No more counting hours

15th January 2018 Tina Terry Leave a comment

The first two weeks of the year have flown by and as I approach my 52nd birthday, I would like to make this year (and all future years too) another memorable year. My aims that I have started this year are to make sure I do achieve this. I’m also on a mission to make my Me You diary an exciting read; one that Dawn French would be proud of. I’m not going to be jumping out of planes or do any bungee jumping but I would like to make sure that each day counts.

I do have a few exciting things to look forward to. I will be going to London to see The Lion King in April. Kathryn wanted to see this so we bought 2 tickets for Christmas presents. Lucky old me gets to go with her on this outing. We are also going to go to The Ritz for tea in May. This had been one of Kathryn’s challenges set for my 50th birthday but when she did set it, she hadn’t realised that poor students could not afford this luxury, so, with reluctance, we changed the challenge. Imagine my surprise when I unwrapped a box from Kathryn at Christmas time to find a voucher for tea at The Ritz. They are certainly two experiences that I am looking forward to sharing with you.

Looking at my list of aims for January, I can confirm that I should be collecting quite a few ticks this month. Here is my progress:

Finish Puddles of Love

I actually finished all of the cross stitch on Sunday. Just have backstitch, some French knots and beading to do so it will be a very good tick.

Book 3 classes at leisure centre per week

In November, I took out a membership at our local leisure centre. I have attended the gym a few times but much prefer the classes. To make the membership pay, I need to go at least 2 times a week. My initial cost was £99 for 3 months which was a bargain. I like value for money and have made sure that I have stuck to going. I have been going to the same zumba class for other 5 years now and I always go with somebody else. Going on my own was a little out of my comfort zone. I decided I would try a selection of classes and find what I liked. I have found everyone so friendly; even the receptionist calls me by my first name without looking at my card now! Last week I did 5 different classes. This week I have 4 booked:

Aquafit – this was another challenge for my 50th Birthday. Amazing that I love this class now.
Fat Blaster – my stomach ached a lot when I did this last week but I had done a Legs, Bums and Tums class the night before.
Zumba – as I have other plans for Friday, I have to do this class straight after fat blaster. I love this zumba class.
Body Jam – this is a mad dance class. Absolutely no idea what I’m doing but it is fun and worth getting up for on a Sunday morning..

I do recommend trying classes and finding what you actually like to do. So far, there has only been one class that I haven’t been keen on and that was totally to do with me; not the class itself. There are still a few more I plan to try so I think I will be making my membership pay.

Read an author from my favourite author list

My old faithful kindle with hundreds of books still to read was replaced at Christmas by a Kindle paperwhite. I can now read in the middle of the night if I can’t sleep in my bed!! Haven’t had to yet though. I am always downloading books and thought that I would make sure that I downloaded new books this year from my favourite authors. I intended to make a list of 12 authors but came up with 14!

My author this month was Jodi Picoult. I read Small Great Things, a book about what happens when a new born baby suddenly dies. I have always loved reading books by Jodi Picoult; I love her style of writing and learning about the subjects she writes about. I have to admit that I felt uncomfortable reading this book at the beginning. It involves racism in a very violent way. There are a lot of other prejudices in the book apart from the racism and it made me think about my own prejudices; I couldn’t find any sympathy with the character who was racist at all. I actually don’t think that the author wanted us to anyway but it did make me realise how easily it can to be judgmental. I have read other readers’ reviews on this book and there are some who believe the author is not qualified to write on some of the subjects. Whilst it can be an uncomfortable read, it is a powerful one. I look forward to her next new release.

Aim for a relaxed and on time morning start

This aim might seem a little mad but I always tend to cram far too much into the time before I leave for work. This one will always be a work in progress but I am actually leaving for work on time at the moment. I just can’t be held responsible for traffic though!!

Buy a mascara and learn to apply

Another mad one but I will explain. I have never been big on make up and always find I look like a panda when applying mascara. I had started having my eyelashes tinted but I’ve decided that it is an expense I could do without. After reading reviews, I purchased an Eyeco waterproof mascara from Marks and Spencers. I decided to go for a travel size one as there wasn’t a lot of difference in the price and I wanted to check it was right for me. I have only had it a few days and have yet to check it out for a full working day or whether it lasts in the swimming pool.

So this week I am hoping to start my running again, plan out the food better and maybe try to get 10,000 steps a few more times!

Enjoy the third week of January – lighter evenings are coming!

Cross Stitch

January, you make me feel brand new

8th January 2018 Tina Terry Leave a comment

What is it with January and a new year. We expect it to be a new start and a new us. We plan for it to be better and we make resolutions. In reality, we still have the old concerns with us and as we continue the year, nothing has changed. Actually that isn’t really true. I believe that we can all make changes to our lives if we want them; we just have to make the commitment. It also doesn’t have to be a new start in January; it can be any month or any day you choose to make the change. Also if you fail one day, you are not a complete failure. You just put that blip behind you and continue. You will get there.

I started this blog when I had been set 50 challenges by my daughter. Although I do have lots of things in my life that I’m proud of, this was a wonderful thing to do. It gave me goals to achieve. Since it finished, I have tried to find something to make myself committed and I certainly do want the years of my 50s to be memorable. I had wanted to make my goals in my birthday month so I could have another year of having a few challenges to aim for. I didn’t quite get there between June and December. I won’t say I failed; just didn’t quite start! So I am actually going to start in January and with the aid of my “Just Flamingo to It” pad, I am going to start an “Aims for” list of 10 things I want to do each month. The pad is magnetic so can be put on the fridge for easy viewing. I have also put it on my keep list on the phone so I can see it everywhere.

Here are January’s aims:

Finish Puddles of Love Cross stitch
Book 3 classes at Leisure centre
Sort out monthly food menu
Lose 4 lbs
Start on a de-clutter plan
Read an author from my favourite author list
Aim to run 3 times a week
Try to get to 10,000 steps a day
Aim for a relaxed and on time morning start
Buy a mascara and learn to apply

I have tried to use words such as aim and try so I won’t feel disappointed if I don’t achieve everything. I always believe that it takes a lot of small changes to make the big change in our life. The item I want to achieve in January is to finish my Puddles of Love cross stitch so I can start on my new one. Cross stitch is something that I started in my 20s and I haven’t always been successful in achieving my finish. I was so proud of my completing my cross stitch challenge that I have continued with the hobby. It is so tempting to open my new cross stitch but I have told myself it can’t be done until Puddles of Love is completed. To achieve this, I do have to make sure other things in my life are in order; the dinners still need cooking, I need to exercise and I need to go to work to so if I make plans to achieve these things, I have time to stitch.

Losing weight is something that always seems to be a January plan. I have been lucky because in 2012, I did get to my goal weight so I haven’t had too many worries with my weight in January. This year is a bit different; too much baking! I have weighed myself today and am not going to look at the scales until January 31st. I have set myself a small goal of 4lb loss because I think it should be achievable. If I do manage (actually I will manage) to lose this and continue over the following 4 months, I will be able to get into all my summer clothes!

So here are today’s plan to get some of those plans together:

Go for a walk around the block to try to achieve 10,000 steps
Make today’s dinner and put some portions in freezer so it will give me more stitching time this month.
Make tomorrow’s dinner so I can get to one of my classes at the leisure centre tomorrow
Cross stitch
Go to bed early tonight so I can read Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things and be able to get up early tomorrow for a more relaxing start to the day

In my 2nd week of the month/year, I do feel optimistic that I will be able to set and go on to achieve my aims.

Have a great 2nd week of 2018!

Family, friends and favourite things

Dear Diary

1st January 2018 Tina Terry Leave a comment

Dear 2018

I am writing to you inspired by my Daughter Kathryn in two ways: her letters to December made me appreciate my downfalls of the month and made me want to explore the months more, and, one of the lovely gifts she gave me for Christmas; Dawn French’s Me You diary.

For Christmas 2016, I was given a diary from one of my friends; One Line a Day. Whilst January is the beginning of a new year, I actually started writing in it on the 25 December; something I thought I would regret after hearing the sad news (still very sad news in my opinion) that George Michael had died. This diary is a a five year diary so each page has room for 5 years of the same day. I would love to tell you that I wrote in it every day but September I wasn’t so good. I think life seemed a bit daunting. I have recovered now and am trying to make amends to my diary!

I needed to make a few changes in my working life so the months between September and November involved that. That led me into December, without a “proper” job due to a gamble which I do believe might have paid off. More on that later. I had decided that I wouldn’t start my “gambling” life gradually, I took a holiday; a very enjoyable one too! A bit riskier because I did have Christmas to prepare too. I left for my holiday with a few presents bought, no cards written but plenty ideas of what I needed to get once I got back.

On holiday, I was able to keep up with Kathryn’s blog and her letters to December. I felt quite tearful reading some of the traditions we had created and how she had enjoyed them. Our Christmas day is always a quiet relaxed affair (even that has pressure put on it) and Kathryn did seem to appreciate them. It did come as a bit of a shock because Kathryn is far from a boring girl and our Christmas day isn’t one of these great big family days. It is always tradition for mum and dad to fall asleep.

I did learn a lot about myself in December by reading the December letters and watching Kathryn achieving the many things she set to do each day. In the past, I have put pressure on myself by thinking everything should be perfect. This year, perfection went out of the window (I never achieve it anyway) and I enjoyed the month so much more. These are some of the things that made it easier:

Supermarket food deliveries – this has been a big plus all year. I have a shop on the same day, same time every week and it has made my life so much easier
Online shopping – normally we have a Christmas shopping day which can involve going into a lot of cafes for lattes, writing out lists of what we want to buy, buying six things and then coming home to buy the rest online. One week before Christmas, the laptop was brought into action and all presents were purchased. Who needs to start shopping in September!
A “does it matter” approach – do I need to worry if I haven’t got swede for roast veg on the day? Is it necessary for the Christmas cake to be perfectly decorated? So what if we haven’t got shortbread (hold on I should care about that one!). What if I only decided 5 minutes before the dinner was being served I want the table to look? In the big scheme of things, these things should not put a cloud over the day. All resolvable – just have to remember to buy Marks and Spencer’s shortbread in September next year!
Lists – Kathryn loves lists; they often scare me. December this year, I discovered how to use them in the best way with my phone and a program called Keep. I do love gadgets and this one certainly made me happy this December. I plan to start enjoying lists.

So 2018, December will not frighten me this year. In fact, I’m not going to get frighted by any of the months. Each month, with help from Dawn, is going to be a blank page: a new month to get things right and forget about what happened the month before (I will have it all written down of course but there will be no dwelling over it). So today, 1 January 2018, I plan to eat the lovely cake I made yesterday (plan on getting back into my clothes can wait until tomorrow), hopefully achieve 10,000 steps on my fitbit, if it stops raining and make a plan for January but not the whole of you, 2018.

Yummy food that make my clothes shrink – to be enjoyed today!

Love from a glass half full me x

50 Ticks

Monthly Archives: January 2018