The cat's meow

cold through and through...

Its been really cold these last few days, and as a housing officer, i hate having to go out and do maintenance inspections when its so cold.

Today though with a full day of maintance visits to properties over a wide area of the city, it decided to snow..and of course at this point all the tenants i saw wanted to drag me outside to look at roof problems or guttering and drains. Basically i got snowed on...and then, late morning the sleet started. By the time i had finished to go back to the office it was raining and i was truly wet and cold. Fortunatley we get issued big jackets that are quite good at being waterproof, but i still turned up at the office with the hood up and water dripping off my nose, hair, face, and any other exposed bit of me! I must have looked pathetic because a couple of people looked on at amusement at me (office bound staff i might add - who had the luxury of not leaving the heated office all morning).

I announced that i had been snowed, sleeted and rained on...in my most pathetic voice tone...do you think that i got any sympathy? Nope...of course not.....

Even now i am home, and i still am thawing out, despite my lovely warm house...i hate my job in the winter time!

multi tasking or just procrastinating...?

Its 3 days until the deadline of my second assignment..and i am writing the final draft which i promised my mentor would be in to her tomorrow morning so she could look it over for any final changes...so this evening since i've been home i've been trying to get this report into some kind of state of finished...but this is how my evening has gone so far....

5.45pm open up lap top and sit down. stare at screen

5:47pm Feed the cat

5:49pm sit back down cut and paste a few things whilst swearing at the computer because i can't get the paragraphs to line up.

5:55pm Answer short email

6:00pm go into kitchen, open all cupboards in order to decide what to have for dinner. decide on   making a sausage casserole...take sausages out of freezer in order to de-frost.

6:07pn Sit back down. finally get down to some work.

6:42pm Prepare dinner - chopping onions, boiling potatoes etc

7:01pm sit back down..swear at computer again because i still can't figure out how to line up paragraphs.

7:10pm check on casserole

7:32pm Eureaka...figure out how to get paragraphs to line up

7:41pm bored now...get drink

7:45pm Write this blog

So you will see...i'm either just delaying getting this thing finished...or i'm multi tasking!!

a day in the cotswolds

Sorry for another absence from my blog!! My friends Hanna and Mike are here from the USA, and so we have been exploring various places together!

On thursday we met up with Nicola a friend of hanna and mikes - but whom i also know through them. So we went to Brighton for the afternoon and ended up at an Italian restaurant in the famous lanes (though we had a little trouble finding it!).

Yesterday we went to the beautiful cotswolds. We visited several towns, and of course i was snapping away with my camera as usual (an example above). As soon as i get around to it, i'll put an album on typepad so you can see my pics!

Today Nicola got married, and Hanna, Mike and myself attended her wedding and reception at Ockenden Manor. It was a lovely ceremony conducted at the manor itself. We've just got back and i guess i should go and get changed!!

The verdict..

Well, i guess the gym membership was worth it.

Yesterday was my final session with my trainer at the gym. As i said yesterday on my first appointment he took measurements of my arms, legs, waist and hips, as well as my heart rate. The idea being that my final appointment with him in 3 weeks time he would take the measurements again.

He took the measurements again, giving nothing away, and then said, well, you know technically its supposed to be 4 weeks in between doing these measurements..oh well i thought, bracing myself for no change. He then on to tell me that i've lost two inches on all my previous measurements...thats 2 inches each arm, off my hips and off each leg. Not only that, and possibly more importantly, i have greatly improved my heart rate - meaning my heart is nearly healthy at its current rate (was 81, now 76 and i need to aim to be just under 70)..lol.

Well, i guess no pain no gain. I can't say i always enjoy going to the gym, but i always feel better having been. I have noticed too, that i get a good nights sleep these days, and don't wake up feeling tired. And of course there is the slight weight loss - i had a sneaky weigh of myself today even though i shouldn't do that until tuesday and i have lost 6lbs in less than 3 weeks, so i am happy with that. All positives!

Having said that i have had to give up the chocolate...and naughty things...but i am a believer in the 'everything in moderation rule' so i am not going to deny myself the odd naughty thing for the rest of my life!

erm...its been a while hasn't it!

Yes, i know its been a while. Its been a busy and traumatic month, and i guess the blog just went out the window a little!

Well its been busy at work, winter generally and the period after christmas always seem to be the busiest, my desk is groaning under the weight of paper - in fact my in-tray broke a few weeks back - does that tell you something?! I'm also well underway on my second assignment for my housing qualification - which fortunatley is proving not as difficult as the first because the subject is something i am more than familar with! But also, i have finished the mountains of work i needed to do in order to prove my competence at my job (3 lever arch files worth!), but the pay rises i get are good - so i don't argue! I just need to undergo the final interview to prove i really do know this stuff and it should be sorted - hopefully by march!

Why Traumatic i here you ask?! Well, i don't really do new years resolutions, they often fail...but i decided i really need to go back on the diet. Well, not really diet, because i don't really believe in diets, but certainly healthy eating and excercise. I cut out sweets and chocolate permanently, and bread for almost 2 weeks and.....i must be mad...joined a gym. I lost 5lb's in two weeks, which is fairly respectable, but i have a long way to go. But i am pretty determined this time. I have been going to the gym, have only cheated once by having the lowest calorie chocolate bar i could find, oh actually...it was twice...but in almost 3 weeks thats not bad!

I am off to the gym in about 40 minutes for my last training session. They took all my measurements when i started 3 weeks ago and today they are going to take them again. So it will be interesting to see the effect it has had if any - i really don't feel like i have lost any inches anywhere!

And finally,  i got a letter from my mortgage lender the other day. Well actually, it was my yearly statement (my very first one!) - and guess what? Its great news...i 'only' have 34 years left on my mortgage - yay!! and i now only owe £98,000 (about $166,000)! Which is a whole £1000 less than last year...woohoo....yeah, a touch of sarcasm there...