Oh my goodness Lauren that sounds horrendous on many levels.

i used to teach 11 to 15 year olds with all their angst and hormones but my days were never as intense as yours . It’s too much to be expected to function normally after a day like that even if you were super woman !!! You MUST rest and recharge, sleep and evacuate all that stress .

I agree with Clare I would be saying very clearly that I was not up to a visit and stressful lunch right now . You are already anticipating it is going to be challenging and the interactions are going to be very very difficult . I think there are times when you should not be afraid to say NO . There again I have no stress about being over 60 and have no hesitation about thinking what would be good for me , or very damaging .
I realise it is not simple but be very careful Tto think of yourself and Craig . Could you maybe postpone the family meeting until everyone can cope with it ??? You have been through a lot already .

Well done Clare on keeping up with your exercise , and for motivating your SIL .

SG I have a magnificent play list for aquagym now . I loved trolling youtube and Spotify for inspiration, aided by the young uns in my family ! It’s a great activity to take your mind off other things !

I like the sound of your waterproof MP3 player !
I am a bit annoyed I missed MM and the processed foods programme this week . I was probably downloading boppy tunes !

I have however found an interesting book called ” End your carb confusion” by Eric Westman . I will let you know any pearls of wisdom.

Yes Merry I am missing our Aussie friends too . I think Sue Blue might be on another thread ?? I hope your lockdown is not too prolonged .
Yes Hopeful / Donna , health definitely comes first for the kids . I used to keep sweets and biscuits as treats for any children who came over, no longer !!! I am a mother who used to put honey on her baby son’s dummy ( please be kind with your comments , I will NEVER do that to my grandkiddies …… one day …. sigh !!! )
Hope you enjoyed your café brunch , Donna . Is your birthday on Monday or Tuesday ???????

Back soon, take care everyone xxx

Wendy our students are adults but I think if anything come with even more angst! Easy they ain’t! Covid restrictions aren’t helping at the mo as we can only teach to the capacity of the room so if our class is more than that then we have to repeat, and our students are in clinical placement four days a week so all that teaching has to be on one day – hence very long days and multiple repeats per day, fortunately at the moment I’m only teaching twice per week, once on each site, but there’s all the admin and prep alongside and quality assurance and marking and stuff – we don’t have marking as often as schools, but big loads – I’ve marked 120 exams, 40 3000 word essays, 30 practice documents and 20 presentations in the last three weeks alongside teaching. I don’t think I can get out of Tuesday sadly as I’m already perceived as I’m already seen as controlling and ruining Craigs life by my somewhat highly strung SIL and I don’t need to fan those flames any more by not letting her get her way! But I absolutely appreciate and am so grateful for all your concerns, I feel very protected and safe here xx I absolutely promise I will be vegetating the rest of the week and I’ve rested all weekend – actually been asleep most of the day today as it happens!

L xx

Morning all. Thank you for the lovely birthday wishes, I am looking forward to a wonderful day. I woke up to find that my husand and the kids had decorated the living areas with bunting made from printed photos of us all through the years- lots of happy memories from the kids being really little, family holidays and events etc. It was very sweet, feeling very spoilt indeed. x

Clare – well done on all of your achievements. I couldn’t run 6km to save my life 🙂

Lauren – firstly, I owe you an apology (well, I’m not actually sure that apology is the right word)…but somewhere along the line I thought you had referred to your OH as a female, and so I think I have left some prior posts that said things like “I am sure she will want to support you”. Not sure where I misread that. Anyway, please substitute with ‘he/Craig’. 🙂
I totally understand you feel like you have to go on Tuesday, and if that’s what you feel like you have to do, just remember that all of their issues and burdens are not yours to carry. You don’t have to be responsible for calming your MIL’s anxiety, or making sure that MIL and SIL maintain some form of civility and get along well all these years later. And you are certainly not responsible for how they perceive you (whether that be positive or negative – their judgements say more about them than they do about you). The only thing you need to worry about is what is best for you and Craig and let them all deal with their own stuff because you have enough on your plate 🙂 I hope it goes smoothly and you get to go home and collapse in bed afterwards, burden gone.

Wendy – your dummy story actually gave me a bit of a giggle. If it makes you feel better, my grandmother used to dip my fathers dummy in scotch! I’m glad the shockwave treatment went well.

Have a great day, all. We are going to head off on a 6km coastal hike near us (before enjoying keto chocolate cake tonight – I have been so good on everybody elses birthdays, and I know I have the ‘tools’ I need to easily lose any damage done in half a week that I am determined not to feel bad for enjoying cake on my own birthday 🙂 )
xxx

Happy Birthday Hopeful! Enjoy your walk and the keto cake. Love the idea of the photo bunting! 🌻🌼🌷🎂🎂🎂

Hi Everyone – Jeremy here – back after 7 months away. And yes I’m ashamed to say that I’m almost 2 stone heavier than when I last posted!
But back on track this week with 2lbs lost, and true to form, for anyone that remembers my trouble’s running on a low carb diet, I’m really struggling to run again – just no energy.
My plan is to have 3 weeks on, and then a 1 week break not restricting calories but keeping carbs low. And then repeat this until I’ve lost 2 stone.

————————————————————————————————————————-
Progress log:
Week 1: Lost 2lbs

Welcome Jeremy. No need for shame – congrats on making your way back! I have no doubt you will feel all the better for it. I wouldn’t worry too much about the running – the low carbs and general eating plan will be all you need to lose the weight until you really get back the motivation for exercise 🙂

Oh what a lovely gesture from your hubby and kids , Donna !! ! Hope you had the most wonderful birthday and of course you should enjoy your special cake !

Hi Jeremy ! I remember you ! Welcome back .! I am sure a lot has happened in those 7 months . Yes, as Hopeful says, concentrate on getting the low carb eating back in place and your energy will improve as you feel less sluggish .

Reading my latest Eric Westman book …interesting to learn that skin tags are caused by high levels of insulin . My hubby has those . Time to check if they are improving ……

Have a great day folks !

Happy (belated) birthday Donna, no offence taken re misgendering Craig, he can be a bit of a girl sometimes 😂

Hi everyone, happy late birthday Donna, welcome back Jeremy, wont take you long to get back into it. Dont worry about running if you can go without, it wont affect you weight loss. You will find in a few weeks you are literally running on stored fat so wont miss the carbs. I have just had my first swim of the year and it was lovely but I was worried that my blood glucose would drop too far, not being used to such strenuous exercise. I try to time it an hour after a meal so I am not running (or swimming) on empty. Maybe that would help you Jeremy.

Shame you missed the MM programme Wendy, it was quite good. In fact I watched it twice as it was packed with so much stuff. Nothing I didnt know but always interested in seeing how different people react. They varied in age and problems but no emphasis was put on weight loss, this was all about health. One had high cholesterol and BP, a very young lad was so unfit he couldnt complete a hill walk and had to be sent back half way. He is 26 and they discovered (after a raft of tests) that he is pre-diabetic and has the fitness level of a 72 year old. Will be interesting to see how they progress. Someone did a demo on making your own kimchi but it got a bit complicated after salting the chinese cabbage.

BTW those fresh peas in the pods turned out to be a big disappointment. They werent from the local farm shop but the supermarket and they were old and shrivelled and tasted bitter. €1.78 I wont be spending again in a hurry and didnt even get enough to serve 2 of us so had to chuck in some leek and cabbage. Maybe the farm shop will have some fresh when we are next there.

Have a good week everyone, looks like summer is here at last.

Time to set up the new weekly thread !

omg Lauren…..sounds very like my very opinionated in-laws, and there have been many such events that I have dreaded…also totally with you on the London thing! You really are my twinsie! Will be thinking of you xxx