I did umm and ahh about doing a Brexit post today following our exit finally from the EU last night, however I decided that there are enough opinions floating about around this subject, and quite honestly it is bringing out quite a nasty side to a lot of people. So instead I’ve decided to keep things light-hearted and positive and am posting about my favourite things that I have loved throughout January. And so I’ll start…

This is an obvious one for me, given that it was January and the month for organisation, my planner, diary and calendar. I love organising, lists keep things in order, it keeps me at peace knowing that everything is in its right place. My planner is like another baby and if it weren’t so blooming heavy I would probably take it everywhere with me! It’s fills me with so much joy as there is room for so much in it, and it helps with my goals of manifestation and the law of attraction, it has stickers to boot, there is just nothing not to love about this planner. for anyone interested I bought it off of Amazon, it is currently unavailable but I believe it cost me around £20. My diary I am totally in love with, I mean it’s Winnie the pooh, I need say no more and it’s small enough to carry around with me so if I’m caught on the hop, I can still check that I’m free. As for my calendar, it’s just beautiful, it’s a Thomas Kinkade one full of stunning Disney prints, and as if that weren’t enough, it is a family planner, so there is space for the entire family, so everyone in the house knows where each other is throughout the week. All of these should in theory make us a very organised bunch, well most of the time anyway!

Next up is my YouTuber of the month, and throughout January one of my favourites to watch is L@R Dreaming. Luke and Rich are even more mad about Disney than I am, they frequently visit the different Disney resorts and vlog all of their trips. Their most recent trip that I have been watching is whilst they were there over Christmas and New year last year. The wonderful chaps are some of the happiest people on YouTube but they are also very honest about their trips and are not afraid to say it as they see it. I mean I know it’s near on impossible to not to enjoy a trip to Florida, but these guys just have so much fun and are full of hints and tips so that you can make the very most out of your time away. So if you haven’t heard of them yet, do yourself a favour and go and check out their channel.

Now this next one is something I actually discovered in 2018, but with my trips over to the states last year I was able to pick up a couple for myself. Bath and Body Works candles. The scent from these candles is insane, and the burn time is great, the one I am currently burning has last me four weeks, granted I don’t have it lit every day, but it has lasted so well, and just as well as unfortunately we don’t have Bath and Body Works here in the uk and we’re not set to return to the USA until next year, and as yet, they do not ship over here, so this is being savoured to the very end. The one I have currently is Cinnamon Caramel Swirl, it is divine, and to date, i have yet to smell a bad one. I absolutely cannot wait to stock up when we go back next year.

This one is a fairly new discovery, although I think they’ve just been rebranded from a similar product that was available last year. Galaxy Enchanted eggs, they are absolutely delicious. I’m fairly certain that these were the golden eggs that Galaxy sold last year, but these are now rose gold in colour, so aesthetically they are very pleasing to look at, but i will be honest in that, they don’t last long enough to look at for long! They are essentially an Easter product, but we’ll overlook the fact that Easter is ages away, if you like Galaxy and you like little solid chocolate eggs, you’ll love these. My apologies for the picture of the opened packet, but they’re too much of a temptation!

And last but by no means least, the Harry Potter films. I know, I know, these are not new and neither are they a new discovery for me, but I adore the films/books/all the merchandise! If it’s Harry Potter themed, I am suckered in by it. I’m not sure if I could pick out one favourite book/film as they all play a crucial part to the full story, although my favourite characters are definitely Luna and Ron. Over the course of January I have rewatched all of the films several times, and they just never get old, and neither do the books. One of my favourite attractions in florida was the Harry Potter one in Universal, I cannot wait to go back and try the newest rides and get myself a great big glass of Butterbeer, until then I am going to try desperately to get to the UK Harry Potter studios, and get my fix to tide me over. If you’ve never watched the films or read the books, I cannot recommend them enough, even if you think you might not find them interesting (trust me when I say, I thought I wouldn’t until I actually took the time to read the books), I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

Well that’s a wrap, I’ve really enjoyed writing this post, I hope you’ve been inspired by some of my favourites, and maybe give some of them a try. Let me know what your favourites have been throughout the last month, I would genuinely love to know, I’m always looking for new things to try out.

Much love. xx

Love it or hate it, YouTube will have most probably made its way into your house somehow. If you have children, you’ve also probably been made to endure all sorts of rubbish on there, but every now and again it comes up trumps with some great thought-provoking videos. Even I have a list of firm favourites that I regularly watch now, and it was whilst I was watching one of my faves that I stumbled on a video with a concept that i had not really heard of before but that sparked a huge interest in me, especially as I am trying to penny pinch at the moment. And the topic that struck a chord with me? No buy/Low buy year. It sounds so simple and the more videos I found on it, the more I saw how personal it was for people and it can be as in-depth as you want it to be. 

A lot of the YouTubers I watched were making vows to stop buying things like their daily coffee from Starbucks or Costa, or they were going to use up all of their make-up before replacing it, not eating meals out several times a week and there were several other things that was on their own personal lists of ‘no buy/low buy’. It struck me that a lot of the things being given up by these people, whilst personal to them and would save them probably quite a good sum of money, well these were not things that I spend my money on anyway. So while the concept of this was a great idea, I needed to sit down and really work out where it is I was spending my own money and what I could conscientiously make cut backs on. And this is exactly what I did, now I’m not going to tell you all the things that I have added to my list but I will show the top items/treats on my list that I have chosen to either give up buying completely or only replace as I am running out. I hope that some of you find it insightful and it may even convince you to have a bash at it too, obviously everyone has their own reasons for doing this, as I have previously mentioned, I am looking to take my family away to Florida again next year and this is a massive expense, so this is my motivation for my no buy/low buy year. 

The first thing up on my list is alcohol. I very very rarely go out however I had got into an unhealthy habit of buying a couple of bottles of wine for over the course of a weekend, and this could end up costing me around £15 a week, which made it a no brainer for it to be the first thing to add to my no buy list for 2020. And I have to say I have found it far easier than I thought it was going to be, I’ll even go as far as saying that I’m not missing it even a little bit. Next up, stationary. I have a massive obsession with stationary, I love anything that is pretty, all the pastels, pinks, rose gold, anything with a meaningful quote on. Notebooks, I have way to many that are only partially used, I have diaries, planners, calendars, I have several notebooks that I have started using for budgeting, the list could go on and on. So I have made a vow to use up all of the stationary I already own before I buy anymore, and in all honesty, with the exception of a new planner (as mine is an academic one), I shouldn’t need to buy any stationary this year, especially as I am usually gifted some for birthdays and Christmas. Candles is the next thing on my ‘no buy’ list, I have so many candles in my house, I was bought five for Christmas , and in my opinion, you can never have too many candles, I adore them, my favourite being Yankee candles and Bath & Body Works. This said, these are not a necessity, no matter how much I try to justify it because of living with three smelly boys! So once I have used up the stock I have, I will be relying on the kindness of friends and family for my birthday/Christmas. Something else I added to my ‘low buy’ list is clothes. Last year we bought quite a few items of new clothing and footwear as it was needed for our holiday, and well the fact that our summer wardrobes were pretty rubbish. But thanks to that indulgence, nobody needs anything new this summer, and also two of my children have weekend jobs now, so in all honesty if they want new clothes, they are able to buy them for themselves. The only exception to this is school uniform for September, and shoes, but only as they need replacing due to being irreparable. And the last thing I will mention is ‘smellies’, and by this I mean toiletries, perfume that kind of things. All of us received loads for Christmas, and as we have done for the last few years, we will be using up all of our gifts before we purchase any further. Of course we had so many, it’ll probably be next Christmas before we get through it all.

I hope that this gives you the general gist of what a No buy/Low buy year now and maybe even inspired you to try it for yourself. I won’t pretend to you that you’ll see a massive benefit instantaneously, but I do believe that if you are honest with yourself and stick with it, it will make a noticeable difference over time. And if I have motivated you to give it a go, good luck. 

