An update before the next operation

I can't believe that the last time I posted was the day after the operation. Unfortunately the excellent vision that I had on the day after the operation has deteriorated - still 100 times better than I was before the operation but not as good as it was on the day after. Surgeon said that this sometimes does happen. He is disappointed with how my eye accepted the lens - from a health point of view my eye is in excellent condition but according to the measurements / machine reading etc - it should have come out at -.5 but it actually came out at -1.5. Not bad - but not as good as he wanted. Now the trick with the right eye is guessing whether it will behave the same way. He is aiming to get as close to 0 as possible which will mean that I will have good reading vision in my left eye and good distance vision in my right eye and my brain should be able to work them together so that I have good all round vision.

I was talking to my folks today and my Dad was worried that he had talked me into the operations - I said that he mustn't worry because I have never thought "Geez - this was a mistake" because at the moment, I am still better off than I was before the op. I think that maybe they didn't notice how long it took for their eyes to settle down because they aren't working in an office on a computer and with paperwork all day long - that is where it gets tricky because my left eye focuses at about 80cm and my right eye at 40-50cm and my brain isn't adjusting very well !!!! I know I just need to BE PATIENT but it is not a quality that I possess in any great volume !!

This time I am going to take the time suggested off work because I have realised that going back to work a week earlier than they suggest is not the smartest thing I ever did !!! And maybe that has hindered the recovery of my eye - will see how the right eye behaves next week. A has decided to take the whole week off with me so that will be good - I will even have my own driver !!!! It is Gold Coast show day the day after the op so he doesn't have to take any time off to drive me to the surgeon that day.

Once this eye is done I am going to turn my focus onto the real issue - our health - losing weight and getting fit and healthy. A friend of ours - not much older than A - and a lot fitter and slimmer - had a stroke about 6 weeks ago. We went to see him on the way up the Sunshine Coast on Friday and he was better and worse than I expected - he was better in that he recognised us straight away, carried out conversations and asked about K, spoke about people he and A had worked with in SA and worse in how much weight he had lost and to see how little control he had over his right leg - left side paralysed - so sad. We are going to see how things are on Sunday and take his wife out to lunch and then spend some time with him as he has been moved from Brisbane to Redcliffe (I think that is where he is now). That was a real wake up call for me and for A and at the back of my head, I keep thinking of G and realising that unless I do something to change how unhealthy I am - I could land up like him.

I guess I really have to get focussed - think about what I want to achieve and then work out a plan on how I am going to achieve it. It shouldn't be hard - I have done it so many times - I have to find what is going to work to get me motivated to do what I know I need to do - do what I have done so many times before - do what needs to be done to get me healthy and fit. Who has some motivation they can bottle up and send to me ? Or a seed that I can plant and grow some of my own ? I really don't mind sharing once I have it - I just need to somehow find a way to get it. I need a light bulb moment of ginormous size !

K's formal is in 3 weeks time and I am embarrassed to have to go at the weight that I am - those pictures are going to be around forever and I will be in them - like a whale - feeling awful about myself - not only am I obesely overweight but I can't even wear any make-up because I can't touch my eye that would have been operated on only 2 weeks prior ! The poor child - probably won't want any photos with me in them - and I can't say that I blame her.

We have started walking in the evenings as I am once again doing letter box drops for the business. While I am not happy working at council - it has certainly been good for business - the referral system around there is fantastic - not enough to let me pack in my day job (or even our night jobs) but certainly enough to keep the coffers ticking over - and for that I will always be grateful for the opportunity to work at council. Other than that I will probably leave there bald because everyday there is someone else who does something totally unbelievable - a decision that is made that is just beyond belief - and at times like these I feel like pulling another few hairs out - just now it will all be gone !!!

I will try to be back more frequently to post - and to get some inspiration as I, once again, try to get rid of these pesky kilos that seem to just sneak up without me knowing about them until one day BAM there they are and they don't want to be shifted !!! If only the BAM would work in shifting kilos the way they say it shifts grime and grease !

TFTD - Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.

A success

I am so pleased to say that the operation yesterday was a success. The surgeon is over the moon at the results (as am I) - at this stage it looks like I won't need glasses at all.

I landed up having to have a general anaesthetic as my eye was too long for him to get the needle behind it to do it with a local but that was OK - with the general there was less chance of me moving and therefore less chance of me making the surgeon make a mistake.

It has been a bit scratchy and achey today but I guess that is to be expected - he said that he hasn't put any stitches in it so I have to be really careful about not touching it at all - no bending forward, no heavy lifting, no sneezing and holding my nose (this one is going to be the hardest - it is just about impossible for me to sneeze and not hold my nose so now I am rubbing my nose every time I feel a sneeze coming on so that I don't have to 'open' sneeze !!!).

I spent a fair bit of yesterday afternoon sleeping and had another sleep this afternoon - made up for the bad sleep I had last night - it is so hard to only sleep on one side but was too difficult trying to sleep with the shield on the other side. I have to sleep with the shield for a week to protect against any involuntary rubbing, elbows to the eye, scratching etc - will see how that goes - definitely not looking forward to it although a small price to pay for the trade off of not having to wear glasses again !!!!

On that note, I am off to rest my eye - I don't want to make it feel worse if I don't have to.

Have a great weekend everyone and take care !

Today's the day

I got up this morning and made a chicken casserole to go in the slow cooker today. I am starting to get really nervous now - what if this is the last time I see the computer - maybe that is a little melodramatic because, at worst I will be able to see with my right eye so maybe I shouldn't be as nervous as I am. Even if, heaven forbid, something does go wrong today, my right eye is the better of the two so I won't be completely blind - I will just have lost my depth perception. BUT, I am going to be positive and confident that I am going to walk out of there and be able to see absolutely fine when they take the patch off tomorrow morning.

On that note, I am off to have a shower and get changed and then get my last bit of reading in for a couple of days. Watching TV has just become my favourite past time !

Take care everyone and have a wonderful Thursday !

Who would have thought

it would be such a long time between posts ????? I definitely didn't realise just how long it had been since I had been on here - needless to say, heaps has happened and I probably wouldn't remember exactly what so will try to do a quick recap.

I started a 4 month contract job with the local city council a couple of weeks into March - I am still there and bored out of my brain. But, for now the hours are good and I can pretty much come and go as I please, am more or less my own boss and MOST IMPORTANTLY there isn't anything else out there, so I will stay until something else comes up.

K got her drivers licence at the beginning of June - what a relief and what a help it has been. She is very willing to go and pick up things or drop things off - I left my work access card at home two mornings not too long after she got her licence and was able to catch her before she left to go to school and got her to drop it with me each time - that was a relief because I couldn't get in and out for the day (without having to wait for someone going the same way as me) without it.

K and I have both been sick lately - bloody head cold and stupid cough - still, bad enough to lay us up for over a week. This didn't help with getting my clinic hours completed but I couldn't exactly go in and treat clients while coughing and spluttering all over them. Have managed to get sufficient hours anyway - last 4 treatments on Sunday and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited. Finally, my diploma finished and life can return to some sort of normalcy (whatever that may be in our household!!!!). Now I have to get two character references, copies of a whole bunch of certificates and qualifications and then I can send them off to become registered with the health funds so that people will be able to claim from their health funds when they have had a treatment.

It was my birthday earlier this week and Al and I took the day off - mainly because I had to go for the pre-op for next week (that took about 1 1/2 hrs) and then we had parent teacher interviews in the afternoon for another hour and a bit - so really not worth going back and forth to work. It was just lovely and was have promised to take either one birthday or our anniversary off every year and spend it together. We had a leisurely start to the day - banana and strawberry pancakes - K was not amused at having to go to school while we stayed at home !!! Read for a while and then off for pre-op - then to Australia Fair for lunch - then to school for interviews and then home before going out to dinner and off to Max Brenner for dessert - all in all a fantastic day !

Last week I had a client in for a hot stone massage - she liked it so much she wanted to book for next Saturday but I had to put her off until the following week because I wasn't sure how well my eye would stand up after the surgery on Thursday. She got to work on Monday and I received a phone call at about 10am - "This is B. S is here with me and I want what she had on Saturday" - I put the phone day and just laughed - it was so funny the way it came out. Anyway, B is booked in for her hot stone massage tomorrow. They really are so good in winter - the best way to relax and unwind and be good to your body and soul.

I can't wait for next weekend when I don't have to get up on Sunday and go to lectures or clinic - it really has been quite hard on the whole family but they have been really good about it. A has been just amazing - keeping the household running while still holding down two jobs. We have taken August off from our night job and are both so looking forward to some down time - not sure if we will know what to do with ourselves but I am wanting to start exercising and he needs to as well. A close friend of ours had two strokes a few weeks ago and it really gave us both a very loud wake up call - although we haven't done much about it since then because I always said that I would worry about food and exercise once lectures were finished. Well they are nearly finished and it is time to get serious about getting these excess kilos off and living a healthier lifestyle.

That's it for now - am off to have an early night - the problem is my body is only used to 4-5hrs of sleep a night so when I go to bed too early, I wake up too early. Suppose I can always get up and go for a walk except it is still a little too chilly in the morning for my liking - maybe I will read for a while !

Take care and have a fantastic weeked everyone !

TFTD : Every exit is an entry to somewhere else.

What's news ?

I don't actually have a whole heap of news since last posting - life is too hectic but not really much to say !!!

I did lose another 0.5 this week taking my total loss since 5 Jan 09 to 7.1 - gotta be happy with that.

My walking has taken a back seat this week - much to my horror. I REALLY miss not walking each day but sometimes it is just too hard to try to fit it in.

Saturday I spent a lot of time studying for two exams on Sunday - my own fault for not having picked up a book prior to the day before the exams !!!! The good thing was I passed both of them so was very happy about that. Can't remember what happened on Monday except that when Al got in from work we landed up talking until about 2am when I finally said "Can you please keep quiet I have to go to sleep".
Tuesday night I got home from lectures about 9.30 - totally knackered from so little sleep the night before - and HAD to make banana bread because the bananas were just about ready to walk out the door by themselves they were that frot !!! Wednesday night I had my massage swop but after that I had to go and do the shopping and when I got home - just after 9pm again - I made a cheesecake for the dinner we are having tomorrow night for some friends of ours.

Tonight I am home - am just about to have some dinner and then I am going to have a shower and sit and watch Grey's and do some knitting - if Al is lucky I may even still be awake when he gets home from work !!!

Work is a bit of a nightmare - I KNOW I said I would never work the hours that I used to work at the hospital and, while they aren't that bad, I am doing about 50 hr weeks - the upside to that is, as a contractor, I get paid for all 50 odd hours that I work - SO, it does make it worthwhile for me to put in the time especially as we got into a bit of a financial pickle when I didn't work for nearly 4 months. This whole week I have felt like a real dunce at work - not because the work is rocket science but because I don't know the stupid council processes which are supposed to happen (of course none of them are written down either). This afternoon the one guy, who has been really good about helping me where he can, said "Thanks so much for all that you have done today (we had a big deadline to meet by COB today) - we would never have made it if you weren't here" - so that was good. I said to him "So I don't need to go and sit in the road with a witches hat on my head ?" and he just laughed and said no I didn't need to - earlier on in the week when I was really battling I had said to him that I thought I would be more productive for the council if I went and sat in the road with a witches hat on my head and at least I would stop traffic from going where it shouldn't go !!!! Anyway, I felt a little better when I left this evening to go to lectures - the fact that I woke up at about 3.30 and didn't go back to sleep worrying about whether I would make the deadline or not was besides the point !!!! The countdown to the end of my contract has begun - he laughed when I told him that today because he has been working for the council for about 30 odd years !!!!!

OK - it is now 9.45 and I am off to have some dinner, a shower and then some time in front of the Tv with my knitting.

Take care everyone and until next time - go safely !

Thought for the day : How many a man (or woman)has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success ?

A funny thing ....

happened tonight. I had decided that I was going to walk after seeing my client and having dinner (I decided that at the beginning of the week). While I was chatting to my client before she left, I remembered the second 1500 flyers which had arrived that hadn't been delivered yet, so decided that I would kill two birds with one stone and deliver while I walked (it does slow me down a little but that's OK).

I left home at about 8.40pm - I don't think any of my South African friends read this but they would not believe that I can go walking around my neighbourhood at that time of the night and still be safe - that amused me for a while !!!

Now, the thing with delivering at night is - it isn't that easy to actually see where the post box is - especially when there is dodgy street lighting (blast the council for not replacing blown light bulbs in the street lights !!!). Then, when I am lucky enough to find the post box, the next trick is trying to see if there is a No Junk Mail sticker on it - again, not that easy when there is no light as my eyesight is shot at the best of times. Then if I manage to decipher that there isn't a No Junk Mail sticker - I have to work out do I lift the lid, drop it in or push open the flap to the post box it get the flyer in there. Of course this can only happen after I have bumbled my way along the grass verge - nearly twisting my ankle in the pesky holes that seem to abound at night time (I am sure they aren't there when I walk that way during the day). In the meantime I have managed to trip over uneven pavements and driveway edges all the while looking to see if I can see an elusive post box ! Some people are very accomodating and have sensor lights - the only trouble is that I nearly died of fright every time one of the bloody lights switched on. And, because there are dog lovers amongst my readers (yes, I know you are reading Kathy !!!), I won't mention what I thought of the dogs who barked and scared the cr*p out of me as I walked up their driveway !!!!!

All in all - about 140 people will take my flyer out their post box tomorrow and read about what I have to offer - maybe someone will phone to book an appointment or maybe they will tuck the flyer away and think about phoning at another time when they have more disposable income or more time on their hands. But, as long as I am out there telling people about what I have to offer, I have done what I can for now to promote my business.

This is a little philosophical but while I was walking I was thinking about how my weight loss journey has been a little like delivering the flyers at night - there have been things along the way which have tripped me up but I have had to just keep going - doing the best that I can. And, there have been those moments, like walking up the driveway and have the sensor lights turn on, where the light has turned on for me and I have realised that something I was or wasn't doing, was or wasn't helping me in my weight loss e.g. last year when I was at lectures, I very rarely ate dinner when I got home - I may have eaten a box of biscuits or a packet of chips or picked up some chips and a milkshake on the way home but I can think of maybe a hand full of occasions when I sat down and ate a meal. This year I have realised that if I don't eat a meal when I get home, I am not doing myself any favours and that hard work that I put in the rest of the day in terms of what I am eating and the exercise I am getting, is just going to waste because by not eating any dinner, I am just messing my body around and it won't like me for doing that.

Maybe I should continue to deliver flyers at night - maybe I will do some more thinking and come up with some amazing theories on things I didn't know I knew !!!

Have a great day everyone and take care !

Thought for the day: A good way to repay a kindness is to pass it on.

How to cope ?

OK - this is my problem right now (and for the next 4 months) - not only am I working full time (which I am totally happy about) - but I also work part time two or three evenings a week at Coles, study two nights a week and all day Sunday for my diploma, am busy setting up a business called The Body and Feet Retreat, work casual hours at a local day spa and need to find time to exercise and keep myself healthy - oh yes, I forgot about being a wife, mother, daughter, lover, chief cook and bottle washer, laundress and home cleaner. I am going to have to make sure that I am super, super organised otherwise it is all going to fall down around me like a pack of cards.

I can always give up the casual hours but there aren't that many of them and I do feel sorry for the owners of the spa - I can only do those on a Saturday. I have two big exams on Sunday and need to get some serious studying done this week - not sure when, but sometime.

Tonight I was going to come home from work, go for a walk and then come home and study. Well, a huge storm hit the Gold Coast and I drove home (an hour later than normal because we had a last minute rush job that had to be done) in the pouring rain - only to find when I got home that we had no electricity. So, the pork roast which we were going to have last night and couldn't (because we got home from cycling and exercising on the council gym equipment too late and would have been eating at 9pm) didn't get cooked tonight because of the rain. No problem, I had made a curry in the slow cooker last night we can have that - not so fast, when we decided on that plan for dinner, the electricity hadn't been taken out - so when the electricity went off, we landed up with pizza for dinner. Not my first choice but given the circumstances of pouring rain, no electricity and us fiddle faddling around wondering how long it would be before it came on again - pizza was the best course of action. Plus Al had to get to work.

I have accepted that sometimes you have to just do the best you can in the circumstances and tonight was one of those circumstances !!!!

Now I am off to log my weekly weigh in (I think I am down from last week but can't remember what I was last week !!!) and then I am going to hit the books for a couple of hours.

Take care everyone and have a great day ! I hope that Victoria is getting some of this rain as well.

Thought for the day : Life is a drawing board, sketch your own scenes.

All things come ...

to those who wait. The only problem is knowing you long you have to wait for the thing to come !!!!

Well today it came for me - a job offer that is !!!!! I went for an interview this morning and they rang to offer me the job this afternoon - WOOOHOOOOOOOOO !!! Now the money is not flash but hey, not flash money is better than no money.

I am so excited - since I got home from signing all the paperwork I have been saying to Al - guess what, I'm going to work tomorrow. And then again 30 mins later - am sure he was happy to go to work tonight just so he didn't have to listen to me say it anymore !!!!

The role has a fancy title - Directorate Management Accountant - but really it is just a budget controller position for 7 departments and the director. It sounds like it is quite busy as it is a one person role i.e. I am responsible for all 8 budgets, variance analysis, new budgets and budget revisions but it should be good.

It is only a 4 month contract but hey, who knows what will happen in four months and this employer is probably one of the largest on the coast and so there is a good possibility that it may turn into a permanent role down the track. Will wait to see what happens with it but for now I am just so relieved that I will be generating income on a regular basis.

Weight wise I was down another 0.6 this week taking my total weight loss since 5th January 09 to 6kg - am very happy with that and hopefully will be able to organise my lunch and snacks so that I don't start to undo the hard work I have put in so far this year.

Kaitlin told me today that they are looking to have their formal at the Q1 building (thank goodness on the 2nd floor - I wouldn't have been able to go if it was on the top floor where they often hold functions) and I so don't want to embarrass her by being overweight and not having something nice to wear when we go to the before drinks.

OK - better get going - have heaps to sort out as I need to get all my lecture notes together as well as I will be going to lectures straight from work (that just sounds so cool to my ears tonight !!!!) - I am sure in a few months time I will be saying "Gosh it would be nice to have a break" - but until then I am going to enjoy every morning of having to get up and go to work !

Have a fantastic day everyone !!!

Thought for the day : Happiness is in the heart, not in the circumstances.

Thanks but no thanks ...

was the e-mail that I got yesterday advising that I had been short listed for a role I applied for and then the current encumbent withdrew their resignation - bugger !!! Or maybe that is just that company's way of saying thanks but no thanks without hurting your feelings !!!!

I have updated my CV recently - one of my clients worked in a employment agency and as an HR manager and she helped me to revamp it which was great. Lately there haven't even been any jobs that I can apply for - I haven't done company tax and a lot of positions going at the moment require that skill so it is just a case of being patient until something good comes along.

I need to call the employment agent re a job with a marketing company as I am sure that they must have decided who is on a short list for the client by now - I applied last Saturday !!!!

My latest flyers arrived yesterday so I have been doing the delivery rounds again. It was funny because I had been uhmming and aahing about whether to order more flyers because of the cost involved but I know that if I don't advetise, new clients are that much harder to come by. In the end we decided to bite the bullet and order 1500 flyers - there was a special if you spent over $50 you got free delivery in 9 days. This would normally cost me in the region of $80 for a 21 day delivery time so it was a really good deal. Ordered them and they should have arrived on Thursday according to when they were despatched. No flyers Thursday, no flyers Friday - so Friday night I e-mailed them asking them if they could please track where my parcel was. I received a reply from them the next day advising that they were sending a repeat order to me and if mine arrived in the meantime to accept the second order with their compliments !!!! So, at the end of the week I should receive another 1500 flyers - bugger - that is a lot of walking but boy is that a good deal - 3000 flyers for the price of 1500 !!!!! YAY - something in our favour !!!!!

My eating continues to be good - not much else it can be when there is a lack of funds !!! I have tried two new recipes this week so that was good. My walking is still happening every day although I do have a rest day during the week where I don't actually go out for a walk but try to walk around a shopping centre for a while so that I can make my steps for the day without pushing myself too hard. This week saw a loss of 0.9 taking my total loss since 05.01.09 to 5.4kg. I can definitely notice a difference although I haven't measured myself at all since putting all this weight on - only another 20kgs to go !!!!!! This morning after spin class I was waiting for the lift to the car park and the lift doors were mirrors and that was when I really noticed how much I had lost - my hips are not as big as they used to be which is just great !

Well I am off to have a shower and then get K from school before coming home and heading off to lectures. You are right Mary, it makes such a difference studying with people who actually want to study - nothing like when I did my degree (even though I was a mature age student then !!!) - the class was made up of kids straight out of school who were told they had to go and do something and they just messed around in every class - soooooooooo annoying !!!

Take care everyone and have a great week !

Thought for the day : You never know what happiness a simple act of kindness will bring about.

Still hanging around

Well I haven't blogged for a while because there really isn't much to blog about. I have been sending off resumes left, right and centre and hearing nothing back - nada, zilch, zero, absolutely bugger all from either the companies I applied to or the bloody employment agents which I think just stinks - they least they could do is mail you saying that they have received it and will get back to you in due course or you are over qualified / under qualified / something / anything, but no, they don't say a damn thing.

I have been doing lots of walking which has been good - mixing up shorter walk days with longer walk days. This had meant that the twinge that I get in my right thigh doesn't get strained by having two days of long walks one after the other.

Lectures started again on Tuesday night so need to do some work this afternoon for lectures tonight plus I think I will need a little nap as I had a Coles shift at 4.30am so was up just before 4am - lectures finish at 9pm so it is going to be long day if I don't manage a nap !!!

My weight is moving in the right direction which is great - it is coming off slowly but that is OK - at least I can see it moving on the scales and on clothes that I have been wearing (not that I wear much - pair of denim shorts and a couple of shirts) - I am too light for the last lot of denims I bought when I put on so much weight over Christmas but not light enough for what used to be my normal jeans - need to lose a few more kilos before they will fit !!!

OK - I am off for my walk for today - it will be a longer one provided it doesn't get too hot and I have to cut it short because I have run out of cordial and can't carry on !!!!

Have a great day and take care.

Thought for the day : By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Another day looking for a job !

Week 13 of my forced holiday has begun and I seem to be no closer to finding a job now than I was 13 weeks ago !! I know that something will come up and I know that I have to stay positive but it is getting harder and harder each day.

Today was good - I had a phone call on the weekend from a local day spa asking if I would like to do 2 massages today and of course I said yes thank you !!! I got there and was really nervous which is a little silly I guess given how many massages I have given to people I have never met before. Anyway, I figure that neither of my clients went to the owners to say that I had done a dreadful job because they have asked me if I could work on Thursday and Saturday - YAY some income to help pay the mortgage ! It seems to me as if my life now revolves around what I can do in order to get some money to pay the mortgage - how sad is that ????

Anyway, I got in a great walk before I had to be at the spa which was good. Tomorrow I have spin class at 6.45am and then will be dropping K at school and coming home for another walk before having to go and meet someone about an hours drive away.

