He CAN make me thin!

I'm now convinced - this *system* (thanks Cee!) WILL make me thin, or at least a more healthy size!

I’m on about day nine of the initial 90-day programme (I say about – that’s because some of my days while working nights can overlap two calendar days so when ticking off the journal I’ve noticed I’m actually behind where I would be if I was “normal” and had a day job lol) – and feeling over whelming changes already!

The system has core points which you strive to fulfil each day; these are based on common sense and pretty easy to meet, and so far the whole thing is slotting nicely into my life style – e.g. I previously had problems with Slimming World while working nights as you’re not supposed to at after 7pm on it. Not good when you’ve got a 12 hour shift ahead of ya!

I used to (ten days ago that is!) be totally preoccupied with food, if I wasn’t already eating I’d be thinking about what my next meal would be….not in a greedy way, but in a kind of worried and stressed out way…maybe some of you can identify with this too or am I totally freaky?! If food was near me, or if I knew of an item in the fridge/cupboard, it would totally play on my mind and irritate me until I went and scoffed, not just part of whatever it was, but all of it….cos if I left any it would just relentlessly irk me in the same nagging way.

I don’t know where any of this has come from – I can assure you we weren’t starved or deprived of food in any way when we were kids, and both my mother and sister having stunning, enviable figures!!

But reading and completing Paul McKenna’s daily journal, sticking to his “rules”, and listening to the trance cd’s everyday is bizarrely having some effect. It’s getting easier to carry out the confidence boosting “visualisations” that help transform you both inside and out, and I'm for once able to make firm goals about what I wish to acchieve.

I no longer think about food until it comes to being hungry and having to make a meal. I feel free!! My eating speed has slowed right down – I’m taking the time to really enjoy every mouthful and truly savour the delicious flavours.

The test came yesterday when Lee and I went out for the day. We had a long walk, and I passed the ice-cream parlour and was not in the LEAST bit interested. Result! We’d already agreed that we’d have a meal out on the way home, and even I was amazed that after half way through my STARTER, I was already satisfied. I managed a few mouths of my main course, but that was it. Even Lee was amazed and proudly took my hand and admitted that in six years he’s never seen me do that. That I’d always been a “lick the last morsel off the plate” kinda girl. Of course, it led to some embarrassing apologies and assurances that the food was indeed delicious when the waiter cleared our plates away – but I felt renewed and confident, knowing that this is the start of a new me!

So I’ve been walking everyday and this week we will be going swimming again now that Lee’s hand is out of bandages – and my first weigh in will be late next week (I think). I have no idea what the scales are going to say – but I’ll be totally honest and say that I’m not really going to mind – fact is I definitely feel that my attitude towards food is changing; old, bad habits are being broken and new, healthy ones taking their place….and I’m confident that I’m on my way to a slimmer, healthier me!!!!!!!!!

Yey me!!!

Just thought I'd let you all know....

...that after almost a year of working night shifts - I have succumbed to my body and seem to be almost permanantly nocturnal. I just can not sleep!! The main problem is that I spend half the week trying to stay up all night while at work, and then half the week trying to stay up all day on my days off. And you can bet your bottom dollar that which ever one I'm SUPPOSED to be doing - my body wants do be doing the other.

I went to bed last night at one, and the last time I looked at the clock was 5.15am when my next door neighbour - a taxi driver - came home from work.

Lee's been working nights all this week and last, and it's the first time I've had to sleep in this house alone. Being the dweeby scardey cat I am, that may have contributed to last nights poor sleep me thinks.

There’s also the fact that last night I decided to watch a scary movie. Silly girl!! I used to be really hard to all things scary and gory and want to watch nothing less than the scariest and creepiest films (I put it down to having watched Candy Man at a youngish age - I loved that film and would watch it loads!! If you haven't seen it - DON'T!!!). I don't know why, nowadays I get really creeped out by them and they play on my mind. So, last night I saw The Ring was on TV, and whilst I really really enjoyed when I originally saw it - I also remembered that it really really creeped me out. That Mrs. Morgan brushing her hair in the mirror gives me the heebie-jeebies. I thought twice about watching it - but when it started I soon got sucked in to it.

And I wasn't that scared as I knew what was coming........that was until......at one of the scariest moments when the yucky mouldy girl is about to climb out of the TV and look up at you - my darn electric meter switches off and I'm plunged into darkness and silence!!!!!

It took me about two minutes to unfreeze myself from the usually warm leather of the sofa and get up to turn the meter back on. By then the scariness was long over and the weather was on!

So anyway...........I'm now off to bed and hoping that tonight will be more restful as I'm up early in the morning. my car is due its' MOT and then I'm taking Katrina and Ellie for her first jaunt down the Mumbles. This surely will be the test of time for the Paul McKenna diet - will I be able to resist the lure of Joe's Ice-cream Parlour?! It is impossible to go to Mumbles and not sample the delights of Joes. I love ice-cream anyway - it's one of my biggest downfalls - but this really is the creamiest most delicious ice-cream you could ever taste. I read about a couple once who came all the way over from Canada just to taste it as they'd heard so much about it!! One of our projects at work is actually based right next door to one of their parlours - and I honestly pray to any gods that may be listening that I will NEVER NEVER have to permenantly work there as I seriously don't think my waistline would survive the consequences!

So I will let you know how it goes, as well as how the Paul McKenna thing is working out so far. I keep meaning to blog about it properly but haven't as yet had a chance - I'm seeing some very certain changes already about the way I view food in only six days. I'm loathe to call it a diet cos that’s not really what it is - can anyone think of a more appropriate word........all I can come up with is brainwashing!!!

What ever it is - I hope it does the job!!!

Ole ole, ole ole!!!!

I hope you're visualising me dancing around singing that and clacking my maraca’s - cos I can't believe how generous blogger's being this afternoon with pictures lol! So lucky ole you get to see what I've been up to over the past few weeks! Don't forget to check the post after this one for my Christmas pics!

I started this first page way back in the South Wales Christmas crop, and got it finished last week. I'm still not sure about the journaling block - I was a bit loathe to cover up that lovely patterned paper from Scenic Route but I was struggling to make the journaling stand out from the busyness of it all - so made a block mimicking the ready and strip I slapped across the photo, but still not sure if it looks right. The title was made up of chipboard letters which I heat embossed with gold powder and then gave a layer of diamond glaze to give them a glitzy festive feel – and a special thanks must go to our very own Gems’ other half, Dai, for the tag I used! Cheers me lovely – it was perfect!!!

The journaling itself was inspired by some of my answers to the Christmas tag a couple of posts back, and reads:
Every year the tradition of putting up our Christmas decorations follows the same path. Lee nags from the second week of November to put them up. “Not until the first of December” I say. “But I’ll help this year” whines Lee. “Not until the first” I yell. So the first of December arrives and out come the decoration boxes – and Lee stands there looking gormless as I do it all myself. But unusually, he actually helped a bit this year – for what it was worth!! He unpacked the little reindeer fellow and his mate below and asked “Where do we usually put the donkeys?”!!!He wasn’t best pleased when he read it!!! My second page was a real quickie - I got it done in about two hours, with most time taken up by the fiddly hand cutting. It was pretty simple and unsophisticated technique wise - as soon as I saw the paper I just visualised people looking out from behind the tree. I'm sure everyone else who owns the paper has done the same thing lol! But it was nice and quick for a portrait style page anyway. Had to relocate a couple of the baubles so you could see our cute likkle faces (ahem- I look all squished and minging, and Lee looks a bit gormless [what's new there though, poor soul] but it was the best shot we caught!), added some yummy tiny little letter stickers to one as the title (they are fab- you can hardly see that they are stickers!), and then loads of glitter glaze over all the berries and the baubles which doesn't show in the pic, et voila!

The last one’s my favourite – I love it to bits but unfortunately my pic really does not do it justice(plus it IS straight in real life!). I accidentally caught my reflection in one of the baubles whilst taking close up shots of the decs, and thought it would be a great illustration for a page on my thoughts about Christmas. Yummy papers are BG Blush & Gypsy, and the K&Co. Used those itty bitty letter stickers again, and some Tulip 3D paint for the title. The acrylic “X” monogram is from Go West studios and it’s lubberly – I pushed some acrylic paint into the etchings and around the edges, and stuck it all down with a coating of glitter glaze – love it! Printed the journaling onto acetate and it reads:
Christmas is the warmest, most fuzziest time of the year for me. I love it so much! And it’s not because of all the presents (although of course that’s a fab part of the holiday)! To me Christmas is all about spending time with the people who are the most dear and special to me, and the happy and loving buzz that everyone seems to carry in their hearts. I love seeing streets and houses sparkling in festive lighting and decorations and their glow reflected in the wet streets. Nothing beats coming home to the warm and welcoming feel of twinkling fairy lights on a cold dark evening, and the cosy and comforting feel of the decorated house. I love all the Christmas tunes, be it pop songs or carols – they fill me with so much warmth and happiness and evoke feelings of excitement about the whole season from my childhood. Christmas was my favourite time of year way back then, for different reasons of course……..but when it comes to the magic and love of this very special season…….I Still Believe!
Other news...I can not beleive that my beautiful neice is already 10 weeks old!! Here are some snaps I took of her on Monday, when she and Katrina came over for the day. And I'm pleased to announce we have a new convert to the flock - we spent the afternoon in my craft room and Katrina made her first layout *Proud Big Sis Moment*. Ellie is non stop laughing and smiling at the moment - so it's impossible to get a clear pic of her!

And finally, I recieved my Paul Mckenna "I Can Make You Thin" system yesterday. Today is officially Day One although I listened to three of the five CD's last night, and so far so good!! I'm looking forward to completeing the daily journal which accompanies it - I think it will be a real assett to my success, but I will blog again tomorrow with all the details about all that - hopefully my regular blogging buddies will cheer me on along the way to help keep me motivated?!!!
Don't forget...more pics below!
Until then my lovelies.......xxx

Let there be Pictures!!!

Ok, ok! So I know it's January the 19th - buuuuuuut Blogger has finally been nice and allowed me to upload some pics.......so here's a belated sneak peak at out Chrimbo celebrations!!!

1. He's Been!!!! Oh yes - he definitely been! Look at all 'em lubberly pressies (and those were just for my Mum, Lee and myself, before Kat, Ellie and Andrew joined us later in the afternoon!!!), and not a lump of coal in sight. We're good peeps y'see!!
2. My cute likkle table before we destroyed it with lashings of gravy and run-away brussel sprouts!3. And here's the action shot o the day - pulling crackers was as energetic as we got!!! Mmmmm look at our lovely Chrimbo dinners - first one Lee and I have ever cooked - I'm soooooo gutted that I forgot to take a shot of our delictable cranberry and mustard glazed turkey, a la Anthony Worrell-Thompson!!4. Yey! Our very own little Santa-Baby arrived with her mammy and daddy! 5. Don't know who this riff raff think they are -the one on the left looks like she's a glamour model wannabe, and the one in the middle just couldn't resist getting her pair of melton mowburies into the shot. The one on the right looks classy enough though.
6. That's better........! 7. We did have matching santa hats but mine must have fallen off - hence the wind swept look indoors!!8. Lee gazing into the Chrsitmas tree (I think he was secretly wishing it would all be over and everyone go home so he could go to bed hehehe!) 9. And here's good ole Rock's at Mum's on Boxing day, where we did it all over again!!! Christmas evidently is exhausting for dogs, too, bless 'em!
Catch ya later xxx

Double Tag!

Lucky ole me - I got tagged twice!!

The first is from Gems, and it's a good one!

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence.
3. Post the text of the following three sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the author, and book.
5. Tag three people of you own.