Much love. xx

My friends and I have often said that despite most beliefs, the baby and toddler stage with children is not actually the hardest stage of parenting, no I will argue that it is really the teenage years! I know, I know, when you’re going through those early sleepless nights, and the terrible twos, it really can feel like those days will last forever, but believe you and me, the first few years are only preparing you for the fun that is teenagers!

Now I will be the first one to admit that, with the exception of my autistic lad, my little brood have thus far, given me a fairly easy run through teenagedom, and I will hold my hands up and say I am extremely lucky with number one son, he has been a breeze, however he really lulled me into a false sense of security. Obviously the teenage journey with number two son is not exactly a ‘normal’ one and it throws some quite tricky times at us and with his hormones really only just kicking in, we have quite a way to go with his story yet. My daughter on the other hand, some of you will know, that she is now 13 and we are all starting to feel how very different girl teenagers are in comparison to boys. I will however save her the embarrassment of details on here, as I know that she will be reading this, but I will say this, I am eternally grateful I only have one daughter and three sons and not vice versa! And then we come to my little pre-teen, and I will be the first to predict he maybe a case of  ‘saved the toughest til last’, but he definitely has some great role models in his older siblings and he idolizes my eldest, so hopefully I don’t have too much to worry about. 

I am however very aware that I am extremely lucky with my teens, and there are some absolute warrior parents out there that are really going through the mill with their teens. Some kids, for whatever reason, push their parents to the very brink, they won’t allow their loved ones to do the very things that parents are built to do, love and protect them. I know there are some mums/dads/grandparents/aunts/uncles/carers that at breaking point, whether they’re fighting the fight on their own or with family or services, they’re desperate for that sweet little girl or boy who used to play with their favourite toy back, to allow them to be loved. Nobody knows why our teens can go off the rails, but if you are going through this desperate situation at the moment, I completely applaud you and empathise, I hope you’re not fighting for too much longer and your son or daughter sees the light very quickly and comes back to you. If you’re situation is even more serious than a rebelling teen then I truly hope that there is a happy resolution to the trials you’re facing right now very very soon.

Hormones, peer pressure, attitude have so much to answer for, and as an adult you suddenly have so much respect for your own parents and all that you put them through. But when all said and done, these are still just our babies and the love we have for them is unconditional, fortunately by the time they hit their twenties, most have found their way back to us. So to all the warrior parents of teens out there, this is only one chapter in this parenting story, don’t allow anyone’s judgement bring you down, we’re all just winging it in this crazy ‘parent’ journey.

Much love. xx

Something I hear all to often is ‘oh I won’t be able to find a job at my age’ or ‘Nobody will take me on at my age’, and this frustrates me no end, and there are two reasons for this 1) That people have no faith in the skills that they bring to a work place and belittle themselves and the knowledge that they have and 2) That at some point somewhere it has become a perception that if you’re not twenty something, then you cannot bring any new ideas to the table and this has to have come from places of work and feedback that people have received following the application process! This absolutely should never be the case and people should not ever feel that their age is a barrier for either furthering or changing their career path, however I am fully aware that this does happen and is preventing people from potentially finding their perfect job.

The flip side of this is there are people who are just so set in their ways and are too frightened of taking the leap into a new career, that they won’t even consider completing an application form, and I get it, you can never guarantee that you’ll be happier at a new work place, or that it will a better situation than your current one, but I’ve always lived by the ethos that it’s better to take the risk and it not be right than to always wonder ‘what if?’. As some of you will know if you follow my posts regularly, I did take this leap and went into a job that I had never put my hand to before. My work history has mostly been in retail with a few years in HMRC for good measure, but back in the summer last year, I was succesful in my application for a post in an educational setting. Now I’m not saying it’s perfect but I am so so grateful to have landed myself a job that most of the time is extremely rewarding and is teaching me new skills and how to face different challenges every single day, and not for one second do I regret filling out that applications form, and whilst I’m not exactly over the hill, I’m also pleased I did not feel my age was a barrier for setting off on a new career path.

