A New Year’s Prayer~

Another year is dawning
With the chance to start anew.
May I be kinder, wiser, Lord,
In all I say and do.
Not so caught up in selfish gain
That I would fail to see
The things in life that mean the most
Cost not a fancy fee.
The warm, kind word that I can give,
The outstretched hand to help,
The prayers I pray for those in need–
More precious these than wealth.
I know not what may lie ahead
Of laughter or of tears;
I only need to know each day
That You are walking near.
I’m thankful for this brand new year
As now I humbly pray,
My hand secure in Yours, dear Lord,
Each step along the way.
by Kay Hoffman

Have a wonderful New Year everybody!
x x x

Merry Christmas

Today...I wish you a day of ordinary miracles-



A fresh cup of coffee you didn't have to make yourself


An unexpected phone call from an old friend.




I wish you a day of little things to rejoice in...






A good sing along song on the radio.





Your keys right where you look!




I wish you a day of happiness and perfection - little bite-size pieces of perfection that give you the funny feeling that the Lord is smiling on you, holding you so gently because you are someone special and rare.



I wish You a day of Peace, Happiness and Joy.

Wishing you a very Blessed Festive Season,
the best in 2012

.

Guess where we have been!

Do Something!

My good friends Husband had a massive heart attack last week, his heart stopped for 2 whole minutes. He was in intensive care and was not expected to live, but I am so very pleased to say he is improving day by day :-) My friend is having to work, travel over half hour to the hospital to spend time with him and by the time she gets home it is late at night. She told me she is not really eating as she is too tired by the time she gets home.

I had been catching up in Blog world and read this inspirational post on "A little bit funky" about the importance of doing something for others.

http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2010/11/allow-me-to-encourage-you.html

With the post and my friend in mind we have just cooked her a simple meal that she can reheat tomorrow once she is home.

I feel so happy that we have helped my friend and also that we have "done something"

x x x

2 posts in 1 day!!!

So I thought I would update on my Life at the minute.

I am still doing my 1.5 hour each way commute, thought I would have got used to it by now but no such luck! I receive a good petrol allowance, so I am squirrelling it away each month.

Redundancy wise I am no nearer than I was previously. I have been given a 6 month project role which takes me through to 10th April so am employed until then. After that my plan is still to be a stay at home Mum and add to our Family. As I said before, the petrol allowance is quite generous so even taking out what I spend in petrol each month I am left with a fair surplus and this is being used to save or pay off debts.

My Flat is currently on the market, it has actually sold twice but fallen through both times. It is really tough paying 2 mortgages but hopefully it is just a short term problem.

In about 3 weeks we are off on a Family holiday to Disneyland Paris, I cannot wait and know a little boy who is going to be in awe of it all :-)

We are still doing the Flat Stanley project and have had 6 Flat Familys come to stay with us! When I get a moment free I will do a post about them with some photos, its been so much fun having them to stay.

We have 2 new furry additions to our Family! Frankie and Spooky joined us recently, they are 7 months old and are rehomed through the Cats Protection League. Previously they lived in a drug den and were mistreated, I am so glad we were able to give them a loving home.





So thats my News, what about you?
x x x

Hugs

It's wondrous what a hug can do.
A hug can cheer you when you're blue.
A hug can say, "I love You so"
Or, "I hate to see you go."
A hug is "Welcome back again,"
And "Great to see you! Where've you been?"
A hug can soothe a small child's pain,
And bring a rainbow after rain.
The hug, there's just no doubt about it
We scarcely could survive without it!
A hug delights and warms and charms,
It must be why God Gave us arms.
Hugs are great for fathers and mothers,
Sweet for sisters, swell for brothers;
And chances are you favorite aunts
Love them more than potted plants.
Kittens crave them, puppies love them;
Heads of states are not above them.
A hug can break the language barrier,
And make travel so much merrier.
No need to fret about your store of 'em;
The more you give, the more there's more of em.
So stretch those arms without delay
And give someone a hug today!!!!

x x x x x x

No good Sulking!!

So I have had a stern talking to with myself and decided I was being very stupid to throw the towel in on my SAHM dream. It will be extremely tough, even tougher now Aidans free Nursery hours don't start until April, but it is still possible.

