Slacking off Sundays

In honour of Mr and Mrs Y in E's marriage being 1 year old today you get the gag real of wedding photos. How you digging that very British way of spelling honour.

This scares me

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080925/tuk-first-uk-id-card-design-launched-45dbed5.html

With as good as the British Government is with "loosing" information I am not sure I want them to have so much of mine. Or the fact that foreign nationals will be the first to have to have them.

Kids say the darndest things

Friends 7 year old daughter walks up to her mother and says "Its time I had another brother or sister, you and dad need to start having sex" and walks away. How's that for knowing what you want and going after it.

Weigh in Wednesdays

So I was looking at my Weight Watchers weigh in card last night as I was waiting to be weighed and I realized that last week I actually gained a pound at weigh in so what I posted last week was incorrect. I am sorry this was not deliberate I think I was so caught up with all the crap of cancelling the Paris trip that I did not look at it correctly before I posted. So below is a correct table of my weight loss so far

Start Weight: 13st 13lb (195lb)
1st Weigh in: 13st 091b (191lb) -4
2nd Weigh in: 13st 07lb (189lb) -2
3rd Weigh in: 13st 5.5lb (187.5lb) -1.5
4th Weigh in: 13st 2.5lb (184.5lb) -3
5th Weigh in: 13st 1lb (183.0lb) -1.5
6th Weigh in: 13st 0lb (182.0lb) -1
7th Weigh in: 13st 1lb (183.0lb) +1
8th Weigh in: 12st 13.5lb (181.5lb) -1.5

Total Weight Loss 13.5lb

So my goal was to lose 1st or 14lb before we went to Paris which would have been tomorrow if all had gone correctly. Well I fell a little short but I am not going to beat myself up as in two months I have lost 13.5 pounds. I feel like I have a long term goal and lots of short term goals along the way. No one who is unaware of my weight loss has commented on noticing I lost weight. Mr. Y in E has been really supportive and in the last week or so has started to comment that you can notice I have lost weight, bless his pea picking heart. The big thing for me is that when I went out to buy a dress for MIL 60th birthday and our anniversary dinner I bought one that was one size smaller than what I have been wearing and if we were completely honest when I started WW I probably should have been wearing a size larger than I was as everything I owned was really tight. My next goal is 10% of my start weight which is 19.5lbs or 12st 8.5lbs. I hesitate to put a time frame on this goal as I don’t want to be disappointed if I don’t reach it I think for the moment as long as I am losing weight each week then I will let it happen as it happens.

Trying ot find a quiet place to die

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately I have been looking for a cave to crawl into and die. I have my biannual sinus infection and I feel like crap. On the upside since finding out it was easier to get an appointment for the nurse practitioner in my doctor’s surgery and also realizing that I liked her better than any of the doctors I have seen it is no longer such a hassle. I called up at 8am and had an appointment for 9am. I don’t think the masses really understand nurse practitioners over here since they are quite a new thing but to be quite honest anyone who can give me drugs makes me happy. The other two pros is she is a woman so I don’t feel funny talking to her about female issues (over here gynaecologists are specialist and you only see them for major problems on a whole you see your GP for everything) and English is her first language it makes communication a lot easier I really don’t think the last GP I saw understood what I was saying.

So a day and a half into the antibiotics and I feel better than before but the cave idea is still enticing. I guess the whole Eurostar/cancelling our trip to Paris was a good thing as I do not relish the thought of dragging my sorry sniffling ass around Paris.
My MIL 60th birthday was lovely. The weather was beautiful lots of good friends, family and food. She was really chuffed with the scrapbook I made her from the day we all went out to Danbury Lake and Hyde hall. I wish I could have enjoyed it more but the beginning of the sinus infection was taking hold.

I just have to make it through the rest of the day and then tomorrow and then I am off for four days. Can were say snooze fest 2008!

Sometimes life happens

Dear Anderson,

Following the fire in the Channel Tunnel last Thursday we were able to re-start limited operations on Saturday. We are currently running a restricted timetable with fewer services, longer journey times and intervals of several hours between some trains. We advise that you consider rearranging travel planned for the next two weeks unless absolutely necessary. This especially applies if you are travelling over the weekends of Friday 19th to Sunday 21st September 2008 and Friday 26th September to Sunday 28th September 2008. If your journey is essential, then you should check in for the train time given on your ticket and we will endeavor to put you on one of the next available trains. Please be aware that you could experience extended waiting times, particularly between Friday and Sunday when there may be a delay of up to several hours before boarding. Your journey time will also be significantly longer than normal.

