Happy New Year, everyone!!  Mamma’s back!!    Did you think I’d run away and left you all?? 

I haven’t been blogging very much since the beginning of December, what with the stress of Christmas, and a very busy period at work.  Then, come the Christmas Holidays, I simply wanted to sit back, relax and enjoy some family time.

Since the New Year, I’ve been busy working on my all new website (more about that later….), and so neglecting my little ole Mamma Kerr blog!  Sorry! 

Since I didn’t participate in last week’s WMW, I’d like to include one of last week’s prompts this week.

Balancing work and family life is tough! VERY tough!!  I know for a fact that I would not be able to work my 37 hour week if I had to commute to Glasgow or Edinburgh every day!  The travelling time would just push me over the edge!!

I am so grateful to live just a two-minute stroll from my office!  I can walk the girls to school every morning and then walk to work.  Plus, I can go home for my lunch break!

I am also extremely lucky to be able to work flexi-time (no set core hours), meaning I can work around family commitments, childcare arrangements, school events, etc.  This allows me to walk the girls to school every day, as well as being able to attend school shows, assemblies, nativities, etc.  It also makes it easier for me to take my girls to hospital appointments.

Okay, so I just wanted to stress how lucky I am compared to some working mothers – NOT to gloat!! – I just wanted explain how I am able to work FULLTIME!

My “Super Mom” tips are actually pretty simple:

• Prepare packed lunches in the evening.
• Set out school uniforms before bedtime.
• Mark important dates and events on a calendar where the whole family will see it.
• Pin appointment cards, invitations, tickets and forms to the fridge using magnets.
• Always carry wipes, handgel, tissues and plasters (band aids).
• Involve the children in household chores, and try to make it fun!
• No matter how busy and stressed you are, always make time to talk to your children about their day.
• Make sure your children have a good bedtime routine, which should include some time for a bedtime story.

You can join in the Working Mommy Wednesday fun with Rachel over at Occasional Boredom.

#1. How important to you, as a working mom, is a schedule/routine for your kids?

Routines are essential not only to me, as a working mother, but also to my twin daughters who like a structured routine, as they then know what to expect.

Our morning routine goes a little something like this:

• 06:15 – Hubby gets up, showered and dressed.
• 06:45 – I get up, showered and dressed, while Hubby has breakfast.
• 07:15 – Hubby goes to work, and I catch up on a few household chores.
• 07:30 – I wake the girls.
• 07:45 – The girls get up, washed and dressed, while I prepare their breakfast and pack their lunches.
• 08:15 – The girls and I eat breakfast.
• 08:40 – I braid the girls’ hair.
• 08:45 – The girls and I walk to school /work.

Ha!  Who am I trying to kid!?!  That’s how it should be but, more often than not, this is what really happens:

• 06:15 – The alarm goes off for Hubby, but he ignores it.
• 06:20 – The alarm goes off again and Hubby grunts.
• 06:25 – The alarm goes off again and Hubby is gently nudged out of bed.
• 06:30 – Hubby gets up, showered and dressed.
• 06:45 – My alarm goes off and is immediately put on snooze. 
• 06:50 – My alarm goes off again, and is once more put on snooze.
• 06:55 – My alarm goes off again, and is switched off.  I check for messages on my BlackBerry.
• 07:05 – Hubby has breakfast and shouts, “Are you not up yet?”
• 07:10 – I get up, showered and dressed.
• 07:20 – Hubby goes to work.
• 07:30 – I wake the girls.
• 07:45 – The girls get up and then sit in the living room like a pair of zombies.
• 07:50 – I begin my half hour of continuous nagging (“Hurry up and get washed!”, “Hurry up and get dressed!”), while I prepare their breakfast and pack their lunches.
• 08:20 – The girls do anything bar eat their breakfast (e.g. they chit chat, they have a carry on, they have niggley fights, they play with the cat, etc…)
• 08:40 – I help the girls find random things (e.g. a missing shoe, a homework jotter, a reading book, a hairband).
• 08:45 – I scrape the girls’ hair into ponytails.
• 08:50 – We hurry out the door and into the car.

#2. Given the opportunity, which would you accept – a bigger salary and less benefits OR a smaller salary and top-notch benefits?

