Down, down, Julie is down

(sung to that annoying Coles jingle. I think that it is an INXS song and I hope I havent put it into your head for the rest of the day)

I know it shouldn't matter but I weighed myself this morning and the weight has gone up again.  I have been exercising religiously and it really is as I always thought it was, exercise does not make a lot of difference to me.  I cant even say that it makes me feel better.  Probably just wears my joints out quicker.


In saying this about exercise, I look at Runkeeper and see that I have exercised more this month than ever before.  Racked up awards/badges in Fitbit too.  I will keep at it when I go back to work or I will try to but it wont be every day I think.  Maybe intersperse it with the gym and yoga.  To walk before work means getting up before 5:30 am and I have just had weeks of sleeping in until 6:30-7:00 or later sometimes.

I am going to try and track what I eat for a week to see if I can pinpoint the problem other than old age.  Mind you the minute I decided that I would track we made up our mind to go out to lunch today to celebrate my last day of holidays (the weekend and public holiday do not count as my holidays).  But I will just write down what I have and then review it next week.

My resolution is still working.  I am relaxing, trying to be pleasant all the time no matter if someone else is being unpleasant (their problem not mine), taking time to acknowledge everyone I see and not taking offence at perceived slights (my problem), being open to change of plans and others' requests and just generally chillin'.  Sometimes deep breathing helps when all else fails.

Back to work on Tuesday.  Those 5 weeks of holidays have just flown.

Cupboards have been cleared out and I have a guest room piled high with bags ready to go to charities.

M tells me apparently I am going to do it all again next holidays.  We will see.

We have got on surprisingly well while I have been off.  A precursor to retirement maybe.  Although I dont know who makes the lunches and cups of tea when I am not here.  He seems unable to.

On a friend's recommendation I have joined a co-op type organisation called "HarvestHub".  I have to pick up my first order this afternoon.  Hopefully in the long run this may save me some time and money.

Summer keeps coming and going here.  Last Friday was the hottest day since 1939 I think or it could have been ever.  The temperature got to over 46 degrees.  Even too hot to go swimming outside until later in the day.  I dont mind the heat in the day most of the time but I cant stand it at night.

Got my new sunglasses this week. Plus new lenses for my driving/watching tv glasses.  Over the past two months M and I have spent an absolute fortune at the optometrist.  Probably put a child through university.  I still have two pairs that need the new prescription in them but they will have to wait a little while until my budget recovers.

J is on her way to Goulburn next week to start her detective course.  I will miss her so much.  No daily phone call to make sure that I am alright.  I keep telling her that her father and I get up to so many dangerous things during the day (standing on ladders, climbing up on the roof, driving down windy narrow roads) that she has to check and make sure we are okay.

As an aside, our neighbour who is a bit younger than us, climbed up on her roof a month or so ago and as she was stepping off the ladder she kicked it away and was trapped up there.  She tried calling to M (deaf as a dormouse) and the guy who lives two doors down but neither of them heard her.  Luckily she go the attention of one of the teachers in the high school next door and he came around and put the ladder up again. I dont think she will be climbing on her roof without her phone in future.

Books read this holidays (not many)
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
Enjoyed it but as it is set in Norway had trouble with their names and remembering who was who. Trouble when I read on Kindle I cant seem to see the book is long or short and I think this one was long.

Have started reading the first book in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  Apparently the 14th and last book in this series has just been published.

Friend has also emailed me a list of books and writers to read.  So many books so little time.

Movies I have seen this month (some old some new)
The Hobbit
Les Miserables
Trouble with the Curve
Moneyball
Pitch Perfect

And that is about all the news I have.  To those in Australia, enjoy Australia Day celebrations this long weekend and everyone stay safe :)

The Happiness Project

I am one of those people who sees something and thinks "what a good idea" and goes out and buys it without really thinking about it which leads me to the Happiness Project.

I got an email from Kikki.K, a stationery store, that stocks really lovely things just made for me.  Anyway this email was talking about the Happiness Project which comes from the title of a book and Kikki.K offers all sorts of yummy things such as:

• Weekly Goals Pad
• Quote Cards
• Happiness Journal
• Food and Exercise Journal
• Happiness Project book
• Happiness in a box

Following is a link to the website so that you can see what I am talking about if you are interested.

The Happiness Project

As I read the email I could feel the cravings begin.  I downloaded the offered first chapter of the book itself and thought this sounds like a great thing to do.

And then commonsense kicked in.  Whoa, I don't need any of these things to be happy.  I would be making someone else happy buying them but they wont change a single thing for me.  I dont need special, and oh so pretty, pads/cards/journals to help me be happy.

Nevertheless, I actually went to the shops yesterday with the thought in my mind that I would at least buy the Food and Exercise Journal.

Had a few errands to run first and all the while running through my mind was the thought "why do you need a special book to record what you eat".  I am really crap at tracking and lose interest after a few days so from past experience it would just end up another book that I have bought and don't use.  It always becomes too hard.

The good news to this long and rambling post is that I didnt even go into the store.  I bought two blouses instead.  Cost a lot more money but I needed them and they made me happy. And they weren't black (I am trying to stop buying black clothes). LOL.

So I've realised something - I don't need to waste my money on pretty journals etc to work out how to be happy.  If I need to record things, a cheap exercise book will work just as well and there are so many inspirational quotes on the internet for free I really dont need to buy specific cards which I would probably forget to look at.

