Awesome Hump Day

We were out of bed by 5am, in the car by 6.10am, and on our way in the dawn darkness.

Sexie Coffee was our first stop where Adoring Husband is on a first name basis with the girls behind the counter and was greeted with splendiferous joy by them all!

We left there with our heart starters, which was a good thing, because, for the next hour, we had some pretty thick fog to contend with on the drive.

We arrived near our destination earlier than expected, so we continued on to Kunara Organic Marketplace, where I stocked up on my Super Multibiotics. I didn't even look sideways at the rest of the store, otherwise I would have wanted to grab a trolley and begin filling it! I pretended to be wearing blinkers and exited the building with my two bottles of life saving capsules before I could be sidetracked.

I was ten minutes early for my dental appointment and only waited for five when the dental assistant called me into the room.

My shoe broke on the way down the hallway. Brand new pair of shoes only worn once, and that was yesterday! Luckily, I had taken a spare pair of shoes, because I was worried that I might get blisters, wearing new shoes two days running ... how lucky was that!?

The dentist and I spent ten minutes relating shoe stories to each other before she began cleaning my teeth. She showed me, with her tiny camera, the little bit of plaque that I had inside my bottom teeth and also showed me how healthy my gums were. She said that there was no sign of the chronic gum disease that I had carried into her office 8 months ago.

It took her about ten minutes to clean and scrape my teeth. I showed her my dentures, explained how uncomfortable they were, and showed her where they caused pain. She set up her little filing drill and filed down both sides of the denture until they fit in my mouth without causing pain.

My appointment was for 9.30am (I was called in 5 mins early) and I was paying the receptionist by 9.50am. Very efficient.

Next, we drove to Noosa Civic, where we bought a small saucepan, which was the final piece to our set, and which the original shop didn't have on hand when we bought our set more than a year ago.

Three takeaway coffees, two lemon meringue tarts, a french coconut meringue and a raspberry petit four later, we loaded the goodies into the car and headed to the Chicklet family's house.

One of the gifts that we brought down for Chicklet this visit, was a Batman costume. She put it on straight away and spent quite a bit of time admiring her reflection in the mirror, flexing her muscles and flapping the cape behind her. I think it was a hit because I just received a text from Vegan Chickie telling me that Chicklet wore her Batman costume to bed.

We only stayed for two hours today, but in that time, we ate our goodies, played Batman and Batwoman (that was me), played hide n seek, played tag and I got a short lesson on the game of Minecraft on the iPad.

The Library Guy (who is actually a woman and also my x-sister-in-law) was there too, enjoying her last day of holidays. I didn't get to spend much time with her, but it was nice to catch up, even if it was brief.

We said our goodbyes. I had to peel Chicklet off me to leave and then headed to Gundiah where we were dropping in to visit Best Cousin in the World on their new property.

What a nice drive in a very picturesque part of the world. Their driveway was very easy to spot and it was just a short drive to the house. We met a few family members along the way ... ones that go 'moo' ...  and by the time we reached the house, BCITW had locked the 11 (I think) dogs away, so they wouldn't jump on us.

She showed us around the grounds - the ginger crop, the shed, the old railway station building and pointed out the approximate boundary lines of their rather large property.

By this time, Marco Polo had returned to the house, so he filled the ute with a bag of beer and took us for a 4WD bash around the property to show us the best bits .. such as the view from the highest point, the resident Wedge Tail Eagle, the amazing rocks and boulders, picturesque dams and water holes, the river frontage and the beautiful old abandoned disused bridge.

We saw LOTS of bunnies hopping around. Plenty of birdlife and wildlife. It's a beautiful spot and it's understandable why they call it their 'happy place'.

I'll definitely take my camera on the next visit.

Next, we got a tour of the ageing house. It's obvious, at first glance, that the house is very old and it's been a long time since any real work has been done to it. Peeling paint, broken windows etc., but it's a solid old home with some fabulous original features.

The panes in the in old timber framed windows are just gorgeous and I doubt that you could ever replace them, with their unusual patterns and ridges - even the huge sliding room divider in the lounge room has the same panes except on a much larger scale. Gorgeous old bathroom with fabulous tiles and the original old vanity unit and bathtub.

Lovely high ceilings, solid timber floor boards and the bedrooms are all cosy but generous. The front verandah is even a comfortable size - enough for the barbecue and plenty of seating, but there is heaps of room to extend and renovate, which they intend on doing once they are properly established.

We enjoyed a drink on the verandah and were introduced to some of the furry friends. We fell deeply in love with Libby and apparently we would need to go on a long, long list of possible future homes for this precious pet. What a beautiful and gentle soul she is. Everybody falls in love with her.

Two hours later, we were once again in the car and heading in the direction of home. The drive was made all the more enjoyable with Mother Nature putting on a spectacular show at sunset ...

I'd forgotten to get anything out of the freezer for dinner, so we stopped at the supermarket on the way home and bought some lamb loin chops. It was after 6pm when we pulled in our driveway. Our fur babies were happy to see us, though not as noisy as usual. I made a quick salsa salad to have with the chops and by 7.30pm Adoring Husband was dozing off in his chair.

It's been a pretty big day, full of fun and excitement and now it's almost midnight!

I believe that I will sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

Tidying Up a Little

I bought some hooks today, to hang over my dressing table mirror, to drape 'some' of my necklaces in a more orderly fashion.

Originally, they were tangled in masses over each end of the mirror, ridiculously strewn in messy piles on top of both of my jewellery boxes and sadly looped over stands that were meant for short necklaces.

Something had to be done!

Retail therapy doesn't seem to be working for me. I could just about open my own dress jewellery store! Seriously!

Now that I have the long necklaces sorted, I need to spend some quality time sorting through the rest of my jewellery and tidying my dressing table ... again!

Thought I'd share this 15 minute video with you. Adoring Husband should take the time to watch this too because it has some interesting references to Parkinson's.



Mark P. Mattson is Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program National Institute on Aging. He is also Professor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.

I'd best head to bed. We've got an early start tomorrow. Sorry girls, to be missing our morning tea. Have a lovely morning.

Nite all.

I'm on a Mission

Adoring Husband and I recently discussed changing our ageing bedroom furniture. It's quite outdated, much darker than any other furniture in the house and doesn't go with the beachy decor of everything else in the room.

I did a bit of research and found a style that I quite liked, though it wasn't perfect.

When I related this to my cousin Nellie, she told me about a fairly new craft item in the market place called chalk paint. She is currently chalk painting her bed and has already completed a side table that she inherited from her grandmother.

Because our current furniture is still strong and is good quality, I've decided that a facelift with chalk paint is the way to go. It will cost a fraction of the price of new furniture, will hopefully look amazing and will be a creative outlet for my itching fingers!

Chalk paint is easily accessible from places like Spotlight or other craft stores, but there is a better quality brand available, called Annie Sloan. Stockists in Australia are limited, so I have to order on line and wait for delivery.

Using this paint is an easier way to create the shabby chic or the distressed look on furniture. Where you once had to prepare your furniture with sanding and undercoating and then paint and then use sandpaper to remove the dry paint .. with this, the only preparation is cleaning the furniture.

The paint itself is so soft that you mostly use a rag to create the look. Sometimes, very soft sanding is required, but with little effort. The wax mixing and coating is what sets the paint.

It's also non toxic and has no smell.

I found a few videos to show some techniques and here is one



... and go here to see the finished product

This is what I'm going to do with my bedroom furniture, except mine will be more of a distressed, almost shabby chic look. I'm not sure what colours I'm going to use yet, but these will give you an idea of how imagination and effort can create something special ...

... or maybe a bit more colour and imagination

I'm going to buy some of the cheaper craft paint and practise my technique on some picture frames before I do the furniture. I'll also change the knobs on the drawers, if I can find something suitable or interesting or unique.

I will take 'before' and 'after' pics!

So that is my mission, which I hope to have completed by the end of August.

Thanks for reading.

Nite all.

Slow Sunday

It was a slow start to the day for me on this lovely, damp Sunday morning. Adoring Husband bought my coffee and then made me breakfast in bed ...

I got out of bed at lunch time and made lunch which was rib fillet with a red wine jus, caramelised onion and served with broccoli and kimchi...

