Quitting Smoking.

I have tried to quit smoking more times than I care to admit and I know this time, I will.

My fiancée thinks it would be witty to call this post 'Whee In The Park' but I do not agree.

So I was supposed to have interviews and a tonne of form filling to do today but turns out I was given the wrong date and blah blah blaah, boring stuff! But as we didn't find out until late morning we didn't actually have anything to do! As I have mentioned before there is a lovely coffee morning every Wednesday run my one of my local churches but we missed it.
So an impromptu walk to the park was in order...

25th August - Sunny Day Walkies.

Took the camera out to get some picture for my last blog post 'Aunt Julia Come Bearing Gifts' and ended up with some really nice ones(as well as a tonne of unflattering ones of me) I want to share so I gave them their own blog post! It's just nice getting out in the sun and getting nice picture of my boys.
He played hide and seek and was just a cutiepatootie in genneral.

Auntie Julia Comes Bearing Gifts.

Back when we had a little heat wave, my best friend picked up a few thing for Reuben but life got in the way and we ended up not seeing each other for a while. We arranged for her to come over last night for a little visit and it was lovely. Not only did she pick out some great clothes for Reuben, I got a little surprise too! A skirt and a McDonald's! My first ever Big Mac!

OOTD: Comfort at the museum.

Very rarely to I choose frump, ahem, I mean comfort over what I think looks good if I'm going on a day out but I was very lazy today:
Rocked a pair of shiny grey skinny jeans teamed with black ankle boots with a few tank tops to cover my belly in case I ate to much and got bloated, which turned out to be a great idea.
Tops: Primark
Jeans: New Look.

Bracelet: Vivienne Westwood
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell Gene Ankle boots.

Extras-
Hair Dye: Special Effects Atomic Pink
Lipstick: MAC Haute Altitude.

This is my first Outfit Of The Day post so be nice. These might not be something I do often thought I'd try it out and see how I feel about these posts.

love from

ZXSquecktrum

Riverside Museum.

So, a few days ago, my mother arranged a little day out with Reuben and I but also my sister Charlotte. Or they arranged a day together, invited Reuben but I've tagged along? Either way, I got a little day out and some nice pictures of Reuben with family members.
We went to the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. it's basically just a transport museum and, it's FREE!

£5 = £10 = New Make Up!

So Tesco sent me a a  £5 'Clubcard Boost' voucher that I can exchange for £10 to spend in certain departments which seemed pretty cool really. You can also use them for days out, for example £2.50 in vouchers can be used to a cinema ticket. I must admit, I was tempted to try to have a social life sometime soon but then I found out that one of the departments covered is the cosmetics department.

£10 isn't much but when you are in need of new mascara and eye liner you're not gonna give it up to sit in a dark room full of people you don't know talking over a the film you are trying to watch, are you?? Well, I'm not!

Bus stop picnic and new toys.

Today was lovely, regardless of running two hours later than I had originally planned to do things! I had to go up to college to hand something in so I asked Michael and Reuben to come along. I admit not the best of my days out but a day out never the less.

DIY: Antibacterial Cleaner.

Having a toddler and having a house full of harmful chemicals is not something that sounds the slightest bit appealing to me, How about you?

How about you could easily and cheaply make your own great smelling cleaner that kills germs and cuts through grease and dirt on floors, tiles, worktops, bathroom surfaces etc? With only three  natural ingredients? Sounds perfect, eh?

What are you looking forward to? - Day 28 of 31 Day Blog Challenge.

Starting college at the end of the month. I just found out all the different subjects I'll be studying at my induction day today and my, oh, my, I am excited. Too excited! I'm going to spend my life as a make up artist and I am going to love it. I already have so many ideas I want to do for the subjects. plus I have a 2 hour class just on wigs! I found my life calling and it's covered in fake hair and eyelashes.
Playing with make up for a living sounds flawless to me!
I'll be looking for stylists and photographers to work with so get in touch if you live near and you want to swap my skills for prints for my portfolio.
Did I mention I'm about to study to become a make up artist? Very happy and really really looking forward to it.

love from

ZXSquecktrum

Learning Primary and Secondary colours with Ice Cubes.

