WWW's 10 year younger bootcamp, it's still September, still serious, all welcome

[WideWebWitch]

Hello everyone, old and new.

This is about feeling better about yourself and looking and feeling better etc. But mainly we chat and laugh quite a lot, which has all got to help towards happiness etc.

The rules (anyone can join):

• Sunscreen at all times

• No or little booze. Wine or Champagne or whatever at the weekend is allowed if you want it

• Walking is important, a small amount every day if possible. 30 mins if you can

• Lots of water, aim for 2 litres a day

• Apply body cream as often as possible

• Use hand cream

• Go to bed early, by 10.30pm if pos

• Eat healthily

• Be happy

The idea is that we all feel happier, healthier and glow with the good food, sleep, exercise, water and lack of sun damage.

Some people are doing India and Neris's Idiot Proof Diet (Atkins, more or less), others are doing Slimy World, others are just being as healthy as possible.

Welcome everyone, have a good week.

That first part meant to say "Thanks WWW for the suggestion of the drugs, I never take them and it wouldn't have occurred to me. They're fab."

Ah moonshine - a woman after my own heart. If I hear the phrase 'credit crunch' again, I may throttle someone. It's lost what little meaning it had in the first place. Thank heaven my (very) brief dalliance with financial journalism ended long before this current business - the thought of having to bandy it about myself is shudder-worthy. V sorry to hear about your friend.

Blu, really glad to hear about your DS. On the childcare front, I registered with Simply Childcare, but actually went to visit a nursery near my sister's today, and having felt sure that I didn't want to go down the nursery route, I may have been swayed - it was lovely. So going to sleep on it and make a decision in the morning (time v pressing, suddenly - I'm back to work in just over two months .

And thank you all so much for sympathy and support - I really, really appreciate it. Very difficult time, but am just going to get my head down and muddle through. I know in the long run it's the best thing.

WWW, off to reply to you on the other thread

Oh and Marina - continuing the League of Gentlemen theme - i went to the most terrifying baby music session in Islington today which put me forceably in mind of the LoG kids' theatre group, Legs Akimbo ...

Oh oh and bundle - I am currently Stoke Newington, soon to be Tufnell Park ...

and - ahem - food terrible, and me and two mums went to the pub after baby music to drown out the memory. So I'm already two glasses of wine down. Ahem again. Will attempt to redress the balance with salade nicoise for dinner.

I am trying to catch up but all www's posts make me hungry. and I made the children a pavlova and half of it is sitting there winking at me...

bundy and I are both happy nursery veterans, and I think batters' dd attended a v.g. one too. Glad you have seen some promising options L&S and LOLOLOL at Legs Akimbo, those were the days. Dh apparently feels that area of the League's repertoire is in "poor taste" ...um, so that would be very unlike the rest of their output then, darling.
Glad your day went better too JJ, the wet but unhateable ones are the worst and I hope your fears are unfounded.
I went all Miss Whiplash in a meeting full of slackers (well me and another sane woman and a bunch of slackers) and that has paid dividends, but the price paid was no walk and not enough water again. Happiness reasonable though!
Yoyo, hope today has gone OK and so sorry your friend faces further tests moonshine.
Foo, can you come round and kick tiny asses here (that's not mine btw). Dd is keen to assist but not reliable (why can't I take the iron to school, waaaaaaaah) while ds is just bone idle.

VersdeSociete, it's not like the Dallas Drinking Game of student renown! You don't have to eat what www does Just read it and drool. We had pavlova at the weekend too...just a smidge

Hello!

yoyo - hope the appointment went ok
blu - hope junior blu's consultant's appointment's ok
L&S - hope you are managing to make some progress

work is absolutely hectic but I guess nothing new. We await nervously the impact of the city fall out on us. So far (fingers crossed) we haven't been hit TOO hard but we normally feel the affect 3-6 months down the line .

You know, I've just read all the posts and realised, other than the obviously UK posters, I don't know where everyone is.

Arf - you're in Aus aren't you?
JJ, not sure where you are or whether your husband just travels and you are here. Would love to know where everyone is.

