For Chris H

These photos are on facebook but I know Chris doesn't use facebook much. The room is nearly finished. Just have the floorboards to do and then we can start moving stuff in. The photo of our existing family room shows how cluttered we are. So I can't wait to swing open those doors and finally have more room.

My poor neglected blog :(

Life just keeps getting in the way of updates here. I guess that why I prefer facebook. So easy to update on there.

We've had a crazy few weeks. Unfortunately not all good. Bullying has reared its ugly head again but not with Ashleigh this time.

Nikki has been the victim this time. She tries to be friends with everyone and it has backfired big time. She got caught in the middle of some of her friends fighting this week and 2 of these so called friends turned on her and verbally abused her nearly to the point of a physical punch up. Luckily it didn't get to that. The school were great and I got phone calls from the head of the middle school but unfortunately one of the girls father has bikie connections and they are intimidated by her family. In the school's words - 'We just don't know what to do'

This girl has had so many run ins with other kids and she is still there. The school told us they know Nikki is innocent and just got caught up in typical teenage lies and rumours but she has learnt a very valuable lesson. To keep out of things that don't concern her. She can't solve the world's problems as much as she wants to try.

It was Jarryd's 10th birthday last week. I can't believe my baby boy is 10!! Where did that time go. He had a laser skirmish party with 11 friends which was a huge hit. He asked for money because we bought him an ipod touch and he had to contribute some money towards it. Well he got so much money from family and friends he also managed to buy a new ds lite console and the new pokemon game. So he is a very happy boy.

Ashleigh has a part time job at a local footy club. A good friend of ours has taken over the contract to do all the meals on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday so she will be doing some cooking, dishes, taking orders and taking out the meals. She is absolutely loving it and is getting $10 an hour cash in hand. She is saving for a laptop.

Steve is off to Alice Springs again for 2 weeks. He is getting a lot of breakdown work now so the finances are looking a bit stronger. Just as well. The mortgage has sky rocketed due to all the renovations we are doing. He has been offered another job within the company which is a step up and will get him off the tools but it means being the co-ordinator for all the jobs and he's not sure if he really wants to do it. He's asking for a big pay rise and along with the car that comes with it so we shall see. If they come to the party money wise, then it's meant to be.

My weight loss has stalled a bit. I haven't gain but haven't lost either in the last month. I know peri menapause is playing a huge part in that. I had a blood test the other day and my iron levels are way to low again so I'm back on iron tabs and have been told to eat 3 red meat meals a week. Hopefully that will boost things again when I have the next blood test in May.

I've been trying to post a YouTube link of Nikki playing ukele and singing on here but it's not playing the game. I'll keep trying. She is amazing and so many people have commented on facebook. She is so passionate about her music and I am very proud of her because she has never had any lessons. She has learnt to play the ukelele from the internet. She sure doesn't get her music ability from me!!!

Ok maybe blogger doesn't let you link YouTube so if you want to look go to my facebook page or search YouTube for ukelelefreakxo

Ooops

8 days later and I am back to finish my last post. I had meant to put up some photos of the new room so here they are. The big hole you can see on the side photo is going to be french door to match the existing doors.

The part I hate about rennovating is all the crap lying around. As you can see in the side photo, the airconditioner is sitting my the back door.

Interrupted again. Just got a phone call from a friend coming over for coffee. Definitely be back..........................

We have concrete.....

I have been so busy that I completely forgot about getting quotes for flooring, painting, a new split airconditioning system and lighting. All of which is going to cost money. Well it will increase the mortgage. Just hope the interest rates stay steady for a while.

We are thinking floating floorboards for the new room and a mocha or coffee colour paint scheme. Sort of African. I will have to ask for african or balanese type things for my birthday. There is so much still to do. Before Nikki can move into the lounge, all the above has to be finished first so we can move all the furniture into the new room. Then we will pull up the carpet in the lounge which is awful with kids spills from the last 13 years. And maybe paint Nikki's new room before she can move into it. It will be so good when it's all done.

I had a small loss this week. 300g. That's ok. Slowly but surely. I need help with my sugar addiction though. I have come to the realisation that I am fat because I eat too much sugar. Some people have problems with savoury, cheese, dips, etc but for me it's sugar. My current addiction in this warm weather is zooper dooper iceblocks. Yes they are ok but I have about 10 a day!! And it's all sugary things I crave. Might have to get me some hynotherapy!! Any suggestions on how you beat this demon, please feel free to leave a comment.

Have to go and get Nikki from work so will finish this later. This is the reason I never get to blog - LOL!!

A Date at Last

I just got confirmation that our new room is starting Thursday. So exciting. We have definitely outgrown this house as it is. Ashleigh needs her own bedroom. At nearly 13, she can't keep sharing with her brother. So they start preparing on Thursday. Lucky Steve gets to have a 5 day weekend. Even though he has work to do. He has to take down fences to get the bobcat in from the street behind us. And because the room is going on the neighbours boundry, that fence has to come down too. But it is going to be so worth it.

Weight wise, things aren't so good. I gained over xmas and the week after for no reason apart from this crazy peri menapausal body. I couldn't go last week but the scales are down slightly as of this morning. I am getting a period every 3 weeks but it last for a week to 10 days. I have read lots of information about menapause so I think this is very normal but I need to get it checked. Something I am putting off. I have made myself accountable now to go and make an appointment.

Nikki got some bad news yesterday. Her job at Boost was a christmas casual job. She reckons she was told when she went for the interview but she didn't tell me. It was quite a shock. Surely after all the training she has had they could keep her on for 1 shift a week?? They told her they were very impressed with her and they want her to fill in if needed so that's something I guess. She needs to get another job because she has a phone to pay for.

Ashleigh and Jarryd spent a week at Steve's parents in Kadina. Steve's dad hasn't been too good so I think it gave him something else to think about having them there. They didn't take any computers or consoles. Just DVD's and lots of fresh air. Love it!!

Back to school for them all next Monday. I can't believe how quick the holidays have gone. Next ones will coincide with Easter in late April.

It's been an incredible few weeks here in Australia with all the flooding. I have family in Brisbane but no one was affected. A few blogger and facebook friends were in the areas and it would have been just devistating. Now the water is making it's way all the way down to our rivers in S.A. So hopefully by the time it gets here it can do some good instead of the devistation it has caused in so many areas.

My decluttering has continued. My computer has been shutting down and I suspected it was overheating. I had no idea of the crap at the back of the computer desk until I got at the back to clear the area. Years of paperwork and crap that had fallen down the back. I wish I had taken a photo because it was disgusting :( Bad me!! Just one of those jobs you never get to because you can't see it. Anyway it is all cleared and vacuumed. And the computer box cleaned and dusted. Guess what!! No problem since. Touch wood - haha.

My job for this week is to take down the christmas tree!!!

Be back tomorrow with my result.

:)

Weekend Update

You can sort of see what I have done today. Still have to move the bricks but it got too hot.

The house that has sprung up next door. We need higher fences.

Blogger will put these photos where it wants but you can work out the before and after photos.

The concrete is about to be laid for our new room. We don't have that much more to do. Moving pavers and taking down the pergola. The concreter reckons he can get the stump out with his bobcat. I hope it's a big bobcat. If you look at the before photo with the tree still there and the birdcage and the current view, we have come a long way.

Luckily we have a street behind us so the bobcat will have to come through the back fence. That's what I have been doing today. The cubbyhouse used to be in the corner I cleared today and there was a lot of little bits of old toys and rubbish still to remove.

We had a great night last night. A really good friend of mine had a yiros night. Gary buys the yummiest lamb and chicken yiros meat and everyone adds what they want. He made his own tzatziki. Good company and good food. Some of Karen's friends make the best desserts. The choices were pavlova, cheesecake with a hot caramel sauce, a selection of chocolate pieces, my evil bounty balls and a plate of fruit. I had a piece of pav, 3 bounty balls and lots of fresh fruit. Definitely dipped into my weekly points but hey that's what they are for. The kids ranged from 18 - 9. Jarryd was the youngest. Nikki and Karen's son entertained us with guitar and ukeleles. Their house backs onto a creek with lots of ducks. A playground and park so we didn't see much of the kids.

I am off for a walk with Martine and Sandy tonight along the beach. Unfortunately the 4th member of our ww group Tania couldn't make it. It will be a lovely night for a walk. Something I still am not doing enough of. The paper run starts again Wednesday night so I will be back into it again.

So Tuesday night will be interesting. I can honestly say I have tracked all week. I have used maybe 1/2 of my weekly points but I didn't track them because most of them were used last night while I was out. Not sure how to point bounty balls!!

Hope your sunday is a good one. Please leave a comment if you visit. Very few of you do. I would love to see if there are any lurkers out there or just regular readers. I always wonder if my blog is interesting to read but I know there are lots of different readers from around the world because of the location tracker.

On Track and Feeling Great

Dare I say, I am loving being back at work. I'm drinking water, tracking because I am on the computer all day with my job, and feeling the support from everyone.

