November 2005

November 30, 2005

Had a team away day today. It was all very intense — people still have issues about how the team is working, how we are managing them etc. In reality, I think most of it is to do with the upheaval of the whole merger, and with the challenges that internal promotions often bring. We’d arranged for a facilitator to lead the day, and I think it was helpful.

Went back to the office for a meeting with the design agency afterward. They’d produced two concepts for the new site and talked us through them. Aside from a couple of tweaks they are pretty much there, which is good news as we need to present them at our annual conference in Birmingham next week.

November 29, 2005

Things are always a bit hectic when Adam is away on my working days. Nova was pretty helpful, and I got her to school okay. Dave came along for the drop-off, and was quite entertained by the whole process — the lunch boxes, water bottles, mittens, book bags, queueing, pigeon holes, snatched conversations and arrangements with other mums.F

ull on day at work. Left at 5:30 and walked down through Covent Garden to the South Bank to meet Jemima. She bought me a ticket to see Salman Rushdie read from Shalimar the Clown and answer questions from the presenter and the audience. They were very good seats — “Do you want good seats when you go to see Salman Rushdie?” Jemima joked. I hadn’t managed to read the last thirty pages of the book, but there were no spoilers. Salman was very personable, interesting and humourous. A really nice evening.

November 28, 2005

Adam got only two hours sleep last night and was much the worse for it… He has a terrible cough, and if he wasn’t flying off to Germany today, I would have tried to get him to call in sick.

I discovered that a Paul bakery has opened across the street from the office. They do top quality French breads and patisserie, so it’s a welcome addition to the neighbourhood.

Dave came over this evening. Simonia had already fed Nova her dinner, so we an hour or so to play with her before bedtime. She wanted to play school, with her as the teacher of course. She was very strict about raising your hand before talking, and taught a credible little phonics session on the letter u. She disappeared downstairs, and returned with two packed lunches: sandwich, broccoli, pear and cake for me; and sandwich, garlic, orange and ice cream for Dave (she’s absorbed the fresh fruit and vegetable message).

Once she was down, I went to the gym for a quick run. We ate dinner when I got home, lentil soup, pitta bread and a bit of apple crumble. Watched an old Jane Fonda movie, the one where she’s an alcoholic who wakes up in bed with a dead man.

November 27, 2005

Today was a “terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day” to quote one of Nova’s favourite storybooks. At least it started that way… Got out of bed in the freezing cold and spent an age not finding my pyjama top (eventually discovering that Nova had bundled it into the laundry basket with her pee soaked jammies), inadvertently put unneutralised contact lens fluid in my eye, which left it bright red and burning, and was unable to go for a run because my knee was stiff and sore from a side tackle from Nova yesterday. Decided to go for a swim instead, and although the knee twanged a bit I think it did it good.

Pete and Pasc and the kids came round for coffee and a visit. They just had a big row, and tensions were still running a bit high. It had to do with Pasc interfering when Pete was helping Sid with his homework, but as is often the case with other people’s rows, it was difficult to see what all the fuss was about.

Cooked fish for dinner — turbot for us, trout for Nova. I’m trying to clear as much out of the freezer as possible in readiness for Christmas, and I’d discovered this frostbitten little trout steak hiding in a corner. I poached it, and it turned out alright. Adam worked on adidas stuff all evening, and I watched a dramatisation of Princess Margaret’s life. At the beginning it said, “Some of the events in this drama happened. And some didn’t.” I think the scene were she throttled a thug with her headscarf in a pub while shrieking, “One doesn’t mess with the house of Windsor!” belongs to the second category…;-)

November 26, 2005

Had a good weigh in this week — down almost three pounds. We had Freddy and Beulah round for muffins — it’s the first time we’ve seen them since they returned from the holiday in South America a few weeks ago. The weather was lousy, and it ended up being an indoor sort of day. Adam has a nasty chest cold, and Nova’s still coughing and snuffling as well.

Spent the evening reading Shalimar the Clown, the latest Salman Rushdie novel. I’m going to see him read from it on Tuesday, and I’d like to finish it by then, but I’ve been finding it a bit of a slog.

November 25, 2005

Adam was feeling a bit rough this morning, but managed to rouse himself and take Nova to school along with my contributions for the bake sale. This is the first bake sale I’ve baked for in over thirty years, since the one we had in Miss Lyell’s class in grade four. I think they were expecting the moms to do the baking, but I got it in my head that I was going to make jam tarts. I had a vision of how these tarts would look, and the white, misshapen discs filled with brownish homemade plum jam were a long way from what I had in mind.

I still had some pride in them I guess, because I took them off to school the next day, and set them out on the long table in the mudroom at lunch. They looked pretty forlorn next to the chocolate cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies and rice krispie squares, and when we marked everything down half way through the sale I hadn’t sold a single one. I’d eaten a few myself surreptitiously, to make it look like they were selling, but even at 10 cents apiece there were no takers. I ate a couple more, but there were still enough left for Marie Dydzuk to point out that nobody seemed to like them. Ah, childhood…

Went to the gym with Jemima, and did my spinning and body pump class. We had lunch afterwards, then went back to hers for tea. Nova had a playdate with Josh this afternoon. He’s a lovely boy, but very rambunctious, and we seldom get a report of Nova’s school day that doesn’t involve Josh being sent to the “time out chair”. For some reason, he’s always been fond of Nova, and she seems to like him as well. In fact, she’s the first girl he’s ever invited round for a playdate. I wasn’t sure what common ground they would find, but Nova returned home completely pumped up. The playdate was “absolutely good!” she reported, and told me all about their house, and the games they played, and Josh’s big sister Alicia’s Barbie bakery.

November 24, 2005

Went to a school coffee morning at Becky’s (our class rep’s) house. After a round of coffees we got busy making the banner and decorations for our stall at the Christmas fair next month. We’re having a used toy stand. I cut out big bubble letters out of silver foil which the others stuck on a red background and decorated with glitter and bows. Other people wrapped enormous fake presents to use to display toys and make a “lucky dip” box.

Spent the afternoon baking: Nanaimo bars (Adam’s favourite); and chocolate Mars Bar slice and chocolate biscuits for tomorrow’s bake sale. The biscuits were a Martha Stewart recipe, so fiddly as hell. You make a very soft dough using “dutched chocolate” (I was unable to ascertain whether Cadburys cocoa powder is “dutched” or not) as well as melted chocolate, chill it for an hour, roll it into little walnuts sized balls, and roll those in granulated sugar and then icing sugar before baking at a low temperature. They melt and crack and the double coating of sugar means that they stay white on the outside with the brown cracks showing through. I’m not a big fan of Martha’s, but those biscuits were absolutely delicious, soft and melting in the middle with a bit of a bite on the outside.

I was just setting of to pick up Nova, when it started pouring with rain. Actually pouring isn’t the right work, as the wind was so strong the rain was nearly horizontal. Got my extreme weather gear on, packed extra clothes for Nova, and headed off to pick her up.

Made broccoli soup for dinner, which Nova ate, though not with much enthusiasm. Nova and I had a bit of a wrangle over the long couch and my blanket, as apparently I’d taken her place when she went to get her tiara. It reminded me of the hot air vent wars of my childhood. In the winter we children spent much of our time indoors huddling round the hot air vents, particularly the one under the couch. If you lay on the floor with your legs under the couch you could have your feet warmed while you watched TV. There wasn’t room for three, and anyone going to the bathroom or for a snack was likely to lose their place. The one in the bathroom was popular as well, especially on cold winter mornings.

Adam went over to Pete’s for “singles night” — a bunch of guys getting together with their favourite singles from their youth, playing them for each other and explaining what they meant to them. Didn’t bother waiting up for him as it was sure to be a late one…;-)

November 23, 2005

Baby Jesus is back amongst us. This morning Nova said, “You know, we were talking about Jesus at school yesterday. And now baby Martha has decided to change her name to baby Jesus. That’s clever!” We’ve been assigned the same roles as last year, with Nova as Mary, Adam as Joseph and me as the Angel Gabriel. She’s picked up a song that goes, “Hosanna, hosanna, sing hosanna to the lord our king” and has been singing that has she goes about her business.She was acting out the nativity while I made her packed lunch, and had just given birth to Jesus on the livingroom floor, when she said, “Oh, no! Baby Jesus is crying! I’d better call God! Hello God? Baby Jesus is crying. You better bring some presents right now!”

