oilymils

Blogging Blahs

2010-10-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

I don't seem to have any motivation to post... probably because I can't find reason for blogging. No-one reads my blog and I write in my journal for my own self.... hmmm.... I'm hoping that maybe when my family moves away, my daughter will check my blog.... she doesn't use Facebook(my son-in-law does but he doesn't make posts or comment)....THAT would give me some reason to keep it going.......

I'm going to Bali this Sunday. That's my news. After I get back, I'll examine my thoughts regards blogging again and see where I go from there.....

Long Absence

2010-10-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for AGES!!! Nor written in my diary.... been so busy but also I feel like I'm really changing... there is tremendous peace and happiness in my life at the moment... I can't remember what was upsetting me in the past... everything seems to be in its place and to " have a place" in the world and in my life.. that's all I have to write tonight.....

The Evil in This World

2010-09-08T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today I was sickened to read that a kangaroo had her hind legs shot off.. yes, you read it right, SHOT off by some men who said they were hunting pigs on the evening of July 31st......
I cannot imagine the terrible fear and pain this poor creature went through as she "tried to get away on her stumps" as the article described...... I had been telling Tracey at work today that I have to be very careful and avoid reading the news too much in case I stumble upon some dreadful story but I brought the local paper home to read and there was this article...
Mercifully, a professional shooter reported the men and they were apprehended.. the MOTHER kangaroo was put down along with her joey which was in her pouch... and if that isn't the saddest, most heartbreaking story, I don't know what is...
I hate people sometimes.... was this an act of evil, or ignorance.. an accident perhaps???? I try to think that perhaps the men didn't mean to injure this poor creature so horrifically..... I HAVE to think that.... the alternative is too cruel....

Compromise

2010-09-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! I managed to get up and leave the house after a shower and getting dresssed for shopping..... I'm glad as I really needed to send my father-in-law a birthday card...why I am such a procrastinator in these sort of things I do not know.. but I find it ever so hard to get around to stuff like this...
But hey.. just cos I went to groceries, the bank and the newsagent does NOT mean I am going to continue and have a active day!!! Hang on there!!! I still feel tired and I'm going to spend the rest of the day pottering... (not too hard !!!) and just do a couple of things....

Finish folding the washing

Iron a few pieces for work for the rest of the week

Ring my ma later on to see how she went with her endoscopy/colonoscopy

Sweep the floors

Make something for dinner... what'll we have, what'll we have???

I have to go into work just for the last hour to help Sam and lock up...

The rest of day I'm going to

fit in a nap

fit in some reading ( reading Three cups of Tea - the story of Greg Mortenson)

hopefully catch up in my journal a little

Vegging Out

2010-09-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

I so feel like just totally vegging out today... yesterday I was a little bit sick from allergies I think... man down the laneway was whippersnippering and mowing all day while I was at work and I think it was that.. as I woke up feeling all right!!! He started about 9.30am and well, it was all downhill for me from there.... I kind of feel a bit better today and indeed.. I started off well with a run around the golfcourse with my dogs, but after breakfast I felt a bit sick again and actually feel like going back to bed... would there be anything inherently wrong with this I ask myself????
It's just that I do want to do so many things all the time and on top of that there are things I really SHOULD do .. like clean the bathroom and deal with the fridge... but I just feel so weary....
Maybe if I have a shower, I'll feel brighter!!

Alive and Kicking!!

2010-09-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

Gosh... so busy!!! Life is very very busy!!! I haven't had time to write any posts lately but I will as soon as I get a chance...am doing well!!! sticking to a vegan diet for a couple of weeks now .... longest spell I've been able to achieve for a long long time... that's the best news I have today!!!
Tonight I'm having a dinner party.. it's an Indian themed meal so I have made a vege curry, vege samosas, bought some naan( they are not vegan!!! surprised!!! But the others will want some... I will eat pappadams and chappatis which ARE vegan..) also,I will be able to have some nice little condiments... tomato and cucumber chopped finely and bananas with coconut...and of course chutney...
The other day I made a tofu and spinach quiche.. 100% vegan... even B. said it was nice!! and so I progress and I'm feeling ever so happy.. cos that's what eating vegan does for you... you're not eating all that sadness.......

A Dream Blessing

2010-08-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I received a blessing in the form of a dream. I dreamt about the holy guru Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the dream brought me much comfort and peace... very soothing and calming for my mind which has been suffering all sorts of mental torment from my recent spells of anxiety and panic attacks. That's all pretty much I want to say about it... I don't need to describe the dream or try and work out what bits and pieces of it represented.. it was sufficient to receive this precious blessing and to be able to carry with me throughout this day, the joy and serenity of such a dream....... MAY ALL BEINGS BE FREE OF SUFFERING....... OM MANI PADME HUM.......

Tummy Woes

2010-08-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have a very sensitive tummy... today I'm really quite frail with it and I'm on the couch with a quilt as I am feeling so sick and also very tired as it kept me up most of the night......we had a lovely dinner at Balthazar last evening and my brother and sister in-law joined us....fabulous food but I had salmon which came on a bed of lentils.. I didn't hear our waitress mention anything about lentils and they were delicious but with all the drinks I had over the night maybe not very good combination...as well at lunchtime I ate a reasonable portion of salad and that probably didn't help either.. some foods just seem to go straight through me...
I would love to go to Balthazar again but it's quite expensive.. not the food so much but the wines there are nearly all quite pricey.. still it is an awesome place with wonderful atmosphere and the food was superb as well as the service... 10/10!!

Quick Update!

2010-08-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick update on what I've been up to!

We went to the Kransky Sisters last night and they were very good! Funny and quirky! At the end they came out and signed T-towels with their images on them and I have hung mine on the wall using a couple of bits of Blu-tak.

Earlier in the day we went and visited with our son and enjoyed lunch at Catalano's in Vic Park. We've been there a few times now with him. They serve awesome meals there and they're also very big! B. had chicken schnitzel which was as big as a dinner plate in itself, Casey had crumbed calamari, both their meals came with beer-battered chips and salad... I had fettucine al fungi, which did have a bit of bocaccini cheese in it but was mainly mushrooms, roasted capsicums amd tomatoes in an oil garlic sauce... very good. They gave me a jar of Parmesan but I didn't add any..

For tea that night we went after the show to a little Asian cafe which used to be Han's I'm sure and is now called the Korner Cafe... I had vegetable pad thai and B. had Singapore noodles.. cheap and tasty, we each had a little bottle of Wynn's Bin 555....before the show we used our free drink voucher from the hotel to get a midi each of Hahn SuperDry and then we had a pint each.... B. had a second pint but I can't drink endless beer anymore.. it's too cold or something... I had a red wine... at the Playhouse we had a champagne each and B. got a second one but I felt really a bit too drunk to have another!!!!

When we got back to the room, we had another red wine and I slept very well, poor B. rummaged around and coughed a lot... we're both not the best but I am a little better than him in terms of coughing and spluttering... I just FEEL rubbish...earlier in the day I had a hayfever attack looking at the bird's nest near Casey's balcony... aw, that was so awesome, I could see the baby bird inside.... but the tree was covered with blossoms and I got very red eyes.. had to go and get some eye drops as soon as I found a chemist...

This morning we just ate downstairs in the hotel... I had baked beans, 2 hash browns and two bits of toast and B. had the My Place breakfast... bacon, 2 eggs, sausage, hash brown, tomato and mushroom... he didn't eat the mushroom so I did!! he also left a piece of toast but I was too full for that, we had orange juice and I had three cups of tea.. sooo thirsty this morning!!!

Today we went into town as my iron suddenly went pop! pop! as I was ironing a favorite skirt and it burnt it!! Smoke was streaming from it, so I quickly turned it off and threw it away afterwards.... just bought a cheapy to replace it, the more expensive ones don't seem to last any longer!!! B. said he felt like a pint of beer and a steak sandwich for lunch!!!! We went to the Parade.. what the heck, it's "holidays".... there was nothing vegetarian except for creamy mushroom soup which I wish I'd got and had a wine with but I wanted a pint also and didn't feel that went with soup... so I got the salt and pepper squid which was a bit disappointing as it was the frozen curly kind, not pieces of squid on a salad and it came with chips... a bit too greasy, I picked the batter off the last few pieces...

Tonight, we had some yummy soup, vegan split pea and pumpkin soup.. that I had in the freezer... oh how much better did that taste than the lunch I had and how much happier was I to eat nice vegan food..... I had a nice crusty loaf to heat in the oven to accompany the soup... MMM.. MM!

Lovely Week!

2010-08-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a lovely week this week with a couple of things I'm really looking forward to... the first is going to see The Kransky Sisters tomorrow evening at the Playhouse.. my favourite theatre! And then on Saturday we are going to a restaurant that I have wanted to go to for many years.. Balthazar.... ( I think I saw they had a vegetarian choice on the menu but if there isn't I have decided that sometimes if I go out I may eat a bit of fish, at least for a while, while I am trying not to eat red meat or chicken... it's just all a bit hard.. I know, I am weak but I am, really... I am quite weak when it comes to food. I have been doing OK , the last few days.... I made a pot of beans and been eating those and also last night despite cooking steak and sausages for visitors and B. I only had my beans, tortillas, guacamole and a baked potato... the other morning at work, while Donna was cooking a bacon and egg sandwich, I had a small tin of creamed corn....But today we went out for lunch in Bunbury as B. is having a week's holiday and I ordered chilli squid that came in a nice tomato sauce with fettucine. They have a roast veges and penne dish where we went but my bowels were so overworked yesterday after two days of beans and vege food that I was really in quite a lot of discomfort....so I ordered the squid, I will try the vege penne next time when I haven't eaten so much fibre.... that is something I really have to work on.. what vege food can I eat that is not so high in fibre as beans etc??????? Pancakes, toast.... sandwich...some cereals.. I had a small bowl of Special K today....
Today for tea I had peas and corn, baked potato, some steamed rice and a tiny piece ( about 40 gm) of chicken in creamy mustard sauce. My friend's dad is dying and I wanted to take them some meals so when they have a bad day, they can just get one out of the freezer. I made a beef casserole and I made the creamy mustard chicken.. but I thought I had bought a carton of cream .. it was MILK!! When I came to making the sauce, luckily I had some sour cream so I used that but I wanted to know if it tasted all right for them so I tried a little piece tonight.. it is actually very yum and I think they will enjoy that... there's not much point in cooking veg meals for them.. that is what they are used to, "normal" meals.... and I want to help them in this way... I'm not very good in these kinds of situations..(what do you say or do??) but one thing I CAN do is provide some meals....tomorrow I'm going to make some pumpkin soup and then hopefully drop the food around.... I've got that bad cold still so I don't know if I can "visit" for long... but I'll see what happens.....

Another Try

2010-08-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Well as Yoda would say "There is no try, just do" or something like that but I HAVE tried and failed many times to become a vegetarian and despite writing yesterday that I do not think I will become one again, I am again hopeful after reading "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins.
I have to make this a short post as I have to go to work very shortly but essentially I have made a bit of a plan up. The day-time meals are not so hard. It's dinner that I tend to cave in.
I figure if I make a different type of meal each night based on these 7 groups, it will help me to decide what to cook( I DID go 8 months making vegan dinners but I don't seem to remember what half of them were.....why????)
Meal 1: Pasta
Meal 2 :Rice and stirfry
Meal 3: Patties or burgers
Meal 4: A pie of some description
Meal 5: A curry or stew
Meal 6: Pasta
Meal 7: Patties or burgers

I've listed patties or burgers as there are many different kinds of patties, fritters and rissole type things you can make and the ways to serve them are also very varied.... with salad, with veges, in a bun.... so they appear twice on the weekly menu as does pasta as there are umpteen ways to serve that as well, especially if I include Asian style noodles in the pasta group.

So there is a starting point for me to try and go back to a vegetarian/vegan diet.....

The Food I Have Been Eating

2010-08-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have the heartiest appetite in the whole world!!! Even when I'm sick I rarely don't feel like eating... I think this is a good thing as when I worked in a hospital once I noticed that patients who retained some appetite did much better than those who lost theirs and couldn't eat their meals...
There has not been very much vegetarian living going on in this house. I think I have come to accept that possibly I will never be a vegetarian again. I think that is is highly likely I will continue to eat a lot of vegetarian food but I know that as long as I live this current lifestyle it is not likely I will stop buying, cooking and eating meat on some occasions. I don't have enough(do I have any???) vege inclined friends... it makes socialising and sharing food with people a meaty affair...
However last night we just had tomato soup, vege fritters and eggs for tea and it was yummy. I finished the last three fritters today with another egg, heated them up in the frying pan.. I don't think they are nice cold.....
Right now I have a pot of chicken and vege soup simmering for our colds. I had roasted a chicken on Monday for B.'s sandwiches and today the rest has gone in the soup. In the oven there is a single pizza I have made for my lunch that has olives, pineapple, spinach, garlic, a bit of ham and cheese on it. I used a burrito tortilla for the base. They are nice and thin and crispy! The night before we had chicken kievs and coleslaw. Coleslaw is my absolute favourite salad in the whole world. Yet it's sooo simple!!! I don't put any fancy things in mine.... just cabbage, carrot, finely chopped onion and finely chopped capsicum sometimes, if I have one, oh and parsley. I like Heinz Salad cream on it and also on top I like hardboiled eggs.
The night before I was really really grumpy with my cold and very tired.... I brought home a packet of sausages and we had them with mashed potato, peas and grilled tomatoes with cheese melted on them. So you see there's not much vege stuff happening especially this last week. Not organised enough. I have a crisper full of veges but I'm scared to look in there as half of them are bound to be rotting away in the bottom... it's because I've been busy doing extra hours that I blame for this level of disorganisation, but it's a really poor excuse as how do other people manage to stay on top of things when they have a lot more to do than me?????? Oh well, that's me... always a little behind with lots of things....
Last weekend on my birthday we had a BBQ on the Saturday and then on the Sunday I cooked a whole rump roast and veges and we had another lot of people over for that! Then later in the week we went to our friends' house for dinner, the same ones we always have mid-week dinners with and we had a Morrocan theme.... I made a roast Morrocan chicken dish with pumpkin and onions and it was on a couscous base.
Next week, I'm going to make sure to cook and eat TWO vegetarian meals every day. In other words out of the three daily meals... only ONE is allowed to contain any meat....it sounds like hardly anything but considering it's possible to eat meat three times a day in some form.... I think it is a realistic goal... perhaps as well, I could say THREE of the days the whole day has to be vegetarian.... I will outline my plan, and perhaps a menu, so that I won't go off the rails, tomorrow, in my next post!

