Starting off again one small step at a time …

My very dear friend Lizzie in Bristol – who has been running the very popular Folk House Café for many years and is now in the process of revamping family run Quartier Vert – recently sent me a list of ideas to research in order to turn a couple of my personal projects into money-making ventures. She thinks that both the Sevilla Tapas blog and azahar natural clothing have potential and so I now have a list of instructions to help me get started … except it turned out I have become so bad at thinking in even a remotely straight line that I also needed to enlist the help of another clear thinker and straight shooter, none other than my “hermana de alma” and international woman of mystery, Pipocas. We got together on Saturday afternoon for a lunch and brainstorming session here at casa az and here is how it went …

As Pip & I hadn’t seen each other since we went to the hospital last Tuesday and had the “no more chemo” info session with Ricardo it seemed that a bit of celebrating was in order. And of course nothing could be done without a decent lunch. So the better part of the afternoon was spent drinking the lovely cava that Pablo had brought over on Christmas eve (gracias Pablito!) and eating arugela salad along with the most decadent pizza in the universe. By this time we were well into the second … or was that the third … bottle of wine and so, while Peter went off to do some class prep in his newly organised “den”, I managed to talk Pip out of doing that horizontal thing on the sofa and we got to work.

After discussing the various possibilities and what sort of work and research they would entail, Pip then told me that the best way to proceed would be with baby steps. One step at a time. So she set me a task for the coming week, which will be to take care of  just two things from Lizzie’s list but to do them both thoughtfully and thoroughly. This way I will be able to enjoy the accomplishment of having completed two tasks without getting overwhelmed by all the other stuff that still needs doing. Also, by working on these two things, other ideas will no doubt arise … we shall see.

I’m also starting to teach a bit next week. Just three classes so far, which will help me get back into “work mode”. For the time being I’d like to keep the English classes down to one or two in the evenings and have my mornings free for fitness (gym & yoga) as well as working on the new projects.  I should be able to squeak through February like this and Pip thinks that taking the month to focus on new stuff is a very good plan. Besides, until I get the CT scan results, I don’t want to take on students that I may have to give up again a week or two later.

I am so grateful to both Lizzie and Pip for taking me in hand and getting me organised.  Once I have done a month of weekly baby-step tasks I am sure that I will not only be much closer to realising the changes I need to make, but I should also be “over the hump” created by having been sick & inactive for so long and be running on my own steam again.

Another very important order of business that was decided yesterday was that if I get the “all clear” after my next CT scan (ten days from now) we are definitely taking that weekend trip to Morocco.  So,  keep those fingers crossed!