One more thing...

I'm just off the phone to Mary.

I was telling her about my plans to lose some weight and she told me that Julie is on a diet too.

Julie decided to go to Weight Watchers on Wednesday night and that she would have her tea when she got back from the class.

Anyway, everyone was sitting eating their tea when she popped her head into the dining room to say goodbye.

As she left Guy asked her who she was going with (everybody likes to go with a buddy) but when she said who it was he replied, "But she's not..."

And then blushed as he realised what he was about to say!

"...fat like your wife," Julie finished for him!

How's that for both feet?

And here he is...the guy (literally) with the two big feet! :)

Friday evening

Ross has fixed my ipod softwear for me so I'm transferring my Russell Watson CD onto it just now and thought since it has been so long since I made my last entry, I might as well make one while I'm here.

It's almost a week since I've written anything.

A quiet week but not unproductive, I've made a point of going walking everyday and apart from one day, I've kept within my points so I have high hopes for the 'weigh in' tomorrow morning.

While we were walking today, Anne confided that she has lost half a pound this week.
"I can't believe it," she said, "especially since Myra has lost two pounds and she admitted she had failed abysmally to keep to the eating plan!"

...an eating plan is a diet in 'positive speak'

I comforted her by saying that her weight may not be going down because she is putting on muscle due to all the exercise she is doing, that she should measure herself because she is possibly losing girth at the moment rather than weight.

She was comforted by what I said and nodded her agreement that this was probably the case :)

She and Leslie are off to The Green Inn in Ballater for dinner on Saturday night with Thomas (Anne's brother) and his partner, Allan so if Myra's form of dieting is anything to go by, Anne will have lost at least half a stone by the time she gets back!

Talking of The Green Inn, if you ever get the opportunity to go, take it.
It won't be a cheap night but it is an experience worth having!

Ian and I have been there twice.
It has a couple of rooms (bed and breakfast) so you can eat and drink and then just pop upstairs to bed. No worries about the journey home.

The food is beautiful and very sophisticated.
The last time we were there we had mushroom cappuchino as an amuse bouche!

Do you all remember this phrase?
...Check out the meal at the Milton that Ian and I didn't go to

I found this photo in my folder for April 2007.
I didn't realise it had been so long since we were at The Green Inn. You can see it in the background of the photo.

Saturday morning

'Breakfast' ... that's what my stomach is shouting at me just now!

I'm not used to this feeling so early in the day. It's usually at least a couple of hours after I get up that I feel like eating but not lately.

You'll all be glad to know that the scales, this morning, said, "Well done Podgy, your actually managed to lose some weight. 68.9 kilos!"

Of course, bear in mind that I have just slept for ten hours which means I wasn't eating for all that time - my tummy is really flat while I'm lying in bed because it is so EMPTY.

Breakfast time, I think!

Might have your preference, Lucy, porridge and raspberries.
Are you still eating this for breakfast?

I was thinking, ruffage, ruffage, ruffage after watching, 'You are what you eat' on TV last night. You know the colonic irrigation wifie.

She turned this poor woman's life around by forcing her to eat all the foods she didn't like and ignore all the ones she did.

I sympathise.

Mind you there are very few foods that I don't like.
It's just that I miss all the high calorie foods that I can't touch because they won't fit into my count for the day.

I keep telling myself, this misery is only temporary, this misery is only temporary...


But is it? I think the polar bear knows how I feel.

Oh dear, this isn't good!
I must be positive... just keep remembering, I can eat the number of points equal to my optimum weight in kilos, to maitain my weight once I get down to it; the book says so!

Day is done...

and I'm off to bed now but I thought before I do I would put a short entry on the blog.

Ian was saying that Gary had phoned him and had told him that when he got home this afternoon, there was a message on his answer machine from the other man's insurance to say they were on their way to get his car!

That was quick!

His car doesn't look too bad.

You can see the paint from the other car on his bumper and the casing for his rear wheel (you know the one that is stuck on the back) has opened slightly at the top because it was pushed inwards at the bottom.

I suppose the garage will look underneath to check for damage.

Talking of cars in garages after crashes, Anne still hasn't got her car back. It should have been ready last Friday after they had replaced the front axle but when they test drove it, they discovered that the back axle had also been damaged so it's back to square one; ordering the part!

Leslie is having to take the bus to work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so that Anne can have his car to travel to Stonehaven, so it was a real blow to discover that the car still wasn't ready.

Do you remember when you were hit from behind, Lucy.
You had stopped in the middle of the road ready to turn right into the petrol station at the far end of Banchory, and the driver of the car didn't notice you till she hit you!

I got a phone call at work to say you had been in a car crash and the deputy head drove me home.

If I remember rightly, it was my car you were driving and you had been able to borrow it because I had travelled into work that morning with Johanne.

Gee, that was a long time ago.
Can you remeber, Lucy, whether it was Gemima or Dolores?

On a totally different subject, Ross said to me tonight while we were having tea, that he didn't feel like raiding tonight!
"What!" I hear you cry.
"You cannot be serious!"

Well, I can assure you, I am.

He went on to explain that his group have completed the raid several times already and that now, some members of the group are not giving their all to the quest.

"It's like chess," he said, "there's no point in playing unless you are concentrating!"

His parting words were, "I think I might try to get out of it tonight."

Words I never thought I would hear.

I don't know whether he managed to opt out or not, I'll need to check.

Did you know, by the way, that he is intending to go over to Amsterdam for a week-end to meet up with some of the players from his group?

That should be interesting, shouldn't it.

Nobody will recognise him from the photo he has on the site. It must have been taken about ten years ago! Slight exageration.

Anyway, here is a photo of Ross raiding last year. This was November '08.

Time to head out to the supermarket

...there's no food in the house.
Any suggestions for tea?

I've been back from Glasgow long enough to watch one episode of X Files (while I ate my lunch) and also long enough to make a hole in Ian's car's driver's seat!

Do you remember when Ian sat on the chewing gum, ruined a pair of trousers and left a load of chewing gum on his car seat and the setee in the back room?

And, do you remember how the man came from Harvey's and cleaned the chewing gum off the seat with one of the cleaning cloths we bought at the same time as the couches?

Well, since then I have been promising Ian we would try the same trick on his car seat and today I finally got round to doing it.

A hole is a slight exageration. I didn't make a hole but one little patch of the seat seems to have been skinned as opposed to cleaned.

Of course, it may have been the constant friction of Ian wriggling around on the newsletter for the Real Ale Society that he has taken to sitting on to cover the chewing gum but then again it was probably the rubbing of the cleaning cloth that did it.

I've already sent an email to Ian to apologise and he has very graciously replied by saying it's OK, at least I tried.

What a lovely lad he is! :)
There you are Ian... happy days before the car seat.

Sorry Lucy...

I'll try again for your sake.
Something upbeat?
The sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful shade of blue and I'm looking forward to the concert tonight:)

I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

I've put on my good black trousers and my red Christmas top

...because when I said to Ian that I should dress down (wear my jeans) to go to the Tom Paxton concert tonight, he replied with a question, "You do want to eat tonight, don't you!"

Well of course I do, so I've dressed up instead!

Mind you, what have I got to look forward to? I've promised myself that I will have no treats till I lose 5 kilos?

Well, my first hurdle has appeared. You're not going to believe this! It's 5 1/2 kilos now. :(
How can my weight have gone up? I haven't cheated even once!!

Why only last night we had shredded cabbage, diced turnip and chickpeas baked in a tomato puree for tea!

The boys ate it and, after a little coaxing, said it was alright!

But it wasn't that alright and I'm not going to live on cabbage and turnip or cook everything in tomatoes because it keeps the calory count down unless it really works!! (how woe do I feel?)

Did you know, by the way, that a rounded tablespoon of chick peas is 25 calories?
Bet you didn't!

I have this little book called Scottish Slimmers Check Book (a check has a value of 25 calories). I keep it at my side at all times.
Mind you, it won't be staying there for much longer if I don't see a change soon!

Ross' wake up call has just blasted through the house

...it's so loud, I can hear it on the top floor of our three storey house when he is on the ground floor!

It's almost half past eight.

It went off at eight oclock too. I heard it while sitting up in bed having my coffee.

Will he get to work on time?!!

The gasman is due to come this morning so finger's crossed. The boiler conked out three times yesterday.

He can come any time between eight and twelve.


