Dead car dinner delivery

I completely failed to actually buy the stuff I needed to cook the meal I had planned for tonight and when Adam asked what we were having for dinner I said all I cared about was not thinking about it. So we ended up getting Indian takeaway. And when Adam went to drive home from picking it up, his car broke down. And he'd left his phone at home. Fortunately the restaurant is within walking distance of our place, so he did the heroic thing and delivered our dinner on foot. I doubt it makes up for the 2 samosas he ate though. He's left the car in the carpark, and seeing as tomorrow is a public holiday we'll deal with it on Tuesday. At least it didn't die before he got home from his sailing course, it would've been so much fun to bundle the kids into my car and drive for 45 minutes to fetch him.

Breakfast
egg and bacon muffin - 4pts
Lunch
Rice paper roll - 1.5pts
4 seed bread roll with ham, cheese, tomato, baby spinach and dijon mustard - 3.5pts
Dinner
Indian takeaway (including a samosa at 4.5pts) - 16.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
banana mountain bread wrap - 2pts
Water
2.5L+
Exercise
30min walking with the kids - 2 bonus points
30min resistance workout - 2.5 bonus points
Total points for the day: 28.5 (used 3.5 bonus points)

I really shouldn't have had the samosa.

Yoda's weekly challenge - week 5
My challenge to myself for next week is to keep my computer time each day to less than 4 hours and to be in bed by 10pm each night.

Quick! Look over there!

While I quickly document the stuff-up that was Friday...

Wait a minute, you're still here. Never mind I'll leave the confession till the end of the post. Perhaps you'll be bored by then and won't bother reading it, she says assuming that anyone bothers reading any of the food diaries...interesting question - does anyone read them?

So, today, better than average, expensive though. Why am I such a sucker for indulging my kids when they so don't need any more STUFF!? Caitlin got her ears pierced (that was planned - early birthday present type thing). Then we had gelato...it was necessary, really. Next was buying a birthday present for one of Caitlin's friends. Then I was planning on grabbing some groceries and heading home for lunch. So someone explain to me how I ended up not only buying the birthday present in question but also: putting on lay-by a huge lego set for Santa to bring David (had to be sneaky about that one so Tom wouldn't notice); buying a Smiggle eraser (for Tom) and gel pen set (for Caitlin) that neither of them needed; agreeing to a free model painting lesson at Games Workshop (Tom painted Gandalf and Dave painted Gimli) and getting slowly worn down by the fact that both the boys had so much fun doing the painting and then joining in one of the games that was running at the time, such that by the end of the exercise I was walking out of the place having spent a ludicrous sum of money on small plastic figurines and painting supplies; and then finally canceling a lay-by at another shop and letting Caitlin spend the non-refundable deposit on yet more stuff we don't need.

On the up-side Caitlin declared to me today that I am the best mum ever. And I don't think it was ONLY her mercenary streak speaking....

The boys just squabbled over the miniatures.

Bored yet? Here's Friday's food diary.
Brunch
Smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, spinach and capers on an english muffin - 9pts
Dinner
Sushi and sashimi - 6pts
BBQ chicken and greek salad - 10pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
Muffin Break WW muffin - 3.5pts
McDonalds chip stolen from kids - 1pt
rice crackers and french onion dip - 10pts
low fat brownies - 6pts
bread roll with butter and vegemite - 3.5pts
Hot chocolate milk - 4pts
Water
no idea, plenty though
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 54

Holy crap. Bad day.

Today on the other hand? Back on track and doing fine :) I'm not sure if this is the first time I've managed to come back from a full-blown binge and be back on track the very next day, I suspect it may be, anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about it!

Breakfast
weetbix, two fruits and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Pasta in tomato and herb sauce, low-fat roast potato, greek salad and a small piece of garlic bread - 9pts
Dinner
Crumbed fish, homemade wedges, peas carrots and tartare sauce - 8pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
low-fat brownie - 2pts
mango gelato - 1.5pts
Water
~2L
Exercise
Lots of walking at the shops
Total points for the day: 22.5

Yikes! I just remember the cats are still outside and have probably given up on dinner and gone for decimating the wildlife instead - bye!

Huntsman season is upon us.

Adam and the kids were in the lounge room watching The Two Towers tonight while I hid in the study. There comes a call summoning me, daddy is no good, this is a job for mum. What job would that be I hear you ask? Huntsman spider removal of course. Adam does cockroaches, I do the spiders in this family. And here comes the good part, I now know I'm a real blogger because I made Adam get the camera and document the event.

First huntsman of the season

Aside from pest control duties, today I have bought birthday presents for Caitlin and Tom, booked Caitlin in to have her ears pierced (much to her surprise, I'd been giving the impression I was going to make her wait till she was 16) and got my hair cut and coloured. It's shorter than it's been in a while, the colour is burgundy with blonde foils.

New Hair

I seem to have broken the kids, David has blisters and Tom was in tears with leg cramps at school yesterday, so I thought better of making them walk to school this morning and it turns out I must have needed a break too because I haven't done the resistance workout or the treadmill walking instead of the walk to school that I intended to do today. Which is fine, I'll get back into it tomorrow.

