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Looking back on 2017 – A Year in Review

January 2, 2018 by Bel Leave a Comment

I was looking through my Facebook feed in search of something that happened earlier in 2017, only to be reminded of some pretty great things that had happened, that I’d completely forgotten about. I decided I would go back to the beginning and make a note of everything great we did, so I can look back more easily and remember.

We started New Year, as always, with the kids staying up till midnight and toasting in the New Year. We all obviously headed to bed then and New Year’s Day was spent as a family, having mum and my brother’s family around for lunch. Chris wrote his car off on the way to work one morning which resulted in a new car hunt. Chris and I had a day out seeing Rogue One and Yo Yo’s for lunch (plus looking for a car), then a day having breakfast and a milkshake at Meat Inc. (while looking for a car). Megan has a boyfriend (Daniel) throughout the month and I met his family, plus took him out to the cinema and for dinner. Megan also had her first Parent’s Evening at Secondary School and it was fantastic. We took a very brief trip to DLP towards the end of January, to celebrate Liv’s birthday, but Chris couldn’t come as he was working. I smashed my car at the airport which resulted in a very long and very expensive trip home.

Megan drew a picture of Sleeping Beauty’s castle and then digitalised it. I thought it came out amazing.

February saw Lily chop all her long hair off, into a cute little shoulder length bob. It was a total shocker but I thought she looked awesome. We went to the cinema to see Sing and not long after that, Lego Batman Movie. The Batman movie was part of our Valentine’s Day celebrations where we traditionally each buy a gift for the other three, then go out for dinner and a movie. We had Burger King as Chris had been working and we were in a rush on the way to the cinema. Chris and I also had a mini celebration of our own the day before Valentine’s, with an M&S meal.

March saw World Book Day and Lily dressed as Dr Harleen Quinzell. She loves to be a version of Harley wherever possible. Megan also split up with her boyfriend and I introduced her and Lily to retail therapy after a heart break! March was Lily’s 9th birthday and also Chris’ 33rd. For Lily’s birthday we went out to Pizza Hut for dinner, with family and some of her friends. We also had an offer on the house, which in turn did become actually selling the house, though we held our breath for months. I went on Lily’s school trip to Cadbury World and our SOLD sign went up on the house. For Chris’ birthday we went out for dinner to Frankie and Benny’s, then did an Escape the Room with friends. We had a great time for our first experience. Lily got given the part of the Pharaoh in Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat at school and she was chuffed to bits. I made the costume for both her and Joseph to wear. It was Mother’s Day (we went to Meat Inc.) and Lily’s school play and we started to look for houses to rent. March saw Lily getting words in her Church service and also in her Class Assembly. We went to see Beauty and the Beast live action, somewhere in the middle too though I honestly have no recollection of the date or even an entry on social media to look back on!

April was Easter Holidays and almost as soon as they kicked in, we got sick as a household. Lily and Megan got hit first, then me and as we were gradually getting better, Chris got ill too. We spent almost the full two weeks of holiday feeling rough and Chris and I slept in separate rooms for almost four weeks. Lily spent all of her Christmas and Birthday Amazon vouchers in one go, over £100 worth, completely buying Lego. We had fun putting it altogether though. We looked back and reminisced on and off, about how our Florida trip was 2 years previously. After finally starting to feel a bit better, the kids and I went to the cinema to see Boss Baby. It was funny and exactly what we needed after being cooped up in the house for almost two weeks. In mid April, we went to see Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat in Skegness, with Joe McElderry in it. Lily loved it so much after being in a production herself, I treated her to the CD as a souvenir and we ended up playing it every car journey from then on. We celebrated Easter at Mum’s, as a full family. We played a board game of Beat the Parents and adults totally kicked the ass of the kids.

Megan did a readathon via school and managed 6 books. I don’t think she’s read as many before or since then but she made about £40 for charity. Chris and I had a huge amount of paperwork to fill in for selling the house and almost lost our minds over figuring out where the soakaway was! Nat and I made our first attempt at getting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets and failed miserably. Lily went away on her residential trip – she loved it and I hated having her away three days. One of the last things we did in April was attend a Storybrooke convention in Blackpool, with Nat. We stayed in a fairly grotty B&B but had a lovely time – the girls enjoyed collecting autographs and meeting some stars.

May was when we finally started making appointments to view some rented properties. We hadn’t dared before that for fear of the house sale falling through. However we were still left hanging the whole of May, not knowing if we were moving or not. It was really quite stressful in the end. Megan made a cake in Home Ec at school but ended up so disappointed with it that we had to re-jig it when she got home. It looked pretty awesome in the end and tasted fine too. This was given to me as a birthday cake. Took a day trip down to London and met Amy there, were we had Tale as Old as Time afternoon tea. Despite being expensive, didn’t like half the food etc. the experience felt pretty darn amazing and will remain a good memory for many years to come! Went down to London again for my birthday. We stayed in a Travelodge, went to Comic Con and met Amy and Liv there, then went out for Ask in the evening, followed by another night at Travelodge and then Harry Potter Studios on my birthday itself. We stopped at Damons on the way home which was an extra treat but – Yuck, 38!

June saw the 20th Anniversary of the first Harry Potter book and as such I bought myself and the girls some special editions. Lily managed a full length of the pool at swimming. I had my first Eskimoo. The girls and I went out to vote for Labour, but sadly in the scheme of things it didn’t make much difference. Lily was in Shine assembly. We finally found out what date we would be moving, selling, signing contracts etc. We got the keys to the new house on June 14th, then moved on June 17th. We were sold as off the 22nd. Found a multitude of missing items, when moving and unpacking. There was Lily’s lost iPod, my sewing machine foot, Megan’s watch, Megan’s headphones and the Xbox remote. Chris and I shared our last meal on the floor at 2 Ruskin Street, after spending the evening cleaning. We had Indian from our favourite takeaway there.

a picture Megan took at Hartsholme Park

In July we were still unpacking and settling in. I found a bunch of old compilation CDs and spent days listening to them all the way through on the car journeys. My friend Adam came to visit, which was the first time all year and of course to the new house. While he was here, we ordered Dominos just for dessert and pigged out on Chocolate Pizza for the first time, along with amazing cookies. Went to Geekabilia in Lincoln, a very small comic con compared to what we usually go to, but Megan won a brand new 3DS and a Pokemon game. After much persuasion she kept the console for herself and gave the game to Lily (she wanted to give her both!). Game of Thrones began again, which resulted in mum coming over every week on a Monday to watch with us. We had takeaway pretty much every week which was nice too. I got asked to join a Blogger Board Game club. This has since resulted in us playing Ticket to Ride: First Journey, Cortex and Carcassonne. The kids broke up from school and we headed out to watch Despicable Me at the cinema. We also tried Chimichanga’s for the first time. We took a walk in Hartsholme Park after dinner and it was a really nice day. Amy and Liv came to visit for a few days and it rained pretty much constantly. Took a crazy quick break down to London, all to go to Comic Con and meet Wil Wheaton. We stayed at a Travelodge after traveling down late after Chris’ work, then spent the day at Comic Con and meeting Wil, before driving home. It was crazy but fun.

August was all summer holidays and largely we did nothing! There was one day when we completed a jigsaw and another when Lily tried to learn how to ride her bike. The gardener came around and smashed some of our windows, but he came a few days later to fix them! Megan and I spent the day at Meadowhall, had food from Ed’s Diner but weren’t really impressed. Lily visited the opticians and needed glasses, Megan got an update on her presciption but that also lead to new glasses. We went camping down to Chichester, to see the girls’ grandparent’s. Despite being a long way, we always enjoy the few days away camping. We called at Uxbridge on the way home, did some shopping and also grabbed Five Guys! Celebrated 2 Years of owning Closet Geek. Honestly can’t believe how much time has flown by. Lily cracked riding her bike, on only her second time trying – all thanks to Chris’ patience. We went out to Frankie and Benny’s to celebrate. We went to Bradford for the day, to the National Science and Media museum – the kids seemed to enjoy it but it wasn’t what I had remembered from childhood. The girls had a friend each around and I took them all to the Maize Maze. Lily’s friend stayed just for the day and Megan’s stayed overnight.

