Mostly Sunny Saturday

I found this on Facebook …

So, a young man comes up to me the other day and asks, "Hey, what's it feel like to be old?" I nearly spat out my prune juice from surprise because, frankly, I don't think of myself as old. The kid looked mortified when he saw my reaction, but I assured him it was an intriguing question. After pondering it, I came to the brilliant conclusion that getting old is a total gift.

Sure, sometimes I catch a glimpse of the old girl staring back at me in the mirror, but hey, I don't lose sleep over it. I'm not about to swap all the wisdom I've gathered for a few less silver hairs and a washboard stomach. I'm entitled to a bit of messiness, some extravagance, and a few hours admiring my garden without feeling guilty.

I've seen friends leave this world before they could enjoy the freedom that comes with aging. So what if I choose to stay up till 4 a.m. reading or gaming, and then snooze until who-knows-when? I'll groove to the tunes of the '50s and '60s, and if I fancy shedding a tear for a lost love later on, you bet I will!

I'll strut along the beach in a swimsuit hugging my old bod and dive into the waves without a care, despite the pitying glances from the bikini brigade. They'll get their turn at growing old if they're lucky.

Sure, my heart's endured its share of pain – losing loved ones, feeling a child's agony, or bidding farewell to a furry friend. But it's those trials that toughen us up and help us grow. A heart that's never been bruised is about as lively as a rock and will never savor the joy of imperfection.

I take pride in every silver strand on my head and in retaining the grin of my youth before those deep wrinkles showed up. So, to give an honest answer to the question: "I love being old because it makes me sharper and more liberated!"

Hey, I know I won't be around forever, but while I'm here, I'm living by my own rules – the ones my heart cooks up. No regrets for what never happened, no fretting over what's to come. For the time ahead, I'm just going to revel in life like I always have. The rest? Well, that's in the hands of the big guy upstairs.

 ©️ Suzy B

I can relate 😏

Easter Saturday today.

I didn’t even wake up until 9am. Harley and I decided to rise at 9.30am and went straight out to the pool to play. 

After play, I enjoyed fresh crab on toast for breakfast and took it into the art room where I sat for about 90 minutes adding to one of my art works …

From there I decided to watch some episodes of “Selling Houses Australia” before the football started.

My footy tipping is doing very poorly. I certainly have some work to do to catch up to everyone else!

BGWLBH had leftover salmon patties for dinner. Adoring Husband had two big fillets of cod with salad and I cut a small wedge off one of the fillets for myself.

I’ve enjoyed two smoothies today - soursop, pineapple and passionfruit. Delicious!

I’m watching “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves” with a very delicious Kevin Costner so I shall sign off so that I can drool over him before I sleep.

Nite all.

One out of Three

Three footy games and I’ve only tipped one correctly. Thankfully, my beloved Broncos won tonight!

It’s been an uneventful day.

Harley play.

Cooked breakfast.

Played trivia.

Made a smoothie.

Watched some recorded shows.

Watched the first footy match.

Made salmon patties for dinner. BGWLBH made the accompanying salad.

Watched the second footy match.

Now I have to record my Friday Falafel.

Nite all.

Self Imposed

We have officially put ourselves into self imposed lockdown for Easter.

I consider Easter to be the worst time of year for our town. The population swells as our Easter Fishing Classic attracts every man and his dog AND his family.

The only thing to do is stay at home and lock the doors to avoid the madding crowds.

I plan on doing some art, journalling, watching the football, playing with the dog and maybe playing some online trivia.

Today I decluttered my wardrobe and removed 18 tops/dresses/pants which I’ve offered to The Happy Hippy and she has joyfully accepted. I think I need to declutter some more haha.

I had a fresh crab sandwich for breakfast and I delighted in every juicy mouthful.

I received Vegan Chickie’s Wednesday Waffle video (late, obviously). I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that we send each other a weekly video of ourselves waffling on about what happened during our week. This is our third week.

I received a phone call from Number One Son who is still in the mental health facility in WA. His treatment is not working so they are trying plan B next. There is also a plan C if it comes to it. It was nice to hear his voice and he sounded ok.

Bubbles has applied for a job with Services Australia. She currently manages a Sussans outlet in Sydney but is not happy so I hope she has some luck with this interview process.

