TAKING CHARGE 20 Mar 06

I'm sorry, Kerri...not much "fun" happening, huh? My DD15.5 is home today: snot overload!

I got DH off to the airport early this morning (5:30 am) and immediately went into "vacation mode!" I checked the extended weather forecast for DSIL's and began planning clothing and pulling out outfits. I've decided that I'm only taking three "play" outfits for each of us....partly because I'm not buying new just yet...and partly because we'll have access to a washer and dryer and it's silly to haul that much down there! So: three "get-'em-dirty" outfits, two nicer but still casual outfits ,and one "something dressier" outfit, swimsuits, PJ's, and bloomers for all. That's the plan!

This afternoon I need to do my Monday sweep-and-swipe...and maybe iron a bit. Bleh!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

I wouldn't have believed it possible but my day actually got worse... DH got his notebook computer stolen out of the trunk of a car in Rome so I spent all the time since I got back changing online banking and email passwords. Then the kids got harrassed again by some bullies, I threatened them with the police and they didn't move, so I had to go and actually call the police.

really... it's been a bundle of fun! I know I'm not the only one having some seriously bad luck this year. I don't usually believe in good or bad luck but this year has stunk so far!

Kerri.

Copying it over to here.
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I need to do meal planning - I always have a rough idea what I am going to make that week, but nothing is really concrete, often because I forget to defrost whatever it I was planning to make!

Money is really an issue at the moment, and I am looking to halve my usual grocery budget for the next few weeks, which will be no mean feat. I'm not even sure if it's possible, as my grocery budget is pretty low already. We'll see.

I have been busy busy today, with all sorts of little jobs. I've been grocery shopping too. Yes, I did keep to my new budget, but this week it was easy as I have stuff in the freezer and cupboards to work with. After this week it's going to get increasingly difficult.

I have taken charge of something big (for me) this week and booked an appointment at the dentist! I think I have an tooth abcess I'm not going to let him touch me, it's far too painful! I'm just going to get antibiotics. After the dentist I am going to the physiotherapy clinic to hand in a letter from my doctor. My xrays came back negative for arthritis, and the doctor is referring me for physio.

Lots to do this evening, a huge pile of ironing amongst other things.

Onwards

Are you doing your Morning Pages? You always seem more centred when you're doing those. Not that doing them would stop DH's computer being stolen, or the bullies from hassling your kids, but it might enable you to sustain a zen like calm.....

I'd have probably jumped off a bridge by now, if I could find one! After chatting to Mum for a while she went to sleep (yes, I bore people to sleep frequently!) and I went and sat at the dining table and did my writing. It did help, which is why I started on that instead of a franchise agreement I still haven't finished looking at. My zen-like calm has taken a beating today but it's still there.

has anyone yet discovered Google Earth?? Don't, unless you have a couple of hours to waste!! It's fascinating, and it took me ages to find our flat n Singapore. DD is supposed to be showing her class on their new Smartboard tomorrow. The advantage of being different and interesting is that she gets to use it first!! Apparently her teacher's just stopping short of selling tickets to the show for it tomorrow because all the teachers have said they'll be taking their class in to listen to what she has to say about Singapore. So I had to find her old school and our flat and the tourist island of Sentosa. Singapore is very accurately mapped so it zooms in crystal clear on things that are just a blur in less well mapped areas. We also had a brief discussion of WWII history because Sentosa is part of the reason that Singapore fell to the Japanese - over here the war in the Pacific doesn't get mentioned at all!

I know I'll eventualy wash bedsheets... and since I missed my Monday wash day and things are piling up (missed a few others too) I'd better throw a load in tomorrow. And meal plan. I don't know how you'll cut your bill in half Honey. I have your spice pastes next to me on the desk, so maybe I can contribute by doing that before I reward myself with a long hot bath!

Kerri.

As I can get that for 27p a tin! Also potatoes, pasta and rice, eggs, chicken (3 meals from one chicken, including soup - bargain), mince, lentils, sausages. Frozen and tinned veggies - no waste that way.

From those ingredients I can make any number of different meals that we like. The challenge will be limiting fruit (I usually buy loads) and not having the few convenience items that I buy.

When we looked at Google Earth, we found my Dad's car, which somehow I found even more impressive than finding our and my parents' house.

