I'm a Kitchen Maid

I've spent a good deal of my day in the kitchen, but not enough that I'm sick of it yet.

I've been watching all of the Paleo people on one of the Facebook pages, discussing how they spend a day every week doing a bulk cook and then freezing it, so that all of their meals are prepared and they only have to make the salad or the vegetables to go with it.

Some also make a weekly batch of mayonnaise and then make the coleslaw, they prepare dips to have with their vegetable sticks as snacks, roasted vegetables to reheat etc etc.

There are times, especially when the football is on TV, when I don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen, so today, I decided to do a cook off.

• 3 X Curried Sausage
• 3 X Spaghetti Sauces
• 3 X Beef Stroganoff
• 1 X Savoury Chilli Chicken Mince
• 1 Big batch of Pea and Ham Soup (not Paleo)
• 1 Big batch of Chicken Broth
• 2 X batches of Chicken Sesame Rissoles (tomorrow)
• 12 Apple and Walnut Muffins (tomorrow)
• 1 Chocolate Tart (tomorrow)
• 16 days of dog food (tomorrow)

So, Adoring Husband will have prepared meals, if he wants them, while I'm away next week and there will be plenty left for when I return.

The only hiccup was when I dropped one of the pyrex storage bowls onto the tiled floor. Wow! What a mess! Luckily, I hadn't filled it with food, so it was empty, but boy did it shatter into a million pieces and it flew in all directions!

I have a long kitchen with only one entry/exit, which is lucky, because the force of the broken glass was quite powerful. The cupboards and wall stopped most of it but it still found it's way under the pantry door and even as far as my desk which is about 20 feet from where I dropped it.

Adoring Husband came running to my rescue in bare feet, calling out "Don't move!" - so I reminded him how smart it would be, for HIM to put thongs or shoes on HIS feet! I was already wearing rubber thongs.

Between us, we found all the broken glass and cleaned it up pretty quickly, but now I will have to replace the container.

This cooler weather has been a real blessing. The boys on the Seat of Knowledge are even wearing jackets in the mornings! For the second night in a row, I pulled the bed covers over me, but still left the fan running - because I love to feel the breeze while I sleep.

If I could, I'd be like Vegan Chickie and have the air conditioner running even during Winter, so that snuggling under the warm doona would be all the more enjoyable!

I found this today and felt that it would be a warm and fuzzy way to start our Sunday ...

Finally, I'd like to say Happy Birthday to 'Beauty' who celebrated birthday number 52 today (or yesterday, as you are reading this on Sunday)!!

I'm off to watch Brisbane Broncos finish off the Newcastle Knights with a flourish! (I hope I don't live to regret those words!)

Nite all.

In The Air

Do I detect a slight chill in the air?????

Did Mother Nature take note of my request last week to give us a taste of Autumn????

It is absolutely delightful and in the early hours of this morning, I even pulled the bed cover over me ... for the first time in about six months.

This weather is perfect.

So I am going to take advantage of it and head off to bed to snuggle under the sheets.

It has been a long time since I posted some quotes on here, so for your viewing pleasure ...

May your weekend be amazing!

Nite all.

Opening Day

Adoring Husband and I attended the debut viewing of the movie "Allegiant" today.

It was brilliant!

It is the third movie in the Divergent Series. The series started with "Divergent", followed by "Insurgent" and today we saw "Allegiant".

We thought that there were only three movies in the series, and we wondered why this one ended as it did, but I have just discovered that there is a part two to this movie to be released in 2017 called "Ascendant"!! I'm excited!!

The main character, Triss, is played by Shailene Woodley (she has also starred in "The Fault in Our Stars" and "The Descendants").

I have found the series, so far, to be an extreme and symbolic view of how the world is today and I sit on the edge of my seat through the movies taking it all in and wishing I could be half as amazing as Triss!

Today, AH and I were the only two sitting in the cinema until about 2 minutes before the movie commenced, when gradually, 19 others found their way in and sat scattered throughout the largest cinema in the complex.

Now the countdown begins until the final instalment - June 2017.

We tried to replenish our stock of salted caramel ice cream today, but Go Natural was sold out. The salesperson told us that it was the most popular flavour and was always the first to sell out. Apparently, there will be new stock in on Monday ... another countdown begins!

The third countdown for me, is the visit to the Chicklet family next week and what should be my second last visit to the dentist. I can't wait to see my little Chicklet and I can't wait to be finished with the dentist!

Nite all.

I Missed You!

How did I miss posting last night? I don't even remember doing anything important that would stop me from posting.

See, it's another one of those hiccups in my life, where my memory fails me. It's not the only thing I've forgotten this week.

Both of my sons-in-law had birthdays this week, just one day apart. One is the 12th and one is the 13th April. For some strange reason, I switched the dates in my head, and gave one the 13th and one the 14th!!

Vegan Chickie phoned me today and said "You forgot the Bare-chested Chef's birthday"

I said "No, the day isn't over yet. I haven't forgotten."

She replied "Mum, it was yesterday."

I am a BAD mother-in-law!

Let me make it clear that Vegan Chickie didn't phone specifically to tell me that and make me feel bad.

Luckily for my other son-in-law, that she DID call me, because it meant that I didn't miss his birthday completely!

So now I've hired Vegan Chickie as my PA so that she can make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again in my future.

Good grief.

I found this today. An interview with the author of 'Grain Brain' explaining how gut health is so important and how it affects our health, in particular, brain health with neurological disorders like Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Autism, Dementia, Depression etc.

This is only 20 minutes of the complete interview, which I think goes for about 90 minutes altogether. Very interesting and makes a whole lot of sense.  



Finally, I think we should start our day with this wonderful thought ...

Nite all.

Finally .. 'After'

Honestly, I still have to clip her nails and do some more tidying up, but this is close enough for now ...

I was reading a funny article today, about how the younger generations don't understand some of our expressions. This will make you feel old ...

Q: Why do we say "hang up" a phone?
A: Phones used to have two parts to them, a base and a receiver. In order to end a call, the receiver had to be placed on the base.

Q: Why do we say "dial" a phone?
A: To call someone on an old phone, you had to stick your finger in a rotating dial at number positions that would turn the dial for various lengths of time when released. You had to dial the entire number every time.

There were others, but these two related more to my generation (and older) than those others.

Then I found this ...

Introducing kids to rotary phones

How funny! Technology has changed a lot in the last twenty or thirty years!!

Now I'm off for some more guitar practise and then another early night to bed.

Nite all.

Who Knew?

I knew that my gum disease was affecting my overall health, but as time goes on, I'm learning more and more, how vitally important is our oral health. I found this article incredibly interesting and full of information that we all really need to know.

Gum disease opens up the body to a host of infections.

The scary thing is that I had no idea that I even had gum disease, and it was chronic! The dentist wondered why I couldn't taste it or feel it, but the only indications that there was something wrong for me, was that two of my front teeth were being pushed out of the gums until they looked like vampire fangs, and one of them was very loose for a long time. I had no idea that it was gum disease causing that.

There was no bad taste in my mouth, no pain or tenderness for years until it became painful to bite with one of the crooked teeth.

I left it way too long before I finally found the courage to visit a dentist. The first dentist put the fear of god in me (as if I wasn't already terrified) and my chosen holistic dentist has worked hard to keep me calm and keep me informed about the work required.

She even printed out a dental plan with a step by step process and price list. The fact that I misplaced the dental plan before the third visit tells you something about either my apathy, or my confidence lol.

I still only have a vague idea of what's coming next, but I DO know that the worst is over, so I'm not concerned about my dental future. My next visit is 21st April, not too far away.