I bought this meat a couple of weeks ago at the markets in The Bay. Organic beef and quite delicious! Unlike the beef cheek that I got from the same place, which turned out like shoe leather ... which may have been my fault in the way that I cooked it!

Instead of using the slow cooker, I did it in the oven, on a very low temperature for almost 3.5 hours. My recipe stated 10 hours in the slow cooker or 3 hours in the oven. I think my oven runs a bit hot. Perhaps I'll try the slow cooker next time.

My Sunday has been very slow and unproductive. I watched the football and 'thought' about all the things that I'd like to get productive with ... like chalk painting, ceramics, beaded strands for my bohemian curtains, catching up on reading all of the health books that I've bought in the last two years and have only skimmed over the pages, finishing my Susan Howatch novel 'Cashelmara', playing my guitar and so much more.

Hopefully, by the end of the month, I will have moved my studio/office to the back room and I can get started on a few of these things. When we go into The Bay on Thursday, I'll have to check out the craft shops to see if they have the chalk paint that I need, otherwise I'll have to buy it online. That's something that I'm really looking forward to!

So, as you can tell, my brain has been very active, but my body has been very inactive, however, I have thoroughly enjoyed my lazy Sunday and I'm looking forward to a busy week!

Just before I go ...

This video is frighteningly awesome! The power of Mother Nature!



Nite all.

Tasty Tastings

A bunch of us had a nice afternoon at The Blonde Bombshell's house for some tasting of delicious balsamic vinegars, flavoured olive oils, dukkahs, spice mixes and other such deliciousness.

I'm not a fan of adding anything, that's not fresh, to my food and quite a few of these blends had added sugars, but everything else in the mixes seemed pretty safe. I must admit that the balsamic vinegars have taken my fancy.

I already have the Raspberry Chocolate Caramelised and Coconut Mango Lime vinegars. Today I ordered the Coconut Caramelised & Spiced Rum Balsamic Vinegar. I could drink that one by the glassful!! I also ordered the Wild Lime Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I currently use the Asian oil from that selection.

The consultant, prepared a number of dishes in the Bombshell's kitchen, but I found some of them a bit bland. Her kitchen skills were left wanting and she neglected to add any basic seasoning like salt and pepper to the savoury dishes, or sweeteners to the sweet dishes. This meant that the food didn't do justice to the mixes.

I agreed to have a tasting afternoon in October, on the proviso that the consultant stay out of my kitchen (only because I don't like anyone else using my kitchen or appliances), and I get to prepare the dishes myself. She seemed pretty happy with my suggestion and will email me with some of her recipes and ideas. I'll attempt to tweak them and hopefully I won't stuff up!

Overall, it was a really nice afternoon, where I met a couple of new faces and spent time with good friends. A pretty decent way to spend a windy, rainy, Wintery afternoon.

I found some funny tweets made my husbands and wives and thought that I'd share the good ones here.

*My wife wanted two kittens, but I'm the man of this house so we got two kittens.

*My husband still talks about that one time he loaded the dishwasher correctly, like it's going to get our kids into Harvard!

*Sorry. I was late because I had to find all the things that were in plain sight for my husband.

*My husband is home sick from work today and it's like having 1000 babies!

*Know those adorable little idiosyncrasies you loved when first dating? After 20 years of marriage, they become what the police refer to as 'motive'.

*MARRIED SEXTING: I'm not wearing any underwear ... because you didn't put the laundry in the dryer like I asked you a hundred bloody times!

*My husband is on the roof - only a few inches away from an insurance claim that could completely change my life!

Finally, this very quick and easy recipe looks delicious and healthful ...



It's still raining. It's quite heavy at the moment. I'm told it will clear tomorrow and we will have sunshine again, but the weather app on my iPad tells me that the rain won't clear til Monday. I guess we will wait and see!

The rain is lovely and as Adoring Husband said this afternoon, it's nice to have some days that actually feel Wintery - they don't happen too often in this neck of the woods. Falling asleep to the sound of rain on our roof is also lovely.

I'm off to watch 'Sex and the City'.

Nite all.

It's Wet

It's very wet. I can hear the rain hitting the front windows of the house and the wind sounds a little gusty out there.

It's also well after midnight, so this is a short post with nothing much to report. Have I ever??

The Romance channel on Foxtel is having a Twilight marathon tonight. The first movie started at about 10.30pm and the final movie in the series will finish at 8.30am tomorrow. Tempting though it is, to stay up all night watching it, I won't. I have them all on dvd, so if I want to watch them all, I can at any time.

I believe tomorrow will be another long lazy morning in bed, especially if it's still raining!

I bought some bananas with the FROG box order last week and found these recipes today. I think they might be my project for the weekend!

Frozen Superfoods

That's it from me.

Nite all.

Movie + Therapy

I had a very good day today, with Adoring Husband.

"Independence Day: Resurgence" was a great movie! I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially Liam Hemsworth, and even though I was never a fan of Jeff Goldblum, in my eyes, he has improved with age and having seen a couple of his interviews, I have definitely warmed to him.

The special effects were pretty amazing too.

My bucket list of movies has grown somewhat:

• Ghostbusters
• The Legend of Tarzan
• Star Trek Beyond
• Central Intelligence
• Bad Moms
• Bridget Jones' Baby
• Dr Strange
• Finding Dory

Half of these haven't even been released yet, but there are four from the list that I need to see in the next couple of weeks before they finish.


My retail therapist called after the movie, so AH dropped me off at Stocklands, while he visited the dreaded Bunnings, and I enjoyed an hour of therapy.

We picked up the FROG box on the way home and I cooked a late lunch/early dinner because AH has SES training tonight.

Sadly, Queensland lost the State of Origin game last night. Some controversial decisions were made by the refs, which are still being discussed by various media outlets today, but to me, it really doesn't matter, because QLD won the series and the game meant little. Apologies to any NSW supporters out there who are basking in the glory (that would be Adoring Husband!).

How many of these videos have you watched? Check out how they were made and how you got tricked!!



Gotta get to bed before I turn into a pumpkin.

Nite all.

SOO Finale

I am sitting on my couch, wearing my State of Origin t-shirt, my Queensland necklace and my maroon dressing gown. I decided against wearing my State of Origin dreadlocks.

I don't know why, but I'm feeling incredibly tired tonight and could possibly end up in bed by half time .. unless of course, I get my second wind .. which has been known to happen.

It was a great morning with the girls for our weekly morning tea. Only three of us missing, but it seemed like a much bigger gap than that. There were a LOT of tourists about, filling the tables and all drinking coffee, which made for a noisy atmosphere and meant that we had to lean forward to hear each other and talk loudly to be heard!

The girls making our coffee were wearing interesting costumes. The NSW supporters were very animated in their giant cockroach outfit and cheer leader colours. It makes me wonder where they can find their enthusiasm every year, when their team gives them nothing to cheer about.

I thought the same thing tonight, when they showed the blues supporters in the crowd at the stadium. There have been so many losses, yet the fans turn up on a freezing cold night, wearing their blue wigs and their jerseys. That's dedication for you.

Queensland has already scored, just 8 minutes into the game.

I bought and downloaded a new app today called 'Minecraft'. Chicklet is obsessed with this game and has called me twice to excitedly explain everything that happens in the game. I said that I would get it so that we could play together, but now I have no idea what to do next!! This will be interesting!! I may need to google it, to learn how to play.

Adoring Husband and I have a movie date tomorrow to see 'Independence Day'. BGWLBH saw it last night and gave it a good review, so I'm looking forward to it.

Bubbles gave a good review for the movie 'The Legend of Tarzan' too, so I might need to squeeze that one in somewhere. Next Thursday, our date will be to see 'Star Trek Beyond'.

One might ask ... what has my life become??? Haha.

Anyway, I'm off to focus on the game.

Nite all.

Midday Rising

Yes, that's what time I chose to start my day.

My good intentions of going to bed at the early hour that I announced last night, kind of fell by the wayside, when I got all involved in the idiot box and those TV shows that I mentioned. It was almost 1am when the TV screen went black and I immediately fell into a deep sleep.

So, it was 8.15am when I opened my eyes and Adoring Husband kindly heated up a cup of chicken bone broth for me, so that I could sit in bed reading and facebooking and youtubing and generally having a gloriously lazy and blissful start to my day.