Chichester

Just before school restarted, a few days into September, we had our first BBQ of the summer and it was very impromptu. The girls went back to school, first Lily and then Megan. We had our first house inspection at the new house. Megan got voted Form Rep for the first time ever and she was really chuffed. Lily and I attempted to get Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets, for a second time. We were much more prepared this time and managed to successfully get not one but three lots of tickets for everyone we knew who wanted them. Megan started TRSPA which costs me almost £200 a term but gives her three hours of drama, dance and singing every week. She genuinely seems to enjoy it. Great British Bake Off was on TV and Chris and I bought something to do with the theme each week to eat, so we didn’t crave it whilst watching. The new series of Star Trek began on Netflix and we started watching that too. Plans were made for a major USA holiday, but nothing was officially booked. There was A LOT of planning though.

A new IKEA opened in October, near Meadowhall in Sheffield. We visited within a few days of it opening but got evacuated before we could check out. The following day, Chris and I went to Nottingham IKEA, had breakfast and bought the things we had originally had in our basket at Sheffield – including meatballs! Found out Denny’s was opening in the UK but only in Swansea to begin with. That might be a future trip in the making. Found out a Flying Tiger was opening in Lincoln – got a little overexcited as we loved the one we discovered in Watford for my birthday. Went to see “The Band” in Sheffield, which was mum’s birthday present. The show was so much better than I was expecting (not that I was expecting it to be bad) and I cried far too much. Lily had a Greek Day at school and we got to reuse her Pharaoh costume for a Greek Goddess – win. Chris and I celebrated 5 years of being together. He bought me a beautiful Beast Danielle Nicole bag which I’ve had my eye on ever since I saw it. We had breakfast at Damons, then spent the rest of the day getting ready to go on holiday. We went to Jersey for a week, as a family and with mum. It was fairly cold and sometimes even miserable but we had a nice time and took loads of pictures. On seeing strenuous effort of 600 – toronto food photographer , Lily got a real love for photography while we were there. By some miracle I managed to update my blog daily while on holiday, up until the last day. During the Jersey holiday, mum and I started to make bookings for our USA holiday in 2018. After the holiday, Megan went back to school a day before Lily and so Lily and I took a crazy trip down to London, saw the Primark store that was all done out with Harry Potter theme, the Disney Store and then back home again in time for Megan finishing school.

November came around and Christmas season began whether we wanted it to or not. We had our first Christmas Costa and Christmas Starbucks within days of each other. After going to Jersey and starting to feel fat, I tried to eat a bit better and lose some weight. I managed a few pounds but I’m sure they were gained again in the scheme of Christmas. I’m yet to brave the scales again. We went to the Christmas light switch on, back in Gainsborough, even though we live in Lincoln now. We made Christmas pudding at mum’s house, had a stir each and made a wish. Lily was in her class assembly and we worked on her school project for most of the month. Megan had her second Secondary School parent’s evening and it was just as good as the previous one. I updated my phone to an iPhone 8 Plus. I love my new phone. Mum treated us to a meal at the new Greek restaurant at Burton Waters. It was absolutely amazing and I realised I like aubergine. I don’t know if I’ll be brave enough to cook it at home though.

Lily had her whole school share, which featured a homework exhibition of their Greek Projects. I thought Lily’s looked great and she got a lot of nice comments. The girls got advent calendars – Megan’s was a make up one and Lily’s was mostly stationery, gadgets etc. Lily made a YouTube video every day and posted it to Double the Geek. Together with mum, the girls also got me an advent calendar this year. It was liquorice and I have to admit it was definitely an interesting experience each day. We went to Doddington Hall and bought our first real Christmas tree. In hindsight we probably got it too early as the pine needles were everywhere come Boxing Day and I ended up taking down the tree then (I left up the other decorations though). We also bought too big of a tree and had to re-house a bookcase, to fit the tree in the dining room. We also visited the Food and Gift fair at Lincolnshire Showground. We all really enjoyed it and ate way too much. It was lucky we visited though, as it had a lot of the same stalls from Lincoln Christmas Market and that got cancelled for the Sunday this year, which is the day we had planned to go. Chris and I went out for dinner at the Swanholme Pub and had a really nice dinner. I started watching Christmas movies and think I got to about 15 by the end of the year. Lily managed her 100 metres swimming badge at school and I was so proud of her as swimming has always been daunting to her.

Megan’s birthday celebrations seem to take up 3-4 days. She had some friends for a sleepover, then the following day was collected by a limo, to pick up some other friends too and then take everyone to bowling. After bowling there was Pizza Hut for lunch and though we had originally hoped to go to Christmas Market (it got cancelled, as mentioned), an evening of opening gifts. The following day, which was her actual birthday, was spent mostly at school but then a family dinner at Damons, which made a nice change from Pizza Hut as in previous years. Once the kids broke up from school, we went to Meadowhall and all got our hair cut as a Christmas treat. We then spent a few days preparing for Christmas, before it was upon us. We spent Christmas morning at home, before going to Mum’s for lunch, then seeing the girls’ dad briefly and home (with the girls for a change). The following day we went to see Chris’ dad and nan and a few days after that we had an extended family lunch at my Auntie’s house with all my cousins and their kids. Finally we spent New Year’s Eve at home, waiting for Chris to get back from work before having a Roast Pork dinner. We then played board games (Competition Kitchen and Code Names) before watching the first Lord of the Rings movie. We saw in midnight with some fizz and the fireworks on BBC1. We then had ten minutes of LOTRs to watch before we all headed to bed.

All in all its been a pretty fab 2017 and I’m going into 2018 feeling very hopeful that it will continue to be great.

Movies at the Cinema:
Star Wars: Rogue One
A Monster Calls
Sing
The Lego Batman Movie
Live Action: Beauty and the Beast
Boss Baby
Despicable Me

Looking back on 2017 – Resolutions

January 1, 2018 by Bel Leave a Comment

The first thing I want to reflect on is the “resolutions” I made for 2017. I made a post here that outlined what I hoped to achieve, so I figured I’d start with seeing how I got on.

Of the resolutions I vowed to definitely do, I managed three of the four. Getting down my finances, working hard on Closet Geek and spending time enjoying family life. Since moving house in June (which is another tick on the list), I have generally felt so much happier in life and working hard but spending time with family has seemed even easier since then. Finances have drastically improved, though there is still a long way to go. Sadly Christmas pushed me to the limits on some of my credit cards but I’m several other accounts down altogether.

Of the resolutions I said I would like to do, I pretty much managed both. We sold the house and moved which was one of them, then booking a holiday abroad was the other. Though we technically went for a week to Jersey (which is abroad, but also not really) it didn’t really feel like abroad. Luckily though we have booked something for 2018 which I can’t wait to share my plans for!

Finally I had some ideas for things I would try to do, but were really only lifestyle improvements. There was getting things done and not putting off till tomorrow, there was going swimming and there was spending more time with friends. On some ocassions I definitely succeeded with theses, but on others I know I failed. I hope to try a lot harder this year with some of the points but perhaps with others its best just left as is.

Though I don’t want to dwell on the things I didn’t manage to do, weight loss was a big no (though I did try at times) and posting on my blog personally, wasn’t as often as I liked. I hope to work on some new resolutions for this coming year and I will update once I’ve figured them out!

