Thursday:
I haven't had much to write about... life goes on as usual. I've been down with a nasty flu for the past week. Mostly better now except for a lingering cough. I stopped taking Duromine while sick, I hadn't lost any weight since the first two weeks on it anyway, and after a couple of nights the peri-menopausal night sweats came back! Every night since then. So the Mirena obviously hasn't made any difference there, not that anyone said it would, I was just hoping.
The Mirena (IUD that releases hormones, supposed to be safer than "the pill" at my age) is still uncomfortable, the strings jab and jab me. I couldn't get an earlier appointment with my gyno than the 3 month check up, the receptionist told me to see my GP if I needed help. Hmm.
Jasmine has her Year 10 end of year formal (dinner & dance) coming up, we went shopping for a dress today but didn't find anything. Most of her year got their dresses months ago apparently, all very adult slinky things which Jas thinks is inappropriate for her age and doesn't want. She rejected anything low cut or too clingy - not because she doesn't like her body but just because she is 15 and thinks it's silly to dress like that. We did buy a lovely sundress that she would be happy to wear but I don't think it's formal enough for evening.
It's school holidays, and when Aiden isn't on the computer or iPad he's out in the garden creating a bow and arrow out of sticks and vines. After a lot of trial and error it's pretty good! He's always loved sticks, they can become anything in his imagination. I had to make a rule when he was littler: "sticks don't cross the road" because he would try to bring them home from the park and I felt we had enough of our own.
We've also been playing board games and today we bought a jigsaw puzzle as we had all enjoyed the one Tim gave me for my last birthday. This one is of a bookcase (of fantasy books) with little fairies and dragons and other magical things scattered around the shelves. We've done all the edges.
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Birthday dinner
Saturday:
I did an hour of sweaty dance exercise this morning - and was tired the rest of the day! But I’m glad I got my body moving. I planned to do half an hour, but I was trying to get five stars in a new song and I couldn’t give up until I got it. I was so close every time - six or seven attempts in a row! I kept thinking I’d get those extra points next try.
It will be my birthday on Monday, so we went out to dinner with the family tonight. The Mediterranean food was really nice, and Ping brought a lovely chocolate cake. But a gift bag with a bottle of Limoncello (lemon liquor, I don’t know why people keep giving me alcohol I hardly ever drink!) got knocked over on the tile floor. I didn’t realise it was broken until I saw the liquid gushing out all over the floor. Both slippery and sticky! The wait-staff mopped it up for me, and took away the bag of broken glass.
I wore a special-occasion winter dress that I’ve only worn two or three times since I bought it about five years ago, but I think it might need to be retired. It was a bit loose and kept slipping off my shoulders. It’s funny how the clothes I thought most flattering when I was bigger now don’t make me look so good! But it’s all relative - I still look better now in a baggy dress than I did then in a well-fitting dress. I like being thinner!
I did an hour of sweaty dance exercise this morning - and was tired the rest of the day! But I’m glad I got my body moving. I planned to do half an hour, but I was trying to get five stars in a new song and I couldn’t give up until I got it. I was so close every time - six or seven attempts in a row! I kept thinking I’d get those extra points next try.
It will be my birthday on Monday, so we went out to dinner with the family tonight. The Mediterranean food was really nice, and Ping brought a lovely chocolate cake. But a gift bag with a bottle of Limoncello (lemon liquor, I don’t know why people keep giving me alcohol I hardly ever drink!) got knocked over on the tile floor. I didn’t realise it was broken until I saw the liquid gushing out all over the floor. Both slippery and sticky! The wait-staff mopped it up for me, and took away the bag of broken glass.
I wore a special-occasion winter dress that I’ve only worn two or three times since I bought it about five years ago, but I think it might need to be retired. It was a bit loose and kept slipping off my shoulders. It’s funny how the clothes I thought most flattering when I was bigger now don’t make me look so good! But it’s all relative - I still look better now in a baggy dress than I did then in a well-fitting dress. I like being thinner!
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Exam week
Monday:
My weight this morning was 75.2 kg, up 0.1 kg from last week. I consider 0.1 kg maintenance rather than a gain, that is half a glass of water, but obviously I need to keep an eye on it. I've "gained" 0.1 kg two weeks in a row! I am not actively trying to lose right now (while sick and stressed, and after 3 months of dieting) but I do not want to undo what I have achieved.
I had another phone role-play exam this morning, where I pretend to be library staff and the teacher pretends to be a customer/other staff. I'm good at customer service and I know the subject matter because I study, but I still get gut-twistingly nervous. Literally spent 10 minutes on the toilet with cramps, panicking that I was going to get back to my desk too late and miss the call. I was the same before opening night when I did theatre. Once the performance starts I'm fine.
Several people asked me to buy them tickets for Jasmine's dance concert yesterday. One who had not paid me yet for her families' tickets called 10 minutes before the show started to say they had a sick child and couldn't come. I doubt the sick child needed both parents' care, why couldn't one parent plus other child come to the show? Or they could have called a little earlier so I could make other arrangements! Luckily I knew someone who wanted to come but couldn't get tickets and who lived very close, so I called them and left the spare tickets at the desk for them, they had made other plans so could only come for part of the show but at least they saw Jasmine's first routine and the tickets weren't totally wasted. If I sound ungenerous about someone with a sick child - well some people you just run out of generosity for! That is $73 I'll never see again. And I have to bitch about it somewhere.
I didn't mean to have a nap today but I lay down on my bed "for just a few minutes" after lunch and fell asleep straight away. My throat is still sore too. A bit better each day though.
We are getting alternating rain and warm sunshine at the moment. The garden is loving it - particularly the weeds! We haven't finished mulching the new garden beds at the back and the once bare earth is now a sea of purslane. We've had a few things from the vegetable patch: zucchini, cucumber, lettuce and beans, plus herbs. The only things that refuse to grow are the peas, they don't die but they sit there the same size as when I planted them out as seedlings two months ago. Snow peas and garden peas - three punnets of seedlings at two different times weeks apart. No idea why, I haven't had trouble with peas before. Everything else is rampant.
My weight this morning was 75.2 kg, up 0.1 kg from last week. I consider 0.1 kg maintenance rather than a gain, that is half a glass of water, but obviously I need to keep an eye on it. I've "gained" 0.1 kg two weeks in a row! I am not actively trying to lose right now (while sick and stressed, and after 3 months of dieting) but I do not want to undo what I have achieved.
I had another phone role-play exam this morning, where I pretend to be library staff and the teacher pretends to be a customer/other staff. I'm good at customer service and I know the subject matter because I study, but I still get gut-twistingly nervous. Literally spent 10 minutes on the toilet with cramps, panicking that I was going to get back to my desk too late and miss the call. I was the same before opening night when I did theatre. Once the performance starts I'm fine.
Several people asked me to buy them tickets for Jasmine's dance concert yesterday. One who had not paid me yet for her families' tickets called 10 minutes before the show started to say they had a sick child and couldn't come. I doubt the sick child needed both parents' care, why couldn't one parent plus other child come to the show? Or they could have called a little earlier so I could make other arrangements! Luckily I knew someone who wanted to come but couldn't get tickets and who lived very close, so I called them and left the spare tickets at the desk for them, they had made other plans so could only come for part of the show but at least they saw Jasmine's first routine and the tickets weren't totally wasted. If I sound ungenerous about someone with a sick child - well some people you just run out of generosity for! That is $73 I'll never see again. And I have to bitch about it somewhere.
I didn't mean to have a nap today but I lay down on my bed "for just a few minutes" after lunch and fell asleep straight away. My throat is still sore too. A bit better each day though.
We are getting alternating rain and warm sunshine at the moment. The garden is loving it - particularly the weeds! We haven't finished mulching the new garden beds at the back and the once bare earth is now a sea of purslane. We've had a few things from the vegetable patch: zucchini, cucumber, lettuce and beans, plus herbs. The only things that refuse to grow are the peas, they don't die but they sit there the same size as when I planted them out as seedlings two months ago. Snow peas and garden peas - three punnets of seedlings at two different times weeks apart. No idea why, I haven't had trouble with peas before. Everything else is rampant.
Prance and dance
Sunday:
On Friday I should have been studying but instead slept most of the day except doing the grocery shopping, where apparently I forgot some stuff I needed to get. But three naps in one day seemed to help and I was feeling a lot better by the weekend. Still not 100%, but a big improvement. Lucky, because we had a super-busy weekend.
On Saturday morning Jasmine had her State Final Acrobatic Gymnastics competition. It's an enormous venue, you can only see about a third of it in the picture. Here the gymnasts are lined up ready to start, Jasmine is at the back of the line wearing black closest to the camera. See the group in red, twice as big as any other school, at the far side? Yeah, they basically won everything.
Jasmine and her partner didn't make it to the podium, but she did get a 'gold band' medal - I guess equal fourth? So that is still an awesome result. She also goes up a level next year. I didn't get a great shot of her receiving her medal. I do have good videos of her actual performances (they do two routines, a slow 'balance' routine and a faster 'dynamic' one), and there is probably a way to take stills from that but that's a bit too technical for me.
Then we had about an hour at home before my niece Emma was delivered. We were babysitting so her parents could go to a wedding. She was here all afternoon and stayed overnight. As it was her very first sleepover, and she is only four and doesn't hesitate to air her opinions and feelings, we weren't sure how it was going to go, but it was fine. Tim took all the kids out to an indoor trampoline place in the afternoon so I could study, then we watched 'Sing' in the evening, and she went to sleep quite easily in Jasmine's room on a mattress (Jasmine had to stay in the room for the going to sleep bit even though it wasn't her own bedtime yet). And woke after 6am so I call that a win!
After she was picked up by a slightly headachy and hungover daddy, we only had a short time before heading off to the local Entertainment Centre for a day of Dance Concerts. Emma had her concert first (lucky she got a good night's sleep) with all the pre-schoolers. They are not exactly stellar dancers, but very cute. And only three left the stage in tears over the course of the morning. A few did just stand there with fingers in their mouth. Emma got distracted a couple of times waving to us in the audience, but otherwise got through her routines with confidence. Each group had a couple of teachers or older kids with them to help them remember the steps, and get them on and off stage.
