Thursday, October 20, 2011

Where There's a Will, There's a Weigh.................



On my previous blogpost, I was bemoaning the problems I've been having with my weight.

Over the last couple of years, the medication I was taking gave me terrible sugar cravings.

How am I doing?

My starting weight was 11st 2lbs. I'm only just over 5ft 3ins.

My usual weight has always been between
8st 12lb and 9st 7lbs.

None of my clothes fitted me. The more weight I put on, the less I was moving about.

When my size 16 trousers started to pinch................enough!

I'd read that one of the tablets recommended for the treatment of fibromyalgia has weight loss as a side effect..................

Ooooh.............I'll have some of that, I thought!

So, last week, I made an appointment with my doctor.






It was well worth the visit!



I told him of my plan. He was well impressed that I'd already managed to lose 4lbs during the previous fortnight.

(Some of my diet tips are at the end of this post)............







He agreed the extra weight wasn't helping me and gave me a prescription for the alternative tablets.

At the moment, I am taking a half dose of the old one. (I've been on them for 9 years, so I need to tail them off gradually.)





I love my Doctor!




The sugar cravings are definitely going and I have lost another 3lbs........WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

But, best of all...........I got in a pair of size 14 trousers today. YAY!!

I'd do a cartwheel........................



............but not with my bad back!


I'm feeling very positive, but it's early days yet.


*************

Diet Hint and Tips


1. Start the day with a good breakfast.

I have only one boiled egg............






*********


2. Drink plenty of fluids................







**********



3. A glass or two of wine won't hurt............








************



4. Make sure there is plenty of fibre in your diet....................

Coconut's supposed to be VERY good for fibre.


**********


5. Don't forget your '5 a day'..................




**************



6. Cut down on cakes. I only have one piece a week now..................







*************

Finally...............


Don't forget...............







and..................



...........however good you are at doing the laundry..................








Do you have any dieting tips to pass on?


Don't forget to pop back and see how I get on!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Seeing the Error of my Weighs!.....................





Hello, my dear Bloggeroos!

Some of you know that I have been having trouble with my weight over the last few years.



This has been mainly due to my medication. I've never had a sweet tooth, but these tablets give me terrible sugar cravings.

Remember my struggle with Coco Pops addiction?






I'm also less active as the Fibromyalgia causes painful joints, so I have to pace myself.

I had a terrible moment this morning when I stepped onto my bathroom scales.

I'd already decided last week that something had to be done when I weighed in at 11st 2lbs! (156lbs)

Before I developed Fibromyalgia, my weight was always between

8st 12lbs (124lbs) and 9st 7lbs (133lbs).

Even during pregnancy, my top weight was only

10st 4lbs (144lbs).



I've been looking at ways to tackle this, but more of that later............

Today, when I cleaned the bathroom, I'd left the scales on the landing.






I'd been downstairs tidying up. I went back up to put my clean clothes away.

As I replaced the scales on the bathroom floor, I stepped on them. (As yer do!)

OMG!

12 stone?!

That's IMPOSSIBLE!

I felt completely crestfallen.......................

...............until I realised..................

..............under my arm.................

..........was...............




...........a basket of clothes!

**********

I've already lost 4lbs just from cutting down.

Also, I'm going to try some gentle exercise with a view to improving my suppleness and stamina. (Then I could maybe manage a proper Keep Fit class.)

I've got an appointment with my doctor this afternoon to discuss trying a different tablet.

Watch this space!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear?.......................


Hello my dear Bloggeroos!

I hope you are all well.

Today, I have a tale from my childhood. It's about Mumsie's attempt to reproduce my Nanna's recipe for "Pineapple Surprise."

I was going to call this blogpost "Pudding on the Agony."

But that would be toooooo daft. Even for me!

(Imagine now, if you will, that the screen is going swirly, the world is in black and white, and Perry Como is crooning quietly on the radio.....)

Now I've got you zoned in, I'll begin..................

My Nanna was a wonderful woman, if not a bit fierce!

She had a hard life.

She married a man much older than herself, so she was widowed at 55, and left to bring up eight children single handed.

