#CharityTuesday Yummy Mummy Week

Hopefully lots of you are aware that this has been Yummy Mummy Week in aid of Clic Sargent who do marvellous work with children with cancer and their families. Across the UK lots of activities have been taking place to have fun whilst raising funds for this important charity.

My family are doing our bit this Saturday with a cake and book sale at my home. A couple of us are going to bake up some goodies to sell whilst people browse my Usborne children's books. All proceeds from the cakes and 10% of book sales will be going to the charity. In addition any sales through my web site this month will also go to the charity.

If you have done anything for Yummy Mummy Week then please comment below.

100 Books in 2012 - Update I

Regular readers will know that I signed up for a second year for the challenge of reading 100 books in a year from Book Chick City (having failed last year!). I am once again using Good Reads to track my progress and rate my reads. This year I am trying to remember to record the books I have read to my children as well as this must run into the dozens over the year!


This year so far my track record is looking good:

That's apparently 6558 pages already in 42 days! So what have I been reading?

 

As you can see its a mixed bag but a few from the same authors. So I'll pick out a few highlights.

Garth Nix - Keys to the Kingdom Series

I have read other fantasy works by Nix but hadn't read this 7 book series. They are in the teen fiction section of the library which I love to dabble in! They follow the story of accidental hero 12 year old Arthur Penhaligon who is chosen as the Rightful Heir to the Keys of the Kingdom whilst having an asthma attack during his school cross country lesson. Of course the current holders of these keys aren't going to give them up without a fight! Each book tells the tale of a different key. None of them are hard to read but very enjoyable.

Michael Morpurgo - War Horse

Having seen the movie I had to read the original book. Its a lot less sentimental than the Hollywood makeover and its all from the view point of Joey the horse. Again this is official a children's book but I would recommend to adults too.

New authors

I like to try out some new authors to vary my reading. So far this year I have discovered Terry Brooks and Elizabeth Moon in the Fantasy section of my library. I read the whole of one trilogy by Moon and I'm waiting for some more Brooks books to come back in! Her books are in the vein of Tolkein with elves, dwarves and magic as well as human battles. The Brooks ones are darker and so far lay out a post apocalyptic United States laid waste by man, bio weapons and demons.

New books by old favourites

I love being given book tokens at Christmas enabling me to make the most of the January sales to complete collections by well loved authors. This year I got Christopher Paolini - Inheritance, Bernard Cornwell - Death of Kings and Patrick Rothfuss - The Wise Man's Fear. A mix of fantasy and historical fiction continuing previously well loved stories.

Books I read with my children

My children have inherited my love of books and have a good selection on their shelves. It does help that I sell Usborne books to boost their home libraries. You can see a few of these on the current list. They also love modern favourites such as Stick Man. Now my daughter is into chapter books so there will be a variety of new ones appearing soon but they take a while to read at a chapter a night!

So it's looking good so far but I think I'm a bit weighted towards fantasy so far and need to branch out more! Watch this space for future updates...

LifeCircle 2012: Taking Action

Kate has asked to put in a Taking Action plan based upon last week's 2 lowest scores on the Wheel of Life. We need to think of 2 actions to undertake in the next fortnight for each area. In my case my lowest scores were Finance and Romance. So let me see what I can come up with for each of these...

Finance

Well I obviously find ways to increase my income as there isn't much I can do in the way of reducing spending! So what can I do?

1. Follow up on my leads for my Usborne Books business and generate some revenue. 
2. For my Kendal Family History Services and blog businesses I need to up my online presence and keep on marketing.

Hopefully by the end of the fortnight all of this will have resulted in money in the bank...

Romance/Significant Other

This is a tough one to crack! It maybe beyond my control but this is what I can try to do to increase my chances of finding myself a new man:

1. Get time to myself out of the house in places where I can meet people.
2. Er can't think of anything else!

So there you go hope that I can report back with some progress in a fortnight's time... To see everyone else's posts pop over to Kate's Action post and the linky on there.

LifeCircle 2012: Wheel of Life

After breaking us in gently last week Kate wants us to evaluate where we are at the minute. I did this back in September but I'm not going to look at that until I've written this one! What we do is look at this wheel:

and then score each section from 0-10. I haven't got around to actually drawing lines on mine like she has but here is the basic results for me:


Fun and Recreation = 8
I am managing to enjoy a variety of activities in and out of the home and have started to really get into hiking and sewing at the minute. Yes there are things I can't do due to childcare but things are pretty good.


Career = 5
Still not got a regular income from a paid job but I have begun to earn money from my Family History business. The blog continues to provide a trickle of money and good in kind. I need to work on boosting the books though.


Health = 8
Nothing bad about my health but still carrying a bit too much weight! This is definitely going to change this year.


Personal Development = 7
I am challenging myself to re-learn how to sew this is a real rest of my little grey cells. I would love to find courses I can do to work on other aspects of my personal development.


Friends and Family = 9
The reason I moved was to be nearer my family and I love it! My friendships up here are building nicely and I still get to see my old friends from down south a few times a year.

Life Circle: Introductions

This is my second attempt at joining in at Kate's Life Circle as she has re-started for 2012. So time to re-introduce myself!


So I'm Becky and I am now 41 years old (where do all those years vanish!). I live with my 2 children, my daughter who is 8 and my son who is 5, in Kendal, Cumbria. We came up here 18 months ago after my now ex-husband left the country and I wanted to be nearer my family.


Despite graduating with a BA in Geography and an MA in Human Geography I spent 15 years working in IT. I only stopped 2 years ago when balancing a job and raising my children single handed became a bit too much. So I now have various little pots of self employment:

• I sell Usborne children's books as Becky's Books
• My blog earns me money for paid posts
• Kendal Family History Services is my genealogical business

I am trying to find another employed position but so far nothing has come up that I have either managed to get or that is suitable to fit in with the children.

For me LifeCircle is all about continuing me on my journey to be self sufficient again after divorce. I also need encouragement to ditch the excess weight and this time keep it off. So a bit of coaching to get my head in the right place is just what I need.

This is a linky so check out Kate's post to see everyone else.

Reasons to be Cheerful XXVII ( #R2BC )

I am pleased to be hosting this fabulous linky this week as Michelle continues her well earned break! It has really helped me to emphasise the positives in my life over the last few months. If you want to join in then please fill out the linky at the bottom.

Here are mine:

1) My car

It's back! There are still problems with it and looks like it will be goodbye to it soon but I am now independently mobile again. I have to thank so many people especially my parents for making lots of sacrifices to get the children and I to where we have needed to be for the last 2 weeks. My neighbour and a mum from school have also been so helpful. I was amazed at the number of people who offered me lifts and/or a loan car to get me through. Budget Tyres tried to work miracles for me and did things at cost/trade price to keep the final bill down. Just a shame the final fix would have been way too expensive...


this isn't a cheerful thing now as the intermittent fault happened way too often...

2) My daughter

On Saturday my daughter showed her business sense and made money for herself and charity painting nails at our church Advent fair. Not bad for an 8 year old and even the adults who had it done said she did a great job. Then we went on to help at a bridge tournament in memory of my granny and several people complimented myself and my mum on my daughter's behaviour and manners (so she can do it!).

3) My son

He is really coming on with his writing and reading at school which is great news. He is also very excited about being a sheep in the nativity! He may have a few wobbly moments but growing up fast.

4) Me

I have had quite a few unsolicited comments about how much slimmer I'm looking! Even my Job Centre adviser said I was looking like I'd lost weight ;-) So even if the scales aren't always going in the right direction I'm obviously doing something right!

5) Work

I have had some really good sales of books in the run up to Christmas and its always such a pleasure to see how many parents, grandparents and other relatives love to give Usborne books as presents. My final big event in the pre-Christmas push is the Staveley Winter Festival tomorrow. Here's hoping that I'll have even more reason to be cheerful after that!

Are you feeling Christmassy yet?

With all this unseasonal weather its been hard to start even really thinking about Christmas - plus all the chaos caused by my poorly car! This weekend however I think things might change. Last year on this date I had headed off to Derbyshire for the Single With Kids Christmas weekend at Hargate Hall. We woke on the Saturday to snow which really put us all in the right mood for a Christmas themed weekend!

A year ago

This year I've not been able to afford to go but instead I'm able to take part at my church's (St Thomas' Kendal) Advent Fair selling Usborne books. I've spent a chunk of this evening getting the Christmas bits together for my stall and my daughter is running a nail bar next to me (very enterprising at aged 8!). With Sunday being the official start of Advent this is a Christmas themed event with lots going on and things to buy.


Next Friday is the inaugural Staveley Winter Festival and from 16:00-21:30 there are things happening all over the village:

I am running an Usborne stall in the Winter Festival Market based at World of Stone (No 3 on the map). I wish I was going to be able to see all the other things going on but guess I'll just have to send my family out to enjoy themselves with the grandparents instead! If you are in the area on the 2nd December it will be well worth a visit.

On the 3rd its my family's traditional "first Saturday in December" Christmas decorating day. The kids have a fairly free rein to cover the house in our Christmas decorations. We only have room for a 3ft fake tree but it will really gets us all feeling really Christmassy!

Reasons to be Cheerful XVII ( #R2BC )

So much to be cheerful about this week its hard to know where to start!
1) Daughter's Sleepover
Not only did I survive this but it was a really nice evening. My daughter had invited 2 of the most mature girls in her class so I was very relaxed. We did lots of girlie things together and I even got a decent night's sleep! Wonder when I'll let her repeat the experience...
2) Grown Up Day's Out
Despite horrible weather (sleet, hail and rain!) I had a lovely afternoon at Bowness in Windermere. I'd been advised of a road to park in for free and then my friend and I discovered that the Lakes Christian Centre had a board outside offering:

• free tea & coffee
• free toilets
• free prayers!

As we were in need of somewhere out of the rain we took advantage of the offer and were made very welcome. Afterwards we wandered down to the lake shore but it really wasn't a pleasant place to be:

So time for some browsing through the varied shops before eating lunch at Vinegar Jones' seafood restaurant. Then it got really wet so we hopped from shop to shop before having a final hot drink to defrost. Still a pleasant way to spend a child free afternoon.

3) My son

He may not be being an angel at school but he seems to be soaking up learning. There is a new found enthusiasm for telling us all the letter sounds from the start of objects around us and he is even keen to write his letters. This is what he wrote tonight after school:

4) My daughter

Turning 8 hasn't turned her into a perfect daughter but she does seem to be learning to tone down her tantrums and her attitude (the sticker chart helping here as she doesn't want Nintendo DS being withdrawn!). She has such loving moments and tonight she made me lots of drawings including this one:

5) Work

I had a successful little sale at a baby and toddler group in Lancaster today for my Usborne Books. Lots of enthusiastic mums and grannies buying books. To top it all I got a lovely cuddle with a little baby boy...

6) Birthday Retail Therapy

Thanks to some of the lovely presents I was given last week I was able to get myself a whole new outfit for this new cold weather. So I have a lovely long angora mix tunic from M&S and a new pair of black ankle boots to complete the outfit. That's me smartened up for autumn/winter then!

For more tales of happiness please follow the blog hop:

Reasons to be Cheerful XXIII (#R2BC)

Another guest host with Mum of All Trades this week. I have to say I have plenty of reasons for being happy this week!
1) My weight
I hadn't felt all that optimistic going to my Rosemary Conley class today but when I stood on the scales I'd lost 3 pounds! For the first time for ages I've had successive losses which is a great boost. A combination of factors is involved:

• with both children at school there is more routine and I can stick to my healthy eating programme better with solo slim meals
• I've been listening to Thinking Slimmer for a couple of weeks and maybe the message is finally getting through!
• I went to a Zumba class run by my Rosemary Conley instructor in Kendal. Amazing workout and such a laugh. Can't wait until next week to go again

Thinking positive that it's all going to keep coming off after this! Oh and top it off I got another Slimmer of the Week award.

2) My work

I had a major Usborne event at the Babymaze Baby and Toddler Show. Not only did I sell lots of books on the day I got one confirmed booking and lots of interest from local groups, nurseries etc. Today at the breastfeeding group I took books to I have been invited to visit on a regular basis and have got 2 more bookings in pipeline plus a lead into a school. All in all a good kick start to the Christmas season! If you want a party between now and Christmas you need to get in quick at the rate my diary is filling up...

3) The house

There are no major changes yet but I'm amazed at what I have done by following the FlyLady's babysteps. I haven't spent more than 15 minutes on any particular task but I've got rid of all the heaps of laundry everywhere (had to put kitchen radiator on to get them to dry in less than 2 days!) and even managed (briefly) to get to the bottom of my laundry basket. There was a brutal 15 minutes with the odd sock pile and I binned lots of odd black socks and baby/toddler socks that will never ever be reunited with their partner. In preparation for the big bedroom swap I've started to remove DVDs from the current study to the living room and the baskets of homeless toys and paperwork are shrinking as things are returned to their rightful place. Two weeks until my daughter's sleepover so the clock is ticking...

Why are you smiling this week? Please visit all the others taking part:

New term, new....

Tomorrow is the first day of day of the new school term up here in Cumbria. After a long wet summer holiday my daughter will be heading into year 3 and my son starting in Reception. It will be a whole new experience for all of us.


New to Junior School


My daughter may find it a shock to the system moving to the more formal schooling of juniors. We are going to have to get use to the joys of proper homework so guess I need to start as I mean to go with ensuring she gets it done. This is her second year at this school so I hope it goes at lot smoother than last year. I hope that she learns to control her temper and emotions better so she can settle and make stronger friendships.


New to School


My son will be part time at big school for the first 2 weeks. The transition from nursery school to Reception is designed to make it as smooth as possible for the children. He is very excited about going and I'm sure he will be perfectly happy. I think its going to be harder for him to have to wait until the afternoon to go in wearing his new uniform (which I've spent too much time labelling!):

New mummy

I'm going to be on my own for most of the day 5 days a week from the end of the month. This opens to many opportunities for me:

• sorting out the house and getting a proper housework routine (FlyLady here I come!)
• expanding my existing Usborne book business
• getting going with the family history business
• finding a part time paid job to fit into school hours (not an easy thing to do)
• getting into shape with Rosemary Conley (school holidays not good for my weight!)

It will be interesting to see how it goes for all of us so watch this space....

Reasons to be Cheerful XII (#R2BC)

I've got plenty of reasons to be cheerful this week!
1) My Holiday
As you may have seen I spent a chunk of last week on my prize holiday in Mallorca with my mum and my kids. It was great taking my kids abroad for the first time ever and even though it rained every day it was a real treat and experience for the grown ups too.
2) My Future
Whilst I was away my decree absolute came through so I'm now free to really start my life over and no longer live in a weird limbo of separated. It doesn't make that much of a difference to my day to day life but its taken so long to get this far I'm happy its finally at an end.
3) Work
The kids and I had a lovely day at the Station Inn in Oxenholme during the Companion Dog Show and Family Fun day last weekend. We may not have sold a lot of books, but I got the tan I didn't get on holiday and the kids had lots of fun. Next to us were the lovely Sean and Gill from Treasure Trails Cumbria so it was a very sociable day.
4) Party in the Park

This Sunday I'll be helping out at my first ever Party in the Park in Kendal. Its a completely free event for the residents of Kendal organised by my church St Thomas' Kendal. There will be bouncy castles, face painting, brass bands, ice creams, cakes and tea (and more!) and its all completely free. Lots of us are busy baking cakes for the tea tent and we're all praying for a sunny day from 1-5 in Maude's Meadow in Kendal. 

Competition Time!

As I may have mentioned a couple of times in this blog I am now running 2 little businesses. This year I really need to get them to make me self sufficient and not just supplying a little bit of income, so I have got a competition going for each business!


Becky's Usborne Books


This is my work as an Independent Usborne Reseller selling their lovely children's books. I do home parties, school fetes and any other fair that has outside stalls. The website for this is over at Becky's Books and I have created a Facebook Page to help promote it: 

Becky's Usborne Books

When I get 500 fans I will be giving away either a Make and Do Activity Book or a Sticker Book to a random fan! So please go and Like the page. In the meantime feel free to browse the online catalogue and place an order or book a party. Whilst on my website don't forget to enter the Prize Draw for a chance to win £100 worth of Usborne books. I am also looking for new team members so if you fancy earning some extra money this year please get in touch!