Cassie's Cuddles

My time is up! November has gone, and I have not lost 36 kilos, but 20! Although it has made a difference to me, It is still disappointing. I have to be honest, it was easy to stay motivated for about 4 months, afterall people where supporting me financially, I was exercising and everything was falling into place. I lost 2o kilos quite easily, and loved maxing out the credit card buying some new clothes that don’t look as big as a three man tent! Then suddenly, my thinking changed. I lost some more weight, but then put it back on, so that is where I am at. 20 kilos. Now is it the end? Well, it is for the finacial support to the children’s home in India, but I will continue and try to be a good girl again. I am a little sad that the home won’t get as much money as I hoped, but they will still get about 13oo dollars if everyone pays. That should help out right? I have to be honest and say that I have to really loose another 3o kilos to be “normal”, but wobbly skin might/ will  be an issue. I have been blessed in the last month of having someone offer me their weight machine, this nearly made me cry, cause seriously, it will make a difference.   I hope you can see a difference.  Thank you to anyone who has sponsered me. I will list my bank details so you can direct deposit with “India” as the deposit word. I will send you a receipt and a thankful heart ( not literally cause I only have one, and if I gave it to you, it would defeat the purpose of trying to get healthy right?), you know what I mean though right? I am thankful.Before…marshmellow ladyAfter…slightly smaller marshmellow. The biggest difference has been in my face.  Anyhow..these are my details.

Cassie Hood

BSB 704230

Account number 417556

Police Credit Co Op.

Yeehaw, I’m back. Wow, it has taken me ages to get my images onto my computer. After having a virus, my computer has finally accepted my pics, phew! So much to cover. I guess anyone that knows me, might be wondering how I am going with my weightloss, well I have to be honest. I haven’t done so well, considering that I am mean’t to have lost 36 kilos in two weeks. It looks like I am only going to be 20 kilos. The poor Indian Children, I have failed them. Anyway, I won’t go there tonight.Warning ugly person above :/

I am really excited, Stephanie will be doing her final exam for year 12 on Thursday, yay! After all those years of  homeschooling and the last two years at a closer to “normal” school, she will be finally finished. I am so proud of her, she is such a good worker. I was proud of her, she got a cute award from a teacher that said that she was the most diligent.See you tomorrow 😀

Wow, another month gone? Phew! What have I been up too? Well, I’m still being a good girl ;D. I have lost 16 kilos now, I am pretty happy with that, but I know I have such a long way to go. If you are a chubs, let me give you some advice..”start today, don’t leave it until you can’t fit through doors without going sideways”. It really isn’t so hard, at least not at this stage. I have discovered yummy hot chocolates (thanks to Jared). Jared has decided to check out all the hot chocolate places in Melb!! He asked me to join him, how could I say no? They are so yummy ( and yet, I have to include 300 calories) to make sure I don’t go over my limit. I actually took the kiddies to “indulge” while Jared was at work, I sent him a text…nom nom nom..I have also been getting ready for the next Dayspring Day. I have decided to do a “Masters Chef” day. I will making 100 chef hats. I have nearly made 20.How do you think it looks?Stephanie received her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award last week. The funny thing was that Lachlan came home with one too! He got one without realising just by doing his Army Cadets at school. Stephanie on the other hand, had to volunteer at the local library for 3 months, run up and down the 1000 steps every week, go on two big hikes, and practice her violin for 6 months…Congrats Stephanie (and Lachlan).Meanwhile Camden has tried to be a Zombie..don’t ask.He tried to eat my brains..He went away hungry, lol.The girls and I have done a bit of Naan cooking. So yummy. We found this super easy recipe here:http://titlisbusykitchen.com/archives/naan-without-ovenCassandra lost her first tooth this week. I gave her $5. All of the kiddies have recieved $5 for the first tooth, and then it goes down to 50c per tooth after that. I have done a bit of op shopping and have found a few cute bags…And..Stephanie has been doing more driving, as you can see from this pic she is driving in the van behind me (we were coming home from Church in two cars).Stephanie has also been crocheting for a friend. Her friend loves Dr who, so here he is with a darlek.I bought Alycia a pattern of her choice yesterday to start work on. A hedgehog! Alycia loves hedgehogs. It wasn’t a cheap pattern, but once she can make one, she can make many. I love the fact that my children want to create.We traced the pattern and cut out the material this morning. We were blessed during the month by a 4 year old. He knocked on our door and said ” I want to share my cupcakes with you”. How sweet is that? I really love seeing little children directed to think of others. Thank you to his mummy Narelle for making and sharing such cute cupcakes.My friends and I have been able to be part  of wonderful idea. A place near me asked people to donate new baby things for single mums. Normally young girls who find themselves pregnant with no one to turn to. This group provides a wonderful alternative to abortion. I thank God for them. Check this out if you want to know more.http://www.facebook.com/thebabesproject

On a less serious note, I will leave you with a picture of my physco collection.

We didn’t go to the Anzac service, we didn’t even make Anzac biscuits, but we do remember them. Thank you.

We had a quiet day home with everyone, so nice. We did a bit of a clean up.dishes done.Bins emptied.Oh man! While I was on the treadmill up stairs, Jared gave Cassandra permission to have her first shower by herself. Well, she sat over the plug hole, thus flooding the floor again!! This carpet is doomed!In the afternoon, Jared took myself and the three youngest children to Eastland so he could buy his “special” hot chocolate. I didn’t want one, after all I’m trying to loose weight, but he really wanted me to. So…One dark chocolate milkshake (didn’t much like that one), the other one was a hot, cold chocolate, yummo. Of course these two were shared between the five of us. When we got home, I made up some badges. I got this tiny toy badge set from the op shop, so I had a little play.I made some tiny badges.I got out an old Cath Kidston catalogue and cut out some of the designs and made these up. Then I got out the real badge maker and made up some bigger ones. I also made two American girls badges too.I have also made up some yoyo hairclips for a friend’s daughter. I cut out some extra circles so that she could learn to do some too. They are super easy.I have also bought 80 of these little cupcake container ready for Dayspring Day. I need another 3 sets of 8 though. I hope I can get them tomorrow.Today I have done two lots of burning 500 calories on the treadmill. I did this yesterday too. I am eating 1300 calories, so I had better burn some weight this week, seriously, or those scales will be thrown out of the window.

I’m 41 today, an old lady yeah? I must say I feel pretty good though. The kiddies woke me up with bacon and eggs this morning. I love it when the whole family ends up on our bed, talking, smiling. I have been so blessed. Cassandra had wrapped her present up by herself, so it kind of fell out into my hands. A packet of twisties  that I shared with everyone after lunch. The four oldest bought me a tin with a doll to make up from Typo. I opened it up, and 3/4 of the kit was missing :C, so we went back to Knox shopping centre to exchange it for another one. They also gave me some spotty notepads, nice. Jared also spoiled me by taking me to the pictures and out to tea with the family. Thank you Jared. My friend Narelle, dropped of some lovely flowers. Thank you Narelle.My friend Gail sent me this this week as a motivator. Thanks Gail. Look at this enormous blessing. A long time family friend dropped off a lot of goodies for us, some to pass on to Malawi, and others just for us such as TWO overlockers! Yup, you read right, two! My girls and I have been very spoiled. This will be very handy especially as I have just decided that I will make 100 chef hats for Dayspring Day this year. Now the girls can help me, oh yeah! Thank you Robyn.More strawberry jam was made. I didn’t cook it properly, it was a little runny, so I had to cook 12 jars again, but now it is perfect 😀

I just had to take a photo of this gross trolley that was waiting outside Safeway. Oh yeah, I’m really going to put my groceries into that!This is the best part of my life, little kisses and cuddles. If you are thinking of having more children , I say, go for it. They are my greatest blessing apart from my saviour, and a christian husband. I love being a mum, I am so blessed.

A great suprise for me today was that I hit the 10 kg goal, yay, yay, yay! I know I have a long way to go, but how good is this? I have learn’t that it isn’t really hard work as such (at this stage anyway), it is more discipline. I have never been disciplined. Of course I have to work up a sweat, I don’t think I ever realised that eyes could sweat! Even my watch is rusting on my wrist! I feel so much better, but I’m not sleeping as well as I use to, so I’m not sure what that is about.My boy has been doing some work experience this week. He has been working at surveying and engineering. We are very thankful for a friend who orgainised this for us, thank you Mairi and Basem, As you can  see, he even got paid for it. We went out for tea tonight, I am so spoiled. This is Lachlan and Stephanie my “twins” not really, but they are very close.This is my hubby and Camden. I think it is like a mirror. I look at Camden and I think this is what Jared must have looked like as a kiddie.Look at this cool kiddie sewing designer kit. I found it on pinterest. If you haven’t heard of pinterest, where have you been? Check it out here:http://pinterest.com/cassiehood/ It’s like a big scrapbook of anything that takes your fancy.

8Kg down, yay! I found the above book in the opp shop. It gave me a little laugh. Of course the women ends up giving in to the chocolate, but I will not…..well, maybe just a little bit ;D

I have been a good girl, I have lost 4 kg in two weeks. Now if I could just keep going. I now have just over $1000 in sponsership, yay! I seriously would like to aim for $5000, so keep the sponsers coming…please? Remember that I will not keep a penny of it, it will all go to the home in India.

What have I been doing? I get up and go for a walk. It’s not very far, but it still gets my heart pumping. I always take a child because I walk through a reserve, and it can get scary by yourself. I try and be more active during the day too. More importantly  I am counting calories. I found this great website where you type in your weight, age, and height, and level of activity, then it will tell you how many calories to eat to get to the weight that you want in the given time. Take a look.http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/ I met a man last week who lost 50kg without exercising, he just counted his calories! He says that he regrets not doing it with exercise, but it does show it is what goes into your mouth that makes you a fatty.Do you like Alycia’s bag? She went off and made it, with no help from me. I am impressed. She took it to her auntie’s for a sleep over, and it stood up to the rough and tumble, I am impressed. Have I said that I am impressed? Speaking of the sleepover, this is the picture my sister sent to me.It looks pretty cozy don’t you think?Alycia is very creative, she drew this picture too. She has also been knitting. I love the fact that she doesn’t waste her time.We have some testosterone flying around here. Jared can still show Lachlan who the man of the house is. Life is hard for a 6 year old eh? She has a light up glass (from Nicky), filled with ice blocks. Where did I get her from? Lol.Do you know what Camden is holding? Its a container of doggie do bags. My parents gave it to him thinking it was a coat stuffed into a cute container. I am still laughing over this.The biggest drama this week is that I asked a certain boy to put on the bath, and then he forgot about it. So the floor, hall and three bedrooms got quite a bit of water damage. The carpet in the boy’s room has been ruined. Every towel has been used at least twice (that’s nearly 40 towels!). It is getting better, but now it is stained. Here is a page from a book I found in an opp shop, I thought you might enjoy it.

If you know me, you know that I am a fatty. I have been trying to motivate myself to loose weight, and I finally came up with a solution. All this “do it for yourself, just isn’t going to cut it, so I thought I would do it for India”. I have heard all about Stephanie’s trip, and the wonderful couple who run a children’s home, so I have decided that I will loose weight to raise money for the home. I will do it for the children. Will you sponser me? Please?