Make IT Matter Monday

It is really hard for me not to start this post with, OMFG, is it really already Monday again?  It just always feels like Monday pops around to quickly.  Unlike Friday which seems to take forever to get here.

This Monday is also the last day of the school holidays which means there is even less reason than normal to get excited (or not) about Monday.  While there is a little part of me that is sort of looking forward to the return of school there are many more larger parts of me that wonder if the whole school thing is really worth the while.  If it weren't for the fact the resumption of school allows for more running, writing and me time then I would be just fine for there to be no school.

But I digress.  This is not supposed to be a post about my lack of confidence and faith in the education system.  I am saving that one for a rainy day and I bet you can hardly wait.  What this post is supposed to be about though is what will matter to me over the next week.

Given that I am not an overly organised person I don't have any idea what that may or may not be.  Well that was the case until I read this slightly awesome post over at Diary of a SAHM.

For those to lazy to click the link and read the post for yourself it puts out a bit of a challenge.  One that just so happens to fit in with making it matter.

There is an idea that there are five languages of love.  Meaning that love, like any language has different ways of being communicated,  Most people tend to prefer to use one or two of these languages.  The challenge that Jess is putting out there is to choose which ever language is the hardest for you to communicate and make an effort to communicate to your family in that language.  Total brilliance or what?

The five languages of love are

• Physical Touch
• Encouraging Words
• Gifts
• Acts of Service
• Quality Time

For more information on the languages of love check out this wonderful series on the topic over at Life on a Hill.

I can't decide between focusing on Encouraging Words or Quality Time.  Both are areas that I think I struggle with the most.  Especially with my big girl.  It always seems harder with the older ones.  Not that it means they are loved any less just that encouraging words are easier to come by when there are always so many new and exciting things that the little ones do.

So that's what will matter here this week.  Giving encouraging words to all the girls, especially the biggest.  

What is going to matter this week at your house?

Are you going to take up the challenge?

I am going to #LMS

I know it should be #LYSF (Lose Your S**T Friday) but as Delightful Tacky Lil Squirts would say

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So if I wanna put #LMS (Lose MY S**T) as my post's title then by golly I will and don't dare anyone say anything about it!!!

Now as a rule I am all airy fairy and lets make love not war, peace to one and all and all that jazz.  I  don't see the point in holding on to negatives.  Sure there are times when things don't go the way you hoped but anger is not the way to deal with.  I guess I like to think I am a rather rational and level head person.  

Someone in control of their emotions.  Well at least most of the time.  There are instances when I may yell and scream but generally speaking they are not times I choose to share here.  Today I am not generally speaking.  Please be warned if you continue further into the post I can guarantee you that you will encounter an f bomb on at least one occasion, possibly more.  If this will offend you in any way please stop reading.  Consider yourself warned

Today I am fucked off in a rather major way.  And really, I shouldn't be.  But I am.  And that just makes it all a thousand times worse.

#FFS I say to it all.

Why? Why, must I drive around the god dam car park five times looking for a park near the entrance to the only shop I actually *need* to go to at the major shopping centre in town.  The shopping center that I would actually prefer to avoid like the plague yet have been there twice in the past two days.  

Neither of which were a pleasure as such.  On the second trip I was able to score a few bargains which may have made it an enjoyable outing had it not for the bad mood I ensued thanks to Miss Eleven's inability to act upon simple requests.

Why? Why must there be a newly erected fence preventing me from taking a short cut to somewhere I really needed wanted to go?  Making me think I would never be able to find the perfect top I needed to wear out.

What's that?  Did I say I was going out somewhere???  Surely not?  How could I be losing my shit over the opportunity to have a night out child free and in a totally adult environment?

Easily.

Coming home to a child who has spent the day being a total pain in the arse as only a pre-pubescent eleven year can be is a sure fire way to lose your shit and want to scream #FFS!!!

Given that the same child has refused to listen to a single request from you for what seems the whole week long it can be particularly trying dealing with their ever swing moods.  Somebody give me a gun cause I still get to go through this two more times.

Oh and that night out I spoke of.  

Well I got way over dressed and felt a lot older than what I am.  I felt humiliated by the fact that Miss Pain in the Arse I spoke of earlier can apply make up better than I.  Yet my stupid foolish pride could not let her do mine because she had been such a little shit earlier in the day.  So I went out looking like a clown due to my lack of make up skills, while she flitted around at home giving her sisters a hard time while wearing a 'perfect face'.

