Tournament season!

Oh boy, today was the start of the rugby tournament season, which sees us attending several different tournaments over the next few weeks. There are several tournaments which we attend over the season (August - May), but the last few weeks are always the busiest and most stressful!!!

Today was our own tournament which was held at Musselburgh Rugby Club. There were teams taking part from North Berwick RFC, Lasswade RFC and Preston Lodge RFC.

All our guys were up for playing some good rugby and the sun was shining so what more could we ask for?

The P3's (under 8's) had their own sub-tournament, where all teams came out winners.

The P4's (under 9's) played well and won 1, drew 1 and lost 1, making them runners up, with North Berwick coming out winners.



Here is Robert (in the middle with the red boots) tackling one of the Preston Lodge players!





The P5's(under 10's) were well up for it, especially after their win at the
Scottish International Festival of Rugby a few weeks ago. Again they played brilliantly and came away as winners.

The P6's (under 11's) came out fighting after losing in the final at the Scottish International Festival of Rugby a few weeks ago. Guess what they weren't runners up this week. Yes they were the winners.


Here is Ronan (with the white bandages on his knees) tackling a Preston Lodge player. Why does he have bandages on his knees......well the ground is so hard I put Vaseline on his knees and then some stretchy bandages for protection. (Keeps the knees from being skinned and painful....as well as clean!)



The P7's (under 12's) in their last year in the mini section were looking for a win too, but unfortunately they were runners up to, once again the North Berwick team.

We had managed to arrange for Dougie Hall and Alan McDonald, 2 Edinburgh Rugby players to hand out the medals and trophies.


Robert and Ronan with Dougie and Alan. Yes Bob has THAT trophy again! He played a stormer and tackled like a demon so he won "Man of the match" as well as a runners-up medal! Ronan is hanging on tightly to his rugby ball as both Dougie and Alan signed it for him.



Today is our BIG fund raiser so we have lots of stuff going on, from "hook-a-duck"(Hook-a-Duck is a game usually played by children, whereby small plastic ducks are placed in a bath of water. The players then have to 'hook a duck' using a piece of bamboo with an eyelet in the end: the ducks all have hooks on their backs. Sometimes a small prize is given, other times the number painted on the bottom of the duck determines whether you have won or not.), tombola(bottle stall), cake/candy stall, teas/coffees and a BBQ with both burgers and steaks. Its thanks to a huge army of volunteers that today can actually happen. Yesterday we were all at the club making up food bags for all the teams taking part, sorting through stuff for the tombola, and baking things for the cake stall. Today we were all there bright and early to set everything up and then clear it all away at the end of the day.

A good day was had by all and now I'm about to go to bed coz I'm absolutely shattered!

Moment of truth!

This morning was the moment of truth, when I discovered if all my hard word had paid off or not. Yes that's right it was Weight Watchers weigh in. I wasn't really looking forward to it coz I had just finished a night shift and had drunk 1.5 litres of water overnight and kinda felt bloated. I did have the choice to go this evening, but then I would not be able to catch up with all the girls that I know. I also looked at my work schedule and discovered that for the next few weeks I am working on a Wednesday night before weigh in so it would all even out in the end. Or that's the plan anyway!

I knew I would loose some weight coz it was the first week and if you stick to the plan you will loose the weight and you always loose loads of fluid the first week anyway. A good indicator that I had shifted some poundage was the fact that I kept having to pull my trousers up last night. They had been snug at the waist before and now they weren't. I suppose it didn't help that I had my work keys and personal alarm attached to the waistband, that might have been pulling at them slightly!

OK enough of this prevarication and lets get down to the knitty gritty and let you know how much I actually lost this week................................. A whopping 6lbs. Woooo Hoooooo. Wasn't gourdongirl a VERY happy bunny in deed. Now that has just set me up for next week. But I will have a few temptations over the weekend as its the kids rugby tournament on Sunday and there will be lots of goodies to tempt gourdongirl away from the "straight and narrow". Having said that there will be plenty to keep me occupied and I probably won't have time to go near the cake stall!!!! I also have to supply some cakes, sausage rolls and sandwiches, so there will also be temptations in the house over the weekend! All I need to do is remain focused and all will be well.

On the knitting front I have now completed the main body of my Civil War Shawl and have managed to do 12 repeats of the border, only an other 70 to go!

Here I am at row 154 out of 161, so I was nearly there. I am knitting it in 100% silk lace weight from Colourmart and the colour is called Tartan Green. I hope to have it finished to take on holiday to Ireland in August.

Getting a grip!

This week I took a long hard look at myself and I didn't like what I saw.

It was time to get a grip and do something about the weight I need to shift. I really struggled at times last weekend when I was away at the rugby tournament. I was hiding my head in the sand a bit and blamimg how I was feeling on being really tired due to lack of sleep. The lack of sleep was mainly due to the pain in my right leg after falling on Friday night and the fact that the bed was the smallest double bed I have ever seen!!!!! When I fell I landed on my right knee, but its not the knee that's giving me bother but my calf and thigh. I'm not sure what I have done, but being over weight is not helping the situation.

TIME TO GET A GRIP!

A couple of years ago I went to Weight Watchers and managed to shift 73lbs....YES I did say 73lbs. Unfortunately life got in the way and I stopped going and low and behold two years later we are back to where we started. Something needed to be done and after bumping into several people from the class and the class leader I thought I was being told something and took the bull by the horns and got my act together and went back to class on Thursday morning. That was the hardest bit, getting back in through the door, now I have done that the rest is up to me. I know I can do it,as i did it before.

I got DH to take a "fat" pic on Thursday, but I don't want to blog it just yet. I might in the future but not yet.

