2014...

Well it's been a whirlwind! I've achieved some things, others have gone on the back burner and others I've disregarded completely oops!  But I've reviewed my blog post of what I wanted to achieve this year, so here goes... 

1. Send birthday cards and on time

I sent them, although I haven't got the on time bit down yet!

2. Walk the dog more

I'm rubbish!

3. Finish more projects

Well I've not started any, does that count??!!

4. Shop better and cook more

I'm getting better at this!

5. Exercise more

I started out well, I even took up Zumba at least twice a week! But then I hurt my back, had a holiday, hurt my back some more and I'm still sat on the sofa - must try harder!!

6. WW certificate

Nope!

7. Moonlight Memories walk

Yeah we so did it, and we raised just short of £1200!

8. Read more books

I read loads on holiday! Can thoroughly recommend 'Pay it forward' by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Best book I've read this year!

9. Race for life

I didn't do it, but proudly watched my beautiful step daughter cross the line of her first 10k run!

10. Grow some veg

I only went and grew my first ever courgette - so chuffed!!  I try every year and every year I fail!

11. Manage my time better

I'll get back to you on this one!

12. Cut down on booze

I didn't even manage a dry January!!

13. Manage our money back

Ask my bank manager ha!

14. Make more of an effort

Still working on this!

So as you can see, much like my school reports this should read, 'Samantha could do better if she applied herself more and stopped gossiping'. Am I upset? Nah. Life is for living and I've certainly lived it! Maybe next year I'll concentrate on one or two things rather than a list ha!

I'll keep you posted, Sammy xx

We did it....

We did it, we're amazing, we are Portsmouth!

Saturday saw the Rucksack project event for this year, organised by Joanne Tindle, a massive success!  We all know all about it now, if not have a flick back through some older blog posts of mine and check out www.rucksackproject.org, and it's amazing so many people took part!

Mum popped down on the day to help out (we were in Brighton for the day), met some amazing people and saw first hand the sheer volume of kindness in Portsmouth.

My mum, Tracey!

They think now after various tally's that 1500 rucksacks were donated plus bags and bags of extras. Wow. Just wow.  Who'dve thunk it?  We managed 8 rucksacks plus extras thanks to the generousity of friends, family and colleagues donating items.

Here are a few articles etc on the day...

http://m.portsmouth.co.uk/news/huge-support-for-rucksack-project-in-portsmouth-1-6461170

http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Hampshire/Portsmouth/PO6/News/Local-News/281426-Portsmouth-People-Delivered-for-City-Rucksack-Project

Well done Portsmouth, you are an amazing city, with amazing people. Much love to you all.  I'm so pleased everyone has well and truly grasped, ''its nice to be nice'.  No we haven't solved a crisis, but we have helped in a small way to make some people's lives a little easier.

Same time next year yeah?

TTFN, Sammy xx

I'm not all about the base....

So I keep hearing the song, it’s terribly catchy and I must admit I quite liked it at first, until I actually heard it more and more and listened to the lyrics and then it simply made me quite cross!

 

I completely agree with some of the lyrics, but others I couldn’t disagree with more!

 

Body snark is widely written about amongst bloggers, George being one from ‘fuller figure, fuller bust’ (fullerfigurefullerbust.com - couldn't recommend this blog more!) and I must say, I had never heard the term before I read her blog but can completely and totally relate to it.  

Us fat people have some kind of invisible protection, no one is allowed to call us fat or use derogatory terms, there’s lots of nice fluffy names for us, ‘curvy’, ‘voluptuous’ etc etc and yet it is deemed acceptable for us to call slimmer girls ‘sticks’, ‘ill’, ‘anorexic’ etc; how is this??

 

I completely understand that we are giving out wrong images to young girls, airbrushing magazine images, the peer pressure to be thin etc and this needs to stop but so does the slim girl hate, or being mean about anyone's shape/size, now defined as body snark.

 

So back to the bass….  I completely agree with ‘Cause every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top’, but shouldn’t this apply to everyone?  Why should we exclude slimmer girls from this, are they not beautiful too?  Meghan Trainer then goes on to say, ‘My mama she told me don’t worry about your size’, again a very applause worthy statement, but to be backed up with, ‘I won’t be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll’.  If you shouldn’t have to worry about your size – surely again this must include everyone, not people who are over weight. 

