Friday, 8 June 2012
08 June 2012
Holding steady at 44 lbs. Today was a day shift, which is about all I can say about it. I used to think I was a patient person but I'm learning--painfully--that I'm not. One down and 3 to go... Someone remind me again why I wanted this job?
Thursday, 7 June 2012
07 June 2012
If I didn't know better, I'd say it was 07 November vice 07 June! It's cold, rainy and overcast--definitely not summer-like! I was out for a little while, but now I'm back, curled up in bed with my books, Kindle and computer. I've gotten the WiFi working so I'm not tethered to the laptop in the snug, which is trying to die anyway.
I feel like such a traitor! I broke down a couple of weeks ago and got a Kindle Touch. The BX had them cheaper even than amazon.com and a few things had come out Kindle-only, so I took the plunge. So far, I like it--although I don't think it will completely replace a printed book, for me anyway. I bring this up because I stumbled across something by a guy named Mark Bittman called "Cooking Solves Everything" which is really interesting. It's an essay about why people should cook more and it's really interesting reading. I found the environmental impacts of not cooking to be pretty amazing!
Since I haven't mentioned it yet, you have probably assumed that I didn't lose any weight overnight--and you'd be right :-( I'm not discouraged, though; I've lost 44 lbs so far and I spent last evening going through my closets and getting rid of a bunch of stuff. About half was jeans that are too big; the other half was tops that are crop-tops--they're big enough around but too short and muffin tops are not a good look for anyone! I was also amazed at the number of pairs of (ugly) shorts I have! Those will go in the next cull; it's rarely warm enough for shorts here and besides, they're phenomonally ugly!
On the way home, I picked up some chicken at the butcher shop in Ripley, so here's hoping it's dry enough tomorrow to grill. I can bake the chicken if I have to but I much prefer it grilled.
I feel like such a traitor! I broke down a couple of weeks ago and got a Kindle Touch. The BX had them cheaper even than amazon.com and a few things had come out Kindle-only, so I took the plunge. So far, I like it--although I don't think it will completely replace a printed book, for me anyway. I bring this up because I stumbled across something by a guy named Mark Bittman called "Cooking Solves Everything" which is really interesting. It's an essay about why people should cook more and it's really interesting reading. I found the environmental impacts of not cooking to be pretty amazing!
Since I haven't mentioned it yet, you have probably assumed that I didn't lose any weight overnight--and you'd be right :-( I'm not discouraged, though; I've lost 44 lbs so far and I spent last evening going through my closets and getting rid of a bunch of stuff. About half was jeans that are too big; the other half was tops that are crop-tops--they're big enough around but too short and muffin tops are not a good look for anyone! I was also amazed at the number of pairs of (ugly) shorts I have! Those will go in the next cull; it's rarely warm enough for shorts here and besides, they're phenomonally ugly!
On the way home, I picked up some chicken at the butcher shop in Ripley, so here's hoping it's dry enough tomorrow to grill. I can bake the chicken if I have to but I much prefer it grilled.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
06 June 2012
Well, I took the plunge and am now on the new format. I have a ba-a-a-ad feeling about this! If it's too hard, I'll quit blogging--which kind of defeats the purpose. We'll see...
I'm down another lb, making the total loss 44 lbs. Yippee! It's a PP (pure protein) day and so far so good. I added some stuff to my Riverford Organic order for Friday and discovered that strawberries are now in season :-( No strawberries on this phase of the diet. Oh, well--I'm doing well and there will be other strawberries.
I'm taking up knitting; it's basically something to do with my hands besides eat :-) I'm currently working on a purple scarf. I'm going to a little shop on Commercial St in Harrogate and they had a window display with lots of knitted tea cozies, including one of a sheep that was very cool. I have the pattern for it and hope to knit a couple for prezzies. They also have have some outrageously cute red, white and blue jumpers which I may use as my next project.
I stopped and picked up a few chicken breasts at the butcher shop in Ripley, so I'll grill those tonight. Chicken--it's what's for dinner :-) I'll sit outside, since the sun has come out again, and read while I grill.
I'm down another lb, making the total loss 44 lbs. Yippee! It's a PP (pure protein) day and so far so good. I added some stuff to my Riverford Organic order for Friday and discovered that strawberries are now in season :-( No strawberries on this phase of the diet. Oh, well--I'm doing well and there will be other strawberries.
I'm taking up knitting; it's basically something to do with my hands besides eat :-) I'm currently working on a purple scarf. I'm going to a little shop on Commercial St in Harrogate and they had a window display with lots of knitted tea cozies, including one of a sheep that was very cool. I have the pattern for it and hope to knit a couple for prezzies. They also have have some outrageously cute red, white and blue jumpers which I may use as my next project.
