Nov 11 - Sleepy Sunday

Image by David Wijnants

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

The Ode
From the poem 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon


  Today was Remembrance Day in Australia and other Commonwealth countries.  It is customary to hold one or two minutes silence at 11am and remember the sacrifices made by the fallen.  I held my silence slightly before then and thought of my grandparents.  My paternal grandparents both members of the Allied Air Forces during WWII and my maternal grandparents both experienced growing up in it.
  I don't want to spend my whole blog talking about it but I do think it's important to remember the fallen.  Even though I am against war in principle and certainly anti-propaganda, I can still appreciate the sacrifices that people have made fighting for what they believe is right.  And we must remember, we must not forget, because it is up to all of us to make sure it stops happening.
 
  I woke up this morning to find that my blood sugar was still 6.9, not good!  So I cooked a bacon and egg breakfast for Mr Smart but I contented myself with yoghurt, muesli, slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds, a few dried cranberries and two diced dried peach halves with a small cup of Rosie Cranberry Lite drink.
  After breakfast we watched two more episodes of Spartacus.  Very violent!  I had to hide my eyes at one point.  Lucky he was there to tap me on the shoulder and tell me when I could look again.  Having fulfilled my quota of Spartacus for the weekend, I had a quick shower and we headed off to Mr Smart's place.  On our journey, discussion turned to what might be collected for lunch on our way.
  We ended up deciding on the charcoal chicken shop at South Preston Shopping Centre as last night's Greek feast did not include sufficient quantities of gyros lamb to sate Mr Smart's desires.  Lunch as a result, was a plate of gyros lamb, Greek salad and seafood salad with two glasses of Lipton Iced Green Tea with Lemon.  The lamb from this place is good.  Crispy and juicy, maybe a little salty but still really yummy and they give you ridiculously good value for money.
  We ate our fill in front of the cricket.  Not really watching, but just something on in the background.  Pizza Cat was of course interested in the contents of our plates and for once her efforts were rewarded, I slipped her a tiny piece of lamb and gave her a pat.  After lunch Mr Smart set about checking his various email, facebook, soccer results (Yay Melbourne Victory!) and I lay down to pat Pizza Cat some more and promptly went to nap town.  I drifted in and out for around an hour I think but finally awoke to the sound of the camera shutter on Mr Smart's phone.  Apparently I am cute when I nap.
  I headed home in the late afternoon, detouring slightly via Coles to buy sufficient provisions to get me through the first few days of the week and then unpacked it.  I then sat down at my desk with all intention of getting the Weekly Planner done but there was a message waiting for me so instead I rang Chook and had a long overdue catch up.
  I realised earlier that I would be unlikely to want much dinner tonight so while I was catching up with her I cut up 250g of fresh strawberries and a peeled kiwi fruit for dinner.  Just enough to fit the bill and two hours later my blood sugar was down to a healthy reading of 5.0.

  I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has posted or emailed lovely comments regarding the photo of me in my new dress on yesterday's blog.  It's really encouraging to hear that you can all see a difference.  The thing is, because I live in my skin every day I still just see the same fat girl staring back at me.  Don't get me wrong, I can feel a difference, but it is harder to see it unless I compare old photos to new ones.  I know it by the scales, the measurements and the bagginess of clothes, I feel it in how much easier it is to go for a walk or carry something, I just can't see it in the mirror.  So thank you all, it made me feel really good about my progress.
  I got an encouraging email from my Granny tonight too that while encouraging, did mention the recent spate of slippages in the diet due to an increase in meals out.  She's perfectly right and it's something I myself am quite aware of.  It is a worry and it does gnaw at me sometimes.  I want to enjoy life, go out and have a good time, but I do need to keep on track so I think I need to take a little more care once more in what I'm ordering and how much of everything I eat when I go out.  I can still enjoy myself and have fun but not lose sight of the big picture.
  With that all in mind, the big picture goal for the time being is to get down to 106.7kg before Christmas and stay there until January.  It was be great to lose weight over Christmas but I'm going to be a realist and recognise that simply not gaining would be a win for me.  Over a fair few of the last decade of Christmases, I've gained and kept 5kg.  I intend to break that tradition this year.
  Thank you all again for your kind encouragement and I'll do my best to be back on track as much as possible this week!
  Jess