I had actually planned to work from home today anyway before all the snow hit as I had a boring set of documents to wade through so it fell quite nicely for me today.
But, it is still a Tuesday so that means personal training at 7am. And it was very very snowy. We were both up and out at 6.30am to see whether our respective cars would move having left them at the bottom of the village on the flat(ish) bit. They would, although somewhat slippily. So I found myself quite strangely sitting outside the studio at 6.45am waiting for my trainer to arrive (he, of course, jogged in!!). It was a great start to the day and I have been really productive since. Sitting in my warm kitchen with my happy doggies typing away and smirking at the snow falling through the window.
Rich was sent home at lunchtime so he's been watching rubbish on the telly and begging cups of tea (lazy beast) but we snuck out for a snowy walk before it got dark so it has not been a totally interior day. It is STUNNING out there. I wish I could show you how pretty but my camera situation is still rubbish. Chargers have, erm, gone "missing" in a very irritating fashion so I have to buy new ones. I feel as though an important bit of me has been amputated when I'm walking without a camera... oh well, I'll get it sorted along with the 300 other things...
I have no idea what tomorrow will bring work and travel wise. Hopefully I will be able to get to a train and get to work. More importantly though I hope we can get into Sheffield in the evening as we have tickets to see the mighty Madness in the O2 tomorrow night!! Really looking forward to it and hope the weather doesn't put a downer on it. Fingers crossed.
My evening with a friend and Rich's Golf Club committee meeting (yawn....) have both been cancelled for weather-related reasons so we have a nice unexpected night in to look forward to. Lamb curry methinks and maybe some baking....mince pies anyone??
Hope you're all enjoying and not being beaten by the snow. xxx
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Sunday, 28 November 2010
I Heart Broadband
Now we have broadband I can blog on sucessive days. Ok, I have very little to say but it's a point of principle!
It has been a beautiful sunny and freezing snowy weekend. We were at the Golf Club Presentation dinner last night which was a riot. We couldn't debut our quickstep or waltz due to lack of appropriate music but we did manage a rather drunken cha cha cha!! Don't think we would have troubled the judges with it but we enjoyed ourselves.
It was a very late night not helped by much wine and, bizarrely, Jaegermeister. I know I know - I'm far too old to be supping Jaegermeister and redbull but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
So, not feeling in best order today. I took the dogs out for a beautiful frosty walk first thing this, erm.....afternoon.... and since then we've been holed up on the sofa watching the golf, the cricket highlights, the football and now Strictly recorded from last night. A lovely way to spend the day.
I am going out this evening to the pub quiz so it won't be a totally sedentary day. We have a distant away fixture so it'll be a long night. Hope the roads aren't too icy. It was minus 11 last night!!
Hope you've all had a lovely weekend too.
It has been a beautiful sunny and freezing snowy weekend. We were at the Golf Club Presentation dinner last night which was a riot. We couldn't debut our quickstep or waltz due to lack of appropriate music but we did manage a rather drunken cha cha cha!! Don't think we would have troubled the judges with it but we enjoyed ourselves.
It was a very late night not helped by much wine and, bizarrely, Jaegermeister. I know I know - I'm far too old to be supping Jaegermeister and redbull but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
So, not feeling in best order today. I took the dogs out for a beautiful frosty walk first thing this, erm.....afternoon.... and since then we've been holed up on the sofa watching the golf, the cricket highlights, the football and now Strictly recorded from last night. A lovely way to spend the day.
I am going out this evening to the pub quiz so it won't be a totally sedentary day. We have a distant away fixture so it'll be a long night. Hope the roads aren't too icy. It was minus 11 last night!!
Hope you've all had a lovely weekend too.
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Birthday weekend
It was my birthday last Friday and I had a lovely day and weekend following. We both took the day off and pottled round doing nice touristy things on a pretty,wintry day. We went away for a night in a hotel and for a smart meal and it was romantic and lovely. Nice to have a bit of luxury for a change. It was also nice to receive loads of cards and a fair few pressies to open on the morning - I felt like a kid again. So, thanks to those of you who sent me a card - they were much appreciated.
Saturday was NOT luxurious! It was back to business as usual. Rich tells me that it is a tradition to go to the Sheffield Wednesday away game nearest to your birthday so we went down to Milton Keynes! I have been to MK before but am not, I'm afraid, impressed. I find it very soulless, something about all the roundabouts and the houses and businesses being hidden away in their little grids.
The MK Dons stadium was also pretty soulless, new and with the appearance of being half-finished. It was conveniently situated next to a giant Asda but miles away from any pubs or hint of an atmosphere. It was also, as are all these new stadiums, flipping freezing. Our feet were like blocks of ice until our third goal went in. At that point, we had been bouncing up and down so hard that we must have de-frosted!
So, Sheffield Wednesday came through for my birthday with a cracking 1-4 away win. We've now had 6 wins out of 6 which is pretty amazing. Not only that but a mega-rich Serbian (Milan Mandaric) has bought the club and saved it from the threat of administration. This is huge! We might be able to press on now and not be the useless bunch of no-hopers that I've been watching for the last z13 or so years!! Wish me luck.
Work is busy too. I have managed to save my skin in the this first round of job cuts as the only solicitor in the team. It was touch and go for a while as they could have decided that they didn't need a solicitor and saved my salary for 2 other members of staff but I am so busy now that they saw sense and kept me on!!! It is a horrible time though with nearly everyone else in the team having to apply for their own jobs and with at least 5 compulsory redundancies out of a team of 22 (reduced from 28 with all the voluntaries and early retirements we've had recently). It's a bloodbath and very sad. It also means that the atmosphere is pretty poisonous at time.
As the only person who is safe, I am trying to keep my mouth shut and my head down but not always easy.
In the midst of this, I'm trying to keep up the exercise and not eat for comfort and it is generally working. I'm hovering at the top end of my comfort zone so watching myself like a hawk. I've noticed that autumn/winter tendency to want sandwiches instead of sushi/salad and biscuits instead of fruit. Understandable but something to guard against.
Anyway, got to dash - we're going to the golf club Christmas dinner dance tonight. I'm looking forward to dressing up and having a dance. Who knows, we may debut our waltz or quickstep if we feel brave enough?! I'm not looking forward to the snowy freezing walk home though. I hope we can scab a lift....
Have a great weekend everyone and stay strong through this most difficult of seasons for dieters everywhere!
Saturday was NOT luxurious! It was back to business as usual. Rich tells me that it is a tradition to go to the Sheffield Wednesday away game nearest to your birthday so we went down to Milton Keynes! I have been to MK before but am not, I'm afraid, impressed. I find it very soulless, something about all the roundabouts and the houses and businesses being hidden away in their little grids.
The MK Dons stadium was also pretty soulless, new and with the appearance of being half-finished. It was conveniently situated next to a giant Asda but miles away from any pubs or hint of an atmosphere. It was also, as are all these new stadiums, flipping freezing. Our feet were like blocks of ice until our third goal went in. At that point, we had been bouncing up and down so hard that we must have de-frosted!
So, Sheffield Wednesday came through for my birthday with a cracking 1-4 away win. We've now had 6 wins out of 6 which is pretty amazing. Not only that but a mega-rich Serbian (Milan Mandaric) has bought the club and saved it from the threat of administration. This is huge! We might be able to press on now and not be the useless bunch of no-hopers that I've been watching for the last z13 or so years!! Wish me luck.
Work is busy too. I have managed to save my skin in the this first round of job cuts as the only solicitor in the team. It was touch and go for a while as they could have decided that they didn't need a solicitor and saved my salary for 2 other members of staff but I am so busy now that they saw sense and kept me on!!! It is a horrible time though with nearly everyone else in the team having to apply for their own jobs and with at least 5 compulsory redundancies out of a team of 22 (reduced from 28 with all the voluntaries and early retirements we've had recently). It's a bloodbath and very sad. It also means that the atmosphere is pretty poisonous at time.
As the only person who is safe, I am trying to keep my mouth shut and my head down but not always easy.
In the midst of this, I'm trying to keep up the exercise and not eat for comfort and it is generally working. I'm hovering at the top end of my comfort zone so watching myself like a hawk. I've noticed that autumn/winter tendency to want sandwiches instead of sushi/salad and biscuits instead of fruit. Understandable but something to guard against.
Anyway, got to dash - we're going to the golf club Christmas dinner dance tonight. I'm looking forward to dressing up and having a dance. Who knows, we may debut our waltz or quickstep if we feel brave enough?! I'm not looking forward to the snowy freezing walk home though. I hope we can scab a lift....
Have a great weekend everyone and stay strong through this most difficult of seasons for dieters everywhere!
Friday, 19 November 2010
Food and Exercise
Generally speaking I seem to have moved away from the original reason for starting this blog back in 2007 which was to document losing weight and then keeping it off. I suppose it's natural as, when your weight is pretty static, it's hard to find new things to say about it and other things are happening in my life which are much more momentous. But, when I reflect, being able to keep a stable weight, albeit one which is 20lbs or so heavier than I would ideally like, is pretty momentous for me! I have never previously been able to do this.
My weight has always fluctuated daily and weekly and any loss of control or concentration or period of depression or happiness would result in a gain which would then, eventually, have to be followed by a slow tortuous period of dieting and strict exercising as I gradually clawed the extra lbs off.
Since I lost that stone and a bit in the early spring, I have managed to stay within 3 or 4 lbs of that weight (between 13 stone 7 and 13 stone 11), that's 7 months now! But I'm not consciously dieting. I try and have a healthy-ish routine 4 or 5 days each week consisting of cereals/yoghurt/fruit or toast for breakfast; sandwich or sushi with fruit and a couple of biscuits for lunch and a cooked supper but I also have a cappucino most days, drink wine or a couple of beers 2 or 3 evenings a week and occasionally pick at the snack table during the day. At weekends, I have cooked brekkies, bigger meals and sometimes drink more (although don't always). It feels as though I'm eating more but I suspect I'm not. I don't guzzle or have seconds very often, I plate up slightly smaller meals with larger because that is all I want and I seldom buy treats. I tend to make biscuits or cakes when I have some spare time and we share them over the course of a week rather than furtively buying a packet of biscuits and eating them by myself in one sitting.
If I feel a bit podgy through time of the month or because I'm at the upper end of my scale I find I naturally want to cut back and make sure that I do my exercise a little more rigorously and then my weight relaxes back down over the next week or so.
It feels very easy and natural at the moment although I'm trying to stay vigilant as I'm conscious that easy and natural can lead to slovenly and slack....
On the exercise front, I still go to training twice a week although I suspect that I'll have to cut back on that for financial reasons. I have been running a little, going to the gym once in a while, swimming a lot and going for a few strenuous walks at weekends. Ballroom dancing is getting tougher too now that we can actually do the steps. So, all in all, for now I'm happy with this balance. I would like eventually to drop another dress size so maybe next year I'll work on that. Richard says I'm perfect just as I am but I suspect he'll still fancy me as a 12/14 rather than a 14/16 as long as I've still got those curves...
My weight has always fluctuated daily and weekly and any loss of control or concentration or period of depression or happiness would result in a gain which would then, eventually, have to be followed by a slow tortuous period of dieting and strict exercising as I gradually clawed the extra lbs off.
Since I lost that stone and a bit in the early spring, I have managed to stay within 3 or 4 lbs of that weight (between 13 stone 7 and 13 stone 11), that's 7 months now! But I'm not consciously dieting. I try and have a healthy-ish routine 4 or 5 days each week consisting of cereals/yoghurt/fruit or toast for breakfast; sandwich or sushi with fruit and a couple of biscuits for lunch and a cooked supper but I also have a cappucino most days, drink wine or a couple of beers 2 or 3 evenings a week and occasionally pick at the snack table during the day. At weekends, I have cooked brekkies, bigger meals and sometimes drink more (although don't always). It feels as though I'm eating more but I suspect I'm not. I don't guzzle or have seconds very often, I plate up slightly smaller meals with larger because that is all I want and I seldom buy treats. I tend to make biscuits or cakes when I have some spare time and we share them over the course of a week rather than furtively buying a packet of biscuits and eating them by myself in one sitting.
If I feel a bit podgy through time of the month or because I'm at the upper end of my scale I find I naturally want to cut back and make sure that I do my exercise a little more rigorously and then my weight relaxes back down over the next week or so.
It feels very easy and natural at the moment although I'm trying to stay vigilant as I'm conscious that easy and natural can lead to slovenly and slack....
On the exercise front, I still go to training twice a week although I suspect that I'll have to cut back on that for financial reasons. I have been running a little, going to the gym once in a while, swimming a lot and going for a few strenuous walks at weekends. Ballroom dancing is getting tougher too now that we can actually do the steps. So, all in all, for now I'm happy with this balance. I would like eventually to drop another dress size so maybe next year I'll work on that. Richard says I'm perfect just as I am but I suspect he'll still fancy me as a 12/14 rather than a 14/16 as long as I've still got those curves...
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