A Review of the Year - one Monthly Resolution at a time

When I decided to abandon New Year's Resolutions in favour of 12 small monthly changes, I had no idea it would work so well or I'd enjoy it so much. This is a round up of the changes:

January To sort out and enjoy my haphazard collection of toiletries. I still don't make enough pamper time and I've still barely made a dent in some of those sweet smelling lotions, mousses, butters, scrubs and gels but at least I now have them organised and tempting me to open the lids and dip in rather than gathering dust, unloved and forgotten.

February Go the Extra Mile. This was a literal extra mile to build my comfortable running distance up from my usual 3 miles and it has been fantastic. I felt a huge sense of achievement when I completed my first Half Marathon  in October this year.

March Plank 40 minutes for Lent. The planking challenge was tough - really tough - but I did it and proved to myself that anything can be possible if you set your sights on it and put in the effort.

April To run with my husband. I mostly run with my daughters and I love it but running with my husband has now become something of a special time for both of us. Last weekend, we ran our local Xmas 5K fun run together in festive dress and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (especially when redeeming the free beer vouchers we were given at the finish)

Photograph by Duncan Murray

May The CHANGE It somehow seemed fitting to include the menopause in my monthly changes! Although my body is ardently hanging onto the last vestiges of fertility, I am still determined to power through and embrace the new challenges of a maturing body.

June Just Get on and Do It It is so easy to find a million reasons to not do something. I am getting very much better at ignoring those reasons. It is amazing how much you can achieve if you make the decision to just get on with it.

July Try new recipes I am really loving trying new recipes. I have perfected two of my favourite desserts - sticky toffee pudding and chocolate brownies. I have made a Dundee cake for Xmas (all gone  already) and discovered a pear crumble cake that satisfies my dad's non-sweet tooth. I even had a go at making lemon curd when I had an unexpected glut of lemons.

August Forgive myself Sometimes, despite my very best intentions, I fail. This month I failed to implement a change and in doing so, inadvertantly made possibly the biggest and most important change I have made all year - that is to forgive myself when I  get things wrong or don't live up to my own expectations.

September Read More Books The literary part of me has received much enrichment from a whole range of books - trashy novels, classics, modern literature, misery memoirs and even a bit of non fiction. It can be frustrating sometimes if the light is not bright - even with my reading glasses I can struggle to focus on the text. For those occasions, there is always the kindle loaded with the Game of Thrones series - on the embarrassingly large font setting!

October Try Something Different I loved being part of a new initiative in our town - singing in a 'pop-up' choir to co-incide with the first local arts festival - and sharing the experience with my daughters. We are on the look out for more projects to get involved with.

November Pole dancing Many years ago, my husband surprised me with a gift of a pole after I expressed an interest in pole dancing. I think he had visions of being entertained with erotic dancing and would in all likelihood be happy if I simply walked around it in high heels and skimpy lingerie. For me it was more about fitness and strength and connecting with my sensuality. I practised in private and never offered to put on a show for his benefit. I might have been more inclined to treat him to a demonstration if I'd been any good at it! I quickly realised that it is physically challenging, it hurts when you get it wrong (I have had some impressive bruises!) and I am very aware that my face contorts with concentration and the sick feeling I get if I overdo the spinning. I am certainly not the effortlessly graceful dancer I once imagined I might be!

Not one to be put off, I thought it was about time to resurrect my ambition and dedicated my November change to doing just that. I found some instructional videos on YouTube and started again from an absolute beginner's perspective.

I have learned from my running the importance of technique and posture and applied this to the pole. I broke the simplest spin down into tiny steps and worked hard to master it. I also know from my running that if you keep trying, you are bound to improve. I did improve but realised that I am a long way from where I want to be.

Following on from the success of the 2014 monthly changes I decided that my 2015 resolution could be: Learn to Pole Dance - 1 move a month for 12 months. This time next year with 12 moves in the bag, I should be performance ready!

December To have a simple lovely Christmas For this I am taking inspiration from my 6 year old daughter who wrote a Christmas planning list for me:

She seems to have it all covered!

The first mince pie of Christmas

I felt justified wearing my Christmas socks this weekend as two excited children decorated our tree, an unexpected gift of home made mincemeat arrived and I had the pleasure of attending a Carol service and Charity concert both featuring the vocal talents of my amazing daughter Charis (along with a good injection of seasonal celebration).

My older daughters always remind me that I would not let them anywhere near the baubles and fairy lights in Christmases past. The tree had to be immaculately decorated with perfect symmetry and  adhere to a strict colour theme. Nowadays I am much more relaxed and enjoy watching my two little ones dive in and turn a plain conifer into a magical work of art. I admit to not being able to relinquish my control entirely - I provide the baubles I want hung rather than giving them a free choice of the countless decorations we have accumulated over the years and once they are in bed, I might just reposition the odd offending bauble (or two!)

