Under the Weather

I had a very big night on Thursday night.

Because the club doesn't open on Good Friday, the Friday night raffles were held on Thursday night instead.

Adoring Husband had SES duties, so because he wasn't home, I did not catch the usual early bus with everyone else. I stayed on til almost 10pm.

This meant that I spent almost 6 hours drinking. I didn't count my drinks and I do remember all of the night out, including the bus ride home (the last courtesy bus of the evening).

I don't remember anything between when I arrived home and about 3am.

I spent a lot of time in the bathroom and I will not go into any details.

I finally climbed into my bed at around 4am, very much the worse for wear.

Good Friday was NOT a good Friday for me. I stayed in bed ALL day. I felt like my internal organs were on life support and that I had killed a good number of brain cells. I even took panadol! Those who know me, know that I don't make that decision lightly.

Yes it was self inflicted and I deserve no sympathy.

Adoring Husband took very good care of me in my hours of need and was much more sympathetic toward me, than I would have been toward him, if the situation was reversed! He has a kinder heart than I.

This is the reason that I did not post here for two days. The first night, I was inebriated, and the second night, I was still in recovery!

I feel fully recovered now and believe it or not, I even had a couple of wines with the Reality TV Queen this afternoon without incident.

Every few years, I do a really good job of reminding myself why I don't party hard any more. I don't want to waste so many days trying to recover!

I think that my recovery day was the second time in five years that I did not open my laptop (the first time was after the tornado hit).

So anyway .. I survived .. I am alive and intact .. embarrassed and a little regretful .. but you're never too old to learn the hard lessons.

I found this today and just had to share it. It's so true of us all.



I'm back!

Nite all.

Friendly

'Friends' is probably my favourite TV series of all time (Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, The Big Bang Theory, Will and Grace, ER and Cheers are other faves).

A couple of interesting facts about 'Friends' ...

1.  For the first season all six actors were paid $22,000 per episode but by the second season their contracts changed to different amounts for each character. The cast banded together and negotiated until all six of them earned $100,000 per episode. This makes them one of the first casts to negotiate salaries as a group rather than boycotting for individual reasons. By the final season they each earned $1 million per episode.

2.  The show would've been much different had the beloved six not been cast. Kathy Griffin and Jane Lynch both auditioned for Phoebe, Jon Favreau and Jon Cryer both went out for Chandler, and Eric McCormack (Will, from Will and Grace) read several times for Ross.

3.  Matthew Perry went into rehab twice during the show for abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol. He says that while he often came to work hung over, he never drank or did drugs on set.

Speaking of drugs, I found this little piece on addiction very interesting ...



Morning tea with the girls was a lot of fun today. Loud ... but fun!

I'm posting this early today. I am about to clean off my desk, so that I can set it up for guitar lessons. I need room on the desk for my laptop to watch Youtube videos and I need space for my butt on the chair in front of the laptop which will be on my desk.

Here is the 'before photo' ...

Watch this space for the 'after' photo ... I just can't guarantee when :)

Today is Vegan Chickie's birthday! She has had an extended birthday this year and so far, seems to have had a great time! Happy birthday lovely daughter. I hope you enjoyed your birthday picnic with the loves of your life today :)

Nite all.

Cluelessly Strumming

I saw my boys this morning and spent 45 minutes sitting by the river enjoying the view.

You can tell that the season is changing because the air is different, the water is clearer and a deeper blue, and the sea life is abundant and in full view. I could sit on the steps with my legs calf deep in the tepid water for hours. Energising and healing.

I checked for our mail at the Post Office and then visited The Motivator for a couple of hours. She was selling fish, so we had plenty of interruptions from customers, but we still got a few good laughs in.

Adoring Husband was attending to SES duties so I came home and prepared his lunch before he arrived home. I had plans to visit Mum H after lunch, but down came the rains! So we postponed our date.

Instead, I sat on the couch and aimlessly strummed my guitar. I studied my book and attempted to learn some chords, but honestly, I have no idea!! I was going to spend the afternoon in Youtube and watch some lessons, but then I got distracted with housework.

What??!!!

Things are bad when I use housework as a procrastination tool!

I am NOT defeated .. I AM intimidated .. but I can do it! Small steps and slowly does it.

That is my day.

Surprisingly, I didn't require a nana nap today! At 8pm last night, I ate some food with pure raw cacao in it, and have since discovered that it is a stimulant and can cause insomnia! It kept me awake til 4.30am!! I was out of bed by 7.30am, so I've powered through the day on 3 hours of sleep!

I expected to crash and burn some time in the afternoon, but it didn't happen. It's now 9.30pm and I'm still feeling fine. I'll attempt a reasonably early night anyway.

Looking forward to morning tea with the girls tomorrow.

Nite all.

Pretty Chuffed!

So this happened today!!

My bucket list for this year includes 'learning a musical instrument'. I had two instruments in mind, when I made that list and they were piano or guitar. If I was going to learn the piano, I would choose something like a baby grand and definitely not an electronic keyboard. So the difference in the price of a baby grand piano (around $6000 for second hand and up to $19000 for new) or a guitar ($200 - $3500), made the choice pretty easy.

Adoring Husband knew about my bucket list and decided that he would buy a guitar for my birthday (which is still a month away), so we stopped at the music shop in The Bay to ask some questions and check out some prices.

The young man who served us, was 30yrs old (I remember a time in my life when I thought 30 was SO OLD!) and he has been playing guitar for 17 years. He pointed out our best options and then played a couple of them so that I could choose the sound that I liked. Unfortunately, the sound that I liked the best came from a guitar that was way too big for me! He explained that getting the smaller size, changed the sound completely, so that wasn't an option.

I sat down and held a couple of them, and strummed the strings (I have no idea how to play) and I eventually selected the one I liked. I chose a book 'The Ultimate Guitar Chord Chart' so that I could teach myself the chords, and the young man (why didn't I get his name?) told us that he gives lessons at his place, which is an option for the future.

I know a few people around town who play guitar. Both of my sons-in-law play.

My best find for the day is Youtube!! Video after video of guitar lessons for all levels of players, from beginners and beyond. Here is the first one on the list.  



So I'm a bit excited!

What else happened today? Lunch on the water ...

It was about 5pm by the time we returned home. A big day of shopping, repairing Adoring Husband's glasses, new head phones because I've broken two sets in the last month, choosing a yoga mat (for meditation on the beach) and some art supplies because I've decided to attempt some sketching.

I've attempted to sketch once or twice in my life. I loved to sketch when I was 14 or 15 and always did very well in the subject of art at school. I had big plans to become a commercial artist, but was gently discouraged by my parents. A couple of times in my adult life, I got the bug, and scribbled a bit, but never pursued it.

To become good at any kind of art, like anything else in life, you need to practise a lot. I've never done that, but I think I could probably do that now. I have the bug again, so I'll see where it leads me. I've posted my 'beginning' sketch here and maybe, in a couple of months, I can post a new improved version, so that you can see my progress!

Finally a quick nosh up for dinner, considering how late we arrived home from The Bay, and by the time we unpacked the car and gave everything a home, a quick dinner was in order.

I'm feeling pretty chuffed about my day!

Nite all.

Another Lazy Sunday

It doesn't get any more lazy than this! I stayed in bed until 10.45am on this fabulous day! How I love lazy Sundays.

Loved this, thought you might too ...

Nite all.

A Quiet Vote

I saw my boys this morning. I don't see them as often as I once did. They are doing well.

It was beautiful down by the river. The water is so clear and clean, that you can watch the different varieties of fish swimming and you can actually see the bottom of the river.  It was high tide and I walked down the steps near the boat ramp until I was knee deep in what was very tepid water. It was very serene and calming.

I planned some time in the kitchen, so I stopped off at the supermarket to stock up on some necessities before I pedalled home and slipped straight into cooking mode.

Adoring Husband's favourites were first off the mark - apple and walnut muffins - next was a new recipe for carrot and raisin muffins. I added flaked almonds to the recipe and they are delicious too! I roasted a chicken in the oven and we had that with salad for lunch.

After lunch, we watched the movie 'Paddington Bear' on Foxtel. That was a bit of fun. Then it was time to vote! We left it later in the day to vote, so that we could go for a walk along the beach afterwards, and still get home in time for the football.

The advantage to leaving it late in the day, is that there are no queues! We walked straight in and it took us all of five minutes to scan our paper, tick and lodge our ballots and make our way to the beach.

Considering how warm the weather was today, it was very pleasant on the beach. The tide was out, but on it's way in, so we were able to paddle knee deep in the very warm water and there was a nice cooling breeze blowing. The puddles and channels in the sand contained uncomfortably hot water, but there was plenty of birdlife around, including two white bellied sea eagles soaring overhead.

I didn't take my camera or my phone, so there were no photographs taken, but we enjoyed the walk and since I wasn't holding my camera, we got to hold hands for a change, which was lovely.

We arrived home in time to catch kick off for the first NRL game. There have been some upsets today and while I started off well yesterday, my tips are looking a bit the worse for wear this evening. But I am not alone there.

Some more fun from Scamalot ...



... and I could really relate to this ...

Adoring Husband was called out tonight for a search and rescue on the Mary River at Maryborough. Some kids were seen in a boat (which they stole) on the river and later the boat was seen upturned floating in the river, and no sign of the kids.

The first two rescue boats that were sent out, broke down, so a boat was brought in from Tiaro and also from Burrum Heads. This all happened at about 8.30pm. At 11pm, AH phoned me to say that the kids had been found, alive and well and that he would be home soon.

I imagine that those parents are feeling a mixture of relief and anger right about now!

I'm feeling a bit tired right now so ...

nite all.

Friendly Friday

There is a full documentary on Youtube, but just this short video is amazing!



Today has been a nothing kind of day.

I spent a lot of time monitoring Griffith's weather via the BOM and eldersweather.com, after I saw a weather warning for that area on FB. They had storms and terribly strong winds all day, with gust reaching 102kmh!

BGWLBH said that a tree in the school playground split apart and another friend reported a mini tornado on the outskirts of town. Fallen trees caused blackouts to 2000 residents. It all seems to have calmed down now, but the bad weather lasted for hours, and I'm glad that I wasn't there to experience it.

Here's an interesting article from the Paleo magazine How Paleo Can Help Cure Your Chronic Illness

It was very quiet at the Club tonight with only six of the usual fourteen of our group there, and only four people on the bus to come home. No fighting for a seat tonight!

I'm two out of two in the footy tipping so far! Wahoo! Good to see Parramatta defeat the Bulldogs tonight.

That's all I have to say.

Nite all

 

Making Sense

I follow a young woman on FB named Jessie Reimers. She has high functioning Aspergers on the Autism Spectrum. She is both inspiring and worrying.

I met her eighteen months ago, in The Bay, at a health seminar. We shared common beliefs as far as food and medicine and health is concerned and she was fighting her inner fears, to stand before a crowd of about fifty women, to talk about essential oils. It was her first experience talking in front of a crowd as she endeavoured to sell Doterra Essential Oils.

Since that day, she has become one of Doterra's highest selling members. She has come a LONG way and in 2017 will be embarking on a year long tour of Australia, spreading the Doterra word.

She is very open and honest and really doesn't have a filter (an Asperger's trait), so she often purges her negativity and self doubts on FB for all the world to see. On the other hand, she also regularly counts her blessings and talks about all the wonderful positive experiences that she has welcomed.

She has many loyal followers and she has appeared, a number of times, on TV promoting her petition to stop The Heart Foundation and their 'tick and star' programs.

Today, she posted this link about Aspergers, which I found very interesting. Many of these traits I could strongly relate to, and I wonder how many of my friends feel the same way? As BGWLBH often says, "we all have a little bit of autism in us".

It was raining this morning, so I didn't pedal to the Seat of Knowledge. Instead, I spent thirty minutes standing at my ironing board and then showered and washed my hair. I sat at my desk for about an hour editing some photos, then Adoring Husband and I went for a drive to check the mail and drop the usb stick with photos off at Mardi's place.

I cooked a big lunch and spent the afternoon watching a couple of movies. Adam Sandler in 'Bulletproof' and Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Emma'. I really enjoyed 'Emma', which surprised me, because I'm not generally a fan of period movies.

AH picked up the FROG box this afternoon and has tonight, attended SES training at the local shed.

Great to see Cowboys thrash Roosters 40-nil tonight in the first NRL match of the weekend!

That's if from me.

Nite all.

Intermittent Kind of Day

Word of the day: 'Ubuntu' (n) A quality that includes the essential human virtues; compassion and humanity.

What a 'weathery' kind of day!

Intermittent heavy showers. Intermittent strong gusty winds. Intermittent sunshine.

The day started out warm and steamy. At morning tea, three of us used our fans to cool down, but by mid morning, the rain came and the temperature dropped briefly. In Queensland, the rain doesn't cool things down, it just creates more steam and humidity!

There were eight of us at morning tea today and there was lots of loud chatter going on. Many different conversations happening at once. I wanted to be involved in all of them! Unfortunately I'm not talented enough to listen to four conversations at the same time.

Later, I gathered my camera gear (for the first time in months) and took photos of Mardi's house, inside and out. I haven't edited the photos yet (FYI Mardi and The Life Saver), so that job is on top of my priority list!

By the time I arrived home, I was starving! I'd only had a lemon and ginger tea all day and it was 11.30am, so headed straight for the kitchen and cooked up a concoction of chicken, mushrooms, leek, kale, garlic, chilli and cashew nuts. It was quite delicious and very satisfying.

Adoring Husband was called out to an important SES meeting for the afternoon, so I took the opportunity to do a couple of jobs around the house. I had to pedal down to the butcher between rain showers this afternoon because there was no dog food for the psychotic dogs.

I used my intuition to determine when AH would return home, and timed dinner to perfection. More chicken and lots of vegetables. Steamed broccoli, roasted cauliflower, roasted zucchini, steamed beans and baked sweet potato discs. Two main meals today and I'm feeling very sated!

It's a pretty boring kind of post today.

I'm looking forward to another early night.

Nite all.

Jiggedy Jig

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig.

After a morning of playing hide n seek with Chicklet, it was then time to leave.

The Bare-chested Chef and I took Vegan Chickie and Chicklet to the bakery, where we said our goodbyes and then he and I drove to Cooroy, where he dropped me off with my luggage and I spent a very pleasant morning browsing and shopping and savouring a delicious fresh juice made with beetroot, celery, cucumber, spinach, apple and ginger. I also bought some fresh fruit to munch on. The red grapes were divine!

When I made my way to the train station, there was, just like my last trip, a large group of young people waiting for the train.

They were part of an adventure tour and were heading to Rockhampton, where they would disembark and travel further north. This is information that I caught by listening to snippets of conversations. All of them had back packs and other assorted travel bags, which covered a large area of the platform.

One of the girls was sitting beside me on a bench seat and asked if I had a pen that she could borrow. As I searched through my handbag for a pen, she pulled out a beautiful leather bound journal. She expressed overwhelming gratitude when I handed her a pen, explaining that she had lost her pen at the last place where the group stayed.

She had a Canadian accent and it was obvious that she was keeping a journal of her travels in Australia, so I told her to keep the pen. Again, she expressed her gratitude and I know, without a doubt, that my pen went to a good home!

A second group of young people arrived at the station, but without a leader. They had been told that the train arrived at 1.40pm, so half of them walked across the road to get food. By this time it was 12.40pm and train was actually due at 12.58pm. So there was a mad scramble to get them back to the station.

The second group had no idea where they were even going, so the leader of the first group decided to take charge, made some phone calls to Queensland Rail and found out how many there should be in the group and what their destination was.

By the time the train pulled into the station, she had everything under control. She was a high energy kind of girl, not that much older than the people in both groups and she was loud! With 35 young people in their late teens to organise, I guess she had to be loud.

I had a seat to myself on the train and I attempted to read one of my new books, but I just couldn't get into it, so I was a sticky beak and watched and listened to an older woman talking to a younger man about her tattoos.

She may have been a professional tattoo artist because she was scrolling through her phone and showing him photo after photo of tattoos. It seems her favourites were the eagles and she talked about taking pride in the feather detail.

Other than that, even though it was quite full, my carriage was very quiet. I decided to listen to the radio for the remainder of the trip.

The train was running about twenty minutes late, but Adoring Husband was there waiting. It's always so good to see his face when I step onto the station platform at my destination.

The psychotic dogs were happy to see me and I was happy to be home.

I'm looking forward to seeing the girls for morning tea tomorrow. I might even get to bed at a reasonable hour!

Nite all.

To the Point

Just a short post tonight.

Vegan Chickie and I saw the movie "The Lady in The Van" today. We loved it.

It's not a movie for everyone. The pace is quite slow and nothing really happens, but Maggie Smith is absolutely brilliant in this role (as she is in everything!). The other characters in the film are perfectly cast and you almost feel like you're part of the neighbourhood.

I'm so glad that I got to see it, because it's one of those films that you can easily put off seeing, until it's finished at the cinema, and then you forget all about it.



After the movie, we browsed through a second hand book store, where I bought a series of Susan Howatch books, enjoyed lunch at the Canteen Cafe in Noosa and then partook of a little retail therapy. I got a nice shell pendant for myself, and a little decorative owl to hang in my frangipani tree.

We arrived home to house that had been turned upside down because The Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet had built a dragon fort out of all the furniture and blankets in the house!!

Chicklet said to me as we drove home (they came to pick Vegan Chickie and I up) "You won't believe your eyes!!" and she was right!!

It was a very good day and I am feeling quite worn out. 10.30 seems like a good time to close my eyes and drift into dreamland.

Nite all.

Lack of Control

So I am a Grey's Anatomy fan and I watched all four episodes last night, which meant it was after 12.30am when I turned off the light and fell asleep. I am certainly a glutton for punishment, but I just have no control when it comes to Grey's.

You simply cannot keep up with a crazy Chicklet after a late night like that!!

Chicklet was struggling with life today, so we decided to not go out for breakfast as planned, and stay at home for some quiet time, so that she would be ok for her swimming lesson tomorrow.

It was 'touch and go' for most of the day, but we had fun none-the-less.

We started by creating some artworks to send to BGWLBH, including an invitation to Chicklet's sock party, which was today, so BGWLBH didn't attend.

At the sock party, we each wore socks and we danced. I taught Chicklet how to do the 'Dead Ant' which was a crazy thing that our group did at the club and at our parties. Someone would yell "Dead Ant" and everybody would drop to the ground onto their back with their legs and arms pointing skywards and flailing about. Yes, I see the frown on your face. It's a true story!

We also played Knight vs Dragon. Chicklet set up a shop and we played 'shops', where I would come to the shop as a different creature each time (dog, cat, dinosaur, dragon, giraffe, bunny) and buy her wares. When I ran out of money, she would give it all back to me so that I could buy more stuff. I wish all shop keepers were so generous!

We played in the sand pit and made sand castles and sand muffins.

We walked around the garden and picked the 'wish flowers' so that we could make a wish.

We watched the movie 'The Little Prince'.

Finally, it was bath time, story time and then bed time.

A fairly full and busy day considering it was 'a quiet day at home'.

I'm looking forward to seeing how much Chicklet has improved with her swimming tomorrow and then catching a movie with Vegan Chickie afterwards.

Bed time for me now.

Nite all.

Our Mind has the Power

Some interesting reading matter about how the body is capable of healing itself - how the placebo effect is more powerful that anybody first realised.

So powerful, in fact, that the drug companies are having trouble getting their medications approved, because the people who received the placebo, had just as good results as the people who received the real thing!

The mind and the human body are truly amazing.

Why Is The Placebo Effect Exploding In The U.S. But Nowhere Else? - Forbes:

Placebo Effect Grows in the US

Altered Placebo and Drug Labelling Changes the Outcome

Healing with the Power of Placebo

Adoring Husband drove me to the Sunny Coast today so that I could spend three nights with the Chicklet family.

I spent the day playing with Chicklet who was very hyper and full of exciting playing ideas that sent her into overdrive.

The one time I got her to sit still on the bed with me to watch a dvd, she saw a GREAT idea and jumped out of bed urging me to follow her so that we could create our own igloo!

We played 'Three Little Pigs', 'Dragon and The Three Bears' (as opposed to Goldilocks and TTBs), we made a litter of dogs out of toilet rolls, we experimented with chalk dust to see what colours we could create and then massaged the dust into some pet dinosaurs and crocodiles, we played on the swing, we played hide and seek, we played tag (she is much faster now - I can't catch her and she CAN catch me!) and we did some drawing and cutting out.

Yes, you might say that I'm feeling a little worn out and after the 'TAG' fiasco, I may be feeling a little sore tomorrow!

We are starting with an early breakfast at The Bare-chested Chef's restaurant tomorrow morning and according to Chicklet, we will be having a 'sock party' some time during the day. Who knows what that will entail???

I'm off to catch up on some episodes of Grey's Anatomy and then fall into a deep slumber.

Nite all.

Hullo Goodye

This is short and sweet.

We are off to the Sunny Coast tomorrow, so I'm heading to bed for a delicious night of sound sleep.

Check this out ... coconut oil

Nite all.

Funny or What?

I read 100 jokes by famous comedians today and only six of them appealed to me. There were a couple of others, but they were too naughty to share here.

• Two cannibals were eating a clown when one said to the other "Does he taste funny to you?"
• I thought I'd begin by reading a poem by William Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine!
• How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
• Do you know how many middle aged men go out for a litre of milk and never come back? Not enough.
• My boyfriend had a sex manual but he was dyslexic. I was lying there and he was looking for my vinegar.
• How come Miss Universe is only won by people from earth?

I thought this little video was hilarious and was I imagining BGWLBH and I in the same situation. 

I spent some time in the kitchen today and was very happy with all the results. For lunch I made crispy skin chicken, cauliflower puree with candied walnuts and garlic butter asparagus.

This afternoon I mad some paleo apple and walnut muffins.

I don't have a photo of dinner, but I made Chicken and Liver Larb. It sounds terrible but it was more like a chilli lime chicken dish made with chicken mince and finely chopped chicken liver. Really delicious with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions and lime juice and chillies and mint and basil and coriander (all fresh) stirred through it and flaked almonds sprinkled over the top. Full of flavour and so nutritious. Served with lettuce and cucumber.

My job from the job board today was to clean the fridge out. The timing for that job was perfect because the fridge was shiny and sparkly clean, ready for all the fresh vegetables that came in the FROG box today.

I spent thirty minutes sitting in the shade overlooking the river this morning listening to music and watching all the boating activity happening on top of the water and enjoying the sea life that was visible under the water. Lots of bait fish about!

I had a short visit with The Motivator this morning too. We laughed a lot.

So it's been a busy and productive day. I must say, that after just four days back on the paleo program, I already feel more energised and clear headed. The caffeine withdrawals have disappeared (hopefully for good) and I'm feeling fine!

It's 10.30pm, so I'm off for an early night.

Nite all.

Under the Stars

Yesterday, I was invited by The Motivator, to drive into The Bay with her, and meet with a group of people on the beach for an evening of meditation under the stars.

Meditation is on my list of 100 things to do this year, so I was very excited that she thought of me!

We picked up another lady on the way. I will call her 'Hippie of Hope'.

We arrived nice and early. They were still setting up on the beach .. not far from Enzo's .. and we introduced ourselves to the two women in charge. J1 and J2. There was a man there lighting candles that were sitting inside about twenty glass jars scattered about the allocated area.

Apparently, the group usually meditates under the full moon, but tonight, without a moon, the beach was very dark and the stars were amazing! We spotted satellites and shooting stars and we got to spend half an hour star gazing before we meditated.

There were probably 25 of us spread out over the sand. Some were sitting in folding chairs, some lying on towels, some sitting in the lotus position, some face down on their belly, some on their back. The ages ranged from 8 to 78 and everybody was happy and friendly.

At around 7pm, J1 began guiding us through the meditation. She slowly weaved her way between us all taking us, with her words, deep into the ocean with golden lights and helping us wash away our fears, our bad memories and our anger, then lifting us with thoughts of love and asking us to spread our good energy and positivity all over the planet, starting with our loved ones and spreading outward to everyone and anyone who we thought needed it.

All the while, a soft breeze was caressing our skin and waves were rolling and breaking gently on the beach as the tide came in.

It was the tide that ended our evening a little earlier than planned. The waves almost reached the toes of the people closest to the water, when J1 brought us out of our meditative trance.

The lesson I learned from tonight, is that my cane mat is not comfortable for meditation purposes. Either a yoga mat, or just a towel would be better. I took a tiny pillow for my head, which was ideal, but the cane mat was very hard under my hips and lower back and the discomfort interfered with the process.

The joys of getting older.

I didn't even think to take a photo. I was too 'in the moment' as soon as my feet touched the sand, but we'll be going for the full moon meditation in two weeks, so I'll try and capture the ambience then and share it here.

It was morning tea with the girls today. As usual, an enjoyable couple of hours. We discussed a website that I often shop at, because I opened a parcel that arrived in the mail, with items bought from there. I promised to provide a link to the site so here it is ...

Zulily

Now it is rapidly approaching 1am, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Still Withdrawing.

Word of the day: 'Somnolent' (adj) sleepy or drowsy

This is how I feel during the day while I'm withdrawing from caffeine .. but then when I go to bed at night, it takes forever to fall asleep!

I am experiencing most of these symptoms ...



... and that's why my blog posts will be short and erratic for the next few days.

We are still working our way through the jobs on the board, although Adoring Husband didn't do his chore today - instead he pinned it face up on the board, so I guess he might get to it tomorrow. I like to watch the cards disappear each day.

I made paleo lamb moussaka for dinner tonight. I haven't made it before and I didn't follow the recipe because it was quite late when I started dinner and I didn't have the time to do it by the book, so I adapted it to suit my time restrictions. It worked well.

It might be time for me to go to bed. If I go now, I might fall asleep by midnight if I'm lucky.

Nite all.

A Bit of WOW

Apparently this film has been making the rounds since 2014, but today was my first viewing of it and I was amazed. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



Today is day one of my ten week paleo program and I haven't had a coffee. I felt like I was doing ok, but it has been a slow and gradual decline and the withdrawals are beginning to kick in with vengeance!

Still no vision board.

Two more jobs removed and completed from the job board, so that's a positive for the day.

Now I'm going to sleep off some withdrawals.

Nite all.

Lots of Jobs!

Word of the day:

'Dysania' (n) the state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning.

I do love my bed, and most mornings I enjoy spending an hour sitting up in bed reading or using my iPad. Some days I definitely experience dysania.

It seems, by the many comments (on FB, private messages, emails and here), about how many jobs are on my board, that the rest of the world is a lot better organised and more efficient than I!!

I hope that one day I will become proficient at 'adulting' .. OR .. I will give up, and continue excelling at being a middle aged teenage hippie with no interest in being house proud.  There is always something more fun or more enjoyable or more relaxing to do, than housework.

My vision board didn't quite come to fruition today. I have a pile of magazines stacked beside my 'spot' on the couch, with a pair of scissors and a small box to store the pictures and words and symbols that I choose, but between Facebooking, watching two games of football, cooking lunch and dinner and completing my job off the board, I didn't quite reach the high motivational requirement to be as creative as I wish to be for this board.

Perhaps tomorrow will be the day. Photo still to come!

I'm starting the 10 week paleo way program again tomorrow.

Having re-introduced certain foods into my diet, my body is sliding back into it's unhappy 'pre-paleo' state. Too much coffee, dairy, potatoes, rice and sugary fruit has helped see the return of aching joints, broken sleep, fluctuating energy levels, duller skin and crazy mood swings.

I want to feel vibrant, energetic, calm and glowy again .. especially after all the work I've had on my mouth to help me reach a healthier state.

So it seems that I'm trying to gain control in a few areas of my life at the moment!

Tomorrow morning, I'd like to find my way to the water and possibly catch some wind surfers out practising. Burrum Windfest is on this week, so I might dust the camera off and attempt some action photography.

That means I need to sleep now.

Nite all.    

How to Train Me

Word of the day:

'Petrichor' (n) that pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a period of warm, dry weather.

There are some great storage ideas on this site that I found today ...

Simple Ways to Organise Your Wardrobe

I spent some time yesterday writing out 28 cards, each with a chore that needs to be done around the house.

Things like:

• Clearing the junk drawer
• Culling the filing cabinet 
• Sorting through and donating clothes and shoes
• Washing windows
• Cleaning my desk drawers
• Dusting the skirting boards and the paintings hanging on the walls
• Clearing my unread emails (all 899 of them!)
• Getting the ironing up-to-date
• Donating recipe books and other old books in the bookcase
• Tossing all the boxes that once housed our kitchen gadgets, electronic devices and other assorted electrical appliances. Adoring Husband likes to keep them for a while and I believe there may be approximately twenty boxes in various locations around the house.

Today, I pinned the cards on the cork board, and each day, Adoring Husband and I will take a card and do the job that's written on it. Between the two of us, we could have all of the chores completed inside two weeks, but there will be days when we've got other commitments, so I hope that a month will cover it.

I did one of the chores today, without taking the card down. All of my emails are now read and/or deleted/saved. That job took more than two hours. No wonder the list, on it's own, looks so overwhelming!

Here I am, with 24 hours every day to fill. No work commitments. No children. No responsibilities. Yet I can't create a routine or schedule to get my life organised. I wonder how the hell I worked full time, raised three kids, looked after a house as well as fulfilling sporting commitments and social activities!

Obviously, I work better under pressure!

I've got a batch of chicken bone broth in the slow cooker as we speak and I juiced some pineapple, watermelon, mint and coconut water this morning, to help AH recover from a morning of mowing in this horrible heat and humidity.

We've spent the afternoon watching Super Saturday football. So far, I've tipped two from four, but loving the new footy season!

Tomorrow, after I've completed one of my chores, I'm going to create my new vision board for 2016. That should be fun. I'll post a photo in tomorrow's blog.

Nite all.