The Joy of Sales

Firstly, a photo of our lady's lunch yesterday ...

... and my neighbour asked me if I'd like some herbs, namely Dill and Parsley, from her garden. I accepted her offer because my herbs are failing in their tiny little dried up pots. Her brand new garden is flourishing, as ours did when we first moved here and she gave me this lovely big bouquet of herbs.

Remember the wonderful walls of herbs that Adoring Husband created for me in April? Well, it seems that the herbs don't like such tiny pots because the soil dries out so quickly, it's impossible to keep enough water up to them. So we have to rethink our herb situation.

Just recently, the Rainbow Bee Eaters have returned to our area. They have always nested, by tunnelling into the ground, next door on what was once an empty block of land, but now our neighbours have built on the block and the birds have had to find a new nesting spot.

Luckily for us, there are still a couple of empty blocks nearby, so they are still nesting quite close and they sit in the branches of our young Jacaranda trees on our footpath.

Tomorrow, I plan on sitting on the garden seat in our front yard, camera in hand, attempting to get some good shots of the Bee Eaters as they feed on the bees from our garden! I hope they co-operate!

Adoring Husband and I spent a lot of time in The Bay today. I got some great clothes and jewellery on sale .. which of course, means that I have to toss some old clothes out of my wardrobe .. that's the rule! Out with the old. In with the new.

I also bought a book called 'I Quit Sugar for Life' by Sarah Wilson. Sarah's facebook page was the first page I joined when I quit sugar in September last year and I have seen a few excerpts from her book, so I was interested to see more. The first shop was selling it for $39 and then we looked in BigW and there it was for $18!! Bargain!!

So, as usual, retail therapy cured many ills today.

Good grief!  It's after midnight!!

Nite all.


 

Lady's Lunch

Had a great day today.

Caught up with a couple of friends as I drank coffee at my local haunt, then came home and made myself presentable for the lady's lunch, which I really enjoyed. The food was good and the company was funny and interesting.

Fabulous storms all afternoon dropped 15mm of rain on our garden and then a quiet evening at home while Adoring Husband attended an SES meeting.

I have photos from today .. but they have to wait til tomorrow's post.

It's almost midnight and I think the pumpkin thing is going to happen any minute!!

Nite all.

People

People suck.

Why do people have such an aggressive and negative attitude about other people's food choices?

How does it affect them?

Is it because they feel guilty about their own food choices?

I know that vegans, vegetarians, fruitarians and raw foodies, as well as Celiacs and their 'gluten free' requirements, all have the same kind of responses and I've had the discussion with Vegan Chickie before.

You only have to look at some of the recent negativity in the media, surrounding Pete Evans and his Paleo lifestyle.

If the Paleo diet gets people to choose real food over junk, take away and processed food, then I'm all for it! If Pete Evans' improved health status is any indication of how effective the diet is, then that's another reason to be all for it.

I like to follow a lot of paleo recipes, but our only real restrictions are on refined sugar, processed foods and gluten.

Anyway, after a pleasant morning enjoying two morning teas and then pedalling around town for about 45 minutes, I came home for another cookathon.

I finished off the tomato sauce and then made a spaghetti bolognese with the leftover sauce and used chicken mince. It was so full of flavour!

Time sure gets away. I'm off to bed because we have the big lady's luncheon tomorrow, so I need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Nite all.

A Bit of Productivity

Yes! I got out on my trike this morning! I saw my boys, rode along the river path, sat with my coffee and did a little grocery shopping ready for a productive day in the kitchen.

I finished off and packaged my beef stock first, and there was still enough meat on the bones to have with dinner tonight, which I'll tell you about soon. I ended up with seven containers of stock to freeze.

I needed the slow cooker for my tomato sauce, which is still slow cooking as I type this. I'll keep it going overnight, so the flavour should be rich and delicious by morning!

Next on the cooking agenda was lunch, which I didn't photograph, but we tried our local butcher's chicken kiev flavoured chicken sausages with a big salad of baby spinach, lettuce, red capsicum, tomato, onion, snow peas, avocado and boiled egg.

So far, we haven't been a fan of his flavoured sausages, and we've tried four or five different flavours. Today's were quite nice though. Our favourite is still his plain beef sausage.

Adoring Husband headed back to the SES shed after lunch, which gave me the opportunity to make some Banana and Walnut muffins.

... and the finished product ...

Delicious, sliced in half with a slathering of butter!

As I was saying earlier, about there still being enough meat on some of the ox tail bones to remove and mix with dinner tonight, I made the same sauce as last night, with some beef stock, red wine, apple juice and a little of the tomato sauce mixture that was still cooking. I stirred that through diced chicken breast and ox tail meat mixed together. There was leftover cauliflower au gratin and I steamed some broccoli and snow peas.

A healthful and satisfying dinner.

So the dishwasher has certainly had a workout today and I thoroughly enjoyed spending so much time in the kitchen. I think I'll try some new recipes tomorrow too.

Oh my gosh, I just looked at the time and realised it's after midnight! I think I am just naturally a night owl .. I'll never be able to stick to my 'early night' rule!

Nite all.

Late Nights and Cooking

Today is day four.

Four days in a row that I haven't gone out in the morning for a ride on my trike.

One of those mornings was far too wet to even consider it, but the other three have been because Adoring Husband has brought my coffee to me in bed and then I have lazed in bed with my iPad, sipping take-away coffee with not a care in the world.

Suddenly I miss my morning routine. I miss seeing the boys at the Seat of Knowledge. I miss riding along the river path and soaking up the fresh air and beautiful water views. I miss sitting outside the local shops drinking my coffee and chatting with the locals.

