#Blog Squad (thanks Helen!)

I have so much that I want to blog about, but words guys, words…they’re just escaping me!  I know, sooooo unlike me!!!  Anyway, to try and get the mind going again, I thought I’d jump on the blog questions that Helen over at Helen_77 shared this morning.  Totally random, but I’m a real sucker for these type of things 🙂 🙂 🙂 so here goes…

1. What time did you go to bed last night and were you alone? 10:30pm – later than usual but I couldn’t put the book I was reading, Little Fires Everywhere, down!  I went to bed alone – the hubster usually watches tv till he’s tired and jumps in later in the night so going to bed alone is normal for me.
2. If you could be given ANY gift what would it be? More time.
3. What was the last film that really moved/disturbed/thrilled you and why? I honestly cannot recall, I don’t watch that much tv and have found that lately, all of the movies we’ve watched have been so average!
4. What is your favourite TV show of all time ie. you’ve seen them all, can watch it over and over again and quote lines from it? I can’t say I can remember words or quotes from any TV shows but I really do enjoy Greys Anatomy, Shameless (the American one) and Orange Is The New Black.  And then locally – Lockdown.
5. Whats your favourite way to wake up and whats the first thing you do? To wake up on the weekend while everybody is still sleeping and just lay in silence taking my time to fully wake up.  It usually lasts all of 15minutes, and then I get bombarded by my boys with hugs and kisses ❤ ❤ ❤
6. What would you call yourself if you could choose your own name? Superwoman – hahahaha.  I really don’t know.  I really didn’t like my name while growing up by I cannot imagine my name being anything else but JODIE.
7. If you had to do a bushtucker challenge (you have to eat insects/grubs etc) what would be the worst thing you had to eat? G-ROSS!!!!  Everything would be my worst thing to eat – no.thank.you.
8. Whats the worst/most embarrassing CD/Album you’ve ever owned and do you still have it? Can’t think of any.
9. What would be your dream vehicle (bikes, cars, boats, bat car and millenium falcon is allowed!)? I’m really not into cars, but if I really had to choose, it would be some sort of SUV.
10. Whats your favourite way to spend a Friday night? With a good book and a glass of wine.
11. What characteristics do you dislike in yourself? My need to be perfect at every.single.thing.
12. Your favourite item of clothing and why? I actually have quite a few favourites in my wardrobe but again, if I had to choose, I have a casual black dress which I bought from Cotton On in my cupboard.  It’s absolutely plain – no decorations, no specific style etc.  But it’s really really comfortable and it can be paired with sandals, pumps and takkies.  Plus because it’s black, any jersey or jacket goes with it.  And most importantly, any earrings match too (my latest addiction :-)).
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be and who would it be with? An island holiday with my husband…this is currently in planning phase…
14. If you could have any animal/creature, what would be your ultimate pet be?None!
15. What did you want to be when you were little and do you think you ever will be? A famous pianist.  No, not a chance unfortunately 😦
16. Whats the next planned event you’re looking forward to in your life? A few small things here and there like dinner with friends this weekend and my first 21km race.  But the biggest one in the near future is a trip to PE over the September school holidays.
17. What were you doing before you started this?  I was in a meeting at work – I’m just taking a 5minute breather now 🙂
18. What was the last thing you ate that you really shouldn’t have? Lindt chocolate mousse for dessert at a work dinner last night.
19.  If you were an ice cream what would you be? Definitely chocolate – my FAVOURITE ice-cream!!!!
20. Who was the last person you spoke to that you didn’t want to talk to? Sjoe, no idea.  I like talking to everybody.
21. What was your favourite toy as a child . . .and now? I actually have no recollection of a favourite toy as a child. I would say that now…it’s my cellphone (if you could all that a toy?!).
22. What are you really afraid of? Dying #enoughsaid

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This running thing

You’re going to have to forgive me for all this ranting and raving about this running thing, but it’s right now part of my “current” so to speak.

So you all know by now that I’ve been running up a storm and training for the races that I have coming up in the next few weeks.  I’ve run 14kms every Saturday for the last 3weeks so I think I’m doing well?!  But I still have to up that distance for my target big run which is now less than a month away *yikes*.

Am I prepared…not yet!  I can at least tick off my takkies though – they’re perfect 🙂  Blisters are no longer an issue in my life.  The socks I use are also absolutely fine.  What I’m battling with (and it feels like trial and error at the moment!) is the following;

• Water…basically, hydration during training.  While I know that during races, there are water stations, unfortunately during my training, there are none 😦  Up to about 10kms, I’m fine…but thereafter, I definitely need some water.  I’m not too keen on running with a water bottle in my hand even though I know you get those bottle that have a hand grip in them.  So this weekend, I took a drawstring bag with me.  From the start, it annoyed me.  Firstly it was bouncing up and down against my back so I used a hair band to tie the straps around my waste-ish area.  That worked for a little while but then after about 2/3kms, it started bobbing up and down again until eventually, the straps had moved up and were chafing my shoulder.  So for the balance of my run, I alternated between holding the straps (meaning my hands and arms were tied up), tying it up again with my hairband or just taking it off my shoulders and jogging with it.  Then to open the bag up and actually get the water bottle out…arrgghhh.
• Pants…I have three different pairs of running pants.  They’re all from Mr Price, all long tights, but they’re different styles.  The one, although the same size as the others, is a thicker material – more suited for winter – but is literally tighter than my stockings making it fine for the shorter distances but quite stifling for the longer distances.  The other two are proper tights material (is it lycra?!?!), but for some reason, one of them chafes so bad that I literally cannot walk after running 14kms 😦  So the third one seems to work okay…for now.
• Routes…is the whole of Jo’burg hilly?????  My training is all done on hills – Buccleuch seems to have been built on a mountain, literally.  The surrounding areas are somewhat less hilly, but still nowhere near flat.  Finding a flat area to run on is virtually impossible.  Where I know that this will make me stronger for my races, I really just want to run a flat!  Also, how does a person have longer training sessions during the week…it gets dark so early and in the morning, it’s too dark to go running before the school dropoff 😦  My neighbour did say that apparently nobody trains in winter and I shouldn’t be doing it this of the year but hey…
• Aches and pains…it’s amazing how, on a normal day, I feel fit as a fiddle then the minute I start running, something starts paining.  A sign that running isn’t good for you?!?!  Heh.  If it’s not my ankle, then it’s my knee, or an arm, my shins – something always hurts.  Maybe I should call this more of a niggle ‘cos it’s not bad enough to not want to run and mentally, I seem to be able to refocus elsewhere and continue, but is this normal???  I do warm up before and do a proper stretch once I’m done running, but I still get these aches and pains.
• Strength training…I have no idea how to go about doing strength training in between my runs!  The logical thing for me is to train in the gym but I don’t have a gym membership and cannot afford one.  Motivating myself at home to actually run is more than my little brain can cope with – I have no idea how can do anything else and how to wrap my head around that!!

I need some advice…anybody have some valuable input on the above points???

BTW, I asked Ethan last week whether he would say that his mother is a runner if somebody asked – his response – NO, BECAUSE YOU DON’T RUN, YOU JOG, hehe.  Clever boy!!

Hi, I’m Jodie and I have sleep issues…

Guys, I am TIRED.  Exhausted.  Even my tired is tired.  Like I could crawl into bed and sleep for 1,000 years.  The sad part…I can’t!  My body just doesn’t know how to sleep.  Strange hey?!?!  Even after incorporating running into my week (I ran 14km’s on Saturday guys, 14km!!!), I still can’t sleep.

Have I always been a bad sleeper?  I’m not sure, I can’t remember how I slept in school.  But I do know that since university, I’ve slept badly.  I recall visiting my doctor in first year and complaining about sleep.  He suggested, at one stage, that I change my sleeping and sleep during the day when nobody was around (I’m a very light sleeper so we put the bad sleep down to me not being able to sleep with all the res noise in the nights), then stay up all night studying.  Now that I think about it, WHO SUGGESTS THAT?  Anyway, I didn’t do that.  I think I took a few sleeping tabs to get some good nights in and that was that.  I continued sleeping badly.  I remember being so upset about not being able to sleep that I’d literally sit and pull at my hair crying.  So has this been a problem for a while…hmmm, I think so.

I don’t recall what my sleep patterns were like after varsity and pre-children, but of course, once I had Ethan, he kept me up for 3.5years and well, my body got used to that lack of sleep.  Ethan is turning 7 this year, Riley has been sleeping through the night since week 6/7 and here I am…still unable to sleep.

