Friday, January 31, 2014

Ahh Fridays, how I love them!  I'm so ready for the weekend by the time it rocks around.  Must be this getting older thing, the time seems to be going faster and faster each year. 

Well today has been the peak of kind of a cumulative effort over the last couple of days.  It's made me realise that my body does not like a high protein diet and/or foods that aren't entirely natural and are perhaps a little processed such as meal replacement shakes or protein bars.  

Yes, I admit to thinking I would see if there was a slightly easier way to get things moving.  But alas, no.  My body has revolted against this idea and is not happy at all.  

So it will be back to what I know best and what seems to keep my body happiest.. plenty of fresh fruit and veggies (well more veggies than fruit for me), along with a little meat with minimal processed foods.  

I know I should have stuck with what I know works well for me, but I was longing to see some downward movement on the scales, not just the status quo so I thought I'd try the 'easy' way for a couple of weeks.  Lesson taken on board!

And while we're on the subject of health, yes I did my yoga nidra today.  It is so worth the effort for me.  

Well it seems this weekend will be a time to play with the little people in my life.  My two grandsons who are almost 5 yrs and 18mths are coming over for a couple of hours to play, then my 2 yr old granddaughter is going to come join me for a sleepover.  

I've only seen the boys once since Christmas (last night) and this will be the first time I've seen my youngest granddaughter since Christmas too, so I'm looking forward to the fun we're going to have.

That's about it for me today.  I will update you on whatever shenanigans the little people bring tomorrow.

Today's pic is another sunset pic taken out by the water near where I live.




Another post that is a smidgeon late!  Yesterday was a rather full day and I was feeling exhausted so had an early night.  The early night was helped along by no internet connection, so all quite convenient really.

I've missed my yoga the last two mornings, so planning to be up and at it again this morning.  As in later this morning, not at 1.42am as it is now!

I did a couple of family drop in's on my way home from work.  My eldest son's wife loves lychees and I had a bag of them from a co-worker, so she was pretty happy with her gift.  My eldest grandson started school earlier this week and has been having an afternoon nap every day as soon as he gets home, then still going to bed without issues.  He's loving school though so far and is quite excited he's made some new friends.  He looks too little for school in his school uniform.  

I dropped in then to see my 3rd son who looked almost ready for bed at 7pm! Seems like he's been having some very long work days and they are catching up.  He spent some time at the beach last weekend with a pair of flippers and had a blast.  I will hopefully get to spend some time with his little girl this weekend, who is 2 yrs old and absolutely adorable.

I bought a CD that a friend recommended tonight, Lady Antebellum (not sure of the spelling but I think that's pretty close).  Do you know it?  They seem to have a nice sound.

Well my weight is stubbornly not shifting, although it's remaining steady or doing its usual 1kg fluctuation either way.  So frustrating!  And my body is reacting more to different foods, either that or I'm just picking it up more.  So that's been a little challenging to try and navigate.  It seems my bod prefers just good old plain meat and veg.. and not much else.  It's not too keen on wheat products or things with nuts or garlic or capsicum or onion.  Sometimes I can tolerate very small amounts, other times I pay for the effort. Ah well, such is life eh?  

I'm getting excited about my quick trip to NZ, although there is plenty to do in a short space of time.  I have a few appointments lined up now, so I don't think I will have the opportunity to do a test run on one of the sightseeing activities like I was hoping to do.   

Well, given the wee small hour of the morning, I'm going to head back off to bed now.  Enjoy your day/evening.

Today's pic was taken a couple of years ago and is of a rather cheeky possum that used to reside in my son's garage for a while.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Date night with Miss Seven!  My they grow up so fast.  We talked about the idea of going around the world with our cuisine, after I explained that it was a little tricky for us to actually travel around the world at the moment due to her school and my work.  

She wanted to start with Australian food, perhaps because she already had in mind where she'd like to go.  Of course, we went to her favourite 'restaurant'.. Sizzlers!  My stomach does backflips at the thought lol... but all good, she loved it and we talked about where to next.

So given at the end of Feb it will be Chinese New Year, our next adventure will be to the Chinese New Year celebrations in the city!  She's quite excited about it, so that's a good start.  I've mentioned other festivals to her and she seems on board to try those too.  We decided at the end of our nights, then we choose what cuisine we'll do the next month.  Should be lots of fun!

My day otherwise was of the crazy busy variety and once again, I won't be too far out of bed.  How is this anyways?  Two posts in one day!  Admittedly one was because I missed last nights, but it still counts.  

I have a feeling there was something else I was going to mention, but whatever it was has completely slipped my mind so I will finish here for the night.  Have a wonderful Wednesday if your day is just start and for those like me who are soon heading off to bed, may you have a terrific Thursday.

Today's pic was taken last year from the Lantern Festival at Southbank.

PS.. argh I'm having so many problems with the date and time stamp.  I've been manually adjusting with each post and updating because I couldn't get it to cooperate.  Tonight it's finally cooperated and adjusted to Brisbane time (aka Qld time Aust), however, that means it's changed all the date and time stamps back to whatever it would have been previously.  So I give up and will just have to pretend all the previous ones are correct!



Oops, I'm a little late with my blog post today.  I was wiped last night and although I opened it up to type, I was struggling to get my thoughts together and stay awake long enough to write, so I decided to go to bed and write in the morning instead.

So now is in the morning!  It's 6.20am, I've done my yoga nidra and am feeling ready for the day.  Albeit still a teeny weeny bit tired but a couple of late nights will do that to a person.

Yesterday was pretty full on at work.  As I mentioned in an earlier post (I think), it's been like incident central for my team lately and yesterday was no different.  Makes it hard to get other work completed when your day needs to focus around managing incidents and safety planning.  Keeps you on your toes though and makes the day go faster.  Plus it's always interesting.

I've received a couple of replies back from the emails I sent to NZ about my retreat, so that's been encouraging.  I will have to start looking at what the costings are going to be so I can start putting some feelers out there for the retreat.

