Woah - long time no blog!!! Time just goes by so fast, I didn't realise how long it had been since I last blogged (although I wasn't under the illusion that I'd blogged recently).
So - let's catch up on what's been going on since I last blogged.
My simplifying is still going, baby steps all the way. The dining room was done (although it needs a quick tidy in there again now), I sorted through most of the boys toys and their clothes, and I have sorted through my clothes. The boxes which had been set upstairs unopened since we moved here have now almost all been emptied and stuff thrown out, or put somewhere more sensible, and I now have empty boxes to get rid of, but am keeping them to fill with stuff for the brocki or ready for moving.
Yes, at the moment we are looking at moving house (staying in the village where we are). We have decided that as we intend to stay in Switzerland for at least another 10-15 years it makes sense to buy somewhere rather than rent for the whole time. The cost of a mortgage is significantly lower than the cost of renting, and not only would we be saving money on accommodation costs, but some of the monthly costs would be coming back to us eventually when we sell through the increase in our equity, so realistically it makes total sense.
The way mortgages are done over here scares me a bit (it seems that the plan is never to actually pay the mortgage off in full due to needing the mortgage interest to offset against your annual tax return - and that is a massive amount of debt to have hanging over your head, which really doesn't sit well with me). It appears that as soon as you have 35% equity in the property (20% deposit is the minimum over here - ouch), you no longer have to make capital repayments, and are moved to interest only for the rest of the mortgage as standard procedure (although you can continue to make capital repayments if you choose to do so).
The thought of paying a mortgage for the rest of my life is quite a scary thought, but when I looked on line I realised that over here it's actually quite a relief, when you consider that the vast majority of people over here rent property for their entire lives at a considerably higher rate.
One good thing about moving (if we are lucky enough to get the apartment we are seeing tomorrow, we have missed out on two places already, and I have no idea how long we'd have to wait before another one comes up) is that it is a perfect opportunity to go through everything that we own to see if we need/want it. I can't wait!!!
There are a couple of other things that will be great if we get this apartment: firstly we will be able to decorate however we want, and secondly, the new place will be a bit smaller than our current place and should therefore be easier to keep on top of :-)
I had started exercising again, but that has fallen by the wayside (again) and I haven't been eating particularly well - oops!!! One thing to get back on top of for definite (the eating better, even if I don't kick off the exercise again just yet).
I've been reading a book for work called The 4 Disciplines of Execution, which is actually very interesting. It's mainly geared at businesses, but can be implemented in your personal life too. Basically it say you should only set a maximum of two "wildly important goals" (or WIGs), because anything more than that is not going to be achieved to a high standard without falling by the wayside or other urgent usual tasks (day job or the "whirlwind") suffering. It's tough to implement, but the achievement of the WIGs should eventually assist in making the whirlwind more manageable. There is a whole process to follow and without doing it all properly it isn't likely to succeed, but I think I can find a way to follow the processes for my goals, so all I need to do is decide on my main goals and focus on following the processes (including designing an easy to read scoreboard - obviously I won't get distracted on that part of the process - ha ha ha!!!).
In other news - I was 40 yesterday, and do you know what? It feels great!!!
I was thinking this morning about my birthday. Originally we'd been hoping to get back to Vegas for a long weekend while the boys were away, or maybe even to New York, but with the whole issue of us trying to get a deposit together for an apartment we decided that we really couldn't afford to do it. If we'd been in the UK then no doubt there would have been some sort of party/pub crawl and we'd have had a great time. So what did we do? We pretty much did what we do most Saturdays, the only real difference was that whilst at the shopping centre I got to choose my birthday presents (a lovely grown-up watch from my man, and a lovely silver Pandora bracelet with a couple of heart charms from my boys) and that we had birthday cake.
Do you know what? It's exactly what I wanted, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. Therefore I have to conclude that my life is pretty great :-)
Have a great week,
LJx
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Time to Attack
OK - so I admit it. I am a terrible procrastinator... actually, that's not quite true. I am an amazing procrastinator, I could procrastinate all day long - unfortunately this has a terrible impact on my ability to get things done.
Although, technically, it's not my ability to do things that is affected, my ability is still the same, I just don't do it. I need to remember that things don't have to be perfect, but they do have to be done :o)
Since my last post I haven't started on any of the things that I suggested as my next area to de-clutter and organise, and as they are areas that don't bother anyone else, and aren't visible to people who may come round (not that there are many of those) I find it easy to forget about them, or sit and plan how I'd like them to look and how I would like them organised.
This weekend I have decided that the area that needs to be attacked next, and that is going to be most beneficial to the whole family is the dining room - more specifically the IKEA Expedit unit (basically one that is just made up of squares) and surrounding area (which often includes half of the dining table too). The unit is the 4 x 2 one which we bought to put the boys chart supplies, colouring books, jigsaw puzzles etc in. Over time however, it has overflowed somewhat due to finished (or more usually part-finished) projects and drawings, toys, general bits and pieces of various child debris that doesn't have a specific home. There are also currently a couple of boxes in the room which contain more supplies (mainly paper, pens, more unfinished projects, sticks, rocks, and I'd hate to even guess what else).
I have realised that one of the biggest problems that we have with the storage in the unit is that we have some of the boxes that fit in the unit, which seems perfect as everything can be stored out of the way, but in practice this doesn't work for us. When there are lots of smaller things that need to be kept together, putting them all in one big box just doesn't work. We can never find anything, and nothing gets put back properly, because once it is back in it's box it'll take an age to find the damn thing again (or at least that seems to be Marcus's reasoning, as he "hasn't finished with it yet"). It's amazing how much stuff he hasn't finished with yet.
To help with this I have bought a block of clear drawers to store the different types of paper in (although when I go through the boxes I may find that one isn't enough). The next step is to go through all the shelves and boxes and throw away anything that is no longer needed, finished pictures that are to be kept will be stuck into the scrapbooks that the boys have. We have so many colouring books in boxes and loose on the shelves that it will be great to see the back of. The boys don't use them, are Marcus is happy for me to throw most of them out (he is much more interested in drawing things himself than colouring in pictures).
Once the storage for this area is sorted I think (and hope) it will be much easier to keep it tidy and organised so that it is easy for us to get the crafting things out when we want to use them, but also easy to put them away again too...
Wish me luck.
LJx
Although, technically, it's not my ability to do things that is affected, my ability is still the same, I just don't do it. I need to remember that things don't have to be perfect, but they do have to be done :o)
Since my last post I haven't started on any of the things that I suggested as my next area to de-clutter and organise, and as they are areas that don't bother anyone else, and aren't visible to people who may come round (not that there are many of those) I find it easy to forget about them, or sit and plan how I'd like them to look and how I would like them organised.
This weekend I have decided that the area that needs to be attacked next, and that is going to be most beneficial to the whole family is the dining room - more specifically the IKEA Expedit unit (basically one that is just made up of squares) and surrounding area (which often includes half of the dining table too). The unit is the 4 x 2 one which we bought to put the boys chart supplies, colouring books, jigsaw puzzles etc in. Over time however, it has overflowed somewhat due to finished (or more usually part-finished) projects and drawings, toys, general bits and pieces of various child debris that doesn't have a specific home. There are also currently a couple of boxes in the room which contain more supplies (mainly paper, pens, more unfinished projects, sticks, rocks, and I'd hate to even guess what else).
I have realised that one of the biggest problems that we have with the storage in the unit is that we have some of the boxes that fit in the unit, which seems perfect as everything can be stored out of the way, but in practice this doesn't work for us. When there are lots of smaller things that need to be kept together, putting them all in one big box just doesn't work. We can never find anything, and nothing gets put back properly, because once it is back in it's box it'll take an age to find the damn thing again (or at least that seems to be Marcus's reasoning, as he "hasn't finished with it yet"). It's amazing how much stuff he hasn't finished with yet.
To help with this I have bought a block of clear drawers to store the different types of paper in (although when I go through the boxes I may find that one isn't enough). The next step is to go through all the shelves and boxes and throw away anything that is no longer needed, finished pictures that are to be kept will be stuck into the scrapbooks that the boys have. We have so many colouring books in boxes and loose on the shelves that it will be great to see the back of. The boys don't use them, are Marcus is happy for me to throw most of them out (he is much more interested in drawing things himself than colouring in pictures).
Once the storage for this area is sorted I think (and hope) it will be much easier to keep it tidy and organised so that it is easy for us to get the crafting things out when we want to use them, but also easy to put them away again too...
Wish me luck.
LJx
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Simplifying - Is It Working?
Well hello from me on my day off :-)
A couple of weeks ago I posted about starting off on my simplifying journey by reducing the amount of electronic communication I do/read. The next question is obviously - is it working? Hell yeah!!!
My personal email inbox only has items that I need to action in it (I don't receive many emails that I need to action, so I don't feel the need at this stage to set up a separate action folder with possible sub-folders), and everything else has either been filed or trashed.
My Facebook time is now under control - apart from days like today, but it's my day off, so I'm allowed to indulge, right? If I hadn't been indulging I'd never have spotted the Gillio for sale in the Gillio group in time to pm the seller and make it mine :-)
My work email has been under control for some time now, with an action folder containing many sub-folders, a "waiting for" folder which mainly contains emails that will be deleted as soon as another item has been completed and signed off, for example the monthly report that I prepare from various submissions from others. The attachments get saved into the appropriate folder on the server for the report, but I keep the original emails until the report has been completed and sent out just in case I haven't saved something down, or it has got corrupted.
One week a month my work email inbox goes all to hell as it's monthend, and I have neither the time, nor the inclination to file mails appropriately, and many of the ones that come in relate to the monthend itself and so I like to be able to see them and flick up and down the list to make sure that everything is OK. Once monthend and reporting are finished I then go through my inbox to see what items still require action. Those that I just need to keep for reference get filed, those that are no longer required get deleted, and all others get put into the relevant action folders. I then go through the action folders to check what needs to be done - list it, and work out when it needs to be, and will be done. This doesn't work for everyone, but this system is working well for me, so I'm happy.
My next task to simplify things for me was to sort out the bathroom sink area and cupboards, to make keeping the area clean so much easier. I like to try to give the sink unit a quick clean each day to keep it looking OK, but when there are toothbrushes, toothpastes, mouthwashes, hair stuff, deodorants etc all round it then it's not that quick as you have to take everything off first, and everything becomes a total dust magnet if I don't. I have now put everything we need on a daily basis into the cupboard above the sink, all my additional moisturisers, make-up, etc. have been removed and put in the desk in the bedroom, which will soon become a dressing table. Now there is no junk on the vanity unit at all it makes keeping it clean so much easier - even the boys automatically put their toothbrushes etc back in the cupboard, without being told once.
Next stop was going to be the recycling area in the kitchen, but that's a bit scary, so do I tackle the bedroom next (set up that dressing table, clear out more old clothes, see how much stuff I can throw away), or do I go and attack my special room with all it's stationery, crafty stuff, etc...? Hmmm...
I feel a need for bin bags coming on - time to be ruthless (although not sure how ruthless I can be when it comes to stationery...).
LJx
A couple of weeks ago I posted about starting off on my simplifying journey by reducing the amount of electronic communication I do/read. The next question is obviously - is it working? Hell yeah!!!
My personal email inbox only has items that I need to action in it (I don't receive many emails that I need to action, so I don't feel the need at this stage to set up a separate action folder with possible sub-folders), and everything else has either been filed or trashed.
My Facebook time is now under control - apart from days like today, but it's my day off, so I'm allowed to indulge, right? If I hadn't been indulging I'd never have spotted the Gillio for sale in the Gillio group in time to pm the seller and make it mine :-)
My work email has been under control for some time now, with an action folder containing many sub-folders, a "waiting for" folder which mainly contains emails that will be deleted as soon as another item has been completed and signed off, for example the monthly report that I prepare from various submissions from others. The attachments get saved into the appropriate folder on the server for the report, but I keep the original emails until the report has been completed and sent out just in case I haven't saved something down, or it has got corrupted.
One week a month my work email inbox goes all to hell as it's monthend, and I have neither the time, nor the inclination to file mails appropriately, and many of the ones that come in relate to the monthend itself and so I like to be able to see them and flick up and down the list to make sure that everything is OK. Once monthend and reporting are finished I then go through my inbox to see what items still require action. Those that I just need to keep for reference get filed, those that are no longer required get deleted, and all others get put into the relevant action folders. I then go through the action folders to check what needs to be done - list it, and work out when it needs to be, and will be done. This doesn't work for everyone, but this system is working well for me, so I'm happy.
