Just a Fraction

There is still a fraction of an 'ugh' in my mouth. Just enough to be distracting.

It should be gone tomorrow.

I have nothing to share about my day, but I thought this video was a hoot! I hope it puts a smile on your face too.



I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

I See The Light!

Finally! Today was drug free and I feel like I am, at last, on the mend and healing beautifully. I will give today just one 'Ugh' and I expect to be 'Ugh' free from here on in.

I still kept it quiet. A trike ride to the Seat of Knowledge and then a trip to my local for coffee, but the rest of the day was spent on the couch with air conditioning and the fan keeping me cool.

I actually got to eat meat today (mince) and I can't tell you how satisfying that was! I am SO OVER fluids and smooth food that doesn't require chewing!

Only four of us at the club tonight, so it was quiet, intimate and lovely.

It's after 10pm and I'm off to bed for another early-ish night. One more good night of sleep should bring me to the height of health!

I wanted to share these colour charts with you. It's always fun redecorating .. even if it's just one corner of one room. These tips on colour can make all the difference.

The ultimate color combinations cheat sheet:

I hope that tomorrow, I can fall back into my routine and maybe get stuff done, instead of sitting on the couch feeling sorry for myself!

Nite all.



'via Blog this'

Misery Guts

It's more than one, but less than two 'ughs' today.

My 'ughs' are not reducing quickly enough for my liking. Even the outside of my jaw is hurting a little today, and I feel like I've had a permanent frown for three days, but worst of all, the last three days have felt like seven days! I can't believe that it's only been three days!!

I walked out of the dental surgery at 3.45pm on Monday, so Monday was pretty much finished and it's now Thursday 8.33pm.

Time flies when you're having fun, but it sure drags when you're not!

I am sitting in my lounge room as a huge storm is passing over us. Very heavy rain and plenty of thunder and lightning. I don't know if there is wind because I can't see outside and I'm not stepping outside to find out. It sounds windy lol, but it shouldn't last too much longer .. not by the BOM indications anyway!

I have a glass, or should I say 'bucket', of wine beside me which I'm hoping will ease the mouth pain as well as ease the storm stress.

It's now 9.20pm and it feels like the storm has passed. Just some rumbling in the distance.

It has been a quiet day at home for me, riding out the healing process, so I'm afraid this is just another whinging post. Woe is me. Poor me. Feel sorry for me. It's all about me.

Thank you to Adoring Husband for continuing to give me love and sympathy and TLC. Also a big thank you for being a great plumber and fixing the blocked kitchen sinks at minimal cost to us. It's good to be married to a jack of all trades!

Well, I guess it's another early-ish night for me. Let's hope I wake up with less 'ughs' on my description list.

Nite all.

Still Complaining

I'm still on the 2 x 'ughs'.

I'm still swollen and sore and tender and feeling sorry for myself. I'm OVER it.

I've upped my infection prevention strategy by increasing the frequency of oil pulling, gargling peroxide water, swishing colloidal silver and today I've made up a jar of Himalayan salt wash to rinse with too.

Since Sunday lunch time (it's now Wednesday night), my belly has welcomed coffee, bone broth, home made berry and pear sorbet and tonight my wonderful Adoring Husband made me some pureed pumpkin, sweet potato and potato and some finely ground mince with cauliflower sauce.

I desperately needed something solid and satisfying, and even though he complained that it looked like 'nursing home food', it was delicious and full of flavour and exactly what the doctor ordered. I ate so much, I'm still feeling stuffed, two hours later!!!

I had a lovely time with the ladies for morning tea and had plenty of endorphins pumping through me while Reality TV Queen had us all laughing uproariously at her's and her friend's drinking antics over the last five days. She is hilarious!

AH and I were planning on going to the movies this afternoon, to see "The Big Short", but I wasn't feeling chipper enough to sit through a drama for two hours, so unfortunately, even though today was it's final viewing, we have to wait for it to come out on dvd (or Foxtel) in May.



It has some big names in it like Marisa Tomei, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Selena Gomez and many many more.

I've been waiting for this movie to be shown and I can't believe it's been on for four weeks and I missed it!!

I received a phone call from Number One Son this afternoon too! He has a lot happening in his life right now, so there was some catching up to do.

