14th October 2007 - Day 144

Barney on the deck

Allan & Barney - deck isn't finished yet though.

The deck in progress

Have had a good weekend and only nibbled a little yesterday. Saturday we took Allan's Mum to the farm shop where we get the fantastic meat. His Mum loved it and bought loads and Al got a little too. I did do a bit of cooking (potato & mushroom gratin), which Al said was lovely and I've put the rest in the freezer for another day, also to save me picking too much.

Allan's been doing a bit more to the deck, which I thought I'd post a picture of as it's taken up a lot of the last few weekend, so you can see what I'm talking about. Today, we also went sloe picking and found a fab place, which had loads of really big ones. Although to be honest I wasn't quite sure if they were sloes and Allan wasn't that sure either, so we then had to take them over to a friends to check with them and we weren't going to poison anyone!! They were, so it'll be full steam ahead on the sloe gin making, well, as soon as I get the gin that is.

I got my car back but I'm really not happy with it. As I was driving down the motorway, as soon as I hit 70mph the warning light , yes, the same warning light that was supposed to be fixed, started flashing at me again, the whole journey down to Allan's. When I got to his, I immediately phoned the garage, who said to bring it back in, of which I couldn't as I'm an hours drive away and here for the weekend. To make matters worse, my sister called me in the evening to say I'm leaking oil....I checked where I had the car parked and it was, couldn't believe it. Not only doesn't the job seem to be done properly, it's worse as it's leaking!!!!! The garage was also advised of this and they are going to pick my car up from my new job to take another look at it. Not a great way to start a new job, but I can't do much about it unfortunately.

Anyway, the girls at work gave me a nice send off and bought me a lovely bouquet of flowers.

So, I'll be making my journey back down to my house soon, hopefully without incident or breaking down and then starting the new job.

I hope you've all had a good weekend and a good week, as I won't be able to check in on your blogs till the weekend.

12th October 2007 – Day 142

Introducting Harry

I got my car back evening, so now safe to drive around again and I can drive down to Allan’s after work today.

Well, it’s my last day here in this job and I probably won’t be able to post as much after this weekend – until I get used/ suss out the new place that is. I’ve bought lots of cakes for the girls in the office and for myself I’ve cut up one of the cranberry & raspberry crunch bars into little pieces and treated myself to a bottle of sparkling water. As Allan said last night when I told him ‘I really know how to live it up!!’ I certainly won’t be eating any of the cakes though and for me, sparkling water is a treat as I only have this when we go out as then it’s something different.

I’m a bit sad to be leaving as the girls here are so lovely and I’m also a bit apprehensive about starting a new job, but, there was no security in being a temp and there didn’t look like there’d be any chance of being made permanent as the university are cutting back and not taking on anyone at the moment. I know my boss would have made me permanent like a shot if she could, so that’s really nice to know.

The other night little Harry cat had to go to the vets to have his annual jabs & check over, which he got a clean bill of health. The vet then told us we have to start to clean his teeth at least once a week!!!!! Not with just the dentistix things that they chew on, but with some solution & a toothbrush!!!!!

Well, we decided to give it a go last night, so I was holding him on the kitchen worktop, trying to prise his mouth open. For a little thing, they can really clamp their jaws together!! My sister had the job of trying to clean his teeth with the toothbrush, which is huge for a little mouth, but has a very long handle – I suppose to keep your hand away from a biting cat.

Harry really wasn’t going to play ball though, don’t blame him to be honest. He’s a little old boy & to suddenly have this brush thrust in his mouth whilst being held down isn’t much fun.

So, we tried, but failed miserably and Harry was very quick to scarper out the house in case we came at him again. I really don’t know how we’re going to be able to do this every week. I think he might have to have the dentistix things everyday instead.

10th October 2007 – Day 140 – 20th Weigh-In

It was a day of good news & bad news yesterday.

Had a disaster in the afternoon but thankfully not diet wise, the problem was with the car. When I was driving home at lunchtime I kept getting a warning light flashing at me & it felt like the car was going to cut out on me as soon as I took my foot of the accelerator. When I eventually got home I looked up what the warning light was – failure of the injection system and then phoned the garage. He said to take it down straight away and they’ll do a check on it.

Well, I was sitting there for about 2 hours, with no water, but thank god I’d stuffed one of the bars in my bag before I rushed out again, which I could nibble on as the waiting room had biscuits, coffee, chocolate & juice, but no water!!! I’d also forgotten to take a bottle of water with me, so really didn’t drink much yesterday at all.