One of the other decisions I am very proud of making this past year, is starting up my blog, and whilst it is only attracting a small audience at the moment, I have big plans for it, and through the power of manifestation and my wonderful readers, I know that I can achieve everything I envisage and in the future make this part of my career as well. 

The point to this post is make people aware that you should take that risk, don’t allow yourself to be put off because of any factor that society states you’re not eligible, you are and you can, so take the chance, you never know just how happy you may be!

Much love. xx

I was toying with the idea of making this post all things Winnie the Pooh as it’s National Winnie the Pooh day! However I’m almost certain as much as I love that chubby little bear, I’m not 100% sure that I can write a whole post about him, well actually that is a lie, I know i can but I have to remember I am a 40-year-old woman, so maybe I ought to do something a tad more grown up, imagine a sad emoji in here!

What is this post about then I hear you ask? Well this post is about making time for everything. One of the comments I hear a lot is ‘I don’t know how you fit it all in’ Or ‘How do you do it’, and the answer is, there is no answer to cramming everything in. I mean my diary/calendar/planners are all completely up to date, I try to write dates in as soon as I make a commitment, but even with the best organisation in the world, there are times I still double book myself, and for those that know me, know I absolutely hate to let people down, which is why I try to keep on top of my diary. To put things in context of how manic our weeks are, Monday evenings are the only day the children don’t have commitments to any clubs, but very often this is the evening we spend catching up on homework and housework, budgeting and planning. Through the week we have work, school and college, then Tuesdays is ice skating, Wednesday and Thursday is football training, Fridays is ice skating again, and then comes the weekend, with football matches, skating competitions, shopping, housework, trying to meal prep for the week, spending time with the fluffball to ensure that she doesn’t feel neglected, the list goes on, and then every now and again I throw in the occasional night out or catch up with my beautiful friends and family! Honestly the weeks are absolutely mental, so it will come as no surprise that the children and I absolutely treasure our school holidays and we try not to make too many plans as we’re usually absolutely shattered by the time they come around, but due to the working pattern of my friends, sometimes this is the only time I can have a proper catch up too. 

With all this said, I do try to bear in mind the topic of my last post, to be kind to myself as well, which means having to come to terms with the fact that actually it’s ok to say no sometimes, it’s taken me a long time to accept this and know that the people who truly love me will care enough to allow me the time to have a rest and recoup. But the flip side of this is making sure that I make time for the people I love too and not using the excuse of being too exhausted to meet up. And all of this without even taking into consideration health appointments and with four children and a fluffball, there are a lot of those too! 

So there really is no secret to fitting it all in, like families all around the world, we just make it work the very best that we can and hope that we don’t forget an appointment, or miss a meeting, or as I have been known to do, double book myself. Just remember, we are only human and there is only one of you, so don’t burn yourselves out and learn to say no!

Much love. xx

Half way through January already, I can’t believe it, I’m sure the older I get the quicker times passes me by! January is such a funny old month, we all go into it with such great intentions, saving money, losing weight, giving up the bad habits we have found ourselves with, the list could go on and on, but nine times out of ten most good intentions have faded by this point in January and most have started to feel the blues and are pining for the first signs on spring. For the majority it can be a pretty rubbish month, and it can feel like the month that never ends, but I’ve come to realise that at this time of year, more than any other, it’s so important to look after yourself, and be kind to your mental health. I am a huge advocate of being kind to yourself all year around but with the dark nights, cold and wet weather, and the 560 days between each payday, it’s all the more important to be careful with yourselves. 

How you choose to love yourself is a very personal decision, and varies on what you see as a treat, whether you want to spend money, or are on a budget, whether the small things make you feel good, or a weekend away is what lifts your spirits, or it maybe a night in with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates, or taking yourself off to the cinema. Whatever it is that helps you get through the next couple of months, just do it, book yourself one evening a week and do something that makes you smile and feel some peace and harmony and forget the woes that are going on around us. For me, when the world is looking a little bit gloomy, I like to run myself a really hot bubble bath, stick some YouTube videos on, usually a Florida vlog, and have a long soak in the tub, if I fancy getting out of the four walls, I take myself off to our local cinema to have a bit of escapism with a good film, and there are some great ones out at the moment. 

