Intelligent Women !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in a rut lately (as you all know) and I have been trying to get my head around it.
I have been reading all the other lovely ladies blogs out there and it seems to be a theme at the moment. Helena's comments hit home, we all seems to be finding excuses as to why we aren't losing weight or why we are gaining (like myself).

All the blogs I read are of women who are very intelligent, hard working with great career's and sound very sensible to me. I also look at myself that way and when I do anything in my job, I am committed, meticulous and always make sure each task is done to 100%do the best job I can with NO EXCUSES!

So I can't work out WHY I can't do that in my day to day life (ie. weightloss), why can't I be as committed with myself as I am at work? Is it because I am accountable to someone else if things gone wrong but with my weightloss, I am the one who is accountable and allows myself to 'bend the rules' when it suits me.

I wish I knew the answer's to these questions. I also feel guilty because I get a wee bit of comfort knowing that it isn't just me struggling at the moment either - bad ah because that gives me another excuse (everyone is having trouble blah blah).
I always seem to come up with a perfect excuse as to why I have been bad when I should just 'get on with what I want to do and bugger anyone else'. I work fulltime and have a young family but that really isn't an excuse, if I wanted to find the time to exercise I would. There are thousands of other women out there in the same situation as me and they aren't all overweight ah? *sigh* Ok I think I have that off my chest now, I just need to do something about it, stay posted.

Apart from that, I have nothing else to say......................LOL
Sorry for being so negative, I really hate being negative but I needed to get that off my chest.

Weigh In.....

107.6kgs ..........gain of 400grams *blush*

Well I could say that it was the Triple chocolate brownie I had for lunch the other day but I would be lying. It was the brownie as well as the chinese I ate for dinner last week (Thursday night I think?) plus the fish and chips we had on Friday night (I actually had 2 1/2 chip sandwiches) plus the quick easy crappy food I ate on the weekend (my worse time of the week) which consisted of eggs on toast + extra toast on Saturday morning, toast and toast on Sunday morning and then nuggets, chips and mini pizza's (from the supermarket) last night for dinner...............getting my drift?
Anyway I am thanking my lucky stars it wasn't more than that and I am back to 'Super Diet girl - Mon - Fri'.

Thankfully I got heaps of exercise on the weekend as Andrew and I cleared out our storage unit (saving me $50.00 a week thankyou!) and my muscles are definately feeling it.
Plus I got to list heaps of things (more tonight) on Trademe which have been junking up the place for ages.

.......................

Just got back from lunch (all that typing made me hungry....hehe) and I ate 4 vitaweat's with vegemite and cheese(4.5 points I think) so I'm happy with that.

It started raining on my way back and has now intensified (Bugger!) which will stop Andrew in his tracks as I have just rang him and he has started building our deck out the back (Yay!).
Talking of Andrew, he has a bad back and it has been playing up lately so he has been sleeping on the couch (most of last week) but it was feeling really good on the weekend so he came to bed on Saturday night and by 4am he was in agony again which meant back on the couch he went.
We have a King Size bed which we bought only 3 years ago (cost a fortune) and we got quite a firm mattress (thinking of his back) but the last couple of weeks he just can't sleep on it (poor him, lucky me - king size bed to myself), he has been going to the Osteopath for his usual 'cracking' but to no avail. Here's my dilema - we can't afford a new bed and he can't forever sleep on the couch, so what do we do?

As we spent quite a lot of time at the storage unit on the weekend, we took the kids bikes and they rode around the place (which was empty except for us) for ages which made them really tired and they slept just awesome on the weekend..yay for small miracles.
Adam did have a really rose cheek and I think he is getting his 2 year old teeth but didn't grizzle once (bless him). They are both hypo little boys and the running (or riding) around most of the weekend really worked a treat so we are going to have to think of more activities we can do in the winter that will have the same effect.....hehehe.

Right - back to work I go.

Funny Sparky trio

We have some electrical contractors here at work and I have know them for years.
Anyway, we asked them if they could do Dad's sparky work for the granny flat which they said yes. Everything was done except for the final hook up of the stove which we had to wait for the Linesman to do his bit before our sparkies could come back....................

