Why do only men sit on the chairs at the side of the swimming pool? Women go to the gym with a time frame "I'm fitting this in around family/life/work etc" There are men who will sit in those white, plastic slightly uncomfortable patio chairs either alone or with a mate, and while away the hours. Why? Why would you do this?? If you want to natter; get dressed and go to the bar. If you've nothing better to do, volunteer for a charity!!
Why, although there are four television screens, they are perpetually on: Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Sports one (two channels)
Only been twice this week, I felt quite poorly at the beginning of the week, with a sore throat and swollen glands, but it seems to have come to nothing. I went on Thursday and it was PACKED! I couldn't get on any of the weight machines and ended up giving it up as a bad job and going for a swim.
I've gone back to counting Weightwatchers points as I've discovered I need some kind of structure to my life, it's easier.
I am starting to feel like it is beginning to make a difference - my tummy feels tighter and I feel generally better, I will be interested to see if I've lost any weight tomorrow. It's not all about weight, well it needs to come off!!
Went to Strictly Come Dancing yesterday afternoon with Alfie - it was fab! We had a really lovely afternoon, it was fun and enjoyable and it was nice for us to spend the time together. It was a bit of a tricky journey there and back as it was a home match at Man U, and even though I took Alfie for a pizza afterwards to try to avoid the crowds, we still got squashed on the tram.
When I got home one of Alfie's friends' mums had rung to invite Alfie to play and for lunch, which was nice, and also quite surprising, as I haven't felt that she was not very warm lately. It makes me feel that I have done that thing that I always do: projected something onto someone that isn't real.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Happy New Year etc
Well, the highlight of the year so far has been that I went to bed on Monday night wishing for another week's holiday - and I got it!
Snow 8 inches thick fell on Monday night - although to be honest, we got up, got ready and I even went out and began to clear it from my car at 7.50 - and then the texts started: Mike's meeting was cancelled, then Alfie's school was closed... I called my Tuesday school and the caretaker said that school was closed. So - snow day!
It was quite nice in that we had a nice time in the garden, built a snow-woman (she has a boa!) but it was very cold - I particuarly loved that we could go out onto our road which is actually quite a busy one usually and play. We watched too much TV and sat about so, for the rest of the week (for it has become a snow WEEK!) I have pulled the plug on the TV and concentrated on doing other things - we dusted yesterday morning, we have baked, read, coloured, 11+ stuff... it's tiring, but tempers are better. Alfie is banned from computer for two days for taking Xmas sweets without asking as well.
Gym has been going well - 4 times last week, plus once with Alfie, went last night, but got period today, so I'm having a day off - planned to go on Friday and Sunday later this week. I've worked up to 17.5 minutes on the x-trainer, and 1km on the rower - the rower bores me a bit though, and some of the weights do too - I've added extra to the stomach ones, and I definitely feel better, but I haven't weighed yet apart from a scary one last night at the end of the day with 1.5l of water inside and prior to a period starting - I'm going to do it on Monday. Still had no wine or alcohol. Meals are good, but being at home is a bit hard work (scoffs chocolate orange...) But I am making sure that I think hard about stuff - I've cut back on portions and I'm trying to think about it.
I've not cut back to 1/2 hour on the Net, but i've cut back.
Snow 8 inches thick fell on Monday night - although to be honest, we got up, got ready and I even went out and began to clear it from my car at 7.50 - and then the texts started: Mike's meeting was cancelled, then Alfie's school was closed... I called my Tuesday school and the caretaker said that school was closed. So - snow day!
It was quite nice in that we had a nice time in the garden, built a snow-woman (she has a boa!) but it was very cold - I particuarly loved that we could go out onto our road which is actually quite a busy one usually and play. We watched too much TV and sat about so, for the rest of the week (for it has become a snow WEEK!) I have pulled the plug on the TV and concentrated on doing other things - we dusted yesterday morning, we have baked, read, coloured, 11+ stuff... it's tiring, but tempers are better. Alfie is banned from computer for two days for taking Xmas sweets without asking as well.
Gym has been going well - 4 times last week, plus once with Alfie, went last night, but got period today, so I'm having a day off - planned to go on Friday and Sunday later this week. I've worked up to 17.5 minutes on the x-trainer, and 1km on the rower - the rower bores me a bit though, and some of the weights do too - I've added extra to the stomach ones, and I definitely feel better, but I haven't weighed yet apart from a scary one last night at the end of the day with 1.5l of water inside and prior to a period starting - I'm going to do it on Monday. Still had no wine or alcohol. Meals are good, but being at home is a bit hard work (scoffs chocolate orange...) But I am making sure that I think hard about stuff - I've cut back on portions and I'm trying to think about it.
I've not cut back to 1/2 hour on the Net, but i've cut back.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
New Years Eve Eve
Up at the crack of dawn with Mr Ted this morning, despite feeling groggy after a night with colette (here on a visit), Ally, Sarah and Nic, and all the kids - wine was flowing as were the bags and bags of crisps - how many weeks till I am fabulous and forty again???
