Wednesday, January 30, 2019

High School

Thursday:

My baby started High School yesterday! I can't believe he is in Yr 7 already.

The rest of the school didn't go back until today (sports uniform on Thursdays).

Yesterday was Jasmine's birthday. There wasn't any movie we wanted to see so we decided to stay home. We watched some Glee (we're up to Season 4, we watched on TV when it was originally on but now we're enjoying it again) and did a craft project she gave me for Christmas, matching tote bags.

I avoided most treat food temptations - so many this week! - but did have one slice of French toast for breakfast and another small piece of ice cream cake in the afternoon. The Duromine is still working really well at the lowest dose to suppress appetite and cravings. I know I have had a few bits and pieces but honestly I've been surrounded by tempting unhealthy food and I've resisted most of it. I've lost all the recent extra weight and I'm back to the weight I was for my long plateau, I only got lower than this very briefly early last year. It's so good to be losing again, and I'm feeling mentally strong. It is Chinese New Year this weekend (my sister-in-law is Chinese) and I know there will be my favourite roast duck... very fatty but at least it's low carb! 

I spent part of the morning yesterday filling in forms. I may be getting some casual library tech work at a TAFE (tertiary education). While I was doing my work placement at a local TAFE library I met the boss of another cluster of libraries briefly. Turns out she needs a pool of temps to draw from, my supervisor recommended me, so she sent me the employment forms. It really is who you know. This group of TAFEs are about an hour's easy drive away on the highway, not through city traffic, and since Aiden is now leaving for school an hour earlier than he was I can be there from when the library opens until early afternoon and still be home for the kids. So hopefully some work does eventuate. 

Monday, January 28, 2019

Wedding

Monday:

I lost another 0.8kg this week, down to 73.3kg. I am mostly happy with smaller portions of healthier food, a couple of days I've been hungrier and I've just eaten a bit more. Some days I have breakfast, some I don't. Sometimes I have a snack in the afternoon, sometimes not. I always stop eating for the day straight after dinner (maybe with one chocolate from my Christmas stash for dessert). No evening snacks. And I've given up sugar in my tea (yet again). It's not the same. But worth it. My waist is down to 95cm.

My father-in-law's wedding was yesterday. Everyone was really concerned about the heat, the forecast was for about 37C. We got there an hour early to help set up and it was stinking hot. The plan was for the ceremony to be on the (unfinished) balcony with the rest of us on the grass but the promised strip of shade was tiny, not even enough for one row of chairs. We expecting nearly 50 people.

I just resigned myself to it and the kids and I helped inside in the air conditioning setting up the tables for dinner.

I should have made sure I got a photo of me with decent lighting! I was in my prettiest dress.

Luckily by 4.30 when everything was ready the sun had moved enough to get two rows of chairs in the shade, the rest were squeezed up on the balcony, and also it had cooled down a bit. The bride and groom decided on non-traditional attire! They looked great. Jasmine was a ring bearer along with a grandchild of Jo.

As soon as the ceremony was finished and they were signing the official forms, the looming skies opened and it began to pour rain (or 'piss down' as we say in Australia). Everyone ran for the house, leaving behind their chairs which we needed for the dinner despite me trying to get people to take them in. Me and a couple of other people went back and forth dragging them in. Someone even asked me to fetch the bag they had left behind in their rush! I don't mind the rain though, much better than heat.

The dinner was catered and quite good as these things go. Carved roast meat, a few hot dishes like lasagne, lots of salads. I ended up eating only a few hundred extra calories - but mostly in the form of sugar; dessert and a lemonade. It didn't make me feel great.

The wedding cake was unfortunately a bit of a disaster. Despite it being ordered weeks in advance and the baker contacted the day before, it wasn't ready and my sister-in-law had to wait around and stand over them while it was finished to a very poor standard. The 'cream cheese icing' was just tangy cream cheese like you'd put on a cracker not on a cake! The cake was overcooked and it didn't look professional at all. I don't think anyone ate more than a bite or two. My 2-year-old niece was so excited at the pink icing swirls until she tasted it then spat it out. Bit of a shame, but I don't think anyone cared much really. It's only cake. And we'd already had dessert.

The rain continued to pour and the flat front yard, with cars parked all over it, was a shallow lake. I raised the issue of bogging to the owner of the house and he checked outside then advised everyone to move their cars out to the shoulder of the road. By the time we left at 9.30 we had to wade to the car through ankle deep water up the long gravel driveway. I was the only one with dry feet - I was wearing boots! We had to dodge frogs on the road, but we made it home through the downpour. We heard today that the owner of a three-ton motorhome waited too long to move it and got bogged. They stayed overnight and tried again this morning only to dig it in deeper. They are going to have to winch it out.

Despite all the little disasters all these events tend to attract, it was a good day and I think they are well suited to each other.

Jasmine is about to turn 15 and she had her party today. Pool party with friends this afternoon, pizza (I made myself and Tim a healthy dinner and have stayed away from all the snacks, but I did have a slice of ridiculously expensive icecream cake) and two girls have stayed for a sleep over. They will be up watching movies half the night. Apart from providing food, I no longer need to organise anything. Her actual birthday is Wednesday which is Aiden's first day of High School but she doesn't start until the following day so we'll spend the day together.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

I feel thinner

Monday:

I lost a massive 2.5kg this week, 2 of that since restarting Duromine, and I feel thinner already. I'm hoping for around 1kg per week from now on. Duromine (phentermine) doesn't lose the weight for you, but it suppresses appetite. It's so much easier to resist temptations, and there have been plenty. I didn't measure my waist at the start, but it was 96cm this morning which I think is my equal lowest. I tried a bit of TRE - time restricted eating - when you lengthen the overnight period you don't eat. No snacks after dinner and maybe a later breakfast or don't eat to lunchtime depending on how long you're going for. Apparently anything over 12 hours without eating lets your body go into autophagy which is the natural repair cycle - dumping old damaged cells and building new ones. Very beneficial. And you lose more weight eating the same amount of food over 24 hours if you eat in a smaller time window. I'm not pushing it - I eat when I get hungry - but I've never liked early breakfast and no snacking in the evening has got to be good for me!

My father-in-law is remarrying next weekend. His wife died 10 or so years ago of MS and he's been with his current partner Jo for about five. On Friday the 'girls' of the family took her out to dinner as a sort of Hen's night, then Saturday the 'boys' took Des out. She has children and grandchildren who will be there for the wedding of course but they don't live nearby so we did it. I have no concerns about the marriage, only the wedding itself which will be an hour inland from here at the groom's brother's property where the temperatures are up to 10 degrees hotter - in the middle on an Australian summer! The ceremony probably outdoors (under shade)! The forecast is for 37C. I am not looking forward to that. The dinner (catered roast on a spit I think) will be eaten inside in the air conditioning but even the roomiest house would be crowded with around 50 people. And when I visited that house a year ago it was still under construction and I was shocked to find out they had been building it for 20 years... apparently they have stairs up to the front door now so you don't have to climb on cinderblocks through the garage... I tried to talk them out of the venue, but it's their choice so I'll just have to sweat and bear it.

Tim is back at work today but the kids still have a week before school starts. My little Aiden starting High School! Still can't believe it.

Monday, January 14, 2019

Bingle

Monday:

I was involved in a very minor car accident today. I backed out of my parking spot at the shops at the same time as someone behind me - not directly behind or we would have seen each other - we crunched together when we both curved out of our spot. Each car ended up with a broken light cover and a dent. I’ve let my insurance know and booked in for repair tomorrow. No one was hurt and the other guy was very nice so it’s merely an annoyance. Neither of us really knew what to do! We got each other’s drivers licence details but I didn’t think to get his car make/model etc that my insurance asked for.

I saw my doctor and got another script for Duromine, just the lowest dose of 15mg. I need to kick start weight loss again after the depredations of Christmas and holidays. I’ll also restart my gym membership, which I put on hold as I wasn’t making time to go. My weight this morning was 76.6kg, about 5kg up from a few months ago. A slow increase was turning into a fast increase. So easy to get used to slipping back into bad habits. My doctor asked why maintenance had turned into a regain, I suggested it was partly eating from boredom. I finished my course six months ago and I’ve felt a bit directionless since then. So she asked what I was going to do to turn that around. I hope to get a job of course, but I might need to put more thought into other strategies until then. I really liked my doctor’s attitude; willing to give me the Duromine as a short term help but also wanting to help long term. The series of young female doctors at this practice (they only stay for six months as part of their training) have been consistently enthusiastic and lovely - haven't been doing it long enough to get jaded and grumpy!