She was a fantastic and VERY resourceful cook. She worked quickly and methodically.

(My Dad told me that he often wondered if Nanna had once worked in a casino as she buttered the bread and threw it around to each person's plate so fast!)






Nanna really loved her food, she was an enormous woman; almost 6 feet tall and she weighed over 20 stone (280lbs).

We all loved her and miss her to this day, but..............

she could be quite sharp............and..............

we were scared to death of her!

She was particularly fond of desserts and puddings.

During the War, Lincolnshire was home to many American airmen.






One of my Aunties was a very stunning young woman and made friends with some of them.

I don't know how many, but let's just say she never ran out of nylons!





These delightful young men, had a very strange habit of also handing out various treats to the local beauties, such as sweets, jars of jam, and, of all things, tins of Pineapple Chunks!






Obviously, they were gratefully received, but one tin of Pineapple Chunks didn't go far between an adult and eight children, so Nanna came up with a recipe of Pineapple Surprise.


She would make up a HUGE load of Bird's custard made with evaporated milk and pour in the pineapple chunks.

The "surprise" bit was if you actually managed to find a piece of the delicious fruit!




"Surprise - I got one!"

It became a family favourite.

Over the years, as the rationing ended and more of the children left home - there would be far more pineapple and much less custard!

By 1963, when I was a little girl the recipe amounts were now about half and half.

One day, Mumsie put a large glass serving dish on the table, and proudly announced that she had made us all "Pineapple Surprise."

Nanna had come for Tea that day. She sighed heavily, leaned across the table and started shoving the bits of pineapple around with the serving spoon, as if checking for an unexploded bomb.

Nanna: (sucking some of the custard of the spoon.)You didn't ask me for the recipe, did you?

Mumsie: (indignantly.) Pineapple, custard......How hard can it be?

Nanna: Have you ACTUALLY tasted it?
(She held out the spoon.)

Mumsie: Errrr.....no...... (she had a little taste.) Oooh 'eck! It tastes nothing like yours. What have I done wrong?

Nanna: Did you make up the custard with evaporated milk?






Mumsie: (nodding her head vigorously) Of course I did!

Nanna: How did you make up the milk........exactly?

Mumsie: With water......how it said to do it on the milk tin.

Nanna: You didn't make it up with the pineapple juice?

Mumsie: Errr.......no. Was I supposed to?

Nanna: Yep!

Mumsie: Oooops.................I drank it!

Nanna: Ooooh our Aud - you're such a greedy bitch!
(Then she smiled and added,)
Still, that's NO surprise!

***************

I'm still very hit and miss with my postings. I've still got things going on here.
Tomorrow, I'm having a new loft hatch put in.
That'll get rid of the last of my clutter with any luck!


Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Von Trapp Family.......but without the singing!







Hello, my dear Bloggeroos!

I had a lovely time over the Lincolnshire coast on my little jaunt with my family, a few weeks ago.

All the kids really enjoyed it. Two of my granddaughters, Hollie and Eve love just "being cousins" together.



***********



We've had some fair bits of excitement in my extended family too. My niece, Laura is getting married on Saturday. The other bit of news is that Emily, her sister is moving back up to Lincoln from Wiltshire next week.

There's a definite buzz up at Mum and Dad's (a.k.a. Headquarters.)

This is where the Von Trapp Family mention comes into my post today...............

Due to the size of our large family there are six, yes that's six, pageboys.

Because the wedding party is getting dressed at my sister Mandy's house, all the pageboy outfits and three of the matching bridesmaids dresses are all pressed ready, hanging all along the picture rail.

According to Mandy, it looks like a row of the "curtain outfits" from the Sound of Music!






My son Phil, Claire and their kids Hollie and Jayden are here for the wedding and are staying at my house for the weekend.



Jayden, my grandson, is becoming a bit of a monkey these days. I've just seen on his mum's facebook page, that he might as well sleep and eat all his meals on the "Naughty Step" as he's spending so much time there!

I've swept mine ready for him!




Oh, but he's such a cooooool dude!


He's not quite getting the idea of the toilet training either........................





