The Birthday Boy

Another crazy week at work but ever so slowly my head is bobbing a bit further out of the water.  It's been a terribly sad week for us at work - almost 1300 people on our site but many of them have been there for a while and our local area isn't that big.  Anyway on Saturday a young 15 year old 'borrowed' his parents 4WD and went for a ride in an bush area which has the main line for the coal trains running through.  He managed to bog the 4WD and waved to a coal train to stop - the driver stopped in accordance with their procedures but the lad had disappeared from sight by the time he stopped.  Unfortunately he'd tried to hitch a ride on the roof of the train which is electric and the power is so strong that you can be a couple of meters away from the wire but it will still electrocute you - and that's what happened. His step father is one of our people. What a tragic waste of a young life.

Then one of the HR Advisers at the other local Rio site - where I used to go two days a week - lost her father.  A terribly sad story too - she lost her mother about 6 months ago after a battle with cancer.  On Saturday her sister was getting married at Agnes Waters - a nice beach resort area about an hour and a half from here.  As far as I know the wedding went really well, but on Monday night apparently a little 9 year old boy was in difficulty in the water and her Dad went to help and while the little boy was OK, her dad drowned - only 48.  I only heard this morning and I can't stop thinking about how this poor girl and her family must be feeling.

On a happier note Curtis had his 5th birthday on Sunday - can't believe he's that age already.  They were in Brisbane for the weekend as Grant and Tiff went to the final Powderfinger concert and then they got back Sunday night so we called round to see the birthday boy and had takeaway tea with them.

A couple of photos :

This one was at our place a couple of weeks ago - happy family!

On Sunday Bloss and I went for a bit of a drive and saw this pretty flowering shrub

The birthday boy and his brother opening pressies

Time to blow out the candles - think this was his 3rd cake for the day

But it didn't stop him from enjoying it - icing first of course!

And that's it from me folks - I've managed day 1 on the new WW Pro Point plan so here's to the rest of the week.

Have a great week peeps
Z xx

Pssst - have you seen???

Only a tiny post - will post properly when I get a minute.  But just been checking the new Pro Points for WW.  Not sure how many of you out there are dyed in the wool WWers like me.  Our UK friends have had it for about a week now and I've been reading all their comments and been waiting patiently to see when it would go live here - and it was today.  Anyway it looks quite different - going to take me a while to reprogramme my brain - been counting points in my head for almost nine years now - so a bit of re-educating to do.  But I've never been afraid of change - stops me from becoming boring and getting in a rut - god forbid!!!  And maybe five weeks on a new programme will get me closer to where I'd like to be before heading off to Scotland. 

OK off for now - just wanted to share with you all.
Back soon
Zxx

Just not quite getting it!

That's me folks - I just can't quite find the right headspace to get into loss mode - so so often the trouble when I come back from holiday - I'm holding steady beautifully but I know I'm going to be so annoyed at myself if I haven't shifted a kilo or two before I leave for Scotland - and that's only six and a half weeks away. I go really well during the week but then kick back a bit on the weekend. Food is not really the problem - it's the wine or six that I think I deserve after a massive week at work. Oh well I'll take my own advice and just keep trying to fake it till I make it.

Last week was my first in the new role and by Tuesday/Wednesday I was feeling totally swamped and just wanted to come up for air. I'm sure those of you who've moved into a new job/position can relate. It's just trying to get your head round where everything is - electronic file storage wise and you spend half of every conversation translating the new 'speak' in your head into something you understand. Actually already this week it's coming together a bit. Trouble is I'm such a control freak and hate that feeling that I'm not on top of things. But I do believe it's making more sense this week- but so so much happening - we've a fairly major organisational restructure happening and many of the positions moving into my departments - and the receiving department does all the requests for change, updated role change letters etc. Then of course it's final review time for our performance management system - some very fixed timelines and deadlines for that.

I've been managing though to still get up early and walk most mornings and certainly feel that gets my day off to a good start. Socially life has been a bit quieter - haven't been up to that much. We did go along to the local BAM festival on the weekend (Beach Arts Music) which is on once a month. Lots of little crafty stalls in the park area on the Esplanade - right by the beach and a selection of live bands playing. People just take along a few chairs, some nibbles and a drink or two and just chill listening to the music and have a little wander to check out the stalls. I found a good second hand book stall. Josh is an excellent and keen reader. I bought him a collection of Roald Dahl books as part of his birthday present and he read the whole lot in a couple of weeks. At this stall I managed to get two Paul Jennings books - again compilations - and got the two for $5 - bargain! So he was thrilled to get them last night. On Saturday morning also found the complete Chronicles of Narnia in one book instead of 6 - for only $21 in Kmart - so that's a bit of his Christmas present.

A few photos below :

Taken on one my morning walks - love the shape of these pods on a Poinciana tree



A couple of guys off up the river fishing - at 5.30am



A tree orchid - just growing on one of the trees along the way

Close up - isn't it pretty

Found a couple of hibiscus flowers lying on the grass - brought them home and tried to capture their beauty

Bloss and I at BAM - the theme for this one was Hippies - hence the peace sign - though Bloss's looks a bit limp!!



Thought you might like to see the new lounge in situ complete with new cushions - see Zanna peeking in from the deck



So had to get new cushions for this one too

Felt I wanted something striking in this vase which has the plain white wall as a backing so got these 'snowflakes'

So not much more in the way of news that I can think of. Hope all is well in all your worlds
Love Zxx