Wednesday
Breakfast
baked beans with onion and bacon on toast - 5pts
Lunch
Lamb casserole with couscous - 6pts
Dinner
Peppercorn meat company italian sausages, jacket potato with sour cream, corn on the cob, broccoli and carrots - 6.5pts
Strawberries & banana with natural yoghurt & maple syrup - 2.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
low-fat brownie - 2pts
chai tea with honey - 2pts
Water
2.75L
Exercise
60 minutes walk - 5.5 bonus points
Total points for the day: 25

Thursday
Breakfast
weetbix, peaches and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Sushi and rice paper roll - 7pts
Dinner
Lamb mango curry with snow peas, carrots and capsicum, rice and mango chutney - 12pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pt
pretzels - 0.5pts
miso soup - 0.5pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
Water
2L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 25.5 (used my saved half point from Tuesday)

"Stop putting life on hold"

I'm grappling with a certain degree of cognitive dissonance about what I'm doing here. I've been reading some stuff on the Fat Acceptance movement, mostly at Shapely Prose and various feminist sites. The idea that no-one should be judged or limited by society due to their physical characteristics has a very strong appeal, also the idea that you should learn to love yourself as you are. I'm more ambivalent about the idea that wanting to make changes to your physical form is by definition not legitimate. Apparently it's ok to want to be fitter and healthier and to experience weight loss as a surprising side effect of working towards those goals but the desire to lose weight as a primary aim is seen as foolish at best. I tend to think about what I'm doing more in terms of fitter and healthier but I'm very much using the numbers on the scale as a measure of how I'm progressing. Maybe I ought to focus more on what I can achieve in terms of fitness as a balance to that. But if I don't like the size I am for reasons that are more to do with what my body can or more importantly can't do than how I look and I make a decision to do something about that, is there really anything wrong with that?

I'm not about to throw in the towel and declare myself to be happy with the way I am primarily because there ARE things I want to do that I currently can't - swim 1km in 30 minutes as I could back in high school, ride a horse without worrying about doing an injury to the poor thing's back, go bushwalking and enjoy it, be comfortable in my mum's kayak and go river exploring with her, be able to at least consider adventure caving as a possible recreation (would I really want to do that? Not sure. But I'd like it to be an option), ice-skate without being crippled by the pressure on the bottoms of my feet, be able to contemplate climbing a mountain with something other than horror in my mind lol.

All these things are about what my body can do, not what it looks like. Do I like the way I look? Sometimes. I think I'm a reasonably attractive person, Adam seems to think so too ;-) The thing that bugs me most is probably my skin, I get break-outs much more often that I'd like. That seems to improve quite a bit when I'm eating healthy. My energy levels improve. My mood improves. I like the way I feel when I'm eating right and exercising. And it's nice to see my body changing shape too. How important to me is it to reach the magic number designated "at goal" by WW? I have no idea. Really. For all I know I might reach a point where I can do all the things I want to, where my blood pressure, cholesterol readings, blood sugar readings and what ever other numbers are relevant aside from my BMI are all within the healthy range and find I'm perfectly happy with that state of affairs. I guess we'll wait and see.

Meanwhile I try not to let how I look dictate what I do (my physical limitations are another matter, here I'm talking about me vs. the public gaze). I made a conscious decision years ago that my feelings of discomfort would not stop me from doing with my kids all the things we should be doing together as a family. So I decided I would go places with them, swim at public pools and at beaches, run around helping with soccer coaching (that one only lasted as long as David's interest in soccer). And then I started doing stuff for myself. I wear sleeveless tops so I can be out when it's hot without expiring. I bought clothes using the primary criteria of comfort rather than to hide my body. I went out on a limb and met people I knew from the net. I stood up in front of a theatre full of strangers and led a sing-a-long. I ended up on film doing the same (it's in the Sydney Q&A bonus feature on the Serenity DVD) and when I watch that I DON'T cringe, laugh at the geekiness yes but the physical me? that I'm ok with.

So this video posted on You Tube (A Fat Rant by Joy Nash) makes me cheer and makes me uncomfortable at the same time. Go watch it, she has some important things to say.

The statistics about dieting are not new to me. I've been aware of them for a long time and I wonder if I'm kidding myself that somehow I'm doing things differently this time so they don't apply. I say that I'm using WW as a tool to help me develop healthy eating and exercise habits as an end in themselves but I haven't yet discovered how I will feel should I find myself eating healthily and exercising well but no longer losing weight. I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of anything at the moment. I eat food I enjoy and plenty of it. My diet is balanced and I'm able to indulge in appropriate ways (ie NOT uncontrolled binge eating, which never feels good even in the short term and is therefore not something to bemoan the loss of). I know that obsessively counting points is not a practical way of dealing with food for the long term, I want to switch to the Core program at some point and learn to listen to the real needs of my body (intuitive eating I believe it's called). I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to try that again, it was not an entirely successful experiment the first time I gave it a go. Or maybe the points counting will become internalised so that I don't have to think about it.