So Reuben has known all his colours for a while now so a few weeks ago(yes, yes, I've not got around to typing this post up until now) I decided it was time to show him how to mix colours.
Simply using ice cubes dyed into primary colours with food colouring and left to melt until they combine and make an exciting new colour! (I'm sure it's a lot more exciting than it sounds when you're a toddler compared to an adult.)

This was really simple to so and was good being able to prep for a game the night before. There is always the hyper moment between telling your child your going to play a game and finally getting around to getting the game ready!

Are You Smaller Than You Think You Are?

Last November I weighed myself for the first time in a long time, only to found out I was two stone heavier than I thought I was and even at that, I the weight I thought I was was a stone heavier than I wanted to be! I'd just gotten so lazy with both my eating and with my exercising. Needless to say, something had to be done, there had to be a radical change to lose three stone.
I started going out more walks, replaced my chocolate treats with fruit, drank more water, took up ballet fitness but I didn't see very many results. Not meaning I didn't have results, my brain just failed to let me see them. A few weeks ago, I decided to weigh myself for the first time in 8 months, two stone, gone. I was two stone lighter and I didn't see a change, I couldn't celebrate my huge achievement because I couldn't see the difference.
I began to drive myself crazy, asking everyone if they could see a difference and even when they said 'you look tiny' or 'you can really notice how much you've lost in these last few months', I just assumed they were humouring me. I still felt as big as I did 8 months prior.

Then about a week ago, Something surfaced on Tumblr and everyone was trying it. It was a Body Shape Calculator by the clothing site, Marisota. Having a spare few minutes, I put in my guess to my size and then put in my measurements(I thought I was at the time, I'll get to this a little later.) and I had a lovely surprise...

22.5% smaller? 22.5% is big size difference. How is it possible for someone to see themselves almost a quarter bigger than they actually are? Like, I thought I was almost half way up the chart and I'm so small I'm not even the first body, I'm smaller. I know it might not be an exact science and there will be some margin for error but it just made me feel... well.. better.It made me think, my loved ones weren't lying to me, I really am skinny. I needed this confidence boost that it gave me, I needed to feel good about my body, my weight lose and my hard work. It's made me happy with my weight I don't feel like I need to lose that extra stone. I urge you to try this.

And do you want to top this? I measured myself last night, turns out my waist is smaller than I thought it was. By almost two inches! Last time I measured myself, I'd gotten it wrong. I hadn't lost an inch off my waist this year, it was almost 3 inches! This gives me a 10 inch difference between my waist and my butt and a 9 inch difference between my waist and my bust, I'm a 'perfect hour glass' and I love it.
Today I just feel so good about my body, I feel both skinny and curvy and I want to sing from the rooftops how much I love it! Now to reward myself with an Alpro Soya dessert!

love from

ZXSquecktrum

Shopping List Game.

Last week I got a little garden set for Reuben and it included a little basket and it hit me, it looks like a cute wee shopping basket so from that day on, I knew my child would be encouraged to help with the food shop.
I came up with a little shopping list that would fit inside his basket without being too heavy and also things he liked. I also wanted him to pick something up that was a little bit boring to him hence the chopped tomatoes.

Not only did we have a fun shopping trip, I got some cute pictures of Reuben, so everybody wins!

Portion Sizes: Fruit and Veg.

We're always bombarded with the fact we should be eating at least five portions of fruit or veg everyday but not everyone is clear on how big a portion really is. So I decided to put together a post with some portion sizes to give you the gist of how much you should eat.

Too me it's a really good thing to know how much you should be eating and what not so I hope you find this new knowledge as handy as I do.

Separated into fresh and dried and canned and also alphabetised for easiness.