WaterRower 8 Week Hiit Challenge

A little over four years ago, Alain and I started doing sport and changed the way we ate. Doing 12 to 20 minute intense Zuzana workouts over five months then trail running we lost over 20 kilos each! However all was not good as weighing became a bit of an obsession, especially for me and I was frustrated if and when my weight didn't drop each time I stepped on the scales.  Over time my weight dropped to less than 57 kilos (I was taller and lighter than my 16 year old daughter at the time) and my BMI was no longer deemed heathly. With help from my family, I stopped weighing myself, ate more, started a new job, the down side was is that did less exercise because of the job and put on weight again.  Over three years my job slowly consumed me, I worked long days without breaks, to come home at 7 at night to work again when the kids were in bed. Working till after midnight and waking up four or five hours later to start the whole process again. Even at weekends or while on vacation, even during a 80 kilometre hike, I had to connect, answer mails, work.  Without going into all the details now, this September I was diagnoised with an acute Burn-Out was told that I needed complete rest and since then, I have been at home. I will talk about this sometime soon, but not now, as the situation is complicated.  

Anyhow the reason for this post is for me, to challange myself to get fit again and to take care of myself. I know I am heavier than I was a couple of years ago and I not going to become a slave to the scales, however I would like to fit back into my jeans again, so I am starting an eight week Hitt rowing challenge which basicially means I will row most days for 20 minutes using high intensity intervals that will be built up over the weeks...I need to work out the exact program based I my fitness level now..

My goal is (apart from the jeans) is to start trail running again in January!

Halloween part 2

                             

Alexis just arrived home weighed down by a a big bag of sweets and very happy.

For the fourth year running he stayed overnight a Jeremy's house and this year they had a special Halloween menu prepared for them.  You would have to have a good imagination to decipher le menu, but what a great idea and such fun, I love it.

Halloween

When I was a child growing up in the UK, Halloween was a small affair, as the only day to remember before Christmas was of course the 5th November. I just loved Bonfire Night, the fireworks and the communal bonfire just around the corner from our house, but now I am digressing, as this is a post about Halloween this year and last.

Noisy groups start coming early in our little village, mostly young children accompanied by adults, but not all, and last year as we didn't open our door at all and a certain of teenagers did not approve and we got "tricked". Our newly finished rendered facade that cost a fortune to do,  received a couple of unwanted eggs, which proved difficult to clean. We were not the only ones on the street to have suffered, and it could have been worse, so this year, yesterday, we welcomed Halloween like licensed haressment but welcomed it still.
We bought many packets of sweets/candies/chocolates, even carved a small pumpkin and placed on the window ledge and prayed we would be spared the wrath of the egg or whatever throwers, and guess what, it worked! We received the visit from fifty kids, some very greedy but all polite.
MK did Halloween around the village with her best friend Valentine and others (with adult escort) and A stayed overnight at a friends.
MK told us that at one house A called at with his group (small village syndrome, MK was just behind) that they received a very frosty welcome, and scared the kids half to death.
I looked on the street from our bedroom window this morning and I could not see any sign of egg shells on the road, but forgot to look further on to the house where the mean mans lives, so I think that I will go and take a second look now...

Pumpkin Seed Cod by Nigel Slater

We bought the third Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries last week and it's probably my favorite one of all.

Alain cooked his first recipe from it last night and it was so good. The pumpkin seed crust was a real discovery as I didn't think that I would like them much, but 

How wrong I was. What a delicious moment we shared at home with the four children in their rooms....bliss.

Half term

It is half term here, so the children have two whole weeks of holiday. Charlotte came home too, with a car full of laundry and a cat. I am been washing ever since. 

For the first time since I can remember, perhaps it is the first time, the four of them actually played a game till the end, and that without anyone throwing a fit or cheating,  they did however complain when I tried to take a photo, still got one though.

Cold day

-The temperature dropped down to 0°c overnight so time to warm up the house a little more. We have a Nest thermostat now and it so good. We can turn up or down the heating from wherever we are and also monitor our consumption.

More later about that because I am cocooning on the sofa, with my two younger children close by and a new book.

Unlike the last one, this one was available on Kindle, so no waiting. " A Brief History of Seven Killings" just won the Man booker Price and if the opinions are tobgo by, it should be amazing.

I'll be back in 700 pages and a few good meals with my family.

Sick and time for books

MK is off school sick today and It seems that both her and I have the same bug.

This has given me chance to finish the latest Joel Dicker book and what a exceptional read it was.

A just need another book as good as this one to stay on the sofa till the rest of the family come home...