girls are weird.

20 August 2008

i don't feel so bad about that duck now

Cake Wrecks - when cakes go wrong.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

17 August 2008

how to eat at a sushi bar

Love this.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

14 August 2008

Thanks to JenC for the inspiration! This is from a site called Yearbook Yourself, and I cannot stop giggling. You upload a pic of yourself and it places your face in various yearbook poses from years gone by.

Top, from the left: 1952 (looking scarily like Joan Crawford), 1960, 1966 (that hair ain't going nowhere)
Bottom, from left: 1978 (digging my 'fro), 1994 (I actually had a perm like that in the early 90s), 2000 (hey, it's Diane from "Cheers"!)

Click on the photo for a larger image.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

06 August 2008

feel the love

I hate grocery shopping. Hate it. I would rather chew off both of my own arms than go to Tesco on a weekend or evening, so we've been doing all of our shopping online with Ocado (Waitrose.) On the most part, it's been fine. Sometimes they give you stuff that's due to go off in 2-3 days, but no biggie - it can go in the freezer. Recently, we've had a few little niggles and an incident last night prompted me to give their customer service department a ring. It went thusly.

Me: Hello, I have a problem with my order today. I ordered English muffins and they were substituted with bagels.
Customer Service Girl (CSG): Yes...
Me: Well. Erm. That's not really a great substitution, especially considering that the bagels were already on my list. Now I have two packages of bagels.
CSG: Okay, let me explain our substitution policy, because you're obviously too retarded to understand how this all works. [Lisa's note: I might be making up that last bit.] Rather than sending you nothing, we send you a substitute.
Me: Yes, but bagels for muffins was a bit odd.
CSG: What you need to do is give the item back to the driver immediately. I'll give you a refund on it this time, but that's what you should do.

So a) I should have known better and b) she doesn't really give a rat's arse. And for this I pay an extra £3 per delivery. I also complained about our groceries arriving soaking wet the last three times because of condensation in the delivery van (as explained to us by the drivers), and CSG informed me that if it happened again, I should call because it would then be considered an ongoing problem. I reiterated that it was the 3rd time this had happened, so it was ongoing. CSG said she would investigate.

When a customer complains (reasonably), all you really need to do is listen, agree, apologise, and make it right. For example: "You're right, bagels for muffins is a bit rubbish. I'll refund your £1.79 right away. And hey, have you lost some weight? You look GREAT." Sorted. Not difficult.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

29 July 2008

on the treadmill, everyone can hear you scream

I had the best intentions. I was all set to train, train, train and run that 5k at the beginning of this month. Run it, not half walk/half jog. I went back to the gym and then I stopped. I had no time; my maternity leave was coming to a very hasty end and I didn't want to spend the last remaining moments alongside sweaty people. I wasn't feeling well; it was winter and there were all sorts of nasty bugs afloat. I...um...didn't have anything to wear. I stopped going to the gym for a lot of really, really good reasons. Really.

So I did the 5k, and although I was hugely pleased and relieved to jog most of it, I knew it was time to get my wobbly arse back to the gym. I can't keep calling it "baby weight" forever (or can I?) and the pounds just aren't falling off like all of those breastfeeding infomercials told me it would. Seriously, am I the only woman on the planet who didn't shed weight whilst breastfeeding? How come I didn't end up being one of those "I eat 2 birthday cakes, a box of Krispey Kremes, and a bucket of lard every single day and gosh! I just can't seem to keep the weight ON!" types of breastfeeding mums? It surely can't be because I'm old and eat a lot. No, definitely not. It's obviously genetic.

I've been diligently, albeit not always enthusiastically, working out six days a week for the past three weeks and eating very healthy food. I run 3k during lunchtimes twice a week, hit the gym three times a week for around an hour each session (weights and cardio), do pilates on Friday mornings, and swim with the kids on Sunday mornings. I don't normally count calories because I know what "eating sensibly" means for me, but I did tally some of my menus up just to make sure I was eating enough/not too much. No drinking, no treats, no fun at all for three weeks.

I've lost a grand total of 6 and 3/4 lbs.

What. The. Hell. Yes, yes, I know that the scale isn't the best way to measure fat loss and I will be taking my measurements next week to see if they've changed in the past month, but COME ON! 6 and 3/4 stinking pounds! That's fine if I only had a few to lose, but I've got many to lose. Many, many, many. Whoever's been secretly feeding me chocolate sauce and pork scratchings in my sleep, stop it right now.

Dieting is not for the impatient or for those who love food a little too much. Feh.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

09 July 2008

fun on a rainy day

Spotted on Emma's blog.

Here's how you play:

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search
using only the first page. Choose an image.
Copy and paste each of the URLs into the mosaic maker at FD's image maker.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favourite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favourite colour?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favourite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favourite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --

06 July 2008

Yep, it's that time of year again - I did the 5k Race for Life this afternoon in Cambridge with a couple of friends and 1,000 other lovely ladies. And just as in previous years, I planned to do lots of training and run the whole thing, whooshing smugly past everyone with such ease that I could give myself a pedicure at the same time. I ended up doing no training whatsoever (and had a couple of physical hindrances today that I won't go into because it'll make you go EWWWW) and it was raining to boot. Amazingly, I managed to jog/walk most of it and finished the course in 36 minutes...a personal best! Oh, but I ache right now. Next year, I will - honest truly promise - train and run the whole thing.

I love taking part in this event. Last year, I was hugely disappointed that I couldn't do the walk because despite being 2 weeks post partum, I felt up to it on the day. I didn't want to sign up for it in advance (a necessity) because I had no idea if Mia would be late, how I would be feeling, etc. I could have done it with Mia in a sling and that would have been pretty cool. That would have made two Race for Lifes whilst carrying my children (1 in utero.)

Every race, I read the dedications on everyone's backs and choke back tears. At the finish line, people shouted encouragement and applauded everyone who passed. One older man in particular caught my eye, clapping enthusiastically and shouted at me "Well done!" If I wasn't about to pass out from pushing myself to run the last kilometer, I would have burst into tears. I did get quite teary, actually. I do this every year for my grandma and every time I cross the finish line, I'd like to think I did her proud.

If you would like to make a donation, you can still do so on my sponsorship page for the next couple of weeks here.

[posted by: Lisa Durbin] --