I posted a bit of a rant myself recently on the Weight Watchers 30+ to lose message board, thought I'd re-post it here too. It was in response to parts of a discussion about embarrassing "fat" experiences. Here it is:

You know what? Those times when people say nasty things to us? They don't happen *because* we're fat, they happen *because* people are ill-mannered, insensitive, thoughtless jerks who should have been taught better. And when I say taught I mean not only by parents but also by society. It's not ok to demean any person because of their physical characteristics and being large should be no exception. The shame that society inflicts on us only makes it that much harder to deal with the challenges we face, it serves no useful purpose. We're quite capable of being unhappy about our size, about clothes that don't fit - or self-destruct (split trouser seams anyone?), about being unable to do certain things and so on with out anyone else's help.

There's not much you can do about the drive-by yelling, but I reckon if you encounter such rudeness in a one-on-one situation then you have every right and perhaps even an obligation (should you feel up to it) to point out the inappropriateness of the way you were spoken to.

If a sales assistant as a first approach takes it upon themselves to tell you they don't carry your size, call them on it, suggest it might be more helpful just to ask if they can help - for all they know you might be shopping for a gift for some-one else.

With young children I find it helps to be calm and matter of fact about yourself. When kindy kids in my kids' school make comments (and it usually is the little ones) I try to respond by saying "yes, I am big, it's because I didn't eat healthily or exercise enough but I'm trying to do both now and I'm getting smaller" ( I do confess to once snapping back with "congratulations, you have excellent powers of observation" but I plead extreme tiredness as an excuse). I think by responding as though it's not an insult but merely a statement of fact (which it often is if they're very young) tends to take the sting out of the exchange.

But most importantly, we have to accept ourselves as we are and be realistic about our physical limitations. It's not like we can hide our size from the world by avoiding acknowledging it ourselves. Isn't it better to smile at the air-line attendant as you board and say "I think I might need a seat belt extension" rather than struggle and have to give in to something you were trying to avoid? (I did this in January and was pleasantly surprised to find I didn't need one at all, but because I'd already mentioned it the attendant discretely came and checked how I was going without another word having to be said - still couldn't get the seat tray down though). Be open about the risk of not fitting into seats on amusement park rides, if you're feeling lucky smile and say, "I'll give it a go and if I don't fit then no harm done, next time I will". Go swimming and be proud that you're being active rather than embarrassed about your size - board shorts are the best thing ever ;-) We have just as much right as any other person to participate in life, we shouldn't let anything stop us from exercising that right!

I'm not sure if there's any coherent point in all that, make of it what you will.

My treadmill is trying to escape

As I walk it creeps backwards because the floor is slightly uneven. Tonight it added to its repertoire by taking a turn to the left and attempting to break out through the back door. I'm not sure what to do about this as it's bound to get worse as I start walking faster, using the incline more and who knows maybe even running eventually. Maybe we need to chain it to the wall or something. I have visions of it as a pathetic tormented figure struggling in vain to break free from oppression, either that or it figures as an instrument of torture, take your pick....

Breakfast
egg and bacon muffin - 4.5pts
Lunch
Tom yum soup with tuna, mushrooms and shallots - 4pts
Dinner
Proscuitto wrapped pork fillet baked on a bed of red onion and apples served over baby spinach and accompanied by mashed potato, mashed sweet potato with nutmeg and steamed asparagus. Then banana and papaya with natural yoghurt for dessert - 11.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
water crackers and cheese - 2.5pts
dried cranberries - 1pt
Water
3L
Exercise
30 minutes 2.6km on treadmill, 20 minutes upper body workout - 4 bonus points
Total points for the day: 24.5

Weigh-in week 6

This morning I decided that this was the week to switch to summer shoes AND to eat breakfast before going to my meeting. So with sandals on my feet and an egg and bacon muffin and cuppa tea in my tummy off I went. AND I WEIGHED IN 2.5KG DOWN!!

*ahem*

Total lost is now 8.2kg and my jeans keep falling down :)

First, find the DVD...

It took me nearly 45 minutes to find the bloody DVD for the resistance workout I'd planned to do today, I found several other long-missing objects in the process, and in the end it was Adam who found it - in a pile of stuff I'd only gone through twice. Then I did the workout and some extra sit-ups and reverse crunches too :D Walking the kids to school went well, David and Tom were only pissed off at me for the first 5 or so minutes.

I went out for lunch with Jen today, we were supposed to be going to a Japanese place and having sushi, but when we got there the restaurant was gone! So we went to Blue Water Grill instead. The menu there is a mine-field of deliciously tempting evil food, I went with a grilled barramundi burger and Jen stole half my wedges so it was all good in the end (actually it was pretty good at the time too, seriously yummy food that place has).

Breakfast
weetbix, apricots and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Fish burger and wedges - 12.5pts
Dinner
Spiral pasta bolognese + parmesan; tomato, basil and bocconcini salad; green salad with avocado; olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing - 7.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
1/2 slice of fruit toast - 1.5pts
Water
~2L
Exercise
40 minutes walk, 30 minutes resistance workout - 5.5 bonus points
Total points for the day: 25.5

Exercise Challenge

Ok, here's my version of this coming week's Yodaobi's Whacky Weekly Challenge. I'm not up to doing a virtual climb of the Skytower (don't ask, it's in New Zealand somewhere...) so I'm setting myself the more realistic challenge of coming up with an exercise plan and, you know, actually doing it.

Monday
Walk kids to school in the morning - 40min
WW Move DVD workout plus extra abs in the afternoon - 30min
Tuesday
Upper body weights in the morning - 20min
Walk on treadmill in afternoon/evening - 40min
Wednesday
Walk kids to school in the morning, take long way home - 60min
Thursday
Walk kids to school in the morning - 40min
WW Move DVD workout plus extra abs in the afternoon - 30min
Friday
Lower body weights in the morning - 20min
WW Move DVD workout plus extra abs in the afternoon - 30min
Saturday
Walk with kids to the park and play basketball - 30min + until we get sick of it!
Abs in the evening - 15min
Sunday
Upper and lower body weights in the morning - 60min
Walk on the treadmill in the afternoon/evening - 40min

Alright, it's on the ambitious side, but I figure why aim low? I won't be devastated if I don't manage it all, but you never know till you try! If the weather decides to be unhelpful with all the walks with the kids I'll do my best to replace them with treadmill walks.

WWC Wk3 Day7
2 serve of fruit and 5 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, peaches and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Toasted sandwich with tomato and onion flavoured tuna, capers, mushrooms and cheese - 5.5pts
Vegetable and barley soup - 1pt
Dinner
Fillet steak, haloumi cheese and avocado salad - 5.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
banana and mountain bread wrap - 2pts
rice paper rolls - 4.5pts
2 Allens snakes - 1.5pts
Water
2.25L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23.5

Bit better on the food front today. I had major cravings for double chocolate fudge brownies this afternoon while I was at the shops. I bought rice paper rolls instead, not quite the same I have to say LOL.

No comment.

WWC Wk3 Day6
1 serve of fruit and 3 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, 2 fruits and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Small serve of low-fat neapolitan pasta, baked new potatoes, greek salad and a slice of chicken and mushroom pizza - 9pts
Dinner
Combination long soup, 1 spring roll, plus a little bit of salt & pepper squid and mongolian lamb - 13pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
small cappucino - 1pt
Water
1L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 26.5

hrmmmm.

It's been a long week...

TGIF! It's still Friday as far as I'm concerned, after all it can't be tomorrow yet, I haven't been to sleep!

The Whitlams playing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was fabulous, I've had a lovely night listening to some great music and drinking way too much coffee. See, we got there early and had to fill in time and then afterwards we really did have to have coffee and dessert with Di and Brendan, so it couldn't be helped!

I am so in for a major coffee withdrawal headache in the near future, I've had at least one every day this week and my usual intake is more in the order of one or two a week.

The night out has done me good, I'm feeling much more relaxed and can almost imagine liking the kids again :P We have two birthday parties to shop for tomorrow so if I survive that I'll be doing very well indeed. Wish me luck...

WWC Wk3 Day5
2 serves of fruit and 5 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, apricots and milk - 3pts
Lunch
Baked beans (a whole big tin) and 2 slices of toast and vegetable & barley soup - 8pts
Dinner
Wholemeal lebanese bread pizza with onion, mushroom, capsicum, fresh basil, marinara mix and baby bocconcini and salad with low-fat caesar dressing - 7.5pts
Snacks
banana and mountain bread wrap - 2pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
small f/c flat white with 2 sugars - 2.5pts
1 slice italian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip - 5.5pts
olives - 0.5pts
long black with 2 sugars - 0.5pts
1/2 serve chocolate meringue torte - 6pts
Water
1.5L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 36.5
Okaaay, I'm allowed 25 points, so that's 11.5 over, but I had 6.5 saved points up my sleeve so I'm 5 points in debt with 3 days to catch up - no problem :) I had serious comfort food cravings at lunch time, hence the whole tin of baked beans thing. What? Don't look at me like that, I happen to have a cast iron digestive system and I LIKE baked beans. So there :P The points for the torte is a total guess based on average points values for serves of various cakes in the Eating Out guide and I only ate half 'cause it wasn't that great and I'm blowed if I'll waste points on something that isn't the best.

Let's play traumatise the kids!

I lost it tonight, in a loud and unreasonable manner, much yelling, sarcasm and hyperbole about just how hideous they all are. I need a holiday :( Later, as I was putting them to bed they each apologised for their behaviour and we promised each other to make tomorrow a better day. I think I'd better say sorry for my part in it in the morning. I hate that I don't seem to have enough emotional energy to keep my focus on the WW stuff and still have enough left over for the family, of course being sick and Adam being away hasn't helped this week but even so, I should be able to do better than this.

Edited to add: It would seem my kids are not all that unusual, Mir has clones of them

Stuff that made me smile today:
1. Jen was at ezy-dvd yesterday and emailed me to say "got chatting to the guy there when I saw they had these cool Stargate mouse mats to go with S10 (Ben!!!). Explained that I was borrowing the whole series from you so he gave me two of them - one for me and one for "my nice friend"!" So now I have an SG-1 mousepad.
2. I was in Bunnings this morning buying plastic sheeting to line shelves in the uniform shop and found myself standing in the line for the checkouts behind one of the mums from school. She says to me "I like your t-shirt". This was significant because I was wearing the caffeine t-shirt from ThinkGeek and that's the first time some-one from my non-net life has understood what it was without me explaining.
3. Adam came home and told me about the presentation he did on Wednesday. Apparently it was very well received...he dressed up as a pirate and told everyone they could ask questions at any time during the talk on one condition, they had to do so in pirate speak :D

WWC Wk3 Day4
3 serves of fruit and 6 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
weetbix, peaches and milk - 3pts
Lunch
2 slices wholemeal bread with onion & tomato flavoured tuna, mushrooms, capers and cheese, grilled and vegetable & barley soup - 6 pts
Dinner
veal casserole with onion, tomato, mushrooms and capsicum on fettuccini with steamed asparagus - 5pts
banana and natural yoghurt with maple syrup - 2.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
2 fresh dates - 0.5pts
1 slice think fruit toast - 3pts
Water
2L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23

Note to self:

No matter now many times it is said, or how clearly or with what warnings of dire consequences the kids will NOT take seriously the idea that they should refrain from endless demands to buy things we don't need (or I don't approve of) at the supermarket. *sigh* The fact that they were only with me because it was grandparents day today and I was conned into taking them home with me after lunch - a 1.5hr early mark! - made it all that much more fun. That and the sinus headache which made bending over to put things in the trolley so enjoyable.

In other news, I've instituted a computer and TV ban for a couple of days with a view to doing some fine-tuning on attitude and sibling relationships. The boys have been in constant conflict, I am greeted most mornings by them screaming at each other while I'm in the shower and nearly every interaction between Tom and either of the other two seems to end with Tom in tears. David oscillates unpredictably between being helpful and pleasant or being rude, aggressive and sullen. Caitlin, well, aside from giving me the look of death every time I try to poison her with new food and the whole making Tom cry thing, she's been ok. With any luck they'll be human again by Friday.

WWC Wk3 Day3
Two serves of fruit and 6 of vegetables today.
Breakfast
Egg and bacon muffin - 4.5pts
Lunch
Wholemeal lavash wrap with extra light Philly, smoked salmon, grated carrot, shallots, capers, rocket and baby spinach - 5pts
Banana - 1pt
Dinner
2 Peppercorn meat co. Italian beef sausages, onion, mushrooms and zucchini sauteed in olive oil, mashed potato and mashed sweet potato - 7.5pts
Cadbury turkish delight ice-cream tub - 1.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
lg skim cappuccino - 2pts
4 fresh dates - 1pt
Water
2.75L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 23

Weigh-in week 5

A loss of 0.2kg today for a total of 5.7kg gone, bloody miraculous I call it considering how the second half of last week went. I'm going to go back to tracking here in blog-land I'm afraid, seems work best with the keeping me honest thing. I shall endeavor to include witty anecdotes (or something anyway) with every post in order to break the monotony.

WWC Wk3 Day1&2
The focus is on 2 fruit and 5 veg per day this week. Monday was ok with 3 fruit and ~4 serves of veg. Today I've had 2 fruit and 6 serves of veg.
Breakfast
Large skinny cappuccino - 2pts
Lunch
Tom yum noodle soup with prawns and a banana - 7.5pts
Dinner
2 teriyaki chicken kebabs, rice and stir-fry veg with hoi-sin sauce - 10pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
pear - 1pt
sugar for coffee - 0.5pts
vegetable & barley soup - 1pt
Water
~2L
Exercise
Nil
Total points for the day: 22.5

Got lurgi, brain not work right

WWC Wk2 Day4, 5, 6 & 7
Let's see, Thursday I walked for 30 minutes on my usual outdoor route, Friday was a disaster points-wise and Saturday was worse, plus no exercise either day, but today I went to the grounds working bee at the school and raked mulch till the world started spinning at which point it became apparent that my slight cold was turning into a full-on lurgi. So I came home and went to bed. Why am I up now blogging I hear you ask? Well, I've snoozed on and off since 4pm, so I'm functioning again, sort of....

I have a sinus headache, sore throat, aches everywhere, the aforementioned world spinningness and I feel queasy. And to cap it all Adam is away for work this week, nice timing hey? There's a conspiracy I tells you!

My mum got back from a 2 week holiday in Queensland on Friday, so she came for lunch on Saturday, will be coming to help with homework on Monday, is attending Grandparents Day at the school on Wednesday AND will be babysitting for us when we go to see the Whitlams at the Opera House on Friday before she heads off to China on Saturday. I think she was suffering grandkid withdrawal...also, she's the best mum ever, I believe I may have mentioned this before.

Caitlin had a friend stay overnight last night. They went to sleep at about 10:30pm, and they were sleeping in a toy tent in the lounge room so I was stuck in the study waiting for them to go quiet and wandering out to be fierce every 20 minutes or so (oh the hardship of being obliged to spend hours surfing the net...). Gotta say this sleep-over thing is not really my idea of fun, 27 hours is way too long to be looking after someone else's kid, bad enough being stuck with my own for that long without a break. All this while Adam was off doing his second 2 day sailing course...no, I'm not bitter, what makes you think that? (Actually I'm not, it's kind of weird, I thought I would mind him buggering off for the weekend but I find it's really not bothering me, perhaps it's the thought of the reciprocal weekends to myself that I'll now be owed!)

Right, stopping now, I'm taking at least twice as long to type this as I usually would, every third word comes out spelled wrong, that'll be the brain not working right.

P.S. Adam wishes me to point out that he is only learning how to sail so he can take me on romantic cruising holidays.

Art Gallery and Botanic Gardens

I went along as a parent helper on a year 3 – Caitlin's year – excursion to the Art Gallery and Botanic gardens today. It was a beautiful day and all-round very pleasant experience. The kids were angelic and I really enjoyed wandering around the Aboriginal collection at the Art Gallery with one of the volunteer guides (who was lovely I must say, and great with the kids). The tour was 1 hour, just right for the attention span of the kids.

Next was an early lunch in the gardens and the all important caffeine hit from a little cafe opposite the gallery. After lunch we were handed over to tour guides in the Botanic Gardens to look at the different ways Aboriginal people used the various plants native to the Sydney region. The tour guides were again really fantastic with the kids, entertaining and interesting and I learned quite a few new things myself. Not least of which was that apparently dried kangaroo dung makes an excellent fire starter should you ever have the need to start a fire with a stick drill. Also wattle seed smells a bit like coffee. The weather was just perfect, sunny and not too warm. And the being in the gardens overlooking the harbour? Good for the soul it is.

Then I came home and Tom was in a foul mood and was rude and difficult all afternoon – not so much fun *sigh*

WWC Wk2 Day3
Exercise today: 30 minutes on the treadmill, 2.8km, 0 incline.
Points tracking and water is still going well too.

Weigh-in week 4

This week I lost 1.1kg bringing my total lost to 5.5kg. Oh yeah, I am so on my way down again :D

WWC Wk2 Day2
Walking today so far consists of 30 minutes on the treadmill, 2.8km, 0 incline, while watching Lost Season 1 Ep 11. I may get back on later tonight to finish the episode!

The Unfinished Spelling Errors of Bolkien

It's stuck in my head and the kids are singing it non-stop, it's clever, it's funny and I can't believe it's been in my house for months without me getting around to so much as unwrapping the plastic on the cd. Tolkien as a musical! Bwahahahahahah :D Many thanks to ZB for such a brilliant gift. Check it out for yourself here.

WWC Wk2 Day1
This week is focused on exercise, I've committed to walking at least 30 minutes every day. I'm off to a good start, went for a 35 minute walk on a route that used to take me nearly 45 minutes.

Someone scored big at the shops today

Caitlin showing off her new skirt, top and completely inappropriate high-heeled boots.

Actually several someones, none of them me, did quite well out of the shopping expedition today. Caitlin ended up with 3 pairs of shoes including the boots in the photo which have heels much too high for her age (nearly all her shoes are either falling apart or getting too small) and a dress, 2 skirts and 2 tops none of which she really needs. All 3 kids got new bike helmets and knee and elbow pads. Dave and Tom got new pjs, sunnies, shorts and belts. We bought TMNT, Space Jam and a PS2 Buzz Junior robot game from JBHiFi. And all I got was some medication from the chemist. But I had fun indulging them and they were all very well behaved, particularly the boys sitting through interminable shoe trying on by their sister - the young guy serving commented on how good they'd been, at which point they of course started to poke each other and whinge, but up till then....

One last food diary:
WWC Wk1 Day7
Breakfast
Eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomato and an english muffin - 5.5pts
Lunch
Cape fruit and nut roll from Bakers Delight and a lg skim cappuccino - 6pts
Dinner
Crumbed chicken topped with ham and low-fat cheese, WW oven chips, corn on the cob and salad - 8.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
Banana mountain bread wrap - 2pts
apple - 1pt
Water
2x750ml
Exercise
Nil

Total for the day: 24

Public holiday = BBQ party!

Friday was a no-blog day because I spent the morning frantically cleaning up and shopping, as one does, in preparation for having close on 20 people, mostly Browncoats, over for a BBQ in the afternoon and evening. Everyone who came brought with them vast quantities of gorgeous and for the most part healthy food and despite my original intentions to track points come hell or high water, I caved and just stopped worrying about it. There were vegan cupcakes cooked by Susan, vegan slices, salads and NOT-meatballs invented and cooked by the very talented ZB, Crusty Meatloaf & Lecso (capsicum and sun-dried tomato thing) courtesy of ozfinn, kebabs from Dana, vegetable lasagne and mint-slice from jacqfly, tuna slice from buffiness, and much more. We ate, drank, talked and then did it all some more, it was an awesome afternoon and night, despite the rain, and the food was delicious...so I wouldn't let anyone leave without taking their leftovers with them LOL I even made a couple of them come back when they'd almost made it to their cars and take away Pringles and Kettle chips that they left behind!

Adam is off doing a 2 day sailing course this weekend so I'm home with the kids with nothing planned. Today I've sorted through both the boys' and Caitlin's wardrobes getting rid of the stuff that doesn't fit any more and working out what we need to get for summer. If I'm feeling enthusiastic tomorrow we'll go clothes and shoe shopping for all.

Just before lunch today I managed to muster up the energy to go outside and throw a ball around on the cul-de-sac with the kids, which is something I almost never do. It was so unusual that my eldest asked if we could please do it again sometime. This made me feel simultaneously sad that I haven't done it more often and happy that I'm starting to now. I was thinking about it, and realised that, being the selfish creature that I am, and not really being particularly fond of very young children the reason I haven't done much of that kind of playing is that I simply haven't enjoyed it before. But this was genuinely fun for all of us. I reckon I'm really going to enjoy the next few years...and then along will come adolescence - eeep!

One more day of this first Wacky Weekly Challenge to go so tomorrow will be the last food diary I'll be blogging, next week is exercise! Here's the damage for yesterday and today:

WWC Wk1 Day5
Breakfast
weetbix, milk and peaches - 3pts
Lunch
Tom yum soup and a mountain bread banana wrap - 6pts
Dinner
Let's see, there was orange and fig slice, chocolate cherry slice, raspberry coconut slice, peanut butter cupcake, mexican chili chocolate cupcake, marinated mushroom salad, citrus coleslaw, tofu-tahini-walnut-olive balls with tomato sauce, garden salad, lecso, a low-fat sausage, lamb capsicum and mushroom kebabs, vegetable lasagne, mint slice, king island brie and water crackers, fruit salad, a small glass of mead, many cups of tea...and ONE corn chip. And I have absolutely no idea how many points were involved but I'd go with LOTS as a good guess and it was worth every single one of them!
Water
3x750ml, I think
Exercise
frantic cleaning of house for 2 hours

Total for the day: 9 + LOTS = buggered if I know!


WWC Wk1 Day6
Breakfast
weetbix, milk and peaches - 3pts
Lunch
2 sushi rolls, a few hot chips stolen from Caitlin and pumpkin & cauliflower soup - 6.5pts
Dinner
Barrumundi pan fried in a little olive oil with garlic, dill and lemon, left-over garden salad with low fat caesar dressing, left-over low fat sausage with tomato sauce on a slice of bread - 11.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pt
apple - 1pt
pumpkin & cauliflower soup - 0.5pt
Water
3x750ml
Exercise
Played ball on the cul-de-sac with the kids for 30 minutes

Total for the day: 23

Madeleine L'Engle

Much sadness. Madeleine L'Engle has died.

I loved her books so much as a kid and I still re-read them regularly now. I'm shedding a tear or two over this.

Funny feet!

Adam finished sewing the shoes mentioned in my previous post. This photo doesn't do them justice, they look much funnier in real life especially paired with his suit pants. He's reading over my shoulder saying "They're not supposed to be funny, they're supposed to be intimidating! They're for pillaging in!" Somehow I don't think it was their footware that made Vikings so feared way back when...


They still need to be stained, sealed and have lacing put in to keep them on at the ankle so not quite properly finished but the sewing and turning right side out is the hard part.

WWC Wk1 Day4
Breakfast
Boiled eggs and vegemite toast - 4.5pts
Lunch
Toasted turkish bread sandwich with ham, cheese, tomato, onion, mushroom, capsicum and rocket, and pumpkin & cauliflower soup - 5pts
Dinner
Spaghetti bolognese with mushrooms, zucchini and artichoke hearts, left-over roast pumpkin, parmesan cheese and garlic Mountain bread - 7.5pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pt
apple - 1pt
rice crackers, carrot sticks & dip - 4
1 slice wholegrain toast - 1.5
Water
4x750ml
Exercise
Nil

Total for the day: 24

What I did this Wednesday...

I was on canteen duty at the kids school today, I start at 11:00am and finish at about 2:00pm at which point I usually hang around doing odd jobs for Uniform Pool rather than go home only to turn round and come back 10 minutes later (school finishes at 2:50pm but we mums tend to arrive about 2:30pm for chat time as we wait for the kids, besides if you come later you end up parked off to buggery).

Problem with this is I don't usually eat morning tea preferring to have a substantial lunch that then carries me through the afternoon but the freebie lunch provided by the canteen just doesn't ever do the trick for me. So by the time I got to dinner tonight I was seriously hungry and ended up having rather more of the yummy burritos than I had originally intended and as a consequence haven't saved as many points as I'd have liked.

I should go and do some walking but I was on my feet a lot today and I'm tired :( Also, I haven't eaten any fruit today, lots of veg but no fruit. I really should be happier about a day that leaves me with 2 points left over shouldn't I?

