Ways to drink more water

Water is very good for you. It is fat free, sugar free and calorie free. And has beneficial effects for your digestive system, skin and general health... but it's not easy to drink, we keep wanting to add things to it..

Here are some top tips:

- Drink it QUICKLY - don't give yourself time to dislike it

- Don't sip it! Who wants to actually taste the water??

- If you get bottled water, choose it carefully! They don't all taste the same!

- Have it cold or hot. Luke warm water tastes worse.

- Drink it from a glass or from pottery/porcelein etc - NEVER plastic. It tastes much worse in a plastic container.. I don't know why it just does.. Maybe its something to do with chemistry (any chemistry boffs reading this and would like to leave a comment, please do)

- Make a conscious effort to drink 3-4 pints (1.5 to 2 litres) a day. Have it with food, it seems to go down better.

- If you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE, LOATHE AND DESPISE drinking water then add a TINY bit of cordial to it to take the edge off. A TINY BIT, not a lot..

- If you have a caffeinated drink you have do drink even more water than this..... so think about that before you have that cup of coffee... or coke...

Long time no blog!

Hi guys

I've been away on business the past few days, so no updates to my blog recently. I went to Pretoria to talk about some research with some of our funders. Interesting.. but thats all I'll say for now!

Back to the office today, I missed Gareth and David a lot. They both seemed very happy to have me back, so thats a good thing. Lots of work to do (as always!) and much to get on with. Erm, not much else to update you with. My weekend was good... erms no very boring person this week! Hopefully I'll have more interesting news soon

Happy Birthday to me

Happy bday to me
Happy bday to me
Happy bday dear meeeeee
Happy bday to me!
Hurrah!

3 cheers for me!

It's a nice sunny day. Birthdays in Liverpool were never sunny for me, it was either cloudy and cold or cloudy and wet. :-)

end of the day...

Another day done! Going home soon. When I come to work tomorrow I will be a whole year older!! Weird huh?

I still don't know how I am going to celebrate my birthday. I am bringing in cake tomorrow but apart from that I know of nothing else thats arranged. Never mind.

Not much to say today. I just want to go home and have a bath and make trifle for tomorrow. Should be good. Will I break my diet? 64,000 dollar question.. I haven't decided yet! I think I am going to have to break it one sunday so maybe not.

Oh yes, I am going to someone's house for lunch on sunday. It's her daughters bday tomorrow too but she's away so I am being adopted ;-)

Sweet huh?

I only woke up twice last night

I remember feeling hot and I think I went back to sleep straight away..
The 2nd time it was 530am and the guy across the road was moving the fours cars from his path (his daughters all park cloer to the road up the driveway than he does, so every day he goes to work at 530 am he puts all their cars out onto the road and then drives away). Park the other way round! they are all behind locked gates anyway!!!! Still he's a nice guy.

Cell group was ok, although a few were missing due to family and sports commitments and those that were there seemed tired. Some are in the middle of exams and tough times at home. We looked at the life of Abraham as an example of God counting someone righteous because he believed what God sai to him. Not because he was a jew (he wasn't, actually, and he wasn't circumcised til after God counted him righteous) or because he was a great guy (after all, he was always passing his wife of as his sister cos she was pretty so he could get favours, lying, twofaced little.. ;-) )
Anyway, the point was we are like Abraham - we are not perfect (far from it), we don't keep all the commands and in fact we are mostly pretty lousy especially at loving God. The law, 10 commandments, etc are like a mirror or a scale which shows us how far short of Gods perfection we come. And its a LONG way, I don't care how good you are. If you have ever thought a superior thought about yourself, judged anyone in your heart, told a lie, wished someone dead/harm, failed to do a good thing when you knew it needed doing, not kept your word or were ungratfeul then you fall short. Thats without murdering anyone, stealing etc... In fact none of us truly love God with ALL our heart and even if we were perfect in every other way that would be enough to miss the mark.
But just like Abraham, God takes our small attempts to believe what he says, our faith and credits our account with righteousness. All because Jesus cancels out our sin. If we trust him with our life then our account shows a + sign. That simple. Yes it is.

Anyway this wasn't meant to be a sermon, but sometimes it helps to clarify my thoughts by writing them down.

Best get down and do some work. I have a journal paper to write and some tests to plan. I have a visitor coming tomorrow and I am going to be in meetings with him most of the afternoon (wed) and probably Thursday morning too. Thursday is my birthday, I have to remember to bring cake. I will be 28. When I was 14 I didn't think I would even live to be 16 - that seemed so old, now I am going to be twice that age in 2 days.

23 deg C. The temp of my office

We have an ongoing battle over the temperature of the office, which I inevitably win. Ilike the aircon at 23 deg C. A pleasant temp, proven to make office workers more productive and allows me to wear Tshirts to work (helpful given the summery hot outside temperatures).
My office buddy, who has a cold seems to want the temp lower. Why? So he can sit in the office with his hanky wearing a fleecy top. Makes no sense. No wonder he is ill. Maybe it's the sickness making him crazy.

Anyway, we think we have settled on a nursery choice for David. I went to see it on Friday afternoon. It's called Eastry Pre-School www.eastry.com for those of you who would like to check it out. He will be going there for mornings from February 2006.

Tonight we have cell group at our house again. If you don't know what that is, it's when a group of friends get together, read a passage from the bible and discuss what it means for us in our lives. This week its Romans 4, which is all about having faith and faith in God being what saves us since the law can't do that. The law only shows us how bad we are, which doesn't help us unless it prompts us to turn to God for an answer to our deadly serious condition.

Boss has arrived! Gotta dash ;-)

My first diet

Hi everyone,

I have been on my first ever diet for 3 weeks. Previously I have never bothered because I didn't think I had the discipline to keep it up and I also knew I would be disappointed if I didn't lose weight. I reached desparation though as I really wanted to buy nice clothes that fitted, and being a good engineer I extrapolated my weight gain trend forward and got a fright.

My new diet means I can't eat anything that does not occur naturally e.g. if God didn't make it, don't eat it. I can't have processed sugar, flour, cornstarch, popcorn, cornflakes, pasta, fizzy drinks etc. I can have meat, potatoes, veggies, milk, eggs (if i ate them!, brown rice, butter..etc. It work son the theory that are bodies were not designed to eat such highly processed foods and since they add no nutritional value why eat them? They just make us fat because our bodies puts the calories straight onto our hips/tummy etc. According to the book I read, we also get addicted to the flour and sugar and will go through withdrawl when we go without them (a godd reason to quit, I shouldn't let food rule my life!)

It also recommends 8-10 glasses of water a day, which effectively means I drink little else (the occasional glass of fruit juice). I don't have to weight my portions or count calories. I can eat steak with a jacket potato and butter wihtout feeling guilty. In that respect, it's realistic.
NB: cheating is not allowed. When I cheat, I will overnight gain 2-3 lb in weight because the sugar also causes my body to retain water... this would depress me so I try not to cheat at all. but my birthday is coming up so I might cheat on my birthday.. a little..

Progress:
I thought I would miss the sweet things most but I don't - I crave the bread and toast I am not allowed to eat.. I desparately wanted cheese toasted sandwiches for 2 weeks. However I wanted to be healthy more... so I resisted..

Drinking the water is a conscious effort. I sometimes forget to drink enough. Funnily enough I don't wee that much more but my stools are looser (eeeh, enough of that)

I also took up more exercise. We invested in a table tennis table and try to play each day.

And... I believe I am losing weight! I didn't weigh myself but I did look at my waistline measurement. I won't reveal what it was (too depressing) but I have lost an inch off it so far.. and I feel better. I got Gareth to have a look (objective assessment) and he says I have lost some off my tummy and also off my thighs. :-) I hope it continues..

