Ok, this may just end up being a bit of a ramble so I apologise in advance.

Christmas was a nice day. We did our usual Christmas thing - the children had stockings on their beds to open before they woke us up. To avoid any nasty incidents involving the Thomas the Tank Engine bubble bath that Jack and Alfie had in their stockings we, I mean, Santa, put their stockings on Ellie’s bed so she could supervise them opening everything. The children had their traditional Terry’s chocolate orange or bag of chocolate coins in their stockings as well as lots of other bits and pieces.

This meant we got to sleep until about half eight before we could stand the visits to our room to see if the other presents could be opened no longer. The children sorted their presents into piles and took it in turns to open one each - those who had lots of cheaper items took longer to open than the ones who had few more expensive things but they understand that everyone had the same amount spent on them (apart from poor Amos who got one present but took nearly half an hour to get it open).

We didn’t go mad on things for them. Because of the family situation we’re the only people who buy things for our children so they’re not inundated with piles and piles of stuff like some children are. I think they were all really pleased with what they got though, Jack especially as he has an obsession with level crossings and traffic lights and he got both in his pile.

After presents we have breakfast - the traditional croissants and what may be a new tradition, bagels. Both were eaten as quickly as possible by the children and off they went to play again.

As they were all busy I took the opportunity to start sorting through my books to cull some of them to be listed on Amazon. It’s one of those things I do in stages - usually taking two or three things off the shelves at a time to add to the “selling” pile. My intention is to get rid of most of my books this year (hopefully reading them first). I’m not a book hoarder (I’m not really an anything hoarder!!) once I’ve read a book if I know I’m not going to refer back to it or read it again then it gets listed on Amazon. There are a couple of books I can’t get rid of such as the Miriam Stoppard pregnancy book I bought when pregnant with Robbie back in 1995. It was my bible throughout many of my pregnancies so I will keep it for sentimental reasons. I’ve got a lot of fiction I want to get read this year and it’s one of my intentions that I will read at least one a month.

Dinner was the traditional turkey roast and was lovely. We also had beef and pork (which I don’t like as I think it smells too piggy). I decided a while ago that I was going to eat whatever I liked on Christmas day and get back to the raw afterwards.

All in all it was a lovely day. I do feel a bit sad that we don’t have a family to come round and join us for Christmas but that’s the situation and we have to put up with it. And it does mean we can sit in our Pjs all day and not have to worry about keeping other people entertained or fed etc.

I worked on Boxing Day and was surprised to see how busy it was.

We didn’t do anything for New Year this year. We usually invite someone round but we decided we couldn’t be bothered this year - I know, we’re really unsociable!!

I’ve gradually got back into eating high raw again. It’s been hard, some days I just haven’t managed to eat raw at all, other days I’ve eaten 100% raw all day until dinner time then I’ve had something awful like pie and chips (which doesn’t help my wheat intolerance!!)

However, the last two days have been 100% raw which is really good. I feel that I need a few days to get rid of all the wheat and stuff from my system and then I can go back to high raw. I do have a bit of a problem with raw chocolate at the moment though. I can’t get enough of it. I feel that it can’t really be good for you, but it’s lovely. I bought some before Christmas and it was supposed to last me for a few months. I ate what I thought was the last bar this morning and was very pleased to find another one hidden away at the back of my drawer!!

I’ve just made some raw fudgey stuff that I found a recipe for on a forum I’m occasionally go on. I had the ingredients and decided to give it a go - oh my goodness!! It is sooo gorgeous but quite oily so I couldn’t manage much at a time. It won’t last long mind you, lol I think I will have to cut it into very small squares and limit myself to one a day.

As you know I am having a big clear out - I think this is just the first wave, and once I have got rid of most of what I’m trying to sell at the moment I will probably do another sweep of my stuff to see what else can go (keep on checking my for sale pages in case I list something you're after!!). I have a bit of a thing about “stuff”. I would love to do without it, just have the barest minimum of things but find it hard to let go of some things. My fabric for instance. Although I’m getting rid of loads, there is still lots more up there which will probably never get used. A lot of it I think “well, I might use that for something” but I probably never will.

I really want to declutter in a big way this year and be very brutal about it. I think part of my hating clutter and hoarding comes from when we took over our first house. The wardrobes in the master bedroom were full of shit. There were clothes hanging up in there that were put away dirty and they must have been there for years. There was a pile of coat hangers in a corner and the carpet under them was a different colour to the rest of it so they must have been there forever. There were tablets that were 20 years old, make up that was probably about the same age. It took me a couple of dozen bin liners to clear it all out.

We had the loft cleared out by a company as well. It took them TWO huge removal lorries to take it all away. It was only a standard size loft, not a huge mansion. There were empty cardboard boxes, broken chairs, and absolutely nothing worth keeping. I’m surprised the ceilings didn’t collapse on us under the weight of it all!!

Mind you, the people living there before were filthy filthy people. No cleaning had been done for years and years, it was disgusting.

Anyway, I digress. That’s one of my goals, to declutter. I’m also going to buy as little as I possibly can this year. I really want to pay off my credit card as quickly as possible so that’s another goal. I’m not going to promise to buy nothing because I don’t know if I can stick to it, but I am certainly going to think twice about everything I want to buy. And definitely no craft stuff, no fabric, no wool. At least not until I have used up everything I have and only if I have a definite project for it.

One of my things is beauty products - I have managed to stop myself buying them the way I used to and didn’t actually need to buy any shower gel in 2009 and what is still left will probably do me for most of 2010 (and bear in mind, I have a shower every morning so you can imagine how much I had stashed away!!!) I do like my premium brand products though so I will still buy them, but only as and when I need them. No stockpiling allowed. I’ve stopped my make-up buying habit as well which was hard at first. In fact, I think I will be doing another cull of what is left from the last clear-out (my 11 year old has the most fab make-up collection in her school I think, lol)

I know everyone wants to lose weight at New Year (or most people anyway) but that’s another one of my goals this year, to lose the final bit of baby weight gained when I was pregnant with Amos. My aim is to lose it by Easter which I believe is doable. I’m also going to get back into going to the gym as I was awful in November and December. I think I went about twice. It’s hard when it’s cold out though isn’t it? I need to just get changed and go and forget how cold it is outside. I was going to go tonight, even wrote it on the calendar and ended up messing about online all evening instead.

I am looking forward to posting my before and after photos here when I have reached my target.

I’ll be getting a new employer this year. We were told at work the other day that we’re closing at the end of next month. Whoever comes in will have to take us on if we want to stay so depending on who it is I’ll either still be working in the same place for a new company, or I’ll be looking for a job elsewhere. I’m not too worried, I know that the right job will come along at the right time.

I have other big stuff planned too. I don’t want to say too much at the moment, but I can feel big changes happening or at least starting to happen in 2010.

I hope your year is a good one. What are you hoping to achieve this year?

Talk to you again soon.