Tennis Recovery

💬 JULIA ROBERTS SPEAKS OUT: A Wake-Up Call to Women Everywhere

The iconic Hollywood actress has shared a powerful and deeply personal message — not to promote a product or a film, but to urge women around the world to reconnect with what truly matters.

✨ “It’s Time to Take Off the Mask.”

“Perfection is a sickness that’s spreading across nations.

We bury our faces under layers of makeup.

We inject ourselves with toxins.

We starve to meet ‘ideal’ sizes.

We fix things that were never broken...

Meanwhile, the one thing that truly needs our attention is forgotten.”

That one thing?

Our soul.

“How can you expect someone to love you if you don’t love yourself?

Changing your appearance isn’t proof of confidence — it’s a mask.

But I’m done with masks.”

Julia continues:

“I know I have wrinkles. I want to see them — they’re mine.

I no longer want to wear a painted version of someone else’s face.

I want the world to see me as I really am — natural, whole, honest.”

In a world obsessed with filters, fillers, and facades, her words are a breath of truth.

She calls today’s beauty standards “a steroid-fueled virus” — artificial, unrealistic, and imprisoning us in illusions.

🔔 Her message is clear:

Stop.

Remember who you are.

Value your essence.

Let your soul shine louder than your lipstick.

“No one can ever fully meet society’s beauty criteria.

Outer appearance should be the last thing we care about.

What truly matters… is the soul.”

— Julia Roberts

It was approximately 12.45am when someone drove to the house across the road and took the dog away. By that time, it had howled 29 times in less than 2 hours. I hope he is ok.

I stayed awake until 4.30am watching the tennis. Alcaraz defeated Fritz in four sets. Djokovic was annihilated by Sinner in three quick sets.

It’s now 8.30pm and I feel incredibly weary.

I dragged myself out of bed at 9am, made tea, played with Harley and made myself a crab sandwich for breakfast.

I did four loads of washing, made a pineapple/mandarine/mango/passionfruit smoothie, played 3 games of “Sequence” with BGWLBH, watched the latest episode of Great Pottery Throw Down, watched a weird Australian Sci Fi movie with AH and then settled in for the footy.

My tipping is going very well this week. Three out of three correct and the fourth game is going my way (so far), but there is still 30 mins left of the game.

I think I shall fall asleep to the sound of football commentary.

Nite all.

Friendly Friday

Hard truths your parents should have taught you:

1. The world is not fair, and no one is coming to save you. Your success or failure is your responsibility alone.

2. Nobody is thinking about you. They are too busy thinking about themselves. Stop making life decisions based on their imaginary opinions.

3. The world rewards results, not effort. "Trying your best" is a participation trophy; real life only respects what you deliver.

4. Love is not enough to hold a relationship together. Respect, loyalty, and shared values are the foundation. Love is the decoration.

5.Your feelings are not facts. Learn to question them, or they will rule your life and lead you to ruin.

6. Your comfort zone is not a safe place. It is a gilded cage where your potential goes to die. All growth happens in the storm.

These truths aren't meant to make you cynical.

They are meant to make you strong.

I fell asleep early on Thursday night and woke to use the bathroom 4 hours later, immediately fell back asleep for another 6 hours! Needless to say, I woke feeling refreshed!

After Harley play, BGWLBH asked if we needed to go to town, so we made the decision to do it.

She needed a new battery in the car key - last time, she took it to the car dealer and it cost over $40. This time she took it to Allstrong Locksmiths and Security on Taylor Street and they replaced it for $9. Car dealers are a rip off.

While she was doing that and then purchasing a coffee from from OBC Original Bike Cafe, I walked around the corner to the paint shop to select a colour to paint the window frame on the outdoor pool kitchen.

I was surprised that a small tin cost $45. I don’t know why I was expecting about $15!

Adoring Husband painted the frame years ago with a horrible baby poo brown colour. I selected a blue, close to the pool colour in a photo on my phone - so hopefully, it’s close.

Then there was the supermarket, butcher, juice, seafood, newsagent, Farmgate, bakery and Heaps Discount.

Home to unpack the groceries, play with Harley, shell 3 sand crabs, watch some golf, watch Sharks defeat Dolphins (only AH and I selected them in the tipping comp) watch Collingwood get done by Gold Coast in AFL (much to AH’s dismay) and now watching Alcaraz play Fritz in the first men’s semi final at Wimbledon. Next up will be Djokovic vs Sinner.

There is a dog somewhere across the road howling through the night, so I’ve started logging the time and the number of howls. It really is getting out of control and we’ve heard neighbours yelling through the night, so no doubt the council will soon be called.

In the last hour, it has howled 13 times.

It’s quite chilly again tonight. Good for snuggling under the blankets to watch tennis.

Tomorrow will be a relaxing day and I might do some more of my art.

 Ha Ha Ha

Nite all

Deciding Origin

So here we are, Wednesday night, the State of Origin decider live from Sydney and just 20 minutes remaining with the score NSW 4 QLD 20.

It’s tense.

QLD have been in the lead in previous games and NSW have stolen the win from under them.

I am concerned.

Today, for reasons unknown to me, I decided to get ‘arty’.

When Number One Son visited us, he gifted me his very good quality polychromos coloured pencils wrapped in a lovely leather pouch.

I decided to put them to good use today.

I played for about 2 hours, but left everything out on the table so that I could pick up where I left off.

It was enjoyable but I felt quite drained after 2 hours. Obviously I need to get ‘art fit’!

Vegging in front of the TV was my choice of activity for the afternoon, until I crumbed some boneless chicken thighs for dinner and made a coleslaw and a garden salad.

There is now 7 minutes remaining of this State of Origin and QLD are still winning 20-6. I’d really like QLD to score one more time before the end!

Ha! Ask and ye shall receive!

QLD 24 NSW 6

Djokovic plays in the quarter finals of Wimbledon tonight. I might be tired tomorrow.

QUEENSLANDER!!!

Final score: QLD 24 NSW 12

The underdogs come through again!

Nite all.

Socially Accepted

It was difficult to get out of bed after only three hours of sleep.

The tennis was amazing and I really didn’t mind who won out of De Minaur and Djokovic. The match was tight and the final score 6-1 4-6 4-6 4-6 doesn’t indicate just how close it was, how well De Minaur played and how hard Djokovic had to fight for victory.

It was 3am when I fell asleep and my alarm was set for 6am to get ready for meditation.

I struggled and didn’t leave my bed until 7.10am!

Meditation had already started when I arrived. I was about 3 minutes late and it was a big class and a good class.

One of the girls cornered me after class and had my attention for about 20 minutes. I pedalled to the shops where the butcher was in for a long chat. I ran into another old acquaintance in the supermarket so hugs and another chat was in order.

From there I rode to the river where I ran into Klocca, so we chatted for about 30 minutes.

I found a quiet spot and sat in the shade taking in all the ‘goings on’ by the river and on the river…

On the way home I ran into the unelected Mayor, then two other acquaintances, one of whom used to attend my art classes and I chatted with them for about 15 minutes.

The final chatterbox was Mrs Bucket who took about 20 minutes of my time.

After 3 hours of sleep, I was pretty done in by the time I arrived home and chose to go to bed for a couple of hours to rest up.

Harley joined me.

I’m not sure if I’ll stay awake for tennis tonight. I think I need sleep.

So …

Nite all.

Less Wintery

Apparently there was a frost this morning, which left a very heavy dew by mid morning.

I didn’t feel the cold and I stayed in bed until 8.20am just because I love my bed.

It did reach 24°C which is not very Wintery.

The tennis was disappointing last night because Jordon Thompson (the Aussie) withdrew after the first set due to injury. I stayed awake until 11pm to watch it, but luckily fell asleep quickly once it was over.

I had a cup of tea and Harley play before getting ready for a drive into The Bay.

Little Hazie was in luck today when I found some cute Winter clothes on sale and I’ll send them off this week some time.

I bought a new brush for when BGWLBH straightens my hair for me.

Fresh lotto tickets.

Fresh rolls and bread from the bakery.

A fresh browse through Big W and the boutique.

While I was at Coles, I suddenly felt very shaky and ‘out of sorts’ so I had to sit. There are no seats in the supermarket, so I found the edge of the refrigerated butter section to park my butt.

A staff member saw me and came rushing to my rescue offering to bring me a chair, which turned out to be a yellow stepping stool.

Within seconds, I had six staff members standing around me, all with serious looks of concern on their faces. One offered me water, which I accepted. Another offered me a trolley to help with my balance as I shopped, which I accepted. Finally, one offered to accompany me while I shopped, which I declined.

I felt very safe and well looked after.

My ‘episode’ lasted maybe ten minutes and I was able to continue shopping, unassisted and without further issue.

Poor BGWLBH was waiting outside in the car and was oblivious.

We were home by 2pm and I was annoyed to discover that my quiz show channel had cancelled normal programming to bring us uninterrupted coverage of the bloody ‘mushroom murderer’ verdict.

Why?????

What the hell has it got to do with anybody?

Why does the whole of Australia need to know this or have to watch this BS?

None of it is relevant to me (or anybody else for that matter).

Ugh 😩 

Anyway, I played with Harley.

I prepared a special salad with cold chicken and sweet potato chips and potato chips for BGWLBH. Pie, chips and salad for Adoring Husband. Bread roll with cold roast chicken for me.

We all played trivia for an hour and now I’m watching tennis in bed. De Minaur plays Djokovic tonight and that match starts in about ten minutes.

So …

Nite all.

Inglorious Day

Because I wasn’t interested in the live tennis available to me, I fell asleep very soon after 11pm and hoped that I would be woken by my bladder in time to watch De Minaur play.

At 1.09am my bladder did it’s job and I turned on the TV to a score of 1 - all in the first set and watched the match in its entirety. It lasted for two hours.

De Minaur won!

As tired as I felt, they announced that the Djokovic match was up next, so I stayed awake for most of that too! It finished some time after 5am.

I woke up at 9.38am! Harley had been very patient but was definitely ready for a pee and some play!

I was torn today.

I was keen to do some art and was going to use Number One son’s water colour pad that he left behind and I even had the imagined picture in my head that I wanted to create.

The trouble was that I sat down to enjoy my brunch of tea and toast when the movie “Inglorious Basterds” popped up. 

This movie comes up in trivia questions all the time and we had never seen it. BGWLBH has seen it and always answers the trivia questions correctly, so Adoring Husband and I settled in to watch it.

Ugh 😩 

The graphic violence, the blood and gore, the callous cruelty and the evil mindsets.

AH and I spent a lot of time gasping and covering our eyes.

Setting that aside, it was a well made movie and the acting was excellent, but if you have a weak stomach or are not a fan of blood and gore, then my advice is to avoid it.

It finished just in time for the football.

For dinner, I cooked a whole chook with roasted veggies - potato, sweet potato, carrot and tomato, with green beans and snow peas on the side and home made gravy.

We had 45 minutes of trivia before we all headed to bed and I have Wimbledon on in the bedroom.

The Aussie, Jordan Thompson is playing the American, Taylor Fritz tonight with the hopes of reaching the quarter finals. I don’t like his chances, but he is playing very well, so you never know your luck on the day.

Time to get comfy.

Nite all.