Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Friday, July 24, 2015

Friday Night Gap

We missed you very much tonight Lady Lynn. I hope that your health is improving quickly and you will be well enough to join us at Christmas in July on Saturday night!

So much for my studies today.

The fridge seal man came this morning and replaced the seals on the fridge/freezer in our garage. That should help our electricity bill somewhat! The fridge seal man was very nice but really wanted to have a chat. He needed to show Adoring Husband all the intricate details of replacing the seals on fridge/freezers. We just wanted him to hurry up so that we could go into The Bay!

AH had some errands to run for the SES so I decided to take the opportunity to have a pedicure/manicure.

I used to have French tips put on my nails on a regular basis and my nails were weak and easily broken, so they were never long enough to require a manicure.

Since I began eating Paleo, my nails grow very quickly and are, comparatively speaking, quite strong and healthy. My only difficulty lies in food preparation, when I regularly slice the end of my nail when preparing dinner!

So my toenails and fingernails are looking very groomed and clean and beautiful right now, just in time for Christmas in July tomorrow night!

It is currently 9.30pm and I'm feeling quite weary after a few glasses of wine, so I think an early night is on the catrds so that I can make the most of tomorrow night (Christmas in July).

No other news, or photos or FB pics to share, but I hope to get some great pics tomorrow night of the Christmas in July function, so I'll share them here.

Meanwhile, I can't stop *yawning* and need to lie down.

Nite all.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Movie Mania

So Adoring Husband was keen to hire a new release movie on Foxtel today. It was called 'Project Almanac' and the IMDB site describes it like this ...

"As a group of friends discover plans for a time machine, they build it and use it to fix their problems and for personal gain. But as the future falls apart with disasters, and each of them disappear little by little, they must travel back to the past to make sure they never invent the machine or face the destruction of humanity."

Being the huge Sci-fi fan that he is, you can understand from that description, why he was keen to watch it.

After the movie, I found my way to the IMDB site and gave the movie a rating out of ten. The rating that I gave it was a big fat TWO out of ten. That was being generous. 

The acting was dreadful. The storyline has been done. The camera work made it difficult to watch (it was filmed as if one of the group of kids was hand holding a video camera throughout the entire film). The special effects were pretty sad. It was all very predictable.

So my recommendation is ... don't watch it.

I sacrificed starting my essay assignment so that I could share the movie experience with AH so my disappointment was palpable.

We watched another movie on one of the movie channels called 'Starter for 10' which starred Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy. It wasn't a bad movie. Nothing spectacular but easy to watch.

The next movie I watched after AH left for an SES meeting. One of my all time favourites. 'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'.

Now, as I write this, I am watching the movie 'Swordfish' starring John Travolta and Hugh Jackman.

I think I will be pretty much all movie'd (yes I just made up that word) out by the time I go to bed. Swordfish doesn't finish til 11.30pm, so I guess it will be another late night .. but at least this blog update will be posted early!

I started the day with a visit to The Motivator to deliver her share of something we ordered online and to deliver her early birthday present. It was just a small gift, but I also made the chocolate cake last night and put a single slice in a cake gift box with a candle sticky taped to it. I think she appreciated the gesture and seemed very pleased.

I bought her last two sand crabs while I was there.

Picking up the mail and buying my morning coffee was the next stop, before I headed home and made AH a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, garlic mushrooms and tomato which he ate while I munched away on my sand crabs.

We didn't have lunch, but for afternoon tea, we had a huge slice of that chocolate cake with strawberries and cream. YUM!

Because of AH's SES meeting, I prepared an early dinner. I cooked a bacon, ricotta, sundried tomato and spinach quiche in the cast iron frypan (because as you may remember, my oven is not working!). I thought my quiche was delicious, but AH didn't like it, so his dinner consisted mainly of a salad.

So my day has been all about the movies.

Tomorrow will be all about the essay assignment!

Nite all.

   

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Another Done and Dusted

Another exam done and dusted today. Anatomy and Physiology 2. Easier and shorter than I expected.

Now I focus on an 800 word essay which is due in two weeks.

I'm not sure if I've shared this video before, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I watch it. All dog lovers, animal lovers, baby lovers and lovers of children will love this video.



Here is another photo from our road trip.


I've only ever once found this type of bird in the wild before and it was too high in the tree to get a decent photo .. even this one was a distance away and the photo is not as sharp as I'd have liked, but the colour is pretty spectacular just the same.

The oven man did not appear to fix my oven today and I am not happy Jan! This means that I have at least another week until I can cook in my oven again. UGH!! If he doesn't turn up next week, I think I might be ready to give him a piece of my mind and find somebody else to fix it. By next week, it will be six weeks since my oven worked.

I'm off now to make a raw paleo chocolate cake, so that I can take a slice with a candle in it to The Motivator for her birthday tomorrow. Stoopid oven.

Here is the link to the recipe if you're interested.

Paleo Raw Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Nite all.

Marginally Productive

Today was productive, but not in the study sense.

Morning tea was enjoyable with six ladies turning up this morning. We missed Lady Lynn who was absent due to illness. I hope she's feeling much better and full of beans as she reads this before she starts her day.

After morning tea, I spent an hour trying to sort out my exam papers with AIAS. Thank goodness the papers have now been emailed to my exam supervisor and I can relax about that part.

I prepared Osso Bucco for the slow cooker so that I could head into The Bay with Adoring Husband and not have to worry about cooking when we returned.

We headed into town to restock some pantry items and while we were there, had lunch at Aquavue. They have a delicious gluten free Prawn, Mango and Macadamia Nut salad that I used to enjoy on a regular basis, so I ordered that with a coffee. It was delicious, as it always was.

Of course I had to practice some retail therapy while I was in town and I bought a top and some pyjamas. Adoring Husband contributed to my teapot collection, buying me a very large and colourful teapot in the shape of a chicken. It's spectacular!

 I thought my wine drinking friends might enjoy this little video...



... and these appealed to me ...





It's now midnight and I have an exam to sit early tomorrow. 

Nite all.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Followed Through

So I said I would have a fresh motivated start today.

And I did.

I not only woke up early, but also got out of bed early, showered, rode down to see the boys at the Seat of Knowledge, bought my coffee and came home to study. I put in six hours of solid study today, with one break when I pedalled to the Post Office to replenish printer paper stocks and another break to take a photograph.

The flickr challenge this month is 'Simplicity' and I had an idea in the middle of my studies, so I stopped for twenty minutes to take a couple of shots. I won't be using this one, but I had to try it.


So obviously there is nothing to write here .. I'm sure you're not interested in eyes, ears, taste and pain, which is what I studied today.

True to form, it's after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Weekend End

Well, it's the end of another weekend and I've been home from my holiday for over a week! How time flies.

There are three things that I have forgotten to do over the last week or more.

I was supposed to print out a photo that I took of a lady at the Village Voices fund raiser before I went on holidays, but forgot all about it.

I was supposed to deliver a photo to 'The Leggy Blonde' before I went on holidays and then wanted to do it last week, but didn't do it.

I was supposed to go to the Volunteer Fire Brigade shed on Wednesday just gone, to take photos of their new machinery .. and even though I put a reminder on my computer calendar, I didn't go into my laptop (unusually so) that day, so didn't get the reminder. I forgot about that too.

Honestly, I really have to get my act together. I have to get back into a routine and I have to make a 'to do' list each day, so that hopefully, I won't forget this stuff. I think the cold weather has sent my brain into hibernation.

Today, I got some study in and I also watched a dvd. I finished off the beef bone broth and did some washing. I did a little cooking .. nothing very delicious .. I feel like I've lost my kitchen mojo without my oven working. Hopefully the oven guy will turn up this Wednesday.

It's 10.30pm and I'm going to bed as soon as I sign off here.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to wake up to a fresh start, a new routine and a more motivated me. I have an exam this week, so I need to be on my game!

No photos or videos or recipes to share today, so this is short and sweet.

Nite all.

It's all About the Food

This is definitely the coldest Winter that we have experienced since moving here seven years ago. The last few mornings have been 4C and 5C but felt much colder. Icy in fact! We've had cold mornings in the past, but never this many in a row.

The good news is that next week, we should be back to our usual Winter weather, which is cool, but sunshiny. Minimums of 11-13C are much more pleasurable and it's so much easier to get out of bed in the mornings.

This morning it was too cold to get out of bed, so Adoring Husband bought my take away coffee and delivered it to me so that I could stay in bed reading .. which I did until after 11am!! It was wonderful and I'd slept for a good ten hours last night, so it was a luscious way to start the day.

Adoring Husband was kind enough to invite me out for lunch, so we got all dressed up and headed into The Bay. There were plenty of choices, but we chose our favourite place, The Wild Lotus.

We selected a window seat and then proceeded to gorge ourselves on a three course meal! Well, actually, AH only had two courses, it was ME that had three!

I started with Lime and Black Pepper Crusted Calamari, followed by Slow Roasted Pork Belly and for dessert, which was incredibly decadent for us, Creme Brulee which was served with a side of vanilla ice cream and berry sauce! For someone who doesn't eat sugar anymore, that sugar hit sent me for a six!!

I was feeling so full for so long, that I couldn't even eat dinner tonight!

After lunch, we returned home just in time to watch the football. Three games today for Super Saturday and I got three out of three correct with my footy tipping.

I have spent the evening online, searching for shoes to go with Bubbles' dress that she's wearing to the engagement party.

This is a very dangerous thing .. me .. in a shoe shop .. online. Oh you should see some of those perfectly divine shoes. The colours. The bling. The different styles. Wedges. Stilettos. Kitten heels. Cone heels. Prism heels. Spool heels. Sling backs. Platforms. So many delicious designs.

It was difficult, but my shoe cupboard should not be expecting any new additions in the coming weeks. I showed incredible restraint. Believe it or not!

The clock is rapidly heading towards 1AM. This is what happens when I sleep for ten hours! I think I hear my pillow calling my name, so I'm off.

Before I go, I watched this amazing short video (ten minutes) today that I thought some of you would appreciate. Truly amazing and miraculous.



Oh and a couple of photos from the road trip!! The first is a Katoomba Kookaburra and the second is 'The Drip Gorge' near Mudgee.



Nite all.