Take care of you. xx

13th January 2015

Life is too short, smile while you still have teeth.

I've sat here for a while now just staring at the screen, not really knowing what to write this morning, on one hand I want to keep it upbeat because I'm all about the happy, even when I'm not feeling that way, I try to write that way because it helps to lift me back up.  On the other hand yesterday I had some sad news yesterday that I feel I need to share, because if I don't I'd think I was being false. 

Yesterday I was out for lunch with my bestie when I received a phone call from an old work colleague who I still keep in touch with thanks to the power of social media to tell me that our old boss had had a heartache on the way to work and died on the way to the hospital.  He was an amazing man, full of life and love for his wife and family, they'd just enjoyed what looked like an hilarious Christmas followed by a fantastic new year on a beach holiday.  I'm so sad for his wonderful family and can't imagine how they must be feeling.

Anything else I got to write just seems wrong, so I won't, instead I'm going to focus on what I normally would and that's food and taking care of yourself because as that proves, life really is too short NOT to take care of yourself, Craig was only 50, and looked healthy enough to me on his Facebook photos, so you just never know.  However the more we take care of ourselves, the better.

Lynne and I had enjoyed a lovely lunch, 3 courses but not large courses thankfully, having said that, they still wiped out a chunk of ProPoints, Crumbled goat’s cheese with beetroot and a balsamic dressing for starter, Staffordshire burger with cheddar cheese, hand cut chips and tomato chutney for main and Rhubarb and custard with a ginger crumb for dessert.  So where do you start with ProPointing that lot, I always compare burgers to McDonalds Big Macs which are 13pp, and I'm going to put 20pp for mine because it was a good one with cheese, the chips were delicious but there weren't too many, I work on the 8pp per handful principle so I'm putting 10pp for them and 2pp for the chutney.  My starter wasn't very big so 6pp will more than cover it.  At most my dessert was 15pp, comparing it to others on the Weight Watcher app, it was a tiny bit of custard in a jug and I left some.  Thankfully good food doesn't come in massive portions because that little lot adds up to 53pp!  I'd had bacon and mushroom thin for breakfast, 5pp.  So my day was 60pp with the milk in my tea, I'm allowed 26pp, which means I've already used 27pp from my weeklies and they were worth it to spend a few hours with my bestie.  Actually I couldn't lived without the starter and desert thinking about it, the burger would've been plenty but we fell for the meal deal for £10.90 as you do!   It was the Yorkshireman in Rugeley http://www.wine-dine.co.uk/the-yorkshireman/ourfood/index.html, very nice.

So whilst I'm sat there before my call about Craig, the doctor called me, not the best place for a chat with your GP but hey, Lynne already knows everything about me and my life.  I'd nipped into the surgery earlier to ask if I could take Starflower oil with the medication I already take as my monthly symptoms are getting me down a little if I'm honest, I can't cope without sleep as it is but throw in all the other stuff, cramps, sweats, pains, and well I'm willing to try a little natural remedy.  Anyway my doctor was lovely, asked me lots of questions, told me I really do need to be taking something for all these systems I'd told him about, I had to be honest as my mates sat there correcting me!  So I've not got me some medication and iron tablets and a multivitamin just for the hell of it, let's see if that all makes a difference. 

Life really is too short to grin and bear it!  At least one week of every month is hard work and I may slap a smile on it but if taking some tablets for 4 days a month can help, why not!  Oh and I will just have to live with the side effects of the Iron tablets because anaemia sucks! 

And the good news, I slept like a baby last night, first night since going back to work, I do love my sleep. 

Oh and the really dramatic news....

Are you ready for this....

The doctor told me the alcohol isn't helping my symptoms at all, it's actually making them worse, so guess who's going to be cutting right back on her wine intake!  Yep, I'm all about the healthy and happy and when something stops doing one or both of those things for me, it's time to go, I can enjoy a glass of milk at night just as much!  I also love my alcohol free Becks Blue, it tastes like the real deal without the ProPoints!  1pp per bottle = bargain.  Actually if you type in 2 bottles of alcohol free lager on the app, you still get them for 1pp, so that really is a bargain.

I should get a good weight loss next week if I'm not boozing, shouldn't I.  We shall see.

Now I'm off to the kitchen for a mug of hot water (rock and roll me!) and to plan my meals for the day.

Might get the slow cooker on with a beef casserole in.

Take care of you and yours, focus on the healthy and happy and never put something off....