holidays day 2

well, I spent the morning helping the boy put his bike together, for someoone who is such a neat freak he keeps an incredibly untidy shed, I will go through it one day and sort things out but that will have to wait until I manage to declutter the house, I am considering selling some of my fiction books and joining the library then I will have much more room for keeping my non fiction stuff and only keeping the special books, the one that were handed down or were gifts

the gym got a work out this afternoon, I know my uppe body will be sore tomorrow, but I will try to do legs stuff tomorrow, I thought about it today but my arms were shaking too much to hold the bar and the boy suggested it would be better if I have time in my routine for some gym stuff every day upper body today lower body tomorrow, still working on the routine thing it is happening, sort of but it works much better when I am going to work during the day

new addition this week will be vacuuming twice a week, he said we need to vacuum twice a week because the dogs are in the house a fair bit and if we had children they would be on the floor alot and he likes to lay on the floor too , he also mentioned he wouldn't mind if one of his ex's turned up with a child of his, it would be nice to go and do things like kite flying and bycicling and he'd make a good dad, prolly because his dad never did anything with him, I seriously think the boy is starting to think family, it is a bit of worry but then it could be just thoughts it would be nice to have instant 7 YO which can be handed back not sure how long it would be all good for though

holidays day1

one thing I love about CORE is breakfast

the only thing on this plate that I have to count are the sausages the rest is eat until comfortable

after breakfast I put up the new tent its pretty nice, very easy to put up and not to hard to fit back in the bag I've already lost one peg, I'll have to take a trip to the camping shop and get some more so that I have some spare

just for good measure I wanted to throw this photo in , just because I like it


it is red things from my garden

another day another dollar, or more

apparently they had bets as to weather I'd turn up or not, everyone lost, no one thought I'd go, hahahahahaha I usually say no I don't want to work, reasons,

• the boy only has weekends off and its nice to spend the day and the night together
• I can think of much more interesting things to do
• I work a lot of afternoon shift and so only get to see family and friends who are mostly non shift workers on the weekend
  
• I need to go shopping
  
• anything else that comes up at the time

really I just don't like being at work more than I have to, yes the money on weekends is very good and I can probably pay the rego on the Ute from working one weekend but I think my home life is more important than putting 2007 equipment into 1970's machines then trying to get it to work. it wasn't too bad today although we did get a cruddy job later in the day, which technically we shouldn't have done because the other jobs are classed as 12 hrs, I heard much complaining on the way out to the job from the bloke who was sent out to the job with me, I don't care we are there and doing the work makes the time go quicker

On the way home I stopped into anaconda and bought 2 sleeping bags and a 3 man tent, when the boy gets his licence back they will get some use, I bought them now because they were on special, and the sleeping bags will fit nicely in the bottom of our saddle bags and the tent will fit nicely across the back of my seat, the whole lot cost $108, full price would have been over $300, I an learning to control my spending, which is great, now most of the time I am able to confidently stop at the shop on my way home and grab some basics, it's sad when you are not sure if you have the $10 for the few things you are picking up from Coles or woollies

On Australia day, it is the day that the Governor declared the colony, so pretty much the day the first fleet landed

straylya day

well, happy Australia day, I can't remember if its a celebration of the day the first fleet landed or if its the day that the country was discovered I know its something important like that anyway ,usually celebrated with BBQ and beer this year we are having a nice quiet at home day, I have to work tomorrow so I don't particularly feel like running around or doing a BBQ I hope it rains later its another one of those humid days, I would consider going to the local pool but I know it will be packed, and there's no fun swimming in a crowded pool, we were going sailing but I think those places will also be packed oh well have fun every one

it's started

with 10 days to go the process for the boy getting his licence back has started he did his knowledge test to day "aced it" apparently, only required a pass but got all questions right yaaaaaaaaay, they are making him wait until the first of Feb before he can even book for his prac , I thought he would be able to book for the prac so that he could get in close to or on the first , looks like another week unnecessarily added onto the end of his disqualification, like its not hard enough doing 5 years without a licence. that last week is going to be a killer because he is then allowed to hold a licence but cant get it until he completes the test.

new tires for the Ute while he was at it, they couldn't find the winder to get the spare down so it too almost 2 hrs rather than the 45 mins they originally stated I was most unimpressed. the winder by the way is always clipped to the back wall of the cab with maybe a bag of green bags in front of it, if I ever need another new spare I'll have to remember to have the winder out ready, I'll have to re pack the cab later, and after yesterdays disaster with the fires on the F3 and Old Road (pacific hwy)

I must remember to throw in a bottle of water or two lots of people were stranded in the traffic with small children and no water to give them, unfortunately for them they are too thick to see that the authorities have more important things(like fire) to deal with than some dill who doesn't carry water in their car, they( the people without water for the 3/4yo child) were ringing up the radio complaining that no one was bringing refreshments through the traffic for people who were stranded, how dare they concentrate on fighting fire and re-directing traffic, later in the day one of the guests mentioned she always carries a litre bottle of water in the boot of her car which is use full, for washing up after changing tires or if you get stuck in big traffic jambs, we carry a 2 litre bottle when we take the dogs but I think I might just keep it topped up, if you are really thirsty it doesn't matter how stale or warm the water is
SMH article

symphony

We being me and them ( the boy decided it was too hot)
had a really good time, everyone took some food and many bottles of champagne were drunk, I have no hope of ever keeping up with that lot

the conductor was very entertaining you could tell he was really into the music, this year was mostly from American composers he explained allot bout the relationships between different composers and what each piece was about


the lighting is awesome, every piece had a different set of images projected onto the sails

here's a vid of the last bit, the entire vid is too long,


yes I jumped when the cannons went of the first time
they told me the fire works would come off the buildings so I was leaning that way, I really need to work on my videoing skills

trip to the city

OK so in preparation to go to symphony tonight we went and laid out a sheet to mark our spot. the domayne is almost right in the middle of the city its pretty nice, lots of big statues around and old trees I took a heap of pics on the way into and out of the citythese are the bridges in and out, you have to pay a toll on the harbour bridge to get into the city so we go in on Anzac bridge
I think this one come next, ANZAC bridge, I think its a very pretty bridge to look atas you get closer you can see that other Icon of the city, Center point tower, not sure if they still call it that but that's all I've ever known it atdid i mention I think this is a pretty bridgeI love all of the old buildings, I think this is a cathedral and the old hospital, I could be very very wrong with this oneits hard to take good picture when the car is moving this is st something or other, could be Andrew, could be James, could be way off to but I'm sure there was a st in there some where
the entrance to the tower is somewhere on the other side of the park, its probably a very long walk the ever famous bridge, not as pretty as the Anzac

on the ever famous bridge, no toll on the way out, mum got lost on the way home because she was too busy talking on the phone (hands free) and took a wrong turn, I knew where we were