It's almost 11.30pm so I'm off to bed. I caught up the iroing this evening, but I am behind with the laundry too, Kerri. It's a nightmare, as there's nowhere to hang it in this tiny house! I use the dryer for bedding and towels sometimes, but I don't like drying clothes in it - it shrinks them. Roll on summer, when I can hang it all out on the washing line. I love the outdoors smell of line dried washing I love watching it flapping in the breeze too.

You know, sometimes I really think I should get a life

Google Earth slowed my 'puter way down - but it was fun!!

I love tuna - just had to pipe in!
Andrea

I spent an hour once just looking over someone's shoulder who was playing with it!

If they don't mention the war in the Pacific in the UK, how can they sing "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific? Good heavens.

for all Fawlty Towers buffs - I didn't mean "I mentioned the war but I think I got away with it", so much as it just not being taught in schools and I studied history at A level too. It's ok because they don't teach the European bit in Singapore schools either!

sorry if the rest of you have no idea what I mean about John Cleese and Fawlty Towers - there will be some rolling around on the floor!! Couldn't resist!

laundry this morning, grocery shopping, paperwork probably phone calls too... some fo the many things I planned to get to yesterday before everything went pear-shaped (shortly beore 8am!).

Kerri.

as I mentioned in an earlier post I took charge over some nasty little bullies who have persistently been annoying my kids and their friends. With everything else that was swirling around yesterday I was feeling rather helpless and a bit of a victim.

I called the local police who put me in touch with a community team that deal with these kind of situations. I had to leave my details and have them call me back (they haven't yet but they will or I'll be chasing them!). So I wrote a formal letter to DD's teacher who is apparently in charge of anti-bullying strategy in the school, to let him know in case these people decided to involve the school. I spelled out exatly what I'd done, who was involved and that I was by no means disappointed with the actions of the school. I got a call this morning from the headmaster (just after 9am so this letter moved fast around the school!) and he was absolutely overjoyed to have a parent getting so involved in being zero-tolerance on bullying. Mostly he gets parents stomping in to protect their kids from the teachers regardless of what the little brutes have been doing. And the Community Action Team can't get involved unless a member of the public makes a complaint. He was just so pleased to have someone on their side against the rising tide, to have someone actually follow through on whatever they've said they'll do - as parents seem not to do these days.

I came away from the call feeling so pumped, so empowered and able to take on the world. What a HUGE difference it made to me personally to have taken charge of something when I saw the opportunity. Totally different perspective. Now all I have o do is chase this Community Action Team, because my letter and the headmaster have guaranteed that I have to follow through, even if the folks on the end of the phone don't return my call.

so try it today - take a situation that has been annoying you, niggling at you for weeks or months, get it by the scruff of the neck and let it know who's in charge!!! I guarantee this is a tonic that will do you the world of good and you can't buy it in the shops!!

Kerri.

...and don't let it go, either...it's good for you, good for your kids (both to have the bullies taken-to-task and to see Mom so involved) it's good for the school and community and it is good for the bullies, too, as they may have no other adult in their life setting boundries for them. Go! Go! Go!

I'm getting a slow start this morning. I wrapped up in a blanket after DD11 got on the bus...and went back to sleep for an hour! If DH hadn't called, I'd probably STILL be asleep! Sheesh!

Today I'm actually going to dig out the DDS' suitcase(s) from the basement...I've got most of their stuff laid out already...I'll wash a load of jeans tonight and they'll be set.

I also have to run a couple of errands, stop the paper and mail for next week, and buy a couple of light timers. I know I have at least two in the Christmas decorations...but I'm not going to dig through all that stuff to figure out which box they're in!

I (we) have NOTHING scheduled after school today! YAY!

I must remember to record LOST for DH, too.

I think I'm going to do my Friday cleaning tomorrow, so I can do my nails on Friday and then just relax after DH gets home (about 3:30 pm). Wouldn't it be great for everything to be ready for vacation and for myself to be all serene and polished....instead of my running around in a frenzy because there is "still so much to do" as would be usual around here the night before vacation! We'll see!

That's all from me right now!
Love to all!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

it's not that I love quoting movies or anything, but Lenora, you really do make me want to be a better person. You probably inspired this whole thread in the first place because you always seem to be very in charge of all the things you're doing and there's always plenty going on in your household, yet you not only do all that but you also stay on top of the housework and manage to do extras like baking cookies and sewing your own clothes (without thinking of them as 'extras!). Your daughters are very lucky young women to have such a 'together' role model, and it shows in everything you ever tell us about them.

meanwhile my brain is only just starting to creak back to life after a 10yr siesta and I spend much of my day feeling like I'm just barely keeping afloat. I have brief moments of brilliance I admit (had to phone that Community Action Team number back because nobody returned my call - after this I'm taking it back to the local police! They have till Friday) but by and large if I'm managing to handle one thing it's because I let a few dozen other things slide completely for now!

and I wanna crawl back to bed and not care too, maybe sleep through the weekend. I'd just get woken up by the phone though. It's been manic, and we don't even have customers or staff yet! OR salaries!

