Chrystina, Strawberry Girl and etc

Easter has been and gone. The week before Easter, we went up to my parents farm in Gympie for the week end and my Mum gave me 30 strawberry runners. My parents grew strawberries semi-commercially during my entire childhood, and beyond. Dad was a hobby/small crop farmer as well as his full time job. Mum did the majority of the work tho. She picked and packed the strawberries daily while Dad was at work, he just ploughed the field, sprayed them, helped plant them, connected the sprinklers (once a season type things) and watered them, that was a week end thing, .... my sister and I also helped plant and pick them, but Mum did the most of it. Mum says I have "strawberry blonde" hair because she was pregnant with me whilst she was picking and packing strawberries. Anyway.... this is the first time that I have tried to grow my own strawberries. Obviously I love them but as a child I gorged myself on them....when picking them, it was a little bit like.... 10 in the basket, 1 in the mouth....lol....so I never felt the need to have any on hand, I would buy the occasional punnet but could live without them... but finally I feel ready to grow some of my own. So when I got home from Gympie, I weeded a heavily overgrown garden bed and planted my 30 strawberry runners. Two weeks later, 26 plants have survived and are looking good. Hopefully I can keep them alive and flourishing. I am not the best gardener in the world (understatement) I always assumed I would eventually get Mum's green thumb.... maybe I have to wait another couple of years, but hopefully I won't kill my beautiful strawberry plants!
So, Easter.... We had a BBQ and Mum was here and my sister and her 2 kids. I made a mountain of food. Onion and cheese flan, spinach and ricotta cheese pie, zucchini slice, potato salad, coleslaw, potato bake. Hmmm.... alot of cheese there you say...... oh, yes, did I say that come New Years this year I decided to give up sea food and cheese? No? well... this is the story.... I am a vegetarian, have been since New Years 1989. Actually, when I was 16, 3 years before,  myself and 2 girlfriends decided to become vegetarians because we read an interview that Morrissey did in some magazine about The Smiths song 'Meat Is Murder' I think he may have said in the interview "Meat is murder, I don't eat my cat" or something, we used to always chant this, lol. I didn't eat meat for about 6 months and then the friend I was living with twisted my arm a little and we started eating meat again... but I was never happy about it and on New Years 1989 I decided to stop again and that was the end of that. But when the husband and I started talking about making babies, he and my Mother badgered me into eating seafood at least... and I caved. Well, the days of baby making are well over and I thought it was high time I gave up seafood. When I was about 21, 2 years into being a vegetarian and a year  before the meat eating husband came on the scene, my Aunty informed me that she found out that cheese has an animal substance in it called rennet. I was horrified and decided to become vegan. This lasted about 6 months... *sigh*  I don't think I could handle soy milk in my coffee any more and tofu was getting on my last nerve. And don't even breath the word 'carob' to me!  So I went back to the eggs and dairy although at first I was very careful to only buy animal rennet free cheeses. Then eventually I got lazy and my brain turned itself off and I forgot about rennet altogether. Until late last year when good old Hungry Jacks reminded me about it... I went to buy my usual veggie burger that I get when the family goes there on rare occasions and on the menu list up on the boards it says *includes animal rennet* or some such thing and I freak out and I remember what it is, tho I have to get the manager to explain it for me.... oh bugger.... For me, the thought of eating meat is like eating cockroaches, it is just plain repulsive.
So I decided to stop eating cheese and seafood this past New Years Eve... still not eating sea food, but I was having a big sulk about not been able to eat pizza and cheese cake... tho I have been very good about it. Pizza is my biggest dieting down fall. I loved it so much. I was like the guy in the Pizza hut ad.... they order pizza to be delivered, the guy dances his girl around the room, all excited, the doorbell rings and he drops his girl like a hot potato to get to the door and the pizza delivery person... hee hee, that was me.... but now, no more :(  No more pizza for me... :(   Bloody animal rennet cheese!  but this Easter, I was very careful and bought non animal rennet cheeses and made all my own food for the BBQ. Tho I do still want to stop eating cheese in general, coz I'm scared that I might accidentally slip and go back to it, coz I know I will get lazy and forget to check the ingredients on the pack.  *sigh* I have a tub of ricotta left in the fridge, I plan to make myself a cheese cake with it and then I will eat it no more.... cross fingers....
Here is a photo of me and the kids on Easter Sunday...

