Starting afresh. I plucked up the courage to pop into a local WW meeting yesterday and got weighed only to find my scales, which are fairly newish, are in fact at least 4Ibs out. The WW scales said the same as my doctors ones so looks as if I will need to concentrate on going back to meetings again if only for the discipline of getting weighed regularly! So set myself a new goal, to lose 24.5Ibs, don't care how long it takes but that is my goal for now with the aim of it being reviewed when I reach it. ok so this sounds huge, but for me it isn't as I break it down to 7Ibs at a time, it is just an overall figure for the benefit of class to get me to 10%.

So feeling positive I sit here looking at a ton of ironing and a huge amount of washing that needs to be done, and I need to have my breakfast yet so better get a move on!

Ok.

I will be honest.

As I write this Top Gun is on Sky One. Kids have put up with me saying this phrase all day as it is the only one that I can remember from the film as well as breaking out into singing lyrics from 'Danger Zone' and 'Take my Breath away'

Ok I admit I am sad. However this film is one of the few that I actually like Tom Cruise in - well a young Tom Cruise anyway. So the reason, apart from that, that it is on now, is the attempt to show the eldest son that mum does know some of the actors he talks about occasionally and that I have seen them in films. You think I am strange, try listening to your son trying to make a connection between the Tom Cruise in Top Gun to the Tom Cruise in Collateral or Last Sammuri. Just like he cannot believe that the man playing 'Goose' is the same Anthony Edwards that plays Dr. Mark Greene in my old episodes of ER.

So tell me what is it about kids that makes them think they have the monopoly on actors or music? How many times have you heard a cover version of a song by a boy band that you know was sung by your favourite band first time round? I only ask as this is one of my many discussions. Westlife singing 'Uptown Girl' and child singing it and being surprised if I say I have the version by Billy Joel. Who? he asks in amazement. Can't possibly be the same song until I play it to death to prove a point.

Another conversation springs to mind. Sky one is doing a programme about Spontaneous combustion Hosted by Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. "Don't tell me" says eldest child 2 "he is from one of your groups you play endlessly, that I don't understand the words to"

My attempt to educate him has obviously failed miserably only hope there is still time to educate the youngest in taste for music and films. I fear this may be an uphill struggle as he still loves disney films and Sugababes!

Went to see this film tonight and must admit despite all the hype and the terrible reviews it got, i really enjoyed it. Think it followed the book pretty well - yes I have read that as well - and even though I knew the ending it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the film. Certainly recommend it to anyone who has read the book, you should enjoy the film as well and it didn't seem as long as ppl were saying it was, or maybe that is because I was so engrossed!!

I have been dieting on and of for years now and as anyone who knows about dieting have managed over the years to put on more than I have actually taken off.

That was until a few years ago when I successfully managed to lose 31/2 stone with Weight watchers. Then I stopped going to classes (a long story as to why involving the leader of the class) and have put a stone back on again.

Now I still track my food and I have been doing exercise so a stone isn't too bad in the scheme of things but I want to get it off. However there have been a few health issues along the way which I am waiting for hospital appointments for, and an issue with a back with a disintigrating disc in it which causes a few problems on the exercise front, but other than that I am healthy and maintaining that stone I have put on.

Today I have decided enough of this I am going to lose it so have started back on the WW plan with vengence and increased on the exercise when I can, afterall I can still walk. Kids will not know what has hit them next week, believe me, they are on halfterm but I have planned a few walks which we can do together with the dogs, and I know there will be a few moans and groans involved, but I am determined I will shift this weight and stay on plan, now all I have to do is follow it through.

Wonder if I will still be so positive by the end of the month? We will see!

I am tired.

To be honest if it wasn't for the fact that in oh 1/2 hour I have to go to work I would probably be tucked up in bed. Forget the fact that the sun is shinning and I should be doing some washing and hanging it out, instead I just want to sleep.
You see at the weekend I went to Glasgow with a few friends and spent the weekend there. We flew from Luton Airport and had a lovely time. Now I don't mind flying, but a few days before I found I was unable to sleep at all and my nights have been interrupted ever since. At work I have looked like a zombie from the video to 'Thriller' and felt like it as well. I have come home, cooked and cleaned for my loved ones and chilled out on the sofa feeling knackered and wanting to fall asleep, yet as soon as I go to bed ping.... I am wide awake, tossing and turning till about 4am then I doze fitfully. Next thing I know the alarm has gone off and my day starts over again.

Ah well, best get work over and done with then I can come home and chill and hope I can sleep tonight - nothing worse than lying there listening to your other half snoring away in competition with the dogs!

As I sit here and write this my kids are now safely tucked up in bed and hubby is swearing at the latest Tomb Raider game on the playstation. He is an addict, he loves his playstation, just as much as the kids love their gameboys. I cannot see what is so fascinating in them myself and all talk of them bore me silly, but then again i suppose talking about cross stiching probably bores them just as much!

So I am sitting here, surfing the net for nothing in particular instead of doing what I should be doing - exercise. Yes it is that horrible word. Don't get me wrong, when I can be arsed to do it I quite enjoy it but at the moment all motivation is gone. i do not know why. Perhaps it is because motivation for anything has disappeared out of the window, particularly for dieting. Now food I can take or leave depending on what mood I am in, and for the most part I eat quite healthily but tend to eat too much. Then the guilt gene sets in and a viscious circle starts. On top of it all I had a fantastic weekend away with the Girls from work, in Glasgow, where we shopped, ate and drank and I don't think I have got out of that mode. In fact I am feeling very tired (lack of sleep) and very emotional and have no idea why I should be feeling like this. I keep blaming it on the weather, I need the sunshine!

Oh and that is another thing - can someone please tell me why oh why are we facing a drought when the water companies could have solved most of their water problems by repairing or replacing the leaking pipes that carry our water? Afterall it isn't as though they didn't know about this, we went through this in the 70's you would think they would have done something about it by now. So ok that doesn't solve the problem with the reservoirs running dry, but it would solve the waste of water we have at the moment surely? Or am I in fantasy land again. I suppose all this rain we have had over the last couple of days is the wrong sort as well. Ah well off soapbox now.

My husband collects abandoned animals, mainly animals that have been knocked over (so far they have been quite small) and brings them home to nurture them back to health. So far most of his efforts have failed and the animal has died of shock, but he still does it in the hope that one day his valiant efforts to save our wildlife from roadkill will work. I swear sometimmes he is St Francis reincarnated.

My eldest son, however collects children. He is the protector of all. A child being bullied at his school often ends up being brought home here so that when I get in I have to run him home and explain to his frantic parents why their child is at least an hour late home from school. Puts me in a difficult situation at times, and it makes for an interesting life as you never know who it will be on my doorstep when I get in. Now don't go thinking that my eldest is at all threatening to be around, or that his muscles are scary. In fact he is a very slim child almost weedy looking in stature, but he is a black belt in Taekwondo and the one thing he has that is like his father, is that he looks really threatening when he is mad. Both have a way of cocking their heads to one side and a look that ppl tend to stear clear of them. So children being picked on at school tend to hang around him as they know that no one will take him on. I am not sure how much damage he would do, just lets say I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of his fist, he can be quite strong.

So no surprises then that I come home from work today to find another waif and stray that son has collected. I sit and chat to him, find out what is wrong, end up advising and telling child who to speak to at school then take him home to a very frantic mother who is about to ring all and sundry and report child missing. My son is over moon that I have helped his friend but can't help but wondering I haven't seen the last of this particular child and his problems.

Oh well better get some dinner prepared for the family!

So here I am, in the world of blogging. I have another site that I blog on but wanted somewhere where I can vent my frustrations in life and all that it entails. For the most part not much gets to me at all, but there are times when things do. For instance, did Sven Ericikson do right by picking a 17 year old that hasn't played in first team football to represent us in the England team? Should the manager of the England team be foreign or English?
I say who the hell cares. Do I care? NO. Is it a matter of life and death? No
It is 22 men who have nothing better to do BUT to kick a ball around and big field. There are more important things happening out there than football. I honestly think they should have picked my hubby to be manager, afterall he thinks he knows more about football than any manager out there, let alone the FA.

Look closely folks I said he thinks he knows more, not that he does, though in his defence he follows his team religiously, has had a season ticket since he was seven years old and can tell you who played in that team for every year since. (Yes he can be that boring at times).

Believe me I used to like football,though I prefer rugby - the men are chunkier:D - but hubbys fanaticism is such that I have gradually gone off it over the years. Now when he moans I just sit back and read a book or surf the net while he rants and nod at the appropriate moment. On the other hand at least he goes and watches his team play, there is nothing worse than an armchair supporter who thinks they know everything - they really get on my nerves.

So here we are, another world cup looming oh joy - now perhaps I should start thinking about emigrating!