Stupid

I threw my stupid rib/neck/back/whatever it is out again on Sunday... its just so stupid! So once again I couldn't turn my head. I was only leaning over something, and I had all my weight on my right arm, and then I felt my back go into a crampy spasm. Grrrrr

So back to the Chiro again yesterday, and he couldn't fix me!! Apparently the whole area is frozen solid and he coulnd't get it to move, so I have to go back on Wednesday so he can have another go. Meanwhile I am becoming a misery to be around. I take my hat off to anyone who suffers chronic pain - I dont know how they do it!! I've only had this stupid thing for a week and its so frustrating.

I said to OH last night "Do you think I will be right to train in the morning?"

His look clearly told me he thought it was a stupid question!! LOL. Its so easy to tell other people they need to rest, but its quite a different thing to take your own advice. So I havent trained since Sunday. I will see how I go tomorrow.

And to all you "oats with cottage cheese" lovers out there: you will be happy to know that it iS possible to convert a non-lover! Yes I have been converted. I missed my oats so much since I had to stop having protein powder, that I persisted with the oats/cottage cheese combo. I gagged and held my nose for the first couple of times, but now I have perfected the art and got just the right timing on the microwave. My tip is, dont add any water. And I'm enjoying it more and more every day - go figure!

Babies...

... of the furry variety. Here's a few recent snaps of our beautiful ones...

Connor - walking up his covered ramp to get into the house...


Mum and dads' little one - Ben... with his Kong...

First time at the beach! Shavez and Elke experienced the waves for the very first time today. Shavez was not impressed!

Elke, just before a mini wave came and nearly washed her away LOL!

So this morning we took the dogs to the beach for the first time ever, and they loved it! Well, Shavez didn't particularly like the water, but he loved the rest of it. We took them to an off-leash dog friendly beach, and I couldn't believe how many people were there with their dogs. It was great, and definetely something we'll do again. We didn't dare let our two off their lead though, they're not used to being around other dogs and we weren't sure how far away they'd run with all the excitement! Maybe next time. Luckily they are due for a hydrobath tomorrow to get rid of most of the sand and salt-water.

I had an interesting experience on Monday at the gym. I was doing dumbell side raises, and halfway through the first set I felt something go "ping" in my right shoulder blade. I gritted my teeth and finished the set (stupidly) but then couldn't continue. So I got on the cross trainer but found I was unable to turn my head to the right due to the shooting pain in my neck and shoulders... grrrrr.... so I went home and got ready for work. All day I was in pain, it was awful not being able to turn my head. I rang my chiro and got in to see him that day. He initially thought it was my trapezius - but instead it turned out that I had thrown a rib out of alignment in my back!!!

So I had a rather painful adjustment from him, and its slowly getting better. I'd say I now have about 80% range of movement now. I go back next week, so hopefully it will get sorted out completely. Its just so stupid. I kept saying to OH - its not like I did anything differnently. I didn't go up in weight, I have been doing that exercise for the last few weeks, perhaps my form was a little off or something? Makes you realise how easy it is to hurt yourself from something so simple.

The rest of the week has been great, I've been training hard (after a day off due to neck/shoulder) and eating clean, so its all good! Have a great weekend all!

Peace... Interrupted

Busy week! I'm back from my little trip, and it went pretty well. I surprised myself with the fact that I quite enjoyed driving long distances on my own. Who knew? In fact, the only time I found myself yawning was when the single lane highway turned into a dual lane... that's when I started yawning again.

I had an interesting moment in Hervey Bay on Wednesday. I decided to go for a jog along the Esplanade instead of staying cooped up inside the motel room. So I packed up my ipod, phone and keys and drove off to the beach. I went for a lovely 30 minute jog/walk, but unlike Townsville or Cairns, you cant actually see the water from the Esplanade, even though its right beside it. So when I'd finished my exercise I thought I'd do something new. I locked the phone and ipod in the car, and went for a lovely stroll along the beach. I'd never done this before on my own (its not as romantic on your own LOL!) so it was good to have another new experience!!

