Destruction....

I feel so helpless at the moment,with so much destruction around the state and with in my local community, it feels wrong for me to be going about my normal every day life. I found out today that a friend of mine lost their house in the fires on the weekend and i cannot describe the anger that i feel towards to person/people who decided to purposely light a fire on what was already know to be one of the most dangerous days weather wise this year. There will not be a punishment suitable for the magnitude of damage they have caused, the loss of life and property, the time and efforts of everyone involved with fighting the fires and dealing with the aftermath of it all.

Luckily, no one i know has be killed by the events, most people i know have managed to save their properties, or may have only lost a shed or two. There is only one person i know of personally to have lost their home.

There is nothing i can do to help except donate money or goods, but that just doesn't seem like enough, it seems so wrong for me to be doing my normal stuff when people around me have had their lives ripped apart.

well, my piece has been said, i will keep looking for ways i can help, but in the mean time i have to continue on with my own life and do the normal everyday things and be truly thankful that i still have my life and property.

My heart and thoughts go out to anyone who has been affected by this disaster.

Wendy

Extreme heat and Bush fires

As many of you are aware, We are having a huge heatwave here in Vic, last week we had 4 days over 40C, the average being about 43 degrees each day. On top of that a bushfire has ravage through some of the local towns (luckily not mine), we were given a short break of hot weather and it has returned today with Melbourne having hit 48degress so i am told! we are on about 42 at the moment and it is 7pm! Bush fires have flared up again and are quite local this time, one of them is very close to our old house in Jeeralang. From our back door we can see the flames as it travels across the valley. At 4pm this afternoon,(when the "red" photo was taken!) the place was very eery, it was orange and quiet. No one was about, and there was hardly a sound on the air. It is pitch dark, in fact you would think it was about 10pm. The wind is still quite strong and it has started to rain. We thought the rain was quite welcome and stood outside in it only to come in and find we were covered in soot. The house is black, the car is black, the dog is black (yep Ash the dog is covered in ash!) There is going to be alot of cleaning up to do tomorrow, but at least i am very thankful that all i will be doing is washing and not sifting through ash and rubble.

We are pretty much have fires on all sides of us at the moment, the highway to Melbourne is closed from Trafalgar due to the fire around that area having jumped containment lines, the fires at boolara and Churchill have blocked that side of us, there is another one just started at Walhalla (back of Tyers - another of our old houses!) which is impacting on Erica and Rawson, so the only way for us to travel (should we want to ) would be towards Sale! Thankfully we are pretty safe here in town here in Morwell, one of the times i am thank full that i do not live out of town!.

Anyway, i have a 7year old sleepover going on at the moment, so i guess i should go and check on the movie!!

Isn't it funny how i only seem to blog when life is bright and happy!! It seems that as soon as i post about how well things are going, life turns its tail on me!!

December was a very busy and stressful month for me (as it is for most of us!) i had to work full time (yep, i know, poor old me....I am not used to it, haven't worked full time for about 9years!!) so that compounded with PMT and christmas didn't exactly make me the brightest, hgappiest person around.

That being said, it led me to some great places! I discovered a local naturopath who has worked some wonders on the hormonal side of life, lets just say, my family can now live with me all month and they don't have to move out for 2 weeks!! I reintroduced some carbs back into my food to help with energy levels and i have been learning lots of new and useful info from the Lean Eating course i am doing (seriously, i have made some great little changes to my whole lifestyle, the course is great, it is not a "diet plan" but really looks at life as a whole, rest, relaxation, support, exersice, food etc you name it, they have probably got a lesson on it!)

We have moved the TV out of the lounge which has been a great move, the lounge is now a "chill out zone" I always have "lounge music" playing in the background, it is tidy and there are no kids things cluttering up the floor and it makes such a huge difference when you walk into the house as the lounge is one of the first rooms you see. Austar has been taken out aswell, much to the kids disgust, but they have adjusted!! they are finding new ways to entertain themselves and are not so reliant on the TV!!!

We headed off to NZ for christmas with Mike's Rellies and had a great time. Everyone was nice and relaxed and we came home really feeling refreshed and renewed!

We have just about finished the summer school hols, only one more week until they are back at school and then all those after school activites will start again. We have all enjoyed the hols, Mike has had 2 days off per week, as have I and it has worked well, no one is stressing!! We just need to keep these feelings when everything gets back to normal! What is normal? Te past few weeks have been awesome, so is there any reason why the feelings cannot be carried over once the "old routine" starts again. Maye that should be my new years resolution..not stress so much, relax and let things just happen!

Hope the new year is being good to everyone out there in blog land and i promise to blog more often!!!

Have a good one

Wendy

weekend warriors

Am loving my life at the moment!

Since signing up for the PN course, i have tamed down my eating habits and have been focusing on clean food only, it is working. I am not being left feeling sluggish and low, it is the power of good food, just need to bottle this feeling to remind myself next time i want to "clog up my body" with rubbish!

