today I cuddled my children, apologised to my husband and read the little ones 3 or 4 picture books. Job done today!