School play & tooth fairy remorse.

I'm Crikey, is it the weekend already?
Time is really flying by now. I should probably confess before I write this week's self improvement plan that it's really just a jokey way of me giving my self a kit up the derrière!
I don't take life as seriously as I probably should, so please don't feel sorry for me, I've got  no one to blame but myself! 

Here goes for my 3 things; 

3 things I didn't do well this week.

1. Tween didn't bring home the school newsletter last Friday which resulted in me not getting my school play ticket requests in. I've been meaning to pick up a copy all week but kept forgetting then Tween announced that his teacher handed out the tickets to the whole class except him today. I'm a bad, bad Mum as he has his 1st ever speaking part and it's his last play. It took a desperate Facebook plea to the other school mums to scrounge a couple of tickets on the black market.   
2. There's a bit of a bad mummy theme going on this week. The tooth fairy forgot to pay a visit when Tween's tooth fell out on Sunday night. Hoping Tween had simply forgot to check in the morning, she arrived during the day. I fear that this might have been the nail in the coffin for her. 
3. I forgot to de fuzz before baby swimming  lessons but after some serious tactical planning, I managed to get in the pool 1st and did an 'oops Baby's towel has fallen round my legs' manoeuvre on my exit. I'm going to have to seriously rethink my winter beauty regime. 

3 things I could improve

1. I'm going to try planning my week in my new Organised Mum life book. I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants some days.
2. Baby R's taken to weaning really well so will try and introduce some more finger foods now. 
3. I'm going to read the school flier. Twice.

3 things I've done well this week

1. I've had a really good week for blog page views, my best yet. It's really encouraging knowing that people are actually reading it. 
2. I organised Baby R's Christening! It's been lingering and niggling way in the background and this week I actually knuckled down and sorted it. We're holding it during the Christingle service, it'll be lovely having a candle lit service in the dark. 
3. I rearranged my living room which involved moving sofas and rugs, all on my own some. The boys have been home for 4 hours now though and haven't said a thing. I honesty don't think they've realised yet. Durrrrr. 

I'd love to know what you've done well this week. Let's end on a high note. 

My self improvement plan, part 2

Right here goes for another personal beating and look into all that's gone wrong in my week.

That's a little harsh...

Time to look back and reflect on my week.
I love that this exercise ends on a high note though, I'm such an optimistic person that it's actually quite difficult for me to wallow in self pity, not that it never happens, believe me it does. I'm just quite private when it comes to wallowing. 

3 things that didn't go well. 

•   I haven't got round to getting Baby R's christening invites out. It's less than a month away and I've only told a handful of people meaning there's a large chunk of my friends and family who are going to descend into chaos on hearing of a christening 4 days before Christmas. I should also probably tell the vicar. (He does sort of know but I need to make a phone call to talk details, it's that bloomin phone phobia thing going on again.) 

• I didn't remind Tween to pick his homework off the floor in time before the dog sat on it after a nice, wet walk. At least it wasn't reduced to ashes like some homework has, but it still involved an apologetic conversation between Tween and teacher that could have been avoided. 

• I've got into a really bad habit of feeding Baby R to sleep. he turned 6 months last week and I'm seriously worried that I'll never  ever get a night out again in the foreseeable future. All my sleep routine plans have been chewed up, spat out and stamped on since we hit the 4 month sleep regression. Have I learnt nothing in 14 years of being a mum?

What I can improve on. 

• Chores, chores and more chores. Not mine, Tween and Teenager's. Neither seem to be fussed by the lack of pocket money gained from completing their chores, I suspect this is to do with the season of goodwill being in our sights. Their power of deferred gratification has paid off as they know big things are coming. It is also down to the fact I'm incredibly fussy and find their feeble attempts frustrating to the point I think I may as well do it properly my self. 

• I've been thinking lately (always a dangerous thing) that I should take up ironing. I'm on maternity leave and therefore entitled to use the acronym  SAHM (that's stay at home mum for those not on Twitter) I've been baking lots and feel there maybe room in my life to iron. Although I've got through many non ironing years via the medium of fold and if needed, sit on, a neat pile of ironed tshirts and pillow cases could have a place in our wardrobes. 

It scenes like this, however, that make me feel, what's the point? 

I'll get back to you on this one. 

• I could probably improve on my diet. There's been alot of talk on the dangers of too much sugar and so I'm going to try and limit the amount I consume. Right after Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Easter...,

What I've done well. 

• I've finally got my personal, professional development plan in motion for when my maternity leave ends. Exciting things should be happening for me mid 2015. I don't want to reveal all yet, but I've had a busy week writing letters, emails and scribbling down numbers. 

• I've managed to feed my family on a  budget weekly food shop and no one's left home or showing signs of scurvy. 

• I joined the Mumsnet Devon local ambassadors team. I'm not entirely sure what I've signed up to but they're a friendly bunch of ladies who seem to be gently guiding me along the way. 

On that note, I'm off to consume one my 5 day.

Sugar anyone? 

With love from lovely Devon 

X

I'm linking in with Make do and push, #tTWTWC

Log burners and time keeping. Not my best moments

This week I'm taking inspiration from the Single Parent Pessimist blog to list 3 things that have not gone well this week, 3 things I can improve on and 3 things I have done well. I like Pessimist's mentality that you should keep checking in and re evaluating the little things so life doesn't get too stagnant. I try to be a good mum, wife, blogger and general all round good person but sometimes things don't go as planned and as much as I think people should live by the 'Good enough' parenting mantra there is ALWAYS room for improvement.

So here goes, my 3 things;

3 things that were not so good this week

1. I was very close to being late for school several times this week. In my defence the clock in my kitchen is stuck on 5 o'clock (always 5 o'clock somewhere!) and the one on my cooker is 5 minutes slow but I only found this out yesterday. There's nothing worse than the walk of shame, as you pass all the organised parents strolling in the opposite direction to you. 
2. I've had a rubbish cooking week, using sachets and old faithfuls instead of thoughtful, healthy meals. I just wasn't organised enough with my online grocery shopping, ordering it late at night on my phone is never a great idea. This lead to impulsively shouting out at the school gates to Tween to buy a few cakes in the after school bake sale because there wasn't much food in the house. Note to self, make sure no other parents hear next time, especially social worker mum. (When I say no food, obviously this was a gross exaggeration and we do have some basics, just not the evening, stuff your face, indulge type)
3. I've not written any decent blog posts! In fact I've totally bored myself reading back some of the things I've written. My brain just hasn't engaged this week, even conversations have been hard work. Nothing a good nights sleep can't sort though. I hope.

3 things I can improve on

1. I need to make more effort and phone my siblings. Before I know it, it's Friday and I haven't spoke to them in a week or 3. I'm rubbish at simply picking up the phone and speaking to someone these days. I'm defiantly not going to make sister of the year and there is no excuse other than I'm busy, and that's a rubbish one quite frankly. 
2. I must try and stop putting any paper I find lying around on the log burner, this should avoid embarrassing conversations with Tween's teacher about why he hasn't handed his homework in.
3. Buy more food. (see above) 

3 things I've done well.

1. I managed to brave it and go into Teenager's bedroom to give it it's monthly deep clean. The hoover now makes a funny sound and there's still a funny smell but at least I can see the carpet and we have a good supply of clean, dry towels. 
2. I'm really ahead on Christmas shopping, just got to find some good hiding places as I'm sure last year's were rumbled.
3. I remembered to defuzz before baby swimming lessons. 

There you have it, call it my personal development plan, no excuses next week. 

Wish me luck! 

With love from lovely Devon

x

I'm linking up with;






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