Thankful Thursday

OK - no need to fall over - getting my Thankful Thursday post written a little ahead of time and ready to post !!! Linking up with Kate from katesaysstuff.

I have so much to be thankful for, so here goes with my list for this week :

- a wonderful two weeks on holiday in NZ

- the fantastic time to reconnect with A

- safe driving over nearly 4,000kms of winding roads

- the support and encouragement of my most special on-line friends now that I am trying to get back into exercising and eating correctly - no judgement, no negativity - just support and encouragement

- that even though I had things on after work yesterday, I got home, got changed and went walking - and I felt so good for having done that.  Yes my pace was way off what it was when I was running - but hey, this time I was walking !  Then I looked back to when I first got Runkeeper - I walked 4.48km in 41:58min at a pace of 9:22/km.  (That was on 8th April 12)  Last night I walked 5.17km in 45:56min at a pace of 8:53/km.  So all in all I am very happy with that.

- reading this quote "Feel the fear and do it anyway" and realising that it absolutely applied to me, so yesterday morning I adopted it as my mantra until I get past these (totally unfounded but there nonetheless) fears ! (Please remind me of this if you see these fears appearing in the cracks)

- a lovely meal made by K last night (Damn fine idea of mine getting her to decide, shop and cook one dinner a week - may have to make it twice a week soon !!!)

- my new Fit Journal that I am going to start using once I have discussed goals with A - he tends to be more realistic than me in this area !!!

- the opportunity to catch up with a fellow blogger on Sunday morning.

- that Kate continues to run TT even though there is so much happening in her own life that is time consuming for her.

Link up with Kate from katesaysstuff and share what you are thankful for this week.

Have the best Thursday ever !

TFTD : If you don't take care of yourself, then you can't take as good care of others either, so taking care of yourself is the best selfish thing to do.
(This is so true and so applicable to me.  It is the reason I don't feel guilty about doing some of the things that I do that appear to be self indulgent and selfish !  I learned many years ago that if I look after myself first, I can be a better wife, mom, daughter, work colleague and friend)

Where To From Here

Hi Everyone - we arrived home safely last Thursday night and can't believe that I have been back at work two days already - seems like ages ago that we were away - not only 5 days !!!

We had the best holiday with lots of laughter, lots of 'remember whens' and lots of sights to see.  We did everything we wanted.  We did more than what we planned and, the weather didn't stop us doing anything we wanted to do.  In fact, the weather was fantastic.  We only had one day of rain - the day we drove from Dunedin to Christchurch.  We did have overcast days.  We did have some spats of rain / periods of drizzle but on the whole, I was so pleasantly surprised by how good the weather was after everything that everyone had said about the miserable weather we were going to encounter !!!!

 

 

These are some of the amazing flowers we saw in NZ.

All in all a fantastic holiday - well worth every $ we spent.

I am going to blog about it separately and will load the link into this blog for anyone who may be interested in reading what we got up to and seeing the photos (hopefully by the end of the week !!!)

I had planned to get back into eating well and exercising as soon as possible after our holiday.  We ate and drank far too much while we were away and didn't do nearly enough exercise so I was pleasantly surprised when I gingerly stepped onto the scales to find that I had only put on just over 2.5kgs while we were away.  But this, on top of the 3kgs I gained before we left, coupled with the fact that since we got home I have managed to gain another 1.5kgs - means that I am now back in the seriously over weight category and I need to do something about it sooner rather than later.

On the weekend I bought the best Fit Journal from www.ladyjane.com.au - only it turns out I am too scared to commit to writing anything in it.  It has been sitting looking very pretty on my kitchen bench since I brought it home on Saturday morning !!!!  Tonight I got home from work - picked it up and read through it again - and then got so scared about commiting to a plan that I may not be able to stick to, I closed it and put it down again (where it is still sitting now) !!!

Last night K and I took the dogs for a 30 min walk - it felt good to get out.  Tonight I went back to training - it has been 39 days since I last recorded any exercise on https://idonethis.com and I was terrified about how training would go.  It didn't go well - I huffed and puffed my way through the 30 mins and couldn't wait to get home, shower and get my pj's on - after which I sat down with the computer and guzzled slowly ate my way through a packet of Grain Waves (the new chilli and lime flavour is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice - but probably not the best option as my dinner !!!!) all the while drinking a couple of cans of Coke !!!!!  OK - maybe I am trying to get the junk food out my system as I ordered L&E for 5 days this week and that gets delivered tomorrow and I will start on Thursday.  Down side - after ordering this, I remembered that we are going to a farewell dinner on Friday night for friends moving to NZ, then we are catching up with friends for breakfast on Sunday and I'll be organising a Father's Day for dinner for A and my Dad.  Bugger - first week on L&E and I am going to have to do my best to make great choices when we are out.

Tonight I have been catching up on blogs - I have had to tick all as read after reading for close on 3 hrs and still having heaps to read - will be doing my best to catch up with everyone as they blog moving forward.  I really felt cut off from my online friends while we were on holiday. 

A is away again tonight.  Last night he spent at the sleep clinic - next Monday we go to get the results and find out exactly what they can do for him (and me) so that he doesn't have to take up sleeping in the lounge on a permanent basis (OK - it is more likely to be me sleeping in the loungeroom because I mostly feel bad when I wake him up because he is snoring - sometimes I don't feel that bad and off he goes !!!)

