Hen weekend aftermath

I got back around 2 pm today and have been feeling the after effects from the whole weekend while trying to get some work done (yeah, that didn't go so well). I was not a good girl but it was a lot of fun. Thought I would leave you a few pictures until I have the chance (read lack of hangover) to catch up on your blogs and make a proper post here.

The Assault Course

The Big Night Out

 

 

Photos other photos to follow

Ten things Thursday

It's my best blogging day!!!!! Created by the super scary shooter Laura

1. It is half past 10, I have 3 batches of marking to finish and I am writing in my blog instead :o/ Oh well!

2. I am going to be spending a small fortune on my pampered chef discounted goodies. Not that I have a small fortune to be spending. :o/ Oh well!

3. I am sending back the 2 new sports bras I just bought because they're too big. :o)

4.  The package to go back is being held together with an elastic band, because I haven't got any parcel tape. My cat has obviously never seen a taught elastic band before as she's strumming away like she's playing a guitar. I cannot put into words how funny this is.

5. I have lost a wooden spoon. I had 3 from the last pampered chef party I went to and now I have one. My friend, the rep, packed one accidentally with her stuff but I cannot find the other one anywhere.

6. Haven't heard back form that job yet. :o( Tomorrow is my last day of hoping and then I am on to the two schools I went to look around on Tuesday. One was really nice. The other one had a lovely head and is well resourced but has other 'issues' that are making me a little unsure.

7. One of my fish seems to have a slight twist to her spine. She can't swim properly. It looks awkward, like when some disabled kids try running.  I can only hope she isn't in pain. She eats OK so I think she's alright.

8. We have an expression over here about April showers. Don't know if you get it anywhere else (I now have plip, plip, plop little April shower from some Disney movie in my head, so I am guessing yes)  but yesterday brought a whole new meaning to it. Some parts of the UK had 2 MONTHS worth of rain in 24 hours. It tipped it down all day. The children were cooped up inside and CRAZY!!!! and drove their normally very calm, patient and relaxed teacher around the twist. We also didn't need to go out to water the potatoes.It has been pretty miserable all week and today hasn't been great but yesterday was unimaginable.

9. I am off to Brighton on a hen do tomorrow. Lots of drinking, silliness and an assault course. An outside in the rain and mud, assault course. I have had to pay money, to slip, slide, roll around in the mud and presumably ruin a pair of tracksuit bottoms, top and my OLD sports bra. The new ones had better arrive soon because I am back at the gym with a vengeance next week!

10. It is now gone 11 and I still have to do that marking. oops.

What do you think of this dress?

 

My friend is getting married at the end of May in the Lady Chapel of a Cathedral. I am going to find the whole wedding quite emotional for about a million reasons but I would like to look sensational. I haven't lost as much weight as I would have liked, nor am I likely to loose very much more so I would like something elegant that also hides the weight. I found the ideal dress, I then found the ideal dress on sale and then found the zip is **** and wouldn't sit properly so now I have found this. I have a cream bolero and shoes that would go nicely. It looks like it would be a good shape for me too but not convinced about the pattern. What do you think?

It wasn't just me then ...

So glad to know that it wasn't just me that HATED new blogger. Spread the word, there is a way back ...

Sadly a notice has appeared that says old blogger will be removed in the coming month :o( but hey the days we have left old blogger are very precious and I shall always remember you.

In other news, I made my very own packed lunch goodie bag today in an effort to stay away from the **** available in our staff room

I had some cantaloupe melon, 1 wholemeal pitta, 1 mini pot of low-fat hummus, 1 pack of organic Californian raisins and a pack of breakfast biscuits. I ate it all and still hit the chocolate biscuits. Not sure the problem is my lack of eating and more my lack of will power. To be fair I probably would have been worse without it but since getting home I've been overly paranoid I have eaten too much today. Still 2 portions of fruit and veg, has to be a good thing. :o) xx

Something marvellous!

I discovered something wonderful:

 on the dashboard of the new look blogger interface thing,

there is a cog like button on the top right side

click it and some options appear

one is ....

Old interface!!!

Yes, my friends, the old blogger has returned to my life. I may be forced to change again in the future but for now, I can work out what I want to do more easily. I am a happy bunny.

I have also forced down some liquid cold medicine. I hate them. They all taste of menthol but not in a nice minty way. And whoever thought that menthol and blackcurrant was a good combination was seriously deluded. Nevermind it is over now and hopefully it will give the poor sinuses a break. 

I went to a children's party for my friends little girl this morning. It was lovely and at lunchtime I managed 3 little triangle sandwiches, 2 mini sausages, 3 crisps, a small shortbread biscuit and a small cupcake. That seems like good bandster portion control to me. Also everyone kept saying how great I looked. Don't know whether they're all judgement affected from the latest baby boom (so I just look much skinnier next to all the new mums) or not and it is starting to pay off. Still it was great to hear.

Pampered chef parties and ruffles with love

My pampered chef party was a HUGE success but I am definately feeling the after effects today. I have been off the alcohol for so long that 3 glasses was probably a little too much. Now I am deeply in love with mango salsa and have been picking all day at left over bits and nibbles. Good job it was virtually all healthy stuff. Hopefully I will be able to get lots of the bits I want with a big discount.

I am also placing an order for lots of shirts from Ruffles with love which I discovered through Lap Band Gal.

I am majorly excited as Vanessa can customise everything and is even going to make me my very own diving hoodie! Watch this space for photos. Hopefully this will give me a bit more incentive to get my backside into the gym. xx

This one time at dive club ...

I was the oldest student at dive club tonight. Everyone who I thought was near my age was at least 5 years younger. Never mind, it was still a good laugh and I wound one of the instructors up so much saying I was blonde she called me a bitch. I don't like her very much (nor do most of my dive club friends) and I don't think that she meant it in a nasty way. She's just really thoughtless. I enjoy winding her up though. She bangs on about women in management and how there is a glass ceiling making everything more difficult for women (I mean, hello, the percentage of male primary heads and deputies shows how true that is) but it is not compounded by me saying I am blonde when I do stupid things.

Never mind. Two posts in one day AND I am going to bed before midnight! Whoop Whoop! xx

Ten things Thursday

I love 10 things Thursday. A little bit of randomosity brought to us by the lovely Laura

1)   I got to bed on Sunday at 2:40 am. My alarm goes off at 6:10. I promised myself an early night but have not made it to bed before midnight yet.

2)    I applied for a new job yesterday at an independent school about 4 miles from my home. Longer school days but more money, longer holidays and much smaller classes (and so less marking!). Being paid for by parents, it should also be better resourced with less economic constrictions. Given that this week at my school we are having photocopier issues again, I think it's a really exciting prospect. I had to tell my head teacher. It's how teaching jobs work in the UK as they take references before they call you for interview but she was alright about it. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The application form was a real pain though. Hopefully it will put a lot of people off but it has contributed to all the late nights trying to get it done. Don't know why they couldn't use the same form as all the state schools in Herts do.

3)    I am also going to see two other schools next week. Generally as teachers we get a tour of the school before you decide if you want to apply. They are both community state schools (non-religious) and in the town I live in. I don't know much about them so we shall have to wait and see.

4)   I am having trouble staying away from the chocolate biscuits :o( I am lacking in willpower this week.

5)   I have not been to the gym still. I feel like I need the boot camp colonel from the episode of desperate housewives (where Gaby joins and quits as soon as she looses the few pounds she wanted to) to show up with my exercise class on my doorstep. That might get my little backside into gear.

6)   Tonight is dive club. I have to go and get my log book signed from the weekends diving. I am looking forward to spending a couple of hours with some friends and trying not to stress about school. It's a really fun group of people and I always have a great time. It's a shame it isn't closer so I could go more frequently. Still have to mark a batch of books, and make 2 sets of worksheets before that. Probably won't get there until 9.

7)   Tomorrow I am having a Pampered Chef party. My friend L has just become a rep and it will be her first party. She is coming about 70 miles to do it, in rush hour traffic too. I hope it goes well for her. We are making potato wedges with cream cheese dip and mango salsa followed by toffee apple bites. Yummy. If nothing else though, I am really looking forward to a good girly gossip night.

8)   Fish shop guy and I had more flirty texts Friday and Saturday but we are still no closer to our movie night. Disappointing but ho hum.

9)  We are having a potato growing competition between the classes at school. We planted them this afternoon and carted the bag out to the rain. I need to google how to grow better potatoes because I am a rubbish gardener and, in all honesty, I could kill a plastic plant.

