Week Forty Five

Week forty five was a good one, here are the highlights:

As you can see, Maddie was over the moon about going  back to work on Monday!

The weather was nice enough for us to walk in the park :)

It was dark when we left work and the clock looked lovely :)

Maddie's friend, Tuba, made us some lovely cinnamon swirls :)

I had a little win at bingo :)

Alfie did something to his eye, not sure what, and it was really swollen :(

But half an hour later it was fine :)

We had V for Vendetta day :)

I was runner up in the Miss Slinky competition at Slimming World :)

I spent the weekend with this pretty girl :)

And enjoyed an Eggnog Latte while I did ALL of my Christmas shopping :)

I enjoyed trying on some Santa hats :)

While Paul was a big turkey!

And then I was home with Alfie :)

And Maddie :)

I''m really looking forward to this week and some fun things I'm doing at the weekend.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Five Favourites From October

As promised, here are my five favourite photos from October:

The only Halloween photo I'll get of Maddie nowadays :)

Maddie minus her glasses!

My niece Alice :)

Butter wouldn't melt!

And finally, a walk in the park :)

I'm really looking forward to using some lovely Autumnal colours and getting these photos scrapped.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

It's Not All About The Scales!

This week I lost, a small loss of half a pound but at least it was a loss!  I had thought it would have been more because my stomach didn't feel as bloated and my clothes didn't feel as tight, therefore I am ignoring what the scales have said and I'm giving myself a pat on the back for another good week where I have felt TOTALLY IN CONTROL.

This week I've mixed my breakfasts up a bit so I don't get bored, I've also been looking for a breakfast I can have at my desk because I'd have to eat too early if I had breakfast before I left for work (and that could lead to 4 meals a day by having extra!) So breakfast this week included slices of banana generously spread with peanut butter!!!

I tried out this product, PPB, which is powdered peanut butter.  It's expensive, I got it from Holland and Barrett for £9.29 but getting a second jar in their penny deal did make it more reasonable.  It's 1.5 SYNs per tablespoon and you mix it with water to the consistency you require. I think it tastes really great.  You can also get PB2 from Amazon for about £5.50.

I didn't manage to try a new vegetable this week, I really love vegetables and there wasn't anything in Tesco that I hadn't already tried so I'll have to look further afield this week.  I did manage to get lots of walking done, even in the eerie fog:

That meant I managed to achieve my goal of getting at least 10,000 steps on 5 days :)

I also made one of my favourite recipes and I'll share it with you now, you will need:

Peppers roughly chopped - I used 3
An onion sliced
Garlic finely chopped
Fish stock - about 900mls
A pinch of saffron
Risotto rice - about 225g
Fish - I use a fish pie mix

Fry the onion and peppers in Fry Lite for about 10 minutes;

Add the fish stock, garlic and saffron, bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes:

Add the risotto rice and simmer for a further 20 minutes or until the rice is almost cooked, you may want to add more stock and you will need to give it a stir every now and then:

Add the fish and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the fish is cooked:

And serve! This dish can also be made with orzo pasta instead of rice and it's just as delicious :)  It's very filling and leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days and reheated when needed.

This week was the Miss Slinky competition and I was really proud to be a runner up, here's my prize :)

So another week has passed where I am feeling good about where I am and where I'm heading.  I know that I have made good choices this week and I can't tell you how pleased I am that I have so far resisted an Eggnog Latte from Starbucks, I'm saving that treat for Saturday :)  Last year I would probably have already had about 6 cups of the stuff already so I know my head is in the right place now.

This week I am committing myself to:

1. Finding a vegetable I haven't tried.
2. Digging out the Wii and using it for some fun Body Magic.
3. Losing 2lbs.

See you next week!

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Five Favourites Finished

I had a lot of fun scrapping my five favourite photos from September.  I decided it was time to bust some kits that had been hanging around for a while, they'd been hanging around because I didn't really like the papers in them.  Not liking the papers made it really easy to cut in to them and I love the layouts I've created!

This one documents how Alfie just couldn't wait for his birthday present so, the night before, he went to my bag and helped himself! He looked so happy there was no way I could tell him off :)

I had a really great day out at The Great Sheep Round Up with these girls.  It was great to see them all again, just a shame that Nancy couldn't make it :(

I have too many photos of me and Alfie like this but a dog's life is short and I know there will come a time when I think I just haven't got enough photos of us together.

Sandra had a coffee morning for Macmillan, she baked some really lovely cakes and made a lot of money for the charity. She took this photo of us just as I had a big mouthful of cake! :)

If Alfie goes out the garden and it's wet he comes in and throws himself on his bed with his paws in the air and won't move until they've been dried! His face looked so funny on this day I just had to grab my phone before I grabbed the towel :)

That takes my total number of layouts this year to 45!

I'll be back soon with my five favourite photos from October.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Week Forty Four

Week forty four brought the sunshine with it, here are the highlights:

Me and Maddie made the most of the nice weather by walking in the park during our lunch breaks :)

The views were really lovely and it was hard to go back in to the office!

These 2 had lots of cuddles :)

I did my meal planning for the week:

Alfie got in to some strange positions, I guess he was comfy though!

Dirty pudding :)

Alfie :)

After doing all of my housework on Saturday I finally sat down and enjoyed this :)

We had some lovely sunsets:

Our big tradition is to watch Hocus Pocus on Halloween :)

Alfie got busted sleeping on my mood blanket and tried to hide himself!

November started with fog, it was quite eerie on my walk through the park!

After my walk I had a 'me' day and only did what I wanted to do :)

While outside the fog hung around and got heavier....

It was a nice, quiet week that helped me recharge my batteries.

Here's hoping the next week is a good one.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx