It’s only Tuesday!

Goodness me but it has been such a weird day. I had a visit from my old friend Insomnia last night and so felt rather knackered. Then I managed to write up a Tuesday post earlier today. And then, I read this Wordless Wednesday post and I thought it was Wednesday, And only later this afternoon I realised that it was in fact Tuesday!

Anyway, thank you for your comments on my post yesterday. There is a lot of proactive happening behind the scenes wrt planning my evenings and also wrt Child1 who I’ve been neglecting because of being so caught up with Child2 and his issues. I’ll blog about it soon but it is clear that I need to find a way to clone myself. Here’s my Tuesday 10:

1.  We had a little party on Sunday for Child2. It was small and low-key and perfect for him. Come to think of it, I forgot to base it on a theme. There were yellow balloons though (he loves yellow balloons) and I served all his favourite snacks. He was just VERY cute and I realised that for the first time in a long time that I am really enjoying him so much – even though he is so bossy!

2. Our birthdays are all done and it’s downhill to Christmas. Have you started planning yet? At what point does one start planning?

3. My house is a complete MESS! I haven’t been keeping track of the organisation for quite some time (I blame the cold weather and Rose) and now everything is all over the place. I started making lists of what needs to be sorted in each room and I am doing 15 minutes EVERY evening! It’s so much easier now that Child1 is done with those school assessments.

4. I can’t make up my mind where to go and camp at the end of this year. I need to be very close to a beach but I don’t want to be on the West Coast or in Hermanus because those areas are just way too crowded at year-end. I thought about Stilbaai or even Arniston but it doesn’t seem like those places cater for hyperactive tweens who like to do very physical activities. My DH suggested that we just go to the same place as last year. There are pros and cons to this – that place was FANTASTIC but it would be lovely to experience something different? Any ideas on where to go and camp? I really need to finalise this by the end of next week latest.

5. I have a yoga session on Friday evening, a run on Saturday morning, another yoga class after my run and a 5km run on Sunday morning. Am I mad or am I mad? My body is soooo going to be in shock after this weekend. I must say I am LOVING the spring weather just so I can exercise outside again. I really can’t stand exercising when it’s cold – even though that is apparently the best time to do it.

6. And speaking of running, I briefly considered doing the Gun Run in October. I have since changed my mind. Last year I did a race on Women’s Day and I didn’t enjoy it because it was packed and I couldn’t cope with the crowds. The Gun Run will probably be worse. I do need to be challenged so will be looking around for a lesser-known races where they also run those distances.

7. Lately I have been going to different Churches. I noticed something that (I think) separates the traditional Catholic, Anglican, Apostolic Churches from your “happy” evangelical-type church. The traditional church sings hymns that refer to God in the Third Person whereas  the “happy” Church tends to sing hymns (or rather praise songs) that refer to God in the First Person.  I think that this is somewhat significant. Because the one “type” of Church i.e. the traditional Church preaches religion and tends to instill fear and the other type of Church encourages relationship.  For me it is a case of seeing the song as a prayer as opposed to a “lecture” if that is the right word. I am a musician so I DO generally get distracted by music. Not sure why I decided to blog this point. Just had to see it in black and white. Moving along swiftly.

8. Child 2 can’t say his R’s  yet and used to substitute R with L, for example, he would say something like “lolly” instead of “lorry”.  Anyway, lately I noticed that he is making progress where this is concerned. He no longer substitutes R with L. He now substitutes R with W. He says  things like “where’s the toilet “woll” instead of “where’s the toilet roll”. Or  when we are washing our hands and apply the soap then he says “wub it together” or he says to his brother “stop wunning away from me”. I think it is sooooo cute. I have to say that regular speech therapy has made SUCH a difference in his life.

9. I am taking crochet lessons with a colleague. She’s soooooo good and so fast! I am awkward and fiddly. It’s very different to knitting and I need to switch off the knitting side of my brain in order for the crochet side to work properly. So far I can do a chain. And something called a treble stitch – apparently this stitch is used to make granny squares. I guess I just need to practice more. I can totally see myself crocheting cute things like bangles and little flowers and cute purses.

10. My phone is missing. For an entire week already. I had it in my hand on Monday last week and I remember walking to the charger because the battery was flat. I don’t know what happened but I didn’t make it to the charger. I think that it may have been swallowed by the couch. I didn’t get time to look for it and quite honestly, it is a bit freeing to be without it. Only inconvenience = not being able to find peoples contact numbers. Sigh. People are complaining that they can’t reach me so I guess I should look for it.

 How are things going with you? How was your Tuesday?

 

Perfect Saturdays

 

= a HARD but STUNNING run in FANTASTIC weather along the catwalk/coast from Muizenberg to Fish Hoek.

+ meeting the kids and DH afterwards for a smallish breakfast and a coffee.

+ taking a beach walk after said small breakfast so the kids could swim a bit. I must admit I was nervous to let them into the waters where the sharks love to hang out (Fish Hoek) but it was all fine. Child1 says that sharks obviously sleep late on Saturdays! I was soooooo tempted to swim myself but I was aching from my run and afraid of sharks.

+rushing to meet a friend for a session of yoga.

+ having a BEAUTIFUL yoga experience which included some tears, a lot of release, soothing of aching muscles, and an instructor who speaks like poetry – I don’t know how else to describe it.

+ lunch with my friend afterwards

+ coming home and having another friend come over to blow dry and flat iron my hair for me. My poor hair REALLY needed it after that hot room yoga and as usual we had SUCH a great time bonding.

+ hanging out with the kids a bit and doing last-minute planning for Child2’s tiny party tomorrow. Five years ago this time I had just finished 4 loads of washing and was completely unaware of what would happen in a few hours…

+ having a fabulous dinner made by my DH.

+ relaxing with my DH with some decent wine.

+ getting into bed on a Saturday night. At 20:28. To READ.

My Saturday included a bit of ALL of my favourite things and people and it was simply marvellous. I am feeling so much gratitude for all the blessings in my life.

How was your Saturday?

 

Source: speak-up-make-noise.tumblr.com via Julia on Pinterest

 

Things making me VERY happy at the moment

1. Books. I haven’t read very many books in 2011. IT feels AWESOME to be able to do this again. And the reason I’m finding it so easy? Because I haven’t  been online as much. I’m  about to start “Committed” from Elizabeth Gilbert. I read the first chapter in January 2011 and then I got distracted. So distracted that I didn’t pick up the book since then. Well. I intend to finish it by next week.

2. Running. Oh my goodness. I was kind of forced to give up running when I started bootcamp last year – I simply couldn’t fit it into my life. I started again yesterday  with 4km. It felt like I was home. My legs are aching at the moment but it’s a good ache. Can’t wait for my next run tomorrow.

3.Alone time with my Boyfriend. Yesterday Laura blogged yesterday about couples who stop courting one another after a certain period in the relationship. I know MANY couples in my life who do exactly this. We have NEVER been the type of couple who don’t enjoy alone time – we crave it and there is definitely something missing if we don’t have it regularly enough. We were mostly doing 2 dates a month last year. We are currently re-looking at this and trying to do chunks of alone time every single weekend – even if it is a non-date weekend. It’s going to require us hving to pull some strings but we both want it and it WILL happen.

4. AWESOME Friend dates: I have been on 3 friend dates since the start of 2012. ALL of them have been STUNNING. I have LOVED connecting with people who I’ve been missing and there are more dates being set up as I type this. Am thinking of getting Skype. Then I can friend date my friends in the computer. What do you think? Do you have Skype?

5. Decluttering. This is going slowly (I really battle with productivity in the heat) but it’s going. So far I have done my the kids clothing, toys and books. We are going to be painting their room soon (hopefully this weekend actually). Even my DH has jumped onto the bandwagon and he’s sorting out CD’s and DVD’s and his books and tools! This makes me VERY happy. My bookshelf which is currently an eyesore for me is also going to be sorted this weekend. BTW have I mentioned that I’m doing The Happiness Project this year as part of my goals? I am in January and I am boosting my energy. And decluttering. I will blog some more about this tomorrow.

6. Covering of school books. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE doing this? My son’s teacher is sooooo clever. She doesn’t send all 20 million books at once. She makes them do some work in the books first and after about 4 lessons in that subject the book comes home so I can check out my sons work so far AND cover the book. Isn’t that exciting? It’s like I get to stretch out this thing that just thrills me so much.