It took a lot longer than usual to dress the tree this year. Addy was so excited that she literally jumped up and down after every successful positioning of a decoration and Dylan was intent on using his  remote control vehicle to transport baubles from box to tree. It was a delight to watch but not the most efficient use of time.

And time was tight.

On both Saturday and Sunday evenings, we had engagements at my daughter's boarding school.

Babysitters were organised, glad rags donned and we set off on the Saturday to see Charis perform with her chamber choir and an A Cappella quintet in a concert raising money for a charity whose aim is to provide loving, family based care for all children currently in institutionalised settings around the world.   Understanding the plight of the orphans and abandoned childen was heartbreaking and in stark contrast to the jollity of the evening's entertainment. Charis was superb as always, especially with the quintet, performing one of her own Xmas arrangements as well as a brilliant rendition of Hark Hear the Bells in which she was barely able to take a breath for more bars than I could count. In fact, she was so accomplished and confident you could be forgiven for mistaking her for one of the teachers rather than a student. She has come a long way from the odd little girl who wouldn't talk that she once was.

There were mince pies and mulled wine during the interval. My first mince pie of the year is always a bit of an event for me and this was a lovely way to mark the occasion. The mulled wine had the right smell but looked muddy and tasted foul. I am looking forward to finding the right moment for mulled wine at home (a non muddy version) and mince pies made with my treasured little jar of home made mincemeat.

On the Sunday, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and White Christmas were swapped for Christmas Carols and Bible readings in the school chapel. It was a lovely service and the choir sang with haunting beauty. I had forgotten to take my reading glasses and didn't stand a chance in the dim light of seeing the tiny print on the order of service that would have helped me with the words of the carols that required participation from the congregation. I am always surprised by how many of the words I actually know anyway so I sang along in the glass shattering range I reserve for church and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Things got easier during the candlelit part of the service. My little candle shed enough bright light for a miraculous restoration of my sight (and dripped enough wax on my hand to be slightly disconcerting!)

The busy nature of the weekend meant that the kids missed out on their bathtime and I failed to get the costumes for their school play ready. It was a mad dash this morning trying to make them both look vaguely respectable and stuff suitably coloured clothes and tinsel into separate bags to transform them into a twinkling star and a snowflake. I had hardly finished congratulating myself for getting them to school before the bell when I noticed that one of the mothers had provided a shop purchased full star costume for her little thespian. I didn't even know such things existed! The bag I was about to hand over with a sad bit of gold tinsel started to seem a bit inadequate. Then I remembered Dylan telling me that he doesn't even want to be a twinkling star - he wants to be a twinkling shark.

It made me feel a bit better.

Christmas Running

I  honestly never imagined that running could become a part of the Christmas tradition for my family but that is exactly what has happened.

Last year, my eldest daughter and I took part in a Santa Dash which, thanks to poor quality santa suits that split far too easily, turned out to be an even more fun than we expected 2.4 mile race through Bridgnorth to raise money for the Shropshire Smile Maternity Charity. This year I joined, my husband, two of my daughters and their boyfriends and lots of friends from our running club to take part in a Turkey Trot in our hometown.

The Turkey Trot was sponsored by the local brewery which meant a free pint of ale for participants on finishing. This proved to be a not insignificant motivator on the way round the course - especially when any hills were involved. Participants were encouraged to run in festive fancy dress which made for quite a spectacle. It was a wonderful feeling as the race started to be running with Christmas puddings, elves, Santas a-plenty, Christmas trees and the odd character from the nativity!

I dressed up in a so called 'sexy santa suit' that was far from sexy and my husband squeezed into the jacket that was all that had survived from my Santa Dash costume last year. The jacket was definitely a little on the skimpy side but with the addition of a tinsel belt and a borrowed santa hat, we were good to go!

Photo by Adrian Roberts

We ran all the way round together at a nice steady pace and crossed the finish line holding hands. It was lovely.

Photo by Adrian Roberts

We waited at the finish to cheer my daughters but began to get a little concerned when there was no sign of them.  I should perhaps explain a little about the fancy dress they had opted for.

My daughter's boyfriend's mum had had the slightly crazy idea of turning her dad's mobility scooter into a sleigh with some craftily sculpted cardboard painted red and decorated with tinsel. This would be 'driven' by one of her daughters dressed as santa and 'pulled' by her son and daughter and my daughter dressed as reindeers. It had been her intention to be the fourth reindeer but an unfortunate work commitment meant that she had to drop out. My other daughter stepped willingly into the reindeer onesie to fill the vacancy.

Photo by Maureece

They looked fantastic but had perhaps misjudged how difficult it would be to pull the scooter. Their festive harness broke before they had even crossed the start line leaving three untethered female reindeer to run free whilst the one male reindeer had to put his back into pushing. I am sure that 5 kilometres would feel like a VERY long way.