I've thrown myself back into a wonderful website called Moneysavingexpert, I know a lot of you know about it as I've 'met' you there! I first discovered it when I was about to go onto Maternity leave, the site itself is a wealth of useful info but its on the forums where you really learn alot. There is also an amazing amount of support and friendship there also. I've spent the last few evenings reading the Old Style moneysaving threads and have picked up several tips and I've now begun to read the preparing for Winter thread.

All in all I feel happy and positive again, I've got my Mojo back!!!

:-(

Feeling a bit grumpy today as I thought Aidan would qualify for his free Nursery hours in January but actually he will have to wait until Easter. This means we will have to continue to find £300 a month for 4 months longer than I thought. It has put all of my plans into chaos so feeling quite miserable at the moment and foolish that I made such an oversight.

Not giving up on the dream yet though, December is a while away yet so still time to earn more and pay more off. I have begun to stockpile dry goods, Toiletries and also cleaning materials. My plan is to to pop an extra item into my trolley each week so by December I should have a nice stash.

Any other tips you can think of?

TTFN x x

Sorry!

I am so, so sorry I have not been around. As you know I am now working Full Time from the new site, an hours commute each way, and to be honest it is absolutely killing me. By the time I get home I am only spending 45 minutes with Aidan before he goes to bed, once he has gone I have my chores to do and then finally sit down to something to eat and a rest.

BUT...............................

On Friday I was told that my request for Redundancy was approved should I still wish to take it. I thought long and hard over the weekend, was I mad to even think of leaving a job in this climate, would I be better off sticking with it, would I regret my missed time with Aidan?
In the end I decided that I have never heard anybodys deathbed words to be "I wish I had spent more time at work" so I told my boss on Monday that I would like to take Voluntary Redundancy. All I am waiting for now is my leave date :-)

Its going to be scary, at times it may be quite hard financially. No matter how hard life gets, I will have a life and not just an existance spent on Motorways and missing my family. Aim initially is to be a stay at home Mummy, getting bump number 2 is a work in progress! If that doesn't work out then I will get a part time job, I've looked through some job sites and theres actually quite a few things I could do.

Will keep you posted!

Difficult Decisions

Hello Everybody

Feeling sad today as we have had to have Derek ,our Cat, put to sleep. Last night he began gagging and we presumed he had a fur ball, this morning he was still doing the same so we took him to the vets to be checked over. The vet anaesthetised him and found he had a large, very unusual tumour connecting his soft pallete and hard pallete. It would not have been possible to operate and although he could have had chemotherapy the outlook was not good for him. We decided it was kinder to put him to sleep now as he would have had a poor quality of life while being treated and the longterm prognosis was poor.

Aidan of course does not understand and keeps asking where he is, it's so hard to try to explain to a 2.5 year old. For the moment we are saying he is poorly and has gone to live with pap, who passed away last November, who will take care of him.

So that was our hard decision to make, I hope you are all having a weekend free from tough choices x x

Cupcakes

I have been reading "Meet me at the Cupcake cafe"by Jenny Colgan
Heres the blurb:

"Issy Randall can bake. No, more than that - Issy can create stunning, mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe's bakery she has undoubtedly inherited his talent. So when she's made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment and open up her own cafe. It should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. As her friends point out, she has trouble remembering where she left her house keys, let alone trying to run her own business. But Issy is determined. Armed with recipes posted to her from Grampa, and with her local bank manager fighting her corner, Issy attempts to prove everyone wrong"

I really enjoyed the book all the way through, every spare moment I had I would pick it up and read a bit even if just a few pages. The character was believeable and you could easily relate to her, she is made redundant which is something I am experiencing at the moment. The writing style was easy going and flowed nicely, enjoyable at the end of a hard day.
Then I got to the end and have to say I was very disappointed. It seemed to just end.

Don't you hate it when that happens?

Epic Mummy Fail!!!

A poster went up at Aidan's Nursery advising that on Friday they would be having a Pyjama day to raise funds for a Childrens brain injury charity. This morning I dressed Aidan in fresh, clean PJs and he happily walked to Nursery with his Daddy. Upon arriving at Nursery, Aidan and Daddy discovered that Pyjama day is in fact NEXT Friday!