Then to top it off, I was not able to wear my lovely new shoes because the little boat we were going on was exactly that.  Little.  Well it wasn't that little I guess, apparently 10 x 6 meters, but still a lot smaller than I thought and in no way suitable for my lovely heels and champers while out on the open water.  

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This is perhaps more what I was expecting hoping we were going on

This post is joining up with Lose Your Shit Friday over with the very very lovely Miss Cinders at Saturday Morning Orge Mum.  Part of getting your grump on with her is that you have to come up with five awesome things as well.

1. I really like the new stuff I got to look pretty in.  Especially since some of it came from a voucher meaning I saved money.
2. I had a lovely time on the boat, despite it being no where near as large as the one pictured.
3. I landed a few little editing jobs which gave me just enough to buy the shoes I just had to have
4. On Sunday I get to go to a beautiful wedding.
5. Not only did the MIL come and look after the kids so I could go out before Mr Awesome got home from work but she came with dinner as well.

Making it Matter Monday

Yes that's right folks Monday has somehow managed to sneak up on us again. Rearing it's ugly head well before I was ready to say goodbye to the weekend.  It is no wonder we as a society struggle with the whole work/life balance is it?  I mean with only two out of seven days put aside for weekend frivolity and the remaining five assigned to work there is really a lot of hope for evening things out is there?

Today also happens to mark the start of the last week of the school holidays.  Which is not exactly cause for celebration.  I love having the kids around.  Or rather perhaps it is more I despise the morning rush that comes with trying to get to school on time.  To say it is something this house struggles with is an understatement at best.

Even though the holidays last for four weeks it is still not enough.  We have not done nearly half the things I thought we would, of course this was not helped by the vomit bug that hit the other week.  Mind you that wasn't without some blessings as it gave Mr Awesome three days off work to help care for everyone.  Yes that's right the kids were so sick that I needed help in caring for them.  I needed someone to do the day shift while I caught up on sleep missed at night.

Moving right along now though.

I had planned that this break would be all about strengthening the family's bond as a team.  A week before the holidays began I had visions of grandure where jobs would be evenly distributed between everyone and all would do their share without complaint or grumble.  There would be plenty of sharing caring moments where the girls thought of each other and helped out when they could.  You know the kind of stuff that the Brady bunch would be proud of.

Naturally none of that happened.

There were moments where I ceased to be the slave for one and all and I was blessed with assistance here and there.  There were also melt your heart moments where the girls did something beautiful for each other.  Like Miss 2 who wouldn't take a drink or bite of food without making sure she had some to share with Miss 6.  Miss 11 also did a rather fine job at times of keeping everyone nice and quiet allowing for a sleep in here and there.

One thing that really needs to matter this week is the house.  Mr Awesome and I have been invited to a wedding on the Sunday.   One that the kidlets are not invited to.  Which means I need to have someone come in and look after them.  Which means in order for that person to feel comfortable I need to ensure the house is in order.

At this particular point in time it is not too bad.  Mount Washmore is not quite at epic heights and the leaning towers of dishes are under control so that is a good start.  We did a bit of furniture reorganising yesterday so there is a lovely new feel to the place which will hopeful translate into easier maintenance. Feel free to wish me luck on this one though as I really can't begin to explain how much I struggle with the mundane chores that others seem to breeze through.

For now though I must be off.  There are egg and lettuce sandwiches waiting to be made.  We are off to the wildlife park for a bit of a wander and a picnic, after all this is the last week of the holidays!  Not only that but if we are out the house it is harder to make a mess in it.

Catching up with what matters

Surrounded by a jumbled mess that is my life, I thought I would take a minute or twenty to make some time to spend here.  I have been rather absent on this platform of late.  Somewhere in amongst everything this little project seemed to get a little lost.  Which is a shame because really making IT matter is what life should be all about.

So what has been mattering to me?

Just surviving really, not in a by the grit of my teeth kind of way either which has actually been a bit nice.  My survival is more just getting through each day the best I can, comforted in the knowledge that tomorrow is always just around the corner, ready to be what ever you want it to be.

Tomorrow is such a funny concept.  It is the day that some say never comes, yet there are those who claim it the opportunity to start again, brand new and fresh.  Perhaps that is why they say it never comes, because really we rarely start any day brand new and fresh.  The past, no matter how hard we let go of it, still leaves its mark upon us.  One way or another.