I enjoyed morning tea with the Blond Bombshell and Reality TV Queen today. The chocolate tart didn't get touched yesterday during our gathering, so I took half of it home and left half of it there, with an invitation to share it for morning tea today. We ate it with raspberries, strawberries and dollop cream. YUM!

Adoring Husband and I attempted to finish the grooming of Colli today. We've done two short shifts, where I was able to clip her four legs and paws, snipping my own palm in the process! I clipped some of her neck and face, but she became very agitated, so I hope to finish off her face tomorrow.

I would groom her more often, which would make the job a lot easier and more pleasant, if only she would be nice about it, but she's not, so I keep putting it off, which just makes the job more difficult. I think in future, I will suck it up and do it once a month before it gets to this state.

I admit, I only have myself to blame.

Anyway, as you can tell, I've posted this nice and early today. I'm aiming for an evening of guitar practise and then an early-ish night to bed.

Afternoon all.
 

Saturday Gathering

The local markets were on in town today, so I visited Adoring Husband as he helped the SES cook the bacon and egg rolls and the sizzling sausages, and while I was there, I supported the local stall holders.

I bought some home made cards, some hand crafted towels, some massage cream to help AH with his aches and pains and a stained glass owl to hang in my frangipani tree.

From there, I came home and spent a couple of hours in the kitchen making chicken meatballs in honey chilli sauce and a chocolate tart.

My plan was to finish Colli's grooming, but the kitchen took too much of my time, so she is on hold until tomorrow. Here is the 'before' photo ...

Poor thing. She is half done and is running around full of energy, like a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders! I look forward to showing you her cute little face tomorrow.

I pedalled to the Blond Bombshell's house this afternoon, with the basket of my trike loaded with the food that I cooked and some wine.

There were about fifteen of us gathered (not all at once), each of us arriving with a plate of food, so we spent the entire afternoon eating and drinking until we couldn't swallow another bite!

It was a pleasant afternoon, although I must say that I wasn't feeling very well for most of it. I can't even pinpoint what was wrong, but I felt weak and a touch nauseas and a bit clammy. I'm feeling fine now, so I don't even know what it could have been.

I only had one glass of wine and then drank water for the remainder of the day.

I brought home a doggy bag for AH and he got to eat some party food too.

That was my day, and once again, it's almost midnight.

Nite all.

A Start

I spent 90 minutes attempting to groom one of the psychotic dogs today.

The older she becomes, the less Colli likes to be groomed. Once upon a time, she would lie or sit or stand exactly where I put her, and not move until I was finished. She was so easy.

Now, she dislikes it immensely, and I'm lucky to get her to sit still for 5 minutes at a time. She's jumpy and growly and I'm sure that one time soon, she is going to bite me!

Today, I kept a little ball of raw mince under the towel and every ten minutes I told her what a good girl she was and gave her a little piece of mince. I must say that it did not work a treat, but I got 90 minutes of her time, until she decided that she was done.

I estimate that it will take another hour to finish her properly, which I hope to do tomorrow.

Adoring Husband bought me some salon quality scissors this afternoon, so that should make the job a little easier. She doesn't like the electric clippers .. which is why it takes me so long!

I figured that it might be interesting to see what Youtube had to offer on dog grooming...



This dog is much better behaved that Colli, that's for sure.

When she wouldn't let me do any more, I figured that I would give her a bath to wash off any loose hair. I set the hose attachment to the tap in the laundry tub, lay a clean towel down and brought the scissors in, just in case she let me do a bit more of my handy work.

Then I called her ... and I called her again ... and I searched for her ... and called her again ... I finally found her in the far back corner of the yard lying down in the long grass, quite obviously hiding from me!

I figured that if she was going to that much trouble to avoid me, I wouldn't stress her out any more with a bath. She will have no choice tomorrow though!!

Tomorrow, I will show you the 'before' and 'after' photos ... and you will understand why it took so long!

Once again, it's midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Not a Lot

Nope, not a lot happened today.

A brief visit to the Seat of Knowledge, coffee and then home.

