Fat to fit: Our Slimming World journey, weigh in day!

Was dreading weigh in this morning as it has been a bit of a rough week with lots of little stresses, a new puppy not being the least of them!  I haven't exactly been very bad, in fact there were a lot of times when I was good and said no but one or two times where I didn't have the will power to resist.  I'm sure we've all had those days!  What I love about Slimming World is it gives you the tools to make right choices about what you eat.  I bought some Sugar Puffs for the kids on Monday and was so hungry when I got home and hadn't had them in so long that my will power broke down and I poured myself a bowl full.  Three spoons in I realised they just weren't worth the syns and threw the rest away lol.  Wish I could say the same about those 2 scoops of ice cream at the cinema ;-p

I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw 1 pound off! :-) so bang on target for what I want to be losing a week :-) this brings me up to 11.5 lbs so only 2.5 more for my stone :-) although I now face 2 weeks of half term with 2 weekends away but we will see how it goes!

I have been obsessed with the dutch crisp breads with a thin layer of chocolate spread this week but luckily they are 3.5 syns ea so was able to keep them within my syns :-)

Duane also lost 2.5lbs this week! So very chuffed, makes me feel like my planning and meals are paying off at least! lol now it's a race to see who gets to that coveted stone award first!  Of course he has the unfair advantage of not having to deal with the fluctuations in his body that us ladies do!

Now that Lexie has had her jabs we can start taking her on walks so that will help on the body magic side of things too!  I have been trying to go to the gym more.  Did a power circuit on Friday while Kaydee was swimming and, believe me, 25 minutes does the trick! lol and Tuesday pilates was cancelled so did another power circuit.  I need to get my life organised and up to date again so I can have more time and energy for gym.  Chronic fatigue doesn't help as some days I just don't have the energy to face house work let alone gym! But I do keep trying to exercise more in the hopes it will give me more energy.

So onward and upward with my caramel frappe waiting for me this afternoon as my maybe not so well earned but certainly much anticipated, treat :-)

Fat to fit: Our Slimming World Journey Menu 13-19 October

Monday 
Breakfast: fruit salad and yogurt
Lunch: Tuna salad/ chicken wings and salad
Sausage pasta 
Be good to yourself cumberland sausages half a syn ea
500g passata
large onion
tagliatelle


Tuesday 
Breakfast: fruit salad and yogurt/ boiled eggs and 4 black pepper rivitas
Lunch: baked potato, baked beans and salad
Spaghetti with herby meatballs
2 large onions
4 garlic cloves
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper
700g extra lean pork mince
4tbs finely chopped fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, basil
1 egg
spaghetti

Cook onions and garlic for 10-12 minutes Transfer half to mixing bowl.  Cook remainder for 12-15 minutes until golden.  add tomatoes, season and cook uncovered for 30 min until thickened.
Mix pork, mixed herbs and egg into cooled onion and season, shape into balls

Wednesday
Breakfast: One pan fry up
Maris piper, cut into cubes and cooked
4 rashers of bacon cut up
6 small mushrooms
6 cherry tomatoes
1 onion
1 or 2 eggs
Stir fry potatoe, onion, bacon, mushrooms, stir fry till cooked add tomatoes cook for 2-3 minutes, make a well in the middle, add more fry light and fry egg
Lunch: salad
Chicken Tikka masala
Marinade for as long as poss
250 g fat free natural yog
juice of 1 lime
1 tbspn tandoori spice blend
2 cm fresh ginger finely grated
3 garlic cloves
salt
Chicken breasts but into pieces
cover and leave to marinade

Cook rice and stir in half a handful of fresh coriander
simmer for 10-12 minutes Remove from heat
and leave to stand for 10-15 min

in a pan fry light 1 garlic clove, 1 red chilli deseeded and finely chopped, 1 tspn tandoori spice blend
then add 500g pasata and 4 tbspn tomatoe puree simmer for 20-25 minutes until thickened.
brown chicken in a frying pan or under the grill. Discard marinade
cook green beans 2-3 minutes then put in a hot pan with 2 tspn black mustard seeds  and cook 2-3 min so be served on the side
Add chicken to sauce simmer for 6-8 minutes remove from heat and stir in 200g fat free fromage frais with a sprinkle of coriander

Thursday
Breakfast fruit salad and yog
Lunch  Left over curry! ;-p
Salmon, slimming world chips and salad

Friday
Breakfast omelette
Lunch  butternut soup
Brown onions, add veg stock and chopped up butternut and potatoes and cook till soft, blend with a blender till smooth can add a bit of milk to make it creamier


Chicken Pizza

Ingredients

• ½ small red onion, chopped
• ½ red pepper, chopped
• 1 small clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp stock
• 2 vine tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 1 tbsp tinned tomatoes
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 chicken fillet
• Low calorie cooking spray
• 40g low fat hard cheese, grated
• 1 cherry tomato, halved
• Fresh basil, roughly chopped

Method

1. Place the onion, pepper and garlic in a small saucepan with the stock and simmer for a few minutes.
2. Add the vine tomatoes to the pan, then the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée and oregano. Cut the chicken fillet in half horizontally, being careful not to cut it the whole way through. Fold open to make a butterfly shape. Spray a non-stick frying pan lightly with low calorie cooking spray then fry the chicken to give colour on both sides. Place the chicken on a baking tray and place in the oven, 220ºC/200°C Fan/Gas 7 for 15-20 minutes.
3. When cooked, place the tomato mixture on top of the chicken. Add the cheese and sprinkle with basil. Place the cherry tomato on the top, then put back in the oven for 5 minutes. 
4. Serve with a huge crispy salad, a Healthy Extra (on Original) jacket potato or roasted vegetables.

Saturday
Breakfast fruit salad and yog
Lunch  salad
Slimming world burgers

Ingredients

• 900g lean beef mince (5% fat or less)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 4 x 60g wholemeal rolls, halved
• 120g Cheddar cheese

For the filling:

• Choose from lettuce leaves, sliced tomatoes, red onions, cucumber and gherkins

Method

1. Place the mince, onion, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and parsley in a food processor, season well and blend until just combined.
2. Transfer to a bowl and combine the mixture using your hands. Divide into 12 portions and shape each into a thin, flat burger.
3. Preheat your grill to high. Spray the burgers with low calorie cooking spray and grill for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until cooked to your liking.
4. To serve, fill a roll with 2-3 burgers, 30g of Cheddar cheese and your choice of extra fillings.

-

Sunday
Breakfast:  fruit salad and yog
Lunch: salad/ baked potato, salad and baked beans
Sunday roast with slimming world roast potatoes and veg

Fat to fit: Our Slimming World Journey, weigh in!

Thursday morning weigh in!  Last week I put on a pound which, I might add, was definitely deserved, given I'd eaten out three times in that week and there are only so many good choices you can make at Red Hot Buffet and Frankie and Bennies! lol So I was super good this week to repent and get back on track for my 1lb a week loss.

I was very chuffed with a 2lb loss! :-) looks like power circuit at gym is paying off! lol This of course meant that I could have my caramel frappe when I stopped at McDonalds to get Kaydee's supper on the way to ballet ;-p Tastes so much better as forbidden fruit! lol So that brings me up to 10.5 lbs.  I'm hoping to get my 1 stone by Halloween.

Duane didn't fare as well this week, we were lacking in snacks, which is what he needs to keep him on track so we went to Sainsburys straight after image therapy and stocked up on some roast chicken mug shots (Which actually contains dehydrated chicken), fruit and bachelor rice, which we're going to make some quiche type dishes with, cooking the rice then adding pepper, onions and eggs and baking till set.  Bacon and lentil soup is also on the cards for the weekend, which is when I tend to struggle to keep up with making meals and snacks.  So here's hoping for a good result next week!

Photography: Weddings, The getting ready stage

You've landed the commission! Now all you need to do is make sure everything runs smoothly, which means going with the flow and just snapping away, right? Wrong!  This is probably your bride's first stab at organising a wedding so don't just expect her to know everything and go along with what she says.  The quality of the photos you get depends greatly on what advise you give her.

Make sure you meet with her when she approaches you to shoot her wedding.  Show her examples of your work and talk through her plans for the day, hopefully she's in the early stages of planning and will be able to take your suggestions on board.  Ideally you want to meet at the venue/s and walk through what will be happening and how this will affect the photography.

Where is she getting ready?
You will meet her either where she is getting ready or at the salon where she will be getting her hair done.  This will give you the opportunity to take pictures as the bridal party are getting ready.  Advise her to allow for about an hour extra for the hair and make up than what she has planned, it always runs over!  When you are at her home or hotel this is the opportunity for you to take the detail shots of the dresses, jewelry, flowers, etc.  I use a black backdrop and a mirror as this gives a lovely studio effect and shows the items off well, allow about an hour for these shots.

Then get some posed and natural shots of the bridal party getting ready.

Advise the bride that she should be ready to go at least an hour and a half before she needs to be at the church or registry office to allow you time to get there ahead of her and take some pictures of the groom, guests arriving and of course, the bride arriving in her special car.

Before you set off take pictures of the bridal party, this will save time later and also allows you to get some with a proper back drop to give more of a studio effect.

ALWAYS shoot in RAW!  This allows you the freedom to do the editing you need to to get your shots looking just the way you want them to.  The black background shots are time consuming in terms of editing but, I think, well worth it.  To get this effect shoot on a black backdrop and edit in Lightroom (I will be doing a Lightroom tutorial in a later post) You increase the exposure of the photo to over exposed, which allows you to see the background more clearly.  You then select the adjustment brush (the wand with little dots around it) and, under effect select darken.  Move the exposure on the drop down menu right down to darkest.  You can adjust the size of the brush further down the menu.  You will have to zoom in and very carefully go around the edges and if it's not quite dark enough click done and then go over the same area again.  This technique is also useful for eliminating an unwanted background, although it is always preferable to have planned things well in advance to avoid unwanted backgrounds in the first place! But sometimes the bride's planning just doesn't allow for you to have the creative control you would like.

That's phase one done!

Photography, Weddings, how to develop a package and market yourself

The age old question.  I think the majority of people who decide to train as professional photographers have the "golden ticket" of wedding photography in mind.  There seems to be a school of thought that if you do wedding photography it's a licence to print money. As with so many things in life, this simply isn't true.  Yes, there are photographers out there that charge an exorbitant amount of money to shoot a wedding but it's your reputation that will get you the business.

There are wedding photographers who charge a lot but don't deliver the goods and this is a death sentence to your business as most repeat business is from word of mouth.  I always advise clients that it's imperative to meet the photographer before booking them to get to know them and, most importantly, see examples of their work before paying a deposit.  I have had more than one person cancel the photographer they had booked and book with me simply because I had done their friend's wedding and they had had a chance to meet me and see the end result. It's the most important day of their life, they've invested a lot of money in it and at the end of it all, all they have to remember it by is their photographs.  So what makes a good wedding photographer? As with anything else, passion!  I love weddings, always have but not only that, I take the responsibility very seriously and put a lot of time into the editing and presentation afterwards.  If you break down the hours I put in to a wedding and what I get paid, you'll find I earn less than minimum wage!  I have decided this year to stop doing weddings simply because I find them too stressful and take too much of my time with the demands of my family to consider as well.

Still want to be a wedding photographer? Where do you start?

I started just taking pictures at a friend's wedding to get some practice and get some pictures for my portfolio.  If you know a wedding photographer then offer to be a second shooter for them for free, you will gain invaluable knowledge on how they work and how the flow of the day goes.  This is, however, quite difficult to do as most wedding photographers are reluctant to train someone else as they are afraid you will steal their business from them.

I went to a few fairs to try and drum up some business.  I printed some photo books to display but didn't receive any business from this attempt at promoting my business.  Why?  My guess would be recommendations!  People are much more likely to book someone a friend recommends.  My next port of call was Facebook and this was far more successful.  It's free and reaches a wide audience!

My first package was £100 which included full coverage of the day and all the pictures on a disc.  This attracted the cheaper end of the market, low budget registry weddings mostly and, although there is nothing wrong with doing these kinds of weddings, they are almost as much work for next to no return on your time.  What pushed me in the direction of including a photo book in my package was when one of my brides brought me the prints she had made from her disc and asked me to put them in a book for her because she didn't have the time.  I was horrified at the quality of them, they looked like just anyone had taken them.  The fact is, once you hand over that disc, you have no creative control over the end result and that is what represents your work to future clients.

The other factor that made me reluctant to push up my price was the quality I could produce with the equipment that I had.  A cannon 500d is a great beginner camera but, once you are in a dark church trying to get those important shots, the lack of versatility in terms of ISO becomes very frustrating.  I have managed to upgrade to a 70d now and that makes a big difference.  I strongly feel that the more you charge, the higher the expectation on the results you deliver.  After much trial and error and as my experience and thus confidence increased, I decided on a package of £450.  This includes an A3 photo book, printed through Photobox, 8x10 prints for the bride and those in the bridal party (I present the bride's one in a nice frame as an added touch and I have control over the large print that is displayed to family and friends) and all the pictures on a disc.  I do tell her that the quality from the disc can't be guaranteed and encourage her to use the album I've created on Photobox for prints.  I put a small mark up on them (10%), this encourages friends and family to order their prints from there and earns you a bit more money.  I make a facebook album for them, where I edit the photos into a nice collage and the link to the Photobox album is on the Facebook album to make it easier for their friends to click on and order prints.  You should always ask the bride first whether she is happy with this and make the album private to her until she approves all the photos on it before making it public.  Also double check with her whether there are any people in the pictures who wouldn't want to be on Facebook.
As a little added bonus, I set up my 500d to video the ceremony, speaches and dance.  If they know I offer this I emphasise that I'm not a professional videographer and they're just little clips added to their disc.

Photobox is a brilliant platform for photography both in terms of the range of printed goods and the prices they offer. The photo books are often on sale so keep your eyes peeled as you can get a credit that can be valid for 3 months, which gives you time to get your editing done and means more money in your pocket at the end of the day.

I get plain black dvd covers to put the disc in and print out 2  5x7 prints to put in the front and the back.  I have discs printed with my company name, these are fairly cheap to have printed, I use a company called 3000 rpm.com

You can expect your printed package to cost around £100 so that's £350 for your time.  This isn't bad if you do a few weddings a year and have the time to sit and edit them to produce a good quality package.  If you are wanting to earn more as an income to support yourself you'll have to charge more or spend more time editing so you can do more weddings.  At the end of the day though, never let your quest to earn more money affect the quality you deliver.  The golden rule will always apply, deliver a quality product, be friendly and you will get referrals.

Labrador puppy, week3, Princess Lexie

My life has become complete chaos! Having a puppy really is like having a toddler in the house! Going from being in bed for a week with tonsillitis straight into running around after a new puppy on top of all the general running around after 4 children has sent me into a downward spiral of dreaded disorganisation.

I'm a bit of a clean freak and like my house to be tidy.  Don't get me wrong,y I'm by no means OCD about it, in fact, I'm as untidy as everyone else in the house  It's more like my dad, who is an oOCD cleaner, is sitting on my shoulder shaking his head with that disapproving, "I didn't raise you to be a slob" look on his face.  Bless him, if he were living here he'd be running himself ragged trying to help me claw my way back to some semblance of order.

I had to move my whole bedroom around to accommodate Princess Lexie's huge cage bedroom with en suite bathroom.  The cage is so big I have put a puppy training pad on one end and she has had one or two 'accidents' but in general we seem to be getting the hang of the night time cage training.

She has come to recognise mine and my husband's voices and cries when she can't get to one of us.  My husband is a night owl and usually goes to bed after 12 so we have established a routine whereby she doesn't eat anything after 6pm so that she goes to the toilet at about 10 at the latest.  She sleeps in her new cosy pink fluffy bed at my husband's feet till he goes to bed, when he puts her in her cage and I wake up at 6 when she starts whining to go out.  Sometimes she goes back to sleep for another hour when everyone wakes up to start their day but at other times she's a typical toddler and is ready for play time!

Kaydee (my 6 year old daughter) and Lexie's relationship remains strained to say the least.  Kaydee goes hysterical every time Lexie comes near her as she hasn't mastered the art of displaying dominance over her.  I told her Lexie just wants to play with you because she loves you so much and she said, "No! She just wants to bite me!" She reminds me on a daily basis that she didn't want a dog!  Sadly in the democracy that is our family she was outvoted 5-1.  This would have been a more reasonable 4-2 (which was actually 6-0 in favour of not getting a puppy as I had the very decisive majority vote, being the one who would inevitably bare the brunt of it)  had I actually stood my ground but those puppy dog eyes grabbed their opportunity and she sank her claws firmly into my heart.  

                                              

Potty training during the day is currently at dismal failure status.  I let her out every time I think she needs the toilet and she'll have a wonderful romp and snuffle around the garden with no purpose other than to consume my dwindling time and, when I bring her back inside, 5 minutes later there's a puddle or a poop on the floor!  I think she does it deliberately now because shortly after that follows what is rapidly becoming her favorite game, chase  the mop! 

Thursday she goes for her 2nd lot of inoculations and a chip to add to the collar around her neck in, what I fear to be, a futile attempt at protecting her from being nicked.  I'm sure that the day she does slip past our guard and gets out, she'll be snapped up and whisked away never to be seen again!  We have replaced the fence post that had the hole in it after Pixie very kindly showed her that she could jump through it to a whole new big world just waiting to be explored!  I think we'll have to look at reinforcing the gate next as she managed to squeeze through that too and took great delight in us running like hysterical chickens after her.  

So the verdict so far?  During the good times when she is calm and snoozing and cuddly she shores up enough brownie points to carry her through the demonic phase that seems to possess her periodically during the day!

Fat to fit, our Slimming World Journey: 6-12 October Food diary

Monday

Breakfast: Fruit salad with fat free yogurt for me, Boiled egg and 4 rivita for Duane

Lunch: Baked potato, Tuna, 2 tblspn salad cream and salad for me, baked beans, cheese and salad for Duane

Supper: Fresh Salmon (Monthly Costco shop day! :-)cooked in fish spice, which you can find with the other block spices like chicken and beef, slimming world chips, salad. ( I like to put my salmon on the salad)

I always spend my syns on chocolate! lol

Tuesday 

Breakfast: Fruit salad and fat free yogurt

Lunch: Cauliflower soup 

Spray a pan with fry light and add 1 large onion chopped and half a teaspoon smoked paprika, stir until softened

Move to a pot, add a large cauliflower, chopped up and add 800ml vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and simmer for 15 min stir in 10 extra light cheese triangles and blend till smooth.

