Jenn Johnson

Anything from sketching, crafting and wiping runny noses, to diets, fad diets and numerous attempts at a healthy lifestyle 😊

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Forever Living Clean 9

So today I've decided to start something I've been planning to do for quite a while now....purchased the C9 pack from a local distributor and jumped in at the deep end! The Pack.... Comes all packaged neatly in a little compact box is everything you need to kick start your detox. It contains.... Two x 1 Litre jugs of Aloe Very gel, 1 pouch of Forever Lite Ultra shake mix, 18 Forever Therm tablets, 54 Forever Gardenia Plus tablets 9 sachets of Forever Fiber Tape measure and booklet I got up this morning and weighed myself, measured my biceps, hips, waist, thighs, calfs and chest. It is advised that you do all this on days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 and keep a record of your results. Oh boy will I be disappointed if this doesn't work.....please let this be thee fad diet that actually works??!! I'm actually finding it a little strange I am looking forward to this, fingers crossed this is the kick-start I need for a longer successful weight loss journey. Right, that's me sitting in bed at midnight after day 1, rather hungry n could go some proper solid food but I am actually so surprised how well today went. I'm feeling a little disappointed in myself for using some free foods but I suppose these free foods are suggested to help you out ...Right??!!! I had some broccoli with some pepper and a tiny wee squirt of lemon juice just to add a little flavour. I also had a pear 😢 It is also advised that you exercise lightly for 30 mins on the first day so I opted to take the kids swimming and the dog a walk.....it counts 😂 Even took the kids to McDonald's and managed to sit there strong with my milkshake and gel, which btw, tastes the way I'd imagine bleach to taste like, but, already I'm finding myself getting used to it. I am now going to go to sleep feeling more positive about tomorrow and I'm going to try my hardest to go all day without cheating..... DAY ONE IS COMPLETED!!

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Being a Stay-at-Home Parent is a Luxury — For Your Spouse

I realized, for the first time ever, that I don't have anything to prove. To anyone — including myself.

I realized, for the first time ever, that I don't have anything to prove.

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Baby Brain (or just a Blonde Moment or 10)

Is baby brain a valid excuse when your youngest is 3??!!! 😏

Well, like I predicted, I suck at blogging! All day I walk around mumbling to myself “ooh, need to blog about that!” Or the kids come out with crazy patter n I think “I’ll need to remember that one for my blog” But I never do, hence why this is technically my 3rd blog in like AGES!!

Anyway, being the forgetful, unorganised mum that I am, I’ve always wondered does baby brain really exist? If so how long does it last and how long can you use it as a valid excuse to explain your nutty, unorganised chaotic life??!! Ye well my youngest will be a big three years old in a weeks time and I’m STILL doing all those silly things I put down to baby brain when I was pregnant with my first baby 11 years ago! 😄 I remember when I was first pregnant many moons ago I began to become less punctual, very forgetful and started doing really unexplainably wacky things. Everyone all used to say “thats it, you have baby brain now” but I was still not 100% sure this “baby brain” existed and thought it was a silly excuse that forgetful people just used as a scapegoat. Then I remember getting to the 20 week stage these little incidents had became a regular occurrence. I had a serious craving for strawberries! One night I bought myself a box and stood and chopped the stalks off one by one, throwing the strawberry in the bin and the stalk in a bowl ready to take through and enjoy. You can imagine how gutted I was when my brain finally switched on and all I had left was a lovely bowl of stalks 😭 ……Why! Just why! My mum used to tell me funny little stories about my gran doing random dumb things like putting her completed competition crossword in an envelope to post, making a mistake when writing out the envelope and ripping up the envelope……with the crossword inside 😄 Or coming in from the shops and putting her purse in the fridge and stuffing the cold meat down the side of her armchair where her purse usually hides! This made me giggle as I knew my gran was a very intelligent woman and for her to do a stupid thing like that was just so out of character. Let’s not forget she was in her sixties and old age was taking its toll……..I was 20 years old and adamant I had truely lost my marbles! I then became a firm believer in baby brain! But now the question is, how long do I have this terrible condition? It’s been 3 years since I was pregnant and none of my babies are babies anymore, so how do I explain struggling in yesterday with 2 bags of shopping, balancing bags up my arms in order to reach into my pocket for my keys to turn round and try and lock my……garden gate??? Really???!!! I then did that embarrassing scan of all the neighbours windows, you know the one you do when you fall and you wonder if anyone saw it! I was so happy to see no neighbours witnessed this ridiculous behaviour 😅 phew! There was also the time I turned up for a doctor’s appointment with my top very noticeably inside out AND back to front. And what about all the times I will take time to put down the cups of tea in my hands on the way out the kitchen to turn on the light thinking I’m turning it off (it was obviously already off as it’s broad daylight) The list of examples go on and on, I’m not going to list them all in the fear of being locked up for my own safety. So my conclusion is….yes, baby brain exists, yes you can use it as a valid excuse and it stays valid for as long as you continue to act unexplainably senseless! I am an avid sufferer, so therefore I am qualified to diagnose myself with this indefinitely!

