Behind The Scenes 07 January 2022 – Burn Out And Getting Ready For The New School Year 2022

The festive season flew by and now I’m already getting ready for the new school year 2022. It feels like yesterday when schools broke up and now my kids are going back to school next week. It’s been a fantastic festive season in many ways, but in others it was incredibly trying.

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The Festive Season

It was amazing getting to see my parents and my sister over the festive period. It was also great when they left and my parents took my kids back with them to the farm. While I miss my kids like crazy having a mom break for a week really helps me to regain my energy and practice a bit of self-care. My kids got back on Tuesday and we are spending the last few days of school holidays on the beach and fun activities at home.

I love baking during the holidays. It gives me something fun to do with my kids, plus of course I’m a big fan of eating and I can incorporate awesome recipes I try on my blog which means I’m still technically working.

Big Time Burn Out

I knew I was feeling done in at the end of last year and I’ve been taking strain but I never realized how burnt out I became until my sister in law phoned me and asked me if I am taking my psychiatric mediation as prescribed. Clearly I was not holding it together as well as I thought if I have to have a check in like that.

Thankfully with my kids away for a week it gave me time to rest and recuperate, although I am not exactly feeling rested. This means I still need to rest and take it as easy as I can even though it is time to get prepared for the new school year. I’ve ordered all the stationery and textbooks, and uniforms are in order so there is not too much left to do.

It was fantastic having Freddy van Rensburg (friend, fellow addict in recovery, counselor and author) join me live this morning to talk about burn out and share tips on how to cope and recover. He wrote a fantastic post on his website about burnout.

 

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Fun With Nova-Choc-Oh-Late

As mentioned above I love baking during the holidays. This week we made some dark chocolate button cookies with the dark chocolate baking buttons I received from Nova Choc-Oh-Late. They came out really well and were a huge hit with my family. They did not last more than 24 hours.

Click here for the recipe.

The milk chocolate baking buttons are probably not going to make it into any baked goods. After sampling them my kids and I have been eating them as is. We did use some to make some chocolate sauce for our waffles but other than that we have been eating them out the bag because they are so good. Sorry Nova Choc-Oh-Late, sometimes I have no control.

 

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Happy Event Body Butter Review

I’m behind my plan with all the reviews I need to write but this week I did get out my Happy Event body butter review which has been pending for a few weeks. I’m a huge fan of the Happy Event brand and loved the body butter. Click here to read my review and enter the giveaway to win 1 of 2 Happy Event body butter hampers.

Ysense Earnings Update

I’m so chuffed with my Ysense earnings for December – I made $120.80 (R1905.07) and my goal for January is to make $200+. I’ve made $21.98 (R346.63) so far this month. The last week has been really slow with online surveys at Ysense. I can only assume it is the time of year. Since real companies are behind the reviews and most companies are closed for a period over the festive season it makes sense. Although it was disappointing to lose the momentum I had with my earnings.

Click here to join Ysense and click here to read my Ysense review. I also wrote a post recently on how to increase your earnings through Ysense.

So many moms have shown an interest in earning online so I also recently published a post sharing some fun ways to make money online from home.

It was a great achievement cashing out enough in Amazon gift cards to buy the period panties I’ve been wanting to buy for my teen girl. The best was that I was needing $42 for the purchase including delivery and import taxes, but when I placed my order the price was reduced so I only spent $35.07 – bonus!

These period panties are the last things on my list of things to be fully prepared for menstruation. I will be writing a post about preparing for menstruation soon.

Through cashing out 9 x $5 Amazon gift cards I learned something new about cashing out via Amazon gift card from Ysense – you are limited to cashing out in this way to twice in a 24 hour period. So you can cash out maximum $10 per day to Amazon gift card. Previously I’ve only ever cashed out one $5 Amazon gift card at a time.

This means if you want to make purchases on Amazon only with gift cards make sure to start cashing out as soon as you can and regularly so the gift cards can add up.

Blogging Courses – Still In The Pipeline!

I’ve wanted to create my own courses on blogging for a long time and I have started setting out the courses and lessons, but I am finding it so hard to find the time to create all the videos. It is high on my list of things to do so hopefully I will be able to launch that soon. I don’t know everything there is to know about blogging and I am certainly not a techie person, but I have been blogging for a while and I have some cool things to share about blogging.

Wish me luck finding the time and energy to fit that into my schedule soon!

I hope you have all had a fantastic week and that you are well on your way to getting ready for the new school year 2022.