March highlights

I can never relax when things are going well; it's as if I know that as soon as I begin to relax something bad comes out of nowhere to disrupt things. As long as I have something to worry about, then nothing can surprise me.

This often steals my attention from the really good things going on in our life and makes me a rather difficult person to live with. So this year, I've decided to try and talk myself down from the edge and remind myself of all the good that I have to be grateful for.
Participating in the Anglesey 10k

I was signed up to a 10k run through work in order to raise for a charity we support throughout the year, Blind Veterans UK. There was a small gang of us participating and I thought it would be an excuse for me to start keeping fit. I bought trainers and active-wear and downloaded Couch 2 5k on my phone. Well, training fell by the wayside a few weeks in and by the time 3rd March rolled around, I hadn't been for a run in about three weeks - I'd barely completed the 3rd week of C25k. But we went did it, we power walked in the rain for most of the way around and had a great natter while we did it. 10k is far. I was glad to get home and into a hot bath, I had stiff legs for a couple of days later though.

Pancake Day
As a girl with a sweet tooth, Pancake day is one of my favourite days of the year. I was working on Shrove Tuesday, so we celebrated a day early when I was off. Ever since I was a little girl, Pancake day in our means eating them all day long. We have pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mark hates them so I buy him a meal for one to have instead. I am always the host, everyone comes to mine and I spend hours on end at the stove - they're eaten as soon as they're made.

Family Days

I have been lucky enough to have a couple of Sunday's off again in March, working in the Hospitality Industry - we don't take Sunday's off for granted so I like to make plans and make the most of them. On the 17th, Mark's Grandparents and Aunt & Uncle came to visit. On the 24th we had a family day, Mark went for a ride out on his bike in the morning and after lunch, we filled the flask and took off for a couple of hours at Plas Newydd. I wanted to take a "Me & Mine" photo and the kids needed to let off some steam after a lazy morning at home.

Celebrating Taid's Birthday

My wonderful Taidy would have been 79 on Tuesday 26th March. It seems we have been hammered with a lot of "firsts" in the short 3 months since losing him on the 22nd December...first Christmas, first new year, my Mam's milestone birthday and our first family gathering without him, my grandmothers birthday, their anniversary and then his birthday. We took my grandmother for breakfast to a cafe in Trearddur Bay followed by an Ice Cream and a walk on the beach. It was a perfect March day and I think it was a fitting way to honour him on his birthday. I thought it would be a sad day, but it wasn't. Three months later it hasn't gotten any easier, I still cry when I think about him but I don't let that happen very often.

Sticking to my Budget
I was a single mother for 4 years before I met Mark, I'd moved out of my parents when I was 20 and had to learn very quickly how to manage my income and outgoings. Life is totally different now, there are two incomes, more outgoings and two other children to feed and clothe. I don't budget now because I have to, I do it because I love it. I set relativlely low budgets almost like a challenge to see how far I can make my money stretch and how much I can put aside in savings. I've set up a spreadsheet on Excel and each page is a different category, I add purchases to it as I go along to see where my money is going and how much I have left. Today is payday for me and I was made up to still have money left over from my March budget. I'm saving for a rainy day really, but I'm quite vague on my definition of a rainy day so I have an excuse why I can't spend it.

GM
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