Happy Mother's Day :)

Just a quick post to say happy Mother's Day to the three ladies that I call Mum ....

Love you all and thank you for everything you do for me. Xxx

1 week to go....

So this week sees the lead up to my little sister's wedding.....

However here is my mini news flash on what has been happening this last week....

Firstly on the Weight Watchers front... I've lost another 1lb :)

I then came across this funny article in The Daily Mail - yes, I am an occasional Mail reader!

 I've been enjoying some more yummy lunches.....

I spent the afternoon on Tuesday back in the Shire having my hair done by my lovely old school friend.

 I then found Nana's hat for the wedding and decided to try it on!!! (In aid of helping her to decide 

which way round to wear it of course!!!)

Whilst doing some tidying up I came across this little cheeky box of chocolates that forgot to tell me they were in my home!!

I cam across these little gems from Lidls - They are cheaper AND less pp than WW's own - they work out as 1pp for 2 - YES 2!!!

So next Saturday I will be with this little baby as she walks down the aisle as she becomes Mrs Stone....

 If you knew her as we were growing up, she was famous for flashing her knickers (just like she is doing so in the picture below). Don't worry Matthew we will make sure that she wont be doing it down the aisle!!

I have also decided to do Skinny Doll's 8 week Bank Holiday Challenge - Skinny Doll is my little WW and blogger idol :) unlike other bloggers she's been there for me and hasn't let 'fame' get to her head - unlike someone I wont mention **cough Sprinkle of Glitter cough** .... 

I have seen this challenge as a great way to really focus my weight loss and zoom in on my training for Race for Life - will speak about that in the future - however, for now, take a look at her blog - it's amazing ..... http://theskinnydollsjourney.blogspot.co.uk/ 

So as this manic next week starts to uncurl itself from the diary I shall try and post next week - but it may be early or it may be late! But I shall also try and stick to WW as well... Let's see...

Love, Mrs O x

2 weeks.....

So these last 2 weeks have seen my weight go up and then finally back down - slowly but surely!

 

I'm afraid if you are reading this post today in hope that it is all Weight Watchers related then I have sad news for you, for today it is not exactly WW friendly :/ Ok, the first bit is but then after it's not!  .... why? Well, during the week days I have kept to WW pretty well and then come the weekends I have really let my hair down....

 

So let's go from where we last set off....

 

So in my healthy ploy of eating lovely home made dinners and eating well in the week....

 

Yummy veggie Shepherds pie....  6PP value on WW - You can find the recipe HERE

 

 

A yummy cod curry.... I didn't realise how low in pp Cod was - it has now become new low pp dinner option. A serving of cod fillet is only 2pp!!! So using a jar of curry sauce that I had in the cupboard we made up this with some cauliflower rice... Yummm! :)

 

 

I have been enjoying the following as my lunch everyday....

 

Crispbread cracker breads light (2 = 1pp) and then popped some philly cheese (light) on top....

Fruit salad (strawberries, grapes & blueberries) with some yogurt - either a pot of WW yogurt or some Greek yogurt all 1pp.... Then either some WW biscuits (2pp) or a kitkat mini (2pp) for something sweet - or even a Sharon fruit like in the picture

 

 

 

I have learnt though to not make it up the night before as it goes like this..... YUCK!

 

 

Yummy breakfasts....

 

 

I've enjoyed my new find in Lidls of the mini fake magnums.... 3pp

These come in packs of 6 for £1.99 and you get the choice of white chocolate, milk chocolate or milk chocolate with nuts....

 

 

Oh, and I found these in Sainsburys .... old school ! Apparently they are only 5pp for a foiled packet... I will need to look into that and so I can confirm that with you....

 

 

My Daddy had his birthday, so I decided to give him 2 cards... one serious one and then this one that when you opened it up it had a princess to colour in.... I left it blank for him to colour it in when he was bored!!

 

 

Spring is finally here I think so it was time to get some daffodils...

 

 

And going on from Daffodils to Wales.....

 

With the ISS (International Staff Songsters) I went singing in Wales - check out my silly pose in a choir cloak that I found.....

 

 

I've also been experimenting with ideas for my hair for my sister's wedding and having fun with different hair styles...

 

 

Then this last weekend I have had the most fun in a long time.....

 

On Friday night I got taken to a surprise visit to The Royal Opera House with my bestie....

 

We went to see The Royal Ballet in Sleeping Beauty.

 

 

We also got an upgrade on our seats from here.....

 

 

To here....

 

 

 

And what trip to the theatre is complete without....

 

 

It is seriously THE BEST ice cream that I have had!

 

On the Saturday some of the female members of my family celebrated the last few weeks of my sister being a Newman before she gains a 'Stone'....

 

(This was a selfie I took on the bus!)

 

The beautiful Bride-to-be :)

 

 

We went and had a class on how to decorate cupcakes - we learnt a lot and who knew it would be so simple?!.....

 

 

Here are my creations.......

 

 

 

 

The after math....

 

 

 So, I hope you have all had a lovely week and here's to the next week :) .....

& it's now 2 weeks till my sister's wedding :)

 

Love, Mrs O x 

A Flip Flop week...

Hands up all of you who have had pancakes in the last week......

Me..... (yummy 2pp each WW ones...)

Hands up who has given something up for lent...

Mee!....

So for this year's lent I have decided to give up any fizzy drink and to drink 2ltrs of water a day... So far I have succeeded in the first part but partially succeeded in the second part.

I have also decided along with Mr O to not have any take aways or eat on the go..... We can eat out at a restaurant. It's all about making sure we sit down properly and enjoy the food that we are eating rather than just ramming it down our throats.

Let me go back a few days before lent now and tell you what has happened ....

So at the weekend I said a little goodbye to my long time friend Mary.... 

I got all dressed up... (here come the selfies....)

(diddle diddle dumpling my son John...)

We enjoyed a lovely night out in Windsor which she was made to carry an inflatable aeroplane just for giggles.... 

Have an amazing time hun... x

Then on the Monday night Mr O (who I re-named for the night as kung fu Panda) went to the opening of Wagamamas in Sevenoaks ... yummy food :) I didn't even try tracking it! I realised that I hadn't been to Wagamas for nearly 10 years!

The rest of the week was pretty boring ....

I tried adding more adventurous stuff to my porridge ....

I cleaned out the guinea pigs .... This picture does contain 2 guineas I swear.... see if you can guess where the other one is....

Until..... Boom! Thursday came :)

I went back to my Mum and Dad's for the afternoon where my sister had her wedding hair trial with one of my friends. Unfortunately I can't post any of those pictures up for obvious reasons. So, I decided to take another selfie with one of my sister's glasses on...

On Friday night I had some amazing cuddles with Ben (GP no. 1) which is totally not like him as normally he would be running around like mad... but then we noticed that he didn't seem himself... He also stank of urine.... Then again on the Saturday night we noticed that he wasn't himself so we decided to give both of the boys a bath and shampoo, clip their nails and completely gut the whole of their little home and give it a spring clean too. And it has seemed to have done the trick :)

I got these random clumps of sweet and salted seasonings in my popcorn on Saturday ..... 

And in the evening Mr O & I went out and met up with one of my sisters and her fiancee and we went and supported my sister play in a gig ..... I haven't been to a gig like that since uni so I felt very old and as Mr O said, he must have been the only guy there in tweed!!!

This was my outfit...

And then from this photo on our way into London this was us.... Mr O didn't like having his photo taken and he looks half asleep in it too! We had a bit of a giggle on the trains as I stepped onto a train he then nearly got his head chopped off by the door! We then lost each other on the trains, but it meant that the whole of my carriage had a good giggle at him and I had a good chat with some people on the train.

This is my sister's band called 'Ask Martin' (they released their first single on Friday - search Ask Martin in Sound Cloud) - my sister is the one playing the drums / backing vocals....

Now up until now my week on WW was brilliant - tracking everything - until we went out for dinner in Highbury & Islington with my sister & her fiancee and we went to a little Italian restaurant and because I was mega hungry I had a calzone - but I had also had Yo! Sushi before the gig too... Uh oh! Oh well only the truth will tell on Tuesday when I step on the scales :-/

And as the weather was so lovely on Sunday Mr O HAD to have the roof down which meant that my hair became an utter mess!!

So as I have said every week since Christmas, I have slipped off the WW waggon but my butt has got back on it again..... 4 weeks until my sisters wedding and I WILL loose weight by then!! I got to my 1st target since Christmas and now it's time to get back there. :)

How did you all do?...

