Clutter at it's worst

Moving on from my overall cleaning goal of actually having a clean apartment at some stage this lifetime I have (probably foolishly) decided to declutter the place as well in the run up to Halloween and Christmas. Otherwise we will literally be falling over the decorations and toys before Christmas is even here!

I began yesterday with what I thought would be an easy job. De-cluttering the table.. I have one large table in my apartment where we would sometimes eat. Thankfully little A is still in a high chair for eating at the moment. SO in my brilliance I thought ok this will be easy enough. My God I was wrong. I knew the table for a little "messy" as I pass it multiple times a day but really did not anticipate just how much stuff was piled high on it. The only way I can describe it properly is to show you a picture so here you go, my dinning room table.

Just to be sure you can understand the utter chaos which is here, I also took a close up photo.

Now how this got this out of hand I really have no idea. Well I do, realistically it was all pure laziness on my part. Everytime I'd clean up things that didnt really have a proper place or their proper place was in little A's room and she was sleeping or something meant it got dumped on the table. It became a hoard all really that just looked horrible.

However, I got stuck into this Job and now...

There is a place for everything and everything is in its place and NOT on my table! 

The photo frames were also hung up on the wall last night (easily have been sitting on the table for at least 2 months now waiting to be put up... bad mammy). 

Everytime I look at my table today I feel a small sense of achievement in myself for getting stuck in and doing it. Sad I know but c'est la vie, it's the little things. 

In fact I felt so great having completed this I decided to keep going today... dun dun dun!

Since I had tackled the table I decided the next big problem area was little A's toy corner. Now we live in a two bedroom apartment with one main room for tv, dinning and playing, therefore she has a toy corner and many many toys have to fit into it as people love to buy her the loudest, silliest sounding toys they see in shops. Since little A's room also has to be done (definitely a job for when little A isn't home with me as she is today) this corner also stores every pair of shoes she has owned since birth. Don't ask me why but the old me just couldn't be parted from all those little shoes. Well it's a new day and the new me is a hoarder no more.

This was how the lovely teeny tiny corner looked before

This is how the lovely teeny corner looks now.

To be able to see the table itself is a miracle and to finally have somewhere for all of little A's books to go is a Godsend in my eyes. Those books were taking up residence on the floor beside the bookshelf as there was no space for them anywhere else. Well not anymore, two black bags of bits of toys an full toys that were never played with or hadn't been played with in at least six months are now being donated to other little boys and girls.

I am hoping that by taking the pictures and putting them on this blog I am not going to allow these areas to get back to the states they were in before. The room itself now looks so much bigger just by making these little changes.

I am delighted with how they looked and definitely will be tackling little A's room itself before this week is through before I lose the motivation. IF your anything like me this feeling will come and go so you have to make the most of the productiveness. :)

Until tomorrow,

Nicola xx

Funtime Hobbies

So, as a SAHM the days can get long and the routine very repetitive. I believe this is why there is hobbies in the world. Hobbies create the time out for yourself that you don't even know you need.

I have many hobbies. I read, I write, I blog (now) and my most important hobby is my Cub Scouts. I have been a leader with them for over 5 years now and I wouldn't change it for the world. I love each and every one of them and how they light up when we do something new or they have figured out a new way of doing an old activity.

We are constantly changing and evolving in Cubs and although it is challenging we find new ways to entertain their minds and teach them skills like competitiveness and team building as well as also allowing them to build strong friendship that for some of them (myself included) will last the rest of their lives. Many of my closest friends and most of my family have all grown up through scouts and I wouldn't have it any other way. Although I would only see some once or twice a year at competitions or group camps it is amazing how a place or a sentence the generation that are now growing up through scouts, will remind you of everything you did as a young scout, of all the laughs you had growing up around an amazing group of people and how much you learnt without even realising you were doing so because you were having too much fun doing it to actually take it in and appreciate it.

I do believe that it is only as a now leader that you are able to fully appreciate the minds and talents and every single child that comes through your doors.

We meet on a Tuesday night and at the moment are researching Egypt. Last night we looked at farming in Egypt 3,000 years ago and how similar it is to farming today. The same tools were used, the only immediate difference you see is how technology has made things so much easier for people to farm with (this is not a technology yay versus nay debate just my personal opinion).

Moving on from looking at Egypt we did some "farming" of our own... Not easy with 20 children all trying to get to the bag of compost but fun all the same. We brought empty yogurt pots with us and we planted cress seeds into them.

Everyone got their own one to bring home to bring home and look after for the next two weeks (myself included).

Now I just have to stop my one from dying or from little A getting her hands on it and eating it (believe me, I am going to have to find an amazing place to keep it).