!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Before I go, I've got one of my funny stories to tell you.

It is completely true...............

.............

Some of you may remember that I use to work as a Promotions Girl for our local newspaper.

One of our regular jobs was doing Pub Fun Nights at various pubs across the county, promoting the Echo.

There were three of us, Tanya, Tina, and me.


Tanya, Me, Tina 1996

We are sitting down in the above pic, but we made quite a rare bunch.

Tanya is over 6 feet tall, I'm 5'4", Tina's about 5 feet.

When we were performing, those old enough to remember would comment that the pair of them looked like Hylda Baker and Cynthia...........




Tanya's a very laid back sort of person, and she has a very slow, and subtle wit...........


One evening the three of us were driving down Lincoln High Street in the Echo van.

As we went past the local Ritz Theatre, Tanya piped up...................





"Oh! I didn't know The Chippendales" were on tonight."

"Don't be daft, they're not, are they?" I asked.

". Yeah, I think so," she said, pointing "Look!"

Tina and I looked, and then we saw the poster she was pointing to....................




I hope that made you smile!

Back soon.................

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

I'm Sue and I'm a Clutterholic................




Hello my dear Bloggeroos!

Last time I posted, you may remember that I was about to tackle all the clutter in my dining room. This was stuff that was formerly stacked in a (very) small room at the bottom of my stairs. (I call this room the "ex-toilet" owing to the original use of this space years ago.)

This was necessary to make some space for my recent freezer acquisition.

Well..................

I'm sure you can imagine just how much clutter there was, as I've not been around Blogland for ages!

Where did I get all this rubbish?

Did fairies and elves shove unwanted items in there?






I was obviously elsewhere, counting my money, eating Waggon Wheels, or sorting out the vowels in my Alphabet Soup?

Well............it's NOT THERE NOW!

OMG, I haven't been so miserable since I worked in the Clock Factory.............



....when all I did was make faces all day :O)



Some of the things I've chucked out included..............


1. Two huge piles of newspapers. (Isn't that terrible about President Kennedy getting shot?)






2. Thirty two various TV Guides. (I see Elsie Tanner's got married again.)






I did keep a couple of my favourite Radio Times tho'




aaah....be still my beating heart!



4. An application form for the TV show "Hoarders."






5. Sixty seven cardboard boxes that I was SURE would come in useful some day





6. A book called "How to Make Furniture from Cardboard" (Maybe I should have kept it.)







7.My David Cassidy poster


I wondered where that'd got to!




8. A huge pile of clothes in sizes 8, 10, 12 and 14......




Needless to say I kept the size 16 and 18!
Sometimes you just have to be a realist :O(


9. A leaflet about a Night Class "How to be Organised." (Printed in 1995.)
I wonder if they still run this?

I am so pleased with myself, I've decide to reward myself with a little jaunt to the seaside with my lovely boys, their gorgeous wives, and my four scrummy grandchildren.

See you all soon...........




Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Beauty and the Yeast..........PART TWO



As promised, here is a tale about my recent attempts at breadmaking..............

Why did I decide to have a go?

FIRSTLY.................
Home baked bread is healthier; you know what has gone into each loaf if you make it yourself.



SECONDLY..............
Baking bread is supposed to be therapeutic.
All that pummelling and "knocking down" can be directed to any of our enemies or detractors we may choose, if only in our imagination.



THIRDLY...............
Breadmaking skills could be useful if we have another Winter like last year. I will not have to resort to those batons of glorified fluff that masquerade as "partly baked loaves."







It will also be something different for my neighbour, Tracy, to try.
(You may remember that Tracy thinks my pantry is her very own corner shop. She "pops in" whenever she runs out of food!)








But...........FOURTHLY, and most importantly................




The Bread Mix was on offer at Sainsbury's!
(Did I mention, I'm a bit of a tight-wad?)


**************

As some of you may know, I live alone.

Not that I mind.

Sometimes, I can go 4 or 5 days and never see or speak to another living soul.





Unless, that is..........I decide to do something useful.