My next task to simplify things for me was to sort out the bathroom sink area and cupboards, to make keeping the area clean so much easier. I like to try to give the sink unit a quick clean each day to keep it looking OK, but when there are toothbrushes, toothpastes, mouthwashes, hair stuff, deodorants etc all round it then it's not that quick as you have to take everything off first, and everything becomes a total dust magnet if I don't. I have now put everything we need on a daily basis into the cupboard above the sink, all my additional moisturisers, make-up, etc. have been removed and put in the desk in the bedroom, which will soon become a dressing table. Now there is no junk on the vanity unit at all it makes keeping it clean so much easier - even the boys automatically put their toothbrushes etc back in the cupboard, without being told once.
Next stop was going to be the recycling area in the kitchen, but that's a bit scary, so do I tackle the bedroom next (set up that dressing table, clear out more old clothes, see how much stuff I can throw away), or do I go and attack my special room with all it's stationery, crafty stuff, etc...? Hmmm...
I feel a need for bin bags coming on - time to be ruthless (although not sure how ruthless I can be when it comes to stationery...).
LJx
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Rudeness & Copyright Issues
Some people are just unbelievably rude!!! The post below was written by Janet Carr of This Bug's Life in response to an issue that our beloved Philofaxy King Steve Morton encountered when someone used his photos to pass off as an item that they were selling on eBay (it wasn't even the same product that the person was selling, let alone the actual one). When he contacted them to mention that this is a problem he was faced with a barrage of (totally unnecessary) abuse:
Have a look, if you will, at the eBay auction below (the listing has been taken down so I have put several screen shots instead). Notice anything?
Well, the first thing one would notice is that the photograph is of a pocket Filofax, whereas he auction claims to be selling a mini. [Before the listing was removed, there was a live link above to the auction itself which showed two photographs - one pocket and one mini. I am not sure who owns the photograph of the mini but I have removed it from the screen shot above out of respect for the owner's copyright ]
The next thing one would notice is that the featured photograph (see below) comes from this post on Philofaxy, and belongs to Steve Morton.
The third thing one would notice is the description, and below that the note.
The note reads as follows:
NOTE TO BIDDERS/WATCHERS I am being forced to end this listing early and re-list it. This is because the first image (showing a filofax on a pine coloured table) was copied and pasted from google images. I was then contacted on ebay by a filofax blog owner (I’ve never seen the blog before – and yes someone clearly has too much time on their hands) demanding that I remove the image. Extremely unreasonable given the fact this is in no way an attempt to infringe their IP rights and was just used for illustrative purposes in order to save time when originally listing the item for sale. As the item currently has a bidder (many apologies to you!) ebay settings won’t let me delete the stock photograph. I am therefore re-listing the item but only using my image of the item as taken on my iphone on 04/02/14. Thank you for reading this message and apologies for any confusion caused. You can find the item again by looking at all the items I’m currently selling.
The irony of the fact that she was not actually selling her Filofax but Steve’s, seems to have completely escaped her. Or the fact that doing a Google image search, copying, pasting and uploading Steve’s photograph probably took longer than taking her own photo and uploading it would have. Or that if she was using it for illustrative purposes only and it was not the one she was selling, she should have made that clear to her buyers. Particularly as the one she was selling was another size entirely and much smaller than the one in Steve’s photograph.
Right, so if you think that is rude you should see the contents of the eBay message which she sent to Steve when he wrote to let her know that the photo belonged to him.
I have seldom seen such insolence and arrogance – not to mention a total lack of knowledge about intellectual property law and how Google images works. She was apoplectic at having her entire evening wasted by a person she felt was so stupid as to feel that her using his image was wrong.
She explained rather rudely that it was perfectly acceptable for her to use Steve’s image because she found it on Google images (the mind boggles at how she thought it got there in the first place). She was utterly astounded that someone actually found out she was using said image. And felt that Steve’s completely unreasonable behaviour caused her to lose a sale. Naturally she did not express it quite so politely. The only way to describe the tone of her letter was abusive. I have been rather gentle in my description above but I was flabbergasted at the content of the message and how she spoke to Steve. None of which really comes across here but out of respect to the seller I am not going into detail.
It just astounds me that nowadays people feel that Google is an enormous website full of free information and photographs which appear out of nowhere and don’t actually belong to anyone. Or that copyright does not apply to anything on the internet. Probably the same people who feel that being anonymous entitles you to be as rude and cruel as you want to be because no one knows who you are and if it is on the internet it doesn’t matter.
What makes me most cross is that Steve Morton is one of the kindest most generous people around. He has built an entire community to which he willingly gives his time and with whom he generously shares his expertise. He organises competitions, awards, meets and is admin for about 15 Facebook groups. He is always at the other end of a post, a comment or a personal message to advise, commiserate or encourage.
Even worse, there is no way you can report abusive messages like this to eBay. Apart from writing a letter of complaint to them and including a print out of the message. There seems to be no other recourse if you are harassed in any way.
So for me it was important to write this article to show my displeasure with how he was treated. If anyone agrees with me, please re-Tweet or reblog this to show Steve he has our support.
Thank you Janet for writing this piece, and hopefully this will also serve as a reminder to others to be careful when purchasing off eBay, as people are often misrepresenting what they are selling. This isn't to bash eBay sellers generally, as there are a lot of perfectly genuine, excellent sellers out there. Maybe it should also serve as a warning that the Philofaxy community are a tight-knit group, don't mess with us, and certainly don't be abusive to our Steve :o)
LJx
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Time to Start Simplifying
Wow - this is my 200th post, so I'm pleased that it's on something new, that signals the start of my 2014 journey. Yes, I am full aware that we are almost a month into 2014 already, but I'm a bit slow sometimes.
I thought that, to start my quest to simplify things that I do, I would get started with some easy wins that can be done from the comfort of my sofa - yep, still feeling a bit rubbish after the dental surgery.
So, what can I do to make my Internet time more productive? Or at least less time consuming...
Blogs - I follow quite a few blogs, but they come to me from a couple of different places. Some come to me via Blogger when I go to my home page there, whereas others (some by people who post a lot) come to me via email. I really need to get these out of my inbox and add them to my reading list as I am finding that I am getting overwhelmed by the number of emails arriving into my inbox each day.
Facebook - Reduce the amount of posts I can see from various people. Some people post a lot of things that are funny, motivational, cute, informative, etc. and some of these are lovely or even useful. However, they take up a lot of time when it comes to checking out what's going on, especially when you're like me and if the post interests you, you end up reading all the comments on the post, and possible following links to other posts - it's like a rabbit warren that you can never come out of... In theory I could also stop checking on the groups that I am a member of so often, but if I can't sort that out then I will step out of some of these groups. In fact - some of them I should probably just step out of anyway...
Emails - Once I have moved the blogs to my reading list my inbox will be a much more manageable place. However, my other big influx comes from these health/wellbeing/ development subscriptions. They may be great for some people, but for me, realistically I know I will never read them, but I keep them in case I find something really useful in there for me when I finally have time to read them. I need to use that unsubscribe link at the bottom of each one as they come in so that I don't get any more from them. I also need to sort my inbox (which is a total state, mainly due to the subscriptions), file the ones that I need to keep, delete the others, and archive some of the mails that are already filed.
Any suggestions that you may have of other tips that could help me in this area would be greatly appreciated.
LJx
I thought that, to start my quest to simplify things that I do, I would get started with some easy wins that can be done from the comfort of my sofa - yep, still feeling a bit rubbish after the dental surgery.
So, what can I do to make my Internet time more productive? Or at least less time consuming...
Blogs - I follow quite a few blogs, but they come to me from a couple of different places. Some come to me via Blogger when I go to my home page there, whereas others (some by people who post a lot) come to me via email. I really need to get these out of my inbox and add them to my reading list as I am finding that I am getting overwhelmed by the number of emails arriving into my inbox each day.
Facebook - Reduce the amount of posts I can see from various people. Some people post a lot of things that are funny, motivational, cute, informative, etc. and some of these are lovely or even useful. However, they take up a lot of time when it comes to checking out what's going on, especially when you're like me and if the post interests you, you end up reading all the comments on the post, and possible following links to other posts - it's like a rabbit warren that you can never come out of... In theory I could also stop checking on the groups that I am a member of so often, but if I can't sort that out then I will step out of some of these groups. In fact - some of them I should probably just step out of anyway...
Emails - Once I have moved the blogs to my reading list my inbox will be a much more manageable place. However, my other big influx comes from these health/wellbeing/ development subscriptions. They may be great for some people, but for me, realistically I know I will never read them, but I keep them in case I find something really useful in there for me when I finally have time to read them. I need to use that unsubscribe link at the bottom of each one as they come in so that I don't get any more from them. I also need to sort my inbox (which is a total state, mainly due to the subscriptions), file the ones that I need to keep, delete the others, and archive some of the mails that are already filed.
Any suggestions that you may have of other tips that could help me in this area would be greatly appreciated.
LJx
101 Project Decision
OK guys, so it's time to make that decision - stop or go...?
If I were to stop now, and chose to focus on my key words from scratch, how many of the 14 items still on my 101 list would be on my list of things to do?
- Watch 10 classic films (3 left)
- Cooking/baking with the boys
- 12 date nights with Ben (6 left)
- Embroider a sampler.
- Learn 6 new recipes (2 to go)
- 30 minutes per day to relax/meditate for two weeks.
- Buy some nice high heels and wear them. (not worn yet)
- Journal daily for two weeks (15 minutes minimum).
- Keep to a basic household routine using my Plannerisms planner.Yes
- Set up a recipe binder
- Manage bank accounts properly.Yes
- Sort through the hallway cupboardsYes
- Sort through the boxes upstairs that haven't been unpacked yetYes
- 3 month Facebook ban Yes
Wow - not many of them. Some of the other items I would still like to do, but either they are not urgent, or I wouldn't necessarily want to restrict them to a set period of time.
Having reviewed my options in the level of detail that I have (and dragged you through my messy mind), I think I am ready to make the decision, and I feel the right thing for me to do is to step away from my 101 in 1001 days, congratulate myself on the things I have achieved and let the rest go.
Thank you for listening to my ramblings, and helping to make my 101 challenge happen. I know not everything was achieved, but a lot of what was completed wouldn't have even been started if I had not made myself accountable by sharing in this blog.
Have a great week.
LJx
If I were to stop now, and chose to focus on my key words from scratch, how many of the 14 items still on my 101 list would be on my list of things to do?
- Watch 10 classic films (3 left)
- Cooking/baking with the boys
- 12 date nights with Ben (6 left)
- Embroider a sampler.
- Learn 6 new recipes (2 to go)
- 30 minutes per day to relax/meditate for two weeks.
- Buy some nice high heels and wear them. (not worn yet)
- Journal daily for two weeks (15 minutes minimum).
- Keep to a basic household routine using my Plannerisms planner.Yes
- Set up a recipe binder
- Manage bank accounts properly.Yes
- Sort through the hallway cupboardsYes
- Sort through the boxes upstairs that haven't been unpacked yetYes
- 3 month Facebook ban Yes
Wow - not many of them. Some of the other items I would still like to do, but either they are not urgent, or I wouldn't necessarily want to restrict them to a set period of time.
Having reviewed my options in the level of detail that I have (and dragged you through my messy mind), I think I am ready to make the decision, and I feel the right thing for me to do is to step away from my 101 in 1001 days, congratulate myself on the things I have achieved and let the rest go.
Thank you for listening to my ramblings, and helping to make my 101 challenge happen. I know not everything was achieved, but a lot of what was completed wouldn't have even been started if I had not made myself accountable by sharing in this blog.
Have a great week.
LJx
Saturday, 25 January 2014
101 Progress and Rethink
It's been a while since I last posted an update on my 101 in 1001 days challenge (a whole month), and I have been very lax on this for a few reasons.
1) It's been very busy at work with year end and reporting
2) I started doing P90X3 on January 6th, so that rather cuts into my available time
3) I seem to have lost my motivation, and when I look at that list now I don't see things that I want
to do, but that I now feel I ought to do because back in October 2011 I said I would like to.
This post may end up being ridiculously long while I basically talk myself through the whole decision process regarding what to do, and for this I apologise now.
As always at the start of a new year, people start to make resolutions, think about their futures, and motivational quotes get posted everywhere. I haven't made any new year's resolutions, but I have chosen a couple of key words to help guide me through the year: Simplify, and Health.
Simplify could apply to my work as well as my personal stuff, and could potentially help me in my quest to simplify processes (simpler processes generally give less opportunity for user error in my experience). The company I work for will be changing ownership later this year, so I believe a large part of my focus will be on assisting in the integration process, and if I can help by trying to consider some easy wins in this through simplification (especially in the early stages), then that would be great.
