Operation Renovation - aka The Christmas Countdown

[HelgatheHairy]

It's 115 days to Christmas Eve!

You can use this thread exactly like you were using the previous thread to keep track of what you're doing, have lists, ask advice etc. As its about renovation rather than strictly beauty, nothing is off limits so beauty, clothes, exercise, healthy eating.

So here we go!

Like this thread a lot too but, I wish it could stop me eating badly!
I've all the food to eat well tomorrow, so if I f**k up can someone give me some kind of punishment?!?

karbea you will post 50 times on this thread, without the use of copy and paste (or the back button) 'I must eat healthily, I must eat healthily, I must eat healthily' that'll learn ya!

lucysmam as knackered as I am I had to laugh at the image of you and the strawberry pip.

blueandwhite Did you want to know about the foot file then?

Sorry, too knackered to post much more. Long shifts are now over but not had time for a shower - only just finished eating. Going to bed shortly, then late into work tomorrow (with permission ). Had a lovely chat with a friend over coffee today. Haven't had a chance to catch up in months - she was so full of compliments I didn't know where to put myself. We are both IVF veterans, so it was lovely to see her looking so good too (without the aid of this thread, unless I'm about to be in for a huge surprise!)

I got it out without a toothpick....and without chipping a nail! (still haven't braved the loo though other than to plonk a glass over the eight legged one for dp to sort for me). There was a link to a bug catcher on a spider related thread the other night, think I should invest!.

Have only just realised too....should have removed toe nail polish.....will melt my fingers taking that off to do them a different colour

lucy I did the same forgot to take off toenail polish so behaved like a tramp and painted over the old with the new colour!!

ELR I'll get dp to do it in the morning. He will look like and while doing it but he will.....

lucy put gloves on then take off your toenail polish- finger nails shall remain lovely!

I have composed a beautiful list of ta daahs, it's under the bed! The 15th it is then.
I was talking to the other half about shredding in the mornings, give the man a warning... Whaddayaknow, after dinner da plonker starts doing sit ups with his feet wedged under the sofa, cause he thinks it's a good idea! He wants to be pretty by christmas too. Beautifuuuul!

102 days to go

Shall I tell you more about the foot file, blue?

It's in boots, in my boots was with the foot stuff not the big soap and glory display. It is circular and metal. Doesn't hurt at all, just fantastic at getting dead skin and rough patches off. A bit of s and g foot cream and honestly my feet are amazing! I had that horrible rough heel skin from wearing flip flops for months and its all gone!

I've been low carbing and have lost 2.5lb in four days! And for breakfast I had a Brie, bacon, mushroom and spinach omelette

aaaarrrrrggggghhhh!!! just wrote a post then pressed back by mistake on my phone & deleted it

Paintyourbox fab idea about gloves, will get some out and put with my nail polish when I get in.

Dilidali I had to giggle at the mental image of your dp eating dinner then jumping up to start doing sit ups At least he's taking an interest!

Had a beauty disaster here this morning Was doing my morning face routine & have knocked the head off a rather large spot that was brewing so now I have a large red splodge on my chin instead. doesn't help that my 3yo points out any poorlies on my face & strokes them better.

Other than that, my morning routine is done & we'll be staying in today...not sure what to do yet but dd2 would like some pink nails

Any idea what I should treat myself to tomorrow? Dp got a load of overpaid tax back on his wage this morning so we're all having something. Not too £££ though, I want to use some of it towards Christmas

vvviola thanks for all the advice on the psoriasis - looks like it's just another thing to add to DP's list of woes. Might just keep on with the dairy hand cream if there's nothing that will get rid of it completely, at least that seems to tame the scaliness and keep the skin well moisturised.

Well, I had a whole hour's lie in this morning and feel wonderful for it. Typically, I was wide awake from 6am, but refused to leave the bed until DP was ready to leave for work. I have now showered, defuzzed, hair is intensively conditioned, dried, heated brushed and oiled, whole body is moisturised, make up is done, earrings and perfume are on and - I am wearing a dress! Going to have to be a bit careful at work as I'm not used to worrying about how high things ride up (normally I'm a trousers girl).

Bought a new nail varnish yesterday, so am wearing that today (painted over the old colour, in true tramp style). I think I've decided to go with one of the matte 'stays on' lip brush style lip sticks, with a gloss to go over the top. I don't like the look of all the sparkly lipsticks that are out there at the moment, I just want the glossy nude look.

helga can I still join??
I love the idea of this!Genious!!
Ive worked out it's 101 days till xmas eve, is that right? So if I start tomorrow I'll still have 100 days go get "princessed" !?

My pledge would look like this:

1. 8 glasses of water a day
2. Daily exfoliating
3. Floss and use mouthwash every day (using whitening toothpaste anyway)
4. Use decent (!) anti-ageing cream daily
5. Intensive nail care (not sure what shape this is going to take - what is everyone else doing?)
6. Use eye cream at night
7. Go for a jog 3x a week and do some sort of legs/arms/abs challenge (or maybe circuit or bootcamp a few times a week? Haven't decided which one is best/I'm more likely to stick to)
8. At least 2 extra helpings of fruit and veg a day (I'm veggie, this should be ok :) )
9. Healthy breakfast every day (ie. not 2 pieces of toast with lashings of butter on... hmmmmm, salivating...)

10. Use hair oil (this makes my hair too greasy so I'm changing it to colour hair regularly and not wait until my roots are visible from a mile away) 11. No alcohol 5 nights a week (I work shifts so can't be speciffic about the days) and no boozing it up on the other two days 12. Take vitamins every day (I'm changing this to having 2 cups of green tea a day. I know it's good for me but still a struggle!) 13. Daily body brushing 14. 2 Servings of oily fish a week (I'm changing this to avocados) 15. One early night a week, suggest 9.00 o'clock 16. Regular hair removal (= weekly epilating for me) 17. Cut out naughty food (I'm going to be speciffic here and say no sweets/biscuits/chocolate at all whilst at work as I'm terrible whilst I'mworking but ok at home) 18. No more fizzy drinks (I'm changing it to no more artificial sweeteners as I don't like fizzy drinks anyway but I'm terrible for using sweetex in my tea, even though I know it's bad for me) 19. Daily body moisturising 20. Cup of warm water and lemon first thing in the morning

Phew.... no problem at all

I'll try and think if there's anything more I'll want to add.

How is everyone getting on? Are you finding it very hard? Also, what's your exercise regime? I don't think I could cope with the Shread, it sounds a killer!

justkeeponsmiling course you can still join.

Crap I messed up again with the days but I'm not changing the countdown again. We are now counting down to Christmas Day!!

Sorry everyone - sleep deprivation is obviously kicking in.

Ok brilliant, thanks!
I'm off shopping now so will pick up a few extra bits I'll be needing.
Also, I'm not sure if my counting was right, so might have been wrong myself!

Quite excited now! :)

Well, after such a good start I went back to work yesterday and all went wrong! I have to leave at 7.45 (and still get everyone's lunch made, get everyone ready etc) so no time to Shred, then got into work and ate rainbow cake, chocolate brownie, 2 cookies and about 5 chocolates! Rubbish! Got in at 9pm and DH made me a fish finger sandwich with a side of crisps! Still I resisted having a glass of wine so at least that is something. I knew it would all go wrong the 2 days I work, I am just too hungry sitting down all day and there are always cakes and treats on offer!

Trying to be good with eating today but not Shredded or done any exercise...

justkeeponsmiling the shred isn't that bad! I randomly stopped after three days because we thought we were moving but am starting again on Monday. The third day was FAR easier than first two though!! Honest! Worth a try

Wrt nail/hand care.... moisturise after hand washing/washing up. Home manicure weekly, including polish is what I've been doing. For feet I've been using a pumice stone and then dd1's cetraben every other day then painting them weekly in an autumnal colour. (I forgot to take off my toes last night though before painting my fingers )

What healthy breakfasts are you all having? I like the sound of the omelette mentioned earlier but am hopeless at omelettes and pancakes - although I do surprise myself with my ability to throw stuff together and it turn out yummy

Welcome justclean, I'm finding some of it harder than other bits. Exercise is going ok, but that's only because I've committed to 3 boot camps and a pt session each week. The beauty stuff and general maintenance is ok, the diet isn't going well at all, although today I had, turkey, cucumber and avocado and now I'm having a protein juice.

Girls I'm having a 'mare! Last night it was pouring down and I knew in my heart of hearts that the dog, who wouldn't do his last wee of the day because of the rain would do it in the house (he's only 7 months and clean but I just had a feeling), anyway whilst I was doing my eve routine, guess what, he wee'd but did it on my bed, exactly where I sleep! I quickly picked up the duvet, but it was too late it had soaked into the mattress. So I soaked up as much as I could, and went to bed in the spare room, I didn't sleep at all (really I didn't even get 10 mins sleep).
I've now taken the duvet to the dry cleaners and soaked the bed in dettol and oxy and when that's dried I'll Hoover up the oxy and spray on anti pet wee stuff.
I'm so tired :( I did however get dressed and do my hair and make up etc and I've had my bits waxed this morning, oh and I itched this sticky out mole thing I have and it's fallen off and bled everywhere.
And tonight I'm seeing two friends one of which I'm really p1ssed off with, so not looking forward to that at all.

I feel like I smell of wee :(

Hi lucysman

I was thinking of something low-carb, the omelettes sound lush! Definitely have to try and reduce my carbs, I've been really bad all summer and know for a fact I've put on weight, though not braved the scales yet!
I'm working all weekend so have to leave the house at 06:50. Was thinking of greek yoghurt with fruit and seeds/nuts for the mornings when I'm working (best make it low fat I think) and maybe omelette on days off.

Just added new nailpolish to shoppinglist :)

Karbea - sounds like you might need to treat yourself to a tonight!

Justkeeponsmiling - I agree that the Shred is not that bad, it is tough but it's pretty much over before you know it, I find once I am on to the second circuit I feel like it's almost done. It does get easier and is definitely worth a go.

Lucysmam - how about fruit for breakfast, or would that not be enough to keep you going? I am not one to give advice, I find if I eat breakfast it makes me hungrier all day so I don't bother!

Problem with fruit on its own it's the amount of sugar, sets your body off in the wrong direction from the off.

Just used some anti mould stuff in our shower it's brilliant!

karbea I second the tonight, it does indeed sound a mare! Dp wants to get a pup....I have said no so far. what sort of dog is he?

Fruit and yogurt might work for me as a later breakfast, I struggle to eat first thing.

I find apples make me absolutely ravenous shortly after eating them to tend to avoid them. Will have a look and see what exciting fruit there is to be had at market tomorrow (although last weeks soft fruits were not as good as they have been )

hi smiling, another vote for the shred not being too bad here (even though I've not managed to keep it up this time, I did do the full 30 days earlier in the year). My hand care/nail care routine is just to include them in my all body exfoliation and moisturisation, and to wear nail varnish. I'm doing the 5:2 diet, and going ok with that, but work has played havoc with my healthy eating on the remaining 5 days so not been the best of weeks.

karbea that really does sound like a mare. I used a steam cleaner when I had to get stinky diarrhoea out of a mattress, it did a great job and both smell and stain vanished. Hope your day picks up, and your meeting with friends goes better than expected.

lucysmam I have a habit of reading things literally, and just snorted coffee at your comment "I forgot to take my toes off last night"

Iliketoclean well done on resisting the wine, anything you didn't consume is a victory. If it's only two days a week, maybe you could let yourself relax knowing you'll be good on the other five? Kind of a reverse 5:2??

I'm going shopping tomorrow, with my trusty boots voucher (£4 off skin care, £3 off revlon makeup I think). I'll put it towards lipstick and gloss, but I have no idea what skin care products to buy. I have a massive bottle of body moisturiser, I've only just started my hair oil bottle, my nail varnish remover has barely been used, I have loads left in my Avon Anew range for face and eyes. I'm not into smellies and have more soap in the bathroom than I know what to do with.

Help!! What should I get??