We were somewhere not very far out of the city and if we keep following the signs we will find our way home :-), a very exciting evening

La La La

it's too hot to care, I was thinking about re-starting my workoutson the bench and ball, then I thought about taking my little beastie for a ride, I could alway finish that washing that I started and hang it out, its still on soak cycle, which usually gives it a couple of days before it starts to smell which happens withing a few hours of the spin cycle finnishing, its probably good weather for washing, but I 'm buggered if I'm going out in it to hang the stuff out I've finally figured out how to get this room somewhat bearable with a fan in the halway sending the airconditioned air this way seems to be working niceley, we are going to the domayne tonight to lay out a sheet, apparently this is the best eay fo reserving a good spot unless you wish to camp their all day and night, this week is symphony in the domayne , it starts some time on saturday night the boy was a little sad that we missed jazz in the domayne oh well maybe next year.

Time to respond to comments

Ok so I just can't think about anything to write at the moment
so

Merlot - We have repetedley let my aunty know that her dog won't get fat just like the last one didn't and for that matter any one of the dogs I grew up with and my girly could be considered almost skinny

Jen - thanks for that comment, I wish I had room to gow a magnolia myself even if they do make a lot of mess

Chris + Erica - The gnocchi was pretty good, not sure how ponit friendley it is I counted it at potato gnocchi+spinach+parmesan cheese I think a serve was 6 pts or hardley anything on NC cause then its just the cheese

Merlot - the thermometer was a birthday gift from the boy it is very useful having farenheight as well especialy for when disscussing weather with those in other countries, still waiting for that cool change

Merlot- I have a really nice pic of J strapped to the chair with M in the background, but as they are not my children and are so young I felt it probably isn't right to post their pictures here

yet another big day at Nans

we got asked to mow again today, not sure if I mentioned earlier but the boy's dad and his nan had a little bit of a falling out and so we haven't been mowing for a while, she rang earlier this week and said she would rather us do it than get some one in, the boy agreed as long as one or both of his brothers help out occasionally, today was only the middle brother, he brought his little un's, M(4) & J(1) with him, which made the day somewhat interesting as soon as the brother took nan and J to the shop M asked "uncle where can I garden?"," I don't know you should ask aunty Belinda to show you", I helped her rake with a 4 Y/O sized rake for about half an hour then I had to go get some petrol, I got back and they were mowing a little part of the front yard, not too bad for a bloke who had no idea what uncles do or so he told me when every one was excited about her birth, didn't help that he wasn't talking to his brother at the time, we had lunch with nan which was pretty good, I can see we have an organiser in the family, " aunty belinda you sit next to me and nan can sit next to J a and daddy can sit next to nan and uncle sit next to you" the seating plan didn't work out quite that way daddy straped J to a plastic chair so he would sit still was pretty amusing because the only thing he had to do the strapping with was the bag he had with him

it was a good lunch anyway and we didn't stay that late, and for the first time ever it wasn't stinking hot, we are still waiting for that storm

heres the result of the day, shhh don't tell the boy, I promised no more pics but its too sweet not to share

hot

it's only been a couple of days and I am well and truly tired of hot, for some reason I hardly perspire, I am jealous on days like today of those people who start dripping once the temp reaches 25, It's supposed to be 37 or 38 today I'll have a look at my kitchen thermometer.................
............. it must be broken it only says 32 grrrrrrrrrrrrrr so much for our temperate summer here comes the heat and humidity, which wasn't so bad this morning at the shops or maybe it was the air con cooling the area outside the shops which made it not so bad

Gnocchi

I finally got around to making my own gnocchi

I had the silverbeet I had picked earlier in the week and wanted something interesting to do with it, I found a recipie for parmesan and silverbeet Gnocchi

I didn't quite have enough for the recipie so I went and picked some more

I have to learn to check the leaves as I pick them , this little bugger scared the life out of me I think I scared him too cause he webed in the sink , but he wouldn't drown so I took him and the leaf he was on out to the front garden

I have decided I need more bench space I have a realy nice big chopping board which I do everything on but I didn't quite have room to roll out the whole ball of doughWe had to watch the woofs with this lot, while I was trying to perfect the fork trick I dropped a few peices, champ quite enjoyed them, Girly missed out because she was too slow

garden update

I thought I might do an update on my veggies with pics of course

the cabbages are starting to look a lot more like cabbages, I have harvested the first leaves off the silver beet and the first of the tomatoes and beans I'm waiting till the tomatoes start to go red before picking them, Hoping not to have to spray, so far no aphids but its the flies I'm worried about our peaches got quite big but everyone of them had been attacked by the fruit fly, we will have to spray in future, there are some organic sprays out now the one we use is called econatrualuer it attracts the fly then sterilises them hopefully it works better sprayed rather than put into traps
the eggplants finally came up, I'm pretty impressed with thoseunfortunately the snow peas dies not sure what happened perhaps they need more water
I also planted a potato which I found growing in the pantry it doing quite well as well
Oh and I cant forget the rouge lettuces they are in flower I never new lettuce could be so attractive, I have thrown some more seeds in the veggie patch for mixed salad greens they came up pretty quickly the broccoli came up as well but disappeared after all of the recent heat thankfully it is raining again


Weigh in was good lost 0.2, still going to go on points this week to try for a bit of a kick start might run some sort of hybrid thing, eat only when hungry until full mainly non processed stuff but staying within points

you stink dog

I am cursing my cousin ...... this is the one that works at the dog food factory........ he brought down a case of CHUM .....big cans that mum would never use also schmakos and some small bags of dried food with asian writing of some sort on them..... ever since we started feeding them the Chum they have been farting sooo much its not funnymot only are they loud but they smell like CHUM, Iknew there was a reason we stopped feeding them tinned food


I started tracking my food again I have discovered my problem ....... after only 3 days of tracking I am at - 6.5 points and thats with 3.5 exercise points thrown in and not being completely honest (I can't go back to low fat/skim milk) so I'm thinking next week I'll be going on the points system just for a week and see how I go, I'm also planning to make use of the gym set again and still trying to get walking again

