My Reasons To Be Cheerful This Week - #R2BC

I haven't joined in with this linky for a while now, just keep forgetting or putting it off. I have decided I have a lot to be happy about this past week and want to share it. That is the beauty of this linky, even if you feel you have had a fairly mundane week, it really makes you reflect on past events and be thankful and happy for things that you wouldn't normally give a second thought to.


The first thing that I am not only happy but "over the moon" about is that I got a job which I start next week. Being out of work and a SAHM for so many years has always made getting back into employment a very daunting prospect and as much as I am nervous about starting I am excited about all the wonderful opportunities which will hopefully be achievable now.

Another thing I am happy with this past week is reaching a very big milestone in my weightloss journey. I have officially said goodbye to 5 stone of weight! Can you believe it? I have to keep pinching myself honestly. I never thought I would lose anything when joining and now look at me. I have had a bad few months with weight watchers so I am happy I seem to be back in the swing of things.

Finally, I got to go to an event last week and meet a bunch of lovely ladies who are all wonderful bloggers. The event was for a company called Tinyme. We enjoyed a luxury meal and it was set in a beautiful hotel, Brownsover Hall. It was fantastic chatting with so many established bloggers and was a privilege to be invited.

What has made you happy this week?

The Gallery - Selfie

OK, So technically is it still a "selfie" if someone else took it? Well I am not one for making the duck face pout in front of the mirror and taking those selfie shots so I have chosen this "kind of" selfie shot which was actually taken by Aalliyah. We were on our way home from Blackpool and I was miles away watching the world in a blur as we whizzed home on the train.

I am linking this over at Sticky Fingers blog for this weeks Gallery. Head over and check out the other entries.

The Gallery - Relax

So the theme this week is "Relax" . Something which a lot have us have been able to do as it's the summer holidays. I find I can have a more relaxed morning without early alarm calls and rushing out of the door with toast hanging out my mouth praying I make it on time.

For the past few days Aalliyah has been nose deep into her book (My Sister Jodie - Jacqueline Wilson) and she has been randomly bursting into fits of giggles at the clearly comical writing. However during the last chapter she went rather quiet and in fact her giggles turned to tears as she was met with the all too common "sad" ending.

I think she certainly has the right idea on how to relax though? Maybe all that blood rushing to her head helps soak up all that literature ;-)

Head over to Sticky Fingers and check out all the other Gallery entries this week.

An Ode To Emma Louise

The wonderful Emma Louise
Made blogging seem like a breeze
She helped me get started
Because she's so kind hearted
And always aims to please

This is an ode to my brilliant blogger friend Emma over at theminimesandme . She not only inspired me to start my own blog but is always on hand to help me :)

I am linking this up over at Grumpyishmum.co.uk

Saturday Is Caption Day #SatCap

As terrified as Aalliyah looks on the drop down tower, she did actually go on it about 20 times after this! We had lots of scary fun last weekend at Gullivers Land.

Do you have a funny caption to go with this shot? I'd love to hear it. Then why not head over to Mammasaurus where you can have fun captioning lots more pics and even upload your own!

The Gallery- I made....

Blog land with be alive with beautiful pictures of handcrafted cakes, chic furniture which has been restored by hand and amazing crochet shawls as the theme this week is "I made this"

While I am quite capable of making a cake that not only tastes great but looks gorgeous to the eye too, I am by no means a crafty kind of person. While I would love the inner flair which would make me turn a drab old chair into an unbelievable chic focal piece that would make everyone green with shabby envy! Sadly I am the type of person that would just go and pay for it "ready made".

But there is one thing that I did make.. Something which is so perfect, nothing I can ever make will come close to make me feel so proud of creating such an amazing masterpiece.

And here is that beautiful creation....

Yes there were a few male chromosomes kicked in shhh .. keep that quiet.

Aalliyah truly is the love of my life and I will never make anything as precious as her.

I'm looking forward to seeing all your beautiful chic and creative pictures this week. Head over to Sticky Fingers to check out all the entries.

Bringing The Outside In

I would say the only thing I miss about moving from a house to a flat is my old garden. It was huge! Granted it was some what over grown in places and needed work but that didn't matter, we loved it all the same. I am lucky as I am in a ground floor flat and because its such a small block we do have a decent sized outdoor area, both grass and paved. So when were sent out a fantastic little gardening kit and asked to take part in the #KidsGrowWild Challenge, we happily agreed. 

