It's a first...well kind of...

I have always made no secret of the fact that I'm not into exercise. It's not that I'm lazy, I just find exercise boring...and I hate that sweaty feeling that you get when you've been working out. Well, that and the fact that I'm stuck in a cycle of fat because I don't exercise and difficult to exercise because I'm fat. Anyway recently I decided to get out of my funk, quit whining and do something about my ever decreasing fitness levels.

Since getting sick in December I've lost 25 pounds, most of it through sickness originally, but then as my appetite came back i had to fight really hard to keep it off - before going for even more weight loss. 2 months later and I've lost 25 pounds now, so today I thought it was time that I embarked on an exercise plan. So, when I got home from work I went into the garage and dusted off my treadmill.

I'll be honest, my efforts were pathetic by most people's standards. But I did way better than I expected as I managed 15 minutes at a fair pace.  So this evening I'm pleased because I'm seeing some pretty good results from my lifestyle changes now. My weight is down, my fitness is better, I'm sleeping better and my blood pressure is lower (though it was also within normal limits before too...surprisingly!).

I've also been trying to work exercise into my daily life by doing more housework. I'm loving having a cleaner more organised house, and I get the benefit of FREE exercise too.

For those of you who are busy people, how do you squeeze in a little extra activity? I'm not necessarily looking for organised activities like the gym and classes, but ways to just generally be more active. There must be other improvements I can make.

Must dash, dinner is about to burn!

Stuffed mushrooms are my new best friend!

I wanted to do something a little different today and so I thought I'd share one of my favourite recipes with you. I love stuffed mushrooms, and this particular filling is tasty and easy. It's a great one for kids to help out with too.

I'm posting this because I've had a lot of emails this week about my weight loss and people asking what kind of diet foods I eat.  The answer is I don't eat diet foods, I eat REAL food...normal food. It's just that I'm eating less of that...and more of the low energy density stuff...like fruit and veggies.

These ingredients fill 4 medium mushrooms.

Ingredients
20g fresh chopped parsley
50g pine nut kernals
25g fresh parmesan cheese shavings
50-100g soft goats cheese (depending on how you like it)
4tsp fresh breadcrumbs
4 field mushrooms or 2 large Portabello mushrooms
1 clove of garlic

This is the best kind of goats cheese to get as it keeps it's shape well and doesn't run all over the oven tray

Instructions

Dry fry the pine nut kernels

Remove the stalks from the mushrooms, put them (top side up) on an oven tray, prick with a skewer (or something sharp) and spray with olive oil. Put in the oven at 200 deg C for 5 minutes, then drain water from the tray, turn the mushrooms over and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the fresh parsley, garlic clove, Parmesan cheese and pine nut kernels to a food processor and blend until it looks "crumbly"

Once the mushrooms are cooked, divide the pesto between the mushrooms, top with the goats cheese and sprinkle 1tsp of breadcrumbs over each mushroom. Cook in the oven until browned on top and the cheese has melted a little.

I serve this with a side salad made from rocket, cucumber, vine ripened cherry tomatoes and grated carrot. Gotta have that grated carrot if you want to see in the dark :)

 If you try it, let me know what you think!

A twist
Sometimes I save 1tsp of the pesto and the stalks from the mushrooms and fry it (with a spray of olive oil) 2 spring onions, 1tsp of pine nut kernels and a tiny bit of garlic. I then serve this on the side.

Time for a quick update...

Hi folks, I just wanted to share a quick update because I've had a few emails asking for a progress update LOL.

