Full Day

What a productive and satisfying day I've had!

It had a bit of a lazy start, when I woke up and lay in bed catching up on my facebook reading, but once I was up and about, I found quite a bit of energy.

After he pumped up the tyres on my trike, which were in desperate need of some air, Adoring Husband and I both rode down to the Seat of Knowledge.  It's amazing how much easier it is to ride when the the tyres are pumped up!

We sat with the boys for a while and then AH went on ahead and ordered our coffee, then I joined him to sit outside the local shops for a while .. chatted with a few different locals who strolled past and then AH bought some raffle tickets to support a local sporting teenager, while I shopped for some strawberries and avocados for tonight's dessert.

We pedalled home and made a big plate of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and toast and read the local paper over breakfast.

AH then headed out to the man's shed in the back yard, while I did some washing and then I gathered my study materials and headed out to the garden swing to do some reading.  After about 2 hours, I lay down and made myself comfortable with Ruby (my favourite psychotic dog) and had a little nap.

The chickens chased the other dogs around the garden, woke me up by trying to peck my toes and then we discovered that the other two psychotic dogs had been rolling in the chook poo in the yard! Charming! So up I got and started the bathing process .. gave them a bit of a haircut while I was there too.

By now it was 3pm, so I thought I would get dessert started.  It needed time to set for dinner.  Unfortunately those lovely looking strawberries that I'd purchased were all mouldy, so I found the receipt and pedalled to the shops to swap them for a fresher punnet .. but of course, ALL of the punnets were mouldy!  Ugh!

I bought myself a coffee and compromised with the fruit by buying some frozen raspberries.

Of course I had to check out the river before I headed home. The tide was out and there were lots of birds about.  This Whistling Kite dived down towards the boat ramp, but missed whatever it was aiming for, so I didn't get the magic shot.

It was after 4pm by the time I got home, so I spent 30 minutes on study, brought in the washing and started dinner ... smoked cod with white parsley sauce, potato/sweet potato mash w raw onion and broccoli.

In the end, I couldn't do dessert because the avocado weren't ripe enough, so they are now in a paper bag with banana in the dark cupboard.  They should be ready by tomorrow afternoon, so I'll try again.

AH was in bed before 8pm and I've watched two games of footy - three from three in the footy tipping this week wahoo!

It's only 9.45pm and I think I'll climb into bed .. fresh clean sheets are calling my name.  There is nothing nicer than sliding in between crisp, fresh, clean sheets.

The forecast is for showers tomorrow, so it will be nice to wake up to the sound of rain.  Fingers crossed.

A most satisfactory day.

Nite all.

Smile til it hurts

It's another cheat night .. but you just HAVE TO WATCH THIS. I smiled so widely through this whole 9 minute video, that my cheeks hurt by the end.  It even brought a tear or two to my eyes.  I guarantee that it will bring joy to your heart.



That is all.

Nite all.

Non-event

I am studying tonight and I'm well focussed, so there will be no post, except this quickie, to let you know that I am alive and will be back tomorrow!

Nite all

It's that time again!

State of Origin time.

You all know how I feel about State of Origin.

Queensland v New South Wales

Maroons v Blues

Cane Toads v Cockroaches

I am a Queenslander, born and bred.

Adoring Husband is a New South Welshman, born and bred.

I wear maroon.

He wears blue.

Queensland has won the last 8 series in a row.

Tonight, New South Wales won the first game of the series 12-8.

So all I have to say is ...

AND ...

Congratulations Adoring Husband.  Enjoy the moment :)

Nite all.

Lunching Again

I would just like to briefly mention that I had a lovely lunch with the Burrum ladies today ..

.. and that is all.

Nite all.

A Bit Productive

I soaked up some more beautiful Autumn sunshine this morning.

I played briefly with the camera ..

I got to cook in the kitchen .. home made tomato sauce in the slow cooker .. I'll give you the verdict tomorrow after I give it the final whizz in the blender.

I got to study for an hour in my work space and then for an hour on the garden swing .. I think that's my favourite place to study now.  The chickens come over for a chat.  I can hear my neighbour's sewing machine in her upstairs sewing room, which brings back childhood memories of my mother sewing in the house while I played outside.  The neighbourhood sounds are comforting.

I wonder how many of you agree with this?

It made me laugh.

Nite all.

Sweet Sunday

What a beautiful sunny Autumn day!

After I left the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and got my coffee, I pedalled down to the Lions Park and rode all the way along the river path, stopping a couple of times to chat with some locals.  Then parked myself under the big gum tree in front of the beach and took this photo.