TGI Friday!!!

Operation Flat Stanley!!

I began to tell you in my last post about an exciting project that Aidan and I have been invited to participate it and then I left you hanging! Well do you all remember the story of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown? For those that don't, Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for displaying pictures and posters. Stanley hangs it on the wall over his bed. During the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite and one special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. A few of us in the group are going to make a flat version of ourselves and our Children! We will then post them, accompanied with a journal to whoever is next in the chain, at the same time we will receive someonelses flat selves! We will then fill in the journal and take some photos of the Flats enjoying some adventures and forward it on to the next in chain. This will continue until we receive Flat Vicky and Flat Aidan back and can read about their adventures from all over the World! I am so excited and already cannot wait to receive the journal back again. I know a few of you work with young Children so I will post the Offical Link to the Flat Stanley Project here in case it could be useful to you as an Educational project

I will let you know when our first Flat Visitor arrives!

Wonderful Mamas

I am lucky enough to be part of a wonderful group of Ladies called the Mover Mamas, we got together originally because of a shared love of the Childrens Band "The Imagination Movers" which Aidan adores. The groups has become so much more and there are now 90 of us from all over the world. We laugh, we cry, we share hints and tips, if I have a query about Aidan I can post the question on the board and can guarantee lots of replys with advice, sympathy or support will follow. Even though I have never 'met' any of them its wonderful knowing they are there. We like to have a little summer project for the Children to participate in over the holidays, and last year we created Christmas Tree ornaments representing each of the programmes episodes. The Movers were overwhelmed by the ornaments and were sweet enough to place them on a tree in the New Orleans Childrens Hospital, here are some photos:

This year we have a very exciting project for the Children to take part in.................................but you will have to wait until my next post to hear about it!

A Relaxing Weekend

Thank you for your comments on yesterdays post, I am glad it made you smile and yes I am very proud of Aidan for doing so well :-)

I have had a lovely relaxing long weekend, I have read, baked, cross stitched, spent time with Family and it was just what was needed before I begin my 1st week of working Full Time in over 2 and a half years, bit daunted by it but I am sure it will be fine when I work out a routine.

The oven is in and working now which is wonderful, and this morning I christened it by baking some Beetroot Cupcakes. They are moist, absolutely delicious and not at all Earthy as I feared.

The recipe is from "Eat Me by Cookie Girl"

3 Large Eggs
2 tbsp Milk
100ml Sunflower oil
110g Caster sugar
100g Plain flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
85g Grated Raw Beetroot
55g Roasted Hazelnuts
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Icing
110g Unsalted Butter
110g Cream Cheese
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
450g Icing sugar (I actaully only used 300g)
I also added a tiny amount of pink food colouring

• Preheat oven to 170c / Gas 3, line 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases
  
• Whisk the yolks and milk together.
  
• In a seperate bowl whisk the oil and sugar together and add this to the egg mixture
• Sift the flour and baking powder to the batter.
  
• Add the beetroot, hazelnuts, and cinnamon.
• In a clean bowl whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks, gently fold this into the pink batter.
• Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake for approx 20 mins, allow to cool on a wire rack when cooked.
• For the Icing, whisk the butter and cream cheese together. Then add the vanilla extract, pink colouring and add the icing sugar a little at a time until fully combined. Pipe the icing onto the cakes or spread it onto them with a palette knife.

I hope you have all had a relaxing weekend too x x

An Embarassing funny little story for you!

Oh dear, I have a funny little story for you all today.

We have begun attempting to potty train Aidan and today he decided he wanted to wear some "big boy pants", a pull up to you or I. We went out and were sitting in a restaurant when he told me he would like to do a wee wee, so off we go to the Ladies. I realise his Pull ups are dry still so sit him on the loo and show over the top enthusiasm when he begins to do a wee. Now being a Female of the species I have no experience of controlling mens bits! I realised, far to late, that the wee had been going underneath the toilet seat and had infact gone all over his trousers, socks, boots and the floor!!!!! I am glad though that he appears to be getting the idea, even if I still have no clue!

I hope you have had a chuckle and for those of you with young Sons or Grandsons I hope you remember this valuable lesson should the situation arise in the future ;-)!

Well ..............................

