Great Sunday

We had a great day today. Woke up this morning and the two of us lay in bed chatting for quite a long time - actually, we only got up when Al called to say that he was awake to chat to us before we went out. What a great way to start the day !!!

We were going to cycle but it was so windy that we decided to walk instead - an hour later we had finished our walk and came home to have a swim before getting dressed and going down to the Carrara markets. Had a 2 hour wander around there before stopping off at Spotlight and wandering around there for another hour.

We got home after that and finished off the chores for the weekend and got things ready for the new week. Then I was going to cook the chicken on the gas BBQ but couldn't get the gas to stay on - phoned Al and chatted to him about it but I was doing what I was supposed to - the gas just kept on switching off so I landed up grilling the chicken in the oven - it was absolutely delicious. I will definitely be making it again. Luckily I had done 9 pieces of chicken so we will be able to have it later on in the week (YAY - one or two nights I will just have to cook veggies !!)

The recipe is out the Mix and Match Cookbook :
Glazed Chicken Thighs
1/2 bottle tomato pasta sauce
2 TBS red wine vinegar
2 TBS honey
2 TBA hoisin sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 cloves garlic crushed (I didn't use this)
8 skinless chicken fillets

1. Combine all ingredients in bowl and refrigerate for 4 hours (I made it on Friday night and left it marinading until tonight)
2. Take chicken out of marinade and grill
3. Stir remaining marinade over medium heat until reduced by half. Brush over chicken once cooked

I've spoken to Al a couple of times today and so that has been good - I can't believe that he still has over 3 weeks until he gets home - why, oh why does the time seem to be going so slowly for him to get home but so fast for everything else ?????

Anyway, it is now far too late for me to rambling on here - have a great week everyone and take care !

Half the weekend gone already

Where does the time go to ? I can’t believe that Saturday is just about over and, when I thought about it, January is just about finished too. I guess before we know it, it will be Christmas again !!!!

Went to the hairdresser this morning and had my hair cut again - I’m going shorter again !!! I am happier with it now than the last time I had it cut. Then it was off to the pool shop and into RB for our weekly muffins. I had a normal blueberry muffin - it wasn’t nearly as nice as the 97% fat free muffins that I normally have - will definitely be changing back to the 97% ones next week. Went into Surfers to have a look at the Georg Jensen shop - such lovely jewellery there before coming home to find that the freezer door hadn’t been closed properly and had started to defrost. Landed up having to throw out the food which had defrosted and did notice that the seal to the fridge isn’t that good so will call the guy on Monday to see when he can come around to replace it. Having said that, it is the fridge which we brought from SA and it is probably about 20 years old so I don’t know if we will be in luck for them to actually have a replacement seal - will have to see what he says.

This afternoon K and I went for a 50 minute walk around the neighbourhood - it was really good to get out. I was going to walk last night but by the time I eventually got home from work I just couldn’t be bothered. Tomorrow morning we are planning to go for a cycle if the weather is good.

That’s about all the news for today - hopefully we will have good weather tomorrow - get in a cycle and then be able to get all the washing done and dried. I have some chicken marinading in the fridge using a WW recipe - will let you know how it turns out if it is any good. Have a great Sunday and take care everyone !

I'm exhausted but OK

Happy Australia Day to everyone for yesterday. Just checking in to let you know that I am OK even if I have been quiet this week. I have managed to read some journals when I have had a chance during the week but I haven’t had the time to leave comments.

I am looking forward to my trip to Sydney and being able to meet up with any of the Sydney bloggers who can make the lunch on Saturday - I am sure that we will all have a great time.

I hope that you all have a great weekend - take care and be good.

It's official ......

I have no idea of what my body is doing !!!!! I hopped on the scales this morning for my weekly recordable weight - a loss of 1kg !!! What the ....... ????????????? As I said yesterday, my choices haven't been bad, I just haven't been eating enough each day - this is normally when I would put on because, as we all know, when we start to put our bodies into starvation mode, they hold every morsel we eat, just in case there is no more food coming. It may be the past couple of weeks when I have been making an effort to count and eat most of my points but I don't know.

