Realistic

Sat on the bus as I begin to write this post (18.42pm). You would not believe the week I've had, and it is going to continue into next week. Right now I just want to savour the weekend and get my car fixed and then wish it was Thursday lol. Actually better still, wish it was the following weekend and get to catch up with Oli.

Tuesday I did my usual morning routine to jump into my car. It wouldn't go. I have spent the week catching the bus and then walking the rest of the way to work. But on the walk to the bus today I stopped and took a couple of photos which was quite neat.



I haven't had a weekly bus ticket since I finished college back in summer 2002! Still, I get to rise early on my weekend to try and jump start my car and get it down to Discount Tyres to buy a new battery. As my dad pointed out: it's the same battery I've had since I had the car and it's the summer. I need a new one. Getting up earlier was a bit of a nightmare, and just 4 days of it and I am exhausted. Tonight I didn't get home until 7.10pm and I couldn't be bothered to cook anything and I was tired by the time I got home. Heck it's taken me almost 4 hours to write this post alone!



And what do you think of the cool print we have up in our living room now...? :D



Anyway, I am off to bed because it's really late and I am beyond exhausted!

Goals

I am actually quite shocked myself to be honest, I have not been counting the calories for weeks now, it's been and going to be some time before I get to go swimming again. I've been snacking on the usual crap (I've been super busy at work lately though it shouldn't be an excuse, I know) just on Monday we had no food in the house and shopping want being delivered until 8pm and I was hungry. I happened to find a bag of Doritos in the cupboard and that was my tea. Then the shopping arrived and I had hot buttered crumpets! I really didn't want to weigh myself as I have not been feeling great on the meds I have been given after my hospital appointment & *ahem* my "lady" issues too. But I knew I had to face it and come to terms with my slight hiccup of a 1 pound gain.

I was prepared to chastise myself for giving up once again and wondering why I keep doing it to myself.
The truth was that I had actually lost two pound! Say what? There has got to be some mistake, surely? Hey, not that I am complaining mind you! I thought I was stuck at 9 stone (126lb) and was never to break through! I am now 124 (8st 12!) woo-hoo!
I've come so far and I will inevitably put weight on when I get to America and my goal is still achievable. I can still do this! I have but 4 pound left to lose unto I reach my first goal weight. Yes I'd love to get down to about 8st. Sure the old muffin top is still there, but it's a work in progress, and I wore a dress on Monday and I felt positively fabulous in it. Sometimes it's just nice to dress up and it's easy to lose that, especially for me as I very very rarely get to dress nicely.



It's also been a time for a bit of reflection for me as the August bank holiday approaches, autumn is right around the corner (a season I've not been a fan of until the last year or two!) and back to school shopping is in full swing (hmm, note to self: I need new trousers for work) and some changes are in order around this place. Starting with an "autumn deep clean" around the flat for sure this bank holiday and some quality husband time as I've been retreating and hiding myself away after work because I've wanted a bit of an escape, and he's been so understanding of it and hasn't complained though I'm sure he wants to lol. I do feel like I'm constantly battling with myself over things, and it's time I overcome them and be the better person I strive to be. Only I can make the changes and I have to stand up and finally do them, and I shall start by cleaning the bathroom and sorting the bedroom out this weekend! The bigger projects (the kitchen and lounge!) will be on my list for the next few weekends after that, not to mention keeping my fingers crossed for some dry weather to get cracking on the garden!

Glad it's over!

The whole experience at hospital itself wasn't that bad, thanks to the drugs that's for sure. I wasn't quite away with the fairies as my UC buddies suggested, but I was woozy and it made the whole thing a little more... manageable.

No, what got me was the whole "prep" thing. I was sent a big bag of medicines by the hospital to take the day prior to my appointment, and oh my gosh. It was horrific. The medicine I hated the most out of all of it, moviprep, was a lemon and salt flavour powder that I had to mix with a litre of water and drink over an hour. On Sunday it took me well over 2 hours to drink it, but I somehow managed to chug it down. Monday morning at 6am I had to drink a further 1 litre over an hour. With 10 mins left on the clock, I barely drank a quarter of it when I just couldn't physically drink anymore. My body was literally rebelling against me. "Just one more sip" I thought... I sipped... and I threw it ALL back up again.

