Day 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 day shred

Hello, and long time no see.

This blog lark takes a lot of getting used to. I had a craft blog that ran for 2 years, then I became really disenchanted, and felt my creations weren't good enough to share. But in the name of self-improvement, I now have this fairly quiet place to call my own. I know that once I can really accept myself and see that I am good at something, then my videos, blog, articles and creations will become a large part of my living. Confidence...Confidence

Everything starts as a seed, and I don't want it bolting do I?

So today I share with you my day one of my 4 week commitment to get me started on my new fitness journey. 

Today I ate:
vegan pancake with little sprinkle of sugar, and lemon( NO oil.)
4 bananas
2 apples
2 rice cakes
2 veggie fingers, steamed potatoes, and veggies + a little veggie gravy
A handful of dates
4 cups of tea with soya milk
2 pints of water 
a bowl of steamed rice and veggies- no salt/oil

Crafts activities shouldn't be forced

Hi there

This week's article subject matter is on crafting with children, and how best to start. As an ex-nursery nurse, I have seen countless children forced into participating in a craft activity against their will, just so the staff can tick the box that the child has made a mothers day card like everyone else.

In this article I give tips on how best to suit craft to your child, and how to get those creative juices flowing.

click here to read full article

school makes me feel stupid- top google results

 I typed this in to google earlier via START PAGE, and found this...oh it is so sad :(

Back on track

Okay, so I am back online, and so much has happened to our little family since December 2012 that it would just take me too ling to explain everything. I think I will save this for my next video....Anyway I am now signed up with Hubpages a great site where aspiring writers can go to write articles and reveiws on subjects that they are passionate about. I already have some articles up, so please feel free to take a look.

My latest fun project at home today with my girls, was to make some FIMO cakes for their my little ponies and sylvanians.

More YouTube vids coming over the weekend, and I will be able to update you as to how life is going for us

xxx

thank you BIG 

How much are you prepared to put up with?

Howdy

Today I made a new video on 'How much are you prepared to put up with?' The question comes after years of feeling as if I have been walked over, and consistently out others before myself. Selflessness is an admirable quality, but so is knowing what your limits are. When I was asked the above question few months ago, I have to say that it did take me by surprise. I thought that suffering, enduring,and giving was me being grateful and happy. As I pieced all my experiences together, I found that by me putting up with certain situations, I was not only denying my own success, but I was telling the Universe..'please give me more of this, because I am putting up with it'

I have decided that I am not going to put up with certain situations, that appear to be manifesting themselves in my life right now.

amazing illustrator-Linzi Hunter

Where do you draw the line? and do you feel taken advantage of sometimes?

Love to hear your comments

New Year, New Hope

I have never subscribed to New Year resolutions, perhaps because of my fear of failure. Most of my adult life I have been over weight, and poor. Having been through challenging circumstances including homelessness and a critical illness, I like to think that I have come out the other side, wiser and more mindful of my lifestyle choices. Nevertheless, I have been feeling in funk, a funny feeling that I drag around all day with me, and this little funk, tells me that I shouldn't bother trying, and that thing won't change.

Over the last 3 weeks, my beloved Grandfather died, my husband ended up in A& E on Christmas Eve, and my lovely sister who is in New Zealand caught a nasty strain of Meningitis and was very poorly. Since being away and seeing how life has affected my grandmother (in particular) it has made me see how fragile life really is. A month ago, my grandfather was caring for my Nan who has dementia, and the next moment, she is in a home and severed from the love of her life.

Nothing is more life affirming, than when you lose a loved one.

I sang Eva Cassidy's Song Bird and 'Angles' by Sarah Mclachlan, at my Grandfathers funeral, and I was honoured to do so, the humanist service bought great comfort to my family, as it had an unusually uplifting feel to it. After settling my Grandmother into her new home, I felt the urge to make BIG changes in my life.

I grabbed some of my daughters colouring pens, and set about writing a rather crude yet spontaneous mind map, of the immediate areas of my life, and that of my family, that I wanted to focus on

I decided to commit to:

• Writing a daily blog post
• Uploading a video documenting life as it changes for us
• Take a weekly picture of myself to chronicle weight- loss
• Write my food intake down in a diary and online too
• To organise each room of our house 
• To do a monthly review of what we have achieved and goals for the month ahead
• To share tips on budgeting and finance.

Hopefully I will be able to share this goals with you, and make some great new friends along the way.

xxx

Jo

p.s- can you spot the spelling error on my brainstorm?

The Rise of mini Engineers

When I think back to my unfortunate days of school, I do recall loving a few subjects, one being ART and the other ELECTRONICS and CDT ( craft design technology) An hour long lesson was never enough for these subjects, and I remember feeling the sense of disappointment, when I had to pack up my things, and head to the grey and stagnant feeling of a Maths, or R.E class. Despite the brief creative exposure at school, I always carried my love of art, crafts and tinkering through to adulthood- as did my husband luckily. 

{pinterest}

Now I have two daughters of my own, I am very aware of my need to support and facilitate their passions, especially as they seem to have limitless penchant for creativity and mind expansion. I love that they see no boundaries to what they wish to create. I often have to remind well meaning family members to resist from saying things like' well that won't work'.

My 7 year old and I were having a discussion about my mother-in-laws puppies, who also share a house with 6 cats that can't go outside unless using their cattery. She was thinking of a way to help her grandmother to have more time to herself and not have to keep getting up to let the puppies out in the garden. My daughter decided to draw and plan an idea of a 'dog flap' that opens when the puppies stand on a rectangular plate. She went into great detail of how the flap would open, even suggesting heat from the puppies paws would activate opening the flap. Obviously, I am very proud and humbled by my daughters thought process and intelligence, but it does highlight that if a child is left to spend as much time as they like on something that motivates them, they will surprise themselves ( and other people) of their capabilities. My daughter spent hours on an elaborate drawing depicting different options for this invention. Now my husband wants to work with her to try and create this 'dog flap'.

So to all your budding engineers out there, here are a few ideas that I found from this blog. There are some really cool ideas to share with your children, that will inspire them to think about science and engineering.

{inner child fun}

have fun...always

Jo