I should be telling you all how blissfully happy I am with my new oven.
I should be showing you photos of the Beetroot Cupcakes I baked in my new oven.
I should be telling you how lovely and shiny my new oven is.
I should be telling you how pleased I am to have a proper oven after 18 months of only having a mini counter top one.

I shouldn't be having to get an Electrician to fit it as they have changed the law, this was not in my plan! Apparently they recently changed the law and all Electric ovens now need to be fitted by a qualified Electrician, the connectors have changed and are not available to buy in DIY stores.

So I will tell you how nice the Pizza I just ordered was instead!!!

Cookbooks & Meal planning

For my Birthday I was given a £20 book token and I decided I wanted to get as much for my Money as I possibly could. So with a bit of careful planning and also some offer watching I managed to get 4 cookbooks!

I purchased:

• Mums Know Best - The Hairy Bikers Family Cookbook
• One Step Ahead - Mary Berry
• Home Cooking - Rachel Allen
• Favourite Food at Home - Rachel Allen

I was quite pleased with my haul, and think I did very well. I do have quite a few Cookbooks now but use them often, I meal plan so am constantly in need of ideas to stop my menus getting stale. I have saved so much money by meal planning as it stops me having to guess on the hop in the supermarket what I might need. It also means I can ensure we have a balanced diet and can suit meals around my schedule for the day, for example if I know I am travelling a lot for work I make sure we have a quick tea like Pasta planned for that day.

I am always on the lookout for a cheap, healthy and quick meal for us and tried "Chunky Mediteranean Pasta soup from Rachel Allens "Favourite Food at Home".

Ingredients: 250g Chorizo, 1 large onion, garlic, tin chopped tomatoes, 900ml chicken stock, 2 tbsps chopped herbs, 250g dried pasta, 150g shredded spinach.

Fry the Chorizo, Onion and Garlic until softened.
Add tomatoes, stock and herbs and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the pasta and continue to simmer until the Pasta is cooked
When Pasta is read add in the spinach and boil until it has wilted
Ladle into warm bowls and sprinkle with grated cheese.

It was inexpensive to make yet delicious and very quick and simple to make, yummy!

Special Weekend with special Friends

We have had a lovely Saturday spent in our good friends garden with other families. We are so lucky to have our friend Michelle, she loves to be hostess and has a wonderfully large garden. Our garden is very small and concreted, it doesn't give Aidan the space he needs to run and explore but Michelle has a trampoline and slide and a peddle car that he just adores, he loves to look at the fish in the pond, as he is doing here with our friend Katie and her little one Dylan:

He gets to play rough and tumble with Michelle's son Connor,

And have cuddles with her daughter Chloe.

This week we welcomed Baby Scarla to our little group, she is the Grand Daughter of our friend Jacqui, and was such a good little girl. Here she is asleep on my Jelly Belly!

I think Chris may be broody!

It is great to spend time with lovely Families and I am so pleased that Aidan gets to mix with other nice children, the big ones love him and enjoy taking care of him and the Littler ones watch him and learn. We are so lucky :-)

Meet my new Friends!

I have no idea who they belong to or what their names are, but I fell in love!

Whilst on Holiday we were recommended to visit Daymer Bay, a beautiful, unspoilt beach, not well known and not a tourist trap. We went for a lovely walk along the sands, looking in rock pools and seeing what sea creatures we could find. Whilst walking along I got the distinct feeling we were being followed. I turned round to see this pair of sheepdogs staring at us, exactly as they are in the first picture, it was so comical. I realised that every time I moved my arm they twitched, at first I thought because they were scared, I soon discovered it was because they wanted to play! By chance we had taken a tennis ball with us to play with so Chris threw it along the beach and sure enough they bolted after it and dutifully bought it back. A happy hour passed, no owner called them and they didnt wander away, I can honestly say it was the highlight of my holiday. We can only conclude that they belonged to the owners of the car park and spend their days on the beach playing with anyone and everyone before returning home for some food and a looooooooooooooooooong sleep!

If you are anywhere near, pop by and say Hello for me, I am sure they wouldnt object to a throw or two either!

Holidays and Headaches!

