There’s a big yellow ball in the sky – should we be afraid?

After an icy start this morning, the sun is shining. How odd after the week we’ve had! The world is a beautiful place once more. ☼

Early start today, day two of the boys’ new swimming lessons – a great Groupon offer for the half term. Pity it was so early in the morning each day (for the adults, not so much for the kids who are up from 6am anyway). Our local leisure centre has had to shut the pool (and postpone all lessons) for essential maintenance, so this was a great opportunity to break up the long absence from structured learning and they loved it. Corrado was moved from the advanced class to the life-saving class and Sam was moved from the beginner’s class to the intermediate! I am well chuffed as they didn’t seem to be getting that sort of encouragement in their ASA lessons.

Anyway, had a quick bowl of porridge before the first shift with Sam. I added a handful of blueberries for a change and I liked it. I left in a hurry without my thermos cup of coffee  (I knew from yesterday that there were no facilities there) and it was a long half hour. The noise was deafening (there was a baby lesson too) and seating was a premium. Straight back home, as there was an hour gap between lessons, to deposit Sam and collect Corrado for his turn. I was starving and gave into a craving for an egg sandwich before I left again, which I wolfed down in record breaking time and managed to make a yellow pattern on my scarf. But I used Danish sliced white – only 55 calories a slice!

Valentine’s Day on Friday was an ugly weather day – the sleet and rain was relentless and put us off going into Belfast for our quiet undisturbed lunch. We drove to Hillsborough, a few miles out of town, to a lovely pub with an open fire and a nice atmosphere. It has a limited menu at lunchtime so I had to opt for the veggie lasagne, which is delicious. I don’t even want to think about the calorie content! But I saved calories by not drinking wine and having sparkling water instead. I am so virtuous!

I received a beautiful bouquet of mixed roses and a gorgeous card from Corrado, who wrote a heart-touching poem in which was compared with his love of burgers. Magical. 😀

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Burgers are cool

but so are you

My beautiful Valentine’s flowers

As David and I enjoyed a humongous lunch, we had a light snack later but the children were treated to a special Valentine’s steak and chips. I might have made a rod for my own back with the heart shaped potatoes – they have come up with all sorts of suggestions for the next batch. I’m sure I can convince them that stick shape is the new dinosaur/racing car/horse/polar bear cut!

Steak and Chips for my mini Valentines

Apart from the lasagne, I have had very few lapses this week. Even at Subway (yesterday lunchtime) I opted for the garden salad. As that’s virtually calorie neutral (it uses as many calories to eat it as it has in it) I had a dollop of caesar dressing and a sprinkling of cheese, a few olives, gherkins and jalapenos in the mix.

“Calorie neutral” Subway salad

Weigh-in Monday is still a dread and always will be. No matter how hard I try it seems to be just a lottery for me that I actually lose weight. This coming week should be OK regarding exercise – it’s half term and I have two very active children to run after. No plans yet but I’m guessing that we won’t be indoors much if that big yellow ball stays overhead. But one thing’s for certain, we will be enjoying good food as we’ll all sitting down together later to do the all-important menu for the week and I will be expecting lots of help in the kitchen from my future master chefs.

Lazy weekend – I shouldn’t have, but I did!

The plans for the weekend were discussed with the kids at great length and they both votes for “lazy days” and Corrado was determined he was not changing out of his pyjamas at all over the two days! Well, we did have a lie in of sorts on Saturday morning, I didn’t climb out of my bed until well after the postie had delivered but the kids were up too early as usual.  Corrado at silly o’clock (around 6.30 am) and Sam at 8-ish. The kittens amused them until David calmed them down with breakfast and I eventually got up.

Surprise surprise, Corrado was not in his nightwear – he was layered up and ready to play with his friend down the street. It was a sunny day, so why not? David’s lazy day plan included cleaning and polishing both our cars (yay, exercise!) and Sam cycled up and down, up and down, up and down our 8-bungalow cul de sac. So it was quite a noise-free house 😀

I waited just to make sure I was not going to be interrupted and then when it was quiet for long enough, I started baking a birthday cake for my sister. The baking bit went well, but that’s the easy bit. I love decorating cakes but only if the conditions are right – ie no interruptions or dealing with squabbles, doors letting in gusts of arctic cold and kids wanting to lick the bowl or “have a go” (ie throw the decorations at the cake and say they made it all). I should have done what I normally do and waited until they were in bed. However, I was lulled into a false sense of security. As soon as I started rolling the sugarpaste, in they came “mum, he looked at me”, “mum, can I have a snack?”, “mum, can Rebecca play in my room?”, “mum, can I lick the bowl?”, etc etc. I gave up immediately my plan to make the perfect cake with intricate beading and designs. Instead I cut out random heart shapes (Rebecca’s idea) and slapped them onto the poorly-iced cake. Ah, well, it’s only for family and it’ll taste the same!

David had made me a breakfast feast of two toasted pancakes (the crumpet supplies had evaporated) with chopped banana and honey. Lovely. Not too calorific compared to breakfasts I used to enjoy on a Saturday morning.

Lunch, if I was following the plan properly, was supposed to be “left over vegetable soup” from Friday but I forgot that bit and had blended it up for Sam’s and Corrado’s lunch (it looked like tomato soup and Sam was none the wiser!). So I made a hasty carrot, leek and ginger soup (with onion, garlic and fresh coriander in it too). I’ve stumbled on a winner there – it was gorgeous! David loved it too, and he’s not a soup fan. We had a slice of homemade multi-grain bread too.

I have a great food mixer with a dough hook and baking bread is now a pleasure, kneading is contracted out to the kitchen gadget and it’s done and ready for resting* in 5 minutes. I don’t have to get my hands sticky now! I did use to have a breadmaker but got bored with the tall loaf with the gaping hole in the bottom!

*I always take my queue from the dough – I rest too 😀

I had to read last night’s dinner recipe a few times – it sounded rather odd! Sweet Potato Flat Pizza. Hmmm. It looked rather big too, when it was finally cooked. I doubted myself but, yes, it was right! Who was I to argue? I ate it all and I was full up, really full up. I had a small garden salad on the side for variety. I think the next time I make it, I’ll reduce the portion size and increase the salad, it was that filling! I’m still doubting myself that I read the recipe correctly! One medium sweet potato, diced, a whole red pepper, sliced and FOUR tablespoons of cheese! It was a great combination of flavours and textures though (and colours – colourful food is important to me). I’d forgotten how much I love toasted pinenuts too – hope there’s more of those in the recipes soon!

Today, Sunday, it was miserable and dark outside, so none of us felt like doing much. I made breakfast (grilled mushrooms, tomato and a poached egg with one slice of my lovely bread) then David lit the fire in the living room, I made coffee and we all sat in front of the fire companionably doing our separate things together. I finished a good book on my Kindle, Corrado played with the kittens, Sam raced cars on the PS3 and David surfed t’internet for cars he isn’t allowed to buy.

We gathered at my parents’ this afternoon for my sister’s birthday and we had far too many party nibbles and cake. She didn’t seem to mind that her cake was a bit slapdash. It did taste the same. David said so – he had two slices. I had a tiny sample slice in my role as chief poison taster.

By the time we got home, nobody was hungry for dinner. The kids just wanted a hot cross bun and glass of milk. David and I just had hummus and tzatziki left over from last night, with crunchy vegetables and a chunk of low-fat feta.

I don’t think that will save me. Tomorrow’s weigh-in is definitely going to be tear-jerking. I have had a few sneaky goes at the scales this week and they have shown two gains and two same-as-last-week weights. I don’t understand it, maybe I’m not reading the recipes correctly but I thought I was following the plan (mostly!) Doesn’t matter, it won’t dampen my motivation. Onwards and downwards!