Day 75 – Bootcamp bitches ain’t nothing to fuck with

March 16, 2015 ~ nzmockingbirdgrrl ~ Leave a comment

Yeah boyeee. I’m old(ish) and using Wutang references. That’s just how I roll. But it’s ok because we all went out in the cyclone this morning and boxed our asses off before the sun came up. We are hard core y’all. Sure, it wasn’t very cyclone-y. More like Damp and Humid with a wee bit of wind. But add boxing to the mix and you’ve got some hot sweaty ladies. We just needed the rocky sound track to top it off ha ha. Have you boxed? It is seriously fun. I highly recommend it – there is something very cathartic about beating something up. I will take boxing over Yoga any day. Sorry Adrenal glands – I like it hard and fast ha ha

AND Guess what?!? The I Quit Sugar program includes Dark Chocolate this week! Oh my goodness. It is meant to be an ingredient in a recipe for ‘sort of cherry ripe bites’ (the sort of is because you use raspberry instead of cherries) but I confess I have cracked the pack already. Nice and easy grrl. There needs to be some left for the actual baking.

Auckland seems to have gotten away with much less damage than predicted from Cyclone Pam thank goodness. There were some homes without power and I have def seen trees down and other minor damage in my travels, but nothing compared to the devastation caused in Vanuatu for the people there. My thoughts are with the folks there who have lost family and friends and I will be looking for a way to send some sort of practical help to them over the next few days.

Peace out yo.

Day 54 – tired pants.

February 23, 2015February 23, 2015 ~ nzmockingbirdgrrl ~ Leave a comment

Normally I wake up about 15 minutes before my alarm goes off in the morning and I lie awake mentally prepping for the day, that way too, when I get to boot camp I am pretty awake and able to appreciate the beautiful morning.

Not so this morning. I woke up ten minutes before the alarm, checked my phone and decided to lie there as per. I fell in to a DEEP deep sleep and got the fright of my life when my alarm went off. And I will confess, I rolled over and seriously thought about hitting snooze. This is very unlike me. I am not bragging – I am just a morning person and totally fine with that.

And with being a ‘morning person’ comes with its opposite and equal personality trait – not being a night owl. I am always the first person to bed. Sometimes I even beat my kids. I have been known to leave the room at my own birthday party to put myself to bed (although drink usually plays a part there too) and the holidays have been playing havoc with my sleep patterns. I am shattered. Knackered. F.Ucked.

But it has been a good day otherwise. My Miss Crabb dress arrived in the mail (trademe don’t panic babe, vintage and real silk!) and I LOVE it. I admit I am a bit of a ‘collector’ and my treats these days can’t be food so I am finding my pleasures elsewhere.

Like Mr Wilde says ‘You can never be over-dress or over-educated’ my peeps.

Sleep well!

Day 48 – Language matters

February 17, 2015 ~ nzmockingbirdgrrl ~ 2 Comments

The mint Mojito smoothie for breakfast was goodish again – sort of like brushing my teeth with a spinach leaf. Minty and green. And you know what goes well with Mint Mojito smoothie? Bacon. That’s right. I followed my smoothie with a bacon chaser and it was the best breakfast in ages. I am trying to send the lads to school with full tummies and bacon sandwiches are a sure-fire way to get them to eat!

The boys are exhausted at the moment, poor lads. The start of the new term has really knocked Master 7 around – he is in ‘middle school’ now. He now wants to quit Ukelele because he’s too tired to do it after school and when I took him to watch the hip-hop class this evening to see if he wanted to join, he affected a very careful attitude of indifference. Drinking his smoothie and looking out the side of his face at the dancing kids, he really didn’t want to seem like he was keen. Poor little bugger. He’s not feeling very rock and roll right now.

Master 4 on the other hand seems to be on fire today! I picked him up and while he was looking for his shoes the teacher explained that he hadn’t been wearing underwear today. When questioned he had loudly and happily declared that ‘Mummy doesn’t know I’m freeballing today’. This from the child who refused to be naked AT ALL until halfway through last year. Now he wants to be naked all the time. And yes, freeballing. My boys like more air down there. A new word for the other kids to take home with them. I can just imagine the conversation around the dinner table. ‘Mummy can you please pour me a drink and are you freeballing?’

Add this to his adventure this afternoon; The grumpy Dutchman took him along with him to quote a new job this afternoon. This job is for a woman I do bootcamp with, who I like and want to remain friendly with, so it’d be good if the GD gets the work and we all play nice. They have a daughter the same age as Master 4 and an older ‘tweenage’ girl too. The GD comes out of one room after measuring up, with the man of the house to find their eldest girl bent double laughing in the hallway, listening to our lad and the little girl playing. It turns out that at some point during their impromptu playdate, Master four needed to use the bathroom and the wee lass obliged in showing him where to go. Naturally she stayed to watch as any good hostess would – I always offer to stay and wipe don’t you? Which prompted the question ‘Whats that?’ To which my boy replied ‘My willy, you don’t have one – you have a vagina’. He’s right you know. It took me ages to get him away from calling it a ‘china’ (and asking every woman he met to see if they had one – was a wee bit embarrassing to have to explain little old ladies that he wasn’t, in fact, enquiring after their crockery). So. Small steps.

Anyway, I have resolved to try to get more fruit and veges in to the boys while they are adjusting to being back full-time – I made them smoothies after school today – theirs with full fat milk (as opposed to mine with almond milk) and we will be trying to get them to bed early and let them lie in when they can.

Today was a good food day for me though, my leftover chicken and basil pesto with ‘zoodles’ was good the next day, and I didn’t even notice the lack of snacking until I got home and opened my lunchbox for cleaning – still had my morning and afternoon tea in it! It’s totally weird to suddenly be a grrl who doesn’t eat ALL the time. Before this year I was a snacker, a grazer, a nibbler. Constantly looking for food whether hungry or not – but actually – usually hungry. That’s whats so weird. The hunger has gone – and I am not eating more really.

My specialist explained it and I sort of get it – She thinks that I have an intolerance to Dairy (on top of everything fucking other thing) and that eating Dairy was contributing to my need to eat all the time – that it was turning off my ‘satisfied’ switch in my gut and doing me damage at the same time. I’ve officially not eaten dairy for 48 days so maybe that is it? Also the IQS program reckon that quitting sugar helps with the mindless snacking too – the impulse is gone because you are eating lots of good fat and protein and greens.

Whatever it is, I like not being hungry all the time. I still find myself heading to the fridge out of boredom and grumpy/PMS/low/pissed off with the kids moments – but I’m way better now at recognising that and I am working on what to do instead of eating. ‘Blogging’ is helping ha ha.

Dinner tonight was ‘Baked fish on roasted Caponata’ care of IQS and it was good, behold;

YUM.

And like a dick I followed it up by mindlessly ‘finishing off’ the apple in Master 7’s lunchbox while I write this. Cue tummy ache. And….. there it is.

Thanks for reading guys my ‘stats’ tell me there are whole lot more of you now – so welcome! Talk amongst yourselves (but quietly cos’ I’m off to bed to curl up in pain).

Sweet dreams.

Day 20 – dis-organisation = cravings

January 20, 2015February 16, 2015 ~ nzmockingbirdgrrl ~ Leave a comment

Am getting a bit antsy for snacks and sugar. It definitely didn’t help that the fruit I have been having has been kicking off the cravings again. I think I have been looking for a pick me up in the mornings and have been reaching for the smoothies instead of having the cooked breakfasts I should be planning for myself.

Raspberries, Cashews, Avocado, Almond milk, and Frozen banana - Thanks to Cath for the recipe :-) — Raspberries, Cashews, Avocado, Almond milk, and Frozen banana – Thanks to Cath for the recipe 🙂

So tomorrow – in between getting my hair did, my lashes filled and going to work for a few hours – I am going to get the Pete Evans cook book that features lots of gluten and dairy and sugar-free recipes. Will also be (hopefully) getting heaps of recipes from the ‘I quit Sugar’ program which I am signing up for tonight. I will let you know how that goes, and whether it is worth trying it out for yourself – IMO anyway. There is a lot of hype around the program and I know that quitting sugar is the cool thing right now – for lots of good reasons – but what appealed to me about this program was the shopping lists and meal plans you get each week – and they can tailor them to be Gf and DF too. So it’s just another crutch for me for days like today when I am feeling weak and wanting to ‘just have a taste’ from the jar of nutella in the cupboard…

Outside of cravings and the usual, today was a rest day – I counted our walk and swim this afternoon as my exercise – but I am looking forward (as always) to boot camp tomorrow morning. Hopefully the new girl will come back and she can see that I’m just a really awkward, friendly, non-psycho who likes to meet new fun excercisey boot-camp people.. from a distance… and just grins weirdly…

Holla to y’all.

