Saturday, November 2
At last I'm back with my own setup and I know where things are, (mostly.) My clipart discs, my reference books etc. It's so pleasant to be back on my own computer and yes, I do realise how fortunate I am to be able to do this. This whole room needs a good clean out, perhaps next week. I'm sure I'd find some interesting things if I cleaned everything. One shelf on my bookshelves seems to have partly collapsed and is tilted backwards and I also have several large piles of books on the floor. Perhaps Monday.
Early Monday, there is a technician coming to instal a TV ratings meter. Never thought they really existed and have never heard of anyone having one. However, some months ago when I had a few free moments, I answered some questions from the ratings people and they got back to me last week. They attach a meter to the TV which is turned on by a remote control, (yet another one to lose.) After that what is on is automatically transmitted by a toll free number to the ratings people. Supposedly a gift at the end. We watch very little TV, but statistics are made up from a range not just the most popular. May be interesting.
Talking about gifts...I spoke a few days ago about perhaps the worst cup of coffee I've had in a very long time. I actually emailed Vittoria, because it was served in cups with their brand on. They were very interested as these people have not been customers for quite a while. They were going to send someone out to investigate because it was such a bad advrtisement for them. Yesterday, I received a package in the mail from Vittoria. Several packs of different types of coffee. Very pleasant and much appreciated.
Husband is out this morning and probably for most of the day. I'm going to spend it putting out rubbish for the council collection. Every six months we have one. There are a lot of things to go out from the bedroom renovation, including two old wardrobes which will probably never get as far as the collection but will be scavenged by someone. I often throw out stuff and he never misses it. He's a real hoarder and doesn't seem to have been frightened by the job we had to do on his mother's house. I think hoarding runs in the family!
I've already been out for a walk. I woke early and decided to go. My blood pressure is up a bit and walking helps that tremendously. Unfortunately I woke up to a bit of a bad hair day. It's just been cut but needs another colour. I will get Bec to do it on Wednesday. Salon colour, free to me. 
I'm going to a conference later this week, Wednesday and Thursday nights and all day Friday and Saturday. Need to look a bit presentable. The Friday session is for ministers and leaders so can't look too scruffy.
Eating has been reasonable but I still need to do something on Thursdays when I mind Mya. I tend to pick at things and usually end up having too many carbohydrate type foods. It's not really easy when at someone else's house. Sometimes she needs to do a shop at the weekend and there is not a great deal in the way of salad vegetables and so on. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I used what was in the fridge, but I'd feel uncomfortable if there was only a small amount. I'd wonder if she had plans for it. She gets home late on Thursday evenings and couldn't replace anything I'd used.
My husband had an endoscopy yesterday and the results were perfectly normal. He has pins and needles on the top of his feet and sometimes a shooting pain in his legs. I suggested that they were caused by an old back injury, but he says doctors have discounted that and it would be the bottoms of the feet that were affected. Diabetes could cause this and several tests have shown him as just below the levels for this. He had an ultrasound on his liver last week, and that was clear too. He complained about the amount of water he had to drink before that - one litre. I told him about how much I had to drink before the ultrasound I had several years ago and told him that pregnant women also have to have a lot of water before one as well. As usual, women get the worse deal in things like that.
Personally, I think that if he lost weight, he would be a lot better off. He apparently has to see a dietician/nutritionist. I think I will go to that appointment with him. I'm sure he won't tell her about the litres of juice he drinks every day, about the secret stashes of lollies, the Maccas for breakfast, (and the pies). He probably won't tell her that he often has three fried eggs and four pieces of toast for breakfast at home here. At the moment he is eating every second day. He can't explain his reasons to me and I'm sure his body doesn't know what is happening to it. He eats enormous amounts every second day, and then nothing the next. When he doesn't eat, he has lots of very milky drinks and also juice. Recipe for disaster.
Finally, here's a picture for my friend Trish, who has just moved from a house with shower only, to one with a tub. She's enjoying being able to have a nice soak at the end of the day. Nothing better than a soak with oils or bubbles and a good book to wash away stress and tension.
