What will people in the future think of us?

Surprisingly, this isn't another political post about Brexit (though I do wonder what what historians will think of us in the future...).  Today a friend shared a video on FB about how almond link is made:

On watching this, my immediate thought was what would people in the future think of this?  

Suppose there was an Earth-changing event, people were struggling to survive, and there were limited resources.  Maybe the internet* didn't work, but there were pockets of servers around the globe where fragments of information can still be sourced?  Maybe there was a retaliation against knowledge (some days it sure feels like that!), and all libraries and books were burned?  Suppose that the human population had decreased to such an extent that much knowledge was no longer in the human psyche.  People were struggling to grow crops, the world was vegan because we couldn't afford to grow meat, and someone came across this video about how to milk almonds...

What would they think of us?
Would they know that it is not real? That it is meant to be humorous? Will they try to breed almonds?

Or will they know it won't work, and assume that we're stupid? Perhaps blame this stupidity on the reason why the human race is near extinction?

I admit, I may have read too many dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels and watched too many movies, but still.  I do wonder sometimes what the future will think of us...

*If I have used "internet" wrong, and mean "www" or even some other term, please forgive me.  Just because I have an Engineering degree, doesn't mean my geekiness extends to all things computers.

Brexit and democracy

Having triggered Article 50 a couple of years ago, Britain is meant to be leaving the EU at the end of

this month.  Unfortunately, there still is no plan.
As a result, many of us are marching this weekend in support of a People's Vote; where we, the people, can decide on the mess that the country is currently in.

I will be there in my Tshirt and carrying my Brolly, and encourage as many people as possible to come along too.

On Wednesday night, Prime Minister Theresa May made a speech to the nation, telling us how we feel, how she is with us, and it's not her fault, but the MPS for not agreeing with the deal she repeatedly proposes that nobody wants.  I've since seen descriptions of how it was an attempt to hypnotise the nation, and it certainly seems like that - I don't know what else she was trying to achieve?

One impact it has had, however, is to draw attention to a petition: Revoke Article 50. When I signed it, only about 30,000 people had signed.  This has increased massively, to the point where the website crashed this morning!  Every time I refresh the petition page, the number of signatories has increased, and at 14:28 today, it is now up to 972,873! I have even seen one meme suggesting that the House of Commons will take action when the petition reaches 17.4M people, - the number of people who voted Leave in the first place.  I don't know how true it is, but given that  it has increased to nearly a million people in one day, if Brexit is extended even a short while, it won't be long to hit that target.

As for democracy, democracy means that we have a say in politics and who governs us.  It means we can change our minds.  It means that just because conservatives were voted in power once, does not mean that they will stay in power forever.  Just because something was voted in once, does not mean that there is never another vote.  And if new information has come to light - particularly if one 'side' has been accused of electoral fraud and fined - then that vote should be either cancelled or at least redone.  

And that is what the People's Vote is all about - now the general public has more information, and the Leave campaign has been shown to be full of untruths and they still don't have a plan, there should be another vote where people are more informed.

Weekly Update No11

So, if you've been reading more than these updates, you'll see I went into a bit of a funk last week,
and ended up splurging over £200 on a 10day juice programme.  I've done 3 full days so far, so am just about to embark on day 4, and it is working! 

From last Monday, I have lost 1.5kg, but my weight was increasing throughout the week, and Thursday I hit an unwanted peak of over 98kilos.  But, I started the juice programme on Friday, and since then I have lost 2.5kg, over 1kilo the first day, and over 0.5kg on the two subsequent days.  (And yes, anyone who follows my facebook page will notice a discrepancy, where yesterday I claimed I had lost 2.5kilos - turns out despite being a maths tutor, I can't subtract. Doh!)

So, my plan for this week, is to keep on the programme.  The programme itself says you can just drink the juices and smoothies, but you don't have to, and if you do eat, you should eat raw fruit and veg.  Everyday, I've been enjoying a sliced apple dipped in 100% almond butter in addition to the juices.  I plan to keep this up for the full ten days.  However, I'm going out with friends on Friday (yes, despite my wobble last week, I do have friends :) ).  Normally, I'll eat too much and drink at least a bottle of wine to myself...  I asked the makers of the programme for their advice, and they said to avoid alcohol, caffeine and to eat as healthily as possible. I'm going to "be good" and not drink alcohol, and whilst I will try to eat healthy-ish, I want to fully enjoy the Moroccan Tapas we'll be having!  What I haven't worked out yet, is whether I should have the 7pm juice (we're meeting at 7pm in a bar, before eating at 8) and hope that it'll stop me overeating afterwards? Or, should I avoid the extra calories of the juice - save it for another day - and accept the fact I will be eating more than I should either way? 

And, I need to think about how to reintroduce food and eating normally, without piling all the weight back on; or whether I should continue the programme for longer; or whether I should try and recreate the programme at home (I do have a high speed blender for smoothies); or whether I should work out a system where perhaps I eat 2 smoothies a day and a proper dinner; or something else that I haven't thought of.  Any advice gratefully received!

Remind Me Not To Do This Again!

A couple of years ago, my girls wanted to go to Kidzania, as we often go as a group of home educators altogether.  Someone else was meant to be organising the trip, but when I queried about a month beforehand (so I could buy my train tickets) they said they weren't organising it after all.

Being a bit of a natural organiser, and with experience, I know after the 'general interest' stage, not to accept bookings without payment.  So, I organised a trip for last March for around 30 home educators.  Of course, last winter was known for the Beast from the East, particularly the return of the mini-beast mid-March... the same time we were meant to be going to Kidzania.  On the day, everybody who was planning to drive cancelled, and though 5 or 6 families (including us) bravely got to the train station, all the trains were cancelled.  It was a bit of a nightmare.  Thankfully Kidzania were really understanding, and allowed us to postpone our booking until the May (the next date that we could all attend that was not during school holidays).  The trip took place, and everyone had a good time.

Meanwhile, lots of DD1's dance friends were going on various residential courses with their schools.  As my girls are home educated, I didn't want them to miss out of the experience, not least because I remember all the fun I had when I was on residentials at that age.  So, when they asked if they could go on such a course, I stepped up to organise it.

Simultaneously, I contacted loads of activity centres within a 2-3hr radius of where I live to ask them a myriad of questions, whilst also started a FB group of people who were interested in joining us, if I organised a trip.  Within days we had over 100 members who were interested, and wanted a say in the type of thing being done.  

It is often said that the only thing home educators have in common is that they don't use schools, and that is very true!  I had parents who would only allow their children to come if they didn't have to; and others who would only allow their children to come if they could attend too.  Interested parents had children with a range of physical and learning difficulties, as well as a range of allergies.  Some parents only wanted their children to attend during the day, not overnight (it's a residential!!).  Some parents wanted all accompanying adults to have full DBS checks (if you arrange and pay for it, I'll gladly be DBS checked, but in the meantime, it ain't happening!). Some people would only attend if I arranged transport too (nope).  And yet others wanted a say in everything, but had no intention to come.

Eventually, between all the venues that replied to me, and all the parents with their own conditions and questions that they desperately wanted me to ask, it got narrowed down to one activity centre that does everything we want it to: Parents can attend if they want to, or they can leave their children alone.  There is a choice of 4 night (M-F) or 2 night (W-F) trips.  They can cater for all physical and learning disabilities, and have even allowed some free Carer places for adults who have to accompany their children.  They will accept DLA as part of the booking.  "Supervisors" do not have to be DBS checked; but all their instructors are DBS checked and have first aid certificates etc.  They can cater for all eating requirements and allergies as long as they know about them in advance.  And  we can put in our preferences for the activities we do (though they can't be guaranteed, as there will be other groups on site at the same time).  All in all, it looked really good.  The only requirement is that we need a minimum of 8 children on each trip (4 night or 2 night) in order for them to go ahead. Phew!

The system they use is that after booking, an initial deposit is required after 4 weeks; an interim deposit is required after a further 6 weeks; and the final balance is required 3 months before the trip.  

Despite having over 100 adults in the FB group, when it actually came to asking for money, a lot of people decided that they were no longer interested.  That was to be expected, and why I always ask for money upfront, as I can't afford to fund any shortfall!  We had around 30 children sign up, over the two trips, so a nice amount.  

As time went on, some people had to drop out of the trip.  Initially it was younger siblings, or parents who felt they no longer needed to attend.  For some people their circumstances changed, so they are no longer available. And for a couple of people, they had to pull out due to allergies.  For each change, we were charged a cancellation fee equal to the individual deposits paid so far.

Meanwhile (again), last year Beat the Street came to my town.  As I had asked the question whether other people wanted to join us, it was defaulted to me to set up the team.  Actually, it was a lot of good fun.  Because all members of the family could join in, we had over 100 participants on our team, and we actually won the section for 'Community Groups'!  Our prize was £300 of Decathlon Vouchers, and was up to me to organise getting the prize.  Some people wanted the prize to be split by the number of points won per person, others wanted an even split by family, others still thought it should all go towards the children, and some people didn't want a prize at all, and wanted to nominate their winnings to a charity.  In the end, I made the executive decision to divide the prize by the number of participants, and allocate the vouchers accordingly.  So for example, in my family there are 4 of us, so we had ~£12 to spend.  Because the vouchers were an email code, I could not physically divide the vouchers, but had to buy what everybody asked me for.  Once it was sorted, it was actually quite easy; everybody got what they wanted (eg trophies or bags, or sports equipment) and we managed to get 42 sets of hats, neckwarmers and gloves for a homeless charity in my town.  This was before Christmas, and we're now in March, and hopefully tomorrow, the last of the prizes will finally be collected!