Google says I have chronic insomnia.  In fact, I’m so frustrated that I even googled insomnia and this is what I got…

Insomnia
Insomnia is an experience of inadequate or poor quality sleep characterized by one or more of the following:

• difficulty falling asleep
• difficulty maintaining sleep
• waking up too early in the morning
• nonrefreshing sleep

Insomnia also involves daytime consequences such as:

• tiredness
• lack of energy
• difficulty concentrating
• irritability

Yup, that’s me right there!  All of the above.

Would it surprise you to know that I literally wake up an average of 4 times a night? Sometimes I go to sleep and when the hubster gets into bed 2hours later, I am still laying awake in the darkness.  My kids don’t wake up at all, so there is really no need for me to be up.  Yet there I am, laying awake unable to sleep.  Today, I was awake at 4am…for no reason.  I can’t anymore.  I.am.soooooooo.tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m really hoping that this is a THIS TOO SHALL PASS phase but something tells me it isn’t 😦 😦 😦

H.E.L.P!!!!!!

Back to school

This is the first year that the boys have both had a long June/July holiday – previously, they would continue to attend crèche right through the holidays with the exception of skipping a few days to go to Durban with the grandies – and boy have they had fun!!

The first week, they were just at home with the nanny.  They played with all the kids in the complex literally from morning till night.  In the second week, they went with my parents to Durban for five nights and were of course spoilt rotten during that time.  Then they got back and spent a few days with their mama bear ❤  The last week, they’ve been home again and with the complex kids mostly away, they’ve spent that time mostly together.  All in all, they’ve been holiday-ing up a storm.  And that of course included late nights.

With them still being quite little, I usually allow weekend and holiday bedtimes to stretch a bit, but not too much (mostly for my own sanity ;-))…they’ve been going to bed around 8:30/9pm and they’ve been sleeping till 7am and later!  Living the good life 🙂 🙂 🙂

Tomorrow is back to school for them both.  If you follow my blog, you will not be surprised to hear that Riley is dreading going back!  This child and school.  He just wants to be at home with the nanny…I can’t blame him though, I know I would certainly prefer staying at home every day, haha.  Ethan isn’t too phased.  He’s sad holidays are over, but happy to go back to school.

I wasn’t sure whether to get them sleeping earlier a few days before and waking them as a “practice” run, or if I should just let them be.  So I let them sleep earlier last night (7:30pm…I aim for 7pm during school time!).  I kissed them night and reminded them that it was their last day of school holiday and there was no rush to get up and boy did they listen.  I left the house at 7:10 this morning and they were.still.sleeping!!!!!  12hours guys.  Pure bliss.

Oi, tomorrow is going to be a struggle!

What do you do with your kids…

Do you do a practice run before schools go back letting them sleep earlier and wake up at normal time?

Do you just let them holiday out right to the end and battle with the times once school opens again?

Do they adjust well?

More importantly, how do YOU cope??? 

I can certainly say that I’ve enjoyed this break.  The break away from the hectic schedules and did I mention the happiness associated with not having to pack school lunch every day?!  Hehe.

May the third term be an awesome one y’all xxx

The nagging wife

If anybody listens to the radio, 947 to be exact, at the same time as I do on the way to work in the mornings, you would have heard the competition that they held yesterday morning.  For those of you who don’t listen to that station or who missed that part of the show, I’ll fill you in…

For Jo’burg day tickets, people had to call in and do something like demonstrate how they can nag…I caught the tail end of the instruction so I’m not 100% sure what it was but I got the gist of it from the calls that came in.  Basically, the best nagger would win four tickets.

Two women called in and one of the presenters played the role of the husband for them both.  In the first case, the wife was complaining that the husband played tv games all day while she, singlehandedly, had to take care of not only herself and the house, but also of their four kids.  The second lady was complaining about the husband not wanting to take her to the Jo’burg day concert and how he got to do everything that he wanted – like fix his car all day every weekend – but never wanted to do what she wanted to do.

It was funny, it really was.  But wow did it hit home!

I heard myself so clearly in both of those women, and for a change, I heard what I must sound like to my husband.  It also reminded me of something that I’ve learnt over the last few months – it’s often not what you say but HOW you say it!  Both of the ladies had really good points and their arguments were logical – nothing over the top – but the way they were getting it across…even I would have tuned totally out if I were the husband.

