Lost A Stone!!

I started a diet 7 weeks ago. Since my operation a year ago my weight has just ballooned. And now I have high blood pressure, and none of my clothes fit, I decided it was time to lose some weight. I was spurred on by my sister, who blurted out in front of 3 people, that I didn't look like me anymore. It was the nicest way she could say that I was FAT! Luckily, the 3 people were all cousins, and although I was hurt, it gave me the kick in the butt I needed. My sis felt guilty and turned up the next day with a bunch of flowers to say sorry. The flowers were in a vase on the windowsill for a week, and I referred to them as my fat flowers.

My work does discounts on stuff all the time, and there was one for money of Weight Watchers online subscription. As I work such weird times, online is probably best, I'm usually in bed by 7pm, and 4 days a week I'm up at 3am, not good for making classes. It's going really well, and I've lost 1 stone and 2lbs. Still got loads to go, but I've done it before so I'm optimistic.

The Damn Headaches

I had a killer headache again last week. So bad that I left work early and lay down holding my head and not moving or breathing too hard. On the upside, it only lasted 36 hours, relatively short for me. But I've had enough. I went back to the doctor, and he's now decided it's migraines. So no more anti-depressants (yay) and bring on the beta-blockers. I am wondering if he's just using a hit or miss diagnosis technique, and by trying various pills and potions, might finally hit the right one. A modern day witch doctor methinks. So, feeling a bit like a guinea pig, prescription in hand, I'm off to the chemist.

My book for book club came yesterday. I'm looking forward to reading it, but I'm in the middle of another book, which I want to finish first. It's written in a Glaswegian dialect, tricky, but I'm getting the swing of it now. Book club is in 36 days, I hope I read it in time.

Google Chrome

For a while I have used Mozilla Firefox as my browser, Internet Explorer is rubbish. It crashes all the time and runs really slow. I was happy with it, but after I changed my email account to Gmail, I discovered all the wonderful products Google offer. So I decided to try Google's internet browser, Google Chrome and it is brilliant. You can change the theme of the browser, and just now I'm using a Cath Kidston theme, all pink and flowery. And I just discovered the newly released extensions to the browser. Here are my top extensions.

• Web Of Trust - It rates the safety of sites, and stops you landing on dangerous sites.
• Chrome Bird - A tab drops down and you can work your Twitter account without leaving the page you're on. It alerts you to new tweets too.
• Google Mailchecker - Just like Chrome Bird, an icon next to the address bar alerts you when you have new mail, and one click opens up a tab with your Gmail.
• Dayhiker for Google calender - Another tab drop, with your Google calender events to hand.
• Tab Menu - A tab drops a vertical list of the pages you have opened to skip between tabs quicker and close them with one click.
• Chromepad - A notepad  in a drop down tab to write notes on, saves finding a pen and paper.
• Xmarks - It saves all your bookmark so you can access them from any computer by logging in. Good if you use more than one computer like me.
• Feedly - My absolute favourite. It grabs all the sites you subscribe to, and the blogs you follow, and puts them on one page that looks like a magazine cover. It's a fancy Google Reader. 

I can't understand why people plod on with Internet Explorer when there are so many more options out there. It took me a while to realise that there were other option, so if this blog opens even just one person's eyes to the wealth of choice out there, then my good deed for the day is done.

The Regent

An old building that used to house a Gala bingo hall has been restored to its former glory, a cinema called The Regent. A non-profit making group, which had been running in church halls in Leven, secured a year long lease on the building after the bingo hall closed.

It's a fantastic building, with lots of the original art deco features still in place. Volunteers have been toiling away for the last 2 months aided by lots of donations of cash and materials from local businesses and generous individuals. The grand opening was last night, with a premier of I Know You Know starring Robert Carlyle. The opening was attended by the film producer and was a great success.

Today I took the kids to the Saturday Matinee, and it was really good. Such a lot of hard work has paid off, and hopefully it will continue for a long time. There has been no cinema in Levenmouth for a long time, and recently if you wanted to see a film, you had to make a 25 mile trip to Odeon, which is very expensive. There are some children who haven't ever seen a film on a big screen for that reason. There is a cinema in the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy, but it doesn't show a lot of films, and it's still 15 miles away.

I think I will be taking the boys to the matinee every week, they had a great time, and I'm looking forward to some of the new realeases promised too.

An Ode To Kelly

My Best Friend

I am close to lots of people, especially family members, but there's one non-family member that I'm close to. I might not see her from one week to the next, one month to the next, and once, one year to the next, but if I turn up on her doorstep, she'll treat me as if I had been there yesterday. She's a little bit cooky, but I love her for it. She has a lot of adventures, but then so do I, and at the end of the day, we've always got each other.

My new favourite tipple.

This is my new favourite drink, introduced to me by my cousin (the same one who brought my attention to Mad Men), and who obviously has impeccable taste. I have never tasted gin before, and only knew it as mother's ruin. We had a "cousins get-together" and this is where my love affair with Hendrick's was born. A colleague asked why not just drink Gordon's as it's cheaper, but Hendrick's is special.

 

As it says on the label, it's loved by a handful of people over the world. I like being part of that small group. And it is distilled in Scotland, so it's homegrown for me. There are lots of different ways to drink it, as detailed  on their website and I am looking forward to trying them.

But for now, my favourite way is with Indian Tonic and a slice of lime and cucumber (yes, cucumber!). My cousin and I were so close as children, we are six months apart in age, and I like that we have things we both love, just like when we were kids. So here's to Hendrick's, Mad Men and my cousin.

Odd

I'm in at work on weird shifts next week, doing 2 nights nightshift then off for 6 day, which is good. Now I have to stay up as late as I can instead of getting up for work at 3am. It takes practice, so I need to sleep a lot during the day (poor me).

I added a stupid hit counter to my blog about a week ago, and it hacked my blog and re-directed it to a stupid advert! Not cool. So I deleted it. Also, I discovered my windows defender was switched off, just inviting trojans and worms. That's fixed now so STAY AWAY BUGS!!

Anyway, here's my favourite photo of my babies.