Hi Folks,

I hope you are all well and enjoyed the Christmas Holidays and festivities. I still can’t believe that January is now almost over!

Well, what have I been doing with myself since Christmas?  Well, I started my Sponsored Slim on 2nd January and so far so good. I think being sponsored has definitely helped me, the weight is coming off slowly however what I am most proud of is I haven’t comfort ate even when there have been a couple of major challenges recently. I definitely think being sponsored has helped and thinking about what the money raised will do to help local cancer sufferers and their families and friends has definitely spurred me on.

Planning meals is definitely the way forward as it is so easy when you are feeling tired to go for either a takeaway or convenience foods which are high in calories. I’ve even got my husband joining me although he is not as strict as I have been but he is trying.

As for other things I have been up to, well I turned 60 one week ago and had an absolutely brilliant week of celebrations with family and friends. One celebration was with the Wardley Wombles (my litterpicking group) where we had a meal at our local golf club but unbeknown to me a magician had been booked. Paul was absolutely amazing and some of the magic tricks which he carried out were just mind-boggling. Although I did have one complaint... I was awake until 3 a.m. trying to work out how he had read my mind and even now I’m still stumped!! I just wish my husband could read my mind sometimes then maybe he wouldn’t leave the top off the toothpaste, the bread beside the breadbin and the milk beside the fridge. He always tells me that he can’t multi-task but it is surprising how he can manage to be on his laptop, watch the TV and be on his mobile phone all at the same time and manage perfectly well. I honestly think he has selective hearing but maybe being married to me for the past 37 years has had an adverse effect on his ability to concentrate when it comes to tasks around the home ha ha!

Talking about my husband he is still waiting for an appointment for brain surgery on an aneurysm but has now returned to work in a different capacity and appears to be managing well and more importantly is enjoying the job. I just hope that after the surgery he is able to go back to his day job as he loves driving, especially for the NHS.

As for me well I am still hosting quizzes at my local golf club on a rota system and still loving it. Creating quizzes is time-consuming however I do find it a great way of being able to zone out and find it really enjoyable.

The past two years but especially the past year have been extremely stressful however I am determined more than ever that I definitely need to make some time for me as I was getting myself into a right state to say the least.

My youngest daughter moved out in August so I have converted her bedroom into a study for me which I absolutely love. I have a desk and a large bookcase so far and a wardrobe which has lots of baskets and boxes in it ready for when I am making up hampers for raffle prizes plus it is a great place to store tombola prizes too. I enjoy helping out with various charity events throughout the year and now that I have a dedicated room for storage it is brilliant as in the past most of the time parts of my bungalow looked like Paddy’s Market with all of the donations.

I am also hoping to get back to researching my Family Tree and blogging on a more regular basis. So all in all I am feeling more positive about the future even though there are a number of things going on with family members.

I know I sound like a broken record but I do hope that you are all able to make some time for yourselves.

The advice I would give is don’t do what I did for a very long time and say “I haven’t got time” I now “make time” no matter how large or how small that time might be and I feel so much better afterwards.

Well, talking about making time for myself I think that is my “me time” up for today so I will finish off for now but I will definitely be back.

Take care of yourselves and speak soon.

Susie x