Another way to be thoughtful to yourself is to try doing something that you’ve really wanted to have a go at and just haven’t done yet, this might be a theatre experience or taking yourself for lunch at a cafe you’ve seen in passing. For me, I have a couple of events coming up over the next few months that don’t involve me ‘being mum’ for either one night or a couple, and I am very excited for these opportunity’s to take time out and recoup. I do appreciate that i am super lucky to be able to do this, and I know this isn’t an option for everyone, but there are so many things that are free, cheap and easily done within your homes. Whichever way you choose to spark some happiness, and however you’re finding the cold months of winter, please be kind to yourself.

Much love. xx

Living in the times that we do, money is tighter for most households now, than it has been in quite a few years, or is it? This post I’m talking about budgeting and living within your means. If you follow my posts, you’ll know that I am a single mum to four children and a fluffball, and that I work Monday-Friday too. All of my children are still of school/college age and I am in a super fortunate position that I do work term time so no longer pay childcare, although I have previously done so for four years, so I completely sympathise for those parents that are forking out hundreds of pounds a month to nurseries etc. But like so many families around the world, I have to budget each and every month to keep things in check, and of course everyone has different priorities when it come to where their money goes, and the way I do things is only the right way for me and my family, how you roll, is right for you.

Now, I haven’t always been responsible with money, and i have to be super strict with myself even now to ensure that the income I have, goes where I want it to go, this means owning my debts and being responsible for them, being frugal with what i have, and not being frivolous when I have any spare cash. Just as a disclaimer, whilst I’m happy to talk about how I budget and where my income goes, I like to keep the tighter details private, just because a) my children read this and b) well it is my own personal information. So where does my money go, well firstly in my budgeting is ordering my monthly payments in order of importance: mortgage, amenities, debt repayments, phone bill, food that kind of thing. Following that, it’s the children’s clubs, as you’re aware my boys are footballers and my daughter is an ice skater, let me just say this, ice skating is a stupidly expensive hobby, but she is committed and therefore so am I. Once all of this is taken out, I look at what I’m left with for the month, now when we get to the topic of spare cash people start becoming quite opinionated and sometimes rude too, but in all honesty how you want to spend this extra, if you’re lucky enough to have any that is, is entirely up to you. One of the things I vowed when the children’s dad and i spilt, was to help my children to see the world and to instill the travel bug into them, so over recent years that is how i choose to invest any spare income that I have had. Do not make the mistake in thinking that I have copious amounts of extra income, no quite the opposite, but I am strict on my spending, I do not get take away coffee at all whilst I am out of the house, I don’t smoke, I don’t drive, I don’t get my hair done, I don’t buy make up, I very rarely go on nights out (I think I counted like twice last year). What I do though is make the best use of what I have, we have a ton of dvd’s, we have sky and amazon prime, so the children and I use these to full advantage, we do loads of baking at home, and if I take the children out, I will always try to make it as cost-effective as possible. I don’t buy clothes unless something is unwearable and I buy the childrens clothes on the same basis, although as they’re all getting older and developing a more expensive taste, I tend to buy these for birthdays now instead. All this means that, quite literally all of my spare money goes into the holiday fund.

One of the things I have started to do is, when I have actual real life cash in my purse (which isn’t very often), it goes straight into a large saving bottle, and once this is filled it will also go into the holiday fund. As I’ve stated how you choose to spend your money is such a personal choice and what is right for me may not be right for you. But I, like so many work bloody hard throughout the year, and I like to reward myself and my children for having such a heavy schedule. For so many years budgeting and money scared me and I found it extremely daunting, so now that I am slightly more at ease with it, and am now more responsible with my incomings and outgoings, I am more confident is budgeting properly for our travels. Of course finance are always subject to change and we have to adapt to these changes, this year my eldest son finishes his ‘free education’ and our finances will change again, but the difference between 30-year-old me and 40-year-old me is that I have already preempted these changes and towards the end of the summer I will look at picking up another little part-time job to allow us our holiday (albeit the next one not actually being the end of 2021, see budgeting), but you reap what you sow, and the hard work will be rewarded. However you’re budgeting your finances at the moment, just remember to keep your integrity in tact but always be kind to yourself.

Much love. xx

Well we’re a whole week into the new year now, Christmas feels a lifetime ago, nearly everyone is back at work or school and I should think that quite a few resolutions have already fallen by the wayside by now. Although I don’t really make resolutions as I think the minute you say ‘I cannot have’ or ‘I must do’, you’re setting yourself up for failure, I will add that this is just my personal opinion and I’m sure there are many that could say that their determination is still holding strong. What I have done this year, which I have not really done before, is to write down my hopes and aims for 2020. As I mentioned in my last blog post, in 2019 I discovered the magic of manifesting the things you want in life, and I have to say, whilst I worked hard for the things I wanted, I achieved some pretty spectacular things throughout last year. With that in mind, I am putting it to the test again this year, and I know 2020 will be what I make of it, so here’s to another fantastic year.

So what will I be manifesting into my 2020? Well I won’t bore you with all of my list as we would be here all night, but I will share a few of my main goals for this year. My main goal actually will be over the course of this year and next, purely because this is one I will have to work super hard for, I am taking my family back to Florida, we have lots of ideas about which hotels we want to stay and the activities we would like to do whilst we’re there, but this doesn’t come cheaply, so until then you can catch me working my backside off making it happen, but it will happen because I will make it happen, and you know what they say, if you’ve had to earn it, you enjoy it all the more! My next biggest goal is actually this, yes my blog! I am still absolutely loving writing on here, I cannot tell you how much it sparks joy in me to spend time rabbling on to all of you. I because of you wonderful people reading all my ramblings, it is growing at a steady rate very nicely, but I would love to grow it at a much healthier rate than it is currently, so I will be working hard to share my blog far and wide this year. Running quite nicely hand in hand with this goal, is to also grow my social media accounts, again these are growing at a steady rate, but I will be working on growing these, which in turn will spread by blog wider too. So as a cheeky plea, if you do enjoy my posts, do feel free to share with your nearest and dearest, I will be extremely grateful. One of the things that I really want to work on this year, on a personal level, is to  be more appreciative of the people and the things that I have around me, it is so easy to get caught up in our busy day-to-day lives, and we can become complacent with everyone and everything that you love, but this year I will be more attentive  and grateful. The last goal I will mention is to be less materialistic and much more frugal. I know one of the latest fads with a lot of people is to do a ‘no buy/low buy’ year, now this is more of an aim than a goal to manifest, but it works quite nicely with the first goal that I mentioned, so if it’s not broken or empty, it’s not getting replaced and if I don’t really need it, it will not be bought! This year will see me saving not spending! 

So there you go, a little insight into how my 2020 will be played out. I have said it before, but I will do a separate post about manifesting and how it works, when I’ve mastered the art a little better, but I really do believe in it and I’ve seen it work for myself and for others. But now I’m intrigued to know what everyone elses goals and hopes are for this coming year? Please do feel free to comment and tell me, I’d love to know.

Much love. xx

2019 really was one of the best years of my life, and I have a few years under my belt now! It saw so many highs for me personally and my little family too, don’t get me wrong, we’ve seen a few lows too, but I really took ownership of a lot of things in my life throughout the last year, and this has helped me hugely to focus only on the positive, and take the negatives in my stride. This is something I am striving to take into the year ahead with me, I am working on manifesting great things for myself and my children, I will do a separate post on this when I feel like I have mastered it a little better than I have right now. For now though, I bring you the highs of our 2019.

