Simple pleasures

I'm pleased to say I completed my first three days on the Greenlane diet. I now have four days of healthy eating but not to a strict menu. It was really hard going!! REALLY hard! I found each day by the time I got to mid afternoon I was feeling very lathargic, light headed and headachey. Proud of myself that I stuck to it rigidly all bar 2 glasses of wine on the night of day two.

Bill had a friend/customer in the shop yesterday that he was telling about how we were doing this Greenlane Diet. She said "you're crazy!! That diet is for people who are so sick in hospital. They are stuck in bed and can't move all day! And you guys are eating the same amount AND walking around! I don't know how you can do it!"

I hadn't actually thought of it like that. I don't think it will be a permanent thing for me but more of a kickstart to get my motivation back which it seems to be doing.

Lynda and Jules you are totally right! I couldn't remember what he had died of. I had an idea it was something non-related to weight but couldn't quote that on here as I wasn't totally sure. So thanks for pointing that out.

I'm really enjoying his book for reasons other than weightloss as well. It's been very good timing. We are currently going into winter which is always a tough time financially for us. We're having to live day to day budgeting to pay bills and when you own a shop like this the bills are big amounts ... in the thousands so we have to be very tight with our money. Some days it gets us down and very hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyway getting back to the book ... this guy talks about another side of life ... one where he had no issues with money, where he was jetsetting all over the world for meetings. Over to London for 8hrs then back again, flying all over New Zealand multiple times in a day, smoozing clients in fancy restaurants, buying big fancy cars and living a life many people dream about. Yet he wasn't happy. He found himself not communicating with his wife because he was too busy being the big exec and by the time he got home he would flop into bed and start all over the next day.

It was a great reminder to me that money isn't everything. I've never had a desire to be hugely rich but enough to cover the bills and a little left over for some playtime is the dream for me. And sometimes I feel very let down in life because we've had to work so hard just to pay the bills. This man made me refocus on the fact that yes we may be broke, but hey we have a great relationship together (Bill and I) where we can be together every night and talk, we can work happily together, take the kids out for a swim down the beach as a family, play 'bat down' out in the back yard as a family and generally we can have the time just to be us, with out the rush, rush, rush of the 'high life'. We have our health and we have to be grateful for those small things because in all reality those small things ... are actually big things in life ...

To simplify it down it reminded me ... 'Don't worry!! Be happy!!'

P.S. - for those of you who asked what happened about Bill's job ... he never heard back so we're taking that as a no. Pretty rude of them not to let him know, but that's ok we're happy with that.

Did aliens take my patient????

We are still waiting to hear back from Bill's interview. Overall the store manager wanted to hire him, the 2IC was very insecure about him and they were offering a much lower salary than expected.



But I'm taking one day at a time and see what happens... will keep you posted :)



I had an ambo job at 1.30am this morning. I never do night jobs well ... it always takes about 10mins for my brain to kick into action.



On our way there COMMS came back saying two patients were at Waihi Police station so they reassigned our paramedic and one ambulance there and sent us (the other ambulance) to the scene to check there were no other occupants hidden, lost or abandaned at the scene.



When we got there we had a good look around the smashed up car and in the bushes, had a chat to the fire brigade and police and there didn't seem to be any patients unaccounted for.

I gave an update to COMMS ...

"We are R23 code 2"

Their reply ... "Sorry, Waihi Beach1 can you repeat that message!!!??!"

"We are R23 code 2 ... ohhhh ... ummm ... ooops ... sorry, correction ... (pause) ... we are R35!!! code 2"

I was so embarrased ... My boss's boss came on air next to say "Thankyou WaihiBeach1 you can stand down and return to station" with a chuckle in his voice ...

why was he (and everyone else listening to the radio) laughing???? ....

... because ... what I was supposed to say was ...

"R35 code 2" which means ...

R35 ... ambulance stand down ... code 2 ... patient gone by other transport

What I did say was ...

R23 ... PATIENT DEAD!!! code 2 ... and gone by other transport!!

I can't believe it did that!!! HOW EMBARRASING!! and infront of all those people!
Hmmm ... think I might be up for a blooper award on that one at the mid winter ambulance awards.

...

I'm very excited to say we are off for the weekend to go to Lee-Anne's wedding. Bill and I without the kids. The last time we went away without kids was ... I can't honestly remember!!

We've organised a babysitter to stay overnight with the kids, staff in the shop and my ambulance rosters to be covered... a big mission but we did it!!

Then we rang the babysitter to check we were all good for tomorrow and her reply "ohhh am I staying overnight??? I didn't know that ... ohhhh ..."

WTF???!!!??

We told her that at the start ... lucky Bill was on the phone to her not me. He was much more polite than I would have been!!

So yes to still do have a babysitter ... just as well!!!

We're off ... and boy do I need it!!!

Yay go Lee-anne!!!

MEN!!!!!

How am I today??

Interesting question ... Numb would be one word. Angry another, helpless, manipulated, alone, lost, nervous with a small amount of maybe I'm over exagerating and it's all about nothing!!!

I certainly hope I'll wake up tomorrow and it's the latter.

As I type this Bill is driving to Rotorua ... for a job interview!

