Another good day !

We have had a busy couple of days. Sunday was the last day for softball as they were knocked out in the semi-finals – they should have won but they didn’t play well enough on the day. While K had a good game at 3rd base – nobody hit very well and the few hits they got were not all at the same time. Their pitchers threw too many walks and when you have bodies on bases – they do tend to score runs !!! Anyway, thank goodness the long trek twice is week is over for this season.

K has seen the light about not playing summer ball – while I know it would be good for her to keep it up during summer, between school, working, school sport and her new schools requirements / expectations for the students in 2008, she has come to the conclusion that it probably isn’t the best thing to do – YAY !!!!!

The orientation day on Saturday was really good – it certainly answered a lot of questions I had and I am a lot more positive about K making the move next year than I was prior to going there. The facilities are going to be amazing - $40m facility for (at the max) 450 students per year !!!!! At least we will see something for our tax dollars now instead of the few Medicare claims we put in !! Yesterday I spoke to Sharon (the lady who coached K at softball for the schools softball side) – she worked with the principal of K’s new school and she couldn’t speak highly enough of her – it has just given me so much more confidence that we have made the right decision. Sharon was sooooooooo excited that K had been selected for this programme.

Yesterday K had sports training until 5pm so I brought my walking gear and A and I went for a walk around the local area while we were waiting for K to finish. I felt really good that I had done that because I know I wouldn’t have worried to go walking when we got home. Tonight I am going to walk down to the local sports fields and do my 8 sec run 12 sec walk thing again for 20 mins. Hopefully my leg will be OK after the rest that I have given it this past week.

Today is my last day of Lite ‘n Easy – I have been happy with my weight loss on this programme and feel that my head is in the right space to manage my eating. I have bought a calorie counter book and am going to try to do the calorie counting thing – whether it will work or not will be seen over the next couple of weeks. We do have a couple of functions on before we leave which I guess are always a challenge in themselves – but I would be happy if I could limit the amount of damage that I do rather than trying to make my life completely unliveable by not wanting to participate in anything in case food is involved and I can’t handle it. A & K had pizza last night and it really didn’t even worry me that I wasn’t eating any – I know that isn’t always going to be the case but I was surprised and how I didn’t even feel like I wanted a piece or two on top of my dinner.

I was looking at myself in the mirror last night and I am starting to see some changes which is great. Like all of us, a gazillion times over, we want to lose weight and we want it off over night but, as we all know, it doesn’t happen like that and sometimes we become despondent about how far we still have to go. I am trying to take it 5kgs at a time – last week I got to below the weight I wanted to be and so could bring out my jewellery to wear again – I haven’t worn anything apart from a thin chain and my wedding ring since the beginning of the year – it feels so good to have the rest of it on again !!! I know that I am still a long way off my goal but fitting into clothes a little more easily or even being able to wear clothes I haven’t worn for a while is good. That shows me that at least I am moving in the right direction and if the scale doesn’t always show a downward movement – fitting into my clothes really is more important than that number between my feet.

I have just got back from my walk / run tonight - it was great. A and I used to walk down to the local sports field - run 1/2 soccer field walk 1 soccer field (apparently it is exertion 8 secs - slower 12 secs but we found it easier to do it by the length of the kids soccer field) - tonight I ran 2 soccers fields, walked 2 soccer fields for 20 mins and then walked home after that - YAY for me !!

Am off to have dinner, shower and get into work as we are working an earlier shift tonight.

Take care everyone and have a great day tomorrow - for those on the Gold Coast - enjoy the long weekend !!!!

A great day !

Today was a great day - I didn't get to eat my lunch (we landed up parking the car miles away from where we were and it was pouring at lunch time so I just had a chicken sandwich with everyone else) but I am having a 'good' dinner even though A&K have just gone to get Big Chief burgers !!!!

I am really pleased that we went to the information day today - it certainly cleared things up for me as well as making me feel more positive about the move for K than I was yesterday. I have heard a few negative comments from people and was starting to doubt our decision but, since the info session this morning, I am much more inclined to say we have made the right decision. I guess it is one of those where we will only know in time to come.

I did manage to get a fair bit of walking in - the lecture theatre we were in wasn't really close to where morning tea and lunch were held so we had a couple of hikes up some hills to get there each time. I took a mandarin in my bag for morning tea and was going to get my lunch out the car until it started to pour about 5 mins before lunch time - decided I would rather have the chicken sandwich and stay dry than get soaked and have my correct lunch. When it was time to leave we walked across Smith St to where they are building the new campus for QA - $40m worth of campus for a maximum of 450 students at any one time. It seems like a lot of money to me - part of me is happy that quite possibly we are going to actually see something that our tax $ go towards paying for !!!!!! We will still have the expense of a school uniform as well as either a laptop / slate / tablet - they are busy with the specs and putting those out to tender so I guess we are still in for a far few $ before the year starts. While it will be costly to start - we would have incurred those same expenses - not the laptop - at the school where K is now as they have a different uniform for year 11 and 12 anyway. I would imagine that the mark-up at QA will be a lot less hefty than her current school.

