Behind The Scenes 21 January 2022 – 2022 Is In Full Swing!

This year is already flying by, I can’t believe we have already completed the second week of the new school year. Both parent teacher meetings for my children are done and dusted, and sports day has already happened. We’ve also attended two birthday parties and sports starts next week. Things are already in full swing behind the scenes 21 January 2022!

Miscarriage Anniversary

The beginning of every school year is stressful, and added into the chaos is the fact that on the 21 January 2018 I had a miscarriage when my daughter started Grade 1. The start of every year with back to school always brings this back for me and makes it harder for me to cope.

I’ve come to learn that miscarriage is a very uncomfortable subject and many women don’t share about their experience and pain. What I’ve found sharing my story is that women open up and I am astounded at how many women have had miscarriages and carry that pain with them.

The mixed feelings are so hard for me to process. I was sterilized when my son was born, and I found out the hard way that if you have your tubes cut they can grow back together and you can fall pregnant. I often wonder if I would have had an ectopic pregnancy if I had not been sterilized.

It was incredibly traumatic being told in one sentence that I was pregnant, that I was losing my baby, that there was nothing I can do and my life was in danger due to internal bleeding and I had to have an operation to remove my damaged tube and the fetus, and stop the bleeding.

It was also incredibly lonely and confusing after the miscarriage. I did not have anything to show for my pregnancy like I did for my first two pregnancies. No scan, no positive pregnancy, not even a new scar since I had two previous c-sections in the same place. Grieving and healing was a long hard process.

Even today I feel like I grieve alone. There was plenty of support at the time but now nobody remembers it each year, not even my husband unless I say something.

Weight Loss Goals

Until 2015 I never had a problem with my weight. Yes I put on a huge amount of weight during my first pregnancy but I lost it within a year or so. In 2015 I quit smoking, put on weight and never managed to lose it. Yes I lost a few kilograms here and there, then put them back on.

I’ve been averaging around 82kgs for the 5 years. Prior to quitting smoking my weight would be around 60 – 65kgs. I’ve been making a concerted effort since around September last year to make healthier choices and lose some weight. I’ve lost 6kgs since then. It has been slow progress but steady.

Here are some of the things that have worked for me:

• Cutting out Coke, chips, chocolate and other snacks. Except for Friday nights when we have our family movie night, along with snacks.
• Drinking more water.
• Eating when I am hungry and not eating for the sake of a meal time. This means I usually have two meals a day – lunch at 11h30 and supper at 16h30.
• Being more active every day. This is not about going all out with exercising and just about killing myself in the process, my focus has been only on moving more. This can be a quick morning walk, a bit of yoga or a family hike. I have not been pushing myself, just slowly and surely being more physically active.
• Including salad with every meal I eat.
• Eating smaller portions and less meat.

Regarding my meal times I found it interesting during my live video when one of the moms commented that I am doing intermittent fasting and I said no, I’m just eating when I feel hungry. She replied and said that the times I eat fit in with intermittent fasting. I’ve never looked at intermittent fasting before but now after looking into it she is right, my meal times fit in with intermittent fasting. I am going to look more into this since it looks like that really works for me and maybe I can make more progress understanding how that works,

I will share what I learn during my next live video.

SnapnSave

Last week I was introduced to Snapnsave by Julie from Parenting Hub and I am so excited about it. I love ways to make extra income and ways to save money. Snapnsave is a digital coupon app and so far it looks amazing. You can save on all sorts of things listed in the app by booking an offer and then snapping your till slip and being credited the amount on offer.

I have not used it for long so I can’t share too much about it, but I have snapped two till slips so far and I’m waiting for my credits to come in. When I have used it for a while longer I will share more about it. I’ve also been in contact with them and a collaboration, so watch this space!

Once my credits have been approved I will have already earned over R70 back and I only downloaded the app yesterday.

Ysense

It looks like my goal of making $200 from Ysense for January was a bit too optimistic and I probably won’t achieve that. My earnings are sitting on $120 for January with a week to go until the end of the month.

While I might not make my goal this month is still going to be my highest earning month ever with Ysense so I am still happy about that.

If you want to earn money through Ysense through completing surveys and playing games click here to sign up. Please also read my review as well as tips that I shared on how to earn more with Ysense.

How has your week been? Let me know in the comments!