So far all is going well and I even turned down the offer of several beers at the rugby club this afternoon and had diet coke instead. Giving up the odd beer, glass of wine or gin and tonic won't be a problem as I don't drink much anyway, it will be staying focused and organised that will be the problem. If I am organised and write out my weekly menus and shopping lists I am OK, if I don't do that I run into mega problems.

Wish me luck!

Proud moments!

What a weekend THAT was! Brilliant rugby, brilliant kids, brilliant sunshine.

We all arrived back to Musselburgh late last night, rather bruised, battered, weary and hoarse!


Here are the under 9's (in the front row), with Robert second from the left. Behind them are the under 11's with Ronan about the middle of the picture. We were all waiting patiently for the tournament to be officially opened.



The kids had their first games of rugby on Saturday. The first to kick off were my under 9's team, and boy did they play. They came together as a team and played like demons. They won all their games on Saturday which meant they won their group and had a place in the semi-final of the cup on the Sunday. Unfortunately they lost and didn't get into the final. They won the playoff and got bronze medals. Not bad for their first ever away tour. Played 4, won 3, lost 1.

The P4 (under 9's) team with their bronze medals.

Back row - Tim and Stuart (the other coaches)
Middle row - Fraser, Michael, Ross and Douglas.
Front row - Greg, Joe, Robert and Max.



The under 10's won all their games and came back to Musselburgh with the biggest cup I have ever seen! Goodness knows where we will put it as the trophy cabinet isn't big enough! Played 5, won 5.

The under 11's, that's Ronan and Duncan's team played really well and managed to get into the final of the cup, unfortunately they lost it. But they put up a brave performance and come away with the consolation of being the only team to score a try against the opposition for the whole tournament!!!! They all received a small trophy for being in the final. Played 5, won 4, lost 1.


One of the proudest moments of my life happened on Sunday, when I watched Ronan (6th from the front in the blue and white) being piped on to the field for the final of the cup. I, along with several of the other parents were all choked up with tears at this point. Goodness knows what I'll be like if he ever gets to Murrayfield!!!!


The under 12's had a really tough time. Their squad was depleted before they even left due to injury and most of the 11 guys who did manage to go on tour were also carrying injuries. They play 10 a side so that left only 1 sub. I spent most of my time during their matches patching up the wounded and sending them back on to play. They played 6, won 3, drew 1 and lost 2. They also came home with a bronze medal.

A brilliant performance from all the kids who took part. This was the biggest tournament we had ever been in and all the coaches and parents of all the kids involved are really proud of them.

Today I am tired and coming down from a huge adrenaline rush. I have sore feet from walking goodness knows how many miles up and down the touch line shouting encouragement to all the Musselburgh teams. I have a sore throat from shouting and singing and a sore left ankle and right knee from when I fell getting on the bus before we even left for the tournament!

As I said at the beginning, WHAT a weekend that was!

BTW, I am glad to be home to a decent bed!

Here we go, here we go, here we go.......

Yes the Rugby Tour weekend has finally arrived! We are off to Ayr on the west coast of Scotland with approx 50 kids and 20+ coaches/parent helpers. Oh joy!!!!! I am absoloutly dreading it....not the rugby, as that will be great, but what the kids will get up to before/after the rugby!

OK do we have all our stuff?
4 pairs shorts.......check
4 rugby tops.........check
4 pairs red sox......check
2 body armour........check
2 second skin tops...check
2 pairs rugby boots..check
2 gum shields........check
4 pairs stick mits...check
2 waterproof tops....check
toiletries...........check (why I have packed that for the boys is beyond me!)
spare clothes........check
2 water bottles......check
sun screen...........check (We live in hope!)
2 baseball caps......check (Just incase the sun shines!)
2 prs swim shorts....check
2 towels.............check
sweets...............check

Oh well I thats the kids sorted, now for DH and I.
Beer.................check

Guess thats us all ready to go.

Back on Sunday night, hopefully with lots of pix and medals.

Have a good weekend, I will!

Fallen off the World

Or at least that's what I feel has happened to me in the last couple of weeks. I know I haven't been around "blogland" much and I haven't really been answering my emails either. I have done some knitting and have nearly finished the main body of my Civil War Shawl, but still haven't taken any pix of it.

I feel as if I have just been going through the motions for the last 2 weeks. I've been at work and I've looked after the kids etc, but my head feels full of "cotton wool"! I'm NOT depressed, I'm simply grieving. I'm actually finding it very difficult to write this post but I feel I need to, so that I can move on and get on with my life. (It doesn't help that the screen is all blurry, as I'm looking through tears).

On the 31st of March a person who has been part of my life for the past 45 years died. Helen Smith Dorward (ms Cargill) was my granny and although she hadn't really been "with us" for the past 8 years she was still a part of my life, and every time I went home to see my parents I visited her, even if she didn't know who I was or who my children were. She hadn't been ill and even at 91 years old her death wasn't expected. Her condition rapidly deteriorated over a period of 48 hours, which really took us all by surprise. However we all managed to get to her bedside and spend some time with her on our own and I feel we all got to say goodbye. This has helped me deal with her passing. The strange thing was, that even although she hadn't known my brother and I for the past few years she seemed to know us at the end.

She died peacefully at 13.25 hours on 31st March 2007 surrounded by the people who loved her and being met at the "other side" by people who loved her. It had been nearly 30 years since my grandad had died and I believe he came to meet her that day.

I have found myself, at odd times thinking about her and her life and I can't help thinking that had she been born 20-30 years later, how different her life might have been. She was a character, who knew her own mind and knew what she did and didn't want and because of this she wasn't always easy to live with. She was brought up in a close fishing community, the eldest child of a fisherman, sister of a fisherman, wife of a fisherman and the mother-in-law of a fisherman, thus her life was governed by the sea, and it was a hard life, but now she is at rest.