Just dance!

Today has been a full one! CJ and I were up quite early for a Sunday and off into town....but not for shopping or even window shopping today. No today was the first of his 3 runs, his new obsession! It all started a few months ago, one of the companies his company is connected with is sponsoring a half marathon in October http://www.royalparkshalf.com/ and his boss thought it would be a great idea if she and all her team ran in  it!!!!!! I was pretty appalled...he will be 46 in September and the occasional trip to the gym and a few Sunday walks do not leave him in the peak of fitness! Anyhoo, he has embraced his new found hobby and trained seriously. Proper running shoes were purchased closely followed by running tops, shorts, socks and knee supports (the only real nod to his physical age!) He looks great for it, has had to buy new smaller every day shorts due to his shrinking waisteline and our weekend walks now involve me viewing his rear end from further and further in front!

So back to today...

getting ready.....


...smiling...but only been running for 5 minutes!

I had never anticipated how stressful it would be, being the supporter (come official photographer)! Do you have any idea how many royal blue runnning tops there are in a race with 1, 500 people?!

51 minutes and 33 seconds and somewhere near the middle of all those people and it was all over! Survived!

The next one is the day after his 46th birthday...The Great North run...

And then we booked a holiday....to New York!!!!

....more to come on that!...watch this space!

And at tea time we celebrated with our first alcohol in two weeks (another part of the training!)...delicious!

After the roast we had another music quiz and then I laughed until I almost wet myself......

 

...as my 'boys' strutted thier stuff to Just Dance on the Wii! http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/lsuOIrpVDZGNKP-14iVQumsPxZ8e_LmR

A great way to end the day!

Living

I'm spending a lot of time recently trying to figure out how to LIVE. I know keep breathing, heart pumping, eating etc....but there has to be more....

There are moments when it all makes a bit more sense, a spontaneous music quiz after the Sunday roast, a rare occasion when all five of us were happy in each others company (though still fiercely competitive!)

And any time CJ and I are out on our own together, especially if that means we are out in nature...

            

...an impromptu visit to the seaside, for a fish and chip supper, a walk on the beach...

...the realisation that we were going to see the sunset..

                           

...so we headed up to Souter lighthouse...

                                                  

                                                  

...and this was the reward...

Takes your breath away doesn't it? Nature is pretty cool...being 'in it' makes me stop and think!

Getting there!

Well I seem to have got to the bottom of most of the changes and sorted them out!

Had a very loooooooong weekend! At my last tutorial I was busy explaining how I was going to do as much work as I could before going on my pre teaching workshop and then teaching...my tutor said that she was one of the tutors on a PTW in three weeks time...I checked the diary and the date was free...various other 'signs' pointed the way so on Friday at midday I found myself London bound on the train!
It was one of the hottest weekends of the year so far...I arrived at Kings Cross at quarter to three, got the tube to Marlyebone and another train out to Chalfont and Latimer and finally a taxi to the venue for about 5pm.

The weekend was shared with ten fabulous women eight other students and two fabulous tutors (not to mention the women from the Intro to the programme weekend who were at the same venue!) An exam (must be twenty five years since I have done an exam!), lots of teaching practice, sharing good ideas, meals, drinks and lots of giggles, lots of sweating!!! (it was seriously hot and humid!) and then time to head home...

We finished at three thirty on Sunday, I shared a cab with another one of the students back to the station...where we waited....forty minutes later we were crawling at a snails pace in a hot and smelly train headed towards London, the nausea had crept in as soon as I jumped in the taxi and I felt as if I would melt into a big puddle!

It was six o'clock, after lots of changes on the tube, up steps, down steps, up escalator's and down all with a bag and a heavy case (note to self: learn to pack light!) and I finally settled myself on the homeward bound train. Thankfully I found a seat and dozed queasily most of the way home...jumped into the shower at nine o'clock and promptly fell asleep soon after! No supper, no wine, no cuddles with my lovely hubby or great kids!

So another week has begun, it's three forty five and I am still in my pj's and gathering my thoughts...

Frustrated and confused!

I am very frustrated and confused by my blog. I stupidly played around with the layout the other day and now can't find out how to return it to normal. I hated the new layouts, found a way to classics layout but have lost all the gadgets that I had I can't find out how to re-add them and I am wasting time that I can't afford to waste trying unsuccessfully to sort it out!
Argh!

Summertime part1

Last weekend was a busy one, but great fun. Dear hubby and I left the kids at home and ventured North to Scotland. We had a lovely drive across the A66 and then up into Scotland.

This was our first glance (through a filthy windscreen!) of the Scotch hills.

We arrived at the Crowne Plaza beside the river Clyde, to chocolates on the pillow of the enormous comfy bed.

 

 

And an amazing view over the SECC from our 15th floor room.

 

We took a walk along the riverside up past the SECC,

The Clydeport crane and over the 'suiggly' bridge.

 

Across the other side we passed BBC Scotland.

Then past the science centre and the iMax, with the excitment of seeing a police helicopter take off and a sea plane cruising up the river.

Then we were off to Hampden Park to see P!nk. She was brilliant, completely mad and for an evening I felt young again! We had a later night than we've had in a long while (think it was 2am before I crashed!)

Sunday dawned drizzly and grey. We checked the weather forecast, it promised sunny skies on the east coast so we jumped into the car and headed across towards Edinburgh.

After a coffee in Berwick, we headed on down to Bamburgh where we enjoyed a lovely walk along the beach.

On the last leg of the journey we stopped at The Angel of the North. After loving him for over ten years it was great to actually 'meet' him! He is even more impressive up close.

 

Live, love, laugh and be happy!!!

I have had a 'light bulb' moment today! For most of my life I have believed that I am fat. I have loathed looking at my reflection, covered up, not believed it when people pay me compliments and hated photographs of myself. When it was our 25th anniversary I made a scrap book of photos, tickets etc to act as a memoir of our life together so far. There was one particular photo of me when I was 21. We were on holiday on a boat on the Norfolk broads, I was recovering from chickenpox and wearing a skimpy bikini....the girl in that photo was definitely NOT fat!! It saddened me to think of all the time the I had spent hating myself, what a waste of energy.

It is undeniable looking back at other photos before and since that my weight has been an issue. I think at the moment I am about the heaviest I have ever been and that must have an impact on my health in the long run. The thing I realised today is that hating myself doesn't help at all! It's obvious really! The thing that clinched it though was looking at some photos from last week, a meal with my family, blowing out candles on my birthday and a sunny day with my girls, nephew and parents...yes I am still over weight but I'm happy. And I am SO lucky, I live a great life! I have a wonderful husband whom I love a great deal (and who loves me too, always has, regardless of my size!), three fabulous children, a lovely family (even if we don't get together as often as I would like), amazing friends, a solid, cozy house, few worries, my health.

So from now on I promise not to duck the next time a camera is pointed my way, or cringe when I catch a glimpse of myself reflected. I am going to live, laugh and love...wobbly bits and all!

Rain won't stop play!

Today it is raining...but that's OK, it is good for the garden and won't be spoiling any of my plans. J and H are back at college and school (it was half term last week) so today I have returned to essay writing. I am currently working on The Special Situations module with an essay exploring the grief process. I have been curious to discover this to be an enjoyable piece of work; one might assume that the subject matter could be a gloomy challenge! This is my first level two piece of work and I feel as though I am really getting to grips with writing to diploma level. The references have easily made themselves known to me and my style, though still organic by nature, is becoming more structured and logical. Hopefully these feelings will be backed up when it goes for marking...serious self assessment may be needed!

We currently have a challenge...choosing new furniture! How could that be challenging I hear you ask? Well for a start there is so much choice; there is more than one item that we are considering buying and without a Chrystal ball we can't see into the future to see whether or not we have made a good decision! One of the main choices that we seem to have is whether to invest in a mid price range sofa or a more expensive one. If we go for the mid range we are likely to be replacing it in 5-10 years (our current suite has lasted 10 years and essentially only needs recovering). If we go for the more expensive one it will cost about twice as much and we need to be sure that we have chosen well, as realistically we will live with it for 10-20 years! The thing is, the more expensive one is the only one that offers us a style and choice of fabric that satisfys our joint tastes and fits in with our (not so long ago redecorated) sitting room. But with the knowledge that we will be moving in a few years we don't want to tie ourselves too rigidly to a particular colour pallet... http://www.duresta.com/

Life is on the cusp of changing radically in the next couple of years with L and then J spreading their wings and moving out. In the meantime they need a little reminding about cleanliness and tidyness which I do find challenging!