Tonight the school junior dance group, of which Caitlin is a member, performed as the half-time entertainment for a basketball game between the Sydney Razorbacks and Cal Poly University. We headed off straight after dinner leaving Adam and the boys at home. I helped with the make-up and then got to sit around chatting with other mums while the kids waited to perform, much more relaxing than being at home doing the bath and bedtime routine. When I got home at 8:20pm the boys were in pjs and playing City of Heroes with Adam and Uncle Gary (it's an on-line game, Gaz was at his place and talking with Adam on the phone while playing, it's a kind of a nice way to keep in touch). It took quite a long time to extricate them and bundle them off to bed - 9:30pm before all the lights were out - they'll be hard to get moving in the morning.

Adam is sitting beside me still playing City of Heroes, chatting to Gaz and occasionally picking up his viking footwear-in-progress and doing a few more stitches. We're such geeks.

WWC Wk1 Day3
Breakfast
Scrambled egg, bacon & toast - 6pts
Lunch
Salad sandwich w/ beetroot - 2.5pts
Dinner
Beef & bean burritos - 14pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 1pt
Pumpkin & cauliflower soup - 0.5pt
Water
3x750ml
Exercise
Nil

Total for the day: 24

WWC Wk1 Day2

Breakfast
Large skinny cappuccino - 2pts
Lunch
Greek salad, pasta & sundried tomato salad and fruit salad - 12.5pts
Dinner
Chicken and vegetable mango curry with rice, 1 pappadum, mango chutney, yoghurt for dessert - 12pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
Water
4x750ml
Exercise
Nil

Total for the day: 26

Bit of a lop-sided day, I'm in the very bad habit of going to my meeting on an empty tummy which tends to do weird things to my eating for the rest of the day. The pasta salad I bought for lunch turned out to be much oilier than it seemed in the display and my points guesstimation had me wondering whether I was going to be able to afford dinner but I worked out what my planned meal would be points-wise and realised I would scrape in just fine provided there was no snacking. So I drank lots of water all afternoon instead!

I really need to save some points over the next 2 days as we're hosting a Browncoats shindig on Friday and I'm toying with the possibility of joining them for a day trip to Canberra on Saturday to visit Koko Black - talk about testing my resolve....eeep.

Hmmm, interesting...or something.

Weigh-in week 3

Phew! I lost 0.4kg :)

Yep, that's pretty much it for now.

Lasagne love

Because the vegetable lasagne I invented tonight turned out so very yummy I thought I ought to share.
1 x 405g can diced italian tomatoes with basil and herbs
1 zucchini, sliced thinly lengthways
1 small lebanese eggplant, sliced thinly lengthways
250g butternut pumpkin thinly sliced
1/2 bunch english spinach
2 sheets Latina lasagne (fresh lasagne sheets, no need to pre-cook)
250g tub low-fat ricotta
70g light mozzarella

In a deep loaf pan layer tomatoes, pasta, zucchini, tomatoes, pasta, pumpkin, spinach, ricotta, pasta, eggplant, tomatoes, pasta, pumpkin, tomatoes, ricotta and mozzarella. Bake covered with foil at 170 degrees C for at least an hour (I lost track of exactly how long it took in the end, just give it a poke occasionally to see if the pumpkin is tender), remove foil and allow to brown slightly, enjoy!

Tracking

First of all the not-so-interesting-but-keeping-me-accountable daily tracking.

Whacky Weekly Challenge Wk1 Day1
Breakfast
small bowl of porridge with milk & brown sugar - 3pts
Lunch
homemade pumpkin & cauliflower soup with 2 slices of wholegrain bread topped with Kraft 97% fat free cheese and toasted - 4.5pts
Dinner
vegetable lasagne OMG! so good, a huge serve for just - 8pts
Snacks
milk for tea - 0.5pts
a small low-fat brownie - 2pts
apple & banana - 2pts
Water
3x750ml and counting
Exercise
40mins walking

Points total for the day stands at 20, I'm allowed 26 so that's not really quite enough but considering the weekend I've just had food-wise it's probably not such a bad thing.

Cool stuff

I promised photos of weaponry and other cool stuff a while back, so here I give you the collection so far. Adam made the shield, Caitlin's shoes and David's boots. There's a spear and a pair of boots (for himself) in production. The bow, dagger and drinking horn were bought at Abbey.

The dagger is purely for decorative purposes on account of that pointy bit you see on the end there ;-)

Front of the shield already showing signs of having had the crap beaten out of it with spears and swords.

Back of the shield showing hand hole behind the boss and very pretty handle which, along with the boss, was made by the Huscarls' blacksmith.

And here's the Huscarls at training on Saturday where the beating of the shield - and Adam's legs, very impressive bruises he's got - took place.

Not everyone has full kit on in these pics as it's just training but you get the idea :)

Finally, for good measure, here's a couple of Tom, Dave and me doing our first training - defending against spear attack - a few weeks ago.

This week I've signed myself up for the first of a series of weekly challenges instigated by the very lovely yodaobi from the Weight Watchers message boards. This week is focused on tracking and it's come at a good time because I went a bit wobbly there for a few days but this has me back on the straight and narrow. Weigh-in tomorrow, hope I haven't done too much damage over the weekend.