101 Challange

Thanks to Paisley Jade, I have fallen in love with (yet another) project stolen from: Catalina's 100 challange. A fellow linker, and then I spent half of last night creating my "list". Its fantabulously amasing and I have included a lot of stuff I want/wanted to do anyways.

I am doing it from birthday to birthday, but its starting a little early. I turn 27 next Tuesday, and then by the time I am 28 I intend to have achieved the following 101 Tasks. (yes true to form, I have altered the WHOLE challange... I do this with almost everything. thats why I can't sew....I don't do patterns)

So here goes:

1.  Do this challenge first - Buy yourself a notebook. Use this as your journal to document your challenges. Take pictures of completed challenges where possible and add them to it. Use this notebook to collect all the things you need to write down. Use the notebook for all the lists you have to create during challenges.  26-09-2011


2. Buy a big canvas, and use some paint, with spoons, forks, in spritz bottles with the kids to create a masterpiece. Give them each a colour and myself. (and DH if he's home). Hang the masterpeice in a prominant location in the house. Sign and date it like "real" artists.


3. Go out of your way to do something kind for a stranger.


4. Do a body detox.


5. Write in my journal on a regular basis.


6. Have a picnic.


7. Make Tutu Skirts for the girls.


8. Buy our house.


9. Get my craft stuff organised and in ONE place.


10. Makeover the twins room.


11. Go to an opshop and buy something "ugly" with potential. Make it beautiful and wear it proudly.


12. Do the Dale Carnegie course.


13. Help someone do something they thought they couldn't.


14. Write down 7 separate places from my life that I hope to take your children to see.


15. Don't log into facebook for a week.


16. Listen to classical music while doing the housework.


17. Wake the kids up at 10.00 pm one night, just to say "I love you".


18. Look through my old recipe books, choose one book and try cooking every recipe in it!


19. Make exercise a part of my day.


20. Plant a vege garden.


21. Host a New Years Eve Dinner party.


22. Scrapbook the wedding.


23. Volunteer at Rockchicks school for a day.


24. Go for a family walk on the beach at sunset.


25. Create an eco-friendly home by making my own cleaners.


26. Get a children's book published.


27. Makeover Rockchicks room.


28. Plant spring bulbs.


29.  Make homemade icecream.


30. Make a loaf of bread from scratch.


31. Stop taking my laptop to bed every night.


32. Send a personal letter, every week. Buy a letter writing set to do this with.


33. Create an occasion to wear my most impractical pair of shoes.


34. Go to a Sunday market and look at all the colours, people, stalls, food, gifts and smell and listen.


35. Go out of your way to do something kind for a stranger.


36. Write a letter to myself to read in ten years time.


37. Have a long, relaxing bath with bubble bath and bath oil. Read till my fingers wrinkle. Then go straight to bed. Do this as soon as the kids are down for the night.


38. Send a surprise I-think-you’re-fabulous handwritten note to someone.


39. Go fruit picking.


40. Write letters to 5 people who have influenced my life for the better and post them.


41. Make home-made jam or relish or preserve fruit and give the first one away.


42. Make a list of my 52 favourite quotes and make a deck of cards book with them.


43. Cut flowers, weeds, tree branches whatever is there and arrange them in a vase creatively. Thank the flowers etc as you cut them. Out loud.


44. Create the kids Journey Books.


45. Do the housework listening to classical music.


46. Make an "I'm Bored" jar. Make some Activities bags.


47. Answer the "50 questions that will free your mind".


48. Start a Notes Journal with Rockchick and keep it.


49. Pay for the next cup of coffee.


50. Don't complain about anything for a week.


51. Get a tattoo.


52. Write all my worst memories on paper. Burn it.


53. Make Gingerbread Houses.


54. Collect all my family and friends birthdays, put them into my calendar and send them all birthday cards by post.


55. Buy someone a bottle of bubble bath and a rubber ducky – this has got to be given to an adult!


56. Create my Dream House file.


57. Make friendship bracelets.


58. Blow up balloons for the kids birthdays and leave them on the floor for them to wake up to.


59. Donate Blood.


60. Lose 10 Kgs.


61. Make over the master bedroom.


62. Leave a card with a nice quote for someone under their window wiper.


63. Be a good friend and take over a batch of homemade cookies or a cake.


64. List 100 achievements I have managed in my life so far.


65. Collect all the crystals in the house, take them to a forest and roll them in the dirt, then to the beach and wash them in the sea. Bring them home and leave them in the moonlight. Replace them in the house the next day. Do this on a full moon.


