Starting The Year Right?!?

I started the year right by putting my best foot forward, jumping out of bed and doing a Zumba workout!

I continued the week by using my stepper:

Until it broke!

I carried on the week by getting home from work and going for a 4 and a half mile walk, I felt great!

I received a parcel today:

Which contained this:

I am always busy but I want to get to target this year so I made the time.  I got up early to fit Zumba in, put jacket potatoes in the oven while I went for my walk so dinner was ready when I got in, I used the stepper in the kitchen while dinner was cooking.  If I can find a way to fit a bit of exercise in then anyone can!

Then I got on the scales and saw this:

I was disappointed and wondered what went wrong.  I was so good at throwing away all of the left over mince pies, Paul took the crisps and dips home with him, the fridge and cupboards were full of Slimming World friendly food and I had planned every meal.

What I hadn't done was hide the bottle of open Disaronno but that didn't matter, I only had about a thimble full each night, I'm sure it wasn't more.  That open box of chocolates wouldn't hurt, they were small chocolates and I'd maybe popped one or two in my mouth when I had a coffee after a long day at work.  Those biscuits I was given weren't too bad, I only had one or two with my tea in the morning, hardly anything really. 

Put them all together and what I thought were the little things added up to great big things!  I was a saint throwing away my lovely, homemade mince pies, but I was a sinner with those tiny little things that weren't even a mouthful!

This week I'll know better than to let my wandering hands sabotage my hard work, this week I will have a great loss.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Crochet Mood Blanket 2015

Last year I start a year long project, you can read about it here.  It was to crochet a square a day for a blanket and each colour used would be determined by my mood.

I got stuck in straight away on 1st January with my favourite colour:

And gradually it grew:

And grew:

Sometimes Maddie or Paul would pick the colours I used but most of the time I picked them myself.

The blanket now has 20 rows and 18 columns, 360 squares in total.  The last 5 days were made up of borders and I added the last stitch on 31st December using gold yarn:

I kept to a small, plain border:

With a little bit of detail for the corners:

And each day I made a note of the colour I used and why I used it in my little notebook:

And here it is in it's full glory:

And here I am feeling very proud of what I achieved:

Would I do it again?.......Nope!  I'm pleased that it got me doing something crafty every day but it did add a tiny bit of pressure.

Now I'm wondering just what will replace it in 2016.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Week One!

Week one was certainly a good one, here are the highlights:

Monday was a Bank Holiday so we went to Ikea

We got there really early so had time for breakfast before we walked around the store, we certainly walked the breakfast off by the time we'd finished!

I couldn't believe I had daisies growing in the garden :)

I had a massive tidy up of some of my craft supplies! Here's a before and after shot:

I had a little win at bingo :)

I started my New Year's resolution early :)

I enjoyed a bit of crochet while watching Calamity Jane :)

I put the last stitch in my crochet mood blanket (more on that later in the week)

We spent New Year's Eve with Sarah and Chris playing Rapidough :)

It's a great game and the girls played against the boys, the girls won the first round! One of the boys is a designer and the other an artist so I think they lost the first round because they were being too technical, they took note of my comment and went on to win the second round :)

We also played the kazoo game, which was so funny :)

And then we welcomed in 2016!

I transferred the data from my old calendar to the new one, a job I love doing :)

We had Sarah and Chris over for dinner and another game, this one was a trip down memory lane but it turned out that our memories weren't that good!

I filed my layouts away:

All ready to create some new ones :)

And I ended the week snuggling on the sofa with my boy :)

Now it's back to work, back to the diet, back to normal and back to counting down the days to next Christmas :)

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Using It Up!

I don't think I have too many hobbies, I think I have too much stuff for all of my hobbies though! So this year I'm putting myself on a year long stash ban!!!

I cancelled my monthly kit and stocked up on glue and page protectors so there will be no excuse to go shopping and let some stash slip in to my basket.

I'm getting fed up with stash everywhere I look, this is part of my lounge and it's getting overrun!

I have managed to squirel stuff away everywhere:

And fill every nook and cranny:

My bedroom looks no better, with wool everywhere:

And I'm not even sure what I've got stuffed in the bottom of my wardrobe!

My craft cupboard is bursting at the seems:

And every shelf has stash on it:

That's all before we move on to the fabric!

I'm not bragging or showing off at the amount of stuff I have, it is actually starting to make me feel ill.  I haven't been starting new projects because I don't know where to start or what to use, I don't really know what I've got.  I'm determined to use it up though because it would be a big waste of money not to use it.  So no more buying new stash until I've got rid of the old stuff!

With that in mind I have made a start to help me get more organised:

Another area that I really have to tackle is my groaning book shelf:

So, by the end of the year, I want to notice a lot more space around here and a lot more projects completed!

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

New Year = Fresh Start

This year is going to be the year I get to target, no more messing around!

I did so well in the lead up to Christmas with this amazing loss just 2 weeks prior to Christmas:

Followed up by another fantastic loss the following week on Christmas Eve!

Christmas is over now and I really enjoyed it, I didn't overindulged but I known I've gained (6lbs in fact!) and that is what Christmas is all about really, spending time with family and friends enjoying good food.  It happens once a year so I'm not going to stress about it.

Anyway, the New Year is here now and it's time to get back on the plan.  To help me stay motivated I've taken a couple of "where I am now photos" after all I have lost almost 4 stone already!

And on the first of each month I'll pull these same poses again to see where I'm heading, hopefully as the months pass I'll notice the difference a whole lot more.

So I've already jumped out of bed and got my blood pumping with a little bit of Zumba, doing this first thing in the morning really helps me feel good for the rest of the day!

And those jeans I mentioned in this post are a long way off fitting me but I am so determined to get in them by the summer!

I feel more ready than ever for this journey and I'm actually looking forward to it!

See you next week for an update
Jo xx

#jandsadventselfie

This year we did something a little different in the lead up to Christmas, instead of just opening our advent calendars each day we decided to take a selfie!  Well I decided to do it and Maddie was more than happy to play along :)

It got us thinking about our day and how we were feeling about the arrival of Christmas and I thought it was worth a post on the blog :)

Dec 1st and we were excited about Christmas:

Dec 2nd was a Christmas Tree selfie :)

Dec 3rd and we were enjoying the Christmas lights outside our office :)

Dec 4th and we reached the end of the working week :)

Dec 5th and it was an early morning, straight out of bed selfie :)

Dec 6th was a lazy Sunday :)

Dec 7th and it was top (photo) bombing from Alfie :)

Dec 8th and we spent another day chilling :)

Dec 9th and we were enjoying our advent chocolates :)

Dec 10th and it was nearly the weekend!

Dec 11th and we were loving the Christmas trimmings :)

Dec 12th and we'd just got home from laptop shopping!

Dec 13th was the new laptop selfie :)

Dec 14th and we were happy that it was our last week at work :)

Dec 15th was all about family time :)

Dec 16th and we had to include the Santa cookie jar, otherwise known as Baby Sam :)

Dec 17th and we painted our nails ready for Christmas :)

Dec 18th and we were celebrating finishing work for 2 weeks :)

Dec 19th and one of us was feeling rather delicate after the office Christmas party!

Dec 20th and was said goodbye to my brother Jamie and his girlfriend Eat as they headed back to Thailand :(

Dec 21st and we were chilling :)

Dec 22nd was time for our favourite Christmas film :)

Dec 23rd and we watched Elf :)

Dec 24th and we spent the evening baking :)

Dec 25th and we had a lovely Christmas Day :)

It really was a fun way to countdown the days to Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx