THE DAY THE EARTH SHOOK - WELL SYDNEY ANYWAY

NEWSFLASH!!

Seismologists recorded a tremor measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale. Professor Mike Hunt said the epicentre originated from an outer suburb in Sydney,Australia. Local residents flooded the State Emergency Call Centre reporting windows breaking and pictures falling off walls and smashing to the ground. Seismologists are confident it was a one off and no further activity is expected

Before you all go off and start building your disaster shelters there was no earthquake today. It was me falling over, face first on a cement footpath. While walking the dog today, I fell into a hole (stupid me) which was concealed by long grass and down I went with an almighty crash. I was more worried about loosing the dog lead as my boy would of just kept running.I am all grazed and skin missing on one side (Boy, does it hurts). The worst wound though is my pride, god I felt stupid. You know not one person came to give me a hand or ask me if I was alright. There were at least three cars that drove by and just looked at me sprawled on the ground. It makes you wonder what sort of world we live in. So sad really.

Today is the International Day of Mourning and we all (including my parents) went to a memorial ceremony held in the city for all people who have been killed on the job. As most of you know my younger brother was killed last July at his place of work.
It was held in a park specially created in remembrance. It is called Reflection Park and it is a small grassy area with a statue in the middle. After the service the families were able to tie a photo of their loved ones and lay flowers in remembrance. It was such a sad day, so many lives lost that could of been prevented.

REFLECTION PARK SHOWING THE MEMORIAL STATUE



GAVIN'S PHOTO HANGING ON THE STATUE



I have never been a "fan" of these sort of memorial days. I always felt they were just rehashing the event and stirring up all the old emotions we experienced when the tragedy happened. Now that I've had first hand experience I can see the merit of having them.It is worth remembering, he is worth remembering. If we all remember it may just save someone else's brother, someone else's loved one.

WEIGH IN RESULTS

YIPPEE!! Off to a good start with a .800 kg (1.7 lb) loss for the week.

I must admit though the "tough love" stance is waning a bit. I was looking for things to pick at last night and today as I was craving something sweet.

To give me a another kick in the backside, I'm posting some photos taken today titled 'The Big, The Bad and the Ugly"

ANZAC DAY TRIBUTE

Anzac Day is a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand which falls on April 25th and commemorates the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZAC) on the beaches of Gallipoli in 1915.The volunteer force formed part of an allied attack on Turkey, which aimed to take the Gallipoli Peninsula and occupy Constantinople(Istanbul). Despite the heroic efforts, the campaign was a failure. Largely due to inept military leadership by the British High Command,poor tactics and lack of equipment, it was doomed to fail before it had begun.

Of the countless acts of heroism and mate ship during the Gallipoli campaign there is one that is to remain in the forefront of Australian wartime history.It is about a young man and his donkey simply known as Simpson and his Donkey.

John Simpson Kirpatrick was a 22 year old English born man. He deserted from the Merchant Navy in 1910 and tramped around Australia getting work in a variety of jobs. He enlisted in the AIF (Australian Infantry Force) seeing it as a chance to return to England but found himself at ANZAC Cove on 25th April 1915. Simpson carried no arms, did not kill any of the enemy, but in the short space of three weeks, before his death, etched his name in the history books.

Using a donkey named Duffy he carried wounded soldiers from the firing lines down the the medical tents for treatment, he gained a reputation for being undaunted by enemy fire.Simpson was killed by a snipers bullet in Shrapnel Gully on May 19th, 1915 and was buried on the beach at Hell Spit.


We use this day to also commemorate all Australian who died in other Wars. The day commences with a dawn service(to coincide with the Gallipoli landing) at the local war memorial,followed later by a march of ex-service personnel.

My grandfather served in the Great War and his two sons, my uncles served in the Pacific during the second world war.

'They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them'

LEST WE FORGET.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

Listen and reflect to this true blue Aussie song

CAREER CHANGE

I need a change. A career change. I have been doing the same job now for 8 years and to be honest, I'm bored. It's the same shit day in and day out, sometimes it has a different smell, but basically the same old shit.

What I want is a career and not a job. They are two completely different things. I want to do something I enjoy and get satisfaction from, something that will fulfill my self actualising needs and not just the basic needs like a job does. But what to do? What can a 4O something, overweight woman do. I add the overweight because like it or not, it does play a part. Before I started my current position I did the rounds. I got interviews for all the jobs I applied for, I even had CEO's ring me before hand to introduce themselves and touch base with me before the interview.

I never seemed to get past the first interview, most were pretty good at masking their thoughts, but I could tell they were just going through the motions. Back then I was about 10 kilos lighter than I am currently, so what chance would I have now. Admittedly the positions I was applying for were sales positions, so appearance is critical.The thought of going through all that again really does terrify me, so I don't take the leap and even try. Then I get stressed from the frustration of having to do the mundane job I have and not the career I want.

Then comes the question, what would I do if none of these factors existed. I would like to do many things, like go back to University and study something like Forensic Medicine, archeology or history, but apart from winning the lottery, I cannot see it happening.

I suppose I need to be a bit more grateful, as at least I have a job, it pays OK and is close to home, but it is lacking in the fulfillment area. I keep telling myself, when I lose the weight I'll start looking again (I've been saying that for the past 8 years by the way), everything will be better when I lose the weight.

Well, I bloody well hope so, as I've got a lifetime resting on it!!!

BLOGGER AWARDS

I've been tagged by the lovely Chubbymum for a Blogger Award - gee whiz,thanks a heap.(Blushes while kicking the dirt)

So since I have been tagged with the Blogger Award I now have to go by the rules and choose 5 bloggers:
The Rules:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the them.


1.Wanna B Slim - A wacky,funny lady who's in the weightloss zone we all aspire to be in, she's always there to offer her support through the good and the bad.

2.White Rose Boy - A true gentlemen who has welcomed me to Blogland.Always there to offer encouragement and has neat regular posts such as Music Mondays and Sport Sundays.

3. Spider63 - for his edgy provocative posts.Someone who's not afraid to say it like it is. Dislikes "quitters and arse-lickers".lol

4.Cactusfreek - I love the effort she takes to make her posts interesting with photos,cartoons etc.Her posts are always enjoyable and I look forward to reading them.

5.Rebecca Meow MEOW - A southern lady who shares her life with us through her pictures. I've seen more of America's south through her blog tham anywhere else.

Special mention to other bloggers who have been nominated by others-

Chubbymum - Probably the first blog I ever read. I was a lurker for a few years and marvelled at her enthusiasm and love of life. She is never afraid to try anything and she gives everything 110%.It was Chubbymum who got me blogging back in November 06 and welcomed me with open arms.

Chris H - What a woman! I wish I had half of her energy.An exercise fiend, I always get a good laugh from her posts.I also like her straight to the point honesty and approach to life

ps Sorry, the computer philistine (me) couldn't work out how to link to your blogs.

WEIGH IN

I'm making Wednesday my weigh in day to coincide with the 10 week challenge.

Wgt today: 121.6 kg (267.5 lbs)
Loss for the week : 1.4 kg (3.08 lbs)

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!

NO MORE EXCUSES

The tough love concept is working for me, the tougher I am with myself the better the performance I give. I am of course talking about my food and exercise plans!!! lol. Got to the gym today, did 10 mins on the bike as a warm up (before my buns lost their blood supply), then did 2x sets of 15 on the weight circuit and finished off with 15 mins on the treadmill walking at 4kms per hour. I feel great at the moment.

Tomorrow is the start of the "Loose 500gms (1.1lbs) a week for 10 weeks" challenge devised by a fellow blogger Chubbymum,if you wish to join please do so as the more the merrier.Set yourself any weight loss goal you wish doesn't have to be the the 500 grams and place it on your side bar to record your progress - simple. I do hope you all join in for a bit of fun and hopefully motivation.I'll be posting my start weight after weighing in tomorrow.

BACK INTO IT

Thanks to all of you wonderful people for your encouraging words, it really has been a support. Reading over my post again made me cringe a bit and I can hear my mother's voice telling me "not to be so vulgar" lol. I think my little (OK, BIG) hissy fit did me some good and made me sit up and take stock of the situation. I made a pact with myself I wouldn't do anymore posts until I had something positive and constructive to write about.

I have worked out I need to be regimental about my eating, for the last three days I have not let ONE thing pass my lips that I wasn't supposed to have, not even let myself lick a serving spoon. I even resisted the cakes we had at work for a colleagues birthday on Friday which I can tell you is a feat in itself for me.I find if I have these things I just want more. Then I tell myself "oh well I've slipped now, might as well eat what I want for the rest of the day" only trouble was that was happening 4 out of the 7 days in a week, so my weight was yo-yoing all the time.

The other problem was the exercise - or lack of it.So I arranged my weekend so I would have time to start back at the gym on Saturday morning first thing, as if I left it to the afternoon I may have chickened out and made some pathetic excuse not to go. I made it - and what a relief the first session is done and out of the way.My session consisted of 3 x sets of 10 on the weights circuit and 18 minutes on the treadmill walking at around 4kms per hour. Nothing flash - but it's a start. Actually I surprised my self on the treadmill as I thought if I could handle 10 minutes I'd be happy (as that is all I could do when I started several moths ago) and even at 18 mins I felt I could do more, but I wanted to stick to the original plan of easing myself back into exercise again as I want to be able to walk tomorrow. So that's it I have more focus at the moment, something I haven't had in a long while,and it feels good, it makes me feel somewhat empowered. I know I have a long way to go.

THE BIGGEST LOSER

No, this post is not about The Biggest Loser TV show, it's about me - The Biggest Loser.

I'm a loser because I cannot stay on the plan for even a day, I'm a loser because I wont get off my ample butt and get back to the gym (while still paying for it), I'm a loser because I can't get my shit together long enough and am wasting so many opportunities.I'm a loser because I'm fearful of the TBL TV show ending as it is my one source of inspiration I have, when I watch the show I want to do better.I'm a loser because I always settle for second best, I hate my life, I hate my job, I hate myself, loser,loser LOSER!!!!!!!!

The Biggest Loser aka fattiboomsticks, fattiboombalata, barge arse, fatso, hippogirl.When I bend over everyone thinks there's a solar eclipse about the happen, hell I'm so fat you'd have to roll me in flour to find the wet spot!

OK, now I've got that off my chest tomorrow is another day, gotta pick myself up, dust off the crap,get back on the Ass (my horse died from the load) and try again and again and again.

CHOC'D OUT - WELL AND TRULY

This Easter I have received by far the most chocolate I have ever received. I am appreciative of the thought behind the gifts but have had a few silent screams.I even bought myself a small Lindt bunny (before all the gifts)just so I would have some chocolate and not feel left out. Well, that has not been the case and my cup is running over - with chocolate!!!!

Had a pretty quite one this Easter which is good.Pottered around the house, hired some DVDs, saw The Departed which I thoroughly enjoyed and Casino Royale which I will have to get out again as I feel asleep half way through it.Didn't really get enough viewing time to say whether I like the "new" James Bond but one things for certain, I like Daniel Craig - hubba hubba!!!

One more day off then it's back to the same humdrum of work. I shouldn't complain if I didn't work I'd get bored at home, but I could handle only having to work 2 or three days a week - dream on!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

WEEKEND OVER

My weekend is almost over and as usual I spent the large part of it doing housework.The only time I had to myself was Saturday morning when I participated in some retail therapy as I was looking for some winter boots.I thought I might have a chance of fitting my gherkin legs into some knee high black boots since I have lost some weight. I had noticed several pairs of boots had adjustable straps at the top and thought I might be lucky. Well I was wrong, though I did manage to get one pair zipped up, I couldn't get the buckles done up and they really looked shite, not to mention I looked like I was walking with pineapple shoved up my derriere - not a good look. I had to settle for some ankle boots (or in my case - cankle boots! lol
They are black suede with a wedge heel, so comfortable. The rest of Saturday was spent washing, ironing and vacuuming. On Sunday I did the grocery shopping,purchased some Easter gifts, finished off the washing, stripped all the beds-yadda yadda yadda!
All I seem to do is bloody housework on the weekend, I like to hear from my fellow bloggers out there who work, if they are in a similar situation, or what they do to get some "me" time. I just never seem to get any.

My eating has been good this past week and I have not weighed my self yet as I want to get,what I think and hope will be a nice surprise when I do.I'm a bit worried how I'm going to go over Easter with all the chocolate I will be around.I think I will have to be on my guard and really work on the will power. I recently read that our conscious thoughts and a behaviours represent 2% and the other 98% was our subconscious thoughts and behaviours. Now I don't know if this is right but I know there are many. many times when I've done something and later had no memory of it or wished I had at least thought about my response before doing it - particularly with eating that's for sure.Maybe I need some subliminal messages playing in my ear when I go to bed, at least it would cut out the noise from hubby's snoring. Hmmmm, something else to think about.