Adam took me for dinner at the Wolseley tonight. We were both really impressed with how it manages to be both glamorous and comfortable, cutting edge and traditional. When it opened a couple of years ago, there was a real buzz around it. I was reading one of those columns in a magazine where they ask celebs their favourite book, film, restaurant etc. Anyway, this woman, some popstar, said that the Wolseley was her favourite restaurant and that she’d been going for years, long before it became so popular (long before it opened apparently…) Quite funny, but it does have the feeling of having been around for decades. The food was very good: I had the risotto and the grilled fish of the day; Adam had a goat’s cheese tart and pheasant, and we shared a slice of plum pie for dessert.

November 22, 2005

Ordered our Christmas wine this evening. We buy most of our wine from a wine club associated with my bank. Every month they send us a catalog suggesting various combinations: New World whites, Spanish reds or whatever. If we choose a box, they deliver it a few days later. They had various Christmas combinations, but they all seemed too elaborate. If they’d done one with a bottle of sherry, a bottle of port, a bottle of champagne and a mix of reds and whites I would probably have gone for it.We’ve ordered some DVDs and books as well, which knocks off some of the Christmas shopping. What with Canada posting dates and Hannukah we can’t leave our shopping to the the last minute like I used to do…

November 21, 2005

Nova was thrilled with the dress — “Now she needs a skirt and a jumper!” she told me.I wore a skirt to work that I haven’t been able to wear for ages, which is always a good feeling. I was working through my emails when reception rang to tell me that I had people waiting. I hadn’t been told they were coming to see me (a minor oversight by my job share/project manager) but managed to scramble together a few people to make up a design brief meeting.

Nova’s still finishing her “antibionics”, but seems to be feeling better. I’m glad that Whipsnade outing didn’t set her back.

Went to the gym for a 5km run and some time on the stair climber. Had a nice salad for dinner: spinach, warm red lentils seasoned with curry and goat’s cheese. It all sort of melted together in a very satisfying way. A sort of healthy curry really.

November 20, 2005

Went for a long run on the Heath this morning — longer than I’ve been running lately anyway… There was a real bite in the air, thick frost on the grass, ice on the puddles… all of which made me oddly happy. It made me realise how cold weather connects with a vital part of me, reminds me of home I guess…Spent half the run compiling a list of songs I used to love when I was a kid that I havent thought of in years, such as:

• Billy Don’t Be a Hero
• The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
• Angie Baby
• The Night Chicago Died
• At Seventeen
• Two for the Show
• High School Confidential
• Just When I Needed You Most
• Run Joey Run
• etc…

Went on a family outing to Whipsnade Zoo, which is a wild animal park connected to the London Zoo. I’d thought it was a car focussed type thing where you drove around looking at animals out the car window, but it actually involved a lot of walking around. It was absolutely freezing, with the Siberian winds they’d forecast slicing through our inadequate clothing. We bought Nova a little hat and mittens set for two year olds from the gift shop, and made the best of it.

One of the highlights was the penguin enclosure. The penguins were absolutely reveling in the antarctic conditions, whooping and barking and honking and swimming in circles on their sides. I didn’t even know penguins made noise…

The African animals — rhinos, zebras, antelope, elephants — seemed unexpectedly relaxed about the weather, and the Siberian tiger was in his element. Speaking of elephants, one of the elephants had his willy out and the thing nearly dragged on the ground. It was quite a sight… So, all in all, a very educational trip.

Made pizza for dinner. Nova only ate one small slice, and wasn’t too crazy about the canned peaches for dessert either. Spent the evening watching The Chorus, and knitting a little dress for baby Lola. Snuck into Nova’s room, and dressed Lola in it before I went to bed.

