Book 67 sold!

My fave workout today - and a nice burn of 520 cals (actually got it up to the peak zone today, too. for the whole of 3 minutes - rest was 50/50 cardio and fatburn). And I have news - book 67 has been accepted. So "Billionaire, Boss... Bridegroom?" will be out in March 2016 (HQ Romance/M&B Cherish). Which means I get to buy another Pandora bead :) Righty. Need to get cracking on the follow-up. Have a nice day!

a good report...

Sorry - not doing so well with the cut and paste from FB! I am trying...

Lovely morning in town with youngest - she had an excellent report, so we went to get her something nice to celebrate it. (Yes, of course vinyl - she was umming and ahhing between Joy Division and Muse.) Also picked up the last bits and bobs for next week's school camping trip, aka insect repellent and a camping mat. (A week without the internet. They're all going to be in major withdrawal by Friday! ... but apparently there will be musical instruments, so as long as she has a guitar she'll be happy.) Paid my tax bill, sorted out electoral roll stuff, and now for tiny tweaks to book 67 - I very much hope to report acceptance, title and release date next week. Have a nice day :) 

revisions finally done

Yes! The revisions are FINALLY done! (I know why I was stuck and dragged my feet for so long - basically I disagreed completely with something my ed wanted me to change. I tried to do it her way and it didn't work. So I've argued my case :) Fingers crossed I was eloquent enough and the rest of it makes her happy.) All righty. Outline for next Med (high five and a big thank you to Michelle Styles​ for giving me a lightbulb - ed has agreed to the setting but we're still 'discussing' the heroine's job, though I know I'm going to lose that particular fight), proofs for Her Playboy's Proposal, and then I can go back to book 2 of the Rom/Cherish duo. Gym today was excellent - the last bit of each accumulator involves a minute on each side (knee drives, kick-outs and medicine-ball woodchops respectively), which I've been doing as four lots of 30 seconds (to keep my heart rate up because otherwise I'd struggle). Lovely trainer Georgia decided I was at the point where I could do the full minute instead, and she was right - which is a nice confidence boost. Stats for today: 502 cals torched, 6m in peak, 28m in cardio and 18m in fat burn. Yay. Have a nice day :)

hot, hot, hot (and Mallory Knox)

Hot and grumpy (and planning to nip to Boots tomorrow for some Magicool spray). Air-conditioning at gym wonderful today - and much needed as it was my cardio 121. Great session - 479 cals torched, 6m peak, 29m cardio and 12m fat burn. And I smashed the reps today, so I'm pleased. Teens have sports day today so early finish; and youngest is playing at the concert next week, so that's a treat to look forward to :) Righty. Work. Coffee. Oh, wait - got something nice in the post today :) (I was going to post a pic of the Venus/Jupiter conjunction from the other night, but my pics are terrible - handheld night shot. But it was worth looking out for...) Have a nice day!

publication day

Forgot it was publication day today. Not because I'm arrogant, but because I've spent the hottest day of the year at the hospital for MIL's assessment and then doing notes for the family and the care home - and it's been pretty rough (though the doctor was lovely). Sometimes being the articulate one with medical knowledge really sucks. Dementia is such a spiteful disease. Anyway. Happy pub day to me - and also to my pals Liz Fielding​, Scarlet Wilson and Susan Meier​. Have a nice day x

wet fish

Good 121 today - cardio torched 425 cals (5m peak, 25m cardio, 14m fat burn). I know I'm putting in the same effort (because we're counting reps and they're staying the same or improving) but I notice that my heart rate/calorie burn is lower. Which is I guess proof that it's working and my fitness is improving :) Popped over to see my stepmum - and now it's back to the hated revisions. Someone smack me with a wet fish and tell me to stop stalling...

Afterburn

Great 121 today - 474 cals torched, 10m peak, 23m cardio and 12m fat burn. Am getting better at medicine ball woodchops - today was 17 in 30 seconds, and I can remember struggling to do 10 smile emoticon Also interesting to note that yesterday I burned 1000 fewer calories than I did the day before - so I can see how the afterburn effect of a gym session works. Next time I feel like having a rest day, I'll remember that smile emoticon Skiving off for lunch out, so I need to crack on with revisions. (I hate doing revisions so I always drag my feet. I need something to motivate myself through it - though *not* cake!) Laters. Have a nice day heart emoticon
Phssps

Almost forgot - new hair from yesterday...