Sadly the garden area has been flooded and needs some essential maintenance so we were unable to get outside, but that didn't stop us! We decided to make the most of a bad situation and bring the outside in and make our very own little garden on Eden. Aalliyah loved the idea of growing things that we could eat so we came up with ideas on what we could grow. It was a struggle as our garden was now a "windowsill" but nether the less we came up with some great choices. Granted some of them should be grown outdoors, but I've seen many a fine pepper or onion grown on a windowsill so thought why not give it a bash. 

Armed with her gloves and trowel Aalliyah was keen to get planting. 

We decided on some sweet strawberries, mini sweet red peppers, mixed chilies, tomatoes, rocket salad leaves and even a lucky shamrock plant. I wont say no to some good old Irish luck.
Aalliyah had a blast planting all the different seeds in their pots. We even made our own propagator lid using freezer bags, which Aalliyah simply sellotaped to the pots. Once the seeds were planted Aalliyah cut out the handy little labels which were included and wrote out her different plants so she could keep track of what was growing where.

 All that was left to do now was water them which Aalliyah had been itching to do the from the start, so she filled up her funky new watering can and gave them all a sprinkle. I could see how proud Aalliyah was of her efforts and know she must have felt a real sense of accomplishment. She is eager to watch how they grow and if our garden of Eden will bear any food.

This post is an entry for BritMums’ "#KidsGrowWild Challenge"

Saturday Is Caption Day! - #Satcap

Well it's Saturday again.. So here is my #Satcap entry for this week! I really don't know what possesses Aalliyah to do these random things, but she wouldn't be Aalliyah without her weird and wacky personality :-)

Do you have a funny caption to go with this picture? If so I'd love to hear it! Why not head over to Mammasaurus where you can check out loads more entries and have fun captioning!

Red - The Gallery

Wow .. Feels good to be back...

Anyway, this weeks theme for "The Gallery" is RED.

So here's my picture. Yes it's a picture of me, and yes it's a bit self indulgent but who cares, I have a reason to be a show off this week after being presented with a certificate of achievement at last weeks weigh in for losing 50 lbs! So this weeks gallery is my chance to show off a bit and enjoy the fact that I actually liked seeing a photo of myself for the first time in a very long time!

Why not head over to Sticky Fingers and check out the other gallery entries :-)

Silent Sunday

The Gallery - The Eighties

OK, So the theme this week is "The Eighties", but being born in 84 meant I only had 6 years of the eighties to endure, so no perm pics here lol.

I think this picture was taken in around 89, so just in the "Eighties" bracket.

I am on the left in the "nice" lime green costume. Needless to say I have never had a photo taken in a costume since! In the middle is my very good friend Siobhan who I lost contact with for many years and in the past few years have got back in contact with each other. She is also a mummy now, so we can share in our experiences as parents together too. Not only that, but her beautiful little girl was born on Aalliyahs birthday :-)

On the right is a girl called Jade, who I will only ever remember for the biting and pinching that she did and the constant temper tantrum screams coming from her flat lol.

Head over to Sticky Fingers Blog and check out the other entries :-)

Reasons To Be Cheerful #R2BC

I love how the #R2BC is on a Thursday, as this is also my weekly weigh in day at Weight Watchers. So I can always wait until later on in the day as the scales might give me reasons to be "not so" cheerful! But today was another fab day with regards to weight loss. I have lost another 2.5lbs this week bringing me up to a total weight loss of 21 pounds! Which earned me my 3rd silver seven. I am over the moon at how well I am getting on with the pro points plan.

My second reason to be cheerful this week is that I finally repainted my lounge. I know its a pretty simple one, but I have had all my paint for months! I kept saying next week and it turned into months, so I finally got it done.. Only 4 more rooms to decorate now!!

My 3rd and final reason to be cheerful is the Christmas spirit which has started oozing out of all the shops with their window displays, the T.V with its festive adverts and all the people I speak to on Facebook and Twitter commenting on how they have started their Christmas shopping or how much they want to start decorating for Christmas  I love Christmas so much and get more excited than Aalliyah I think! I have started my Christmas shopping and bought some new decorations for my tree today :)

You see.. Simple things that make a big difference to my week. What has made you happy this week?

Saturday Caption Day #Satcap

Its Saturday!! Which can only mean one thing.. Time to caption! Here is Aalliyah and "Dolly". For those of you who haven't read my previous post, Dolly was a dead, hung girl we made for our Halloween party. Here she is before we made her "dead" and "hung".

Head on over to Mammasaurus and have fun captioning more! I am spending the day repainting my lounge but will come on later to check out all the entries.