Twenty minutes later, I was pedalling back in the direction of the Seat of Knowledge, when I stopped under another big gum tree to try to photograph the pelicans as they flew past.  They were flying one at a time every few minutes and below my eye level, so I wanted to take the photo from slightly above them.

As I patiently waited for the next one to fly past me, camera at the ready, I also saw a couple of Brahminy Kites heading in my direction and then a voice spoke up behind me.

It was a local man who LOVES to chat about birds and he pounces on me for LONG chats whenever he sees me.  Ugh!

Not now.

So thirty minutes later, having missed all of the shots of every bird that came in my direction, I headed home, with visions of a big breakfast of bacon and eggs and then I planned to make a new paleo tomato sauce in the slow cooker.

I walked in the door to discover Adoring Husband preparing dinner in the slow cooker!  What a lovely surprise!

No bacon and eggs.  No tomato sauce.  It was worth missing out on both of those because dinner ended up being delicious and I didn't have to do a thing!

So it was definitely a sweet, lazy Sunday for me!

Nite all.

Look within

Tonight's my lazy night ...

Nite all.

Story of Stuff

Twenty minutes of your time .. just a reminder of how things are .. maybe you'll stop to think and make one small change in your lifestyle .. every small change makes a difference.  We can't all do everything, but we can all do 'something'.



A couple of ways that we can make a difference ...

• Buy Local - consider the amount of pollution created to get your food from the farm to your table.  Whenever possible, buy from local farmers or farmer's markets, supporting your local economy and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas created when products are flown or trucked in.
• Buy second-hand - consider buying items from a second-hand store. Toys, bicycles, roller blades, and other age and size-specific items are quickly outgrown. Second hand stores often sell these items in excellent condition since they are used for such a short period of time, and will generally buy or take them back when you no longer need them.
• Give it away - Before you throw something away, think about if someone else might need it. Either donate to a charitable organisation or post it on a web site designed to connect people and things, such as Freecycle.org. (This is world wide and Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Sunshine Coast and Canberra are all part of the group (not Griffith or Wagga unfortunately) - everything on the site must be free and able to be used)

So that's my little bit of environmental sharing for today.

A couple of photos to share ...

Now back to my studies!

Afternoon all.

Success!

The muffins were a success and Gentleman Jim turned 77 today (not 76 as I thought).

The muffins were such a success that I had to make another batch of them today for Adoring Husband and I.  So yummy.

I think Vegan Chickie will love these and Bubbles has already put in her order for when she visits in August.

The alarm was set for an early start and a sunrise, but it was overcast and not worth getting out of bed for.

I got lots of study done today, and spent time on the garden swing, reading text books, so there is nothing new to report.

I did receive a photo of my little Chicklet on a scavenger hunt today.

Apparently this was item number three on the list.

Nite all.

Another Birthday

Not mine.

Gentleman Jim, from The Seat of Knowledge, is having a birthday tomorrow.  I think he is 76 yrs old.

Today, I made some 'Chocolate Maple Crunch Banana Muffins' so that I can take one each for the boys to celebrate his birthday for breakfast.

I have eaten four of them today!  They are so delicious on their own, but when you cut them in half and spread real butter on them ... O-M-G ... they are my new favourites!

Then this afternoon, while I was in the middle of cooking dinner, I looked out the window and saw a sunset in the making, so I turned the stove and the oven off, threw my camera gear in the back of the trike and pedalled to the river ... just in the nick of time.

Yesterday, when I got to the river for the sunset, I was eaten alive by sandflies, so this afternoon, I quickly splashed and rubbed coconut oil on my arms and legs.  I spent 20 minutes at the river and came away without a single sandfly bite!

It's now 10pm and I am off to bed!  I am going to set my alarm and get up early for a sunrise in the morning, then have birthday breakfast with the boys, and then spend the entire day studying with enthusiasm.

Nite all.

Motivation

Why am I so lacking in motivation?  I have been trying to study for 3 days and just can't get into it. It's happening in spits and spurts and it takes so little to distract me and make me lose focus.  Ugh!

Last night, the sky looked very promising for a beautiful sunset, so I pedalled to a new spot along the river, where I have never been to see the sun going down before.

The tide was out, so there was only a small channel of water left in the river, which reflected the light quite nicely, but the sunset itself was quite disappointing.

I met a man who was staying in one of the holiday rental properties with his wife.  He was from the suburb of Aspley, in Brisbane, and was keen to tell me about some idvds that he had been making for his family because his mother was turning 90.

He was disappointed that none of the younger family members seemed to want to know anything about her history and never asked her questions.  He said that she had wonderful stories to tell and that time was running out for the family to hear them.