Am off to begin another hectic day at the office - have a great day everyone !

Another weekend over

I hope that everyone has had a better weekend than I have had. While it hasn’t been too bad food wise - it has been a very draining weekend with me having to deal with a lot of other issues.

The two parties were good - didn’t eat too much at either of them. I think I am up this week due to me eating too few points every day and skipping breakfast more often than I have eaten breakfast this past week. My food choices have been OK - just not enough (averaging about 14 points per day). Plus I haven’t had enough water for the past couple of weeks - I need to get back into the habit of having at least a litre of water before a DP.

Got home from the lunch party today and took one look at the lawn and had to get out there as I knew I just couldn’t come home to the over grown jungle any longer !!! So 1½ hours later the front and back had been mown and I had used the weed eater in the front - decided that I had had enough and if anyone wanted to complain about the back not being done they could bloody well do it themselves !!! I have to say that the new lawnmower is heaps better than the old one so that was good.

I have spoken to Al quite a bit this weekend - I really miss him and talking to him about what has been going on just isn’t the same as having him here with me and dealing with the issues - come home Al, all is forgiven !!!!! Only 4 ½ weeks to go - while I know that doesn’t sound like it is a long time - it seems like it is forever away. This long distance relationship is for the birds - I don’t know how anyone does it on an on-going basis.

After doing the lawn I was going to have a swim but then Al phoned and by the time we were finished talking, it had cooled down quite a bit so I just jumped in the bath instead. Got out and then spent an age covering K’s books for her so she is all set to start the new school year tomorrow.

Have just finished watching the end of the cricket and am going to take myself off to bed - hopefully to have a good nights sleep before the long week ahead. Tomorrow night I am supposed to be working 6pm - 1am as they are doing a stock take but I don’t think I will be able to make it there by 6pm so will just have to get there as soon as I can and if they don’t like it - tough !!! Then Tuesday is Pilates and Wednesday is Step Into Life - I think I am going to join for 1 session a week and see how I go. Thank goodness Thursday is a holiday as I think I am going to need it after the hectic week that I am expecting in my day job.

Have a great week everyone - will be back when I get a chance. Take care and be good !

Agony !!!!

Who would have thought that inside these fat thighs so many muscles lurked around waiting to show themselves in such a painful way ????????? Last night I had a dreadful night at work with about 85% of what needed to be packed being either on the bottom shelf so I had to squat down to pack or on the top shelf so I had to step up onto the safety step – uurrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh !!!! And the worst is, this was all self inflicted !!!!

Anyway, I know that it is good for me and so I will be going back next week to see what other part of my body they can show me actually exists and has some muscle underneath the fat. Luckily my arms aren’t feeling as bad today as what they did when I woke up yesterday.

The weather here has turned really miserable – it started raining yesterday at about 4pm and apart from when I was at work (and don’t know what it was doing) it has been raining most of the time – just hope that it is raining enough in the catchment area to make it worthwhile. At least the garden is getting a good soaking and the pool is getting filled. The good thing is that I put my work longs on this morning for work AND THEY STILL FIT ME - YAY !!!!!!!!!! I was REALLY pleased about that as when I bought them I wondered if I would have to stay 3-4kgs below goal in order to wear them but they are fine and I am only about 1 ½ kgs below goal – so it is all good.

We have a busy weekend planned with two birthday parties (adults), visits to the hairdresser and the doctor, trip into Surfers, covering school books, baking, muffins and a bike ride if the weather holds.. I hope that you all have a great weekend – take care and look after yourselves. Remember to make the best choices that you can – because you are worth it !!!

TFTD : Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn presented to you once again. So, where you made a faulty choice before you can now make a better one, and thus escape all pain that that which you chose before has brought to you.

TIAGF : A busy weekend planned to stop me thinking about Al not being here.