Anyway, it was a gorgeous afternoon. The sun was just starting to go down behind the trees, there were a few kids running around, a few beach fishermen etc, and because I'd deliberately left the ipod behind, the only sound I could hear was the gentle lapping of the water on the sand. It was just glorious, so I was walking along kinda meditating on the peace and tranquility of it. I stopped at one point and just looked out at the bay, watching the little waves roll in. I started to think that all the silly things I worry about are just that: silly things. You sort of feel insignificant in the face of all that nature and peacefullness.

I stood there for a good 5 minutes, until I heard a mans voice behind me - quite close... asking me if I was "absorbing the power of the waves... feeling the force..." unfortunately the man was quite drunk and I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying. He sort of stood there, slurring at me and gesturing out to the ocean... I felt a bit nervous so I just smiled and walked away... unfortunately my peace had been shattered!

Today we went to a first birthday party at a park, and it was a really nice afternoon. It now seems that OH and I are the ONLY couple on the planet without kids though!! If I had a dollar today for every time someone said "its YOUR turn next!!!"... well - ... I'd have about 5 dollars... :)

Have a fabulous week.

Hello Bundaberg

Once again, here I am, blogging from another exotic location LOL! (No offence to anyone from Bundaberg)

Today saw me drive 5 hours to Bundy, and I have to say, it’s a LOOONG drive. I knew I was in trouble when, after driving for a measly 10 minutes, I started yawning…

I made it here safe and sound though – once I bought myself a VERY strong Long Black (upsized it too – thought I might need the extra caffeine) I was buzzing along.

My (company) car does not have cruise control, or a CD player – yes its old! So I am very glad that I listen to Triple J radio, I just had to keep changing the frequency as I made my way up the coast.

So with some cool tunes, a long boring drive and only myself for company, I came up with some useless, pointless trivia to pass the time!!

- I have lived in 15 different houses
- I went to 7 different schools
- I have been to 9 countries
- I have had 7 different cars: Holden Barina, Daewoo Cielo (how embarrassing!!) Honda Civic, Mitsubishi Pajero, V8 Ford Fairmont Ghia (my favourite), Nissan Xtrail, Toyota Camry
- In the time that we have been together (9 years) OH has owned 17 different cars – yes you did read that correctly - 17.

Anyway…

I didn’t make it to gym on Monday morning, so I did some afternoon cardio instead. This morning I trained legs… I’m feeling it already. I brought a kickboxing DVD with me on this trip, so this afternoon after I checked into the hotel, I was punching and kicking in my hotel room !! Except that I kept getting a hamstring cramp when doing one particular move – hope I’m not too sore tomorrow.

I wont be visiting a gym while I’m here, so tomorrow morning I’ll be doing some pushups, tricep dips, lunges, crunches etc in the hotel room again. I’m off to Hervey Bay and Maryborough tomorrow – home on Thursday – Yay!

Stuff

I've been stuck for things to blog about lately... maybe I've got 'bloggers block'!!

On Saturday night we went to a friends "Wedding Celebration" party. Their actual wedding was a month ago, which only involved their family. Then they had their honeymoon, and then when the came back they had the party!! Sounds like an excellent idea to me - then you dont have all the huge stress of organising a great big event all in one go!

You can probably tell that I'm not really into the whole 'white wedding' thing - I'd much rather we eloped to be perfectly honest.

Anyway, the party was fantastic, everyone got all dolled up - I even wore a DRESS (yes, can you believe it??!!) and we all got quite drunk and rowdy. Everybody let their hair down and we just laughed all night, it was so much fun. Both OH and I were fairly plastered, didn't get home until 2.30am. And that is super late for us (we're normally the ones who leave parties by 11.30 because we're tired!).

So then we spent the most part of Sunday feeling very very seedy. Yuck. It was such a fun night, but I dont think I'll be doing it again any time soon!!

I'm definetely back on track with my fitness, I've tightened up my nutrition these last two weeks, and boy what a difference!! Its like, "der!!" no wonder I wasn't seeing any changes in my body with all the little extra's that managed to slip into my meals! Anyway, its all cleaned up now and I'm feeling good. Measurements are slowly moving in the downwards direction. Trained legs yesterday, then after work did a kickboxing DVD at home. This morning did some interval running followed by another 30 minutes steady-state cardio. Feeling good!

