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!!

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Home Fun

Most interesting (click on this link)

I have an air fryer. It has been sitting unopened in its box under the window in my family room for about 2 yrs.

I read a warning around that time, about how dangerous it can be, cooking with an air fryer. They have become very popular, and almost everyone I know has one and uses it regularly.

My intuition serves me well and I am loathe to ignore it - gut instinct tells me to leave the air fryer alone.

This is what I’ve found today in a google search …






Adoring Husband, I hope you have taken note.

BGWLBH worked at Crafty Bee today. I would normally take the opportunity to drive in with her and have a solo day in the Bay, but I chose to remain at home.

I swam 25 laps of the pool in between throwing the ball for Harley and counting his 83 laps running around the pool = the equivalent of 2 kms. He dived and swam a few times as well.

While I waited for my breakfast to cook, I rebounded for ten minutes.

Day 4 of the Ashes Test had started so I made myself comfortable on the couch to watch Australia take pretty good control of the match. Thankfully, this match (unlike the first four) will take up the entire 5 days and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

There was more editing to do so I came into my room and set up the laptop to spend the afternoon working on that.

At 4pm I sent AH to the butcher for some chicken thighs and I prepared chicken pot pies for dinner.

We are having problems with our smoke alarm going off without reason. The batteries have been changed but it’s been happening infrequently for weeks at any time of the day or night. It happened again tonight and the only way to settle Harley was to come to bed early. He feels safest in his bed.

Now I’ll spend a couple more hours editing before sleeping. Morning tea with the art girls in the morning.





Nite all

Tuesday, January 6, 2026

In and Out

I stole this from Facebook, because I can totally relate …

* Never going to be the strong woman again. I want to be the happy woman. The soft woman. The kind of woman who doesn’t always have to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. I want to laugh without holding back, to smile without forcing it, and to feel light again. I don’t want to always be the one who hides her pain just to look tough.

I want to feel safe enough to cry when I need to, and to ask for help when I can’t do it alone. Being strong all the time is exhausting, and I don’t want to keep proving myself anymore. I want to be free from always needing to show how strong I am. I don’t want strength to be the only thing people see in me.

I want to live with peace in my heart. I want to enjoy the little things again. I just want to be me. Not trying to be unbreakable, not hiding anymore, but free to live and to finally be the woman I couldn’t be when I was busy trying to stay strong. *


I was awake at 5.45am and knowing that I had to be ready to leave at 7.30 am, I couldn’t relax enough to fall back to sleep, so lay in bed thinking and clock watching.

Even after all that, I wasn’t ready to leave until 7.45am! 

Adoring Husband and I drove directly into the Bay, to the butcher for a decent purchase and to farm gate for another decent purchase. While we were at Eli Waters, I visited Frox Fashion, tried on five tops and bought one. Even their size 8s are too big for me!

We were home at 10am.

I cleared the old fruit and veg from the crisper drawers and refilled them with the fresh stuff.

Then it was time for a big cook off. I made a batch of Butter Chicken to freeze and an even bigger batch of curried mince to fill pastries for our future dinners.

I had an hour break and lay down on my bed for a 30 min nap before returning to the kitchen where I crumbed some chicken and prepared a strawberry/broccoli salad and a garden salad for dinner.

I’m now laying on my bed watching the T20 cricket - Sydney Thunder vs Adelaide Strikers.

The Brisbane International tennis is on too, so I’ll be channel surfing again.

I think I shall make myself a cup of soursop tea and settle in for the night.





Nite all.

Monday, January 5, 2026

Unexpected that Was!

I was up at 8.30am and planned on swimming but it was overcast and miserable outside.

BGWLBH unexpectedly decided to go into the Bay, so I unexpectedly decided to join her.

Our first stop was Office Works - note to self - AVOID OFFICE WORKS IN JANUARY.

Back to school crowds have begun!

I actually left empty handed. Very proud of myself because I usually leave with stuff that I really don’t need … especially journals … I’m too afraid to count my journals now. Last count was 38 and I’ve purchased quite a few since that count.

We crossed the road to the newsagent where I purchased the winning lotto ticket. There was a good sized queue of people, so we took longer there than expected too!

Into the cheap shop for some craft supplies, the bakery for bread rolls and into the chemist for some gift ideas.

Pialba Place to the butcher for bacon, Choice for more craft supplies, supermarket for a small grocery shop and then our favourite juice bar.

We were home earlier than usual to find the pool guy parked in our driveway.

Harley was excited to see me, as always.

I made myself a late lunch and sat in front of the TV, channel surfing between the cricket and the two tennis tournaments.

Decisions. Decisions.

Spag Bol sauce out of the freezer for a quick dinner.

It’s now 9.15pm and I’m ready to get under the covers for some snooze time. I’m into the Bay again tomorrow, with Adoring Husband and need an early start.





Nite all.

Sunday, January 4, 2026

Nice Routine

Amazingly, I slept for a solid 9.5 hours last night!

I must have needed it.

So I rose, changed into my swimmers and took Harley out to the pool. Absolutely perfect swimming weather and the water had just the slightest chill to it.

In between throwing the ball for Harley, I swam about 20 laps. Mostly freestyle, but some backstroke and breaststroke too. I floated for quite some time, soaking up as much vitamin d as I could.

After about an hour, we left the pool area and I gave Harley his morning treats - a chook foot, two chicken flavoured cookies and a scattering of liver treats. 

I rebounded for about 5-10 minutes.

I reheated a big cup of chicken broth with 2 chicken wings for brunch and planted myself in front of the TV for the Ashes Test Match.

When their lunch break was called, I decided to clean my ensuite.

I have a natural gel that gets piped onto the grout lines of the shower tiles. That took a while. I decluttered some old hand creams, empty mascara and eyeliner containers, lip balms, a tissue box, reed diffuser, cleaned my brushes and all my scrunchies of loose hair, polished the mirror, cleaned the basin and surrounds, wiped down the window sill and walls and then returned to the cricket.

Tomorrow, I’ll rinse off the grout cleaner and clean the shower recess, floor and toilet.

I did a roast lamb and vegetables for dinner - potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, onion, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, snow peas and broccoli all lightly laced with my delicious home made gravy.

No trivia tonight because there was tennis to watch (Kyrgios and Kokkinakis) and two T20 matches. The Renegades surprisingly defeated the top of the ladder Stars and now I’m watching Perth Scorchers play Adelaide Strikers.

I feel like I filled my day productively with plenty of beneficial healthy habits.

Now it’s time to sleep again.





Nite all.  

Saturday, January 3, 2026

Read Edit Read

Celebrating the birthdays of three people today. Two friends and my goddaughter.

Even though I was awake at 7am, I didn’t rise until 9am and took Harley straight outside to play. I sat on the side of the pool, soaking up the vitamin D and after 30 minutes, I headed inside to do some rebounding.

I then made myself a cup of soursop tea and returned to bed where I am attempting to do the final edit on a friends book.

This is my second time reading it and the new edits have improved it, which I didn’t think was possible.

Focusing for so long is quite exhausting so I had to have a short nap, then watched the 2nd episode of the new Jet Lag series before returning to editing.

At 4pm, I took Harley out for his afternoon play and then made myself an early dinner of fried rice with honeyed prawns - fend for yourself night!

I returned to bed at 6pm and have done some more editing with the T20 cricket on in the background. Despite David Warner scoring a massive 130 runs to contribute to the Thunders very respectable final score of 205, Hurricanes thrashed them with two overs to spare.

It’s now 10pm so I will attempt to sleep - I’m hoping to create a new habit of falling asleep before 11pm and waking up before 7am and even getting out of bed to start my day earlier.

I feel that getting out of bed between 9am and 10am wastes too many fresh hours and if I want some structure to my day, then it needs to start earlier.

Good luck to me!

I ordered my 2026 Intrinsic calendar and some more Essiac tincture, which is having a very positive effect on my gut health.

Enough.





Nite all.

Friday, January 2, 2026

What Day is it?

A day in the Bay which was a little disappointing because some establishments have taken extra time off and decided not to reopen until next week.

Bloody inconsiderate! They should have known that I would need them to be open today!

Actually, it makes me admire them for being so self aware and taking necessary time off to be with family and to rejuvenate before getting into the new year. Good for them. I can make do.

Thank goodness my butcher was open!

I won $73 on all the scratchies that I received for Christmas. That money paid for lotto this week and a new calendar.

I purchased 6 calendars before Christmas and gave them ALL as gifts, forgetting to keep one for myself! 

We put one on the back of the toilet door, one inside the pantry door and I have one in my bedroom so we got two today and I’m going to order an Adele Basheer Intrinsic calendar for my room.

I used to sell Intrinsic products in my shop and I met Adele at the gift fair in Sydney - I love her.

The cricket has been amazing and tonight’s game between Melbourne Stars and Brisbane Heat was super exciting! Brisbane Heat performed a cricketing miracle in the final four overs to win tonight.

The tennis has already started so I’m going to have to make tough decisions this month.

Time for sleep now.





Nite all.