Another Friday finish! 14 days from go to whoa.
Category Archives: me
It’s Called A Day Off Work. Really? – NaBloMoPo eight
It’s Saturday, Saturday, hey hey it’s Saturday…
Yeah, nah. Today I plan to:
- Sleep in until the luxurious hour of seven. Usually foiled by some berk turning the lounge TV on real loud or fighting over the channel/remote or a craving for coffee.
- Sort out my personal planner for next year. I am designing my own Project Life planning pages to fit a personal Filofax – let’s see if they work!
- Clean the fish tank – vacuum gravel, water change, filter media change
- Get the men to the hairdresser
- Get some of the excess metal to a scrapyard to pay for the haircuts!
- Download some books for next week
- Iron some summer clothes and get the new dress off to the seamstress – it needs about 6 inches hemmed as I am a shorty
- Download some podcasts for next week
- Sort out threads for Arezzo so I can continue with the roses
- Cook, then cool chicken, potato salad etc for tonight’s bonfire at the FIL’s
- Prepare everything else I need for tonight’s meal
- Process loads of washing in between everything else
There are no TAB odds as to how much will actually be achieved. Food and scrap metal yes as these will match Si’s priorities but the rest is family dependant. But I brought myself some time – this was written & scheduled yesterday 🙂 while at work too – tut tut!
scheduling worked well then, didn’t it?
Fail! Prompt four ended up posting before three! Honestly – it was written after. My time zone keeps bouncing back to default whenever I use the app version unless I check & re-save before typing the post. Wonder if I can go back and alter the time now?
Melbourne Cup day here “down under”. It’s the only day in the calendar where I plan to bet. Usually just the office sweepstake. This year it’s organised by the lovely Amanda, complete in heels and a fascinator. For a massive mad two bucks, I have #5, Protectionist. Reasonable chance with 22114, right? Apparently he’s German. It always amazes me that horses can move quite freely between countries but I can’t take the dog or cat (not that I have either) or goldfish. Photo stolen from some Melbourne paper. Love how his handler’s sneaking in a pie.
Reading “The White Horse King” by Benjamin Merkle, all about Alfred the Great. I’ve read a couple of things previously (mostly fictionalised, TBH) and this has “a ha!” moments. Like the bit about the earlier Viking raiders. They would plant the crops then sail over to England, raid a monastery or other soft target, and be back home in time to harvest. Now that’s efficient.
Dealing with Pressure – NaBloPoMo four
Normal by Lizzie*Kate & stitched by Claire. Pattern available here: http://www.123stitch.com/item/Lizzie-Kate-Normal-is-Just-a-Setting-Cross-Stitch-Kit/LK-K32
Sometimes I can deal with pressure like a sponge, and soak it all up. Sometimes the smallest thing will set me off. I guess everyone goes thru phases like this. After going thru a crap last six months at a previous employer, I have learnt a few things. I also know that I would rather work for someone else and be able to shut the door behind me at night.
- Have a PLAN for achieving things. If I record something, I am not only more likely to do it, I’m more likely to achieve more. Plus planning allows for movement. Urgent report? Move this to do that. Easy. Take a look at the diary offering at your local stationery/big box store or try the planner link from yesterday.
- Have an ESCAPE HATCH. Do something that makes you happy, be it something crafty, read a chapter, surf the web, go for a short walk. I return to work refreshed when I do one of these.
- While I have been known to crank up Seether, I usually listen to something softer. (Confession? I am a closet Nickelback listener, but more of their earlier stuff. Yeah I know, such little justification!) Make a playlist of your favourites, hook up the iPod/phone, find a radio station, listen to a book. I am a bit late to the party but have discovered podcasts. BBC comedy? Yes please. Lee Mack, you need to get on there more.
- Have something in your pod/office space that INSPIRES you. I have no outside windows so I have a few extra things. A huge Eiffel Tower canvas from Typo in Onehunga. Glass candlesticks with globes, turned to where my friend Jill is sailing presently or where friends who need prayer are (it will be showing Noo York for a while). A framed stitching piece (converted version of a Mirabilia mermaid’s compass). Inspirational quotes – we’ll get into some of those each Thursday. A Garfield coffee mug from L that holds my pens & pencils & stuff and makes me smile, as I know she was thinking of me when she brought it. Photos that bring back memories. Too many electronic devices.
- Nine times out of ten, a toddler is cranky ‘cause they’re hungry. The same thing applies to us too. Eat lunch away from your desk for an extra mental break. And so your keyboard doesn’t get full of crumbs and yucky stuff.
What do you have around you? What do you do to help alleviate pressure at work? Do you have any other podcast recs?