Day five, boot camp, check in, and planning

January 5, 2015February 16, 2015 ~ nzmockingbirdgrrl ~ 2 Comments

After very little sleep thanks to my out of whack sleep habits in the hols (late nights where there shouldn’t be any), and a certain four year old who shall remain nameless – I woke up with a big fright when my alarm went off at 5.30. And I will admit to a tiny part of me trying to convince the rest of me to ‘go back to sleep for gods sake, it’s still the holidays – you can get up early when school starts!’. But then the rest of me reminded that tiny part that I LIKE to get up with the sun and I would be happy.

I was right. I often am. Boot camp was HARD. But – I know I’ve told people this before – I have a huge smile on my face the whole time. This morning we did all sorts; sprints, press ups, core work, mountain climbers, wall sits, stairs and everything else that Nicole had spent her two weeks off thinking up. There was a only a few of us, it can vary from 3 people to 15, and we all FELT it. I do love it though. And this is why I have committed to it for 4 mornings a week since early last year. The best thing about it? I don’t have to think – Nicole does that – and there is a roll taken at the start of each session so I know… while I lie cozy and snug in my bed…. that if I don’t get up someone will notice and want to know why.

Today was a check-in day with my specialist and doc and also I got my lashes refilled because they make me feel pretty even on a fat day ha ha

Dr Jenny was very positive – she announced when I came in that she could see a reduction in redness in my face and what was I doing differently? I told her all about my ‘year of Health’ for 2015, and that I was at day 5 and had really fallen off the wagon over xmas and new years. She is optimistic that after a really really strict three months I should be able to start introducing crunchy/scratchy stuff, raw food and trialling some dairy. Although she did say that Dairy might always be a problem for me – as might apples, honey and high fructose stuff. She gave me a list of specific bloods she wanted to see, because I was going to see my doc anyway to get my annual WOF. And best of all she gave me some more ideas for snacks – and reminded me that I can make smoothies and take them out with me for morning tea as long as I had the right vessel. Good plan!

Then to the Doc, who was really funny and got all nose-out-of-joint when I said I had been seeing someone else for my gut problems. Admittedly he wasn’t my usual Doc who I found completely useless which is why I went searching, but he did get all funny and asked where I’d found her and what her quals were etc ha ha. He begrudgingly agreed with what she had said and the treatment she had me on, and wrote me out my usual list of bloods plus Dr Jenny’s requests, and then added Lupus – because ‘it might explain my skin’ and when I was all like ‘what the fuck is Lupus and what the fuck?!?’ he was all, nah you probably don’t have it but let’s check for fun. Great. Thanks for the heart attack man. I don’t need to add anything else to my list thanks! The cortisol testing is a fasting one so I am heading to the lab first thing tomorrow to get my jabs, lucky I don’t have an issue with needles!

After all the health checks I went for my pampering, a whole hour lying on my back getting my lashes filled by the lovely Ashleigh, ahhh bliss. And the best thing, before you scoff and go ‘whaaaaaat she ain’t no Beyonce, why she spending money on falsies like she a diva?’ (imagine white kiwi girl doing bad american sassy) is that I don’t wear (or spend any money on) ANY make-up when I have these. No liquid eyeliner no nothing. And they go with any outfit ha ha. Instant awake and ready to go in the morning.

Then, after zooming home for food, and then out again to grab my new drinking vessels;

Check them out – sexy huh?

The blue one is my special ‘Mummy’s ONLY’ drink bottle, because every other (disposable) one I have tried to use for more than two sessions has been stolen and destroyed by two small boys…..

And the PINK one (I LOVE it) is a special hot/cold one that should keep my smoothie cool on the run – no more starving when I’m out and about!

Next family time with my Grandies and Mum at the Hospital, Grandads 89th birthday today and they had taken the cake to Nana at the Hosp, of course she was grumpy that he was getting all the attention – she’s just like me my Nana ha ha My favourite old grrl ❤

Anyway, things are good, I am missing sugar like cray cray but keeping myself busy to try to ignore it and drinking heaps of water for the mouth ‘busy’. I will know after I get my bloods what sort of goals I have in order to achieve balance/banish gluten completely /find out what the fuck Lupus is and will be able to work with Dr Jenny to sort it out. (Mum I dont have Lupus don’t worry – he was being a dick)

I am going to do a ‘useful sites’ I look at for recipes/inspiration and info post soon, am just collating all the goodies – most of you know them because you recommended them to me ha ha.

Loving this weather just quietly.