It reminded me that I promised a friend that I would do a blog post about the sorts of questions you should ask your older family members before it's too late.

I've had the reminder to do this, sitting on my desk for about a month or more ... I just haven't had the time to sit down and think about it .. I could use that as an excuse to procrastinate when I should be studying!

So I hope to have those questions to post here soon.  Not today though.

Today, for the first time in about 4 weeks, I made myself a smoothie.

A bit over a week ago, I made packets of fruit and veggies to put into the freezer, to make it easier when I was ready for smoothies.  I used the first one today!

My study has put me into a new schedule and my smoothies seem to have slipped out of the morning routine.  I have noticed the difference in my energy levels and how my body is working, so it's time to bring them back into my morning schedule.

Started today and will continue from here on in.  Maybe my brain will work better and my motivation for study will return with the new energy!

No more coffee after lunch (which I stupidly did yesterday and couldn't sleep til almost 2am) and I must get myself into better sleep habits.

It's so easy to slip into bad habits if you don't keep focus on your own well being.

I think 'habit' is the operative word here.  It supposedly takes 3 weeks to create a habit .. I suspect it takes about the same amount of time to lose one.  That's exactly what I've done.

Time to get back on track.

Nite all.

Puddle Jumping

Oh how I love these photos of Chicklet jumping in puddles .. sent to me today by Vegan Chickie!

I adore her :)

There is a man in town who has bee hives and yesterday I asked his wife to ask him if he would allow me to take photos of the honeycomb for a photography challenge.  He wasn't at home at the time, so she said she would ask him when he phoned her last night.

This morning, she called me and told me that he was at home all day today and happy for me to photograph his bees!  So after my coffee, I headed over there...

He got stung 3 times pulling the beehives apart and we searched for the Queen Bee without luck. He was very passionate about his bees and I learnt a lot from him today.

Lucky for me, I didn't get stung and I left there, very happy.  He told me they can sense fear .. but I wasn't afraid.

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Cook Off

No study today.

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen though and really enjoyed it.

Chicken stock, pumpkin soup and curried sausages with rice.  We had the curry for dinner tonight.

I spent a little time in the garden and found a giant passionfruit which had fallen from the vine but was stuck on some branches very well hidden.  It had been there for a while because it was obviously old and quite shrivelled.

I wish I'd taken a photo of it before I threw it in the garbage, but I did take a photo of how much meat was in it!  Almost a whole cup!  It wasn't very sweet, but it was still ok to eat.

That was my #100happydays photo for the day.

There was an egg in the henhouse today.  That's 3 days in a row.  'Happy' is laying.  Now we just have to convince Hector and Helen to lay!

Adoring Husband arrived home safe n sound this afternoon.

All is right with the world.

Nite all.

Quietly Does it

Adoring Husband left very early this morning for his trip to Gympie for some more SES training.

I was woken quite early, just after 6.30am, by a concrete mixer next door, laying concrete on their side of the fence, but right outside my bedroom.  That was quite annoying, but I got up and went to visit my boys at the Seat of Knowledge.  I haven't been down to see them for a few days, so it was nice to catch up.

After coffee, I rode home to make some more chicken soup for Lady Lynn who has also succumbed to the nasty flu/cold that's ripping through town and then I delivered it to her hubby, Happy Harry.  I received a lovely 'thank you' text from her this evening.  I hope she recovers quickly.

Two exciting things happened to me today.

Firstly, I got the results of my first assignment in Naturopathic Philosophy - 93% - which falls into the 'High Distinction' category! Pretty pleased with that result, all things considered.

Secondly, I found the first two eggs from our new chookies!

That's my #100happydays challenge photo for the day.

I did get some studying done and have been watching football since 3pm, so it's been a pleasant and quiet day for me.  I've enjoyed it very much.

I think I'll fall into bed now and possibly attempt to get up for a sunrise .. I do struggle to get out of bed when the mornings are chilly, so I don't like my chances :)

Nite all.



 

Beasts

How amazing would this be!?



My new handbag ... a late anniversary gift from Adoring Husband.  I love it AND it will fit my camera very nicely on our lady's luncheons.

That is all for today :)

Nite all.

Waiting

It seems that my assignment is stuck on the submission page .. and I'm not sure why, so I've sent an email to the 'powers that be' to find out what I can do about it.  I can't delete it.  I can't send it.  I can't edit it.

So today has been a day of waiting.  Tomorrow will also be a day of waiting.  They promise a 48 hr response to emails.

