2nd post for the day

I forgot Anne tagged me (I only responded because of item G)........LOL


Four things about me:

A) Four jobs I have had in my life: (I like variety)
1. Clerk of the courts
2. Legal Secretary
3. Trade Analyst
4. Laboratory Supervisor

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. 50 first dates
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Forrest Gump
4. Fried Green Tomatoes (me too Anne)

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Australia - Sydney (born and breed)
2. Lower Hutt - Petone
3. Lower Hutt - Manor Park
4. Upper Hutt - Trentham

D) Four favourite TV shows:
1. Extreme Makeover (Home Edition and the Plastic surgery one)
2. Critical Hour (love blood and gore)
3. Maternity Ward (love watching births)
4. Location, location (again, me too Anne)

E) Four of my favourite foods:
1. Sushi (and again Anne)
2. Chicken (any way)
3. Salad's
4. Bread (any kind - bad ay?)

F) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. With my kids
2. Somewhere warm and tropical (and again)
3. Shopping (should have been number 1.....LOL)
4. Shopping again

G) Four friends I think will respond:
1. Ang
2. Sue
3. Sandii
4. Mandy

Weigh in

Gain of 400grams................bugger, bugger, bugger. Now I know I put on when I have TOM but 'come on people', I have been SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good this week and I thought I would at least stay the same *sigh*, oh well there's always next week.

Right - over it - move on.

Had a little 2 years old throwing up all over me, Andrew and all the bed linen at 3.30am this morning..............LOL (to much info?????). Poor little thing, he hadn't complained about feeling sick before he went to bed and the only thing he said after he had finished throwing up was "I think my tummy is sore Mummy"..............ya think????
Got everything changed (the bed and all of us) and Andrew opted for Adam's bed and Adam and I went back to sleep and this morning he was a box of birds. I asked him if he felt sick or had a sore tummy but he said "nope" and proceeded to chase his brother around. I told Andrew we will send him to daycare and let the teachers know, and if he was under the weather we would go and get him (fingers crossed).

Ummmmm what else, oh steps:

Wed - 6287
Thurs - 7966
Fri - 4558 (sick child, spent hours on the couch)
Sat - 11229
Sun - 0 (dropped the silly thing and it zeroed out)
Mon - 8054
Tues - 6981

Average = 7512 (up about 200 steps per day compared to last week - yeah baby!)

Back to work I go, ta ta

Missed 21st

Yep I missed my newphew's 21st on Friday night because I walked in from work and Adam had a temp of 39 degrees and a red rash up the back of his legs (not just behind the knees like the night before) and wanted to sit on my lap and nobody was aloud near us.

Andrew said he would stay home with him so I could go to the 21st but Adam would have a bar of him so it was best he went and I stayed home with the kids *sigh*.
After I had given him a bath with anti-itching stuff, a REALLY good dose of Pamol and put some cream on his legs he was as happy as larry and went into the playroom and watched a DVD with his brother while I sat in the lounge on my own all night *growl*. He's 100% now.

Saturday I felt really guilty I didn't go to the 21st so I asked my sister around (the mother of the 21st boy) and family and then figured I'd better also ask the other sister or there would be a family feud and I made all the salads etc for the rest of the afternoon.

I made potato salad, rice salad, stuffed eggs and the most amazing salad I have ever made.
My salad consisted of mesculin lettue leaves, crispy bacon, avacardo, roasted pine nuts, sundried tomato's, feta cheese and then drizzled with citris dressing..............A - MAZ - ING!!!

My plate consisted of half a plate of the above mentioned salad and a spoonful of the rice salad and potato salad plus 1 stuffed egg and 1 chicken kebab and 2 small pieces of paua (fried on the Barbie...YUMMO). I had also made heaps of pudding but managed to go inside and do the dishes while everyone else ate that. All in all I was very proud of my efforts and even had another dose of brown rice and vege's on Sunday night for dinner.

I just love BBQ weather!!

Expecting TOM today or tomorrow and its weigh in tomorrow night (typical) so I am feeling very bloated and yuck but I know I have been the best I have been in months as far as making good food choices, so I am hoping I have at least a small loss (I usually put on TOM week).

Later.............

Vege's for dinner

Well I told them what was for dinner and attempted to give them (hubby and 2 kids) what I was going to eat for dinner but the amount of whinging and moaning got the better of me so I gave in (soft ay?), so this is what we had:

Hubby and kids = Beef schnitzel, mashed potato's, carrots, brocolli, cauliflower.

Me = Half piece of schnitzel, brown rice with onion, mushrooms, 3 different coloured capsicum, carrots, brocolli, cauliflower.......yummo, doesn't mine sound much nicer?
I actually made too much of my little mixture, so I have taken the leftover rice and vege's for lunch today.

Righto back to work..........catch ya all later.

P.S. Sandii - if you read this can you please email me so I have your address as your comments are only coming in through 'anonymous' and I'm dying to hear how you are getting on in Perth.

Nothing exciting happening

I have been just plodding along the last couple of days, not much happening.

Today I have a doctors appointment as I have to get a sun spot on my face checked out (and burnt off I think) as it is changing shape and colour and both my dad and aunty have had melanoma's on their faces so I'm getting it seen to before it turns into anything nasty.

My 5 years old Reece has been having some 'emotional' moments the last couple of days, he keeps thinking about his Poppy dying and gets really upset. He will be there watching TV or something and then just start crying, when I ask him whats wrong he says 'Pop is old and is going to die and I am going to miss him'....bless his wee heart. I am not one for going into death etc with a 5 year old but to help him emotionally I just told him that Pop is old and will die but not until he is also old and married with kids...........hahaha, that started a whole new subject.
I spoke to Andrew about it and he said he can remember going through a similar thing at about 7 when he use to always think his mum was going to die...........strange family ay?

Right onto less more morbid things.

My water and steps have been excellent and tonight I am going to make brown rice with HEAPS of vege's and ALL the family is going to eat it. With this weightloss journey I have been cooking one meal for me and then another one for the rest of the family, when I actually thought about it I realised what a twit I was being as I don't ONLY want ME to be heathly. I have converted Adam (2.5 year old) to eating my WW cereal of a morning.....LOL he much prefers it to coco pops or something like that and the whole family are great fruit eaters but terrible vege eaters, so as of this week I am not going to buy anymore 'yellow' foods (ie. chips, nuggets, 2 minute noodles) and see how they handle it.

Right its lunch time and I am a bit peckish so I will love ya and leave ya and go and have something to eat.

Weigh in

Gain of 200g taking me to 98.1kgs (total loss 12.2kgs)..........hhhhmmmmmmm I'd like to moan about that gain but alas I can't. I made some bad choices during the week and I must face up to it.

I managed to find my old pedometer (the one that zero's out on me alot) and I am determined to keep up my steps. The steps week that was:

Wed - 10440
Thurs - 8555
Fri - 7534
Sat - 5373
Sun - 0 (Turangi funeral - didn't wear it)
Mon - Lost my pedometer at pools
Tues - 4753 (Found my old pedometer at 10am)

Average for the week - 7331 which is about 1270 extra per day compared to last week (gotta like that!).

Apart from the gain last night, I am actually feeling really positive and enjoying experimenting a bit with my food (thanks to the few of you that put your recipes up for me to copy).

After weigh in I went home and had yellow and purple kumera, pumpkin and onions roasted in the oven with a citris dressing (prenzels) and it was divine!
I am finding that the last couple of weeks I am enjoying meals without meat which is different for me. I find red meat is too fatty (mince I mean - not steak) and steak just doesn't do it for me, I usually eat mostly chicken but occasionally throw some fish in but the last few weeks I have been eating either vegetarian or fish (with a bit of chicken thrown in) and I feel really good......what's up with that????

Water has been brilliant and now I just need to get the exercise in sync (I say this every week) and I will be away laughing. I noticed that the few nice days we had hear in Wellington did wonders for my exercise and I was out and about so ROLL ON THE NICE WEATHER I say!

The weekend that was........

Saturday was quite with Andrew at golf and me and the kids at home.

Sunday started very early (5am) as me and a family friend had to go to my Aunties funeral in Turangi in a day. Go there at 9.30am and went straight up to the marae, didn't get away until 1.30pm and then took nearly 5 hours to get home as there were 3 accidents......dumb drivers following too closely in wet conditions.

Monday morning I got a sleep in (good husband good!) and then breakfast and coffee made for me. Got dressed and sat outside in the sun for an hour or so watching the kids play and then headed off to Mitre 10 for our Wellington bloggers lunch. I had the best time with the best company and totally forgot my camera but Sue took some and may post them?
There was Sue, Helena, Karen (and baby Rachel) and Jo and we must have been there over 2 hours. We laughed and jokes and had a lovely lunch and lots of coffee's.
Got home around 3pm and then decided to take the kids to the pools as it was really muggy, it was really packed but the kids had a ball and the only downfall of the trip was that I lost my pedometer. I will give them a ring today to see if anyone handed it in (doubt it).

Got home and did all the usual lunches, packing bags etc and got to be around 10pm.

I have been excellent with my water intake and my food hasn't been too bad (apart from my triple chocolate brownie at Mitre 10 - oh and the 4 picnic biscuit fudge bars), hmmm re-reading that comment and I can't really say my food has been that good, bugger!
Weigh in tonight so I will have to wait and see.