My goals for 2011 (click the link in my sidebar to find out what this is all about)
I've now lost 2.5 inches off my waist and 25 pounds. I'm feeling fitter and have a bit more energy now, so I'm really pleased with that progress.  In other news, I am still managing (just) to keep on top of my housework thanks to having a regular schedule. It takes me about half an hour a day and then a little longer at weekends...but I now have a house that looks more organised and feels more homely. Andy seems to be liking the new organisation too....and if you're reading this honey a little more help would be nice. Feel free to pick your chores from the list on the fridge :)

Health
My infection does seem to be clearing up with antibiotics this time...thus proving all of my doctors and the surgeons wrong. All of them said the antibiotics wouldn't work, because they NEVER work. So far I'm still proving them wrong :)

Work
I'm still working full time, still feeling under the weather but not bad enough to not be at work. That's good because I enjoy my job and miss it when I'm not here!

Family
My sister is now completely better, thanks to those who prayed for her a few weeks ago. She's back at work and sounds much better.

Hubby and I went to his works Burns Night supper on Friday. We stayed in a hotel in Sheffield (where he works) and had a great slap up dinner in the evening, followed by a Celidh and free bar. The night was a real bargain...half price executive room...only £5 each for a 4 course meal...free drinks all night.  What more could we ask for?

I don't drink so I just nursed my one diet coke for the evening but I think Andy was regretting the alcohol on Saturday morning. He was still over the limit when we woke up (and feeling dodgy) so we skipped breakfast and I had to drive his car home. Of course I got my own back when we got home by being as NOISY as possible. "Sorry dear what did you say?". "Oooooooh your head hurts because I'm vacuuming?". "Don't worry dear I'll be done after the other 10 rooms are done". LOL

I always try to get room pics BEFORE we trash the room but forgot this time. The pics doesn't show the ridiculously high ceiling. Gorgeous traditional styled room...with VERY creaky floorboards.

Ok that was the more upbeat post I was promising!

I have some news on the infection front...it isn't any worse today since yesterday (that I can tell) so hopefully the antibiotics might be working this time since I caught it early. I say *I* because the doctor was utterly useless and I basically had to diagnose myself and tell her what was wrong. Needless to say I won't be seeing her again if I can help it!

So...fingers crossed :)

It's back!

Ugh! Despite my best efforts to boost my immune system, the infection I had before is back. I don't believe it. I honestly don't believe it. I've had so many antibiotics over the last 6 weeks that how can I possibly have ANY more bacteria within a mile of my body. Seriously. How? I am so hoping that these antibiotics work because I seriously don't relish the thought of  more surgery. Hopefully it won't come to that, I guess I'm just pessimistic because antibiotics didn't work last time...and every doctor I've spoken to tells me they don't normally and the only answer is (usually) surgery.

So the plan now is take the antibiotics and - if they don't work - wait for the pain to get so bad that I'm screaming in agony and then go to A&E and be admitted to surgery. 

Ok sorry to sound so negative, I'll try and write a more upbeat post later. I just wanted to update you because some people had emailed me asking for an update.

A familiar enemy

I felt some familiar pain over night and have a sneaky suspicion that the problem I had before Christmas (the one that made me sick for sooooo long) is back. I'm at work (about to start the day job in 20 mins) and the pain is do-able for now but I'm going to ring the doctor today and see if I can get in to see the nice lady doctor I saw last time. Fingers crossed....

Please say a quick prayer for me because I really don't want a repeat experience of the whole drama that went on over Christmas.

If this IS back despite me doing just about everything I can to boost my immune system then I'll be quite upset. I might also need to take a step back from graphics and blogging (intensively) for a while so that I can recover properly. We'll see....I don't even know that it IS back yet. I'm just hoping not because the thought of surgery so soon after the last lot fills me with dread!

Tell us Tuesday

My bloggy friend Ashley at Everything happens for a reason has restarted her Tell Us Tuesday slot where she asks a different question each week. This weeks question is "What is 1 thing you could not living without, if you were stranded on a desert island, what is that item and why?"

Hmmmm...well assuming that I'm on my own and we're talking about an object I think it would have to be a photo album of my family and friends. Of course I'd have my memories but nothing beats a good photo of the people you love!

To join in with Tell Us Tuesday click the button.

Officially fit :)

Big news today, I was FINALLY officially signed back to work full time. No more half days...aka no more doing more work in less time! And less stress for me!

Phased returns to work are great if you're well supported but unfortunately sometimes people fail to understand the concept...meaning that you end up with the same amount of work as the rest of your team even though you're only there half the time. I now have a HUGE backlog to get through and looks like I'll be working from home some weekends to catch up...not good. Still it was a kind offer even though it didn't quite go as planned.

I've been suffering terrible insomnia over the last few weeks. I'm only getting max 3 hours a night and it's driving me nuts! Even with a good dose of Sominex (not taken EVERY night, just weekend to see if I can catch up on some sleep a little) - I still only get max 5 or 6 hours. Last night I finally dropped off after 3.30am...woke at 4.30am for the loo...was woken at 5.30am by Andy going to the loo and the alarm went off at 6.45am. It's insane! I feel all hyped up all the time like I'm on speed and I'm quite sure the cause is one of my new meds. I've had it before and I seem to remember it taking a couple of months to get used to it.

Well, must go catch up on some chores...have a nice evening people :)

Weight loss (or trying to) sucks

On the bright side...
 Today we went to Asda for groceries and as we were coming out of the store it was raining really heavy. We were parked at the furthest reaches of the car park and - not wanting to get wet - we sprinted to the far end of the car park and I was barely out of breath! Normally I'm a bit puffed out just pushing the trolley all the way down there. In fact I was beating Andy at one point! Now that's progress! 

The not so bright side...
The rational side of me understands that 2 weeks ago I can't really have lost 16 pounds of fat in a week, but the irrational side of me is feeling a bit cheesed off that I haven't lost any weight since. Of course the rational side of me also understands that because most of that 16 pounds was probably fluid, I have to lose nearly 16 pounds of fat before I can start registering a loss. But that doesn't mean I have to like it!

Last week I stuck to the healthy eating plan and gained a pound. This week I've stuck to it and (just over half way through the week) I still haven't lost any more weight. It's getting soul destroying now!

Feeling stressed

I'm not whinging honest, I just need to talk to my blog LOL.

I've been feeling so stressed over the last couple of days...at work and at home. At work I am doing more work (to clear the backlog from when I was off sick in Dec/Jan) in less time, since Occupation Health still don't think I'm fit enough to work full time. The trouble is that while I'm off work nobody is doing my work at work PLUS I'm still getting more work coming in while I'm not there. Phased returns to work are great if somebody is doing your work while your away - or even just stopping NEW work coming in - but that's not happening! I have to be reassessed on Monday and if Occupational Health still don't think I'm fit I'm going to tell that not to worry because I'll soon be off sick with a stress problem anyway. Sheesh, how can people expect you to do more work in less time? How can people expect you to meet the same deadlines as everyone else when you're working half as many hours? People just don't think! Grrrrr

At home I am fed up of doing everything and having hubby pull a face and have attitude when I ask him to do something. Today I have cleaned the upstairs bathroom, had a tidy up in every room of the house, changed the towels in the house, cleaned the kitchen (including cooker and microwave), emptied the dishwasher, made lunch and dinner, mopped the kitchen floor and hoovered and dusted the ground floor of the house - oh and taken the rubbish out. All I asked Andy to do was his regular chore (laundry), empty the dishwasher and mop the bathroom floor. I had attitude such that I felt like saying STUFF IT I'll do it on my own! He gets away with it in the week because I get home from work before him but at the weekend I think he should do his share!

And after all that I still have graphics to do - a HUGE pile of graphics which has been building up since I was sick in december.

Everything just seems to be building up today. And I am fed up of food preparation! It's ok trying to eat healthy but guess who ends up preparing it all?

End of rant. Feel free to vent yourself in the comments :)

What made me smile this week

I don't know about you but I am sooooo glad this week is over with! To say I've only worked 3.5 days it feels sooooo much longer LOL.