Monthly Round-up – January 2017

February 3, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

Watching: I always lose track of everything I watch so I started making lists on my phone. This month I watched; A Series of Unfortunate Events (binge watched the new series on Netflix the day it came out), Bad Moms, London has Fallen, Iron Man 3, Star Wars: Rogue One, A Monster Calls, Now You See Me, Now You See Me 2, Sausage Party, Miss You Already, Allegiant, Five Year Engagement, Mad Max: Fury Road, What to Expect When You’re Expecting and of course keeping up to date with all the various series that I usually watch.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): I thought after Christmas that things might quieten down a bit and they did… but only for a little while. After catching up on orders from the holiday period, I had a quietish week or so where I even got to try out a few new products but it soon got busy again and I haven’t caught up since. I think I’ve had approximately 100 orders for January. As well as all the usual, I made new Infinity Scarves which I hope to list soon and new Travel Wallets which I still want to perfect. I also made a Belle Christmas dress which was for Liv’s birthday at the end of the month.

And in other news…
– This month has been a combination of really dreary and wet, or absolutely freezing cold so the truth is, doing anything has been a bit of a struggle. We went swimming early on (before school started) and managed a trip to Disneyland Paris which was booked a while back, but otherwise I’ve just wanted to huddle in the house!
– Speaking of swimming, this term has been Lily’s class’ turn to go swimming on Thursday. I go with them as they always need parent helpers and last week Lily managed her 50 metre badge which I’m super proud of as she could barely swim last year when they started.
– At the beginning of the month, Chris managed to write his car off which meant rescuing him on the day and then spending a week looking for a new car. In the process we did get to try out a new place called Meat Inc. and we’re hoping to go there again soon! We also had a day out to see Rogue One (which we combined with looking for cars) and had lunch at Yo Yo’s for the first time in a while.
– As I mentioned, we went to Disneyland Paris and on the way home I managed to crash my car in the car park. This meant I had to pay almost £400 to get my car towed home and then another £35 to get it mended in the garage. It was a lot of hassle but it could have been worse I guess.
– Megan got a boyfriend (her first proper one) in December and though they didn’t see each other over Christmas, things are still going strong in January. We took Daniel to the cinema and Pizza Express and she has been invited around to his house for dinner twice after school.
– Also I attended Megan’s first secondary school Parent’s Evening, where I had appointments to see all the teachers separately. She is doing so well and on track for As and A*s in all her subjects. After leaving I burst into tears as I was so proud of her.
– I finally got around to using my new soup maker and made soup almost every day for a week. It wasn’t particularly healthy mind you as my favourite is broccoli and stilton.
– Over Christmas, Lily and I played a lot on the Harry Potter Lego games and for Christmas she got the new Fantastic Beasts set for Lego Dimensions. We spent all afternoon one Saturday building up the portal from Lego and then the rest of the evening playing on the game.
– Finally the end of the month saw Chinese New Year and so we “celebrated” by ordering Chinese takeaway!

Looking forward to in February:
– As far as I know, there isn’t much happening in February. I know we are hoping to organise a games night and give Nat’s fella Dan, a chance to meet our friend’s Jon and Becka.
– Also there is Valentine’s Day, but Chris is working in the daytime (as always) and the girls will have been at their dad’s overnight. I’m planning a lie-in, then my mum is picking them up and heading over and we’re going to play board games. Probably in the evening we’ll have a nice meal together as a family.
– Sing and The Batman Lego movie are both out at the cinema so hopefully we’ll see those. There is talk of a movie marathon day so that would be great!
– It’s half term this month and I love that for so many reasons. Firstly it means I don’t have to turn out on the school run both in the morning or in the afternoon (that saves me 3 hours of my day). Also it means I get to spend time with the kids (Chris is working every day, surprise surprise). Lily and I also have her school project to finish and that means baking so hopefully that will be fun too.
– Otherwise, I can’t think what else will be happening. It’s my sister’s birthday at the end of the month so we may well go out for that.

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Our Christmas and New Year

January 6, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

January is flying past and it feels a little late to be updating about Christmas. Christmas is just around the corner, day by day it is getting close, party everywhere, we have lots of activities during Christmas – watching, catching up with family or friends, eating and of course drinking! No one wants to have a party get drunk and then the next day hangover will hit you so hard, so be sure to buy hangover supplements from Hangover Hammer so the party can still continue up until the next day. However we had such a great holiday period, that I don’t want to let it pass by without a mention. Also, with not doing a November or December round-up, I wanted to make sure I at least briefly covered that period of time.

