Wot So Funee

So I am joining in with Wot So Funee for the second week in a row.  This may just become a habit...

I have photos AND video to go with what I am going to describe but alas, messy me, has misplaced the USB cable OR Aaron has flung it somewhere, as is his way :-(

So Friday, we were in the pool (we went swimming for two hours) and as Aaron often wathches Jake and the Neverland Pirates, he held his fist up to his eye (like a telescope - which he has never done before) and said:

"harrr harrr
I am cap'ain hook!
Can I have my treasure back!
Please!"

Yes, he really does drop the "t" in Captain.

The please at the end had me laughing till I cried, so so so cute, and I have since managed to capture him doing it on video a few times - will upload when I can find that DAMN cable!

Also, in the same pool, on the same day, the same boy was also funny for a second time.  Remember last week when he decisively told me that I am NOT a Princess? Well this is similarly funny at Mummy's expense.

He was hanging off the railing, that accompanies the steps that go into the Learning Pool, and something about the way he was doing it triggered a memory... (because I can't remember anything before the age of four and Aaron is only two this doesn't often happen)

and I said to him

"ahhhh you are swinging in the water on those railings the way Mummy did when she was little!"

To which he said:

"Mummy was little?"

To which I said

"yes, 40 years ago"

To which he said

"oh dear" 

and just to make certain I understood the sentiment it was followed with

"that's not good".

For some reason, his little wisdom made me howl with laughter.

My little man is far too wise, far too clever, and at least once a day, far too FUNNY.

That's why I love this linky as it is forcing me to record these moments.

Moments I would love to share with him when he is older.



Liska xxx

A Year in a Blog

So Top of the Pops style,

 I am going to look back on 2012 and pick a post that represents each month.

Each month below

will have a post (in yellow) and each post a pic (below)

Not everything about Covent Garden was fun for Aaron - bless him! Scary dog man!!!

January
It was COLD and I went out for the day to Covent Garden for a British Chiropractic Association event, got chatting to Wit Wit Woo, went to the park with her and her wonderful son, said goodbye and ended up in the London Transport Museum afterwards.  Really good day and proved to me that I can tackle London Transport with Aaron who was one and a half at the time.

Absolutely LOVES the red cars you can hire from Concierge!

February
Continuing the transport theme, we discovered that we can get to Westfield Stratford City VERY easily and that Aaron loves the red cars there that double up as a buggy and don't cost a king's ransom to hire.  This post regarding Westfield Stratford being child friendly has had over 1,000 visitors. The Olympics may have had something to do with it methinks.

March  The month where a professional film company made the above #WordsHeard You Tube video for me... The less said about the whole sorry affair that ran up to it, the better!  Over but not forgotten.

 

April

The month where my consumer power found a platform on Twitter and on my blog.  I used both to convince Bath Store and Crosswater to replace my taps AND install them free of charge via a plumber they provided and booked.  The inconvenience of a defective product, and being without running water as a result (with a nearly two year old), and my writing all of this, ringing them several times, and staying in while it was fixed was a high enough price to pay, my end.  It proved to me that we can use our online space to get satisfactory results when the big giants try to mess with our consumer rights! 

May  I turned to Twitter and the blog to express my dissatisfaction with Boris winning the London Mayoral election  - shocking!    

June  It would be completely remiss of me to pass over June without mentioning Aaron's birthday.  As the baptism party October 2011 was so very expensive, for his birthday June 2012 we took him to the zoo, to Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne and he simply loved it - we had a really good day.  To any parent reading, you don't always have to throw a party.  

July The highlight of July was definitely me being on @lbc973 (radio) and NOT via phone in, but by actually being invited into the studio, to talk about the Olympics no less! :-) The post all about it: Me on the Radio - New Mum Online - on LBC 97.3 

 

August August saw me achieving some fabulous daily page views (during the time I wasn't in Ireland) and I am glad to say I have maintained the 1,000 a day since (not every day, but the days that are more make up for the days that are less).  

September  
This wasn't my most visited post but was my reaction to the Kate Middleton France "Closer" fiasco!  I liked Hello Magazine's coverage of her Diamond Jubilee Tour and in this post I flick through the magazine on a You Tube video if you would like to take a look.  Some truly beautiful photos that put the "cheap" ones in perspective.
 

October  
A highlight of October is definitely me making a photo book for my Mum as her Christmas present.  She already has it as I could not resist.  It is 52 pages long and a large coffee table book.  The quality is stunning.  For us it is particularly poignant as she lives in Ireland, so this way she can look at pics of Aaron when she is not with him.  Incidentally if you have the time to dedicate to making one, this is what Blurb said in their most recent email to me:

Order by 13th December and not only will your gifts arrive in time for Christmas, but we’ll also give you 20%* savings with no minimum spend. Simply enter the promo code 2012SANTA at checkout before the shipping deadlines.

November  
November was all about Mumsnet Blogfest 2012.  Their first conference.  It was great and this roundup post of Mumsnet Blogfest has seen me go on to win a 3 night stay at Feather Down Farm (not that I have heard from them yet).
  Post of the year As December is yet to come, I will take the liberty of doing a second post for November.  This was my post that kick started us all coming together for #Healing4Kerry On Saturday 24th November we trended for 2.75 hours on Twitter.  I still have hopes of her being at home with her family for Christmas.  Our collective spirit inspired Nick, Multiple Mummy's husband, to put together this post including a video compilation of photos of their life.  It easily ranks as my favourite post of the year and no matter how many times I watch the video it includes (below) I still cry:

So in case there is anyone else who feels ready to do a roundup of the year, I will make this a linky.   Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...   Knock yourselves out :-) Liska xxx  

Inner Truth week 10

Well here I am another week on, and I am still in the same situation as last week.  Still needing trust; still about to take a leap of faith.  It is scary scary times for me.

Guinness you can see me through :-) - this is me in Malta a couple of years ago....

BUT what this has taught me is that during times like this, beautiful people get even more beautiful.  Supportive people become ever more supportive.  Those you love, are more loving.  My beacons of strength are like life jackets, and I am clinging on for dear life.

I have spoken to my Mum about 3 times a day, every day since Monday, and she has taken me out of the depths of despair nearly every day.

I was in super spirits and soooooooooo optimistic, till Friday.  Friday: the bubble burst, and I went under.  Took a few people to help me change trains Friday evening, to go and collect Aaron from nursery - yes, I know I don't work Fridays, but I did.......

Then it was all looking up Friday night, from the bottom of two cans of Stella, till Saturday arrived and I really sunk into my boots and couldn't stop crying.

It really effected Aaron and for the 1st time in his life he wouldn't even have his afternoon nap.

But luckily I called the healer who cured my PND a few weeks back and he sorted me out.  I then had a super Saturday night, not only my usual self, but feeling fantastic.  Did loads of housework and phoned my Mum and we had loads of giggles.

Now today, Sunday, I decided to meet family friends on the way back from church and we spent the day in their garden with the super weather and they made lunch followed by a gorgeous dinner. And that was even though we had lunch in a cafe on the way there ;-)

Speaking of the cafe, Aaron had the WHOLE cafe laughing till they were crying, with his funny version of counting to ten!

But at the family friends, we were there from 14:30 to 21:30 and Aaron had so so so much fun - there are some photos on my phone - I will try and get the onto this post tomorrow (not tonight).

Anyway, it is beautiful, when you have beautiful people in your life.

This week, I do not know what I would have done without them to be honest.

On a good note, every spiritual resource I can get access to, have ALL confirmed it will be resolved within 2 weeks - so I am holding the space, keeping the faith and trusting!

If you would like to join in this blog hop linky the linky tool is below...