Kerri.

I'm not so "together" this morning...it's 10:23 and I'm still in my robe!

...and to be honest...I rarely "sew my own clothes"...I mend and alter...usually in desperation at the last minute!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

Just popping in to say hi....been out of the house all day today, housesitting for my brother as he is having kitchen renovations done. I used the time to reread that organisation book you recommended, Lenora! I did the 'paperwork' side of the system, now I just need to carry it all out. I have spent this evening organising the living room and hall, including moving all the living room furniture three times...then putting it all back where it was in the first place Why do I do that?

I do that all the time, though it's a lot harder here than it was in our flat which had huge rooms! Some people never ever move their furniture, but I have never been one of them. I'm planning a desk move, but I'm going to do the job properly and get the power surge protector because most of it will be coming off one socket if I move it, instead of the 4 it's all currently squeezing onto! I have a sunlit yellow-painted room, but I'm facing a corner and I'm used to having windows on two sides of me, whereas here it's behind me, and higher than before. So I've got the itch!

my dwarf narcissi are definitely out, though some are scarcely showing above the wall bed they're in! The sun's out - second day in a row - though that means frosted cars and grass in the morning. On days like this it's easy to feel that Spring is around, and since it's my first Spring in 10yrs you can bet the anticipation has been building up for a while! I want to clean stuff and move stuff and change things and generally run round like a headless chicken. Unfortunately all I have time for is the headless chicken bit!! I also double-booked myself today... I have two appointments to see warehousing with my dad and DH, but then I remembered late last night that I have my class volunteering this morning. I've decided I'll do that and leave the guys to the warehouses. I can't see there's much I can add, especially since I've already seen one of them.

Kerri.

My living space is such a long narrow rectangle that there is only one really "right way" to arrange everything...especailly considering that the entertainment center is cherry and impossible to move. Never-the-less....I attempt a new configuration at least twice a year, and invariably end up with everything where it was to begin. Kerri's right: it is fun!

I'm working on my regular Friday cleaning, today...just to have it all done. For the most part that involves bathrooms, floors, and bedding. The kitchen is in pretty good shape (cleaned on Monday and have barely cooked since! ) I do need to clean out my car and get it to the carwash today. Tomorrow I'll finish clearing out the 'fridge....and do my nails! (Hear that, Hope?) My toenails have been bare all winter. I think I'll give them a french pedicure. My fingernails will just get more of my nice neutral pinkish-beige.

DH will take Bob and the frogs to DMIL on Friday after he gets home from Chicago...she's going to reptile/amphibian-sit for us while we're gone!

Have a great day, friends!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

that seems to be where the Taking Charge initiative is at these days, just that I haven't acknowledged it properly yet and let go!

With Lenora away this coming week and me getting increasingly busy this thread is going to take a serious nosedive. I don't think Honey's up to keeping that level of enthusiasm and bravado going singlehandedly. Still, until the patient has been clinically dead for a while I shall keep attempting resuscitate!!

I already have a long list of chores for next week, and few of them are household related. With me being the only other workhorse in this organisation, and DH flying to Singapore tomorrow, there's a lot to be done. DH will be signing our franchise agreement this trip, and formally resigning from his job. We don't even have enough space in our home (and currently only) office to both work at the same time, and DH no longer has a computer since his was stolen in Italy last week. All in all it doesn't make for great housework time!

What's on anyone else's agendas?? Are we all being buffeted along by the tide instead of taking charge?? I know I should probably see this as taking charge, but it's hard to see. The Community Action Team hasn't been in touch over those nasty children bullying mine, so I've spoken to a couple of neighbours and learned a bit more - it doesn't fill me with joy to know that my next door neighbour has already had the police out on at least one of these kids, and still there's been no real change. But I shall still take it further, somehow. No wonder the kids are unruly and apathetic and have no respect for adult authority if this is the way adults behave in this country these days. I'm not going to go there - it's too late in the day for that particular rant!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and try to summon up some serious motivation for the week ahead, then share it with the rest of us please!

Kerri.