Journeys Are My Diary

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Week 12 – Monday Round-up

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This week I have managed to make notes in a draft post so writing this round-up doesn’t seem half as daunting! Yay me! So… Monday Chris was at work early and the girls went to school. I spent majority of my day on the computer, catching up with blogging and getting ready for my scheduled posts during my April holiday. The girls didn’t have any Singing Stars this week but instead we had the dentist. I picked them up from school and we headed there, via my mum’s to brush our teeth. When we got to the Dentists it was straight in and out pretty much and so I called Chris to see if he wanted to meet for Burger King and then have a lift home. On the way to pick him up I got a flat tyre and with no wheel wrench and no jack I was pretty screwed. I called my insurance/breakdown recovery, only to find out I didn’t have any so by the time Chris got to me, I sent him to find a wheel wrench and jack to get us sorted. Eventually we managed to get the flat tyre off and the spare on, so headed to Burger King and grabbed some food before heading home. Chris and I spent the evening watching TV, while I blogged and then we also watched The Walking Dead.

On Tuesday morning I was tasked with returning the jack we had borrowed (we bought the wheel wrench) and so I dropped off the kids and then took the jack back. I headed to Tanvic to get my tyres sorted and while they were being done I headed into town. Whilst in Primark, the Be Our Guest breakfast reservations became available and so Amy and I had a few moments of madness while we tried to organise that. The tyre place rang to say that they didn’t actually have my tyre in stock but could order it and I could go back the next day. Unfortunately my car was already booked in the garage for the next day so instead I said I’d take it back Thursday. I headed home for a while and chilled while watching TV and getting some more blogging done. I was feeling a bit blah and so when Chris arrived home he ordered us pizza and chips and we vegged out while waiting for the girls to get home. They arrived back around 7pm and Lily went straight to bed, while Megan was still up when Jon and my brother Chris arrived. However Megs went to bed fairly soon and we all sat down at the dining table to play board games – this was Chris’ birthday party. The first game we played was called “Cash ‘n’ Guns and it was fantastic. Really simple and easy to play, fairly quick for each round and hilariously funny. We ended up playing it three times and genuinely I loved it.

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After Cash n Guns, we played a Walking Dead board game that Chris got last year for his birthday and we never got around to playing. Sadly it was pretty crap and so I don’t imagine we’ll be playing that again! Such a shame too as the simpler (and cheaper) Walking Dead card game that he also got last year was actually pretty good. The boys finished off with a few rounds of Inn Fighting, a dice and card game that didn’t really interest me. I moved through to the lounge and waited for everyone to leave, heading to bed when they did.

On Wednesday I dropped the girls off at school and then took my car to the garage, where mum picked me up. We headed back to her house for the day and watched Divergent, since she’s just recently read the book series. Mum went out over lunch so I wrote some blog posts and got myself some food. Megan ended up coming home with mum from school as she was feeling unwell. At the end of school time, mum gave me a lift down to get my car and then she collected Lily from school and took her home. I went to school myself but it was Parent’s Evening so I hung around and waited for my appointment. Both girls are doing really well which I was incredibly pleased to hear and this was by far Lily’s best parent’s evening to date as well. I drove back to mum’s to pick up the girls and then we headed back home and the girls went to bed. I made myself some dinner and watched TV, while I waited for Chris to come home from work. Afterwards he was home we watched some Kitchen Nightmares before heading to bed.

Some of Lily’s class work that I took a picture of at Parent’s Evening

On Thursday I headed out to take the girls to school but met my mum midway who actually took Megan off me and took her to Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar. Megan was participating in a Maths competition that morning and my mum had volunteered to provide lifts. After dropping Lily off at school it was back to Tanvic to get my tyres done but this time instead of heading into town I just sat and waited. My tyres were done by about 10am and so I headed to Tesco and got some shopping done before heading home. The majority of the day was spent tidying the house and then afterwards I went to get the girls from school. Megan had done really well in the Maths competition and her team had come first, beating all the other schools that had taken part! I was so incredibly proud of her. When we got back we had three Disney tasks to fit in – one from the day before (dress up Disney), one from that day (make or draw Disney) and one from the previous week (watch The Lion King). It was sort of hectic but we got dinner and then managed to fit it all in. I even made Chris a Cornflake Tart (his request, instead of a birthday cake). Once Lily was in bed, Megan and I wrapped Chris’ presents, as well as two for my nephews as it was their birthday party at the weekend. Megan then headed to bed and I worked some more on my blog. When Chris got home he had some of his cornflake tart and we both had a glass of wine. We headed to bed around 11pm as we were both too tired to stick it out till midnight.

