Journeys Are My Diary

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Week 46 – Monday Round-up

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Last week, as I was writing my Monday Round-up post, it occurred to me how little I remembered of my week. When I was being organised in October (for Stoptober) I made the effort to write my “Stoptober” post every day, as well as my Monday Round-up, because it helped me to remember whether I’d been good or not, in order to round it up. I decided this week to try and do it again. Last week I was super organised and wrote all my week’s worth of blog posts in one day and scheduled them throughout the week. This meant I didn’t really need to go near my laptop too much. This week however, I wanted to find a balance of being organised and having my posts written, as well as checking in daily to update my round-up post.

Monday to Friday was work and school again – well it was for me and the girls, Chris had the week off. Monday the girls had Singing Stars after school and so I called in to see my mum while I was waiting. Once I picked them up we headed home and when we got in, I set to cooking Chicken Fajitas for us all. Chris had bought me some beautiful roses and so they sat centre of the table when we all sat down to dinner. Everyone remarked how nice it was to all sit down and eat together too. The girls also had their school photos taken and as lovely as they are, I’m disappointed with the quality of presentation this year. I feel like they aren’t as good pictures as usual!

After dinner, Chris headed upstairs on his computer and Megan and I watched the X Factor results which we hadn’t seen the night before. Lily went to bed and Megan and I just hung out, till it was her bedtime too. Once she was asleep, Chris came downstairs and we sat down to watch more “Arrow”, then “The Walking Dead” and then “Gotham”. After that we headed to bed.

Tuesday morning I attempted to get more positive. I started out by printing out some calendar pages, even before I went to work. I even started to fill them in, hoping it would make me feel a bit more motivated. Work was a meh day again – more so than usual, so I was very glad to leave and get the girls. Sadly when I got home, owing to my mood, I didn’t really feel like doing anything at all. I played Plants Vs Zombies for majority of the evening, at least until Nat came. Chris had his friend Jon over and they ordered takeaway and while I wasn’t going to have anything, I was persuaded into cheesy chips – yes, that was the day before weigh-in. I knew I would be putting on weight this week and rather than try at the last minute, I failed and caved to takeaway! **Must try harder!** Nat spent the evening here and we caught up, gossiped etc. After both she and Jon were gone, Chris and I headed to bed.

Wednesday was weigh-in day and as I expected, I put on another pound this week. However hopefully it was the kick I needed to get my head back in the game – that coupled with the determination to get organised, will hopefully turn things around! Work was okay, probably the best day of the week. It went fast, but as always I was glad to be done. I called in at my mum’s after work and had a quick cup of tea, but then I headed off to get the girls from school and then came home. I made hot dogs for Chris and the kids for dinner, then settled down to get some blogging done. After that I printed off some pictures of young Anna and Elsa’s costumes, so that I could start to order patterns, material etc. to make the costumes from. As the girls went to bed, we packed a bag for the school disco the next day and then they both went to bed.

Chris spent majority of the evening upstairs on his computer, so I started to order patterns and look for material and ribbon etc. I caught up on quite a lot of TV and when Chris eventually came downstairs, we watched the latest episode of “The Flash” and also another episode of “Arrow” (which we’re desperately trying to catch up on!).

The next morning was a crazy rush. We knew we weren’t coming home before the disco and so that meant we needed to have everything organised and with us. Megan needed her swimming stuff too, then with Friday being Children in Need and Megan staying over at mum’s, we needed to be organised for that too. We dashed out of the door in a mad rush but pretty confident we had everything. I got the girls to school on time and didn’t feel too bad, but then unfortunately I started to feel ill on the way to work and pulled the car over to be sick. After ringing in work, I headed home. Chris had headed out to see his Nan and so I settled down to watch some daytime TV and take it easy. I didn’t really do an awful lot with my day, but I did catch up with some blogging.

I headed out with Chris at 3pm to pick up the girls from school. They had school disco and so we headed into Lincoln to grab a McDonalds and then still having some spare time, we ended up in Starbucks – having the first red cups of the season! We dropped Chris off at BT – he had a Meet & Greet for his new job – then headed to my mum’s for the girls to get changed. Megan jumped in the shower while Lily got ready. Once Lily was ready, we headed out to her disco, as she had to be there for 5.30pm. I came back to mum’s afterwards and got Megan ready too. Then Chris called to say he was done so I nipped back into Lincoln to pick him, then back to mum’s to get Megan and head to their school. I dropped Megan off and picked Lily up, before heading home with Lily. We got her clothes for the next day sorted (PJ day at school) and then also clothes for the weekend (their dad was having them Friday night). Lily then went to bed. Megan was staying at mum’s so the rest of the evening was spent with Chris, watching TV.

