A Giggle

Let’s start this post with a giggle ... Sarah Millican is always good for that!

Let’s follow that with some education and learn some Spanish ...

• The Spanish word for ‘bread’ is PAN
• The Spanish word for ‘beach’ is PLAYA
• The Spanish word for ‘swimming pool’ is PISCINA
• The Spanish word for ‘dog’ is PERRO

So ...
“walk your dog on the beach” becomes “pasear a su perro en la playa” and
“eat some bread by the pool” becomes “comer pan junto a la piscina”

If you change the “ate” at the end of our English words to “ar”, it becomes Spanish. For example:

• celebrate becomes celebrar
• activate becomes activar
• calculate becomes calcular
• create becomes crear 
• operate becomes operar 

That’s your mini Spanish lesson for the day. I’m not sure why I chose Spanish, but there you go ... you learn something new every day!

I had a most pleasant day today and changed it up a bit by spending a couple of hours here ...

The water was 25°C which is way too cold for Adoring Husband but he came outside in the fresh air to read under the Bali hut while I swam and stretched and exercised and soaked up that beautiful sunshine ☀️

Afterwards, I did this ...

Cucumber, celery, spinach, apple, mint, coconut water, filtered water, tonic water and 6 drops of zinc.

THEN it was back to Grey’s Anatomy!

Hainan Chicken for dinner.

 

Nite all.

More for Immunity

Despite what “they” told us for decades, fats and oils are vitally important for strong immunity and health.

Fat is the most concentrated source of energy - more than double that of protein or carbs.

The brain is 60% fat.

Fat carries the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E & K and aids in their absorption in the intestines.

Fats and oils to avoid are soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, canola, rice bran, cottonseed and margarine. One of the many reasons to avoid them is because they use short chain alcohols like methanol, propanol and isopropanol to process them.

If you want to know more about the process ... Fats and Oils Industry

The good fats and oils (excluding food sources) are:

Coconut Oil:  The coronavirus is a lipid-coated virus that pegs out in the presence of medium-chain triglycerides–and coconut oil is our best source of these healthy fats.

Saturated Fats: Coronavirus has an affinity for the lungs, and the lungs can’t work without saturated fats, so eat plenty of butter and avoid all industrial fats and oils.

Excellent food sources of healthy fats are:

• Avocado
• Eggs
• Fatty fish like salmon, sardines, trout, mackerel and herrings
• Nuts (not peanuts or cashews which are legumes) almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamias, brazil and hazelnuts to name a few
• Chia seeds (29g contain 9g of fat)

There were two people from Burrum Heads confirmed with Covid 19 on Wednesday so we need to remain vigilant. This is not a rumour, but straight from the horse’s mouth.

It is midday as I write this and I’m about to get out of bed (yep still in bed researching lol) and make some lunch, which includes a green smoothie for me. 

I can’t decide whether to binge watch some more Grey’s Anatomy - I am up to the middle of season 5 and there are 17 seasons all up - or do some art or perhaps some much needed housework! Maybe a swim?

It doesn’t matter much does it? I like the breezy life that contains no real responsibilities or expectations.

I’ll add more tonight.

Well, you guessed it. Grey’s was the order of the day. It was harrowing! It was the season where Izzy Stevens got her brain tumour and George O’Malley died

007 *gasp* IT’S GEORGE!!! John Doe is George!! John Doe is George!!

😢😭😭😭😢

I am emotionally exhausted 😩

So it’s bed time for me.

Nite all.

A Good Friday

More Grey’s Anatomy.

I succumbed to my weakness for potato tonight and made these ...

I think they’re called potato puff muffins or something and I added bacon and onion to the mix.

Sour cream and cheese are usually NOT on our shopping list, but since our food options are more limited in the supermarkets these days, I figure that once in a while we can go outside our scope of genius and slum it with the plebs 😝🤪 haha.

The answer to my Facebook riddle ...

... is 5

1 rabbit
The 6 elephants were NOT going towards the river
But they all saw the same 2 monkeys going towards the river
And there were 2 parrots - one in each monkey’s hands

1 + 2 + 2 = 5

Nite all.

Worth a Try

Let me make this clear ... I am NOT a Trump fan, by any stretch of the imagination!

However ...

The advice he has taken on, and shared with the world about Hydroxychloroquine has some merit.

LA doctor seeing success with Hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid 19

Obviously, we don’t have access to this drug, but the next best option to help in our fight against the virus is 150 ml (that’s half a small bottle) of tonic water which contains quinine (apparently Schweppes is the best) along with 50-100mg of zinc.

The quinine acts as a transport chain to allow nutrients to get into the cells.

Zinc helps develop natural killer cells that fight viruses.

So even if you only have a cold or seasonal flu, this is an excellent remedy to help your body put up a good fight.

As you see, it is after 1am as I post this.

While I attempted an early night last night, I was awake 2 hours after falling asleep listening to Adoring Husband’s seasoned snoring. I even recorded it, much to his horror and as much as I’d like to share the recording here, I will spare him the embarrassment - even though I’d like to punish him!

I was awake from 12.20am until 3am.

I’m attempting to return to my pre-isolation bed time routine but at this rate, it might take some time!

Nite all.

Rules Don’t Apply

Obviously, the people of Hervey Bay believe that the Covid 19 protocols don’t apply to them.

People standing in groups chatting in the walkways of Stocklands.

Whole families of 5 & 6 strolling through the plaza and supermarkets, no gloves or masks or using the sanitiser available.

Very few people sticking to the ‘distance’ rules in the supermarket aisles.

People picking items up and replacing them on the shelves.

Nobody standing on the markers in the checkout queues.

The Centrelink queue at 10.30am stretched almost to the corner but there was no distance between any of those people.

The traffic was really busy and even the carparks were much fuller than I expected.

Apparently, there will be police presence at the supermarkets on Thursday because the day before Good Friday is renowned for being crazy at the best of times.

We had to take psychotic dog Ruby into the vet to get her allergy injection at 10am. We arrived 10 minutes early and I took her in on my own and I was sitting back in the car before 10am.

From there, we were on the search for some toilet paper to replenish the stock at the shop toilets. Despite our valiant efforts, we were, once again, unsuccessful!

We were able to buy enough meat to make up the dog food for the next couple of weeks and a few other essentials.

We were home by 11.30am and I opened The Happy Abode for a local person to make some purchases for birthday and anniversary gifts.

There’ll be no Grey’s Anatomy tonight because there have been too many 2am bed times and I can feel it catching up with me.

It’s 9pm and I’m off to bed!

My score was 7 😋

Nite all.

I Love You

While you are self isolating with someone you love, I thought you might like to learn to say “I Love You” to them in different languages.

Phillipino - Mahal Kita
Spanish    - Te Quiero
Samoan    - Oute alofa is oe
Italian      - Ti amo
Swedish   - Jag älskar dig
German    - Ich liebe dich
Hawaiian - Aloha wau iā ‘oe
Irish         - Is breá liom tú

Now, go spread the love!

H

It’s midnight ... again 😳

Nite all.

The Sunshine Vit

When I first moved to QLD, 12 years ago, I was very ill with hyperthyroidism and vertigo.

My weight had dropped so rapidly that my muscle had wasted away and I needed assistance to stand up.

The Doctor wanted to remove my thyroid, which I refused.
The Doctor wanted to inject my thyroid with radioactive iodine, which I refused.

I agreed to take quadruple strength medication for a short period of time to level the thyroid hormones, followed by normal strength medication until I decided to stop approximately 9 months later.

My thyroid readings were normal the last time I had blood tests which was about 5 yrs ago.

When I was sick, I had a chronic Vitamin D deficiency, which the Dr told me was common with any serious illness. Vitamin D keeps your immune system strong and fights diseases and viruses, so if you are deficient, you’re ability to fight illness is reduced.

Vitamin D helps your body create ‘cathelicidins’ which are an anti microbial, which helps destroy microbes by disrupting their membrane.

Incredibly important to reduce your chances of contracting Covid 19.

The Vitamin D - antimicrobial peptide pathway and it’s role in protection against infection

Or go to pages 19 - 23 for the summaries

Much easier to read ...

Foods that provide Vitamin D are fatty fish such as salmon and sardines, beef liver, egg yolks and mushrooms.

Natural sunlight is the best form of Vitamin D - just don’t get sunburn - especially if you’re prone to skin cancers or melanoma. It’s worth noting that healthy doses of natural sunlight will also help your body fight off these cancers.

Vitamin A is also important for helping your immune system function at its best. It maintains your body’s natural defences, like the mucous barriers in your eyes, lungs, gut and genetals which trap bacteria and other infectious agents.

It helps with the production and function of white blood cells - which help capture and clear bacteria and other pathogens from your blood stream.

That’s it for your immunity lesson for the day!

I’m about to post on The Happy Abode’s Facebook page that we will begin phone sales/transactions for local customers and then provide a ‘knock and drop’ service for people who want to buy from our page. So keep an eye on the page.

I’m off to binge some more Grey’s Anatomy!

Oh and Adoring Husband wanted me to add a disclaimer. He has NEVER slapped me up the back of my head, has never WANTED to slap me up the back of the head and never will slap me up the back of the head.

Nite all.

End of Day 15

Fifteen days in self isolation.

Today I am grateful for:

• My Life. I have everything I ever wanted.
• Adoring Husband not smacking me up the back of the head when I get narky and snappy.
• Fresh limes 

It’s already after midnight so ...

Welcome to week three of isolation!

Nite all.

PS Even though this post seems like I’m not happy today, I really am, but I am forcing myself to go to bed instead of watching Grey’s Anatomy all night!

Sleep for Immunity

Sleep is so important for building and maintaining a strong immune system ...

I have a routine that helps me fall asleep easily and quickly.

The only problem with a routine is that when it is interrupted or broken (eg when my sister phoned just before I was going to bed and we chatted until well after midnight) it’s REALLY difficult to wind down and your sleep pattern is also disturbed.

Luckily that rarely happens, so my regular routine serves me well. It goes something like this:

• I have a ‘sleep alarm’ set on my phone that gently tinkles to the tune of ‘go to sleep’ at 9pm with a message that reads “time to prepare for bed”
• I confess that since isolation, I ignore my alarm and don’t prepare for bed until midnight 😳
• I finish what I’m doing - could be a TV show, my blog, a words with friends game (whatever)
• I take the dogs out to pee and put them to bed
• Fill my bedside water bottle
• Turn off the TV, the fan and living room lamp
• Brush my teeth
• Pull my hair back
• Dab myself with my ‘sweet sleep’ essential oil
• Climb into bed, make myself comfortable and listen to a 30 minute sleep meditation on a phone app through earpods. I listen to the same app every night, so the sound of that voice now serves as a sleep trigger and I’m usually asleep inside 3 minutes.

Your routine could include your evening shower or bath, drinking a soothing tea like camomile or reading a book. Anything, as long as it’s something that you can do every evening before bed time.

Avoid regular tea and coffee after 3pm because the stimulant in caffeine (which is found in both) can affect you for up to 8 hours after you drink it.

There are 94.8 mg of caffeine in a cup of coffee and 26.1 mg in a cup of tea. There are 43 mg of caffeine in 6 squares of dark chocolate, so you should probably avoid that in the evenings too.

Keep your lighting low in the evenings. Turn off any fluorescent lights.

Research shows that spending time outside between 9-10am and again between 4-5pm helps regulate your serotonin and melatonin levels, which in turn reduces your need for a day time nap and improves the soundness of your night time sleep.

The government provides a 17 page booklet about that research specifically done on the elderly (that’s us!)

OR in a nutshell ...

Yes, I did my breathing exercises today - day four. I find that I can hold my breath for a few seconds longer every day. Is that beneficial for lung function??? I’ll find out.

Here we go ...

Here are the links to the studies highlighted there.

Increasing Life Span
Regeneration of new tissue in the brain
Resistance to bacterial infections

Making yourself feel relaxed this is not a study but a selection of different breathing techniques.

Well, that should keep you busy ... but then it’s not like you’re going anywhere 🤪

Haha

Have a happy Sunday!

Nite all.

Comparisons

Each year, up to 5 million people worldwide catch the seasonal flu.

Each year, between 250,000 - 650,000 people die from the complications of seasonal flu.

In the space of three months, these are the current statistics for Covid 19.

The WHO website only provides death statistics with percentages, as do most government websites. It’s tough to find actual numbers anywhere.

While I am following the rules and self isolating and making sure we are sanitising and wearing gloves in busy supermarkets (which we’ve shopped at only once in 5 weeks) I am still struggling to understand why this is more severe than the seasonal flu.

I’m no expert so all I can do is go against all my instincts and accept the information that the “powers that be” are feeding me.

I continued with my breathing exercises today(day 3).

Physically, I feel quite strong with slightly easier movement.

Mentally, I feel some clarity and don’t seem to be losing my words or stumbling over them during conversations.

I still  don’t feel motivated or enthusiastic about going through my ‘to do’ list though. I’d much rather  binge watch a TV series or go for a swim or research on my iPad or listen to an Audible book.

Maybe that will change after a few more days.

Maybe I prioritise differently to everyone else and I should enjoy my priorities instead of feeling guilty that they are different to everyone else’s. 😳

Anyway tonight I am giving us a break from immunity boosting. Instead, I’ll share my gratitude 🙏

I’m grateful for the technology that keeps me connected to my friends and family, provides distractions when I need it and helps educate me on any given subject.

I’m grateful for friends and family who care enough to check up on me during this world crisis.

I’m grateful for the beautiful weather that we are experiencing and the feeling of warm sunshine on my face.

I had a three hour phone call with my sister on Thursday night. We said goodbye after 12.30am and Adoring Husband woke up at the same time. He took some medication and I made him breathe in some “sleep deeply” essential oil. He fell back to sleep straight away but snored like a trooper for the next 90 minutes!!

I tried essential oil and two different meditations but nothing could drown out that reverberation!!

It was almost 3am the last time I looked at the time. I slept until 8 am.

It’s now almost midnight and he is sleeping quietly so I should take this opportunity to sleep myself!

Nite all.

Grounding for Immunity

Grounding or earthing for good health and building strong immunity.

This is my favourite form of healing and maintaining good health.

When I’m outside in the back yard or down on the beach, I never wear shoes or thongs.

In general, and I’m not sure why, people believe they are ‘protecting’ themselves by covering up from head to toe when in actual fact they are preventing the natural environment from giving them life forces that can can heal and strengthen them when they are outside.

Sunshine and Vit D is an excellent example but I’ll save that for another day.

There is a lot of scientific data proving that grounding is incredibly beneficial to our health.

Even the government has created a 24 page booklet explaining the benefits! You can read it here

Some of the benefits include improving sleep, reducing chronic pain and speeding the healing process.

This 3 minute YouTube video explains it very nicely!

“Grounding” is the latest wellness trend

So while we are self isolating, our front or back yards are the perfect places to do some grounding. Sit on the grass with bare feet and place our palms on the grass too. Ten minutes is fine and provides some benefits. 45 minutes has proven most beneficial.

When you’re gardening, do it in bare feet. It’s even nice to go without gloves some of the time - bacteria in the soil is also amazing for our gut health (I’ll save that for another day too!) - as long as we practice social distancing, we are allowed to walk on the beach so try some grounding there too. Ankle deep in the cleansing sea water is wonderful!

Did anyone do their breathing exercises today? I’m onto my second day and I’ve noticed that whilst I feel energised and motivated to do more - it doesn’t change or influence my strong aversion to the many household chores that I regularly avoid haha.

I guess I need to research a natural way to learn how to enjoy the crappy jobs in life!

Also, I slept for 8 solid hours last night! I wonder if the breathing contributed to that? That’s something else to monitor.

My aim for today is to

• Hand wash my delicate silk blouses (I have 5)
• Change the bedding
• Choose which crappy art piece to embellish and begin.
• Watch some more Grey’s Anatomy

A short list is much more manageable and less daunting - besides there are still a LOT more days remaining in self isolation!

This morning I was in bed and, as per usual, Adoring Husband brought my coffee in. I brought it to my mouth to drink it and the lid popped off and spilt hot coffee all over me!

Luckily I was lying partway over my body pillow, so the coffee splashed over the pillow and my white (ugh) pyjama top and some onto my bottom half. None landed on the bed ... whew!

Much bad language also ‘poured’ from my mouth!

What a way to start the day! It can only get better from here right!?

Later at the end of the day ...

Ok so the only thing on my very short list that I actually did was watch more of Grey’s Anatomy!!

I made some chicken and vegetable fritters for lunch with a roasted capsicum, ginger and lime relish.

That’s about it!

It has still been a most enjoyable day!

Enjoy your Friday - I hope you’ve created your own special “happy hour” to replace Friday night raffles. Replace an old routine with a new routine.

I’m going to play free poker machines online while Adoring Husband cooks the usual chicken wings for dinner. I may even drink a vodka and tonic while I play ... not too different from a usual Friday night! I wonder if I should dress up for the occasion?

Nite all.

Working on Immunity

It’s weird to think that Adoring Husband and I, along with all of our friends, are in the age groups most susceptible to Covid 19.

In my mind, and I’m sure I’m not alone, I’m still in my early 20s so it’s a bit of a shock to the system when your kids start worrying about your health and the news stories mention your age in the “vulnerable” group!

So I thought I’d begin posting information about how to increase or build a stronger immune system.

Information other than what you already know (like Vit C, flu bombs etc) and info that is easy to put into practice if you choose to try it.

The first one I’ve selected is breathing exercises.

This man, Wim Hof, can come across as being a bit “out there” at first and he is very animated and very passionate about all the things he has learned and proven with his techniques.

There is nothing genetically exceptional about his mind and body - he has an identical twin brother who does not live the same lifestyle and who has participated in some of the research.

Most importantly (for the non believers) he has co-operated with scientists in some interesting research and studies to prove that his techniques actually work.

His techniques have been proven to alkalise the body and activate the immune system, heal from illness faster, improve mental health and relieve depression and anxiety, considerably reduce pain, improve mental focus and clarity, control your stress response and more.

Since it costs nothing but 5 minutes of your time, I thought it would be a good one to start with, so here are the links to 3 short videos.

The first one is 6 minutes long and has a story explaining one particular scientific study that he was involved in (there have been a few).

The second is a 3 minute video explaining safety when trying this technique (obviously someone tried it while they were driving or something stupid).

The third is 10 minutes long teaching you the technique itself.

Influencing The Immune System | Wim Hof method Science
Wim Hof Method - Safety Information
Wim Hof breathing tutorial - by Wim Hof

I’m going to try it twice a day for the next week.

I had my first session an hour ago and already it has improved my mental focus because it’s 10am Wednesday morning and I’m not only writing this blog post (instead of rushing it at midnight like I have for the past week!) but I’m mentally thinking about what I can fit into my morning before the next round of Grey’s Anatomy binge watching.

That’s a big change from the past week when my only thoughts have been - how can I actively avoid doing everything on my “surviving Covid 19” list? 😝🤪🤣

I’m already feeling good that I’ve created something of value that requires me to simply press the “publish” button tonight.

I’m off now to see what I can accomplish for the day. I’ll do another 5 minute breathing session before lunch - apparently it’s best done on an empty stomach.

Have a fabulous Thursday!!

Nite all.

PS Today I washed clothes, baked a chicken dinner, tidied up around the place, listed some ideas for embellishing my art, culled some clothes from my wardrobe to sell in the shop, checked my emails, partially cleared the fridge, packed away the FROG groceries, watched some more Grey’s Anatomy and felt grateful for my comfortable life 🥰