Monday, October 28, 2013

Courage Award goes to.............................................





Last Saturday was a very special day for our family.  This is the day that my eldest grandson Callum was being awarded for the "Children of Courage" Award through the Lions Club of Australia.   It truly was a great afternoon witnessing so many children receiving their awards and listening to their stories of the many obstacles they have had to overcome in their lives.  It made me really realise how lucky we are. Some of these  "Special children" have had to overcome major health issues that we would never want our children to have.  Some are confined to a wheelchair, ASD, and have various impairments but the one thing they all have in common is that they have shown great courage and bravery.  

You all may of read a previous blog I did on my other blog page about  State school issues with Callum and see the issues Callum was facing at school.  At the beginning it was so hard to see my grandson going through so much crap.   I hated to see my daughter having to deal with it but she did it.  Instead of sitting back and just being another family dealing with ASD in Queensland with little support from anyone my Grandson and mother fought back. 

I had tears in my eyes when Callum was called up to receive his award on Saturday.  This grandma was so proud.  You see Callum and I have this special bond and that will never ever change.  I truly adore all my grandchildren and treat them all the same.  I am blessed with 5 amazing grandbabies and can't wait to attend all their special moments in their lives.    

Thank you to the Lions club of Australia for this award.  This organisation does so many fantastic things for the community.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Lifestyle Change Begins......................................!

Well its only been a couple of days since I was given the news of change your lifestyle, eating habits, exercise regime and work on your stress levels or you will have a heart attack or stroke in the future.  I'm feeling quite good at the moment and have taken all the advice.  Funny how something can change your whole outlook on life.  There has been quite a few massive things that has happened in my life that has impacted me so much.  Meeting and marrying my man was a positive impact.  Birth of our children positive.  The loss of 2 sisters in 10 years was negative and at present I am not ready to be the 3rd sister.

I had a look at my eating habits of late which consisted of snack foods, food, wine, chocolate, pizza etc.  You get the idea.  So easy in the morning to throw in a couple of muesli bars a chocolate and a apple into my handbag to keep me going at work.  Very rarely would I actually have a lunch break away from the computer so was eating on the run.  Travelling through Brisbane in the car from one side of town to the other was probably the best lunch break I had.  The reason for the snack foods are easy to eat when you are driving.  Wasn't a breakfast person but occasionally may stop at the shop near work for a strong coffee to kick start the work morning with.  Funny by the time I got home and picked up William from his day service it was now close on 6pm.  I made sure most nights he had a cooked dinner which consisted of fish, salad and chips or spaghetti, or sausages.  Most nights I didn't eat as I didn't feel hungry.  Some nights I spend long hours creating candles, making soaps, wrapping soaps and filling and sending out orders for Green Me Up Granny.  Some nights I would have a glass or two of wine.  Friday nights were always Pizza Night.  William loves pizza night.  I would also stop at the bottle shop on the way home for a bottle or two of wine. 
Weekends consisted of catching up with family or setting up a market stall somewhere.  This also meant lots of fast foods or quick easy things to buy to eat.  Sausage Sizzles, Hamburgers etc.  You get the picture. 

As you can see my eating habits are were bad.  In a length of 5 days everything changed.

I really checked out websites, different diets, meal replacements, diet tablets etc to find out different ways to lose some weight.  The real issue I had with all of this was the four letter word DIET. 

I really don't like that word as I have tried so many DIETS over the years I don't want to set myself up to fail again.  All I need to do is to change my foods and exercise.  Walk. Walk, Walk.

Yesterday saw me purchase a Magic Bullet.

 
I love it.  My new toy that will play such a big part of my healthy lifestyle journey.  I have already started using it. 
 
 
My DH with my SIL also moved a massive Treadmill from my daughters place to here.  No easy feat as it was heavy as anything and of course didn't fit through any of the doors.  They had to pull it a part to get it inside.  It is all set up and yesterday I walked 1 km.  I know not much but it is to a person who is obese and doesn't exercise.  Slow steady steps. 
 
 
 
As you can see very little room to swing a cat around but the treadmill is in and I will continue the 1 km walk each day and slowly build up the speed and distance as the days progress.
 
 
 
My eating has changed.  I now have breakfast and its healthy. I have a healthy snack at morning tea..  Salad for lunch, piece of fruit or handful of almonds in the afternoon and a healthy dinner.  I also found this clear stuff in the tap here called water and starting to drink plenty of it.
 
I am not ready yet to advise the world of my current weight as I am embarrassed that I could let myself go so much.  I will put a couple of pictures up.  One of me when I met Bill all those years ago and one of me last week fishing.  You will then understand why I am not ready. 






 
 
I know I may not get back to the size I was when I was 17 but I am going to at least give it my best shot.  The weekend is fast approaching and I am sure being the first weekend it will be had but I know I can do it. 
 
 
Sue X

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Calm Blue Ocean

We spent just over a week at Woodgate last week in the only tourist park up there.  It was a glorious week of relaxation.  Fishing and just enjoying the scenery.  We did head into Childers for the morning and came across this amazing Pharmacy Museum in the main street.  If you are ever in Childers you need to check it out.  The couple who run it knows quite a bit of history.

We spent a couple of days fishing but didn't catch anything but it was so relaxing.  The beach was straight across the road from the park so we went for plenty of walks and loads of shells to collect.


If you are looking for a place to get away from everything this is certainly the place to do it. Only a couple of shops there so was great to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

















Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Health Scare

Well it has been a turmoil over the last couple of days.  After spending a glorious week at Woodgate in Queensland I had to return to work on Monday.  (Will do another blog on our holiday).  Monday morning got out of bed not feeling the best.  Very light headed but new as a Manager I had to go to work as a week off meant that I had a weeks worth of work that I needed to catch up on plus deal with the normal things that I have to do.  Arrived at work just before 7am as I knew today would be a long day and would not get home until at least 6pm tonight.  How wrong was I. 

After arriving and unlocking dealing with the first issue of the morning which was staff telephoning in sick.  Agency staff organised.  The list continues.  Pays need to be done.  Staff claiming for days they weren't at work being denied.  Phone calls from my manager.  More things to do.  Variances due.  Some staff having issues completing time sheets.  Following up things that happened over the week.  Sifting through nearly 100 emails.  Reports to complete.  Clients arriving wanting me for different reasons.  Blah!  Blah !Blah!  The list is endless and I have only been at work just over 90 minutes.  The next hour was a bit of a blur.

Tightness in chest, aching arm, sweating, cold, dead arm feeling and staff are now telephoning ambulance.  Taken off to Prince Charles Hospital.  I won't go into anymore but I am home now but a big wake up call.

Green Me Up Granny needs to take control of her life.  Make some lifestyle changes and better choices or next time it could be a lot serious.

Need to cut out a lot of the foods that I have been eating.  More home cooked low fat foods.  More vegetable etc.  Everyone knows the rest.  More exercise.  Found this one a challenge since work hours and running a home business is very time consuming but going to try.

Love you to follow my journey.  Not returning to work until at least next Monday on a directive from my Manager. This gives me time to start and change a few things.

Today Bill is heading to the daughters place to pick up a treadmill for me.  We did a swap.  Then I need to start looking at the foods etc to eat and remove those processed foods from the cupboard, fridge and freezer.

Todays the start of my new and improved life.  I know it is not going to be easy but I need to make sure that I am still around for my grandchildren's weddings etc.  Plus Bill and I have just celebrated 27 years of marriage.  I want to see out at least 2 more life sentences with him. lol

Sue X