I stopped and picked up a few chicken breasts at the butcher shop in Ripley, so I'll grill those tonight. Chicken--it's what's for dinner :-) I'll sit outside, since the sun has come out again, and read while I grill.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
05 June 2012
Another good day! Down another lb (43 lb total). It's still the Jubilee Bank Holiday, so things were a bit boring; I'm glad I still have 2 days off that aren't bank holidays. Got 3 boxes in the mail today and a little work done of sorting clothes that are too big.
It's a PV (protein and veggie) day so I'm having steamed broccoli with salsa and a chicken breast (that I grill on Friday). Pretty good stuff!
It's a PV (protein and veggie) day so I'm having steamed broccoli with salsa and a chicken breast (that I grill on Friday). Pretty good stuff!
Monday, 4 June 2012
04 June 2012
Another good day! Down another lb for a total of 42 lbs or 3 stone as they say over here. Since I need to lose 125 lbs (just a lb short of 9 stone), I'm 1/3 of the way there. Woo Hoo!! Very motivated about the whole thing right now.
I guess one of these days real soon I need to switch over to the new view. I keep getting all these dire warnings about the new look coming and I'd hate to log in one afternoon and not be able to get to my blog.
Not too much to say for today. I worked an overtime but I still have 3 days off before I start back to work. Tomorrow is still a Bank Holiday so I think my stay-at-home project for tomorrow is to go thru my clothes and get rid of some of the big stuff. I'm hoping I can also get rid of a temporary wardrobe so I can put a book shelf on that wall and get some books off the floor.
I've lost enough weight that Saturday I was able to buy one of those silver Celtic rings they sell all over the place in Scotland--and have it fit (comfortably, I might add!) on my ring finger. Yippee! So much nicer to reward myself with something like that rather than a food reward!
I still need to do my brain exercises on Lumosity then it's a bit of reading and bedtime. Such an exciting life I lead...
I guess one of these days real soon I need to switch over to the new view. I keep getting all these dire warnings about the new look coming and I'd hate to log in one afternoon and not be able to get to my blog.
Not too much to say for today. I worked an overtime but I still have 3 days off before I start back to work. Tomorrow is still a Bank Holiday so I think my stay-at-home project for tomorrow is to go thru my clothes and get rid of some of the big stuff. I'm hoping I can also get rid of a temporary wardrobe so I can put a book shelf on that wall and get some books off the floor.
I've lost enough weight that Saturday I was able to buy one of those silver Celtic rings they sell all over the place in Scotland--and have it fit (comfortably, I might add!) on my ring finger. Yippee! So much nicer to reward myself with something like that rather than a food reward!
I still need to do my brain exercises on Lumosity then it's a bit of reading and bedtime. Such an exciting life I lead...
Sunday, 3 June 2012
03 June 2012
After the crap week I had, it turns out yesterday was just what I needed! Yesterday had kind of a gray start here in North Yorkshire, but the weather report said sunshine in Dumfries and Galloway, so we set out for Sweetheart Abbey around 7:30. It's a 3-hour drive to the village of New Abbey and it was still pretty socked in and windy but it wasn't raining... Anyway, I had somehow managed to let my Historic Scotland membership lapse, so I rejoined. One of the cool things I discovered yesterday is that Historic Scotland is now doing stamps of their properties (or the staffed ones anyway) and you can get your membership book stamped as you visit the places. The Japanese do a similar thing and I collected stamps while I was there.
Sweetheart Abbey is undergoing a major renovation right now, so there's lots of scaffolding but I still got a couple of good shots. We didn't stay long because it was cold and windy, so we headed over to the New Abbey Corn Mill, another HS property very close by. Now "corn mill" is a rather confusing description, since they were grinding oats--not corn--there, but I vaguely remember that "corn" is a generic term for cereal grains over here. They have a short film and then you get a guided tour; the mill is still in operation some days and they sell the resulting porridge oats at the shop there. They had some benches set up and we had lunch there--and watched a heron catch his lunch, too.
From there, we moved on to Dundrennan Abbey, which is supposed to be where Mary Queen of Scots spent her last hours in Scotland before her exile to England. It's a beautiful ruin and is normally a staffed property but there was no one there for the shop so I couldn't get my book stamped or get a guidebook. From there, we were going to head back to Caerlaverock Castle but first we stopped off at a couple of places we saw sign-posted.
