Mothers Day 2012

No sleep in for this Mum. Once I’m awake that’s pretty much it and I’m currently on 5.30am wake-ups. Doesn’t worry me though as I use that pre-sunrise time to watch youtube videos or catch up on blogs and have cuddles with my furbabies.

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Later the girls prepared a lovely breakfast of French Toast, and a beautifully set table….

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Then there were lots of lovely pressies… some of which I had picked out myself… some made or selected by the girls….

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Just before 11am we headed to Bulli hospital to visit my Granny who has been moved to rehab. Good news indeed.

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After we drove up to Robertson to Fountaindale Manor House. Mum & Dad took their own car.

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We were last here in 2005 for a Wedding….

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It’s a gorgeous old house and we were appreciative of the blazing fire when we arrived as it was rather cold outside.

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We were a bit early for our high-tea so after a quick photo by the fire we were escorted to a lounge area to wait. Unfortunately this was away from the warm fire.

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At 1.30pm we were finally seated (in another cold room). Unfortunately the service was pretty shocking (this is the first year they opened up both dining rooms). Food was scarce to start with (with everyone now starving since it was past 2pm). However, the food was delicious.

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It was a shame the poor service put a bit of a dampener on what should have been a wonderful experience. Will we come back? Not too sure.

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We had a quick stop at the Cheese factory and the famous Robertson Pie Shop before heading back down the mountain.

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Christy had gotten car sick on the way up due to the very windy road so I let her sit in the front for the trip back home.

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Overall it was a lovely Mothers Day. Great to be with my family and have another wonderful family day out. Hope you all had a good one.

Update on Goals for 2012

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Donna over at Knit1Spin1  just did a blog post on how her goals for the year were progressing and I thought it was a brilliant idea. Esp. being 1/3 the way through 2012. Hoping it helps me to refocus and get a move along.

PERSONAL

Make time for hobbies that I truly enjoy    Yes, I’ve been doing this.

Have more quiet time – relaxing in sun, sitting on beach, having baths, walking (when able)  Yes, esp. the relaxing the sun and getting out for some walks.

Read and review at least one book a month (romances not included :-) )  No, though I’ve read quite a few non-romance books I totally forgot I planned to review them. Will get onto this.

Sort out all our home movies and put them into iMovie    Not started yet

Plan a wonderful trip to celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary in Dec  Underway

Possibly try horse-riding (haven’t been since I was a teen) and scuba diving (had a panic attack last time)   Neither yet

Complete ALL online classes that I sign up for   Oops…. guess I can still get to them….

 

HEALTH/FITNESS/FOOD

Tackle my weight gain once and for all    Not yet, I’ve lost a few kilos but it’s painfully slow so I need to take things up a notch and get more focused.

Remove all junk/over processed food from the house  Pretty much – yay!!!

Simplify the way we eat – healthy, wholesome, homemade food, fruit & veg for snacks, make treats really treats   Getting there

Work out more simplified exercise routine including yoga, cardio and weights.   Made a start but need to get back into again. Hard with arthritis. Need a back up plan for bad days.

Try a different type of exercise – eg swimming, aqua-aerobics    Not yet

 

HOME

Simplify homemaking routines   Yes. I now have a cleaner (which has been a huge help) and seem to have developed a good day-to-day routine.

Revise budget and stick to it   Doing well –  back onto a cash budget system again.

Help the girls to develop, and stick with, their own routines    This is very frustrating but I think we’re getting there.

Reorganise the spare room (again). Going to make it MY room for nail polish, exercise stuff, sewing, etc.   Have made a good start

 

FAMILY/FRIENDS

Meet at least 1 new online friend    Not as yet, though I did meet a heap of local bloggers

Monthly day out with Mum   No, haven’t done this all 🙁

Weekly Family Movie Night (Sat)   YES!!!

Weekly Family Documentary Night (Sun)  We started, then stopped. Need to restart.

Monthly Family Fun Day Out  Probably

Invite a friend over at least once a month   No

Organise craft weekend for my friends   No, not sure it will happen now

Have a weekend away with family every other month   Did Jan and April

 

**** I’ve actually done a lot better with these goals than I thought. But there were a few I’d forgotten about so it really was good to revisit them.  How are you all going with your goals for the year?

Living with Arthritis – Update

Thankfully, things have improved since my last post on living with arthritis.

As you might know a month ago I saw a dietician and started to cut down and dramatically decrease the amount of nasty additives and preservatives in my diet. Almost immediately there was a tremendous improvement with my arthritis. My pains levels went from 5-7 to 2-3 on a daily basis. It has meant reading food labels, making more things at home (which has been possible due to reduced pain levels) and eliminating some foods from my diet – at least on a daily basis. Hence I have not had one iced chocolate or packet biscuit in a month. It’s really not been too hard and it’s a bit scary to think that these food additives have contributed to cause me so much pain.

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I started walking my dogs again, alternating with riding my bike so my heal spur doesn’t get too sore.

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I half felt unwell (upset tummy) a few times after I had eaten out – I assume due to consuming more preservatives and additives than I’m used to. Other than that it had been a really great 4 weeks. So much so I went to my doc to decrease my meds. But, of course, the day after I had a bit of a flair. I saw the dietician again last week and she assured me this might happen from time to time.

Unfortunately I’m in the middle of another flair – this one lasting a few days. Not sure if it’s because of the hot, humid weather or that I’ve been overdoing things or just one of those things. I’m not happy though. We are headed to the Easter show tomorrow and I don’t know how I’m going to manage. I really feel uncomfortable about using the wheelchair that Kevin got for me when things were really bad, but I don’t know how I”m going to manage otherwise. Still so much to understand and learn about this disease.

On the positive side I’ve gotten back into almost daily exercise and I’ve lost 3.5kgs :-).