Short Day, Short Post

2010-08-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

I had short working day today which is probably just as well as I am not feeling the best from this cold...... I slept quite well and could breathe last night but today I feel as though it is moving to my chest. Not going to go to the gym tonight to do Body Balance... just going to lie low and do the minimal I can. This is hard as there are so many things I want to do but I guess I should try and rest a little...
The dogs have been walked and I have been into town to do the errands I needed to do so I guess it will be Ok to have a nap right now....also I went to the chemist and armed myself with some medicines. I don't particularly like going to the chemist.. it's always so busy in there and today I had to wait for ages to buy some original formula Codral... you have to give your driver's licence for them to see... anyway, I've got plenty of cough mixture and also some nasal spray which I can start using to ward off hayfever.....that'll be the next thing!!!!

Sick But Monday Cheers me UP!!!

2010-08-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am struggling along with a head cold but I love Mondays and so the day's dawn made me get up out of bed with as much vigour and vim one could expect when you have a nasty head cold! There was a further challenge to feeling awesome Monday cheer when a short time later, the power went off but I remained undeterred on my happy little Monday path!!! I just love having a brand new week to start afresh and set myself some more goals which incidentally I never seem to achieve, but nevertheless enjoy thinking about!!!
This week's goals are:

to eat a bit more healthier than I did last week

to drink lots more water and flush this cold out of my system

to remember to use my puffer which I have somehow forgotten about the last couple of months... probably contributed to me getting the cold!!!

use the voucher my boss gave me for my birthday ( a nice clothing store one)

try not to crab at B. even once this week.. poor guy been getting my evil eye a lot lately..... oh, he deserved it.. ehehehhehehhe.... but I should cut him more slack really... he tries.... ehehehehhe!

Well, that's a few... probably enough for a non-achieving person like me!!! Some of them aren't even " goals" merely things to do .... and nice ones to boot! Like who would have trouble going to a nice clothing store with $100 to spend??????? :)

Improved

2010-08-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

I feel a whole lot better today due mainly I feel, to the therapeutic effects of writing.. not in here so much, where I try and be somewhat brief and concise, but in my handwritten journal where I write endlessly about stuff, a lot of the time about what has been upsetting me!!!
Then I work out strategies for combatting negative thoughts and alternative ways to view things etc.. can also draw little diagrams and doodles to explain things further but also as I did yesterday to describe dreams I had.
The dream I had the night previous to last was a common one of mine... I dream about looking at the sea and then I see big waves coming or the currrent waves growing bigger and more threatening... they eventually come right up to where I am and I have to scramble to escape... more often than not they crash onto me and this used to be terrible until some time ago I started to hold my breath and shut my eyes and hold steady and therefore" survive" the engulfment.
Usually I am watching from some distance... in this recent dream though, I seemed to be IN the sea, swimming with friends or other people ( I have no idea who) when I notice a HUGE sinkhole has formed some distance away.. a terrifying sight.. a big hole has opened up in the ocean and the water is all pouring down, not swirling or anything, just gushing down like a circular waterfall and I realise I have to get to safety lest it get bigger or I get drawn closer to it and get sucked in!! I seem to be holding onto a smaller person( a child?? Was it Olivia, or my son as a small boy?? I'm not sure...) and I don't know how but I manage to "pull" myself through the water towards the shore. On the way I am met by the biggest darkest waves ever, so tall I can't even see the tops of the waves, they are just like huge WALLS of water and several times I have to brace myself and suffer them crashing down on me but I think if I can just get hold of the reef I will be able to get to safety.... with my right big toe I feel the reef under the water and following it along with my foot, I eventually manage to grab onto it and move along it till I exit the water... I am in a little bay and a drag myself onto the sand.... It's an AWFUL dream... so scary and strenuous as well as I try to escape these waves that are in them.... I seem to have this dream or variations of it when I'm feeling very stressed and overwhelmed and out of control of my own life ie when other people and things seem to be running it FOR me.......

Sad Today

2010-08-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

I feel a bit sad today. There are certain subjects and things I just cannot speak to about with B. or he becomes very obstinate and "anti" and refuses to hear me out. The things that make me very anxious and worry me he has absolutely no patience to listen to...a lot of the time I guess I am saying that HE is causing me some sort of bother.. but is that so hard to hear???? I can't help that I get upset when for example he makes life difficult for me by some careless or selfish action he does! I try so very hard NOT be selfish... is it because I am a woman that I am always trying to accomodate everyone and make things good for everyone while he just seems to please himself??? Anyway, 'nuff said... it's nothing new, I just felt that my birthday was really spoilt by some selfish actions on his part...he was rude to my family and also made very little effort to help me when I was really struggling to get everything I needed to do done for the day....it's not that I think MY birthday is so special, it's just that of all the days, one would think you would try and make someone's birthday a happy one, WHOEVER'S it is.....

Anyway these are the things making me HAPPY today!

I have seen the injured magpie around Lakes Pde still surviving and looking OK!

Pink and grey galahs in the trees, and the fact that I see the one with the damaged wing regularly! He's OK too!

My beautiful dog Raymond and his exuberant nature!

Going to Rob and Leshaye's for tea tomorrow!

Only have to go to work for a short time today! (I like my job but I NEED a lot of time to sort stuff out)

Beautiful sunny day!

I am healthy and fit!

My new Kindle!

My beautiful new Jamie Oliver cookbooks!

My friends and family who love me and show me their love in so many ways!

Is Spring Here???

2010-08-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

The weather at the moment is absolutely phenomenal! I mean, it is really unusally warm.. August is often a very rainy month! In September we often experience a sudden burst of warm weather as spring approaches but to have it in August is not so common....
I am even having hayfever like symptoms( blah!) and sneezing etc!! I notice when I go walking that the bacon and egg bushes are starting to flower and on the weekend someone pointed out to me that our almond tree is starting to shoot leaves and buds!! Today I noticed the little birds ( swallows??)who used to make their nest in our toilet at work every year,were waiting on the wire just outside as if to see if they could get in there again!!! (We started shutting the toilet door to stop them a couple of years ago as one year someone went in there and turfed the babies out of the nest and destroyed it....this was before we got the outer door and key happening... but also some of my workmates feel that all the bird poop is not desirable.... since then they have made a nest in the gap between the ice freezer and the roof on the verandah, but I guess old habits die hard and they remember the toilet!!!
It will be interesting to see whether this warm spell continues or whether there is indeed more winter rain and storms to be had.... I hope there is more as we really need the rain.......

Bingle!!

2010-08-02T01:16:00.000-07:00

No, unfortunately not Bingo! but bingle.... for the first time in many many years, I came into contact with someone else's car with my car.. oops! feel so bad about it... I was in a bit of a stressed out state and wanted to go out to get a Freddo icecream cake on Saturday when Mum, Roy and Charlotte were here for my birthday... B. was outside laughing and carrying on.. hadn't helped me hardly at all when I needed it the most and when asked by Olivia could he go and get the cake he apparently said to her that he'd go when I said... but that's what I sent Olivia out for!!! he must have thought she was just nagging him, anyway, when she came back in and said " Nanna!! Grandad's not going!!" I got into a bit of a huff and thought " Oh , I'll just go myself!!! It'll be quicker!!!" Well when I got outside, my car was blocked in and so I tried to back B.s car out on an angle, trying to avoid his stupid canoe which was also in the way.... anyway, looking looking out the back, I didn't watch the front end enough and scraped Mum and Roy's car... a BRAND NEW Nissan Micra with the bullbar!!!! Oh gosh!! Well, I've been online and lodged an on-line claim.... hope it can get fixed for them soonish....I'm not blaming B. but it sure would have made my life easier if he'd just gone to get the cake when I said!!!!!!

Dinner With Friends Again!!

2010-07-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

We've been quite sociable of late!! Well when are we not????? Tonight we're going to our very good friends' house for tea and I'm taking a vege fried rice made with the new Quorn veg chicken style strips that have recently become available.. they are not vegan like Fry's but I want to try and compare...the rice looks awesome if I must say so myself!! The nicest fried rice I have made in a long time... entirely suitable to share with others!!!! I also made some vege spring rolls and will fry them when we get to my friends'. They are much better cooked and eaten on the spot!! Last time I made spring rolls I put some tofu which I had slowly fried till it got a nice golden and chewy texture.. Ithink those ones were better than the ones I've made today, but today's are still yummo! I tried a couple just now dipped in hoisin.......
I have achieved a fair bit today!!! Cooking, washing, folding wash, walking dogs, shopping, writing..... now it's off to my paying job in an hour but that's only for 3 1/2 hours and then it's fun, fun , fun with friends, some "old" and some "new" !!!

Ready to Go Again

2010-07-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

I am ready to post again... although how consistent I will be will depend on what happens with my internet which has been absolutely up sh--creek of late!!! I did take a break from blogging due to some personal matters which will not be written about... they are over for the time being at least... I would not blog about certain private matters on a public space anyway, out of respect for any others involved....Back to the subject of my internet, my provider has been having lots of trouble which I feel sorry for him for but as well I have worked out there is something wrong with my aerial.. the connection is loose and that's why even if my provider is not having problems, I can still be!!! I noticed that every time B. got up on the roof to have a look the internet would often start working again.... to cut the story short we have been pushing the .. what is it called??? the little plug thing in and then you see the light change and that means we are receiving signal again.... however.... the other cord carries 240 volts ... it is not the best thing to have to do.. climb on the roof frequently and fiddle with such things... if you turn the power OFF of course it's safe... but then you can't see if the light changes and if you haven't got the connection happening you will have to get up there again.... anyway, yesterday I had the brainwave of getting a lump of Blutack and placing it around the cable to "hold" it still so it doesn't gradually fall out ...... this worked all day but then later in the night we didn't have internet again... I thought it a bit funny as when I climbed up on the roof this morning it looked all OK and B. went up as well and said the light is the correct colour.... next thing my friend who has the same provider rang and said that the problem is from their side... rrrhahhahhafg!1!!??##
Well, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration... I have got quite used to NOT having any internet and felt only mildly annoyed!!! It came back on this afternoon WITHOUT me having to get on the roof again and so at least this proves that my Blutack is still working!!!
So about the blogging....as well as unreliable internet, for some reason since I have been mucking around with the template, my printer does not seem to want to print my posts!!! This is a bit of a problem as I want to print them to stick in my diary as entries.. if I can't print them, I feel like I have to write what I posted all over again in my diary... this is way too timeconsuming... the only thing I can think of is to keep my diary for some stuff and use the blog for other stuff.. stuff that I don't feel I have to record or reread.... no-one reads my blog anyway so it should not trouble anyone if I change the content of my posts to say, lists of things to do or perhaps I should just write a very short daily entry on here of what I've been doing.... hmm, will have to give it some thought overnight... as for this post.. I have already written all my complaints in my diary during my "internetless" days!!!! :)

Trying Days

2010-07-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

There has been no internet again for a few days....in the meantime as well, some things have just come out of the blue like a lightning bolt... unpleasant and difficult things... I am very very sad and have to take a break from blogging...

Wah!!!

2010-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Well, soo behind now, will I ever catch up with all I want to write????? Still have not written a post about the wedding and now we have had no internet for a few days.. I'm so behind on everything that I shouldn't even be on the computer right now... mountans of washing and drying with a lot of rain about... dirty dishes from last night, the girls' bits and pieces everywhere from all their activities here over the weekend... phew!! One thing is my boss has come home and so my hours should be normal this week... so tomorrow I'm off and Wednesday also but I have to go in and cook just for the last little bit as it is my other boss's birthday and they want to go out somewhere special! But hopefully I can get back on track by the end of these two days!!!! Been sooo busy.......

Lovely Day

2010-07-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

Quite on the spur of the moment I decided to take my little granddaughters out for the day.. I rang their home first just in case they might have been going somewhere.. but they weren't.. my daughter was going to the doctor .. she's having her wisdom teeth out and needed to see the anaesthetist.. but otherwise I was free to take them somewhere!! I couldn't have them for a sleepover midweek as I have to work funny hours this week which wouldn't have enabled me to... but also it's not the best having them when either one of us has to get up early for work... you don't get an optimal night's sleep when they're around and also it's nice if they can wake naturally and not to OUR alarm!!!!! I WAS thinking about getting them today yesterday but I didn't arrange anything till this morning just to make sure I felt up to it... it's a fair drive there and back and I have been quite tired of late..
Well, the last time we passed the Candy Cow Olivia asked to go there but I promised " next time".. so first of all I fulfilled that promise to her and they both chose a big round colourful lollipop almost as big as their heads!!!! Olivia said she's asked Daddy for one but he said "NO".. she said " I KNEW you'd get me one Nanna!!!" Aw!!! Jasmine also wanted a little mini stamper(stamp-pad with a lid) but she forgot about it and left it in the car... never mind she'll have fun with it next time..
Onward we went to Busselton on the old road and it was the first time ( I think!) that I have been to the Old Busselton Jetty.. there was a nice cafe there and a kiosk and we got some fish and chips and squid rings... sat on the beach and ate them...the seagulls scored the leftovers with both girls shrieking and carrying on as they do!!! The day had started off quite nice here, but further down was drizzly and cool... as the day progressed though it seemed to get sunnier and the afternoon was very pleasant with some cloudy patches and again a bit of drizzle when we got back to MR but it was totally fine the whole time we were out.. the girls had a nice time walking on walls and scampering over the big sand bags at the beach.. we walked on a little jetty and also went to Simmos and got an icecream... Olivia chose bubblegum and I got Jasmine a "baby" cone of raspberry swirl but she wasn't too bright today.. she hardly ate anything and only had a few licks of her icecream... Olivia wanted to put $2 in the coin operated machine and get a ball.. so they each had a turn( with my help.. it's HARD for them to turn the knob all the way round themselves!!)
There was no playground there, funnily enough, so we drove back to MR and I had in mind the Colonial Brewery( NO, not for the beer!!) as I've been there once before with Jon and Rachel when Olivia was small and the playground they have there for visitors is absolutely awesome!! I thought I may as well have a small beer there though and ordered a small pale ale. The girls weren't hungry or thirsty but I got a Coke and a small ham and pineapple pizza for them.. Olivia only nibbled at it though.. I ate the rest.. it was GOOD!! A homemade one, not a frozen thing....we stayed there a while but poor Jasmine.. as well as not being very well, I think I spun her too much on the roundabout and she threw up a bit...she was a bit miserable today, I must say... definitely got a bad cold or flu.. poor thing..
Nevertheless it was still hard to convince her to leave the place.. she LOVES playgrounds, Olivia helped by telling her we were going to the duck park closer to home and we did call there.. but it was getting a bit cold by then and a bit later than I had planned!!! I thought I'd have trouble keeping them amused for three hours but here it was nearly 5 o'clock and we only just got home!!! Jasmine was so funny when we got back telling her mum that "Nanna did it" she's like that!! Always getting sympathy by telling someone that the other person did this, or hurt her etc!!! We were laughing and she sat on Daddy all snuggled up giving me the evils!!! ehehehhehehe! But she's only playing!! She'll be happy to come with me again on the weekend!!! AW, it was a lovely lovely day... so glad I went like that spontaneously on my one day off this week... now I can work the rest of the week joyfully having spent quality time with them today...making memories for the future... memories that will sustain me when they've gone to Canada...