Luckily, for once I've brought a book to work to read, rather than a trashy celeb mag, otherwise I'd be reading a paragraph from the Child Action Groups "Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 06/07"

And to be honest, having looked, the passage from the book ain't that hot either. If the tag was to post the first four sentences we could have had a laff, but here are sentences five to nine:

She sat back. Then, as if she had been in a state of repose for twenty minutes, she trilled breathlessly: 'Well.....isn't this nice.'
YES, MISS FLITWORTH
'Don't often have occasion to open up the parlour these days.'

Scintilating eh? It's from Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett, about when Death has a career change. The blurb on the back goes......
"DEATH IS MISSING - PRESUMED.....ER......GONE.
Which leads to the kind of chaos you always get when an important public service is withdrawn.
Meanwhile, on a little farm far, far away, a tall dark stranger is turning out to be really good with a scythe. There's a harvest to be gathered in......"

The second Tag is from Di:
Who am I? Describe your personality in a paragraph or two.
I'm a typical Piscean. In many ways it's great - I'm creative, caring, big hearted, intuitive blah blah, but we're also emotional types us fishy friends, and I spend half my time either being upset by silly things or worrying that I've upset someone, or just worrying in general!! My emotions can also be all over the place - I can be really happy one minute - but a little thing will come along and make me mad or sad (or maybe I'm just manic depressive?!!).

I'm also terribly shy. People laugh when I say this - but I'm really awkward in social situations. For some reason I'm absolutely fine with strangers, or in a one to one conversation, but the moment someone else joins in, or I have to talk to someone I've met maybe a couple of times but I don't know that well....I dry up and turn into a wreck. I often think that to others this makes me look like a right snooty so and so who can't be bothered to talk to anyone, and sometimes I worry that as a result of this people think I'm rude, or snubbing them (which of course I'm not in the slightest!)........so then the worrying is set off again and we're back to square one and I'll probably not try to talk to that person ever again and I feel like nobody will like me! What am I like eh?!!

So that's that - I'll choose to tag Chrissie, Cee and Tina for both tags :)

Other news is Lee's got a mish-mashed hand - he tried to fix the wiper motor on my car (while, I must add, waiting for my brohter in law, a mechanic, who was arriving to look at it any minute) when it came on and dragged his hand between some narrow metal components - thus squishing and mushing it and splitting it open. Much squirty blood ensued, as well as an afternoon in A&E - thankfully nothing was broken and he only needed stitches (eww - some through the nail bed!!), bandaging, a sling and a tetanus jab. He's got to have some follow ups to makes sure his finger doesn't fall off (lol). He started a new job on Monday - so it's a bit of a shame he's had to go looking like he's got the hand of the Michelin Man strapped to him with all that swelling and bandaging!!!

I have tried a few times in the last few days to upload some pics but Blogger's back to it's old ways and won't let me at the mo - but hopefully it will be in a better mood over the next few days. Until then, take care blogeroonies xxxx

.....One more thing........lol!

I did post a quickie below - but just found today’s blog prompt on UKS:

Ok.. So... Who's layouts made you "stop and go wow!" in 2006. We have all spent time reflecting on what experiences we have been through in 2006 - but what helped shape you as a scrapper? We all look at other peoples work and see ideas that we think" gosh.. I HAVE to try that like now! but we don't always give credit to the creators, or those who inspire us.. If you had to compile a list of top 5 Layouts of 2006... would the all be from diff people? or would they be one or two designers?
Firstly - as I only really started scrapping in October 2005, little over a year ago really, I've mainly been finding my own feet in the scrapping sense and trying out all sorts of techniques and products to find out what I like and what can be done - sometimes it's been a good experience and other times it's been, well, disastrous or at least less pleasing to the eye, but I see everything as a learning curve and the main point is that my memories are being recorded and preserved.

I find Inspiration in absolutely every piece of work I see – whether it be cruising the gallery on UKS, admiring books and publications by “Scrapbooking Royalty”, or just looking at the work by scrapping buds online or at crops – I always seem to find some tiny piece of inspiration in every page I see. Maybe a colour scheme, a page layout, a title or journaling style or nice embellishment idea.

