Parakai Springs - On a business note!

I have good news for our KidzGrab fans, I have finally managed to get one Auckland's Best attractions and one of my personal favourites on our daily deal site - Parakai Springs are going to be doing a Family voucher on Wednesday April 4th.

It has been such a hard slog for me here at KidzGrab to persuade  bigger companies to put deals on our site as mostly they are held into 'goodwill contracts' with those 'other' daily deal sites (who will obviously remain nameless!!)

As a new company starting up I had huge dreams for KidzGrab I wanted deals on from all our favourite attractions and activities. I have fought so hard to get some of them to list with us but many have tied themselves up in contracts until next year. It has been hard to do get  disheartened knowing my site couldn't go in the direction it so obviously needed to go in.  Knowing we have the parents longing for great deals to zoo's, parks and attractions up and down the country.

It was always going to be hard to launch a niche daily deal site I just hadn't bargained on the bigger sites trying to elbow the little sites out of the game!!

Imagine my absolute joy when Parakai Springs said 'yes' I know what a popular attraction it is to the parents on our site and I am just so pleased to finally be bringing you an attraction!  I have been asked numerous times by our subscribers to ask Parakai to list with us and we couldn't be more stoked about having them list with us next week.

So fans of KidzGrab now I have a favour to ask of you, let's make this Parakai deal a roaring success please tell your friends about it, spread the word and share on facebook for us!

Have a fab week and don't forget to mark Wednesday 4th April 7am in your diaries for the fantastic family deal from Parakai Springs.

Kate x

Weight Watchers Must Work!!

Well what was all the fuss about I ask myself!?!  I went along to my meeting last night ready to deal with whatever damage I had done from the last two weeks of being poorly. I had not been watching my diet as carefully as I have been. 

To my surprise I had lost 700g!!  I know it's not heaps but I was totally gobsmacked.  It proved something to me that I didn't really believe until now and that is the weight watchers system does actually work!  I didn't really go over my points over the last two weeks and when I did those 'special' points would have covered my misdemeanors!

The thing is up till now I have not ever used my special points and always stayed under my points because I thought it would boost the weight loss.  In actual fact I have lost as much this week and last week as I have most weeks, well nearly anyway I have been losing about a Kg a week so not a lot different.

I will go back to not using my 'special' points but I will certainly be less afraid of eating up to the points allocated to me.

All in all a great night!  Phew!!

Kate x

I suppose it had to happen!

I haven't blogged in over a week because I have been avoiding fronting up to the catastrophic couple of weeks I have had in my new weight watchers lifestyle!

I totally lost the ball, I stopped tracking, I stopped caring and I completely lost my way.  I knew it was likely the moment I fell ill and I tried to keep myself on track but then I literally lost the will to care in the slightest.  I didn't even make it to my meeting last week, the first I have missed since I started 12 weeks ago.

I felt so miserable being so poorly and then when I made everything worse and put my back out it just felt like the icing on the cake (which frankly I just wanted to eat!) There are not a lot of things in life that get me down I believe I am a fairly resilient person but I do get depressed if the old health issues rear their ugly head.  It makes me feel completely out of control of my own destiny.  I panic literally giving myself full on panic attacks and I wallow in self pity neither of which is a pretty sight let me assure you!

The tests are out of the way and the symptoms once again behind me.  My back is nearly back to normal, not good enough to do any real exercise but good enough to get moving again.  I crawled out of my self indulgent depressive pit this morning hugged my kids and we went for a walk down to the beach.  Just putting my bare feet in the sand, feeling the sun's warmth on my face and the fresh air in my lungs made me feel better than I have done in these last two weeks.  Watching my two beautiful angels playing in the water and building sandcastles put the smile back on my face and a spring in my step (well not so much a spring as a slight elevation!)

Don't get me wrong I haven't gorged on chocolate cakes, sweets and donuts for two weeks.  I just haven't been taken the same care to make sure I get everything I need in my diet and a few extra items have found their way in that shouldn't have.  I stayed at my Mum and Dad's whilst I have not been well and the problem is my Mum is a fantastic cook, I absolutely love her food and I want to eat too much of it.  Plus the fact that she has crisps and sweeties in her cupboard does not help!  I know I should have the willpower to just not go near them but I am quite sure I actually hear them calling to me as I walk past the cupboard 'eat me, eat me you know you want to'  

Back at my own house today and back on track.  Tomorrow I am going to my meeting and I will face those demon scales and whatever the damage is I will deal with it without hurling abuse at the kind lady behind the desk....as it is not her fault!  

I suppose it was inevitable I would lose my step along the way but I suppose it's not the falling over that matters it's whether you pick yourself and move forward that matters.

Have a great day folks!

We CAN do it!!

Kate x

Oh So Melodramatic

Is it completely ridiculous that I kissed my girls at least a hundred extra times tonight and told them I love them enough to last them a life time?

It doesn't seem to matter how many times I have told my brain that I am being melodramatic about tomorrows tests I can't help it!!  I am only going in for a manometry test and then a General Anaesthtic for another test for all of twenty minutes and I am planning my funeral!  It comes from bad experiences and prolonged illness in the past I think.  I just don't want to be back here again I suppose.

It's utterly insane that I have spent the day worrying that my 'affairs' are in order.  Have I left everyone a note, do people know where I keep things.  Have I got a plan for my kids if something happens to me, do they know I love them.  A million and one of the most ridiculous thoughts going through my head that I seem completely unable to quiet. 

Old lady that I am (or knackered Mum) I am in bed hours ago usually but no not tonight I am up writing a blog hoping that perhaps if I get my irrational thoughts out I might be able to get some sleep.  Well that's after I write a quick twenty page letter to my kids reiterating how much I love them just in case I didn't freak them out enough today with my ravings.

Doesn't being a Mother completely change you.  I worry about everything and yet I used to worry about nothing.  I wanted to jump out of a plane as a teenager, I wanted to bungy, I wanted to abseil down 200 ft cliff face and now I don't even like standing on the glass panels in the sky tower and it makes me feel physically sick if my kids do.  Rosie my youngest has realised this and seems to take great enjoyment in jumping up and down on the glass until my nerves are shot, bless her!!!

I seem to have developed an aversion to horse riding, bicycles, skate boards, roller skates, water, heights, sports of any kid the list is endless.  In some vain and ridiculous hope that I can keep my precious angels safe from harm.  It is the most amazing experience and truly the best thing I have ever done having children but it is also extremely painful and frightening. 

I am trying so desperately to be strong for my girls.  Charlotte looked so worried today and had her I am being difficult because I am worried head on.  Rosie doesn't have a clue what's going on but my little Charlotte has watched her Mum in and out of hospital for the last few years and some really quite scary situations.  I hate putting her through this again, I know it's only tests but she just hears hospital and I can see the worry in her little face.

I was tempted to lie to her but she is such a bright button she would know when I got home anyway and honesty I suppose is the best policy.  I just want to protect them from the things in life that hurt, I know that's not possible and it's not what life is about but all the same the Motherly instincts want that desperately.


I think back to the woman I was in my twenties and wonder what purpose my life really had without these two little souls in it.  Simpler yes but empty, so however hard it gets it's always going to be worth it.  They are the most incredible people I know and I made them!!! Well with a little bit of help ;-) 

Nervous yes, funeral plan needed?  No !!  Go to sleep Kate, stop being a drama queen, go get your tests and come home tomorrow afternoon and hug your kids for the rest of the day.  Maybe a piece of chocolate cake for being brave!!!  Shhh don't tell anyone!

Have a great few day folks

Kate x

Illness and Weight Loss

I am sorry I haven't written in a couple of weeks basically I am sulking!

I have been pretty poorly for a couple of weeks and I have really been struggling to do anything to be honest.  I have been staying with my folks next door which has been lovely, nothing like your Mum to make you feel better.

A few years ago I got pretty sick with an unknown condition effecting my gastrointestinal system.  After a couple of months in hospital and a plethora of  tests more than you could poke a very big stick at they took out my gallbladder then they moved onto something called (and I warn you now I only get things with very silly names!!) Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.  Basically it's a muscle  a circular band of muscle at the bottom of the biliary tree which controls the flow of pancreatic juices and bile into the second part of the duodenum and it went wrong.  Yes I found it confusing too!!

I had two operations to fix this faulty oddi and thought it was behind me after-all has been nearly two years.  However a couple of weeks ago I started to get a tightness just under my rib cage, a sort of spasm, really frightening feeling.  If I am truthful I started getting it about six weeks after the last oddi operation but it wasn't too bad just uncomfortable and would pass.  When I went onto weight watchers 12 weeks ago it went away completely so figured I had cured it with the change of lifestyle.  


I couldn't have been more wrong, I struggled through last weekend without somehow managing to end up in the emergency department then come Monday saw my GP over in Howick (who is incidentally I reckon the best GP in the world!!) he made me appointment with a Gastro specialist in Remuera part of the MacMurray Group.  


I was seen on Friday by the nicest consultant.  I haven't had a lot of luck when it comes to consultants really, in fact most have just been plain horrible!!  So to see a kind, gentle consultant who actually listened to me was more than a breath of fresh air.  I am going in on Friday for a load of what sound like pretty horrible tests.  He thinks it's possible I have something called (wait for it...) 'Nutcracker esophageal Syndrome' , you gotta laugh, it 'cracked' me up!  It's basically where the esophagus goes into a spasm, with the strength to crack a nut.  The Doc has given me some angina spray till then in case I get any more attacks to keep me out of the dreaded ER room!!


I have stopped the exercise as it exacerbates the problem which is really, really frustrating.  I was just starting to enjoy it (actually 'enjoy' might be too strong a word!)  I went along to WW last week and had lost a further 1.3Kg bringing my total to 10.3kg which I am totally thrilled about.  I have to say I am worried now things are going to go a bit pear shaped.  Looking back at past experience I know that for me this situation is dangerous as far as my weight loss journey goes. It is the time when I lose my determination, illness makes me feel like 'why bother' which is not helpful at all!


I made the decision to speak to our lovely leader Kate at WW and explain the situation.  Not knowing the rules I also worried if I missed the meeting would I get chucked out etc.  I was super impressed by Kate's support and care.  She assured me they would be no chucking out my membership and that she would keep in touch to check my progress.  I feel like I am taking control of my situation before it before I have a chance to sabotage my own progress. It made me feel pretty powerful really and firmly in the driving seat of my own destiny.  Illness can really make you feel unmotivated and low but I have come so far on this journey I have to try to keep it together.  There isn't much I can do about the exercise but it won't be like that forever.  I just need to keep tracking my food and keeping my head focused on why I was doing this in the first place.  

It's hard not to be a little pissed off that one of my reasons was to attain better health but what's the point of wallowing it doesn't achieve anything!!


My focus for this week is to keep laughing or least smiling.... hmmm however at present I am swearing my head off after I turned to get up and make a cuppa half way through my 'let's keep smiling' sentence and put my back out.  Me thinks this might be a 'challenging' week. 

'Rosie' and 'Charlotte'

This is always a good time to reflect on the fact that my problems are really very miniscule in the scheme of things, however real they are to me.  I have a very dear friend going through something really awful at the moment and to be frank I feel that even mentioning my problems makes me nothing but a whinging, whining pain in the butt (literally at the moment!!) There is always someone worse off than yourself.  I think the key to not letting your problems or sickness get you down is to look at all the wonderful things in your life and drown out the bad crap with them.  I have two very strong words that drown out bad stuff for me - 'Charlotte' and 'Rosie'


Have a good week folks and stay well!!


Kate x

10% Goal reached - Thanks Weight Watchers!

I can't even begin to describe the feeling of reaching my 10% goal at my weight watchers meeting last night.  It was slightly embarrassing have everyone clap but at the same time I was so ecstatic.  Our lovely leader 'Kate' asked me 'How does it make you feel?' I just said 'great' as she gave me my keyring which is now hanging with pride on my already ridiculously large bunch of keys, which incidentally I must sort out at some point!!

It was more than 'great' though in fact 'great' doesn't even begin to cut it.  I felt like for the very first time in my adult years I was winning the fight and for the first time I was in the driving seat and not food.  No more emotional eating, no more loneliness eating, no more stress eating and I am actually getting off my ever shrinking arse and doing some exercise!! 

Ok so this isn't me leaping through the air but it is how I feel!!

I felt excited and revved up, I felt like at that very moment I could take on the world and all it could possibly throw at me.  All for 10% of my body weight!  Imagine what I will be like when I get to goal weight!

I went out with my eldest daughter (who is nearly six) to choose an outfit.  Which is what I had promised myself at 10%.  I have a very dear friends 40th birthday party of Saturday and I was dreading what I was going to wear and I have had such a awful time looking for clothes for the last 10 years of my life, everything just sticks to the lumps and bumps.

I took my daughter because although she is only 5 she has far more fashion sense than me! (Although this is not hard!) We walked into the shop and she was pointing out different tops and dresses and making me pick them up to try them on.  Most of it I would never have looked twice at but this is a good lesson in giving the little ones express their opinions.  I tried on outfit after outfit each time this little voice letting me know the good bits and bad bits till I had settled on a lovely outfit in a size I haven't worn for a very, very long time.  It was the absolute best feeling in the world. 

It was only topped off by going into the shoe wearhouse and finding some wedges that the girl told me were reduced to $9.09 !!!!  I asked her twice to make sure because it seemed ridiculous.  I finished off our shopping trip with some new jewellery and a handbag.

I haven't bought anything for myself in a long time, well anything nice.  I have been buying big t-shirts and sweat pants from the warehouse in bigger and bigger sizes.  To be able to buy something feminine and pretty and to really feel young and confident was the best gift I have given myself.

I am so excited about my weight loss journey and I have never been before.  It has always felt like a chore and a battle I couldn't possibly win, failure after failure has met everyone of my attempts.  I know I can do this, with the help of the meetings and a plan to follow I can do this and no more ridiculous fad diets that involve cabbages, milkshakes or cleansing formulas!!

I am going to be riding on a very high wave this week.  Now all I have to do is decide what my next goal should be now I have reached 10%.   I want to lose in total 23Kg and with 9.1Kg lost so far I feel like it's a really achievable goal now.  I wonder if 5kg goals might be the way to go and the reward system definitely works!!! I am thinking a full body massage when I get to my next goal, I might actually feel confident enough to get my kit off for it by then!!!

To all those people out there trying to lose weight - WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!!  

 Have a fab week

Kate x