Winter Returns

It's freezing here, just like Winter temps but that's okay it means I don't need to look at Summer clothes for the kids just yet.  Josh seems to grow a size a season and is in small mens' sizes now.  Emily just seems to go through clothes just because she's so hard on them, rips here, seams undone there.   I had to buy her two new pairs of school trousers but hopefully they'll still fit her next Winter.  She'll be wearing skirts this Summer which will look cute (if she doesn't rip the hem off them the first day!)
Well the inspection went well.  The house was perfect.  We worked all day Wednesday and into the night (in my case) and by the time they got here they would have been hard pressed to find anything amiss.  The property manager, who knows us as we rented through her when we lived here in 2005, is a fair and good agent.  She herself warned us of the Crazy Landlady, and as we've always been good tenants and had good relationships with our landlords we took the chance as this house suited us compared to others we looked at.  We should have listened to her!  This house wasn't even techinically on the market so reluctant she was to put more tenants in here.  CL doesn't need the money apparently.  She's an older woman who has cared for her disabled sister for 25 years or so, to her credit, and it would seem she was left her parents' estate with which she bought this house and has a comfortable income for life, I don't think she's ever worked and has no children.  She only left here because she got married to some poor fool and lives with him on his property now.  She is very, very strange.  Anyway they turned up early, CL and a friend who then sat in the car out the front and just stared at the house until the PM arrived.  They came in and the Liz asked if I wanted to show them around or would they just make their own way.  This was funny, I'm sure she said it to nark the CL.  I brightly said "Oh no I'll gladly show you around.  This is the lounge room".  The CL lived here so she knew that.  So right away I showed them to the damaged wall in Em's room and admitted that the gyprock and paint were already hanging off and the cat (when a kitten) who we didn't have permission to have, actually ripped the hole in the paint.  It's fixed now we just have to match up the paint with computer next time we go to Wagga.  I also pointed out a few other things.  Honestly the house was gleaming and everything was in its place and looking lovely.  I think she was a bit miffed actually.  Judging by her clothes I'd say her house is far from clean.  I let them go out the back on their own, Phill  had it all lovely out there.  When they came in Liz was first and I was in the kitchen and she, out of character for her as she's a cool customer, looked at me and grinned and mouthed "it's all good".  Ha!  Stuck that to you Crazy Landlady who thought we'd busted up the house because of what some nosey neighbours told you.  Yes we have noisy kids, and yes we've had some arguments and problems this year but we're just normal flesh and blood people like home owners are.  They left and we were amused to see the CL leave her poor friend sitting in the car for ages while she presumably visited one of the neighbours across the street to get some more info on us.  As we pulled out of the driveway to go out the poor car bound friend waved at us.  I almost took her out a cup of tea she was there so long. 
So now we wait to see if our lease will be renewed and what the terms will be.  We don't really care one way or another if we have to move, in fact there are two great houses on the market right now, both with inground pools!  They are a lot more rent than we're paying here but the rent here is a pittance, we've been really lucky there.  But I keep thinking, wouldn't it be funny if the weirdest landlord we've ever had, turns out to be the source of the long term rental we've been longing for.  If she renews the lease under the current terms, ie us having to go through the real estate for repairs etc and her not ringing us we'll stay and it will be really nice to just settle down for the duration and not have to worry about moving house all the time.  If not, it would be really nice to have a bigger, more modern house AND a pool for Summer!
So the house is Spring cleaned for the most part.  I am going to start on the cupboards and drawers now, bit by bit, and get organised.
Phill had to leave for work early so I'm up in the quiet of the morning and some peaceful time to myself before the kids get up and the day begins.  I should do this every morning.
I can't believe how much better I am feeling sans the booze.  I have loads of energy, my moods are stable, my head is clear and I am losing weight and have no joint pain apart from my thumb joints. 
I couldn't go to Weight Watchers on Monday as the car window was broken and it was threatening rain, but I got to thinking that I really don't need to do that.  Counting points really did my head in at times.  I never had a problem with food per se.  Which is why I lost the 33kg so easily.  I think I gained so much weight after I met Phill because he just loves his food and I loved cooking for him and was matching him plate for plate and not doing a great deal of exercise.  The grog was what kept the weight on for me and that was always my weakness, my problem.  Which turned into a huge problem in the end before I finally said "enough".  I did the WW programme for so long that I know pretty much what I can eat in a day to lose weight, and as I'm not aiming to be reed thin, just as healthy as I can be this time, if I want something extra I will have it and not have to worry about going over points and what the scale will say after I've paid my $20 meeting fee each week!  I'm going well, getting my five serves of vegies each day, easy as I love vegies and even my two serves of fruit, which is tougher as I'm not a general fruit lover, so I am sticking to what I like, strawberries or bananas on my muesli in the morning, and yoghurt and berries after dinner.  Because I have so much more energy I'm moving way more and find myself wanting to walk to school, or just walk with the kids which is good for them too.
I got my new glasses yesterday, I love them, just readers this time but so much better than the old ones, I really needed these so am kind of glad the old ones broke.
So while the Wintery conditions persist here, my outlook is sunny and I know there are better days ahead for us.  And I bless the catalyst that forced me to reassess my life and my destructive behaviour.
I've been cooking out of my many WW cookbooks and the Symply books and last night we had Crunchy Nut Chicken, an amazing recipe that works perfectly every time, even in my dodgy oven.  Pounded chicken breast fillets are coated in macadamia nuts, cornflakes and a bit of chicken stock powder all whizzed up in the food processor, dipped in an egg white and some skim milk first.  Then baked in a tray in the oven, sprayed with a bit of olive oil spray.  They come out 25 minutes later, crunchy and succulent.  We had them with salad, and vegies as well for me.  I remember how well we ate on WW when I first started, there is no reason to go without anything to have a healthy diet.  I'm going to make a cheesecake on the weekend, I have lots of low fat recipes that taste really good.
Okay time to start my day.  It's raining again.  I think I'll go buy some flippers.  With sequins perhaps.