World's Worst Attempt at Parallel Parking...

This video has had me laughing all day, so I thought I'd share it with you all...

Lists are taking over our lives!

I am a list person... I make lists for everything an anything (although I should point out that the pic above is not one of my lists), but for the past week and a half the amount of lists made in our house has been ridiculous! The count down is now on to get everything ready for November... it may seem like a long way away, but trust me it isn't. Last July when we got engaged I thought I'd have everything done and dusted by December... now we are in to April and I've still masses to do!

It's the little things that take up a lot of the time, so we sat down last week and made a list of all the little things we still have left to do - for instance, we completely forgot the we need new shoes!

We need to get the invitations sent out pronto so that we get the RSVP and menu choices back in plenty of time to make up the table plan and the hotel needs at least 10 weeks notice of the menu choices... and J has to find his birth certificate so we can get the marriage license... it's all the little things that need to come together!

We've also been considering taking on a renovation project... so have been working out the figures for that!

So I haven't been keeping up with the squat challenge, in fact I never made it past Day 1, but I do want to give it a good shot, so I'm getting back on the wagon with it today I'm starting all over again. I have also been quite naughty and been a little too flexible with my syns... back on track now though which feels good!

Happy Birthday to You!

Today our little puppy/unicorn is 1 year old! He's growing so fast *sniff sniff* 

Happy Birthday little man!

Goodlife Sausages and the 30 Day Squat Challenge

I popped in and bought a box of the Goodlife Glamorgan Sausages - had a look at the syns online, but could only find the ones with cheese in them... also tried the syns calculator, but it would only let me add one free food. The main ingredients are onion, leek, potato and cauliflower - so it isn't really acurrate to use the syns calculator. I would guess they were about 2 syns if I only syn the synful ingredients - rapseed oil and rice starch. I don't think there's much of either in them.

I've also started the 30 Day Squat Challenge...

50 squats DONE... not looking forward to the 250 in 30 days time... I'll keep you all updated on my progress though :)

J's furnace is now up and running and he has a fair few ingots created already... he's now on to making the moulds to create his masterpieces's... I'm very proud!

Week Two of the Scan Bran Challenge Day 1

So I'm now into my second week of the Scan Bran Challenge... the idea being to add more fibre and less useless calories into your diet on the Slimming World plan and kick start your metabolism... I had my weigh-in last night and had lost 2lbs... I am very happy with that, would have been better if I had gotten 3lbs off, but 2lbs if definitely better than nothing, or worse - a gain!

I'm sticking with the Challenge this week too, I've enjoyed getting so much from my Healthy Extras... in fact I don't know how I would manage to stay on plan without them!

I love the Good Life veggie sausages (the vegan ones without cheese) but can only ever find the syns online for the cheese filled ones. I'm going to do a little bit of top up shopping (yoghurts, jellies, veggies etc) so I'll buy a box and run them through the syn calculator online. They are delicious, and should be pretty low in syns, so fingers crossed!

Scan Bran Challenge Day 7

So this is the final day of my Scan Bran Challenge... I really should call it the Finn Crisp Challenge! If you are giving this a go too, but hate Scan Bran, just substitute it for Ryvita or some other high fibre HEb crisp bread. I've actually really enjoyed the challenge and will continue using the Finn Crisp next week as well!

Just to give you a better idea of how I've been doing the challenge, here is my food diary from last Thursday -

Breakfast - Three Finn Crisp with three Laughing Cow Extra Light + coffee with 15ml skim milk
Lunch - Syn free noodles + Spelga fat free yoghurt + glass of water
Afternoon Snack - Three Finn Crisp with three Laughing Cow Extra Light + coffee with 15ml skim milk
Tea - Slimming World Chips + two Tesco Galmorgan Meat Free Sausage + Peas + Oh So Lean Peppered Sauce + Glass Diet Coke
Evening Snack - Sugar Free Hartley's Jelly
Supper - Two Alpen Light Double Chocolate Bars + tea with 15ml skim milk

Healthy Extras -

6 Finn Crisp = 1 HEb
2 Aplen Light Double Chocolate Bars = 1 HEb
45ml skim milk = allowed 250ml as HEa
6 Laughing Cow Extra Light = 1 HEa

Syns -

Tesco Galmorgan Meat Free Sausages - 3 1/2 syns each = 7 syns
Oh So Lean Peppered Sauce - 2 1/2 syns for tub = 1 syn
Sugar Free Hartley's Jelly - 1/2 syn
Total = 8 1/2 syns

I do Green Days, so all my meals are meat free. It is the only way that works for me. When I eat meat I put on weight, when I don't I lose it... strange but true!

I'm keeping everything crossed for a loss tonight now that I have changed back to doing Green Days and I'll do an update tomorrow on tonight's weigh-in!

Scan Bran Challenge Day 6...

So it's day 6 of the can bran challenge. I have been very good (aside from some pizza on Saturday night) and am hoping that the Scan Bran Challenge will help me shed some pounds and I'll see the number on the scales go down tomorrow night at weigh-in. I've been using Finn Crisp instead of Scan Bran... the Scan Bran tastes like cardboard.... I couldn't stomach it! I have always loved Finn Crisp, so am happy that I can have 6 as a HEb on the plan. I haven't weighed myself at all this week, and I plan to wait until weigh-in tomorrow night to see if there has been any progress.

I am aiming to have hit my target weight by September (for my hen party), and then maintain for my wedding in November. I all honesty I don't have masses of weight to lose to get to my personal target. Doctors say that a woman of my height, 5 ft 9, should weigh on average about 145 pounds (10.5 stone)... My personal target is 11.5 stone, so I don't have a lot to lose before September, then if I want to carry on and lose the extra stone I can do that, but I wouldn't be too concerned about it to be honest.

We had a pretty good weekend - spent Friday night watching TV in the house and on Saturday we headed out with some friends. Things went downhill on Sunday though - I had a terrible migrane and from about 4pm onwards I was laying in the dark in the bedroom with some painkillers! Then of course it was sod's law that my car (not even a year old!) wouldn't start on Monday morning... apparently it's something about it being an eco-car and the sudden temp change and rain affected the electrics and made the petrol gauge go all wonky... sake... got it to go eventually, but too late to go to work - by the time I drove there I would have only had two or three hours in the office before heading home, so took an unexpected day off and got some house work done.

Everything's back to normal today though! I'm actually glad to be back in the office! I hate sitting at home with nothing to do, it would drive me crazy not to have a job!

Made a list of everything we still have to get done before the wedding... it's not a long list, we already have most of the things done, it's just a few things we need to do - get our shoes, send out the invitations etc... all in all, we are pretty organised, which is a GREAT feeling!

Scan Bran Challenge Day 2

Okay, so it's day two... and I've switched from the cardboard-like Scan Bran to the Finn Crisp Original Thins. I was surprised to find out that I could have 6 of these as my HEb as they are very high in fibre! I loved these before I started Slimming World... but I used to eat them with peanut butter and cheese... yummy, but not too good for the waistline! I had a look in my local Tesco's last night for the Laughing Cow Extra Light (6 for a HEa) but I couldn't find it... so I stocked up on the Laughing Cow Light (5 for a HEa).

I had four of the Finn Crisp for my breakfast with three Laughing Cow Light cheese triangles...

Rather than use milk as my HEa, I'm just syning it... 15ml of skimmed milk is only 0.5 syns, and since I've cut down to two cups a day, I think I can spare a syn for milk and save my HEa for some tasty cheese!

Night times are usually my downfall... I get home and I'll be so hungry that I will snack while I wait for my dinner, so last night I made sure that I had some fat free Spelga yoghurts in the fridge (the fruit flavours are all syn free) and I had a strawberry one as soon as I got in... that staved off the hunger until dinner was ready so no snacking! For dinner last night I made slimming world chips, boiled rice and oh so lean curry sauce for over the top... all free on green. I had a chat with a lady from my Slimming World group who said that Extra Easy didn't work for her either... glad to know I'm not the only one who can't lose weight on Extra Easy!

