It's been a while, but COVID_19 drove me to it

Well hello everyone, long time no blog.  After a couple of requests from people in multiple WhatsApp groups I decided to regale you of my tales of cabbagyness.  The last time I gave you some mild entertainment I was packing for the first leg of the Camino, that was May 2018.  I did blog about that but with the Four4theRoad gang and it was so good (the Camino not the blog) that we decided to do it again.  So last October we booked our flights and arranged to do the second leg of it.  Covid 19 well and truly screwed that up for us and all plans were dismantled.  Which leaves us here.  Trapped in our homes with nothing to do but think, scratch and worry about running out of toilet roll.

A lot has happened in two years, I said goodbye to my overies, we lost some people and have made some new friends, a couple of whom are as cabbagy or if not more than I, ohhh and I took up tattooing and have had the pleasure of scarring some of my friends for life, that is fun.

Someone recently asked me to do a funny blog about Covid_19.  I have thought about it very hard and simply cannot think of one thing that's funny about the Covid.  I considered writing about the simpletons who went out and emptied the shelves of toilet roll but didn't want to give them any blog time.   Then I plotted against the muppets who left their homes on Sunday when Leo made the announcement about the lockdown that wasn't really a lockdown to empty the shelves of everything else, leaving those most vulnerable without, but I didn't want to give them any blog time either.   I pondered on those absolute dimwitdumbpinheads who create hysteria by sharing fake news and scaremongering the public, but they didn't deserve anyones time either.

So it left me thinking about not writing a funny blog but a positive one. About giving thanks and being grateful.

I want to give thanks to the many people I know who are front liners and leave their homes, their children and the comfort of their safe spaces to travel to work while some are lucky enough to be at home moaning about self isolating.

To the fire brigade, parmedics, nurses, radiographers and carers who treat the sick.  To the porters, the sterilisation units, the cleaning staff, the clerks, the cooks and the aides, because if they didn't go to work the hospitals couldn't remain open.

To the retail staff  and the delivery persons who risk everything and battle every day for long hours to provide us all with the essentials while ignorant dickweeds treat them like crap.

To An Post and the volunteers who have been and continue to be a point of contact for the vulnerable.

To the prison officers, who continue to go into work and care for their inmates, they work long hours and deal with situations that others will never have to.

To the Gardai, who are out doing exactly what they have always done, defending and protecting the community. Responding to calls of scared elderly people, youths disobeying social distancing, and all the other stuff they did before.

To the army who are on standby.

To the people obeying social distancing and following the guidelines set out by the HSE and our Government, who can I say, are playing a blinder during this pandemic.

You probably started this thinking you would have a giggle by the end of it, I'm sorry that you didn't, but for once, I can't find anything funny to describe Covid_19.

The Jollerie New Year – I cant believe its been a year since I didn’t become a better person

What exactly is a New Years Resolution, it’s a to do list for the first week of January.  So, As we are already ten days into 2014andI sit here tits deep in boredom, it struck me that as the new year reals in so does my never ending  aging.  I feel like I’m getting so old I’m going to need the bible to reminisce.  So I want to feel younger…how does one do that? Can one change the habits of a lifetime? I’m not sure.  They are not called habits of a year, or the habits of 2000-2014, a lifetime is a lifetime. 

I feel very hard done by having a new years birthday, how dare my parents be so inconsiderate.  While every other Tom Dick and Mary are out there celebrating the fact that they are giving up the usual things, deciding they are going to go to the gym at least 3 times a week and hugging strangers they barely know whilst signing old Lang sigh , I’m planning my birthday and there is no way I am not drinking, smoking or being a generally debaucherous human until at least mid January.

Instead of giving up the drink or the smokes or even in some cases the food, you (well I) drink, smoke and eat your way into the new year trying to distract yourself from the impending birthday and before you know it, it’s the end of January and too late to give up said drink, smokes and food until next year. 

So I’m making a change, I’ve decided to have my new year like the Chinese, later on in January.  Now the Chinese are celebrating their new year on Friday 31^st January, that’s a little late for my liking, I could end up putting on another stone and becoming a fully fledged alcoholic before then.  Thankfully I’ve given up the smokes, well I have the odd one now and then but I’m not buying them regularly and I’m quite proud of that.

So I’m creating the Jollerie New Year.  This year on the 13^th January I’m starting my own new year.  Now I know 13 is usually an unlucky number but sure I’m pretty unlucky anyway and I’ve failed at every other attempt I’ve made to change my bad habits so I’m going to overlook the unlucky number and take it as a good omen and start afresh.

·         I’m not going to do weight watchers – I’m sick and tired of paying to be told I didn’t stick to my diet plan.

·         I’m not going to promise to go to the gym – I’m a bit of a rebel and hate “having to do things” so its best to just go with the flow and do it when I want to.

·         I’m not going to not drink – I’ll just drink in moderation

·         I’m not going to not eat – I shall eat when I want but try be healthy

·         I’m not going to not smoke – I will smoke if the mood takes me but be sensible

I have four weddings this year so if I cant find a dress I only have myself to blame.  Happy new year peeps

Don't Mess With Electricity!

One fabulous afternoon while visiting my beloved Grandma, accompanied by my little brother and my older cousin we decided to experiment with electricity.

Not a good idea.  In one of the spare bedrooms of my grandmothers home there stood two miniture flouresent reading lights above the bed.  They were long bulbs like the ones below!

So there we were, my cousin and I concocting this atrocious plan to see what would happen if someone stuck their fingers into the sockets if there was no bulb in it.  Would they light up...would their hair stand up...would it be like on Tom and Jerry where someone would be flung to the ceiling...who knew!

So we stood there eyeing the lamp.."you do it" my cousin said to me as she took out the bulb...even at that young age I knew that this was not a good plan so I looked at her and said..."I will not do it" and stomped my feet...I then said "lets get Tom"...

My poor brother was only a baby..well he was about four or five....that would have made me about six or seven...my cousin was a good 3 years older than me so she should have known better..but no, she clearly didn't.

Up the stairs climbed Tom...."Tom, stick your finger in there" I said pointing to one of the holes where the bulb sat..he took his fat little pointer and in it went....nothing happened...."put your other one in there" said my cousin....nothing happened...

Disappointed by the lack of action we were seeing I decided to pull the cord to knock on the light.  I grabbed the cord, tugged it really fast, on off, on off, on off....he didn't even cry...but did look like a deer in the headlights.

Tom and I in and around the time of the incident in question!

Behind me I felt a swift clatter across the back of the head....and heard an almighty scream...."Holy Sweet Mother of Devine Jesus" my granny was behind us...she dragged poor Thomas away from the socket...he wasn't the better of it at all...he was brought to the Doctor...We were told on return that we were lucky we didn't kill him.

I think everyone involved in this story was a bit cabbagy this day....

May Camino Packing List

What I'm taking (fyi, this is what’s being recommended by various pilgrims for a May Camino) remember, its my first one too, there will be mistakes:

Passport and medication/glasses…..do not forget these……..In a zip lock back to keep dry.

E1 11 card, you are all entitled to them, apply for it now if you don’t have it, you will be seen for free in any EU hospital.

Backpack …duuuuuuah

BLISTER KIT, COMPEED, in a place where they are easily accessible on route.

Backpack rain cover or if you have a poncho you can cover both you and the backpack

Poncho/Rain Gear, lads, May is the rainy season so be prepared for unexpected showers, they are apparently fast and furious and come and go in a whirlwind.

Walking sticks, people are torn on this one, but think of saving your knees and the wild dogs are put off by them, yes I did say wild dogs. There is confusion about checking your bags but apparently if they are a walking aid they are allowed and its skiing poles that aren’t allowed.  This I may be able to find out from someone at the DAA.

Research argues both a sleeping bag and sleeping bag liner I’m only bringing the liner, something I might regret but sure it’s a pilgrimage and I am supposed to be suffering. If I am cold, I will just sleep in my clothes.

Ear plugs, lads, snoring is going to occur, we are not the only family on the Camino, we will be sharing with other knackered folk so be prepared.

Inflatable pillow – very light and haven’t heard great reviews about the albergue-provided pillows (I’d say they are never washed and they are probably mankatron) I am bringing bed bug spray just in case too.

Clothing - I’m going with the rule of three 1. Wash 2. Dry 3. Wear

Technical T-Shirts/Vest (Most recommend at least one long sleve) X3

Fleece – apparently if you start out in the morning it can be chilly and it gets warm by midday so be prepared.

2 X Hiking cut off pants, the reason being, it can be chilly in morning and if you want to explore some of the churches it can be respectful to throw on the bottom part of the pant..not sure about this but I have read it a couple of times, each to their own.

Shorts, for an evening relax.

Three pairs of jocks/nicks/bra, again one for washing one for wearing and one for drying.

Three socks, trekking ones, you don’t want blisters or chaffing, make sure you’ve worn them before you wear them on the Camino.

Flip Flops or Sandals, apparently the best thing of an evening is to take off your boots and let some air at your feet for the evening. Some people swear by taking your boots off every time you rest but I recon your feet will swell once you take them off and might be awful putting them back on to trek again, but again, each to their own.

Sun hat/Cap – to protect your ears neck and face from that pesky sun burn. I shall be bringing my gayfinder hat, just in case you were wondering.

Toiletry bag/Mesh bag (for drying quickly) or zip lock bag for:

Toothbrush/Paste, I am sure people can share the paste between them, I will have some with me. And if your being really clever then you can cut your toothbrush in half.

I am bringing a travel bottle of shampoo/conditioner…I like a good shower and it can double as shower cream if you are frugal with it.

A disposable razor…this is for the boys and the girls if they aren’t getting waxed before they fly.

Sun screen – NB NB NB

Sunglasses, with UV protection.

Deodorant, again, share the weight as you probably won’t use a whole bottle…unless your bringing roll on, don’t share that, that would be gross.

A water bladder/or other 2L water storage.  Lads, hydration is key.

I’d say a camera but all our phones have one, I will be bringing the go pro and doing the usual video so you can have a copy of that to cherish those miserable moments.

A power bank and cable for charging.

Nappy pins X 5, believe it or believe it not, apparently nappy pins are brilliant for laundry, hanging off your bag to dry, drying on a rack.  I will be bringing these, they also double for a blister burster.

Quick dry towel. They are light and shit. No, they don’t dry like a real towel but you will be glad of the extra lightness that they bring.

Pen and paper, people are mixed on this one, I keep a visual journal everywhere I go so I would be lost if I didn’t bring one, but again it’s a luxury item for me.

Toilet paper, now Lora has done a bit of research on this one and I don’t know how I feel about it but you can think about it.  Instead bring a bandana in a zip lock, if you need to clean yourself you can and then wash it and lock it in the zip lock.  It might be a less bulky alternative and apparently it’s a done thing and ecofriendly aaaannnnddd it means you will never run out.

Debit/Credit card..you don’t know when you will be stranded or stuck.

Apparently pilgrims carry a family photo as other pilgrims like to share. I like this and I know I will be carrying a photo of my family with me, if nothing else they will make me feel better if I have had a tough day.

NON ESSENTIALS (If you want)

A head torch, I am torn on this one and I will have to see how heavy my pack is before I waste space on this.  I get that the albergue turn off their lights but again, our phones have one to get to the toilet if you’re stuck.

Guidebook – I will probably bring one.

Spork - a half spoon fork knife kind of thing, made of plastic.

I'll be bringing nearly all my stuff in zip lock bags, they are handy and keep everything dry.

Wizards Assemble - A Review

Being an avid Harry Potter fan you can only imagine my excitement when I found out  that ‘Wasted Promotions’ were bringing to Dublin a Wizards Assemble, Harry Potter themed Pub Crawl.  I nearly danced around my kitchen imagining all kinds of like-minded weirdos crawling through Dublin armed with wands and robes leaving the passing muggles in a state odd resentment like jealousy. 

The time was 7pm the date was 17^th February 2017 and the mood was nervous excitement (well for me) my partner was entertaining my seriously embarrassing excitement because she loves me and knows she’s better off just letting me be a total dork than having to deal with my total geekiness.  Having conned four more of our family members to attend, the six of us pranced gaily up the stairs of Capitol Bar and met our ‘reps’, were told we are in group one, were given a bracelet and ordered our gillyweed cocktails.

After about ten minutes of  admiring each other’s costumes we were told that group one was leaving and to down our drinks and be on our way.  In a rather rapid rush what seems like about 100 of us were escorted down the back stairs and off to Harrys on the Green.  I asked the ‘rep’ how long we had here and she said ‘half an hour’.  I ran to the bar, only to face a wall of wizards trying to order a drink.

After twenty minutes queuing I ordered our group a drink.   We had ten minutes to down it.  We decided to get a plan in place and prepare to be ready to leave in front of the group in order to be able to get a drink and enjoy it at the next bar, so with our second drink downed we legged it to the front of the group and were met by group two on their way in.  We battered our way by them and then trudged up to Wexford Street, into Karma, where we met with a young ‘rep’ who handed us our chop sticks covered in glue, sorry I mean Wands.  Mine was still tacky with spray paint and poor Joes was falling apart but we were still in high spirits and eager for the games and spot prizes that were to be showered upon the group.

By the fourth bar ‘Opium’ on Camden Street we were growing suspicious.  Our ‘reps’ were confused, there were no spot prizes and all wizards and muggles alike were starting to suspect that there was nothing of note in plan for the evening.  I spoke to two lovely Beletrix Le Strange characters who decided they were going to skip the next bar to try and get a drink in time to enjoy it because all they seemed to do was stand in a que and down a drink in five minutes. 

By the time we got to Whelans Bar I manged to track down a rep and ask was anything going to happen bar the constant queuing, her reply was “I’m really sorry, I was just told to turn up at six and make sure you get to the bars by a certain time, I don’t know nothing”.  Having had a few drinks I managed to laugh out loud and slag “Wasted Promotions” management of the event to all the other Wizards who were conned.  Some of the guys and gals we met came up with the plan to change groups so we managed to hang with a group from group 4 for a while who were hilarious.  After a couple of drinks in Whelan’s we headed off, lost our group, our wands were now just wooden chopsticks and I wanted to strangle the “Wasted Promotions” organisers with my Gryfindor tie.

When I fell in the door last night I was intoxicated to say the least.  Downing drinks in order to keep up with a too fast paced pub crawl is not what one would call drinking responsibly but to top it all off, this morning I awoke to a notification from Wizards Assemble Facebook page thanking everyone for a wonderful night.  As I watched the negative comments pouring in, I jumped on board and started in on the discussion.  It was becoming quite enjoyable in a morbid kind of way watching the comments pile up about others disappointment in the event and as they continued to come in they started to be deleted.  Imagine, whoever is controlling their Facebook page is (I'm going to say allegedly)  deleting the negative comments.  Seriously, how pathetic.  (I do realise that I was dressed up to go to a themed night, so I shouldn’t really be calling anyone pathetic except myself, but seriously).

Now, don’t get me wrong, I had a blast, but this had little to do with the event. My merriment had nothing to do with Wasted Promotions and everything to do with the company I was in.  The event was badly managed and a total waste of time.  My advice to anyone thinking of going to any of these events is, don’t, gather your ticket money together and have a Harry Potter themed night at a house party.  At least this way you will get to enjoy your drink. Wasted Promotions, my opinion, aptly named.  PS: I’m not a skin flint, €8 was cheap as chips for a ticket, but I’m not sure what I paid for.

I Think I Might Have An Impulsive Disorder - Discuss

Lads and Lassies,  I know I promised you lots of blogs after I finished with the Sunday World but the fact of the matter is, I actually don't want to talk about loosing weight any more.  I suddenly realised I was boring myself trying to come up with ways to talk about weightloss and not be boring.  

Now, when you find yourself being bored with yourself, you know you are becoming excruciatingly boring to everyone else.  That said, I am still hanging off the walls at 'Climbing Walls' Dublin and Donie is still my climbing partner and has saved my life, literally, about fifty times.  I am currently sporting two beautiful purple coloured bruises on my right shoulder, a cut on my left shin and several icky looking blisters on all eight of my fingers..... and yes, I do still love it. 

Which brings me to my next topic.  Kayaking.  My good friend Gill got a kayak recently and proceeded to tell me about the wonderful world of kayaking over a stiff gin and tonic (yep, I'm still drinking regularly) and of course I decided it would be a lovely calm hobby to join my good friend in.  Twenty four hours later, minus a heap of money I am the proud owner of a shiny red kayak.

What kind of Kayak I hear you ask...I am not really sure. How long is my paddle?.....Couldn't tell you.  After I spoke to an avid kayaker this afternoon and was bombarded with questions about my little boat I decided that showing a photo of it was the best way to go..I found out that my boat is bullet proof...that's good to know what with all the crime these days.  I could paddle to England in it if my arms would get me there, was another...not sure I am ready for that but also good to know.  

I was told that if I was going to go out on the ocean that I needed a handheld waterproof VHS...I couldn't find one anywhere on the tinternet that didn't look like an old video player, that was until I realized that I should have been looking for a VHF marine radio.  I was asked about life jackets and helmets and wetsuits and cags and boots and dry bags and all these other things that I would need, luckily enough I had some of these from the year before last when I took up diving and soon realised I was terrified of dying under water in a freak accident (which would have been entirely my own fault).

I thought it best that I quit that.  I was terrified to tell my partner that I was giving it up after spending so much money but it turned out she was delighted, as it happens she too thought I would die in a freak underwater diving accident, that I would have caused.  The only difference between her story and mine is that I would probably have taken my diving partner with me.

So I think this is the first time I have sat back in any of my nearly fourty years and asked, do I have an impulsive disorder or am I just a fun loving crazy lady who is afraid of getting old.  As I sit here scratching my head I'm praying that it's the later, I am also thinking, how the hell am I going to get that yolk onto a roof rack (that I had to buy) on my own?

Awesome Walls and Climbing

After the great travesty last week regarding the two pound gain I decided that this week I was going to diet, get real active and try something new.  Now I can get a bit scared trying something new alone so I roped my work husband Doney into accompanying me to Awesome Walls in Finglas, the Mrs has a fear of heights so was uncooperative when I tried to get her to overcome her fears and take to the sky, or roof as was the case.  I had read that climbing is a great core sport and is great for the burning of calories so I thought I might get active by doing something fun. 

Now I’m not saying that running or spinning isn’t fun, I’m just saying that they are not fun for me.  I know I’m not pushing myself enough physically, I need to enjoy whatever exercise it is that I am going to partake in otherwise I am just going to plod along doing the same boring routine at the gym and will get so bored I won’t go or will find reasons not to go.

So we booked a mid-day training class and met with our instructors who spent an hour with us showing us all the equipment and how to tie the knots that will keep us from plummeting to our deaths, or becoming the victim of a serious injury.  After we had completed our basic training we were allowed off to our own devices and experimented with some wall climbing.  As the day went on my arms and legs started to burn.  When we eventually stopped for a break, hours had passed and I realised I was starving.

Doney wanted to go out to eat but I decided to cook something healthy for us instead and eat in.  The journey home was agony.  There was a hairy moment on the M50 when I  came to my exit and was worried that the muscles in my arms wouldn’t be able to turn the wheel to make the very hard turn that led to home, but we made it home and I managed to throw together a lovely, healthy steamed salmon dish that filled us and didn’t ruin the hard work we had put into the day.

As we sat on the couch, knackered and sore, watching an old Star Trek film, possibly because our arms were too sore to hold and aim the remote control we made plans to do it again.  Four days later, after the pain had subsided, I was back in a harness again attempting to climb to the top of the building and burning the calories while really enjoying myself.  When I got talking to one of the girls there I was invited to attend a free women’s coaching session on the Wednesday.  I signed up and am currently praying the pain I am enduring now is going to be gone by Wednesday.

While Karen always says that losing weight is 90% about diet and 10% about exercise, I think that exercise gives you that boost to help keep your mind on the diet.  I already am thinking about losing weight so that I don’t have to haul all this weight up the wall.  I want to tone up and get strong and if staying away from the pies is going to help me with that then bring it on.  I’ve a week left with Magazine + and know that this week is a definite turning point for me.  Maybe it’s the smell of Spring in the air but I’m feeling rejuvenated.

