The Moiderer

Simply beautiful

Making up for the weekend

I admit it. I feel guilty for being away all last weekend. So I’ve been making it up to the little one.

Meanwhile as some of the people I know completed the Great South Run, I once more failed to run. Is it my foot still? Maybe. It still hurts. Or maybe I’m finding excuses. I know if I was able to join in the GSR I would definitely have run, irrespective of foot injury. I’m feeling pretty useless anyway.

But I’ve had great fun with the little one.

Despite the clock change, and forgetting to change the Groclock, she still got up at 6:45am new time! Amazing.

So we went to McDonalds for brekkie and then the park

Then we built an assault course in the lounge

and played dress up in her playroom. Meet superduck

We went to town and spent ages watching the puppet guy

Then she read her new book in Starbucks while I got drinks

Then fell asleep on the way home

Saturday Snapshots

As you know, last weekend I was on my course so didn’t see the little one all weekend. This meant that I had a lot of making up to do today.

The little one has now mastered navigating the computer with her mouse and clicking on links. She’s learnt this so she can watch YouTube – nursery rhymes and Peppa Pig. So yesterday I let her spend the afternoon in my office on her computer just watching YouTube!

Then this morning we went for a swim as soon as I was up. Afterwards we spent a happy few hours in the gym (I was bored but the little one was happy!) while she drew with crayons, made shapes out of them and went in the soft play area

Every crisp resembled something, an aeroplane or boat, or moon. And this one was apparently like a crocodile!

We went on from the gym to Matalan to get some clothes that fit her, but it was mentally busy so we turned around and went to soft play number 2 of the day in a local pub. It was very busy there too but she was happy

I lost sight of her for a while (panic!!) and then saw her at the top of this. She came down with no hesitation. Good for her!

You can’t beat the ball pool though can you?

Then, rather than risk the pub food which may or may not have had wheat in it, we grabbed a McDonalds and took it home for a picnic

And then we settled down to watch Toy Story 3. I really enjoyed it and the little one sort of watched it all the way through

There was dancing to the end sequence and further dancing after

All in all we have had a great day together. The little one has been brilliant to hang out with.

Thinking Slimmer–6 months later

I HAVE LOST 3 STONE 9 LBS AND AND AM NOW A SIZE 14!!!!

Here I am, 6 months into my journey with Thinking Slimmer.

A time to reflect and reconcile

I am not the person I used to be!

These last 2 weeks have been somewhat of an experiment. You can see in the table above I have highlighted key events, namely when I started running and when I had to stop. It’s interesting to see, generally, while I am doing lots of running the weight is stable with the odd pound disappearing here and there. The minute I stop (in this case a combination of a cold and then injured foot) it starts falling off quickly again.

I have lost 4lbs in the last 2 weeks which at this stage in my weight loss journey is a lot.

I have mentioned in a previous post how we seem to be programmed to watch the scales. I guess it’s a society thing. In the same way that we are programmed to count calories despite research showing that calories are not actually as relevant as we think (Read “Why we get fat and what to do about it” by Gary Taubes)

I can take 6 bin bags of clothes to the charity shop because they are too big and still feel like I’m not losing weight because the scales have remained static for a couple of weeks! It’s crazy.

It is clearly evident that muscle weighs more than fat. As we increase our exercise we lose inches/centimetres but we don’t lose pounds / kgs because MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT! I have spoken to many people on Twitter that are seeing exactly that. They increase their exercise, achieve amazing things (Check out Darin McCloud’s amazing story and how he is running the 10 mile Great South Run this Sunday) and yet still believe they are failing because the scales aren’t shifting.

So here is my advice for any of you on your journey with Thinking Slimmer. Whether at the start or early on, do these things :

1. Take a series of “Before” pictures. You will lose weight and you’ll be really miffed at yourself that you can’t see how much. It’s really hard to see changes and photos are a great way of tracking it
2. Get a tape measure and measure your waist, arms and legs. This is where the real impact of Thinking Slimmer will show. Week on week whether you exercise or not, you will lose size. When the scales are doing their normal evil trick, the tape measure will become your friend!
3. Never lose the faith. I have people say to me “it’s not working for me. I’m snacking less and not eating the same amount at mealtimes but I’m not losing weight”. They have just described how well it is working. Weight and size will change in time. Just keep the faith and keep listening. After all, it’s not exactly a hardship listening to Trevor for 8:30 minutes a day is it?

I am still on my journey and will continue to share it with you, but it is really comforting to know, that unlike the past, I will not be regaining this weight. I am permanently the new, slimmer me.

*you can read my whole journey on Thinking Slimmer by clicking the Thinking Slimmer link at the top of the page*

Gluten Free Flatbread Pizza

This is a straight steal from the recipe on A Life In Food’s blog

I love this recipe because the ingredients are basically bread flour and water – and whatever else you want to bung in. When discussed with @alifeinfood on Twitter we also realised it could make a good GF pizza base!

