A new week

Had a lovely weekend, Andrew and I took the boys up to Harcourt Park where they have a paddling pool and huge playground area and spent a couple of hours there (boys were in the pool most of that time) and then went home for lunch. Dad and Andrew decided to get some more concreting done so that took up the rest of the afternoon and the boys and I did some colouring in and watched a DVD.

Sunday we took the kids back to the local school in our area so Reece could try out his new bike (2nd hand from his cousin because his Bob the Builder one is too little now) and also let Adam have a play on the old one (Bob the Builder bike) which we thought was too big for him and he wouldn't want to ride it BUT NO! He is a daredevil and was racing Reece and giving us both heart attacks because we don't have a helmet for him yet (getting one this weekend) so he was very upset when we told them we had to go home as we thought Adam was going to do himself a huge injury.
Photo's above.
Got home and the hubby went to golf and the kids had lunch on the deck (while Adam tried on Reece's bike helmet) and then Adam went for a sleep, Pop came in to watch the boys while I went out for a coffee with Helena, Jo and Rose.....bliss!

Had a HUGE ham salad for dinner, kids and husband's lunch made, bags packed for school, dishes done and into bed by 10pm.

Weigh in

Lost 200grams...........don't know how THAT happened but I am taking it!!!
Current weight 97.4kg
Total loss 12.9kgs

Right - I am sick of mucking around like I have been for about 4 or 5 weeks, so its back into it!!
I think my biggest downfall is exercise (I see you all nodding) so I am going home tonight to talk to Andrew about getting a better routine for ME.

In the mornings I usually take Reece and he takes Adam which really limits me as he has to start at a certain time and has to be picked up at a certain time so I figure if I take both kids in the morning and Andrew picks them both up in the afternoon, that will leave me time to do my exercise after work *shrug*, we'll see.

But I am very motivated (again) and am determined to GET THIS RIGHT!!!

Other news:
Ummmmmmm nothing really, just plodding along with work and kids and housework - ya know, all the exciting stuff......LOL

The Fair is over

...........and I managed to only spend $10 on a hand towel with New Zealand on it for my sister in OZ (boring). I did try to spend more money but there just wasn't anything that took my fancy, even my girlfriend kept her money in her wallet and we only managed to spend money on food which wasn't from the fair as the cue's were anormous!

We arrived Friday afternoon and went to a lovely little cafe in Greytown (Corner Cafe) and had a yummy lunch (I had a CLT which is a chicken, lettuce and tomato sandwich thing....lovely) and then headed to our Motel which I booked off the internet on Wotif.com as it was nice and cheap and it was FLASH. We then headed off to good ole Pak N Save and got our supplies (cheese, hummus, dips and crackers) and also some dinner (sushi) and headed back to the motel, unpacked our groceries and booze (bourbon for me, Vodka for Sue) and away we went....
Got to be about 1am after watching trashing E TV.

The fair was very average and I must admit that I won't be going back anytime soon.

Got home Saturday afternoon about 2.30pm.

Took Reece to see 'Happy Feet' at the movies and I had a ball and really enjoyed the movie, Reece got a bit scared in one or two places and HAD to go to the toilet 3 times but all in all a nice one on one time.

Andrew and I then took the kids down to one of the local schools with the boys bikes (Reece is still learning to ride his bike with no trainers) and a frizby and tennis ball and bats and had a really good time playing with the kids.

Andrew and his mate then went golfing at about 5pm and I managed to get the kids feed, bathed and in their PJ's by 6.30pm............rrrrrrrrr lovely weekend.

Stupidly forgot my camera which is a shame because there were definate 'candid camera' moments with Sue and I............LOL

Girlie weekend

Well I have 40 minutes left at work before I bugger off with a girlfriend over the hill (Rimataka hill that is) and spend the afternoon dropping our gear off at the motel we are booked into and then finding a yummy cafe for lunch and then exploring Masterton shops. Out for dinner and drinks............yeah baby!

Tomorrow is the Martinborough Fair which I am really looking forwar too as I haven't been for a few years.

Yesterday I finally caught up with my mate Jo which is an effort these days as both of us are really busy with work, family etc but it was awesome to see her.
We went to -wait for it- Mitre 10 Mega and both had a coffee and a chicken salad (shock horror!), it was lovely as usual.

I also had a thing at school with Reece and his teacher that the school calls 'goal setting' which is quite cool really, we all look at previous work and then all discuss what we think should be looked at for this year to improve. Reece loved having 'buy in' and was quite the 'little man' telling us that he finds it hard to concentrate when kids are running around and making noise or can't sit on the mat for too long because he gets bored etc so that's one goal which he is to learn - concentrate on what he is doing etc.....I actually had quite a bit of fun with it and because he made some of the suggestions the teachers reckon it really works.

Right, I'm off......

Not much else to report really, I'll talk to you all next week........bye

I'm back

What a lovely break I had, I just love Gisborne :)

Took Friday off work to pack which was nice and relaxed while kids were at school/daycare.

Got to bed quite late as we packed the car that night for a 3.30am start the following morning, managed to sleep in and left at 5.30am....oops!
Unveiling was at 11am and we caught the last 5 minutes of it (no drama there) and then back to the hotel to unpack. Over the grandads house to see everyone and then back to the hotel to get ready for the massive 60th and 30th combined.

Andrew had had a few drinks with his Uncles and cousins at his grandfathers house earlier in the day so didn't feel like drinking that night (bonus for me) so he drove the kids home after dinner. The meal was 'to die for' as my mother in law had caught paua and crayfish and made cream paua (ate WAY to much of that) and then there was fry bread, stuffing, potato bakes etc and 1 salad that was only touched by one person - you guessed it - ME - .......hahahaha

I then proceeded to get totally trashed with my sister and sister in law and most of Andrew's cousins. After my 8 bourbon and cokes I then got given something called an Archer (gin or vodka with a mix???) and ended up on beer (I hate beer)....not good.

Andrew arrived back at around 1am and I was on the dance floor doing my impersonation of the world's best dancer *cringe* and was also singing at the top of my voice (god help me).

Sunday was very 'quiet' with lots of panadol plus most of the family (those who travelled) went back home and we sat around with the remaining family and caught up (nice).

We left Monday morning (approx. 10.30am) and had a nice easy drive home with the kids, stopping at parks and for lunch. I think we arrived home around 6.30pm, unpacked the car and collapsed in front of the TV.

Tuesday morning and I was up early to get the kids off to school/daycare and as I had the day off, I got most of the washing done and the house back in order before I headed for the shops to get this weeks mags and a BIG trim latte and sat down in the foodcourt for some 'me' time.........bliss!

Back at work today and it isn't as bad as I had feared (bonus!).

Right, I'm off to go have a read and see what you have all been up to....bye.

P.S. After the HUGE amounts of food I ate over the weekend, I didn't go to weigh in last night as I just couldn't face those scales.

2nd post for the day

Hi again,

Just thought I would let you know that I am off work tomorrow (packing) as we are off to Gisborne and won't be back until Monday but I won't be back at work until Tuesday (unpacking - washing) and since I post from work, I won't be back for about 5 days.

Can't wait to get back and catch up with everyone.

C ya!

Photo's

I haven't added photo's to the new blogger so I don't know where they will go but I will tell you what each of them are now.

Adam (2.5 year old) getting very dirty eating his ice-cream.

Reece (5 year old) reading his brother a Thomas the Tank Engine book at bedtime.

My new watch Andrew got me in Aussie (just love it).

My dinner last night, salad, yoghurt and herb dressing, extra mango chutney and a chicken, brie and mango chutney panini.........divine.

I was really flat at work yesterday and tried to work out why because I had had a decent sleep and then I remembered I hadn't taken my multi-vitimins or my flaxseed and omega 3 & 6 pills (I'm a regular healthy store junkie) and I only had about 1.5 litres of water so today I have taken my pills (8am) and have drank nearly a litre of water already. Lets see if that will help, I'm sure it will.

Weigh in

1.2kg GAIN.....piss, bugger, bum! Current weight 97.6kgs, total loss 12.7kgs.
As you all know its my own fault (read last post) so all I'm going to say is, it really is a pain when you loss weight each week with a 200g or 600g loss but when you put on it is always HUGE, that'll teach me.

Moan over!

I got home after weigh in to another lovely BBQ compliments of my hubby and it was too die for. We had garlic/honey prawns, steak, chicken kebabs and sausages with a HUGE lettuce salad and curried eggs....yum, yum, yum.

I also finally got to the card/scrapbook place called 'Scrapbook Central' and all I wanted to do was go in and find out when their next card maker class was on but I spent over an hour in there just looking at all the different things they had, it was really cool. Originally I wanted to just do a card making class but I am now thinking of doing a scrapbook class as well and there were some beautiful examples all over the place and it gave me millions of ideas.

Update: Just to clarify (Chris_h), no I didn't eat prawns, steak, chicken kebabs and sausages that was what was on offer. I had salad, 1 chicken kebab, left over kids sausage and about 6 prawns....yummo

Why oh why?????

After the chinese on the weekend you would think I would stop there as weigh in is tonight but noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I had about 4 slices to many pieces of TOAST bread with dinner last night and then went to bed early 8.45pm only to be woken up at 11.30pm by a sick child and ended up eating ANOTHER cherry ripe chocolate bar while trying to put my sick child (Adam) back to sleep. Adam is fine today by the way, don't know what last night was about?

THEN I had a HUGE bowl of cereal for breakfast (at least it was cereal and not toast) and a HUGE ham and salad sandwich all by 10.15am and it is now 2.35pm and I haven't had a trickle of water pass my lips *sigh*. Plus I haven't done any exercise and the only excuse I have had is 'Andrew's away, I don't have time'....rubbish RACHEL!!!!!

Sabotage that's what it is and I do it to myself everytime I get in Coe-e of my lowest weight. I really thought I was past all of this and that I was happy eating the right foods and doing my exercise etc but there is still something in my head that gets this attitude that I have done so well I can ruin it all and go back to my old bad eating habits. As I'm eating I am telling myself off and feel like crap afterwards but does that stop me?......Noooooooo.

So I'm expecting a gain, more than likely a big one.

Why do I do this??????
I suppose if I new that I wouldn't be in this predicament ay?

I'll be back tomorrow to update my weight.......gggrrrrrrrr


I just re-read this post and I sound depressed and pathetic which I know I'm not, I just needed to get that off my chest. I actually feel much better once I have 'told' everyone what I have been doing and not getting on here and saying 'everything is just rosy blah blah'.

Right I'm off to drink some water.

He's home........

Here are my Valentine's flowers:




Yep the boy is home and glad to be by the sounds of it. He didn't enjoy Australia which isn't any great suprise to me, the humidity was a killer and he was crook most of the time (stomach).
He bought me a beautiful gold watch as mine went on the blink last year and also got the boys an outfit each and some kiddies sunglasses (very cute).
He also bought me my ALL TIME FAVOURITE chocolate CHERRY RIPE which Cadbury's don't make in NZ (they have off and on in the past) and when I lived in Australia it was a weekly treat.

I had a really busy weekend which started with my girlfriend and her 4 kids staying on Friday night. We ordered Chinese for dinner and ended up eating it for breakfast and lunch the next day as we had ordered WAY TO MUCH.
Saturday I got my hair cut and coloured.....yay!
Saturday night was very quiet which was bliss as I had been waiting for a quiet night since the boy left (finally got it the night before he got home).
Sunday morning we just played outside (the weather here is incredibly gorgeous at the moment) and we went and picked up Andrew in the afternoon, BBQ for dinner, lunches made for the following day, bags packed and everyone in bed before 10pm..........gotta love that!

My other lab chic is away today so I am all by myself and it always amazes me how much work I get done when I am on my own. I'm hoping to get home and then pile everyone in the car off to the swimming pools so I can try out my flippers.

Weigh in tomorrow night and I have sabotaged myself yet again, I also seem to get within a 'hop skip and a jump' of virgin fat and I fall apart and go back to my unhealthly eating habits (hence the chinese and chocolate)....so I'm not going to be too suprised with a gain (hopefully a small one).

Single mother ...........

I had a shocking morning, Reece slept with me and wet the bed. Adam woke up in a foul mood and wouldn't get dressed or eat his breakfast so I had to practically hold him down with him kicking and screaming while I dressed him and then through him in the car without breakfast.
Reece also wouldn't eat his breakfast because I wouldn't turn the TV on .......... stubborn little so and so. Ended up with 2 boys in the car either crying or arguing with me and it was just FABULOUS dropping them off this morning. I did think maybe they were missing their Dad (been gone 3 days) but then dismissed that idea when this conversation happened just before I dropped Reece off at school

Me: Do you miss Dad sweetie, is that why your being naughty this morning
Reece: Nah, Dad's been gone for ages now and I'm over missing him
Me: Only 2 more days and he will be home
Reece: Oh Man then I'll have to sleep in my bed again, can't he stay longer?


hahahahahaha............5 year olds crack me up!

Another girlfriend of mine is coming around with her 4 kids for Chinese takeaways tonight as her hubby is also away (hers for a weeks already).

I am finding it practically impossible to do everything and fit in exercise which is a bad excuse but an honest one, mind you I did go to Westfields Shopping Centre last night for 1.5 hours and went and bought 3 magazines, a trim latte and a packet of sushi and sat down in the Foodcourt and relaxed...........bliss!

The day after Valentines day

I just love Valentines Day and my hubby and I are really romantics. I slipped a soppy valentines card (with love voucher) into his suitcase the night before he left and he got it yesterday (Valentines).
I in turn got several phone calls and texts from him yesterday from Oz telling me how much he loves me THEN when I arrived home with the kids a big bunch of gerbera's (spelling?) were waiting for me with a beautiful valentines card that he had written in (he's soppier than me) that he'd taken to the florist before he left to have added to the bunch of flowers. I moan and groan about him sometimes (that's normal right?) but I do love him and I know he loves me.
I did take a photo but haven't downloaded it yet.

Right enough of the flowery stuff back to reality.

The kids got baked beans on toast for dinner (their favourite) and I had left over salad on sandwiches. My eldest sister came over as her hubby is in Auckland for work and after I got the kids off to bed, we sat there for hours just gasbagging. It was really nice because it is very rare that we get to do that as there are usually kids (mine and hers) around or the husbands and so you can never really get in a good ole gabble fest!

I didn't get to the card making place yesterday so I am aiming for today or even this evening (late night) as Dad is going to watch the kids for me after dinner so I can go and have a wander around Westfields shopping centre (just because).

Helena mentioned in her last comment that maybe one of the reasons that we are doing so well at the moment is all the water we are drinking and I have to say I think she is 100% correct.
I even feel more sluggish on the days I'm not drinking at least 2.5 - 3 litres which is a good indication that the water is really helping.

Weigh in

2.1kg loss which brings me down to 96.4kgs (100 grams off my lowest weight for years - roll on virgin fat) total loss of 13.9kgs since August 2006.
Gotta say I'm pretty happy about that, I have been great with my food choices (apart from the poker night) and my water has been excellent (average of 3L per day).

I got home from weigh in and had a yummy BBQ of chicken kebabs, a sausage and a huge salad.
Andrew told me it (my loss) was well deserved and how proud he was of me for doing so well and that it was really noticable now which is HUGE for him as he usually doesn't say anything.

Valentines Day today and I slipped a card and love voucher *wink* into his suitcase (thanks for the reminder Becks). Andrew left for Aussie for 5 days this morning (3.20am).
Also my Mum's birthday.

I'm going for a walk at lunchtime to a 'card making' place which isn't far from work to find out when their classes are and what I will need to bring with me. Kate put me onto the Make a Child Smile website which asks you to send cards to very sick boys and girls around New Zealand to lift their spirits (fantastic idea!...........thanks Kate) and I thought I would make individual cards for each child.

When I was at my mates house on the weekend her husband heard me saying that I was going to get some flippers for swimming and as he is a diver he wipped some out for me and told me I could have them if they fit.........well they did fit which is great but they are diving fins so they are quite long but I will give them a go anyway. I absolutely LOVE swimming but I need to concentrate on my strokes and breathing and I don't do that because I am always afraid I am going to sink........LOL so the flippers help take that stress away thankfully plus I reckon I will be able to get in more than 14 laps without having a major heart attack.

Considering I feel I did really well this week, I look at my steps and they look quite pathetic.
Weekly roundup:

Wed - 6810
Thurs - 11229
Fri - 7779
Sat - 5894
Sun - 0 (dropped yet again)
Mon - 6320
Tues - 0 (dropped yet again)

Average steps for the week - 7606 (down on last week)

Righto off I go and do some work..............tar tar

Lovely weekend

Beautiful weather again in Wellington which was excellent for all of us as we spent 90% of the weekend outside, BBQ's, waterslides etc..............loved it!

Friday night Andrew and I went to his mates house for a poker night which he had been avoiding as he just didn't want to go to. As he is off for a week this week to OZ he didn't want to leave me for a night on the weekend as well before he left so was going to get out of it when his mate rang but when his mate did ring he said "Are you and Rach still coming?", oh I was invited.....cool! Off we went and there was 8 of us (4 boys and 4 girls) and the boys were all very proffessional telling us how to play (Texas something or other it was called?) as none of us girls had ever played. Guess who was left on the table after an hour? Yep, all 4 girls and the boys were outside sulking..........hahaha After another 4 hours myself and the Hostess were left playing and as it was 1am by this time and we had an audience (boys) standing behind us telling us what to do (as if we would listen to them...LOL) we split the pot (we all put in $10 each) and went home. I had an absolute ball and can't wait for the next poker night (if the boys invite us again).

Saturday was just hanging around the house, housework, playing with the kids in the sandpit etc.

Sunday I went to a girlfriends in the morning for about 3 hours as she has been in Raro for a month and our kids and her kids were busting to see each other.

And that about sums it up..........borning ay? Just how I like it!

New blog (beta)

Well I have changed to the new beta blog because I went to log in and I didn't have an option to go to my normal blog, I had to change..............oh well we will see if it makes any difference.
I have had a quick read and it sounds userfriendly but we will see. I remember someone saying that they couldn't leave comments on other peoples posts once they had changed so I am hoping that's not the case *shrug*.

Don't have much planned for my weekend which I just LOVE.

I have a really busy week next week as Andrew is going to Aussie for 5 days with his company (soooo jealous!!) so I will be doing the 'single' parent thing but the boys are really good so I'm not stressing (yet!).

Hope everyone has a great weekend, its 4pm and I AM OUTTA HERE (work that is)!

No Weigh in

As it was a public holiday here (Waitangi Day) there was no Weight Watchers on unfortunately.
So no results until next week (that seems soooooooooooo far away).

Weekend roundup:

Saturday: Sunny weather, cleaned house and played outside with the kids.
Sunday: Sunny weather, met up with some girlfriends for coffee, played outside with the kids.
Monday: Sunny weather and Work.
Tuesday: Sunny weather, went for a family outing and then home for a BBQ with some friends.

Don't ya just love sunny weather?
It is a very rare occurence for us to have 4 days of sun in a row and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
Water has been dead easy to drink in this weather and the ole exercise hasn't been to bad either.

Weekly Step totals:

Wednesday - 7587
Thursday - 0 (it zeroed itself out)
Friday - 0 (same as above)
Saturday - 9552
Sunday - 8993
Monday - 7162
Tuesday - 8935

Daily Average: 8446

Back at work today and it is still lovely and sunny outside.
I got in late today as it is the first day back at school for Reece. He was really excited and we got there to meet his new teacher and find his new class.

I just want to say that I have been reading everyones blogs but blogger won't let me leave any comments. So I just wanted everyone to know that I am reading but 9 times out of 10, I can't leave a comment at the moment.

Yay it's Friday...

I just love Friday's. It is a beautiful day in the Capital of New Zealand and I'm hoping it stays that way ALL weekend (don't burst my bubble if you know differently.

Its 3.45pm and I'm leaving in 15 minutes as I have to drop my Mum's car off to get a new Cam belt (ouch) and Andrew is picking me up so we then have to go and get Reece's Stationary stuff for school next Wednesday and I think I will stop somewhere for a trim latte (just because).

Apart from catching up with some friends on Sunday for a coffee and gas bag, I don't have any plans for the weekend. If its nice I will hopefully get a BBQ in and invite some friends around *shrug* dunno, we'll see.

I had sushi for dinner last night....................YUM!!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend......ta ta

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!!!