Its My Travesty

There I was thinking that the start to this week was going to go fine.  After the skin thing last week and my partners birthday my body went into total crapville.  I got a real bad chest infection.  I was on antibiotics and taking cough bottle to beat the band. I was bed ridden and in no form for anything.  I did no walking, not a lot of talking (I know, hard to believe) and mostly felt totally crap about everything and everyone.  Dieting was the last thing on my mind. 

Now I didn’t do the dog on it at all. I realised that being sick was no reason to lose the run of myself, that and the fact that there was little of badness in the house when it came to food.  I didn’t eat too much at all really.  I was downing the cough mixture, which I later heard is full of sugar and spent the days lying between the dent that I had made for myself in the couch and my bed.  Life really doesn’t give a damn about whether or not you are trying to meet a deadline or lose the remaining pounds before you finish a diet challenge. 

This is probably a really boring column as I don’t really have much of anything to say because I didn’t do much of anything to note.  I was too sick to go see Karen from Transform4Life but she offered me support via the phone and assured me that she was only a call text or tweet away.   We decided I would weigh myself as I was too sick to come in and it nearly tipped me over the edge as I was two pounds up.  I was nearly brought to tears only I think I was so dehydrated there was no moisture in my system to muster up a tear.  My throat was so sore I let my intake of water slip.

I spent hours thinking about how this travesty happened.  I hadn’t eaten anything of note, let’s face it, when you can’t taste or smell what you are eating, what is the point.  I know my water intake was poor, this could have been some trigger, water weight? Who am I kidding.  The steroids the week before probably caught up with me.  But no matter how long I spent beating myself up about it I had to take solace in the fact that once I kick the infection I am just going to have to start back at square one.  I was broken hearted.  Truly. 

I remember when I was in my twenties, I could lose weight much easier.  I started cursing getting older, my metabolism and started reading about how illness and age affects weightloss.  I spent the time totally unproductively and miserable.  Dieting sucks.  Being sick also sucks, this week everything sucked, especially me. I’d say my partner wanted to beat me within an inch of her life but like normal she just nodded, smiled and was being really helpful, even this annoyed me. I could take being up if I had been really bad but I was just ill with a little nibble here or there. 

I then blamed God for a bit, then apologised and asked for forgiveness. As I write this I am still congested and spluttery but can see the light at the end of the sickness tunnel.  Sometimes feeling sorry for yourself feels more important than dieting.  This week I really wanted to give dieting the two fingers but I swear as soon as I kick this thing I am back on the scales.

Wine Tasting and Tid Bits

How did I start this week?  Not well, that’s for sure.  After The Big Bang sit in of Week 14 my body went into a state of shock when I tried to pry it away from the hole in couch I had made for myself and went into complete and utter shut down.  I have a weird skin condition called palmer planter that flares up every so often which leaves me full of steroids and smeared with what can only be described as a witch doctor cream which leaves me smelling of cat pee and cold tar.  Then to top it off I got a chest infection and a dose of the I feel sorry for myself blues’.  Luckily enough it didn’t last too long and I was back to myself in time for my partners birthday.

What do you get the woman who has everything?  While I am always one for pulling out all the stops, this year was a hard one.  She’s not one for tablets, or devices.  She’s no interest in jewellery.  She has the golf clubs, the bike, the gym gear.  Now there is always flowers (no chocolates this year) so what do I do…….I buy a wine tasting and supper experience.  Probably not the best idea for someone trying to lose weight but this wasn’t about me, this was about her.

We had never been on one together before.  I say together because I had been on one years back but I was young and it was more like a wine sculling course and I don’t remember learning much about anything.  Initially it was supposed to be in Ely Wine Bar in Dublin 2 but was changed to Ely in IFSC. I had never been before and when I approached it I was a little apprehensive when I saw all the young hipster type crowd out enjoying themselves but when we went downstairs to what looked like an underground vault I was impressed.

The room that the tasting was in was beautifully laid out and two tables set out for six were on either side of it.  There stood six wine glasses in front of each chair, three red and three white.  I started to get nervous because I started to feel out of my depth.  At the table to my right there was a young Asian lad who looked about 14.  I wondered if he was there as a way to consume alcohol while underage but realised when I saw him swirl the wine around the glass he was probably way more experienced than I was. 