At midday, I showered and dressed and hopped on my trike for a ride in the sunshine ... and oh what a perfectly wonderful day it was outside! The temperature was mild, the breeze was slight and the sun was putting a sparkle in my world.

I took the long way to the shops where I bought a few items, including a coffee, and then I took the long way home. While I was riding, I closed my eyes and raised my face to the sunshine ... how lucky that I live in a quiet little town, where I can do that with a low degree of risk! It felt good.

Adoring Husband and I watched the two Miss Congeniality movies this afternoon. They were a bit of fun.

I thought you might find this story an interesting read ... My Story ... it's one of those 'let food be thy medicine' success stories. I love reading them. They are inspiring and give me hope for our future.

Well, again, it's after midnight. Adoring Husband doesn't like it when I post after midnight. He gets confused with the dates!

Nite all.

On The Down Side

Well, I didn't quite get to bed as early as I'd planned last night, but it was still well before midnight when I finally got there. I didn't even get to see the entire first set of the Andy Murray final.

I decided last night that I was going to make a concerted effort to quit coffee and alcohol for the duration of my second attempt at the Paleo 10 week program. So, this morning, I heated up a nice big mug of chicken bone broth and after drinking some lemon water, I sat up in bed sipping my broth while watching a movie length video "Ethos Time to Unslave Humanity" .

It was a nice slow and comfortable way to start the day.

Soon, I realised that I hadn't made up this fortnight's dog food, and I had no pumpkin, so off I pedalled in search of the vegetable.

There are two farmers in town who sell their pumpkins from home. One usually has a timber box full of pumpkins and pineapples, stationed on his front lawn, but of course, it was nowhere to be seen today. The other has a wheel barrow full of pumpkins on his front porch, but it appears that he is away indefinitely .. he has a hessian bag covering his sign.

This meant the local supermarket was my only option. I was in luck! Quite reasonably priced too.

By the time I'd finished making the dog food, filling the containers and cleaning up the mess, I had a headache that would kill an elephant!! I'd only made it to 3pm and I pleaded with Adoring Husband to fetch me a coffee. I would prefer to drink a coffee to ease the pain, than take a pain killer.

Funnily enough, I could physically feel my body responding to the caffeine with the first mouthful and by the second mouthful, the pain had eased significantly. It was a very strange feeling.

I still plan on quitting coffee, but I won't go cold turkey, as I did the last two times. I'll increase the time between coffees a little each day, over the period of a week, and see if that makes it easier.

Recently, I saved a recipe from my Facebook feed, called 'Gluten Free Brazilian Chicken with Coconut Milk Reduction'. It came from the Inspired Eats website, but the site is having problems and the recipe cannot be accessed through any link or even directly from the site.

I found the same recipe in Pinterest, but the site could still not be accessed. The photo in Pinterest had the ingredients listed below it, but no method or instructions ... so I had to make it up, using the photo, the ingredients and my imagination.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
pepper
4 boneless chicken thighs
2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
1 onion chopped
1 Tablespoon minced ginger
2 garlic cloves minced
1 can coconut milk
1 cup chopped broccoli

So ... I mixed the first 5 ingredients to make a rub for the chicken, coated each piece and rubbed it into the flesh. I heated the oil and browned the chicken on both sides, partially cooking it.

I removed the chicken from the pan and gently fried the onion, garlic and ginger, then poured in the coconut milk and simmered it gently for about 20 minutes until it reduced somewhat. I added the chicken to the coconut milk and simmered for another 10 minutes until the chicken was cooked through.

I steamed the broccoli separately and then stirred it through the sauce at the end.

It was nice, but I think it needed more heat, so I'll add some chilli and maybe cayenne pepper next time. Adoring Husband seems to think that it would be nice with duck, so I'll try that too.

I'll also keep trying to get into the site to see how this dish should be cooked. Hopefully,  they will iron out their problems soon.

I forgot to mention that I made chicken liver pate on Sunday after everybody had left. I'd taken the chicken livers out of the freezer on Friday, but didn't have time to make it for the party. I didn't want to waste 1kg of organic chicken livers.

It's the first time I've made it and it's quite delicious! I added some white port to the mix. It was supposed to be Brandy, but I didn't have any, so I improvised!

I'm disappointed that Murray defeated Raonic in the Wimbledon final last night, but I'm glad that the tournament is finished. Two weeks on minimal sleep is quite enough for me.

The US Open starts at the end of August and goes til the 11th September, but I'll be babysitting, so I won't be watching any of that one. My sleep will be valuable and I will need my wits about me! I'll definitely watch the results with interest.

I wonder how successful I will be, in getting to bed early tonight? Two of my favourite shows are on tonight 'Love Child' and 'Grey's Anatomy'. I guess I could try that modern idea of 'recording' the shows and watching them tomorrow. Just a thought.

A couple of bad Dad jokes ...

So what if I can't spell Armageddon? It's not the end of the world.

What sort of exercises do lazy people do? Diddly Squats.

Sorry :)

Nite all.  

Empty Nest

It's very quiet in our house now.

Our visitors are sleeping in their own beds tonight and I'm happy to report that they all arrived home safe n sound.

Needless to say, we'll be eating leftovers for a week!

We fed them a good hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomato and mushrooms before they headed off. Let me rephrase that ... Adoring Husband fed them AND he bought everybody a coffee this morning. I spent the morning relaxing and chatting with everyone while he did all the hard work. He's a good man.

Right now, I'm tossing up between climbing into bed for an early night, or staying up to watch the Wimbledon final between Andy Murray and Milos Raonic.

I'm looking forward to this movie being released in Australia in August! It looks like a lot of fun.

Ok, I've decided. I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Party Time

I woke up at 8am, to discover a coffee on my bedside table ... thank you Adoring Husband.

Even though I had a stack of things to do, I didn't get out of bed til after 9am and decided at 9.30am that I had to attend the local markets to get some more coconut mango lime balsamic vinegar. The woman on the stall had a LOT more stock to show this week, and I bought some Asian oil and some Wasabi Dukkah.

There was a new stall in the hall where I bought some Aloe Vera juice too.

I picked up a couple more groceries from the local shop and headed home at about 10.20am.

I had four hours to complete my set tasks, but ran out of time and the last two things on my list didn't get done.

• Pear, rocket, feta and walnut salad
• Garden salad
• Moroccan carrot salad
• Rice Salad
• Potato Salad
• Guacamole with vegetable sticks - capsicum, celery, cucumber and carrot
• Cheese platter with strawberries and smoked salmon
• Smoked salmon & cream cheese roll ups on cucumber discs
• One plate of GF crackers and dip
• One bowl of potato chips
• Cabanossi
• 20 Red velvet cupcakes, iced and topped with toffeed pecans 
• Pork & chicken meatballs
• Chicken liver pate

I didn't get photos of everything but here's a couple ...

I blew up 3 red balloons and set Best Cousin in the World's present (a good bottle of Merlot) on the table with her card and party hat. I set both the dining table and the outside table because we weren't sure how the temperature would hold out for the evening.

We ended up staying outside for the entire night. Everyone, except BCITW and I, were in bed by about 10pm. We sat up til midnight solving some of the world's problems.

The food went down a treat and Adoring Husband did a cracker of a job cooking all our meat on the barbecue.

Between us all, we drank five bottles of wine and about ten stubbies of beer. That's not bad for six adults! Only one of us was a little the worse for wear by bed time .. and it wasn't me!

I had a really nice night. BCITW and I decided it was bed time at about 12.30am, but it's now almost 1.30am!

Chunky's team made it into the Grand Final today, but unfortunately lost it 7-5. Thankfully, he wasn't too upset about it, but Mum needed a stiff drink to drown her sorrows!

It's time for me to get some much needed sleep.

Nite all.

Sporting Chance

Despite watching some of the Wimbledon lady's semi-final tennis last night, I did get to sleep much earlier than any night in the past ten days. It was still around midnight, but I enjoyed a solid seven hours of sleep, which made it easier to get up earlier.

As promised, Adoring Husband and I drove into The Bay to watch the kids play touch football in their carnival.

Both kids are all round superstars. They have the brains and motivation to top their classes at school, the physical fitness and prowess to excel in any sport they choose, a relaxed and easy going manner to make friends wherever they go and are both popular with their peers, leadership qualities that I'm sure will take them far in their futures and both of them are physically and spiritually beautiful human beings ie inside and out.

