Week 13 - Monday Round-up (better late than never?)

Wow, what a week! Strangely it was actually quite a calm and relaxed week in lots of ways, but then suddenly at the end of the week it seemed to pick up momentum and just BAM!

After a nice quiet weekend, I started off the Monday strangely tired. Sadly that tiredness seemed to linger all week long really. In fact, I didn't really recover from it until today (half a week later) which is why this post is so super late! Not only that, but leaving this post so late has meant that I have managed to forget the majority of what happened last week (oops!)

The highlight were:

- Making Mug cakes. After seeing Amy's post about Mug cakes, I decided I wanted to make one. Much like her I'd seen loads on Pintrest but just never gotten around to making them. On Tuesday Chris and I made one each, then on Wednesday I made a couple more with the kids. We had a lot of fun, especially when Uncle Chris' mug overflowed with chocolate cake!

- OUAT and OUAT in Wonderland! Last week, my brother and I finally managed to catch up with Once Upon A Time. So this week it was great to actually keep up, watching the next episode on time. We also managed to make a start on Once Upon A Time In Wonderland (which is just average so far) only to find out it will definitely be cancelled at the end of this season (oh well!).

- Thursday we decided we were having our last takeaway (not ever, but at least for a while). This is for two reasons! One, I want to lose weight - you can see my weight loss journey if you follow Twice the Mum and Weight Loss Wednesday. Two, we need to save money as my brother is moving out this month and we won't have his lodger money any more! **Spoiler Alert** It didn't last long as we had takeaway again this following week. HOWEVER, that will hopefully be our last.

- My Beauty Education began. On Thursday (after my kebab!) I posted about Spring Cleaning my life and as part of that, I want to adventure into new waters - beauty blogging. My first purchase was an Urban Decay pallette which I had been longing for almost a year. However I knew I would have to wait for it to arrive in the post! On Friday I picked up a couple of magazines after work, both of which had free beauty products with them, and started my first lesson.

Friday night I started on Marie Claire. This had a free lip gloss by Neal's Yard Remedies with it. Saturday morning I read Glamour. This had a free eyeliner from Model Co. I tried both beauty products, sniffed several perfume samples and learnt what I like about a magazine and what I don't. There will be a post coming soon about these magazines! I also bought a sample perfume, signed up for Birchbox and joined the Discovery Club at The Fragrance Shop.

- Saturday with the kids. On Saturday, I spent the whole day with the kids and it was lovely. In all honesty it was probably a nicer day than Mother's Day (the following day) as that turned out to be quite stressful and tiring. Chris was at work on Saturday so the girls and I went for a wander around Marshall's Yard in Gainsborough. We went into Browns Department store (as I tried to pass on my new beauty education to the kids), Next, M&S Simply Food and Wilko. On top of that I treated the girls to a cupcake from Cup-Cakes and some sweets from Sweet Tradition (both of which will appear in my Hidden Gem feature soon!)

After Marshall's Yard, we headed to Tesco in order to buy the food for Mother's Day dinner (since I was cooking for 9). I also completely went back on what I'd said about "that" blogging t-shirt for kids - ending up buying it for both my kids. This is because Megan is actually now a blogger (and if you're interested you can find her at Little Princess Blogs) and Lily is pretending to be, while I have her blog set to invite only/private. The day was really about making them happy and the t-shirts did so I'm happy to retract what I said before!

Finally we headed into Gainsborough itself, doing a bit more browsing and shopping in places such as Superdrug and Boots. We ended up buying two Barry M nail polishes, both of which I'd wanted to try (Silk and Gelly), but the girls picked the colours. We came home and painted our nails - again, I'll be reviewing the nail polish in a future post.

The evening continued to be lovely as Nat arrived to re-dip-dye her hair. Since I had decided to try the new Bleach London colours (especially Washed Up Mermaid), I took the opportunity to re-bleach my ends - though I haven't coloured them yet! This means I currently have blonde ends, though I'm actually quite liking them.

- Mothering Sunday. Firstly I just have to say... who the hell decided to make Mother's Day the Daylight Savings day too? As most mothers will know, sleep is something that can be very hard to come by at times! Not only that, but on Mother's Day the kids seem to think its a great idea to wake you nice and early to give you presents and maybe even breakfast in bed. Take an extra hour off that for us and you're already starting to take away from that whole "treat your mum on Mother's Day" thing.. you know? Anyway....

The girls woke Chris at about 9am (new time) and they all headed downstairs to make me breakfast. This was nice as it gave me time to come around and actually be awake before I was presented with food.

I was given pain au chocolat, croissant and french toast (some even with cheese!). I also got a cup of tea made in a huge mug. The girls brought up some food to eat with me too, though we soon had to evacuate the bed when Lily managed to croissant crumbs everywhere!

The girls also got me a beautiful card and a stash of Lush. Though I'm grateful the girls' dad still takes responsibility for Mother's Day presents, I do wish he would listen to the girls though! They wanted to buy me bath bombs and bubble bars (my favourite) but he insisted on a shower gel (which I don't particularly like the smell of) and a bar of soap (that smells great, but I don't use soap... ever). Sadly I'll be giving them away or even selling them - but the thought was there, nonetheless!

After the lovely wake up, it was time to get up and get on with dinner. I cooked chicken wrapped in bacon, with mash and vegetables (also with cheese sauce or peppercorn sauce). We had ice cream, apple pie and chocolate fudge cake all for dessert and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. My present to my mum was mostly the dinner, but I also bought her some gloves which she'd asked me for and a book I'd seen recommended on Amy's blog. The book is called Dear Mum and you can find it on Amazon. The basic concept is that you give your mum the book and she fills it in. There is everything from her life growing up, meeting your dad, having you and various other things. Once completed, she gives it back to you and you have a very unique keepsake. If I get time, I will be posting about this book separately as I really do think its lovely.

Once everyone had left, I was exhausted. I fell asleep snuggled up to Chris on the sofa and didn't wake up for an hour! The rest of the evening was filled with getting the kids to bed and trying to relax. We had an early night and the next week began...

Hopefully I will be on time updating my weekly post this week - fingers crossed! I also hope to post again soon with regard to a lot of the things I've mentioned in this post. Hope you had a great week last week and are having a great one this week too!