Tonight is date night with my gorgeous granddaughter, so I'm looking forward to that.  Well I best be moving along and getting ready for this thing called work.  I hope your day is full of awesome.

Today's pic was taken a few years back in Hobart and is of some delicious Tasmanian oysters.. made kilpatrick by yours truly.  They were mouth wateringly delicious!



Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Welcome back!  It's kinda nice knowing there is at least one person out there reading this.  Not that it was the intention when I started, I shared it with a couple of people as an 'I'm going to do this' but kind of expected it would drop off after the initial day or two's reading.  So it was to be more like an accountability tool for myself more than anything.. but it's turned into more of a diary or journal as well and I'm ok with that.

Today was a public holiday here in Aus, so I enjoyed a slow start to the day, then got in and did some chores, sent a few emails in relation to my NZ trip, before wandering off to have lunch with one of my friends.  Nice to do the social thing and I went from lunch to another friend's house for a catch up.  So feeling very social this weekend!

Of course we had some girls talk, as girls do and even though it was two separate conversations with two separate women, our talk kind of ended up on the same topic.. the topic of not understanding men and their ways.  Of course, there is no offense intended to any men out there who may be reading!  I guess it must come back to that whole Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus thing.  We didn't come to any conclusion, so I guess we will be left to wonder!

I mentioned a few days ago that I was considering taking just a little step back from contacting a musician friend as much.  Ok, so you may have figured from my lack of saying and having read through the lines to come to the conclusion my musician friend is a he.  And you have also probably figured he's been a little more than just a friend.  I'm not sure how to describe what we share, other than just a beautiful friendship that has gone a little further and has created some beautiful memories, however, I think we are in very different places in life which is what has led me to question my level of involvement.  I'm still undecided (read changing my mind on a daily basis), so will sit with it a little longer.  My indecision is more about not wanting to lose the friendship than anything else.  Ahh gotta love the state of indecision! (well perhaps not).

Well after on that deep and meaningful note, I'm off to bed.  Today's pic is of some pretty cool cloud formations at sunset out near where I live. 


Monday, January 27, 2014

Ah Sundays, gotta love them!  And what a great weekend it's been so far.  As I mentioned very late last night, I saw the musical of Rocky Horror Show starring Craig McLachlan with my sister.  It was one of the best shows I've seen in a while and Craig was hilarious, not to mention a fantastic singer.  I could easily go and see it again!

After we surfaced this morning, my sister and I headed out for brunch at a local coffee shop and chatted some more, doing lots of catching up and sharing of plans, before she headed off back home (about 2.5 hrs drive down the road).

Just after lunch though we had a quick wander in a little gift shop nearby and I found some awesome little inspiration cards that I can use in my work with women.  Perfect for women who do too much and don't put themselves first very often.

The remainder of the day was spent napping, well not all of it, and then I spent a large chunk this afternoon doing research for the NZ retreat I hope to run and finding things to check out when I'm over there for my very fast trip. I'm actually wishing I had an extra day or so, as I have an awful lot to achieve in a day and a half!

I've also had a two day break from yoga nidra (oops naughty!), but am feeling reasonably ok which is not the reason I didn't do it.  I slept or laid in and then kind of left it too late because I had things to do.  I know.. it's a very slack excuse.  I promise I will get back into it tomorrow. 

Now I have my car back, I'm aiming for date night this week with Miss Tiara! All systems go this time I hope.  I'm looking forward to seeing her reaction to my around the world cuisine idea.  

Well that's about it from me for today.  See you same place tomorrow!

PS.. have I mentioned that seeing the Northern (or Southern for that matter) lights is on my bucket list!  This has always blown me away.  Who knows? Maybe one day I can run a retreat over there and this can be part of it. Wouldn't that be awesome!





Sunday, January 26, 2014

Oh my gosh, what can I say?  Rocky Horror Show with Craig McLachlan playing Frankenfurter was absolutely awesome!!!  I loved it.  

A fantastic night out with my sister who arrived here around mid afternoon, long enough to have a chat before we got ready to head into the city for the musical.  One of the best nights out in a while.  I would highly recommend it.

Lots more happening, but I will fill you in tomorrow.  For today, I'll add two pics!  One of Craig McLachlan as Frankenfurter and the other as himself.  He is a fantastic performer.




Saturday, January 25, 2014

Well hello again!  Guess what I have discovered?  There is a dashboard thingy on this site.. that tells me there are people reading... or at least glancing at the page.  And there are usually 10-12 of you.  But.. the exciting thing is, there was a couple of days where there were 40-50 of you!!  

Most of them have wandered off again, perhaps my writing style is a little too boring or it's a bit of the same old same old.. as in yep, did my yoga nidra today, weight's doing this or that, feeling great, or this happened or that happened etc etc etc.  

I was already thinking (yep, that was the sound you could hear!) last night about mixing things up a little more.  So it's not just a day in day out diary type of thing, but it actually talks about other bits and pieces along the way.  

Like my friend Tez for example.  Tez has been a friend for about 10 yrs now and we actually met online when both of us were going through some tough stuff.  He lives in a different state to me and we've spent time together a few times now (3 times now to be precise) and I will be going down to spend some time with him in a few weeks.

There's never been anything romantical between us, we have totally opposing views on some things (have to say that was an interesting!! time when we discovered that! but the friendship survived), but we have had some fun times laughing and discussing all kinds of deep and meaningful things.

In the early days of our friendship when we were frequently exchanging emails, I was dubbed Ernest.  This happened a few times and I couldn't figure out what on earth the Ernest thing was about.  Eventually it got the better of me and I asked.  Apparently it's because I wrote long emails, so I was nicknamed after Ernest Hemmingway which later was shortened to Erny.  So my emails would come addressed to Dear Erny.  It's eventually changed to Maz over time, his shortened version of my name.

Anyways, the first time I visited Tez, he brought me my favourite chocolates (and no, he didn't know they were some of my favs.. I'm very picky with chocolate so it was pretty amazing he chose some I love) and took me out to dinner at some Asian restaurant somewhere in Sydney (that narrows it down a bit!).  He ordered some steamboat thing I think it was called, delicious of course and we had plenty of conversation.  I was painfully shy and uptight, sort of fresh out of a long marriage.. if 18 mths later counts as fresh.. but we managed to pass the evening well enough.  

I went to the bathroom and came back to the table.  As I got near the table, he suddenly stood up, grabbed my hand and said C'mon Maz, time to get out of here.  And dragged me out, yelling quick run!  Hurry up Maz.  Run!  Run Maz Run!  So I'm running as best I could - I don't normally do running, but I was doing running of a sort - and all the time thinking what the hell is this about. Did we just do the bolt without paying?  Far out, first time out with him and he's got me doing something that will get me into all kinds of strife. Imagining being put in the lock up somewhere, trying to run faster, thinking holy sh** what have I just done?

And then I realised, hang on, no one is chasing us, yes one or two people are looking oddly at us but no one is terribly disturbed, no shouts or anything coming from the restaurant and he by this time, is leaning against the car laughing as he sees me putting it all together.  Cheeky bugger was just doing a little stirring and just wanted to see what my reaction would be!

The remainder of my visit was not so adrenalin inducing and revolved around visiting a variety of graveyards with the challenge of finding the oldest headstone.  He of course, would later say that's all I remember about that weekend.  Visiting graveyards.  Because I hadn't really visited a heap of graveyards in one day for any particular reason before. 

One of the things that amused me at one of the little graveyards we visited, was that some of the headstones were so old the writing had worn off... except for the masoner's name.  So you didn't know anything about the person below, but you did know which masoner was responsible for the headstone! 

Ironically it's something I don't mind doing now and find kind of interesting. I've dragged other people along to this crazy little past time too but that's a whole other story.    

However, running out of a restaurant and visiting graveyards wasn't all we did or all I remember.  We visited the Kiama blowholes, ate prawns near the water, had dinner at some little pub with a crap band and discussed rock formations of all things (and no, I can't remember all the various ones) spent time on the beach, had drinks at a golf club that overlooked the water (next to a graveyard too of course) and the countryside made me think of what I imagine Ireland to look like.  Green rolling hills and cliffs where the sheep are grazing and the water washing up against the rocks below.

Each visit has been completely different to the last, so yes, I'm looking forward to seeing my friend again as it's now been almost 3 yrs since we last caught up.  So I'm thinking today's pic should be one I've taken during one of my visits.  See you same time same place tomorrow!



Friday, January 24, 2014

Hello out there to anyone reading!  Today has been one of those not so flash days where I was feeling not so chipper.  I went into work for a little while, then turned round and came home again before I got worse and was unable to drive safely.  

I slept on and off for the afternoon, made some chicken and sweet corn soup (because it doesn't take much energy, tastes good and you feel like you've had something that will help) and didn't do a great deal at all other than rest.

Inbetween feeling blah, I did manage to complete the research questionnaire on grief and loss that I'd been working on and I've been able to send it out into the world.  Hopefully there will be enough answers for me to get a good overview for the projects I have in mind.

I can't say I have anything rivetingly exciting to report on today though.  I did my yoga nidra this morning and have found another meditation that I like the sound of also put together by Dr Gillian Ross, so I might give it a try tonight.  
I heard a song recently that I kind of liked, I hadn't heard it before.  It's called A Quarter After One by Lady Antebellum (not sure of spelling?).  I had heard of the group but wasn't familiar with their music.  

I've been contemplating whether to drop off the contact with someone in my life that I care very much about.  This someone is a professional in their field, an amazing artist, and someone who's company I enjoy very very much.  So what's the hitch you say?  

The hitch is this person eats breathes and sleeps music.  Married to it.  First love.  One true love.  Couldn't live without it.  Makes up an enormous part of their life.  It's their work and a big part of their recreation.   Are you starting to get my drift here?  And to be honest, that's a big part of the appeal (aside from the fact they have a good sense of humour, we share some common interests and I love that we can talk about anything).. I love their passion for music (and helicopters and star wars but that's a whole other story).  It spills into all aspects of their life. This passion makes them the artist and person they are. 

Now when I say drop off contact, I don't mean drop off the friendship or drop the person out of sight and out of mind.  I like to think the friendship will be enduring whatever comes and I think they will always hold their own special place in my heart.  

As it is now, I hear from this passionate musical soul somewhat regularly usually by text message, perhaps once a week.  It used to be more, but it's dropped off a little over recent times due to the busyness of their life and new ventures they are aiming for with their music.  And we only catch up, as in spend time together, when they pop up for air which of course, depends on what's going on.  

So at various times in the past, that has varied anything from 8 or 9 mths between seeing each other, to as frequently as every couple of weeks, or once a month.  For example, we had a long stretch where we saw each other fairly regularly - regularly being anything from fortnightly to monthly or so. More recently, it's been a 6 month break which was followed by a beautiful catch up just before Christmas.  

Even when there has been big breaks between seeing each other, there has always been some type of contact, usually by text message.  Often instigated by me.. hi, how you going, what have you been up to, what about this heat,was thinking of you so just saying hi, did you get that storm, etc etc... although plenty of times by them too.. hey there, how are you, what's been happening, life has been crazy busy here, I stopped and my body crashed (funny about that when you push it so hard!), I'd like to see you, hugs, etc... but you get the picture.  

So what do I do?  Keep it as it is?  Which is what I've been doing for a while as I made the decision a long time ago to just enjoy the time we spend together when it happens, without stressing about what it is or isn't or anything else in between.  And that's been fine.  It's worked well and I have absolutely no regrets over that.  

I'm just wondering if it's time I stepped back a little.  Perhaps give a little space.  Maybe not message as frequently (currently once every few days, or occasionally it may be a message a couple of days running, then a gap of a few days or more).  I don't know, I'm undecided about what to do.  As I said, I love the friendship we share and the time we spend together is always awesome.  I imagine we will always remain friends.  Is it silly I'm even thinking this?  I don't know.  Perhaps I'll just sit with my undecidedness for a little while longer.

Ok, so now that's out.. what pic can I share with you today?  Hmm I think a garden pic from just after I moved here.. before it was as overgrown as it is today!  I can't believe how much the trees and shrubs have grown since then. Not nearly as much room for my flowers now, although I still manage to get them in there somewhere!

Until tomorrow, enjoy :)






Thursday, January 23, 2014

Hello again!  Oh my goshes, I can't wait til this heat breaks a bit.  I have friends in America and Canada who are struggling with a severe winter and here we have the other end of the stick with a crazy hot summer.

A little bit of excitement today with the news my car was repaired and ready to go, so I was able to collect it this afternoon.  There is still a part missing, but that needs to be shipped from Japan so they will call me when it's in and I will just have to go over to have it fitted, but it's not a major thing so all good.

I have somehow deleted or hidden the original grief and loss questionnaire I'd put together, so I'm currently working on a new and updated version. Hopefully I will have it ready to send out tomorrow night.. only a night later than anticipated.  The response I've got has been wonderful and will no doubt be helpful.  

This evening has been spent in the company of my two former school mates over dinner at a local coffee shop.  Lots of fun, laughter and silliness to be had as always!  Sometimes you would think we were back in highschool.  

I'm feeling very frustrated with the weight issue tonight.  I'm being very careful, have been getting more exercise than usual and nothing is happening. I've not come off wheat or gluten yet and I'm wondering if that's hindering things.  I know it appears to be causing some other digestive type issues for me, so I'm going to try and have a completely gluten free day tomorrow and see what kind of a difference that makes.

My external supervisor was talking of traditional Chinese medicine yesterday and mentioned that eating or drinking cold foods is not always a good thing for our bodies and can affect our digestion.  I think I might do a little more research on that one as it sounds interesting.

I had to skimp on the yoga nidra again today, did half of it but didn't have time to do all of it.  I'm looking forward to a less rushed start in the morning, so it shouldn't be an issue to get it done.

Well it's late again, so this will be another short one.  Perhaps I need to be writing these much earlier in the evening!  Enjoy your day or evening.

Today's pic is of a small water colour I did a few years back.  It remains one of my favourites so I thought I'd share it with you tonight.







Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Dear Reader

Today I actually slept in.  Well technically not slept in but slept right up until my alarm went off, which meant I didn't have time for my yoga nidra before work.  I'm planning to give it a go tonight and will hopefully be able to finish it before drifting off to sleep.

I had external supervision for work today and my supervisor has been checking in with me around the retreat planning.  Given none of this had started until a meeting with her late Sept/early Oct, she has been almost as excited as I've been about the progress.  Today she told me what I've achieved so far was inspiring.  When I said to her that I didn't know about that, because I haven't actually run the first one yet, she pointed out how much I'd achieved in that short space of time.  

From mentioning what I'd like to do, to going ahead and taking baby steps, each one forming a springboard for the next step.  I guess when you look at it that way, there has been a lot done.  

From just a thought, to acquiring two mentors, planning two retreats, having one almost fully booked with attendees, a trip to NZ coming up to complete the plans for the second retreat, draft programs in place for both retreats, considering a 3rd retreat, ideas for monthly workshops and a possible venue for same, coming up with a business name and registering it, reshuffling the facebook page I already had for belly casting to encompass that and become more in line with the business I'm hoping to create.  

When you look at it like that, there's been a lot done in almost 4 months, so it was nice to be reminded of that.  I also reminded her that her input and telling me she would hold me accountable was a huge motivator for me.  She tells me she's going to continue to hold me accountable!  

I will have one more session with her in 2 months time, before she heads off on 6 months travel so by the time she returns, I will have run at least one retreat, may have workshops up and running, may have some writing done and will be about to host the NZ retreat all being well. She tells me she will be looking forward to an update upon her return.

I'm also wanting to do a little research for a project I have in mind.  I'm looking to have peoples input on their experiences of grief and would like to send out a questionnaire to anyone who may be interested.  I'm unsure if there is a way to email from this site, so if you would like to participate and feel comfortable leaving me a comment, I will find a way from there.  Or is it better for me to provide an email address here?  

Yesterday and today have been very hot and humid again.. I have to say I can't wait for the cooler weather.  I ok with some warm weather but I'm not really terribly fond of summer.  Any other season is just fine by me.  I am enjoying the fact that the trains and buses I catch every day have great air con.

Well that's it from me tonight.  Today's pic was taken just over 4 yrs ago at Mt Wellington in Hobart, surrounded by snow.



Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Dear Reader

Mondays!  How is it that they come around so quickly??  Perhaps it's because I had such a great weekend.  The simple pleasures we enjoy in life, can surely be the big things I find.  

I was back in the groove this morning and did my yoga nidra first thing.  I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again.. I love the way I feel afterwards and it keeps me going for the day.  I seem to have more energy and have a lighter step so to speak.  

The CD I use is one put out by Dr Gillian Ross.  She has a few different CD's with meditations or yoga nidra on them and the one I'm using is the first track on her Relaxation CD.

Today I did the public transport thing both to and from work, which entailed a total of two bus rides, four train rides and three 5-10 min walks.  If you're wondering how does three work because I it doesn't make sense to have 1.5 walks each way, it's because I got off the bus one stop early this afternoon and walked from there home so did two walks this afternoon.  I enjoyed the fresh air, although it was a little warm.  Thankfully I wasn't doing it in the middle of the day when it was very hot.

I tried another protein bar today, but had also had a fruit smoothie an hour or two earlier which is not something I normally have.  I ended up with the most godawful stomach pains that hung around for a couple of hours, but I'm not sure what was the culprit.  I'm going to try the smoothie again tomorrow, but leave the protein bar and then do the opposite on Wednesday if I'm still not sure.  My guess is the protein bar as it was a different flavour to the one I tried yesterday and I think there were more nuts in today's one.  

I meant to mention something else over the weekend and that's some calendar reminders on a workbook and calendar a friend of mine puts out.  It's called the 2014 Create Your Amazing Year .. Life Edition Workbook and Planner.  Anyways, on the calendar for Saturday, it already had written... connect with a friend.  I realised later, that's exactly what happened!  Only I connected with friends.. plural.  

The meeting was planned at the instigation of one friend who has been very ill and she asked me to do the planning.  It was heaps of fun but I've already mentioned it in Saturday's post so won't go into it again. However, I just wanted to mention the serendipity type thing of realising the 'connect with a friend' thing that was already on the calendar and I didn't notice it until afterwards.  Ok.. so I know that's probably goofy, but it gave me a smile.

The other thing I came across online that made me laugh was finding a course called Write Your Damn Book by Paul Jarvis.  It has a series of lessons (I've only done the first so far) and as you complete each lesson, you send for the next one.  I'm unsure how long it will take, but I'll keep you posted.

I have also realised that when I'm catching the train, I need to make sure I have a book that will keep me interested or one that I'm not going to get through all on the same day!  Today I read Prosperity Pie by SARK and found some good ideas to follow up on. 

Well I'm going to call it a night here.  I hope you've also had an awesome day.  

Today's pic is one I took a few years back one morning as the sun was coming up.  I love the way the clouds are reflected in the water.  This used to be my 'back yard'. 




Monday, January 20, 2014

How ironic!  As you know, my car is out of action due to an accident earlier in the week.  This weekend, with no wheels, I seemed to spend more time away from home then I do when I have a car!

You already know about yesterday (ah see?  a blog can be informative!) so I'll share my today with you.  I did a couple, not many, just a couple of chores this morning before my friend S came to collect me around 9am and we headed up to the Sunshine Coast for much of the day. 

One of said chores was cleaning some grease out of my carpet.  My pedestal fan broke at 4am yesterday morning, thankfully I heard it otherwise the motor may have burnt out.  I thought it was just dust that had fallen on the floor but when I went to vacuum it up this morning, I realised it was actually grease.  Yikes!  

Thankfully there is google!!  So I have had an attempt at cleaning it up and have done reasonably well.  It may need another go, but the worst of it has gone, so relieved about that.

Our road trip was fun.  We laughed ourselves silly, pretty much on and off the whole day, had a lovely time wandering the local Sunday markets, then went to the beach and dipped our toes in.  Well at least I did, S preferred to sit and enjoy the view rather than get her toes wet.  I love to walk on the sand and feel the water over my feet.  The water was at just right temperature and was refreshing despite the heat.  I managed to get slightly pink from the sun, but nothing too major and it will hopefully be gone tomorrow.

Today I missed my yoga nidra again, but am thinking I may do it before bed instead.  I've enjoyed another day of feeling rather well and had the most delicious fresh berry ice type of drink while I was in Caloundra today.  

I'm not a fan of food bars, doesn't matter whether they are muesli fruit or whatever, they're just not something I particularly like.  However, S had brought along a protein bar for me to try and it was actually ok.  So I'm going to try another couple during the week and see how I go with them.  They can be used as a meal replacement or as a snack between meals.. say if you eat half at morning tea and half in the afternoon.  

We were on our way home when I had a message from the son who lives with me to ask if I'd be home for dinner.  It turns out he and his girlfriend were cooking and they served up a delicious lemon chicken breast with steamed veggies.  What a treat!

So the weekend seems to have flown and it's already Sunday night.  How does that happen so fast?

Today's pic will be of Golden Beach, where I enjoyed the feeling of the sand beneath and the water over my feet.  Such a luscious day.



Sunday, January 19, 2014

Today has been a good day!  Yoga nidra with full awareness this morning and felt great afterwards.  And felt well pretty much the entire day, so that was a bonus too!  Barely any niggly chest stuff at all.  Makes such a difference.

Weight is stable, not doing anything at the moment which I guess is ok but I'd rather see it going down.  However, I probably shouldn't be so obsessive about weighing either and just leave it to check once a week rather than every morning just because I'm impatient and want to know.

Have I mentioned I have an awesome friend?  Sharon.. the one I went to school interstate with and didn't see for many years until a few years back.  I think I told the story earlier on.  I'll check later and if I haven't, I'll share it soon.

Well since I've not had my car, Sharon has picked me up from work the last two afternoons (which is about an hour's drive from the area we live in) and today, I was meeting with friends about half an hour away for lunch, so she dropped me off there too as she had a meeting on in that area.  I'm quite happy to catch public transport but she wouldn't hear of it.  How spoilt am I?

The friends I met with today were former work colleagues and one I hadn't seen for just over 3 yrs, the others I saw at my birthday.  The one I haven't seen, has been very ill over the last 18 mths so it was awesome for us to catch up with her and spend some time talking and laughing together.  It was a great afternoon.

Tonight has held plenty of laughs with one of my sons and some of his friends, they are hilarious when they get going.  All have warped senses of humour.  

And to round off a nice day, I heard from my favourite Italian friend and exchanged some lovely messages.

Today's pic is one of the gorgeous cat I used to have, Mozart.  He was ever so cute and beautiful and cheeky and naughty and fun and nice to snuggle up with.  He would sleep in the strangest most awkward looking ways and stretch out as much as he could. 





Saturday, January 18, 2014

Yayyy for Fridays!  This week seems to have been crazy busy and gone crazy fast.  Can you believe we are already half way through January!!!

My little car meets with the assessor on Monday, who should give the go ahead for the repairs and the repair shop has advised me it should be all fixed and ready to go by the end of next week.  Once the assessor has been and done his/her thing, I should get approval for the use of a replacement car.