We had a lovely holiday in Cornwall, the weather stayed beautiful, but we were all poorly. I don't mean a little unwell, I mean full on ILL! Will catch up properly and post some tales and piccys soon. Hope everybody is happy and well x x

The Dreaded Phonecall

Well yesterday I received the phonecall I had been dreading but expecting..........
"Can you go Full Time for us?".

I have agreed to Full Time hours, to begin with, between June and September as work are implimenting 3 new systems and I will be required to learn all new systems and then travel across our sites to deliver it to all staff, approximately 1500 - 2000 people!!! Training is a Career I have fallen into quite by chance but now I am here I am enjoying it, I am a people person so it's nice as I get to meet new people daily but also get to build relationships. I often think being a Trainer is so varied, you have to be an instructor, a teacher, a role model, a nurse, a social worker, a counsellor and wear many other hats!

By September they will have probably closed my current base site so then I will be able to decide to take redundancy and be a stay at home Mum or to continue working Full Time from the new site. I do feel quite guilty about returning to Full Time work but I am focussing on the bigger picture and the greater good fro Aidan. There will be a lot of driving for this new role but with that comes VERY generous petrol allowances. This combined with the additional money I will be earning anyway will enable me to pay much more off of our current debts and in fact get me closer to the goal of being at home.

Something to make you smile

Silverstone

A late one for me tonight! This afternoon we went to the Silverstone Race circuit, which we are lucky enough to live near to, as we both enjoy watching Formula 1. We got to see the new track layout including new Grandstand and Pits, race control, the podium and lots more. The tour was given by a professional driver who whipped you round the circuit at a fair speed!

Best bit by far, for me anyway, was seeing some lovely cars close up and being able to sit in them. So let me introduce you to my new car, an Aston Martin Vantage

And here is Chris with his new Lamborghini

Well a girl can dream can't she? :-)

Spring Weather

Do you know what makes me happiest in this sunny weather?

Of course I love relaxing with friends in the garden, having BBQs, gentle strolls and lovely family time BUT my most favourite thing is washing! I love how I can put the linen in the wash in the morning, hang it out and by tea time its dry and ready to go back onto the bed. I love climbing into a newly made bed, especially when the linen has been dried outside, it feels so crisp and fresh.
If I could get away with it would wash the bed linen everyday!

So there you go, my dirty (or should that be clean??) little Spring vice!

My Plan for the evening

Hello Everybody! I hope you have all had a lovely day? It has been sunny here but much of the day was taken up with errands so we haven't had the opportunity to enjoy it. Aidan has had a rather awkward day, shall we just call them from now on "toddler days" many of you are Mothers or have at least experience with small children so I know you will understand how I feel!

So following on from a Toddler Day, here is a photo of my plan for the evening........................

That's right, a pint of cider a chocolate bar and all of today's newspapers so I can paw over the Royal Wedding again! Now I should point out that I don't usually buy every newspaper known to man, I have lots of friends in the US and Australia and they asked me to pick up a souvenir paper for them. So I am carefully going to have a read and enjoy an indulgent moment before packaging them up and sending them on their way.

I hope you have a moment to relax and enjoy yourself today, no matter what it be doing x x

The Royal Wedding

Well what can I say, didn't Catherine look lovely. Very stylish and graceful, I think she will make a lovely queen someday. You could tell that they really love eachother and I think it was lovely Harry said "wait until you turn round" to William as she was walking down the aisle. In truth I don't actually have much time for most of the Royal Family, they always seem very dour, but days like today make me warm to them as you see them as natural, real people. That said I always did think William and Harry were lovely boys, just wish their gran would smile a bit more often!

Anyway, we had our little party and drank Fizz all morning (which was great until I stopped and then I got the mid-afternoon hangover, ouch!) I am pleased that everyone said they enjoyed themselves. All of the food was eaten and the cakes were popular too.

Heres some right Royal photos!

And this one is my favourite photo of the whole Wedding, click on it for more photos :-)




Oh and you HAVE to watch this funny advert,

I had to do a double take on Wills, Harry and Kate!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww don't they look cute!

Tomorrow is their Big Day, all of Britains Pomp and Ceremony will be on show for the world. I am having a little Tea Party for Family so they can watch the proceedings on our nice TV. I've decorated my living room and the front of the house, and tomorrow just need to do some decorating and some sandwiches.

