Long weekend

Gina, Robyn, Marian & Carol (standing)

My weekend began on Friday when I had the day off that I booked off over a month ago when we organised the "meet & greet" of a few of us from the "At Home" weight watchers group that I particate on, on the weight watchers site online.

I travelled up to Mandurah where I met up with Robyn, then hopped onto the train and made our way to the city. Rob & I are both real country bumpkins and don't know our way around the city at all...but we managed to find our way to the meeting place (and back to the station 5 hours later with out getting lost).

We all got on like a house on fire and ate, drank coffee and chatted & chatted.....it was an absolutely wonderful day! I didn't want it to end.

But end it did....

I was only home an hour then Simon and Tracey dropped off their kids, they stayed over Friday & Saturday night. They are great kids and always behave for me. I took them up to the pool Saturday arvo after we grocery shopped and had lunch....it was hot and they had a ball. They slept like babies that night.

Sunday Shawn had his access visit here so I had his 4 kids here as well. Skye had her 7th birthday during the week so I asked Tanya & Paul to bring their 3 out and we had a little party for Skye. It was wonderful...I had 11 out of my 12 grandies here....and even managed a pic of the 11 together !! And a lovely pic of my 6 gorgeous grandaughters. The kids all had a blast....and despite all the goodies thet were there for the "get together" I managed to stay on track.

p.s. Anne, the grandie missing is Luke, he is 14 and lives in Perth with his mother. He is Paul's son from his 1st relationship.

I nailed it !!!

Have had a great week...I have tracked 100% ... my motto was "if I bite it, I write it " and it worked, weigh in was tonight and it was goodbye to 1.5 kilo's. Last weeks gain has gone plus a little extra....happy with that as I worked hard to nail that !! I hated that gain !!

Am off to Peth tomorrow to meet some fellow weight watchers...then back home to a houseful of grandies....have Simon and Tracey dropping off their 4 who will be staying over tomorrow and Saturday night...and on Sunday Shawn has his access visit here so there will another 4. Its going to be fun, might ring Paul and Tanya and get them to bring out their 3 to join in. Skye turned 7 last week so we will be having a little party with icecream cake for her.

Will be back with some more after the weekend with lots of pics....

cyaaaaaaaaaaaa

I bit the bullet....

After hearing so much about the new ww program pro-points I bit the bullet yesterday and ordered the "At Home" kit. They are just waiting on my cheque to arrive and then will send it to me....should have it in 2 weeks.


I love the meeting I go to now, its different, its relaxed and more social than any other group I have been too so I thought I'd make my At Home weigh in the same day as my group weigh in.
And while on the subject of the "At Home" program I quite often get on the ww community boards and my favourite for the last 5 or more years has been the At Home one. Over the years I have been "chatting" regulary with a few of them....and after all this time 5 of us are all getting together and having a "meet and greet" in Perth next Friday. I am so looking forward to that, I organised the day off weeks ago.

And talking about weigh ins...I went to mine last night and the results were NOT good. I gained 1.2 kilo's...sheeeeeeez!! I was hoping I had at least stayed the same but despite all my efforts of counting my points and tracking 100% I was disappointed. I did have a blow out last Thursday night, plus had 2 pieces of cake at the 60th on Saturday night....and for the rest of the week I walked everyday and had 18 to 20 points.

I know its not all FAT that has caused the gain....another thing that I bit the bullet about has been my leg. I have various veins very badly in my right leg, it is mostly swollen to about 2 cm's bigger than my left one but it has never given me any grief till this last week. We have had a very busy week at work and I have worked overtime most days and standing constantly caused it to swell even more, quite a lot more, and throb. After 2 nights of pain in my leg I rang my Drs for an appointment and I am going to see what can be done...and how soon ?? Appointment is early next week. Think I have left it long enough.

Damn it !!

I had a easier week this week, work wise as well as "diet" wise...all seemed to be going well so I thought ahhhh I am in for a hassle free week.

Shawn went to court on Monday for his drunk and disorderly....he LOST his drivers liciense for 3 months for "intending to drive drunk" .... and a $360 fine.

On Tuesday he went back to work (Shaz dropping him off as she went to work) and yesterday he was told he no longer had a job....the job apparently requires him to have a liciense. He rang yesterday, despondent but okay.....he was more worried that Shaz was going to be irrate with him again. Haven't heard anymore from him so fingers crossed he/they can get throu this.

Kylee is missing her mum ... now Christmas is getting closer she always gets homesick. But it won't be too long and we'll be heading thataway as we go head off on our Tassie trip. Its ONLY 60 days before we hit the road on the start of that trip.....geeeeeee must get too and book the Tassie Princess before we miss out on the date we want.....

We'll spend a few days with Kylee before we board the boat and of course some time on our return before we head home across the nullabour again....and Kylee and Stephen will be flying home a few days later for Tracey and Simons weddding....

Last night was weigh in again...goodbye to 500 grams.....then I come home and blew it.....bugger me and my emotional eating...

Kids today

Last night Shawn was still very teary, was still not eating, still very much in shock about what he had done and missing Shaz so much. He spent a good 2 hours chatting to her on the phone last night.

This morning he was feeling a little more positive though he still wasn't eating, still teary but the trembling had stopped. He was looking very much so to his kids coming out and spending the day with us.

