Failure is NOT an Option

So...my last blog post outlined my resolutions...all 3 of them...that would help me be healthier and happier.


[My plan.....stop the chocolate...eat fruit for snacks (bread is banned!)....exercise every day.] 


5 days on and I am not sure I am either!


A friend of mine said starting an eating and exercise regime on a Friday was a dumb idea....turns out she was right. Friday came and went and of my 3 point plan, I compromised on one...accidentally broke another and outright failed the third. Not a great start.


Then there was the weekend...no more needs to be said there.


Monday rolled around and all would have been well except I forgot to take my lunch to school. But here's where there is a glimmer of hope.


So with no lunch (a freshly packed salad left on the top shelf in my fridge!) I looked around school for something to eat. We have chocolates and soft drink on sale in the staffroom. I didn't have enough for a drink but I did look in the chocolate box. Yep...3 left. But all were Crunchies...of which I am not a great fan....so I kept my money in my pocket and drank water instead. A vast improvement over what I might have done a week ago. 


I also exercised on Monday and did not snack on bread....so 3 ticks...yay!


Tuesday dawned as a promising day and within an hour I knew I had a dreaded tummy bug. So that means I couldn't exercise (needing to always be within mere metres of a loo) and I couldn't eat either. Nice balance.


Now Wednesday has dawned. There is no chocolate in my house...I have plans for a 40 minute walk with j at lunch time and there is no bread on the menu for me today, at all.


Things are looking up.


BTW...is anyone out there having a pre-spring red-hot-go at making changes to anything in their life?? If so, let me know about it:)

I Think I Can I Think I Can...

One of my blogging heroes, B, posted a funny little 'letter to self' recently which I read yesterday. You can visit the original post at bbeingcool. She reminded me that the 'battle of the bulge' is so often a 'battle of the mind'.

And as I have thought about it for the past 24 hours, a few thoughts need to be penned...or is that typed?

I struggle with eating right and exercising and buying clothes and feeling like I look good and....yes, all those things we girls seem to struggle with.

I have flabby bits and saggy bits and wobbly bits that don't bring me much joy and I try to ignore them as I eat another row of that yummy Bubbly chocolate.

I detest clothes shopping...there is so little that fits and that breast-feeding chest doesn't seem to look good in anything. I also HATE the idea of buying clothes with BIG numbers on the tags.

I have an elliptical walker AND an exercise bike in my spare room but have I been on either in the last month or 2? No....my silliest excuse is: "I forget they are there," even though I walk past them at least 8 times a day. I have a little boy who loves to be in the pram so I could walk morning and afternoon, but do I?

So enough with the silliness.....the laziness...the disappointment and the 'beating up of self.'

I CAN and I WILL do something about this. You heard it here first and I am putting it out 'there' in the hope that it will help me to be more accountable.

My plan.....stop the chocolate (a Swiss coffee each morning really should be more than enough!)...eat fruit for snacks (no bread!)....exercise every day (be it in public or private). There you go...3 action points for each day of the week ahead....starting Friday!

And if I can do it for one week...I can do it for another and then another and then.....

PS. Any tips or encouragement most welcome...thank-you!

Colour in Your Life

What things make your world bright? Colourful? Wonderful?

I sometimes get so rutted in routines and house work that I fail to look beyond both to see and appreciate things of beauty.

Today I had a few moments of deliberately doing that and taking a few seconds to actually think about what was happening and enjoy it.

And you know, it was again, the simple things that have added colour to my world today....

.....looking at the cute little smiles of a 3 month old and remembering when j was that small...

.....a kind message from a friend......

......a quiet 20 minutes in my room with a Bible and my best friend.....

....writing a spicy text to someone who wears sexy small black running shorts.....

....visiting with a new friend.......

Lots of colour, especially considering the day is not done yet.

But as I look at that list I am also reminded that in the routines and house work that just has to be done, there is also colour...

...how thankful I am that I actually have a house to clean...and the gear that makes it easy to do so...

....how nice that a routine of afternoon sleep for j actually happened today...

....it was a delight to cut my homegrown pumpkin up to prepare for dinner....

.....my little one is alive and well and creating mess for me to clean - again - as I speak (see 99 Balloons on youtube to fully appreciate this one.)

Can I encourage you again this day to take time......get perspective......and realise you have so very many colourful blessings to count?