I just love Claymation films. There is something about the fact that each tiny little thing is literally hand crafted bit by bit that really appeals to me.
ParaNorman is made by the same people that made Coraline. I didn't really like Coraline that much but ParaNorman is fantastic. I felt Coraline lacking in humour and I thought it was a bit boring.
Do not be fooled by the PG rating I would not let the littlies watch this. Lots of adult undertones & lots of scary stuff eg Zombies, more zombies and a freaky cloud witch.
Not only is the animation awesome but 'other' stuff is worth noting . The retro style zombie posters on Norman's bedroom wall, the billboards in the town, artwork in the credits and OMG the song playing at the end with the credits! If I were in charge of the marketing I would reproduce the bedroom wall posters and even Norman's slippers. A set of zombie figurines would also be rad.
It is brilliantly funny. It's full of dark dark humour. The secondary characters are hilarious but even the characters that are only in the film for about 30 seconds are kooky & cool. (NOTE the school kid in the green tracksuit is great).
The storyline is nice but I thought that it was weird that Norman only 'sees' dead people at the start. Where did the ghosts go for the rest of the movie? I really thought they would help him.
If there was a an X-Factor category of that I would win hands down.
Dannii Minogue: And what's your talent Mz Vicki?
Me: Hi Dannii I can eat a whole Pizza Capers pizza, a Cherry Ripe slice the size of a shoe box, a neenish tart & a whole packet of Scotch Finger bickies without even tasting them or getting full.
Simon Cowell: Hmmph well git on wid it 'en. This I gotta see.
You know. This whole emotional eating caper would be totally null & void if I had something to pep me up instead. Like, say, a baby owl or a Quokka.
If my brain was all funky and filled with the feeling that a Tyrannosaurus Rex was about to eat me and my fight or flight chemicals were off the scales, instead of reaching for some sort of delicious yet totally fattening morsels I would instead reach for my fuzzy Quokka who would gaze up at me, smile and reassure me that everything is going to be A OK.
Instead, I am confronted with the icy glare of Harvey The Evil Pookah Cat & our new addition Beaker The Wombat Cat who care not about my delicate mental state and only care about the fact that they haven't eaten in at least 20 minutes and it is now 5 past 5pm and I am 5 minutes late with dinner.
Luckily, I do have TBF who greets with with open arms & wraps them around me like a big hairy doona.
As far as I know it is illegal in Queensland to own Quokkas and baby owls so I need to find myself a non-food related substitute for Cadbury Marvellous Creations.
After my insomnia nights of unexplained anxiety and butterflies I went to the doctor. I described my symptoms to him. Prognosis: STRESS.
Wow. I'm not sure what I was expecting though. He gave me some nice highly addictive happy pills to take emphasising the words HIGHLY ADDICTIVE as did the chemist. They will 'take the edge off'. I am very conscious of the fact that I could easily use them as my new substitute for my old nemesis Mr Merlot.
I didn't want to go to my WW meeting last night as I was still feeling a bit blerk in the brain & a bit sensitive. But I know that my meetings always make me feel good and Toni our leader always peps me up. Bless her cotton socks. I got on the scales not expecting anything good. It was worse than I thought. A gain of 1.2kg. Bloody hell! I was this close to bursting into tears.
Sometimes I seriously feel like going "You know what fuck it! I'm over it. I'm over trying to do good all the time. I'm never never never gunna get there anyway! Waaaaaaahhhhhhh".
Luckily the lovely Toni placed a loving hand on my knee and reassured me that I WILL get there.
Lip quivering I nodded and mumbled "yes I will I know".
So, It's a new week. Back up on that flipping brumby horse again.
I can do it. I have come so far.
Instead of emotional eating I will drive PAST the bakery, go home, have a searing hot shower & watch YouTube clips of Quokkas and Owls. If I can't be arsed cooking then I will eat one of our frozen meals or chose a healthier takeaway than pizza.
What do YOU do when the emotional eating monster comes to visit you?
Saturday night TBF & I hosted an UGLY SWEATER BBQ at our place.
No reason.
No occasion.
We really just wanted an excuse to wear hideous knitwear with nice nutty people.
We were up bright n early on Saturday morning because there is nothing like having people over to prompt you into a massive OCD cleaning attack. We literally DID NOT stop all day. Even though my mates couldn't give a rats arse what sort of filth we live in, I still feel the need for my home to be freaking sparkling when guests come around. (Yes we hate "The Pop Over"). I was just like Kim from "How Clean is Your House?"