I cannot remember when I last did not have a drink - maybe the 15th/16th December?? I need to have a complete break for the first two weeks of January. I was a bit pissed off that I appear not to have lost weight despite the gym trips etc, and then when I really think about the wine I have necked and the crisps I have nibbled and the chocolate I have picked at, really, I am surprised I am not in a worse state. At least I have been to the gym, imagine if I hadn't? Anyway, am not going to weigh myself until Friday 8th January as then it will be a bit more "normal".
It's time for New Year Resolutions - I had a look at last years, and having made 10, I kept 3 fully and 4 partially - I did keep a list of all the books I have read in the year (41), saw lots of my friends and I did get a new job, so that's good. Wine consumption, internet usage not so good. Fruit and veg consumption, being a good mother and wife. skin care and positive thinking went okay. So all in all, not bad.
Here are this years:
1. Keep a list of books I have read - really handy for new authors etc
2. Go to the gym three times a week and follow the set programme
3. Lose three stone. I think that that is a reasonable amount to go for, it's 42lbs and less that a 1lb a week. It will take me to my lowest ever weight again, and leave me with a goal of another 2 stone for 2011
4. Continue to proactively arrange to see friends and do stuff with them
5. Take my make up off every night. I am going to get Protect and Perfect day cream and night cream with my Boots points because it is brill.
6. Look after my nails - Nic bought me Clarins hand and nail cream and I had forgotten how fab it is - I willl use nightly
7. Do more stuff with the boys - I am rubbish at playing and doing, so I am promising that I will spend at least half an hour each day doing something specific with each of them - sometimes of course that will be something with both of them
8. Really cur back on internet use - I have taken lots of websites off my favourites, but then Facebook and Twitter are soooooo addictive. So I'm going to aim for 1/2 hour a day from 1.1.2010
9. I am going to cut back on drinking. I love wine, but it is stuffed full of calories and I worry about my liver. I am only allowing myself wine on Friday and Saturday. I can have a beer or a G and T on a Thursday or a Sunday.
10. I am going to have more sex in 2010. It's an area of our life that needs to be worked on, and efforts over the Christmas period have been much appreciated on all sides.
I want to look back at this on 30.12.10 and say - yup, did this. And be really proud.
And on that note, going to wake Mike up so I can go to the gym
xx
I cannot remember when I last did not have a drink - maybe the 15th/16th December?? I need to have a complete break for the first two weeks of January. I was a bit pissed off that I appear not to have lost weight despite the gym trips etc, and then when I really think about the wine I have necked and the crisps I have nibbled and the chocolate I have picked at, really, I am surprised I am not in a worse state. At least I have been to the gym, imagine if I hadn't? Anyway, am not going to weigh myself until Friday 8th January as then it will be a bit more "normal".
It's time for New Year Resolutions - I had a look at last years, and having made 10, I kept 3 fully and 4 partially - I did keep a list of all the books I have read in the year (41), saw lots of my friends and I did get a new job, so that's good. Wine consumption, internet usage not so good. Fruit and veg consumption, being a good mother and wife. skin care and positive thinking went okay. So all in all, not bad.
Here are this years:
1. Keep a list of books I have read - really handy for new authors etc
2. Go to the gym three times a week and follow the set programme
3. Lose three stone. I think that that is a reasonable amount to go for, it's 42lbs and less that a 1lb a week. It will take me to my lowest ever weight again, and leave me with a goal of another 2 stone for 2011
4. Continue to proactively arrange to see friends and do stuff with them
5. Take my make up off every night. I am going to get Protect and Perfect day cream and night cream with my Boots points because it is brill.
6. Look after my nails - Nic bought me Clarins hand and nail cream and I had forgotten how fab it is - I willl use nightly
7. Do more stuff with the boys - I am rubbish at playing and doing, so I am promising that I will spend at least half an hour each day doing something specific with each of them - sometimes of course that will be something with both of them
8. Really cur back on internet use - I have taken lots of websites off my favourites, but then Facebook and Twitter are soooooo addictive. So I'm going to aim for 1/2 hour a day from 1.1.2010
9. I am going to cut back on drinking. I love wine, but it is stuffed full of calories and I worry about my liver. I am only allowing myself wine on Friday and Saturday. I can have a beer or a G and T on a Thursday or a Sunday.
10. I am going to have more sex in 2010. It's an area of our life that needs to be worked on, and efforts over the Christmas period have been much appreciated on all sides.
I want to look back at this on 30.12.10 and say - yup, did this. And be really proud.
And on that note, going to wake Mike up so I can go to the gym
xx
Thursday, December 24, 2009
I have been twice!
Quite pleased with myself really - done the programme that the twelve year old gave me - I am not a big fan of the cross trainer, but did five minutes the first time, and 7.5 minutes this morning - Cheryl Cole's Three Words helped me get through it! Rowing is ok, and I quite like the weights and am, of course, still swimming. I'm pretty sure that I've not lost any weight though, but I feel better and that's important.
Christmas Eve is okay here - Gail and Bob couldn't stay as long as usual (quote from Bob: "I've never been in this house so long and been sober") and all was fine until Ted decided to puke. He's fine otherwise but God only knows how this will pan out - so far he has been in bed for three hours and all's well - bit of a dampner on C Eve though.
funny moment - Alfie just coming downstairs when Ted#s toolbench was still being constructed - cue hasty shoving over of sheet and mad dash for the door by us!
Happy Christmas!
Christmas Eve is okay here - Gail and Bob couldn't stay as long as usual (quote from Bob: "I've never been in this house so long and been sober") and all was fine until Ted decided to puke. He's fine otherwise but God only knows how this will pan out - so far he has been in bed for three hours and all's well - bit of a dampner on C Eve though.
funny moment - Alfie just coming downstairs when Ted#s toolbench was still being constructed - cue hasty shoving over of sheet and mad dash for the door by us!
Happy Christmas!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Went to the gym
So, I've been swimming three times a week since I joined the gym, today I went for my gym induction - I have not been looking forward to it. But, I mustered my courage, and pretended I was confident - and then, I was!
The instructor was approximately 12 years old (Steve) but he was really okay, he laughed at my jokes and I was completely honest with him - told him about my Fabulous at Forty plan, and that there were 98 weeks to go, explained that I hate running and about going swimming, and that I need some fast results on my tummy in particular to keep me motivated, and that I will be useless at remembering how to use the equipment. He was fab! He has given me a programme that will take about half an hour so that I can swim for half an hour afterwards. It's cross training, rowing, weights. It'll be okay I think, and it wasn't intimidating at all, lots of (mainly men) middle aged types, none in lycra. Had a swim afterwards and generally feel good.
Need a gym playlist on the iPod...
The instructor was approximately 12 years old (Steve) but he was really okay, he laughed at my jokes and I was completely honest with him - told him about my Fabulous at Forty plan, and that there were 98 weeks to go, explained that I hate running and about going swimming, and that I need some fast results on my tummy in particular to keep me motivated, and that I will be useless at remembering how to use the equipment. He was fab! He has given me a programme that will take about half an hour so that I can swim for half an hour afterwards. It's cross training, rowing, weights. It'll be okay I think, and it wasn't intimidating at all, lots of (mainly men) middle aged types, none in lycra. Had a swim afterwards and generally feel good.
Need a gym playlist on the iPod...
Friday, December 18, 2009
99 weeks to go
Only swum once this week so far due to period and Mike being away - I am going on Saturday though, and also Sunday. Sunday I have my gym orientation also, so that will help.
Don't seem to have actually lost any weight, although feel, and I am told, look slimmer, so that is good. I've always thought I wouldn't care if I was 25 stone if I was a size 14. Not that I am 25 stone, but you know what I mean.
Have felt very stressed for some of this week; that old "woman doing too much" thing. I have bought every present, written every card, planned every meal... plus worked, been a mummy etc.
Today is the last day of school thank God, so we will have 2 and a half weeks off - Mike is off too, and Ted won't be going to nursery. We've loads planned, so hopefully it will be good fun. I'm really looking forward to Christmas, the boys have great presents, and we have tons planned - wonder what the long range weather forecast is..?
I'm proud of myself for successfully getting through my first term in my new job. When I think how miserable I was last year, it makes me realise how far I've come. Next week, I must look back on last years' resolutions, and make some for this year.
Don't seem to have actually lost any weight, although feel, and I am told, look slimmer, so that is good. I've always thought I wouldn't care if I was 25 stone if I was a size 14. Not that I am 25 stone, but you know what I mean.
Have felt very stressed for some of this week; that old "woman doing too much" thing. I have bought every present, written every card, planned every meal... plus worked, been a mummy etc.
Today is the last day of school thank God, so we will have 2 and a half weeks off - Mike is off too, and Ted won't be going to nursery. We've loads planned, so hopefully it will be good fun. I'm really looking forward to Christmas, the boys have great presents, and we have tons planned - wonder what the long range weather forecast is..?
I'm proud of myself for successfully getting through my first term in my new job. When I think how miserable I was last year, it makes me realise how far I've come. Next week, I must look back on last years' resolutions, and make some for this year.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
100 weeks to go (well tomorrow anyway)
Kept up the swimming - now been five times and due to go this evening. Not made the gym appointment yet, but I will. I will. I will...
Feel fabulous, the hunger has reduced somewhat although I'm still not "dieting".
Ted is off sick today, he had a temp last night when I picked him up, and he was warm this morning although all gone with one dose of calpol, he is coughing in a bronchilitis kind of way - he's had it before. Not much going on at work, both my Wednesday schools have play performanced this afternoon, so was actually going to have a paid afternoon off and finish Christmas shopping, but no chance of that now! Never mind, nearly all done now, need a couple of hours stocking filler time and then it will be finished. Even wrapped some, and part way through Christmas cards!
Took the opportunity to do some mopping/dusting today and also make cranberry sauce which has made the house smell very Christmassy. Tree on Saturday, can't wait!