Well at 7.20am this morning we get a knock at the door (luckily I was already up and dressed for work) it was 2 of the sparkies and they said "Good morning Rach, kettle on?" so I let them in a put the kettle on and started making coffee's. I put my head into the lounge and Mitch (the apprentice) had taken the remote off Andrew and switched the TV over to the scoccer (Ozzie game) and was planted next to Andrew (who was in a t-shirt and undies with a blanket over him as he is still sleeping on the couch due to his bad back) and the other one was standing in the doorway chatting to me. My kids weren't up yet so I was getting their breakfast and clothes organised as I new we would be running late with the Sparkies there plus Andrew had a job interview in Wgtn at 10am, so I wanted to be organised.
Then in popped sparky number 3 and asked if there was any toast left - so I began making toast as well. You might think these boys were being rude but that is not the case at all, both Andrew and I know them quite well and it was really cute. If anyone knows me, they will know I am a real 'mother' type and just love fussing about, so I was as happy as Larry and when Reece and Adam finally woke up they thought it was really cool having all these guys watching TV with them........hehehe.

So we now have Dad totally hooked up and going (I rang not long ago and they had left) with a stove which means he can now cook for himself. I love my Dad to bits but it will be nice to have just my boys and Andrew for dinner again. Dad has been dying to get cooking for himself again as he reckons he has put on weight since eating with us (he lives on Chicken Tonight and Spaghetti Bol).

Andrew went for his interview (Sales Manager blah blah) and wanted to discuss it with me, so he picked me up for lunch................BIG MISTAKE!!!!!
We went to Mitre 10 Mega for lunch (no suprise there) and I got my usual chicken salad with a bowl of trim latte.
I am not going to tell you all that the Triple chocolate brownie I had didn't touch the sides, I think I may have actually inhaled it............LOL. You will also be pleased to know that I am now paying for it with massive heartburn *ouch*.
Since I haven't told any of you about the chocolate brownie - I expect everyone to gasp in suprise when I put on weight next week:-b (when will I ever learn).

I don't have much planned for the weekend apart from clearing out the storage unit we have, I am hoping we get it all done this weekend as I don't want to have to pay another week storage but the weather is suppose to get worse than it is now (which is cold and raining - shock horror).

I have my babies 2nd birthday next Saturday (1st July) so I may brave the shops and get him something. I have completely NO idea what to get him but I think if it involves The Wiggles or a Car of some sort, I will be safe.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Fashionable ........... NOT ME!

Jo and I had a lovely, yummy lunch at Mitre 10 Mega and on our way out, we both spotted gloves, hats and scarfs for the winter.
We both grabbed a pair of gloves and a hat each and I must say I was toastie warm this morning with them on. I also have a lovely scarf that Mum knitted me last year (same wool) in a different colour.
Getting back to my heading 'Fashionable...NOT ME!', I put on my work clothes this morning which consisted of red pants, bone and red top, black shoes, purple jacket, brown gloves and hat and gold, silver and bone scarf..............getting my drift. I didn't look in the mirror before I left for work (bad move) and it wasn't until I got to work and went to get in the lift (I know, I should of walked the 3 flights) which has a full length mirror in it, that I realised how multi-coloured I was and believe me IT WASN'T ATTRACTIVE!!!
I just cringed at myself and preceeded to take off nearly everything (I was then cold) so I didn't look like such a freak *sigh*. I really need some new clothes but don't have the time or money to do anything about it. Maybe if I just got a full length brown (to match gloves and hat) coat, that would hide everything underneath..................LMAO.

I made a really yummy chicken pasta bake for dinner and managed to only have 1 bread roll which is a HUGE improvement on what I usually have (3 or 4 minimum - I am a bread slave).
I also worked out that we are eating way too early (5.30pm), we use to eat this early because I was doing 2 jobs for a year and I was only home between 5 and 5.35pm so we got into the habit of eating about 5.20pm so we could all eat together and since I gave up the night job (5 months ago) we are still eating at the same time. Last night I cooked and took my time so we didn't eat until 6.15pm and I realised that all of us weren't looking for food afterwards. I ended up going to bed without feeling guilty and full and had a good night's sleep. New dinner time is now 6.15pm - 6.30pm.

