Term 4 - Back at work

Back at work now and the time is flying. Going to be a very busy term and I know Christmas will be upon me before I know it.

I have been shut out of my computer and study by a daughter doing a uni assessment which has finally been done and I can reclaim my possessions. I live in the hope that they get the internet on at home soon but there is some sort of problem about broadband not being available in their area and dial up is too slow. The funny thing was she was complaining about the lack of food in the house - no muesli bars or biscuits etc. I explained that since no child lives at home anymore I dont have to stock those things saving myself lots of money and keeping myself out of temptation. My only problem now is jatz - Mark loves them so we keep boxes of them and I have been known to attack the jatz container when I am having a munchy attack.

Mark home from France last Thursday night. So nice to have him back. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. He came bearing gifts - a bottle of "Covet" perfume and another charm bracelet.

Gareth home from UK in under a week now! Looking forward to seeing him again. He is staying with us for two weeks max. Hope he settles back into life in Aus although I know he is planning on returning to London next April. I guess that will be crunch time as to whether he gives up his job here.

Okay Zanna, my top 10 things in my shopping trolley that work for me are:

Either some Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers Frozen Meals (whatever is on special)
Weight Watchers Ice Cream - Berry mudslide is the current favourite
Rice Crackers
Weight Watchers cottage cheese
Weight Watchers cream cheese (to have with smoked salmon, capers, lettuce, bagels, onions)
Nestle Diet Yoghurt (Citrus and Pomegranate is new and yummy)
Lots of Fruit and Vegetables (hooray summer is here)
Weight watchers sour cream
Wholemeal crumpets and muffins
Diet Lemon Lime and Soda (brand escapes me at the moment but I think it comes from Qld)

I know that a few of the above have the dreaded 950 or 951 additives in them but I havent figured out replacements yet. And also note that this is my "healthy" trolley, sometimes there is an unhealthy trolley - unhealthy but yummy.

Weight seems to be slowly going down. Am not counting points any more just trying to make good choices because I know this is what I have to do for ever. Sometimes I fail miserably but I will keep slogging away. Am managing to drink at least 1 litre of water most days. 2 litres is a pipe dream I think.

Exercise has sort of settled down to
Monday - gym
Tuesday - walk Lucy
Wednesday - Yoga
Thursday - walk Lucy
Friday - gym
Saturday - Pilates and a good workout cleaning the house
Sunday - sometimes walk Lucy and yard and garden maintenance.

I dont always manage to do this program because I am listening to my body more and if other things crop up I am slowly learning to go with the flow and not sweat the fact that exercise doesnt happen.

Hope everyone is having a good week. Slightly cooler here today with a promise of some much needed rain.
Take care
J
xxx

A Saturday night

It's Saturday night, I am finally tidying up my study, with a glass of wine listening to my iPod playing Abby Dobson and all the other new ones I downloaded from iTunes yesterday very loudly.

Have spoken to Gareth and Mark who are having a serious father/son bonding experience in Toulouse. Jess is calling in tomorrow morning early, on her way home from nightshift and I can make her some more of my rhumba juice and give her all the things I picked up for her today.

Pilates was wonderful today and yoga starts again on Wednesday.

Does life get any better then this? (Did I say that out loud.)

Juice

I made the most beautiful juice for breakfast this morning. Raw beetroot, knob of ginger, stick of celery, an apple, a carrot and 1/4 of a lemon. It was the most heavenly colour and tasted divine. I am sure it will be good for me.

In all my cleaning and rearranging I found my juicer so dragged it out this morning as I have time to clean the fiddly little thing while I'm on holidays.

Didnt quite finish the pantry yesterday - I went to sleep knowing that if anyone broke into the house last night they would have killed themselves (or at least twist an ankle badly) walking through the kitchen. How many glass moccono jars does a person need? I have so many filled with dodgy things which have now been emptied and washed. Jess may want some, my boss may want some for his shack up at Bellingen otherwise it is off to the recycling plant for them.

Gareth rang this morning. Why else - needed a loan. The Bank of Australia is back in business. Mark has booked him on a flight to Toulouse on Friday which is great. They had a good time catching up in Richmond together on Monday night. Looks like Gareth will be coming home at the end of October now. Depends when he can get the cheapest flight. It was midnight over there and he said it was freezing. I mentioned that it was a beautiful day here and I was sitting in a sleeveless top having breakfast on our deck. Bad mother!

Okay back to the pantry and then my study needs a definite spring clean too! I have to start painting a Santa Claus that a friend gave me recently plus finish the starshape angels that I give my girlfriends each year for Christmas. I have been reminded that they didnt get one last year because of my hand op and while they understood not to let it happen again. LOL.

Take care.

So organised it hurts

Mark has met up with Gareth in London and moved on to Toulouse. Gareth is apparently flying to Toulouse this weekend for more father/son bonding.

I have used this time alone (except for the beautiful Lucy) to clean and organise. Have gone through my plastic container cupboard and downsized it to a small cupboard. Three boxes of containers for Jess to go through before shipping off to Lifeline. Moved all my electrical appliances into the old plastics cupboard. Looks tres neat but Mark wont be able to find anything when he returns.

Went through the medicine/first aid cupboard and got rid of all the out of date medications (some were over 10 years old!). They have been returned to the chemist today for disposal.

Went through the linen press and threw out anything that wasnt needed or looked to shabby. Good stuff to Lifeline, old towels to the vet. Have repacked shelves and labelled them so that others (Mark) can also put washing away. Found this treasure wrapped in tissue and a plastic bag in the bottom of the cupboard. Made it eons ago - quilted, handpainted, old lace etc. Might hang it up for Christmas this year and see what Santa brings me. (I could have ironed it before I photographed it.)

Cleaned oven as best I can. Note to self (and I know I said this last time): do not buy another self cleaning oven because they dont.

Prepared all our tax stuff for the accountant. It was a mammoth task especially all the medical bills covering all the operations last year. I nearly died when I saw how much my being unwell last year cost us. Megabucks!

The pantry is next on the agenda.

Won some money in Lotto. The most I have ever won. Another charm or two for my bracelet. Jess bought me a silver suitcase with Paris stamped on it (my daughter knows me well). Maybe it will be an omen. Her partner is also going to buy me one too - picked out all by himself.

Ordered some beautiful necklaces from bombalurinashops on etsy (will try to add the proper URL next time). Had fun trying to set up a paypal account. Sometimes I feel so computer illiterate but I got there in the end.

Have bought an external hard drive to store my audiobooks on. This will be interesting trying to instal it by myself. Might have to wait for the beautiful Jess to wander through before I try to do it.

Had a look at her new place last week. She knows what she wants and it looks great. So chic. I think Marc just gets carried along in her wake. Mind you I think we all do! We had a wonderful day at IKEA and Freedom and a dozen other places. Plus she took me for a drive around Gladesville/Hunters Hill/Woolwich to look at all the places I remember from when I grew up in the area. A long special day and I slept like a log when I went to bed that night. We are going back to IKEA again this Friday - havent quite finished or maybe we are addicted. Plus a visit to Habitat because we are still looking for stools. I bought her her own retractable tape measure and a book "No tattoos before you're thirty" by Sam de Brito which has some hilarious advice which I wish I had had early for her. She has been threatening me with a tattoo since Year 10 (me not getting one - her).

Last but not least some more photos - my baby ducklings at work are growing so quickly by the time I get back from holidays they will be grown ups and the waratah that came into flower this year at the Centre. Amazing flower.

No food or weight news this week because I'm not managing it well. Exercise is okay but the rest is blah. BUT and this is a big BUT, at the moment I dont care - I'm accomplishing other things and feeling really good about them. Have even caught up all the posts on googlereader (there were over 100 waiting to be read).

If anyone has lasted this long - I had a strange comment on my last post from Mustafa something or other in Turkish. Can anyone translate for me. It was quite odd.

Have a great week everyone, I'm off to clean the pantry out.

Been a little while.....

Havent posted for a while because I keep running out of time but have been reading and commenting when inspiration hits me.

Fairly uneventful time lately.

Had my 54th birthday on Sunday. Nice day but missed the kids although DD did call in between shifts and DS called from UK. DH took me out for lunch which was nice. My two best friends had a surprise dinner for me (DH had forgotten all about the arrangements so I was watching the news eating vegemite toast when the phone call came wondering where we were!) and some lovely aloe vera lotion from evelyn and crabtree and a borders gift card.

I wanted a pandora bracelet for my birthday but I didnt quite realise how hellishly expensive they are but what I have just done is ordered one over the internet with some charms and from now on the children and husband will not have any problems finding something to give me - they can buy another charm. Good plan. I know I am hard to buy for as I tend to buy whatever I want whenever I want which leaves nothing for special days.

I also downloaded some new albums for my iPod -
Joni Mitchell's new one - Shine
Kate Melua
Amy Winehouse
I love iTunes!

Put my car in for its first service today and I have a hairdressers appointment this afternoon. Nearly had a serious accident on the way to service centre and it would have been my fault. Turned in front of someone and I never even saw him coming. I was a bit shaky for a while afterwards. While car was being serviced I went to the gym - is this multi-tasking? Trying to get all my computer stuff done before DD turns up to do her uni assignment. Still hasn't got the internet on at home.

DD and I are going shopping to IKEA yet again tomorrow to buy her some new stools for her breakfast bar plus maybe a few things for me.

Thursday is staying at home day waiting to see if Optus manages to deliver my new phone which was supposed to come last Friday.

Friday I am driving out to my sister's to see her new home and give her partner a big hug as he has just found out that he has bowel cancer and it has knocked him a bit (as it would). My first trip out west on all the motorways (me driving that is).

DH is heading overseas on the weekend I think and will be away for a couple of weeks. He hopes to catch up with DS in either France or the UK.

Next week looms large and empty although I havent really tried to organise anything as I have been strangely tired and always seem to have some sort of upset tummy and nausea. If it keeps up I will go to the doctor and have it checked out. I might follow Anne's lead and start eliminating food additive(?) 950 and 951 from my diet.

I have been promising my self a trip to the city to look for some more work clothes so that could be on the cards for next week and also I want to get down to lulumans at warringah mall to check out the yoga gear.

Have rebooked for my third term of yoga but have decided to give tai chi a miss next term. There is only so much you can fit in a week isnt there?

Time to start painting Christmas decorations and gifts - will try to post photograph of the Christmas elf that is going to sit in my front window this year.

Oh well off to do housework now - it is so nice to have the time to do computer stuff, housework and read as well. Bliss!