I have been reading an article about how some women are prone to being fat around the tummy, but nowhere else. A problem that I do find I have.
And it is due to stress. Apparently stress increases levels of a hormone called cortisol which stimulates deep abdominal fat cells to accept and store fat.

I always thought it was weird that I was prone to this pot belly at times, very annoying. So now I know why. Apparently anti-stress methods like orgasms cuddles, daily exercise and healthy snacking are the ways to combat it. Plus of course try and reduce normal stress levels

Unfortunately at Church this morning, 3 people asked me about the troubles with my employer - and I had said I didn't want to hear another word about it

maybe I need a badge with suitable words on it, so people know not to ask
Like "Stress makes me fat, so don't stress me"

I wish you all a relaxing evening
cheers

while Laura was having her nightmare about me dieing, I was having a strange dream of being on a train with my family, and my brother in laws family, and lots of other people in the carriage. We had our cat with us who was happy on the luggage rack curled up asleep. But then more passengers got on, and we had to give up more seats, and the cat moved from the rack. As we approached our destination all were sleeping, our luggage was all over the place, and we had to repack everything, find all the kids stuff which was scattered about, and find the cat.
In the end I put the lights on in the carriage and told everyone that they should not open the doors until the cat was found, but my husband kept going through them regardless!
Then a child found the cat, but put it in his bag, and did not want to give it back, and when I opened the bag, i could not find the cat! So I said he could keep it, even though it is a much loved cat.
and then there was a warning of dogs being released!!!

totally weird, I woke up then, which is why i can remember it.

My 12 year old came in tears to me this morning as she keeps having nightmares that I have died. I got shot for some food in this one apparently

I have a feeling that such dreams or nightmares are normal at her age. It is part of wanting to be free, as part of growing up. I seem to remember dreaming that my parents were dead too when I was a kid! Or maybe we are just both weird

The company that I work for has been the subject of a fair bit of not such great publicity recently. It is the preferred topic of conversation of just about everyone who knows where I work

Escaping to France, I did think I might escape that, but no. Even in the breakfast room of the hotel I could hear it being discussed
Mind you the headlines in the thoughtfully provided English language newspapers were all about apologies to Chinese Governments, so what can I expect?

So I don't want to hear another word on it.
Work is fine, everything left on the shelves is tested and safe, end of topic.

Now I just need to find somewhere our of reach of all media coverage for my next trip - Outer Mongolia perhaps?

Dolce Vita means sweet life I believe- it can be if we let it, and if we have a little luck on our side. We had luck on our side for our trip to Burgundy for my husbands 50th birthday. The sun shone, the hotel was a 600 year old Chateau and our room was up a spiral staircase in the tower. It was very comfortable if a little expensive.

It was set somewhere in the Burgundy countryside, about 4 hours drive for us. We went just the two of us, and that was really relaxing. No kids asking if we are nearly there yet, or complaining about the sightseeing

On the first day we did a bit of a walk, but it was way too hot, then on Sunday we toured the vineyards, although tried none of the wines. There was a pageant on in one town with lots of horses and music, so that was a nice surprise.

Dining was excellent, with lots of courses. I have not been on the scales yet. Must get to the gym this week

We drove back cross country yesterday, through the Jura.

it was a long drive, but it is beautiful countryside

So, my husband enjoyed the weekend break, and it is something we try and do now and then without the kids in tow. The kids were fine at home, Laura was at a friends, and Rebi was staying up late and getting up late, so she was happy. She texted me on the Monday asking when we would be back, as she still had to clean up!!

For my big 50 I have decided I want a hot air balloon flight. Scary but awesome.

Good morning to all my blog friends

hello to my Indian scrabble partner in SA, Glad we are now friends again, and that you managed to find my blog.

and a special hello to Ruth in Zürich. It was great seeing you yesterday, and I hope we can get together again soon.

oh dear, G has a swollen eye now and has taken to his bed.
Hope it gets it sorted out before the weekend, otherwise he will not enjoy his birthday treat!