Halloween On A Budget - The Gallery - Frightful

I am always on the look out for a good deal and ways to save money, so the first thing that came to mind when I thought about Halloween, was what I could make myself. Having ran out of nearly everything crafty I decided to round up some household things and see what I could do.

This is Boo! He was made with an old sheet, a balloon and some string, and some markers or paints to create the face.

Start out with an olds sheet and very roughly draw a large circle made from zig zag patterns. Dont worry about being neat. Next cut out the design, be as rough as you like as it all adds to the jagged effect when hung. Next blow up a balloon, and cutting a small hole in the centre of the sheet, pull the balloon tie through and "voila" . Design your own face and then hang him up with some string. Very easy and very inexpensive.

We also made a hanging ghost face decoration, using pretty much the same method, but with a bin bag, then popped a spooky mask onto the balloon.

And then there's Dead Dolly, Not for the younger ones or the squeamish, but looks fantastic when the light is dimmed. Piece of cake to make. Took some old clothes, stuffed them with rolled up newspaper balls, taped on a balloon head and them finished off with a rope noose. Add a hat/shoes/socks or what ever you like at the end and don't forget to draw on a face.

Last but not least was my 10 second table cloth. Cut open an old pillowcase so its laid out flat, then get the kids to have fun with some fake blood. As you can see Aalliyah made scratch marks, drips, splats and even a hand print!

Have fun this Halloween and remember to stay save in whatever you do!

I am linking this post up with "The Gallery" this week as the word is frightful!

Head over to Sticky Fingers to view more entries.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Silent Sunday

My Reasons To Be Cheerful :-) #RTBC

Well I've had a long horrid flu (Yuk) More bills than you can imagine these past two weeks and EVERYTHING running out in EVERY cupboard, total nightmare! But yet I still have reasons to be cheery (Believe it or not lol)

OK, You knew it was coming.. The gushing, overly proud paragraph about how well my daughter is doing at school? Well yes , I am in fact over the moon with Aalliyahs parents evening, she is working above her targets and if I give her a little shove this year she is possible of a level 6 in her SATS next year. I did think.. "Hang on a minute, SATS go to level 5" But my concerns were quickly cut short as the teacher informed me they have added a higher level this year. So I am very happy with my little brain box.

My second reason to be cheery this week is my weigh in at Weight Watchers. The scales tipped in my favor yet again and I lost another 3.5 lb this week. I have so far lost 18 lbs in 5 weeks, and 5% of my total body weight, so I'm a very happy lady! The weight loss has definitely given me a bit of a confidence boost especially when people comment on my slimming waist line ;)

My final reason to be cheerful this week is that I got my hair done!! Yes I know, bit of a lame one, but I haven't had a processional cut in good few years now! Always doing the old D.I.Y snip! To go along with the new style, I also coloured it too (Dark Violet) See..the weight loss is bringing a whole new side of me to light!

Feel free to comment below, and if you like what you read, then please subscribe/join. I look forward to reading all your Reasons To Be Cheerful

Saturday Is Caption Day #SatCap

What is it with children and cardboard boxes? I could have the most amazing thing ever inside but my daughter still eyes up the box and the bubble wrap. I guess her crafty side takes over as I have always taught her to reuse things if she can. (As I experienced with my beautiful toilet tube binoculars she made me)

Anyway hear is my Sat Cap entry this week. Have fun captioning :-)

Why not head over to Mammasaurus and check out the other Sat Cap entries for this week :-)

The Gallery - Old

Another day and another grey hair! I have actually bypassed grey and gone straight to white! I suppose it is in keeping with Halloween coming up, but white hairs springing up when I am just 27 reminds me of the fact I am getting OLD. But I am sure no one would really appreciate a picture of my pale strands, so I quickly put it to the back of my mind (As I wrote "Remember to buy hair dye" on my notice board!)

Nothing says old quite like your treasured photographs. I have barely any photographs from when I was young, which is why I probably over compensate and take so many of Aalliyah. I want her to have endless memories of her childhood that she can treasure forever.

So here is my photograph for this week. One of the only pictures I have of both me and my sister as children. I'm not keen on the hair do (Thanks Mum) but I do love the photo. I looked up to my big sister then and I continue to do so everyday. With all I have been through , I would be lost without her.

Why not head over to Sticky Fingers and check out some other Gallery entries. This weeks theme is "Old".

                                                              

Saturday Caption Day #SatCap

I am so in love with this picture! Pippin looking "Oh so beautiful" ...

Have fun captioning :-)

Head on over to Mammasaurus and caption some more photos :-)