Anyway, better go - enjoy your day!

Check out my new "litte brother"!!!!

Naaaaawwww.... soooo cute!!!

Mum and Dad popped in for a visit on Sunday afternoon, and brought this beautiful little boy with them - they had literally just picked him up! They've been talking about getting a little dog for ages now (its been 8 years since their last dog - their last place didn't allow pets) and now that they've moved house they thought it was high time to get a little companion... so meet 'Ben'! He is a Yorkshire Terrier, 8 weeks old, and just the sweetest little thing ever! I just didn't want him to leave - OH and I just LOVE puppies. Yorkies are arguably the smallest dog in the world (I think chihuahua's also claim this title though LOL!)

Right now I'm eating oats and cottage cheese for breakfast, and I'm trying not to gag :) I mixed in some strawberry jam, but it hasn't helped much... It seems that my stomach wont tolerate ANY protein powder any more, even the stuff without artificial sweeteners. I had two serves of "stevia-sweetened" protein powder last Tuesday, and then developed a pain in my upper stomach for the next 3 days. :( So it looks like all of my protein needs are going to have to come from whole foods, which is fine - just needs a little more preparation and organisation!

Yesterday morning I was so slack - it was so nice and warm under the doona, and the air outside felt so cool... I slept in! I had been having a 'delicious' sleep - one of those really GOOD, heavy sleeps that you dont get very often - so I thought "bugger it" and skipped gym.

I think it did me good though, cos I trained legs and shoulders this morning and absolutely CAINED them! Did weighted walking lunges at the end of the leg session and OMG my legs were burning - gotta love that :)

And then this morning I finally broke through the 60kg barrier - 59.8!! Its been probably 6 months since I was under that - so I am stoked. I have been hovering between 60 and 62kgs for ages, gaining and losing the same bloody 1-2kgs each week, so its nice to finally get a breakthrough. Just gotta stay focused!

Focus... and feeling good

Thanks girls for your suggestions re my last post! I bought some Evening Primrose Oil this week so I'm giving it a go and hope it helps.

Well what a difference a week makes! This week has been fantastic and I'm feeling great. Moody?? Nah - not me!! That is all behind me now and I've really focused my energies this week on good clean eating, and good hard exercise. 3 weights workouts, 6 cardio sessions and 1 yoga session all done this week! We took the dogs for a long walk yesterday morning and it was just glorious - perfect weather, good company (OH and the dogs!) - life is good!

I had a delicious meal last night - satay chicken skewers with salad - yum! Add a glass of wine and I was a happy little vegemite. Today's focus is drinking my 3 litres of water, I always forget to drink on weekends.

I'm having a rest day today, my whole lower body is aching, from lower back all the way down to the arches in my foot. I think this is because I spent 6 hours in the car on Friday... I'm due for a chiro adjustment this week, so hopefully he'll sort me out. I feel like I need to be "un-kinked"!

This is my favourtie pic of our Alaskan Malamute, Shavez. I want to get this photo blown up and framed, I just think it captures his personality perfectly.

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Basket-case

I've had the most horrible emotional week and a half... hormones have really played havoc with me for some reason this month. Its not so much been mood-swings, more like split personality! LOL! I have never felt such horrendous PMT. I have gone from calm and serene, to down and depressed, to stressed and panic-y, and then back to being down in the dumps. There's not been a lot of "ups", I've been a very unhappy camper, and not a nice person to be around!

Anyway, the storm broke yesterday - unfortunately we were out shopping for cars at the time, and I ended up sitting in our car gasping with the most painful cramps and nausea that I can ever remember. 4 panadol did not even take the edge off. As soon as we got home I spent the rest of the morning curled up with a heat bag. I dont want to go through that again next month!

Apart from me being a basket-case all weekend, we had a nice Easter break. Had some friends over for dinner and few games of table tennis on Friday night, but mostly we just relaxed. I will even venture to say that we were a bit bored. No renovations, no gallavanting about. Just some quiet home time.

Did shoulders and back yesterday, felt very weak due to T.O.M. Then I followed it with a 20 minute jog, which I was surprised I managed since my legs felt rubbery. Got home yesterday afternoon feeling all motivated so I took the dogs for a walk and then went for a 4km jog. Feeling it a bit this morning though - especially since I trained legs this morning! I think my hammies and calves are going to be sore tomorrow!

Feel-good cardio

I had a lovely cruisy day today. OH got up at 5am (yes, on a Saturday morning!!) to go fishing... silly things that boys do, really... anyway, so I slept in until 8.30am!! Kept having weird dreams though, so I still didn't feel too rested.

It was a nice relaxed day... still did washing and cleaning, but also enjoyed some "me" time with a good book, and some play time with the animals. I downloaded a heap of great songs too, so my ipod is all up to date with some good tunes.

My favourtie song of the moment is Faker - Are you Magnetic?... also got some Cut Copy, Architecture in Helsinki, Presets, Laura Marling, Cog, Serj Tankian, Lupe Fiasco, Feist...

Anyway, I was waiting for OH to come home from fishing so we could go vote, so I decided to listen to a few of my new tunes. I ended up having a spur-of-the-moment cardio session from dancing about to my new music! You know how they say "dance like there's no-one watching"? Well that's how I was dancing. It was crazy, leaping-around kind of dancing. I seriously hope the neighbours couldn't see me. A couple of songs in, I broke out into this huge grin, and then I just started laughing - I had the BEST time! I actually dont remember the last time I had so much fun on my own! I kept going for about half an hour because I felt so good and happy. I was quite out of breath afterwards too.

So now that you all think I'm a weirdo, I'm signing off! Have a great Sunday!

Surprises...

I woke up this morning to a lovely surprise... today is mine and OH's 9 year anniversary, and look what he surprised me with:

Isn't he sweet? I am so spoilt! I was looking at this stuff on Sunday up at Rebel sport! Now I just have to get my butt into gear and get to the gym so I can wear it!

I'm still feeling extremely tired. I seem to pick up during the day, but mornings are the worst - I feel like I can barely open my eyes, let alone lift a weight. I rested all weekend, then got a crappy nights sleep on Sunday night. So I slept in on Monday :( I did come home after work and get stuck into an Amy Bento Aerobics DVD, absolutely CAINED my calf muscles too, but then couldn't get up Tuesday morning either - and this is just not like me. Maybe I need to take some more supplements, or increase my carbs or something.

Not much else has been happening! We had a game of table-tennis with my mum and dad on the weekend, and it was so much fun that when we left their place we went straight to the shops to buy one! So we've got that set up now in the rumpus room, and we had a quick hit last night. It will good for a few laughs when friends come around, especially if I'm playing!

Have a great day!

Off colour

I've been feeling a bit off colour for the last 3 or 4 days, I had indigestion for a couple of days straight, and since yesterday I've been feeling a bit dizzy and woozy. Just a little bit - like this morning when I leaned over to take off my gym shoes I nearly tipped all the way forward! Walking up stairs has me feeling a little light-headed. I've still trained, although I did take a rest day on Tuesday.

I felt a bit off balance during step this morning. I rolled my ankle during the class too - managed to stop myself from falling over though, how embarrassing!!

OH has been feeling a bit unwell for the last day or two as well, so I wonder if there's some bug going around?

Anyway, my trip to the hairdresser was successful, and I now have wavy hair. She chopped a good bit of length off too to get rid of the dry ends, so its above my shoulder now. I have to say though, just sitting in the chair with the rods in my hair, smelling that perming solution, brought back many childhood memories! Those curling rods HURT! And the solution stinks, I ended up with a headache for the rest of the day.

AND the jury is still out as to whether I like it or not!!! OH just smiles and says "Its nice" - which really means nothing!!! Someone told me yesterday that they prefer straight hair on me...

I will post a pic once I get the colour done in a few weeks, then you can see the finished product and judge for yourself!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

730…

730... That’s how many calories my HR monitor said I burned in 60 minutes yesterday during Step… and my goodness you should have seen my face afterwards, talk about beetroot-face! I really gave it everything I had, I mean I was absolutely spent afterwards, and I was even a bit naughty and left before the abdominal and cool-down tracks. I then came home and took my measurements and was pleasantly surprised to have lost 2cm off my hips in the last two weeks! Yay! I do think I overdid it though, my eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head for about an hour afterwards, it felt very weird, and I contemplated calling the eye surgeon, but it went away. I was so tired for the rest of the day too – could not stop yawning!

