hey vonni - me and jemima visit old people... that is what we do..... i go there there are between 3 and 8 oldies usually sitting in a circle and jemima charms them all will cuddles and 'tricks' and she plays with her toys and they all reminice about their own babies and they sing songs to her sometimes and play peekaboo.... obviously coz they are old and frail they require me to hold her to them most of the time so they dont worry about dropping her...

benji came home spewing tonight from work.... i am sick of sickness!!!!!! he should be ok for tomorrow................................

today - i think i had my water, but i know that the cheese, chicken chips and couple of m&ms are not on the allowed list........... ho hum

one 'good' thing i think i am now scared of the m&m dispenser.... i had some tonight and had to spit out a ant......... there are ants everywhere in my 3/4 finished kitchen coz of the rain......... u just cant win!

lindor the everest idea is really good.... even marketable to the people out there wanting to exercise.........

86.4kg - that is loss of 800grams............ yeah carrot, but should be better but am SO not complaining.....

hubby spewing again gotta go........ he thinks he is going to work today too, grrrr sick family sucks

ps - next week i might be in the 85s!!

Thank you all for your birthday wishes I had a nice day, went to mum and dad's for dinner and that was nice.

Barb it's good to see you back. If you find it hard to get time to log in here perhaps you could keep a diary of some sort. I've been keeping a food diary for months now and it really works in terms of keeping me honest.

Lindor your list was fantastic! I'll be interested to hear how long the walk up Everest takes! I've been really off track with my walking this week and haven't done over 10,000 steps a day until today. I had the day off work sick yesterday as I've had a bad headache for days and I ended up sleeping until 2pm! Must have needed it eh.

Kel I saw an ad on telly for Celebrity Slim thingie the other night and man I laughed - the woman on the ad is just like Kim from Kath and Kim! Congrats on the weight loss this week

Gen I rekon 4kg sounds like too much to gain in such a short time too. Try not to worry about it too much, just wait until your official weigh in and see what happens.

I've got a job interview tonight with the big red shed (The Warehouse) for a temporary part time job as a shelf stacker. The idea of the extra money is great but I don't know how I'd do not sleeping as much. Something to think about I guess.

Have a great day everyon

Barb putting me in a unit would be like putting a tiger in a cage. I'd either attack everyone who came near me, or die from grieving for space.

Perth has become ridiculously expensive, whether you're renting or buying, and I'm not in any position to buy anything.

So I just have to suck it up for now. This is my 4th housemate in six months - I'm doing well

I'm amazed I've lost any weight with all these disruptions!

Barb if you want to convert things to pounds, just multiply your weight in kilos by 2.2.


Ani

Just a quick one tonight, I don't think I am far from going to bed! Is it Friday yet???

Kel well done on your loss!! I bet the ants have gained what you lost by eating the M&M's! Maybe you'll find it in your heart to thank them one day?

I have huge ant issues here at the moment too! And we have kamikaze ants! They love eating live electric cable!!!! So you can imagine the panic I get in when I see one little and crawl around my computer!!!

But I have a little trick that seems to deter them, you may have heard of it? Crush up some bay leaves and sprinkle it around where the ants seem to frequent. Might not look too attractive, but I prefer the cushed up bay leaf look to the crawling ant look. Not sure what bay leaves will do to the flavour of M&M's though!

Julia, good luck with the interview! I've thought about a second job...but the hours always impede on my 'me time'!

Barb, well done on your efforts! What did we tell you? Post everyday! It DOES help

Keep it up mate! And do the walk to QLD, I reckon it'd be fun!!

Ani, have you considered a swag on the roadside?? For the flatmate that is!!

I've been good with my food today! I am sure I have stayed within my 1500cals! So I am feeling pretty confident about my new start on Monday!

I'm going to try to be good tomorrow too! Have a good evening all!

What a dope I am ...... turned up for my interview yesterday and was a whole 24 hours early I can't go today as I'm flying up to Wellington so it's been put off until Monday.

Doh!

Will try my best to eat well and get some walking in while I'm away from home this weekend. Have a good one ladies

Oh Julia, thats something that I would do!!

Well Ani I hope for your sake that the next housemate is the perfect one. Or you win lotto! And if I do I'll send you a check.

Thanks for the encouragement Lindor, it really helps. How did you work out how many steps it would take to climb the mount?

Yesterday's menu..........weetbix for brekky, cup of coffee (white no sugar), bean salad for lunch, steak and salad for dinner, a carrot, an apple, a banana, a nectarine (yay stone fruit season!) 2 bikkies and a Latte (can't go without my daily dose!) I felt like I ate way too much but got on scales and had a loss. 2litres of water too. Nothing out of the ordinary in the way of exercise, just the usual housework and grocery shopping, oh and chasing after the kids!

