July 3: Goals

It is said countless times that what separates successful people from all the rest is that successful people have goals written down.

Allez, let us therefor join the ranks of the successful and write down our goals for July, shall we? 🙂

Mine are:

Blog 6 days a week – do mini-assignments everyday

I want to blog again so I’ve given myself a ‘challenge’ to do one small ordinary act with intention everyday, and to blog about it.

I am an expat SAHM who is less-than-happy with my environment. I have found it really difficult to take root in this foreign country despite having lived here for 4 straight years already. Because there is nothing outside the house that I find worth going out for, nothing interesting ever goes on in this city, plus I have a 1-year old, I very rarely go out of the house which, definitely does not contribute to my happiness.

I have since learned that I need to exert more effort than usual not to fall into depression. Blogging gave me an outlet for  my thoughts. It was like I had friends to talk to, and every time a “stranger” (yes, I’m looking at YOU dear) would care to comment, I would feel heard.

So I am coming back to “friends” because I need all the friends I can get, real & virtual 🙂 🙂 🙂

Be consistent with my exercise routine

After giving birth in October of 2017, I was only able to get some momentum going on any type of exercise last May (2019). Pre-childbirth I used to LOVE exercise and HIIT-type routines were my jam, jelly and butter combined with dance fitness & strength training.

That is why it came as a total shock and huge downer for me to observe that my body, 1 year post-natal, still loathed exercise! I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything, not even a beginner 10-minute mat-Pilates routine. Heck, I couldn’t even do a walk-in-place!

I tried several times and each time I would fail. Last May, after reading so many self-help books & listening to motivational podcasts, I finally got myself to walk around the block 2 evenings a week. Fortunately, the experience was enjoyable so since then I have been able to do it 3 times a week and at a much faster pace. (Yaaaaaay!!!)

Inspired by this success, by the end of last month I also started adding in some strength training routines into the mix, but only for 3 times a week.  I am taking it veeery slow because whenever I do a strength training routine, no matter how short & light, my body feels like it’s been hit by a ton of bricks for 5-6 days after! So I only do body-weight, mostly Pilates, and for max 30 minutes at a time only.

Painstakingly slow based on my previous standards, but you gotta work with your body and respect its own drum beat.

That said, I am hopeful that this schedule & intensity will work this time, and my goal therefor is to be consistent with it.

❤

Which brings me to today’s mini-assignment: listen to music & crazy-dance 🙂

❤

 

July 2: The Closet Cleanse + The Hulk + Today’s Mini-Challenge

I accumulate a lot of clothes that I never use. This was the first thing I realized as I did yesterday’s mini challenge. As I kept pulling out items the “No” pile kept rising higher and higher to finally reveal the meager few pieces that I did use. I thought this was going to be a very simple exercise in tidying up but as there was such a stark contrast between the two piles I had to pause and ask myself why this was. I mean, why have so much that I’m not using and be stuck with just a small handful that I actually wore. And then to always feel as though I never have any/the right clothes to wear?

The answer presented itself too quickly in my opinion, as though it was just waiting for the right moment to pounce on me, grab me by the ankles & pound me about like the Hulk did to Loki in an already pissed-off effort to make me realize that ~ it’s because I am always buying clothes for the body I want to have and not the body I have now.

Okay let’s do that again: buying clothes for a fantasy body-size instead of buying clothes in real-time.

Does this happen to you too? We think we’re being motivational/inspirational/supportive when we’re buying sizes that are too small, thinking that we’ll fit into them in X number of weeks because we’re eliminating all the carbs from our diet but the sad truth is …

.

.

 

😱 😱 😱

Okay, lights on now!

I am going to stop this madness rrright now and, with you all as witness (sorta), I am going to ~

1. dress myself with honesty and respect from this point forward
2. get serious about my fitness goals

Which brings me to today’s mini-challenge: articulate this month’s goals. More on this tomorrow.

 

Photo by Artem Beliaikin @belart84 on Unsplash

July 1: Quick-N-Easy

Good morning beautiful people! It’s bright and sunny here in my corner of Indonesia which puts me in a great mood to do mini-assignment #2.

But first, about yesterday’s which was to change the entire bed set. (Or should it be worded as “use new bed sheets”? But it included the use of new & matching pillow-covers so …. beddings?).

