There are some things best left to the experts....

And it seems waxing is one of them.

Yes, I had an incident last weekend that will hopefully squash all future intentions of messing with stuff I have no idea about.

I had just got out of the shower and was doing my usual 10 second morning routine - moisturiser, deodorant and brush hair.  Just as I was putting the brush away I noticed a strip of wax shoved up the back of the cupboard.  Now, I can't ever remember buying this, so I'm guessing it come free somehow - maybe stuck in a magazine.  Right about now I should have realised that I was way out of my depth even contemplating using this, but my cockiness just shrugged - "Pfft, can't be that hard"

I had a quick rub between my eyebrows and felt fluff, so figured I may as well get rid of it with my new found beauty product.  There were no instructions, but I figured you put it on and rip it off - simple. 

I roughly cut out a shape that I guessed would fit between my eyebrows, peeled it apart and whacked it on.  After rubbing it a bit, to make sure it stuck, I then pulled the skin taut and ripped.  By now, I figured I must be amazing at this beauty business as it hadn't hurt at all.  BUT then I realised that all the green, gooey wax was still in a mound between my eyebrows.  I rubbed it a bit, but that just managed to smear it further over my face.

A quick rack through my brain as I tried to remember if wax comes off with hot or cold?  I justified hot as that would melt it, so I grabbed a face washer, heated it up and scrubbed.  It stayed there, except now it was smudged further and all over my fingers.  Right so hot didn't work, must be cold that you use.

I ran out to the kitchen and grabbed some ice, thinking for sure that would harden it up and it would fall off.  Meanwhile the kids are asking what's happening and Xav wanting to know why my face was covered in green bits.  I kept the ice on for a few minutes and then tried again to peel it off.  No luck.

So I then resorted to good 'ol Google.  BUT I had to type with my left little finger as that was the only one not covered in sticky, green wax.  After finally typing in "Removing wax strips"  I came across the wonderful advice to remove it with sesame oil.  I didn't have any of that, but figured olive oil would do the job just as well.

About now, the damn toxic wax had been right in the middle of my face for 15 minutes, so I was half expecting chunks of skin to come off as well.   A tissue soaked in olive oil did the job, and apart from some redness and the original eyebrow hair, all was good underneath.  Thank goodness for Google.

The bonus was, later in the afternoon, the eyebrow hair started falling out.  So I think maybe I'm a genius, I've created a pain-free way to wax!

But if I ever again have to urge to tidy up my eyebrows (and I probably won't, considering it's only the 2nd time ever I've bothered) I'll be paying for it.

The curse of Studying

I feel we've been cursed since I started studying Anatomy and Physiology.

Every time we start studying something, it seems something related to what we are studying pops up in my life.

It started way back when I'd just taken Grace for her first hearing test. I rushed to my lecture afterwards, with my head racing about everything I'd just been told (hearing loss, severe etc) and guess what the lecture was on? The ear and hearing. I sat their listening to the lecturer talk about how important it was to pick up hearing loss early. She spoke about a study she did in children's detention centres and said that most of the children their had a significant hearing loss. Right, so of course I had visions in my head of my "late to be diagnosed" daughter turning into a misfit. Luckily a few months later she was given the all clear, and future visits behind glass panels was taken out of my mind.

Next was the heart. Guess what I was studying the week the Dr picked up Xav's heart murmur/valve regurgitation? Yep - the ticker. It did make me remember all the anatomy of the heart properly though and I certainly knew the difference between the atrioventricular valves and semi-lunar valves which paid dividends in last weekends exam.

Blood vessels were next on the list. I went along to a funeral for an old school friend just a few days after studying about arteries and veins, and hearing about how clots were such a problem post-operation. The poor girl had died of a pulmonary embolism, which is a clot that had travelled to the lungs and burst. She'd been tired and went to have a rest and then couldn't be woken by her husband. One of the saddest deaths I've ever heard. It was a terrible sad funeral, made particularly horrific by her husband up the front cradling their 2 week old baby whilst their 2 y/o ran around totally oblivious to what was happening. Although I didn't know her that well, she was a beautiful girl - both inside and out. The guys loved her and the girls loved her even more. She was the picture perfect student and friend and so amazingly lovely and I bet she made the most fantastic Mother. It's just so sad to think about her 2 beautiful boys not having their mother anymore and her husband not having his beloved wife. It's the hardest thing to imagine, but must be a million times worth to actually experience.

Back to study and last week was respiratory. We've had a week of colds and coughs, with everyone but me getting over it fairly quickly. However, a few days ago mine seemed to freshen up again and the coughing intensified. I coughed all weekend, then on Tuesday started having excruciatingly sharp chest pain accompanying every cough or deep breath. It got continuously worse over the day, until at lunch time I could barely move without the feeling of being stabbed in my right lung. I called Duane and although he was supposed to be working late, he negotiated to start earlier the next morning so he could come home sooner. I couldn't move my arm or even walk without being bent over and bracing my chest, so there was no way I was able to drive to pick Grace up.

Xav was home with me all day and was an absolute angel. He amused himself all day, alternating between playing with his cars and lego and putting on episodes of playschool. Food was a bit hit and miss, he could only really eat what he could reach. He did make himself a peanut butter sandwhich for lunch which was impressive - but spent the rest of the day snacking on crackers, biscuits and sultanas. He also played lovely nurse for me, and kept on filling up my drink bottle as I needed it. All that encouragement of self sufficiency definitely pays off at times like this!

I tried making appointment at my Dr's, but they weren't taking any more patients for the day. I then tried a few other Dr surgeries around, but they all were full. Duane ended up calling Medcall (our after hours Dr) and they arranged for someone to come out about 7pm. After checking me over and listening to my lungs, he said that I had pleurisy with maybe a touch of pneumonia. He gave me another script for antibiotics to take alongside the ones I already had and wrote out a referral for an xray the following day. He also said that if I got any worse over night to go straight to hospital.

