I'd forgotten all about this!!

Wow, I have a blog!

OK, so I hadn't really forgotten that I started a blog many moons ago, just that I hadn't updated it in so long that I'd forgotten the password and everything.

I had to get them to send me my password to log into another blog and then looked at my profile and followed the link here.

I've been thinking about starting off a blog again recently, so I guess the ideal thing really is to continue with this one and change it as I go.

Back soon to sort things out.

Pinch and a Punch for the 1st of the month

Yes I know, April has gone and I only made one entry, but busy is not the word for it.

All sorts of things have happened over the last month, including me writing an article for a magazine, being away for a weekend retreat and trying to sort out not one but two holidays.

I'm also doing other things which are in the pipeline so not being mentioned further yet - don't you love teasing people :)

On the weight loss side of things I've gone totally static, but decided it's time to give it a kick and get it all going again so I weighed in this morning and will start the chart off again next week.

Sabrina has been entered for her Primary Ballet exams in July and soon sits her KS1's, but we don't think she will have any problems with them. Alanna, well she seems to be slowly but surely coming out of the temper tantrums that we have had from her for the last two years. It's her 5th birthday this month and I had been proactive and booked somewhere a while ago, only to have them ring a few weeks ago and tell me they were closing. Another thing to add to the busy pile as I have been trying to sort out that as well.

I've also been doing things with Usborne Books and if your interested in becoming a rep then please give me a shout quickly as they have an absolutely fantastic offer for joining this month - today it's free and then it goes up every few days by £1 until it get's back to it's full price sometime in June. What a bargain!!

Right time to get the girls dressed and myself sorted out, next door has the builders in and they will start banging and bashing about soon.

Gary has set up his own website

Gary decided it was about time to set up a website for his photographs in light of his recent decision to start doing something with them.

So I thought I would put a link here for you to go look if your interested Views of Nature is here.

It's still under construction but I think he has made a pretty good start.

End of another month

and I just realised that I'd been neglecting my blog again.

So this is just a quick post as I did say I would try not to do that.

A few weeks ago I heard a "describe" yourself question, this one was to choose which biscuit best described you.

Straight away I said plain digestive and when asked to explain why I said it was because there was nothing fancy about me and you knew what you were getting i.e. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).

So go on then, what sort of biscuit are you ?

News and stuff :)

Can someone please tell me to say no sometimes :)

OK, I've been trying to get DH to do more with his photography for a while now, he's recently had one of his photographs published in a book and another in a national newspaper. However, until last week it was like banging my head against a brick wall.

Well suddenly he comes out with a suggestion which blew me away. How about seeing if we can get a group together and take them to one of the sites he goes to - WHAT!!!

So next thing you know we are putting a suggestion forward getting interest and then booking not one, but two Photo Shoots with Big Cats, and best of all I get to go too :)

There are still a few places left on one of the shoots so if your interested go take a look here - I can't wait

Whoops

I didn't post last week as I really wasn't feeling like it. Those that know me well know that every so often I get a bit blue and last week was one of those times.

Never really know why and it's not a set regular thing so no putting it down to time of the month or anything like that. Just get a bit low and can't be bothered and everything feels like it's the end of the world.

It's quite weird really as most of the rest of the time I tend to be a half full type of person.

Anyway, thought I'd best post quickly as I hadn't yet this month, and also update the weight chart. Finally ordered my new troll beads today so hopefully will have them by the next weigh in.

Right best go, only just got in from doing the shopping and it all needs putting away once I've finished my cuppa.

Which way

don't quite know which way I'm turning at the moment, hence the fact I was late posting this week and updating my weight chart. Nothing lost this week, but I've been expecting that for the last couple of weeks. I've gone off the boil with the diet now and I'm beginning to hit that, well it won't matter if.... stage. Just one of those and one of those won't really make that much difference - will it ?

Well all those out there that have ever been on a diet will know the answer to that one!

So anyway what have I been up to. Ended up shutting the shop last week as I couldn't keep anything down on the Tuesday and then the Wednesday even though logically there was nothing in my stomach the reverse end decided to have it's go. Thursday I was feeling better so I had the morning off and then because I felt like I was skiving I went down the shop in the afternoon. Great isn't it, work for yourself and still feel guilty when you take time off!!

Friday I finally had my appointment at the hospital about my feet and they confirmed what I have known for the last year or so that I have Plantar Fasciitis. The specialist told me that what I was already doing was the right things, but also gave me some exercises and I have to go back again in a couple of months.

So on Sunday I traipsed round the NEC at the trade show, yeah that did my feet a lot of good - LOL. Got lot's of new catalogues to browse through, but I'm being a bit picky about what I'm ordering at the moment so don't expect to see lot's of new goodies immediately.