Eventually the man came to give me the bad news & the head gasket has gone/ going, which needs sorting out urgently as I couldn’t drive the car much as it could go at anytime and is going to be very costly. So, my little car is in the garage this morning and hopefully I’ll be getting it back on Friday, if not, he’s going to sort me out a courtesy car for the weekend.

The good news is, I lost 6.38lbs (total 75.92lbs) and now weigh 12stone 2lbs. I couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay to class as my Mum came over straight from work to take me to be weighed & pick up my food. I think she was just as amazed as I was at how much I’d lost. That’s my biggest loss, apart from the first week that I’ve had since I started LL.

It has spurred me on again though to control my nibbling at the weekends as it really goes to show that if I don’t nibble, the weight will hopefully come off faster. I know that’s not always the case as your body does strange things like holding onto water and stuff like that, but if I keep saying it, I’ll hopefully curb the nibbling/ picking.

7th October 2007 - Day 137

Well, as you can see, I've had my 5 stone photos done (well, smidgen off pics) and I'm so glad I have as it's spurred me on again. I haven't picked or nibbled at all today. They've also made me realise that I actually look slim, I still couldn't see myself as being this slim. I know I've lost weight and I'm a lot smaller than I was, but I still felt big. Just seeing these though have changed the way I see myself a bit.

Also, these are the size 14 trousers I was wearing for my interview the other week, still can't quite get my head round it, I can wear a size 14!!!!!

I had a good day yesterday, but I made my lemon cakes so I could freeze them & then take them into work on Friday, but they turned out so bad that there's no way I can take them in. Don't know what's up with my cake making skills lately!! Anyway, I was tasting the mixture, on quite a few occasions, then when the cakes were out of the oven & cooled a bit, I cut one open to see if they were OK (which obviously they weren't), I ate a bit (still tasted lovely though) and then I kept eating bits!!!! In the end I just put them in the bin and decided that I won't even attempt to make anymore as it wasn't worth putting my diet at risk anymore. I'm so glad I did.

So, hopefully, I haven't done too much damage and instead of two days of nibbling like the last couple of weekends, I've only had one day, so a bit of progress there.

Allan had been working on the deck most of the weekend again, it's getting there, but still lots to do. Poor thing, I haven't even cooked for him this time either, but he's been so good about it, which is a great help.

Hope your all having a good weekend.

4th October 2007 – Day 134 – 19th Weigh-In

I GOT THE JOB…!!!!!

I found out just after I last posted but have been busy at work that couldn’t post till now. I couldn’t believe it when the agency phoned, I’m so pleased as this was the first time I’d come out of an interview really wanting the job. It seemed such a nice company & the two guys interviewing me seemed so nice. So, I start on Monday, 15th October, so I may not be able to post much after then, or until I’ve been there for a while & sussed the place out. I’ll have to make it up & catch up with all your blogs at the weekends.

So, back to weigh-in, I lost 1.32lbs (total 69.54lbs) so just a smidgen to go until my 5 stone loss, it’ll definitely be next week, although I am going to be making lemon cakes at the weekend to freeze ready to take into work for next Friday, my last day!!!! I won’t be eating any, I probably won’t have a chance as I made some for my birthday this year and the whole lot went so fast, it was unbelievable, which is good news for me & the diet.

Anyway, not much has been happening, been walking with Nich & over my friends last night and I’m having my hair high-lighted tonight, thank god as it hasn’t been done for months & months & is in total need of something being done to it.

I’ve stuck to the diet totally since weigh-in, well, I’m normally fine at home, it’s just at weekends. I’m determined to stick to it this weekend too, although I will most probably be cooking for Allan as he’ll be doing more decking, so I have to be determined not to pick at what I’m cooking, have to remain strong and think of how I strong I felt when I first started LL – easier said than done, but I have to try.

So, anyway, I’m happy I still had a loss as I wasn’t really expecting it after losing so much last week, which was totally out of the blue, so fingers crossed I can have another good loss next week. I must also get back on track to walking at weekends too, although I did walk to the shops & garage where normally I would have driven, so a bit of progress there. Also, hopefully going sloe picking this weekend too, so a bit of walking there.

1st October 2007 – Day 131

Had a lovely day on Friday, as it was a day off and after the week I’d had, it was well needed. Had a little lie-in, well, I was still out of the house by 7.30am to drop my time-sheet into the agency and then have a quick recki on where I was having my interview in the afternoon. Found it OK and then went home, where I set about cleaning the kitchen, then had my breakfast of a vanilla milkshake with coffee, which I have every day as I love them, never thought I’d say that about diet food, but I do.

