A Mother's Ramblings

Normally, getting Dan Jon to do his homework involves a bit of bribery on my end of things. Not anything major and to be honest not anything that he would actually get anyway, but small things like; You can have your evening meal whilst you stay in the Xbox party if you do your homework now...  or If you get your homework finished by the time your sister is home I'll let you both watch cartoons However last week, he did his homework without any sort of bribery.

A couple of weeks ago, Dan Jon Jr's year group started a science module about healthy living. You know, how many hours sleep you need, how much water you should drink, how many portions of fruit and veg and servings of chocolate etc... things that because of his Diabetes Dan Jon Jr knows ALL about. Unsurprisingly, Dan Jon found the topic interesting because of his own involvement in our family meal plans and because he was a little ahead of most of the students... well he has for four years been dragged to see Dieticians and Nutritionists whilst they (for the most part), tell us things that we already know!

I'm not one of those women that always looks polished. You know the ones I mean right? They turn up, putting the breakfast stained T-Shirt and Jeans, or slightly faded suit, or the imperfectly ironed dress you are wearing to shame. They have effortless grace, never seem to sweat and despite having walked from where ever wearing 7-inch heels they still have perfect hair and makeup. Yeah, of course, you know who I mean. Every Office, Toddler Playgroup, Yoga class and School playground have at least one of them. The problem I have with them isn't that they look perfect ALL THE TIME; it's that I kinda wanna be like them but, I am a perpetual scruff who occasionally scrubs up nice.

Today is the start of the last week of our Healthy Eating plan. Flyfour and I have spoken at length about this and have decided that we're going to take six weeks "off" the plan as outlined in the book, but use our discretion to create meal plans as of next week that are within the calorie allowances, but also some of the dishes that Flyfour has been missing. I'd live on pasta and jacket potatoes if given a chance so I'm not that bothered! If after a month, we aren't still seeing weight loss then we will get back onto the plan as laid out in the book and have to lump it that some of our favourite family meals are crossed off the meal plan... at least until we are at a point where we are a healthy family. So with that, here is what we are eating this week!

Last Saturday (not the one just gone, the one before that!) morning I was ready for my scales to show a MASSIVE weight loss. Well, not my scales because I'd decided that my bathroom scales were terrible as depending on which way I peered over my bosom, I could make myself weigh a stone heavier or lighter. So as I was already picking up the shopping from Tesco, I thought I would make use of the Scales. They had a sign on saying they were out of order. I was deflated, but not for long as I managed to persuade Flyfour to come with me to our local high street to find out if the Boots still had a set of scales too. They did.

It's funny, on one hand, the whole lifestyle change is brilliant. I've realised that as well as taking care of myself physical with my diet I'm starting to take more care in my appearance and I'm kinda loving that I'm reading so much! On the other hand, it's starting to get to me because some evenings you'll find me trying to distract myself from feeling hungry by reading a book or doing some knitting or as seems most common, bemoaning the fact that there is nothing to eat in the house. Despite me being the one who does the shopping! Maybe in two weeks time when I've lived the lifestyle for six weeks I'll be more prepared for the next six week chunk... who knows?!

When Top Ender starts to take her Music GCSE next year, part of the encouraged extracurriculars is to take the ABRSM music theory exams. As preparation/catch up on this she and several of her fellow students have been attending a weekly club, where they have been studying together to better their knowledge and to prepare them for the exams. It has been a joy seeing Top Ender concentrate on learning the one hundred or so things she needs to know as she is huddled over her worksheets and various books. We've discussed many things which my GCSE in music has given me a small understanding of, so I've, for the most part, been able to keep up with what she has been explaining. When we saw her Music Teacher at a special evening to ensure that the students and parents knew what they were getting into if they signed up for a GCSE in music, I had mentioned that I was worried about Top Ender taking a GCSE in music, because whilst looking back now I loved it, it was the hardest clas

Growing up I had a dream. I wanted to be a Teacher and I told everybody. I loved School, I loved my teachers and the idea of being a teacher really resonated with me. However, I could never actually be a teacher who works in a School. Don't get me wrong, I love children and volunteering at my local primary school and being the Primary President at the Church I go to. I know however that whilst I would love to be a teacher, I am really not cut out to be one. Secretly, I had another dream. I wanted to be a singer.

When I was in my late teens, my Mum purchased me a bottle of perfume for Christmas. I didn't wear perfume other than occasionally dabbing myself with some White Musk from the Body Shop as I was really a non-make-up wearing or caring or even a perfume wearing or caring teenager. It was, of course, a big surprise, but a good one and I was thrilled with my new perfume. The perfume that she picked for me (and my sister as she got a bottle too) was Escape by Calvin Klien and has become the only perfume that I ever wear. I'm normally a little heavy handed with the scent, but meh, who cares as long as it's not so overpowering it knocks you out as soon as you walk into the room I'm sitting in!

Now, before you ask last week I didn't lose any weight, and I didn't expect to either (Want some TMI? No? Well, work it out yourself then) but it was also a week where I was a bit bad and overindulged one night and had a curry. The curry was lush so I don't regret a thing and I expect to make up the weight loss this week as long as Mother Nature plays fair. Some of the meals that are suggested in the Healthy Eating Plan this week aren't Gluten free friendly and so we are going to substitute a few meals from previous weeks into this week and a few meals from some of the other eating plans as long as they are the same values nutrition wise! Talking of nutrition, here's a picture of a nice salad that I had.

Last night, after I had checked Dan Jon Jr's blood sugars, I was finding it a little hard to get back to sleep because my brain wasn't turning back off and I ended up thinking about Life, the Universe and everything in between. And I had a realisation.

Every morning after the children and I have got ready for the day and had our Family Scripture study we listen to Chris Evans on BBC Radio Two. We love the show because of the humor and the chance to have a bop along together and the children are also quite amazed that I'm able to sing along to so many different songs! This week, it has been hard to listen to the show, however. You see Chris and the team have been eating a lot of pies because it's Pie Week and the children and I have been fighting temptation. On one hand, we really want a pie, because you know PIE. On the other hand, we want to stick to our healthy eating plan. It's a lifestyle change and we're trying really hard to adapt to it. Luckily Vavista Life  have come to the rescue and have a low fat and low salt alternative that still gives the brilliance of a fish pie, but is better for our health and they have said I can share this recipe with you!

Flyfour and I have been talking a lot over the last couple of weeks about how we're feeling on this eating plan. The answer is we feel amazing! We have both actually complained to each other that we feel we're being told to eat too much! We think it is because the portions seem to be much bigger than we are used to and we're using a lot more filling veggies and good quality protein. At the start, I thought that because we'd picked a way that we could still have sweet treats if we wanted, that we wouldn't feel like we were being hard done by. However I've realised with the combination of the larger portions, the extra fruit we're eating each day and by changing the times we eat that we don't want the sweet treats, well only occasionally! Anyway, here is what we are eating this week.