Photo's

Here are a couple of photo's of Andrew and the boys Jetskiing on the weekend, Adam playing with the ducks (well, trying to) and Reece in the front seat of my Nissan Patrol as we launch Andrew into the water.

Weigh in

Lost 400grams bring me down to 97.9kgs (total loss of 12.4).

I was rapt with that result and went home and had the yummiest fish and salad dinner. Only a couple of weeks ago, I would 'reward' myself with a treat on my weigh in night (ie. Burger King, Subway, chinese etc) but thought about it and realised that it was then taking extra effort to work that off (HELLO Rachel !!!) so now I don't do that anymore and I think it is really going to help me.

I have been really slack on my exercise and steps (results below) so if I can only get the eating and exercise in sync I will be ON FIRE.

Steps for last week:

12/1/07 - 5907
13/1/07 - 6217
14/1/07 - 5176
15/1/07 - 7028
16/1/07 - 5977

Averaging - 6061 per day which is well below what I was aiming for, so this weeks challenge will be to increase my steps.

Back to work

Good ole Monday and back at work, I had a busy weekend and Mother leaving so it was all go!

Went out for dinner on Friday night with Mum and Bing to my favourite restaurant (Furnace) and had a lovely meal.
Squid fin (entree)
Roasted Vegetable's combo (main)
Cheeseboard for dessert (only a little taste)
3 bottles of Mudhouse Sav shared with Mum (bad.....very bad)

All in all I didn't do too back with my eating but the drinking went WAY overboard and I certainly paid for it the next morning.

I had a hair appointment at 10am and sat there for the first 30 minutes trying not to throw up (THAT BAD!) but then the panadol's kicked in and I could actually talk in complete sentences.............LOL

Saturday afternoon I took Mum and Bing to the airport for a 3.30pm flight back to Oz which got delayed to 7pm due to fog in Wellington (I know!!!) and mechanical problems.

Sunday I went and did my grocery shopping in the morning while Andrew and the boys attempted to clean the house but I reckon it was worse when I got back. We then all headed off Jetskiing in the afternoon which was nice if not a bit windy.

Last night I managed to spend heaps of time repacking the kids bags for today as Reece has his first day at the holiday programme, Adam at daycare and Andrew has a launch of a new Cadbury choocolate product (Picnic biscuit fudge.......very nice) so he'll be out early and home late for the next few days.

My steps over the weekend haven't been very good (have got them recorded at home and will post at the end of each week) but my water has been awesome (3+ litre's per day) and my eating has been pretty damn good as well. I looked at the new Superstart menu from Weight Watchers and it looks really yummy and easy to throw together so I am going to give that a try next week (read it AFTER I had got the shopping....typical!).

You gotta read this

Sandii just sent me this link for you all to read.

I am amazed that a MAN wrote this but if he was my hubby, he would have just earned MAJOR brownie points.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/
thedailytruth/archives/2007/01/pinups_they_aint_what_they_use.html

By the way Sandii, if you are reading this - PLEASE email me your address as I am only getting anonymous emails and I wanted to ask you a question.....Good luck with the move chic!

Calculations

I found my original weight watchers book from when I started this journey back in Feb 2002 (restarted in August 06) anyway here are the stats:

26/2/02 - Start weight 126.3kgs

My lowest weight October 2004 was 96.3kgs

I always thought my lowest weight was 93.6kgs (wishful thinking...LOL) but that now means that I have lost 28kgs exactly and I am only 2kgs away from VIRGIN WEIGHT...yee ha!!!!

Gotta love that ay? So even though it has taken me nearly 5 years to lose 28kgs (I had a year off when I had Adam) I don't care because I feel amazing now compared to then and I still have 33.3kgs to go (god that was depressing working that out *giggle*) but I have decided that it isn't going to take me another 5 years because I have much better habits now (eating, exercise) and I am going to Aussie for Xmas this year so I want to be no more than 10kgs off my goal. That will give me a major goal of shifting 23.3kgs by Xmas 2007 but I won't be stopping there and will 'go for gold' and hopefully lose the lot! Arrrrr I love being motivated at the start of each year, long may it last :)

Right back to my life in general:
BBQ for dinner last night and we even got the water slide out for the kids to play with as it was SO HOT (Oh yes you read that right - HOT in Wellington!).
I could seriously live on salad all year round........just love it and I am getting very adventureous and experimenting with lots of different flavours ---- YUMMO.

Reece's last day at home with his Pop today and he's off to the holiday programme next week which he will just love. I got home yesterday and there was Reece and Pop on the playstation playing golf (god help me I'm surrounded by golf lovers) and it was really lovely outside, so I turned it off and sent them outside......hahaha.
Before we got the water slide out, we got a bucket filled with water and went and got their water bombs santa got them for Xmas (stocking fillers) and Andrew had some of those little water balloons and we all had a great time soaking each other - cooled everyone down.

Right back to work for me, catch you all on Monday.

Maybe, maybe not?

The weather I mean..............it maybe nice, it may not be nice - you just can't tell these days.
I am looking out the window and there is definately a bit of sun out there and it isn't raining but it is a bit overcast and not very hot but I am hoping it gets better as the day progresses.

Steps for yesterday 7429 which was down a bit but I didn't get any exercise done which is a bit slack, hence the low points.
I forgot the blinkin' thing this morning which means I won't know how many steps I do today.
I am going for a long walk at lunch today and intend to do a good workout on my bike this evening.

I got heaps of done at work yesterday which was a major bonus and now I have the big things out of the way, I can concerntrate on the little bits and pieces that need to be done (piece of cake).

Talking of cake, I made a HUGE banana cake last night before I went to bed (heaps of old banana's) and cut it all up and only left a couple of pieces at home for the boys and have bought most of it to work for my mates as I really don't want it hanging around the house.
I had a wee piece last night and it was beautiful (Jo Sega - Easy Peasy cookbook) it was called a 'Moist banana cake' and it definately was as the one I usually make out of the Edmonds Cookbook comes out a bit dry.

Today I'm wearing a top (size 18) and pants (also size 18) that my sister gave me and I feel great. I did put on my 3/4 pants from last year (size 22) and they just swam on me so it looks like I will have to go through last years summer clothes and have another clean out.

Mum and Bing are back tonight after dinner out with some of their friends and tomorrow night we are going out for dinner with them (there way of saying thanks for having them) to my favouite restaurant. They have excellent 'healthly' options that are 'to die for' so I am really looking forward to that. Saturday I have a hair appointment which I desperately need and then Mum and Bing fly out in the afternoon.

Weigh in

Well I'm pleased to announce I had a LOSS of 300 grams bringing me back to 98.3kgs (total 12kg loss). I finished the year off (last weigh in before Xmas) with a 300 gram gain and started the New Year off with a 300 gram loss.......gotta love that!

I have also been recording my steps for the last week just to see what I am doing (I hear you should do a minimum of 10,000 steps a day) and was horrified on how much I wasn't doing.

3/1/07 - 5933
4/1/07 - 7793
5/1/07 - 5588
6/1/07 - 3248 (this was from 1pm as I dropped it and it zeroed out in the morning)
7/1/07 - Forgot to put it on.
8/1/07 - 10221 (gym)
9/1/07 - 11982 (went shopping after work - obviously the best exercise for me....LOL)

I want to be doing a minimum of 10,000 steps when I don't do exercise but I want to be doing way over that if I have walked or gone to the gym (to bad you can't wear it in the water when I swim) and then build it up every month.

Right I'd better go and do some more work, I have been flat out at work but don't even seem to have made a dent in what has to be done.

I just looked out the window and it is raining..............IT'S SUPPOSE TO BE SUMMER FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!!!

Rrrrrrrrrrrr work

Yep it is my 2nd day back at work and I am loving it...............I really am a 'routine' girl and things are getting back to normal.
Andrew and I are back at work (andrew never finished) and Adam is back at daycare. Reece doesn't go back to school until the 7th February (WHAT is THAT about) so he is with his Pop this week and then in a holiday programme for 3 weeks after that (there goes MORE money I don't have).


Mum and Bing arrived back at home last night (after going to Auckland for a wedding) so they (and my Dad) got nice and drunk last night on the back deck with the lovely weather and then kept my kids up unit 9.30pm until I went in and told Mum off ............. Oh how roles have reversed!

Mother moan below:
The one thing I hate about Mum when she drinks is that she gets all 'poor me' and 'why aren't you doing what I say' attitude and treats me like a child which I REALLY hate but if I say anything, the drama of it is too much so I keep my mouth shut.
She knows how hard I am trying with this weightloss journey but because she isn't doing very well she tries to sabotage me to make her feel better. Last night she was hassling me to have a few wines with her and eat a plate of cheese and biscuits because she felt like eating them. I stuck to my water and didn't eat anything until dinner and rather than say 'good girl Rachel' she sulks and drops her lip.........don't ya just love that.......NOT!
But I was very proud of myself that I didn't cave (I have thousands of times in the past) and stuck to my guns, I sat there and thought "I am not going to get to your age and still feel like I do now about my weight, I am going to get this weightloss out of the way and live a healthly life!".

Andrew could see I was quite upset and managed to not piss her off too much and went and built a gate for our fence..........hahaha.

I cooked a big roast chicken with all the roast veges and cauliflower/brocolli with cheese sauce and managed to have one small helping of everything and then left the table (again Mum kept telling me to eat more which I ignored) and I didn't feel all full and bloated afterwards.

Mother moan over.........

Weigh in tonight and I have had a sneaky look at my scales this morning and I reckon if I can get away with a small gain (or maintain) I will be lucky. I am about 300 grams up to my last weigh in but it is only the morning so by the time I eat etc, we will see. I am really hoping it isn't a big gain but I am NOT going to moan about it as it was ME who ate so much over the Xmas/New Year period so I have to pay the price which is fine. At least I didn't go totally overboard and loose the plot completely (which I have done numerous times over the years).

I'm sure I had more (interesting) things to say but I have drawn a plank (had to believe I know.....LOL) so I will sign off and catch up with you all tomorrow morning with weigh in results.

2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

Sorry I haven't been around to leave comments on anyone's blogs but I haven't even had a chance to read as Mum and her hubby are staying in my computer room and I just can't get in here. They have just left to go to Auckland for a wedding and won't be back until Sunday night so it will give me a chance to catch up with everyone.

I have been very boring and don't really have any news.

We had a BBQ on New Year's Eve and had my Dad plus Mum and her hubby (everyone gets along thankfully) another couple from our old street and Andrew, me and the boys. We all got to bed around Midnight which was quite late for us..........LOL

The weather has been shocking!!! Today is the first time I have seen a wee bit of sun since before Christmas, so the boys are outside (got mostly outside toys for Xmas....poor things) playing with their toys and I am just getting the house back together now our guests have left for a few days.
Andrew has had to work through and has only had the public holidays off but he doesn't mind too much as he and my Mum DON'T get along so it is best they keep apart as much as possible.

I go back to work on the 8th and I must admit I am looking forward to getting back into a routine.

I didn't go to weigh in last night as everyone was out and I didn't fancy taking the kids with me plus I am not looking forward to what the scales are going to say to me but I will front up next week!
I have had a wee peek at my home scales (couldn't help myself) and it looks like about 2kgs damage .... argh! I am now back to my cereal for breakfast instead of a cooked one and am making much better choices for lunch and dinner but I must admit it is much harder of an evening when you have guests staying.

Right I'm off to play with the kids for a while (we taught Reece to ride his bike today) and then a good ole coffee is on the cards.

photos

Adam got the golf set and has his 'flashing' bob the builder shoes on, Reece got the cricket set but is playing with Adam's golf set (of course!!)


From left to right: Eldest sister Sheryl, brother-in-law Robbie who is married to Kim (in red), me inbetween my sister and brother-in-law and my Dad (or better known as Poppy).


Adam (left) and Reece waiting for Dad to fish another present out from under the tree.

Christmas Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

I hope everyone has had a fantastic day.

I started the day at 6.54am which I didn't think was too bad with 2 little boys, stockings got opened and then the moutain of presents under the tree (so much for us not spoiling the kids again this year - will we ever learn????).

The boys were completely buzzing with their presents and Mum and Dad (Andrew and I) did pretty well as well. I got Andrew a new drill (his is nearly dead) plus t-shirt, shorts and work shirts oh and a lotto. I got lotto, a lovely blouse from Sara (XL which was TOO BIG!!!!!), a pair of sunglasses and a new pedometer which I have been wanting.

We then had a few visitors during the morning and managed to drink lots of coffee and eat too many pieces of christmas cake (god I make good christmas cake!!). Andrew cooked us scrambled eggs and ham on the bbq which was divine and we headed off to one of my sisters later in the day for the big family meal (meanwhile the kids played with everything and everything....hahaha).

Had the most amazing meal at my sisters and then came the dessert and there was heaps of it (Ambrosia, trifle, jelly, berry fruit salad, banoffie pie) and it was really funny to watch because everyone hoed in but my eldest sister (currently on Jenny Craig) and myself stood back and when everyone was finished we went and got a small (oh yes small) spoon of each and it only just covered the bottom of our plates and it was lovely but enough and it is the first time for years that I didn't leave feeling like I could have been rolled out of there.

But saying that, I did say I was only going to give myself one day (Xmas day) to be a bit naughty but I have managed a few days which isn't so great but I refuse to get on the scales. I want to enjoy my christmas/new year break and not be ruled by the scales plus I can see how much better I am this year and feel quite good about that.

Anyway, I have taken HEAPS of photo's but I will try and download a couple.

Weigh in......

Gained 300grams, current weight 98.6kgs (total loss of 11.7kgs).
Can't say I'm unhappy with that considering all the functions we have had on the past couple of weeks but you always like a loss ay??
We were informed that WW will be closed next Tuesday due to Boxing Day (how inconvenient...hahaha) but open the following week.

My water has been pretty good which isn't hard, especially with the nice weather we have been having. Food hasn't been great (hence the gain) but I haven't gone absolutely mad and have now told myself that I have had my little splurges and it back to it!!! I am going to give myself Christmas day off and that's it!

I am off work as of tomorrow for the next 2 weeks (start back 8/1/07) so am hoping to get heaps of exercise in. I will also be on my home computer so may not be able to get in as many entries or leave as many comments but I will be reading.

I will get another enty in before Xmas (hopefully) but if not MERRY XMAS EVERYONE.

Spots, spots and more spots

Yep you guessed it, Adam is now COVERED with chickenpox..............not great surprise really apart from he is handling it much better than Reece did and I thought he would give me grief.

Right what have I been up to?

Thursday I stayed home with Adam as he had sprained his ankle, it was a great cruisy day and I got heaps done around the house (freed up my weekend).

Friday we had our 'Production Away day' with the company and they took us up to Otaki/Levin to a place called Tatum Park (an old scout camp) on a couple of buses and when we arrived there were bouncy castles and targets set up etc, so we new we were in for a good day.
It was 25 degree's up there and there was NO SHADE but I packed on the sunblock and was constantly drinking water so avoided any sunburn or dehydration (Stop laughing Aussie girls, that's really hot for us Kiwi dwellers). We had morning tea and then got stuck into the 'the defender dome' (sort of like dodgeball) and vertical bungy, skeet shooting, some sort of jigsaw game and a few other things I have no idea what the names are.
Stopped for lunch (hamburgers - didn't make great choices) and then back into it for another couple of hours (sweated like you wouldn't believe - NOT attractive!), afternoon tea (caramel slice and wine - more bad choices) and then prize giving (didn't win a bean) and back on the bus for a well deserved sleep on the way home................LOL

Grabbed Reece on the way home from school (Adam was still home with Dad) and had an hour to have a shower and get dolled up to go to Andrew's work 'do' which was at 'One Red Dog' in Wgtn (Pizza bar place), I did have a couple of pieces but tried to stick to the vegetarian ones.
Drank FAR too much bourbon and coke and ended up at a club called 'Electric Avenue' where I danced and danced and danced (about 2 hours - must have lost a bit of that bad eating from the day), got home at 2.20am and flaked out only to be woken up 7am by my little darlings.

Andrew and I suffered most of the day with hangovers, haven't had a bad hangover like that for years and then went into town to pick up a sandpit for the kids we had bought off Trademe.

Had a very early night last night after cooking a big meal for Andrew and the boys but I could only manage a WW meal and a piece of bread (still seedy) and here I am today.

Kids are playing with their Thomas the Tank Engine trains (best investment any parent could make!!!) and I have jumped on here for 15 minutes until the kids are ready for lunch.

I also noticed when I jumped on here that my profile photo has changed (thanks Jo) which I must admit is much better than the last one.

Only 4 days left of work and then 2 weeks off.....................YAY!

Home tomorrow

Yep, little Adam still won't put any weight on his ankle so has been stranded on the couch all day. I have tried everything I can think of to get him to walk but he just starts crying and telling me it hurts.

Andrew is back at work tomorrow (he had Adam today) so I am taking the day off with him and hopefully getting him to walk.

I also had a girlfriends daughter ring me tonight to ask if I can go and get her ready (make up and hair) for her year 6 ball tomorrow night..............isn't that sweet but doesn't she know I am clueless when it comes to that stuff???? Oh well, I will go and do whatever I can to help out her Mum..........LOL

Right just a quick post to let you all know I am home tomorrow (may even get on here again?) and also to check my profile picture. Jo has tried to change it for me (Clueless once again) but it doesn't seem to have worked.

No weigh in......

Yep you read it right, no weigh in!

I had full intentions of going and usually leave about 6.15pm but at 5.30pm my darling Adam (2 1/2 year old) decided he could fly and launched himself of the bloody deck and landed very hard on his ankle.

We grabbed him and sat there for about 30 minutes hoping he would calm down and try to walk on it but he was crying and wouldn't let us near it, so off to A&E we went.
Got there and the waiting room was packed, it took 30 minutes to even see the nurse to get 'rated' and another hour after that there still hadn't been one person go in so we flagged it and went home. Adam by this time was eating a packet of chippies and singing jingle bells so we figured he was OK for the time being. Went to see our cousin who is a nurse as well as a fracture clinic member and she thought it was a sprain but advised that we still get an x-ray in the morning. Got him home, doped him up on Pamol (love that stuff) and he went to be without a problem. Woke up this morning and still wouldn't put any weight on it and cried if we tried to get near it so Andrew took him back to A&E for them to tell him it was only a sprain and they didn't even want to x-ray it. Let him rest it for a day or so and he should be right *sigh* my poor baby. (A&E told him our names weren't called from the night before until after midnight - 6 hours!!!!!!!)