Mondays are all about the (work) routine – NaBloPoMo three
I’m not my best on a Monday. Especially if one’s neighbours set off fireworks past eleven at night. $@%^%^^% So I rely on a routine, and a planner. Coffee, and chocolate. Chocolate is a better carrot for me than actual carrots, even given my ex would call me an ass. Monday means methodical. I usually record what I need to do in my work planner on Fridays as I can turn off work when I have a plan for the next day. My favourite planner is very simple and if you’re in NZ or AU is available through Office Max. Everywhere else it is available from the publisher or Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/AT-A-GLANCE-Remember-Two-Days-Per-Page-Planning-80-6204-30/dp/B003OERJJY
0525: Alarm goes off. Roll over and DO NOT SNOOZE (I can allow myself to snooze later on in the week)
0600: leave house. Sometimes re-enter house if Z has forgotten something.
0630: first coffee at desk. Run sales reports; send F his extra report (my boss is currently travelling)
0700: Breakfast with the other early starters. Laugh until second coffee threatens to come out my nose. Kiss Z goodbye (he comes with me as he buses from my work to his school in central Auckland)
0715: run vendor’s weekly or fortnightly reports. Stitch or read while each report runs; email to appropriate vendor.
0900: weekly Sales meeting. Involves Category, Ops, DC, Marketing & Online peeps, and sometimes Call Centre and Store. Usually a bit of a laugh.
1000: start with the teas, have snack. Finish any outstanding vendor reports. Respond to any Monday vendor emails, also accounts. Then start responding to Store delivery issue emails.
1300: walk with Sarah DB to mall/library/circuit – the plan is to get out of the office!
1330: lunch. Usually leftovers, or Vita wheat with Puhoi basil feta and tomatoes, two things Simon can’t stand. On Friday it’s sushi for a treat. Work supplies fruit so that’s one less thing I have to remember.
1345: afternoons are a little more variety. More store issues, respond to new emails (I have a thing about clean email inbox).
1530 – 1600: Escape. Timeframe depends on which bus Z catches but I like to be on the motorway before 4. If I get on later I’m caught up in the factory finishes from Patiki and I hate rush hour traffic. I hate it more than getting up early. Another bonus has been the time each day with Z (although he is currently very annoyed that he has kitchen duties) and the books we are listening to. Right now it’s Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon. He likes the action and I’ve liked this author’s adult series because of the mythological aspects. However it’s gone a bit stupid for me, like too many sequels often do so I stopped a while ago.
1730: prep dinner. M & B have swim lessons on Mondays at the Base pool so are knackered when they get home. Early dinner, early bed means less tantrums. Except from whomever is on kitchen or bathroom duties.
1930: all three are in bed, usually B & Z read to themselves and M has a story. Currently David Melling, Joy Cowley, Lynley Dodd or anything Cars. New favourite is reading Thomas/Rev W Awdry with dad.
2030 – 2130: crash.
Same Same But Different; NaBloPoMo two
We have what is today conventionally a large family, four kids. No plans for more, BTW, please no more God! But we brought a people mover years ago when we just had two kids, & all jokes aside, it was one of the best things we ever had.
Friends of ours ended up with a PM for a South Island road trip years ago when Avis rented their booked Holden Commodore to someone else. Jonesy raved about it for ages. Children separate, no fighting, plenty of room for stuff and nice to drive.
We got a Honda Odyssey. Seven seats, sun roof, all the bells and whistles that Japan could come up with in 1998. We drove all over the North Island. Twice around the clock. League games. Netball games. Kayak trips. Two more children. Designated driver trips, listening to happy tales. All I missed was the Labrador.
But the gear box started to go last year. I avoided using it as much as I could, choosing to drive the Toy Car even when it had a leak. I tried to convince Si that we needed to replace it, but he holds onto cars for as long as he can. I was long past the love.
Then yay! Everything fell into place. And I have a new friend. And it’s an Odyssey. Again. But new shape. Again in white! But no sunroof. Or Labrador. That bit sucks.
Z and the Beast. Bye bye Beast.
December Daily prep
Si was out tonight so I started to pull together my DD for this year. The big goal is not to journal every day (I can catch up) but to not spend on the papers etc. I did buy the Stampin’ Up PL 6×8 & a heap of inserts but I want to get some hand dyed fabric from Catherine for the Nora Corbett reindeer, & that needs to be matching so best that I purchase enough for six at the same time.
My cover is deliberately simple. I don’t want this to clash with other stuff on the shelf. Plus I’m not a frills person.
Then a whole heap of stuff for the inside. Mostly a variety of Project Life cards, but the filofax inserts fit too. Brads & flourishes from Kaiser, Basic Grey scraps; this is on a budget.
While I haven’t totally planned each day, I do have a basic layout. And cards will be added once the season is over and they no longer need to be displayed. So write to me, people, & I’ll return the favour.
Planning to succeed. Whoops, that sounds a bit pratty.
A Mediterranean progress
Or Why Oh Why Is This Taking So Long?