Liska xxx


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Inner Truth

Apologies there was no Inner Truth post last week, but I kind of went off blogging in the last couple of weeks, for reasons that will become clear in a post that I will hopefully write tonight.

I have done a lot of soul searching in the last few weeks and have had it confirmed that I do have post natal depression. 

Anyway, back to the Lemonade Diet (the Master Cleanse) - you have to do it for 10, 20 or 40 days, and I ended up doing 9 days.  I learned a lot about myself during that time, and lost a lot of weight.  I learned what the triggers are for me wanting to eat and it was revealing.

Also, since I came off it I have been craving healthy food and now even ages later my portion sizes are smaller, as my stomach shrunk and I am NOT going to expand it back as our portion sizes in the West are far too large anyway.

I will be doing the lemonade diet again some time in the not too distant future.

In the last couple of days I picked back up a book on my kindle that was bringing up "blocks" a few weeks ago.  It is called

How to Do Everything and Be Happy - Your Easy Peasy Guide to Creating Happiness (it's £1.99 on kindle)

After a few weeks of soul searching, I can actually now write "3 wishes" and even think about breaking them down into goals, which I could not do a few weeks ago.  I reached the same blocks when trying to read the excellent book:

The Mummy Whisperer's Six Steps To A Sparkling You And Enjoying Being A Mum (89p on kindle)

So, I am moving forward in my Inner Truth journey and EVEN thinking about picking up yoga again.  I taught for 6 years, up to being nearly 38 weeks pregnant and haven't struck a pose since Aaron was born.  Struck a couple yesterday though, but need to do an actual kriya.

Aaron's nursery is closing on Wednesday evening so I have Thursday off and the whole of the following week.  It is my first time experiencing school holidays, as Aaron only started in September and nursery doesn't have half terms.  I had hoped to go to Ireland but maybe I will just stay here and go inwards instead.

The good thing about my Inner Truth journey is that I am getting to know my strengths as well as my weaknesses.  I am actually starting to hear myself say "I am good at that" and "I could do that for you".

I hope you will link up and let me know how you are doing.

If  you would like to grab the badge it is in a separate "tab" (page) on the blog.

Liska xxx

Here's the linky for this Monday Blog Hop:

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Mumentum - 2012 - Monday Linky and Blog Hop

The reason this Linky is being loaded up REALLY late on Sunday night - so late it is very nearly Monday, is because I have spent the last few hours reading up on some of the issues I wanted to address in this post.

I spent a long time on my old blog talking about weight loss and never lost any, and most weeks when I load up this linky (apart from the 4kg that fell off me in December 2011) I haven't lost any.

So what's a girl to do?

Well, I have gone through a lot of soul searching in the last 3 weeks, thanks to 3 books that I was reading on the kindle (I have blogged about all of them recently).  Each book made me encounter various blocks, and so I would put the book down, or in the case of kindle, buy another, which is how I ended up reading 3, in similar subject areas......

Now the blocks I am facing are that I need to start looking IN instead of OUT.  I need to address me.

So, that means dealing with my physical clutter, my body clutter, it necessitates a detox, in mind and body, and it is all underway.

Then and only then, will I be able to answer questions like WHAT makes me happy!?!?!?!?!?

So I even got to the stage where I thought Mumentum needs a new name.  It is a word that encapsulates the Mum Tum which is what it is all about.  

However when we focus on clearing our debts, all the brain hears is debt and we attract more of the same.  I only cleared ALL of my debts, except the mortgage (before getting pregnant) when I started focusing on prosperity.

So what does that say about our Mum Tum challenge.  It is like focusing on the debt we want to get rid of (the Mum Tum), rather than the prosperity (in this case radiance) that we want to bring on.

SO I had a light-bulb moment this afternoon, and decided to change the name to #CurveLurve as I know most of us allow ourselves to stay this size as on some level we do like certain aspects of our size.  Let's admit it! Which bits do you really love.  I know I don't tend to wear baggy trackie bottoms; I tend to dress for my best bits - certainly when I am making an effort.

Anyway, I googled curve lurve and didn't necessarily like what I found.

I then spent HOURS brainstorming - hence the lateness of this post - and I came up with #InnerTruth.

What do you think?

Because I truly believe that when we walk this planet, walking our truth, walking our path, all the clutter (and weight) falls off.

But it means being brave (fear is a lower vibration) so it means addressing every area of your life where you feel afraid.  I did that recently with my You Tube video, and because I stepped up to the task, God held my hand.

And you know when you take the brave step forward, the leap is a leap of freedom.

So I ended up doing quite a bit of Googling and considering I was a Kundalini Yoga teacher for 6 years I was very happy to come across this. PLEASE FORGIVE THE SCARY SERPENT IMAGE.  The words on there are worth the read.

Some highlights being:

1. The ability to make and break habits is associated with the navel center or third chakra. When our navel center is strong we have the will to make decisions and to keep them.

2. The abdominal area is our power center. Women especially learn to hold in their stomachs. The result is a constant tension and continual blocking of our internal source of power. This is the area where our digestion and elimination is regulated. When we create stress by holding in our stomachs and have a negative attitude toward this part of our body, we interfere with our normal biological functioning. (This part of the body is where the Mum Tum resides, so fits in with my feeling that a rename is necessary). 

3. When the belly is relaxed, digestion and elimination can occur in a natural and peaceful matter. Imagine you were a large or small intestine and that you had to carry out your job under the adverse circumstances that we create by holding in our bellies, blocking the energy flow and cutting off the breath. You wouldn't get the job done properly, so matter how hard you tried. 

4. SELF-LOVE on an energetic level is our goal. For self-love to be real, we have to enjoy being in our bodies. This is of course a process that takes time. We have to be willing to feel uncomfortable and to experience our emotions. If we are willing, we will over time experience inner power and peace.
   (We can't experience self-love if we are slating our Mum Tums!) 

So what do you think? Would you feel much better if you loved yourself?  Wouldn't you ensure that what you ate was healthy if you really viewed your body as a temple? If you REALLY loved yourself, and what you stood for?

Anyway, I have decided to finally do the detox that I have been waxing lyrical about for a couple of years.  Now no matter how many times I blog about it, it doesn't seem to create the impetus to do it.

I knew I needed some external pressure (other than the blog) so I have that in 2 forms: (1) I have a Justgiving Page that will look pretty silly if it remains empty and (2) I am proposing to start my detox during the Do Something Yummy week for Clic Sargent which is running from 10th to 18th March.  With me, I need deadlines, or I do nothing! I am just glad that it starts the week after this, as I don't feel up to starting it right now.

And great that 10th is a Saturday, as then I can start the detox on my days off, (I work Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays).  I wouldn't want to start a detox on a work day and certainly not the one I am proposing to do!

If anyone decides to join me, don't do so without reading the book as there is quite a bit to it.

Let me know your thoughts on a possible name change and don't forget to link up below.

Liska

x

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Mumentum

Hi All

I am so soooorrrryyyy that I did not do this post last night but I was just too tired.

And we didn't get up till 10 a.m. so I could not do it any earlier than this - sorry again.

So for the majority of the past week I was on my time of the month, so I did not eat sensibly in any way and consumed a whole load of sugar.

The size 16 jeans still fit, but they leave a horrid red mark across my stomach - yes they are tight! Very tight!

So this week, I will have to sort my life out.

I didn't buy the ingredients for the smoothies that the Spent book recommends - see previous post.

I hope some of you have had great weeks and can give the rest of us some much needed inspiration.

As I don't have any good news on the weight loss front I think I'd better just head straight to opening up the linky.

One thing I will say is that we can offer each other Mumentum in every area of life, i.e. Midlife Singlemum wrote a post about the dishes piling up and she gave me a boost in the comments of that post and as a result I caught up on ALL the laundry yesterday so am all set for going back to work tomorrow. Thanks. High five!



Liska xx

MUMenTUM - Monday Mum Tum

Hi

I know it is no longer Monday but I just have to do this Mumentum post for my friend Mich.

She is a blogging die-hard extraordinaire and she gave me the nudge I needed to sit here in the dark, with Aaron asleep and the only thing illuminating this room is this laptop.

I used to be so good posting my Mumentum post and the Linky on a Sunday so that you could do your post on Monday before I got out of bed if you wanted..... but I have slipped, to say the least.

But here I am and I have just read Mich's Mumentum post here and been humbled by it.

Anyway I have had a few things going on both at work and at home that have seen me reaching for all the wrong foods so my Mum Tum is still out in force, but it is soon to meet its equal, in the form of the lemonade diet which I will be starting some time in the near future.

I bought the book for my much loved Kindle (yes I have been reading instead of blogging as a way of keeping my sanity).

Anyway, the book (for the lemonade diet) is called The Master Cleanser, and I have read it now twice.

I will do daily video diaries while I am on the diet so that'll be a good laugh :-)

Mich we met up at the Mads Awards on Friday, and while you didn't like the photo you posted in your Mumentum post, I think you will like this one.

At the MADS blog awards on Friday. Left to right: me, Super Amazing Mum, Bloggomy and Mummy from the Heart.

For those who don't know us, I am on the far left and Mich from Mummy from the Heart is on the far right.

Errrrrrrrrm I just found this FAB video from the Mad Blog Awards that includes me and Mich and my Mum Tum is firmly on display, although there aint anything firm about it :-)

http://www.whosthemummy.co.uk/2011/10/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-mad-blog-awards.html


Untitled from Sally Whittle on Vimeo.



Bye for now, Liska xxxxxxx



Anyway for those wanting to participate in the Linky here is the Blog Hop.

Feel free to grab the code for the bottom of your post:

MUMenTUM - Monday Mum Tum

Hi Everyone

Apologies that I did not open this Linky yesterday so that you could do it whatever time today you wanted.

I will get back to being organised I promise.

Anyway, I have finally started.

I am now having porridge for breakfast instead of toast (which always comes with Nutella or lately jam) and I am having proper saucepan cooked porridge, as I believe microwaves should be used as little as possible - if at all. I believe giving up bread will kickstart my progress.

I am giving up latte, and crisps, and alcohol and and and and, but the most important thing is I have begun. Today was my 2nd day in a row of a healthy home cooked meal by yours truly.

I have started :-)

Latte is history

My favourite bread has been "fired"

Porridge is now breakfast number 01

I hope to be able to report back next week with a few pounds off.  I feel like I need to make a pledge so that I won't let you all down.  I pledge to have lost 3 pounds (minimum) by this time next week.



Here is the linky (grab the code to put on the bottom of your post as that is what makes it a blog hop):

Hi

I am going to be different this week, and do a post of my own (tomorrow) that I will add to the Linky.

For now, with it being nearly midnight and me having work tomorrow, I simply open the Linky forthwith :-)

For newcomers, below are the criteria

• You are a Mum
• With a Mum Tum
• Who needs some Mumentum to lose weight, get fit, get healthy or ... all 3
• Please write a relevant post and that is the post that should be added to the Linky.  It can be a slightly older one, if you have a relevant one already, and you can write a fresh one for us next week.

I am not a rules type blogger but last week there were about 8-12 Links that I had to remove and it is tedious so I guess that's why rules get invented and here they are.

Lots of love and I hope you either had a good week, or have plans for having a good week in the coming week.

On my homepage you can find a link to the biogs of people who are already part of Mumentum - we are a friendly bunch.

And if you are looking for daily chat on Twitter we can be found tweeting at #Mumentum.

Bye for now,
Liska xxx