Habithacking....

Well, I promised that I'd get round to telling you about habithacker.com

I came across this lovely lady's site a couple of months ago & I have to tell you, I way prefer it to Flylady - only one email a day & she tells it like it is - a shitspot is a shitspot not a "hotspot"!!

And she's transforming me!  You should see my living room - it only takes me 5 minutes these days to whizz round my living room, including vacuuming!! I'm not saying that it's immaculate, cos it's not, but I'm not going to be apologising for the state of it if someone calls unannounced!!

I will admit to you now, even though I've been subscribed for a couple of months (71 days to be precise) I'm actually only up to Day 7.  This is because of the way my inner rebellious teenager works...
I really really was trying to add a step a day, but then earlier things weren't getting done...

So I decided to start again at the beginning & add a new step only when I was into the habit of the earlier steps....  And that is working much better for me...  I may not be doing everything every day, but step 1 ("Polishing my place") is definitely ingrained now...  In fact, I do that several times a day!!  Even the monsters are getting pretty good at tidying the living room!! (My "place" if you're wondering is my living room floor...)

I also finally got round to putting the key rack up that I bought months back cos of this (day 3)
And I'm getting pretty good at shovelling the shit (day 5)


BUUUT, I'm stuck on step 7 - putting clothes out for the next day before I go to bed....  I really want to move on, so my goal for this next week is to do this EVERY night....  including the boys (although uniform's not challenging to think about so no excuse there!)

Anyway, in case any of you want to follow along with me, here's the links to the steps so far...

Step 2 Do your do

Step 3 Stash that key

Step 4 Polish twice

Step 5 Take a break

Step 6 Shovel the shit

Step 7 What to wear?


And yes, I know, you can always sign up to get the emails yourself but if we can cheer each other on, then maybe we can finally get organised (ok, you're probably already living in a tidy haven, so maybe I can finally get organised!)

And if you did want to do the steps alongside me, then honestly, these first 7 steps are easy to do a step a day, so this time next week, you can be at the same stage as me....  (if you really want to be!)

And maybe I can put some pics up as well as we go along!  *wonders if there's a way that you can share pics with me???*

Have fun everyone!

So excited!!!

So, me & my lovely husband were umming & ahhing over whether to go to Download this year or not.... (We've booked the time off work just in case of course!)

I've just been checking the latest band announcements on the Download Facebook page to find out that Little Angels are reforming for it!!!!  I absolutely adore Little Angels & was heartbroken when they split (bizarrely I was actually more upset when they split than when my favourite band split up - but then, The Wildhearts do keep splitting & reforming so I guess that I never believe it when they announce a parting of the ways!!)

I now have a grin like the cheshire cat on my face...  Am I going to Download?  Oh I think so!

Bye Bye Baby, Baby Goodbye....

Sigh...

My youngest started school today...  Only in the mornings, but still - school.  Uniform & everything....

I'm not a happy Mammy today.  He's still my baby - he even smells like a baby still if you get the right part of his neck...  He can't possibly be big enough to go to school.  He certainly doesn't look big enough...  And we were stopped by so many people ahhing over him on the way in this morning!!

So that's it - no more baby.  He'll grow up soooo quickly now.

Mind you - on the plus side, I'll get to drink a hot cup of coffee, & actually get my housework & Avon round done soooo much quicker!  (not that I'm that fussed on the housework, but you know what I mean!)

Goodbye 2011/Hello 2012!!

Well, here we stand on the verge of a new year.  The sun's gone down, so it's officially New Years Eve!

Highlights of 2011?  Moving to this house & seeing Motley Crue again.

Plans/goals for 2012?

Firstly, I need to buy tickets to Download, as we've heard a rumour that Poison will be playing...  If they are it'll probably be the only chance we'll have to go see them.....

I'd quite like to go see the Olympic Flame pass through town as well...

Goals-wise:

Have at least 4 rooms decorated by the end of the year.  That gives me 3 months per room to strip & prepare the walls, then repaper (if necessary), paint, accessorise etc.  If I stop procrastinating, that's more than easily do-able...

