One more step

Had my weekly weighing yesterday and took one more step towards my goal. I got rid of 600 grams this week and have now got rid of 29 kilos all in all. Hopefully I will be able to get over the 30 kilos goal next time but to be able to do that I have to do better than I've done for the last few weeks. But we'll see how it goes. I need new pictures of me soon, I'll ask Bob to do that when we get a chance.

School is busy, handed in an assignment yesterday and have math problems to do before Friday. Busy, busy time. But that's OK.

Not much progress, but still

I went to the weekly weighing yesterday, got rid of 400 grams but that was probably just because of the haircut I got on Monday. It's not much at all, but still 400 grams down and not up. That's the main thing. I sat the meeting, Þórhildur got a lot of questions asked this time and it was useful. Some were things that I didn't know before, some not but it's always good to have things pointed out to you again. Þórhildur told me to try more variations in fruit, not just juice, apples and grapes. And she also told me to skip the lunch bread and have one extra fruit instead so I'll try that. I just have to get going again, I'm getting sick of this. Maybe I should start making ice cream for myself, maybe like I used to, after the girls are in bed or maybe weekends during the day so they can have some as well, maybe I'll do that this Saturday or Sunday. Sounds like a good plan.

The girls

I haven't put in any pictures for a while but here we have a couple. I took them last night when the girls were getting ready for their bath, as can be seen, they had to try out new things first! They thought this was a lot of fun.

Last night we saw - and heard - the first 8 entries in the Icelandic Eurovision. Three qualified to the finals, non of them really good. I didn't think any of these songs was really good, Bob liked one and that wasn't a bad song at all, but it didn't qualify. In the last three songs we saw, there were four former Idol "stars". One of the songs that qualified, was performed by three guys and they "danced" the most awkward dance while they performed. It was really embarassing but people seemed to liked, at least it qualified. Bob doesn't think we will qualify this year either and with these songs, we won't.

Poor mother's small heart

We took Sólveig Lilja to the doctor on Wednesday. He sent her for a blood test, which we did yesterday morning. Mother and daughter, unknowing what was going to happen, went there yesterday morning. We arrived maybe 5 past 8 and got #3 from the number machine. Sat down and waited. A few minutes later, the lady started calling up numbers and it was soon our turn. Sólveig Lilja was playing with some building blocks at the time so I stood up and paid and the lady explained that when a little screen displayed our number, we'd go into a room across the corridor. We only had to wait a few minutes before our number came up. We went in and the nurse went to get somebody to assist her which is a standard procedure when they deal with kids. I took Sólveig Lilja's coat and jumper off and sat down with her. Then the nurse put a strap on her arm to check the veins. Checked both arms. Then the other nurse came in and they started the procedure. I don't think I want to describe in details how it was, suffice to say Sólveig Lilja has veins like her mother, tough and difficult to put a needle through. They had to try both arms and of course the child didn't like it. Neither did I. I told Sólveig Lilja not to cry because if she did, I would cry as well and I did so feel her pain. Finally they got enough blood, put plaster on her arms and she got to pick a toy from the prize box that they have there.

During the day she forgot all about this. But last night when I was getting her ready for bed, she saw the band aid and when I pulled it off, she saw the little holes in her arms. She got all cautious and protective. Hopefully she won't have to do that again, well, hopefully I won't have to take any of them for a blood test any time soon.

Sat a time management course yesterday and it was very good. Hopefully I will take advantage of what she told us, otherwise it's useless.

I still have some reading to do for school for this week but I've done my IT-course assignment for the week. Making progress with the math as well but I'll have some stuff to do this weekend. Don't think I'll be able to finish it tonight.

Major milestone, brainwashing and more

As a mother I find all new things that my children do major achievements. Or most of them. The first word they say, the first tooth they get, the first time they roll over, the first step.... all these things. And now it's the first pee in the toilet. Kristín Lára has been going to the toilet for a while "for a pee". Of course she hasn't done anything but sit there and then pulls off a sheet of toilet paper and stuffs it down between her legs in pretending to dry herself. At first she was a bit nervous sitting there but that was only for the first two or three times, since then she's loved this pretend "going for a pee". The last couple of days she's sometimes said no to the question of going for a pee and the same thing happened last night. She'd been in bed for a while, singing away some of the time but also crying some of the time. So to make sure she hadn't poohed herself or something like that, I went in to check on her. She of course wanted to be picked up and soft as I am, did so. But she didn't want to go for a pee but her diaper was wet so I decided to change it and put her on the toilet anyways. And I heard it. Not a few drops but a proper pee! And I praised her until she got all shy, not understanding why her mother went on like that about something as natural as having a pee. So what that it happened to land in the toilet, that was just a coincidence. I dried her and put a new diaper on and took her down to tell "pabbi" about his milestone in his daughters life. "So?", said the expression on his face. He was having his evening feed and I think he was afraid that we would disturb him in that. As we did. Kristín Lára quite liked his fish and his bread and his cheese and his biscuits. And she quite liked sitting on the sofa with him, watching the airplanes. So that was the milestone in Kristín Lára's life yesterday. One year, six months, two weeks and two days old she peed in the toilet for the first time.

Went to a fat fighter's meeting yesterday. Normally I go before I have lunch but since I wanted to sit a meeting as well, I went in the afternoon. Mrs Scale was nasty. 800 grams up :( Not fair, I thought I'd been doing well. Valdís (my math tutor and fellow fat fighter) had decided that she too needed to sit a few meetings so we had decided to meet there and try to support each other in the fight. It is so true what she said. This is brainwashing. I've know that all along. I allowed myself to be brainwashed and that's why I did so well. I just did pretty much exactly what I was told. Then during the summer I started to slip, thinking that since it was summer it was OK to allow myself a bit more and seeing that doing that, I didn't put on any weight but stayed pretty much the same, I continued on that path. And of course, I haven't really lost any weight since then. But now I am going to go to meetings again and get brainwashed again. I'm not going to almost follow the diet, I'm going to follow it as I did when I first started. I'm going to have fish 3-5 times a week. I'm going to have 4 eggs a week. I'm not going to have meet more than 3 times a week. I'm going to drink 2 liters of water a day. I'm not going to eat more than 4 fruits a day. I'm going to write down what I eat and drink each day. And now, even if Bob is probably the only one reading this, it is still official and only the fact that he has read this, makes me have to do it. Although I'm not doing this for him, I'm doing it for me, he has been my biggest support in this and he has done just as much, if not more work than I have. Because he is the one cooking for me. He is the one chopping carrots almost every day of the week. He's the one looking after me. Thanks sweetheart. And about the water, according to some thing I stepped on last week, my water% is too low so I need to drink more water. How this "thing" works, I have no idea, neither how reliable it is. It calculated my fat% 35,9 (I think) but last year someone pinched me all over, manually with some little thing (which is supposed to be more accurate) and that said just over 31%. So I don't know.

Sólveig Lilja has an appointment to see our GP today. She's still coughing and now Kristín Lára seems to have got a cold. Maybe it wasn't the jab that she got the other day but the cold Sólveig Lilja had (or still has). And their father as well. And now I have a sore throat :( We'll see.

I've started my first math assignment. Done two of seven problems. Wonderful. Right.

Trematons

Sólveig Lilja was sick last weekend, had fever. Since then she has been coughing. She has the Trematons. We took Kristín Lára to her 18 months checkup on Thursday 10 days ago. We took a perfectly healthy little girl there and on Friday she started getting fever and she's been sick all weekend. She has the Trelurgies. Hahaha! Bob isn't feeling too well either. Wonder what it is that he has, Tre-something I'm sure. I myself, am Tre-less.

I've just taken down the light arch around the front door. Need to take the lights in the living room and the kitchen and put all the Christmas stuff in storage and then that's done for this time. No, not really though, my yuletide lads are still up, and by the way, I haven't paid the last one, must do that.

It's cold and bright, no sun yet and we probably won't have any today. Had some sunshine yesterday but only for a few minutes. Days are getting longer though and that is very nice.

I've got two lectures to get through, it's been a bit difficult to get started again. Looks interesting though - and no, I'm not talking about the math course, I haven't got a lecture in that yet.

First Fat Figther's 2007

Went to my first weighing this year yesterday. Have put on 100 grams over Christmas and it could have been worse. I went to the introduction meeting a year ago today, January 10th and since then I've got rid of 28.8 kilos. Now I have to make a fresh start, I've had enough of this up and down, up and down all the time and not making any proper progress at all, only a few grams down and then maybe up again. This is how it's been since July when we went to Paris and I've got rid of less than six kilos since then. I have about 12.5 kilos left to get rid of or maybe more, we'll see when I get closer. But still, I've done well, I stuck with it and 28.8 kilos is 28.8 kilos.

Otherwise, things are just fine. Hid the car keys yesterday though so Bob couldn't find them this lunch time when he went to pick up Sólveig Lilja from play school. So he took Kristín Lára in the toboggan and she loved it. He was going to walk there anyways he tells me.....

Christmas shopping for 2007

Yes, I have started buying Christmas presents for next Christmas! I just hope that before next Christmas I haven't forgotten about it and buy new ones. Made some good deals on Friday, got the hat I've been looking for for a while (not a Christmas gift, just something that I need for cold mornings when I'm walking to work) and some things for the girls, my own and my nieces.

Today is the big day. First "fat fighters" meeting since before Christmas. Wonder what Mrs. Scale is going to say to me today. It's also a big day for my little sister, Ella is 40 today. She called yesterday and invited us over for coffee and something this afternoon.

I've been copying films from VHS over to DVD lately. Copied quite a few already. This Samsung DVD/VHS recorder/player is very good I think, just push one button and it copies for you. Or stick in a DVD and it starts playing it for you. Unlike the crap we had before.

Last day of Christmas

Today is "The Thirteenth", that is the thirteenth and last day of Christmas. The Yuletide Lads are thirteen, the first one comes 13 days before Christmas and the last one on Christmas Eve and then they start going back up to the mountains where they live and today the last of them leaves - or has left already. So tomorrow people start taking down their Christmas decorations. Actually many people have started that already. We haven't, I like those additional lights when it's dark outside, makes the days feel longer.

We all went out this morning, to Byko to get some stuff to fix the pipe holding our areal. A few weeks ago, when all the snow was melting down, it took the pipe with it, well, bent it and it's now hanging on one support only (were 3 before). We started replacing the supports but the drill ran out of power and Kristín Lára had to have her nap so we paused for a bit and will continue when she's awake again. Don't know how we are going to fix the bend in the pipe though. Sólveig Lilja isn't not feeling too good, she's had a couple of naps already, first she complained about being cold, then she was too warm. Now she is watching DVD and looks better.

School starts in a few days. How wonderful! I could do with a longer pause though. We also need to get on with our bathroom project. I'm the one dragging my feet. I need to empty out the bathroom unit so that we can pull it down. When that is done, we can finish the floor, level it and put the tiles down and then we need to tile the corner behind the shower cubicle, then fit that and then fit the new sink unit. Then it's the bathtub and then put the rest of the wall tiles up. Yes, we do have a lot of work still to be done but it's going to be so cool when it's all done.

Back to work

I so didn't feel like going to work yesterday. Sólveig Lilja didn't feel like going to school yesterday either but we got up, had breakfast and walked off. I pulled her in her new toboggan, the old one has a seat with high back and a belt which this new one doesn't have. She hasn't fallen off yet though and seems to be pretty happy about this new one. This morning it was similar, except she had crawled in bed with us sometime early this morning. Four o'clock she was already there and I was too sleepy to take her back. But I won't let her sleep there tonight, it's too crowded and I can't stretch out like I like to. The other two seemed quite comfortable thought and so did Kristín Lára in her cot.

Bob and I have been watching a show on the Discovery Channel, called "The Deadliest Catch". It's about a fleet of crab fishing boats from Alaska, fishing in the Bering Sea in all kinds of weather, usually cold and windy. Don't know why I like this show, it's just about people throwing crab pots overboard and pulling them back in, over and over and over again. But something about this show is good, so good that you want to watch it. I was wondering if I'd want to watch a show on the life on Icelandic factory trawlers as we call them, like my brother-in-law Tommi used to work on. Why not? I guess it has to do with how the show is done though, but I still haven't really figured out what it is about these shows that makes you want to watch them. Bob says that it's because it shows real people doing real work in real situations. And that could be the reason.

I guess school will start soon, sometime after the weekend I think. And soon it's time to take down the Christmas decorations, the tree and the lights. This time it won't take so much time since I didn't put that much in the windows this time. And next week the "fat fighters" will start again. I'm trying to get back to my diet properly again, no more carelessness!

New Year

The river of time flows ever onwards towards the ocean of possibilities. Dreams and promises are tested; some found wanting is laid upon its banks. Empty coke bottles and candy wrappers, trash cans filled to over flowing with discarded boxes to await collection. To be taken away along with all of the unfinished tasks of the year.

Yet in a Child's eye the doll or rocking horse becomes more than that we can ever know. For they see this and more as but a vessel to transport them to a land of make believe, a land to which we that grow old can but never return. The Promised Land was given to us and yet taken away with the discovery of adult love. For that is the price we must pay and with this knowledge we that give rise to children want so much to delay, delay their exit from Eden.

The fireworks fly upwards towards the stars and in so doing place a period upon the year. The bells ring out to proclaim the new page for the coming year. The time set aside for reflection has ended. Now with a smile we turn to each other and the family is whole and set for adventures yet to come. Families are bonds of love and frustration, true, but, they are more, they above all else give testament to why we are here.

I am what I am. And in the eyes of the family I am what I can and will be. What is life? Look into the eyes of the family and know that it is this;

Love.

(RLP)

First birthday party of the year

I and the girls went to Guðrún Margrét's sixth birthday party today. Katrín is 22 today and it's also Jean's birthday. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say how old she is though, but if you read this Jean, happy birthday. We had a nice time and I took this picture of the girls and their cousins. Kristín Lára spent some time head butting Jón Birgir so he will probably have a headache tomorrow!

I'm not sure when the next birthday party will be but Ella will turn 40 on the 9th.

Happy New Year...

...to all of you.