I know, I know, I'm a nutter....!!!

Yep, it's true. That phrase reminds me of the ad that used to be on telly when I was younger "I'm an utter peanut butter nutter, from Sanitarium...." Ha ha ha - do you guys remember that? I'll probably be humming that bloody ad all day now :)

Anyway - back to me. Just thought I'd show you something. We had supermarket pizza for tea on Saturday night - nice quick easy weekend meal. Sometimes to get J's attention/enthusiasm going, I'll write something on his plate with the sauce...



I'm not sure that anyone else does this, but by hell it works. On Sunday I wrote the word of the week from school on his plate to see if he recognised it, and he did - hooray! So, yes, I'm a nutter. But, I'm a nutter with good intentions!

Well, that's it from me for now. Oh - weighed in last night.... gained 400gm in the past week, but not too surprised tbh. Couldn't go to the gym Fri/Sat/Sun due to stitches in my eyebrow etc, and I had both butter chicken and hot chips over the weekend. Oops! Made it back to the gym yesterday, and am still on track with my mission. Yesterday was 10 mins on the spin bike, 5 mins on the stepper, and 30 minute circuit at lunchtime, then back after work for a toning class (you know, the one where you have the band tied around your ankles?). Back into it again at lunchtime today, so onwards and upwards I go!

Right - time for me to get out of my dressing gown and get things sorted for the day. Catch ya later.... Toodles, B x

Sliced and Diced, that's me..

Yup, the Plastic Surgeon decided to go ahead and deal to my papilloma's (ie colourless moles) today, seeing as we had made the trip from Timaru to the big smoke, special like (heeheehee).

So now I have about 5 stitches in my eyebrow, and three other open wounds on my head where he removed the growths with a sharp scalpel, levelling them off at scalp level, in the hope that my hair will regrow through the scar tissue, rather than removing all those hair follicles completely.

I was going to get D to take a photo, but he's dozing, so I might try myself and update this post if I manage. My face is a little sore tbh - I was all good until the anaesthetic started to wear off.  And I'm REALLY groggy, although admittedly I have had 10 shots of local anaesthetic placed in/aroun my head today, so I guess that explains it!

Right, I'm going to watch the end of the program I'm watching on telly (Wild at Heart).  At least it's not making me cry like a baby this week - last week they killed off a main character and I cried like a giant sooky sook.  I will attempt the photo and see how I get on.

Catch y'all laters.... Toodles, B x

Updated - photos added - WARNING, NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!....

So I think that he did a nice neat job with my stitches huh?  I get to go to the GP to get them taken out on Wednesday.

Right - I'm orf to bed, I'm knackered.  Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Mission Accomplished (so far anyhoo)

Yup, still going according to plan....  I was at the gym again Monday lunchtime, Tuesday lunchtime, and both lunchtime and this evening.  Tonight I tackled my first Step Class.  Luckily I didn't fare too badly.... I managed to get through the whole 30 minutes without tripping over my own feet once - phew!  I only got a little lost two or three times, so that's not so bad, yeah?

So, there's not a lot else happening around here at the moment - I haven't the time!  Oh, weigh in on Monday was disappointing - only lost 200gm after all my hard work, bummer.  According to both the Trainer at the gym, and my doctor, it is perfectly normal to not lose much as you are toning up, so I guess that's ok.  The good news is that at my check-up Dr Rob said my blood pressure was the lowest it's ever been... 128/78.  Fantastic!

The rest of this week is going to go quick - I have Friday off work to go see a Plastic Surgeon in Christchurch about getting some mole-type growths removed from my face and scalp.  Saturday I have group personal training session number two to go to, and Sunday I'm off to Ashburton to visit a friend and attend her Stampin Up party - cool.

Has anyone sorted out what they're doing at camp at the end of the month?  I had intended to have a few pages planned in my head by now so that I could make sure I had all the right photos printed etc, but I haven't managed to get to that point yet..... maybe next week!!!!!  Ha ha ha.

Righto - I'm orf....  Toodles, B x

The Meaning of Tired...

You know how sometimes you might say to someone 'Man, I'm tired'...?  Well, in the past when I have said that, I've TOTALLY been lying.  Seriously.  NOW I'm tired.  I know it's a good tired, really, but shit I'm knackered!  