Still Here!!

2010-07-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

I am still here!!! I 've had a few obstacles with my computer lately.... firstly it was just getting slower and slower especially for logging on and switching from different things.. sooooo slow that I haven't been able to do anything on here unless I had an hour or TWO(!) to spare.. the other day for example, it took it about an hour to complete three simple commands... rrrrghh! I've been having to shut down and restart very often but even that was taking a long time to complete... I'm not really sure what I've done.. I tried a few things like defragging and also I even tried to return the system to its factory default settings in desperation... it doesn't LOOK as though this was done, in fact there was no message or any evidence that any of these procedures were carried out... but it does seem to be somewhat better..
Time also has been very short... I've been busy doing a few extra hours at work and although they're not many in number, it's sort of caused a lot of disruption to my routine... I don't know.. sometimes I get really discouraged at the amount of things I want to do but seem to run out of time for.... I seem to be busy constantly and always trying new strategies to " produce " more time... eg cut down on household chores, cook less timeconsuming meals... lots of things,yet I still find the end of the day arrives soo quickly and again I have so much I want to do!!! There are newspapers there I'm trying to read, magazines.... letters to write... trying to keep up this blog and improve the quality of my posts... rrrrggrh.... and in between so many other things... I must for example go out and take the dogs for a long walk.. we had a bit of severe weather recently, I managed to walk them most days but they did miss out a couple of times... so I want to make up for those days... Raymond especially has so much excess energy that needs to be worked(er..walked ) off!!

Whirlwind of Life!!

2010-07-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Whew! WHERE does all the time go?? And where have all the days gone.... long time looking forward to things and before you know it, they're all over and done with.. but what a happy week it has been!!
The wedding was truly beautiful! I'll write more about it in a separate post another time... I am just trying to get a little bit of everything done today before heading off to work!!! I had 4 days off but they're all up!! Wedding was Saturday, Sunday Rachel, Jon and Berri, Jon's mum came up with the two girls so they could stay for a couple of days and those two days have gone past like papers in the wind!! We took them home yesterday.. I was actually planning to keep them till today and take them home before I went to work but I think it was enough for the little one.. at least this time.. we HAVE had them for longer of course, but I think it had been a pretty big weekend for them and it seemed better to take them home a bit earlier than planned.. anyway, I might be able to get them again on Friday... but just till Saturday as I have to go to work Sunday early...
So, I've done a little bit here and there so things feel a bit more normal and tidy around here... taken my poor dogs for a walk as they only had a very short one since Saturday...did a bit of cleaning, a bit of cooking, a bit of emailing etc, paid bills and now just going to finish off this post so I can get ready to go off and earn a bit of dush!!!

Passports Arrived!!

2010-07-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

Gee it's really quick these days once you apply for your passport for it to arrive.. it's only been such a short time since we were at the post office putting them in and both of our passports arrived today. It's not SO exciting because we don't have any trip planned!!! ehehehehhe! But at least we have them now and if we wanted to just book a quick trip to Bali or Phuket, well.. we could!! Not that EITHER of them would be my choice for a holiday... I like holidaying within Australia very very much and if I wanted to go on an overseas trip at the moment, I wouldn't mind Japan... but it is not really on the cards right now... as long as my family looks like they'll be continuing with their move to Canada our plan is to save to go there...this doesn't mean I WON'T be going on any holiday soon as I think B. is keen to go somewhere... he keeps talking about needing one... ehehehehhehe!
This week we'll be having a couple of days break as we're going to have the girls for a day two after the wedding tomorrow... TOMORROW!! The BIG day for my daughter and her partner!!! I'm quite looking forward to it.. it should be a lovely lovely day and it will be so nice to see Jon's parents again.. they are both coming from Sydney....though they aren't married to each other anymore, it will be especially nice to see them together on this special occasion!!!!

Obstacles

2010-07-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Life is full of obstacles..at the moment my computer is not being very friendly and it is causing me to blog less... it is SOOOO slow!! And also just not performing actions... naughty computer!!! I don't know what's wrong... maybe there's just too much on it...anyway, never mind..... I shall persevere...it's just that everything is taking 3 x as long to do.....
I'm very busy at the moment... lots of stuff happening... I feel very tired of late... I don't have as much stamina as I used to...

FOOD!!

2010-06-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

I love food so much!! I'm always hungry it seems but even while I'm eating I'm thinking about the next meal and what I'm going to eat then...
For our anniversary meal at Nicola's B. ordered a half dozen oysters kilpatrick which are his favourite... I chose fried mozzarella balls that came with a spicy tomato sauce. There was not anything vegetarian at all on the entree menu save for bruschetta which I am not keen on as it often makes me feel a bit sick.. the balls had a small piece of prosciutto in each one...it was quite nice but I felt they had not been freshly fried.. they seemed to be heated up...but neverthless I always enjoy my food..
For the main they had a special of more or less a duck ravioli( although it was called capriletto or something else..) that was prepared with an oil based sauce and had enoki and oakear mushrooms. B. thought he would try this for something different. It was quite unusual with the funny oakear mushroom which were sort of like crunchy seaweed but without a sea taste!! Quite good! But no discernable taste of duck, I didn't think.. ( I tried on of his "dumplings'). B. had perfectly steamed veges with his main meal while I chose a green salad which I think I should have got for my entree.. that was really fresh and crunchy!! For my main meal I had field mushroom and spinach ravioli with creamy saffron sauce... there were three huge ravioli on my plate.. the pasta itself was quite thick although it was very tasty, I reckon I could have rolled it thinner... but I enjoyed it.. very VERY filling.. boy I was ready to burst after all this!!! We shared a yummy bottle of Taylor's wine and for dessert we shared a tuille basket with three scoops of gelato and berry coulis and we had a long black each as well..
I really like Nicola's.. the service is just excellent there and the prices are really reasonable for very good meals... I nearly wanted to order the potato gnocchi with the gorgonzola sauce that I really love there but I thought I should order something else for a change... I wasn't sorry, but I have to say, I really think that gnocchi is the BEST!!! I will order it again next time!!!

Special Day

2010-06-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's B.'s and my 24th wedding anniversary today!! Can't believe all those years have gone by!! It's hard to imagine that we've been together for so long!! There have been some very hard times but overall, we have had a wonderful wonderful marriage... I'm terrible lucky!!
Tonight we are going to a nice restaurant(Nicola's) for dinner...just the two of us.. I mention this cos the last two anniversaries I think our son was with us!!! Not that it mattered of course!!) We WERE going to the movies as well but then we thought we'd probably have to rush though our meal or go to a late session and being a Monday night, we don't want to be too late out...

Yummy Dahl

2010-06-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

I made some delicious dahl this morning and I can't stop eating it!! I had a couple of cooked potatoes in the fridge and you know how I don't like the taste of leftover potato, but I didn't want to waste them so I needed to make something with strong flavours to cover the precooked potato taste( tastes like the fridge or something.....), the texture also changes for the worst after you've kept them for a day or two.. as well I had a small bunch of fresh coriander that I often buy and don't use all up (ironically, to try and make it last...) and then it goes bad... so I made dahl with red lentils and the potatoes and put all the coriander on top when it was cooked... yum, dahl! Made with red lentils it takes so very little time to cook..I was eating some 20 mins later!!! The lentils were still a bit firm then but a little bit more cooking and they were perfectly "creamy" and soupy.. oh gosh!! Soo GOOD!! and soo cheap!! The pot I made could feed a whole family for a couple of dollars!! I called B. in and we ate it with warmed tortillas for a kind of early " lunch". Then I took my dogs out for a walk..since I came back I have been getting it out of the fridge and eating more of it...it's healthy too and best of all VEGAN!!!!

Friday

2010-06-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

I love Fridays and Mondays especially!! And they're not even my days off!!! I love Fridays cos they have that special weekend feeling, a party atmosphere!!! And I love Mondays cos they're the start of a brand new unsullied week and everything can start over again if needs be!!!
Even if it's my turn to work on the weekend I still like Fridays.. I have the morning shift which means I'm home by 1pm!! And B. also finishes early on Fridays.. he's home by 3pm usually, unless he goes to the shops or something which he does sometimes to buy beer or hardware of some kind...
I'm not having my grandgirls this weekend. I would like to but B. needs to have a weekend here and there where he just relaxes and does his own thing. Maybe we'll visit them and take them to the caves or something but they won't be coming here to sleep over this weekend.. NEXT weekend though, is my daughter's wedding day!!! The wedding is on Saturday and after that I'll have the little girls over for a couple of days.. it's the start of the school holidays so I can have them on my days off, not just the weekend, which I wouldn't be anyway as the wedding is then...

I mentioned my car going in for a service, well, a pleasant surprise.. it was only $270 B.said... so it didn't break the bank!! This week I 'll have to go to town and see if I can find a dress for Olivia.. I'll do that Tuesday...when I find hers then I can buy Jasmine's.. there's a few choices for Jasmine and I'll get the one that most closely complements what I find for Olivia..

The weather is just gorgeous here at the moment... fine and cold... looking forward to a nice relaxing and recharging time this weekend!!!

Soup

2010-06-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's soup weather all right!! Very cold(for here!!) and B. loves soup. I personally feel as though I'm slumming it big time, haha, to eat it for a MEAL.. but the other day I made an awesome soup that even I enjoyed... I'd bought a packet of barley with the thought of making a "vegeloaf".. I read once that barley has the good chewy texture that makes it a good ingredient for an "unmeatloaf"... well, I made a soup instead.. it did have a lamb bone in it from the roast I made on Sunday... but it was full of barley, veges and we ate it for dinner with a homemade spinach quiche I made the same day which was also very yum!!
There was enough soup left for our lunches and then B.came home and asked if there was any more soup left for tea... aw, I had to say "no!!"
So I made some more today and there was a hambone in the freezer I had to use up...the soup today was a bit different as I didn't have any turnip or swede left but I had some dried 4 bean mix as well as the barley to use today and well, it wasn't half bad!!! I ate two bowls before work and it really sustained me I think... then we ate it with a toasted cheese sandwich for dinner tonight( yeah, I still felt like I was slumming it a bit.. but that's OK a couple of nights a week!!! ehehehheheeh!) I put some on the dogs' dinner as well... nice warm food for a chilly night for them....and still a huge pot left!!! But B. seems pleased.. he said he's going to eat it all weekend..... (I say... blech!!!) ehehehehheheh!

Blowout!

2010-06-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

Whoa! Big week for spending. We finally got our passport applications in and they were over $200 each. That doesn't include the photos and because of various things(rrggh!) I had to get two lots done and B. had to get THREE!! So there went $50 just to get the photos right!!! My car went in for a service today ... haven't picked it up yet so don't know what that will be, but the last one was over $200. I bought some products from a friend who sells "Arbonne"..... I like to support people who are trying to help themselves...I bought quite a lot the first time and this time I bought less but nevertheless $280 worth.. can't even remember now what I ordered.. I know I ordered 2 foundations( I go through them quite quickly since I use it most days..), a shea butter hand and body duo, 2 lipsticks and a lipgloss... what else I'm not sure.... oh, a powder and some lipbrushes... anyway, will be a surprise when I open the package...
I finally put my mum's engagement ring that she gave me years ago, in to a jeweller get fixed.. the setting has become damaged and I was advised not to wear it until I got it remedied (at risk of losing the diamond)...it has been a shame not to be able to wear the ring all these years but I never seem to have the money spare to get it done...well, tidying out my drawers and cupboards I came across it again and well, I guess it's now or never.. anyway I paid for it and it was about $260(?) I can't recall right this minute.. I can check it later...
We got our first electricity bill also yesterday since installing our 7 solar panels. It is over $500 BUT that is for 11 months!!!!!! So they really have saved us over the time we have had them. One of my normal winter bills would be approximately $280 for a 60 day period, so you can see that $500 odd dollars for almost a year's worth of power is definitely cheap!!!
Ho hum.. all this meant that I am not doing much groceries this week.... going to do "pantry challenge" as far as possible and for as long as possible. I did have to go and get more dog food yesterday and a few other things.... but I think I've got quite a bit of food in the cupboards and also in the freezer so hopefully I will not have to go and do more food shopping till end of next week....

June "To Do" List

2010-06-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind on my goals for June it is not funny. I had not posted them on this blog.. I wrote them in my journal:
Here is the list:(Dang! It's been that long since I wrote in there I couldn't even find it for a minute then....)
1. Plant 4 food plants in the month... have planted 3

2.Find and cook 4 new vegan recipes in the month... have cooked none yet!!

3. Do 2 big walks round Bunbury... have done none!

4.Meet Sheralyn for lunch.. long overdue.. have not arranged this yet

5.See at least one production this month.... have not seen anything or booked yet.

6.Complete passport applications... YAY! Have done this!!!

7.Go the soap factory in Dunsborough..... er , no..

8.See one movie by myself.... no....

9.Go to the Blood Bank to donate... no, nida, non....

10. Eat at the Japanese on Spencer St..... no...

11.Go to Perth and eat at "Lotus" vegetarian restaurant... hahhahahhahha!

12.Make room for Buddhist books somewhere... YAY! I have found a suitable place to store them!

13.Spend a small part of each day reading and contemplating some Dharma...I do contemplate a LOT.. but haven't read much..

14.Paint cane setting with a coat of fresh white paint... nuh!

15. Facebook less... YAY! I have achieved this!!!

Weary!

2010-06-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Feeling really tired today after a BIG weekend! Friday night we went to a 21st birthday party. We went to eat Chinese dinner first..it wasn't vegetarian, unfortunately.. I would have liked to order the vegetarian special bean curd and also the vegetarian sang choi bow but I could tell B. did not want to get those... he chose chilli basil chicken and I ordered a vegetable omelette but they brought out a combination one(?) mustn't have heard me properly.. oh well.... We shared a bottle of red wine there but after that I did not drink any more.. only had soda water and some still water.. we left about 11.30pm as I wanted to be fresh on Saturday to pick up Olivia and Jasmine.
We were able to get Jasmine's passport photos all right on Saturday. Jon and Rachel had been having trouble getting her to look straight at the camera and also to not bring her hand up to her face and in the end not to start crying!!! Poor thing!!! She probably couldn't understand what was going on!! The girl who was taking the photos took quite a few that weren't right but finally just before Jasmine started getting upset she got one that looks OK. Her little teeth are showing a bit but she said they usually don't mind that for small children...everyone else of course cannot have their teeth showing( why is this anyway??????)
Also went to see if we could get some dresses for them and disappointingly Olivia is too big for size 7 which was the biggest size they had... I'm going to try elsewhere this week.. I can get one for Jasmine but I'll wait to see what kind of dress I can find for Ollie first..I did buy two fairy dresses "in case" but I ended up giving them to the girls to take home.. Olivia had a dressup birthday party to go to on Wednesday and well, I really wanted some better dresses than those for the wedding day...I'm sure I will find something..Target might have some... or maybe I can try a bridal store, though that will probably be very expensive...
The rest of the weekend was spent going to parks and to the beach and letting them bake cookies etc and then Sunday, I cooked a roast dinner and Jon and Rachel came up to eat with us and our neighbours/cousins from over the road also joined us for tea.. my son also came to stay on Saturday for a couple of days so it was all very social and busy!! My roast dinner was not vegetarian either :(
I had bought a side of lamb at shopping so B. could have meat for BBQ and also a leg for sandwich meat.. but it wasn't very big... ( such a young sheep.. ohhh... terrible!!) and got eaten all up in the one meal by everyone, as well I had to make a stew as the roast leg would not have been enough!!! So no meat left for sandwiches either!!! I got quite tipsy drinking plenty of red wine before and over dinner and remember making quite a lot of ribald comments and jokes!!! Everyone was in a good humour and the evening was a lot of fun!!! :)

This Week's Waste

2010-06-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Or LACK thereof!! Yay for me! I have wasted the least food ever I think! The only thing I threw out today was some cooked rice which I forgot to put away last night and so it was left out...cooked rice gets bacteria that can cause tummy upset etc if not refrigerated, so I thought I better ditch it.. but even so it did not have to go into the bin!! I mixed it with a little raw mince meat and gave it to the birds and they loved it! I have given them rice before but strangely(I thought!) they did not seem too keen. I mentioned it on Facebook and a friend said they will eat it if it is mixed with mince. I was lucky to just have a little bit of mince in the fridge, left from the weekend when I made some spaghetti...
I have been doing well at eating vegetarian although still not completely. I had to finish off a couple of chicken wings yesterday. Otherwise doing pretty good! I have cooked some meat for B. A small corned beef for his sandwiches and he had some with his dinner while it was still hot...I didn't have any.. this is a big step forward for me as if I have to cook it, it's very difficult for me to resist... But otherwise he has been eating vege food with me.... I made an awesome goulash with some of the seitan I made last week... it turned out really well! I NEED to cook and have food like this on hand so I am not tempted by what may be in the fridge or freezer that is NOT vegetarian, which there will be from time to time as B. still likes some meat... B. even liked this goulash, so much so that he took some for his lunch today as well. I bought some King Island Soy Cream Cheese the other day hoping it might make a good substitute for the Tofutti Sour"Cream" which I can't find anymore and while I haven't tried to thin it with lemon juice to see if it will be good as sour"cream" I did stir some into the goulash and it worked a treat! So at least it can be used in cooking.. that's something!!!

Regular Running

2010-06-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

My running is usually very sporadic.. since my youth I haven't made a regular running schedule.. things get in the way.. I run for a couple of days and then let it go by the board again... recently, I have been running more regularly than I have for a long time!!! It feels great!!
Yesterday I ran a course around town that I feel could be my regular running route and I found that I'm a pretty good judge of distance! I felt it was about 8 km and after my run I drove it, arriving home just as the trip meter clicked onto 8km exactly!!! Of course my steps don't follow the exact path of a car but to make up for any occasions where I might have cut the corner etc, I made sure I took the longest path round things and also ran up and down the steps at the golf course lake a few times... in any case, the run is approx 8km and that is a good distance for me to do most days. I hope to, for variety's sake go to Bunbury once a week to do a run along the coastal road or perhaps park at Australind and run into Bunbury( and back??) When I am able to do that I will be really pleased....
The other night I must have run at least 10km as I ran my 8km route PLUS all around the golf course which would have added about 2km ...the interesting thing is.. I feel this has all been helped along by my "new" habit of blogging and list making etc... keeping written track of my activities in all sorts of areas is definitely making things happen.. much more than when I just think about them.. from my finances to trying to maintain a vegetarian diet now to running...writing about what I hope to achieve, whether it's on here or in my journal, really works to help it become reality!

Sigh! Seitan!

2010-06-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was going to go into town to day to do one of the two big walks around Bunbury I have on my "To Do In June" list.... but I changed my plans so I could have a go at making "seitan". I have made it a few times and most of the time it's about the same.... it's not bad but once I went to a Chinese temple in Melbourne and they just had the most wonderful dishes there all made of seitan of course, but they must have the "knack" or some secret.. mine isn't anywhere as nice...
Today after simmering it in the broth I baked it and it looked and smelled all right... I turned the oven off and went out for a walk.. I think if I'd taken it out of the oven before I went, it would have been better... it seems a bit rubbery and overly firm today. But it was still OK!! I fried some slices and then made the sauce I like to serve with steak... creamy mushroom and garlic... gee, I wish I could get the Tofutti Sour Cream again.... I have seen the cream "cheese" maybe I could try using that and diluting it with white wine and water.. then the sauce could be vegan... I ate my " steaks" with two of the leftover Yorkshire puddings which did have egg in them.... must get a box of the egg replacer again.. I have used that and you wouldn't even know the difference.. I just ran out of it recently. Overall, I am quite pleased with the results today but as I say cooking it less would have made it less chewy. There was enough so I could slice and freeze some..that might help me when I have a meat craving if there's already some seitan made as it takes a little time to prepare...... I quite like it... don't know if B. be will very keen...I'm going to test drive some on him tonight... I sliced some very thinly and it's in the fridge in a marinade of ginger, garlic salt(ran out of garlic).. chou hou paste, XO sauce and sesame oil with a bit of soy and a bit of sugar... also in with them some sliced onion and red capsicum...oh and I ran out of sherry AND Chinese wine so I put a little bit of brandy... see how it goes tonight when I stirfry it with some vegetables and serve with steamed rice! Maybe I'll put a few cashews as well!!

Lots of Food

2010-06-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

There is lots of food to use up over the next few days...first I have a bowl of pasta .. I cooked a big lot of pasta to make macaroni cheese and there was too much !! I still have to eat the remaining mac cheese as well... I think I will freeze this cooked pasta and even if it doesn't freeze too well I can make soup with it later on..
There are 4 Yorkshire puds left.. that one's easy, will eat them tonight with the one steak there is left in the meat keeper. It is a T-bone.... I might cut the larger portion from it and give it to B. he doesn't care for this cut... while I eat the bit remaining on the bone.... that's plenty, we don't eat that much meat if I can help it.. will just cook some veges and make some gravy..
There is one portion of pie left from last night. My friend had a lot of spaghetti over but I still left some pie there and brought home my dish that had about two portions left.. ate one just before for breakfast and the remaining one I will eat tomorrow.. or even later on today...
There is a portion of mashed potato.. I will give it to the birds or the dogs in their dinner.. think it's a bit stale..
There is some white sauce.. made too much of that also when cooking the mac cheese. I will put it with the leftover mac cheese.. it has absorbed some of the sauce and become quite thick so the extra sauce won't go astray...
There is a tiny bit of roast beef and that will make one more day of sandwiches for B.
There is some chocolate pudding from Sunday night.... will try and eat a good portion each this evening and the rest, if any can go to the birds.. I only made a small one so we should be able to finish it..
I had a bit of yorkshire pudding mixture left also from Sunday.. I will make a pancake for lunch for myself with this..
There is half a tin of sardines that B. opened on Saturday... this is too stale and I will mix it with the dogs' dinner....
I opened a packet of puff pastry to line the pie dish with yesterday.. I often do this and end up wasting the rest of the packet!!! But I will make a point of using it to make some snacks for Saturday evening with this!!
There are plenty of veges left in the crisper and they are all still good!! That's it for my food utilisation post!!

Why Not?

2010-06-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

Why not indeed??? It's amazing how if you really try and work on your mind, how you can start to see things really differently and also have a change of "heart".....
I'm talking about my family's move overseas which looking back over my blog and my journal had me quite upset and sad not very long ago..
I've been trying really hard to understand why they would want to move and how things look like from their point of view... my son helped a lot by talking it over with me and hearing all my fears and doubts..anyway, I feel quite OK about it now, even a bit excited for them.
My daughter and her partner are both very very talented and why should they not go where they feel they could really have a chance to reach for the stars in their chosen field?? I have put a lot of effort into opening my mind to thinking correctly and not getting carried away with nonsense thoughts!!! One of the "exercises" I found helpful was doing a bit of "role reversal" as a strategy for understanding their wishes to move and try to expand and develop their business. I imagined what my daughter might feel about me and my chosen path in life and what she might say about it if I did not give them my full encouragement and support. I can't really support them financially .. but I can always be enthusiastic and excited for their prospects. And not be negative and focus on possible problems that might arise.. I realised that I can demonstrate my faith in their abilities and not be scornful of the choices they make, knowing that everyone has their own goals and dreams that are right for them...anyway, I am constantly amazed at the ability of the mind to change if you give it a go!! Having conquered many negative frames of mind over the years,I feel confident that even though there are lots more things in life for me to learn but that I will be able to do it!!

Time Flies!!!

2010-06-08T01:10:00.000-07:00

Whoosh! Where does all the time go??????? Only last week I was gloating to my workmate Sam about the five day weekend I was looking forward to this week and already it's nearly at an end!!! Only have tomorrow left!!! Today just went in a blur especially!! I don't mean a blur in that I was foggy-minded... I mean the blur caused by things moving very fast!!! ehehehhehehehe!
I spent a good part of the morning doing a "Responsible Service of Alcohol" on-line course.. that's what made the day seem like it went very fast...we all had to do it for work. Well, it was very tedious I have to say.. forced you to have to sit through audio sessions instead of being able to just read the material and fly through... well, at least it is done and to tell the truth it made me think a little about the dangers of drinking too much alcohol again.. ( I do think about it from time to time.. but I still drink too much too often...in regards to health..).
It is such awesome weather today! Very sunny and the wind is cold but it's just my ideal kind of day! My son and I went for lunch at the Dome in Bunbury. We shared a calamari, chips and salad and also a taste plate that had chicken strips, salt and pepper squid and meatballs with three kinds of dipping sauce and a Coke each. The Dome is very reasonably priced.. and the food is really quite nice....they have a good pizza there but I had that last time when I went to the Hall's Head one with my mum and Roy.
I've got a kind of pie in the oven at the moment. Going out to a friend's place for tea ( the same friend we went to recently where I took a potato bake and a crusty loaf....and I told her I'd bring something. It is like a shepherd's pie with puff pastry on the bottom, filled with curried sausages and topped with mashed potato... I made a double batch of the best curried sausages I think I've ever made yesterday with most of that big packet of sausages I bought last Thursday. I think she said she's cooking steak but whatever she makes we can all have some of my pie as well.. B. I know will love it.. he didn't eat any of the curried sausages yesterday, only my son and I did. B. had already had some lunch before the sausages were ready...he was hungry "prematurely" for tea though, as a consequence and so I had to put the roast beef I spoke about on earlyish.. lucky though, by the time it was cooked it was about 6.30pm and I asked them if they wanted some pudding for dessert and they said yes! So it wasn't too late to whip up a chocolate self-saucing pudding and put that it and we still all got to bed nice and early for a Sunday night(after I cleaned up and all!).

A-MAZING!

2010-06-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Took the two grandgirls to the Mythic Mazes in Nannup on Saturday. They weren't what I was really expecting but it still was a pretty good outing! I thought it would be a much bigger place and also I imagined the hedges to be quite thick but they were quite "see through"... nevertheless once you started going around they were a lot more complex than they looked at first... we were laughing somewhat when we first started off...you go through an archway into a garden of "sculptures".. well, it was pretty much like someone's backyard with a few garden ornaments and cut outs!!! A bit funny but the girls enjoyed it and sat on the big throne they had in the garden, also we had a game of oversized noughts and crosses that was there.. there were actually a few nice carvings of "beings" around the place.. it was really quite nice... just a bit more "homey" than I had thought...cost $10 each adult and $8 each for the girls... I thought it was quite worth it.... anyway we spent an hour there easily, maybe a little over... after that we went into Nannup and got a bit of lunch, just pies and stuff...we were very lucky with the weather... it was quite a nice sunny day ... it would be very hot to trek around the mazes in the summer......
After lunch we made our way back to Margaret River and enjoyed a fun afternoon with my daughter and her partner and for tea they made the most awesome pizzas, plus there was some delicious curry from "The Larder". The girls had a lot of fun dancing around as Jon was playing lots of different music for us..... we were laughing that much trying to decide on a song for the wedding day.... some funny ones you could have that would make everyone think " What the hell??" ( Devil Inside(INXS)... Rockin Robin(Michael Jackson....Way Down(Elvis)...ridiculous!! Of course we will not be having any of those but it was funny to imagine Rachel walking out to some crazy tune!!!!!) One really nice thing was dancing with each of the girls to music like Cat Stevens' Moon Shadow and Morning has Broken....... songs from so long ago but you could see that little Jasmine especially was enjoying them.....

Not So Awesome Shopping Day

2010-06-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today I went to work for a short time... 7-9am...I am going to be doing this every Thursday and then go back at 3pm for my regular shift...it was bright and busy and the time went very quickly. I was all dressed and had my handbag,shopping bags etc with me to go straight to town and do my shopping quickly! I wanted to go to Big W also to see if I could get one of those "egg carton" foam underlays (that I already have on my bed...... sooo comfy)..... to put on the spare bed which is a little bit soft but I'm hoping with the underlay it will feel better to sleep on....

Well, I haven't been to Big W for a long time and some things caught my attention... DVDs... I saw the Michael Jackson "This Is It" one that I do want.. and put it in my trolley, also a Dora one for Jasmine... then I remembered I do want an extra hot water bottle for when guests come... went to look for those and saw headbands... looked and looked at those for quite a while trying to decide if I liked any of them... I didn't....but I wear them a LOT, why don't they make more kinds???? All of them were black or grey or for kids or too thin... I like them a bit wider.. oh, they had tortoiseshell too, but I got one of those recently... then I wanted to get the girls some more textas which I put into my trolley but there were so many nice things for children, activity sets and stickers and craft sets... that kept me looking for a while again... I didn't buy any... I got them a couple of books last week and they haven't seen them yet...then I saw the book section and wanted very much to buy another Jamie Oliver cookbook.. very nearly did but thought no, I will ask for one for my birthday( which is not too far away...). After all that I went and put the DVDs back....can't really afford them this week... and after all that, I couldn't find any hot water bottles either!!!

Finally I arrived at the manchester section and yay! they had the eggcarton thingies... two brands... I bought the cheaper one( $10 less) it was $59 as it was.... then I saw mink blankets... oh, they are my weakness! I love them! I had been wanting to get a new one for our bed as since I bought those fuschia curtains, none of my existing bed linen really matches... not that that sort of thing really bothers me very much and I did have a quilt cover with pinkish tones that has been sufficing... but there was a nice deep crimson blanket today with some kind of spots on it... would be PERFECT I thought and also allow me to take the quilt cover off and wash it today... so I got it... was $49.95... not really in my budget this week but it's hard to find this kind of blanket at times in nice designs..... anyway, it looks really nice and what I like about it, it's big enough to cover the whole bed and pillows which the quilt cover was not quite achieving!!! I put the new underlay on our bed, it hasn't got a eggcarton structure, more like ridges... hope it as as comfy, it should be OK!!!

I found shopping a bit disappointing today grocery wise. I wanted to go to Woolies instead of Coles where I usually shop as Woolies has a very large container of plain brand fish food that is quite cheap....also dog treats are cheaper there, they have a brand Coles does not which is significantly cheaper than any I can get there... Also I find their range of icy poles and individual icecreams always have some on special, unlike Coles, and I want some for the girls this weekend.

But everything else seemed a bit expensive today. Again I bought MEAT. I can see this is not going to stop for me while I am living with someone to whom vegetarianism is not THE goal..... I need some cold meat for B.'s sandwiches and so I got a roast beef which seemed the most economical option available today....will roast it on the weekend, have a meal of it, and then the leftovers can be sandwiches for a day or two. I'm going to cut it I think, into two and if there's not so much cooked meat it will help me just stick to the veges...(I'll be trying to "save" the meat for B.). Also I got a big packet of sausages which were VERY cheap......B. LOVES as I have mentioned before and the other thing I got was a packet of three T-bones for the unexpected BBQ should it occur. Still got the meat I bought last shopping trip... only used the sausages and still have 5 left, which I'm going to crumb tonight for B.'s lunch tomorrow.... the chicken breasts and the lamb 4quarter chops still intact in the freezer. As well still got 3 ribeyes.. I cooked one for B. last week..... I MAY be having a few people next Saturday for hot dishes... if I do all that stored food will come in handy... won't need to buy so much next shopping....But talking of COSTS, lamb legs have REALLY gone up lately...even stewing steak is expensive and beef roasts or steak, wow!!! I saw a whole rump which I was thinking might be good to buy... cut some for roast and the rest put by.... was $98!!!!! HOLY MOLY!!! One thing that pleases me about this though, is that the cost of meat SHOULD reflect the COST - of meat... (the price of life, the cruelty, the environmental effect etc etc). maybe one day when meat gets so expensive people can't afford it, then may we move more towards vegetarian culture....(probably though that's when conditions and treatment of animals will get WORSE...... sigh....).

Well, I got what I needed mostly after spending quite a long time in the supermarket examining everything closely.... ehehehehhehehe! Some things I wanted though, I had to leave for another day... have to make do without.. nothing special just things like juice, more frozen veges, potato gems...I have other things that will do without having to get these extra items....

Catch Up Post!!!

2010-06-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Ooh! Had a little break from posts.. now for a quick catch up!!

I just had two bowls of delicious soup for my breakfast.. made it first thing this morning, after I made B.'s sandwiches and before doing last night's dishes!!! Eheheheheh! The soup I made is a famly recipe... it is a tomato, pasta based soup and you add in a tin of baked beans and lots of cabbage..we always made it with a ham hock... but I thought I could use some sliced cabana(yes.. still finding things in the freezer.. this sausage was frozen from a party where I had it ready and sliced to serve but didn't need to put it out....always have soo much food...) anyway, it is quite yummy and I have made a vegetarian version of it many times.. still I want to use up the cabana..

Nil food waste this week!!! BIG pat on the back to me!!! This writing about food and stuff is a really great tool as is demonstrated by the ever reducing level of food I have chucked out each week!! I highly recommend it!!

Beautiful sunny day today again.. yesterday in the afternoon(I waited till then so it'd be nice and warm!!) I took the dogs to the beach. Only had shorts and a singlet on and felt even a little hot walking along!! Had a fairly decent walk and I don't know if Honey ate something bad or not(I didn't see her..) but she vomited about 5 times during the night...ugh! First one was very small and easy to clean up. I put her in the bathroom after that in case she did some more and I was glad I did! They just got bigger and more er.... chunky.. Lots of bedding to hose off and wash today... but at least it wasn't in our bedroom!!!

I am in the happy position of being totally up-to-date with the bills. Last month or so been struggling to maintain funds in the bank and I still had a pile of outstanding bills to pay..... I've caught up now, NOT without effort, of which I'm very proud and although a mobile bill came on Monday, ( JUST after I cleared all the existing bills!!) it's not due for two weeks and the main bill(big one!) is finished with. I must mention what the bill was... I have an account where I work...if need anything I usually just put it on there. The bill comes every fortnight but most people, including me don't pay it every fortnight religiously....HOW quick does time fly and the fortnights add up??????? I had about $600 total owing!!! I paid a bit off and then the balance of $400 something on Monday. For about a month now I have only been paying CASH and this is my strategy so I DON'T have this bill to find money to pay for when I haven't budgeted for it!!! I probably will still have a bill from time to time as when my son visits I let him fill up his car on his way out of town and he puts it on my account.... but I will pay this straight away in future...I could give him some cash and get him to pay for the fuel but I already help him with a regular amount each week so he can just put the fuel he needs on the account...if it's not $50 worth I "save" and that little "extra" can get "snowflaked".

Happy Little Vegemite

2010-05-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

What a lovely peaceful day I had today! I started it off feeling pretty tired, to tell the truth!! Poor B. coughed and carried on all night and I felt as though I didn't sleep much at all....then I felt hungry! I ate a smallish dinner at our friends' house earlier in the evening...but when I was awake during the night, all I could think about was getting up and cooking fried or scrambled eggs before work this morning!!! As the dawn approached I had to make my mind up between trying to get 15 mins more snooze or a cooked breakfast... and sleep won!! SOOOO tired... I dragged myself up at 6.45 am, got dressed for work, made a cup of tea(and one for B. with a piece of toast and honey) scoffed one down myself and off I went....at work again, was naughty and shared a sausage roll with the girls around 10am and then for lunch I saw a Chiko roll in the fridge defrosted so I had that!!! It says it has mutton and/or beef in it but I have never seen any.... it seems to be made mainly of cabbage with a few other veg thrown in(sometimes there is a sno-pea!!!!) and barley...anyway, it obviously was left from last night so I ate it..
Work was good today, I made it so by doing every single little job I could see needed doing.... before long it was time to go home...
It was still lovely and sunny when I arrived home. B. was out the back pruning trees..he stopped when I arrived to crank up the BBQ and cook a few sausages.... I told you how he loves his sausages...... I had one... with a Bundaberg Ginger Beer... later we went across to our neighbours' and had a few wines... very nice..

Home and I made spaghetti bolognaise( B's choice) and I'm about ready for bed right now!!! Awesome awesome MONDAY tomorrow again!!!! GEE, the year is flying past, last day of May coming up!!!!

Fun Being Fit !!!

2010-05-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

Today we had a "Mega Launch" at our gym.. this is when they put on a special class made up of some of each of the new Les Mills group fitness classes that we have available to do there..

We started off with Vanessa and Body Step.. did the first three tracks of Step ( release 80 I believe!!! Step is 20 years old!!!)

Followed by Nancy leading Sarah, Carly, and Pete in Body Pump... she did the squat track, chest and back and hammies .....didn't think much of the last one.. good song ( Don't Speak by No Doubt) but bit too slow for my taste.. I like really thumping up beat music to do clean and presses to.....

Sarah took Attack and that was pretty fun!!! Something a bit different from previous Attacks! Enjoyed that thoroughly!!!

Carly and Nancy took Combat together.... three tracks including the muay tay (spelling?) track which is always my favourite track in Combat...ooh! it felt a bit tough, that one!!! I'm gonna enjoy that one, I can tell!!!

Then Sarah again for Balance and we did hip openers, abdominals and hamstrings/forward bends..... good to stretch everything out after that awesome workout we just did!!!

I feel great knowing that I am healthy!!! Got a good strong back and legs and generally in pretty good shape overall!! It's fun being fit!!!

News in Brief!

2010-05-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch! But I get a free lunch everyday at my work cos my boss is a super generous kind person and I never take it for granted!!! I appreciate it very much!!! Today I shared half a sausage roll with Tracey(my bad, sigh....) and I had a handful of hot chips and a Multi V juice.... sometimes I have nothing! Yesterday, for instance, I had a coffee and a cup of tea but nothing else....

Work went FAST today, despite it being quiet days.... now I have tomorrow off and work Sunday 7.30 am till 1 pm.... my favourite shift!!!

I still have the remains of a huge coldsore from blowing my nose so often... and now getting another coldsore in the corner of my mouth! ARRRGH!!! Must be a bit run down, I know I feel ever so tired lately... unbelievably tired... have had to have a nap most days... today I came home, read three "stories" from "Notes from a Big Country" by Bill Bryson and slept (soundly) till B. came home from work at 3.......

Took the dogs for a walk while B. went for a surf..... it's too cold I think, and not wise to go into the freezing ocean when he's got a cold... but he believes in the curative powers of salt water!!! Later we went to enjoy the last of the late afternoon sun....

Came home and I thought B. looked as though he felt like one of the ribeye steaks I bought yesterday.. I had a big field mushroom and a thick slice of eggplant... we both had mash on the side and topped the lot with garlic sauce!!!! YUMMO!

Early night tonight.... Mega Launch at the gym tomorrow!!! Three tracks from each of the five NEW Les Mills classes... Step, Pump, Attack, Combat and Balance!!!! Hope I can get a spot... there is a crowd sometimes, at others not so many....

Not having the girls this week :(... I would but B. says to leave them this week.... he feels my son- in-law can't tolerate us too often... maybe he is right.. I can't believe however that they would not like us to take the girls, they seem to find weekends especially hard to fill in and amuse Olivia especially.... but well, I will listen......

Have a nice weekend everyone!!!!!!

Going Well!!!

2010-05-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Everything is well in my world..I am feeling better physically than I have in a long while... all coughing has ceased and I feel pretty normal again!! Woo Hoo! Feeling at peace and although I don't know what's around the corner, I reckon everything's going to be OK..

Went shopping today and my bill was $204. But in there was a box of Coke, a box of Bundaberg Ginger Beers, some stuff for the girls(Dora colouring in books, pencil cases (cos they've been fighting lately over the one they share here... I got Jasmine a Dora one and Olivia a Bratz one...and some more markers). I did buy slaughterhouse products again... felt bad and nearly put some of them back but I had to get the sausages for B. he really likes them, I can't choose his life for him...and my son Casey who might visit.. he will want his favourite chicken schnitzels... Also got some lamb forequarter chops and some steak ( in case B. wants to have or go to a BBQ) But I put them all in the freezer....will only get out if I have to..... if we have a BBQ I have two big field mushrooms and eggplants for me.... another thing I'm going to do over the weekend is make a big log of seitan, then I can make some kebabs and some pieces I can crumb and make into "schnitzels" for myself when they're having chicken ones... slowly I will phase out cooking meat for them.... but I have to get good at making seitan first!!!!

I was very pleased not to waste very much food at all this week. The only thing I tossed was 1/2 tin of tomato soup which I had opened to make some spaghetti... I didn't get around to using the rest and it went all funny in the tin.. should have transferred it to a container... otherwise, there were a few bits and pieces that the dogs ate and that's about it!!!! :)

I cooked a bag of beansprouts before they went off and I ate half today.. made four springrolls, that was how many wrappers were left from last week!! So no waste again!! For tea tonight we had tacos.. with one tin of kidney beans and about 4 tbls of mince that I had cooked and frozen some weeks ago.... I could have used all the mince but now I have enough left to make some bolognaise sauce for B. over the weekend...to make up the tacos we had shredded lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream and a salsa made of diced avocado, tomato and red onion. I added some lemon juice to the salsa from a really really fresh lemon I picked just this evening from Bob's (my boss) tree!!!

Respite

2010-05-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

Grateful for a "break" from the recent angst I've been experiencing in regards to my family's impending re-location overseas.

There is so much to be thankful for... at least I have had these good times with them the last few years... I have been working very hard with my thoughts and emotions and today I feel a lot better than I have in a number of days...

That's all for this post... for the moment it's better for me not to focus on the subject until I am firmly "settled" in myself... have only JUST managed to defeat negative feelings.. must stay on track and not "go anywhere" in my mental processes that might cause me to relapse.....

"Blessons"

2010-05-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

There is a blog somewhere out there that has this "word" in its title.. "blessons" ....I came across it briefly one day...blessings and lessons rolled in together!!
It's definitely "blesson time"for me these days!

Things I am learning ( some of them RE-learning... i.e.. they are not NEW blessons:

To remember to think with my head... I know there are people who say to go with your heart but I have never found this to be good.... there are times I let my heart influence my actions and I always regret it...

That even though I don't "expect" certain results or ask for them ( I've ALWAYS believed in doing things for their own sake, not to " get" any particular thing from it..... sometimes what I BELIEVE will happen doesn't...that is, I still get surprises a lot!! Sometimes not pleasant ones....

That somewhere along the line I have stopped trusting processes...don't know what to say or think about this... but I never used to be like that.. I always used to trust.... now there seems to be lot of fear/anxiety surrounding different things...

That sometimes I'm not even that conscious of what I really feel until something happens to reveal my innermost thoughts to me...

That I can and DO always gain the best out of everything that comes my way.. even if it's painful.. I am lucky and blessed to ALWAYS find the blesson present in any every situation....

:) :) :)

Not Very Vegetarian...

2010-05-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

I was just reading back over a couple of posts and was reminded that I had planned to eat potato bake and veges with bread at our friend's place the other night.. well, I didn't.... B. put some chicken on my plate and so I just ate it.....

I have failed to not eat meat some other times as well over the last few days.. I ate yumcha in Perth and also a steak and kidney pie after our lighthouse excursion..... also some of the roast chicken I got for B.'s sandwiches....

Today I ate a piece of fish at work...

Not very vegetarian... will have to try harder this week...

Blah!!

2010-05-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

Got the "blahs" today... feeling so exhausted from constant coughing and no energy! My chest just feels really weird..I was talking to a man this morning who comes in every day for his paper about asthma and he said it's possible that what I described to him is due to asthma.. if it is then I am experiencing it more and more... even though I have been told I have asthma for a number of years now I have not really suffered from this much before.. a funny feeling of a "bubble" in my throat..hard to describe exactly but it is very unpleasant.. I notice it comes immediately before coughing but there is not feeling of wanting to cough as such.... it causes me to have just a millisecond of panic as it feels very odd, not a good feeling... but then I seem to cough and it goes away.... happens over and over...worse at night it seems when I lie down to sleep... of course then I get a bit stressed and so I am not sleeping very well....

I went for a walk with the dogs just now. It's a very overcast and cool day... nevertheless it always feels good to walk. Found 4 golfballs today!! I give them to my friend Rodney. Sometimes I don't find any for days on end... I usually only find one or two at a time... but today, 4!!!

Another Fun Outing!!!

2010-05-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse... it was Olivia's idea!! She asked us to take her to a lighthouse yesterday.. I asked her why she wanted to go to a lighthouse and how did she know about lighthouses and she said that someone at school had spoken about it for news.

It was quite a drive to get there from our place! Very windy and not very warm today so we bundled up... the wind was SO strong there that Jasmine nearly was blown over and when we were allowed to go outside onto the exterior of the lighthouse, the tour guide advised people to put their glasses away and also to hang onto small children!!!

It was a very interesting tour! I was wondering what he was going to tell us when he said the tour would take half an hour..but there was plenty of information given on the history and the running of the lighthouse... quite fascinating!! The girls were so good and seemed to enjoy the tour .. it surprised me a bit as I would have thought they might think it all a bit boring...but neither of them looked bored for a second!! I complimented Olivia on her choice of an excursion for the day... was well worth it.. funny in a way that we ourselves have never been there once in all these years....just never thought of it! We have been to the Leeuwin Lighthouse but we didn't go inside for a tour..there wasn't one running at the time and I don't know if we would have if there was.. it doesn't look very exciting.. this one didn't either.. we only went because Olivia had requested... but I'm really glad we did.. it was awesome fun!!!

Excursion to Perth

2010-05-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

We took our grandgirls to Perth today and went to the WA Museum. It was totally awesome fun.. they were both squealing with delight and Olivia shouted " What else is there to see here?? I'm so excited!!" when we were nearly finished in the Discovery Centre.
We drove as far as Kwinana and then hopped on the train.. that in itself is fun for them and different as they really don't go out much with their parents. This is one of the things I feel very sad about and hope that my daughter and her partner will make more effort to take them out when they move overseas. They have often said that they feel it's "too hard" taking them both out to places(?!) and I KNOW it's not without a bit of dramas.... they do cry and fight and whine at times ... but to see them have so much fun and take so much interest in what they're seeing and doing is soo worth it and totally NECESSARY so they can experience the wonders of the world around them......I am really worried that they will not have enough outings and we will not be there to "take up the slack..."
Not going to write much today as they're still here and I want to make the most of every moment I have with them if they're really going to go... awwwww... a really really big part of me will be gone with them when they fly away on that plane.....

Shopping Day Again

2010-05-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

We have started getting coupons here now... there have been a few before this week .. I have seen them.... but I really noticed them this week as one of them was for 3 x 24 Coke cans for $40.. that's not as cheap as you can get them other times, I'm sure... Coke seems to really vary in price.. sometimes it's quite expensive and then others if it's on special it can be quite cheap! I didn't feel like forking out $40 on Coke today however and settled for 3 x 1.25 litre Coke bottle for $6 instead.

I went to the Farmers' Market today.. don't go every week, if you don't go early in the morning it's parking hell!!! ehehehhehe! I worked for a little bit this morning so I would have been too late for Body Combat... and I don't feel like doing Balance lately.... so I thought I'd go today when I finished at 9am. I wanted to get some cheese from there... it' s locally produced and quite a bit cheaper than the supermarket brands...( still a product of suffering!) but I have decided to just be very sparing with all these kinds of foods... I don't think my hubby wants to be a vegan but he's happy to eat minimal animal products which is I think, at least for now, the best I can do also....

I spent about $50 there and about $120 at Coles.. which is good for us.... (usually around $220). But I didn't get enough dog food to last till next Thursday... only till Monday.....I might be able to eke it out if we have some scraps to stretch it or they can even have some of the cat's (surplus) food..... I noticed as I was putting the bread in the freezer that I now have a lot of loaves in there.... a surplus of that as well...it'd only be dog food that takes me back to the shops.. so if I'm careful, I could probably avoid more grocery purchases too soon!!

I am wasting much less by writing about food and meal-plans and having awareness of what's actually in the cupboard and freezer. This week I only wasted;

: some pumpkin soup.... I will dig it into the ground and it will compost... I just don't like soup very much.. even though I tried NOT to make a huge pot it was still too much for us...

: a small piece of cucumber... went behind something and I didn't see it... only about 2 inches so that's not too bad.. can go into the compost

that's about it!!!! There were a few leftovers but the dogs can have those sometimes...it's better anyway for them to have some veges and rice etc mixed with their food which is primarily tinned food and some biscuits. I would like if they could have more raw food but raw meat is quite expensive to feed them... they're not little dogs otherwise I could afford it...

I bought a free range chicken today( they were on special)..... my husband (B)needs to have something for his sandwiches sometimes that is not baked beans or hummus all the time!!!! He takes some leftovers usually and a peanut butter sandwich but he needs to have one other sandwich at least.... also the grand girls are coming and they are a bit fussy with their food. They like chicken so I will roast one and then they can have that for their meal and then the leftovers can go to sandwiches for a couple of days for B. They'll be here a couple of nights so I also got a packet of frozen beefburgers as they will eat a hamburger.... no salad mind you, but a patty and sauce! B will like that too.. he still likes to BBQ sausages and hamburgers... doesn't care about steak, thankfully... speaking of which I really felt like yesterday... I didn't indulge but I was conscious of feeling like a steak with salad... as if I really really needed it.... sometimes even though I want to eat vegetarian food, I feel a bit sick at the thought of say, mushrooms... and feel like I NEED red meat...but at least for yesterday I did not eat any...

I made the awesomest spring rolls this week..... we had them two nights in a row (I had them for two lunches as well!!)and then last night the remaining filling I fried with some rice into a kind of nasi goreng which we had with some fish fingers ( nearly a whole box left in the freezer... now only about 5 left..again the girls like these...) and a fried egg.

I just made a potato bake to take tonight to our friend's... she invited us for tea and she's making roast chicken.... hopefully there will be enough veges for me to have.. that's why I'm taking the potato bake... to help her out but also so I can eat that with some other veges and some bread... I bought a big Italian loaf as well...

Just now when I took the dogs for a little walk... I have to go to work soon so it had to be shortish.... I saw this magpie that has a damaged wing and is hanging around the one house and garden where another girl I know lives... I'm a bit worried for it in case it's not getting enough to eat.. she is feeding it but how much does a bird that size need???? I noticed today that it was not standing but sort of lying like a chicken does on a nest in the garden bed in the sun. I went back to see if it was still there with the thought of perhaps catching it and taking it to the wildlife lady but it wasn't there then..... it's a lovely sunny day today but I'm worried for when it gets cold.. or will it have starved by then or got at by a cat???? There are two cats next door to the house.. it's a wonder they haven't killed it so far.....

Maybe I shoudn't interfere as well.... that's the other thought I have... it's sad but if I catch it, there's no guarantee it will live and even if it does, it will be confined most probably and maybe not very happy??? I never know what is the right thing to do in these situations....

Holiday....

2010-05-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

My husband wants to go on a short holiday...we really haven't had the kind of holiday that he has in mind for a long time..we've been to Melbourne and to Sydney a couple of times and we've had "breaks from work" a few times over the last few years but we have spent those :

minding my niece and nephew while their parents went to Mauritius

minding our grandgirls while their parents have been away

recovering from illness

When we've gone to Melbourne and Sydney we have been visiting with a purpose! Olivia had just been born, then we went and saw them again when she was about 6 months old.... we did got to see "Billy Elliot" in Sydney with a couple of friends and that was quite nice..but quite hectic as well!! We haven't done anything that involved lying on a lazyboy sipping cocktails by the pool, that sort of thing! I've often returned from these holidays, feeling in need of one!!

My husband is thinking of Bali as a possible/probable destination. I'm not very keen! Stopped over there on the way home from our trip to the USA in January 1995 and I had a few unpleasant experiences there!!! Bit of a culture shock for me after being in the States and also not being very well-travelled I'm a bit nervous of different people and practices such as having to bargain!! The thought of going there or somewhere similar is stressing me out!!!
Neither of us has a current passport at the moment so I guess that's the first step... after that I'll worry about where they will take us.... aaahahhhhhhhhh!

Goals

2010-05-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

I don't have very many goals......

I am trying to eat vegetarian

I am trying to live more and more simply

I am trying to spend less and get rid of clutter

I am trying to be a kinder person ( this ones needs WORK! ehehehehhehe!)

I am trying to get to the gym three times a week

I guess those are my goals, if I must make a list of them....I'm just not a very ambitious person.. I'm not very competitive and I don't feel I need people to admire me for anything.. I don't mind being very ordinary....this sort of "lack of desire" I have in regards to lots of things is not very conducive to "goal-setting".... but lately I feel I should set some more specific goals and see if I can have FUN achieving them!!!

I have always said that the ONE goal for me is peace of mind and I pretty much have that for most of the time...even that I suffer frequently from anxiety disorder and depression, I still say I am peaceful most of the time because I have learned to accept those things are part of my makeup...I can be happy without needing to be well...

At the moment I AM well, and feeling glad about that! But I haven't thought of anything else (yet)to add to my "list of goals"!

Happy and at Peace

2010-05-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

I feel at peace and that means happiness.... I can't control anything except my own thoughts and reactions to things( sometimes can't even do THAT !!!!! ehehehehhehehe!).

I choose the way I think
I choose the way I interpret things
I make up my mind whether to let things ruin my day or not
I can take the best out of everything and blow the rest away "with a breath of kindness"

Sometimes it IS hard to exercise CHOICE... one often feels COMPELLED to follow habitual patterns ( as in " I can't help it!!!! " mode of thinking) even when you know they're not helpful, your mind just wants to go that way.....

It's such a feeling of "victory" and so empowering when you know you could so easily slip into familiar "territory" but then you MAKE yourself do or think another more positive way!!!

Life is good.............

Good Day!!

2010-05-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

I am grateful for my job.. I only work part-time.. it's enough, in fact sometimes I would like to stop work altogether but it's better that I keep working for a no. of reasons:

1 : the extra money comes in handy

2 : it "forces" you to keep up "skills"

3 : I have friends there and also connect with other people everyday through work

4 : It takes my mind off things

I'm sure if i spent a bit of time I could think of other reasons why it's good for me to work..... but at the moment the last one is especially relevant......

It's great that when I'm at work, I seem not to be so preoccupied with the thought of my family moving so far away.. I feel useful.... I feel that I have a purpose to my life.. I feel appreciated....

AW!!!

2010-05-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to see Olivia and Jasmine today!! But no, Paul is too sick to go and visit.. there's no point in spreading his bugs everywhere and making everyone else ill as he has been the last couple of days....aw...never mind.... there's next weekend.. plus I'll be "off" next weekend and it'll be better all round.. Paul surely will be better and I won't have any restrictions on my time....
My son Casey has come down to visit .. this is not "second prize" AT ALL! My son is awesome company.. sooo fun, so wise and so great to have around in every way. I knocked off today at 1pm and he had arrived from Perth so quickly we headed into town and went to Chinese lunch. He had his old favourite "Lemon Chicken with Steamed Rice" and I had "Mixed Vegetables with Soft Noodles" . Yummy!!
It's been quite a chilly day today... most people complaining of the cold.. I like it!! I only had shorts on all day..might go and put some trackies on now though and get ready for a nice cosy evening with the two favourite men in my life!!!

My Lucky Day

2010-05-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well, one thing have in my favour is that I'm always appreciative of small blessings! Today was my lucky day for a few reasons:

1 : I scored an extra two hours work this morning so I can help Casey with his parking fine now!

2 : there was hardly anyone in the Medicare office this morning when I went to collect my refund, so I didn't have to wait very long! An elderly man who sat next to me also commented on how unusual it was to find the place so empty!!

3 : When I went to Big W to buy Paul a couple of workshirts, they were on special!

4 : When I went to the chemist to buy him some cold and flu tablets, they were on special as well! It was funny as I was standing in line at another chemist and then I thought, "Oh, I better leave the tablets till last as I might run out of money....." They were the least urgent thing on my list. I thought I'd better get the shirts first and then if I had enough money left I would call into the Australind chemist on the way home...they're usually about $13 or $14.. anyway Chemart had them for $10 today!

So I've even got some money over.. and guess what I'm going to do with that? I'm starting my "visiting" fund! I know that even if Rachel and Jon don't end up going to Seattle for some reason, they will go somewhere.. it's inevitable....they will keep looking for a place to live that they like and even if they don't find a place that is "perfect" in their eyes, there will a few more "moves" before they settle down anywhere... so whatever happens I will have to go and visit my grandgirls... I'm going to save every penny I can to make these trips possible... gives me a goal and a purpose to saving that really means something to me!!! I think I've got about $17 to start my fund off with today!! :) I'll show Olivia when she comes here next...

I had a lovely chat to my son today and also on-line to one of my newer friends on Facebook. My son is very good to talk to.. he's very understanding of me and my feelings and also very wise. I felt a lot better after speaking with him.
My FB friend Jim has a great sense of humour and makes me laugh. Apart from that today, he was telling me that Seattle is very expensive! I don't know if should mention what he said to Rachel and Jon... they might think I'm being negative.. but he strongly advised that they go to Vancouver instead...

I have to go back to work very shortly for my usual shift which is a short one on Thursdays. Casey said he might come down tonight, or tomorrow.. but whatever happens I'm using the last of some meatballs I had in the freezer to make meatballs stroganoff. I have some sour cream and I bought a few mushrooms today. They were also on special! I'll serve it with buttery pasta...yummy!

I did a bit of shopping today but only a very small one due to not having any money to speak of till Paul gets paid today. I got only that which I absolutely needed for the next couple of days. I reckon I can make it through till Tuesday or at least Monday.... today I was very tempted to get a spinach and feta pasty from somewhere.. I hadn't eaten any breakfast and I was really hungry! I even went to a bakery thinking they'd have one, but they didn't so I thought I'd try and make it home.

When I got home I had what I think I read on someone's blog is called "Idaho Sunrise"....a big potato with an egg inside.... I also added a pat of butter whe it was done.. salt and loads of fresh ground pepper made it a real treat... I feel bad about the egg but I am doing my best for the moment .....I buy the best eggs available,( the ones I feel confident are truly free range).. Margaret River Free Range Eggs......I don't know that it makes it any better though because although the lives of the chickens are one thing.... their deaths are another, and all egg laying chooks I guess have the same short life span and go to the same end....

Beware the Doldrums

2010-05-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

Got a big challenge on my hands.... to use an analogy.. my "ship" is in danger of sailing into the "Doldrums"..... I couldn't post yesterday for having to struggle all day at the wheel, and keeping watch all night so as to stay "on course" and not get blown into the "Doldrums".......not out of danger yet.. but enough of that!! I cannot afford to focus too much energy on negative thoughts.....it's very bad for me.. I've learnt this through experience and being the salt-encrusted hardy old "seacap'n" that I am these days, well, let's just say I know how to read the "wind"and "waves".....
I went to three exercise classes over two days, yesterday and today. Plus a run. Also by the time this day is finished I'll be able to add in two walks with the dogs, been for one this morning and going to go again at 3 o'clock. Good to be healthy enough to do these things again!!! I can tell that I have lost some fitness as well as strength from being sick this month..mainly upper body strength.. legs don't seem too shabby! I will have to build up again... and also I'm going to spend more time being physically active as it helps a lot with keeping my mind in a good space.
I was really pleased with myself today. I took Paul his lunch which I have mentioned I do every now and then for a treat... and I declined to eat a Hungry Jack's Whopper myself. I ordered an upgrade so I could share some of his fries (didn't think I could make it home without SOME food!) but I planned to come home and eat some baked beans and maybe oven- fry some of the new curly fries I found last week while shopping... mmm, yum! Not sorry in the least I didn't partake of the "ground cow burger".... I was tempted, to be honest... but I have a very effective means of managing meat cravings since I read that book ( "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safron Foer).. I wonder to myself whether or not I would be eating the meat from the cow that was getting stabbed in the behind to hurry it along or the cow who was having its neck cut while fully conscious, who was "crying, with its tongue hanging out"...or whether this was one of the pigs who got "chased alive into the scalding tank".. or a chicken that was "stomped on so that it popped".. ( I have asked myself if that chicken's body would still continue to be processed or whether it just got thrown out as it would have been damaged and not suitable?)...but I always can remember once when I went to buy chicken wings which I LOVE ... they were on special for $2.99 kg.. I had planned to get 4kg or something...... when I went to the counter I saw that the wings were all covered with red marks like bruises or something... every single one of them...I felt really awful and didn't buy them... it didn't stop me buying them altogether.. but that day I could not buy them wondering what injuries or transport conditions (or what????) had caused them to have this appearance......I really hope thinking like this will help me become more and more of a vegetarian.. it's just that I KNOW I just "forget" about it sometimes...or I start thinking stuff such as "Oh well, it has already been killed anyway, whether or not I eat it or not" .....I "forgot" about the poor little pig for instance that a friend served at her Hawaiiian party one time a few years ago... he was only a little baby( dead of course, thank goodness, I wouldn't have coped if they had killed him then and there..oh God, no!!).. they roasted him on a spit, whole.. and you could see every little feature of his face, all golden and crackly, but still with eyelashes and eybrows and his little eyes were closed.. oh!!! brings tears to mine just writing about it now.. I tried really hard not to eat meat(again) after seeing this poor little creature, that night I ate the salads that were available and shortly afterwards I embarked on the 8 months of being vegan ......but I forgot about him after a while, I wasn't able to keep the vegan diet up and eventually I just forgot about the little fella until recently when I was reading my diary entry I wrote about him...
Well, that's about all I can "safely" write today about such things... I'm going to take that second walk with the dogs now and when I come home I'm going to start preparing the ROAST for dinner.. yeah that's right, the ROAST... a yummy Sanitarium VEGE ROAST!!!!!!

:) :) :)

Olivia and Jasmine

2010-05-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

These are my two beautiful grandaughters. Olivia is 5 and Jasmine, 2. I want to write about them as I 've been thinking about them all day today... they will be going away soon to live in Seattle if their parents get their visa. I can't see them not getting it so I guess it won't be long till I'll be waving them all goodbye .. aw... I'm sure going to miss them ALL but my daughter and son-in-law are still young, with plenty of ideas and talents, and of course, they have dreams and things they want to do in their lives... plus much as I love those two kids, they aren't my kids.. I've had my turn!!
Olivia keeps saying to me "Nanna, I have to stay with you more often cos I'm going away soon." I tell her " Oh, nanna will miss you very much" and she says she'll come and visit me every Christmas and every Easter! So cute! She said on Saturday, " I think this is the last time I'm coming to your house nanna, or maybe one more time.. I don't know.." aw, I think there will be a few more visits yet...... my daughter said even if they get the visa they can't go right away as they can't enter the country until 30 days before Jon starts his course..... so it'll be Novemberish by the sounds of it..Jon's course will be 3 years so they're hoping to stay for that length of time...but then I wonder, will they try and get permanent residency? Must be an exciting thought, life in the USA....we can visit of course, but it won't be very often.... have to get Skype for sure when they go...
I'm going to try and see them as much as possible though in the meantime...we picked them up on Saturday this time and took them to the pool where we all had lots of fun. That is a cool pool they have in Bunbury! Olivia wanted to get some hot chips from the cafe there so Paul and I took turns getting dressed while the girls sat and ate chips at a table and then I took them out to the car, put some dry clothes on them and we went to Chinese as well! Jasmine was making everyone smile exclaiming about her fried rice, she loves fried rice very much. Olivia ate fried rice too, even thought she had said she didn't want any and she ate a prawn dumpling as well. We got a few yumcha selections but not as many as usual, I probably will not ever be a 100%vegan or even a vegetarian.. but I don't want to be eating things made out of creatures very often...
We came home here and they had a lovely time pottering about in the garden. At the moment the two of them really enjoy filling up the birdbaths... after that Jasmine did coloring in while Olivia played with Polly Pocket and then we went to the park where they played on the equipment but also with the rocket launcher toy we got them from the Australian Geographic shop. That has been a really great toy, best $15 ever spent!! We had to tear Jasmine away from the park.. she never wants to stop playing these days but we were there quite a while..whatever time we were there would not be enough for her lately!! The next day she threw another big tantrum when it was time to leave our friends' house. Paul took them there for a little visit to give me some time to clean up and our friends have a little boy who has lots of cool toys as well as lots of outdoor stuff to play on... Jasmine was having a ball and didn't want it to end!! Aw, she came home "complaining" and crying to me about Grandad.. ehehehhehehe, the big meanie!!
They both were very tired on Saturday after a big day....they went to bed quite early.. our neighbours who are also our cousins came over for a few beers and Olivia fell asleep on the sofa watching "Bananas in Pyjamas". I promised she and I could sleep on the couch that night. Jasmine went to sleep in her room very easily. Later though, (I don't know if she had a bad dream or not), she woke up a couple of times and came out. I tried to put her back to bed but she would not go back to sleep..... even when I lay next to her the only one who fell asleep was me!! Ehehehhehehe! When our visitors left, and Paul went to to bed he came to check on me and she was still awake so I just put her next to him in our bed, while I went and slept with Olivia.. they both still love to sleep next to someone..... even when they're at home with Mum and Dad, it's the same.. oh well, who cares? It won't last forever..
They are so much fun, Olivia woke up really early Sunday morning and told me she'd seen "The Eagles" on telly the night before after "Bananas" had finished.... also asked me where the hot water bottle was.. I'd told her we could make a hot water bottle up but I didn't get around to it with Jasmine waking and all.. anyway it was pretty hot sleeping on the sofa, the weather has not really got THAT cold yet... we will make one next time I told her.. after a while of "snuggling" which she loves very much.. cuddling and laying her head and half her body right on top of you, (it's very cute but gee she is rough! Bangs your head and kicks you with her big legs!!!) we could hear the birds and I let her get up to play with the Polly Pockets quietly... it wasn't long before we could hear Jasmine and Grandad talking and so we all jumped into the big bed together and had a lovely time talking and playing and looking at the birds outside etc.
Will miss these times very much when they go away, but at least we will have these lovely memories....

Very Tired!

2010-05-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

I am just making this post short... been very busy the last couple of days. Have had the little grandies with us but also still not feeling 100% and hence, no posts!! Have been in agony from the "injury" I did to myself, coughing while leaning forward in the car.. really not very funny... I have been almost a cripple from it... took the girls to the pool yesterday and although I was wondering how I would manage it, moving about in the water actually seemed to help!! I'm a bit better today but suffering with extreme fatigue and tiredness... and so that's all for today... I' m hoping with the start of a new week tomorrow that I will feel better on awaking in the morning....

Shopping Day Again

2010-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hmm, will have to review this shopping business... went off this morning as if to war... bank account is not still not looking very healthy, and so I thought I better try and have a very cheap week..... also it's Mothers' Day on Sunday and I have to get my mum something and possibly my daughter...
I checked in the cupboards last night and I really can make it through till next week without some of the things on my "master list".. (the things I said I'd buy every week regardless so I never run out).... these are the things I had enough of:

toilet paper: 2x packs of 12 rolls

dishwashing detergent : 1 full new bottle

washing powder : 2 full boxes

tea : 3 full boxes

toothpaste : a whole new tube

I thought there was enough soy milk and Nuttelex etc but I bought some more of these.. as well I had 2 boxes of Paul's cereal that he likes(Special K) but it was on special so I bought another box. It goes very quickly I can tell you!

The main thing I really went for today was dog and cat food and bread, otherwise I felt I could have lasted till NEXT Thursday.....of course I did not just get these things! But my shopping was only half the cost of my usual so I guess that's something.

Now I will have to be extra imaginative to make meals out of what I have there already as I didn't buy much in terms of extra food for us. I bought some shampoo that was on special for my son, two packets of Cadbury mini treats for Paul's lunches and also cos my grandgirls will be here this weekend, some sausages for Paul for when we go to a BBQ on Friday night ( He doesn't really care for steak and I'm going to make bean burgers for myself), some frozen curly fries for the girls, some frozen veges(1 kg) and that will have to do us for the week. I have 2 packets of frozen stir fry veg already and the silverbeet and Chinese cabbage in the garden are yielding a few leaves now..eggs, mainly again for the girls, (they really like their eggs), a tin of baked beans (good for a sandwich), lasagne noodles ( I might make a big vege lasagne for Mothers'Day lunch), cheese, some savory shapes in case anyone drops over, tissues( the ones I like are on special), 2 packets of biscuits(on special) and some coconut milk powder( in case I want to make a curry again.. the one I made the other day with the chickpeas and spinach was absolutely delicious!!!!).

With the dog food I had one can left so I bought 4 more and also a dog " roll" for variety. As well a packet of cheap mince and I'm cooking that now with a packet of rice my boss threw out at work. It had a few dead pantry moths in it but I hate waste and it could do for the dogs... better than just going in the bin, I think... I'm going to grate some carrots and potato and add that and some parsley for "greens", that will do them at least 2 meals.. maybe three mixed with biscuits...
I had enough cat food for the week and then some but the sachets my cat likes were on special so I got a pack of 12.

Last night we didn't go to the movies.. Paul came not feeling terribly well and the only thing that we might have been keen on seeing was "Iron Man 2".. but we haven't seen "Iron Man 1" so we decided to give it a miss. When he's not well though, my husband really only likes to eat soup but not the creamy kind like the pumpkin soup I'd made earlier in the day...I'll have to knock that off for my lunches and snacks over the next few days....
The vege pies.. well, I froze 2, ate one yesterday, gave one to Paul for lunch today, and he can have another tomorrow(with other things) and there's one for me to eat today.

For dinner last night I made him THIS nourishing concoction: (Serves 2)

Small handful of dried sliced shitake mushrooms

2 skeins of noodles or packet of 2 min noodles

2 sachets of miso soup or tbls of miso

one stalk of spring onion and 7-8 cloves of garlic chopped

tsp of minced ginger

I mild chilli or small amount of hot chilli chopped

little bit of oil to fry plus a little sesame oil

1/2 bunch of bok choy or similar vegetable (I used 3 leaves of the young Chinese cabbage from the garden and the rest of the spinach leaves I had( about a cup and 1/2)

1/2 -3/4 cup of either chicken strips or tofu ( I used Fry's vegetarian chicken style strips)

Boil some water, enough to cook your noodles in and for your soup, if using 2 min noodles wait till the end, if using other noodles, put them in now..

IN another saucepan, heat a bit of oil and fry the chicken, or tofu.. if raw chicken make sure it is cooked before you add the garlic, chilli, ginger, and some of the spring onion

Add in the vegetable , the mushrooms and enough of the hot water for how much soup you want, add the miso and season to taste with pepper and salt if you need more....

Put yr noodles into your soup bowls, and divide the vege/chicken/ tofu/soup mixture between the two, spooning it over the noodles. Garnish with the remaining spring onion and drizzle over some sesame oil....

Serve and enjoy the goodness!!

Vegie Pies and Memories

2010-05-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

Years ago I used to bake vege pies and quiches and make a nice pumpkin/root vegetable soup and I "sold" these things to the people in my Buddhist group. I called my little venture " Great Bliss". The profits went to the centre. Another time I held a one "man" cake stall outside my local supermarket and sold loads of goodies I had made all myself to raise money for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit to Perth ( I think it was 1990?). I made all kinds of cakes, caramel popcorn, all kinds of cookies, shortbread, cheese scones and sweet scones, my vege pies and quiches and cheese straws, homemade dog biscuits.. all kinds of stuff... I had made some of the things a day or two ahead and the rest of the things I stayed up all night to bake fresh...I raised about $360, probably not much more than I spent on the ingredients for the food, but I think it was good because it gave people a chance to hear about HH's visit and also to create good karma by purchasing the food and therefore contributing to this special event....
(sigh)............I feel I was a better person in those days.. what a thing to feel...been trying to do something about that lately...
I haven't made these pies for YEARS. But I remembered them this morning when I was thinking about cooking the vegetable pie tonight. Paul thought we might go to the movies and out to tea this evening as we haven't been for a while but he's not feeling 100% so we're not deciding till he gets home from work. I was thinking that the pie is not as nice heated up as it is fresh out of the oven (cos of the potato topping.. you know how I dislike leftover potato) but if we don't go out tonight, I will need to have some dinner ready. Then I thought of these pies which are individual and don't have potato on top, they DO have some grated cheese, ( well, you could leave it off but I don't think Paul would like them as much). They are very "portable" and also freeze pretty well.. I thought if we do end up going out I could give Paul one for his lunch tomorrow, I could have one for my lunch and I can freeze the rest...( I had to freeze the two leftover serves of the vegetable crepes from the other night... he didn't want them for his lunch yesterday and I didn't eat mine either since I had to go in and BUY lunch instead!!! ehehheheheh!)
My vege pies are very easy to make :

Chop up onion, and an assortment of veges.. swede, potato,broccoli, corn, carrot, pumpkin, cauli, celery , whatever you have..... about three cups.

Heat a little oil and saute the onion, then toss in the veges, about 1/2 tsp of cummin, 1/4 tsp of curry powder and move around till the spices are cooked.

Tip in about 3/4 cup of red lentils and mix in. Add some water.. not too much, you can add more but if you put too much you will have to cook everything to a mush before the excess evaporates.
Cover and cook till all is tender...season with S and P and some vege seasoning ifyou like..... if there is too much liquid (it should be moist but not sloppy),leave the lid off and cook till it's right.... not too dry either as you're going to bake them soon, so the filling will dry out a bit more then as well.

Put aside to cool and make your favourite pastry... I used about 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup minute oats, 2 tbls oil, about 150 g butter or margarine, 1/2 tsp salt and hot water. I sprinkle the salt into the flour and rub the butter/marg in, then add the oil and enough HOT water to make a dough...(Thanks to my late Aunty Violet for teaching me how to make HOT water pastry.. sooo easy...)

