Its been a long week

Its been such a busy week....work has been sooooooo busy I feel as thou I have lived at the bloody place. Most days I have done over 9 hours a day, mostly closer to 10 hours. Most of the crew are going to work tomorrow....but no way in the world am I. Thankfully I have a hair appointment so a pamper session after this past week is gonna be awesome !!

Not much else has been happening in the world of Jen. Haven't seen the kids or the grandies. Shawn had a job for all of 5 minutes, poor kid nothing seems to go right for him of late. He got the job, and on day 1 he was driving to work and his dratted car blew up !! He rang the job finding place he got the job throu and told them what had happened and all they could say was "tough luck, your're fired !! So now he is madly looking around for a cheap car...gonna have to help him there as he needs transport as he has been told by another job finding agency that if he has transport they have another job for him....fingers crossed !

Kylee has started doing voluntary work for the blind dogs association for a few hours on Fridays....and she is loving it. I love the fact that her main job is to excersise the dogs...and that means walking them! Kylee doesn't get a lot of excersise in and her being a big girl and looking in the future to have kids excersise and losing weight needs to happen.

Paul and Tanya and their kids have been to Kalgoolie on hols, they had a ball....and as for Simon and Tracey well I haven't heard a thing from them. Was hoping to have the kids for a bit over the hols...looks like they were all busy.

ohhh just had a call...Skye wants to come and have a sleepover before she has to go back to school...woohooooo

And a big wooohoooooo last night was weigh in....goodbye to 1 kilo !!

I didn't .....

.....any weight at my weigh in last night...in fact I GAINED 200 lousy little grams. Wasn't too happy as I thought I'd had a great week. But on thinking about it I didn't walk every day, and with warmer weather happening this last week I don't think I drank enough water. Note to myself...I MUST INCREASE MY WATER INTAKE !!!

Shawn ... and Hannah....had to go to court today...DCP are applying to have their kids remaining in their custody for ANOTHER 2 years. Bloody hell...Shawn was gobsmacked and very upset, but so proud of him too as he didn't go looking for the drugs to dull the hurt like he usually does! He still does use them BUT happy to say nowhere near as much or as often as he used too. I would love him to quit them all together but what he has done is great. Anyways Shawn is going to legal aide on Monday and is going to apply for aide to help him with this DCP application.....Hannah already has a lawyer.

I have put up a few pictures of the wildflowers on our block....they are fantastic this year. A lot of orchids....more than we had in previous years.

In the past

What with my brothers birthday the other day and Chris H comment about Rosemary on one of my posts my mind has been a little in the past of late. Thinking about life and what could of been, what might of been and so on. The pic above is the last pic taken of our brood. Simon, Paul, Rosemary, Shawn and Kylee. I only carried 3 of those 5 under my heart...but the other 2 grew in my heart. Ted and I met in 1981, I was the mother of Simon, he was the father of Paul and Rosemary...it was you love me, you love my kids...his kids were my kids, my kid was his kid and thats the way it stayed. There was never any of the disputes that you see sometimes with some combined families. They all grew up together thou not always together, sometimes Paul and Rosemary were with their mother and Simon was with his father but bond they all did. They are still close today but not as close as they were before we lost Rosemary in the accident...the photo above was taken a month or so before she was killed in 1996...she was 23.

Life goes on.....

Friday today and I am home, work thankfully is quiet. Its a long weekend this weekend with Monday being a public holiday so I have a whole 4 days off work. Plenty to catch up on around the house and garden so thats what I will be doing. Off very shortly for my walk..today with my friend Deb.

Last night was weigh in night too....I said goobye to 550grams...still have a long way to go but I am a getting there......

My bro

Today is my brother 59th birthday.....he was killed in 1979 aged 27.

I was 23 when he was killed and today I still miss him heaps.

He was older than me by nearly 5 years but we were the middle kids of the of the 4 of us and we were very close.

Happy Birthday Tom...loves ya still xx

This week

Another week has flown by.

Had a quiet weekend and a lovely friend call in for a visit. Sharon and I met when she started working at the farm where I am about 6 years ago. She left a few years back and moved up to Kojonup and we have stayed in contact. I learnt earlier on this year she lost one of her sons in a car accident but I hadn't managed to see her until she called in on Saturday. Poor love I really felt for her, its hard to lose someone you love, espesially your own child. All I could do was hug her, wipe her tears. Having been in her shoes with the loss of our Rosemary I knew I couldn't take away her pain but I could listen as she talked.
Sharon stayed for for 3 hours or so and the next day I got a lovely text message from her to say she had arrived back home and thanked me for being there for her.

Kylee rang me on Monday asking me if I wanted some really really good news, she sounded so excited. And yeahhh it was good news. Jemma...Kylee's childhood friend (she was a bridesmaid at her wedding) had rang her and told her she was expecting her 1st child. Jemma is the daughter of our best friends (who I posted a pic of in my last post) so of course I had to ring Tina and congratulate her and ask was it going to effect our holiday to Tassie. Of course if Jemma was due around that time we would have had to change dates....but the bub is about 6 weeks after we get home. This will be Tina and Grants 2nd granchild...their son and daughter in law had a baby a month after we got back from our NT holiday...coincidence ehhh??

Deepest sympathy to my blogger friend Anne on the loss of her beloved hubby Peter.
Anne and Peter did call in for a visit, chat and a cuppa, when they did their tour of the south west earlier on this year . You're in Ted and mine thoughts every step of the way Anne.


And to finish off....last night was weigh in night...goodbye was said to 600grams.

Another loss...

After a looooong week Thursday night came around all too soon. I had a good week but ate way too many snacks and treats and wasn't sure how that would reflect on the scales. A very bad habit that I am going to have to stop. Excersise was good, managed a walk nearly every morning before work, only missed 1 morning so happy with that. Anyways the scales showed another 500g loss....can't complain at all about that.

Above is a pic of me, hubby & Tina and Grant. Tina & Grant are our best friends...and our travelling companions. We did our Northern Territory together last year and next year they will driving across the nullabour with us and hopping on the Spirit of Tasmania and touring Tassie with us. Geeeeeeee the time is going by quickly, I can still remember us sitting around a camp fire on our trip last year planning this trip. Grant & Tina are coming down from Geraldton this month for a quick visit and we will finalise a few more little details.

Nothing much has been happening. Shawn still looking for work...thankfully Shaz is working. Paul has the flu and has had to have days off, Simon is busily rounding up addresses, his and Tracey wedding invites are being made shortly....and Kylee is looking forward to our Tassie trip too coz that means daddy & mummy will be in Melbourne with her again.

That time again...

It was weigh in night again last night....and yay I lost again..only 450 grams this week but I'll take it all.
I really like this new meeting I go too. It is the Karkana Klub, it is affliated with WW Australia but our meetings are a lot more "user" friendly. The meetings are based on the principal of "Group Therapy", people who have the same problem and discussing it frankly without fear of being laughed at or misunderstood. We are urged through incentives and encouragement to lose excess weight sensibly...no gimmicks and fads.

Today has been a longggggggggggg day...2 hours overtime added on to a busy busy day ! A lot of hard yakka I did do today, I am tired! If I had known the day was going to be like that I would have stayed in bed longer and not gone walking. mmmmm but then again now the mornings are not so dark I am really starting to enjoy my walks agin....its a beautiful time of the morning. Tomorrow morning a lay in bed for me I think.....I will be walking at 8am with a girlfriend, I help her deliver pamphlets and catch up on all our gossip..our "jabberwalk" we call it !

All quiet on the home front...shhhhhhhhhh lets see how long it stays like that !

Weekend

Its Sunday arvo already...the weekend has just flown by. Mum rang up during the week and said a friend might be travelling up to Perth for the weekend and if he did could she travel up and be dropped off here and stay the weekend with us. I got home from work on Friday afternoon just as she was being dropped off...so that was lovely. Poor dear wasn't feeling 100%, she had a tummy upset and had to stop on the way up and be sick. Anyways a big cuddle and a little tlc and she was fine.

