valentines day...

Today was the first day in work out of uniform! woo! It was nice not having the frumpy horrible blue uniform on! So it was nice choosing what to wear - I'm sure the novelty will wear off and I'll get fed up with trying to think of what to put on each morning rather than just sticking the uniform on! It was a bit like Mufti day - or whatever they call it these days (its used to be non-school uniform day!) Hopefully I'll feel less self conscious tomorrow!

It was a training day at work - and although it was interesting I could hardly keep my eyes open!! I was soooo tired...

I have to walk back to my car after work which is just under a mile and a half - I walk it with my boss (Andy) most days. When we got outside tonight it was throwing it down!! I got my umbrella out and Andy took it off me and told me to share - he is over six foot and I'm 5'3'' and to cut a long story shot I got drenched! so did he to be honest and he didn't have a coat on! I gave up trying to get under the umbrella and wrapped my scarf around my head like an OAP...then it started to hail stone and I realised after a while that it was piling up on top of my head! Let me emphasise that I didn't put up with this because he is my boss! Its just because he is cheeky and thinks its funny and errrrr....I don't actually know why I put up with it! I don't always!

Anyway - the drive home was really hard because I was sooooo tired! My eyes were killing me! I got in - moaned at girl-twin because she keeps skipping lessons then I crawled into bed and woke up 2 hours later! (about 8pm) and now I'm worried I wont be able to sleep later!

It was my weigh-in day today - 1 lb this week. Its gonna be a very slow process me thinks!! Andy (hubby not boss) on the other hand is shrinking on a daily basis and is looking great...I'm not at all jealous....

Weekend is over...again...

Hi,

I cannot believe that the weekend is over already and I have to start thinking about going to bed so that I can get up in the morning...

It has been a nice weekend though - shopping on Saturday and then gym this morning followed by Yvonne and Stuart coming around.

Yvonne wanted to do some photography - she has formed an interest in portrait photography - something I have never really touched upon. We used my lovely daughter as a model, and Yvonne put make-up on her and we both took some pictures - it was really nice to spend some time with them both!

Then we all had dinner together and apparently I talked too much because I was last to finish! Ha! I think I just eat slower...

Its valentines day tomorrow - so I will expect tons of cards will fall through other people's letterbox's! lol... We don't really bother - we have our own romantics nights out and gestures! Or...maybe we are just getting old and the commercialisation of it all is annoying!

I heard a really bad valentine poem today - some people may think that its really bad but I really laughed...

Roses are red, Violets are blue, I've got a knife - get into the van!

hehehehe...but awful too.

I need to get to bed... :-(

The weekend!!!!!

Hello!!!

Today is Saturday and I had a day off! wooo hooo!!

As we no longer need to wear a uniform at work as from Monday, I decided to go shopping! The uniform I have been wearing consisted of a light blue shirt, a cheap - a highly flammable jumper and wide awful cheap thin blue trousers. We went to Westfields and I got 4 dress suits and a shirt! :-) I want to look smart at work! I also bought some shoes...it cos a fortune to be honest - although I had £100 voucher from Debenham's (won in that competition I mentioned in my last post!)

Some people are going to dress casual, some people will dress very smart and some people will dress inbetween - I want to be one of the smart people! I am hoping the stuff I bought will also look nice and still fit me when I lose some weight as I am determined to lose weight - I will and I am losing weight - so I hope it will all still be fine to wear!

I must admit I am feeling a little bit drunken at the moment - all within my calorie limit I might add!! we went to the gym this morning - then went shopping and then went to the pub (wearing my new shoes!).

I think the butty and crisps I had after getting in from the pub might have taken me over my calorie allowance however - but I'll make it up at the gym tomorrow! :-)

I am feeling positive at the moment! I have lost 2 lb this week - I have stopped having caffeine, starting drinking water (I normally only drink coffee and I have really suffered from withdrawal symptoms - seriously its like giving up smoking) I have started eating more calories (using up the calories I burn at the gym) and stopped working too hard at the gym...and something seems to be working!

