The life and times of Libby Withnall

Well, I did it. I was brave and had at least 15cm cut off my hair. Luckily I am very happy with the result.

I can’t believe how much lighter it feels.

It’s been a busy few days with the girls going back to school and having to open the uniform shop twice. Hopefully blogging will get back to normal in the next few days.

that has been what I’ve been trying to decide. Lately my hair has been starting to annoy me. It’s gotten quite long – in fact, I never, ever, thought I’d grow it this long, but I think it’s sitting rather flat.

I  had been thinking of something like this – my hair was straighter when it was shorter. I’d obviously have to grow out the layers but at least I could pull it back if I wanted to.

However, I was watching Glee last night and thought Jayma Mays (Emma’s) new hair style might be better.

What do you think? Should I cut it or let it grow?

Many of you know that I (and much of the scrapbooking world) select a word each year. It was started by Ali Edwards a few years back and has grown each year. You can now even join Ali in an online class called One Little Word.  My words so far have been STRENGTH (2008),  READY (2009) and BELIEVE (2010).

My word for this year came to me so easily – CONSISTENCY.  It really is something I need to work on in many areas of my life

- regular exercise

- healthy eating

- household routines

- cleaning

- time spent with friends and family

- scrapbooking, sewing, knitting and crochet

- keeping up with online classes

- photography

When I do these things on a regular basis all is right in my world so CONSISTENCY really is key for me. And it ties right in with my goals for 2011.

PERSONAL

Develop crochet and sewing skills

Complete Project life – new kit just arrived

Develop photography skills

Master basic digital scrapbooking (and possibly do digital album for our Alaska trip)

Make a list of (non-Romance) books I have to read and work my way through the list

Feel great about myself when I turn 40 in June

Try to find some way to get involved in Amy’s high school

Have more baths (once a week would be great)

Have a full body massage (never felt comfortable enough to do this)

————————————————

HEALTH/FITNESS/FOOD

Follow Weight Watchers and attend meetings every week (where possible)

Maintain regular (2-3 times a week) RCR workouts

Start the Coach to 5K running program

If complete above – look into doing a 5K race

Continue to experiment in the kitchen by trying new recipes

Help Christy to improve her eating

————————————————

HOME

Work out new household routine and incorporate zone cleaning each week

Declutter (again) both the garage and sewing room and  keep them organised

Revise budget and actually stick to it (was doing well up until a few months ago)

Hope the girls to develop, and stick with, their own routines

————————————————

FAMILY/FRIENDS

Make more time for real life friends

Try to make at least one new real life friend (our social set is dropping every year)

Meet at least 2 bloggy friends (have 3 probables at this stage )

Monthly day out with Mum

Weekly family movie night

Monthly family fun day

Time reading with Christy most days

It’s been a pretty good year for me. Lots of great memories, lots of things done with my family. However, personally I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much. I weigh more now than I did at the start of the year, I didn’t get to as much scrapbooking as I usually do and besides making slight progress with my photography I didn’t really make any progress with my hobbies. Some goals were achieved, but more weren’t

PERSONAL

**** Blog EVERY DAY (where possible)    Pretty much – most months had around 30 posts with a low in November of 15!

Take a digital scrapbooking class – already enrolled  Completed, but have already forgotten EVERYTHING and need to redo the class online

Look for some volunteer work (there must be something out there I’d enjoy doing)  NO

Less time on the computer (a tough one for sure)   NO!!!

Complete Project Life (daily photograph)   NO – only got up to April this year but I’m planning to go back and catch up

Develop crocheting and sewing skills   NO but I’ve recently bought some books to help me along

Make more homemade gifts (or buy homemade if necessary)   Didn’t make many homemade gift but I did buy quite a few from Made It

Read more books on simple living, homemade craft, cooking, etc    Not really, though I did do a vegetarian cooking class

Have a fabulous – no regrets – trip to the UK!!!    YES! YES! YES! (even though I wasn’t the weight I had planned to be)

HEALTH/FITNESS/FOOD

Start and Complete the Diamond Club with Valerie Waters Started, not completed

Make at least one new recipe each week   Progress here, definitely getting more adventurous in the kitchen

Get back to menu planning   Somewhat, still need to work on this.

Focus on healthy foods for the whole family   Mixed bag – made great progress with Christy’s eating this year

HOME

Work on making my home more “homey” with craft and handmade items   Yes – still a WIP

Incorporate detailed cleaning into my weekly routine  Did great with us until our trip

Develop veggie garden    Yes, this years is one of the best we’ve had

Try to have fresh flowers in the house most of the time   Yes, and it’s made me so happy

FAMILY/FRIENDS

More one on one time with all family members – make dates if need to.   Yes, but still room for improvement

Spend more time with friends   Besides the Powells no – I’ve become much more reclusive this year now I don’t go up to the school at all.

Monthly family day out (we all loved this when we were doing it)   Mixed bag – I think we mangaged most months

Help Christy with her reading and spelling   Yes, and the results were shown in her school report

Weekly game/movie night   NO

My bloggy friend Heather of Little Tin Bird has been having list week over on her blog and I’ve been inspired to join in with a list about things I’ve been up to this week.

1. Cleaned my house from top to toe.

2. Took Amy to her High School Orientation Day

3. Lamented my fairly new and expensive food processor not working properly.

4. Was thankfully my Mum is right next door so I could borrow her processor to finish making my date & coconut rolls.

5. Took the dogs for lots of lovely sunrise walks.

6. Patted one of my chickens – usually they don’t like to be patted.

7. Planned and prepared our house for visitors.

8.Picked the first zucchinis from the vegetable garden and made zucchini slice.

9. Had a nice lunch with my parents and their friends.

10. Watched Christy riding her brand new bike – her first bike that was not a hand-me down from Amy.

11. Filled uniform orders up at the school.

12. Watched the Hawks beat the Sydney Kings (our arch rivals) by over 20 pts !!!!

13. Attended Amy’s AG Presentation Day

14. Went to the post office to a pick up a parcel that they supposedly tried to deliver …. when I know I was home.

15. Was thrilled with the parcel – two gorgeous aprons and some new placemats that I had ordered online.

16. Drank lots of tea in my Christmas cup.

17. Put out some more Christmas decorations and listened to Christmas music.

18. Started putting a few things together for a Christmas giveaway on my blog (details coming soon)

19. Discovered a new (and wonderful) cooking magazine – Easy Food from the UK

20. Took a trip down memory lane (and got all teary) while listening to a CD I bought in Scotland, by UK band The Munros

21. Took the girls to Roller Skating lessons

22. Had my car washed by the girls and their friends.

23. Received a lovely surprise in the mail – a lovely ball of wool bought my bloggy friend, Chantel.

24.  Managed to drop a mostly empty container (out of the freezer) on my toes and could not believe how much it hurt

25. Had a fantastic day with our friends the Powells and loved hearing all about their trip to Disneyland.

26. Went on another family bike – this time to the local shopping center.

Okay, so I didn’t even know who Michelle Bridges was before Saturday when I signed up for her transformation challenge but I was lucky enough to get to meet her and hear her speak last night. I only found out on Tuesday that she was coming to Wollongong on Wednesday. I wasn’t sure about going until a new internet friend, LanB, who is also doing the challenge, said she’d met with me beforehand. I’m so glad I went. Mish spent quite a bit of time talking to just the two of us (we were half an hour early ) as she knew we were doing the 12WBT. Her talk was inspirational and motivational. And the woman is simply stunning in real life.

Last night certainly helped make for the fact I was unable to attend Valerie’s Red Carpet Beauty and Fitness Summit in LA this weekend .

Thanks to my wonderful blog readers, many of whom sent helpful, caring comments in response to my last post. Many of you suggested getting out for a walk and taking the attitude of “just do it”. So I did. I got myself dressed and out the door before the sun was even over the horizon. I’ve had to stop my walks with the dogs while they were undergoing some training so today was my first normal walk with them – and they were perfectly behaved. Which means I’ll be able to get back to walking them in the morning. I’ve missed our early morning walks. And I’m sure doing them again will help set me up for a happy day.

I was so loving my everyday life before the trip and I did not expect it to be so hard settling back into routine. Hopefully the worst is behind me now. I’m going to work on sticking to my daily routines as well. When I did that the week before last I had a good week. A few of you also suggested I really focus on the positives in my life – and there are so many that it shouldn’t be hard to do . Working on more blog posts should help with that too.

Thanks again. I’m feeling much more optimistic and positive today and am sure I’m going to have a fantastic week.

I’ve been feeling down/ flat ALL this week and I’ve had enough. Not sure what’s going on, though I suspect it’s still travel related . I’ve been working on scrapbooking my photos and I just want to go back in the UK on holiday with my family. This is definitely the hardest I’ve had adjusting after a trip – but I guess it’s also the longest trip we’ve ever had. Last week I thought I was back on track but it wasn’t too be.

The worst part about feeling this way is that I’ve

- not been eating well

- not been exercising

- not wanted to do anything or go anywhere

- not been motivated to blog

- been feeling like a big failure

All of which, does NOT help me get over this funk I’m in. Today I’m supposed to go to my book group and I don’t want to – but I’m planning to make myself go. I know I’ll have a good time once I’m there.

I’m hoping the weather will warm up soon (it’s been cold) as I’m sure that would help my mood. In the meantime I need to get myself excited about things that are coming up – like our Halloween party, being able to plant our vegetable garden, getting back in the swimming pool, etc.

If anyone has any great tips for getting past this sort of feeling please share.

Todays “baby” cow photos were taken at John O’Groats in Scotland. And I’m pretty sure cows never have a down day….. except maybe in Winter when it’s cold and they’re shut inside