Health Crusaders

I have lost 9.2 kgs in about 9 weeks and it is all due to me calling this lady, Robyn Harris. Before you say, "Oh here we go, another diet" let me tell you one thing. You will either reject this information, not require this information, or take this information on board. Yes it does cost money, (personally, it has been well worth it, and no, I am not getting a kickback from this, it is just good information that we all should know about).
Here is the link to her website www.healthcrusaders.com.au
Enough said.

I had my phone interview on Wednesday (thanks to all of you for your wishes of good luck), and am feeling confident about it. I could have another interview next Wednesday so I need to buy some interview clothes as the clothes I do have are getting baggy and look silly. Baby steps and I will deal with each step as it comes along.

Stay tuned...

Boy am I excited !

Rewind... Monday 14th August 2006 - "I might put in for this job in the paper. Personal Assistant - client unknown as yet, suspect it is the Stehr Group, oh well, will call the recruitment agency and ask a few questions"

Tuesday 15th August 2006... "Shall I put my resume in, or not. Gotta throw my hat in the ring.
2pm submits resume and covering letter online.
5pm phonecall from the recruitment agency to thank me for putting my resume in (she asked me to submit it on Monday after we briefly spoke - "I want to see your resume").

Interview Wednesday 9.30am TOMORROW - woo this is all going quite fast and I am not even sure what I am doing yet ?

Stay tuned..........

As Time goes by ...

Wow, I knew I hadn't blogged in a while but 3 months ???

I suppose life has been quite normal and nothing to report. I have been diligently dieting and have managed to shed 8 kilos, and it has been very, very easy. All you people wanting to shed a few shades, get into low GI (glycemic index) cooking/eating and you will never look back. I do a little exercise (as much as the cardiologist allows me) and am feeling much, much better (on the cardiologist note, my septum hasn't changed in 5 years so it's all still going fine, never will run a marathon or dance the night away but can manage sitting and drinking red wine quite easily - as was discovered a couple of weeks back when the Iceman and his lovely lady and I partook in quite a few quality bottles of the "memory drainer".

Have a close look at this picture ...

Notice anything missing ?

The containers have gone - YAY. No more the Sowetto, township. Yes there are still a few things to tidy up, the trailer is slowly being filled with junk the little shed will be relocated when it finds another purpose, and the lean to will become part of the horse establishment when that time comes. The little van, well, I'm not sure what we are going to do with her at the moment. It acts as more storage for the time being and if we have more than one family of visitors, then she is another room.

We are in the (long and drawn out) process of getting a pergola/bull nose verandah designed for the western side of the house and that is proving difficult. The original plan was to have a Stratco Outback verandah but the only 3 colours you can have are white, cream and beige Woo big colour choice and with the colour of our house, BIG YUK ! So, the bullnose in the same colour as the roof (ironstone) is plan D (probably more like plan Z with the amount of changes we have made to the whole structure).

The girl and I went to see Renee Geyer last night, what a voice, what a woman. I was about 10 feet away from the stage and was in awe ! The first act was a fella on acoustic guitar and some wanker left their mobile phone on and it rang while he was playing. (Insert F*&khead here!). The fella (I can't remember his name which is going to make it hard to buy a CD of his, when he releases it in 2 months time) handled it well though and say "must have been for me". Funny bugger.

Today I had hoped to actually get outside and play in the sunshine but it has been raining quite heavily off and on so who knows what I am going to do. For a start this, after that, maybe cruise through the cookbooks, plan the weeks meals, do some washing, ironing, housework (I liked it better when the sun was shining).

3 weeks

I think, with confidence, that I can say I have successfully given up smoking. They say it takes 7 days to make a habit and 28 days to break one so whilst I have 7 more days to go on breaking one, I have successfully taken up another, exercising. You see, I bought myself a cross training machine (basically a bike without a seat, with arm poles) that I currently spend 15 minutes on each night (5 kms of varying intensity) and have already managed to knock off 1.5 minutes for the 5km course - WOO HOO ! I will continue with this until it becomes too easy then try another program (there are 10 in all). It is relativley a no-brainer as I pop on my i-Pod (courtesy of my AMEX reward points) and 4 or so songs later, I'm done. This has helped me drop 3.5 kgs. Baby steps.
Work is starting to get a little busier, I'm grateful for that, it's no good being bored at work especially when you worked your rrrr's off in the last job to come into something really BORING at times. I opened my big mouth and scored some extra work from the Operations Manager which was good, got to use the rotting brain for a while.
We are so proud of the girl, she has done very well at school this term, her reading and spelling skills are above average and she is a valued member of her class. The teacher had nothing but praise for our clever little girl. Her piano teacher is impressed with her as well. Now she wants to do dancing classes - where do I fit it all in ?!?!? On top of all this, she is dead keen on getting a horse. That will happen when the Man stops work up North and comes home to stay. When that happens, then I can start on my interests.

Still soldiering on.....

I must say with my head held high that it has been almost 2 weeks without a smoke. I know it doesnt sound like a long time but for anyone who has successfully given up it's a great achievement. Of course I still habitually crave for a durry but that is all that it is, a habit. Enough of that, onto other things.

Last weekend we went to Coffin Bay to try out the Girl's new sand sled (The Man bought it for her ????? Bought it for himself more likely). Armed with my trusty Digital SLR we climbed up the sand dunes at Long beach and sledded, snapped and rolled down the hill. Got some great shots (will post them later). We went for a drive after that to a place calleed Kellidie Bay and surprised ourselves by bumping into some Roxbyites and ex-Roxbyites. A couple of beers later and we headed off. Turns out they were at the shack for a 40th birthday. Called into Coffin Bay again for some fish 'n chips for tea and bumped into another ex-Roxbyite and sat out on their front verandah and gas bagged for a while. Great Day.

With the giving up smoking, I've been a bit conscious of the food that goes into my mouth so I could be killing 2 birds with one stone and (dare I say it) lose a bit of weight. Been scouring all the low-fat recipes on the internet and some great books and the whole family should benefit from this. Made this yummy pasta carbonara with what seemed like a truck load of mushrooms (I'm not particularly fond of mushrooms) and it was b e a utiful !!!!

Nasty, nasty habit.

It's only been 7 days (and I wouldn't say I've kicked it yet) but I've attempted to give up smoking and so far (fingers crossed) I will succeed !!! It has been relatively easy, living 20 kms from the nearest shop, being ill from the flu and some inner strength that I must have stored in there somewhere (I think that is the last of the inner strength, I may need to regenerate some more of that) and voila ! I'm feeling a little better already (I say little better as I think giving up on a cold was a wise/unwise thing to do as I am still coughing etc (I wont go into TOO much detail, but you get the gist).

(wait for the photos, the %$#@*& blogger is not working AGAIN !!!!!!!)

More photos. The foggy one was taken this morning and the cows (get some beef in your teeth, ya know like get some pork on your fork - I thought it was funny) well, they are rogues, they escaped from the paddock down the road and came to visit us. Turns out they were here before the fire last year and thought it was so nice, the first opportunity they got, they came back. Their Dad came and took them home about a week later.

The power of pictures

I've got a new camera ! Woo Hoo !!! Still having fun trying it out, learning how to use it, and taking loads of photos. Up early this morning, waiting for the agronomist to come out and do some soil sampling. So took the opportunity to take some more pictures (not this one).

There was a wicked sunrise the other morning and the tripod came in handy for that. The colours were just immense. No filters, just me and the camera. Cool Hey !













Other than that, not much happening. Oh, The Girl is starting piano lessons next week, she has joined junior choir at school, does recorder once a week and has swimming lessons as well. Keeps me busy anyway.

Ciao