Happy Birthday

Well it's almost my birthday. Tomorrow I'll have to update my "About Me" bit and say I'm 45. I have been putting off having this birthday, as you do!!! Before I reached 40 I freaked about that and of course as soon as I reached it I realised that yes, it is just a number and I felt exactly the same. The next 4 birthdays were just fine, I just didn't care and I genuinely used to "forget" my age. I'd often say I was 44 when I was actually 42. I just didn't think it an issue until the last couple of months when I've made a big deal about still being 44- not yet 45. Totally silly but I really felt once I get to 45, I'll be closer to 50. I know that in fact it just doesn't matter but it has been bothering me, silly or not. I think it's because I'm so aware of how healthy I am right now and I just want to make the most of it. I've wasted so much of the last 20 years when I have been so unhealthy and haven't been able to really enjoy a lot of things. That's not to say being slim and healthy makes you happy. In fact when I was at my slimmest 7 years ago I actually had a breakdown and went through a terrible time in my life. I just mean that if everything else is OK it is so much better being happier with our size and appearance. I am very conscious that I've been given yet another chance at this "healthy" life stuff and I really want to make the most of it while my body is able and willing. I am very lucky that I don't have any issues with body pain or injuries to impede me. A good friend of mine that is 10 years older has always been so active but she has had lots of niggling things in the last year or so which have really impaired her. I know that won't necessarily happen to me and that there are lot's of people enjoying exercise in their 70's and 80's and sure hope that that can be me. I know I love food so much, I would find it so hard to keep my weight under control if I couldn't walk etc. Anyhow I'm 45 tomorrow and I'm happy, healthy and at goal weight so what more could I ask!!

I had a small party at home last night to mark the occasion - I thought I should do something seeing it was such a big thing in my head! DH couldn't work out what the big deal was but as long as I organised it, that was fine by him. I had a lovely night with about 20 friends and got some lovely pressies, just love pressies!! Of couse I prepared much too much food. I had asked people to bring drinks but said I would put on supper. I always over-cater but last night was crazy, heaps of food left over. You'ld thing everyone was on WW's or something! It's funny though, I am very consious of eating in front of other people especially when it's grazing type food. I had not eaten dinner and had been very good all day so it was fine for me to eat what I wanted last night, especially cos it was my party!! I was hungry and I did nibble a lot but I was aware if anyone was watching me I had to give them the explanation that it was my dinner! Does anyone else do this? Will I ever get over thinking that people are watching whatever goes in my mouth and thinking that I am risking putting it all back on again. I know it's very self obsessed and maybe when I do reach 50 I won't be quite so self conscious!!

I will be getting my presents from my boys tomorrow but DH is always happy for me to choose my present(s) from him myself. I am very hard to buy for especially when even the most blatant hints are just not heard in this house. I got a heart rate monitor which I am really enjoying to ensure I am keeping in the 'zone'. I know feeling stuffed should suffice but I like seeing the numbers on the screen - I'm a gadget girl. It's just a basic one so it wasn't too expensive. I also got my nails done which is a real biggie for me. I have always been a nail biter but for some reason when I lose weight I usually grow my nails as well! This time I had grown them and they were doing OK until a few months ago when they started breaking a lot. If I took care of them they would be fine but I'm very lazy with that type of thing. Anyhow I've now got acrylic nails with french tips and I love them, really love them. Easily pleased aren't I - shame I'm going to have to keep paying up to keep them looking like this.
I'll leave you with a picture of me blowing out my candles on my birthday cake - yes it's a chocolate mud cake, my favourite. It was yummy and I know cos I had a piece last night and another today!!! Check out the huge cheeks, it looks like I was actually trying to get enough puff to blow out 45 candles not just 9!! Also check out the nails - aren't they great......
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Undo the Button!

Don't you hate that feeling when you sit down after tea and you are so full that you have to undo that button on your trousers!!! That used to happen all the time but until tonight I haven't been that full for a long time. Just goes to show you can't have nibbles while tea's cooking, twice as much dinner as you'd planned and then dessert. Nothing was particularly bad, just much too much and now I'm paying for it. Luckily I've been to curves and had a walk - the pedometer is reading nearly 14,000 so I should be OK.

I have added a section on my side bar for my weight watchers monthly weighin. Last week I was .4 below goal which makes 6 monthly weighs now back at goal so I am very pleased with that. Earlier in the month I was contemplating not bothering because this time I did it without the support of meetings but I realised that knowing I have to be accountable once a month is a big motivation for me.

I had to work very hard for a few days as I have had a few more indulgences than usual. The biggie was a fantastic day out we had with some friends on the long weekend. We live about 20 minutes from one of the main wine growing regions in SA called Mclaren Vale. It is not as well known as the Barossa but it is a beautiful area with many excellent wineries. Each year they have a festival called Sea and Vines where many of the wineries team up with selected restaurants and put on food, wine and entertainment. This was the first time DH & I had been and we were lucky enough to go with very suitable friends . The hubby is a wine buff and his wife doesn't drink so she was happy to drive. We had a really great day. The food was great, wine wonderful and really good entertainment. I had downloaded the menu options before we went and knew there were lots of yummy savoury things but my sweet tooth( I have a really big one!!) was totally tempted by "Billy Bunker and The Chocolate Daiquiri" The ingredients were listed as Frangelico Mousse, Whipped Cream, Grand Marnier Fudge, White Chocolate Shards, Toblerone Chunks, Scorched Almonds and Belgian Chocolate Sauce. Wow, I just knew I had to have that! Luckily it was a fairly small serve as it was very rich. Very yummy but I have to say the anticipation was better than the eating!! Anyhow we had a great day but boy did I pay for it with my tummy the next day. My system certainly isn't used to all that rich food any more.
Although I try and make sure I do exercise each day, I have my big walk I do most Sunday's around the cliffs near our house. It's a great walk with hills and some steps with fantastic scenery to keep me inspired. It usually takes about an hour or so depending on what extra bits I add in. I often do it on my own but if DH is not playing golf he comes with me. We have had a bit of an about turn lately with our walks as he now says I go too fast for him! His legs are much longer than mine so I have always struggled to keep up with him( that's a good thing - makes me work harder) but now I'm going faster than him. I add a few step climbs in and he usually waits for me at the top. On Sunday I got down to the rocks and before I climbed back up I noticed a group of 4 seals lolling in the water. I yelled like mad for DH so he could come down but my voice didn't carry up, so I had to climb to the top and cajole him to come down. It was fantastic sitting on the rocks just watching the seals but then of course we had to climb back up again!! I only had my phone camera so that has no zoom but I thought I would still post the picture. I think it's awesome when we are lucky enough to spot something like this so close to home. Have a great week.....

Bloglines

Just a quick post to rave about bloglines. Briony had mentioned it ages ago to me but when I checked it out it looked too complicated so I didn't bother. After being amazed on Sunday how quickly Briony commented on my new entry after I had been dormant for so long, I thought I would investigate it. I now have it set up and I love it. Thanks Briony :-)

Now - How do I do this blog stuff again??

If there is anyone out there still checking this blog, I'm really sorry for not updating for so long. I won't go into all the excuses but I do know I've been a slack friend. You all inspire me so much and I know if I notice someone not posting it always worries me that something is wrong.

Thanks to Briony and Margaret for their comments recently which were prods to get me started again. Thanks girls for missing me :-)

I have been maintaining which I am very happy with. I still have to monitor every day but as long as I keep up with the exercise and make up for any overindulgences I am doing OK so far. I fluctuate within a couple of kilo's but whenever I see 66 on the scales I try and havc a couple of extra good days to get it back down again. So, so far so good but I am so conscious that I could get complacent like lot's of other previous attempts. I know that's why the blogging is so important - no one understands what we go through like those of us in the same situation.

We had a great time in New Zealand, although it was very unsettling as always when we got home as we miss all the family so much. Maybe if we could win lotto and I knew we could go over every year it wouldn't be so hard to say goodbye!!!!

On a very exciting note, I did manage to get my Robbie Williams tickets to his Adelaide concert on Friday afternoon. Now that was one stressful few hours!!! It was so hard to get on to the Ticketek site and when I eventually did, it kept kicking me off. When I was eventually able to secure tickets, my hands were shaking so much, I had great difficulty keying everything in. As it took so long to get them, although I still got Gold they are not as close as I was hoping for. I'm toying with the idea of trying again on Wednesday when the the next lot go on sale to see if I can get better ones. Hope DH doesn't read this as I think I will be in deep S*** just for thinking about this.!!!!!!!

On a light note, I have found an unexpected inconvenience to being a size 12! My DH is the ironer in our household - I know I'm very lucky - but he does suffer the general male malaise of not really looking at stuff closely. Our youngest DS3 is 12 so of course lot's of his clothes are size 12 too. I just don't get that DH can't tell the difference between my stuff and DS3's just because they both have labels that say "12" in them!!!! My already overcrowded closet keeps getting boy clothes put away in it - gotta love him. I guess I should be glad he doesn't take too much notice of who's wearing what so I can sneak new things in that I, just have to have!!!

Have a great week.

Happy Easter

OK, is this enough to put you off chocolate eggs!!! I did a google search looking for a yummy looking chocolate egg to start my post with and this cartoon was the first hit I got - had to go in instead!!
Thankyou so much for your lovely comments on my “skite” pictures. It’s really great having the on-line support to brag to.
Life got a bit tough in the last couple of weeks with DS1. Without going into the gory details, he has left home again and the rest of us are getting back to normal - whatever that is!!!

I do have exciting news though that I don’t think I’ve mentioned before. On Friday we (DH, DS2, DS3 and me) are going to NZ for Easter – yippee. DH’s Mum is having a big 70th birthday on Sunday, which is the main reason for the trip. We have a large family on DH’s side in Auckland whom we miss so much so we are really looking forward to spending time with them. My boys have 16 cousins over there and I know they will have a ball with them. Poor DH is only going for 5 days, he’s coming back for work on Wednesday. I offered that I would come back and he could stay and I really, really meant it ;-) but he said he needed to come back. I am staying for another 5 days and returning with DS2. He’s in Year 12 this year so he better come home and do some study – yeah right!!! DS3 who turned 12 last weekend gets to stay the full 2 weeks of the school holidays and come home by himself so he is wrapped. In my extra couple of days I am going to stay with my best friend over there and really catch up. It has been over 15 years since we left NZ but her and I are just as close and talk and e-mail lot’s. This will be the first time since I left that we will get to spend ‘quality’ time together so that will be fantastic – can’t wait.

I am a little concerned how I will manage for 10 days with my food choices when we are staying with other people but hopefully I won’t put on too much in that time. My scales have been creeping up just a little in the last week or so. I went to WW for my April weigh on Monday and was actually .2 over goal so I wasn’t impressed. I was determined to be ‘good’ for the 4 days before we leave, to get back to where I was a few weeks ago. DH was reassuring me that I looked just fine and he couldn’t ‘see ‘ the extra kilo or so but I know that if I don’t keep vigilant and get that little bit off, next month it will be another little bit in the wrong direction and as we all know it just keeps on going up!!! It’s been hard being really strict again, after being more relaxed. It does really P*** me off that I can’t even have 3 pieces of Pizza and a small piece of Mud Cake for DS3’s birthday without the scales going the wrong way. On Sunday DH & I had a really strenuous1 ½ hour walk up and down steps along the coast which I felt sure would make up for the indulgence but no it didn’t seem to. I know I’m obsessive with the scales but they really seem to be my key for helping me monitor how I’m going. Anyhow on a positive note, after 2 days of being super careful I’m back to 65 and with 2 more days up my sleeve I should be 64 something when we go.
Now I’ve got the hard part of deciding which of me new slim clothes I get to pack – oh what tough decisions!!!

Congratulations to all the Melbourne bloggers who did the walk/run last Sunday. You all did so well – way to go!!!! It was the Melbourne bloggers talking about their 1000 step trail that inspired me to improvise with our own Adelaide one on Sunday. I used to hate steps and hills but now enjoy the challenge if I’m in the right mood. Some days I can only manage a flat walk!!! I am getting a few odd thoughts lately!!! Well very odd for me – I’m wishing I could run!!!! I love walking but sometimes I wish I could just take off. All I can ever manage is a few hundred yards and then I’m stuffed.!!! I have read a bit about starting off slowly with walk/run intervals so maybe, just maybe I will try that when I come back. I have always said I would never be able to be a jogger but so many of you are doing it so there may be hope for me yet – we will see. It would be easier with a treadmill but I don’t fancy my chances of talking DH into that. I had a treadmill previously but sold it when I lost enthusiasm a couple of years ago. It was electric but didn’t have any programmes or anything. Do many of you use a treadmill? I love my bike but I can’t run on that!!!

Biggest Loser
I am going to miss this while I’m away but I will record it so I can catch up. I know we are coming to the end but exactly when that is I don’t know. I’m having a real love hate with the show. It often drives me crazy but I never miss it! I loved last week when they were at Camp Eden. When Adro was clinging to that tree and Bob was trying to get him to jump was really inspiring. I was getting really excited in my lounge room!! I’m not sure I like the other contestants coming back. It looks like it’s just going to sink to a real catfight, which is not what it’s all about.

My car broke down last night, which wasn’t nice. I am such a girl and do not like any thing going wrong with my car. I’ve had my little Excel since new 8 years ago and she has never given me a spot of bother. I got stuck in a traffic jam with a temperature dial off the scale. Luckily the other traffic let me through to get off the road and the RAA got me going again eventually. Turns out my fan is stuffed and will need replacing. He’s got it going now but I will have to get it fixed when I come back. DH has my car today and I have his. I can’t afford the time today if something goes wrong. I lost a couple of hours yesterday afternoon so I have to catch up today.

I know this has been a long post but as I won’t be around at all for a couple of weeks I wanted to give you something to read!!! If I don’t get a chance to get around to your blogs before I go I will catch up when I come back. Have a great Easter break, enjoy the Hot Cross Buns but before you pop one of those little yummy eggs in your mouth think of the cartoon above!!!!
Added Later
How could I forget to mention this bit?!!! On Sunday it was 12 months since I started this journey again and was "Back On Track" Here's to the next 12 months.......

It’s been a while, I had been blogging most weekends but we went away for the long weekend and this past weekend was full of family drama so no time for the computer. I’ve finished my ‘jobs’ for tonight, my pedometer says 12,121 so I think I can finally fit in a couple of hours to do an update and catch up with some of you.
On the long weekend DH and I flew to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula (still in SA but a long way) to visit good friends of ours that are currently working over there. It was lovely to catch up with them and enjoy a kid free weekend. We were a bit unlucky with the weather as although Saturday was beautiful it poured all day Sunday and we couldn’t get out of the house. I was mortified that I only clocked up 2000 steps for the whole day!! Monday was fine although lot cooler. Our friends took us to some great deserted beaches where we were able to do some snorkelling which I really loved. At one small reef very close to their house we had bread in our fists and the fish were all around us – really awesome. Now for the best bit!!! They had a spare wetsuit which they use for their grandson that they told me to put on. It was too small but with much cajoling I got it done up and it sure did pull everything in very nicely. DH wasn’t impressed that I totally lost my boobs though!! LOL I knew I had a picture at home from my last venture in a wet suit last January at Sea World. At the time I had lost a few kilo’s and thought I looked OK but when I compared the 2 pics the difference was quite noticeable. I have done a poster for my fridge headed up “What a Difference a Year Makes” and both pictures on there. When my Mum saw it yesterday I think she was a little surprised that I was “showing off” again. That’s why I really love blogs; you guys understand how important it is to always be proud and aware of what we have achieved. That’s not to say Mum is not proud of me, she is but I know that know she thinks the jobs done and I don’t have to keep on about it. I know I do and that weekend really highlighted it for me. Staying with someone else for 3 days, I did certainly relax and ate and drank more than normal but I certainly didn’t go crazy and with the exception of the wet Sunday I did a lot of exercise. I felt like I had been in control and after all I had only eaten what my friends had eaten too. Tuesday morning brought a shock when I weighed in 1.5 kilo’s heavier than before I went. What the!!!!
I was very very good last week to get back down again but then I totally blew it on Sunday when I had a major stress with my DS1. Lot’s of wine and handful after handful of nibbles. I knew I was doing it but just couldn’t stop. That hasn’t happened to me for a long time and I think it probably highlighted that I only really got “Back On Track” last year when DS1 had moved out of home and a lot of stresses were removed. Well he’s back for while now so I have to learn to manage things better and not let the stress give me the excuse to lose control.
I love being slimmer and healthier again. I like feeling like I am in control of my body and I know that if I am healthier and happier I will deal with DS1 and the rest of my family better. I’ve kept to one glass of wine and no unplanned nibbles for the last 2 days so I’m doing OK.
I’ll leave you now with my skite piccies – thanks for indulging me :-)



PS. No news on the concert yet but at least I haven't heard that it's someone else at Adelaide Oval on the 9th December!

Please let it be Robbie!!!

In the local Sunday paper yesterday there was a small article about the Adelaide Oval being booked for 9th December for a major concert. As yet the artist has not been announced but I am keeping everything crossed that it is Robbie Williams. I know he has said there will be a tour here later in the year but I didn't dare hope he would actually do an Adelaide gig. When my alarm went off this morning the radio station was speculating about who it could be. They had no idea but then received a number of calls from listeners suggesting that yes it could be Robbie. Oh dear, I don't think I would be the only one at the concert would I!!!! Anyone else heard any rumours in their cities?

It's been a fairly quiet week, everything fine on the food and exercise front so another few hundred grams was lost. Can't complain at that though!!

Katies sent out $20.00 gift vouchers which had to be used up by Sunday so I had to go shopping didn't I. I just love trying on clothes!!! I was very good though. I put the voucher towards a lovely midnight blue pair of cords so I only spent another $20.00. Very clever Katies. Now for the best bit. I saw a really nice skirt in Target, I was just walking past, I just had to see what bargains were on the clearance rail, marked down to $21.00 from $50.00, just had to try it on. Took a size 12 and a size 10 in and the 10 fitted me. Wouldn't have mattered what it was then, I had to have it just to look at the label now and then!!! I know I'm crazy with clothes but boy I love it. I've hung the skirt up with the tag on - when I get over the rush I may even take it back and look for the next bargain.

Have a great week and please keep those fingers crossed it is Robbie!!!