It's time to get energised again and start my days with a bit more enthusiasm!

When I climbed into bed last night .. well after midnight (Yes I know! Much later than my new rule allows!), I was flicking through the channels on the bedroom TV to find something to fall asleep to, when I stumbled across the beginning of a movie.

I recognised it immediately. The opening scene is a huge indoor concert arena with the audience chanting and spotlights moving through the darkness. A frisbee sails through the air and it glows under the spotlight.

It was the movie "A Star is Born" with Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson and Gary Busey. Another one of my favourite movies of all time and one that I've watched about 30 times.

I was 16 yrs old the first time I watched it and I still sob during the same scenes almost 40 years later!

Of course, I had to sit up in bed and watch the entire movie and it was 3am when I turned off the TV and immediately fell asleep!!

Adoring Husband made us a delicious fluffy omelette this morning with cheese and mushroom and onion and capsicum and snow peas. A great way to start Sunday.

After we cleared that mess away, I made a fresh beetroot, carrot, apple and lemon drink for Adoring Husband and then began preparing dinner:

• I browned 1.5kg of ox tail in a skillet
• Placed it in the slow cooker with celery, carrot, garlic, apple cider vinegar, himalayan salt and ground pepper and lots of filtered water, for 5 hours on high.
• I removed the bones from the cooker and took all the meat off, placing it in a bowl and then setting it aside, putting the bones back in the cooker.
• I also removed 3 cups of the broth from the cooker and put it in a saucepan with a big splash of red wine and half a cup of freshly squeezed apple juice (which I just happened to have in the fridge) and a little more himalayan salt.
• I let this simmer on the stove for about 20 minutes until it reduced a little, added some cornflour to thicken it and then added the meat from the ox tail.

I served this with a delicious cauliflower/broccoli au gratin, the sauce for which, I invented a few weeks ago and froze, so I can't share that recipe, because I can't remember it, and I steamed some snow peas as well.

Adoring Husband ate seconds, he enjoyed it so much.

In the meantime, I added more water to the cooker and the bones and vegetables are still in the slow cooker for another 7 hours. It will be a delicious stock/broth that I will freeze. I should get about 6 or 8 chinese containers out of it.

Sadly, I did not take one photo of my concoctions, but I do have plans for some more cooking tomorrow, because I didn't make AH's breakfast cereal today and I have some muffins to make for his desserts and snacks, so I will take photos tomorrow.

I feel like I achieved 'something' today anyway.

Nite all.

The Laziness Continues

Another cold, wet and windy day where I stayed in bed longer than I should have .. although there was nothing on my agenda, so staying in bed was the most enjoyable option.

I am not a Pluviophile.

Which is not to say that I don't enjoy the rain sometimes, but I certainly do not find joy and peace of mind during a rainy day.

I had to get up twice to answer our front door. Once for the Girl Guides selling raffle tickets and once for a neighbour asking if I knew of any Justices of the Peace in town.

That was annoying, because nobody ever knocks on our front door, and I was very warm and comfortable in bed!

Adoring Husband made his way to the SES shed early this morning to attempt to erect a tower - yes in this dreadful weather - and they didn't quite finish the job, but he did bring me coffee before he left the house. Thank you darling :)

Aside from that, I boiled a dozen eggs to make a paleo version of devilled eggs tomorrow and I cut up a big fillet of Snapper into fish fingers and crumbed them to have with home made chips and salad for dinner.

I swapped produce with my neighbours yesterday and today. My next door neighbour gave me a lettuce out of his garden and I gave him 8 eggs. My rear neighbour gave me a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes and I gave him 6 eggs straight from the chook pen.

Adoring Husband ate the last of the chocolate zucchini cupcakes, so I have to make something tomorrow to replace them. I also have to make his special breakfast cereal.

After AH arrived home this afternoon, we sat down in front of the TV with our lunch and watched a good old movie made in 1963, starring Doris Day and James Garner, called "Move Over Darling". I love Doris Day.

I found a couple of nice quotes on facebook today.

All things going to plan I should be able to share a recipe or two with you tomorrow.

Meanwhile, you know the drill.

Nite all.

Care Factor

It's been a lazy day of doing bugger all.

Adoring Husband snuck into the bedroom and left my coffee on the bedside table this morning, but I must have woken soon after because the coffee was still very hot when I took my first mouthful.

So I was awake just after 7am and then I lay in bed with my iPad until after 9.30am!!!!!!

The day was cold and wet and windy, so there was certainly no rush to get out of bed and we had nothing planned for the day, so I savoured the deliciousness of a lazy morning in bed.

It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't stay in bed for more than 5 or 6 hours because my back was just too painful, but since my change of diet, the only time my back really gives me a hard time, is when I spend hours either doing housework or cooking in the kitchen with bare feet on the tiles.

I try to wear slippers or rubber thongs when I do either of those two things and my back is fine.

We had a delicious salad with chilli garlic prawns for lunch and then the same salad with crispy skinned salmon for dinner.

I'm off to bed now after watching a great game of football where Manly lost.

Manly is my least favourite team of all time and I so enjoy watching them lose. My favourite is when my team, the Broncos, beat them, but a close second is when ANY other team beats them. Unfortunately, my little sister supports Manly. Also unfortunately, I tipped Manly in the footy tipping comp this week because I was certain that they would beat Parramatta. On the plus side, everybody else tipped them too, so it won't make a difference to anyone on the ladder.

Happy Friday night and Happy Weekend everybody :)

Nite all

Patchy Poitier

I'm watching an old movie. One of my favourites. Made in 1965 and starring Sidney Poitier and Shelley Winters. It's called "A Patch of Blue".

I think I was about 10 yrs old the first time I watched it, and I've seen it about ten times.