"Ooooo look at 'em skirtin' boards! They're right filfy they are innit. Bitta bicarb an' they'll look right proper"
Finally all the dog poo was cleaned up (in the yard not the house) the trinkets were dusted & the remaining mess was chucked into our bedroom with the door slammed shut.
I SO wish I had a WW pedometer because I reckon I took 500 billion steps and accrued 100 activity points! (give or take).
One by one our freaky daggy arse friends arrived. Can I just say, that even though the jumpers that were adorned were of an exceptionally high standard of dagginess they still didn't look too bad simply because our friends are just so damn attractive.
Food wise I was a good girl. I had skewered prawns on the BBQ and WW friendly homemade couscous & coleslaw. I did have ONE sausage. I only drank cups of decaf coffe, tea & one Liptons Chai Latte. The only problem with hosting is, I was running around like a blue-arse fly and didn't really sit down all night and have a proper chat with the gang.
Then we brought everyone inside for some Pixi-Photo style portraits. So much fun.
We all had the icy stare down pat. I think everyone had a good time.
The night was totes casual and a wee bit chilly but thanks to some donated braziers & firewood it was noice & warm (albeit a bit smoky) out the back. We finally crashed around 1.30am but because I was still mentally running around I got bugger-all sleep while TBF drifted off into Kraken bourbon slumber.
I was up on Sunday at sparrows again and again spent the day running around doing the food shopping, cooking my lunches, uploading the awesome pics from the night (this wasn't a chore) and clothes washing. Finally around 3 I sat down. "I know" I thought happily "I'll watch the docos Samsara & Baraka. They will uplift my spirits!". Ummmm I don't think so. Beautifully filmed but very depressing. I crashed & burned around 8pm.
Yesterday, (Monday) I was rat-shit tired, grumpy, flat & down. Not depressed as such. Just low.
I struggled through work and by the time it was 4pm I was dead on my feet and in my head.
So I did a stupid thing.
I stopped at the bakery to buy a Neenish tart. I swear I was only going to buy ONE. And I did only buy one.......... and a Cherry Ripe slice roughly the size of a house brick. And I ate them both.
To be honest I didnt' even really taste them. I was just brain dead and wanted something to perk me up I think. Instead, they just made me feel like I was going to spew. GAG.
Today, I am feeling ALOT better and am back on track.
My morning walk along the water was divine and the sun on my face was wonderful.
It's amazing how much lack of sleep affects me. It makes me a bit nervous to think of how I will cope if we do have a baby. CRIPES!
Anyway, onwards & downwards..... weight wise that is. xoxooxoxoxox
I swapped my breakfast to a high protein omelette.
I walked for minimum of 30 minutes a day.
I TRACKED EVERYTHING.
Now lets all bow our heads & pray to the WW Gods that this continues. Amen.
When I excitedly entered this into my IPhone WW app I was amazed to see "CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE LOST 10%". WTF? "Stupid Bloody dodgy fandangle tech thingy things" I grumbled.
Then I remembered that I actually joined WW in 2010. I quickly scolled wayyyyyyyyy back and realised that when I first started I weighed 97kg.
Do you realise what the heck this means?!!
I have lost 9.9kg since 2010.
That's only one Ford pill away from 10 kilos!
"Pfft" some of you might huff "2 and a half years!!? Jesus woman take ya bloody time why don't ya".
To the naysayers I say.....in that time I have done 4 rounds of IVF, given up the durries, given up the grog, given up caffeine, changed my meds but taken up a lot of CLEAN eating and miraculously haven't been collected by the men in the white coats & take to a nice quiet rubber lined room.
I am still searching for an exercise that I actually enjoy. So far I like plain old fashioned one foot in front of the other WALKING and I quite like doing free weights. To all those people who have assured me that I will eventually learn to like running.... you can bash that up ya bum. I will never like, love or even think fondly of running.
But ANYONE can learn to run!!!! Probably, but some of us just don't want to.
With my gradual weight loss I can really see the difference in my big Bert Newton sized head. I am pretty sure that at least 5 of those 10 kilos came directly off my cheeks and jowls. I have gone from having a head the size of a large mutant watermelon to that of a normal melon.
I've always tried NOT to focus TOO much on those blasted scales though and cannot stress enough to my fellow weight loss friends the importance of MEASURING YOURSELF!
In the last 2 1/2 years I have lost 10cm off my waist & 8cm off my bazoongas. (I'm not sure how much I've lost off my hips because I never know how to measure my hips properly).
I should have measured the circumference of my noggin!
I think the WW program is a constant journey of tweaking and trial and error it until you find what works for you. That's my excuse & I'm sticking to it. Hmmph.
I'm glad it's Friday today. It's bloody FREEZING and rainy today so I missed my walk :( but thankfully the sun is going to come out tomorrow. (Yes I sang that like the musical Annie). Betcha bottom dollarrrrrrrrrrr.
TBF & I are having a stack of friends over for a BBQ tomorrow night. We have made it an UGLY SWEATER BBQ (for no good reason other than we can). I am making WW friendly couscous salad & coleslaw & am having skewered prawns on the barbie mate. I must admit that there will be marshmallows and hot chocolate too but I will TRY not to go overboard.
It should be a nice night as it's been AGES since I caught up with everyone. We NEVER entertain at our place normally because our house is roughly not much larger than a large outhouse and our massive backyard is the Dogs Domain and is always covered in fur and poo and weeds.
It's amazing how having people over can suddenly spur you on to have a HUMUNGUS clean up!
LOL
I'm glad my awesomely rad ugly sweater is nice & toasty warm because it's going to be colder than your land lady's heart (credit to Steve at work for that one).
I hope yawl have a great weekend.. Stay warm!
xooxxoxoxo
Well, I'm been such a good girl when it comes to TRACKING so far this week!
Every single thing has been entered. I've cut down on my fruit to only 2 serves a day. I'm having a tub of WW fruit in my yogurt and then I'm chopping down on a Jazz apple on the drive home from work. Oh my god those Jazz apples are so yummy! So sweet & crunchy! I've been really diligent with my walking too. My morning walk along the waterfront is just so very lovely! It's really crisp and cold but out of the wind so the sun is really warm. BLISS.
As I walk I try to focus on absorbing the warm sun into my face.
I walk for 15 minutes in the morning & 15 minutes at lunch. I know that isn't much but (as my Mum says) it's better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.
The fresh air and sun is REALLY doing me good and I really look forward to it! I try to greet my fellow walkers with a bouncy "Morning!" but so far I am just met with suspicious raised eyebrows. The Newstead Elite. Well la-da-flucking-dar. I will not give in!
Last night when I got home I also got on the clothes rack (exercise bike) and cycled 30 minutes while watching Ellen.
6 activity points for the day!
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Saturday I went & got my hair done (note: I walked to & from the salon which took an hour 6 activity points Thank YOU) & because of the upcoming IVF I went for an Ala Naturale look.
Apparently bleaching the crap out of your scalp & pouring tear inducing chemicals over your locks is not a good thing to do while trying or having a baby. For the life of me I couldn't really remember what my 'natural' hair colour actually is. I AM a blonde and was snowy white when I was little bandy legged thing.
Studying my regrowth, my hairdresser determined that I am Beige Blonde.
BEIGE.
ERK.
I must admit that I have now gotten used to this dramatic change to a very 'normal' looking hair colour. I was feeling a wee bit dowdy but once I quickly ran home & set my hair and put on some red lippie I was feeling alright again.
Saturday night I was supposed to go to a fancy dress party next door but I was feeling really flat, depressed and mega-tired and just wasn't up to being all fun & happy. I had a big sleep but then woke up around 8 and set about watching 5 episodes of a BBC doco called "Extraordinary People".
A-MAZ-ING FREAKY FREAKY STUFF!
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The weather on Sunday was GORGEOUS and so TBF & I decided to get out of the house. We had to find an ugly jumper for our UGLY SWEATER BBQ we are having this weekend.
We hit Paddington , dodged the hipsters & finally found a beautiful piece of hideous knitwear that would do the trick very noicely. We were STARVING & TBF suggested we go get a nice bowl of ramen noodle soup at Sunnybank. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Japanese food so I immediately agreed. Unfortunately, I tend to have a dodgy OFF button when it comes to Japanese food & when I saw gyoza on the menu I started drooling! It wasn't until afterwards when I was entering the points into my app that I realised that 6 pieces of gyoza is 24 POINTS!!! Holy bloody hell!
