Cheeky monkies!

Friends, who'd have 'em? Well, I got a super surprise last night, I walked down the dock at Wet Willies with Paul and the Tacos, to go see the blues band. We're nearly there and there are 2 munchkins loitering on the dock, sort of in the way. So I walk past them, say "hi kids", take 2 more steps and my brain is screaming at me "YOU KNOW THOSE CHILDREN GO BACK", so I look back and work out that it's Birdy and Cole. That can only mean one thing, Rob and Michelle can't be too far away. I could not believe it, what a fantastic surprise. These dudes have raced down from Playa del Carmen, Mexico to spend the weekend with us.
THANK YOU!
Let's now all pray to the party gods of good weather, that tomorrow will be lovely. Unlike this morning at sunrise with thunder, lightning and tons of rain!

Revenge of the Mummies!

I just received these pics from Paul's mum who spent the day with my mum on Monday at Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England. It was the last day of the Medieval Festival they hold every year at the Castle.

Here they are proudly reading their San Pedro Sun, talking about both Paul and I either regards to Lobsterfest or the SAGA fundraiser, or Peter4's fundraiser! We're just so famous, we're in the paper all the time. LOLOLOLOLOL.

My mum is the short blond and Paul's is the not much taller redhead.

Ladies, thanks for making my day!

Reading about perfect offspring

Looking cool

I was high as a kite on my birthday

Paul sent me parasailing! What a weird thing to do! It's very slow and chilled out. My previous "being in the air" experience is jumping out of a perfectly good plane whilst skydiving, far more exhilerating but you don't have quite so much time to spot sharks, rays and dolphins as you do when you're just hanging around parasailing. I totally enjoyed it as did Tacogirl. THANKS BABE!

Lift off! San Pedro
Sharon & Molly came to watch
The view of the reef
Just south of town, Woody's Wharf area

Flying Taco

Basil the psycho kitty

We have finally worked out what creates those "funny five minutes" that cats have. We have busted Basil several times now, but we finally caught him on camera.

He drinks Paul's coffee (black cat, black coffee cup). 7lbs of fur hyped up on caffeine. Lock up your dogs!

Week 7 weigh-in

I don't want to talk about it - boo hoo and woe is me. Far too much cheese and wine and a 200g gain, which in the grand scheme of things is not too much.
Sharon has done exceptionally well and lost 1.6kg this week! She hid at the Jungle Dome in Belmopan and ate bran flakes for 3 days. That's guerilla tactics.
So, I'm at 48% and she is at a whopping 64% of her target.
I have to go now, I have chcolate muffins to bake and hide in her fridge.

Hurricane Gustav

Oh poo. This little tropical depression was milling around near Cuba yesterday, and this morning when I checked it had beefed up to Hurricane Cat. 1.

Here is the 5 day forecast (get your Atlas out and work out which bit is Belize), which looks like no hurricane for us. Good. Until we know that it can wiggle around and do what it damn well pleases! Just keep your eyes on it, www.wunderground.com/tropical.

This is what it looks like for the timebeing.

Happy birthday to me!

Yep, I'm thirty something again. I actually drink too much to know what my real age is, they'll just have to carbon date me later.
Thanks to all of you that sent emails, texts, cards and cheese (you know who you are). We shall be celebrating this illustrious event next Saturday, weather permitting, so photos shall follow.
Thanks Paul for sending me up parasailing, that was an experience. And NO THANKS to Sharon, who disguised a sabotage plot as a present. Waiting for me in her fridge was a giftwrapped basket containing wine, crackers and 5 different cheeses! She knows my weaknesses!
I shall be weighing in week 7 tomorrow instead of yesterday due to this perfid cheese sabotage!

Good grief, what a handful!

How on earth did I manage to gain a pound this week (boo hoo) when I had this to contend with?
Jackie, Lisbon and Molly taking advantage of my good nature.

Lisbon as always in the front
Poor Molly, I could see her thinking "Why do I have to be attached to these two?"

Lisbon showing her bad paw - more about that in a bit!

Help!