Our doctor is of course on his holidays. Whenever he goes away someone gets sick here, although it is usually my youngest.
This is the downside of not being in a practice, which is a concept that is yet to really catch on here.

Apparently the missing 5 year old in Switzerland was found this weekend. A young software engineer from Winterthur took 3 weeks holiday to search for the body, because a friend of his had also lost a child like that, and he knew it was the not knowing that was the worst for the mother of the missing child.
He found the body at the spot under some trees where the man who abducted her, and then took his life, had shot at another passerby. Pretty obvious really, and the police and others had searched there.
Just shows these searches are not as foolproof as we like to think.

I was checking through all the photos on our hard disc, and found this one of me as a young girl. Kevin Wilson posted one of the eagle as a young boy, so I thought I would post this one of me. And I still have the teddy

next week my husband will turn half a century. originally we I wanted to throw a big party for all our friends in the UK, and host it in a youth hostel there, as that is how we first met. But my husband doesn't want to do that, so instead I am taking him to a secret destination, just he and I for the weekend.
Our youngest can stay at a friends, where she spends most of her time anyway, and the 15 year old? well we will leave her to do her own thing!! This is not as dodgy as it sounds, as we live in an apartment with lots of people around, and she has no boyfriend yet, and rarely goes out. She is more likely to be bored than anything else I reckon.

I haven't got a gift, other than an all expenses weekend away with me, yet. But I am thinking of a studio photo of the family, and then making up some sort of photo montage of my hubbie from child to man. Not in one week obviously, but hopefully by Christmas.

And in December my daughter will turn 16. So i have given her a 3 week deadline to tell me what she would like to do for her birthday.

Someone won the 13 million francs on the lottery last night. Unfortunately it wasn't me
not even 3 right this time.

so my life is not about to change beyond my wildest dreams, and I will have to save up for my laser treatment and anything else I want to do in the normal way

How boring !!¨

One change I can afford to do though, is move this blog to Facebook, maybe I should ask henriettahen or unclefrank what facebook is like.

I went along to our local laser clinic this morning for more indepth tests. I don't think I had thought this through properly. They administered eye drops to increase the size of my pupils. So now I am in my office barely able to make out the print on my screen, certainly can't read anything in detail, and had to come back here with my eyes almost closed against the sun, cos I forgot the sunglasses!

ah well, they tell me in 3 hours I will be back to normal, probably about time to go home then

They are still steering me towards the lens implant, although actually it didn't look too bad when they showed me the film, just one little incision and it unfolds out from a tube, very clever really. Very expensive though, still need the lottery win.
trying again tonight, biggest jackpot in 17 years apparently.
wish me luck

who pinched it from someone else

Two Names You Go By:
1. Sue
2. Susan

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. brown trousers
2. pink jumper

Two Things You Would Want (or have) in a Relationship:
1. Humour
2. Good sex

Two Things You Should Do:
1. the filing
2. the tax return

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. a shower!
2. A lottery win

Two Things You Did Last Night:
1. drank half a bottle of wine
2. Won at scrabble

Two Things You Hated Today:
1. Bad news on the Tv
2. daughter answering back

Talked to:
1. loads of people at Church
2. my hubbie and kids

Two Things you're doing tomorrow:
1. getting out of bed
2. going to the office

Two longest recent car rides:
1. to Italy when we went to Lake Garda
2. to Brittany when it rained for the whole 2 weeks we were there

Two Favourite Holidays:
1. Spain, Costa brava - all that britishness
2. Lake Garda, cos it was perfect weather and i didn't cook for 2 weeks

Two Favourite Beverages:
1. Tea
2. white wine

Two Things That Would Surprise You About Me:
1.
2.

Two Jobs I Have Had In My Life that bored the crap outta me:
1. Filing
2. more filing

Two Movies I would watch over and over:
1. Bridget Jones diary
2. Sixth sense

Two Places I have lived:
1. Lincoln
2. Nottingham

Two Favourite kinds of foods:
1. roast beef and mash
2. chicken with anything

Two Places I'd rather be right now:
1. On a beach somewhere hot with my family
2.

