Tag - you're it, or not

I prepared this post last night (aren’t I organised) because I knew I’d be busy tonight (puppy class and school tour) and also because I already had a post to write in response to Bethe sharing the bloggy love.

I’ve been tagged by Bethe at Daily Journey.

I don’t generally do a lot of these things but I’ve seen this one around and I can’t resist the urge to tell you all lots of useless facts about myself – hit ESC now if you can’t stand to read any more useless facts about me.

There’s rules, because there’s always rules – and of course I’m going to break them, I can do that can’t I?

Blink and you'll miss me

Busy, busy days - last night I finally got myself along to yoga with my 'exercise buddy' and we had a great time, definitely going back. Next week we're going to try the Body Balance class which is a combination of yoga and pilates and see which we prefer.

The new instructor will be struggling to compete with the abs of last nights instructor - I'm pretty certain my exercise buddy is only going back for that reason. Most of us can only dream of abs like this guy had. Nothing like having a nice speciman of male to look at while you're sweating it out.

This morning I got on my treadmill before work - yeah me, so I've finally got started on my exercise plan. When I'm trim, taut and terrific then I'll post pictures (ha-ha)

Then tomorrow night is a tour at my son's new school and then off to puppy school to earn my human equivalent of liver treats - because she can sit when told. So plenty to do and not enough hours but that's life for most of us isn't it?

No more words to share here tonight because I'm visiting over at World Mom Blogs where I've written a post called 'Tough guys with marshmallow insides' so why not pop by, share some comment love and say hi.

Cheers, Fi

Click on the image for World Moms Blog

Open minded education

I had my little man for the night so as you can imagine there were a lot of things that didn't get done while he was here. How do mothers of young children get anything done, I've forgotten how it works.

It was also way too hot yesterday before he arrived to do much of anything. So once he went home today I raced around like a crazy woman trying to get everything done.

and it was still so hot.....

All my washing, the housecleaning and a batch of triple choc chip muffins and choc chip biscuits - can you tell what my boys like best? Quite funny because chocolate is the one thing that I don't eat (yes if you're new around here you can pick yourself up off the ground from the shock of discovering my aversion to what most others would kill for)

I also made ham and corn pikelets and before you get all excited and ask for the recipes I must confess to one of my many motherly failings - today I used packet mixes. Forgive me for I have sinned.

Speaking along religious lines (well I was thinking along them anyway) I've been helping my son with his religious homework for his new school. This is all an education for me in itself because we are not religious, no let me word that another way. Our family doesn't follow any set religion, yet I wouldn't say I'm not religious because I definitely have spiritual views and firm beliefs in certain areas.

Anyway back to religious education, I'm not sure that I'm the best person to be helping him (but then I suck at maths too and I always manage to assist with that - and he passes, although I think that's more his amazing brain than my assistance)

Really I think it's all about helping him to understand what he has to do for homework, helping him to determine the best way to relay his message and then suggesting possible sources of information.

I don't believe it's for me to teach him about religion, but I have taught him to be open minded and to question and to learn about anything which he doesn't know. When all else fails I'm also very good at suggesting that other scholarly person in our life called Google.

He wanted to know what it takes to become a saint having just completed an assignment on Mother Teresa - this time we turned to the ol' faithful Google.com and both he and I learnt an amazing amount about this incredible woman.

So you see, his education is also building mine, because every day should be a learning day. Once you stop learning, you surely die.

Please feel free to leave me a comment but I ask that you be respectful with your words (my mother and my children read my blog) in the event that I have said anything about religion which may be contrary to your own beliefs.

Cheers, Fi


You keep playing, keep studying, keep listening, keep learning and you keep developing. It's a way of life. ~ Red Rodney

6WS - The last of hot summer days

Summer has just realised that she's nearly done her time in the Southern Hemisphere for this year and has thrown up a couple of stinking hot days as a final hurrah.

38c degrees yesterday, 39c today and 37c tomorrow. That's roughly between 98 -102 F. After a very mild summer this has come as a bit of a shock.

All too soon though we'll be whining about the cold and rain and while I much prefer the heat, this is a bit warmer than I like. Keeping the babies and puppies in our world cool is a challenge. We've been giving our new puppy chunks of ice in her water bowl and to play with.

I missed a great photo opportunity yesterday, when I walked in from work she was stretched out on the lawn with her chin propped on a huge chunk of ice, but as soon as she saw me she was up and waggling her whole little body in greeting.

My grandson is here for a sleepover and at least the house is nice and cool. I was going to take him down to a friends place this evening, they've got a pool and were having a BBQ dinner but it's still so hot outside. I think he's been much happier here exploring the house which is nice and cool and especially now that he can move with his commando style crawl.
 

I'm just looking

Can you still see me?

Poor hubby is working in the heat tonight, though afternoon shift is probably preferable to dayshift in this heat. Youngest is staying at another friends house tonight and middle son and his girlfriend are out and about. Just me and junior staying cool in the house tonight. Another night of peace and quiet and the littlest has just closed his eyes and given into the sandman's commands.

So is it warm or cool where you are and what's your weather preference?

Cheers, Fi

I'm linking up with Cate who gives us all a place to visit and connect. Want to play along with Six Word Saturday, it's easy? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. 

Going nowhere fast

Guess what - for those of you who are regulars around here I'm going to spare you the pain of talking about babies and / or puppies tonight.

Okay keep the cheering to a dull roar and if you're silent for just a second you'll hear the absolute silence that surrounds me at the moment.

Can you hear it - silence is such an awesome thing. Is it wrong to get excited by an empty house and peace and quiet and 'mum' time?

Hubby is working on afternoon shift tonight, youngest son is at a friends place for a sleepover and middle son is down the road at a friends place and will be home a bit later. At least when he's only two blocks away it's not far for him to drive home. Let's not even go into why he would drive two blocks, logic doesn't figure in the brain of a 17 year old new driver.

This is truly the clearest indication of how old I am when I relish Friday evenings at home on my own in front of a computer screen. The television is showing the movie that I want to watch, not what someone else wants to watch. I think this can also be classed as dorky, nerdy and even sad behaviour.

I had lunch today with a former co-worker, one of my dearest friends who I consider my brother from another mother, well also from another father for that matter. He's the big brother I never had. He kicks my butt when I'm being a twit, gives me a shoulder and an ear when I need someone to whine to and provides a hug and words of encouragement when things are not going quite so well.

Everyone needs a friend like him (or a big brother if you're lucky enough)

Summer has arrived just a little bit late in Adelaide with three consecutive days of 37C degrees coming up and we're only seven days short of the official start of Autumn - what's that all about?

Do you ever have so many things that you want to do, strong goals that you've set for yourself and because you don't know where to start or what's most important - you stay stationary, spinning your wheels and not achieving anything or moving forward? In other words you're going nowhere fast.

I need to do a lot more thinking around what's most important to me. My family - hubby, my boys, my grandson they're all givens but the rest all needs a greater focus and a bit of rubber under my wheels to stop my wheels spinning and give me some forward momentum.

What's slowing you down or preventing you from getting what you really want?

It's Friday, my eyes are tired - excruciatingly so, middle son has since come back from his long distance visit two blocks down the road and despite peace and quiet and 'mum' time, I'm exhausted. Time for bed.

Cheers, Fi

Note to all -  Tomorrow night I have my grandson for a sleepover and it will be his first tentative introduction to our new bundle of fluff so all bets are off tomorrow - you'll probably get pictures and words about babies and puppies.

Puppy versus baby - same, same?

I’m still on the subject of puppy school - because I can, but also because it occurred to me today that puppy school is much the same as I remember baby playgroup being all those years ago. You know how it is, you go along to the playgroup (puppy school) with your little bundle of joy, and you don’t know anyone there.

You meet all of these strangers who have brought their little ‘poppets’ and you thank the heavens because your baby (puppy) is cuter and / or better behaved than theirs is. Everyone also has this misguided belief that theirs is by far the cutest baby / puppy on the planet.

You puff out your chest with pride when yours shows everyone exactly how clever he or she is and when other people comment on how cute they are. But you also hang your head and make excuses when they do something not in keeping with group togetherness like bite another attendee, make lots of noise and / or pee or drool on the floor (baby or puppy)

My sweet little bundle of fluff (that‘s the puppy not the child) who has been the soul of good behaviour since we picked her up on Sunday, suddenly became the devil incarnate (much like my children used to do on outings when I wanted them to behave like little angels.)

Okay, she wasn’t quite that bad but she was challenging. She was distressed by having a lead on. The collar we put on her when we got her and she's happy enough with that, but the lead was new last night and boy did she protest. She also wanted to use her teeth on everyone’s fingers, this comes more from bad parenting because hubby has been roughing her up and wrestling with her. Remember that this is the man who originally didn’t want us to get a puppy.

