Creating our World

Today, meeting the second of two new clients, I realised something about my supervisor.

It’s part of her job to liase between the people who need our services and the people who provide the service, and what I realised, is just how great she is at her job. Apart from giving me the information I need in order that I can do my job in the best way possible, she also makes sure she tells me something positive about each client. It might be how friendly they are, or how accommodating they’ve been. She might say “I think you’ll like them, they’re really lovely” and in turn, she tells them them positive things about me too.

It means that when I turn up at their home, we’re already pre-disposed to liking each other, which for me, means that the work feels easier and for them, makes it easier to have a stranger in their home. It’s something I really appreciate about her. When I mentioned it to her, she thanked me but said she would hope that it isn’t so out of the ordinary, that she’s really just doing what anyone else would do. But I know better.

Not everyone uses their words to create warmth and connection. What she does is out of the ordinary and it makes a difference to the people she comes into contact with. I’m very glad I get to work with her.

Driving to work, I had to stop and take a photo, it was such a beautiful day. Sunny and cool, and I got to drive along a long, winding, wooded road, listening to music.

Not another car to be seen.

 

Sports night tonight, for Sam and Andy, in a town an hour and a half away, so Zac and I played hide and seek a little, watched tv a little and snuggled a little. Then we had crumbed fish, wedges and a spinach and cherry tomato salad for dinner.

Tomatoes from our garden 🙂

 

That’s Day 7 of the ‘Posting my evening meal every night for a week’ Challenge. Time for something new.

I’m thinking perhaps to post whatever exercise I do this week instead. Day 1 tomorrow 🙂

Hello World :-)

In an interesting (for me) turn of events, I seem to have a bit of a problem with my gall bladder.

My whole life, I’ve been vaguely aware I had one but I didn’t expect it to introduce itself to me in such a brash and pushy sort of way.

The Gall Bladder usually just sits quietly under your liver and collects the bile the liver produces. Then, when you eat, the bile is dumped into your intestine, where it mixes with food and helps to digest fat.

What a useful little piece of kit to have!

 

 

 

Sometimes stones, comprised of cholesterol, bile pigment and calcium salts, form in the gall bladder, which in most cases isn’t really a big problem. It’s when one or more get stuck in the ‘neck’ that it can be a cause of inflammation and pain….

 

So, when last I wrote, the boys and I were about to do a four hour drive to another town and the night before we left I had a stomach ache. Unusual but no big deal, probably indigestion, I thought, and dismissed it out of hand. In the morning, we organised ourselves, did the drive, dropped Sam at the team’s residence and went to the Motel.

Zac and I had pizza for dinner, mostly because it was easy and close but it was a bad move, not just for the sake of the diet but because I’m rubbish at eating wheat and because I spent that night shifting around to try and get rid of the pain that had blossomed in my belly. I was glad I’d taken a sleeve of Panadol with me!

Since then, like some sort of ninja pain, it’s crept around to settle and concentrate under my right rib, providing me with endless entertainment. I’ve juggled Panadol and Nurofen, Buscopan and Nexium (how lyrical that sounds), in an attempt to keep it at bay.

As far as illness goes, I don’t really have anything to complain about. It isn’t life-threatening, as far as I know and I’m not nauseous or feverish. It’s mostly just pain, which can be exacerbated by eating the wrong thing (read as anything containing fat of any kind) or moving the wrong way or sometimes just sitting eating an apple. It’s an inexact science…..

The net result is that I haven’t done any real exercise for almost two weeks and I’ve put on a kilo and a half.

However…. I got some ultrasound pictures done and on Monday I’ll find out what needs to be done.

Also, though the 12 week body transformation comes to an end this week and I haven’t burst forth with quite the success I was hoping for, this is a long-term project and I’m not giving up now. Mum and I will start the next round together, on the 5th May. Dad’s already in the middle of the round that followed mine. So I can look forward to a renewal of energy and being support for and supported by them both.

Bring it on 🙂

 

 

Where to Begin?

I suppose the first thing to say is that I’m still absolutely on track with my goals. I had my first ‘slip-up’ day on Friday. That is to say, the first day where I felt as though I wasn’t honouring my commitment to myself around my goal to lose weight and get healthy.

It isn’t that I ate anything I wasn’t happy with. More that I just wasn’t watching. I sort of shut myself out or something and just cruised on auto-pilot. I meant to exercise but didn’t. Instead I watched interesting things on the internet (Read: The Tomorrow People and Elementary) and ran some errands before lazing some more.

On Saturday, we lazed for a large part of the day but in the end, we did go out to walk and ended up doing 6.2km, along the waterfront. After a couple of days without exercise, I was a bit sore to start with but as we went along, I warmed up. The bonus for that walk was our oldest son, Sam, who decided he was my personal trainer and pushed me to run short distances over bridges, made me laugh and pushed me to do an extra km when I would have stopped at 5km. He says to be prepared for next Saturday 🙂

On Sunday, he and Andy went long distances to play sport, so Zac and I went kayaking, which was very good fun.

I fell out more than once, which he found hilarious and to be fair, so did I. Luckily, I’d remembered to leave my phone and bag in the car, or I’d have been laughing less.

It didn’t feel very physically onerous, paddling along in the water but later my stomach muscles and shoulders were feeling it, which is pretty awesome. Painless exercise! 🙂

It might be that I have a tan from the summer sun, but I feel as though I can see a difference beginning to happen in the shape of my face. The other thing is that I’m cautiously thinking there’s a bit of a difference in the shape of my body too. Nothing that will be particularly visible from anyone else’s point of view but….well…I live in here.

On Wednesday, I’ll redo my measurements, along with my weigh-in and see how far I’ve come thus far. It’s starting to get exciting. I think my body’s gearing up to let go of the weight in earnest. Hooray!

Rainy day walk, more grapes and a friend.

Almost raining, grey day, waves reaching the shore and almost wetting our feet (again). The sand shifting under my feet so that I puff and pant, trying to keep talking. The way back is easier this time and our laughter comes in short bursts, whipped away to sea almost as soon as it leaves our mouths.

Home then, buying grapes on the way and picking, washing, bagging.

 

Then, exercise done, lunch and a visit with my awesome friend….Yay 🙂