Tuesday:

My weight this morning was 76.1kg so I lost half a kg of holiday water weight since yesterday. I restarted Duromine today and feel good. Able to eat less, a bit more energy. Actually a tiny bit hyper, I'm sure that will pass.

Diamond Beach

We just got home from a week at Diamond Beach, about four hours north of Sydney and 15 mins drive from the coastal town of Forster.

We stayed in a cabin a couple of hundred metres from the beach. We didn't have much of a view due to a rise in the ground and some windswept bushes, but we could hear the waves pounding constantly. The weather was perfect, high 20s every day. We were careful to stay out of the sun in the middle of the day and used lots of sunscreen, but Jasmine still got a bit burned on a couple of days.

We strolled up and down the beach and did a couple of costal walks in the morning or evening - still very hot! This was a very steep climb up a hill then up a tower to get this view back towards Forster. My legs were fit enough for it, but it was very humid and I found it hard to get enough oxygen. Mosquitos in abundance. While Jas and I walked back down at a leisurely pace, Tim and Aiden sprinted down then back up and down again! So we all ended up equally hot and sweaty (except Jas).

We saw lots of crabs on the beach (and a huge dead stinky turtle) and pelicans and dolphins in the estuary (here you see a dolphin fin behind a pelican). Forster lies between the ocean and a series of lakes.

The pool was nice, though not as nice as ours. We've been there a couple of times before and it was always great for little kids as it's pretty shallow. Jasmine is doing a handstand.

Tim brought the kite I gave him for Christmas. The first try on the beach was hilarious, it would instantly nosedive. I had a go and got very wet running through a wave trying to get it flying. Not enough wind I think. A couple of days later it flew well on the bit of ground between our cabin and the beach.
A big feature of the holiday was eating out for every lunch and dinner. For dinner we always went somewhere elegant in Forster, and usually for lunch as well or else a nice pub closer by. The food was nearly all tasty, but I missed my own cooking by the end. All laden with fat, salt, sugar and carbs. I'd feel bloated and sleepy after meals and my weight is up a couple of kgs.

I enjoy holidays but I love being home again, especially my own bed!

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Poppa

Sunday:

We visited Poppa yesterday, my mother's father. He turned 100 last year, and still looks after himself in his own home. His son does live across the road but he still does most things for himself. Amazing! We didn't see him at Christmas so a few cousins and I arranged afternoon tea. It was nice to see them too. I wish I'd tried for a better shot of Poppa.


As well as Poppa and my husband, it was four women and eight children so it was a bit of a mother's group! This is some of them (mine are the older ones):

Of the other husbands, one was working and dropped in briefly, the others were at the cricket (separately) which wouldn't have been very nice as it went from scorching hot in the morning to a big storm in the afternoon.

I do wish my cousins wouldn't give all their boys almost the same name: Jake, Jaxon and Jordie. And one who wasn't there called her new baby Jack. How on earth am I supposed to remember which is whose, especially when I only see them once or twice a year!

Every time I go out there the landscape is so different. It used to be country, a few houses amongst paddocks. Poppa and his son each had a five-acre block (a normal suburban block here is usually 1/4 acre). But Sydney keeps growing and now it is a rabbit warren of houses everywhere. Poppa sold most of his block a few years ago and now so has my uncle - each has been subdivided into little lots with hardly any backyard. I wouldn't want to live there, it's really crowded.

On the way back, Tim worked out that as I am currently 48, I will turn 49 this year and therefore next year... 50. I am turning 50 next year. My goodness.

We've been spending a lot of time in the pool. Lovely. And we've finally had some passionfruit from the rampant vine over the shed, it is covered in fruit but they all stayed green for months. The cockatoos were eating them anyway and it looked like none would be left to ripen for us. But we had two each today.