Obviously with big changes at work I will be kept very busy, and therefore need to simplify more at home, potentially reducing my own personal challenges, and getting more routines in place.
Due partly to the need to simplify my life (and be more help at home), and partly to my lack of motivations mentioned in point three above, I was considering just bailing out of my 101 challenge completely, but it would be a shame to just give up without checking it out properly first. There are various things that I need to consider as there are only five months left to complete this, The sensible thing is probably to go through my options one by one:
Option 1: Just keep plugging away at the tasks and see how far I can get by the end.
- I could do this, but don't see myself getting any more motivated, so think I would be
setting myself up to beat myself up for the next five months... pretty pointless I think
you'll agree
Option 2: Pat myself on the back for what I have achieved and call it a day.
- currently I have achieved 68 of the 101, most of which I wouldn't have done at all if
it hadn't been for this challenge, with a further 13 in progress. But do I want to admit
defeat yet?
Option 3: Go through the remaining challenges to see if they fit in with my keywords for the year
and make changes where they don't.
- I see this as a happy medium, and feel I should at least take a look at this option
before pulling out of the project.
So, what challenges are outstanding?
- Load all music on tapes to iTunes. This doesn't fall in with either of my keywords, and at the
moment the tapes are buried somewhere in the cellar.
- Have music playing all day & no TV/ computers for whole family (x3). Another thing that I
would love to have happen, but don't see this falling in with my keywords. It may sound like a
simplified life kind of thing, but when you have boys aged 6 & 8 who are used to having these
things, then taking them away is not going to feel simple...
- Watch 10 classic films - I am 7 and a half down. No, still not finished watching Some Like it Hot
yet, although I did watch The Shawshank Redemption and How to Steal a Million (Audrey
Hepburn & Peter O'Toole) today while I was off work after dental surgery which has left me
feeling a bit wobbly. Related to my keywords? Not really...
- Watch 10 musicals (films) - actually, checking this again I have actually completed this task now
as I watched Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz over Christmas and New Year.
- Spend 10 minutes teaching/listening to boys reading. Obviously I have spent more than 10
minutes doing this so technically I could cross it off, but when I wrote it I actually meant 10
minutes a day. As much as I would love this to happen every day, my boys just aren't that
interested. Christopher is pretty good at reading in both English & German, but would rather read
alone, and Marcus would rather be learning to write and as he is due to start school in August
then I'm happy for him to take it as he wants. Maybe I'll get them into reading with me on a daily
basis at some point, but for now it would definitely not simplifying anything.
- One big family day out every month. We tend to go out for half a day rather than a whole day
when we go out. The boys are so busy in the week that when the weekend comes they are happy
to go out for half a day, and want to spend the other day having a PJ day and just playing at home.
When the weather warms up again we'll be back to visiting the zoo and the wilderness park,
which are their favourite places to go. Both are now cycling well, so we take them up to the
school house to play on their bikes when it's not too wet out, and they are happy doing that.
Would insisting on making one of our trips out each month for a whole day make anything
simpler? I doubt that very much...
- Teach boys to swim or arrange lessons. Christopher has been having lessons at school, but still
isn't confident in the water and spends most of his time seeing how far he can go underwater, but
stay in water that isn't out of his depth as he's not so good at staying above the water. Marcus will
be starting lessons when he goes to school, but there are no classes with spaces near us at the
moment. In theory we could try to take them swimming every week, but as I'm not a good
swimmer myself, and we are already so busy at weekends trying to catch up all the outstanding
stuff from in the week, I don't see that this would simplify things for any of us at the moment.
- 10 photos sessions with the boys. As much as I love having pictures of my boys, they really are
not ones to want to spend more than about two minutes posing for the camera, and I don't really
want to get myself (and them) stressed out by trying to get perfect photos of them.
- Write a short story for the boys. I mentioned this to them, and to be honest, they really weren't
that interested in having me write a story just for them. I am not a natural writer (I hated having to
write essays at school), if I were I'd probably be able to class this under health - but for me it
would probably be more of an anti-health thing.
- 12 date nights with Ben (6 down, 6 to go). Simple? I wish. Babysitters over here are crazy
expensive, and as nice as it is to have a date night at home, realistically, by the time the boys are
in bed, we're both shattered and want to just chill. We will have date nights, but as we've managed
six in fifteen months, there is no way we're going to feel relaxed even trying to fit another six into
the next five months.
- Take a one hour walk on my own (x3) - doing this would be good for my health, and potentially
feel simple for the hour that it was happening, what's not simple is finding the time to be away
from the family to do this. Weekends is our family time, during the week we're all so busy with
both of us working full time that there is no time for this - certainly not until the summer :-)
- Become confident enough to hold a conversation in German. Actually, thinking about it I do have
conversations in German - would I like to be more confident? Yes, of course. But am I good
enough to do what I need to do? Yes. So I can class this one as complete.
- Embroider a sampler. I had to change this to a picture as I couldn't get hold of a sampler apart
from in a cross stitch kit, and started this over Christmas. I have enjoyed what I have done so far,
and have bought a basic booklet that shows different types of stitches to try. I would like to
continue this, and it is good for relaxation, but is it essential? Not really, and I would rather be
doing it as something in my spare time, than trying to force it into a deadline.
- Read 5 books in German - really? Is this going to simplify things for me? No. I thought this
would be a good way to become more comfortable with the language, but I don't find sitting with
a book and a dictionary works for me.
- Write a poem - relaxing? For some.... Simplifying or healthy? For me... no
- Learn 6 new recipes (2 to go). This could be healthy, even homemade cakes would be healthier
than shop bought ones right?
- Take camera on days out and use it - I have done this on occasion, but generally Ben is the one
with the camera, not me.
- 30 minutes per day to relax/meditate for two weeks. This definitely falls under health :-)
- Learn to use a proper camera. This definitely does not fall into the category "Simplify" for me,
and again, as with the embroidery, I would still like to do it at some point, but without any
pressure.
- Buy some nice high heels and wear them. I bought some boots with heels for work, does that
count? Although I haven't worn them yet... Not health related though, or anything to do with
simplifying things.
- Give more praise at work and at home. It's not really measurable, but I feel that I have actually
achieved this. Yay!!!
- Journal daily for two weeks (15 minutes minimum). Mental health - check :-)
- Keep to a basic household routine using my Plannerisms planner - this is definitely related to
simplifying things, and I have been doing this on and off, but really need to knuckle down and
stick with it.
- Set up a recipe binder - yep, definitely a simplify thing :-)
- Blog re the 101 in 1001 - I think I can safely say that I have achieved this.
- Manage bank accounts properly - this could fit into simplify.
- Sort through the hallway cupboards - definitely simplifying things as this would mean I would
have less junk, and would actually know where things are...
- Sort through the boxes upstairs that haven't been unpacked yet - as above
- Take fish oils daily for 3 months - completed :-)
- Take iron supplements for 3 months - likewise :-)
- 3 month Facebook ban (apart from personal messages, adding my own photos etc) - this would
definitely be a good step in simplifying things - it would stop me wasting so much time for 3
months so I can get others things done.
- 3 month Keep In Touch project (letters, calls etc) - simplify? Hmmm... not sure. It's adding things
to do, where previously (for many people) I could keep in touch via Facebook - undecided.
From this we can see that I have managed to complete six more items, and am closer to finishing another, taking my total up to 74 completed challenges.
The challenges that fit with neither of my keywords and would definitely be cancelled are as follows:
- Load all music on tapes to iTunes.
- Have music playing all day & no TV/ computers for whole family (x3).
- Spend 10 minutes teaching/listening to boys reading.
- One big family day out every month.
- Teach boys to swim or arrange lessons.
- 10 photos sessions with the boys.
- Write a short story for the boys.
- Take a one hour walk on my own (x3)
- Read 5 books in German
- Write a poem
- Take camera on days out and use it
- Learn to use a proper camera.
- 3 month Keep In Touch project? - undecided.
So 13 items to come off the list, which would take me down to 88 in 1001 days, so not completing the challenge, but doing what's right for myself and my family at this time.
If I were to choose option 3, then I will ass a few more tasks re simplifying things, and improving health.
- Stop reading blogs for 3 months (excluding FiloLifestyle, as this has been started by Karine from
the FB group of the same name, which is full of great people encouraging each other in their
health, fitness, financial, and organisational control). This does not mean that at the end of the
three months I can go back and read all the posts I have missed...
- Deutsch in 30 days book, this will help ensure that my basics are correct, and I can do this on the
train each day.
- Complete one round of P90X3 (started)
- Follow nutrition guide for P90X3 - doesn't have to be totally rigid as I'm not on a quest for
dramatic results (started)
- Have a Facebook cleanup
Also, my 40th birthday is this year, before the end date for the 101 project, so there may be a few that I would add to the list to go with that (possibly to go to New York, and things to see or try while I'm there).
So, in summary, I think we can remove option one from the running as being a bit pointless. All it would do is show that, yes, I can follow something through to the end with pure dogged determination, and that I am happy to sabotage my life to do so... really, does anyone want to be that person.
Option 2 - I've completed 74 items, so could just call it a day.
Option 3 - reduce items to 88 (possibly adding others), therefore not completing the 101 anyway, but getting further.
So - 2 or 3, which is it to be?
I will be thinking about this and will be making my decision this weekend - so if you've stuck through to the end of this post (which I rambled into my notebook last night while on painkillers), treat yourself to some chocolate or something to replenish your energy after having to follow all this inane withering.
I'll keep you posted (in a much shorter post hopefully).
LJx
P.S. Sorry, my spellcheck has just refused to work, and I've rambled so much that I can't face reading through it all again, so I apologise now for spelling and typing issues... and any random autocorrects that may be in here. :o)
1) It's been very busy at work with year end and reporting
2) I started doing P90X3 on January 6th, so that rather cuts into my available time
3) I seem to have lost my motivation, and when I look at that list now I don't see things that I want
to do, but that I now feel I ought to do because back in October 2011 I said I would like to.
This post may end up being ridiculously long while I basically talk myself through the whole decision process regarding what to do, and for this I apologise now.
As always at the start of a new year, people start to make resolutions, think about their futures, and motivational quotes get posted everywhere. I haven't made any new year's resolutions, but I have chosen a couple of key words to help guide me through the year: Simplify, and Health.
Simplify could apply to my work as well as my personal stuff, and could potentially help me in my quest to simplify processes (simpler processes generally give less opportunity for user error in my experience). The company I work for will be changing ownership later this year, so I believe a large part of my focus will be on assisting in the integration process, and if I can help by trying to consider some easy wins in this through simplification (especially in the early stages), then that would be great.
Obviously with big changes at work I will be kept very busy, and therefore need to simplify more at home, potentially reducing my own personal challenges, and getting more routines in place.
Due partly to the need to simplify my life (and be more help at home), and partly to my lack of motivations mentioned in point three above, I was considering just bailing out of my 101 challenge completely, but it would be a shame to just give up without checking it out properly first. There are various things that I need to consider as there are only five months left to complete this, The sensible thing is probably to go through my options one by one:
Option 1: Just keep plugging away at the tasks and see how far I can get by the end.
- I could do this, but don't see myself getting any more motivated, so think I would be
setting myself up to beat myself up for the next five months... pretty pointless I think
you'll agree
Option 2: Pat myself on the back for what I have achieved and call it a day.
- currently I have achieved 68 of the 101, most of which I wouldn't have done at all if
it hadn't been for this challenge, with a further 13 in progress. But do I want to admit
defeat yet?
Option 3: Go through the remaining challenges to see if they fit in with my keywords for the year
and make changes where they don't.
- I see this as a happy medium, and feel I should at least take a look at this option
before pulling out of the project.
So, what challenges are outstanding?
- Load all music on tapes to iTunes. This doesn't fall in with either of my keywords, and at the
moment the tapes are buried somewhere in the cellar.
- Have music playing all day & no TV/ computers for whole family (x3). Another thing that I
would love to have happen, but don't see this falling in with my keywords. It may sound like a
simplified life kind of thing, but when you have boys aged 6 & 8 who are used to having these
things, then taking them away is not going to feel simple...
- Watch 10 classic films - I am 7 and a half down. No, still not finished watching Some Like it Hot
yet, although I did watch The Shawshank Redemption and How to Steal a Million (Audrey
Hepburn & Peter O'Toole) today while I was off work after dental surgery which has left me
feeling a bit wobbly. Related to my keywords? Not really...
- Watch 10 musicals (films) - actually, checking this again I have actually completed this task now
as I watched Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz over Christmas and New Year.
