Saturday 26 October 2013

The Time Has Come ..........

I've reached that stage in life where I am fast approaching burnout!!

Work is going in directions I never thought it would go - meetings in the Houses of Parliament, presenting at national and international conferences, attending conferences in different countries!

Home life seems to be so busy - I thought that when Monkey was this age, our problems with childcare would be non-existent, that's not the problem, it's getting him to everything he wants to go to that is the problem!

Guiding seems to be taking up too much of my time - running my brownie pack each week and then being District Commissioner on top of that has me torn between where I should be and supporting what I ask myself. The Big Brownie Birthday is starting in January - to be honest I have no idea what is going on when previously I would be all set up and raring to go.

Something has to give - work isn't an option due to the small matter of needing to earn a wage, giving monkey up for adoption seems so tempting when we are having problems with him, but no! that isn't an option either!

The only other thing that can go is Guiding! But this is such a large part of my life! To be honest, I think I could cope with just being Brown Owl again - no meetings for this, that and the other to go to, stressing about back rent at the Scout and Guide Hut, stressing about 2 rogue Guide Leaders who seem to be able to charm their way out of anything and everything and push the blame on to others (namely me I might add) and despite being given ultimatums by the Assistant County Commissioner still seem to be in post despite missing them by 6 months and counting.

So my choice is made - January the 1st 2014 will see me resign with immediate effect from my District Commissioner role - that will be about an extra 24 hours a month I will gain back - not much in the grand scheme of things but if it means that I don't have to rush home and rush straight back out again within 10 minutes and gives me more time to spend with hubby (who's mantra is "work, brownies, social then us") then that makes me (and him) a happy person!!

 
I want more of these days - who wouldn't!!!

Wednesday 23 October 2013

That can't be right???

My weight has always been a problem for me and since Christmas last year I have been going to Weight Watchers most weeks in an attempt to finally shift some of my weight for good.

To say that it's been a struggle is an understatement  I can tell you! I have found it very difficult but have a couple of friends who are very positive for me and have helped me lots and lots!

I have sat around the 1 stone 4 - 1 stone 8 mark weight loss now for about 10 weeks. I have been up and down but can never seem to get the weight loss to stay off. I've even joined Zumba classes in an attempt to shift a bit more - I would love to be another dress size smaller by Christmas.

2 weeks ago I went and I had lost 5lb - wow. What had I done differently? I had tracked everything. I carried on the same way for the following week and when I was weighed, I had put on4 1/2lbs - I was like "what"????

So this past week, I have been slightly disheartened but have done my best to track, I have walked about as much as usual at work and even had half a bottle of wine at the weekend too. Got on the scales last night with my leader - 8lb off!!! I am now 2lbs away form my second stone and that would also bring me to my 10% weight loss -its taken me 11 months to get here but that goal seems very close.

The thing is, I know that no matter how good I am this week, I am sure to have put weight back on again next week - my body is strange!!

On the dress size front though? I have just dropped 4 dress sizes for work and my shirt size has gone from a size 28 (always bought big so that it would hide my hips) to a size 16/18 depending on the shop I'm buying from!

I do feel good!!

Will keep you updated with how I go

Monday 7 October 2013

I should be happy - shouldn't I?????

I've just had a lovely weekend away with my friends from Centenary Camp - it's the second time this year that we've managed to get together which is amazing really as we all lead busy busy lives!!

It was a busy week before I went away - two District meetings and then trying to get everything done on Friday night which I would normally take the weekend to do.

I caught the train to London and met up with 3 of the friends - the 4th one was getting in later. I had to carry my backpack with me all around London as we were staying in our Evil Team Leader's flat in Wimbledon and weren't going back there until later on. We walked everywhere (well it seemed like it!!) and finally ended up in Soho for our tea.

 
 
 
Having never been to this part of London, it certainly was an eye-opener!! We ended up in an Italian restaurant as one of our group didn't like spicy food so it rather narrowed our choice! Mind you the food was great - they served our pizza on a meter-long wooden board!!
 
After tea we made our way out to Wimbledon and to the flat we would be staying in. We stopped off in the local supermarket to get some wine and chocolate  - they were running low on supplies from the night before!!
 
We then spent the rest of the night talking and mulling life in general over - of the 5 of us who were there out of the 7 that could have met up I was the eldest with the youngest being just 22!!
 
We also realised that we had actually only know each other a total of 13 nights but just feel like we are really great friends.
 
2am came and went and we finally managed to crawl into our beds. One of the group had to leave at 7.30 the next morning but she was very quiet when she got up and only woke us as she was about to leave.
 
The rest of us sat chatting and then made the move to cook breakfast and shower - I had to leave about 10.45 to get back to St Pancras to catch my train home at 12.
 
When I got back, all was happy with the boys - there's a lot of teenage angst going on at the moment and my son and husband do clash a lot - but they had had a great "boys night in" with a DVD and a few snacks. Tea was all ready to go in the oven and I had nothing to do except unpack and relax!
 
Work today has been busy, deadlines to meet and only me to meet them - but what's new??
 
Went to Fat Club this evening feeling like I have really put on some weight, although I have been good (well almost) for the past week and found out that I have lost another 5 lb, so I am now at my lightest in many years.
 
But I just seem really down - I can't seem to be happy about anything at the moment.
 
I need to shake myself up and get back on track - there is lots in my life at the moment to be happy about, I just need to remember it!
 
Normal service will resume soon I hope :)