Getting in to bed that night was tough. It actually took me 10 mins of inching down slowly and waiting for everything to adjust, before I was laying down. After about half hour of laying down the constant pain had gone, just coming back when I was coughing or had to take a deeper breath in. I slept well that night, with the pain bearable. However, it was back as soon as I stood up the next morning. I wasn't in any state to be driving, so my wonderful mother in law came up bright and early to take Grace to school for me. Xav should have been going, but he was only 4 days post getting chicken pox so had to stay home. All his spots had scabbed over by then, but the actual policy is 5 days after first spots come out.

The electricity was going to be off all day at my house (Yes, I'd paid my bill!), so after getting the x-ray Xav and I spent the day at Grandmas. I got to lay on the couch feeling sorry for myself, whilst Xav was fed, watered and amused by his doting Grandmother. I tried once again to get into my normal Dr, but she was full up. Medcall called later that afternoon and asked if they could come around that night to discuss the results of the X-ray. Turns out I don't have pneumonia, but do have the pleurisy and an infection running the length of my trachea.

I'm on some mega-antibiotics and just under instructions to rest, rest and rest. I went back to Uni on Thursday, and it completely exhausted me. I got home at 3.30pm and went straight to bed, woke at 6pm and went back at 7pm and slept all night. My darling husband knew I wasn't feeling fantastic, so took the kids out late night shopping to tire them out. Today was pretty much the same. I went to uni from 9-11am, then came home and slept from 12-2pm. I'm just so tired, which is both a result of constant shallow breathing with the pleurisy and also a side effect of the antibiotic that I'm on. I'm just so thankful that I'm on 3 weeks break now and can slow down and recoup after this little ordeal. The pain is waning, but certain movements still are a bit tender and I'm still not able to take deep breaths. My cough is going though, which will definitely help me heal better.

Back on track

After reaching my goal weight of 66 kgs back in January, I got a little lot slack with my eating habits and slowly but surely the kilos that I'd worked so hard to get rid of, snuck back on again. I'm at about 70kg's now, so have 4 kg's that I need to shed. I wasn't too worried though, knowing that once it got too out of control, I'd reign myself back in again. I also blame most of it on uni and the copious amount of chocolate that I needed to make it through assessment and exam time. I was also very slack in first semester with meal planning and dinners turning into last minute throw togethers - usually loaded up with way too many carbs.

That's all stopping though. I've got time now to re-establish old habits and make healthy meals and snacks. I normally go to the farmers market on a Friday, but I've had to reassess that as it clashes with a 9am lecture that I know have. I was also getting frustrated with the lack of quality produce, with most things not looking that much better than the supermarket shelves.

So, I'm now ordering from here and I couldn't be happier. I love knowing that all our produce is mostly organic or spray free and coming from a 5 hour radius, thus reducing the food miles. It's all fresh and good quality and the taste is 100 times better than any produce I've had lately. I'm also hoping that we can get on the next farm tour and show the kids where all the yummy food we are eating is coming from. Getting the boxes is also going to make me think outside my comfort zone for cooking. There is always going to be some things that I wouldn't normally use, but what I can't use I'm sure I can pass on to someone else. This week we got a custard apple, which I am eager to try as I've never had one before. Everything else was stuff that I'd normally use, except for brussel sprouts which I ended up frying with garlic and olive oil and they were delicious!

Duane's also eager to get more exercise into our routine. I'm hoping to fit in a few long, hilly walks during the week and we are also going to start up our afternoon's of exercise in the front yard. It's something that we used to do, but somehow ended up falling by the wayside. So, back to making time every afternoon for playing in the front yard. It'll be a mix if kicking balls, chasing kids, stretching, skipping and some toning exercises. I like involving the kids too, not just going off on our own to do it. It's a way of keeping the kids active and trying to instill movement/exercise as a daily activity - something I need to be reminded of too.

I'm starting up weight watchers again too. My eating habits are quite questionable at the moment, I'm enjoying way more biscuits and snack food than my body needs. I need a reminder on portion sizes and to be a bit more accountable for what I eat and I find WW gives me this boost.

So this weekend, I've been stuffing my face like it's my last supper. Not the smartest way to approach a diet, but certainly helps rid the cupboards of tempting junk!

Pearly whites

After over 20 years of trouble with my front tooth, it's finally gone. And I'm a little sad.....

I've had that wonky, partially black front tooth for a while now and I'd come to like it. It had character and felt familiar and comforting in my mouth. Well, until the damn abscess kept rearing it's ugly head, then it was bloody painful.

Anyway, last Tuesday I went in to have it removed. It was supposed to be an easy 'grip and rip', but it wasn't coming out without a fight. After 3 injections I was still feeling pain, so then had to have the dreaded anaesthetic with adrenaline which I hate. I had to have 2 doses of that, so 5 needles all up, before the area was numb enough for extraction. The abscess was affecting how the anaesthetic worked, so the adrenaline was needed to constrict the blood vessels and keep it all in the right place. Once it was numb, then it was just a matter of the lovely dentist using her trusty pliers to pull the bugger out. By this stage I was feeling quite ill from the adrenaline, with my heart racing and the familiar nervous laughter happening. Eventually it was out though and we both inspected the culprit. It was a tooth in very bad shape, with not just 1 vertical fracture but 3!! No wonder I'd had so much trouble with it, with 3 big canals for infections to travel up!

After plugging up my (no doubt very attractive!) gap, it was time to get started on the temporary one going in. The permanent tooth will replace the temporary one in about 6 months time, just to give the gum and bone time to heal. The temp one looks ok, but it's taken me all week to get used to it. It's glued to my other front teeth via a bridge on the back, which just feels so foreign and uncomfortable. I had trouble to start with even closing my jaw properly, which made it ache and difficult to chew. Maybe it was just the swelling going down, but it's all settled now and not as painful. It still feels really strange in my mouth though, and I'm hoping that the permanent one feels less bulky.

Onto other toothy issues......

