Swimming

Monday:

My weight this morning was 75.5 kg, only a 0.4 kg loss this week but still a loss. I've definitely been eating too much junk. I've only got two weeks of Duromine left - some 30 mg and some the lower dose 15 mg that I started on - and I really want to make the most of any appetite suppressing effects they still give. I think my body has mostly got used to them though. Less than a kilogram to go for a 10 kg total loss, so that is what I am aiming for over the next fortnight.

We were too busy this weekend to have our pool-warming party, which was a shame because we had really hot weather! It was planned for next weekend but the forecast is for cold and rain so we've moved it further back and crossed fingers it warms up again.

On Saturday we went to Samuel's 1st birthday party - the second baby in the family born last year. It was a lunchtime event and we sat outside under a pergola thing. It was so hot! I think the heat frayed the ability of some of the little kids to get along. There were some tears and tantrums. I was desperate to get home and jump in our pool. Aaaahhhhhhh yeah.

Then Sunday Jasmine had another gymnastics competition. It was another 'trial' for people to get into the State Championships, Jasmine and her partner Elise were already through but it's good practice. They got another blue ribbon. Probably 50 or 60 kids there - only one boy! - but some compete in trios whereas Jasmine is in a pair so they are not all in the same group. I think eight pairs earned a blue ribbon this time.

Back home, and into the pool again! With the pool heater on for a couple of days and the warm weather, the pool was up to 29C. Beautiful.

We had family over for dinner, and most got into the pool in the evening. An impromptu pre-party. There is a pool light and some very dim solar lights out there, it is quite dark really. I would be too nervous to swim by myself at night but it was nice with a group.

But I think my sister-in-law Ping is scared of water! Even the kids can easily stand in the shallow end, or there is a super-shallow bit for tiny kids (sort of an extended step) but Ping wouldn't come in. I'll have to work on her.

Today we swam again after the kids got home from school. The weather turned while we were out there, and now it's going to be cool for at least a week. We made the most of the hot weather while it lasted. With the cooler weather I'll be able to get more gardening done.

The final date for the library internship applications was today (I got mine in the day after I was told about it) so hopefully I will hear soon about that. I really want it, even though I'm stressed about how I would cope with the workload of these final four weeks of semester!

Certificate

Wednesday:

Some excellent news today, we finally got our Final Occupation Certificate for our pool! We've been waiting a couple of months since the inspection, because of the complaint (which was later withdrawn). There has been quite a bit of stress involved with that process. We can now sell the house whenever we want (hopefully not for many years) but more immediately we can get our bond back from council - a significant amount of money - that they were holding until they were sure we hadn’t damaged council property during the installation. And just having it done and approved is the main thing, no longer weighing on my mind.

Here is our pool today:

Doesn't the turf look lush! It has not only survived, it has thrived. That's what watering twice a day during the first two weeks will do. I won’t show the front lawn, which is still bare compacted dirt and weeds! We’ll get to it.

I didn’t do much today. My tummy has been upset since yesterday evening. I had a restless night and I was still uncomfortable all today. A good day to get some study done.

Oh, and my friend Cathy from last semester, who is studying online now because she’s working, contacted me for a chat so that was nice. I’ve missed seeing her for lunch. It’s a shame she doesn’t live closer. The only person who lives near me is one of my teachers!

Milestone

Monday:

This morning I weighed 75.9 kg, another 0.7 kg lost. Under 76 kg is a big milestone for me. I remember quite clearly that when my weight was on the way up, sometime after getting married (when I got down to 69 kg) but I'm not sure when exactly, 76 kg was the point where I really started to feel uncomfortable with how I looked. I'm not going to say I hated myself or any part of my body, but at that point I went from just wanting to lose weight to really feeling fat. Weight loss went from a casual desire to one of the big issues of my life, something to struggle with nearly every day since. Getting back under that is awesome, and having someone notice my weight loss yesterday a bonus!

I am terrible at taking selfies, but this is me today.

