Big decisions and other musings

Hmmm. Hello.


Long post ahead, sorry folks!


I have been in a bit of a funk recently, all woe-is-me like, hence my lack of posts for a few weeks. I don't generally like to post in a negative way, as that's not what this blog is intended for, I try to only post positive things where I can.


So. Lots of thinking has been done in the midst of raising 2 kids, being a housewife, looking after a hungry 4 month old, toilet training a 2.5 year old, sick in laws and various other dramas.  In fact, possibly too much thinking which could be where I'm going wrong. Once your head goes into hyper drive and all these ideas and thoughts whizzing around, you don't get a whole lot of down time do you?


I have been thinking (ever since I left work to have my boy, almost 3 years ago) about what sort of business I could set up, one that lets me work from home until our kids are at school. Now I did say already, I have lots of ideas, and I am toying with 2 in particular, both involve passions of mine, and both COULD work. 


One will take a lot of time, most likely for not a lot of money, BUT I would have heaps of fun and get to unleash creative-me. 


The other, is something I studied for, worked towards for a few years, and would take up less time, and has potential to be very good, and could be expanded on with other services, and more hours once the kids are in school. Its just a lack of confidence in myself that is holding me back. That and I need to work on me before I can help others.


So after a couple of decent sized meltdowns in the last week, and lots of over emotional-ness, I have decided this:


1. Play around with option number 1, just a bit, making gifts for others etc, and see how much talent I really have with the things I want to make. 


2. Work on a business plan for option #2, and work on me a bit while I'm at it. I can't help others if I can't help myself. Get as much advice as I can, and once business plan is done, it will be closer to when my boy goes into 20 hours a week child care (September) so will have a small amount more free time then (around my wee girl) 


3. Try and relax a bit and just enjoy being a mama. They don't stay little forever, or so I'm told.


Nikki

DIY birdfeeder

The finished product. Doesn't look as pretty as the one
that I saw, but hey, it serves it's purpose!

So I found this on Pinterest, and thought it looked like something fun for D and I to make, so I got all the bits and pieces together and away we went!

You need:

1 enthusiastic "helper"

A 1.5l soft drink bottle

2 dowling rods for perches (I used 2 hot dog sticks)

Something to pierce holes in the bottle (I used my sewing awl)

Scissors

String

Bird feed (I got vita pet wild bird seed, $2.75 at New World) 

You might also see the bike rack hook. This is only because we have no trees with reachable branches at our house, and I can't reach the top of the archway in the garden, so I only used this to hang it over and hook over archway.

Make sure you keep any helpers away from the sharp objects.

He was like a moth to the flame...

 Pierce 4 holes around bottom of the bottle. These need to be in line so that you can thread the rods/hot dog sticks through the holes. These will serve as perches for the birds to sit on.

Then you want to pierce corresponding holes slightly above where the perches will be. This is where the seed will be accessible for the birds. I made them approx 3cm above the holes.

Pierce 2 holes at other end of bottle to thread the string through. This is where I got incredibly frustrated and my helper got incredibly bored. Couldn't get the thread through the opposite hole. Made the holes bigger and this made it easier!!

Cat thought if she helped she might get to enjoy the fruits of our labours.

 Tie string to the bottle, insert "perches" and you are ready to fill it with bird seed!

Here's an idea, if you want to fill in 10 minutes or so, tell your helper that they need to put the bird seed in by hand. Takes FOREVER!!!

Once you have a bit of seed in there, (I only half filled it) quickly flip it up the way it will hang from the tree, and hang it up. 

Et voila~! One finished bird feeder.

 Now you just need to wait for the birds to come and find it!

And wait some more...

Ok so at this point, I am yet to see any birds feed out of it, but the cat won't go away, so that is probably half the problem. Now it is raining and the feed is probably getting soggy through the holes... 

Ah well. We had fun making it!!

Weigh in Friday - Oh, hello.. It's me again.