I have started training again and was actually at the gym before work this morning, so that is 3 days in a row!! Go me... The lesson on decision making really was great, i have made the decision that i will lead my healthy life and will do what it takes to stay there. It really is much easier once you commit to something!

I really enjoy the PN forum as well at the moment, there is such a wide variety of women on there, all with different thoughts, goals, concerns, everyday problems. I enjoying helping where I can. I have been fortunate to have been given so much advice and information over the past few years and it is really good to be able to use this to help others with their journeys.

We rearranged our lounge room on the weekend and moved the TV out of it, we have created a really nice relaxing place. Austar has been turned off for the moment as it is not connected in the TV room, so we are seeing how this goes for a week before we make any final decisions on it. The nice thing is we have our meal times back to family times, with talking and no TV, We have always eaten at the table, but with the TV in the lounge and being in full view of the table, it has often dominated our meal times. So, the plus side... relaxing lounge, peaceful family meal times, less TV time, th girls are actually playing more adn i foresee more family fun with games etc!!

Lets see what happens! If anyone has read Lisa's blog recently, you may have noticed that she doesn't have a TV, microwave or clothes dryer.... nice going Lisa, but i really don't think i could cope without those 2 items yet LOL

Wendy

Indecision = Tension

PN lean eating course has started this week and am pleased to say with all the great eating i have done this week, my weight has increased by 1lb (bummer, those scales are supposed to be going down!!)

Anyway, it is all about deciding where you are, what you know, what you are doing and what you need to change.

The lessons so far have been okay, no big homework. Today's bonus lesson made me think!

We were asked: have you made the decision that you will do what it takes to re-shape your body and reach your goals? because indecision = tension (and we all know that tension causes stress hormone increase which suppresses fat loss!!) Whenever internal debate takes place, tension increases. How many times have we all fought with ourselves about whether to go and train or not?

Today i made that decision. The housework waited an extra hour as i went to the gym! (in fact alot of it is still waiting!!)There will be no more fighting with myself, i must train, end of story. Another realisation for me today was although i eat well, i have been eating the same as i did when i was training for comps, the only problem is, i am not training, so all that extra food and energy is just being stored, any wonder i am reshaping my body in the wrong direction!

My workout today was great, i have missed that feeling! I did about 40mins weights (chest/back) and then followed it with a session on the elliptical walker. it felt good! Watch out gym, i am back!!.

I have a wedding to go to next weekend, and have just bought a dress, the experience wasn't as fun as clothes shopping has been previously, too many wobbly bits and carb bloating, i remember a time in the not too distant past when i would actually enjoy shopping and could pick up just about anything and feel happy with it. Well, friends, that time is just around the corner again, been there, done that and i want to go back! Interestingly, we have to post on the lean forum how we see our bodies now and how we want to see them at the end of the course. I am aiming for the same look i had post comp, lean and toned, about 12%BF and maintaining that year round with healthy principles.

anyway, alot of hard work ahead of me, but i am up for this challenge!
That being said, washing needs to be done and tea needs to be cooked!!

W

Movember

If anyone doesn't know my wonderful husband, here he is doing his bit for MOVEMBER.
He and some work colleagues raised a fair amount of money last year for the cause, and he decided to do it again this year. Personnally i think it is just an excuse to grow facial hair and there is nothing i can do about it! Can't stand the stuff and am looking forward to the end of the month when it all comes off! Never mind though, atleast he is doing his bit for a good cause

Back to Normal!

well, the head is pretty much back to normal now, I think i must be neck related as the muscles in my neck and upper back are pretty stiff!

The day off work was nice, definitely needed it, but unfortunately all those who we had to turn away came back on Wednesday, so it was a pretty full on day yesterday! Today was back to normal though.

Have changed my herbs i have been taking this week, i am not taking the "stress & anxiety" blend at the moment but have noticed a big difference. My sleep patterns have changed again, i have woken up every night this week, and i don't have the sense of calm that i had whilst taking the blend, so i think it would be wise to go back on them again. This got me thinking!!!!!

I have read a few peoples blogs lately and everyone sounds tired, busy, struggling with weight loss and always juggling things around. I have news for you all, i am the same, and it is all stress on your body! Now, take my advice and head over to Lisa's blog (link from mine) and read up on her views of stress and what it does to your body!

Let me paraphrase for you. Stress is bad! end of story, and we are talking everyday life kind of stresses here. It tires your adrenal glands and produces too much cortisol which inhibits your fat loss. It affects your sleep. If you don't sleep well (and Lisa tells me we should all be sleeping 8 hours uninterrupted) your body does not get chance to rejuvenate and grow (think about it mums, how often did you tell your children that they do all their growing in their sleep!) How do you think you can function at your maximum if you are always tired.

Do me a favour, check out Lisa's blog, look into the effects of stress and get yourself some herbs to help deal with the issues, i am certainly going to get back on mine again.

There we are, i have ranted enough, need to go off and calm down now LOL.

Wendy