2014 aims in Diary

It's only January 5th but I'm quite pleased with my 2014 aims already.

Staying dry for January One weekend passed and not a single drop of alcohol passed my lips. I was quite tempted as we got loads of alchohol for Christmas; I alone received a bottle of Southern Comfort, bottle of vodka and about six bottles of wine! We also have two crates of lager in the house. But I didn't have any of it. Only three more weekends to go.

Going vegetarian in 2014 Making progress. Tins of Heinz soup were 50p in Asda so I stocked up on mushroom, tomato, vegetable and lentil. Luckily, mushroom soup and tomato soup are two of my favourites! I also bought myself a broccoli and cheese quiche and some Linda McCartney products for when Jay makes sausages or Southern fried chicken, I can have those while he has the meat versions. I don't think I've ever had veggie sausages or veggie breaded 'chicken' before, I hope it's tasty!

Going self employed in 2014 I actually applied for a part time job last week to replace my full time one. I need to earn enough to pay my half of the household bills and working about 20-25 hours a week should cover this. This will give me extra time to build up my business as I'll be free from 2pm each day instead of 6pm.

I sold my old Kindle Fire on eBay as I won the new version in the works Christmas raffle. I got £90 for that, and I also sold my pole dancing pole as I haven't used it for two years and have nowhere to put it up in this house anyway; I got £122 for that, I was only expecting about £80! So I'm putting that with my Christmas money and keeping it aside for buying a laptop. I've decided to leave this for as long as possible; either until mine dies or until I get the business up and running. I figure the longer I wait, the better model I'll get for my money.

I'm also getting £350 for photographing the annual conference for Jay's work, so that's also going towards my Going Self Employed fund. The conference was super boring. The company sells screws, circular saws and such things and I had to take photos of people giving lectures on these topics. On the first day I went to work and worked for nine hours, I then walked Roxy (my 2nd job) and went straight to the awards evening for the conference (my 3rd job of the day!) which finished at 11pm, so I had a 15 hour working day...! I then had to get up and leave the house less than seven hours after I got in and go to the lecture part of the conference. I was so tired by the end!

Here's one photo from the conference, which is of Jay receiving his five years service certificate.

In other news, I might be going to another festival with my sister. She's really keen on Altfest. I've looked at the lineup and I'm not mega excited by any of the bands but early bird tickets are cheaper than other festivals and she's offered to pay for my ticket to make up presents for two of my birthdays :o) It'll be fun anyway to spend time at a festival with my sister and I might find some new bands to like. I've decided I need to pack a lot more smartly this time, though, as I could hardly carry my bags last time and had to keep stopping literally every two minutes. For a start, I need to get a sleeping bag instead of trying to carry huge blanket rolls. I also need to take about half as many clothes as I didn't wear them all last time.

If 2014 carries on the way it's started, I think it'll be a very good year.