About all the things that are important to me.

Healthy eating and exercise have become my main priority, what with the summer coming :)

Sparkpeople has been a great motivation. It's taken me a while to get used to reducing my calorie intake (I was shocked at how many I had been consuming). Exercise has become a big part of my life now, and I feel alot better for it. I've branched out from treadmilling, to weights, aerobics, and the odd bit of cycling (but it has to be warm outside for that otherwise I get earache!)

I haven't lost weight since the beginning of the year, but something should start happening soon what with the reduced calorie intake and the amount of exercise I am doing.

And because Sparkpeople has become part of my daily life I am abandoning my jogtilyoudrop blog. I log all my food and exercise, as well as my health-related blogging here. I can't be doing with keeping track of it all in more than once place!

Spanish is still important to me too. It was coming along nicely. I was starting to look at the preterite, future and conditional...and then our evening classes came to a halt last week as our tutor returned to Spain to start a Phd. So I need to look for another class, I really need the listening practice. Mum and I try to get together once a week now for a jog then some Spanish. We are also trying to set each other some homework for those times when the kids are off school and we can't get a word in edgeways!

Sam and Katie are enjoying a break from school after working hard at their SATs. Katie did really well achieving level 5s, a level above average for her year group. Proud mum! She deserves it, she is very motivated and diligent. Sam's results won't be with us til July and although he hates homework he knuckles down in class and should have done fine too.

I didn't get a position as an Edexcel script marker this year, but I have reapplied for 2008. In the meantime I'm continuing to test KE308 and KE312. I don't want alot of work, not now that things are running smoothly at home, just something to bring in a few extra pennies so I will keep my eyes open for any opportunities.

Right, I have a pile of ironing to tackle while my herberts are busy (Katie is at a friend's after a sleepover, and Sam has the nieghbours in to play Runescape), I'm off to find me a good DVD :)

What I've been up to the last couple of weeks

eating...too much...but trying, again, to get that sorted. Seems being at home is making it much more difficult to resist temptation! However, that is the one and only downside to me being a 'domestic goddess'.

Exercising...not enough, but more than last year! Still treadmilling my way to a clear mind. Discovered a website called Sparkpeople that is a great help in logging what I have achieved (or not!) and getting advice and support from others seeking a healthy lifestyle.

Gardening...my little veggies are growing nicely now. Pictures to follow.

Decorating...our 'den' is almost finished, again, photos to follow. All that needs to be done is to get my OU certificates up on the wall (they're finally framed!) and a few bits of filing put away tidily.

Family...seeing more of mum and dad now that they are permanently home from the seas of the Caribbean. They have become my once-a-week jogging partners, but not this week, mum and I have sore tonsils and are feeling rather lethargic.

Cars...highlight of the month.....we sold your reliable Peugeot 206 and are now the proud owners of an Audi TT. Hub has wanted one for ages and we thought, why not, while we can! Kids don't fit too well in the back , but we're a two car family and the other car is bigger. The Audi is for hub and me, for our 'couple time' when Lee gets time off during the week, when the kids are at school and we get to go out and about for lunch.



On a more sober note, I discovered today that my aunt, who has suffered from bowel cancer for a few years, is finally on morphine and has, at best, 10 days left with us. Particularly terrible for my cousins who also lost their dad to cancer 15 years ago.

Enrique....at last!

Enrique has a new album due for release in June, not that I am bored of the 3 other CDs I have, but more would be lovely!
If you haven't heard Enrique, here y'go...


and this is probably my favourite...
Not only does Enrique sing it beautifully but it also reminds me of some very happy times on the road in our campervan.

Lastly, if you're so inclined you can sing along to any of his tunes! I'd like to join you, but when I'm pounding away on my treadmill, the best I can do it mouth the words! Besides, I'd never do the songs justice and would probably upset the neighbours :o)

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Where have I been for the past few weeks....

not far, I am still here...albeit noncommunicatively :O)
Been a bit busy of late. Not with work, although I have done some OU testing for KE308 this week, and did one day's casual work two weeks ago when they were desperate and clearly didn't want to pay a supply teacher!

I've been busy looking after my health, more so with exercise than with decent eating, but I'm working on getting back into good habits with food (even made my own chicken and veg soup today and son ate it, so it can't have been too bad as he doesn't, like his father, 'do' soup!)

I've also been busy pottering in the garden. The spinach, lettuces and carrots that I planted from seed are doing nicely. I was given a bit of raspberry plant from my brother in law and that has survived and is looking strong. Spring onions have stems...not sure how they are doing beneath the ground and am resisting the temptation to pull one! Cress was sampled yesterday in a salad, very tasty :o)
I attempted to separate some of the lettuces yesterday, they haven't wilted today so all should be well!
I also had to recover lots of spinach seedlings from the patio because this morning the wind and rain blew over the plastic pot they were growing in! I poked them back into the compost as best I could, it remains to be seen if they survive!

Spanish is coming along nicely, at least on paper, understanding it spoken is quite a different kettle of fish and is going to take time. Don't bother checking out my Spanish blog as I never really got it off the ground, it took much messing around trying to include accents and upside-down question marks!

Quite a few photos to upload to Flickr this week. Mainly of the decorating (the room's finally finished!), the garden and a trip to see my nieces last weekend.