Saturday was Shawns access visit...he had the visit here from 11am to 5pm thou this time he only had 3 of the 4..the eldest boy had previous arrangement so Shawn will get a visit later with him. The kids were great...they had a ball with their Daddy....he misses them so. They are growing so fast...espesially little Kaleb. The girls despite the 3 year age difference get on really well and play well together. Hannah rang me Friday and was saying DCP is going for another 2 year court order for the kids....Shawn will be devastated..I think its just sux !! They need to be home with Hannah, all 4 kids together ! Right, Hannah is lax in the housecleaning and some health issues and needs to be more disiplined with the kids BUT why can't she have the kids back and be monitored more...she loves those kids and they need that security. What is happening with them can't be good for them..and definetly not another 2 years of it. She has approached her lawyer/legal aide and is going to protesting this situation.

Shawn hasn't heard about this yet...he will not be happy either and hopefully he'll approach his lawyer/legal aide too.

Today took mum shopping...she knits, cotchets and embroiders so she was able to stock up on those things. Was driving home with lunch when hubby rang to say her ride was 40 minutes away so we arrived home in time to have a quick cuppa and some lunch.

Alls going well food and excersise wise ready for wi in next week....and I am also happy to announce that I lost 800g last week not 500g. Was reading my weigh in book and this group records 2 weights in our book...the scale weight which is then rounded out closest to the kilo mark....so if I lost 800g like I did, it goes back to the 500g and if I lost 400g it would be rounded up to the 500g. I like the 2 weights recorded....

Going down.....

Last Thursday was my first weigh in at my new meeting. Up till Sunday night I was going really well, was totally in control of my eating and felt good within myself. Sunday night insomnia kicked in and I had a horror night....layed awake most of the night tossing and turning then Monday was full on at work, we were really busy and the carrots that I had to grade were absolute shit making my job harder than what it should have been. That night I was hungry and although I stayed within my points I found myself snacking. Monday night I had another night of insomonia and Tuesday was yet another busy day at work...packing brocolli most of the day. (My back still aches!!) That night I started the snacking again craving sweets and did go over my points. I ended up going to bed early with a sleeping tablet. Wednesday morning I woke after a good nights sleep, managed a walk but it was a real effort....and today I am still battling, think the loss of sleep and extra hard start to the week has knocked me for a sixer.

Anyways on Sunday we had a lovely visit from Simon and Tracey on their way back from Dunsborough where they had been staying for a few days celebrating my grandson Tommy's 4th birthday and also doing some more wedding plans. Yep...another wedding happening for the family next year...a week after we arrive home from our Tassie holiday. Anyways Simon and tribe lit up the bbq and we had all had lunch and Tommy opened up his pressie and he and the other kids ran amok for a few hours, was really great to see them.

Anyways it is getting late for me....best finish this cuppa and head to bed....guess it will be another busy day at the farm.

ohhhh I lost 500g tonight...happy with that with all the "snacks" I was eating.....here's to another good week ......

Home again

My girl Kylee, took this at a small park at Callista, really love this pic !

The Spirit of Tasmania taken from the Skydeck...looking forward to travelling on this in early February next year.

Taken from the Eureka Skydeck ...taken just before sunset..

Me and my man at Kylee's ... Kylee took this picture sitting at her dining table

Had a wonderful time with our girl in Melbourne....the weather was cold, wet and windy but we coped. Ted wasn't feeling the best, he has had the flu now for over a month....but he really enjoyed the days with our daughter, they went by so quickly...tooo quickly! Kylee and Stephen kept us busy, our feet hardly touched the ground. Had a lovely drive up into the Dandenongs, went out to Sovereign Hill at Ballarat, the museum, the Eureka tower, tram trips around the city and lots of eating out. Kylee's new house is very nice and work on the garden has started....heaps of work to do to get it the way they like it...but it all takes time. By the time we go back at the end of January we should see a huge difference.