I took a photo of my arm last night – I’m loving getting a little bit leaner because I start to see arm dents appear again. I took this photo in a bathroom mirror, with the heat lamps on… the heat lamps just put the right amount of shadow on and I laugh at myself because I stand there brushing my teeth every night posing my left arm until I can see some definition LOL! I just LOVE shapely female arms with some muscle, so its nice to get a bit of visual proof that all the hard work is slowly paying off. Still a ways to go yet before I reach my goals, lower body is where I need to see more improvements.




Tomorrow is hairdresser day… I may just chicken out yet, not sure! OH says he thinks my face is the wrong shape for wavy hair… we’ll see I guess!!

Hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend!

Hair

Lately I've been thinking that I hate my hair. Every time I wear it down I end up tieing it up in frustration, I'm so over it!! Its grown too long for the style it was intended for, and because my hair is so fine, as soon as it gets any length in it, it gets straggly and flat looking. It is dead flat, and - horror of horrors - I found some split ends in it last week!

So my OH went and got his hair cut on the weekend, so I went with him to check out some hairstyle books at our hairdressers house. She said that the sleek, straight hairstyles are OUT at the moment, everybody is going for big hair...

I want to grow my hair, but it definetely needs some body. So I kinda got talked into having a body wave next weekend.

OH started to look worried - he hates curly hair with a passion (probably because he's got very wavy hair naturally, and he hates it). A couple of times our hairdresser accidentally called it a "perm" and he his eyes started to bulge out of his head in fear LOL

I must admit, I'm a bit afraid of having curly hair too - but she assures me that a body wave will give me a very light wave and NOT a curl. I'm going for a very toned-down version of Natalie Bassingthwaightes 'do' at the moment.

I think my fear stems from the fact that I was a jazz and tap dancer from the age of about 10, so for a good chunk of the first half of my life I sported a bad home perm. You know the ones, frizzy curls and a huge birdsnest of a fringe. All designed to give you an enormous pony-tail to tie your flouro scrunchie around...

Anyway, then two weeks after the body wave I'm getting some funky colours put in. I'm thinking a dark brown base, with purply-plum chunks through it.

Wish me luck!!!!

Sleepy

I think I got about 4 or 5 hours sleep last night, and I have a big drive ahead of me today. I went to bed early enough, just my brain wouldn’t switch off! And then the more you cant get to sleep, the more you stress that you NEED to get to sleep. Very frustrating! I’m starting to develop some coffee cravings, which is not good. I cant drink diet cola because of the artificial sweeteners, so coffee it is. I have always preferred weak instant coffee too (all you coffee lovers will think I’m weird I know!) but I have started buying long blacks with a dash of skim milk, and while the taste is quite strong and bitter, I’m starting to like it… :) I don’t think having one per day is too bad, do you??

It took me over 4 hours to get home yesterday afternoon… a truck jack-knifed on the Bruce Highway, which saw me sitting in one spot, engine off, for an hour… and then the chaos of the Gateway Arterial in peak hour traffic… so by the time I got home I was knackered from sitting in the car doing nothing!! Too tired to get up and train this morning, I think I would have been dangerous in the weights room anyway. If I get home early enough this afternoon I will do some cardio then.

I’ve been feeling very emotionally flat for the last few days, I’ve felt a little overwhelmed, and my “to-do” list seems to be getting longer rather than shorter! Hasn’t been helped by an attack of the hormones this week – or what is otherwise known as “Bitch Week” in our house!

… but I’ve decided that enough is enough, and the only person who can fix this is myself. I am refusing to let negative thoughts enter my mind, and even if they do I instantly say STOP to myself. Its an ongoing process, and I have to be constantly aware of my thoughts, but its definitely worth it because I’ll get to a point where the thoughts don’t even materialise.

