New Year Resolutions

I don't usually make New Year resolutions, but for 2012 I decided to set myself some goals.  I am going to set them into three categories, the first group is a must, the second is I will try my hardest and the third group will be I will try my best to do.

So the first group of things I think are a must for me this year are:
1. Lose 30lbs, I have gained quite a lot of weight this year and I want to get back to how I used to be.  The first thing I will be doing is cutting out the fizzy drinks which I have been drinking a lot of and the take aways.
2.  Pay off one credit card.  I only have two credit cards but they are always hanging over my head.  My aim is to pay off the one with the smaller balance first.  I don't think I will be able to pay off both as I don't get much money. 

This is going to be my second group:
1.  Try and blog daily for a year.  I don't know if I will be able to stick to this but I am going to try.
2.  Learn to use Photoshop elements 9.  I have had it since August and have been collecting magazines that give you lessons but I haven't got around to doing it and it's something I've always wanted to learn.
3.  To cook from scratch more often.  Most of the time I will admit to being very tired and lazy when it comes to food as my youngest daughter never sleeps well.  I have been researching recipes that look easy and quick and will have at least some form of meat and veg in.

Last but not least my third group.
1.  Take a lot more photos of the girls, I don't want to miss their growing up and it seems I keep forgetting to take pictures of the most important things.
2.  These two coincide with each other, so I will list them as one.  Get life insurance and make a will.

At the moment these are my goals, they may change as the year 2012 goes along but I will try and achieve as many as possible.

I hope everybody has a happy new year. 

Earning Money on the Internet

As a stay at home mum, I am always trying to find ways of making some extra money so I am not relying on my Fiance all the time.  I use to do a lot before my second daughter was born 16 months ago but haven't done much since.  I am hoping to start again this month.  I got reacquainted with the old websites I used to do this week.  I'm hoping to spend at least 3 hours a day on various survey, review and writing websites to earn my money.  I'm also hoping to get rid of some of my bits and bobs on eBay.

Some of the websites I use either give out money or vouchers, but would love to know of any other ways people know of to make money.

Motivation

I have had no motivation over the last few months to do much of anything.  This is mainly to do with a lack of sleep as my youngest daughter who is only 15 months either wakes during the night for up to 2 hours and refuses to sleep past 5:30am.  I have been lucky the last four nights though as she has slept through til 6:00am,  I am hoping we can stick to this pattern.

I really want to get my motivation back as there is so much I want to achieve over the next few months.  It will be my 30th birthday at the end of May and I feel there is so much more I could be doing.

My top few things are
1. Get down to 130lbs. I am currently 156ilbs.
2. Pay off A £1000 off my combined total of my credit cards.
3. Blog daily
4. Learn to use photoshop and take better pictures

Starting from Monday I am going to make myself do as much as I can to accomplish all these things.  Fingers crossed all this works.

Loose Weight and Get Fit

After realising that a lot of my clothes are all of a sudden getting on the tight side I decided last week to go on the scales.  I was shocked to find how much way, it is the heaviest I have been except when I was pregnant.  Now it may not sound a lot to some but it does to me, so I way 148lbs which is 18lbs more than I like.  I am 5ft 3in which makes my clothes size a 12/14 in England.

I am now looking into healthy recipes and figuring out ways to work out.  The working out is going to be the most difficult as my partner works 60 hours a week.  I will try to use the EA Fitness on the wii and when my partner starts his new job next month he will have Sunday nights off and we plan to go to the gym those nights.  Hopefully my Mum will look after my girls one night a week as well so I can go at least twice a week.

I also tend to walk everywhere, so I now need to find my pedometer so I can calculate my steps.  Hoping to do about 10,000 a day.

Now to eat less of all my sweet treats and cola.  This is what has made me gain the weight as well as now living close to takeaways.  Where we lived before, all we had was a fish and chip shop.

It's time to get motivated and lose the weight and get a rockin body.

Easter Weekend

Hope everybody has a wonderful Easter weekend.  Mine was quite quiet, on Friday I was in all day potty training my eldest which was quiet eventful, lots of little accidents but I'm sure we will  get there.  On Saturday we had a lovely family BBQ and the girls had a great fun with there grandparents.  I think some of them are bigger kids then the little ones as they were jumping on the trampoline.  A lot of fun was had eating, playing and a little drinking.

I had a quiet Easter Sunday as my partner was at work, so it was just me and the girls.  We had a lovely lunch and ate lots of chocolate and played in the garden.  My eldest even fell asleep on the trampoline which was very cute.  We must of tired her out.  Monday was a nice easy day of going into town and doing some shopping with my mum and the girls.  Although we did try to avoid the fair and we managed but there was a little sulking involved when my daughter realised that we had bypassed it.

All in all a lovely weekend and I hope everyone else had fun and ate lots of chocolate.

Potty Training Madness

Well  we tried to start potty training my daughter when she was two.  Then we had a big mishap when my partner got a little stressed when she weed all over the carpet.  She therefore refused to go on the potty.  She is now 3 and I have been trying on and off over the last year to get her to use the toilet.  Now she is going to start nursery in two weeks and I need her out of nappies.

So now I have made the decision not to put her in nappies at all during the day and only at night.  I don't know if this is going to be a wise decision but the pull up nappies haven't worked.  Plus the cost of nappies is very expensive even if you buy the cheapest brand.  We go through 3 - 4 nappies a day and a pack costs £3.75 for 20, therefore the overall cost for her a month would be £22.50 a month and I also have a 10 month old too.

If anybody has any tips I would be very grateful.  I just hope we can get this done in two weeks otherwise I don't know what to do.

Sunny Weekends

I have had a wonderful weekend playing in the garden with my girls. While my mum and her partner Trevor came over to do the gardening.  The only thing missing was a BBQ, it was the right weather for it.  My mum and her partner don't have a garden and I am not green fingered in the slightest, so it is great for them.

We have mainly been jumping on the trampoline which we got last week.  It has brought out the childness in all of us.  My partner has been working all the time and only got to see the girls first thing on a morning.  I am now making a list of things we need for the summer and the garden.  It seems to be getting rather large but we will try our best to get it done before the real summer begins.