So needless to say I didn't get to weigh in which I'm really not that worried about as it now gives me another week to work on this weightloss journey and hopefully give me a great result next Tuesday.

No much planned for the rest of the week, we have Andrew's work 'do' on Friday night and that's about it. Talk to you all later.

P.S. We have explained to Adam that kids can't fly but he reckons he will give it another go when his 'sore sore' goes away.................*groan* - BOYS!!

Nice weather

Wellingtons weather hasn't been too bad this week.........shock horror! I have actually had my short sleeved blouses out and not had to wear a jacket or jumper over them...YAY.

Had a really nice weekend, the nephew's 21st on Saturday night was really good but I must admit I felt really old. I kept saying to my sisters, I'm sure we weren't this young when we were 21, they really looked like kids.........*sigh* oh well.

Sunday rolled around and I had the cleaning bug. I managed to clean and restack my pantry, fridge, plastic cupboard, crockery cupboard, pots and pans cupboard and the under the sink cupboard. I feel so much better that it is done before Xmas and I now have a bit of room in each cupboard now.

We had our first official BBQ last night - Bliss! I made a huge 'everything in it' salad with steak, sausages and chicken kebab's plus good ole garlic bread and we sat outside until after 8pm as the weather was glorious.......oh that right, Dad and I polished off 2 bottles of wine.

Weigh in tonight and I am just hoping against all hope that I stay the same as the last 2 weeks haven't been really good but it is THAT time of year and I'm not really worried about it (yeah right!).

Back at work

Got back to work on Wednesday and I must admit I did miss it a bit..........weird I know but I am a creature of habit and thrive on routine and when I have a couple of days off, it puts me all out of sink (spelling sorry?).

Reece is still off school but is home with his Pop and loving it because Pop has the paitients to sit down with him for a couple of hours and just play cards (I just can't manage that).
Reece also lets Pop play the Tiger Woods golf game quite a bit so both boys are happy......LOL

Bought a sofa bed off trademe and went and picked it up last night and it is just the right size to go into our spare room and not take up too much room (it is only a small room) so at least there is something for the oldies to sleep on when they arrive from Oz at the end of December.

Also went to the Farmers card holders evening last night and it didn't matter how much I tried, I just couldn't manage to buy anything. We have 2 people left and Andrew and I walked around and walked around and just couldn't find anything so we are going with the easy option and buying them booze because we know they will use that......hahaha.

Sent out all my Christmas cards yesterday (one Xmas job out of the way) and now I just have to parcel up the stuff to send to Oz and get that sent which will leave me with just the kids presents to wrap etc..............YAY!

I have my nephew's combined 21st this Saturday night which should be a blast, can't wait and just off to visit a friend on Sunday.

Style consultants

I remembered that I had taken a photo of Helena from the other night when the girls came and did my make-up for me.

The photo of Jo is a self taken photo....................she does it so well.

The one of me was taken by my hubby and I don't know if you can tell or not but Helena did one side of the make-up and Jo did the other.

Bloggers Xmas picnic

Janene and Jorga


Karen (Rachel is in her capsule)


Ang and friends


Chris

I don't know how I didn't get a photo of Sue or Helena (without biker chick outfit).

My Work Xmas party outfit

Reece with chickenpox

A very tired girl

G'day..............well I can't believe it is already Tuesday.

Lets see, where to begin:

Friday:
Went to a friends on Friday night and had Chinese for dinner and I was a excellent with my choices and took one of those HUGE pump water's with me.

Saturday:
Went to the hair dressers at 10am and got out of there at 1pm.........LOL.
Got my hair coloured but not cut (I like the length it is at the moment) and then got it styled for the Xmas party. She was originally going to straighten it but I decided to have it curled instead which was a major mistake because 5 hours after visiting the hair dressers it had all fallen out and my hair just felt like a big hairsprayed mess PLUS I was having a fat day (got TOM the following day) and Andrew 'mentioned' that my new top I had bought with Helena the week before looked a little tight around the stomach area (not a good thing to say to a pre-mentral women). I took it off and then made him stand there for 20 minutes until we were both satisfied with what I was wearing (exactly the same thing I had worn the year before). I do get my make-up right though (I think) maybe the eyeliner was a bit of a disaster but I still looked respectable.

Drank bourbon all night which I haven't drank for about 8 years, dunno why I decided to that night - oh yeah that's right, the wine was horrible BUT did manage to last until the end (thank heavens for small miracles) and got home resonably sober at about midnight.

Let me backtrack for a minute - as we were walking out the door (taxi was tooting) Andrew was getting Reece into his PJ's and called me to look at a couple of spots on his belly - yep you guessed it - CHICK BLOODY POX!

Sunday:
Morning was spent dabbing calomine lotion over poor Reece who was by this time absolutely covered in spots.............poor wee poppet.
I popped into the chemist and spent a fortune on him and then headed off to the bloggers Xmas picnic at Harcourts park. I gotta say, this was the highlight of my weekend. All the ladies are just lovely and so easy to get on with. Sue is brilliant for organising it and started us all off with a glass of bubbly. I got to meet the gorgeous Ang from the Wairarapa who I have been blogging with for ages and never met (hi honey) and Janene and Chris made it from Palmy and it was also nice to meet Chris for the first time. Ang also bought a couple of girls who were really funny and great to talk to (mind you I never get enough time to really talk to anyone for very long) and of course Karen and Rachel were there when we turned up but could only stay for a short while due to her double booking us (tut tut Karen), and of course the wonderful Helena who turned up with Craig on his Harley and looked like the perfect biker chick!!!!!!!!!!

Got home that night and basically just blobbed and continuously dabbed lotion on Reece.

Monday:
Stayed home with Reece as he still had spots appearing. The nights are really bad as he heats up and then scratches (a big no no) but he is brilliant during the day and watched DVD's and played so I decided to finally paint the spare bedroom. I tottled off to Bunnings after Dad got home from Golf so he could watch Reece and bought some paint which I thought was really nice and totally different from what was in there and ........................... its one shade darker than what was already on the wall.........hahahahaha.

I then got the urge to bake so I made 8 dozen (yep 8!) mini Xmas pies because the 4 dozen I had made last week have gone (not in my mouth by the way).

Tuesday:
Had another shocker of a night with Reece (my poor boy) but he is again 100% during the day and we hunted out the old playstation 1 this morning and he is in heaven so I put another coat of paint on the wall and have now taken off the masking tape and put the furniture back and it looks great.

Just threw a chicken in the oven for dinner and have decided NOT to go to weigh in tonight because (pathetic excuse number 1) I feel fat and bloated and (pathetic excuse number 2) I am going to go and deliver all my mini Xmas pies to a few different people and I won't have enough time to fit everything in.

That brings me to now.................

Just going to make myself a coffee I think and get 10 minutes rest before Andrew and Adam arrive home. Everyone tells me Adam will get it in about 10 days time which I'm not looking forward to as he is such a sook at the best of times but when he is sick he is like hubby - the world is coming to an end - oh well, the joys of parenthood.

By the way, I do have photo's coming out of my ears of the weekend that was but the camera is in hubby's car........stay tuned, I will post them hopefully tonight.

Girls night

I had SUCH a good time last night that I'm grinning now just thinking about it.

Helena and Jo came over last night to help me with some make-up tips for my work Christmas party on Saturday night because I am totally clueless........I joke you NOT!

After the kids ate the dip and crackers and Jo finished off my cheap bottle of wine, we sat down to some serious business. First they took a 'before' photo (don't you dare Helena) and then an after which was a MAJOR difference. I really like my 'after' shot so Jo is going to put it as my profile photo soon (I do have 2 different eyes).
Jo did one eye her way and Helena did one eye her way but yet I loved both of them. I don't know if I can recreate either of them so Helena drew me a picture with all the colours I needed and where to put them..............I'm clueless I tell ya!

Anyway, I will post some photo's of us girls last night over the weekend. I will wait until I have the Xmas party photo's and the bloggers xmas picnic photo's.

Weekend plans:
Out tonight for dinner with friends, drop in to see another friend on the way home (lives in the same street). Saturday: Hair at 10am (cut, colour and style) get dinner organised for the kids and Dad, Xmas party. Sunday: Bloggers picnic.............*wipes brow*. I'll need to come back to work for a rest. One thing us girls were saying last night, is that if it rains on Sunday (very likely) we don't have a plan B.........mmmmmmmm could be a problem.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Weigh in

Lost 2.1kgs bringing me down to 98.3kgs (total 12kgs).

I am very very happy with that and feel I have really put in the extra effort especially with my exercise but I'm not making a song and dance about it because I did that 2 weeks ago and then went slack and went back up over 100kg...............so *whispers* yay!

I went to the Cossie Club on my way home last night and got my Beat Girl tickets for 23rd December (YAY!) can't wait.

I also popped into Countdown to get some crackers and dips for my fairy god mother's (Helena and Jo) who are coming over tomorrow night to help me prepare for the ball (work Xmas party) on Saturday night.

Got home and my little one was still away at 9pm so I jumped into bed with him for 5 minutes to help him settle and woke up 2 hours later...........hahaha

Gyming today as well which will be good because next to no one goes on a Wednesday (love that!) so I can crank up my MP3 player and sing off key and nobody will laugh (its really not a good look....LOL).

