Back on Blogger Again

Finally made THE decision 

Gosh I miss blogging! I took a hiatus from blogging in 2014. There was a certain confusion of where my blog should steer, I was crawling out of my shell as an insecure mummy to be someone who knew exactly where she is going. My usual rants sort of died down from being an immature to a sort of "experienced" mother of 2. I started doing reviews and sharing about what was new in the market and it was a interesting learning curve. The game plan was no longer the same and I changed the direction of being Victoria-eden.blogspot to Flomummy.com as it was not apt to write under my 1st born anymore. What started as the journal of pregnancy till year 1 sort of managed a life span (thank you readers!) and soon we are arriving into year 7!

Migrating to wordpress made me felt like I have moved to a foreign land and it became hostile to staying there. Adjusting to it took too much effort and in 2015 I relook at that platform once again. I was this close to giving wordpress a 2nd chance with a new blog facelift but in the end everything steered towards DIY. It took some adjusting and I sniffed around the blogs I "grew" up in, Facebook-ed a few old OLD blogging kakis (Note CheekieMonkies thanks love!)  whose blogs resonate with me and here I am back at Blogger!

My supportive bloggers friends have been giving me loads of advice lifestinymiracles.com, mamawearpapashirt.com, accidental-mom-blogger.blogspot.sg, dominiquegoh.com, and many few others who listened and laughed together with me on my process to be back here! Thank you all love.

So presenting a blogger template I bought on Etsy for USD $25! If you haven't gone into there yet? Omg its a shopping haven in there and it gets crazy when everything looks nice (well, nicer than your own, you know!) I narrowed to 2 and eventually "Leighton" template was the winner. Honestly, it was the other one with pastel rainbow but the HUSBAND chose this. So just to let you know, the blogger spouse gets to have ONE say since he is the one who has to lug and follow to events (which in our relationship takes ALOT *just saying)

The old header that was 3 years old and I couldn't bear looking at the highchair anymore!

Simple

This blog will still be what I love to write about especially my thoughts, the things I do daily and of course the time I spend with my children. It was a great break from events in 2014 and in these 4 days, I packed 4 events before a biz trip. So backlogs and labelling my blog *again!! will be the mission or maybe I won't bother much about the labeling la. *lazy bones. Following the 20/80 pareto rule, do the 20% will be just as efficient.

We just did 2 events and I know V loves being back blogging coz she couldn't stop hugging me today. (Guess I was not the only one who miss this aspect of our lives) It has become a part of us, to share, to inspire, to be connected.

Journal : Great things happen with the right thoughts

[Journal]

I have been on a journey. The journey has been very interesting and somehow it seems to have propel me into another level of adulthood . The last time I felt this way was after the birth of V, for she has alone taught me about patience, attachment, character, personality and many more. In my 20's, I seriously don't care about what you are made of, to me is well is just you.  There is only 1 choice - Like or dislike . Talk because we click and don't because the person talks crap. That's when we were in our 20's issit it?

As I slowly discover about human nature, life is finding that topic that will transpire and that everyone I meet must have a beautiful story to share with me. It may be now or it may be later in my life.  Training the brain to think positivity is not easy but once you embrace it, you see the world differently!

2014

Spirtually 

I am a cradle catholic in which I am born/bred into a family of rules, commandments, expectations. My values and ethics are clear but journey with God has been well .... mundane.  Just the beginning of this year, someone came into my life and gave me a advice "The reason you have uncertainity is because of your faith in God" I  thought about it very often. Is going to church, sharing about his teachings, proclaiming the word enough? Oh I'm terrible at reading the bible, listening to homily makes me sleep and cringe at people who codes bible phrases. But I believe in him in many ways,  I enjoy listening to stories of miracles, of being touched by the Holy Spirit, of life changing experiences. Most importantly, he gave me a heart of tolerance of all religion.  I don't judge what they do coz I don't know why mine does things in certain ways either!

This 2 months, I finally understood the term "WALK IN FAITH" In recent months, I no longer beat myself for my happenings in life and have learnt to send those problems that is not within my control up to him. I can tell you I don't fret about issues much, yes there are things that bother but I no longer think about it for days or have sleepless nights fretting how to solve it.  The feeling is just amazing!

Journey with Faith is for one to walk through and is not something that can be taught. To think that few years back, I heard a sharing on this and was thinking "siao one this person" but here I am writing about it now hahaha!

Motherhood

I absolutely love motherhood. if you have been reading my blog from  the past, you will know how much it has changed me as a person. My children are a constant reminders that life is beautiful. Crafting a career for a person who uses her heart is challenging. Many times, my heart cries louder than their cries and it hurts not physically but very much mentally. You start to question your actions and doubt the choices you make. But at the end, my story to all mothers is that I chose to tell my children how much I love them vs telling how crappy they make my life by their constant screaming, fighting and sorrow crying. Nagging is not my forte and I do not enjoy doing that. So I hug and kiss them way more than they enjoy their mummy squeezing them and smothering them with kisses.

There was 1 day that V told me "But mummy you don't do anything, you just go drive here/there and go office" I was taken aback by her words and looked back at what made her derive at this statement. Okie I admit I don't do housework, don't cook, dont feed them medicine, may not be there to bathe/ put them to sleep daily, don't comb their hair, don't make milk daily.... hahhahah Then I realised why she said that. Is motherhood really about all these physical work? I have no answer for that.  My child may never understand the work I do at this point in her life, but I just have to carry on. The day will come like how her father saw and understood, the dynamics of my role. For now, I just treasure the flexible time that allows me to see my children in the positive light that I am given.  To be given a platform to have conversations with her and guiding her to achieve potential. To be able to hug and kiss my babies umpteen times because both of them don't push my buttons daily to irk me.

Leadership

Career has been propelling me further than I have ever expected. The ability for me to handle humans are extraordinary. To train to see the best in a person and to control emotions has been quite a journey. Decisions made are not to benefit them but make them better in what they do. I am a sensitive person and this allows my radar to be on alert most of the time. Training my mind not to look at the problems but how to identify the opportunity the issue brings is something takes time to impart! To learn that you are not the most important but they are. Leaders managing leaders has been so darn interesting! You think managing people is a toughie, try handling leaders! Leaders have desire to be someone and that makes that stubborn in many ways hahhaha. I know coz I am one!

The message has been clear, the journey to start writing my inner thoughts, struggles and truimph. By my sharing I know the message will reach to the right people that needs it most.  Book writing I am not sure but I have enough stories in my life to inspire. 

Blog Hop - Writing Process

1. Introduce who referred the blog tour to you

I am never into blog challenges, blog train, blog monday tues wednesday thursday etc, I tag u u tag 50, hashtag galores etc. Just 1 of the human being not made out to to this, not sure if u understand me but thats just it.  Gorgeous mummy Natasha Fb me that day and asked me innocently "Hi Flo! Would you be keen to participate in the blog hop writing process after me? " It seemed hard to reject, not sure why, maybe the stars were align that morning and I agreed to it! You can read about hers here. Be pleasingly surprised by a beautiful face and a hot preggers body. I enjoy her blog and her honesty about her outlook about life. Plus our 1st born seem to look similar when they were young!

So this is my 1st blog tour and I did it just to discover more about my blogging style.

What am I working on?

Styling my blog *raising my arms in mercy. When you ask a fickle minded person to decide on what she wants in HER SPACE, its a nightmare! Colours, fonts, layout are beyond my league and before I can get pay someone I have to know what I want. So yes is a mess :( Other than that I am working on my travel series! I am so so back logged for my wanderlust travels. There is Germany - Berlin, Hannover, Hamburg in August 2013, Barcelona in November 2013, Taiwan in March 2014, Vegas in April 2014, Gold Coast in June 2014. I never was a fan of travel logs mainly because my travelling has been part of my life and never realized the need to note it down. But recently, I do find some travel blogs are really useful for me to plan my itinerary.  The itinerary planning was never part of me till the day I had to travel with 2 children and realized that walau it does help me save so much time! But if its my personal travel, I still go by "feel" even though I'm in foreign land, love love getting lost! Its exhilaring being able to be thrusted into the unknown!

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

Honestly, I'm still trying to find my identity. Most people around tells me that I portray a clear personality and style but I find myself a blur.  Tsk right? FloMummy.com came about less than 1 year although we have been blogging under victoria-eden in blogger for the last 4 years. It started as a blog about my memories about pregnancy, my struggles as a mommy dealing with a baby who refuses anything but me, my thoughts on being stretched as an individual, my lack of goals, lost of self esteem and many more. But eventually negativity left and now it's just a whole lot of positivity. Then I wondered do I really need to be constantly pregnant to continue this blog, but then again how much things can I write about my children without victimising their growth and security.

It was something that I thought about very long and realized that I really do enjoy this blogging thingy. It is actually very therapeutic for me. Eventually, like most bloggers we decided to stay true to the crap we talk about daily.  The struggles of changing the blog platform has been struggling and although all I want is to write, I still have to deal with the styling part which sucks.

 Why do I write what I do?