I am looking forward to seeing Kate's dress and I hope it stays dry for them.

Easter Cupcakes

Ok so I forgot to take a picture of the Carrot Cake but I DID remember to take a piccy of the Cupcakes before they were all munched. There are a couple with not much buttercream on as they are for my Dad who is Diabetic, or not as and when it suits him or when a yummy cake is around!




Piping bags scare me so I was pleased with the result of these!

Easter Monday

Another beautiful day here so we got out and about and enjoyed the sunshine. We went for a picnic and lovely walk along the River and then took Aidan to the play area to run riot!

As soon as it got cooler I went and watered my little flowers, the are not much but they are pretty and make me happy.
Here are some photos from our day:

I had a lovely Easter Sunday, I hope you did too?

Our Friends came over for dinner at 12.30 and left at 9pm, they must have been happy and comfy!

For dinner we had a Seville Roasted Gammon, leeks, Carrots, Cauli & broccoli cheeese, Yorkies and Roasties. For dessert we had a homemade and decorated Carrot cake (which I completely forgot to take a photo of) and it was devoured within minutes! After dinner we all sat together and watched "Monsters Inc", Aidan snuggled up with his favourite Godfather and they both had a nap. Later on we sat in the Garden and enjoyed some sun and then watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" whilst we had Gammon Sandwiches and 'still warm from the oven' Cupcakes.

I enjoy having people to fuss over and I like that they all enjoy our hospitality and even feel comfy enough to nap!

101 list revisited

The original purpose of my blog was to track my 101 in 1001 list, man did I get distracted!! Well I thought I would revisit my list and see how I am doing and was pleased to see that pretty much all are in hand so to speak.

I still think there are a couple that are not going to be possible such as move house, try for another baby and complete a diploma, we are just not there financially and with everything up in the air with work it would be foolish to make such huge life changing events happen.

One area I really need to pull my socks up on is the BBC 100 best books as I am falling way, way behind.

101 in 1001 list

1. Tell my son and my partner I love them every day
2. Try for another baby
3. Move house
4. Send a care parcel to a soldier serving our country abroad.
5. Grow my own veggies
6. Make at least 5 new friends (5/5)
7. Bake a cake at least once a month
8. Make/sew at least 6 material bags to give as presents (2/6)
9. Read the BBC 100 greatest books (18/100)
10. Entertain friends once a month
11. Make someone laugh everyday
12. Complete a Diploma course
13. Visit Edinburgh
14. Adopt a Donkey from Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary
15. Clear my debts16. Save £10 a month for my sons future17. Recycle more
18. Write a meal plan every week
19. Give blood as many times as possible
20. Write to my elderly Aunties every month
21. Always remember my bags for life when I go to the shops
22. Condition my hair once a month
23. Have a long relaxing bath ALONE once a month
24. Watch at least 10 films I wouldn’t normally watch (6/10)
25. Dye my hair a different colour
26. Go to Occo, the Moroccan restaurant that I always look at but never go into.
27. Have a no electric night once a month
28. Go to PYO
29. Spend a day “visiting” my town with a tourists eyes and go to places I would normally walk past e.g. – museum
30. Research the American presidents
31. Watch the top 25 musicals (11/25)
32. Knit myself a funky jumper
33. Buy some stripy socks in honour of my friend Fay!!
34. Buy locally more often and support the littler shops
35. Go to see a Shakespeare play
36. Buy a pair of flowery Doc Martens
37. Read the work of the poet Laureate each year (2/3)
38. Make a record or scrapbook of my sons life
39. Hold a corn snake
40. Hold a snake skin (wearing gloves!) Glad that ones done!!
41. Improve my credit score
42. Sell my flat
43. Send random friendship cards to each of the 6 houses in the UK with the same address as me
44. Learn how to set up a blog
45. Sit on a horse
46. Visit Warwick Castle again
47. Go back to Shell Island in North Wales
48. Get my £50 pay out from YouGov!!
49. Book tickets to attend a 2012 Olympics event
50. Visit the Library more often
51. Leave a friendly post it note in all the library books I borrow
52. Make my Best friend a 30th Lucky dip
53. Get a water butt and attach it to the gutter
54. Go and see Priscilla queen of the desert in the west end
55. Visit charity shops more often
56. Cook a Thanksgiving meal for friends
57. Talk to at least 1 stranger a week
58. Take the time to write a letter of thanks when I have received good service in a shop/restaurant/hotel
59. Make a snowman
60. Catch little spiders and take them outside rather than squishing them (cant promise to do the same with biggies!)
61. Buy my mum a present on my Birthday
62. Go to a zoo with my family
63. Talk to my Grandparents more
64. Halve my shoe collection
65. Sort through my bedroom chest of drawers
66. Finish Aidan’s Alphabet cross stitch
67. Watch every episode of The Secret Millionaire
68. Buy myself another piece of jewellery from Tiffany’s
69. Visit a Christmas market
70. Have a PJ day once a month
71. Put up a bird table
72. Try Sushi
73. Get a fourth tattoo
74. Organise a reunion with old school friends
75. Attend reunion with old school friends
76. Make myself go somewhere that I really don’t want to
77. Wash up for my Nan at least once a week
78. Check the oil and water in my car every 2 months
79. Clean my car inside and out every 2 months
80. Visit Bath again
81. Visit Wookey Hole again
82. Go to the mountains in the Rhondda
83. Find out more about my Paternal Grandparents who died before I was born
84. Bake Diabetic cakes for my Dad once a month
85. Cook a “takeaway” dinner for my Mum and Dad so my mum can have a night off once every 6 months
86. Feed the ducks at least 3 times (3/3)
87. Organise the photos on the computer
88. Write to my Aussie pen friend once a month
89. Learn to accept help, people wouldn’t offer if they didn’t want to
90. Return to work Part Time and manage to stay Part Time through effective budgeting
91. Knit some squares to do my share
92. Send 20 people a surprise present just because (13/20)
93. Eat chips from the wrapper at the beach
94. Eat an ice cream at the seaside
95. Collect a pretty pebble or shell every time we visit the seaside.
96. Do at least 1 Race for Life
97. Update my CV
98. Get a family portrait done each year (2/3)
99. Sit by a fire talking with my Partner
100. Start to write a Bucket list
101. Visit the theatre at least 6 times (4/6)