7. Swimming in the sea. Oh my hat! Endorphins like you would not believe. I’m trying to do it at least once a week in the summer  –  I did it this past Saturday and it was BRILLIANT! My DH and I went alone (so cool to go to the beach and NOT have to watch and run after kids who are FEARLESS at the ocean) and afterwards we went out for steak because I was having a SERIOUS red meat craving.  I sat in a restaurant with very little clothing and BIG HAIR. It was FABULOUS and our BEST date of 2012 so far. BTW…I need some more date ideas. What kind of stuff do you do with your Boyfriends? Am trying to break away from the movies/dinner/coffee shop thing. Would LOVE some new ideas. Please share?

8. And an old favourite: Knitting. Even though I am knitting holes in my stuff lately, I am STILL loving it. On Sunday I started a headband using something called the dimple stitch. I felt that I was having to concentrate too much so I pulled it out after about 4 rows and redid it using a combination of double ribbing and good, old-fashioned stocking stitch. MUCH better. Even though it doesn’t look like the picture.

So how are YOU? And what’s making you happy at the moment?

 

Source: Uploaded by user via Julia on Pinterest

Week 37/52: Things I know

-My friends in the computer are Rock Stars. I love them. A LOT.

-My Tween boy has truly benefitted from OT. He even gives hugs now! This   is HUGE as his tactile sensory issues have never allowed him to be     affectionate. He was the type of child who never liked being held and once he started walking we could not touch him in any way without first asking permission. Well. Nowadays I don’t have to ask for hugs. He dishes them out freely and accepts them without resistance. Only from my DH and I though. Everyone else MUST ask. Including my 4-year-old who just takes everything without asking!

- I miss running.

- I hate boot camp.

 - I miss yoga.

 - I love learning new musical instruments.

 - Roald Dahl is a phenomenal children’s author. I cannot believe that I only discovered him as an adult when I started buying his books for my kids!

- Writing children’s literature is NOT AS EASY AS IT SEEMS!

- My hair needs to be straightened, highlighted and cut because it is currently DISGUSTING!

- It is not in my little boy’s best interests to change schools right now. He is thriving and it would be an injustice to him to move him. The move will have to wait until January.

- I love people who are funny without realising it.  Few adults can get away with this but kids are AWESOME at it. LOVE IT!

- The media sometimes gets things wrong and because of the fact that we often forget this, I do think that we are sometimes too quick to judge a situation. I hate when that happens.

- Having your Dad request your friendship on FB is awkward. Even if you love him lots and have nothing to hide. It’s just weird and I don’t know how to handle it.

 

What do you know for sure today? Join up and link here

Exercise: a summary in bullet points

• I am not particularly enjoying boot camp and will go as far as saying that it’s really not my thing.
• I miss running.
• I can’t clear my head in boot camp while doing lunges and abdominal crunches etc. because I am too busy trying to stay alive!
• I miss running.
• I am stopping boot camp when this month is over because it is a bit of a logistical nightmare with my DH working some evenings. I have to fetch my kids and they have to watch me exercise and only once I am done do we all go home for the first time. This means that I can’t add a run to my workout.
• I miss running.
• My body is also craving yoga which is essentially in conflict with boot camp. In yoga we don’t believe in hurting our bodies. Boot camp = no pain no gain.
• I miss running.
• So far I have discovered my stomach muscles (Abdominals) and the muscle under your bum – not sure what that one is called but it is VERY sore today and I could barely sit!
• I miss running.
• My Tween boy asked if he could run with me. Of course I said yes! I am working on a plan for the two of us. I think he is going to give me a run for my money though. He is FAST!
• I miss running.
• Ugh did I mention how much I hate Boot Camp?
• I went for a short run after work and was really gentle with myself. It was AWESOME!
• I am so going to run this weekend!

 

Good Obsessions

One of my favourite things about myself is that, when I need to know something about ANYTHING I go all out with the research, so much so that it borders on obsession.

I love doing research. I love reading up about stuff that I am interested in. This is a very good thing but it can also be a bad thing because usually, when I am in this space I forget about everything else in my life. If I was officially diagnosed with ADD this would probably be referred to as hyper focussing.

It’s like I become obsessed and I must know EVERYTHING that there is to know about a subject. NOW.

My current obsessions are knitting (as you know) and running.

I have been spending way too much time (and money) in that knitting shop that I frequent. I am constantly on the browse for new, easy patterns to try and all that I have really pinned are items that I will be knitting. The other day when my DH and I went for coffee and cake, I even walked into the smoking area of the coffee shop to ask a woman if I could quickly have a look at the collar of her jersey because I thought that the pattern was really pretty! She looked at me like I was a weirdo and then laughed about it and indulged me. I am reading loads of knitting blogs and I am even trying to find a class that I can go to in order to improve my skill. Last week I went to my favourite bookshop and walked straight to the craft books to check what knitting resources they had. I even considered going to the library for some knitting books –  I HATE libraries and find them gross!

