Monday, November 1

I've just been rung by one DIL about what I'm taking to family Christmas lunch. Could I please do rice paper rolls istead of the heavier food she had originally thought of. Christmas arrangements already! But then, stuff's beeen in the shops now for several weeks. Last week I had troublemaking an appointment for a haircut in December. DIL works in a salon at St Ives. Lots of parties, Christmas and Hannukah as well. We finally found a day to squeeeze my appointment in. And so another year hurtles to a close.

I've been poking around finding new backgrounds and was rather taken with the flowers. Lots of them out now after some rain and the air is heavy with jasmiine and other spring perfumes here. They don't bother me,but perfume often gives me a monstrous headache.

I'm not sure how I'll go this week. I wasn't happy with what I ate at the weekend. Too many starchy carbohydrates and too much meat. I'm quite happy having meat only once or twice a week, certainly not twice on Sunday and a BBQ with awful commercial rissole things on Saturday. They were supposed to be herb and garlic, but were just plain stodge. I was given them and it was interesting to see that not even the cats wanted the leftovers.

MIL seemed to be better yesterday, but I'm not taking any bets that it will continue too long. However, I've told my husband that if we are to take her anywhere, that if she's not clean, she either doesn't come or she goes and has a shower and changes everything before she can get in the car, even if this makes him late. He grudgingly agreed because I think he realises that she can't go on the way she was last week. Apparently the staff spoke to her about it because she was highly indignant with him. I'm staying well clear, he spoke to her without my prompting. Next step is the dirty clothes which she refuses to allow any one else to do anything with. I really think he's afraid of her. He would only throw out rubbish from her fridge when she was actually in hospital and he asked a neighbour to shut her back door because she had told him not to. She was in hospital for 3 months and happy to have it wide open!

It's time for some bike riding. Good for the heart and the weight loss!

Thursday,November 4th

Another week gone. I was thinking yesterday that I wouldn't weigh myself. I hadn't done as much exercise as the previous week for a variety of reasons, because of laziness mostly and I wasn't too sure about just how well I had eaten. I went upstairs after my shower and sort of automatically stepped on the scales. I debated with myself about staying there and would I actually read them or not. Then I accidentally glimpsed the readout. I appeared to have lost another kilo! So I looked properly and the result was the same. So that was pleasing.

I've been out walking today, but not as long as I really wanted. I left it a bit too long to go and it was quite warm and I had no water. When I arrived home I made a jug of green apple juice with some strawberries. It was really refreshing. However, I'll try to get clothes ready at night so I can go walking early.

I was busy finishing off some knitting. I've made a couple of hats as presents for two people who love things like that. Both from NZ mohair. One a mix of soft pinks, blues, beige etc and the other a much more dramatic regal purple shading into a deep green and back to purple. They look good. However the purple one neeeded to be done in the daylight as the colour was so dark it was hard to see the stitches in artificial light. Here's a link showing a picture and the free pattern too if you like that sort of thing. Australian wool equivalent is about a 12 ply and the needles from 4mm-5mm depending how loosely you knit.

I've been spreading my meals out through the day. I'm not sure whether this has contributed to the loss of a kilo each week, but it certainly hasn't hindered things. I've had breakfast and then a nibble for morning tea, something small for an early lunch and something small for a late lunch as well. Then probably just a drink for afternoon tea and then dinner. I'll keep doing it for a while and see how things go.

Friday, 5th November

So much for getting the clothes out to go walking early. It was very wet overnight and has rained most of the day since. It's humid and a bit misty too. I quite like it but won't walk in the rain. I haven't even put the Bonus Buddy on today. I'm still well short of the 10,000 steps daily recommended, but did 1500 more yesterday than the day before. It's now just under 7000. I have also been riding the exercise bike so that is extra movement which doesn't show up on the BB. Did 30 minutes riding today because it was too wet to get out.

Actually, it was a struggle to make myself get on the bike. I find this hard to understand. Who feels better from it? Me. Who loses weight from it? Me. Who sleeps better from exercise? Me. Who is generally healthier because of exercise? Me. Wouldn't you think that would be enough incentive to have me spending time riding enthusiastically. Once I start, that's OK. I'll do 30 minutes, no problem. It's just actually starting. Perhaps as the kilos come off, I'll have more motivation and be fitter to do it as well.

While I haven't lost very much weight yet this spring, my shape must be changing. This morning I put on a pair of 3/4 pants which I bought last year at a sale, just to save my bettr pairs and to wear around the house. I never wore them much because I didn't like the way they looked on me. Today they look lots better. When I turned side on to look in the mirror, I was surprised to see that it didn't look nearly as bad as I remembered. That's usually the worst view. So perhaps the general shape is changing because of the bike?

Vegetarian patties for dinner tonight,accompanied by more vegetables. I'm really looking forward to a few no meat days. I seem to have had a lot of meat lately and my mind at least is protesting. I have some tofu draining at the moment and will marinade that and cook it in the oven with the other things. A couple of pieces of that with my salad or whatever, makes a lunch I enjoy.

That was close. My screen suddenly jumped to the Angelfire main page, even though I had done nothing. I thught I'd lost today's entry, but hit the back button and found it was still there. Might stop while the going's good.

A cold, wet start to the week here today and I've been hungry all morning. I think I know why. I was given a sample pack of Special K cereal in apple and cinnamon flavour. The flavour is fine, quite nice actually, but I might just as well have eaten paper or foam or the cardboard box for all the staying power there is in the cereal. I did have a banana with the cereal and my usual small amount of skimmilk. There's nothing to it and I certainly wouldn't spend money on the cereal.

The vegetable burgers were eyed suspiciously the othr night. He's had them before and told me he thought they were nice. I gave him two. They were pushed around the plate and poked and prodded. He ate one after asking me where I got this "stuff" from. So I'll give them a break for a while.

On Saturday I woke up bright and early and was out walking at 5:45 am. I could have gone even earlier. By 10:00am I felt as if half the day had gone and it wasn't even morning tea time! Managed to get some gardening done, bean seeds planted and some more herbs. I put snail bait down, but must check the basil I put in. Snails just love it. For lunch I made a salmon and dill pie. I don't like dill very much, but it's just what is needed in this dish. I'm a bit tired of plain lettuce type salads so made up something new. I grated quite a bit of carrot, cooked and sliced some fresh beans so they were still quite crisp, added alfalfa sprouts,mung bean sprouts and a lot of chopped parsley and some lemon thyme. A bit of lemon zest would also work well. I drizzled it with a little bit of macadmia oil and dry roasted some pine nuts and sesame seeds in a pan and put them in at the last minute. It was colourful and tasted great. We had homemade juice as well, so a good healthy lunch. Leftovers of the pie for dinner tonight and I'll cook some vegetables to go with it.

I really wanted to walk this morning but it was pouring. I've made do with the bike as exercise. Bonus Buddy was up in its count again on Saturday and I didn't use it yesterday. It won't say much today, but at least I know I've ridden the bike. I need to find something more to read while I'm riding to pass the time.

Not much to report today. It's drippy again and I was all set to go out walking when it became heavier. Dampness is a real killer of hearing aids so I don't go out in it if possible. Couldn't spend that much money again for a while. It's coolish again too.

However, all is not lost. I have been on the bike again for over 30 minutes. I found in my bookshelves an old detective story by Ngaio Marsh and have been proppping that on the handlebars. I must have read it, there's very little on my shelves that is unread, but I actually don't remember it at all. I couldn't do this with a bigger book and even with the small paper back,it's not a wonderful way to read. However it does make the time pass reasonably quickly. I'm usually a very fast reader, but this method slows me down somewhat as the book jiggles a bit,no matter how I place it or hold it. Still, it's passing the time now.

I've made a vegetable curry for dinner. A girlfriend who has been out of work for a while has been lent a car. She'll pick me up and we'll spend the evening together. I'll leave some for my husband and take the rest. It has a tin of tomatoes, chickpeas, some barley, onion, carrot, potato, pumpkin, fresh beans, zucchini and cauliflower in it. Curry is my own mix of herbs and spices with some homegrown chilli, all bashed together in the mortar and pestle. The weather is cool so it should be good. It's been in the oven on a very low temperature for a few hours.

Hmmm...a few days since I last updated. I was just reading that entry and realised I hadn't come back and added something. I rode the bike TWICE that day. Another full thirty minutes. Wednesday and Thursday I walked and yesterday did a short walk, so things are looking up in that area.

I'm not sure what I'll do today. I feel very blah, due to a disturbed night. Just the reason to get up and go and do something, I suppose. It will probably have to be the exercise bike, it's blowing a gale outside and is not very pleasant. I've just done some weeding and have fertilised the tomatoes. The bean seeds which were planted last weekend are beginnng to come up. I'm looking forward to crunchy fresh beans.

Wednesday was not a good day. I went to a wool shop at Penrith and had a dreadful trip on the train. Late and late again and then it terminated three stops from Penrith and we all had to get out and wait for another train. Walked up and down Penrith's main street looking for the shop which I hadn't been to before. There aren't many wool shops around these days. No one had the faintest idea of what I was looking for, either. Then I found Dymock's and went in to buy the latest Terry Pratchett book for my son who had a birthday yesterday. The assistant must have been a knitter, she gave me very explicit instructions on finding the Wool Inn. It was lovely and I bought some stuff including wool for a felted bag as a present. Had a standup fight (almost) in the cafe she recommended for lunch. I ordered chicken and salad sandwich on grain bread and was served toasted white with what looked like bacon or ham. The waitress insisted it was my order. I was just about to ask for the manager when she took it away to "confirm" that it was indeed chicken. Back she came and apologised and I did get what I had ordered. Worse was to come. Waiting for my train home, late again, I took out one sock I had finished to compare it with my knitting. Very fine wool, tiny needles, involved snowflake pattern and beautiful, but expensive wool. I can't have put it back in my bag properly because when I looked for it on the train it wasn't there. I was devastated. Many, many hours of work just disappeared. I haven't been able to trace it either.

Dinner last night for my son was fine. I had one BBQd chicken wing, one tiny chicken chipolata sausage and some veges. Dessert was an old fashioned double sponge with a lot of strawberries. I had a small piece. Two small glasses of wine, half the glass it was served in. Probably about 200ml altogether. MIL who of course had already had dinner at the nursing home, ate steak, sausages chicken and a small piece of asparagus and a large helping of dessert. Then she'll wonder what she did to make her blood sugar levels go up.

Little Mya is supposed to be staying the night here tonight. I rather hope #2 son will offer to have her to play with his children. I love having her, but seriously it's like having two four year olds here. One is many times her age, but likes his own way, does what he wants when he wants it, doesn't think about whether he is inconveniencing others. And on Sundays when we go to church, he wants to leave the minute he's ready, even if he hasn't done anything towards getting her ready or getting her breakfast or helping me get the morning tea stuff together which I have to do tomorrow. Last time she was to stay here, Mark and Sam took her instead. I had bought her a couple of activity books. I must dig them out before this afternoon. If she comes, she can help me make some muffins tomorrow. She loves cooking and has been helping both her dad and me for at least two years. She can do scrambled eggs by herself and has been a dab hand at turning chicken pieces for a long time. I must admit I did get a surprise ast night. Her mum mentioned the possibility of a new baby. That's quite a turnaround. I never say anything to any of them about such things unless they ask. I was hassled too much by husband's family and friends before my first son was born. I wouldn't do it to anyone else.

Tuesday, November 16th

Mya did come to stay. She had a cold and unfortunately left some of it behind with me. I felt pretty dreadful most of yesterday when it was coming on. Still feel fairly yukky, but made myself do 30 minutes on the bike just before lunch and I felt better for having done it. She told me she didn't want her parents to come for her, she wanted to stay here five days! However, she was very pleased to see them when they did arrive, quite late in the afternoon.She really wasn't any trouble but obviously wasn't her normal bubbly self.

There's not really much to report on the eating side of things. I've done some exercise, could always do more. Had probably too much bread and other starchy stuff at the weekend, but have managed to cut that down again. It makes me very sleepy to have too much of that form of carbohydrate. I think I took the easy way out because I didn't feel well.

Last night I took out some veal blade streak which was sliced fairly thin. Wasn't too sure what to do with it, and didn't feel up to experimenting. I fried some onions and capsicum in a small amount of oil, cut the pieces of veal into 2" squares, cooked them. Then I tipped in about half a jar of smoky bacon salsa that wa in the fridge, covered the lot and cooked it slowly for about ten minutes. I didn't want to over do the veal because it toughens easily. Served it with couscous, fresh asparagus, beans and carrot. Very nice, fairly easy and tasty. I had one small square of meat, the rest of my meal was vegetables. I really haven't felt like eating meat for several days now.

Think I'll have an afternoon nap, most unusual for me.

Wednesday,17th November

I think I've eaten so many vegetables lately I might turn green or perhaps turn into a stick of celery or a cucumber! Thinking again, I'll veto that idea. I don't know how many reading this have seen the ghastly Veggie Tales videos from the USA where vegetable characters tell stories to reinforce ideas of truth, lack of fear, friendship etc. Quite, quite horrible and the same people who promote them, actively campaign against well written fantasy like Lord of the Rings. I know what I'd rather have my children and now grandchildren associated with.

OK,I seem to have got somewhat off the track...I had a huge plateful of stirfry vegetables in my Thai beef salad last night. Tonight I had a red Thai curry with some chicken thighs. And a huge plate again of mixed vegetables. So many that I didn't even touch the chicken and have put it away for lunch. This time they were stirfried but just served plain with no sauce on them. Along with fresh apple,carrot and celery juice in the morning I've had much more than the minimum recommended.

I've done a lot of walking today, the first being before 6:00am this morning. Then some more this afternoon. Then tonight we went to Coles and I walked all around and still had to go upstairs to Woolies for a new toilet brush. Woolies and Coles are on different floors at opposite ends of the building. I had to catch the lift up because security block access to the middle part at night. Walking from Coles to the lift to Woolworths, back to the lift and down to the car was another 2000 steps. I might ride the bike tomorrow. It's supposed to be hot and my shoe has rubbed my foot today. Must have had a wrinkle in my sock or something.