This morning my friend and I met up at 8am and went for a 30 minute walk then went in for an hour session of zumba again. I am still not very coordinated but heck I really enjoyed it today....and worked up quite a sweat. When I arrived home Shawn was on the phone to his Shaz again so progress was being made.

After a hectic 6 hours with the kids....I took Shawn back to his house in town....he was spending tonight getting the house back in order and Shaz is going back tomorrow. They are going to give it another go...Shawn has learnt his lesson this time I think, I hope....time will tell.

The shit has hit the fan....

....in other words Shawn lost the plot again.
His house was broken in to on Thursday and with that something clicked inside his head, he got angry, got drinking and the temper exploded. It scared his Shaz and she left him as she was scared today, Shawn then drank some more, got picked up by the police for drunk and disorderly conduct and I now have him here. He is a mess...a blubbering trembling crying mess. Think finally the truth has sunk in. I went and saw his lady today, and she thinks she'll give him a second chance, she loves him...but there will be conditions. I think he'll do anything to win her back...I have never seen him in this state before.
god my stomach is a big quivering mess of jelly....I am so scared for him. Know what ever he did has scared Shaz, and I know what he is can be capable of, and so was Shaz as she has seen him like this before, but I am so scared .... scared that he'll fail again...and that I will lose him all together....
All these months and only a few minor hiccups with him and now this....was I expecting too much...god damn it, I was.

good news..lost 500g at weigh in last night.

Very quiet....

Its very quiet in blogging world or is it just me?

Know I am not a very social person, me and hubby don't have much of a social life, too darn tired after a long week of work anyways. People have been known to say we are boring....but heck its not we are anti-social...we both enjoy a good night out occassionaly and love nothing better than a night with good friends and a good ole chinwag. So am I boring I wonder ??

This week has been the week from hell...work has been craptastic..if there is such a word...but the crap part of it says it all. But despite the workload from hell I still managed a walk every day and I tracked every bite that went in my mouth. Menopause and those damn hot flushes plagued me all week too....so I didn't know what to expect when I climbed on those demon scales last night. The hormones won....and the demons told me that AGAIN I had stayed the same!

The home front has been very quiet...Mr Troublesome has been no trouble...he is still working...as for the others I haven't heard much at all. Kylee I have rang as we are trying to organise our mother/daughter trip to Phuket next year..all the special deals are just coming out....but I must ring Mr Simon...he has been very quiet! Paul works with hubby so know all well there and anyways Tanya and I talk to each other at least once a week.

Time to organise dinner....a steak and onion sandwich (with salad) ...yummoooo

phewwwwwwwww

phewwwww what a week...sooooooo happy its Friday evening and I'm home with coffee in hand and feet up !! Work days have been long and the work has been hard.....just wish it would slow down just a little and let me catch my breath, I am weary.
I nearly had some time off...luckily I can handle a car well as driving home on Wednesday evening in the drizzling rain a kangaroo jumped out of the bush, onto the road and then landed fair square on the middle of my bonnet, bounced off through the force of hitting my car over the roof and just missed the car following me. I was turning off the highway and just entered a exit to cross the dual highway onto the road I live on so thankfully I had reduced my speed. The damage could have been so much worse. After crossing the highway...I stopped and checked the car, the car following me also stopped and made sure I and the car were okay too. No other damage to the car other than the bonnet so I drove the remaining 2 k's home.
Hubby arrived home about 10 minutes after me and on handing him his cuppa I said you better come and have a look at this.....and showed him the car. Without saying a word...he reached into his car and handed me this gorgeous rose bush....

....how sweet is he? As he said these things do happen, I was okay and that was the main thing. Anyways...a new bonnet will be on the car tomorrow.

Weigh in was last night....stayed the same....can't complain about that as I have had a week of not tracking properly...very complacent after last weeks big loss I think.

Tomorrow morning instead of walking I am trying zumba for the first time.....should be a laugh, believe me I am not very co-ordinated.

Happy Birthday Shawn

A very big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Shawn...a big 28 today. Hope he's had a great day...will catch up with him over the weekend. Some good news for him...he has a job and a car..wooohooooo! The car is only a $1000.00 bomb, but it goes well and is getting him from A to B. The job is at a retaining wall company...pleaseeeeeeeeee let him keep this job, pleaseeeeeeeee let him stay off the booze and weed coz thats what causes him to lose the jobs, his moods change drastically and then the abuse starts....pleaseeeeeee don't let it happen this time! He seems still to be happy with Shaz, so lets hope that continues. He really likes this job so pleaseeeeeeeeee let things stay good for him.

One bad thing about the job is that he is going to have trouble getting time off for court and the DCP case. He doesn't want to tell his boss about it all and he thinks he might just ring DCP and tell them about this job and his wants about the kids and see what they say.

Above for those that haven't seen on Facebook is the result of my pampering session at the hairdressers. I am happy with the result I think. Still tending to think the red is a bit too red...still needs to be lightened some....and I think I will get it a little shorter next time.

With me is Skye.....she spent Saturday shopping with me and then overnighted...I took her back on Sunday. Just loved having some one on one with her.

Work has been frantic....lots of staying back playing catch ups...hopefully they will get extra staff so we don't have to work so damn hard.

And to finish....weigh in was last night....I am one very happy girl....I LOST 1.5 KILO'S .... how good is that ???

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.