Lessons in Love

I wonder if we need a refresher course in flirting. Are we all still flirting with our husbands? I think that I probably look as silly as this polar bear when I flirt .. hopefully in a cute and attractive kind of way! Maybe my flirting days are over?



I hope this video has helped all you single gals out there as well. Imagine how weird it would be to see girls doing rolling somersaults at night clubs? And sliding face first across the dance floor. Maybe not.

The highlight of my day was making an Indian curry with basmati rice, cucumber yoghurt and pappadums for dinner. It was quite delicious and I made HEAPS so there is enough for another three meals!

Facebook reminded me this morning, of the three course meal that Adoring Husband cooked for me six years ago for Valentines Day. I had been away, so our valentines day was delayed and he spent all day in the kitchen creating a gastronomical delight. It was a flirtatious success!

Prawn and pork rice paper rolls for entree (it had a spicy dipping sauce)

Home made pasta - Tagliatelle with smoked salmon and asparagus

Green salad with bacon, parmesan and a balsamic dressing ..

Baked lemon cheesecake with fresh strawberries and strawberry coulis ..

I will always remember that valentine dinner. It was amazing and memorable!

AH is a great cook.

Have a happy Sunday!

Nite all.

Windy City

It may become gusty on Saturday!



I hope that they are wrong. Another update posted on facebook today predicts that Winston will reform to a category 1 cyclone and move north along the Queensland coastline.

Ugh.

I had a fairly full day today. I actually got some housework done. My new bedding arrived, so I changed the sheets on the bed and I'm showcasing the new stuff ...

I made a big baked leg of lamb with veg for lunch so that I wouldn't have to put too much effort into dinner after the club tonight.

It's been a good day and a pleasant evening. Now it's time for bed.

Nite all.

Geographically Shared

Foreign Correspondent, Stan Grant, is a Griffith boy. He lived in the same street (Housing Commission area, Parkinson Crescent) as I did, though not at the same time. My son went to the same school as Stan.

The 'Three Ways', where the majority of the indigenous community lived, was just across the paddock from us and watching this episode of Home Delivery sure brought back some unpleasant memories for me.

It feels strange to me, that when Stan's family was given a housing commission home to live in, they felt like all of their dreams had come true, yet when I, as a single mother with three very young children, was offered a home on the very same street, I felt like my life had become a nightmare.

We lived in that street for three long years from the end of 1988 til early 1992. Our next door neighbour once had a molotov cocktail thrown on his front porch during the night, and there was a siege directly across the road from us, where armed police were hiding behind the trees on our front yard with guns drawn, and the street was blocked by police cars.

We survived on a pension for two of those years. I had some cleaning work to supplement the pension until one day I decided to complete an administration course at TAFE. I immediately snagged work at the CES and within a year, we were able to move into our own home, shabby as it was, in a better area.

Stan has certainly come a long way since his days in Parkinson Cres!! While he feels the happy emotions welling up within as he drives through his old stomping ground, I feel old repressed fears bubbling within, and shame that I ever forced my children to endure that.

It was possibly the lowest point in my life, BUT, at the same time,  my circle of friends, which included BGWLBH, provided strong support for me, so I never felt alone in the world.

My parents even gave me the opportunity to move to Blackwater to be closer to them, but my stubborn desire for independence kept me living in the worst street in Griffith for a long time. I believe that it was the right decision for us at the time.

So that is a little snippet of mine and Stan Grant's lives. Though the two of us have never even met, I do know his mate Richard (Ditchy)!

A short trip down memory lane.

Nite all.

For the Ladies

Ok girls, first practise will be Friday night Make-up tricks haha!

It was a nice lunch today at the Chinese restaurant. I would like to go back when I'm able to chew food properly, and order a hearty, meaty meal with lots of crunchy vegetables! Today I had curried king prawns, which was a delicious meal with a nice spicy curry sauce, but I couldn't eat the vegetables.

After lunch, instead of going straight home, we ducked in to the RSL club for a quick flutter and then drove to The Speckled Hen's house for another drink .. or two .. or for some, many many more!

Luckily, Adoring Husband had eaten a big late lunch, so I didn't have to cook tonight. I think I was right on the verge of having had too much to drink today, so I was grateful for the opportunity to plonk myself on the couch and stay there.

I'm now sitting in the same position listening to Sweet singing 'Action' on Foxtel Tunes.

It's definitely time to sleep now, so I'll share this video, which I know that some of you have seen on facebook in the past, but I figured that since we are now in the final week of Summer (yay!!!), the weather might start getting cool enough to open up the scarf drawer!



I do believe I can be in bed before 11pm!

Nite all.

Procrasti-youknowtherest.

Remember how yesterday I said that I would catch up on housework today, so that my lady's luncheon would be the reward?

Well, yeah nah...

I consciously decided to turn on the TV to a music channel - the all Aussie music channel to be exact, and I turned the volume up, fully intending to do housework to the music. Unfortunately, the music had accompanying videos .. it was all over for me!

