What kind of day will it be? - Lisa & Ryland Goines-Taylor - BOOK REVIEW

What kind of day will it be? - book cover (screen print)

Lisa Goines-Taylor, a mother to a beautiful girl called Ryland, has written the most uplifting book for little ones. What kind of day will it be? Her everyday experiences as a mother, watching her daughter grow and learn life lessons, have inspired her to write a book on life, growth, empowerment, and self-confidence for children:

This book resonates so much with me. I know of a specific person who tends to unravel with anything that is not right each day. And regularly proclaiming that this is her worst day ever! 😬

This book, What kind of day will it be? should be one of the most important things we can teach our kids. We can make a choice each day about what kind of day it will be! With a "can-do attitude", although life can throw you some curve balls, you can decide and make each day a great one!

This book can be used as a positive mantra each day. Buy for the little pessimists and glass-of-half-full persons, but also for everybody to learn how to have a better day each day.

I don't want to share too much of the beautiful illustrations by Rachel Rodrigues, but each page is a delight. 

The age group is from 4 - 7 years, but a smaller child, as well as older children will enjoy the uplifting message. This book is also a reminder to myself. What kind of day will it be? 

This is a great gift for all little ones.

Disclaimer: Lisa Goines-Taylor contacted me via email, and notified me when there was a free Kindle option available a little while back. Thank you!

Year 2 in a pandemic

2021 Family photo (Patrick Pretorius)

It has been interesting times. We have now been living through a pandemic for one year and seven months. Masks, temperature checks and sanitizing are still part of our daily routines. But, we are still forgetting our masks when going out of the gate. At this stage we don't hear about people getting sick and dying around us. There are talks about a fourth wave, but we are hopeful we are not going to see it...

The pandemic put our plans on hold now for nearly two years. But, we have been lucky here in South Africa. After the previous lock-down of Level 3, we have been relatively unscathed. School and work have been going on as close to normal as possible.

We both got our jabs, and Miss Fine is getting hers next week.

I have been working in a new job since April. I am still doing my old job, while taking on managerial duties. With no extra pay and on a very low scale code. I decided to take on the challenge for personal growth, but at this stage I don't think it is worth it. The prospects are not good. This past week I was thinking about my previous life. I went to see the psychologist who was seeing my X at the time. I asked her how much time I must give him, and what I can do with my anger. She told me to give him a year, and ran on the treadmill each day. I did give him a year, and I did ran. But each day when I went home, he was still there and I was still angry at him. In the end I had to extract myself out of the situation to safe myself... The same with the job. I can only motivate myself so much, and ran/walk so far, but I still have to come back to the same circumstances each day. This is not sustainable.  

I have started to give myself a pep talk each day with motivational quotes on Insta. It helps to search for the positive in each day. Barbie has been an inspiration the past week.

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A post shared by Karen Du Toit (@karentoittoit)

We got a beautiful Barbie press drop last week. The Barbie Fashionista range is so inspiring. I got an incredulous reply on Instagram that they can't believe I am a livelong Barbie fan. I did tell the story before of us never having a real Barbie when we grew up. We had a cheaper version of her, and we (my sister and I) always envied our friends with the real Barbies. Barbie is now available in all shapes, sizes, careers and abilities. I am even more impressed with Barbie, and love that I can share her with my girls. And why can't I keep on playing? We are never too old! 😉

We have a warm summer weekend ahead, and braai is on the weekend calendar.

I love this time of year; summer, December holidays and festivity vibes. THis is my best time of the year.