It will be an enforced weekend of stay at home... well not quite, as I'm meeting some former work colleagues for lunch tomorrow and may be heading up the Sunshine Coast with another friend on Sunday.  Either way, I won't be driving so there is relaxing to be had there!

I got in and did my yoga nidra this morning... all the way through.  But maybe I kind of sort of dozed through little bits of it here and there.  In other words, there's parts I don't quite remember lol.  Ah well, it happens but I finished it so all good.

I powered up the hill again from the train station to work, I'm loving this feeling better thing.  Although I will admit I had a few niggles during the day so I imagine they are just part of the settling back down thing.  

My youngest son arrived back in the country today.  I spoke with him not long after he landed and it appears he's brought back a surfboard with him.  The things you buy when on holidays!  He used to have one a while back, I'm unsure if he still does but obviously he managed to get in a little surfing while in Bali.  I haven't clapped eyes on him yet, but I imagine that will happen sometime over the weekend.

Well today's post is going to be a little shorter because it's Friday and I'm a little tired.  How sad is that! lol.. ah well, such is life when one has a full on week.  Will catch you tomorrow!  

PS.. I thought I'd add a little eye candy for tonight's pic.  Ahh Jeffrey Dean Morgan..  and those dimples!!



Friday, January 17, 2014

Hellooooo out there!  I've been planning an early night each day this week and I think I've progressively got later instead!  Ah well, I might put it on the to do list for next week.  And see if I can't manage a sleep in on the weekend.

I caught a bus to the train station this morning and good lord maud, the mozzies were fierce at 7am!  And it was already quite humid.  It was blissful to get on the bus and enjoy the air con.  A bus, two trains and 90 mins or so later and I was ready to walk up the hill to work.  

The walk that a week ago I could have done, but not without the brick on my chest feeling.  Today I did that walk without any issues!!!  Yay for medication that my body is happy with.  Not sure what the heart rate and blood pressure were like, but I figure no chest heaviness has got to be a good thing.  

I couldn't get out of my own way this morning when I first woke, so didn't do my yoga nidra. After starting off so well, this week has been bit of a slack week for it. However, I did do some surreptitious (isn't that a great word!!) deep breathing on the train so surely that would have counted for something.

But for me, walking that hill was surely the highlight of my day.  It's not a huge hill, however, it has a steady gradient.  It makes an enormous difference not having those side effects.  I still get the occasional issue, but it's occasional and each day it's less.  So getting up bit of a hill can be a very exciting thing!! 

Today was one of those crazy busy type days, I seemed to have one meeting after another at work with barely enough time between them to catch my breath.  All necessary but just a little full on.  I have to say I'm very glad that the first week back was so slow and I was able to do some catch up stuff before this week's onslaught.  All good though, I did take half an hour out for lunch which I managed to put together before leaving this morning.  Just some chicken and salad, but yum.

Ohh and do you want to hear the really exciting news?  The bit that surprised me and put a big smile on my face? My weight is back within cooeee of the pre hormonal fluctation.  Just .2 difference.  How awesome is that!  And quicker than it usually happens too.  I know you shouldn't weigh every day but I get a bit paranoid when that fluctuation happens, even though I know what's behind it and it will happen again, etc etc.. I just like to know it's gone again.

As for my little car, due to the crazy busy day I didn't get an opportunity to call the insurance agency for an update.  So it's on the to do list for tomorrow and I will hopefully have some idea of how long I will be without my little beast.

I attended an interesting health seminar tonight which provided some things to think about and also some suggestions for things that I could probably quite easily incorporate in my life.  So going to suss that out some more and go from there.

My youngest son would be about to get on a plane I think and head back from Bali to Aus.  It sounds like he's been having a great time, going from the facebook messages he's been sending me.  A few big nights by the sound of it, but has done some exploring by scooter as well. 

I have to say that the biggest glitch with me doing my blog late in the evening, is I'm all over the place.  The chatter or blogging doesn't always follow a logical path, it's more as it comes into my head than anything else. Hopefully anyone reading this can cope with that!

Well I'm about to head off to bed.  Who knows?  Perhaps tomorrow night I'll get this done a smidgeon earlier!

Today's pic is a very special one to me.  The organ pictured used to belong to my grandparents and when I was growing up, they always said it would be left to me.  I used to play when I was younger and I loved this organ.  When they passed, the organ ended up going elsewhere.  Then 6 months ago, I had a call out of the blue from a relative saying they recalled I loved this organ and would I now like it.  Would I??? Of course!!!  So in September, it arrived to live with me.  Oh my gosh, the emotion it evoked.  

I haven't played for so long and I'm incredibly rusty.  The organ needs a little work but it's still a beautiful instrument.  I need to find someone who knows how to work on these old beauties.  Anyways, I just wanted to share this on my little blog.  

I hope anyone reading has had a day with some awesome in there somewhere.





Thursday, January 16, 2014

Hello again, it's me here :)

Well sleep was very elusive last night.  I slept fitfully but didn't get much at all, probably due to all the excitement (for want of a better word) yesterday afternoon.  The last time I looked at the time it was around 1am, then I must have dozed off for a while.  Woke a couple of times, dozed again, then was wide awake at 5am but feeling like I hadn't slept at all.  I tried doing my yoga nidra but kept dozing during it and just couldn't focus, so gave up on it because I figured if I was dozing, then I'm probably deeply relaxed lol.  

Today I started chasing up all the insurance rigmarole that goes along with having had a dingle.  I was sent off to an authorised repairer about 15 - 20 mins drive away.  They are to take photo's and do a quote for the insurance company.  

Once they came out to examine my car, I was told it was illegal to drive it as is so I would have to leave it there.  Sigh.. what a pain!  However, they were kind enough drive me home.  I'm hoping to find out tomorrow whether I have the use of a hire car as part of my insurance coverage while my car is being repaired.