A Patch of Blue

The second part to Catalyst was on tonight too.  Here is the link if you missed it. I haven't watched it myself yet. I think I'll save it for tomorrow, when I can take my time and enjoy it.

I used up all of my old vegetables from the fridge to day, to make a spaghetti sauce.

It had fresh tomatoes, celery, onion, carrot, garlic, zucchini, roasted capsicum, spinach, home made chicken stock, chilli, pork and chicken mince.

It was a long process but very enjoyable for me to spend time in the kitchen. I made enough for tonight's dinner and three more meals which I've frozen for Adoring Husband to use when I go away in September.

I've baked a whole sweet potato in it's jacket too, which I'll use to make sweet potato salmon patties for lunch tomorrow. It's a new recipe that I haven't tried yet.

The weather has turned quite chilly again and there is a strong cool breeze blowing through our front windows. I love it when the breeze blows in that direction. I leave our bedroom windows open and snuggle right under the doona. Perfect sleeping weather.

Well, I'd love to stay up and watch all of this movie, but it doesn't finish til midnight and we all know my new sleeping rule...

... so nite all.

Worked It

A day of house cleaning.

Checklist:

• 2 x bathrooms
• 2 x toilets
• Front porch cleaned
• Front door washed
• Entry Hall dusted and mopped
• Hallway and laundry mopped
• TV cabinet dusted
• 4 loads of washing
• Plants watered
• Chocolate Cupcakes baked and iced
• Almost 3,000 emails deleted
• Dinner Cooked
• Body hurting very much due to working in bare feet on floor tiles. Ugh!

That's only half of what needs to be done. I'm hoping that I will wake tomorrow with equal motivation so that I can finish the other half of the house.

I just need to order my coffee early .. if Adoring Husband can bring me my coffee in bed, the way he did this morning, then I can jump out of bed with vim and vigour and zip through the rest of the work with a flourish!

It's 11pm and time to climb into bed for some rejuvenating sleep.

Nite all.

Gut Reaction

In case you missed the ABC program, Catalyst, this week ...

Catalyst - Gut Reaction Part 1

There is a lot of information here that was part of my course studies this semester, and a lot of extra information here, that is new, so not included in any studies yet.

I find it amazing that it has taken more than 50 years for science to begin researching food and diet and how it relates to our health, to bring about positive change.

Medicine and Science have been rejecting Naturopathy and nutrition for so many years and essentially warning us all away from it, when this "apparently" new information is what Naturopathy has always promoted.

Finally Science is catching up .. or perhaps they are looking backwards at how we once lived and are realising that before fast food, junk food and strong medications and antibiotics took over our lives, we were actually at our healthiest.

I'm looking forward to next week and watching Part 2.

I took the opportunity today to catch up on a little housework. Because of my studies and Adoring Husband's health issues as well as visitors, the housekeeping has suffered somewhat, so we are taking the next couple of days to join forces and do a bit of Spring cleaning.

Now that I am on a study break, I'm going to take the time to get back to cooking again too.

I'm looking at better sleeping habits too .. that doesn't mean that I'm going to bed at 8pm with AH, but it DOES mean going to try getting to bed well before midnight!

Nite all.

Quiet on the Home Front

Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour are home safensound after a flight that left The Bay about 40 minutes late and landed in a cold, wet and windy Sydney at about 3pm.

It's all quiet on the home front and the psychotic dogs are feeling very abandoned. For ten days, they've been either in somebody's arms or on somebody's bed ... now they have to adjust to their own beds again!

It might take a day or two to get back to normal.

I've been meaning to post a photo of the artwork that we bought at Eumundi last week. This is Bertie .. who is hanging beside my side of the bed, so she is the first thing I see when I wake in the mornings. She makes me feel very happy!

Finally, I thought you might like to see how healthy Adoring Husband is looking ...

Now I need sleep.

Nite all.

Sunday

It has been at least a couple of years since Adoring Husband and I attended the markets in the Bay, but we decided to take Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour into the markets today.

We remembered the markets as being very big, with a hundred or more stalls ranging from fresh fruit and veg to jewellery to craft to plants and garden ornaments to bric-a-brac and much more.

We remembered the car park being difficult to navigate and always full to the brim.

We remembered that it took a couple of hours to stroll through the markets to see everything.

So we were looking forward to spending a leisurely couple of hours browsing.

How disappointed were we to discover maybe 15 stalls set up at the markets .. mostly fruit and veg. Apparently, according to the people running the markets, the bad weather from the day and night before, had frightened the other stall owners away.

Today was a glorious day with not a cloud in the sky.

I got a few fresh vegetables and then we drove to the Boat Club where we had some lunch, put $20 each in the pokies, followed that up with some shopping and then home in time to cook dinner.

A bit disappointing for a their final day here, but at least we got to spend it together.

Everyone is into bed early, ready for a reasonably early start morning tomorrow, so that's where I'm going now.

I have to say that I'm feeling pretty exhausted tonight.

Nite all.

One Down

The first semester of my Nutritional Medicine course is now complete!

Disappointingly, and only because I set myself a goal, the mark for my final assessment was only 88% which is graded as a Distinction. I wanted to get High Distinctions for all of my assignments and it was a stupid typo that lost me the points, so it was a hard lesson learned.

I must check, double check and triple check my work before submitting it!

However, overall, my average mark is 96% and I'm pretty happy with that.

I never imagined, as I began this course, that I could do this well .. but now that I have proven that I CAN, I expect to continue to do so!

For now, I wait to receive my new subjects and lesson plans for the second semester.

We've had a quiet day at home with intermittent rain periods. We hope that the weather will improve tomorrow so that we can fill the day with some touristy activities before Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour head home on Monday.

