This is the first day of my journey towards looking after myself first, instead of always last. I didn't do too badly today. I drank my entire bottle of water, was fairly good with what I ate (a couple of chocolate eggs may have crept in), and although I didn't do a set workout, I got a lot of incidental exercise in with doing housework and walking around a mates' property.  I found a wonderful app called Home Routine where you can customise your tasks and then tick them off as you go. I'm going to start using that a lot more as it helps me keep on track instead of looking at the house and thinking "What do I do next?". It also has "zones" set up in it which you can co-ordinate with the FlyLady ones if you wish. Not a bad app at all!

I didn't get a chance to go through the pantry as I was hardly home all day, but I've got some great ideas sorted for dinners! MIL has gone away and gave us all her leftovers, including soup, quiche, and lots of fruit and veges. I did a pasta bake tonight with leftover pasta that she had given us. There is still a bit of that left over, so tomorrow nights tea will be using up all the leftovers in the fridge. Surely between pasta bake, soup and quiche everyone can find something to eat!  The extra fruit is great too as we were running very low. I'm thinking a casserole might be in order with all these veges, so on payday I will visit the butcher and get some stewing meat and put the slow cooker on. I also need to invest in some "chinese style" containers to put leftovers in to freeze. How lovely it would be to have freezer full of frozen meals when I don't feel like cooking! This might be my mission over these holidays. A huge cooking session of dinners and lunchbox items (muffins, cupcakes etc) that can be frozen for when school goes back.

The woman that I mentioned in the previous post has agreed to be my mentor! I am very excited! I'm looking forward to getting back on track and feeling good again.

Tomorrow I am visiting a friend and we are taking the kids to the park to feed the ducks and play in the playground. Am looking forward to having a great chat with her. We have a very similar outlook on life, and are both quite spiritual. I can't wait to tell her all about working towards reconnecting with myself again. Have a good night everyone. Blessings!

I was going through old emails the other day and came across the details of this blog that I created, which I had completely forgotten about. So I thought I'd have a quick read of my original post to remind me of what this blog was about in the first place.

Well.

The concept of this blog is great. What a fantastic idea I had!  Has any of it come to fruition?

The answer to that would be... erm...no.

I have been thinking about getting myself back on track, getting myself fit and looking after ME in general, which should in theory flow on to looking after my family as well. And funnily enough, I was considering starting a blog about my weight loss / fitness challenge.  So, I'm going to reboot this one!

So, a quick update on what has happened in the last year or so since I posted. A LOT has gone on.

Firstly, I'm now a full time Carer to my hubby and our two kids, all of whom are on the Autism Spectrum.  Hubby had to give away his job as a bus driver and is now on a disability pension. Both kids are now in the SEU at primary school. And the latest big event (and a sad one), hubby's Dad passed away just over a week ago. He had been ill for several months, but really went downhill in the last week before his death.

So now that you are caught up with our goings on, lets begin afresh!

Today is Easter Sunday. We have all eaten our weight in chocolate over the last couple of days. I don't know about the kids, but I am feeling decidedly "grungy" as a result. My lack of a gall bladder has taken it's toll, and to put it bluntly, I have spent a lot of today sitting on the dunny (sorry!). This has resolved me to start looking after myself better. I'm not going to go cold turkey and throw out all the chocolate, but I'm definitely going to start scaling back what I'm eating, and the portion sizes especially. I have also purchased an 800ml stainless steel water bottle from Woolies, and am aiming to drink at least one bottle of water a day (hopefully two). I know that the standard is 2 litres, but at the moment I'm doing 0 litres, so this will be a big step forward!

I also need to start eating better, healthier meals and smaller portion sizes. Tomorrow I plan on sorting out my pantry so I can actually see what is in there, and then doing up a meal plan for the next fortnight. It should be interesting to see how many healthy meals I can make out of the pantry, fridge, and freezer before I have to go to the shops!  I also want to source cheap, fresh fruit and veges. There was one store that I went to, but I always seem to end up with fruit flies in the kitchen! Two stores that I want to visit are Betros Bros and the Newtown Fruit Shop. Another idea I had was to visit the two Organic stores in town to compare prices. I'd like to start eliminating chemicals from our diet and our home as much as possible. This may also help the kids and hubby with their ASD as well. We already use organic shampoo, conditioner and body wash, and my face wash and moisturiser is all natural as well (Sukin brand - I thoroughly recommend it!). More home cooking is also on the agenda, as well as investigating the organic brands at Aldi, Woolies and Coles. It can be hard to find the balance between organic and affordable when you're on a pension. I will also see if I can resurrect my planter boxes and plant some veges and herbs.

Getting fit is also on the agenda. I've been invited to a wedding at the end of August, and would love to fit into a size 12 for the wedding. I am currently 77.7kgs on the bathroom scale and a size 16. I'm going to try and do at least 30 mins exercise a day to start with, hopefully an hour. I'll start with walking initially. For support and to kick my arse when it needs it, I am going to contact a woman that I went to primary school with. She is my inspiration, and hopefully may agree to be my mentor as well. She has lost a whopping 62 kgs and has gone from a size 26 to a size 10. Cross fingers she'll agree to be my main butt-kicker. I'd like to see my collar bones again! But most importantly, I'd like to feel well again.

I've also made an appointment to see my doctor for a general blood test to check out everything from iron levels and sugar levels to cholesterol and thyroid.

Well, it's after 9:00pm and I have to get these kids organised for bed. I'll report back on my progress, and also update you all on my plans to look after my mind and spirit as well. Have a great night everyone. Blessings!