Moving on …

So I did change them and once my task was complete, I stood back and nodded in approval. It felt like the entire room experienced a face-lift! The change in colors/design was refreshing, the tidied up arrangement was lovely, the whole space seemed brighter and had that fresh, newly laundered smell. Even the baby jumped up and down the mattress for about 10 minutes of delighted approval 😀

Such a small & mundane thing to do but it IS a leg up the usual “making up the bed”. This isn’t the first time I changed up the bed-set, and won’t be the last. Of course, I’m not saying we should do this everyday, just that if you’re looking for a quick way to enliven the bedroom (& give you a positive mood boost each time you walk into it), this is the way to do it. The bed occupies a huge space and is usually the focal point of the room, so it makes sense to give it a lota lovin’. Additional kudos for using colors that make you dance!

Yesterday’s mini-assignment inspired today’s which is to simplify another area of mundane living [that has a very huge impact on our mood]: the closet.

More on this tomorrow 🙂

 

Note: If anyone is wondering why the heck I am writing about something so boring as making up the bed please read this post 😂

Note note: I honestly didn’t feel like putting up a photo of the newly made-up bed for this blog post although I guess that would’ve been the right way of doing it 🙂 And putting up a stock photo of someone else’s bed would’ve been downright misleading so I did the next best thing 😉

 

July: Change Is In the Air

Would you know it? We’re down to the second half of 2019 already. Whoa!

Today I woke up very sleepy because I went back to my (bad) habit of drinking this instant 3-in-1 cheapo coffee that really contributes nothing to my well-being except give me a dose of sugar & junk ingredients so early in the day. And then it continues to mess up my energy levels throughout the day.  Like, super sleepy while the sun’s up and super alert when I’m supposed to be snoring.

Why do I do this to myself? LOL!

But hey, it’s July already and another remarkable thing about the month is that it starts on a Monday and I love that because Mondays are always wonderful for starting something new.

And just as I feel a very strong urge to purge [of unwanted “stuff”] to make room for the new every January, I feel the urge for a “pit-stop” in July.

So guess what? I’m coming back to blogging with a 4-week challenge for myself ~ Everyday I will do something, a mini assignment of the ordinary kind, designed to put me in a positive mood.

Why? Just to remind me to find something fun or to be happy or grateful about everyday for the month of July. I guess I want to start the second half of the year on a positive note this way.

And then I’ll come back the day after to note how the act wowed me (if it did). Cool eh?

🙂

Today’s challenge is: bust out a fresh bedset.

Last Minute 2017 Goals

Hi everyone! How y’all doin? 👋

There’s only about 2 weeks left of 2017 and I guess everybody’s gearing up for maximum holiday enjoyment, right? Unfortunately for us, we have to stay in sleepy Batam for Christmas since the baby has no passport yet ☹️☹️ This really is a bummer  for me who, unlike the eldest and the hubs who get a break from school and work, could really benefit from a change in pace & scenery.

Oh well, all the better to make up for this in 2018 then.

The urge to mope is very strong but I’ve chosen instead to end the year strong by doubling down on some goals for the remaining 2 weeks:

1. Break-fast like a champion

This book said that if you find yourself procrastinating on a goal, chances are, that goal is too big and must be broken down into smaller pieces. So wise! 😏

For weeks now I’ve attempted in vain to do something about my diet (or lack thereof). I am saddled with post-natal weight (& cellulite! 😱😱😱) that I am anxious to be rid of. Unfortunately, all my strategies and tricks in the past just won’t work – sleep deprivation, breastfeeding and buying food from the outside (instead of hiring a nanny I chose not to cook instead) undermine my efforts.

But there must be something I can do, right? If only to feel some semblance of control?

My initial goal was to start cooking again so I’d have more control over what we ate.  But this is just not something I want to take on at this time with the baby basically running my day. Then I  thought of cutting out carbs later in the day and well, anybody who’s breastfeeding probably knows how crazy that is. I think I thought of cutting out junkfood too but I don’t really eat that much of it so the move didn’t feel like enough …

Anyway, I finally had the brilliant idea of focusing on one meal instead, and doing that right. And since mornings provide the most self-control and sets the tone for the day, breakfast was a logical choice.

So the goal now reads: eat a solid breakfast before feeling ravenous every single day.

2.  Do Post natal abdominal-muscle-recovery exercises every Monday, Wednesday & Friday

I’m already past the 2-months waiting period for getting back to exercise and I’m rearing to go.  Luckily, I came across the idea of post-natal abdominal strengthening/recovery exercises before starting anything (well, this isn’t 100% true! 🤥) or else I’d have set myself up for some self-inflicted damage.