Nutrition is still on track, despite the Bitch Week hormones raging. I had a couple of pieces of organic dark chocolate the other night, and mmmmm it was delicious! Just two little pieces was enough to satisfy me, and not want to devour the whole little packet. My weight is holding steady, but I’m hoping its more fluid than anything else and next week should see me make some improvements there.

Anyway, best get this show on the road – have a great day!

I've been everywhere (man)

Well I'm certainly clocking up the kilometres in my new job!

 

Its strange to be doing lots of driving for a living, especially when you're used to being chained to a desk all day.  I think it will take a little getting used to.  Today I drove to Lismore, which took me 2 and a half hours in the rain!  I learned a valuable lesson too - and that is - stop and go to the toilet when you get a chance!!!  I made the mistake of saying to myself (as I drove past a highway service centre) "Oh I'll go at the next one..." ...

 

Famous last words...

 

There WASNT another one, until I reached Lismore!  By which time I was almost crying with discomfort because I needed to go so much!  Then I stopped at the first petrol station I found, ran up to the toilet door to find it locked!  Aaargh!  So I went inside to ask for the key - and had to wait for an elderly customer to finish paying for his fuel... and use EFTPOS... and then remember that he wanted to get $20 cash out too... meanwhile I'm hopping around behind him trying to will my bladder not to burst LOL!

 

So we wont be doing that again.  I think I have found every single McDonalds on the northside of Brisbane, and no - not for food.  They have clean toilets and easy parking!

 

Training is still going well - although I had a late night on Sunday night and consequently skipped gym on Monday morning... oops.  I made up for it by taking the dogs for a big walk in the afternoon and then doing a mini-shoulder session at home.  Today was chest and biceps, and I felt a lot stronger this week - gotta love that!

 

Anyway, better start getting dinner organised... byeeeee!

The great suburban flood of 2008

Well we certainly had an eventful day yesterday afternoon! This video is of our street, one house up from ours. The next door neighbour has a causeway through their block and yesterday afternoon we had an enormous amount of rain in a short space of time so they ended up with a river running through it! Waterfront properties in the heart of suburbia!!!! The force of the water was so strong that their dog almost got sucked under their fence (they saved him though).

A suburb near us had 100mm of rain in one hour, so you imagine the amount of water we had, it was incredible. In the video I am standing in the middle of the road, an inch under water, and this was taken AFTER the height of the storm.

We heard that cars in our local shopping centre were submerged up to their doors.

Our rumpus and spare room downstairs all got wet - the retaining walls near the house just couldn't cope with that much water, so it seeped in and now we've got wet carpet. I dont think I have ever seen so much water ever!!!

Other than that, not much exciting has been happening. My training is going great, I have got my mojo back and I'm really enjoying it again, which was the bit I was missing for a couple of months. Although I did another Abs, Butt and Thigh class this morning and I seriously felt like bailing several times thoughout the class - that is a SERIOUS workout! My legs were screaming, my thighs were screaming... but I stuck it out and now I feel fantastic so I'm really glad I did. According to my HR monitor I burned 550 calories in 50 minutes.... woohoo! I'll do step tomorrow, which is like my little treat for the end of the week, I LOVE step!

Have a great day everyone!

Sunburned again

Wow this week is just flying!

I got absolutely roasted on Sunday afternoon... sitting by the in-laws pool after a swim. I felt a bit cold when I got out of the pool so I sat in the sun to 'warm up'... not a good move cos now my chest is bright red. My arms and face copped a bit too, but my chest is the worst. When will I ever learn?

I had a lovely day on Monday (thanks for the birthday wishes everyone!). We went for a nice drive to Springbrook in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Because of all the recent rains all the waterfalls were flowing again, and the rainforest actually FELT like rainforest - lovely! We also went to Natural Bridge, had a nice lunch in a cafe, and then took a drive up to O'Reilleys. I took lots of pic's on my new little digital camera, so I'll try to post a few when I figure out how to upload them. OOooh I scored a Lorna Jane voucher too and I cant wait to spend it!

The last couple of years I've felt a bit sooky when it comes to birthdays. I've decided I dont like them anymore. I tend to get a bit sullen and cranky for a few days before, silly really, because its inevitable - we all get older.

