2016 , not a new beginning but a continuation of a great time

It's 2016 y'all and for the first time in years I stayed awake to welcome it in. I also drank a whole bottle of wine and ate excessively... But you know what I don't care.

For the first time in a new year I have minimal resolutions and the main one called change my life by becoming fit has changed significantly to continue what you started. So at the start of December I joined a challenge group for 21 Day Fix. I am slightly ashamed to admit that when I was asked to join my attitude was that " well what he hell, it's $77 and I can afford to throw that money away" but I also realized that a typical December for me consists of eating whatever I lay my eyes  on whether I really like it/ want it and feeling annoyance and gaining about 8 pounds ( at least). I also realized that even I can stick to something for 21 days.
Well in short I loved it, I gave up International Delight in my coffee which I knew was terrible but I was addicted to, almost ditched the sugar and confronted the ugly truth about just how much sugar and carbs I was consuming in an average day. I also love the workouts and can't go to bed without my date with Autumn. Anyone that has met the 21 day fix knows who Autumn is and I love her. So I lost 6 pounds and gain tone and muscle and love it love it love it.

So... The point is that my New Years resolution is simply to continue with it. I feel different, I feel good and I am going to keep feeling that way.

The other resolution is to repaint the interior of the house this year which means of course that my part in this will be choosing colours and supervision.

And finally save for our vacations from this day forward. We are in a position for the first time in a while to return to this and I am embracing it fully. I plan to save like its the new trend.

First snowfall of the season and what we did with it.....

I instagrammed everything and had some fun...

Currently..... Christmas

This Christmas was another green one, much to my childrens disgust. But despite the lack of the white stuff and the punishingly warm temps we managed it. There was a lack of Christmas crackling logs on the fire as it was way too warm for that on the big day and absolutely no reindeer tracks on a white roof but it was a festive and merry event.

But first... backing up a bit to a couple of weeks ago when I discovered Instagram and got this shot:

Which got me to thinking and resulted in this hair cut (for the season ya know):

Instagram also featured in our Christmas walk around Oakfield park and enabled me to get a picture of Duke that shows his coat colours way better than before;

Our Christmas living room;

My youngest rocking the polar bear onesie on Christmas morning;

It was a polar bear event:

According to the weather network its going to snow today, so I am waiting for the commencement of this event to see if it will require the use of the snowblower thats currently resting its heels in the garage.

November cookie exchange

Still waiting for it to get truly cold, it rained today so there's mud everywhere which is horrid. It's been hard to get the motivation required to get Christmas off the ground this year and I am sure that's weather related.
Tomorrow I am at a cookie exchange which was a great idea three weeks ago when I signed up for it, not so great this morning. The prospect of whipping up 6 dozen cookies broke me out in a cold sweat, but Pinterest prevailed and today I discovered the beauty of cake mix and Kool whip and peppermint chocolate chips. Voila I have managed 6 different cookies and impressed myself actually.
I had some help to be honest, Lily hung around and got involved which turned it into a great afternoon.

M&M and confetti cookies

 Peppermint and white chocolate bark

Lemon crinkle cookies

My little sous chef

Oh and I discovered how incredibly easy it is to make fudge too - go me!

And then I went to the barn and hung out with the cuddliest horse on the planet:

Here's one from September with his pal Tommy, they are a funny pair:

I know I will regret this statement come mid February - but here goes - "bring on the snow!", it looks all kinds of wrong to have a lit snowman on the lawn when its still green. There its out in the Universe now!!!

my trip to England

Its raining outside - buckets! But its warm, at 12C I think its one of the warmest November 13th I have seen since moving to this spot on the planet.
I feel thankful that I have a window at work, the sound of the rain against the glass is soothing (although frankly it can stop by the time I need to leave work, please and thankyou)

So I had a week in England recently and it was pretty nice actually.
It was warm.
People know how to drive and I mean they know. I zipped around in a Kia Piccanto and navigated narrow streets and congestion pretty expertly if I say so myself. This is entirely due to the way English drivers conduct themselves and also due to my traffic jam attitude of "lets bypass the time of sitting here by gazing around at my surroundings" - namely the English countryside outside of Arundel - its beautiful there. (And I really miss stiles and footpaths and I was stuck right next to one - happy days).

I took in (in awe) the 89p price for 2 litres of milk at Asda (how are farmers feeding their cows?) and the 3 pounds for a bottle of wine - 3 pounds!!!
And it wasnt any old wine either, this is wine I would happily drink and did!
I discovered too that I had forgotten the depths of English bath tubs differ to Canadian ones. I nearly broke my leg stepping down way further than I had expected when getting out and taking a slide across the floor.

I ate way too much chocolate and spent way too much time getting lost. It was a case of "yes I can drive to Lingfield, absolutely" and then the realization that I can no longer remember which village is which and there is some distance between Lingfield, Cuckfield, Ditchling and Faygate. I had to resort to GPS and then I couldnt easily recall the best and fastest routes. I was a true tourist in my home country.

So back to here in Nova Scotia. Its raining, its warm, its windy and I am wondering if having winter tires put on in October (new ones too) was the smartest choice.

Halloween and my Fitness pal - yes they dont have to be mutually exclusive....

So I have failed dismally at really enjoying Halloween at its finest. I didn’t make toffee apples, I didn’t dress up (walking around in my Wonder Woman onsie under my winter jacket doesn’t count when you have short blonde hair!) I didn’t make my children amazing outfits and I didn’t manage to watch a Halloween horror movie – AT ALL!

I have come to the realization that my horror movie options are a tad limited. I cant do these new fangled ones with “jump scenes”, I can’t do chase, I cant do gore, I can barely do paranormal and that’s limited to pots and pans moving around on their own and absolutely does not include scenes of people twisted into abnormal grotesque shapes as they fight off some demon. I cant watch anything that suggests that 3am is a dangerous time to suddenly and for no reason wake up at night…

I decided to watch The Conjuring as it had almost 5 stars but sensibly opted to check out the trailer on you tube first. I didn’t make it through. Waaay too freaky for me.

So with a lack of easy to watch Halloween horrors on Netflix I gave up. Nothing on there that I can deal with. No Poltergeist, no original Amityville (the new one is hideous), no Scream, no Jeepers creepers, no Stephen King anywhere at all….

Girls were happy though, they came home with an abundance of sugar and fat laden treats that now mock me because I am not allowed them. I have decided to have a “good” November so that I can enjoy December (in a conservative eating fashion admittedly but still EAT without too much guilt tacked on)

We are now on November 3^rd. 3 days in and I am updating my Fitness Pal religiously and climbing stairs at work like theres no tomorrow. I am embracing the 10 minute brisk walk from where my car is parked to the office and back (so 4 lots of that trip each day – get in!) and trying to ignore my inner voice that pipes up that its easy NOW of course as its not actually what one would call “cold” yet. I gleefully complete each day on that bit of software and its promised me each day so far that “if every day were like this you would lose like 10 pounds in 4 weeks” Now this all sounds good but I have in fact seen this before and I think it lies frankly to keep you going. Still that completion each day is still something to look forward to.

Watch this space... I am hoping to be able to report in at the end of this month that this time it told the truth.

early October in this house

I am writing this whilst staring at the trio of baby pumpkins on the dining room table. The remains of this bad boy are also in my line of vision (the remains equals the cupcake case btw)

I know I should have ironed the place-mats but on a good weather Thanksgiving weekend who has the time?

Its been a good one. The weather has been ace - today is REALLY warm and has allowed me to go and see to the horse, go for a 10km bike ride and walk the dogs. I needed all that exercise frankly to enable me to snarf that cake down.

So a mini update:

Loving - the weather, my new boots, pumpkin pancakes
Wanting - Starbucks pumpkin spice latte - that desire started last week but there is no Starbucks on the west coast of Newfoundland (where I was) - FML

Feeling - tired still from the whistle stop tour of the West Coast and the boat ride that got me there. The overnight one where I got no sleep and suddenly decided that I had a fear of being on a boat.

Sunrise at Port aux Basque as we arrived (it was mighty early!)

Watching - Blood and Oil - new awesome series on CTV and Quantico (that had all the makings of something good but so far the jury is out) oh and the new series of Nashville.
Wondering - if I will ever be in a position to own a home in Florida (one can dream on right?!!)
Knowing - that I could never ever ever ever ever live in the UK again. If I had to I dont think I would ever get over it.
Enjoying - evenings in the hot tub. The weather is perfect for it.
Re-finding - my love of running. Its a slow return but by jove its a return!!!
Changing - the house slowly to Fall. I managed to change around the living room to red