I write to destress coz it relaxes me most. Anything being paid stresses me up most so I have stopped doing that to concentrate on my love.  This is the place I don't schedule xx of posts a month, a place I don't set goals, a place where there will not be any challenges. They all do NOT do well here in my blogsphere space.  This particular blogtrain challenge that was throw to me was something I found very meaningful for I have not ever asked myself these questions and decided to do this for self discovery.  Yes, I'm up for challenges but they must be for myself only as my strength is that I never compare myself or compete to others. Everyone has their stories and life path to lead, so comparing only sucks my energy.

How does my writing process work?

I have a strict rule and that I do not have my laptop attached to a power point. My writing lasts only when the battery does.  Most bloggers know that once we start we lose track of time and it is difficult to get out coz you just want to write everything! There are days I write a post in 30 mins and there are days (with photos)  take 4 hours! *Yawns right? Yeah I know. I like very much to write, I do not enjoy editing, do not enjoy the transferring photos from this to that and label it and whatever. But blogging is all about that hahhaha! I get writer's block often, especially when they are alot of photos to deal with. The body and mind just jams up!!There is no fix table/area to blog. I am constantly on the go and finding time to do anything needs to thought out weeks before. My schedule starts off blank and I slot the must do of my children, meetings/ travels of my hb & my fil, appointments of my business (strictly in that order)  That is only my life starts. I pay an army to get my things going on a condition that  "If it drains me,  they are all outsourced" My time is very limited and it requires my full attention.  I get stretched sometimes and I am that fortunate person to be able to go on a trip and get out coz everything else MUST/CAN auto run. Creating a system has been my to do list for the last 2 years ever since K came about. I'm fine tuning my business' and now fiquring out this blog system.  My days are getting longer with me on adding on Gym at 9am daily.  Maybe thats one of the reasons my rants are minimal coz I do not indulge in being upset by things I didn't solve. But saying so, I love being alone. M just an introvert, though most people who knows me will roll their eyes. But I do treasure personal time most. 

So if you ask me how does does my blogging process work? Actually is just simple. The urge comes and my thoughts NEEDS to be out.

 

I am very sure you have enjoyed my 1st blog train and got to know me even deeper. Next on the tour comes parent blogger

Connie of RayConnieBaby who bravely is expecting her 3rd! With a 7 year old and  2 year old in hand, a full time preschool educator and a bubbly character. You will catch on her writing style very quickly.

My 1st post after migration

I spent too much time yesterday struggling to categorize my blog. If you have started blogging, please start doing so and not wait till like me-have 700+ posts to do so.*way too many

The last 1 year of blog posts has been pretty much crappy, I spent too much time rolling my eyes while reading them. Then it occured to me, I do not like monetizing my blog actually you know! After like 7 pages of tagging and got sick of myself, what I did was reverted to tagging from my 1st post. I was overwhelmed by memories and how true I was to my self then. Totally enjoyed re-reading them but still got lost in catergorising them. Coz most of them were just like talking too much cock, they don't belong to any cept category "BULLSHIT".

I suck at organizing. I am of the girls who will wake up in the morning and gets so excited clearing cupboards (coz of NO Space), spends the next 30 mins overwhelmed by clothes that I never knew existed. The next 1 hour rummaging through drawers when in the 1st place the focus was the cupboard. Then eventually after 1h 30 mins, with a huge pile of mess, I declared that its done and stuff everything back -- CRUMPLED. #StillNOspace.

I am also one of those who insisted on "throwing" out stuffs and prepares 5 bags to donate. While "throwing", I lose focus and starts exploring. Eventually, it doesn't go into the donation bag but to the upper compartment or gets transfer to a new place - thinking that I will put in an obvious eye view so it will be used. Yes, you guessed it. I have 5 empty bags. I would have spent another 2 hours wasting my time "trying" to do something. Sometimes I leave the mess abouts and go read a book that I found lying around in my cuppie, piled under some handbag. Needless to say what my husband's expression is. #heknowshiswifecannotpackfornuts

It seems by now, you will know I detest doing housework for this simple reason. It's not that I do not know how to, for those who don't know... I cooked and prepare myself to school at 7 years old. Trust me when I tell you I know everything about housework. "Jia Jia Le" or "Masak Masak" was something I did on real fire since 6 years old. Housework do not excite me at all, I plainly do not like to do them.

I may eventually not finish my homework on renovating my blog but did realize what needs to be done. Reviews, advertorials seems not to be my cup of tea. My life experiences are way more fun to write and this is my core. My strength is that I am awesome in telling my sad,woe stories and is just as capable to tell my success stories. This could just be my voice, why do something uncomfortable till it drives me sleepless, right? Just about getting my mojo back...

Wordpress doesn't have spell check and I cannot spell.. OMG.