Red - Complete
Blue - In Progress

My Little Kitchen Shelf

Today I wanted to share with you my cute little kitchen shelf, which I love.

On my shelf sits my Daffodil tea set, a berry scented candle, my cooking scales and a Gingerbread man box.

It is decorated with a pretty bunting of red and white fabrics and has Gingerbread men hanging from the sides. My late Grandfather helped me to cut the Gingerbread men out of a large piece of wood and then I painted them myself, hanging just below them are some wooden hearts that were painted with a crackle paint but they seem to have crackled a bit much!!

Between the supports is a Blackwork embroidery of a heart, the writing says "Heart of the Home". I embroidered it myself, I love to do needlework but struggle to find the time these days.

Underneath the embroidery is the noticeboard I made, it was very simple to make but is very useful to post reminders, tickets and prescriptions on.

Well thats a guided tour of my favourite thing in my Kitchen, I hope you enjoyed it!

Our works of art!

As you all know I went to a pottery painting place on my Birthday, we all decorated various pieces of pottery and had a great deal of fun doing so. We had to leave the pieces at the studio as they needed to be fired and glazed so I was really excited to pick them up.

Here is Aidans little handprint masterpiece, he loved dabbling the paint and squishing it round with his fingers.

This mug was decorated by Chris but I should point out he was severely hampered by Aidan. He did the bulk of the childcare and left us to enjoy our painting. I think I will take him back there one day when we are on holiday and Aidan is at Nursery so he can paint something properly. That said I love this as its really bright and I love Aidans "free painting" all over it too!

And here is my Teacup and Saucer. I am really happy with the way it has come out, nice and bright like I wanted it too.

I wish I had taken a photo of my Mums plate, that she painted a picture of our Westie onto, and also my Cousins mug which was decorated with lady birds and a garden theme. Both were wonderful. I really recommend you going to a pottery painting studio, it was very therapeutic and you had no choice but to concentrate on your piece and your piece alone. I would love to go one day, just me on my own, to relax.

They may not be technically great but I love our unique pieces of work :-)