Tomorrow night I have my reciprocal treatment for the lady who gave me a really high recommendation at the spa. This is the last week of loafing around before my lectures start again - part of me wants to get started so that I can get finished and part of me doesn't want to have to go back to slogging away on the books. I think I am really going to miss my Sunday's the most - lectures from 9.30-4.30 doesn't sound like a fun way to spend Sunday BUT the payoff is that I finish my Diploma in 5 months rather than 11 months so I am looking at the short term inconvenience compared to the long term benefits ! Please remind me of this if I start to complain about lectures on Sundays !!!!!

I have started knitting a blanket for the bushfire victims - hopefully it won't take me too long to finish as I would hate for winter to have come and gone and me still be busy knitting !!! I started it last night - luckily last night and tonight the weather has been a little cooler otherwise not sure I would have managed to get too much knitting done.

OK - am off to make lunches for tomorrow as we have spin class first up and definitely no time in the morning to worry about lunches !!!

Take care and have a great day everyone !

Thought for the day :Kindness is more important than wisdom and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom

Second post today - Do you want a laugh ??

Well this may not appeal to everyone’s sense of humour but it appealed to mine because if I didn’t laugh I don’t know what I would have done !

I never thought I would get to the point where exercise became such an important part of my day – whether it will be the same when I am working I don’t know. But, I got home from doing my big shop at Coles and it had stopped raining so got changed and set out with my water bottle and brolly. I was probably about 500m from home when it started to pitter patter – not much but enough to put the brolly up so my glasses didn’t get wet,

Within about 400m my arms had had the biggest workout trying to hold the brolly in front of me – picture a 5’7”, 25kgs over weight woman, walking down a main road trying to hold a brolly in front of her against (what felt like) gale force winds. At this point I probably should have turned around and gone home but I didn’t ! Said wind doing it’s level best to blow up my loose fitting singlet to expose my white blubbery belly to all and sundry driving past. On the other hand, I am doing my best to keep the brolly right side up, hanging onto my water bottle and pulling my singlet down each time it blew up. I also have to keep lifting the brolly to make sure I am not going to walk into any poles or people (thinking about it now, why I thought anyone else would be daft enough to walk in this weather I’m not sure !!)

Turn the corner out of the wind tunnel, only to be caught in a tunnel slightly less windy – the challenge on this road was that the wind was blowing in more than one direction !!! And, of course, blowing harder and harder. I managed to negotiate this road and turn into one slightly more protected EXCEPT the golf umbrella I am using is really only designed for pitter patter rain – not the heavy downpour I find myself in. Thus, the very item I took to stop me getting anything on my glasses has turned into the very thing dripping water onto them !!!!

The trick now becomes negotiating driveways which are painted – damn, do people not consider walkers in the rain when they paint their driveways ????? Once I was sure it wasn’t a painted driveway that was going to make me see my a** when I slipped, I had to negotiate my way through the streams of water running down each driveway because my little stumpies are no long enough to make the jump across the driveway.

This is when it starts to get really funny because the rain has cooled things down very nicely, I on the other hand, have started to get really hot – so, what happens when heat meets cold – steam occurs – on my glasses !!!!!! By now I am just about p**ing my pants I am laughing so much. I have since turned into another relatively protected road and decide that I should skull my water as it is getting too hard to hold onto the water bottle and the brolly – so I do this and, as fate would have it, there are no rubbish bins on hand !!!! But, at least it is lighter to hold now that it is empty.

Up comes to final turn to take me home – BUT, that is back into the wind tunnel !!! So after turning the corner and nearly walking into another poor soul out in this awful weather, I take the brolly down and just walk in the rain !! The next challenge is seeing out of eyes getting stung with the rain falling behind my glasses and having to look through lenses which are just a mass of rain drops. So I get to a road and a car is turning – I gesture for him to go, he obviously sees me without a brolly and, I think, is gesturing for me to go but I am not sure because I can’t see that well, so I gesture back, and then both he and his passenger gesture for me to go so across I run (well as fast as I can run) to the other side of the pavement. By now not only am I soaking wet but my hair has been blown out of the clips holding it back so on top of everything else I have my hair hanging in my face and adding to the drips on my glasses !!!

I got home, took my shoes and socks off and gingerly walk across all the tiles to the laundry where everything went into the machine before I went and had a shower. But, now I know I can curl up on the couch and either watch some TV or read my book and not feel guilty because I haven’t been for a walk today. And now my glasses are all clean and I see again – this makes me really happy !!!

A veg out day

That was yesterday and it wasn't supposed to be like that today but if this weather continues it may land up being another veg out day ALTHOUGH I have a plan if I can't go walking. I am going to do some Swiss ball work and a Pilates video (well that is the plan but of course, as we all know, the best laid plans of mice and men .....)

I did absolutely nothing yesterday except take K to school, come home, do some washing and then spend the rest of the day on the couch watching shows I had taped that I haven't had a chance to see. Then it was time to get K from school, came home and read for a while until it was time for a client and I had to get the therapy room ready.

Thank goodness there was enough left over paella from the previous night otherwise not sure what we would have landed up having for dinner. After dinner it was time for a quick shower and then off to Coles for another 4 hrs - sometimes that 4 hrs seems to take about 8hrs and other times it feels like I have only just got there and it is time to leave. The pay cheque from them this week will be good because I will have had 4 shifts by the end of the week - YAY - the mortgage can get paid !!!!!

Well I have decided on Diet Coke chicken for dinner tonight with some roasted veggies so am off to do as much of a big shop as I can afford at Coles and help the Victorian Bushfire victims.

Of course there is the deciding ODI tonight but unless the weather improves dramatically, there is going to be no cricket - unless of course the weather in Brisbane is fantastically wonderful and it is only on the Gold Coast that we have this cr*ppy rain which is really not needed here as much as it is needed in Victoria - damn you, move south and do some good !!!!

On that note I am off to make up my shoppping list and then hit the shops and hope that everyone else hasn't got the same idea as me !!! Given how much stock came in last night I think they are expecting a real run on the stores today - I hope that the rain isn't keeping people away - I would much rather the profits go to the fire victims rather than the Coles shareholders !!!!

Have a great day everyone and a fantastic weekend !

Thought for the day : One of the greatest lessons in life is to learn not to do what you like, but to like what you do.

Not successful - bugger !!!

I e-mailed re the job interview yesterday and got a reply last night saying that they had appointed someone yesterday - bugger !!!! Not so much because that was the job I wanted - just because it was a chance for me to get a job in order to be able to earn some money and I didn't get the job. At the end of the day, it isn't as though it was my dream job or anything so am patiently waiting for something else to come up.

There were no accounting jobs on seek this morning but I am off just now to get the paper, generally there are more jobs advertised on Wednesday and Saturday in the Bulletin, to see if there is anything in there that I can apply for.

I am off to skip for a while as I want to wait for the washing to finish before I go for my walk this morning - not sure that it is going to be a long walk today, my legs are feeling a little tight and my lower back is aching a little. Think it may be as a result of the spin class but don't want to over-do it any day so that I can't walk the next day. My blister is just about gone and I am sure that a few more days of walking with a plaster on my toe will see it fine again.

I finally got around to popping to the dr's rooms to make an appoinment for tomorrow for my 2 yearly pap smear - I hate having it done with an absolute passion and generally reward myself once I have had it done - not sure what my reward will be this year as it is normally some form of food source (and not a good food source like fruit !!!)