'Moopoo' is sixteen years old and today played on Field One in a game that was live streamed on the net. Her team lost. They entered the tournament to be competitive, but did not expect to do well against more experienced and more successful teams in their age bracket. However, they have done better than expected and are enjoying themselves.

'Chunky' is fourteen and his team is, so far, unbeaten. They are expected to win the tournament for their age bracket. They are a young, experienced team who have played together for a couple of years now and so they know each other's game well and it shows in their play. The pressure is definitely on them though!

It's a massive tournament and there were thousands of kids of all age groups in attendance there today. All of the car parks were full and cars were parked for more than a kilometre along every street leading into and out of the sports grounds. It was crazy!

We were lucky enough to nab what we call a 'rock star carpark', when we drove into one of the full car parks right on the edge of the grounds and as we gave up and turned to leave, somebody was backing out, so we drove straight in! We were literally a two minute walk to the field.

After Chunky won his game, we left the grounds to do our shopping for the weekend. Again, there were people everywhere in The Bay, and Stocklands was incredibly busy. The supermarket was buzzing with activity and I admit that I was feeling pretty stressed by the time we got to the checkout! Couldn't wait to get out of there!

I would, however, like to give a big 'thumbs up' to Carol on checkout 4, who was incredibly friendly and efficient and whose packing skills were exceptional! She definitely eased my stress levels .. in fact I am going to email Coles to tell them how great she was!

I'll be right back ...

Done!

We now have a fridge and pantry full of goodies and I have a plan in my head for all the dishes that I'm going to prepare. It would have been easy to get carried away, but I want to enjoy tomorrow night with everybody else, so I'm mostly making food that can be prepared in advance and Adoring Husband will cook the meat on the barbecue.

So I have a cheese platter to prepare, I bought two dips and will make one of my own, I'll do smoked salmon & cream cheese discs, I've selected four different salads to make and I've decided on a GF red velvet cake for Best Cousin in the World's birthday. We also bought her a gift, which I won't reveal here, just in case she reads this.

I'm on it!!

Now, at 11.30pm, I am going to bed to watch Roger Federer play Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon men's semi-final. They are one set each and I'm pretty sure that I will fall asleep before I know the outcome of this one!

Nite all.

Shed De-cluttering

Adoring Husband decided to mow the back lawn today. He only mowed it on Sunday, but the little bit of rain that we've had caused it to grow considerably in a few days, so it's now looking trim and tidy.

His next job, was to de-clutter and tidy up the shed! I seemed to get sucked into the vortex and firstly, I listed the 250 odd vinyl records that have been stored in a box for about 12 yrs. There are 78s, 45s and 33 1/3s.

Fabulous oldies like Liberace, Jamie Redfern, Doris Day, Winifred Atwell, Judith Durham, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Morcambe & Wise, Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong and Joan Sullivan.

Musicals like 'The Sound of Music', 'The King and I', 'Carousel', 'Calamity Jane', 'Showboat' and 'Hello Dolly'.

Some of them are real treasures.

The next box contained jewellery. Unfortunately, it was mostly junk dress jewellery, some of which I kept, but most of which I tossed.

My final fun job, was to sort through some small notebooks, all of which were filled with very small handwriting, describing Aunty E's daily 'goings on'. Starting with the time that she woke in the morning, collecting the morning paper, all of her phone calls to her sister, grocery shopping trips, visits to the bank, paying the bills, meals, plant watering, hair tinting, toilet visits, drives in the car (Ford Escort), how much she paid for petrol, what she watched on TV, visits to her sister, the temperature range for the day and the weather.

It actually reminded me a lot of this blog!! Every day there is some 'same old, same old' that gets repeated with every post and none of it is very interesting or exciting .. but I just couldn't stop reading it!

She had soup and toast OR fruit and ice cream for dinner every night. She froze huge numbers of cheese sandwiches, but never seemed to eat any of them. She loved to watch English church services on TV and collected the New Idea and Woman's Day magazines every week. The Daily Mirror was her favourite newspaper and the local rag, The Leader.

She listed the medications that she took every day, her doctor's visits and hospital visits, collecting the mail from Caringbah Post Office, the bus and it's number that she caught to Miranda Fair, what nationality the driver was, how she was feeling, physically, each day.

Aunty E was aged in her mid 70s for most of these notebooks and she lived til the ripe old age of 97. She was born in 1917 and we also possess the golden key from her 21st birthday, which she celebrated in 1938. She enjoyed lots of international holidays with her two sisters over the years, and ocean cruises and camping trips around Australia.

She lived a very long, full and exciting life and I wish I'd known her. By the time I met Adoring Husband, she was already in a nursing home and quite ill with dementia, so I never got to meet her, but there are many many albums full of her holiday photos, so I feel really good energy whenever I think of her.

So my day was pretty much filled up with those activities. At 5pm I began preparing dinner. Mostly leftover chicken with a few extra salads. Fresh grated beetroot with shallots, dressed in chocolate, raspberry balsamic vinegar, carrot salad with roasted almonds and cranberries, garden salad, buttered mushrooms, rice salad and sweet potato chips (which I just this minute realised, I left in the oven! Doh!).

I was worried that there wouldn't be enough food, but there was plenty, and everybody was sated and full of compliments.

Tomorrow, AH and I will go watch the kids play a couple of their games and then we'll do a big shop for Saturday's party.

This means no tennis for me tonight! I was up very late watching Roger Federer pull of a miraculous five set victory in his match, to get through to the semi finals. It was about 2am when I fell asleep.

It's now 10.45pm.

Nite all.

    

A Day in the Bay

We had a couple of false starts, but eventually, we arrived in The Bay to enjoy a delicious lunch at Aquavue on this glorious day.

The kids took advantage of the sunshine and walked along the beach after lunch, while Adoring Husband and I visited our favourite shop for ice cream! We bought two tubs of Raw Chocolate Coconut Ice cream, because there was no salted caramel in stock *insert very sad face here*, but they DID have something new!

A box of 4 ice creams .. very similar to Magnums .. but with coconut ice cream! Coated in delicious dairy free chocolate and almonds. Adoring Husband and I ate all four of them in the space of about twenty minutes!

We arrived home at about 4pm, at which time I got straight onto dinner. Our new favourite, Hainan Chicken was on the menu tonight and it was a winner! The kids gobbled it down pretty fast and were excited to have dessert waiting for them.

Chocolate mousse made with avocado, covering a layer of chopped strawberries and then topped with a whole strawberry, a scoop of raw chocolate coconut ice cream and sprinkled with crumbled freeze dried strawberries. Completely devoured!

So everybody left the table totally satisfied .. except for me! I was SOOOOO full, it has taken four hours for my body to finally feel comfortable!

The men in the house, did the dishes and tidied the kitchen when we were finished eating ...

Everybody, except me, headed to bed for an early night. The family need to be in The Bay at 7.30am for a start to their touch football carnival, but luckily I get to stay warm and toasty in my cosy bed til I'm ready to rise.

I must admit that I am feeling decidedly weary tonight. It has already been a big week and as I sit here watching my favourite, Roger Federer, losing his quarter final tennis match, I'm thinking about my warm bed.

It's fifteen minutes away from midnight. It will definitely NOT be a 3am finish for me tonight.

I got distracted and now it's ten minutes past midnight!!

Nite all.

They Have Arrived!

This is just a short post, because it's 1am and my need for some solid sleep is on the high scale right now.

I lasted til 3am watching the tennis last night - I know right!!?? You didn't think I would last after all that hard work!! - and I was awake at 8am ready to tie a few loose ends before the family arrived this afternoon.

I baked two chickens so that we could all sit down and have dinner when they arrived. Just a simple chicken and salad with a nice glass of wine.

The conversation hasn't slowed down for the entire six hours that they have been here and Nellie Noo has only just gone to bed herself.

I have morning tea with the girls tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep so that I can be fresh for that. Afterwards, Adoring Husband, the fam and I are heading into The Bay for lunch.

So here is a photo of some of the fam ...

I bet you wouldn't recognise those feet if you saw them in a different setting! Ha!

Nite all.

Been Workin' Hard!

Right! What a day! Almost a complete Spring clean in one day! Surprisingly, I still feel quite energised, although I think I've worked some muscles that haven't been used in a while.

Between Adoring Husband and myself we have:

• Removed the bedding, washed it and remade the beds in three bedrooms. Vacuumed and dusted said bedrooms.
• Cleared the middle bedroom of all my new study decorating paraphernalia (the new study will be revealed some time this month!)
• Pulled the washing machine out to clean the floor under it and the wall behind it, as well as the floor to ceiling window and sliding door beside it. Cleaned the laundry tub.
• Removed all the furniture in the outdoor area, pressure cleaned the concrete floor, washed down all the furniture and then returned it all.
• Cleared out the fridge in the kitchen, pulled all the shelving and drawers out to be cleaned, tossed the old food and returned the good stuff.
• Cleared out the spare fridge in the garage and cleaned the drawers and shelving.
• Pulled everything out of the very large, very full pantry, tossed the out-of-date stuff, cleaned the shelves and then re-organised everything.
• Cleared the clutter from the kitchen bench, cleaned on top, under and behind the big dehydrator at the end of the bench.
• Wiped down all of the kitchen appliances (electric kettle, toaster, blender etc)
• Emptied the vegetable box, cleaned it, tossed the sprouted onions and sweet potato and returned it to the bottom of the pantry all spick and span.
• Washed the bird cage.
• Did two other loads of washing. Folded the clothes that were already on the line.
• Put the fresh batch of bone broth into containers in the freezer.
• Cleaned the main bathroom and toilet.
• Vacuumed the tiled floor ready to be mopped tomorrow.
• Planned the menu for Best Cousin in the World's birthday party on Saturday night.
• Got the ironing up-to-date - took about 40 minutes.
• Cooked lunch (well actually, reheated beef casserole and steamed some broccoli & snow peas).
• Stacked and unpacked the dishwasher three times!
• Filled an extra 8 ice cube trays in preparation for Saturday.

I think that just about covers it.

At 8.47pm I made the decision to have an Epsom Salts bath. I'm not a fan of baths, but I could feel some muscles beginning to complain, so I added some lavender essential oil to the mix and lay there for about 40 minutes reading my Susan Howatch book, "Cashelmara".

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch in my pyjamas, feeling very much refreshed, munching on some raw macadamia nuts and watching Wimbledon! Nick Kyrgios is playing tonight, but first Roger Federer is playing Steve Johnson, then Serena Williams plays Svetlana Kuznetsova and THEN Nick Kyrgios plays Andy Murray ... I feel that it's going to be a long night! Right now I feel great, but I wonder when I'm going to hit the wall?

Let's hope Roger and Serena both win in straight sets!

I thought I would share this music video with you. The girl is the daughter of one of The Motivator's girlfriends. These two have beautiful voices and the song is reminiscent of my youth describing the drama and uncertainty of those early relationships.



I wish I had a tub of Zebra Dream Salted Caramel Coconut Ice cream right now! I've earned it!

Nite all.

Weekend Warrior

It's been a very busy weekend for Adoring Husband and I.

We have family arriving this week, so we took the opportunity to do some things around the house, that we have been putting off for quite some time.

I actually spent more time in the kitchen, so AH has done the most work in the rest of the house. Aren't I lucky? Some husbands aren't quite so accommodating! I won't name names ... you know who you are ... and if you're not reading this, your wives know who you are!! Haha!

It's almost been a complete spring clean, but tomorrow will be a rush to get it all finished because they are arriving a day earlier than originally planned!

Another cousin (best cousin in the world), who has just moved from Julia Creek to a property near Gympie, is having a birthday this weekend. She messaged me to see what we were doing on Saturday night and I invited her to join us all here to celebrate her birthday.

I was hoping to convince my sister (squirt) to join us as well, but unfortunately she has other plans. It's a shame because these two cousins were very close to her in her younger days - their ages are much closer to her than me - because I'm an old fart.

Anyway, we should have a lot of fun on Saturday night. I have balloons and party hats and I'll surprise her with a cake - I'm pretty sure that she doesn't read this blog, but if she does, then the cake won't be such a surprise will it?

There will be wine and food and music and balloons and hats and cake and love and laughter. That should be enough for one birthday party.

I finally finished the curried chicken today and the oxtail casserole, then returned the bones to the slow cooker to make up some bone broth. I also did some more Hainan Chicken. I delivered five of these meals to Mum H who today celebrated her 74th birthday.

For a couple of weeks, she had been struggling with her health and was feeling very down and out, but her new medication has kicked in and she was in very good spirits today. It was good to see her almost back to her old self.

Unusually so, Wimbledon has live tennis today. The middle Sunday is usually a rest day, but there has been so much rain, they are running behind with matches, so today is catch up day. I might even get to see Kyrgios finish his match which was suspended last night due to rain.

So this is where I leave you.

Nite all.

Crazy in the Kitchen

I've spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen today. It's cook up time!

I have oxtail casserole in the slow cooker as I type.

I made a variation of beef stroganoff this morning. I used plain coconut yoghurt instead of sour cream and, as a thickener, I used pureed vegetables.

Because I don't use flour, and I'm not keen on the consistency of tapioca flour as a thickener, I cooked up a big pot of sweet potato, zucchini, carrot, cauliflower and celery, then pureed it in the blender with some seasoning. It worked beautifully and added lots of extra flavour.

The added benefit of having so many vegetables in the sauce, is that if I don't feel like cooking anything to go with the stroganoff, I know that it has enough goodness in it, on it's own.

I made a triple batch of the vegetable puree, so it will help thicken the oxtail casserole and the curried chicken.

I made up a big pot of curry sauce for the chicken, before realising that I had put the chicken in the freezer last night, so now I have chicken thawing on my kitchen sink and a sauce waiting for it's meat.

Tomorrow will be fish curry, Hainan chicken and spaghetti bolognese sauce. I'd like to find the time to cook up a big batch of chicken and pork meatballs with sweet spicy dipping sauce.

We've had a whole duck in our freezer for a couple of months now, and I recently found a paleo recipe for spicy whole roasted duck, so I might do that on Monday or Tuesday.

It's also time to do a complete clean out of the pantry and fridge, so that might be a tomorrow or Monday chore. So much to do!

I hope you all remembered to vote today! If only we could fine the politicians for each election promise they break after they are elected. $100,000 fine for each broken promise. I wonder if that would keep them more honest?

Tonight, I discovered that there was a 50th birthday party in Griffith that I wasn't invited to! However, it warmed the cockles of my heart to see this group all together to celebrate The Big Little Man's birthday. I miss this group. We had such fun times together back in the day.

It was also great to see BGWLBH in attendance and looking so happy!

Congratulations to Adoring Husband, whose footy team, Cronulla Sharks won again tonight and broke their all time winning streak record! They are certainly looking solid this year.

Now it's time to stop watching the election results on TV and switch over to the tennis for some more enjoyable viewing pleasure.

Nite all.
 

Friendly Friday

It's already late Friday night and I'm watching a replay of last night's Wimbledon match between Tomic and Albot. Tomic won.

It has been raining in London, so the tennis matches were suspended for the last hour or so, and they've been showing replays of last night's games. Play will recommence shortly, but I'm feeling decidedly weary tonight.

I may have had half a glass of wine too much tonight because The Blonde Bombshell was refilling my glass while I wasn't watching.

I visited The Motivator this morning and bought six sand crabs and an ocean mullet. I've tasted river mullet before and wasn't particularly fussed, but I've been told that ocean mullet is much nicer, so I'll try it tomorrow and report my findings here.

I plan on spending the weekend cooking up a storm and freezing a stack of meals. I'll also take some to Mum H to hopefully help her get stronger and healthier. I have to write up a plan, so that she knows the best foods to eat and the best ones to avoid. If we can get her strong enough and healthy enough, her own immune system should slowly repair her body and she will quickly get back to her old self.

Meanwhile, I believe that I might just head off to bed and forego the tennis tonight. That comfy bed is a'callin' me!

Nite all.

Lunch with the Man

Date day with Adoring Husband was both pleasant and disappointing.

We had lunch at Kondari Resort.

I've eaten there three times before. Each time, pork belly was on the specials board and classed as gluten free. It was delicious.

There was no pork belly today. When I asked what food was gluten free, the girl replied 'steak'. But I couldn't have everything on the steak menu because they couldn't guarantee that the potato mash was gluten free ... they buy it in bulk, already made, and they don't know what the ingredients are! There could be fillers that contain gluten.