Mallory Knox

Rest day today smile emoticon (Plus I wanted to sort out our Mallory Knox tickets - really looking forward to seeing them at the UEA in October.) Righty. Revisions are calling. (I've been thinking more than writing, these last couple of days, and it's sorted in my head - so wish me no phone calls or other annoying interruptions. Have a nice day! smile emoticon

new class

Not being as good as I hoped I'd be re posting, but I am trying...

Good session today (is my favourite workout - the weights-cardio combo). 547 cals torched, 1m peak, 35m cardio and 26m fat burn. But best of all was the poster in the gym this morning - they have a new class. Fit steps. Cross between - wait for it, wait for it - ballroom dance and cardio. Right up my street. I am so going to the first class! Righty. Revisions (and hopefully not a day full of interruptions, as yesterday was). Have a nice day :)

Somme

Good cardio 121 today - 441 cals, 5m peak, 26m cardio, 15m fat burn. Youngest is at the Somme today, DH is at the motorbike racing, and I'm home alone with Elderly Dog (who tells me he plans to spend the day snoozing). Have a nice day :)

Shoes...

Good legs and kettlebell session today (350 cals, 11m cardio, 39m fat burn). Very pleased with the performance of the shoes (see pic). Righty. Coffee and work for me (and pleased to say that the RHR is down again - yay!) Have a nice day :)

Nightmares...

Great 121 today - cardio (9m peak, 26m cardio, 12m fat burn and 456 cals - but better still I can see the pace picking up on some of the exercises, so I'm pleased). Had to apologise to DH this morning for waking him up at 2.30am - literally screamed myself awake from a bad dream. This is the one euphemistically known in this house as the 'burglar dream' (not actually a burglar - um - y'know the scene at MacDuff's castle? That, except in my childhood home, and the fact I always need to hug the dog a lot in the morning after and also check my kitchen knives are where they should be - you get the drift). Interestingly the fitbit showed a spike in my heart rate exactly when I was having the nightmare. (I have yet to persuade my ed to let me do a sleep research book. She's right - I'll get far too carried away with the medicine - but it's so INTERESTING!) Righty. Nagging phone calls and then work ahoy. Have a nice day! :)

What a difference a week makes...

What a difference a week or so makes - now I'm back to normal gym sessions, normal sensible eating, drinking 2 litres of water a day and cutting coffee back to one cup a day, my resting heart rate has dropped dramatically (10 points in the last 8 days - yay! - back to being below average for my age, which in this case is a Jolly Good Thing). And I've wiped out most of the partying damage on the scales. Just need to work on sorting my sleep now... :) Righty. Work to be done. I'm gone. Have a nice day :)

Starting the new book...

Really good 121 (the mad cardio stuff) this morning - 9m peak, 27m cardio, 8m fat burn. Finally sorted out my hero's occupation (thanks to a chat with my pal Caroline Anderson - and that also means I have some interesting stuff to research, yay). So. Laundry, coffee, and words on page in my near future :) Have a nice day!

Title for book 66

Nearly forgot - I have a title for book 66! Her Playboy's Proposal - medical romance, coming in Jan 2016 :) (My working title was The Nurse's Guarded Heart.) And I have a Pandora bead for it (apols for rubbish quality of pic). Is little, pretty and delicate. Righty. I have blood tests, so am off to convince my veins not to hide from the phlebo and then head down working. Have a nice day :)

sticky stuff and getting there

Very productive discussion with the doctor yesterday, so things are moving forward on one front. The other sticky stuff is pending test results, so keep your fingers crossed that my GP is just being ultra-cautious. This is shaping up to be another character-forming year... Still. Grit teeth and carry on. Good session at the gym - 'day 3' is my favourite one, i.e. the weights-and-cardio circuits (kind of a cross between a Pump class and a Cardio Blast class, and the idea is to look at what I did last time for each exercise and do more reps this time - so it's pretty hardcore but it suits me perfectly). Feeling a bit rubbish today (stress always torpedoes my sleep) but made myself go in - was a good decision because it helped. 5m peak, 36m cardio and 15m fat burn (and 475 cals torched - yay me!). Have a nice day smile emoticon]

Happy half a century...

