Hi, it’s Sharon (aka skyezak) here hosting this week’s Sugarplum Challenge!

I have dealt with some major family issues over the past couple of years and I’ve felt at times like I was never going to get out of the hole that I seemed to be falling deeper into.  So many things kept cropping up around me and one thing just compounded another but being the start of a new year, I thought it no better than to take stock of my life and where I want to be and how I want to live it.  I always have put myself on the backburner and focused on my kids and family first as many Mums do.  I’ve certainly let my health deteriorate and social activities dwindle unless it involved chatting to my cyber-buddies into the wee hours of the morning.  This year I am turning 40, but I mostly feel like I’m going on 50, so my challenge this week is to think of YOU, focus on YOU and scrap about what YOU want to achieve in life.  Whether that be a short-term goal or something that might take much longer to reach for or even just some things about YOU that you want to record for you only.

I have always had trouble managing my weight and when I’m stressed or unhappy about life or not coping well with being a single stay at home Mum, I tend to turn to food as my comfort.  And having a sedentry hobby such as scrapbooking, I don’t tend to do much activity — um, that includes housework if I can scrap instead!  I also have two toddlers under 6, so my wakeup call had to come sooner rather than later if I want to enjoy the fun times with my boys before that precious time just passes me by.  I find it much easier to journal from my heart about the things that impact me greatly in life even though they may be the sad or hard-hitting things that I have experienced, but as the saying goes, all of this does make us stronger.

And here’s a layout from Kiki:

So have a little think about where you want to go this year, what you want to achieve and scrap about it for your chance to win a GC to the fab Sugarplum store! Please use mostly Sugarplum goodies on your layout. You can find Nicole’s stuff at the Sugarplum Paperie shop and at The DigiChick. Nicole has had TONS of freebies, so don’t feel like you can’t play because you haven’t been able to shop. And our winner will be announced here next Friday on the blog. 

Thanks for playing along and have a fantastic week!

ps. congratulations to last week’s winner: Jennifer!

Keep up with the latest Sugarplum News: