Weight Update Continued

My weight update has meant there have been a few email flying around and I thought it might be a good idea to answer some of the questions on the blog.

How much weight have you lost?   approximately 20kg (it is approximate because for the first 6 weeks I was too scared to get on the scales)  I have lost 16kg since the shock of weighing so it may be a bit more than that.  I want to lose another 10kg.

What diet are you using?  It is called Body Trim and you can find all the details at www.bodytrim.com.au and if you want to take the plunge you can get at major bookshops like Dymocks and Angas and Robertson or directly through the website.  It is an Australian company so US girls may have to contact the website to see if you can get it.

Does it if in with the family?  Yes I just modify what gets served up to me ie no carb at lunch and dinner.  If they are having pasta I just serve the sauce with vegetables.  It does mean reading the food labels and making sure ingredients fit in with the diet's carb and fat restrictions but I know what I can buy now.

Is there much food preparation involved?  There can be as little or as much as you like.  I use protein shakes for my snacks only.  The diet strongly promotes real food for all main meals which I adhere to you are allowed protein shakes and bars for snacks only.  I use Natures Way Chocolate and Vanilla which is a soyabean based product (it did take a bit of getting use to in the beginning but it doesn't bother me now) you can also have a small can of tuna, a boiled egg,  cold meat for your snack it is up to you.

Have you been working out at the gym?  No the diet promotes moderate exercise ie walking and you are restricted to only this in the first 4 weeks if you want to do more after 4 weeks you can but I haven't.

How long have you been on the diet? I started Anzac Weekend and I have been taking it slow and steady but some people report loosing 1.5 kg every week however I am more than happy with my rate of loss.   

I was going to show you a before shot but I have chickened out.

Weight Update

I saw a friend today that I probably haven't seen for about 5 months and she didn't recognise me so I guess the diet must be working.  I have been on a plateau for a while and although this has bugged me a bit I have stuck with the diet anyway and did a couple of things that were suggested by Bodytrim and seem to have broken through and have lost another couple of kgs in the last couple of weeks.

The good thing about this diet is that you don't feel like you are on a diet because you don't crave all the things you can't have.... you just don't want them.  This is a pretty big statement for me with the former megga sweet tooth and a person who has either been overweight or on a diet.  This really isn't a diet because you don't feel deprived and you don't have to spend endless time at the gym its just a new way of eating and a new lifestyle.   

Dyed Cotton Velveteen

I  received some cotton velveteen in the post on Friday.  Now I have a special secret project for it but I can show you the first step which was getting the dye pots out.  I have lost my dyeing instructions but luckily I still have a couple of bottles of the dye bath mixed so I had enough to do this and hopefully replacement instructions will arrive soon from Country Dye Works.

The shop didn't have as much as I wanted of the cream plain velveteen so I also got some embossed which when dyed came out really yummy and I think I like that better.   Now all I need is the motivation to get this project finished in time.

Quilting Arts Gifts

 My Quilting Arts Gifts has finally arrived.  The first copy sent never got delivered so they sent me another in a Global Priority Envelope.  Just in the nick of time as I am deciding on what to do for the next Christmas Ornie swap and although I have something in mind  I don't know if I will be able to get all the supplies I need to make it happen.  I also don't know whether they will safely arrive so might have to change plans at last minute but as I am swap mamma I might have an extra day up my sleeve.   

My latest purchase from the US just hit my bank account and I don't think I will be doing much US shopping for a while as the exchange rate is absolutely shocking,  I couldn't get the fabric here in Oz so it can't be helped.

New Toy

Everyone who knows me knows that I love my gadgets and toys.  Well sick of the kids  fighting me for the computer I decided it might be time to get myself a laptop.  Then I started looking at Macs and decided that they look a whole lot better and then there was the rumours of the new Macbook so I decided to wait.  Well I picked up my new baby on the weekend and I am starting to really love it.  Getting my pc to talk to it has been fun (NOT) but I am gradually transferring what data I need to and soon the kids can have the pc to themselves and they can leave me alone. 

p.s. thanks Tan for letting me know what kind of bird my visitor is.

