wagwaan?

Relaxing

Ahhh, I do love being able to listen to the radio via the internet. Isn't it fab?  I'm sitting here, nice and quiet after a hard day's work, listening to Classicfm.com while I catch up on some blog reading. DD's gone to bed (feeling a bit under the weather again, we must get that checked out), and the other half is upstairs working madly on his presentation. I've been working on mine all day, and earlier this evening I went to the AGM of the community centre, so I'm taking a well-earned rest. Working for  yourself means you are never really off-duty, and the boyf being somewhat of a workaholic means that I don't take breaks during the day like I would if left to my own devices. Probably, anyway.  I mean, today I would have worked straight through even if he hadn't been, as we have to know our workshops (=presentations) off by heart and we are still at the learning stage. It's good fun though. 

Meanwhile, how on EARTH could I have missed the event of the decade? A "pop up" Central Perk was in London for 2 weeks to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Friends. 

 

(picture from The Guardian, I hope they don't mind...)

I discovered this by chance tonight, and guess when it closed? Yes, that's it, YESTERDAY!  I don't believe it :) It would have been such fun to go with Claire. Pooey! I'm so out of the loop. 

Oh dear, right now I'm feeling slightly nauseated by the drama that's just occurred in the room. While I was typing the above I could hear the cat clomping about, and I thought he must have found a toy or something. When I got up to have a look I found him fighting with the most GI-NOR-MOUS spider, it was so big it was practically as big as him! Ok, slight exaggeration there, but it was HUGE and Lyle had it between his paws, and the spider would play dead, then he'd let go and the spider would try and make a run for it. I'm afraid to say (look away now if you are squeamish) that Lyle got the better of him and, erm, chomped him and gobbled him right up. I was squealing "Lyle, you're disgusting" but I didn't see how I could get the spider away from him seeing as I'm slightly phobic when they are that huge. I've still got the shivers. Brrr. Now Lyle's had a good clean of his coat to help it go down. Ewwww. Suppose his Iams pellets weren't that appetising tonight...

Oh well, I think I might have to go and have another cup of Horlicks to calm my nerves. Nite nite - don't have any nightmares now, will you?

Is it Wednesday already?

This week is going by quickly!  I can't even remember what happened yesterday, which is ever so slightly disturbing... I must be getting old.   Today, though, was a good day because we had our first meeting with some Extended Schools coordinators - and in one fell swoop we have apparently covered all the schools in the county!  

To explain, I have to go back a bit: a few months ago I went to an open day at the Community Centre over the road and was persuaded to maybe become a Trustee. Being a commuter I was out of the house from about 7.30am to 7.30pm, so I didn't really know what the Community Centre was about as it's mainly open during the day. To cut a long story short, I attended my first meeting there recently and the lady sitting next to me asked what I did for a living. As I had only just left my PA job, I explained that I was changing direction and moving into Education. She pricked up her ears and asked for more info, so I said that the company I was with provided workshops and seminars in schools that raise aspirations and attainment in children. That's all I said because I hadn't yet had any training. The lady immediately gave me her card and said we should talk. A few days later she said that she had organised for us to come to her school to meet with some colleagues so that we could present ourselves and our products, which is what we did today.

The meeting went very well, as far as we can tell, because we were told that these coordinators would report back to their respective schools, and that they would also disseminate to the other coordinators across the county, which is brilliant news. All we can do now is wait while they have their various budget meetings and goal setting meetings, and hope they book some seminars and/or workshops. I feel very hopeful!

The amazing thing is that I should have attended a meeting at the Community Centre while I was still a PA, and if I had, I wouldn't have made this contact. This is why I am so sure that, once again, things have happened at the right time, and for a specific reason. Don't you think?

Anyway, changing the subject, our naughty boy Lyle has finally discovered that the goldfish tank has been moved to the dresser and that he can reach it if we leave a chair a bit too close. This morning there was no chair available, so I found him looking longingly upwards...

 

Hmmm, the poor fish is due a change of water, isn't he? I've just exploded any myth that this blog might have perpetuated about my housekeeping skills!

Also: hello? Autumn is here. My favourite time of year - although I prefer blue sky and crisp Autumn days to grey dismal ones, which is what we have at the moment. Seeing these in a shop yesterday reminded me how close we are to Halloween

 

Of course they've already been eaten up. I mean, between 3 of us it's not excessive to polish a box off 24 hours, and they are "only" 2.5 syns per cake compared to 3 for an ordinary biscuit..... OOh talking of which, did I mention that I lost 3 1/2 lbs this week and was made Slimmer of the Week for the first time in AAAAAges? Well I was. My goal mapping is working, evidently. DD lost 2 1/2 lbs so we're both on track.  

Well, that's me done for the evening. I've got a lovely Miss Read book I picked up at a charity shop that is calling my name.  

Time for a cup of Horlicks Lite and a trip to Fairacre. Nite all.

The first day of the rest of our lives...

At 3pm tooday I will finalise some paperwork that closes a chapter of my life... and then I can finally concentrate on the new business!

I'm sorry I've been a bit mysterious, but sometimes you aren't in control of what is happening and you just have to go with the flow. Today, though, I'm a free agent, and I can finally reveal what we've been working on behind the scenes. Yes, I have a new business venture and I can finally reveal what it's all about: the boyf and I have become licensees for a company called POSITIVELY MAD. I suppose the name is pretty apt, because I do consider we are slightly barking, but it actually stands for Making A Difference. 

You might know that I had started doing a life coaching course last year. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the time or money to concentrate on it and I had to put it to one side, hoping to pick it up later. This year, at a very specific time in my life, an email popped into my inbox telling me about PosMAD.  My aim had been to take coaching into schools because when I was younger I didn't have much self-esteem, and it's only through years of personal development that I've reached where I am today. The email in question was about exactly this: coaching kids in schools. It looked heaven sent. It looked too good to be true, as the world today has turned us all into skeptics, so I went along and had a look at the business; I liked what I saw and the boyf tried to pull it apart and find fault with it, but as he couldn't he then went along to another presentation. We were both fully convinced by this point, and that is why we went on a course recently, to learn all about the different workshops and how to present them to schools. We are now fully operational, ready to coach kids and thrilled at the prospect. We are also terrified in a way, because this has to make enough money for us to live. We are sure it will, but there's nothing like the lack of a definite pay packet at the end of the month to concentrate the mind!

So there you have it. Our first meeting with a school is this Wednesday (another little story of the universe providing, which I might tell you next time), so we are making sure we have all the info they need and hope the presentation wows them. I'm so passionate about this that I can only hope it's infectious...

We are not tied geographically to any one area, so if you have links with a school where you feel the children would benefit from our workshops, do not hesitate to contact us. And pass it on! I'm afraid the resources are only available in English at the moment, but head office is happy for us to work on translating it for the French market, so watch this space. The workshops have been done in South Africa, Hong Kong and Germany, so there is nothing stopping us going to the States or elsewhere...

There. I'm off now to get some colour photocopies done, and to go into London for this "thing" at 3pm - when this post will be publshed. Excited, moi?