Merry Christmas !

I am not sure whetheror not I will have a chance to post again before Christmas as I have a fair few things that I need to get done. Today I made the double chocolate hazelnut mousse - I hope that it tastes as good as it looks !!!

Just now we are off to get the alcohol and fruit and veggies. Tomorrow we have to go to get the turkey bon bons and the cob loaf and then, if I can't find the present that I bought for K and then hid so well that I can't find it now, I will need to go and buy her another one and hope that I find the other one soon so that I can use it !!!

Wishing all my blogging friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2012

Love, hugs and positive energy !

Things I Know

Right now I know that :

I work for a really great company - they gave me an iPad for Christmas

I am married to a really great guy

I have an amazing daughter who can drive me to drink just as easily as she can make me laugh

I am one lucky lady

Love, hugs and positive energy !

TFTD : Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide - Napoleon

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK !!!!

My bosses just gave me an iPad for Christmas (on top of the REALLY expensive facial and Coles gift card) !!!  How exciting is that - NOW, I have to learn how to use it !!!!

A Little Loss !

This morning saw me jump on the scales in K's bathroom - for - the - last - time - becase we will be able to move it into our new bathroom today or tomorrow when we move all our crap stuff back into our bathroom.

Anyhoo - a loss of 0.1 - is not great BUT better than a gain and at this time of the year, I will take anything I can get.

Catch you all soon - love, hugs and positive energy !

TFTD : Your gift to the world is not what you buy or do.  Your gift is your happiness.  - Alan Cohen

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like .....

a bathroom !!!!!

Last night the plumber came so the toilet, basins and dropper are in.  Now to just wait for the arrival of the shower head.

The shower screen and mirror are booked in for lunch time today.

When I get home tonight, I might even be able to have a shower in my new bathroom - just in time for Christmas (well except for the missing shower head, towel rails, toilet roll holder and soap holders - still working on these) - but at least we can use it !!!

Last night before training I walked 700m and then jogged 400m - my knee did not hold up too well - bugger.  I am going to have to seriously think about setting myself a date for getting back to running otherwise I think I am going to just keep messing it up by trying when it isn't ready.

Off to Inala now - have a great Wednesday.

Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : Character is the ability to win an argument without saying a word - Chard

25 Random Things About Me

Here are 25 random things about me.  I love doing lists like this - and I love reading lists like this - it makes me feel like I get to know more about the person and what makes them tick (I don't always remember everything I have read but it is always interesting to read !)

This picture is totally irrelevant to the post - I just liked it !!!!


1. I love reading - especially detective / lawyer type books (since I got my eReader - I love reading even more if that is at all possible !!!!)
2. I HATE getting anything on my glasses e.g. rain, dust etc.  I used to clean them at least twice a day - now I have aritificial lenses in my eyes, I don't wear glasses as much but I still HATE anything on the glass
3. I am very happy that we moved to Australia and sometimes regret that we didn't do it sooner
4. I love spending time with Al - just the two of us
5. I get really bad PMS and am as moody as hell
6. I get frustrated with companies who don't have the courtesy to reply to a job application you sent to them
7. I don't particularly like every day cooking
8. I would love to go in a hot air balloon except I am terrified of heights
9. I can't sleep if there is a light on
10. I will NEVER have a TV in my bedroom
11. I love the sun even though I know there is a chance I may get skin cancer
12. I hate shopping for clothes or groceries
13. I definitely don't like unpacking the groceries when I get home
14. I have never smoked a cigarette (or anything else now that I think about it !!!)
15. My parents have been married 51 years - I hope that we can achieve that too
16. I love watching Grey's Anatomy even though sometimes the people annoy me
17. I don't like biting into fruit
18. I shout at the TV when someone does something stupid on a programme
19. I miss our friends from South Africa and wish we could stay in touch more often
20. I enjoy having people over for dinner and experimenting with dishes
21. I wish I had an older sister to talk to
22. I love Baskin and Robbins ice-cream
23. I don't beleive there is any time that you can't eat chocolate
24. I would give up eating real food so that I could eat biscuits, chocolates and desserts
25. I don't drink tea or coffee but I love the smell of coffee beans

I am not going to tag anyone as some people don't like to feel pressured into making a list but if you do make a list - let me know as I would love to  pop along and read it.