I suppose I have the latter at the moment.  I have a modest salary, but I am lucky enough to enjoy family friendly policies, such as flexible working hours, childcare vouchers and carer’s leave.  I would need to be paid considerably more to compensate for not having these benefits.  Furthermore, I cannot think of any other benefits that would entice me to voluntarily reduce my salary!!

WMW prompts for Wednesday 29th June 2011:

#1. With summer upon us, how does your daily routine change? (more outside time, waking early/sleeping in, more/less activities, etc).

Now that it’s the school holidays, my daily routine changes completely. I have to juggle my childcare arrangements between my in-laws, my newly-retired father, my teacher sister and her teacher hubby and, last but not least, my hubby and I. This involves a lot of forward planning and negotiation. Our routine will go a little something like this:

• Monday – I go into the office early, as the girls were dropped off at Granny & Grandpa’s for a sleepover on Sunday evening, and Grandpa will be watching the girls all day. They’ll stay over another night, so I can get things done at home.
• Tuesday – Another early start at the office for me, then the girls come home just after tea for a little time with Mummy & Daddy.
• Wednesday - I drive the girls to my inlaws around 9 o’clock, then grab a McDonalds breakfast at the drive-thru, before heading to the office.  I work on a little later to compensate for the late start.  The girls stay overnight at the inlaws.
• Thursday - Another early start at the office for me, but I leave work sharp to collect the girls.
• Friday - I take a day’s annual leave or flexi leave to spend with the girls! 

I’ll also be taking two weeks off to go away on holiday with Hubby and the girls.  We’ve not actually booked anything yet, but intend to book a last-minute bargain break to Majorca, Spain.  We went there last year and had a fantastic time!!  

#2. Top five excuses for not reaching your goal. (weight loss goal, writing a book goal, cleaning the house goal, etc)

I’m afraid that I am the Queen of Procrastination!!  I’m easily distracted by this, that or the other!!  I think the reason why I fail to achieve my goals is that I take on far too much!!

Anyway, here’s my top 5 excuses:

1. Goals in General – I’ve got too much on my plate!
2. Goals in General – I lost track of time!
3. Housework - Somebody phoned, I ran out of black bags (or cleaning products), the weather was to nice (as if!!  Ha!), any excuse really! I HATE housework!!
4. Writing a book – My computer crashed and I lost my notes, I’m too tired, I don’t have time!….  I really need to stop procrastinating on this one!!
5. Weightloss - I’ve too much on my plate!  LOL    Seriously though, if I don’t keep track on my calorie intake and don’t make an effort to work out regularly, I pile the weight on!!  :S

It’s Working Mommy Wednesday! We’re half way through the week already!  Yay!

Top 5 goals for this summer

1. Lose weight & tone up – I’m currently on a diet and looking to lose a stone and a half (21 lbs).  I go to Zumba class once a week, and top up with Zumba Fitness Wii a couple of times a week.  I’m also doing Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Workout, which is amazing!
2. Re-vamp my blogs – I am currently working away in the background re-vamping and re-branding my blogs and websites.  I hope to start going live with these next month!…
3. Declutter – Every room in my house (without exception) requires decluttering. I need to reduce, re-use and recycle.  We need to make better use of space in our modest three-bedroomed home.
4. Make over my garden – We have a large garden with little or no plants.  I want to get some plants, shrubs and flowers, and create a vegetable patch.  I’d also like to grow some fruit and herbs.  We also require some decent garden furiture to make use of the outdoor space for entertaining.  I also need to set up a compost heap at the rear of the garden.
5. Write!! – I need to allocate some time to get back on my writing course and start writing for profit!…

Join in the fun over at Work, Wife, Mom, Life!

This week I’m joining in a new blog meme – Living Well Wednesday - a fun, weekly meme, focusing on achieving our new year goals ONE WEEK AT A TIME!

Whether your goals are physical, spiritual, mental (or anything inbetween) then this is for you!

This is a great time for me to join in and share my goals!

