Thin(ner) and happier

I am at my lightest in 11 years. It feels great and I like how I look. I don't feel so bloated and I feel happier because I know I look OK.
Does that make me shallow?
Happiness can't be about weight, but it is about feeling in control.
To find a way of living that doesn't involve waking up cross with myself, trying to eat low calorie foods, then failing and getting cross all over again is really quite liberating.
I feel that I am keeping on top of so many other things in my life too, as if I have freed up lots of time.
Don't get me wrong, it's not all sugar-free meals and weight loss. There are times that need to be negotiated with caution. Like tonight, a difficult day at work - not bad, just taxing - and when I got home I felt as though I needed a reward. And I contemplated all sorts of foods.
What kept me on the straight and narrow was the knowledge it wouldn't make me feel good.
It really is that simple I suppose.
Shame I didn't work it out years ago.

Summer 2011

Summer 2010 was probably one of the toughest periods of my life. I was surviving on no sleep, I had paid a huge amount of money for a puppy we couldn't leave or toilet train, sad things happened, everything I did or tried to do seemed a struggle, my daughter was throwing the most almighty over-tired tantrums and I cried.
My memories of my lovely garden on a sunny day were in danger of becoming ruined, as that is where I used to sit and cry - behind my sunglasses.
But we are building new memories this year. We all sleep,  none of us wees anywhere we shouldn't, no-one seems to get cross (well not for long anyway) and I have found a balance of work and life.
It seems quite peaceful and I think we are happy.
So who cares if it is raining and the rioting has shaken my faith in humanity.
In my little corner of the world there is love, and that makes my world go around.

Wishing ill will

I have worked really hard at our allotment. It isn't pretty and it is never going to win an award but it is loved , visited, appreciated and thought about. I have recently had to fight to keep it and, reluctantly, I agreed to give up half to keep the peace.

And then someone stole my apples.
My Braeburns.
I think they stole my gooseberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants too.
The only thing keeping me sane is that the apples weren't ripe - so perhaps the perpetrator has tummy ache.