Happy birthday Terence!

Bianca made scrambled Eggs for breakfast

Caitlyn made the toast

Presents

You can have your cake and eat it!

An evening of games, games and more games.

A good session

My tip for the day is - don't drink sea water!  I will tell you another thing - this morning I probably received my lifetime supply of sodium! 

This morning's training session was different than before.  For one I willingly went to a training session when the weather wasn't particularly nice.  It looked rather miserable and a sleep in seemed rather tempting, but I got myself up and ready and off I went.  So for that in itself I think I deserve a medal :-).  To actually go out exercising when it is raining - that's not something I have willingly done before (okay once before and I hated it).  But in hindsight it actually wasn't too bad.  I think I preferred this drizzly cloudy day to a hot sunny day and it wasn't particularly cold and bonus - the sea was really calm!

The other new thing for me was to actually go into the sea to swim.  Now normally I go just a tiny bit deeper than ankle deep and then I will tell the kids that that is deep enough.  I don't like cold water for one and for another really don't feel all that confident in the sea.  But there I was in a sea swimming training session.  The water was cold!  And I think once I must have stepped on a crab and it nipped me on my foot (wasn't really painful thankfully because I lifted my foot up as soon as I felt movement).

I really didn't enjoy swimming in the sea to be honest, but thankfully we don't go too deep and I am still able to stand when I need to.  And boy did I swallow sea water!  It was disgusting! 

Then after that it was quickly getting ready for our bike ride.  I decided to just go in what I was wearing otherwise it wastes too much time getting ready for the bike ride.  We did a 12km ride again and initially it was a bit tougher than last week because it is quite tiring swimming in the sea and then having to run out.  I have to say between the swimming, running and biking I enjoy the biking probably the most.  I didn't time myself today, but it was a rather enjoyable ride!

Tonight the girls and I will be baking and wrapping presents - tomorrow is Terence's birthday!

What did you get up to today?  What are your plans for the rest of the weekend?

Windows, running, cycling and not so much swimming

Thank you Linda for tagging me.  I'm definitely keen to participate and will do so soon :-)

Have you ever done something and then it was worse in the end than it was when you started? 

We have these windows in our lounge and they are pretty high up, right up against the ceiling.  Standing on a chair I couldn't reach it properly and we have this small little step ladder which isn't much use either.  I haven't yet tried putting the step ladder on the chair because then I'd probably do my next entry from a hospital bed...  Anyway, so for a while now the high windows were a bit dusty and not really clean anymore and it started bugging me.  Now I have to be honest, cleaning windows is most definitely not one of my favourite chores (there is such a thing as favourite chores???).  So off I went to Mitre 10 and got one of those long window cleaning scrubbing things.  And it worked great.  No problem whatsoever.  Except when it dried it looked terrible!  Way worse than it looked before.  And it was one of those situations where I thought to myself that I really should have just left it the way it was...  Today I tried again and then afterwards sort of wrapped an old towel around the long window cleaning thingy to try and dry it up a bit and it looks better.  Still quite streaky.  Sigh!  It is clean, I promise.  It just doesn't look so great right now! 

Yesterday I went out and did a 12km bike ride which took me about 31 minutes and then a 4km run / walk which took me about 25 minutes.  We are meant to practise running straight after our bike ride so that our legs can get used to it and that is really tough.  For the first five minutes or so my legs felt really wobbly and it was a huge struggle to keep moving.  I really pushed it even though my legs were most certainly not happy with me.  I think right now I enjoy the cycling probably more than the running even though I am still really slow.

I was going to go for my swimming lesson tonight, but sadly earlier today my left ear started feeling sore and I'm wondering if I might not have a bit of an ear infection starting.  I hope not, but just didn't feel up to the swim lesson tonight.  I hope it feels fine tomorrow morning.  We are meant to be doing a sea swim (which I must be honest is freaking me out a bit). 

So what did you get up to today?  What do you have planned for the weekend?

And so it begins...

Can you hear it?  Neither can I!  The house is so quiet!  Caitlyn is at daycare and Bianca has her very first day in Year 5. 

This morning before we left for school I played this song to Bianca:

I think it is such a positive song.  A great motto to live by.  And that is really all we expect of Bianca - to do her best.  And we know she will!

At about 8:30 we set off for school (Bianca's school starts at 9:00) and had to stop off at the office first to get a few things and sort out Bianca's school donation which (for those of you interested) is $60 for the year for Bianca.  This year we are getting a sibling discount because of Caitlyn starting soon.  I think it will be $70 for the year for Caitlyn.  The school donation for both of them is significantly cheaper than daycare.  It is going to be quite different from the 22nd of February.

And then we went to Bianca's new class. 

This year her teacher will be Mr Peter Corlett and just like last year I think Bianca is in for an amazing year. 

I've heard great things about him. We had a brief meeting at the end of last year and I was very impressed with his willingness to hear me out and to work with me to ensure that Bianca will have a great year!  To read more about him click here.

I managed to take a few photos of Bianca today even though she was not too keen.  I have a feeling this year is the last year she'll let me take first day of school photos.  Sigh!  Don't think I like this growing up thing too much...

I'm ready!

Bianca at her table.  "Okay mum, enough now..."  The apple was for her teacher.

A special class resident.  Bianca is rather sad she'll never be able to bring him home as we have cats who like to eat birds...

 

The computer corner

Front of the class

Technical difficulties and needles

Today is just one of those days where nothing I do is working the way I want it to.  Well not nothing, but I've been using a particular online application that stopped working.  For most of it I would say my technical knowledge is pretty good for somebody who isn't very technical, but today I have hit a brick wall.  And Impatient Me just doesn't like struggling...

But anyway...

So this morning I had my weekly date with the Torture Master physio.  And it was a good thing because my legs didn't cope very well at all on Monday when I went for my run / walk.  So I got there and he asked me how I was doing and I briefly mentioned that I went for my run / walk and my legs got really sore and he asked me to lie on my side and then asked "so how do you feel about needles?" and before I could even finish saying "I really don't like them" he stuck 4 needles in my leg!  He tells me they were really thin needles, but I can't be sure.  They didn't feel very thin I can tell you that! (I guess he was doing the same as I do when I get people to start blogging - get them started before they even have a chance to say "I'm not so sure...") :-)

Now there is one thing I really really don't like (okay more than one thing, but one thing in particular) and that is needles.  Don't know what it is, but I have a big mental issue about them.  I'm a big baby when it comes to needles.  Every time I have to get blood drawn I have to physically stop my arm from moving away or pulling out the needle and it feels like it takes forever.

And when I started the physio sessions I was asked how I would feel about needles and acupuncture and I said a very definite "no".  And so far I have successfully avoided going that route.  Today I was not so lucky.  Today the physio decided that nothing else is helping and acupuncture is going to have to be our next option. 

And after sticking the needles into my leg, the physio then decided to leave the room (obviously knowing that if he stayed I would have very loudly made my objections known) and so there I was lying feeling incredibly uncomfortable with these 4 needles stuck in my leg (and I could have kicked myself for telling him my legs got sore in the first place, except I couldn't move my leg - the slightest movement was rather sensitive) and it was actually rather painful.  Not so much the needles (if I have to be honest), but my leg muscle was rather sore and complaining.  It was a very long 10 minutes...

This better work!  Because I cannot see myself wanting to go this route week after week.

So that was my Wednesday in a nutshell. What did you get up to?