66. Find out a friends fave cake flavour and bake it for them.


67. Jump in the bath with the kids.


68. Create an inspiration board.


69. Read 20 new books. And a few old and dear ones.


70. Build a sundial with the kids.


71. Put a love note in Rockchick's lunch box.


72. Make a list of 25 things I like about myself and put it on my mirror.


73. Create an Annual Scrapbook Template and use it!


74. If someone could describe you in 10 words what would you want those words to be? Write them down and read them every day this week. See if you really are living up to those words.


75. Wear a skirt or dress for an entire week.


76. Find a favourite piece of poetry – frame it, hang it.


77. Go on an op-shopping adventure with a friend.


78. Choose a photo of me and a friend. Write something on the back and send it to them telling them why I like the picture


79. Lay on a blanket with my kids and watch the clouds. Ask the kids what they see?


80. Finish my 365 days of photos challenge.


81. Make a gift for a friend, just because.


82. Make a reusable Advent Calendar.


83. Create my Crafts Book.


84. Go outside in the rain and get really wet. Take the kids. Look at the rain. Look at the colours.


85. Do a Marketing Course.


86. Create an "old magazine" creation.


87. Make a time capsule.


88. Create an area in your home that is just for my ‘creative space’ – maybe a corner with a chair in it or a whole room!


89. "Kidnap" Rockchick from school one day and go roller skating.


90. Buy a tabletop card holder and fill it with photos.


91. Create a craft box for the kids and pull it out at least once a month.


92. Have a romantic candle lit dinner for two.


93. Reuse the broken crayons to make new ones, and a couple of colourful candles too.


94. Write a letter to myself as if I was 70.


95. Have a family meal by candlelight.


96. Embroider a favourite quote. Hang it in my office.


97. Make Gloop


98. Plant a tree.


99. Let the kids decide the dinner menu one night, help them to make it, set the table and decorate it with whatever they want.


100. Read over my notebook and feel fantastic about everything I have achieved.


101. Buy my next notebook, and start my next list.

Motivational Monday

Interestingly, just sharing yesterday that I had lost my motivation seems to have scared it into coming back. Wish that worked everytime, but I know from experience it doesn't.

Today I have managed to stay on top of my work, despite a cold (COLD) morning I managed to get my kids to kindy (almost) on time, and have done Zumba too.

Now to not get smokes :-S

I have slightly failed there lately, and we bought several packets recently, and I tell you what, its hard to maintain the "Quitting" vibe in those circumstances. If they are there, I will smoke them, and to start with if they weren't there I didn't miss them, but now I am. I must resist temptation. I can get back to not missing them again if I stick to it. I hope.

Trouble is there were so many little things in my habit that felt good. Apart from the nicotine kick. It gave me several REAL breaks from my kids on a daily basis, I would not expose my children to the smoke, I went outside and shut the door. Pure silence. I read my book, or drew a house design (because I do that for fun)

Not smoking has meant I am not actually reading anymore. I miss it. I really miss reading. I am not drawing houses as much. I dont miss that quite so much. I miss my kiddie breaks.

I could (and really should) start reading at night before I go to sleep, but I usually take my computer to bed instead and play sims (AKA grown up barbie dolls) or watch something on demand etc. Believe me, sim's puts me to sleep like nothing else, and if I don't find some way to completely shut my brain off, I am up all night long. Sedatives don't help, they work for maybe two days, then I need two sedatives etc.

For a long time I used to record my day in a journal, plan tomorrow, and then read and fall asleep over my book, but I no longer do that, I want to, but I have somehow blocked myself from it. My computer, however is telling me that the cooling system is broken and to send it in for a service, so perhaps this is a good time to break that habit, but then when do I get to play sims??? *cries* I do love sims.