Oh my goodness .........

Just a quick update while I am eating my sandwich for lunch. Right now I don’t know my a.. from my elbow – it is more than flat out at work and unfortunately it doesn't even look like the end is in sight yet.

I am having a good week food wise - last night we had some roast pumpkin and steamed broccoli and cauliflower for dinner (the joys of not having a man around the house wanting meat for dinner !!!) but my water intake has been dreadful. Actually dreadful isn't really the work - non-existent is probably closer to the truth - I will try to improve on this soon but am not making myself any promises given the week that I have had workwise and the stress that I am under - I am just pleased that I haven't turned to chocolate bars to get through each day which is how I used to deal with stressful situations !!!!!

I went to a Step Into Life session last night – well I am feeling it this morning for sure !!! But, I am sore in a good kind of way. I do seem to be flopping into my chair (even though I am always moaning at K NOT to flop on the furniture !!) – I have a valid reason for flopping today !!!!

K went to collect her books from school this morning so tomorrow night or the weekend will be spent getting them all covered in the contact she has chosen – I wish there was an easy way to cover books with contact – it is always such a mission to make sure I don’t land up with bubbles in it.

We have two parties this weekend – am trying to change my Saturday night shift so that we aren’t too late for that one – will see what happens. Am off to donate blood tonight and then on to work – YAY (not !!!). I am sooooooo tired again – I am not sleeping and while this never used to be such a problem, it is more of a problem when working two jobs and not sleeping – who would have thought that it would be this difficult – all I ask for is 4 to 5 hours per night – not a lot but when I don’t get it and have to concentrate at work – it is a real killer.

Thanks to M and Jodie for the great suggestions for my weekend in Sydney – I think it is going to be great and so if anyone else wants to join us – please RSVP to M so that bookings can be made.

Better be off and get these P&L’s finished before everyone starts having a fit !!! Take care and have a great day !
Update : Had managed to aviod going downstairs until I could avoid it no longer - oh boy - what agony going down and then back up the stairs !!!! I hope that the pain is worth it in the end !

Week 1 completed

Had a cr*ppy day at work today - think I am going to be in for a few more weeks like this, with year end on the go, but what can you do - it pays the bills at the end of the month !!!

Got home in time to cycle to WW - lost 0.2 which I have to say I was more than a little annoyed about. Having counted and tracked every point, not had my 14 sugar points and done more exercise than I have since walking in Taiwan - to see a result of 0.2 was really disheartening for me. The only thing which has changed is I have been drinking the Coke Zero. So I am going to try this week back with the Diet Pepsi (Pepsi Light) and see how I go. I really thought that with not having actually counted and tracked points for quite a few weeks, I would have had a reasonable loss tonight. Oh well - back to basics for another week having fallen rather short of my 500 - 800g loss per week I am going to have to work out what went wrong so that I don't get too far behind in my challenge.

Am off to work so will catch up again when I can - can't do any catching up at work as I am too busy - bugger !!!!!

Have a great week everyone and take care.

Another great day !

Woke up this morning and the weather was just beautiful so off the two of us set on our bikes. We did a completely different route to the one we normally do and boy, what a difference. While the hills weren't that bad - some of them were a lot longer than they appear to be when we are in the car. We got home and both decided that as we were feeling good we would continue further - so landed up back home after 22km feeling really good ! We jumped in the pool to cool off before K got out and started on her biscuit baking and I spent most of the morning in the pool - helping her through the kitchen window when she got stuck with what she had to do !!!

We had cheese and salad rolls for lunch and then went to Pure Zone to swop the pillow case and Bunnings to get paint samples. It was so hot in there that I picked up some colour charts and left. Got home and ices the biscuits before going over to some friends for help with my new look blog. It doesn't quite have everything in that I wanted but we ran out of time and it is better than what I had before I stuffed it all up !

Have just watched the end of the cricket - while I would have liked us to win I was pleased that SA won as I think they need the morale boosting more than we do !!!!! At one point I thought SA were going to toss the game anyway so was pleased when they managed to pull it out the hat.

We landed up having Subway for dinner which was fine with me and fitted in with my points for the day although I haven't counted the couple of biscuits that I have eaten but am sure that they won't amount to much given the size of them and the number of points I have saved anyway. Hopefully my weight will continue to be on the move downwards when I jump on the scales tomorrow morning - given that I have been making a concerted effort to count points this week I will be very disappointed if the results don't reflect the effort I have put in. But, seeing as I am not supposed to be obssessing about the scales, and my clothes are still all comfortable, I will be happy with whatever the scales say.

TFTD : One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.

TIAGF : A lovely weekend (which would have been made better only by sharing it with Al)

Oh my goodness ..........

This definitely wasn’t the look I was going for when I walked into the hair dresser this morning !!! But, it will wash / grow out and in the meantime I will just enjoy having something very different to anything I have every had before !!!! Hope you don’t hurt yourselves laughing !!!

Moving right along from that - we had a great day today (apart from the hair that is !). Woke up this morning and went to buy the lawnmower. Got that and dropped it off at home before going with a water sample to the pool shop (needs ½ l of acid - am hoping now that I have a weekly reminder to get the water tested that we won’t land up with the pool in the state it was before we went away !!!) and our Saturday morning muffins. Had just sat down to those when the bed lady phoned to say that they were on their way to deliver the mattresses - a few words were exchanged over that but we finished our muffins and came home. I did the acid thing and opened all the doors for the bed man. After they left went to put the new mattresses on but then thought we should get new mattress protectors as ours were looking a little worse for wear. Headed off to the hairdresser (definitely won’t be wearing any orange clothes for a while !!) and then came home, picked up K and headed out to the shops again. Got the mattress protectors and 2 singlets on sale at Target, got some groceries and back home again only to find that I had 2 king single mattress protectors so had to go back again to change them. The new doona covers and sheets we bought last week from Pure Zone look really lovely. We went and bought some more pillow cases today but when we got home found that one of the buttons was broken so will have to take that back tomorrow and swop it for another one. I was standing in the doorway to our bedroom and the bed seems to much bigger than the old one - the mattresses are about 10cms higher - here’s to a good nights sleep - what a pity I am all alone to try it out !!!!!!

K made us some lovely ham/cheese/salad rolls for lunch today - she really is such a sweety when she wants to be. I managed to get an hours reading before asking K if she wanted to go to the movies so we headed off to see Rumour Has It - not something you have to dash out and see but a light entertaining movie none the less. Came home and were going out for a cycle when Al Skyped us to tell us that he had fallen off his bike while they were cycling down Yammy Mountain. He sent some photos of his cuts, grazes and bruises - they stopped and got some anti-inflammatories but I think he is going to be stiff and sore from the fall tomorrow. Managed to have a ½ hour cycle (it was dark and our lights don’t work) but I was happy that we did actually go out and do something. I was thinking while we were cycling - I should rather aim for 30 mins of exercise a day - do-able in my busy schedule - rather than saying I want to do an hour each day which sort of puts me off doing something because I don’t always have an hour to spare. Pilates was so much fun on Tuesday night - it was so good to catch up with everyone again - I couldn’t believe how tight I was after not going to a class for 4 weeks - I have done some at home with the tape I have, but it isn’t quite the same - I probably don’t push myself quite as much as the instructor does. When we were walking the other night - we walked past a “Step Into Life” class which they have in the sports park just along the road from where we live. I phoned to get prices and I think I might try their toning class and see what it is like. I really am more committed and focused if I have to go to a class of sorts rather than saying that I am going to do it by myself at home. I was in the routine of using the gym at home but then got out of the routine when we went on holiday and just haven’t got back into it - I think it is too boring and so I can’t be bothered with it.