Very very slow progress on “Jug” as my friend Lynne calls her. I’ve changed out one of the kreinik threads and some beads won’t be as charted, primarily as I chose to stitch her on a blue tinted fabric (jobelin, the same piece as my Sleigh).
buzz kill
I’ll confess; I LOVE (still) some of the older fairy/fantasy movies. They had script, acting, and weren’t formulaic. Think The Princess Bride – My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die…” Think heroes, proper villans (who had real motivation to be bad and couldn’t be excused and had no desire to rehabilitate themselves).
I went thru a massive Bowie phase and still enjoy the Henson mov, Labyrinth, that he and Jennifer Connelly and a massive amount of puppets starred in. Still have the paperback novel (as I do for The Princess Bride and no kids, you are not allowed to touch!) Then today I saw this in the Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11341504
Gutted. I am being a sceptic but I think they will ruin one of my (non) guilty pleasures. And while I wasn’t into The Dark Crystal, I’m thinking this shouldn’t have a sequel either!
For those of you who care, here’s a link that tries to explain why Jareth kidnapped this baby… http://glamdamnit.tumblr.com/post/55713093884/my-sister-asked-if-the-events-of-the-labyrinth which is plausable…yes dammit, I know it’s fiction!
oh oh yeah yeah yeah yeah
I’m currently reading “The Lady in Red” which is a biography about Lady Seymour Worsley, who was the centrepiece of a major Georgian trial in February 1782. Seymour was a contemporary of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire (yes, that Duchess as in the movie) and until I got to page 141, I didn’t realise her antics far outstripped that of the Duchess. I’d resisted reading any further than a brief synopsis on Amazon, so imagine my eyes popping out of my head…
I started reading as an offshoot of my Tudor reading (Seymour’s husband was a direct descendant of that Worsley) and because I’ve always liked Regency/Georgian history. What I didn’t realise is that this bio is like a train wreck – you know someone’s made an absolute mess of things but you can’t stop reading.
The centrepiece of this is a Criminal Conversion trial against a Maurice George Bisset by Sir Richard Worsley and also Sir Richard’s movement to restrict his wife further, after she had gone against convention and run away with his fellow officer, Bisset. Picture this – Worsley is screened from view in the open court forum of the Court of the King’s Bench. His four lawyers have presented what seems like a water-tight case of adultery and “crim. con.” against Bisset, and he can feel that the jurors are on his side (he was asking an almost impossible sum, twenty thousand pounds damages) and soon all the embarrassment will be over.
Then the defence lawyers, namely one Edward Bearcroft, drop the bomb. As Justice Mansfield has stated, “If a Plantiff encourages, or is privy to, or consenting at all, or contributing to the debauchery of his Wife, or joined in it, he ought not to recover a verdict.”
Bearcroft then starts to reveal Seymour’s marital history. “Prior connections to such an extent that the idea of seduction by the present Defendant was totally done away”.
So this is the bit that I am now up to. Annoyed that I have to put it down and return to my spreadsheets! Altho it is starting to sound a bit like a Women’s Day or Slater/Whale Oil salacious “news” article, ick.
Non-affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Red-Eighteenth-Century-Scandal-Divorce/dp/B0071UN9CI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412622484&sr=1-1&keywords=the+lady+in+red
If you like the thought of this one, also try my absolute fav, the biography of Jane Digby (the cover is coming off, and yes, I actually kept the print version!) http://www.amazon.com/Scandalous-Life-Biography-Jane-Digby/dp/1857024699/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=15DZ27YSD4HTTVPVCWCX Anything by Mary S. Lovell is well worth the hunt.
On other news, tonight is Date Night. We’re off to see Gone Girl (hopefully) dependant on Si’s physio appt.
Stitching – still on the mermaid and I haven’t picked up Stargazer in weeks, if not months. I’m so tired! Yesterday got given some meds and discussed further treatment options. A couple of choices ahead. What is apparent is that I can’t keep up with having an iron level as low as it has been. I didn’t even dare tell the doctor about the dizzy spells.
Stayed up late Sunday to watch the Rabbitohs thump the Bulldogs. WOO HOO! One of the best Grand Finals I’ve seen in a while, courage on the field and little dirty play. The ref also didn’t decide the game, the players did, which is an improvement on some of the season’s games. Mase now wants me to buy him Souths jammies when we go to Sydney later on this year, while B is telling me he was only wearing his Bulldogs gear because it was all he had (cough). Yeah, right.
Project Life – caught up on June, July & August. Need a few hours each weekend and that is hard to find!
Gardening – got all the seedlings out and the weather turned nasty. Resigned to re-sowing the tomatoes and cucumbers. Some basil & Italian parsley that I had on the windowsill are thriving in the old coffee cans. Can’t wait to make my own pesto. The rosemary cuttings that were on the windowsill are doing ok too, out in the pot on the patio. Starting to plan how I will plant out the top end of the section but this is a little restricted, given the stormwater drain running along the fence line.
sewscrapmuse 