When we woke up on Friday morning, it was of course Chris’ birthday. The girls came into our room and we opened presents and cards in bed. After that we all had to get ready as usual as the girls still had school and we were even going that morning too. Megan was in Shine Assembly and she got a certificate for her work. She was also in Assembly for the Maths competition the day before, where they all got certificates for coming first. As assembly ended the Eclipse was happening and so Year 5 and 6 were going into the Playground to watch it. Mum asked if we could stay and watch from there and so we did.

After leaving school we headed to the garage as there had been a car there on Wednesday that might have been suitable for Chris. However it was sold already so that was that! Chris and I headed into town and got McDonalds breakfast for his birthday treat. He then went to work for 11am and I headed into town. I really only went to Primark as the time before I’d ended up dumping all my stuff without paying for it (don’t ask!). I bought a few things for holiday and then headed back to my car. I went home for a few hours and then turned out again to get the girls. When we got back from school they had dinner and we watched The Incredibles. After that they went to bed and I blogged while waiting for Chris to come home. When he was back he had more cornflake tart and this time I made him some custard to go with it! We headed to bed around 11pm as I was feeling pretty tired.

On Saturday Chris let me have a bit of a lie-in and so when I got up it was nearly 10am. His dad called around for a while and so to let them talk, the girls and I started to properly pack their suitcases and check off their lists. After Chris’ dad was gone we all headed downstairs and then girls help me set the table and cook brunch (though more like lunch) for us all. I’d originally promised Chris a fried breakfast for his birthday but because we’d gone to Assembly it hadn’t been possible and this was to make up for it. After food we were all stuffed and it was hard to find the energy to do anything. However I worked on some sewing projects, cutting out pieces and doing as much as I could with the fabric I had. The Disney task was to cook Disney food and so we put Baymax faces on marshmallows and toasted them. It was simple but fun and nice to do something a little different for a change. In the early evening we all settled down to watch Cars and we ordered takeaway (another treat for Chris’ birthday). Once it was finished and the girls were in bed, Chris and I took turns to have a bath and then I worked on Lily’s latest dress bodice until we headed to bed.

Sunday came and went far too fast! Lily woke us early and Chris was in a fairly foul temper all day. I tried to ride it out but for the most part I just kept the girls out of his way so as not to annoy him more! At 10am I popped out to Boyes as I needed some material and when I got back I worked on my sewing. At 11.30am we headed out to Scunthorpe and to my brother’s house, as it was his twin boys birthday party and we were invited. After arriving at around 12.15pm, we stayed for a couple of hours and left at around 2.30pm. It was a lovely time and it was so nice to see my nephews after quite some time. When we got home, I went back to my sewing projects. The girls ended up sitting with me and making dolls clothes which was harder than they expected but very cute. We spent hours in the dining room, eventually making dinner and all sitting in there to eat it as well. Afterwards Lily went to bed and I started working on some blog stuff for Twice the Mum – sorting out some books and movies for our From Page to Screen feature. Once that was done I made a start on some actually sewing on my sewing machine but it didn’t feel like I got much done before eventually heading to bed!

It’s been a funny sort of a week, that’s felt incredibly busy. I can’t wait till the girls have finished this one last week of school so I can just concentrate on getting ready for Florida!

The Versatile Blogger Award

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The lovely Aymie, over at Aymie Louise, recently nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award. I’m incredibly grateful for the nomination and hope that any of my lovely readers who fancy stealing this award will do so. I nominate you all! I know that’s cheating a little (you’ll see why when you read the rules) but genuinely I haven’t done a lot of “finding new bloggers” recently as I’ve just been so busy. I love all my Bloggy Buddies though so if you want the award – it’s yours!