The night before my friend who was now back from Los Angeles & Las Vegas, so we went out for our walking. Anyway, she gave me some clothes which she didn’t want anymore and there were two fabulous suits (one of which I wore to my interview) & some lovely trousers. The best bit though was when I got home I started to try them on and to be honest, didn’t think they’d fit as looked so small and some of the trousers were a size 14!!!!! But they did, I was so amazed and absolutely ecstatic, I can’t remember I’d worn that size, especially trousers.

It’s funny but I still see myself as big, I know my stomach is a lot flatter, hips smaller & boobs definitely a lot smaller, but I still see myself as wide.

Anyway, the interview went really well, it seemed such a lovely company to work for and the 2 guys that interviewed me were really nice & friendly. I went out of there feeling very positive, happy & I was smiling on the journey all the way down to Allan’s.

I didn’t think about the interview too much over the weekend as I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much (going by my track record in interviews lately), they also had a couple more people to see, and Allan & I were also busy with building the decking over the pond.

The deck has gone down brilliantly, it’s not finished yet, but Allan & I are so pleased with it. It’s definitely been worth the 3 year wait. I have taken some photos, but forgot to download/ reduce the size to put on here, I’ll try & do that at the weekend as I seem to be lacking in photos lately.

On Sunday, when we’d packed up for the day I got the garden chair out, put it on the deck and sat there reading my book, with my bottle of water and wrapped up in a blanket as it was freezing!!! I couldn’t stay out there too long as I just got so cold (I seem to be really feeling the cold lately), but I was determined to sit on the deck…..

Anyway, had a good weekend, I cut up one of my bars so that if I had the nibbles they were there waiting, although admittedly I did nibble a little as I was cooking for Allan (lunch & dinner, on both days). No excuse really, but at least it wasn’t as bad as last weekend, so a bit of an improvement. I had said to myself that after last weekends nibbling when cooking that I wouldn’t be cooking again, but he was working so hard and was so tired & achy in the evening that I thought it wasn’t really fair for him to then start cooking. When the deck has finished, I will not do anymore cooking, but I really must get my act together over this nibbling!!!

27th September 2007 – Day 127 – 18th Weigh-In

Can’t believe I haven’t posted for over a week, but it’s been so busy here at work due to the new intakes of students and getting all their forms & details loaded onto the databases. It still hasn’t finished yet, but had to post due to weigh-in the other night. I also started writing this yesterday when everything hit the fan at work with regard to the sort of additional role I’ve taken on. The woman running the course is putting so much stuff on me that even my boss wouldn’t be doing, let along a temp!! I got so angry that it actually made me cry (I very, very rarely cry at work), not in the office, I could feel it coming on and rushed off to the loos and then was walking around outside. When my boss got back from her meeting with her boss, she spent ages talking to me and knows that I’ve never flown off the handle & realised that this was quite serious as it’s been building for a long time now. My bosses spent all afternoon dealing with this for me and will continue to monitor everything, so I feel so much better.

Anyway, back to weigh in. I was convinced I’d put on or hadn’t lost anything as this weekend I’ve felt like I’ve really struggled. I’d been nibbling when I was cooking for Allan & even had a rice pringle (only one), but just seemed to be in a really picky mood. I was quite annoyed at myself for doing it, but I just didn’t seem to be able to stop. My Mum thought it could be because I was down about my job, as I was very down when we were walking on Monday. Also, Allan has given up smoking, which he’s doing really well at, but he’s eating lots of nice things, so that’s not really helping, but I’m just so glad he’s given up. I have come up with a plan of either making biscuits out of bars or the crisps, or cutting up the new bars, which are fab by the way, into little sections so if I do get the nibbles, they are there waiting for me. Hopefully this’ll work.

Well, got weighed on Tuesday and I lost 5.28lbs, (total 68.22lbs) which I was astounded at, but so pleased. I won’t get complacent though this weekend, as I’m now 2lbs away from my 5 stone loss, which means I’ve only got another 2.5 stone to go….YAY. I didn’t quite sink in at the class that I was so close to losing 5 stone until I was out of class and on my way to Mum & Dad’s, it was his birthday, so wanted to pop over, and it nearly made me cry when it finally occurred to me…….I seem to have had a bit of an emotional week so far!!!

I’ve got the day off work tomorrow as I have another job interview (didn’t get the last one), then I can go straight down to Allan’s after that, which means I’ll miss all the traffic on the M4.

Hopefully, the weather will be lovely as we’re finally laying the deck, so will be busy doing that, well, I’ll be helping out. I say finally as the structure for the wood has been down for at least 3 years, so it’s been a long time in coming, fingers crossed we’ll get some wood down.

Must dash, just off to a meeting.