Onto other things...today I wanted to have a little change of direction. We all know January can be a little depressing - it's cold, dark, wet and we're all suffering post-Christmas fatigue. But today I wanted to concentrate on the things which have made me smile this week. Feel free to join in in the comments section if you have something to share.

5 things that made me smile this week:
1. Working with a really awesome team (on the day job). My team are (mostly) supportive, approachable, helpful and interested in me as a person. We're a pretty diverse team of 12 people based in the UK and US and I honestly could not hope or wish for a better team. I don't see everything with rose coloured glasses - for I know all our faults (including mine) - but somehow we make it work and seem like fun too.
2. My energy levels have finally picked up and I'm feeling human again - relatively speaking LOL
3. I have made some positive changes in my life (more on those another day) and I am reaping the benefits of increased health and peace of mind...well apart from needing to see a physio about my sore ankle after my fall earlier in the week. But generally speaking things are looking up!
4. Finding out that my family will be having Christmas (take 2) in February...for those of us who celebrated it in body but not spirit the first time around LOL
5. Realising that after 10 1/2 years I still look forward to my hubby getting home from work every day. Every day I feel excited when I know he's on his way home and I have to consciously try and "tone it down" when he walks through the door, otherwise I think I'd look like bit of a nutter...plus I don't think he'd cope if I ran down the hallway and jump into his arms LOL.

A change in thinking?

Normally when I've had a week where I've gained a pound - despite being good - I would have a "throw in the towel" attitude. You know that kind of self-defeating attitude where you just think "sod it - I've failed now so I might as well really fail".

So tonight I got home and found that dinner was ruined. I had set the slow cooker too high and my Caribbean chicken sauce was burnt and soupy. Andy took one look and suggested I just turn it into a soup. Fine, it was a good suggestion considering - and it saves me thinking what to make at the weekend for lunches. However it also left us in a position of me already making one meal and not wanting to make another.

By this point Andy was clearly fishing about in the take away menu drawer and was obviously hankering after a pizza. Straight away I'm thinking "damage limitation". I mean, I don't want to say no without looking into the possibilities, but I don't want to blow my points either. So I get the Eating Out guide out of the cupboard and had a look through the McDonalds menu (figuring our local burger place was probably similar points wise) and figured I could get a burger and chips and still have 6 points left over.  Great we're both happy, Andy gets his take away and I get to keep within my points...though I am a little concerned about the salt as I try to keep my salt intake low...and I already had halloumi for lunch.

So, what do you think? Big fail? Or successful damage limitation? I honestly feel like it was a change in thinking.

Agh! (Goals for 2011 - update 2)

Despite sticking to the WW plan pretty well and not going over my points I ended up gaining a pound. I'm not too concerned because I know that I couldn't really have lost 16 pounds of fat last week. The reality is that when we're sick we lose lots of weight but it goes right back on as soon as we start to eat (most of it's fluid). I've been really careful not to let it all go back on again so I'm a little cheesed off even though logically I knew it would happen. The rational side of me is pretty happy because a 1 pound gain still means that I'm 17 pounds lighter than I was at the middle of December. I think it might be better for me to record my weights monthly because any fluid changes will even out over the month. But have I got the willpower to be weighed monthly or will I lose focus?  Is it worth the risk? Maybe I'll continue weekly weights after all. I would like a loss next week however small - at least that way I'm moving in the right direction!

Where would I go?

My bloggy friend Ashley at Everything happens for a reason has restarted her Tell Us Tuesday slot where she asks a different question each week. This weeks question is "if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go"? Truth is there isn't a place per se- it's more of an experience that I'm looking for. I'd Iove to see the northern lights and they can be seen from many places in the far north. I guess for convenience sake I'd choose to see it somewhere in Europe such as the north of Norway. I'll be going to Norway in 5 months but sadly won't get to see the lights as it will be summer. You know what that means don't you? We just need to make a second trip there LOL.

To join in with Tell Us Tuesday click the button.

Christmas - take 2!

