Just for fun..........

A woman should have..........

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE…

A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE…
One friend who always makes her laugh…
And one who lets her cry…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE…
A good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
Eight matching plates,
Wine glasses with stems,
And a recipe for a meal that will
Make her guests feel honored.

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE…
A feeling of control over her destiny…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
How to fall in love, without losing herself…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
How to quit a Job
Break up with a lover
And how to confront a friend without ruining the friendship

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
When to try harder… and
WHEN TO WALK AWAY.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
That she can’t change
The length of her calves,
The width of her hips, or
The nature of her parents…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
That her childhood may not have been perfect..but;
It's over now…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
What she would and wouldn’t do for love or more…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
How to live alone…even if she doesn’t like it…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
Whom she can trust,
Whom she can’t,
And why she shouldn’t
Take it personally…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
Where to go…be it to her best friend’s kitchen table..
Or a charming inn in the woods…
When her soul needs soothing…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
What she can and can’t accomplish
In a day…
In a month..
And in a year.....

Frustration & Standing Still......

I weighed in today.

After a fortnight of Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns I was NOT looking forward to it, let me tell you. And the killer is I have not been able to exercise as a result of my surgery, so I have felt like my hands have been tied.

And I would have normally weighed in yesterday morning, but we got a flat tyre on the way to school/work, so I skipped my weigh in.

So I figured that unless I weighed in this morning it would probably be the end......so I FORCED myself to go.

Not good. Nothing lost. I weighed in the same. SO FRUSTRATING!

Nothing gained either I guess.

The lady in the chemist, however, was lovely.....I think she could see I was annoyed & frustrated with myself.

She gave me a food diary form to complete, which I will keep up to date for a week.

(Having to write it all down for her will maybe keep me on the straight & narrow??!)

And writing it all down will be good practice for my next step.............

How to Lie to Your Bathroom Scales How to Lie to Your Bathroom Scales 1. Weigh yourself with clothes on, after dinner ... as well as in the morning, without clothes, before breakfast, because it's nice to see how much weight you've lost overnight. 2. Never weigh yourself with wet hair. 3. When weighing, remove everything, including glasses. In this case, blurred vision is an asset. Don't forget the earrings, these things can weigh at half a kilo!. 4. Use cheap scales only, never the medical kind, because they are always a few kilo off ... hopefullyto your advantage. 5. Always go to the bathroom first. (ie make sure you do a poo!) 6. Stand with arms raised, making pressure on the scale lighter. 7. Don't eat or drink in the morning until AFTER you've weighed in, completely naked, of course. 8. Weigh yourself after a haircut; this is good for at least half a kilo of hair (hopefully). 9. Exhale with all your might BEFORE stepping onto the scale (air has to weigh something, right?). 10. Start out with just one foot on the scale, then holding onto the towel rack in front of you, slowly edge your other foot on and slowly let off of the rack. Admittedly, this takes time, but it's worth it. You will weigh at least two pounds less than if you'd stepped on normally.

Here we are on Easter Monday. The end of a blissful and peaceful 4 day break for Andrew and I and the children.

We have not been away, but we have pottered around, seen friends, had people over. It's been lovely.

The children are all fine. They drive me mad.....being so close in age they fight loudly and can all screech the house down, but I suspect that would happen regardless of age gaps.

Olivia is at the age when she LOVES having her photo taken, and so we have loads of her, and not many at all of Charlie, who conversely is at the age where he runs away from the camera. He is always too busy, I think, to enjoy being a "model".

We have had a recent very long heat wave here in Adelaide: two weeks worth of temperatures of over 40`c, and it got draining and unpleasant. Much cool relief was found in the paddling pool and under the sprinkler, particularly for Lexie.......

The Good Wife's Guide

In case you were wondering just what it took back in the 1950's to qualify for "Good Wife" Status, Housekeeping Monthly was kind enough to print a set of guidelines in their 1955 May Issue.

Noteworthy: The pictured children do not appear to be screaming, the wife is wearing 3 inch heals and the husband looks like a cross between Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Of minor interest may be the fact that my granny just like the one in the picture, and I can tell you right off that one does not appear so calm when trying to cook dinner on a 1950s match lit gas stove!

According to many cynics, the general consensus is that the above article is a fake.

But in the seeds of my memory, I am SURE I recall reading a very similar article/chapter in one of my Granny's old books.

Or was it that it was from the bookshelves of the room I rented in Sydney......the guy that owned the unit: his late mother was the epitome of a 1950's housewife, and I am sure I can remember reading such an article on one of her old books.

Also in the haze of memory I am sure I can recall photocopying the article and showing it to the friends at work, male and female, for a laugh.

Either way, I find it enchanting that such a article, authentic or not, STILL makes it's way over email through homes & offices around the world.

I am sure it was originally distributed as "a lets share the joke fax".....way before the days of email........I note all scans of the "original" all appear feature heavy use of highlighter texta and underlining and bubbles for emphasis!

I think blokes like to share it because secretly they wish that all their wives really did act like that all the time.

Women who have yet to have children and the "pleasure" of being a housewife and are still enjoying the independence of a career may find it smugly amusing in as much as they perceive that they will never lower themselves to such outrageous subservience.

And women, like me, who have husbands and families that they love and that they are inordinately proud of find it amusing too. Because for all of its retro archaic nature, isn't the list exactly what we strive to do & be everyday? (As well as maybe juggle a part time job, kindy drops offs, a social life and some golden "me time" too?)

Fake or not, it's entertaining on so many levels..............

A lovely way to resist snacking tempatation........

.........get on the telephone to a friend. Preferably female. One that can share your highs and lows. And that you can have a laugh with.

My children nap well at lunchtimes.

Subsequently the precious hours between midday & 2pm are "my time". Golden.

However, it is sometimes far too tempting to sit down with a chick lit novel and some chocolate.

Or browse the forums with a bowl of nuts.

Or watch some crappy TV with some crackers and dip.

So I have to be super aware of resisting temptation at these times, as golden as they are.

It is all too easy to sell myself the concept of the "reward".

I have dealt with these three little tackers all morning, since 6am. They
have run me ragged. They are finally all peaceful.....what treat can I have to
celebrate my down time? I need a reward for my mothering endeavors!

Of course my immediate & longstanding reaction is to nibble on something salty and greasy!

So instead I rang a friend. We talked about everything and nothing. Weight loss was a topic of conversation, but certainly not the only one. We touched on relationships, family, babies, friends, careers, all in the space of 30 minutes. Time very well spent.

And much healthier and heaps more satisfying than a bowl of chippies........

Chucking a Mummy sickie.......

I am buggered.



I had the lumps on my leg removed yesterday. Just a local anesthetic plus sedation and it really knocked me for six. So I dropped the kids off at childcare today and then instead of going to work, turned the car around and came home.



But I did stop off at the chemist on the way to weigh in.........1.5kg lost in a week!!



So despite feeling like I have been hit by a truck, I am very very happy with that result.



And now to sleep. I have a whole day before I need to pick the kids up from childcare so I am going to crash for a few hours.

Progress?

Takes a deep breath.......

I have been meaning to post these photos for ages, but have not quite got round to it.

This is what I look like at the moment:

To be totally honest, I am a little disappointed.....it doesn;t seem to me that I LOOK any different??
Maybe its the clothes?! All my clothes are too big, and don;t show where I have lost cm's?

Cheesily corny, but very inspiring...

I am a bit embarrassed to admit this, but hey, what the hell........

I am addicted to The Biggest Loser.

I have not watched previous seasons of this show. I would like to think of myself as an intellectual snob when it comes to television.

But who am I kidding, really?

Survivor, The Amazing Race, Restaurant Rules, Idol, So You Think You Can Dance........I love them all!

I am really a reality TV addict.

So this year when the quality Network Ten started advertising The Biggest Loser, I thought I'd give it a whirl, particularly as it aligns so wonderfully with my current journey of being a big loser myself........ but I missed the first few episodes.......

Today I went onto the Biggest Loser Website and realised that they had "Catch Up TV" which means you can view all episodes in full online, so I pulled my exercise bike in front of the computer, and watched a good hours worth of trashy TV, and pedalled away! Multi-tasking indeed!

It was really interesting to see all of the contestants and see how miserable they were with their bodies and to hear their stories and their reasons for wanting to shed weight and gain back their lives.

Cheesy and corny reality TV in may be, BUT it is definitely very inspiring for me right now.