Eating Animals

I've been reading a book called "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer. I don't know or not if I read all of it.. I had to keep skipping bits..but I think I read most of it... I have read "enough" of it, that much I do know. It was horrifying to say the least..... I will forever be haunted by some of the things I read in there. I was going to include some paragraphs from the book in this post but I can't. They are the stuff of nightmares. I'm not sorry I read the book which, incidentally, my daughter gave me to read.... I want to know.. I NEED to know the truth about what happens to the animals we eat... it's just that once I know these things they never leave me.. I keep thinking about them and I feel really really bad. Some weren't even things I don't know already but just reading about them again and then added to them, "new stories" of horrendous abuse and torture just made it worse and worse. I'm not a vegetarian but I feel I should be. I have had many tries at being vegetarian and and 8 month period a couple of years ago, where I managed to eat only vegan food. I have still to work out what it is that causes me to return to meat-eating. It's not simply that I enjoy meat or that I am habituated to eating meat. There are many conflicts and problems with being vegetarian/vegan... or are there??? I'm just ALLOWING them to be problems,I think. I KNOW there are thousands, millions even, of people who never eat meat or animal products... why do I not join them once and for all? I know that I would find it hard not purchasing it to cook for my son who absolutely loves chicken. I know that I find it really hard to believe that I could or should feed my dogs or my cat a meatless diet( there are vegetarian foods available that have been certified suitable for them, but I have qualms about whether this is really fair..), I wouldn't like to " force" people to eat vegan food when I invite them knowing that they expect to eat steak...but then I am faced with the fact that I am putting all this things ahead of the reality that animals really suffer because we won't stop using them for our our own purposes.....I'm putting human pleasure ahead of the suffering of animals.. that's the terrible truth!!! And then there's the reality that eating animals wouldn't stop just because I decided not to eat them anymore.. the killing and the torture and the bad conditions would continue, because a lot of humans just don't care.. they don't see anything wrong with it, they make money from it, they want to keep it cheap etc etc... and some people even enjoy hurting animals and other people).... I can't stop murder or crime or pollution either but I don't have to join in! I think often people kid themselves that what they do really really makes any difference.. I'm quite the pessimist a lot of the time... but even if it doesn't make that much difference, we should still do what's right, just for its own sake..I think that is what I CAN do and I will at least TRY.....

Gone Down Hill

Guh! I am REALLY sick today.. I thought yesterday maybe I was improving a bit but last night was even worse than the night before. I was glad I had made a doctor's appointment for this morning. I thought last night I was going to rupture my aorta or something! Anyhoo, I'm all intact and armed with the appropriate medicine for pneumonia, yup, that's what the chemist kept talking about when I said I had a chest infection. He came out to speak with me about the prescriptions I had filled and how I must make sure to get the repeat and take them ALL... with pneumonia. I guess a "nasty chest infection" can mean that or at least be the last stop before that develops...the doc said my right lung was full of muck.. I've had pneumonia before, twice and pleurisy once as well, I can't remember what it feels like.. was too long ago.
Soooo, can't write much today, I don't feel up to it. I'm on track with my menu though! Cooked the fettucine carbonara today with the bacon and mushrooms and threw in a handful of spinach leaves for some greens. Yes, I went shopping today! Well, it's a week tomorrow that I went shopping last but I plan to shop Thursdays, that's a better day for me and since I had to go in today to go the doctor I thought it may as well be today. But I do plan to make Thursdays my weekly shopping day. Other than today I had a no-spend, no-drive week!!
Spent quite a lot at shopping - $217. That's about my average. But I got my 7 loaves of bread, 7 tins of dogfood and all the things on my can't -do- without list. This means I should not have to go to the shops again till next Thursday whereas usually I'd be back there Sat, Mon, maybe even Wed again to replenish... I got a pair of pyjamas in there as well. $12.99. I only have one pair and I think with all this illness I could use a second pair.
I drank the rest of the garlic soup for my lunch today and ate the remaining fried rice. For breakfast I bought a healthy juice from the juice bar in town. Haven't felt very hungry today which is unusual for me. Which means I MUST use up the avocado I found today in the fridge for a sandwich tomorrow before it goes bad. I had planned to eat that for afternoon tea today but I just didn't feel like it. Wasn't up to taking my dogs out today either :(
Hope tomorrow's a better day healthwise!

Garlic Soup and Other Remedies

Today I chopped up the chicken meat and the rest of the ingredients I'm going to put in my fried rice tonight. Except for potato. POTATO???? Yeah, I add little cubes of fried potatoes to my rice sometimes.. it's something I used to do when I was trying the vegan diet.. made eggless, meatless fried rice more substantial, but now I really like it. But I prefer to fry them at the last minute.
I am still quite sick. Last night was really the pits as far as coughing goes. I coughed my guts up or so it felt like it! I actually did vomit at one stage.. the night before I did as well.. it's just so continuous and violent... ugh! I tried putting three pillows under my head and also got a cloth and put some tea tree oil on it to inhale.. rubbed Vicks on my chest three times over the night and I think there was some relief from doing those things..feel ever so slightly better today. But my final cold "weapon" is in the form of GARLIC SOUP!
I have made this before but I must admit when it comes to looking after myself I'm a bit lazy. Still cos I had the chicken bones and carcasses with which I had planned to make the stock for chicken and sweet corn soup, I thought why not garlic soup.. to help with my cold?
I chopped what remaining meat I could remove from the bones, chopped a carrot and a stalk of celery and an onion into tiny pieces. Crushed a WHOLE bulb of garlic and sauteed the lot in a little olive oil to bring out the flavours. Added it to the pot of stock that was waiting and simmered for 15 mins.... voila! Enjoyed a small bowl just now with lots of pepper and it was delicious and wholesome! I could FEEL it doing me good!! I googled the benefits of garlic soup and it says to have a bowl a few times during the day so I will... might have to think of another soup to make now for another meal but I have plenty of dry soup mix and beans etc, small pasta and tinned tomatoes. I can make minestrone!!!!

Today!

Already I changed my menu that I posted earlier on today! See what I mean??? The change involves the curry I had planned to cook today with the piece of rump. I decided to make a casserole instead. That way have used up the steak, some potatoes from the bargain bag I got for $2 ( I'm guessing they might be old and therefore on " special" although they seem good still...) some of the big bag of juicing carrots, parsley from my garden and also some brussels sprouts that won't last the week out. Also a half a stubby of leftover beer which makes the gravy very tasty! I have a bread roll that is nearly stale.. I'm going to make garlic bread with it in the sandwich maker... and serve that with the casserole.That will save THAT from being wasted.. I ate the last of the rolls earlier as a toasted tomato, onion and cheese sandwich for my lunch...
Using the more perishable items such as the potatoes, carrots and brussels sprouts means the rice and pappadams I can save for another time....good one Michelle!!!
As mentioned I have cooked a pot of rice for fried rice tomorrow and I have made a cake, a butter cake!

An Attempt to Plan a Menu

I don't know whether I could make a menu for a week and stick to it.. too many unexpected things happen and then also what if I don't feel like what I planned for that day or that meal???? Yet it could help me stop wasting and overbuying if I make sure I utilise what I already have on hand, especially perishable items.. and also if I know what I'm making I might stop purchasing etxra things " just in case"!
I have got a lot better at not wasting. If I didn't have dogs a lot more would be wasted but a lot of excess of leftover food can be cooked up with their meat and therefore, not thrown out. As well, since I started feeding the birds, a lot of things can go to them. Things that I don't want to give to the dogs like leftover crackers. ( There always seems to be halfeaten boxes of crackers from when visitors are here.. they always go stale but rarely do we finish the box! I'm not keen on finishing them anyway.. it's OK to eat snack foods when people are over but I can do without eating them just to finish them up.. they're not very healthy!!)
Anyway, last time I went shopping I did myself a favour and made sure I got enough of the "essentials" to last me at least a week. So I should be able to avoid going to the supermarket until one full week is up... that is my goal.
I decided that the things I definitely cannot do without are these things:

dog food
cat food
fish food
toilet paper
dishwashing liquid
tea
Paul's cereal
soy milk
Nuttelex ( I like butter but Paul likes Nuttelex.. as long as we have that I can do without butter if I run out)
bread
eggs
clothes powder
toothpaste

I think that's about it. Everything else I think I could wait for till the next time I'm due to shop.
I guess you could say this is my "master list" I feel I should get these things every week even if I still have some left and that will ensure I never run out.
I got 7 tins of dogfood, 7 loaves of bread and so forth. I also bought quite a lot of other food in case we had people over on the weekend in addition to the food I got for camping. Since I was quite unwell after the camping trip we didn't ask anyone over so today I put some excess in the freezer... a packet of mince I was going to make either spag bol or chilli con carne with should people have dropped in. Also a packet of sausages we did not eat. They will keep for next weekend which is when we ususally eat sausages ( for breakfast or for BBQs).
This left me with some bacon, two cooked chorizo sausages( had four but used two last night in a pasta dish), a large piece of rump steak, and some cooked chicken.
I also have mushrooms, tomatoes, lots of carrots(I buy a big bag of juicing carrots for a couple of dollars, they are just as good as premium only some are broken or malformed), some broccoli stalks... a few other things as well but those are the things I am concentrating on....
I think rather than say we're going to eat this Monday and this Tuesday and so on, I will just list the dishes I will make sometime during the week. It doesn't matter which day we eat it, just as long as I use up these foods that are there.
Soooo....

Meal 1 ; curry using the steak, a piece of pumpkin left and some potatoes. Eat with rice and pappadums ( have those too!). Will cook this today so the flavour can develop for a day..

Meal 2 ; broccoli, bacon and potato soup using some of the bacon, the broccoli stalks and celery which I have and potatoes ( I got a big bag for $2!!! WIN!!!) I DON'T have any cream but I have a tin of soy evaporated milk and also regular milk, also sour cream.. that will do..

Meal 3 ; mini pizzas using the chorizos, capiscum, tinned pineapple, anchovies, onion and garlic, tomato sauce and an open packet of tortillas. I made these last week with the same ingredients and they were yummy. Oh, and cheese of course and I have plenty of that...

Meal 4; fetuccine carbonara using some more of the bacon and the mushrooms, parsley from my garden and olive oil and garlic... will save some of the sour cream and also I have some spring onions and white wine for the sauce..

Meal 5 ; chicken fried rice using the meat I can pull off the rest of the two small cooked chickens I roasted on Sunday, corn kernels, spring onions, grated carrot and eggs. Soya sauce and oil I have and the rice of course which I'll cook the day before so it makes better fried rice. Better cook the rice today in readiness!

Meal 6 ; chicken and sweet corn soup using the bones and chicken carcasses, the tin of sweet corn I have, eggs and spring onion and a tiny bit of bacon to garnish...boil up the chicken carcasses today when I make the fried rice..keep the stock and any meat bits in fridge for the soup.

Meal 7 ; vegetable crepes using whatever veges are left added to the little bit of frozen broccoli in the freezer, cheese sauce and crepes made with flour, egg and milk ( I have).

There! 7 meals! I know 2 of them are soup but my husband LOVES soup and I will serve either toasted sandwiches or make some cheese scones or garlic bread to have with them. Maybe those nights we could have a pudding as well. We don't generally eat a lot of sweets but the weather IS getting cooler and some family favourites we enjoy during the winter are chocolate self-saucing pudding, lemon delicious and pancakes with syrup and vanilla icecream! I don't have any vanilla icecream so we won't have pancakes this week.. come to think of it I don't have any custard powder or cream either... oh well, we can have cake! NEXT week will plan to include one or two of those desserts!!

My Lucky Day!

I forgot to post about Friday 23rd April being my lucky day! Remember how my washing machine stopped working and I had to put in it to get fixed? Well, while I was still at work on Friday my husband rang me to say that the only problem was some wire had come away from the motor or something like that and that the entire cost of fixing the machine was $65! Plus he was bringing it back home that afternoon. Oh happy day! I had packed up a load of clothes to take to the laundromat when I finished work. Now I didn't even have to do that! I really am lucky a lot of the time!
Not being so lucky with this cold I have been complaining about though. It seems to have worsened over the last couple of days. my theory is that I had to breathe in too much wood smoke while camping and then also last night I was awoken by the strong smell of smoke coming from our neighbours' chimney... I would never complain about people lightinga fire to keep warm but I don't think it particularly agrees with me all the same... ho hum, with winter fast approaching, it's something I'm just going to have to live with too....I'll have to give myself a few more hits with my inhaler every day, I guess..
One good thing though! No beer, no tummy aches!!! If I can just get on top of this cold, I'd be fighting fit!!

I've Been Everywhere Man!

Phew! I've had a busy weekend! Friday I worked then went shopping for a few things to take camping.. we go camping ten minutes from home in a beautiful national park called Belvidere. There used to be a commune there years ago. I have some friends who lived on that commune when it was an active community. They were first introduced to us as " the hippies" but their names are Tony and Cheryl.
I was not in the best of humours Friday night. I am always pretty tired on Fridays after work and not drinking as much as usual is bringing out my serious side! I got told I am boring and to " have a drink for God's sake!"
We like to camp pretty basic. I don't feel like I'm camping if you're going to take all and sundry! Cos we were only camping for a couple of nights and the weather is fine, we just took the swag and a small BBQ and two chairs. Our camping companions have a LOT of gear, but they like to camp with all the conveniences. Their latest acquistion is a toilet tent with a chemical toilet... it's all fine with me..each to their own, I just prefer to camp with the minimum of fuss and stuff. We had BBQ both nights. Steak, coleslaw and baked potatoes I prebaked and then wrapped in foil.. they only needed ten minutes on the hot plate to get nice and ready to eat with the rest of the meal.
I did end up drinking quite a lot of red wine that night, a whole bottle and a glass! but I had no stomach ache and I didn't feel sick in the morning. It's definitely BEER that doesn't sgree with me!! The next night( and day!) I drank no alcohol at all.
I went to Perth on Sat. Got up early, came home and walked the dogs, drove to Perth, met my son and we had a lovely day out together. I wanted to see a friend of mine's first solo photo exhibit. I missed going the previous week as I had planned to cos we ended up having the grandgirls and Paul didn't want to go to Perth with them. I had to work today, nearly all day and it was the last day of the exhibit.. so it was yesterday or never!
It was a great day! We had lunch in Northbridge, went to the exhibit and while we were there we saw that a play was on at 2pm. It was of special interest to my son as a couple of people involved with the play he knows from the Hayman Theatre at Curtin where he is currently a performing arts student, The play was " Mummy Loves You Betty Ann Jewel". The Blue Room Theatre where it was performed is a lovely small and intimate theatre..... what an awesome thing to be watching a play on a Saturday afternoon while everyone else is going about their shopping or whatever they get up to on Saturdays! I got back to my home at about 5pm , grabbed some more bits and pieces and headed back to our campsite.
The night was cold and clear with not a breath of wind blowing. I woke very early this morning, Anzac Day...looking up into the trees and thought about the Anzacs and all the men and women everywhere who are currently serving....felt very grateful to be living in this wonderful free country.. left the camp very early to return home to walk the dogs and then went to work and didn't leave there till the shop closed its doors at 6.30 this evening......

Feeling Better

There now! I feel a bit better. Walked with the dogs up to " the Fairy castle" a rocky formation some distance up the beach where I live. It reminds me of a fairy city and I fancy that at night it comes " alive" with lots of fairies congregating there and conducting their fairy business!!
I haven't been able to walk up there for nearly all of summer as bait fishermen use the beach all the way to this place and I don't like going so far alone. Even with two dogs. A long time ago now a girl was murdered on her local beach ( not this one) and I never feel anymore that I should go to such secluded places when there are strangers around. For that matter I don't go if I see any car up there, stranger or local.....I only go when there is no-one. You can see right up the beach so you can tell if there's anyone there or not... if I see anyone coming while I'm up there it's only a matter of exiting through the sandhills... I know the area behind them well and can take an alternate route home. Anyway, about the "castle"... there are a couple of rocks there that I think look like a throne for a king or queen and so I like to sit on them and shout out stuff like " I believe in fairies!" or, closer to Christmas time " I believe in Santa Claus!". Sometimes I just sit there quietly and I believe that I can feel the elemental spirits all gathering around me silently... and that I can draw energy and love and wisdom from their presence there...it's a special place and just what I needed today to pacify the anxiety that set up home in my being sometime during last night..

No Spend Day

Like many others in the simple living/ frugal lifestyle blogging world, I try to have days where I spend nothing and don't drive anywhere. I didn't say it was going to be a no-drive day today though, as I do have to drive to work later. It's only five minutes but I finish in the evening and I don't want to walk home in the dark. It a safe small town but there are not a lot of street lights.. I am more worried about putting my foot in a hole or treading on a dog turd to be honest! eheheheheh!
It's not that I don't have things I need to buy before the weekend. We're going camping for part of the time.. it's Anzac long weekend. I have to work on Sunday(Anzac Day) and Monday, so we're planning to go camping Friday night and possibly Saturday. I could go and do whatever shopping I need today but I'm going to leave it till I finish work tomorrow at 1pm. This is because I don't feel the best today and when I don't feel 100% I am likely to overspend.
I suffer greatly with anxiety disorder. Today I woke up very anxious and that's about all the explanation I can give. There is nothing I can say has caused it, nothing to be actually anxious about and nothing I can do about it except to just be with it and wait till it dissipates as it will, eventually.. maybe today, maybe tomorrow... it might last a whole week or month! That's the nature of the beast! People who suffer with the same affliction or have someone close to them who suffers will know what I mean! If I still feel anxious tomorrow I will have to go regardless but there's a good chance I will feel better by the end of the day after implementing some of the strategies I have learned by experience do help....
While I'm home today I'm going to take stock of everything I do have in the cupboard/fridge and see if I can minimise my spending tomorrow. There's not a lot of money left in the bank and although we will both get paid this week, I do have that washing machine repair bill to look forward to and so the less I have to buy the better.
Wish me luck! With my anxiety and my budgeting!

More Unexpected Expense

Ehehehhehehehhe! My washing machine broke today.. it's not very much of a shock as I've been hearing a lot of scraping noises for some time now... today it beeped to tell me it's finished but when I opened the lid, I could see it had not agitated the wash nor spun...I tried a few times on different cycles to see if it would kick in but it's not working. Ho hum, will have to put it in to get fixed. In the meantime I will have to go to the laundromat.. no big deal... the bill will probably be a couple of hundred at least, now THAT'S an expense I didn't expect to have this week ehehehehehehe!... ho hum... never mind, it's worked very hard for 5 years without any problems.....I'm grateful for that!

I couldn't afford to splurge on anything really today with that bill looming but I ended up getting some new ( cheap) curtains for my bedroom. There wasn't a lot of choice in colours... purple or fuschia.... in the cheap ones I was looking at. They had some patterned ones but I prefer plain as patterns are more restrictive when it comes to matching with the rest of the bedroom...not that I'm into coordination much!! It's not that I have bad taste... it's just not a priority for me to have the home looking all spiffy! Clean and neat is good enough for me. I have trouble enough achieving THAT!!! So I chose the fuschia ones. The old curtains (which the dog can lay on now) are too old to send off to Good Sam's. They're very faded but that's not even the reason I decided I need new ones. My windows all over the house are full-length. I need 223 cm drops for them to reach the floor. They weren't always so easy to find, most being 213cm. As well my economical husband said that two widths would be enough to cover the window...well, only just... there was about 2-3 inches of "gap" in the middle or at the sides where the curtains didn't reach. I've been feeling a little exposed for the last year or so!!! ehehehehheheh! So I got three widths today and that covers the window nicely.. they're not very thick so the sunlight kind of comes through, casting a nice pinkinsh glow over the room. I'm very happy and they only set me back $24.95 each drop.

A Hole in My Pocket!

There are always unexpected expenses. My bank account lately is sadly showing the effects of more unplanned spending than I really can afford, that is, my balance is getting lower and lower each week! I had hoped to INCREASE it this year by saving a bit and not spending more than I have to.
This week, I put $20 in for a present for someone at work as it was their birthday.
I made a gold coin donation for a cookie to help raise funds for the Clown Doctors.
I spent a surprising amount on the weekend taking the grandchildren to even quite simple outings. ( Eating at a cafe, purchasing them a small toy each, buying a couple of books from a charity store for them, taking them to a local museum.. it all added up to more than I would have thought...)
I purchased a drawing from one of my son's friends who is trying to make ends meet, the same as everybody else.. $30.. he only asked for $25 but I felt I should give him a little extra to help cover the postage to me...
I put $5 in the Legacy collection tin.
There are bound to be a few things i've forgotten about..it doesn't seem like so much at the time but I probably killed off about $200 on these spontaneous purchases. If this is a typical week which it is, no wonder my savings are dwindling!!
Apart from this I seem always to have to call into the supermarket even a day after doing a big shop! I run out of something essential(something I can't go without till the following week) like toilet paper, dog or cat food, or bread.
I must try and get enough of these so that I don't run out, cos as sure as eggs if I go to the shops I will see some other " bargain" and buy that as well.
I've never tried menu-planning but perhaps I will. See if that helps. Also make a list of the things I cannot possibly do without and make sure there is always enough of that for each week. Then I should not have to go to the store again till the next shopping day. Not only does it make me spend more but as well it uses up precious time that I could use for exercising (or blogging!!! ehehhehhe!) and also causes more driving!!!

What I'm Doing With Leftovers!

I have got way too much food in the fridge! This happened cos I had a few days where people were coming over and I have a bad habit of panic buying in case there's not enough for them to eat!! I am trying not to throw food away cos it's wasteful and also no good for the environment to put food in the landfill.. makes methane gas!!
I can't compost all of it as I don't like to put certain things out in case it attracts rodents and the dogs cannot eat all the leftovers as they will get overweight. A lot of scraps the birds will eat, but I have a bit of conflict feeding them TOO much for fear they'll become overly dependent...
Mostly there are too many veges at the moment and hopefully I'll get around to eating them before they go yellow and limp(or slimy!). If not they can definitely be put into the compost safely. It still doesn't remove the fact though that money is wasted if you buy more than you need....

Here are some examples of what food is in there and how I plan not to waste it.....

Leftover roast potatoes - I don't like leftover potatoes, they taste funny.. I chopped these up and cooked them with some mince I bought yesterday for the dogs.. I cooked it in the pot I cooked our rice in last night so all the stuck on rice will also go into the mush. I also put the small amount of leftover porridge from my breakfast today in and some leftover cooked veges.. it's good for them to have some veges in their diet as well.

Some cooked rice noodles - I always think I'm not going to have enough noodles for the amount of veges/meat I've cut up... there has to be more noodle than other ingredients for me to enjoy the dish... same as there has to be more rice than stirfry!!! There's not enough noodles for a dinner for both of us though.... but there is enough for a lunch! I will have my lunch with them and the balance Paul can take tomorrow. Today he took the stirfry and rice left from last night... there was just enough for a lunch size portion. We eat a bigger meal at night.

Pasta with hardly any sauce on it... for the same reason I cooked too many rice noodles I have too much curly fettucine but there was very little sauce left. But in the vege crisper there is a third of an eggplant. I can make my famous eggplant pasta dish for tonight and that will use up the fettucine AND the eggplant! I can also use some of the tomatoes that my friend Marg gave me to make the sauce!!

There is a container of stale gravy - that one is easy! It can go on the dogs' biscuits to make them more tasty this evening!

There is a pot of cooked Thai red rice - I bought a packet to try but I don't like the look of it. Also easy... this can be cooked with the rest of the mince for another dinner for the dogs! Rice is a good allergy-free food for dogs and also a good filler to make their mince go further. I'll just be sticking to white rice and brown rice in future..maybe not very adventurous of me but the red rice just does not look appealing!

I am Boring Myself!

I am not very good at this blogging business! My posts seem boring to me!! Oh well, I will persevere and see what transpires....yesterday I missed posting as 1) I delayed posting in the morning hoping inspiration would strike later in the day but 2) I then developed a massive stomach ache later on in the afternoon and didn't feel up to doing much!!! I did go to the gym as I was already dressed to go but when I came back, I really couldn't do much else!!!
Feeling a bit disheartened that I am not feeling healthier after ceasing to drink the copious amounts of alcohol I usually assault my body with. I'm hoping that I'm suffering from some sort of physical withdrawals which will end eventually... soon! In the meantime I am continuing to try and do the other healthy habits I started;

drink more water

eat smaller portions

choose healthier items

eat less animal products

I give myself currently a score of 7/10 for these. Yesterday I was a bit naughty and had a cheese sausage in pastry thing at work and a small choc milk and then in the afternoon I felt lazy and ate a cold rissole with a cup of tea. My stomach ache ensued very shortly after this but I can't imagine that the rissole caused it and I felt Ok up till then so it can't have been the pastry thing....for dinner last night I made a very quick stirfry with some steak some friends left here when they came for a BBQ on the weekend. Cutting it up into strips made it go far enough for Paul to have a tasty stirfry and rice lunch for work today and also made it so we ate very little meat each for that meal and a lot more veg. Plus I was doubled over in cramps so I wasn;t capable of cooking much else!!!

I still seem to have a touch of tummy ache this morning so I'm going to be gentle with my body today. Last night I don't know how I made it through the Pump class with the pains I was having but I did, even used mostly the same weights as usual... but today I think I will do some walking and that's about it. I MAY go to Body Balance tonight if Paul goes but that will depend on whether there's any surf or not...if there's surf he will do that...

I will eat only simple light food today.. easily digested things... hopefully I will feel better as the day proceeds...

End of the "Holidays"

Wow! From stormy and rainy during the week to pretty damn warm today!! I am roasting!!! I feel the heat a LOT. I much prefer cooler weather. I don't feel the cold but I feel very warm after it goes above 20 deg C. I reckon you can easily get warmer if it's cold but it's very hard to get cool if it's hot.
Usually I complain a lot in summer but this summer I decided not to complain and just try to make the most of the season. I made sure I got enough shorts and singlets to see me through and I went to the beach a lot. I tried not to mention the heat or say anything negative about it. It really worked. I made it through the summer without suffering, really, at all! Some people even noticed how good my temperament was on the days when everyone else was feeling too hot. More evidence that making your mind up to do something and really trying does have results.
The girls are getting picked up this evening. School starts again tomorrow. We went on a day's outing with the girls today to Bunbury. Went and visited our friend who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She's having an operation to remove the cancer on Wednesday. I hope it goes well and they find that it hasn't spread.Went to Chinese lunch and both girls ate very well. Went to the Bunbury Lookout and climbed to the top. And finally went to King's Cottage to look at all the artefacts and things of interest on show there.
Now having a quiet time while the littlest one has a nap. She woke up three times last night but I didn't lie down with her. I just put her dummy back in each time and she went back to sleep. I'm looking forward to an unbroken sleep tonight. Very tired after three nights of getting up and down when I hadn't properly recovered from that severe cold I had earlier in the week.

Reading the Old Fashioned Way!

Gee I feel good since I haven't been drinking any beer.. it's quite unbelievable! The best thing I have to report about the exercise, is that I have got over the actual desire to drink beer.. for a few days it was actually quite hard being so used to it... the few red wines that have taken its place did not seem to be the same... but now after only one week... it feels quite " normal" not to be reaching for a beer come the afternoon...
The girls are really being good and lots of fun! We just came back from the beach and they were playing with playdoh. Now I am afforded another five minutes of peace as they enjoy an icy pole each.
I've been reading them an old book that Casey used to enjoy as a child... "Oscar's Book", featuring Oscar from Sesame Street. I do his voice as best as I can and it's so worthwhile seeing the fascinated looks on their faces from a thing as simple as being read a story with expression! I've even had to repeat the story, they like it so much!! The funniest part was Olivia telling her mum about the story and virtually telling it to her word for word from her memory!!! She really must have been listening carefully!!! I saw Jasmine at some point in the day also "reading" the book to herself and making her voice somewhat like what I must have sounded like to her... so cute.. and there you have the beginnings of what I hope will be a life-long love of books in a world overly fond of electronic entertainment .....

My Dear Darlings!

I love to spoil my granddaughters when I have them over. Today I told them we'd go into town and have a whole lot of fun. We started off at the toy shop where I told them they had a twenty dollar limit but they could choose a toy each. Of course Jasmine can't really understand what I mean but she chose a Diego toy($9.99) and Olivia chose a Polly Pocket set for $19.99 and she's playing with that happily now while Jasmine is having a nap( I hope) I can't hear anything, so I'm guessing she went to sleep... she didn't want to but I could see she was tired and she woke up at 5.30 am this morning so a nap is probably what she needs....
We went to an old favourite of Rachel's and mine, the Poco Loco Cafe and we had a large chips and gravy to share and a chocolate milkshake for Jasmine and strawberry for Olivia.. they are both so well-behaved in cafes and restaurants ... it's a pleasure to take them out to eat...
We tried to visit the art gallery but they were in between exhibitions so nothing much to see there. King's Cottage was also not open till 2pm.. maybe we'll try again tomorrow for that... I've never even been there myself I don't think!!
Luckily the park is always open and it's a beautiful bright sunny day today. The last day of the school holidays too. What an awesome place to visit.... we played there a long time and then got some goodies from a new bakery which has opened in Bunbury.
On coming home they opened their new toys and very shortly after that I put Jasmine to bed.. we're going to bake jam drop cookies in the afternoon and maybe go to the beach for a little while.
I have to go to work for exactly 1 1/2 hours this evening, just to do the cooking and lock up. Boozie will be home early today so he will mind the littlies while I'm there... going to watch the footy tonight. And make a BBQ to share with friends.
I feel stuffed from the chips and gravy and polishing off Jasmine's milkshake.. haven't needed to eat anything else today!

A Day in the Life Of.....

My husband informed me that some people are coming tomorrow for a BBQ. My daughter and son-in-law and the two grandies also coming this evening.. I didn't really want to go and do a big shopping today but I had to really to make sure there's enough dinner for both nights.
Last night we had the super economical dinner of homemade scotch broth using the lamb bone from the roast we had the other day and I made a big cheese scone bun thing...very adequate meal if very simple. But I think everyone should have at least one or two very simple meals a week at least... it's good for the pocket, saves creating waste( as in the bone, which I could have given to the dogs but I don't generally give them cooked bones, raw ones are better.. plus there are TWO dogs and I only had one bone!!!) and also trains your palate a bit... not always looking for luxury foods to eat everyday...
This morning I went for a run! I used to run a lot... I often wonder why I don't run more often these days but usually after I take the dogs out I don't really feel like going out again... having dogs is quite time-consuming....often I feel their walk is enough time for me to be out ( I do go to fitness classes as well) but I really enjoy running and realise that I miss it when I manage to squeeze one in. I went BEFORE taking the dogs today.. that could be a strategy.... take ME running first and then walk the dogs afterwards...will try and implement and see if it works...
Having said that there won't be any more running till Monday though as the grandies will be here.. no time!!
I really fancied a Hungry Jack's Whopper when I was out today.... but I thought, "No, that's $3-4.. not sure how much they are these days... that I can save today" especially that I did so much shopping ( over $200 worth and the same last week..). I had a small serve of spag bol left in the fridge and so I ate that.. I hadn't had any breakfast so I was pretty hungry... the spag wasn't enough.. so I heated a small bowl of leftover soup and had a leftover cheese scone with it.
What a good girl!
Off to work very very shortly... ho hum.. I'm thankful to have a job but I sure would not get bored if I could stay home and be a full time housewife... how could anyone get bored??? There's so many awesome things to do everyday!!!

K I S S Cooking!

Coming out of the long( well, not so long! a few days!) dark tunnel of illness!!! Still not 100% but feeling somewhat " normal" both physically and mentally today.
There's a real purpose for this post today. Prior to today I've just been getting on here and writing whatever comes to mind. There are a couple of problems with this for me. It's sort of boring without anything I REALLY want to say, and also my "physical" diary..( the one which is in a real notebook!) is really suffering.. I haven't been writing much in there. I have hit on the idea of writing on my blog and then printing my posts so I can paste them as entries in my other journal so that even if I don't have anything extra to write in that, at least there will be the entries I made on "oilymils"! Smart hey?? That's the reason I had to change the template as well... I don't think I would have been able to print if the screen was black!!!
Anyway, I want to start writing about some of the stuff that really interests me, not just what I've been doing. One of my main "hobbies" is simplifying my life. I've been doing it for a while... slashing all the unneccessary things from my house, my schedule, my wardrobe and even my mind, so that I can live more peacefully and have more time for the things I feel are actually important.
One of the things I've done to simplify are to stop cooking such elaborate dinners and choosing simpler meals... less dishes, less time cooking, less leftovers etc. Less COST even!!! That's another one of my passions these days... after being financially hopeless for most of my life I finally reached what I call " financial sobriety".... I have ceased to spend more than I have!!! Anyway, I discovered a lot of things modifying my kitchen habits. I realised that all my life part of me really indentified ( strongly!)with being a GOOD cook and impressing people with my food. It's been a bit strange letting go of this. I notice more and more how people really heap praise on people who can cook. It's like your're a better person even!! The recent spate of cooking competitions and talent quests reflects the status that great cooks now enjoy! It's gone to a whole new level! It seems to be a really big feather for your cap if people admire your cooking!!! When you're a good cook everyone expects that you will always be serving up more and more wonderful food, it seems. It started looking to me like more and more of a trap. Every time I wanted to have someone over I felt that I had to impress them as much as or more than the last time they visited...entertaining can become more of a chore and a burden instead of something to look forward to and for someone like me, fraught with increasing anxiety.
I'm so glad I don't care now about impressing people in this way... I don't really feel I need to impress anyone actually with anything much anymore....why are we like this anyhow, always needing to " show off" to everyone??? We really are quite ridiculous, human beings, if you ask me, so much of the time... anyway, closely related to cooking more simply is my striving to be less of a glutton cos we live in a world of excess and greed. I've always had a hearty appetite but eating and drinking more than you need, I've come to think, is not only wasteful but also costing more money that I could be using for something more worthwhile
I'm "training" myself to eat less.. last night's example.. I already was using up some food so as not to waste it... often just cos I "feel like something else" I'll give leftovers to the dogs b ut I'm eating them myself now and so in that way I'm not having to buy so much more " new" food. I served up our dinner which was macaroni cheese, glazed carrots and peas, all left from a previous meal and we had fish fingers with that as I sliced up the remaining roast and froze it for another day... I cooked 6 fish fingers each but in the end I only ate 4 and there was still some mac cheese and carrot and peas left so I put them all on a little plate and that can be my lunch today!!! I always said I had a past life as a Scot and finally it's coming out!!!
Hopefully, this new moderation of cooking, eating and saving will take some of this excess weight off me as well.. I read once that excess weight is similar to having too much clutter in your house.. it's like clutter of the body, just as unhelpful thoughts are the clutter in your mind... house, mind, body... I've had to rid myself of all three! And I'm still going.. but it's really become fun and not hard work!!!

Fully sick!

I am having a crappy time with this cold...it's developed further now and gone into my chest which is always not very good for me as that usually heralds the beginning of a long season of consecutive chest infections..... runs me down no end. I'm a bit disheartened with this first bout as I've really been very good with the new health habits I put into place.. had a bit too much red wine on Saturday night but have drunk next to nothing the rest of the time and especially hardly any beer. Instead of the 2o beers I would have had this last week I have had 2 light beers, that's it! Then just the red wine on Sat night and a couple of red wines at other times. But all up I reckon I drank about a quarter of the amount I usually consume...been eating well, even fruit..... and STILL got sick. Oh well, there's nothing to be done about it but to be patient...here I am today propped up on the sofa(soo glad we got this comfy new one earlier this year... it makes all the difference as a sick bed!!). I've got a laptop, some reading material, a cup of hot ginger tea and a "My Little Pony" quilt to keep me all warm and cosy. I had tried to go back to bed and have a sleep this morning ( thank goodness for days off) but lying down makes me cough too much).
On Sunday, most of my close family came here for lunch( only one missing was Casey but he visits me a lot other times) mainly so my Mum could see her great-grandaughters. I cooked three different roasts [ :( ]...... sorry lamby, beefer and turkey.......... and all kinds of vegetables to accompany them. I would have had a better time if I didn't feel so ill, but it all went OK.
One thing is I never lose my appetite generally when I'm sick. I feel pretty hungry right now in fact... might have to go and heat up some yummy leftovers to eat!!

A Simple Recipe

Over the tummy stuff but now a cold I've been battling for a few weeks seems to be getting a stronger foothold....bah! Still don't feel too bad and I had an enormous appetite today. I had an egg on toast before work and then for lunch I had a toasted fieldmushroom and cheese sandwish and some potato scallops I made for the three of us to share.. Donna, Katherine and me!!! Needless to say I ate most of them but it's truly amazing how many one smallish potato made!!! It's a good way to make potatoes stretch if you have a large family or not very many potatoes left just when you thought you might have mash... oops, reach into the bag, dang! two potatoes left only.... aha!!!

Potato Scallops

Heat enough oil to deep fry... I find using a small saucepan will give you depth without having to heat up a lot of oil in a bigger pan....

Cut potato/es into thin slices, only about 2-3 mm think or they'll take too long to cook through.. peeling them is optional but you should wash and dry them and dry the slices too, of the juice after you've finished slicing

Have a batter ready of plain flour, salt and pepper and a large pinch of Bi-carb... you can add yellow food coloring if you wish but not imperative..

Have some more plain flour in a dish and flour the potato slices before dipping into the batter.

Fry in really hot oil or better still use the solid white vegetable shortening, it makes things really crisp... probabaly not good for you but no fried food is that good anyhoo!!

Cook till golden brown and the potato is tender, drain, sprinkle with more salt( and pepper if you're a pepper fiend like me) and eat!!! Yum!!!

A cheap and filling snack!! Or a good side dish!!!

Doing well!

Feeling quite good today, free of my chronic stomach ache for nearly all of yesterday and today too! I had one glass of red wine at my husband's invitation with dinner last night and typically I would pour another but I did not! Yay for me!
I am also eating smaller portions and better foods, foods that shouldn't give me digestive problems. I went to the farmers' market today for the first time in a while and bought some nice fresh veges and even a bag of apples!!! ( I eat hardly any fruit!!) While in Coles doing my groceries I made sure to include a couple of vegetarian items for myself... the Sanitarium vege roast and some vege deli slices for sandwiches. I like to try and eat at least some vegetarian meals. For lunch today though I had to eat the last three chicken wingettes so as not to waste them. Of course I could have given them to the dog but I am trying also to live more economically and the three wingettes with two potato cakes and an apple made a cheap and adequate lunch, without me having to open up or cook anything new. For breakfast I ate 5 small ricotta and spinach pastries which were left from Sunday and they prevented me from calling in somewhere for a purchased snack!!!
See, I'm going great guns!! Today when I make the trays of sandwiches at work for the Water Corp, I will fix myself a healthy salad one and that can be my afternoon tea!
Tonight we're having vegetarian "no narm fun". I don't know if that's the right spelling but it is a rice noodle soup.. very tasty, flavoured with soy and 5 spice and sesame oil. Normally it's made with gravy beef but I'm using the balance of the " tender chunks" from the tin I opened yesterday to make the yuumy vegetarian stew we had for dinner. I've made it with tofu other times and it is absolutely perfect without any meat in it... you put Chinese mushrooms in the soup as well and top it with chopped spring onions before serving... delish!!!

The time has come!

Wah! this is only a new blog and already I've had a long absence from posting..... been a bit sick the last few days and also I was looking after my grandchildren. can't do much when they're around!!! I had another bout of bad tummy and also can't get rid of this sore throat I've been having on and off for a couple of weeks.... I've had a few early nights though.. i find sleeping very good for me when I'm below par...
I am going to try to improve my health. I realistically cannot expect to be well when I have such terrible health habits. I drink way too much and especially with beer, too much in one go... plus I overeat and probably give my digestive system such a hard time with the big meals I eat and also the kinds of foods I like which was already mentioned at the commencement of this blog.... oily.....
Yesterday I didn't have ONE drink which is quite unusual for me, but also was quite easy as I felt really sick. I have decided to just go cold turkey with the beer and just not drink ANY for a while.. see if there's any improvement.... I might have a glass or two of red wine when the occasion presents itself... but that's all, just 1-2. This is really going to test my will power. I really love beer.
As well, I ate better... smaller meals and today instead of my usual Chiko roll or similar I had a sandwich. I had one for breakfast.. a toasted tomato and mushroom one and for lunch I had another one with cheese, avocado, tomato and onion.
I don't know if I'm imagining it but I think my tummy likes me better already!

Memories of Easter!

Good Friday. When I was a youngster I went to church on Good Fridays, in the morning for Stations of the Cross and then in the afternoon for another service during which as far as I remember marked the time Jesus was supposed to have died on the cross. Both were incredibly tedious for a small child but generally speaking the whole day was pretty tedious. My family practised Catholicism in quite an old fashioned way and there was no watching TV unless it was King of Kings or some other religious movie, (Ben Hur), nearly all of them starred Victor Mature( is that how his name is spelt???). Still remember his exaggerated and tormented facial expressions.....no playing with toys which for a kid is pretty tough.. I was allowed to learn knitting or sewing but not too many frivolous activities.. cooking was OK but nothing too sweet or too much like a treat as lollies and desserts were not allowed after our meals which of course were meatless. Eating any chocolate or any Easter egg before Easter Sunday was of course totally out of the question. We didn't even eat Hot Cross Buns till Good Friday... I don't hear of too many people still doing these things today although there must be a few....the religious aspects of Easter seem to get even less mention than those of Christmas....my in-laws still go to Mass as does my mum. My in-laws don't observe much fasting or abstinence though.. they quite often have some sort of social occasion on Good Friday and although they don't eat meat, they have such luxurious foods as crabs or seafood mornay and they drink alcohol. The first time I went there on Good Friday with my husband, I was really surprised even though I hadn't been a Catholic for years. The mood at our house was always sombre on Good Friday and here they were having a party!!! eheheheheheeh!
When my children were little I used to put all their Easter eggs on the foot of their beds during the night. Now none of us really bother with them although we might buy some Red Tulip rabbits to share.. they're the best....of of course I'll get the grandchildren some...Casey used to break all of his up into little pieces and carry them around in an icecream container, only putting it in the fridge when they got a bit soft as they can if Easter is warm which it is some years... all sorts of crumbs and even hairs used to find their way into the container which repulsed Rachel no end but he didn't care.. when he was REALLY little he even used to sit on his potty chair eating his pieces of Easter egg!!!! ehehehhehehehe!
This year the weather is mild and last night a big peal of thunder woke us suddenly from our sleep... there was only one other and that was it. Some rain fell after it. It must have come really suddenly and finished as abruptly as Honey didn't even flinch! She got up shortly after the first one and went into the bathroom but then went and lay back down again and didn't stir till this morning so there couldn't have been much in it or she would have let us know all about it!!!
The shop is closed again this year as it was last year for the first time in 14 years. Otherwise I would be working today. I'm only working Sunday morning and Monday morning which are my usual shifts.
I stayed up late last night, till about 1 am which is unusual for me. Casey and I watched the White Stripes dvd he gave me for Christmas and the Rammstein dvd he gave me for my birthday. I slept in till 8.20 am which is just as uncommon! Paul must have had a good long sleep as he went to bed way before us and he slept in as long as I did. He's gone for a paddle now.
Well, that's about it for this post. I'm going to go and do some cooking I think!!! Enjoy yr weekend everyone!!

Coming down with something!

Bah! Woke up with a really sore throat this morning.... and also feeling somewhat giddy and unwell. I had the throaty thing last week a few days but thought I'd beaten it.. oh well, never mind! I rarely feel 100% anyway.. suffer from general malaise often which might not sound very nice, but the up side is, when I DO feel well, I really appreciate it!!!
The day went well yesterday except I did forget and ate a bit of the sate beef and Peking style ribs at lunch, probably( I'm thinking) not enough to affect the bowel scan results, but to be on the safe side I am delaying my sample collection a day. Paul only has one more sample to collect( told you he'd be quick! Hee Hee!) My mum seemed to be pleased with the presents I chose for her and Casey's friend Kylie who came along said she looked happy!
I had planned to go to both Step and Fitball today but I'm feeling too sick. What I really would like is to go back to bed but I'm resisting this impulse and trying to make do with just doing quiet things. My workday is very short today 3pm-6.30 pm, so I'm thinking I can make it Ok just by doing things that don't take much energy, nevertheless SOME things.... otherwise I get behind very easily and then feel overwhelmed by papers and unanswered mail etc. Although I'm a pretty untidy person by nature and generally disorderly, I still get stressed if things build up and start getting on top of me. It's especially not good if I let bills and stuff run away from me as I also tend towards procrastination and then things won't get paid on time. I made a promise to myself a couple of years ago.. NO MORE LATE FEES!! And I've kept it! One of my small personal victories! ehehehhehe!
Good Friday tomorrow. Have a happy and safe Easter everyone! Eat LOTS of chocolate! ehehhehehe! And if you celebrate in a religious sense, rejoice in that too. Even though I've been a Buddhist for 20 odd years I'm still conscious of the significance of Easter for many people so best wishes whatever the holiday means to you!!!