What a busy time of year

After a nice peaceful Saturday, Sunday was the complete opposite.

Dropped Reece off at my sisters house for the Xmas party and headed into The Warehouse (2.5 hours later) and then over to Westfields (2 hours later) and got 75% of my presents for Xmas and birthdays but just couldn't quite get the remainder. The ones I have left are for those people that just have everything and for the life of me I couldn't work out what to get them........so a great start, 1 more shopping trip to go and I reckon I will crack it.
I did manage to get myself an eyeliner and a matching necklace and earrings for the work 'do' on Saturday night.

Managed a quick Subway at 3pm once I realised I hadn't eaten all day (busy, busy, busy).

Picked up Reece, home we went where I then cooked 4 Xmas cakes, cooked dinner, bathed and feed the boys and then did 2 hours of ironing.................*phew - wipes brow*, god I love being busy :)

I went and had a lovely lunch at Mitre 10 Mega with Karen and Rachel and managed to have something different (smoked chicken pasta) and last night I managed to feed everyone and watched Extreme Makeover - Home Edition and then crashed at 9.45pm (very early for me).

I have been a pretty good girl with my eating and exercise and will try and up my water a bit more next week which I am happy with.

I plan to go and get some tickets for the Beat Girls (I just love em') from the Upper Hutt Cossie Club (remember the Cossie Club CM.....hehehe) tonight on my way home from weigh in for 23rd December.................can't wait!

A quiet Saturday

After spending all morning outside colouring in, riding bikes, playing soccer and eating lunch, I have finally gotten Adam to sleep while Reece watches the 'Cars' DVD..........rrrrrrrrr nice.

I took a couple of photo's of the deck this morning (see above) to show you all the finished product. Next job for Andrew is the sandpit for the kids, rather than them digging holes in the lawn.........LOL.

I'm all armed and ready to do my Christmas shopping tomorrow, just transferred far too much money into my visa and am taking a few westfields and farmers vouchers with me that I have had for quite some time.

Reece has a Christmas party that my sister is taking him to, so I will drop him off on the way and Adam is going to stay home with his Dad and Supervise the contruction of the sandpit.

I rang the 'pregnancy councillors' during the week as they were looking for donations, so I have dismantled the cot and sorted out all the stuff (sheets, blankets, duvet's etc) that go with it and my kind hearted little Reece sorted out his toys and gave me a bag to give to the kids.
I love a good clean out!

I love shopping

Grocery shopping that is..........

Yep, I reckon it is the one time that I get to myself and I am doing what I like.....weird ay?
I went shopping last night at 9.30pm after hubby and Dad got back from Twilight golf (I'm such a golf widow but I love it) and didn't get home until just after 11pm.
I have a fortnights worth of shopping and even stocked up on my food I bring to work as I was getting really slack and going to the canteen for a sandwich which wasn't good.

I'm popping into Westfields after work to pick up my contacts from OPSM and I am also going to pay my mothers car rego as she lives in Oz and we have her car (to use if we want) for when she comes back (cheaper than hiring a car) plus buy my 7 birthday cards and Xmas cards.

I have plans of to do the Xmas shopping on Sunday with no kids and no hubby, can't wait:)

I have been a good girl today and been drinking my water and had my cereal for breaky and vitaweat crackers with lite cream cheese and salsa for lunch. Hubby is out for dinner tonight so I intend to have my favourite Seafood Rissotto for dinner and the kids can have their favourite (noodles or nuggets?).

Our work here only allows 'trademe' website (its an auction website) for the Managers (not little ole me) and today it got switched off from our Australian network and you should have heard the uproar.......LOL
After several managers got on the phone to Aussie, it soon got switched back on again, goes to show you who is actually doing the work in this company!!!

Weigh in

GAIN of 900g...........piss, piss, piss!!!!!!!!!!!
Not only did I gain last weeks loss (600g) I put on an extra 300g *sigh* bringing me back OVER the 100kg mark (100.4kgs).
My own fault as I had one terrible day (pie and cream donut) and a handful of hot chips yesterday - stupid!!!

Righto, I'm over that bit of bad news - onto something more positive.
I went swimming yesterday......YAY! We have a 30 metre outdoor heated pool around the corner from work that opened on Monday so off I went yesterday and after 6 pathetic laps (180m) I was buggered so I took my sorry backside home............hahaha

Deck is finally finished (I'll take a photo tonight) and we are hoping to get our first BBQ for the season in very soon.

Got paid today so I am going to go and get ALL of my Xmas presents (and I also have 7 birthday's in December) so that will be out of the way and then worry about Xmas dinner food closer to Xmas.
We are having a big family dinner at my sister's and I have Lamb, salad and dessert to supply. I have the lamb and dessert (ambrosia) sorted but I want to do something special and different for the salad and haven't worked that one out yet.

On another positive note, my sister gave me a couple of tops and they actually fit!!!! They are a size 18 which I haven't fitted into for YEARS so I am really happy about that. The gym must be doing something because I seem to be wearing clothes better (if you know what I mean).

Saturday

I have had a lovely morning with Helena shopping and managed to buy a lovely top for my work Xmas party, this is one of those tops that you would never have picked yourself but when it was handed to me I thought I would give it a try and LOVED it. Now I just have to work out how to put on coloured make-up (which Helena is also going to show me). I have always just worn brown blush and brown eyeshadow with brown (sometimes pink) lipstick and that's it, I have got foundation and stuff but really aren't any good at putting it on so my style consultant (Helena) is going to come over one night and give me some pointers..............LOL.

I got home and finally pulled my soaking wet clothes off the line from 2 days ago and put them back through the washing machine and then into the dryer and what do you know? Its stopped raining and is now sunny...............typical!

My eating has been average the last couple of days so I really need to be more careful and organised when choosing what I am going to have. I have a bit of time on my hands now so I might actually THINK about dinner and get something going rather than a last minute throw together.

Haven't really got any other plans for the rest of the weekend (yay!) so I am going to go and ring a girlfriend that I never get enough time to talk to while my youngest is in bed asleep and my oldest wants to jump on here (computer).

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Weigh in......

First of all a BIG THANKS to all who sent me advise on applying my eye cream/moisturiser.
Linda (UK) you have really enlightened me as I was putting the eye cream on with gusto rather than lightly patting it on.......DOH!

Righto Weigh In...............

I lost 600 grams putting me into double digits !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *squeals in delight*
I am now 99.5kgs with a total loss of 10.8kgs.

I had such a good night after that (as you can imagine), I went to visit Karen and got another great cuddle with little Rachel who is just the best baby and went to sleep as soon as I got hold of her, even with my LOUD talking and laughing! (people who have met me and now sitting there nodding their heads...LOL).
While I was there a package arrived from Kate which had a lovely homemade card and lovely gift.......your so clever Kate.

I then went home to a yummy home cooked meal of crumbed chicken and vege's.

Jo came over to drop off my Avon and stop for a coffee. My poor mate is so sick with the flu but still got out to do her drop offs..............your a machine Jo!

I then got into bed about 10.30pm with a massive grin on my fact - I love it when things are going right (gotta be those gym sessions).

Face cream, make up etc

I am 36 years old and haven't ever worn daily moisturiser or foundation or any other sort of cream and now I don't have my classes to hide a multible of sins I have invested in an 'under-eye bag remover cream' called Eye Tuck which does work but costs something like $60.00 plus I heard that 'Totall Effects Olay' moisturising cream was brilliant and at $32.00 a pop I went and got some of that as well (with sunblock I might add....LOL)............here lies my dilemma - What do I put on first??? the eye cream or the moisturiser??? STOP LAUGHING!!!!
I stood in front of the bathroom mirror this morning very perplexed and read and re-read the instructions on both and they didn't give me the answer. I ended up putting on the moisturiser on first but have no idea if this is correct or not.
I also have the ole foot palm cream stuff out as summer is coming (not that you would know by today's weather) and I get horrific cracks on my heels plus with my contacts, I use to spend about 5 minutes in the bathroom and now it is more like 20 minutes and when I come out I don't look any different.......hahahahaha!!!!!

I had a really awesome session at the gym on Friday and worked my little (or big) butt off and as the treadmill had someone on it with someone else waiting, I worked on my weights and boy did my arms feel sore the next day (love that!)

I didn't do much on the weekend, it was nice and quite really which was a big change.

Went out to lunch with a friend yesterday and had a really yummy roast vegetable salad and then went and spoilt it by eating a chocolate brownie........god I can be DUMB sometimes.

Weigh in tonight and then I am going to pop in and see Rachel (oh and Karen and Steph of course) for a coffee and I am also hoping to catch up with Jo since I haven't seen her since her return from the land of OZ.

Pedometer

After reading Anne's journal today I decided to get my pedometer from my desk at work and blow the dust off it and actually put it on........shock horror!!!
I checked it at 10.30am and I had clocked up 1784 steps which I thought was pretty good considering I had only put it on about 8.30am, I then checked it again just before lunch (noon) and it said 83 steps.........gggggrrrrrrrr! Note to self: Put it somewhere where you CAN'T knock it.

Haven't been up to much, busy at work (November is the worse month of the year) which makes the time fly by.

I am going to the gym after work and then going home to a WW meal as Andrew and the boys are sorted for dinner so I am going to have a lazy meal night.

No big plans for the weekend apart from a Chinese Takeaway meal out on Saturday night with some friends.

Food is great (I'm on Fire!)
Exercise is moderate (must work on this some more)

Weigh in

Lost 600grams bringing me down to 100.1kgs (total loss 10.2kgs) so I am over the moon to hit my first 10kgs and am SO going to be under 100kgs next week.

Went to Karen's on my way home from weigh in to see how she, Steph and little Rachel were getting on and luckily just as I turned up Rachel woke up so I was able to have a really good cuddle. She is adorable and so tiny and such a happy, contented little girl and Karen is doing well and is just a natural with her. Steph is the proud Dad and was cooking dinner (what a good boy!), so a happy little household.

Here is the water feature I was talking about yesterday, the other garden (with the statue) is the one me and the boys did...........minimal and low maintenance, just the way we like it....hehe.





Not much else to say really, happy household and happy kids at the moment which makes life much easier.

Gardening Girl

Now for the lovely ladies who know me out there, you will know I HATE gardening with a passion and Andrew is much the same. In our previous places we have always had VERY LOW maintenance gardens and we decided to do the same thing at this house.
We bought a water feature months ago and have been trying to decide what to do with it, Andrew came up with an idea on the weekend and away he went. He worked like a little trouper most of the day Saturday and came up with a simple but lovely garden. I did take a photo but blogger won't let me upload it at the moment (watch this space!).

Hubby also had his final of golf for the Club Champions and had to play 36 holes on Sunday (an all dayer) so the boys, Dad and I decided to surprise him and built another garden across from his one in the same theme but use a statue we already had (I will also upload a photo when I can) and because Dad's hernia operation stopped him from helping me (he is doing really well by the way) and the boys preferred to watch, I got the job which took me quite a few hours.

Apart from that our weekend was a bit boring really.

I have weigh in tonight which I'm not looking forward to - not because I have been bad because I have been really excellent with my food (not so good with my exercise) but I am due for TOM and feel all bloated and yuk today (typical!!) so we will have to see how things go.

I had such a busy week last week that I didn't get any time for myself, so this week I plan to get back to the gym and walking as much as possible. My local outdoor pool opens in 10 days so I am really looking forward to that as I love swimming.

What a beautiful name................LOL

Congrats to Karen and Steph on the birth of their baby girl .......Rachel Judith.

Not much happening at the moment, I have been brilliant with my food and water (intend to get under 100kgs this week) and Reece is settling down in school which helps my state of mind.

Really looking forward to the weekend and a bit of relaxation as I seem to have been running here and there all blinkin week and even the bottle and a half of wine last night didn't get me unwound.......hahaha!!!

I am going to try and attach some photo's of my boys. I did give it a go yesterday but blogger wouldn't let me upload them.............here goes:

Weigh in

Well all I can say is I'M A FREAK!!!
I just don't get it, I had one of the worse weeks and still managed to lose weight.....????

I lost 700grams........now weigh 100.7kgs (total loss of 9.6kgs)

I'm guessing that I am holding onto that weight and it will show up next week but I'm going to hope to work my butt off so that doesn't happen.

Trick or Treat ...... ???
Trick or treat isn't a fun experience when your husband works for Cadbury's Confectionary and the whole neighbourhood knows about it!!!!!! We must have had 30 kids turn up during the evening and most of them were older (13+ year olds) without a costume........little buggers!!! When we opened the door, most of them said "can we have some chocolate" rather than Trick or Treat. I was really angry at the little buggers so didn't answer the door which meant Andrew did it all night and both the boys got dressed up (Adam as batman and Reece as a Ninja turtle) so they could scare the kids when Dad opened the door (same sense of humour as their father.....LOL). I had a massive bowl of chocolates and lollies for the occasion but Andrew ended up having to get more stuff out of his car. We decided that as of next year if they are not dressed up then they don't get anything. We even had 2 or 3 kids come back 2 or 3 times and try to tell us they were different kids. Thank god that is over for another year!

My Dad's birthday today - he is 67 years old. Kids and I were out there at 7.30am to give him his birthday cards and presents before they went to school which Dad loved but did mention that he was going back to bed when we left ........hahaha.

Funny (NOT!) Reece at school story.
I think the Mum's out there will enjoy this one.
I went to pick Reece up from his 2nd day at school and was waiting just outside his classroom (there were about 50 other parents waiting for their kids as well) and all of a sudden Reece wanders out into the middle of the playground and starts playing. I went over and asked him to go back into his class as school wasn't finished yet and he said "nah, don't want to" and proceeded to carry on playing - by this time all the parents were looking at him wondering what he was doing - I then TOLD him (quietly of course) to go back to class and he just ignored me and moved further away. I was sooooooooooooo embarrassed it wasn't funny and then his teacher came out and asked him to go back to class to which he looked at her and rolled his eyes and said "Nah" and she asked about 3 more times with no response and eventually went over and grabbed him by the arm and walked him back to class and sat him down as they were still having mat time.
When I was game enough to look up, ALL the parents were having a little giggle and I could just hear them saying "little shit" "what a naughty little boy" etc. The teacher came over to see me as she could see I was totally mortified and said "Don't worry about it, he isn't use to the routine yet but this is the 3rd time today I have had to do that" she was having a giggle and really wasn't fazed at all (god love her) but I wasn't feeling like 'Mother of the Year' at that moment and TALKED to him all the way home about listening to his teacher as well as me blah blah blah...............little darling!!!

Sorry, I've been on leave

G'Day everyone, sorry I haven't updated for 5 or 6 days but I have been on leave and haven't gotten to jump on a PC as I've been soooooooo busy.

Quick rundown.

Friday:
Dad in hospital (he's fine now)
Reece's 5th Birthday
Reece's last day at Kohanga
Birthday dinner to cook

Saturday:
Cook a few meals for Dad freezer
Clean house
Play with Reece's new toys
Friends over for afternoon tea
Watch Fireworks at Trentham park
Pick up birthday cake for Sunday

Sunday:
Get us and all the extra's to the Ten Pin Bowling by 10.30am
Tend to Dad
3 hours of bowling and eating and birthday cake
Cook dinner while kids play with MORE new toys

Monday
Reece's first day at school
Adam crying etc because Reece isn't staying with him for the day
Groceries
Tend to Dad
Visit sister who's father in law has just died
Get eyebrows waxed (ouch!)
Collect one tired little boy from school
Cook dinner

I haven't stopped and unfortunately Andrew hasn't been much help as he has a Cadbury new promo/lauch going on which means he has been starting at 6.30am and finishing late.
Plus he had golf on Saturday for the semi final of some tournament (which he won.....yaya!)

I am late to work and off early all the rest of the week due to Dad being out of action for the next 2 weeks and Andrew doing his launch (strawberry twirl) so I am dropping the boys off and picking them up again...........*sigh* busy busy busy.

My eating has been worse this week then in the last 3 months and I haven't been drinking my water but I WILL go to weight watchers tonight to see what the damage is and then GET MY BUTT BACK INTO IT! Can't remember the last time I went to the gym but I'm not making any excuses, I will just accept it and move on.

I am dying to get around to everyone's blog and see what you have all been up to (and leave comments) but I might not get there this week ...... sorry :)

Since I am on a short day (being first day back) I'd better go do some work *screws face up*.

Weigh in

Gain of 600grams..........now 101.4kgs (total loss 8.9kgs)

Didn't hit my goal of being under 100kgs by this week but can't complain as it is my own fault and I can't blame anyone else (unfortunately.......LOL).

Didn't get to the gym last night as we had visitors coming over which meant I had to get home and feed everyone early, then get to weigh in before they arrived.
Planning on going tonight as I am actually starting to miss it because I haven't been since last Thursday.

Through out the remaining 6 chocolate crackles last night so I wasn't tempted again, the kids had had heaps and really didn't need them either so in the bin they went.

Going out for lunch with hubby today as he is in the area and we don't get much time on our own anymore plus we have to pop into The Warehouse and get the last present for Reece's birthday on Friday (Cars DVD). We are going to his favourite chinese restaurant in Petone that do a wicked seafood Laksa and I will have a vege dish of some sort.

Not much else happening so I will love ya and leave ya..........ta ta

Long weekend

After a lovely lunch at Mitre 10 Mega with Karen (yes I had the chicken salad AGAIN), I headed back to work for a lazy afternoon.

We unfortunately had the worst weather over our long weekend which isn't unusual for Labour weekend. I can only remember 1 time in the last 18 years that we had a lovely weekend......sad ay!

Saturday and Sunday Andrew played in a golf tournament so was away from 7am to about 1.30pm both days and because the weather was horrible the boys and I stayed indoors and played. I don't remember doing one bit of housework both days and just had fun with my kids, we made huge cubbyhouses and played trains (lined all the chairs in our house up as a train), then we played cards and tried to do a jigsaw puzzles but these were a bit too much for little Adam and he constantly messed everything up.

I then managed to get out for a coffee and catch up with Helena, Karen and Jo which was lovely and never long enough!

On Sunday we also decided to cook some Chocolate Crackles, we made a big bach of these (24 in total) and I managed to polish off 8....................oh yes 8!!!!!

Sunday night's dinner was a nice healthly chicken stir fry that I then ruined with 2 biscuits with my coffee *shakes head* and then Monday morning I had 4 Vogels toast for breakie, will I never learn (apparently not - read on).
Sunday we went out visiting friends with kids and that was nice as the kids all managed to run off some 'stuck indoor' energy and we toddled off to get some trellis for the deck and then popped into a local cafe for a coffee. It was getting late so we got McDonald's for the kids on the way home and Andrew and I were just going to have something light but he ended up having chops (I can't eat chops - too fatty) so I polished off half a cheese burger and chips plus a couple of nuggetts of the kids and felt so guilty that I had another 3 chocolate crackles.......mmmmm not good choices at all!!!!

I really don't know why I had such a bad weekend of eating (and no exercise), I could blame the weather or because we were stuck indoors but they aren't excuses really *shrugs shoulders* I just can't work it out.
Now I am sitting here after eating hot chips for lunch (I know, I know) kicking myself because it is weigh in day and I SO wanted to be under 100kgs to reach my goal but am now looking at a gain (which I can't moan about as it is self inflicted)...........dunno what's wrong with me.

Looking on the bright side, I am only working 3 days this week as Monday was a holiday and I am taking Friday off as it is Reece's 5th birthday plus Dad is having an op and I will have to take and pick him up. As it is also Reece's last day at Kohanga I am taking in a birthday cake and some savouries for lunch. I have ordered his cake for Friday but haven't ordered the Batman one for his party on Sunday yet.

Right I'm going back to work and feeling sorry for myself and will catch you all later *big grin* bye :)

The Beat Girls

These women are amazing, they sing hits from the 60's, 70's & 80's from the 'girl bands' (ie. Andrew sisters, The Supreme's etc) and have been together for 10 years.
The have sung at the last 2 Olympic games and they come from dinky old Wellington in New Zealand............gotta love that!!! We went and seen there show last night and they were excellent, the only down side to it is that we were all seating (movie theatre style) so couldn't get up and dance.

We had dinner before hand at the theatre the Beat girls were playing at and I had a glass of Sav and a Spinach and Feta filo pastry. Andrew had a filo pastry as well as a Beef & Vegetable roll (sort of like a sausage roll) and a BIG piece of chocolate cake which I did have a bit of......yummy!




Haven't been to the gym for the last 2 days as I have had something on both days and just couldn't spare 1 hours (pathetic aye?) but I intend to put in an EXTRA effort today!!

My eating and water intake has been on target so I am pleased with that but I am hoping to get some bike riding done on the weekend.

We have a long weekend this weekend but have nothing planned (love that!). I'm hoping the weather report is wrong (rain and cold) so we can get the kids out and about.
I want to go and pick Reece's birthday cake plus another small cake to have at Kohanga on his last day from the bakery which sounds very un-motherly like but I can't bake! I made Reece a birthday cake when he was 3 and put heaps of effort into it but when he turned 4 he asked "Mum can I get a birthday cake from the shop this time, please don't make one", so that pretty much summed up what he thought of his cake the year before.....................LOL
That's it, nothing else planned..............isn't that cool?

Pictures

Righto, 1st photo is of the SNOW (YES SNOW!!) we had in Trentham Upper Hutt last week - freaky!

2nd photo is the NEW contact wearing me and 3rd is of the OLD glasses wearing me.

I will get my profile photo updated but thought I would post these while I remembered.

Weigh in

Lost 1.5kgs................bringing me to 100.8kgs (total of 9.5kgs), cool aye!

My original goal when I started this blog was to get under 100kgs before Reece goes to school and since he goes the week after next (30th Oct) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I attribute this lovely loss to me now being back at the gym and managed 3 good workouts since last weigh in which has paid off. This week I want to complete 4 workouts.

I am going to hopefully shout myself a new top or manicure or something like that if I get under 100kgs by 30th Oct. Then my next goal is to get to my 10% weight loss which is 99kgs.

Chubbymum told me I had to update my profile photo as well as she reckons it doesn't really look like me...........hahahha.

Since I got my contacts yesterday (love them by the way) I will do a before and after contacts photo.

That's about it from me today, see ya later *waving madly* :)

Just a useless drunk

Yep, I wrote myself off again on Friday night (70th Birthday), you would think I would have learnt after Helena's Birthday bash but NOOOOOOO......... Andrew had to get a girlfriend to come and find me in the toilets after half an hour (I was texting friends.....hehehe) and then I got taken home....LOL The 70 year old and his OLDER friends outlasted me, then I stayed on the couch all day on Saturday nursing a huge hangover (self inflicted I know).

So Friday night I did actually enjoy myself and then Saturday (sitting on the couch all day with my blankie and huge amounts of coffee) was something I can't remember doing in the last 10 years which was kinda nice (apart from feeling like death warmed up) and then Sunday was a horrible day weather wise so we again stayed inside and played with the kids all day and then had visitors in the afternoon for coffee. All in all, not a bad weekend.

Exercise wise was a total non event!! I did absolutely nothing but my water intake was brilliant and apart from Friday night, my food was pretty good as well.

Back into it again today full force now I'm back at work. I am sitting here eating my WW cereal as I type and it is so yummy, I can't believe I didn't use to like cereal.

Busy week and weekend

Last night I managed to scoff down a Chicken Chow Mein WW meal with 2 pieces of bread before shooting out the door to go to the 'New Entrants' parents night at Belmont school and it was interesting finding out bits and pieces about the school and how they do things etc but I didn't get out of there until 8.30pm (1.5 hours).

Raced home and managed to give the kids a kiss goodnight (they were in bed) before they fell asleep.

I felt good though because I had gone to the gym after work and even though I didn't do any longer on the treadmill, I did up my speed and incline which felt good.
I am going again tonight so I can also have a good equipment work out and not just the treadmill all the time.

Tonight I have a Prenzel's party at a friends house which I am looking forward to, not just for the products but to catch up with a few mates and sit down and relax for an hour or so.

Tomorrow night we are going to a suprise 70th birthday party for an old neibough that we just love and his wife has organised for 7 of us to go out for dinner (so he thinks) but actually has over 50 people going. She has booked out The Furnace restaurant around the corner from us in Upper Hutt which is my favourite restaurant at the moment and has friends and family coming from all over New Zealand and Australia............can't wait.

He is a very hard man to buy for so Andrew and I thought we would hire a limo for them to be picked up in but I have rang 3 different companies (Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Wellington) and there was only an answer phone message. I have left messages on all and haven't received a call back yet........argh!

Saturday night we are going to hopefully stay home and relax as Sunday we have more visitors.

I'm by myself at work tomorrow (other lady has the day off) so it is going to be full-on which means I may not get to blog so if not, have a great weekend everyone :)

Weigh in

102.3kgs ........ loss of 100grams bringing my total to 8kgs!

I am sooooooooo taking that as a win because my eating hasn't been the best, with this cold weather I have been eating hot chips, Oh yes hot chips. I have tricked myself into thinking that I have been good because I get a bunnet of chip and only eat half (sharing with a friend), not the right frame of mind so I have knocked that on the head.

Guess what???????

It SNOWED in Upper Hutt last night..............yep SNOWED!!! Being an Aussie girl, I have never seen snow before and I was just gobsmacked (also because it never snows in Upper Hutt). It snowed for about 15 minutes and me, Andrew and the kids were so excited. Unfortunately it didn't snow enough for me to go and make a snow ball (to throw at Andrew ... hehehe) but there was heaps of the stuff!!
The weirdest thing about it is, 5 minutes before it snowed the kids and I were outside on the deck because the weather was warm and sunny .... go firgure???

ALSO I got my MP3 player yesterday which is really cool. I ordered it off the internet and really didn't have any idea if it was a good one or not but it was cheap and after speaking with a friend (techie) who confirmed it had everything I wanted, I bought it for $56.95 and last night I downloaded my songs and it is awesome! I only downloaded about 25 songs (it holds 540 songs) because I couldn't for the life of me think of any songs I liked. I am going to listen to the radio today and write some done.

Back to the gym tonight (armed with my MP3 player) for another session. Mondays little stint must have worked because the ole calf muscles were a bit sore yesterday.

ARGH FINALLY!

I finally got my sorry butt to the gym and LOVED IT!!!! Yep you heard me right people - LOVED IT, but you all new I would aye?

Took me a good 5 minutes to work out the treadmill but once I did - away I went.
Got off after 20 minutes and felt like I had had a really good workout (will go for 30 minutes next visit). Did my other routine of weights and other bits of gym equipment (don't ask me the names...LOL) and got home feeling wonderful.

The kids thought I looked weird in my shorts (bike shorts) because my legs were so white (must work on that....hahaha). It was such a beautiful night that I sat out on the deck with a glass of wine and watched the kids play while hubby made a really nice chicken stir fry with noodles.

Weigh in tonight...................

Not a gym girl

I haven't been and I have pathetic excuses which aren't good enough and I am ashamed I haven't gotten my butt into gear so tell me off if you must ..... boo hoo!

Onto much more interesting things, my food has been pretty good over the weekend which is a bonus for me and my water intake has been spot on - another bonus But TOM arrived today and I am in massive amounts of pain (long story) and feel bloated and horrible.........NOT A BONUS *sigh*
I'm still hoping for a loss tomorrow night *fingers crossed* wishful thinking maybe, I'll have to wait and see.