The funniest thing happened last night. Xav was exhausted after a busy day and went to bed early at 6pm. About 9pm, I was sitting on the couch surfing the Internet studying, when I heard him tip-toe down the hall. He often wanders out to go to the toilet, so I asked him if he needed to go. "No, I forgot to brush my teeth, I need to brush my teeth", said the little hygienist. Then he toddled into the bathroom, brushed and flossed his teeth and went straight back to bed. He didn't seem to be sleepwalking, he just seemed very upset and slightly distressed that he'd gone to bed without brushing his pegs!

Seems my lectures over the last week about dental hygiene must be giving my children nightmares!!

Catch up

Gosh, it's been a long time between posts! I miss having the luxury of time to sit and write, it's not only my time to mark memories but my outlet. My brain feels so jam packed lately and I worry that if all the special things don't get written down, they'll be forgotten.

Anyway, onto the past week.

I've gotten some exam and essay results back, which still have me shocked. For my anatomy exam I got a distinction in the exam, for Sociology exam I got a high distinction and the biggest shock came from my very first essay! We had the lecture for the subject on Friday, then the lecturer was going to hand out the essays. She gave us a quick breakdown, saying how about 50 failed, mostly there were passes and credits with a few distinctions and 7 high distinctions out of the 280+ essays. I wasn't feeling that confidant with my essay, and would have been happy with a credit but expected a high pass. Imagine my shock when I got it back and I actually got 47/50 possible marks, which is 94% and a whopping big high distinction!!! I was shocked and flabbergasted and was still unsure so double checked with the lecturer that the right mark had been written on. She confirmed it was right, and congratulated me on such a great essay!

I walked out of the room stunned and actually run into my other lecturer, and she asked how I went. She had a quick look over and said that the few things I had been marked down for were so minimal, and she suspected that they only picked up on them for something to mark me down for. Apparently they don't like giving full marks, especially in first year. I did then have to admit to her that the essay I have submitted for her subject had about a 10th of the effort put in, so not to expect anything too fantastic. That's the truth too, I really didn't put the work into my second essay. I've already passed the subject though as I went so well in the exam.

So, all those good results were great for the confidence but I am still finding it hard to be motivated to study for the end of semester exams. I only have 2 written and then a practical health assessment to do. I'm only really worried about the anatomy one, I've really slacked off studying that and I'm finding a lot of the new information hard to retain. I've got a week study break before the exams, so I'll be frantically studying and hoping that It'll all click then and come together.

Duane's sister has just been up for 10 days as a surprise for Wendy. I've spent the week at school, so Duane took the week off to be with the kids. They've had a great time with Auntie Debbie, who they both haven't seen for 2 years. She has been spoiling them though, and they have been decked out in new clothes and toys. The latest barbie addition is a nurses uniform, a very provocative one though.

I've been busy this week swapping between writing my latest essay and felting a crystal cave for Miss Lucie's first birthday present. I'm also making one for my kids, but that might have to be put aside until after exams. I forgot to take some pics of it finished though, so I'll get some next time I visit. I also had the impressions done for my fake front tooth, so in a few weeks I'll have a $500 smile. Also the prep work was done on the 2 teeth beside it that the bridge will be attached too. I'm still a bit sad about loosing my black, wonky capped tooth but kinda getting excited now about having the new one too. It does mean I'm on the slippery slope to old age though, false teeth are a sure sign of that. I'm happy as long as I can brush it inside my mouth, it's when you take them out to clean that the real worries start!

Now, my next object of excitement is slightly pathetic. My old dyson gave up after a 8 year continuous work out, and after getting a $250 quote to fix it I decided to treat myself to a brand spanking new one. So now I'm the proud and slightly infactuated owner of this little baby:

http://www.dyson.com.au/store/product.asp?product=DC23-TURBINE

We got it for an awesome price too, $650 - including a bonus hard floor tool and 6 years warranty! It wasn't because of my fabulous bargaining skills though, it helps to have someone on the inside. It's an absolute pleasure to use and I seriously had housework envy when I knew that Duane was home vacuuming, and I was stuck at school. My old purple faithful has been sent to Dyson to be recycled, and although it was sad to see her go, one go on the new one and I was over the sentimental feelings.

Root canal = Epic fail

Today started off ok, filled with promises of a lovely relaxing day at home. I had the day off school, as they classed it as a public holiday for those of us that go on a Tuesday and made all the Monday people go instead.

Grace was over the moon that I got to stay for an hour at her school this morning AND stay for morning circle. I used to be stay all the time, but lately it's been more like dump and run or send Grandma along in my place. It was so lovely to catch up with all the other parents between playing dress-ups, cooking and drawing with Grace. It's so sweet and heart warming to watch your child interact with all their friends and see that she is so well liked by all the children - especially with 1 little boy who has a special spot for her. He made her a special bracelet a few weeks ago, something that he had been working on for weeks and was so proud to present it to Grace. She's not too impressed with wearing it, but it hangs proudly on her door knob!

After waving a smiling Grace goodbye, Xav and I headed back home. It was the first day in about 3 months where it has just been Xav and I. It was wonderful to spend some time playing just with him, and of course he insisted that we zoom the cars all around the lounge room floor. Then we got to have a lovely cuddle on the couch reading stories. Bliss.

Duane got to come home early because of the torrential rain we have been having. I headed out to the Dr to pick up blood test results to tell what Immunisation I'd need. I'm already immune to measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, so it's just Hep b that I have to do now. Too bad that's the one that takes 3-4 injections over 4-5 months and I'm supposed to have had it all completed by end of July. Oops!

After the Dr, I drove over to the Dentist for my root canal appointment. Now, I hate needles - especially mouth ones, so I was trying to psych myself up for the big event but in doing this totally lost track of keeping my foot on the brake. Bad move. I shunted (lightly!) the lovely blue ford fiesta in front of me. She pulled over after we left the intersection, so I followed. I was hesitant to get out of the car, in case the occupant was already full of road rage, but she stepped out and didn't look too scary! I apologised, we both looked to see if there was any damage (there wasn't), I apologised again, she said "it's fine, thanks for pulling over" and we parted ways. Then I headed to the next crappy part of my day.