Rules for the award:

– Thank the blogger who nominated you.
– Tell your readers seven facts about yourself.
– Nominate 15 bloggers that you have recently discovered.

Seven facts about me:

1. I am the oldest member of my social circle of friends, by quite some amount. Forgetting my partner Chris (who is 5 years younger than me) and my brother Chris (who is 3 years younger than me), majority of my friends are 8-9 years younger than I am. I very rarely feel the age gap though, despite the fact I often take the leader/organiser role in the group.

2. I currently have 56 friends on Facebook. These are mostly close friends and family, with the odd exception. I have no-one on my Facebook from Primary School, only three from High School, no-one from University and five mum’s from the girls’ school. Majority of my friendships were made with people I met online through a website called Deckleswood.

3. When it comes to book/movie adaptations, I have some pretty strong views. If I watch the movie first, I’m unlikely to ever read the book afterwards. If I see something I might like and think I’ll enjoy, I always make sure I read the book first, even if that means watching the movie a lot later than it’s released. This topic has even inspired a blog series on my sister blog – Twice the Mum. You can read it every Wednesday in our “From Page to Screen” series.

4. Still talking about books, I also never (or at least extremely rarely) re-read a book. Doesn’t matter how much I enjoyed it, or even if I own it, I never choose to re-visit a story. My thought is really similar to that of traveling – in that there are so many places out there to visit, why restrict yourself to places you’ve already been. Yes it’s great to re-live memories, but it’s also amazing to broaden your horizons and make new memories. There are so many books and so many stories out there, why waste what time you have re-reading when you can discover something new.

5. I’m a total perfectionist, but rarely consider anything I do to be perfect. I set incredibly high standards for myself (and others) and never really manage to achieve them. Despite being told I bake good cakes, sew good clothes, write good stories etc. I hardly ever believe it. I don’t know if it’s low self confidence or just a lust to strive harder – that or I’m just genuinely rubbish and people lie to me!

6. The fastest way to make me function is hand me a cup of tea. This applies not only first thing in the morning, but really throughout the day and even into the evening. That said I can be a complete nightmare to be around if I haven’t eaten at the right times throughout the day too. Sometimes I get so grumpy and the only thing that can fix it is sitting down to some decent nosh.

7. I genuinely believe I am a good mum. I don’t believe I am the best or even perfect, but I know my children are healthy, happy and being brought up well and that’s largely because of me. Despite struggling to ever see myself in a completely positive light, the one thing I will always be proud of is my children and the fact they are a genuine credit to me. It’s unlikely that I will ever earn huge amounts of money, become famous or even have a career to speak of, but I will eventually die happy knowing that I brought those beautiful girls into the world and made them the best versions of themselves that they could be.

Everyone who reads my blog know things like that fact I’m a huge Disney and Harry Potter fan, so I tried to make these facts something different. If you’re a reader of my blog and you’ve seen this, please feel free to take the award and place it on your blog. I’d also love to see your answers so please feel free to leave your link in the comments and I promise to read them all!

Week 21 – Monday Round-up

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So this week started off great! I was tired from all the DIY we did last week, but I was also feeling very accomplished. This kicked me off to a good start and a Happy Monday!

For the most part, the week was the same as any. Monday-Friday was school/work but the best part of this week was that it was the last one before half term! Yep, I’m officially on half term and that means a week off!

Monday, Andrea (Grandma) had the kids after school. This gave me a little time to pop to a few places, meaning a trip to B&Q, Staples and Carpet Right. I picked up some lino for the entrance to our hallway, some shelves (also for our hallway), some card for Megan to complete some homework, amoungst other things. I then spent the evening catching up on blog stuff, as well as TV. I bought my Comic Con costume, plus some bits for my birthday party. I also decided what I was serving for dinner that night!

Tuesday the kids and I had a fruit trying experience! I’ve posted about it over on Twice the Mum today so you should definitely have a read! After that we had to get to homework for them both (which was a bit of a headache I’ll admit) and after that Nat came around. While at times the day was pretty stressful, overall it was a good day.

