Keeping the momentum

I am keeping up some momentum in getting the house straight and achieving my New year aims. I am still working on them all I thought I'd update this weeks progress so far

to finish decorating/ making our home our own

I'm slowly decluttering the kitchen so that I can decorate in there. One cupboard is sorted so far- small steps in 15 mins a day after work

to save for the future

to enjoy more family fitness

I went swimming with Dylan at the weekend- am ashamed to say not only did he swim faster than me he also swam further by 20 lengths! I got out shattered after swimming 60 he carried on to complete 80 in total.  

frugal- I want to make what we have go further

We menu planned for the month as a family and have stuck to it this week, the menu was made completely of food we already have in the house- no food shopping in January, except for perishables that don't last for a long time

to fix things- I have lots of things around the house that need mending/ altering that I haven't got around to doing.

This is the mending pile I have completed. It had 2 of Stephanie's dresses which were broken, I combined them to make 1 wearable dress. 1 dressing up dress which needed to be mended all ready to wear. A cross stitch which needed hemming and hanging. It's hemmed just needs hanging now.

to finish things, I have several craft projects started 2013 is the year to finish things

 

This is a cross titch I started before Stephanie was born a little while ago! I had completed the one horse you can see and then put it down never to be picked up again. I picked it up at the beginning of this week and have started the second horse. It is a large piece with seven horses and their stable. It is going to take a while, but it will be completed this year!

 

Combine this weeks achievements with those from last week and I am happy with what I am achieving. I am working on improving my household routine so that it is more manageable and I don't feel so stressed out at weekends to get EVERYTHING done. I have managed to keep on top so far and manage little additional tasks. I'm hoping that I can ingrain this and make for stress free more family fun weekends.

 

Trial and error

Today I got up and was almost out the door when I remembered I hadn't put today's dinner in the slow cooker- I must get back into the habit! I had got the chicken out of the freezer last night ready to turn into chicken curry to cook away ready for when I got in from work today.

So I had to throw it together quickly so that I wasn't late. I threw into the slow cooker the chicken bits, 1 tin of tomatoes, a few ladles of the vegetable soup from the fridge, some curry powder and a couple of dessert spoons of a Pataks tandoori paste from the cupboard.

I got home to delicious smells coming from the kitchen. It was a tasty curry! Both children lapped up the lot sauce and all. Not bad as Stephanie doesn't usually eat anything spicy and Dylan thinks vegetables are boy poison! I will DEFINITELY doing this recipe again.

The little things in life

I really have learnt to appreciate the little things in life small thing like the few mintues snuggled on the sofa with Stephanie this evening while she read her school reading books, or the smile on her face when I surprised her by picking her up from school this afternoon. Being a teacher it is not something I get to do very often I really love to pick her up and see her surprise when I do.

I have spent this evening trying to find an open light house to visit with Stephanie. I have visited one with her before but she doesn't remember. Her class are going to be looking at the Katie Morag stories and looking at islands and lighthouses etc as part of this ( she bought a curriculum newsletter home with her today). None of the lighthouses nearby are open til March so we will have to visit towards the end of this learning. They will also be looking at lifeboats, I know one place locally where we can visit lifeboats, one of the perks of living not far from a major docks- there are lots of boats in all varieties to explore. So will visit with her very soon.

 The light house we climbed a few years back

sealed pot update

I haven't added much to the pot this week, there was just £1 left in my purse this evening after I had to buy Stephanie new school boots as her feet had grown I ended up with my purse ££ lighter!

As you can see above I still haven't got around to  a sealed pot, I am liking that at the moment I can see how the pot is doing;

I haven't counted, I just like the look of the coins creeping up the inside of the pot!

How are you all getting on?

A photo to capture this week

I take a lot of photos through the week. I have decided to show you one of my favourites from this week. It's from New Years eve;

 

 

 

 

This photo sums up what we have been doing this week-

Having fun!!!

Week 1 of New aims

Almost a week ago I set out myself some aims for the coming year

to finish decorating/ making our home our own

to save for the future

to enjoy more family fitness

frugal- I want to make what we have go further

to fix things- I have lots of things around the house that need mending/ altering that I haven't got around to doing.

to finish things, I have several craft projects started 2013 is the year to finish things

I have been working on these over the past week I thought to keep myself motivated I'd celebrate the successes so far in each area. I have managed so far;

to finish decorating/ making our home our own none here yet

to save for the future I have saved some money, but this is for my Mum's headstone

to enjoy more family fitness We have walked some journeys we would normally drive, we have been digging at the allotment, we have been for a swim this morning.

frugal- I want to make what we have go further I have taken an audit of all food in the freezer, I am gong to menu plan the month from this. I have bought several Christmas presents for Christmas 2013 in the sales, as well as some presents for Stephanie's birthday

I have just saved on my car insurance, my current insurer wanted to increase my premium to £627 from the £480 I paid last year. I have had no accidents/ claims etc my licence is still clean so I wasn't happy with that. A quick search around the internet and I have a new policy for £409 including full breakdown cover etc etc with a different insurer. Massive money save there!

to fix things- I have lots of things around the house that need mending/ altering that I haven't got around to doing. So far I have fixed the step stool, the bars under the mattress on my bed and the kitchen tap.

to finish things, I have several craft projects started 2013 is the year to finish things I have finished Stephanie's waterfall cardigan

I am pleased with my progress so far, I am hoping to get into a habit of doing a couple of items a week and possibly blogging about them to record my progress and keep me motivated.

Yarn along

Happy New year!

I had a lovely new year celebrated with family, busy but great. I had an ever changing number of people coming for New year dinner due to illness. the least there would have been is 3 the most 13! In the end there were 9 of us around the tables in my little kitchen.


On with the yarn along- I have nothing new on my needles this evening as I have just (an hour ago!!) finished Stephanie's pink waterfall cardigan;

 

 

I'm reading the book I got for Christmas, how to grow your own food as well as one on the kindle app on my phone Heroes, or Greek fairytales for my children.

I'm not sure what I am going to cast on next I have a few items which need finishing/fixing so I'm going to try and get on with those first.