101 List Progress Check - August 13th

Sorry!!! I have got behind (seems to be my general state of being at the moment). Work seems to be getting a bit hectic again with project work, and I have just got my boys back from the UK and the started kindergarten and school today. Tonight they are back to normal, not going to sleep and getting out of bed every ten minutes because daddy's not here to give them a talking to - joy!!!

So, here is the lowdown on my 101.

Prizewinner books - I have now completed The Color Purple and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is definitely one I would read again in the future.

Classic films - I finally got round to watching the rest of Taxi Driver. The ending is not quite what I was expecting (although, to be fair, I'm not sure what I was actually expecting), but was done in proper bullet fest mode :o)

Supplements - still ploughing through these babies... yum!!!

Ripped abs - OK, so I have totally fallen off the wagon with this one (mainly thanks to my dad and his feeder personality - and my obvious lack of willpower). I have now put back on five of the eleven kilos that I lost. However, today Ben came home with one of these body fat scale things and apparently I have a body fat percentage of 38%. Having since looked on the internet and discovered that in most guidelines this puts me in the 'obese' category I have decided that:

                 a)       the scales don't work; or

                 b)       38% isn't actually obese (although that sounds pretty high...); and

                 c)       I really need to get back on the healthy eating and get some sort of exercise routine

                           re-established (stopping recording that in my filo was a bad move - I lost all
                           accountability)  

                 No-one needs to worry that I am suffering from any illusions as to my size, I know I am not huge and have no intention of trying to lose three stone or anything drastic as that would make me officially underweight and in danger of malnutrition. Just for info, I currently weigh 59kg (approximately 9st 2lb), and am 5'6".

Seeing Jessica Ennis in team GB has also helped my motivation - she is stunning, and those abs? Utter perfection.

Skincare routine - four weeks done, and I have kept it up since I finished (apart from one evening), so there is hope for me :o)

Finish work on time with no work to take home 2 days a week for 3 months - I have finally got round to checking my work log (I have been monitoring as I am trying very hard to leave work on time every day, apart from monthend, and have been doing pretty well). I have discovered that I completed this particular challenge quite early in June, and have further success regarding the third of my working hours challenges.


Work very late for 2 nights at monthend, and 2 'normal' late nights per month with no work to take home for 2 months - I managed this for March, April and May, but it messed up by one extra proper late night in June due to some project work, but as the challenge was only for two months then it's all good - yay!!! In fact, the last few monthends haven't even needed 2 very late nights, just the one for the close itself - double yay!!!

And the final work one...? As above, but with hours back in the form of working from home on Fridays with an early finish... Well - for the monthend close nights I have been having the hours back in  the form of time off, I don't do that with the standard late nights though as I don't see a need to. When this challenge was set my working hours were excessive to say the least and I really didn't think that the working hours challenges were going to be achieved so early in the 1001 days, and that these hours have now pretty much become the 'norm' for me is pretty amazing.

I am happy therefore to say that all my working hours challenges have been met, and as much as everyone likes to laugh at my Filofax collection and how much I love them and praise them, it is pretty much entirely down to the use of them for work that I have been able to achieve this more balanced work/life thing. Go team Filofax!!!

Ooh - almost forgot!!! I successfully completed my two weeks of being nice. The last day was a bit of a struggle, so I just had to remember how much effort I had already put in, and that I didn't want to have to do the first 13 days all over again just for one mindless comment :o)

Have a good week,

LJx

101 List Progress Check - July 23rd 2012

Hi All,

Super quick check-in today as I will be out to dinner shortly – loving time off work J

Make-up daily  -              I am so good, two more days to go and it’s completed… I am amazed J

Skincare              -              I am surprised (and very pleased) to be able to say that I have managed 13 days without fail so far – go me!!!

Supplements    -              Not going as well as the other challenges as I have missed a couple of days now while I’ve been on holiday (it’s much easier when I’m at work as I can keep them on my desk as a reminder to take them). Being at work has to have some benefits, right?

Family holiday   -              Completed. We all had a fabulous week at Centerparcs and I would highly recommend it to anyone. The swimming complex is fabulous (although I somehow managed to injure myself on quite a regular basis – including bashing my coccyx rather hard going down the steep slide – in the process of which I managed to melt 3 small holes in my new swimsuit…).

Being nice for two weeks            -              OK, so not as much success as I’d have thought considering I was on holiday, but much better than I would usually be, that’s a good start. But I started again on Saturday (after the family holiday was finished) and can proudly report that by the end of today I will have managed three whole days of being nice (or at least not being horrible). I will be back at work on Wednesday ready for monthend and Cognos, so we will see what happens… fingers crossed I will be allowed to wear a gag for 10 days, and maybe boxing gloves to stop me typing my horrible thoughts on instant messaging J

Off now to prep my other posts, take a few photos and enjoy the rest of my time off.

LJx         

101 List Progress Check – July 15th 2012

Happy Sunday!!! (OK, OK – It is Monday now, but I wrote this on Sunday)

No time to write loads, too much fun to be had here on my holiday, so here’s the list:

Make-up daily – still going strong, even on a Sunday at Centerparcs, which feels a bit weird… lol

Skincare was restarted on Monday 10^th, and is going well so far, though I can’t believe I said I’d keep this up for a month. But once the month is done I should be able to keep it going afterwards, which is a good thing – it is something I should have started when I was much younger…

Supplements – yay!!!

Midnights Children – woohoo!!! 83% down according to the Kindle. Thinking about it, this may not be the longest book in the world, it may just be that I have only been able to read a little each day. I may have to check out a bookshop to see how big the actual book is.

I have now done 13 of my 30 lists in 30 days, and will start publishing them soon… depending on the internet access here and the amount of time I have available to myself to hide out in Starbucks  – ha ha ha!!!

We are on our family holiday at Centerparcs now. We arrived in a deluge of rain on Friday afternoon (ooh, is that our private pool? Oh no, it’s just a very large puddle by our door).

Friday evening nobody fancied doing the cooking, so we all went to Café Rouge for dinner, which was really nice and the boys were very well behaved. They drew pictures for each other (see, I knew that being apart for almost two weeks should make them be nice to each other for at least ten minutes), and were kept entertained by the fish swimming around, although I was expecting one of them to fall in…

Saturday was pretty wet, but we went out to explore a bit and the  boys were fascinated by the bones and animal poo in the Rangers Lodge (nice), and they loved the outdoor playground. After a late lunch we took them to the Subtropical Swimming Paradise. We were there for two hours, so by the time we left both boys were shattered. Dinner and ice-cream were soon followed by bed at 8pm, and they were asleep within minutes, not waking up until I woke them up after 7am to see a deer outside our villa. They will be swimming every day!!!

Have a great week,

LJx

101 List Progress Check - July 11th 2012

Another super quick one as it's been a hectic week or so (again) and I'm having to check off my achievements from memory as I haven't written anything at all down...
Wearing make-up every day for 4 weeks - still going strong, although I almost forgot yesterday morning (I arrived at my dads on Monday night and saw Marcus for the first time since last Sunday so he was a tad excited and wanted to play). I started on the skincare thing on Monday evening and am pleased that I bought myself some new Olay day and night moisturisers - they smell really nice, fingers crossed they'll help plump out those wrinkles that are lurking :o)

I forgot to take my supplements over the weekend and on Monday, but I really don't want to start again as I hate taking them - I am very tempted to just carry on and add a few extra days at the end. I guess that officially that could be classed as cheating, and I have enough supplements to last for well past the three months so could in theory start the clock again from yesterday... bleurgh, what a thought!!!

Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie - will it ever end...? Enjoying reading it still, but I think the key word in that is now still.
I didn't get round to watching Cabaret or Evita despite my best intentions. I tried to watch Cabaret on the Sunday evening after I arrived, but fell asleep ridiculously early on in the film... oops!!!
My 30 Lists in 30 Days challenge is off to a slow start and I'm a bit behind, but thankfully there is nothing to say that you have to do one each day for 30 days, just that all thirty need to be completed in the 30 days. I will be catching up very soon. It's a bit tricky trying to sit and do these lists when there are other people around (or at least that's what I'm finding).

