Circuit Training

My day was socially productive, physically satisfying, mentally stimulating and emotionally comforting.

Prior to this, I couldn’t even fall asleep until 4am.

My body and mind were awake - as if I’d overloaded on caffeine. Nothing I tried, helped relax any part of my body.

Even though I fell asleep at 4am, I woke every hour, on the hour until 8am when Harley jumped on my bed and lay on my head, because BGWLBH got the ironing board out!

I got up at 9am, gave BGWLBH my ironing, took Harley out to play for 30 minutes and accepted my coffee from Adoring Husband.

I texted The Motivator to confirm that everything was still good for our 11am exercise date.

She was running late, so I left home at 11.15am.

It was hot! 31°C and my body absorbed the heat so that when I hugged The Motivator, she stepped back commenting on how warm my body was to the touch! It only took me 3 minutes to ride to her house!

We got ourselves organised and set up the rebounder, the hula hoop, the hand weights, the yoga arm stretchers, the thigh master and the balance board so that we could take turns for a few minutes on each one, adding up to 30 minutes of exercise.

The Motivator put on some loud, happy music and we got moving!

After that, we chatted for an hour.

Then she introduced me to Makko Ho stretching.

THAT was hard work - my body is not limber enough! We attempted that for 15 minutes.

We followed that up with 30 minutes of Qi Gong - lovely gentle movements to stimulate positive energy through our internal organs and the 12 main meridians of the body.

It was a lovely gentle way to finish our workout. 

I left her house after we had spent more than 3 hours in each others company.

It looked like storms were on their way, so I high tailed it home under the cover of dark looming clouds.

The weather did not eventuate and it was after 3.30pm when I arrived home, which gave me an hour until dinner needed to be started.

I hadn’t eaten all day, so AH reheated the pork sausages that I’d cooked the night before and poured me an iced sarsaparilla. That was my lunch and dinner.

At 4.30pm I made Sunday Spaghetti for the team and then headed to bed to rest my weary bones, muscles, joints, tendons and bits.

I’m currently switching between the Rugby League World Cup and the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on TV.

I feel that I could fall asleep any minute!

Nite all.

Kitchen Dance Marathon

Ok.

In the last two days, I have spent ten hours in the kitchen. Six hours today!

I have cooked or prepped:

1. Twelve chicken schnitzels.
2. Marinated chicken wings.
3. Four bolognese filled potato cups.
4. Six meals of tomato soup.
5. Two dozen sausage rolls.
6. Twenty porcupine meatballs.
7. Seven servings of bolognese sauce.
8. Five servings of butter chicken.
9. Four servings of creamy chicken pot pies.

Three freezers are now completely full. That’s eleven drawers of various sizes - 2 extra large, 5 large and 4 small. We have enough prepared food to last approximately 2 months.

I didn’t take even one photo of my achievements today!

The pantry is also packed full of tuna, salmon, beans, chickpeas, rice, tinned tomatoes, coconut milk/cream, trident soups, miso soup, lentils, pastas, cake mixes, crackers, cookies etc etc.

The fridge is full of fresh fruit and vegetables, jams, pickled veg, relishes, sauces, yoghurts, cream, all the cheeses, butter etc etc.

If the apocalypse happens tomorrow, we are well prepared.

We have seeds to grow tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum, corn, radishes, zucchini, beans, snap peas, snow peas, onions, spring onions, watermelon, pumpkin, squash, rockmelon, all the herbs, celery, lettuce, spinach, silver beet, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and eggplant.

We currently grow tomatoes, chillies, blueberries, lemons, avocado, passionfruit, pineapples, sweet potatoes, ginger, turmeric, coriander, parsley, mint, rosemary, thyme and dill.

We certainly will not starve to death!

Tomorrow I have an “exercise” date with The Motivator at 11am. After that, I plan on spending the entire afternoon on my bed being lazy and self indulgent.

I think it’s time to sleep now.

Nite all.

Kitchen Dancing

I had a very productive day in the kitchen.

It was my way of procrastinating - I have a spring cleaning “to do” list a mile long that has been waiting for me to get started.

So, I poached some frozen chicken wings in a large saucepan, adding sea salt to the water, then cooked them in the oven with a delicious Asian sauce. That was my breakfast.

In the same poaching water, I simmered some half potatoes, skin on. When they were cooked, I pressed them into single tart trays, scooped some leftover spaghetti bolognese sauce into them, sprinkled with grated cheese and put them in a hot oven (210°) for 25 minutes.

Adoring Husband ate 3 of them and then half of mine.

In the same water (I topped it up a bit) I put tomatoes from the garden, carrot, celery, chilli, zucchini and split peas and boiled them for 20 mins. I turned the heat off and left the saucepan to cool on the stove.

I put it all in the blender with sour cream and brown sugar and blended til smooth and creamy.

I ate a bowl of it for dinner with toasted GF Turkish bread. 

Adoring Husband ate a bowl with chopped up cooked pork sausages in it.

I crumbed a dozen pieces of chicken to put in the freezer.

I made a berry smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, banana, grated Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, LF milk, a splash of maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt.

I made a berry ice cream using the leftover smoothie, coconut custard and LF cream.

Tomorrow I have plans on making spaghetti bolognese sauce, sausage rolls, butter chicken and chicken pot pies - all to go into the freezer for future dinners.

I hope it all fits in the freezer!

The rest of the time I watched some of the Abu Dhabi golf and played with Harley.

It is now 5 minutes to midnight and I need to sleep.

Nite all.

Slow Shop

Big day in the Bay.

I did a huge grocery shop. The biggest in months and including two packs of lamb mince, I spent close to $500.

I had lots of time to wander around and really look at the shelves and the sales. Usually I’m rushing through the supermarket because BGWLBH is waiting in the car with our juices ready to get home. 

Today, she was working so I gave myself lots of time.

At least the pantry is well and truly fully stocked. The freezers are full, as is the fridge. There’s enough food to do a big cook up on the weekend and hopefully that will leave enough space in the freezer to store it.

I ate lunch at the sushi restaurant. It was delicious.

We arrived home just before 5pm and by the time we unpacked the groceries and I cooked dinner - fried rice made with leftover rice from last night - it was 5.40pm as we ate.

That’s pretty good going.

Adoring Husband and I watched Big Brother together. I watched some golf being played in Abu Dhabi and Love Island from my bed and now it’s already 11.15pm and I need to sleep.

Nite all.

Ride Like the Wind

I woke at 3am and could NOT fall back to sleep.

Now I am very tired.

BGWLBH left home early for her volunteer work at the local op shop.

I got out of my bed at 8am, had a shower, made up my face, took Harley out to play and then decided to go for a ride.

The weather was beautiful, a bit windy, but no rain to speak of and I felt so free as I power pedalled all around town.

1. To the shops
2. Around the bush track
3. Around the BIG lake
4. Along the new path to the club 
5. Back to the shops
6. Along the river path up and back
7. Home

= 12 kms

On my second visit to the shop, I sat outside Foodworks with some old friends for about half an hour. Earlier, I had sat on my trike looking out over the river for about 20 minutes …

Very dirty and choppy.

I was away from the house for three hours! No wonder I’m tired!

I sat with Adoring Husband watching TV, but at 2.30pm had to lie down on my bed for a while.

At 4pm I started dinner.

Honey Soy chicken and eggy rice for BGWLBH. Last nights spiral pasta leftovers for AH.

I fell asleep on the couch around 6.20pm and woke at about 7.20pm.

Straight to bed to watch Big Brother.

It’s now only 9pm but feels like midnight!

Nite all.