Happy New Dairy Free Year!!

Happy New Year!!

This pic is a bit of a metaphor for my life, at the mo - muddled and mismatched, with bits missing!

Okay, okay, I'm a bit late I know, but Christmas was sooo busy and I needed to get the Kiddo back to school, myself back into routine, and my house back into some kind of order, before getting back to blogging again! First two achieved, ho hum on the second!

You may have noticed an absence of blog post recently, well the last three months really, and it's not because I didn't WANT to, it was simply a case of not-enough-time-in-the-day. Face Book and Twitter might have got a cheeky little look in from time to time, but certainly not to keep up with longer messages and blog posting - hence lots of posts from the archives on FB, which although perhaps helpful for newbies, not so great for those who have read them before! I've heard it said that young people only get done 1/3 of what they actually plan to do. Well I'm not so young as I was, but it's certainly true of me!


So where have I been? 

Well apart from going on holiday (post to follow), it's been loads of mundane stuff shopping, washing etc. etc. (especially following the holiday), plus birthdays, plus Christmas, plus visiting family, plus seeing friends, plus running a toddler group, plus caring for our pets, plus, plus, plus...

Our house has really suffered - not helped by a lively Kiddo, who is apparently brilliant at tidying and being helpful at school, as well as being incredibly well-organised, but at home?? Not so much!! 

I think a clear out is definitely in order!

This, despite countless boxes, drawers, cupboards etc. being provided for her storage: 

Eeek!

So how did I get into this muddle?

Last year was not a great year for many people - certainly, personally, there were some spots where I was quite poorly, which didn't help the smooth operation of our home, or anything else for that matter. It has felt like fighting an uphill battle to get my health and life back on track. So my plans/resolutions for the New Year are these:

• to clean up/reorganise my house

• to eat more fruit and veg. in the hope that my body will co-operate (I've noted that eating fresh salad every day and drinking orange juice helps)

• to get more exercise 

• to get enough sleep (bad sleeping patterns haven't helped, I think)

All these are so that I can stay healthy enough to get everything else done and be the wife/mother that I want to be.

Hmm! Not setting myself too high an expectation I hope! I don't like setting myself up to fail (note - no diets mentioned here)! 

So, apologies to those who have expected replies and had to wait for them - hopefully I'll catch up with you soon.

Moving onwards...

Meanwhile, on the plus side, 2016 brought new breakthroughs in understanding of how allergies develop and how they might, in some cases be prevented (particularly regarding the prevention of nut allergies*), as well as bringing lots of great new products our way. Some of my personal favourites, this year, were: Koko's new dairy free yogurts (see here), this great new dairy free ice cream by Alpro and these new dairy free choccies by Kinnerton - yum! 

Now, I'm really looking forward to all that this new year will bring, how about you?? What are you looking forward to this year??

Whatever your hopes/dreams/aspirations, I sincerely hope you will have a happy and healthy New Year!

* NB: For more information about the prevention of nut allergies, please see Dr Carina Venter RD's  excellent blog