I think the file name for this photo says 2011, what a der, it was actually this year, 2012, lol.... I don't think I was that doped up on chocolate!! I wore those bunny ears from the minute I got out of bed till the minute I got back into bed at the end of the day. We had a good day. And here is a photo of my niece and nephew with my kids later on that night, they all had a good time too, lots of fun! I think they might have been doped up on chocolate by this stage tho, lol!  :)

Goodbye Gym and Update Your Lycra

Well, there are a couple of  'goodbyes' for this week.
I'm sadly saying goodbye to my gym. Last night was my last visit.
I enjoyed the sauna, steam room and aromatherapy room, then went to my beloved Body Combat class. I tell you, this week, I really needed to be kicking and punching and yelling. I did Body Combat on Saturday and Monday night, my last night, and also did a step class straight afterwards....
I have ummed and ahhed about renewing my membership which runs out tomorrow, but I decided finally not to renew. I am never home, after work I would go to the gym and all week end long I would spend at the gym, my family were beginning to forget what I looked like, and I was exhausted all the time too, so I decided to call it a day. I have about 3 more kilos I would like to lose but hopefully my bike ride into the city and back 5 days a week will at least help me maintain my weight loss but I will start running out in the wild on the week ends and doing some aerobics via DVD at home and hopefully that will help. I am also saying goodbye to my local shopping centre, which really is an end to an era for me. I first started going to my local large shopping centre once a week when Amethyst started kindy back in 2004. It was my outlet and my "me" day. Then 2 years ago, I started walking there 3 times a week for exercise, then last year I started walking there every day to go to the gym. It was my haven but I have remembered something from my past that makes going there very difficult and it is better for me to stay away. Will only need to go there when we want to go to see a movie. I am working 5 days a week now, but only doing 2 and a half hours a day, so I am able to walk the girls to school and then get back in time to pick them up. Rob is back at work full time now. He is still in pain from his motorcycle accident back in March last year, but the doctor said it should be better in 6 months time. At least he is on full pay again now.
I am still loving my bike track so much, I actually get excited about hopping on the bike to ride to work. I love it like a lover.... I miss it when I am away from it and can't wait to get back on it again. lol... It was a blessed thing to go back to work after 3 weeks holiday over the Christmas break, simply to get on my bike and feel the breeze on my face and hear great music in my ears. For some time now, I have been wearing little shorts over my leggings....there is a reason for this....The bike track is alongside the highway on one side and bushland, mostly on the other side, so the grassy, tree filled scenery is quite calming. Every now and then 'tho you will get a bike rider ride past in their Lycra shorts that are a bit past their due date. Threadbare Lycra is a little like tinted glad wrap.... makes me think of  a Hard-Ons song..... "there's a Hard-Ons song...."
can't find a link to a video on youtube... bugger.... but it is from the song "Preservation of a Wild Cat" from their "Very Exciting" CD and Blackie sings... "Just don't make me watch no foreign films, I get a head ache when I see too much arse"  lol... so please.... Brisbane bike track riders.... update your lycra, otherwise you'll give me a head ache, hee hee! :p
Speaking of Blackie, on Thursday, my sister and I went to see him do a solo gig at The Zoo. He was supporting Scott Kelly (from Neurosis) and John Baizley (from Baroness) He has his 2nd CD coming out in a few months time, I'm really looking forward to that. Thursday night was such a wonderful night! :)

                                                 Blackie.    You couldn't meet  a nicer person.

