Good morning all, day 4 for me. Hope you are all well xx

Thanks PB xx

Nearly there now, day 5......

Have to admit to not being a massive fan of bread, but olive bread.......... I too love it MITM. Unfortunately I like mine dipped in a really good extra Virgin olive oil or a tasty balsamic. Not the healthiest I know but as a treat, totally worth it!

Day 6 and I have plans to start Swimming again this week. Fingers crossed I don't chicken out! Apologies for all the capitals dotted about, it's this ipad with a mind of its own!

Good Morning all, halfway through the week already and thankfully I am still on track. Little Maisie was six weeks old on Monday, I feel so sad I haven't held her yet but I see her lots on Skype which is both difficult and lovely at the same time.

I hope you are all well and happy,
Take care, BM x

Good afternoon Crackers!

Well if you've seen the pictures of the floods in Germany and France - you'll know we've had lots of rain in this neck of the woods... after the warmest winter on record we're now heading for the wettest spring. However this week so far, it has been dry in the day and then heavy storms in the evening so I've been working hard in the garden and it's looking very green! In fact it looks stunning as across the hillsides it's just a mass of wild flowers as the farmer's have been unable to cut the fields.

Plus I'm still occupied with my window shutters... In my 'Challenge Group' I often feel in awe of the other members as they do so many work outs but then I realised lifting shutters down, carrying them 2 flights of stairs, lifting them onto brackets and then turning them continuously to prevent any drip drying and then carrying them back up again... is quite a useful work out in itself and then what with all my potato squashing - I'm working out in my general daily life! So olive bread or no olive bread, I'm still maintaining my target weight.

I too am off to the UK 4 weeks today but only for 10 days. Once the daughter has broken up from college we are flying back for her summer holidays. I'm going to London with my mother to see 'Jersey Boys' at the theatre, plus take afternoon tea. We do like our tea and cakes and the trip is a treat from my brother for my 50th and we will stay overnight so we can shop until we drop. At the moment I have the outfits planned (from the minimal smart navy/grey wardrobe!) the silver birch top is getting an outing. I just need to stay at target or within 3 pounds or else I will have nothing suitable to wear! Apparently I read today 'women spend 6 months of their lives deciding what to wear' for me, it's more a case of what can I or can't I fit into and then spending 6 months of the year attempting to diet into it!

However this July I'm setting a new personal best of having stayed within 4 pounds of my target weight for a whole year - I use to set it at 7 pounds but would go over at certain times of the year but I've maintained this past year at far lower and for the past 4 months it's been 3 pounds. Yay!

BM - how time flies if Maisie is already 6 weeks old! Well I hope as I'm assuming your OH is accompanying you on your endurance test, that he will help to keep any 'triggering' situations short and sweet and that you have penciled in lots of cuddling time with Maisie. Have you made it into the swimming pool this week?

PB - Have you kept the 5 pounds you recently lost off?

Bracken - looking forward to an update.

LMV - thinking of you.

Well my window shutters won't paint themselves alas! Be good Crackers!

Hello Crackers. Good to see recent posts. BM, I'm very happy you are back posting and commend your regularity. I'm glad you have something to look forward to, seeing your new grandchild. PB, you are right to make good use of your time while not working. I am very impressed with your veg garden. In my vegetable garden box bed, I have three different kinds of tomatoes, spinach, red chard, romaine lettuce, beans, and zucchini. I am also attempting to grow in a separate container water cress which I have read has the highest amount of vitamins and micronutrients of all the green leafy veg, including kale which is the veg of the moment here. MITM, your account of your maintenance regimen is very interesting and a real testament to your goal setting strategies and vigilance- well done. I hope you enjoyed your well-deserved bread treat.
After over a week of exceptionally hot weather, we finally got some much needed rain and the temperatures have moderated. I'm very pleased with the plants in my garden. The hostas have
shot up beautifully. At the moment I have two weigelia bushes in bloom and two rose bushed just beginning to bloom (because so much of my garden is shade I don't have many roses or flowering perennials but really enjoy those I have. I did have a lovely display of dwarf irises at the front of the house but the large iris in the rear have not done well this year, just a few bloomed in their little area of sunlight. I also had some lovely English bluebells and some Virginia blue bells that an old friend had given me. I have three clumps of pink cranesbill in flower (they look like geraniums); they were quite beaten down by the rains but are slowly recovering. I like them as they flower for quite a long time. I really do love plants and think my garden is a bit of a botanical zoo with this and that plant often plunked in because I like it; however, I think a garden designer would probably not be impressed! Also on my garden, I have been really pleased to have finally got a bench for behind my pond. The old one was literally disintegrating and I could not find a nice one anywhere until I chanced on a lovely old teak bench in the classic English garden bench style in a local consignment store. It is perfect for the setting. I have had several fledgling birds, robins and bluejays in my yard. Of course, they don't just stay in my yard so it is hard to tell if they have survived. I have become familiar with the sounds the parent robins make when minding their young (much different from their morning and evening song too) so keep an eye for them. I have had a very sad incident last week when I came home to discover the little chipmunk who lived under my front steps had died. I saw him on one of the steps and realized he was not moving. The saddest thing was, it was clear he was trying to get to the hole where he goes under the steps. I examined him and am quite certain he had been mauled, probably by a cat (my neighbour told me of a nearby cat that had killed a chipmunk the previous day) and I suppose died from internal injuries. I buried him by the hydrangea bush near the steps. I shed more than a few tears, remembering all the times I watched him at the feeders, and saw him waiting for me to put out birdseed. I had been so pleased to see him emerge from hibernation under my steps. I can feed these creatures but I can't keep them safe.
Well Crackers, I must get to some jobs- no more delays. Regards.

Bracken, I love hearing about your garden, your new bench sounds lovely. So sorry for your poor chipmunk. I must admit that would have upset me dreadfully too.
MITM, I read in wonder at all the painting you are doing. You must be so fit with all the lifting you are doing etc. You thoroughly deserve to be at the weight you are.
PB can't wait to se pics of your room whe it is finished. I love the eggplant Colour on your wall now, are you changing that ? Hope you have success with the job hunting soon. Fab you are enjoying yourself with your music and keeping busy,
I have had a few dodgy days but hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better, my bleeding is out of control at the moment so I am certain when it settles my outlook will lift.
LMV thinking of you xx

Love BM xx

Delighted to say that I have a temp contract starting Monday

Good news PB, hope you enjoy it there xx

MITM, I laughed out loud at what your GP put you through, I agree he is a little runt! (Loved that expression). A GP whilst wanting the best for you is not supposed to be judgmental, it sounds as though he was both disbelieving and dismissive as well. Not a good combination. Hopefully you will see the one you like next time. It was obviously anxiety which made you fail to inhale adequately, he should have realised that and not jumped to so many wrong conclusions regarding your fitness. I am cross on your behalf, lol xx hopefully your blood tests will give you good news xxxx

Bracken, hope you and Nellie are both doing well xx

Enjoy the weekend all xx

Ps, had to mention. My stepdaughter who hasn't been in contact with me since last August emailed me and asked me to buy her Dad a card and gift on her behalf as she has been on holidays and didn't get around to it! She then sent a snotty letter the next day saying she hadn't heard back off me and it was too late now for her to send one anyway! The build up to the Annual Endurance Test begins...........

PPs thought I should also mention she is 43, not a teenager!

Good Morning Crackers, quick mail but wanted to say hi! X

MITM I had to smile when the thought of your Doctor kept you going without complaint on your walk, it sounds just like something I would do lol. A Mediterranean way of eating sounds lovely to me, I will be very interested in how it goes if you do.

I just wrote a longish mail and it cut off most of my post! Grrrrr, hate that.

MITM I also agree with you re the age thing, however she just didn't want her Father (step Father, he married her Mother) to spend any of her perceived inheritance on another woman, regardless of her age or who she was. I did write this a bit more eloquently in the first mail! Lol however I am rushing now. I should maybe also say OH was also divorced when we met (for 12 yrs before we met) so I was in no way the other woman.

Love to all PB, Bracken and Nellie, and LMV also, hope you are all well

BMxxx. ( sorry this mail is all over the place! )