Have the best Tuesday ever !

Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : It is better to have a moment of something wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special

Pet Peeves

This is a list of things that really get to me :

• Dodgy trolleys with wonky wheels - can the supermarkets not afford to replace their trolleys once they have grown a mind of their own and go in every direction but the one you want it to go in
• People who wait for ages in a queue and when their goods are all rung up, only then do they start to rummage around in their monstrous size handbags, looking for their wallet so that they can pay.  Are they standing there in anticipation of the check out chick saying "Thank you for shopping with us today - all your groceries are for free.  Please feel free to push your over laden dodgy trolley with the wonky wheels to your car at any time" ?
• People who drive 100kph (or 90kph or 80kph) in a 110kph zone - move over people - if you aren't doing at least the speed limit, move over so that those of us who want to do the speed limit (or more) can be on our way.  We have things to do - if you want to window shop at Christmas time - pull over to the left hand lane.
• All the junk mail that comes to our home.  I know I could put a No Junk Mail sticker on my post box but my family wouldn't be happy - they love looking through the junk mail - I don't.  And even more than disliking looking through junk mail is either having to look at it lying around once they are finished with it, nagging them to throw it away or having to throw it away myself.
• Going to the shops only to find that the one thing that I really really really need, isn't in stock
• Waiting behind people at the ATM while they check the balance on every single account that they have - I am sure some of them even check their mortgage accounts - draw your money and move on people !!!!
• Electric salt and pepper dispensers that work for the first couple of times and then stop working (We now have three sets at home - I keep threatening to take them back to wherever we bought them from and, if I was more organised and had the slips I might be able to, but until I find the slips, they sit in the pantry and we continue to try to shake salt out of them.)
• Not checking what I have in the pantry and buying another bottle of grain mustard and garlic, only to be unpacking the groceries and find new bottles of both already in the pantry !!!!!!!  (I still have the slip for them so these ones I will take back to Coles).
• People who tell lies for whatever reason (unless you are trying to organise a surprise party in which case lies are OK).
• Along the lines of the above point, people who fake friendliness.  If you don't want to be my friend, that is fine, I accept that we can't all like everyone.  Geez, there are people I don't like but at least I don't go around pretending that I do like them - if I don't like someone, they generally know it - not because I am mean and nasty, but because I will choose not to socialise with them ! 
• Companies who make promises and then fail to deliver on those promises.  And then, not only do they fail to deliver on their promises but they won't go out of their way to fix the problem - this probably could go under the banner of lack of customer service.  If you don't want to provide a good service to the customer, don't go into the service industry.
• Retail employees and waitrons - again, if you don't want to make the customer feel like they are the most important aspect of your job, find a back office job where you don't have to deal with customers.  My time and $ are valuable to me and if you can't treat me as though they are valuable to you, choose another job.
• Muffin tops - on people.
• Normal bra straps under a top that has cross over straps at the back.
• People who clearly don't own a mirror otherwise why would they subject us to having to look at them dressed the way they are ?  I understand that we can't all walk around dressed in the best money can buy, but we can still choose clothes which are appropriate for our age and figure type.

Do you have any pet peeves you could add to the list ?

Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : I am thankful for the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends - Nancie J Carmody

Happy Anniversary Al !



"This day I will marry my friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with and love."

(Man, we don't look anything like this now !!!)

24 years ago I promised my bestest friend that I would love and cherish him, comfort and protect, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer 'til death do us part.  Today I am still married to my bestest friend and I wouldn't swop him for anything.

We have had our ups and downs as all married couples have but I can't think of anyone else I would rather wake up next to every morning, or anyone else who I would rather see last thing before I go to sleep.  Yes, during the night I am sometimes not that happy to have him sleeping next to me when his snoring kicks in, but I remember reading somewhere a while ago a letter from a lady whose husband used to snore a racket at night.  After he died, she said she couldn't sleep because it was too quiet and she wanted to hear the snoring again.  In all likelihood, I will be the same as her but for now, there are times when I have considered all sorts of options to stop the snoring !

