Week 3 ... where nothing much happens ...

It's been a fairly quiet week here on the 101 list front. I've been looking through the list and saying "eek!" a lot at the things I'm supposed to do once a month and haven't, with less than 2 weeks to go I need to get a move on!

I've kept up with my weekly £1 into my terramundi. So far the pot has had more put into it in the last 3 weeks than the last couple of years at least! I've also made time to sit and read with Izzy if I think she's in need of quiet time. I don't really count the times I use books to distract her for five minutes!

I've used the slow cooker twice. Last week I made sausages in cider - actually, apple juice - which was pretty good. This evening I served up a type of Chinese braised beef. It was ok and really flaky but disappointingly chewy, and although Adam liked the subtle flavours I thought it was a bit weak. Still, I've used the slow cooker so that's good! I worked out that using the slow cooker once every two weeks Oct-Mar is approximately 59 times, so I've rounded that up to 60.

Last week I had the NCT mummies over. This time there was a lot less snow and all but one of them made it - this meant 7 mummies and 7 babies all squeezed into our lounge! Suddenly the place looked very small! I made a cake for it, a St Clement's Drizzle Cake - basically lemon drizzle cake but with orange as well. This wasn't overly new to me as I've made a lemon drizzle cake before, but this recipe was new, from In The Mood For Entertaining by the fabulous Jo Pratt. It was pretty yummy and it seemed to go down well with the NCTMs.

I've done the Davina workout DVD another 2 times too. Last Thursday evening (another "oh god, I've not done it this week yet" moment) and then on Sunday when Adam took Izzy out to the city with him. I promptly wrecked all my work by eating 3 pieces of chocolate orange, yum ...

As for our Love Film DVDs, we've had 2 since Black Sheep. Battlestar Galactica: Razor was sent straight back without watching as Adam now owns it, and he watched Transformers on Saturday night when I went to bed early.

Finally, we watched Up ... those first 10 minutes are so emotional! Pretty funny though.

Crikey - it makes me look a lot busier than I feel I've been!

Heel pushes & rotating wrists

Last night I suddenly realised that it was day 7, and I was on the verge of failing #53, try my exercise DVD once a week.

Now, my exercise DVD is Davina's Pre and Post Natal Workout, and despite having a baby 29 weeks ago, I'm probably not technically classed as Post Natal anymore. But still, got to start somewhere, and as husband was upstairs giving the girl her final feed of the day, I braved the scary new BluRay player and put it on. I did the warm up, toning, and stretch and relax portions - skipping the aerobics - but it was half 7 and I was knackered and wearing jeans, which isn't the best outfit for aerobicising in. It wasn't too bad, really, although Davina is exactly like that impression of her (as performed by Deborah Stephenson, I think).

I've attempted this week inviting the other mummies over. I had hoped to have the yoga mummies for lunch today. There are 4 of them, but only one made it - stupid snow! Does that still count?

I met the yoga mummies pretty much exactly a year ago, at (somewhat unsurprisingly) antenatal yoga. At the time I was almost 17 weeks pregnant and actually weighed less than I did before conceiving - damn morning sickness. The YMs and I ended up talking because we were, I think, the only first time mums in the group. As a result, we were able to stay later after each class, chatting, because we didn't have toddlers to get home to. We went through 3 1/2 courses (of 6 weeks each) together, and 3 of us regularly attended aqua aerobics at the university. Eventually by the final yoga session, we were down to 2 of us, with the third baby born that lunchtime and the fourth that night - I was in full blown labour in that final class! We;ve all since gone through postnatal and baby yoga sessions together, as well as regular lunches at each other's houses and had a night out when the first YM went back to work. They are lovely girls and the babies (4 girls and a boy) are a pretty cute bunch too.

I'm supposed to be hosting the NCT ladies too on Tuesday, and I've decided to try and kill two birds with one stone by making a cake for the occasion over the weekend. Now just need to cross fingers that a) the snow holds off and b) that I can get to the shops for ingredients!

I need to start my book for January soon or I'll never finish it. I'm going to be reading A Darker Domain by Val McDermid. I usually love her stuff - the Tony Hill ones are fab - so I'm hoping this will be equally gripping. I'll let you know.

6 days in ...

Ok, so, I'm making a teeny bit of progress.

Izzy and I have had "quiet time" over the last couple of days and read a book together. She's only 6.5 months and so sharing "That's Not My Fairy" isn't going to win me a spot on Jackanory or anything, but I think she enjoys it. (#81).

This evening, while husband was bathing daughter, I pulled out a couple of vacuum packing bags and started on #20, packing up my maternity clothes. It was weird doing it, even though as previously mentioned, the child is now over 6 months and I don't fit any of the items. In terms of clothing, I quite liked being pregnant. I wore a couple of things I wouldn't normally wear (that's STYLES, not because they were MATERNITY), and discovered in the process that leggings are actually really comfy.

This is in hindsight, of course, at the time I was so immensely frustrated with the lack of choice and nothing being available for anyone under 5'8".

Anyway, all the maternity stuff is awaiting the air removal, and I've put all of Izzy's neutral clothes (pretty much all bought before she was born), her pram and moses basket sheets etc, into another. I just need to add her neutral grobags to it once she's grown out of them - not long now.

I guess I can cross #35 off my list as you're reading the result - but I think to make it count I should add "and update once a month".

#40 - watch Love Film DVDs within a week of receiving. This evening the Husband and I watched this week's offering - Black Sheep. Think Shaun of the Dead, set in New Zealand, with sheep. Shorn of the Dead? I'm not great with horror but this was completely tongue in cheek and had some really funny moments. Pretty gory though!

That's going to be my lot for this evening, it's 10pm and I'm knackered. Staying in all day and trying to amuse Izzy is a lot harder work than you'd think ...

The Beginning ...

So, I'm not great at New Year Resolutions. And then wandering the internet one day, I heard about the Day Zero Project - 1001 days to complete 101 things. And I thought hmmm, ok, let's try this instead. And off I went, thinking of 101 things I'd quite like to do or achieve.

Some of them are tiny things that won't necessarily change my life, like #72, buy new mugs. Some of them are big things, like going on a family holiday (#52). Some are hopefully going to be fun, like #97, have a make up lesson. And others are just going to be plain challenging for me (step forward #62, do a Go Ape course).

I'm finishing in September 2012. So here we go with how I'm doing so far, on day 4:
On Friday, 1st Jan (day 1) it was a quiet day for us. So Adam and I bundled up and put Izzy in her snowsuit, and went for a circuit round the park. Score one for #24!

Yesterday when we took down the Christmas tree, Adam brought the toy box downstairs from Izzy's room, where it has been used to pile things on, and put it in the lounge, filled with all the toys that had just been piled up. Woo hoo - #57 can be crossed off the list! Which means putting £2 into a money box for completing it ... except, I don't have enough change. I do, however, have a £1 coin so that's going in the terramundi for this week's #13.

Stay tuned, list lovers.