Fullhouse in your head

I am elsewhere

2011-07-13T16:34:33Z

If you want to find out what I'm up to these days, try

audioboo.fm/boos/405766-walking-boo (full list of audioboos at audioboo.fm/nyssapod )

and/or

minibreakmummy.wordpress.com/

I'm still reading stuff on livejournal though

Cheers,

Ruth

A couple of things that are working for me

2011-04-06T14:28:04Z

It's been a while since I posted here. I broke my arm in late Jan and it made it hard to type. But I've made some progress with the weight loss, so I thought it might be worth noting down some hints and tips. Will share these with two of my sisters who've recently joined WeightWatchers.

Weight Watchers foods are not the only low-point option
Other brands do 'light' or 'healthy' ready meals, snacks and sandwiches that are worth checking out.

Stash some low-point snacks
I find it very hard to resist the chocolate machine and the little shop. So, taking advice from Skinny Doll's blog I've learned to stash low-point snacks in my handbag, my desk drawer and at home.

These include:
Fruit (0 ProPoints)
14g snack boxes of raisins (1 ProPoint)
Alpen Light cereal bars (2 ProPoints)
Packets of 3 Jaffa Cakes (4 ProPoints but worth it!)
Pom Bear crisps (3 ProPoints)
Dark choc (3 ProPoints for 20g)
Mini containers of nuts (3 ProPoints)

Make Chinese-style food using lots of veg, prawns, sachet of sauce and Uncle Ben's Express Rice
Very yummy and much lower in ProPoints than a takeaway! My other half came up with this idea and it works really well. (He mentioned this morning that he is losing weight as a result of me doing WW)

It is worth weighing high carb stuff to keep portion size sensible
When I started WW, people said, "Watch out - you'll have to weigh everything." But I don't really bother with most things, I tend to do stuff by eye (e.g. a quarter of a packet or whatever). But with pasta or breakfast cereal it is worth weighing stuff cos it makes a lot of difference in terms of points and it's worth getting used to a sensible portion size. 60g of pasta is plenty, but I'm pretty sure I would have wolfed down twice that without noticing when I used to eat pasta without weighing it.

Find low point sandwiches
I eat shop-bought sandwiches most days at work and I've found that they can vary between 7 ProProints and more than twice that. So now I tend to stick to sandwiches in the 7-10 ProPoints range as this means I have points spare for an afternoon snack.

Talking of which, it's about time I went to get some lunch!

RuthJ

Blogpost: I love my Kindle

2010-10-07T15:54:21Z

Have posted a nyssapod blog entry for the first time in months. It's about my Kindle and why I love it. Not intended to be a proper review, just some impressions.

http://nyssapod.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-love-my-kindle.html

RuthJ

15 albums

2010-09-01T19:22:17Z

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes:

Kate Bush: Aerial
Worth a 12 year wait! It was released in autumn 2005, when I was recovering from my life going completely pear-shaped. I found it uplifting then and still do now.

Kate Bush: The Kick Inside
I first heard this when I was a child and my favourite song then was 'Them Heavy People' with its chorus of "Rolling the ball". Rediscovered it when I was 14. Very impressed, especially with the songs about sex! (Personal & Social Education classes made sex sound terrifying, this album contained songs written by a young woman who made it sound as though it was worth a go!)

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
A witty, sexy album which I've loved to bits ever since it came out.

Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental
It's hard to pick just one PSB album, so I'll plump for this one in gratitude for the fact it helped keep me sane whilst weekend commuting between Nottingham and Birmingham during 2006.

Tori Amos: From the Choirgirl Hotel
Again, it's hard to pick just one Tori Amos. But this is probably the album of hers that I find most satisfying as a whole. Couldn't bear to listen to it during my pregnancy with A for obvious reasons, but it's back on my playlist now.

Bjork: Debut
This one is easy to single out from Bjork's solo albums as it reminds me of when I was briefly smitten by a beautiful 'Venus as a Boy'.

Abba: The Visitors
I have loved Abba since I was a kid, and this is my most-loved Abba album now that I'm a grown-up.

Bob Dylan: Desire
I used to get sick of some Bob Dylan albums cos my dad would play them all the time. But then I discovered this one in his record collection and it's irresistible.

Pulp: Different Class
I like the bitter and twisted moments best. I would go to sleep listening to this in the dark in my tiny flat in Leeds.

A-ha: Headlines and Deadlines
Sorry this is a greatest hits album but it has to be in there because it represents common ground with my sister Lucy. We're going to see them live in November.

Suzanne Vega: Suzanne Vega
This reminds me of my youth CND group, including my first boyfriend. 'Straight Lines' convinced me that life has to be messy - the only alternative is death.

Elvis Costello: Punch the Clock
A similar era to Suzanne Vega. Strangely uplifting, despite being strongly associated with a rather miserable week in Wales. Being an early Costello album it contains some fun, bordering on cheesy, lyrics "I punch the clock, and it's ok, I know a girl who takes my breath away".

Eurythmics: Savage
Once I'd heard this I couldn't get it out of my head. Also reminds me of a very good friend.

Peter Gabriel: So
Included here for 'In Your Eyes', 'Red Rain' and 'Don't Give Up'. Was very pleased to get a good copy on vinyl from Oxfam Books and Music recently as my original one was almost unplayable after being passed around the 'in crowd' I wanted to get in with during my fifth year at school.

Paul Simon: There Goes Rhymin' Simon
A really sweet, uplifting album. Another album I was very pleased to get an almost mint copy on vinyl from Oxfam Books and Music recently as it sounds best on vinyl.

So there you go. Listed in the order in which I thought of them. I'm not going to bother tagging people cos it's up to you whether you want to do your own list.

RuthJ

Aled and his birthday trainset

2010-08-16T20:57:48Z

Aled and his birthday trainset
Originally uploaded by RuthJ

Our lovely Aled bach was 2 last Wednesday. Here he is with his favourite birthday present - a little train set with Thomas and Percy trains.

RuthJ

Test

2010-06-13T07:31:19Z

Yes I am still alive just very busy

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Yellow Wednesday

2010-04-18T10:37:05Z

On Wednesday morning I was eating my breakfast when I smelt a horrible cooking plastic/rubber smell*. It turned out that a latex pillow was on fire in one of the built-in cupboards in the front bedroom**, so we called 999 and got the hell out. Aled was in his pyjamas so we wrapped him in a fleece jacket.

Two fire engines and a paramedic arrived within a couple of minutes, followed by an ambulance to take Aled and me to the hospital. Aled was absolutely fine, thank goodness. But it took three attempts to extract enough blood from his thumb to check carbon monoxide levels.

When we got back home I was very upset by the amount of devastation caused by the stinky yellow smoke - which spread much further than I would have expected and stained everything in the room yellow. Most of H's clothes were covered in black, molten pillow and all the towels and bedding in the cupboard were ruined as well. The sight of Aled's smoke-damaged cot and toys and books made me cry buckets because that is when it really hit home how much worse it could have been if we'd been asleep when the fire started.

In the end, all of the furniture, the clothes, the curtains and the carpet in the room had to be removed but the room still stinks and so does the hall and landing. Fortunately, H managed to close the doors to both bedrooms before calling 999 and our bedroom was relatively protected.

A quick Amazon order got replacement copies of the books sorted, and we got some emergency replacement clothes for H, but everything else will take a bit more time. The loss-adjuster can't come til Tuesday. We've got photos and lists to show the extent of the damage. I'm hoping we can replace the cot with a cot-bed as this will allow more growing room for Aled. We've also been washing all the machine washable stuff that wasn't actually ruined, in order to get rid of the smell. Sadly, Aled's soft toys in his cot were ruined, but we did have a duplicate of his favourite Ted so at least he has something familiar. He is currently sleeping in a travel cot downstairs.

I'm still very upset and this is not helped by the fact that Aled is waking us up at the crack of dawn. (It is not possible to put black-out blinds in the downstairs room)

H has taken Aled to H's mother's place today to give me a chance to rest and do yet more laundry. I know I'll feel better soon but at the moment I feel lower than I've felt in ages.

RuthJ

* the smoke alarm did not go off, despite being in full working order; in the right location and having a reasonably fresh battery! Perhaps it was the wrong kind of smoke?

** the fire was caused by the cupboard door not being properly closed such that the courtesy light stayed on - and unfortunately a couple of extra pillows had been placed in the cupboard the day before

Holiday cottages with a toddler?

2009-10-19T11:10:32Z

We're starting to think about holidays for next year.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to find a suitable holiday cottage to stay in with a young toddler? We need two bedrooms cos we all sleep much better if Aled is in his own room.

I'm wondering about Portmeirion. Have people who have experience of staying there got any pointers?

Thanks

Ruth

ruthj @ 2009-06-28T22:01:00

2009-06-28T22:01:35Z

11:39 @TheLloydClan ooh like some of these 'urban' kits - especially the space invader ones - thanks for the tip ;-) bit.ly/WIGPP #