Yeah so this is what I got when I went to check my e-mails last night on my way home from my Weight Watchers meeting. I had a look at the train schedules and basically they are only running 4 trains a day instead of 8-10. The closest one after our scheduled departure time was 4 hours later and took twice as long to get into Paris meaning we would be lucky to get into Paris by 8pm on Friday. Similar situation on the way home.

Last night I went through all the options we had in my head. The Eurostar tickets were refundable. The hotel most likely not as I had booked on Hotels.com. I was sick to my stomach at the prospect of being out £115. I looked into flights but all the airlines have jacked their prices up because they know they can due to a lack of Eurostar service. I spoke with Mr. Y in E about driving over but this would mean trying to find parking as our hotel did not have any and as gas prices are so high and ferry prices are almost as expensive as two Eurostar tickets it seemed a little backwards. Mr. Y in E was great, he said we try and get a refund from the hotel or at the very least see if we can switch dates to something a couple months in the future. If not we cut our loses it was just bad timing that one of only two fires in the tunnels 14 years of use for passenger rail happened two weeks before our anniversary trip to Paris. He suggested alternative places we could go but after six months of researching European cities deciding on Paris and then setting everything up I just did not have enough time to wrap my head around someplace else.

It looks like all my bitching and anger last night paid off. I woke up this morning with a much clearer head and decided that yeah it sucked but so what. Short of France declaring war on China I am relatively sure that Paris will be there in a few months time. My outlook was further boosted when after sending a carefully worded e-mail to hotels.com came back letting me know that a full refund would be granted and I could expect it back on my credit card within the next 8-10 days. May I just say I love you hotels.com thanks for making my day. Now that my head was much clearer I realized it would be lovely just to stay at home, I made a reservation at one of Mr. Y in E and my favorite restaurants locally and am now in the process of planning a day trip.

So I have made a list of Pro’s for not going to Paris.
1. Cheaper- Dinner in Paris was going to come to around £300 yeah I have a foodie for a husband.
2. The money we are getting back from Eurostar and the hotel not only pays for the dress I bought to go out to dinner but dinner at the Blue Strawberry where we will now be dinning and it covers Mr. Y in England’s anniversary gifts. So basically there will be nothing left on the credit card after our anniversary to pay off.
3. The restaurant in the UK we are going to does not have a dress code so Mr. Y in E does not have to wear a jacket and tie. This makes Mr. Y in E very happy. Mr. Y in E is more than willing to wear such shackles when it is appropriate but would prefer not to.
4. We have a million day trips on our to do list that somehow life always takes over and we never get to, now we will.

Weigh in Wensdays a little late

Sorry guys I had some really depressing news right after my WW meeting last night and was in no mood to post.

For anyone who is keeping track I stayed the same at 13st total of 131b weight loss. I was happy with this as I had two huge pig out this week when I lost control completely. Yeah sometimes you just need a huge cheeseburger with bacon fries and cheesy bread. Back on the wagon now though. Will try and post later about the depressing news.

Slacking off Sundays

I am working in the West End today. There is something very civilized about the West End compared to the City. The first being no one shows up until at least 9am. I have to be to work at 8am but it means that there is a quiet hour for you to get yourself together and get ready for the day. There is also a softness to the West End that the City lacks, some of it is the architecture some of it is just the fact that no one seems to be rushing around like a chicken with their head cut off, I enjoy the slower pace now and again. The best part is I am a five minute walk from Regent street and Oxford street, the shopping Mecca of London. There is nothing I can't get. This however is bad for my bank balance so I try not to let myself get swept away.



I fed the freezer last night. Earlier this week I made the most yummy carrot and tarragon soup. It was everything I never knew I wanted. Not being a great lover of carrots I was a little dubious but tarragon holds a joint first place as my favorite herb with cilantro so I thought I would give it a try. It was a great success and Mr. Y in E enjoyed it as well. It is also very cheap since there are only four ingredients carrots, onions, chicken stock(I use Knorr stock cubes, I know I know I am going to foodie hell but like I have to time to make stock from scratch) and tarragon. For my double batch that I made last night to feed the freezer the cost broke down like this.



1KG carrots .68p (could have purchased two kilos for £1.00 but what the heck would I do with all of them)

2 onions .35p

Tarragon .79p (I used the same bunch that I had purchased for the original trial run)

Stock Cubes .50p (this was the cost for the amount I used not the package of 8)



So anyone doing the math(or maths if your British) in you head that comes to a whoping £2.61 if you count all of the tarragon which I did because I am unlikely to find a use for it before it goes bad so there will be wastage. This made seven portions so that is a .37p a portion. Added to the cost was a one off £2.oo for the 8 containers I purchased to store it in. Even with the container cost figured in it still only comes to .66p per portion, not half bad. Next weeks freezer feeding project is curried butternut squash soup. Viva la Freezer.



Plans for the weekend



So what very exciting things is Y in E up to this weekend you ask. Well first there is the pile of laundry that has taken over the whole house since I was away last weekend. Then there is the weekly trip to the high street to run errands, no matter how I try I end up there almost every weekend. If that is not enough fun there is always housework because short of getting a maid I have not found a way to have a clean house without doing house work. When all of my chores are done I need to design my MIL birthday card and get her present all wrapped for her party next week. Yup I know I have a fun and exciting life and you are all envious.

So we are all still here

So they flip on the Large Hadron Collider and we are all still here. We have not been sucked into a black hole. I am a little disappointed to be honest, when all the end of the world loonies were going on and on about it I got a little excited. I know that is sick to admit but hey I figured if I was going to have to go out I might as well go out with a big bang, pun intended. Think about it, we are all going to die, how cool would it be to be sucked into a black hole. Beats being hit by a bus, or cancer, or a heart attack. I am at peace with myself I can handle it. The only irritating bit is no one would know, we would all be sucked in, there would be no legacy of the human race. That might be a little disturbing. Think about it if we blow the whole world up with nukes at least one day if some intelligent life happened to come across earth there might be a chance of a legacy. We suck ourselves into a black hole and we cease to exist.



Okay moving on to less hefty subjects of thought my laundry schedule is all screwed up since I was out of town at the weekend. This morning when I went to get dressed the only knickers I could find were of the wedgie inducing kind. Darn Darn Darn. So yup you guessed it I have a permanent wedge today. That will teach me to go out of town for the weekend.



I am going through one of those periods in my life where I have lost half my brain. I tend to get distracted easily and forget important things. This had lead to list making and setting reminders on my mobile phone. So now I am always running around with multiple lists and my phone consistently beeping. Sometimes my phone beeps to remind me that my phone is going to beep. When I go through these phases I also tend to loose things, last time this happened I lost my hairbrush for three days, I ended up finding it at the bottom of the stairs by the front door, this was pre kitty so I can't even blame the cat. I tend to reorganize everything in the hopes or not loosing my mind and then forget how everything has been reorganized so I can't find anything. In extreme fear of doing something catastrophic I have a before I leave the house checklist that includes making sure I have unplugged my straight iron and not left the bath tub running. Hopefully this will soon pass.

Weigh in Wednesday

Start Weight: 13st 13lb(195lb)
1st Weigh in: 13st 09lb(191lb) -4
2nd Weigh in. 13st 07lb(189lb)-2
3rd Weigh in: 13st 5.5lb(187.5)-1.5
4th Weigh in: 13st 2.5lb(184.5)-3
5th Weigh in: 13st 1lb(183.0)-1.5
6th Weigh in: 13st (182.0)-1


Total Weight Loss 13lbs

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The Good: So my fat jeans are WAY too big. I can wiggle them off with out much work even with my belt on the tightest hole. While this may be a great party trick not, so good for everyday life like walking down the street. My normal jeans are loose, not so loose they will fall off. Not tight might be a better description

The Bad: I don’t have any jeans in the next size down from what I am wearing now. I have jeans two sizes smaller. I hate to jean shop in a big bad way. In my 28.5 years on this planet I have only ever found one style of jeans that I truly like and I have my mom ship them to me. This seem kind of silly since I am going home in December so here is hoping that I don’t loose so much weight that my jean fall off or that I loose it at the right rate so I can fit into my jeans two sizes smaller before the size I am in now starts to fall off.

The Ugly: I locked myself out of the house last night. Before you ask how it happened it might be important to explain it is a miracle that it does not happen more. When I was living in Virginia we never locked our doors so I never needed house keys. I don’t even know that I had them. I left my car keys in my ignition at home and at work. Everyone I knew did. In the winter 10min before the shift ended one person would go out and start everyone’s cars to warm up. The parking lot was small and sometime you had to block people in, if you were blocked in you just moved the other person’s car. Where my parent are it is not uncommon to see a car running outside a shop. So yes I locked myself out of the house but I would like to point out I have only done it twice in the three years I have been living with Philip and I don’t think that is half bad.

We interupt your regualy scheduduled blog to bring you. . .

