Can't Feel it, Can't See it Until.....

As part of my New Year Resolutions/Goals for 2010, I resolved to weigh less at the end of each month than I did the month before. I had no set amount or target or any diet plan, just a plan to decrease junk food, increase healthy food and water intake, start doing some exercise and slowly make a lifestyle change regarding food and my weight.

I weighed myself on New Years day and then again at the end of January and had lost 2.1 kgs. Couldn't feel it, couldn't see it, but the scales told me I'd done it. By the end of February, a further 1.5kgs had come off, so a total of 3.6kg. Again, couldn't feel it, couldn't see it, but scales told me I'd done it. So far this month another 500gms has gone and whilst Mike and Mum have said they could certainly notice, I still couldn't feel it, couldn't see it, until..... I noticed that my toe ring kept slipping off. I couldn't understand why it kept doing that, it just never occurred to me that my toes would have gotten smaller, but when it happened again yesterday, I bent down and took it on and off a couple of times and realised that was exactly what had happened and that I needed to squeeze it in a bit to form a tighter fit.

So here I am 4.1kgs lighter than at January 1 and what do I have to show for it...smaller toes. I feel so blessed!

I do know that I need and want to keep going and other results will show themselves in the future (perhaps my engagement and wedding rings will fit again soon) and maybe even someday soon I will be able to feel it and see it. In the mean time, think I might go treat my smaller toes to a pedicure!

Wonder what that is?

I had the pleasure of a visit from Gypsy and Will yesterday. The studio provided lots of interesting things for Will to look at, find and ask 'Wonder what this is?' It was soooo cute. He has such an amazing vocabulary and I have always loved the way kids sound when they are trying to say some pretty big/difficult words and he seems to know heaps of them!.

Anyway he played with a few bits and pieces, Gypsy and I had a quick catch up and then they were off and I went back to cleaning up out the back. This morning when I hopped in the car to take Jayden to school, I could see these little white spots on the studio door and said to myself "Wonder what that is". Mental note to check on my return. When I did, I found they were pricing stickers (Will had a little turn on the pricing gun) and without me noticing had priced up the door!

Next time I get some stock in, might have to set some aside and let him come and price it up for me!

Eye Candy

Pure and simple!

From a visit to Miss Wendy's to sort out the details for the kids holiday camp. And this was on a day when apparently she wasn't quite herself - so placid.

Farewell Narumi

On the morning of Wednesday March 10, we said good-bye to our lovely homestay student Narumi. She was a lovely, mature, helpful, polite girl and our time with her was too short. We have some great memories and photos to remember her by. Narumi said a final farewell to one of our cats (Tabitha) and then we took a quick 'Homestay Family' photo before heading off to school, where I stayed until the bus left to take them on there way. I was really sad to see this young lady leave. Hopefully we might see her again some day.

We hope you are doing well Narumi and learnt a lot during your time in New Zealand.

I'm not too old to ride on the trolley!

We must have gone to the supermarket at least 3 times while Narumi was here with us and each time, Taryn decided to play the monkey. Generally it was when Narumi was pushing the trolley. Taryn would jump on the end and expect a ride. Those darn things are hard enough to push without the extra weight of a 12 year old on them. Narumi did well to keep it straight most of the time. We did get some looks though - glad I drew the line and said no when she asked to hop IN the trolley.

One Tree Hill

The name kind of sounds funny now when you look at the treeless hill, but we took Narumi and the kids there a couple of weeks ago to have a look around and have a look out over the city.

Astronauts

We went to Stardome Observatory on children's Day and I was really excited about the photo opportunities that would have, but the place was packed to the rafters and you could barely move, so other than the above 'set up' photo opportunity, I didn't manage to get any others. You also were not allowed to take photos of the show itself. We did have a great time though. Narumi was with us, but did not want to have an 'Astronaut' photo taken.

Up the hill and down the hill

Jayden had heaps of fun climbing up the hill and happily did it more than once. He was much quicker going down the hill however. I remember doing rolly polly's down the hill when I was his age (actually I remember doing them in my 20's, but didn't enjoy them as much then!).

As the Sun Goes down

Photos can take on a whole different look if you are facing the right way. I caught the first two, 1 looking out to the city, just as the sun started going down and the 2nd looking over to Mount Victoria (I think). Narumi captured the last shot of Mike and I looking out towards the city. She actually took a few, but I like this one best!

War Games @ North Head

Taryn and Jayden decided that North Head was as good a place as any to have a little war game with finger pistols (although Taryn seemed to have a machine gun at one stage!) I love it when they play together (even if it is shooting eachother), as it doesn't happen too often.

Fish 'n' Chips @ North Head

We took Narumi up to North Head to show her the old underground tunnels, bunkers and gun stations and decided to have a fish 'n' chip dinner there at the same time. We sat on the top of the hill and ate dinner, then walked around the mountain for ages, checking out all the little nooks and crannies, tunnels etc. Mike was explaining certain aspects of the paintings in the command centre look out, facing out to Rangitoto.

We had a great evening there and finished it off with icecream on the way home from that little shop in Devonport that boasts "Auckland's Biggest Ice Creams". They were pretty big for singles, but I wouldn't really say that they were cheap for what you got. Kiwi Ice Cream factory beats them there hands down, but they were good anyway.

So Tired!!!

Our Homestay student Narumi didn't get much of a chance to catch up on any sleep her first week with us. She arrived with her group on Friday and they were already pretty tired. We headed home and showed her around the house, let her set up things in her room etc and then we had some dinner and tried to outline the weekend ahead. Saturday morning was an early start (7.30am) for Taryn's cricket and Sunday wasn't much better (8.00am) for my netball, then a week of early mornings for school, followed by another Saturday early morning (7.00am this time) for Taryn's cricket which was over the bridge.

On this day, she must have been really tired, as she fell asleep at the table. Poor thing. She then learnt to catch some quick ZZZ's in the car when we were out and about. Wise girl.

Hope you have caught up on your sleep Narumi.

Japanese Dinner

Narumi cooked us this wonderful Japanese meal. It is one of her favourite foods. I'm sorry Narumi, I have forgotten the name of it, so if you read this blog, please can you tell me the name again.

It contains a whole lot of cabbage, spring onion, egg, milk, pork and some packet mixtures, whose list of ingredients were in Japanese, so I'm not sure what exactly was in them, but is was lovely. Mike, Jayden and Taryn enjoyed it too, so it was a great dinner all round.

Narumi did have some trouble to begin with, as our old frying pan was just not up to the job and everything kept sticking to it, so I whipped out and bought a new one and presto, it cooked exactly as it was supposed to. (Sorry about that Narumi it must have been frustrating when it kept sticking).

There was so much, that most of us could not finish our dinners, however I managed to have leftovers for lunch, so it was all good. And, it was just awesome having someone else cook for me in my own home. Thanks Narumi!

Kiwi Cooking

This is Narumi, our Japanese Homestay student cooking dinner kiwi style on the BBQ. It was so lovely having so much help in the kitchen. I was hoping my kids would learn from that and start offering to help a little more, but no such luck.

Wobble Plank

Not sure that is the right name for it, but here are my kids (yes all 3 of them) on the 'Wobble Plank' at the zoo. Can you tell from the video who is the most competitive?

Most Dangerous Animal

Whilst at the zoo, we spotted some crates. On the front of one of them was this warning "Contains an image of the worlds MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL"

Jayden had a look inside to reveal the image, but announced he was not that amused, which was quite evident from the look on his face when I asked him to stand behind the door for a photo! He does actually have quite a good sense of humour, this just didn't do it for him!

More Zoo Photos

He couldn't go around????

Whilst at the Zoo, we stopped to see the turtles. This is what we got to see. Jayden's comment - "All that room and he couldn't go around"??? I said that I didn't think he was trying to go around, that he probably wanted to um... climb over her, to which he added "Why, are they wrestling or something"? I looked around and there were a few adults smiling, just waiting to see what I was going to say next, so I said "I think they are playing a special turtle game... oh look over there, I think there are big Lizards over there, let's go see"!

Auckland Zoo

We took Narumi to Auckland Zoo during her first weekend with us. It was a little too hot, both for us and for the animals, but we managed to see most of them and get some really neat pictures. Got a couple of short videos too, which I'll load up soon.