Photo by Chris Bourton

Much to my relief, they did eventually come into sight. With a couple of willing volunteers helping to push and taking advantage of a short cut, they made it home.... all smiles!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable event - fun and friendly and in aid of a Childhood Leukaemia Charity.

The complimentary pint of ale at the finish slipped down a treat (as did the second pint that my non-beer-drinking daughter donated to my cause). Lovely. It did mean, however, that I spent a good part of the afternoon on the sofa sleeping off the combination of exercise and alcohol.

All of the photographs I have used in this post have been borrowed, mostly from good friends who were visiting for the weekend and came out in the cold to support us. This is because my own camera that was being used to take photos has been misplaced. I do hope it turns up soon - not just because I want my camera back but because I can't wait to see what other memories have been captured.

Four Christmas Cakes

I was late making my Xmas cake this year and a little uninspired as how to decorate it. I also had the annual dilemma of when to actually cut it. I usually wait until Xmas day but more often than not, after the big Xmas dinner, mountains of chocolate and relatively little physical activity, nobody is in the mood for rich fruit cake. I always seem to miss the moment which makes me wonder why I bothered to make it in the first place.

This year I had a plan.

My parents were coming for a pre-Xmas dinner and I wanted to serve cake to them. I also wanted cake to serve other guests we were expecting and an uncut cake for Xmas day (just in case).

I cut my square cake into four equal quarters.

I decorated each quarter differently and had particular fun making icing and marzipan snowmen for one creation. Nothing was planned. I just made it up as I went along.

Three different cakes were available for my three different occasions and the fourth quarter which I left un-iced, wrapped with a ribbon and decorated with glace cherries, remained for our New Year's celebrations.

My four mini cakes may not have had the impact of one show stopping centre piece but it worked brilliantly for what I wanted.

Next year I may go back to making one carefully planned show stopper but it is good to know that this alternative approach worked so well.

Christmas Present

My daughter Charis has aspirations to train as a medic. To show our support for her noble ambition, we decided to buy her a full sized anatomical skeleton for Christmas. We ordered it online and it arrived in a large box which would look impressive wrapped.

We didn't wrap it.

We opened it, assembled it and hung it from its mobile stand.

Then we wrapped it.

Obviously, this all had to be done after Charis had retired to her room on Christmas Eve (it would have been impossible to conceal in all its full height glory). We were performing a wrapping operation that was more akin to a mummification at 1o'clock on Christmas morning. It was a delicate procedure and I felt that I had properly earned the freshly laundered sheets on my bed and the bottle of champagne that was chilling in an ice bucket upstairs.

Thankfully, we didn't have a ridiculously early start on Christmas morning... in fact Dylan had a good sleep in, albeit at the bottom of my bed (perhaps he appreciates the fresh sheet sensation too)

I hadn't gone overboard with stocking presents this year as I usually do but my parents had stuffed stockings full for each of my children. While they sat on my bed making new discoveries with every dip inside, I was able to wake up gently with a cup of tea.

Breakfast of warm bread and Bucks Fizz made from leftover champagne got my day off to a great start. There were presents aplenty to be unwrapped and played with and a Christmas dinner for seven that would easily have fed twice that many.

I do regret not getting out of the house for a post dinner walk at the very least to combat the familiar Xmas bloating but the weather was dull and drizzly and not very inviting. Dull and drizzly and mild so I missed having the fire ablaze. We did try it briefly but everyone started to overheat. I lit candles instead.

Everyone loved their presents (always a relief). Addy's gift of a nurse's outfit and medical bag from her Grandma and Grandpa may sow the early seeds for her to follow in her big sister's Doctor footsteps.

If you are wondering what Charis thought of her unusually wrapped gift.... let's say she was more than a little bit pleased!

A Packed Social Calendar

I love the explosion of activity that happens at this time of year. I have a fairly packed schedule of events for the whole of December and I am starting to wonder exactly when I'm going to find the time and energy for Xmas shopping and menu planning.

On Monday, it was my Running Club's Xmas party. One of the things I miss about work since giving up to be a stay at home mum is the Xmas social so I was really excited about this one. It was held at our local Brewery and I very much enjoyed the three pints of Joule's Slumbering Monk Ale that kept me well lubricated throughout the evening.

The pub attached to the brewery is not blessed with the friendliest of staff but the brewer's hall, also known as the Mouse Room is a gorgeous venue if you enjoy cosy oak panelling, wood carving, beams and the modern touch of large windows giving a view across to the brewery. It was perfect for the party with an elegantly trimmed tree creating a festive feel.