Right best go or I'll be late opening this morning

Not a recommended way

to lose weight, but due to the fact that I have been up most of the night being sick I have lost another 3lb this week.

I really didn't expect to lose any at all as I stuffed my face with Fiona's Sticky Willies at the South Wales Crop on Saturday and then again with Faye's cakes at the Trowbridge Crop on Sunday. And to top it all I was sooooo whacked on Sunday that I treated the family to a McDonalds for tea so that I didn't have to cook when I got home.

So with all that I thought it would be a gain week or at least a plateau week, but no. In the early hours (well 1.23 to be precise) I woke with severe stomach pain and that was the beginning.

Now we only have what I call a modern two up two down and with four of us living here it's really difficult to creep round in the middle of the night - well when you have to rush to the smallest room (which is upstairs) as fast as you can you tend to forget the creeping. Luckily I didn't wake the girls, but apparently Gary thinks he knows exactly how many times I was ill!!

So anyway, I've lost weight after all and now I feel absolutely C**P - seriously considering not opening today at the moment, but I had to close the other week because Alanna was ill and it's not good to keep doing it. Mind you not sure how my customers would feel if I had to suddenly disappear in the middle of ringing up on the till !

Oh the other thing is that I've signed up for the Race for Life - I'll be doing mine at the Cheltenham Racecourse on 1st July. If you want to sponsor me then there is a link to the left (and I'll be mentioning this again during the course of the next few months).

I decided that it would be a good thing to do as well as helping me to start getting fitter - well I'll need to before then :)

Funny old week

It's been a busy but quiet week, if that makes any sense.

Unfortunately last Tuesday morning Alanna came downstairs and declared she was too ill to go to school. Well she was right, my 4 year old who absolutely loves school had a horrible flu/tummy type bug and was not at all right.

After getting her sister ready for school and dragging her with us, I made the decision that she really wasn't well enough to spend the day at the shop with me. As we have no relatives that live closer than 25 miles away it meant shutting the shop, not something I do lightly.

So the shop was shut for the next three days, however I still had orders to see to so I was popping down with her for an hour or so to try and keep on top of them. I was also trying to prep for the class on the Thursday night (will upload completed layout in a moment) and for my 9 hour crop here on the Saturday. All of this with a sickly 4 year old, a healthy 7 year old wanting lots of attention and me fast coming down with the same bug - eeeeeek.

Thursday was very good - 32 Ladies kindly took my class and I think they enjoyed themselves. I croaked away to them and ran around like a loon as I hadn't expected that many and so was trying to put more kits together. At the same time I was teaching the class and trying to man the shop - LOL.

Saturday was another lovely day and thankfully Penny came to the rescue and not only taught the class that we had already planned but another one too. She was showing someone her album and they begged her to teach one that was in there. After a quick dash over to the shop to pull the bits together she got on with it - she's a real trooper :)

I was meant to be staying over at her house on the Saturday to go to Craftyness's Crop and Create on the Sunday, but had to back out as I felt so lousy I knew I needed a collapse day on the Sunday.

So it's Monday now and I have a weigh in tomorrow morning - do I think I've lost any this week - not a chance in hell. All I've done for the last three days is stuff my face as I needed comfort food. Oh well, there's always next week to hit the 1 Stone mark :)


Right let's see if Blogger is behaving and will let me upload this layout

Blooming great

Just over a week ago I got a phone call from Louise who helps to run the Chepstow Pink Ladies club. She asked me if I'd like to take the mobile shop to their February crop on the 1st Thursday evening in February, and also if I'd teach. Yes says Linz, thinking it's ages away. Then I realised it was only just over two weeks and I have soooooo many things to do.

Anyway, in quiet moments (yeah right)I've been trying to put together something to teach and I've almost got there now, so I'm putting a sneak peak on here. You can't see it all because it's still not finished yet. Hope they will like it!



It was weigh in this morning, I've lost another 2lb - if I can keep that up for next week then I'll have lost 1st in a month, fingers crossed please.

Do you ever think

if only......

Come on admit it, there must have been at least one time in your life when you thought it. If only you'd said yes instead of no or vice versa.....

I have a lot of those to look back at, although I must admit I almost always straight away think that if I had made a different choice I wouldn't be with my wonderful DH and the most gorgeous two girls in the world.

I guess my main one is that I wish I hadn't wasted my education and that I'd gone on to University as was expected.

So what's your if only....

I forgot

I hadn't posted a picture of my Troll Beads as they are now so hopefully this will work. I got the simple lock as I'm hoping that I'll lose enough weight to get a smaller bracelet and then I'll get a fancy lock to go with that.

