Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Saturday, September 19, 2015

No Happy Ending

The Sharks lost their game tonight. Perhaps I can rephrase that. The Sharks were annihilated in their semi-final game tonight and therefore lost to the Cowboys. The final score was 39-0.

Very disappointing. Maybe next year.

I have felt very 'out of sorts' today.

Lethargic and unmotivated.

I stayed in bed til late. Rode out to get coffee.

Attempted to finish off some photo editing, but my brain was completely fuzzy.

Adoring Husband wanted me to take some photos at the SES shed, of the group doing some training and other SES stuff, but the idea of spending a couple of hours trapped up there left me feeling totally freaked, so I rejected his request.

Instead, I sat in my lounge room with the blinds drawn and waited for the day to pass. I pedalled down the road for another coffee mid afternoon, but aside from that, my day was pretty blah.

I only drank two glasses of wine last night, so alcohol was certainly not the issue.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a brighter day.

The weather has been pretty ordinary with strong winds all day, which made my trike rides very difficult with a fierce head wind in one direction that had me struggling to get to where I needed to go.

However, on a happy note, that wind is blowing through our bedroom window, so I will enjoy another breezy sleep tonight.

It's Saturday night, and I will be in bed before 10pm!

I made a delicious Curried Cabbage with Cashews to have with our duck breast tonight. Adoring Husband went back for seconds. It was quick and easy.

1/4 cup of butter
1/3 cup raw cashews
3 Tablespoons of minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon of cumin seed
1 small cabbage thinly shredded
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon coconut sugar
1 teaspoon of Himalayan salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
At the end before I served it, I also added 2 rashers of bacon finely chopped and fried crispy.

In a large frying pan, over a medium heat, melt butter. Add cashews, ginger and cumin and cook stirring often  until cashews and ginger are golden and fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add cabbage and turmeric, cook, stirring often, until tender (about 10 minutes), then sprinkle the coconut sugar over the cabbage and stir through. This balances the flavours nicely.

Mine got a little dry and the pan began to burn the spices a bit, so I added a little water to dilute the spices off the pan, which very slightly steamed the cabbage. I stirred the bacon through before serving.

This amount is supposed to serve 6 - it actually served two in this household!!

I didn't think to take a photo.

Anyway, I'm off to bed before the clock strikes ten.

Nite all.


Friday, September 18, 2015

Fabulous Friday

This is just a short post.

For a change, I have NOT had too much wine, but after a fabulous day of retail therapy, I am feeling quite weary and am off to bed before 10.30pm.

Today, I treated myself to a pedicure, bought a three tops, five bottoms (3 of them at half price), four dvds, some vitamins for Adoring Husband, two pyjama tops, a couple of books and a trolley load of groceries.

I received my colloidal silver generator in the mail and made two batches of colloidal silver. I'm very happy with it and Adoring Husband and I have already had half a glass each. I've poured some into the dog's water bowl and also into my vase of dying flowers .. they are already rejuvenated and looking fresh and new!

That's my story for the day.

Nite all.


Thursday, September 17, 2015

Slow Morning

I woke up at 6am, looked at my watch and thought to myself 'hmm another hour of sleep', then rolled over and fell asleep until 8am!

I lay in bed reading until 9am.

What a fabulous start to the day!

I pedalled down to the Post Office to pick up my parcel, bought some 'grass fed' beef from the butcher and some distilled water from the supermarket, as well as a coffee for Adoring Husband and myself.

The distilled water will be used to make colloidal silver when my generator arrives in the mail (hopefully tomorrow). I expected it to arrive today, but was disappointed. The Best Barista at our local shops lent me her book 'Everything you need to know about colloidal silver' so I'll be reading up on that and will share some info here in the coming days.

One of the psychotic dogs received a partial grooming today. It took me about 30 minutes to give her face cleanse and trim the hair on her head and her butt. Afterwards, she ran around outside for 5 minutes then promptly jumped through the door and ran all over my clean floor with her dirty wet feet!!

Ugh!!

So I mopped the floor ... again ... and locked her out til she dried properly.

Next job was clearing the fridge so that it was ready to fill with our FROG box order.

Adoring Husband had an SES meeting in The Bay tonight, so I cooked him an early dinner and before he arrived home after the meeting, I prepared a bowl full of blueberries and strawberries and the special chocolate cream that he enjoys so much.

We've had some big storms tonight. Lots of thunder and a spectacular light show. Big enough that the dogs became particularly psychotic and needed to go to their 'safe' chair in the lounge room. The rain has been quite heavy for the last hour or so.

There is a deliciously cool breeze wafting through our bedroom window right now and with the sound of the rain on our tin roof, it is the perfect sleeping weather, so I am off to bed right now to take advantage of it.

Nite all.


Wednesday, September 16, 2015

A Good Start

This morning, I did get a start on my original 'to do' list.

I said that I'm a perfectionist and need to take the time to do the job properly ... well today was a perfect example.

It took me over 3 hours to

  1. 'Partially' clean my main bathroom. I cleaned out the drawers and washed the insides of them before reorganising and replacing the contents. I tossed away one and a half grocery bags of out of date or 'I will never use this stuff' stuff. I cleaned the basin, the bench and the bathtub. Mopped the floor and changed the bath mats. I still need to clean the shower recess and dust the free standing cupboard.
  2. Vacuum and mop the family room, my study and the kitchen .. then towel dry the floors.
  3. Three loads of washing.
  4. Roast a chicken to be used for lunch and dinner.
  5. Make Adoring Husband's lunch of chicken and salad.
That's it!!

A big bonus was finding my Emu Oil in the bathroom cupboard! I have a jar of the rub and a bottle of the oil, which is great for Adoring Husbands sore muscles.

Because of his tremor, his neck muscles give him quite a bit of grief and sometimes he needs some deep tissue massaging. I've been using Tiger Balm, which is quite effective, but I'm hoping that the Emu oil or balm will do the trick because it's much easier to wash off my hands and it doesn't smell as strong.

Anyway, by the time I'd finished that short list of housework, it was 1pm and I'd had enough.

Is it any wonder that I avoid my 'to do' list when it takes me so long to do so little!

I have to add cleaning the pantry as well as cleaning out all of the kitchen cupboards to my list. It's definitely the time to do it all .. spring cleaning and decluttering .. a fresh start.

I found my little soft cover book 'Speed Cleaning' so I'm going to read that and see if it can give me some tips on being less perfect and more efficient with a regular house keeping routine.

Once I get myself organised with the house stuff, I will feel free to reward myself with time in the kitchen and also out with my camera.

My back garden, this afternoon, has been a hive of activity with bird life. I saw a Peaceful Dove, a Crested Pigeon, two Blue Faced Honey Eaters, a Lewin's Honey Eater, a Wattlebird, two Willy Wagtails and three Rainbow Bee Eaters ... oh and 4 chickens! I almost don't have to leave my front door to get some nice bird shots.

It's 11pm.

Bed time.

Nite all.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Reading the Words

I have another list.

It's a list of books that, apparently, all spiritual seekers should read.

I spend too much time online to actually read, but if I was going to read, these books would be in my top 20 because I'm more of a 'personal growth' and 'self help' kind of girl.

I like to take the bits that I agree with and the bits that I think will help me, discard the rest and then slowly fit all the pieces to the puzzle of my life.

Before I show you the new list, let me give you some examples of books that I have bought, borrowed and read in the last ten years ...

'Just a Little Prick' by Peter and Hilary Butler
'Food is Better Medicine than Drugs' by Patrick Holford
'You Can Heal Your Life' by Louise L Hay
'Crystals and Crystal Healing' by Simon Lily
'On Grief and Grieving' by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler
'The Business of Bliss' by Janet Allon
'Secrets of Longevity' by Dr Maoshing Ni
'The Transformed Mind' by The Dalai Lama
'The Procrastination Equation' by Piers Steel (actually didn't finish that one yet hehe)
'The Journey' by Brandon Bays
'Passage to Power' by Leslie Kenton

... just to name a few AND many many books on Feng Shui!

So my new and short list of books goes a bit like this ...

'Nature and The Human Soul' by Bill Plotkin
'The Way of the Peaceful Warrior' by Dan Millman
'The Denial of Death' by Ernest Becker
'A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose' by Eckhart Tolle

I'm open to other suggestions of course, and I know a few people out there in my cyberworld who could probably recommend a book or two .. I'm certain that Grannymus could share some titles!

So if I could get my life in some kind of order and under my control (and perhaps one of these books could help me do that!) then I could find the time to enjoy reading again. Also, if I could find a book that could keep me awake for more than three pages, that would be a bonus!

Most of my friends and family are BIG readers. They will certainly contribute to keeping libraries, both big and small, remain in existence for a few more decades yet.

There is something that I know readers really love, and it's the smell of a new book, the scent of an old book and the sweet aroma that emits from a secondhand book store.

We have a floor to ceiling book case in one bedroom that is full of recipe books, self help books, gardening books, travel books, photo albums, autobiographies, Clive Cussler novels, my favourite Susan Howatch novels and assorted other reading matter.

I read my Susan Howatch books every couple of years .. in fact I'm due to read them again this year. They take me back to a past era and I easily get lost in their magic.

If you're interested, I didn't get anything done on my 'to do' list today. Oh and I can tell that you are not surprised!

I spent a little longer than usual at morning tea with the girls and then I got a call from Adoring Husband who was out of town and I had to do a job for him at the shopping centre. After that I was riding around town for about an hour looking for nests, until I realised that I didn't even have my camera with me, so I couldn't take any photos anyway!

I cooked up a late lunch for AH, who was supposed to be out of town for the night, but he changed his mind and stayed home instead. My only achievement for the afternoon was doing a couple of loads of washing.

Sheesh.

So let's have a fresh start tomorrow! It's never too late to try again :)

Nite all.

Monday, September 14, 2015

A Day of Lists

Here is my list of top ten 'Did you knows' for the day ...

  1. Toads only eat moving prey.
  2. Koalas sleep around 18 hours each day.
  3. Camel's milk doesn't curdle.
  4. Frogs can't swallow with their eyes open.
  5. Giraffes and rats can last longer without water than camels.
  6. Hummingbirds can't walk.
  7. A dolphin's top speed is 60 kph.
  8. A snail can sleep for 3 years.
  9. A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of it's body.
  10. A moth has no stomach.

Here is my 'to do' list for tomorrow (in no particular order) ...

  1. Vacuum
  2. Mop
  3. Clean the main bathroom
  4. Clean out the fridge
  5. Tidy my desk
  6. Change our bedding
  7. Make chocolate energy balls
  8. Morning tea with the girls
  9. Finish editing photos
  10. Make a new 'to do' list for Wednesday
Here's my list of things that desperately 'need' doing but I keep putting off ...

  1. Groom the dogs
  2. Clear out the middle bedroom to become my office
  3. Sort through the clothes in the back bedroom - 'keep' and 'toss'
  4. Wash the windows
  5. Re-organise the filing cabinet
  6. Clean out the linen cupboard
  7. Package up my jewellery making gear ready to sell
  8. Get a hair cut
  9. Back up all of my photos to the hard drive
  10. Clear my bedside drawers
Here's my list of things that I 'want' to do, but don't because of the all the things that I 'need' to do ...

  1. Spend a day in The Bay by myself
  2. Get a pedicure
  3. Spend some golden hours outside with my camera
  4. Learn how to use my editing tablet
  5. Learn some photoshop tricks
  6. Go to the movies by myself
  7. Romantic strolls along the beach with Adoring Husband
  8. Plan some morning teas at home
  9. Spend time with friends
  10. Have more fun in the kitchen
Here's my list of things that I would like to find the courage or the motivation to do ...

  1. Learn a language
  2. Learn a musical instrument
  3. Design and create with sewing
  4. Learn to dance
  5. Learn to sing
  6. Create a website
  7. Learn to paddle board
  8. Make a budget
  9. Have a housework plan
  10. Go to bed earlier and wake up earlier
That's about it for my list making today, because I'm tired and ready for bed and the brain has wound down to a slow crawl.

It's not even 11pm .. this is a good start for number 10 on the last list!

Nite all.



Sunday, September 13, 2015

Lacking Motivation

I have so many plans in my head for all that needs to be done around the house, as well as all that I want to do, including photography and cooking.

The list is so long that it's difficult to know when and where to start!

Rather than figure it out, my brain just shuts down. My butt just sits down, and nothing even gets started.

I think I'm just a little bit overwhelmed by it all.

I wonder if a 'to do' list would help?

Then I could just slowly but surely tick things off as I go.

Of course, the other problem is that I'm a perfectionist and I can't just do a half hearted job .. if I can't take the time to do it perfectly, then I don't want to do it at all!

The longer I leave it, the bigger the job! It's a catch 22 situation really.

So, instead of doing those things and instead of complaining too loudly about it, I am going to list all the things that I love and enjoy and appreciate about life and living!

That's much easier than getting physically productive and doing what needs to be done!

I love being married to Adoring Husband.

I love sunny Spring days.

I love smiling faces.

I love sunrises and sunsets.

I love clear starry nights.

I love fresh flowers.

I love the sound of laughter.

I love random acts of kindness.

I love music.

I love fresh delicious food.

I love to hear 'I love you'.

I love big warm hugs.

I love gently waking from a sound sleep.

I love honest friendship.

I love baby giggles.

I love family.

I love bare feet in the sand.

I love my first coffee of the day.

I love watching the full moon rise out of the ocean.

I love the smell of spices frying at the beginning of a curry.

I love a hot shower on a Winters morning.

I love the salty smell of the ocean.

I love cute baby animals.

I love fresh veggies from the garden.

I love the smell of rain on freshly cut grass.

I love road trips with BFFs.

I love bright happy colours.

I love a cool breeze on my face as I fall asleep.

I love a glass of wine with friends at the end of a long day.

I love sitting alone in my house and sobbing uncontrollably over a sad movie.

I love watching an eagle soaring over the ocean.

I love open fires.

I love rainbows.

I love reading bed time stories to Chicklet.

Do you have your own 'I love' list?

I still have some more photos to edit tomorrow. BGWLBH, I haven't forgotten .. they are still coming :)

Bed time for me.

Nite all.