On that note I am off to try out my new bed - will let you know what it is like in my next post. Tomorrow we are planning on going for a cycle in the morning and then K is going to do some more baking - she has been bitten by the baking bug (if only the ‘clean up when she is finished’ bug would bite as well !!!!) - thank goodness my folks are here to send the baking to as it is too hard to resist when it is in the house !!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow night my new blog should be in place - I am off to a friend for him to help me get it sorted out - maybe I should find out about a web designing course and then I can do it all myself !!!

Take care everyone and have a great Sunday !!!

TFTD : The more you do what you fear to do, the less you are afraid

TIAGF : The thought of a good nights sleep on my new mattress

The weekend - thank goodness !!!

Flutterbye got me thinking after a post the she wrote last week – why is it that we don’t think we are worth spoiling ? At the time I left a comment saying that we should spoil ourselves because we deserve it but the last couple of nights at work I have really been thinking about it some more.

For a while my motto has been “Life is too short to do things you don’t want to do” – while I know that there are some things which you just have to do no matter what you feel about them, when I have a choice, why do I choose what I know will make someone else happy ? Why do I put others before myself ? Why do I feel guilty when I want to do things for me ? Or even worse, when I am doing something for me, I spend the time feeling guilty because I feel I shouldn’t be doing it ? Why do I feel like I am being a bad mother / wife / work colleague if I do something for myself or say no I can't do something for someone else ? Why do I feel obliged to say yes when my heart is screaming NO NO NO ????? This is not to say that I am never selfish – there are times when I am selfish but those times are spent feeling guilty because I am doing what I want and that may be at the expense of someone being able to do what they want to do.

So, I have decided that I am going to occasionally start doing things that I want to do, not necessarily for any particular reason, but because I can, because I want to and because it is for me ! I am going to stop giving myself the last few slices of the loaf for sandwiches – the others can have a turn at having those, I’m going to choose the DVD I would like to see – not the one that I think the others will enjoy, if I am sharing something out between us and there are only two left – I might get one of the two left and one of the others will have to miss out. Whatever it is I am going to try to start putting myself first some of the time and more importantly, I am going to work on not feeling guilty about it. There are many occasions when I have done things for myself but it really defeats the object of the exercise if I feel guilty while doing it.

I am now in a position where I feel like I am in control of what I am putting into my mouth (at least most of the time) and I need to take back control of the thoughts I am putting into my head and my attitude towards everything around me. I can make the changes that I want in my life but it is something that I am going to have to work on because it like any new habit – it has to be learnt. I have given my power away to others and not stood up for myself when I should have. This is definitely not a fool proof plan but at least it is something for me to work towards this year – that and keeping my weight under control. Although I have to say that right now I am really positive about my weight and my ability to maintain – especially with the support of all you wonderful people out there.

I am off to friends for dinner and then an early night in bed. Tomorrow we have to go and buy a lawn mower and then off to the hair dresser for my new colour and then hopefully our new mattresses will be delivered soooooooooooooo I may even wake up on Sunday morning feeling like a whole new person - able to walk away from my bed, not having had to roll out of bed like I was 9 months pregnant and hobble around for the first ½ hour of the day – how fan-bloody-tastic would that be !!!!!! I hope that you all have a great weekend – take care and be good. Remember – you owe it to yourselves and your families to be healthy and happy - because you are worth it !!!!

TFTD : It isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others – sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

TIAGF : The weekend ahead of me

Day 3

Today is day 3 of my challenge and I am still going well. Water hasn’t been all that flash as Coke Zero seems to have taken over as my drink of preference. I am not sleeping very well again and this is causing some problems for me at work as I am finding it a little difficult to concentrate on what needs to be done when all I want to do is put my head down and go to sleep. But, having said that, this isn’t the first (nor will it be the last time) that I will not be sleeping well and having to just get on with it so I will stop complaining about it now.