Feel fabulous, the hunger has reduced somewhat although I'm still not "dieting".
Ted is off sick today, he had a temp last night when I picked him up, and he was warm this morning although all gone with one dose of calpol, he is coughing in a bronchilitis kind of way - he's had it before. Not much going on at work, both my Wednesday schools have play performanced this afternoon, so was actually going to have a paid afternoon off and finish Christmas shopping, but no chance of that now! Never mind, nearly all done now, need a couple of hours stocking filler time and then it will be finished. Even wrapped some, and part way through Christmas cards!
Took the opportunity to do some mopping/dusting today and also make cranberry sauce which has made the house smell very Christmassy. Tree on Saturday, can't wait!
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Week one... 101 weeks to go
Well
I've been swimming three times - 25 mins, 30 mins and 25 mins non stop
I've had a five day wine hiatus - nothing Saturday - Thursday
Handcream has been erratic
Waxed and appointment in a fortnight
Bought no clothes (not THAT great an achievement!)
Things I hadn't expected:
I am starving ALL the time - even though I am not dieting per se - the exercise is making me really hungry!
I am sleeping fantastically
I am in a much better mood - not that I was moody before but I am def calmer
Things I haven't done yet
Made gym appointment - but I will
In other news
Alfie has had a BRILLIANT parents' night. He is working at the level of the average Year 6 pupil in Writing (4b), has a reading age of 13+ and a level of 5 (high level year 6 pupil) and a standardised score or 114 in his maths - Grammar school level. So basicially we need to be thinking 11+ and grammar school for Year 7. Which is WOW! I do think he's very bright myself, but then I am his Mum and exceptionally biased. His teacher said he is a "gifted writer" and I agree - he really is. The really good thing is that he has absolutely no idea how clever he is.
I've been swimming three times - 25 mins, 30 mins and 25 mins non stop
I've had a five day wine hiatus - nothing Saturday - Thursday
Handcream has been erratic
Waxed and appointment in a fortnight
Bought no clothes (not THAT great an achievement!)
Things I hadn't expected:
I am starving ALL the time - even though I am not dieting per se - the exercise is making me really hungry!
I am sleeping fantastically
I am in a much better mood - not that I was moody before but I am def calmer
Things I haven't done yet
Made gym appointment - but I will
In other news
Alfie has had a BRILLIANT parents' night. He is working at the level of the average Year 6 pupil in Writing (4b), has a reading age of 13+ and a level of 5 (high level year 6 pupil) and a standardised score or 114 in his maths - Grammar school level. So basicially we need to be thinking 11+ and grammar school for Year 7. Which is WOW! I do think he's very bright myself, but then I am his Mum and exceptionally biased. His teacher said he is a "gifted writer" and I agree - he really is. The really good thing is that he has absolutely no idea how clever he is.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
So far so good
OK, been swimming tonight - first time, as Friday was a non starter due to being held up at the beauticians. So, had my nails done, waxed, re-appointment in a fortnight, been to gym.
I aimed for twenty minutes and I could have a stop if I needed it. I did 25 minutes and didn't stop - I was puffed and my heart was beating quickly when I was done. And - I didn't feel intimidated or embarrassed. that was a big thing for me because I have always felt that way before - but it's just a place - no big deal. The one thing I didn't do which I had planned to was to make an appointment for a gym orientation - I wasn't keen on the man on the desk when I came in, so didn't want to ask him about it. I have given myself till Wednesday to do that.
So, it's all good. Too much wine at Dad's birthday party though. Bad Zoe.
I'm also thinking that the year I am forty I might audition for the X factor - I won't even get to the judges stage but I think it would be an interesting experience...
I aimed for twenty minutes and I could have a stop if I needed it. I did 25 minutes and didn't stop - I was puffed and my heart was beating quickly when I was done. And - I didn't feel intimidated or embarrassed. that was a big thing for me because I have always felt that way before - but it's just a place - no big deal. The one thing I didn't do which I had planned to was to make an appointment for a gym orientation - I wasn't keen on the man on the desk when I came in, so didn't want to ask him about it. I have given myself till Wednesday to do that.
So, it's all good. Too much wine at Dad's birthday party though. Bad Zoe.
I'm also thinking that the year I am forty I might audition for the X factor - I won't even get to the judges stage but I think it would be an interesting experience...
Friday, November 27, 2009
Fab and foxy at forty!
I can't believe that it's still here! And I am still here!
I have decided to relaunch this blog - with a sort of new theme - fab and foxy at forty!
In two years time I will be forty, not that old these days, but certainly enough to make me think particularly as I was very much a part of my mum's fortieth celebrations (I was 18 at the time).
It's made me think about my life. I've got the children I always wanted, and there aren't going to be any more, because Mike's had the snip. I'm in a house I love in an area I like. I have a new kitchen, bathroom and windows. I have got away from a job that was destroying my soul and a woman who was bullying and quite frankly, evil. I have a new job that is satisfying and a good balance between life and work. I earn a good salary. My kids are okay - sure I have my worries about them, but my worries are little ones. I could not love them more. Mike and I are in a good place, probably better than we've been for years, despite a huge row a couple of weeks ago - maybe even because of that.