I have just recently finished up studying for my part-time business degree, and had to take a short break from blogging and blog hopping.  Now that I have got my final exams out the way, I have renewed energy for projects that have been on the back burner:

• Re-vamping my blogs – I have been wanting to revamp this blog for a while.  I have lots of ideas to restructure and rebrand this mummy blog – www.mammakerr.com.  I also have plans for my other websites, which I am keen to see come to fruition soon…. Watch this space!….
• Getting stuck back into my home-based businesses -I’ve been neglecting my home-based businesses – Vie At Home & Barefoot Books. I don’t really have time to do parties any more, but I would like to concentrate on my e-commerce sales, and explore other opportunities for doing business locally…
• Launch my NEW business venture – I have recently signed up as a Trader for Phoenix Trading, selling beautiful greetings cards.  In fact, the host of this meme, the lovely Natalie Collinson, is my upline manager at Phoenix.  I joined at the end of March, because there was a special joining offer.  However, I have been far too busy with my studying to launch my new venture.  I am now ready to get stuck in, so…. [shameless self promotion alert]…. if you would like to learn more, please visit my Trader website or contact me for a brochure.
• Write More – I would like to devote some time to continuing with the Writers Bureau Creative Writing course, which I started before my degree.  The course can be done at my own pace, so I put it on the back burner for a while to concentrate on my degree.
• Health & Fitness – I’d like to get back into the swing of things with food optimising via Slimming World’s Extra Easy diet.  I’d really like to lose a couple of stone (over 30lbs).  I want to squeeze more exercise into my daily schedule, such as Wii Fit, exercise DVDs and Zumba.

What about you?  What are your goals?

Join in. It’s easy.

• Write a post on your blog with an update on your goals this week
• Add the Living Well Wednesday button to your post and link to our host, Natalie, at http://nataliecollinson.com
• Link up each week using the linky tool on Natalie’s site.
• Visit other participants and enjoy the fun of working on our goals TOGETHER
• It’s never too late to join… hop on in, you can be sure of a warm welcome!

#1- I’m not good at…

• …getting up in the morning.
• …eating breakfast.
• …keeping track of time.
• …stopping my mind from wandering at meetings.
• …taking breaks from my computer screen.
• …the Clear Desk policy.
• …housework

#2- I’m awesome at…

• … coming up with ideas.
• … spreadsheets
• … process maps
• … uncovering ‘cans of worms’
• … keeping people ‘on track’
• … proof reading
• … finding files in our cluttered document management system
• … presentations
• … mindmaps
• … wriiting lists
• … liaising with the government
• … being “Social Secretary”
• … cuddles and kisses
• … cooking
• … checking homework
• … Mario Kart Wii
• … reading bedtime stories
• … juggling work, study, family time and blogging!

This week’s Girls Talk is all about resolutions. I have previously posted my New Year Resolutions for Post-it Note Tuesday. You can read my PINT-sized Resolutions here.

I have several different resolutions:

• Diet & Exercise – I’d like to lose some weight and tone up.  Therefore, I’m re-starting my Slimming World diet, and recording my daily food intake online at My Fitness Pal.  I am also trying to fit some exercise into my week, using the Wii and exercise DVDs.  I’m also trying to walk more, instead of using the car for short journeys.
• Thrift & Frugality – I need to take stock of my finances and live more frugally.  This means shopping more wisely, using coupons, voucher codes and cashback sites.  I’m going to menu plan and bulk cook batches of meals to freeze.  This should eliminate waste and save time and money.
• Writing – I’m rather busy with work and study at the moment, but…. come May / June, I plan to spend more time writing.  I’d like to write more quality content for my websites, as well as develop a portfolio of work that’ll potentially earn me some money.
• Household Chores – My busy lifestyle doesn’t leave much room in my schedule for housework.  However, I need to make it a priority to get organised with this. 
• Quality Time With Family & Friends – Once I complete my degree course in May, I intend to devote a lot more quality time to  my family and friends.  My free time will still be scarce and precious, so I intend only to concentrate on people and activities that DO NOT drain me of energy and positivity.  I simply don’t have time to waste on negativity and acrimony.

You can join in the Girls Talk over at the Beauty Queen Gene.

You can join in the PINT fun with That One Mom over at Only Parent Chronicles.

struggling to work through to-do list

I have sooooo many things that I want to do and need to do, but sooooo little time to do it all in!

Life is a balancing act between family life, a fulltime job, part time study, writing blogging and other home business ventures. It’s hard to fit all that in AND keep on top of household chores!  But hey, to be honest, I LOVE having a busy full life!