But I digress, tomorrow is not really what I want to be thinking of at this moment.  For what that is what really matters.  This moment.  The here and the now.  And the here and the now right now is about getting as much writing done as possible.

I may have been a bit quite here but I am pleased to report I have somehow managed to get a few rather great (even if I do say so myself) posts out, including some stellar fiction.  I am actually thinking of an exciting new way for me to share more of fiction as I get closer to making that writing dream come true.

Speaking of making dreams come true, I have been a bit inspired by the mothers of Olympians that I have caught up with recently.  Make sure you head over and check out my Olympic section.  With only two weeks till the kick off I am starting to get more than a little excited.  If all goes to plan I should have some more rather interesting Olympic posts to share.

Thanks to gastro infected children running has been a little less than I would really like but at least there has still been no more than a five day gap between runs.  Which actually sounds terrible but is better than only once a week or worse still not even once a week.  The school holidays haven't really helped either.  There always seems to be someone who complains about going or wants to do something else.  I will be glad in some ways to be able to simply slot a run in after I drop them at school again.  Mind you I also don't want the holidays to end of course.  There is just no pleasing some people!

There have been plenty of grand plans flying through my head of late.  Which of course is nothing new but buoyed on by some lovely comments by readers of late I am full of confidence and just about ready to take on the world.  Personal growth at this point does not seem as scary as what it usually does.  Nor does change for that matter.  Though I have found that the two, personal growth and change, more often than not go together.

If only I knew why I found the pair so confronting I might be able to open myself up to them a bit more.  Mr Awesome commented the other day about my adversity to change.  To which I naturally took great offense because you know I am progressive and all that, I can't be anti change and progressive now can I?  Only upon deeper reflection I realised the truth in his words.  I really don't like change.  I like things staying the same.  It makes it so much easier to know what is going on.

One thing I have been trying to change though is the relationship I have with Miss 11.  I am concerned that we are not in the best possible position to begin our journey towards the teenage years.  Naturally I want one of those fairytale mother daughter relationships where we talk about anything and there are no secrets or lies.  Just lots of feel good heartwarming moments where I can commend her for her good choices and me for my ability to mother.

sigh...if only

Make it Matter Monday

As always Monday feels like it is creeping up way to fast.  Arriving much earlier than expected and leaving me questioning where the weekend actually went.  This Monday is week two of four of the holidays.  Yep up north we get a full four week break and it is beyond awesome.  Of course come September when there is only a week between terms it is a slightly different story.

On the whole I have been doing ok with making time to stay afloat of the perils of housekeeping.  That is not to say that the house has been sparkling clean, just that I have been making more of an effort than days gone by.  Mind you it is a little disheartening to see that perhaps a little more is still needed.  I am sure I will get there eventually.

Just quietly though I quite like the concept of disposable clothes, crockery and cutlery.  With environmental benefits of course.  It would be a mother's dream come true.  Could you imagine if they found a way to eliminate the need for washing clothes and dishes...

While the writing has been a little lack luster here, I have done some more than awesome posts over at A Parenting Life.  I was fortunate enough to have been asked if I was interested in chatting with two mother's of Olympic champions.  Which naturally I was.  Who wouldn't be?

Last week I shared my time with Karen Seebohm, mother to Emily, one of our amazing athletes of to vie for gold in London in a few short weeks.  Tomorrow I reveals what it was like catching up with none other than Pam Sullivan.  Yep the mother of the rather dashing Eamon.

Pam shared some of the ups and downs of having a son that is one of the countries most eligible bachelors.  Pam also shared a couple of cute baby shots to accompany the post, which goes live tomorrow.

Being given the chance to share these stories has made me feel like a bit of a real writer (despite that possibly being one of the worst sentences ever to have been written).  I feel inspired to try just a little harder to see what happens.  Deep deep down I know I have to work a lot harder to make it happen, and I know that eventually I will but I just wish I knew how to go about it a little more.

I guess for now the key is

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The other area that I have loosely managed to keep making matter is running or rather being active.  I am getting out at least twice a week for thirty minutes or more.  I am also trying to slot smaller bursts in when ever I can.  I haven't been as much as I would have liked to in the last week or so but school holidays do make it tricky.   I am justifying it all by looking at my overall levels of activity not just intense exercise sessions, if that makes any sense.

I know that I have come to far with this fitness thing to let it go now.  There is still so much to do before I really am as fit as I would like to be.  I want the girls to be saved this midlife realization that I am having regarding health.  I want them to always be making the best healthy choices and lead an active life.

