There are so many Reasons to be Cheerful

Week 3 of joining in Michelle from Mummy From The Heart's blog hop and I'm loving it. However small, when something nice happens during the week I automatically think, there's a reason to be cheerful. Try it, you might like it!

Reasons To Be Cheerful 1: A bit of a recap

We did it - we went on our first caravan trip as a family of 5 and it was a huge success. I wrote about it here.

Reason to be Cheerful 2: Half Term & Time with the children

I decided to embrace the time off with my children rather than thinking, 'Oh my god, how am I going to keep the 2 older girls entertained and look after Baby T' - so far so good!
We had a spur of the moment trip to see my sister in Leeds yesterday which felt rather brave as we live 50 miles away but it was great. The girls love seeing their cousins and we arrived back home at 11pm after a lovely afternoon (and a good feed!)
My MIL looked after Baby T this afternoon while I took M & V to the cinema to watch Hop - They loved it and once I had stopped thinking about payng a small fortune for popcorn and sweets, I loved it too.
Tomorrow, we are off to a soft play area with some friends that we met at V's nursery.
M has had some good news tonight and is very pleased to be moving up a lane at swimming club - she has worked hard this month and we are really pleased it has paid off for her.

Reason to be Cheerful 3: The Theatre again!

Ooh we are turning into luvvies! We don't visit the theatre for months and then twice in a fortnight - On Saturday we are going to see The Wizard of Oz at the Royal Court in Liverpool - This is V's favourite and I can't wait to see her face.

Reason to be Cheerful 4: The Blanket

We received a wonderful present of a knitted blanket for Baby T from my wonderful friend, Cara. Pics with Baby T to follow but needless to say it is absolutely gorgeous, must have taken forever to knit and we are very lucky. Here is the blanket without the recipient.

Reason to be Cheerful 5: Another Holiday

Yes, we are going away again - My husband could only have 2 days away from work when Tara arrived so we planned for a holiday at Centre Parcs. We are very excited!

Reason to be Cheerful 6: The Countdown to 40

Now I have published this list, I have an renewed enthusiasm for getting things done.
Progress so far includes:
Doing very well at drinking G & T's - To be fair this isn't the hardest item on my list but you need to start smal! I now like the taste and feel rather grown up!
Gardening - Time willing, I intend on planting some lily bulbs in the next 2 weeks. We have had an acknowledgement from the allotments saying they have received our application and expect we will get a plot within the next 2 years!
The Reading Challenge - Our weekend away helped me to find my reading mojo - I am now reading The Slap and quite enjoying it - My To-read list is growing - Any book suggestions are very welcome!

For the rest of the countdown to 40 list click here.

A long post, I know - It will probably be very short next week but I hope you all have a good week and look forward to reading your reasons to be cheerful.

Countdown to 40!

Eagle-Eyed regular readers of the blog may have noticed the countdown to 40 icon on the right. This is something I've been meaning to address for ages now - not because I am desperate to turn 40 but because I see it as time to cross a LOT of things off my to do list. There are a lot of blogs who have done similar lists before a significant birthday - the first one I came across is by Janette Jones, whose list of 40 items to complete before she is 40 terrifies me.

So this is the plan of what I'm to do before the Big 4 0. I plan on doing regular updates of how the list is coming along - more items may be added if I have forgotten anything. My list is in no particular order - some items may require another one to be completed first.

1. Sing Karaoke

I am probably one of only a handful of people on the planet who have not sung at Karaoke (slight exaggeration I know!) This has become such a big thing now with so many people knowing that I have yet to do it that I don't think I could get away with any old song and not much fuss - believe me, I am no singer!

2. Learn to Knit/Crochet/Sew and ultimately own a sewing machine

I come from a crafty and arty family and am fairly creative myself (well maybe slightly more than fairly considering what I do for a living) This does not mean though that I can turn my hand to any craft - My mum is an amazing sewer (?)/crocheter but I think the gene passed me by - well I'm going to catch it up...hopefully!

3. Read the whole series of Harry Potter Books

For some reason I own them all but have never got round to reading them.

4. Finish the ironing pile

The word 'pile' does not do justice to how big our ironing pile is - We each have a huge box of ironing which takes over the whole of the office - I will photograph it as evidence before and after the task.

5. Own and use 200 'good' Baking/Cooking/Sugarcraft books

I have already started this and own 100+ but need to have a sort out (and a mighty good shop!). The rules of this are that I have to have cooked/made something out of each one for it to be classed as good. I also need to post a short review of these books.

6. Be on time with cards and presents for a whole year

7. Visit Hay-on-Wye Book Festival

8. Be a size 14

I am currently a size 16 (I can't believe I've jsut told the whole of the internet that!)

9. Regularly cook nutritious family meals

I'm sure I'm not alone in finding our family in a rut of eating the same meals over and over - I cannot justify owning so many cook books if I don't use them. It is said that the average family eats from a repertoire of only 10 meals regularly - not any more for us!

10. Register as a tutor with The British Sugarcraft Guild

Its a bit terrifying this one!

11. Make homebrew/homemade wine

God Bless my liver!

12. Conquer the art of G & T drinking

I have always thought that it seems so much more grown up to drink G & T than other drinks and as I have got to as certain age I need to grow up bit in my choice of drink. I am pleased to report that so far this task seems to be going well - Its a hard life!

13. Become better at Gardening

When I say better, I really mean learn something about gardening - This will involve me overcoming my phobia of creepy crawlies. I hope to grow veggies and have put our name down for an allotment. Unfortunately, there is a substantial waiting list which means we might not be in the plot before the big birthday but I can still learn in the meantime.

14. Have a go at surfing

I spend a lot of time watching dear husband and his passion for surfing and want my girls to see that their mum is game for anything too. One requirement of this task though is to succeed at Task 8 first!

15. 100 books read and reviewed between now and then

This is approximately one every 9 days which for some people might not be much - Having 3 daughters, running my own business and everything else that I fit in though means that this will be quite a challenge.


I feel quite nervous now that I have put my list 'out there' - It is something I have been thinking about for over 2 years and it being public knowledge means that I have to do it...watch this space and follow the journey!