I had another phone role-play exam this morning, this one about helping a customer find fiction to read ('I really liked Bridget Jones's Diary, do you have anything else like that?). I was a bit nervous already, I like written exams but not face-to-face (or in this case .... mouth-to-ear?), I get performance anxiety, but it went ok. I hadn't realised that the preparation I'd done on the weekend was only for a practice example, but I was given time to prepare the real thing before the phone chat.

My father-in-law's partner Jo didn't come to dinner last night. She's had four weeks of chemo and radiotherapy, with two to go, and is starting to feel pretty sick from it. Des tries to stay upbeat but I think he is pretty worried. I sent food home with him but I don't know if she'll be able to eat it. Cancer is a real bastard.

We've been keeping an eye on the weather forecast as we want to have a pool-warming party now that it is finished and landscaped, but the temperature has tended to plummet on the weekends. We're heading into Christmas season when everyone is very busy so we've just made a decision and are having the party in a couple of weeks, before everyone's time gets booked up. We'll heat the pool and just hope we don't get a storm or something! Warm/hot weather would be nice, please weather gods.

And I get two more weeks before everyone sees me in a swimming costume...

Someone noticed

Sunday:

Big day for me today - someone noticed my weight loss! My cousin-in-law (Tim’s cousin’s wife) was here for dinner and we were chatting in the kitchen. She said I was looking really good and obviously had been working hard. And later as she was leaving she said I needed to buy some new clothes. So that was lovely.

I’ve been dividing my time mostly between study and gardening. Weeding and mulching and potting up a couple of hydrangeas to go outside our bedroom window. I put in my application to do that internship. I’ve also been doing a sweaty hour of Dance Central most days. I have to have two showers most days, after the morning dance session then after some afternoon gardening. Sweaty and filthy!

I didn’t dance today, I had a headache and was a bit tired. I’ve had a sore spot beside my nose for a few days, I think I might have a bit of a sinus infection in there. It woke me in the night, and was hurting on and off today. I’m sore in a line under my eyebrows too - where the other sinuses are. I took it a bit easier today, but I still spent time working in the garden! And hosted a family dinner as usual.

Feeling thinner.

Internship

Thursday:

I got my results back from my cataloguing exam - 99%! One little mistake. But still pretty good! I know one other person got 99%, I don't think anyone got 100%.

While we were having a short break in the middle of the lesson, one of the head teachers came in and called me and the other girl who got 99% (Lauren) out into the corridor for a chat. The State Library had asked for some recommendations for an Internship there (unpaid, about 5 weeks long part-time) doing specifically what we were just tested on, so after consultation with the teacher of the class she chose the two of us. But there is only one position and two of us - and I don't know if they are also looking elsewhere or just at our TAFE - so I don't know if I'll get it.

It is my dream job so of course I want to go for it, it would be wonderful to get real-world experience in the work I actually want to do (not just returning books to shelves). And who knows where it could lead? There are a couple of potential issues though.

Firstly it is in the city, so with nearly three hours travel time a day plus the hours I'd be working there, when would I get my TAFE work done? We're about to hit the last five weeks of semester so I have a stack of assignments to do and exams to study for as well as weekly tasks. The quality of my work might suffer. Not to mention time for exercise, grocery shopping, talking to the kids and husband, sleeping, gardening etc. But I know lots of people deal with that, and it's short term so I'm prepared to give it a try.

The second issue is more of a worry. I have RSI - repetitive strain injury - from computer use. I manage it by moderating my time at desk-work but it still flares up if I'm not careful. I can just about cope with my TAFE work. Or, say, cataloguing part-time for the state library. But both at once? I'm quite scared I will end up in a lot of pain by the end of the semester. And the pain doesn't go away as soon as I stop. I would have to be super-careful, cutting out blogging and forums and anything non-essential, and doing lots of stretching.

But I'm going to go for it.

If you are one of those who think everything happens for a reason, then maybe I didn't get that other job because this one was around the corner.