My excuse for not walking today is that when I came home, the boy wasn't here and he has left his mobile behind if he needs to call he only knows this number but he prbably thinks I'm still at mum and dads

In loving memeory

today is the second anniversary of my Nan's passing,
I think the whole deal was very traumatic for everyone and so the day has not been named yet,
I think I'll call it magnificent magnolia day because that's one of my first memories, sitting in the kitchen with my nan learning to say "Nans Magnificent magnolia", I was probably 3 or 4, the magnolia is still there outside the kitchen window, in autumn it drops its leaves on the driveway, in spring its the flower petals its absolutely gorgeous

nan had bowel cancer, it wasn't discovered until they found the secondary cancer in her liver there was something mentioned about an operation she had quite a few years before for a twisted bowel being related or some such thing, all I know is that it is the worst thing in the world to watch some one you love so dearly suffer for so long , and there is nothing you can do about it, life sucks sometimes

I'm sure Pa would have gone to the cemetery today as he does a Christmas, their wedding anniversary and birthdays, mum hope he doesn't go because he has to, someone asked him the other day about the widows at the bowls club chasing him yet he replied that he wont let them, he very attached to his routines and way of life and to what is right and wrong

Happy magnificent magnolia day .........

happy new year etc.....

well we have another number to write at the end of the date .... yet again never mind that I am still dating things 04 or 05 I'm sure I'll catch up eventually or not , I 'm on a really cruddy shift this week .... 5am to 1pm getting up at 330 really sucks
apart from that It's been raining again this time they were talking about the catchment area getting 71mm I'm hoping this is a large portion of the area behind the dam cause 71mm over a really small area won't make that much difference

I find it funny though that they keep trying to blame the unusually cool weather on global warming it was snowing in some places on Christmas day which for the international visitors out there is the middle of summer and generally around the 35 - 40'C mark. for the moment I'm enjoying it I'm sure it'll get hot again come mid February then not cool again till April at least

new Year new plan, rules to follow

1. just because its there it dosen't have to be eaten
2. just because BF is going to guzzle the whole treat and it looks like you wont get any isn't important you can aways buy/make some another time and have the first bit
3. nothing relieves thirst like water especially not coffee with 2 sugars and full strength milk
4. the woofs need to be walked at least every second day and so do I
5. why stare at the pantry/fridge when there is a bowl full of fruit, don't complain cut the iffy bits of rather than throwing a whole apple out

Evil pizza conveniance

well its not nessecerily so evil but I have just discovered the new pizza hut website which allows pizza to be ordered online and you can pay with a credit card wooohooo in my case its a debit card which is even better

no more worrying about finding the Cash to pay for pizza ha ha ha

I don't intend on eating pizza that often I have just made up 22 freezer meals from this site which just have to be defrosted and cooked, it was pretty expensive to do but that was mostly because of the spices and canned things that I didn't have, I think next time I will get cheaper cuts of meat as well, tuesday will be the first one that I do I'm so excited to see how it turns out

Christmas is over for another year yaaaaaaaaaaaaay

Gee I'm a miserable thing but we have had a very big weekend on Saturday I went to mums to borrow the kitchen and make things for my grandparents, I'll only ever do it for grands it was a lot to do in a short time and because everything once made needs to be refrigerated and only lasts a week or so I didn't want to make them too early, after all of my making stuff I raced of too work feeling very asleep lucky me got the chance to crash for a few hours it would have been bad had it been a busy day but I laid on a bench seat and woke up a few hours later feeling much better

Sunday (Christmas Eve) My bossy cousin likes to have the family around on Xmas eve just like old times I can see it being really fun when my new little cousin is old enough to appreciate it and we can go and see if we can spot Santa flying around, it's a thing my uncle used to do with us every year we'd go for a big walk around the block the year my cousin took us he was whispering to him as we left, "Russ the planes the planes". so that's how we managed to spot Rudolf :-) anyway this year we had blood orange marmalade glazed ham for dinner it was awesome
we went back on Xmas day for breakfast and lunch because some people have other places to be for lunch we unwrapped presents after breakfast ..... I knew the boy got me something very expensive but i didn't know it would be this goodits much pinker than that close up I even managed to get twinkle twinkle out before we went home my oldest cousin is a very good violinist he has a real ear for music I remember one year me my bossy cousin and my oldest cousin played something together I had to play the full piece first off the music and then they copied I'd love to be naturally that good at recognising sounds

My Aunty also brought her little dog because it is on heat, there's some excuse about it might get fat if she desexes it, anyway this is what you get if you cross a jack Russel and a corgi

xmas diner with the inlaws

it wasnt so bad I suppose, the boys baby bro left at around 530 I was trying to get the hint to the boy that this is our chance to escape but he was too drunk to get me again, it was alright for him he dosen't have to do the driving, it's almost an hour trip we left whith his dad when I ended up tell ing hime we are going, it's hard these days since you gotta watch what you drink if you are driving, I had a bicardi breezer and a glass of champagine then water for the rest of the day, the boy had who know how many beers, he didn't even get the hint it was time to give the kids their gifts his SIL ended up doing it

I hate beer I hate spirits I hate that people get so addicted to such crap and calim they can't relax or have fun with out it, its all total and utter bull-dung he is satrting to talk about future plans for family some time after we get an investment property and after the knockdown re-build, if he still relies on beer that much when he the time comes that we do start seriously thinking he is going to get a big wake up call I can handle the unpredictability of his mood when he's had a few, ok so I usually go to bed and he gets an earbashing when he sobers up, the other night it was a 6 pack of scotch and coke premix, a bottle of champagine and half a bottle of red he didn't get to bed untill I dragged him there I rang home later he asked why I opened the dining room blinds, I told him how he opened them so that he could go and attack the next islander/aboriginal who walked past, he only gets like that after alot to drink, he went quiet and he didn't go to work, I can't wait untill they bring in RBT where he works with a 0 limit like I have.

weigh gain grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

the things we need on it when we need them, then I stick it to the page on my diary when I go I got so close... so close to 70 now I'm almost back where I started, OK so I have been eating absolute crud for the last month or so we are now down to the plain old meat and veg which will make things so much easier, I have started sticking a sticky note to the pantry door and writingshopping much betterer than trying to think then comeing home with pies and susage rolls.

