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!

Tuesday update

Jeez I had forgotten how going to work every day eats into your leisure time!! I havent had much time for blogging lately. Going to work and cramming lots of information into my poor old brain has been a bit of a shock to the system after 7 weeks off, but its good to have some mental stimulation again.

I had a bit of a downer of a weekend. I got stomach pains again and I was a bit of a misery to be around. I suppose I have to admit that the doc was actually right - he said it was IBS. My trigger normally seems to be artificial sweetener - and the only thing I had this week was a protein bar on Wednesday afternoon. I stupidly thought that one little old protein bar wouldn't hurt, obviously I was wrong! My glass of wine on Friday night probably didn't do much to help either... :(

We went to a wedding on Saturday night and the boys got SMASHED!! I was the designated driver (couldn't risk drinking with my stomach the way it was) so it was quite funny to watch everyone get more and more plastered.

Saturday was also our one year anniversary of getting engaged! (Wow didn't that go fast!) One year ago today we were in Pompeii... *sigh* I want to go back!

Training was non-existant on the weekend, I just couldn't manage it. But I'm feeling better now so back into it. Did Chest and Bi's again today, and tomorrow will be Back and Tri's. I'll do legs on Thursday, and a step class on Friday morning. My food has been nice and clean (and NO artificial sweeteners!!) so I'm starting to feel good. Gotta keep it up!

Australia Zoo... and other stuff

Our day at Australia Zoo was great! Its been about 6 years since we last went, and it has changed BIG time since then. It seemed like it was twice as big as before, and twice as busy. It turned into an absolute scorcher of a day though, and we managed to sit in the front row at the Crocoseum for the show, so I got roasted. Well actually only my nose and tops of shoulders got burned, but I feel like I’m roasted! I don’t know why, but I never ever remember to take sunscreen or wear a hat anywhere – silly me.

We were lucky enough to have Terri Irwin and Wes Mannion do the crocodile show – you should have heard the roar from the crowd when she came running out! We must be lucky, because when we were there 6 years ago Steve Irwin did the croc show, we felt very privileged LOL!

Its very hands-on too. I got to pat a baby crocodile, a koala, feed and pat the kangaroos and feed an elephant! Last time we were there I got to pat a big python.

Anyway, it was a lovely day – here’s a few pics:

Terri Irwin during the croc show

Me and a friendly Kangaroo

A big cat out for a stroll (I think it was a cougar?)

Under the Crocoseum is this sort of memorial to Steve. All the shirts that everybody signed after he died are on display, along with posters and poems and all sorts of things that people have done. It was really quite moving...

**** ******

Other stuff: I started my new job on Tuesday. I was surprisingly calm driving in – I thought I would be super nervous but I wasn’t. I’m really enjoying it, and will be spending the next few weeks learning all the products and processes, before I can start getting stuck into anything much. I’m so looking forward to the challenge! It feels so refreshing to be working in a new environment too.

Training is going well this week, and thankfully I can walk again after last weeks leg DOMS! I have started a new weights programme this week, and I can feel some nice sore biceps coming on already, so its all good! I’m happy to be back into a routine and eating clean again, I feel so much better already.

Last night I caught up with Rachel and Sue for dinner. It was a good night, and it was lovely to see them both again. Luckily the weather has been kind to Sue while she's here - I think its still hotter down south than it is here!

Well that's about it from me. Have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Ugh

It seems that the party season has hit my neck of the woods this week. Three late nights in a row, three nights of alcohol and cheese and nibblies and not much sleep. I'm feeling all bleughhh at the moment... still, nobody's fault but my own I guess!

Tonight OH has gone to a bucks party, but he is feeling a little rough around the edges at the moment too, so he's not having a big night. I have skipped the hens party in favour of heading around the corner to a girlfriends place. I'm hoping we'll have a quiet night and wait patiently for the boys to come home from the bucks! I am so bloated... I need sleeeeeeep... and water....

The last three days has been a bit of a turning point for the house reno's. 3 days of painting, plastering, wall building and sanding (somebody took a photo of me weilding the orbital sander yesterday - dressed in my finest working clothes lol - we wont be posting THAT pic!!) and the house is really starting to take shape. Our converted garage downstairs is actually starting to LOOK like a rumpus room, rather than a "converted garage". Nice. The kitchen has been torn apart, I've lost all my overhead cupboards and I'm SO over cleaning up globs of plaster and dust, but hey - we're getting there!

Only problem is that working on the house was a bit difficult for me, seeing how I'm suffering from some of the worst leg DOMS in my life! I am the walking wounded... takes me 5 minutes to get down the stairs, and climbing up and down stepladders all day was most unpleasant. I imagine all our tradesmen friends were sniggering at me as I hobbled from one paint tin to the next. That's what I get for not training legs for a few weeks (naughty me!)

And I have just looked out the window and the skies are finally blue and its stopped raining! The trees are actually standing vertical instead of blowing over sideways! Looks like the nasty weather might be finally gone yipee! Hope it stays fine - we are going to Australia Zoo on Monday :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Welcoming the New Year in with a purrr (not a roar)

It was more of a fizzle than a "bang", our New Years. I nursed a few glasses of bubbly all night, drank two bottles of water in between, and ate far too much cheese and crackers. A fairly quiet night, at a very quiet get-together - man I feel old!

So anyway, despite the quiet night I still didn't get to bed until 2am, so a sleep in until 10am was in order. I dont even remember the last time I slept half the day away. It was nice because it was cool and windy and rainy, and the neighbourhood was quiet as a mouse - good snuggling weather. The thing I hate about sleeping in that late is that by the time you get up and have "breakfast" it's screwed all your meal times up. I've been a bit guilty of missing meals lately, so its time to get myself back to 5 good clean meals per day.

Today I slept in until 7am and then hit the gym, which is finally back to ordinary hours (yay!). I did my first weights session of 2008 - shoulders, bi's and tri's, followed by 25 minutes on the cross trainer. After a week off weights, I actually lifted heavier for shoulders... go figure. But I was weaker in biceps, weird. The gym was almost empty, much to my surprise. I suppose all the New Years Resolutioners wont start until Monday!

Tomorrow I'm heading into the city with some friends to hit the sales. I'm hoping to score some new work heels, work clothes, perfume, cooler bag and whatever other bargains I can find. A bit of retail therapy never goes astray!

Goodbye 2007...

One year ago today, we were in Warrington, England, getting ready for a HUGE NYE party... I cant believe how fast time flies these days!

So I thought should do a little review of my year, since its almost over.

Some highlights of 2007:

• We spent January having the holiday of my dreams, traveling around the UK, Austria and Italy. Got to go to Rome and see all the ancient stuff, which has been at the top of my "to-do" list forever.
  
• Got engaged to my wonderful man in the Austrian Alps
  
• Had implantable contact lenses in April and May to correct my short-sightedness, giving me better than 20/20 vision - bye bye glasses!
  
• Did some big renovations to our house (this is still an ongoing project though)
  
• Survived a nasty car accident with everything but my nerves (and the car) in tact.
  
• Got offered a fantastic new job, and quit my old one!

There havent been any enormous fitness achievements this year, but I have at least maintained my fitness levels.

2008 is going to be a big one. I start my new job in just over a week, and while I'm really looking forward to it, I'm really nervous as well.

We also will probably organise a wedding at some point (but after 8 years, really, whats the hurry?!!) and also get the renovations finished.

Fitness wise my goal is to gain more muscle, and lose 5kgs of fat. I still havent got Maggie's body yet - so watch this space!!

I hope everyone has a fabulous New Years tonight! We are going to a friends house for a party, but the weather in Brissie right now is not really conducive to a great New Years, its been cool and rainy with gale-force winds for the last few days. They're even talking about cancelling the fireworks in the city.

Anyway, I hope that whatever you get up to that its a great night. See you all in 2008!

So thats it for another year...

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!

Early yesterday morning we exchanged a few little gifts, and most importantly gave the dogs and cat their pressies. Shavez was sooo funny, his stocking had a sqeaky ball in it - he just LOVES this ball - he takes it with him everywhere and will not let it out of his sight! He's like a little kid with his dolly. It looks so funny to have this great big dog carrying a little ball everywhere. Even when he's sleeping he has to have the ball resting beside his face LOL...

We then went for breakfast with OH's family, where we did had a lovely BBQ breakfast out on the deck. Then the kids hit the pool, and OH chased them around and squirted them with water pistols - he is just like a big kid himself really.

We then headed home at lunchtime and my parents came around. I enjoyed a glass or two of bubbles, and then all of OH's family arrived for a dinner time BBQ.

Santa was good to me this year - OH got me a Polar F11 heart rate monitor...

I got the blue one, and I cant wait to start using it! I've been playing with it this morning, and I'm amazed with all the features its got. Its much puuurtier than my old black Polar, which has copped an absolute hiding over the years. I think I will be doing well to use even half of the features on this new one though - but its just so lovely!