I’m a terrible mother and only took pictures of Lily before Disco and then obviously only 
had Lily the next morning for Children in Need PJ Day! 

On Friday morning, Lily got up and had her breakfast, before having a quick shower. We then got her ready for school – a day in PJs, for Children in Need. We headed out to school, making sure we remembered 101 different things and when we got there, met up with Megan to give her some of the things she needed. I then took both girls to their classrooms before heading back home. I nipped to Marshall’s Yard to pick up a parcel from Next and then M&S to get some food for dinner. Finally I grabbed McDonalds breakfast and brought it home to Chris. The rest of the day was spent on my computer, watching TV and eventually planning Megan’s birthday mystery party. I didn’t need to collect the girls from school as their dad was having them, which was nice as it rained all day and I was able to hang out in my PJs too! For dinner Chris and I had our M&S meal, which consisted of leek and bacon mash, with red wine and chicken casserole, followed by chocolate and hazelnut cheesecake. We had a bottle of red wine too but it was pretty gross so I tipped mine down the sink in the end. We spent the evening watching TV, first loads of Arrow and then eventually Dark Knight Rises as Chris hadn’t seen it. I started to trace out Amy’s Snow White pattern so I could begin making it the next day. In the end I actually got on to cutting out the pattern too.

We headed to bed fairly late but it was nice because I knew we didn’t need to be up the next morning. Saturday we didn’t really have any plans and as such we did have a little lay-in. The morning was spent working on Amy’s dress, while watching Judge Judy. At lunchtime Chris and I headed into town – I went to Boyes for material while Chris went to the Post Office for photos, then we went to Tesco. After that we grabbed Fish & Chips before heading home to eat them. In the afternoon I carried on sewing, the girls arriving home around 4.30pm. At that point I didn’t get as much done as they were distracting me, but it was nice because they were both keen to help.  Megan ended up cutting out her own jacket pattern – so I could start on her Elsa outfit and Lily just kept us company. Eventually I got them both some dinner and it wasn’t long before Lily headed to bed. Afterwards Megan and I worked on her pattern a little more, before heading through to start watching X Factor. While we did, I started to cut out some pieces for her costume and then once she’d gone to bed, Chris came down to watch TV with me. We headed to bed after a couple of hours.

Sunday morning I woke up before Chris so I sneaked out of bed and came downstairs. Only Lily was up so together we did the dishwasher and I sorted out some washing. I then heard Chris moving around so put the kettle on, nipping upstairs to get dressed. Not long after 10am, the kids and I headed into town to go back to Boyes. We bought more material and then headed to Argos to pick up some tables I’d reserved. Afterwards we headed home and I called Chris down to build the tables, so I could crack on. Sadly the day wasn’t as constructive as I hoped – but that’s often the way when the kids are around. However I did get Amy’s Anna dress finished, more done on Snow White and Elsa started a little more too. Mum came for a couple of hours in the afternoon and did the girls homework with them, so that was a great help too. In the evening the girls started on a Disney craft project which I will be sharing with you all soon – no hints yet I’m afraid! Lily headed to bed and Megan and I watched the X Factor results. We accidentally got watching I’m a Celebrity too but I couldn’t let Megan stay up to watch it as it didn’t finish till 10.40pm. She headed to bed not long after 9pm and so I shoved Casualty on in order to catch up on my blogging. Chris eventually came downstairs too and we watched SHIELD before heading to bed.

I’ve felt much much better this week and far more positive. I’ve made an effort to write this post every day, or every couple of days, to keep up with what I’ve been doing. I do have several things I’ve slipped behind on, but for the most part I know what they are and just need to sit down and get on with it. Eating wise I’ve been much better, without making myself miserable too. I’m looking forward to another positive week (fingers crossed) and hopefully as weight loss on Wednesday!

The girls room and Megan’s new Dormeo Memory Mattress*

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Those of you who read my blog regularly will remember the day we decided to move from my lovely little village of Saxilby, to where we live now in Gainsborough. You’ll also know that top of my priority for that move, was making the transition for the girls as smooth as possible. Though we did up several of the rooms before moving in, it was important to me to make sure the girls were very happy in their new room – and this resulted in us painting it pink! Along with the pink, we also adorned the walls with various stickers, posters and canvases – mainly Disney, but with some Mario featuring in there too.