After showing a dreadful gain on Monday morning, the scales arenow showing that I have lost all of that plus a smidgen more by this morning - go figure !!! I can see why they say you shouldn't weigh yourself every day because it can do your head in but I just can't get out of the habit especially when I am trying so hard. I think if I hadn't of got on this morning and seen that I was below my weight from last weeks weigh-in, the left over tin of caramel topping from Christmas, which I managed to resist yesterday, may not have been so lucky today and there is a good chance it would have been devoured - probably not in one sitting, but certainly over the course of the day and the tin hidden in the bottom of the bin so nobody would know what I had done !!!! Because, as we all know, what we eat in secret doesn't actually show up anywhere, does it ?????? LOL

Well this isn't getting my skipping done so I will be off to do that before hanging the washing out and getting out to pound the pavements. Thank goodness K showed me how to change the songs on my iPod as I was getting really tired of listening to the same songs each time I went out (well I don't hear the same ones each time I go out but they do seem to come around rather regularly when you are out there listening every day !!!)

Take care and have a great day everyone !

Thought for the day : No state of mind is permanent unless we choose to make it so.

Time ???

Where has the time gone to - it's nearly a week since I posted but it feels like it was only a couple of days ago !!!

Thursday I did a massive walk having eating a kid's size gelato and two sticks of chocolate liquorice the day before. This left me with a massive blister on my little toe - almost the same size as my toe so Friday was my take it easy day. I still managed to get over 8000 steps for the day without actually going on a walk so that was good.

Saturday saw A and I head off to Brisbane for our 'night on the town' (courtesy of his boss' who gave us all of this for Christmas) - we went and saw the show Candy Man on Saturday afternoon, then a stroll along South Bank before hitting Ahmets Turkish restaurant for dinner - what a lovely evening it was - we had never had Turkish food before and thoroughly enjoyed what we had. Another walk along South Bank and a trip on the City Cat up to UQ and back saw his head to our hotel for the night. A sumptuous hotel buffet breakfast was on the cards in the morning and then we left and took in some markets on the way home. We got home at about lunch time, spent a couple of hours putting a new aerial in K's car and then the rest of the afternoon in the pool before watching the cricket - thank goodness we managed to pull a win out of that game !!! Mind you we didn't see the end as we decided to go for a walk - it was so cool - it was just lovely.

Needless to say the Turkish meal and the hotel breakfast did nothing to help my weight loss endeavours but I have been walking again this week and went to my second spin class this morning - definitely fared better today than I did last week when I nearly managed to fall off a stationary bike !!!!

I have just been for a walk and am about to jump into the pool for a swim. Then it was be a minute or two ('cos that is all I can manage) of skipping before hitting the showers and then the blood bank (wonder if I will see Edward Cullen there ?????)

On the work front it is still really quiet - I did have an interview last week but haven't heard anything back from them as yet. All I can do is try to stay as positive as possible as A always says "Good things come to those who wait" - I do think he is just trying to make me feel better and don't think he actually believes that !!!!!

Have a great day and take care !

Thought for the day : Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

Ramblings

Well where to start - the last two days I have not walked as long as I would have liked as I had to get home and do other things - it wasn't too bad yesterday as I had the spin class but today I really wanted to go on a long walk but couldn't because I had a job interview. Definitely not complaining about having an interview given the number of CV's I have sent out. It went fine - seemed like a nice man - basically he is interviewing 12 over qualified people for the job out of over 100 applicants - and all he is looking for is the person who will best fit into the group of people who already work there - totally understand where he is coming from with that as it is a small group of people and you don't want to stuff the dynamics up.

(Margaret - yes it was a spinning class. K goes to school where the IB programme is taught and their philosphy is a very well rounded one - they encourage academic achievement, community service and sporting activities. So, Fitness First in Southport have 'adopted' the academy and are offering these free classes for students, staff and parents so figured that seeing as I am currently unemployed, able to go and getting onto such an exercise kick, I would make the most of the opportunity. They originally offered classes twice per week but after the turnout on Tuesday - 7 or 8 students and 5 parents- they have canned the second class until they get the numbers on the Tuesday class up a little)

Today was not a good day foodwise - took too long walking so didn't have time to make and eat lunch before I left for the interview. Bought a $2 sushi on my way there (and could have had lunch at home as I was too early but lots of road works on the way always makes me nervous about being late). After the interview I had a gelato and then went into Coles to get some groceries to cover my free parking and bought chocolate covered liquiorice. Scoffed that down before I even got to the shady park when I sat and read until it was time to get K from school !!!! Nothing like not even enjoying the wrong food !!! And then the guilt and regret set in - why did I do that ? I don't know. Did I need to eat it ? No. Did I savour and enjoy each mouthful ? Definitely not - so I ask again, why did I do it ? And the worst part is, I still don't know !!!! So I am going to have a peach for dinner tonight even though I made the best curry in the slow cooker - A&K had bunny chows and enjoyed every mouthful from what I can make out !!

After getting K from school, I came home and hit the books - did I need to ? No actually I didn't because they didn't ask one bloody origin or insertion point !!!!! A got home and we chatted a while before I had to leave - now I am on my way to have my peach and then have a nice soak in the bath with my book.

Tomorrow will be a better day - I will finish the housework for this week and I will go on a nice long walk. Who would have thought that I would turn into a walking junky ????? I just LOVE getting out there and clocking up the steps on my pedometer - while it was rather expensive, it is certainly very motivating to have on each day.

Thought for the day : Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help to create the fact.

Another day at home

This morning we got up, went to school and when I got home it started to rain - again. So I got stuck into my books and then when the rain let up I got changed and went out for 85 mins of walking - at a really good pace. I got home and I was really happy with what I had done.

Then it was time to hit the books again before going to get K from school. She is doing really well with her driving and managed there and back without any trouble today. Got home and she quizzed me on what I had been studying and found a few things I didn't know. Then the phone call came telling me that the other lady doing the bridging course was sick and couldn't make the final assessment tonight - CR*P !!! I REALLY wanted to get it over and done with tonight !! Oh well, a couple of extra days to do some more studying AFTER I finish cleaning the house tomorrow. I did most of it last night but left the dusting and vacuming until tomorrow after my exam - can't leave it any longer the blinds and shutters really need a good dust.

This evening I caught the last of the TV programme Choir of Hard Knocks - it really made me appreciate what I do have. It made me realise that while I am feeling so down in the dumps, I have so much to be grateful for and so much to appreciate. I think that they are amazing people who have done amazing things.

I'm off to make school / work lunches for A & K as tomorrow K and I start our fitness training with Fitness First who have adopted their academy and offer two free classes per week for students, staff and their families. It is from 6.45-7.45am so it will be up and moving with no fluffing around in the morning - I think it must be a spinning class (or some such thing) as we were told to wear padded pants or bring a padded bike seat so that our 'bottoms' didn't get too sore !!!! Wonder if I will need to have a walk tomorrow as well as an hour fitness class ????

Today I did realise that while my goal is to complete at least 8000 steps per day - sometimes it is good to have a rest day - my legs really appreciated the rest they got on Saturday and I felt soooooo much better on my walk today than I did last week. The fact that I am getting so much fitter might also account for that !!!

Thought for the day : There is no failure except in no longer trying

Another day but not another dollar !

This morning I woke up and thank goodness K is feeling much better. Dropped her at school, came home, replied to some e-mails and then went out for a mega walk. Stopped off at Coles to check if I was working tomorrow night - yes which is good and bad - good because I am desparate for the money, bad because it means K will be alone for the evening - not that she minds, but I mind !!! I also asked about getting trained up to be a check out chick - the lady who deals with that section fo the store is on leave until Monday so have to go back on Monday to see her - BUT, at least it may be some form of revenue coming in which will be great.

My eating has been good and my exercise has been excellent. I have been making a concerted effort to have at least one piece of fruit a day and it has been going well - actually sometimes I find it really refreshing and quite enjoy it !!!! Tonight we are having roast with dry roasted veggies so that will be good.

The Academy where K goes to school has teamed up with Fitness First and they are offering two free classes (6.45-7.45am) per week to students, staff and parents so K and I have signed up for those - they start next Tuesday. I have been told to wear padded pants or bike shorts so presume it is something to do with a bike for the one day - whatever it is, it will be good because it will get my heart rate up, get those calories burnt off and BEST OF ALL - it won't cost me a brass farthing !!!!