Hopefully some will grow and everyone will gain the experience of looking after their own little seeds and watching them grow. :)

Until tomorrow,

Nicola xx

Day 1 of the rest of my life

So today was day 1 and I am so excited by my days progress that I just had to post before going to bed :)

I did my 20 minutes of exercise and then some. I completed 20 minutes on my cross trainer (god that thing is heavy!) and I also did crunches, lunges, squats (all the strength and toning I used to do) in order to make sure I got all my muscles working and waking up as such. Planning on starting Gillian Michaels 30 day shred (again!) tomorrow and hopefully if I time things correctly I'll also have time for my 20 mins cross trainer work.


Credit to: Pinterest

I ate within my 27 propoints today and tracked for the first day all week so was quite pleased. However once I got home this evening I also indulged in some toast with peanut butter and tea which was absolutely yummy but I'm sure I'll regret it tomorrow on the scales.. oops!

I make notes with my plans for little A as well. Pinterest sucked me in this morning and I spent a good hour or so pinning absolutely everything to do with crafts for Halloween and Christmas. It really put me in the Christmassy mood and I'm nearly ashamed to admit when I finished I really, REALLY wanted to listen to some Christmas music and dance around the room with little A. However, I didn't.. Instead I danced around the room to Ben and Hollys little Kingdom theme tune.. I know I was a little let down too. But tomorrow I am going to make a start. We are heading off out to the park to start our Autumn leaf collection and we're going to make thankful trees. I am very excited about this as it'll mean a proper start to Autumn for the two of us.


Credit to: Pinterest

With regards to my lovely cleaning pledge.. I may be regretting saying it already! I made an amazing start today (post to follow) but I think it just made me realise how much I want to do with this apartment before I start decorating for Halloween or Christmas. I have set myself a goal however and intend on meeting it!

Tomorrow morning is going to be my D-Day as such. Tomorrow I will be getting up early (as in 6.30 early) and doing everything that normally I have to squeeze into a 5 minute segment of my day. Wish me luck! :)

Now I am off to bed to work on that beauty sleep people keep talking about!

Until tomorrow,

Nicola xx

The beginning

We all have to start somewhere right?

Well today is the day I start. No more what ifs, no more excuses.

I've started this blog for many reasons. Some are so that I have a way of tracking the ups and downs that we go through in my little family. Others are to keep myself on track with health, family, exercise.. everything really.

I am a 23 year old mum of one super special 22 month old little girl. She was the biggest and best surprise of my life and I would'n't change her for the world. We go to fortnightly hospital appointments for little A's heart conditions and are currently awaiting surgery but more about that later.

In order to start at the beginning I need to face up to all the little things I want to change,well not change but maybe improve on and take it step by step. So I have made a top 5 list to help me out.

1. More exercise needed - I currently exercise maybe once-twice a week "when I have time". I need to improve on this bigtime! No more excuses. It's time to make the time. I'm going to try to do 20 mins every day whether it be a work out dvd, my crosstrainer machine (yes I know I really have no excuses since I have machines in my home) or even a nice walk to the park with A.

2. Weight loss needed - I am currently looking to lose about 2 stone. I have joined ww within the last two weeks and up until Friday I was doing well and very impressed with myself. I got my first silver seven (7pd loss) after a week so I know I can do it, it is again just a matter of sticking to it and making the time for it

3. I am going to do more fun things with little A - We play most mornings, sometimes do baking and the sorts. Once a week we go to either a swimming pool or to a play centre type place for a mammy and toddler morning. I still feel like some of the time she is parked in front of the TV which I hate. I know sometimes it is an absolute godsend for 5 minutes peace but I would love to have the enthusiasm and the ideas to do something different. I am aiming to do something craftsy maybe twice a week until halloween so that we have some lovely homemade decoration to hang up.

4. The house - I remember a time when I was so house proud. When we first moved in I loved having the place spick and span. Little A wasnt even a month old then so when I look back it was quite easy to keep everywhere clean. Once she started moving though that was the end of that and now I look around and wonder what happened to that person that loved having a clean house. I'm not saying it's always going to be clean but I do love those 5 minutes you have when you've just finished cleaning, just before your toddler can come in and undo all your hardwork. My goal in this aspect is to do sporadic cleaning throughout the day and a good clean 3 times a week at night after little A is in bed or in the mornings before she wakes up.

5. Last but not least - Early to bed and early to rise - I used to be a brilliant early riser. Now sometimes when I hear little A mooching in her room in the mornings I do sometimes have to hope for another 5 minutes of just lying there half asleep. Sad eh? I also find that once little A is in bed instead of going to bed myself, I find myself staying up watching mind numbing tv. Well not anymore, the goal here is as said early to bed and early to rise. Hopefully if I can even get up half an hour before little A it means I can be showered, dressed and even finished my morning coffee before she even wakes. My, what a wonder that would be!

So that's it. My top 5 of things to change/improve on. Now that they are all written down they don't seem to bad but I know once life intervenes we'll have to see. Once I can say strong I know I can do it and this blog is going to be part of that.

Until tomorrow,

Nicola xoxo