Two sleeps until Centerparcs at Longleat for the family holiday - yay!!!

Have a good week.

LJx

101 List Progress Check - July 1st 2012

This is kinda late as I have intermittent internet access at the moment, but here is the latest update on my 101 from Sunday:   :o)

Wearing make-up every day for 4 weeks - I started this Wednesday last week and decided on Monday to continue doing this, and see if I can manage four weeks. This is a good time to to do this as I have no children until mid-August (apart from the week in Centerparcs, but that is holiday time). I think I will try to start doing the skin care routine later this week as I have more time in the mornings and evenings.

The supplements were going OK until I forgot to pack them for travelling to the UK today, so I've missed a day, but will be back on track tomorrow as I have more waiting for me me so will play catch up then.

I'm now about halfway through Salman Rushdie's Midnights Children, and finding it a good read, although the lack of commas when listing things can get a it annoying at times. It is pretty interesting, but I didn't realise how long it is, which I guess is one disadvantage of getting books on Kindle.

I've now got my hands on the DVDs Cabaret and Evita so will be watching those shortly. I'm particularly looking forward to watching Evita, as when I was younger I had a book of music from various musicals and a few from Evita were in there.

I went into Devizes with a friend of mine today, showing him round various spots where I used to work, wander, or just sit and chill. We went into The Lamb for a drink and he spied a poster for 'Avebury Rocks II' with The Levellers playing next Saturday night - yay!!! I think we may have to go, so that could be one concert down and off my list - go me!!! Possibly camping, but I'm guessing that spending one night in a tent doesn't constitute 'going camping'.

I started my 30 Lists in 30 Days challenge on the plane this morning, and so I must find time each day to do this. As I am away at the moment then I will need to post these as and when I can as I doubt I will have internet access every day.

Have a good week.

LJx

101 List Progress Check - 26th December 2011

Well it's the Christmas season and I'm using that as my excuse reason for getting a bit behind with blogging about my progress, but will keep this short and sweet as I also need to do a Christmas post...

• Make-up - I have now managed a full 3 weeks of wearing makeup every day, even putting it on before opening presents on Christmas morning, 1 more week to go - woohoo!!!

• Skincare - a big fat fail!!! I am rubbish at following a skincare routine, and almost never remember to take my makeup off before going to bed. Although I am getting into a routine in the mornings, so I guess it could be worse...

• Classic books - Jane Eyre is now finished, and was as suspected a damned good read. As it was Christmas week I figured that I should read Dicken's - A Christmas Carol (it wasn't on my list so in theory I can take one of the others off - I'm not sure how it was on my Kindle when it wasn't on my list, but I can live with that). I finished reading it last night and so think I may move on to Tess of the D'Urbervilles next - although I may have to see if I can change the font size as it is quite small - not ideal for reading in bed.

• Films, new releases - a friend of mine came over last weekend and brought a few films with him, so I have now watched Captain America (fab, shame about the ending, but I understand why they had to do it), and Horrible Bosses (quite amusing in parts, but not one I would be likely to watch again and again). I'm not sure if these count as new releases, I need to check when they came out on DVD, but believe it was the second half of this year... we'll see.

• Flylady habits - I'm still on just the 2 habits at the moment, but am very pleased with myself for managing to get the whole place clean and tidy and keeping it that way over Christmas - can we make it through to New Year? And I'll be working on bringing in a third habit soon... maybe sorting out clothes the night before...

• Shows - now that all the Christmas presents have been opened I can reveal which show I managed to get tickets for. We're off to see Batman Live when it comes to the Hallenstadion in Zürich in February - the boys were very pleased when they found out :-)

• Cooking with the boys - Christopher and I started off nice and simply with some shop bought sweet pastry for him to roll out and cut animal shapes out of to have as biscuits - does that count? I've also bought in some biscuit dough from the shop so that we can make some today, he loves cutting out the shapes. I really must learn where I can get self-raising flour from over here (and what it's called...)

I am going to start planning when and how to get all my 101 things in 1001 days done to try to make sure that I complete all of them (or at least most of them - 101 things is a lot to get through...)

LJx