This is a straight copy and paste from his website and the link at the top takes you there. I’ve also posted his link on the GF recipe post rather than this one. After all, it’s his recipe!

But I wanted to share with you how mine turned out.

Recipe

• 150g gluten free White bread flour
• Warm water
• Olive oil

Optional extras

• Cup of grated cheddar / couple of spoons of parmesan
• sea salt
• 1/2tsp cumin seeds
• Onions
• Sundried tomatoes
• Anything else you can think of!

Instructions

1. Preheat the grill to as hot as it will go.
2. Add water gradually to the flour in a bowl and mix until the mixture is the consistency of creamed butter and sugar (i.e. like cake mixture).
3. I added the cheese at this point and will try a little ketchup next time. This is the time you want anything that will be cooked into the bread to be added
4. Oil a baking tray (or grill pan) with the olive oil.  Spoon the mixture roughly on to the tray, then drizzle oil over the top.  Oil your hands too.
5. With your hands, flatten the mixture out into a rough rectangle - it should be as thin as you can get it, with areas where the dough is almost translucent (“windowpaning”).
6. Sprinkle sea salt over the top and then put under the grill.  Keep an eye on it - the dough will start to bubble and char in places – take it out and turn it over.
7. Before the dough is charring on the other side, take it out and scatter cumin seeds over the flatbread, then place back under the grill until it is lightly charred.
8. Cut into smaller rectangles and scatter with parsley or basil. Serve immediately with soup or dips.

This makes a lovely crispy almost naan type bread. The little one loved it. What I like is that it is essentially only 2 ingredients and very quick to make. By the time you’ve added flavourings it doesn’t taste at all like a Gluten Free bread.

To turn it into a pizza

Just do all of the above, add your topping of choice (this one has tomato, then cheese, then chicken) and grill for a couple more minutes.

It is TOTALLY delicious. In fact we all ate it for lunch and it’s as good as any other pizza. What I love is that it is a ‘cupboard’ meal. I always have water and flour and cheese in. So easy

Gluten Free Coconut Macaroons

The little one and hubby both love shop-bought coconut macaroons. I figured we should probably make our own because they must be simple (I only really bake simple stuff)

So I followed this simple recipe and they really are very nice.

Recipe

2 eggs

225g/8oz Dessicated Coconut

150g/5oz Caster Sugar

 

Instructions

Beat the eggs.

Add the coconut and sugar.

Lay out on a baking tray in whatever shape you want. I used cake rings to shape them, you could make little pyramids and put glace cherries on the top.

Put in a preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown (I left the first lot in a little too long)

Remove onto a cooling tray.

Once cool drizzle melted chocolate over if you like.

Scoff

Why?

It is common for a child to ask why.

In some cases, I think it’s common to ask it on a repeated loop! I was once given advice which made sense to ask “Why do you think?” right back.

Armed with this as a technique I have been ready to use it since the little one started talking but so far haven’t really needed to, which has been a surprise to be honest.

Like the hubby and I, the little one clearly delights in learning. In fact she has recently learnt all about the digestive system and the skeleton through a combination of YouTube clips and songs and books. The unfortunate side effect is that she now has to tell everyone how poo is made but hey ho!

It may be because both the hubby and I always make a point of explaining what we tell her to do or not do. ‘Because’ is a much used term in this household.

“Don’t stand on that chair because it will break and you’ll get hurt”

“Hold my hand because there are cars around and we don’t want you to run into their path”

“Put your clothes on because it’s time to go to school”

It’s something we both do naturally. When the little one asks what something is we tell her. We explain how rainbows are made, what clouds are made of. She knows that black clouds have more rain in them than white clouds. If she’ll listen, which she generally does, we explain everything.

So she rarely asks why, probably because we pre-empt with the answer.

This morning, when I took her to school (the hubby has a bad chest cold) I was stood waiting for the headmaster to ring the bell with one of the other mothers who has a child in the little one's class.

The headmaster was late by about 5 minutes and the mother said “I think Mr X has slept in!”

The little boy looked up at her and asked “mummy, what does ‘slept-in’ mean?”

The mother replied “it means he’s late because he slept-in”

Hmmm…not what I would call explaining what ‘slept-in’ means really is it?

I would have explained that he stayed in his bed later than he would normally and so came to school later. I would probably have made a joke with the little one about how she doesn’t know what that’s is like because she always gets up so early, to make sure she related it to her own experiences.

For us “why” is not much used in this house.

Powermat–cool idea, not quite there yet

They idea of wireless charging of devices seemed like something out of a sci-fi movie when I first heard of it.

I bought one a couple of years ago and sent it straight back when I realised you had to spend nearly £40 for each device you had to get a tip that you could use for the charging.

