I cheated... {blush}

A week or so on, and I am bursting with pride to tell you that I am making my New Year's Wishes come true! No more small mountains of cookies with every cup of sugary coffee; instead? black coffee or rooibos with no sugar, and I fill my tall petal-pink glass jug with water, placing it on a little round antique crocheted doily atop a gold-filigreed porcelain saucer - and then regularly fill up a turquoise, circa 1974 tumbler with the metabolism-boosting, cleansing, hydrating water from the tap! Despite being very anti-exercise-to-look-like-what-we-think-we-should-look-like, I've embarked on a relaxed journey into enjoying the God-given gift of my healthy body instead! Step 1: Layla and I dance every day to her nursery rhymes DVD (fave song of the mo? The Hokey Pokey), our Putumayo World Music CDs or anything that tickles our fancy. Step 2: Instead of the bathroom looking like a dedicated aquatic playground, I took back some space for myself - tidying up Layla bath toys up and away onto the wall, and packed a basket full of delicious Body Shop and Lush goodies: strawberry body polish, cocoa body butter, olive oil body wash... (I have to add here the serendipitous detail about how I came by this extravagantly big basket of delight: On Friday, I popped in at my South African friend down the road for lunch, and she asked if I 'needed any smellies'? She had been stockpiling them over the last year - gifts she couldn't possibly hope to use up by herself. And I was the lucky one she wanted to share with! This exquisitely timed gesture of hers has literally given me back to myself. Thank you, Ang!)

Layla's asleep in her bed - occasionally swiping her mouth in her sleep from the teething pains. And as my fingers fly excitedly across the keyboard, I wish I was a fully-fledged writer, with my name splashed across arty glossies, national newspapers and - and - and... This could be one of my New Year's Wishes, right? Access to the internet is absolutely critical, in terms of research. Or is it? (I'm just thinking about how I'll manage when we don't have broadband back in SA...)

... hours pass.

In the meantime, I have found an apparently EXCELLENT internet provider which my sister is already using : Afrihost! So maybe we will have internet access after all :) One of the steps I can take towards becoming a writer is to stop researching how, and actually start writing articles, risking life, limb and possible heartache by sending them in to magazines. And maybe, instead of whining about how little time I have, I could schedule a few hours on the weekend where I can be alone (i.e. focused) to write and polish an article. OK - so as a first step towards granting this New Year's Wish to myself, I hereby schedule a writing date with myself and babysitter/husband for this weekend! Voila ;)

PS. In the hours indicated 'hours pass', like an addict in the painful throes of craving, I clambered up onto the kitchen counter and ripped open the Quality Street tin (actually panting with sugar-lust) and grabbed a handful - not even stopping to carefully choose my favourites... I think I broke a World Record : 5 chocolates unwrapped and scoffed in less than 60 seconds. Any challengers?! But - as I said to my mom: it's ok if you fall off the wagon once, 'cos you can just sommer climb back on!