Back to the residential, and people are still dropping out; even after they've paid the final balance! 

We are now down to 9 children on the 2 night trip and 8 on the 4 night trip.  I really hope nobody else pulls out between now and May (when we're going) because we're now at minimum numbers.
Also, though the activity centre has been really accommodating for all our random needs, the first set of invoices that I was sent through, in January, were incorrect - not least because they hadn't removed the two sets of deposits that I paid last year.  We have already past the 3month deadline for paying the final balance, and the invoices have still not been corrected.  I'm in this awkward situation where I don't want to pay them any more money until I know it's right, but I also don't want to forfeit out booking that as been many months in the waiting (or 'making' - I can't remember the right word).  But, things are looking good, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to pay the final amount this coming week.  And, we've managed to sort out various mementos and souvenirs for those attending who wanted them.

So last year, I organised a day trip in this country, that had problems.

This year, we're going to a 4 night residential in this country, and I've had problems.

Please, please, please remind me not to up the ante again, and attempt to organise a residential either for longer time or in a different country.  Nope.  I don't want to do it.

Why are Women’s Clothes Policed?

Why are women not afforded the same rights in regard to choosing their own clothes? Ideally, I think everybody should be able to wear whatever they want, or not, because ideally people wouldn’t be wearing clothing with offensive or hateful slogans. But even with that caveat, why can’t everybody wear whatever they want, or not? (The ‘not’ is in there, because I think everybody should be free to not wear clothes if they wish. I’m a big supporter of the TopFreedom movement.) 

Just today, I saw an article about Decathlon selling sports-headwear for Muslim women, and I thought that was such a good idea. That will allow Muslim women to take part in sports that they may otherwise be unable or unwilling to. However, I then read on in the article to discover that these piece of clothing has been banned in France. France has already banned face coverings for Muslim women, and any form of religious dress (ie headscarves and turbans) in French schools.

I am aware that some men force women to wear full body coverings as a form of subjugation, and that Islam doesn’t specify that women must wear such clothes. However, conversely, some women prefer to wear such clothing because they don’t want their bodies scrutinised by men, or other women; they don’t want to receive unwanted attention; and simply, they like to wear a burqa (for example) as outwear, whilst still wearing their usual clothing underneath. Assuming that the women have a genuine choice, Let Them Choose!

Women of all walks of life are bombarded with messages about what they should look like, what they should wear, and how they should never wear the other… Women’s gossip magazines are undoubtedly the worst, but with the rise of social media, whether it be through FB or YouTube Influencers, the message is getting out that women should look as best they can for other people. I even read an article that was shared recently called 10 Ways your clothes reveal your heart at church  and it included the line “One can tell a lot about a woman that didn’t even have time to swipe concealer under her eyes before leaving the house.” Really? You see a woman who isn’t wearing make-up and you automatically make a judgement?! On the whole, I don’t wear make-up. It’s a choice I make, because I see it as a waste of my time. If I’m going out somewhere particularly nice, I’ll like to dress up, but otherwise, no. Isn’t sad that a woman feels they can’t leave their house without being plastered in war paint? [See, I can be judgemental too!] Why can’t a woman be free to not wear make-up if they don’t want to, or wear make-up should they wish? Whatever choice a woman makes, they feel judged for that choice, and it affects youngsters too. Even my 11yo daughter refuses to leave the house without at least foundation on. At the moment there is a reason, she is suffering with pimples younger than her peers, but I hope as she grows up she realises that it is truly her choice whether to adorn her face with make-up or not.

And if a woman does wear make-up, and dress up nice, and she goes out, there is the assumption that she is doing that for attention, rather than for herself. And if she were unlucky enough to be attacked or assaulted when dressed like that, the blame is put at her feet. Things are slowly starting to change, thanks in part to artists like Jen Brockman who are purposely drawing people’s attention to clothing through various art instalations.  

I saw a video that was shared on FB recently about the ludicrousness of blaming the victim, when gender roles were switched. A man had been mugged and had his watch and wallet stolen, but who could blame the mugger when the man went out dressed in a suit, clearly advertising that he was wealthy… I thought it was a fairly good analogy when I saw the clip – until a friend pointed out the canned laughter in the background (I had watched it in silence with subtitles, so had much more impact.) 

Picture: ABSOLUTE/D'ARCANGELI

And though this rant was originally about what women wear, why can’t men wear what they want too? If a man (or boy) wants to wear pink, why not? If they want to wear a dress, or heels, why should we stop them? Why should we assume that because they do like “women’s clothes” or “women’s colours” that they must be gay or transgendered or anything else? Why can’t we just view them as who they are?

Slow Cooker Bread Recipe

One of the pages I follow on FB is the Bootstrap Cook, and recently she has posted her slow cooker bread recipe.  Again, this is something that I hadn't considered using my slow cooker for, so I thought I would give it a go, to go with the Chicken and Basil Stew I'm making for dinner tonight.

The recipe can be found in full on Jack Monroe's blog so I won't create it here, but it took less than 15min prep, before being in the slow cooker for 1.5hrs, and then a further 40min to cook the underside.  I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I used 360g of flour (because the packet was nearly finished so I chucked the rest in) which probably resulted in a bit more water being used, but I didn't measure it out properly.  I also didn't leave the bread to rest for 20min before putting in the slow cooker -I just put it straight in on top of some mixed seeds, and sprinkled more on the top of the bread too.  (Reading through the recipe, I couldn't work out which side of the bread is going to be the top or not.)  After the suggested time, the bread didn't sound quite hollow (I'm guessing because there was more flour) and it didn't rise as much as expected, so maybe next time I will leave it to rise before I start cooking it.

The bread was really tasty, but a bit dense, so for me and my slow cooker, there's definitely need to let it rise. Not bad for a first try.
I can imagine that if it was cut thinly, then toasted lightly with a smothering of butter - Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!

Vegan Chocolate Mousse/Hummus Recipe

I saw something on Facebook recently called Chocolate Hummus. I'd never heard of it before, but have made chocolate mousse recipes using chia seeds before.  Despite, not being able to find the recipe I saw again, I decided to have a go and make it up.

I used:

Tin of chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 ripe avocado
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Then, I put them all in a blender and blitzed.
Simples.

Now, if I'm honest, I should have used my big, proper, powerful blender, rather than my hand-blender, as the texture was a bit weird - I'd prefer it to be smoother. 
The taste, however, was really nice. I think some added dates would make it taste a bit more like chocolate fudge, but overall was a good experiment. It made 4 portions, which are now sitting in my fridge, ready for when I next fancy something sweet.  I did lick out the bowl (as you do) and it is quite sweet, so could conceivably be split into 6 or 8 portions.

I used Explore Food Calculator to look at the nutrition of my recipe.  Per portion (a quarter of the mixture) it contains 10g of protein, 7g of sugar, and 9g of fibre. 
Not bad for a sweet treat that took less than 5min to make!

Can you make money from blogging?

For me personally, up to now the answer has been no. 

That's not a surprised to me, as I know I haven't been putting in the hours that some people do. I am not expecting to make megabucks, or become famous, or anything like that, though a bit of pocket money would be nice.  This blog was set up to see how far it would reach, because my elder daughter wants to blog and vlog when she is older.

As expected, my main audience is in the UK and USA, and I know I have a friend in Australia who checks in.  What has surprised me is the size of the audience I have in France, Germany and India! Bonjour, Guten Tag and Apologies to any Indian followers that I do not know how to speak, let alone write, any of the languages from India.

One of my friends, who admittedly works harder than I do, started a blog at a similar time to me.  Rather than be anonymous, she regularly shares with all her friends, and has lots of followers both on the blog itself and on her Facebook Page.  I, on the other hand, have many fewer*: Follow this Blog, Like my Page and share with your friends!

*Is it Much Fewer, Many Fewer, Much Less or Many Less?  I feel it could be any of them except many less.  Fewer is for discrete objects, and people are discrete rather than continuous - I hope I don't come across half a person, for example! 

Anyway, back to my friend.  She gets sent products to review and keep - why haven't I thought of that!?! So any authors out there, who want me to review your book, I would be delighted to read and review them.  Any writers (cooks/chefs/other) of cookery books, especially ones purporting to aide weight loss, healthy eating, low carb etc I will definitely like to review and try out some of the recipes.  And anyone else who wants me to review anything, please get in touch, or I might have to do it the hard way, and actually write to publishers, manufacturers, and promoters myself.

It has sparked a thought, that I have had in the past, before I even started up my blog, about joining Amazon Associates.  It is actually much easier than I thought, and I can now say "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases".  I just need to go back through my blog, updating everywhere I have linked to an Amazon book.

Januhairy

I saw the Januhairy campaign for the first time on BBC News and its ethos fits into why I consider myself a naturist - promoting real bodies (or body hair in this case) in order to promote true body confidence. 

I think it is important for men and women to realise what normal, natural women's bodies look like - in particular, that there is no such thing as "normal".  Additionally, we live in a patriarchal society and it is important, that as women, we learn to determine what things we are genuinely choosing to do, and what things we do because we feel we have to, due to pressure from society.

Some aspects of this are easy or difficult for different people.  For example, my mother never leaves the house without her "war paint" on, as she puts it.  I, on the other hand, rarely wear make-up unless going out and wanting to feel a bit extra special.  I have been told by my mum that I should wear make-up daily as I would look better (this was especially true before my Papilopustular Rosacea was diagnosed and treated), however I believe that I'm not there to make other people feel good about looking at me.  If I don't look how you want, don't look. Simple.

If we go on to talk about hair, I'm a bit of a Hairy Mary.  My hair is dark, strong and grows fast.  I've got a sensitive nose, so am very conscious about whether I smell or not (especially as some people say that you can't smell yourself until BO is really bad) because I can always smell me, even after I've come straight out of the shower.  As such, I always shave under my arms, so there is nothing for the bacteria that creates BO to hold on to.  I don't do this for other people, but for myself because it makes me feel clean.  Though I don't hold on to it myself, I've heard other women say similar about their pubic hair.

Leg hair, however, is something totally different and is where my confusion/conformity/hypocrisy kicks in.  I don't like shaving my legs, I really don't.  It takes up too much time and effort, imo, and women's razors are far too expensive. I have discussed this with my gorgeous husband, and he would be happy for me to not shave my legs - it's up to me.  However, I can't.  I can go for winter without shaving my legs, wearing trousers or thick tights all season.  I have even started being brave (for it is brave for me) and started going swimming without shaving my legs; figuring that if my legs keep moving, then nobody can see the hairs anyway.  I can't, however, wear a skirt with bare, hairy legs.  I can't.  I would like too, but years of conditioning means it's too big a step for me at the moment.  The closest I can get right now, is to share a quick snap of my lower legs on anonymous blog.

So kudos for all the women taking part in Januhairy, whether it be a month-long experiment, to raise money for charity, or a longer term thing.  I hope that one day I can join you, and that in the future my girls do not feel the same pressure to conform to an idealised image.

Happy New Year!

The Christmas season has passed by very quickly! 

We had a quiet Christmas day at home with just the four of us.  It was really relaxed, good company and good food.  The week after Christmas we visited my family in one part of the country and my husband's family in another.  Then we spent New Year's evening at a friend's house playing games whilst our children played together elsewhere.  And now we're back to reality with a bump. (Not literal - I am certainly not pregnant, now missing several vital parts! lol)

I enjoy getting a calendar every year from the girls for Christmas, and like to spend my NY day copying across new information and schedules.  This seems to be the worst year yet, as after this week, EVERY week is packed.  And my husband has finally badgered me enough to use a shared calendar on our phones, so I've put everything there too - only for him to say there's too much going on and he doesn't know when he needs to be where.  Men!

After chatting with the girls about any resolutions they may have, we have all decided to work together and help each other to achieve them.  My daughters' resolutions are to do with self-care (eg actually brushing their hair daily) and keeping their rooms tidy.

We don't have any pets.  I am allergic to cats and dogs, and other animals, but have said I would consider getting a dog, if... Now, I'm not stupid enough to say "if you look after it" because I'm the adult and I know my children won't immediately be able to switch on that responsibility.  It would be unfair on the dog for it to arrive and for me to not pick up the slack.  So, I went with something else. ...you can prove you're responsible enough to have a pet by keeping your bedrooms tidy for 6 months in a row.  Not perfect.  Not "showhome".  But reasonably tidy and having a clear floor at the end of the day.  My children's bedrooms are not massive, especially given the number of toys they own, but they do have a playroom where all their junk toys can be thrown stored, and I haven't said that room has to be tidy.  Thankfully for me, it's at the top of the house, so I don't have to think about it!

As for me, my resolutions are to do with self-care too.  Namely, being positive in my mind, being positive about how I fuel my body, and being positive about moving my body more.  I am changing my mindset, so there is no such thing as "failure" or "bad days", but instead they are learning opportunities, from which I can grow, learn and do better next time.

2B Mindset has a sale going on some of its products.
And BodyGroove has a 30day challenge for you to join in and move your body!

How do you choose a book?

After discussing various options for a book cover, it was noticeable that I was the odd-one-out and I'm attracted to different book covers than most other people.  I was asked how I choose a book, and I realised I rarely look at the cover at all.

If I'm in a bookshop (which tbh I try to avoid as they are dangerous places for me! lol), I look at the title on the spine.  Then, if the title grabs me, I'll read the blurb on the back, and more often than no, that book'll end up in the basket for me to buy.  If I'm buying a book for someone else, I tend to look a bit more thoroughly, looking at the font and whether there are any illustrations etc. In this case, I may look at the front cover because I know, for example, my children are a lot more fussy regarding what a book looks like.



If I'm choosing a Kindle book (which I do far more often simply because I've a huge pile of books by my bed, most of my house is covered in bookshelves and they're all at least 2 books deep) then it depends if it was a recommendation or not.  Recommendations get immediately put on my Amazon Wishlist, so I can buy them if I receive vouchers for Christmas or my Birthday. 

Otherwise, the first thing I do is sort by price low-high.  I read the title, and then I read the blurb.  If it's free and I like it, it immediately gets bought and added to my Kindle.  Most of the books on my Kindle are free ones.  I'm not stupid - I know it's a ploy by the author to get you hooked, so you end up buying the rest of the series.  And yet, I still get hooked.  some of the free books are not very good or not to my taste.  Unless it's absolutely awful or objectionable, I won't review it.  For example, it's not fair for me to say such-and-such isn't a good book, when other people may enjoy it, it's just a subject matter that doesn't turn me on.  I do have favourite genres: fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, mystery and romance, (yes, all those are favourites) but if a book is free I'll give any topic a go.

So, where do I get my free books from?  Sometimes it is a simple Amazon search.  I follow Bookbub on Facebook which promotes free books frequently, and there are other Facebook groups which share and recommend books that are free for short periods of time, such as Christian e-book downloads.  Whilst these are sources of free books, I try not to search out free books too often as I've a huge reading list - I have over 500 unread books on my kindle, that I am slowly working my way through, but I'm trying not to download any more, until I have read a decent number of them.  That is, I'm trying not to download any more starter-books; obviously I need to get the subsequent books in the series! Which reminds me...

Crazy Thoughts

So, since passing the 2B Mindset Mentor Certification last night, I've been having some crazy thoughts.

I would like to help other people, and preferably make money doing it.  However, I'm not sure I want to become a Beachbody Coach.  Whilst I would like to get commission for selling the 2B Mindset, from what I've read, in order to make money as a Beachbody Coach you have to sell a lot of products, not least because you have to pay to be able to call yourself a Beachbody Coach.  Doing the 2B Mindset, I like the fact that anyone can do it, and you don't need any specific equipment (except purchasing the videos in the first instance, and a set of scales to monitor your progress) nor any supplements.  One such supplement is Shakeology, and I know people who absolutely love it, so have no qualms promoting and selling it.  That's not me, however.  If people want to have shakes every day and it suits your lifestyle, great.  But, I don't want to feel that I have to flog endless amounts of something I don't use (I prefer to make a green smoothie from scratch) in order to make a profit.  Not only that, in order to progress through the ranks, you need to recruit people to become coaches themselves, and again, that doesn't sit well with my personality.



As I'm now qualified, I can join the Master Team, which does cost a nominal amount, but I don't know what it involves?  If I can make money through it without being a Beachbody Coach, then it's probably worth it for me. However, if all the Tips, Support and Community are specifically for building up the 2B aspect of being a Beachbody Coach, then I don't think I want it.


Now, this is where my thinking is starting to go a bit silly...


Another Health/Wellbeing/Fitness thing I really like is Body Groove and The World Groove Movement.  Personally, I love dancing.  I like how I feel when I've been dancing; whether that be in a Ceroc Class (which I love, but am not particularly good at), in a club/party or even just dancing
round my living room in my slipper-socks.  I've been following Misty Tripoli on Facebook for a few years now, and it's something that I think fits really well with the 2B Mindset of positivity towards our health and our bodies.

There is training coming to the UK in March!  I don't know if I'm going through a mid-life crisis atm (though of course, I'm not yet middle aged), or if I have more confidence after recently starting an Adult Musical Theatre class, or if I'm finally at the age where I don't give a fuck anymore and want to do what I want, but I'm really really really really tempted to sign up for it.  It's "only" $500, and as it's in London I'll have to pay for transport and a hotel for that weekend.  Ahem, I'm not made of money! And I haven't yet discussed it with my husband, either...

Again, it's one of those things that if I become qualified I'll have to pay annually to be able to use the Groove trademark etc, but is a similar cost to the 2B costs so not too bad.  I've done a basic cost outline, and if I can hire the dance studio my girls go to (which do hire them out for fitness classes) and charge £7 per hour session, for 42 weeks of the year (roughly term-time), then I only need 4 people to come each week to make a profit [excluding the initial training costs].  That also excludes insurance, which I haven't considered at all yet.  But 4 people a week, doesn't seem impossible.  And whilst I don't necessarily feel comfortable dancing in front of loads of people, in this situation everyone is in their own zone, rather than watching/copying each other, so I'd only have to shout out various instructions (and join in), rather than teaching a set routine with all eyes on me.

I think it's do-able, but I don't know if I'm crazy?

I am a Certified 2B Mindset Mentor!

Finally finished the course tonight, and just aced the exam!

Now I can use various logos like these!

I did the course mainly for my own learning, rather than specifically to start a business up, so I will need to make some decisions about where I want to take this, and I have a few questions of my own. 
Not least to consider, is that if I do become a 2B Coach and start mentoring people, I will need to shed my veil of anonymity.  (Though truthfully, I genuinely look like this.)

But, in the meantime, it has made me realise that I need to keep my focus to achieve my goals.
And if I can do it, truly anyone can! 

One thing in particular I need to do is to track more effectively.  I have been tracking on Facebook, and doing a week within a post.  I'm crap at using my phone, so generally have been tracking at the end of the day, when I've forgotten most things that have passed my lips, or simply cba to write the detail.  so, instead, I am going to try tracking daily on FB.  It means there will be more posts from me, but I will be able to add everything at the time, and be truly authentic.
Musings of a Middle-aged Mum Facebook Page

If you are interested in following the 2B Mindset, which really is a lifestyle and not a diet (not least because you are free to eat anything you want) follow this link: https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/nutrition/2b-mindset
And if you want me to be your coach please get in touch via Messenger on Facebook.

So here's to more positivity and more weightloss!

Spiritual Gifts

Growth group over the passed few weeks, unintentionally (from our human pov) the topic of Spiritual Gifts has come up multiple times, and how we should be using them for the church. God has given each of us at least one gift, and it is our responsibility to use it. I do believe this. However, I struggle to identify what my gift(s) are.

As an administrator you have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by organizing, administering, promoting, and leading the various affairs of the church. … You will put a plan on paper and start delegating responsibility. You may lean toward organizing things, events or programs, ... you usually organize details and have people carry them out. ... You are serious minded, highly motivated, intense, and have an accurate self-image. You tend to be more interested in the welfare of the group than your own desire. 


As a teacher you are one who communicates knowledge, guides, makes known or relays facts. You are likely more in-depth than the average Sunday school teacher. ... As a teacher you live to learn and teach (or perhaps write if you teach through the written medium). ... You love the Word, enjoy reading, may be a little shy of strangers, are creative and imaginative, and prefer teaching groups over individuals. You are generally confident, self-disciplined, and sometimes technical. You probably love charts, graphs, and lists. … The use of a verse out of context upsets you and you question the knowledge of those who teach you. You are organized and enjoy studying.
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When I was a teenager I used to attend Good News Crusade’s summer camp as part of their Maintenance Team (now called EdgeFest). I used to really enjoy working hard for God, whether it be erecting marquees, setting out chairs, tidying litter, helping in the kitchen, or my favourite job – operating the OHP screen. Not only do I love worship music, but at camp the worship would seamlessly flow as God’s presence became almost tangible amongst us, and the worship band would go off-course and sing songs that they didn’t plan to. My job, then, was to hurriedly look through the lever arch file of acetates with lyrics on them, and find the correct song, hopefully before the end of the first verse.

As the Holy Spirit was moving throughout us, many people were experiencing and enabling various gifts such as speaking in tongues, healing, prophesying etc. I don’t speak in tongues, and one year I cried out to God about it. I am authentic, and yes, I could have babbled “Lalala Alleluia Lala Rum Tum Tugger Alleluia” just to fit in, but that’s not me. And having heard people speak in tongues, it would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Speaking in tongues is clearly a language, even if I can’t understand it, and is so beautiful. Anything I attempt to make up would fail in comparison.

So, I prayed to God. All things are possible with God. So, why couldn’t I?

Anyway, God answered my prayer. I spoke in tongues and couldn’t believe it. It was not me, I was simply letting the Holy Spirit speak through me. And then God said to me that all things are indeed possible for Him; however, speaking in tongues is not the gift he has chosen for me. I’ve not been able to recreate it since, but am happy to know that God is in charge.