If you have little pie tins use those or you can make a big pie... flour your working surface, roll the pastry out and fit it to the greased tins or pie plate. Bake in moderate oven for a few minutes just so the pastry is parcooked but not BROWN... fill with vege/lentil mixture, grate some cheese over the top( optional) and I like to garnish the pies with chopped parsley, a small pieces of tomato for colour, some sunflower seeds and a sprinkle of paprika. Bake till nice and brown enough for yr taste.. Check by lifting the edge of the pie with a knife to see if the bottom of the pastry is cooked, if not bake a little longer towards the bottom or on the bottom of the oven.

If you've made individual pies you can take them out of the tins and cool on a wire tray, if it is a big one you can serve it from the dish, or wait till it's a bit cooler and firmer and then cut into pieces and remove.

If you have any pastry left over, give it to the kids to play with and bake shapes, they can put some seeds or cheese to make savory "crackers" .. I made a "pizza" with mine and ate it for breakfast!

Enjoy! :)

OOPS! Nearly!!!

2010-05-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

Whew! I had trouble signing into my blog to post just now... it said that my blog has ceased to function or something for some reason.. something to do with cookies!!!! Well, thank goodness I found my way back in.. I had upgraded Firefox last night.. maybe that had something to do with it.. anyhoo... good day today... I had to go into town to get my repeat filled for my antibiotics and I thought " Hmm, this could be dangerous.. money in pocket... feeling a bit like I need some winter clothes etc.." W-e-e-ll, I didn't do anything " naughty".
Even went into Coles, saw all sorts of specials ( cos I shopped at Woolies last week..) and resisted all temptations to buy any!! Pat on the back for me! I only got what I went in there for which was:

some Playdoh to add to a present for our friends' little boy.. it was his birthday and I got him a Playdoh Pizza SET and some extra Playdoh but then I gave the Playdoh to Olivia and Jasmine to play with... had to replace quickly before I see him!!

some Poise light bladder control pads... how dreadful.. this violent coughing makes me wet my pants.. ran out.. still coughing a lot so need to get some more before " shopping day" to save on washing...

some cat biscuits... suddenly emptied the packet and didn't know whether I'd have enough to last till "shopping day".... have plenty of "wet food" but my cat Gandalf really likes his dry biscuits... even when he's got wet food, if I haven't given him any dry food he "calls" for it.... Lucky me! When I arrived at the pet food section, the biscuits he likes were on special.... I could have got a bigger bag of them which worked out at 3oc per 100g and the ones on special, the smaller bags work out to be 39c per 100g... but they were 2 bags for $6 so I only had to fork out $6 today rather than $17 something for the bigger bag... I haven't got so much money to spend this week so that works out better for me this time!!!

Every week or fortnight I take Paul some bought lunch for a treat. He generally takes some leftovers from dinner the night before and some sandwiches for lunch everyday. I did have some of the vegetable crepes I made for tea last night over.... BUT!!!!! the cheeky devil didn't like them!!! HOW could he not love the delicious yummy pumpkinny, sweet corny, yummy baked GOODNESS that was my crepes last night??????? OH....... because I put the last 5 BRUSSEL SROUTS in there!! He HATES brussel sprouts... well, gosh, there were only five in the whole casserole and I chopped them up too... well, you know he picked out every little bit... said the crepes were not nice either... I don't know WHY???? We were eating exactly the same dinner and I thought it was yum yum yummy!!! All vegan, no cheese or nothin' and it was still bloody AWESOME!!!! The only thing I can put it down to is the brussel sprouts and the fact that he is fighting off the lurgy I must have passed to him... he wasn't feeling the best yesterday, poor little man... oh well, win some lose some... but it meant that I had to go and buy him some lunch as I didn't have anything else much to offer since he rejected my crepes....
What we had was a doner kebab ( Paul) and a vege kebab ( for me). Not even felafel, just salad and hummus and garlic sauce.. very tasty though and healthy too.
I'm making the chickpea curry tonight! I asked him if this would be to his liking and he said he likes beans and pulses... well, halelujah for THAT!
The other positives of the day were, I had to get a couple of birthday presents which means I had to go into my favourite store (ACQUIRE) but I was very disciplined AGAIN and only got the presents.. I didn't buy anything else....was very tempted as they had a $179 cutlery set out for $39.95 and I LOVE cutlery for some reason but hey, I didn't NEED it so I held myself in check...
I also went into IGA to see if they still have Tofutti Sour "CREAM" but no, they did not... I did buy a marrow bone each for the dogs as they are not always available... and I bought two packets of chow mein noodles that aren't available(that brand) in Coles. I'm thinking also, that I might be able to do only a small shop this " shopping day" if I can stretch out the food I have.. the noodles can make another meal and I might be able to eke out the week with what's in the cupboard. I'll still have to go and get my "master list" but maybe not so much other stuff this week if I'm clever!! Which I am!!!!

New Week! New Start!

2010-05-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

I love Mondays! I love the fact that there's a whole brand new week ahead of me.. unsullied and unspoiled and more or less a " blank slate" that hopefully I will make some sort of success of!!!
Having said that, I truly believe that you can " start over" at any time, any moment.. there's no need to wait for Mondays, New Years or any other special time to be able to take a look at where you're at and if you're not going in the direction you want to be, turn right around and start heading that way!!!
Today was an especially nice Monday as I was able to make it to work and I felt pretty good! I'm not going to forget about taking a bit of extra care with my health this week but it felt totally awesome to be able to finish my shift and come home still feeling like I could tackle some household chores as well! My shifts are pretty short actually. I work either 7.30 am till 1pm (morning shift) or 1pm-6.30pm(afternoon shift) usually.. that's only 5 1/2 hours at a time. Rarely I'll do a bit longer but never as long as what most people have to do each day! So I'm pretty lucky!! As well I work for really kind, nice and generous people who are my friends. And my workmates are the same.. all really great people and friends outside of the workplace too.
I'd really like it if I didn't have to go to work at all outside of the home all the same. There's just SO many things that I would like to do each day and I always seem to run out of time.. so not working I imagine would give me those extra hours.... but having said that, I do enjoy the social aspect of my work and also I think it's really better in the long run to work even if it's only part-time for a few other good reasons...it's good to have the extra money, you can keep up whatever skills you have, maybe learn new ones...gives you a sense of being of service to others than your own family... that sort of thing.
Today at work I had a grilled field mushroom and fried onion sandwich with Djon mustard for lunch. It was yummy (and vegan!) :) For breakfast I just had a piece of toast and vegemite mainly cos one of my tablets has to be taken with food. I'm not a breakfast person. I prefer to eat something about 10 am. For dinner tonight, I'm going to make the vegetable crepes I mentioned in my menu plan last week. Oh, I didn't mention yesterday that my husband went out for dinner last night, as it was our neighbour's birthday and we were invited to join them at a restaurant to celebrate, but I didn't go as I wanted to stay home and not give anyone my germs...also make sure I was well-rested and recovered enough to go to work today.... My husband came home and said he had ordered 6 oysters Kilpatrick(his favourite) and a chicken parmigiana and as well he had cake that my neighbour's daughter brought for dessert. I enjoyed a fettucine with garlic, mushroom, olive oil and spinach leaves at home....that was absolutely delicious ( and vegan!) :) I cooked up the mince I talked about and it made two containers which I put in the fridge to cool... and you know what? I'm going to freeze them for another week. All this week I'm going to cook vegan! And guess what? It's time for another menu plan!!!

Meal 1 : Chickpea and spinach curry ( must hurry to use all the spinach before it goes bad!)

Meal 2 : Lentil and rice dish ( I read about this yesterday while browsing.. it's a Middle Eastern dish... can't recall accurately its name at the minute... megadurra or something..will check it up and post tomorrow..)

Meal 3 : Vegetable pie... with a pastry bottom and mashed potatoes on top!

Meal 4 : Rice with tofu, vegetable and cashew stirfry

Meal 5 : Vege patties and salad

Meal 6 : Sanitarium vege roast with baked vegetables and gravy... yum yum! There'll be some leftovers for sanwiches too! WIN!

Meal 7 : Pasta with lentil or split pea sauce

There are THOUSANDS of tasty vegan dinners waiting for me to cook them! There's seven of them right there!

Happy Happy New Week everybody!!!

Progress Report

2010-05-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

I am slowly progressing I hope, towards a state of health again..... since I started the antibiotics my coughing has reduced significantly. It hasn't ceased however and I am still having very sudden, violent bursts of coughing, one of which this morning caused me to put my back out. Also still having some very odd feelings that are not very pleasant...hard to describe but it feels like there is a bubble of air in my neck.. as well, the trembling and feeling feverish and nausea is still happpening, although on and off. One minute I feel OK and the next I feel dreadfully ill again...I've been doing the right thing though and haven't gone out or done anything I shouldn't. Normally I would still go out and do stuff despite feeling sick but I thought it's about time I see whether or not resting does help you get better faster...I haven't been able to go to work but I think I will try and go tomorrow..... that will help me know whether I'm really as sick as I feel from the infection or whether it's from anxiety over being sick, which I am also experiencing....
I've still been cooking and doing a few household chores like keeping up with the washing. Last night I made the mini pizzas I had included in the menu plan I posted recently. They only take about ten minutes to assemble and about the same to bake and they are yummy! Tortillas make a really nice crispy thin base. There were 6 left in the packet and I used them all. We ate three pizzas and there are two left as I ate one for breakfast. I changed my mind about using the two chorizos I had left in the fridge... I felt they were a bit "old" by this stage, although they still smelled fine but I wasn't going to risk eating them.. so I gave one each to the dogs. As well I found two Lebanese cucumbers all slimy in a plastic bag that I had "missed" when looking through the crisper the other day.. had to throw them in the compost...slap on the wrist for wasting!! There was a slice of bacon left and I chopped that and put on the pizzas and now there's only the packet of mince there that I have to cook and not waste. We had some of the sausages on Friday night with baked potatoes and coleslaw and Paul cooked the remaining three at breakfast this morning. He ate two.. Raymond got the last one as Honey had already made her "dash" and succeeded in getting back into the house!!! After I finish the mince tonight and maybe tomorrow, I will be making vegan/vegetarian meals.
I haven't decided what I'm going to make with the mince yet. Even though I want to " finish" it I still want to get the most mileage out of it for the budget's sake...
I might just cook it but not add anything except for onion and garlic and then I can make two meals out of it but different flavoured ones, eg a shepherd's pie and then maybe an Asian style noodle, veg and mince dish.

My Plan

2010-05-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've decided to do a few "actions" in regards to yesterday's post. Last night I had to force myself to think about things other than what I had read in "Eating Animals" at least ten times. It made me realise how much of my waking life is spent thinking about stuff that stresses me out to the max. To the point of bringing on a full-blown panic/anxiety attack on many occasions. ( I also think a lot about terrible things that I read in the news or see on television). I was a bit surprised to find that I had a bit of trouble finding something good to focus on... in the end I thought of a calendar I have that was given to me by my friend. It features pictures of Thai monks and the tigers they care for in their sanctuary. The calendar is outdated but the photos are so beautiful and peaceful and give me so much hope and happiness... visualising the pictures in my mind's eye last night helped me transfer my thoughts from hopeless and hurtful images to ones of joy and loving kindness.
I awoke with some solutions and strategies I can put into place that will make me feel happier and more at peace with myself. I do not think that I can be a vegan full stop. Not yet... I will try.. I am not sure how I am going to go about a few things, but I have decided that;

1. I will eat vegan as much as possible. One day at a time. That means I will not worry about what I'm going to do next time I'm at a restaurant with people. I will deal with that THEN and I will do my best THEN.

2.I will not read anymore about animal cruelty. I don't think there is much that I do not know about and I am glad that I know or else it would not make me think twice about purchasing and eating the products of suffering. But it makes me feel so sad and sick and hopeless which does me no good and does not help any animal either for that matter. I will look for stories of kindness to animals and kindness in the world and think about those instead. I am confident I will not "forget" the awful stuff.... but I shall keep those things in their rightful place, not allowing them to destroy my peace of mind or my hopes for a better future, not giving them more energy than they already have over LIFE.

Oh.. that doesn't sound like much but I think if I can do these two things at least it will be a good start. My awesome husband says he is happy to eat vegan at home. He did without any complaints for 8 months during my attempt at vegan life before....he did order meat when we went out but not once did he ever ask for meat at home. He did say a bit of cheese would not have been unwelcome!! I will probably still eat a bit of cheese myself for the time being... but there are a lot of totally vegan meals I can make that will make dishes requiring cheese or eggs occasional rather than regular....

Eating Animals

2010-04-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

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"

2010-04-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

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.....

2010-04-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

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!!!

My mum's birthday!

2010-03-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the end of the month today.. the year is zipping by fast! will be Xmas again before we know it! Today is my mum's birthday. I'm going with my son who's home on uni break and his friend, to take my mum to lunch and her friend Roy will also join us. Don't know where we're going yet.. Mum's choice since it's her special day!
Wherever we go I'll have to remember not to order anything that will interfere with my Rotary bowel scan test that Paul and I are starting tomorrow.. for understandable reasons you can't eat any red meat or rare meat two days prior to collecting yr samples ( hee hee) but for more unclear reasons you can't eat broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, horseradish and various other things... have you ever done this test? It's pretty cool being able to have access to all this stuff in this good country... for $8 you collect samples from three consecutive bowel movements and send them off to the lab and they tell you whether or not any occult blood is present.... pretty basic and far from exhaustive testing but nevertheless some sort of proof that at least you are not bleeding profusely in places you shouldn't be!!! Anyway at the risk of giving too much information.. Paul can more or less finish his collecting in one day, but I will take at least a couple to complete mine!!!! ehehehehehheeh!
Bit of a cloudy and cool change in the weather from yesterday. I took off early to walk the dogs and saw my little pigeon friend again. Was hoping to feel up to a short run today but I hurt from head to toe after Pump on Monday night. After not going for over two weeks I used the same weights I usually choose, probably not advisable but I'm a glutton for punishment and consequently every single muscle in my body is pinging! I couldn't even raise my arm high to give someone a wave at the golf course!! Maybe this evening....have a good day everyone and be nice to your mother!!!

Hello there!

2010-03-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hi and welcome to my brand new blog! I'm Michelle AKA Oilymils, a nickname given to me by by son-in-law cos he reckons everything I like to eat and everything I cook is full of oil ( or butter or cream....) and that even the milk I use is oily hence the name Oilymils. "Mils" is the nickname we give to "milk" , we play funny games like that... another example of this re-naming is we say "mees" for "meat" and "bees" for "beer".. silly, I know but a little bit of silliness never hurt anyone!!
I'm going to write about anything and everything on these pages.... just like keeping a diary which I have always done anyway.... the only difference is now someone else can see it! I like to use Facebook but my son informs me that I write way too much on there, hence I'm going to start using this blog instead. Then if anyone wants to read they can visit, but their Facebook homepage won't be filled up with my numerous posts!! So hi again and thanks for dropping by!