Then a listener called in and said something very funny – the argument that was happening, although “put on”, is typical of newlyweds because…the husband was actually engaging even with the nagging.  He said that a few years into the marriage, the conversation would be different – the husband would just be agreeing to everything just to get peace and quiet.  And 10years +, there would be absolute silence.  the husband would just sit and listen to the wife whining until she was done.  Haha.

A real eye opener guys.  Not rocket science but wow did it get me thinking!  Do I sound like that to my husband every time I complain about something?!?! *Ashamed face*

Update

So since this post, I’ve done my first 10km run, YAY!!

On Friday last week, a work friend and I met at the office literally at the crack of dawn, actually even before that.  We started our run at 6am and it was DARK guys, dark.  But it was so lovely to run together with somebody, not on my own for a change.  And we got to watch the sun rise.  I really felt so blessed.  The run was tough and I was in a lot of pain because I started getting blisters around the 4km mark 😦 😦 😦  But I persevered, and we got to the end of the run in 1.5hours.  It felt so good to have done it.  But that uncomfortable run prompted me to finally get off my b-hind and go shopping…FOR ME!

So I went to the mall during lunch on Friday and got new pants, shirts, socks and running bras (all from Mr Price Sport!).  Then on Saturday morning, I went to The Sweat Shop and boy was I impressed.  The lady who helped me was so great.  She did a proper analysis including letting me run up and down outside of the shop in different pairs of takkies, and after about 40minutes or so, I settled for my new pair of Asics.

Of course, I was so excited to run in all my new gear and so after giving myself a rest on Saturday, I did an 8km run yesterday morning.  What a difference it made!!  I was so excited, I actually forgot about my blisters which started flaring up after 4km again.  But what a difference it made to run in proper takkies.  The blisters caused me some discomfort, but the takkies really supported me well.  And not having to pull pants and bra straps up made the world of difference.

Now that I have all my “gear”, I am ready to tackle this running thing properly!!!

Freedom

The kids are currently en route to Durban with nana and grandpa for five nights!

Enough said 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

When your patience is tested…

TO THE Nth DEGREE!!!!!

You know those nights when the kids come so close to convincing you that they are spawn of the devil…

When you screech multiple times at the top of your lungs…

When you say the same thing 1,000times (specifically an instruction in this case) and they look at you like you’re speaking Spanglish…

When you have to make them sit and eat in silence at opposite sides of an 8-seater dining room table…

When you look at the clock convinced it’s bedtime and it’s 2min past the last time you looked…

When you feel your blood boiling and even your ears burning with rage anger…

When a smack on the bum does @#$& all…

Well that’s the kind of night I had today guys. “Suicide hour” has nothing on what tonight was!!! This was that on steroids 😁 When people ask me how my kids are and I respond…they’re lucky to be alive…well tonight, they were damn lucky, hehe. 

In fact, if my heart didn’t ooze with such love for my two rugrats, I would honestly have shut them in a room tonight and opened a bottle of wine with a straw while watching the World Cup! Kidding…or not 😉

Thank goodness for bedtime and a good stiff shot for mama bear.

Have a good evening y’all xxx

This running thing, it’s no joke!

Guys, why is it that being fit is so expensive.  I honestly don’t understand it!  Whether it’s doing a sport or eating better – it’s just expensive.  Gym fees, bicycle prices, entering races, quinoa (however you say it…cannot be bothered to spell it!!), fruit etc.  It just all.costs.so.much.money 😦

Anyway, back to this running thing…

So I’ve been running for the last 3months.  I started it as a way to get fit, 3times a week.  The first day, my sister and I took a fast paced walk to the shop down the road.  It was probably around 1km, not even, and I was out of breathe when we got back.  Not having done any form of exercise in more than a year, I thought I would stick to that short distance for a few days, see how it went, but the brave in me knew it was silly.  And so that walk almost immediately turned into a longer distance, then walk/jog on the third day, then increasing the pace, and not even a week later, running.  I was so proud of myself.  With every run (even though at the time, it was only about 2.5km), I felt stronger and felt like I had accomplished something great.  Then I entered the Soweto 10km race that’s happening in November thinking I would be able to get there by then – that was about a week and a half ago, I was running 5km once a week at least and shorter distances otherwise, mostly due to time constraints and the fact that now that it’s winter, it’s gets dark so bloody early!!  Well, the over achiever in me (surely you guys know me well enough by now 😉 )…yesterday I ran 8km.  8kms guys!!!!  That 8kms came with great pride and a sense of achievement…it also came with chaffed inner thighs and yet another blister prompting me to go up to the shops and get somebody to check out whether I’m wearing the right shoes, right socks etc.

