Brae. A gay woman's tale!

Well I had my first weigh in today, 6 days after I started my diet.  I have done well 4.5 pounds .. and in all we ate out 3 times during this period (actually 4 if you count my “last supper” that I had on the Thursday night!.    I have also been finding going without a ciggie a little easier.  I am still using patches but NOT chewing as much gum and not “thinking” about having a ciggie as often now either!

Only small steps so far, but at least I am moving in the right direction and I am quite pleased.

Next week I will start exercising properly.   I was thinking about taking up water aerobics again but the classes start at 6pm which is a little tight for me since I work until 5pm and often have to stay late.  I think I will plug in the Wii and try some of the fitness things on there.   It will also save me spending money so I will have yet ANOTHER benefit of this sudden “improve myself” mid life crisis I am going through!

Watch this space….

I have been neglecting my poor wee blog lately.  I have been writing a different blog for work and have been very, VERY busy, which is good but has meant that time for ME has been put on a backburner.

I have however decided to take back a little bit of control in my life.. and I’m not doing things by half!

I have started a diet .. which so far is going well and I’m giving up smoking – I only started my non smoking project today .. so very early stages.

The reasons for this are two fold, medically I have a few ongoing problems (diabetes, high cholrestoral and high blood pressure) so losing weight and stopping smoking are both a sensible idea.  More than this I WANT to lose weight and I WANT to stop smoking.  It has taken me a long time to get here but now I have reached the right place in my head I am determined to do it.

I am not a woman who is easily defeated, certainly I lose some battles but as the years have whooshed past and my greying hair comes to the fore, I have realised that the battles I have lost were never battles I was ever going to win.

Sometimes acceptance is a difficult pill to swallow, I know my pride (and my heart) have felt the pain of losing those battles, but in hindsight they have made me who I am.  I like myself, I am not perfect and I have done things in the past that perhaps I should regret, but I don’t .. they have made me who I am.

No-one else can help me with my quest of dieting or stopping smoking.. it is something I have to do myself 

So today, on Valentines Day I am giving myself the gift of taking back control. 

Happy Valentines everyone!

  I have a cold.  It is not swine flu or man flu, just a cold. 

I have a runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing fits, coughing fits and a sore throat.  I do not feel particularly ill (actually not at all!) but it is bloody annoying.   I had a rotten cough for weeks that only disappeared about a month ago and now I’m coughing like and old fishwife all over again!

I am trying to do some work on our business blog at the moment .. it is a lot different to this one as it is “profeshinal” and takes a lot more thought.

I asked on Twitter for comments on it and received some very interesting replies – mainly positive but a couple that had problems with the layout.  One of my contacts asked to call me.  Turns out he has just won a big award for his blog and he gave me some fantastic tips and guidelines about layout, about RSS feeds (I had no clue what they were!) and other great resources that allows me to search blogs, websites and all social media sites for mentions of the company or anything else that I want to search for.

I was really surprised that he took the time to have an interest and wanted to help me.  The result is that I completely changed the format of the blog and I have some fantastic ideas (he sent me a list of things I could blog about).

It goes to show that sometimes even with the briefest of contact on Twitter, Facebook and the like you really can meet people who can help you, without expecting any benefit from it.

A lesson for us perhaps?

“To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind”

(Theophile Gautier)

I admire many people who are in my life .. some of them from various social media, some of them in “real life”.  These are not famous people, just normal everyday people going about their lives and doing something quiet extraordinary.

I have decided to give some mentions to people who, over the past year, have made me sit up and go “wow” – they are in no particular order.. or maybe I should say they are all equal first! 

My Friends Karen and Belinda (Twanky!) – they have opened their home and their lives to take in a mentally disabled lady to give her a more settled and loving home.

My great pal Ruth (Lubey) – who has a housefull of children, 3 jobs and an elderly mother that she finds time to care for and still remains one of the funniest women I know.

Josie George (@Porridgebrain) – a young mum and writer who has struggled with her life as a mother, no sleep and writing deadlines to come through the other side a funny, caring and very all rounded woman!

Dotty Finlow (@dottymummy) – a mother and wife who has known the highs and lows of life but who is emerging stronger every day

My mum! – a great old dear – bit of an old bugger, who never lets life get her down, sometimes she drives me mad but she always makes me laugh, gives me terrible advice and still treats me like a 12 year old – she has never ending faith in me which I find amazing after all I have put her through!

Jane Woods (@janecwoods) – A truly motivational lady – fantastic advice, great personality and someone who always makes me smile

Ena Conyon (@secondchancefife) – Ena is brilliant – she rescues and rehomes dogs – a woman who’s love knows no bounds for our 4 legged friends (and Frank!).  She has the determination of a Rottweiler .. but the heart of a Poodle!

There are more of you out there who have also made me smile with what you do or what you have achieved – but these are the peope I would love to get round a dinner table at the same time ..

I would love to have some talent .. in a creative sense.   My only claim to being able to do anything well is in my far distant past when I was a bit of a hockey player.  I have 8 caps for Scottish Schoolgirls but bad knees sadly put an end to playing really competitive hockey when I was in my early 20’s.  I did play around for another decade or so but never to the same level and to be honest, my heart was never really in it.. I just enjoyed the social side and the lovely people I met.

One of my best friends is wonderfully creative.. she can draw, she has an “eye” for design that just whooshes over my head.  She now runs her own upholstery/interior design business and does a bloody good job!.

I did intend taking up pottery .. but the classes I can attend are fully booked for years to come and the others are on when I am in work … so I have given up on that idea.

However.. I have always loved the patchwork crochet blankets (I had one as a kid and loved it!) .. so I have decided to take up crocheting! … now.. friends of mine who read this will, no doubt, be hooting with laughter .. but I need something else in my life.. I am a bit of a workaholic .. I know this .. and I also get bored very easily so I need something .. Im not sure crochetting (does it have 2 t’s ?) will be it but I am going to give it a try.  

I have a project in mind that I would like to complete by next Christmas ..

Watch this space ..

Well .. it is here again .. Im sure the spaces between Christmas’s are getting shorter every year!  

Hopefully this will be a jolly and happy time for us all – but I know that for some of us Christmas is a time of pain and regret.

I just want to take a moment to say my thoughts are with anyone who is feeling sad or lonely this Christmas and I hope the new year ahead brings you peace and happiness.

Life is a bugger at times and the hurt it can throw our way can cut the core of us all but no matter how much you are hurting, no matter how much you think you will never feel better or happy, it will get better.

This time next year you will be in a very different place emotionally, honest, you will be.

I may not know everyone who reads this .. but for you all this Christmas I give you the gift of time .. it is the only healer I know, it doesn’t always work quickly but it does work.

Sit back this Christmas and think to yourself about times in the past that have hurt you and think on … I bet they don’t hurt so much now.

Take care everyone.. have a peaceful Christmas!

We received a card on Friday .. stamped but no postmark and completely blank inside!

I have no clue who has sent it as I cannot identify the handwriting and because there is no postmark don’t even have a clue which part of the country has come from!

I hope whoever sent it has received one from me!

When my Grandma was alive she used to keep the christmas cards she received and score out the to and from in them to reuse the following year (no lie!) .. she claimed it was because she was “losing her marbles” but it wasn’t that at all .. she was just being awkward!  Although I really admire her for it .. wish I had the guts to do that!