The 'complete this challenge' challenge...suitable for all!

scrooge2008

Hi there cha97michelle,

I have to confess to being a secret admirer of you on the memorygirl thread, I think you do a brilliant job already, welcome.

Well done micron on accomplishing the 'shred' again. We are 13% of the way there and tomorrow Jillian says we should notice a big difference in our endurance levels :rotfl:.

Five make a difference things for me for today are:-

[STRIKE]- Spend an hour tidying the house, so no housework over the weekend.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE] - DS is in a concert at the concert hall, and I am a parent helper, so we need to catch the school bus at 5.00 pm tonight.
- Pick up recorded delivery parcel for DH on the way to the school
- Post parcels at the post office[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Hang out more washing - it's a fabulous day here.[/STRIKE]

It's been a busy week, so I'm going to have a lazy day tomorrow with no schedule except to do the 'Shred' and copy micron, by reading my book in the park, while DS plays ...... bliss

cha97michelle

Ah Scrooge, not sure what i have done that has made you my secret admirer, but it is nice to have a mutual pat on the back session. Nice to 'meet you.' (Don't know whether to get a little scared at how far spread my mumblings go. :D)

Well, not that good today. The morning went quickly and well, but then i was quite headachey and bad tempered this afternoon. Probably caffeine withdrawal. So bad. I'm afraid i was very grumpy with the kids as a result, but DS1 is in that 'but why' phase and every Q answered leads to another, and DS2 just turned 2 last month, and is into exploring by putting his hands into everything. I just got fed up of saying, no sweetheart and being ignored. Am i so evil because i don't want him to chop off a finger or tip hot food on his head when he won't stay out the kitchen According to him yes.

Anyway, a quick check in:

cha97michelle wrote: »

I am going to set myself some small challenges for today:

• deal with pile of paper for shredding :eek:
• [STRIKE]make pizza dough for dinner tonight[/STRIKE]
• watch lovefilm disc so it can be posted back Dh didn't get in till after 8:30 so we left it.
• [STRIKE]water plants in the garden.[/STRIKE]
• 1 hour ironing.:eek::eek::eek: definitely procrastinate on this one.
• [STRIKE]wrap up ebay sales.[/STRIKE] 4 items sold
• I'll also plan what i could do tomorrow. DH is at home so he can help or watch the kids. It is hard only getting real jobs done on a weekend though.

Right, tomorrow. Another day.

• Another hour on exercise bike
• wash my hair (couldn't today as both kids jumped in bath with me :rotfl:)
• [STRIKE]post ebay parcels - 3 paid for so far[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]deal with pile of shredding[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]do some gardening [/STRIKE]- potting on, watering, maybe get DH to cut grass, prune back some shrubs and climbers that are going mental.
• sort under sink cupboard in kitchen
• photo my double buggy and some anne geddes dolls ready to list on ebay free listings on Sunday.
• make some bread and buns for kids to save shopping.
• [STRIKE]wash one load my Tshirts so i can assess how many i have for hols at end of month.[/STRIKE]
• And i suppose i best add one hours ironing
• wrap sis-in laws, nephews and Auntys birthday pressies and find suitable cards.
• fix kids nightlight - one for DH

Enough for my 1st day as being a domestic diva. I am sure DH will have some plans of his own for the weekend and as long as it does not include spending any money that is fine with me. No doubt something to do with the bathroom refurb in 3 weeks. :eek:
ETA - i am just thinking to myself i am a big Jillian fan too. If i can manage to lose the 6Ib i have set myself for the next week, play have the shred dvd for £6 and i might be tempted to buy. That woman is amazing. Saying that i have her game for the Wii and i should probably play on that 1st.

micron_2

Hi Scrooge,

Great idea to read in the park. I actually went again today... I just couldn't resist.

Enjoy your lazy weekend.

scrooge2008

Hi there,

Your list made me want to post up another one for today, cha97, but no, it's a list free day for me! I think you and Memorygirl do amazingly well. You cope with tight budgets, pre-school kids, and still manage to have a life and a sense of fun, which is a real achievement in my eyes. I enjoy cooking, and we grow loads of vegetables and fruit in the back garden, so I like to read the recipes etc. on the thread.

Are you reading a book you'd recommend Micron? The sun is shining again today, so I'm looking forward to my park trip.

Well I've lost 2lb at the weekly weigh in on Lou's thread, and although I didn't find Jillian any easier this morning, I wasn't fighting with myself to turn it on. So that is us 1/6 th of the way through it :T.

AF last night, and wasn't tempted even though we were out sitting in the back garden and we all spent the night in the tent that DH put up for DS :rotfl:.

Have a great day everyone.

cha97michelle

Morning. Glad to be of service then. I love Memory girl too for ths sheer fact she has even less budget and does it all alone. Saying that, hubbies can sometimes be as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

We had a restless night here so i am not the most alert i could be. Ds1 was up and down like a yoyo until we took him in with us. I am not sure if it was because he woke up as it was hot and then got upset because there was no light on, or if he is about to come down with chicken pox spots like DS2. (Not that the Drs will actually confirm that he has chicken pox but what else looks like proper spots and lasts a few weeks and is itchy?) Kids aren't even at nursery anymore but we still get infected by the germs as my friend popped round with her LO to drop off a birthday present for my DS2 and kindly left the pox too.

Add to list mend kids nightlight. Psyche myself up to get dressed and get started.

Books - i just read 'I don't know how she does it' by Allison Pearson. Quite funny as it describes a womans mission to have it all - career, family. It describes the family life over a period of time. I had been wanting to read it for a little while and really enjoyed it. The author also wrote a book 'Time Management for Manic Mums', which i also thought to be good and useful.

I am an eclectic reader. Not through choice. When we go to the library i grab the 1st 3 books i can while chasing the kids round the stacks. The librarians love us. You end up mostly reading things from the quick choice section, but books you would not normally read. It works for me.

scrooge2008

I read those two books too, and really enjoyed them both.

The book, 'I don't know how she does it', was recommended to me by my sister, who said she kept thinking of me, all the time she was reading it. I subsequently read the 'Time Management for Manic Mums' book and absolutely loathed 'Perfect Paula', and decided I was the epitome of 'Manic Martha' and wasn't going to change.

I subsequently had a light bulb moment ........

Hope little ones start to feel a bit better soon.

scrooge2008

Morning,

Well I have completed day 6, and although I still don't think it is any easier, it seems to go quicker and I am feeling very energised by the end of it, so things are going in the right direction. How was it for you micron?

A chilax day for me today, friends of ours have organised a bar-b-que at a country park, and DH is cooking so here's hoping that the weather is OK, though it is looking very grey this morning, and we had tons of rain last night. Still we'll be going whatever the weather.

Five things to make a difference list for today:-

[STRIKE]- Get all clothes ironed and packed for DS, who is away on a school activity week, tomorrow[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Organise for Monday, which will be a very busy day[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Help DS finish his end of term project, which needs to be handed in on Monday[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Charge Blackberry and other devices[/STRIKE]
- Give the bathroom a good clean - tiles need a scrub

I'll have a go at getting everything done before 9.30 am (except DS project, as I doubt he'll be up before then) and then that's me for the day.

Yesterday, I ventured up into the loft to see if there was anything that I could sell on ebay's free listing today, but, I think the stuff up there is more suitable for a summer car boot sale, so i'll organise one for early July instead.

What I did find though, were find hundred's of books that I read and enjoyed over twenty years ago. I picked 24 that I really wanted to read again.

My chosen 24 which I'm going to challenge myself to read by the end of the year are:-

Testament of Friendship - Vera Brittain
Cider With Rosie - Laurie Lee
The Wind in The Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Lord Jim - Joseph Conrad
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
Phoenix Fled - Attia Hosain
Tender is The Night - F Scott Fitzgerald
Under Milk Wood - Dylan Thomas
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams
Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams
Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
Landscape For a Good Woman - Carolyn Steedman
The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles
The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
The Social Contract - Rousseau
The Theban Plays - Sophocles
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
August 1914 - Solzhenitsyn
Christina Rossetti - Selected Poems
William Blake - Songs of Innocence and Experience
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy - Jostein Gaarder
Travels with Charley: In Search of America - John Steinbeck
The Alchemist - A Fable about Following your Dream - Paulo Coelho

I'm really looking forward to this new challenge.

Have a great day.

cha97michelle

Interesting book list there. I have only read one of those (Cider with Rosie) after reading a small excerpt from it at school, but i have not read any of the others. I think i would find a book reading challenge a lot easier than an exercise one.

We have had a busy and productive morning here. Not anything off my list particularly, but i noticed some ants in my living room, so we have had a thorough sort, clean and declutter of all of downstairs this morning. The kids pointed out some toys they no longer use, we binned a few broken things, and i have a pile to give away or sell as i see fit. DH is now outside hoovering my car while the kids play with toys on the drive as everywhere else is too soggy after a full morning of rain.

I am just finishing my cuppa and having a browse on here then i am going to motivate myself onto the exercise bike. I know i will feel better for it, so i need to get on.

I was thinking of some challenges for myself for the rest of June:
clear airing cupboard and pantry completely ready for bathroom and boiler work.

• Try to hit the 100 99p free listing limit on ebay (i'll count relists too)
• Declutter at least one item from every room in the house.
• Lose half a stone before my holiday.
• exercise at least 3x one hour on the bike per week.
• try and use up as many nearly empty bottles as i can. This will also help the bathroom refurb.

Lists are usually helpful to me, and i need to remember that 15 minutes can make a dint in a job if that is all i can do.

scrooge2008

Those sound like great goals cha97.

You are right about 15 minutes making a difference. Sometimes lists look long and goals look hard, but broken up into concentrated 15 minute chunks, they can become surprisingly achievable.

scrooge2008

Morning,

Up at the crack of dawn literally this morning. I need a wee plan to keep me on track today:-

The day should go something like this:-

[STRIKE] Print off information for mystery shops
Early morning cleaning job
Dress to shoes
Family up and out with lunches
DS to school with luggage - off to school camp - also needs to take his homework and his finished project.
Lollypop job
Accounts job
Mystery Shop 1[/STRIKE]
Mystery Shop 2
[STRIKE] Lollypop job
Sleep for two hours
Salmon for tea
The Shred exercises
Organise for Tuesday - washing on and out - swish and swipe house
[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Go to spa for jacuzzi etc, take book to chill[/STRIKE]

Five things that make a difference:-

[STRIKE] Shred DVD
Mystery Shop 1[/STRIKE]
Mystery Shop 2
[STRIKE] Organise for Tuesday
DS off to camp happy with everything he needs[/STRIKE]

Feeling very tired today, as we had a great time at the bar-b-que yesterday, but we got back later than intended. I need to make sure I grab a couple of hours sleep later on in the day, so that I don't turn into Mrs Extremely Grumpy.

6 AF days and 6 shred days. After today 23% of the way through.

Have a good day.