10) New series of Bones resumed again last night :oD Whoop Whoop.

Last night blues

Today was the very last day of my Easter break. It is 00:45 and I am still up and still doing school work I left too late. Again. Bad Sarah. I shall be at it for another hour probably.

I didn't make it to the gym today. I didn't eat well today either. Tomorrow I shall be better.

Back to work now. :o( xx

Eating out

I went out for dinner with friends last night and tried a restaurant called lu*ssm*anns in a nearby town. Out of the 9 of us only 2 know I've been banded but I think I other might have guessed (from me talking in the past and my new eating habits).

I did well. We ordered off the party menu and I chose pork loin with mashed potatoes and a mushroom sauce. I was lovely but there was tons of it but I ate slowly ate half my meat and a little of the mash and mushrooms. This particular restaurant also advertises it's doggy box policy. Now I get in the US how much a part of the culture doggy bags/boxs are, but over here, it just isn't. Regardless I assured my server I didn't dislike my dinner, I was just trying to eat less and I would like the doggy box. He proceeded to collect all the other plates and tidy up before clearing my plate. I felt this made it more obvious I hadn't eaten my meal. He also brought the box straight back. I don't know what else I would have had him do with it but in states any take home packs are usually bought out later aren't they? I struggled through my dessert. Since we ordered off a party menu, it was 2 courses for £15.95, instead of £15.20 for my entree. I still enjoy the something sweet at the end but I need to be conscious not to eat too much here. Although I should have left some, I was concerned about my box on the table and the fuss over me not eating my main meal. I hope as I get more confident with banded eating, this will pass. It was yummy though and a better eating out experience with friends who don't know, than my sunday lunch one from April 1st.

I went diving today at Ston**ey Cove. This is the national dive centre. It's a quarry which has been filled in with water, fish and wrecks for people to practise diving skills. It's about 90 miles away and takes about 1 hour 40 minutes to drive. It opens at 7 and you have to be there before that if you want to park anywhere near the water. After getting up at 4:15, I had some "belv*ita br*eakf*ast bi*scuits" in the car at about 6 am. They go down quite easily but I ate them slowly. 4 biscuits took 20 minutes or more. Then I was off food until all diving was finished. However this place does the most amazing fried brakfast rolls (bacon/egg/sausage). I was not unknown for me to have 2 before being banded. Now this seems INSANE but then I justified it with "but scuba is exercise!" I was a little jealous having done 2 training dives in freezing waters while everyone else tucked in but I knew those soft white floury rolls and I would not get on so I stuck with the coffee and allowed myself a bowl of chips when I was all done, showered and changed. They were lovely, dipped in ketchup and mayonnaise, I chewed away. I ate half the bowl and was done. I used to scoff at these bowls of chips. "Who would want a small bowl of chips like that without fish or sausages or something else?" thought old me. Today I ate HALF the bowl. What a difference a band makes.

Ten things Thursday

Brought to us by the lovely Laura Belle is my favourite day of blogging randomness; ten things Thursday.

1)  I have been a super rubbish blogger this holiday. I am so sorry and I don't blame any of you for taking me of your reading list, but please don't because I will try harder and blog more. I am going to aim for 3-4 times a week. I worry I don't have anything interesting to say and those dedicated followers I have will soon die of boredom reading my ramblings.

2)  For those of you who have never heard of Russell Howard (an incredibly sexy English comedian and one of the funniest men on the planet) let me introduce you. I saw him live last year and actually nearly wet myself from laughing so hard. He has just returned for another series of his "Good News" show which essentially takes the utter rubbish news stories from the week and reports them with humour. This isn't hard when you consider the "news" stories published by "news"papers such as the Daily Mail or Metro along with clips from you tube virals It is so funny. For those of you in the UK, he's on Thursdays at 9 pm on BBC3.