Hello my lovelies

I am still on no wine. I know it's not THAT impressive given that I did drink (not much, half a bottle) on Sunday night but I will still end not much ALL week as I am going out on Friday but driving so won't be drinking... about bloody time as I was so bad last week.

tonight had cheese and tarragon omelette and salad
and water
and just had some cheese and salami

LOADS of water today
and working from home tomorrow so that's good.

JJ, glad the tablets worked, fab aren't they? They just get you through it ime.

L&S, my dd has just left nursery and was VERY happy there, it was a lovely one.

Ureb, WOW at that compliment, how fantastic

Verde, hmm, did you eat the pav? I love pavlova.

Moonshine and L&S, totally agree about phrase 'credit crunch'

Blu, we need pics of decorator and oh my, at the timing of the cakes!

Foo, good idea on the karma. People often look so SURPRISED when you do nice things for them, let us know how it goes. Long may the organised mornings continue!

Marina, sorry work is still a pain and holiday with friends sounds great and a great incentive. I need renewed vigour too...

Snaf, I am bored of either spinach salad or salmon/boursin wraps for lunch, any other bright I&N ideas? Easy to prepare night before and portable ideally.

L&S - I am round the corner from you!

CAt me (it won't let me CAT you!)

am a Big Fan of nurseries (well, the right ones) and TPark is but a bus ride away

Yes fox, the slimline suzywong and I are in Oz. She's about 6 hours flying West though [squints into distance].

Glad your DS is on the up blu.

L&S - good nurseries are fine. DD's was lovely. I cried when she had to leave to go to school, both in her room and the managers . Then I cried all over her teacher when she started school (PFB).

The Lehmans thing is terrible. I think they must have felt invincible. All the staff were expected to plough bonuses back into Lehman's shares, so will have been screwed twice over.

DP's company has just gone into receivership too (not to do with the credit crunch global downturn though, just sheer incompetence as far as I can see). They expect it to be sold so we're not panicking. It's most annoying as it buggers up our visa and residency sponsorship. If he does get made redundant we'll have 2 weeks to sort out a visa (that takes a year), get new sponsorship or leave the country. Great . In the meantime I've got the ball rolling with individual residency applications, which take a year and an awful lot of paperwork and cash. I hate paperwork more than anything.

On the subject of bootcamping, am doing the same. Gym (moved up to 400 cals a day), lots of soup, no booze, plenty of veggies etc, early nights, exfoliation, water, sunscreen, body lotion etc.

I think I'm slowly moving on from the bored-catatonic phase into the slightly-more-perky-with-loose-jeans phase. Although I need to be careful of jemmying on smaller clothes that now fit (actually, not in this phase yet) but are still too tight, but wearing them because they just about do up when they didn't before, but looking like a fat porker because they are too tight.

ah, thanks for all the positive nursery stories! Having slept on it, I think I'm going to go for it - just had a really good feeling about it - staff were lovely, place was delightful, they have library visits and go on outings and do painting and wet play and so forth .. crucially, my mum's a nursery teacher, and it reminded me of her nursery, which can only be a good thing.

Oh, bundle, you're round the corner! how exciting! will try to CAT you now (never done that before ... )

arfy, v sorry to hear about your DH's company, and residency fall-out .. good luck with it all ...

Today, am having lunch with friend and her son. Friend is newly pregnant, so I feel it incumbent on me to ply her with cake. Will do plenty of walking though - really enjoying parks and autumn leaves at the moment

Oh bloody hell arfy, what a mare. Might you end up coming back here?

L&S, dd was So happy at her nursery. They were in the woods and so they had 'woodland school' and parents would bring in interesting things, one brought in her pony (we are in countryside!), and another mother who was a doctor came in to talk to them about being a doctor and they made cakes and painted and spent a LOT of time in the garden and generally had a lovely time. There's also the big upside of a nursery as opposed to nanny/childminder that it's always open so you're not relying on one person. Good luck with deciding. You can always change it later if it doesn't feel right for you. When are you moving to your sisters? Agree about autumnal walking being fab, am going to try to do some today.

I have just had scrambled egg and bacon for breakfast, it was lovely.

Morning campers!

Need to confess a shockingly poor day yesterday, foodwise. Much chocolate consumed when visiting a friend with a scrummy new baby - like L&S I felt it incumbent on me to bring treats - have been mentally self-flagellating ever since, honest.

www - spinach salad a bit of a staple round here too, although I am slightly obsessed with tuna nicoise (sans new potatoes, obv), chicken/prawn and avocado, etc. I add crumbled crispy bacon quite often, too. I tend to do a lot in the way of 'deli plates' - salami, ham, cheese, olives, fresh anchovies, roasted red peppers, artichokes (antipasti of various kinds basically), plus salad. Might end up a bit of a sludgy mess if you are transporting them, though... Have you tried the I&N website - I think there are quite a few ideas on there.

Booze - none since last Thurs, not bad
Walking - ummm... have done some sit-ups though, does that count?!
Water - trying really hard, even managing two large glasses of hot water and lime first thing. Am really noticing the difference when I don't drink it now
Body/hand cream - could try harder
Bed - usually by 11pm
Happiness - my old mentor rang me yesterday to go over the FAB reference she is giving me, ds is the 'face' of his school's new Reception prospectus and I found him 'doing the washing-up' for me this morning, so my happiness is utterly complete

Onwards and upwards, eh?

Arfy - what a nightmare for you and DP. Unbelievably frustrating. Hope you can get things sorted.

L&S - bet you feel so much better now that the decision is made re: nursery. I have always found since splitting with xh that the anticipation of having to make these decisions is always much worse than actually doing it, iyswim. It's never as bad in practice. And fwiw, ds is now in Yr 1 and still misses his nursery!

Thank you for the kind words ladies. We'll be fine. Even if DP is made redundant there is money available to pay him redundancy, so we're not in the Lehman's boat. Allegedly. I will be looking for another contract just to be on the safe side.

If we did have to leave Australia we'd be straight to Dubai. Me and my 3G are needed. And it's nothing to do with the glorious tax-free lifestyle of gratuitous spending and champagne brunches. No Siree.

fis - the boys and I in the UK and my husband travels. Except during the summer when the boys and I are in the US (in Alabama) and my husband is over with us for a week or so.

Arfishy, I know the fear. I am pretty much sick with worry and just cried on the phone to my poor husband. Poor thing, hugely stressful time there and having to deal with a wreck of a wife! I really wish he were here this week. We will have to leave the UK if something happens and he can't find work. Not that we could even afford to live here if that happened, of course.

WWW - that sounds like an idyllic nursery. I hope she is having a good time at school too.

VS - I realise that the pavlova is probably gone, but I would love some please. I love pavlova. It is one of the best things ever.

L&S - yes, I agree on going with your gut instinct about things like that.

Marina - Lol at going all Miss Whiplash.

I jogged this morning with friend whose husband is in the business (not same company) so had a good chat. And then rode my bike to Old St and back. Well, stopping for coffee with a friend when I was there. And haven't eaten dinner I just realised.

And I've realised I've got to stop worrying and watching stock prices and reading analysis and do something constructive like clean the kitchen and get ready for school tomorrow and perhaps even take a shower.

Oh JJ, sorry you're feeling weepy.

Snaf, yes, must go and look on Iand N site

Today
scrambled egg and bacon
3 sausages
chorizo, cambozola
pork loin, green beans, broccoli
some more chorizo and cambozola

loads of water
no wine, obv
vitamins

and didn't have time to walk but did get lots of time on mumsnet stuff done for ds's birthday

Evening.

Sorry to hear about the uncertainty re your DH's company and visa situation arfishy.

We are heaving a sigh of relief as DH's company has had a reprieve this week. Still not totally relaxed, but not as fraught as last week for sure.

So now I can get back on the wagon. Sadly I'm not someone who loses her appetite in times of stress

So have been good-ish today. Porridge, mackerel salad, spicy chicken and spinach. Too much coffee and not enough water, but creamed and have walked bleedin' miles.

Another positve nursery experience from me too L&S. DS loved his. In fact he used to run away from me shouting "I don't want to go home" . One time when I was wrestling him into his coat, I turned to another mother and said "it's because I shut him in a cupboard when I get there" - and her face!

Good morning all
Sorry you had a weepy wobble JJ, we all have them, and you with better cause than most. I had no idea dh was out of the UK so extensively, that must be hard
Thinking of all the people on this thread facing workplace uncertainty - there seems to be a lot of us. Glad things are looking a bit better for you FallenMadonna.
Goodish bootcamp day yesterday, do wish I had more time for walking at the mo. Work, school, church, aged ps - am feeling somewhat fenced in. Feel like roaming the Zone 4 suburban streets with a Mohican and a singlet and asking if anyone else wants a piece of me . Am also not getting enough sleep but water, food and happiness are all appropriate.
Today I will mostly be resenting anyone at liberty to enjoy this glorious sunshine, and eating cottage cheese .
Do have night out with dodgy women planned for end of week, if I can keep awake and coherent that long.
Hoping to hear for Yoyo soon - and happy bootcamping all!

morning all, a perfect early-autumn day here in north london ... Marina, it shames but behoves me to admit that I will be earning your resentment later - ds and i off to meet friend and her one-month-old in a park...

TFM - snorting with laughter at your shutting your DS in a cupboard . This is exactly the sort of thing I say to the wrong people (people at work, mothers I don't know well enough).

All wellish here. Dp and I ate salade nicoise (again!) and talked last night - money stuff a little complex (may post later when I've time and discuss) but by and large things remain amicable. And I'm definitely going to go with the nursery for DS; feels like such a weight off my mind.

On the downside, saw myself in a full length mirror the other day, and there needs to be some toning. Quite urgently. Situps here I come.

Hello again everyone... not posted until now as been away and offline for a few days.

Skincare hasn't been easy this week, due to a breakout likely caused by indirect handling of ham in a shared fridge as I am allergic to either it or something it's cured with. Probably hasn't helped by not drinking enough water or getting enough sleep so my skin has been very dry anyway but I think it's re-balancing now I'm home.

On the bright side, it's sunny and has been most of this week wherever I've been so I've been feeling pretty optimistic despite the chill.

Using cream on hands a lot more often after washing as well as body cream, but only Sainsbury's own brand facial moisturising lotion as it's really easily absorbed. Any recommendations for actual hand creams like this?

Have had rice dinners for the last 3 nights, eating both in and out and loving feeling just full but not too full.

Been doing more than an hour's walking a day without even realising it as I don't know how far I've walked in an unfamiliar place but I can feel the difference on off! my hips so it must only be a good thing.

Sorry to hear your news L&S In that big list of things to do, make sure there's at least one thing just for you

Feel really sluggish and meh today. Have had my hair cut just slightly too short and the house is very cold but I am refusing to put heating on and actually I just want some chocolate Trying to drink lots of water to fill me up but my body is not fooled - tap water ain't Toblerone...

Have exfoliated, painted nails and bought new super-strength Benefit concealer, though! No booze, and have volunteered to drive to party on Fri so am not tempted then either.

I am just not doing enough exercise and I have absolutely NO excuse.

snaf, I am also doing social things and not drinking on Friday (as driving later) so welcome to the club. Put the heating on! Would a bath help? Chocolate it isn;t though, I know.

Mumi, walking sounds good, sorry to hear of breakout, what a PITA.

Today

3 sausages
chorizo, camobozola
spinach salad with tuna, anchovies, cucumber, tomatoes, green beans and vinaigrette, MUST find something else to have for lunch, am BORED of it
brazil nuts, pistachios

and no idea what we're having tonight, dh out so probably an omelette as it's quick.

Lots of water today
no walking
have lost my sunscreen, grr

but it's Thursday, feeling reasonably happy.

Hello all. My appointment went well and the good news is that my lump is a cyst! Took three hours and had to have a mammogram and ultrasound but so relieved at result. Had terrible 10 mins waiting for the ultrasound as the nurse referred to "lumps in both breasts" and the mammogram pics were on the screen at the time. Can't describe how happy I felt when I was told it was a cyst. No treatment necessary but it might take up to a year to go apparently.

Thank you all so much for the good wishes.

Moonshine - hope your friend is okay. I can only imagine the worry she must be feeling at further testing and hope that the results come back negative for her.

Bootcamp has been and continues to be a disaster. Will start afresh next week when I will be focussed on sorting myself out and will have no distractions (have had DD2's birthday this week with much cake, chocolate and wine).