Yep! We have a business we run together, yep I am trying to train as an ambo officer which takes a good 40hrs a week, yep we have 4 kids together.

Why??? Because for the last 3 winters we have struggled financially, because he's lost the passion for the shop, because he's bored.

So much spinning through my head. My life is at a crossroads and will turn in a dramatically different direction depending on the decision of one man in an office in a supermarket in Rotorua!!!

I'm mad!! I have followed this man all around the country for the last 13yrs of our marriage so he can persue his dreams. The whole reason we have this shop is because HE wanted it, not me! And now that he's bored of it he's thrown his toys out of the cot and followed another idea. Leaving me to pick up the pieces.

What will happen to my ambo work?? I really don't know! I finally found a passion. For years and years I sat at home without a passion, no reason to wake up in the morning. Then I stumbled across something that made me feel like I was useful. Now I may have to throw it all away.

Put your foot down and say NO! you say?? Do you not think I have tried that? My husband is a very stubborn man!

What do I do now?? Not much I can do that I haven't already tried. My hands are tied and I'M PISSED OFF!!!

Thankyou letter

Another 400g gone this week. Definately not complaining about this one, given I did indulge in a little bit of chocolate over Easter. Not huge amounts tho. What I did find was that the 4 or 5 easter eggs made me cave in to other temptations.

I'm definately an all or nothing personality, so when I slip up in one area I find it hard to keep tracking my food and stay OP. I know all the theory behind this and did manage to stay ontrack ... just. I guess my focus was gone this week.

But that's all good because this is the first day of a brand new tracking week for me and I managed to squeeze in with a loss. So what am I actually complaining about?? lol Not actually sure. Guess I need to refocus my motivation and give myself a kick up the butt and be grateful the scales were nice for the few indescretions.

Onto other news...

The shop was crazy busy over Easter! It was our biggest Easter yet, one day we were up by over $2000 for the day (compared to Easter Saturday last year). That definately helps ... ohh except for the fact that Bill paid $3000 to the wrong person last night on internet banking!!! A big $3000 whoopsie!!! The stupid bank wouldn't help us because we couldn't tell them our phone pin number! And of course he had to pay another $3000 to the CORRECT person ... I tell ya sometimes I think that man is a natural blonde under that dark cover!!

Ambulance has also be crazy busy over easter with so many people here at the beach. No major catastrophe stuff which is good. Been doing study this week (for my Nat Cert in Ambulance) on irregular heart rhythms and then recognised an odd ecg rhythm strip on a job and was able to query what heart condition she had. Very cool feeling to have my study actually come together on a job.

There was a letter this morning in the local paper from a patient I took to hospital (well it was the mother of the 18mth old patient) ... rather than reword it I'll type it in here for you ...

Volunteers' effort a priceless asset ...

This letter is dedicated to all the mainly volunteers who work for organisations who assist people within the Waihi area.

Our son has a severe condition where quick response from a doctor and St John is essential.

We are highly impressed and very thankful for the unselfish effort the people of Waihi/Waihi Beach put into this mainly volunteer work.

We were recommended to move closer to the hospital but we think we are better off living in Waihi where midical first aid is extremely professional, quick and effective.

Thankyou all very much to the people who support and help us.

A town is just as good as its inhabitants - Waihi rocks!!!

When people ask why I love ambulance so much .... this is why!!

What some positive words can achieve ...

Thanks for all your concern about Bill. It certainly was a shock at the time, but have since heard of others who have had similar things happen. Although we are still no closer to find out why, the doctor has told him he is fine to go back to work and carry on with life as normal.

No more incidents have happened since and he's feeling 100% better.  I'm at least content in that.

...

Had a very cute little 5yr old girl in the shop today.  Her mum and dad have an account with us.  She came up to the counter with a couple of iceblocks and nervously asked if she could put them on the account.  I looked out the window to catch mum's eye who was waiting in the car.  With her nod of approval I treated her like I do her much older sisters, asking her name, and then got chatting to her about what class she was in school and who her teacher was. We had a lovely chat together and she excitedly ran out of the shop skipping off to her mum's car, smile as wide as could be!

Next minute her mum came in and asked me if she asked to put the iceblocks on the account correctly. "Yep! She did really well"

"Ohhh she was so excited to be just like her older sisters and do it by herself... but she was worried tho. As she hoped out of the car to walk in here she was saying to herself 'I can do this! I can do this! I can do this!!' "

My face lit up ... how cute!! If only we could all positive self talk as innocently as this little 5yr old and acheive as much, despite the fear of walking through that door!!!

More exams and maybe an ambo job ...

I have been sending my brain in knots (is that actually a saying?? lol think not) the past 24hrs trying to get these animations showing up for you all. I just simply could not understand it! It was showing up perfectly on my screen yet not on others screens. I tried 50 odd ways of uploading it with no solution.

In the end this morning I tried on my computer downstairs and it showed up fine, but on the computers in the shop (paid internet) it didn't show. So for some reason it shows on some people's screens and not on others ... so ....

I did a google search and think I have the answer ... it's dependant on your browser security settings on every individual computer. Hmm, not sure that I can fix that one! lol ...

So ... if you can see the animation can you let me know ... if you can't (and want to) change your internet browser setting to 'allow animations'. As to where that is on each of your browsers I'm not totally sure, somewhere around the 'tools/internet settings' type area.

Ok onto other news ...

I had my next set of exams last night. That last lot I did (around 4wks ago) was the theory part of a new set of analgesias (pain relief medications) and last night was the practical assessment which I always find a little daunting... but I passed so all good!

And the other news ...

I'm applying for a job in Tauranga. Not sure if I've mentioned this before on here but basically our shop building is being demolished and rebuilt starting Feb 2009 and taking anywhere up to a year to complete. We we get a new shop in the new building which will be much better than this one that leaks and is falling to bits. The landlord has talked about compensation but we have to be wise and think of other work as we have 6 mouths to feed and a mortgage to pay...

so ... hence why I'm starting to apply for jobs. I know it's very early but of course I want an ambo job and they are few and far between. And I've been told you need to have your name come up often for them to notice you.

Originally I considered Auckland but is a little too far to commute (ambo is 2 day shifts/2 night shifts/4 days off). But will do what I need to do to get that elusive job. Then this one has come up in Tauranga... but ...

They require someone at AO level (one level higher than me and once I finished my Nat Cert this year I will be at AO level). It's a bit cheeky applying at a lower level but got to give it a try.

Spent yesterday doing up my CV and cover letter. My station manager has happily said she'll be a referee for me so that's nice.

I always hate doing cover letters, making yourself out to be the amazing perfect person, but I've gotta do it if I'm to get this job ...

It's a huge long shot but we'll see! I'll keep ya posted!

Dinner for two ...

Nona ... you asked how the hare is doing?? In his words he is 'shattered, knackered and not really focussed on weightloss at the moment'. We both at the stage now of dreading getting up to do it all over again each day. We work hard and feel proud of our achievements at the end of the day, but getting to be a bit like groundhog day. But summer is short and we have to make hay while the sun shines.

There's been a few special moments interjected to keep our spirits up. Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. We were ushered outside to sit on the deck by our two oldest (12yrs and 9yrs) at 6pm and told not to come inside till allowed.

We were signalled to come back inside to a candlelit dinner in the lounge with spaghetti bolognaise and a glass of wine served. The first evening meal they have ever made for us and was all organised by them. They even went to the butchers to get the meat! It was so nice to have our kids old enough to do special things like that for us.

As we sat down to eat they took the two younger ones into the bedroom to eat their dinner (that they'd cooked) and give us some adult time with no kids. They then put themselves to bed at 8pm and we sat and chatted, sipping on our drinks.

Delightful evening!! Special kids that I have!

I also got my birthday present from Bill yesterday, a couple days late but that's ok. A voucher for 3mths personal trainer sessions. I've never had a personal trainer before and feel quite nervous about it. This guy looks over your whole diet and exercise so hopefully he's ww friendly! lol. This time round I haven't done a lot of exercise but I'm sure that's the next step to take and this will be a good incentive to get me kickstarted. I'm excited and nervous all in one. Great idea of Bill's, one that I'd never have thought of myself! Impressive!

Weighin tomorrow and really don't know how it will go. I've been on points for the week but TOTM arrived a few days ago so the old bloated feeling is hanging around, as usual. I'll see tomorrow I guess!

Please don't get out the sticks ...

A quick post to let you know I'm still alive and kicking. Things are absolutely diabolical in the shop and on ambo! We had over 8,000 people through our shop on New Years Eve and similar numbers each day since!! We are literally running all day non stop till we shut the doors at 8pm, have dinner and flop into bed.

And don't think that because I'm doing lots of walking I'm losing weight ... I just don't have the time to prepare healthy meals so we're having alot of instant stuff and takeaways. It's like this each summer for me, I just go into survival mode. When things settle down again I'll get back to tracking and losing weight again. I'm not losing the plot, just have priorities set at a different focus for the next couple of weeks.

Last summer I beat myself up about not being able to lose weight at this crazy time of year but I'm starting to see the patterns now so have made a pact with myself not to get my knickers in a twist and just accept it, knowing when the people go home I have no excuse but to get straight back on track!

Yep still here!

Just a quick update to let you all know I'm alive and well. We had a great Christmas with Mum and Dad, my younger brother, his fiancee and us. Ate way too much. Thought I was doing fine after lunch with my intake but then a new meal was served up for dinner and skipped on dessert. Was all very point friendly but just ate way too much of it. Went to bed feeling really uncomfortable. Tried to blame it on the grapes I ate in the afternoon making me gassy ... but no I think I just ate too much!

The last few days have been crazy!!! The crowds arrived yesterday and we've been run off our feet. And ambulance shifts have been crazy too. Not sure how much longer I can keep up the pace but taking it one day at a time. Bill must be getting tired too cause he's cranky!!!

But I'm not complaining, at least the money is coming in the till to get us through winter and I'm getting some good hands on experience with my ambo work.

Lee-anne tooted as she drove past the shop the other day. I didn't get who it was till after she'd passed ... so if you're reading this Lee-anne ... HI!!!! And hope to catch up for a coffee while you're still here.

Hope everyone else had a good Christmas! Not weighing in this week ... my one week off weighin for the year. Food hasn't been pointed out but watching what I eat and certainly getting lots of exercise running behind that counter!!