My lovely dentist was ready and waiting for me as I arrived. The top dentist was there too, it had been arranged that she be there as previously getting into my tooth had been difficult. Firstly, Kym had a look around the tooth and asked if I'd had any pain or swelling since my last visit in February. Nope, nothing at all. She said this was a good sign, then went and talked about it with her supervisor. She came back quite happy and said that as it doesn't happen often, due to the absence of symptoms there was a good chance that the abscess had healed itself and root canal would be off the agenda. She just wanted to do a quick x-ray, just to double check and then I could be on my way and only had to come back if there was any signs of pain. Yay! As she headed off to get the x-ray result, I was mentally planning a quick shopping trip to the Robina Mall. I was child-free, with 2 hours to spare! Yippee.

However, it was not meant to be. I would instead be spending my "me" time reclined in the dentist chair. The x-ray showed a pea size abscess nice and clearly at the top of the tooth, so she would have to go in and try to clean it out. This is the hard part. Since I've had a root canal before, there is already a path plowed out and the new path has to follow the old one exactly. And when the path you are trying to follow is only millimetres wide, precision and patience is needed.

It took 1 1/2 hours of chipping away with a sharp file. Every single time she scraped the tooth, it sounded like fingernails down a black board - Horrid! Oh, and very sophisticated products where used, things like bleach and eucalyptus! I was wearing a lovely 'dental dam' covering my mouth, however a few bits slipped through and nearly had me choking on the gross taste. Every few mm, she'd do another x-ray just to double check that she was heading in the right direction. The head lady was there too, watching over and having a turn every now and then. I was an 'interesting' case, apparently. Finally they hit blood, which I was assured was a good sign. It meant that they were through the original canal and through to the abscess, and just needed to be confirmed with another x-ray. After having it flushed out with anti-biotics and re-filled with a metal pole so the x-ray machine would pick it up, it was time for the big reveal. One glance at the dentists dropped face made me instantly realise that the news was not good. Both her and the supervisor shook there heads and said "It's not good news" Seems my lovely front tooth not only is the bearer of an abscess, but a whopping fracture running down the canal. Not good.

So, the deal is now it can't be repaired, so no root canal. Only option is to have it removed and either a bridge or post and implant put in. I can get the bridge done through public fairly cheaply ($400) but I'd have to go private for the post and implant, which could be $5000 +. Not cool. I'm booked in next week to get my first impression for the false tooth, and then extraction and implant happen on the same day. Thank goodness, I was scared that I'd have to spend a week with out my front tooth!

I'm just so annoyed that the root canal didn't work and all that time and effort has been for nothing. I'm also kinda sad that I'm going to be parting with a piece of me that I have become so attached to over the years. I'd also love to give that little brat who slammed me face first into the big rock many moons ago a big kick up the bum. Since being chipped all that time ago, this tooth has given me so much grief. It's re-chipped so many times,including on a surf trip and exposing the nerve (very painful), I missed my class visit to Melbourne Zoo as a 10 y/o as I was getting my first root canal plus all the other dentist visits because of it. So on one hand I'll be glad for it to be gone, but on the other sad to loose my crooked, partially black front tooth.

Anyway, after all that crappy news, the day finally ended on something good. The results are up for the psychology exam I had a few weeks ago, and I surprised myself with 113.5/120 which is a High Distinction! Yay!! They also put up the results for the whole nursing class, not with names, and I got 7th out of nearly 300!! I'm so pleased and surprised, and it's a good confidence boost just when I needed it. Now I'm just waiting for the Anatomy one to come back, I'll just be happy to pass that one!

I'm brushing study to the side, once again, and instead laying on the couch for my regular Tuesday night viewing. The only thing that I watch on Tv is Greys anatomy and Private practice, and I figure it's all medical based so I'm kinda still learning! My tooth is starting to ache too, after all the invasion today, so I'm hoping that's kind to me overnight.

Teeth and Tickers

Both kids are fully recovered from their sicknesses of last week. Thank Goodness....

Xav is no longer choking on his own cough and Grace is back to constantly eating, trying to regain the 2 kgs that she lost. She has not stopped eating since she rediscovered her appetite, filling up on 2-3 breakfasts and 2 servings of lunch and still wanting more! She's back to about 20kgs, so all that food is building back up her stores and filling her out nicely.

I took both kids along to the Dr yesterday, the hospital had requested that I take Grace as a follow-up and I wanted to re-confirm what to do when Xav gets asthma again. The lovely Dr Drew read over Grace's discharge notes and gave her a thorough check over. All was good, and the heart murmur that the paediatrician had detected had disappeared - where too I wondered?? Seems it was just stressed induced and not something that we need to worry about.

Next on to Mr Xav. He sat on the bed, following the lead of his big sister and raising his top for the chest checks, then taking big deep exaggerated breathes - very cute! Dr Drew asked how long Xav had his heart murmur for, to which Duane and I looked at each other surprised and answered in unison "Never!!"

Are heart murmurs contagious? How the hell does one of my children have one last week and then the other this week? They have both had their hearts checked before, so you'd think it would have been picked up before now. Anyway, Xav's is apparently quite loud and something that we should be following up. She's suggested we make an appointment for him in a month, then if it's still there she'll refer us on for ultrasounds and cardiograms. Let's hope his magically disappears within the month like Grace's did.

After the Dr's I then headed over to the Dentists. Yes, apparently we are destined to see the whole scope of medical professionals over this month. I've had some pain in my front tooth, mainly in the gum. It's not been unbearable like the last tooth pain I had - but enough to cause annoyance and the need for more creative ways to eat. It's tricky trying to bite into things without use of your front teeth, so it's been pre-cut food only for the last few weeks! I'd kinda written it off as just a gum problem, you see I've had a root canal on this tooth so figured that nothing else could be too wrong with it. Seems I know nothing at all about dentistry. After x-rays and a consultation, it appears that the pain I've been feeling is actually another bloody abscess and I'll be requiring another bloody root canal. Fun. What a fantastic way to spend my ever-increasingly precious time. I've been feeling pretty crappy lately, so no doubt it's the horrible infection running through my system.

Starting next Wednesday, after a course of antibiotics to rid the infection, I'll be fronting up for stage one of the root canal. It's done over 3-5 stages, over a few weeks. What a crappy clash of times, considering I am starting Uni in a little over a week.

The only bright side to all of this, is that once again I am taking full advantage of our wonderful public health system. Thanks to Duane's crappy Greenkeeper wage, we are lucky enough to have a health care card which gives free public dental. Normally there are long waiting lists but after going on a waiting list I was lucky enough to get a cancellation spot.

So, once my tooth is fixed up, that'll be our last medical visit for A LONG TIME 'ok?

I'm a lifer.....

Yay! I've finally gotten to my goal weight and maintained it for 6 weeks, so last night I received lifetime membership with WW!! The best part of that for me the scrooge, is actually that I don't have to pay anymore! Oh, and of course now I'm in a healthy weight range, feel better, can fit back into clothes etc - lots of bonus's!

Ok, so I haven't been that fantastic of actually staying at my goal weight, but WW are happy as long as you stay 2 kg either side of it and I'm just sneaking in by 1kg.

My WW goal weight is 66kg, and I'm exactly 67kg. I don't think that's too bad considering I've been very slack lately, especially around Christmas/New Year and camping. There have definitely been lots of splurges and times of just forgetting about points counting and gorging on my favourite foods. Lots of yummy dark chocolate, the BEST calamari and chips ever, a few sneaky squirts of ice-magic on the low fat ice-cream and plenty of celebratory cake. I do know that I am making better choices most of the time, so I'm fine with these minor indiscretions!

I'm happy where I am now though. I'm going to have a little break and just aim to maintain and then in a few weeks have another go at loosing a few more kgs. I'd love to say that I'll spend some time working on the muffin top I have perfected, but right now the motivation is not there. Hopefully It'll come soon....

Cars and gyms - both over rated.

Damn cars and their money guzzling ways. We knew the Tarago was going to cost us big $$ after the air-con blew up, we were quoted $1200 - Eeek!

Well, before we went ahead with what is essentially a "luxury", I wanted to double check that other major repairs were not about to rear their ugly heads. We put it in for a service, and at the end were given a list of things that would need doing soon due to wear and tear. All added up to $2600, including the air-con. SO right about now the $1200 that I was whinging about last week is starting to sound like a bargain.

Ok, it's virtually free money (after all we are new money now!) so we decided to go ahead and get everything fixed up. The car was booked in last week and so I drove it down and Duane followed with the kids in the Rav. Now, the Rav had been making a strange noise too recently. My denial side had talked myself into it being a leaf or something in one of the belts. On the car ride down to take the tarago however, the noise got louder and louder. Unable to ignore it any longer, I asked the mechanic to have a quick look under the bonnet and to hopefully find the suspect leaf. Well turns out it was the water pump grinding, so to save our self a massive explosion, the Rav was put in for pampering and the tarago was re-scheduled for the following day.

So in the last week we have spent $2200 on cars, and that is NOT including the air-con. Damn I hate spending money on cars, but as we don't live within walking distance of much and the public transport is sporadic, it's a necessary evil. Hopefully the air-con will get done this week, and then it will just be services that cost us for a while.

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In light of my need to "tighten" the midsection, Trude and I went to the gym. It's probably not my smartest idea, but in our eagerness we decided to do a 1/2 hour ab buster class then follow it up with a Pilates class. Now, for someone that hasn't been to the gym in a long, long time - this was bound to be interesting.

The ab class sounded nice and relaxing. I was expecting lots of floor work, so didn't worry about wearing a sports bra.

It'll be all low impact right? WRONG. The guy taking it was a sadist, I'm sure of it. He was a big beefcake, who although by the end of the class everyone in the room was verging on having a coronary, he hadn't even broke a sweat. To start with he had us jumping up a down, where I immediately cringed, knowing that the girls where only on light support. Trude started laughing, realising what my problem was. I stuck it out though and spent the next half hour experiencing ridiculous torture. So on the verge of dying, we waited for the pilates class to begin.

This one wasn't too bad, quite easy actually. Well until the Ab parts started, then Trude and I were pathetic. Our poor stomach muscles had given up and would not work, so instead of slowly lowering our self to the ground, we thumped down. There was lots of stifled giggles from us and glares from the dedicated ones up the front. It was a laugh, but enjoyable.

I've decided abs are overrated, instead I might just invest in some good suck in undies.

WW week 18

I DID IT!!!!!!

I only scraped it in, but good enough to finally get to my goal weight of 66kgs! I weighed in at 65.9, so only 100 grams off, but I did have 100 grams of sunglasses on my head too!!

So, now I'm at goal weight the next challenge is to maintain it for the next 6weeks and into the future. I'm upping my points, then depending on my weight over the next 6 weeks, the points will be re-adgusted.

I'm excited and proud of myself, but not as happy as I thought I would be. I just feel a bit of a fraud for thinking that this is it, and being ok with the weight I am now. I'm comfortable now, and know that what I am now will be fairly easy to maintain, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm still too big. I feel like I don't deserve to be at goal weight, considering that I could loose another 5 kgs or so, but just don't have the desire or motivation to do it.

I look at myself, and theres still plenty of bits to grab and prod. These are the bits I want gone, and I really need to face up to the fact they are not going just from eating properly. Diet only takes you so far, excercise will do the rest. So I really need to get serious if I want to rid my belly of the soft bread dough look.

But for now, I'm happy. I've achieved what I wanted to do, and that was to get back into a healthy bmi range - which I have.

WW week 17

Well, after last weeks little blip, I was determined to be a perfect student and hopefully see fantastic results at the end of the week.

After going through what I ate last week, I actually think my 1.2kg (*gulp*) gain was down to a few things. The first one being that I don't think I actually ate enough and the second thing being my consistent weight gain the week before my period. Both of these things happened, so this week I was more than happy to eat every single one of my points, gladly.

Yippee - It all payed off!! I hoped on the scales, and was rewarded with a 1.5kgs lose!! So, now I am 66.2, and only 2oo pesky grams away from getting to my goal weight. I'm actually thinking I might revise it down a few kgs now, but we'll see how I feel in a few weeks. I know I need to pull my finger out and get working on some toning exercises, even thoughts of the gym having been flashing through my mind - strange.


This week, I'm going to try very,very hard to loose those last 200 grams and get myself into maintenance, no idea what that is yet though.

WW week 15

It's been a snacky, food-picking week.

Every night, after the kids are in bed, I've searched the cupboards looking for something to satisfy my crunchy, savoury cravings. A big packet of chips would most definitely hit the spot, but I settled for crackers or little packets of rice wheels. The healthy lunch box ones that are sold in the health food aisle, except I don't let the kids eat them - I tell them they are grown up food!

I also had a few too many little cakes from the platter served up to the Mums at the Playgroups Christmas party. It was teeny-tiny melt-in-your-mouth caramel slice, very hard to say no too.

But all that aside, I've been fairly good so I was expecting to at least loose 400grams and make it to 10% lost.

Imagine my surprise when I hopped on the scales and the weighing lady told me I had lost 900grams!!! Yippee!!! Moments later I did ask for a re-weigh as I had my very heavy sunglasses holding back my hair. Taking them off, it actually bought me down to 1kg off, but she wouldn't change it. Oh well, I'll bank that 100 grams for next week hey!

So, now I'm 66.5, I've lost 7.9kgs all up. I'm only 500 grams away from my goal weight, but now I'm starting to think I might go lower. It's really only my flabby Mummy tummy that needs shifting now, so I really should make the effort to work on my non-existant abs.

We are heading down to lennox heads this weekend for 3 nights of camping. Then its back on Monday and cooking and preparing all day Tuesday for my gorgoeus girls 4th birthday party. I feel so dis-organised for it, so hope I can pull it all together in the small amount of time I have.

WW week 14

700 grams gone.

I'm happy with that. So now done to 67.4, only 1.4 kgs to goal! Yipee!

Wendy did really well this week, 1.9kgs! I'm very proud of her, this week she caught the bus to the school and walked to my house. Very big effort for someone who only recently struggled to walk from the front gate to the front door.

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On other news of the day. I took my friend Tim & Yu-yu's kids to the botanical gardens in the hope of getting some nice shots. They had some pics done recently with Pixi photos, which although they are "nice" they are very unnatural and way to staged. For about $600, I'd be wanting something A LOT better for my money too.


Anyway, I thought I might be able to snap a few natural pics of the girls. Li-en (the eldest) was an absolute delight, loving the camera and happy to do anything I asked. Lia on the other hand, was a little minx. Running around and only allowing rare glimpses of her back end as she high tailed it out of every photo. I still managed to get a few good ones. Damn hard trying to make them all smile though. Seems not smiling in photos is so ingrained in them, it's very rare to see Asian people flash their pearly whites.

For some reason the pics look really grainy on here, but not on my computer. Hmmm...not sure.

ww week 14

I was expecting big things this week, but seems you do only get out what you put in. Or more to the point, put on what you put in.

I lost a rather disappointing 600 grams. Disappointing because I managed last week to put on 700 grams, so really am still behind by 100grams.

The Mil was furious with herself though, after a complacent week she whacked on a kilo - Not happy at all. I think its the closest I've ever seen her to loosing her temper and there may have been a few swear words muttered. I hope she can channel her anger into motivation though and not a blow out.

I had a chat to my leader tonight and decided to set my goal weight at 66 kgs, which gives me the flexibility to go 2 kg's either side of that. I'm only 2.1kgs away from that, so I'm going to give myself the next 4 weeks to get there. Hopefully by the time Christmas comes around (8 weeks...Eeek!) I'll be in maintenance and hovering around 66kgs!

WW week 13

I've put on 700 grams and probably deserve every single ounce of it. I knew tonight that I would have put on, so wasn't too surprised or disappointed.

I know that I can safely blame some of the added lard on my heavy and horrible period, but I also know that I haven't tracked properly or exercised as well as I should. My 12 week points tracker ran out of pages this week, I tried just writing everything I ate down on other paper, but I just couldn't do it. I am so used to writing everything down in my handy little purple book, that using something else felt so damn wrong - so I just didn't do it. Pathetic excuse, I know, but I'll blame it on the brain washing from WW the cult.

It's been a long and draining week. I'm hormonal and have weakened with a few emotional eating episodes. My back has been aching and the horrid stomach cramps have been painful, even verging at times on feeling like pre-labour. My headaches are still coming regularly, but I'm fairly sure they are from my eyes. I'm getting to the end of the day (after spending the time after the kids are in bed on the net) and my eyes are all squinty and aching. I've ordered my new glasses, so hopefully once they are here the constant pressure band around my forehead will stop.

I'm not too worried about the gain. Every week around my period I have gained weight, they had a big loss the following week - lets hope this time is the same.

WW week 12

OK, so I've been doing this healthy eating thing for 12 weeks now and although at times I've wanted to go crazy on a block of chocolate, overall I haven't done too badly.

I wasn't expecting big things this week. What, with my little Friday night stint, then a few little "Ah, stuff it" moments, I can't honestly say that I've been a very good student. For example, I'm hanging out at the Truet residence right now, listening to children sleep and I've just scoffed down 2 white tim-tams (Damn you Averil for telling me how good they were).

So it was with great apprehension that I presented tonight. I breathed out deeply and hopped on the scales, praying that my lung capacity is at least a few hundred grams.

Nothing, nada, diddly squat.

I am still spot on 68 kgs, which is exactly what I was last week. I was fleetingly happy that at least it wasn't a gain, then slightly peeved at myself for not loosing anything. I guess neutral was the theme of the week though, considering for a day there, what went in went back out again.

I really have to pull my finger out though and start exercising properly, and do some dreaded ab work. My tummy is still looking like a ball of white squishy dough and Grace asks me every day if I am pregnant.

That kid better not have some sort of psychic gift.

WW week 11

Woooohooooo!!!

900 grams lost this week, which was a BIG surprise for me!!

I've had a few little hiccups over the last week, but only went over my points one day and making up for it the next. I have been a bit slack and only had a proper walk the once, but I did tackle Ikea the other night - that's exercise right?

We didn't have our usual leader taking the meeting last night, it was a fill in and although she was lovely, she had an accent that was on the verge of making my ears bleed. I tried really, really, really hard to block it out and think happy thoughts, but seriously, I was itching to get out of there. It sounded to me like a mish-mash of Canadian, Scottish and her own little dialect thrown in.

She did pass around a kilogram lump of fat that was interesting to see and imagine the 6 and a half that I have already lost!!!!

So I'm 68kg now!!! Wendy lost 800grams and is down about 11kgs, so doing fantastically.

WW week 10

OK, so to be realistic I really wasn't expecting big things tonight. I have been very good with eating though, well up until last night that is.

Duane was given a free meal for all of us in exchange for some late night limo work that he did last week. Now, given the opportunity of a completely bill-free meal, I decided to ditch the points and just have whatever.

Well, it seems that the WW cult has invaded my psyche and I can't look at food without mentally working out its point valley. It's a cult I tell ya. I'm brainwashed and therefore felt compelled to make reasonable selections from the menu. I decided on the seafood, which although had some deep-fried, it also had a huge salad and I only had 5 of the chips and left the rest. I also stopped myself after 1 piece of garlic bread (I highly doubt they would be using low fat marg - Eeek! Imagine all those points!!) And as hard as it was, I resisted the sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and home-made vanilla ice-cream. Now that was extremely hard, but once again my mind was in overdrive calculating the millions of points that would be. Instead I chose a small piece of apple crumble with a dollop of custard. Still not fantastic, but the best of a point-laden bunch.

The kids were fantastic and I was so proud of the way they behaved in the restaurant. They got to order what they wanted, both choosing calamari, chips and salad. They took turns telling the waitress what they would like and used impeccable manners each time she served them. It was such a lovely, enjoyable dinner and felt more like going out with grown up kids, not a little 2 y/o and a nearly 4 y/o. The only other child there was a little boy, probably close to being 3, who was being a little loud but certainly not disruptive or too bad for a little kid. Whilst we were there he was smacked 3 times, all for things that seemed to be so trivial. One of the times he was playing with a car and driving it over his part of the table, the Mum whacked him on the hand and yelled at him through gritted teeth. I felt so sorry for him. Luckily my 2 didn't see any of this happen, I was waiting for Grace to ask all the ?? and wasn't sure how I would answer.

Anyway, after dinner Duane took the kids round to the indoor playground whilst I donated some money via the pokies. I haven't played them for a long, long time and as per usual they gobbled up my $10 eagarly and I was left bleary eyed from all the bright spinning lights. Oh well, thats my donation for this year! Duane put a few keno's on, and he donated too.

It was a great dinner, made even more better by not having to worry about the bill at the end. Seems all my whinging last week about Duane working all the time paid off!

Ok, a bit of track. Back to WW. I was going to be happy to not put on this week, and I came so close to doing this. I only lost 100 grams, but a lose is a lose and I'll happily take it. This loosing weight business is a slow process now that I am coming down to the last few kg's.

Slow and steady will get there in they end I guess.

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When I was pregnant with Grace, my blood tests showed up that my cholesterol was very high. As nothing could be done when I was pregnant or breastfeeding, I had to wait to redo the test and figure out what was happening. It's something that I really need to keep an eye on as my Dad died of a very young age of a Heart attack. As Duane had the week off, I decided to head to the Dr this week and get it done. I was also prompted by the fact that I have been utterly exhausted lately with not real reason why. No, I'm definitely not pregnant, definitely.

Maybe its too many late nights or maybe I'm low in iron, but whatever it is it's leaving me so tired and needing copious amounts of coffee to last the day. I'm even having to nap during the day, something that I rarely do. So headed off to the Dr on Wednesday to get a few things checked out. She checked my BP and heart, all seemed perfect. Then she gave me a referral for a full fasting blood test.

I woke this morning and as I wasn't feeling too hungry I decided to head down for the test today. It's only about a 20 minute walk from my house, so I walked down at about 8am. They usually have trouble getting my blood, so I was advised to drink lots of water to get it flowing nicely. After a little wait, it was my turn to go in. I told the women that I have a slight needle phobia and then joked about my daughter and her over reaction to blood! She had a feel around my arms and was struggling to get a good vein. She tried both arms, putting the arm bandy thing on them and got me to pump and make a fist, but none of the veins were coming up big enough. She slapped my left arm a bit, then finally a little vein popped up. Cause she had to get so many vials of blood (4 big ones and 2 little ones) she put the canula and started. My arm was starting to ache from the pressure of the band, but she needed to keep it on to keep the flow. It was getting really sore, so she called the other nurse in to milk the arm as after the first vile the blood had slowed right down.

So now my arm is starting to thump from the circulation being cut off and one nurse massaging the blood down. I was starting to feel a little light headed, but not too bad. Then suddenly, my vision was blurred by bursts of flashing white. I told them I wasn't feeling too well and didn't think I could go much longer. By this stage only 3 1/2 vials had been filled (still 2 1/2 to go), but the nurse took one look at me and realised she had to get the canular out soon. I was slipping in and out, and silently wishing I would stay completely out of it as the heavy, dizziness and nausea took over. That feeling of being on the brink of passing out, would be one of the worst things to experience. I hate it. I wavered for a bit longer, the nurses both trying to hold me up whilst saying "Stay with us, deep breathes, c'mon stay here Kirsten" One of them was waving a giant piece of cardboard in my face, which I remember was really annoying me but I couldnt' get it together enough to tell her to stop. I started coming around, then the overwhelming need to vomit came, so I was handed a rubbish bin. Luckily I didn't end up vomiting and was starting to feel slightly better. I sat for a bit longer, trying to get control of my breathing, then they helped me over to the bed. I was shaking and shivering, having hot and cold sweats. The nurse gave me some water then told me to have a rest and she would call Duane to pick me up. I'd told her earlier that I has walked down and was planning on walking home, not a very good idea though.