Since Thursday I have been on track with my 30 Day Mission - Friday night I completed 10 minutes on a spin bike, adjusting the level up each 30 seconds until I got to level 5, then dropping back to level 1 to repeat the 30 second progression until I got to 10 minutes on the clock.  Then I followed that with 5 minutes on the step machine, then 30 minutes on the machine circuit.

Saturday morning I did another Swiss Ball class, then spent an hour and a half helping to move 5 trailer loads of wood once we had split it with the log splitter.  Today I did a 30 minute circuit challenge - kinda like a cross between doing an ordinary round of the machines and a personal training session using other gym equipment - medicine ball, skipping rope, weights etc.  

So.  Like I said, I'm tired!  To be honest, my biggest gripe at the moment is the fact that I have trouble lifting my arms above my head - thanks to playing with hand weights during the swiss ball class, and lifting 4kg on a weight bar during the circuit challenge.  For a mere pen-pusher like me, that's hard work!!! Ha ha ha.

My friend Heather has now been told that she will be stuck in the Maternity Ward until bubs arrives.  I don't reckon it'll be too long... and I'm sure that she hopes it won't be too long either!  Fingers crossed.

Right - am not going to be on the 'puter for long tonight - Grey's Anatomy is back - YEAH!  I am off to watch...

Toodles, B x

The Takealong Tote! LOVE IT!

Here's my first attempt at the Takealong Tote templates that I downloaded this week off the net.

It's SO quick and too cute for words! You can put the pockets on the inside, outside, or both; and the inside is just the right size for a DVD case, so imagine a DVD inside, and microwave popcorn/lollies etc in the pockets - what a cool pressie idea. I plan to try that one out VERY soon :) This one has some hot chocolates, mini marshmallows, and a small block of chocolate inside. I plan to give it to Heather, as she found out today that she will be in Jean Todd Maternity Ward until bubs arrives, whenever that may be. Poor thing. She's not due until the 23rd, but I reckon bubs will arrive before then... well I hope so anyway :)

Right - I need to make a Valentine's card for D, and then get ready to meet Ma at the gym by quarter to five, so time to move it!

Toodles, B x

Surviving School, Bacon & Egg Pie, and a Mission...

Yup, we're still here, just been a bit pre-occupied, is all :) Thus far, we are surviving the 'starting school' thing. J loves Mrs Woods. This week the letter of the week is 'C', so he took her a couple of chocolate chip cookies for her morning tea! Awwww. Strangely tho he doesn't like to actually admit that school is not that bad.  If you ask him if he likes something, or if he's had fun doing something, at the moment he always has a negative answer, no matter what.  Weird.  We know that he likes school, but he just won't admit it!  Funny little dude.

And yes, if you had smell-o-vision on your computer, you would be able to smell what I can smell while I am typing - a Bacon & Egg Pie happily baking in the oven for D's lunch tomorrow.  Mmm mmm.  Bummer I can't eat it, it smells SO good.  

I am on a bit of a 'try-and-make-better-food-choices' kick at the moment.  I am back counting my Weight Watchers points and weighing in once a week with some friends who are also trying to be good.  

To be successful, one must first be honest about one's predicament.  I needed to lose 27kg to get to my original WW goal.  Over the last two weeks I have lost 700gm and 1.6kg respectively.  I plan to confess/brag about any future gains or losses in the hope that being a bit more open might help to keep me on track.  Having said that, the Scrap Camp at Raincliff at the end of this month will be the exception to my 'only eat totally healthy food all the time' rule!  You can't go to camp and not eat chocolate, and I certainly can't scrap until 3am without my trusty Kahlua and Coke Zero!  Oh well, ya can't be all good all of the time, right?

The other thing I have done in my infinite wisdom, is sign up for a 30 Day Mission at the gym (Timaru Woman - a totally fantastic gym).  To be fair, I didn't quite know what I was signing up for, and kinda got all caught up in the moment.  As you do.  What it boils down to is that I have three group personal training sessions to attend (the first of which nearly killed me, but more on that in a minute), and 42 assigned tasks to complete within 28 days (so not sure why it's a 30 day mission, but whatever!).  Tasks involve a minimum of 20 mins, but mostly 30 mins of either cardio, gym classes or machine circuits, and have very specific instructions, thereby teaching us different ways to utilise the gym to alleviate boredom while working out.  Don't know about you lot but now that I have been going for just over 6 months, I get there and do THE SAME THING pretty much every time.  Same old warm up.  Same old machine circuit.  Same old cool down.  Same lovely shower with the gas hot water and the massage head (teehee!).  So learning how to use more stuff and to kinda change up my routines is going to be great, but they weren't kidding when they called it a mission!