3)  

In the UK, a country known internationally for it's rain, we have a hose pipe ban. Why? There is not enough water in the reservoirs. It has been a very dry autumn, winter and spring and now any rain we get is "the wrong type of rain!" Basically, we can't use hose pipes to water the garden or wash the car because buckets and watering cans are more water efficiant. Russell (see point 2) drew attention to a Daily Mail story how people are up in arms about their poor brown grass. They suggest amoungst other tricks registering as disabled or setting fire to your shed. (yes the daily mail is that crazy)

4)  I am not only a bad blogger but a bad exercise bunny too. I haven't been since before the school holidays started. I know I should get up early and go tomorrow but I can also say now it's not going to happen. I have to go into work first thing, come back for a nail appointment, go back to work, come home, get ready for Saturday's diving course (5 am start) and go out to dinner. There is no way I can manage the gym as well. I will go on Sunday but I do find getting motivated so hard. How do you all manage it?

5)  My band is still really quite tight. I like how little I can eat (or not) but I have to be very careful with the chewing. One tiny little bit not chewed to a liquid and up it all comes. I am persisting through TOM this week before making any unfill decisions. I am so close to perfect. I don't get hungry. I stay sated. The most I would want out would be 0.1 ml

 

Here I had half a jacket potato with baked beans, cheese and salad. PB'd on a bean I swallowed instead of chewed (after 3 or 4 bites) and then proceeded to eat the rest of my dinner with no problem. The next night I had 4 really dry chicken satay skewers, 1 small spring roll and 2 small spoons of crispy seaweed no problems (slow but steady). Please note this is holiday not regular food.

6)  So many of my friends are pregnant at the moment, I am just a little bit jealous. Delighted for them but jealous. Evil head continues to mutter that I don't have forever and I try to ignore it but I know it's got a bit of a point. Still more babies = more cuddles = happy Sarah. 

7)  The Hunger Games. Oh My Gosh! These books are incredible!!!!!! They aren't quite as unputdownable as Harry Potter was the first time I read them (first 3 books in 2 days, all of the others bought at midnight and finished the same day) but they are excellent and well written. I do like an author who has a good grasp of sentence manipulation. The characters are realistic while plots are compelling and well developed. I still haven't finished the third but I am engrossed.

8)  So last weekend was my diving trip to Swanage in Dorset.

 

 

We arrived Friday evening and after settling into our little cottage/flat, we had a lovely dinner at a local pub. Saturday we met friends in the town and made plans for Sunday diving because Monday was supposed to be a blow out. Part of me was really nervous when we booked a boat dive but it was all good, even though we couldn't see anything. We went down to 12 m I didn't even think about being banded diving this time and it didn't feel any different to diving to those depths before. I ate a few hours before the boat dive, had coffee right before we left and hot chocolate on the boat back with no adverse effects at all. Also check out how good I look in my double layer semi-dry! I've got another photo of me from behind too. The last time I was in this suit, I was about 2 stone heavier (28 lbs) and I think its noticable :oD

9) The holiday has gone far too quickly. I have A LOT of work I need to catch up on and I've not been doing it. Bad Sarah. I also need to get my little backside in gear about applying for new jobs. I won't have a new one for September sitting around not doing anything about it. If anyone has any good techniques for getting yourself motivated ... I would love to hear them.

10) No progress with fish shop guy. Happy easter messages and confessions he is rubbish but we are no closer to a movie night date. :o( Fingers crossed for soon though. Boys eh!

Definately feeling this fill.

So I went out for lunch today with 5 friends. We all trained to be teachers together and they are all skinny as.

April 2010

It was really lovely to sit around and catch up. Two of them are getting married this year and another 2 are pregnant so it was gossip central. One already has children leaving just me to be the gloomy spinster :o( (Ha ha, seriously it was a great afternoon) We have a regular meeting place and follow on lunch venue.I had a chicken and bacon panini with a few chips. I ate most but not all of it and at the pace of a very slow snail. I mean seriously the 1 and 3 year old finished before I did!

The swelling from Sunday has subsided now and so long as I eat REALLY REALLY slowly, I am brilliant. I am not loving the not being able to drink anything cold first thing though. I knew coffee to get food to go down but seriously no juice, squash or milk either. I've always had a small glass of something cold as well to get me started on my liquids. :o( Does anyone else have this difficulty?

In other news, I am now in possession of a certain phone number. There have been texts ... continue watching :oD xx

Absentee blogger news, fills, catching up and PB's

Ooooh I am so sorry, I have meant to post so many times and been crazy busy and just utterly rubbish.

I have switched over to the new blogger. I don't like it much but I am sure I will get to grips sooner or later.

