24 hours in a day

How many times have you wished you could magic extra hours in the day? When I look back the past two weeks and rate everything on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = least/ poor, 10 = most/ great) this is how my life looks:

SlimmingWorld: 6.5
Me time: 1 (I watched ‘Remember Me’ with Robert Pattison 1.5/10 - rubbish)
Domestic goddess ability: 5
Family time: 6
Work time: 10
Social media: 10 (work related)
Stress: 10 (I’m back on the vino)
Juggling, balls kept in air: 10 (nothing dropped, but 2 close calls)
Time spent with husband 0.5 (I discussed how bad Remember Me was)

Summary work-life balance: Drastically, out of balance

OK, so some commentary with regards to my scoring. Week commencing 21 March started well. I maintained my SlimmingWorld programme, exercised on my day off, cooked low fat, healthy supper, helped my daughter with her homework and fell into bed exhausted, but, rather happy having enjoyed a productive day around the house. From Tuesday life started to take a rather manic turn. Work turned up the volume, both in terms of activities required and deadlines to complete, I decided at work we needed to launch our social media presence and we were operationally in the last 2 weeks of the fiscal year.

11 days after such a good day, I am so exhausted I can hardly type and tonight will definitely be a take-out dinner night. As a working mum, I have to be supremely organised. You drop one ball and you end up sending a child to school in uniform, on a dress up day for the Christmas school disco (since this bad mother moment, school does not rely on paper notices going home in book bags – they are on email), you try and drop off when you are on after Brownie collection run. You almost miss a meeting – well it wasn’t in Outlook, so how can I know? Again – what is it with paper? I quote, I put the invite on your desk. Paper doesn’t get into your PDA diary, it gets lost amidst the clutter on your desk.

I have completed 8 quarter end personnel reviews. I've completed our activity workflow for the next 3 months. I’ve issued 8 sets of goals and objectives, which included major change to the job performance expectations for 5 of my team. I have completed Lync (UC solution) training and GPS (a new way of logging goals, performance and appraisals) training. I’ve participated in an all-day management team meeting, which needed preparation. Had an away day in London, well not quite, I attended a sales training day with my team, and I had a trip to the beach. Again, not quite. Although you can see the sea from the 8th floor window, this was actually a full day team review and planning session with my outsourced agency.

I have ended up working until 11 am at night for 7 working days in a row, with my daily break being the 1 ½ hour cooking supper, ensuring the girls get into the bath and get washed and then get into bed. No wonder why I then, at 7.45pm, reach for the Pino Grigio.

Although, I work for a company who offer flexible working arrangements, provide the tools for me to work in the most ‘appropriate’ place or space and I do not have ‘presenteeism’ pressure. There are times that you simply do not have enough hours in the day.

Tonight I am going home on time. PDA will stay in the car, my PC will not be switched back on. I will have a curry and movie night with my husband and I will get my balance back. Oh and it’s only 1 more day to the weekend. Cheers!

Need to take my mind off food

Yesterday I was in the office and maintained my eating plan. Today WFH (working from home – just in case you are not in the know!) and did even better. Yesterday morning I had a sneaky weigh in and after only 2 days, 1/2lb lost. It’s amazing what not eating chocolate and drinking wine can do. But seeing a loss, however small, keeps you going.

But, anyway all of this talk of food makes me want to grab a Wispa and scoff in 3 mouthfuls. I think I have mentioned before this is THE best chocolate bar you can buy. There is something simply addictive about the texture of the fine bubbles. See what I mean, I need distraction from the brown calorific stuff.

So let’s talk about the other obsession of mine – aging. Hands and elbows, no make-up or drastic plastic surgery can help, so I do spend a fair amount on hand-creams. I have Molton Brown, by my desk in the office (relegated here from home as it leaves your hands a bit greasy). There is a Tesco own brand ‘Finest’ in my downstairs toilet, OK for occasional use and not too expensive if any of the children have more than one squirt each. I have opted for a rather cheap set purchased in Debenhams, Baylis and Harding for by my kitchen sink (co-ordinating with hand-wash) and this has a very nice smell. As we move upstairs, in my bathroom I have very lovely Liz Earle, pumped Hand Repair. This smells rather divine to me, but my husband hates the rather strong lavender smell. Hence, it is stuck in my en suite. By my bed, for best overnight moisture is Arbonne FC5 Ultra Hydrating Hand-Cream. This I like and I am on my second tube.

But I now have a new favourite – or two new favourites from the No. 7 and infamous Protect and Perfect range. Purchased on Monday with a promise of younger looking hands in 4 weeks! I have a Day Hand-Cream with SPF 15 and an Overnight Treatment Cream. Both are wonderful. Glide on a leave NO stickiness or greasiness. The Day cream will now be kept in my VIP (very important pocket) to make sure it goes into whatever handbag I am coordinating with!

I am now distracted and have lovely smooth hands. Time for a camomile tea before bed!

Day 2 – in the office

My office is full of temptations. We have vending machines with yummy chocolate and crisps and nearly all of the office subscribe to have a Graze box delivered weekly. I love graze.com. The web user experience is second to none. At the end of January I was sent an email to renew my ‘subscription’, I had stopped my weekly box in November ‘10. Within one click through (from the email) and a click to say 'yes deliver' – I was back to receiving my weekly healthy alternative to cakes, biscuits and chocolate. No fuss, no re-entering credit card details and ‘Detox box’ delivered the following Wednesday. If you fancy a free box log on http://www.graze.com/ and put in voucher code: 8kvz5bp3. Just don’t forget to cancel your subsequent orders and it really will be free. I should cancel my delivery as nuts and dried fruits are incredibly calorific and certainly not on the SlimmingWorld plan, without 'syn'. However, I do think these are handy to have in my desk for emergencies and they are full of goodness and not full of sugar and unhealthy fats!


So intake today: Vitamins (C, Zinc and B Complex), porridge, banana, pear,
small handful of seeds, very small portion of dried mango (didn’t have much left), smoked salmon salad with low fat cottage cheese (not to be repeated – gross), about 10 cups of tea (I have been in the office and have a lovely team who make sure I have a cuppa within reach). I have just finished my chicken tikka, salad and low fat coleslaw – it tastes even better the next day. I used M&S tikka paste (2 tbsp + 150ml of fat free natural yoghurt + 4 chopped spring onions + 4 chicken breasts). If I feel like a snack later, I will grab a Special K bar – really cannot face any more fruit or veggies.


Now, after my taxi run to collect from Brownies, guided reading of new school book and ensuring my eldest washes and brushes her teeth – will I have the energy to do ‘Davina boxing’ in front of the TV? I think not. I will drink a herbal tea, wish it was wine and write about my new ‘beauty’ purchases!

Drop a dress size - Day 1

So Day 1 of the ‘drop a dress size’ has started well. After walking the girls at school, TV went on and I watched and did aerobics to Davina’s Total Body Workout. I actually did don my trainers and my legs and arms are aching to prove I did more than just bop lightly to the music. I then quickly walked back to the village (still in gym gear) for a quick eyebrow wax. So in SlimmingWorld terms, a body magic star deserved!

While out, I ate a banana, as I was shopping over lunch and I didn’t want to ruin my first day with something hazardous – like a sandwich (bread is banned)!

Had a lovely hour in Boots, where the sales assistant on the Benefit counter introduced me to 7 (well actually 10, but I had to draw the line) new products, that I cannot live without. These will be reviewed in a later entry.


So consumption: Porridge, Special K bar, banana, approx. 10 cashew nuts, 4 pieces of dried mango, chicken tikka and large salad. Drinks: 3 cups of tea. 1 cup of coffee, 1 camomile tea, 1 diet coke and water. Wow – not a lot and not a Wispa or glass of wine in sight.

Week One Meal Plan

Not mentioned in my bio is my love of cook books. I don’t have a huge amount, but I have predictable ones; Jamie, Nigel, Nigella, Delia, Gordon and his wife and Good Housekeeping. Plus a variety of SlimmingWorld titles.

The meal plan for the week (made worse as no canteen at work due to refurbishment)

Monday:
Breakfast (B): Porridge
Lunch (L): Bacon and mushroom Omelette (with salad) + yoghurt
Dinner (D): Spiced Chicken Tikka Kebabs
Children: Cheesy Pasta with Bacon and Peas

Tuesday:
B: Porridge
L: Smoked salmon salad and salad + yoghurt + fruit
D: As Monday

Wednesday
B: fruit salad, yoghurt and strawberry crunch
L: Veggie Quinoa, cottage cheese + veg sticks + fruit
D: Jacket potato and beans

Thursday
B: Porridge
L: Veggie Omelette and baked beans + fruit + yoghurt
D: Veggie chilli and rice

Friday:
B: 1 ½ Weetabix
L: Greek salad + fruit
D: Left over Veggie Chilli

No wine all week! Heaven help me!

Must try and fit in some exercise somewhere and perhaps use one of the 10 x PowerPlate sessions I have purchased. What was I thinking??