Then, with 1 weekend a month away ahead of me, and a plan to take only my iPad for communication (I usually take a laptop and charge everything off that) I realised I needed some form of charging strategy for all my devices. I didn’t fancy the prospect of lots of plugs, and besides, there are often not enough sockets available to charge everything. Here’s what I need to charge every day

• Blackberry Torch
• Mifi (uses the same connector/charger as the Blackberry)
• iPad (although in fairness that easily lasts a weekend without a charge)
• Possibly the backup battery if I am out all day without a socket

So potentially at least 3 things need to be plugged in at the same time. I love my mifi but the battery doesn’t last long on it!

A portable Powermat seemed like the perfect solution. One plug, multiple devices and the word “portable” implying that it would be ok on size

Now there were a few problems that weren’t related to the Powermat. The company that I bought it from via Amazon was a US company (I didn’t realise) and after taking nearly a month to send it, then sent a version with a US power supply. I contacted them through Amazon and they said they made it clear (obviously not else I wouldn’t have bought it!) and that I could post it back – to the US, at my cost, if I wasn’t happy.

So I then had to buy a US to UK adapter to use it.

Ok – now we’re good to go here is how it works.

You can charge 2 ways.

Tips: The tips are provided in the box when you purchase it. They are basically the appropriate connectors for all devices and there is pretty much a tip for every device you could want. So you plug the mat in, then you put a cube on the mat (white block above) then you find the right tip, then you plug the cube into your device. This means you need a cube for each device you want to charge (only 1 is included) and it’s not exactly wireless. However, you are still only using one plug into the socket and there are tips provided for each device. I bought another cube so I could charge 2 devices at the same time. They connect magnetically to the power mat and you can stack them if you want.

Receiver: There are none of these included in the packaging when you buy it. They basically replace the back cover or battery connection on your device so you don’t need a tip or a cube to charge. You just sit the device on the mat. This is obviously the true spirit of the mat! The receivers cost about £30 each.

The problem

1. You need a cube for each device if you are using tips
2. You need to buy a receiver for each device if you want wireless charging
3. There isn’t one for my Blackberry (the Torch)
4. The iPad won’t charge off it either via tips or receiver (in the same way as it won’t charge off the PC)

So it’s a great idea but it really isn’t there yet. Maybe one day it will be, but for now it’s sitting in a corner, totally useless to me. I just take 2 chargers with me on my trips away instead! Luckily the iPad battery easily lasts the weekend too.

I’m a baby giraffe

I can appreciate that when you look at me that your first thought is not “gosh she looks like a baby giraffe”

Not really surprised by that.

But you see, these days I share many of the qualities of a baby giraffe.

What am I banging on about now?

Well, up until relatively recently, I avoided all elements of physical contact with the people around me like the plague. If someone reached out and touched my arm or hand, as is common in normal social interactions, it was like someone tasered me. It would set off a sequence of events in my head to cancel out my “oh help, let’s get the hell out of here” response.

For a few moments, I would become totally internally focussed. All resources would be directed to not letting on what I was feeling, not running away and getting to a point where I could reengage in the ‘now’.

Notice that this is written in the past tense.

These days, it is not an issue. I barely notice if someone is in contact with me. Even on the tube etc, I am very relaxed about it. I do notice, but only to be amused by how different it is for me now.

And therein lies my problem.

This is where I become a bit like a baby giraffe.

When they are born they are all legs, ungainly and wobbly. It seems like it is just too much for them to learn how to coordinate that body of theirs?

Have I suddenly started having difficulty controlling my legs? Well no, not really. But I have that same level of awkwardness. I watch people and they walk into a room and give someone a hug or just stand by them and rest their hand on the persons arm or shoulder. And I marvel at it. Because they do it unconsciously. They connect and it is amazing. I have been watching in awe at how natural it is for everyone to just connect.

You see I don’t know how.

I have never done it.

It feels massively awkward and I worry about getting it all wrong and, to be honest, I am likely to physically run away and hide with embarrassment if I do get it wrong in some way.

And so essentially nothing has changed. To all intents and purpose I still have my “Back off buddy” shield up and I am not choosing to ‘engage’ because I don’t know how. I am worried about being way too much like a baby giraffe with legs all over and falling over all the time!

My weekend in photos

I told you all about each day of my course at the end of the day

Day 1 – Awesome day

Day 2 – Loads of practical stuff to play with

But due to pants blogging apps for Typepad on my iPad, I didn’t really do anything with photos.

So here is the photo collection from my time away

The view from the route to the hotel.

Regents park is very pretty

The river at Regents Park

View from Starbucks opposite Baker Street Tube.

Regents Park again

Does the tuna do or receive the massage?

Piccadilly Circus – absolutely horrifically busy.

This was not good for my poor sore foot. It is more sore after the weekend

Sunrise around London City Airport

Do we really think we need this sign?