So, on Saturday morning I just walked Jackie and Lisbon, once we got to Escalante beach, I decided Lisbon couldn't be too much of an escape threat due to her huge limp. She spent an hour showing me her paw before we went out and made a huge display of giant limping. So I let her off the lead. WRONG WRONG WRONG! Never again I'm saying to myself as I sprint through Victoria House screaming her name. She runs round the pool, over the lawns, through someones patio whilst they're having breakfast (no sign of a limp......) "excuse me, morning, sorry...". I finally hoodwink her by laying ambush behind a bush - she went one side of the house and I went the other, and I nabbed her. I also scared the heebiejeebies out of her by jumping out from behind the bush and she sulked at me when we got back home. Oh, and her limp returned.

Rice 'n' Roll, sushi & martini bar

We had a lovely and different dinner thanks to Sharon Metcalfe (not my Sharon) who is the superbe chef at the Sushi Bar upstairs at Fido's.
We're pretty much sushi novices, so we placed ourselves in Sharon's capable hands.
She made all manner of things for us such as Miso soup, pork dumplings, blackened lobster, Kamikaze hot and spicy rolls, and plenty of other goodies! (OK, so I can't remember what they're called!)
The three of us loved it, and Sharon finally learnt how to use chopsticks (she had never seen the instructions on the chopstick packet). Honestly, that was worth watching! Much giggling followed watching her give up the learning part, stab her California rolls and shuffle rice around her plate whilst getting annoyed.
Open from Wednesday to Saturday, 6pm-10pm, call 226-2564.
After that, I don't know how I did it, but I convinced both Beth and Sharon that we should go for an ice cream next door. I promised that I would have some if there was chunky monkey flavour. Both girls queued up, ordered and got their ice creams. When it was my turn, there was no chunky monkey (ahhhh shame) and so self-righteous me didn't have any ice cream. HAHA my sabotage plan worked!

The sushi bar

Sharon working hard!
Sharon & BethLovely sushi! (OK, so I don't know what these thingies are called, but they were tuna and scrummy)
Kamikaze hot and spicy rolls

Stop taking the piss out of my pumpkins!

The evil Sharon has not stopped laughing at me about my enthusiasm for the pumpkin seedlings.

Pumpkin and marjoram seeds planted 4 days prior
Upsidedown tomato bucket
Pumpkin, day 6
Pumpkin, day 7
Banana tree! I bought this from the nursey for 25bz - there are in fact 2 trees. I'm so happy (stop laughing....if only there was a B&Q on the island)

And now today the peppers poked through!

For those of you like myself that have absolultely no gardening experience at all, and have become equally as excited about growing pumpkins, here's a bloke that sounds like he's done it before http://www.pumpkinnook.com/ .
He also sounds like he's in Canada so all that talk about frost and stuff, just skip to the good parts about planting and needing a lot of sunshine (like here in the Caribbean).

Week 6 weigh-in

Oh yes, I beat Sharon this week with 900g loss compared to her 500g loss.

I would personally like to thank the exercise nazis on the DVDs I use.

I was so happy with the 2lb weightloss this week, that as soon as Sharon left the Catamaran bar yesterday, I had a dirty banana (Kahlua, Baileys, Vodka, a banana, chocolate syrup, and whatever else the bartender feels like putting in there!). I then felt guilty so this morning I stepped up the workout routine!

Total 51% of my goal is lost and Sharon 56%. We're still 2 weeks away from being 1/2 way through the competition so we're pretty pleased.

I googled pictures of dirty bananas and found Josephine Baker! I think this lady was superbe, especially when she retired from showbiz, bought a chateau in France and adopted 12 children. She died in Paris and was buried in Monaco. She became the first American woman to receive French military honors at her funeral - she did a lot of undercover work for the French Resistance during WWII. But let's face it, nobody else could quite make a banana costume look so good!

Green fingers

It's a beautiful Saturday, and also my late grandpa's birthday. So, of course, as anyone would do to celebrate their late grandfather, I decided to plant some things in the garden. (I wish I knew how my mind works...) I found seeds, colourful lollipop sticks, potting soil, an empty coca-cola case and lots of old plastic bottles. All these ingredients cry of "gardening", right?

I am very proud of my "can't blow over in the wind" potting/seeding germinator!

Pumpkins, day 1

It's now Thursday and the pumpkin seedlings are already out, they were there when I looked yesterday morning, I was totally amazed. These things grow an inch or two per day. Where on earth am I going to put the damn things? I planted 5 of them and they each turn out to be about 25 pounds each.