Foodwise I have had 3 really good days. Last night after getting back late from the hair dresser I made the Chicken Pizzaiola which was just delicious. I used more of the veggies (but no ham) than the recipe said but then I didn’t need to worry to cook any other veggies to serve with it. Because the chicken breasts I had bought were a little bigger that I would normally have had, I didn’t do any carbs with it – we just had the chicken with all the veggies and cheese on top and it was really good. I will definitely be having it again.

K and I were going to go for a cycle or walk last night but then with me running late it didn’t happen so we have a walk planned for tonight which should be good – hopefully it will have cooled down a little by then as it is really hot here today. Thank goodness for air con in the office !!!!

My daily weigh-in is showing a nice downward movement – long may it last. Yesterday I found (by pure fluke) a bikini with a top which can actually hold me up without pulling my head / neck down towards my tummy !!! I have been looking for absolutely ages but have not been able to find anything with enough support. I think that the sizing is way out as the top was a 10 and the pants were a 14 but hey, who looks at the labels when you are wearing the togs anyway !!!!! I took some photos so that I could show Al as he has traipsed around many a store looking for togs for me but I am not game enough to post it on here for all the world to see – sorry !!!!! Maybe I shouldn’t be apologizing as you are probably all too glad not to see me in a bikini !!!!

Had better get back to work – lots to do and not enough time to do it in (how unusual !!!) Take care everyone and have a great week !

TFTD : Either you control your attitude or it controls you

TIAGF : Being so motivated and able to stay on track

A new style for a new year

My new hair cut




Back view









I was hoping you would be able to see the colour with this one but it isn't that clear - anyway, at least you will get an idea of what it looks like now - quite different to how it was when I went into the hair dresser. Of course the trick is whether or not I can get it looking the same when I wake up in the morning !!!!

I am going to have the colour done on Saturday (ran out of time tonight) so will post some more pics if it turns out OK.

Day 1

After the lengthy post yesterday, this one will definitely be a lot shorter. I didn’t have a very good night last night (note to self – don’t get on the PC when getting home from Coles except to Skype Al to say goodnight !!!) – finally into bed at about 2.15am and then the rain kept me awake because of the noise on the awning outside the bedroom door. Hopefully I will be able to have an early night tonight.

YAY – back to pilates tonight. I have really missed the ladies from the class as we always have lots to laugh about while we are busy working out. It has been 4 weeks since I last went and it seems like forever ago. I will be really pleased to get back into it again.

Last night at work my iPod died on me – hope it isn’t anything too drastic. Must remember to ask Al what things I can check to see if I can get it going again otherwise it will be a trip back to the store for them to sort it out. Hopefully it will just be something small although it just stopped playing in the middle of a song so who knows what it could be.

This is Day 1 of my endeavours to lost 3-5kgs. While I am still in size 12's, I would like to see how I look with just a few more kilos gone. For me to do this before Al gets back I need to lose 500g - 800g per week - I am sure I can do that if I put my mind to it. So that is my 6 week challenge. Foodwise I have had a great day today. Got up this morning (late because I kept on ‘snoozing’ the alarm) but I still made myself have breakfast and make my sandwich for lunch (what a good girl !!!!). I popped out at lunch time and bought some more clothes !!!!! Then got a Zero Coke – I am still trying to make up my mind if I like it more than the Diet Pepsi or not – can’t be too bad if I can’t make up my mind !!!!!

I nearly had to send Al back to Taiwan again !!!!! (Am sure he would be really happy to read that sentence – NOT !!!). I am having a really cr*ppy time at work with having been off and now into financial year end and this morning I was ready to just walk out except that it was absolutely bucketing down with rain !!!! I think if it had been clear weather I would have just picked up my bags and walked out – I was that frustrated and angry with the incompetence of some people. Anyway, I have calmed down now and so Al can stay next time when he gets home (am sure he will be pleased to read this sentence – REALLY !!!).

That is just about my lunch time finished so had better get back to the grindstone – take care everyone and be good !

TFTD : May our faults be written on the seashore, and every good deed be a wave to wash them out.