Thanks for reading, keep checking out my blog for more mummy/crafty posts in the future……..if I remember to post them that is 😄😄😄

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Painting complete 😁

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A wee sketch I’ve been working on 😊

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'Sleekit' Here is another one of my sketches, it's called sleekit meaning sneaky in Scots dialect. I love the way the groom walks along with his hidden bottle of Buckfast behind his back 😉

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Jamie, Alicia, Hunter, Jamie ❤❤❤❤

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#Dumbarton #olddistillery #whiskeydistillery #whiskey #BallantinesWhiskey #distillery #derelict

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#riversideparishchurch #Dumbarton #churchstreet #highstreetdumbarton

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#Dumbarton #dumbartonbridge #westbridgend #bridge #arches #river #riverleven

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#myhometown #DumbartonCastle #Dumbarton #TheRock #SonsOfTheRock #LevengrovePark #Spring #Summer

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‘Drookit’ - extremely wet, drenched I just love Scottish dialect. This is a sketch I did of a typical Scottish wedding. The groom is having to hold the brides wedding dress up to stop it from sitting in the boggin’ (dirty) puddle. She has wellies to match her brolly (umbrella) Available now over on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScotSketches?ref=shopsection_shophome_leftnav

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Every mum who has children of school age will know what I mean when I talk about the mixed feelings of school holidays. It’s great to get a break from the daily routine of the school run, a break from the getting up very early, from the tantrums when trying to brush your daughters hair in a rush, from the frustration when your seven year old daughter refuses to put on her uniform as it’s against her individuality…..well, maybe that’s just my daughter who does that 😏 but you get the picture, it can be something to look forward to but at the same time it creates new problems. So they are off from school, the problem is, how do you amuse a 10 year old boy, a seven year old girl and a two year old toddler all at the one time without chopping yourself into three and winning the lottery for expensive trips out. This is why we created ‘The Ice Cream Challenge’ All kids love ice cream…..right??!! Well mines do, they love it! So in order to do the challenge, we have to pick a place to go, plan the journey on public transport, letting Jamie learn how to read bus timetables (after all he is going to the big high school next year 😨 eek!) Alicia gets to Google places that sell ice cream in the area we are about to travel and whether they are walking distance from the bus/train station, and discuss with Hunter the different flavours and what colours they all are…….plenty to keep them amused while teaching them valuable life skills without them realising it’s the holidays and they are still learning 😜 Once we get there, we have to TRY n not buy any flavours we have tried before encouraging them to experiment and be adventurous when it comes to new tastes. We then have to give them a mark out of 10, pose for a photo and enjoy! Trust me, this game is a life saver for all you mums-or dads who dread that trip to the city, with kids who would rather be anywhere else but in the city. It’s also not too expensive and I can assure u it’s soon on the top of their 'to do’ lists. I would have loved this game as a child, when I was wee I loved ice cream, still do😋 I’d be out playing with my pals and you’d hear that jingle of the ice cream van as it parked up at the stop before yours and you know you only have five minutes to get home, get money n run! In my case though it was a case of raiding the hall cupboard for the empty ginger/juice/pop bottles to take back to the van for the 10 pence refund…….or as we called them in the west of Scotland ……..Gless cheques, Gingies, empties! It always amazed me that the man in the ice cream van was willing to buy an empty bottle from you for 10p BARGAIN! It was this memory which inspired one of my first Scot Sketches called 'Gless cheques’ *photo attached Please like and share my post. I am very new to blogging and would appreciate any help I can get, or any advice from you fellow bloggers.

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Blogging.......My first time 😬

Blogging has always been a scary thought as I’ve never known enough about it (still don’t) but thought I’d give it a go anyway.

Now I have eventually took the next step and joined Tumblr, I’ve hit a blank……what do I blog about???!!

I am a mummy of three children, all very different and unique but have similarities and share the same silly wee quirks. My eldest son Jamie is 10. He is such a laid back easy going kid, active and generally does good in all academic fields. Alicia, aged 7 is my only daughter. This girl is some character! Very clever (probably too clever sometimes 😏) and has a seriously short fuse! Last but not least is my not so little baby Hunter aged 2, the most stubborn and awkward kid I’ve ever met yet can melt your heart just by looking at you. He is at a very comical age atm. Sometimes I think back to when Jamie was Hunter’s age and remember he used to amaze me every day with witty little comments and hilarious banter but I can’t remember all those funny little things that cracked me up, which is one reason I’d like to create a mummy blog. Like a journal, only anyone can read it (or not) but either way it’ll be there forever. I’m a very sentimental person sometimes.

I also like to consider myself a proud Scot and love my beautiful country so what better thing to look to for inspiration, as I begin my new hobby Scot Sketches. I’ve had a really enjoyable childhood and loved growing up in a wee housing scheme outside Glasgow. I have been using some of my funny memories of teenage life to create rough sketches and try and produce some pieces of art. My drawing skills are very rusty atm as I’ve not drawn since I left secondary school around 14 years ago, which can be very frustrating as I have a vision of what I want it to look like but can’t quite match my expectations. So that’s a brief wee description of my life and what you may find in my blogs in the future. Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism or any pointers on things you would like to see in my blog, and if you find my stuff at all interesting…..share away! Thank You!