So this wasn't really very motivational, good processing for me, but I want to share something that motivates me on a Monday; so heres a website I use fairly often and is extremely helpful towards maintaining your house, I often do the mini-challanges on my lunch break and I love that they can send it all to your email, keeps you going. Miss a day here and there, and for about a year I ignored her completely but I am slowly getting back into her. Here she is:

http://www.flylady.net/

Thats my piece of motivation to share for this week :-)

xx The Ramblings of Another Mother

Who are you and what have you done with my mother?

Have you seen that add? It cracks me up. And I have recently felt a little like that about myself (which is scary and exciting at the same time.)

First we gave up smoking, one month ago tomorrow. (Taking bow.) Then I morphed (almost overnight) into an exercise junkie, and then I started feeling motivated about all sorts of things.

Granted some of these things are just not happening (like baking every Tuesday for Paige's lunch.... which I should be doing RIGHT now) and some of them are plain outrageous expectations on myself (like working for the twins entire naps on my days off) haha, yeah right. Not if it can wait till next work day. Which it almost always can. And if it can't then yeah ok, I do it.

But then again some of these things have been hugely beneficial to me.

Like I can now go on a fairly extensive and intensive walk and not feel like I am about die. Which feels very good. Especially after the first time when I walked with the twins up the hill and was panting so heavily that they thought I was entertaining them and turned around in their pram to laugh their brains out at me.

One of the less good things would be that my head is so so full of crap that I can't get rid of it to get to sleep. So I am getting quite tired. I want to do something like write about it in a journal or SOMETHING but I suck bottom at keeping to these things.

Today a wonderful woman on facebook told me about Kiwi Mummy Blogs http://www.kiwimummyblogs.co.nz/ and through that I have found a blog called http://www.greatfun4kidsblog.com/ which is a beautiful blog and is very similar in content to what I am trying to achieve. But most of all, it has new blogger tips.

Now I must admit one of these tips is so blindingly obvious that I actually laugh at myself. Can you guess what it might be? Google it. Thats right, it had NOT occurred to me to google ideas on improving my blog! I blame Nappy Brain.

As an aside, here is the pattern of brain freeze I have noted women follow:

I'm Pregnant: Preggy-brain
I'm a new mother: Nappy Brain
My kids have left home: Senior Moments.

Anyways. So now I am full of tips and advice and well meaning posts from OTHER bloggers and am feeling all motivated AGAIN to make my blog PURDY!!!

Watch my blog go BLITZ!!!! Stay Tuned

Thank goodness I'm having a fantastic day.

So I went to a motivational seminar on Friday last week, CAN YOU TELL???? I MEAN I'M NOT FEELING MOTIVATED OR ANYTHING...........

Anyways. It was (as you might have already deduced) a fantastic experience, and I came away with some very cool new tools (this was a sales training seminar which I attended in aid of generating myself more business) and a strong feeling of "I can do this".

Very cool.

One of the stories the woman taking the seminar told us very early on was funny and awesome at the same time. She told us that the day before (on Thursday) she had flown to Sydney and back to do another training seminar, and arrived at 6 in the morning at the Airport, and had forgotten her passport, she also ran by her own watch and was actually arriving at the airport an hour before the flight was due to depart. Enter frantic race home to collect passport. And she made it onto the plane, slightly frazzled, and told the story to the person next to her, who said, wow what a bad day.

She said that she replied, well actually I am having a fantastic day. And she did.

She went on to say, that the power of our minds to create what we believe is incredible. I know this to be true anyway, because I have utilised it myself. I just need reminding every now and then from a like minded person.

So I went home after a lot more motivational talk and training, and felt pretty bloody good about it all. Then I had a pretty bloody good weekend with my husband and my two younger children, as the eldest was at her fathers.

I then got up this morning, and started my day with intention, "today I am having a fantastic day"

And I tell you what, I did.

Let me tell you about it.

It started at about ten to seven, a short time after the dear husband left. Rockchick came in to where I was attempting to manage a few more seconds sleep before I dragged my butt out of my nice warm bed into my freezing bedroom.

"MUUUUUM! I haven't got any uniform!"
"Ok, I will be up in a minute and I will find you one." Rockchick exits stage left.

I'm thinking, that's fine, there's a clean uniform in the laundry basket. I just haven't folded it yet.

Then the twins began to yell. UP UP UP MUM MUM MUM ...... One more minute darlings...

Rockchick re-enters stage left. "MUUUUUUUM the tvs not working!" Rockchick is not allowed TV unless she is all ready for school.

"Are you all ready for school?"

"I will check" Rockchick exits stage left.

The twins are rather insistent now. Ok I'm up, I'm up.

Thank goodness I'm having a fantastic day...

Morning continues with more whinging and whining, and kids that want feeding and mums that want silence and the clock that JUST KEEPS ON TICKING.....

We actually got out the door ALMOST on time. MUCH earlier than usual and I felt very proud. Dropped the kids at their various things and went to the beach where I meet a friend 3 mornings a week to go for a walk, I was early and she had text me that she was running late. I was feeling VERY full of a bunch of unwelcome energy so I decided to run around the park while I waited. Brilliant. First 20 seconds felt like I was running on a cloud of happy lala land. After that I felt like I was dying.

Thank goodness I'm having a fantastic day.

Met up with friend, we went to the beach, there was no sand left on the beach, since it all disappears about this time of year, and she had her youngest in his pram and so we struggle across the rocks and carried the pram a lot of the way, which the little fulla didn't like, he likes his pram, it is HIS pram thank you!

We decided that instead of compromising a lot of the beneficial exercise, we would go back via the road (which is quite a bit hillier and further, remember I have also been for a run.)

That was tiring. Its a good thing I'm having a fantastic day.

Went to work. Work work work. Then I remember that Rockchick has an after school activity to attend, and I forgot to remind her. But its lunchtime at the school no point in calling now. Work some more...

I call the school and input the code for her classroom, (remember back in OUR day when they sent notes from the office, those were the days weren't they?) after going through this several times and getting the same recorded message saying something like "no one is available to take your call, goodbye" I called the office, and what do you think they did? They sent a note.

Ok that's sorted. Work work work work........  enter several more minutes of work here.

Day ends. Time to collect the kids. Get in car and back up. I missed the driveway completely and ended up in the mud.

Now I don't have a normal car, I have a bloody big fat mongrel of a beast of a car. You know, a people mover. It is Rear Wheel Drive (so Fisherman informs me, please don't ask me what it means. It is also blue, and it has four wheels in the right places and a fifth one for steering.) But apparently my car being rear-wheel driven means it gets stuck in the mud rather easily. And I was stuck in the mud.

I thought for a minute, then turned the steering wheel RIGHT round and reversed a little further round the corner, I was attempting to get my car back on the concrete. Instead I put the drivers side front wheel into the mud too. Ops.

Thank goodness I'm having a fantastic day?

I called my dad (being my hero when my Hero Hubby is not in my general vicinity) but it turned out that he was no where near me. I called my mum, thinking she could bring me her car. I could not get through. I called the daycare, explained that I was stuck in the mud and that I was coming as soon as I worked out what to do about it. I called mum again. I contemplated calling several friends, but dismissed every one knowing that they were all busy with THEIR afternoon things too. I thought, well its not THAT far. I will walk to the school, collect Rockchick, walk to mums, which is not THAT much farther, and get her car, come back and get the carseats and then go get the twins. Not hard, no problem.

Thank goodness I'm having a fantastic day!!!

My mum called back and I almost cried!

My husband had a good laugh at me when he got home and tugged my poor car out of the mud, I told him that statistically men have more crashes than women but I don't think he believed me.... actually I'm not sure he even heard me through his happy chortles. Probably a good thing too since I made it up. The kids did not get bathed as was in the plans because I go to tap dancing on a Monday and there was no longer time for THAT.

So that was an interesting pile of shit. Thank goodness I'm having a fantastic day!

And you know what's funny? I really did.

xx The Ramblings of Another Mother.