I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday, does anyone else feel like it should be at least Thursday? I’ve had a fairly productive week at work so far, considering that I’ve only been there part time. It’s just as well too because I have quite a pile of work building up. I also have quite a pile of graphics building up too. I’m trying not to get stressed about all the work that’s building up, but I’m only human. I really need a proper break some time soon, so I’m going to stick with the plan of getting through my current waiting list and then taking some time off from custom work. I’ll try and coincide this with maybe a week off my day job too so that I can just chill out, make the graphics that *I* want to make and generally have some fun!

In other news, my family have decided to have Christmas again...in February! This year’s Christmas was a complete washout because many of the family had colds and snuffles and I spent most of it in bed with my own series of health problems. In the end my family came to us, but my dad couldn’t come because he was working, consequently, I haven’t seen my dad at all since before Christmas. It just didn’t seem like Christmas without him there. Generally, the entire family feels like this Christmas was a major let-down (and we’re always into Christmas in a big way in our house), so we’ve decided to do it all over again...turkey dinner...Christmas crackers...a small gift.....everything! I am sooooo excited to be able to join in with the celebrations and to see my dad too.

It never rains but it pours!

Ugh! I am so fed up of pain! On the way home from work today I tripped over a bit of rubble in the car park and hurt both hands, cut both knees and think I've mildly (but it still hurts!) sprained my ankle. Of course that's nothing compared to the dent in my pride. I can't believe it, I nearly flattened my poor colleague too. I hate it when stuff like that happens, though I was touched that a couple of people rushed over to see that I was ok. Of course I told them I was fine and then hobbled to the car, sat there for a moment...and cried. I'm such a baby when it comes to pain!

In other news, I was reassessed by Occupational Health regarding getting back to full time work and I'm now one step nearer to being full time again...woo hoo! I'm allowed to do 2 full days and 3 half days this week. I need full time desperately, not for the money because I'm still being paid full rate, but my work is piling up and I have a shed load of stuff which wasn't urgent before I went off sick, but now people are pestering me for the results.

Talking of work, I have my performance review on Wednesday. I hate those things, mostly because I once worked somewhere where they were basically used as an excuse to shoot you down in a really bad way. Consequently my confidence suffered and eventually I felt like I was no good at my job. Now I realise that wasn't the case, but at the time it was a really big deal to me. I have a new supervisor now and already I can tell that she knows my strengths and weaknesses and she's got some good ideas to help me improve on the areas I find difficult...things like staying focused on long term projects. Most of my projects at work don't really have an end. As a result, I feel like I'm never accomplishing anything because nothing ever seems to end! We've discussed some ideas briefly today and she agreed that I need more discrete projects so that I can feel like I've actually closed something out and accomplished something. I'm feeling quite positive about this year's review.

Well, I'm going to love you and leave you there because dinner is almost ready and I need to take the bread out of the oven. Have a nice evening folks :)

Mundane ramblings

I took my Christmas look down for Adori Graphics this afternoon and it just feels so stark and naked in there now. I have had a few people say they're missing the cute little Christmassy love birds already but, alas, it just looks strange having a Christmassy blog design at this time of year LOL. I have promised faithfully to have them return in time for Valentines and I've spent some time this afternoon thinking about what I can do for the Valentines design. I didn't get very far...inspiration was sadly lacking. It goes like that sometimes.

I have a million and one projects to do graphics wise, but no energy left to do them today. I just had too many other chores to do today (including grocery shopping and a trip to the pet store) , which sapped all of my energy :(

This is where we go grocery shopping. I hate this place with a passion but I guess grocery shopping is a necessary evil?!

 I'm back at work again tomorrow after only being allowed to work afternoons last week. I have to be re-assessed by Occupational Health again tomorrow morning and then I'll find out what my hours are for next week. I'm hoping to be able to work 2 or 3 full days, if not back to full time. Really I still feel a bit tired and my wound still hurts and feels a bit hard and swollen, but I really need to get back to work full time because...well nobody is doing my work while I'm away! So, when I do finally get back full time I'm going to have a HUGE pile of work to do...work which instead of being low urgency will now be super urgent and I'll have people queueing up at my desk. Soooooo not fun!

Must dash, got an Irish stew in the slow cooker and I need to go check on it. Don't you just love slow cookers? I'm looking for new recipes if anyone knows any nice easy ones :)

Plans for tomorrow

I spent much of today installing premade templates and drawing a vector for a family's blog makeover. After 8 hours I thought I'd earned a break, so I had a little "me" time in the bath...with some of my favourite honey and milk bubble bath...yummy :)

Tomorrow, I plan to write next week's posts for Adori Graphics, work on a few small graphics projects and load some graphics onto a test blog for one of my Adori Graphics customers. Then I plan to have some relaxation time with a few books that I got for Christmas. Sounds good...though first I need to go get the groceries...not my favourite job in the world, but necessary.

Tomorrow's plans involve a little reading :)

One of my new years resolutions was to keep a tidier and more organised house. So far I've done well, though I've noticed something....Andy seems to think he doesn't have to do housework any more. Instead of taking the opportunity to maybe do some of the jobs that we never really had time to do, he's just sitting back and doing nothing. Normally he's great in the house. I've just dropped a hint that he still needs to do chores, even if I am keeping on top of things better.

I also want to stop procrastinating as badly as I have been doing. Today when my car tax renewal form came in the post, I logged straight onto the internet and parted with my £200 for the coming year's car tax. Normally I'd put it off until 30th January at least. So, that's another improvement.

How are you doing with your new year's resolutions?

One extreme to the other

For the last few weeks my appetite has been sooooo not there. Until yesterday when my stomach seemed to wake up and start demanding some food. I ate dinner (a nice healthy sausage casserole with veggies)...followed by a granary bagel (still hungry). An hour later I was STILL hungry and thinking that, quite frankly, this is ridiculous and I cannot possibly still be hungry I sent Andy to make me a cup of coffee. Half an hour later I raided the fridge and ate 3/4 of a chocolate orange. Then I felt sick...having forgotten that my eyes are way bigger than my belly at the moment.

Today I got up, did some cleaning and then tried to get into work in time for my 1pm start. However, the weather had other plans and my car couldn't get through the snow. After snaking about all over the road and my car coming to an eventual stop, I rolled it backwards down the hill and abandoned it on the road outside the house. I rang work and announced that I'd take the afternoon as holiday - and then not 10 minutes later the snow plough and gritter came past! So, I cracked on with a hybrid scrapbooking project for my soon-to-be-released Valentines themed digital scrapbooking kit and made a couple of layouts too, to add to the kit post.....and then it hit me....I'd forgotten to eat anything today! Argh!

No point eating now as it's only 2 hours until I get dinner, but seriously how can that happen? I have never in my entire life forgotten to eat!

What do you think of the hybrid project? It's a little bag of handmade valentines sweeties for Andy.

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A slow start to the week

Well, I went back to work yesterday, just 3.5 hours in the afternoon and it went ok. I felt really tired by the time I cam home though so I'm hoping to sleep well tonight.

My manager made me go to Occupational Health on my return to see if I really was fit to return to work. I went with the offer of working 2 half days and then all day Friday - and back to full time next week. She heard about my surgery and complications and then looked shocked that I was back at work so soon. And why WAS I back so soon? Well evidently my GP thinks I'm fit for work, so I'm back at work. Then she told me people usually have 4-6 weeks off work after this surgery - and that's presuming no complications at all. Now I feel like my GP has given me a REALLY rough deal...is he trying to kill me LOL. Anyway, she has recommended to HR that I do half days this week and then go in on Monday morning for another assessment and to plan my hours for next week. It was quite a nice surprise to find an occupational health nurse who actually came up with a useful plan!

At least I have some reassurance that I can just ease back to work at my own pace, which is always a good thing following surgery when you're not quite sure what your limits are.