I have a lot to be grateful for.
I want to get healthy now. I drink too much wine (four days a week, 1/2 to a full bottle) and I eat lots, I love food! It's usually good stuff, home made dinners and things, but still it's a lot. I never exercise - unless you count yomping around with a pram - I really don't like any of it.
So - I have some resolutions. Not New Years ones, earlier than that. There are 102 weeks until my 40th.
I have joined the gym - I am going to go three times a week, swimming initially - on a Wednesday between 5-6pm as that's when Alfie is at lacrosse, on a Sunday lunctime when Ted is in bed, and one evening a week, either Friday or a Tuesday. It's open until 10pm.
I will make an appointment during December to have a gym programme developed - and make a couple of the sessions a week gym sessions. I will be clear with the gym person, that I want especially to work on my tummy area, as that is the place I dislike most.
Handcream. Daily.
I currently have my eyebrows and upper lip waxed every three weeks. The last two times, I have had a nail tidy - I hate my nails they're very weak and ugly. So I've decided to have my waxing and nail tidy fortnightly. Three weeks is too long a time to wait to defuzz. So I'm going to increase that.
I have lots of lovely clothes, but I tend to not wear some of them because they're "best" or "too overdressed" - well I am going to wear more of them, more often - otherwise what's the point in having them? This means I am not going to buy anything new until March 2010 - I won't need anything.
I need a haircut - and a decent hairdresser. That can wait till the New Year I think; but I am not facing forty with straggly hair that I have to put up all the time.
Less wine - I need to drink water with it because sometimes I drink fast because I'm thirsty.
More fruit and veg: I eat a lot anyway, but I should eat more.
Writing this down I sound really self-centred and me, me, me - it isn't my motivation. The main issue is getting fitter, I want to see my kids grow up and make sure that I'm healthy to do it. The extra little bits are to help me keep my motivation up.
The blog, I hope, will be a record of this - what I've done and when ( I weighed myself this morning - it wasn't quite as bad as it could have been). I also want to maintain it as a record of our family life; reading back through has made me smile and reminisce - it's nice to remember, even when it's something that's bad.
So if you once read me, maybe come and read again - support me, listen to my ramblings
This week's target: By next Friday to have been for a swim three times. I'm going tonight - after my appointment at the salon for wax and nails...
I have decided to relaunch this blog - with a sort of new theme - fab and foxy at forty!
In two years time I will be forty, not that old these days, but certainly enough to make me think particularly as I was very much a part of my mum's fortieth celebrations (I was 18 at the time).
It's made me think about my life. I've got the children I always wanted, and there aren't going to be any more, because Mike's had the snip. I'm in a house I love in an area I like. I have a new kitchen, bathroom and windows. I have got away from a job that was destroying my soul and a woman who was bullying and quite frankly, evil. I have a new job that is satisfying and a good balance between life and work. I earn a good salary. My kids are okay - sure I have my worries about them, but my worries are little ones. I could not love them more. Mike and I are in a good place, probably better than we've been for years, despite a huge row a couple of weeks ago - maybe even because of that.
I have a lot to be grateful for.
I want to get healthy now. I drink too much wine (four days a week, 1/2 to a full bottle) and I eat lots, I love food! It's usually good stuff, home made dinners and things, but still it's a lot. I never exercise - unless you count yomping around with a pram - I really don't like any of it.
So - I have some resolutions. Not New Years ones, earlier than that. There are 102 weeks until my 40th.
I have joined the gym - I am going to go three times a week, swimming initially - on a Wednesday between 5-6pm as that's when Alfie is at lacrosse, on a Sunday lunctime when Ted is in bed, and one evening a week, either Friday or a Tuesday. It's open until 10pm.
I will make an appointment during December to have a gym programme developed - and make a couple of the sessions a week gym sessions. I will be clear with the gym person, that I want especially to work on my tummy area, as that is the place I dislike most.
Handcream. Daily.
I currently have my eyebrows and upper lip waxed every three weeks. The last two times, I have had a nail tidy - I hate my nails they're very weak and ugly. So I've decided to have my waxing and nail tidy fortnightly. Three weeks is too long a time to wait to defuzz. So I'm going to increase that.
I have lots of lovely clothes, but I tend to not wear some of them because they're "best" or "too overdressed" - well I am going to wear more of them, more often - otherwise what's the point in having them? This means I am not going to buy anything new until March 2010 - I won't need anything.
I need a haircut - and a decent hairdresser. That can wait till the New Year I think; but I am not facing forty with straggly hair that I have to put up all the time.
Less wine - I need to drink water with it because sometimes I drink fast because I'm thirsty.
More fruit and veg: I eat a lot anyway, but I should eat more.
Writing this down I sound really self-centred and me, me, me - it isn't my motivation. The main issue is getting fitter, I want to see my kids grow up and make sure that I'm healthy to do it. The extra little bits are to help me keep my motivation up.