I watched two movies - the two Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies and then 'My Blue Heaven' starring Steve Martin. It was made in 1990, so it was fun seeing all the stars as they were, almost 30 years ago.

I made a quick steak with mushroom sauce and salad for Adoring Husband before he headed off for SES training.

I chatted with Number One Son on the phone this evening.

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

I'm off to bed for an early night.

Nite all.

Just Relax

I was running just a touch late this morning.

I should have been at morning tea by 8.30am. I opened my eyes from a good night's sleep, at 8.38am!!

I jumped out of bed, had an incredibly fast shower, added a tiny touch of make-up and jumped on my trike, to arrive at morning tea by 9am. That's pretty quick hey???!

From there, I came home for yet another quick change, to get picked up by Rebel Mardi at 10.45-ish so that we could see a movie in The Bay. Maid Marian and Lady Lynn joined us for the movie "Brooklyn" starring Saoirse Ronan.

It was very much like "Lady in the Van", in that nothing much really happened in the movie, but it was still very good. Quite emotive in parts and giving us reason to judge on one hand, but on the other hand, wonder about our own life's choices, or what we would do in the same situation as the movie's main character, Eilis, especially considering the era that it was set (1950s).

I enjoyed it very much.

Afterwards, we got to enjoy a little retail therapy while Rebel Mardi attended an appointment.

Tonight, I made a quick dinner of chilli chicken wings with salad, so all round, and considering how the day began, it has been a pleasant and relaxing day.

Just to add to the relaxation process, I was watching Rachel Hunter's 'Tour of Beauty' where she travels all over the world and uncovers beauty secrets from different countries. She attempts or experiences everything from ayurvedic health practises to beauty treatments to yoga, meditation, mineral baths etc etc etc.

Tonight, while in India, she tried Yoga Nidra. It very much appealed to me, so I did a search in Youtube and found this for beginners...

Yoga Nidra

I've only listened to the first ten minutes of it, but will definitely get my yoga mat out and listen to it in it's entirety sometime tomorrow or Friday. I could feel my body moving into a deep relaxation in just that short time.

I have to groom the dogs tomorrow, so I think some Yoga Nidra might be in order afterwards!

Meanwhile, for my lovely friends who have recently begun an exercise program, I though you might find this useful ...

Now it's time for some sleep.

Nite all.

It's a sad shame

I always wondered why the world blamed Monica for the scandal, when she was just a young 22yr old and Clinton was a 49 yr old man and supposedly the most powerful leader in the world. He got off easy and poor Monica .. well, this says it all really...



It was so nice by the river tonight. The weather was a touch milder than it has been, so the slight breeze was a pleasant change and made our friendly barbecue all the more enjoyable.

Good food, good friends and good wine, always a great combination.

I shared the links to some of these episodes when I watched "The Truth About Cancer" last year, but it is now available for free again. I swear that you will be amazed by what you learn and that you will receive lots of information about preventative measures from this series as well. Try to find some time to watch even a couple of episodes if you can.

The Truth About Cancer

I'm off to bed now, and I hope to be going to the movies with the girls tomorrow.

Nite all.

Good Muffin Bad Muffin

Good Lord! I've had some dreadful failures in the kitchen this week!

I took advantage of Adoring Husband's absence today and spent the entire morning in the kitchen.

The chocolate tart is delicious, but VERY rich, so it's not something that you can pig out on all day.

The apple and walnut muffins are, as usual, delicious and probably won't last very long.

The zucchini and sun dried tomato muffins were the most disgusting muffins I've ever tasted in my life and I threw them in the garbage after one bite.

It was an epic clean up after 3 hours in the kitchen, so it was nice to put my feet up in between loads of washing. I watched 'Meet Joe Black' with the most beautiful version of Brad Pitt possible.

Adoring Husband brought home two tubs of my Zebra Dream salted caramel ice cream *insert huge cheesy grin here* so that went a long way towards easing the pain of my failed cooking experience.