All the eating out made the scales go up....but no matter, working on getting it off yet again. I started at my new meeting last night...the group of lifetimers, plus men & women who can't afford ww weekly meetings...it was a great meeting, more relaxed and a less structured so I am looking forward to going back next week.

I bought the latest Annette Syms cookbook while over there....some awesome recipes in it that I am hoping to try out this weekend. Kylee wanted to try her eating plan out as she has a lot of weight to lose, her Dr recomends she see a dietian and try to lose weight before she starts trying for children so I bought her the book too. Poor love has really struggled big time with her weight since moving, what with homesickness, the the pill/implant and some depression. She lost some for her wedding but has put that back on plus some since moving into their new house, thats shows how contented she is I guess.

Monday night again....

....and that means my weigh in night....loss of 500 grams ... yay for me coz this week I had to stay focused. I did lose the plot mid week....but managed to turn it around and get back on track. Now hopefully I don't lose the plot all together when I head to Melbourne on Thursday. Dear daughter has a full 4 days mapped out for us so by the sounds of it our feet aren't going to be touching the ground much. Included in those days are a lot of eating out. Ahhh well enjoy myself I will....and I'll deal with any gain when I get back. My girlfriend and I have joined up with a off-spin of ww's and I'll be going to those meetings when I get back. What it is is a group of "lifers" (lifetime members) who have gained and don't want to go to a ww every week and pay fee's weekly. So they have started up this meeting where we can get together, weigh, talk and inspire & support one another which sounds great to me for a small fee which will pay for our coffee ! I will just attend my proper ww meeting once a month to record my weight there.

The photo above was taken of me 12 months ago up in the Northern Territory weighing what I weigh now.....I still have over 8 kilo's to get back to goal...just as did 12 months ago.....mmmmm maintaining ehhhh????

Last day of work for me tomorrow, Wednesday will be for organising myself, packing and a little pampering...a haircut & colour.

See ya on my return from Melbourne.

Happy Birthday

One of my little grandaughters turned 6 on Monday.

Before I went to weigh in I went down and gave her our pressie...she loved the watch and necklace with her name on it we gave her (even if the watch was too big !! ) .... thou wasn't too happy about getting clothes.

Ashlee is such a little cutie...she has such the cheekiest grin....

She is so tiny and petite but boyyyyyyy you should have seen her devour her Dora birthday cake !

Bugger

Weigh in was last night and I stayed the same! Better than a gain I know...but it should have been a loss! If I hadn't had that mini binge during the week it would have been...grrrrrrrrrr !! But on saying that I think I have lost inches as my clothes seem to be looser. Must do a measure.

This week I am making a real effort to stay totally on track....and excersise more. This morning I managed to get up earlier and go out walking. I love my dvd but nothing beats getting outside and actually walking, the mornings are crisp and its enough to get me moving ! And the mornings are getting lighter too so I am not walking in the dark.

Hubby is sick with the flu and having a few days off, so that makes it easier for me to get out as well. Keeping fingers crossed he doesn't pass the disease on to me, but he has had it for over 2 weeks now.

I am concentrating more on satisfying foods this week....foods to fill me up so I don't snack.

Looking around at work today I noticed that I am the biggest one there. All the girls there are Asian...(Korean, Hong Kong, Tiwanese, Vietnamese) and are soo tiny...the biggest would be a small size 8 !! I feel like a giant.

Me...

....I AM my own worst enemy.

Last night I had a mini binge....well mini compared to what I can do. Why do I do this to myself, espesially when everything is going so well??? Now I have to right the damn wrong I did to myself. No exercise this morning....last night I suffered from "restless legs" and they were so sore this morning I didn't do my dvd. I think they must have moved miles in bed last night....they just didn't want to stay still.

Anyways today I have stayed 100% on track and realise that now I have to keep it that way if I want a loss on those demon scales on Monday night. And get lots of walks in this weekend...that'll help won't it?

Yes...I have to a be a friend to myself....

Monday night....

......is weigh in night. Very happy to report I lost 500g. Totaly rapt with that as its been a week of very little excersise..thou did a bit of physical work which is something that I don't get to do very much. This week my pledge to myself is that if I don't have to start work earlier than normal (which I had to a few days last week to work on the potato harvester) I will do my accelerated walking dvd before I leave. Its a great workout and I find it gives me just as much of a workout as I would get actually out walking.

Right onwards now....tomorrow is the start of another week, and I am looking forward to having another good week...

Today.....

....has been a busy one. I had a sleep in this morning then went for a long walk. Ahhh the walk was good as I had not managed one all week. After the walk and breakkie I raced into town and picked up the above from the framers....I think she did a fantastic job. The bouquet is in a shadow box...and the pics are just framed and I think its looks really spiffy !! Ted is going to hang it for me tomorrow.
After picking up the frame made a quick dash throu the supermarket and threw a few things into my basket for lunch for Shawns kids...they were due at 12 and were going to be visiting till 5pm. from the supermarket I had to pass the Pandora shop.....sssssssssssshhhhhhh I poppred in very quickly and snuck home another couple of charms....a cute little Teddy bear (for darling hubby Ted) and my birth stone (amethyst) plus another little purple bead.

Lunch went down a treat....they love frankfurts...between the 4 of them they demolished 2 packets. Little Kaleb only managed one...but he's only a little baby.....who by the way is now up and running. They are growing sooooo quickly.

The 2 little boys spent ages playing on this little bike that was given to me for the kiddies. Kaleb wasn't too impressed with having to share with his 11 month older brother.....

Anyways another sucessful visit for Shawn.....the kids just did not want to go home !!

Week 2

Tonight was weigh in night...after my horror 2 weeks, I was hoping that after a entire week on track I would have a loss this week. I was happy to see the numbers go down and record a loss of 2.3 !! Now here's hoping I can duplicate this last week this coming week. I will be trying thats for sure. i will be definetly working on it. Excersise is my key...and I have been trying every morning to do 20 minutes of my accelerated walking dvd, looks like it has helped. On the weekend my g/f and I walk both days....over an hour on Saturday delivering pamplets and an on the Sunday a 45 to an hour walk, depending on what we have on.

On Saturday I went shopping earlier than normal and found the new jewellers open in my shopping center. They are the agents for Pandora....and I have been promising myself one for years, so I walked in and looked around and above is what I bought. I would have loved the combination gold/silver bracelet but that was too many $$'s with our holiday only a month away...but when this one is full I hope to have the dollars then. On Saturday with hubby's blessing I am buying 2 more charms.

Nothing else much happening. Shawn is going okay...he applied for a job, had an interview and is going to start soon on a trial basis...as I said it is up to him to rove what he is capable of. He came out here on Thursday evening and I noticed he had some cannabis. He told me he doesn't have to go to court monthly or have his urinalis tests anymore. What a shame I told him as they did keep him under some control. Also told him if he goes back to what he was like before I will wipe my hands on him....and I mean it. He has worked so hard to become a better person and has found Shaz and happiness again...would love to see him grow from there, not slide backwards and become that horrid useless person again.

Kylee rang on the weekend and wanted to know if I was interested in travelling overseas with her and some friends next year. Definetly I want to go....just don't want to go to Bali. We are talking Thailand, Figi, Singapore or Hong Kong. With my daughters love of tigers methinks we will end up in Thailand.

Anyways off outta here, early night for me tonight and I still have some scrabble games to play on Facebook.

Week 12

Postscript Monday Evening.....Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.....just weighed in, its not good at all...over 3 bloody kilo's.......

Tomorrow night is week 12 weigh in....and its not going to be a very pretty one at all. I am really frustrated at myself, the last 2 weeks all I have done is yoyo...pig out for a few days then the next 2 days go the other way and have 16 to 18 point days. Not good at all. Mood swings, hot flushes and all those crappy menopausal things haven't helped....but hey got no-one to blame for it but myself....I should know better, I have been going to ww long enough to know what to do, obviously a lesson I haven't learnt well enough yet !!