The food was buffet style and although there was some confusion over whether the three vegetarian guests were to be brought a pre-plated selection of non meat offerings or left to the lucky dip of the buffet table, it did not spoil the evening. I managed to procure myself a reasonable selection of dodgy sarnies and mini mince pies. The non-veggies didn't fair much better. I was not particularly envious of their cocktail sausages or scotch eggs. The success of the evening really did not hinge on the gastronomic experience.

It was a fairly standard itinerary - prize giving followed by raffle. I was never in the running (pardon the pun) for any prizes and I didn't even come close to winning the raffle.

So apart from the venue and the ale, what made it a good evening? Simple really. The people. Feeling part of something good. Being inspired to run more - to push myself harder - enter some races next year and see some improvements in my times. It was lovely to celebrate success and look to the future.

Photo by Sophie Murray 

Yesterday I was leaving my little ones in the capable hands of big sister and dad again for another evening out.

The Market Drayton Writer's Club was holding an Open Mic night at the library and my daughter, who is a member, invited me to hear her read an extract from a novel she has been writing as part of the online writing challenge NaNoWriMo.  Her best friend (and mummy blogger) Carole has also been meeting the word count demanded by the challenge and was due to give a reading. As well as being interested in hearing these readings, I was lured by the promise of mince pies.

Carole's parents, boyfriend and boyfriend's mum along with my daughter, her boyfriend and myself occupied two tables pushed together at our local Wetherspoons to enjoy their steak night. Of course steak night is somewhat lost on vegetarians but I happily tucked into the veggie Burger and a Beer option and only gave a brief admiring glance in the direction of the mixed grill ordered by most of the party.

The Christmas lights in town looked absolutely gorgeous as we made our way to the library for the Open Mic event.

It was really interesting listening to the pieces that the town's creative writers had selected to share with their audience. Some were excellent and inspiring. Others, inevitably, not so good. I am not glossing over the truth in any way when I say that my daughter and Carole's readings fell firmly in the excellent and inspiring category! I felt very proud.

I admit that I was starting to ache a bit from sitting still for too long so I was quite relieved when the final reading ended and the mince pies were served.

With all this beer and mince pie indulgence, I am glad that tonight I will be going for my Wednesday 3mile run - and even more glad that I will be home in time to put my little ones to bed and enjoy a cosy evening in with my husband.

The Birds my True Love Sent to Me

It has been a busy run up to Christmas as it always is. Add to this the fact that one of my fillings fell out (requiring urgent treatment if I was to stand any chance of indulging in the seasonal fare on offer), the usual sprinkling of illness and general 'run down-ness' that has become synonymous with this time of year and the inevitably stressful completion date for my eldest daughter's house purchase - it is a wonder I have survived unscathed.

Yesterday, as I did battle with other shoppers trying ineffectively to steer overladen shopping trolleys around my local Morrisons, I was not only trying to purchase everything I needed for arguably the most important dinner of the year, I also had a shopping list of cleaning products for my daughter who was beavering away with her sleeves rolled up and marigolds on to make her new house gleam. Rather than being stressed by it all, I found myself walking up and down the aisles with a big smile on my face. I may not have managed to buy everything I needed but I have a grown up home owner daughter and a tooth with a brand new filling that will put to the test with all the lovely treats did find their way into my trolley. If we could all just stop coughing, everything would be perfect.

One of the things that has helped keep everything (relatively) stress free has been my Xmas knitting project in which I have attempted to make one of each of the birds that feature in the Xmas classic, The Twelve Days of Christmas. I never imagined I would find knitting so relaxing and I have really enjoyed seeing my little creations taking shape. Here are the (slightly malformed!) birds my true love sent to me with a Santa thrown in for good measure!

A Toyologist Christmas

Christmas shouldn't be all about the presents but there is no denying that a scene like this on Christmas morning provides enough visual impact and promise of wonders to get your festivities off to a very good start.

High on my list of ingredients for a perfect Christmas is "Spending time with the family". If that family time can be enhanced by a great new toy or game, then so much the better. This is definitely something I'll be looking out for in my reviews.

Christmas should also be a time for showing that you care. Choosing a gift for a child that you know they'll love and seeing their little face light up with pleasure is something very special.

Between now and the Big Day, I am going to be reviewing twelve potential Christmas gifts. I hope these reviews prove useful and perhaps offer a little bit of inspiration.

The Twelve Reviews of Christmas

First Review:  Thinkfun Rush Hour Game

Second Review: The Logo Board Game

Third Review: Tomy Aquadoodle Animal Magic Sounds
Fourth Review: Sprayza Studio

Fifth Review: Wild Science Beauty Salon Set
Sixth Review: Cuponk
Seventh Review: Thinkfun Zingo
Eighth Review: Silverlit Radio Control Heli Mission
Ninth Review: Play that Tune
Tenth Review: Playskool Step Start Walk 'n' Ride
Eleventh Review: Cranium 2nd Edition
Twelfth Review: Zubber Bands

MERRY CHRISTMAS