I am going to have a swim now and then try to get stuck into those books for this final assessment on NMT on Monday night - jeez it is hard to get back into the studying thing !! SO glad I didn't leave the Diploma for another year before doing it - don't think I would have been able to get back into the books after that long a break.

Will be flicking between the cricket and the tennis tonight - jeez I hope we do better in the cricket. I know it is a dead rubber and that we are in a re-builidng phase but come on guys, how easy can you make it for SA to win ??????? Am undecided about who I want to play Fedderer in the finals on Sunday - will see how the match goes tonight.

Take care everyone and have a great weekend !

Thought for the day : I have learnt that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time doing it.

Update : In reply to my e-mails sent out this morning asking what was happening with roles that I applied for last week, I received a job description and remuneration for one role and was asked if I would like an interview next week - one of 10 candidates contacted - so still a 1/10 chance of the job but hey, at least I got an interview which is more than I have had in the past 10 weeks since I first became unemployed !!!!! YAY !!!!!!

The universe works in strange ways

I know that I said I didn't know how I was going to manage when K went back to school but I didn't expect her to get sick so that she could stay at home with me either !!!! "Universe, next time I say I don't know how I will manage - please let me find out and don't make my DD sick so that she can stay with me. Thank you"

She went to school on Tuesday (first day of year 12) even though she wasn't feeling all that flash - she drove there and did a really good job of it. I picked her up when school finished but she wasn't interested in driving home - she had a dreadful temperature. We got home, I gave her some panadol and she got straight into bed and slept through until about 6pm. Woke up and ate a little bit of dinner and then went back to sleep again. She spent the night on the mattress next to my bed and we were up and down like yo-yo's the whole time - something to drink, go to the toilet, more painkillers, change the ice packs she had on her forehead and back of neck, back to the toilet to throw up (don't know where that came from) - and this is how the whole night went with not much break in between each. In the morning she was just burning up and so didn't go to school - spent the day on the couch alternating between shivering and perspiring. She had a much better night last night (and therefore so did I) and wanted to go to school this morning. She looked a little better although still not that flash so sent her off with instructions to call if she felt she couldn't manage anymore and I would go and pick her up.

Needless to say I only did just over 4500 steps for the day - if she had just been sick without the temp I probably would have left her and gone for a walk but I am always wary when kids have temps and didn't want to take the chance.

Last night we had the second to last of our catch up lectures - next Monday night is our assessment and I have a heap of studying to do before then. My Dad came and sat with K while I was at lectures after A had to leave to go to work - will see what we are going to do tonight as we are both due to work from 8-12pm. Maybe A can take some carers leave if she is still battling with a temp - can't ask my Dad to stay until midnight as he has to get up at 4.30am to go to work.

My eating has been good - I have been having at least one serve of fruit a day and most days manage to get through at least 2L of water. The one good thing about having no money is that there aren't any treats around the house although I have to say that it is just as easy to overeat on 'good' food as what it is to eat on 'bad' food. At least the scales are going in the right direction.

OK - the rain has now stopped so I am off for a walk and then I am going to come home and toss up between redoing my resume (on the advice of an HR manager whom I treated the other day) and studying the origins, insertions and actions of the muscles of the body - actually I suppose it isn't too much of a toss up because they both have to be done - just a case of which one will get done first !!!

Take care and have a great day !

Thought for the day : A pessimist is someone who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

I survived !!!

Well I survived the first day back at school. I dropped K off and then went to gym (third to last day I can use the facility before my two week free membership runs out) and then came home. I applied for a job and answered some e-mails.

In the meantime it was pouring with rain for 5 mins and then sunshine and then pouring with rain for 5 mins and then sunshine again. Eventually got tired of waiting for the weather to clear and I got a brolly and went out on an 85min walk - and never needed the brolly once !!!!

Came home and had some water (should have taken it with me) and some grapes. Just having some trail mix for lunch - too hot for anything else and then I am going to sit with the last of the Twilight books and see what Bella and Edward get up to.

Today wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be - must make sure that I have things to do over the next couple of days to make sure I don't start eating because I am bored and tired of not working !!!!!

Thought for the day : Friends are like flowers, they give pleasure just by being.

Hot, muggy day

Well that is exactly how it has been today - hot and muggy. I had forgotten what it was like living in this sort of humidity but it brought back all sorts of memories from my life in Durban where this is the norm !!!!

Needless to say it doesn't invoke a huge desire to do anything apart from lie under the fan or in the air conditioning. But, I started the day with excellent intentions - we took K's car to get cut and polished and were going to walk home from there - not sure how far but certainly quite a distance. We were going to stop at Harbourtown to have crepes for breakfast (last day of holiday treat for K) and it had started to rain on the way there - while we were eating it absolutely bucketed down. K was whingeing about having to walk all the way home in the rain even though we had a huge golfing umbrella so eventually I gave in, called my folks and got a lift home.

Then as I was getting ready to go to the gym, the phone rang and it was Target to say that the 4th book in the Twilight series had come in and they would put one aside for K. What a relief - she has been phoning all over the Gold Coast every second day trying to find this blasted book - finally the chance to get it. So, after gym we went down and picked it up and I started reading out loud as she was driving home (probably not the most responsible thing I could have done but we are both so anxious to get into the book !!!!). Went to the local centre to get some school shoes for K only to find they had sold out - how does a shoe store sell out of school shoes the week before school ??? OK maybe I should have tried to get some sooner but we have been tossing up whether these would last a whole year or not.

Then we got a call to say that the car was ready but had to wait for A to finish work so that he could take us there to collect it - it has really made a difference to how the car looks. He did a great job and even touched up little scratches and chips in the paint work.

Now it is dinner time - thank goodness it is only having to heat up left overs - I am so hot I don't think I could be bothered to cook and then it would have been take-aways and I definitely don't want those tonight - I have been doing too well to sabotage it with junk !!!!

Take care and have a fantastic long weekend !

Thought for the day : Life is a drawing board, sketch you own scenes.

A better day

Today was a better day for me - but then K was with me and that really makes all the difference. She is just so funny and comes out with the most outrageous things at times. Where she gets her imagination from I have no idea - at no time have I ever seen this trait in either myself or A so how come she has such a vivid imagination is anyone's guess. But, it is great having her around and I am savouring these last few days with her.

I didn't go to gym today - I woke up this morning and my muscles felt sooooooooo tired so I gave it a break. Went back to the acupuncturist who has changed the herbs yet again - she also needled in different places so hopefully this will be the turning point for me. My hayfever had definitely improved before I got sick but since the weekend, my itchy eyes, ears and throat and sneezing are back with avengance again.

K and I did go for a walk this afternoon although it was only for 45 mins - I had a dreadful headache but knew that if I didn't walk I was going to battle to make my 8000 steps per day and really, it wasn't too bad once we were out there although it was bloody hot. I am sure that I didn't feel any different to if I had just stayed at home reading my book - actually I probably felt better for having got out there and got the endorphins going.

Tonight I went to lectures - although would gladly have given them a miss if I could have - got home and had dinner and now I am just busy cooking the herbs before going to have a shower and get into bed with my book.

I have said no to a quite a few food items today which would not have helped me in my quest to lose weight so am really happy about that. Since joining the 12 week challenge, I am now accountable for what I put in my mouth and it has made me much more aware of just how many little things had crept into my mouth which were not conducive to weight loss. I have had only 1 softdrink in the past week which is just fantastic as I was probably drinking about 1-2L of softdrinks per day - and not diet ones either !!!!! I have to say that I am feeling a lot better for having cut out the softdrinks - my only complaint is that my skin has gone to the dogs - I don't know what it is but I have had such breakouts (I never even had anything like this when I was a teenager) over the past couple of weeks. Very strange as I am eating so much more healthily (is there such a word ??) - no chocolates (except for those 4 Lindt balls) - minimal softdrinks and yet my skin is worse than ever. Oh well - at some point it will have to improve.

