Motivational sayings

Just a few saying picked up from others that keep me going

~Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.


~People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, which is why we recommend it daily. (This one made me smile!)

~Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in day out.

~We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.

~If you can imagine it, you can achieve it, if you can dream it, you can become it.

~If you talk about it, it's a dream, if you envision it, it's possible, but if you schedule it, it's real.


The last one's a favourite! I can talk about being fitter and slimmer,  I can see myself fitter and slimmer, and now I've scheduled next year so I get real and finish the job I've started!

Only a week to go!!

Have had a really good day with a christmas lunch at the gym with friends I've made at the aqua aerobics class, and the salsa one too! I also did my aqua class first thing despite being snowed in and then the 10k friday challenge - 18m47sec, soo chuffed that's coming down nicely. I also did the rowing 1000m in 4.35min can't seem to get that down to 4.2ish but working on it:D


When I was out some clothes arrived from the catalogue and they fit beautifully, I've gone down 3/4 sizes (depending on shop) and 'normal' size 9 shoes - don't need extra wide anymore, hurray!!
 
AND it's only a week to go until we have our last official visit from Santa, my youngest will 'know' next year so it won't be quite the same but this time I will cherish the fun and excitement!
 
We're battling snow over here, a whole 4/5inches for goodness sake, tut! I'm afraid we have a very dim view of how the English cope as their roads and airports seem to struggle an awful lot. A few of our roads are closed through the Highlands mostly but the panic you see from the telly is hard to take seriously because as our weather changes we'll get far worse and just have to get on with it.
 
Anyway my New Year's Resolution is to carry on with the gym, keep eating healthily and learn more about blogging and use my blog more!!
 
Have a great time during the Christmas break and I'll drop by here much more!

Back to life!

Finally managed to get back to the gym today after pulling a muscle in my neck 3 weeks ago:(
It took 10 days to clear up, then I was helping my husband decorate my mum's lounge and fuss over her as she was fighting a chest infection - it kept her in her bed while we were busy though, lol!
Youngest came back from camp with some extra company that kept him abed for days - a chesty cough that triggered his asthma, so he was off school for a week, poor soul!
Then hubby was fighting shivers and shakes, the insulation team arrived today to do the cavity walls, the car had to be checked over for a *knocking sound* AND the conservatory man came over with his Christmas list, oops sorry estimate!!
All-in-all a rather busy time lately but trying to get back to some sort of normality so the gym was first on the list, yay, not last for a change:)
And the next thing was to update here and try to do it more often, now I'm off to see what everyone else has been up to!!

Autumn

Autumn has hit pretty hard here, the trees got a right battering at the weekend and bits of them can be found all over the roads and gardens, but that's normal stuff unlike the problems round the world.
I always find it harder to loose weight when the days get shorter because confort food is so lovely but calorific and i do less walking in this kind of weather, but this year's different. I've got loads of lower cal recipes, or cal counted ones so at least I know how much I'm eating and I'm a member of a gym that I love going to - my times of day are usually between 9 and 12 and the gym is practically empty so I can sweat and gasp without folks realising how unfit I am lol!! I have my ipod on so I don't hear myself either but I do check my heart rate monitor to make sure it's not too high! Recently the weighloss has slowed to a stop but I'm doing much more and have better sessions in the gym so I know it's muscle replacing fat and we all know that's heavier!
Life in general is rolling along, housework has to be repeated and I'm finding ways of making it more fun, but there's nothing more satifying than scrubbing a grubby bathroom when you're looking for things to do, and let me assure you with 3 gardeners in the house, the bathroom can get grubby very quickly.
Gardening leads me to last weeks fun. Over at a friend's house we lifted her monoblock round her garage and used some of it to start a wall for a border, daughter is learning Landscape Construction and Design at Oatridge College and friend said she could practice on her garden so her wall-building skills were being polished and will get more polished as there's plenty more wall to build - the border is about 30m/yards long so it will take a while waiting for a half-decent day so the mortar will set! And then we get the fun bit, planting it out and building some others for planting out too. Friend has arthritus in her back and needs raised beds to tend and far less grass to cut, hence the wall-building frenzie!
On Saturday, during the worst of the bad weather, hubby and I had a lovely indoor job, putting up new tracking for cutains at my mother's bedroom window and hung up new light curtains on the inside track with heavier ones on the outside track that she'd wanted us to swop from one room to another so that all got fixed. Then I looked out the windows we were hanging the curtains in front of and got a bucket of soapy/vinegary water, with the hose, and got them all cleaned, rinsed and squeegeed to a shine - love doing windows that are really needing a good slosh, the sun came out just after and they positively sparkled. How strange but sometimes doing good honest cleaning is good for you:)
Right, I'm away off to do my windows now, they're looking seriously mucky and I'm looking for that glow again!!

Rowing for fun?

Never thought I'd be a fan but a bod on weightlossresources got me onto rowing at the gym and I do a 4min challenge each week to see if I'm improving, and guess what, I am, yay!! I added another 6m to last week's score and can now row 920m in 4minutes, can't believe 'couch potato' me can do stuff like this now but I ain't complaining, it's helping the weight come off so I'll just keep going, woohoo!!
Hubby's back from his ship and can't believe my stamina in the gym now compared to when he left 5 weeks ago, such a difference and I keep smiling about it which is the major change for the better, I like going!
My crafting hasn't started this week, but it's my birthday this weekend, so I'll get everything out after that and get started on the christmas cards, really can't get my head into that zone until I've done the birthday thing!
Really looking forward to good things this weekend:D:D

Getting on with things.

This week has been a 'get on with things week', eldest is at college, middle is there each day and youngest is at school so I've been doing houseworky things. Motivation for gym has left the building but will be back tomorrow as I desperately need the exercise cals lol!
My healthy eating style is needing a boost so I had a look at some recipes on weightlossresources, the website I've lost over 3st or over 40lbs with and found some chicken recipes that sound good so I'll give them a go. The kids will all try new stuff now - they've had so many experiments that they know mostly mum chooses things we'll all like and I weigh everything I eat to keep things accurate, they get extra potatoes or pasta, grated cheese or whatever. All of my children are tall and slender so I'm only trying to make sure they have healthy food, and lots of exercise - including in the rain Scotland's famous for and let me assure you this last wee while if we had waited for dry days to do stuff in, we'd have been waiting for weeks!
My brother is re-training to become a plumber and comes over to our house for several nights each month for training with a company near us, he's due on wednesday so eldest's room was getting sorted today. made the bed, hoovered but haven't cleaned the window yet, will get round to that tomorrow!
I've started a rowing challenge on the Concept2 website using the machine at the gym and was 6 out of 17 for my age and weight section on their ranking page, each time I go to the gym I'm trying to improve it so stroll on tomorrow's session, I am strangely really enjoying the challenge of different disciplines needed for each machine and pushing myself a little bit more each time I'm there, I was so scared when I joined that i had tears in my eyes when I filled in the forms, a level of emotional wobbliness I didn't expect but hayho, I carried on and 5months down the line I'm getting far more out of it than I ever expected!!
When OH gets back this week, he joins me so I need to show him the improvements that I've made to my routines and he spots me in the weights area - excellent :D
My crafting has taken a backseat lately so I'm hoping to get some stuff out in a wee while as I've a few specific cards to do for family occasions so I'll need to get to them, and get started with the christmas ones - really love doing them!

Weekend aleady, times-a-flying!!

I really can't believe I'm at another weekend but it's Saturday and for a change I went to the gym today, at 8.30am!!! had a great time as it was practically empty but my hrm's playing up sometimes the hearbeat is detected and other times it's not so I had to go with my exercise planner and it's cals calculations today, it kept going on and off, which made it worse but the chest strap may need a new battery, not sure yet. And I beat someone in the pool, me, lil' ole me actuaslly swam faster then someone lese who looked like they were going fast but obviously weren't!!


Eldest son's watching What Killed the Mega Beasts on Discovery Science with daughter and younger son glued too, so they're learning something and I'm skiving on here but I bought Daddy Day Care, Daddy Day Camp and Where's my car??? so we're having a dvd fest tonight, might get some popcorn and fizzy juice to get the total effect!!


I also bought Steel Magnolias for a good greet when daughter goes to college on Tuesday, REALLY going to enjoy the house to myself for the first time in over a year, well since elder son left school last year!!


After all the upset I decided to decorate elder son's bedroom as a surprise for his homecoming y/day, yes well he was bored with no TV and the surprised was well recieved, he loved it so i was chuffed, I know most people pinch their kids rooms when they move out but I knew he be back and forward to he=is digs and had chosen walpaper but never had it put up so with a bit of paint and some new bedding and a rug, the room looks brand new!!

One really bad weekend!

On Saturday night I decided to take the kids to the cinema and nearly got hit by another car who didn't pay any attention to the fact that I had right of way on the roundabout! Then we nearly got rear-ended by boy racers on the way home - not something I'm going to repeat anytime soon!!
On Sunday I wished I had been nudged because things just got worse so I thought I'd let cyberworld see what can happen to a normal person who thinks everything she needs to worry about is traffic on the M8
*My son was due to move into his flat today for starting college tomorrow and it all went wrong!
My day started badly because I couldn't get my bro on his phone and he was coming in his van to take stuff to Greenock, I wanted to check when he was arriving:( He was due at 8.30am and by 8.50 the air was blue and I was packing the car with the essentials, tv, dvd player, ipod clock, some clothes, pots, towels, kitchen utensils, you get the picture! By he time we'd finished it was 9.10 and we needed to leave as we had to meet the landlord at 10.30 and the M8 is notorious for problems any day of the week:!