Supper: Irish beef stew with dumplings
800g stewing beef, pour over 1.2 litres of beef stock
simmer uncovered for 25-30 minutes
Add 600g celeriac, peeled and cut into cubes , 4 carrots roughly chopped, 2 large onions roughly chopped and 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.  Cover and simmer for 30 min.
make up dumplings according to instructions on dumpling mix box with 2 tbsp dried parsley
divide into 12 balls. Put them on top of the stew and cook for 20-25 min
Serve with rice

Wednesday 

Breakfast: in Fry light fry Mushrooms, onion, tomato, egg and bacon

Lunch: Tuna salad

Supper:Speedy Carbonara with mushrooms

Cook pasta (penne or tagliatelle) 

Asda prepared roast veg put it in oven

In a pan heat 12 lean bacon, chopped, with all fat removed.  1 tspn lazy garlic (hard to find but you get one that isn't in oil or vinegar) and a large onion, finely chopped.  Cook for 5 min until browned then add chopped mushrooms, cooked till soft.

make a white sauce with about 250ml semi skimmed milk and 1 tbspn cornflour and stir till thickens add 1 tbspn parmesan cheese and a tub of low low cheese or cheese triangles.  Add to pasta serve with corn on the cob and veg

2 syns for sauce and A serve

Vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce

3 x 175 g mullerlight vanilla and coconut yogurt 

200g ready made low fat custard

2 tbsp sweetener

1 tsp vanilla ess

put all ingredients in a blender freeze for 2-3 hours.  Remove and blend.  Freeze for 1-2 hours, mix with a fork.  freeze for 3-4 hours stirring every 40 min until firm

blitz strawberries with a tbspn sweetener and pour over ice cream to serve

serves 4, 3 syns

Thursday
Breakfast: Fruit salad with low fat yog
Lunch: baked potatoe tuna/ baked beans

Supper: Pulled Pork and salad on whole wheat roll ( b serve)
1.5-2kg pork shoulder, all fat removed
5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard powder
500g passata
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tbsp sweetener
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

In a small bowl, mix passata, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweetener and seasoning. Transfer to a small pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.

Meanwhile, trim and remove all visible fat from the pork and sear all sides in a hot frying pan. Transfer to a slow cooker coat with the sauce and cook for 8-12 hours on MEDIUM.

Remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Allow the meat to cool for approximately 15 minutes, then shred into bite-sized pieces using two forks.



Friday
Breakfast: Fruit salad and yog/ boiled eggs and 4 rivita
Lunch: Cold meats and salad

Supper: Thai green curry

200ml light coconut milk

600ml chicken stock

100g coriander leaves and stalks, finely chopped, plus extra sprigs to garnish

Low calorie oil spray (less than one calorie per spray)

1 level tbsp Thai green curry paste

2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

800g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces

6 fresh or dried kaffir lime leaves

2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)

1 tbsp sweetener

200g baby aubergines, cut into bite-sized pieces

200g green beans, trimmed

Juice of 1 lime, plus extra wedges to serve

Red chilli slivers, to garnish
Method
Place the coconut milk, half of the stock and the chopped coriander in a blender or food processor and blend until well mixed. Strain the mixture using a fine sieve and discard the coriander.
Spray a large wok or saucepan with low calorie oil spray, add the green curry paste and green chillies and stir-fry over a high heat for 2-3 minutes.
Stir in the chicken and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned.
Stir in the coconut milk mixture, the remaining stock, lime leaves, Thai fish sauce, sweetener and aubergines. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the green beans and continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lime juice. Serve garnished with coriander sprigs and red chilli slivers.

Saturday
breakfast Fruit salad and fat free yog
Lunch: chicken pieces and salad

Supper: Pizza chicken
cut breasts in half, pan fry
spread tomatoe paste then low low mature cheese spread and layer with fresh basil, grate a bit of cheddar on top
slimming world chips and salad

Sunday
Breakfast: fruit salad and yog
Lunch: salad
Dinner: Sunday roast with cook in the bag chicken, rice, slimming world roast potatoe, cauliflower cooked and then a tub of low low mature cheese mixed in ( a serve) sweetcorn

Fat to fit, our Slimming World Journey: Chapter 2!

4 weeks gone already! So much for giving a weekly update! Tonsillitis and a new puppy and life in general diverted me down the express way!