Instead of movie-going, I spent the day watching all the TV shows that AH recorded for me while I was away. I needed a pain killer this afternoon and I will have another one before I go to sleep tonight .. which will be very soon.

I need another early night to help my body heal.

So ... nite all.

2 x Ugh!

Yesterday's pain and discomfort was worthy of three 'ughs', but today's discomfort surprisingly started out with half an 'ugh' and is unfortunately finishing with two 'ughs'.

My dentist did warn me that this would be the case, but I still haven't resorted to pain killers and I am using my golden inner light of healing, accompanied by fabulous music from the 60s, 70s and 80s to speed up the healing process.

Last night, when the pain got bad enough that I strongly considered asking Vegan Chickie for some drugs, I decided to horizontal dance the pain away.

I found a free app for my phone, which provides live streaming from any radio station in Australia. My favourite radio station, for as long as I can remember, has been 2CA, a Canberra station that plays amazing music from my era and also has stints thirty minutes long of ad-free music.

So I got my ear pods out, turned off the light and cranked up the music and danced while lying on the bed for a full thirty minutes. Surprisingly, it eased the pain considerably! It must have been the endorphins! My legs and arms haven't seen so much action since I played squash in the 90s! After about thirty minutes, I fell into a sound sleep.

Vegan Chickie even delivered some pain killers to my bedroom without me stirring. They were still on the bed beside me when I woke in the morning.

After an uneventful train trip home, I am sleeping in my own bed tonight and I don't think Adoring Husband will tolerate me dancing in the bed, so if listening to the music isn't enough to dull the pain, I may have to resort to drugs.

It will definitely be an early night again for me, so ...

Nite all.

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

I am here briefly to say that I had seriously nasty and extensive dental work done today and I am feeling very miserable and sorry for myself.

It is 7pm and the numbing agent has worn off.

Groan.

Moan.

Ugh.

That is all.

Nite all.

A Learning Curve

Well, that was a hell of a learning curve!!

I've never made a video before. I had no idea how to share it on my devices (iPhone, iPad and Macbook Pro) therefore I had never uploaded my own video here, and therefore I had no idea about the google rules for the size of videos allowed and therefore I had no idea how to reduce the video in size so that it would be accepted here.

I've had to cut the video in half so that it wasn't too big to post here.

My brain hurts. I'm not quite celebrating because, as I write this, it hasn't finished uploading yet!

The day of Chicklet's birthday was wonderful. She loved all of her gifts and played with each and every one of them all day long. 

She received a dragon costume and a unicorn costume, a tent/sleeping bag and pillow with dinosaurs on them, Dorothy the dinosaur and Henry the octopus dolls, a bubble blower, a tea set with dinosaurs, a skipping rope, a book, some stickers, a box of flowers and an unrecognisable dragon cake.

We spent all day playing with her toys. Mama, Dadu, Adoring Husband and I, all playing tag team to share the excitement and playtime. I'm sure that Adoring Husband must have been exhausted, having driven for two hours to see Chicklet, then spent a couple of hours playing silly balloon games with her, then driving home again after midday.

We loved having him here and loved that he made such an effort, especially considering the huge three days he'd had with SES duties prior to yesterday.

At the end of the day, Chicklet had a blast wandering through the house with a button pin, bursting all of the balloons (111 of them), while Mama removed the dinosaur and dragon stickers off the wall. By 7pm, you would never have known that it had been somebody's birthday!

We took it quietly today. 

Vegan Chickie and I had coffee and breakfast snacks at Zabe coffee shop this morning while Dadu and Chicklet had time together. We did some grocery shopping before coming home and I made a baked chicken and veg lunch.

I spent most of the afternoon in bed with an unhappy tummy, while Chicklet came and in and out at various times to check on me.

Tomorrow is my big dental appointment. I can't even remember what I'm having done, but I do know that I should get a good night's sleep so that I can cope with whatever is in store!

Nite all.

The Birthday Girl

It's just too late to do a full blog post tonight. I have tried, to no avail, sharing the video that I took of Chicklet seeing her birthday decorations for the first time this morning. I will have another attempt tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

The day has been amazing and Chicklet says "It's the best birthday EVER!" so that's gotta be a bonus!

Adoring Husband even drove down for a few hours and got to sing happy birthday before he headed back home.

I will write more about it tomorrow and hopefully have a couple more pics to share.

Meanwhile, sleep time for me.

Nite all.

A Slight Slip Up

Yesterday's post was actually completed last night, but it must have been so late that my brain was half asleep and I forgot to hit 'send'!! So this means you will get a double post in one day today.

Today was Chicklet's last day of being a four year old, so we said goodbye to the fervid fours with a bang at Aussie World.

What a fantastic theme park! There are more than 30 rides there catering to all different age groups and the staff are fabulous. They all appear to love their jobs and want to make the experience as enjoyable as possible for not just the kids, but the adults too.

I guess we picked the best time to go, being outside school holidays, because even though there were still plenty of people about, there were no queues for the rides and plenty of tables and seats available when we wanted a break, or when The Bare-chested Chef was on ride duty with Chicklet.

It was a perfect day. The temperature was mild, with a bit of cloud in the sky, a few very light misty showers and a cooling breeze, so we were comfortable all day.

I haven't been on a show ride (aside from the dodgems way back in the late 80s) since I was 15 yrs old when I rode the Wild Mouse at the Brisbane Exhibition. That ride scared the pants off me and I was never tempted to go on another ride ever again!

Today I rode the dodgems and the bizzy buggies and then sat in the Voyager Simulator for the 'terror on ice' ride. Thank god it was a simulator - just that knowledge removed the fear - the real thing would have done me in!

We walked through Professor Boggleworth's Illusionarium which was amazing! So well done!

We played four holes of the 18 holes of mini golf. Four holes was the best that Chicklet could deal with - the attendant was kind enough to give her a 'hold in one' certificate when we left.

The sideshow alley was a success with Chicklet playing the laughing clowns and the ducks, winning a giant ball, an orange lobster, an orange monkey and a hand held game with water inside and buttons to push.

We ate upstairs in the pub restaurant. I ordered a spinach and roast pumpkin salad with feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes. I added atlantic salmon and the meal was so big that I asked for doggy bag to go.  I had some for dinner tonight and there was STILL some left over! It was very nice and even though it cost $27.90, I got two meals out of it, so it was actually a bargain.

After lunch, Chicklet and Vegan Chickie rode the carousel, which didn't do Vegan Chickie much good with a belly full of food. About five minutes after the ride, she was feeling very much the worse for wear and had to lie down on one of the bench seats while Dadu and Chicklet went into the water park.

The rest did her good, and by the time we were ready to leave, about an hour later, she was feeling much better.

We left Aussie World and headed to the fudge shop for some gelato ice cream before we drove home. I had a little cup of vanilla with raspberry and white chocolate. Luckily, vanilla is my favourite ice cream, because there wasn't much raspberry or white chocolate in it.

We left home at about 9.30 this morning and returned at 4pm. It was a big day! Thoroughly enjoyable and worth every penny spent.

As soon as Chicklet fell asleep tonight, we got to work blowing up balloons and decorating the walls with dragons and dinosaurs. There are dinosaur footprints on the floor and inflatable dinosaurs under the balloons. The gifts are on the coffee table and I can't wait to see her face in the morning!

On that note, I'd best get some sleep so that I can be bright and breezy in the morning!

Nite all.

Thank you Driver

Woman of Many Talents was kind enough to drive me to the Sunny Coast this morning, even though her original reason for coming down here was cancelled out at the last minute, she kindly honoured her commitment to me and drove for more than two hours to bring me to my destination.

I did not know this until we were already on our way, otherwise I would have organised to catch the later train today. I feel guilty that she had to make this trip for no reason. She decided to spend the day with her Mum and then drive back tomorrow morning in time to work at 10am. I need to buy her a thank you gift. I will think of something special.

It was a very pleasant drive down and at the same time a great two hours catching up on our news together.

She pulled into the Chicklet family driveway at about 9.15am.

After she drove away, I unpacked my suitcase and settled in with Chicklet, squeezing in some play time before we headed to the supermarket to do a decent sized shop. We bought some coffee before we drove home and Chicklet babysat me while Mama and Dadu went to the movies to see 'Zoolander'.

Vegan Chickie loved the movie. It's on my bucket list for this month, along with 'The Big Short'.

So Chicklet and I had a lovely afternoon playing together. She was the Vet, while I brought all of my pets to her for consultations. Surprisingly, she was very sneaky and did things to my pets that I didn't know about until I visited her in her vet's office.

My big dog, Choco, had a tiny dog carry case stuck inside his ear. Dr Chicklet was a miracle worker and fixed the problem immediately.

My pet dinosaur, Snap, had a marble stuck in the back of his mouth. Thank goodness Dr Chicklet was able to discover the problem quickly and Snap was feeling his old self in no time.

My two miniature pups needed yellow bandaids to fix their 'owies'.

My hairy crocodile, Crocky, needed to stay overnight to recover from his ordeal.

My dog, Crazy Ruby (my favourite) also had to stay overnight and I was terribly distressed about leaving her there, so Dr Chicklet drew me a picture of Crazy Ruby to bring home with me, so that I wouldn't miss her too much...

What a kind doctor she was!

We also played marbles, drew pictures, made sticker art, played the Minion game, watched Caspar the Friendly Ghost and some of a Care Bears show.

It's been a big day, and tomorrow is going to be even bigger, so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.

Procrastinators Unite!

I am the Queen of Procrastination! You all know that!

A month ago, Vegan Chickie sent me Chicklet's birthday wish list. The list had four items on it, with a vague possible fifth.

A Cheetah Toy
Sleeping Bag
A Skipping Rope
A Tea Set with Dinosaurs on it (not plastic because the last one cracked)
(At the moment, she is in love with Ninja Turtles, if that helps)

At the time, I was very excited to have the list so early and planned on either researching the items online or searching around The Bay.

Chicklet's birthday is this Saturday and I am heading down there tomorrow morning, so after procrastinating for almost a month, I dragged Adoring Husband into The Bay today, on a birthday gift reconnaissance.

I do my best work under pressure!

Our first stop was Toy World.

As we entered the building, there was a box of skipping ropes on sale, so I immediately grabbed one.

AH asked at the counter "Do you have any children's sleeping bags?" Their reply was "No."

I decided that I would have a look around anyway and see what they had in the way of dinosaurs and cheetahs.

We checked out the dinosaurs and the only one I really liked was a remote control dinosaur which cost $200, but it was suitable for a much older age group and cost more than we expected to spend, so we continued browsing.

I began searching the outer walls of the warehouse-sized shop. Junior lego tables, trikes, scooters, blackboards, teenage mutant ninja turtle sewer tents, pool toys ... then suddenly ... wait for it ... a combination tent, sleeping bag and pillow covered in a dinosaur pattern!!!! *happy dance*

AH removed it from the shelf and headed towards the check-out. "Wait!" I called out "I want to check their tea sets!"

I walked into the very next aisle and there in front of me, was a white ceramic tea set! I imagined a few dinosaur stickers strategically placed and decided it was perfect!

At the check out, there was a bonus when we learned that our purchases were on sale at 20% off! Yay!

Toy World didn't have any dinosaur stickers, so our next mission was to find some stickers small enough to fit comfortably on the very small tea set.

BIG W was our next stop, where AH immediately found the perfect dinosaur stickers required for the job at hand.

So, with time of the essence, we had the perfect gifts all in the space of thirty minutes!! Amazing!!

During our shopping, AH received a phone call from the SES for an emergency callout. He initially decided not to rush home for it, but as we drove past the SES shed, the group were still preparing the boat and other equipment, so he decided to join them after all.

He drove me and the goodies home, quickly dressed in uniform and rushed off to join the search for a young man who had fallen into the river at Maryborough after a possible seizure.

My first priority was to wrap the birthday gifts. I had some plain brown wrapping paper, so I wrapped both gifts in that and decorated them with my own handy work.

The first one I wrote her name in big puffy letters and drew peace signs, flowers, hearts and dinosaurs on it. For the second gift, I used the remaining dinosaur stickers to spell her name across the package.

Pretty happy with that!

Next on the agenda, was packing my suitcase - just a small one because I have clothes already down there, but I had brought some of them home last time, so they need to be returned. I have a new book to read, a few pieces of jewellery, my iPad, laptop and lastly, my toiletries.

Too easy.

I did a load of washing, removed the inedible food from the fridge and gave it a quick clean and lastly, cooked up half a dozen chicken thighs for AH to nibble on for the next couple of days.

So I reckon everything is pretty much under control.

See!? I told you I do my best work under pressure!

Nite all.

  

This Looks Good

We have to wait til June or July, but this one looks good. I bet it's going to be a real tear jerker!



More kitchen duties today. Beef stroganoff and beef casserole, then devilled avocado eggs to take to the park for the barbecue tonight.

I had boiled ten eggs last night and then didn't even think about them again until 40 minutes before we were due at the park! I had to shell the eggs, cut them in half and scoop out the yolks into a bowl. I added two avocados, some salt and pepper, the juice of half a lime, some onion powder and a teaspoon of chopped fresh coriander. Mashed it all together and spooned it back into the whites, then sprinkled some paprika over the top.

They were very popular (except for Adoring Husband, who wasn't fussed) and all twenty of them disappeared quickly .. half of them before we even ate dinner.

There were 13 of us there for our monthly barbecue, which is usually the first Tuesday of the month, but last week, we got stormed out, so we postponed until tonight. It was very gusty down there, but no storms or rain. At about 7pm, the wind dropped and the mosquitoes were out in full force.

Obviously Adoring Husband has the tastiest blood, because he was the first one bitten multiple times. He raced to the car to escape the nasty little insects, which meant that the rest of us copped it. This meant a mass exodus!

I have 24 hours til my trip to the Sunny Coast and I am not the slightest prepared!

Best get a good night of sleep so that I can power up for a big day tomorrow. So much to do, so little time!

Nite all.

Kitchen Time

It's been a while since I was inspired to spend time in the kitchen. In fact it's been a while since I was inspired to focus on my health .. probably since the beginning of the year .. the road trip sent me off course a bit and it's been a struggle to find my way back.

BUT .. I've decided that it's time to rein myself back into the cycle of good health.

This means no more early morning coffee. Drinking coffee on an empty stomach first thing in the morning doesn't make me feel vibrant and energised and ready to face the day. In fact it kind of drains my motivation to do anything!

So it's back to warm lemon water, followed by bone broth and a trike ride to start my day. Coffee will happen at around 9am.

I've also increased my coffee intake to three coffees per day and that's too much. The dairy leaves me feeling full and bloated, which means I eat less nutritional food.

Oil pulling in the morning and evening has also been very intermittent this month and I can feel the difference, so it's time to be more vigilant with my oral health.

I need to reduce my now over indulgence of carbs. Potatoes and rice have been very high on my list of meal and snack options lately and they make me feel bloated, inflamed and I feel like I'm retaining fluid.

That's how easy it is to gradually fall off the health wagon and allow the less nutritious foods to not just sneak into your diet, but start to take up a large portion of it. I can literally feel the difference in my body, both physically and emotionally. I've had less energy and less motivation to do anything.

My sleeping pattern has changed too. Later to bed, not sleeping soundly, later to wake and not wanting to get out of bed in the morning.

I've struggled to find motivation in the kitchen and creating meals has been a chore.

Today, I made the decision to change. I've been poring through my favourite paleo recipes and spent the afternoon in the kitchen, making the chocolate mini cakes and a berry sorbet.

I started to plan a week of meals, but remembered that I'll be on the Sunny Coast for five days from Thursday, so I've planned it all for my return.

Having made the decision, I'm feeling excited and inspired to find the happy, healthy, vibrant me again.

Meanwhile, I discovered this a couple of days ago and thought it was interesting enough to share. I've got a bit of thing for cushions ...



Time for bed. Early to bed, early to rise!

Nite all.

Choices Are Ours

If you want a good cry .. don't 'choose' to see this at the cinema .. wait til it comes out on dvd, buy it, and lock yourself in your lounge room with a box of tissues so that you can sob uncontrollably without worrying about anyone seeing or hearing you do it!



It took me a while to warm to the main characters .. especially the male lead, but it didn't take too long for him to become my favourite character.

Some people I know will love this movie, but some I know will screw up their nose.

Anyway, I liked the movie .. I can't say 'enjoyed' because it was too sad to enjoy, but what made the movie even better, was the company I was in. Thank you Lady Lynn and Mardi for inviting me and sharing your tears (and tissues) with me!

Here's one that I'm looking forward to for the end of March ... My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

I 'chose' to have our main meal for lunch today. More lamb back strap with sweet potato mash, roasted pumpkin, broccoli and a red wine jus. There was enough left over for Adoring Husband to have for dinner tonight.