Anyway, have a great day and take care !

Thought for the day : To live life to the fullest is to see the world as a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.

Feeling like cr*p today

If today is any indication of what it is going to be like when K goes back to school next week, I am not looking forward to it one little bit. She had a maths tut to go to at school this morning and then went to the movies with some friends and the day was just awful - no-one to play the giddy goat with and nobody around to make me laugh ! I am going to really miss having her around.

I got up this morning and went to gym. Then came home and had breakfast and K drove to school (she did a really good job seeing as it was the first time she had driven in traffic in her manual car). After that I went and got some shopping and then came home and starting applying for a job that had been advertised on seek - it is with Queensland Health and, after trying to work out how to answer all their selection criteria, I have to wonder how badly I need the job (well actually I am desperate for a job so I answered all the questions) - now I am just waiting for a referee to get back to me so that I can put his details forward - if I haven't heard back from him by the morning, I am going to use another of my ex-boss'.

My walk today was done with the help of my iPod - I don't think I would have made it without the company of the music. I got home in time to go to fetch K from the movies only to find that the garage remote wouldn't open the garage door - bugger !!! Called my Dad and asked if they could come over and let me in so sat in the shade waiting for them. They came, I dashed inside, got a drink of water (had left my water and tissues at home when I went walking - not a good idea in 30+ degree weather at 2.30pm !!!!), and dashed out to get her.

Got home and got the therapy room ready for a client tonight and then got dinner cooked. Jumped in the pool before my client arrived as it was still so hot at 6pm.

Now I am sitting here trying to keep positive even though I fell cr*p - I haven't had a full time job since the middle of November, my casual hours at Coles are becoming more and more sporadic due to me going to lectures two nights a week, I have cut our expenses as much as I can without cancelling polices and such and even though I have been applying for jobs, most of the time I don't hear anything back. The worst part of it is that I know that I am totally capable of doing the jobs that I have applied for (it isn't as though I am just sending my CV off for ANY job - I only apply for ones that I know I can do) and I don't even get a thanks but no thanks letter from them. IT IS SO FRUSTRATING - today I could just feel myself wanting to crawl into a little ball and cry my eyes out and it was all I could do to stop myself. I don't want to feel sorry for myself but my self esteem is slowly being worn down to nothing. I know that the right job for me is out there and I just need to be patient - all I can do is send my CV off - the rest is up to the people who receive it.

Thank goodness for my walking - I have to say that I am really enjoying that. K mentioned yesterday how much fitter I was and I asked her why she said that - she replied "Don't you remember those first few walks we did when I first broke up from school - you battled to keep up with me and I had to keep on slowing down for you ? Now you keep up with me without any problem" - then I realised that I must have got fitter because she was right - I was able to keep up with her. At the gym this morning the lady asked me how I was going - I said that it was good although my legs and arms are still very weak and only able to cope with the weights that she had put for me - BUT the chest press (I think that is what it is called) and the lat machine (whatever that is called) I was finding reasonably easy so the second time around the circuit she upped the weights on those two and I could feel the difference which was good.

Tomorrow is a new day and I am going to take heart from the fact that the sun will come up (well most likely it will given where I live !!) , my family and I will still have our health and, at some point in the future, I will find a permanent position.

Have a great day everyone and take care !

Thought for the day : Use your past successes as a trampoline, not an easy chair

Another great day !

This morning I got up and checked mail. Then I had my chinese herb tea and went off to gym. I was really pleased because on the way to gy, I had a call from a lady who received a flyer from the mail drop I did on Saturday asking if she could make an appointment for a massage !!!! I am really enjoying Contours - I just wish that now that I have the time I had the money to continue to go once my two free weeks are finished !!!!

I got home from there and had breakfast with K before leaving at 10.30am to go on a really long walk - just under two hours actually. We did a big circuit and stopped off at Coles to get some wraps, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes to make a salad wrap with the carrots and cheese we already had at home.

Then a quick shower and off for a driving session (now over 2/3's of her 100hrs completed - YAY !!!). Got home and made sure the therapy room was all set up and waited for the new client to arrive. She left and said she was very happy with the treatment which is always good - although the real proof will be if she makes another appointment and actually comes back again. I mentioned the hot stone massage to her and she is very keen to try that so hopefully she will be back.

Then it was time to go to lectures - have just got home and am catching up on what I have missed during the day. Am off now to finish the washing and then shower and settle down with my book until A gets home from work.

Have a great day everyone and take care !

Thought for the day : Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

A great day !

Yesterday I had a great day - in the morning A&K were changing the radio in her car to an old one that we used to have that has a CD player and he suggested I go to gym. So, thought I would give them some father/daughter time together and off I went - I really enjoyed it.
Got home and they were still busy so went and did a mail drop - think the flyers were reproducing in my hand because when I finished nearly an hour of walking and delivering (with not that many No Junk Mail stickers) - I seemed to have almost as many as when I started !!! Not that I am moaning because there are more flyers to go into other post boxes and get clients into my business.

Got home and did a very little bit of revision work for my lectures. We got a rice cooker on our Award Points recently so made a pumpkin risotto - not that best I don't think and maybe we will just keep it cook rice in - I haven't been able to cook rice since we arrived 9 years ago - can only make the 2 min packets of rice - all I land up with is a gluggy mess when I try to cook rice in a pot. Hopefully this will help as a little rice goes a long way when you are on a tight budget !!!

Then as I wasn't rostered to work tonight A had to go off by himself - I dropped him off - came home, showered and then took K out for 1 1/2 hrs of night driving - this 10 hrs of night driving is taking a long time to get finished. We are now 2/3's of the way through her 100 hours so slowly slowly getting there.

I got home and all I wanted was a nice big bowl of ice-cream but thought long and hard about how good a day I had had and realised I didn't REALLY want to blow it with a big bowl of ice-cream so got my third bottle of water and wokred my way through that instead.

Today is a new day - I am off just now to do another mail drop - hopefully the last for this lot of flyers - and then I think that most of the day may be spent in front of the TV watching the ODI in Hobart. I can't believe that we lost the game on Friday night - at one point SA had over 10 runs an over to get to win - and they bloody well did it with 3 balls to spare - hope we can pull something out the bag today. We really need to find some decent bowlers !!!!

Thought for the day : The world can only be grasped by action, not contemplation

Where did the week go ?

I have just seen that my last post was on Sunday and today is Saturday - nearly a whole week has gone - where did it go to ????

I have had a good week food, water and exercise wise. I had one client and I had a couple of calls from employment agents re my CV which I sent to them in the hope of finding some work - no work yet but at least they called to say that they had received it and would let me know if anything came up. Not sure how long we can continue with next to no income from me.
I did quite a few mail drops during the week and probably have about 350-400 flyers left to do today - surely someone out there needs a good reflexology treatment or massage ????

We spent quite a bit of time running around getting the car registered etc - hit a snag there as the old man we bought the car from is in hospital and his daugther was handling everything under an EPOA - got the register the car and they want to see the original EPOA ! Bugger - so had to get in touch with A to get in touch with her husband to get in touch with her (she was busy trying to get her Dad into a respite centre) to eventually make an arrangement to meet her at another licencing place closer to her at 4pm - A called to say she would be there at 4pm - we were in the middle of a mail drop so had to dash back to the car, scream home, get changed and then all the way down to where she was - anyway it is all done now which is the main thing. Except we used the car to go to work on Thursday night and someone broke the mirror off that they had just replaced because it was broken and needed to be replaced for the RWC. Luckily A has managed to do a repair job on it but will have to keep an eye on it.