The only downside to the day was this morning when I got out the shower I found that the outlet pipe was blocked and had come up through that waste pipe in the middle of the bathroom - bugger !!!! Luckily I have an EXTREMELY handy man as a husband (whose father was a plumber) so when we got home this afternoon he was out there digging and replacing pipes broken by roots. The good thing about this time - the same thing happened earlier this year in K's bathroom - is that he doesn't have the frame on his leg anymore so can easily climb in and out of holes and dig to his hearts content. The last time he had the frame on his leg and got stuck in the hole that he had dug and couldn't get out and we had to call my folks to come and help get him out the hole !!!!! We laughed about it today but it definitely wasn't a laughing matter when it happened especially as we were battling with infections in his leg and getting all the sand in it didn't help one little bit.

Tomorrow we are off to Redlands Bay (weather permitting) for the semi-finals of the U16 softball season - quite possibly our second to last Sunday morning of having the long trek up and down !!!! I will make sure my breakfast and lunch are all organised before I go to bed tonight - really need to keep on track these last couple of weeks before we leave.

Well I hear the garage door going up so I had better be on my way - have a great Sunday everyone and take care !

TGIF !

All I can say is thank goodness it is Friday - I don't think I would have coped with another day in the working week !!! It has been a hectic two weeks while I have had one staff member off for two weeks after she had a mis-carriage. Not an easy situation for anyone and my heart certainly goes out to her - but it has made it that much more difficult for me to get my job completed before we leave. I have been working long hours and I don't expect that will change in the next couple of weeks.

WARNING : Long winded post getting things off my chest !!!!!

This is probably going to be a little disjointed - but here goes. Over the past couple of weeks I have realised just how much I have missed blogging. The friends I made when I first started blogging are great people - some I have been in contact with more often than others - I guess a bit like my own 'real world' friends. But, I have also realised that I don't have as much time to spend on the computer as I used to. The thing I have missed most about blogging is getting down on paper how I feel, what is going on, how I am progressing, working out what is wrong or irritating me - I guess it is a lot of airy fairy stuff. I don't really know how to explain it but it is almost therapeutic when I sit down and type. Sometimes I just need to put something on paper in order for me to make a decision or see the solution.

I have been really battling my weight since the middle of last year. A's operation was the catalyst for me to say "Hey, you are having such a rough time - have another coke and chocolate - that will make you feel better" and it did - while I was eating it. But then I felt even worse as the kilos started to pile on. I have a million and one excuses for why I ate the way I did - couldn't leave him to get dinner because he had spent nearly all day by himself already so would pop down to the snack machine - had to get a sugar fix to keep my awake on the hour drive home at 1am each night - couldn't get through the morning because I was so tired without another sugar fix - and a million more I won't bore you with. The bottom line was they were all excuses for me not having to take responsibility for what I put into my mouth - it wasn't my fault I had to deal with all of this - was it ??????? No, it wasn't my fault that A broke his leg 20 years ago and had to have it re-broken and a frame put on his leg, it wasn't my fault he had to be in hospital in Brisbane when we lived on the Gold Coast, it wasn't my fault that there were no healthy food shops close to the hospital for me to buy dinner from but it was my fault that I continued to behave in a way which was detrimental to my health. It was my fault that I chose, night after night, to have a bottle of coke and a big crunchie chocolate for dinner and 1am snack and not take a healthy food option with me. It was my fault that I chose to keep packets of sweets and biscuits in my drawer to get me through the day rather than taking healthy food to work to eat during the day.

As most of you will probably remember the situation with A didn't finish when he came out of hospital - he landed up back in hospital for 10 days with infections at pin sites which would clear up so more travelling and more crappy eating. Then he got home and we had the whole thing of trying to get him sorted eat day before going to work. Then it was the over adjustment which had to be corrected and him wanting to take the frame off himself because it was so sore. And then of course Christmas arrived and who worries about trying to lose weight when it is Christmas ? Well I have in the past but certainly not last year !!!!

2007 saw me take up the Weight Loss Challenge and lose 8kgs in 10 weeks - I was aiming for 5 so was extremely happy with 8kgs. Unfortunately, the 8kg loss was short lived and it didn't take too long to put on 6.8 of those kilos. And that was where I hovered - week in and week out, knowing that our holiday was getting closer and knowing that I wasn't doing a single thing to lose any weight. All the while feeling so disappointed with myself for (a) putting on so much weight after having maintained for just under a year and (b) not having the motivation to do anything about it. I kept on telling myself - tomorrow, next week, after this event or that event instead of saying "From now" and getting on with it. It is too late now to look back and cry because I left it too late. All I can do is look back and say "Thank goodness I did something about it 4 weeks ago. Now I am 4.4kgs lighter than I was and I have the opportunity to lose a few more kilos before we go". When we get back - I have the opportunity to continue to lose these excess kilos for some special functions coming up and I can walk tall knowing that I am doing the best that I can for my body and for my life.

