Diet update + a new book

For my 5 Kilos blog post this week I have to reveal how much I've lost and share a recipe or snack idea.

Well......I'm annoyed to say I am still the same weight as last week. SO not fair since I have the pain to prove how much I have exercised my butt off!!!

I jogged, I walked, I did lunges (killers!), I went to my yoga class, I ate well.....surely the scales HAVE to reward me soon.

To treat myself for all I went through.....I had a blissful massage after work today. If I ever become rich I swear I will get a massage EVERY day.....nothing beats it!

OK, now for my recipe, which I am very happy to share with you since it is both DELICIOUS and HEALTHY......

It's from the book The Biggest Loser Best Recipes and I have made it many many times, even when I'm NOT on a diet cos it tastes so good plus its sooooo quick and easy to cook up after a busy day.

TOMATO CHILLI PRAWNS
Serves 4

1 tsp olive oil
1 chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime (or lemon)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup water
salt & pepper
1 kg green prawns (I buy a 1kg bag of frozen green prawns with tails on from Coles - such a handy invention!)
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
steamed rice to serve


Gently cook onion in the oil until soft. Add garlic & chilli and cook until fragrant. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, lime/lemon zest and juice, sugar and water. Season well with salt and pepper. Simmer 5 mins.
Add prawns and simmer 3 mins or until pink and firm. Throw in chopped coriander and serve with rice.

What's happening this weekend?

Our local show is on....but you know, I really don't feel like going. The kids will whinge severely but I'm just not in the mood. We don't even have anything entered this year....NOTHING!

I think instead we will work on our new vegie garden. I may even have a spare moment to scrap the Feb Design Dollies sketch....

....and read my new book.....

....which I'm hoping will help me along with my challenge.  And if you're wondering.....the "God" she talks about can be interpreted more as Love, Kindness to Yourself and Being All That You Can Be.  The book was featured on Oprah and you can read more about it here.

Toodles peeps!

xxx

Layout plus new additions

Wow - a hot old day today peoples!

My scrap room faces west and becomes rather unbearable by this time of day....have just packed up after making this layout.....

....using the latest Pencil Lines sketch, which is quite sweet....don't you think?

The paper-smooshing and crumpling techique is a latest fad of mine....

.....as is a little bit of hand stitching.....

......and hand dyeing scraps of muslin.....

.....I find it intriguing the way we craze on certain things for a while.....

then move on.

Hoping these gorgeous critters will NOT turn out to be a craze....

....6 amazing Gouldian Finches and one yellow Canary joined the family yesterday....their colours are just magic.....check out that vibrant turquoise necklace! They sure brighten up the place and I love the sweet twittering outside our door.....

Who Loves Sketches?

Me me me!!!!

And the latest Show Us Your Stuff Challenge includes a great 3-photo sketch.....add a fave quote and of course a handmade item or two and you could be on your way to winning a great prize pack!

Here's mine:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" by Eleanor Roosevelt was a nice appropriate quote for my girl's back-to-school pics.

Starting with this funky scalloped base by Crate Paper, I hand-dyed a piece of muslin and stitched it on my background, added a few cute hand cut designs from Bella Blvd and My Little Shoebox, a punched butterfly and some essential Nellie G buttons and that's me done!

A Small Success

.....I have lost my first KILO in the 5 Kilos Scrappers Challenge!!!

This is how I did it......

• Stretches and sit ups in the mornings before work
• Walking for 30 mins in my lunch hour
• Protein-only on my first day (as per BodyTrim Diet)
• Emptying my 600ml water bottle 3 or 4 times a day
• Lots of vegies.....a little easier when you can pick them from your own garden....

Lunch today was a salad made from these tasty teardrop baby tomatos, fresh picked basil and fetta cheese with a drizzle of balsamic. Yummmmmmmmm.....

How was your weekend?
We had HOT weather through the day and TROPICAL storms in the evenings.....rather weird for the tablelands.  The garden seems to like it though. Look at my crepe myrtle in flower.........

....glorious!

We are lucky to have access to a friend's massive dam. I took the girls after school one evening for a cool-off.....

....and of course they didn't want to leave. Nor me for that matter......so peaceful and lovely.

Just before sunset this arvo we had a huge downpour which turned the driveway into a river momentarily. Had a blackout for a couple of hours - right in the middle of a layout I was scrapping.....but I continued on by the light of the window.....

....only giving you a peak....you can see the whole layout at Show Us Your Stuff next week!

Music of my youth

I was thinking (as you do) about how important music is in life......and how the brain can instantly recall the lyrics to a song even when you haven't heard it in yonky donks.....very cool really.

Here are the albums that I grew up with....the ones I played to death.....the ones that made a huge impact on me......that can bring memories of that time flooding back within the first few bars....

My Primary School Years.......

They had a little turntable at school and sometimes we were allowed to bring in records and play them at lunchtime.....(how ultra cool were we?).....I wonder what Mr Cook made of my choices.....

My High School Years.....

Nothing was more important than the music back then......all my pocket money would be spent on LP's and I would go down town in my lunch hour to the music store and order new release singles (and spend ages browsing through the band posters and t-shirts!)

My Uni Years.....

1989 was a bit iffy when it comes to good music.....but I listened to anything and everything. I know these ones got a good work out on my chunky red boombox in my dorm room AND in my little blue Suzuki hatchback (on cassette tape naturally!).....

I'd love you to share the soundtracks of your youth with me!



No Turning Back!

OK....this is it....can't believe I'm about to share something so personal.....but here goes.....

Thanks to this challenge ....I have been prompted to continue on my journey to health by losing that last annoying, stubborn 5 kilos (or 5.5 in my case)......

The first step in the challenge was to take this awful photograph.....I think the worst is now over!

OK no, maybe not.....I have some serious healthy eating and exercise ahead of me......starting TODAY!

Here's my daily plan of attack:

Drink 1.5 litres of water

Walk

Up my vegies

Down my carbs

Up the lean protein.

Wish me luck!!!

Remember that Kim Archer workshop I signed up for the other week?

How much fun was that! A magazine page, whitewashing and sanding on a chipboard base.....oh man what a lovely big mess I made!

Here's my creation.....

Hands up if you blubbered your eyes out last night watching I Am Sam?

Seen it a million times.....you'd think I'd be prepared..... but no......it gets me every time.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE TO DEATH.

Golly gosh - look at the time!

I'm missing the first ep of the new season of Rafters.....must get my Hugh fix....

Toodles!

xxx

Monday is Free Day

It was back to school for the little munchkins on Monday....

Promises to be a big year for the Hackney girls....Kate goes into Year 6....Beth into Year 3 and up to the "big" primary classroom.....and Year 1 for Mimi - no longer the baby of the school.

I don't know about you, but school mornings around here are pretty much utter chaos....especially the first one after the hols. When they finally leave the house it feels as if I've witnessed a whirlwind....but the house is dreamily peaceful....and on Mondays, ALL MINE!

So.....

I finished off the garden we'd started on Sunday.....do you like the ancient gate we saved from the old sheep yards? Kinda quaint as a garden decoration I reckon.

Watched this DVD.....loooooove Anne Hathaway to pieces..... 

And started on my new book.......

......which I can tell i am going to adore.

How has your week been so far?