Crazy in the Kitchen

I've spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen today. It's cook up time!

I have oxtail casserole in the slow cooker as I type.

I made a variation of beef stroganoff this morning. I used plain coconut yoghurt instead of sour cream and, as a thickener, I used pureed vegetables.

Because I don't use flour, and I'm not keen on the consistency of tapioca flour as a thickener, I cooked up a big pot of sweet potato, zucchini, carrot, cauliflower and celery, then pureed it in the blender with some seasoning. It worked beautifully and added lots of extra flavour.

The added benefit of having so many vegetables in the sauce, is that if I don't feel like cooking anything to go with the stroganoff, I know that it has enough goodness in it, on it's own.

I made a triple batch of the vegetable puree, so it will help thicken the oxtail casserole and the curried chicken.

I made up a big pot of curry sauce for the chicken, before realising that I had put the chicken in the freezer last night, so now I have chicken thawing on my kitchen sink and a sauce waiting for it's meat.

Tomorrow will be fish curry, Hainan chicken and spaghetti bolognese sauce. I'd like to find the time to cook up a big batch of chicken and pork meatballs with sweet spicy dipping sauce.

We've had a whole duck in our freezer for a couple of months now, and I recently found a paleo recipe for spicy whole roasted duck, so I might do that on Monday or Tuesday.

It's also time to do a complete clean out of the pantry and fridge, so that might be a tomorrow or Monday chore. So much to do!

I hope you all remembered to vote today! If only we could fine the politicians for each election promise they break after they are elected. $100,000 fine for each broken promise. I wonder if that would keep them more honest?

Tonight, I discovered that there was a 50th birthday party in Griffith that I wasn't invited to! However, it warmed the cockles of my heart to see this group all together to celebrate The Big Little Man's birthday. I miss this group. We had such fun times together back in the day.

It was also great to see BGWLBH in attendance and looking so happy!

Congratulations to Adoring Husband, whose footy team, Cronulla Sharks won again tonight and broke their all time winning streak record! They are certainly looking solid this year.

Now it's time to stop watching the election results on TV and switch over to the tennis for some more enjoyable viewing pleasure.

Nite all.
 

Friendly Friday

It's already late Friday night and I'm watching a replay of last night's Wimbledon match between Tomic and Albot. Tomic won.

It has been raining in London, so the tennis matches were suspended for the last hour or so, and they've been showing replays of last night's games. Play will recommence shortly, but I'm feeling decidedly weary tonight.

I may have had half a glass of wine too much tonight because The Blonde Bombshell was refilling my glass while I wasn't watching.

I visited The Motivator this morning and bought six sand crabs and an ocean mullet. I've tasted river mullet before and wasn't particularly fussed, but I've been told that ocean mullet is much nicer, so I'll try it tomorrow and report my findings here.

I plan on spending the weekend cooking up a storm and freezing a stack of meals. I'll also take some to Mum H to hopefully help her get stronger and healthier. I have to write up a plan, so that she knows the best foods to eat and the best ones to avoid. If we can get her strong enough and healthy enough, her own immune system should slowly repair her body and she will quickly get back to her old self.

Meanwhile, I believe that I might just head off to bed and forego the tennis tonight. That comfy bed is a'callin' me!

Nite all.

Lunch with the Man

Date day with Adoring Husband was both pleasant and disappointing.

We had lunch at Kondari Resort.

I've eaten there three times before. Each time, pork belly was on the specials board and classed as gluten free. It was delicious.

There was no pork belly today. When I asked what food was gluten free, the girl replied 'steak'. But I couldn't have everything on the steak menu because they couldn't guarantee that the potato mash was gluten free ... they buy it in bulk, already made, and they don't know what the ingredients are! There could be fillers that contain gluten.

The other issue I had with the steak, is that it was specifically labelled as 'grain finished' beef. Some celiacs are sensitive enough that grain (wheat is a grain) finished steak can cause problems. I don't think I'm one of those people, but nonetheless, I declined the steak.

There was one item on the specials board for entree, which was fresh Queensland king prawns served on a salsa of pineapple and avocado. They wouldn't serve a 'main' size, so AH ordered me two entree sizes!

There were four very large king prawns in each serve and about two tablespoons of salsa on each plate. The salsa was quite unpleasant. Whatever the dressing was, had an unpleasant after taste, so I only had one taste of it. I peeled and ate the bland and tasteless king prawns, which were very fresh, but had no flavour.

The nicest part of my meal was the glass of Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

AH had the grilled Barramundi which also lacked flavour.

Very disappointing.

We had earlier checked the restaurant 'Coast' which had nothing marked gluten free on their menu. We also checked out 'The Vineyard' menu, but it was the same - nothing marked GF - which is why we continued on to Kondari.

Highly likely we won't return.

Later, we were at Stocklands and while AH was purchasing tape in the newsagent, I went to order some takeaway coffees from Jamaica Blue. There was nobody sitting in the eating area. One lady was paying for her order and in front of me, were two ladies, who were together, ordering their lunch with coffee.

The girl who was taking orders, was painfully slow and way too friendly! Of course, customer service requires a happy and friendly attitude, but it was as if she wanted to be everybody's best friend and initiated and nurtured long, unnecessary conversations to the point that I stood there for almost 15 minutes, by which time she still didn't even look close to serving me. I said to AH "I'm sick of waiting. Let's go."

There were lots of EOFY sales on in all of the shops at Stocklands. I searched for a short sleeved, collared white shirt to no avail. Can you believe that something so simple could be so difficult to find? I bought a couple of necklaces at 50% off.

Earlier in the day, we stopped at Pillow Talk and I found some lovely photo frames at half price and two framed quotes that took my fancy. They will look great in my new study!

I wore all black today. When I lived in Griffith, I wore black most of the time. My wardrobe held very little colour. I had half a dozen pairs of black trousers, black or dark coloured tops, black shoes and boots, and black jackets and coats. I still wear a lot of black at night when we go out, but my day time attire is pretty colourful these days.

Today I wore black jeans, black boots, a black shirt and a black vest. Lots of silver jewellery to accessorise. Adoring Husband loved it and said that it reminded him of when we first met! On our way out of town, we stopped at the shops to get coffee and check the mail and I received lots of compliments from the girls who work there.

On the way home, we stopped there again and the second shift of girls all commented. I am surprised! I felt very 'out of place' in black .. you don't see people wearing black in Queensland very often.

Anyway, it was nice to spend the day with Adoring Husband, even if our restaurant choice wasn't a happy one and I'm glad my black attire brought back fond memories for him :)

Another night of Wimbledon with Sam Stosur playing right now (and has lost the first set). Bernard Tomic, Daria Gavrilova and John Millman all play tonight. One Aussie, whose name is not familiar to me, Matthew Barton, has already won his match. I think I'll change into my pyjamas and make myself comfortable. It could be a long night.

Before I go, if you have time before 2.30pm Friday, watch this movie "What's with Wheat?". It's free to view until about 4pm, but it goes for an hour and twenty minutes. Very interesting and educational. I have ordered the dvd, so anybody here in town can borrow my copy later if you wish. 

Nite all.  

Lunch with the Ladies

Another good time was had by all.

We, the ladies, lunched at the RSL Club in The Bay today. Due to quite a few illnesses and a couple of holidays, we were down on numbers and only had fourteen women in attendance.

I enjoyed a Roast Pork and vegetables with extra crackle and gluten free gravy. It was a typical club meal. Nothing fancy, but satisfactory.

On the way out, I stopped into Shoe Frenzy and bought two pairs of shoes, which were on sale. They were down from $69 each, to $30 each, but the other deal was two pairs for $50! Bargain :)

Afterwards, five of us stopped at The Speckled Hen's house for drinks and a couple of other ladies, who weren't at the lunch, turned up to join us. I didn't stay long. Too many ladies and too much noise. Too many conversations going at once. Too much alcohol. Too many differing opinions. Too much biting of the tongue (on my behalf).

I left at just the right time, still loving the ladies (another 30 minutes and the love may have faded!) and I walked home with my shiny new shoes to Adoring Husband's waiting arms.

Thankfully, I had taken curried chicken out of the freezer last night, so dinner was nice and easy.

I am sitting on my couch in my Summer pyjamas and wearing ugg boot slippers, waiting for the tennis to begin. Last night's tennis was suspended due to rain, so I hope to see some more Aussie games tonight.

It's date day with Adoring Husband tomorrow. We were going to the movies, but we've discovered tonight that 'Independence Day' is on too late in the day for us, and the other movie I'd like to see, is 'Finding Dory' but it's school holiday time and NOBODY wants to sit in a cinema with a million kids to watch a kids movie, unless you're with your own kids or grandkids.

So we will do lunch together and decide what to do after that.

Time to focus on the tennis.

Nite all.

Blustery Day

It has been a cold blustery day.

Not as cold as down south, but for us, very chilly.

I left the bedroom window open last night, so that the very strong cold wind blew in over the bed, then snuggled down under the doona to keep warm and comfortable. Perfect sleeping weather.

It was too cold for me to get out of bed early, so I stayed there until after 10am. The only reason I left the bed, was to ride to the shop to get my coffee and check the mail, then I returned home and climbed back into bed!

I would probably have stayed there all day, except I'd made arrangements to go visit Mum H to find out how her medical test results went, so I got out of bed at 12.45pm and went for another ride.

Right now, I'm sitting on the couch wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a sloppy joe and ugh boots ... more clothes than I've worn for a very long time ... probably since the road trip down south last year, which is exactly a year ago today!

I'm glad we're not road tripping right now, with all that snow about in NSW!

The tennis is on and I'm watching Kyrgios play Stepanek. Kyrgios (the Aussie) is winning and next to play will be Bernard Tomic (also Aussie) against Verdasco. I hope to watch that match in it's entirety and then I will attempt to sleep.

The lady's luncheon is on tomorrow and I need to be ready by 10am, so I would really appreciate it if Tomic could win quickly.

I believe it might be dressing gown time.

Nite all.

He Returns

Adoring Husband has arrived home on a high. He had a good time in Sydney, catching up with his Mum, who, unfortunately has dementia and no longer recognises him - but it's important that he connect with her a couple of times a year and do whatever he can to provide her with the comforts of home.

She is 99 years young and even though she is looking a little more frail each time he sees her, she still possesses a very strong constitution and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she lived for another ten years!

AH also caught up with some old friends and had a good time with everyone that he contacted, including my youngest girl, Bubbles. He came home looking refreshed and happy after some good quality retail therapy too! We all know how invigorating that can be!

He is now the happy owner of some quality up-to-date Sharks garments. He always glows when he can wear current supporter's gear!

He was only home for about four hours when he had to leave to meet another mate in The Bay for dinner. Again, he had a nice time.

It's good to have him home.

It's also good to finally see the beginning of Wimbledon Tennis Championships tonight!

Aussie, Samantha Stosur has already won her first round match, and the only other Australian playing tonight is Sam Groth. Right now, I'm watching Djokovic play Ward.

I'm considering heading to bed. I don't think Sam Groth can beat the Japanese player, Kei Nishikori, who is seeded fifth and I'd really like to watch Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic play tomorrow night. There are eighteen Australians playing this year and most of them will be playing tomorrow night, so I'm thinking that a good night's sleep will be helpful for me to enjoy tomorrow night's play.

I have fresh clean bamboo sheets to slide in between tonight, which is another reason am feeling enticed!

My morning was quite busy. I worked, bought my coffee, collected my mail, cleared out the back bedroom, washed three loads of bedding and towels, remade our bed, cooked lunch, cleaned the kitchen, fed the chooks, collected the eggs and swept the floors.

I sat down at about 2pm and wasn't required to move again until right now!

Nite all!  

It's an Art!

I read a story today about 'The Art of Doing Nothing'.

People, especially women, feel it necessary to always be doing something. They feel it necessary to fill their day with activity. People feel guilty for just sitting .. and if they do just sit, they are watching the clock and thinking about what they're going to do when they've finished sitting!

When was the last time that you just sat, alone? No technology, including TV, phone or tablet.  No book or magazine or newspaper. No guilt. Absolutely no distractions whatsoever.

To sit alone with just your thoughts for unlimited time. No music. No clock watching. No thinking about what you SHOULD be doing. Slow down, look within, see and feel how you're doing.

Do less, feel more.

We're always doing for others or doing what we feel is our duty. Whether it's babysitting, caring for a sick loved one, being a wife or husband, cleaning the house, doing the washing, gardening, grocery shopping, visiting our parents, working, paying the bills, taking care of our personal hygiene, doctor's appointments, being a mother or father, grooming the pets, planning meals, fitness & health classes and the list goes on, there is rarely any time left for 'doing nothing'.

I'm talking about people of my generation and older, who don't have full time jobs.

It makes me wonder how, in my younger days, I shared myself between a full time job, three children, a partner, my friends, the house and all of those other duties mentioned above. What about people who have to travel distances to work? That cuts their time even further!

So basically, the whole world is running on empty. There is no time to refuel or gather your thoughts or think about the meaning of your life. The world is robotic. Working long hours to earn enough money to afford the house, the cars, the holidays, the kid's sports and education, the current technology etc etc etc.

I think I've 'almost' mastered the Art of doing nothing (just ask Adoring Husband!). My favourite way to do nothing, is to sit by the river, alone, watching the world go by, while thinking deep thoughts.

My favourite deep thoughts are the ones where I feel incredibly grateful for the life that I have. I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. A great husband, healthy beautiful loving kids, a perfect grandchild, a roof over my head, wonderful friends and unlimited opportunities to practise any craft that takes my fancy, regular road trips with my BFF, living in a caring and supportive community... what more could a girl want?

It's almost 11pm and I need to be up early for work. Adoring Husband will return from Sydney tomorrow (Monday) at lunch time and my world will return to 'normal'.

Nite all.

Market Madness

What a day!

My alarm went off at 5.50am and I jumped out of bed to get to work so that I would have plenty of time to work, return home, and be dressed and ready to be picked up at 7.15am.

It was still dark when I rode off holding a torch, because the battery is flat on my trike headlight.

By the time I took the risk and rode to get my coffee before rushing home to get ready, I had 25 minutes to prepare for my day.

I timed it perfectly, but The Motivator was more than five minutes late, so I had breathing space.

She dropped me off at Aquavue and she headed off for her 8am massage appointment. I found a table in the Winter sunshine and there I sat enjoying a latte for almost 90 minutes. It was a beautiful day, but at about 9.20am, a very cool breeze picked up and it was cold enough for me to put my coat and scarf on.

When she returned, we decided to order some breakfast. I had gluten free pancakes with banana, bacon and maple syrup, which was delicious.

Just after we ordered, The Reality TV Queen appeared out of nowhere and joined us for breakfast.

By the time we left Aquavue, it was quite late in the morning. We checked out the Torquay markets, which were quite small and uninspiring. We walked across the road and spent some time browsing and buying at Go Natural before finding our way to the pier markets at Urangan.

We bought lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, bunches of fresh herbs and some pots of thyme and lemon balm. There was a stall selling spices, where I got some white peppercorns. I purchased some lovely, and very reasonably priced jewellery (because you can never have too much jewellery) and then we discovered a meat van selling pastured beef, lamb and pork, so I bought a beef cheek, beef fillet, leg of lamb and some bacon.

By the end of our day of retail therapy, the car was well laden with our goods, but we still stopped by the side of the road and bought 4 pineapples each from the back of a truck!

The Motivator dropped me at home where I had just enough time to pack everything away, before heading off to my next date at The Blond Bombshell's house. The Reality TV Queen, Blond Bombshell and I finished off the wine that was left over from our Gold Coast trip.

Two hours later, I stopped at The Motivator's house to pick up some sand crabs that I'd ordered, but I ended up spending an hour there and by the time I left, I was riding out into the darkness!

I munched on some crab for dinner and sat down to watch the second half of the Cronulla Sharks v Auckland Warriors game. It was AMAZING. 18 all at full time. After a very tight match, Cronulla finally scored a point to win 19-18.

Adoring Husband is in Sydney and attended the game. He said he stood in the stands with all of the other fans singing the Cronulla victory song three times before leaving the grounds. Even though he was by himself, he said he had a ball! I wish I could have been there to share that excitement with him.

Now, I'm watching my team play the Bulldogs. They are losing. I'm not sure that I can stay awake for the second half. It has been a very long day with an early start and I didn't sleep well last night because I was worried that I would sleep through my alarm.

I'm looking forward to staying in bed tomorrow morning, snuggled under the blankets and slowly easing myself into the day.

Nite all.

Where did it go?

Where did my day go?

I left for work at 6.20am and afterwards rode to the Seat of Knowledge to see the boys. I bought my coffee and some ingredients for my chicken dinner. I prepared my chicken dinner (three days worth of chicken dinner). I watched a movie.

Chicken, ginger, shallots and coriander ready to be poached.

Suddenly, it was time to get ready to go to the club!

I feel like I blinked and half of the day disappeared!

Tomorrow is going to be interesting. The weather forecast is for a temperature range of 7C - 19C which is incredibly cold for this neck of the woods. I can already feel a chill in the air.

I have plans with The Motivator early tomorrow, so I need to leave the house at 6am to get my work done and return home to get dressed and be ready to get picked up at 7.15am.

I have my warm clothes and gloves all ready for work and then my outfit ready to go out. I can't believe that I will need my coat and a scarf! I need to be very organised because time will be of the essence!

It's almost 11pm, so I should attempt to get a good night's sleep so that I don't struggle to get out of bed in the morning.

Nite all.

Responsive

I just received a phone call from some young man who advised me that he was calling on behalf of our local member, Keith Pitt. He told me that Keith would like to know my most important federal issue.

So I told him ... "The most important federal issue for me, is that voting is compulsory, and I have to decide which morally corrupt liar I'm going vote for!"

The was a stunned silence on the other end of the phone until he uttered a discombobulated "Oh"

I said "Thank you for calling. Bye bye."

He said "Bye"

I hung up.

I hope that I am his 'story' of the week! Although I'm quite sure that he receives much worse responses than mine!

It's 8pm and I am off to bed to read until I sleep.

Nite all.

Origin Time Again

I'm happy to announce ...

Queensland wins the series again!! Wahoo!

This was our beautiful sunset this afternoon, but unfortunately I couldn't get out there fast enough with my camera, so I grabbed my phone and took this ...

A spectacular sky.

I enjoyed morning tea with the girls today and followed it up with more coffee on The Blond Bombshell's deck with Reality TV Queen ...

The Blond Bombshell is out of town, so we sent her this selfie to show her what she is missing!

For lunch today, I did a coriander lime whole chicken in the slow cooker.

Last night I made a salt rub, with salt, chilli powder, cayenne pepper and cumin powder and rubbed it all over the chicken. The marinade had lime juice, coriander, macadamia oil, salt and crushed garlic. I put the chicken into a plastic bag with the marinade overnight and this morning, placed it (with the marinade) into the slow cooker on low for 6 hours.

It was moist, tender and full of flavour and deliciously spicy. I served it with baked sweet potato, baked carrot and baked onion, pureed garlic cauliflower and choko and steamed broccoli, bok choy and zucchini. A huge lunch so that we didn't have to worry about a big dinner leading up to State of Origin football.

I love a successful new recipe.

It's after midnight, so I'm off to bed!

Nite all.

All About Happy

During the week, The Motivator shared this recipe with me. It's called Hainan Chicken. It's poached chicken with ginger, and I made it today for lunch. OMG, it was so delicious that Adoring Husband went back for seconds, then was disappointed when I wouldn't let him have thirds!

It's very simple to make and this is my modified version ...

INGREDIENTS:

6 chicken thigh fillets with skin on
3 spring onions (chopped)
1 cup of coriander leaves and stems (chopped)
1 tsp salt
7-8cm piece of ginger (sliced)
6 white peppercorns

SAUCE: 2 spring onions, 1 Tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp salt, 1 finely chopped fresh chilly, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 3 Tsp maple syrup, the juice of half a lime and 1/2 cup macadamia oil. Place in a saucepan, bring to the boil, turn off the heat and let it sit til the chicken is ready.

Instructions:

Place the chicken pieces, skin up, in the bottom of a large stock pot or saucepan. Scatter the remaining ingredients over the top and then cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently, covered, for 13 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave the chicken to cool in the stock for about 1.5 hours.

Remove the chicken and slice into pieces. Place over steamed rice and steamed greens and pour the sauce over the top. The end!

The chicken turns out juicy and tender and full of flavour, while the sauce is tangy and even though it contains a whole chilli, it's not too hot.

It's going to become a firm favourite in our house :)

Meanwhile, it's been a while since I created a list, and I saw this idea on FB this morning.

Fifty things to be happy about ...

1. Lists about happy things
2. Delicious new recipes to try
3. Sunshine on a Winter's day
4. Rainbows
5. Crystal clear river water
6. Happy waggy dog tails
7. Squishy faces of newborn babies
8. Hearing birds singing outside my window
9. Sunrises
10. Sunsets
11. A giant full moon rising on a clear night
12. Shooting stars
13. Friends
14. Morning tea with the girls
15. Friday nights at the club
16. Fresh coffee in the morning
17. Reading in bed on a quiet night
18. Sliding in between fresh clean sheets 
19. Eating fresh food straight from the garden
20. Laughing so hard that the tears come
21. An empty ironing basket
22. Friendly neighbours
23. Road trips!
24. Fresh flowers in the house
25. Bare feet on the sand 
26. Organic Farmers markets
27. Lazing in bed on a cold morning
28. New shoes
29. Re-reading my favourite book
30. Picnics
31. Riding my trike
32. Music from my era
33. Steady rain on a tin roof
34. Butterflies fluttering by
35. Sharing photographs 
36. Social lunches
37. Dressing up
38. Hugs
39. Home
40. Cheering for my footy team
41. Staying up all night watching Wimbledon
42. Movie marathons
43. Beautiful works of art
44. Good news
45. Quirky hats
46. Ryan Gosling
47. Best friends
48. A kind and loving husband
49. Chicklet giggles
50. Family

What would be on your list?

I tripped over on our front porch today. I don't know how it happened but it happened so darned fast!

All I remember, is seeing the tiles rapidly coming towards me, so I put my hands out to stop them from hitting my face. Thankfully, I softened the blow by landing on my knees and hands with a loud smack and what I thought was a pretty loud grunt from me, then I performed an unplanned role onto my side.

I lay there, for what felt like forever, waiting for somebody to come to my rescue. I waited in vain. Adoring Husband was in the back yard and our front hedge and geisha girl tree hid me from the street.

So I gingerly moved my wrists and thankfully, there was no pain. They smarted a bit where I landed, but nothing serious. Then I checked my ankles and knees. They seemed ok, but one knee felt a little raw.

Whew! I was ok. I rolled up the right leg of my tracky dacks and there was a nice patch of skin rolled off my knee. Not even enough for it to bleed. It peeled every layer of skin except the last one, in the size of a 10c piece.

Basically, my pride was bruised and I felt like a doofus!

On the bright side though, it means that I must have pretty strong bones! I fell pretty hard! There's always a bright side.

To end, what has been a pretty great day ...

Nite all.

Time Flies

I visited The Motivator this morning to get some coriander that she'd offered me yesterday.

Two hours later ...

It was well after lunch and poor Adoring Husband had given up on me and had driven to the butcher to buy meat to cook for his lunch! Woops!

I made up for it by cooking up a big meal of chops, bacon, eggs, tomato and mushrooms. I also juiced up some oranges and pineapple and added some ginger and pear kimchi. Delicious.

This morning before I rode to get my coffee, I culled some of my wardrobe and took 25 items out, so that I could hang the 32 items that I'd ironed yesterday. I already have about 50 items in a bag, also waiting for the epic 'ladies only' garage sale!

A couple of the other girls have talked about going through their wardrobes too, so it could be the event of the season! Clothes, shoes, handbags, jewellery, scarves and accessories. Might ask the mobile coffee girl to park on the front lawn and I can make some delicious paleo sweets for the morning session and put the wine on ice ready for the afternoon session!

Sounds like fun.

This also sounds like fun ...

Directions:  Scoop the flesh of the avocado into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to gently break up flesh. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until everything is combined and creamy. Pour into moulds and place in the freezer for a minimum of 5 hours.

Healthy and delicious!

I'm going to make them while Adoring Husband is away. If they are really good, I will get to eat a whole batch myself! I promise to make a 'welcome home' batch if I think they're worth it.

Anyway, I'm off for an early night. Time seemed to slip away last night and it was after 2am when I finally got to sleep. I need to catch up tonight.

Nite all.

Water Logged Sunday

It's been raining all day and quite heavy for most of it. It will probably rain all night, but hopefully, it will have cleared by morning. We've had more than 60ml by now. I haven't checked the rain gauge, but Bundaberg, an hour from here, has had 85ml and Hervey Bay to the south has had 45ml, so I'm plucking a figure near the middle.

I spent my morning ironing all the clothes in the back room. I expected that it would take 3 or 4 hours, but it took less than two! Through the process, I discovered that I have WAY TOO MANY CLOTHES!! There is no way that the clothes I ironed today will fit in my wardrobe, so they remain in the back room wardrobe until I can sort through and cull from my collection.

I feel a 'ladies only' garage sale coming on. I suppose I should include 'men who like to dress up as a lady' in my advertising. Numerous pairs of shoes, handbags, jewellery pieces and items of clothing to go to new loving homes.

From there, I made lunch which was yesterday's lamb shanks in tomato and onion gravy with vegetables.

I chopped up a whole pumpkin to cook up for the dog food which I will finish tomorrow.

We watched the football, until Adoring Husband was called out with the SES to provide sandbags for some flooded areas in Toogoom.

While he was out, I took the opportunity to do some research into Naturopaths in the local area.

Firstly, I read their summary, then if they had a website, I checked that and finally, I browsed their Facebook page.

The first Naturopath told a story on her FB page about how her week had been very stressful, so she took some time in the morning to walk along the beach with a friend and then shared coffee and scones with that friend.

* So I crossed her off my list .. she is not very health conscious if she's eating scones with sugary jam and comes across (to me) as an emotional eater. If she doesn't care enough about her own health, then I'm not going to trust her with mine.

The next one was a male Naturopath with 17 years experience, but 2004 was his last known training.

* That's a no - I don't feel that he is up-to-date with current trends.

Number three made me feel a bit sick to the stomach as she described a patient of hers who was a ten year old with terminal cancer and she used hypnosis and creative visualisation to help her go through her wish list. Since she passed away, she has helped the family to deal with their grief through hypnosis and counselling.

* Nope .. I want someone who's aim is to help me fight my illness/disease and bring me back to vibrant health!

Next was a male Naturopath who specialised in massage, Chinese Medicine and Reflexology, but it seemed that he was more focussed on people who practised sport or dance.

* Sport and dance are not my forte, so that's another nope!

The fifth Naturopath was mostly into massage and intuitive healing.

* I'm a big believer in 'intuition' - but not for healing, so there is another one crossed off the list.

Then there was a Salt Therapist. His list included healing asthma, psoriasis, hay fever, allergies etc

* Salt therapies don't really cover the area that I'm looking at, which is detoxification and cleansing.

Number seven was a very experienced Naturopath with 27 years experience, but her training is very dated and after going to her website, her nutritional beliefs are so old that she still counts calories, removes fat from the diet and encourages 'low fat' yoghurts/milks/cheeses etc.

* That's a big black cross against her name.

Lucky number eight seems to be the most promising, but he does not have a website and sadly, hasn't posted on his FB page since December last year.

The information that I found, showed that he shared the same health values as I do, like paleo lifestyle, no sugar, high fat, organic food, oil pulling, building the immune system with herbs and nutrition to fight disease and illness, internal and external detoxes, various forms of cleansing and he advertised FROG boxes at regular intervals.

* I will do some follow up and see if he is still practising.

I will also do further research in the Sunny Coast area .. I'm sure there will be plenty to choose from down that way!

Look at that! It's almost 1am! Best get to bed!

Nite all.    

Food on my Mind

It's been a foodie kind of day today.

My usual lazy morning in bed, so I didn't actually leave the house until about 9.30am.

Into my trike basket, I packed Paleo recipe books and a shoe box (containing shoes) for The Motivator and a container of frozen butter chicken (from our freezer) and three dvds for Mum H, who is bored at home and recovering from a form of stroke (blocked spinal artery). She is doing ok, but is weak and tired .. as you would be after something so major.

I bought my coffee and a few groceries before dropping in to see The Motivator, who was multitasking. She was selling a boat load of sand crabs, and between customers, was sitting outside sorting through her Paleo recipes. She's been busy making bone broth and activating nuts and butter chicken and planning her paleo future.

Two and a half hours later, I said my goodbyes and headed up the hill to see Mum H. The timing was a bit off because a friend of hers was turning up an hour early to take her out for drive, so I didn't get to spend much time with her. I gave her the chicken and the DVDs and high tailed it home.

First of all, I browned the lamb shanks and and filled the slow cooker with goodness to simmer on low for eight hours.

While that was cooking, I prepared a chicken curry to freeze for future meals ...

During that cooking process, I munched my way through two sand crabs that I'd bought from The Motivator.

Dinner was a big bowl of raspberries, blueberries and salted caramel coconut ice cream. I didn't take a photo of that though .. I was in too much of a hurry to eat it!

While watching the football tonight, I planned my first week's menu on the AIP (auto-immune protocol) paleo program and printed out the shopping list. I don't officially start until next Sunday, so I have plenty of time to get organised.

So, as you can tell, food has been the order of the day.

Now I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Movie Sadness

The following pictures represent me at the end of watching the movie 'Me Before You' today ...

I look forward to buying the dvd so that I can watch it at home in the privacy of my own lounge room, so that I can sob hysterically without worrying about other patrons.

Fabulous movie.

Go see it.

Take tissues.

Lots of them.

I had a great morning with the girls. Lady Lynn picked me up just after 8.30am and we met Rebel Mardi at the cinema. Luckily, we snared our favourite seats and we all enjoyed the movie and the crying from the back row.

Afterwards, we walked across the road and enjoyed coffee and cake in a comfortable and quiet cafe located at the back of a home decor store. It was very relaxing and the cake (gluten free white chocolate and macadamia nut brownie) was delicious. Rebel Mardi and I shared one because the pieces were HUGE. Lady Lynn thoroughly enjoyed her date scone too.

I arrived home to make the marinade for the chicken wings that we're having for dinner and a salsa to go with it. Adoring Husband will put the wings in the oven an hour before I get home and it will all be ready to sit down and watch the footy when I get home tonight.

It was a great day. Now I need to make myself presentable for a night at the Bowls Club.

Nite all.

Movie Fun

You've just got to go to this website ... 52 Shoes ... and enter the competition! Create shoes to go with the outfits that they provide. You can enter as many times as you want. It's so much fun! I spent hours in there yesterday afternoon/evening and have lost count of how many shoes I created. Imagine winning 52 pairs of shoes ... one pair per week. My idea of heaven.

Adoring Husband and I saw The Nice Guys today and absolutely loved it. Put Ryan Gosling in any movie and it's a winner for me! Tomorrow, I'll need the tissues when I watch 'Me Before You' with the girls. I saw the preview for it again today and it looks both warm and fuzzy, as well as heart wrenching. Ugh.

Chicklet looks like she had a lot of fun at Movie World today, in her new Bat cape ...

Precious little possum.

With that, I'm off to bed. I'm feeling weary and have an early start tomorrow.

Nite all.

Out and About

After four days of self imposed quarantine, I rode to our meeting place and sat with four of the girls for morning tea, which was really lovely, and then I visited The Motivator. I haven't seen her for about six weeks. She was away for a month and then I was away for ten days and for the last few days, I didn't want to pass on any of my germs.

We had some good Paleo discussions, because she has decided to give that a try, and we had lots of catching up to do with plenty of news to share. She lent me her Pete Evans 'One Pot Favourites' recipe book, and I've selected a couple of those recipes to photocopy and use later, and I will loan her my recipe books to make her paleo journey a bit easier.

It was 1pm by the time I arrived home. Luckily, I had oxtail casserole in the slow cooker ready for lunch.

I had choko, sweet potato, onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the slow cooker with the meat, so I put all of those vegetables and some of the stock in the blender and blended it into a delicious thick sauce. Then I put the oxtail pieces into a saucepan with the sauce and reheated it all.

After I took the meat off, I put the bones back in the slow cooker with the remaining stock, added some more vegetables and water and they will cook for a further twelve hours to make a delicious and rich beef bone broth.

With all of the immune boosting goodness that I've been pumping into my body, I forgot about my black seed oil! I found it this morning and took half a teaspoon of it. I felt a difference within thirty minutes! They say it cures everything except death!

Adoring Husband informed me this afternoon that his throat was feeling a bit tender, so I pumped him full of vitamin C, probiotics, honey/lemon/ginger drink, chicken bone broth and half a teaspoon of black seed oil. By the time he went to bed, he said the tenderness had gone! Let's hope it's gone for good and it doesn't sneak it's ugly head back in tomorrow.

I've invited AH to the movies with me to see The Nice Guys tomorrow. I've heard all good reviews so far, from friends, so I'm looking forward to seeing it.

There was no phone call from Chicklet this afternoon, so she must have been too worn out. She'll have double the stories to tell tomorrow! I hope she got to meet Batman.

Two more scarves arrived today.

It will be an early night again for me. Look at this! Finished by 8.30pm!

Nite all.  

Hangin' in there Tuesday

So, I'm still hanging in there. The bug hasn't taken hold of me, but I can still feel it lurking.

After drinking a large mug of bone broth while having a late morning in bed, I eventually managed to package up the remaining chicken bone broth and freeze 15 days worth of it.

Blending some pineapple, watermelon, blueberries, raspberries and mint, made for a refreshing drink full of vitamin C, to have with lunch.

I was enticed out to the shed this morning by Adoring Husband, who was still sorting through 'stuff' that has been stored for years. There has been some brutal culling performed and our sulo bin is more than full for tomorrow's pick up service.

AH and I went through a large box of photos today and tossed out quite a few old rolls of film and boxes of slides. They were mostly of his three Auntys' many Australian road trips and overseas cruises.

Knowing how much time, effort and expense went into this massive collection, it seems such a shame to be getting rid of these memories, but there is no-one left to appreciate them and AH's kids are not interested, so it is obviously the end of an era, and we need to let them go.

The important photos will all be scanned and stored on usb sticks. AH has many, many more photos than I do, although my little sister 'Squirt' has boxes of our family photos stored in her roof in Blackwater. It must be time to get them down here, so that we can scan them and store them more securely.

A very very young Adoring Husband, long BEFORE he was my Adoring Husband ...

Or in his dancing days leaning against Johnny O'Keefe's Cadillac (I think this is his favourite pic of himself) ...

By noon, I was well and truly done, and after making lunch, plonked myself down on the couch and took the lazy way out for the remainder of the day.

Late this afternoon, I received a phone call from my little Chicklet, who is currently enjoying a holiday with her Mama and Dadu on the Gold Coast.

In her very excited voice, she told me all about her day yesterday at Sea World and then today at Movie World. She saw dolphins jumping out of the water high as a building. She saw a Polar Bear. She saw penguins swimming in the pool (so far the only photo taken on the phone) ...

She touched sting rays and starfish and sea slugs. She walked through the underwater tunnel and saw giant turtles and sharks and it was heaps better than Underwater World on the Sunny Coast.

At Movie World, she met Catwoman! She saw The Flash (who was only walking) and Green Lantern and Superman. She saw the Bat mobile and the Bat Glider. She saw Tweety Bird and Bugs Bunny. She saw a 4D movie of Wile E Coyote with the 3D glasses and wind and water. She got a giant lollypop. Tomorrow she hopes to meet Batman!

It was awesome listening to her talking so loudly and so quickly, trying to get all the information out at once. Yesterday was the BEST DAY EVER! But today was EVEN BESTER THAN YESTERDAY!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's phone call to hear all about Batman!

Bed time for me now!

Nite all.

Easy Monday

Today, to give my body a chance to concentrate on healing, I took it easy all day, catching up on all the TV shows that Adoring Husband recorded for me while I was away last week.

I diffused eucalyptus essential oil in the lounge room. Spoon fed myself raw honey with chopped garlic. Drank chicken broth and fresh juices. Popped vitamin C and probiotics. Sat in the sunshine for twenty minutes.

Tonight, as I did last night, I'll make a honey, lemon and ginger hot drink to sip while I'm reading in bed.

My throat is no longer sore or tender, but there is a bit of a tickle there, which disappears whenever I eat the honey and garlic mixture. The tissues have had a bit of workout, but I'm not getting worse, so that is a big positive for me.

Adoring Husband spent the day in the back yard clearing out the storage shed. He worked hard and got rid of a lot of 'stuff' that we no longer want or need. We found some stuff that we thought we'd lost in the tornado damage and found thousands of old photos that need to be scanned and saved to pass on to (mostly) AH's family.

I did manage to put on a batch of chicken bone broth to slow cook for the next 24 hours ...

Some more scarves arrived in the mail today. There are another dozen coming this week, but this is my stash so far ...

I'll add strings of beads and crystals and old jewellery to make a beautiful bohemian window cover for my studio/workspace, which will be moved into one of the bedrooms in August/September. That gives me plenty of time to create something arty farty and very bohemian.

I found this very interesting article about cholesterol today .. and the fact that it was published in mainstream media, means that my friends who only give credence to medical information that they see or hear about in the mainstream news, might take some notice.

Clearly, I need another early night to help me fight the bug, so ...

Nite all.