Time to get sorted.....

 There was an amazing sky on Friday (see picture), I rather think it sums up things at the moment (...looks like Armageddon).

Since mid-December I've been working towards a launch at work. It's taken a LOT of brain power and a lot of hours. As a result I have put a lot of things on hold - all of which now need to be sorted out. I'll come back to that shortly.

I managed to complete my launch on Thursday and I'm thrilled to say that my team seemed to have all the fall out of that in hand. As a result and as I felt like a wilted piece of celery I took my Boxing Day bank holiday. Which I'd worked to get the launch moving along.

What was great was that it meant I could do one of my regular Saturday chores, thus having a bit of extra time on Saturday. The chore was going to the butcher. Actually it doesn't feel like a chore as my butcher is hilarious so we always have a nice natter and I take the dog along which is it's main walk for the day. It's about 1.5 miles to get to the butcher - well maybe about 1 - I'm not great with distances.

I wanted Saturday supper to be a good one as haven't seen friend who comes over most Saturdays for a few weeks. Firstly because they had COVID and then because son had his sleepover. I also owed another friend a meal as they've taken the dog out so often recently.

So I decided to do a Pork Roast, something I know will go down well as neither of them are the type to go to the effort of a roast. 

So I went down to the butcher and chose a lump of pork about the same size as a large baby (sorry if you are veggie/vegan). Then got some chicken breasts, some chicken legs and some bacon. As the meat pile increased I realised I was going to have to carry it all 1.5 miles home!

Now I have what we call our 'meat bag' this is a rucksack purchased for the sole purpose of enabling me to carry meat home from the butcher. I put this on (with difficulty) and clipped it over my chest. The weight of the bag immediately pressed my boobs down at the top and made the bottom of them stick out at right angles. The bag was still too heavy so I took the dogs lead, hunched over and put both my hands under the rucksack at the back.

And this is how I walked home, hunched over with boobs sticking out at right angles. I don't need to tell you the odd looks I got. I didn't walk along the main road for the whole walk. I ended up going cross country to try to be away from prying eyes. So you have the picture, weird hunchy woman, tromping through the wood and climbing over fallen trees. With boobs sticking out at weird angles - oddly I didn't feel any concern walking through the wood alone as I was confident nobody would come near me.

By the time I got home my back was killing me, even with the rucksack and the hunch.

I purchased another rucksack this weekend (how exciting is my life!). As in a couple of months I'm off to Glasgow and I've gone for the flight option where you just have a tiny underseat bag. These bags get smaller and smaller and are now something like 45x20x30 cm. It's going to be a challenge to pack for a weekend in that. So I decided to buy a bag that was that size and I can plan what I'm going to take and have a few practice packs.

Yes I know I am sad, but I always do a practice pack - then I can stop worrying about how I'm going to cope.

At the start of the post I mentioned all the things I need to sort out. January was supposed to be a dry January and because of the launch I failed miserably. So I'm going to be a bit different from the rest of the world and attempt a dry February (watch this space). Though I do have something that will help me push this along.

Last year I stopped eating carbs and I lost loads of weight, so with the carbs and the 2 famine days a week I started to head towards my target weight. This is more of a challenge than it may sound as I'm both menopausal AND I have an underactive thyroid. My 2 famine days, which I've done for years are simply to keep my weight static.

In July last year we had our summer holiday and I had a week off my no carb and famine days, then I never really pulled it back together. I'd started to get things moving again before Christmas, but could feel I had added pounds. Then over Christmas and New Year I was very bad. Straight after that we had the new bathroom fitted so I couldn't get to the weighting scales.

With some trepidation (well a lot actually as I could see that my stomach was huge and my thighs were twice the size) I got on the scales. Not only have I put all the weight I lost last year back on again, but I've added an additional 3 pounds.

I can't help but think that some of this is the new bathroom floor, never in my life has moving home or getting a new floor in the bathroom not changed the weight I see from my scales. It's also the same when you get a new set of scales. What's always depressing is it never shows you a lower weight, it's ALWAYS higher than it was before.

So anyway, today I start the mother of all diets. In March/April it's my goddaughters wedding and in April it's also my mothers 80th, when I know I'll be on display to her friends (cause that's what mothers are like). It's good to have a target that's not far away to get me back on track again. I also feel horrific with the extra weight so it will feel good not to feel so hefty.

On the subject of goddaughters wedding - I think I know what to wear, but I'm praying for rubbish weather as I want to wear winter clothes. Though I suspect it will end up as an early summer to spite me - watch this space. I'll worry about outfit nearer the time when I know what size I am and to be fair it's not like anybody there will be looking at me they'll all be looking at the bride - unless I go for a long white princess dress and veil, hmmm now there's a thought...... I wonder what I can find on ebay. Though at my age I'll just look like Miss Haversham. Still it's good to have a theme - maybe some cobwebs in my hair as well.

Mum's 80th is all sorted, but I need to come up with a present. I found this Titanic event at a hotel in Brighton, it looks really cool, but it's in November - with dad's dementia November is a long way in the future. He may not be able to go by then (so sad to think like that, but it's practical). Also they only have a vegetarian menu - which will not suit either of my parents. I've written to the organisers to double check that.

My parents live near Guildford and the Ivy in Guildford does an Alice in Wonderland inspired afternoon tea with champagne. I think that sounds pretty cool, but it's only worth getting if mum's going to use it as it isn't cheap (as you'd expect from the Ivy). So really not sure what to do, but want to get her something special and at their age they have all the 'stuff' they need so 'stuff's' not really a present.

Goddaughter has just asked people to give money towards their honeymoon. I remember when I got married and we just wanted money towards a fishtank (story for another day). Loads of people ignored this and went ahead and got us presents. I was really irritated at the time, but over time have made full use of those presents. Now I find I want to do this rather than give money towards the honeymoon. Not sure what to do, but feel compelled to give her something for 'her bottom drawer' - so I probably will, with a minimal donation to the honeymoon.

Hope she forgives me.

In July we're off to Devon - we always drive up on the Friday night then stay over in a cheap hotel so we can start our holiday 'proper' refreshed without the travel. Hotel is all booked, but then I remembered this year we have dog. So I now need to try to find a hotel that will let 3 of us stay in a single room and have a dog with us - all at a low price. Wish me luck!

So lots of things running through my head at the moment and not one of them is genuinely important. Maybe that's a good thing.