I had a late start to the morning because it was raining and it was cool weather .. who wants to get out of bed on a cool wet morning, when there is no need to?  Adoring Husband bought me a coffee and the local newspaper and I enjoyed an extra hour in bed.

I did get a few hours of study in, but I don't feel like I achieved much today.  I have big study plans for tomorrow and especially the weekend.

My #100happydays photo for today ...

... my river makes me happy every day!

Nite all.

Improving

Update on yesterday's post ... swelling and pain has eased, lumps in glands gone, but neck still a little tender, mole drying up ... treatment continuing.

Today's #100happydays challenge submission...

'Happy' the chook has developed a healthy red comb - a sign that she will soon be laying eggs .. which makes me happy!

... it will possibly be my 'Repetition in Nature' challenge pic too (due to the feather formations and patterns), but I still have 17 days to work on that one.

Today, I did some study, made some chicken stock (in the slow cooker for 18 hours), cooked marinated (home made) lamb chops with cauliflower puree, roasted beetroot and cherry tomatoes with green beans and fried haloumi, for dinner.

Lazy night in front of the telly .. bed time any minute.

Nite all.

A Day of Rest

I have a mole on my face .. on my chin .. and after a heavy bump to it on the weekend, it became infected and I could feel the glands in my neck swollen and quite hard.  The mole itself was also swollen, hard and painful to touch.

I figured that things could get quite serious if I didn't try 'something' to fix it .. and you all know how I hate doctors!

I know that vitamin C is a healing vitamin and I know that kiwi fruit has masses of vitamin C, so I ate my last 4 organic kiwi fruit last night.

Magnesium is required for many reasons, but it gives your body energy.  Energy to heal itself.  So I massaged magnesium oil into my neck and around my glands ... clearing the glands is important to avoiding further infection and a couple of the 'natural' websites suggested this.

I mixed raw honey and apple cider vinegar together, both of which have strong healing, natural antibacterial qualities and are used as natural antibiotics, so with a cotton tip, I painted the mixture onto the mole 3 times a day.

I'm also drinking LOTS of water to help my body remove the toxins.

I only started doing this last night before I went to bed and I can already feel the difference.  The swelling in my neck and chin has eased a little and the mole has reduced in size.  I can still feel the tenderness, so I need to continue with my experimental treatment and hopefully, I won't require any medical assistance.

I must say that I have been constantly chanting to my body (inside my head) telling it to get better and telling it that any other treatment is not an option .. mentally spreading the white healing light through my body.

Also, I decided to have a quiet relaxing day without study or stress, to hopefully give my body lots of good healing time.

So far, so good.  I will keep you posted.

Today, I found out that my friend Kaz was sick with the flu, so I came home and made some chicken soup for her.  I used home made chicken stock from my freezer and I blended roasted capsicum, carrots, pumpkin, celery, onion, garlic, spinach, chilli, turmeric, cumin, nutmeg, salt, pepper and honey to add to the stock.

Lots of goodness, to hopefully help her body heal faster.

I got Adoring Husband to drop it off at her house, on his way to the SES shed tonight.

My photo for the #100happydays challenge was this one ..

Catching birds in the act of doing their 'thing' makes me happy.  This is a Fig Bird.

So that's my day.  Back to study tomorrow.

Nite all.

Home Again

I had such a lovely time with my Chicklet family and now I am home safe n sound.

I met a lovely 85 yr old woman (who I had guessed to be 70) on the platform, as I waited for the train.  She was going to Yeppoon, and her grandson (who looked to be in his 30s) dropped her off at the station and seemed relieved that I was there so he could safely leave his grandmother and go to wherever he was going.

We swapped 'getting lost on public transport' stories and she told me about her family and how she lost her husband 27 yrs ago and then she informed me that she was a Homeopath!  Unfortunately, the the train pulled up 3 minutes later, which was so disappointing, because I would love to have learned more about her but we were sitting two carriages apart, so contact was lost.

She was the most alert and healthy looking 85 yr old I've ever met.  She finished her sentences and told her stories without ever hesitating to think of a word that she wanted to use (like I do ALL THE TIME!).  Her mind was quick and she had so many stories to tell.  I hope her family ask her lots of questions and she gets to tell them everything that they need to know about her (and their) family history.

When I boarded the train, someone was sitting in my seat (as usual), so I selected the best spare seat I could find, with lots of space and made myself comfortable.  I set up my laptop and watched two episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

By that time, I had 20 minutes til my stop, so I packed everything up and soon, there was Adoring Husband waiting on the platform to welcome me home.

It took me about 15 minutes to unpack and now everything is as if I never left.

But I have all of those fabulous photos to remind me that I did!!

Nite all.