I can't think of anyone else I would rather have next to me when I am watching a movie or training or cycling or just sitting doing nothing (although if I am honest here, if I am sitting doing nothing it is highly unlikely that Al will be sitting there with me - he doesn't do nothing easily !!!)

I truly hope we can get our act together and make it to Canada for our anniversary next year - for this year, a nice dinner out will be great !

Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : Love is not how you forget but how you forgive, not how you listen but how you understand, not what you see but how you feel, and not how you let go but how you hold on.

A Totally Expected Gain This Week !

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't expecting a gain this week - I so wanted to lose all my weight without a gain but it is not to be. A quick synopsis and you will probably be like me, wondering how come it was only 1kg !!!!

• 2 extra large Anzac biscuits (which in hind sight I am glad I had because I realise that I don't like those particular ones anymore !!!!)
• 1 x street party where I consumed 1 x bottle of Amarula along with the marshmallows I bought for the children only their Mom's said keep them for us and don't let the children play near the fire !
• A lot of grainwave chips at above party because I didn't want to waste them by throwing them away (and I had had too much to drink and not enough to eat so thought it would be a good idea to get some 'food' into me)
• 2 x Christmas parties with too much food on offer and, having been too busy to eat during the day, meant I was starving and ate without thinking
• 2 x Magnum ice-creams - one of which I couldn't finish - but I managed to finish the second one last night without any trouble
• 2 x curly wurlies and 1 x chomp because they were on special at the servo when I put in petrol
• Too many pieces of shortbread at our mangement meeting
• 1 piece of custard and coconut bun (man this is going to be difficult to resist when I am up at that office next week)
• 1 x Cold Chisel concert after we had Nandos for dinner and ate our way through a packet of snakes while we were there
• 2 x mince pies
• 2 x very large chicken dim sims
• 1 x 600ml bottle coke

My knee is still worrying me.  I did manage a cycle on Monday and it did play up a little.  I have found that there are times when I am walking when it jars and is painful.  I suppose at some point I should take the x-rays back to the dr but right now everything is so busy I just can't be bothered to try to fit it in.  In the meantime I am doing sit ups and push ups and core exercise work on my fitball in at attempt to at least be doing something if I can't run.  Maybe I should set myself a date in a few months time and just not even think about running until then.  Will see how I go at training tonight and then decide.

I took Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons off from work - got all my Christmas shopping done on Tuesday and all the grocery shopping (except for fruit and veg) done yesterday so am hoping not to have to brave the crowds again until we collect the turkey bon-bons on 24th and pick up fruit and veg then (unless we go to the markets this weekend).  Even though A wasn't with me I had the most amazing luck with parking spaces - going to pick up tiles, pick up basin, drop off basin, order bon-bons, go to Bunnings, go to Harbourtown, go to Runaway Bay, go to Helensvale, go back to Harbourtown - and in all instances I found a parking space within 5 spaces from the entrance of the shopping centre - man I love it when the universe hears me !!!!

Have a fantastic day and take care !  Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : The less you hear what people say about you, the more you succeed - Kazi Shams

Cold Chisel Tonight !

Tonight A and I are off to see Cold Chisel - an early celebration of our anniversary on Friday.  I hope that it is as good as I am expecting it to be.

My weight is recovering nicely after a weekend with a few indulgences.  Last night I cycled 8.8km at 23.4kph.  I set off on a 12km loop but only got about 4km before my knee started aching so decided to turn for home.  It was fine after that but frustrating that I still cannot exercise like I want.

Have a fantastic day !

Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them - Ann Landers

Wonderful Weekend !

I think I am going to do this in point form because there are too many things to put it all in a post without taking up an hour of your time to read through it all !

