Goals

A Worthwhile Week

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Crafts Completed

So I finally managed to complete some of the crafts that I started and I am fairly pleased with them. I have really enjoyed making some Christmassy things. I’ve done some sewing and also some Christmas decorations on slices of wood. I think that they look okay. I’m thinking of putting them on a Facebook page and trying to sell some of them, or even making them to order. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

A Day At The Races

On Saturday I spent a great day at York races with a group of lovely ladies, to celebrate my friend’s 50th birthday. It was a nice sunny day, which meant that we could sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. Catching up with people that I used to work with and haven’t seen for quite a while was great. I had a few glasses of Pimms and lemonade and bet on a few of the races. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, so I did what most people do and picked either a name of a horse that I liked, or the colours of the jockey. Needless to say I didn’t come out on top. I managed to win a small amount of money back on the last day, but other than that I lost more than I won.

 

Practice 10k

On Friday my information arrived for The Abbey Dash. When I signed up for it, it seemed a long way away, but now it is only three weeks away! On Sunday I decided to bite the bullet and just have a go at running 10k. I managed to run most of it and it took me 1hour 33 minutes. At least I know that I can do it and make the finishing line. I am not so bothered about the time, but I’m not so worried about not finishing now. A bit more practice over the next couple of weeks and I’m optimistic that I should be able to complete the 10K in under 1 1/2 hours.

Bu the way my calves were really hurting today!

Treading Water

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Do you ever feel like you are treading water? Those times in your life when things are just kind of moving along, but you’re not really getting anywhere?

I seem to be at one of those points at the moment. The healthy eating has kind of come to a standstill and I’m reverting back to lots of old habits. A result of that is that the weight is slowly starting to creep back on.

I am still running and walking, but only once or twice a week rather than as regularly as I should be

There are lots of craft projects and things that need doing around the house, which I keep meaning to do, but don’t see to have got round to it.

There’s no reason really, so this week I’ve given myself a good talking to and am getting myself back on track. one of the main reasons for writing the blog in the first place was to make sure that I made every day count and that I would have something interesting to write about.

New Goals

So this week, I have some new goals to make sure that I pull up my socks and get things back on track.

I am going to book myself back into slimming world and tackle the weight that I have put back on and stop wasting time messing about losing the same bit of weight

I am going to finish at least one craft project this week and put a photograph on my blog (now I really have to do it!)

I am going to make sure that by the time I write my blog next week I will have run or walked on at least three

Inspiration

I saw this video on Facebook this weekend and I thought that it was very relevant, so I wanted to share it with you. Hopefully you will be able to see it if I’ve linked it properly

https://www.facebook.com/powerofpositivity/?ref=hovercard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First week back

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Sometimes the first week back after your holidays is really difficult. It can be hard to get motivated, you can feel a bit low, or have the holiday blues. Although I was jet lagged initially when I returned home, it has actually been a good week.

And the winner is

On Friday night I attended an awards ceremony at work as I had been nominated for an award. I’m not really an awards kind of person, as I become quite embarrassed and uncomfortable with being praised. This sound a bit weird, but I am quite happy going along doing what I do.

I did feel quite honoured and proud. The nomination was for my work with vulnerable victims. The evening was quite a splendid affair, with dinner and drinks. It reminded me of the BAFTAS or Oscars, where the nominations are shown on a video clip and then the winner is announced on the opening of an envelope.

I didn’t win the award, but it was lovely to be nominated and to hear positive stories about work, rather than the day to day moaning and griping about things, which I am as guilty of as anyone.

A sense of achievement

Yesterday two of my friends and I attended and took part in the Moonwalk in London, in aid of Breast Cancer Charities. My lovely friend has fought a very courageous and dignified battle with breast cancer and I was honoured when she asked me to take part in the walk.

So last Sunday we set about decorating our bras, as the idea is that you complete the walk in a bra. The decorating took most of Sunday, but our team was called “The blue light brigade”, so we decorated the bras in blue sequins, diamante, blue feathers and flashing blue lights.

The walk last night was amazing. the organisation was unbelievable and to see thousands of like minded people all walking together was inspirational. There were hundreds of volunteers who assisted by giving out water, serving food, selling merchandise, directing people, picking up litter and cheering the walkers along as they continued around the route.

The walk was 26 miles around London, through the night. It felt like a long way (well I guess it was!) and it was hard work on the feet, but we kept going. the weather was generally kind to us, being quite mild with only a few showers of rain.

We managed to complete the walk in 9 hours and 18 minutes, which was well within the target that we had set ourselves of between 8 and 10 hours.

It was quite emotional coming over the finishing line, both because of the reason we were there, but also because of the sense of pride in such a great achievement. After a short rest and a cup of tea, we got back on the tube to Kings Cross, then had something to eat before getting back on the train home. Needless to say we slept quite a bit on the train home, but we all arrived safely barring a few aches and pains and blisters. The really great thing is that we have raised over £1000 too, so thank you to all our friends and family who donated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally Fifty

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So the party was last week, but on Wednesday I finally turned fifty this week. I can’t say that I really feel any different. I don’t look any different. The world is still turning, so I survived pretty well. When I started my blog in January, being fifty in April still seemed a long tome away, but now its here and yes I am 50!

The first Quarter

I feel that I have achieved quite a lot in the first quarter of this year and feel proud of myself. According to my Strava I have walked a total of 183 miles so far. I think that’s pretty good. I have lost almost 2 stones (1 stone 12 1/2 lbs to be precise). I have taken part in several park runs, including one in London, where I turned up on my own to run, without knowing anyone at all. I have completed a training qualification. Most of all, I have managed to write a blog each Sunday and find something interesting to put in it. All in all a pretty good start to the year.

Easter Sunday

Toady was Easter day, which has always been an important day in our family. This year was a bit different, as my eldest daughter did not come home from university and my youngest had been out with friends and stayed over, so we did not see her until lunchtime.

My husband and I went to church. Part of me feels that this is something that I do out of habit these days. I have always gone to church and would have said that I have a strong faith. However these days I find myself questioning quite a lot of things that I have always believed (Maybe that’s a conversation for another day). However, today I enjoyed the service and also socialising with members of the congregation afterwards.

After church we had family at our house for Sunday lunch. This consisted of my mum and dad, in laws, a lovely lady from church who is a really good friend of the family and my sister in laws mum. When our youngest daughter came home for lunch it reduced our average age to about 70! After spending last weekend with all the young people, it was certainly different to have the older generation with us this weekend, but it was really lovely to sit and chat and for them to catch up with each other too.

Looking Forward

So what’s next? Well later this week my husband and I are setting off on holiday with friends. We are driving the Pacific Coast Road, starting in San Francisco and ending in San Diego. Like my party, it has been a long time in planning. As I write I haven’t started packing yet. I’ve bought a new suitcase and a pair of trousers, so tomorrow I definitely need to get organised and start sorting put some clothes and packing.

It is the longest time that we will have been away without our girls. It’s not like we are abandoning them, they are old enough to be left at home, but it will seem strange to have a long holiday without them.

My intention is to write a blog more often over the next couple of weeks, hopefully updating on our travels in California. Again I don’t know whether anyone will read it, but it will be a record for me of what we did each day, the sights that we have seen and any other interesting snippets along the way.

Shortly after I return I will then be taking part in the moonwalk in London, so sitting down on holiday for two weeks is not an option. I will definitely need to keep up walking some distances whilst I am away.

So hopefully I will write later in the week and let you know about my travels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Progress

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Worth the work

My husband has finished decorating our eldest daughter’s bedroom this week. The decorating didn’t take long, once we had sorted everything out and packed it all away. We bought a lovely sofa bed and some very minimal furniture just to finish it off. I decided not to put all her bits and bobs back out, but just a few selected items, to make it look like her space. It looks so much tidier and much more grown up than it did before.  She’s due home on Saturday, just overnight so I’m hoping that she really likes it.

Three Dresses Later

After much searching, I’ve finally found the perfect dress. It’s the third one I’ve bought. The other two were okay, but just not quite what I was looking for. However I’ve got this one now and it is everything I wanted. I also found a lovely pair of shoes in my daughter’s wardrobe, which she bought for prom. They’ve been boxed up ever since, but go really well with the dress, so I’ve decided to borrow them.

The other dresses will come in handy anyway as I’ve got my youngest daughters eighteenth birthday and my eldest daughters graduation, both in the same week in July, so will need something to wear for these.

Still going strong

I’m still managing to stay off the coffee, even though we are a couple of weeks in to Lent now. It’s really helping me to stay off the biscuits and cakes too, which can only be a good thing. I’ve managed to do plenty of walking this week and a couple of runs, so that’s helping me to stay on the straight and narrow. I walked nine miles with my friend this morning. This is as part of the training sessions for Walk the Walk (moonwalk) which is getting closer. We’ll have to do some longer walks as the weeks go on, but we are really pleased with our progress so far.

 

 

Smashed It!

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Pleased as Punch

My first “smashed it” day was on Tuesday, when I finally managed to reach the point where I have lost a stone! I am so pleased and it feels like a massive achievement. I know it’s taken about nine weeks, but it has definitely spurred me on to keep chipping away at that weight bit by bit.

The second “smashed it” moment came on Saturday morning at Parkrun. Again this has been slow progress over the last nine weeks, but I managed to get my time down to under 40 minutes (actually 36:51), which considering that when I started in January it was taking me 46 minutes, this is definitely a big hurdle that I have managed to finally leap and makes me feel that all the hard work has been worthwhile.

Proud as a Peacock

I had one of those moments on Wednesday when I remembered how wonderful it is when your children do something that just makes you so damn proud. I attended a BTech performing arts concert in which my youngest daughter took part. She had been talking about the fact that she was going to do a solo of some sort and by Sunday night, giving herself only three days to prepare, she finally decided what she was going to do. Sitting in the concert my husband and I were convinced that she would chicken out, but were also really nervous that if she did do it, it might not be the best performance we’d seen, considering the lack of rehearsal. Needless to say, her rendition of “Cabaret”, was superb. She has the knack of just being able to pull things off when she really needs to. This left me wondering why I ever doubted that she would, which is often the case with her.

Confusing Contradictions

This week was International Women’s Day, which saw a number of inspiring events, celebrating Women and their achievements. However there were some stories in the news that felt a bit of a contradiction to this.

One was the Bishop who stood down after attracting criticism for his opposition to women priests. I don’t agree that anyone should come under personal attack, but what other organisation would employ someone in such an important position, who automatically alienates a large part of their members.

The second was a female Judge who made comments regarding women who get drunk and are raped. I think as women we should certainly be aware of our own safety and should not take unnecessary risks, but to mention this as part of a trial and seeing the sentence that was handed out, makes me feel like we have stepped back in time to the days when victims were made to feel shame for being victims.

So ladies let’s keep celebrating our achievement, because although we’ve come a long way, we still have very far to go.