I made an attempt to fix our dripping taps today, i needed some help form the boy (mr bull at the gate) he managed to break one of the tap dressing peices then I realised he was trying to pull it off and that piece screws of the C thingy was damaged by my attempts of removing it as well, but when I got a new one it turned out to be the wrong type so I have to take that back and try again the bath taps didn't get done because I couldn't get the spindle off the tube spaner I have is too short I can't get the tommy bar throught the hole because the tap is in the way grrrrrrrrrrrr and its too far in the wall to use a shifter, if I ever get it off I'll replace it with a different one, the bathroom tap doesn't leak anyway

Lunch

I went to lunch today with a friend I went to school with, the boy reckons we don't really click like old friends should, but that's probably because we weren't friends at school, we knew each other but rarely did anything together, she go me a basket of garden stuff , strawberry's, herbs, tools, gloves and little frog thingies that you stick in pots and planters , I made a big jar of wholemeal gingerbread, I was so pleased with myself I even piped outlines or in the case of the tree shapes I covered them in icing, we went to the pub for lunch was a great meal then we went for a little walk around the shops and home again, it was such a great day

one thing that amazes me is the way that people insist on driving past every parking space in the shopping center hoping to find one close to the shop we went straight to level 4 then did a rough sweep of that level then at the top of the ramp on level 5 we found a park, it wasn't a long walk to the shop and we only got stuck in traffic trying to get to the ramp to go up the level we parked on had at least a dozen free spaces and I'm sure the next one would have been almost empty people are very strange or very lazy

the boy bought himself a new iPod Shuffle, the one that you can clip to, well, anything I finally annoyed him enough this evening that he would let me rip his CD collection on to it, he has got some good music I don't listen to music much, like many other things I'd rather be doing it than watching/listening it is a bit of a pain because I was planning to buy him one next week, I know he got me a fairly expensive present but all of the things I would have liked to get for him he bought for himself now I know how mum feels when I got out and get myself stuff

tomorrow is weigh day its also Christmas dinner with the boy's family day he said we'll leave early claiming places to be I thought lunch being around 1230-1ish we could make our excuses and be out of there by 430 or 5 at the latest, then he started talking about 7 or 8 gee I hope we get out before then I don't think I could stand his dad or his Sil for that long, and I know he'll be struggling with both for that long as well oh well we'll see how we go, its the first Sunday in a month that I haven't worked, I'll be working Saturday arv though which is a pain because that's when I plan to make chocolates for the grands the recipe is for orange liquor but I plan to experiment with peppermint and cream liquors as well and pipe orange, green and white and the flavour requires could be interesting it also could be a disaster I am lucky enough to be using mums kitchen at least which is much bigger than mine

Phone pics

I love my mobile phone with its little camera, I got tired of mum always asking what do you want for B'days and X'mas so I see something I like and take a picture I finally plugged my phone into my puter, which sucks the photos out of the phone then I upload themto photo bucket so I can post them where ever I want so here is my wish list
I also found some pics I took at work, I hope they don't mind but they're such good images of some people I work with

wow a whole week

I tried to post yesterday, but it looks like it didn't come through, yesterday 'I put the Ute in to get the central locking fixed, one of the locks has been playing up for a while I waited at Westfield Parramatta all day hoping they would look at it before I had to go to work, of course they didn't,

did do quite a bit of shopping I got the new Sims 2 expansion pack and a game for the boy which is already wrapped under the tree, which I eventually put up on Sunday night.

I still wonder why I bother we don't have any little kids and we rarely get visitors and Christmas is always somewhere else, which by the looks of things will be at mums for the foreseeable future.
I found a reasonably priced universal remote for mum, I got sick of trying to figure out how to get a picture and sound on their telly "no the gray one", "Mum they are all gray","no they're not two are silver" well you get the idea, too many people insist on sticking with the four or five separate remotes required just to get picture and sound out of the box, let's see there's the big one for the screen itself then the big bent one for the sound then the little one for the pictures with the set top box then there's the 4Th one for the DVD player.

they rang me about the car at around 430, I started at 3 so I was at work by then its going to cost another $280 which makes it almost worth claiming on insurance but not quite turns out one of the upy downy units is faulty and the darlings who tried to break in have shorted the wiring to the other one,

I left it with them and caught a train home then walked, for some reason the buses stop at 11 which happens to be when afternoon shifts tend to end, I didn't have any change for the bus anyway and the money I had was for getting the car fixed so I didn't want to spend it on a taxi
lucky me one of the bloke from work was also walking home and lives on the way, we walked to near his place, he offered me a lift but I figured its a nice night and he probably wants to get to bed, its probably a 45-50 min walk so that was My exercise for the day, the dogs didn't get their walk today I 've been eating too much sugary crap lately which of course results in being awake for about an hour then hitting a rock for another 2 or 3 and wanting to sleep the rest of the day away I tried not to sleep but I couldn't quite drag myself out the door which probably would have made me feel much better than a waste of time nap

odd sock dayz

Sitting here in Parramatta i just realised i have odd socks and not weird odd. I got up early to get my car fixed threw some clothes on and now i am in odd socks in a big city shopping center grrr. Hope they call soon to pick up the car

Very Busy

last week some little darling tried to break into the Ute ...... nothing went missing, not that there was anything to go missing anyway, I'm guessing that teh alarm went off and scared them away.

I got it fixed today, $410 , ouch, thank goodness for my little green plastic card absolute lifesaver, I think once we pay the bed off I'll get the amount decreased to around $1000 or maybe as low as $500 since it affects our ability to consolidate or get loans as even if it's unused they view the maximum limit as if it were totally drawn which makes sense it would be easy to rack up a big debt ob a credit card in a day, but $500-1000 would be enough for situations like today where its pay day but I may not get paid until 8 or 9 at night or even the next morning and I only had 200 in my account, and they couldn't give me even an estimate until after the work was done grrrrrrr

I have been told that I must walk the woofs for at least 30 mins a day, because the muck up too much, the killed one of our olive trees, the boy doesn't want a new one but I think we will get more olives if we have 2 trees so I might go and find one and plant it for Xmas or his B'day since I know how much he loves olives especially when we learn how to bottle them

a discovery

I have discovered that it is fairly easy to upgrade a computer, the boy got medievil total war 2 which was way to slow. I found that the computer didn't meet minimum requirements so a lot of convincing and a trip to DSE and we have a new stick of Ram and a new video card which exceeds requirements hopefully it will last a while longer

Wahhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

we have BANANAS Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, there are finally enough bananas to go around no more little tray with five or so hands in it, boxes and boxes of bananas sitting in the fruit section of the supermarket and they are half decent ones too not like the unripe ones available during the shortage for around $2 each next step banana smoothies, bananas in weetbix banana cake, banana split, banana bread although I suspect many banana breads use synthetic flavouring or perhaps they did until now :-D

Sailing

well ....WE GOT WET.......... Ok so I expected to get a little wet, we were doing ok even with the wind being so gusty we'd get going then the wind drops of then we're off again then all of a sudden its up and over with both of us in the water we had a good go at righting it but eventually some nice men in a motor boat gave us a hand and towed us back to the ramp we came from, it was very exciting and the water was just a nice temperature which is definitely a good thing we now know, why our life jackets came with leg straps and which pieces of rope need replacing

Happy Birthady to me :-D

yaaay its my Bday to day , mum and dad got me a kitchen set, apron, oven mitts, pot holder, tea towel in Green I'm going to go tomorrow and get a pink one as well so I can still have some available when that one gets washed

My Little brother got a Impact driver (very use full for those of us who can't undo tight screws) and a swimming costume with matching Bordie's

Pa Got a little indoor step so that I can reach all of those things that the boy puts on top of the kitchen cupboards

The boy found the most gorgeous frog on a swing

last night we had lamb roast with salads and squashed potatoes and for desert every ones favourite Caramel Dumplings MMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm there goes WW for this week, one of the boys at word got a cake too

help!! !

there are times when life just turns you upside down and shakes you around a lot ............. for me this is what a the week before ttom is, I want to be happy I have been achieving stuff, my house is tidy, I have the bits required to get my bike going again, we just got ome more fruit trees which seem to be settling in well and we are going sailing on saturday ................ all I want to do is curl up and cry until nothing else comes out or go to bed and stay there for at least the rest of the year maybe the next ten years ........... and before anyone starts, no I am not going to see a doc there are 2 things they will do, 1 will be counselling which I have be there done that, I rather go for a coffee with a friend who knows me, or they'll want to give me drugs of some sort which will result in another pill that I will have to remember for the rest of my life, if it waqsn't for the conveniance factor I wouldn't be taking the one pill I do take.


An old friend I grew up with got engaged earlier this week mum keep trying to get some glimps of excitement or intrest out of me
.... very short version of events which mum dosen't know and wouldn't understand, dad does gee hes good when it comes to stuff like this............

• XBF proposed several times to which I replied I eould think about it eventually agreeing he promised we would marry at the end of my apprenticship,
• a month later he broke up with me saying he would always be there for me ( what a way to lead a girl on me thinking we were just having a short break),
• three months later he engaged his now wife
• they married two weeks after I completed my apprenticship

ever since then, I cant stand movies about weddings and it rips me apart every time some one around me gets engaged
As I said dad understands where these feelings come from or at least tries to ......... mum thinks I'm being silly

"Its not the heat that gets you its the humidity"

I think that's how it goes ........ anyway it is yet another humid day in sunny Sydney, you sit there thinking it must be nearly 40 only to find its low thirties, the storm clouds have been drifting by for the last couple of days, its gotta rain soon................hopefully...................... when it does it will be a big one the air doesn't get this heavy without a big storm attached ...... hopefully it doesn't hail while I'm at work, we don't get hail very often here but in the areas surrounding work they get huge hail, the type that leaves half of the suburb with blue and green tarps on their roofs

Happy Cherry Ripe Day

click on the image below to see the poem, that my cousin wrote about her dad you may need to click again to get it to reading size..........

Garry Lyon passed away on the 18Th of November 2001, he was taking part in the Forster Iron man when he suffered a massive heart attack, he was 55 and had no previously known heart problems and had been very active for his whole life.
those of you out there who have been a little slack with your exercise or if you plan on drastically increasing your exercise level please go and get checked out before you start, my cousin was my uncles trainer for the triathlon and because he was active didn't see the need to get checked she did partly blame herself for a little while.

cherry ripe day is the day we remember his love of the chocolate bar, for his birthday he was given a huge box of snack size cherry ripe, we joked at the time that it was a lifetime supply, he took one to work every day.

On Cherry Ripe day we share cards and Small gifts involving cherries and of course snack size cherry ripe bars.

Ok so maybe the postie isn't so bad

First I want to thank Mel for posting about Fly Lady, wow its amazing how inspired you can be just by cleaning the sink, OK so its scrubbing the sink until it shines and putting away the now clean dishes rather than leaving it till tomorrow

Today the postie rang the door bell....... yes it does work............. I must have answered the door in a similar state(half asleep in my nightie) one day and he decided not to wake us if we don't need to sign, who would expect the postie to come at 730 in the morning especially when they used to come at lunchtime,
now what did he bring,
well there was:

• a mysterious little parcel for the boy(Bike bits)
• a very heavy little box (bits for the little beastie)
• a fairly light big box(I found where to get pasta cooking tubes cheaper then $80)
  
• a parcel post satchel("Disturbingly good" T-shirt)
  

so I spent all morning out in the shed getting the Little beastie ready for her new bits, I have discovered that I really need to touch up on my welding skills, the boy ended up doing that bit for me grrrrrrrrrrrr we got the new stand on only to discover that I need another tool I have not got to put the new bits on, luckily there was one in Melbourne hopefully it arrives COD on Friday, for some reason all of these old bike parts shops are also behind the times, no online shop no credit/debit card facilities, oh well I suppose that's what gives them their charm

is saaaad is very sad

Ok whats sad........ read below post........

as soon as I can figure it out or they make it an option I will make the days appear in the order that they do but have the times work top to bottom and the person on blogger help group who said just change the time so they go in that order ............ I'M NOT STUPID I already considered that but I would like the actual times of each post to show properly after all it is a written memory and I would like to know sometime in the future that I sat up at 1 in the morning writing letters to the postman which he is never going to get to read GRRRRRRRR..........


sorry ppl and there's the sad bit I write letters to the postman even though he will never see them, no I would not hug and kiss our new postman he is in too much of a hurry at least the old one would have a little chat and was sorta good to look at, we never see the current one, I'm starting to think the doorbell has stopped working, I'll have to pull it apart tomorrow..... perhaps some new batteries and a good clean will make it work better or maybe I should go to bed at 12 instead of well after 1 and try to get up before the postman arrives

Dear Parcelman

Please bring our life jackets tomorrow, this is getting very frustrating, they were posted Thursday before last from Brisbane.Had they come from Melbourne, I could understand the delay with cup day being a public holiday and all but I'm sure Brisbane doesn't take that day off. I know that they don't suffer from daylight saving which with the current time difference may cause a delay of a couple of days even though the difference is only an hour. Please hurry I'm keen to go sailing this is driving me barmy I have to work for the next 4 Sundays so I will be very limited for boating time

Hugs and Kisses
B

remembrance day

well today we actually went and mowed the boy's nans lawn again....... today was almost remembrance day, at around 5 to 11 we were in the car on the way to mow the lawns, they played the usual last post, then "the Ode", then reveille along with some people speaking about their experiences, then the radio went silent, as is expected at 11 o'clock on the 11Th day of the 11Th month.
I was deeply disappointed that the boy didn't shut up for the whole minute not even for part of it. I told him off straight after because he couldn't even be quiet for that one particular minute the reply was some thing about how me and dad constantly gibber when we are out together........ I know we both would stop for that particular minute. I am surprised considering how into war history and things the boy is yet he couldn't stop talking for 60 seconds to honour those who have been involved in war. I know its a small thing but I was brought up believing it is very important to respect people especially those who have been.

Well last night mum and I went shopping I bought 3 pair of shorts and a pair of jeans, I discovered I love Susan Grae, I always thought it was old lady clothes but their sizes are generous and there weren't many things that were affected by my sticking out bum ( the reason I cannot wear most hipsters) I was very disappointed in Target I always remember them having very generous sizes like their 12 being equivalent to 14 everywhere else well.... I usually grab stuff in two sizes according to how the make looks I tried on some size 12 pants which didn't get much past my knees then I tried some 14 shorts which got to my hips but would not in a million years do up I didn't bother with the rest, the funny thing is I bought a T-shirt of e-bay which came in the mail today its a target 14 and its almost too big, I think it's supposed to be fitted but it will be a good T shirt fitted or not for a while
After target I lost heart and we went to the almost closed food court for dinner
I went to the shop this afternoon to get some things, I collected a few ingredients for my baskets and some fruit, I got apricots I'm not sure if they are ripe but we will see, they'll get eaten anyway when I came out the rain Had started and there was this big black cloud overhead
Don't you just love the smell of rain on the hot road, I hope we get a lot more and whoever decides these things can figure out a way of directing the storm water to the catchment rather than out to sea, unfortunately people think too much about where their water is coming from and so wont agree to recycling plants, which by the way send out 5 star water while stubborn people drink 3 star. OK so I would like to be able to water my fruit trees a little more often than I do and I don't have the space for a bigger water tank, ours is either overflowing or empty grrrrrrr

No Parcels X-(

we have been hanging for weeks to take the hobie cat out, we spent hours replacing bolts repainting rusty bits, making plans to improve the lighting situation the only thing we are missing is the all important safety equipment, there would be nothing worse than falling off in the middle of a lake without a life jacket
.... Thursday last week we got an e-mail that they are on the way ..... that's 5 working days, yes they did say allow 7-10 working days but it's very frustrating when things have generally been arriving within 3-5 days, I hate to do it but I have to blame something, first I figure austpost may have too many people on holidays so that they have plenty of staff for Christmas time when we get 2 delivery's a day.
I was happy with that ...... until.... I got an e-mail from a seller in Victoria who I bought a dress off apologising for the delay in postage and contact due to Melbourne cup day being a public holiday in Melbourne or is it all of Victoria, there has been much discussion about doing the same here, something about reduced production on that day, I have yet to see that we go about our usual business up to 3 o'clock then stop until around 10 past 3 or however long after 5 past that the race takes, then go back to work or home depending on the shift.
So I am blaming the melbournites and their public holiday for the massive delay in postage I guess early next week there will be many parcels for us which will make me very happy I love getting parcels and letters even if they are bills.

we have beens

I probably spelt that wrong, but we now have beans growing on the vine, I must remember to take pics later we also have snow peas and lettuce ant tiny mango's and olives, the pear tree is in flower, its a little late but better late than never, It seems to have picked itself up lately, its almost bigger than the apple tree, which is good considering how sad it was looking not sure if we will get any fruit of either of them this yer, we will see, I know that we may end up with a few mandarins but all of the other citrus trees completely dropped their flowers or their fruit bud I'm a little sad about that but they are very small, roughly knee height , so it may be that fruiting would bee way too much

I need to go shopping ........ or something

I'm dead bored, the boy is at work which is usual for this time of night and I have no one to annoy, I suggested today that a desk that I could set my hobbies up on where the freezer sits at the moment would be nice, he agrees that is a good Idea, but will there be enough light? I'm sure I can figure it out so that it is light enough, this was followed by a long lecture about how I need to consolidate my intrests.
The boy decides if he can't spend at least an hour a day persuing an intrerest it should be discarded, I get the feeling he has moved house alot which makes it important to reduce the ammount of crud you own.
I enjoy many hobbies at different times or for that matter all at the same time I would like to one day make cross stitch cards written in calligraphy and perhaps matching paper to wrap a kintted gift in
............ get the Idea............
at the moment I am interested in having more of a go at caligraphy give me a month or so and my intrest will be sewing or cross stich I never really spend enough time on one thing to become really good at it, for that matter I don't own a sewing machine(a fact which Pa wishes to remedy as soon as I have room for nans sewing machine) or an Ironing board, that makes it a little hard to be any good at sewing.
It must be a bit dissapointing when it comes to that, the only woman in mums family who has never sewn her own clothes,
maybe not but sometimes I think mum would have really liked a girly girl with a job as a P.A who dresses up and goes out for lunch with friends and loves to shop and cook and sew................ sometimes I would like to be those things too

Thoughts

It's Christmas soon, I'm definitely going to go into panic mode soon, at Christmas time I like to make up baskets of things for my grand parents, what else can you give to an Octavian who has everything, I usually go for the things that they wouldn't buy for themselves, My grandmother saves on her pension to buy each of her 4 children, 14 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren, birthday and Christmas presents in her basket I know there will be some rocky road last year

• I found some individual serve puddings and small tetrapak Paul's custard
• a box of fruit mince pies
• a box of glensomethingorother shortbread
• a packet of Tim tams
• a variety box of mochona coffee sticks

I'm sure there was something else in there ....... I lined the basket with some nice tea towels and tucked one in over the top then tied a length of that sparkly stuff you wrap around the Christmas tree, the name eludes me at the moment I'll remember it later when it's not important....... oh wait its called tinsel that's right, anyway grandma said grandad and her really liked it so did pa

this year I am thinking I would like to make some things to go in the basket ...... number 1 will be orange liquor chocolate truffles, I found a recipe for white rocky road in this Months good taste mag so I will definitely have a go at that, I would also like to have a go at making some nice boxes to put them in,

I have been collecting the art of calligraphy magazines even though I don't really have any place to practice there are some great ideas on gift bags and boxes and I do have a week off, the boy is focusing more and more on getting his bonnie ready for rego in 2 months 3 weeks and 6 days
not that I'm counting or anything,so I should have plenty of time to myself.