- Spend 10 minutes teaching/listening to boys reading. Obviously I have spent more than 10
minutes doing this so technically I could cross it off, but when I wrote it I actually meant 10
minutes a day. As much as I would love this to happen every day, my boys just aren't that
interested. Christopher is pretty good at reading in both English & German, but would rather read
alone, and Marcus would rather be learning to write and as he is due to start school in August
then I'm happy for him to take it as he wants. Maybe I'll get them into reading with me on a daily
basis at some point, but for now it would definitely not simplifying anything.
- One big family day out every month. We tend to go out for half a day rather than a whole day
when we go out. The boys are so busy in the week that when the weekend comes they are happy
to go out for half a day, and want to spend the other day having a PJ day and just playing at home.
When the weather warms up again we'll be back to visiting the zoo and the wilderness park,
which are their favourite places to go. Both are now cycling well, so we take them up to the
school house to play on their bikes when it's not too wet out, and they are happy doing that.
Would insisting on making one of our trips out each month for a whole day make anything
simpler? I doubt that very much...
- Teach boys to swim or arrange lessons. Christopher has been having lessons at school, but still
isn't confident in the water and spends most of his time seeing how far he can go underwater, but
stay in water that isn't out of his depth as he's not so good at staying above the water. Marcus will
be starting lessons when he goes to school, but there are no classes with spaces near us at the
moment. In theory we could try to take them swimming every week, but as I'm not a good
swimmer myself, and we are already so busy at weekends trying to catch up all the outstanding
stuff from in the week, I don't see that this would simplify things for any of us at the moment.
- 10 photos sessions with the boys. As much as I love having pictures of my boys, they really are
not ones to want to spend more than about two minutes posing for the camera, and I don't really
want to get myself (and them) stressed out by trying to get perfect photos of them.
- Write a short story for the boys. I mentioned this to them, and to be honest, they really weren't
that interested in having me write a story just for them. I am not a natural writer (I hated having to
write essays at school), if I were I'd probably be able to class this under health - but for me it
would probably be more of an anti-health thing.
- 12 date nights with Ben (6 down, 6 to go). Simple? I wish. Babysitters over here are crazy
expensive, and as nice as it is to have a date night at home, realistically, by the time the boys are
in bed, we're both shattered and want to just chill. We will have date nights, but as we've managed
six in fifteen months, there is no way we're going to feel relaxed even trying to fit another six into
the next five months.
- Take a one hour walk on my own (x3) - doing this would be good for my health, and potentially
feel simple for the hour that it was happening, what's not simple is finding the time to be away
from the family to do this. Weekends is our family time, during the week we're all so busy with
both of us working full time that there is no time for this - certainly not until the summer :-)
- Become confident enough to hold a conversation in German. Actually, thinking about it I do have
conversations in German - would I like to be more confident? Yes, of course. But am I good
enough to do what I need to do? Yes. So I can class this one as complete.
- Embroider a sampler. I had to change this to a picture as I couldn't get hold of a sampler apart
from in a cross stitch kit, and started this over Christmas. I have enjoyed what I have done so far,
and have bought a basic booklet that shows different types of stitches to try. I would like to
continue this, and it is good for relaxation, but is it essential? Not really, and I would rather be
doing it as something in my spare time, than trying to force it into a deadline.
- Read 5 books in German - really? Is this going to simplify things for me? No. I thought this
would be a good way to become more comfortable with the language, but I don't find sitting with
a book and a dictionary works for me.
- Write a poem - relaxing? For some.... Simplifying or healthy? For me... no
- Learn 6 new recipes (2 to go). This could be healthy, even homemade cakes would be healthier
than shop bought ones right?
- Take camera on days out and use it - I have done this on occasion, but generally Ben is the one
with the camera, not me.
- 30 minutes per day to relax/meditate for two weeks. This definitely falls under health :-)
- Learn to use a proper camera. This definitely does not fall into the category "Simplify" for me,
and again, as with the embroidery, I would still like to do it at some point, but without any
pressure.
- Buy some nice high heels and wear them. I bought some boots with heels for work, does that
count? Although I haven't worn them yet... Not health related though, or anything to do with
simplifying things.
- Give more praise at work and at home. It's not really measurable, but I feel that I have actually
achieved this. Yay!!!
- Journal daily for two weeks (15 minutes minimum). Mental health - check :-)
- Keep to a basic household routine using my Plannerisms planner - this is definitely related to
simplifying things, and I have been doing this on and off, but really need to knuckle down and
stick with it.
- Set up a recipe binder - yep, definitely a simplify thing :-)
- Blog re the 101 in 1001 - I think I can safely say that I have achieved this.
- Manage bank accounts properly - this could fit into simplify.
- Sort through the hallway cupboards - definitely simplifying things as this would mean I would
have less junk, and would actually know where things are...
- Sort through the boxes upstairs that haven't been unpacked yet - as above
- Take fish oils daily for 3 months - completed :-)
- Take iron supplements for 3 months - likewise :-)
- 3 month Facebook ban (apart from personal messages, adding my own photos etc) - this would
definitely be a good step in simplifying things - it would stop me wasting so much time for 3
months so I can get others things done.
- 3 month Keep In Touch project (letters, calls etc) - simplify? Hmmm... not sure. It's adding things
to do, where previously (for many people) I could keep in touch via Facebook - undecided.
From this we can see that I have managed to complete six more items, and am closer to finishing another, taking my total up to 74 completed challenges.
The challenges that fit with neither of my keywords and would definitely be cancelled are as follows:
- Load all music on tapes to iTunes.
- Have music playing all day & no TV/ computers for whole family (x3).
- Spend 10 minutes teaching/listening to boys reading.
- One big family day out every month.
- Teach boys to swim or arrange lessons.
- 10 photos sessions with the boys.
- Write a short story for the boys.
- Take a one hour walk on my own (x3)
- Read 5 books in German
- Write a poem
- Take camera on days out and use it
- Learn to use a proper camera.
- 3 month Keep In Touch project? - undecided.
So 13 items to come off the list, which would take me down to 88 in 1001 days, so not completing the challenge, but doing what's right for myself and my family at this time.
If I were to choose option 3, then I will ass a few more tasks re simplifying things, and improving health.
- Stop reading blogs for 3 months (excluding FiloLifestyle, as this has been started by Karine from
the FB group of the same name, which is full of great people encouraging each other in their
health, fitness, financial, and organisational control). This does not mean that at the end of the
three months I can go back and read all the posts I have missed...
- Deutsch in 30 days book, this will help ensure that my basics are correct, and I can do this on the
train each day.
- Complete one round of P90X3 (started)
- Follow nutrition guide for P90X3 - doesn't have to be totally rigid as I'm not on a quest for
dramatic results (started)
- Have a Facebook cleanup
Also, my 40th birthday is this year, before the end date for the 101 project, so there may be a few that I would add to the list to go with that (possibly to go to New York, and things to see or try while I'm there).
So, in summary, I think we can remove option one from the running as being a bit pointless. All it would do is show that, yes, I can follow something through to the end with pure dogged determination, and that I am happy to sabotage my life to do so... really, does anyone want to be that person.
Option 2 - I've completed 74 items, so could just call it a day.
Option 3 - reduce items to 88 (possibly adding others), therefore not completing the 101 anyway, but getting further.
So - 2 or 3, which is it to be?
I will be thinking about this and will be making my decision this weekend - so if you've stuck through to the end of this post (which I rambled into my notebook last night while on painkillers), treat yourself to some chocolate or something to replenish your energy after having to follow all this inane withering.
I'll keep you posted (in a much shorter post hopefully).
LJx
P.S. Sorry, my spellcheck has just refused to work, and I've rambled so much that I can't face reading through it all again, so I apologise now for spelling and typing issues... and any random autocorrects that may be in here. :o)
Saturday, 28 December 2013
101 Progress Check - December 28th 2013
Hi Guys,
I hope you have all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a fabulous New Year. I had a lovely Christmas day, and was spoilt, and then caught a cold which really sucks. I scribbled a few notes to write this post on Boxing Day, but then felt too rough to actually post anything lol :-)
It's been a while I'm afraid, but as you can see below there has been movement on my 101 for a number of reasons, so very little to post.
I tried to carry on with the classic films by watching Some Like It Hot, but unfortunately I've only been able to watch an hour of it so far (in two sittings) so still have a way to go on that one. I have recorded a few classic films over the last couple of days (Christmas is a great time to record films on the telly), so just need to find time to watch them. They're not ones that were on my initial list of ten that I would like to watch, but they are still classic films, and I would like to watch them. Now I just need to find the time to watch them - a bit trickier as they are on the Cablecom box in the front room, as opposed to being on a DVD that I can disappear off to the bedroom to watch while everyone else is busy with other things (TV or games).
I attempted to make shortbread with my boys on Christmas Eve, but they decided that the only bit they wanted to do was to shape the shortbread. However, although I can't class it as baking with the boys, it was a new recipe for me so I got one base covered :-) It wasn't a total success as we made them a bit thicker then specified and therefore they were under-baked, but they tasted great and were easy to do. Maybe we'll have another go at those soon...
I had planned to embroider a sampler in December, but unfortunately I have struggled to find a template that I like. This hasn't distracted me from the job in hand, but I have bought a different template to use, which arrived on Christmas Eve, so I'll be doing that in the New Year.
I'm still taking my fish oils and iron tablets, and have only missed one day - quite an achievement for me :-)
We received the P90X3 workout programme from Beachbody just before Christmas, and as I struggle to make exercise part of my normal routine unless I have a programme to complete, I have decided to add P90X3 to my 101 list. It's a 30 minute workout, 6 days a week, concentrating on different things each time, and is another programme from Tony Horton, who is a joy to work out with (at least while you feel like you can still breathe).
I also know that when I workout regularly I feel much better in myself, and feel it's time that I climbed back on that horse :-) All I need to decide now is decide which of my other challenges is not as important to me at this time and that can wait until the second half of 2014.
Have a great week,
LJx
I hope you have all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a fabulous New Year. I had a lovely Christmas day, and was spoilt, and then caught a cold which really sucks. I scribbled a few notes to write this post on Boxing Day, but then felt too rough to actually post anything lol :-)
It's been a while I'm afraid, but as you can see below there has been movement on my 101 for a number of reasons, so very little to post.
I tried to carry on with the classic films by watching Some Like It Hot, but unfortunately I've only been able to watch an hour of it so far (in two sittings) so still have a way to go on that one. I have recorded a few classic films over the last couple of days (Christmas is a great time to record films on the telly), so just need to find time to watch them. They're not ones that were on my initial list of ten that I would like to watch, but they are still classic films, and I would like to watch them. Now I just need to find the time to watch them - a bit trickier as they are on the Cablecom box in the front room, as opposed to being on a DVD that I can disappear off to the bedroom to watch while everyone else is busy with other things (TV or games).
I attempted to make shortbread with my boys on Christmas Eve, but they decided that the only bit they wanted to do was to shape the shortbread. However, although I can't class it as baking with the boys, it was a new recipe for me so I got one base covered :-) It wasn't a total success as we made them a bit thicker then specified and therefore they were under-baked, but they tasted great and were easy to do. Maybe we'll have another go at those soon...
I had planned to embroider a sampler in December, but unfortunately I have struggled to find a template that I like. This hasn't distracted me from the job in hand, but I have bought a different template to use, which arrived on Christmas Eve, so I'll be doing that in the New Year.
I'm still taking my fish oils and iron tablets, and have only missed one day - quite an achievement for me :-)
We received the P90X3 workout programme from Beachbody just before Christmas, and as I struggle to make exercise part of my normal routine unless I have a programme to complete, I have decided to add P90X3 to my 101 list. It's a 30 minute workout, 6 days a week, concentrating on different things each time, and is another programme from Tony Horton, who is a joy to work out with (at least while you feel like you can still breathe).
I also know that when I workout regularly I feel much better in myself, and feel it's time that I climbed back on that horse :-) All I need to decide now is decide which of my other challenges is not as important to me at this time and that can wait until the second half of 2014.
Have a great week,
LJx
Sunday, 1 December 2013
101 Progress Check - December 1st 2013
Hello Everyone!!!
Well, I can safely say that his week I have achieved very little and am now behind where I had planned to be.
Things I need to catch up on are:
Photo session with the boys
1 hour walk on my own (I had the opportunity, but was just too lazy and didn't want to go
out in the cold on my own)
Family day out - I had intended for us to go to the zoo yesterday, but completely forgot that
Christopher had to go to Jubla, so that scuppered that idea.
Wearing heels - I had planned on wearing my higher heeled boots to work with my new trousers
but just can't face tottering round, especially as we're now getting snow, so I think it will be
safer to save that one for the spring now
Plan the story that I am going to write for my boys
However, although I haven't done anything big on my list this week, I have continued to take my fish oils and iron tablets :-)
I cant's see next week's update being any more exciting either as it's month end at work so I'll be pretty busy :-)
Have a great week,
LJx
Well, I can safely say that his week I have achieved very little and am now behind where I had planned to be.
Things I need to catch up on are:
Photo session with the boys
1 hour walk on my own (I had the opportunity, but was just too lazy and didn't want to go
out in the cold on my own)
Family day out - I had intended for us to go to the zoo yesterday, but completely forgot that
Christopher had to go to Jubla, so that scuppered that idea.
Wearing heels - I had planned on wearing my higher heeled boots to work with my new trousers
but just can't face tottering round, especially as we're now getting snow, so I think it will be
safer to save that one for the spring now
Plan the story that I am going to write for my boys
However, although I haven't done anything big on my list this week, I have continued to take my fish oils and iron tablets :-)
I cant's see next week's update being any more exciting either as it's month end at work so I'll be pretty busy :-)
Have a great week,
LJx
Friday, 22 November 2013
101 Progress Check - November 22nd 2013
Hi All :o)
Sorry for the lack of update last weekend, I had family arriving on Sunday afternoon so was a bit busy. We all had a fabulous time, including going to see Biffy Clyro on Monday night, which was absolutely amazing!!!
I had my first proper Wednesday afternoon with my boys last week, and it went (almost) as planned. After a bit of a session of stropping, sulking, and shouting (by the older one) we were all in the kitchen chopping onions and pumpkin to make pumpkin soup, which actually turned out really well. As I've never made pumpkin soup before I can count this towards two of my tasks; cooking with my boys, and trying a new recipe - result!!!
I've continued with my short German book of quotes and sayings, despite the frustration, and am planning on getting this finished this week. I'm hoping that when I move from this book to a proper book, i.e. one with an actual storyline, that I will understand it more quickly as the sentences will be in context to the situation. If that doesn't help then it's going to take me a very long time to read the books that I have. I've also started using my Back to School Filofax to write in new words :-)
Yesterday afternoon I had Marcus at home with me, so he wanted to do crafty stuff until Christopher came home from school, so while he was colouring in wooden letters I took the opportunity to make a picture to go in one of my IKEA photo frames. I used various patterns of scrapbooking paper to create a picture in the style of a small child (I'm really not creative enough to do anything more than that). It's not perfect, but then it wasn't expected to be, but I had fun making it. Marcus has decided he'd like it up on the wall in his bedroom - we'll see...
I also watched a classic film from my list yesterday - "The Sting" with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was half expecting it to drag a bit, but it was really nice to see something a bit different - without the high aggression levels that seem to be almost a requirement of most films nowadays.
I've still been taking my fish oils and iron tablets, not forgetting at all since my last post - I am very pleased. Maybe the fish oils are improving my memory :-)
I have a lot to try to get through before the end of the month to stay on track with my 101 list, keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep it up without dropping a whole host of other balls that are about to be launched in the air... Christmas cards etc. :o)
Have a great week,
LJx
Added: Just watching the 1955 version of Oklahoma - excellent!!!
Sorry for the lack of update last weekend, I had family arriving on Sunday afternoon so was a bit busy. We all had a fabulous time, including going to see Biffy Clyro on Monday night, which was absolutely amazing!!!
I had my first proper Wednesday afternoon with my boys last week, and it went (almost) as planned. After a bit of a session of stropping, sulking, and shouting (by the older one) we were all in the kitchen chopping onions and pumpkin to make pumpkin soup, which actually turned out really well. As I've never made pumpkin soup before I can count this towards two of my tasks; cooking with my boys, and trying a new recipe - result!!!
I've continued with my short German book of quotes and sayings, despite the frustration, and am planning on getting this finished this week. I'm hoping that when I move from this book to a proper book, i.e. one with an actual storyline, that I will understand it more quickly as the sentences will be in context to the situation. If that doesn't help then it's going to take me a very long time to read the books that I have. I've also started using my Back to School Filofax to write in new words :-)
Yesterday afternoon I had Marcus at home with me, so he wanted to do crafty stuff until Christopher came home from school, so while he was colouring in wooden letters I took the opportunity to make a picture to go in one of my IKEA photo frames. I used various patterns of scrapbooking paper to create a picture in the style of a small child (I'm really not creative enough to do anything more than that). It's not perfect, but then it wasn't expected to be, but I had fun making it. Marcus has decided he'd like it up on the wall in his bedroom - we'll see...
I also watched a classic film from my list yesterday - "The Sting" with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was half expecting it to drag a bit, but it was really nice to see something a bit different - without the high aggression levels that seem to be almost a requirement of most films nowadays.
I've still been taking my fish oils and iron tablets, not forgetting at all since my last post - I am very pleased. Maybe the fish oils are improving my memory :-)
I have a lot to try to get through before the end of the month to stay on track with my 101 list, keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep it up without dropping a whole host of other balls that are about to be launched in the air... Christmas cards etc. :o)
Have a great week,
LJx
Added: Just watching the 1955 version of Oklahoma - excellent!!!
Sunday, 10 November 2013
101 Progress Check - November 10th 2013
Hi Guys & Gals :o)
Wow, I feel like I have actually achieved stuff this week, since spending a bit of time last weekend gong through my outstanding tasks and working out which months to do what.
I finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher-Stowe, which was such a well written piece, that had me almost in tears on the train on many occasions, and it is one that I will definitely read again.
On Wednesday I pulled out all the boxes (and bags as it turned out, including an IKEA bag full of used wrapping paper from last Christmas...oops!!!) from the end of the hallway, and between my other half and myself we got them all bundled up to either return to IKEA (our job yesterday), or put in the cellar ready for the next cardboard collection day.
I've been taking my fish oils and my iron tablets every day - although somehow I managed to forget the iron tablets on Friday.
I've been feeling pretty rough the last few days with a skanky cold that I think I must have picked up from work or the train, so yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours in bed watching Cabaret - I did like watching it, and I don't know quite what I was expecting, but that wasn't really it. I probably will end up watching it again, but I can't see it becoming one of my favourites.
I started to read my first German book today, and thought I start of reasonably gently with a small book of lovey type thoughts and sayings. I managed to get through two of them, and I have to say, it totally sucked. This may be partly because I'm feeling rubbish, and it was way too early in the morning (around 6am), but I just found it ridiculously frustrating to have to keep checking my dictionary. I love to read, but I read mainly for pleasure and relaxation, neither I which do I currently believe that I will ever feel whilst attempting to read in German.
I really want to improve my German vocabulary, but am really not thinking that I will achieve this by trying to force myself to read these books. There must be a simpler (and more enjoyable) way. If you have any ideas, please let me know.
Have a great week,
LJx
Wow, I feel like I have actually achieved stuff this week, since spending a bit of time last weekend gong through my outstanding tasks and working out which months to do what.
I finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher-Stowe, which was such a well written piece, that had me almost in tears on the train on many occasions, and it is one that I will definitely read again.
On Wednesday I pulled out all the boxes (and bags as it turned out, including an IKEA bag full of used wrapping paper from last Christmas...oops!!!) from the end of the hallway, and between my other half and myself we got them all bundled up to either return to IKEA (our job yesterday), or put in the cellar ready for the next cardboard collection day.
I've been taking my fish oils and my iron tablets every day - although somehow I managed to forget the iron tablets on Friday.
I've been feeling pretty rough the last few days with a skanky cold that I think I must have picked up from work or the train, so yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours in bed watching Cabaret - I did like watching it, and I don't know quite what I was expecting, but that wasn't really it. I probably will end up watching it again, but I can't see it becoming one of my favourites.
I started to read my first German book today, and thought I start of reasonably gently with a small book of lovey type thoughts and sayings. I managed to get through two of them, and I have to say, it totally sucked. This may be partly because I'm feeling rubbish, and it was way too early in the morning (around 6am), but I just found it ridiculously frustrating to have to keep checking my dictionary. I love to read, but I read mainly for pleasure and relaxation, neither I which do I currently believe that I will ever feel whilst attempting to read in German.
I really want to improve my German vocabulary, but am really not thinking that I will achieve this by trying to force myself to read these books. There must be a simpler (and more enjoyable) way. If you have any ideas, please let me know.
Have a great week,
LJx
Sunday, 3 November 2013
101 Progress Check - November 3rd 2013
Hiya :o)
It's been another busy week with a couple of late nights at work as we're now at month end again, and I haven't done a huge amount relating to my 101. However, I hadn't planned to get much done this week, so I'm not beating myself up about it.
I finished reading The Memoirs of Fanny Hill, and almost gave up on it even when I was almost finished as I found it really hard going (no pun intended). The language was the hardest thing I think and there are only so many descriptions of the male parts that you can read before you begin to get a bit bored with it all... especially when it's in a flowery, long-winded style.
I am now reading Uncle Tom's Cabin which has almost had me in tears on the train, and I am dying to see what happens to each of the characters - it is heart-breaking.
Apart from that I have actually managed to keep on top of the basic cleaning this week so I haven't had to do a massive clean over the weekend - which is great, as my boys have been up at silly 'o' clock both mornings and I am now absolutely shattered - where do they get their energy from? Maybe I should stop feeding them or something... joking, I don't feed them now as my cooking isn't safe :-)
I have quite a few items on my list to do in November, so later today I will be planning when I'll be starting/working on each one... fingers crossed for November.
Have a great week,
LJx
It's been another busy week with a couple of late nights at work as we're now at month end again, and I haven't done a huge amount relating to my 101. However, I hadn't planned to get much done this week, so I'm not beating myself up about it.
I finished reading The Memoirs of Fanny Hill, and almost gave up on it even when I was almost finished as I found it really hard going (no pun intended). The language was the hardest thing I think and there are only so many descriptions of the male parts that you can read before you begin to get a bit bored with it all... especially when it's in a flowery, long-winded style.
I am now reading Uncle Tom's Cabin which has almost had me in tears on the train, and I am dying to see what happens to each of the characters - it is heart-breaking.
Apart from that I have actually managed to keep on top of the basic cleaning this week so I haven't had to do a massive clean over the weekend - which is great, as my boys have been up at silly 'o' clock both mornings and I am now absolutely shattered - where do they get their energy from? Maybe I should stop feeding them or something... joking, I don't feed them now as my cooking isn't safe :-)
I have quite a few items on my list to do in November, so later today I will be planning when I'll be starting/working on each one... fingers crossed for November.
Have a great week,
LJx
Sunday, 27 October 2013
101 Progress Check - October 27th 2013
Hi Guys,
Well, no tasks to cross off this week, although I have made a start on quite a few.
Sorting through the boys clothes - I have been through their drawers and wardrobe, and now have a whole big IKEA bag full of clothes to go to the clothing bank down the road. I have also been through most of the shoes and binned the old ones (they were hiding in the junk at the bottom of the stairs). I still need to go through all the hats, gloves, scarves, coats and snow trousers, and then I'm done - yay!!!
On Monday I started taking my iron supplements and fish oils, which reminds me, I really need to take those this morning as soon as I've finished writing this post.
I started reading Fanny Hill and am struggling to get into it at all - as it's such an old book the language style is so different from today and this makes it trickier. I was considering changing it for something else, but as I'm 25% of the way through then I shall keep going. So far though - it is just rude!!! lol
The main reason I haven't got further through Fanny Hill is that when I finished Black Beauty the new book by Alison Morton was launched. Perfiditas is the second book by Alison, her first, Inceptio, was launched earlier this year, and I have to say (because it's true, not because someone is making me), I just had to make this book my priority, and am so pleased I did. I loved reading Inceptio, I love the writing style, and the book is based on such an interesting idea and characters (I'm giving nothing away, just read the book), so was sure Perfiditas would also be good. I was a little concerned that it may not be able to live up to it's older sibling, but within minutes my fears were allayed as I held tight for more action, mystery and intrigue - love, love, love it!!!
Time to go take my supplements now - enjoy the recommended reading :-)
LJx
Update: It is now Sunday evening and I have finished sorting the boys clothes, and started on the hallway cupboards - go me!!!
Well, no tasks to cross off this week, although I have made a start on quite a few.
Sorting through the boys clothes - I have been through their drawers and wardrobe, and now have a whole big IKEA bag full of clothes to go to the clothing bank down the road. I have also been through most of the shoes and binned the old ones (they were hiding in the junk at the bottom of the stairs). I still need to go through all the hats, gloves, scarves, coats and snow trousers, and then I'm done - yay!!!
On Monday I started taking my iron supplements and fish oils, which reminds me, I really need to take those this morning as soon as I've finished writing this post.
I started reading Fanny Hill and am struggling to get into it at all - as it's such an old book the language style is so different from today and this makes it trickier. I was considering changing it for something else, but as I'm 25% of the way through then I shall keep going. So far though - it is just rude!!! lol
The main reason I haven't got further through Fanny Hill is that when I finished Black Beauty the new book by Alison Morton was launched. Perfiditas is the second book by Alison, her first, Inceptio, was launched earlier this year, and I have to say (because it's true, not because someone is making me), I just had to make this book my priority, and am so pleased I did. I loved reading Inceptio, I love the writing style, and the book is based on such an interesting idea and characters (I'm giving nothing away, just read the book), so was sure Perfiditas would also be good. I was a little concerned that it may not be able to live up to it's older sibling, but within minutes my fears were allayed as I held tight for more action, mystery and intrigue - love, love, love it!!!
Time to go take my supplements now - enjoy the recommended reading :-)
LJx
Update: It is now Sunday evening and I have finished sorting the boys clothes, and started on the hallway cupboards - go me!!!
Sunday, 20 October 2013
101 Progress Check - October 20th 2013
Hi Guys :-)
After I write my last progress update I had a good look at my list to see what was still outstanding, and how long I have left to get it all done in. I have approximately eight and a half months left, and thirty six items waiting to be completed and crossed off my list.
If I could do these at a rate of six per month I would easily get this finished, but there are a number of longer term things on here (e.g. there are still six date nights remaining, so realistically that is six evenings, not just one), so I went through the outstanding items to see which ones need to be spread out over the remaining time, and which can be given a date to be done as a one off and am very pleased to say that it is all looking possible :-)
You may recall that in my last update post I was considering a three month Facebook ban and a Keep In Touch project (to actually write to, or call people) during this period. I have decided that this is something that I would really like to do, and as there were a couple of items highlighted in my review of tasks to be changed that I had down as a "leave on the list for now", I feel that it would be right for me to swap out two of my current list items for these new ones. In a way I'm tempted to remove the job of transferring all my music from tape to MP3, and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, it will take a long time to do, and secondly, as I haven't used the converter yet I don't know if it actually works. However, it is something I really want to do, so I will leave it there and instead I will be removing two of my fitness items "Do 4 sessions of Your Shape (Kinect) or Wii Fit in one week" and "Do 3 sessions of Just Dance or Dance on Broadway in one week. With the fitness programmes that I have found in the last couple of years I feel that the Wii Fit & Your Shape don't really exercise me and so would be nice to do, but really a bit pointless, and I still have no idea where my dance games have gone...
This week I had planned to sort through the boys clothes, but it's not done yet. However, I have bought some more clothes for the boys ready for autumn/winter, and I may get a chance to at least start on sorting the clothes later today.
I read Black Beauty on the train to and from work this week. I have some vague recollections of watching it on telly when I was little, but had never read the book at all. I was surprised by how much I liked it - it is beautifully written from Black Beauty's point of view, and is just lovely. I have a feeling I will be reading this again in the future :-) So only two banned books left to read.
Yesterday I went out in the forest with the youngest boy as the older one had Jubla all afternoon, and we both took our cameras out with us and I was surprised this morning when I went to upload them and found that I had taken sixty four photos. Here are a few below:
Tomorrow I will be starting taking my supplements (why start today what you can start tomorrow, lol), and as I'm changing my working hours from this week, and we no longer have Migros down the road to buy lunch so need to start planning properly what I'm eating and drinking again, I will be sorting out my Plannerisms planner to record everything as I know that when I am using it I am much better at keeping to routines and habits.
Have a great week,
LJx
After I write my last progress update I had a good look at my list to see what was still outstanding, and how long I have left to get it all done in. I have approximately eight and a half months left, and thirty six items waiting to be completed and crossed off my list.
If I could do these at a rate of six per month I would easily get this finished, but there are a number of longer term things on here (e.g. there are still six date nights remaining, so realistically that is six evenings, not just one), so I went through the outstanding items to see which ones need to be spread out over the remaining time, and which can be given a date to be done as a one off and am very pleased to say that it is all looking possible :-)
You may recall that in my last update post I was considering a three month Facebook ban and a Keep In Touch project (to actually write to, or call people) during this period. I have decided that this is something that I would really like to do, and as there were a couple of items highlighted in my review of tasks to be changed that I had down as a "leave on the list for now", I feel that it would be right for me to swap out two of my current list items for these new ones. In a way I'm tempted to remove the job of transferring all my music from tape to MP3, and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, it will take a long time to do, and secondly, as I haven't used the converter yet I don't know if it actually works. However, it is something I really want to do, so I will leave it there and instead I will be removing two of my fitness items "Do 4 sessions of Your Shape (Kinect) or Wii Fit in one week" and "Do 3 sessions of Just Dance or Dance on Broadway in one week. With the fitness programmes that I have found in the last couple of years I feel that the Wii Fit & Your Shape don't really exercise me and so would be nice to do, but really a bit pointless, and I still have no idea where my dance games have gone...
This week I had planned to sort through the boys clothes, but it's not done yet. However, I have bought some more clothes for the boys ready for autumn/winter, and I may get a chance to at least start on sorting the clothes later today.
I read Black Beauty on the train to and from work this week. I have some vague recollections of watching it on telly when I was little, but had never read the book at all. I was surprised by how much I liked it - it is beautifully written from Black Beauty's point of view, and is just lovely. I have a feeling I will be reading this again in the future :-) So only two banned books left to read.
Yesterday I went out in the forest with the youngest boy as the older one had Jubla all afternoon, and we both took our cameras out with us and I was surprised this morning when I went to upload them and found that I had taken sixty four photos. Here are a few below:
 |
| On the way to the forest |
 |
| In the forest - I love it here :-) |
 |
| Marcus photographing mushrooms |
 |
| Diddy mushrooms :-) |
 |
| My happy boy :-) |
Have a great week,
LJx
Friday, 18 October 2013
2014 Diary Pages and Set Up
Check me out!!! Not even in the last month of the year and I'm thinking about my set up for next year - yes, I know, there are many of you out there that were set up and ready to go months ago, but for me this is very impressive. Please excuse the pictures, Ben has been using the timer on the camera and I have no idea how to turn it off, and getting the tripod out was not an option... oops!!!
Admittedly this decision was not something that has been plaguing me, and it was a snap decision that I made this morning, but I have a feeling that it's not going to come crashing down around my ears leaving my life in tatters :o)
When I saw the fabulous Debbie at the Philofaxy meet up at the end of September she gave me a set of A5 Gillio day to a page diary inserts (thank you Debbie!!!). So I did what any pretend organised person does and thought, fabulous - they'll be great for next year, I'll keep them wrapped up safe until then (see, pretend organised, a real organised person would have opened them up, put them in her Filofax/Gillio/other, and started writing in appointments and reminders the same day). But I was sat at my desk this morning, and there they were, looking at me - I'm sure they were bursting to get out of their wrapping.
Obviously, at this point I had to open them, I mean, come on, who could resist? I am so pleased to report that they are lovely. The day to a page layout has timed appointments 08:00 - 19:00 down the left hand side of the page, with space for tasks or other lists on the right, and spaces for notes and phone calls at the bottom of the page. Admittedly, I don't have many appointments, but I do like to assign time-slots to my tasks for the day in an attempt to get through as much as possible, and with this layout I can have a whole spaghetti junction of lines assigning tasks to time slots - awesome!!! As well as this there is also a memo page after each month so that non-date specific items for the following month can be jotted down ready for when you come to plan the days of that month, or maybe you could use it to note the highlights of your month so that at the end of each month you have a list of happy reminders.
The inserts come wrapped in two sections (Jan-Jun & Jul-Dec), I mean, who is going to want to carry around a full year of day to a page diary inserts...? OK. maybe I will... but it's very sensible to split them into six month packages as many people don't want to carry that many.
Currently I have all my basic set up (personal & work) in my medium Gillio (personal sized in Filofax-speak), but as great as it s to carry just a personal around with me, when I saw this I realised I just have to move back to an A5 for work next year - I love them.
Having looked at them again I'm seriously considering lugging an A5 round with me everywhere again (not literally everywhere - it will be for work and home, not for me to take with me when we go shopping) and having my work and personal stuff in there.
The phone call section would also be perfect for a keeping in touch project, so I now definitely need to change my 101 list to avoid Facebook, and to keep in touch with people via letters and phone calls.
Time to get planning... thanks for stopping by :o)
LJx
Admittedly this decision was not something that has been plaguing me, and it was a snap decision that I made this morning, but I have a feeling that it's not going to come crashing down around my ears leaving my life in tatters :o)
When I saw the fabulous Debbie at the Philofaxy meet up at the end of September she gave me a set of A5 Gillio day to a page diary inserts (thank you Debbie!!!). So I did what any pretend organised person does and thought, fabulous - they'll be great for next year, I'll keep them wrapped up safe until then (see, pretend organised, a real organised person would have opened them up, put them in her Filofax/Gillio/other, and started writing in appointments and reminders the same day). But I was sat at my desk this morning, and there they were, looking at me - I'm sure they were bursting to get out of their wrapping.
Obviously, at this point I had to open them, I mean, come on, who could resist? I am so pleased to report that they are lovely. The day to a page layout has timed appointments 08:00 - 19:00 down the left hand side of the page, with space for tasks or other lists on the right, and spaces for notes and phone calls at the bottom of the page. Admittedly, I don't have many appointments, but I do like to assign time-slots to my tasks for the day in an attempt to get through as much as possible, and with this layout I can have a whole spaghetti junction of lines assigning tasks to time slots - awesome!!! As well as this there is also a memo page after each month so that non-date specific items for the following month can be jotted down ready for when you come to plan the days of that month, or maybe you could use it to note the highlights of your month so that at the end of each month you have a list of happy reminders.
The inserts come wrapped in two sections (Jan-Jun & Jul-Dec), I mean, who is going to want to carry around a full year of day to a page diary inserts...? OK. maybe I will... but it's very sensible to split them into six month packages as many people don't want to carry that many.
Currently I have all my basic set up (personal & work) in my medium Gillio (personal sized in Filofax-speak), but as great as it s to carry just a personal around with me, when I saw this I realised I just have to move back to an A5 for work next year - I love them.
Having looked at them again I'm seriously considering lugging an A5 round with me everywhere again (not literally everywhere - it will be for work and home, not for me to take with me when we go shopping) and having my work and personal stuff in there.
The phone call section would also be perfect for a keeping in touch project, so I now definitely need to change my 101 list to avoid Facebook, and to keep in touch with people via letters and phone calls.
Time to get planning... thanks for stopping by :o)
LJx
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
101 Progress Check - 16th October 2013
Hi everyone :o)
Sorry for another lengthy pause between posts (maybe I should just aim to update monthly instead of weekly, so I don't have to feel so bad) - I've been away for two out of the last three weekends. Needless to say that progress is still slow.
I should have even done a post on my first weekend away as I was away with the Philofaxy gang and we were very privileged (don't laugh oh ye who are not of the Filofax persuasion) to be invited to the Filofax headquarters down at Burgess Hill where we had a fab time talking with the heads of various departments there, seeing potential new patterns for next year, fondling some of the older Filofaxes, and generally having fun. We all came away with a bag of Filofax goodies (and yesterday my friend also took delivery of a nappa Flex from them on my behalf - so looking forward to receiving that).
On the Saturday most of us headed to Vapiano (highly recommended - very relaxed atmosphere and lovely food cooked right in front of you), where we got to play with each other's Filofaxes, shortly followed by the obligatory shopping trip to Paperchase :o)
Being up in London I got to see my brother, sister-in-law and their cool kids as well which was great - we lost touch for a while (nothing bad happened, we're both just utterly useless), so it's been nice to catch up again over the last six months or so.
Anyway, back to the topic of this post... although my 101 has been moving slowly recently I have two more tasks to cross off.
While we had a weekend free with no children around I went with my husband (I love saying that) to see Rasta Thomas's ballet of Romeo & Juliet - it was amazing, the music was cool, the moves were slick, and the bodies were hot... oops, did I just say that out loud?!!!
Before I went away last weekend I sorted through my stationery and packaged up seven RAKs - so that's another task that I've been meaning to do for ages that I can cross off my list - I'm sure if I hadn't put it on the 101 list it would still be waiting at the end of the year (and not necessarily just this year). This means that I can now leave the FiloRAK group. As much as I love the idea of the group, I just keep seeing lovely things, which send me off trawling the Internet, and the next thing I know it's three hours later and I've spent the whole evening looking at pretty stationery or crafty stuff.