I didn't end up going in to work at all today, I did some work from home during the morning and then once I came back from the car repair place, I felt absolutely exhausted.  I guess the lack of sleep finally caught up.  So I arranged to have the rest of the day off work and I slept.  Like a baby for just over 2 hrs until the phone rang.  I've also dozed on and off since then and am feeling ready for bed now.  Fingers crossed for a great sleep night!

I also had to postpone date night with Miss 7, so will reschedule that once I have wheels again.  

Exciting news is that dang hormonal weight fluctuation has almost reduced completely and I'm less than half a kg away from the starting weight. Very happy with that because it seems to have dropped down a little faster than usual.  

The other good thing about not having my car, is I wanted something from the shop up the road, so it forced me to go for a walk.  It's not a particularly long walk, but it's a little uphill and enough to get the heart rate up a bit.  It was really nice walking at dusk, there was a light breeze which made it that little bit cooler.

Well I'm struggling to stay awake here and be coherent, so it's probably time I wandered off to bed.  Thanks for reading and I hope you've had an awesome day.

Today's pic is one I took in NZ of the lupins growing wild at Lake Wanaka.  It was windy that day so the lake looked a bit like surf, but you can still see the beautiful blue of the water, some of the green-ness on the mountains and the snow capped peaks.  Sigh.. it's only 7 weeks til I go back there for a few days.


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Ah dear reader, what a day it's been today!  One of those crazy mixed up days where all kinds of things happen.  Firstly the good stuff, followed by the oops stuff, the frustrating/amusing stuff, the happy/sad stuff, the holy dooley stuff and back to the good stuff.

Good stuff is my weight is returning to the pre-hormonal fluctuation number, so happy about that.  The oops stuff, is I slept in.  I actually slept until just after 6am!! Can you believe that?  Awesome!  Obviously I made up for the lack of sleep the previous night.  I still woke once or twice but went straight back to sleep. Sleeping in meant that it didn't give me enough time to do my yoga nidra this morning which was a pest but I had a good day which I'm guessing is more to do with the amount of sleep I had.  

I got into work this morning to find we had some computer issues.  As in not being able to log on type issues.  And when eventually we were able to log on, we couldn't access emails.  Then when the emails were sorted, it kept freezing.  And it was rinse repeat from there on and off during the day. Makes it interesting and keeps you on your toes. 

Happy news is one of our clients gave birth to a beautiful little boy with down's syndrome (not known about until birth).  The sad news is he also has a hole in his heart and will remain in hospital for up to 3 months or so.  

Then the news this afternoon of another client, who's husband has been missing for a few years so she's single parenting 6 children aged 17 yrs down to 3 yrs, is in intensive care in hospital.  So some challenging times ahead for these two families and lots of positive hopeful thoughts going their way.  All in all it turned out to be a surprisingly productive day given the computer issues.

The holy dooley stuff was having a car accident this afternoon on my way home from work.  I can't say that was on my list of things to do today!  I'd been stopped at traffic lights at a small intersection and there were two vehicles in front of me with the one directly in front of me towing a boat. As you cross the intersection, there is a service station on the left which is the same side I was driving.  

Lights turn green, everyone starts to go, vehicle with boat gets across the intersection, and just before service station driveway, stops!!  And decides he might turn in.  It appears the poor guy didn't have indicators in his car either. I brake suddenly to avoid him, hear the 4WD drive screech behind me as they try to brake and wait for the impact, hoping I wouldn't be sandwiched between the boat and the 4WD.  

Thankfully I wasn't, but the rear end of my little car is a little sad and the bumper is kind of hanging awkwardly.  I also have the imprint of the other driver's number plate in my bumper.

The guy with the boat drove into the servo ahead of us and according to the driver who ran into me, slowed down, kinda gaped at us and then drove through the servo without actually stopping!  

The good stuff from that is no one was hurt, both vehicles are insured, I was still able to drive despite the damage, my son was able to tie the boot down with cable ties and find where to turn off the interior light for the boot.

The amusing thing is that it was all caught on the service station video camera so they will be able to get the boat driver's plate number from the video if the insurance company needs it to verify what happened.

The lady who hit me was lovely and not nearly as scattered in her thinking as I was, which was very helpful!  When we were leaving she's says, I'll go first this time so I can't get you again which made us both chuckle.

And lastly, the fun stuff.  Tomorrow night is supposed to be date night with my eldest granddaughter who is 7.  I'm not sure if that will go ahead, it will depend on when my car goes in for repairs.  But driving to work this morning I was thinking about how we could do these date nights once a month over the coming year.  And I had a great idea! (even if I do say so myself).. I guess it will also depend on how Miss 7 is too, but I think she'll be up for it.  

I was thinking we could do around the world date nights!  As in a different type of cuisine each time.  There are so many options here in Brisbane, so this could be great fun.  Some we could do as day trips or attend festivals, but the variety is definitely out there. 

We could start with Aussie and I can present the idea to her and she can be the chooser for next months cuisine adventure.  We could have yum cha in Chinatown or attend Chinese New Year somewhere in the city, Italian food and gelato from La Dolce Vita near where I work followed by a trip to the art supplies shop across the road, we could attend the Greek festival, go to the German restaurant near where I live.. or the French one or the Mexican one or the Thai one or maybe the Indian one... we could go to a Turkish restaurant and see some belly dancing, we could go to the Persian restaurant where the food is delicious, and then there's the Eritrean restaurant that is run by women and all the money goes back to their country to help other women in need.  So many choices!  And the possibility for so much fun!!  

Well that's about it from me for tonight as it's getting late and I'm ready for bed.  Thanks for reading :)

Today's pic is some of the damage to my little car.  Probably doesn't look much from there but from what I can see I will need a new bumper, rear door and repairs to the boot.



Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Hello again!  

