I had super-good intentions of returning to, if not daily, then more regular blogging and then end-of-year catastrophe hit at SML and I had to jump in and help save the day. This meant working most of last weekend and until around 10pm each evening to help get things back on track. Yuck – I thought I was past such things.

Long time readers may recall that SML was rife with dysfunction for many years and for a couple of those years missed targets in the millions of dollars. There was a Reckoning and I was brought in as a Fixer to set up systems and processes to, well, fix things. This I did and last year handed over to another team to keep everything trucking along while I moved on to something sexier.

Last week the wheels fell off – well, to be fair they’d fallen off sometime earlier, but this was being kept rather hidden. I happened to attend a meeting I’m an optional at, realised how utterly dire things were and jumped back in and brought a calm head and m4d planning sk1llz. I think we’re now all good, but yikes – it was touch and go there for a bit! We’re jumping back in in July for a Lessons Learned – which will be fun.

Biggest lessons learned for the team: ask for help! escalate if others are not delivering! you are not alone! Honestly, we’re not very good in setting people up for success.

But all this means that the majority of my sexy job is happening without me – thank TheUniverse I have good people in place.

Bobs has complimented me on showing leadership. I responded that he’d better remember this at bonus time.

And thankfully Don ensured I was fed and watered because toward the end my brain was completely broken.

xxx

So, what else has been happening in the carolbaby universe?

Before we went to Japan** I developed a mild obsession with yoga and was attending classes 3x a week. It was so fun! I was so happy! Since returning, what with one thing and another, I’ve only really been doing the Saturday morning class. Last Saturday we were doing a heck of a lot of downward dog, plank and chaturanga dandasana.

Because I’m such a delicate petal, by the end my wrists and hands were killing me. Add to this the extra computer work I was doing, because catastrophe, and you can see where this is going. Yesterday saw me at the GP because my right hand was quite swollen and painful. Not immediately obvious what the problem is, so I’m off for an ultrasound and x-ray on Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, I’m trying to use the mouse with my left hand, which is really challenging but no doubt Very Good for my brain.

What this means is no yoga for me today, which is not an option I’m enthused by. This is not the first time this hand issue has happened – I was feeling twinges during the 100 pushups projects and also with the bike riding – but this is definitely the most painful.

I was hoping to extend to yoga 4 days per week for the next term which starts in July, but I suspect this might be a quite Stupid Idea. We’ll see what the scans reveal.

xxx

Joan arrived safely after the epic journey to the UK, dumped her belongings into storage and is now jet-setting around Europe for a few weeks. She’s the happiest and most enthusiastic she’s sounded, well, for years.

It is VERY strange without her in ThePalace(Of Love). It’s quiet and we have all this extra space we’re not entirely sure what to do with.

I’m also quite lost at having no-one to constantly offer value-adding life advice.

xxx

I’m still 5:2ing, which now bears very little resemblance to 5:2. My diet consists of 3-4 days with no food until I get home from SML, and then eating as normal. This strategy is proving quite efficacious and easy to keep up.

I’ve dropped the 10kg I gained last year and I feel much more alive and energetic – except for that hand pain.

xxx

The remainder of today? Catching up on housework, personal admin, ironing and maybe adding to my sensible shoes collection.

Living the dream!

xxx

** I’m sure I’ll stop using Japan as a date reference at some point.