One of the books I am currently reading recommended an online quiz that can help identify what your spiritual gifts are. I do enjoy a good quiz, whether it be “what colour nail varnish should you wear?”, “what My Little Pony are you?” or something a bit more serious like “what’s your IQ” or “how neurotypical are you?”. I finally got around to doing this quiz this morning. It was a lot quicker than I expected, helped that each question only had three options – yes, no and maybe. The quiz does ask for your email address, but it did email me my results. The quiz itself is totally free, but if you want to know more information or dig deeper into what the spiritual gifts are, then you would need to pay for that.

The quiz separates spiritual gifts into three categories: Miraculous Gifts, Enabling Gifts and Team Gifts; and is used to determine what Team Gifts you as an individual have – split into service, ministry, task-orientated and activity (such as teaching).

The website says:

Three categories of spiritual gifts exist 

CATEGORY ONE: The Miraculous Gifts, generally known today as Charismatic Gifts (apostles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, and miracles). 

CATEGORY TWO: The Enabling Gifts, which all Christians have the ability to develop (faith, discernment, wisdom, and knowledge -- qualities possessed rather than activities performed). Many scholars combine these gifts with others, based on the similarity of these gift characteristics and the synonyms used by Paul to describe them in Scripture. For example, some scholars combine Discernment with Prophecy, Knowledge with Teaching, Wisdom with Exhortation, and Hospitality with Serving. 

CATEGORY THREE: the Team Gifts, which are service-, ministry-, task-oriented or are activities performed such as teaching. The Team Gifts are functional and involve speaking or ministering. Chances are, you have several of these gifts that vary in degrees and intensity. In many cases, spiritual gifts may complement your secular employment. The Spiritual Gifts Analysis you took identified your dominant TEAM GIFTS, which will help find your place on God's team in your church.

The results are scored according to the following categories so you can see which gift or gifts are dominant for you: Evangelism, Prophecy, Teaching, Exhortation, Shepherding, Showing Mercy, Serving, Giving, and Administration. Now, I don’t know anybody else who has completed the quiz, so I don’t know if it’s considered roughly accurate or not, but I thought I would share my results with you, so at least I now have a starting point.

My dominant gifts are Mercy Showing, Administration and Teaching. The results then give a long paragraph about each gift. I will quote snippets that I think do apply to me, though it may be that there is some sort of bias in the phraseology such that everybody can pick out bits that apply to themselves? I don’t know.

Mercy Showing

As a mercy-shower you have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by identifying with and comforting those who are in distress. You understand and comfort your fellow Christian. … As a mercy-shower you are willing to deal with and minister to people who have needs that most people feel very uncomfortable working with. You seem to say the right thing at the right time…. You are easy to talk to, responsive to people, a good listener, peaceable, and agreeable. … In your burden to comfort others, your heart goes out to the poor, the aged, the ill, the underprivileged, and so on.

Administration

As an administrator you have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by organizing, administering, promoting, and leading the various affairs of the church. … You will put a plan on paper and start delegating responsibility. You may lean toward organizing things, events or programs, ... you usually organize details and have people carry them out. ... You are serious minded, highly motivated, intense, and have an accurate self-image. You tend to be more interested in the welfare of the group than your own desire.

Teaching

As a teacher you are one who communicates knowledge, guides, makes known or relays facts. You are likely more in-depth than the average Sunday school teacher. ... As a teacher you live to learn and teach (or perhaps write if you teach through the written medium). ... You love the Word, enjoy reading, may be a little shy of strangers, are creative and imaginative, and prefer teaching groups over individuals. You are generally confident, self-disciplined, and sometimes technical. You probably love charts, graphs, and lists. … The use of a verse out of context upsets you and you question the knowledge of those who teach you. You are organized and enjoy studying. 

My heart does go out to others: I have been technically homeless as a child (we lived in a Women’s Refuge for 6 months), and have had little money, so I do pray for those less fortunate than myself, and give to the foodbank and charity shops when I can. I do love admin; organising events, groups, anything. At this very moment I am organising a residential trip for fellow home educators next year, I am sorting out (and will be purchasing) what people want to do with the vouchers we won for coming first place in Beat the Street, I volunteer for an online home education website that I co-founded; I am admin for multiple facebook groups and a yahoo group, and there’s probably more that I’ve forgotten. I do genuinely enjoy organising (especially if I get to organise other people). And teaching is something I always wanted to do as a child. As I grew up, I went into industry, and now I have gone back to my roots and have been a private tutor for nearly 10 years. Whilst I don’t feel like I’m qualified for teaching within the church (not least because I’m aware that some of my beliefs are not traditional), teaching “through the written medium” aka this blog, does make sense to me and my passions. And researching and studying? Love it!

So what am I going to do with this new found knowledge? I don’t know yet. I will pray some more, asking God for direction. I will also talk to my church leader about how best to use my skills for the benefit of the church, whatever form that takes.