Last night at puppy school she wanted to romp and socialise and not lie quietly or do as she was told – how much does that sound like my household of boys? By the end of the class though she was exhausted and back to her sweet-natured adorable self.

Next week if she can sit on command then I will get the human equivalent of a chewy liver treat for being a good doggy owner – mmm can’t wait. If only getting my children or even co-workers within the project team to do what I want them to do was as easy as feeding them a few liver treats and patting them on the head and saying ‘good girl / boy’.

Using similar concepts though – whether human baby, canine puppy, co-workers or teenage boys - if I feed them and tell them they’ve done a good job at least I may not be pulling my hair out quite as much. 

Cheers, Fi

Back to school

Puppy school that is. I've never been to puppy school before, it's all about teaching your puppy social skills, manners and good behaviour. I think half of our project team need to go to puppy school.

Consequently, not much time for words tonight - but two things to share. This snippet came from another Change Management site - they have some really good things on them. This one you can find here, but this bit I had to post.

John Lennon famously said that life is what happens while you're busy making other plans - personal change is a constant part of our human journey. We survive the drama of adolescence, the responsibilities of adulthood, and the challenges of ageing.

The recent ABC TV series 'Making Australia Happy' emphasised two key strategies for personal wellbeing.

First, practise mindfulness, or trying to 'live in the present'. Try to avoid replaying past failures, guilt and resentments, and being too anxious about what is ahead.

Secondly, clarify your personal vision for the future by writing down what you would hope people would say about you at your funeral - then work backwards!

The second share is this website called Polyvore (and I might be way behind the times and you may have seen / heard about it already) but it follows on from the post I did about dream journals on my other blog - just one more thing which I will find time to catch up on this week. Too many things going on and not enough hours in my days at the moment.

Anyway, the site is a great way for putting together vision boards without the mess. Be creative without leaving the computer. Have a look if you get a chance, there's heaps of examples to look at and then you can create your own by clicking on the 'create ' tab.

So that's it for tonight - I'm exhausted and need to go to bed.

I am, you are - simply amazing!

Image Credit

We’ve all probably experienced it, we all have different perceptions of it – but it probably has the same effect on all of us. I get so incredibly annoyed when people can’t / don’t do their jobs properly. 

I think it must be the ‘organising’ (read that as controlling perfectionist) side of my personality which gets frustrated when people can’t do what they are paid to do.

How hard can it be? I don’t tolerate it from myself so I sure as heck don’t think I should have to accept it from another person. Quite simply, managers who need to be managed bug the $#@% out of me.

Maybe I’m the stupid one for caring that I do a good job and that I make sure I do it properly. No half–assed attempts or half completed tasks because I find it shoddy and disrespectful to not do the best job you can.

There you go, that’s my little vent for the day.

Now to more interesting topics, our little canine addition has turned all of the males in my family into marshmallows. Hubby (who didn’t really want me to get a puppy in the first place) took her to the vet for her injections yesterday, bought her enough food for the next 3 months, a new ‘quality’ bed, plus all of the pre-requisite toys and grooming products.

Hilarious how such a small bundle of fluff can inspire this kind of action and expenditure.

I found this poem below while researching change management websites today and felt it was appropriate to share. I sent it home by email and I forgot to get the web address so my apologies that I can't share where it came from - if you own it (because amazingly creative people do visit my posts you know) then please own up so I can give you credit.

I am

I am good person.

I have integrity.

I do what is ethically right and good.

Whatever life puts before me will be useful experience that will make me stronger, wiser, and more tolerant.

I am strong enough to understand and make allowances for other people's weaknesses, and their behaviour towards me. Other people's behaviour is about them, not me.

I focus on the joy of living my life and helping others where and when I can.

I am what I eat and drink, so I eat and drink good things.

I am what I watch and play and listen, so I watch and play and listen to good positive things.

I take exercise which I enjoy. I walk when I don't need to drive or take the bus or train.

I smile and laugh whenever I can - life is good - getting caught in the rain reminds me that it is good to be alive to feel it.

I forgive other people. Deep down everyone is a good person, just like me.

I am a compassionate and loving, caring person.

I am a good person.

I am.

Yes people it's true, I am, we are - simply amazing. All of us!

To the splendiferous Jenn at I am not Superwoman - best of luck on your Ethiopian adventure. According to my calculations from half way around the world, take off into the wide blue yonder should be less than 48 hours away. Be amazing - I know you will be!

Cheers, Fi

 

"Success - To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; this is to have succeeded."