So far I have the Turquoise flower and the Turqoise Armadillo

Just a quickie

As I've got to go get the girls from school in a minute.

This weeks weigh in showed a weight loss of 2lb so that makes it a total of 10lb. I haven't ordered my Troll bead for last week as we are totally brassic at the moment. Maybe by the time Gary has been paid I'll have lost enough to get two!

On the news front Gary has managed to get a part-time photography job - he's got a job this weekend and if he likes it I'll tell you more.

Right best go, 3 minutes to finish off everything and get out the door.

Well it's a Troll Bead for me then

I weighed myself this morning and was very pleased to see that I have lost 8lb :)

Although having said that it wasn't a total surprise as I always lose big on the first week and as I'd just put loads on over the holiday period it was easy to shift it back off again.

Usually (and yes I have been on soooo many diets I can say usually), I lose well for the first 3 or 4 weeks and then I hit my first plateau. It's getting through that which can last a few weeks that is the really hard thing. I often lose about 1½ stone before this happens and then bang. It then gets to the "what's the point" stage and I end up giving up and putting it all back on again.

So I'll be calling for extra help and support when I get to that point, but in the meantime I'm off to look at the Troll Beads site to pick my next one :)

Troll Beads

I saw a post on UK Scrappers recently about Troll Beads and someone said that she was going to use these as a reward system for her weight loss.

Well thought I, what a fantastic idea! So I've ordered my bracelet, lock and two beads (these are a Christmas present) to get me started. I'm waiting for them to be delivered but I'm hopeful that they won't be too lonely for long and that my bracelet will be full before long.

I've decided that it will be 1 bead for every 7lbs lost so it will give me some incentive to keep losing once I get through the first 1st. I tend to find that quite easy to lose, but keeping on going and not putting it all back on again has been another thing.

My first proper weigh in will be tomorrow so I've set up a little chart at the side to start to record my details.

OK todays the day

Yes I know the 1st was yesterday, but I never actually get round to doing anything much on the 1st January so I had already decided that I'd start everything today.

So what am I starting, well losing weight to start with and no it's not a diet because diets don't work. It's a healthier and hopefully by the same token slimmer me.

I weighed myself this morning and I won't be revealing the result as I was pretty shocked myself. I knew my rough weight, but was gobsmacked at how much I'd put on over the holiday period.

So my first target is to get down to what I have been weighing in at for the last few months and then I can start tackling that. I'll blog what I've lost every week so that should make me blog at least once a week - another target.

I was aiming at a weight loss of about 6 stone but seeing this mornings shock it may be a little higher than that.

There are going to be a few other changes in my life too, I've decided that at 46 it's about time I stopped letting people upset me. I've been told by lots of people over the years that I am too sensitive so guess who's getting hard - LOL. Seriously though I've decided not to take things to heart as much as I have done in the past and if that makes me a tougher person then so be it. I've spent too much of my life in tears because of other people so it's smiles all the way - so from now on it will be "whatever" or "so what" and move on.

There are a few goals that I've set myself for this year too, can't say them here yet but as the year goes by I'll let them out of the bag.

One of the biggies though is for me to be more organised, I never seem to have time to do half the things I would like to and I realised quite a while ago that it's because I am so disorganised.

I have what I call a butterfly mind. What I mean by this is that I'll start one job and then something will distract me and I'll start something else and then be distracted again and another job gets started. I've known myself to have up to a dozen things on the go by doing this and yes they do all get finished (eventually) but if I concentrated and finished the first one, or at least set myself a limit of 3 then it would be much easier. I'm pretty sure that if I do this I'll feel happier about getting tasks completed and find more time as I won't be flitting (hence the reference to butterflies) from one thing to another all the time.

So there you go, blog entry done, start weight recorded (not here though) and two other things set down in writing, 2007 will be my year.

OK so here it is - be warned it's long so hope you don't fall asleep before the end of it - I've highlighted the ones I've done in light blue (Cyan to be precise - lol)

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

2. Swam with wild dolphins

3. Climbed a mountain

4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

5. Been inside the Great Pyramids

6. Held a tarantula

7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

8. Said “I love you’ and meant it

9. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk

42. Had amazing friends

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44. Watched wild whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Posed nude in front of strangers

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theater

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites (only in the UK though)

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on television news programs as an “expert” (BBC News West to be precise)

83. Got flowers for no reason

84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark

88. Had a one-night stand

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children (or…raising children)

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication

106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Petted a stingray

110. Broken someone’s heart (or so I was told)

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a T.V. game show

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari

115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (only when I had the flu)

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school

131. Parasailed

132. Petted a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes

134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head

149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone’s life

There you go, I may have to look back at this at the end of the year and see if I can highlight any more, there are definately a few I'd like to do.