November 19, 2005

Everyone made the weigh in this week, including Pasc, who resorted to her starvation diet thing again. On our run, we got talking about careers. When a billionaire friend (honestly) of hers was asked by her husband what she wanted for Christmas, she said, “Oh… I don’t know… a fulfilling career?!?” Pasc thinks that she’s kidding herself, and that people only work because they need the money, and that if you had the financial freedom to spend all your time on your family and yourself wouldn’t you do it?I think it’s about having other things in your life so that when the children grow up, you’ll have other things you can focus more attention on. I think our mum might have been happier when we were growing up if she’d had other interests. Going out to work at Takla Lake gave her the opportunity to reclaim some of her life for herself.

Nova went to Mira’s birthday party at Mystical Fairies this afternoon. She was all excited about going, until it was time to get in the car. She was worried about not knowing any of the other kids, or having anyone to play with, and “losing” me, by which I think she means missing me. I hung around a bit until she was settled in, and asked Mira’s older sister to keep an eye out for her.

Adam and I spent the two hours shopping in Hampstead. I was looking for a Christmas dress for Nova, but everything I saw was either too babyish or too tarty. I bought myself a tracksuit at Sweaty Betty, a big monster truck thing for Oliver, and picked up a few tasty treats from the Rosslyn Deli.

Nova had pesto pasta for dinner, while we had laksa again and the last of the wine. Spent the evening watching I ♥ Huckabees movie — pretty good.

November 18, 2005

Kept Nova home from school today. After breakfast Adam took her off to the doctor. Apparently her ear is a bit red, and she’s been prescribed a course of antibiotics.I went to my spinning and body pump classes, then had lunch with Jemima. We ordered the half soup/half salad option. I’ve been served plates with garnishes that were larger than that half salad, but it all contributes to the weight loss effort I suppose…

Etta came over to play after school, which gave Nova a boost. She gets bored with only our company for a whole day. I took the opportunity to slope of to Muswell Hill for a spot of Christmas/grocery shopping. Got presents for Wade’s family, and a couple of little things for Nova.

November 17, 2005

Nova mentioned her ear aching again this morning, and had a little spell on the couch with a hot water bottle before it was time to leave for school. This caused some water bottle confusion when we were gathering up the array of things we need to remember for school each day. “Bring your water bottle, Nova!” I called up the stairs to her. “NO! I’m not bringing a water bottle!” she yelled. Which seemed a little strange, as we bring one every day, until I realised she thought I was talking about her hot water bottle…Made a batch of chocolate fudge and another of cherry slice while listening to NICE get another pasting on Radio 4 — the You and Yours programme this time. This one was about our decision to reverse our guidance and recommend against the Alzheimer drugs donepezil, rivastigmine and memantine. Although they are relatively cheap they are also pretty much useless for the majority of people.

I was just about to set of for the swimming pool when the school called. Nova had thrown up in the classroom and they wanted me to come pick her up. When I arrived, they told me that a boy had also thrown up, and another was going home sick as well, so there must be something going round. Nova looked a little green round the gills, but she didn’t seem that upset by the experience. When I threw up spectacularly in Miss Lyell’s grade four class it was a scarring experience. Wesley Mah called me “barf girl” for half the winter.

Nova and I hung out watching cartoons until Adam came home in time for me to go to her parent-teacher interview. All is well, her school work is very advanced and she’s interacting nicely with the other children.

Adam was out at the cinema this evening. Dave rang to apologise for the Devendra Banhart screw up — he had tickets for a few other friends as well, so it’s cost him a good whack of money. Roman called from Canada as well, which was a nice surprise. It’s always great to talk to him — one of those genuine friendships where you seem to pick up the conversation right where you left it six months ago…

November 16, 2005

Worked from home today, which I enjoy aside from the interminable phone meetings. Picked up Nova at 3:30 and brought her classmate Sophie home for a playdate. They had a nice time together, though it was pretty low key. They are quite tired sometimes after a full day of school. I’ve noticed that all the kids we have over for playdates are used to eating much earlier than we feed Nova, as early as 4:30. I made them fish fingers, chips and peas, which they both ate up nicely.We’d arranged a babysitter so that we could go see Devendra Banhart at the Astoria with Dave. He’d been in the Dominican Republic for the last few weeks, and we hadn’t been able to get in touch with him since he’d returned. He had the tickets, and we hadn’t made any plans for meeting up or anything. Finally phoned a friend of his in the Midlands, who said that he’d got back a couple of days ago but was still up in Nuneaton. It turned out he thought the gig was next week… It was too late to cancel Katrina, so we went to plan B — a movie in Swiss Cottage. We saw “The Beat My Heart Skipped”, a French thriller about a dodgy real estate agent who dreamed of being a concert pianist. Quite good…

November 15, 2005

The tube was crap this morning, but what’s new…
Arrived to find BBC news cameras in the office — apparently they are doing something about NICE on the 6′ o’clock news (unfavourable no doubt…)Driving to gym this evening, there was a forty minute File on Four story on us as well, which I thought was very biased. It focussed on the current situation that exists where guidance on which drugs and treatments should be available on the NHS is issued months earlier in Scotland than in England. The main reason for this is because NICE carries out a rigorous independent assessment and our Scottish equivalent bases their guidance solely on submissions from the pharmaceutical company. Ended up sitting in the car listening to the whole thing before going into the gym. Had a good workout — ran 5km then did ten minutes on the stair climber.

November 14, 2005

Happy birthday, Wade!
Half my team sick is sick this morning, and the other half are coughing and spluttering like escapees from a TB sanitorium. I’m the only one who is (so far) unaffected…Made a great lentil salad for dinner tonight: lentils, toasted walnuts and goats cheese on a bed of rocket, with a garlic, mustard and balsamic vinegar dressing. One of the aspects of my “diet” is looking out for foods that I find particularly satisfying, and incorporate them into my diet. The things I’ve identified so far are:

• brown lentils
• goat’s cheese
• tonic water with angustura bitters and lemon
• fresh mint tea
• grilled salmon
• Japanese rice (particularly crayfish sushi)
• Earl Grey tea with milk
• low calorie hot chocolate (though I’m sure the high calorie stuff would be satisfying as well!)

Went to see “The Constant Gardener” with Pasc this evening. Good enough film, although I didn’t actually enjoy the book that much — it wasn’t one of LeCarré’s best. His writing never really recovered from the end of the Cold War…

November 13, 2005

My finger was incredibly painful when I woke up this morning, and it proved very difficult to remove the plaster. The open part of the wound is quite large and had congealed around the fibers in the pad part of the plaster. I had to use a combination of cutting and soaking to get it off, which revealed the full horror of my injury. I’ve sliced off a thin slice of my finger, and cut deeper into that exposed flesh as well. I don’t like to think where the little piece of finger may have ended up…Quite a lazy day in, which both Nova and I needed, although I kicked off the Christmas baking with a batch of butterscotch fudge in the afternoon. Joined Nova on the couch to watch Cinderella with a big bowl of popcorn.

Our friend Alan from Scotland came round for dinner and stayed the night. It’s been years since we’ve seen him, well before Nova was born. Adam met him travelling in China in 1987, and we’ve kept in touch since. It turns out he was diagnosed with a lymphoma this spring and has undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy. He responded well to treatment, and things look good for now.

We had kedgeree and apple crumble for dinner. Nova wasn’t at her best, what with her illness and being cooped up indoors all day — we’re so used to her being charming and well behaved that it’s quite a surprise when she acts like a normal four year old.

November 12, 2005

Weekly run with the “Franklyn fatties” as Adam now calls them. Pete managed to squeak out another one of his trademark quarter pound losses, but Pasc was up a couple of pounds, which meant another cash injection into the kitty. I was down another pound, and Adam now reached his target weight, and is having no difficulty maintaining it.After breakfast, Nova and I headed off to Waitrose to do a big shop for tonight’s dinner party, the rest of the week’s meals and Christmas baking supplies. Nova decked herself out in numerous necklaces and bracelets for the occasion, and brought baby Lola along with her hat and dummy as well. Needless to say, the shopping trip was punctuated by intervals where we retraced our steps to find various items that had gone astray.