The year started on a massive high for us as I had just revealed to my children where we would be going on holiday, and it was definitely an emotional reveal, but January was a month of much excitement, planning and holiday chattering, and well of course for me, still paying for this blooming grand holiday, but at least the kids now knew why we had been and continued to live off of beans on toast! January also saw me really take hold of my finances, having such a huge (but exciting) thing to pay for, it made me take into stock about getting all of my finances together and finally be a grown up about it, and let me tell you all, it is a liberating feeling to see debts going down and my credit score finally going up!  February and March were equally as exciting with both my eldest and youngest sons birthdays, my eldest turning and age he can finally learn to drive (sidenote, he still isn’t driving…yet) and my youngest going into double digits. And of course March saw the huge event of me starting my blog, this was massive for me, and whilst it’s a slow grower, i am eternally grateful for the wonderful readers old and new, but an especially big thank you to those that have supported me since the very beginning and continue to do so, you’re all beautiful humans. March also treated me to see my future husband in concert again, but not at any old venue, no my lovely mum and I got to enjoy The Script in the very stunning Royal Albert Hall, and we had the most amazing night, sadly Mr O’Donoghue did not spot me across the room and fall madly in love with me, oh well there’s always next month! April came around and saw us celebrating the birthday of our little Fluffball and seeing her turn the grand old age of 5! And of course lots and lots of Florida planning, including being able to book our fast passes for Disney World, I cannot even begin to tell you the excitement that this caused for a solid two weeks! May, well this is definitely was the first of the two major highlights of the entire year, we only went on a two-week holiday to bloody Florida, we crammed in so much, Disney world, Universal, Cheesecake factory, shopping, Kennedy space centre, the memories that we created over that fortnight will stay with me and my children forever, and to be able to celebrate my beautiful mamma’s birthday out there too, just amazing, and on a daily basis, we still talk about this holiday in my house. Then June, celebrating my second eldest sons birthday, this is always a slightly difficult birthday to celebrate, but with the years comes wisdom for us both, and we are gradually understanding how best to make the day super special for him, but every year on his birthday I celebrate the fact that we’ve both made it through another year and that I love him for all the quirky ball of energy that he is.

The second half of the year was just as phenomenal and by no means slower than the first! July brought me my first job interview in almost six years, and boy was I ever nervous, but so very ready for a change and into a job that was so very different to my current job, and the end of July gave me the end of another academic year and also a massive opportunity with a job offer from the interview I had attended earlier in the month, so whilst super sad to leave some lovely people behind in job at the stationery shop and post office that I had been in for five and a half years, I headed into the summer holidays with a regenerated excitement for my new start in September. So then came August, and the bulk of the summer, and we thoroughly enjoyed a very lazy holidays, and of course my daughters big 13th birthday, let me tell you, a girls sleepover is an entirely different kettle of fish to that of a boys, but it was successful and I had one very happy daughter and now three teenage children and a pre-teen in my house. September brought us the new academic year, my youngest going into his final year of primary school and my 15yo going into his final year of school altogether, as well as me starting my new job, which I am really really happy to report, I absolutely love and am so pleased I had the confidence to take the plunge and try for a different career path. October was probably our quietest month of the entire year, we enjoyed Halloween but on a much smaller scale than previous years. And then November hit us, and what a month it was, I quite literally celebrated turning 40 for the entire month. Starting with a night in with some of my bestest friends in the world, who just to remind me of my age, very generously gave me 40 of the most thoughtful gifts, the best one being a weekend away glamping together in April. The next celebration was my actual birthday which treated me to take away, wine and lots & lots of cake. Next celebration was with another of my beautiful best friends, decorating Christmas pottery, a super scrummy lunch and of course a whole solid four hours of just the two of us, perfect. New York baby! This was the next part of my celebrations, and the second biggest highlight of the year, New York brought me yet more memories that will remain with me forever, and I cannot thank the beautiful people who helped make it a birthday celebration to remember. Again we crammed in so much in the time that we were out there, but everything we saw will stay with me always. And to round off my month of birthday celebrations was a wonderful evening out with two more of my wonderful friends and it genuinely finished off my 40th celebrations perfectly. November showed me just how full of love my life really is, ad I am forever grateful to all those that I am blessed with in my life. Also I really want to mention a real stand out moment for myself and my autistic lad here, in November he took part in his work experience through school, it was arranged for his placement to be a local cafe, which is a beautiful venue, both he and I were super nervous about it, but we genuinely had nothing to feel worried about, as not only did the staff and manager treat him with such sensitivity and made him feel like he was a real member of the team, which did so much for his confidence and truly put me at ease, but he did such a fantastic job, that the manager asked him of he would be interested in a little saturday job there! Yes my boy, who’s self-esteem can hit such a low at times, had made such an impression they actually wanted to recruit him, as a parent, that is up there with one of my proudest moments! So November was truly one of the best months of the entire year, for so many reasons! And then December, quite frankly, there is nothing not to love about December, after all it is the magic of Christmas!