Visitor

For a couple of months we have had an early morning visitor (very noisy), it is an exotic bird of some kind obviously escaped from an aviary somewhere. Please let me know if you know what type of bird it is, I might have to find out who I need to tell so they can capture it.

p.s. to Jill (sorry you have noreply on your comment) Yes I am that one.

Holly Jolly Christmas

Here is the first block from my Holly Jolly Christmas Quilt by Viv's Creations. It uses Jelly rolls so it is going to be super easy to put together. I have traced 12 Days of Christmas by Viv also but I don't think that either of these will be finished by Christmas this year, good thing they keep coming round so they both will be finished some Christmas in the near future. I am using a mixture of Sulky 30wt and Valdani machine embroidery threads on the embroidery and they are both nice to use.

p.s. Lorraine I think I have fixed that thing now so only this blog now shows.

I don't know what happened to my time but I didn't set aside any for the usual Cake extravaganza that usually happens at the kids birthdays so a tower of cupcakes was the birthday cake for my son's 8th birthday with the family. As you can see from my daughters picture they went down all right.

Did you ever have a day when...

Everthing you touch is a disaster. It all started with the modem...9am it just died... so I ended up taking it to the service provider to check it out. Then it was my mobile decided that it wouldn't charge so rushed down to the phone shop as I was waiting for the Tech to ring. Luckily that was at least fixable. Then I get the news that the modem is dead and buried so wait for hubby to get home and run down to office works and get a new modem which says EASY INSTALL. Get it home and take it out of the box and all its internal bits are rattling around in the case..so back in the car to the shop for another modem....back home and try and do easy install and the thing gets its nickers in a twist....so then have to wait for 9am to speak to tech again. Meantime husband is really concerned about the modem (he never worries about the computer). Turns out he needed to do some work from home as he was having the day off today.

In the meantime I decide to work a bit on my last birthday swap turn the iron on do a bit of work with the iron then some sewing then back to the iron and it is dead. At that point I decided not to touch anything more electrical and finished tracing The Twelve Days of Xmas Stitchery which kept me out of trouble till bed time.

Today was my son's 8th Birthday. This day started as early as possible, and then we headed out with a couple of his friends for a movie and lunch at Macca's with a hoard of kids on school holidays yuck. Once we dropped off the friends then we headed to the shop to spend the birthday money and now it is 8.30 and the kids are in bed and after making home made pasties and sausage rolls I am a bit pooped to say the least.

Had to do something about this mess

I have really felt like making things lately only problem is the sewing room looks like a bomb went off and every time I go out there I lose all inspiration. I am desperate to make a couple of halloween dolls for the end of the month (they are all traced ready from last year) but I don't think anything is really going to happen until after school holidays if I am realistic.

Only one more birthday swap to do for the year, and I have no idea... well I have an idea but might be over reaching myself with what I thought to do in the time frame. And I have signed up for the Christmas Ornie swap with the prim girls (I think it will only be a small one this time fingers crossed)

Well back to the mess..... things were just piling up on the floor and it has just got to be a bit of a joke. It doesn't matter how much storage space I get I need more. I have got rid of a basket that I store scraps in ... I will be getting into trouble from my daughter as she likes to come in and sits there and spreads the scraps everywhere as I have never used any of the scraps for anything its going. I am pretty sure a friend of mine says she knows a group that takes fabric scraps so I have a couple of bags to donate.

Now I need to go back and work on the other side of the room I have a few projects waiting to be started (bom from a year or so ago that I was going to get to)... might have to decide that that was a bit unrealistic and put them in the UFO box for when I am more inclined.

Cyber Stitching Day

Mrs Martin's Cyber Stitching Day is on 22nd November. This is just to let the 10 ladies that are coming to my house for an afternoon of stitching and yummy food that Mrs Martin is accepting deposits now so if you want the patterns and starter kit (you can also see the projects) head on over to Mrs Martins and put your name down and pay your deposit so that you will have some goodies to bring on the day.

I'll contact you all over the next couple of weeks when I get myself organised with all the details of time and place for those of you who don't know.