The first week went really well, I lost 6lbs and Duane lost 4!  I basked in the glory as it's never going to happen again! We stuck to plan all week but to be fair but I really don't know where that loss came from!  Once Duane gets to the stage where he can start exercising it starts flying off! Week two was when I had tonsillitis so wasn't able to go.  The only up side to it was I wasn't able to eat much so at weigh in on week 3 I managed to kick off another 2 lbs and Duane kicked my butt with 3! Half stone award for both of us! Another first, getting the same certificate together :-) They have pride of place on the side of the fridge lol

This last week has been manic, running around after Lexie, our new lab puppy, you'd think that would be good body magic! I think where I possibly went wrong was going to Frankie and Bennies Friday night with my friend Ana, Red Hot Buffet for lunch on Wednesday with my friend Julie and for mummy/son time on Wednesday evening took Dylan to Franki and Bennies too as there wasn't a movie showing that he wanted to see! Thanks Cineworld, this pound is on you! ;-p
I did go back to gym again this week.  Ana saved herself by dragging me to circuit blitz at gym Friday morning and I enjoyed going back to Pilates on Tuesday.  I've never had the body magic awards before so that's a good motivation to get me going.  So all in all 1 pound on wasn't the end of the world.  Duane had a maintain which, of course, was my fault! ;-p

I've been trying really hard this week, I really want to lose that pound this week and if I can get 2 then I'm back on track for losing a pound a week.  Decided to do power circuit in the half an hour that Kaydee did swimming lessons Friday evening instead of sitting around being lazy waiting for her.  The half an hour went really quickly! I actually quite enjoyed it and it's amazing what a work out you can have in that time!  Basically power circuit is doing 5 minute warm up, which I do on the rowing machine.  Then you do 15 reps on the resistance machines with 1 minute cardio in between.  I alternate with the rowing machine and fly walker thing.  1 minute doesn't sound much but towards the end you'll be surprised how hard it is to get through it! lol

I've decided to spend my Sunday afternoon paging through our old Slimming World magazines and pulling out all the recipes and putting them in a file.  Duane will then be tasked with looking through it and give a thumbs up for the ones he wants us to try.  I really want to get more on top of my planning so my budget is more under control and I find it really helps when I have food in that's easy to make and I don't have to think about what I'm making all the time!

Fingers crossed for a better result on the scales this week!

Fat to Fit; our Slimming World Journey: Chapter one

Or should I say; our return journey!

Looking at my husband, a bookie would never give odds on the fact that he's a fussy eater and I'm certainly not going to be winning any chef of the year competitions!  Certainly not a match made in heaven but if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach then I must be the most cherished woman alive!

After my daughter was born, almost 7 years ago, I was confronted with the reality that baring 4 children has not had a very beneficial affect on my body.  I tried to embrace the ideology of "I've earned these fat rolls" but somehow the flabby body reflected in the mirror just does nothing for my self esteem.  My fat jeans were getting so tight I had to opt for leggings to feel comfortable.  Enough is enough!

We have successfully tried Slimming World before, about 3 years ago.  I went on it originally after my daughter was born, with a friend of mine, and had great success.  I didn't quite get down to my goal weight but at least managed to shift the majority of the offending blubber.  I tried to get my husband to join me but he refused, having a man's total disdain for a group of women meeting every week to discuss their diets.  He didn't fare too well on just trying it himself because he is a fussy eater and the red and green days were too restrictive for him.

3 years ago we had a scare, when his father's health started deteriorating and he wanted to go and visit him before he received the dreaded phone call.  We immigrated to the UK about 15 years ago from South Africa so it was a long flight that lay between him and his visit home.  The doctor advised against making the trip due to the high risk of deep vein thrombosis.  She gave him Slimming World vouchers and said that he had to give that a try before they would consider something like a gastric band.

I laughed when he said he had the vouchers and said, "Oh well, I guess I'll go back and use them, I could do with losing a few more pounds." and nearly fell off my chair when he said,
"I'm going!"

By this time Slimming World had introduced extra easy so, with this program and the motivation of wanting to go and visit his father, we set out on a journey that took over a year in which he lost 12 stone. (That's 76kg!) He went from not being able to walk down the street to doing a duathlon, alternating between running and cycling every day and generally having a zest for life again.  Sadly work got in the way.  He was unhappy and wanted to start his own business, this meant every spare minute was spent working to try and build it up to the stage where he would be able to leave his job.  He no longer had time to exercise and we were both stressed with various things, including selling our house and buying a bigger one so old habits were slipped into and, before we knew it, we were back at square one.