We were on the home stretch and heading for the checkouts when Nova spied a Cinderella DVD in a distant display rack. I had planned to buy it for her for Christmas, but now that she’s seen it at Rubys, there didn’t seem any reason to hold off.

In the afternoon Nova went to Oskar’s party, and I spent the time preparing for the evening’s dinner party: gravad lax olives, roast turbot with cannellini bean mash and steamed kale, a celery-celeriac pomegranate salad, and chocolate pots for dessert.

It was just as well I got all that preparation done, because Nova returned from the party sobbing with earache. They’d spent an hour out in the cold woods having a treasure hunt, which may have exacerabated things. She was in terrible shape, writhing about on the bed and crying from the pain. I got her changed into her pajamas, gave her a double dose of pain killers and a hot water bottle to rest against her ear, but it took a long time for her to get to sleep.

Rob and Jemima arrived during all this and settled Ruby in our bedroom. I returned to my preparations, now behind schedule, and promptly sliced the edge of my fourth finger off with the mandolin slicer. Being the kind of person I am, I smothered the injury in a paper towel and finished slicing the celeriac before going downstairs to double wrap it in plasters. Nick and Jane arrived soon after and we sat down to eat.

It was a nice enough evening, although I’m not quite sure that the two sets of friends completely clicked. I may have been distracted by worrying about Nova and the throbbing pain in my finger though… To bed about 1am.

November 11, 2005

After an intense spinning class, Jemima and I wheeled our bikes away, and joined the rest of the hardcores busily assembling bars and weights, benches and mats for body pump. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but “body pump” turned out to be choreographed weightlifting. A shaven headed collossus in lycra called Howard led us through a series of weightlifting moves to the accompaniment of pounding rock music: “War! – Lift! – Huhhg! – Hold! – What is it good for? – Down!”… etc.The martial arts inspired finale had us palm-to-fisting and drawing imaginary samurai swords. It was a laugh, and there were some fantastically toned women lifting surprising large barbells, so it seems to achieve results.

Nova went for a sleepover at Ruby’s this evening. She was keen to go, and got very involved in the packing decisions, but got a bit clingy when it was time to set off. Adam spent a bit of time getting her settled in, and eventually left her happily watching Cinderella on their new wide screen TV.

There was an art show at the Highgate Literary Institute. John Stillman had three paintings in it, and had invited us to go to the opening. We had just enough time to pop in for a glass of wine and quick circuit of all the paintings, before heading off to the New End Theatre in Hampstead to see a one-man show called Lies Have Been Told (An Evening with Robert Maxwell). It was a couple of hours of Maxwell talking about his life, justifying his decisions, and preenting alternate versions of his demise. Another example of the racism that persists in Britain — the ruling elite shunning him because of his Czech-Jewish origins, the same crap that’s going on with Al Fayed today.

November 10, 2005

Jemima and I had a “body pump” induction at the gym this morning, where we were shown the various weight lifting moves used in the body pump class we’ve signed up for tomorrow. Jemima’s very enthusiastic about exercise at the moment… We did a cardio workout afterward, then stayed for some lunch. It is nice to have someone to go to the gym with, but I don’t think I can fit in so much of it if I start marathon training.One of the girls in Nova’s class is having a birthday party at Mystical Fairies this weekend. She’s new to the class this year, and seems to have invited every girl in the class… except Nova. I’ve been wondering whether to say something about it, but Nova hasn’t mentioned it, so I haven’t. It’s probably an oversight, but I don’t want to embarrass her if they did have to limit numbers for some reason.

On the way back from ballet, Nova and I had a discussion about marriage. She toyed briefly with the idea of marrying something else, before settling on Adam because she likes him the best. “But I’m married to daddy,” I said. “You can marry someone else,” she decided.

November 9, 2005

Today’s the first “working at home” day I’ve managed to work at home in ages. It was very busy, with three conference calls, and a huge editing job that’s overdue.I’d arranged a to bring Isabella home after school as a distraction for Nova. Unfortunately, they weren’t as self sufficient as I’d hoped, and kept involving me in their games.