Wednesday was mid-way through the week and for that reason is often one of my favourite days. That said, its also Weigh-In day and that can be depressing! However this week I lost 1lb and while its not a lot, its at least helped keep me a little more motivated. The kids and I enjoyed a peaceful evening, after so many hectic evenings recently and even after they went to bed I spent the majority of the evening getting some blog posts written in advance of the next week being a bit busier!

Thursday was a long day because I worked the evening shift. The rain set in again after several lovely days, so that was a little depressing too. However I was feeling very motivated regarding weight loss and that helped keep a positive attitude over other things. I was finally started to feel organised again too and that was a great feeling. When I got home with the kids that night, I settled them in bed and had another catch up evening. It felt good.

Finally, Friday was here! That was my last day of the working week and even better, once the work day was over, I was on holiday for a week. At work everyone had chipped together to get me a birthday present and even make me some bread (instead of a cake). It was a nice way to end the week. The kids and I headed home to Chris and that evening we all sat down to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

Saturday I woke up at 7am with a headache, which was sad as it was my first day off in a long time. However I took some pain killers and managed to get back to sleep, eventually getting up around 10am. I spent a couple of hours just chilling out and working on my blog, until my brother text to say he was calling around with his kids. Once they arrived, my brother and I caught up and chatted a lot, while the kids played Mario on the Wii and Minecraft on PC. I cooked them all chicken pie and chips for lunch and it was a really lovely part of the day. Once they left, it wasn’t long until Chris came home from work. We all spent some time on our computers, before settling down to watch the final Harry Potter movie, Deathly Hallows Part 2. Chris and I had planned to spend the evening putting up shelves, but that didn’t pan out so we decided to leave it till Monday!

Sunday, Chris was at work all day and the girls were going to their dad’s after tea. We first spent the morning packing a bag for them to go to their dad’s. After that we had some beauty time, painting and decorating our nails! The girls had a foot spa first and then afterwards we all painted our nails and added some decals, rhinestones etc. We then finally had lunch, quite late! We really didn’t have much food in the house though so we had to just make do, before heading out shopping in the afternoon. We did both Aldi and Tesco, getting everything we’d need for the week. Finally we headed home and just spent some time on our computers. The girls’ dad came about 6pm and I spent the rest of the evening looking on Ebay (I can’t believe I spent the whole evening that way but I did!). Chris came home from work and we watched the last ever Revolution (disappointing!) and the latest Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. episode.

There were some depressing parts to the week, but I’d prefer not to dwell on them right now. Overall it was a good week and I’ve felt far more positive during it for the most part!

Week 14 – Monday Round-up

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So as you’ll know, yesterday I posted an update on my 2014 Goals, in my Quarter Quell. The post had originally started off as my weekly round-up but when I realised how long it was getting, I figured I better make them two separate posts. So here is my weekly round-up!

This week has been great. Perhaps I’m only saying that now as its ending great (because it started manic) but overall its left me feeling like it was great! Monday I had only 3 days of work left, before breaking up for almost 3 weeks. This was a great motivation to get through the week. Not only that, but when I arrived home from work that day, I had both the Urban Decay palette that I’d bought, and also the Calvin Klein Endless Euphoria samples.

To top off an already good day, Chris, the kids and I all sat down to watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The girls are enjoying the Harry Potter movies so far and I couldn’t be prouder!

Next came Tuesday and it started off a little sad to be honest. Mum was having the kids that night (because I asked her to but still…) and so when I dropped them off at school I knew I wouldn’t see them again until Wednesday after school. Sometimes at work I have too much time to think and sadly this was one of those days. For most of the day I dwelled on not seeing them but the second work was out, I just got excited. The reason for that? I was meeting up with Nat and we were going to Meadowhall. Not only that, but we were going to see Divergent, 3 days before its official UK release!

We were like two kids when we arrived at Meadowhall – honestly you would think we never get out! We spent a little while shopping (though I only spent £15), grabbed some dinner and then went to the cinema. Nat wrote a movie review and you can read it here.

My Meadowhall haul

Nat called in for a cuppa when we got home and that was nice too. Another great day! The following day was Wednesday and in lots of ways, this felt like the end of the week for me. The working week at least. Wednesday was a good day at work and even more so because it was the last. Sadly I wasn’t able to head straight home though as Lily had a birthday party after school. Instead we headed to mum’s to get changed, wrap the present and generally waste time. We headed to Wacky Warehouse for 5pm and while Lily was in the party, Megan and I had some much needed M&M time (Mummy and Megan time).

Megan tried chicken fajitas (though they were just breaded chicken in wraps, with cheese and barbeque sauce) and I had steak and onion baguette. There was also a plate of chips and cheese with bacon but shhh…. (what diet?). Lily finished her party at 7pm and after taking one of her friends home on our way, we went home too. That evening Nat and I officially launched Twice the Mum, starting off with our Weight Loss Wednesday link up (I’ll argue that I only started my diet the next day!)

Thursday I had to get up at the same time, as if I was going to work! The kids still had two more days off work. However Lily had an Easter assembly at school and it was lovely to know I could go. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 all put together the story montage of the Easter Story. Lily had one line and I was so proud that she was one of the few people who just remembered it and didn’t need her script.

You can just see Lily to the left of this picture, stood against the wall

Afterwards I came home and was delighted to receive awesome mail! First up was a recorded delivery letter, which contained none other than my comic-con tickets. I seriously squealed and forgot all about the two other parcels sat on my lap for at least thirty minutes!

One of the other parcels, was a new router for our home. We’re getting fibre optic broadband today (Monday) and the router needs to arrive in advance! The second parcel was my new subscription to the Discovery Club, courtesy of The Fragrance Shop. It’s such a good idea and relatively cheap. You pay just £5 a quarter, for 5 sample scents. This month there is actually 7 though. On top of that, you also get a £5 voucher off every scent in the box, meaning if you like one you can buy a larger bottle at a reduced price!

No doubt I will be writing a blog post about its contents, once I’ve had a bit of a sniff!

I spent most of the day just catching up on things, especially my blog. In the evening I continued to catch up, this time on OUAT and OUAT in Wonderland. I have to admit I was pretty devastated by the former, crying for a good 20 minutes or so. The latter fails to impress me still but I’m continuing to hope for better things!

As I said before, the girls were still at school till Friday, so again I was up early. This time it was Megan’s turn for her Easter service, located in the local church. While I’m not particularly religious, it was quite nice to attend a tradition Easter service. It was even nicer to see Megan sing for both her Light Lunch club and also her X Factor club.

Again, Megan is on the left. The very end of the line.

When I headed home, I got even better mail! My new camera had arrived. It’s awesome and I love it and I really have to be careful not to waffle about it. So far I’ve only taken pictures using the auto setting but already I’m noticing the difference. Even my 52 Project photos were taken with it.

The battery needed charging when it arrived so this stopped me playing with it for too long. Instead I headed for a bath, caught up on some HIMYM (though I’m still nowhere near the finale) and dyed my hair using the new Washed Up Mermaid dye I bought.

I have to admit I’m fairly disappointed with it, especially for £5 a bottle. The first picture was after my first attempt (its only 15 minutes development time) and the second picture is after I tried again later that night. Its still not covered very well at all. In fact, because it was so pale, I even let the girls dye the ends of their hair. However sadly, Lily’s only took it a tiny bit and you can’t even see it on Megan’s.

Anyway, in between my two lots of hair dying, I also had to go out and collect the girls from school. As a treat we headed to Pizza Hut, just the three of us, for dinner. Sadly Lily’s pizza came burnt, so she ended up sharing mine. This turned out to be a good thing as a) it meant I ate less pizza (being on a diet and all) and b) Lily’s meal got knocked off the bill altogether and the girls both got free ice cream. Our total bill came to £9.98 which was pretty good all things considered.

In the evening, we dyed the girls hair as I mentioned, then we just hung out together. It was really lovely.

Saturday was yet another great day. The girls and I spent some time picking our Grand National horses, though sadly none of us won. My first ever Birchbox also arrived, which was actually pretty exciting! As well as that, some t-shirts arrived in the mail from TeeFury. This is a site I have posted about a million times before. The shirts were of course Karen Hallion designs (I’m a little bit obsessed) and after posting the picture on Instagram, I was so excited to see that Karen Hallion herself commented on my pic!