We switched it up and had chicken wings for dinner tonight. Tomorrow is Good Friday so instead of the usual Friday night fare, we will have seafood. I have no idea why, because we are not practicing Christians but I guess any excuse to eat fresh seafood is a good one.

Adoring Husband and I watched the footy tonight. I had my usual failed tipping night while AH selected the winning team.

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Coupla Days

We’ve had about 150mm of rain in 36 hours. 

The pool is overflowing, everything is lush and green and the temperature has dropped to a much more bearable level. We STILL have the air con running 24/7 though.

Tuesday was meditation and qi gong day, then three hours with The Gypsy. I got caught in the rain riding my trike, but I wasn’t too concerned, after all it’s only water. The day was quite exhausting, especially after a restless night so I slept very soundly on Tuesday night.

Today (Wednesday), BGWLBH and I drove in the rain to The Bay. 

We enjoyed breakfast at Salt Cafe. BGWLBH had her usual bacon and eggs, while I selected the King Prawn Omelette. Delicious.

After breakfast we visited the boutique next door - Luxe - where I found two beautiful tops which were quite pricy so I let Adoring Husband buy one (haha) and I bought the other. There was a beautiful dress too but I thought I was pushing my luck so I may return next week for that one.

We ran some other errands and then purchased our seafood for Good Friday before heading home.

Harley and I played in the rain.

We had a sausage sizzle for dinner.

I think I’m ready to sleep.

Nite all.

Journalistic

I purchased four new journals for myself today.

I do NOT need anymore journals.

These are the journals lining my bed head …

Three quarters of them are in use. I have more journals in the art studio, in my bedside drawer and now four more to find a home for.

We enjoyed our time in Office Works, but I had to consciously restrain myself. So many lovely things - pens, art books, paint brushes, paints, journals, candles, cups, folders, stickers, containers, desk top goodies etc etc etc.

Petbarn is another favourite place. So many toys and balls and goodies for Harley. I selected 2 packs of his favourite liver treats and some bone shaped chicken biscuits today.

No toys because it took him ten minutes to destroy the stuffed shark I bought last week and three days to almost destroy the frog. Most of the stuffing has been pulled out, one eye is chewed off and I think all four feet are missing.

The only thing left is the knotted rope, which I haven’t given him yet. It’s currently protected in the family room cupboard drawer.

After more browsing and shopping, our last errand was a Coles run.

The weather fluctuated between soft mist, drizzle and heavy showers all day. It was very grey and gloomy and too wet for Harley play this afternoon.

I cooked crispy skinned salmon for Adoring Husband, served with a salad and a scoop of tuna pasta mornay. BGWLBH had the tuna and salad and I had a little bit of everything.

MAFS night!

Time for sleep now.

Nite all. 

Slept In

Harley woke me at 9am!

I fell asleep at 11pm, woke to pee at 12.30am, fell straight back to sleep and didn’t stir until I heard Harley’s soft whine at 9am.

Unheard of.

It was a simple Sunday starting with Harley play, breakfast, watching my recording of the 1% Club, watching a musical called “In The Heights” (which I loved!) then all afternoon watching the footy.

Dinner was spaghetti squash with bacon, pine nuts and lemon served with honey sesame chicken.

Today is Vegan Chickie’s 44th birthday. How did that happen? We chatted for about an hour this evening and laughed a LOT! 

On Monday, Number One Son returns to hospital because his mental health has deteriorated again.

I sent Bubbles a text at 4pm yesterday and she has not responded. She was going for a second interview for a job she wanted and I need to know how she went! They were considering creating a position for her instead of giving her the one she applied for, so that’s pretty cool.

Ok. I’m yawning now so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

A Session

I pedalled in the rain to visit The Gypsy for a three hour session this morning.

It was intense and emotional but also enlightening and freeing.

It’s been a while since I rode my trike around town, so when I left her, I made my way to the local shops. On the way I ran into (not literally) a few people I haven’t seen for a while. Each stop and chat added up to almost two hours! 

I did get to sit silently and alone for 15 minutes overlooking the beach at low tide. There was weather in the distance …

It was after 2pm by the time I arrived home.

I got some Harley play in between rain showers.

Dinner was poached chicken salad.

My Broncos played tonight. They were already down two of their top players, including their captain, due to injury and then less than five minutes into the game they lost their star player due to a dangerous tackle by a Penrith player.

Needless to say they lost badly.

Now it’s almost midnight and I need to be up early in the morning so …

Nite all.

Another Hump Day

My body was much happier this morning.

The spur under my toe has almost gone. I can still feel what’s left of it and depending on how my foot lands when I walk, I can still feel a tiny bit of pain, but I’m walking without a limp now and I’m very happy with the result of my castor oil poultice. Tonight is the 5th night in a row so it hasn’t taken long.

My stomach, on the other hand, seems to be struggling. I guess it’s time to get regular with the castor oil poultice wrapped around my torso! It’s also time to be more serious with my diet and cut out all the sugar I’ve been stuffing into my face.

We had a good day in The Bay today. Got craft supplies, browsed through Big W and Rivers, the lady’s boutique, the cheap shops, supermarket and Su Jus.

Duck and vegetables for dinner, except I had last nights leftover spag bol.

Now it’s time to sleep.

Sunflowers are such a beautiful flower.

Quick sunflower facts:

-The entirety of a sunflower is edible.  Their leaves, stalks, and roots can all be used as food, and were grown in North America before other crops like corn became common.  They were milled to create flour, and their seeds roasted and eaten.

-Young sunflowers follow the sun all day, and then reset their position at night to be ready for sunrise.  Once fully grown, they stay facing east to attract bees and other pollinators.  

-On average, sunflowers grow to be between 6 to 10 feet, but they can grow much taller.  The tallest sunflower ever recorded was 30 feet.  

-Sunflowers can absorb toxins, including toxic metals and radiation.  Following the nuclear disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima, scientists planted millions of sunflowers to help those areas recover. 

They are remarkable plants!

Nite all.

Health & Healing

I have spent today in bed, only to get up and make dinner and then return to bed.

After Monday’s effort and overdoing it when I was so fragile, my body felt like it needed to isolate, go solo and heal in a horizontal position, so that’s exactly what I did.

Adoring Husband bought me a beautiful bunch of sunflowers 🌻 🌻 🌻 to help me feel better and made tomato on toast and a cup of tea for my brunch.

My team played with Harley morning and afternoon but it seems they weren’t up to making dinner, although BGWLBH did make a salad to go with the spaghetti bolognese that I prepared.

I received a letter from Chicklet today!

It was funny because I texted Vegan Chickie asking if Chicklet had replied to my letter yet (it’s been 5 weeks since she received my letter but since then they’ve been on holidays AND all had gastric illness) and 15 minutes later, in walked Adoring Husband with her letter in his hand!

So I replied immediately so that I could send it with Vegan Chickie’s birthday parcel.

If I’m feeling this well or better tomorrow, I hope to go into The Bay with BGWLBH.

I’m not ordering from the new FROG box people anymore. 

The first time I ordered green apples and they substituted red apples, so I emailed them specifically asked for NO SUBSTITUTIONS and to give me credit for the following week if they don’t have what I order.

The second time, I ordered green beans and they substituted zucchini so again I emailed them and received an apology.

The third time happened two weeks ago when I ordered green grapes for AH (he doesn’t eat red grapes) and they substituted red grapes. I still had red grapes left from the previous week so I did not need more.

I have not emailed them for this third time, but have decided to stop ordering from them.

I like the fruit and veggies in the kiosk at Stocklands and also Farm Gate who have a stall about ten minutes from here are also good, so I’ll purchase from them instead.

Hopefully that will happen on Wednesdays.

I did some colouring in today too …

So it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Pain in Me

Update on the foot … the castor oil did not have the same effect as Saturday night, which was disappointing this morning when I tried to walk on it, BUT, by 3pm today, the pain was almost nonexistent! 

Tonight I remembered the Cayenne Pepper and I have a fresh poultice applied to my foot.

Today was not a good day.

I returned to The Bay to have the security tag removed from my new bra.

Most of my day was spent finding somewhere to sit down because my foot was hurting AND my stomach was acting up as well so had to sit to relieve the pain in both parts of my body. It was not pleasant, especially because we had so much to do in town.

I made easy nachos and soft shell tacos for dinner.

MAFS night!

Now I require some healing sleep. I’m not sure if I’ll be up for meditation tomorrow, but definitely not qi gong.

Bring on the 😴😴😴

Nite all.