The other issue I had with the steak, is that it was specifically labelled as 'grain finished' beef. Some celiacs are sensitive enough that grain (wheat is a grain) finished steak can cause problems. I don't think I'm one of those people, but nonetheless, I declined the steak.

There was one item on the specials board for entree, which was fresh Queensland king prawns served on a salsa of pineapple and avocado. They wouldn't serve a 'main' size, so AH ordered me two entree sizes!

There were four very large king prawns in each serve and about two tablespoons of salsa on each plate. The salsa was quite unpleasant. Whatever the dressing was, had an unpleasant after taste, so I only had one taste of it. I peeled and ate the bland and tasteless king prawns, which were very fresh, but had no flavour.

The nicest part of my meal was the glass of Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

AH had the grilled Barramundi which also lacked flavour.

Very disappointing.

We had earlier checked the restaurant 'Coast' which had nothing marked gluten free on their menu. We also checked out 'The Vineyard' menu, but it was the same - nothing marked GF - which is why we continued on to Kondari.

Highly likely we won't return.

Later, we were at Stocklands and while AH was purchasing tape in the newsagent, I went to order some takeaway coffees from Jamaica Blue. There was nobody sitting in the eating area. One lady was paying for her order and in front of me, were two ladies, who were together, ordering their lunch with coffee.

The girl who was taking orders, was painfully slow and way too friendly! Of course, customer service requires a happy and friendly attitude, but it was as if she wanted to be everybody's best friend and initiated and nurtured long, unnecessary conversations to the point that I stood there for almost 15 minutes, by which time she still didn't even look close to serving me. I said to AH "I'm sick of waiting. Let's go."

There were lots of EOFY sales on in all of the shops at Stocklands. I searched for a short sleeved, collared white shirt to no avail. Can you believe that something so simple could be so difficult to find? I bought a couple of necklaces at 50% off.

Earlier in the day, we stopped at Pillow Talk and I found some lovely photo frames at half price and two framed quotes that took my fancy. They will look great in my new study!

I wore all black today. When I lived in Griffith, I wore black most of the time. My wardrobe held very little colour. I had half a dozen pairs of black trousers, black or dark coloured tops, black shoes and boots, and black jackets and coats. I still wear a lot of black at night when we go out, but my day time attire is pretty colourful these days.

Today I wore black jeans, black boots, a black shirt and a black vest. Lots of silver jewellery to accessorise. Adoring Husband loved it and said that it reminded him of when we first met! On our way out of town, we stopped at the shops to get coffee and check the mail and I received lots of compliments from the girls who work there.

On the way home, we stopped there again and the second shift of girls all commented. I am surprised! I felt very 'out of place' in black .. you don't see people wearing black in Queensland very often.

Anyway, it was nice to spend the day with Adoring Husband, even if our restaurant choice wasn't a happy one and I'm glad my black attire brought back fond memories for him :)

Another night of Wimbledon with Sam Stosur playing right now (and has lost the first set). Bernard Tomic, Daria Gavrilova and John Millman all play tonight. One Aussie, whose name is not familiar to me, Matthew Barton, has already won his match. I think I'll change into my pyjamas and make myself comfortable. It could be a long night.

Before I go, if you have time before 2.30pm Friday, watch this movie "What's with Wheat?". It's free to view until about 4pm, but it goes for an hour and twenty minutes. Very interesting and educational. I have ordered the dvd, so anybody here in town can borrow my copy later if you wish. 

Nite all.  

Lunch with the Ladies

Another good time was had by all.

We, the ladies, lunched at the RSL Club in The Bay today. Due to quite a few illnesses and a couple of holidays, we were down on numbers and only had fourteen women in attendance.

I enjoyed a Roast Pork and vegetables with extra crackle and gluten free gravy. It was a typical club meal. Nothing fancy, but satisfactory.

On the way out, I stopped into Shoe Frenzy and bought two pairs of shoes, which were on sale. They were down from $69 each, to $30 each, but the other deal was two pairs for $50! Bargain :)

Afterwards, five of us stopped at The Speckled Hen's house for drinks and a couple of other ladies, who weren't at the lunch, turned up to join us. I didn't stay long. Too many ladies and too much noise. Too many conversations going at once. Too much alcohol. Too many differing opinions. Too much biting of the tongue (on my behalf).

I left at just the right time, still loving the ladies (another 30 minutes and the love may have faded!) and I walked home with my shiny new shoes to Adoring Husband's waiting arms.

Thankfully, I had taken curried chicken out of the freezer last night, so dinner was nice and easy.

I am sitting on my couch in my Summer pyjamas and wearing ugg boot slippers, waiting for the tennis to begin. Last night's tennis was suspended due to rain, so I hope to see some more Aussie games tonight.

It's date day with Adoring Husband tomorrow. We were going to the movies, but we've discovered tonight that 'Independence Day' is on too late in the day for us, and the other movie I'd like to see, is 'Finding Dory' but it's school holiday time and NOBODY wants to sit in a cinema with a million kids to watch a kids movie, unless you're with your own kids or grandkids.

So we will do lunch together and decide what to do after that.

Time to focus on the tennis.

Nite all.

Blustery Day

It has been a cold blustery day.

Not as cold as down south, but for us, very chilly.

I left the bedroom window open last night, so that the very strong cold wind blew in over the bed, then snuggled down under the doona to keep warm and comfortable. Perfect sleeping weather.

It was too cold for me to get out of bed early, so I stayed there until after 10am. The only reason I left the bed, was to ride to the shop to get my coffee and check the mail, then I returned home and climbed back into bed!

I would probably have stayed there all day, except I'd made arrangements to go visit Mum H to find out how her medical test results went, so I got out of bed at 12.45pm and went for another ride.

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a sloppy joe and ugh boots ... more clothes than I've worn for a very long time ... probably since the road trip down south last year, which is exactly a year ago today!

I'm glad we're not road tripping right now, with all that snow about in NSW!

The tennis is on and I'm watching Kyrgios play Stepanek. Kyrgios (the Aussie) is winning and next to play will be Bernard Tomic (also Aussie) against Verdasco. I hope to watch that match in it's entirety and then I will attempt to sleep.

The lady's luncheon is on tomorrow and I need to be ready by 10am, so I would really appreciate it if Tomic could win quickly.

I believe it might be dressing gown time.

Nite all.

He Returns

Adoring Husband has arrived home on a high. He had a good time in Sydney, catching up with his Mum, who, unfortunately has dementia and no longer recognises him - but it's important that he connect with her a couple of times a year and do whatever he can to provide her with the comforts of home.

She is 99 years young and even though she is looking a little more frail each time he sees her, she still possesses a very strong constitution and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she lived for another ten years!

AH also caught up with some old friends and had a good time with everyone that he contacted, including my youngest girl, Bubbles. He came home looking refreshed and happy after some good quality retail therapy too! We all know how invigorating that can be!

He is now the happy owner of some quality up-to-date Sharks garments. He always glows when he can wear current supporter's gear!

He was only home for about four hours when he had to leave to meet another mate in The Bay for dinner. Again, he had a nice time.

It's good to have him home.

It's also good to finally see the beginning of Wimbledon Tennis Championships tonight!

Aussie, Samantha Stosur has already won her first round match, and the only other Australian playing tonight is Sam Groth. Right now, I'm watching Djokovic play Ward.

I'm considering heading to bed. I don't think Sam Groth can beat the Japanese player, Kei Nishikori, who is seeded fifth and I'd really like to watch Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic play tomorrow night. There are eighteen Australians playing this year and most of them will be playing tomorrow night, so I'm thinking that a good night's sleep will be helpful for me to enjoy tomorrow night's play.

I have fresh clean bamboo sheets to slide in between tonight, which is another reason am feeling enticed!

My morning was quite busy. I worked, bought my coffee, collected my mail, cleared out the back bedroom, washed three loads of bedding and towels, remade our bed, cooked lunch, cleaned the kitchen, fed the chooks, collected the eggs and swept the floors.

I sat down at about 2pm and wasn't required to move again until right now!

Nite all!  

It's an Art!

I read a story today about 'The Art of Doing Nothing'.