I ate dinner with the girls and caught up on all the playground gossip from Isabella. Nova’s stories are all about Miss Tait and who was naughty, and whether Evelyn was favouring her with her companionship that day. Isabella informed me that Alana kissed Gabriel (apparently, kissing isn’t allowed), and that no one likes another girl because her hair is messy. It’s sad how quickly they learn to judge on appearances. Fay’s already had remarks made about her weight…

Carried on working after Nova went to bed — it took me until after 11pm to finish my editing…

November 8, 2005

Adam travelled to Germany today for an adidas meeting. Nova doesn’t seem too bothered, which is good. I have an overnight business trip next month… Had quiet dinner in front of the telly, and an early night.

November 7, 2005

Held the shortlisting interviews for the new website today, which took pretty much the whole day. It was exhausting, but I think we’ve made a good choice. It’s interesting being the chairman — the suppliers know that you are the decision maker and pitch pretty much directly to you although there is a whole panel of people sitting there.Went to the gym with Jemima this evening. I took her through my usual cardio workout, though I eased things up a bit, as she’s pretty new to exercise. Between her and Pasc (and Adam for that matter), I seem to have a little sideline in personal training going on…

November 6, 2005

A less than overwhelming 1 1/2 pound weight loss for three days effort — I don’t think I’ll be repeating that experiment…Overheard this morning:

Nova: “Let’s stop playing eating monsters now, ok? It was too scary!”
Dad: “Well you know it’s just a game, don’t you?”
Nova: “Yeah! You can’t really eat me up can you? Because your teeth are too sharp and bitter, and I am too chewy. And if daddies did eat their daughters up, then the mummies would be surprised, wouldn’t they? Ha ha!” (laughs nervously)

Nova went off to Ben’s “super heroes and princesses” birthday this afternoon. She’d requested pizza for dinner, so I made the dough while she was out, then we each decorated our own when she got back. She was very enthusiastic about her pizza, but when it came out she said, “Something’s not right…” and barely ate any of it. This happens with cooked food sometimes — she likes all the raw ingredients (say for apple crumble), but doesn’t like the way it all cooks together.

November 5, 2005

My weight loss on the vanilla ice cream diet continues to be miserable — another half pound. Maybe you have to believe in it, the way Pasc does, to make it work. In spite of two days of starvation rations I was still half a pound up from two weeks ago on our scales. A strong espresso didn’t improve the situation… Adam suggested eating the grounds at the bottom of the cup (apparently he does) but I drew the line at that.Trudged up the path to “fat club”, where amazingly I was down half a pound on their scale. The rest of us made weigh-in except for Pasc, who stayed the same.

Nova and I made a book this morning. It’s called Pink is Best, and is Nova’s challenge to the author of Red is Best.

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After that, Nova and I went off to the hairdressers to get haircuts. All the hairdressers were very taken with her, and she behaved so well throughout her shampoo, cut and blowdry. They sat us so that we could see each other in our mirrors. It was all such fun, that I took her for a drink and piece of cake in the cafe afterward. We were sitting there drinking our drinking and chatting away, when out of the blue, Nova said, “My hair looks beautiful and yours looks horrible!” Now, I know she’s no arbiter of taste and I know she didn’t even mean it, but it pissed me off nevertheless and brought the coffee session to a premature end.

Made numerous jars of apple walnut chutney from our crop of apples, which came out very nicely, but didn’t use anywhere near as many apples as I’d hoped. Combined the dubious final diet dinner of 1c tuna, 1c steamed cauliflower and 1c steamed carrots into a passable cauliflower cheese, with a little cheddar cheese filched from this morning’s rations.

November 4, 2005

Got a very early start this morning. Nova joined us in the wee hours, and I never got properly back to sleep again. Eventually got up and had a good yoga session before the rest of the family woke up.Not very impressed with my lousy half pound weight loss… Went to my spinning class with Jemima, then had a vegetable juice in the cafe afterward. The diet is adamant about no substitutions, additions, variations, yada yada yada, but I can’t see how a glass of carrot juice can do much harm.

Today’s lunch was the absolute nadir of the programme: a big scoop of cottage cheese with five (count’em, five) TUC crackers. hate cottage cheese. I hate cottage cheese, always have done, always will do. The look, the texture, the taste, the smell, the way it squeaks against your teeth. I doctored it up with lots of chopped dill and paprika to make it less revolting, but was torn between wanting to wolf it down to get rid of it, and stretching the meal out so as to feel a bit more satisfied with such an inadequate meal.

When Adam got back (from eating lunch in a nice Italian restaurant in Islington) we headed off to Brent Cross to go jeans shopping. His only jeans are a dodgy pair we bought at Costco a couple of years ago, and a flimsy pair of “designer” jeans. My main jeans no longer stay up properly — I haven’t undone the button to take them off or on in a while now. I bought one new pair, and Adam bought two.

Dinner was two frankfurters, steamed broccoli and carrots, half a banana, and the ice cream. It didn’t make it easy to resist the mulled wine and sausage sandwiches at the school bonfire later, but I managed it. I brought earplugs along for Nova to wear when the fireworks started, and they seemed to do the trick. It was a really cold evening, and once Nova was down, I got straight into my warmest pajamas and went to bed. I don’t think I’ve eaten enough calories to reheat myself and stay awake.

November 3, 2005

Today is the first day of Pasc’s three-day diet, which she swears by and has convinced me to follow. Adam has gallantly agreed to lend moral support by following it as well. Actually, I’ve done a bit of research into it, and it isn’t as bad as it sounded at first. It’s essentially a 1000 calorie a day diet that covers all the major food groups and builds in a reward of a small dish of vanilla ice cream each evening to keep you from going off the rails. I’m pretty sure that Greg and Wendy followed it back in the 80s…
Although it’s my day off, I went in for the shortlisting meeting. It went well, with everyone agreeing on which three agencies to invite in for presentations. Swung by Selfridges afterwards to pick up some drinking glasses. I’d done my calculations wrong, and thought I had an hour to shop, when I actually had about ten minutes.

Rushed home and scarfed down lunch in ten minutes (given that it was basically half a tuna sandwich, time wasn’t a problem), scooted into the vilage for my leg wax appointment, zipped through the grocery shopping, dashed home to drop them off and pick up Nova’s ballet bag, then powerwalked back up the hill to be at the school gates for 3:30.

Dinner was okay — poached chicken breast with steamed carrots, beets and green beans, an apple, and the promised vanilla ice cream. It felt like plenty of food at the time, but I was hungry within the hour. Fortified my resolve by watching The Biggest Loser UK, a reality TV programme where a bunch of super fatties are divided into two teams and compete against each other as to which team can lose the most weight.

November 2, 2005

Attended the second session of my management course for senior women managers in the NHS. Based on last month’s experience, I allowed plenty of time to get to the venue. Today’s session was on personal impact and was very intense. At one point, we wrote down a specific example of some area that we wanted to improve. I put down contribute more effectively to meetings. The facilitator called me to the front of the group where we sat, talk show style in facing chairs. She proceeded to interview me about a particular meeting where I was unhappy with my performance. After a point, she opened the process up for questions from the floor. Interestingly, they saw this particular situation very differently than I had, and rather than it being about my personal confidence, felt that I’d been put into an unfair position by my job share. A bit of an eye opener for me…Adam was out at a football match this evening. I made myself a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and spent the entire evening scoring web design tenders. Being public sector, we have rigorous processes in place to ensure fairness, transparency and that we are getting best value for money. But after five hours careful scoring, I reached the same result I came to after my initial quick read through.

November 1, 2005

Frantic work day, got through about half the stuff I needed to. Holidays are such a catch-22. There is so much work to do at the moment, that I think I’ll need to work an extra day this week, which will mean a day’s TOIL, which will mean falling behind when I take it…I made a simple pasta supper — passata flavoured with garlic, chilli, and a little chopped onion and basil. We don’t eat much pasta any more, it seems to have fallen by the dietary wayside.