Christmas is coming and those ubiquitous tins of biscuits are upon us again. The ones with the papers inside and the lids that don't seal quite properly. I saw one brand, Copenhagen, announce on the tin that they were cholesterol free,and also that they had no nasty transfats in them, a common ingredient of commercial biscuits and pastry. I checked the label and they have mono-unsaturated fat in them. Horrible quantities to be sure, but at least supposedly better healthwise. I looked at the tin and put them back on the shelf. I hope no one gives us any.

Off for a shower and an early night,I think.

I've had a busy week, not all of it pleasant, and time has just slipped past. I need to update more regularly because I find that I let things slide when I don't.

Blood pressure was down a good bit when I went for a check last Monday. I know the things I have been doing help, so why can't I be more consistent? Lots of things got in the way of solid exercise, althugh i did do some. Then I had coffee out and had a piece of a passionfruit slice. My liking for passionfruit overcame anyother thoughts. True, it was small, didn't seem to have much fat in it. However, that's not the real point. I need to stop viewing things like that as something to be had with coffee regularly and to think of them more as very occasional treats.

Speaking of coffee, we cashed in some Amex points for a whole pile of Christmas presents and I treated myself to a Breville coffeemaker. ESP8B I think. Anyway, it's a far more expensive model than I would ever have considered if I'd been looking in the shops. All stainless steel and very easy to use and clean, and I like the coffee too. It makes a cup with a lovely caraamel coloured crema on the top. Milk froths well,although I like a flat white,so usually only heat the milk and perhaps just froth it a bit.

It's very hot here today and I've put the blinds down. Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter. Only a few days ago, I turned on the heater for a while at night because the house was so cold. No problem with water either. I've had a lot today and made myself a jug of fresh juice and that's all gone too. Granny Smith apples,carrots, a bit of celery and some mint. It was really refreshing. Only problem is the amount of liquid I've had. A bit like what goes up must come down. Except it would change to what goes in, must.... Just as well I'm home today. LOL

Over at the WeightWatchers' Forum, there has been a lot of discussion about a detox programme. Not to be used for wieght loss, they all say, LOL, but just for cleansing. One post queried this and spoke about a diet mentality. Anyway, here's an article (free registration required, search on "detox" if necessary)) from the Sydney Morning Herald's health section about detoxing.

Monday, 29th November

We're in the middle of a hot spell here in Sydney. The last two days have been hot, yesterday particularly so, today was 34° here, and tomorrow the weather bureau is promising or perhaps threatening 42° all over Sydney. Then some relief. If this happens it will be the hottest November day on record.I've had a busy day. I was awake just after 5:00 and had showered by 5:30 and washed my hair. We have water restrictions here, and I don't think I have used the hose to water since last summer. I usually use a bucket and dipper the water right onto the roots. However,no watering is allowed on Tuesdays, so, after my shower,I decided to give everything (vegetables) a good soak in front of tomorrow's heat. That took the best part of an hour but I also had washing on the line by 7:00.

My husband left early for work and was halfway there when a message came through on his mobile. His mother had just remembered a doctor's appointment at 9:00. Now she had this appointment already written down, as did he. He uses a very expensive PDA, the latest in a long line of these gadgets. He's missed appointments before. He's a list maker and I'm not. He says he forgets things unless he writes them down. I maintain the brain needs exercise and told him his brain will turn to mush. He had forgotten to look at diary function. He had to come home. So he dropped me at the shops while he took her to the appointment.

I had a good time going around the supermarket at my own pace. I looked at all sorts of things I don't usually look at and bought quite a lot of stuff I often don't get. Back home, it took me nearly 45 minutes to get it all away.

I made a meatloaf to have cold with salad tomorrow and also made some pasta salad and a red Thai chicken curry for Wednesday. Meatloaf tastes great, but I went to slice it and wrap it tonight so it would take less space in the fridge and it just fell to pieces. Too bad, the meat is still there.

I bought myself some smoked cod which I like , but he hates. I'll have to cook something else for him, but I'll enjoy it and I haven't had it for at least two years. Bought some frozen berries which I have been forgetting for ages. Sara Lee had somein a resealable pack. Same price and size as the boxed ones, although a much smaller range. I'll put them on my muesli. Also bought some tofu which I haven't had for a few weeks. I like it with ginger adn a few drops of sesame oil.

I also bought some fresh rainbow trout which I BBQd tonight and served with salad. It was very nice. Here's a hint my sister passed to me for BBQing fish. Use the flat plate on the BBQ and put the fish on some GladBake paper to cook. Neither fish nor paper burns. When finished just put the paper in bin. No washing up,and no fishy, smelly BBQ.