Time for New Year Resolutions

I promised myself that come the New Year I would get more organised and start doing things that I keep putting off, so.......

One of the things is to make sure I keep my blog updated more reguarly - well it can't get much worse than it has been (or can it :) ).

So I'm starting a bit early, but hey if I put it off for another couple of days it probably won't get started at all.

I've just seen an entry on Chrissies blog so I'm off to copy and paste and do my one.

Back later

Oooooooooh the sun has got it's hat on

A few weeks ago friends of mine
Chrissie and Debbie met up and went to the beach and I commented on how lovely it must have been. Well they got their heads together and invited me and the girls to join them the next time.

So last Tuesday after I'd shut the shop up, we got home and loaded up the car to go off to Swansea. I'd decided to treat us and use our Shogun which we don't use all the time because it has a higher fuel consumption than the Xantia which is my run around. And for those of you thinking we are rich having two cars then the Shogun is for towing our caravan which unfortunately the Xantia is too small for.

Anyway, the reason why I am explaining this is that I then managed to misplace the Xantia keys and as it was parked across the driveway in front of the Shogun this caused a slight problem. After about an hours searching and me beginning to get to the woah is me stage they were finally found and we toodled off on our merry way.

The M4 between Junction 21 and 26 during rush hour traffic is not a good place to be with two young children in the car! Once we got past Newport however it was plain sailing and we pulled up at Chrissies at about 7.20. Chrissie and Celyn greeted us at the door with Celyn eager to show the girls her room. It was obvious that they were going to get on well to start with and all three were soon running round squealing with glee.

We finally tucked the girls up in bed about 10pm after I'd nearly had a hernia killing myself laughing at Chrissie trying to straddle a camp bed - believe me girls this was a funny sight. Then Chrissie and I sat and chatted till the early hours of the morning until we realised that it was the early hours.

The next morning saw a grey and gloomy sky, but once Debbie turned up with her daughter Hannah and her daughters friend Molly we all set off to a lovely beach called Caswell.

I couldn't resist taking a couple of piccies of Debbie and Chrissie huddled up under blankets and towels. I didn't feel the cold until quite a bit later, but it was a bit windy and every so often it would try to rain, it was a bit like our holiday.

The girls were loving it though so we stayed for a few hours so they could have a run around

After a while though enough was enough and we all trooped off to the famous Joe's ice cream parlour in Mumbles - well Chrissie has told enough people about this place it must be famous by now :)

I must admit the vanilla was pretty special and had a very different taste, reminded me of condensed milk. We had a wander round for a while after this and then all too soon it was time to go back and pick up the car to make the trek back home again.

Oh, why the title? Well Alanna was not on best performance that day and kept having her little strops. Everytime she started to go off on one Chrissie would start to sing this and each time the Oooooooooh would get longer and longer, Alanna can't resist giggling if you can get it right and this certainly did the trick.

Thanks to Chrissie, Celyn and Danny for letting us stay over (the girls say thanks to Celyn for sharing her room) and also to Debbie, Hannah and Molly for a great day out. I enjoyed it lots, clouds etc... and all

I'm back

bet you didn't even miss me - see blink and I'm gone and back again. Some would say back like the proverbial bad penny, and others would just shake their heads and walk away muttering things under their breath.

OK so I could do with another holiday straight away, but isn't that what holidays are for - going away, staying up late doing things etc..

Well for those of you that are interested - yes I see you with your finger over that mouse button ready to click away to somewhere else - then we've been away for a week in not that sunny Dorset.

Had a nice time even though the weather could have been a bit better (OK make that lots better on some days), but the girls throughly enjoyed themselves and Sabrina was absolutely over the moon when we went Fossil hunting. At this point I have to tell you that my DH did make a rather rude remark about me when that was suggested - yes he did get kicked. Sabrina is absolutely dinosaur mad so the Dorset coastline which is part of the Jurassic heritage coastline was a fantastic place for her. Alanna enjoyed it too, but she hasn't quite got Sabrina's enthusiasm (yet).

Now we are back and it's just beginning to sink in that in under two weeks my little one (Alanna) goes to school, that's big school as she would say it. I'm not sure that I'm ready for it - she definately is, we'll find out if they are ready for her soon.

She's recently picked up a real accent and on holiday several times came out with " 'ere, oive got something to telly you" - we were picking ourselves up of the floor afterwards as it just sounded so funny coming from a 4 year old.

Anyway, not a lot else going on at the moment, got to sort out lots of US orders this weekend and make sure those that are outstanding are actually doing something so I guess I'd best make a start on that.

The picture at the top is one of the Jurassic Coastline at Charmouth