Chris came home just in time for the Grand National and so after that I made everyone dinner and then we settled down to watch the next installment of Harry Potter. This time we were onto Prison of Azkaban. The girls found it fairly confusing I think but they enjoyed it nonetheless.

Finally onto Sunday and gosh it was a dreary day. We had planned to go to the park with some of Megan and Lily’s school friends and I thought at one point it was going to get cancelled. However we did go and it was nice. The kids love to get out to the park and sadly I don’t take them very often. I also gave my camera a bit more of a trial run.

Afterwards we headed to my mum’s for lunch. Now it’s Easter Holidays I imagine we won’t head over that way very often so it was nice to call in while we had the chance. When we came home, the kids took some time to pack a bag for Daddy’s house and then we just relaxed for the rest of the day. I started a big cross-stitch project, which I will update about when I’ve got a little more done. Once the kids had gone off to their dad’s house, I settled down to some blogging and some TV. When Chris got home from work we caught up on more TV. We were tempted to stay up for Game of Thrones but honestly, I’m not that bothered. Besides we got up early this morning to watch it instead!

Week 13 – Monday Round-up (better late than never?)

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Wow, what a week! Strangely it was actually quite a calm and relaxed week in lots of ways, but then suddenly at the end of the week it seemed to pick up momentum and just BAM!

After a nice quiet weekend, I started off the Monday strangely tired. Sadly that tiredness seemed to linger all week long really. In fact, I didn’t really recover from it until today (half a week later) which is why this post is so super late! Not only that, but leaving this post so late has meant that I have managed to forget the majority of what happened last week (oops!)

The highlight were:

– Making Mug cakes. After seeing Amy’s post about Mug cakes, I decided I wanted to make one. Much like her I’d seen loads on Pintrest but just never gotten around to making them. On Tuesday Chris and I made one each, then on Wednesday I made a couple more with the kids. We had a lot of fun, especially when Uncle Chris’ mug overflowed with chocolate cake!

– OUAT and OUAT in Wonderland! Last week, my brother and I finally managed to catch up with Once Upon A Time. So this week it was great to actually keep up, watching the next episode on time. We also managed to make a start on Once Upon A Time In Wonderland (which is just average so far) only to find out it will definitely be cancelled at the end of this season (oh well!).

– Thursday we decided we were having our last takeaway (not ever, but at least for a while). This is for two reasons! One, I want to lose weight – you can see my weight loss journey if you follow Twice the Mum and Weight Loss Wednesday. Two, we need to save money as my brother is moving out this month and we won’t have his lodger money any more! **Spoiler Alert** It didn’t last long as we had takeaway again this following week. HOWEVER, that will hopefully be our last.

– My Beauty Education began. On Thursday (after my kebab!) I posted about Spring Cleaning my life and as part of that, I want to adventure into new waters – beauty blogging. My first purchase was an Urban Decay pallette which I had been longing for almost a year. However I knew I would have to wait for it to arrive in the post! On Friday I picked up a couple of magazines after work, both of which had free beauty products with them, and started my first lesson.

Friday night I started on Marie Claire. This had a free lip gloss by Neal’s Yard Remedies with it. Saturday morning I read Glamour. This had a free eyeliner from Model Co. I tried both beauty products, sniffed several perfume samples and learnt what I like about a magazine and what I don’t. There will be a post coming soon about these magazines! I also bought a sample perfume, signed up for Birchbox and joined the Discovery Club at The Fragrance Shop.

– Saturday with the kids. On Saturday, I spent the whole day with the kids and it was lovely. In all honesty it was probably a nicer day than Mother’s Day (the following day) as that turned out to be quite stressful and tiring. Chris was at work on Saturday so the girls and I went for a wander around Marshall’s Yard in Gainsborough. We went into Browns Department store (as I tried to pass on my new beauty education to the kids), Next, M&S Simply Food and Wilko. On top of that I treated the girls to a cupcake from Cup-Cakes and some sweets from Sweet Tradition (both of which will appear in my Hidden Gem feature soon!)