Amber at 13 weeks. She's now 15 weeks but I love this picture

Well, my scales and I are back. I don't want you to think i haven't been weighing in, because I have. There's just been no weight loss to speak of. In fact, there was weight GAIN. EW.

Dex and I at Pilot Bay, he was sad cos Daddy had
gone off in the Kayak and left him.

But back on track now and scales are heading back down again YAY. I'd love to say going back on the (breasfteeding friendly) pill was to blame, as last time I was on it I gained 10kg in 3 months with no other explanation (oh and I went pretty crazy too), and that is actually a big part of the weight I am trying to lose now!!. But alas, no. I can't blame the pill this time around as my diet was atrocious this last few weeks.


So, back down to 89.7kg. My aim for next week is to be in the 88's. That will make me happy, since it's coming off so slowly.

My cute kiddies. Love em!

Looking at my birthday goal of 75kg I have lose lose .5kg a week. Which as I have said so many times, is very achievable. It just requires me to stick with it of course. But now it is cooler, my broken toe is finally back on the mend after hurting it again, and baby A is much more in a regular routine with her feeds.


But look! hubby bought a Kayak this week and this gives us another fun outlet for exercise, we had a great time, just hope we get to go out quite often.

It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow and we got given a huge leg of lamb from the in-laws as a congrats, cannot WAIT for that, even though I am well aware it isn't so great for the weight loss!

Me and my gals. Can't believe it's been 5 years already!!

Hope you have a great weekend.
Nikki

Things I want to achieve for 2012

Having a baby could be considered a pretty damn good achievement already I think. But I'd like to think I can achieve a few other crafty/blog things. Here's my list I have been putting a whole lot of thought into.


In terms of Bloggy Stuff...

1. Update The Undercover Bloggers so that it is all fresh and new and people want to get back into contributing to it. For now it is just sitting there and every few months someone puts a post up. Need to fix that!!

2. Update the NZWAHP's Showcase Blog so the directory is all current and useable. Am half way through this but need to complete it and liven it.

3. Get The Mummy Diaries up and flowing again. I co write this with Bonnie from The Baby Bump, and we both had to stop for awhile since life took over, but we are keen to get it up and cranking again.


4. Liven my crafty Facebook page once there is more stuff on there to sell (more on that below)




I have a few blogs on the go huh?




For the Crafty stuff... this is a biggie

5. Get enough stuff made up to start going to markets/selling online in the hope that people will like said stuff and want to buy it! So far I have narrowed down the many many things I want to make to just a few that I hope to make really well, and am in the process of re-setting up my crafty corner, which my hubby packed up on my behalf while I was pregnant with Amber, as we were planning on putting the house on the market once she was born. So now I am unpacking it and setting it up the way I want it. Will do another post soon with more on this.


For Personal Life stuff..


6. Carry on with my weight loss. Am 4kg lighter than when I got pregnant with Amber. My goal is to be at 75kg by my birthday, which, while it is still ages away, it is getting closer all the time and my weight loss seems to have stopped for the time being. Because of all the rubbish I keep eating. I am under no illusions of this, and hold myself completely responsible!! No excuses, it is what it is.


To be honest, I could go on and on about my goals, but you don't have all day and I will never acheive them if I spend all day writing about what they are!! So let's leave it at that for now :)

Weigh in Day Friday (on a Saturday)

I'm starting to think I should change weigh in day to Saturday, seeing as I am always weighing in a day late!


Anyway


Scales went down slightly again this week, down another 100g. So I am 89.5kg. At this rate I will not be getting to 75kg by my birthday at end of October, but the husband and I have started a bit of a 12 week challenge between the 2 of us, as of today.


Is starting trying even harder to eat better and exercise more (hopefully not just for 12 weeks), on April Fools Day a recipe for disaster? I hope not.


That's all for today, I think we are about to head off to Hamilton so best go get myself and the kiddies ready.


Back soon
Nikki

A few diet changes - Starting with Breakfast

Good Morning Bloggy Land!