Happy half a century to the love of my life, whose gorgeous blue eyes still make my heart beat as fast today as they did when I met him 30 years ago :)

Mid-partying...

Totally and utterly cream-crackered :) But had a lovely, lovely time with family and friends to celebrate the other half turning half a century. Nicki Gaskin did us proud as always with the cake! (And, no, he doesn't have one. He likes going to watch the racing - which is how I like it because it's much safer!)

The party's over...

The first bit, anyway! Am just about recovering from a weekend of partying. Nicki Gaskin of Select Cakes did us proud with really, really fabulous cakes (and they tasted even better than they looked - went down very well indeed) - the joint one was because archery is a dad-and-son thing, and the 18th one is - well, he's planning a PhD in chemistry so it just had to be a chemistry cake.

And this is the four of us just before our posh dinner party :)

18-50 party prep...

Helium balloons, birthday banners, table confetti and extra cake fountains - tick. So tomorrow is picking up cakes, delivering one to the hotel for our posh dinner party, and shopping for the houseful-of-teenagers bbq/cakefest. Sunday is manic baking. Oh, and I have a deadline :) Good 121 this morning but forgot to press 'stop' on my workout (and the fitbit doesn't want to edit it, sigh). Rough estimate, we're looking at about 520 calories - 6m peak, 31m cardio and the rest fatburn. Righty. I have words to put down and a shopping list to double-check. Have a nice day :)

(Also - new hair...)

M&B #66 sold...

Yesterday was a lovely day (despite exams!) - son had a really lovely birthday. As well as giving him money, we wanted to give him something special to keep for his 18th, and it occurred to me a while back that he'd love the Isle of Lewis chess set. He was really pleased with it. And we had a nice dinner out - he enjoyed ordering his first pint, too. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes :) Oh, and a bit of news from me - my ed liked the revisions, so book 66 has been accepted. Medical romance - no title yet - and we think probably January next year. (Pandora bead for it will have to wait - I'm up to my eyes in party organising!)

Happy 18th to my eldest!

Happy 18th to Eldest Teen (well - we intend to make it happy, despite the fact that he has his two toughest exam papers today!). He's brought us a lot of joy over the last 18 years and I'm very, very proud of him - he's kind, he's thoughtful, he's bright and he definitely makes the world a better place. This is one of my fave pics of him as a toddler. Happy birthday, Chris, and may the world be your oyster.

Trying something different...

Firstly, huge apologies for neglecting my blog. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

What I'm going to do from today onwards is to post my Facebook status here as well. Frankly, I'm sure that my readers and my editor would all prefer me to produce stories rather than cudgel my brain to come up with something fresh and new for every single bit of social media every day - but apologies in advance if that comes across as being arrogant, uncaring or snotty. It's not. I'm a working mum of teens in the middle of exam season and milestone birthday, there's other family stuff going on which is a major timesuck (let's just say that dealing with care homes isn't a lot of fun, particularly if you end up with one that's not great at communicating), and I need to use my time productively. Beating myself up about social media isn't productive. Neither is whining. Life is what it is. At the moment there's a surfeit of lemons, and I'm making lemon cake as well as lemonade...

So... welcome back to my blog, thank you to everyone who's stuck with me through the neglect, and hopefully from today on I'll be better :)

If you've read my posts on FB, then you'll know that I'm sticking with my goals of the gym - and I have a Fitbit Charge HR to track everything, which I'm enjoying hugely! If you haven't - then here we go!

Mad cardio today on my 121 (aka my ankle has stopped hurting so I can push it again) - 515 cals, 9m peak, 33m cardio and 10m fat burn.

On a countdown to Eldest Teen's 18th, so picked up five rolls of wrapping paper this morning (it's a BIG box!) and something else he doesn't know about (he is worse than I am for working out what the surprises are!).

Spent a lot of time yesterday going through very old photographs for DH's 'Half a century - this is your life' book and I think he's going to be pleased with the result. Righty. I'm on deadline. (This week, I am measuring out my life in deadlines and milestone birthdays...) Coffee, breakfast and GO! (That's your cue to sing MCR's 'Planetary Go' and for Youngest Teen to roll her eyes at me...) Have a nice day :)