So far today is going well. I hope I can keep this up over the weekend.

This mornings weigh in was 212.3 lb's, aiming for 200lb's.

Have a great weekend all.

XX
Barb

I have read everyones post and will get back to all in due time.

But in the meantime... Lindor so far Vonni Time has been spent on the phone to 13yr olds school arranging for the rest of the year to be suspended but for exam times. Then he is going on the day at that time only. Grrrr. Makes it hard. What do u do with a 13yr old while working or clinical placement full time? No child care for his age so I guess he'll have to roam the streets.

Have also spent Vonni Time emailing my lecturers asking for extension for last 2 assignments (1 is already overdue) due to aforementioned 13yr old son.

Vonni

PS I DID manage to have 10 minutes of Vonni Time in the car today driving to and from clinical

Ps and I think I am destined to NOT have a partner. It's just in the to hard basket. Selfish people I can do without.

Vonni! That is not 'Vonni Time'

That is '13yr olds time' or 'kids time' or 'family drama time'.

'Vonni Time' is meant to be for YOU! I can understand it is hard with such busy and full days. Maybe you can start with 10 - 15mins a day? And as the family/lifestyle adapts to it gradually increase it? Maybe just sneak out into the garden for 10 minutes after dark in the evening, hide in the closet, somewhere? If they call for you ignore them. They are big enough to look after each other for 10 minutes surely. And you being the Mum, will know if a call for you is a life and death call or not.

You sound stressed and exhausted? You need time to yourself...and I think in the long run it will also help with the relationship issues - he needs to understand that too? Hang in there.

Barb, well done on another good day! I am with you with the daily fix...I have included a daily cappuccino into my calorie intake too. And this is also why I want to allow a Tim Tam every now and then into my diet. I don't want to deprive myself of the stuff I like, I need to educate myself that it is not 'all or nothing'! Luxury foods - Tim Tams, cappaccinos, lattes - they are not the enemy.

I have to admit my climb to the top of Everest will be a lot easier than doing the real trek. There are no rocky outcrops to climb around, no walls of ice and rock climb up!

My route to the top is virtually via a flight of stairs from bottom to top. All I did was find the height (above sea level) of the mountain in metres - 8848. I then measured the height of a step on my small set of steps that I do my step-ups on - 20cms. So that makes it 5 steps to the metre.

To break my trek down into stages, I researched a trek and discovered there are several landmarks and camps up the mountain. I then looked further to find the height (above sea level) of these landmarks and camps. And finally I calculated the steps it would take to reach the height of these points.

For your walk to QLD however, I'd suggest getting a pedometre. I think it is pretty standard in all pedometres to calculate distance travelled. Pull out a road map (or search the internet) to determine the distance between various points on your trip and use those points as mini goals for your challenge to walk to your friends location in QLD.

Julia, I am sorry, I laughed at you arriving at your interview a day early!!! I hope they see that as you being keen and a person who is never late for an appointment!

I've had a pretty good day again today! Although I didn't count again today, I am pretty certain I stayed with in my calorie allowance. I have done some step-ups, and I have drunk a little water. I am really looking forward to Monday and my new start now! I want to weigh-in and know where I am in pounds. Part of me wants to know if I have lost weight this week (I feel like I might have), but I do not want to translate my pounds weigh-in to kgs. Weighing myself in pounds for a few months should break the frustration of losing the same kgs over and over again. Hope that made sense?

Barb, if I promise to behave this weekend for you, will you make sure you behave for me? We can do this!!

Have a good weekend all! And I'll post again tomorrow

And Gen? What are you up too??

Lindor I hope you're seriously studying Mt Everest and all it's stages. I've got a couple of books about it - including a wonderful picture book … and I must say that the part where they have to cross an icy crevice, with a ladder laid across the gap, looks really scary!

Good onya matey - and good luck!

Vonni I'm not sure what to suggest about 'me time', except to endorse what Lindor is saying. Mind you - it sounds like you need a holiday all by yourself. Go to Vanuatu for a week - without the kids or the partner . See, I'm not as helpful as Lindor – or anyone else for that matter!

I've been pretty good this week (I think). Not exercising, but eating pretty OK. I may not lose anything this week, but at the very least I hope I don't put any on.


Ani

I've seen some pretty scary pictures of Mt Everest in my research too Ani! Which is kinda why I am glad to be doing it via steps in my lounge room!!!

Can I just say all the support I am getting about the challenge I have set myself to climb Everest is really helpful and I really appreciate it.

Someone spotted some notes I had scribbled down about it yesterday and asked me what it was about. So I very breifly explained that it was a way to motivate me to exercise as I was going to climb Mt Everest by doing step-ups in front of the TV.

They commented that it seemed 'rather childish'!!!

Is it?