ANZAC Day

It was a beautiful day to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings and the crowds, even in our small town, were impressive. Especially impressive that so many young people and children were involved.

Lest we forget.

Nite all.

Beyond everything.

I was going to share pics of my birthday stash, but they are still in my camera, so perhaps tomorrow, or Sunday!

I had a very successful evening at the club tonight, winning a handy stash on the pokies and then winning the 'end of the month' $50 draw!

We missed Lady Lynn tonight, who was taking care of her beautiful Grandbabies while their Mum and Dad celebrated a wedding anniversary.

Three anniversaries today, within our circle of friends, including Adoring Husband's and mine as we celebrate 5 years of marriage.

Other than that, we had a nice time in The Bay today and I enjoyed a delicious pedicure, which included a foot massage 'to die for'!!

Right now, I'm feeling very very weary and I need to be awake bright and early for the ANZAC march and service, for which I am the official photographer, so I'd best get an early night.

*yawn*

Nite all.

Happy Birthday to Meeeee

I think that the only way my birthday could have been better, was if I had visits from my kids, but they all remembered and I had great phone calls :)

I have certainly felt the love, received unexpected gifts and beautiful cards with heartfelt sentiments written inside. I've received birthday phone calls and had musical birthday messages left on my voice mail. I received a free coffee from the girls where I get my morning coffee and SO MANY messages through facebook!

I had a quiet day at home and did a little cooking, bathed a dog, did minimal housework, received and unpacked my FROG box of fruit n veg, had lemon/lime cheesecake for dessert BUT forgot to have a wine to birthday 'cheers' myself! I even visited Dr Dan yesterday, to make sure I was stocked up for the occasion!

Ah well. I'll make up for it tomorrow night at the club.

Meanwhile, here is another interesting video .. it's only 16 minutes and well worth viewing.



Sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Pre-birthday birthday

So I really wanted to see the movie "Insurgent" and when I checked the cinema times, today was the final viewing, so Adoring Husband and I decided to celebrate my birthday one day early.

We did some shopping first and AH bought me a beautiful onyx and silver pendant to wear on my long silver chain.

Lunch was next, at Wild Lotus, and we both ordered the Tiger Prawn and Calamari Pesto Salad. It was DELICIOUS! The pesto was macadamia and basil. We each had a beverage with our meal and then to really make it a birthday, we ordered dessert! AH selected the creme brulee and I ordered the panna cotta. Both were gluten free and mine was also dairy free, but certainly NOT sugar free!

As delicious as dessert was, my body didn't like it at all and I felt uncomfortable and bloated for a good while afterwards. A hit of sugar is not worth the discomfort for me.

After lunch, we headed to the cinema where we thought, for a little while, we were having a private viewing, but at the last minute an elderly gentleman walked in and sat behind us, so there was only three of us in the cinema .. just the way I like it.

We thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the two hours went incredibly fast. Can't wait to see the third movie in the series, "Allegiant: Part 1", but we have to wait until at least March 2016 for it's release.

There was still an hour of shopping time available, so I used it wisely, buying make up, jewellery, clothes and alcohol!

Before we left home this morning, I loaded up the slow cooker with lamb shanks, tomatoes, capsicum, onion, garlic, seasoning and chicken stock, so all I had to do was steam some greens ... beans, kale and broccolini to make a meal. Too easy.

So it's been a pretty damned fine birthday, even though it's not really my birthday, and I'm going to bed as a very happy 55 year old girl.

Thank you Adoring Husband xox

Nite all.

  

Birthday Morning Tea

I found one of these in my garden this evening. A hummingbird moth. You'll see what I'm talking about 3 minutes into this video - although, if you are as intrigued by hummingbirds as I am, you'll want to watch all of it!



It was coming right onto the dark side of dusk, so the light was terrible for photos. This was the best that I could get out of about 100 photos before it turned to complete darkness.

I had a lovely birthday morning tea with the girls today.

The lemon/lime cheesecake was much nicer than I expected. I think the topping of mango and cream that I put on it, balanced out the lemon/lime quite well.

The chocolate mousse was nice, but a bit rich for morning tea.

I didn't taste the chocolate energy balls, but Adoring Husband has been eating them all day, so I'm guessing they are pretty good.

I'm not sure about the banana bread-ie thing - I don't think I'll make it again .. I have a couple of other recipes that I'll try some time in the future.

I got some of the dog grooming done today. I started on Colli and she was compliant for the first 40 minutes but then began to get cranky, so I stopped and will have another try when my thumb heals. While I was cutting Jack's fur, I snipped my thumb and almost took the tip off.  Ruby and Jack wouldn't let me touch the fur around their faces, but the rest of them is trimmed and their nails have been clipped.

Adoring Husband was going to take me to the movies on Thursday for my birthday, but the movie that I want to see ("Insurgent" which is the second movie of the "Divergent" series) has it's last showing tomorrow, so we are going tomorrow instead, and will probably have lunch at Wild Lotus while we're in town.

I think I'll shout myself a pedicure while I'm in town :)

It's been a good and productive day.

Nite all.

Cooking and Footy

I have spent the entire day in the kitchen and will be heading back there in a minute to make some chocolate energy balls.

I've been cooking up a storm for tomorrow's morning tea with the girls. We usually only have coffee, but it's my birthday this week, so I'm providing morning tea.

I've made banana bread, chocolate mousse in little cups with blueberries, lemon/lime cheesecake and chocolate energy balls.

I also did a roast chicken with veggies and gravy for lunch.

I seem to have spent more time washing dishes than anything else! But I did enjoy the cooking today :)

An interesting short video about fructose/suger. It's only two and a half minutes and worth watching.



I've watched the Cronulla Sharks defeat the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL Monday night match .. I am very happy to have tipped Cronulla to win .. unlike Adoring Husband who is a supporter but tipped against his team!!

So now I'm back to kitchen.

Nite all.

Jackie Addiction

Today is Sunday.

Adoring Husband and I had big plans for Sunday.

Nothing exciting. Just chores. Stuff that we've been putting off for a while, but the plan was to get a big chunk of it done today.

Then we sat down to watch 'just two' episodes of "Nurse Jackie" which turned into 'two seasons' of "Nurse Jackie".

Nine hours later and only one of my chores has been completed!

I think my plan for the future is to not make plans!! Just go with the flow and do what feels right at the time.

The positive thing about today is that Adoring Husband and I agree that we are addicted to "Nurse Jackie" and thoroughly enjoyed avoiding our chores by watching two seasons of the show instead.

Nite all.

Woodgate

Had a great night at the Woodgate Bowls Club tonight.

Twenty two of us caught the barge over the river to Walker's Point, where the Woodgate Bowls Club buses were awaiting our arrival and drove us to the Bowl's Club for dinner.

I had a Club salad with Salmon and it was the most delicious salad and salmon that I have ever tasted. So fresh and crisp and the dressing was 'to die for'.

I had a pretty lucky night on the Keno and the Pokies and Adoring Husband got to dance on the dance floor with one of our friends who enjoys dancing as much as him.

Mardi and Lady Lynn xxx

Lady Lynn, Happy Harry, Adoring Husband and I all walked home when the barge dropped us off. On the way, we came upon a young man standing on the roadside with all of his fishing gear in his hands, staring at the road.

When we took a close look, he was watching a very large crab sitting on the driveway of a house, so Happy Harry decided to pick it up - the young man didn't want the crab - in the process, the crab lost a claw, which I confiscated, and Happy Harry took the rest of the crab.

I plan on having crab claw for breakfast tomorrow morning. Yummo!

We had a really good time tonight - as we always do on the boat trips across the river. It was a good crowd of people and we have The Lifesaver to thank for this one.

Anyway, it's been fun, but it's time for bed now as it's creeping up to midnight.

Nite all.

Interesting Science

Interesting Science #1 - I discovered this interesting snippet of information today. Information that everybody should know about! If you choose to read it, read to the end ...

Whooping Cough Vaccination Information

Interesting Science #2 - Science is making a fact abundantly clear: our genetics do not determine our health fate.

In fact, genetics don't even determine which genes our cells express (meaning which ones are turned on, and therefore control the proteins being produced by the machinery in our cells). Environment does. The field of research that is broadening understanding of how environment controls which genes are turned on or off in our bodies is called "epigenetics", a term roughly meaning "outside of our genes".

The signals to our epigenome begin even before conception. In fact, your parents' environments, even as children, affect your epigenome. Yes, the epigenome is inheritable. But, it's also dynamic and at any one time represents the sum total of the environmental influences experienced by your cells to date (from conception to present), with the current environment exerting the strongest impact.

Studies show that genes account for only 10-30% of our risk for disease, while the other 70-90% comes from our environment. The reason for this is how our environment affects our genes (or rather which genes are turned on or off by affecting our epigenetics).

Environmental factors that impact your epigenome include:
-the foods you eat
-the foods you don't eat
-nutrient status (whether or not you're deficient in certain nutrients)
-whether you smoke
-alcohol
-toxin exposure
-environmental or pharmaceutical hormone exposure
-medications and drugs
-exercise
-your social and family networks
-stress
-infections (current and past)

And as you can see, most of these are things you can control. We are starting to understand that those things that correlate with better health (getting enough sleep, managing stress, being active, having tight social and family networks, not taking medications or being exposed to toxins, not smoking, not drinking, eating a nutrient-dense diet including lots of veggies) achieve their benefits to health via positive changes to our epigenetics.

Epigenetics are why, when you change your diet and move your body, you feel better, lose weight, and reverse risk factors for things like cardiovascular disease. Epigenetics are why we can put autoimmune disease into remission with strategies like the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol.

And here's what's most exciting - because our epigenetics are inheritable, we get to pass on the benefits of our good choices to our children and their children and beyond.

Epigenetics show us that WE are who determine our health fates.

I LOVE 'Epigenetics' - I think I'll study that next!! At least I'll put it on my list of things to study!

Nite all.

All Shopped Out

What a day!!

We shopped til we dropped, or perhaps we shopped til we were broke!

We met the Wippell's truck in Pialba and collected our organic meat order.

We went into Office Works so that I could buy a $4 lever arch folder and came out with over $60 worth of gear. Oh how I love you Office Works.

We went into Go Natural for some chook food and came out with chook food and two bags of other goodies.

We went into Nana's Pantry for some coconut oil and some nuts and came out with quite a bit more than that.

We went into Stocklands for some dog food ingredients and came out with a trolley load of groceries, some flowers, a set of stainless steel saucepans and a scarf.

The saucepans that I have now were acquired from the prize cabinet at the Griffith ExServicemen's Club in 2003. They have done their time and I'm excited to now own a new set of delicious, good quality cookware.

We went into Harvey Normans to price a food processor (because mine is almost 12 years old and it's clip attachment decided to snap off yesterday!) and came out with a very large box with a very lovely processor that even has built in scales!

My food processor and blender are probably the two kitchen gadgets that I use almost daily, so the old one has had a damned good run. The new one has big shoes to fill!

Finally, we picked up our FROG box on the way home.

Needless to say, our car was chocka-block full to the brim by the time we arrived home.

We drank a cup of bone broth before we left home this morning and then each had a coffee at about midday and that was it all day. We both still had plenty of energy by the end of the day and after I unpacked our loot, I cooked up some chicken and salad for Adoring Husband before he set off for SES training and I had a bunch of grapes. My body is so well nourished, I still have plenty of energy tonight. It's a good feeling.

Tomorrow I'm going to groom the dogs (yes, I know, I've been meaning to do that all week!) and then I'm going to spend some time in the kitchen to christen my new food processor! Woot! Woot!

There is nothing like a bit of retail therapy to rejuvenate the mind :) and now I'm watching one of my favourite movies (in my top 5 list) "Dances With Wolves", so ...

Nite all.

Desk Envy

Finally!

I have the 'before' and 'after' photos of my work area.

We spent the morning doing some much needed housework and washing today and then the afternoon catching up on some more of the series of 'Nurse Jackie' that we've recorded.

Tomorrow will be a day of shopping and picking up our organic FROG fruit and vegetables as well as our big organic meat order. I guess I'll be spending the afternoon and evening packing everything away!

So I need to hit the sack right now!

Nite all.

Farewell Full of Love

Adoring Husband and I attended a funeral today.

The funeral of June Wallis, who was murdered by her husband, our local baker, on 22nd March.

I knew her husband a little better than I knew June, but I still considered her a close acquaintance.

She was only 32 years of age and was a happy, warm and friendly member of our community. Her crazy laugh could often be heard bubbling through the bakery doors.

June adored her children and family, and horses were her great passion. The presentation slide show of her life was full of photographs from her childhood and 95% of them contained at least one horse! What she didn't know about horses was not worth knowing. She was the local horse 'go to' guru.

AH and I estimated that there were more than 300 people who attended today's celebration of June's life and so many of us wore bright colours for that celebration which, I must say, was quite uplifting!

As people arrived with flowers, the ushers took them to the front of the church where there was a large stage and lay them along the front of it. By the time the funeral commenced, it was a sea of colour.

After we were all seated in this very large church - more like an arena - the casket was carried down the centre aisle, with her father, affectionately known as Wal, as lead pall bearer and I swear I could hear hearts shattering as we watched this broken man carry his baby to her final farewell. The physical pain that I felt was palpable and I struggled to hold it together. There were many who clearly did not hold it together.

Luckily, the friend with whom I sat, had spare tissues, because I forgot to take any.

When they placed the casket at the front of the church, they lay June's saddle and other horse riding paraphernalia upon it.

I'm not sure that you could call it a 'service' today. There were no prayers or hymns or scriptures, but simply beautiful words written by the family members telling the story of June's life and how she affected theirs. Incredibly moving and emotional.

Part way through, we were all invited to step forward to relate any stories that we wanted to share. I don't think there was a single person there with the emotional strength to publicly speak.

We listened to some of June's favourite music while people made their way to where ushers were holding baskets of gum leaves and each person selected a gum leaf to place upon the casket and embraced each member of the family to offer their condolences.

As heart breaking as that was to watch, the love in that church was overwhelming. You could feel it, it was tangible and like two giant arms wrapping around all of us.

An hour after the funeral began, we all followed Wal and the other pall bearers as they carried June's casket out to the waiting hearse.

It really was a beautiful celebration and a credit to the family for bringing it all together under such trying circumstances.

I know what it is to lose a child, but I cannot begin to comprehend the world of hurt that Wal and Sue and June's children are enduring right now. Thankfully, they have each other and there is love.

Nite all.

Beneficial

The story of salt.

Refined white salt, such as commercial table salt is bad.

Unrefined natural salt on the other hand is good, very good stuff, providing many health benefits.

Unrefined sea salt is healthy, as is Himalayan salt. Both are very easily metabolised by the body.

Real salt (of various kinds) contains plenty of magnesium and other important minerals, which is why it usually does not affect blood pressure in a negative way.

Most people have trouble making a distinction between unrefined and refined salt.

They ‘lump’ all salt together as a bad substance. This is a mistake.

'Refined' salt has had its minerals removed and has been bleached to give it the white appearance that we are accustomed to seeing with salt. It is the fine, white salt that is available at almost any restaurant or supermarket.

'Unrefined' salt, on the other hand, has not been put through a harsh chemical process.

It contains the natural minerals which are found in the natural product.

The mineral content gives it a distinct colour. The colours of unrefined salt can vary depending on where it is from and this is due to the changing mineral content of the various locations that it's taken from.

It is the minerals in unrefined salt that provide all the benefits. The minerals supply the body with over 80 trace elements needed to maintain and sustain health, plus, the minerals elevate the pH (correct acidity) and lower blood pressure.

Nature gave us salt—unrefined salt—with its full complement of minerals. It should be the salt of choice. It is a vital ingredient that needs to be part of everyone’s diet.

We NEED salt to survive. 

Some of the benefits to our body includes preventing muscle cramps, strengthening bone structure, helping maintain muscle tone and strength, balancing sugar levels in the body, helping the body absorb nutrients through the intestinal tract and it helps regulate sleep.

One problem is that every processed food from dips to sauces to dressings to cakes to ice creams and crackers contain refined salt. Unless you are super vigilant, it's almost impossible to avoid.

So that's the salt story, the good and the bad. 

This is what I found on my morning trike ride today. It might be a bit graphic for some, but this guy should have listened to Mama when she said "never touch two power lines at the same time"!

Another lazy day. A bit of cooking. A bit of cleaning. A bit of online shopping - ordered some nice organic meat from a beef, pork and lamb farmer up north. Pick it up on Thursday at the same time as we pick up our organic vegetables. I'm drooling just thinking about it!

I'm off to have some late night bone broth.

Nite all. 

Lessons and Questions

Things you need to know about some popular health trends.

Superfoods:  Chia seeds, Maca powder, Cacao powder, Goji berries etc.

Are they really super? Yes, these superfoods are extremely high in antioxidants and do have superior qualities.

Cacao is exceptionally high in iron and magnesium (justifying those chocolate cravings that tend to creep up during the menstrual cycle) and Goji berries are loaded with vitamin C (500 times that of oranges by weight) and have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years.

But they only work if you're eating a clean diet to begin with. If you're eating a lot of processed foods, sipping sugary drinks throughout the day, munching on crackers and cheese while slugging down a few beverages and then sometimes adding a few chia seeds to your morning smoothie expecting results, then it's not enough to cancel out all that bad stuff.

Instead of treating superfoods as a cure-all, clean up your diet and then embrace superfoods as add ons to an already balanced diet. That's when they become really super and there are plenty of other nutritional powerhouse foods around like leafy greens, wild salmon, sweet potatoes and avocado that can also be classed as superfoods.

Supplements: Most supplements on the market are absolute crap. Yep, it's true. Someone I know who was a Naturopath and then accepted a job with a well known, highly respected supplement company, discovered after a year, that most of those little pills are loaded with impure additives including fillers, binders and lubricants. (The discovery was a huge disappointment to her and ethically and morally, she couldn't continue working there) 

Those additives cause malabsorption and prevent your body from utilising the few benefits that are in the supplements, or in the food that you eat.  Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

No supplement is going to cure or take the place of a bad diet. Some supplements may be beneficial, but it's best to consult with a health professional whom you trust, before heading to the health food store to load up on herbs and supplements.

A good diet (have I said this already?) is always better than anything else you can try.

Calorie Counting:  Although the world is moving away from the calorie counting trend, it still rears its ugly head in the form of catchy marketing slogans. We see it everyday in advertising on our television screens and in the magazines. Food marketers still (successfully, unfortunately) use calorie totals to disguise the fact that their "health" foods aren't actually healthy. "Buy me! I'm only 100 calories!" And we buy them, because at one point in time, counting calories was all the rage.

The latest news? Calories don't matter. Clean food does matter. As a former (rather obsessive) calorie counter, I've gone the opposite way and have to tell you — it's beyond freeing.

As long as you are eating quality food and not eating beyond your body's needs, calories are insignificant. However, if you simply must buy packaged foods, don't completely ignore nutrition labels. They are still necessary to evaluate other aspects of the nutritional contents, such as sodium content and sugar.

End of today's lesson.

Another four minute video of Nora Gedgaudas talking about gut bacteria.


Now for a question that will get you thinking ...

If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?

My shortlist was

• 'Moonlighting' - because I had the hots for Bruce Willis way back then.
• 'Will and Grace' because I adore Jack and Karen and they would be a blast to play with.
• 'Brothers and Sisters' just so that I can hang with Sally Field and possibly meet Harrison Ford who is married to one of the other stars, Calista Flockhart, oh and of course I'd meet the yummy Rob Lowe.
• 'Absolutely Fabulous' for the wine, travel and sarcasm.
• 'Sex and the City' for the cocktails/wine, shopping and friendship.
• 'Friends' for the friends and Phoebe would be my best friend!
• 'Gilmore Girls' because living in Stars Hollow would be fabulous, eating at Lukes would be interesting and watching old movies while eating junk food is my kind of heaven.

My final decision is 'Gilmore Girls' - old movies and junk food and love abounds!

Adoring Husband has chosen 'Big Bang Theory' because it's funny and he can relate so well to Sheldon (the main character).

I'm off to make a late lunch/early dinner. We had a huge late breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushroom, tomato and avocado and I'm still not the slightest bit hungry 5 hours later, however, Adoring Husband is asking for food, so I'd best provide some healthful nourishment before he chooses to fill up on junk.

Nite all.

Short and Sweet - enjoy it!

"Our Brain & Body Runs Better on Fat, Not Carbs" by Nora Gedgaudas (2012)

This is just a short 6 minute video of Nora Gedgaudas talking about fats and carbs.

Nora is the author of Primal Body Primal Mind, of which I own a copy, but haven't had a chance to read yet - along with 6 other books on my desk that I've only glanced at! One day!



To learn more about Nora, go here.

I had a quiet morning at home while Adoring Husband worked at our local markets, cooking breakfasts to raise funds for the SES.

For lunch, I cooked up a delicious roast chicken with garlic onion gravy. Roasted sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, capsicum, zucchini and beetroot accompanied the chicken along with some steamed broccolini.

Of course, today was Super Saturday for football and there were three games to watch on TV. AH didn't quite make it through the third game and headed off to bed.

We'd had a light dinner of chicken wings with a salad of baby spinach, rocket, onion, cucumber, avocado and pear dressed with balsamic vinegar.

The reason I always share a description of what we eat, is so that you can see that eating Paleo is nourishing and far from boring.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try a recipe from Pete Evans' new 'Going Paleo' book. The crispy skinned chicken recipe has been getting rave reviews, so I'll take photos and share the recipe, if it's as good as they say.

Time for bed. I think I might use my lavender essential oil tonight to lull me into a relaxed state of snoozing.

Nite all.

Senseless

Such a senseless tragedy.

In the Riverina, the community of Leeton is in mourning over the senseless loss of one of their own.

RIP Stephanie Scott.

My heart aches for her fiance, her family, her friends, her students, her work colleagues and her community.

The feeling of safety and security from living in a small country town is lost forever and life will never be the same for everyone involved.

Two senseless murders in the space of a month, both too close to home, leaves me reeling and questioning everything.

Nite all.

Emotionally Intense

Well I finally got to the boxes behind my desk today.

It was intense, to say the least!

All of my father's medical records and reports, as well as court reports related to the compensation claim made by my mother.

There were 8 large manilla envelopes filled tight with information and I read every page of it.

I assume it's because of my studies, that I can decipher and understand much more of the medical information this time round. Last time I read it, I skimmed over and skipped a lot of the medical jargon, but I looked at everything in detail today.

Honestly, there were so many reports saying the same thing, but in different words, and it was like reading a horror story over and over and hoping that the ending might change each time.

It was an emotional roller coaster for most of the afternoon and when I saw all of the information that Mum had to chase up on her own, over a two year period, I wonder where she got her stamina and emotional strength from.

She also had to endure psychiatric and psychological assessments to determine if she was eligible for compensation relating to shock and trauma for his wrongful death. Reading the specialist reports for these was heart breaking and I was left wondering if I did enough to help ease her pain.

I believe, after reading every detail of Dad's arrival at Gladstone Hospital, and the treatment that followed, that they got off very lightly for their errors. One simple mistake upon his arrival, that both Dad and his mate questioned, sent him slowly spiralling into a painful death spin. A split second bad decision by one staff member, changed our lives forever.

What followed were more stupid and simple mistakes, but they could have been avoided if the first one hadn't been made.

As I read the final note on his hospital charts - 'time of death 1.50pm' - I could feel myself at his bedside again, listening to that heart monitor as his heart stopped beating and we could see the line on the monitor go flat.

I was 37yrs of age but felt like a young child and as one of his brothers hugged me, I said "I'm too young to lose my Dad".

I remember being in the car on the drive home from the hospital and watching all the people continuing to live their lives, shopping, driving, walking, catching the bus, chatting in the streets and thinking to myself "My world has stopped, my Dad is dead, and nobody knows and nobody cares." Such an empty feeling that day.

Still, I wasn't the first person to lose a parent and I wasn't the last.

On a lighter note, I also found printouts of all of the emails that Adoring Husband and I wrote to each other in the first couple of months after we met online.

That was also an emotional ride! But a much happier one .. ah the romance of it all. As I read through those, I could remember that wonderful high that we were riding and the excitement of knowing there was a new email to open when we got home from work, or when we arrived at work in the mornings.

I remembered the first phone call and then the email that followed as we described our nerves leading up to making the call and the relief when we were able to chat as comfortably as we had been able to write.

Adoring Husband's funny jokes and his descriptions of when and how often he thought of me during the day. How quickly we believed that we were meant to be together, and considering the physical distance between us, figuring out how to implement a long term plan to reach that goal.