Aaaanyway, training has taken a bit of a backseat this week. The sunburn hurt so bad that I just didn't think I could face dragging a crop-top over my head and over the burn, so I skipped it and doused myself in cream instead. I went back to gym this morning and it felt ok, my skin is now just covered in little bubbles where the sweat tried to break through, and it starting to get itchy.

Well that's about all from me, have a fantastic Friday!

How to get shoulder DOMS without even trying...

Step 1 - Get a tetanus shot...

Step 2 - wait a few hours...

Step 3 - say "Ouuuuwwwwww"

Attack of the barbed wire gate.

I had a bit of a bad day today... :(

Firstly driving to work I saw a little kitty get hit by a car... horrible... it ran in front of me (I thought it was lucky because I saw it and slowed down to avoid it) but unfortunately the car racing up to the right of me was going too fast, and kitty got clipped on the back of the legs. He kept running off the road and into the bushes, so I'm not sure how badly it was hurt. I couldn't stop because it was an extremely busy intersection. I was only about 5 minutes from work so by the time I arrived I was trying not to fall apart into tears.

Then I went out to look at a damaged door for work. I had to go way out to woop-woop to a farm area, so lucky I've got my trusty GPS! When I finally got there, I had to get through a barbed wire gate. This was not a 'normal' gate with a top and bottom rail that swings open. This was a "gate" (I use the term loosely) made of two upright posts with 3 strings of barbed wire through it. It had a chain and a long stick to keep it in place. I couldn't figure out how to open it.

I stuffed around with it for a few minutes, and thought bugger-it, and tried to climb through. Big mistake number one. It snagged my pants, and I started to lose my balance so I grabbed the wire - got a barb right through my left palm. Great - now I'm bleeding and cranky. The cows were giving me the evil eye too!

Anyway, got through, walked about 50 metres to the shed. Now I had to get through an electric fence. Had to reach through the fence to unplug the battery (all without getting a shock) so I could climb through. Managed to do this without electrocuting myself too!!

So I took a couple of photos of this damaged door, and then when I left I had another battle with the gate. Well, since I was bleeding already I didn’t particularly want to climb through it again, so I thought “I’ll have another go at opening this thing”. Big mistake number two. I got it open ok, but then I couldn’t figure out how to get it closed again!! It took me another 5 minutes… getting crankier, hot and sweaty, and then I sliced open the back of my right hand… twice… before I figured out how it worked! So now with both hands bleeding I grumbled all the way back to the office!

So now I have to go have a tetanus shot tomorrow morning. :(

Despite all this I’m still smilin’; I wore a pair of pants today which two weeks ago fit just right – and today I had to keep pulling them up! Yay!

Have a fabulous Friday and a great long weekend! (Its my birthday on Monday and I get a public holiday - how cool!)

Peas

I dont know why, but every now and then I go through "phases" where I crave a certain food non-stop. You may remember my American Mustard phase, where I plastered absolutely everything I ate, from salad, to fish, to chicken, with American Mustard. Last year it was the cucumber obsession - and while I still love cucumber, I can now eat a salad without it if I had to.

Lately its been peas!! Nothing special about peas I know - but I never liked 'em as a kid, I used to do the whole "hold my nose and swallow them whole" when I was little (especially since mum and dad wouldn't let me leave the table until every last pea was gone LOL!). Last month I bought a bag of frozen baby peas on a whim, and now I love them! Baby peas are much nicer I think. I'm also a bit partial to raw green beans in my salads too lately - another vegie I used to loathe when I was a kid.

We had some steamed veges with our lamb tonight, and I was savouring my peas and saying to OH "mmmmm I just LOVE these peas at the moment!!". He just shook his head at me... he doesn't get it - food is "just food" to him - sometimes I wish I could be like that!

I had a busy weekend - I wrote myself a to-do list on Friday night, and I'm happy to report that I accomplished almost everything on that list. I just didn't get to the butcher, bugger. Its a good feeling to have a tidy house and all the cleaning, washing and ironing up to date - its just a shame that there will be more chores to do next weekend!

Have a fantastic week everyone - next weekend is a long weekend - yahoo!