What am I up to?

Hello there.
Here we are, into March already! Where has the year gone? I guess I've been busy. Work certainly has! We've lost our appeal, so as from next month my wage will drop by almost 10%. We have been given a "role profile" that is at least one below (but probably two) our actual job..... but it's OK because HR say it's OK to work at a Grade above ours, as part of our development.... What!!! I can "develop" into my own job? Well, that's good of them.... Needless to say, I am looking for a new job. It's not the money (although that is going to sting) is that we are now feeling totally devalued, undervalued, who gives a sh*&........ Oh well!!! Life goes on. I have been doing a lot of what I enjoy over the winter - interpretation. I'm taking the lead on developing an Audio Post that will go outside the visitor centre. And loving the research, the script writing, everything about it. Also working on three panels for one of our Nature Reserves.
Talking of the visitor centre..... this is it last week:

You could almost believe spring was on the way.... except it was so darned cold! :-) Not as cold as the middle of December though: Took this when I was leaving for work; and this wasn't the coldest morning - just forgot to get photos!!! lol

What next? Oh! Forgot to share this photo of Santa! I know Santa, you know.... Personally! He lives in the same house as me! How lucky am I? (Actually, not very because he's useless at choosing presents for his wife.... good job he loves her, and she him!) LOL

The middle of January saw a bit more snow here. This view is very close to our home; in 20 years time it could well have a High Speed train, on a viaduct, included in the view! How can anyone think it's a good idea to save 30 minutes on the trip to Sheffield by spoiling views such as this? 

It's going obliterate a mile of restored canal, and 3 miles of proposed renovation, as well as 2 miles of Greenway. It will also pass within feet of the new Canal Basin built 14 months ago, with a "maintenance depot" sat about 10 yards from the Basin.......

This lock gate, which cost £32,000 for the set, could well be the last ones to be fitted if the HS2 does go ahead! :-o

What else? Well.... my lovely kids...... We went to a 50th birthday party at the end of last year. Went to my nieces beforehand, to all meet up first. They thought it was a good idea to put rollers in Philip's   - and he didn't argue! Crazy as always. My younger niece is in the peach top, the other three are my lot!

We don't get together very often, but when we do, they are all still experts at trying to wind each other up (although, you see the Kinder Choc on the counter top? The niece - left back, bought her "arch enemy, the daughter - left front the chocolate because the daughter can't get it in any of the shops near to her home. They used to fight like cat and dog! Who'd have thunk! LOL

Well, that's it..... Oh! No! Saved the best 'til last........... :-D

The Visa has been granted! We are physically waiting for the actual paperwork now; any day! My lovely soon to be daughter in law asked if I'd make the invitations..... we think this is the final version! :-)

Will write more about it next time; suffice to say dates and venues are decided, so just have to get the paper ordered and get printing!

Thanks for calling by. Speak soon.

Jude.x

Denise is coping fairly well at the moment. She is keeping herself busy with arrangements. Thank you to those of you who have been praying/thinking of her.
On a lighter note the other half made bread today (in the bread maker I should add). Now he doesn't normally have a problem, but just now and again....... Well look at this! :-D

I call it I *heart* bread........ I laughed so much I cried! I told R I wasn't laughing at him, but with him. He asked if I saw him laughing - which just made me laugh even more! LOL. (He did think it was funny before any of you think I was being cruel......)
I haven't tried it yet, so no idea what, if anything, he did wrong with it.
Speak soon. Jude.x

Sad news

I had a phone call this morning to tell me that my nieces partner passed away at 7.30 am today.
If you have a God I would be very grateful if you would please pray that my niece can get through the next few days with the same bravery and courage that she has shown, since Jane was diagnosed just 7 weeks ago, with inoperable Brain and Lung cancer. They have been together for 16 years, and never spent a day apart in all that time. If you don't have a God, would you please keep her in your thoughts?
Jane was the most loving, funny, loyal person and will be sadly missed by all our family, but especially by Denise.
Thank you. Jude.x

2013

Just a very quick post. Wanted to wish everyone that drops by a very Happy 2013. May it bring everything you need and deserve. 2012 was marginally better for us than 2011, so I have high hopes for 2013!! :-D
Speak soon. Jude.x

Another update

Hello there.
Just a short update; confirming I'm still alive! lol

Still trying to eat healthily. Haven't lost much weight this last month - only a couple of pounds.