Goals for 2011 - update 1

I posted my goals for 2011 earlier and now I can provide a little update on my progress so far. I've been working on these for a week and can proudly declare that I have made some small areas of progress already...woo hoo!

Goal 1. Eat healthier
I'm aiming for 3-4 portions of fruit & veg a day in the short term and 5 in the long term. My appetite still isn't back to normal but I'm doing my best to make sure that when I do eat, it is something of nutritional value. I'm managing to eat at least 1 meal a day now, often 2, and I'm probably eating about half of what I make. That IS actually progress as I wasn't even hungry most of the last 2 weeks. Now I feel hungry, but I just get full too quick. Still, it's progress.

2. Drink more - I never drink enough and reckon I must live in a constant state of dehydration
Actually I'm not doing so well with this one yet, but I'm still working on it.

3. Remember to take medication - ok, I've never had a great memory for taking medication but I'll do my best
I've been doing pretty good with this too, only 1 missed dose. But hey at least I'm getting my health back on track right?

4. Take a vitamin supplement every day - I know the jury is still out on whether they help or not, but I'm going to try anyway
Full marks for this one, altough I did nearly forget once.

5. Get 7 hours sleep a night - I've always found 8 hours a bit too much, but I should be able to manage 7
I'm in bed for 7 hours, does that count? I'm not getting 7 hours sleep for sure, but I've always found that hospital stays rearrange my sleep schedule for a while.

6. Pamper myself
Hmmmmm...not managed this one today, but I've been having a nice relaxing bath most other nights. I'd forgotten how nice it was to just chill out!

7. Learn to relax - maybe some meditation perhaps? Definitely, build some relaxation into every day
I guess this is closely linked to the above. Pampering is relaxing right?

8. Learn to reply more on God to sort out my worries
I have prayed for help with things that are worrying me and that does always make me feel better. It's just that sometimes I get bogged down with worry and forget that I can have help with it!

9. Make time to exercise - start with 30 minutes 3 times a week
Hmmm....not too good at this one either but then it's hard enough just breathing at the moment!

10. Lose weight - If I can successfully do the above then losing weight should be easier.
I've lost 16 pounds from middle December to now. Obviously it's down to illness rather than dieting, but I need to make sure that it doesn't go back on once the appetitie kicks in fully.

11. Keep a tidier house - do my chores every day and make sure I keep on top of things better.
I've been doing great at this, although it has helped working afternoons only!

Thinking ahead

I'm not normally one to set new years resolutions because let's face it they never last. I am however going to set myself some small goals, which I'm going to work on.
1. Eat healthier - aim for 3-4 portions of fruit & veg a day in the short term and 5 in the long term
2. Drink more - I never drink enough and reckon I must live in a constant state of dehydration
3. Remember to take medication - ok, I've never had a great memory for taking medication but I'll do my best
4. Take a vitamin supplement every day - I know the jury is still out on whether they help or not, but I'm going to try anyway
5. Get 7 hours sleep a night - I've always found 8 hours a bit too much, but I should be able to manage 7
6. Pamper myself
7. Learn to relax - maybe some meditation perhaps? Definitely, build some relaxation into every day
8. Learn to reply more on God to sort out my worries
9. Make time to exercise - start with 30 minutes 3 times a week
10. Lose weight - If I can successfully do the above then losing weight should be easier.
11. Keep a tidier house - do my chores every day and make sure I keep on top of things better.

I'll update on my progress once a week on a Wednesday/Thursday.Just click the badge in my sidebar - the one which looks like this...

What are your goals for 2011?

Today is my first day back to work since I got sick the week before Christmas. I have instructions to go straight to Occupational Health to see if I'm fit for work and to see what they can do for me. I seriously doubt they can do ANYTHING for me, but I guess I'll turn up and wait to be told that. It's not that I'm cynical or anything, it's just that I've worked in Occupational Health for a stint when I was a nurse and I really, genuinely don't think there's anything they can help me with...not that my own doctor/nurse don't already have in hand anyway. 