I wonder how long these things I want to make will keep, I get the feeling now would be too soon even if I did store them in the freezer so I thing I will focus on boxes and collecting ingredients until a few days b4 I see them I will need to find a very good hiding spot, I know the boy has a very sweet tooth and tends to eat things I have planned for something else, which is why planning weekly meals doesn't work

after I publish this I will be adding another ticker or 2 to my title :-)

That weight thing again

well today is weigh day ........... again.............on Friday I was almost back to 77kg but today wasn't so bad here are my results page

Your current weight 75.7
Weight change since last entry +0.2
Total weight change -3.3

ok so its only 0.2 but it all ads up I know I can eat right and I know I can loose weight and I know I am being completely lazy, we had Pizza last night, I felt soooooooo sick, I haven't been stopping when I get full I need to get back to that no ok I'll wait a few seconds and stuff more in, I'm full nothing more need pass my lips, It is hard being that I can't bring myself to throw anything out especially food

speaking of throwing things out .... I am yet again selling things on EBay I was told one day when I complained of having nothing to wear that I have plenty of clothes just not the right ones, and of course he's right again ....... most of my clothes are "good" which means too good to bum around in or duck down the shops or take the woofs for a walk so...... I am selling , anything "good" that I haven't worn for over a year and some things that I just couldn't wear

all size 12-14-16 mostly labeled as M or L which means I had to guess, if you are interested see here, I think I might put some more up, I have also bid on a heap of really cheap T-shirts, on Thursday I am going on a shopping trip to find more shorts

Yawn

hmmm even the word has the same effect as watching someone do it.

Well its come to that time of year again, Christmas build up, almost the whole time we have been living together, wow it's 5 years already, The Boy has worked in warehouses/Distribution centers this is the time of year it starts to get busy just before whichever company it is puts extra staff on for the holiday season, yesterday he didn't get home until well after 230am and didn't get to bed until at least 4.

I don't sleep very well when I am waiting for him, I can't wait until he gets his licence back then, I can be pretty sure nothing has happened to stop him getting home from work, believe it or not some people just shouldn't ride push bikes regularly, he still has bits of glass in his hand from the first accident which saw him covered in blood and crying (yep there was definite sobbing and tears) over the phone about how badly injured he was, that's what happens when you ride your pushbike with a glass bottle in your hand at night.

anyway tonight I gave him a lift and told him I will pick him up at whatever time he finishes, it could be a long night, thankfully the headache which hit me at around 2 this afternoon has gone, I'm still guessing lack of sleep is the culprit since a 2ltr bottle of water didn't do any thing, unless it was the cup of coffee I had before leaving work kicking in, I did have a 10 Mug a day habit which seems to have waned a little especially with the hotter weather. Oh well I'm off to have a cup of tea and read my book for a few hrs

Its on its way

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the bit for the little beastie is on its way, unfortunatley I missed ride to work day with both bikes off the road but hope fully soon, Very soon I will have both back on the road again........ I can't wait

Five foods Every one should try once in their life

Ok so I'm not so much a foodblogger but this is a project by The Traveler's Lunchbox after reading an english list of food you must try once in your life and being unimpressed melissa decided to do her own study they are creating a list of food bloggers' top picks for things you've eaten and think that everyone should eat at least once in their life. Click here to read more about the project and check out the fascinating list of responses from around the world. (Nearly 1600 items and counting!) .
I read about it at Farmgirl Fare there are definatley some things that should be tried at least once in your life.........

1. Mrs Macs Beef cheese and bacon Pie especially for breakfast
2. Vegiemite LIGHTLY spread on hot(straight out of the toaster) toast which is dripping with butter
3. Damper with golden syrup
   
4. Roo steak sandwiches with onion tomato letuce and BBQ sauce
5. Tandoori roast lamb

there are alot more I can think of but they only ask for 5 so there it is five foods everyone should try at least once in their life

this is it

Time to start again, this week was a gain of 1.5 which brings me back to only 3.5 kgs down ......grrrrr so this is it tonight right here I am promising myself I will get up in the morning and at least go for a brisk walk hopefully with a little more jogging than I did last night, it is difficult with one dog wanting to run with me and the other trailing behind, last night I ended up letting champ off the lead so he would have to keep up with us or get left behind which is OK when its dark but I'm always worried about the ranger coming along during the day and there's a couple of hundred$$$ gone even thought I can usually control them with my voice.... oh well another rule of course being breakfast, I have a big box of wheat bix on the table there's no excuse

I cooked food this afternoon so that will do for dinner for the rest of the week lunch will happen eventually, oh and no more sweet treats, I ate the last of my stash of neenish tarts today so no more and no biscuits either hmmmm getting to the time of year where we only shop for a couple of days at a time it should be a lot easier to eat fresh again,

yesterday the boy decided I have some sort of eating disorder after I ate a whole garlic bread on my own another habit which will have to stop, I Love my garlic bread and my neenish tarts and my Aussie pizza and of course steamed dimmis

Dalsight saving .....grrrr

I woke up way late this morning I was planning on getting up at around 7 well 6 in standard time. Of course I didn't get up untill well after 9 so it was way too hot to go for a run, hmmmmmmmmmmmm........................... we went to the boat shop in penrith to get bits for the trailer and while we were out got the woofs some pig ears, it seems girly is afraid of the pig ears while they are in the net

Our boat trailer now has a shiney new jockey wheel and a nice painted mast holder bracket
we had BBQ'd roo kebabs and salad for lunch and some black pudding seeing that our Chrisco boxes are coming in around 2 weeks its time to start emptying out the freezers again, we usually end up with the chest freezer, and both fridge freezers stuffed full the only thing we ever have to go to the shops for is the fresh stuff, like milk,bread and salad vegatables usually untill the middle of january even if it does cost more than sticking with the weekly shop there is so much less stress involved, one day when we have a decent bit of savings something irraparble is going to happen to the fridge freezer, Im not sure what yet but its gotta be better than the thing breaking down two weeks before chirstmas ande the boy won't even look at a new one untill this one which he got from his ex girlfriends dads garage sale for $20 around 7 years ago breaks down