First up and just for the record, I kept my promise from last night to do my yoga nidra today.  I didn't sleep well last night and I was so tempted to try and get some more sleep rather than do it, but then I figured I'd still be tired anyway, so I may as well do some deep relaxation instead.  I have to say it's very well worth the effort, even when I have a case of the blahs.  It's making such a difference in my energy levels and the way I feel generally through out the day.

Today was day 2 back on my former meds.  Although I didn't sleep well last night, I wasn't nearly as tired today as I was yesterday surprisingly.  The other symptoms I was experiencing have eased off and I'm hopeful they will be completely gone in a few days.  It's a nice feeling being able to walk up a slight hill again without feeling the not so pleasant effects.  

I've been drinking plenty of water too, so I imagine that's also helpful.  I've always been a fan of water, especially icy cold water in the summer time and then room temperature in winter plus a mug of boiling water with a slice of lemon in it every morning.

Have I mentioned I'm off to see the musical of Rocky Horror Show soon?  One of my sons gave me two tickets for my 50th birthday and my sister is going to to come for a visit and see the show with me.  Can't wait!  I love musicals, especially those with a bit of comedy in them and it's been a while since I've seen one.  I think one of my favourites has been Menopause the Musical.  If you haven't seen it and you have the opportunity to do so, I highly recommend it!  It's hilarious.

I seem to have a lot of plans for this year already, it's shaping up to be a very exciting year.  The one thing I've noticed though, is I think I need more annual leave from work ... I have too many things I want to do!!  Ah well, all good... I will just have to pace myself and make the most of the long weekends that pop up.

I'm deciding on whether to squeeze in a 3rd retreat this year.  Perhaps somewhere mid year and run another one here in Aus.  Decisions decisions.  I'd love to do it, but it's seeing whether the interest is there and if I can work it in.  I'd also like to run it in a month that's not stinking hot too .. I'm such a wuss when it comes to the heat!

The other thing I'm interested in doing is running a monthly workshop somewhere locally.  Just a 2-3 hr type of get together once a month.  I have a few idea's floating for that and had planned to really nut it all out while I was on leave over Christmas, but was so unwell nothing much really happened.  So I'm wondering whether it matters starting a bit later.. as in not right at the beginning of the year.  What do you think?  Does that sound silly?  I need to get my head down and tail up with the planning of it if I'm going to go ahead.

  
By the way, one of my favourite sayings at the moment (actually, I have a lot of favourite sayings) is... follow the dreams that inspire your soul.  That one is really calling out to me at the moment and seems so appropriate given all the thoughts that keep popping into my head lately in relation to the dreams I'm aiming to fulfil.  

Anyways, I'm going to finish this one here and head off to bed.  

PS.. another one of my dreams is to go to Italy some day.  The pic I'm going to add is one from Venice that is beckoning to me.

PPS.. have I mentioned that I also want to learn to speak Italian?  I have some books and had a few lessons a couple of years ago, but life got in the way and I didn't keep it up.  I found I could read it better than I could speak or understand it though.  

PPPS.. Italian lovers are ooh lala.  Um should I really mention that here I wonder?



Edited to fix all the flippin' errors I had in here tonight!
  

Monday, January 13, 2014

Hello dear reader!  

Or is that being overly ambitious and somewhat presumptuous to think there may be readers out there?  That is readers other than myself when proof reading and going back in to adjust the time for each post to whatever time it is in my neck of the woods when I post.  

Today I was very excited to be going back onto the BP meds I was taking before all the shenanigans started.  While they may not get it quite down to the levels my GP wants at this stage, I'm very over the side effects and the not feeling good that I've been experiencing over the last 6 weeks or so.

I have to admit I had very high expectations today.  Probably too high.  I was expecting to feel normal.  With loads of energy.  And hoping I wouldn't need time for the last lot of meds to get out of my system and for my body to adapt to yet another change - the 4th change in 6 weeks to be precise.  

Sadly, I was somewhat disappointed.  While the worst of the side effects were gone (a big yayyy!), I was extremely tired.  For no good reason.  Well not to my way of thinking.  Yes it was hot and yes I'm hormonal.  But jeez, c'mon... I've been crazy tired on and off for the last 6 weeks or so!!  Today was meant to be full of beans day, jumping out of my skin with energy day.  

Ah well.. a reminder about that whole patience thing and the need for baby steps.  Give my body time to do it's thing.  Sigh.. patience is not always my strong point.

So the upside.. did I mention I got to restart my former meds and I'm excited about that?  Oh yeah.. that's what I've been yapping about for the last few paragraphs.  That would be the excitement thing talking there.  

The other upside, I clearly had a smidgeon more energy because I managed to pace myself and do some chores around the house.  Riveting stuff!  Oh and I napped.  I had a great nap.. a couple of hours type of nap.  The kind of nap where you still feel a little tired afterwards, but that's ok because it means you should still sleep ok tonight type of nap. 

And while I was doing these chores, I finally got around to doing the one that's been on my list since before Christmas.  Clean out Ivan's tank.  Poor Ivan (goldfish) has been swimming around in grotty water, not to mention the slowly diminishing water level.  He was spending much of his time sleeping in the corner of the tank.  

You should see that crazy little critter now!  He is so excited.. he's been swimming laps of his tank ever since I cleaned it and changed the water.  In and out between the plants, upside down, almost inside out, through the bubbles from the filter.. he hasn't stopped!  Definitely my good deed for the day.

Hmm what other exciting stuff has been happening?  I had some more contact with the lodge I'm hoping to use for my NZ retreat and it appears there is still accommodation available for the time frame I'm after, so I have nailed down a meeting with them when I'm over.  I'm so looking forward to going back over, it's so beautiful and peaceful there.  Anyways, that's my ramble for today.  I'll find a pic and be back tomorrow :).

PS.. I didn't do my yoga nidra today.  I will tomorrow though.  Promise!

Today's pic (not one I snapped) is of the Moeraki Boulders at sunrise, just north of Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand.  I took some pics when I was there, not quite as stunning as this one though as I was there during the middle of the day.