2) This Month’s Goals (30 days of lists)

For May 2012

Back in the mists of time, I learnt about SMART targets, as part of my mangement training. I actually still use this when thinking about my current life and what I want to achieve.

All goals must be:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Timed

We used this anacronym for goal setting for our teams, departments and ourselves. Now, most of my short-term goals are personal, but there is no point in setting them unless they are Specific (no waffle, they are clear) Measurable, Attainable (nothing like climb Everest or Swim with Dolphins, but they relate directly to day to day life) Relevant (they are necessary and won’t be out of date before they are achieved) and Timed (there is a start & end date, the end date can be adjusted, but only for a good reason & the goal is then adjusted to allow for this).

I had a think and these are my goals for this month:

Acquire more Avon customers

Decide on outfit for wedding I’m going to next month

Update my blog each day

Be less grumpy – take painkillers when needed for my back  and look at supplements for my appalling PMS.

I will review these at the end of the month.

1) Challenges to Accept (30 Days of Lists)

Personal

Keep on top of my allotment, but also to know my limits for how long I can dig at a time. Listen to my body and my back. When my back twinges, stop, don’t think “I’ll just do a few more minutes or finish this patch”. Just STOP!!! Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Nurture the inside of our home, as much as the garden. I’m an outdoors person and would rather spend the afternoon planting / weeding / watering than dusting or hoovering. Start FLYlady again, as I used it when Kate was a baby and it really does work. I’m not that keen on the layout of the website, as I find it too busy and hard to find what I want, but the system does work. Perhaps I need to buy the book, I have read it through bookcrossing. Don’t procrastinate and leave it until I buy the book, actually stop faffing and start baby steps.

Do the Artist’s Way again, without giving up half way through.

 

Professional

Make sure I have a job for next year. I’m a Teaching Assistant in a primary school and work on a contract.

Re-make my career plan.

http://30daysoflists.blogspot.co.uk/

http://30daysoflists.blogspot.co.uk/

I was going to be really organised and post this each day in May. I sat down with my pukka pad notebook this morning to work on it, as this was my first free time for me for ages, and it suddenly hit me that it was actually the 9th of May. Instead of leaving it for June and possibly forgetting again, I shall just jump in, catch up & then post daily. I took the prompts from a 2011 list in the 30 Days of Lists website above (I still can’t work out how to inbed links into wordpress, but I’ll get there eventually).

The sun was warm this morning, so I sat outside in our tiny front garden, with a nice cup of tea and enjoyed the warmth. I was then pooed on by a sparrow flying overhead, so I hope that’s not an omen about taking time out for myself!

 

Unimpressed From Yorkshire

http://www.sainsburys-tu-clothing.co.uk/explore-collection

I can’t get the link to inbed properly, but never mind.
This morning, I tried on the green patterned dress & tunic on the website, plus a pair of black leggings that I can’t seem to find online. In a 14, which is my size. All of them fitted, but each piece was unflattering & made me look larger than I actually am (at least in the mirror in the changing room in Sainsburys) Far from feeling empowered about my body & curves, I felt tears pricking in my eyes. I felt that they were designed for stick thin size 8 women & just made slightly bigger in each size, up to a 16 (that was the largest I could see on the rails) I tried on a 16 in the dress, as well as the 14,  & it was miles too big.  The dress was the only item that had a size 16 out & not all styles even had 14s. Most sizes were 10s & 12s.
Some of the tops had “secret” tiny little pockets to keep your lipstick in. My 10 year old thought this was amazing. As a 43 year old working mother, I can see no reason as to why I would want or need to secretly carry a lipstick on my person. If I want to take make-up to work, I have a handbag or proper pockets to put them in.  This has left me wondering and assuming that I can’t be the target market for these clothes.
As I desperately need new basic bras, I instead decided to spend my money on underwear. £20 later & I have 3 new t-shirt bras in a cup size up from my old ones (bought years ago) This has made me feel good. I probably now need to replace every single bra, as they are all really too small
Gok’s show is one of the few tv programmes that I actually watch. I’m now considering stopping watching.
Gok Wan can gok off!!!

The List

As inspired by a very old episode of Friends, where they all chose 10 people that they could sleep with, with no repercussions from partners.

Mine

George Clooney
Colin Firth (bonus points if he dresses up as Darcy)
Brad Pitt
Robbie Williams
The cute boy from Mama Mia in the surf (bonus points if he sings Lay All Your Love on Me too)
Johnnie Depp
David Tennant (plus a tardis)

In no particular order. More thought needed too!

Life’s small pleasures

Inspired by a thread I saw in the marvellous www.mumsnet.com

A lush bath without my 7 year old dangling her feet in the water to “keep mummy company”.

A cup of tea or coffee in a cafe.

Spending time with my children.

Planting seeds & then nurturing my seedlings.

Reading a new book by one of my favourite authors.

Playing Fashion Story on my ‘phone.

Finding a good book for 30p in the charity shop.

Foot rubs.

Colouring-in with my sparkly gel pens.

Big grins when the small children I work with see me each day.

A tidy house (though this never happens)

Anything purple.

Anything sparkly.

Anything chocolate.

What type of mummy blogger will I be?

http://www.theundercovergranny.co.uk/2012/01/the-types-of-mummy-bloggers-we-love-and-hate/

Undercover Granny has listed 5 types of bloggers that we all love to hate, so I hope I don’t end up ticking any of those boxes.

She’s also listed some blogs that she enjoys, so I shall be checking those out myself later & will link to some of them myself once I work out how to do that. I thought I was fairly technically minded, but I’m still getting to grips with wordpress.

As I’m no longer a stay at home mum, I don’t just define myself as a mother. Though, 99% (if not 100%) of my social life does seem to be via my children. I’ve swopped my favourite drink from a Bombay Sapphire G & T to a nice cup of tea. In an Emma Bridgewater mug, if you don’t mind. Myself from 11 / 12 years ago would not recognise who I am today. Apart from the books, pets & love of anything purple.

 

Magpie Monday

http://missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.com/2012/01/magpie-monday-cushioning-blow.html

Last week’s charity shop finds were 2 books:

The 9th Lemony Snickett book for Kate

Desirable Residences (or something like that) by Madeline Wickham (real name of Sophie Kinsella)

 

 

Sorry, I can’t work out how to post using the button for Magpie Monday.

 

 

 

 

Mum and me by Kate

This is Kate reporting for mum and me. My mum is cool and she works at a school. I dont work because I’m 9 . Mum likes doing:

posters, science, eating cake and reading. Tonight w’ere making pizza [ yummy]

Thats it tonight from mum and me …

A little bit about me through the eyes of my daughter

How my 9 year old sees me

Describe mum:

Brown hair, blue eyes, good smile and glasses.

What fun things does mum do?

She helps us bake buns and she’s a good drawer (that’s what I think)

What boring things does mum do?

She writes SAs (essays) and plays too much on her phone.

What was mum like as a litle girl?

She had blonde hair like me and she liked swimming.

What are mum’s favourite things?

Cream, her phone, computer and cake.