Some things I also stocked up on this week are -

The Slimming World hi-fi light Rocky road bars are delicious! Problem is they just aren't big enough. They are very tasty though and so satisfy the chocolate cravings. They are 3 syns each or you can have 2 bars as 1 HEb

 The Alpen Light Double Chocolate bars are new o the range and absolutely delicious! The are much bigger then the hi-fi bars but still the same syns - 1 bar is 3 syns or you can have two bars for a HEb

 The Pink N' Whites are a new thing to me, but at only 2.5 syns per slider (and they are pretty big) I'll munch them down to kill the sugar cravings! And they are pretty tasty... two of these and a cup of tea and you feel like you've really had some serious naughtiness... but you haven't!

I have always like Spelga yoghurts so I was pretty pleased to see these in the refrigerator aisle! I found the Muller Light's were a bit too watery for my taste, but these Spelga ones are just perfect! All the fruit flavours are free and the vanilla with choc sprinkles is 1 syn for the pot... I wouldn't recommend it though as the chocolate pieces in it have much the same taste as the ones in the Muller Lights vanilla and choc... which I didn't really like... they leave a strange taste in the mouth. I'd rather save my syns for something else

These little sugar free jellies are only 0.5 syns per pot and are a fab snack or after tea treat.

I also stocked up on Galaxy Chocolate fingers - a long finger of galaxy chocolate, only 6.5 syns each. I bought them in Home Bargains in Newtownards beside the Tescos. I couldn't find an image online to show you what they look like. Crunchies are another one of my favourites - they come in at 9.5 syns, but for a whole chocolate bar that is not bad at all. Cadbury flakes are only 6.5 syns too... so I popped some of them in the trolley. I can't not keep chocolate in the house because J loves it, and is always rifling through the cupboards for bars, but if I only buy chocolate that is low in syn then even if I am tempted I can stay within my syns for the day - good idea I thought!

So in an earlier post I was telling you that we were going to go for dinner and see The Host in the cinema on Wednesday night... I had a gain in weigh in before we went so I went off the idea of going out to eat and instead had a Slimming World friendly tea in the house. I have read The Host a couple of times now (the phrase 'dog-eared' is apt since Turf chews the corners of the books as I read them!), but to be honest was a bit worried about seeing the movie as the trailers made it look BAD! But the film was not at all like the trailers, in fact it was brilliant! I would thoroughly recommend it. You don't have to have read the book to enjoy it. 

I'm an avid reader - and I've been very (very, very, very, very, very) slowly (for me) making my way through the  Call the Midwife trilogy - I stopped reading them so I could watch the series, but now I'm back reading the last book - Farewell to the East End. They are excellent. I had a massive collection of books which I recently sent to the charity shop... I now only download books onto my ipad - keeps them all in one place and it's highly portable. Anyone else reading any good books at the minute?

Scan Bran Challenge Day 1

This week I am doing the Scan Bran Challenge... or going to try to! I've just had my first bite of the scan bran (of which you are allowed 5 as your HEb) coated in Laughing Cow Light (of which you are also allowed 5 as your HEa)... I forgot how just how much like cardboard these things taste.

I use small bites and plenty of chewing to get them down...

You get 10 Scan Bran in each pack, and I am glad that I only bought the one to try first... I think I might substitute the Scan Bran for the Finn Crisp Original Thins (6 count as 1 HEb) and if I can get my hands on some Laughing Cow Extra Light (6 count as a HEa) that would be perfect!

I think the idea for the Scan Bran Challenge is to get plenty of fibre into your diet, so swapping the Scan Bran for something equally high in fibre should help the weight-loss just the same.

I had two of the Scan Bran with Laughing Cow Light for my breakfast with a glass of water and a cup of coffee - using milk as syns (15ml of semi skim is 0.5 syns). I am pretty full now so we will see how long that lasts! I have a 0% fat Spelga yoghurt, syn free noodles, 0.5 syn jelly pot and 3 more Scan Bran and Laughing cow Light to get me through til tea time!

Syn Free Pho Ga...

So yesterday I discovered these lovely syn free instant noodles. I just had them for my lunch today and damn were they delicious! They are called Pho Ga noodles and you can generally find them at your local Chinese supermarket or in the foreign section of your local supermarket - I got mine in Tescos.