I’m a lucky gal - Inspiration’s all around me! So thank you for that, everyone :)

But as for the “out there” and famous dudettes, I can actually name five (didn’t think I would be able to!), who, although their work may not have already directly influenced my own – I hope to take greater heed of their style in the coming year. For those of you who regularly read – I’ve gone over some of this before – so yawning is permitted!!!

Firstly – although her style is nothing like mine and not exactly my taste –I adore Elsie Flannagan’s “slap it on”, happy go lucky style. She just goes for it and comes up with cool results. Her paint is sloppy, her circles are roughly hand cut (no painstaking measuring or compasses for this gal!) and her hand stitching is uneven – but it all adds to the charm of her look and I certainly think I lot can be learned from this attitude towards scrapbooking – I certainly want to a more relaxed approach in 2007 and just go for it, after all, it’s the memories that are important. I did give this approach a little go on “Busy Doing Nothing” – and it worked for me then!

Secondly – I love Shimelle Laine’s work – I guess in a way it’s got a similar home grown look and cobbled together feel as Elsie’s, mixing clashing patterns and surprising colour combinations, with touches stamping and off cuts of lace, giving her style a cool, arty and somewhat sophisticated feel to it! Although it’s got the thrown together no cares look, you get the feel that the process behind creating each of her pages was just the opposite!

Thirdly, as I’ve banged on before, I really want to take a leaf out of Ali Edwards’ book. Her style is neat and timeless, and she records not only the big things in her life, but the little details close to her heart – all helping to tell her bigger story. And she only ever spends around an hour on each page. I would LOVE to be like that! Each of my pages takes around a week of inconsistent stash shuffling before I start to get anywhere!

Something else which rings home when I look at the work of the girls above its that quite often I see them using old paper lines and products, effortlessly blending old with new– it’s so refreshing to see this. Sometimes I feel more often than not in Scrapbooking it’s all about who’s got the latest products and gadgets and all about keeping up with the Jonses. While of course I am totally addicted to stash (!) I’ve never really been one for keeping up with style in any sense of the word, and I think in 2007 I will take a leaf out of these ladies books and embrace my old collections more often – it will certainly be good for both my dwindling bank balance and the tidiness of my house! I’m sure I’ll still find some time and little ways to get the odd patterned paper and chipboard fix though!

And finally, over the past couple of months I have been becoming more and more drawn to the work of Stacy Julian and Cathy Zielske of Simple Scrapbooks fame – I love the real graphic feel to their work and the focus on recording those memories. Their pages appear to come together effortlessly and are adaptable to all sorts of situations, and I hope that, along with the above influences, in adopting a more similar approach to theirs, I will be a more productive and efficient scrapper for 2007!!

Thanks Scrappyfairy for the prompt :)

Happy New Year!!!

Belated Happy New Year everyone!

We had a lovely Christmas and I promise to be back with some (blurry) pics soon and a catch up of what i've been up to :)

In the mean time, the only pics I have ready to upload are those I promised you a while back, of the hilarity that ensued when Lee's nephew, Harrison, came over for the afternoon!

It was Lee's birthday and he wanted to cut his hair with the clippers before going out in the evening, but Harrison, being a busy little bee and wanting to be into everything at the moment - insisted on doing it for him.................here are the results.........!

He started off gently and rather timidly.........


But soon got into the swing of things.........
This was the point where he excitedly shrieked "And your chest!!!!!" A swift move from Lee soon saw that his chest rug was left in tact!!
Harrison was undoubtedly pretty pleased with the result of his handy work! Erm..................which looked like this!!! Brings a whole new meaning to short back and sides!!!

Originally I was excited at the prospect of a budding hairdresser within the family - cheap cut 'n' colours and all that - but I think now I'll stick with the professionals!
But on the plus side - when Lee got the hoover out to suck up his dearly departed barnet - Harrison even insisted (to the point of wailing when initially told no) on cleaning up for us too! I would have caught some snaps of him hoovering up everywhere but by then I was howling with laughter and had tears running down my face so I couldn't see straight - let alone focus me camera!!!
So there we have it - a little something to keep Gems going anyway!!!! Will be back asap with some scrapping and chrimbo pics :)

Catch ya later lovies xxxx