My walking this week has been good - mainly because of getting those flyers out plus I want to try to make over 8000 steps per day. Before Christmas a friend gave me a two week free membership to Contours gym. She called on Sunday night wanting to know if I wanted to go on Monday morning but I was still recovering from last week so said I would see later on in the week. I was in touch with her on Thursday night and went in yesterday morning - what a great little place it is. No gym bunnies in tight skimpy outfits - just real women with real weight problems trying to do what they can. I thought I would be stiff this morning but I'm fine - will definitely make the most of the these two weeks while I can. The lady went over the pricing with me - $195 to join and $60 per month for a 12 month contract BUT they have a January joining special of only $95 BUT she saw that I had ticked 'Tight budget" as a reason for not joining previously so said that they could do it for $50 !!!! Which would be fine if I had a spare $50 and $60 pm to pay for it for 12 months BUT seeing as I am battling to pay the mortgage, gym membership isn't going to be an option no matter how good it makes me feel. :( Never mind, when my business is up and running with lots of clients and I am working from home only, I will easy be able to fit in a 30min workout at the gym. I mean right now I have plenty of time but when I find full time work - between that and lectures and Coles and clients and family, I really can't see that I would have the time to go anyway.

This week I have made much better choices with my food as well as saying no to little treats which in the past I probably would have said yes to. I have probably only had one soft drink and have done really well with drinking between 1.5-2L of water each day - I think with all the walking I have been doing, it has been so easy to drink that much water.

Have a great weekend and take care !

Thought for the day : Failure is the opportunity to try again more intelligently

Feeling much better

Today I am feeling much better. I haven't done that well in the steps department but I don't want to overdo it too soon and find that I have a bit of a relapse. Tomorrow morning I am hoping to be able to start my mail drops again because I have about 1000 flyers that still need to be delivered. The good thing is that I did have a phone call for an appointment from the couple of hundred dropped on Sunday and Monday last week - unfortunately I couldn't provide any treatment because I was so sick but the good thing was the client was prepared to wait until I was better. K called her on Friday to say that I was still not better and would be in touch early this week so will give her a call tomorrow depending on how I am feeling and whether I am up to giving a treatment.

I am off to lectures in a few minutes - they postponed Wednesday lectures because I couldn't make it which was rather nice although seeing as there are only two of us it would have been a little difficult to do any practical work.

My eating today has been good. I had some low fat strawberry yoghurt for breakfast and then we each got a breadroll when we were out at the centre at lunch time. Not sure what I will do about dinner - I have a few WW frozen meals in the freezer so will maybe have one of those when I get home after lectures.

The main thing is that I am feeling so much better than I did last week although I am getting really down about not having a job especially as my hours at Coles seem to be getting fewer and fewer each week - not sure what is going on there. I went in today to speak to the grocery manager but she wasn't in so will send a letter with A tonight and see if she gets back to me.

I am off to have some water and then get ready for lectures - take care and be good !

Thought for the day :Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.

Thank goodness ...

finally I can get out of bed !!
This past week hasn't been fun at all - coughing and spluttering away AND STILL NO VOICE ! The main thing is that I managed to get up for a while yesterday and have spent a large part of today out of bed so hopefully in the next couple of days I can even get a walk happening !
Today we went and collected the car which we bought together with K - it is a 1989 Nissan Pulsar hatchback - with 45 000kms on the clock !! Yes, the old man who sold it used to go to the shops and back each week and that was all the travelling that he did in it. Tomorrow we are taking it for RWC and to get all the hoses replaced, then off to register it and then, no doubt, it will be the only car that K and I travel around in.
I am still looking for a job - I have put it out to the universe but I think that maybe the universe is just a little busy with other things at the moment because there is just nothing out there - come on universe - help me out here - please ......
OK- just wanted to let you know that I was up and about in the land of the living again - hopefully will have some good news to post re my weight this week. Despite being sick I have been eating better because I have had to eat to take my tablets - a far cry from the one or two meals which I may have been eating since I stopped working in the middle of November.

Thought for the day : Every exit is an entry to somewhere else.

Starting the year off sick - bugger !!

Well the way I am feeling at the moment certainly wasn't how I thought I would start 2009 !! On Saturday my throat started to feel scratchy and 'off' and Sunday I woke up with the worst cough ever - K says it sounds like I am trying to cough my lungs out. Little does she realise how sore my throat and ribs are and if I could stop coughing I would. I have been taking cough mixture which does help short term but as there is no infection there is no point in going to the dr despite getting nagged by the family. K didn't even want me to go walking this morning !!!! In the end she called A who basically said if I wanted to walk I could and she wasn't happy with him !

Last night at about 10.15pm I started walking circuits around the house - our bedroom to the therapy room to the garage and back again. A asked me what I was doing and I said that my steps were so p*ss poor for the day (despite a visit to Bunnings and IKEA !!) that I was trying to get them up. He said lets go for a walk so we got changed and did the first of the mail drops for this year - it was actually quite pleasant walking that late at night as it was certainly a lot cooler than during the day. The only problem was that my chest was quite sore when we finished. This morning K and I did a shorter mail drop and will try to continue with those until the 1500 flyers are all distributed. When we were finished we drove to see my folks and to get K's driving hours up (she has to do 100 hrs logged driving and has got just over 56 hrs done so all going along well - until I find some work when it will come to an abrupt halt !!!) - we got home after seeing them and I really just flopped on the beanbag. Couldn't sit there as it was too much like lying down so had to get up and sit on the couch - managed to doze on and off a little (didn't get much sleep last night) and then in the afternoon we went to the centre to the PO and to get an exercise books for my lectures which started again tonight.

There are two of us who have changed schools to do the Diploma of Remedial Massage and we are doing a catch up course on a subject which we didn't cover at our previous school - it is really cool having only two of us in the class - plus we get on really well which helps as well. The only problem is that I have no voice - lost it about 2 hrs after the coughing started yesterday so peace and quiet reigns at home again !!!

Am off to spend some time with K before she goes to bed - will wait up for A to get in from work and then will go to bed - unless I fall asleep before then !!

Take care and go safely !

Thought for the day : Climb that mountain, follow your star, achieve your dream. If you can dream it, you can be it.

A new year !

Happy New Year to anyone reading this blog !! I hope that 2009 brings you all you wish for yourself and your family and that you can look back at 2008 with fond memories of the good times and try to forget the not so good times !

How many people make New Year resolutions ? I haven't made any for quite a few years now as I found that it sort of made me almost certain to break it. I feel it is a bit like 'going on a diet' - that implies that at some point you will 'come off the diet' - I try to think that I am embarking on a healthier way of eating / living more than a diet. Sometimes it works and sometimes I still land up going back to the unhealthy lifestyle and land up where I am at the moment.

Since I haven't been working, I have tried to walk more, eat less and make better food choices. I would have thought that this would have helped budge some of the excess kilos I have been carrying but to no avail. My walking last week was rather pathetic when compared to the previous week but we really didn't do much on Christmas Day or Boxing Day that could be considered exercise in any way. The good thing was that we didn't go overboard with our eating either - we just didn't do much in the way of exercise.

Throw in a cricket test between South Africa and Australia and there are another couple of days where being a bean bag spectator seemed to be the order of the day !!! We certainly seem to be very good at throwing games away !!!!! Never mind, we always knew there was going to be a period of rebuilding after MacGrath and Warne retired and, while we are close to relinquishing our No 1 position in cricket, I am sure that we will regain it sometime in the future.

I can't believe that A's two weeks of leave is finished tomorrow - we haven't done nearly as much as we thought we were going to - but the good thing is that I think he has had a really good break which is more important. Tomorrow we are taking a couple of trips to the tip to get rid of the clutter outside that really doesn't need to be there (although there is heaps more I would like to get rid of - he is a bit of a hoarder who battles to let things go if there is the remotest possibility that he may be able to use it in the future) but at least it is a start.

I had better close off for now because I need to get supper finished otherwise we are all going to be snacking the whole night - take care and look after yourselves !

Thought for the day :
Today is absolutely today
Today is not yesterday
Today is not tomorrow