Blue Skies and TikTok- Day 19

Last night I got into making TikTok videos. It is turning out to be pretty addictive when you have nothing better to do! It was good mood booster to start my day by filming this one:

@lakessinglemum Working hard ##working9to5 ##fyp ##over40 ##mumsoftiktok
♬ original sound - zachjustice_

I did then do some real work with an hour of maths' tuition via video link whilst dressed as Sherlock Holmes! Then I had yet another virtual coffee break with another friend. After that I couldn't resist making another TikTok video whilst in costume:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Snow, Blue Skies and Winter Walks #R2BC

Trying to be organised for this week and actually have this post ready to go before Thursday! It has been a wonderful week with a variety of work and plenty of reasons to be cheerful. Hopefully folks can join in and share theirs too.

1) Blue Skies

It was such a stunning day on Sunday which really set off the Hoad Monument when we stopped at the supermarket for a snack on our way home:

2) YouTube Filming

I am now getting known as the lady who films the fell races! I made a sign so that runners knew what I was doing pointing a camera at them:

To see my latest one have a look on YouTube (and if you can leave a like or a comment I would appreciate it!).

3) Snow

Yesterday we had just enough snow to look gorgeous without causing too much hassle. I walked past this magical looking tree on the way to the supermarket:

Reasons to be Cheerful: It's October #R2BC

A change of month means a change of host (and badge!) so I have handed the reins back to Jo at Ojo's World. Please do pop over to her blog as she loves visitors! I can now chill for a month and enjoy the start of my favourite season... 

Here are my reasons this week:

1) Natural beauty

I am lucky to have inherited some gorgeous roses in the garden and seeing them still flowering makes me grin:

Reasons to be Cheerful Week 20 - 2014 #R2BC

So pleased to see even more lovely bloggers joining in last week! It makes me smile to read about all the the things that are making other people smile. There is definitely something contagious about happiness. Here are the things that made me cheerful this week:

1) Weekend away

We had a super time camping in Derbyshire at the weekend. There were so many smily moments like this:

I've already written about what we got up to on the Heights of Abraham and in Buxton. Camping for us is definitely a reason to smile even if the weather was horrendous!

2) Blue Skies

We briefly had some blue sky yesterday morning:

and today was almost wall to wall blue sky which enabled us to have a picnic tea in the park! Definitely smiles all round there.

3) Running

Today I achieved my longest ever workout of just over 11km including walking intervals with a total of 9km of running. Makes me feel that I am really getting back on form

What is making you smile this week? Post your links and grab the badge if you would like:



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Reasons to be Cheerful: Week 16 - 2014 #R2BC

Once again thanks to Jo for hosting this week! Have to say I am not just smiling this week but grinning from ear to ear and here is why:

1) Family Fun

Think I will need a holiday to recover from this holiday with all the days out we have had! Cycling to Wray Castle, local fun at Damson Day, an adrenalin rush on Go Ape Junior, hunting for the Gruffalo at Grizedale, hiking from Elterwater and a day at Brockhole. There has been a lot of faces looking like this this week:

2) Blue skies

It's been wonderful to have so many days with blue skies which has enabled a lot of this fun to go on:

3) Winning things

I know I have had some lucky wins in the past but in one day I found I out that I had one two. The best one is a week's holiday in Cornwall thanks to their tourist board! Due to restrictions on dates we have to wait until next Easter to take it but something really exciting to look forward to. Just wish I'd been able to invite more of my family but will be great for my children to spend time with their only cousin.

Then I won tickets to see the Liverpool Philarmonic just a shame I can't get there and I am asking my family if they can go instead! Hey ho hope someone makes the most of my windfall..

Why are you smiling this week?

Reasons to be Cheerful Week 10 - 2014 #R2BC

This is my first week back as host for a month as Jo at Ojosworld held the reins for February. She did a great job so thanks Jo! Now to my reasons for this week..

1) Blue skies

We had a couple of back to back lovely days when we were able to walk around on our normal activities . It makes such a difference to your mood when the sky is this colour:

2) Operation House

On Saturday my son couldn't find the movie he wanted so I said that the kids had to help sort out our DVD collection to reunite all the orphan movies into their correct boxes. It meant that for a change our movies are looking incredibly neat and I've been able to recycle some plastic drawers out of the sitting room. How long will our films stay like this:

With the arrival of a stranger to measure blinds for kids' rooms I had a mad dash to make the front room and landing visitor friendly. OK so its not perfect but its a million times better! I have signed up to 40 bags in 40 days so hopefully this will keep momentum rolling..

3) A trip to the National Media Museum

With it being a Skylander special week we went as a 3 generation for our first visit to the National Media Museum in Bradford. Here are a couple of sneak pics as to why it made me smile:

"Fezzes are cool"

"Exterminate!"

4) Sport Relief

With the date of our Team Honk relay leg fast approaching receiving some goodies from Sainsburys was well timed:

Why are you smiling? Please join in the hop and grab the badge if you would like:

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#R2BC Week 2 2014

Thanks everyone who joined in once again last week. It's always great to read what has made other people cheerful! So what is making me smile this week apart from all the other lovely blogs?

1) Operation House

It's a slow project but its actually becoming easier now I've started doing smaller bits at a time. Using Fly Lady's Beginner's Baby Steps I am doing jobs in chunks of 2, 5 or 15 minutes. It's actually amazing what you can achieve if you concentrate your efforts on a small area whilst waiting for your toast!

Bonuses achieved so far include a great reduction in the number of odd socks:

And more importantly the kitchen table is now being used for its proper purpose which is eating meals and not for anything else! The kitchen itself is being decluttered of all the things that migrate there too...

2) Running

So happy to be out in the fresh air enjoying views like this again:

Victoria Bridge from Stramongate Bridge, Kendal, Cumbria

3) Blue Skies

Its not been a sight we have had much of this year so a whole day of it was blissful:

Blue Sky and pink clouds, Staveley, Cumbria

Dockwray Foot bridge, Kendal, Cumbria 

4) Winning things

First up a hamper from Swizzels Matlow I won for doing a survey:

Swizzels Matlow hamper

And then today I heard that I won a bundle of Walking with Dinosaur Goodies from The Mummy Blogger! Not a bad start to 2014 at all. 

What is making you smile?
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Reasons to be Cheerful: Blue Sky at Last #R2BC

Whilst Michelle is celebrating her imminent move to the Sunshine Coast of East Sussex here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Blue Sky

It's not been the best start to summer so having blue sky this afternoon brought a smile to my face:

Hopefully the start of a real summer...

2) My big boy

As I wrote on Tuesday my son is growing up fast and was enjoying outdoor adventures. This week he also tried rugby for the first time and scored a couple of tries!

3) My gorgeous girl

His big sister also went to rugby and loved it! She may be a chip off the old block and follow in my rugby playing footsteps. There are signs she is changing into a much more sophisticated young lady now:

Glad she appreciates my taste in music including a-Ha!

4) Running away

I was dead chuffed today to not only run non-stop from Staveley to Kendal but did it in 36 minutes. Think I'm really getting the stamina and fitness to run properly! It's looking like I'm running another Race for Life in Manchester this month thanks to Scottish Power. Really hope that this time I can run well under 30 minutes whilst raising more money to beat cancer. And of course its all helping the weight.

Why are you smiling?

Reasons to be Cheerful Week 18 #R2BC

So pleased that Michelle has been nominated for several blogging awards which are well deserved! Pop over and see and maybe even vote ;-) Meanwhile here are my reasons:
1) Operation success
My daughter seems to be recovering well from having tonsils out on Friday. She is enjoying recuperating at the grandparents' house and will be back home for the weekend. Its great seeing her full of beans once again.
2) Time with my big boy
A positive from having my daughter staying away means that I am spending more time just with my son. He is enjoying having mummy to himself. Being on my own its hard for me sometimes to be fair to my children with my time so this is lovely. Also not having to drag big sister around for little brother's activities is heavenly. Nice to be able just to enjoy him:

3) Spring and blue skies
There is nothing quite like blue skies to lift the spirits. On Tuesday I shared some spring photos from this week. When I look out of the kitchen window and see views of blue its a great start to the day:

Its a boost to my running that I am out on a gorgeous day running through the Cumbrian countryside! 

Reasons to be Cheerful week 6

Michelle has got us all thinking about being cheerful again this week. So here are mine:

1) I'm a winner!

I entered the Penguin books Readarama competition and won one of their books! A Year of Doing Good: One Woman, One New Year's Resolution, 365 Good Deeds. by Judith O'Reilly Looking forward to receiving it in the post to help my 100 books challenge:

2) Blue Skies

Nothing quite like clear blue skies to make you feel happy:

3) A clearer front room

Due to a visitor coming I did a mad clear up of the front room. It seems so much more spacious for the moment! Just don't look upstairs where I stashed it all! May even be forced to use Wii or do an exercise DVD just because I now have the space to do so... Small steps in the right direction.

4) MADs blog awards

Its really exciting that I have been nominated in more than one category in the awards! Not sure if this is following my cheeky post or just because people love my blog. Let's see what happens when the voting proper takes place after the nominations close on the 18th..

Reasons to be Cheerful XXXIX ( #R2BC )

Here are this week's reasons to smile!


1) Blue skies and cherry blossom


There is plenty of both around this week which is guaranteed to make me smile. Walking past views like this of Kendal Green is a definite morale booster: 

2) Family walks


On Saturday I went to the woods at Brigsteer in search of bluebells which are just starting to come out. With 3 generations spotting wildlife and flowers as well as playing hide and seek it was a perfect afternoon for putting a smile on lots of our faces.


3) Neighbours


With the nice weather our cul-de-sac really comes to life after school and at weekends. The children play together (mostly nicely!) and the adults have time to chat. Last night I enjoyed coffee on my friend's front lawn with 3 other ladies whilst we watched our children playing knights and running around happily. This afternoon I found out more about my immediate neighbour as we stood and chatted for about 15 minutes after putting the recycling out! 


4) Diet


It was great to have a 2.5 lb loss on the scales this week. I went into the week determined to do better and did. Really need to keep the focus up though (she says whilst sipping a glass of wine!)


I am sure there are loads of other things I could have put on here but going to stop now and say look at everyone else's #R2BC: