Word of the Week

It seems as though most days, I'm obsessed with losing weight. I look through magazines and immediately I'm bombarded with images of beautiful women with the perfect figure, articles about the latest diet-craze and fashion which is definitely not suited to the bigger woman.

So I tell myself that once I'm slim, I can wear the clothes I like, when I'm slim I will look fantastic, when I'm slim I will feel fabulous!!

But what about now?? I take no pride in my outfits as nothing I like fits me or what does fit me, I don't like. I've had the same haircut for as long as I can remember and I don't experiment with my make-up. Funnily enough, this is all reserved for when I lose weight!

I need to accept who I am at this precise moment and love the person I am, I need to stop telling myself I will do this and I'll do that once I'm slim. I need to start living and enjoying my life, as I am.

So here I am, completely make-up free and unfiltered.

I'm still on my quest to eat healthily and exercise, I still want to lose weight, but I have to stop letting it define me and taking over every decision I make.

This is my life whether I'm plus size or a perfect size 10 and I'm making a promise to myself to accept who I am at the present moment.

If I could have just 1 selfish wish.....

I would wish for a whole new wardrobe, complete with lots of different outfits for different occasions and copious amounts of shoes and accessories.

I would love to have one of the huge walk-in closets that you only see in programmes like MTV Cribs, or looking through Pinterest.

link

Oh my!! It's my idea of Heaven.

Maybe once the kids have moved out, I can turn their bedrooms into something like this.

Or maybe I'll win the Lottery and be able to build a mega-mansion just to house my brand new walk-in wardrobe.

Or maybe it'll be nothing but a daydream...this seems like the likeliest outcome.

But a girl can still wish.

My mission to be slim

I've struggled with my weight all of my adult life, the last time I remember being slim was when I was 19, I was clothes shopping with my boyfriend at the time and I remember complaining because I the size 12 skirt that I was trying on was tight and I had to go up to a size 14!!

Good Lord!! How I would love to be a size 14, I think I would give my right arm to be that size again.

After that, the weight just piled on, I blame settling down and contentment. Instead of going out, we stayed in, eating take-aways and enjoying loved-up coupledom.

Now I'm 34, I find myself single and grossly overweight. I really need to get myself in order and lose the weight for good. After reading Katie's blog over at Mummy Daddy and Me Makes Three I was uber-inspired by her my-fitness-mission-february post. So much so I have come up with my own Fitness Mission which I will start on March 1st, new month, new start. I've also come up with some goals that I want to meet and will update my results at the end of March.

1. Drink 8 glasses of water every day.
2. Drink at least 3 cups of Green Tea every day.
3. Incorporate at least 30 minutes of exercise every day.
4. Aim to lose 8lbs

I'm keeping my goals short for this month to ease myself in gently.

Tune in at the end of March when I will post my results.

Bloglovin

I'm very new to the world of Bloglovin, but I'm totally lovin having a place where I can read all my favourite blog posts in one place. I never miss a post now.

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Mum and Son Date

During the week my Mum had asked Erin if she would like to sleepover at her house on Saturday night, Erin of course jumped at the chance, she loves her some sleepover!

Seeing as it was going to be just me and the Boy, I decided to turn it into a Mum and Son Date Day. I don't get a lot of one on one time with Damian, but knowing that Erin was away it seemed like perfect timing.

Erin was picked up at 9:30am on Saturday morning. She takes her Baby Olivia everywhere.

Straight after that Damian and I left the house. We stopped off at McDonalds for some breakfast then we hopped onto the bus over to the next town Kettering.

We killed some time by browsing in some charity shops, I managed to get myself some more work clothes and some pieces of jewellery which I'll blog about for my Thrifty Thursday post.

By lunch time we were starting to flag a little, so we nipped into the cutest little tea-shop and had a drink and a slice of rainbow cake.

It was the most delicious cake I've tasted in a long time, we'll definitely go back.

After some more browsing and buying in various other shops, we were getting hungry so decided to head into Frankie and Benny's, I've never been there before but I would recommend it. The food is to die for and the service was 5 star.

My date is just soooo handsome!!!

Even Emmett joined us for dinner!!

Luckily for us, the cinema is pretty much next door to the restaurant. We took out time eating, Damian had a burger and chips and I have the New Yorker calzone and for pudding Damian had vanilla ice-cream and I had a cinnamon waffle with chocolate ice-cream and honeycomb pieces (it was too dark to take any pictures, and I'd remembered when we'd already eaten).

At the cinema we picked up our tickets.

and bought the best drink in the whole world.

The Lego Movie was just awesome, I didn't think I would enjoy it but I laughed all the way through, if you haven't seen it yet I would wholly recommend that you go watch it.

We came out of the cinema singing 'Everything is awesome!'

We both agreed it had been a great day, I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with my boy and he loved having my full attention all day. By the time we got home we were both pooped, I think we were fast asleep before 10pm.

Linking up with mummy daddy and me

 

Box of OMG!

We were lucky enough to be selected for a Box of OMG!

You can find out all about them here

Upon opening the box, we were pleasantly surprised!

Look at all these goodies!! Erin love love loves Moshi Monsters and in this box she got some tattoos, trading cards and stickers, she was super happy with them.

Also included in the box was Emerald Star by Jacqueline Wilson, this is a little out of Erin's reading capabilities but we've decided that I will read it to her, we can't wait to start it. I've never read a Jacqueline Wilson book but I've heard great things about them.

We also received a pair of Aces laces, they were very very cute and Erin is planning on using them with her new trainers.

I have to say we loved this box, even better that it was free, but I have to admit that I would pay the £4.99 to guarantee a box. We love receiving boxes of goodies like this, it adds to the suspence of not knowing what you will receive.

Sign up today and you may be allocated a free box!

Silent Sunday

Raising a Son as a Single Mother

While I've been single for 5 years, I've only been raising the children without the help of their father for the last 2 years, we last had contact with him on Christmas Eve 2011. Being a single parent is tough enough, but when you don't have the support of the other parent, it can be doubly hard. Having to make important decision without help, trying to be a Mother and a Father.

Raising my Daughter is easy, she's a girl, I'm a girl, so I know I can meet her emotional and psychological needs. But what about my Son??

My Son and I have a great relationship, he's 10 now, nearly 11, about to embark on the scary world of secondary school, he's growing up to be a lovely young man.

But I sometimes worry that I'm not meeting his emotional and psychological needs, I'm not a boy so I have no idea how boys think and how they process information or emotions. He has an excellent role model in my Brother and my Dad, but it's still not the same in having his Father around. But we carry on the best we can, we see my Dad every Sunday and he's such a positive person, very affectionate and I'm so lucky that he takes the time to talk to Damian and be that emotional crutch. They really are 2 peas in a pod sometimes.

But what can I do as a Mother? 

I've put together some tips that I think we all need to follow when raising our Sons without the help of their Father:

• Never make him 'Man of the House', encourage him to be responsible but remind him he doesn't have to take on the responsibility of being a parent-figure.
• Never ever bad mouth men around him, instead point out good traits.
• Keep your opinions of his Father to yourself, he is not his father.
• Find a positive male role model for him, whether that be a friend, an uncle, a neighbour or a grandparent.
• Let him express his feelings, it's okay for him to cry, comfort him like you would a daughter.
• Never ever tell him to 'Man-Up' or 'Be a Man'
• Do not introduce a new partner unless you know it is a serious relationship and he will be a good role-model.

Above all, have fun and be silly, wrestle and rough and tumble with him.

Laura Every Day 2014

Day 41

I love my new sign, it hangs in out hallway.

Day 42

Mr Krabs holds onto Damian's pocket money

Day 43

Our very healthy fridge after shopping.

Day 44

Erin's first visit to the hairdressers.

Day 45

Erin wrote me a song for Valentines Day

Day 46

I treated myself to some flowers and candles, at least these flowers wont die.

Day 47

We all went out for dinner and had this delicious pudding. We couldn't finish it between the 3 of us.

Silent Sunday

A weekend Treat

It's not very often that we will go out for a meal. We have lots of takeaways as treats, but very rarely do we get dressed up and go out for dinner.

This weekend, I asked the kids if they would like to go out for dinner as a treat, they jumped at the chance.

Before this pic was taken, Erin was quite upset as she had left her bag in the taxi, a quick call to the taxi company and the bag was delivered back safely to her.

My heart melts when these 2 have cuddles. They don't admit it too often but they love each other so much.

I ordered Chicken New Yorker, Erin ordered Ham, Egg and Chips and Damian ordered a very boring plain burger and chips.

I decided to treat us to a pudding that we could share, we all picked this pudding, it was sooooo delicious.

But even between the 3 of us we couldn't finish it.

Before we left, Damian and I thought it was the perfect time for an impromptu 'selfie'.

We left the pub feeling very stuffed and unable to think about food without feeling sick. It was definitely a great day and I didn't spend more than £30. You don't have to spend a fortune to have quality time with children. I think we could have just ordered pudding and it would have been enough.

Linking up with mummy daddy and me