101 List Progress Check - August 1st 2012

Hi Everyone (Anyone...) and Happy Swiss Day!!!

Yep, August the 1st is the national day over here and there were fireworks going half the night last night and it sounds like firecrackers are currently the order of the day (lots of bangs going all evening so far, and as it's still light out I'm guessing it's not full on fireworks).

So, what have I achieved since I last posted a 101 progress update... let's see...

Shakespeare - complete. I read The Taming of The Shrew last week and I have to say it is probably the most enjoyable of the five plays that I have read.

Prizewinner books - I have now started reading The Color Purple, and it's shaping up to be pretty good. I a looking forward to see what happens next.

Make up daily - yay!!! Another challenge completed. I wore it every day for a whole month and am still going even though I no longer have to.

Skin care - yep, that one is still going on, have I noticed any difference in my skin? I'm not sure, but then I don't look at it that carefully - maybe I'll check it out properly at the end of my month :-)

Being nice - wow!!! Today is day twelve of my two weeks of being nice challenge (it sounds better than day twelve of my not being horrible challenge) and I am doing remarkably well. It is monthend at work, which is usually the time when I am most horrible, and I'm not. Two days to go... maybe I can arrange to work from home on Friday...?

Supplements - is there no end to these things...? Although to be fair the challenge is for three months, but I think I got about six months worth.

30 Lists in 30 Days - another achievement. I have one which just needs a bit to finish it off and need to get them posted on here, but I am done.

Classic films - I haven't actually watched any more yet (fingers crossed for this weekend), but I have bought Scarface starring Al Pacino...

Dinner by candlelight - we had dinner at the hotel when we were in Germany, complete with lit candles on the table. It wasn't actually dark yet, but it still counts, right?

I need to check my work hours and dates to see if I've completed another of the challenges for those, fairly sure I have, but as I have decided to have a separate work Filofax I need to remember to bring it home to check.

And the piéce de resistance? Wearing feminine clothes for a whole week. I started this one on Wednesday last week (including wearing feminine clothes at the weekend) and finished it yesterday. It was so nice to get a pair of jeans on for work today, but I may be back to dresses for the next two days as it seems to be easier to be nice when I'm wearing feminine clothes. And here is the proof that I really did do it...

Wednesday - red H&M dress and lily-white legs 

Thursday - black and cream River Island retro dress , again with the lily-white legs

Friday - H&M casual butterfly dress, legs hidden

Saturday - ready to shop in black skirt and top, lily-whites are on show again

Sunday - black skirt, girly top from Next

OK - so that wasn't the best outfit for going to the Giger museum, but how was I to know that it was going to be all sloping cobbled streets - oops!!! Although I did (eventually) manage to spot someone with even more inappropriate shoes than me there :o)

Monday - new butterfly dress from H&M

Tuesday - newish swallow dress from H&M

That's me for now.

Enjoy the rest of your week :o)

LJx

101 List Progress Check - Jun 24th 2012

Hello, good evening and welcome!!!

Keeping it short again today - behind on everything at the moment, but feel I would benefit from a very early night - I keep aiming for one, but it never happens.

So, this weeks progress:

Shakespeare - I have to say, I'm really not getting into Shakespeare - maybe if I saw it on the stage the way it is supposed to be I would find it easier, but to read it - eugh!!! I have now read Anthony & Cleopatra though, and I found it better than the others that I have read so far, so four down one to go. I'm due to read The Taming of The Shrew, and then I think that unless I get into it via joining a drama group or something, that I will probably never read another Shakespeare play again... which kind of saddens me. Maybe when I have finished the 101 things in 1001 days I should give myself the objective of reading one or two Shakespeare plays a year, but watching them as well and studying the text as opposed to just reading it.

Prizewinner books - This week I have started reading Midnight's children by Salman Rushdie. I like the style of writing that is used for this, with the story in the past interspersed with the current thoughts of the writer.

My working hours have been on track this week. I stayed late on Thursday (which was great as I was in  the middle of the most amazing thunderstorm - it was totally mental), and finished early on Friday as I was pretty much dead :o)

Supplements are still going in, and exercise has still not been restarted, must do something before my belly starts sticking out again and looking pregnant - it's weird the way that after you've had children, that is your stomachs natural shape unless you attack it...

I have just ordered Evita and Cabaret off Amazon, so will be able to get those when I am in the UK, so should be able to watch them this month as I have a couple of weeks off work.

We have our first family holiday booked up to start in a couples of weeks time so that'll be another one off the list, and then Ben and I have a weekend watching the Grand Prix at Hockenheim, while the boys stay with the grandparents... this is preparation for our two week holiday which we will hopefully be able to do next summer. This summer the boys will mainly be in the UK without us, but that will be good for their English as they speak Swiss German five days a week. If that works out OK then we may see if we can do the same again next year :o)

I think that's all for this week,

Will be flying to the UK next Sunday so will try to post an update before I go, as I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to between now and the end of July otherwise (although I will be trying to).

Have a good week,

LJx

101 List Progress Check - Jun 14th 2012

Sorry I'm a bit late with this one - it's Thursday evening and I'm trying to get this written now, but have a feeling that I'll be finishing it tomorrow, oops!!!

So, what's been happening since I last wrote? Well, I read my third Shakespeare play - I have to say that I'm struggling to get into Shakespeare it seemed much better when I did MacBeth at school. This one was "As You Like It", and to be honest I don't remember too well what went on. Something about brothers who didn't like each other (or may be that was one of the other two, or maybe both of them), a girl who had to dress as a guy so that her and another girl could travel without raising suspicions, a guy who fell in love with the girl, searching for here (I'm pretty sure that was the nice brother), and thats the bulk of it really.