A new discovery

When you let the woofs sleep on the end of the bed no body feels much like running in the morning. tonight they will be back outside in their bed so we will see how tomorrow goes I did however manage a sort of scouts pace which was pretty good

we went to the boy's nans today to do more gardening, not so much work as last time but I am again covered in scratches thankfully today we took the last big load to the tip any further garden cuttings can go in her green waste bin the yard had been let go quite a bit with the boys dad piling up the branches in odd little corners and letting the grass grow over them so he didn't have to mow so much, no that it is all cleared out there will be more to mow but it will be safer and easier because there are less obstacles

oh well tonight is the start of daylight savings, yet again there is much debate about whether it is really necessary personally I would like to see standard time all year but then the people who work office hrs complain that they don't get enough time to do anything in the evening and it gets light at 5 in the morning, I reply with its harder to get up at 5 in the morning when its still dark and by the time I get home I'm too tired to do anything with the extra hrs sunlight anyway

A new Challenge

It has been decided that I should start running early in the morning..... now can anyone guess who decided this..... and no I'm not that keen but I think I might take up the challenge so... starting tomorrow, nice and early the woofas and I are off for a run If we are lucky I'll make it half way around the block

Now for those who are interested next week is Motorcycle awareness week check out this link to see this years add campaign, no I'm not in it and yes hopefully sometime next week I will have my baby back together

today

we took the woofs for a big walk, then I spent most of the day putting my carbys together only to find the new parts need a special anti tamper tool to adjust Grrrrrrrrr there goes another week off the road

Monday

We finally got our new chairs

Sunday

we went to the 85th anniversary RAAF air show on sunday, those big planes are very exciting, we both go very sunburnt. The boy was a little dissapointed that he didn't get to see the spitfire on the ground

This is Saturday night

Pas Birthday Party

this is what happened on Friday

Pics and no pics

well, the kitchen floor is a peachy colour after all that, the benches are orange, the stove is white and the table is brown, there are 12 freddo cupcakes siting in the oven, hopefully rising in a nice shape, I have only ever made one chocolate cake which didn't rise funny and I forgot to put the eggs in that one

When I came home this afternoon, the bedroom door was shut which I assumed was to keep the dogs out ..... when I opened the door I had to laugh, he's so sweet some times, hanging from the ceiling fan was a very interesting piece of clothing. No I am not going to show any pics but I will say that it is red and black stretchy lace and I really gotta start putting and effort in where my bum is concerned.

now the pics I will share are of the really great kebabs we made for the BBQ with dad the other night and an awesome rose that was in Pa's front yard.

thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm tired but, I'm hungry but I'm hot but I'm bored, I want to cook but I need to clean first grrrrrrrrrrrrrr welcome to my life

I made a good effort we went and did a shop today and decided we will shop at the other supermarket in future after finding that this one no longer has bulk home brand things on the shelf, we used to buy the larges jar of stuffed olives every fortnight that was 1kg today the largest was 700 g, I used to like the lemon and dill seasoned bake in the bag chicken they only had savoury flavour

I have made an attempt with the kitchen three sinks of dishes in between,"Belinda come have a look at this". The boy spent most of the day on the puter, no he's not such a lazy bugger he's a big whinger and will complain all day about having too much to do and the place is a mess and there's washing still in the machine and I've got no socks and undies why are you doing whites when I have no sock and undies........ and he says I nag...............so I banned him from the rest of the house

we bought a little treat today, freddo cupcakes, I was thinking about making them tonight but well...... I still have a load of dishes to do and the floor needs mopping

I am hoping the lady who I bought these chairs off will get back to me soon, we have nothing in the dining room to sit on grrrr

I might just go and have another look at the kitchen and decide what to do with it

A New Toy

We sat here on Saturday night staring at the screen 5 mins to go, "bid now" says the boy, "No not yet"I say, 3 mins to go "bid now" says the boy, "No not yet"I say 2 mins "bid now" says the boy, "No not yet"I say, 1min 30secs "c'mon bid now" says the boy, "Oh alright"I say, carefully I click the bid now button. I still feel it to early to bid I prefer to bid with 20secs to go so than no one can jump in after me. slowly I enter the bid 1002.51, "Just to confuse them". and confirm bid.......

Current bid 680 1.15 to go
Refresh
Current bid 721 0.45 to go
Refresh
Current bid 752 0.30 to go
Refresh
Current bid 812 018 to go
Refresh
Auction ended
you are the winning bidder
winning bid $812

Breathe B, Breathe. I was trembling so much with excitement, so many times I have lost and auction in the last 30 seconds , but this is not one of them I thought I might throw the blow by blow account here for those of you who don't and probably never will understand the fascination of EBay

Now what did we buy for such a high price.................
this is to become our new weekend activity, as soon as I get a tow bar on the ute and a pair of life jackets and the boy wants to put new ropes on it too, I can't wait to take it out I can see we are going to have alot of fun learning how to sail after reading the book dad lent me

Pics From Mums B'day

Pa sent me a few pics heres a good one, we all forgot to get a cake but luckily one of the old aunties had made and decorated a fruit cake as a birthday pressie for Pa so we put some candles on that, they were pretty dangerous candles those ones with sparkles built in which also makes it very hard to blow out.

Happy Garrymas day

yep today is my Uncles Birthday, Like Nan he is no longer with us he would have been 60 this year, it used to be great with all of these birthdays so close every one would get together to celebrate all three at once (Pa's B'day is on sunday) dosen't happen anymore.

Happy Birthday Mum

yep it's Mums birthday today, I bought her a nightie from Peter Alexander Mum likes Jammies and nighties Last year Peter Alexander had a Mumma bear set, very cute she said that it now fits quite comfortably she is now below 100kgs for the first time in a long time, again it is the theory of eating only when you are hungry, she also hasn't told anyone that she is trying to loose weight for the X bilionth time, she said the other day she has tried everything from the iraqi soldier diet to Lite N Easy but always goes back to WW if nothing else I think No Count will do it for her, I hope oneday I can pick anything from any catalogue for her even if it is a large most makes, Large is around 14 which can be very upsetting