• Weather was fantastic for street party on Friday night - no rain until the last person was leaving when it started to spit a little.
• Met some fantastic people who live in our street.
• EVERYONE thoroughly enjoyed the night and most want to do it at least 3-4 times a year (wonder who will organise the next one ?)
• I drank a whole bottle of Amarula which is pretty much my drinking for the year done in one night - best of all no hangover yesterday morning !
• Had to make an emergency call to my folks to take K to work on Saturday morning as I think A and I would have still been over the limit if we were breathalized !!!!
• A and K were EXTREMELY patient trying to find me something to wear to A's Christmas party on Saturday night but we got there in the end - YAY !!!
• Q1 Skypoint is amazing if you can open your eyes while you are up there.  I couldn't open my eyes and I don't do heights AT ALL.
• A closed eyes, white knuckle ride up 77 floors in the lift lasting 42.7secs was 42.7secs too long for my liking.
• Sat on the chair closest to the middle wall - couldn't look at anyone because if I did I could see out the windows.
• Eventually had to go to the loo - didn't make it - burst into tears and the security guy came to see if we wanted an ambulance !!!!!
• Decided it might be a good idea to go to my Christmas party at Indooroopilly - over an hour away so left A's party and drove up to mine.
• Got there to find we had missed the excitement of fisty cuff fights, people being thrown out the venue and the police being called BUT it was good to spend just over an hour there with my work friends.
• Loved the compliments from friends who hadn't realised just how much weight I had lost - it felt good !
• Spent today working my way through the 6 feet of washing lining my laundry floor.
• Everything up to date for a new working week starting tomorrow with taking my car in for a service which I already know is going to cost a fortune because the crankshaft sensor for the computer has gone and costs about $300 to be replaced before they do anything else !  Just what I need the week before Christmas.
• No exercise because my knee is still bloody worrying me.  How long do I have to rest this before it is right ?  How long can I last before I am driven totally insane by not being able to run ?
• My food has been as good as it could have been given where we have been, what we have done and how I have been feeling - whatever my weight is tomorrow, it is, and I will deal with it.  Back on the L&E wagon - ready to get whatever crept on this weekend off again.

Have the best week ever !

Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : People who love and believe in you do not need to be convinced and people who do not love or believe in you are not worth trying to convince.

Another Loss !

Well this week has seen me get on the scales daily (as I do !) and the number keeps dropping which is really strange because I have exercised less this week than the past 9 weeks.  A loss of 2.4 kgs - I did weigh myself 3 times to make sure I was seeing the number correctly - and it gave me the same number 3 times.

The tile place had the wrong code on the feature tile and so it will take another week to get the right tiles here.

The insurance company had the wrong car policy but are still arguing that K is only listed as a learner driver - she has had her licence for over 2 years - come on please QBE - this is a valid claim on a policy that is paid up - pay out like you should !!!!!  And then I am going to cancel all my policies with you and go somewhere else !!!!!

K seems to be doing fine - she talked to the counsellor at work and was more her normal self last night.

I knew that it was only a mini meltdown and that, in the greater scheme of things, I would survive - just lost the plot there for a while yesterday.  Of course, if the weather would just fine up for the period 4pm-midnight tomorrow so we can have our street party with good weather, everything would be just dandy !!!!!

Love, hugs and positive energy !

TFTD : The more you let go, the faster you move ahead !

Mini Meltdown

This is how I feel - holding on by the skin

on my teeth !

I know that in the greater scheme of things, my problems are not huge and they are not insurmountable but for me they feel like they are just getting a little too much - and I could probably deal with them fantastically if the universe saw fit to throw them at me one at a time instead of all at once.

Yesterday I saw the naturopath and she is REALLY happy with how things are tracking which is great except that I had to take 90mins out of my working day to go to her.  Then at 3pm I got a call from K to say that there had been a medical emergency at work that she was involved in and they had told her to go home so could I fetch her.  She saved someone's life which is think is just bloody amazing.

The insurance company have stuffed up the policies and now we are trying to work out what they have done with nominated drivers on the cars.  Then they lost the quote for the repair for the accident K had last week so have had to start from scratch so what should have been 7-10 days of no car is now looking closer to being over 2 weeks.  K has been really good about fitting in and cycling to work etc to get around but it is wearing me down.  Then there are issues with the bathroom - the drop in basins turned out to be under counter basins so the vanity we had designed wouldn't work so we have had to go back to the cabinet maker to try to work out how that can be changed plus the cost is going up because they need to polish the granite for the under counter basins which they wouldn't have had to do for the drop in basins.