After about 10 mins, my colour had come back and I felt like I could get back up. Then I was given the not-so-great news that I would have to go back for the 2 viles of blood they missed out on. Dammit. But at least the ones where I had to fast were taken, so I could go of an afternoon for the next ones and they will be nice and quick.

I'm left now with a very sore arm and a huge bruise around the needle area. I'm not fantastic with blood tests, but I really think the main trouble with this one was the quantity of blood taken combined with having to fast.

Duane came was called to come pick his very dramatic wife up from pathology.

And I wonder where my daughter gets her dramatic reaction to blood from?

Containing the bazookas

Today is Grace's school day and she was super excited that Daddy got to drop her off for the very first time.

It was a lovely relaxing morning for me. Being the thoughtful wife that I am, I let Duane organise the kids whilst I lazed around on the Internet and enjoyed my morning cup of tea and breakfast. I just feel that he needs to experience the drama that happens here of a morning, just so next week when he is back at work watching the grass grow, he can be thinking about poor me stuck dealing with the feral children.

Anyway, finally they were ready and looking presentable, so we headed up to the pre-school to be freed of the curious Grace for the day. I always hang around until 9.30am for the morning song and goodbye song, so today Daddy also got to join in the hand-holding and high-octave singing. Grace was a little teary when we left, but I peeked on the way out and she was happy and getting ready to go inside to be the helper.

With only the little child for the day, we decided to head to Pacific Fair to do a few things. I just want to note here what a fantastic shopping companion Xav is. We haven't used his pram for ages, so I shook all the horrible red dust from it and he was hooked on the novelty factor of being chauffeured around. He happily spent the morning lounging back, sipping on water and eating the healthy contents of his lunchbox. Duane did give him the option of hot chips, but he insisted on Sushi instead. He was very spoilt though with a soft serve at the end of the trip!

I was in desperate need of some new bras and thought I might head to Myer to get properly fitted. I haven't bought new bras for way too long, and the ones that I do have are slightly struggling to keep my gigantic boobs where they are supposed to be.

It must have been a while, cause I couldn't get over how expensive material and wire are nowadays. Just your stock standard boulder holders are up around $50! After embarrassingly showing the fitter my ill-fitting bra, she measured me up and suggested that maybe I should try on some 12E's. Holy Crapola! I was actually hoping that the mammaries had been depleted after breastfeeding - nope all still there plus some. They just look different now, instead of being nice and full and high they are droopy, sagging and looking very sorry for them self. Instead of popping them into a bra easily, now they virtually have to be folded and tucked in.

I was still a little reluctant to go straight to the E without at least giving the old DDs a chance. Of course I was wrong. Boob spillage is not a good look, so after trying on a DD, I then had to admit the E was a perfect fit.

I wasn't looking for anything fancy, just practical. So the sales lady went out to select some bras that she thought might suit. I turned my nose up at the "padded" ones (pfft, as if I need that!), but she insisted that it was merely for shape and actually look really good on. Once again I stood corrected and couldn't believe how comfy this bra is (Triumph, Gorgeous T-shirt bra) and how much better my boobs look North, not dangling around my belly button.

I tried a few others on, but nothing came close to the comfortable first bra. I bought just the one, then if I still find it super comfortable after a full day I'll buy 1 in every colour. A comfy, well fitting bra is hard to come by in my "larger" size!

I really wanted to buy some new clothes, but I am ridiculously hopeless in picking out clothes that suit me. I really have no idea of style and end up buying stuff that is usually way to big or just because it's on special. I found a few things, wandered around the shop, then couldn't be arsed trying them on. I really need to be in the mood and have someone with me to give me the yay or nay. I'll drag Nicole or Trude along to help me some other time.

After Xav had a sleep, we picked Grace up from school and she was once again so excited to see her Daddy. I really don't rate when he is around, both kids spend the whole time vying for his affection. The only inkling of preference I get is if Xav wakes of a night, he sits on his bed calling out "Mummy, come here Mummy" I love it and makes me think that deep down, like waaaayyyy down to the bottom, I am his favourite.

WW week 7,8 & 9

Ok, so I am 3 weeks behind posting my WW results, so I'm going to throw it all in together here.

Week 7 - An ok week, lost 600 grams. I was fine with this as the previous week I had put on 200 grams, which at the time I thought was just terrible.

Week 8 - I got my period the day before weigh in, feeling bloated and yucky I was hoping to either have a small loss or at least stay the same. Nope - I had PUT ON 500 grams. Crap, crap, crap. I left the meeting feeling very down and starting to doubt whether it was all worth it. I mean, I could eat crappily and doubt I would put on 500 grams in one week. I added up my lose for the month and all up I had only lost 100 grams. But wanna know the really funny part of that? I had bloody paid $60 for that privelege. Funny hey! After my little sulk I decided to try really hard this week in the hope that I could lose the 500 grams and hopefully a little more.

Week 9 - I kept within my points for most of this week, however I had 2 kids birthday lunches to go to so had to guess points for those 2 days. I made good food choices, but it's just really hard to estimate points of some foods and also to not be tempted by tiny little caramel slices. Ok, I had to have 1 of them, but in my favour, they were teeny tiny but OH so good. Anyway, I did manage to fit in a few walks and even managed to mow the lawn in a bid to burn some calories. All this must of worked because I got quite the surprise when I weighed in tonight. 1.8kgs LOST this week, which takes me to 5.4kg all up. I was not expecting that big a loss, but I'll take it thank you very much. It's given me a fresh dose of motivation and now I finally feel like I'm on the home stretch. I'm exactly 69kgs now and I think I'd like to get to about 65kgs, so not too far to go.