Then in the afternoon it was Jasmine's turn. Not allowed to take photos, unfortunately, we have to buy official ones if we want any. The dance routines were rather more professional than the morning, the serious 'troupe' kids were really excellent. Jasmine was with the 'fun' group, doing tap dancing, modern/contemporary and jazz funk. (Aiden thinks it's hilarious that Jas dances jazz). She did really well, very enjoyable to watch. She still enjoys dance, but I think her focus is more on gymnastics now.
It was a very long day/weekend, and I have an exam tomorrow morning, but I think I'm well prepared and I'm feeling a lot healthier than I was a couple of days ago so that is good.
On Friday I should have been studying but instead slept most of the day except doing the grocery shopping, where apparently I forgot some stuff I needed to get. But three naps in one day seemed to help and I was feeling a lot better by the weekend. Still not 100%, but a big improvement. Lucky, because we had a super-busy weekend.
On Saturday morning Jasmine had her State Final Acrobatic Gymnastics competition. It's an enormous venue, you can only see about a third of it in the picture. Here the gymnasts are lined up ready to start, Jasmine is at the back of the line wearing black closest to the camera. See the group in red, twice as big as any other school, at the far side? Yeah, they basically won everything.
Jasmine and her partner didn't make it to the podium, but she did get a 'gold band' medal - I guess equal fourth? So that is still an awesome result. She also goes up a level next year. I didn't get a great shot of her receiving her medal. I do have good videos of her actual performances (they do two routines, a slow 'balance' routine and a faster 'dynamic' one), and there is probably a way to take stills from that but that's a bit too technical for me.
Then we had about an hour at home before my niece Emma was delivered. We were babysitting so her parents could go to a wedding. She was here all afternoon and stayed overnight. As it was her very first sleepover, and she is only four and doesn't hesitate to air her opinions and feelings, we weren't sure how it was going to go, but it was fine. Tim took all the kids out to an indoor trampoline place in the afternoon so I could study, then we watched 'Sing' in the evening, and she went to sleep quite easily in Jasmine's room on a mattress (Jasmine had to stay in the room for the going to sleep bit even though it wasn't her own bedtime yet). And woke after 6am so I call that a win!
After she was picked up by a slightly headachy and hungover daddy, we only had a short time before heading off to the local Entertainment Centre for a day of Dance Concerts. Emma had her concert first (lucky she got a good night's sleep) with all the pre-schoolers. They are not exactly stellar dancers, but very cute. And only three left the stage in tears over the course of the morning. A few did just stand there with fingers in their mouth. Emma got distracted a couple of times waving to us in the audience, but otherwise got through her routines with confidence. Each group had a couple of teachers or older kids with them to help them remember the steps, and get them on and off stage.
Then in the afternoon it was Jasmine's turn. Not allowed to take photos, unfortunately, we have to buy official ones if we want any. The dance routines were rather more professional than the morning, the serious 'troupe' kids were really excellent. Jasmine was with the 'fun' group, doing tap dancing, modern/contemporary and jazz funk. (Aiden thinks it's hilarious that Jas dances jazz). She did really well, very enjoyable to watch. She still enjoys dance, but I think her focus is more on gymnastics now.
It was a very long day/weekend, and I have an exam tomorrow morning, but I think I'm well prepared and I'm feeling a lot healthier than I was a couple of days ago so that is good.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Great day
Thursday:
Today was a great day. I had my cataloguing exam and I'm sure I aced it. And I enjoyed doing it! I had studied hard and was well prepared. I find the work something like solving a Sudoku or crossword puzzle, mentally challenging but in a good way with a sense of achievement when it's done. I am hoping for 100%, but I know it's likely I'll get something wrong that will have me saying 'doh' when I see it!
In my afternoon class I got my official result back from the face-to-face exam a few weeks ago. The teacher did give me great feedback at the time, but it was nice to see 'excellent' on the page!
And the third thing, chronologically first, was a big drop in weight overnight. When I weighed myself this morning I wasn't sure I believed it and had to weigh myself again to check. After three weeks of almost no loss, my weight had been going down each day this week but today a whole 0.7 kg drop. That gets me down to 76.2 kg! I have been eating more carefully but also exercising hard. I started up 'Dance Central' on the Xbox again, an hour each day of dripping sweat.
I'm sleeping much better and I'm feeling good.
The only thorn in my side is the ongoing pool heater drama. We need to get a final inspection certificate to say the pool is fully completed, safely fenced etc etc. We had fixed any interim issues, like the height of the fence, long ago. But then our neighbour complained about the potential noise from the heat pump, before it had even been turned on. And although once he heard it he said it was fine, that official complaint is out there being a nail in the wheel of progress. It's been going back and forth between us, the pool company who installed the heat pump, and the certifiers (who are very very slow to respond to anything). This has been going on forever! They came out to do their final inspection on 29 August, more than six weeks ago. I'm going to ask our neighbour to put it in writing that he is ok with it, and I also need to check that it is far enough from the boundary fence. Endless phone calls and emails back and forth.
Anyway, I'm not going to let that get me down. It will work out in the end. And I'm happy today!
Today was a great day. I had my cataloguing exam and I'm sure I aced it. And I enjoyed doing it! I had studied hard and was well prepared. I find the work something like solving a Sudoku or crossword puzzle, mentally challenging but in a good way with a sense of achievement when it's done. I am hoping for 100%, but I know it's likely I'll get something wrong that will have me saying 'doh' when I see it!
In my afternoon class I got my official result back from the face-to-face exam a few weeks ago. The teacher did give me great feedback at the time, but it was nice to see 'excellent' on the page!
And the third thing, chronologically first, was a big drop in weight overnight. When I weighed myself this morning I wasn't sure I believed it and had to weigh myself again to check. After three weeks of almost no loss, my weight had been going down each day this week but today a whole 0.7 kg drop. That gets me down to 76.2 kg! I have been eating more carefully but also exercising hard. I started up 'Dance Central' on the Xbox again, an hour each day of dripping sweat.
I'm sleeping much better and I'm feeling good.
The only thorn in my side is the ongoing pool heater drama. We need to get a final inspection certificate to say the pool is fully completed, safely fenced etc etc. We had fixed any interim issues, like the height of the fence, long ago. But then our neighbour complained about the potential noise from the heat pump, before it had even been turned on. And although once he heard it he said it was fine, that official complaint is out there being a nail in the wheel of progress. It's been going back and forth between us, the pool company who installed the heat pump, and the certifiers (who are very very slow to respond to anything). This has been going on forever! They came out to do their final inspection on 29 August, more than six weeks ago. I'm going to ask our neighbour to put it in writing that he is ok with it, and I also need to check that it is far enough from the boundary fence. Endless phone calls and emails back and forth.
Anyway, I'm not going to let that get me down. It will work out in the end. And I'm happy today!
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Day One
Wednesday:
For the record, I weighed in this morning at 83.8 kg.
I had my usual restless sleep last night, waking for a long time from around 5am then drifting off for a while into night sweats and frustrating dreams, then waking about 6:30 with a bit of a headache, when I got up and took my first pill. I mention the bad sleep and headache to show they predate taking the Duromine are not a side effect (necessarily) if/when it happens again. My night sweat frustration dream was funny, I couldn't find the diet pills and then was trying to weigh myself and had to wait in line for all my relatives to weigh themselves first and then the scales kept giving me crazy numbers like 2.5 kg or over 200 kg so I had to keep trying over again. Silly. I don't enjoy these dreams but I'm very glad I don't have scary nightmares instead, I can deal with a bit of frustration.
Early morning was much as usual, I never want breakfast and have to make myself eat so that I don't get suddenly ravenous mid-morning and make bad choices, no change there. Slight nausea after breakfast of homemade yoghurt with passionfruit and chia seeds. I've made a careful food plan for the next few days, just in case I lose all interest in eating - still have to nourish and fuel my body!
BTW the skin around my eyes is still sore and dry and inflamed after three days. I tried putting some soothing cream on but it stung like fury, which probably means the skin is broken. But then this morning I tried slices of cucumber on my eyes. So nice! And with lasting effect. Sometimes the old remedies are the best. Apple cider vinegar worked on my foot wart when none of the commercial preparations or freezing did.
When my Fitbit finished charging, I went and did some exercise. Half an hour of Just Dance (Xbox active game) then 10 mins Tai Chi to cool down. I felt a tiny bit lightheaded during dance and kept my eye on my heartrate (132bpm was the highest, which is fine, right in the zone. When I looked it up just now it said I should be able to talk but not sing - well I was trying to sing along to a couple of songs and really struggling so that was about right!) and made sure I was drinking. That is a lot more exercise than I usually do (ie mostly none) but I can't decide if the Duromine has actually given me more energy or if it's a kind of placebo effect, where I'm determined to make the most of any possible extra energy... whatever, I did it.
I was definitely hungry by lunchtime, certainly not 'no interest in food'. I had a nice stir fry of pork, cashews and vegetables. Again, a little nausea after eating, not too bad. I went for a walk after lunch, to the shops and back, 30 mins gentle exercise. My legs were tired, maybe after already exercising this morning, I found the hills hard. But that is a bit more exercise, a bit more fat gone!
But all this exercise meant less time to study today. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to.
I was hungry in the afternoon and ate my afternoon tea of fruit and cheese, and now dinner is cooking in the oven and I'm definitely hungry again!
Verdict after most of Day One: I've eaten less and exercised more with minimal side effects so that is a win. But I'm not sure how much is due to Duromine and how much to the general pattern of the first day of a new diet, when motivation and hope are high. Certainly no dramatic changes in the way I feel. Still interested in food. Which is not a bad thing! But I'll withhold judgement until I have a few more days under my (shrinking) belt.
For the record, I weighed in this morning at 83.8 kg.