I'm finding that I am drinking most of my water but I just can't do it during the day, either because I don't feel like water or I just don't think of it BUT I seem to be able to drink about 1.5lts later at night (dinnertime and later). Does this matter??? I'm not sure - I am still drinking the water but it is later at night and not during the morning/afternoon. Apart from having to go to the loo a couple of times a night I'm not sure if this is OK or not.......advise anyone?

Had the Chimney man come and clean our woodburner/chimney today and we found out it is a Kent fire (no name on it anywhere) and it is pretty old. We mentioned about the flue handle which is useless (jams etc) and he said because it is so old, it wouldn't be worth spending them money to get it fixed - great. So we are going to add this to the list of things we need to get/buy and hopefully will be able to get a new one by next year.

I can't believe all the pregnant bloggers at the moment, don't get me wrong - I love reading about all the preggie girls out there but there seems to be heaps at the moment announcing their pregnancies. Makes me wonder what was going on a few months ago that everyone got pregnant..........hahaha.

Yummy Lunch on the agenda

Jo and I are meeting at Mitre 10 Mega today for a chicken salad............yum! I am hungry just thinking about it and Jo can't wait to try it as well.

Went home last night and had a WW dinner which was lovely but then I was a bit peckish and so were the boys, so we managed to down 8 pieces of toast between us with cheese and tomato sauce......bad Rachel, bad!!!! I felt sick afterwards which was my punishment (will I never learn?)

Andrew went and got a load of firewood yesterday which was dry pine and we attempted to get the woodburner working (previous attempts hadn't created any heat) and I am pleased to report that we had a lovely warm house last night. We have been able to get the fire roaring but never any heat out of the vents and one of our flue adjustments is rusted, so we thought it was because of this but Andrew was adament it was also the wood we were using (our old plum tree out the back which we had to cut down due to a new deck being built) and I am pleased to say he was right (which I would never admit to him........hehehehe). Reece and Adam were both facinated with how Dad was building a fire and wanted to help, so they got to carry the wood in (kindling) from outside and then had to sit behind the fire guard while Dad built it up.

I've just re-read what I had written and god I can ramble...............LOL.
I'll leave it there and say goodbye and talk to you all again tomorrow :)

Weigh In

107.2kgs = Loss of 0.700grams.

Yep I'm happy with that because I have been doing a bit of 'rainy, wet, miserable weather' comfort eating and no exercise. So 700grams for 2 weeks isn't bad (stayed the same last week).

I had a boring weekend really, Saturday morning I stayed home with my kids and we just played games and did some colouring in and writing etc. Reece is now writing his own name without us having to write it for him first and he isn't 5 until the end of October so I think that is good? We think it is awesome and made sure he knew it and he is wanting to write all the time now. Adam came right Saturday afternoon but was then constipated all day Saturday and Sunday (poor wee thing).

Saturday afternoon I FINALLY got back to skating and took Reece and Andrew with me which was interesting. Andrew hasn't been on a set of skates for about 25 years and was really raw to begin with but by the time we left he had managed to move away from the side and was skating on his own (without holding on). Reece put on his skates and wanted to get going and of course fell over a couple of time and then got the shits with it and wouldn't even stand up. He just wanted them off and that was it, I even tried walking him around but he wasn't interested so he spent most of his time watching his Mum and Dad try skating.........hehehe. I did see Helena there and MAN she is good now, I couldn't believe how much she had improved and is looking really good also (you go girl!).

Sunday was freezing and we stayed inside all day with the heaters on. Me and the boys made afgan biscuits with chocolate icing and M&M's on them (ate about 4 too many).

Not much else going on in my neck of the woods.

O Man...............