Anyway, the rest of the week in a nutshell:
The Fitbit Zip, as mentioned in last weeks post,  is a wonderful little gadget.  I have managed over 10,000 steps on a few days and have just passed the 50km mark.  But it has made me realise that after entering in all the relevant details, even on the days I manage 10,000 steps I am not burning enough calories.  What I am achieving is better than nothing but it is not enough.

I went back to the gym on Monday for the first time in over 5 months.  After the girls had picked themselves up off the floor I went and did 20 mins extra walking on the treadmill and some lateral pulldowns.  Wasnt sure I should be doing weights but just felt I needed to start somewhere as the "fatback" is really irking me.  Anyway, physio on Thursday said I can go back to doing weights but to start slowly so that is what I am going to do next week.

Went and saw Les Miserables this week. Hmm what can I say.  I dont quite believe Hugh Jackman was nominated for an Oscar for this role.  Lovely man that he is I'm sure, he just didnt cut it as Jean Valjean for me and what can I say about Russell Crowe.  I heard someone yesterday describe him in this role as having perfected single every song in one note and this was true.

The movie went for nearly 3 hours and I felt slightly bored for the first 90 mins and Jess was definitely restless next to me.  The pace picked up when the young people arrived with their revolution.  Sacha Baron Cohen and Helen Bonham Carter were excellent in their roles as Thenardier and his wife.
Daniel Huttlestone who plays the street urchin, Gavroche, was excellent too.  Slightly strange were to cockney accents some of the cast used since this was set in Paris.

Anyway, glad I saw it, cried at the end but wouldnt go out of my way to watch it again.

Quickly, for some reason lost 500g this week.  Probably just water.
Have a great weekend and week ahead.  Only 2 weeks holidays left now.  Just flying by.

It's been a long time

Well here I am finally.
Know I have a lot of catching up to do.
Where to start.
Down to going once a month to physio and if I do the exercises that I have been given religiously the pain is less.
Trying to walk Lucy every day since the summer holidays have started but as today was sleep in Sunday I haven't gone yet.  I am waiting for the temperature to drop a bit and the sun to get a bit lower in the sky.
Weather here is hot but not as hot as it is in other parts of the state or country.  You have got to love the weather conditions that keep coastal Sydney cooler than elsewhere sometimes.  My sister lives about 50 minutes west of here and the temperatures are always 7-10 degrees hotter than here. Colder out there in winter too.  Mind you we still have to get through the hot and humid months that are coming until the bliss of Autumn arrives.
I gardened today in short bursts until I got everything I wanted to get done done.  Ironing has been done and am just about to go out an water pot plants.
I am loving being on holidays.  Am just pottering along.
Christmas was great and New Years was fun.
Have cleaned out one of the linen press cupboards and a major part of my wardrobe.  Finally allocated all my high heels to Lifeline.  They have been hardly worn but my ankle wont let me wear anything other than flats now.  Also passed on a stack of jeans I am never going to fit in to anymore.  It was a hard admission, both the shoes and the jeans, but it is time to move on.
Mark wants me to clean out the other cupboards too and I have to reorganise my study.  It seems to have become the dumping ground of things that dont have a home.
Everyone is well.
Gareth has moved into a new unit down the lower North Shore and seems to be happy.
Jess has moved on in her life too and has a new man in her life.  (She finally told me yesterday but I knew there was someone or something making her glow.)  She starts her detective course soon. By this time next year she will be a detective.
Bought a FitBit the other day and it is a really great pedometer.  It has lots of other bonus things too and I have linked it to my iPhone and iPad.  It is tiny and bright green.

Comes with a little holder which I just clip to my bra and forget I even have it on.  (Have to remember to unclip every night - dont think going through the washing machine would be a good option.)  Ordered it on Thursday and it was here Friday morning.  So impressed with the delivery.  They have a set of scales I would like too but at the moment the scales I have a perfectly serviceable so cant really justify buying new ones.
My boss bet me that by the end of the 5 weeks break I would be sick of being at home with Mark and champing at the bit to get back to work.  Nearly half way and it hasnt happened yet.  Now, if someone would just pay me to stay at home I would be in seventh heaven.
Went to see  "The Hobbit" this week with Gareth.  I love the book so much and it was interesting to see how they have split it into the first movie in the trilogy.  Cant wait to see the next one but I guess that is a year away.  We saw it in 3D and I spent a lot of the time ducking things.  LOL.
This week I am going to see "Les Miserables" with Jess and my sister.  This is why I had children so that I have someone to go to the movies with.  Mark has opted out but if pressed would have come with me.  I dont think he would have made me go by myself.
Oh, and also I now how glasses for computer work.  I had been making so many little mistakes at work with numbers.  You know confusing 0 and 6 or 8 and 9s.  Frustrating and infuriating.  I was actually able to articulate this to my optometrist this time and he actually knew what I was talking about.  Everything was just a little bit out of focus.  It is now annoying to have two pairs of glasses (one for distance and one for computers) but as my eyesight progresses or changes I will probably get transition lenses.  Anyway off tomorrow to get new sunnies and the lenses changed in the glasses I use to drive at night/watch TV.  Apparently I was shortsighted which means I had my short sight but as my long sight is deteriorating the short sight is improving.  As I said, everything has been slightly out of focus for a while now which has resulted in tiredness etc.  Cant believe what a difference my computer glasses have made.
Time to go - sun low enough to walk Lucy I think.
Hope everyone has had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
2013 is going to be awesome.  I can feel it in my bones.
No resolutions to speak of - just try to relax a bit and understand that it is not all about me when people say or do things that hurt me.  Not even their problem.  Breath deeply and let it go.........
Life is too short and there are so many lovely people to meet and exciting things to do.