Groovy Mum's - back at it

So I did the month long A-Z Challenge and think I burnt myself out a bit as I have just had a 2 week period of no blogs - one extreme to the next. I was away last week for a works meeting which was very full on plus with 600 delegates in the one hotel, the Internet connection was pretty rubbish to say the least unless I fancied getting up at 3am when less people were trying to use it.

Had lots going on, mostly good. I have missed my Groovy mums so hope I am back onto a regular thing here, and hello to all of you old and new

Here are this week's challenge ideas.
1. Body - Best Foot Forward
How are your feet?  Would you happily publish a photo of them on your blog or could they do with a little care and attention?  What could you do to treat your feet this week?

Strangely enough this is something I was only thinking about this week as my feet are a bit minging! Ever since I have started running I have more hard skin and with them getting wet in my trainers I am now suffering from athlete's foot and it is so painful, I had no idea. I am currently suffering at the mo and was thinking I needed to get the pumice stone out and some foot cream and give them some attention. The weather is doing nothing to inspire me to do it but seeing a selection of potential bridesmaids shoes for the wedding in September has inspired me!

2. Mind - New Words
I want you to find 3 new words this week and hopefully ones that mean something to you.

One of my new words which I am liking is cantankerous! I even did a blog post about it for C on the A-Z Challenge. It is just one of those words that rolls off the tongue and sounds nice. I like its meaning as well, grumpy! not me but it describes my hubby pretty well in the mornings!

Ergo is another word I came across this week which means therefore or as a result of. I kept reading this in some of the literature I am searching at the moment for work and admit I needed to look it up but it does sound so much better than therefore.

Abominate - believe it or not this is a word my 8 year old asked me about and now keeps using at every given opportunity. it means to 'hate something intensely'. He did make me laugh despite the circumstances the other night when he was chucking up at 3am and turned round and said he 'abominated being sick'!

3. Spirit - I always struggle to come up with a challenge for this one so if anyone has any ideas on how to move this one forwards, let me know.

For me I just need to believe in my spirit and believe in me again. My confidence is shot in all aspects and I can't really convince people to believe in me, if I don't. I need to like myself again and find me who I know is hiding in there.

4. Blogging - I am inviting you to get behind my new blog hop type thing which will take place on Fridays.  It is called Savvy Online Shoppers (SOS)  It is all about celebrating the things we buy online from the mundane to presents to the spectacular.   Come back here on Friday and find out more.

This sounds really interesting, I will try and log on for it on a Friday's. On-line shopping is something I am doing more of. I don't tend to buy clothes or shoes on line but I am buying more and more like books, dog things, food and presents.

5. Charity Connections - It is #charitytuesday so BritMums are asking people to blog about their charity shop finds and experiences.  If you write a blog, tweet @BritMums to let them know and they will promote the post for you to their thousands of followers.

Again I am using charity shops alot more. One of my new years resolutions was not to spend money on new clothes for me. However, there are things I do need or that need replacing so I am allowing myself only to buy things for myself either in sales or in charity shops (other than underwear or shoes which must be sales items) and it is working. I have had some good finds, most recently the perfect costume for a 1920's fancy dress we are going to.

I also urge you to read these two posts and to take action.  I am really disappointed at the numbers signing up to my #mums4good campaign so any help will be appreciated. Do click on the #mums4good on the sidebar and find out more.  Discovering what it is all about will only take a few minutes of your time .
http://kateonthinice.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/do-you-shop-online-if-you-do-check-this-free-way-to-help-a-great-cause/
http://kateonthinice.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/will-you-send-a-message/

I have signed up for this and will do a blog post about who I choose and why, please watch this space. Even though work is quieter this week, I am now playing catch up on so much admin and household/personal email stuff I still don't have much time! never ending!!
6. Special Days - Think about an important day for you that is coming up.  It might be a birthday, an anniversary, a day off from work/home or a holiday.  Commit now to making it really special for YOU.  How will you do that?
This year my birthday falls over the jubilee weekend so it is 4 days. Last year I decided to celebrate my birthday with a combined housewarming and invited loads of people, we spent lots on food for a BBQ and booze and on the actual day of the party we were left with my brother and his wife still coming, 2 friends and then 2 friends who were already busy and had promised to try and pop in for 30 minutes or so, so I threw my dolly out of the pram and got very upset about it and cancelled it. My brother bless him knew how upset I was and turned up anyway with alcohol, his wife and little girl and we had a really pleasant afternoon but not quite the party I had hoped for and to be honest, it blew my confidence so even though this would be the perfect year to make something of it, I have been a little burnt and don't want that feeling of being let down again.

I have just discovered though that I have enough air miles to get the 4 of us over to Nice, France on July for just £180.00 so I am trying to find some reasonable accommodation for a week and perhaps we may be going away - that makes me VERY excited. Mini Man is 5 and has never been on a proper holiday. Both boys are desperate to go on a plane so if I can make it happen I will!

7. Twitter Party - All mums and mum-friendly employers and businesses are invited to the #groovywork Twitter party tomorrow Wednesday 16th May from7-8pm.  If you have never attended a Twitter party before, fear now.  Just be on Twitter between 7pm and8pm (you don't have to be there all the time) and use hashtag #groovywork as we chat about all things work-related for mums.

As I am self employed, work from home and juggle my work with all the kids activities and the school runs I  really desperately want to take part in this but Little Man has athletics until 7.30 and there is little reception in the hall, and then it is straight home and bedtime so I am likely to miss it, I will try my best though.