Now, the personal training session.... The eight of us that signed up had to meet at the gym on Monday night to find out what our mission was.  Ha ha ha, that sounded a little like Mission Impossible huh?  This message will self destruct in 30 seconds, BOOM!  Ha ha ha.  Anyhoo, distractions aside.... Janelle handed out the mission list, let us have a read and then said 'righto, lets head outside'.  We all pretty much looked at each other like 'ya what?'.  And so it began.  We walked into town to the top of the Piazza (which for those of you unfamiliar with Timaru is a giant set of stairs from the street down to the rose gardens at beach level - see photo below).

She set us off running down the Port Loop Road, and asked us to meet her at the bottom of the Piazza stairs.  Uh-oh.  The next HOUR was spent doing various relays and shuttle runs up and down the Piazza, completing other tasks while we waited to be 'tagged'.  Other tasks being squat passes with a 3kg medicine ball, prone holds (the position you hold at the bottom of a push up) until my muscles shook, tricep dips on the bench seats, etc etc etc.  Ya get the picture? I worked real hard, I really did.  I felt freakin fantastic when I came home, but pretty much had a shower and lay near comatose in my lazyboy until it was time for bed.  The next morning was quite another kettle of fish.  OUCH!  Musta done some good, cos by hell it hurt!  Today (being Thursday) I finally have the use of my legs back without wincing when walking down stairs!  Ha ha ha.  

Oh well, all for a good cause eh?  Today I managed a 30 minute machine circuit and a Swiss Ball class.  Mission accomplished, for today.  All going according to plan, by the time my birthday rolls round I'll be ready to go on a new clothing shopping spree.  Donations to my shopping spree fund gratefully accepted!  Ha ha ha ha ha.

Right.  I have a zillion blogs typed by other people to have a looksie at, so I'm off.

Toodles, B x

Awww, he's all grown up!!!

Yes, incredibly, we've managed to get Jacob to the point of starting school without too many dilemmas along the way - yay him, yay us!  Being the good scrapbooking mother that I am OF COURSE I took the obligatory 'first-day-of-school' photos!!!  See?

These were actually taken at about half past seven in the morning, before he'd even had breakfast, and before the nerves had time to kick in!  Ya gotta make the most of the opportunities ya get, right?  Right!    

Anyhoo, Jake was incredibly nervous that first morning, and told us he thought he'd never make any new friends, and he didn't know who he was going to eat lunch with, or play with, or... the list went on and on and on and on and on and on...

He was positively pumped with excitement and stories when I picked him up at 2pm though (phew) - he made two new friends, Zac and Noah, and his teacher Mrs Wood 'is real nice Mum' (how cute is that?!)

However, at some stage, as it always does, the shit doth hit the fan.... after explaining to me and Nana and Granny all about how school was, by the time Daddy got home and said "Hey Bud, how was school?" he SO did not want to talk about it anymore.  Oh dear!  Talk about the crankiest cranky thing :(

The next morning wasn't a whole lot better - there were more worries, concerns and problems.  He even wanted to go to daycare!  Ha ha ha!  And I have to say although he was happy when I met him at 2pm, he got cranky even quicker on Tuesday - like before we even got home.  Great!

However.....

He was happier to go to school this morning (Wednesday).  Some of the other kids ride their scooters to class and keep them in a little quiet room off the main classroom for the day (as they are not allowed to play with them in the playground during school time), so we took his scooter in the car, and he scooted from the car into the school grounds and into class!  Somehow, that made his day!  

When I picked him up this afternoon, he scooted happily back out of the school grounds and down the street to the car (which I parked further away to make the scooter trip worthwhile, ha ha ha).  And I have to say that this afternoon at least he was a much happier little man - alright! We might have cracked that nut, thank goodness!  I'm pleased that this weekend is a long weekend - I think he'll need a bit of a rest (and maybe Mum will too, teeheehee!)

Righto, I am knackered from working my butt off at the gym (well attempting to anyway), so I am off to bed.  Nighty night!  Becks