Do 5 impossible things before you start work

Hi Everyone

Yes, I know it’s been a long time since I blogged, but I’m feeling rather smug today, so I thought I’d tell you about it.  The title of this post is one of the goals I regularly set myself:  Do 5 Impossible Things Before Starting Work.  Since I work from home on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, that’s the day I put this goal into action and try to get 5 different items.

Am I a morning person?  Probably, but more by training than biology.  I’ve had to get up early since I was a teenager, travelling 20 miles to school via train and tram.  Throw in the 7am starts when I was nursing and follow that up with decades of having to leave home at 7am in order to get to work, and suddenly a lie-in becomes any day when I sleep beyond 6am.  Anyway, one of the most important things I’ve learned over the years is that if I don’t do something first thing in the morning, chances are it won’t get done.  

So what were today’s Five Impossible Things:

1. Ran for 25 minutes.  (I’m on week 7 of the Couch-to-5K.)
2. Ran in the rain!  This is the first time I’ve had to run in the rain since before I got sick. I was very pleased that my waterproof jacket kept me dry.
3. Washed up last night’s dirty dishes, including filling and emptying the dishwasher and handwashing the lunchboxes and frying pan.
4. Ate at least 12 different types of fruit, seeds and grains for breakfast.  I’m aiming for 30+ different fruits/veggies/seeds and grains per week.
5. Did two perfect lessons of Duolingo German.  I’m on day 1811.  I did 1750 days of French, before swapping to German.

Not necessarily a profound list, but these are things that would otherwise get procrastinated about/postponed until they built up.  Instead, they were all done before I started work at 8am.

- Pip

My Favourite Toy

There's something I have been meaning to rave about it on the Blog for ages.   Do you remember back in the 1980's/1990's, when you'd read science fiction books and the hero/heroine would reach for their "communicator" or "link" to look up something on the computer?  Or to make a video call/read a document/watch TV?  Or to record something?  I remember wistfully thinking "I wish I had one of those!".  Well, four years ago, I got one - I purchased my first iPhone - and, as far as I am concerned, my iPhone is the Best. Toy. Ever!   I use it for everything.

Really, I do. I currently have a 64GB iPhone 5, bought a year ago, and there's less than 10GB free.  As well as making calls or sending text messages via my phone network, I access my bank from it; quickly surf the internet to find out or confirm something; read my latest book via Kindle at lunchtime; chat to Our Man in the Middle East via WhatsApp;  chat to my sister in Australia for free on Viber.  It's my primary camera and stores most of my music.  I've written blogs on it (although the Blogger App is a bit clumsy).  I talk to friends and family on Facebook; visit Ravelry for knitting inspiration; download and listen to podcasts, as well as audio books while I drive.  Every morning, you'll find me doing my daily French lesson on Duolingo (which is free).   There are exercise programs I attempt follow (look out for the free 7-Minute Workout and RunKeeper).  For calorie counting, I use My Fitness Pal.   I use the BBC apps all the time, including iPlayer and iPlayer radio.

So much of what I use on the iPhone is free.  As well as podcasts, most of the 100+ Kindle books I have were free via BookBub (or discounted to 99p).  All the BBC content is free.  As is Duolingo and the Learn French videos on youtube.

The only thing that detracts from my iPhone is the network.  A year ago,  when I upgraded to the iPhone 5, I switched to Vodafone and I'm not impressed. Can't get a consistent signal anywhere.  Can't get a signal at all for large tranches of the day in my office - never had a problem with my old network - and even in the centre of London I've had problems.   I am counting the days until I can break the contract.

Excuse me.  I'm off to play with my Toy.

- Pam

A pact with myself

Let's start with a touch of cynicism.  At one point earlier this week, I found myself uttering, "to become what you want to be, you have to model the behaviours of that person".  At which point, I cringed, buried my head in my hands, apologised to my colleagues and groaned, "Oh, God!  I sound like a psychologist!".

For two days, I was on a safety leadership course at work.  When you strip away the cringe-making jargon and the trainer-speak ("Let's begin a conversation about safety"), it was an interesting, thought provoking two days.  Being me, a lot of the thoughts it provoked had little to do with safety, something to do with work and a lot to do with my own personal goals.  I kept that train of thought simmering underneath, returning time and again to those fateful words, "to become what you want to be, you have to model the behaviours of that person".  What person do I want to be?  How do I get there?

What do those words mean, anyway?  "To become what you want to be, you have to model the behaviours of that person."  I decided it meant that, if you wanted to be a successful student, you had to do what successful students do, i.e. schedule and keep study sessions even when you didn't want to.  If you want to be a fit, healthy person, then you had to make exercise a priority.  To be a success at anything, you have to work out what the successful people do and then copy that behaviour - it's not enough to coast along or to expect others to carry you with them.  To be the best you can be, you have to do what the best do.  It doesn't mean a 46 year old couch potato will become an Olympic marathon runner, but it does mean that she'll become the best running version of herself that she can be.

Eventually, I decided to make a pact with myself.  I have neither the time nor the energy to tackle all my daydreams goals at once, so I have picked three.  For June only, I will focus on my singing (as well as a concert on 16th June, I have my re-audition in four weeks), learning French and the so-called "Nebulous Fitness Goal".  So, starting Monday here is what I'll do:-

1. I will rehearse for 30 minutes a day, focussing on the concert pieces (Brahm's German Requiem and Phillips' Sea and Stars), since not only do I need to know them very well for the concert BUT they'll form the basis of my reaudition.  Official choir rehearsals will count as a singing session.
2. Spend 10 minutes a day using the French flash-cards app on my phone to learn some vocabulary.  I'll write a review once I've played with it a bit.
3. Every morning before work, I'll do the 20-minutes Move More workout.  That will entail getting up at 5.30am but as I'm usually awake by then, I'll just need to move my butt out of bed.