At the beginning of the year he tried to go back to group but didn't enjoy going on his own and my head was not in the right place to take on the mammoth task of being on plan 100% where Mr Fussy is concerned.  We eventually decided before the summer holidays that we would just enjoy ourselves, have a big blow out and start fresh when the children went back to school.  So, here we are!  Let the games begin!

Photography; is it for you?

I have been doing photography for about 4 years now.  I have spent the time working on it full time as if doing a degree.  The great thing about photography is it's 20% knowledge and 80% practice.

I have always had a passion for photography. I have the worst memory ever and my photos are all that remain of the lost fragments of my life. My blurb is "Your photos are the memories that make you smile."
Camera phones were the best invention to come into my life as I am able to snap pics wherever I am and store them on Facebook so they don't get lost.  I realised at the beginning of the year that I don't actually have printed photos of the children for the past few years and decided to put a photo book together but couldn't find the old photos! Thank you Facebook! lol

When my daughter was born (after 3 boys!) I was obsessed with documenting every stage of her life, especially all the gorgeous outfits!  I took her to Boots every 2 months or so to get that special offer of £5 for a head and shoulder shot and an 8x10 print.  It was so heart breaking to me to have to pass up all the lovely pictures as they were just so ridiculously expensive! I eventually broke down at her 9 month shoot and bought some prints, which set me back £180!  My friend, who is a professional photographer, suggested I get a decent camera and learn how to do photography 'properly' and so the journey began!

I spent a lot of time watching CreativeLive, an amazing on line tutorial resource and even went so far as to send in an audition to go on one of their courses, a baby photography course with Sandy Puc.  It was an amazing experience, I even squeezed in a trip to San Francisco on my way! One of the best tutorials I watched was by Zack Arias Foundations and then studio lighting, he really has a brilliant way of explaining things and I learned so much.

I started off advertising on Facebook and did shoots for £20 with all the images on a disc and slowly built my way up  from there.  There is a school of thought that says if you undersell yourself and start off cheaply you will never get people willing to pay good money for your work and I guess there is some truth to this.  The problem is that it's a catch 22 situation, you don't have experience or quality to offer and people aren't going to spend a lot of money on prints of pictures taken in their own home or at a park.  I would say start off like this to build up a portfolio but don't start branding yourself.  Make it clear that you are a student and you are building your portfolio.

Do different types of photography to find out where your passion lies.  The biggest difference between a good and bad photographer is the passion you put in to your work.  Fist and foremost you should be doing it for the love of it, not the money.  View this as a paid hobby to earn some money to improve your equipment and expect to work like that for 2-3 years before you start to seriously consider doing it as a business.

The big draw is always wedding photography but be careful, it is a very stressful job!  It's a long day with a lot more hours that need to be invested before you can hand over the finished product and, if you make a pig's ear of it, you can't go back and do a re-shoot!

Once you have done quite a few of each different kind of shoot you will get a feel for what you enjoy and what is worth your time, what packages you should offer and what to charge.

Photography is a wonderful career but, with the stiff competition out there, with camera phones becoming more sophisticated and every other person with a good camera offering 'professional' photo shoots, you really have to put all your passion into your work, establish your style and offer something different.

Princess Tiger Lily Lexie!

Introducing Princess Tiger Lily Lexie

We were worried that it would take a while for Lexie to settle in with us but from the first few moments she seemed perfectly at ease.  I was unfortunately in bed with tonsillitis so her introduction to me was cuddling up on my bed with me.  This set the president for cuddles!

Of course the most important part of getting a new puppy is choosing a name!  We had spent the ride travelling to and from viewing her discussing names.  We came up with a few options and decided to set up a vote on Facebook to help us decide!  The options were

Lily, in keeping with her official name on the breeder's register

Lexie, just a cute name we thought of

Penny, from our favorite comedy, Big bang theory 

River, from our favorite show, Firefly 

The overwhelming vote was for Lexie, which was also the one name that all of us liked so Lexie it is! 

(Saying hi to Phoebe from behind the safety of the sliding door!

There was much debate among my friends as to whether to use a cage.  We go camping during the summer so I figured a cage would be good for her to travel in and use there.  One of our friends uses a cage and their dog loves going in there to escape from the children lol. I looked up roughly how tall she would be when she grows up and added an inch for good measure because I get claustrophobic just thinking about her being in a cage!  Of course it didn't arrive till the Tuesday after we got her so the first few nights she slept on our bed with us.  We put lots of puppy pads and newspapers down but the inevitable accidents abounded until she weed on our bed, which was the last straw.  I also decided that I didn't want her sleeping on our bed when she's grown up, taking up all the space.  I've just trained the children not to do it anymore! lol

As I was too poorly to supervise the potty training, she pretty much ruled the roost till I was up and about.  As soon as I felt up to it I took her outside every time she started snuffling around.  It's absolutely amazing how quickly they pick it up, in no time she was peeing and pooping outside.  The trick of course is to catch her in time.  We still had lots of accidents with me running around with carpet cleaner! 