 

While we’re on the topic…. What exactly is wrong with a Barbie doll?  Didn’t we all play with them and love them as children?  And silicone?  What is wrong with that, if you are unhappy with your body and want to change it, it should be up to you and you should not be judged on it!  I bet if I wanted a gastric band and lipo no one would write a song about not wanting to be me?

 

Why are we so mean?  Why is it deemed acceptable to have pictures depicting a slim girl in a bikini with the caption ‘Only dogs like bones’, and the personal favourite, 'Real women have curves'. Yet we never see picture saying ‘Save the whales, harpoon a fat bird’?  Are we saying that not all women are real? Are we saying that slimmer girls have no feelings, that we can say all these hurtful things and it’s fine?  No I think not.

 

I can admit, it can be frustrating for someone with a lot of weight to lose, when a very slimmer lady says she is off to weight watchers or the gym to shed the extra pounds.  For me personally I'm just jealous, I’d like to be in that position where I only had a few pounds left to lose, but one day that will be me (I hope!).  But we shouldn’t admonish these people, slimmer people are allowed to feel uncomfortable in their body and want to tone up and lose weight too, we shouldn’t just look at someone and say ‘er no why do YOU want to lose weigh’, no one certainly ever asks me!  If they want to make a change, they have every right, the same as anyone else.

 

C’mon girls, we are girls/ladies/women, whatever you want to call us – but shouldn’t we all stick together?  We have enough negativity from people without turning on each other due to the way we look.  Can we not just celebrate each other, no matter what size?

So no, I'm not all about the base and saddened that anyone is!

 

Oh to live in a perfect World….

 

TTFN, Sammy xx

 

Ps… I do know that us fat people are referred to in derogatory terms and this is not acceptable as well.  But just because of this doesn’t mean we should be objective and horrible about anyone else.  We know what it feels like – why would you ever want to make anyone else feel like that about themselves.

Ready for the Rucksack Project Saturday 6th December 2014

All bags re-packed with the extra items we required and the 'dear police officer' slips.  Everything done up and ready to go!

So pleased with our efforts and the kind help and donations from everyone else, we couldn't have done it without you!  You guys really are amazing, thank you all so much.

8 rucksacks for 8 homeless people, best Christmas gifts we could give this year, ever! Plus a bag of toiletries for Centre Point, including toothpastes and soap, a bag of boots, and four bags of spare clothes/hats/socks etc for the charities to fill their stock rooms with!  

All currently held in my mums bathroom, ready for the event on Saturday at Portsmouth Watersports Centre. (Yes the bath is full of rucksacks!)

A Big thank you and well done to the amazing Joanne Tindle for organising this years event in Portsmouth - same time next year eh?!  I can't be there Saturday, but mum is off to help for the day and of course take down our offerings. 

So proud to be part of the event again with my Mum. To help people less fortunate than us, to give an amazing gift at Christmas and hopefully help make a difference to someone's life.  Remember it's not about one person doing something big to change the world, but lots of people doing small things to get the change in motion. 

Everyone deserves a home, somewhere to live, but some people don't have that opportunity. All it takes is a random act of kindness and for people to then pay that kindness forward, make this your random act of kindness... it's getting cold out there... have a warm heart. 

Thank you all xxx

Quote from The Rucksack Project Website... (rucksackproject.org)

'THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT

There are two films that really affected me and planted the seeds for The Rucksack Project. The first is Pay it Forward, the story of a young boy who, inspired by his teacher, comes up with an idea to change the world... by doing a big favour for three people, who must not pay back the favour, but pay it forward.. buy each doing three big favours for three more people... Random acts of kindness which grow expotentially into a movement of kindness that sweeps the nation.

The second film is Scrooged, the Bill Murray classic from 1989 following the well known Charles Dickins Christmas classic. In Murray's version, we see a homeless man who tragically freezes to death after leaving a homeless shelter. At the end of the film, Murray's character says "You can take an old blanket out of the closet and take it out and give it to someone.. you can make them a sandwich and say 'here!'"

The two things merged one fantastic day and the idea was born to fill a rucksack with stuff to get a lost soul through a freezing winter - something that would last longer than a bag of food or 50 pence.'