I'll catch you all in the New Year if I don't get a chance to update again before then!!!

We're nearly there

I have another ambulance exam to do today ... but not a stressful one. Basically we do it online and we can do it over and over until we pass, to pass we need over 80%. We can take as long as we need to do it, so I'll be working on that. I want to get it out of the way before Christmas ... and ... the rush!!!

The countdown is nearly over ... not Christmas ... but till Boxing Day when 30,000 people drive over that hill towards us!! Most of me is looking forward to it. We are running all day, sweating our butts off!! And each night we collapse into bed. This happens for 3 weeks and at the point you almost think you're not going to be able to get up and do it all over again ... they all go home!! 80% of our yearly turnover is done in the next 6wks so it's our time to kick arse.

And for the weeks leading up to it money is so tight, trying to buy in summer stock without the turnover being there yet. $8,000 worth of coke! $18,000 worth of cigarettes! $2,000 worth of 5c lollies!! and the list goes on!! We are banking daily, writing out cheques we hope we do the turnover for that day to cover!! It's nail biting stuff!! But of course once the clock passes midnight on Christmas night ... we're on baby!!! party, party, party!!!

One small note ... weigh in tomorrow ... I think it might be a good one, on what the scales said this morning ... heheh! Let's hope!

Not going down without a fight!!!

A Farmers Market ... what is it??

"Food market where local growers, farmers and artisan food producers sell their wares directly to consumers" ... sound's good? Sure!! If you're a consumer! But what about if you're a produce supplier only 100m down the road!!

That's what someone had decided they were doing here in Waihi Beach. A big part of our turnover is our well priced produce. As you can tell we were not happy when the organiser asked us to put a poster up in the window advertising the regular event in a couple of weeks. We asked if we were allowed a stall and was given a definate "No!".

My normal instinct no matter how upset I am about a situation is to just let it go. But Bill wasn't having a bar of it. Initially I tried to calm him down and just let be what will be. But soon realised he wasn't going to let it slide. If I couldn't beat him I had to join him.

Bill rang the council to get an investigation into our rights. We were told they would look into the matter. According to the man we spoke to he was under the impression that each stall holder needed to hold a hawkers license.

In the meantime we spoke to some of the other retailers who agreed with us in our concerns. It just seemed so unfair that we as retailers had withstood the hard toil of winter drought and when the people arrived someone decided they'd set up a market and take the harvest. We had to pay so many overheads just to survive ... lease, rates, power, wages... the list goes on. Along with the retailers was the owner of the Four Square supermarket across the road. Up until now we had a purely professional relationship with the Four Square, nothing more. But on realising they were feeling the same about the situation we set up a meeting with them. They contacted the Foodstuffs representative after Bill told him of the Otara New World going bust when the Otara Farmers Market started up.

On top of this ... they were going to ask for funding from the Community Board!! A community board that is funded by our rates!!! This added insult to injury!! They were planning to doing a presentation to the Board at 6.30pm tonight. Bill had planned a big speal to say along with alot of other retailers, who had signed a petition we set up.

At 3pm this afternoon Bill rang the council to find out their progress in the matter. According to the investigator at the council they had every right to have the market given that it's a commercial zone, but that the organisers were in the process of cancelling the event due to opposition.

So it's finally over ... it's not going ahead. I understand their thinking about having a market but I don't think they thought through the full extent that this could have on the town. While it may have brought people in, the majority of the money would be going elsewhere and it had the huge potential of shutting down retailers like ourselves and others in the town which has to be a bad thing. The less shops, the less products offered for sale, the less money going back into the community.

And the good thing with this???? (other than the fact that we don't have a big confrontation on our hands?) I didn't comfort eat!!! I stuck to points infact saving some points in the process.

The sun was shining hot today ...

I made the yummiest dinner last night. Not sure what to call it. I got the idea from the ww website about hammering chicken breasts flat and rolling them with with filling inside. I chose to put cherry tomatoes (halved), crushed garlic, chopped fresh fennel, red onion and a little corn kernals. After rolling them and tying with string I sprayed them with cooking spray. They pointed out at only 3pts per piece ... yummo!!



Wow it was hot today!! Our staff member had to go home around lunch with nausea. I didn't mind because she doesn't take much time off so when she has to go home she must be really sick! That left Bill, myself and Lauren rolling icecreams (over 200!), thickshakes and countless drinks, produce and groceries. We were running all day!! I'm knackered!!

I'm in for a relaxing night of mindless tv, that is until the pager goes off, yep on duty again. Can't help myself! :)

What the... ????

I spent last night at a training session for ambulance put on by the police about how to deal with a crime scene so that ambulance officers entering a crime scene don't contaminate any evidence. It was a very emotionally draining session with lots of photo's of actual NZ historical murder scenes.

I came home ready for bed. As Bill and I sat chatting before turning out the lights we heard a few 'bumps'. As in the past I presumed it was the naughty cat jumping from the kitchen bench except the fact that Bill pointed to the cat right next to me. We both looked at eachother and Bill jumped out of bed to look out the back window. The security light of the liquour shop next door was on and I quickly heard the familiar sound of a steel pole that is usually used to lock their back door. I jumped to my feet fumbling round for the phone and rang 111. Given the time (11.30pm) and darkness (and the fact that I had already taken off my glasses for the night) I found it really hard when the operator asked me for a description. All I could give her was that there were 3 (that we could see) thin built guys with light coloured hoodies on. The cops were on their way and I was warned from the operator not to go investigate ... as I watched (and tried to silently frantically stop Bill grabbing the metal vacuum cleaner pipe and putting on my running shoes). I told her yep, sure, no problem. She then went on to insure that we weren't to contaminate any evidence. I didn't tell her but felt like saying "Listen lady, I've just spend three hours in a training session put on by police on just that subject".

The next thing the alarm sounded and I saw two guys go sprinting across the back carpark and disapear into the creak. I explained what I'd seen to the 111 lady and she thanked me and I hung up. Feeling quite bummed that once again they'd gotten away.

My thoughts then went to Bill ... he'd been gone over 10mins ... where was he?? I gingerly walked outside and around the front of the shop but couldn't see him anywhere. Then the security guard turned up and relieved I asked him to look around for him for me.

Five minutes later (which seemed like an eternity) Bill came puffing along the footpath. They got one of them!!! And this is his account of when he left the house ...

Little punks breaking into the shop next door!! Shit that could be my shop they are rading. "I'll get the car and suprise them. F*%^K thats the alarm going off. Running down the road checking each driveway and listening i work out that they have gone into the creek and making for the bridge or across to the vacant section next to the bridge. Armed with my manly vacume cleaner pipe I hide and watch the little barstards make a break for it down the road towards me..."STOP U LITTLE SHITS", They split 3 down Dillon St and one back up the road. "He'll Do Me" I think and start the chase. 200 meters and im stuffed. "stop soon shit head or have a heart attack" My thoughts out loud. "Stop you f&%$K" i yell with my 'weapon' in hand. 40 meters later he stops and after a few "stop man the cops are on thier ways" pant, heave, "shit I am fat" mind games he does!! GREAT I can breath again. We walk facing each other and i coax him into stoping. "PUT DOWN THAT BIG THING" he yells;

"Come closer, I'll put it down" I reply.
"No just put it down" pleadingly he says.
"Ok, Ok there it is on the grass... come back here"
"No you're big too"
"I cant fuckin change that can I??!!!"

We walk face to face backwards down the street and I slowly gain his ground. Standing a metre away I say "come back and talk to the cops and sort it out with them"
"Nah, leave me alone, don't hurt me"
"Don't run!!!" (thinking I'm actually too fucked to run!!!) "The cops are coming down the road behind you. Come back towards the shops"
"I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" He squealed like a little pig
"Cool! Just tell the cops that and sort it out with them" Still trying to dredge my breath from the bottom of my bowels
"Don't grab me man! Don't grab me!!" He pleaded, walking down a driveway.
"i know these people! You don't want to go down there! Come back towards the shops. What's your name?"
"Jake"
"Whatever! sort that out with the cops. Just keep walking with me"
"I didn't go inside"
"You were still with them"
"Just don't touch me"
"Nah, nah, nah ... we're sweet" All I could think of was doing a 'Homer on Bart'!

Two hundred metres from the end of the road I grabbed the hood of his sweatshirt and drag him across the road.
"You lied! You lied!!! You said you wouldn't grab me!!"
I was laughing so hard to myself ... you little shit! Of course I'm going to lie, you broke into a liquour shop!
Grabbing his colar and the bottom of his shirt I tied them firmly in a knot and dragged him down the road. He stuck his right arm out of his sleeve as if to punch me. I yelled "Don't fucken hit me man or I'll beat you!! And I'm BIGGER THAN YOU!!!"
"Let go of me, let go of me. You lied" When I tried to grab his arm to put it behind his back he yelled "Don't touch me! It reminds me of my stepfather!"
"Don't give me your sob story you whining little shit!"

After throwing the guy into a hedge three or four times I saw the cop car coming down the street. Holding him on the ground with one arm and waving to the cop car with the other, I thought they noticed me. They didn't! Now I was nervous! And the goon tried to wrestle himself away from me. Back into the hedge he went! Finally the cops see us and reverse back down the road. They jump out and 'Jake' struggles hard to try and break free. I pick him up laterally and throw him into the concrete. Then jump on him with my knee followed by a 105kg of fat!!! The cops yell out "Is this one of them?" Heaving I say yes.

They grab him and one takes him to the car, the other asks for details.
I let them know that the others went down the other street, while making my way back up the road to my vacuum cleaner pipe. "I need some details"
"It's Bill from Beachmart. I just need to go get something from back up the road"
Recognising me they took off down the road to get the other little shits. I pick up my pipe and think "Shit I need to hide this too as I could be viewed as a lethal weapon"

For the next while we wait with the security guard for the owner of the liquour shop to arrive, which seems to take forever. He arrives and tells us while he was on his way from his home 15kms away he encountered 3 abandoned horses galloping towards his vehicle on a main state highway! He TOO rings 111 to report the incident. They reply "I'm sorry sir, but all our officers are currently tied up with a robbery in progress"
"THAT'S MY SHOP!!! I'M TRYING TO GET THERE!!"
They compassionately reply "Well aren't you having a bad night!!!!!!"