I really must get some photos of everyone before they head home.

If you are wondering why there was no blog post yesterday .. we attended the Bowls Club last night for the usual raffles and drinks, and then continued on to the restaurant for a farewell dinner for Mrs Bucket and The Jockey.

We shared too much wine and by the time we arrived home, I was both too tipsy and too tired to stay up blogging.

But a good time was had by all!

Adoring Husband and I are watching one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, so I'm off to become absorbed.

Nite all.

Try it

Some time ago, I watched a video of this Dr talking about her MS and how she had reversed the symptoms and changed her life .. I guess she inspired me to change my diet/lifestyle with the hopes of improving my health and stopping, or slowing down the ageing process, which was beginning to hinder me somewhat.

I've enjoyed the positive effects of my new eating regime. Luckily for me, my minimal ageing problems were nothing compared to Dr Wahl's, but I thought I would share her story with you.

Dr Wahl's story

I had a quiet afternoon studying, while the rest of the family went for a drive to Maryborough and Lenthalls Dam. Bubbles got some good photos and I ALMOST finished my assignment. I think it will take another couple of hours tomorrow to finish up.

It's almost midnight and while I am really enjoying listening to some Classic Rock music on Foxtel, I think it's time to turn it off and climb into bed. Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Midnight Oil, George Thorogood and Bob Dylan .. it's been a joy spending the evening with you!

Nite all.

Fabulousness

As much as 'Knight in Shining Armour' complained about having to get out of bed while it was still dark outside, it was a beautiful day when the sun did eventually rise, we had a relatively traffic-friendly trip down to the Sunny Coast and the day could be classified as a SUCCESS!

The Eumundi Markets were surprisingly busy for a Wednesday and for the time of year.

I got some goat's milk soap. Honey and Lemon Myrtle. Coconut and Mint. Lemon and Lime.

Adoring Husband bought me a beautiful original painting of an owl by the artist Tracey Keller whose work I absolutely love. It's so full of fun and happiness and vibrant colour! The owl now hangs on the wall opposite my side of the bed, so it's the first thing I see when I wake in the mornings :)

The man who sold it to us, gave me a free copy of a book created by Katrina Logan and Tracey Keller together. I will give it to Chicklet at my next visit, along with the dinosaur night light that I bought.

I also bought some lovely fresh vegetables at the markets and a delicious noodle salad for a morning snack.

After a couple of hours at the markets, we drove to meet up with Chicklet and Vegan Chickie at a little cafe at the front of their block of units and then spent about 90 minutes over a leisurely lunch.

It was nice to spend time with Chicklet and also nice to have some family time together.

Before we started the long drive home, we detoured via the Chicklet family's new house, which they will move into this weekend, so the next time I visit, they will be at the new address.

It looks like a really nice little area, with a park nearby and lots of trees and bushland. A nature lovers paradise I should imagine! I can't wait to see inside.

It was a good drive home. We stopped at Tiaro to get some meat from the Butcher's for dinner and discovered that a juice van had caught fire across the road to cause quite a commotion and gather a decent crowd of onlookers (which you can't see in this photo)!

The quote on the side of the juice van read "Don't ya wish your campa was hot like me". I'm pretty sure they didn't mean it in the literal sense of the word!! Not quite that hot!

Tonight, after dinner, we sat around the dinner table and played some trivia and then Celebrity Head, which was a lot of fun. Laughter to the point of tears is always hilarious.

It's almost 10.30pm and I think I need to find my way to bed, in fact, I think I'm the last one left awake!

Tomorrow, I simply must spend the day doing my final assignment for Nutrition 1, which is also the final assignment for this semester.

Oh I almost forgot to mention that I got 100% for the video assignment that I submitted last Friday! It was the final assignment for the 'Communication' subject, and my total mark overall, was 98%, which is a High Distinction. I'm feeling pretty happy with that!

I will be very relieved when I complete the last assignment for the semester and I look forward to seeing what my next three subjects will be. I have a sneaking suspicion that I've had it pretty easy for the first semester and the next subjects will be nasty .. like .. anatomy, chemistry and biology. Ugh!!

I'll keep you posted.

Nite all.

A Bit of Market Fun

We are heading for a drive down to the Sunny Coast very bright and early tomorrow morning to check out the Eumundi Markets and then visit Vegan Chickie and Chicklet.

This means that I should go straight to bed because we need to leave around the time that the sun rises!

Eep!

Today we saw the movie "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes". The car had to go in for a 'recall' check, so while we waited, a movie seemed like the best option.

The movie was not my cup of tea.

Tomorrow will be exhausting for us all, however, I am really looking forward to seeing my Chicklet family.

Nite all.

Vet Visit

Anybody out there ever have to squeeze your own dog's anal glands? Ew

I got a lesson from the vet today in how to massage the anal glands which are situated at 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock near the opening of the dog's anus.

I am, at this moment, imagining the look on your face as you read this post. *insert smiley face here* hehehe.

One of the psychotic dogs had a visit to the vet today and it cost me $65 for that lesson!

Adoring Husband looked the other way, because he didn't want to know.

Tomorrow will be a movie day while the car goes in for a 'recall' fix. Hmmm popcorn :)

Nite all.

Hol Mode

There are two types of holidays.

One is intense and busy and so full of activity that you need a holiday to get over your holiday.

The second is so relaxed and quiet and a perfect opportunity to regenerate and rejuvenate and listen to what your brain wants you to hear.

So far, Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour are experiencing the second type.

By the end of this week, they will have experienced the first type.

Hopefully the last couple of days will be rejuvenating time again, before they head back home to the hustle and bustle of city life and normalcy.

Bubbles and I spent a bit over an hour walking the lagoon and the beach trying to find some photographic opportunities this afternoon, but it seemed that the local wildlife went for a nana nap. We got some nice afternoon light, but nothing much to specifically photograph.

Hopefully, we will have more opportunities this week.

Meanwhile I am trying to sneak some study in and finish my next assignment. It may be a little more complex than I expected. Eep!

I'll get there.

Nite all.

Bake Off

Today, after hilariously grooming the other two psychotic dogs, we decided on some time in the kitchen.

I made a paleo chocolate mousse, but used a different recipe to last time, this one containing dates, that just didn't want to process in the food processor, and then it was even a struggle in the blender, so NO dates next time!

Then the kids made some chocolate mud cake cupcakes and muffins.

Home made pizzas for dinner and super Saturday footy on Foxtel tonight. I am having a poor week in the tipping competition, but it was enjoyable seeing Newcastle Knights pip Melbourne Storm at the post .. especially because Knight in Shining Armour is a Newcastle Knights supporter!

I think that I have yawned at least 33 times in the last hour, so I believe that's my cue to go to bed!

Bubbles and I will be taking our cameras on a photographic jaunt very shortly, so hopefully I will get to share some photos. It's the super moon, full moon tomorrow night and I have some ideas. Whether they come to fruition or not, is another matter!

So watch this space!

Nite all.

Results

After what seemed to be a very very long 72 hours, we finally heard from the doctor today, advising that Adoring Husband's tumour was 'low grade malignant' and that he didn't need any further treatment like chemo or anything, but would need to go back in three months to have further procedures to check on both his bladder and his prostate.

I am ecstatic with this outcome and hopeful that AH will grow healthier over the next 3 months so that no further treatment will be necessary.

The whole experience has been painful, embarrassing and uncomfortable for poor AH and we'll be happy when he is feeling 100%.

Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes. It was lovely to have such wonderful support from friends and family. It made the ordeal just a little more bearable. We appreciate you all very much.

I'm also happy to say that I submitted my video assignment on time this evening .. with a couple of hours to spare! Now we wait and see.

Lastly, I am very excited that Manly lost to South Sydney tonight and that my team, Brisbane Broncos had a fabulous win over Canterbury Bulldogs! A great way to start the weekend :)

Nite all.

No News

No news yet on Adoring Husband's test results.

Today, with the help of Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour, I completed my video presentation for the next assignment.

Tomorrow morning I will write the 300 word critique to go with it and submit it as early as possible to get it out of the way and then I can enjoy some time with the family before I need to submit the next assignment.

I actually only have 11 days to get the next one completed, which is a pain, because I thought I had until 25th. Ugh!

My other achievement for the day was grooming one of the psychotic dogs.  It took over 2 hours with lots of bribes and yet more assistance from the family.

The other two dogs will have to wait a day or two for their pampering.

So after all of that, I'm feeling quite exhausted .. especially after waking at 6am and having to start the day doing Adoring Husband's work for him.

We have big plans for tomorrow, so it's time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Mending

Adoring Husband arrived home on the train tonight after his tests in Brisbane.

The surgeon removed a tumour from his bladder which has been sent for testing and we should have the results within 48 hours of the surgery .. so I guess that means some time tomorrow or the next day, because his surgery was quite late on Tuesday.

His prostate will be monitored and will be tested again in 3 months.

Needless to say, he is feeling a little the worse for wear at the moment and will probably need some TLC for a few days.

That's where I come in :)

Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour are here!  Yay!

We've had an afternoon of Rubber Ducky birthday fun .. that's the theme that I chose for Bubbles' birthday party and you know .. I didn't take a photo of the birthday cake or the cupcakes that I made or the decorations or the hundred rubber duckies or the hundred+ yellow and red balloons.

Knight in Shining Armour has made a few changes to my script for my video assignment and we are going to act it out tomorrow, then I can write my essay to go with it and have it submitted before midnight on Friday.

Let's hope it goes smoothly!

Anyway, once again, it is after midnight, so I'm off to bed. AH is not up to working tomorrow morning, so I need to be awake in less than 6 hours. Eep!

Nite all.

Recovery

Adoring Husband has survived his medical tests today and is resting with a little discomfort in hospital tonight.

The doctor will visit him tomorrow to give him the results, diagnosis and prognosis.

I will keep you informed.

Looking forward to seeing Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour tomorrow!

Nite all.

Making a List

I've just made a list of all the things that I have to do tomorrow.

NOT on my list, is cleaning the shop loos and attending two morning teas, which I also have to do tomorrow!

The rest of the stuff .. and there are 19 items on my to-do list .. has to be done after lunch and first thing on Wednesday morning.

I'm not feeling confident.

I've convinced Bubbles to help me with the video assignment for my course, so that has to be done on Wednesday afternoon .. after that is completed, I have to find 300 words to critique myself as an interviewing therapist.

Anyway, I need to go to bed. I have to set my alarm for 4.30am, so that means I should get around four hours sleep tonight.

Ugh.

Nite all.

Big Week

Adoring Husband and I have a big week ahead of us.

A couple of weeks ago, AH's doctor told him that the results of his scan came back with some questionable results and that he thought he had bladder cancer.

As you can imagine, this was very shocking news to both of us, and at the time, I had just arrived on the Sunny Coast, so we weren't even together to absorb and discuss this turn of events.

Last Tuesday, we travelled to Brisbane to visit with a specialist and after he looked at all of AH's test results and asked a few questions, he told us that he didn't think AH had bladder cancer, however, he was concerned with his prostate readings.

