October Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

October Round-up

November 9, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

Watching: I honestly don’t remember much of what I’ve watched this month. Here’s the list; Luke Cage (Series 1), Big Bang Theory (Seasons 1-10), Designated Survivor, New OUAT eps, Captain America – Civil War, Knights of Badassdom, X-Men First Class, Walking Dead (first ep, new season), Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Reading: A Frozen Heart, Cinder.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): As of the 19th October, I’d had 214 orders since the beginning of September and 41 were dresses. This compares to 56 for the same period of time last year, 35 of which were dresses. So mostly, I’ve been really really bloody busy! Mostly I sewed Wendy dresses but clearly there were another 150 or so orders on top of that too. I also made a Jane Porter cosplay for someone to wear to Disneyland Paris Halloween party and I was SO pleased with it.

And in other news…
– Adam came to visit for a week, after not seeing him since February.
– X-Factor Live shows started… (yeah sad, but I like it).
– Chris and I celebrated 4 years together. We had a night together by ourselves while the girls were with their dad but our actual anniversary was spent as a family.
– Insanely busy with Closet Geek as I mentioned above but finally it died off in the last week of October and it was actual heaven to have time to breathe again.
– Megan went back to school a day before Lily after half term and so Lil and I enjoyed a rare day together, just us. Sadly we both ended up ill the following day and Lily was off school for two more days!
– My new ear stand arrived. Chris bought me a Minnie Mouse Disney Tradition. We got a new coffee machine. Chip and Dale in Christmas form Tsum Tsums are now on our mantelpiece and I’ve really enjoyed some Lush baths!

Looking forward to in November:
– Being calmer to some extent, because Halloween is well out of the way and the drop in orders has been significant. However since I’m getting ready for Christmas market, I still feel a lot of pressure to work and build stock.
– Honestly there’s not much else to look forward to I don’t think. More Lush baths. The new “Harry Potter” movie. Celebrating mum and dad’s wedding anniversary. Nat’s birthday. Okay so I guess that’s more than I thought…

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Now is the Time to Plan Your Family’s October Half Term Holiday

September 3, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

You may only be just starting to think about sending the kids back to school in September, but whether you’ve had the chance to take a family holiday or not these summer holidays, now’s the best time to start planning your break for the upcoming October half term. Putting together your plans now for your half-term break will mean for a more relaxing, less stressful and even cheaper time. There are many great reasons why being savvy and booking your October getaway as soon as possible is a great idea, and we’ve listed just some of them here.

Get the Best Deals

The longer you wait to book your October half term getaway, the less deals you’ll have to choose from as you’re in with a bigger chance of losing out to parents who’ve all had the same idea. Booking your half-term stay from awaywiththekids.co.uk means that you’ll be one of the earliest to book, giving you a better selection of choices and perhaps even reduced prices due to a lower level of demand. The longer you wait, the more in-demand your holiday destinations will be – meaning you’ll have less of a selection.

Save Money

Planning and booking your October half-term family break in good time rather than at the last minute also means that you could save money in the long run. Even though it’s widely believed that you can often get the best deals by booking at the last minute, this isn’t always true and you have to run the risk of paying increased prices instead. Along with that, if you’re not going down the package route and are booking your flights and hotels separately, you may find that you get a good last-minute price on one, but not on the other.

Less Stress

The longer time you give yourself to plan your holiday, the less stressful the whole process will be. This is especially important for busy mums and dads who have a lot to think about anyway especially with the upcoming new school year. By planning your October half term family break now, you’ll be able to get it out of the way and focus on getting everything done for a successful holiday, such as exchanging money, booking transfers, and buying luggage.

Get Better Deals

Booking your half-term family break sooner rather than later means that you will be in with a better chance of getting more for your money. Booking early not only means that you’ll have access to more choices and deals available, you may also be able to take advantage of special offers and deals that travel agents and booking companies may not hold later on in the year.

Although the summer holidays are barely even over, it’s definitely a great time to start thinking about booking your next family break during the upcoming October half term. Booking now gives you more time to make sure that you have an enjoyable break and can also save you money on a better deal.

Stoptober!!

October 1, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

Those of you who follow Twice the Mum will know that Nat and I have been considering giving something up – or stopping something for October. While the “Stoptober” campaign itself is designed for people giving up smoking, this October it does seem to be motivating people to stop a variety of things. Earlier in the week, I posted about my options for what I might stop. In the end, I couldn’t decide which to go for and took the plunge to actually accomplish them all!

The things I’m stopping include; eating Chocolate, Sweets & Cake, eating/ordering Takeaway, Drinking (alcohol), Spending (like a spending ban), Being Lazy and Using Tiredness as an Excuse. I will be doing all of them for the whole of October and as it goes on, I’ll be updating you as to how I get on.

There are some obvious reasons for some of them but basically there is a logic to each. For chocolate, sweets, cake and takeaway -the advantage is mostly weight loss, but also to help with finances. I don’t drink an awful lot anyway but I figured I’d throw it in for good measure – that said I will be drinking on 31st as we’re having a party and its the first one in months! The enforced spending ban is really to help me save and get on top of finances (especially with Christmas and Florida coming up fast) though I won’t be including anything I buy for Christmas. That said, I will be trying to postpone Christmas shopping, just to get on top of what I have already and what I still need to get. Finally, with regards to not being lazy and not using tiredness as an excuse, I plan to get more on top of things, spend less time procrastinating and hopefully get some organisation into my life! I also want to make the most of my spare time, instead of sitting around thinking about how tired I am.

When I mentioned my plans to the kids a few days ago, I was greeted with a great response. In fact, both of the girls wanted to participate too. Though they were unsure what to do, they finally decided on giving up sweets and chocolate as an after dinner treat. Megan says she’ll be giving up sweets altogether. I have promised them both that if they actually accomplish it, I’ll give them £10 each at the end of the month. As well as that, I’ll be moving them both up their reward chart one spot for each successful day.

Although its only “Day One”, I’m feeling good and I’m feeling motivated. I’ve behaved myself at work and while I haven’t eaten dinner yet, I’ve got no intention of eating junk! As well as that, I’ve gotten on with today’s post early on (that’s this one!) and I plan to spend the rest of the evening writing out a meal plan for the week, then a sort of blog schedule so I know when I’m working on my blog and when I have spare time. Finally I’m going to make sure I use my spare time to spend time with Chris and the girls (preferably not just watching TV), catching up on household jobs, reading and getting on top of everything I’ve been saying “I’ll do it soon…” to. I’m pleased to say that today was a good start, as before I even headed to work I managed to get all the washing hung out!

I intend to update weekly so look out for my first Stoptober update on Sunday!