Dare I say triumphant?

So another Tuesday meant another of my presentations at the weekly admin staff development sessions...only this time it was with a difference as I was attending a) for the full day and b) with my own admin group, so I had mixed feelings as on the one hand I was playing to the 'home team' where the subject matter would have much more relevance than in previous weeks - on the other hand I felt more pressure for the same reason.

As it turned out it all went very well and was received even more positively than I'd expected or hoped for. Being someone who's terrified by the thought of public speaking, it's been an amazing learning process and my confidence has grown over the weeks. Rating myself X Factor-style, the first couple of weeks I'd probably have put myself in the bottom two and voted myself off, but this is now the 5th one and on this performance I'm definitely through to next week's show (OK I'm not doing next week, but you get the idea).

It was an enjoyable day and I'm glad it went well. Now back to reality (work) tomorrow and trying to balance an ever increasing workload....

BST 2009, RIP / Clearout time! / Croak croak / 3lbs off

So British Summer Time is officially over. The clocks went back last night, it's 6pm and it's dark outside. If like me you suffer from 'SAD' syndrome, with a depression heightened by a lack of natural daylight, the period between the end of October and the end of March can be terrible at times. Having said that I managed to get through the whole of last winter without too many episodes of it, and am hoping for the same this year. Just need to keep myself occupied - won't have any problem with that as there is always lots to do!

Like one outstanding job which took all day today and couldn't wait any longer: the wardrobe/drawers clearout, to make room for my new autumn/winter clothes. There is now a very large pile of clothes in the corner of my bedroom which will be going off to the charity shops and hopefully their next owner will enjoy wearing them as much as I did.

The blogging is also very good therapy: there's always lots to write about at this time of year so it also takes my mind off the winter blues.

I have one horrible leftover from last week's cold-from-hell: can't stop coughing and my voice regularly breaks into a croak. My poor mum, whose list of health problems just seems to be getting longer and longer, now also has the very same cold too. As if she's not got enough to worry about :(

Good news: lost 3lbs last week. After quitting Weight Watchers I'm now on what I call the 'Frank Sinatra Plan' - I'm doing it 'My Way' (!) and not following any particular diet this time. As I wasn't well enough to exercise I just watched what I was eating and drank lots of water. Loving fruit at the moment, particularly raspberries which are just my most favourite fruit and as my dieting chums say that they are a particular 'fat burner'. There's quite a bit to burn so they will have their work cut out :)))) At least now I'm feeling better so I'm going to start exercising again this week.

Rotten cold, day 7....but there may be blogging ahead

I need the "Big Brother" voiceover for this one: "Day 7 in the 'rotten cold' house".

It finally got too much to take and I was sent home sick from work yesterday, as I reached the point where I couldn't function any more.

The rest of my day and night consisted of paracetamol, throat lozenges, and lots of sleep and rest. Anyway I'm feeling a lot better today, at least the extreme headaches and the sneezing have gone although I'm still coughing, breathless, choked up and am as white as a sheet, even paler than my usual complexion if that's possible. At least I'm well enough now to blog, so I'd better get on with it....

Rotten cold, day 5.

I thought it had gone away but it came back last night with a vengeance, the non-stop sneezing started (which I hadn't had in the beginning).

Hoped to do lots of blog posts this week but they'll just have to wait till I'm better :)

a) Cold; b) Does public speaking ever get any easier?

Right so anyway I'm now in the early stages of a rotten cold, my throat feels raw, (there aren't enough Strepsils in the world to soothe it) my ears are sore, the top half of my body aches and I generally feel like ****.

I would hazard a guess that faithful travelling companion, in his infinite generosity, probably passed it on to me at the weekend - he had a very similar cold at the beginning of last week. Although I'm trying not to name and shame and blame at this point, as there are millions of horrible little viruses floating around in the air at any given time.

And as if that's not bad enough, it's Tuesday tomorrow which of course is presentation-day, tomorrow will be the 4th one out of the 6 I have to do, next one is in two weeks at my own team's development day and the final one is in mid-November I think, then comes the massive sigh of relief :)

I'm my own biggest critic and I still don't feel satisfied with my performance. I know what I want to say and I'm glad I've got my notes to refer to, but standing up in a room and talking to a group of your peers doesn't get any less scary as the weeks go on. Suppose it will be better this week though, was in a bit of a panic last week about other stuff which thankfully sorted itself out.

Apart from all that, life is good, but I've been enjoying the good life a bit too much lately, cue the disappearance of the waistline and the unwanted return of the double chin. Must really get back into the fitness-thing after I feel better!