I down loaded an app on my phone called my fitness pal.
It was a mistake.
A big one.
I have never calorie counted before and after entering all my vital statistics it came back with the calorie limit of what one friend called "the diet of an 8 year old girl" . . . to which I added "Kate Mosses 8 year old daughter".
1,200 calories a day.
I am 4 weeks into it and lying to it already in addition to that I am progressing to relishing in eating over my allowance.
Why is it a 2 week holiday binge had allowed the poundage to hit my hips in lightening speed and over a months worth of calorie monitoring has not shed the excess weight at a similar rate?!
Grr.
Boxercise on Monday- bye bye bingo wings.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Car Shopping- a necessary evil
I like driving.
I like driving fast.
But I prefer knowing I am safe. Our car is giving us hints and tips to say he's had enough.
We get a warning light that says nothing more informative that "Reduced Engine Performance" And the anxiety inducing orange exclamation mark highlighted with a circle. I should point out at this time we are driving a second hand Volvo V50. So I have the ability to hide that message. But not the fact.
What is happening is a peculiar thing. I put my foot down on the accelerator pedal and very slowly we creep forward and then after a moment of slow progression Viego (yes that is his name) realises that my foot is now flat on the floor and he can hear me screaming at him to "Just F***ing MOVE!!!!" as I sense other cars coming up behind us in a way that wouldn't be an issue had he responded when I put my foot down in the beginning. And he lurches forward like a demented spaniel that has caught the tale end of the scent of a rabbit.
We take off back to normal speeds. It's the stationary start from junctions that's the issue. Because Husband and I know that we are having this issue when it comes to pulling out onto busy roads we wait until there is plenty of room- no chancing it- and hold our breaths. There might not be a car in sight when we commit to pulling out but by the time we get to 30 mph there will be at least 1 car close behind if not 2 or 3!!
The mechanics have said it is an "intermittent fault" which in Cass speak translates to "terminally expensive" and any investigation will cost and not necessarily solve the problem.
So we are now in the market for a new car.
Viego is the first Volvo I have ever driven. The first estate I have ever driven. The first proper grown up car we have had. It as safety features on its safety features and I love it. I am not a big person but I feel like I own my wee bit of road when I am driving. It is easy to feel bullied when you are in a Ford Ka much harder to feel like that in a Volvo.
So my shopping list of car requirements are
1. Safety
2. Good MPG
3. Environmental- Low carbon emissions
4. Colour
I think I have found a contender in the Volvo XC70.
Who am I kidding? Certainly not you!
I haven't found a contender at all (Husband well and truly gets the credit for all the research!) and in all honesty my list reads 1,4,3,2. At least husband and I have the same things on the list although he does talk about 0-60 in so many seconds. . .
My view on car shopping is simple. It is a necessary evil and once its over you hope you don't ever need to think about it for a while.
Husband is doing all the research. He is painfully aware of my list and my love of the Volvo, with its ridiculous number of safety features (which no other car could possibly have of course. This is how my tiny brain is working at the moment: Other non- Volvo's are Fred Flintstone like where you have to drop your feet to the ground and start running to get going!!)
Introducing me to other makes and models is a gradual process and he needs to come armed with the right order of information
1. " Doesn't this look good?"
2. " Check out all its safety features- you could get hit by a nuclear bomb and you'd be ok"
3. " It comes in a really cool shade of black" Red is banned, much to my disappointment.
4. " Watch this clip" cue a you tube video of a 4x4 being thrown safely around a snow filled landscape.
We had a lot of snow that left us flat bound as we couldn't get the car out and the trains were, shockingly for the UK, "affected". So the new criteria for this car is something called "All Wheel Drive" which is by far and away the best way for the wheels to all share the load.
Husband explained on the way to work the difference between front wheel and rear wheel drive and I have to say my response had him laughing his head off. Very reasonably I didn't think it was fair that one set of wheels were either being pushed forward or pulled along. Everyone should have a fair go in my opinion!!
Wish him luck, he's going to need it!!
I like driving fast.
But I prefer knowing I am safe. Our car is giving us hints and tips to say he's had enough.
We get a warning light that says nothing more informative that "Reduced Engine Performance" And the anxiety inducing orange exclamation mark highlighted with a circle. I should point out at this time we are driving a second hand Volvo V50. So I have the ability to hide that message. But not the fact.
What is happening is a peculiar thing. I put my foot down on the accelerator pedal and very slowly we creep forward and then after a moment of slow progression Viego (yes that is his name) realises that my foot is now flat on the floor and he can hear me screaming at him to "Just F***ing MOVE!!!!" as I sense other cars coming up behind us in a way that wouldn't be an issue had he responded when I put my foot down in the beginning. And he lurches forward like a demented spaniel that has caught the tale end of the scent of a rabbit.