I want to start blogging more regularly because I know that this is a tool which really works for me - it helps to keep me honest because that is something that I have always been through this medium - honest about what I have eaten and what I have (or haven't) done. I have been walking quite a lot lately - the other night I have a really hard walk and paid a very dear price for two days afterwards - I could hardly walk with lots of pain in my knees for two days after my walk. Note to self - if you are going to walk that hard - walk on the grass !!!! I did not walk tonight - once again the weather is miserable. But more than that - I am tired. Totally and utterly tired, and exhausted, and weary - so much so I was falling asleep at 6.15 on the beanbag. That was when I thought - hey, I could be blogging so got up and came through to the computer. I guess, like anything else, you just need to get back into the habit of doing something - this time I am not going to let it take over my life !!!! I have to get the balance right. It seems to me that I haven't managed to get this balance correct (or maybe I should say I haven't quite got it right in my life) lately - work, food, exercise, socialising, chores - so that one is not achieved at the expense of another. That will be my plan for the next couple of days - work out what I need to change to see the changes I want to occur in my life.

On that note I am going to take myself off to the lounge and spend an hour watching the second half of Friday night footy with my bestest husband before heading off to my nicely warmed bed. Tomorrow we will be spending the day at Griffith University finding out what is going to be happening with the academy that K will be attending next year (and hopefully finding out answers to the questions we have w.r.t. whether we are making the right decision in letting her go there). Tomorrow night will be a quiet night in for us and then Sunday it is off to softball again. With a bit of luck the game will be cancelled due to the lousy weather we have had and them not wanting to have the grounds messed up. If that happens then we can stay at home and I can maybe give the garage door another coat of paint (I think it needs another one A doesn't agree), finish painting the outside walls and then get the rest of the outdoor furniture sanded down, ready to be oiled. There will be no usual Saturday morning muffin until next week when I have stopped Lite 'n Easy but that isn't the end of the world - a small price to pay if it means that I can drop a little more weight before we go.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend - take care and look after yourselves !

Not the best day I've had

Well - today wasn't the best day I've had - two people not in at work and me running my big butt off trying to make sure that everything that has to be done, is done. I did manage to eat my allocated food for the day but I also snuck in a Picnic bar when I was feeling absolutely down and out at 3pm.

The good thing is that even with the crappy weather, I went for a 50 min really hard walk when I got home from work and then did some weight work on my arms so I feel that all is not lost for the day. I am just about ready to go to work and if I really push myself for the whole shift, can notch up a few more calorie burning hours for the day.

So good to hear from you Bri - am looking forward to catching up on all that has been happening in your life - lotsa hugs to you !!

Take care everyone and have a great day !

Quick catch up

Well tomorrow sees the end of my 4th week on Lite 'n Easy - I have lost 3.8kgs so far and am very happy. Unfortuantely I will not be at goal before we go on holiday - totally my own fault for leaving it to the last 6 weeks before we leave to do anything about my weight. But, no good crying over what could have been - should have been - would have nice to have had - need to just focus on staying on track until we leave and hopefully being able to fit into some clothes that I have and not have to buy anymore to take on holiday.

I have to say that if I lived alone Lite 'n Easy would be how I would do my grocery shopping - for me it has been great to do. I have also got into the habit of exercising at least 5 days a week - yesterday and today there has been no exercise due to the weather. Yes, I could have done something at home but I didn't feel like it so have taken those as my rest days. While I am grateful for the rain, it does mess with my exercise plans and I am so enjoying my walking and then the 20 mins that I do of run 8 secs walk 12 secs - it really does get my heart rate up.

Not much news other than the above - still have things to do for Spain but now Al is waiting to hear back from some Spaniards with whom he used to work in Taiwan so we have held off making any bookings. We are all off to the orientation and information day at Griffith Uni on Saturday so that is very exciting. I have heard some negative comments around school re K moving to Queensland Academies but I am just ignoring them and taking them with a pinch of salt. The good thing is that we can always change our minds if we need to.

Al has just finished cooking so am off to eat with the rest of the family. Take care and be good to yourselves.

Bras for Cancer appeal

This is an annual fund raising drive held by 92.5 Gold FM (a local radio station) to raise money for breast cancer researxh. Conrad Jupiters donate $1 for every bra collected.

This year the school where I work is going to have a collection bin so if any of you have any old bras which no longer fit or you are thinking of replacing your current underwear because they are now too big, please consider mailing your old bras to me for this worthy cause.

If you mail me on kal20m at gmail dot com I will send my postal address to you.

Many thanks and happy undie shopping for anyone who supports this great cause !