Chook security

It was 5am and I was sleeping in bed, enjoying lazy cuddles from my littlest baby who had snuck in sometime overnight.

I heard a few strange noises coming from the chooks, but rolled over and figured as Duane was already up, he could deal with it.

The chooks kept cackling and making their loud "honking" noise, then it sounded like a scuffle and I heard the flap of wings and louder honking.

I stumbled out of bed (remember 5am), expecting to find Duane on the couch either asleep or enjoying his Internet time (I allocate 12 midnight-6am to him!) Nope, not around anywhere.

The chooks had fully ramped the noise up by now. I opened the front door and just as I did a black cat slunk under the front gate and ran away. I quickly did a head count of the chooks, hoping that the cat hadn't just enjoyed his breakfast. The front yard was scattered in feathers, but none of the chooks looked injured.

I really didn't think the chooks could get any louder, but they did, especially Henny. She was honking so damn loudly, with her head high in the air and her chest thrust out, obviously trying to look scary to the intruder.

I tried everything to get her to shut up, remembering its 5am and I'm sure the neighbours where not sympathising with the chooks being scared by a cat. She just would not stop. I called Duane, firstly asking what the hell he was doing at work so damn early, then shoving the phone into the open air so he could hear the lovely sound everyone else and I were not enjoying.

Apparently he had gone up early to chip and putt, my guess is its to eat the coco pops and nutri grain that the club supplies for breakfast - not sure whats wrong with the Aldi weet-bix that he gets here?? Anyway, he suggested a few things and none of the worked. She was just getting honkier and honkier (ok, I know that's not even a word), pacing up and down in front of the cats escape route. I threw some seed out, Dulcie and Silkie gobbled it up but not Miss Henny. Bertha had the right idea, after I came out she went back to bed. Smart girl.

I ran inside and raided the cupboards for rice bubbles, normally her favourite. Nope, still damn honking (I'm not even sure if the noise sounded like honking, but I can't think of anything else to describe the lovely-not tones) The 2 other chooks awake gobbled up the bubbles, whilst Henny carried on, not caring about the treats.

Pea, she loves frozen peas. So I raced inside and grabbed the peas out of the freezer, still hearing loud and clear the constant noise. I scattered nearly a full bag of peas all over the front lawn, I didn't care I just wanted the noises to stop.

She started to look a bit interested, the honking slowed down and then became more sporadic. I knew then that I had her weakness. She started lowering her beak to the ground, then shut the hell up, and ate the peas in peace.

I tell you, if I'd had an axe and a jar of Chicken tonight, she would have been dinner.

But the chook lays good eggs, even if she does hide them in the front garden. We found a stash of a dozen the other day that she had layed under the cycad.

The kids didn't not even stir and its 6.30am now, they are still tucked up in bed (Grace in hers and Xav in ours).

On the upside, gosh its beautiful outside in the early morning.

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.

A long day.

The husband is not coming home till after 7pm and I've been up with the kids since before 6am. That's a long day and my patience is testament to how draining the day has been.

The kids are outside with the slide backed up to the trampoline. I've glanced out, and I think they are jumping from the top of the slide onto the trampoline. I know that trampoline accidents are one of the main reasons for kids presenting to emergency, but right now I don't care. I am getting a nano-second to get dinner ready, so they can go nuts.

The back door has been open and closed a gazillion times by the offspring as they flit in between going all kamikaze on the trampoline and stomping sand all over the already grainy floor. The flies have taken the opportunity to get in, due to the constantly opened door, and have taken residence all through my kitchen.

I decided to take my aggression out on the pesky flying black things, swatting them in every direction, then smelt chemicals burning. I looked over and my hotplates are all burning bright red, with my favourite large and very expensive Tupperware fridgesmart smouldering away on top. Seems when I turned the oven on to put the batch of muffins the brats and I just made, one of them switched all the hot plates on. Not.Happy.At.All.

I've just undone a tin of tuna and managed to spill all the juice over me. Xav just spilt a mixture of ice and water all over the floor. And I've just gone against all my chemical beliefs and sprayed the damn flies with fly spray. My stir fry is verging on being uneatable, cause I had to rush out and get the clothes off the line before it rained. My mouth is aching from having a random piece of bone removed earlier today. Seems there was some left over from a few months ago when I had my molar extracted. I was offered a needle to get the bone out, but the thought of another needle prick this week was all too much. The dentist used a numbing gel and just pulled the bloody thing out whilst I did my best dee breathing to get through the pain. It was all over quick and the pain wasn't too bad.

Hubby better not be late home and better present with some serious apologies.

On the upside, I went to a craft morning at Silkwood and made a felt/wood Mary doll that's going to be part of a Nativity scene.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

Working hard for his money.....

Yay, Duane has next week of work and I CAN NOT wait!!

Well, seen as how it is the weekend now, theoretically his holiday should of already started right? Nope, my too nice husband said yes to some extra work chauffeuring around some of the members of the golf club that he works at. He worked from 5am Saturday morning, came home for a few hours over lunch then was back out again until 2am. Poor bugger only had 4 hours sleep before he was out again Sunday morning, was home again over lunch and then headed to a friends house to watch the footy final. He did feel extremely bad about leaving me again, especially since the kids were in fine form, but I insisted that he go as it was something he had planned for ages. He came home in time to put the kids to bed, then back out for a limo job to Brisbane airport and back. It's nearly midnight on Sunday night and he still isn't home.

Thank goodness he will be handing over the limo for the next week as well as not having to go to his other work. The limo work started out just as a favour to the Golf Club and only supposed to be occasional. Apparently though the members all love him, so there has been lots of requests for him to do the pick ups and drop offs. He doesn' t mind it, and the pays not too bad. It just eats into a bit of our time and financially its a bit complicated. I have to estimate his income for Family tax, and with the extra work it's hard to make sure we don't get over paid and end up with a big tax bill. I know I could just over estimate his wage, but then its tough on the weeks that he doesn't get overtime.

Ok, the moneys not the main problem - the big issue is we usually miss out on our rare mornings together. He leaves for work every weekday at about 5.30am, then Saturdays is his golf day, so Sundays are the only morning that we get to spend together. Its the only day we all get to wake up together (I enjoy that for a second, then kick them all out of the bedroom so I can have a sleep-in!). The kids adore having Duane around in the morning, their excitement at seeing him when they wake is gorgeous.

ETA - He didn't end up getting home until after midnight. He was absolutely exhausted from all the late nights and early mornings, so spent the majority of today catching up on sleep. As much as I wanted to blare the music and get the kids screaming at full volume, I kept them amused outside and let him snooze on the couch. BUT, now he's caught up on sleep, there wont be any lazing around for the rest of the holidays, there are a bunch of things that I want to do. There's Ikea trips to be done, trips to Dreamworld and White water world before our 2 year pass runs out and lots of family time at the park/beach.

By the end of the week, he will be BEGGING to go back to work for a break!

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.