OH's family also lashed out and got me some diamond cluster earrings... real diamonds too so I was most impressed! Musta been a good girl in my past life!

I'm having a week off weight training this week, so it will be good to get back into it. It will be good when the gym is back to normal hours too! So the dogs will be getting lots of walkies this week, and I may go for a few jogs too. Only two more weeks of being a lady of leisure - I cant believe how quickly 5 weeks has gone already! Actually I'm really looking forward to starting my new job, it will be good to have something to sink my teeth into.

Anyway, I hope you are all enjoying some relax time at the moment, I'm off to read some blogs!

Happy Birthday S ! .....

Its OH's birthday today - happy birthday baby! For one month of the year we are the same age, and doesn't he just LOVE to rub it in that I'm 11 months older!

I'm in a great mood today - I did an awesome step class this morning, I really dont know where I got all my energy from! I always leave a little in reserve for the last track (the one before the legs and stretching) - I love the last track! Left the gym with a bright red face, came home and walked the dogs. I wasnt going to walk them though - they've been naughty and I was going to skip it. Went outside this morning and found a dead possum on the deck again... poor possum. We never know which dog actually committed the crime, so they always both get in trouble.

Anyway, took them for a shorter walk than normal, but they really were a handful this morning and hard to control. Then they both decided to take a poop at the same time - try picking up two lots of doggie doo in a plastic bag when they're both being difficult, circling your legs and whining to get going again - not happy!!!

Then I came home, showered and took my measurements and skinfolds - and they have gone down!! Woohoo! So happy with that!

So I'd best avoid the scales tomorrow anyway, after Beef Wellingtons and Caramel Mud Cake tonight for OH's birthday :-)

You may find this hard to believe but...

... I'm getting bored at home!

Yep, being a lady of leisure ain't all its cracked up to be!!! It is very strange having no proper routine. The only thing I do with any regularity is go to gym every morning. Then if I'm in the mood I walk the dogs, shower, sit down in front of the computer and play on the internet until about 9am. I have this rule that I dont start doing any physical "work" until after 9am.

My other rule is that I dont switch on the TV until its time to watch 'Antiques Roadshow' (5pm) - I've become addicted to that show... sad arent I??

I've done most of my Christmas shopping, I've weeded the garden, I've painted all I can until the plasterer finishes doing his stuff, I've cleaned (actually I could prolly do with cleaning a whole lot more, but that just isn't fun) and I've visited friends, cuddled babies etc... I'm now resorting to doing crosswords to try and keep my mind active!!

Its funny somedays, I soooo look forward to OH coming home from work so that I get a bit of human conversation!! I mean, I talk to the dogs and cat a lot, but they dont tend to talk back LOL.

Anyway, I went out for a Christmas get-together last night and I was very good - only had one glass of wine very early on. I didnt even eat very much (mostly because it was horrible) so I dont think I did too much damage last night. I was very tired getting up for gym this morning, and it showed in my lack of strength. I didn't make the same reps today that I did last week, and left gym with jelly triceps!

Its OH's 32nd birthday on Friday (he's finally catching up with me!) so I've got to go get myself organised to cook Beef Wellingtons for 7 people - I'm not sure if my oven is big enough! Wish me luck!

Its a Wonderful Life

Its a Wonderful Life is my favourite Christmas Movie of all time. I'm not really sure why - maybe its because I love Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, maybe its the stilted 1940's acting, maybe its the fact that it makes me cry every time I watch it... but what a lovely lovely movie. It really does make you stop and think about how good your own life is, and what impact you have on other people's lives. I watched this movie on Monday after I had my wisdom teeth out, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

I am a bit of a wreck at the moment after my efforts on Wednesday! Not only am I black and blue from bruises, but my upper body is sooo sore too. From pull-starting the mower a million times (from when it kept stalling) I have the sorest shoulders. Chest is still sore too from weights this week. I'm finding it difficult to do things like pulling t-shirts on and off, and doing a bra up is a bit of a challenge!

Yesterday I did my usual step class, and I was knackered!! Another girl and I were agreeing that this latest release of Body Step seems to be a LOT harder than previous releases...

This morning I took the dogs for a walk, and then today I'm going to clean windows... gee I get all the fun jobs dont I???

Have a great weekend everyone.

Bull in a china shop

One thing mum always used to shout at me (apart from “Clean your room” and “For God’s sake, stop tap-dancing down the supermarket aisles!!”) was

“Christ Hilary you’re like a bull in a china shop!!!!”