So he is following up both possibilities, and this week AH is spending a night in a Brisbane hospital to have the follow up tests for both bladder and prostate cancer.

I am feeling positive and hopeful that the results of these tests will be clear.

While I can't even entertain the idea that we will have to deal with the worst case scenario, AH's mindset is different, which is to be expected, because this is his experience and everybody deals with this kind of experience in their own way.

He is focussed on all the worst possible outcomes and I am focussed on the way his current GP has let him down .. but I shall save that for another post on another day!

The second big event happening this week is Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour arriving on Wednesday for two weeks!

Adoring Husband is especially looking forward to it because he gets to visit Fraser Island with them to do a 4WD tour. I don't enjoy that kind of thing, so I will save my excitement for the whale watching tour instead!

We are really looking forward to seeing them both and hope that we can show them a great time!

Having had an early night last night and sleeping for 8 hours, I think I would like to get into the habit of earlier nights. My brain and my body seemed to be quite thankful for the extended rest period :)

So I shall sign off now .. at 10.20pm .. and make my way towards the bedroom.

Nite all.

Productive

We had Sweet Potato patties with our chicken wings at lunch time. They were very nice, but I needed to make them a bit earlier to cool the potato mix in the fridge properly before forming the patties.

I will try them again and take photos and share the recipe next time!

I got a bit more of my assignment done .. not a lot because my brain was still suffering the effects of 5 glasses of wine the night before! I didn't feel hungover (in the usual sense of the word) but I did feel a little scrambled.

So much to do, so little time!

.. and for my positive take on what tomorrow will bring ..

Only 4 more sleeps til Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour arrive! Wahoo!

I do believe the weather has turned a little chilly this evening. Time to put the big UGH boots on!

Or perhaps it's time for bed .. 8.30pm .. it's been a long time since I went to bed THAT early!

Nite all.

TGIF

I really look forward to Friday nights at the local Bowls Club with our friends.

The Bowls Club has a badge draw, lotsapots draw, $100 club and the weekly raffles, all on a Friday night.

Just about everyone at our table won something tonight, except Adoring Husband and I, which is unusual in itself, because Adoring Husband is known as the 'raffle king' and wins regularly.

We all had dinner in the restaurant together, after the raffles, because Lady Lynn and Happy Harry are off on holidays for a couple of weeks.

I had an extra glass of wine tonight, which made me extra chatty! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I had fun, so I don't care if everyone else struggled with my chattiness.

I did get a good chunk of my video assignment done today .. none of the video itself, but I laid out the basic plan and wrote the script for my role play. I also discovered that the assignment is due on the 8th August and not the 5th as I first thought .. which gives me an extra 3 days to procrastinate!

Wahoo!

I took some photos this morning, but once again haven't looked at them yet, so if any of them are worth sharing, you'll see them tomorrow.

Ten minutes til midnight .. I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Annie

I recorded a program on the Studio channel early yesterday morning on the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz. She began her career with Rolling Stone magazine and moved to Vanity Fair and she also took the very last photograph of John Lennon just 5 hours before he died ...

and you all remember the pregnant and naked Demi Moore!

I think Annie is beautiful .. she reminds me of a cross between Barbra Streisand and Julia Roberts.

She makes me want to be a portrait photographer!

So, after Adoring Husband arrived home from his SES meeting, we spent the the rest of the evening watching that program.

It's almost midnight and I seriously want to pick up my camera and go wake people up to photograph them!

Unfortunately, I didn't get another photo for the symmetry challenge and now the challenge is over. There are some great entries (and some not so great), however, I don't stand a chance this month. The winner will be announced next Monday .. I have my favourites picked out already.

I think I have stretched my procrastinating to it's very limits and tomorrow I simply MUST get serious about my video assignment. Wish me luck!

Nite all.

Symmetry

I'm struggling to find the right pic for the 'symmetry' challenge this month.

Here is the front runner at the moment .. with only 24 hours left for submissions!

I'm not completely happy with it, so I am still searching the universe for something else. I have two more ideas which I will try tomorrow, but I'm not feeling confident.

The video presentation for my next assignment is also swirling around in my head, so the brain needs to go into overdrive and I simply MUST get creative and stop procrastinating.

I'm looking forward to morning tea tomorrow, with a friend who I haven't spent time with in a while (more procrastinating?).

Now, I'm off to watch a little more of the Commonwealth Games before bed.

Nite all.

Quick Pics

Just quickly sharing some pics tonight ...

Crested Hawk (aka Pacific Basa)

Cauliflower and fresh turmeric soup with walnuts

Chocolate cake sandwich with chocolate mousse, cream and strawberries

Nite all.

Grounding or Earthing

Walking bare foot on the earth.

Kick your shoes off and spend half an hour in your garden or walk on the beach or play frisbee in the park or splash in muddy puddles!

History shows that humans once had constant contact with the earth. That was before shoes, floors, bitumen, rugs and all those things that now separate us from bare ground.

There have been, and are currently, multiple studies documenting the improvement in balance, stress, sleep, heart health and blood viscosity, among other things, when grounding is practised.

Earthing allows a transfer of electrons (the Earth’s natural, subtle energy) into the body.

Inflammation is caused by free radicals and they are neutralised with electrons from any source, so this is where grounding will be beneficial in easing, healing or improving all manner of different ailments and illnesses.

Earthing restores natural self-healing and self-regulating mechanisms.

If you really want to get into the nitty gritty (pardon the pun) of earthing, then go here, where you will find lots of detailed information.

For more studies and some interesting videos that show how grounding works, go here.

You must admit, you always feel good after a long bare-foot walk along the beach. The sand grinding between our toes and the fresh, cool, salty water cleansing our feet.