I've been feeling very down. Sometimes life just stinks, doesn't it? My nieces partner has just found out she has a Brain tumour, and secondaries in her lungs. J remains very positive, so we are all hopeful of a good outcome. She's just completed a course of radiotherapy and is exhausted. (As R. went through this a few years ago I know how tiring it is.) She starts chemotherapy in a couple of weeks. If you have a God, please pray for them both? Please keep them in your thoughts if you don't. Thank you.

We're also due to find out this week if our Single Status appeal has been successful or not - and we are thinking not! :-( I don't feel I can carry on if we aren't successful, so have started looking for another job - although maybe it's time to move on anyway. Perhaps they are doing me a favour?

I finally got an appointment with my GP. My blood pressure is fairly high - it's always been "spot on" so that was a bit of a shock, but not really surprising..... I've agreed to go back on all my tablets, providing I could have a statin that wasn't Simvastatin! I didn't expect her to agree to that (it's the cheapest option for Statins, so all surgeries prefer it.. :p ) Anyway, she did agree. We also had the usual "do you smoke, excercise, drinks, eat healthily, relax" - "yes - between 5 and 10 a day, not as much as I should, none, not as much as I should, no". :-D So I agreed to try my best to keep it to 5 a day, attempt more exercising, remain virtually tee-total (not difficult, I rarely drink), eat more of my 5-a-day, and take the anti-depressants. :-( Ah well! Such is life - back to rattling, I guess. This time I'm determined not to put the weight on again, which means that I will HAVE to do more exercising - one of the side effects of one of the tablets is weight gain - I will not go there again. I hate that I let myself get to this size. I will lose it before P. gets married. I will.

Took this when we were away a few weeks ago - what was he watching so intently?.......

This:








OK. That's it for now. Might take the week off work next week, so if I stray out on any walks I'll take the camera. Off to a party next week and I must remember the camera then - my family do get a bit silly when we all get together. lol :D
Speak soon. Thanks for calling by.
Jude.x

Update

Hi there.
Just popping by to let you know how my weight loss attempts are doing. I'm not "dieting" as such, just trying to eat more sensibly. Well the regular updates haven't happened, have they? :D But the weight loss is happening..... \o/ Yay!! I've lost half a stone. Obviously not brilliant, but I'm happy with that. I've virtually cut out bread - I have Ryvita at lunchtime, with various toppings, always at least one tomato and a yoghurt. It fills me up nicely; sometimes I crave chocolate in the afternoon for some reason, and occasionally succumb, but very rarely I'm happy to report. I still have potatoes/rice with my evening meal but have cut down on the amount I eat, preferring to fill up with veg - ha! Hark at me - sounding like I know what i'm talking about! ;D It's working - who cares! LOL
Some photos now:

Ducklings on the canal: born much, much later than normal, this was the third brood for this Mum. Have no idea how many of them have survived though because I haven't seen her around for a while.

This photo was taken at the beginning of August.

Next up are a couple of photos from our few days away in the caravan. It was really nice to get away. We did nothing. No, really..... Not a thing other than a bit a fresh food shopping on our second day there. Lots of walks with Alphie; lots of sitting just looking at the River (Trent - the site we were on is bordered by the Trent) and sunsets; lots of reading (3 chick Lit books in 4 days) and just general lazing around. Alph is sooooo funny with the football. One of these days I'll video him and put it on here....

And the River view from the site - pretty!

I've saved the best 'til last: I got up to go to work on the morning of 18th August to this................

Yep! My lovely son had left a message for us. The very lovely soon-to-be American daughter in law received notification that their Visa Application had been accepted. Still a way to go. He got his letter about a month later asking him to complete several (rather confusing) forms and gather several bits of "evidence" (mainly I.D. stuff) and then send them off. As it's going to take about a month for all that evidence to come through, they decided he should go over to LA for 4 weeks while they wait.
When I dropped him off at the coach it suddenly hit me that it was the last time ever that I would be seeing him off like that (obviously when he finally goes I'll take him to Heathrow so I can cry and sob in public with a much larger audience than I'd have at Chesterfield coach station) Which is almost what I did.... as I drove home I was fighting back tears! Soppy cow that I am.
It still isn't a certainty but we can't see any reason why it shouldn't be approved, so it looks like a March wedding in LA. Which brings us full circle back to my weight loss; and the fact that I am now actually trying to lose weight but have longer to lose more, with a bit of luck.
Thanks for calling by.
Speak soon. Jude.x

Healthy living........

......... is difficult! :-)


I put on a lot of weight when I had to go on medication. I know this because when I decided to come off the medication I stopped putting on weight, even though I changed nothing else in my life.
I've been thinking for a while that I need to do something about it. I did a couple of years ago, but then the depression caught up with me when I stopped taking the tablets...... My very lovely DD visited a couple of weeks ago, came in like a whirlwind and left a bit like a tornado, leaving a very wind-battered Mum behind. But. A more positive Mum too! :-) Start slow and build up, she said. And that is what I'm doing. A minute on the cross-trainer (I aim for at least 4 times a week) has turned into 2.5 minutes. I know that's still rubbish, but it does my knees in! :-D
I love bread, but am forcing myself not to just have that slice of toast for supper. I'm trying to drink more water instead of tea, and eat more fruit and veg. I'm not very good with the fruit bit..... I do like fruit but somehow find it so difficult to make myself eat it.... I've been having an apple during the morning and try to have something with lunch too but don't always manage it. I love oranges but always end up in a sticky mess with them! LOL
And why this sudden urge to get fitter? Well. The LA wedding is getting closer. Still no date, but they are, apparently, now in Stage 3 of the Immigration process. I have no idea what that means time-wise (maybe one of my US readers can tell me?). What I do know is that as there will only be two of our family there - the other being my gorgeous daughter - I don't want to embarrass Philip. (Not that I think he would be, because he isn't that sort of person, he loves people for who they are, not what they are) A long-haul flight is going to be hard on my body anyway, and it's going to be very warm on my big, fat, whale-like body. But most of all.... when DD came up we went into MurderHell (family name for Meadow Hall, in Sheffield lol) to look for suitable dresses for me - it made me cry! :-( I looked horrible in the first half dozen I tried on. I hated myself. I can't understand how I let myself get like this; I know HOW it happened - just not why I LET it happen; and now I have a real job to change it, and a limited time to do it.
And why am I writing this here? Now? Well, I'm hoping that by putting the thoughts "out there" in the public domain I just might embarrass myself into following through this time. I've never been small - only 5'5" but 10 stones is my personal ideal weight; any less and I start to look ill, with sunken cheeks, etc. I'm so not going to tell you how much I weigh at the moment - it's THAT bad. Just look at the size of my fingers in that photos below - and I've not put any weight on them! I'm also going to have to go back on the medication or I'll not get medical insurance when I fly out to the US.
So I'm thinking (sort of) regular updates on here could guilt me into achieving a healthier lifestyle? Any hints and tips gratefully received by the way. But be gentle, please! :D How did you start on a weight loss/healthy living journey? What encouraged you to continue when you felt like giving up? My "boys" aren't any help - "we love you no matter......" is NOT helping! lol And DD lives 150 miles away and although she emails regularly to check on progress, it's not the same, is it? I need personal motivation. 'Sigh' :-\

Anyway On a good note - I'm loving the Olympics. The Opening Ceremony was totally Awesome. Loved it all - well except for Paul McCartney! What were they thinking? He can't sing anymore. Stop dragging him out! And the choice of song? "Hey Jude" - obviously "my" song - but he murdered it and such a weird choice! But well done TeamGB on your medal haul to date. Proud to be British today! :-)

Speak soon. Jude.x