The blog, I hope, will be a record of this - what I've done and when ( I weighed myself this morning - it wasn't quite as bad as it could have been). I also want to maintain it as a record of our family life; reading back through has made me smile and reminisce - it's nice to remember, even when it's something that's bad.
So if you once read me, maybe come and read again - support me, listen to my ramblings
This week's target: By next Friday to have been for a swim three times. I'm going tonight - after my appointment at the salon for wax and nails...
Monday, October 06, 2008
So so rubbish at blogging
yadda yadda yadda - said it all before.
But... this is a record of the life I am leading right now - and even the little I blog is good for me to read back on. I read the pregnancy stuff last week and it was lovely!
I ahve however made a bit of a decision not to use the internet as much as I did - Beckie wrote a great post about packing in using it so much and prioritising life things, and she is (as usual) very right. But I do want to keep the blog up, it's a document of my life - and it's lasted longer than any paper diary I have ever kept!
Things are.. busy, to say the least. Take tonight for example. Picked up the boys, but before I went for T, put a toad in the hole into the oven. Never made it beofre, and usually I never put something in the oven and leave the house, but I was going to be out for twenty mins tops, and it took 30 to cook. No problem! So at nursery discussing Ted's bad mood (teeth, tiredness, cold) - suddenly realised we had a long standing dentist appointment at 5.15. Current time? 5pm. Oven on. £30 fine if we don't go to dentist.
So, we had to go to the dentist via our house for me to run in and switch off the oven, which is a HUGE no-no for yorkshire pudding, dash to dentist. No one had brushed their teeth and A was, for want of a better description, quite grubby. Had to apologise to the dentist who was really nice about it. Three sets of teeth checked and back to the house, heat up the oven again, deal with wingy baby, get A changed for Beavers. He is going through a real phase of being a Johnny head in the air, and taking hours to do anything, answering back... *sigh*. Both boys did at least scoff a huge plate of tea (abeit rather flat yorkshire) and T had a banana. T whinged all the way through tea. Then I had to get T ready for bed, and administer some precautionary inhaler, as well as calpol. Then we had to wait for A's lift, and then get T milked up and in bed. Oh, and did I mention that dh is in Reading? And that during this lovely evening, I had dirty hair, itchy excema and knickers constantly falling down? And that I had also been to Asda and corrected a load of work as well?
But... this is a record of the life I am leading right now - and even the little I blog is good for me to read back on. I read the pregnancy stuff last week and it was lovely!
I ahve however made a bit of a decision not to use the internet as much as I did - Beckie wrote a great post about packing in using it so much and prioritising life things, and she is (as usual) very right. But I do want to keep the blog up, it's a document of my life - and it's lasted longer than any paper diary I have ever kept!
Things are.. busy, to say the least. Take tonight for example. Picked up the boys, but before I went for T, put a toad in the hole into the oven. Never made it beofre, and usually I never put something in the oven and leave the house, but I was going to be out for twenty mins tops, and it took 30 to cook. No problem! So at nursery discussing Ted's bad mood (teeth, tiredness, cold) - suddenly realised we had a long standing dentist appointment at 5.15. Current time? 5pm. Oven on. £30 fine if we don't go to dentist.
So, we had to go to the dentist via our house for me to run in and switch off the oven, which is a HUGE no-no for yorkshire pudding, dash to dentist. No one had brushed their teeth and A was, for want of a better description, quite grubby. Had to apologise to the dentist who was really nice about it. Three sets of teeth checked and back to the house, heat up the oven again, deal with wingy baby, get A changed for Beavers. He is going through a real phase of being a Johnny head in the air, and taking hours to do anything, answering back... *sigh*. Both boys did at least scoff a huge plate of tea (abeit rather flat yorkshire) and T had a banana. T whinged all the way through tea. Then I had to get T ready for bed, and administer some precautionary inhaler, as well as calpol. Then we had to wait for A's lift, and then get T milked up and in bed. Oh, and did I mention that dh is in Reading? And that during this lovely evening, I had dirty hair, itchy excema and knickers constantly falling down? And that I had also been to Asda and corrected a load of work as well?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
A Book blog
What you do is, look at the list below, and then:
bold the ones you’ve read;
[bracket] the ones you love
italicise the ones you intend to read.
1 [Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen]
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 [Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte]
4 [Harry Potter series - JK Rowling]
5 [To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee]
6 The Bible - lots of it, but not all, so I've part bolded
7 [Wuthering Heights] - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 [Little Women - Louisa M Alcott]
12 [Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy]
13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (I’ve read the bulk of them)
15 [Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier]
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - I really struggled with this one, and could not finish it
18 [Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger] (I really loved Franny and Zooey, and also Raise High the Roof Beams Carpenters)
19 [The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger]
20 [Middlemarch - George Eliot]
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens - my second favourite Dickens after Our Mutual Friend
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 [Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll]
30 [The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - I loved the film as well, the David Jason/Michael Hordern one]
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 [Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis]
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 [Persuasion - Jane Austen]
36 [The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis]
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini- this is in the pile by the bed to be read - Loved a Thousand Splendid Suns
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - no no no NO!!!