Perhaps I want to undertake a project where I don't wish to be disturbed. At such times, it seems I am plagued with all sorts of characters trying to disrupt my attempts at doing something useful.


***************

Last Wednesday, I'd decided to try out the Bread Mix. It was such a day.

I'd barely put on my pinny, before there was a knock at the door.

I sighed......................

I opened the door................





"Whaddya want?" I asked gruffly..........



"Five quid. I've just cleaned your upstairs windows.
You sound a bit harassed, missus. Is everything alright?"








"Sorry about that, Spidey. I'm just starting to make a loaf of bread. I didn't mean to lose me temper." I said, giving him a fiver.

"Wow! Clever old you," he said. "There's nothing like home made fresh bread."

Blinded by his flattery, I said, "Come back at 3 o'clock. I'll make a cuppa and you can try some."

"Thanks, I will," he said, and quickly scaled the wall to his next customer.

I went back to the kitchen.

Just as I finished getting everything out of the cupboard, there was another knock on the door.

I wiped my hands and went into the hall.

I peeped through my little spyhole.





Now, I could have pretended that I was out.

But, I opened the door as I was brought up to be polite.

(And anyway, she'd already seen the flash of my pinny through the glass in the door!)

"Yes?" I asked.

"Do you ever worry about the state of the world?" she asked, thrusting a magazine under my nose.







"Yes, I do worry about it sometimes. Unfortunately, I can't discuss it with you right now. I'm in the middle of making some bread."

"Making some bread?" she asked, excitedly. She was now dribbling and continued,
"There's nothing like home made fresh bread. I bet it will be scrummy"

She stood there.................

................staring at me.............

................expectantly.............

"I tell you what," I said, "Pop back at 3 o'clock. I'll let you try some."

She left, skipping along the garden path.

As I went back to the kitchen and started mixing and pummelling, it suddenly dawned on me that I may not have enough butter for my two guests.

I looked out of the window to see if the milkman was still in the street.




Yep, he was still there.

"Aye up Ernie!" I shouted waving my arms about. "Can I have some best butter?"

"Best butter?" he asked with disbelief in his voice. "You're pushing the boat out, aren't you. Have you gone off Sainbury's basic buy soft spread then, or have you won the Lottery?"

"Neither." I said, "I'm making some home made bread and I've got company coming later to try it."

Ernie passed me the butter.







"Fancy that!" he said. "You. Actually baking, ha ha ha!"

Ignoring his cheeky remarks, I asked

"Why don't you come back at 3 o'clock and join us?"

"Thanks, missus, I will," he said. " After all, there's nothing like home made fresh bread!"

**************

Crikey, this was almost turning into a party.

After mixing it, kneading it, letting it rise, and then doing it all again - I put the loaf in the oven.

Just as my kitchen timer went "ping", someone was ringing a bell out in the street.............





.................and shouting...................


"Any old rags! Any old rags!"

It was the rag and bone man.





He jumped down off his horse, and walked down the side of my house to the open back door.

"Hello, luv. Got any old rags?" he asked, looking at my clothes hanging on the washing line.

"No, sorry. I haven't." I said.

He looked at all the Primark and charity shop clothes on the line again.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

I nodded. He threw back his head and sniffed.

"What's that smell?" he asked.

"That'll be the horse poo on your wellies," I said, pointing downwards.







"Not THAT smell!" he tutted. "The smell coming from your oven."

"Oh, I've made some bread this afternoon." I told him.

"Really?" he stared at me, hopefully.

"OK, leave your wellie boots out there and go upstairs and wash your hands. You can stay and try some if you like." I said.

"Thanks, I will," he said. "There's nothing like home made fresh bread!"

Off he went and within the next few minutes, my other guests arrived.

Spidey, the window cleaner

Mrs Jehovah's Witness

and Ernie the milkman.

I sliced the bread, buttered it and passed it around.

We all took a great big bite...................


What was the verdict?

....................

.........................

...............well...................

................after we'd tasted it...................

...............we were all agreed................







................it was absolutely................



...........NOTHING LIKE HOME MADE FRESH BREAD!.................


***************
Don't forget to pop back!