Then A got the tiles last night and the feature tiles aren't the right ones so I have to go back after work to find out what they can do about getting the right ones - can they even get the right ones or do we have to go back to the bloody drawing board for the feature tiles ? 

Last night I tried to run on my knee - didn't even get 200m and it was sore, so, as I promised myself I would, I stopped and hobbled home and then went to training where we concentrated on upper body work.  It appears that I am going to have to be patient while my knee repairs and see how I go with cycling rather than running.  Man I miss my running (those are 4 words I never thought I would hear myself say !!!)

We are supposed to be having a street party on Friday night and if the weather doesn't break soon I don't know what we are going to do - I really don't want to have to open my home in the middle of the renos to a whole bunch of people - not sure we could even fit them in on the verandah as there are tiles and mirrors and taken apart vanities taking up that space !!

It will get better - I know - I just need to be patient and put on a happy smile !

Love, hugs and positive energy !

TFTD : People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel - May Angelou

Some During Photos

Some Before and During Photos

A Great Weekend (even if we have eaten into our contingency !)

Friday night saw the shower walls and tiles get ripped out and the vanity (after lots of discussions and debates and a little bit of  lot of swearing on my part) in pieces and outside.  My client arrived on Saturday morning to see the shower doors alongside the gate to our yard and the toilet on the grass (not the best look but she is also a friend and understood we were in the middle at the start of our renovations).  The plumber and A were very good about not making a noise while I was busy with her for which I was EXTREMELY appreciative.

I spent most of the day moving stuff that we had taken out of our vanity and filling 6 x 32L plastic boxes that I had bought on Friday afternoon and wrestled into the car while it was raining - along with our Christmas crackers (wonder if they will 'crack' or if they got too wet ?).  Who would have thought we could fit so much stuff into a vanity ?  Who would have thought that we could have filled 2 x 1620 vanities and 1 x 1300 vanity when there are only 3 of us in the house ?????  Where am I going to put my 'stuff' for the next two weeks so that I can go to work at least looking half way respectable in the make-up department ?  I found out today that I can fit a teeny weeny bit of what I need into a teeny weeny drawer in the bathroom vanity - might have to make do with 'half a face' for the next two weeks !  People may not even notice the difference !!!!

The plumber finished the rough-in yesterday and then kindly helped A with the pipe that he had sort of managed to fix a few weeks back.  I went to get K from baby sitting and take her to meet the family she is baby sitting next Saturday - only to get about 10 mins away from them and have a flat tyre.  I call A.  She gets into the back of the car, pulls out the jack and begins jacking the car up.  I ask her if she knows what she is doing and shouldn't we wait for Dad and she replies "What do you think ?  I don't listen when Dad is talking ?" (Yes ?") "When I got the flat tyre at work a few months ago Dad came and showed me how to change the tyre - you didn't need to call him to do it, we can do it."  And we did - I was just tightening the nuts when A got there so he tightened them a bit more and we were on our way.  I was pleasantly surprised - I never imagined that she (or I) would be able to do that - not because we are useless but because I have never had to !!!  At least I know in future I can do it (unless I am in a suit and high heels - oh no, that wouldn't be me then because I don't wear suits or high heels !!!)

Today saw A finish jack hammering the floor and I spent about 4-5 hrs weeding - our next project once what we can do in the bathroom is finished (which I think it is) is going to be to get our garden sorted out - again !!!  I really wish we could get it looking nice and then maintain it like that - seems like we do it and then other things happen and it gets out of hand again.  I managed to weed about 1/4 of it - will tackle it again next week.  A lot of what nees to be done is really physical work so it is hard for A to do it when he has been up and down masts all week - will see what happens.

I can't believe we are only 2 days into the renovation and already our contingency has been eaten into - change of mind on the toilet and plumber had to take an additional 3m x 1200 high of blueboard out to get to the pipes.  Take a deep breath - it is going to be OK !!!!!

