reality check - the on-my-left edition. in crawling into 2014.

WHERE: it is some time since my last reality check. I am currently lying on my bed on my left hand side, propped up by my gorgeous, hooge, Ikea pillow.

WEARING: if you all could sit down please, I have an announcement to make. I am fully clothed... I have a grey roll neck, long length sweater top on, figure hugging bright orange jeans and a variety of white coloured underwear.

FITNESS UPDATE: I saw my physio on Monday and he has finally given me the go ahead to train properly. Since December I've been allowed to plod but you just don't get anywhere with plodding! So on Tuesday morning I decided to see how fast I could run a mile. It was horrifically slow! However, on Thursday I did another tempo run (aka plodding) and suddenly I was running faster and more comfortably. I'll add in some hill sprints in the week after next. I finally feel excited about running. Tally and I ran 2.56 miles together on Sunday and I think I'll ask her to join me in running our local Race For Life in May/June :)

IN THE NEWS: Ukraine. Russia. Crimea. I don't like it, I really don't like it. I remember the underlying fear of my childhood, while the boys at primary school got excited at the prospect of a third world war, I always knew that it would be the end of civilisation. Then my teen years involved Reagan. Holy crap, that man's finger was twitching by the Big Red Button with anticipation! So, the news isn't making me jump with joy.

Locally, a two year old boy had his hand trapped in the barrier at our Tesco metro. He lost part of his finger and has been air lifted to Bristol hospital while Tesco have removed the barrier for further investigation.

READING: I'm still on Little Women in English. I'm struggling with the second part of the book as it loses its carefreeness. In Spanish I'm reading En El Rincón del Alma by Antonia J. Corrales.

ACTIVITIES TODAY: it's Friday so it was Toy Library. I hoiked all our ride-ons out as we have far too many! I found a tv in a dark corner! That's in the boot of my car ready to donate to charity, we sold a trike and have a car to sell. Things seem to be fitting much better now! The two year old I look after got a puzzle out that has eight pieces that make a bus shape plus two wheels and eight squares which slot into the Windows. Each window depicts a nursery rhyme. She put it all together, mostly in the right place, only a couple of pieces were wrong. Then put all the nursery rhyme pieces in absolutely correctly before starting to sing incie wincie spider (one of the songs it shows. I had to take a photo for her learning journey and fill out her next step in her tracker book :)

THINKING ABOUT: I'm not really sure. I'm glad that March seems to have brought spring with it. Finally the smells of spring, the clear skies with a hint of warmth, the sound of the birds getting ready to nest. Hope is finally easing its way into my soul. And that makes me happy. It's getting light around 6:30am and getting dark just before 6:30pm. It's close, so close.

PLANNING: after lila's swimming lesson tomorrow, me and the girls are going to drive to west London to visit my sister in her new flat. She moved there last weekend and the girls have been wanting to see it for months! Seriously she put the offer in last October but the chain of nine have had so many problems including one link not even having organised a mortgage!! They finally finalised it all a week ago today and she moved in on Saturday :)