I had a little practise on the guitar .. my plucking fingers are feeling great today.

I'm off to bed and closing with this ...

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Nite all.

Woozy Sunday

I woke up with a touch of vertigo this morning. It came and went all day, which was both tricky and annoying. I was SO ready for a busy Sunday working bee with Adoring Husband, but my brain kept floating and spinning, so I couldn't do it.

It was a quiet and uneventful Sunday of watching the football and then tonight, cooking a meal that was so disgusting, neither AH or myself could eat it, followed by a couple of movies. "Hot Pursuit" and "New Years Eve".

I must confess that the vertigo is getting the better of me, so I'm off to bed.

But first .. I love James Corden's carpool karaoke and this is his latest effort with Jennifer Lopez.



Today, my little Chicklet made some Powerpuff characters ...

This is me...

This is BGWLBH...

This is Chicklet...

This is grumpy Dadu...

This is Mama...

This is Poppy B

They made my day :)

One more thing to share.

Nite all.

Pat a Cake

What a day!

It was a late start for me (nothing unusual there) and after I rode to the coffee shop, I decided to go for a long leisurely ride along the river, beginning at the park and winding my way right to the end of the path. This is something that I haven't done for a long time.

It was a beautiful morning, with a few scattered clouds, vibrant blue water and sunlight twinkling off the waves. There were a few people on the beach, fishing, sunbathing, walking, swimming and making sand castles.

There is still one week left of the Queensland school holidays, so next weekend, the caravan parks will empty, and NSW schools will commence their holidays, so we'll get an influx of new tourists for two weeks.

For that reason, this is not my favourite time of the year.

By the time I pedalled up our driveway, I was feeling motivated to complete one of my job cards. Not a new card, but one that I removed from the board over a week ago .. one that I was dreading, because I knew that it would take me a million years to complete.

It was about 10am when I pulled everything out of my dressing table. It has a row of three small drawers across the top and a bank of four large drawers at the bottom. This is just some of it! There was another large pile on the floor!

Two and a half hours later, I had finished sorting through clothes, jewellery, cards and letters, postcards, receipts, bank statements, ring boxes (why was I even saving them?), scarves, hair combs and scrunchies, buttons in little ziplock bags, CDs, umbrellas, handbag straps, old purses and phone cases, the list goes on and on.

It was about 12.45pm when I finally finished the job and sat down on the couch to take a break. I had to be ready for a lunch date by 1.40pm, but time flew so quickly, that the next time I looked at my watch, it was 1.30pm!! It was a mad rush for me to get dressed (not even time for a shower), splash some make up on my face, grab a bottle of wine, a wine glass and some ice from the freezer, and rush out the door.

As luck would have it, I was the first to arrive and everybody else was late!!

Our lunch was at Chef Pat's house. She turned 70 a week ago and at the time, she celebrated with her family. It has been years since she invited friends for a meal at her house, and we (The Speckled Hen, The Reality TV Queen, The Blond Bombshell and I) were the lucky recipients of a delicious spread of fresh nutritious food, lovingly prepared by Chef Pat.

It was all so good, that we awarded her a Michelin Star!

She and her husband once owned and managed the magnificent Federal Hotel in Childers. She was also the head cook there.

This is us, all having a wonderful time with Chef Pat...

... this is the delicious GF cake that she made and which was served with raspberries soaked in balsamic vinegar. Yummo!

... and this is me!

It was a really great afternoon. We had lots of food, lots of champagne and wine, and lots of laughs.

Chef Pat was a wonderful hostess and we couldn't thank her enough. She is visually impaired, so this was a bigger effort for her, than it would be for one of us. She is an amazing lady.

The sun had well and truly set by the time we farewelled her and the battery was flat on my trike headlight, which made it tricky to ride home. I made it home about an hour before Adoring Husband arrived home from his big day of SES training.

I also arrived home at the same time that I received a message from The Leggy Blond, who is a neighbour, about one of the psychotic dogs barking all day. I had been in such a rush to leave, that I accidentally left one of the dogs (Ruby) outside and she spent the entire afternoon barking at the door to come inside. I bet that made for a pleasant Saturday afternoon for all of our neighbours!

Well, it's just about to strike midnight, so I'm off to bed. It seems to be my usual bedtime lately.

Nite all.

Foolish Disappointment

April Fool's Day has been quite a disappointment for me!

I only heard two jokes all day.

The first was a newly discovered albino spider ...

... and the second was that Jarryd Hayne had quit NFL and had signed with the Roosters for the remainder of the 2016 season.

That's the best we can do????

I ate the last of my salted caramel coconut ice cream tonight. I feel sad about that .. however, it WAS delicious!

I spent a couple of hours with The Motivator this morning. She is off to Sydney tomorrow for a couple of weeks. Thinking that I could cull some clothes that are too big for me from my wardrobe, I took them to her place. She was very appreciative, and in turn, handed me some clothes from her wardrobe that don't fit her any more and now I've ended up with the same number of clothes PLUS one back in my wardrobe!

I had a lovely evening at the club tonight. Only one couple was missing from our group, so there were a lot of us and there was lots of loud conversations happening. There were not as many tourists at the club as I expected, which was a pleasant surprise.

I'm feeling very weary now, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Heaven in a Bucket

OH-EM-GEE! OMG! OH MY GOD!

By a happy accident, I found some coconut ice cream today.  I need to buy a pallet load and set aside one whole freezer specifically for this ice cream.

It is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, soy free, vegan and organic. The brand is 'Zebra Dream' and it's salted caramel flavoured. They use Himalayan salt which is a bonus! It's expensive, but when you find something that good, expense is no object!!

I wish I'd bought two tubs of it, because I've already eaten half a tub! The tubs are only half a litre.

I spent the day in The Bay with Adoring Husband. I bought a couple of t-shirts, a top, a necklace and a drink flask, lots of delicious organic fruit and veg, some grass fed beef, a dvd that I already have (it's difficult to keep track when you have more than 400 dvds!), and I had the clasp on my 13 year old watch repaired/tightened. I love my watch. I don't think it's going to last much longer.

No guitar practise today or tonight. I thought I would give my ever tender fingers a break for twenty four hours.

I've been watching movies all night. "Nights in Rodanthe" (sob sob) and "Suddenly 30"

It's one minute to midnight. I should try for some sleep.

Nite all.

A Bit of Blah

I had a really great day today.

It started with morning coffee with a few of the girls, followed by lunch with the ladies and ended with a couple of drinks at one of those lady's houses.

I made sure that I sat with different people for lunch. I usually sit with the same friends each month and I never meet any of the new people, or catch up with other friends, so I made a conscious effort to be sociable and have lots of chats with different friends. I caught up on lots of news.

This was a good idea and I really enjoyed myself.

After lunch (which was delicious), a few of us played the pokies for a while and then drove home to The Speckled Hen's house, where we all had a drink and I was the first to leave and walk home.

I made a nice dinner of lamb rack and vegetables.

But I've been sitting here since Adoring Husband went to bed, feeling very blah. I can't tell if I'm angry or stressed or sick or sad or what. Just plain miserable really.

So I'm off to bed hoping that I will wake up in a better frame of mind and feeling happy.

Have a happy Thursday everybody.

Nite all.

 

Play Rest Play

That's the advice that I've been offered. Play, rest, play.

I've been practising on the guitar and my fingertips are now very tender. This means that I can't practise as often as I want! I need to toughen up the tips of my fingers and apparently the best way to do that is to practise in short sharp bursts until callouses develop.

It's a pretty thought isn't it?

I've also been sharing guitar stories with an old work mate who now lives in Canberra. She has recently separated from her husband of twenty something years and is creating a new life for herself, which includes learning how to play the guitar.

She is a little more advanced than I, because she has both a teacher, and a mentor, so she learns something new and then visits her mentor, to practise with him .. while eating food and drinking wine .. that's gotta be an amazing combination!

She sent me this today ...

It's all gobbledy gook to me, but that's the challenge! I want to understand it by the end of the week and maybe even play it!

Adoring Husband was out for the morning, so I got to spend a lot of time with my guitar, hence the tender fingertips, but this music arrived late this afternoon, so I haven't had a chance to play yet.

Anyway, I LOVE my guitar! (in case you hadn't noticed)

I'm looking forward to my tomorrow, which is hump day for most people. Coffee in the morning with a couple of the girls - specifically Lady Lynn - and then the monthly lady's luncheon.

I made some more apple and walnut muffins today, adding some grated chocolate to the mix. I thought they were lovely, but Adoring Husband couldn't even taste the chocolate! His only comment was "they're not as appley".

Must get some sleep now.

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

The Easter weekend is done and dusted. Most of the Fishing competition crowd has headed home and the town is left with a few stragglers who will stay on for the school holidays. I'm happy that it's much quieter here now.

Adoring Husband and I both rode to the Seat of Knowledge this morning, then got ourselves a coffee before riding to the beach where we sat on a bench seat in the filtered sunlight, enjoying the view for about half an hour.

Some more Harry Potter was in store for AH who has spent the weekend watching all of the movies, and today was the final movie in the series.

Before the football started on TV this afternoon, I made a big batch of these ...

Honey Sesame Paleo Chicken

... I added a finely chopped onion to the mince mixture and heaps of chilli to the dipping sauce. It was delicious and there was enough left over for dinner tonight!

My footy tipping has gone very well this weekend. A perfect round in one competition and in the other competition, I am only two points off the lead! It's very early in the season, which gives me plenty of time to fall behind, but right now ... I would like to brag about it!!

No guitar today, although, it's early, so when I sign off here, I may spend 30 minutes practising what I learned last night.

I hope the girls enjoyed the movie (Lady in the Van) today!! I've been wondering all day!

Nothing else to report.

A quiet and happy Easter Monday.

Nite all.

Fingerpicking Good.

A quiet day at home avoiding the Easter crowds in town. So many people!

I had a lazy start to Sunday morning and took my time getting out of bed. I've become very good at that!

It's been a nothing kind of day. Nothing exciting. Nothing of interest. Nothing worth mentioning.

Until ... Adoring Husband had SES duties for a couple of hours this evening, so I spent an hour attempting to learn something that, apparently, should only take 12 minutes!! I practised some 'fingerpicking'.



I don't even know this guy's name, but so far, I really like the way he teaches and I'm going to follow his lessons for a while and see how I go.

It's going to take quite a bit for me to learn - music is not my forte and I don't have a natural gift for it, so I am going to have to practise all the simple things many times over. The lessons that state 'play this in 12 minutes' mean that it will take me about 3 hours and 12 minutes!! If I'm lucky.

It doesn't matter though, because I'm loving it. I love the feel of the guitar, although my short fingers might struggle with the chords. I adore the sound of the strings as I fingerpick, pluck and strum them.

One day, after lots of practise, I hope that the string positions will become very familiar to me and my movements will become second nature. That will be a day to celebrate! I may even make a youtube video of me playing!

I found a great site with lots of scientific information about turmeric. It has references to follow up and links to check. It's especially good for people who have trouble trusting 'non mainstream' information.

Proven Health Benefits of Turmeric

I'm off to watch the end of the first Harry Potter movie. I've only ever watched one of the movies - the one with Robert Pattinson in it - I don't even remember the name of it. I've never read the books. The Harry Potter movies are a new experience for Adoring Husband and I and there is a movie channel currently playing them all.

I hope everyone has had a happy Easter and enjoyed time spent with friends and family. If you're travelling, be safe and find your way home without incident.

Nite all.