We take off back to normal speeds. It's the stationary start from junctions that's the issue. Because Husband and I know that we are having this issue when it comes to pulling out onto busy roads we wait until there is plenty of room- no chancing it- and hold our breaths. There might not be a car in sight when we commit to pulling out but by the time we get to 30 mph there will be at least 1 car close behind if not 2 or 3!!
The mechanics have said it is an "intermittent fault" which in Cass speak translates to "terminally expensive" and any investigation will cost and not necessarily solve the problem.
So we are now in the market for a new car.
Viego is the first Volvo I have ever driven. The first estate I have ever driven. The first proper grown up car we have had. It as safety features on its safety features and I love it. I am not a big person but I feel like I own my wee bit of road when I am driving. It is easy to feel bullied when you are in a Ford Ka much harder to feel like that in a Volvo.
So my shopping list of car requirements are
1. Safety
2. Good MPG
3. Environmental- Low carbon emissions
4. Colour
I think I have found a contender in the Volvo XC70.
Who am I kidding? Certainly not you!
I haven't found a contender at all (Husband well and truly gets the credit for all the research!) and in all honesty my list reads 1,4,3,2. At least husband and I have the same things on the list although he does talk about 0-60 in so many seconds. . .
My view on car shopping is simple. It is a necessary evil and once its over you hope you don't ever need to think about it for a while.
Husband is doing all the research. He is painfully aware of my list and my love of the Volvo, with its ridiculous number of safety features (which no other car could possibly have of course. This is how my tiny brain is working at the moment: Other non- Volvo's are Fred Flintstone like where you have to drop your feet to the ground and start running to get going!!)
Introducing me to other makes and models is a gradual process and he needs to come armed with the right order of information
1. " Doesn't this look good?"
2. " Check out all its safety features- you could get hit by a nuclear bomb and you'd be ok"
3. " It comes in a really cool shade of black" Red is banned, much to my disappointment.
4. " Watch this clip" cue a you tube video of a 4x4 being thrown safely around a snow filled landscape.
We had a lot of snow that left us flat bound as we couldn't get the car out and the trains were, shockingly for the UK, "affected". So the new criteria for this car is something called "All Wheel Drive" which is by far and away the best way for the wheels to all share the load.
Husband explained on the way to work the difference between front wheel and rear wheel drive and I have to say my response had him laughing his head off. Very reasonably I didn't think it was fair that one set of wheels were either being pushed forward or pulled along. Everyone should have a fair go in my opinion!!
Wish him luck, he's going to need it!!
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Sunday in Autumn
Morning Runs
Fresh Air
Mad sprinting Spaniels
Blue Skies
Autumn Leaves
Rugby Games
Home baking
Bliss
Absolutely the best season of the year
Fresh Air
Mad sprinting Spaniels
Blue Skies
Autumn Leaves
Rugby Games
Home baking
Bliss
Absolutely the best season of the year
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Life
Life is feeling very much like this at the moment
Not enough time
Too many things to do
Not enough time
Still too many things to do
When am I going to have more time
&
Less things to do?
When I am dead
There will be no more time then
It wont matter what I tried to do
So
I am going to keep on slugging
Because I am getting through these things that I need to do
Time will free up
It simply has to
Like a river it will ebb and it will flow
This might be a slight drought
but
it will soon flow again
and
I will have more time
and I will have less things to do
...
...
...
But I will look for more things to do
I usually do
!
!
!
Saturday, 1 October 2011
A marathon update
Sorry to build your hopes up, given my weeks of silence but this is not going to be a very long update of marathon length. . . more like an update on my marathon.
I have sent in a request to the Snowdon Marathon team asking if me and Husband could post-pone our entries until next year and offer this years spaces up to some other deserving runners.
We have been rather swamped with work and what seemed like a reasonable training schedule was impossible to keep to with weddings, hen parties, holidays, colds, wisdom teeth removals and the excuses keep on coming.
My challenges of this year have some what slipped by the way side- the cross stitch is now tucked away in a loft as we try to keep our flat minimal in order to sell it (buy it someone please, its a lovely wee first time flat!). The half marathon went when my wisdom tooth was pulled and the full marathon was wiped on the realisation that with about 8 weeks to go I am struggling to run 5k let alone 42k (26 miles). On balance it is not worth killing myself over so I am "rescheduling" rather than admitting defeat!!
I have sent in a request to the Snowdon Marathon team asking if me and Husband could post-pone our entries until next year and offer this years spaces up to some other deserving runners.
We have been rather swamped with work and what seemed like a reasonable training schedule was impossible to keep to with weddings, hen parties, holidays, colds, wisdom teeth removals and the excuses keep on coming.
My challenges of this year have some what slipped by the way side- the cross stitch is now tucked away in a loft as we try to keep our flat minimal in order to sell it (buy it someone please, its a lovely wee first time flat!). The half marathon went when my wisdom tooth was pulled and the full marathon was wiped on the realisation that with about 8 weeks to go I am struggling to run 5k let alone 42k (26 miles). On balance it is not worth killing myself over so I am "rescheduling" rather than admitting defeat!!
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