People, especially women, feel it necessary to always be doing something. They feel it necessary to fill their day with activity. People feel guilty for just sitting .. and if they do just sit, they are watching the clock and thinking about what they're going to do when they've finished sitting!

When was the last time that you just sat, alone? No technology, including TV, phone or tablet.  No book or magazine or newspaper. No guilt. Absolutely no distractions whatsoever.

To sit alone with just your thoughts for unlimited time. No music. No clock watching. No thinking about what you SHOULD be doing. Slow down, look within, see and feel how you're doing.

Do less, feel more.

We're always doing for others or doing what we feel is our duty. Whether it's babysitting, caring for a sick loved one, being a wife or husband, cleaning the house, doing the washing, gardening, grocery shopping, visiting our parents, working, paying the bills, taking care of our personal hygiene, doctor's appointments, being a mother or father, grooming the pets, planning meals, fitness & health classes and the list goes on, there is rarely any time left for 'doing nothing'.

I'm talking about people of my generation and older, who don't have full time jobs.

It makes me wonder how, in my younger days, I shared myself between a full time job, three children, a partner, my friends, the house and all of those other duties mentioned above. What about people who have to travel distances to work? That cuts their time even further!

So basically, the whole world is running on empty. There is no time to refuel or gather your thoughts or think about the meaning of your life. The world is robotic. Working long hours to earn enough money to afford the house, the cars, the holidays, the kid's sports and education, the current technology etc etc etc.

I think I've 'almost' mastered the Art of doing nothing (just ask Adoring Husband!). My favourite way to do nothing, is to sit by the river, alone, watching the world go by, while thinking deep thoughts.

My favourite deep thoughts are the ones where I feel incredibly grateful for the life that I have. I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. A great husband, healthy beautiful loving kids, a perfect grandchild, a roof over my head, wonderful friends and unlimited opportunities to practise any craft that takes my fancy, regular road trips with my BFF, living in a caring and supportive community... what more could a girl want?

It's almost 11pm and I need to be up early for work. Adoring Husband will return from Sydney tomorrow (Monday) at lunch time and my world will return to 'normal'.

Nite all.

Market Madness

What a day!

My alarm went off at 5.50am and I jumped out of bed to get to work so that I would have plenty of time to work, return home, and be dressed and ready to be picked up at 7.15am.

It was still dark when I rode off holding a torch, because the battery is flat on my trike headlight.

By the time I took the risk and rode to get my coffee before rushing home to get ready, I had 25 minutes to prepare for my day.

I timed it perfectly, but The Motivator was more than five minutes late, so I had breathing space.

She dropped me off at Aquavue and she headed off for her 8am massage appointment. I found a table in the Winter sunshine and there I sat enjoying a latte for almost 90 minutes. It was a beautiful day, but at about 9.20am, a very cool breeze picked up and it was cold enough for me to put my coat and scarf on.

When she returned, we decided to order some breakfast. I had gluten free pancakes with banana, bacon and maple syrup, which was delicious.

Just after we ordered, The Reality TV Queen appeared out of nowhere and joined us for breakfast.

By the time we left Aquavue, it was quite late in the morning. We checked out the Torquay markets, which were quite small and uninspiring. We walked across the road and spent some time browsing and buying at Go Natural before finding our way to the pier markets at Urangan.

We bought lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, bunches of fresh herbs and some pots of thyme and lemon balm. There was a stall selling spices, where I got some white peppercorns. I purchased some lovely, and very reasonably priced jewellery (because you can never have too much jewellery) and then we discovered a meat van selling pastured beef, lamb and pork, so I bought a beef cheek, beef fillet, leg of lamb and some bacon.

By the end of our day of retail therapy, the car was well laden with our goods, but we still stopped by the side of the road and bought 4 pineapples each from the back of a truck!

The Motivator dropped me at home where I had just enough time to pack everything away, before heading off to my next date at The Blond Bombshell's house. The Reality TV Queen, Blond Bombshell and I finished off the wine that was left over from our Gold Coast trip.

Two hours later, I stopped at The Motivator's house to pick up some sand crabs that I'd ordered, but I ended up spending an hour there and by the time I left, I was riding out into the darkness!

I munched on some crab for dinner and sat down to watch the second half of the Cronulla Sharks v Auckland Warriors game. It was AMAZING. 18 all at full time. After a very tight match, Cronulla finally scored a point to win 19-18.

Adoring Husband is in Sydney and attended the game. He said he stood in the stands with all of the other fans singing the Cronulla victory song three times before leaving the grounds. Even though he was by himself, he said he had a ball! I wish I could have been there to share that excitement with him.

Now, I'm watching my team play the Bulldogs. They are losing. I'm not sure that I can stay awake for the second half. It has been a very long day with an early start and I didn't sleep well last night because I was worried that I would sleep through my alarm.

I'm looking forward to staying in bed tomorrow morning, snuggled under the blankets and slowly easing myself into the day.

Nite all.

Where did it go?

Where did my day go?

I left for work at 6.20am and afterwards rode to the Seat of Knowledge to see the boys. I bought my coffee and some ingredients for my chicken dinner. I prepared my chicken dinner (three days worth of chicken dinner). I watched a movie.

Chicken, ginger, shallots and coriander ready to be poached.

Suddenly, it was time to get ready to go to the club!

I feel like I blinked and half of the day disappeared!

Tomorrow is going to be interesting. The weather forecast is for a temperature range of 7C - 19C which is incredibly cold for this neck of the woods. I can already feel a chill in the air.

I have plans with The Motivator early tomorrow, so I need to leave the house at 6am to get my work done and return home to get dressed and be ready to get picked up at 7.15am.

I have my warm clothes and gloves all ready for work and then my outfit ready to go out. I can't believe that I will need my coat and a scarf! I need to be very organised because time will be of the essence!

It's almost 11pm, so I should attempt to get a good night's sleep so that I don't struggle to get out of bed in the morning.

Nite all.

Responsive

I just received a phone call from some young man who advised me that he was calling on behalf of our local member, Keith Pitt. He told me that Keith would like to know my most important federal issue.

So I told him ... "The most important federal issue for me, is that voting is compulsory, and I have to decide which morally corrupt liar I'm going vote for!"

The was a stunned silence on the other end of the phone until he uttered a discombobulated "Oh"

I said "Thank you for calling. Bye bye."

He said "Bye"

I hung up.

I hope that I am his 'story' of the week! Although I'm quite sure that he receives much worse responses than mine!

It's 8pm and I am off to bed to read until I sleep.

Nite all.

Origin Time Again

I'm happy to announce ...

Queensland wins the series again!! Wahoo!

This was our beautiful sunset this afternoon, but unfortunately I couldn't get out there fast enough with my camera, so I grabbed my phone and took this ...

A spectacular sky.

I enjoyed morning tea with the girls today and followed it up with more coffee on The Blond Bombshell's deck with Reality TV Queen ...

The Blond Bombshell is out of town, so we sent her this selfie to show her what she is missing!

For lunch today, I did a coriander lime whole chicken in the slow cooker.

Last night I made a salt rub, with salt, chilli powder, cayenne pepper and cumin powder and rubbed it all over the chicken. The marinade had lime juice, coriander, macadamia oil, salt and crushed garlic. I put the chicken into a plastic bag with the marinade overnight and this morning, placed it (with the marinade) into the slow cooker on low for 6 hours.

It was moist, tender and full of flavour and deliciously spicy. I served it with baked sweet potato, baked carrot and baked onion, pureed garlic cauliflower and choko and steamed broccoli, bok choy and zucchini. A huge lunch so that we didn't have to worry about a big dinner leading up to State of Origin football.

I love a successful new recipe.

It's after midnight, so I'm off to bed!

Nite all.

All About Happy

During the week, The Motivator shared this recipe with me. It's called Hainan Chicken. It's poached chicken with ginger, and I made it today for lunch. OMG, it was so delicious that Adoring Husband went back for seconds, then was disappointed when I wouldn't let him have thirds!

It's very simple to make and this is my modified version ...

INGREDIENTS:

6 chicken thigh fillets with skin on
3 spring onions (chopped)
1 cup of coriander leaves and stems (chopped)
1 tsp salt
7-8cm piece of ginger (sliced)
6 white peppercorns

SAUCE: 2 spring onions, 1 Tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp salt, 1 finely chopped fresh chilly, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 3 Tsp maple syrup, the juice of half a lime and 1/2 cup macadamia oil. Place in a saucepan, bring to the boil, turn off the heat and let it sit til the chicken is ready.

