Feburary

The pic is me enjoying my birthday. I ate too much having cooked too much. Had jerk chicken, rice and sweet corn. Then profiteroles with creme patisserie - lot of them. I had my first drink of the year as well.
Generous presents - a clever scanner from Mum, clothes from the sisters and a digital polaroid camera from John.
Pleased with that.

Prior to the birthday splurge I had been continuing to slim and John & I have both had to tighten our belts and then get new trousers!

Sadly Mum was not at my birthday as her mantle cell lymphoma is back and she is starting treatment straight away. It also meant that she canceled her already delayed South Africa visit. Mum was not alone through this dark time - Ruth & Bex supported her through the tests and Rod & Tori have been with her for the results. I will be spending a long weekend with her in March - otherwise my contribution is pretty remote.

Ben has re-started swimming - what a relief. He has so much pizazz and needs to have the talent! Pleasingly friends have kids swimming at the same time so both of us are enjoying the lessons. Tim has continued violin despite John & I getting fed up with his lack of drive. Cesca is doing well with her violin and could be very good if there was more practice. Zach is registered now with the nursery and has had his first intro session. He cried a lot. Hey ho. Thankfully Matt will help him when it is the real deal.


Raja the cat tried to die yesterday - bleeding all over the place. It settled with the vet and he is back to his normal self. Mystifying what caused it all.

Good weather

Well this is the end of January and it has got to be one of the nicest on record. Currently blue sky and no wind to speak of. New month coming up, so I am expecting change soon!
I am now at the weight I was when I fell pregnant in Sept '09 and feeling pretty good about it. Am jogging and using the rowing machine. Unfortunately I have Achilles tendonitis threatening , and a bit of knee pain. The joy of being older, I guess. However Rod has given some useful advise on keeping the running going but not worsening the tendonitis - which is brilliant as I don't want to rest it!
I have ordered 900 photo prints from snap fish, and while not great quality, they have arrived fast. I am now making albums of all that we have done in the last 2.5 years since I last did photo albums. Turns out we have done quite a lot! It is exhausting and rewarding to do this. I have resolved (again!) to keep more up to date with my album making.
Up Helly Aa happened this past week and it was Matthews first at nursery. He was so cute and just like the 3 befor him VERY excited at being a Viking! I took the older 4 to the parade and we all came back smelling of the torches. The following day we made axes, whcih are very good if I do say so myself. Ben took his to talk about at school!
The diving manual has arrived for me and I have given it to Cesca. Not sure what has happened to hers. Egypt is a seething mass of rebellion at the moment - so I am a bit concerned for this holiday of ours. I have bought additional insurance, as the annual insurance we have does not have a phone number to call when you need either medical assistance or to make a claim. Everything is done by fax. We are not having a happy time with companies that only deal with faxes (cause they don't bother to deal with them!) - so I have specific insurance for our trip and they DO have a phone line dedicated to medical needs. A lesson learned there.

A few things planned

This week has been an odd one. Beryl - my mother in law- has been here. She came up in order to look after Zach if I was called to attend court again (I was in Aberdeen for 2 days last week, which John covered using annual leave). We get on well but it was still a bit odd, as we carried on doing our normal thing as opposed to special activities such a visit usually causes.
I am pleased to report the exercise and weight loss continue. I have lost 7kg so far, but have a long way to go yet - and now my body is fighting back.
Our holiday dates are booked and our main family holiday is as well. We are going to Disney Land Paris! Very exciting for everyone. We are driving there so we get to see friends and our old haunts around Ashford. This is were we were last time I had to diet like now -feels apt. Now we are booked it is amazing just how many Islanders are going either to DLP or DLF this year!!
I have booked Sumburgh lighthouse for my family to use in June when Zachs Christening is planned. And that is exciting too - should be spectacular for them and right about Simmer Dim. Bird spotting made easy. Fingers crossed for whales too.
As a happy co-incidence timing wise, Al Murray is preforming to the Clickimin right here in Shetland while my family are here for the Christening. So we have taken the opportunity and have booked our selves tickets. Leaving my family to baby sit!! John & I have not been out by ourselves for5 years - by choice mostly- but this will be exciting for us!
On a less exciting note, but important to me, renewed the house and car insurance and used on line brokers. Saved £350 in total from renewal cost!!