- Pam

A time of reflection

Did you have a merry Christmas?  Or was it just so-so?  Mine was excellent, thank you, although it felt strange working right up to Christmas Eve.  For the last four years, I've managed to take the last few days of before Christmas, but not this year.  Still, I have had the time off between Christmas and New Year - a much needed break.

For me, the time between Christmas and New Year is always a time for reflection and goal setting.  What did I achieve last year?  What do I want to achieve in 2012? Etc, etc.  It's that whole "New Year, new me" thing.

In 2011, I set 8 goals:-

• No stash enhancement (I've gone cold sheep)
• To conquer the garden
• To do the Lincoln 10k
• To finish the year with no UFOs
• To get pregnant (yes, this cancels out other goals)
• To knit 1 pair of socks every 2 months
• To knit 6 sweaters
• To lose 25lb in weight

So how did I do?  On the whole, not badly.  To summarise:  cold sheeping failed spectacularly.   We did manage to remove the non-hedge trees from the back garden so it no longer needs to be napalmed, but it is still far too wild and unruly.   I walked the Lincoln 10k dressed as a French Maid and we raised about £1,000 for charity in the end.  2011 is going to finish with the same two UFO's it began with (a shrug from Verena that just needs to be sewn together and my Hibiscus for Hope socks, which had to be suspended while I knitted the Sunray Ribbing top from A Stitch in Time because I wasn't sure whether I'd need to frog them for the yarn).  No, I didn't get pregnant.  And I lost 15lb in weight. I actually managed to knit six sweaters in 2011, as well as the second half of a seventh, so that goal was well and truly met (I'll put up photos eventually).  As was the one to knit a pair of socks every two months - I completed 6 pairs, almost finished a seventh and re-knitted one of the Hibiscus for Hope socks.

For 2012, I have a whole new batch of New Year's Resolutions goals:-

1. To really work at having a decent veggie garden this year.  I'd like to be able to feed us from it for days/weeks at a time.
2. To use things up.  I have a stockpile of "stuff":  make-up, fabric, cross stitch stuff, yarn, even cooking ingredients.  As Gigi Knitmore once said, "There's no point in saving things just in case the Queen drops in. Use it and enjoy it".
3. To only buy yarn from a) charity shops or b) if it is less than £3/ball.  Oh, and the yarn budget for 2012 will be £60 for the year, no more. I've tried going "cold sheep" and not buying yarn and all that happens is that I'll be good for months and then go mad.
4. To be tidy.  I have the messy gene - I can put a pen on an empty table and it'll look like a bomb hit it in 2 minutes flat.  I can't do neat but I can do tidy.
5. To be more organised.  No more forgetting things or procrastinating and putting off things that need to be done.
6. To buy less than 12 items of clothing in 2012 (underwear, socks and stockings exempted).  Ideally, I'd like to buy them from charity shops - I've had really good luck recently and scored 3 brand new suits for less than £10 each.  (I have far too many clothes anyway, so need to wear some stuff until it wears out.)
7. To lose at least another stone (14lb) in weight.  I want to lose the spare tyre that has settled on my midriff.
8. The nebulous fitness goal:  to strengthen my body by working out/lifting weights three times a week.
9. The not-so-nebulous fitness goal:  to be able to run 5k/3 miles without stopping, and to achieve this before my birthday in August.
10. To knit another 6 pairs of socks and 6 sweaters in 2012.  And to make them from stash yarns.
11. To blog more.  I didn't post nearly enough this year.

What about you? How did your 2011 New Year's Resolutions do?  Did any last beyond January?  Are you planning on doing any for 2012? 

I'd like to wish you all a very happy New Year.  May your resolutions be achieved and all your dreams and wishes in 2012 come true. Here's hoping 2012 will be a kinder year for all of us.

- Pam

We Did it!

To everyone who has already sponsored me for last Sunday's Lincoln10k:  a BIG THANK YOU.  If you haven't and you want to, there is still time.  Just click here. 

In the meantime, I promised you photos.  The Mrs Slocombe Academy for Young Ladies turned out in force.  Naturally, we hurt the eyes of everyone who looked at us.

(From left to right, Fifi, Dorothy, Sheila, Scarlet and Hester.  Chris W is missing because he is a serious runner and was busy "getting in the zone".)

There was a small panic on Friday, when I realised I couldn't find my race number.  I phoned the council and they sorted me out with a backup one, which I collected during the morning before the race.   Dorothy sorted us out with pink gym-bloomers - Mrs S would be proud.

Once the signal blew, it took us about 10 minutes to cross the starting line.  All the walkers were in the slowest group, at the back.

Our official times haven't been posted yet, but we know we completed the race in less than 1 hour 46 minutes, because that was the time on the race clock when we crossed the finishing line.   Here is the whole team:

And heading back to our hotel:

I must say, the staff in the hotel didn't bat an eyelash when we staggered into the bar dressed like that and ordered a victory round.  At that point, I had a Gin and Tonic in my sights and wasn't stopping for anyone. 

We had a great time.  Thank you Lincoln, and thank you to everyone who has sponsored us.

- Pam