The Marjoram is also sprouting out. Boosted with all this new growth, I yesterday planted mango seeds (you've got to crack the pip to get the seed out), cucumbers, tomatoes and more basil. I was so excited yesterday about the pumpkins, that I spoke about it to some guests at the resort, they gave me lots of pumpkin advice and even better, the upsidedown tomato bucket. Now, this sounded so good, that I decided to mutilate a bucket and pot a tomato plant into it. I shall put up a photo later!

Nemesis II - The Return

I rarely get comments on my blog, and this one was so good that I decided to post it. Thank you Forrest, for giving me the best reason I have ever seen to drink white wine. And Mum, I told you so!
This is what Forrest wrote to the comment of me being an idiot for drinking 6 glasses of white wine at his party:

"An idiot? Not so! I protest. I was just helping out. A long time ago, we gringos learned the Buffalo Theory from our Plains Indian tribes, the Cheyenne, Pawnee, Apache, etc. To wit: The buffalo herd moves only as fast as its slowest members. The slowest and weakest buffalo are the ones eliminated from the herd during a hunt, doing the herd a service by rendering it that much stronger and faster. In much the same way, the human brain operates only as fast as the slowest brain cells. Sure, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But which ones does it kill first? That’s right, the slow ones! And that is how come you are much smarter after 6 wines than after 2 sodas. And I could tell you were much smarter, because I had 6 or 7 Belikins myself!"

So guys, if ever anyone is bitching at you for boozing, remember the Cheyenne.

Sharon loves cake III - Happy birthday Forrest

What a fantastic night with all the gang, there was much mirth and merriment even if there was a lack of Lighthouse!
My sides still ache from giggling so much, Phil and Marie crease me up, and I have to say, everyone was on superbe form last night.
I'm trying to post pictures but internet is throwing all it's toys out of it's pram, so I give up and shall try again tomorrow.
If you want naan bread, just ask Robby.

Forrest, I have just spoken to my mum, and she wishes you a very happy belated birthday!

Our birthday boy, the one and only Forrest, aka 007
I don't know what Marilyn thinks Forrest is showing her, but it looks good!
Sharon in charge of cake

A long table full of fun people
God knows what she's up to now - a scarf that turns into a jumper????
And Phil wearing Sharon's scarf, I worry about that boy
Poor Robby, once he had finished his meal, all the naan breads that we had ordered (4 different types) arrived. We had all already finished eating! Dinner service was somewhat erratic, but it was worth it to see Robby's face every time another naan arrived in front of him.

Beth and Forrest on the boatSharon and steve, also on the boat. And yes, those lovely legs on the right belong to Pedro
Muppet auto-portrait
And Sharon most defintately does love cake (thank you Denise for making lovely cake)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FORREST - WE THINK YOU'RE GREAT!!!!!!!

Wine calories

I actually googled the amount of calories in my favourite tipple and found out that I am of course doomed! LOL. There are (depending on the amount and type of wine) between 80 and 120 per glass of dry white wine. That's not so bad. Here is the little chart thingy I found on the internet:
glass of white wine (200 ml) (120 calories) - 4 cups light microwave popcorn (120 calories). They had a little chart comparing booze to food - I would rather have a glass of wine anyday over 4 cups of popcorn! My little pedometer now informs me that I have lost 409 calories now, so I only have 3 more glasses to walk off!
My new motto: if I'm going to fall off the wine wagon, I'd better put my walking shoes on!
FYI: Baileys has got nearly 500 calories in it! Good grief, stick to the wine!

Nemesis

And exactly which part of "declining glasses of wine" did I not understand?
It was Forrest's birthday yesterday and we decided to surprise him and all go over to the Blue Lotus. I was soooo good, I had 2 soda waters, and then Forrest said "aren't you having a glass of wine? so I had 6. I'm an IDIOT!
This morning I got up ridiculously early and walked Molly for 3 miles along the beach. I looked down at my little pedometer to see how many calories I had burnt and it was only 198! That's only 1 glass of wine - I'll have to walk another 15 miles today to burn those glasses of wine off!
I have to go now, one of my exercise DVDs is about to start without me.

OCD & Molly

You may think that means Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Wrong! On our island it means Obsessive Coconut Disorder and our soppy puppy has it bad.

We went to the Catamaran bar at Caribbean Villas yesterday, and between kids and adults throwing coconuts, she chased them for over 8 straight hours. When we got home last night, she had dinner and promptly flaked out on the sofa, not even sleep-running! Molly was pooped.

I got up rather early this morning, and bearing in mind the lack of weightloss last week, thought I would grab Molly and take a long fast walk to Mosquito Coast and back. I got up, dressed, looked at Molly on her bed, she looked at me and crashed right back out, with a look on her face quizzing my mental capacity.

Even this lunchtime, it took her 10 minutes to get off the sofa, she got stuck in this half-on half-off position, wagging her tail and wondering if her food bowl was interesting enough to merit her getting fully off the furniture.

"Molly, get off the sofa! MOLLY OFF NOW!!!!"

Gasp, sob, oh no - Week 5 weigh-in

I didn't lose any weight this week.

Then again, I'm actually pretty pleased I didn't gain any.

Every day since we started this damn silly health thing, I write down everything I ingest in a little blue book, write down how many steps I've walked, what aerobics workout I've done. And feel very self-righteous about it too. That all went out the window last Tuesday! Last entry, Tuesday morning, cereal and milk. And that was probably the last healthy thing I ate until yesterday. I did no exercise, drank loads of coca-cola, booze, wine, chocolate, bacon sandwiches, fried breakfast, etc ad nauseum. So it could be worse. I am now back on track and can be seen around town declining glasses of wine, turning my nose up at cheese and frenetically jumping up and down in front of the TV to whichever horrifically cheerful nazi exercise instructor I'm being tortured by that particular day through the modern magic of exercise DVDs.

I don't mind the weight I have but I can no longer stand Sharon's gloating.

Wish us luck!

Running total this week (week 5 weigh-in) I lost nothing, so am still at total loss of 3kg and Sharon lost another kg, so her total is 6.5kg. GO GIRLS!!!! I think Laura is hiding in her office, shrinking away from the scales this week too.

I wonder if this was a contributing factor?

Week 4 weigh-in

Rather large drumroll please....

I have lost another 400g this week - which makes my total after the first month of our competition 2.9kg lost! I have lost over an inch of waist and hips but thankfully nothing lost on the bust - must be those push-ups!

Sharon has done superbly well over the month with a total of nearly 7kg lost and a couple of inches gone from everywhere, she's ecstatic.

I have just finished work for the day and have decided to grab Paul and Molly and go to the beach for some lunch and a swim - it's another perfect day in paradise.

Good luck to all of you at Portofino Resort at the north of San Pedro - You must be on week 2 of your diet, I do believe we have started a trend! By Christmas the island will be full of hot chicks! Watch out lads.....

Didn't they do well! SAGA fundraiser

It was hot, sticky and even hotter, but we valiently stood in Central Park under tents selling our gear to raise money for SAGA.

A personal huge thank you to Chef Sean of the French Bakery who made 14 fresh baguettes for me on Sunday morning (his day off no less). I had of course left all my shopping for ingredients til the last minute on Saturday and arrived at the bakery at 5.30pm expecting miracles - and I got one. Merci beaucoup Chef!

Also a big thank you to my 2 slaves on the day, Paul and Paul. I cannot believe my Paul actually got out of bed (giant hangover no less) at 7am then stood in the park for 6 hours cooking bacon. Thanks boys.

Our effort could not have been done without the very generous donation of the Jensen family here in San Pedro. They donated all their baby clothes for the fundraiser and all of them sold (I shall give all the kids toys they also donated to the Holy Cross School just before the school year starts).

If you would like to know more about SAGA (and of course donating your cash....) go to http://www.sagahumanesociety.org/ and either flash your cash or please adopt Ariel the cat, I would love to take her home but nasty Paul won't let me! She's cuddly, kind, playful and purrs a lot.

Ariel checking me out The 2 Pauls - present in body....helped with Sharon's sales thanks to consumption of vast quantities of Lighthouse LagerShopping frenzy

Marie's smoothies that apparently made Sharon fall off the diet wagon

Happy Johnna

Kittens making a guest star appearanceI worry about this boy - Phil with boobsA rather hungover muppet making bacon butties for a good causeDenise has a captive audience. Toby and Pickle admiring her bacon butty
Bacon makes dogs very thirsty! This pregnant stray is now comfortable at SAGA waiting to have her puppiesSoppy beach dog, also came in for some bacon and a cup of water - in fact, we could hardly move at our bacon butty stall due to the amount of dogs underfoot!A very cautious Beth