Saturday turned out quite well, Ian sent me flowers for Valentine's Day :) and we went to the cinema in the afternoon to see 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

What can I say about the film?
By the end, I was exhausted and traumatised.
I felt battered and bruised.
The film is like a roller coaster ride.
It opens with extreme violence and hardly lets up throughout the whole film.
What makes it so harrowing is the fact that the film is about children.

And yet, the impact of the colours and the music were very upbeat.
The comedy scenes were endearing - one in particular involving a bollywood actor's autograph!

I sat on the edge of my seat the whole time and left the cinema with the adrenalin pumping through my veins.

The film does, as the literature says, have a 'feel-good factor' but it comes at a cost.
Word of warning, I struggled to sleep on Saturday night because of images from the film popping into my head! Not good.

I listened to an interview last week with the guy, a bollywood actor, who played the compere on the show, in the film, and he said that the big cities in India have huge slums and a great deal of poverty but that the film was just that and some of the more horrific scenes portrayed were pure fiction or grossly exaggerated.


At coffee with the girls on Sunday morning after mass, I discovered that Johanne had also been to see it but she had been underwhelmed!

She did admit that she had missed the beginning of the film and I think it is early on in the film that you bond with the characters. So possibly had she seen the early scenes she would have felt differently.

I thought it was a very powerful piece of cinema.

Oops, gasman is here, hurrah!

On my way to have a bath

...but thought I'd come here first, just to finish off the week.
Not an eventful one apart from my adventure on Monday.

Tuesday was coffee with the sewing group at the Milton in the morning and the dentist in the afternoon.

You'll all be pleased to know that my teeth are fine and even the scale and polish was not as painful as it usually is, so things are looking up!

I'm sure my success in the teeth department is due to the electric toothbrush I've been using for a couple of years now and, I must include, Ian's little plastic toothpicks, with their little brush at one end, which I've taken to using at the end of the day.

Wednesday was empty because the gasman was supposed to be coming to look at the boiler but he cancelled at the last minute. I just stayed indoors anyway and used the time to have a look at my tapestry which has been sitting unfinished in a cupboard since before Grannie Lottie died.

Probably longer, in fact. I don't think I've touched it since I went back to work full time!

Maybe now that I've got time, I'll get it finished.

Thursday was a dead loss since I stayed in all afternoon, from twelve onwards because the gasman was supposed to be coming to fix the boiler.

He didn't.

Instead I got a phonecall to apologise for his 'no show' and a new appointment for Monday morning.
Cross your fingers that I don't get another apology.

I'm sure Ian is getting annoyed having to shave with cold water when the boiler doesn't come on!

Today?

Well I went for a walk on the platties this morning with Anne and Maura.

The weather today has been beautiful...blue sky and sunshine.

At last the temperature is starting to rise.

We walked as far as the woodmill and back, then went into the Chocolate Shop for a coffee. Anne and Maura treated themselves to a piece of chocolate with cranberries in it but my resolve was strong!

No chocolate or any other kind of goodies for me untill I've dropped 5 kilos!

We passed Karl Revel when we were walking along the river. He's still as jolly as ever and was teaching a woman to fish!

I wonder if that's a wee job he has on the go?

Lucy phoned just before teatime for a chat. She had some good stories to tell about the boys but I'll leave those for her!

Tomorrow morning Scott, Lucy and the boys are heading up to Eugene for a Valentine holiday treat. They are going to the indoor water park and treating themselves to an Italian meal at night. Children eat free!

Here's a picture of the boys on holiday in the summer.
Lucy says Braeden is just loving his swimming lessons. He's certainly a little water baby.

I think that's everything so I'm off to have that bath and go to bed.

I'm just about to go and have my shower

...but I thought I should clear up where I went wrong on Monday night.

You know how I said that I turned left at the foot of the drive, well it wasn't the foot of the drive but the bottom of the road that the drive slipped onto that I should have turned left onto!

There you go.

I've just had my breakfast while watching Larkrise to Candleford (one of my favourite programmes at the moment). It's on on Sunday nights but I record it and save it as a treat for a special time... bit like the chocolate toffee in the third drawer down in the wall unit in the back room.

In case you are unaware of it, it's set in Victorian times and based in the villages named in the title.

The characters have been so well developed over the series that you feel you know them personally and the storylines are imaginative and amusing.

And of course the period setting is just the icing on the cake.

I love it, love it, love it!!
Dawn French isn't in the second series but Julia Sawalha is still there and she is magnificent as the postmistress.

Yesterday teatime was a bit of an adventure.

At one point I thought it would help to burst into tears but I resisted the temptation.

It all began with a drive out to the middle of nowhere to drop Ian off at the only squash court left to him to use.

You know this would never have happened if the Tor Na Coille still had it's squash courts open for business but that's a different story.

To be honest I didn't like the idea from its conception.
1. It was Ian's car we were in and it makes me nervous.
2. The whole area is still thick with snow.

Anyway, we duly arrived at the squash court which was beside the owners house at the top of his drive.
Ian got out and I got into the driver's seat, heart thumping...I had been aghast at the condition of the roads after we had left Torphins.

My instructions were go back down to the main road and turn left.

I drove really slowly down to the foot of the drive and when I got to the stone posts at the bottom, turned left.

"This is terrible," I fizzed at Ian even though he wasn't there, as I '5 point turned' in the snow at the junction to turn left.

The road to Torphins seemed a lot longer than I remembered too, but I couldn't think too much about that as to stop myself from freaking out because of the road conditions, I had placed bands of iron around my emotional circuits!

Eventually, after what seemed like an interminable journey at snail's pace, I saw the lights of cars driving along on a road just ahead, but my road was getting perilously steep and was beginning to veer to the left.

The car faltered, slued to the side and stuck!

"Keep calm, no need to panic!"

I put on the hazard lights and reversed the car back down the hill.
Try again.

By take 5, I knew the game was up.
Time to weep and wail. I got my mobile phone out and dialled Ian's number.

"Hello, this is Ian Stewart...." aagh.

I got out the car and went to see what was in the boot. A shovel, perhaps?
No, there was a golf club.
Wonderful. Just what you need to dig yourself out of the snow.
What could I do? I started to dig the snow away from the tyres with the club.
(I think Ian is a wee bit upset, he told me later he was going to sell the club.)
However, at this point headlights appeared behind me.

This very nice young man got out of his car and trudged up to see what was happening.

He suggested he sat on the front of the car above the wheel to add weight while I tried again to move forward, but it didn't work.

It was at this point that another set of lights appeared and with them, a slightly older man. His car was pulling a trailer! Obviously an old hand at snow wheeling.

Having been advised of the situation, he suggested he try to move my car up to the main road.

No joy, he tried several times - still no joy.

We were all stuck.

"Right," said the older man to the younger man and me, "There's a small road off to the side at the bottom of this hill. If we all reverse, you," and he looked at me, "could reverse into it, and that way the road would be clear for us to go on," he looked at the younger man.

He volunteered to move Ian's car back... and I had more confidence in his ability than mine so I agreed.

It was at this point, as he got into Ian's car, I happened to ask him if we were on the road to Banchory.

"No," he said. "This is the road to Alford. You should be going in the opposite direction!"

"She's going to Banchory," he shouted down to the young guy and there was an obvious humerous moment at my expense.

But I didn't care. I was saved. Hurrah. Thank you God! I should be going the other way.

Everybody moved and then the two chaps helped me get Ian's car out of the side road as the snow was really deep.

With elation, I thanked them both profusely and took off back the way I had come.

It took a long time to get home partly because I was stiff with anxiety, but also because I couldn't get Ian's lights onto full beam and had to drive holding the flasher on.

That and the fact that I made one other wrong turn.
But I managed to rectify that mistake by myself.

Torphins never looked so good.


For those of you who aren't too familiar with the area, Torphins is somewhere on the road between Banchory and Alford.

It's ten past two

...and I'm going round for Anne at half past to try for a walk. It's still snowy underfoot but we reckon we might be able to go down by the platties as far as the cemetery.

I'm still serious about my life change in the eating department; this is my third day.

I only ate half of my scone when I went for coffee with the girls after mass this morning. I reckon that was about 225 calories so I've plenty left for the rest of the day.

Ian got the other half of the scone; a cheese scone with lovely little crusty bits of cheese all round the edge, and so soft and moist inside with a hint of nippiness, and...

Oooh they make lovely scones at the Milton!

My return phonecall to Gary when I arrived back home revealed a sick household.

As you know Carole has been suffering from tonsillitis, now Gary is down with a sore throat and aches and pains and Luca has spots on his face, legs and torso!

Gary's worried that it's chicken pox so I'm heading over tomorrow morning to look after him. Spotties don't go to daycare.

Luca had just gone down for his sleep when I phoned, so Gary was heading to bed when he got off the phone. Poor wee souls!

Just after three in the afternoon

...and the sun has finally come out. I think the snow showers have now passed us by. Anne and I were going to walk today but between the snow showers and the fact that it is so wet with all the sludge, we are giving it a miss.

No football game for Ian this afternoon - it's cancelled but I think he might manage squash at four if he can make up a foursome.

He's sitting downstairs watching Seasick Bill.

I'm a bit bored, I've been to the supermarket, made lunch and cleared up after it, dusted our bedroom and moved the laundry on...I even tidied Ross' room - which to be honest wasn't that bad, although he'll have got a shock when he got back from town and found someone had made his bed!

I've tried reading Rebus and watching an old film on the TV. I even got out my unfinished tapestry but I can't work up the enthusiasm to do any of it so it's lying on the spare bed.

So here I am, typing away, hoping for a bit of enthusiasm for 'something' to hit me.

A bit like little Braeden in this photo, really!

I know how you feel, son.

Friday at three oclock

Just had Ian on the phone telling me that Aberdeen is being hit by snow again and asking for a weather report on Banchory.
We are having our second lovely sunny day - it's cold and crunchy under foot but there has been no snow fall since Wednesday.

Wednesday was the day I went over to Inverurie to help Carole out - she has come down with Tonsillitis - poor thing! The doctor gave her penicillin so hopefully that will clear up the problem.

Gary tells lies about Luca, you know!! He is still a wee angel.

D'you know he clears up for you?
"I'll take that cup back into the kitchen for you, Amma," he says.
"Let me put that rubbish in the bin for you, you just sit there," he says, "I'll do it for you."

So he's a wee bit picky about his food just now. He's got a cold...his nose is blocked. Blocked noses take the edge off your appetite every time!

He does the laundry... you need the clothes out of the washing machine? No trouble... Luca will do it.
You want the wet clothes put into the tumble drier? He not only does it but gives a running commentary on what each item is...
"Daddy's shirt!"
Mummy's trousers!"

Look on Gary's blog. There is evidence on a video...
And you, Luca's daddy tell the world how awful he is!

DON'T LISTEN, WORLD. IT ISN'T TRUE!

Confused

Lucy, while opening your blog this morning and rereading your last entry, I noticed that the boys are eating cake with torquoise icing on it...but the birthday cake for Laramie has lime green icing on it!

Does this mean that you baked two cakes?!!

Talking about cake... reminded me of your Christmas hamper which we are still eating our way through.

last night, we opened the little fruit cake that had been in it. Your father ate a slice and said it was very nice.

I didn't eat any - my weight is still rising so I thought better of it!!

I am trying to get fitter and maintain a reasonable weight but it isn't working!!

You know, I walked to the supermarket to buy your father's paper yesterday...I can't say fairer than that!!

What the doctor said

I saw the doctor yesterday and he wants me to go and see the cardiologist in Stonehaven for another test.

He made it very plain that he just wants to be 100% sure that there is nothing wrong.

My STs were fine during the actual test but they showed some abnormality during the recovery period.



The ST, according to the doctor, is the little bit of the line that dips down. It should come straight back up. Mine didn't it hovered below for a moment.

So what does that mean?
Not really sure.
I asked.
The doctor said it could mean there was a little bit of damage.
He emphasised the 'could'.

I told him that I didn't have angina because I had read the poster in the changing room and my symptoms didn't fit :)

I get the impression that my pain is in the wrong place for heart problems but since Granda Bill died of a heart attack, he needs to take it seriously.

I feel a bit of a fraud - I'm sure I'm fine.
Anyway I will hear from the hospital in due course.

He said I should keep taking Ian's aspirin so I'd better start!
I wonder where he keeps them?

What a dark and dreary day

No snow here, Kelly. We had a smattering yesterday but today it's rain - lots of heavy rain :(

However, the dusting of snow had ice beneath it and Anne crashed her car going to work!

On the Slug Road.

She slid into an edging stone which sent her spinning and she ended up in the middle of the road facing in the opposite direction.

Her driver's side front wheel had been pushed right under the car so she sat in the middle of the road facing all the drivers who would come over the crest of the hill blissfully ignorant of the obstruction she was causing.

Petrified, she waited for the next car to appear and slide into her. It was a Range Rover - it sluede to a stop just short of hitting her.
The driver, a man in a suit got out.

"We'll need to get your car off the road," he said. "It's going to create another accident."

Anne agreed and with a lot of pushing and sliding they managed to move it - Anne said about a foot.

At which point the man said, " You know, I think if I went up on the verge now, I could get passed!"

Which he promptly did! And disappeared off down the hill!

Anne ended up on the road from eight till eleven.

The police van got stuck just on the other side of the hill and the policewoman had to walk the rest of the way.

She called for a gritter to come out but they couldn't find the road on the 'sat nav' - it was seemingly an unadopted road.

Leslie followed the gritter and took Anne back home.

The policewoman stayed with the car till the garage truck came to take it away.

Anne's fine apart from a bang on the head which she remembers happening but hasn't a clue what she hit!

Piece of information that I didn't know: in the course of their time spent together, the policewoman told Anne that technically she should be breathalised as it is standard proceedure after an accident but it can only be done if there are two police officers present.
Interesting. I wonder why?

This was the last video...

Let's try another video

Having watched this video, you are probably thinking, "Who is that idiot on the soundtrack?"
My only excuse for sounding so daft is that I was totally enchanted by what I was witnessing!
I am not sure whether I am more embarrassed by the "Oooo!" or the "Whose dat?"
Please do not mention the commentry the next time I see you. It has taken a lot for me to publish this clip!

The girls and I went out on Friday night to the Milton to celebrate Maura's birthday which is at the beginning of January and very nice it was too.

I had 'twice baked cauliflower and smoked cheese souffle' - which was scrummy - and then poached salmon on a bed of noodles tossed in sesame oil with mushrooms. It was lovely but Myra's chicken looked and smelled delicious and I think her choice was the best!

Interestingly, her description used the words 'sous vide'. Johanne, our expert linguist, said sous meant under and vide meant wide... so what does that make the chicken?

We left Anne's car there and took a taxi home so yesterday morning, Anne and I walked to the Milton to pick it up - no kidding! My pedometer said it was 7,886 steps and we reckon that is about 4 miles.

We did do the marathon walk to and from the Milton ...was that last week. So I reckon we walked about 8 miles on that occassion.
Anne says we aren't quite at the 4 minute mile (more like the 14 minute mile) but we are on the way! :)

Loved your videos, Gary, so decided to try again with mine!
The Night Garden in Arbor Court.

I must apologise for the state of the house. If I'd realised it was going to be on the video or indeed had notice that the scene was going to be so enchanting, I would have tidied up first! Please do not notice the bread knife sitting so close to a small child!

Just remembered...

Yesterday afternoon, while I was sitting in the back room watching 'X Files', a movement on the embankment caught my eye.

It was a deer!

It was unimpressed by what was growing in our garden and quickly moved onto Trish' next door in which it found a delicious bramble plant and ate all the leaves off it.

Anne said later when I told her about it that they were plagued by these cute little animals when they lived in Upper Lochton. They ate everything they tried to grow.

Well they didn't fancy my perewinkles or ferns much!

Sunday afternoon

What was I saying about going to the Milton on Valentines night? How much was I looking forward to trying an 'amuse bouche'? :)

Well my anticipation has been enjoyable for as long as it's lasted but all good things come to an end and this one is no exception...not that its end will be the reality of enjoying the meal - no.

I received an email from Ian yesterday saying that we had missed our chance, the restaurant was fully booked that night but they could offer us the 13th for £5 less per head.

But we all know the 13th is no use...we have gone full circle and are back at the Headbanger's Bash and 'The Tailor of Inverness' :(

In retrospect, it isn't a good night to go out anyway. Is it? Everywhere will be filled with romantic couples!

Do we really want to be in amongst the love struck? Possibly not.