On Sunday I thought that as it seemed that the boys had stopped winding each other up for a bit (I think they'd decided to watch a film), I would have a go at making some dividers for my wonderful filos, so had a rummage through my scrapbooking papers to choose the patterns that I am least likely to actually want to use so I could have a go and see how many dividers I could get out of one sheet of 12" x 12" scrapbooking paper... I know, I know - normal people would have just used a ruler to check... But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I can cut the shapes out properly using a scalpel without cutting myself. I used a Scotch tape tab dispenser for reinforcing the tabs, and it worked perfectly (I think - I guess time may prove me wrong).

First attempt... not too shabby!!!

 I chose the thinner paper, as I think the thicker ones, although totally gorgeous, are going to be a bit too thick for me at the moment.

Without tabs v with tabs...

Personal and Pocket - I think my camera had been drinking...

I did a few sheets of personal sized sheets without tabs after doing my first one with, as I thought I would see how they looked, and thought I may be able to fit two A5 one personal and one pocket if I didn't include tabs. However, I wasn't keen on how they looked with the post-it tabs on, so started on the next sheet to see how I would get on doing A5 with tabs. As it turns out I can just about fit two A5 with tabs alongside each other, leaving enough paper over for a personal (if I do top tabs instead of side ones - I'm OK with that), and a pocket, so with all this paper I have I can in theory make a lot of dividers, maybe I'll need to buy some more filos to put them in...?

12" x 12" reassembled...

2 A5s... a bit tricky to distinguish the tabs here

Now we can see the tabs better :o)

I ran out of time to actually make the personal with top tab and the pocket, but am pretty
sure that piece will fit them on...

So in theory (providing I don't screw up while making them) I should be able to make two A5 sets, one Personal set and one Pocket set out of six sheets of scrapbooking paper - most excellent!!!

So although I can't cross of the challenge of making dividers in various sizes off my list yet, I have made a start with my trials and know that I have everything I need to make basic dividers :o)

I have been good with my supplements, although I did forget them one day and should start the three months again, but here come the excuses...
                    i)           I hate taking tablets as they frequently get stuck in my throat
                    ii)          the day I missed was Christopher's birthday party, where Marcus cracked his
                                 head open, so I had other things on my mind
                    iii)         it was one day, not a slippery slope :o)

Must get back to the exercise though before all the hard work I did is lost...

LJx

101 List Progress Check - June 1st 2012

Just time for a quick update before I go to work this morning as I am going to be super busy when I get home, arranging things ready for Christopher's birthday party tomorrow.

I've been pretty busy the last two weeks as I was in the UK for work last week, followed by a weekend seeing old friends before flying home on Sunday evening, ready to jump straight into the joys of monthend. I am hoping that once the party is over I can chill out for the evening (or at least get an early night and not be woken up by children at 4am...). Love them, but 4am - really?

Good news re the house in the UK though - the garden is finally done. Admittedly the lawn looks like a patchwork quilt at the moment as the turf is still bedding in and will be rolled once it has, but it all looks so much bigger and nicer then before, No brambles, palm tree, broken fence panels, and the bottom part of the garden has finally been reclaimed - it looks great!!!

Anyway, as well as being busy I have managed to be quite good, I read Shakespeare's "As You Like It", remembered to take my supplements and although my healthy eating went a little awry (and all that Bailey's at the rugby club on Saturday afternoon didn't help) my weight hasn't changed and I will be starting up the exercise again next week in an attempt to get fitter and finally see those abs :o)

I bought another classic film to watch - "Taxi Driver" with Robert de Niro and Jodie Foster, I also bought "War Horse" but that's not part of my 101, I just wanted to watch the film as the book was so good.

And that is me for now - time for breakfast and a shower.

LJx

101 List Progress Check - 1st April 2012

A quick update on what's occurring in my list...

Shakespeare - I have read King Lear this week, so that second of my Shakespeare plays is done. This one was another tragedy ... greedy people, a bastard son, people flung out, truths realised, forgiveness sought, but other person dies and therefore much tragedy - a tried and tested formula. I have a historic one next and then 2 comedies.

Prizewinners - I read the first of my 10 prizewinner books last week, Angela's Ashes. It's one of those books that I have seen lots of good reviews for, but never got round to reading before and I am glad it finally happened. It was a very well written memoir, which I love as it's all in the first person and you feel the teller getting older as the book progresses.

Classics - I have started reading the tenth of my 10 classics, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and am enjoying it so far. I am surprised at how much I have liked most of the classics that I have read, so may have to put together a new list of them when this one is finished.

On the exercise front, I am near the end of my second week of the latest Beachbody programme that I have started in my quest for ripped abs. I have started Brazil Butt Lift and intend to do this for 8 weeks before moving onto Rockin' Body for 4 weeks. It will then be time for holidays and I am hoping to start P90X again after that.

My Flylady habits have fallen by the wayside somewhat at the moment, and I have realised that I need to be ruthless and throw things away. First stop in this was attacking the front room and clearing those hot spots (the table and the Kachelofen). I have also been looking into getting a steam cleaner (eg the H2O x5 or a Kärcher) as this may help ease the cleaning burden (once the de-junking is done) and will be cheaper than getting a cleaner.

I have also been checking out new DVD releases to see what is around so I can continue with that challenge. I went onto Amazon (after checking out play.com) and found that it was a lot cheaper to buy through them so Amazon now have an order for 5 DVDs from me (admittedly two of them are more for the boys - Happy Feet 2 and Puss in Boots, but they still count, right?).

I also managed to pick up a couple of classic films off my list while I was at the airport on the way home from the UK the other week following a very exciting conference... :-)

LJx