Luckily, because of my awesome tracking I actually had the weekly points to cover it..... just.
I also had 2 little Japanese hot cake things that are super yummy. Yes I tracked them.
So it is now Tuesday & I don't have any weekly points left but that's ok. I feel like I am still in control.
I've also switched my breakkie from having a Choc Banana Blueberry Kale Smoothie to having an Omelet 4 POINTS
2 organic eggs
1 organic egg white
splash of Zymil low fat milk
1/2 cup mushrooms
a couple of cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup of fresh parsley & red onion blended
Really yummy & very filling.
Style comes in all shapes & sizes. Therefore, the bigger you are, the more style you have - Miss Piggy
I was interested in seeing this movie mainly because I have bipolar & I wanted to see how Hollywood would depict this mental illness.
Bradley Cooper plays the lead character who has bipolar and I thought he was pretty good. I particularly liked the scene where he is looking for his wedding video and I was impressed with the kind of handheld camera shaky erratic filming that is obviously trying to show you what it 'feels' like to be manic.
I'm not sure if Jennifer Lawrence's character was meant to have bipolar or not. I don't think so. I like Jennifer Lawrence but her character felt really YOUNG in this movie to me. Reminded me a bit of a young Juliette Lewis.
But the stand out character for me was Robert DeNiro as the father who has OCD. Brilliant.
All in all I thought it was a bit too SOFT and nicey nice. I didn't think there was enough DEPRESSION.
The first half of the movie really had me in and then the last half for me just got all chick-flick and sappy. 3 STARS
Last night I had a gain. Not completely unexpected at this time of the month but still a bit disappointing. I've only lost 1.3kg in 16 weeks for the love of Larry!!! I was about this close to stomping my feet onto my weigh in book and wailing "I'll never get there! NEVERRRRRR".
Toni my WW leader was a busy bee last night with new members so I sort advice from one of the members who is now Lifetime. "What the heck am I doing wrong?!" I sobbed.
She looked at my tracker.
Looked at me.
Looked back at my tracker.
"You DO realise that you are eating about 8-10 serves of fruit A DAY?!"
"eh?" I dumbly responded.
"You are only supposed to have TWO serves!"
I could hear quiet tisking from the chairs behind from The Ones Who Have Lost & Maintained.
"But isn't fruit ZERO points? I know you should only have two serves but .... but... but... " I stammered looking around for someone... anyone to back me up. I was met only with pitying eyes.
"No no no no no" my fellow member shook her head "After two serves there are counted as points".
Frantically I glanced around the room for somebody to tell me that it can't be true.
Alas, I was greeted with nods of solemn agreement. The Wise Women looked to each other & then to me.
"Oh we made that mistake too."
"Oh fruit is tricky one".
"Poor thing look at her quivering bottom lip".
So I thought I was doing a GOOD thing eating a whole mess of fruit a day when it turns out that instead of eating my allocated 28 points a day I am eating about 40 points a day.!!!!
JIPPED BIG TIME!
I have already discussed in previous blogs about the fact that I believe dates should be classed as activity points due to the increased heart rate that occurs when you suddenly need to do the 100 dash to the loo quick smart.
So today I need to revise my menu plan.
Good bye my dear dates & grapes. I shall be replacing you with one banana & one apple or one WW fruit snack tub.
Don't you bloody hate that when you THINK you are making good choices but you actually aren't.
Don't get me started on TRAIL MIX
(see clip attached from the AWESOME TV show "The Checkout")
On IVF news... This morning I had my first blood test of many to come in the next month.
Jeebus.. It was cold & despite the fact that I whacked my inner elbows until they were red raw, the lady couldn't find a vein! I'd make a shit junkie. Eventually, after a bit of prodding the claret was flowing.
I'm come SOOO far. Not so long ago I would have been a hyperventilating quivering annoying whiny mess!
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HAVE A SUPER DUPER WEEKEND EVERYBODY !!!!
I'm getting my hair coloured on Saturday and then I've got a costume party to go to on Saturday night. "Children's Character Party" so that will be awesome fun because (as you all know) I just LOVE a fancy dress.
And I am doing the incredibly exciting job of pulling out the triffid-like weeds from the back yard.
Oh well .. think of the Activity Points eh.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
What's a snack YOU thought was a good choice but wasn't?