I’m not a big fan of 1) slow exercises and 2) those that you do lying down, so this is a real challenge for me. But I want to get back to my original shape and this is standing in the way so … big girl panties on!

source

3.  Seriously Bond with Eldest

I’ve been nagged by a feeling of having neglected my eldest since the baby’s arrival and still feel that I can do better in this area. A recent incident at her school (we’ll talk about this in a separate post) drove this goal to the top of my priority list.

Fortunately today marks the start of a 3-week school break which gives us plenty of time to bond. The bonding activities might be partially motivated by something juicy (like I said, I’ll tell you later!) but it’s there and I’m taking advantage of it.

So for these 3 weeks, Eldest gets a lot of spotlight.

 

Aaaaand yes, that’s all for now. Wish me luck! I better do those exercises while baby is still slumbering 😁 Updates in the next upcoming posts! Mmmwah! 💋

 

Weekend Treats

Happy Monday, sexy people! 😘

Fresh on the heels of this post I decided to walk the talk and get myself some little treats over the weekend 😀

Ta-daaaah!

I fancied myself some cacti for a change but couldn’t resist the pink-leafed beauty in the center, whatever her name is 😄 I do not know how to care for cacti but now I have the incentive to.

I then went by a houseware store that I’ve been visiting frequently lately (maybe this can be my ‘favorite nook‘?) and thought I’d grab a scented candle along with the kitchen items I was looking for and, voila:

I love my scented candle 💖💖

About an hour or two later though, I noticed what I afterwards learned to be called a “candle tunnel” and I’m up to my knees in YouTube videos about how to properly burn jar candles.  Apparently, you need to burn candles until the entire surface is melted (all the way to the edge) in order to avoid these walls of wax that get higher and higher while the wick gets buried deeper and deeper.

Unfortunately for my scented candle, I believe the wick is the wrong type. The wick has to be the right size for the candle in order for it to generate enough heat to melt the wax all the way to the jar edges. This morning I tried again, I lit the candle at 6AM and only blew it out past 12 noon, the wax still had not melted all the way to the edges ☹️☹️☹️

This means I’ll have to manually remove the unmelted wax each time I use the candle to bring it down to the wick’s level to prevent the wax pool from drowning the wick.

Annoying but, I always appreciate learning something new so, no bad feelings over here 🙂 I’ll just be better equipped next time 👍👍

Finally Getting Around To Doing It

Today is a sunny Sunday over here at my small, sleepy corner of Indonesia and as usually happens when I’m not alone in the house (the hubs and daughter are home), I get a burst of energy 😊

So up I went to my potted plants to finally start the repotting process I’ve been putting off for about 2 weeks now.

But first let me introduce you to them (no names because I don’t have a clue 😀):

This is how they look now after I transferred them away from direct sunlight.  They looked so much worse a couple of weeks back due to my ignorance 😟 I thought as long as they weren’t in direct sunlight for an entire day and they got enough water, they’d be good. Well, as you can see from the 2 in the front row, the Indonesian sun is just way too much for them.

Bigger Homes

I was able to repot 3 (back row) and salvaged a 4th that had died but had these little off-shoots that seemed like they wanted a chance to live 🤞 (3rd from left).

I’m going to do the rest sometime within the week as I believe they are the most challenging.  The pink one has a broken stem that produces weak and sickly looking leaves. But it keeps producing new leaves so I take that to mean it hasn’t given up yet. 😘

I don’t think I need to repot the aloe vera but it’s borne children so maybe they should be transferred to a separate pot.

The 3rd one is giving me some blooms – so maybe it’s happy where it is? But I do feel that the pot is too small and I might have to divide the plant because it seems there are 2 of them in the same pot.

The last one (partially hidden) has an ugly pot and I might as well move it to a bigger one to anticipate future growth (here’s hoping 😆).

Brawns Vs. Brains

OF COURSE, I don’t have a clue about the proper repotting of plants, I just mimicked what I saw the lady selling the plants did. As usual, I read up about it after the fact 😁  And now I have to go back up and water them. Duh! 🤣

Oh and before I go, did you know that plants can make your brain work better? Here are 14 more reasons to add plants to your life. Me, I just wanted a new active hobby that would beautify my home at the same time ❤️

~~ oOo ~~