more of the journey...

Oh my goodness...just sitting down to write a post to update the journey progress and I am interrupted by having to tell one of the teenagers the same thing I have told said teenager fifty million times and still it is news to the said teenager every bloody time I say it!!  I just know that the mummy birds actually get their little clawed foot up and give the nearly ready babes a fair boot out of the nest...I just know it!  I'm telling you it's getting crowded in the Red Delicious nest and the wings of my babies are getting too full of feathers and in my face and there are moments when I am really looking forward to them flying out on their own and having some room in my nest again.  But then the flash of annoyance and impatience passes and I look at the photos of them all at six months old that hang on the wall just in front of me as I write this and a flood of memories come at me of the years gone by and I know that I am not quite ready for that next stage...not yet my little babies not yet.

Anyway I digress, so unlike me I know!  So we are approaching the end of week 3 of the new journey, I mean the actual journey is in it's 38th year but I am referring to the one I spoke of 2 weeks ago where there were goals of lots of walking and no eating of chocolate.  How has it gone you ask....

Progress report so far (day six of third week)...
walking is actually going swimmingly, while I have missed the odd day due to excuses that nobody really cares about or wants to hear and while some days I have to force myself to get off my very generous behind and out the door, I am actually really enjoying the walking...shocked the heck out of me!  Not only that but I am really noticing the benefits of walking and how different my day goes when it includes some form of exercise, no seriously now!  I mean I have heard all that talk for years and thought yeah yeah sure whatever floats your boat but now that ones body does not have the bounce back of a young perky spring chicken the benefits are more glaringly obvious.

Not only that, but I no longer feel like a penguin in a wet suit walking down the road in my 'exercise gear' feeling totally uncomfortable with the wind, my too tight sports bra and my shorts eating thighs situation.  I may look exactly the same, I try not to study that too much, but I 'feel' better and that's what this journey is about right?! And let me tell you when you walk fast, listening to great music with a 90% success rate of holding back the song longing to burst forth for fear of looking like a crazy loon, a girl can work up a sweat.  And boy walking the streets of Hillcrest (for those who have no idea it is a hilly suburb...in case the name didn't give that away) these legs of mine feel the burn, this may not be the case for those of you with obvious muscles but for those whose muscles are a little 'hidden' shall we say it is a flipping good work out.

The only down side for me is the swollen hands situation, which is the original reason I have always hated walking as opposed to going for a run.  For some reason walking makes my hands swell up and I become 'Kelly sausage fingers' ...let me just say not the superhero power I was after or would ever choose.

My hand right now as I am typing this

My hand post walk

Sausage fingers aside...another interesting development is that I have suddenly become a person who takes copious amounts of flower photos....yes I know!  I am that person!!  My instagram feed is taking on a very floral feel and I actually have to stop myself from posting yet another picture of yet another bloody flower.  I just can't help it, it's spring and when you are walking you just notice all the amazingly beautiful plants as you walk past and why not stop and take a photo right?!  I am rather stoked that I did finally manage to get a photo of the elusive bee - do you know how many photos I have taken trying to get a bee photo and then by pure accident I capture a bumble bee mid flight with it's little tongue out - magic!

 And as for the chocolate - well I am pleased to announce that not one chocolate bar or block has been purchased or has touched these lips and I am feeling just a wee bit proud of myself.  Not only that but I took it one step further to see just how far I could take the deprivation and have changed to decaf coffee.  I know right!! The headaches were ridiculous, it was not a fun couple of days for the smaller members of the house who can't help but up the annoying quotient when one least needs it.  I was a grizzly bear out from hibernation far far too early, snapping and snarling and panadol was basically a placebo as it had no affect on the vice like grip of caffine withdrawals.  However, I am now out the other side and it's been a full week on fake coffee, decaf - the coffee when you're not having a coffee!  Why you ask did I put myself (and my family) through this - well it was prompted by my visit to the Occupational Medical Specialist that ACC sent me to and while the outcome was not what I was wanting I think it is actually far better.  Turns out I have OOS not tennis and golfers elbows meaning that I will never be covered by ACC but also that the work I do on the computer as an accountant is 'hurting me but not harming me' - best words ever!  With those words all my worry and fear left the building and now it's about managing the pain when I have it instead of worrying that one day I will be brushing my teeth using my toes.  In that appointment he mentioned that caffine was not good for OOS as the whole problem is muscles not relaxing properly.  And let's face it for this girl caffine is not taken to relax oneself but rather to prop oneself up when one is a night owl in an early birds life and far to defiant to change ones ways so consequently burns ones candle at both ends.  So I made the plunge and bought some decaf and now not only am I the flower loving, no chocolate eating person who raves about the benefits of walking but also the decaf coffee drinker!  Wonders never cease.

Right so onwards and upwards and the setting of new goals...

my two goals for the next 'undetermined amount of time before I blog about my progress' are...

1. get more sleep - I am not setting times here as I am a bit of rebel when it comes to 'having' to be in bed by a certain time and even though I set the time I still defy myself - I have issues OK?!  So what I am looking for here is to be conscious of how my body is feeling and aiming to be kind in the sleep department rather than staying up just to watch telly!

2. cut down to one teaspoon of sugar in my fake coffee from one and a half teaspoons- sounds ridiculous but for a sweet tooth who has recently given up chocolate for a season this is not that ridiculous

OK I think that's enough said for today as I am looking at this page and there is an awful lot of words!  Why is it that always when I am thinking about writing a post or writing more frequently that I think I have nothing to say and then I start writing and out comes a novel?!

Take care and till then