They are essentially rice noodles in a chicken broth. They are free on Green and Extra Easy and 2 1/2 syns on Red, which I think is pretty good if you're having a red day but just want something super quick and super filling that isn't meat.

These noodles come in their own little container, all you have to do is add boiling water - this makes them especially handy if you are heading away for the weekend camping or such and you really want to stick to plan but don't want to eat BBQ the while time. I will definitely be stocking up more of these. At only 50 calories a pot you could have a lot of these in a day and gain no weight at all... maybe that's why Chinese ladies are so skinny!

They aren't a really big portion too, so you could easily have two pots and not feel too greedy!


I already posted about going back to the Green and Red days rather than the Extra Easy, which just doesn't seem to work for me. But I also wanted to mention a little trial I am doing as well. J's mum and dad did the 5:2 diet for a while and it worked really really well for them! My problem is I like to have a treat EVERY day though so I will be doing the 5:2 diet the Slimming World way... 5 days of green and 2 days of red or extra easy. I like the idea of mixing it up a bit and the last time I did Slimming World I did 5 green days and two red/extraeasy - my red days were generally Wednesday (I had a low fat chicken dish from the chinese after weigh in) and I had an extra easy day on Sundays, when I cooked a Slimming World friendly roast dinner.

I am very excited about tomorrow night - J and I are having our first date night in a loooong time! We haven't had a date night since Valentine's day. We have been saving so hard and paying for bits and pieces of the wedding so we decided that tomorrow night we will go out for dinner and see a movie. We are seeing The Host (I re-read the book on Saturday and Sunday in preparation) and am very excited! Haven't decided on where we will be having dinner - generally we choose a place for burgers before the cinema, just because burgers, milkshakes and movies seem to go so well together (or is that an American idea?). I'm partial to the burgers in Makhulu 5, whereas J prefers a Big Mac! For a change we might go to the Mandarin Chinese in Bangor... yum, I love that place! It's sooooo much better than the China Buffet up the street... better quality food, service and price! Papa Joes is good too though! Oooooh decisions! I'll let you know what we decide and how the movie was (minus the spoilers!)

Back to basics...

I'm finding it a lot harder to lose the weight this time around than I did last time... Slimming World is a great way to lose weight and make a real change for life, as long as you stick to it... but I find it harder this time than last time. Maybe it's because I like chocolate and crisps and all the bad, sugary, fatty things that aren't good for our bodies, but last time I seemed to have more willpower with them... this time I don't. Last time I used my syns for things like gravy or curry sauce with my dinner, or a glass of wine, I found it incredibly easy to forgo chocolate... this time I am not finding it so easy, so I have had to rethink my eating.

The Slimming World Light Rocky Road bars are great... and I've gone back to the green/red days rather then the extra easy. I find the extra easy to hard and time consuming, especially as I am partial to things like noodles, rice, beans, pasta, potatoes more than I ever am meat - last time I did Slimming World I was vegetarian so it was very easy for me, I would go home and stick some sweet potato wedges and some syn free tesco meatfree chicken style burgers in the oven... but since I've started eating meat again it hasn't been that easy, I'd rather have beans or peas on my plate with a low-syn vegetarian option instead of a breast of chicken or some grilled fish with salad or steamed broccoli.

Going back to the green/red days also means I have 2HEb and 2HEa... which is a great help as I can have 2 of the Rocky Road bars for 1HEb AND still have my weetabix in the morning - or if I'm particularly wanting to have a lot of chocolate I can have four of the bars spread throughout the day as my 2HEb and if I STILL want chocolate after that, then providing I haven't used any syns, have a crunchy (9.5 syns) at night with a cup of tea. I'm hoping this will help.

Has anyone else been having trouble losing weight/staying away from synful foods? Feel free to let me know any of the tips and tricks you use!

I was never lost...

So over the Easter holidays I was off work and was no where near a computer - for a FULL FIVE DAYS... which was amazing! I spent a lot of time curled up on the sofa watching DVD's, taking Turf long walks along the shore, reading books in the back garden (in our rare bit of sunshine), visiting family, baking cupcakes, eating Easter eggs, cooking for the family and generally living the good life.