An hour or so later the cops turn up with all arrested in the back of the vehicle!

PHEW!!

confession time ... again!!

I totally threw all my toys outa the cot!!! I haven't thrown that much of a tantrum in a very long time. I'm talking eating tantrum here as much as I'm ashamed to admit it!! :)

Things had been winding me up all day. Just silly little things from all sorts of people. And for the most part I let it go over my head. I'm a pretty laid back kinda person who doesn't like conflict. So rather than saying right back to each person that bugged me I would bury it, pretending it didn't matter.

Then in the afternoon I had a senior ambulance officer come in the shop. We were chatting about my job the other night and she asked me why I didn't do a certain thing. When I told her I didn't have time before the other team arrived she got ... hmmm ... how to word this ... assertive?? with me ... telling me it wasn't good enough. Now what she said was right, I should have done what she said but there were lots of other factors involved that complicated the matter ... and I didn't appreciate how she said it nor the fact that it was done in my shop.

Anyway ...

I immediately paged Bill to ask for a break (so I could clear my head) but he was busy. That was it!! I grabbed the biggest, fattiest, baddest packet of chips I could find and I went to the back of the shop and I shoved them in my mouth!! Did I really want them? Nup! Did I need them? Nup! Was I hungry? Nup! Why did I do it? Hmmm don't really know... to punish someone?? maybe ... only punishing myself tho ... duhhhh!!!

So there ya have it ... my silly episode. It's not gonna stop me carrying on. I remember back to last time when I had an absolute BLOWOUT!! Here ... but I still got to goal anyhow. So onwards and downwards ... silly tart that I am!!!

Mojo appeared and granted 3 wishes

I'm very excited to say I was sooo good all day yesterday, sticking totally to plan. I don't know why but my mojo suddenly jumped before me again like a magic genie. And how glad I was to finally see him!!

I'd lost my motivation for the last few weeks. The first week I managed to fluke it at weighin but having it finally catch up with me yesterday was the best thing that could have happened.

It's like cheating in a test (not that I ever did that ... Pffft!! lol) When you don't get caught you have no reason to change your ways. So by having this gain meant I had to change my slack arse ways and get back to what I know I hadn't been doing but trying to get away with.

And there is nothing like the feeling of being back in control again!!! The lack of guilt when I wake up in the morning knowing that I did it right yesterday. There's no reason to jump on the scales this morning because I couldn't have done anything else better, therefore what the numbers say is irrelevant!

Jules made a comment yesterday about Bill's tantrum being his way of telling me he needed some special attention. Which is similar to what others said and what I felt myself. Well this morning he sidled up to me to suggest if he could go fishing, knocking off early, meaning I started an hour earlier. Jules words were fresh in my head and agreed he could go. He was like a little school boy "thankyou! thankyou! thankyou!!" "yeah, yeah, just don't be late!!" as I half smiled and kissed him goodbye. Boys are easily pleased huh?

I got the expected letter in the post yesterday informing me that I didn't get the job. Ohh well. Bill said to me later in the day "I'm glad you didn't get that job. You do far more around here than I realised and I don't think I would have coped if you got it" Finally, he is started to see things from my perspective.

So for today, the sun is out and life is good!!

Yesterday's post deleted

Thankyou for your encouragement Chubbymum ... yes I agree with everything you said.

For those of you who are confused, I did an update yesterday morning but at the end of the day I decided to delete it. I was feeling quite down after a major 'telling off' from Bill about not doing enough. When infact I feel I am burning the candle at both ends.

Chubbymum's comment about looking after 'me' first is how I was feeling too but didn't know how to do this when there are so many around me pulling me in different directions.

One thing I am certain on is I'm not giving up ambo. For me this is my time out, away from the four walls I live and work in. By giving out to others during my ambulance day it actually gives something back to me, makes me feel proud of who I am and a sense of achievement.

When I got to the station yesterday I had a really good honest talk to a fellow ambulance officer. Her comment when I'd finished was "So what's the REAL issue? What do you think he REALLY is talking about? Forget all the sideline issues and look to what he is really trying to tell you" This got me thinking (she's great like that) and to be honest I think it's about 'Lyn has a life now and I don't'

To that she replied "Ok, so how can you help him with this, without compromising you"

This is where I have to have a long think and mull it over. I know Bill needs some time out ... a full day off where he can go out and be by himself for the day. But what I need to sort out is how. At the moment my only full day off is at ambo, so maybe it's a matter of shifting our roster around.

Anyway, I'm working on it.

I haven't heard back from the interview yet, but he did say at the end of the week, so that could be today or tomorrow. Either way I'm really not fussed whether I get the job or not. I know that sounds like I don't really want it and in some ways maybe I don't but it will help out moneywise ... wait and see.

I'm sorry to those blogs that I haven't commented on for a while. This week has been absolutely hectic. I've had a few moments to check through some blogs but not much time for anything else.

Today I have ambulance all day, then tomorrow I'm heading back up to Thames for my second ambulance driving course/exams. Come back Saturday night and go out for our annual ambulance dinner. Really looking forward to that. We have babysitters to take the kids for the whole night, and they are picking us all up in the ambulances and dropping us off so we don't have to worry about driving.