Insomnia

Wednesday:

Since a week off Duromine and then restarting, I've experienced gradually increasing insomnia. Last night I spent a lot of time lying awake. So today I skipped my pill and I'll see how I go tonight. Today of course I was very tired, I got the results of insomnia without the pick-me-up! I definitely ate more, and chose worse foods, as I always do when exhausted. I don't keep 'junk' in the house any more but there is always nuts, cheese, and dark chocolate!

I went shopping for shorts today, my denim ones wore through at the inner thigh where they rub. My requirement for shorts is that they go all the way to the knee, to cover the wobbly bits just above the knee. I ended up buying the exact same pair as had just worn out - in the same size. One size down zipped up easily but gave me a horrible muffin top. But now these ones, after only half a day's wear, have stretched a lot at the waist so maybe I should have bought a size down after all! I can't exchange them, I unpicked the stitching that held the hem in a rolled-up position (too short). Oh well, they are not that loose, I can certainly wear them.

Aiden's been away at school camp the past three days having a great time - except for the food - doing canoeing and archery and all that stuff. I only remember one school camp when I was a kid, and that was very educational, none of this adventuring stuff. I do remember me and my room-mates staying up very late and falling asleep watching a video the next morning.

I have no idea what he wore yesterday, but today Aiden came home from camp wearing shorts, a pyjama top, and shoes without socks.

More gardening - so much to do in spring! - and more study and assignments.

I went over and talked to our neighbour Craig who hadn't got back to me after I left a message with his wife last Friday - he didn't seem inclined to withdraw his complaint about the pool heater in writing (he said as far as he's concerned it's all resolved, and pointed out a couple of other things the certifiers had got wrong, and some problems he had with another neighbour...) but at least he said he was happy for the certifiers to ring him so I've passed on his number. I am bobbing gently above the waves of stress, not letting it bother me, it will all be resolved eventually. He has confirmed he has no problem with us, I've just got to get that communicated to the authorities.

Cutting the grass

Tuesday:

Yesterday my weight was down to 76.6 kg, another 1 kg loss. Actually it might be a bit more as I don't think my scale was on the usual place (I moved it and today I was 76.3) but whatever, I am happy with a kilogram.

I've been keeping busy. Today for example I watered the garden, had breakfast, walked up to Aiden's school to buy a new summer uniform (total walk 30 mins), faffed around on Internet (checking emails and blogs etc), 25 mins Dance Central exercise, shower, snack, TAFE schoolwork, visit hardware store to buy a push lawn mower for new turf (the new turf by the pool is up a couple of sets of stairs and we decided to get a little push mower to keep up there instead of trying to carry the heavy petrol mower up and down regularly) and some more plants, lunch, more TAFE schoolwork, cup of tea and chat with kids as they get home from school, put mower together, mow turf, another shower, start dinner, collect Jasmine from acrogym class (she walked there earlier), more TAFE schoolwork, dinner, TV.

Mowing the lawn (new turf in the backyard only) was interesting. I haven't used a lawn mower for 18 years, when I started going out with Tim and he started mowing my lawn for me. Using a push mower was fine, except it couldn't cope with even the smallest stick or piece of bark getting in the blades so I had to keep stopping to pull them out. And I didn't tighten the screws enough when I was putting it together (just attaching several pieces of handle to the base, nothing technical) so they all worked loose and fell off and I had to find them in the grass. And I still can't find one bolt.

We were worried about the timing of Jasmine's acrobatic gymnastics final. It's the same weekend as her Dance Concert (she learns tap, hip hop, and contemporary) which I have to buy tickets for long before we get the final timetable for the gymnastics competition. But we were told today that it wouldn't be Sunday afternoon, which is when her Dance is, so that is all we care about. Looks like she can do both, which is a relief after a year of rehearsal. We had a couple of stressed days. A picture from last weekend's competition of her and Elise, her partner, is on the official Gymnastics NSW website! (Scroll down in the facebook box) How special to be chosen.