You to Do -Missions to Accomplish

My husband is a genius when it comes to finding new and interesting things to do. He seems to have a knack of knowing what we enjoy individually and as a family and his ideas help to make family time fun. As the kids have got older it’s been harder to find cheap ways to lure the kids from their rooms to spend time with us old fogies but my husband came through with this little gem; the You to Do, Missions to Accomplish chart.

This chart has 5 columns and spaces for 5 names and below it is a list of a wide variety of different activities. There is literally something for anyone and for every season; you get to tick the chart when you catch a snowflake on your tongue and when you swim in the sea! There are also different sizes of challenge; you could spend 5 minutes a day for a week learning a new word each day or you could spend a few seconds feeding the birds.

My kids immediately loved this idea and are both asking when they can make home made pizza or flip pancakes so they can tick those boxes. I also love the idea that there are so many tasks and the variety is such that this will keep everyone interested for quite a while and if anyone should say they are bored I can challenge them to a quick task like, draw a self portrait.

Definitely a 10 out of 10 for the You to Do Chart which you can buy here.

Diet Doodle Diary

Following my wake up call I have been looking at ways of motivating myself to stay on track with my healthy living plan. Instagram has been great because there are so many accounts with before and after slimming pictures and there are also fantastic ideas for healthy meals and exercise tips. Whilst I was flicking through the pictures I spotted that several people had mentioned the Diet Doodle Diary and from the pictures I thought it might be fun to have one too! I was using a notebook to keep a food diary but as well as being a food diary this book contains tips, motivational quotes and unique ways to set goals.

There are interesting ways of measuring your progress including whether your boots will zip up to your knees and how to make small changes that will add up to increase your confidence. The drawings are fabulous, the advice is great and if you are looking for a lifestyle change this book will encourage you to develop in different areas of your life. The book also acts as a journal for you to note how you are feeling and there are plenty of inspirational and amusing quotes to spur you on.

I’m not the most confident person and I find that if I get too discouraged  I quit! This book really helps to look at things from a different perspective and rather than buying into the myth that when you lose weight your life will change it encourages you to increase your confidence levels so that you are more likely to succeed and from that success you can learn to build confidence in other areas.

I would definitely recommend this book as a gift to anyone you know starting a healthy living plan and if you are starting any kind of diet change I recommend you buy a copy for yourself too.

The Diet Doodle Diary was illustrated by Julie Mackey and is available here.