It was a hard decision to not go swimming on Sunday morning, but at 10am I had to take  tablets and wash it down with 2 litres of water (and after that much water, swimming was just not happening!), and I had to explain to my 3 year old nephew that I wasn't swimming as I had lots of medicines to take that day and drink a lot of water too. Then come lunch time as everyone tucked into their Sunday roasts... I had a small bowl of vanilla icecream, as no solid food was permitted, but some vanilla icecream was permitted. To be fair, I'm glad I had it because no food that day was HARD. By Monday morning I was just feeling terrible from the lack of food, not to mention I had hardly slept at all the entire night either.

I thought that I would have been positively ravenous afterwards but I really wasn't. I happily ate the fruit shortbread biscuits and hot chocolate, but for the rest of the day I couldn't manage a lot of food. Only today am I getting my appetite back, but I'm still not eating tea at night.

I also got rather excited when a friend of mine (a fellow UK Scrapper) posted for help on her Wordpress site, and I absolutely jumped at the chance! I hadn't designed anything in aaaaaaaages. So I did this design for her :) Check out her site: Foxys Fancies.

On to the Disney Prep!

It was nice to get back in to swimming on Sunday :) I swam around with Elijah as he sat in his little rubber ring. I love this time we have on a Sunday in the pool and am tempted to get a waterproof case for the old cybershot because if it leaks, well the old gal had a good run & we have Gareth's camera now anyway ;) I think that shall be another thing to add to my wunderlist. Then I can have some pretty shots and video for Oliver and Elijah to look over when they get older, and think that I'm the cool aunt for documenting such things :D And the case would come in handy for the trip (I shall be taking!) to the water parks. If only I can persuade Gareth on the day to go on crush'n'gusher with me!

On the positive side I shall be doing some more Disney planning with Gareth this weekend as we shall be home pretty much all the time. We will be doing the odd little bits like our ESTAs and APIs, looking at our itinery which still needs more work. Gareth is super upset that one of the tasters at the food and wine festival (the rib dish at France) is not on the menu! I have to admit I am quite sad too because it was gorgeous! It was a rib dish encased in mashed potato with red wine gravy. We had already said one day at Epcot we would have lunch in World Showcase and eat 2 or 3 of those dishes each! LOL


We shall be bringing home american food for sure! We already plan on bringing an extra suitcase home ;) Gareth treated me to some froot loops for breakfast on Sunday and they were goooooood

Allergies strike again!

Gareth often jokes that I should stop falling apart. I hope you forgive my lack of blogging for the last few days but I am suffering a little because of my UC, I feel like I could sleep for a week, and so I decided to relax on the sofa and catch up on The Glee Project and Tia and Tamera (love those shows!) and try out my Red Leaf bath goodies which arrived! I was so excited! They are gorgeous!


I also had a tickle in my throat for the last month keeping me up at night and so I've not slept through the night until Thursday night. It seems my wonderful allergies (my perennial rhinitis) struck again and I'm back on the steroids, but in nasal spray form to get to the back of my throat to help with the irritation. I feel exhausted and my illnesses are starting to bring me down right now. My nan cheered me up with an old photo of myself from 1983. I wasn't nicknamed punk rocker for nothing. I adore old photos!


I sadly don't get to have a nice weekend this weekend though, however I will not get into that, it's purely for my hospital appointment and it includes fasting and lots of icky medicine and I shall say no more. I am however looking forward to Monday afternoon next week where I will get to sleep and have a perfect excuse for lazing on the sofa with my husband taking care of me as I shall have been sedated, and will not remember much and will be forbidden from everything that requires brain power and concentration from driving to cooking.

Did I mention I cannot wait for my holiday? I am looking forward to having a bit of fun and forgetting the stresses of home! It's coming around fast and I am so excited! But still so much stuff to do!