You may have seen the article in the Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2938940.ece

which highlights the anti-foreigner policies of the SVP, a major political party here.

So is this country where I have lived for 16 years any more racist than any other country in Europe?
Probably not.
Being outside of the EU it is still legal to advertise jobs or apartments for Swiss only, but it is getting rarer that that happens, but it still does. There are groups of neo-nazis that beat up dark skinned Swiss and Foreigners alike, but then there are in UK and Germany too.

It is however true that a lot of foreigners are implicated in crime, but this is the fault of insufficient integration, and not allowing refugees to validly seek employment.
Unfortunately those who commit crime get all of us foreigners a bad name.
But 1 in 5 here is foreign. Switzerland needs its foreign workers, the country could well collapse without us. Personally, I have met with racism yes. As a white European I have been refused an apartment on the grounds of me being foreign, but that was a long time ago, and the people were old. Old people have their own ways. And I was pregnant, so that scared them too

Otherwise I have found people really friendly and helpful, and I have dark skinned friends who also have not met open racism here.
The SVP is unfortunately a right wing party that uses foreigners as scapegoats for all the countries ills. They act as a cover for neo-nazis, especially among the young. And now they are getting Switzerland a bad name abroad. I think it will swing back, the Swiss will kick back against the white sheep, black sheep concept. That is one of the great benefits of our democratic system here.

Actually, we have now got the papers to apply for citizenship here, so then we will be no longer foreigners, except of course we are.

I see the Portugese police suspect Kate McCann of something in the Madeline case http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6982969.stm

This strikes me as so crazy. Have they nothing else to go on ?  I know that in the Uk there has been a lot of critiscm of how the McCanns have reacted to the loss of their daughter, but it seems to me that no one is going to make appeal after appeal, tour Europe, visit the Pope, run massive campaigns etc if all along they know she is dead - or if one of them knows she is dead

They are giving their whole existence to this hunt for their child, so to be suspected of being implicated in her disappearance seems totally bewildering to me.

If it turns out that Kate McCann had anything to do with this, then I for one, will be the first to eat my words.

who wants to be a millionaire?

Hi all

I have been away a few days, well away from Blogland. We had my brother and his girls here, so I was doing entertaining, and then back to work, which is mega stress at the moment, and my desk is almost as messy as my filing tray.
Must post a picture of that tray one day

Anyway, I mentioned to a friend the other day that there are lots of things I would much rather be doing instead of accounts all day, so he asked what. And I haven't replied yet. There is 11 million to win on our lottery at the moment, so I got to thinking what would I do if I won the lottery.
Unfortunately here the Govt take a third of the winnings in taxes, but that would still leave about 8 million.
So then I could realise my dreams - but what are they?

Well the laser treatment would be for definate - so that is 10 thousand gone, and then I would buy the hotel at the end of our street. It is a hotel/restaurant that has seen better days, but so long ago I don't know when. It would need a million or 2 to bring it in to the 21 century, but what fun I could have. I could tour around getting ideas first.
My brother stayed in one of the rooms this visit, cos we didn't have space. The equivalent of £8 per night tells you what sort of standard the rooms are. Still it was only a bed.

So i would renovate and titillate - me and the hotel, and I would serve all gluten free goodies, which are fine for regular folks too. Plus I would incorporate a youth centre in part of the building where the young people could meet up. No booze, sex or fags though, run by a committee of the young people. I think that would be good, and save them hanging around on street corners.

and I would still have 6 million left.
Obviously I would give some to Charity, and to family members.
And then I would travel. I would visit the US, and Canada, and India, and Israel, and Africa, and Asia. Not all in the same year though, but that would be great for a few years. Expand my horizons, meet new people, while all the time keeping an eye on my Hotel, and having something to come back to.

Sounds good eh? Just need some winning numbers now.