Tag: pamper

Pamper Monday – Top Gear

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Mondays are all about finding new ways to pamper… What’s pampering? That’s looking after Number One, doing something nice for yourself, recharging your batteries 🙂 It’s a major part – nay, keystone – of the Flylady programme. If you’re nice to yourself, then you’re better equipped to look after your home and your family. It’s been one of the most difficult things to get my ahead around. Simple in theory but takes practice!

Last week my mission was to download some new tunes (did I mention we get them from our internet provider and it costs nada?) as music is a big motivator for me.  The kids are now thoroughly enjoying some classic Michael Jackson and I’ve been listening to various Danish stuff: I’ve Got You on Tape, Kasper Björke, Kashmir and When Saints Go Machine. All good! Glad I finally took 15 minutes to sit down and make it happen… 🙂

Anway, what’s new pussycat? 😉 Well, this may not sound like a conventional pamper, but it’s something that will make me feel g-o-o-d. Regular readers will know that I run two or three times a week. In the very beginning I just ran in the old aerobics gear that I had. Then when I started to feel that I was a ‘real’ runner I treated myself to ‘proper’ running shoes and a running jacket, leggings etc. But the only two sports t-shirts I possess – you know, not ordinary cotton ones but the other kind that don’t get so smelly – are official race t-shirts I got for free last year. Not exactly my colour choice or a good fit. So I’ve decided that I’m ‘worth it’ and am now on the hunt for some flattering ones. Today is, after all, the first day of March. Officially the first day of spring in Denmark. Wish me luck!

Hope you have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

Pamper Monday – A Musical Interlude

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Pamper Monday has come around again. Where does the time go?? I’ve had a nice winter week’s holiday at home with the kids. Took a lot of gentle coaxing to get them out of bed this morning… Back into their ski suits, hats and gloves, out into below freezing temperatures and (yes, more) snow and in to school by 8am. But I’ve just finished baking a batch of All Bran muffins for their return, so don’t worry, we’ll get all snuggly this afternoon 🙂

My dinky square muffin cases from Sweden!

As it’s Monday, it’s time to think of new ways to pamper… As you may or may not have picked up from this blog, I ‘heart’ music. Big time. It’s the one thing that can change my mood in a heartbeat. We have a large CD collection (ca. 700) plus lots of stuff on the computer, iPods and my (beloved) iPhone.

But I keep listening to the same old stuff and only buy CDs if I absolutely have to have it. Yet we have free access to millions of tunes via our internet provider. I just haven’t taken the time to get it organised on the computer. Tee hee – I’m already hearing the Flylady’s voice in my head! 😉

So I’m setting my timer for 15 minutes and off to download some stuff. And will enjoy listening to it via my cordless headphones while I’m ironing, doing my WHB or doing a spot of decluttering. After all, a change is as good as a rest…

Hope you have a musical Monday! 🙂

Pamper Monday – Oh la la!

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While I was queuing at the chemist the other day, I had a rummage in one of those dangerous little baskets where they have ‘end of the range’ bargains.

There was a dinky little set of three nailvarnish pots…a French manicure set. Spurred on by my recent Scaredy Cat Challenge success of submitting my feet to the half-heaven/half-torture of a pedicure, I’ve decided to start giving my fingernails a bit of extra TLC.

So on Thursday night I ran a lovely bubblebath (Lush bathbomb), armed myself with a glass of wine and a bag of Maltesers and had a good old soak while listening live to the FLYshow (Flylady’s call-in show).

Then gave myself a short pedicure and manicure and finished off with ‘French nails’. A little stripe of white along the top of the nail, a coat of very pale pink, then a clear top coat. Voilà!

Climbed into bed and slept like a bébé… 🙂

Hope you all have a marvelously manicured Monday! 🙂

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pamper Monday – I’m in love!

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I wrote a post in November about my favourite smells, My five cents on my five scents. But there’s a stranger in town and I’ve fallen in love! 😉

Summer Hill by Crabtree and Evelyn

It’s a really light fragrance that just makes me feel all happy and warm and snuggly and optimistic and clean and fresh and lovable 🙂 Luckily it’s not too expensive because, with it being an eau de toilette, it evaporates rather quickly. On the other hand, what’s not to like about being able to have a quick spray several times a day (without ending up smelling like a tart’s handbag)? Makes me feel rather like a film diva…all I’m missing is a giant tub of talcum and a huge white fluffy powder puff.

I have a few kroner (crowns, the Danish currency) left from Christmas, so I’ve decided to treat myself to something else from the range. Probably the mini travel set. 

Have you remembered to pamper today? I’m off to spritz. Have a wonderful Monday! 🙂

Pamper Monday – I’m in stitches…again!

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Thanks to the Flylady, I’m constantly finding new ways to pamper myself, besides the obvious (though nonetheless extremely enjoyable) long bubble baths, reading a chapter of a book every night before bed, lighting a candle at breakfast etc, etc. There are some blogs I always make a beeline for – especially when I’m needing a little cheering up – and I thought I should pass them on to you lot. And they tie in just swell with my latest Scaredy Cat Challenge! 😉

My sweetie friend and ‘twister’ Krista (@luvschweetheart) mentioned the first (now sadly defunct) blog on http://www.twitter.com/. And if you’ve ever tried making her Moistest Ever Brownies or Crockpot Lasagne, you will know that no further recommendation is required. You can find Krista’s recipes here. The other blogs I just ‘happened upon’.

Mascara warning! Mascara warning! Okay, now go have a wander around:

http://youknitwhat.blogspot.com/

(there was actually an even better site called http://youknitwhattwo.blogspot.com/ but that has mysteriously disappeared)

If that doesn’t hit the spot try

http://whatnottocrochet.wordpress.com/

and for the sugar lovers

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

There. Have a fabulous Monday! 🙂

Mmmmmmm Monday

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Even though the Flylady habit for January is shining your sink, it’s so important to keep working on the pamper habit. I don’t know about you, but my batteries seem to run out of power very quickly at this particular time of year. The rush I get from Christmas is over and spring isn’t quite making it’s mark yet. Not to say that it’s not beautiful outside – here’s a picture I took when we were out running in the park last Thursday morning at 8.45am…

 

 

There wasn’t any sunshine but all that white just brightens up the whole place. And it was a ‘go us’ moment – running 3k when it’s -2c/29f outside!

 

Anyway, to get back to the pampering, what are you doing to keep yourselves cheery? I’m always on the lookout for new ideas… I’ve learned something valuable from my twisters (twitter sisters). The joys of having a cup of coffee alone in a coffee shop. Something I never did before. So just for the record – in order to prove that I’ve done it a few times and I’m getting into the habit – here’s my current favourite from the Danish coffee shop chain Baresso:

  • a chai-cino (chai tea made with lots of lovely cow’s milk

together with

  • a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

Have a mmmmmmm Monday! 🙂

Scaredy Cat Challenge – 24 January 2010

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I’ve started a ‘Scaredy Cat Challenge’ for myself – following the advice of Jonathan Roche (see my previous post I’m in Stitches!). He talked about it in connection with exercising, but it can be applied to anything really. So for the duration of 2010, I’m going to do things I’ve been putting off. I’m not procrastinating about tasks in the Flylady sense of “I haven’t got the time to do that right now”. It’s more things I would like to do but “I’m too scared, I don’t know how” sense. If you get my drift… 😉

Last Saturday I started sewing an apron from a pattern. You can see how I got on here.

And what can I report today – one week on? The apron is finished – yippee! 🙂 And très nice it is too…here’s DD7 modelling it. Though it’s all mine! 😉

And here’s the other side. You’ll remember it’s reversible 😉

The pesky bias strips which I had – of course – been putting off, turned out to be very easy to do. I set my Flylady timer and whaddayouknow…it took less than the magic 15 minutes! The only tricky thing turned out to be sewing on the neck straps (I chose in the end to do them by machine, life is too short for handstitching). The problem was that the front and back of the apron (it’s reversible, you’ll remember…) didn’t quite match up. Well, nobody’s perfect – right? And it’s only me who knows. And you lot.

Anyway, it’s finished, it’s blinking lovely, and now I’m ready to tackle other patterns and sewing techniques. Gathers?? Go home!

So what is my next ‘Scaredy Cat Challenge’ for myself? Well, I had a twitter conversation with Missus Smarty Pants the other night and I was pampering my feet and painting my toenails. She always paints hers in light colours, I always do mine dark (today they are purple, Gosh #99 Isabel). Because I like to cover them up. I really should have my feet done by a chiropodist (various imperfections, not just my toenails) but…I hate people touching my feet, I’m so ticklish! 🙂

Oh yes, I’ve been for manicures and pedicures before. But the pedicure part was half-heaven and half-nightmare. So I’ve decided to get these tooties looking lovely for the onslaught of spring and summer. 2010 will be the year! So that’s my next Scaredy Cat Challenge. To take the plunge, make an appointment (or two) and get it over and done with (and definitely grumble about the expense). Who knows, maybe I’ll even enjoy it? [simpers]

Have a simply super Sunday! 🙂

Baby it’s cold outside

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I did my first run of the year this morning. Temperature was -1c (31f). Don’t know what the windchill was but I can tell you that I did try and keep my mouth closed as much as possible, to stop the back of my throat burning! 😉

I usually run with friends. Twice a week with my darling buddies, V and H. Come rain or shine. Here they are…back in December when the weather was just a bit soggy 🙂

Except extreme snow, like we had last week. But when there’s too much snow or ice on the ground to be able to run safely we still head for the park – we just get all bundled up and go for a brisk walk instead.