The Damned

Well, a few things have happened since last I posted on my blog....
Firstly... the Johnny Cash "Man In Black" show with Tex Perkins and Rachel Tidd was so wonderful! Had a great time... didn't blub at all, ha! Just yelled and cheered and made a general nuisance of myself, lol. I asked my sister if I embarrassed her and she said "just a little bit" ..... should have screamed louder I guess....  :)
Then I turned 41.... got a coffee machine and coffee bean grinder, yummo.... I make coffees at work and I am in love with doing so.... so I needed to buy one for me to make at home.... amazing to believe that I went 18 months without drinking tea or coffee.... oh well, a girl needs some vices....
here I am in my purple Hard Ons t-shirt with my birthday loot (I had only recently got the t-shirt in the mail too, thanks Ray!)

Had our first Christmas with out cat Joey...

and my sister and I went to see The Damned.... whoo hoo! the Damned were the first band I ever went to see when I first moved away from home, from Hervey Bay to Brisbane when I was 16 years old...what an eye opener that was....I was very young and the crowd was pretty rough, I would have been trampled to death a few times if it wasn't for some guy picking me up off the ground.... but I was elated with that magical mosh pit music night and pleased with all my bruises.... what an experience, lol.... this time round it wasn't at all rough.... tho it was great to see all the old punks.... all grown up, old men, hee hee.... (that's ok, I'm an old woman too ;) )

My sister and I at The Damned and my sister and Captain Sensible after the show. He was such a lovely guy. Really open and happy to talk to the fans, very sweet and funny. We had such a great night.

I'm Going To Jackson

Well, actually I am going to Bowen Hills to the Twelfth Night Theatre to see "The Man In Black: The Johnny Cash Story" Starring Tex Perkins and the Tennessee Four with Rachael Tidd!! Whoo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can not imagine how excited I am about this! When I was 18, we had this little thing called Expo 88 virtually in our backyard and my sister and I bought a 3 day pass especially to see Johnny Cash but he pulled out at the last moment. I was devastated, still am....
Then I missed this same stage show with Tex Perkins two years ago.... dumb, dumb, dumb me..... but thankfully I got my tickets this time round and I am so excited! I'm taking my sister, as the husband, naturally, doesn't like Johnny Cash or Tex Perkins... oh well, his loss. I actually blubbed when I bought the tickets and read out the blurb on the flyer! I am a little worried that I might blub all the way through the show, that's how emotional I am about this event! Will definitely have to take tissues!

Onto other news....
For some time now I've wanted to make myself some inspirational gym shirts. I am tired of seeing the same old shirts when I go to the gym. Lorna Jane or Nike shirts that say boring things like "Just Do It" or "Never Give Up".  I want a shirt that says something meaningful to me. When it comes to the gym, the only thing that gets me through a half hour on the treadmill at 9.5 kms/hr or half an hour on the cross trainer is my music. I mainly listen to the Ramones and the Hard Ons.... naturally... and I have another folder of mixed gems that inspire me to move my butt as fast as I can. I finally finished the first shirt.... the front says "There's A Ramones song....." which is my catch phrase.... and on the back it says "Let's Go"  a good song to exercise to. I've started the next t-shirt... It just has "Ramones" on the front and on the back says... "Go Mental" and the third shirt I've bought but not all the letters yet, probably get them on Monday when I go back into the city for work... it will have the title of a Hard Ons song .... "1st Element is Sweat" ... so yeah for me for doing a bit of sewing at last....

  

Speaking of my gym activities... Loving it still... I am sure that some of the people there think I am a bit of a weirdo tho, lol.... I really go to town on the cross trainer, it feels almost as good as dancing and I bang my head in time to my music. I try not to mouth the words to the songs, coz you know it's a slippery slope to actually singing out loud and out of key when you have head phones in. A few weeks ago, when I was still getting used to running on the treadmill .... I only started running when I got my new purple runners at the start of August...

whilst I was pumping my arms, I accidentally pulled the head phones out of my MP3 player and it fell onto the floor. I only had 2 minutes to go and I didn't want to stop to pick up my MP3 player, so I just let it play for everyone to hear, lol... not that many people would have been able to hear it for all the other noise at the gym. The 2 songs that were playing during that time was the end of  "You've Got Good Taste" by the Cramps and the start of "Cherry Bomb" by the Runaways, lol.... anyway...
 

apparently I am the devil incarnate... or so my scales tell me.... well... that was over a week ago... I am now 65 kilos, yippee! So everything is going good in that department. I  think it's the new running kick.... when you run on the treadmill, all your fat wobbles, and I believe if you shake the fat up, it dissolves, lol! So I'll be shaking it a bit more, hee hee! 

Went to an Indian restaurant with my sister last week, we had a good time, she just loves her Indian..... 

A nice little restaurant in West End. Very nice. Next time we will try the Indian restaurant in South Bank.

Oh, and the husband and I went out with our German friends to the German Club in Woolloongabba a couple of weeks ago. Drank too much... HAD to try schnapps and jagermeister  and about 3 different German beers... one mainly because it came with a purple lable... oh dear! That's my new avatar too by the way...

wish I'd remembered to keep the bottle, bugger! but we all had fun, it was a good night. We might be going to Oktoberfest, but I might just stick to 1 or 2 beers, not that I even like beer... but when in "Germany".....

Anyway... better get to bed, I am keeping the husband awake....

I was playing a Johnny Cash CD today and he called me his little cowgirl.... he has no idea!

When I was a teenager I loved lots of  alternative country... Wall of Voodoo, Beasts Of Bourbon, The Johnnys, The Gun Club, Violent Femmes..... I used to wear suede vests and my Fathers bullet belt, lol.....

Sooooo looking forward to this Thursday night when we see The Man In Black!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good night!

Good bye 30 Kilos

This time last year, I was 99 kilos, today I am 69 kilos! whoo hoo! :) It's taken me a year to lose 30 kilos but it's worth it... hoping to lose another 10 within the next 4 months, that's my goal, cross fingers! and the irony is that I ate Tim Tams and hot chocolate today... but oh well.... all work outs and no chockie makes Chryssie a dull girl, lol... :)

 

and this is my new Cadbury Hot Chocolate maker that I bought in the city and brought home on my bike on Tuesday

Got it marked down for $20, couldn't go past it, being purple and all, lol

Xmen First Class..... there's a Ramones song...

Husband and I went to see The new Xmen First Class movie in Gold Class on Friday. The majority of it is set in the 60's and there is a scene where they are at a party and there is the Freddy Cannon (I presume the original) version of Palisades Park playing in the background, and I am sitting there going, hmmm, I know this song.... Oh, it's a song the Ramones covered, whoo hoo!!! Best moment in the whole movie, lol.....
that's all I've got at the moment..... off to bed so I can get to the gym on time for my work out at 10.15....
cold and tired and bleah :(

Work and Play.

Well...
this week has been interesting. I went to a Sarina Russo interview and walked out with a job interview. I haven't worked since I was 6 months pregnant with my 16 and a half year old eldest child, so I wasn't expecting anything to come of it, but I got the job then and there! I work 3 days a week, Monday to Wednesday from 11 to 3. It's not much but it's a start and something to write on my resume at the very least. The people I work for are very nice and I am getting used to it, so yeah for me! :) How I am going to fit my full time job of going to the gym and losing weight and my other full time job of being a Mum of 4 children in with this part time job, I'll never know, but I will try. I am going to try and go to the gym after work on Monday.... see how it goes, hopefully I won't be over doing it. I didn't go to the gym after work last week as I thought it was too much to expect of myself, especially as the first day my back was killing me by the end of my day. It was so good to get back to the gym on Thursday, especially as I hadn't been for a week as my Mum had been down and staying with me for 4 days previous to getting the job.
Play.... my sister took me to see her favourite band, Amy Meredith last night. As I have made her come with me to see the Hard Ons, how could I say no. They are good tho, I did enjoy it, even tho the audience were all young enough to be my children, tho as my sis says, music is ageless. Here we are, rocking it with the youngsters, lol...

She says she wants to take me to see Short Stack next, geeeezzzzuzzzzz! lol Give me my Hard On boys any day.... at least the crowd majority are older persons... ah well, who cares... we can be too old when we're dead!