TIAGF : The rain which is keeping our garden looking lovely and green

Happy New Year to Everyone !!!!

This is definitely the gazillion and first time someone has used this for a title but it is appropriate so what the heck !!!

I have been able to catch up on most blogs (and found quite a few new ones !) since arriving home (actually more at work while waiting for reports to run or processes to complete !!) but haven’t been able to leave many comments. It seems as though most of us had a wonderful Christmas and a good New Year. I wish everyone everything that you wish for yourself for 2006.

A (not so short) synopsis of our holiday :
Our holiday was fantastic - while I wouldn’t say to anyone “You have to go there for a holiday” - I am really pleased that we went. Not only did we see a lot of the places that Al has spoken about but we probably got to see more than he has because we did a lot of touristy things which he hasn’t been able to do. We walked for miles and miles but that was partly to compensate for all the goodies we ate from the multitude of bakeries which they have. We were adventurous with our evening meals on occasions and ate from the markets - but only if we saw what they were actually cooking !!!!!! Some of the smells and some of the food looked totally inedible - the people there must have cast iron stomachs. One of the most amazing things was that there were no flies around - even with all the food (including mussels and oysters just on the side of the road - no ice - nothing !!!) - we never saw one fly there at all.

It was a wonderful experience for K who now realises that she really DOES live like a princess here !!!!! The poverty is something else. I don’t think she ever realised how much poverty there was in SA before we left. For any ex-Durbanites, many parts of Taipei look like Gray St and the bottom end of Berea Rd.

Hong Kong was very different to Taipei - much more commercialised. Although the weather was sunny - we were never actually in the sun because there are so many high rise buildings that the sun doesn’t make it as far as the streets - there is always some building case a shadow. We stayed at the Sheraton and it was really a lovely hotel to be in - the best thing was a hotel bed which was actually comfortable !!!!!! The pillows were cr*p but the bed was lovely !

We did lots of shopping at the markets in HK. I also had another “Oh sh*t” moment (pretty much like the time we flew to Milford Sound and we had been in the little plane about 3 minutes when I realised that, while I had said before we took off that I would be fine, I actually wasn’t fine. I don’t mind flying but I don’t do little planes very well at all !!). Anyway, we arrived in HK on the day that they had the dreadful riots due to the WTO conference. We say all these riots on the massive TV screens above the shops but didn’t know where they were and couldn’t understand anything that was being said. The following day we went to the tour desk to find out about going up Victoria Peak and were advised not to go across to HK Island due to the riots - so we shopped in Kowloon and went across the next day. We went up what is called the longest escalator in the world - it is actually a whole lot of little escalators but some of them were rather steep. At the top we walked across to get the tram to the top of the Peak - that was when the “Oh sh*t” moment happened. We used our Octopuss Cards to get into the tram station and Al asked how long the tram ride was. It is 400m and it takes 10 minutes - I can do 10 minutes I tell Al, I mean, how long can 10 minutes be ??????? VERY LONG !!!!!!!!!!! After about 2 minutes, I started to hyperventilate, after about 3 minutes I started to cry and not long after that I was nearly completely hysterical !!!!!!!!!!!! It stopped at two stations during the 400m but I couldn’t get off because it was so steep. Well, after what seemed like about 5 hours, we got to the top and I had to get off - Al’s shirt had black all over his sleeve and shoulder - I looked like a raccoon - when I think about it now, I can laugh about it but it wasn’t funny at the time !!! Actually when Al talks about it now my hands still get all sweaty !!!! I wonder why I just can’t get my head around heights - logically I know that there is no way that the tram could fall off or anything like that but my head just doesn’t deal with it like that. Anyway, once we were up there we still had to get down - Al wasn’t going to risk going down on the tram given the gradient so found out we could walk down except that there was no railing on the path and sometimes the steps were like walking down a ladder. So we started walking down on the road until a taxi came passed and we stopped him - 20 minutes later we got to the bottom (don’t know how long it would have taken us to walk it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

