Changes afoot!

My last few posts have been a bit negative and I don’t like it, so I want to make this more positive. One of my favourite blogs is by a lovely lady and is called A Smile a Day, it’s so positive and always makes me smile. I've finally gotten round to listing my favourite blogs on here - if I've added yours and you'd rather I didn't then please let me know.

So, what lovely things are happening here? Well, I had a lovely package yesterday from Conscious Chocolate. It’s raw choc that is healthy (or so it is claimed) as there are no sugars or unhealthy fats. What’s more important though is the taste and it is gorgeous - especially the orange one. Sadly I only ordered one bar of the orange so I’m afraid I’m going to have to place another order with them. What a shame!!! They only charge £1 for postage and are incredibly fast. The coconut one is yummy, as is the nutty one. I did order a mocha one which is very very strong so I can only manage one square of that a day. The idea was I would make the bars last for as long as possible. I was thinking more in the region of a few weeks than a few days but we polished off 3 bars yesterday……. Ah well, its good for us.

Got some bars of raw chocolate from Raw Living today. Now, until I tasted Conscious Chocolate they were my favourite, but now I have compared tastes I’m not so sure. But still, very yummy. My only gripe is their postage charge - £6!!!!!!! I wouldn’t mind if it had actually cost them that to send but the label on the package says £2.40. So they lose marks there I’m afraid. If they lower their postage I’ll continue to order, if not then I’m sticking with CC. Mind you, Raw Living do raw cakes as well which sound gorgeous but at £30-odd a cake I’m a little scared to risk it. Any chance of selling it by the slice guys????

A few weeks ago we collected loads of conkers from the trees near school. Sadly they went mouldy in the box the girls put them in and they were too far gone to just wash. We put them on the fire last night and umm, well, lets just say it wasn’t the greatest idea, lol We had a night of explosions as they burst. Luckily we have a screen which kept the sparks in the fireplace. Millie and daddy have gone off to see if they can find some more, hopefully they’re not too late. Next year we will learn our lesson. I love conkers so I hope we will have another nice pile of them very soon.

Has anyone else found themselves suddenly motivated to make changes? Either in their lives or homes? I’m finding I want to do both. Our diet is really awful at the moment, far too much convenience food so I have vowed to start making much more healthy meals for us. I want to be far greener than I am at the moment. Again, it’s something that has slipped so we need to take some time out to see what needs changing and do something about it. It’s so much easier to chuck stuff in the bin rather than take a moment extra to put it in the recycling bin. Another lovely online friend of mine has a blog devoted to Zero Waste and charts their attempts to live a zero waste lifestyle. Very inspiring and no preaching. Lots of ideas of small steps that you can take towards living a zero waste life, and even if you never get there at least you are doing something!!!

Homewise, I have the urge to have a massive clearout and get rid of all the stuff we just don’t need. I wouldn’t say we have a huge amount of clutter but we do have lots of stuff we could easily live without. I have this fantasy of getting rid of all the children’s plastic toys and replacing them with beautiful natural ones, not helped by the arrival of the Myriad catalogue the other day.

We also have a room that is just a dumping ground. It might not be quite so bad if it wasn’t the first room you come into when you walk in the door here. It’s called the games room simply because it has a TV and the games consoles in it, not because it’s a posh games room with pool table etc. You walk in the front door into a teeny tiny hallway (too small to call a hall really) and then into the “games room”. It’s just a complete mess and never stays tidy. Shoes, coats and bags are all dumped here. The shoes never go back on the shoe rack and its just so messy you can’t find anything.

My latest idea to tidy it up is to remove all Craig’s books and things and put them on shelves under the stairs (an open space where the children’s toys are currently stored). Move the filing cabinet out to somewhere else and also the other misc things that are stored in there because there’s nowhere else for them. Then I want to put up a shelf above the radiator and on it have a box for each person where they can just dump their bags, scarves etc and underneath it have more boxes for everyone to dump their shoes, boots, slippers into.

Then I want to move the computer desk from the lounge into the newly tidy room so Craig has somewhere quieter to work now he is working days and put the toys from under the stairs in the space the computer desk will leave.

We shall see!! I would love to be able to post here in the next few days to say we have done it and it seems to be working….

Jack has a little book at playschool where they write what he has been doing. The latest entry is about him drawing a picture. His key worker asked him what it was and he told her it was mummy. She then asked him “what’s mummy got in her tummy?” His answer? “chocolate”!!! He knows me too well, lol

I forgot to mention the other day, when I’d had my scan and got off the couch Jack tried to climb up saying “is it my turn now??” He was most disappointed when we told him it wasn’t.

Anyway, I am now off to get some hoovering done.