I am seriously considering adding a three month Facebook ban to my 101 list (although I will still be allowed to check for private messages as this is how my family and friends contact me. Over the last couple of weeks my Facebook usage has been much less than previously, and it feels so nice not to feel that I must check into all the groups every day - in fact, I have left some already to remove the pressure (which is only from me, no-one else - just my own freakish OCD fault). There will be no checking groups or reading the news feed allowed, even though this does mean that I may miss out on actual news (not just the trash photos, hoaxes, game requests and adverts). Maybe I should also add a task to keep in touch with people and start writing letters and picking up the phone...
I finally got round to searching Amazon to get my three remaining banned books to read, so have downloaded Black Beauty and Fanny Hill (OMG, I wish I'd read the reviews before putting that on my list - I think it's just going to be rude!!!) onto my Kindle. Unfortunately Catcher in the Rye doesn't seem to be available on Kindle, so for now I've downloaded Uncle Tom's Cabin instead as this was banned in the Southern United States due to it's anti-slavery content. The Catcher in the Rye will definitely be read at some point though as I think my next reading challenge (either after the 101 list or alongside it) will be either the BBC top 200 or the Telegraph 100 - I'm sure there will be overlaps, and I'm also sure that I will have already read some of them, but I am looking forward to my next list of books :-)
That's me done for now, have a great week,
LJx
Sorry for another lengthy pause between posts (maybe I should just aim to update monthly instead of weekly, so I don't have to feel so bad) - I've been away for two out of the last three weekends. Needless to say that progress is still slow.
I should have even done a post on my first weekend away as I was away with the Philofaxy gang and we were very privileged (don't laugh oh ye who are not of the Filofax persuasion) to be invited to the Filofax headquarters down at Burgess Hill where we had a fab time talking with the heads of various departments there, seeing potential new patterns for next year, fondling some of the older Filofaxes, and generally having fun. We all came away with a bag of Filofax goodies (and yesterday my friend also took delivery of a nappa Flex from them on my behalf - so looking forward to receiving that).
On the Saturday most of us headed to Vapiano (highly recommended - very relaxed atmosphere and lovely food cooked right in front of you), where we got to play with each other's Filofaxes, shortly followed by the obligatory shopping trip to Paperchase :o)
Being up in London I got to see my brother, sister-in-law and their cool kids as well which was great - we lost touch for a while (nothing bad happened, we're both just utterly useless), so it's been nice to catch up again over the last six months or so.
Anyway, back to the topic of this post... although my 101 has been moving slowly recently I have two more tasks to cross off.
While we had a weekend free with no children around I went with my husband (I love saying that) to see Rasta Thomas's ballet of Romeo & Juliet - it was amazing, the music was cool, the moves were slick, and the bodies were hot... oops, did I just say that out loud?!!!
Before I went away last weekend I sorted through my stationery and packaged up seven RAKs - so that's another task that I've been meaning to do for ages that I can cross off my list - I'm sure if I hadn't put it on the 101 list it would still be waiting at the end of the year (and not necessarily just this year). This means that I can now leave the FiloRAK group. As much as I love the idea of the group, I just keep seeing lovely things, which send me off trawling the Internet, and the next thing I know it's three hours later and I've spent the whole evening looking at pretty stationery or crafty stuff.
I am seriously considering adding a three month Facebook ban to my 101 list (although I will still be allowed to check for private messages as this is how my family and friends contact me. Over the last couple of weeks my Facebook usage has been much less than previously, and it feels so nice not to feel that I must check into all the groups every day - in fact, I have left some already to remove the pressure (which is only from me, no-one else - just my own freakish OCD fault). There will be no checking groups or reading the news feed allowed, even though this does mean that I may miss out on actual news (not just the trash photos, hoaxes, game requests and adverts). Maybe I should also add a task to keep in touch with people and start writing letters and picking up the phone...
I finally got round to searching Amazon to get my three remaining banned books to read, so have downloaded Black Beauty and Fanny Hill (OMG, I wish I'd read the reviews before putting that on my list - I think it's just going to be rude!!!) onto my Kindle. Unfortunately Catcher in the Rye doesn't seem to be available on Kindle, so for now I've downloaded Uncle Tom's Cabin instead as this was banned in the Southern United States due to it's anti-slavery content. The Catcher in the Rye will definitely be read at some point though as I think my next reading challenge (either after the 101 list or alongside it) will be either the BBC top 200 or the Telegraph 100 - I'm sure there will be overlaps, and I'm also sure that I will have already read some of them, but I am looking forward to my next list of books :-)
That's me done for now, have a great week,
LJx
Sunday, 22 September 2013
101 Progress Check - 22nd September 2013
Hello :o)
Today I am feeling motivated to really start working on the rest of my 101 - although maybe nothing to stressful today as I'm recovering from a dental op on Thursday which has stopped me sleeping too well, so I'm feeling pretty tired.
As I said I would do in my last post, I have reviewed the outstanding tasks in my 101 list to see what things are still relevant/wanted - there is no point in keeping tasks on the list if I don't want to do them anymore.
I am also adding a few household type bigger chores to the list as recently I have been easily distracted (and not particularly motivated), so if they are on here I am hoping it will encourage me to do them :o)
Firstly though, what tasks can I now cross off?
Drinking Rooibos daily for 2 weeks, the plan was to have this while I was doing my journalling, but I did it alone as I'm not ready to start the journalling yet. Thankfully I like my Rooibos with honey after it has cooled significantly (often it's completely cold by the time I drink it) as after my op on Thursday I was told not to eat or drink anything hot, so it didn't interfere with my challenge.
As part of my review I spotted some challenges still on my list that actually I have already completed:
- camping. Yes, I have finally decided that the stay at Europaparc does count as camping.
- concerts. I went and watched two of the Rock Highway competition rounds for 2012 (finals and
semi-finals), and despite saying that they counted I hadn't crossed the task off.
- Bake cupcakes - yes, I'll admit they weren't super fancy, and weren't quite what I visualised when I
set this challenge but they were cupcakes, they tasted good, and they were decorated.
So, let's see what's outstanding...
4. Play keyboards 10 times This is to be removed...
6. Load all music on tapes to iTunes tape to MP3 converter received Nov 2012 keep for now
8. Have music playing all day & no TV/computers for whole family (x 3)
10. Watch 10 classic films - films identified, got to find them, 4 down 6 to go
Brief Encounter
Papillon
Taxi Driver
The Graduate
11. Watch 10 musicals (films) - musicals for watching identified, 5 down 5 to go
Rock of Ages
Half a Sixpence
Singin' In The Rain
Les Miserables
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Hairspray
14. See 2 dance productions - 1 down, 1 to go
Rock the Ballet
15. Read 5 banned books
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
16. Teach boys basics of reading English to be changed to listening to/teaching them to read for 10
minutes a day.
17. One big family day out every month
19. Teach boys to swim (or arrange swimming lessons)
22. Cooking/baking with the boys monthly - done 4 times so far... to be changed to 10 times
23. 15 photo sessions with the boys reduce to 10 times
24. Make a den in the forest with the boys to be removed, they don't want to
25. Take the boys to 3 shows - 1 down, 2 to go (to be identified)... to be changed to 1 show, they
don't want to go to any others, therefore this task is complete
28. Write a short story for the boys
31. 12 'date' nights with Ben (at home or out) 6 date nights so far
32. Have 4 massage evenings to be removed
34. Take a 1+ hour walk on my own (x3)
36. Do 4 sessions of 'Your Shape' (Kinect) or Wii Fit in 1 keep for now
37. Do 3 sessions of Just Dance or Dance on Broadway in 1 week keep for now
41. Try snowboarding to be removed, really not that interested
42. Learn to swim confidently to be removed, I should do this as some point, but don't see it as a
priority at the moment.
43. Be as comfortable as Christopher is on roller-blades (as he is now at 6, not as he is by June
2014) to be removed, again, it's not something I really feel the urge to do
48. Become confident enough to hold a conversation in German getting there Aug 2013
49. Embroider a sampler
50. Read 5 books in German (basic please...) books bought
51. Write a poem
58. Learn 6 new recipes - 3 down
59. Take camera on days out and use it started Aug 2013
63. 30 mins per day to relax/meditate for 2 weeks (while on 2 week holiday with Ben does not
count)
65. Learn to use a proper camera - camera bought (digital SLR)
66. Buy some nice high heels and wear them
68. 1 evening a week for me for 3 months (possibly for a course) to be removed
69. Give more praise (at home & at work)
71. Bake cupcakes
74. Journal daily for two weeks (15 minutes minimum)
77. Do a tandem skydive to be removed, I really don't see how I'm going to find time to fit this in.
If by some miracle I do then I will add it back to the list
79. Keep to a basic household routine using my Plannerisms planner - started Feb 2013
80. Set up a recipe binder
85. Blog re the 101 in 1001 project - started, clearly :-)
88. Manage bank accounts properly, update Excel weekly (not monthly/quarterly)
So I have a few tasks to change, and eight to be removed. Obviously this means that I need to add eight in, so here we have the new arrivals:
- Sort through the boys clothes (Marcus seems to have a ridiculous number of clothes now, they
can't all still fit him, and I'm sure that some of the boys clothes have been killed in the way that
only small children can kill clothes). Time to sort, throw and list anything that we need to get
(probably nothing).
- Make a crafting picture in one of my IKEA picture frames.
- Sort stationery supplies/stickers and post out some RAK packages.
- Sort through the hallway cupboards (these end up storing junk and need a bit of work).
- Package up the big boxes in the hallway and office for recycling (can't sort the cupboards without
doing this... oops!!!
- Sort through the boxes upstairs that have still not been unpacked... do we really need to keep this
stuff? If so, sort it properly into labelled boxes for storing, complete with an inventory of what's in
there...
- Take fish oils daily for 3 months
- Take iron supplements twice daily for 3 months
Time to go and update the main list and get started :o)
Have a great week,
LJx
Today I am feeling motivated to really start working on the rest of my 101 - although maybe nothing to stressful today as I'm recovering from a dental op on Thursday which has stopped me sleeping too well, so I'm feeling pretty tired.
As I said I would do in my last post, I have reviewed the outstanding tasks in my 101 list to see what things are still relevant/wanted - there is no point in keeping tasks on the list if I don't want to do them anymore.
I am also adding a few household type bigger chores to the list as recently I have been easily distracted (and not particularly motivated), so if they are on here I am hoping it will encourage me to do them :o)
Firstly though, what tasks can I now cross off?
Drinking Rooibos daily for 2 weeks, the plan was to have this while I was doing my journalling, but I did it alone as I'm not ready to start the journalling yet. Thankfully I like my Rooibos with honey after it has cooled significantly (often it's completely cold by the time I drink it) as after my op on Thursday I was told not to eat or drink anything hot, so it didn't interfere with my challenge.
As part of my review I spotted some challenges still on my list that actually I have already completed:
- camping. Yes, I have finally decided that the stay at Europaparc does count as camping.
- concerts. I went and watched two of the Rock Highway competition rounds for 2012 (finals and
semi-finals), and despite saying that they counted I hadn't crossed the task off.
- Bake cupcakes - yes, I'll admit they weren't super fancy, and weren't quite what I visualised when I
set this challenge but they were cupcakes, they tasted good, and they were decorated.
So, let's see what's outstanding...
4. Play keyboards 10 times This is to be removed...
6. Load all music on tapes to iTunes tape to MP3 converter received Nov 2012 keep for now
8. Have music playing all day & no TV/computers for whole family (x 3)
10. Watch 10 classic films - films identified, got to find them, 4 down 6 to go
Brief Encounter
Papillon
Taxi Driver
The Graduate
11. Watch 10 musicals (films) - musicals for watching identified, 5 down 5 to go
Rock of Ages
Half a Sixpence
Singin' In The Rain
Les Miserables
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Hairspray
14. See 2 dance productions - 1 down, 1 to go
Rock the Ballet
15. Read 5 banned books
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
16. Teach boys basics of reading English to be changed to listening to/teaching them to read for 10
minutes a day.
17. One big family day out every month
19. Teach boys to swim (or arrange swimming lessons)
22. Cooking/baking with the boys monthly - done 4 times so far... to be changed to 10 times
23. 15 photo sessions with the boys reduce to 10 times
24. Make a den in the forest with the boys to be removed, they don't want to
25. Take the boys to 3 shows - 1 down, 2 to go (to be identified)... to be changed to 1 show, they
don't want to go to any others, therefore this task is complete
28. Write a short story for the boys
31. 12 'date' nights with Ben (at home or out) 6 date nights so far
32. Have 4 massage evenings to be removed
34. Take a 1+ hour walk on my own (x3)
36. Do 4 sessions of 'Your Shape' (Kinect) or Wii Fit in 1 keep for now
37. Do 3 sessions of Just Dance or Dance on Broadway in 1 week keep for now
41. Try snowboarding to be removed, really not that interested
42. Learn to swim confidently to be removed, I should do this as some point, but don't see it as a
priority at the moment.
43. Be as comfortable as Christopher is on roller-blades (as he is now at 6, not as he is by June
2014) to be removed, again, it's not something I really feel the urge to do
48. Become confident enough to hold a conversation in German getting there Aug 2013
49. Embroider a sampler
50. Read 5 books in German (basic please...) books bought
51. Write a poem
58. Learn 6 new recipes - 3 down
59. Take camera on days out and use it started Aug 2013
63. 30 mins per day to relax/meditate for 2 weeks (while on 2 week holiday with Ben does not
count)
65. Learn to use a proper camera - camera bought (digital SLR)
66. Buy some nice high heels and wear them
68. 1 evening a week for me for 3 months (possibly for a course) to be removed
69. Give more praise (at home & at work)
71. Bake cupcakes
74. Journal daily for two weeks (15 minutes minimum)
77. Do a tandem skydive to be removed, I really don't see how I'm going to find time to fit this in.
If by some miracle I do then I will add it back to the list
79. Keep to a basic household routine using my Plannerisms planner - started Feb 2013
80. Set up a recipe binder
85. Blog re the 101 in 1001 project - started, clearly :-)
88. Manage bank accounts properly, update Excel weekly (not monthly/quarterly)
So I have a few tasks to change, and eight to be removed. Obviously this means that I need to add eight in, so here we have the new arrivals:
- Sort through the boys clothes (Marcus seems to have a ridiculous number of clothes now, they
can't all still fit him, and I'm sure that some of the boys clothes have been killed in the way that
only small children can kill clothes). Time to sort, throw and list anything that we need to get
(probably nothing).
- Make a crafting picture in one of my IKEA picture frames.
- Sort stationery supplies/stickers and post out some RAK packages.
- Sort through the hallway cupboards (these end up storing junk and need a bit of work).
- Package up the big boxes in the hallway and office for recycling (can't sort the cupboards without
doing this... oops!!!
- Sort through the boxes upstairs that have still not been unpacked... do we really need to keep this
stuff? If so, sort it properly into labelled boxes for storing, complete with an inventory of what's in
there...
- Take fish oils daily for 3 months
- Take iron supplements twice daily for 3 months
Time to go and update the main list and get started :o)
Have a great week,
LJx
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
101 Progress Check - 17th September 2013
Hiya - is anybody still there?
It's been a bit slow going over the last few months, but I had some news the other day that, while making things a bit tricky initially, may actually free up some of my time in a way that I can work on these challenges (especially with the ones involving my boys).
The boys love going to childcare after lunch club/school, but unfortunately the lady who has them needs to cut back on the number of days that she can have our two - have I mentioned before how Switzerland is really not set up for families where both parents work outside the home (especially if they both work full-time)? It's really not ideal - I won't go into full details here, there's enough for a whole post on this, but let's just say that even though Christopher (my oldest) is now 8 and in his second year at school (after 2 years in Kindergarten class) my oldest boy is still only in school every morning and two afternoons a week.
Thankfully they can still go to the childminder on Mondays and Fridays, so it's only Tuesday - Thursday that we need to deal with. I'm looking at this as an opportunity to see if I can change my working hours. As much as I would love to be able to cut the number of hours I work I doubt that this is possible, however, if I can juggle them around a bit I may be able to work from home 7:30 - 13:30 on Wednesdays so that I can be home for the boys when they get home. This would mean that basically I will have an afternoon each week where I can do things with my boys and catch up on bits around the home, leaving the majority of my weekend free so that I'm not trying to get everything done at the same time - yay!!!
Anyway, back to the progress so far...
On Sunday (after a manic afternoon entertaining small boys for Marcus's 6th birthday party) I thought it would be nice to watch a musical, so I looked down my list (having crossed Fame off the other day as not actually being a musical - I was very disappointed when I realised that it was just a film with a few musical numbers in it - and not a very good one at that). Oklahoma was next on the list, hmmm... a nice bit of Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipton? Yes, that'll do nicely - until I realised that the version I have isn't that one. OK, so South Pacific... I haven't seen that yet... three minutes of black screen and music before the credits start (yep, old film, so many of the credits are at the beginning), then three minutes of credits before the film starts (starting to lose the will to live now), but then it starts... and I really just couldn't get into it, I was gutted, I was expecting to really love it, but I couldn't seem to understand a lot of what was being sung and it felt quite slow going. I may try it again another day, but not just yet. So what did I do? I watched Hairspray!!! Yes, I have seen it before, but I like it, and it is a musical and by the time I got to that point I really just wanted to watch something that I would definitely like :o)
I started my challenge to drink Rooibos tea every day for two weeks on September 8th, and I'm still going strong. I like Tick Tock rooibos tea, so will have to pick up another box when I'm in the UK for the Philofaxy meet up at the end of the month.
I discovered the other day that, yes, I CAN walk in high heels. I have a pair of heels that I used to wear sometimes for Salsa and they are fairly high, and a bit chunky, but not so chunky that they lose the feeling of walking in high heels. I put them on to see how they would look with a dress that I have, and I managed to walk (like a proper lady and everything, instead of just wobbling around) through the apartment - now all I need to do is get some high heels (not stilettos, I have no need to try to break my ankle) and wear them. I'm not sure yet where I'll actually wear them, but it will happen :-)
Next - a very exciting announcement - on Monday morning at 9am as soon as they went on sale I got some BIFFY CLYRO TICKETS!!! They announced on their Facebook page on Saturday that they were adding a venue in Zurich into their tour schedule on November 18th, and because it's an additional venue it's quite a small venue - perfect!!! Now all I need to do is sort out a baby sitter, which could be fun as it's a Monday night, but I will find a way :o)
I feel that it's time to review the outstanding challenges that I have - it's all very well setting 101 challenges, but during the course of 1001 days, things change, what you thought you would really like to do, you realise you actually aren't that fussed about, you discover new things that you'd rather do instead, you realise that there are other things that are more important than some of the things you had originally planned, or your children aren't actually interested in the things you thought they would be.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be doing some more planning and reviewing and will make some changes to my list. For example - taking the boys to three shows... they've been to the Batman show which they loved, but do they want to go and see two others? No? I've tried The Lion King, Shrek the Musical and a couple of other things I thought they may be interested in, but they don't want to go... so I am thinking that will be changed to "Take the boys to see a show". Others may just not be practical to do in the remaining time, I could just say, "oh well, I didn't do it", but if I do that to one thing it's so easy then to climb onto the slippery slope of not bothering to try to achieve the others - I think it is more sensible, and challenging, to change the challenges to things that are actually do-able.
One thing on the list that may go is "camping" - realistically I can't see it happening this year now, and it is very unlikely to happen in the early part of next year. There is also the issue of the initial layout - is there really any point in buying all the gear, to only use it once? We went to Europapark in May and stayed in a covered wagon (no, nothing like a caravan, more like a tent with a wooden floor and small bunk beds), Ben keeps asking if we can just class that as camping - I'm really doubting that, although we were cold, had to walk across to the toilets in the night, and walk in pyjamas to the shared shower block, so it wasn't totally dissimilar. But... and this I feel may be the main issue, we missed out on the whole "trying to put the tent up, getting stroppy, finally managing to get everyone in, only for it all to collapse during the night" experience...
Anyway, that's me done for now - time to stop waffling :o)
Hope you're all having a great week.
LJx
P.S. Apologies for any spelling errors - I haven't read through this to check it's all OK, and spellcheck isn't working for some reason...
It's been a bit slow going over the last few months, but I had some news the other day that, while making things a bit tricky initially, may actually free up some of my time in a way that I can work on these challenges (especially with the ones involving my boys).
The boys love going to childcare after lunch club/school, but unfortunately the lady who has them needs to cut back on the number of days that she can have our two - have I mentioned before how Switzerland is really not set up for families where both parents work outside the home (especially if they both work full-time)? It's really not ideal - I won't go into full details here, there's enough for a whole post on this, but let's just say that even though Christopher (my oldest) is now 8 and in his second year at school (after 2 years in Kindergarten class) my oldest boy is still only in school every morning and two afternoons a week.
Thankfully they can still go to the childminder on Mondays and Fridays, so it's only Tuesday - Thursday that we need to deal with. I'm looking at this as an opportunity to see if I can change my working hours. As much as I would love to be able to cut the number of hours I work I doubt that this is possible, however, if I can juggle them around a bit I may be able to work from home 7:30 - 13:30 on Wednesdays so that I can be home for the boys when they get home. This would mean that basically I will have an afternoon each week where I can do things with my boys and catch up on bits around the home, leaving the majority of my weekend free so that I'm not trying to get everything done at the same time - yay!!!
Anyway, back to the progress so far...
On Sunday (after a manic afternoon entertaining small boys for Marcus's 6th birthday party) I thought it would be nice to watch a musical, so I looked down my list (having crossed Fame off the other day as not actually being a musical - I was very disappointed when I realised that it was just a film with a few musical numbers in it - and not a very good one at that). Oklahoma was next on the list, hmmm... a nice bit of Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipton? Yes, that'll do nicely - until I realised that the version I have isn't that one. OK, so South Pacific... I haven't seen that yet... three minutes of black screen and music before the credits start (yep, old film, so many of the credits are at the beginning), then three minutes of credits before the film starts (starting to lose the will to live now), but then it starts... and I really just couldn't get into it, I was gutted, I was expecting to really love it, but I couldn't seem to understand a lot of what was being sung and it felt quite slow going. I may try it again another day, but not just yet. So what did I do? I watched Hairspray!!! Yes, I have seen it before, but I like it, and it is a musical and by the time I got to that point I really just wanted to watch something that I would definitely like :o)
I started my challenge to drink Rooibos tea every day for two weeks on September 8th, and I'm still going strong. I like Tick Tock rooibos tea, so will have to pick up another box when I'm in the UK for the Philofaxy meet up at the end of the month.
I discovered the other day that, yes, I CAN walk in high heels. I have a pair of heels that I used to wear sometimes for Salsa and they are fairly high, and a bit chunky, but not so chunky that they lose the feeling of walking in high heels. I put them on to see how they would look with a dress that I have, and I managed to walk (like a proper lady and everything, instead of just wobbling around) through the apartment - now all I need to do is get some high heels (not stilettos, I have no need to try to break my ankle) and wear them. I'm not sure yet where I'll actually wear them, but it will happen :-)
Next - a very exciting announcement - on Monday morning at 9am as soon as they went on sale I got some BIFFY CLYRO TICKETS!!! They announced on their Facebook page on Saturday that they were adding a venue in Zurich into their tour schedule on November 18th, and because it's an additional venue it's quite a small venue - perfect!!! Now all I need to do is sort out a baby sitter, which could be fun as it's a Monday night, but I will find a way :o)
I feel that it's time to review the outstanding challenges that I have - it's all very well setting 101 challenges, but during the course of 1001 days, things change, what you thought you would really like to do, you realise you actually aren't that fussed about, you discover new things that you'd rather do instead, you realise that there are other things that are more important than some of the things you had originally planned, or your children aren't actually interested in the things you thought they would be.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be doing some more planning and reviewing and will make some changes to my list. For example - taking the boys to three shows... they've been to the Batman show which they loved, but do they want to go and see two others? No? I've tried The Lion King, Shrek the Musical and a couple of other things I thought they may be interested in, but they don't want to go... so I am thinking that will be changed to "Take the boys to see a show". Others may just not be practical to do in the remaining time, I could just say, "oh well, I didn't do it", but if I do that to one thing it's so easy then to climb onto the slippery slope of not bothering to try to achieve the others - I think it is more sensible, and challenging, to change the challenges to things that are actually do-able.
One thing on the list that may go is "camping" - realistically I can't see it happening this year now, and it is very unlikely to happen in the early part of next year. There is also the issue of the initial layout - is there really any point in buying all the gear, to only use it once? We went to Europapark in May and stayed in a covered wagon (no, nothing like a caravan, more like a tent with a wooden floor and small bunk beds), Ben keeps asking if we can just class that as camping - I'm really doubting that, although we were cold, had to walk across to the toilets in the night, and walk in pyjamas to the shared shower block, so it wasn't totally dissimilar. But... and this I feel may be the main issue, we missed out on the whole "trying to put the tent up, getting stroppy, finally managing to get everyone in, only for it all to collapse during the night" experience...
Anyway, that's me done for now - time to stop waffling :o)
Hope you're all having a great week.
LJx
P.S. Apologies for any spelling errors - I haven't read through this to check it's all OK, and spellcheck isn't working for some reason...
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