It's not very often both Bill and I get to go out together without kids so I'm going to savour every moment. And for this one night I don't care about points, I'm going to enjoy myself.

Sunday morning I head back up to Thames for the last driving session. Then Monday it's back to work as normal. See what I mean about being busy??? Life is crazy and unfortunately when life gets hectic my weightloss suffers a little. But I'll get back into the swing of things when everything settles down.

Just thinking about today for today. I have nearly finished my ambulance assignment due tomorrow (goes towards my driving assessment) so I'll get the final bits of it done in between jobs today.

I'll catch up with you again on my return Monday.

Cya!

Still shivering

Just a quick post to say I'm still alive. Course was really good, I learnt heaps!! That was part A with part B and exam next weekend. I managed to catch up with Lynise while in Thames which was really nice!

The only down side was the motel room I had was so cold!!! And they only had a single duvet on the bed with no blankets!! We came back from dinner on the Saturday night and around 11pm I turned in for bed and shivered!!! An hour later I got sick of being cold and put my polar jacket on, zipped it up, put the hood over my head and buried myself under the duvet. An hour later I was STILL shivering!! So getting quite annoyed with myself I put on my ambulance triple lined, mega insulated, withstand any cold jacket, zipped it up over top of all the other layers ... eventually I got to sleep!! But I woke up in the morning with a tight, wheezy chest.

By late afternoon I was coughing like a seal and in the last hour of the course I just wanted to go home to bed!!! Bugger I had an hour to drive home. I stumbled in the door, grabbed my feather duvet, kicked the kids off the couch, curled up and went to sleep.

Yesterday I was slammed to the floor with this thing ... thick head, sinuses blocked, 'rip my chest out' cough and couldn't even get myself off the couch!

Today I've still had the day off work, but at least able to get up and about a bit. It's a bugger because I'm supposed to be studying but there's no way I could get my head around thinking right now. I have tomorrow left and that's it ... Thursday is ambo all day and Friday I'm off to Thames again. And poor Bill having to cover all my shifts for me.

I haven't been able to track or exercise this week, nor have I had much control over my food. During the weekend all our food was supplied, some healthy, some not so healthy. But I think I did pretty good in selecting between the good and bad.

I'll let you know how weighin goes tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Jesurun!!

Sorry for the lack of updates ... I've been out of action for the past few days. With Bill being sick and it being the long weekend here, the shop has been crazy busy so I've been work, work, working!!!

I haven't done any walking this week, just my incidental steps. I just didn't have any spare moments. But that's ok, I'll get straight back into it this next week.

It's Jese's birthday today. He's five and officially off to school. There's been three school visits so far but only for a few hours, today he's there all day. Funny thing is both Bill and I had it in our heads that his birthday was Thursday. (how bad a parents are we??) It wasn't until I realised last night that it was the 4th, therefore tomorrow was the 5th ... Jese's birthday... that we both realised. So you can imagine his surprise when we told him last night that his birthday was in the morning and he would be off to school. He's been nagging us for the last six months saying "Is it my birthday tomorrow?" Next day "Is it my birthday tomorrow?" Then suddenly for him ... IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!! He did this little jig of excitement .... very cute!!

We all got up at 6.30am to have breakfast together before Bill left to open the shop. Jese got to choose his breakfast and he wanted honeypuffs and cream. Before I realised, they'd dished up some for me. I almost refused, I couldn't bear the thought of wasting points, but gave in knowing it was for Jese!

It made me realise how much my taste buds had changed. The honeypuffs were so sickly sweet!!! And the tiniest bit of cream was so rich. I could only get through half of the small serve I had. I felt just yuck!!

I asked Jese where he was going today given it was his birthday. After a long pause he replied "Lollypopland??" Awwww sorry Jese not today, maybe on the weekend. No you're off to school today. Funny, he didn't seem so excited at that.

Weigh in tomorrow. I'm in the state of mind that any loss is a good loss, given my big loss last week and TTOM arriving in the next few days. I won't even cry if it's a small gain after all I had no exercise this week either. Wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Phew that was close!!!

I was sitting here minding my own business about 5pm last night when a friend popped in to tell me he was picking me up in 15mins. We were going to Tauranga to a seminar. I really didn't even have a chance to think about what he was telling me before he slipped out the door again.

So I raced upstairs, threw on some nice clothes, perfume and a face and out the door. In the car he was asking about the shop we were looking at buying and telling me it was a waste of time, that he had something far better for us to consider. My warning bells went off. I could see where the conversation was going ... yep ... MLM (multi-level-marketing) scheme!!

I was trapped in the car, travelling 45mins to Tauranga in the pouring rain when I could have been snuggled up at home infront of the heater! I told my friend I wasn't interested in any MLM schemes and that it wasn't for me. But he kept driving.

We turned up to a vacant shop where we were ushered upstairs like some secret mafia meeting. My body language would have told the lady I wasn't interested. She started on her big spiel about how she was so much in debt, about to be make bankrupt when someone came into her life and saved her... Gawd anyone would think I was in a church meeting the way she was carrying on.