Weigh in Wednesday. Yup we are changing things around. I want to be able to post the results on Wednesdays when I go to my weigh in and I can't handle the fact that it would mean words on Wordless Wednesday. Do not dispare if you were a fan of Wordless Wednesdays it has been moved and renamed Slackin off Sundays, well because it is a hell of a lot easier than writing an actual post. So on to the weigh in.


Start Weight: 13st 13lb(195lb)
1st Weigh in: 13st 09lb(191lb) -4
2nd Weigh in. 13st 07lb(189lb)-2
3rd Weigh in: 13st 5.5lb(187.5)-1.5
4th Weigh in: 13st 2.5lb(184.5)-3
5th Weigh in: 13st 1.5lb(183.0)-1.5

Total Weight Loss 12lbs

I know my fellow blogger Michael 5000 is doing a similar thing so jump on over to his blog http://michael5000.blogspot.com and keep an eye on his progress as well. Hopefully we will both be 2 BIG FAT LOOSERS.

Top 10 Rush Hour Style

Okay so it is time for another list of things that really irritate Y in E. Rush Hour Style.

1. Strollers the size of SUVs on public transport in rush hour and the mothers who think they should have the right to take up that much space when I have Mr. Elbows in my chest sitting next to me.
2. Parents who don’t get their over 10 year old children to offer their seat to those who are elderly or physically less able to stand. Hell parents who don’t offer their seat.
3. Business men who ignore the world reading their newspapers in their overly expensive suits who don’t offer their seats to the heavily pregnant woman who gets on the bus or tube.
4. People who do not allow passengers off the tube before tying to board themselves.
5. People who don’t understand the stand to right walk to the left rule on the escalators. There are public service announcement about it for gosh sake.
6. Children on rush hour trains home in the evening. Yeah the last thing I want on the way home is some bratty snot nosed child running around making a lot of noise.
7. Whole familes spread across the platform or concourse so that you the one who knows where you are going and does not have to check the train times can not actually make it to the train you need to catch.
8. People who have arguments on their mobile phones on the train or bus. Yeah I really don’t want to hear about it and I am sure the person you are having the argument with would be mortified to know everyone in carriage number 1 on the 5.33pm train from Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria now knows that you forgot your anniversary.8.
9. The above mentioned Mr. Elbows. Those cushy things your elbows keep hitting are my breasts.
10. And finally the guy that practically knocks you over to get to the seat that is 2 inches from you that was just vacated.

The cat is out of the bag

Nope not the literal cat. The super secret location is not so super secret anymore. I was pretty sure that Mr. Y in E knew and he confirmed it on Saturday night when he suggested that I get our French speaking sister in law to call and make the reservation for the super secret restaurant in the not so super secret location. The restaurant is still a surprise. In a way it is more fun now because he can have a say on what we do before we get there.

I was a shopping queen this weekend and pick up a jacket for fall, new winter shoes, and a small over the shoulder hand bag for the trip to Paris. Sadly the jacket has already seen use and it looks like the hopes of an Indian summer in the place of the lack of a real summer seem to be squashed by the 10 day forecast.

For some reason I just can’t really get into the work week this week. I think the fact that we had our three day weekend last week it just seems wrong to already be back at work. I got a lot done over the weekend but should have done more. I was a terrible person and did not do my ironing last night because I still had two ironed shirts. I figured I would do it tonight. Then at 10:30 last night I got a call from a friend asking if I could help her move the last of her stuff into her new flat and set up her bed. I guess I will not do the ironing tonight either.

I am going a way for the weekend with my MIL. Just up to her mother’s place in Lincolnshire to do an end of the summer clean out of the house and try and get the garden in order for the fall. I am looking forward to doing something out of the ordinary but it also means that my normal weekend routine will be broken. This for most people would be no big deal but I am a little OCD. I am already running through plans and rearranging my normal routines in a way that disrupts them as little as possible.

So the Pepsi challenge. Well I have figure out that I need one dose of caffeine a day usually whether it is a small skinny latte or a Pepsi Max. This does not include diet cola as my tipple of choice at pubs and quite frankly I am not going to feel bad about drinking diet cola instead of booze, less calories, less stupidity inducing effects. I am happy to live with 20 oz of Pepsi Max or a small latte a day so I think I will just leave it at that.

And finally something you probably don’t give a crap about. I did my first French manicure on my own nails last night. It looks much better than I expect for the first try but it is not perfect so it is driving me mad. I am not sure if I should take it off and have another go at it or just leave it and deal with my OCD. I will probably just leave it, it is good for me to get over myself.