Over time I have added to the room – there were Frozen stickers when the movie came out last year and since then there has even been Frozen duvets. During April their room also suffered from some quite severe rain damage to the ceiling, but we were lucky enough to get it all done (and covered by the insurance) over the summer holidays and now their room looks even better than ever. Not only that, but they gained a new border which they love.

With so many alterations to the room, I’d begun to notice just how old and tatty their bunkbed was beginning to look. Every time we stripped covers, the mattresses looked so dirty and horrible – I was disappointed there wasn’t something I could do about it. However just recently, we received a single Dormeo Memory Mattress. It retails at £299.99* but right now it’s on offer for £149.99. I decided that since Megan was the oldest, she should be the one to get it. She was thrilled at the idea of getting a new mattress – let alone a memory foam one and we had no end of amusement, getting it out of the box and onto her bed (even more when the old mattress nearly hit us on the head!)

Reportedly the mattress is incredibly comfy and Megan is very pleased with it. I have to admit I’ve had a lay on it – one night when Megan got herself upset over something, I ended up climbing the ladder for a cuddle (and a joke of how she’d have a mummy shape in her bed to remember me by) and I thought it was a really good mattress too. Chris is incredibly jealous as he really wanted a memory foam mattress but I said tough – the girls come first ;) Now I just have one mattress to replace instead of two and I’ll be pretty much done with the girls room – until of course they decide they want it painting blue or something!!

Peter Alexander – A Harry Potter Wishlist

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Over the last few days I’ve been thinking a lot about Christmas. I know that’s almost a dreaded word in July, but with holidaying to both Paris in October and Florida in April, I need to start saving my money and being careful with what I do have to spend. With that in mind I’ve decided that the girls, Chris, Amy and Liv will all be getting useful presents – ones they will love but also ones they can use when we go to Florida next year. While I think I’m pretty much sorted with Amy and Liv, I obviously have several presents to buy for the girls and Chris, as not only does Christmas fall into the next few months before we go, but also all three of their birthdays!

One of our Christmas traditions is to buy brand new pajamas, to wear from Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. I was super excited when I saw the Harry Potter facebook page post a link to Peter Alexander’s new Harry Potter collection. Even though they’re in Australia, I’m really hoping to save up some cash and buy everyone Harry Potter pjs for Christmas! As we’re visiting both Disney and Harry Potter while we’re away, these will be perfect to take with us too!

For myself:

As expected, there’s more choice for ladies than there are gents or kids. However I’m pretty fussy about what I wear in bed as I get warm easily. Since I’d like to have a complete set, I’d definitely opt for this Hogwarts Sweatshirt, though unfortunately I think I’d probably end up trading it for a plain vest tee instead. However for bottoms there are loads I love. There are Owl Classic Print trousers – though I’m not usually a fan of owl print, these represent Hedwig and so that makes it okay. There are also two pairs of shorts I like – H. Potter shorts (featuring cartoon style pictures of Harry, brooms, the Sorting Hat etc.) and H. Potter knit shorts (featuring Harry’s glasses and lightning bolt). There are also some Stars longline shorts which are pretty cool.

For Chris:

Chris gets hot in bed too so I was pretty torn between trousers or shorts for him. Again though, there was only one top that really stood out and that’s the Mens H. Potter tee, a blue top with cartoon style Harry Potter glasses on the pocket. The bottoms are probably by choice rather than his, but there are shorts the same as some I liked, with trousers in the same print too. They are Men’s H. Potter tartan pj pant and Men’s H. Potter tartan boxer (I think technically boxer shorts, but since he often sleeps in boxers I figured it wouldn’t matter). However, there are some other shorts too, that would perhaps be better when sleeping around others. These are Men’s H. Potter scar mid sleep short and they are a lovely blue, with the same glasses and lightning bolt as the ones I like too.

The girls:

Sadly there isn’t a lot of choice for the girls and I definitely would have preferred shorts for them with regard to taking to Florida. However here in the UK, its cold at Christmas and so pj trousers would be fine. There are basically only two options for the kids, but I know they’d like them both. There is Girls H. Potter PJ set, which are the same cartoon style print on the trousers, with a really cool tee that has a tie on it. The other option is a little more girly, Jnr Girls H. Potter PJ set with a cartoon Harry on the tee, then glasses on the trousers. These look like a slightly cooler option in my opinion.