To her credit the powerpoint presentation she gave was very professional and I could see a market for the product she was selling. By the end of the evening she had me convinced to part with OMG .. $12,995.00!!! Promising me that I too could be making 100,000's of dollars like her in a matter of months. I was totally swept away with the whole thing. So much for the supposed stubborn streak, where was that when I needed it. One thing I am grateful for is forgetting my wallet ... and visa card!

3hrs later we stepped out of the dark alleyway and in the car. Man I was starving!!! And at 10pm at night there was NOTHING open in Tauranga! Even McD's was shut! How crazy is that? Finally resorting to Wendy's and choosing a salad and baked potato (not too bad at 11.5pts)

Arrived home to darkness with Bill being in bed long ago. He was in no mood to be discussing the fact that I nearly spent $13,000 and that the lady was arriving to talk to him at 4pm the following day. I figured I'd talk to him about it in the morning.

A horrible nights sleep of continual nightmares about trying to talk people into joining the scheme, and losing friends and customers.

I awoke to Bill wanting to tell me of some more ideas he had for the shop in Tauranga. It was information overload!! I told him I didn't think it was a good idea. He wasn't listening to me tho. I decided to jump on the computer and research the net about this scheme. I found a lot of people saying that if you didn't put a lot of hours into it you would actually lose money!! Not words I wanted to hear. Then speaking to some reps in the shop, the area was flooded with people trying to con others to save their own income.

Now I just had to ring her to let her know I wasn't interested and not to bother coming to see us tonight. Lucky I got her answerphone and left her a polite message.

She rang back 15mins later (as expected) and honestly I couldn't get a word in for 14mins and 38secs!!! She just talked and talked and talked. By the end I had to be so blunt with her (which is so not me).

After hanging up Bill and I just looked at eachother ... and burst out laughing! What were we thinking??? We are happy here, our shop is doing well, why do we need to do anything else???? So we both agreed there and then that we wouldn't do my scheme and we wouldn't do his Tauranga shop ... we'll be content with the pot of gold we have on our own doorstep!

Has anyone else had any experiences with MLM businesses?

I'm getting rather cheeky with my ww points now ... I grilled the lady in the bakery this morning as to what EXACTLY was in her soup. I could see by the look on her face that she was a little aghast that I would ask such a thing. I wanted to know quantities, ingredients and number of serves per pot. After I continued to explain that I was back doing ww and just wanted to work out the points on it I could see the sigh of relief. It's ok lady, I'm not going to steal your secret recipe, lol. We'll I must have hit a soft spot in her because she came back half an hour later with a personally delivered free cup of her special soup!! And I worked it out at only 0.5pt per cup!! Yayya!!

I have my night walk on with the girls tonight. And I'll let you in on a little secret .. I'm really looking forward to weighin this week. I was naughty and took a sneak peak at the scales this morning ... it's looking very good, as long as it stays that way till Thursday ... fingers crossed ;)

Jese don't tell anyone

After we got home yesterday I decided to do a hair treatment on my hair, which meant leaving some stuff in my hair for 15mins. While I was sitting in the lounge at 2pm, in my bathrobe and hair looking crazy-like, there was a knock at the door. Our front door opens into our lounge and I could see a man's figure through the frosted glass. I ran outa there so fast and into the bathroom/toilet, interrupting Jese (4yrs) on the toilet. He asked me what I was doing and I held up my finger to my mouth to signal him to be quiet. He said with the loudest voice (so anyone in the house could hear) "Mum, are you hiding from someone??" ... hmmm ... don't you just love their discretion at that age??

This morning I got up and rang a friend to see if she wanted to come for a walk. So off we went, rain and all, down along the beach and to the coffee house, had a coffee and lovely chat and back again... 4,200 steps done and all before the weather went to the pack.

Oooooh ... And I got a compliment from a customer this morning, asking me if I had lost weight. I smiled and said yes I had, thankyou. She said she could really tell around my face ... yayya!!

Then gst day ... gst done ... yay ... and now work till 4pm, while Bill goes off to Tauranga. He's going down to look at a shop down there. They are basically giving the business away. The guy went through road works last year (which have now finished) and made an $80,000.00 loss and then got himself in too much debt to keep going.

If we decide to buy it we will just have to pay for stock. The guy also made the mistake of stopping all hot food, pies etc. and then put gaming machines in. Given that it is right next to a girls high school that was a mistake because with the gaming machines came a bad sort of boy crowd which scared the girls away. Sounds a bit like Georgy Porgy huh?

If we do take it on it's going to mean a huge commitment for the both of us. I will take on the running of this shop while Bill will run the other one (with staff giving us time off). Financially it's a huge gain, family wise ... hmmm ... not sure. I mean there's pros and cons ... Bill works best at his limit and doesn't get itchy feet syndrome when he has a new set of goals to achieve. I'm relatively comfortable running this shop on my own with staff and we're commuting to Tauranga almost daily now for stock anyway. We would line up the staffs hours together so we both have the same day off. And some days I find it's hard with us both working together so much of the day, we often get on better when we work separately and only see eachother in the evenings. The Tauranga shop will only open 7am-5.30pm because it's main target is school girls and people going to and from work.

But then is it going to be too much stress having two shops?? I know it's something only we can decide. Decisions, decisions, decisions.