I was always crashing through the world at top-speed, always in a hurry, slamming doors, bumping into things, breaking stuff. We used to live in a two storey house on stilts, looked like a little Swiss chalet, and she used to reckon me running down the stairs made the whole house shake…

I got better as I got older. But yesterday I had a bit of a day like those old days. For some reason I was in a hurry to do everything. I had a list of things to do yesterday, and there was no stopping me!

So my to-do list went something like this:

Go to gym
Do groceries
Post Christmas Cards
Paint upstairs hallway ceiling
Paint downstairs bedroom ceiling
Mow all lawns

It started to go wrong when I went to post the Christmas cards, I got stuck halfway across an intersection when I got stuck at a red light. Couldn’t go forward or back. A pedestrian abused me for being halfway across the pedestrian crossing – now that just put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

So I came home and painted. Forgot that when you roll on ceilings that the paint doesn’t just splatter straight down onto the drop sheet – it flies out in all directions. Consequently got paint everywhere and had to keep stopping to clean it up.

Cooked stir fry for lunch, dropped food on floor from rushing…

Cut my toe on a floor tile, just from walking past it.

Got a huge glob of paint in my left eye. I mean it dropped straight into my eyeball, and OMG that sucker stung!! Spent the next ten minutes rinsing my eye in water and searching for eye drops, which we don’t seem to have anymore since I had my eye operations!

Noticed it looked like it was going to rain, so ditched the painting halfway through to go mow… it took me about 2 hours because the mower kept stalling because the grass was too thick. I bumped my leg on the mower and have ended up with a massive bruise on my thigh.

And finally when I went to close a sliding screen door last night I managed to bang myself in the forehead with it – hard. I have a big egg over my left eyebrow now.

So I think that qualifies as a bull in a china shop kinda day! Mum would be shaking her head right now!!

Double Ouch

I had my other two wisdom teeth out this morning, so now the entire right side of my face is a bit screwed up. Because both upper and lower were removed this time, we had twice the number of needles didn't we? So I think my face is twice as numb as last time. This time my chin is now frozen in one spot - all the way to the top of my ear - yeah, double ouch is right.

On the aftercare information sheet they give you (just before you pay them the arm and a leg that you now owe) it says "Absolutely no smoking for at least 48 hours - and no alcohol for 2 weeks" !!! I had to read it twice! And then I spluttered!! "Wha....??" I'm now reduced to grunting and pointing because my lips, chin and tongue are frozen in the one spot...

"Wha???? No alcohol for two weeks??" This is barely deciperable from me, but the dentist figures out what I'm saying. "Oh people always freak out about THAT!!" he laughs. "Dont worry about that - but no alcohol for at least 48 hours though - ok?"

Phew - I can relax knowing that my Friday night glass of wine is still on the cards.

Still, it was a much better experience this time, no stitches for one. AND it was cheaper than the quote. Gotta be happy with that.

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We did some tiling in the entry/lounge area on Saturday, and its looking pretty good. Its amazing how doing one area can make you feel like you are so much closer to the end. It still needs to be grouted of course.

This morning I did my regular Monday morning cycle class, followed by walking the dogs. I'm now going to put my feet up for the rest of the day (dentists orders - honest!), wait for the feeling to return to my face, and eat soft and squishy food.

Look what I'm getting...

Last week I used some credit card reward points to order a Navman S30, which is an entry level GPS. Dont you just love shiny new gadgets? When I start my new job I'm going to be driving around a fair bit, so this will be a fairly important tool for me, so I dont get lost. I'm hoping to have it before Christmas, I cant wait!

I also ordered a couple of singlets from Lean Ladies so I'll be on the lookout for the postman in the next few weeks! I have recently discovered that a new Lorna Jane has opened up at my local shopping centre. So far I have managed to stay away, but its calling me.

I've been training hard and eating clean this week, but I'm still feeling bloated and I cant seem to shake it. Maybe I will cut out my morning coffee and see if that helps.

I have done nothing but paint this week, and I'm over it. This week was the first time I had ever painted a ceiling, and I can tell you - it aint fun. Its all very well having a drop sheet on the floor, but it doesn't stop the paint from splattering on your face, in your eyes, on your hair. It certainly doesn't pay to roll on ceiling paint with your mouth open either.

Its been stinking hot here this week, which hasn't helped. I have ended up with a bit of a crook neck from craning my head back all day, and man did my shoulders get a good build up of lactic acid this week! The worst of it is that I have only done two ceilings - many more to go! At lunchtime yesterday I gave up and went back to painting walls instead.

Today I'm having a bludge day. Well actually I just refuse to paint today. Maybe I'll do some more weeding, or I might just go check out Lorna Jane!!