I went to a Prenzel's party (alcohol, infused oils, vinigarettes etc) last night at my friends house and managed to only have 1 shot of alcohol and about 4 tastes of different oils (with a bit of bread) BUT (and there is always a but) I walked into the kitchen and there it was THE FOOD and I was a bit peckish so I thought I would have a carrot and celery stick (without dip) but then I just couldn't go past the mini sausage rolls and the magnificent apple cake - and on it went *major sigh*. A really good point to this evening was I got to meet Karen (a fellow blogger) who I have been dying to meet and we got on like a house on fire (hi honey!).

I was having a good week food wise - O Well, back into it today.
I did buy a bottle of Chocolate Cream which was really yummy and 2 vinigarettes (Citris and Avacardo - to die for).

I am such an Oprah fan and last night she had her 20th ON AIR anniversary that Andrew taped for me. I got home and jumped into my nice warm bed (love electric blankets) and watched that which was lovely and I cried at a couple of points..........hehehe, I'm such a big sook.

Not much else to say actually - I haven't been drinking my water like I should which is very naughty. I seem to be getting to about lunch time and then realising I haven't drank anything yet.

Cluck cluck..............

Can you hear me clucking from there?
Kate (a fellow blogger) had her second daughter (Natalia) yesterday and has posted some photo's and she is the most gorgeous little princess. Congrats again Kate and I'm sorry for leaving so many messages but it was sooooooooo exciting (thank Amie again for updating us).

Andrew has always wanted a little girl which would have been lovely but I ended up with 2 amazing little boys which is just perfect:) Anyway two kids seemed like more than enough kids to me (whatever sex) and the little darlings are very expensive as well, so I sold all of my baby stuff and only have a stroller, capsule and highchair left (which I intend to put on Trademe very soon) so there is NO WAY I could have another one but...............................................

Thank heavens Andrew doesn't know about this blog (my world) because he would be trying to get me pregnant as we speak................................LOL.

Anyway - back to reality! Have had another couple of excellent days eating but exercise???BAD!!! I have been freezing cold and going for a good old brisk walk would have warmed me up but I am such a sook.

We have been having the most awesome frosts lately, this morning my car doors were frozen shut and it took about 5 minutes (and heaps of water) to unstick them. Then another 20 minutes to defrost the car enough to drive..................opps, late for work.

Anyway I am working late again tonight so I'd better get back to it so I get home at a reasonable hour. Hubby is cooking spaghetti bol for dinner which means I will be having a WW meal as mince gives me wicked reflux (heartburn).

P.S. I am quite lucky Andrew isn't working at the moment because Kohanga rang to have Adam picked up as he has bad diarea (sorry about the spelling) which means he will be home for a couple of days.............joy!

Weigh in

Stayed the same................which is a bit disappointing but I do have TOM which doesn't help and at least I didn't put on but you know..........................

Anyway onward and upward I say!

Got the boys christened yesterday which was great to finally get done but BOY what a mission.
Reece (nearly 5) was a little angel and sat there quietly with his hyme book open and singing loudly but 'terror on legs' boy (Adam - 23 months) was an absolute nightmare!
I had him on my lap as he plays up even more for his father and he screamed, giggled, wiggled, backflipped the whole time. I can't remember singing one hyme or knowing what the minister was saying but we did manage to stand up when instructed and got the boys christened.
After the actualy ceremony, everyone went back to their seats for more prays, hyme etc but Adam and I cleared out of there. I took him for a walk around the block and let him run some energy off at a vacant section down the road which took up a half hour or so, so when we got back everyone was heading to the 'dining room' for a cup of tea and some morning tea.
I managed to give Adam to his Uncle Athol (also his Godfather) and he sat there and feed him everything he could get his hands on which was a nice break.

All in all it was lovely and we were home by 11.30am which was even better (about 2 1/2 hours all up). Adam went down for a sleep, Andrew golfed and Reece and I did some drawing and then I had a wee snooze for a hour while Reece went out to visit Poppy.

Hubby then got a cooked chook on the way home from golf and we just had that on rolls for dinner and the boys had left over sausages with baked beans (there favourite).

Andrew is applying for a few jobs (isn't working out with his Uncle at Concept Blinds) so we sat on the computer after the boys went to bed (I did get my ironing done somehow) until Midnight writing up application letters and updating his CV. Midnight struck and all the power went off in the street for well over an hour so off to bed we went.

Oh yeah - I DIDN'T get to skating AGAIN after having the best intentions of getting there because we were clearing out the shed to get all of Dad's stuff into his new granny flat and then had a moutain of stuff to sort through before re-stacking the shed and time just got away from us. We started at about 9am and didn't finish until after 5pm and we still have the garage to sort (now the shed is practically done)..................*sigh* never-ending.

I am feeling a bit better after Friday at work also. I arrived at work this morning and the other lady who works in the lab with me is off for 2 days due to a flu so I have a million things to do and I am just getting through one job at a time and not stressing. I figured that I have been a very loyal employee and if they choose to treat me like that I will not be going out of my way to accomodate them, I will do my job and that's it. I am actually hoping that Andrew will get a fabulous job and I will be able to leave here and get something else with a bit less stress?

I hate work!!!

I have just been reprimanded for having more than 30 minutes for lunch.............What the?
Plus it came from my boss's boss - even worse.
My boss is wonderful and basically doesn't care what I do as he know's everything gets done and we run ourselves up here (in the Lab), so when he had to come and tell me that his boss had mentioned it to him (must have come from some disgruntled employee - we have heaps...LOL) I went through the roof and pointed out all the extra hours I work (and don't get paid for) plus the morning and afternoon tea which we have that I NEVER get to take as I usually work through those just to get the basics of the job done..........blah blah blah - boy was I fired up. My boss kept saying "Don't worry Rach, you are talking to the converted - I couldn't run the place without you" so I told him that I had hoped he had defended me etc which he said he had but I told him to go back and say this, that and everything else or I would. So off he trotted and told him what I had said and reckons all is well now but I don't agree - HOW DARE HE QUESTION ME!!!!!!! I have worked in this place for over 18 years over 6 different departments and have always been a loyal employee........*major sigh*. OK, I've finished now.........LOL.

So that has put a real damper on my Friday and it is such a beautiful Friday with the sun shining and not a breeze in the air (unusual for Wellington). So I am going to go home and drink a big bottle of wine - JUST JOKING.

I have a nice weekend planned. Tomorrow I am going roller skating and then I have I have a friend and her kids coming around for a coffee. Sunday we are getting both the kids christened which will be great, I have mucked around for ages and have finally been able to get it organised (hopefully). Sunday afternoon will hopefully be quite and relaxing - yeah right! I have a mountain of housework and ironing to do (I didn't get around to my ironing last weekend so it has doubled).

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

A wee break

Well after the hectic few days I have had, I actually have 5 minutes peace so I thought I'd jump on here and give a quick update.

Feeling really good and positive this week and it feels good to feel like this (wish it happened continuously...hehehe). My eating has been 100% on track and my water has been average and my exercise has suffered this week with me working long hours but I feel I haven't been doing do badly overall.

Didn't get to Mitre 10 Mega for lunch today but fully intend to get there next week.

I have just finished reading other blogs and it is really awesome reading about the ladies who are totally in the ZONE at the moment. I do try and leave comments but don't always have time, but be sure I am reading.

Well it is 3.20pm and I am dying for a coffee, ta ta.

Busy, busy, busy

Work is MAD at the moment. I managed to get away from work at 6pm last night and I have had such a bad day that I want to get away no later than 5pm today.

I got home last night (late) and Andrew had my Vegetarian Lasagna waiting for me ...... YUMMO!!!! Out of all the WW meals, I definately like this one the best. Chicken hotpot is also another favourite. So I finished the day yesterday well under points, I have also been super good today and will also not go over points..........whew. I find that I am excellent during the week when I am in a controlled atmosphere but am USELESS at home (I must work on that...hehe).

Not much happening actually which is great, I hate drama but I seem to have heaps of it in my life.

A lady came into work today with her 6 week old baby girl and I was soooooooooo clucky it even suprised me. She was the cutest little thing I've seen and she weighed about the same at 6 weeks that my boys did when they were born (little fatties of mine).

I am hoping to go out for lunch with Jo tomorrow and we aren't 100% sure where to go, I suggested a couple of places in Petone that do really nice salad's (chicken salad's and stuff) and she doesn't mind either way but I have just thought of MITRE 10 MEGA's Chicken salad with sundried tomatoes and pinenuts...................my mouth is watering now....LOL. Her darling little girl isn't well so I am not sure if she will be able to make it, just have to wait and see.

It has been REALLY hard but I have been trying to drink all of my water. It seems that I can go to the toilet 100 times a day when it is freezing, without drinking my water but have managed to drink a few glass's a day.

I'm now going to catch up with a few more blogs, I wanted to yesterday but didn't get a chance........catch ya later!!!

Really quickly

107.9kg - loss of 2.8kg which isn't really that big a loss because last week I was feeling 'bloated' remember, so this is definately a better reading.

I have got back from the long weekend and work is horrible, it is sooooo busy with a million things having to happen at once plus being month end....*huge sigh*.

Anyway, just wanted to post scale reading and I will hopefully get to do a 'proper' post tomorrow.

I am just quickly going to read some other journals as I haven't been able to catch up with anyone for nearly a week.

Rainy weekends

Don't just just hate when you have a long weekend and it rains.................................
That's just what is happening in Wellington today.

Well I have been having a fabulous week, been a slack on the exercise but brilliant on my food.
Thursday night we went out for dinner at The Furnace and it was better than divine!
Shall I bore you with what I had? Oh Yes!
I started with Calamari (the real stuff) but only ate half of it and gave the rest to Andrew (how had Mussels) then for main I had Chicken Mediterrainian (sorry about the spelling but you know what I mean) which only came with 2 baby carrots, about 4 beans on a bed of rice. The meal wasn't that big so I managed to eat all of that and then finished with a beautiful French Chocolate cake with chocolate sauce (did I say I was having a brilliant week...........hahaha) that I also gave half to Andrew (he had sticky date pudding which I had a spoonful of and it was lovely) and I finished with a TRIM latte (balance..................LOL). I must admit though I felt I had controlled myself beautifully and didn't have that full bloated feeling once I had finished which was a pleasing and we were home before 8pm (god were're old) to give the kids a kiss goodnight.

I also had Friday off as leave and managed to go and get my eyebrows waxed and went to the Bendon shop and bought two new bra's. One of which is a sports bra with the criss-cross thing at the back and it was $70.00 (I had a voucher) and it was recommended to me by a friend. I put it on and it was pure luxury, I felt excellent in it and soooooooooo comfortable BUT the killer was trying to get it off, I nearly had to call the shop lady to help (very embarrasing!).
I bought it anyway and figured I would just have to suffer getting out of it each time. I also went to a place in Petone on my way home from work on Thursday called Mr Rental because they had a treadmill in the window. I went and asked about it and it is $100.00 a month (minimum of 3 months.......typical) and they deliver it, set it up and show you how to use it and come back and pick it up when your finished. Andrew and I have been wanting one for quite a while but the one's we like are $1500 - $2000.00 each and we want to make sure that we are going to use it for exercise (not as a clothes hanger) before we pay out money like that.
As soon as we get dad's place sorted and have a bit more room in the house, I think we might try it out?

I went and got my hair dyed and cut yesterday as I haven't been to the hairdressers for about 8 months (naughty ah?) and MAN I feel better now. I got it a shade darker and about 5 inches cut off.

Today I have my mate Jo coming over for a coffee (soon I hope) and then I am off to a 4 year old birthday party at McDonald's and then we have 2 friends (Andrew's cousins actually) coming for dinner and bringing the dinner (Indian), don't ya just love that!

Tomorrow I plan to do next to nothing apart from the ironing which is growing in a scary heap in the corner of my bedroom.

Hope everyone is also having a great weekend.................bye