For some people, Christmas begins with the Coca Cola truck advert, but for me Christmas begins with Starbucks Red Cups. Sadly this is getting earlier and earlier every year (as are many Christmas things) which often results on the Christmas things being few and far between, instead of compact into a few weeks of December. Anyway, I won’t rant about that! So in November, Starbucks released their red cups and as a family we took a trip to get one (12th), each trying a different flavour (as is the tradition). Next came the Christmas Light switch on, November 18th, which has become tradition as a family too. We walk into town, look around the market and get food, then sometimes coffee too and then watch the light switch on and firework display made by fireworks airlie beach. Some people buy wholesale fireworks and use fireworks as a key part of demonstrations and festivities, and take the opportunity to put on spectacular displays.

It started to rain this year which almost sent us home early but we stuck it out and actually really enjoyed ourselves.

This was really all the excitement for November and next came December. On literally the 1st, I started attending Lincoln Christmas Market. Usually we attend to visit, once during the four days its there, but this year I was actually selling there with Closet Geek. It was such a great experience, but very tiring and the preparation before hand was insane. I don’t regret it at all, but I won’t be doing it in 2017, partly because it falls too close to Megan’s birthday.

The following weekend was Megan’s birthday, which despite not being a Christmas event, often feels like it’s part of the celebration. On Saturday (the day before her birthday) the Coca Cola Christmas truck was in Lincoln so we traveled over to see that and get a mini coke can. The next day, Megan’s birthday, we took her and some of her friends, to Pizza Hut and then family joined us too, for a family lunch to celebrate.

After such a busy start to December (which Christmas Market, lots of school events – including a school disco that Megan got a date for! – and of course Megan’s birthday) we didn’t get time to put up the tree till 17th. Strangely enough this didn’t actually bother me as much as I thought it would, making me feel more Christmasy than when we put it up early.

As always, we put on the Christmas music cds, wear silly hats and glasses and put up the tree. Megan made us hot chocolate too and it was actually a lovely family event. Afterwards we sat and went through the TV pages to pick which movies we wanted to set to record.

The kids had two more days of school after the weekend we put the tree up and while this was a shame, as we were all ready to be on a break, it went fast and we celebrated as always, with a trip to Pizza Hut after school on the last day of term. This one in December always seems silly as we’re only there for Megan’s birthday a week or so before but we do it anyway! Later that week, the girls and I had to go to Doncaster for some last minute Christmas bits and pieces, so I treated them to a wash, cut and blowdry from Supercuts. I won’t tell you the exact price, but just for the two of them, it was over £50 (!!) which definitely surprised me but it was part of their Christmas treat so I didn’t let it bother me too much.

As part of the trip to Doncaster, we finished sorting out Christmas Outfits for the girls, as I already had my sorted from Simply Be. Their tops had come from Boohoo.com, we picked up their trousers at H&M, then I popped to ShoeZone on the way home and grabbed the boots. The following day we also picked up our Christmas Hamper from the girls grandparents (as is their tradition) so coming home and unpacking that was fun too.

Soon it was Christmas Eve and that holds a whole host of traditions for us. First is, my mum and sister come around and we do Christmas Eve presents. That was edited a little this year as now both kids know about Santa and we don’t have to play it so young. We used to exchange Christmas PJs, Christmas Lush and a book to read for a bedtime story. However this year it was decided we wouldn’t wrap anything (as the kids know we do it as a tradition now and its just waste of paper) and instead of a book we would get a board game. When mum and Pippa arrived, we had hot chocolate, Baileys, a glass of sherry etc and as the girls were already having their traditional Christmas Eve bath, they got dressed into their new pjs. Afterwards, once Chris had arrived too, we played a board game and then finally mum and Pippa went home. After they were gone, Chris and I had baths, the girls did their reindeer food (some traditions don’t always need giving up!) and hung up their stockings.