I went to my meeting for the first time in 2 weeks, since the Tuesday before xmas and have gained 800g. I deserved the gain, I had a good time with food over xmas and now it is over and it is time to get serious again. I think there were a few of us that gained over christmas at our meeting and 3 out of 4 of us that go together had a gain so it sure is a hard time of year to stay on track.

Work is crazy. We only have a few back this week and it is soooo busy but that's what I thrive on. The time goes quick and I don't have time to think about food. I've been taking cut up rockmelon and watermelon the last 2 days and by eating more fruit, I have noticed I'm definitely not so hungry.

I like these short weeks. Thursday already tomorrow and before we know it will be the weekend again. Not a lot planned this weekend. We have been invited to a friends for a yiros night which should be good.

My heart goes out to all the people in Queensland affected by these devistating floods. I really can't remember seeing floods that bad anywhere before. We travelled through a lot of these areas a few years ago and it is such a beautiful part of Australia. These communites are strong though and will come through this.

It looks like the ww forums have settled down and the bullyers have been kicked out. I don't belong to too many online communities but have been shocked by the crap that was coming out of those 2 peoples mouths on the weekend. There is no justification to be calling people who have a lot of weight to lose the names that we were subjected to. Has anyone ever experienced this on any other forums or are we just soft targets because we are overweight. Well like someone said, the best revenge is to get to goal and become healthy which a lot of us are well on the way to doing.

Full of Inspiration

Beautiful Glenelg. Wish I had got further down to take some photos of the beach.

After yesterdays debarcle on the weight watchers forums I realised how much wonderful support I have on this hard, long journey of weight loss. Yes there are always going to be people that just want to stir and name call but for every one of them, there are 10 times the amount of lovely people who just want to get support and help like I do. Enough said on that subject!!!

With that in mind I am even more determined to get this weight off this year. I am still over 15 kgs lighter than I was 2 years ago but it should have been a lot more. I know Tania will be yelling at me on this comment because I could have put all the weight back on but I still feel so much frustration that I could be nearly to goal by now.

I had a lovely day today. Nikki and I met some friends at Glenelg for coffee and a walk around the shops. As usual I am counting the $$ especially after christmas but money burns a whole in Nikki's pockets. Now that she is earning her own money, she has become a spendaholic and why not!! She bought a long jumpsuit for $15 from Ice and although it is a little big on her, it is her all over.

I had to laugh when I checked my comments from my last post. Sammy told me to go and cut up some fruit which I said I had been too lazy to do. But guess what Sammy???

I had already been to the shop and bought some watermelon and rockmelon and cut it all up before I saw your comment. Mind you I spent $10 of the fruit and that is all I bought. Fruit and veges have gone up so much and it is only going to get worse with all the flooding in Qld. I'm sure we grow watermelon here in SA so why is it $4.00 per kg when it's usually $1 - $2 per kg?? I really need to get off my butt and go to the local markets on a sunday morning.

Anyway better get off this computer and go and make tea. The maid and the chef didn't turn up today - LOL!!! Then we are off for another walk to the beach after tea to make the most of this glorious weather.

I NEED Routine

I have come to the conclusion that I need a strict routine. When it comes to eating anyway. I find myself so often picking at easy, convenient food. Food that comes out of a wrapper that I don't have to prepare. That is just lazy. Fruit is free on this new plan so I should have cut up fruit in the fridge all the time. But I am on holidays and I am lazy.

So even though I am going back to work on Tuesday, I am glad for the routine starting up again for me. I drink lots of water at work, I am too busy to mindless eat and I am happier.

The paper run has stopped for a few weeks and I am not even exercising. How lazy is that!!!

So I am going for a walk later and will take some photos to prove it. The weather is perfect and I live 10 mins from the beach so there is no excuses really. I haven't even been tracking and still I get on the scales every morning and expect a loss. In fact what I saw this morning was an even bigger gain than 3 days ago. So Christmas and New Year are over. The party is over and I need to get back on track. Tracking, drinking water and a bit of walking.

Later...........

Well I did go for a walk after tea and took the camera and then forgot to take photos - LOL!!
I had forgotten how nice it is down there. Ashleigh rode her ripstick and Jarryd rode his bike. Got to see the sun set and I promised myself I will walk down there at least twice a week.

I managed to get involved in some crap on the weight watchers forums today. I just can't believe how much trouble some people are out to cause. From asking an innocent question to a person that has been causing trouble for months to being abused was just incredible. Unfortunately these people cause trouble on weekends and the moderators aren't around to ban them. I shouldn't have bought into it but it made me so angry. Anyway it made me realise how much support I have on there as well because I got some lovely messages from a lot of lovely people.

Anyway points have been spot on today and I have tracked and exercised so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Night all xx