Instructions:

Place the chicken pieces, skin up, in the bottom of a large stock pot or saucepan. Scatter the remaining ingredients over the top and then cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently, covered, for 13 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave the chicken to cool in the stock for about 1.5 hours.

Remove the chicken and slice into pieces. Place over steamed rice and steamed greens and pour the sauce over the top. The end!

The chicken turns out juicy and tender and full of flavour, while the sauce is tangy and even though it contains a whole chilli, it's not too hot.

It's going to become a firm favourite in our house :)

Meanwhile, it's been a while since I created a list, and I saw this idea on FB this morning.

Fifty things to be happy about ...

1. Lists about happy things
2. Delicious new recipes to try
3. Sunshine on a Winter's day
4. Rainbows
5. Crystal clear river water
6. Happy waggy dog tails
7. Squishy faces of newborn babies
8. Hearing birds singing outside my window
9. Sunrises
10. Sunsets
11. A giant full moon rising on a clear night
12. Shooting stars
13. Friends
14. Morning tea with the girls
15. Friday nights at the club
16. Fresh coffee in the morning
17. Reading in bed on a quiet night
18. Sliding in between fresh clean sheets 
19. Eating fresh food straight from the garden
20. Laughing so hard that the tears come
21. An empty ironing basket
22. Friendly neighbours
23. Road trips!
24. Fresh flowers in the house
25. Bare feet on the sand 
26. Organic Farmers markets
27. Lazing in bed on a cold morning
28. New shoes
29. Re-reading my favourite book
30. Picnics
31. Riding my trike
32. Music from my era
33. Steady rain on a tin roof
34. Butterflies fluttering by
35. Sharing photographs 
36. Social lunches
37. Dressing up
38. Hugs
39. Home
40. Cheering for my footy team
41. Staying up all night watching Wimbledon
42. Movie marathons
43. Beautiful works of art
44. Good news
45. Quirky hats
46. Ryan Gosling
47. Best friends
48. A kind and loving husband
49. Chicklet giggles
50. Family

What would be on your list?

I tripped over on our front porch today. I don't know how it happened but it happened so darned fast!

All I remember, is seeing the tiles rapidly coming towards me, so I put my hands out to stop them from hitting my face. Thankfully, I softened the blow by landing on my knees and hands with a loud smack and what I thought was a pretty loud grunt from me, then I performed an unplanned role onto my side.

I lay there, for what felt like forever, waiting for somebody to come to my rescue. I waited in vain. Adoring Husband was in the back yard and our front hedge and geisha girl tree hid me from the street.

So I gingerly moved my wrists and thankfully, there was no pain. They smarted a bit where I landed, but nothing serious. Then I checked my ankles and knees. They seemed ok, but one knee felt a little raw.

Whew! I was ok. I rolled up the right leg of my tracky dacks and there was a nice patch of skin rolled off my knee. Not even enough for it to bleed. It peeled every layer of skin except the last one, in the size of a 10c piece.

Basically, my pride was bruised and I felt like a doofus!

On the bright side though, it means that I must have pretty strong bones! I fell pretty hard! There's always a bright side.

To end, what has been a pretty great day ...

Nite all.

Time Flies

I visited The Motivator this morning to get some coriander that she'd offered me yesterday.

Two hours later ...

It was well after lunch and poor Adoring Husband had given up on me and had driven to the butcher to buy meat to cook for his lunch! Woops!

I made up for it by cooking up a big meal of chops, bacon, eggs, tomato and mushrooms. I also juiced up some oranges and pineapple and added some ginger and pear kimchi. Delicious.

This morning before I rode to get my coffee, I culled some of my wardrobe and took 25 items out, so that I could hang the 32 items that I'd ironed yesterday. I already have about 50 items in a bag, also waiting for the epic 'ladies only' garage sale!

A couple of the other girls have talked about going through their wardrobes too, so it could be the event of the season! Clothes, shoes, handbags, jewellery, scarves and accessories. Might ask the mobile coffee girl to park on the front lawn and I can make some delicious paleo sweets for the morning session and put the wine on ice ready for the afternoon session!

Sounds like fun.

This also sounds like fun ...

Directions:  Scoop the flesh of the avocado into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to gently break up flesh. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until everything is combined and creamy. Pour into moulds and place in the freezer for a minimum of 5 hours.

Healthy and delicious!

I'm going to make them while Adoring Husband is away. If they are really good, I will get to eat a whole batch myself! I promise to make a 'welcome home' batch if I think they're worth it.

Anyway, I'm off for an early night. Time seemed to slip away last night and it was after 2am when I finally got to sleep. I need to catch up tonight.

Nite all.

Water Logged Sunday

It's been raining all day and quite heavy for most of it. It will probably rain all night, but hopefully, it will have cleared by morning. We've had more than 60ml by now. I haven't checked the rain gauge, but Bundaberg, an hour from here, has had 85ml and Hervey Bay to the south has had 45ml, so I'm plucking a figure near the middle.

I spent my morning ironing all the clothes in the back room. I expected that it would take 3 or 4 hours, but it took less than two! Through the process, I discovered that I have WAY TOO MANY CLOTHES!! There is no way that the clothes I ironed today will fit in my wardrobe, so they remain in the back room wardrobe until I can sort through and cull from my collection.

I feel a 'ladies only' garage sale coming on. I suppose I should include 'men who like to dress up as a lady' in my advertising. Numerous pairs of shoes, handbags, jewellery pieces and items of clothing to go to new loving homes.

From there, I made lunch which was yesterday's lamb shanks in tomato and onion gravy with vegetables.

I chopped up a whole pumpkin to cook up for the dog food which I will finish tomorrow.

We watched the football, until Adoring Husband was called out with the SES to provide sandbags for some flooded areas in Toogoom.

While he was out, I took the opportunity to do some research into Naturopaths in the local area.

Firstly, I read their summary, then if they had a website, I checked that and finally, I browsed their Facebook page.

The first Naturopath told a story on her FB page about how her week had been very stressful, so she took some time in the morning to walk along the beach with a friend and then shared coffee and scones with that friend.

* So I crossed her off my list .. she is not very health conscious if she's eating scones with sugary jam and comes across (to me) as an emotional eater. If she doesn't care enough about her own health, then I'm not going to trust her with mine.

The next one was a male Naturopath with 17 years experience, but 2004 was his last known training.

* That's a no - I don't feel that he is up-to-date with current trends.

Number three made me feel a bit sick to the stomach as she described a patient of hers who was a ten year old with terminal cancer and she used hypnosis and creative visualisation to help her go through her wish list. Since she passed away, she has helped the family to deal with their grief through hypnosis and counselling.

* Nope .. I want someone who's aim is to help me fight my illness/disease and bring me back to vibrant health!

Next was a male Naturopath who specialised in massage, Chinese Medicine and Reflexology, but it seemed that he was more focussed on people who practised sport or dance.

* Sport and dance are not my forte, so that's another nope!

The fifth Naturopath was mostly into massage and intuitive healing.

* I'm a big believer in 'intuition' - but not for healing, so there is another one crossed off the list.

Then there was a Salt Therapist. His list included healing asthma, psoriasis, hay fever, allergies etc

* Salt therapies don't really cover the area that I'm looking at, which is detoxification and cleansing.

Number seven was a very experienced Naturopath with 27 years experience, but her training is very dated and after going to her website, her nutritional beliefs are so old that she still counts calories, removes fat from the diet and encourages 'low fat' yoghurts/milks/cheeses etc.

* That's a big black cross against her name.

Lucky number eight seems to be the most promising, but he does not have a website and sadly, hasn't posted on his FB page since December last year.

The information that I found, showed that he shared the same health values as I do, like paleo lifestyle, no sugar, high fat, organic food, oil pulling, building the immune system with herbs and nutrition to fight disease and illness, internal and external detoxes, various forms of cleansing and he advertised FROG boxes at regular intervals.

* I will do some follow up and see if he is still practising.

I will also do further research in the Sunny Coast area .. I'm sure there will be plenty to choose from down that way!

Look at that! It's almost 1am! Best get to bed!

Nite all.