Fighting Back Against Winter

I marched into 2012 with with determination and vigour. I had it all sussed out. The year I turned 50 was going to be the best yet. The year I made everything happen - financially, physically, socially, you name it. I was half way through January and blogging every day. I had so much to say and so many memes on the go, I was almost tempted to post more than one a day. Almost - it didn't feel right even with drafts backing up and ready to go. I had plans guided by Kate at the Five Fs Blog as part of the LifeCircle programme. I was losing weight with Liska at New Mum Online through the MUMenTUM group. I was invincible. I was so sure of myself. I was too sure of myself. I was heading for a fall.

Three weeks into January winter attacked in the form of a bad cold, sinusitus and a hacking cough. It could have been flu but there was no fever involved so I think it was the cold. Everything fell apart. I took DD to nursery every day and came home and slept. I cancelled so many lessons and neglected work on the computer that I lost about 1/4 of my expected income for the month. The house went to pot. I ran out of kitchenware, all types, as everything ended up in and around the sink awaiting the washing up that I just couldn't face. DD was getting an apple, a lump of cheese, a yogurt and crisps for supper. Except for the evenings when she chose the other option - a peanutbutter and jam sandwich. I almost made it to the end of the month with  my daily posts but on Saturday 28th January I made the decision to go to bed with DD at 7.30pm rather than blog. It was a surprisingly liberating decision which I don't regret and I finished the month with a 30/31.

After flaking out for two weeks, I gradually re-entered the land of the living. And 'surprise!' I still had that 2012 optimism going on. I did the washing up, tidied the house, put in some extra hours on the computer. And now I'm catching up on a couple of the blog posts I let slip. I'm fighting back against winter.

MUMenTUM. Being sick was great for losing weight. I lost almost 10lbs in January along with my appetite. Then, as I started to get better, I lost nothing during the first week of February. And I've stayed the same this week aswell. Now I'm desperately trying to eat very little today so that I can at least report a loss on Monday. You can go to Liska's to read how the others are doing.

LifeCircle 5. In which we were supposed to report on the SMART tasks chosen in LifeCircle 3: Taking Action.

1. I committed to meal planning for the next two weeks in order to save time and money. DD has breakfast and her main meal (meat, greens and potatoes or rice) at nursery so the picnic suppers she ended up having didn't send her spiralling towards malnutrition. I certainly saved time and money, especially as I wasn't eating. However, the meal plans were forgotten.

2. I committed to getting up at 6.30 every day in order to get DD to nursery an hour earlier. This gives me an extra work hour in the morning and DD goes to sleep earlier in the evening, giving me more evening time as well. I pushed myself to get us out of bed by 8.30 and had a mad rush every morning to get DD to nursery in time for breakfast at 9.15. As I was sick, I'm giving myself an extension and we'll be trying this one again over the next two weeks.

3. I committed to not wasting work-time by blogging only in the evenings. Not difficult as I was sleeping all day. So I blogged in the evenings until, burnt out by my January marathon posting and still feeling s**t, in February I practically gave up blogging altogether for the first 10 days.

4. I committed to joining three employment websites to try to find more work. Obviously I didn't do this and I didn't even follow up leads that friends who are on these websites, sent me. I'm updating my CV and sending it somewhere this week. I'm not sure about the websites anymore as I seem to have enough work to fill the time available even if it doesn't bring in enough money to pay the bills. I need more time to think about this one.

You can go to Kate's to read how the other LifeCirclers did.

So there you have it. I jaunted into the New Year, winter attacked, I was out for a while, then I fought back, and now I'm back in the running. Midlife 1 : Winter 0   :~)