39 [Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden]
40 [Winnie-the-Pooh - AA Milne]
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - I like the idea of his books, but never quite get the thought to read them
51
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 [The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon]
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 [The Secret History - Donna Tartt]
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy I haven't bracketed this, but I was really moved by it, loved isn't the right word
68 [Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding]
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 [The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett]
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - oh dear God...
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 [Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome]
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - A. S. Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 [The Color Purple - Alice Walker]
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 [The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton]
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 [Hamlet - William Shakespeare]
99 [Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl]
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
bold the ones you’ve read;
[bracket] the ones you love
italicise the ones you intend to read.
1 [Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen]
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 [Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte]
4 [Harry Potter series - JK Rowling]
5 [To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee]
6 The Bible - lots of it, but not all, so I've part bolded
7 [Wuthering Heights] - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 [Little Women - Louisa M Alcott]
12 [Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy]
13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (I’ve read the bulk of them)
15 [Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier]
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - I really struggled with this one, and could not finish it
18 [Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger] (I really loved Franny and Zooey, and also Raise High the Roof Beams Carpenters)
19 [The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger]
20 [Middlemarch - George Eliot]
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens - my second favourite Dickens after Our Mutual Friend
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 [Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll]
30 [The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - I loved the film as well, the David Jason/Michael Hordern one]
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 [Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis]
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 [Persuasion - Jane Austen]
36 [The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis]
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini- this is in the pile by the bed to be read - Loved a Thousand Splendid Suns
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - no no no NO!!!
39 [Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden]
40 [Winnie-the-Pooh - AA Milne]
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - I like the idea of his books, but never quite get the thought to read them
51
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 [The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon]
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 [The Secret History - Donna Tartt]
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy I haven't bracketed this, but I was really moved by it, loved isn't the right word
68 [Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding]
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 [The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett]
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - oh dear God...
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 [Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome]
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - A. S. Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 [The Color Purple - Alice Walker]
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 [The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton]
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 [Hamlet - William Shakespeare]
99 [Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl]
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
I am just so crap. I know no one reads it anyway, but this isn't for anyone else, it's for me in years to come.
It's so long since I wrote that we're now three weeks into the holidays. We've been to Devon for a week and the boys and I have just come back from a little break in Wales with my friend G and her boys in a caravan on a lovely site - spoiled only by torrential, and I mean torrential rain - it's in the mountains which made it worse. I feel great taht I've done this - taken the two of them away, done swimming and stuff, all alone - G and I are like Thelma and Louise (just without Brad Pitt and the driving off a cliff at the end). G and I have been friends since the first day at University, her boys are 3 and 5. It's been so great to go away with her, it's been years since we spent such a concentrated time in each others company, and it was so... easy. We have lots in common, and we are completely honest with each other - always have been. And that is so good.
It's so long since I wrote that we're now three weeks into the holidays. We've been to Devon for a week and the boys and I have just come back from a little break in Wales with my friend G and her boys in a caravan on a lovely site - spoiled only by torrential, and I mean torrential rain - it's in the mountains which made it worse. I feel great taht I've done this - taken the two of them away, done swimming and stuff, all alone - G and I are like Thelma and Louise (just without Brad Pitt and the driving off a cliff at the end). G and I have been friends since the first day at University, her boys are 3 and 5. It's been so great to go away with her, it's been years since we spent such a concentrated time in each others company, and it was so... easy. We have lots in common, and we are completely honest with each other - always have been. And that is so good.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Ugh. Haven't had time to blog - well, technically I have but have been doing other things or not able to summon up the energy to type, merely to read. It's been so busy, it's report time at school, my class had their holy communions, I have ahd all sorts of shit to deal with at school which I am not at liberty to print out in this blog, just in case, as stressful as working at my school is, it still keeps me in childcare and shoes. My eyes are all scabbed up again, after a discussion with my mother, I suspect I may be allergic to lanolin. She is, and she developed it in the summer of 1986 when she was *gasp* ...nearly 37. And I am *double gasp*...nearly 37. How wierd is that? I have googled the item I suspect is causing the scabbiness, and ker-ching - it contains lanolin. Been to the pharmacist today, who has given me piriton and suggested daktacort. She initally suggested E45 cream, but I bought that yesterday, and whilst it moisturised the very dry area, made the itching and redness worse. And what is E45 full of? You guessed correctly, dear reader - lanolin.
I am going out with my friend tonight, so God help anyone in the fancy schmancy restaurant who has to look at my beautiful eyes! If nothing else, my social life has taken off recently, and I have lots lined up for the next few weeks, necessitating some creative accounting and regular fake tanning. Meals with friends, dinners out - lots to do, which is really nice. On Tuesday I can turn the calendar to the page that has "end of term" written on it, which is fantastic.
M went to Reading yesterday at some god forsaken time 3.55am. I was vaguely aware of him leaving, so when there was a huge crash downstairs and a rattling of the front door at 4.30am, I shot out of bed like a bat out of hell, and (bravely, but most likely because of still being fast asleep) pelted downstairs to investigate. Nothing. Silence. Had the children fallen out of bed? No sound. Then, I heard a car starting outside so rushed to the window. M leaving? How did that happen???
Turns out he had got about 15 miles and had to turn back as he had forgotten a vital piece of large equipment - which he then dropped at the front door, hence my rude awakening. Needless to say, I could not get back to sleep at all, ended up getting up and watching TV till 6.30 and then going back to bed and reading until the boys deigned to wake at 8am. Humph.
Ted is still not walking which is very normal for a child his age, but wierd as Alfie was trotting around by ten months. I think he is happy pootling about on his hands and knees and letting everyone else do the running around.
Had a manicure today for the first time in my life. My nails look short, but nice.
I am going out with my friend tonight, so God help anyone in the fancy schmancy restaurant who has to look at my beautiful eyes! If nothing else, my social life has taken off recently, and I have lots lined up for the next few weeks, necessitating some creative accounting and regular fake tanning. Meals with friends, dinners out - lots to do, which is really nice. On Tuesday I can turn the calendar to the page that has "end of term" written on it, which is fantastic.
M went to Reading yesterday at some god forsaken time 3.55am. I was vaguely aware of him leaving, so when there was a huge crash downstairs and a rattling of the front door at 4.30am, I shot out of bed like a bat out of hell, and (bravely, but most likely because of still being fast asleep) pelted downstairs to investigate. Nothing. Silence. Had the children fallen out of bed? No sound. Then, I heard a car starting outside so rushed to the window. M leaving? How did that happen???
Turns out he had got about 15 miles and had to turn back as he had forgotten a vital piece of large equipment - which he then dropped at the front door, hence my rude awakening. Needless to say, I could not get back to sleep at all, ended up getting up and watching TV till 6.30 and then going back to bed and reading until the boys deigned to wake at 8am. Humph.
Ted is still not walking which is very normal for a child his age, but wierd as Alfie was trotting around by ten months. I think he is happy pootling about on his hands and knees and letting everyone else do the running around.
Had a manicure today for the first time in my life. My nails look short, but nice.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
I went to see the Sex and the City film yesterday evening with my friend. We are both big fans and have been since the beginning, so we went with great anticipation.
And I did enjoy it, it was good, but...
it was too long, even though there were many strands of the story that were barely investigated - Miranda and Steve for example, and Charlotte's sudden fertility. I know it has to be Carrie-centric, but...no. I would much preferred to have had a new series or three hour long specials or something. I love it so much, but I feel slightly let down. We also went to a nightclub that we used to frequent back in the day, and that was good too, but didn't quite hit the spot either. Had a good night with a dear friend though.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
I am not Mary Whitehouse, but....
It is 10.30am on a Bank Holiday Monday, and my six year old and I are in our pyjamas browsing the TV. We've watched "I'd do Anything" from last night (taped because it was Ted's Birthday party yesterday - more on that later). We have flicked through for some music - I had to turn off E4 because there was a song with an accompanying video portraying a busty lady in her sexy underwear walking through a desert (I think it's called "Flashlight" but then I'm not with the kids anymore), flicked to another channel and immediately switched over as it was "The Thong song" and then on the third was faux lesbian kissing with Tatu's "All the Things She Said" (who interestingly DH and I were only talking about on Saturday as he remembered they once represented Russia in the Eurovision. But I digress)
My question is - how can this be the choice on a Monday at 10.30? Why should my six year old be exposed to that??? I realise I only have the three free music channels but I have no reason to believe that it is any different on the paying ones. Am I a prude????
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
If you were going to the SATC Premiere
...would you dress like this woman behind Cynthia Nixon?
I don't even claim to be any kind of style icon, but I mean, really???? It just goes to show that all black is rarely a good look.
If this goes right it means that I have finally worked out how to do something fancy with my blog, and you'll never hear the end of it. And if it does work then it was piss easy and I don't know why I haven't done it before
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Here comes the Sun!
There's something about sunshine and summer that makes the world seem a better place. In my younger years I used to say I preferred winter - could cover up in more clothes, I liked cold, crisp days, my birthday, and Christmas. Of course, I still like cold, crisp days, my birthday and Christmas, and there is a certain cosiness in winter clothes, but the reality is that Christmas is one day, my birthday's somewhat lost it's edge as I get older, cold and crisp days are few and far between - more like damp and grey days - and clothes are all well and good but you need to strip off once you get indoors. You know where you are on a bright sunny day, you can get a t-shirt out, linen trousers, silver birkenstocks (I love them...), hold back bad hair with sunglasses, and spray on a quick tan. The air is fresh, people have barbeques (we had one yesterday) and you feel more like talking with your husband over a glass of wine. Next weekend we get our garden done and I cannot wait!
Ted now has seven teeth, and a few words "ma-ma", "bye" "yeah" - he's finding the heat a bit much though
Ted now has seven teeth, and a few words "ma-ma", "bye" "yeah" - he's finding the heat a bit much though
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