Blogs & grey hair...

My mind has been racing with things to put on the blog, but everytime I sit down to write, I seem to forget what they were! And then I think of that farmer in the Barnyard movie, when he says that his wife’s mind is gooooooone! That’s how I feel! I keep on having to back track, just to go find my train of thought again! Have you ever done that? You know, retracing your steps, talking to yourself: “I was here, then I went to get that, then I packed that away, then I…. oh YES! THAT’s what I wanted to do!” Terrible, I tell you, terrible! And I’m still relatively young! My mother is only getting to that stage NOW. How did I get the bug so early? And when your’e busy with something, and someone interrupts you… try getting back on track after that! My hubby jokes that I’m getting old, but I think I work too hard! You should see how grey I am…

Speaking of grey… My sister is a hairdresser, actually she teaches other people how to be a hairdresser – excuse me, STYLIST. You would think that this would mean that I look fabulous all the time… but sadly no. The poor thing is pregnant with her second child, and it’s murder to try and find a spot to get in for a colour with her with her busy program. So, being the hands on person I am, I went and bought a cheap hair colour to tie me over untill she could fit me in again. I was REALLY grey and felt very selfconsious when I dealth with clients, so I just had to do something! Last Saturday I took the big leap and did my own “touchup” on the grey with this unknown colour. Although I have done a full hair colour a few times before, I’ve never tried to only do the grey part. And… it didn’t come out half bad! Must be in the jeans! It’s a bit RED, but otherwise I’m very pleased with myself! This way at least I can help myself until I can get an appointment with my Personal Stylist!

The sun is shining today – just makes me feel alive! Be blessed everyone!

Yes, I'm fat...

I've been fat my whole life, well actually only since my parents lost everything when I was about 12 and I started eating to compensate for being uprooted to a new home, friends, etc. My mother and sister are both beautiful and thin, so people noticed them. I however have been blessed with a warm personality and wonderful thick red hear, so people REMEMBER me! And not for my weight! I recently found a whole lot of my old high school friends on facebook and was surprised about how many of the "skinny" ones got big after having children. So I'm not alone! And most don't remember my sister, only me because of my hair.

I have a wonderful husband who never says I am fat, as he eats right along side me! We LOVE food, the texture, the tastes - so my eating to feel better has gone over into an honest enjoyment of food, especially since hubby is a great cook. Now my mother and sister are still beautiful and I'm still the fat one, but I've learned to accept myself and try just to control it. Loosing weight is a major battle for me - just trying to not pick up more is easier.

My eldest daughter is slim and tall, and instead of telling her "you'll get fat if you eat so much" (like my mother told me, thereby speaking the condemnation into my life), I tell her that she should be active and try her best not to be fat like us. She loves fresh fruit and vegetables (as I do) so I give this instead of sweets. And I try to teach her moderation, a word I learned too late. My second daughter is a bit chubby, but then she's only 18 months old! We're trying to get her to be as active as her sister and to only speak positives into their lives. Hopefully this overweight thing stops here!

I was always very obsessed with my weight (not being able to get any off) when I was living at home. Since marrying my husband (who I met when I'd FINALLY dropped about 10kg's), I've been more focussed on the things he loves about me. He compliments me on tiny things and has a good eye for clothes to flatter my (big) body. Who wouldn't want someone like that in their lives?? Strangely enough, we were sitting last night, discussing the fact that we REALLY should do something about our respective weights, as we seem to just have GAINED again this winter. Come on summer, I need fruit and water!

So, my point is this: Surround yourself with people who love you and see the REAL you, and the rest will follow. And teach you children what you know now about weight gain! And the next time someone makes a weight comment to you or yours, please direct them to the nearest hairdresser so they can fix their shabby hair!

Where'd the sun go??

So, we set up the swimming pool up today (it’s deflatable) in the hope that summer will catch the hint and decide to return to Cape Town! The weather has been SO weird lately! Last weekend – summer, during the week – winter, this weekend – summer, this coming week – winter again! How is a girl supposed to do her washing (and with 2 kids there’s LOTS!) if the sun won’t show? I have to check the weather in advance on the internet just to plan when to do the washing. And if it rains the whole week, you should see what our house looks like! If you have the sun where you are, please send a little sun our way!

Trying to understand this blog business...

So, it’s been another day of work and life for me. I tried to write a blog about my hubby last night, but I seem to be doing something wrong. Every time, yes EVERY time, I finish the blog and click on post to blog, IT GOES POOF!! Gone… just gone…. ARGH NO!!!!! I saved every few lines, but it’s still gone! Ok, lesson well learned. Write it in Word first, then just copy and paste. And it was such a good blog! I’ll try to rewrite it again.


But for now I want to talk (type) about something else. I got a very disturbing email yesterday that called for action against child abuse. Now, as a mother of a 1 and 5 year old, this really UPSETS me! Especially because I had been molested as a child. I do however feel blessed to have a husband who would protect his daughters at any cost (more about him later!). We have a major problem in South Africa with child abuse and I wish we had more resources to tackle the problem. Every time I get an email with a tagline just MENTIONING child abuse, I have to delete it immediately, because if I read it first I end up sitting and crying for the better part of an hour. I pray for protection over my little ones every day and I will protect them with everything I have!! May God protect those poor children who don’t have caring parents to pray for their welfare. And here I sit bawling my eyes out again…

So I'm starting my own virtual business...

I started my own virtual business... What was I thinking??? This is difficult!! Ok, let me take a few steps back and get you in the loop of the last few weeks in my life:

It all started when the company both my husband and I work for, was unable to give us our annual salary increases. Everything here has gone up, but now our income stayed the same. What now? I desperately needed to supplement our income, so I posted a message on a Yahoo group I belong to for any ideas people might have on a legitimate second income. The ideas came in - some requiring money (halloooo I don't HAVE any!), some marketing related, but one really caught my interest and so my journey began. Since I am an Office Manager by profession, I wanted something along this line to do in my spare (spare? with two kids? HA!) time. So I started researching about becoming a VA or Virtual Assistant. Now, if you're a newbie at cyberspace, like me, you'd be asking "what's a VA?" In short, it's an admin assistant (secretary) who works from a virtual office (home) assisting people with their admin needs (in between a day job, running a home, the kids and hubby!).

I took the advice I got and joined a Yahoo group called TAVASA (Transcriptionist and VAs of South Africa), a wonderful group of ladies who were eager to help with setting up my business, answered all my questions and gave me helpful tips. As you can see from the group's name, I live in South Africa, a beautiful country full of natural resources, sea, sun and friendly people, just like TAVASA. I feel blessed living here, despite the high crime rate, because I love the people here. Where else would you find people who are willing to help you without expecting anything in return? Though the rest of the world seems to be digitally more advanced in using VAs, I was surprised to see that SA was not far behind and was eager to join them!

My best friend Elouize currently lives in Dubai (her husband is very much in demand as an air traffic controller) and she's been listening to my worries about our finances for the past few months. When I told her about this new venture, her comment was "great! What can I do to help?" (she's a legal PA). S0, with friend in tow, I chose a name, got an email address, set up the web page, designed the letterhead, wrote the business plan, etc etc, all while working full day and running a home and the kids... and almost crashed! We were planning on going "live" by the 1st of October, 2009 and I was working around the clock. And then it happened...

Shortly before the 1st, I asked Elouize to check the website in order for us to iron out some last minute wrinkles. She accidentally typed the web address in wrong... and landed on a page where another lady was using the SAME name as us, doing the SAME work we wanted to do. OH! MY! WORD!

"So?" she asks me via MSN live chat. "What now?" What now? NOW I did crash! I wanted to cry, scream, throw things!! It took all my courage not to lock myself in a closet somewhere! Do you know how hard I worked?? How I struggled to get everything in place and done in time?? WHAT NOW?? NOW, I calmed back down (VERY upset with myself for NOT surfing the net to see if the name was in use for the same reason we wanted to use it, a lesson well learned) and asked her opinion. She suggested we start afresh: new name, new logo, new outlook on life. So we started brainstorming again. What name will we use? Luckily for us, her hubby Dick was home and eagerly gave suggestions via MSN. Effective VA (nope), Overflow Execs (maybe), Chaos Crusaders (hahahahaha!) and finally Admin Aunties (EUREKA!!!!). So, after BOTH of us having surfed the net to make SURE the name is not in use, we found a cute logo, changed all our documentation, redesigned the web site - all before finally going live on the 5th of October, 2009. Not bad, actually.

And then came e-marketing. I had no idea it would be so much work! I'm STILL not finished! I think we're only listed on about 10% of the known sites, and I still have to find the UNknown ones! My diary has too few lines to write in every day... and I seem to get my ideas right before I fall asleep. So, I now keep a pen next to my bed (the pad has been confiscated by my 1 year old) and wake up every morning with illegible scribblings on my hands of things I need to remember to do that day! In the meantime our website http://adminaunties.yolasite.com/ 's webcounter is very SLOWLY counting away, I'm checking our email every day, we're sending out e-mails to prospective clients, etc etc... Soon, I tell you, SOON we'll be getting more work than we can handle! Poor Elouize is saddled with a friend and partner that can think of nothing but the business, probably driving her (and my hubby) crazy with my nerves!

So, I've decided to start the blog as an exhaust for all my stresses and ups and downs! I hope to keep you updated on what's happening at Admin Aunties, as well as blog some titbits about my wonderful, funny hubby and our life together. My two little girls are busy enough for a whole SERIES of blogs! But mostly, I love to write and I'm eager to see if I can BLOG!!

Come visit me again soon! Be blessed!