Recent Charity Shop Finds

Old Maid card game

I love this style of figure

original Tala icing set & booklet

vintage sheet music, fabric, trims & trays

cute tin

What have you treasures have you found recently?

Quality Not Quantity

Today for Weight Loss Wednesday I'm going to raise the subject of quality not quantity

I've been far more successful this round of WeightWatchers by being a bit more selective about what I'm eating
Previously all yummy foods and treats have been banished, replaced with carrot sticks and somewhere between crisp breads and rice cakes I've lost my motivation and dived head first into a tub of malteasers!

Not this time!

WeightWatchers have a number of great cakes and biscuits available which I do have my cupboards stocked with and enjoy eating but did you know…

Oreo Cookies are only 1 point each?

I’d much rather 2 of those for 2 points than 2 weightwatchers biscuits (my least fave thing) for 1.5 points

And Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers

only 0.5 points each!

Previously I’d ignored these sorts of treats assuming they were too high in points

I now prefer having a treat like this rather than the "diet" option which isn't as enjoyable

The same can be applied for savoury treats, Kelly mentioned last week preferring one brand of filled jacket potatoes to the other although there was a points difference she enjoyed one more

EDITED to add:

As Pomona rightly points out cheese is also something we tend to avoid on diets. I have sampled the WW cheese and not enjoyed it at all so instead I weigh pots of "normal" cheese out and bring them with me to work and find its more than enough to cover a jacket potato or add to a sandwich!

This is why if doing WW the points calculator is a handy tool. I take mine around the supermarket and if there’s something I’d enjoy I work out the points first – and often I’m surprised by what I “can” have

Something for the Weekend – Part 2

We all love our laptops & PCs but often they become neglected in our de-cluttering routines

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This weekend spend some time doing a bit of housekeeping of your laptop and PCs

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Sort through your Pictures folder; burn family photos to CDs, add your prettiest photos to Flickr, print images saved from the web and so on

Document folders overflowing with draft letters, lists and other ramblings – have a sort through what should be saved, printed or plain deleted

Like me you might flit between various internet browsers and have your “favourites” littered all over the place? Have fun browsing your favourites and seeing what is no longer needed

Want to go that step further? Add favourite links to Delicious so you can access from any PC (a link was always on my laptop when I’d want it at work – not any more!)

Email accounts littered with saved emails of log ins, addresses, old Christmas orders – start 2010 with new a filing system and empty folders

I did this last week and it feels like having a new computer again!

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I also sure to delete history, cookies, empty recycle bin and finally using the defragment system to ensure my laptop would be tip top for lots more blogging!

Have a good weekend whatever you’re planning!

Be Prepared!

Weight Loss Wednesday is back again and today's tip is not just for Boy Scouts!

One of the many excuses reasons we give for not being able to loose weight is a lack of willpower and sugary treats just appearing in our hands

For me it was more to do with a lack of preparation and relying on the crisps and snacks readily available in newsagents

How do I avoid indulging in these snacks?

I always make sure I have a snack bar in my hand, like the 1.5 WeightWatcher points worth

Special K bars

and Slim Fast Peanut bars

(for those of us that are Reese’s fans these are a chocolate-y godsend!)

Snack a Jacks are a savoury snack with most flavours being a 1.5pts value . I keep a variety of them in my draw at work for elevenses

I LOVE jacket potatoes with cheese for lunch but unfortunately the portion of cheese offered in works lunch bar is rather large

To avoid extra calories/WW points on Sunday’s I weigh out 1.5 – 2pt portions of grated cheese and store in small pots for the week and bring them into work with me to add to a plain potato I purchase

This way I can keep track of what I’m eating and the points I’ve used for the day – no excuses for eating badly as everything I need is to hand and fits with my eating plan

How do you keep hunger at bay?

Stocking Swap!

Another swap I took part in last year was Beki’s Stocking Swap

Here’s what my fabulous partner Karen sent me

How lucky was!

Thank you Karen you truly spoilt me

Another swap I took part in last year was Beki’s Stocking Swap

Here’s what my fabulous partner Karen sent me

Something for the Weekend

Being ill and snowbound this week saw me declutter my pile of magazines

Which lead me to tackle my box full of magazine clippings

The box was full to the top (and overflowing!) before I really thought about what I wanted to keep ending in this box full of rubbish!

If you’re unlikely to be leaving the house this weekend why not tackle your magazines and clippings and start 2010 afresh

Secret Santa Swap!

Firstly thank you to everyone who signed up Kelly and I’s first swap

From the posts I’ve seen everyone was spoilt by their Secret Santa, including me!

My Secret Santa was Dolly at Treasure Happy

Would you like to see what she sent me?

Thank you so much Dolly I loved everything but as you know my favourite thing was the Victoria Plum bag!

I was Secret Santa to Rachel at Fizz Pop Bang and you can see what I sent her here

I’ve added photos of my swap to the Secret Santa Flickr Group, please do add yours as we’d all love to see what wonderful goodies you received

New Year New Start

Are we all ready for more weight loss in 2010?

I know I’m ready to get back into the swing of things after the Christmas break so let’s have a recap of what we should be doing to make loosing all that weight a little bit easier

Last week I suggested you take an inventory of all the Christmas leftovers; what can be frozen? saved for a forthcoming family gathering? or be brave and just bin what isn’t needed and make a note that next year you only need the small box of Ferrero Rocher!

I’m sure you got some nice clothes for Christmas, if so there’s no better time to have a clear out of your wardrobe and see what it’s time to say goodbye to and those gift vouchers you received, make a worthy list of what you can spend them on

And don’t forget to give your pyjama draw an audit if like me you received new pjs for Christmas

There are plenty of sales on right now so what better time to have your bra size measured correctly and then pick up some new underwear cheaply

The new year is a great time to start a skincare routine especially as I’m sure Santa added some beauty products to your stocking but don’t forget to have a de-clutter of all those lotions and potions past their sell by date

Now it’s time to have a think about how you’re planning to loose weight. For me it’s Weight Watchers as it fits so well with my life style and enables me to think about my eating habits. To do Weight Watchers I use various tools that are invaluable to me

And finally pick 1 day per week to weight yourself and record your losses in the prettiest notebook you received for Christmas and keep a food diary in it

You’ll see that I’ve highlighted in bold links to the full posts on these tips I did for Weight Loss Wednesday’s last year - I do hope you might find some inspiration in them

Happy New Year

(Image: Graphics Fairy)

Thank you to everyone that visits my blog and leaves so many lovely comments it’s clichéd but it really does mean a lot to know my ramblings are being read!

I wish you all the best for 2010