This morning all three of us were trying to clean teeth, do hair and make-up (no no no - only two of us doing hair and make-up, three of us doing teeth before you start thinking A is a little strange) - luckily we have a vanity in the family bathroom and another vanity outside the toilet.  K asked "How long do I have to share with you ?" and when I replied two weeks she went "REALLY ? TWO WEEKS ?" - I am guessing she isn't that keen - well probably as keen as I am given that when I want to go to the loo and am in bed, I now have to walk down the whole passage - past our bathroom, the laundry and her bedroom to get there - by the time I get back to bed I have woken myself up !!!  A real pain - roll on the finished renovation !!!

Have a great week !

Love, hugs and positive energy !

Let the Renovations Begin !

Today I got to work just after 6am as I need to leave a little early today.  I have to pick up tapware and basins because tonight it all begins (well apart from the bit that A began on Tuesday night and then received a stern talking to for changing our arrangements !!!).  Move out the old vanity, pull the shower out, cut the wall tiles out, jackhammer the floor tiles up ready for the plumber to fit the mixers over the weekend so the reno guy can start on Monday.

In between all of that I have to get my knee x-rayed (still can't decide on whether there should be an 'e' in there or not - probably should look it up in case I have to use it again if I don't get it done today !!!) and try to get my eccentric loading done.  Oh yes, and keep the house all quiet for a hour between 9-10 tomorrow morning as I have a client booked in !

Have you got anything exciting planned for the weekend ?

Have a FANTASTIC Friday and an even better weekend !

Love, hugs and positive energy.

TFTD : Success is largely a matter of holding on after others have let go - Zig Ziglar

Another Loss and It's A Go !

Due to the early start of the bathroom renovation (see below for that story), my scale has had to be moved.  I am not happy about this because I know that moving a scale around can do funny things to how it works !!!!  But, I finally found another place where it was level (who would have thought there were so many places on a tiled floor that weren't level) and this is where it has lived since Tuesday night.  I am nearly hyperventilating wondering where I am going to put the scale once the 'rip out' begins in earnest.  I am a scale whore who HAS to weigh every single morning when I wake up.  I cannot get through the day without this (well I suppose I could if I had to but I would not be a happy veggiemite !).  Anyway, the point of this paragraph is that I am down another 0.5 this week which I am happy about especially with having to pull back on my exercising because of my dodgy knee.  (The same one that I have to go and get x-rayed x-rayd x-rayed (really not sure if there should be an 'e' or not - take your pick or let me know !!!) that I haven't been to yet because I am too busy !!)  I will continue to do what I can to keep up my exercise and not aggravate the dodgy one.

Al (despite our discussions about when we would start ripping our bathroom out) started chipping out bathroom tiles on Tuesday night.  I was not happy when we got home from training. Walking up the driveway I could hear the bang, bang, bang as he was chipping away and I said to K "If that is Dad chipping up the tiles I am going to be furious - why do we bother to have discussions if he is going to go ahead and do what he wants anyway."  Well she went down the passage saying "Dad, just giving you a heads up, Mom wants to know why you discuss things and then do your own thing," and then escaped into her room !  Anyway, I go into the bedroom - dust everywhere - into the bathroom - tile chips on the tiles and dust everywhere.  "You didn't think to move ANYTHING ?  What about closing the door to keep the dust in one room ?" "I was just trying to help."  OK - so the bathroom is now a go because even if I didn't want to go ahead with it, 1/3 of the floor tiles have been chipped away and so we are past the point of saying "No, we will rather go to Canada for our 25th wedding anniversary."  Now it may be that we sit in the bathroom (maybe we could do more than sit ??) and wish each other Happy Anniversary next year if it all blows out like renovations can sometimes do !

So our weekend is cut out for us - client on Saturday morning and then a fun time in the bathroom ripping out walls, finding somewhere to put all the stuff in the double vanity, chipping up floor tiles and getting the floor down to the bedding.  This has been a huge learning curve for me - who knew how many types of toilets, mixers, basins, pop up wastes and floor wastes there were and how bloody difficult it is to make decisions on which to choose !

Have a terrific Thursday.  Love, hugs and positive energy !

TFTD : For true success ask yourself these four questions :  Why ?  Why not ?  Why not me ?   Why not now ?  - James Allen