Thanks for the prayers

Just wanted to thank those of you who were praying for my sister with me. She rang last night to say that she was feeling MUCH better. I can't believe how quickly her antibiotics kicked in. Whenever I have a chest infection it takes a good 3-4 days before I start improving. I'll admit to feeling a tad jealous LOL.

Onto other things, I'm back at work tomorrow and am in the progress of negotiating a staged return...meaning that I work reduced hours for the initial period. It's a good way of getting back into work when you're in that grey area where you're not sick enough to be off work completely, but you're still feeling a bit grotty and tired. I can do this by using holiday, but the company also does a program where you don't need to use your holiday days...but I'm still waiting for my manager to tell me how I do that. As long as I don't need to work 3 full days this week I'm not really bothered how it's done, since I can just use holiday anyway. It's not that I'm lazy, I'm just worried about overdoing it.

In other news, I've decided I should take a leaf out of my cat's book. I mean, how can you deny that this is one chilled out cat? LOL

How frustrating

I thought I was getting better and we were desperate for food so we made a trip to Ada today for groceries. We didn't park too far from the store - only a couple of minutes walk with the trolley - but even so I was glad to reach the car. When we got home, we unpacked the shopping and I had a little tidy about while Andy went outside and chopped some trees. I was absolutely shattered and had to have a lie down. It's just starting to feel frustrating now because I really expected to be back to normal by now. I'm not the fittest person in the world normally, but I can manage a 2 minute walk without problems...usually. In other areas things have improved, like my temperature and, even though my chest still sounds crackly and I feel a bit washed out, my peak flows have been really good...normal actually (most of the time). I seem to be heading in the right direction at least...I just wish it was quicker!

I have no other news really except that my sister is now sick with a chest infection. She also has asthma and so its hitting her pretty hard too. I do hope she didn't get it from me! Please say a prayer for her too - she lives on her own, about 450 miles from me so I can't just go there to check up on her. I'm a bit worried about her as I've been hearing so many stories about the swine flu virus lately. I asked about having the swine flu jab last time I went to the doctor but was told I was too sick. I wonder if there's any point asking again when I go for my check up at the end of the month? Anyone know when the flu season is supposed to finish?

I've taken advantage of the fact that I'm pretty much confined to the house and have been busy working on a cute valentines digital scrapbooking kit. What do you think so far? I've made most of the papers, about half of the embellishments and I'm wondering about making alphas too. I love valentines day and think I'm going to use this kit to make a card for my hubby...now that I've bought a nice new printer in the sales (thanks to mum and dad).

Everything tastes weird

Since I got sick I have noticed something odd...everything tastes weird. Not the best thing to happen when your appetite is in your boots anyway. I noticed it a few days ago. All of my old favourites just taste...odd. Pepsi just tastes of chemicals, the potatoes I ate for lunch yesterday also tasted of chemicals...everything just tastes "false" or like chemicals. It's not the kind of total lack of taste sensation that you get with a cold either. Things don't taste as good as I remember them tasting and eating seems to have become a chore because of it. Hopefully it's all connected with the recent chest infection and will sort itself out.

We went round to a friend's house last night to see in the new year with their family. It was nice to get out for a few hours after being couped up in the house for so long - and it was nice to spend new years eve with somebody. Normally it's just us 2 sat at home...

In other news, I've published a much reduced posting schedule at Adori Graphics for the next month. It's kind of killed me to do it, but I know that I need to do this for a month or so at least. Normally I must spend maybe 30 hours a month just writing posts for the blog, that's before I start making freebies. Anyway, I've hated having to cut back in this area but I know it's for the best. I'm going to draw people's attention to it today and just hope that people understand my need for more time away from the computer.  On the bright side, there will be less posts on Adori Graphics, but maybe more posts on this blog as I may actually have a life on which to provide some updates LOL.