I had my usual restless sleep last night, waking for a long time from around 5am then drifting off for a while into night sweats and frustrating dreams, then waking about 6:30 with a bit of a headache, when I got up and took my first pill. I mention the bad sleep and headache to show they predate taking the Duromine are not a side effect (necessarily) if/when it happens again. My night sweat frustration dream was funny, I couldn't find the diet pills and then was trying to weigh myself and had to wait in line for all my relatives to weigh themselves first and then the scales kept giving me crazy numbers like 2.5 kg or over 200 kg so I had to keep trying over again. Silly. I don't enjoy these dreams but I'm very glad I don't have scary nightmares instead, I can deal with a bit of frustration.
Early morning was much as usual, I never want breakfast and have to make myself eat so that I don't get suddenly ravenous mid-morning and make bad choices, no change there. Slight nausea after breakfast of homemade yoghurt with passionfruit and chia seeds. I've made a careful food plan for the next few days, just in case I lose all interest in eating - still have to nourish and fuel my body!
BTW the skin around my eyes is still sore and dry and inflamed after three days. I tried putting some soothing cream on but it stung like fury, which probably means the skin is broken. But then this morning I tried slices of cucumber on my eyes. So nice! And with lasting effect. Sometimes the old remedies are the best. Apple cider vinegar worked on my foot wart when none of the commercial preparations or freezing did.
When my Fitbit finished charging, I went and did some exercise. Half an hour of Just Dance (Xbox active game) then 10 mins Tai Chi to cool down. I felt a tiny bit lightheaded during dance and kept my eye on my heartrate (132bpm was the highest, which is fine, right in the zone. When I looked it up just now it said I should be able to talk but not sing - well I was trying to sing along to a couple of songs and really struggling so that was about right!) and made sure I was drinking. That is a lot more exercise than I usually do (ie mostly none) but I can't decide if the Duromine has actually given me more energy or if it's a kind of placebo effect, where I'm determined to make the most of any possible extra energy... whatever, I did it.
I was definitely hungry by lunchtime, certainly not 'no interest in food'. I had a nice stir fry of pork, cashews and vegetables. Again, a little nausea after eating, not too bad. I went for a walk after lunch, to the shops and back, 30 mins gentle exercise. My legs were tired, maybe after already exercising this morning, I found the hills hard. But that is a bit more exercise, a bit more fat gone!
But all this exercise meant less time to study today. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to.
I was hungry in the afternoon and ate my afternoon tea of fruit and cheese, and now dinner is cooking in the oven and I'm definitely hungry again!
Verdict after most of Day One: I've eaten less and exercised more with minimal side effects so that is a win. But I'm not sure how much is due to Duromine and how much to the general pattern of the first day of a new diet, when motivation and hope are high. Certainly no dramatic changes in the way I feel. Still interested in food. Which is not a bad thing! But I'll withhold judgement until I have a few more days under my (shrinking) belt.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Still me
Thursday:
I hadn't realised I'd gone so long without a post... only four days I think but I used to post every day and even now at least every second day. Haven't had a lot to write about I guess. Health/diet has been much the same; I start every day well but end up eating some kind of unhealthy treat by the end of the day. I'm maintaining my weight, which is better than gaining but not as good as losing! Somehow I yet again deluded myself that a New Year would transform me into a different person who reacted differently to temptation and found exercise appealing. Well guess what, it's 2017 and I'm still me!
Tim is back at work this week. Today the kids and I went to see the movie "Sing" which we really enjoyed. It's animated, animals in a singing competition. Themes of being yourself, striving for goals etc. Cute and great singing.
It's only a 15 minute drive from here to the movies but Aiden fell asleep in the car on the way there, in the middle of the day. We've all been sick, on and off, since before Christmas with some kind of flu. Sore throats, headaches, runny noses, sneezing and coughing. The usual, nothing too serious. It got to Aiden last. I thought he seemed well today but I guess the falling asleep during the day - very unlike him - shows not.
Today I did some Xbox Kinect dancing, I only managed 15 minutes. I remember the days when I could do more than an hour. Jasmine danced with me, I don't think she broke a sweat. I had to go and have a shower. One thing I hate about exercise is I continue to feel very hot and keep sweating for at least half an hour or more afterwards, even after a cool shower. But annoying or not, I can't let that stop me. I'll build up again! And maybe when I'm fit I won't get so red-faced and sweaty for so long!
I hadn't realised I'd gone so long without a post... only four days I think but I used to post every day and even now at least every second day. Haven't had a lot to write about I guess. Health/diet has been much the same; I start every day well but end up eating some kind of unhealthy treat by the end of the day. I'm maintaining my weight, which is better than gaining but not as good as losing! Somehow I yet again deluded myself that a New Year would transform me into a different person who reacted differently to temptation and found exercise appealing. Well guess what, it's 2017 and I'm still me!
Tim is back at work this week. Today the kids and I went to see the movie "Sing" which we really enjoyed. It's animated, animals in a singing competition. Themes of being yourself, striving for goals etc. Cute and great singing.
It's only a 15 minute drive from here to the movies but Aiden fell asleep in the car on the way there, in the middle of the day. We've all been sick, on and off, since before Christmas with some kind of flu. Sore throats, headaches, runny noses, sneezing and coughing. The usual, nothing too serious. It got to Aiden last. I thought he seemed well today but I guess the falling asleep during the day - very unlike him - shows not.
Today I did some Xbox Kinect dancing, I only managed 15 minutes. I remember the days when I could do more than an hour. Jasmine danced with me, I don't think she broke a sweat. I had to go and have a shower. One thing I hate about exercise is I continue to feel very hot and keep sweating for at least half an hour or more afterwards, even after a cool shower. But annoying or not, I can't let that stop me. I'll build up again! And maybe when I'm fit I won't get so red-faced and sweaty for so long!
Sunday, November 20, 2016
50 pages
Monday:
Most exciting news first... the literary agent I sent my synopsis to last week has asked to see the first 50 pages! So a) she is looking for that specific kind of fiction b) she thought my story sounded interesting and c) she found my writing style acceptable. Yay! I sent the first 50 pages to her this afternoon, it will probably be several weeks before I hear from her again. And Christmas might make that even longer... arg the stress!
What else happened. On Saturday Jasmine went to a pool party and got quite sunburned, as she often does, despite sunscreen. We will definitely need some kind of shade-cloth to protect part of our pool area. The pool guy hadn't finished on Friday, maybe he went home a bit early because it was so hot. He was back again all day Saturday to finish, and has now taken all his tools away. The pool now has these plastic bits holding the steel cables in place ready for the concrete pour.
I had to learn to French braid Jasmine's hair because it is the signature style for her dance school. And I glued false eyelashes on her! Here she is with little Emma and aunty Ping after the show. Ping is a couple of weeks away from having baby number two, I think she found the long day very tiring.
Today, aside from the excitement of getting asked for a partial manuscript, I spent the time dealing with tradesmen. Andrew came back and put the posts for our pergola back on (the concrete for the pool is being poured on Thursday but they don't need much room for that as they use a big hose from the truck to the backyard) and an electrician was here for nearly five hours fixing all the lighting problems we've had for months. I should be able to read in the evening again, somewhere other than in the bath! It was the only place with really good light. Craig installed two new lights and fixed five others in various rooms so it was a big job.
Oh and lastly Monday is my weigh-in day, I was up 0.3 kg which I expected after a rather dodgy week, and eating out twice yesterday. Also I've been losing a decent amount every second week then maintaining or a little gain the other weeks. It's fine. If I weighed fortnightly I would only see the downward trend. I just like knowing day by day, and the fluctuations don't bother me.
PS Brandon you haven't posted for a while, are you ok?
Most exciting news first... the literary agent I sent my synopsis to last week has asked to see the first 50 pages! So a) she is looking for that specific kind of fiction b) she thought my story sounded interesting and c) she found my writing style acceptable. Yay! I sent the first 50 pages to her this afternoon, it will probably be several weeks before I hear from her again. And Christmas might make that even longer... arg the stress!
What else happened. On Saturday Jasmine went to a pool party and got quite sunburned, as she often does, despite sunscreen. We will definitely need some kind of shade-cloth to protect part of our pool area. The pool guy hadn't finished on Friday, maybe he went home a bit early because it was so hot. He was back again all day Saturday to finish, and has now taken all his tools away. The pool now has these plastic bits holding the steel cables in place ready for the concrete pour.
We spent the whole day Sunday watching dance performances. Jasmine and my niece Emma both go to the same dance school; Emma's concert was in the morning - leaning towards the little kids (Emma is three) but also with some older groups; Jasmine's was in the afternoon. Jas and Emma both performed well. The whole day was very professionally organised, most of the dancing was polished and the changeovers between dance acts swift. Very enjoyable day. The littlest kids were funny, in every group there was at least one little girl who just stood staring wide-eyed at the audience and didn't dance or move. One boy cried and was taken off, one girl started screaming the moment the lights came on stage. She sat there and screamed and screamed until she was carried away. The little kids had their teachers with them on stage dancing with them. Emma kicked off a shoe while dancing but calmly sat and put it back on then continued dancing. Jasmine does tap, modern/contemporary and jazz funk and was great. She is considering resuming ballet next year as well.
The dance school has a 15 year tradition that they get some of the dads of children in the troupe (the professional kids not ones in the "fun" groups) to dance at the end of the concert. It was hilariously entertaining. This year for the first time they danced with their daughters. There was a medley with different dads coming on with their children (only one son that I noticed, the rest girls) and doing disco, hip hop and a really moving sort of waltz. For that they played a song I haven't heard about dancing with Cinderella and daughters growing up, and it finishes with a line about Cinderella kissing you at midnight then she's gone (i.e. all grown up). I got so teary! If Jasmine joins the troupe I can totally see Tim enjoying being part of that dad's dance.
Between the two shows we had lunch and had to hang around because Jasmine had to be there early to get ready (actually we could have gone home for a while but I was enjoying being out). We sat at the little café then lay on the grass in the park next to the theatre, reading and playing with iPads. It was really lovely. I took this photo looking up at the tree I was lying under.
I had to learn to French braid Jasmine's hair because it is the signature style for her dance school. And I glued false eyelashes on her! Here she is with little Emma and aunty Ping after the show. Ping is a couple of weeks away from having baby number two, I think she found the long day very tiring.
Oh and lastly Monday is my weigh-in day, I was up 0.3 kg which I expected after a rather dodgy week, and eating out twice yesterday. Also I've been losing a decent amount every second week then maintaining or a little gain the other weeks. It's fine. If I weighed fortnightly I would only see the downward trend. I just like knowing day by day, and the fluctuations don't bother me.
PS Brandon you haven't posted for a while, are you ok?
Friday, July 22, 2016
Risque review
Friday:
For Christmas Tim was given a voucher for theatre tickets and last night he finally used them and we went to see "Risqué Review" which was dinner and burlesque cabaret. A cousin came over to babysit the kids, and I met Tim in the city after work. I was a bit dubious but it turned out to be really good. There was a singer with a very nice voice, three dancing girls in a variety of skimpy costumes (but no more revealing than you'd see on a beach and probably more modest than many music videos these days!) and one man who was mainly a prop for the ladies but then he took his shirt off and did a very impressive pole dance! Very strong. But he was kind of brooding and intense (which may have just been his stage persona), for attractiveness I preferred our waiter who was cute and always smiling.
The most memorable performance was one lady in a bath. They wheeled out a claw-foot bath on a pedestal, with a girl in a bikini (in real water). There was a trapeze hoop suspended above and she swung and flipped herself around very acrobatically. They handed out umbrellas to the patrons! I only saw one lady use hers though, most people didn't mind getting splashed a little when the performer flipped her hair or spun in circles with water drops flying off her legs.
The food was also excellent which I didn't expect at all. It was a great night. We got home 11:30 or so, way past my bed time!
Today I did the grocery shopping and some more book-thinking. Some ideas are coming together.
For Christmas Tim was given a voucher for theatre tickets and last night he finally used them and we went to see "Risqué Review" which was dinner and burlesque cabaret. A cousin came over to babysit the kids, and I met Tim in the city after work. I was a bit dubious but it turned out to be really good. There was a singer with a very nice voice, three dancing girls in a variety of skimpy costumes (but no more revealing than you'd see on a beach and probably more modest than many music videos these days!) and one man who was mainly a prop for the ladies but then he took his shirt off and did a very impressive pole dance! Very strong. But he was kind of brooding and intense (which may have just been his stage persona), for attractiveness I preferred our waiter who was cute and always smiling.
The most memorable performance was one lady in a bath. They wheeled out a claw-foot bath on a pedestal, with a girl in a bikini (in real water). There was a trapeze hoop suspended above and she swung and flipped herself around very acrobatically. They handed out umbrellas to the patrons! I only saw one lady use hers though, most people didn't mind getting splashed a little when the performer flipped her hair or spun in circles with water drops flying off her legs.
The food was also excellent which I didn't expect at all. It was a great night. We got home 11:30 or so, way past my bed time!
Today I did the grocery shopping and some more book-thinking. Some ideas are coming together.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Valentine's Day
Sunday:
Valentine's Day for us (and I think most of Australia) means giving your partner chocolates and/or flowers, maybe going out for dinner if you book a restaurant far enough in advance. Not a big deal. Any traditions from other parts of the world?
I specifically gave Tim permission to give me chocolates, I wasn't quite expecting this (photo after some were eaten - I shared of course!):
Valentine's Day for us (and I think most of Australia) means giving your partner chocolates and/or flowers, maybe going out for dinner if you book a restaurant far enough in advance. Not a big deal. Any traditions from other parts of the world?
I specifically gave Tim permission to give me chocolates, I wasn't quite expecting this (photo after some were eaten - I shared of course!):
That is a lot of Lindor balls! It came wrapped like it was one huge Lindor ball.
He also gave me flowers. I gave him a smaller box of the same kind of chocolates.
He also gave me flowers. I gave him a smaller box of the same kind of chocolates.
Exercise was a bit less strenuous than yesterday - a lot of my muscles were quite sore! All up and down my back. Makes me feel like I did something yesterday! Also (not so good) my knees hurt when I tried to jump today. So today I just did half an hour of dance.
We spent a quiet day together, including doing some colouring-in all sitting around the kitchen table. Family over for Sunday dinner.
My favourite part of Valentine's Day wasn't very romantic. I've had this yucky wart on the sole of my foot for weeks, it was uncomfortable with every step I took which was very inconvenient. I've been treating it with caustic stuff for a week or so and today it finally came off! Gross, but now I can walk without pain which is so nice.
Happy Valentine's.
We spent a quiet day together, including doing some colouring-in all sitting around the kitchen table. Family over for Sunday dinner.
My favourite part of Valentine's Day wasn't very romantic. I've had this yucky wart on the sole of my foot for weeks, it was uncomfortable with every step I took which was very inconvenient. I've been treating it with caustic stuff for a week or so and today it finally came off! Gross, but now I can walk without pain which is so nice.
Happy Valentine's.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Jump
Saturday:
My original exercise plan for 2016 was to walk regularly to build up my fitness a bit then go to the gym. Well I'm not walking regularly, not getting any fitter, and the one time I visited the local gym after the move I didn't like it. So, new plan!
Taking inspiration from the fact I get so much pleasure from my guitar lesson app - as well as being inherently fun to make music, the app gives you instant feedback and gives you goals to strive for - I decided to go back to my Xbox Kinect games. So what if I'm humiliatingly unfit? I'll just do what I can.
We have quite a lot of active games, mainly dance, and in many of them I already have 5 stars (or the equivalent) in every challenge. So now I have the choice of redoing my favourites with the slight downside that I've already achieved everything, or revisiting games I didn't like as much like the newest dance editions, or go back to games I didn't finish because they were too hard. I don't like the new dance editions, btw, because I don't know or like most of the songs and also the interface sucks. In Just Dance 2016 you have to go through seven screens to move on to the next dance each time! And every one of those seven screens you have to get it to register that you are holding your hand on exactly the right spot in space. It's very frustrating.
Today I started with 15 minutes on one of the newer dance games (Dance Central 4), unpleasant hip hop music that I've never heard and one fun Katy Perry song. I was pretty tired after 15 minutes, that is a lot more energetic than walking! Then I switched to Kinect Adventures, which I completed long ago, it has a variety of games and I did the hardest of all, River Rush. This is extremely intense (for me, anyway!) with lots of jumping as high as you can. After each 90 second burst I was literally reeling around the lounge room trying to catch my breath. I did 15 minutes somehow, with sweat pouring off my face. 45 minutes later after a cool shower I was still bright red in the face.
I felt like I actually did some exercise today!
Also ate ice cream.
My original exercise plan for 2016 was to walk regularly to build up my fitness a bit then go to the gym. Well I'm not walking regularly, not getting any fitter, and the one time I visited the local gym after the move I didn't like it. So, new plan!
Taking inspiration from the fact I get so much pleasure from my guitar lesson app - as well as being inherently fun to make music, the app gives you instant feedback and gives you goals to strive for - I decided to go back to my Xbox Kinect games. So what if I'm humiliatingly unfit? I'll just do what I can.
We have quite a lot of active games, mainly dance, and in many of them I already have 5 stars (or the equivalent) in every challenge. So now I have the choice of redoing my favourites with the slight downside that I've already achieved everything, or revisiting games I didn't like as much like the newest dance editions, or go back to games I didn't finish because they were too hard. I don't like the new dance editions, btw, because I don't know or like most of the songs and also the interface sucks. In Just Dance 2016 you have to go through seven screens to move on to the next dance each time! And every one of those seven screens you have to get it to register that you are holding your hand on exactly the right spot in space. It's very frustrating.
Today I started with 15 minutes on one of the newer dance games (Dance Central 4), unpleasant hip hop music that I've never heard and one fun Katy Perry song. I was pretty tired after 15 minutes, that is a lot more energetic than walking! Then I switched to Kinect Adventures, which I completed long ago, it has a variety of games and I did the hardest of all, River Rush. This is extremely intense (for me, anyway!) with lots of jumping as high as you can. After each 90 second burst I was literally reeling around the lounge room trying to catch my breath. I did 15 minutes somehow, with sweat pouring off my face. 45 minutes later after a cool shower I was still bright red in the face.
I felt like I actually did some exercise today!
Also ate ice cream.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Nope
nday:
I got up and weighed myself with plenty of time to then go for a walk. But my weight was up! Way up! I crawled back into bed and sulked. I felt fat and horrible. Was it delayed reaction from bad party food? Can't have been what I ate yesterday. Then I realised it was just about that time of the month when I retain water - and also that time of the month when it is harder to cope when the scale turns evil! My mood was not good. But at least I had a reason for half a kilogram of weight gain.
I had things planned for the day but I just wanted to stay in bed and wait until it was all over. Distracting myself was probably the better idea, but without getting too worried if I didn't get everything I wanted done.
Saw a redback spider in the garage. Highly venomous. Now I have that to be paranoid about. Sydney, with its hot wet climate, is a home of many kinds of "nopes". So called because you see one then turn around and walk in the other direction saying "nope, nope, nope." Then you get a flamethrower and burn the house to the ground. I sprayed, but don't know if I got it.
There were still some elusive things the kids needed for school that didn't seem to be available in shops I visited locally. So I drove to an Officeworks store, only 15 mins away but on the wrong side of a busy main road so it took a bit of navigating. And they still didn't have everything I needed! But at least I found the specific calculator on Jasmine's list. Then the grocery shopping. It was raining when I left the supermarket, which made me feel guilty because I'd convinced Jasmine not to take a bulky jumper to school in her already overcrowded backpack, I still think it was pretty warm but she might disagree.
While having my lunch I watched US Biggest Loser (an old one I think, but I haven't seen it before). I know a lot of people don't like the show but I love it. Anyway, the episode finished then another one came on! Two in a row. And I watched it. Which is going to be a problem if that is every day. I don't need to be sitting watching TV two hours every afternoon. Quite the opposite. But "record it and watch it later" doesn't work, I watch TV every night from about 7:30, and as-of tonight all my favourite shows are starting up again after the summer holiday break. I'm really going to need to manage my time and my TV allowance. It is a pleasant relaxation, but hours spent in front of the TV are hours not doing something else.
I did 45 minutes guitar practice. I am progressing well with finger picking (one note at a time) but terrible with chords. However at the end of today's session I finally got E and Am, changing back and forth, and passed the skill challenge to progress. Yay! But when I tried it again I was all over the place. My fingers were tired by then, time to stop and do it again tomorrow. Definite progress today.
No writing today, because of the whole morning out shopping then the afternoon TV and guitar until the kids got home. I will work harder tomorrow, first priority. Writing this book is my job at the moment, I need to make time for it and get it done.
Breakfast was bacon, tomato and a nectarine. The fridge was almost empty until I went shopping. No cucumbers!
Lunch was tomato soup and some sharp Epicure cheese.
I was rather proud of my shopping, considering, not buying any junk, even though there was a little voice saying "you know you always give in this time of the month so you might as well just give in now", but that doesn't mean the house was a safe junk-free zone. Veronica insisted on leaving some of that s'mores brownie here on Saturday night. When I objected she said Jasmine would like it and how could I argue with that? Jas had some yesterday and I was fine, not interested. But when the kids got home today Jasmine had another piece. She sat eating it near me. I made the firm decision "no" and that was the end of it. Except it wasn't. And I got myself a piece. A big piece. Aiden asked if he could have the marshmallow topping so I just had the brownie part, but it was still a big slice of rich fudgy sugar. And I ate it all, even after I started to quickly feel a bit sick.
So, that was a fail. I am not going to beat myself up about it, but I am very aware that I have certain scripts in my head that I need to combat. Like "you cannot resist chips" and "you cannot resist chocolate when you have PMS". There is a difference between knowing myself and my vulnerabilities, and letting my evil twin convince me there is going to be an automatic collapse of willpower. I am also working on "you always fail at losing weight". I am not at home to self-sabotage!
Jasmine had her first dance classes here at her new dance school tonight. Both classes are on the same day, I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. First tap dancing, which she is new to, and then jazz, which she has been doing for several years. She didn't want to continue ballet, which I am quite glad about. It seems to be bad for your feet and also promotes extreme skinniness. She had a good time at her classes, but she's very shy and still lurking up the back of the room as much as possible.
Dinner was satay chicken and lots of vegetables. I was going to have quinoa with it, but cut that due to the afternoon snack. I had it on a bed of lettuce. I'm the only one who likes quinoa, everyone else has rice. I plan to try some other new things like lentils that I don't usually eat, once I can find recipes to make then palatable.
I didn't like the "after" photo but here are the vegetables for the satay.
It was a mixed day, but overall I did pretty well. And I've thrown out the last bit of that brownie!
I got up and weighed myself with plenty of time to then go for a walk. But my weight was up! Way up! I crawled back into bed and sulked. I felt fat and horrible. Was it delayed reaction from bad party food? Can't have been what I ate yesterday. Then I realised it was just about that time of the month when I retain water - and also that time of the month when it is harder to cope when the scale turns evil! My mood was not good. But at least I had a reason for half a kilogram of weight gain.
I had things planned for the day but I just wanted to stay in bed and wait until it was all over. Distracting myself was probably the better idea, but without getting too worried if I didn't get everything I wanted done.
Saw a redback spider in the garage. Highly venomous. Now I have that to be paranoid about. Sydney, with its hot wet climate, is a home of many kinds of "nopes". So called because you see one then turn around and walk in the other direction saying "nope, nope, nope." Then you get a flamethrower and burn the house to the ground. I sprayed, but don't know if I got it.
There were still some elusive things the kids needed for school that didn't seem to be available in shops I visited locally. So I drove to an Officeworks store, only 15 mins away but on the wrong side of a busy main road so it took a bit of navigating. And they still didn't have everything I needed! But at least I found the specific calculator on Jasmine's list. Then the grocery shopping. It was raining when I left the supermarket, which made me feel guilty because I'd convinced Jasmine not to take a bulky jumper to school in her already overcrowded backpack, I still think it was pretty warm but she might disagree.
While having my lunch I watched US Biggest Loser (an old one I think, but I haven't seen it before). I know a lot of people don't like the show but I love it. Anyway, the episode finished then another one came on! Two in a row. And I watched it. Which is going to be a problem if that is every day. I don't need to be sitting watching TV two hours every afternoon. Quite the opposite. But "record it and watch it later" doesn't work, I watch TV every night from about 7:30, and as-of tonight all my favourite shows are starting up again after the summer holiday break. I'm really going to need to manage my time and my TV allowance. It is a pleasant relaxation, but hours spent in front of the TV are hours not doing something else.
I did 45 minutes guitar practice. I am progressing well with finger picking (one note at a time) but terrible with chords. However at the end of today's session I finally got E and Am, changing back and forth, and passed the skill challenge to progress. Yay! But when I tried it again I was all over the place. My fingers were tired by then, time to stop and do it again tomorrow. Definite progress today.
No writing today, because of the whole morning out shopping then the afternoon TV and guitar until the kids got home. I will work harder tomorrow, first priority. Writing this book is my job at the moment, I need to make time for it and get it done.
Breakfast was bacon, tomato and a nectarine. The fridge was almost empty until I went shopping. No cucumbers!
Lunch was tomato soup and some sharp Epicure cheese.
I was rather proud of my shopping, considering, not buying any junk, even though there was a little voice saying "you know you always give in this time of the month so you might as well just give in now", but that doesn't mean the house was a safe junk-free zone. Veronica insisted on leaving some of that s'mores brownie here on Saturday night. When I objected she said Jasmine would like it and how could I argue with that? Jas had some yesterday and I was fine, not interested. But when the kids got home today Jasmine had another piece. She sat eating it near me. I made the firm decision "no" and that was the end of it. Except it wasn't. And I got myself a piece. A big piece. Aiden asked if he could have the marshmallow topping so I just had the brownie part, but it was still a big slice of rich fudgy sugar. And I ate it all, even after I started to quickly feel a bit sick.
So, that was a fail. I am not going to beat myself up about it, but I am very aware that I have certain scripts in my head that I need to combat. Like "you cannot resist chips" and "you cannot resist chocolate when you have PMS". There is a difference between knowing myself and my vulnerabilities, and letting my evil twin convince me there is going to be an automatic collapse of willpower. I am also working on "you always fail at losing weight". I am not at home to self-sabotage!
Jasmine had her first dance classes here at her new dance school tonight. Both classes are on the same day, I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. First tap dancing, which she is new to, and then jazz, which she has been doing for several years. She didn't want to continue ballet, which I am quite glad about. It seems to be bad for your feet and also promotes extreme skinniness. She had a good time at her classes, but she's very shy and still lurking up the back of the room as much as possible.
Dinner was satay chicken and lots of vegetables. I was going to have quinoa with it, but cut that due to the afternoon snack. I had it on a bed of lettuce. I'm the only one who likes quinoa, everyone else has rice. I plan to try some other new things like lentils that I don't usually eat, once I can find recipes to make then palatable.
I didn't like the "after" photo but here are the vegetables for the satay.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
New Years Eve
Thursday:
I woke this morning feeling rather depressed for no particular reason. Melancholy. I'm glad 2015 is over, I want to move on.
My resolutions are simple. Get healthy, which I've already started, and polish up my book and submit for publication. I can't control what happens to my novel after that but at least I can get it to as good as I am capable of, send it out there, and never regret what could have been.
I went out for a short walk first thing, only 15 minutes around the block but at least it was something! My feet are fine but the back of my legs just below the knee are a bit sunburned, also the backs of my arms, from lying face-down on the beach. Jasmine also got a bit singed here and there. We tried so hard, but we are just so fair-skinned. The boys, with slightly more olive skin, were fine. Later in the morning I did 15 minutes of Dance so that brought up my 30.
I was worried it was going to be a difficult day for food. We had the option of going into the city for a party at Tim's office with a good view of the fireworks over Sydney harbour (they have one session of fireworks at 9:00 for kids then another at 12:00, we would have just stayed for the early one) but decided to spend the evening with family instead, our first year back in Sydney. I wasn't worried about dinner at Nick and Ping's house, I was sure I could negotiate whatever they served, but then there was also all the treats in the evening to moderate! Could I just have a small amount, or would that open the floodgates? At least I could take all the leftover Christmas stuff from here and get it out of my house.
Then Tim arranged for us to pop around to his dad's place at lunchtime. I didn't mind a visit, even though we would be seeing him in the evening anyway, but lunchtime?! Another meal to negotiate. And I thought it would probably be pizza ordered in. Of course I could take along my own prepared lunch, and eat it while smelling delicious pepperoni. I'm really trying not to make things too hard for myself. So I asked Tim to change the time of the visit to make it not during a meal.
For breakfast I had yoghurt with a mango. I'd planned eggs for today but the mango looked and smelled awesome and I wanted something light and fresh. No reason not to shuffle my meals around. I've been doing that a lot already. Lunch was healthy leftovers. In the afternoon we went to Tim's dad's place for a while. I took along some grapes and they had cake and biscuits, I didn't eat anything but had a cup of tea. When we got home I lay on the bed for a while resting then started thinking about how I was going to allow myself to have some treats later in the evening and I was looking forward to it and I remembered I had lots of treats in my Christmas stocking and I got up and did some eating! Three fun-size cheese and bacon flavour Cheetos and a marshmallow Santa. 415 calories in all. Not a win for Natalie vs temptation! But I have the comfort of knowing that all the Cheetos are gone now. I have chocolate left but it is not a trigger food for me, I can choose to have a little bit and stop. Anything chip-like and I eat until it's gone. I'm pretty amazed those Cheetos stayed in the stocking for nearly a week!
One result of my little binge was that I felt a bit sick after. It wasn't even that much food, those fun-size bags are pretty small. Enough to make me feel ill. Oh, but they were so tasty! Salty and crunchy and cheesy. Maybe it was the sickly marshmallow that upset my tummy. It's going to be a while before I have a "take it or leave it" attitude to chips like I do to most sweet foods. I'll get there. Eventually.
We went to dinner at Nick and Pings. We ate roast duck, which is one of my favourites but very fatty. And some garlic bread. I had two bites of chocolate but no other snacks, no dessert and no alcohol. In the end about 700 calories over my normal daily budget. I'm ok with that for NYE.
We all played a dance game, having so many people I was only in every 4th dance, probably another 15-20 mins exercise. We watched the early fireworks on TV then played with sparklers outside.
Then some Guitar Hero, which is a single person game so I didn't think it was very good for a party, boring for the rest of us, then it was 10:00 and I brought the kids home to bed. I'm tired. Tim stayed at his brother's to see in midnight (I'll be asleep by then), he'll get a lift home later.
I'll leave you with a photo I took this afternoon of my bedroom in the late afternoon sunlight. I think it looks pretty.
Happy New Year everyone, and I hope 2016 is wonderful for us all.
I woke this morning feeling rather depressed for no particular reason. Melancholy. I'm glad 2015 is over, I want to move on.
My resolutions are simple. Get healthy, which I've already started, and polish up my book and submit for publication. I can't control what happens to my novel after that but at least I can get it to as good as I am capable of, send it out there, and never regret what could have been.
I went out for a short walk first thing, only 15 minutes around the block but at least it was something! My feet are fine but the back of my legs just below the knee are a bit sunburned, also the backs of my arms, from lying face-down on the beach. Jasmine also got a bit singed here and there. We tried so hard, but we are just so fair-skinned. The boys, with slightly more olive skin, were fine. Later in the morning I did 15 minutes of Dance so that brought up my 30.
I was worried it was going to be a difficult day for food. We had the option of going into the city for a party at Tim's office with a good view of the fireworks over Sydney harbour (they have one session of fireworks at 9:00 for kids then another at 12:00, we would have just stayed for the early one) but decided to spend the evening with family instead, our first year back in Sydney. I wasn't worried about dinner at Nick and Ping's house, I was sure I could negotiate whatever they served, but then there was also all the treats in the evening to moderate! Could I just have a small amount, or would that open the floodgates? At least I could take all the leftover Christmas stuff from here and get it out of my house.
Then Tim arranged for us to pop around to his dad's place at lunchtime. I didn't mind a visit, even though we would be seeing him in the evening anyway, but lunchtime?! Another meal to negotiate. And I thought it would probably be pizza ordered in. Of course I could take along my own prepared lunch, and eat it while smelling delicious pepperoni. I'm really trying not to make things too hard for myself. So I asked Tim to change the time of the visit to make it not during a meal.
For breakfast I had yoghurt with a mango. I'd planned eggs for today but the mango looked and smelled awesome and I wanted something light and fresh. No reason not to shuffle my meals around. I've been doing that a lot already. Lunch was healthy leftovers. In the afternoon we went to Tim's dad's place for a while. I took along some grapes and they had cake and biscuits, I didn't eat anything but had a cup of tea. When we got home I lay on the bed for a while resting then started thinking about how I was going to allow myself to have some treats later in the evening and I was looking forward to it and I remembered I had lots of treats in my Christmas stocking and I got up and did some eating! Three fun-size cheese and bacon flavour Cheetos and a marshmallow Santa. 415 calories in all. Not a win for Natalie vs temptation! But I have the comfort of knowing that all the Cheetos are gone now. I have chocolate left but it is not a trigger food for me, I can choose to have a little bit and stop. Anything chip-like and I eat until it's gone. I'm pretty amazed those Cheetos stayed in the stocking for nearly a week!
One result of my little binge was that I felt a bit sick after. It wasn't even that much food, those fun-size bags are pretty small. Enough to make me feel ill. Oh, but they were so tasty! Salty and crunchy and cheesy. Maybe it was the sickly marshmallow that upset my tummy. It's going to be a while before I have a "take it or leave it" attitude to chips like I do to most sweet foods. I'll get there. Eventually.
We went to dinner at Nick and Pings. We ate roast duck, which is one of my favourites but very fatty. And some garlic bread. I had two bites of chocolate but no other snacks, no dessert and no alcohol. In the end about 700 calories over my normal daily budget. I'm ok with that for NYE.
We all played a dance game, having so many people I was only in every 4th dance, probably another 15-20 mins exercise. We watched the early fireworks on TV then played with sparklers outside.
I'll leave you with a photo I took this afternoon of my bedroom in the late afternoon sunlight. I think it looks pretty.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Avoiding temptation
Tuesday:
I went for a walk this morning before breakfast, 30 minutes along the other side of the creek and back. Like on this side, there are houses on one side of the road but often the other side is bushland. (That dirt track isn't the road, by the way, it's a path leading down to the creek!)
I diverted into every little side street as I went, there were lots of short cul-de-sacs on the quite steep hill. The suburb name over there starts with a B, and so far every street I've traversed on a couple of visits starts with a B. Some town planners idea of a good time. Seems a bit confusing to me, if you are looking for a particular street and they all sound the same.
I got home and had breakfast, home-made Greek-style yoghurt with fresh mango. Delicious! I had that for dessert the other day, but it feels like a virtuous breakfast too. I don't know how to turn the photo right-side up.
My sister-in-law invited us out for lunch at Yum Cha. If you haven't had it, Yum Cha is authentic Chinese food they bring around endlessly on little trolleys and stamp your card for what you eat so you know how much to pay at the end. It can be a bit challenging if you are used to Westernised Chinese food, and also the waitresses might not speak a lot of English, but Ping is Chinese so she can translate everything and tell us what is in all the dishes. I love Yum Cha (some of it! not the chicken feet or beef tendons!) but I just couldn't see how I could negotiate it on day two of a new diet. Lots of dumplings and rice noodles and salt and who knows what in the sauces. Either I would be tempted to overeat or frustrated trying to pick out a few prawns and vegetables. So we declined. I won't avoid restaurants for the rest of my life but that was just a tricky one. One temptation conquered!
For a morning snack I made myself some vegetable broth. A variety of vegetables simmered for half an hour with a dash of chilli flakes, then strain the mushy vegetables out (and simmer them again with more water for another batch, still full of flavour). It makes a tasty and surprisingly filling snack, and counts as a drink as well. I'm not really sure how many calories it has. I don't eat the veges (too mushy), but the broth is full of flavour so something from the vegetables must permeate it. Well, vegetables don't have many calories anyway so I don't worry about it. I count it as 20 calories per mug, which my tracker suggests for commercial vegetable stock. But mine has no salt!
Jasmine did my Dance game for over an hour (so much fitter than me!) and I joined her for 15 minutes of that, getting in a bit of extra exercise. Then made a delicious salad with slices of lamb and cheese on top - I forgot to take a photo. All this healthy eating is time consuming!
Second temptation of the day was after lunch when the kids were eating treats from their Christmas stockings. I love Cheetos but they are a real trigger food for me. Not ready for that level of difficulty yet. I left the room and brushed my teeth.
In the afternoon we went to Putt Putt golf (mini golf) with Ping and family. It was an indoor course with the theme of having crashed a plane in a shanty town in the middle of Africa. Half a plane, crates everywhere, open market, shabby homes. Strange theme to chose, especially the dark "public toilet" room with gobs of ... um ... mud on the walls. But the course was challenging. I hit a hole in one on the first hole but it all went downhill from there. It was fun, and an hour of gentle activity that wasn't spent sitting on my well-padded behind.
I made satay chicken for dinner, mostly vegetables for me with cauliflower "rice" instead of real rice. Most of the calories were in the sauce! Yesterday was pretty easy but today I was hungry. I had my third temptation of the day after golf when the kids were having ice cream. There was nothing at the little café that I was willing to eat, so I waited until I got home, had half a banana, then waited for dinner. I am very full and satisfied after meals, but today I did get hungry between.
Still finishing my daily allotment of water, but I've done great with food and exercise. I tried to put myself out of reach of temptations instead of relying on will power, and it seemed to work.
I went for a walk this morning before breakfast, 30 minutes along the other side of the creek and back. Like on this side, there are houses on one side of the road but often the other side is bushland. (That dirt track isn't the road, by the way, it's a path leading down to the creek!)
I got home and had breakfast, home-made Greek-style yoghurt with fresh mango. Delicious! I had that for dessert the other day, but it feels like a virtuous breakfast too. I don't know how to turn the photo right-side up.
My sister-in-law invited us out for lunch at Yum Cha. If you haven't had it, Yum Cha is authentic Chinese food they bring around endlessly on little trolleys and stamp your card for what you eat so you know how much to pay at the end. It can be a bit challenging if you are used to Westernised Chinese food, and also the waitresses might not speak a lot of English, but Ping is Chinese so she can translate everything and tell us what is in all the dishes. I love Yum Cha (some of it! not the chicken feet or beef tendons!) but I just couldn't see how I could negotiate it on day two of a new diet. Lots of dumplings and rice noodles and salt and who knows what in the sauces. Either I would be tempted to overeat or frustrated trying to pick out a few prawns and vegetables. So we declined. I won't avoid restaurants for the rest of my life but that was just a tricky one. One temptation conquered!
For a morning snack I made myself some vegetable broth. A variety of vegetables simmered for half an hour with a dash of chilli flakes, then strain the mushy vegetables out (and simmer them again with more water for another batch, still full of flavour). It makes a tasty and surprisingly filling snack, and counts as a drink as well. I'm not really sure how many calories it has. I don't eat the veges (too mushy), but the broth is full of flavour so something from the vegetables must permeate it. Well, vegetables don't have many calories anyway so I don't worry about it. I count it as 20 calories per mug, which my tracker suggests for commercial vegetable stock. But mine has no salt!
Jasmine did my Dance game for over an hour (so much fitter than me!) and I joined her for 15 minutes of that, getting in a bit of extra exercise. Then made a delicious salad with slices of lamb and cheese on top - I forgot to take a photo. All this healthy eating is time consuming!
Second temptation of the day was after lunch when the kids were eating treats from their Christmas stockings. I love Cheetos but they are a real trigger food for me. Not ready for that level of difficulty yet. I left the room and brushed my teeth.
In the afternoon we went to Putt Putt golf (mini golf) with Ping and family. It was an indoor course with the theme of having crashed a plane in a shanty town in the middle of Africa. Half a plane, crates everywhere, open market, shabby homes. Strange theme to chose, especially the dark "public toilet" room with gobs of ... um ... mud on the walls. But the course was challenging. I hit a hole in one on the first hole but it all went downhill from there. It was fun, and an hour of gentle activity that wasn't spent sitting on my well-padded behind.
I made satay chicken for dinner, mostly vegetables for me with cauliflower "rice" instead of real rice. Most of the calories were in the sauce! Yesterday was pretty easy but today I was hungry. I had my third temptation of the day after golf when the kids were having ice cream. There was nothing at the little café that I was willing to eat, so I waited until I got home, had half a banana, then waited for dinner. I am very full and satisfied after meals, but today I did get hungry between.
Still finishing my daily allotment of water, but I've done great with food and exercise. I tried to put myself out of reach of temptations instead of relying on will power, and it seemed to work.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Dance concert
Saturday:
The real estate agent got back to us this morning, the seller wants to go to auction which is only a week away now. Which is fine, at least we can be reasonably sure they're not going to sell to someone else in the meantime. So we've got two auctions to go to next Saturday; if we don't win our first choice luckily our second choice is auctioned later in the same day. I want to see that one again before I decide. And we'll also view any suitable new houses.
Most of the day was spent driving Jasmine back and forth for her two concerts today, and of course seeing the evening performance. When I dropped her off for the matinee I had to park a long way away because there was a lot of road works around the theatre blocking access to the main car park (we were warned there would be - I think weekend road work makes sense in most places but not in front of a theatre!!) so I spent some time walking around the area scouting out places to park later in the day. I found a "secret" spot that I think not many parents knew about so it was worth my trouble - we easily found a spot there for the evening performance. It was the most walking I've done in several weeks! And that walking was done during the pleasant daytime rather than late at night in the freezing it's-still-winter-here.
And in the evening we got to see the dance show. It was very good, the older groups were very slick and professional, the younger groups involved my daughter which made them entertaining, and there was one dance (ballet) when tiny little kids came out in the same white tutus as the big girls and danced with them. You should have heard the "awwww" when they came out! We didn't see any other dances with the tiny tots this year because they were only in the daytime show. When everyone came out for bows at the end I did a rough count and my best guess was about 250 students! And I think six of them were boys. No older boys at all.
Jasmine did really well, she was one of the better ones in her classes we (unbiasedly! lol) think. I was especially proud of how well she posed frozen before the music started, some of her classmates couldn't keep still. And she danced well.
There have been complaints this year (which I totally agree with) that the share of stage time was very unfair this year. The older girls studying dance fulltime had many very long routines (too long, if you weren't a parent, even though they were good) whereas for the first time the younger kids didn't even get a full routine. They would dance a bit then run off and another class would run on to continue it. One song might be shared between up to four classes! In the ballet they had a long routine but with every ballet class in the school - Jasmine was on stage for 22 bars of music! That sucked a bit. In past years at least each class had a whole routine. But I suppose the show went on a bit longer then. As it was, we were there until 10:30 which is very late for young children. Aiden drooped all through Act Two.
Complaints aside, it was a good night out and Jasmine loved it and seemed to have no qualms about how much dancing she actually did. And now she can get some much-needed rest.
The real estate agent got back to us this morning, the seller wants to go to auction which is only a week away now. Which is fine, at least we can be reasonably sure they're not going to sell to someone else in the meantime. So we've got two auctions to go to next Saturday; if we don't win our first choice luckily our second choice is auctioned later in the same day. I want to see that one again before I decide. And we'll also view any suitable new houses.
Most of the day was spent driving Jasmine back and forth for her two concerts today, and of course seeing the evening performance. When I dropped her off for the matinee I had to park a long way away because there was a lot of road works around the theatre blocking access to the main car park (we were warned there would be - I think weekend road work makes sense in most places but not in front of a theatre!!) so I spent some time walking around the area scouting out places to park later in the day. I found a "secret" spot that I think not many parents knew about so it was worth my trouble - we easily found a spot there for the evening performance. It was the most walking I've done in several weeks! And that walking was done during the pleasant daytime rather than late at night in the freezing it's-still-winter-here.
And in the evening we got to see the dance show. It was very good, the older groups were very slick and professional, the younger groups involved my daughter which made them entertaining, and there was one dance (ballet) when tiny little kids came out in the same white tutus as the big girls and danced with them. You should have heard the "awwww" when they came out! We didn't see any other dances with the tiny tots this year because they were only in the daytime show. When everyone came out for bows at the end I did a rough count and my best guess was about 250 students! And I think six of them were boys. No older boys at all.
Jasmine did really well, she was one of the better ones in her classes we (unbiasedly! lol) think. I was especially proud of how well she posed frozen before the music started, some of her classmates couldn't keep still. And she danced well.
There have been complaints this year (which I totally agree with) that the share of stage time was very unfair this year. The older girls studying dance fulltime had many very long routines (too long, if you weren't a parent, even though they were good) whereas for the first time the younger kids didn't even get a full routine. They would dance a bit then run off and another class would run on to continue it. One song might be shared between up to four classes! In the ballet they had a long routine but with every ballet class in the school - Jasmine was on stage for 22 bars of music! That sucked a bit. In past years at least each class had a whole routine. But I suppose the show went on a bit longer then. As it was, we were there until 10:30 which is very late for young children. Aiden drooped all through Act Two.
Complaints aside, it was a good night out and Jasmine loved it and seemed to have no qualms about how much dancing she actually did. And now she can get some much-needed rest.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Dancesport
Saturday (written Sunday):
I spent the entirety of Saturday watching Dancesport. That is competition ballroom dance, everything from pretty waltzes to energetic jive. But nothing modern like hip hop or contemporary dance. They have a big competition here every year and we have been going for a while, in fact Tim's cousin used to compete. Tim took the kids out to shop for birthday presents for me for a while, and we all went out for dinner then came back for the evening finals and professional exhibition dance, but I was sitting in that seat for eight and a half hours!
I took quite a few pictures, but apparently an iPhone 4S wasn't really up to the task of taking clear pictures of swiftly moving objects!
Despite spending most of the day sitting, I got in nearly 9,000 steps and 22 flights of stairs. We were down in the second row and had to climb frighteningly steep stairs to the top to get to the toilets and food outlets (you can see the start of the steep stairs in that second photo). My thighs got really sore from the climbing, and this morning I feel like I spent yesterday doing too many squats. I had some unhealthy snacks, and fried fish for lunch, but I also took along fruit and water and we went out for a proper dinner so I didn't do terribly. And I really enjoyed the day.
Report card:
Diet: Tick, nothing after 8. Otherwise poor.
Exercise: Not sure if I get a tick for this one as I didn't do any "deliberate exercise" but I climbed all those stairs! So good exercise overall.
Water: Tick, I think. It was hard to keep track, with the kids sharing my water bottles. But I think I did.
Sleep: Tick, and ok.
Mental health: Good. But I am running out of time to do my meditations. Let feel some extra stress over that, shall we?
I spent the entirety of Saturday watching Dancesport. That is competition ballroom dance, everything from pretty waltzes to energetic jive. But nothing modern like hip hop or contemporary dance. They have a big competition here every year and we have been going for a while, in fact Tim's cousin used to compete. Tim took the kids out to shop for birthday presents for me for a while, and we all went out for dinner then came back for the evening finals and professional exhibition dance, but I was sitting in that seat for eight and a half hours!
I took quite a few pictures, but apparently an iPhone 4S wasn't really up to the task of taking clear pictures of swiftly moving objects!
Despite spending most of the day sitting, I got in nearly 9,000 steps and 22 flights of stairs. We were down in the second row and had to climb frighteningly steep stairs to the top to get to the toilets and food outlets (you can see the start of the steep stairs in that second photo). My thighs got really sore from the climbing, and this morning I feel like I spent yesterday doing too many squats. I had some unhealthy snacks, and fried fish for lunch, but I also took along fruit and water and we went out for a proper dinner so I didn't do terribly. And I really enjoyed the day.
Report card:
Diet: Tick, nothing after 8. Otherwise poor.
Exercise: Not sure if I get a tick for this one as I didn't do any "deliberate exercise" but I climbed all those stairs! So good exercise overall.
Water: Tick, I think. It was hard to keep track, with the kids sharing my water bottles. But I think I did.
Sleep: Tick, and ok.
Mental health: Good. But I am running out of time to do my meditations. Let feel some extra stress over that, shall we?
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Mothers' Day
Sunday:
Happy Mothers' Day to all mothers out there!
It was my first Mothers' Day since my mother's death, and I'm also worried about my dad, so that was a bit sad. But mostly I had a lovely day. Tim cooked breakfast and dinner (and dessert) and we went out to lunch. I got presents and cuddles from my lovely children.
We also went out to see some live modern dance at the theatre, it was actually a birthday present I bought for my husband. Unfortunately it wasn't very good. Instead of being in the big theatre, we were directed to a small dingy room around the side. The choreographer introduced every piece, and it was obviously her trying to relive her glory days when her art was edgy and controversial - literally 50 years ago. It was all to 60s music that only the oldest people in the audience recognised, or else to weird spoken word "music" or erratic drumbeats etc. She told us proudly that some of the costumes were the originals from the first production - you could tell, they were a bit threadbare and didn't fit properly.
Maybe it wasn't quite as bad as all that. Not quite. There were a few decent moments. Anyway, we got our enjoyment after the show making fun of it after we were safely away and out of earshot of the performers.
It was a freezing cold day with a bit of icy rain so it was nice to get home to have dinner and relax in front of the TV.
I hope everyone, mothers or not, had a lovely day.
Happy Mothers' Day to all mothers out there!
It was my first Mothers' Day since my mother's death, and I'm also worried about my dad, so that was a bit sad. But mostly I had a lovely day. Tim cooked breakfast and dinner (and dessert) and we went out to lunch. I got presents and cuddles from my lovely children.
We also went out to see some live modern dance at the theatre, it was actually a birthday present I bought for my husband. Unfortunately it wasn't very good. Instead of being in the big theatre, we were directed to a small dingy room around the side. The choreographer introduced every piece, and it was obviously her trying to relive her glory days when her art was edgy and controversial - literally 50 years ago. It was all to 60s music that only the oldest people in the audience recognised, or else to weird spoken word "music" or erratic drumbeats etc. She told us proudly that some of the costumes were the originals from the first production - you could tell, they were a bit threadbare and didn't fit properly.
Maybe it wasn't quite as bad as all that. Not quite. There were a few decent moments. Anyway, we got our enjoyment after the show making fun of it after we were safely away and out of earshot of the performers.
It was a freezing cold day with a bit of icy rain so it was nice to get home to have dinner and relax in front of the TV.
I hope everyone, mothers or not, had a lovely day.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Painting miniatures and planning ahead
Thursday CC#4:
I managed about 22 minutes of dance this morning, after breakfast today. Very sweaty. I admit I am a little surprised at just how much more energetic it is than Fantasia. I mean, I knew it was, but not how much. I suppose Fantasia is about as energetic as a brisk walk, but using arms instead of legs. Dancing uses the whole body as is probably twice as exhausting as a result. My heart-rate got up to 130. The other possibility is that reduced carbs (even high carbs days are pretty low carb compared to government guidelines) are reducing my energy levels. That is ok if true, I'll adapt.
The kids and I bought more paints for the Warhammer figurines yesterday and the owner/guy-who-works-there (who reminds me of Stuart the comic book owner from Big Bang Theory) offered a painting lesson so we went back today. I was never interested in Warhammer which is a table-top war game with little armies, but I did like paining the miniatures which we also used for Dungeons and Dragons. I did quite a lot before we had kids and I think I was quite good at it. But now there were four or five different kinds of paint instead of one! So I listened when Matt talked and took along a little horse to practice on. For example there is a runny ink-like paint to do shading, we used to just water down the normal paint for that. I have an elaborate figurine of a princess on a unicorn that I never got around to painting 12 years ago so I'm doing that at home. The kids are very excited about painting, and that became the afternoon activity at home after the lesson. Aiden has a fairly relaxed casual attitude to keeping paint on the designated areas, but Jasmine's are amazingly good for a first try. Or even not for a first try!
Last night I realised I was at 8,500 steps for the day. Within reach! I was watching my favourite TV show but I got up every ad. break and walked the loungeroom/kitchen loop over and over. At bedtime I finished the final 150 steps up and down the hall before I got into bed. So I am quite proud of that. Unfortunately today I'm still under 5,000. This morning it was lovely and sunny while we were in the shop painting, but by afternoon it was dark and raining again and we missed the window for a walk.
We have a trip to Sydney this weekend. Usually that means fast food on the way there, unhealthy afternoon tea, dinner with family, breakfast with family, fast food on the way home. Too much! Saturday is my treat day, which helps, but I'm not bingeing all weekend and undoing my good work when I am finally seeing some progress (1.5 kg in three days, goodbye water weight!)! So what do I need to change? Well, dinner and breakfast with brother-and-sister-in-law is fine. I don't know what they will cook but generally it is real food. Last time, frozen lasagne, was unusual. Often it will be a roast, or BBQ and salad. Easy to eat reasonably. I need to rein back snacking though, they often have chips and stuff out.
The main thing I need to change is fast food in both directions. It's not even as if I like McDonald's! Yuck! But there is so little choice on the long drive. It is basically McD or the worst KFC in Australia. We try it out of desperation once every two years or so, hoping they will have new fryers or new cooks or something, but no. Chicken so greasy the coating just slides off into the box and horrible floury chips. I generally love fried chicken, it is my fast food of choice, but not this inedible naked slimy stuff.
I have in the past sometimes prepared a picnic for the trip there. But we have had some bad weather lately, atrocious in Sydney, and there are more storms forecast. And cold through the mountains! I suppose we could sit in the car, but I don't know if cold picnic food in the car will go down with the family on a freezing stormy day. McDonald's will probably even look good to me, as long as it is warm! And we can't really time the trip to avoid lunch. Maybe my treat day will just have to include fast food. Bummer. Such a waste of calories. I was really looking forward to the cheesy nachos I was going to make! Oh well, next Saturday instead.
The way home I think we can manage to have lunch before we leave Sydney, either with family or at a proper restaurant. So Sunday should be ok if I am careful. I think I can manage the weekend without too big a dent in my plan. I just have to be mindful about it instead of throwing moderation to the winds.
I finished re-reading the Carb Cycling book. There are a few rules that I'd forgotten that I am not going to follow - like take digestive enzymes before meals and other vitamins (a good diet should have all important nutrients anyway), not put milk in my tea (because milk is both fat and carb and you're not supposed to have both at the same time, but honestly I just put in a splash and I don't care), and do his particular exercise routine. But I am following the diet pretty closely and feeling fine. No cravings or hunger.
Report card:
Diet: Good. Day four (low carb day) accomplished.
Exercise: Good. Less than half an hour, but it was reasonably intense. But too much sitting the rest of the day.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Good.
Mental health: Good.
Another solid day.
I managed about 22 minutes of dance this morning, after breakfast today. Very sweaty. I admit I am a little surprised at just how much more energetic it is than Fantasia. I mean, I knew it was, but not how much. I suppose Fantasia is about as energetic as a brisk walk, but using arms instead of legs. Dancing uses the whole body as is probably twice as exhausting as a result. My heart-rate got up to 130. The other possibility is that reduced carbs (even high carbs days are pretty low carb compared to government guidelines) are reducing my energy levels. That is ok if true, I'll adapt.
The kids and I bought more paints for the Warhammer figurines yesterday and the owner/guy-who-works-there (who reminds me of Stuart the comic book owner from Big Bang Theory) offered a painting lesson so we went back today. I was never interested in Warhammer which is a table-top war game with little armies, but I did like paining the miniatures which we also used for Dungeons and Dragons. I did quite a lot before we had kids and I think I was quite good at it. But now there were four or five different kinds of paint instead of one! So I listened when Matt talked and took along a little horse to practice on. For example there is a runny ink-like paint to do shading, we used to just water down the normal paint for that. I have an elaborate figurine of a princess on a unicorn that I never got around to painting 12 years ago so I'm doing that at home. The kids are very excited about painting, and that became the afternoon activity at home after the lesson. Aiden has a fairly relaxed casual attitude to keeping paint on the designated areas, but Jasmine's are amazingly good for a first try. Or even not for a first try!
Last night I realised I was at 8,500 steps for the day. Within reach! I was watching my favourite TV show but I got up every ad. break and walked the loungeroom/kitchen loop over and over. At bedtime I finished the final 150 steps up and down the hall before I got into bed. So I am quite proud of that. Unfortunately today I'm still under 5,000. This morning it was lovely and sunny while we were in the shop painting, but by afternoon it was dark and raining again and we missed the window for a walk.
We have a trip to Sydney this weekend. Usually that means fast food on the way there, unhealthy afternoon tea, dinner with family, breakfast with family, fast food on the way home. Too much! Saturday is my treat day, which helps, but I'm not bingeing all weekend and undoing my good work when I am finally seeing some progress (1.5 kg in three days, goodbye water weight!)! So what do I need to change? Well, dinner and breakfast with brother-and-sister-in-law is fine. I don't know what they will cook but generally it is real food. Last time, frozen lasagne, was unusual. Often it will be a roast, or BBQ and salad. Easy to eat reasonably. I need to rein back snacking though, they often have chips and stuff out.
The main thing I need to change is fast food in both directions. It's not even as if I like McDonald's! Yuck! But there is so little choice on the long drive. It is basically McD or the worst KFC in Australia. We try it out of desperation once every two years or so, hoping they will have new fryers or new cooks or something, but no. Chicken so greasy the coating just slides off into the box and horrible floury chips. I generally love fried chicken, it is my fast food of choice, but not this inedible naked slimy stuff.
I have in the past sometimes prepared a picnic for the trip there. But we have had some bad weather lately, atrocious in Sydney, and there are more storms forecast. And cold through the mountains! I suppose we could sit in the car, but I don't know if cold picnic food in the car will go down with the family on a freezing stormy day. McDonald's will probably even look good to me, as long as it is warm! And we can't really time the trip to avoid lunch. Maybe my treat day will just have to include fast food. Bummer. Such a waste of calories. I was really looking forward to the cheesy nachos I was going to make! Oh well, next Saturday instead.
The way home I think we can manage to have lunch before we leave Sydney, either with family or at a proper restaurant. So Sunday should be ok if I am careful. I think I can manage the weekend without too big a dent in my plan. I just have to be mindful about it instead of throwing moderation to the winds.
I finished re-reading the Carb Cycling book. There are a few rules that I'd forgotten that I am not going to follow - like take digestive enzymes before meals and other vitamins (a good diet should have all important nutrients anyway), not put milk in my tea (because milk is both fat and carb and you're not supposed to have both at the same time, but honestly I just put in a splash and I don't care), and do his particular exercise routine. But I am following the diet pretty closely and feeling fine. No cravings or hunger.
Report card:
Diet: Good. Day four (low carb day) accomplished.
Exercise: Good. Less than half an hour, but it was reasonably intense. But too much sitting the rest of the day.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Good.
Mental health: Good.
Another solid day.
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