Charlie's Bird
living the dream with Charlie and Thandi and chirping all the way back to the nest.Archive for April, 2014
Mean Mommy
…when you leave for work, and the little girl wails, with real tears coursing down her cheeks, ‘But why must you go to work, Mommy? You can take me to swimming, not Daddy!’, ‘Because Mommy must help the ladies, girly’ (swallowing hard) ‘But I need you Mommy.’ ‘I need you too, my baby, but I will see you later, after work’ And I walk away, as she cries and the remains of her teary kiss dry on my cheek… My heart breaks a little more every time.
And to top it off, I gave her a flu vaccine yesterday, and boy, oh boy, did she shout about that – not quite loudly enough to disguise the noise of my heart shattering though.
Weekend frustrations
..it was the ok of times, it was the not so ok of times; this weekend that is. Between a trip to the theatre, a run and no power, it was a mix of emotions.
So Friday night we went to the theatre, after showing our faces at a housewarming party of one of Charlie’s friends. The party was chilled. The theatre was excellent. We saw Pieter Dirk Uys doing a walk through his old shows and characters. Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout even made an appearance. The man is brilliant, a consummate professional, an entertainer par excellence. We laughed, we shrieked, we squirmed. ‘Hypocrisy is the vaseline of political intercourse’ – a quotable quote if ever I heard one. As the curtain fell, we headed home for a relatively early night, for Saturday morning I ran a 10 km race.
And I was soooooo chuffed. I ran 10km without stopping to walk at all. Not even up the numerous hills on the route. And I finished in 68 minutes, which is my best finish on a 10 km ever. An improvement on the 10 I did in January by about 12 minutes. Yay! It’s working. Finally I can feel the effects of my training paying off. And with another 14 weeks to the Knysna half marathon, hopefully I will achieve my goal of 2 hours.
The rest of Saturday was easy going – a bit of shopping, a bit of a nap, a tasty supper for Charlie and I at home and an early night. Until we awoke on Sunday morning to no power. Our municipality was doing maintenance on our very seldom switched off circuit (we’re on the same circuit as the sewerage works and the local vehicle manufacturer – understandable why they seldom turn us off then). And it was off all day. From 06h00 to about 19h30. No tea, no coffee, no cooking, no creativity in the kitchen, which was what was planned for my day… Damnit. I got sooo frustrated! I have to concede I got grumpier and grumpier, and then I just got irritated by myself. I cannot seem to switch off the frustration and make the best of a play day with my daughter. In effect, spoiling everybody else’s fun too, because they have a bear with a sore head grumping in the corner.. I am my own worst enemy sometimes!
Anyway, it’s work time now. Have glorious weeks!
TGIF
…Goodness, it has felt like a long week! A long week when I don’t feel like I got much done aside from work, work, work! Yesterday I spent over 2 hours waiting for a patient to deliver, only to have to do an emergency Caesar at the 11th hour on her. So, instead of getting out of the hospital by 15h30, as initially predicted, heading off to run; I got out of there after 6, and had a meeting to get to at 7… So no run for me. I( am running a 10km tomorrow, and I’d really hoped to get that last run in yesterday, oh well. Not everything can go to plan. Let’s hope the race is ok tomorrow. I’m really trying to go into it a little more positive this time. I really hope my brain has the message that I can do this now!
Anyway. Must work! Have fun this weekend!
Running fail!
…so yesterday I headed off to work, ready for theatre with my gym clothes in my rucksack. Theatre ended and I headed off to change, ready for my run, only to discover I had, in the dark yesterday morning, packed the wrong shorts into my bag. Not to be daunted, I headed off anyway, after assurances from everyone that I looked fine, they were a bit shorter than my usual knee length running pants. Anyway, my run began, I was scheduled to do about a 45 min speed workout yesterday. The first 10 minutes were fine, requiring a few adjustments to said shorts, but after about 15 minutes or so, problems arose, and I started to get uncomfortable between the legs, because you see, the shorts I’d packed in were shorts I last wore about 8 years ago, when I weighed about 8kg less than now. They were very short, and being so aged, had lost a fair amount of elasticity, so there I was running at pace trying to pull the creeping short shorts out of my groin, when the chaff began… Another 10 minutes and I bailed, with my inner thighs on fire! Argh!!! To top it off, I feel like the proverbial fisherman talking about the one that got away – it was going so well! And so today, with longer shorts in the bag (yes, I checked!) I head back to attempt my speed workout again…
Quarterly review
…as my Nespresso descales itself melodiously in the background here, I’ve been thinking about my year thus far. It is 3 months in, and what do I have to show for it?
- A better body – its trimmer, and healthier. I have lots 10,5 kg’s, a good few centimetres and improved my fitness – a lot! I never dreamed I cold run a half marathon with less than 3 months of decent training under the belt, but I did. I certainly am feeling better about myself and I am enjoying seeing the fruits of my labour. I am probably about half way in terms of where my weight should be, so I am not slowing down or easing off yet.
- An improved diet – we are eating better than we have in a very long time. Eating ‘clean’, ‘healthy’, ‘fresh’ food. If its been processed, I don’t feel much desire to eat it. I have been largely following a LCHF approach, and have recently started adding in more raw food, pushing my carbohydrate intake up a bit, but enjoying the journey and finding a path that is going to be sustainable for me in the long run. I have still only had gluten once since January, and everyday I am grateful for that.
- A bit of interior design – I have taken on our family beach house and am doing some redecorating. So far we have new curtains, new pictures and soon there will be some new linens and décor items. I also want to find some replacement bedside tables. In the same spirit, I am awaiting new curtains for or spare room at home – making things pretty!
- Thandi has settled in well at her playschool. In fact she is a bit perturbed by these ‘holidays’! I am so glad I have a polite, well adjusted little girl, who is easy going, fun to be around and is learning up a storm!
On the negative side – well, there always is a downer for those ups.
- I’ve battled my depression demons these last few months. Every now and again they have gotten the better of me, and I have done and said things that have hurt people. I bite my tongue so often, occasionally I slip, and then I feel so damn foolish.
- I am still working on Thandi’s photobooks – year 1 is done, year 2 is almost done and year 3 must begin soon! I am a bit slow here. I relly need to focus on some of my crafty things, maybe I need to find an at class or something again…
- I am still not pregnant (yes, I know, this one isn’t exactly under my control, but my ovaries are not playing ball this year.)
- I do not have a holiday planned yet! (this is starting to freak me out!)
And how is your year going so far?
Charlie's Bird 