On Friday he finishes up with the company that he is currently working with.  He is one of the last people still there (mainly because he was on holiday).  Friday is a holiday on the Gold Coast so I am going to have a great day at home - maybe putting our NZ blog together - and then I will pick him up and we will go north of Brisbane to say goodbye to some dear friends who are leaving for NZ.  On Saturday night there is another roller derby on down here and I am hoping to be able to get there - I really enjoyed the last one I went to plus now that I know Carmen and Ames, it won't be quite as nerve wracking going there !!!!  On Sunday we are catching up with friends for breakfast and then we will get together with my folks for Father's Day.  So lots to look forward to on the weekend.  Now I just need to get through this week - busy, busy, busy at work trying to catch up on work from when I was on leave and get things prepared so I am ready for month end next week.  How come month end comes around more often than pay day ????????????????

Well, if anyone is still reading - thank you.  I have missed blogging and the experience of putting fingers to the keyboard !!!

Any tips / ideas for getting back on the exercise wagon will be greatly appreciated - how have you found your mojo in the past ?

Have the best hump day possible.

TFTD : Do your best and surrender the rest.  Tell yourself "I am doing the best I can with what I have in the moment.  That is all I can expect of anyone, including me."

My Last Post (For Now)

I had such great plans for scheduling posts while I was away.  Then, when those didn't happen I had plans for writing a really good 'last post' before I went on holiday.  Now that isn't happening and so I really have nothing except a post telling you that :

- I am going on holiday

- to the south island of NZ

- with my husband

- as part of our 25th wedding anniversary celebrations

- for two weeks

- and we leave on Thursday

- and, as of now, 8.45pm on Monday night

- I haven't even started to pack

- or really thought about what to take with me

So, this is the last post until sometime after we get back on 23rd August. 

I don't know what sort of internet connections we will have while we are there (or what we can afford) so I may or may not be in touch while we are away - probably not to post any blog posts - but if I can get on, it will more than likely be on twitter or FB - so if you aren't following me on either of those and would like to, mail me and I will friend you on them.

TFTD : Life is about changing for the better.  If  you have to let go of some people along the way, then you go right ahead.

Are you getting enough sleep ?

If you have been reading my blog you will know of my on-going struggle to sleep when A's snoring kicks in - so much so I often take my doona and pillow and move to the couch (which is really comfortable so not really a bad thing to do in order to get some sleep). 

It has been getting worse and eventually the other day I had the conversation with him that went along the lines of this :

Me : How many mornings of waking up alone do you think you will have before you think about doing something about your snoring ?
A : I don't know.
Me : Doesn't it make you sad when you wake up alone ?
A : Yes
Me : So why don't you do something about it ?
A : I don't know - what should I do ?
(By now I am thinking that maybe I am talking to a 3 yr old not a 48 yr old)
Me : How about going to the dr to get a referral to someone who can help you ?
A : But there is nothing they can do.
Me : Really - what makes you say that ?
A : Well X and Y have both had these operations and they still snore.
Me : Oh - how do you know that ?
A : Because they told me.
Me : The last time you spoke to them was before we left South Africa over 13 years ago - don't you think they have made progress in how to treat snoring along with everything else ?
A : I don't know - never really thought about it.
(Clearly at this point it is evident that he is never kept awake by me snoring !!!!!)
Me : Well let me tell you - I have thought about it plenty - especially when I am lying there and all I want to do is sleep and I can't because of your bloody snoring - GO AND SEE SOMEONE AND GET IT SORTED OUT ! (OK maybe I didn't quite yell it but I made sure he knew in no uncertain terms that I expected him to do something about it !!!)

He did land up making an appointment and got a referral to go to the sleep doctor and off we went to his appointment on Monday.  The problem is that the dr sent him straight to the sleep doctor instead of going for the sleep test first !!!!! Good work doctor !  But he saw us anyway - explained how many cycles of sleep we should have and how long each one should last and how if your sleep is interrupted this or that happens and what can interrupt sleep (elbows rated quite high in this category).  He drew lots of little pictures and throats and how they are open or closed or partially closed and then delivered the words that nearly saw me jump over his desk and kiss him :

Help is at hand - this can be resolved.

Those words were like a glass of Amarula after a cr*ppy day - pure gold to my soul !!!

So, he has a sleep test booked for later this month when we get back from NZ and then an appointment the following week for the results and a plan of attack for how we can sort this out.

Linking in with Stacey-Lee at getonwithitalready for Team Friday because when you don't get sufficient good sleep, life can becoming pretty over whelming. 

And linking in with Dorothy from singularinsanity because I know that snoring sucks, I know that he can't help it and I know that help is at hand - I've put up with it for so long another few weeks will be a breeze to get through (I hope !!)

Now to get through two weeks holiday in hotel rooms that don't have a loungeroom I can escape to !!!

Are you getting enough good sleep to allow you function when you wake up ?  Do you have any tips for me for dealing with A's snoring while we are away ?

TFTD : Obstacles are put in our way to see if what we want is really worth fighting for.

Thankful Thursday

Gosh - how quickly has Thursday come around this week ?  I am linking in with Kate from katesaysstuff for Thankful Thursday because I have so much (random stuff) to be thankful for.

- I am nearly over my cold from last week although it took being off work for a couple of days to get to this point

- the anti-dpressants have kicked in and I am feeling SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better - no more anxiety attacks and the horrible sense of foreboding that I was living with

- our holiday which is only a week away today

- the beautiful weather we are having

- the totally supportive family that I have

Have the best Thursday ever !

TFTD : The difference between success and failure isn't always talent - often it is persistence.