My DH just can’t stop laughing at me. I’ve even put knitting back on the map in my family. My Mom is knitting for the first time in a while and so is my MIL AND some of my cousins! We are even exchanging and emailing one another patterns!

My other obsession at the moment is running. I checked my search engine history before I deleted those cookies and these were the 12 latest results:

Best running shoes

Pacing yourself when running

Will cutting out meat make me a better athlete?

Exercises for my knees

Homemade remedies for soothing of muscles

Cape Town races

Running trails

Fashionable running gear.

Best breakfast before a run.

Stretching exercises

Running: Distance vs speed

Running clubs in southern suburbs cape town

Running for kids.

Cross country running for kids.

How can yoga improve my running?

Professional running programmes

I think it’s safe to say that I am obsessed. Yet, these are two obsessions that I am completely OK with. For the first time ever I feel no guilt about them and I actually have no immediate plans to stop being obsessed with these two things. My DH is really cool about my obsessions too and even indulges them!

Do you become obsessed with every aspect when there is suddenly a new thing in your life?

What is your current GOOD obsession?

Six on Sunday

Yesterday my DH and I had our first movie date in a year. Was so much fun! I had wanted to see Larry Crowne and he insisted that it sounded a bit like our life story and that we needed proper escapism. He usually lets me choose the movie but I decided to give in to him and we ended up watching Super 8 – a Steven Spielberg production – nail-biting, sci-fi, thriller stuff. Definitely escapism. Was sitting at the edge of my seat and even screamed a few times while he laughed at me. Not something that I would have gone to see on my own but I LOVED IT! Afterwards we went for coffee and shared a slice of moist chocolate cake. Delish. We will definitely do this again soon.

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It was my friend’s birthday today. I started knitting her this. I struggled and gave up and ended up running into Hyper to get her some candles and nice smellies. I learned 2 things from this experience:

1. I need to plan the present thing better and not leave it to the last-minute.
2. I need help with the knitting. Not sure how this will work because there seems to be nobody giving a knitting class around here. There are sewing classes and crochet classes and all these other classes but nothing for knitting except in Durbanville which is a bit far for me. I need to go to a class to improve on basic techniques, learn new stuff like yarning & felting and cabling etc. and even how to read a pattern properly. I can’t ever remember learning how to read a pattern at school and this is really such a basic skill.

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I spent this afternoon organising my google reader and categorising stuff. Some bloggers add a new post like 9 times a day! Eish. I find that VERY overwhelming. I can live with two posts a day from a blogger. Three is pushing it but I can deal with that too. More than that and you will automatically qualify for an “unsubscribe”.

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In all the craziness of the past few weeks I forgot to apply for leave for tomorrow. My DH is off. So are my kids. I am going to work. This does not make me feel so good at the moment.

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I finally spent some time on Pinterest this past week. Honestly? I am struggling a bit. I have only been repinning stuff that I like – hope that won’t get me unfriended or whatever. Where does one find stuff to pin? What am I missing?

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I am doing a 4.2km run on Tuesday morning. Afterwards we are going out for breakfast and (weather permitting) we may add in a beach walk and some outside play with the kids. I have no other plans except to rest when I get home and play on my blog. I have been invited to an afternoon thing by my SIL but am not particularly in the mood for speakers telling me just how fabulous I am – I already know this!

What are your Women’s Day plans?

 

Funerals, sleeping and running

My FIL was buried this past Friday. Everything ran smoothly and it was really beautiful and quite sad at the same time.  My DH and I once again agreed that burial was not our thing. We both prefer cremation.

I didn’t sleep well on Friday evening (that cow, Aunty Insomnia came by for a visit) and I eventually gave in and switched on my computer at about 2am.

There was a woman on Twitter who wanted to commit suicide and I just cried reading her tweets. So much darkness and sadness and pain in the world.  Twitter mobilised a search and eventually she was found. Thank goodness. I eventually fell asleep at 5:30am.

On Saturday we were exhausted. At 9am my DH took our sons to their cousins to play. He came back from dropping them, made breakfast and we both got back into bed and spent most of the day there. I was obviously tired and slept a lot. We eventually got done at about 3pm to fetch our kids and go to the beach for a bit which was lovely.

