Wednesday, May 7, 2014
My New Blog!!
Hello to my wonderful family and friends...it has been awhile. I am so sorry!
If you do not follow me on facebook then you may not know ... I have a new blog! Yay!
It is called...Daily Wine and Chocolate. :) No judgments on the name PLEASE!! Ha ha
I will do most of my posts from there instead of here and have already done a few. Although I may post a few personal notes here so don't discard it just yet. I decided to branch out and write a public blog and write more about life in general, my writing woes, my crazy thoughts, my travels and experiences and how sometimes I need to have a nice glass of wine at the end of a very long day. I hope it will be a fun change and I hope you will enjoy it!
I am still working on my books, when I can, and will write in the blog...when I can- BUT, at least you know I am still around.
Follow me here... Click this link: Daily Wine and Chocolate Blog
Once you go to the site, scroll down under my picture and you will see a space that says "subscribe". Just put in your email address and you are done. Whenever I send a blog post, like today... you will get it.
And Follow me on Facebook too! ... Click here: Daily Wine on Facebook
Enjoy- Enjoy!
Love you all!
Friday, February 21, 2014
Half A Day!
Half a day. This is what I get every day, but it is not really half a day. It is 3 hours max. My son goes to half a day kindergarten. He goes to school at 11:30 am and returns with his sister at 2:40 pm on the bus. This my friends...is my half a day. I have three hours to do what I want, three hours to run errands, three hours to clean, three hours to pick my nose if I want (ha) and three hours to ... write. It is a lot, it drives me crazy, it is my half a day. How on earth can I choose what and/or when to do everything?
I also want to be an excellent Mom, a wonderful wife, a great chef and a decent housekeeper. Ha But in reality ALL of these things being pushed into my three hour half a day time window are wearing on me. Oh, I also need to lose about 10 lbs. It is A LOT.
My newest realization is that I need to be networking myself. After attending my first writing conference I was told to get out there, get online, start your social media quest and start writing. Not on your book, about your book. The book you have not completed yet, that does not have a title, but about THAT book! Please chime in here to help!
So I started. It is about the only thing I can do while my son is here in the morning. I research web pages, websites and blogs to follow, people to read about, books to read, the latest trends and yadda, yadda, yadda. I have read the online pages, researched it, read it again and now I have started...social media?
I am overwhelmed again. Where do I start, where does it end? When on earth do I ACTUALLY work on MY BOOK(s)?
I guess it is good I have been writing. It has been months since my family blog has been updated. Why you ask? Because I have been setting up this! I have also just moved here from Zimbabwe. :)
I have set up many my Pinterest Page...which I LOVE by the way. It is probably the other reason why I don't do much writing. ha ha. If you have not tried it... you should!! There is a plethora of information out there, I find it fascinating as this is one of the first times I have had unlimited access to the internet. I assume this is part of what they mean by getting sucked in...but also trying to market yourself. There is so much of it surrounding you, it truly can be an amazing tool.
What am I doing...who knows? But I am having fun and I am writing. Here I am, jumping in feet first. But with a background in competitive swimming, I have a feeling I should be diving in with my hands and head first. Ha Knowing this, it may be a bumpy and very wet ride ahead.
Friday, January 24, 2014
My First World Challenge
Lets just say that adjusting to being back in the US has been a bit harder than I imagined. I decided with the NEW YEAR and with a life that needs a little prioritizing, I myself would take my very own first world challenge. As you know, there are not challenges in the first world- I have lived in the third world- there are NO challenges here. Well, not for a "normal" middle class family anyway. I am trying to make this a little funny friends, so do know that I understand when I vent about silly crap- it is just venting and I am quite aware of the REAL problems going on in the world. No judgements! :)
I for one just miss my wonderful housekeeper. Ha
At $150 a month, plus some medical bills, $2 hour babysitting, as well as a second family we cared for without hesitation- I had full time help. It was wonderful and I took it for granted. Yes, I have first world challenges. Ha Ha
How on earth can one person be a housekeeper, a mom, a wife, a chef, an event planner, an organizing genius, a tutor and an accountant working from the same place 24 hours a day and still have time for themselves? Then I remembered...duh, people do it all the time, everywhere around the world. And yes, I am truly just in my very first - REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK and need some serious help!! Yes, I need help figuring out how to function in the first world. Poor me, I know, poor me. Ha!
All joking aside, I wanted something to be different, I wanted the new year to be different for us, I wanted to make some changes. We were finally settled in the house- pretty much. Tom is still working like crazy doing his training and we are all making it work. We are well, we are safe, we are happy and healthy. There is not much more you can ask for in life. I am thankful for this every single day.
In life, I realize too that no one can put pressure on yourself...but yourself, and we are the worst critics. I AM THE WORST CRITIC! My house is never clean enough, I am never organized enough, and why on earth can't I be that perfect Mom?...the list goes on. But it is too much- it is so silly and you know what, I have had enough of criticizing myself!!
I finally cooked today for the first time - it was FABULOUS. I didn't make anything fancy and I only used the leftovers I had in the my refrigerator. I cut up grilled chicken and breaded it for the kids for dinner- its in the oven now. I stuffed peppers with left over quinoa mixed with tubelah - awesome by the way if you have not tried it, and they just got out of the oven too. Oh yeah, do not forget to add a little mozzarella on top. :) And while I cooked and prepared some things for the week... I realized I CAN do this. It is not hard, and all that took was just under an hour- to prepare, mix and bake and I am also making some tortilla soup! YUM! It just took a little bit of planning.
While sitting in my new kitchen, in this happy place - where I was not interrupted because the kids are in a coma from being out of school FOREVER due to weather, I thought- I should truly challenge myself. A daily challenge...TO GET THINGS DONE! Some of you could probably care less, but some of you too may be inspired- and I love it! We all need inspiration, a little kick in the butt, or a shoulder to pat. It is not easy but a new year is a great time to try...and today is my day!
Now let me back track just a minute. I am a writer you know- or an aspiring one at least, I am eager to write my children's books and even a novel- but the time management has been seriously lagging. I still have to be the chef, the tutor, the housekeeper, the mom and the wife...remember? :) I wrote about my time management problems in, Half A Day! But this is all OK. With my new challenge I have put upon myself, (imagine that- a challenge upon myself). You see there are some seriously issues here. ha ha I will try and manage the day better, be more efficient and finally make that time to do my writing. Because this is what all of this comes down to, making time for me. It is hard for any of us to find time for ourselves, but it is important. And when I figure out how to manage the day better, everything else will naturally fall into place. Join me in this challenge, learn from my mistakes, but most importantly ... please figure out a way to make time for yourself!
First Thing To do: Make a time line for the day!
A detailed per hour or every 30 minutes time line from the minute the kids get up (or before), to the time they go to bed. My first goal- get up 45 minutes before the kids get up and work out! This means 5:45 am! I know, I am stretching it. It IS crazy! The thing I realized though is that if I wait until the day has started, I make excuses and guess what? I am not making excuses this time! No More!!
I for one just miss my wonderful housekeeper. Ha
At $150 a month, plus some medical bills, $2 hour babysitting, as well as a second family we cared for without hesitation- I had full time help. It was wonderful and I took it for granted. Yes, I have first world challenges. Ha Ha
How on earth can one person be a housekeeper, a mom, a wife, a chef, an event planner, an organizing genius, a tutor and an accountant working from the same place 24 hours a day and still have time for themselves? Then I remembered...duh, people do it all the time, everywhere around the world. And yes, I am truly just in my very first - REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK and need some serious help!! Yes, I need help figuring out how to function in the first world. Poor me, I know, poor me. Ha!
All joking aside, I wanted something to be different, I wanted the new year to be different for us, I wanted to make some changes. We were finally settled in the house- pretty much. Tom is still working like crazy doing his training and we are all making it work. We are well, we are safe, we are happy and healthy. There is not much more you can ask for in life. I am thankful for this every single day.
In life, I realize too that no one can put pressure on yourself...but yourself, and we are the worst critics. I AM THE WORST CRITIC! My house is never clean enough, I am never organized enough, and why on earth can't I be that perfect Mom?...the list goes on. But it is too much- it is so silly and you know what, I have had enough of criticizing myself!!
I finally cooked today for the first time - it was FABULOUS. I didn't make anything fancy and I only used the leftovers I had in the my refrigerator. I cut up grilled chicken and breaded it for the kids for dinner- its in the oven now. I stuffed peppers with left over quinoa mixed with tubelah - awesome by the way if you have not tried it, and they just got out of the oven too. Oh yeah, do not forget to add a little mozzarella on top. :) And while I cooked and prepared some things for the week... I realized I CAN do this. It is not hard, and all that took was just under an hour- to prepare, mix and bake and I am also making some tortilla soup! YUM! It just took a little bit of planning.
While sitting in my new kitchen, in this happy place - where I was not interrupted because the kids are in a coma from being out of school FOREVER due to weather, I thought- I should truly challenge myself. A daily challenge...TO GET THINGS DONE! Some of you could probably care less, but some of you too may be inspired- and I love it! We all need inspiration, a little kick in the butt, or a shoulder to pat. It is not easy but a new year is a great time to try...and today is my day!
Now let me back track just a minute. I am a writer you know- or an aspiring one at least, I am eager to write my children's books and even a novel- but the time management has been seriously lagging. I still have to be the chef, the tutor, the housekeeper, the mom and the wife...remember? :) I wrote about my time management problems in, Half A Day! But this is all OK. With my new challenge I have put upon myself, (imagine that- a challenge upon myself). You see there are some seriously issues here. ha ha I will try and manage the day better, be more efficient and finally make that time to do my writing. Because this is what all of this comes down to, making time for me. It is hard for any of us to find time for ourselves, but it is important. And when I figure out how to manage the day better, everything else will naturally fall into place. Join me in this challenge, learn from my mistakes, but most importantly ... please figure out a way to make time for yourself!
First Thing To do: Make a time line for the day!
A detailed per hour or every 30 minutes time line from the minute the kids get up (or before), to the time they go to bed. My first goal- get up 45 minutes before the kids get up and work out! This means 5:45 am! I know, I am stretching it. It IS crazy! The thing I realized though is that if I wait until the day has started, I make excuses and guess what? I am not making excuses this time! No More!!
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