Love, Mrs O x

CATCH UP!

I saw this picture the other week and I it was the complete opposite to how I was currently feeling..... 

I haven't had a moment to spare to sit and write, but for once it's a good thing and a good feeling as my life has just been so fun! So this week's post is a catch up on the last few weeks and you'll see why I haven't been able to blog....

I had a lovely evening out with Mr O, Mr Ding Dong and his friend Emma ...

I fell in love with this... (but I can't find the packets anywhere only in £1 land....)

As usual I took photos of some yummy food that I ate.....

In sad news, I had to say goodbye to my favourite pair of PJ bottoms... I quite literally put my foot through them!...

Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th February ...

This weekend I spent the week up in sunny (yes, it really was sunny!) Glasgow... I was away this weekend with the Staff Songsters, I tried to keep to WW but it was really hard. So, I had decided to just try my best over the next week and that when I got back from my time off work I would start afresh on WW....

I did very stupidly manage to leave my shirts back at home, so I luckily managed to borrow a few shirts of my Mum's but they were rather big on me...... !!

Monday 17th to Friday 21st February ...

So on the Monday I travelled down to Bournemouth and met Mr Ding Dong along the way... 

Tuesday's outfit.... (hahahaaa! I'm such a poser!!)

(very annoyingly this dress has now shrunk in the wash :( )

And what week to TYC would be complete without a Shakeaway?!.... So I decided to have one very naughty shake called a Dave which is made up of ferrero rochiers and kinder buenos.... ummmmmm. I decided to go for a medium though and that was my only one for the week....

My inner child came out in me on the Wednesday when we spent an afternoon learning how to take notes by doodling... It also reminded me of how much I love pens! Especially Sharpies!!

  

All us staff members were given a little spot dot sticker to put on our little fingers to remind us of one of the students for that day and to remind us to pray for them all day too.

On the Thursday we decided to have a Christmas evening...... Why? Because you can! The Christmas tree and everything was up! 

The randomness also continued on that night when we all changed into our onesies....

(This is my lovely friend who I am so proud of :) Love you hun x)

And on the Friday we had the final festival - my 'cool group' wanted a picture of all our shoes... looks like I need to get myself some converses!!! (I'm the one with the full length boots!!)

And after the long tiring week I had to drive back home which took us over 3 hours to get back thanks to silly road works on the M25 :( But luckily I had my bestie beside me to keep me awake as we chatted about life and our reflections on the week.

This song is the song that spoke to me the most. On the Thursday night after the 'emotional devotionals' we all stood around the room singing this song. It was lovely to see the confidence on the faces of everyone as people were hugging each other and just being there for each other. (Thanks Len for this beautiful song)

So, when I came home on the Friday night the place hadn't burnt down but there were daffodils on all the window sills at home :) However I did find some burnt items which were these lids that had been melted together as they were by the hob (at least it shows that he didn't live off take aways all week!)

So I have to admit something here... I weighed myself on the Saturday morning only to find that I had put weight on ... but it's OK because I knew I had put weight on as I had not stuck to plan at all!! So we decided to enjoy our food that weekend... 

We had a lovely lunch out at our local farm shop / cafe ....

Mr O made some lovely focaccia bread... 

And as you can see in the corner of that last photo I get my chef's hat on and started preparing food for the week... 

So I made a lovely butternut squash and red pepper soup, and I also made this lovely banana bread as I had bananas to use up.... Recipe to follow but it's only 5pp per slice :)

I then chopped it all up into 12 sections (kept some out to eat that day) and then popped it in the freezer so I couldn't eat it all in one go....

So this last week I have been enjoying being back on WW as much as I can - I need to build up the 'good habit' inside of me though... I know it takes 2 weeks for it turn into a habit so I am really pushing myself on it... 

I'm trying out new ways of enjoying my breakfast...

 I'm still keeping my lunch box prepared the night before so that there are no excuses!

Still loving the jelly - but experimenting by putting unusual fruits in with it...

Enjoying cooking dinners again :) I've missed this whilst I've been staying in hotels 

And lastly ... coming home to these two silly boys and finding out that they have had a right old party without me each day! 

So, now lent is upon us.... What are you going to give up or take up? Mr O and I have decided to give up take aways - we can eat out but we can't eat on the go or bring it back to our home.... 

Love, Mrs O x