After the schoolrun this morning, I felt I needed to get out and run. Haven’t run since before the family arrived at Christmas. Now, here’s the thing. I usually start Mondays with a WHB (Flylady’s fast weekly house clean) but knew that a run would actually be a good way of pampering myself. And, no, I am not a masochist! 😉 Needed to clear my head and shake off that lazy leftover holiday feeling.

So I got my running gear on (ski underwear underneath), running shoes, gloves, hat, iPhone, folding earphones (thank you DH for that wonderful Christmas present!) and buff (thank you DD7 for letting me borrow it). Drank some water, ate a banana. And headed out the door.

When I’m running solo, I use the http://www.c25kapp.com/ for iPhone. It’s a really nice little application (inexpensive too), which takes you from the ‘couch’ to running a ‘5k’ in 8 weeks. You can add your own personal playlist of music. Which is a kicker for me, because that’s the only reason I go out running alone – to hear loud music! 🙂

You could actually use it for other types of interval workouts as well. No need to run if you don’t want to!

I just pick a session at random and let the voice guide me. To give you an example…

Week 5, Day 1.

  • Warm Up, walk quickly (5 mins)
  • Run (5 mins)
  • Walk (3 mins)
  • Run (5 mins)
  • Walk (3 mins)
  • Run (5 mins)
  • Cooldown, walk (5 mins)

You can get voice alerts when you have 2, then 1 minutes left to run (I’m using that to do a sprint for the last minute). And when you’re halfway through the workout (means you can just head out the door, turn around at ‘halftime’ and run back home!). And when you’re starting the last running session (nice to know you’re almost done!).

And Jonathan (NEWO) Roche was right. Again! [see yesterday’s post I’m in stitches!]. The person who started and finished the workout were two very different people… 😉 If you’re lacking motivation, go listen to him. You can listen here.

Have a fantastic Monday! 🙂

Café Copenhagen

DIANE IN DENMARK

Monday is the day I do my 15 minute pamper show Café Copenhagen on BlogTalkRadio.  Until last week that is, when our main computer crashed (after 10 months, don’t know the reason, is there ever a reason with computers??!), synchronised with the death of an old laptop. At the moment we’re using a borrowed laptop, so the show is on hold until we get Skype etc up and running again. Or maybe I’ll work out how to do a cinchcast and do it that way? 😉

Anyways…I’m still going strong on the Flylady habit from December – pampering! 🙂

And my latest favourite? When I was in Sweden before Christmas I picked up some small cheap ‘spa’ bath lights. They constantly change colour and can float or stick to the bottom of the bath. The kids LOVED them on sight and immediately wanted to have a bath… 😉 I’ve now stuck them to the shower wall and switch them on in the morning when I’m in there – DH thinks I’m daft but I don’t care 😉 It gives me an internal smile at 6.30 am.

So, remembering to keep pampering. It’s a New Year, we’ve all got plans to do great things but we still need to keep those batteries charged, right?

Happy 1st Monday of the year! 🙂

Café Copenhagen (pamper time) – 14 December 2009

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Monday is the day I do my radio show on BlogTalkRadio. Why don’t you listen in? We’re going to be pampering for 15 minutes. Did you know that pampering is the Flylady habit for this month?

What’s that? You don’t have 15 minutes per day to recharge your batteries??? Well that’s just fine, because today I’ll be talking about ways to pamper for just  f-i-v-e  minutes! ;D

Click here to listen. Chat will be open.

Get ready to feel good! And just relax… 🙂

Café Copenhagen – 7 December 2009

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The Flylady habit for this month is…pampering – hooray! 🙂

This has been one of the most difficult Flylady habits for me to embrace… How on earth could taking time for myself possibly help the state of the house? But, yet again, she is right. Just 15 minutes (or even just making a nice cup of coffee) helps me recharge my batteries and gives me the ‘oomph’ to get going again…

So if you haven’t taken 15 minutes for yourself today, or need some simple ideas on how to pamper, then come and join me for my live show – Café Copenhagen – on BlogTalkRadio. Why not give me a call and share your own ‘me’ time ideas?

And if you don’t manage to listen live, then go listen to the archive – click here! 😉

Café Copenhagen – 30 November 2009

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The kitchen remodel is finished (yeehaw), so I’m flying on to other things…

Today I restart my BlogTalkRadio show and I’m looking forward to getting back into the studio – though also a little nervous. But as the Flylady says, you can do anything for 15 minutes, and that’s precisely how long my show is 😉

Come and join me for a quick pamper session! Chat will be open and I’m hoping some of my twisters (twitter sisters) will be joining me. And if you can’t listen live, then you can always listen to the archive – no excuses! 🙂

Click here to listen.

Okay, time to clean my desk and get myself ready… Happy listening! 🙂