Orchardton Tower is the only round tower house in Scotland and it was pretty neat. The first door you see leads to a lovely barrel-vaulted storage cellar; when you go back outside and walk a few steps around the tower, you come to the steps leading up to the living quarters. The rest of the floors and the roof are gone but they have a nice artist's rendition of what it might have looked like. You can still see where the floors would have been. From there, we went to Drumcoltran Tower, which was actually a farmhouse and sits today in the middle of a working farm, which gives you some idea of what it would have been like--without the mechanization :-)
And then we were on our way to Caerlaverock Castle, a medieval Maxwell stronghold. They have a good film there on the sige of Caerlverock Castle by Edward I in about 1300. Tony Robinson does the film and everything I hear him, I always think 'Baldric' from the "Blackadder" series :-) But he does a good job with the seige. The castle only held out for a day and a half, which may not sound like much but Edward had 3000 troops and 60 defenders held them off, which I thought was pretty good.
By this time, it was 5:30 and things were closing up, so we started home. The TomTom routed us right past Ruthwell Church, so we stopped--and the guy was only just getting ready to lock-up so he let us see the cross, an amazing Anglo-Saxon cross from around 600! We saw 7 sights all together and we even managed to drive by the Devil's Porridge to see what is up with that (it's a WWI exhibit), even though it was closed for the day. By the time we were blasting across the A66, the weather had truly gone to pot but we had a great day!
And amazingly, I finally lost another lb! FINALLY!! Even though this is supposed to be a PV day, I think I'm going to stick with my original plan and have a little mini-attak phase just to give the diet a good kick. So I'm down 41 lbs total. Yippee!
Sweetheart Abbey is undergoing a major renovation right now, so there's lots of scaffolding but I still got a couple of good shots. We didn't stay long because it was cold and windy, so we headed over to the New Abbey Corn Mill, another HS property very close by. Now "corn mill" is a rather confusing description, since they were grinding oats--not corn--there, but I vaguely remember that "corn" is a generic term for cereal grains over here. They have a short film and then you get a guided tour; the mill is still in operation some days and they sell the resulting porridge oats at the shop there. They had some benches set up and we had lunch there--and watched a heron catch his lunch, too.
From there, we moved on to Dundrennan Abbey, which is supposed to be where Mary Queen of Scots spent her last hours in Scotland before her exile to England. It's a beautiful ruin and is normally a staffed property but there was no one there for the shop so I couldn't get my book stamped or get a guidebook. From there, we were going to head back to Caerlaverock Castle but first we stopped off at a couple of places we saw sign-posted.
Orchardton Tower is the only round tower house in Scotland and it was pretty neat. The first door you see leads to a lovely barrel-vaulted storage cellar; when you go back outside and walk a few steps around the tower, you come to the steps leading up to the living quarters. The rest of the floors and the roof are gone but they have a nice artist's rendition of what it might have looked like. You can still see where the floors would have been. From there, we went to Drumcoltran Tower, which was actually a farmhouse and sits today in the middle of a working farm, which gives you some idea of what it would have been like--without the mechanization :-)
And then we were on our way to Caerlaverock Castle, a medieval Maxwell stronghold. They have a good film there on the sige of Caerlverock Castle by Edward I in about 1300. Tony Robinson does the film and everything I hear him, I always think 'Baldric' from the "Blackadder" series :-) But he does a good job with the seige. The castle only held out for a day and a half, which may not sound like much but Edward had 3000 troops and 60 defenders held them off, which I thought was pretty good.
By this time, it was 5:30 and things were closing up, so we started home. The TomTom routed us right past Ruthwell Church, so we stopped--and the guy was only just getting ready to lock-up so he let us see the cross, an amazing Anglo-Saxon cross from around 600! We saw 7 sights all together and we even managed to drive by the Devil's Porridge to see what is up with that (it's a WWI exhibit), even though it was closed for the day. By the time we were blasting across the A66, the weather had truly gone to pot but we had a great day!
And amazingly, I finally lost another lb! FINALLY!! Even though this is supposed to be a PV day, I think I'm going to stick with my original plan and have a little mini-attak phase just to give the diet a good kick. So I'm down 41 lbs total. Yippee!
Friday, 1 June 2012
01 June 2012
What an absolutely dreadful week! Work sucked, too much walking to that miserable class and I didn't even lose any weight--and my knee is just killing me from all the walking. Tomorrow, as long as it's not raining, we're off to Sweetheart Abbey and Caerlaverock Castle in southwestern Scotland, so that should be fun. I'm off 5 of the next 6 days, so hopefully my knee will get to feeling better.
I'm going to get my lunch for tomorrow knocked together, make my oat bran pancake for tomorrow morning and clean out the car and then I'm off to bed.
I'm going to get my lunch for tomorrow knocked together, make my oat bran pancake for tomorrow morning and clean out the car and then I'm off to bed.
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