After Marshall’s Yard, we headed to Tesco in order to buy the food for Mother’s Day dinner (since I was cooking for 9). I also completely went back on what I’d said about “that” blogging t-shirt for kids – ending up buying it for both my kids. This is because Megan is actually now a blogger (and if you’re interested you can find her at Little Princess Blogs) and Lily is pretending to be, while I have her blog set to invite only/private. The day was really about making them happy and the t-shirts did so I’m happy to retract what I said before!

Finally we headed into Gainsborough itself, doing a bit more browsing and shopping in places such as Superdrug and Boots. We ended up buying two Barry M nail polishes, both of which I’d wanted to try (Silk and Gelly), but the girls picked the colours. We came home and painted our nails – again, I’ll be reviewing the nail polish in a future post.

The evening continued to be lovely as Nat arrived to re-dip-dye her hair. Since I had decided to try the new Bleach London colours (especially Washed Up Mermaid), I took the opportunity to re-bleach my ends – though I haven’t coloured them yet! This means I currently have blonde ends, though I’m actually quite liking them.

– Mothering Sunday. Firstly I just have to say… who the hell decided to make Mother’s Day the Daylight Savings day too? As most mothers will know, sleep is something that can be very hard to come by at times! Not only that, but on Mother’s Day the kids seem to think its a great idea to wake you nice and early to give you presents and maybe even breakfast in bed. Take an extra hour off that for us and you’re already starting to take away from that whole “treat your mum on Mother’s Day” thing.. you know? Anyway….

The girls woke Chris at about 9am (new time) and they all headed downstairs to make me breakfast. This was nice as it gave me time to come around and actually be awake before I was presented with food.

I was given pain au chocolat, croissant and french toast (some even with cheese!). I also got a cup of tea made in a huge mug. The girls brought up some food to eat with me too, though we soon had to evacuate the bed when Lily managed to croissant crumbs everywhere!

The girls also got me a beautiful card and a stash of Lush. Though I’m grateful the girls’ dad still takes responsibility for Mother’s Day presents, I do wish he would listen to the girls though! They wanted to buy me bath bombs and bubble bars (my favourite) but he insisted on a shower gel (which I don’t particularly like the smell of) and a bar of soap (that smells great, but I don’t use soap… ever). Sadly I’ll be giving them away or even selling them – but the thought was there, nonetheless!

After the lovely wake up, it was time to get up and get on with dinner. I cooked chicken wrapped in bacon, with mash and vegetables (also with cheese sauce or peppercorn sauce). We had ice cream, apple pie and chocolate fudge cake all for dessert and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. My present to my mum was mostly the dinner, but I also bought her some gloves which she’d asked me for and a book I’d seen recommended on Amy’s blog. The book is called Dear Mum and you can find it on Amazon. The basic concept is that you give your mum the book and she fills it in. There is everything from her life growing up, meeting your dad, having you and various other things. Once completed, she gives it back to you and you have a very unique keepsake. If I get time, I will be posting about this book separately as I really do think its lovely.

Once everyone had left, I was exhausted. I fell asleep snuggled up to Chris on the sofa and didn’t wake up for an hour! The rest of the evening was filled with getting the kids to bed and trying to relax. We had an early night and the next week began…

Hopefully I will be on time updating my weekly post this week – fingers crossed! I also hope to post again soon with regard to a lot of the things I’ve mentioned in this post. Hope you had a great week last week and are having a great one this week too!

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Just a Quickie!

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Gosh I am so behind on everything right now but the great news is… I’m off work for almost 3 weeks now!!

I have so much I want to get done over the next couple of days and I assure you that a whole bunch of posts are on their way! I’m super late with my weekly round-up, I also want to update you on my beauty education, plus a whole lot more! However for now its going to have to wait, at least one more day!

In the meantime, if you’d like to check out mine and Nat’s new parenting and lifestyle blog, that would be great! You can find it at TwiceTheMum.com and right now our first official post is live and kicking! Join us on our weight loss journey and see if you’d like to participate too! (promise I won’t plug and cross too much but just trying to get it started)

I haven’t heard from a single person who offered to Guest Blog for me while I’m away in a couple of weeks either, so if anyone is interested please let me know (although I will chase up the original people too!)

Otherwise, I look forward to posting loads more soon and I hope all of you are doing great!

Bel

Spring Clean Your Life!

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So last week, we entered into Spring, officially. The weather does seem to have improved a little, at least in temperature, though we are getting early April showers too! Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about weight loss, about appearance and about myself generally.

Now before you all think I’m being extremely selfish, I don’t mean it in that way at all. However as a mum to two young girls, for a long time now I’ve never really bothered to put myself first – for me time or pampering. As such I realised I’ve become a little too nonchalant with the effort I put in at times and with Spring already here and Summer on its way, I’ve decided to Spring Clean my life!

The first step is definitely to get on board with some weight loss. I’ve been yo-yoing on it since the beginning of the year but I really need to put some effort into trying to lose some weight. My friend Nat and I have decided we will be blogging about our weight loss in a feature called Weight Loss Wednesday, over at our new parenting and lifestyle blog – Twice the Mum. We’re hoping that making ourselves publicly accountable will motivate us to stick at it.

However on top of that, I want to try some pampering luxuries that I’ve never been bothered to try before.

I’ve been a Lush addict for quite some time now, but I’ve never taken the time to try any of the other companies that people rave about. Soap and Glory, Benefit, Mac, Urban Decay, Barry M, to name but a few. I’ve also been stuck using Lou Lou Blue as a perfume for probably… gosh… over 10 years?

I’m going to broaden my horizons, probably spend a whole lot more than I should, but finally find some little luxuries that are all about me!

So please, if you have any suggestions, I’m all ears! In the upcoming weeks I’m going to try at least one nail polish from Barry M (I think the new silks range, or perhaps gelly ones!), hopefully buy an Urban Decay palette that I really wanted and didn’t justify spending the money on, and maybe even get a new scent! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the best products from each brand I’ve mentioned (and even ones I haven’t) and point me in the right direction of where to get them for a good price!

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Oliver Jeffers’ “How to Catch a Star” 10th Anniversary edition*

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Recently I was lucky enough to be given a copy of Oliver Jeffers “How to Catch a Star” book, celebrating its 10th Anniversary, in order to review it on my blog.

Not only that, but the lovely people at Harper Collins, gave me an extra copy to give away to a lucky reader!

I have been a huge fan of Oliver Jeffers, ever since my eldest daughter was about 4 or 5 years old. I picked up a copy of “Lost and Found” from a local bookstore and it fast became one of her favourite books. Needless to say that when we spotted it was a cartoon one Christmas, the two of us relived the story over and over again, watching the animated version of our much loved book. In the past, we have also owned a copy of How to Catch a Star, though I passed it on to my mum and never seemed to get it back. This is still one of my most favorite children’s books.

“How to Catch a Star” is a beautifully illustrated and cleverly written story (all by Oliver Jeffers himself) and is about a young boy who wants to catch a star and have it for a friend. The whole story focuses on the boys determination to catch the star and of course how that turns out.

Not only is it a lovely story to read to your children, its also at a level whereby children of around 5-7 will be able to read it themselves. Tonight my youngest daughter and I read it as a bedtime story – though she read it all to me, rather than the other way around.

“How to Catch a Star” is Oliver Jeffers’ debut book, now celebrating its 10th Anniversary. I would strongly recommend it to all parents, along with any of his other books. If you would like to win your very own copy of “How to Catch a Star” 10th Anniversary edition in hardback, please enter the competition below. If you would like to download, print and complete some activity sheets themed on this book, please click here to download the PDF files.

Oliver Jeffers – How to Catch a Star Giveaway

Though Journeys are my Diary is my own personal lifestyle blog, Twice the Mum is a sister blog, soon to be launched by myself and my friend Nat. To enter this giveaway you only need follow and/or like my own blog but additional entries are given for also following and liking our new blog too, going live soon!

This giveaway is only open to UK residents. Prize is for one hardback copy of Oliver Jeffers’ How to Catch a Star book, kindly gifted to me by Harper Collins publishers. Competition ends midnight on April 7th and the book will be posted out during that week (just in time for Easter!).