Videos from back in the 70s, 80s and 90s. John Farnham, ACDC, The Angels, INXS, Jimmy Barnes, Natalie Imbruglia, Split Enz, Noiseworks, Kylie Minogue, Midnight Oil, The Divinyls, Bardot, Delta Goodrem, Australian Crawl, Peter Andre, Human Nature, Paul Kelly, Eurogliders, Little River Band, Deni Hines and the list goes on.

There is no way that I could walk away from that!

I spent a good hour in the lounge room dancing like a teenager. Head banging. Bouncing around the room and singing loudly (and badly). It was probably more than an hour. You know how time flies when you're having fun!

Then Adoring Husband arrived home from his SES meeting and the fun was over.

I got all of my washing done.

I've had the mini upright freezer defrosting all day - and I mean 'all day'. It only has four drawers, but the top two drawers have been frozen shut for months. All of the meat in the top two drawers has now been tossed and after eight hours, the freezer is finally turned back on and the door closed.

I cooked a dozen apple and walnut muffins and a dozen gooey chocolate mini cakes.

For dinner, I was done with the kitchen so I took a beef stroganoff out of the freezer and heated that up for Adoring Husband's dinner. I took a spoon of the sauce and some mushrooms out of the mixture and had that with a piece of zucchini.

For dessert, I gave AH two gooey chocolate cakes with crumbled freeze dried strawberries sprinkled over the top and then covered in whipped cream and shredded organic dark chocolate. Can you believe that he then asked for an apple and walnut muffin as well???? I swear he has no 'full' button!

That's about the long and short of my day.

Very much looking forward to lady's luncheon tomorrow!

Nite all.  

Time Will Tell

I have come to the realisation that my mouth is going to take a bit more time to heal properly.

The dental work was quite invasive and extensive and it will take time and diligence to bring it all to optimum health.

My gums feel a little damaged, so I've decided to return to foods that don't require chewing, to give them a rest and a chance to strengthen and heal.

I need to be patient.

I can't wait to tell you about my bingo experience today!

Once upon a time, more than ten years ago, bingo was a regular activity for BGWLBH and I. We would play a couple of times each week in the evenings and during school holidays, if I took my annual leave at the same time, we would play during the day as well.

The prizes, where we played, were meat trays, fruit and veg trays, vouchers for the local butcher or supermarket, vouchers for the club restaurant or free bingo tickets. Legally, they weren't allowed to offer money as prizes.

We used paper booklets of bingo tickets, with dobbers, which were plastic bottles of ink with a spongy end that we dabbed the numbers with as they were called. I had a hand made timber box with a lid that I used to store my dobbers. The box was shaped like a wedge and I used a butterfly clip to hold the tickets to the box as I played.

That was back in the old days.

Today was certainly an eye opener as far as advances in the world of bingo are concerned!

These days, they used electronic devices that look similar to a tablet or iPad and either your finger or rubber tipped stylus pens to touch the numbers as they were called.

The sheet on the left shows all of the games. Each card has two games eg a short game to win the first prize of the card and then the full card to win another prize. The prizes were pretty good too .. $20 for the short game and $40 for the full card.

The first game of the day is worth $500 if you get the full card within 50 calls.

This machine shows two bingo game cards at a time (I think there are 5 cards for each game) and keeps the others in the background. As you mark off the numbers, it automatically brings the two cards with the most numbers marked off, to the front screen.

The other crazy thing, is that it gives you a signal when you have one number left to win. The screen changes to a happy man that looks like an M&M and flashes the number that you are waiting for.

Unfortunately, I didn't win today, and I only got down to one number once .. so at least I got to see my little M&M man on the screen .. I did win a $2 scratchy in the break when they drew the raffle prizes, so I guess that's a bonus. I haven't scratched it yet, so I could be rich and not even know it!

It was a pleasant and different way to spend a Monday morning and when bingo was finished, we met up with Reality TV Queen, Speckled Hen and Party Pat for lunch. I selected slow cooked roast beef and vegetables from the menu. It was ok.

Tomorrow will be spent catching up on some housework, so that I can reward myself with the lady's luncheon on Wednesday.

February is quickly coming to an end, and as scary as that seems (because it feels like new year was just yesterday!), it means that Summer is also coming to an end! We can all breathe a sigh of relief as the weather cools down and we can live in comfort again.

Nite all.

    

Diligence is Required

My fraction of an 'ugh' has now grown to a full 'ugh'.

I have not been as diligent with my mouth rinsing today because the pain had gone this morning. I only rinsed with the peroxide once this morning (it really tastes gross!) and by about 5pm, my gums felt inflamed and tender again.

Obviously, I need to continue my full rinsing regime for a while yet ie oil pulling, peroxide and colloidal silver.

I've had a reasonably busy day, starting with a ride to the Seat of Knowledge, followed by coffee with The Blond Bombshell and Reality TV Queen, then rode home to put some lamb shanks in the slow cooker and prepare the vegetables to be cooked later. This afternoon I rode over to Woman of Many Talents' house for a couple of wines before she went out for dinner.

When I'd been there for about an hour, Reality TV Queen also joined us for a drink.

I arrived home in time to finish preparing dinner.

I really loved this today ...



Now, I can't believe that it's already midnight! I'm off to bingo tomorrow and I'm being picked up early in the morning, so I'd best get my healing beauty sleep!

Nite all.

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.