When the cage arrived I was amazed at just how huge it was! I was glad though because there is plenty of room inside for her bed and blanket and I can put down a puppy training pad and newspaper at the back.  For the first two nights my hubby and I took turns sleeping on the couch with Lexie in the cage.  She cried a bit but quickly realised it wasn't getting her anywhere.  She woke up every two hours to go out.  We dragged the cage up to our room so I could at least sleep comfortably between potty runs! 

 Facebook is such a wonderful source of support, my friends advised me that she shouldn't be waking up every 2 hours, she's got me wrapped around her paw! I decided to make her go 4 hours and she did it by herself anyway! lol So we will persevere and hopefully have her sleeping through the night by next week!

I watched some You Tube videos about how to train your puppy.  I have a class booked  but she can't start till 11 November when she's had all her jabs.  I thought I'd get a head start and work on basics like sitting.  I got some puppy food and said sit! and pushed her bum down till she sat then praised her and gave her the food.  We did it a few times and she quickly got the hang of it!  I practice every day for about 5-10 minutes and have now added on jumping up onto an upended washing basket and following me when I call her.  The You Tube video also suggested the feeding from your hand as a way to teach them to take food from you with a soft mouth.

Every time she chews on something I say no! and give her something she can chew but I think that's going to take quite a while to sink in! My daughter is quite scared of her so I'm working with her to teach her how to be more dominant so Lexie will learn not to nip at her, even if it is only playfully, her teeth are so sharp she leaves a mark.  

The other good advise I got this week was, when you come home don't make a fuss of her or you'll teach her to jump all over you.  Another test was leaving her for an hour and a half while we went to Slimming World.  I decided to leave her in the kitchen rather than in her cage as I didn't want to create any negative associations with it.  I don't know how long she cried after we left but  she was quite relaxed when we got home but of course her usual happy self, wagging her tail and so pleased to see us!  There is such a big difference between cats and dogs! I do realise they're different species but I thought, they're both pets so won't be so very different but what a surprise!  Very difficult not to get attached quickly when you're so obviously adored! :-)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Adopt a dog or a puppy? If so, which breed?

After years of my children nagging for a dog I've finally crumbled under the pressure! We go camping quite often in the holidays and most of our friends have dogs.  I got away with it for a year or two saying they had "time share dogs" to get it out their system.  It worked for a while but as time passed and they spent more time with their "time share dogs" the more they wanted their own!

So why the reluctance? I've never had a dog, only cats so they are my comfort zone.  We have 3 cats, although to be fair we didn't set out to have 3!  We bought a ginger Tom about 7 years ago.  He managed to get a tortoise shell Manx pregnant. She decided that she was moving in and, despite our best efforts, were unable to find her family.  We adopted her and the children enjoyed the experience of having 4 litters! We had to spay her after that as it was taking a toll on her.  The last kitten was a little black and white Manx and we couldn't find a home for him so we decided to keep him!  He has turned out to be the sweetest of the three!

As you can imagine the children aren't overly enthusiastic with helping with the cats and I figure dogs are more work! A puppy is as bad as a toddler with all the chewing and potty training! I finally agreed under the following conditions.
A- Labrador because they must be good at training as they use them for guide dogs and I like the look of them ;-p
B- A girl because I figure she'll be gentler and also our friends' dogs are boys so I figured less testosterone would be good! Although we're going to have to be snappy about spaying her!
C- I originally wanted one at least a year old to avoid the whole potty training nightmare.  We struggled to find one on the adoption sites and, with each one that we missed out on, the children were becoming more frantic and the nag level went to defcon 1!

Looking through all the adverts I was being gradually seduced by all the cute puppies.  I was given a lot of advise from friends about making sure you get a puppy from a registered breeder or they develop all sorts of hip and eye problems.  After much debate my husband and I decided to bite the bullet and get a puppy from a Kennel Club registered breeder. It was quite an investment financially, certainly more than we had planned on spending but at the end of the day this is a long time investment and I guess you get what you pay for lol.

The other thing that swayed me towards a puppy was that I thought the cats would find her less intimidating than a bigger dog and might accept her easier.  I guess this is a pipe dream though as they don't even like each other!

Tuesday evening we all piled into the car to go and meet our new baby.  It was quite overwhelming with the whole litter bouncing around us but was definitely love at first sight! It was going to be a long wait till Saturday when we would be able to take her home!