Ian, the guy in charge introduced himself to us and we explained that we were new to this and he put us at ease explaining the process.  You pick up a glass, give it a swirl, stick your nose in and inhale, not too much or you will inhale the wine and choke causing one much embarrassment, trust me.  I wasn’t sure this whole experience was for me when the power couple at our table stated rather loudly “ohhh, the nose on that”.  I was actually looking for someone with a large nose but realised that they were just using a wine phrase.

There was a lovely PE teacher from a very affluent school in the City Centre sitting next to us and we got talking about dieting and being healthy, it seems that I always end up talking about dieting, I must be a pain in the butt.  While I know I am writing every week about dieting I realised that I still just have to be myself and live how I do.  I am going to have to do this long after I finish with Magazine+ and can’t beat myself up every time I want to do something that involves eating or drinking.  I’ll just have to enjoy the experience and be good every other day.

The Big Bang and the big sit in!

A couple of years ago I got conned into participating in an event called Hell and Back.  This was a 14k run up and down a mountain in the freezing cold, sometimes carrying a log, or tyres and involved a lot of climbing.  There was a section of the course where I had to climb up two burley men who then flung me over the top of a wall which I was supposed to grab and climb gracefully over.  Needless to say there was nothing graceful about me overshooting the top and falling the ten feet onto a pile of tyres.  Stay with me, this story is going somewhere.  When I hit that pile of tyres and ran to my partner I thought I had reached the end and was delirious with relief. I had not.  I was quickly informed I still had 5k to go.  That is how I feel at the moment about dieting.

Not trying to be melodramatic but I can see the finish line but I’m not even half way there.  I really am being good with regard to food.  I’ve had salads for dinner three times this week.  While I really like salads, I also really like a chipper.  The toughest part of being on a diet is not watching what you eat, its watching what other people eat.  With only a few weeks left I really want to make the two stone.  I know I have miles to go after I finish this challenge but I genuinely think I will continue to do this.  I might not be meeting Karen every week or writing for Magazine + but I have definitely changed how I feel about food.

I obviously have an addictive personality.  This is a problem when you love food so much.  This week I had the opportunity to have a wind down.  This is a rare and exhilarating experience for me.  I’m usually so busy that I don’t have time to scratch myself but this week I had four days to do whatever I felt like doing.  The first day I cleaned my house from top to bottom.  It is now an OCD haven.  My fitbit calculated way over my 10k steps after the scrubfest. 

The second day I did a very stupid thing.  I logged onto Netflix.  First error. There was a recommendation for me to watch a programme called The Big Bang Theory, I clicked in.  Second error.  Two days later, four seasons in I am admitting to myself I have a problem.  While I haven’t eaten anything bad or drank anything that will leave me in a state of inebriation, there is now a Joy shaped dent in the corner of my couch.  I’m also dreaming about being in this show, this is never a good sign.  My fitbit calculated under 10k steps both days.  Don’t worry, I am hanging my head in shame. 

The only solution to this is to place a large full length mirror under the TV and maybe eat dinner naked while looking into the mirror.  I believe this would be a great tool in the war against gaining weight.  I certainly know that if I was to watch myself eating naked in a mirror it would be enough to turn me off my food.  Anyway, when I spoke to Karen this week I explained how I was feeling.  There is no quick fix to losing weight.  She encouraged me and told me I was losing weight the right way, slow and steady and I am on the way to winning this race!

Shebeens, Rap-Offs and Debauchery

So I’m settling back into my routine and am out doing more than my 10,000 steps most days.  I was down the country again, this time it was the lovely Limerick.  Now, I’m not going to lie, I had a ball.  I ended up in a Shebeen called ‘The OutBack’ in the middle of nowhere dancing to the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing and ending up in a Rap off, Dubliner against –not sure what you call a person from Limerick but either way they annihilated me. 