The weekend was lovely in Wellington and even though Saturday rained a wee bit, at least it wasn't freezing cold. I managed to get heaps of washing done while Andrew worked on the deck and managed to cut down a massive Loquet (spelling?) tree that I hated and blocked my view into the backyard. It is now much lighter down that side of the house and I can see the kids at the back of the yard. Sunday was even better and the sun was out and it actually had heat in it, kids had to put their sun hats on (something they haven't done all year) while they sat out on the back deck and either played with their Thomas trainset or did some colouring in (pictures to follow). After Andrew got home from golf on Sunday afternoon he managed to finish the step on the deck and now it is just the oriental trellis and capping to do......yay, at least we are now using it.

Um what else..................

Lawns got done, cars got washed, went shopping for a sofa bed and found one at Big Save but haven't bought it yet .................. didn't catch up with anyone on the weekend which was a bit of a bugger but quite nice at the same time. That's about it I think, right I'll post these photo's now.

This photo is of my babies (Adam on left, 2 years old and Reece who is 5 is 3 weeks), they were "helping" me bake a banana cake with chocolate icing for their Dad and Poppy (no I didn't have any).



This is the deck (steps are now done but old clothesline is still there)


This is the boys playing on the deck on Sunday (notice the sun and sun hats....amazing!)

GYM GIRL

Well its now Thursday and I FINALLY remembered to bring my gym gear with me, so off to the gym I go after work. I am looking forward to getting back into my routine and the work gym is usually empty which is just the way I like it.

Just had boring old left-over's last night which left me feeling hungry but I was really tired and opted for bed rather than anything else to eat. I had eaten all of my points anyway but I didn't use them very wisely.

This Wellington weather really isn't getting any better, I thought it was finally clearing up but I am just about to go for lunch and it has started pelting down AND hailing..........isn't it October???

Food so far today:

1/4 piece of my sons toast = 0.5
Cereal = 1.5
Trim milk = 1

Lunch is a ham and salad sandwich:
Ham = 1
Bread = 3
Salad = 0

Coffee (Milk) = 2

Sitting on 9 at the moment but I have a WW bar for afternoon tea (another 1.5) leaving me 11.5 for dinner.........wow that's quite a bit today :)

Weigh in

Lost another 1.1kgs bringing me down to 102.4kgs (7.9kgs total).........gotta love that aye!

I new I had been pretty good food wise but I thought I might have stuffed it all up with my wine consumption on the weekend but doesn't seem to have affected me.......thank god!

All my good intentions to get to the gym on Monday hasn't happened. I have lots of excuses but none of them are really good enough when I think about it, I need to get my butt into gear and JUST DO IT!!

Went to my optometrist appointment on Monday (Monday's excuse...hehehe) and as I am long sited with astigmata I didn't think I would be eligible for the laser eye surgery (just wanted to find out - can't afford it yet) but I am. If you had astigmata they didn't like your chances of getting it down but appartently they have a new of doing it and she was 90% sure all would be OK to have it done (in the future). She also said that my eye's were OK to have contacts and that my prescription hadn't changed in 3 years (gotta love that) which means my eye's aren't getting any worse (yet!). I couldn't get my next appointment (to get them) until the 17th October (2 weeks!) so I will have to wait until then.

I just had my darling Reece (4 year old) ring me to "tell on Dad" because he got a smack for not eating his breakfast and watching TV (Dad had the TV off and while he was getting dressed, Recee turned it back on ....... clever little thing) so he was crying and it makes my heart ache but he was OK once he spoke to me as I said all the right things (ie. "oh my poor baby" blah blah "Daddy only wants you to grow big and strong" ....hehehe). Little one then gets on the phone and says he's not going to Kohanga unless he can take his 'Thomas' (Train) ..... LOL I am soooo glad Andrew has to take them in the mornings!

Been trying one or two new recipes which I have mainly been getting off other bloggers (ie. Emily & Paulene) and have just ordered a book called 'Easy Mince Recipes' as my boys love anything with Mince in it and I am running out of ideas.

OK back to work for me, catch ya later :)

Party Girl..................NOT!!!

What a busy weekend I have had and now I'm back at work looking out the window at our horrible, wet, rainy weather.

Helena's birthday night was fantastic (even the little I saw of it - more about that later) and she looked stunning in her outfit. I didn't take my camera but Jo took some photo's and will more than likely show us a couple later.

Let me set the sceen......................

After our blogger lunch (last post) I got home and had a girlfriend ring to say she was coming over with her kids for a coffee. She arrived at about 3.30pm and I told her I was going out that night and getting picked up at 6pm (by the lovely Carol). Both our hubby's were golfing together and we new they wouldn't be home for HOURS and she was at a loss what to do as the weather was yuk and the kids were hypo. I managed to get Adam in bed for a quick sleep and the other kids ran around outside like mad men while we chatted in the lounge.

Looking at the clock it was 4.45pm and I hadn't even had a shower little own gotten dinner for the boys organised so Jo offered to go get them all McDonald's while I had a shower.
Once they got back I was showered with my makeup on and half dressed and Jo said "let's have a wine before you go"...............1st mistake of the evening!
As I was still rushing around I was gulping the wine and little did I know Jo had refilled my glass a couple of times. She left at 5.45pm and I finished getting ready, Carol came and picked me up and then we carried on and picked up the lovely Rose and arrived at Helena's where her, Craig (Helena's hubby) and Jo were sitting in the dining room having a drink.
I had taken a bottle of wine with me so I asked Craig to crack that and we had another couple of wines (I was later to find out in the hour or so we were there, we all drank 3.5 bottles) and Jo and Helena got changed and again I will say they looked stunning.
Jumped into the car and Off we went into Wellington.........got about 15 minutes down the road and Jo had to go to the loo and couldn't hold on so we got off the motorway and found a shell service station. A few of us then had a tinkle and back in the car and off again.

I was feeling mighty fine by this stage and was soooooo excited about getting out with the girls and having a good night.

Got to the restaurant and a couple Helena new from work were there and the lovely Chubbymum, I planted myself down at the end of the table and Helena kindly bought a couple of bottles of wine and put on the table, so we all got stuck into those.

I am now louder than usual (which is hard because I am a VERY LOUD person) and was laughing and giggling.

Menu's came and CM and I decided to share a main as they did a bit of everything for 2 people.
The music that was playing behind my (live) was fantastic and I was having a ball and then got up to go to the loo.......................2nd mistake of the night!

Got into the loo and decided I couldn't focus on anything and thought I must have lost my glasses - checked and they were still on my face so figured I should slow down with the wine because I'm not normally a drinker and by this time I think I was getting close to about 2 bottles. Got off the loo to head back to the table and realised my legs weren't working real well.

Once back at the table I started talking to Rose and realised I could see her lips moving but couldn't concerntrate on what she was saying and started my own conversation in my head (Warning sign or WHAT!!!). About this time everyone started asking me if I was OK because I had gone very quiet.....surprise, surprise and I assured them I was OK but decided I really wasn't and needed to go home. Rang Andrew who had just gotten home and asked him to come and get me but he had had too much to drink and said he would ask my Dad to come and get me but the ladies heard me on the phone and told me to stay, I told Andrew I would ring him later and confirm what I wanted to do.
Meal arrived and it looked fantastic, CM started eating but I was looking at it thinking..."no way", they managed to convince me to try some so I attempted a couple of pieces of potato but that then confirmed I needed to go home.

Dad arrived about 10.30pm and Helena and Jo piled me into the car and off I went.
Can't really remember the trip home but did manage to get my shoes and top off before I passed out in my bed.

Next morning consisted of a MAJOR Hangover and about 8 litres of water........LOL
I also managed 1 piece of toast.

Sat on the deck watching Andrew finish it off with the boys jumping all over me until it was time to get ready for Karen's baby shower.

Jo came and got me at 2pm so I could follow her to the shower and we arrived early (Jo is getting into a habit of being early......not like her at all *kiss kiss Jo*) and I must admit she didn't look 100% herself (they had arrived home about 1.30am).

Karen on the other hand looked bright and bubbly (her usual self) and was really excited about the day. Helena and CM turned up also not looking 100% but not too bad at all ;) and we proceeded witht he baby shower where we played a few games that we weren't very good at and didn't manage to win any prizes.............hehehe but had a lovely time and the food that was served up was unreal and lots of home baking.
By this time I was ready for some food and had a great variety of sandwiches, crackers and cheese, sausage roll and a big piece of banana cake that Karen's Mum made which was YUMMO!

Karen opened her presents (in between the games and the food) and got some fantastic baby things, she was so overwhelmed by it all. Had a bit more of chat with people out on the back deck with a sprinkling of rain which was lovely and then CM and I headed off to meet up with Helena and Jo (and wee Rhian) at the Cossie Club for a latte.

Took CM home and got home and made a really nice healthly chicken stirfry for me and steak, potato's and vege's for Andrew and the boys and relaxed.

Even though I am NOT THE PARTY GIRL I thought I was and ruined a great night out for myself, I am really lucky to have these wonderful girls as my friends and I always manage to have the best fun with them.
It was just lovely meeting Sue, Janene, Ann and I hope we can all catch up again soon and what can I say about Chubbymum.............FUN, LOVELY, GENUIN person who I know will now become a closer friend just like Helena, Karen and Jo are.

If your still reading............well done!