Anyhoo, off I went on my own, with a plan to check out my options – I need a new running wardrobe if I’m going to take this running thing seriously!  I walked into the shop with my sandals and my pretty linen pants and was directed to the right guy to speak to.  He instructed me to get on the treadmill…the treadmill that is right in the middle of the shop where everybody and their brother can see you…WHY do they do tha???  Can it not be hidden in the back corner!  So I take off my sandals, roll up my pants, and he says to get on the treadmill, press 8 and start walking.  I start walking and 2seconds later, I have to run, that’s how fast the treadmill is going.  I was clueless!  I mean, on the treadmills I know, you need to start at 0 and up the speed to get to 8.  You don’t just press 8 and move.  Wow.  There I was trying to run gracefully in-store.  A few minutes later, he tells me to get off and come and look at his analysis so that he can explain it.  Guys…firstly, I look so strange running.  All I could think of was how it must have looked to the other shoppers.  Then I look, like actually look at the picture and my feet guys…black like I’d been walking on the road barefoot for an hour at least.  After that embarrassment ( 🙂 ), he proceeded to tell me which shoes would be best for my wider-than-usual feet.

The two options – R2,500 each.

Then I asked him about the socks…the best pair to wear…R200 each!

Then on to the pants seeing as though the pair I have now caused such bad chaffing yesterday (all my pants are large so the crotches basically hang which probably contributes to this!!)…the best pair are Nike branded, R600 each.

And then if I can’t afford any of those things now, at least for the chaffing, as a short term solution, I can get an anti-chaffing cream…R400 a bottle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the things that I’m loving about being on the road is that there is no cost attached to the exercise right?!  WRONG.  If I am to be serious about this, it looks like I will have to invest, at least in a good pair of shoes…

My mum suggested that I add the comrades to my bucket list for 40 now that I’m enjoying running so much.  I refused outright.  I have no inclination to do that.  But then again, neither did I have an inclination to do 10kms 3months ago 😉  While watching the race yesterday, I kept thinking there’s no way, not a chance.  And then I saw the runners who were on crutches, one leg, wheel chairs, disabled in other way…if they can, surely abled bodied people can do it if they put their minds to it…just saying.

It’s a boy…

…the gynae said, at my 16week check-up.  And I had a little bit of a sad moment (I was secretly hoping for the pigeon pair and was convinced I was having a girl!), but then the gynae told me that one of the benefits of having same sex kids is one high school drop off and pick up, hehe.  And when I sat by myself and thought about it, I was even more excited at the prospect of DAD AND HIS BOYS spending time alone together.  Whether it be on the soccer field, go-karting or even just at the movies…boys time was definitely part of my future visions.  Alone time for mum…spa days, sipping on a glass of champers and just chilling while my boys were out bonding.  Well guys…IT’S HAPPENING TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The school are having a camp out for dad and the kids.  No mums allowed! 

When we first got the notice, I thought it would be great for Ethan and the hubster – not only for the bonding time, but also to camp for the first time ever.  This is something that I know the hubster has been looking to since the time he knew he would be a boy father.  Well, of course, this mama is not one to pass over an opportunity (especially when she can get a break), so I e-mailed the organiser and asked whether siblings who did not attend the school were allowed to come with.  The answer was – of course, siblings and cousins, as long as dad looks after them all.  The hubster is in his element.  Growing up camping, knowing how fun it is, he cannot wait for the boys to experience it.  Yes, it’s a far cry from real camping, but I’m sure it’s going to be fun for them all.

I’m a bit worried about Riley and how he’ll be at sleep time, but if he’s freaking out too much, I’ll just pop up to the school and pick him up.  At least he’ll enjoy the time before with his dad and brother and his bestie will also be there with his older brother and father.  The hubster is convinced that he’ll be fine.

So there it is – MY FIRST FULL NIGHT ALONE!!!!!  To say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement… 🙂 🙂 🙂