So we left daughter in case Uncle Ru turned up and needed a guide, and because she didn't fit in the car and set off on the 'big adventure':)

Typically the M8 was fab and we got there in 50minutes and nipped into Lidl for some essentials and to use their loo lol!

And we waited, and waited, and waited, we checked the flat door again in case the landlord has arrived through the back entrance, and waited and waited. After about 30mins we phone the Edinburgh number we had - no answer, so we waited, and waited, we went over previous conversations he had had with the big lad and came to the conclusion that the landlord thought the 23rd was Monday not Sunday, argh.

I can't get there for 10.30 on a Monday morning 'cos the wee guy only goes to school at 8.30 and the Kingston bridge in Glasgow is a nightmare in the rush hours (7.30-9.30), so we decided to see if anybody was in at Uncle Ru's, who still wasn't answering the phone but was only 30mins away:)

When we got there auntie was in, Uncle Ru was out with only boy at football - had lost phone and forgotten all about it, double arggh! We had lunch there, yes lunch and then decided that since Uncle Ru was on nightshift he could take big lad over to Greenock for 10.30 tomorrow and deal with the landlord. Big lad has cheques for rent and deposit and anything I've to sign will have to be done here when landlord is on his way home (Edin number so he has to go past), or by post!!!

Big lad transferred everything into Uncle's van, left another message with landlord and I came back with small lad, a headache and no interest in making dinner so we're having a chinese meal and I'm going to enjoy every mouthful!

The good news is daughter tidied up everywhere downstairs, it looks fab and I only ate half the Chinese, well I am on a health kick and there’s only so much egg fried rice I can eat these days!

Just after my meal I had a policewoman at the door asking if I own a Peugeot 308, yes, number******?, yes and were you in Tescos today, no say I, I was in Greenock, was anybody else driving your car? No I was driving it in Greenock. Someone driving your car was in the petrol station this morning, Oh right that was me, you said Tesco's not the petrol station, yes I was there about 8.20, says I,,,,,,,,,
It then transpires that the attendants had phoned the police about 9.10 to say someone had driven off without paying for a paper and petrol and they'd given my reg number!!

So I rummaged around in my bag trying to find the receipt that I don't always get (but will from now on, if I ever go there again) and explained whilst moving the rummage to the car in the garage that I drive a diesel car and paid for my fuel with my Tesco clubcard then a bank card at the pump, I never went into the shop at all. She wrote it all down in a statement and got me to sign it and said she was quite happy they'd made a mistake on the reg number, told me to always get a receipt and left, not a good day at all!!*

Monday wasn't a whole lot better because the landlord left the big lad in a flat with no power, so he had to organise a power company to come out and reset the metre and they can't come til Wed afternoon so he stayed at his uncles last night and tonight and finally should be able to get sorted out tomorrow and actually stay there tomorrow night, and get to know Greenock before his course starts next week!

My husband tried to cheer me with the old adage the troubles come in threes - not for three days honey, you had it bad!!!

Wow, time's flying.

Can't believe it's nearly a week since the last update but time flies, not always when you're having fun!
Our younger son went back to school this week and is sitting doing a homework report for tomorrow, I know everyone's desperate to establish routines but homework given in the first week is a new one on me and I'm a teacher but he's not moaning too much, bless!
I've had a good week on my diet and the exercise at the gym was fab so things are going along nicely there.
Had to go over to Mum's today to sort out her phone, there was a fault in the line but she never thought of phoning BT from her mobile one, just me lol!
Hubby's had a good week in the north sea messing around on his survey ship but e-mails and skype are a far cry from trident subs when he used to disappear for months with no contact except a few words each week the had to be checked by the sensors, not the easiest things to write!
I've been thinking a lot about the house move and trying to organise a trip up to Inverness to see a few houses when OH comes home so I'd better get off here and find somewhere to stay!

Another week's gone by, how??

Well I've had a week of looking for properties in the Highlands, moving up to anywhere between Inverness and Thurso, not much of a problem lol!!
This week my brother was over for his plumbing course, to give him more qualifications for earning some more cash and he had his son with him, kids all happy and played together very well. went over to mum's and made tea there y/day while I still can!
Right off to do some more chores.

Where we're at!

We are at a crossroads at the moment. We moved to our present house to get away from social problems others were giving us and moved in a hurry.
So the way ahead isn't obvious do we stay or do we go?? We live in a town with sirens and traffic screeching all the time and we come from Islay on the west coast of Scotland which is pretty quiet and can't get used to the noise. We have just spent 3 weeks in an RV touring the Scottish Highlands and have seen various places we fancy living in, I should say that my hubby works abroad so our location depends on proximity to airports and train stations:D
So while we look at properties, I'm trying to continue my weightloss journey and keep the house running as normal, the joys of indecision:D

The beginning

The introduction, I'm a wife, mother of 3 and a primary teacher taking a break and decided to have a go at this:)
I've been on a weightloss journey now for 6 months and need an outlet for thoughts and comments on how it's going, it's bumpy just now but improving!