Monday,4th November
What a beautiful day here today. A breeze and the sky is clear with no haze. I was up early walking this morning. I meant to go yesterday, but woke with a headache and just couldn't get up early. Finally slept till 9:15. Today I was out walking at 5:45 am. It was pleasantly cool but clear. Walked for 45 minutes and felt good about it. I also did some reasonably heavy gardening for 90 minutes after breakfast while the front yard was still shaded. I'll probably walk to Burwood later this afternoon as well. Should sleep well tonight!
My youngest son has caught chicken pox from his 2 year old daughter! He's 27! There's quite a gap between him and his older brothers. They caught things before he was born and he sort of missed out. Chicken pox vaccination wasn't around when he was small. He feels rotten as most adults do if they get childhood illnesses.
MIL rang to be taken out yesterday. If I hadn't slept in, we would have been gone. She hadn't let us know and we didn't expect her to be able to come out. She's using a frame now, but I can still see her falling. She puts the frame a long way in front of her, takes a step with the left leg and lets the right one sort of just catch up. However she leans so far forward that she is almost horizontal. I suggested a smaller gap. "Then I'd have to take two steps to go the same distance." Better than going on her nose in my opinion.
Tuesday, 5th November
All my exercise yesterday has had its effect this morning. All up, I did about 1.5 hours of walking yesterday and the same of fairly heavy gardening. Lots of bending and lifting and carrying too. This morning the backs of my thighs are stiff and the stairs in this [place are horrible. I've never been very flexible and it's certainly showing this morning. I've done some stretches and been up and down the outside stairs a few times. Back to walking tomorrow.
When shopping last night I bought some tiger prawns on special and some Tom Yum sauce. Thai food is not very low in points, but I had plenty available, particularly taking all that exercise into account. I cut up a lot of veges and stir fried them, then added the prawns which I had to peel then the sauce. Stirred in a small packet of those low point noodles, Udon or Hokkien, or whatever. It was really nice. Spicy, but pleaasantly so and cost less than eating out for the two of us would have been.
Friday, November 8
Just a very quick update early this morning. I'm being picked up at 8:30 to go to a conference. I was there for the last two evenings and will be all day today and tomorrow. My husband is going to Brisbane in an hour or so, but was peeved when I told him about the conference. He won't be back till late Sunday evening, so I can't see his problem.
I still have to pack the lunchbox for today. I'm taking salad for the group and some cold meats and cheese. DIL is bringing rolls and something sweet and fruit. We buy our dinner and a glass of wine at the local tavern and there's not much I can do about that. I usually get some curry or something like that as a grill takes a long time for them to prepare. We'll see.
Monday, 11th November
I think I am beginning to surface enough to write something coherent. For several days I left the house at 8:30 am, and wasn't back till around 11:00pm. Add to that several days of heat, 40 degrees and solid concentration for most of the day, and you will understand what I mean about "surfacing.
I had intended to go walking early this morning but just didn't make it. I had clothes ready and all. I usually wake around 5, but today it was 7:30. Will walk this afternoon. I certainly need to go for some exercise and clear the cobwebs out.
I enjoyed the conference and will be "processing' things for quite a while, I think. As for eating? We took lunch each day and had a picnic. Basically bread rolls, salad, cold meat etc with some cold drink. At night we bought food from the local pub bistro. Not entirely wonderful but there was nothing else easily available, short of driving to Castle Hill shops. Ended up with a couple of cold lite beers on one of the hot nights. Had been looking forward to them all day!
Because it was so hot, I had a bottle (1.25l) of water with me all the time and sipped from that. They had chilled water available to refill. Only one problem with lots of water and we all suffered from it. I tried to be choosy about the times I had to go to the bathroom. Beginning of lunch was bad, with a long queue, even though they had hired additional portaloos. Didn't really want to use them, but there was a queue for them too at times.
At least with the heat, I wasn't really tempted with cake at break times or even with Mars Bars etc which were for sale. One of the very hot days, I bought Calippo iceblocks for all our group. Nice end to lunch and very refreshing.
Today is reasonably cool and I plan on doing some more heavy gardening this afternoon. Front yard has had lots of building rubbish in it from bedroom renovations. We were able to get rid of most of that last week in council cleanup. Now I need to tidy the yard. More exercise.
November 11...Remembrance Day. I offer the words by John McCrae (1872-1918) in honour of the day.
Wednesday, 13th November
Just a quick note in answer to a query, before I begin. I use the "latest entry" prompt because it saves time scrolling through a whole month if you are a regular visitor. If you want to read something previous,or see if I remebered a special day like Remembrance Day, (I did), then there are two options. Use the current entry prompt and then just scroll up through the entries. The alternative is to use the link to that month on the index page and read down. Easy.
I seem to be getting back into the walking routine now. I had forgotten that I really enjoy an early walk. However the arthritis in the colder months made walking for any length of time difficult. It's been pretty good lately, so I've started again.
Yesterday, I walked for 30 minutes before breakfast. I noticed then that the same distance was taking less time than last week. I also walked to and from Ashfield in the afternoon, another 30 minutes, and around the shopping centre too. Not that that counts for much, but hey, it's better than not moving at all. This morning I was awake very early, had a bad night. I was awake well before dawn and at first light I got up and went for a walk. Walked 40 minutes. Part of that was up a short but fairly savage hill, and then another longer but more gentle hill.
It was my youngest son's birthday yesterday. My baby turned 27! He's still my baby with a soft spot for his mum. We had dinner at the Indian place in Hornsby where they are regulars. Not good, but not too bad because I was very careful. I did have a beer, Bengal Lager, which went well with the Indian food, although I usually prefer Aussie beer. An entree of some chicken tikka and a tandoori lamb cutlet which was small, but thick and juicy. Didn't get to eat all of either of them, as little Maya sat next to "Ganma" and shared quite a bit of mine. A small amount of rice with quite a lot of veges, a tiny amount of butter chicken and about the same of some beef. I did order a dessert, quite unusual for me. I had mango kulfi. A bit like icecream but different. Half a dozen thin slices were arranged on a flat plate like flower petals, with a tiny drizzle of mango puree on them. The kulfi had pistachio nuts in it and a few flakes on top and some cardamom as a spice. It was beautiful and just what I wanted. All up, I suppose the serve would have been a bit bigger than a scoop of icecream.
Maya didn't stop at the chicken tikka and lamb cutlet either. She had two helpings of rice and butter chicken which she loves and some veges and a serve of plain icecream which she couldn't manage to finish. Also a glass of milk. She was trying to drink her mother's drink which was actually Kahlua/milk. Not the thing for a two year old. She hasn't seen me for almost two weeks, so I got a big cuddle and lots of sloppy kisses. Very proud of the fact that toilet training has started and she announced to the whole restaurant that she now did wee-wee in the potty!
Now have to go back to the shops. MIL is demanding a dictionary. She told my husband that she is forgetting the meaning of some words when she doesn't use them much. Not too sure that a dictionary will help her much. The problem is more deep seated. However, if I buy her a small dictionary like the ones school kids use, she won't have anything to complain about. Until next time, that is. Each week it is something different. Wanted scissors one day, so I found hers. Next week it was bobby pins for her hair, (not needed.) Then safety pins. Then I was accused of stealing all the belts to her dresses! I know it's old age, but it gets a bit wearing.
u>Sunday, 17th November
Time to catch up a bit. Back to babysitting on Thursday. Took Maya to Mum's with Sarah and we organised the whole Christmas gift thing and food for the Boxing Day gathering. each person gives a gift to one other, although the children get gifts from everybody. Names are drawn out of a hat. It was high time to get this underway. I have the entrees to prepare. We want to stick to finger food this year. Easier to serve, eat and clean up after too.
I've been spending some time in the garden too. Not that I have much to look after. When we finally get the fence finished between us and neighbour's, I want to do a major revamp of the back area. I realised that I had hardly watered the lemon tree for absolutely ages. The poor thing was hanging on by the skin of its teeth. I gave it some water, pruned off a lot of twiggy useless pieces and have just given it a tonic of several bucketfuls of Seasol. Hopefully it will pull through. I'd hate to lose it. Lemons are such a useful thing and generally easy to grow. To buy them is expensive and I use a lot of them.
I've been out walking very early every morning lately and have also done another walk later in the day. Hopefully this will benefit the blood pressure reading which was up a bit the last time I went to the doctor.
Eating has been pretty good till yesterday when I made a loaf of bread with coffee and walnuts in it. I've had too many samples of this. It wasn't what I had hoped for, but very nice all the same. Baker's Delight make a very dark loaf with coffee and dates in it and I found a recipe to try. Of all things, it had Bushell's Coffee and Chicory essence in it. I thought that went off the market decades ago. I'll put more in it if I make it again and possibly dissolve some instant the water as well.
Plenty of fruit at the moment. Husband bought cherries and mangoes ysterday. Love that summer fruit!
Monday, November 18th
Monday morning again and another busy week. I have heaps of housework to do today. It's amazing how grotty the house can get when there are only two of us here. Bathroom has stuff everywhere and needs a good clean and kitchen shows signs of a busy weekend in and out of the house. Lounge room needs vacuumimg and tidying and I have washing to do as well. One load is already on. All movement I suppose.
I have so many times heard or read that people place too much faith in the words "low fat" or "fat reduced." Dietitians tell us that people think they can eat more of these foods because they are low in fat. No weight is lost. In fact some gain.
To my amazement, I saw an advertisement the other day which featured a low fat product. The catch line said "Eat yourself thin,(or slim.)" So where was the ad? I'm pretty sure it was in the WW magazine. What was it for? I'm entirely sure of this one. It was for WW margarine! Surely that goes against what WW supposedly stands for!
Wednesday, 20th November
Nice early entry this morning. I've been up and walking early practically every morning latly and I now notice how much faster I am walking. I usually plan out a route before I start as there are many different ways I can walk. Now I am going further in the same time.
I emailed WW yesterday about their silly advertisement. Haven't had a reply yet. I measn, on their logic of eating lowfat margarine to get thin, then I could eat lots of low fat butter because it has 50% less fat than most margarine or butter. That would be even quicker than using WW margarine! I wish! Things don't work that way, unfortunately. I also questioned their use of the word "thin." "Eat yourself thin" is what it said. I don't think that sends very good messages to readers. "Thin" means different things to different people. Not only that, but because we are all different builds, what is thin on some could be unhealthily gaunt on others. I thought goal weights were supposed to be a healthy weight, which may or may not be "thin." Haven't heard back from them yet.
While I was out walking this mornng, I walked on some cobblestones in the park. I noticed that the ants have hilled up dirt quite high in the cracks between the stones. I really hope they know something I don't and that we will get some rain soon.
I've started preparing next month's page. Back to Christmas themes already!
Babysitting tomorrow and again at the weekend but for the other grandchildren. Son and DIL have a wedding to attend. Andrew is easy to look after, but the baby doesn't know me very well. We'll manage.Monday, 25th November
An exhausting few days. I was away from home from very early last Thursday till about 1:30pm yesterday. Babysitting both sets of grandchildren. My first two children were just 16 months apart, but then I was younger and didn't have arthritis either. I managed but am taking things quietly today. 35 degrees forecast for the city and more out west. It was over 30 about an hour ago here, so will probably go much higher by the heat of the afternoon.
I've watered all the pot plants and the tomatoes in the garden. Everything else will just have to cope on its own. We desperately need rain, even here in the city. I have an accumulation of 3 litre milk containers filled with water, so I can grab one easily, if I see a plant that is wilting. The hose is disconnected so I'm not tempted to use it. I know that when I save on water usage, it does nothing really for those who need water so much, but it does help me feel better about things.
Son and DIL were here for lunch yesterday with Maya. I had fresh rolls, cold meat and salad. MIL was here to have her hair cut too. She refused a roll from me because she has put on a lot of weight since she moved into the hostel and is being fed proper food. However she took one from her son. Absolutely slathered it really thickly with butter which was soft because of the heat. Then ham, salami and chicken. Not a scrap of salad at all. She actually had two big rolls, and also ate the half roll Maya left. I think she suspected I would have thrown it out. She was right about that.
Maya knows she is supposed to only smell flowers, not pick them. No one was paying much attention to her. I then saw she was picking pansies from my tub and making a float bowl with them in the cats' water. They weren't impressed later when they came for a drink. Once they realise grandchildren are here, they make themselves scarce!
I emailed WW about that ad last week. So far, I haven't had a reply.