Get a lot more organised & Domestic Goddessy about the house...  I say this every year, but I say it as a resolution, rather than a goal....  So as I've decided to set measurable (& hopefully attainable) goals I can break it down into steps on route to the holy grail of spick and span-ness... 
As I said in a previous post, I'm signed up to Habithacker (I promise I'll blog more about this in a very near post) & that does seem to be helping (having broken down the steps for me!!! )

As part of this becoming more organised thing, I aim to actually be organised & zen about next christmas.  I say every year we're going to start getting sorted for it early so it's not a mad rush & every year we don't (other than getting veggies pre-prepared & in the freezer - & that's kind of ingrained in me after 30-odd years of it!!! so it doesn't count!) 
So I'm going to start a spreadsheet of what's needed, from pressies, to decorations, to food.
I'll add on what we already have & tick off what we need as we get it.
I'll start a plan of action with deadlines for when everything needs to be done...  honest gov!!!!


Anyway - I promise to come & break these goals down and share them properly with you, but you need to share your goals for 2012 with me!  Let's support each other to achieving them!

 Right now, I wish you all a Happy New Year! xxx

Nadolig Llawen!!

Merry Christmas, Yuletide Blessings!

Everything's done bar prepping the turkey which I'll do in a second & getting the pressies under the tree (which will wait till the boys have gone to sleep!!)

I do have a tiny bit of hat to finish but that won't take very long at all...

Hope you all have a lovely lovely time! xxx

A tale of two concerts...

I know, I know - I'm not very good at this updating regularly malarky - but at least this time I have a genuine excuse/damn good reason!!

At the weekend, when I would normally have been posting witty & entertaining thoughts, I was instead in Manchester with my lovely friend from back in the day Woody & his slightly crazy (but very sweet) girlfriend.  Now this wasn't just a social visit - we were in fact there to see the mighty Motley Crue!!  (well, he lives in Manchester but you know what I mean!)

And yes, many memories from 20 years ago were dragged up over a whiskey (or 2) which I won't go into - except to say that they all seemed to revolve around drinking & debauchery!!!  Ah - good times.

Anyway - the gig...  (at this point I suppose I should point out that Def Leppard were headlining but that really is just a minor point).

Steel Panther opened & I really was pleasantly surprised at how good they were.  And I still find myself humming "Community Property" to myself!!

As for Crue - they came, they saw, they ROCKED!!  They were fantastic & I have no voice left to prove it (& by the way - this isn't a gig review, so don't expect one!!)  Tommy brought over his rollercoaster drum kit - which looked absolutely amazing & I am so jealous of the girl who got to ride it with him!  Mick Marrs looked healthier than he has in a long time, Vince was Vince & Nikki was the sexy beast that he always has been!!  And they looked like they were really really enjoying themselves! (oh & it was Nikki's birthday so yes, a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday was sung by the crowd!)

I'm not going to go into Def Leppard - I wasn't impressed - I'm just glad I hadn't spent the money to go see them.  Thousands disagreed but I just thought they were meh....

My feet are still killing me though but I'm  not surprised considering the heels I was wearing!!  I'll post some pics of the gig in a bit & I'll include a pic of the shoes!


Right - fast forward to todays concert.  No rock chick moments today - just lots of Very Proud Mammy ones!  Yes - it was the kids christmas concert (well, for 2 of them - one still isn't at school & the eldest one has his on Monday)

They were absolutely brilliant - Toby was an elf & had a speaking role - he was so clear (mind you he did shout his 2 lines!!  I can't remember them both but one was "OK OK Sion Corn"

Brett was a shepherd & I think I was more nervous for him than I was for Toby because he's so shy bless him that I was worried that when it came to him saying his lines he was going to clam up...  I needn't have worried because he was really clear with his lines too!!!

And the singing was beautiful (yes I'm a biased Mammy!)  I'm so proud of my gorgeous boys & all the kids in Meithrin, reception & Years 1 & 2 - they all did fabulously.... 
(but damn these hormones that start the minute you give birth & make you well up at the slightest notice...)

Snow

Have you had any?  None here, not a flurry, not a flake.  Well, it tried on Tuesday for a whole 30 seconds & we've had some hailstones but as hailstones are just as likely to occur in June as December, they don't count....

So why the bleeding nora have I seen a snowplough today?  Two in fact (although I suppose it could have been the same one coming back....)  Do we really need a snowplough for rain & wind?

(And that's a point - why has there been hardly any wind on the school run, including a stretch of road known as Windy Hill - EXCEPT for my village?  Driving out of the village & the car's being blown around.  By the time I got to the next village (a whole 3 minutes away!) it had died down....  Same on the way back - once I started getting into the village the wind was back.  Strange...  But then we are at the top of a hill I suppose...)

Anyway - snow...  are the council just panicking about the prospect of snow or are we in for a hard winter? 

What do you think?