To follow on from the end of my previous post, the guy who works in the fish shop has continued with the messages. Seeing a scary movie has been mentioned along with promises of not letting anything bad happen to me. I might be a little bit excited. Watch this space.

I went for a fill a week ago. The nurse practitioner put in 0.3 ml taking me to 7.8 ml in a 10 ml band. The first couple of days were perfect but since yesterday, it's felt a little tight. What happened yesterday? (patience my friend, this blog is in chronological order)


Last week in school was insane. We put on an annual Art and Design Technology exhibition of the children's work from this academic year. They have at least 3 finished pieces each. It is hard work but it always looks incredible. The children and parents all gush over it, the newspaper came and we are very proud but damn it's hard to get ready. I had to go back to school after my fill appointment and didn't leave until 11 pm. We only ever get one night to get the exhibition up and it's a lot to do.

We broke up for Easter on Friday. I am so relieved. 2 weeks for fun, catching up with friends and fitting work around my life rather than attempting to fit my life around work :oD

On Saturday, I went to a cupcake and cocktail class in London with my friend H. (excuse my pained expression, it was the teacher's 7th attempt to take the photo!)

When we arrived we were given 6 cupcakes, some sugarpaste and a cocktail. Yummy.

We were shown how to make different sugarpaste decorations

Then we had to come up with some of our own. We learned different ways of icing the cakes, packaged them up and off we went.

This was my favourite.

Afterwards we went to a bar/restaurant nearby for more cocktails and dinner. I had the steak, frites. It was quite tough for a little bandster like me so I only ate half the steak. I had to spit out 2 little bits of meat because I knew after chewing on them for forever, they were not going to go down. Good job H knows about the band. She seemed to find it funny rather than disgusting. I ate all the chips though and after the rest of my dinner had gone down, I even had desert. We then proceeded to drink a bottle of wine before crawling our way out of the city. It was definately a fun night. I had no adverse band effects. All was well.

So Sunday, I went for lunch with a friend. I knew I was quite tight and put it down to being chilly in the night or the after effects of the alcohol but thought I would be ok. Now I don't know if any other countires do Sunday lunch like the UK (certainly I've never have an English Sunday lunch abroad) but it involves roast meat (beef, lamb, pork, turkey, chicken) roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding (sorry this is indescribable other than yumminess itself) stuffing balls and lots of veggies all topped with lashings of gravy. The friend I met for lunch, is meant to be on a super diet in prep for her wedding in May but she decided to have a free day and decided we HAD to have roast dinners. I was up for that, after all less than 24 hours ago I had great success with steak how hard can a roast dinner with gravy be compared to that? Please tell me you're all rolling your eyes, because not so hungover me is. So my friend goes and orders. The food arrives. It is tasty, succulent and everything I expected. It is also enough to overfeed 3 bandsters. (3 pieces of meat, 3 roasties, a large yorkshire, mixed green veg, carrots, parsnips, you get the idea). I did not follow good band eating practices. I practically shovelled the food down my throught. But I did not get stuck however 2 pieces of meat, 2 potatoes, 1/2 a yorkshire and quite a lot of green veg later I think ... oops. I excused myself to the toilets, slimed a little, decided I would be ok, opened the door and just as I was about to head back out, I coughed. Out of my mouth flew the most massage ball of my chewed up food ever. Thank heaven I was stood on my own right next to the toilet. It was so gross but funny because I did only cough, once and I had no warning. I went back, waited a few minutes and had some more of my drink. Nothing. I left the rest of my food, cursing myself for eating too much, too fast, not listening for my soft stop. Next time I will be better.

Today I have been even tighter. Not having eaten much yesterday, I made eggs on toast for lunch. Halfway through I got stuck and up it all came. I left it an hour and had a bowl of instant mashed potato. Not very nutricious but I was hungry and I figured I was swollen from yesterday. I can see how over tight people end up on the slider food path. I made fish pie with a toast crust for me tea tonight. It was yummy. The fish was in sauce but it did have a toast crust. I ate the whole lot. I had to cut the toast into tiny tiny pieces and put lots of sauce on each. I am going to have another day or 2 of mushies with added crunch to try to get the swelling to go down and then I'll see how I am getting on. I was fine before Sunday so am sure it is just post PB swelling. I was just starting to think I had gotten to just my right level.