Challenge is my Word of the Week

It’s been an ok week, all things considered. I know many people who have had worse weeks so while I count my blessings, the week still presented a challenge. I often challenge myself with one thing or another just to see how I’d get on.

Towards the start of the week, I was well and truly influenced by people saying how much they were enjoying watching The Traitors. So we are fully caught up on Seasons 1 to 3 in the UK series and even started the US version. What I enjoy most is observing the different personalities at work and playing with each other’s minds. I also like seeing the fashion and fashion fails. Leisa and I challenged ourselves to look out for bits of the filming and editing that could do with some improvements. And we saw quite a bit. Since being on TV and seeing how things are done, we have our eyes wide opened and wonder if the general public watching these shows realize the mistakes that the production crew makes.

I’ll give you an example or two of what I mean. When we were being filmed for Shop Smart Save Money, we would sometimes get a call that certain scenes had to be redone because of some reason or other. We would turn up to have the filming redone and none of the runners, camera crew, or production team noticed that our hairstyles were different from the first time it was filmed! Then the editing team would put bits of the two sessions together and still not notice. At home when we watched it back on telly we were always talking about whether people watching also realised. You might wonder why we wouldn’t just turn up for the filming with the same hairstyle. To put it simply, with our hair maintenance, it is not as easy.

I challenge you if you watch series like these to look out for things like the hair, makeup, nails and even footwear in the episodes and you will be able to catch some of these mistakes. A lot of the bits are also filmed when things have already happened but the competitors have to talk as if they don’t already know the outcome! Have you ever noticed that?

Anyway on Wednesday morning I woke up after my usual hours of sleep but I felt so tired and also pained up all over. Then it dawned on me that I would have a challenge being at work as my throat was also becoming sore and I was quite snotty. The worst challenge was a headache that I just could not shift, despite medicating myself. In the end, I had to call in sick. It felt so strange. I don’t like to miss work and it was my first real sick day since I started this job almost a year ago. Yes, I know I took some time off when my sister was ill but I’m not counting that.

A full day of rest did me well and I was back to work on Thursday and Friday. At the moment, all the pain is gone and I am left being just a little snotty. Wok was pretty good with it and they didn’t think I’d be back at work Thursday and Friday based on how I sounded on Wednesday. But thank goodness, it’s all good.

We are still carrying on with the no-spend spree except for really important and necessary things. This week, we helped a cousin with £40 to get some travel documents and we also sent £55 to a family member who happens to be incarcerated. That’s a total of £95 spent this week. Then yesterday, we came home to find that a friend had dropped a sympathy card through the letterbox for us. Inside the card was £100! Even though we don’t expect this from people we were truly touched and grateful too. So let’s just say that we are £5 ahead, lol.

As part of our no-spend challenge, this week we also made up our usual household, kitchen, and bathroom cleaners. We also made one for glass and shiny surfaces. We use things that we already have at home and they are cost-effective and free of harmful chemicals. We are winning, aren’t we? We have filmed these so they will be ready to share later on this week. I hope I’ll remember to come back and add the link to this post where you can find out how to make your household cleaners.

Talking about links, thanks to Anne who blogs at RaisieBay.com for allowing us to link up with her and the other ladies each week.

Here’s wishing everyone is safe, comfy and happy, or at least coping with whatever challenge comes your way this week.