Sometimes, when I am surrounded by people I feel comfortable around I have a tendency to let a little over excited, actually not sometimes, all the time.  I am a very happy lady who loves being around those who love life as much as I do.  That said I should be mature enough to have control over my willpower. I let myself down a bit this week.  I had bread.  I also drank.  Believe me I did hang my head in shame.  I also hung it into a toilet bowl for some time also.  I feel like I got too excited and let go a little too much.  I know we are all entitled to let ourselves go once in a while and in my opinion I had been doing really well, but this week I was bad.   I have a vague recollection of a box of pringles along the way somewhere.

Now I know in the aftermath of the fun and frolics I am probably over thinking all I ate and drink, realistically I probably only had two bad days and five really good days.  But the scales never lie.  While I didn’t gain weight after the debaucherously enjoyable carrying on over the week, I didn’t loose anything either.  That was a kick in the teeth.    I am so used to being down that I was furious that I hadn’t lost a pound.  Not one.  Who’s fault was this.  Mine.

I had been exercising and watching my food and drink for five of seven days and feel like I was entitled to enjoy myself for a little bit.  But when you have a fun filled couple of days your mind pulls you back and you realise the only person you are fooling is yourself.  I knew as I pranced around that little bar with a glass of Moet in my hand I was going to pay the price.  I could hear my inner voice going “Joy, calm down, there’s no need to be going crazy, put down the Pringle”.  My evil inner voice replied “Ah shut up you ye thick, what harm is a few Pringles going to do”….Well I can now tell you the harm.

When you wake up after drinking all night and eating crap you do not feel human.  You feel like a much less evolved version of the species.  I’ve been so good with regard to the drink lately that I had forgotten the effects of overindulgence.  I spent several hours between the bed, the couch, the sink (because I couldn’t make it to the toilet in time) and back to the couch.  I was so hungover I couldn’t even lift my hand to change the channel on the remote control.  Parents, if you ever want to turn your teens off the drink you should send them over to me after a night on the Raz.  Needless to say I have made the decision, again, to never drink again.  At least until after my final week with Karen.

Fitbits & Feasts

After a long and arduous flight in which a passenger vomited all over the food trollies and spent the entire flight hurling up in front of me I eventually made it home.  I didn’t realise how happy I was until I saw my partner at that arrivals gate with a fresh coffee in hand.  Not an hour had passed before she was talking about dinner and what I would like to eat.  After being extremely good in New York I decided first things first, a bottle of champers was going to be downed and we popped open the Moet.

After a magnificent feast of diet friendly food and overindulging with alcohol I knew that a little slip is allowed and I wasn’t going to beat myself up about it, after all, who goes abroad and loses two pounds.  I was going to start afresh on Tuesday and that is exactly what I did.  My sister had surprised my partner and I with a Fitbit Surge.  This is a little device which works as a watch, merges with your smartphone to collect messages and calls but most importantly is a super duper fitness calculator.  We got up on Tuesday morning and after tracking and comparing our sleep patterns on our new toys, we decided to put them to the test.  Gone was the crappy pedometer I had bought prior to my trip.

The Fitbit gives a person a target of 10,000 steps a day.  You would be surprised at how competitive you become trying to achieve this.  As the week progressed I found myself running around the house trying to get to the 10,000 done.  One of the days I only got to 8,000 and was in a state of frustration for the entire night which made my sleep all crappy (according to my Fitbit).  My diet was going well and I was staying on track all week.  Bringing food with me and making sure I had lots of fruit on hand.

While on my travels during the week I ran into two guys and we got talking about the General Election.  In about 3 minutes we were all talking about dieting.  One of the guys was on Weightwatchers and the other was part of a college medical clinical diet test.  We talked about struggling with weight and foods that we enjoy and what was working for each of us. Never did I think that I could be sitting with two men who were unknown to me and talking comfortably about my weight.  I think that no matter who you are, no matter what gender or size you are, everyone has an opinion on food and weight management.  I know I am losing my weight slowly. I always hope for a higher loss on the scales, I’d be lying if I said I was happy with the one pound downs, but it is down.   

I always assume that people expect me to be down four or five pounds a week but that is unrealistic for me.  My schedule is always so varied and while I have a routine, it’s a routine that wouldn’t suit others.  I’m not a nine to five girl so I can’t  have a nine to five lifestyle.   I have learned that just because two people are on a diet at the same time eating the same food, it doesn’t mean you lose the same weight.