I know I'll be doing that more often and I hope to drag Adoring Husband along to enjoy the benefits.

I've taken a few photos over the last couple of days, but I haven't looked at them yet .. perhaps tomorrow. Food, birds, symmetry, flowers and bees.

It's almost 11pm.

I think I'll get an early night!

Nite all.

Relief

Headaches seem to be a common problem among my friends and family.

Headaches are generally caused by:

• Poor digestive health
• Dehydration
• Caffeine - either too much, or withdrawal from.
• Alcohol
• Sugar consumption
• Food intolerances
• Artificial food additives such as MSG, preservatives and colourings
• Mineral imbalances
• Vitamin B deficiency
• Prescription Drugs
• Artificial sweeteners
• Chemicals such as household cleaners, pesticides, perfumes etc
• Lack of grounding
• Lack of sunlight
• Chronic stress
• Tight muscles
• Misaligned skeletal system
• Smoking

I am very lucky because I rarely get headaches - perhaps once or twice a year - and when I do, I prefer to drink plenty of water and then sleep it off, rather than take any type of pain relief medication.

The most popular forms of pain relief are codeine and non-codeine. Non-codeine - ibuprofen, paracetamol and aspirin are most common. Codeine pain relievers are related to morphine and are used for chronic pain and are generally prescription medications.

If you suffer from a headache once a week or more, then you need to take a close look at your lifestyle and make some changes for the better.

• Eat a healthier diet full of fresh foods and remove processed foods
• Take good quality probiotics to improve gut health
• Reduce your caffeine and alcohol intake
• Drink more water
• Cut out sugar - read the labels on on everything because there is sugar in all packaged food
• Stop using artificial sweeteners - they are as bad, if not worse than sugar!
• Get yourself grounded - walk bare foot in your garden or on the beach (I will write a post tomorrow explaining more about grounding)
• Get 30 minutes of sunshine every day - this is my number one piece of advice for good mental and physical health
• Get a massage. Learn yoga. Meditate. See a chiropractor. These will cover/relieve chronic stress, tight muscles and misaligned skeletal system.
• Change your cleaning products to vinegar and water - chemical cleaners are completely unnecessary and we only buy them because clever advertising has convinced us that a house is not clean unless we use strong chemicals to kill the germs. Quite frankly, the chemicals are far more dangerous than any germ in our home.
• Check the side effects of your medication - talk to your doctor. You may need to reduce or change your meds to stop the headaches

The fact is, you should not be suffering from headaches and instead of popping pain pills every day/week/month, you should be investigating further and eliminating that which is causing your pain.

As with all forms of medication, there are side effects and long term effects of using pain relief medication on a regular basis:

• Headache (how ironic)
• Dizziness
• Thirst
• Ringing in the ears
• Fluid retention
• Abdominal pain
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Heartburn
• Bladder irritation including pain or frequent urination
• Anaemia
• Ulcers
• Kidney and Liver disorders
• Blurred vision
• Dry mouth

So pain medications are not as harmless as they seem - especially if they are being used on a regular basis.

It may be time to look more seriously at your pain relief habits.

Nite all.

Good Morning!

I thought I'd share some delicious breakfast drinks with which to start your day.

The best one of all, and my favourite, which I drink on an empty stomach, is hot lemon water. Squeeze half a lemon (don't use bottled lemon juice) into your biggest coffee cup and fill it with warm water (not boiling). Don't eat anything until you have finished your lemon water.

Warm lemon water aids digestion, cleanses your system, boosts your immunity, clears your skin, balances your pH, freshens your breath, lifts your mood and hydrates your lymph system.

The next one is watermelon juice. A combination of watermelon, cucumber and mint leaves is lovely. First thing in the morning, juices should be either warm or at room temperature to be gentle on your body.

Watermelon contains vitamins A and C, potassium, lycopene, beta-carotene and antioxidants. It's very hydrating, due to it's high water content. It's a diuretic, so it relieves water retention. It has positive effects on blood pressure and cholesterol and balances your pH. The lycopene in watermelon provides a mild and natural sun protection too.

The third drink is a cup of warm green tea with the juice of either lemon, lime or orange. This has positive effects on your heart health and it lowers your bad cholesterol levels while raising the good cholesterol. The polyphenols in green tea and the flavinoids in citrus help provide 'some' protection against 'some' cancers. Of course the citrus provides vitamin C, which is a wonderfully healing vitamin - especially when consumed in your fresh, healthful, raw foods.

Of course, you should always follow up this great start to the day by being active and continuing healthy eating throughout the rest of the day.

It seems pointless to have such a cleansing start and then filling your body with toxic processed foods and sugars for the rest of the day, which puts pressure on your digestive system and doesn't give your body the nutrients to regenerate all the bits that it replaces in time.

The cells in almost all of your body, replace themselves over time. It takes 20 yrs for your heart to replace itself, 2-3 weeks for your lungs, 2-4 weeks for your skin, 5 months for your liver, 10 years for your bones, 2-3 days for your intestines, 4 months for your red blood cells, your eyeballs (except your cornea) remain the same for all of your life, as does most of your brain. That's just to name a few.

You need nutrients in your body to replace these cells, so if you are eating junk food, or processed food and not consuming enough good, healthful, fresh foods, then your body is going to struggle to replace itself and cause you health problems at a much earlier age than someone who is providing all the necessary nutrients to their body. Long term poor nutrition means big trouble for you!

So that's your education for this part of my course. Today's lesson is over.

Nite all.  

Bad Tipping

So the first two football matches for the week and I've already tipped the two losing teams .. ugh!