How nice that Adoring Husband 'chose' to buy me a coffee this afternoon, even though I wasn't home yet! It just needed to be slightly reheated.

I believe that I will 'choose' to have an early night tonight. I want to wake up early for a trike ride - I haven't ridden my trike for two days now and need to sit by the river and soak up some fresh air and sunshine.

So, on that note...

Nite all.

Simple Saturday

I was in bed by 9pm last night, and I'm pretty sure that I fell asleep the instant that my head hit the pillow. I woke at 1am for about thirty minutes and again very briefly at 4.30am for about thirty seconds. It was 7.30pm when I finally woke for the day.

When I opened my eyes,  there was my morning coffee sitting on my bedside table (thank you Adoring Husband), so I chose to spend even more time in bed with my iPad and it was about 9am when I finally climbed out of bed to welcome the day.

I took the opportunity to cook up a big breakfast for AH. Bacon, eggs, tomato, mushrooms and avocado. It turned out to be a good move because he got a callout for a land search with the SES almost the second that he took his last mouthful.

That meant that I had a very quiet morning and early afternoon at home alone. I did some washing and watched a movie and ate half a kg of organic red grapes! Delicious!

When AH arrived home, I cooked up some lamb back strap for a late lunch.

We spent the afternoon watching the Auckland Nines. AH's team is one of only two that have won both their matches so far. Last year, they got into the finals but lost the big game. We're hoping that they can go one better this year. My team is not doing so well.

Today has been rainy and quite a bit cooler than the last couple of weeks, which has been pleasant. Instead of keeping the house closed up and the air conditioner running all day, we could open some windows and let some fresh air in.

During my facebook browsing today, I came across this fabulous video that I simply had to share here. I love it so much. It warmed my heart.



I also loved these quotes...

On that note, it's 11pm and I am going to get some sleep.

Nite all.

Short and Sweet

I believe that a solid night of sleep is calling to me. It has been months since I chose bed at 9pm so I am outta here.

I thought that Margaret Pomeranz choices for movies might appeal to you.

Movie choices

Let me know what you think! Your reviews will mean more to me that Margaret's.

Nite all.

Movie Improvement

So, five strangers, Adoring Husband and myself, all watched 'Sisters' today at the cinema in The Bay. It's the final week for the viewing of the movie, so it only cost $9 - that was a bonus! It was funny - a big improvement on last week's movie, that's for sure.

Afterwards, we went for a drive along the esplanade to see the damage from last week's storm, but they've cleared the debris so well, that it's difficult to tell where the damage was, along the foreshore. The caravan park at Scarness is closed, has obvious damage and there is still work going on, but otherwise, you can barely tell there was a storm. The clean up job by council and SES crews has been pretty amazing.

We bought a blood pressure monitor today.

I am 55 years old and almost everybody I know has blood pressure problems, mostly high, and they have been prescribed medication for it. Adoring Husband had high blood pressure a couple of years ago and was given a period of time to lose weight and reduce his blood pressure, which he did, so fortunately, he didn't have to take medication.

So I figured that we are at the age where we need to monitor it, and since I don't consult doctors, I can do it myself at home. As of today, I am happy to announce that both of us have perfect blood pressure and perfect resting heart beats! Yay for us!

The video that I am sharing with you today is one that I found on my 'on this day' memory page in facebook. It was shared on my page by The Nikonian way back in 2013, a week after the tornado, when our power and our internet coverage was intermittent. I didn't even know it was there until today!

She shared it because she knew I would love it. She was right! It's brilliant. A belated thankyou to my friend :)



It's pouring with rain tonight and by the look of the BOM, it's not going to stop any time soon. A nice night to fall asleep to the sound of rain on the tin roof. So...

Nite all.

Morning Laughs

The highlight of today was most definitely morning tea with the girls. There are two highlights to mention.

The first highlight was the delicious paleo apple and walnut muffins that The Blonde Bombshell baked this morning and brought, still warm, for us all to savour with our tea and coffee.

I believe there were nine of us this morning and the biggest highlight of the day, was when we were joined by our old friend Tweedle Dee! She moved down south about seven months ago and we've missed her crazy sense of humour and her hilarious stories.

She cracked us all up and we cackled like hens for a good two hours. My cheeks ached from smiling and laughing so hard and it was well after 11am by the time I got home.

