This one got me through today...

Wow I have had a full-on day... I am shattered!

This one is helping me stay out of the pantry at the moment:

You can make excuses, or you can get results. You cant do both!

Tagged!!

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I am obsessed with all things Ancient Rome. Whenever anyone says "I wonder who invented such-and-such" you can count on me to reply "WELL... it all started with the Romans..." and I will natter on until their eyes glaze over.

2. I love reading multiple books at the same time. Currently I am partway through "How to talk to your cat" by Claire Bessant, "First man in Rome" by Colleen McCullough "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards, and "Ancient Rome" by Nigel Rogers. My mood dictates which book I will pick up and read on that particular day.

3. Every 3 or 4 years, I pick up my graphite stick and start drawing. I love drawing portraits mostly. The "phase" lasts for a couple of weeks, where I'll draw madly, and then suddenly I just drop it again and wont draw for another 3 or 4 years. I get a LITTLE bit better each time, but I never seem to get any worse. (one day I will post a few of my drawings)

4. I HATE having dry lips and cannot be without lip balm. I'd go as far as saying that I have a lip balm obsession. I have just counted 4 lip balm/lip glosses on my desk at work, I have another in my desk drawer, and there are four more in my handbag (not counting lipstick). At home I have one stashed in the coffee table drawer, there is another in the bathroom drawer, one beside my bed, and finally one beside the home computer. And I hate to admit it, but I just bought a "SPARE/BACKUP" chapstick on Saturday when I did the groceries!!!! Actually until I wrote this I never realised that I had a problem... Time for the straight-jacket do you think? LOL!

5. When I was a kid, I used to ice skate. In 1986 I was Queensland Champion in the Figure Juvenile Division, and at that years Nationals came 4th. In 1988 I came second in the state titles in Intermediate Division, and 2nd at Nationals. I had to give it up in 1989 due to the cost (it is a hugely expensive sport). I loved it and still miss it.

6. I can quote entire scenes out of Monty Python's The Flying Circus/Young Ones/Blackadder, as can my brother and dad. Used to drive my mum mental!!!

7. I danced tap and jazz ballet until I was 21. I also taught a beginners tap class at my dance school, for the younger ones.

I'm not tagging anyone because everyone seems to have been tagged already!

A post about nothing...

Well I've had another uneventful weekend!   On Saturday I got up and took the pooches for a BIG walk, and when I got back I jumped on the treadmill for another 15 minutes on incline (oh yeah - did I mention that we're "babysitting" a treadmill for a few months?  How cool is that!)  And now I've got freakin' shin splints!   Yeouch every time I move, walk, drive the car etc the outside of my shins hurt... last night I had a bag of frozen veges on my right shin, and a frozen breadroll on the left (note to self: must buy some cold packs) but I dont think it helped.  Not sure how I hurt them, maybe I need new shoes again.

I'm going to a baby shower next Saturday, so I went and bought a bunch of baby goodies.  This is getting freaky... I actually ENJOY browsing in the baby department now.  I spent about half an hour deciding what to get, those little booties and bibs are so cute!  Then when I get home I have to do show-and-tell with OH, displaying everything I bought... he seems to get a kick out of it though!   But I have to admit, I really dislike going to baby showers... seriously, a bunch of women going "ooooh" and "ahhhhh" everytime a present is opened??   I'm hoping there'll be alcohol there so I can make it through... hehehe

Cooked up a storm yesterday, prepared all my lunches for the week, and some of OH's as well.  I am chuffed to have gotten through this hormonal week without eating off plan, normally I want to eat the house clean of sugar... but not this month.  I even have ice cream in my freezer at the moment (a rare occurrance) and it will not get touched until next free meal... promise!!! 

Tomorrow morning I'm going to do another Body Balance class, that should be a nice and relaxing way to start a Tuesday.  At least it breaks up the monotony of the steady state cardio. 

Have a great week!

One foot in front of the other

Brrrr I have not been wanting to get out of bed these last couple of days, we're finally getting some cool weather YAY~!  These last couple of weeks I had become a bit sporadic with my routine of getting up and going to gym, so I feel a bit like I've got to create the habit again... and as usual the body and mind are protesting a bit!  A few more weeks of getting up at 5am will see me right, and I wont have to think about it anymore.

Some tricks I use to get myself out of bed on a cool dark morning:

Self talk:

"If you dont get up and go to gym, you have to get up and do housework instead"  (hmmm... gym or housework, I know which one I prefer!!  I'm good at making deals with myself!)

"Who do you want to be today, the old me, or the NEW me???"

or my favourites...

"Just get up you lazy sh!t!!!!"
"GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP" etc until I drive myself crazy and get up.

Tactics:

Sometimes I deliberately park my car behind OH's, then I have to get up and go to gym otherwise I block him in and make him late for work.

Alternatively I ask OH to turn the bedroom light on when he gets up (usually 5 minutes before me), so then there is NO excuse!

Put the alarm clock out of reach, so I have to get out of bed to switch it off.  Usually the other side of the room is good, unless you make the mistake of jumping straight back in bed - then its all over!!

Make promises to the dogs that I WILL walk them in the morning... I actually sit down, look them in the eye and promise them.  There is then NO WAY that I can look at their happy faces and break that promise!

Anyway, just over a week until I can up the intensity, and I cant wait!   Plain old steady state cardio gets a bit old when its all you can do for a couple of weeks!  I want my shoulders back!!!!

Til next time...

Back into it

Another busy week! As of Monday I have started another challenge, a 14 week fitness challenge. I chose 14 weeks because for the first two weeks I'm only allowed to do light cardio, so rather than just meander for the next two weeks I thought I'd get stuck in.

So I have written up my new goals and took my before pics and measurements on Sunday *shudder* and have been doing some light/moderate cardio each day. My focus is eating on plan and drinking my 3 litres of water, and I feel great. After these first two weeks are up then I'll be ramping up the cardio intensity and adding weight training back in. I miss it!

Went shopping at Lorna Jane on Saturday and tried on a few things, but ended up only buying a couple of singlets. I loved the 3/4 length pants, but when I tried them on I didn't like how I looked in the mirror, so I decided that this is what I will buy at the end of my challenge when I reach my goals! Something to strive for!

Went out for a work dinner last night and was very pleased with myself that not a drop of alcohol passed my lips - especially since everyone else was drinking. I nursed a very flat diet coke all night and made a not-too-bad choice for my meal. And unfortunately, though it was an early night (got home by 9pm) I just wasn't tired and couldn't sleep again! Thats the trouble with going out on a school night! So now I'm very tired, and in need of a coffee!




Have a great week!

Things I wont miss....

10 things I wont miss about my glasses:

1. Waking up in the middle of the night and squinting blearily at the clock, desperately trying to see the time
   
2. Waking up in the morning and fumbling for my glasses before I can even set foot out of bed
   
3. Lying in bed and not being able to really see OH’s face (yes I was THAT blind! - about a minus 7.5 for contact lenses, for those who know)
   
4. In winter, going from a cool day outside to a warm house or shop, and having the lenses fog up… then waiting patiently for them to ‘unfog’ (similarly, leaning over a pot of boiling water, opening the oven door etc)
   
5. In the rain, having to constantly take the glasses off and wipe them, usually with my shirt.
   
6. Trying to put on eye makeup while squinting into the mirror, trying to see what I'm doing!!
   
7. Being in the shower and not being able to see the clock (or what you’re shaving, for that matter LOL!)
   
8. Feeling geeky, dorky and shy about just how THICK my lenses were
   
9. Trying to balance sunglasses over the top of regular glasses in a way that doesn’t make you look like a fruitcake
   
10. The fact that I would constantly push them up, even though they weren’t falling down in the first place!

Eye is doing pretty well. The left is still sore if I touch it (which of course I should'nt be doing anyway) and gets a bit sting-ey in the afternoons, but otherwise all is good! I drove yesterday for the first time, and it was great, my vision is so good. Its funny, every afternoon when my eye starts to get a bit dry and sore, the first thing I automatically think is "oh I need to take these contact lenses out... oh wait... I'm not wearing them anymore!"

This week I'm going to start writing up my fitness goals and get myself organised for when I can start training properly again. Only 2 more weeks to go, and then I should be ok to get stuck back in. Today I'm going to Lorna Jane to have a look-see, I've never really been in there so I think I'm about to do some damage to the old bank balance!

Have a great weekend!

Surgery Story Chapter Two...

I can see!!! I can SEE!!!!!

My left implantable contact lens procedure went really well on Monday, all my positive thinking must have paid off!

When I had my pre-op chat with my anaesthatist, I told her how last time the anaesthetic was the most fun part of the day (cos I got to see all those pretty lights!). She laughed, and then said that most people find that the second time around the drug doesn't work QUITE as well as the first time, and that I may find that I'll be a lot more "aware" during this second operation. UH-OH! Thats when I started to worry a bit... I didn't want to remember ANY of it!

When I got taken in the be prepped for theatre, the nurse there was the same one I had last time. She put gel in my eye and then said "Do you remember this from last time?".... "No..." I said. Then she put the electrode stickers on my chest and arms, and said "Do you remember THIS from last time?"... "No!!!" I said. LOL! She said that last time I was chatting away to them just before the op, I dont remember any of this!!!! I thought it was pretty funny.

Then I was given the drugs, and I got wheeled into the theatre. I was aware for quite a few minutes... I remember lying there looking left and right at all the equipment that was surrounding me. I wasn't afraid, more like interested. I think I blanked out for a while, but I came to with a bit of a start by feeling my eye being tugged around. Like I could feel movement, and the sensation of being poked and prodded, but I wasn't totally with it. From what seemed like a long way away I could hear my surgeon saying "Look up..... look down...." and I could feel my eye doing the things he said, but in the back of my mind I was thinking "Is he talking to ME???" (like, who else would he be talking to??!!!!!)

As soon as I got to recovery I laid right back, since this seemed to help last time. I stayed there for an hour before they tested my pressure, and then the nurse couldn't get the device to work properly, so we werent sure how it was going. I certainly felt fine, no pain, no headaches. My surgeon came for a look and said no, the pressure was high, so they gave me a tablet and put me on a drip. OMG the drip was horrible, the liquid was ice cold and it made my whole arm numb. The anaesthatist came and said that this drip would suck all the fluid out of my body (including my eye) so I might feel like I need to go to the toilet really soon... she said "You'll be fine, just cross your legs!!". Meanwhile I watched about 10 people arrive in recovery, and leave before me.... grrrrr very frustrating!

Anyway, 4 hours after surgery I was allowed to go home. Still a long time, but at least the pressure came down and I had no pressure headaches at all. I couldn't see a thing out of my eye that night, it was like someone had smeared a thick layer of vaseline all over my eye, it was worse than before the op.

Yesterday I went to see my surgeon again, and I couldnt believe it but I COULD READ THE BOTTOM LINE OF THE CHART!!!! I let out a little "WOOP!" at that!!! Everything is crystal clear and I cannot wipe the grin off my face, couldn't believe it - 24 hours after surgery I am CURED!! LOL slight exaggeration but I just cant get over how amazing it feels to be able to see, without any glasses or contact lenses!!

And now I get to relax at home with the rest of the week off work... hope everyone else is having as good a week as I am!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers' Day to all the beautiful mums out there! I spent today with mum and dad and had a lovely relaxing day myself, even though I'm not a mum (well you cant really count fur-kids can you?)!

Not a lot to report this week, and I've not had much chance to blog either.

I got home on Tuesday afternoon to find that I no longer have a bedroom. My OH (who's a carpenter) has had a few days off this week, so he's gotten stuck into the renovations BIG time. So he demolished the bedroom - serioulsy, it looks like one of those places that got hit by a cyclone or something. The walls are missing and have been replaced by silver paper, half the floor is gone, and parts of new walls have been semi-constructed. I'm envisioning spiders, snakes and possums making themselves at home before we move back in. Anyway, because its in this state we definetely cant sleep there, so we moved the mattress out into one of the spare rooms. This spare room was actually the cat's 'bedroom' prior to us moving in this week, so you can imagine how annoyed poor Connor is at being chucked out of his room!

So with the change into a small bedroom, less than adequte curtains, a disgruntled and whingey cat, lots of road noise, plus a million things zooming through my mind, I got 2 hours sleep on Tuesday night. I did not get up and go to gym Wednesday morning because I barely had the energy to lift my body out of bed, so I figured that if I tried to lift weights then I would be more than likely to drop a dumbell on my head or something.

The last few nights have had similar scenarios, with both of us tossing and turning and unable to sleep. Friday morning I managed to make it to gym, got through a fairly pathetic shoulder/bicep session and then skipped the cardio and headed straight back home. I need some sleep. I'm actually looking forward to having this eye operation on Monday, because it means that I will be able to have 5 days of sleeping in next week!

Despite all this I have had some really good sore muscles this week, in fact I am still having trouble stretching my arms out horizontally due to suuuuuper sore chest muscles from Tuesday! My shoulders are sore from Friday's workout (which surprises me as I didn't go as hard as I would have liked). I tried a new exercise courtesey of an Elaine Goodlad Oxygen mag article, and the front of my shoulders are nicely sore. Will have to keep that one.

Anyway we are off to a Mothers' Day dinner tonight with OH's family, and then tomorrow I'm off to get my left eye chopped open... wish me luck!!!

Found 'em

Ahhh THAT's where my muscles are!!  I have found them again this week - I knew they were still there somewhere!  We had a public holiday yesterday, and I did the sensible thing and DIDNT take a public holiday from training and nutrition.  I did have a good sleep in though... niiiiiice!  Slept in til about 8, then got to the gym for opening time of 9am.  Did a fantastic leg session - I had my heart rate up to 170bpm during smith machine lunges, and had the wonderful sensation of trying to hold back from puking between sets.  After my second set I almost blacked out I think, well everything went a little dark for a second or two, and I felt dizzy.  Prolly went a bit too hard do you think????? :-)~

So after my nausea subsided I finished up legs and followed it up with 25 jelly-leg minutes on the cross trainer, and 20 mins incline walking, just to get the blood moving in my legs again.

I slept like shite last night for some reason, I think it was the fact that I kept hearing the rain on the roof... such a strange sound after so long!  Plus I could really feel the leg DOMS developing every time I rolled over... ouch.  I hit the snooze button I dont know how many times this morning, managed to drag my sorry butt out of bed - and made it to gym only 10 minutes late.  Did a pretty good chest/tricep workout too, considering I'm operating on 4 hours sleep!  I cant believe how quickly my strength has disappeared - I dropped everything back a couple of kilos, and really struggled to make the reps.  Still, I'm loving being able to feel it again!

I ended up having my ribs on Saturday night, and unfortunately they were a bit of a let down.   Actually it was the restaraunt service that let it down - it was like there was a bunch of 16 year olds running the restaraunt... I kid you not.  They ran out of clean glasses, I saw the "chefs" mucking about and downing shots of sherbert in the kitchen, and one of our friends saw one of them pretending to blow snot on somebody's food.... eeeewwwww... think I might think twice before eating there again.

Anyway, had another eye check up today in the city and its looking good - my vision has even improved a teeny bit since last time!  We're all set and on track for my left eye next Monday!

Til next time - train hard and be happy :-)

Ribs

I've had the most incredible yearning for pork ribs over the last 3 weeks or so... mmmmm falling off the bone and dripping with BBQ sauce, yum... each time I've had red meat I've thought to myself "Jeez I wish I was having ribs" so I am stoked to be finally going to go out for some on Saturday night!  I am going to savour every mouthful!

There's not really been a lot going on for me lately, and I scaled back my training this week so not much to report there either.  However I am very excited to report that I did a weights session this morning!!!!  I know I was meant to wait 3 weeks after the eye op, but hey, C'mon, its ALMOST 3 weeks isn't it???  No seriously, I didn't go too crazy, I was very conscious of not lifting so heavy that my eyeballs were popping out of their sockets or anything hehehe!  BUT it was so nice to be back in the weights room, and very happy to see that I still have some muscle left, although they ARE looking a little smaller and 'softer' than before.  So it was shoulders/bi's/tri's this morning followed by abs and 20 minutes on the cross trainer - looking forward to some sore arms tomorrow.

I've got all of next week to hit it hard at the gym until the following Monday, when I get my left eye done... then 3 more weeks of "gentle walking and no weights"  boo hiss  :((    Anyway, the plan is to do a really kick-arse leg session this Monday, so that by the following Monday my legs will be recovered enough.  You dont want to have eye surgery AND leg DOMS - that will just complicate things too much!!!

A funny thing happened to me today... I ate cottage cheese and I liked it.  I had the Bulla low fat one which has chives or something in it, spread it over a couple of plain rice cakes and topped it with chopped tomato -and I actually really enjoyed it!  Wonders will never cease!

Well anyway, this is a long weekend for Queensland as its Labour Day on Monday - so 3 days of sleeping in for me - yeeeeeehah!  Have a great one everyone!