So with emotional eating a very big part of my weight loss issues, (see that post here), I need to keep on top of not succumbing to the allure of chocolate, ice cream, sausage rolls, pies (I like pies),  biscuits and the list goes on, when I have a bad day.

One of the many upsides of being a stay at home mum is that I am at home. When I was working, it was so easy to walk down the road to the lunch bar (when I worked as an Account Manager for Telecom) and buy a Double Happy (those giant sausage rolls with mashed potato and cheese in them), and a coke and some chocolate... just for a snack. Or when I was at Trustpower, the Vending Machines were just a hallway away.

Ah yes. The sausage roll. In all her fatty, greasy goodness.

And even before the wee princess was born, just going out with 1 kid was so much easier and quicker, I could pop up the road to BK or the Supermarket. A toddler and a baby takes a lot more organising and generally, the inconvenience outweighs the very short termed feeling of eating that naughty but so tasty food.

But I digress.

So, when you are at home most of the time, Emotional Eating only "works" if you have the food in the pantry. So if I can go to the Supermarket with a full belly and in a good state of mind, I generally come home with a lot less rubbish food.

So the first meal of the day I wanted to change, is, well, the first meal of the day. Breakfast. Here are the changes thus far:

Milo from "Heroes". Not actually the Milo I was googling,
but he will do.

Normally 3 pieces of toast, with peanut butter and jam, and a very milo-ey milo with 1 sugar.
For the last couple of weeks I changed that to still 3 pieces of toast, but with honey or marmite, and still the milo, though with less milo, and occasionally a green tea instead.

Ah. Yes. That Milo.

From today I have removed one piece of toast and replaced it with a low fat yoghurt, and kept the green tea with the intention of today getting another kind of herbal tea for some variety, but keeping milo out of the morning meal. I will also alternate between toast and porridge now that the mornings are a bit cooler.

Green tea always makes me feel so healthy and virtuous. Less inclined to eat naughty food. Can only be a good thing!

So that's the first meal attacked successfully. Next I will attack lunch, where there is currently far too much bread being consumed!!

Talk again soon!
Nikki

Oopsie, hello again

Oops forgot to weigh in the last couple of weeks. Well, I did remember, but it was a day or two later and the result was crap so I didn't bother.

Remembered to weigh on on Saturday at least, and am down a whole 100g from 2 weeks ago. Down is good, down further would be better.

Ok.

I have a confession.

Diet hasn't been that great in general lately, but yesterday I had a HUGE blowout. So I can't feel sorry for myself for A. not losing more weight, or B. feeling like rubbish and having my oesophagael (no idea how to spell it) spasm back (read - really painful indigestion/heartburn that keeps me up all night and goes across the left side of my chest) its been gone for a really long time, long enough that I binned my medication I have for it as hadn't needed it in so long. So am eating better from now on, I promise!!!

We have a bit of family stuff on this week coming but after that hubby and I have decided to encourage each other with a bit of a 12 week challenge. Mostly on the diet front but we are both making a big effort to exercise more too.

So if there is 31 weeks until my 30th birthday, and I wanted to lose 15kg from when I was 90kg (A whole 400g ago) I have to lose 470g a week to get there. I would like to think that is quite achievable but the evil monster in my head is telling me "yeah, yeah, you've set this goal a hundred times, you never stick with it"

Evil little monster.

But I am starting training for a couple of "fun" runs, in August and September, once my previously broken, now just very sore, big toe sorts itself out again. For now it is just walking. So that really does have to help with weight loss.

I know it says 2011, they aren't advertising this years one yet.

Am I nuts to think this looks like fun?

Diet is the big thing though. The very big thing.


Right, I have decided I want to be honest with you. This is what I ate yesterday in my junk food binge. Judge away, I'm already judging myself!!

Honey on toast (3 pieces) and a milo
Butter chicken and rice with a naan and a pepsi max
Chips and a diet lemonade while playing poker with friends
Fish n chips and a diet lemonade
Big bowl of icecream
A few mini chocolate fish.

Why do YOU think I feel like ARSE??? I have a fair idea.

Wish me luck!
Nikki