Mrs. P's Diary

MrsPorridge

Saturday

Did my big shop today and my batch cooking. Made cottage pies, stew and dumplings and a loaf in the bm. Still got some mince cooking in the slow cooker and will bag that into portions and freeze to use as toppings for jacket spuds, pizzas, spag bol etc. Did so much batch cooking today that I ran out of casseroles and large saucepans:D

Gave the kitchen a good clean and tidy too.

Have taken up knitting again and almost finished my first pair of socks.:j They will keep my feet nice and toasty when I'm in bed or even when I'm around the house and its cold.

There is enough money left in our account this month to buy some oil (heating oil not cooking:rolleyes: ) and we also need to get another dehumidifier and also a thermostat for the oven - its a double oven and one of the ovens has not worked for a few months. DH has tracked down the part and its around £40. Luckily he's very clever and can fix it. We only have enough money to buy either the dehumidifier or the thermostat - one will have to wait till next month. Have told DS he can make the call on which one we buy first - he's decided to sleep on it:D In the olden days we would just have bought both - on the CC. Also, we would have probably bough the oil on the CC as well and frittered the money in the current account away. but not any more.:T The relief of being able to buy the oil from the current account and not use the CC is brilliant.

Have set myself two New Year goals. First one is not to use the CC any more and to pay off as much as possible.

Second one is to lose 2 stone in weight by Easter (easier said than done I've been struggling with my weight for several years now).

Horace

I need to lose some weight too - I have tried to cut down and am pleased that my sugar intake at least in drinks has been cutback (during 06 I only had one teaspoon of the stuff in drinks but due to stress etc it was upped to two:eek: ) I forced myself to only have one teaspoonful:j I have even broken out the herbal tea but I hate the flavour that I have but will perservere with it:rolleyes:

My tree came down today and everything is packed away - I even know where the rolls of paper and assorted gift bags are too (they're in the huge bag with the tree). I have started making a list of what to take with me on Friday - my chap has said that he will drive me and the case to the station, drive back and then he will walk to the station (lazy chap), well, he has since discovered that I have no intention of taking the car as it is about a quarter mile walk from home to the station and that when I lived elsewhere that I had to walk over a mile to the stop for the National Express coach. A quarter of a mile is nowt. It will be warmer during the day but will still be cold at night so I am taking some winter woolies and even some bed socks:rotfl:

MrsPorridge

Hi Horace - losing weight is soooo difficult.:eek: And its so easy to put it on.

I bet you are getting excited about your holiday. I am with you, a quarter of a mile is nothing!

I have made the decision this year not to buy any Christmas cards or paper in the sales. I do it every year, then have to nag DH to get the stuff out of the loft, so end up buying new ones; or I forget where I put the staff I bought and have to buy new stuff anyway:D I will just buy new stuff come December.

Had a bit of a disaster spending wise yesterday - main reason it was the last day of my old life (so to speak). Had Costa Coffee and went out to a chinese buffet for lunch.

Today is the start of all my New Year resolutions. I have chosen today because it was also my first day back at work, so back in the old, normal routine.

I had my usual breakfast of wheetabix and milk. For lunch I had home made roasted butternut squash, sweet potato and red onion soup (a recipe I saw Nigella doing on a programme before Christmas). To roast the veggies made all the difference. It was delicious. With that I had a very small home made bread roll with no butter. Dinner tonight was haggis, potatoes, swede, peas and carrots. I have certainly had plenty of veggies today but no fruit. I am not that big a fruit eater.

I have written everything I have eaten into my diary as a food planner in the hopes it will keep my motivated to lose wieght. I am aiming for 28 lbs by easter. I have put it in my siggy as well in order to shame/motivate me into doing something. I know exactly what to do in order to lose weight - eat less and exercise more. However, saying and doing are two very different animals.:rolleyes:

Regarding DFW stuff I have had my first nsd of the month yay.
I have also paid off another £10 towards my October 2009 hols.

MrsPorridge

Tuesday.

Managed my second nsd of the month today.

Breakfast was the usual wheetabix and milk. Lunch was an Ainsley harriot tangy tomato cous cous (its "free" on green on Slimming World). Dinner was scrambled eggs, baked beans and home made potato wedges yummy!

I might have to cheat a bit later and have a slice of toast - its so cold outside.:D

MrsPorridge

Wednesday

Third nsd of the month today - I am aiming for 5 in a row:j

Had my usual breakfast; home made soup for lunch plus a small bread roll and just had jacket potato, beans and cheese for tea. Lovely! Exactly what I needed in this cold weather.

Took DH to work today (its a short detour from my normal journey) as it was too cold and icy for the motorbike:D I got oganised first thing though and prepared the spuds and put them in the oven. Telephoned DS as I was leaving work and asked him to put the oven on. Result when DH and I stepped through the door - jacket spuds ready and only had to heat up the beans and grate some cheese.:j

Paid my final instalment of council tax today - now there's the two month break. I am going to use the money towards my pay off £10K by next Christmas challange instead. When the next council tax bill comes in at the end of March I am going to go on DD with it. Until coming on MSE I had no idea it was a priority debt and that it was really serious not to pay it.:eek:

get_me_debt_free

Just popped in to look at your Diary i am too trying to lose 2 stone by easter, I will keep checking up on you Mrs P!

MrsPorridge

Thanks Get Me Debt Free - I'll try and keep strong!! Good luck to you too - maybe we can motivate each other?

MrsPorridge

Monday

Weighed myself first thing and found I have lost 5 lbs. Absolutely delighted. Its a good start, but it does mean that I will have to be ultra good this week. I need to make sure that I maintain that loss and hopefully lose at least another pound.:j

Had weetabix and skimmed milk for breakfast. Lunch was home made bread roll with tuna mayo filling and a small box of raisins. Dinner tonight was potato skins (home made - I baked the spuds in their jackets yesterday when the oven was on for something else. When they have cooled down I slice them in half, scoop out the potato and mix it with a tin of chopped toms, then pile it all back into the jackets -which are standing on a baking tray. Then I put grated cheese on top and bake them in the oven). I actually prepped the spuds yesterday and kept them in the fridge overnight. To go with them I put some cut up sausages (always seem to go further if you cut them up) into the slow cooker along with baked beans, some spaghetti, mash and cooked veg I found in the fridge. Added another can of chopped toms to it and hey presto!!

We only used half the contents of the slow cooker (on purpose). I found some pastry in the fridge (from DH's pie making on Saturday night, so I have topped the reaminder of that with a pastry lid. That will be dinner on Wednesday night. Tomorrow is HM pizza.

Off to take DS to his cricket club now.

MrsPorridge

Went shopping with a friend today and didn't buy anything! Two reasons - first no point in buying clothes as I am going to lose weight:rolleyes: Secondly, want to pay some extra off the CCs.:j We had a good old natter and gossip though, morning coffee and a cheap lunch - sandwiches.

Weather is terrible tonight - the BIG storm promised has hit wind at 80mph. DH and I have spent the last 30 mins out in the darkness (live in the country and no lights), taking out panels from the greenhouse - we have lost one plastic panel and one glass panel from the roof has crashed. We decided to take all the panels out - plastic on the side and glass on the top and just leave the frame. All the panels and glass are now in the kitcehn. Hopefully the frame will still be standing in the morning. Its blowing a hoolie out there.

First job tomorrow morning is sort out the debris! There are plastic pots blowing about everywhere. Hopefully the missing panels will have blown next door. We have now learnt our lesson, we won't put the panels back in till March/April time. Next year we will take them out before winter hits!

OliveOyl_2

It's funny how gripping the MSE lifestyle is, before my LBM I couldn't have come home from a shopping trip with nothing.:rotfl: Even if nothing suited, or fitted I'd find something else that I "needed"

And 80 mph :eek: :eek: