Well Happy New Year to you all. That’s another festive season whizzed by in a blurr of tinsel, parties and mince pies. Oh….and snow. Snow, snow and more snow. Never in the 14 years I’ve lived in Tranent have I seen anything like this. I have been on holiday since the 20th December and it has snowed pretty much every day. I am due to start back at work tomorrow and judging by the fact that my neighbour has just had to dig her car out, I don’t hold much hope that I’ll get the car out the driveway, never mind get it on the roads to attempt to teach. It is causing me to have a mild panic to say the least, as having gone 2 ½ weeks without income, I really need to get back to work!

Christmas day went well, spent with mum and Holly – although she was a bit naughty – Holly, not mum!! I think the excitement of Christmas and opening her pressies was a bit overwhelming for her. I let her open one of her presents before we went to pick up her granny but that was a big mistake. She then took it upon herself to open all the rest of the presents under the tree and that kind of set the tone for her behaviour for the rest of the day. Poor Holly, no wonder she was a little miffed. Her Christmas dinner consisted of half a raw carrot as mum and I tucked into a succulent three course meal of pure fat and calories and Her Ladyship shrivelled away to a skeleton in the corner looking suitably pathetic!

Holly’s walks became quite a challenge, given the dreadful weather. I was up to my calves in snow and she was up to her belly. I think she wondered where all the grass had gone and was a bit bemused as to where to deliver her Christmas offerings. However, all the hard work sticking to her diet and all the plodding through the snow has paid off. She had her first visit of the year to doggy weight watchers yesterday and she has lost another 900grams and a further 2cm off her waist. She is now down from 62kg to 44.1kg and with her target weight set at 38kg there is a little light at the end of the tunnel. All of a sudden, she seems able to do much longer walks and is now managing 2,3 and 4 mile walks with relative ease and not too many ill effects.

Hopefully Holly’s ability to do longer walks now will be really good for both of us and our continued efforts with weight loss. I managed the gym 6 times over Christmas and New Year (aren’t I self righteous!) which included two sessions with Tarzan, so hopefully I’ve worked off a few of the mince pies by now. I must admit, I’m starting the new year and the new decade feeling pretty fit and healthy. Just got to get back to work and give the finances a bit of an injection. Once that’s done, dare I say it, but we’ve both got the year off to a pretty good start.

I’m not a great lover of New Year Resolutions as I often feel it’s just setting yourself up for failure and come February, you’ve failed at every single one of them and are feeling downright miserable! However, I have set myself a few goals this year which I am pretty determined to achieve. I want to lose another 3 stone, I want to get Holly to lose the last 6kg and I would like to try and do a parachute jump to celebrate once I’ve achieved these things. It would have to be a tandem jump as I’d be too scared to do it on my own – and at least I’d have company as I plummeted to my death. Also and another great incentive to keep the diet going, there is a weight limit for the tandem jump and let’s face it, I don’t want to leave too big a crater when I hit the ground!

That’s the plan……plenty time to change my mind though!

So….here’s to 2010 and a great year for one and all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL FROM ME AND HOLLY