Those emails left me feeling very warm and fuzzy.

Then of course, there were my high school report cards when I was 14yrs of age! Here is the first one.

ENGLISH: "Inattentive and talkative"

MATHEMATICS: "Rozlyn is capable of much better work but is very talkative in class"

TYPING 1: "Little effort is made. Classroom behaviour is poor."

SOCIAL STUDIES: "If Rozlyn put as much effort into her work as she does into 'showing off' and distracting others, she could do well. She frequently refused to participate."

FOOD & NUTRITION: "Behaviour has deteriorated this semester."

GROOMING & DEPORTMENT: "A little overconfident - could apply her knowledge and benefit by it."

SPEECH: "Though talkative - is achieving well."

DRAMA: "Needs to co-operate  with the group and make a more conscientious effort."

HEALTH ED: "Satisfactory."

PHYS. ED: "Satisfactory."

FINAL COMMENT: A poor student, Rozlyn will achieve little until her behaviour and her attitude improves. At present, her behaviour is hardly tolerable.

In my defence, this was the 16th school that had I attended and at the time, my father was imprisoned in another country (that's another story), leaving my mother to find work to pay the mortgage, so she was working at Pizza Hut from 4pm - midnight, leaving me (at the age of 14) to babysit my 11 yr old brother and 2 yr old sister.

I consider all of that a good reason for a fourteen year old girl to go off the rails a bit.

Then I found a 'dunny wall' poster that I had stuck on the wall in the dunny when I was 16 yrs old and where people I know wrote their memorable comments. I also had fake signatures of people like Boz Scaggs, Freddie Mercury, Les Gock, Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton and other hot superstars.

My brother wrote the same words on it twice - "Roz is a fat whale." Thanks bro.

There were lots of photos from my previous relationships and from fishing trips with Dad and of the kids when they were little - old Pixie photos - photos of me of various sizes ranging from 'normal' to 'Holy cow! Was I that big???!!'  

So it's been an emotionally intense day for me, having re-experienced the highs and lows of a lifetime of heaven and hell.

The last job for me, is to clean out the magazine rack, which is piled very high with beading magazines and organic gardening magazines. Wish me luck parting with the latter!

I'll take that 'after' photo when I'm done.

Nite all.  

Cleaning Bug

I arrived home from my trike ride this morning to find half of our house devoid of furniture!

Adoring Husband decided that it was Spring cleaning time in Autumn. So I changed into my cleaning clothes and we got stuck into it!

We cleaned windows together and then while AH vacuumed and steam cleaned the tiles, I cleaned my work area.

Oh dear.

It took me four hours to clean my tall wall unit and my desk area! I know! Right?

I had forgotten how much information I had printed out during my studies and I spent a lot of time sorting it all out from the four different piles scattered over my desk. There were Chemistry printouts, Anatomy/Physiology printouts, practise tests, lesson plans, so many notes, flash cards, essay drafts, formula exercises, diagrams and then there was the paleo information and the recipes.

It was a shambles and it felt like it was never ending!

I did take a 'before' pic and when the job is complete, I'll take an 'after' pic and share them both on here.

I still have to go through a couple of boxes of 'stuff' that has been sitting behind my desk chair for a year or more and also my low side board, which is covered in jewellery making paraphernalia.

I'm thinking about selling all of my jewellery gear. That will be a major undertaking in itself. Sooooo many beads, bead containers, findings, measuring boards, tools, storage drawers, books and magazines. We'll put that idea on the back burner for a little while and work on it later.

So we have cleaning plans for the rest of the week and who knows? It may even be presentable enough to invite people over one day!!

I did have to stop twice to cook lunch and dinner and after standing on hard tiles all day, in bare feet for most of it, my body was certainly feeling a little the worse for wear, so with the promise from the weather bureau of a fresh cool night, I am going to bed for some solid sleep, so that my body can be fresh and ready for another round tomorrow.

So that's it from me.

Nite all.

Change is coming

Apparently, our weather is going to cool down tomorrow, by a few degrees.

We can only hope!

I'm over the heat. We've had almost 5 months of above average temperatures with horrible humidity to boot.

It's just blurgh.