Anyways have made up a grid on "my weight" ....and after the weigh in tomorrow night it will be onwards and downwards.....and knowing me a few sidesteps and backwards ones too.....but I'll be trying.

Shawn had Kaleb yesterday for his catch up access visit with him....all went well he said. Kaleb at first was wary of him and a bit of a "sook" but thats Kaleb anyways. Kaleb lives in a foster home with some teenagers who love to spoil and carry him around.

Hannah has also been told to prepare a cot for him has soon he will be starting to have a few overnight stays with her to get him weaned into being going back fulltime...about bloody time I recon too !! Hope she can cope....I worry about those kids so much, how is this all going to affect them later on in life....??

Manjimup....

On Tuesday due to maintenance on my packing machine at work I got a day off work. Mum's birthday was on July 1st and I promised her an outing as soon as I could get a day off to get down. Was told at 4.30 on the Monday so I rang Mum and told her to be organised as I would be down by 9am the next day to take her out...so be ready.

I managed to get a few chores done early Tuesday and managed to get on the road on time but due to a few road repairs along the way I did get held up and the 1.5 hour trip turned into a 2 hour trip...but never mind, I got there and found Mum tapping her foot on the doorstep.

Mum wanted to go down to Pemberton and visit a friend for lunch and also go and see Glouster Tree....we used to live down there when I was little and Dad used to be the fire lookout towerman of the tree. He was a local icon as dad lost his arm in a truck accident and even with the 1 arm he used to be able to climb that tree faster than anyone else. I would have loved to have climbed the tower for old times sake , but mum is scared of heights and I didn't want to leave her on the bottom watching me. Next time I go down there I will climb it as there is a article up in the tower of Dad, he was the longest serving towerman there.

After visiting the tower we drove down the street...and went browsing. Found a little op shop and found some treasures....a beautiful prada handbag, 3 bells, 2 crystal ones and a lovely blue willow one which I pounced on. I collect bells and blue willow...so it was a very rare find !!

Off to lunch where mums friend made us some lovely toastie sandwiches with a prawn salad....followed by fresh scones and a homemade jam.....very yummmmmmmmmmmo!

On the way back to mums we stopped at a gallery/winery and found some beautiful jewelery....I couldn't resist the thread amethyst earrings...another weakness of mine....

When we got back to her unit, she made me a coffee and I couldn't resist the 2 slices of apple cake she had made...talk about deeliceeecious !! It was a lovely day which I thoroughly enjoyed...a great outing and loved the one and one time with mum. Must try and keep on making time for these little outings with her.

Now I just have to try and get myself back on the straight and narrow...far too many points consumed yesterday...ahhhhhhhhh well mum is worth it !!

Name me....

Miss Piggy.....

I have had a horror week, starting at the beginning of the week with the worry of the DCP meeting then continuing on....

I'd try at the beginning of each day to stay focused, but by the end of the day I would fall off the rails....

Not helping matters is those damn menopausal hot flushes have decided to come back...not a excuse I know but they certainly haven't helped me at all.

Anyways today I have managed to get my head in the right place and got myself back on track. Fingers crossed that I can stay that way...I will be trying.
Definetly won't be weighing in on Monday thou....BUT I will go to my meeting thou, gotta stay focused.

Had DCP visit this morning and we were questioned/assessed on our parenting ..... and they were very impressed in us and our answers. Have been told we may have our 1st respite visit next weekend. We were so close in deciding to take her on fulltime when they told us they were having trouble finding somewhere suitable....we may yet take her on fulltime till they do. Don't know yet, been teary on and off since the meeting, poor kids, its so not fair!! Did ask if it was possible she go with one of her brothers, or possibly even home to Hannah, the answer was a definite no!

Thankfully Shawn is on the right track and working towards recovery....hopefully he'll get it together before Hannah and get the kids. A start this coming weekend when he has a access visit with Kaleb at HIS house, supervised by a carer but its a start.....