Monday, December 24, 2012

The annual Christmas poem


From our house to yours
.A Christmas Carol

Oh little town of  Alexand how still we see thee lie,
Can only mean we’re not outside,
my daughter, son and I
Yet in the dark street shineth an everlasting light,
 I think it be my Christmas tree, those flashing things are bright!

How silently how silently the cat comes sidling in…
Since joining us in February, she’s had us in a spin
She sulked for the first week or two then hid under the bed,
And though she should be TLE's cat she fancies the Queen instead

Listen and you just might hear some voices singing gaily
Could be Kapa haka (her) or him and ukulele
Born to please a crowd they are, with not a hint of coy
On the stage or a YouTube clip, that’s my girl and boy

Out in the garden -  one for each-  lots of plants abound
Berries, peas, and spuds and beans are all there to be found
The Engineer's the green thumb, the Dancing Queen, likes cooking
(Though more whipped cream and chocolate cake is pinched when I’m not looking)


The adult of the house is great – in work and home life too
The job, the gym, the Village Voice, the dancing that I do
A special friend to share my time, (who’s learned to dance as well)
In retrospect I must declare the year has turned out swell


Happy Christmas from Us

Saturday, December 01, 2012

the shape of things to come

A couple of months ago I won two months gym membership in a Facebook competition.  It included a session with a personal trainer, and although it took me a few weeks to actually get in there, once I'd had the assessment (surprisingly good), and got my workout plan, I found I was quite excited about the idea.

I'm no couch potato (I walk or use my bike to get about every day and dance at least once a week) but I also knew that my body could use a bit of work - I treat it well most of the time, but like most women in their mid-40s, I probably spend more time on the peripherals of exercise, and more money on my face/skin/hair than I do on maintaining good fitness and tone.

So, fast forward 8 sessions or so and I'm starting, ever so slowly, to see some changes.  I can do more whilst I'm on my circuit (eg up to 20 flights of stairs on the stepper, having started at 15, rowing for 7 minutes rather than 4), and although there's certainly no dramatic changes to my shape I do feel just a little bit straighter and fitter - and yes maybe even a little firmer in some spots.

Its been a bit frustrating that ''the weight isn't falling off''.  Like most people I'm always thinking I could do with shedding a few kilos and I (somewhat unrealistically) thought this gym thing would make that an easy task.  Here's the downside - I'm so hungry all the time!  I guess its all that exercise but I'm sure I am eating more now than I was a month ago.  I get hungry at random times too - late in the evening, early in the morning, neither of which have been typical eating times for me.  So, when I lamented about this to the trainer (also a good friend) she suggested I keep a food diary for a few days and she could analyse it for me.

Well, if there was ever a motivation to change what went into my mouth, that was it!  NOT the goal of losing weight, oh no.  The thought that I would have to write down that a bag of chips fell into my mouth was just too horrifying and so I now find myself thinking ''hmmmm, maybe I could have an apple''.  It's the darnedest thing!  I don't want my friend thinking I eat rubbish (actually I don't ...really.....) and I don't want to see a list in black and white of what went into my stomach either!

And so whilst I have still had a couple of major pig outs (today an example when I attended an event with catered deliciousness), I am certainly more aware of everything I'm consuming, and I'm hoping that this will be the difference between getting fit, and getting into shape.