I'm not a regular blogger, I'm not even a real blogger... I just put everything and anything on here that I think someone else may find interesting. Sometimes I use this as a sort of overflow writing space when I can't fit something in a facebook post or a tweet - like a recipe or a little review of somewhere I have visited.

I don't mind posting recipes and recommendations about things online, and I love posting pictures of our little family, but some things are personal and private, but I will share one of them with you today and this is why...

When I returned to my computer from my Easter break I had two unopened facebook mails. One of them contained a link to a webpage where something had been written about me - a person who I once considered my closest friend wrote that they had 'lost' me.


In the past few years I have had some really terrible things happen in my life, things I wouldn't wish on anyone. Not everyone knows about these things - generally everyone knows about one of them - but there were others that culminated with me being very down all the time, nothing could make me happy. I could fake a smile, but inside there was nothing, no real happiness - for example one of our guinea pigs dying sent me into absolute grief and misery for three days - I was physically unable to stop crying. Another - I have never had any problem with flying... but all of a sudden I am terrified of it, I shake and cry uncontrollably even at the thought that I have to get onto a plane - the anxiety I have surrounding flight is horrible. Seeing an ad for PETA of dogs in a cage in China sets me into hours of crying and sadness at the world. I used to cry in bed every night for no reason at all - I would wake in the morning and my pillow would be soaking. I would cry in the shower. I was sad for weeks on end. I didn't enjoy the things that I used to.

I now know that this was depression, and I wasn't the only person in my family who suffered from it. I always thought of the ability not to cope with things as a weakness, but now I know that it's not a weakness, its having been strong for so long and carrying so many things inside that you eventually break.

When I read that link this morning the word 'lost' really stuck. I may have been lost inside, but I felt discarded by someone who I thought knew me better than anyone. I was at one of my lowest points when I was discarded by this person who I considered one of my closest friends. I was struggling with my own blackness and trying to help them with the things they were fighting, or about to begin to. But I was very very low, which made it all the worse. I couldn't understand why I had been discarded, replaced. What had I done, was it because I couldn't be happy enough, couldn't smile enough, didn't go out and 'have a good time' enough? Is this why they didn't want me around to help them? Because I couldn't even help myself? I would burst into tears while driving to work for no reason.

One thing I have learned is that the best way to ease the feelings you get with depression is to talk to someone about it. My family and friends helped me to realise that things in life happen for a reason, I can't force someone to want me in their life. When things happen to a person, sometimes they change, sometimes you no longer fit in their life... this is what happened to me, I no longer 'fit' in this person's life. This person was fighting their own things, and I no longer fit. It took me over a year to move on from that, but now I no longer burst into tears when I think about it, I no longer think that I should have changed in someway, that I should have been better, that I should have kept trying.

I wish this person every happiness with their life, because they really do deserve it.

I am no longer angry. I have moved on. I have control of my depression. I don't cry every night. I don't burst into tears for no reason. I like to be out in the sunshine. I enjoy life.

When I am feeling low now I look at this little face and he makes me feel warm inside...

Depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days...

We all go through spells of feeling down, but when you're depressed you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days. Some people still think that depression is trivial and not a genuine health condition. They're wrong. Depression is a real illness with real symptoms, and it's not a sign of weakness or something you can "snap out of" by "pulling yourself together".
The good news is that with the right treatment and support, most people can make a full recovery.

Speak to your GP...
 
It's important to seek help from your GP if you think you may be depressed. Many people wait a long time before seeking help for depression, but it's best not to delay. The sooner you see a doctor, the sooner you can be on the way to recovery.
Sometimes there is a trigger for depression. Life-changing events, such as bereavement, losing your job or even having a baby, can bring it on. 
People with a family history of depression are also more likely to experience it themselves. But you can also become depressed for no obvious reason.

Depression is quite common and affects about one in 10 of us at some point. It affects men and women, young and old.
Depression can also strike children. Studies have shown that about 4% of children aged five to 16 in the UK are affected by depression.

Living with depression...

Many people with depression benefit by making lifestyle changes such as getting more exercise, cutting down on alcohol and eating more healthily. Self-help measures such as reading a self-help book or joining a support group are also worthwhile.

You can find out more about depression on the NHS website