We looked around Santa Town when it got dark before going back to Kowloon. We took some photos while I will try to get into Flickr - if I could just find out how to put a link on the side to make it easier for everyone to access. Let me know if you can’t see them and I will see what I can do.
On the weight front - I stayed the same while we were away which I was very happy about. I did put on over Christmas but then stayed the same over New Year. I went to weigh each week just to make sure that things didn’t get out of hand because I know that this is when I really battle. I haven’t been counting points, I haven’t been tracking and I wanted to see how I had done. I had eaten what I wanted and just tried to make good choices when there were choices to be made. I had to change my weigh-in day to a Wednesday because there was no class on the two holiday falling on Monday. I was SOOOOOOOOOOO pleased to go back to Monday weigh in tonight as the weigher on Wednesday was really rude and very offish because I was a LTM wanting to weigh twice in two weeks !!!!!!!! She told me that I had to wait 3 months to get the new programme because I could only get one book a month and didn’t seem the least worried that (if I had wanted to follow the new programme) I would have to wait 3 months before I had the tools required. She did say that as a LTM I shouldn’t be obsessing about what the scales say. I told her that if I only weighed once a month, I would be in trouble as that is when things get out of hand and she basically told me I had to learn to deal with it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was really quite annoyed as I got the impression that they would only let me weigh in once a month and that way, when things did get out of hand, I would have to start paying again and they would make more money. That probably isn’t the reason but it certainly came across like that.

Tonight when I went to weigh, I was down 0.6 (since Wednesday) on my scale at home but when I got to WW, I had put on 0.2. So I have decided that from now on I am going to use my Monday morning weight for my blog - I really don’t have too much faith in the WW scales anymore. I know that I am maintaining reasonably well as my ¾ work pants are still fitting - probably a little tighter than they were but they aren’t at the uncomfortable stage. In light of the gain on WW scale, I am going to go back to counting and tracking this week - I have had a read of the new No-Count programme and while there are really good results for some people using it, I don’t think it is for me so I will continue with what worked for me to lose 23kgs.

It was a sad morning for me today - I had to take Al to the station to get the train to the airport as he has left for Taiwan again - where have the last two weeks gone to ?????? It just feels like a few days ago that we arrived home. We had a fantastic Christmas with our family - my folks and in-laws came over for lunch and friends popped over during the course of the day. Thank goodness for the air-con as it really was a life saver.

This has turned into a rather epic post (and I have left heaps out as well !!!!!!!!) but at least I have managed to get you all up to date (roughly) on what has happened and where I am at the moment. I do feel very motivated to lose a couple of kilos, which I think will be easier with Al away as K and I do seem to eat a lot ‘lighter’ when we are by ourselves. We also bought ourselves iPods which Al has loaded with music for me so I will be hitting the roads (either walking or cycling) and getting back into the exercise thing. My water intake has improved since I went back to work last week although I am still battling with low blood pressure. I also bought myself a Palm - it is the best thing out and now I can get rid of my bulky, but faithful, Filofax.

Al has just phoned to say he arrived safely in Taipei after a long flight - there were about 30 people on the flight !!!!!!

I hope that you are all getting back into the swing of things. I have not made any New Years resolutions as I feel that, for me, it is just setting myself up for failure. What I want to do is try to focus on making healthy choices for myself and my family with food and exercises.

TFTD : Happiness doesn’t depend on how much you have to enjoy, but how much you enjoy what you have.

TIAGF : Getting back into blogging

(I have absolutely no idea what has happened to my blog - I seem to have lost whatever I had before. Given my lack of skills at anything to do with web pages, I am not sure that I will be able to get it back to looking like it did !!)

I have managed to load some photos onto Flickr for anyone interested - I will try to finish loading them tomorrow night as I have to be off to work now.

1.50am update - have tried to upload some more photos but have been advised that I have used 100% of my upload allowance for the month (obviously all the months I never used it don't count for anything) so I will have to finish uploading the photos next month.