I think I have waffled on long enough, and thank you so much for reading if you’ve made it this far. To round-up, 2019 has just been one wonderful memory after another, and my children and I extremely grateful to have been blessed with so many amazing events, and for the people who have joined us in those. We can only hope that 2020 will be just as much fun and memorable and filled with  more proud moments. From the bottom of my heart, I hope that your 2019 was filled with love and happiness, and that 2020 is an even better one for you. 

Much love. xx

Happy new year to you all, and welcome to a brand new decade, from the bottom of my heart, I hope you have all had the very best of Christmas’ and thoroughly enjoyed the celebrations last night. My little family has had a very quiet one this year, and we just about made it through to midnight last night to see in 2020, but I genuinely wouldn’t have had it any other way. My little bunch of weirdos and I saw in the new year reminiscing all of the wonderful events that we have been blessed to experience not only over the last twelve months, but over the last ten years too. At the beginning of the ‘teens’ our lives were hugely different to now, as is the case with most families I should think, but for us, I had just recently found myself a single mamma to a 7 year, 5 year, 2 year and 4 month old after years of domestic abuse, life was extremely uncertain and unpredictable. But my mumma raised a fighter and I had four little people to guide through life and I had to do this by example. Ten years on, I truly feel that I have done this to the best my ability, it definitely hasn’t been easy, especially with an autism/adhd/learning disabilities diagnosis for one of my little crew along the way, but as we head into the twenties, I am super proud of the four strong-minded, independent, brave and amazing humans that I have raised. So you see, the last ten years, whilst experiencing some of the worst times, have still been the best of mine and my children’s lives, thus far!

There are several huge things that I achieved throughout 2019, all of which I am incredibly proud of, one of which was having the courage to start my very own blog. Writing has always been something I have loved to do, but when my confidence took a bit of a battering, I lost my passion slightly, and whilst I do get distracted with life now and again, it is fair to say I have very much found my love for it again, one of the things I have promised myself for 2020 is to make sure I make time for myself to keep blogging regularly, I’ve had nothing but positive feedback about my posts and I want to build on that and strive to always improve what I put out for all of you wonderful people who very generously give your time to read the gumph that I share. And whilst I think about it, can I just take a minute to thank anyone who follows any or all of my posts, whether that be my blog posts or my social media posts, it really does mean the absolute world to me, I genuinely just wing my way through life on a daily basis, so to know that my posts are appreciated by even a handful of people and dare i say it, make people feel that they are not alone on this crazy parenting journey, well I can’t tell you how that makes me feel, so thank you a million times over!

Along with promising myself time to develop my blog, I have also made a vow that I am going to get better at general ‘life management’, silly things like making sure that my diary/calendar at synced with the same information, budgeting (especially as another Florida trip is in the pipeline), Just generally trying to make life a little easier for myself, oh and like half of the population, getting fit and healthy again following a year of ‘relaxed’ living! Whilst I don’t believe in new years resolutions, I mean they’re just meant to be broken aren’t they, but I do believe it’s important to want to strive for better things for yourself, make yourself a better version if you like, complacency is an ugly thing, so 2020 is going to be another year of making life better for myself and my children, and coming out with more fantastic memories with my family and friends, and a stronger & happier family. What will you be hoping or working for throughout the year ahead? 

Much love. xx