Every loser wins ...

Hello beautiful ones!  I trust that you are all fine and dandy and the week is being kind to you. A very warm welcome to my new followers.  It's lovely to `see` you here.

Thanks so much for your lovely comments about the weight loss so far.

At weigh in on Monday, this happened!!

My son has asked me to point out that his thumb plays a starring role in this picture!

I was a little disappointed in just a half pound loss last week, particularly when I have seven trillion stones to lose so I made a few adjustments to my eating plan.  I love them, but at the mere sniff of a potato or a slice of bread and the carbs joyfully migrate to my hips and have a party. And invite their friends.  So although you can eat anything on the plan in moderation, I cut them out completely last week apart from two tiny salad potatoes and a tiny amount of noodles added to a stir fry. I tried as much as possible to eat 'clean' and filled up on lovely fresh veggies, fruit, salmon and chicken. I didn't feel deprived at all and amused my office colleagues by eating a bag of sugar snap peas at my desk. It must look like I'm eating all the time!!  Added to this was lots of water and I replaced my copious cups of tea and coffee with hot water. For my evening treats I've been enjoying a yoghurt and fruit, a low cal hot chocolate drink and the odd curly wurly to assuage any chocolate deficiency!  

All this combined with a couple of power walks at lunch time resulted in a five pounds loss, and so brings my total to date to 22lbs

I achieved my stone and a half award, and was, embarrassingly, slimmer of the week again. It really does prove that if you stick to the plan it will work. I've cheated on diets so many times in the past but the only person I've been cheating is myself. And quite frankly, that just ain't on any more sunshine!

A thought for the week :  Don't wish for it. Work for it. 

Random piece of information:-  I have 19 kiwi fruit in my kitchen. I think they're breeding. 

Non-foody treat purchase this week:- an infusions bottle, more about this soon. 

Something I'm looking forward to:- a dirty Romantic weekend away with me fella in Gloucester  

See you soon! 

Weekend catch up

Hey guys

How lovely of you to visit me here at Peapods.

It's been very cold here in the Black Country this week but although icy we've had no snow.  The sunrises over the field have been stunning.

I'm so lucky to have such easy access to the canal towpath near to where I work. I never get tired of it.  It's odd. I feel a real affinity with it and the barges make me very wistful.  I often wonder what it would be like to live on a barge.

The canal has been iced over for days and the wisps of smoke hanging in the still morning air from the barges smells delicious.

As part of my self imposed 'get fit for fifty' regime, I've been trying to do at least forty minutes walking during my lunch break. If I can walk away from the office for twenty minutes then that allows me twenty to get back and still have time to grab some lunch.  It's baby steps right now but everyone has to start somewhere and at least I'm doing something rather than sitting vegetating at my desk.  So far I've lost 17lbs since 5 January so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.  Stones and stones to go but again, it's a start.

During my walks I have seen coots, moorhens, Canada geese, ducks and a pair of swans who I'm really hoping will nest somewhere neat and raise a family. They've been around for a few weeks now so I'm hoping so.

This week I bought my fellow secretaries a bunch of daffies each as a cheer up token. I think we were all feeling a bit 'February-ish' so the splashes of gold around the office really brightened things. You can't feel glum with a pot of daffs on your desk!

I saved mine for home and mixed them with iris and hyacinths. Very springy!!

See you soon. Xx

Haring around

Hello lovelies. A Blessed Imbolc to those of you who follow the path.

I thought I'd show you some of the hares around my home for no other reason than I don't think I've shown you before and I've just learnt how to make pretty pic collages on Instagram!!

The big running hare is one of my favourite possessions. It makes me smile every time I look at it. It's by Jim Shaw and is part of the Heartwood Creek collection.

I have very limited  space to display trinkets here at Peapods  which drives me bonkers.   I don't do minimalist very well. We have some lovely 'stuff' and  I like  to have that stuff around me.    It just makes me very selective about any purchases.  I have to LOVE something very much  and visualise a place for it before I even contemplate buying.  Our home is quirky more than show home but it works for us.

Hope your weekend was perfect.

Love love. Xx