I have a place on the Gogo getaway!

I had an email yesterday telling me I had secured a place on the Scrapagogo retreat in June next year! I am so excited about it and can't wait until then. Lots of other girls are also as keen as me as the UKS gogo thread is a hive of excited chatter and anticipation. The next payment is £100 due end of November so better start saving up for that.

I also had an email about the Birmingham crop in October - there are 3 places left and Julia has kindly said I can have a lift with her & Ali - so I had better try and sort out a holiday date pretty quick. I really want to go to centre parcs at Elevden Forrest - but Steven will not have any of it as he thinks it is so expensive - it is but it looks fab and everyone who has been always goes back for a return visit - which is a good recommendation.

I have been in bed all day after nights so no photos taken - so will dig out an old one just to liven this post up!



This photo was taken last week at Aberystwyth. Jess wanted a special day out before she went back to Uni - so the 3 of us headed out to Wales for the day. We had a nice day - though Jess was much grumpier than she looks in this pic! Even food did not cheer her up. The weather was quite nice until about 5 minutes after this photo was taken - when the heavens opened - thankfully we were on our way back to the car. Sian is at Uni in Aber and was working in Claires so we popped into surprise her. The look on her face when we walked in was priceless!

I have done a layout!

Oh I am so pleased with myself - this is the first layout I have done in ages. I wrote the journalling ages ago - when we came back from holiday in fact - 
when Liam was such a pain in refusing to have his photograph taken all week. 
It was so annoying because the weather was so gorgeous and we were in so many different
 locations and had lots of opportunities to take some really lovely photos. 

I decided there & then to do a layout showing this teenage angst, but it has taken me till now to do it. It is only a simple
layout but it has taken me all evening because I have had to keep running up and down stairs for supplies - back & forward to the playroom to print out different size photos and from dinning room to front room - from work table to computer for journalling.

I may not be doing any exercise but I am sure I have burnt loads of calories up tonight - charging all over the place!

This is another simple layout that I did about 2 weeks ago - it did not take long to do and it is a bit of a cheat because of the patterned paper- but I really wanted to use this gorgeous photo of Jess.

I have had a bit of a scrapping day really because 1) booked the Gogo getaway, 2) spent all day on the computer looking at UKS , bloggs and scrapping things. 3)  Done a layout.  4)found a crop in Birmingham that I quite fancy going to in October (here) - I must email them tomorrow to see if there are any places left. I really want to go but Steven wants to go away in October and this is date is the first date that we can go away so it may clash.

Gogo getaway??????????????????????

I had a letter from Scrapagogo on Monday about their planned retreat in June next year - it sounds lovely but I discounted it because it was so expensive. Since then I have been thinking about it and thought - what do I do for myself - not a lot. So I have had a long think and I am
going to go for it!!!

I have been swayed by the tutors especially Fiona Beckham and Jane Dean. I admire their work tremendously and it would be good to take some classes with them.


The other tutors are Shimmelle Liane and Mary Ann Walters  - whose work I also admire. 

The last scrapbooking event I went on - well actually it 
was the first and only event, was the scrapbooking and photography day in February this year with Kirsty Wiseman and it was fab and lovely to put faces to the many names I see on UKS.

I think looking forward to this will keep up my scrapbooking momentum because at the moment my craft room is empty and all my stash put away in boxes and bags in preparation for mum moving in soon. So I have done no scrapping and I miss it. I have a couple of pages in my head that I want to do - but with all my stuff displaced it is not as easy - but not impossible.

I am going to post my cheque today - I hope it does not bounce!

I have reached my first target!

Yippee last week I lost 3.5lb and that got me to (and beyond) my first target of 3 stone. I was very chuffed as I did it in 16 weeks. this week I have lost a further 1.5 lb and have now lost 3 stone & 4lb.

My weight loss is starting to slow down now - but I don't really mind as I don't feel like I am on a diet and I am certainly never hungry. I still have not cheated - I have not had any chocolate or sweets in 16 weeks. I was bad on Saturday though and had a whole half pint of cheese sauce to myself!. There was not much food in the house except for a cauliflower and I could not eat that on its own so had to make a cheese sauce with fat and a load of cheese to go with it - but I still lost weight and I did enjoy it - but should not make a habit of it really.

I have had to have some new uniforms at work as the tops were very baggy. I was going to try and hang on a bit longer but everyone said I needed them and in fact they look very nice. Still kept the size 24 trousers as the waist bands on them are unbelievably tight and at the end of a night shift they are a very snug fit indeed.

Jess & I had seen some nice handbags - with a little Scottie dog on -( can't remember the name of them though) and Steven said he would get me one as a congratulations on first target gift but when we went to get one - in fact I did not like the strap and they looked silly so I have not had my treat yet. Initially I had said I would treat myself to a gym membership but as I still have not used the Pilate's machine or done any walking or any exercise I think that is a waste of money that I have not got.

Talking of handbags - I have been rather crafty and decorated a bag to hold Nickys 40th birthday present in. Thats not like me at all as I am usually a pureist scrapbooker - not in to altering things at all - but here is the proof.

The bag was a plain black one from the House of Fraser with the Loccitane goodies in that I bought for her birthday. I wanted to use it but to cover up the HOF logo - so covered it with a sliver star and a star made out of DCWV glitter paper. I hand cut the '40' and the added lots of silver stars (peel offs- a dirty word I know but they finished it off nicely!). I think it looks fab and so did Nicky

I have had to buy some new trousers!

Yes when I started this diet I was wearing size 24 trousers but soon had to buy some size 20's & 18's. Well the size 20 are now just far too big and look silly so I had to buy some more. I ended up with some more size 18 from Sainsburys - they only just fit as the Ann Harvey ones I usually have measure up very big - to make us big girls feel we can fit into smaller sizes I think! These new ones only cost £10 so it does not matter if they do not last long.

I tried some tops on but they did not look right as my boobs looked very odd. Jess & I decided that as I am still wearing my old bras - perhaps I should get measured correctly for some new ones - then perhaps the tops will look better. 

I recieved a new book this morning about journalling from Memory Makers. I think journalling is such an important part of a layout - but I don't feel I do it as well as I could so I am going to devour this book in an attempt to improve my journalling.

My scrapagogo September kit has also arrived. Its not great this month - not a lot in it for £25.00 and I already have the heidi Grace papers - which I picked up cheaply from the QVC shop and have not found them easy to work with.


I actually preferred the monthly kits from Mod Scraps - her choice of papers was much more to my taste - but her customer service was rubbish and I don't really feel confident to start up with her new venture because of this. At least Scrapagogo is reliable and very efficient - I really must start to use the kits more though.

Not sure how much scrap booking I will get done for a while as Jess goes back to Uni next week - then my mum moves in with us - after selling her house until she can find a ground floor flat at the Ceaders. She is moving into Ross's room - so i will have to move all my scrapbook stuff out and pack it away.

I have lost again but not enough to get me to my first target!

Yes I have lost 2lb tonight but I needed 3lb to get me to my 3 stone loss. Ah well should do it next week. I did come home with 2 certificates - 1 for slimmer of the month for August (11 1/2lb) and slimmer of the week with my 2lb loss. Like last week lots of people has gained or stayed the same.

I am pretty sure that I will loose the 1lb next week because I have got a colonic booked for tomorrow.

I had a hygienists appointment today - teeth good: gums bad - as always . She said my teeth cleaning was good but that I really should floss much more to improve my gums - I know this but I am always so tired at bedtime that i don't do it. The dentist said it does not matter when in the day I do it - midday even - just do it - so note to myself - FLOSS, FLOSS and FLOSS. Whilst I was waiting in reception I was reading a magazine called Fresh - about food and cooking etc. and I found a fab recipe for baked sweet potatoe. When I left I tried to buy the mag but it was last months so I picked up any nice mag and went back to the dentist and asked if I could have the Fresh mag in exchange for this new one. They laughed and said I could have it. I made this lovely lunch out of it



It is baked sweet potatoe with a nice salsa - peppers, onion and tomatoes and I did a sweet corn in the oven at the same time in foil. - That did not work though as I did not put any water in the foil and the sweet corn dried right out

Jess passed her exams!