I took me a long time before I got to this point of facing my weight/food issue but I think I am getting there. Thank God.. I know I couldn't do it alone

To steal an idea from a friend. Last week I:

• Played a lot of table tennis
• Felt self conscious when getting coaching on my serve from a friend. Everyone was watching me and I buckled under pressure
• Played with David and we had a laugh
• went to work
• blew up some composite structures
• tried to decide when my trip to the UK in 2006 would be
• had a free (work) lunch by the harbour in Simonstown
• Worked when it was sunny
• Had a picnic when it wasn't sunny :-(
• Watched my boy walk 6 steps to me
• Cried
• Laughed
• Worried about my Dad
• Went to church twice on a Sunday (big deal for me, David has to go twice too)
• Accidentally said a slightly bad word
• Forgot to do some things Gareth asked me to do
• Got annoyed at Gareth when he didn't do much at home
• Had a sleepless night
• Cleaned up poo
• Resisted eating chocolate cake despite several opportunities
• Stuck to my diet (just)
• Wrote half a journal paper
• Met two new people (Sean and Michelle)
• Lost a card game... ok though no bets!
• Invited a non-C friend to a church youth thing and he came
• Cringed through it because it was so cheesy and wished I hadn't bothered
• Read Romans 3 and Philippians
• Scratched at all the spots/bites whatever I keep getting at the moment.. I hope it's not a flea! I don't know how to get rid of fleas

Hi from home!

Daddy and David say hi!

Gareth has since shaped his facial hair into a goatee.. I'll try and get a pic for u.. Sorry to Margeret but he likes it!

Monday and I am TIRED

Good Morning

David kept me awake from 2.30am for about 4 hours so I am dead tired today. Of course when I left the house this morning he was still sleeping, lucky boy.. I am just starting to wake up a bit now but I haven't managed to do anything meaningful yet. Hopefully I will get some work done today! My office-mates PC power supply has just died, so I have a box of wires in front of me. Like a good engineer he is going to fix it using only a screw driver :-)

Now he's on the floor searching for the screws he just lost.. I hope he can find a spare supply or he'll be moaning all day ;-)

Best go try and do some work

3 more weeks!

3 more weeks until the undergraduate students hand in their projects.. that means no more last minure rush-testing on a weekend.. No more interruptions to my sunday afternoons when I should be outside in the beautiful sunshine. ;-) Never mind... it could be worse, it could be winter!!

I hope you are all keeping well, David is walking about more often now and chattering away in some indicherpable language I don't understand.. keeps him amused though.

In 3 more weeks my dad comes to visit too!

Not one for the faint hearted (Poo Tale)

Today we play catch up at work; the boss is back from three days away and I have a lot of correspondance to bring him up to date on at some point during the day. Then we have lunch with the Navy and work in the afternoon.

I got an email from Barry today, his daughter is looking much bigger now, she will be enormous when I get back to the UK in December!

It seems the bug that Gareth and David have had has wiped out half of the Western Cape. David exploded last night (OK he pooed a lot). Gareth went out to band practice and I was looking after David. I started to feed him (home made beef stew) when he started farting..at least I hoped he was farting.. turns out not to be the case. He started grimacing so I thought "oh dear, best get him out of the high chair and change him ASAP" I picked him up and glanced back at the chair.... I could see a rather large deposit of pale yellow/green creamy poo! Yikes! How much is left in the nappy... So as I am holding the baby at half-an-arms length with both hands trying not to get by new trousers covered in poo, the phones rings !!!! Eventually get to it, David in one hand, phone in the other - wrong number!!!!

Anyway, got David down on the mat, changed his nappy, thought "best take off his clothes in case the poo got anywhere else" - sure enough right up his back to his shoulders!! ? How does it defy gravity like that? It always amazes me. Took quite a while to sort him out.

We are struggling to find somewhere with a free place for nursery for David. Gareth checked one out yesterday which he thought was brilliant but they are fully booked til 2007. :-(
Hopefully not all the good ones will be gone...

Almost ready to go..

1 hr before Gareth picks me up from work. I still have photos to take and lots to talk to my boss about tomorrow. Should be interesting, I get a free lunch in Simonstown - nothings ever free I'm sure it will involve a lot of work afterwards.. We are going to be doing some very large scale tests hush hush.. well actually I don't think I'll be there but I am involved in the work in some way...
Why am I even telling you this rubbish?

Gareth is at band practice tonight so it's just me and David. I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Byeee for now

Daycare Dilemma

Today is a bright summery day in Cape Town, the way I remember past visits here in the month of October. Gareth has dropped me at work after his trip to the chiro (he's doing much better) and him and David have gone out for the day.. lucky them... hopefully they will take some nice photos (Davids a keen photographer ;-))

We are looking into putting David into a playgroup early next year when we return from our trip back to the UK. Gareth wants to do some volunteer work in the church (they need their sound system pulling out and starting again!) and I think the break would do him good. I also think David might benefit from interaction with other toddlers although I am a little hesitant to leave him in daycare as I never went to one. What do you think? I want to do what's best for David...

David's EEG Results

The Dr emailed me - Davids EEG was completely normal. Thank God for many answered prayers!! Now we watch, wait and pray for his development.... :-)

Sunday Roast

This is David eating his roast dinner at the weekend. He has turkey, roast potatoes and peas. As you can see he enjoys playing with possibly more than eating it..

Still no word on his test results from the EEG. When I get them, I will let you know

Turning a corner

It looks like Gareth and David have both turned a corner - both are eating normally again and have stopped the V+D. Hurrah! Gareth went to see the chiro yesterday and she was able to get him some relief for his back. He goes back tomorrow. He has exercises to do and I just hope he will keep them up as it's the only way to see long term improvement..

I am still tired though, I need to catch up on my sleep somehow but David is a chirpy little thing at 630am each day whereas my brain doesn't switch into action mode until 730am. Now I know why my mum used to go to bed so early... The joys of being a mum!

Today I am writing a journal paper and examining/photographing the cross-sections of the panels I blew up over the weekend. I am collaborating with people and the University of Liverpool and I am hopeful they will have some useful input to give me soon. I know very little about the material we have used as a composite. My student is testing this weekend - which is a problem for me as I was hoping to go on a picnic... October is a bad month for weekends here as it's close to the undergrad deadline and everyone has testing to do. :-( Still there has to be a downside to every job, right? :-)

I really hope you guys read these posts because it is the best way for me to update you on how we are... I seem to be better at updating this than sending out emails.. Now if I could just figure out how to put pics on here..

Work calls (can't you here it too??)

Is it really morning?

Good morning Vietnam, South Africa or wherever you are reading this..

David vomited last night (I guess it's only a matter of time before I fall prey to the dreaded stomach bug doing the rounds) at supper time. All over Gareth and the chair. Gareth panicked and had to go and have a three hour shower (ok, maybe it was only 15 minutes..) whilst the cell group looked on at the chair and went green with the smell (no parents among them)..

Every door and window open, the chair went outside and David got cleaned up and went to bed.. So I was the only one left smelling like vomit but didn't realise this for another 20 minutes...

He slept fine until 2.30am when I heard the crying.... It started off as the whiny cry. I got him some water thinking "maybe " he is dehrdrated.. he drank about 15 mls but that wasn't it. He just wanted comfort and because he's sick and gave it to him. He ended up in my bed which meant no sleep for me until about 5am. Up at 730 and now I'm in work..

I left David sleeping of course...... :-)

On a positive note, I got to play table tennis and I am getting better (we bought a table about 2 weeks ago but I hadn't played in a week because Gareth did his back in).

Cell group bible study was also good. We are studying Romans and the moment, we are up to chpt 2. All about God judging without partiality. We all have a secret life and God sees that and will reward us accordingly.. If we spend it seeking him and doing his will he will reward us with immortality, honour and glory. The flipside is that if we don't, then we get what we deserve - a life apart from him which is exactly what we looked for in life. Only thing is, a life without God is a life without any of the good things he made, a life of despair and pain and trouble (sounds like hell? Well, it is..)

The other thing we talked about was whether people think and talk badly about God because of the example that christians and the church sets. There isn't much I can do about the church in most ways (e.g. the anglican church, the baptist church) but I can live in such a way that I don't cause people to look down on God. I want God to work in me though, otherwise it's just an external show that people can see through a mile away..

Another day of work calls... I have got plates to do a post-test analysis of. That means I cut them up and look at the insides and work out how they broke during the explosions..

Mondays!!

Ever noticed that Mondays seem to last a long time? Longer than Wednesdays?
They say times flies when you are having fun.. well Sunday flew..

I am doing ok in work, got some results to process and some photos to take, hopefully all done in time for my big report at the end of the week.

Gareth is not vomiting now, but he has put his back out AGAIN. Oh dear :-(

I am ok though :-)

Gotta go, busy so maybe time will go quickly til tomorrow..