Friday Quicktakes

1. Well, I promised y'all I'd be honest about my 5:2 program so here goes.... I weighed myself yesterday for the first time in 2 months and I lost .....nothing. Nada, zip, zilch. So that's a total of half a stone since the end of January- not exactly stellar and I wanted to burst into tears right then and there on the scales in Boots (none at home thanks to the full blown phobia I have going on there, but thats a whole other blog post.) Truthfully, except for one week off fasting at Easter, I've been sticking rigidly to my 2 fast days per week so they're not the problem. But when a fellow 5:2er's husband cheekily asked her recently, 'Is today  a 500 calorie or a 5000 calorie day?, he may have inadvertently hit the nail on the head! Let's face it, it doesn't take Einstein to work out that I'm overindulging somewhat on the other days.

Yes, I did briefly consider chucking the whole thing in completely, but the honest truth is this program suits me. Overall, it brings a balance to my eating patterns, I feel healthier and I've lost SOME weight! (Oh, and there are loads of health benefits associated with intermittent fasting too, which I totally overlook).
Obviously I could do with reining it in on the non fast days, but overall I'm enjoying my food, not putting on any weight and I'm into size 14 jeans for the first time in years. And even though I'll not be winning 'Slimmer of the Year', or falling down a grating any time soon,  for once I'm eschewing the quick fix in favour of the long game, so I've decided to keep 'er lit for now...I'll keep you posted.

2. Years ago, before I had kids and a minivan we moved to America and I watched the Oprah Winfrey show. One day there was a woman on talking about a book she'd written called 'Simple Abundance- A Daybook of Comfort and Joy.' Basically, it's a series of daily reflections which show  'how your daily life can be an expression of your authentic self' and it also involves keeping a 'gratitude journal', where you write down 5 things you are grateful for every day.
 I know it all sounds a bit American and new agey  but I figured if it was good enough for Oprah, it was good enough for me!  I must've gone on about it a fair bit, because Loverboy later went to Barnes and Noble & bought it for me. Sadly, despite my initial enthusiasm, I lasted about a week and it ended up gathering dust under the bed.
Looking back, while I could appreciate it as a  worthwhile exercise, I just wasn't there yet myself. Maybe I  needed life experience and a few more years on the clock before I could apply it to myself?
 Then, lo and behold and as if by magic, what turned up this week when I was doing all my redding out, only the (slightly mildewed ) book and accompanying gratitude journal.  Maybe five kids later and now in my (earliest of ) forties, the time has come to give it another try. And just for the fun of it, here's a little peek at my old  gratitude journal... I DO find it reassuring that I'm still grateful for them all these years later!

3. Speaking of pics, here's how my kitchen looks... so whaddyathink? Can I just draw your attention to the lack of checked wallpaper and the smell of fresh paint? I even managed to hound Loverboy into making a photo wall for me, instead of having them all higgledly piggledy over every surface. Love love love it!

Wise up to yourself!

4. The 'rents are in Vienna this week- for the past few years we've all clubbed together and bought them a city break for Christmas, because apparently they've enough ornaments. They'll have the feet walked off them and my dad will take about 1000 pictures of old buildings which will never be labelled, and now I've got that Midge Ure song 'Vienna' playing in my head. Which randomly reminds me of a psycho I knew in college who properly stalked him! He found out where he lived in London and actually went over there and hung around his house like a bad smell-this was all pre-internet too- he'd done all his stalking research by post and phone for goodness sake! I remember listening to him talk one day and just thinking  'You're a Nut Job! Why would ANYONE want to stalk Midge Ure?'

5. We're off to the Caravilla but I've mixed feelings because it means we're going to miss the GAA festival weekend right here at home. There's a local 'Strictly Come Dancing' -closed rehearsals have been going on for months and the competition is FIERCE! There's also Bingo, a big Sunday morning breakfast but I'm most gutted to be missing Con Jovi on Saturday night. I know it's not the same but I'll just have to put on my 'Slippery When Wet' album up at the caravilla instead.

6. You know what's coming, don't you?.....Here's this week's Booster Seat Boogie. Enjoy every long haired moment, skinny jeaned moment and do have a fabulous bank holiday, whatever you're up to, Emmaxx