Christmas Day was spent in the same way as always. The girls woke and came into our room, bringing their stockings with them. They took it in turns to open their gifts, before Chris and I did our stockings. Next, we all got dressed and headed downstairs. We had crumpets and muffins for breakfast, plus tea and coffee, like the ones that can be acquired from services like coffee machines rent.

Next, we opened the gifts under the tree, taking it in turns to each open one. Once all were opened, the girls played and opened some of their boxes/toys/gifts, while Chris and I sorted out rubbish, had another cuppa etc. Mum and Pippa turned up a little while later and we opened gifts between us all. Then we got in the car and headed to Chris’ Gran’s house, to see her and his dad. Again we exchanged gifts. We then headed to my brother’s house, where we would be having lunch. We exchanged gifts for the kids (as we had agreed not to do them for adults) and then had lunch. It was lovely and very relaxed. My mum then drove us home, but kept the girls with her as she later drops them off with their dad for the afternoon and evening. Chris played on his new Xbox game while I snoozed on the sofa, then in the evening we watched some TV. That was pretty much our Christmas Day.

Boxing Day was a nice quiet day, with the girls arriving home and everyone just spending time with their new presents and relaxing. The day after, we had another family day but at my Auntie’s house and this was wonderful as I got to see my cousins for the first time in ages and I’m hoping it becomes another tradition. In the few days between Christmas and New Year, we didn’t really do an awful lot. We ate cheese, drank wine, watched movies, played board games and basically just hung out as a family. It was pretty fantastic.

On New Year’s Eve, Chris was working till 6pm but then we had family time planned. We ate a huge cheese based dinner, drank wine (the girls had a little strawberry and lime cider) and spent time together. I made the best decision in picking the best wine, seems like I am the best sommelier, I’m so happy. We opened our New Year resolutions from last year (and laughed because we failed most of them) then watched the music channel until midnight as there was nothing much on. At midnight we popped some fizz, had a toast, stayed up just a little longer and then finally headed to bed.

On New Year’s Day, my mum, sister, brother, his partner and her son, all came around for lunch. I made lasagne with garlic bread and salad, then served profiteroles with cream and ice cream. Afterwards we all played a great game on the Xbox called Jackbox.tv and had another lovely family day. That was basically our whole Christmas and New Year, both fantastic and hectic at times. The girls only had two more days off school after that, before they went back to school and then it felt like it was all a blur and Christmas was long forgotten! I’m looking forward to 2017 however and I hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas period and is looking forward to the New Year too.

Hello 2017

January 3, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

On New Year’s Eve I wrote a post reflecting on 2016 and so today I want to look forward to 2017. As it’s already 3rd January I’m sure it’s probably clear that a whole “new me” is not on the horizon. I think I’ve learned from previous years, that that’s not the best route for me. Instead little changes, positive attitude and a hope for better things, is the direction I would like to go.

This Year I will:

Get a better grip on my finances. As I’ve mentioned on my blog before, I have a lot of debt – largely from my time as a single mum (I mean, I’m technically still a single mum but I have a very supportive partner now). For a few years, I just buried my head and the debt got worse but then two years ago it all hit me and I had to stop avoiding it. 2016 was the year I finally started to get that debt down and while I definitely managed to stop adding to it and clear one particular lump of debt, I still have a fair way to go. I have a specific target in mind by the end of the year and that will hopefully lessen my debt by about a third.
Work hard on my business, Closet Geek. It would be a lie to say I don’t work hard on it already as to be honest its my main focus, after the kids. I have thoroughly enjoyed working from home this last year and despite how crazy busy it has gotten at times, I wouldn’t change a thing. This year I am aiming to add at least 6 more product ranges (don’t ask me what, I have no idea yet) and hopefully more variations of the products I already sell. That said, I must remember to take time out and relax (which is hard because I often get into a flow).