Remember this post (more specifically point no 8) where I mentioned that I wanted to run 5km in a Womans Day race? Well, things got so crazy in the last 2 weeks that I completely forgot to register for that one.

On Monday when I decided that I was no longer going away for the weekend I asked WJ if I could still register for a race that she had emailed us about a few weeks ago.

She had sent out a mail about a particular race which was happening on the last Sunday in July which I obviously wasn’t going to run seeing that I would be away.  She came back to me and told me that I could still join in and that registration would only take place on race day.  Was right up my alley especially since the race was close to home. Well. This morning I left home at 06:50am to run my first 5km. My DH asked me numerous times if I was being BLOODY INSANE! I just ignored him.

I was a bit nervous as I haven’t been running that much these past two weeks. First my knees were dodgy and I decided to treat and rest them and then last week my FIL passed away and I didn’t go to work on my running days. Nevertheless, I actually managed to run this morning. I ran most of it and walked only about 800m and so I am feeling really proud of myself. That last km was just so special and I felt victorious – I actually can’t even describe it.

After the race we went out for breakfast and trawled around the mall for a bit because we needed to get some groceries. All in all, a really lovely day.

There are two more races coming up during the next 2 months (that I am aware of) and I’ll be registering for these tomorrow. I guess you could say that this is now my thing?

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. I definitely made the right decision to stay home and be with my DH – he did need me a lot. And I am so happy that I at least had an awesome day on 31 July 2011. Bring on August…

Six things keeping me sane at the moment

It’s been a rough couple of days but certain pleasures that I haven’t compromised on have just made it OK. This is what is currently keeping me sane (obviously besides the lovely ADs that I take):

Running:

I love it and I hate it. When I run it is me and the pavement against the world. There is simply no one else when I am in that zone. There is nothing quite like a good, hard run to help clear your head space and it is by far the best distraction in my life at the moment.

Knitting:

I had no idea that I could actually love something that I previously hated with a passion.  Two things came out of this experience for me:

1. Some people shouldn’t be teachers - the needlework one that I had in primary school broke me emotionally and completely put me off this activity for nearly 21 years! Shame on her.
2. Some things are like riding a bicycle.

One of my favourite things to do these days is to browse for patterns and designs and I so enjoy spending time in that wool shop that I frequent. I’m not interested in knitting big items like jerseys and sweaters. I prefer short, relatively easy projects like scarves, caps and smallish toys. I had planned to knit an item for each member of my family this year. Looks like I’m going to be adding gifts as well. I’ve been bookmarking and printing off loads of patterns and am now at the point where I need to  create a pattern file of sorts.

Rediscovering OLD music:

This week, my world has been rocked by none other than the silliness of Madness, the raw intensity of Alanis Morissette, the brilliance that is Aerosmith and the legends that are THE Beatles. LOVE THEM ALL!

Reading:

I have struggled for a while with reading and lost my mojo for a bit. I and am slowly getting back into it. The trick (for me) has been to NOT force myself – if I’m not feeling it by chapter 2 then I put the book away and start something else. Another thing that has worked really well is to go back to rereading old favourites just to get into the swing of things. I am so enjoying Life of Pi (AGAIN – what a gem!) and I just finished Q & A. (again). Yesterday I started on THE BOOK THIEF.  Beautiful and so, so intense.

Being Still:

My DH and I have re-implemented an old rule in our house. It was there for some time and somehow fell by the wayside. We no longer have the TV on during the week. We have decided that this is a weekend treat for our kids and that it is a privilege that they need to earn. My Toddler is not really a fan of TV so this mostly applies to my Tween boy. I cannot begin to mention just how beautiful the silence is in the evenings. Somehow the kids are calmer and more settled, things get done much quicker, and we actually talk to one another without having to talk over the noise. It is bliss. We do play a bit of music but there is more reading, more drawing and more of being still. We all seem to wind down a lot earlier and manage to get to bed at a decent hour. I love it.

Cape Town Winter:

Goodness me, but are we not are having the best winter ever?  It is icy cold in the mornings and in the evenings. During the day the sun shines and it is lovely and warm. Some days I can even walk outside without sleeves. This winter is rocking my world. I am lapping it up and savouring the warmth because apparently a cold front will be popping around tomorrow.

What kind of things are making you happy and helping you maintain your sanity at the moment?