On an unrelated issue, I'm going to try this ... Chinese Recipe ... for a couple of weeks to see if it has an affect. I've never even heard of it before, but it sounds interesting! I used my first piece of ice this morning and it's surprising how long it takes for one little piece of ice to melt! I will keep you posted on how it goes.

We had a very pleasant evening down by the river for our monthly social barbecue. It was a glorious sunset, but I chose not to take any photos because as beautiful as it was, I have a lot of sunset photos from that spot, so the level of 'spectacular' has to be pretty high for me to get the camera out.

Finally, because I'm ready to head off to bed, I will leave you with a link to a site about gluten intolerance. This blogger's name is Dr Sarah Ballantyne Ph.D. and you can read about her amazing achievements here. She also has some great recipes on her site and in her books, which are on my wish list.

Happy reading :)

Nite all.

Betcha didn't know ...

So, who's feeling the after effects of too much Easter chocolate, hot cross buns, munchie foods and alcoholic beverages? I know a few who will be trying to be good this coming week, to make up for too much bad during these past 4 days!!

The worst that Adoring Husband and I did was eat chocolate mousse (sugar free, dairy free, gluten free - but full of delicious taste!) for dessert yesterday. We've had a no chocolate/eggs, no alcohol, no munchies Easter. All good healthy meals keeping us nourished and satisfied :)

I found this interesting article today that I know a couple of you will be interested in, and I know that many of you will not be the slightest bit interested lol.

What your food label really means

Added vitamins: One-dimensional factory versions of natural vitamins found in whole foods: ascorbic acid (man-made vitamin C) is usually synthesised from the fermentation of GM corn, while artificial vitamin E is commonly derived from petrol.

Soluble fibre: A healthier-sounding term for modified starch, which is widely used to reduce the quantity of more nutritious ingredients in processed foods, and keep down manufacturers’ costs.

‘Natural’ colourings: The only difference between these and artificial ones is that they start with pigments that occur in nature. Otherwise, they are made using the same highly chemical industrial processes, including extraction using harsh solvents.

Artificial ‘diet” sweeteners: Several large-scale studies have found a correlation between artificial sweetener consumption and weight gain. Accumulating evidence suggests that they may also increase our risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Enzymes: Used to make bread stay soft longer; injected into low-value livestock before slaughter, to tenderise their meat; and used in fruit juice processing to create a cloudier, more natural appearance.

‘Packaged in a protective atmosphere’: Food that has been “gassed” in modified air to extend its shelf life. It delays what food manufacturers call “warmed over flavour”, an off-taste that occurs in factory food.

Beef/pork/poultry protein: Collagen extracted from butchered carcasses, processed into a powder and added to low-grade meats. It adds bounce, increases the protein content on the nutrition label and, combined with water, is a substitute for meat.

Washed and ready-to-eat salads: “Cleaned” by sloshing around in tap water dosed with chlorine, often with powdered or liquid fruit acids to inhibit bacterial growth. The same tank of treated water is often used for 8 hours at a time.

‘Pure’ vegetable oil: Industrially refined, bleached, deodorised oils. Food processors often add chemicals to extend their “fry life”.

‘Natural’ flavourings: Even the flavour industry concedes that “there isn’t much difference in the chemical compositions of natural and artificial flavourings”. They are made using the same physical, enzymatic, and microbiological processes.

If you want to know more, (and a little warning .. it's a very long read), go here.

Something else that you might find interesting.

The Healthy Star Rating .. and you all know how I feel about that ...

If you're interested in reading an interesting argument against the validity of this rating, go here. If you can see the point of the argument and agree with it, you might like to sign the petition while you're there.

Meanwhile, the lovely Woman of Many Talents was kind enough to pick up my book from The Bay today and delivered it to me this afternoon.

The book is written by Honor Tremain, who was one of the speakers at the health seminar that we attended a couple of months ago. She is a qualified Nutritionist, a health writer and Nutrition Journalist. Her book is called "a diet in Paradise" - use your food as your medicine. 'Simple, easy, healthy ways to live and thrive'.

I've only briefly glanced through it, but it's a good quality book and I look forward to sitting quietly to have a good read before my studies recommence. Perhaps under a shady tree down by the river would be a nice way to pass a morning.

I'm off now to watch the rest of the footy.

Nite all.