At work I have 2 weeks left in Guildford until I move to Staines - that's a bit daunting! New people I have to get to know and having to prove myself again etc. etc.......I also need to work out the logistics of cycling to work and back and getting changed at work when there is nowhere to store anything when I get there....hey ho - I'll figure it out!

Tomorrow, Mad Yvonne is supposed to coming around - and hopefully her and stuart will stay for sunday roast....

anyway - I'm watching something on TV now .... :-)

A Thursday...

Hi,

It's 11:10am and I have to leave the house at 12:00 to get to work at 1pm and I wont finish until 10pm (if I'm lucky last night I didn't finish until 11:30pm)

I decided to have a day off the gym and allow myself a bit of recovery time as my muscles feel a little worn out...so I stayed in bed until 10am!! That is such a luxury!

Then...a parcel turned up for me........... Just before Christmas I won a free prize draw which was supposed to be over £1000 of prizes. They still claim it is, but I haven't received about £350 worth of prizes and I was told I am not getting the £100 New Look voucher any more (That I promised to my daughter on Christmas day and she cried when I told her we were not getting it any more!) and I am still waiting for some stuff...I do however have a massive (car) battery operated mini cooper, which I will eventually get around to selling but at the moment it is part of the furniture.

Anyway I got a £100 USC voucher so I eventually picked out some clothes to the value of £99 and they turned up today and everything fits! I got quite a lot of 'stuff' too because it was all in the sale.

I am sooooo looking forward to going to Cuba! I just cant wait to get away and chill-ax! We went to Dubai last year (just me and the OH) and it was the type of holiday we have never had before - where we did nothing all day! We have never really been beach people before but we just swam in the sea which was strangely warm, and read books and chilled out - and the food was phenomenal - the holiday was very expensive for a week and just two of us but it was so good.

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/brochures/worldwide/holidays/the_middle_east/dubai_and_beyond/hilton_ras_al_khaimah_resort__spa/

I am hoping Cuba will be similar because its supposed to be a 5 star hotel, I just want to weigh less and look better by the time we go!

The twins are coming with us, I hope girl twin is a bit happier by then as she is all over the place at the moment - she's getting thrown off courses at college and doesn't want to go and saying so is unbelievably tired all the time (although she keeps staying up really late so go figure) she is just a teenage emotional roller coaster and its a shame as she was so organised and had her life so sorted out not too long ago....

Anyway - I had better go and get ready for work :-(

byeseeee

Weigh-in day

Okay, I realise that this is probably totally boring for anybody else reading this...but I slogged my guts out in the gym last week (4 hours 43 minutes of slog) I kept to my diet - even cut out coffee because of the sugar and caffeine and I lost a grand total of ..........drum roll.........1/2 pound!! I soooo deserved more than that!!!

I subscribe to a diet website called weight loss resources - its a good way to track everything you eat and the exercise you do and you can have a weekly weigh-in and you get cool graphs and statistics.... After my miserable 1/2 pound loss this morning I posted a moan on the forum entitled Its not worth it... and I got over 40 replies (including a little bit of falling out between the post-tees). To sum up the advice I got, I should eat more and exercise less vigorously! Cool! I'm sure I can do that!!

I started eating more by making a really nice chicken and butternut squash curry - it was easy, yum and only 575 calories! (pictured top right!) We always start experimenting with new recipes when we start dieting/eating healthy - in the last week we have had Chinese chilli chicken which was so nice we had it two nights on the run, then we had Kung Pao Chicken which was also very nice!

well that's the boring part of today's blog over with now for the fun part....

ahem....sorry I am just feeling boring today.....

sunday afternoon

I am sat in my home office feeling all clean and healthy after having been to the gym and showered and now in my PJ's with chicken in the oven ready for a Sunday roast soon...yum!!!

This time last week I was in Manchester very worried about my dad. On the Friday morning at work I took a phone call on my mobile from my Nan - who said "Hi Samantha, its your nan, your dad has had a stroke and your mum is waiting for the ambulance...she asked me to let everybody know but I don't have anybodies number!" This was followed by me shaking, and panicking and not allowing myself to think about the thought that was going through my mind, which was, Am I ever going to see my dad again? When I started to form that sentence in my head I stopped myself and distracted myself by trying to get in touch with everybody whilst getting myself home. I then threw some stuff in a bag and my OH who is brilliantly supportive in any situation, made sure I was okay and had everything, and we both jumped in the car and started the 4 hour journey to Manchester.

To cut a long story short - he had 4 mini strokes and recovered after each one, he then had medication to get rid of a clot followed by surgery to widen the artery in his neck...then he went back home and is making a miraculous recovery!! phew!! None of my family would have coped if the outcome had been different. My dad is one of the good people on this earth!

It was nice to spend time with the rest of my family while I was in Manchester - I stayed at my sisters house (Bev) we get on really well and I really miss her living so far away. Bev has 4 kids ranging in age from 12(?) to 22(?)ish...and I LOVE spending time at Bev's, meal times are especially cool - with everybody sat around the table chatting, laughing or occasionally arguing! It doesn't matter - as long as I can sit there taking all in feeling part of a wonderful family. I also got to see my other sister - Joanne and Helen. I get on really easily with Helen - we are closest in age and used to be really close when we lived close to each other and when I see her now I instantly feel at ease with her. It is much the same with the others - my two brothers and my eldest sister Joanne - I love seeing them all and catching up with them and seeing everybody's kids. Its only me and Bev who have grown up kids (well nearly - but we are no longer running around after toddlers like Andrew, Joanne and Helen are doing). Me and Bev like to sit there all smug thinking - we've been there and done that!! Its easier for us now!

All in all I have a great family that I love very much and I miss because I live in London and they (mostly) live in Manchester. Its a shame that such an awful event brought us together on this occasion but thank god it all ended well!

The picture I have posted at the top left is my mum and dad at New Year 2011 - my mum has a shot of golshlager (she isn't really a drinker) and my dad is in the background - they were walking into the room where most of the family were stood all wishing each other happy new year - I don't know what my mum was laughing at but I love the picture because its not posed for and is really natural. The other two pictures shows breakfast at our Bev's!!

Anyway - I had better go and sort out my roast dinner ....mouth waters.......

Aching...

Its 22:24 and I have just finished eating...I was supposed to go to bed early but that's not gonna happen! I started work at 8am this morning, which means I have to leave the house at 7am, which means I have to get up at 6.30am. However, my work mobile was in the bedroom and started chiming to let me know it was running out of battery at 6am...

I went to bed at 11pm last night and must have got to sleep at 1am...so I got 5 hours sleep last night.

So after working all day I got home at about 6.15pm...gave girl-twin some help with her photography, then went to the gym with my hubby...did lots of running, rowing, weights etc. then went shopping and got food for wraps... got home and helped girl-twin with her photography again, then had a shower...hubby made wraps...we ate them and here I am....knackered! Not tired...just achy. Bet I cant sleep again later!!

I have been to the gym loads lately...I put loads of weight on over xmas - and before xmas! I am now struggling to get back to the weight I was when I wanted to lose weight! The holiday in Cuba is a huge incentive to lose weight.

I am currently about 12 stone (167lb) which is at least two and a half stone over weight and I have enough time to lose about one and a half to two stone before the holiday but only if I am really disciplined. However, sometimes I have dieted and done lots of exercise and got nowhere...we will have to see...watch this space! I might even get a picture of me in a bikini and put it on here - that will put me off eating - and hopefully I can post an 'after' picture too....am I brave enough? ermmmmm....nope I don't think so!

I also want to learn a little Spanish - up to now I know Hola! so I have a long way to go!

Any hoo - as I have nothing interesting to say...I'll go....