I have absolutely nothing to share tonight and I am about to go to bed because I'm feeling incredibly tired. It's been a very big week and I successfully fought off this cold, and I think my body is telling me GET ME TO SLEEP BEFORE MIDNIGHT PLEASE, I NEED TO REST!

So it's good night from me.

Nite all.

Turning 30!

My youngest daughter, Bubbles, turned 30 years young today. In her own words, this is how she spent the day...

"What a long exciting exhausting day!!
Being 30 is tiring.
I had an awesome day at work,
flowers from the girls,
a cake from the guys.

I come home to find Matt had decorated the shit out of the house!
I get a lovely call from mum.
I get picked up for dinner in a limousine.
I have a beautiful dinner with awesome family.
I got SUPER spoilt.

Couldn't be a happier girl right now.
Thank you all for making my 30th a day I'll never forget!!"
♡♡♡♡

She is having a big birthday bash on Saturday night and then another one when she arrives here in two weeks. Well ... a big bash with just the four of us, but it will be special!

We've organised a theme party .. but the theme is a surprise, so you don't find out til I post photos after the event.

Adoring Husband and I spent a good part of today picking up the final goodies for the celebration.

I wish I could be there for her big party this weekend, but AH will be there.

My throat is feeling much better tonight .. I believe that I have successfully fought off the cold/virus/flu before it set in and took hold! Thank goodness!

My challenge right now is to get into bed before the strike of midnight .. I have 8 minutes!

Nite all. 

It's a hit!

I just checked how many hits I've had on my recent 'filofax' post and *oh my goodness* it's a hit! Almost 200 hits and I wonder how many of them clicked on the link to Vegan Chickie's blog.

I guess that proves what she said about there being some obsessive filofax users out in the big wide world of the web!

I'm wondering if all of you know how to answer this for yourself ...

My label would have to be something about not waking me up. I value every minute of my sleep and if I am woken up from a deep sleep for any reason except something pre-arranged, then I am likely to be cranky all day .. and I mean ALL DAY.

Adoring Husband is aware of this after being on the receiving end of my day-long wrath on a few occasions. I become totally unreasonable and my brain just doesn't see sense. So perhaps my warning label would read:

"BEWARE! CRANKY, BITTER AND TWISTED IF WOKEN UNEXPECTEDLY"

I'm fighting some kind of cold or virus at the moment. About twenty minutes into our train trip yesterday, I felt my throat beginning to feel a bit tender, which was frustrating because usually when I feel that happen, I can tend to it immediately, but on the train, I had to wait it out.

So since I got home last night, I've been dosing up on raw honey and lemon, drinking lots of water and I juiced some organic oranges this afternoon and had a couple of big glasses of juice. I sat in the sunshine this morning for over an hour and have eaten lots of green leafy vegetables today, for lunch and dinner.

My throat still feels a little tender, but it hasn't progressed any further, so I feel like I'm holding it back well.

Another good night's sleep tonight should help, but it's already after midnight, so I'd best get moving!

Nite all.

Long Big Day Out

Here we are, at the end of a very long big day out.

4am start. On the train at 5.45am. Into the city at 9.50am. Back on the train at 4.55pm. In the car, driving home from the train station at 9pm. Pulled into our driveway at 9.30pm.

I'm well and truly done for the day.

At the beginning of the day, I was disappointed that I didn't take my camera, but by the end of the day, I was glad not to be lugging all that extra weight around town.

Needless to say, I don't have any photos to share.

The psychotic dogs were very happy to see us arrive home this evening .. it's nice to get such a happy welcome after a big day out.

Thank you to Happy Harry and Lady Lynn for being our friends.

Nite all.

Big Day Out

I submitted another assignment today, that was not due until Friday, but I needed to get it out of the way, ahead of a big week coming up for Adoring Husband and I, so I submitted it at 4.30pm today and it was marked and returned to me before 5.30pm. It was my best mark yet! 100%

Very happy with that!

My next assignment is due in 2 weeks and is a video presentation. This assignment is the one that almost stopped me from doing the course .. I am feeling very intimidated by the prospect and I think my time will be very limited to get it done. Fingers crossed for me please!

This is a photo that I took yesterday morning down by the river ...

It was a beautiful start to the day and the river was looking it's finest vibrant blue, with lots of bird life in our company from pelicans to cormorants to kites to egrets. I love the river on a bright sparkling Winter's morning.

Well, we've got a big train trip to Brisbane tomorrow, so I'm off to get myself organised before it gets too late.

Nite all.

Did ya miss me?

Well, I arrived home at 6pm yesterday and had to be ready to attend a 'Christmas in July' function by 6.30pm!

It was tight.

But I did it!

Unfortunately the date conflicted with other important functions in the area, so the numbers were down on recent years, but it was a great night that raised good money for the local SES group.

The meals were well catered, the Christmas fare was delicious and I really liked the entertainment .. I even danced with Adoring Husband .. and THAT doesn't usually happen unless I've had a LOT of alcohol to drink!

It was a happy, friendly crowd who enjoyed themselves because they were sharing an evening with friends. Here are some happy snaps that I have not edited .. they are straight from the camera, so you get to see the 'before' shots.

By the time we arrived home at almost 11pm, we went straight to bed and after some debriefing of our few days apart, fell into a very deep sleep.

Some exciting news for me today! Remember the assignment that I was most worried about. The one that I really struggled to understand and had to spend extra hours on extra research for it to make sense in my head? Well, I got the results today and it's another High Distinction with 98%.

I can't tell you what a huge relief that was for me. I am VERY happy with that result and am finally beginning to feel more confident about my ability to complete the course successfully.

Well, I have struggled with this computer and the internet tonight .. what should have taken me an hour, has taken almost 3 hours. Very frustrating indeed.

Nite all.