25/52

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Megan & Lily: Sports Day, Tuesday 17th June. I was absolutely heart broken to be missing their Sports Day, for the first time ever, due to work. Not only that but my mum was away and their Grandma was busy. Luckily at the last minute, their Grandma was available and while she missed Lily’s morning races, she did get to spend lunch with them and the rest of the afternoon, watching Megan’s races. She took this beautiful picture of the girls over lunch, especially to sent to me at work. I was so thankful for her being there.

24/52

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Cheating as usual this week! Joint pic of the girls, taken on Wednesday when my wig arrived! Dubbed the “Katy Perry wig”, we joked that Megan was clearly excited to meet her idol! Lily looked better than I did in it a few days later!

Week 23 – Monday Round-up

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I know I’ve said this before, but writing these weekly round-ups, doing my weekly picture and also doing a weigh in Wednesday, doesn’t half make the week go fast! It doesn’t seem like too minutes since it was last Monday!

This week has been fairly uneventful and that’s definitely no bad thing. Work has been the same every day, the girls have been at school and for the most part its been a pretty simple sort of a week. It has however, been a week of getting organised and planning future events – such as our next Murder Mystery, Comic Con and of course the #LincsBlogMeet! Monday and Tuesday evenings were both spend organising the Blog Meet – sorting through emails and figuring out what still needs to be done. Wednesday and Thursday I had moved onto ideas for Comic Con costumes (the Rapunzel one is down the drain – don’t ask!) and by Friday and Saturday I was sorting out next weekend’s Murder Mystery.

On top of that I’ve spent a long time uploading photos from the Harry Potter Day, my birthday and also my murder mystery – mostly because I wanted to post about them all on my blog! I discovered that Disney are doing Villain covers for all of their movies and I’m heartbroken that I can’t justify owning/buying another copy of movies I already have!

Game of Thrones was a cracking episode this week and I can’t wait to see what tonight’s will bring! I’m so sad that lots of my TV shows have finished, especially things like Revolution, OUAT and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. On the plus side, I’m going to start watching Grimm and Orange is the New Black, both of which are on Netflix!

I’ve also been having a lot of fun with the TimeHop app. I know its something that’s been kicking around for a while now and I’m sure it drives other people mad to always get TimeHop statuses, but I’m finding it really enjoyable to reminisce.

The only real events of any note, were Nat coming around on Friday night and the girls and I having a movie night on Saturday. Otherwise its been a really quiet and enjoyable week – with the odd stress and panic, but for the most part pretty great. I’ve not worked any extra, I’ve not had to host any parties or bake any cakes and its been all good.

Bring on next week, I’m ready!

22/52

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I’m sorry I’ve been a bit quiet on my blog these last few days but Wednesday was my birthday, Friday we went to Harry Potter Studios and Saturday was my birthday Murder Mystery party. Normal service should resume tomorrow. In the meantime, here is my 52 Project post.

Both the girls at the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tours on May 30th. We tried the Butterbeer (of course) and while both said it was okay, Lily was the only one who actually had more than a mouthful or two.

Week 10 – Monday Round-up

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Wow! What a week it has been! Obviously its been a work and school week, so aside from all that, this is what I’ve been up to!

Monday I had a doctors appointment (uck!). I had my asthma and pill review, plus a surprise (yet overdue) smear test (double uck!). I came home to relax but actually ended up planning Amy’s birthday cake, as well as bit of birthday party planning too! Sadly I can’t post pictures as she’ll see!

Tuesday it was Pancake Day! We had pancakes for dinner and for pudding afterwards. It was Pancake Heaven!

Wednesday was Lily’s birthday and this will warrant a whole post of its own. We started off the day opening presents in bed, obviously spent the day at work/school and then went out for dinner at Prezzo’s later. She was a very lucky girl – her main gifts being: a new desktop computer, a 2DS plus some games and loads and loads of Disney Lego. She was so well behaved all day too, none of this over giddiness that kids sometimes get on exciting days!

Thursday I wasn’t working in the evening, which made a nice change as of late. I went and did a little shopping after work, before heading home. This was nice too as I rarely get time to shop alone these days. My ex had the girls and so Chris and I got to spend some much needed time together. We didn’t do an awful lot but it was nice just to hang out together!

Friday was lovely as it was the end of the week. Mum had the girls overnight and Chris was at work so I had the house all to myself when I got home. Nat came later on in the evening and we spent several hours dying our hair. I now have pink tips!

Saturday was a nice relaxing day, doing not a lot! The girls came back from mum’s around mid-morning and we all spent the day just playing on our computers, watching TV etc. When Chris got home from work he bought us Indian for dinner and we spent the evening catching up on several hours of TV.

Sunday was a beautifully sunny day which was perfect as we were heading out for a family day. I had been asked to visit The Deep in Hull and blog about their penguins, so we decided to make a whole day of it. We set off around 10am, went to the Humber Bridge and then onwards to Hull and The Deep.

We arrived at The Deep around 11.30am but the girls were already grumbling they were hungry so we sat and ate some early lunch in the car. We then spent the next 3 hours inside The Deep before heading back out to the car and going to Toys R Us on the way home! When we got home, we had a very sadistic dinner of Fish and Chips but it was amazing.

I then spent the evening on my computer, while catching up on some of my own TV. Chris spent some time on his computer before eventually coming through to watch some TV with me. We headed to bed at 10.30 and read for a while, before finally getting to sleep.

It’s been a really great week and I’m honestly looking forward to the next one!

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Don’t forget there is a little over a week left for my Canvas Print Giveaway!!
Ends 19th March so go and enter now!!

Fanatical about Frozen!

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By the time this post goes live, I will be watching Disney’s Frozen for the third time (for the girls it will be their fourth!). Not only that, but I’m so super-excited to be going to a “Sing-a-long” version of the movie, something at one point I only thought would be available in the US. Right now, Rhiannon and I will be sat in a tiny little cinema, with about forty other people (our four little girls included) singing along at the top of our lungs, to all the songs from Frozen.

Source

Megan’s birthday was on December 11th. For her party she decided to have two friends come to the cinema and then go out for dinner. She was lucky enough to find out that Frozen was released a week before, in UK cinemas. Chris and I took Megan, her two friends and Lily, all along to see the movie.

To be honest though, her love of the movie started before she’d even seen it! When we went to London in October Half Term, I was conned into an early birthday present of Frozen boots, along with a Disney Store bag. The watching of YouTube videos began and I was worried they would know loads of the storyline before we even saw the movie!

Megan with her boots in London

When December 14th finally rolled around, we all headed to the cinema to watch the movie. Everyone loved it! In fact, the girls more than loved it. Every day they would come home from school with talk of how they’d played “Frozen” at break that day. It soon also became clear that Megan was very much Elsa and Lily was very much Anna. It makes sense really, with both Megan and Elsa being the older sister, Lily and Anna being the younger. Needless to say, that’s about where the comparisons end, as neither of my girls grew up in a palace, or have ice powers.

As the girls had plenty of iTunes vouchers for Christmas, they had soon purchased their favourite songs to listen to. “Let It Go”, “Do You Want To Build a Snowman?”, “For the First Time in Forever” and “Love is an Open Door” made the most played list, though “Reindeer(s) are Better than People”, “In Summer” and “Fixer Upper” all featured there too. I have to admit, I even bought the first four myself! The girls now know the words pretty much off by heart, and both to and from school I get requests for putting “Frozen songs on”.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, you really should. Though it may seem like a girl orientated movie, there is definitely plenty of appeal for boys too. While the girls ARE Disney Princesses, they’re not your typical Princess. In fact Elsa is Queen within a few short scenes. There is a little bit of romance, but not too much that its off-putting. There is also plenty of humour. The songs are great and the score is even better. Perhaps I’m a little biased but the music is done by Christophe Beck and I have admired him ever since he did a lot of the music for Angel and Buffy.

On top of that, there is a great cast! Idina Menzel voices Elsa, while Kristen Bell voices Anna. Jonathan Groff makes a great Kristoff (and Sven!) and Josh Gad just completes it all as Olaf! I have to admit I’m not at all fussed about Demi Lovato’s version of “Let It Go”, I do wish Disney wouldn’t feel the need to release two versions! However I’m so pleased to see that Idina has been nomiated for an Oscar for her amazing vocals!

As I was saying thought, we’re all pretty obsessed with Frozen in this household (well all except Chris I suppose). Lily’s birthday is coming up and she’s having a Fancy Dress Disco – with special request for an Anna costume. Megan is going too, so I’ve conceded to buying her an Elsa costume as well – it seems only right! Lily has told me she’d like a “Frozen” birthday cake too, so that will be fun. I have to admit I’m actually sort of looking forward to fiddling with it! I’m pretty sure Megan plans to get Lily the “Olaf’s Quest” DS game as a present as well.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen the movie, you really should! I feel like I’ll never tired of watching the movie or singing the songs. I’m looking forward to the DVD being released at the end of the month – it’s only £10 from Amazon!