One Step Forward....

Let's just say after a few days RIGHT ON TRACK, I allowed life to take over and put myself last ... again...

We sanded and polished/lacquered the living areas this weekend. I took the girls to Hubby's parents because the way the house is "working" at the moment, we would be almost cut off certain areas of the house while waiting for lacquer to dry etc, and as my parents in law had expressed an interest in having the girls over during the holidays, we thought this would tie in nicely...


We dropped the girls off on Wednesday evening. Thursday went pretty well, I did an RPM class, my legs (quads in particular) were aching from Pump the day before, but I thought giving them a run on the bike would get some of that lactic acid moving...

Friday morning we hired the floor sander. I had heaps of paperwork to do, so couldn't help with moving furniture around etc.

All was going well until about 1pm when I got a call from m-i-l saying that they had set out to go to the movies but had turned around because Cassie was feeling unwell and looking very pale...I remembered her period was probably due so suggested paracetamol and a lie down and she'd be fine in a couple of hours - I had a chat with Cassie and she confirmed that she did indeed have her period and needed a sleep...

However I then started to get text messages from Maddie, telling me she was worried about Cassie, and that if it was her, she'd like to be home etc etc. My parents in law had planned to take the girls to the city on Saturday for yum-cha, and Maddie expressed concern about how Cassie would be feeling the next day and how a train trip into town was probably not the best idea...I began to suspect there might be something else wrong with Cassie, so I told Hubby I thought it best if I picked the girls up, and I set off on the hour and a quarter trip...all up it would take me two and a half hours there and back...

Hubby wasn't happy, as he was just getting ready to sand, and he really felt it would be too uncomfortable for the girls to manage without walking through our living areas for a couple of days, but what could I do...?



To cut a long story short - I got there and Cassie was asleep, when I woke her up she was fine, as I had first thought, it was just period pain, and I know that all the girls need is some painkiller and a couple of hours sleep before they can re-join the living world again ;-)


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If you've read my Blog in the past, you know that Hubby and I have had NO help whatsoever with raising our girls...my mother in law becomes very flustered when anything is short of perfect...she was like this when they were babies, she attempted to babysit Maddie once, and when I came back the baby was bawling...m-i-l was walking around with this crying baby, so I asked, "have you changed her nappy?" - NO......"have you given her a bottle?" - NO

Her reply "the baby cried and cried and it made me so miserable that I didn't know what to do so I ended up crying with her..."

So I've never felt really confident that my girls would be well looked after if I left them with their grandparents, however as the girls are older, I thought it wouldn't hurt...


When I walked in to pick up the girls last Friday,m-i-l said "I didn't feel it was my right to have to look after her while she was sick"...and then "I didn't want to take the risk..."


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! What risk???? The kid had period pain, give her two hours and she was happy and bouncy again...

Oh, and did I mention that all of Maddie's texts were directed by grandma? Apparently she told Maddie to text me so that I would come and get them...




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It frustrates me that something like this has the power to throw me into turmoil and results in me missing my workouts and making less than suitable choices when it came to food...


The floor looks great. My kids are happy and well looked after (by their parents). Tomorrow I am going grocery and fruit and veg shopping. Tomorrow I am going to the gym.

Let's begin this week in a positive frame of mind. I have no choice. I will finish the week off well.


I WILL JFDI

It looks like I'm ba-aack!

Hey!

Two posts in as many days...what's going on???

Maybe I just realised that this is the way life is going to be for a while, and if I wait until life gets a little less busy, or until we finish the reno's or until the new year...(you get the picture) I will probably never post again...


Rainy and miserable old day up here...it started off beautifully - clear blue skies, warm sunny morning. Hubby and I went for an early coffee and I decided I felt like doing RPM, so we got back home, checked that the girls were OK - they were both still sleeping (aah, I remember those teenage years) and got changed to go. We got there with about ten minutes to spare, which was great, because I got to make sure that my bike was "just right" and warmed up at a leisurely pace while everyone else got set up.

I really pushed myself hard today - so hard that by Track 3 I almost thought I'd have to run to the ladies' to have a little "vommy" - but the way to the ladies' was too complicated so I just directed my thoughts elsewhere...the stains on the carpet in front of me were a good distraction...and pushed on.

The middle of the day was spent shopping for reno stuff - some kitchen cabinets and plumbing paraphernalia, and more tidying up. Then I went to the 4.30pm Pump class...doing two classes in one day is a first for me, but I'm just seizing every opportunity I get to work out because there are some very busy days coming up in the next few weeks...

It is now 10 degrees here - and it's the fourth day of Summer!


Being so busy with work and having so much "stuff" going on in my life - such as the deadline we've given ourselves to get this house on the market in feb 2012, means that I've adopted a mindset of "going on auto-pilot" when it comes to my fitness and nutrition, so Group Fitness classes are great for me at the moment. Just turn up at the gym and do what you're told. Done for the day. Easy. (in theory, anyway)





To finish off, here is my Grateful photo for today - the first kitchen cabinet is going up...after four weeks of no stove, this is a huge step and one I am so grateful for.

Finding a little calm before the "storm"...

This year Christmas will be very low-key for us...

We moved out of our home of eighteen years in October and have decided to finish off the renovations to this place and sell it early next year...

Which means I am actually sitting in the middle of a gutted kitchen as I type this. The only piece of furniture in this room being my desk and the fridge...

The bathroom is half-finished. We have a toilet in there and a shower, getting the vanity tomorrow and a bath some time next week...we have to find one small enough to look good without crowding the tiny space that is our bathroom.

This house is SO small...

Just one of those things, we've had this house for about six years and never realised it just doesn't suit us.


Back to my point - this year we are keeping Christmas low-key...

The tree will go up tomorrow - I have to shift some furniture into the shed so it will fit LOL, and once the kitchen is installed next week I will put out some more decorations on shelves etc...

For Christmas Eve, we will go to my brother's as always. It is my sister in law's birthday and we spend this evening with them every year. Christmas lunch will be a quiet affair, just the four of us and my parents in law, in the afternoon they will go to my brother in law's place and we will get busy packing for our week away. We are going to Port Stephens - again a bit of a tradition for us - for a much needed rest.



So by no means a hectic time for us - but with the reno's etc (we have set ourselves a deadline), things are getting a bit hectic around here...

So this week I have decided to do a little much needed (and overdue!) pampering...last week I decided I wanted some acrylic nails again. I have been growing my own for the past nine or so months, but with the reno's they were starting to break and look shabby...so now I'm very pleased with my French tips, they look very polished (excuse the pun) and need less maintenance than my own nails.

I booked myself in for a facial on Monday...haven't had one since July (!) and my skin is feeling a bit dry...and I love the time I spend chatting to my beautician Robyn while she performs her magic on my face - I love how invigorated my skin looks and feels after one of her massages.

Then, on Tuesday .... I've booked into the hairdresser's for a bit of a make-over...I've been going to the same lady for a couple of years but I am less and less happy with the outcome. She works from home and I suspect her products aren't the best quality...no matter what shade of foils we try, within a couple of weeks I'm looking "brassy"...and even the style we've been doing for ages is not holding shape so well...I've noticed she talks a lot while she's working - which could be a bad thing when it comes to cutting..?

So I've booked into a local salon that I've been to before with a new hairdresser there (he's a boy!!!!) and I'm going to try something a little different...not drastic, but just something to freshen up my look...



So there it is - time for a bit of self-indulgence...and I can face the next few weeks feeling a bit fabulous...



What about you? Do you take time out for yourself before the Holidays or after the whole silly season is over?