Great news today - Jessica heard that she has passed her resits, so she can go back to uni next week! 
What a relief - though she said that she has settled back into Shrewsbury now and does not want to go back to Norwich - she is going to be homesick again. A lot of her friends who went to Chester Uni last year have decided to live at home and travel each day and of course Emily is still here so she half wanted to fail her exams so she could stay here with her friends!

The deadline was getting rather tight as she has to go in to Queens building (at UEA) next Friday so get her programme etc. so I am taking her back on Thursday - thankfully I have a day off that day so can take her, but have to travel back the same day - eugh.

Got my weigh in tonight - I really do not know what to expect this week -
I hardly ate at all at the start of the week because I did 4 extremely busy nights and did not get a break on any of those shifts. Since then I have eaten 
well - though kept to 
the plan. Except yesterday we went into town and because dad
& Jess were starving we stoppedin at Subway - so I had a wrap
as well - lots of salad & veg but also the sweet onion sauce & meat! 

For tea I had steamed salmon steak, new potatoes and peas and
 3 meringue nests andloads of strawberries. 
Oh well we will just have to see what the scales say tonight -
if I can loose 3lb I will have got to my 3 stone loss - which will be fab.  
Keep your fingers crossed.


HSMS prompt yesterday was 'cakes' which was really lucky because I did loads of baking yesterday - scones and coconut cakes - they won't last long in this house though. I was very good - none for me and I did not even lick the spoon!

power ball - exercise desperation

I lost another 1lb on Monday!

I was really chuffed to have lost another 1lb this week = making a grand total of 2 stone 11lb now. I am 3 or 3.5lb away from my 3 stone award so I am being very good to see if I can get it next week. I am not holding my breath though as my bowels have come to a complete standstill again - I can't understand it as I am eating so much fruit and veg - one would think they would go the other way.


Here is a photograph of me taken today - do I look any slimmer? I think I do. I do look a little different as I have had my hair cut today - needs washing to get to how I really like it. I don't like photos of myself but i do need to keep a record of the changes in me.




I have been naughty again and treated myself to a new MP3 player which came yesterday. It is a Creative Vision M - 60Gb!


It was quite cheap on Amazon so I naughtily bought it because my other ones are full - they are just 6 & 4 Gb and I cannot put any more music on them and to be truthful - neither of them are particularly user friendly. Eleanor and Liam have one of these - just the 30Gb version and have found it reliable and easy to use. I synced all my music and photos on yesterday but have ended up with lots of photos that i don't really want on - they were just on my laptop as a back up - so have a bit of editing to do.

Ross is home at the moment - off sick from work with a really nasty throat abscess - it was dire to look at and he was quite ill. The Dr has given him a huge dose of Penicillin and he was to return if it had not improved after 48 hours and would be admitted to hospital for IV antibiotics - thankfully he seems better today so I think we can avoid that.

Red day today

I am having a red day today as I really want to loose one lb on Monday night and I think I loose more on red days than green - plus I can't stand pasta!. I only have 4 days between weigh in's this week because of the bank holiday so the pressure is on!

For lunch I had chicken kebabs - they were very tasty and quick & easy to make. Will definitely do them again.

1 chicken breast - cut into bite shaped pieces.
Cherry tomatoes - whole
yellow pepper- chopped
1 red onion - quartered

Add to skewer and then I sprinkled them with a couple of squirts of Fry Light and some Jamaican Jerk seasoning which added just the right amount of kick.

here they are before they went under the grill:-



and here after they were cooked and ready to eat! I just love grilled cherry toms and eating food with your fingers makes a nice change.



For pudding I had this sugar free jelly and 2 kiwi fruits - again delicious.



Think I might have prawns and jacket potato for tea- using the potatoes as a healthy extra b.
My breakfast was the usual, all bran, skimmed milk and a whole grapefruit. I still  cannot believe than I can eat so much with Slimming World and still lose weight - Ithink that's why I have not cheated once in 13 weeks.

my slide show below

Well it has taken me all day - it is 3.30pm now- just to get this slide show on my blogg!! first I had to take photos of each page, then edit them in photoshop elements which took ages, then upload them to photobucket - this took forever and thenit  decided to be stupid and not take any more uploads. Then go to slide.com which again took ages and would not find the photos I needed and could not find them on PSE so had to take them again!!

Anyway its on here now and I am very pleased with it.

Check out my Slide Show!