Trying to think of specific goals is a bit of a struggle for me.  In some ways I do feel that I am struggling to stay afloat at the moment and I am hesitant to add more.  At the same time though I must remember that I need to push myself as well.  The tricky balances in life hey?

Sail the blues away

To say it has been quiet round these parts of late, is an understatement to say the least.  In fact over at A Parenting Life, I managed to write a post explaining why it had been so quiet on the writing front.  Mind you there were more reasons than I could admit to in one post so I had to then write the real reasons I was quiet on the writing front.

Both of which were rather poor bugger me whiney kind of posts.  Which I really try and avoid as much as possible but there must be something in the air of late.  I know that many say the onset of winter brings with it sadder than normal moods but you have to remember that I live in the tropics.  My winter is still like most people's summer.  In fact this is our peak tourist time because the weather is just so darn awesome.

Perfect for endless days at the beach and what not

Having said that though, as I sit here typing this, I am dressed in a track suit and curled up trying to stay warm.  It is all relative.  Below 22 degrees celsius is cold for me.  Below 18 is like freezing.

Thankfully I got the whingy whiney out of me.  Either that or I have managed to once again lock it away.  Regardless my complaining for now is done.  Promise.

It had been in there way to long.

Interacting with people will do that to me.  Well interacting with too many idiots in too short a space of time will do that to me.

The school holidays are under way now so my interaction is much easier to control.  It is easy to stay out of the idiots way when we don't have to go to school every day.  In case you missed it  a woman at school rubbed me the wrong way.  Like really rubbed me the wrong way.  I am so thankful our children are different ages that I will never have to share a class with her.  She is a do gooder that does more harm than good.  At least in my opinion.

Needless to say it has been hard to make things matter of late.  I have still been running a few times a week so at least that is something.  My one constant that I have been able to hold on to.  Providing me with hope that I can go on.

Which of course I can.

I still get mad at myself letting the little things get to me.  Did you know there are real people out there with real problems?  Not just a melodramatic mother craving for attention, trying to show that she may well just be more than a mother without having a career as such.

Mind you I can't help but wonder if sometimes I let the magnitude of everyone else's problems pile up on top of me.  Only to then have them weigh me down and turn me into the world is such a shitty place believer of late.

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Of course I can't help but notice that lately lots and lots of people seem to be in a similar boat to me.  One that is leaking, but at a rate you can empty out quick enough to stay afloat.  Perhaps there is something in the air after all

Though every now and then it gets a bit touch and go.

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For now though all is well and it is smooth sailing

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It's Tuesday, and I have blogged.  

Yay!!  Which of course means joining in on the wonders that are #IBOT

Check out here for more great #IBOT posts

The Things I Know About Running

I know that running has been a great way for me to get myself active and on the path to a fitter and healthier me.

I know that after the first few weeks of making time to go for a run, it actually turned out to be a lot easier than what I expected.  That is not to say it has all been easy but it most certainly has been rewarding and something I want to do for the rest of my life.

I know that until recently I have never really though of myself as a runner as such.  And while I will not ever be likely to run quite as well as these guys

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I know that is ok.  I can proudly say I can manage to slowly run for thirty minutes.  In fact thirty minutes is no longer enough.  Since completing my couch to 5km training a few weeks ago I have been feeling the urge to do a bit more.

I know I really enjoyed completing Day 2 Week 1 of my new running app.  Bridge to 10k.  I wasn't joking when I said that the 5km was no longer enough.  This week consists of four ten minute runs with a one minute break in between.  Including the five minute warm up and cool down I am active for around fifty minutes and traveling around 6.5km.  I know I feel like a super star!

I know that if I go too long between runs I get grouchy and grumpy.  Little things that shouldn't bother me do start to do so.  Which then of course leads to big things that tend to get blown up even bigger and before you know it there has been an explosion of epic proportions leaving us all worse for wear.

I know that I kinda like saying I am addicted to running, since you know it is so healthy and all, but I feel a little pretentious doing so.  After all I am still such a newbie that sometimes I wonder if I really should even call what I do running.  (If anyone knows of the speed that signifies the start of running rather than jogging or even walking, please let me know)

I know that being able to notice a difference in my appearance has made me want to run more.  It has also made me just a little more conscious about how I fuel my body and what I put into it.  All of which can only lead to more good.

And the final thing I know this week is that I love being able to link this post up to so many fabulous link ups

@ Bbeingcool

@ Singular Insanity
@ With Some Grace