One of her stories described the lifetime search, for a hat to suit her. A lady in a hat shop even told her that there was a hat style for everyone, but after she had tried on all of the styles in the shop, even the hat lady told her there was nothing!

So I asked her to try on my hat and ... wahlaa! It looked great!

Tonight there were dinner arrangements made for a big group of us to meet at the pub and I promised Tweedle Dee that I would bring one of my hats for her (I have 4 of the same style hat).

The routine of my life is so ingrained that I was halfway through cooking dinner when I remembered that I should have been at the pub ten minutes ago!! By the time I finished dinner, it was too late for me to have a shower (and I desperately needed to wash and blow dry my hair) and get ready, so I messaged my apologies to the group.

Then I remembered the hat! So I asked Adoring Husband to drive me to the pub, where I rushed into the restaurant, looking like a grubby old housewife, and presented Tweedle Dee with her hat. There were welcoming cheers all round and photos were quickly taken and I disappeared from the pub as quickly as I had appeared!

I'm so pleased that I did that because I got to give her a goodbye hug and show her that I wasn't fobbing her off for dinner. I hope that one day I get to visit her at her new home on Bribie Island. She's just so happy and full of love and laughter.

We miss her a lot.

Adoring Husband and I have a movie date tomorrow morning. Our plan is to see 'Sisters' - however - 'The Choice' starts tomorrow and I do want to see that too. Perhaps we can save 'The Choice' for next week!

I should probably go get some sleep, since we have an early start tomorrow.

Nite all.

Fixing the Mental and Emotional

Tonight, after a conversation about my fear of not just storms, but the possibility of approaching storms and also other strange quirks in my personality, including my refusal to get counselling for the PTSD that resulted from the tornado in 2013, Vegan Chickie described me as ...

"A riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma"

Many many years ago Winston Churchill described Russia this way, though I doubt that he uttered those words with love, the way (I hope) that Vegan Chickie did!

It is true. There is healing required. I've worked so hard on my physical health, but have neglected my mental and emotional health. Counselling is an option that I 'may' consider in the future .. maybe.

Meanwhile, there are lots of other things that I can try, like meditation and mindfulness!!

My brother told me about a series on the ABC about training your brain to do all sorts of things. I believe there were two seasons of this show and I found them on youtube tonight. I haven't watched an episode yet, but I have watched a few of the short segments and this is one on mindfulness ...



I would like to find the time to watch a few more of these shows. I might discover some new ways to nurture my mental and emotional state.

Again, it's heading towards 1am and I need to sleep.

Nite all.

Impulsivity

I made the impulsive decision to head into The Bay with The Reality TV Queen today, to share her belated birthday lunch at the RSL. She received a meal voucher from them for her birthday and she had to use it before the expiry date, which was actually yesterday, but even though she went in there to use it yesterday, she'd accidentally left the voucher at home in another handbag!

After explaining her situation to the lady at reception, she was lucky enough to have her voucher extended so that she could use it today! That was nice of them.

While I was in town, I bought myself a set of sketch pencils in a case from the art and craft store. I also bought an A4 size sketch pad.

It's been quite some time since I practised my art and, like anything, it takes a lot of practise to be proficient. I'll see how my motivation levels go.

I actually wanted to buy some oil paints and brushes to get back into painting, but a 37ml tube of reasonable quality oil paint costs more than $25. I would need at least six colours to start and I'm not sure if I can stay motivated enough to justify paying that much for the supplies.

If I focus on the sketching and the spark comes alive inside of me, than I will certainly outlay the money for some new supplies.

My other purchase today, was of something that will surprise you I'm sure ... shoes! Just some fancy green and blue bejewelled thongs.

While in the shoe shop, we were advised of the storm warnings that were current and the flood warning for the Burrum River, and as it began to rain, we rushed to the car hoping to beat the storms home.

Before we even got to the outskirts of The Bay, the rain stopped and even though there was plenty of water on the sides of the road, the skies cleared and the sun was shining by the time we arrived in my driveway.

It's still terribly hot and uncomfortably humid. Storms are forecast for the rest of the week, but the weather should cool down by the weekend. We can only hope!

I shared this video on facebook this morning. I think it runs for about 18 minutes and is a viewing 'must'!



It's well after midnight, so I'm outta here!

Nite all.