Weight Loss is something I want to focus on this year. I haven’t jumped into any kind of diet yet as there is still a lot of bad food kicking around the house. However I am trying to regulate myself and not eat too my rubbish and when routine starts over again and I start cooking evening meals from scratch, I aim to make healthy dishes and avoid any junk. Last year I felt uncomfortable in my skin and it stopped me from dressing up, cosplaying and even feeling like I wanted to make any sort of effort. Its amazing what a knock on effect feeling overweight can have to all areas of life. I also want to try walking more often, especially as life isn’t so hectic that I need to save every minute of time by hopping in the car.
Last year was a wonderful change to family life, working from home instead of feeling stressed in the job I had previously (I actually can’t believe I walked out on that job 2 years ago – I’ve honestly never regretted it). I managed to attend so many of the kids events at school and I’m sure I will be doing so again this year. That said I want to make time outside of those events, to do things as a family. The kids love to play board games (we had a day doing that during holiday), go swimming and play computer games (Lily and I have played Lego Harry Potter for most days of the holidays) so I want to make more time for fun, not just scheduled events. I also want to make more time for Chris as he often gets neglected, just because he “understands more”. On evenings when he’s not at work, I need to step away from my sewing or even my computer and just be with him – doing whatever it is we feel like doing.

This year I would like to:

Moving house is definitely top of the list for things I’d like to do in 2017. Sadly not a huge amount of that decision is in our hands, but we need to try wherever possible. From the house going on the market last April, till now, we’ve only had two viewings. I think there has been many reasons to that but largely the price recommended by the agents is too high. We do have another viewing tomorrow so we will see how that goes but at some point this year we will have to make some firmer decisions – perhaps to change agents, sell at a loss, or whatever other options there might be.
During January I have a weekend away booked with the girls, to Disneyland Paris. However as much as I’m looking forward to it, I’d really like a nice week away somewhere abroad. Top choice for this year would definitely be Italy and ideally during the warm weather. Chris booking holidays at work can be a pain though as he can often only get out of school holiday time. With Megan now at secondary school I am loathed to take them out of school for a holiday, so it’s definitely going to be a juggling act – and of course available money. If we can’t get away this year, I would definitely love to book something bigger for next year – maybe a two week holiday somewhere further afield like the US.

This Year I will try:

Yesterday I was in a position (as I often am) where one of the girls asked if we could do something (something they had been asking for a while and have been saying “soon” to) and my immediate answer was “yes, tomorrow”. Now although that might seen immediate to you, it’s really only because it was that day or tomorrow that we needed to do it, before it was too late. But my reaction was still the latter, not the actual immediate. However after I walked away, I thought “actually, why can’t we just do it now?” and so that’s what we did. Basically I really want to stop putting things off till tomorrow and just get on with them. Because tomorrow never really comes and before you realise it, you’ve been putting everything off and never getting anything done.

When we went swimming, the girls and I, I was reminded of how much I enjoy it and, that despite not going very often, I’m still pretty good at it. While I don’t always want to go when they suggest it, I did realise I could take them and just watch (they’re both old enough now), but also I could go when they’re at school and just swim lengths. It would be a great way to make time for me, get fitter and even find time to shower! I don’t want to set myself a frequency but I would like to swim more.
As I mentioned last year, our friendship group is a little bit fractured now and so in the past 12 months I haven’t thrown any large group events. I think its probably easiest to just see each group of working friendships, by themselves, whenever there is time, rather than force everyone to get together. Last year we did enjoy a meal out as a group of friends, a cinema trip as a double date and a few times having friends around for dinner. I would like to continue that this year, making more of an effort but hopefully making time for everyone.
Finally I should probably give my blog a mention. At this time of year it’s always easy to say “I’ll post more”, or “I’ll post frequently” but the truth is when life gets busy, my blog takes a backseat. I also often find that I lose inspiration for what to write at times and it can become just one big life update that people probably aren’t that interested in. I’m ditching Project 52 (as I did towards the end of last year) as I always forget to take pictures weekly). Instead I might do something monthly, as I did with my round-ups (which definitely suits me better so I will be sticking to those). I’d like to keep updating about books I read (which maybe should have been another bulletpoint as I really should read more) and movies we see at the cinema but past that I’m uncertain of the direction my blog will take. I am considering various options though so watch this space!