Good morning,
There is lovely soaking rain happening on my garden (and the Melbourne Cup). My garden is very happy. I’m not so sure about the Melbourne Cup participants and attendees.

Intesha, what a labour of love those biscuits are. All the work does pay off with how enchanting they are.
How hard it must be for you to see your mum in distress. I am glad yesterday was a good day.
And oh dear yes, the men are conspicuous by their absence. We need to aim for a 50% quota! 😉

Thin, Intesha and I met when she was down in Melbourne a couple of years ago. I am looking forward to catching up again.

LJoyce what a fabulous story about your niece pinching raspberries and then getting THAT piece of tart. Haha, you are a proper Aunt! I am glad that eating out your freezer was so wonderful. I wonder what wonderful dinner plan you will work out for your sister and BIL.

Wo, it has turned into a thunderstorm out there!
I am glad to be safely inside.

Lindsay my heart aches for the ongoing stress and frustration. Best wishes to both of you and fingers still crossed that it will work out well in the end.
14kgs down is a great place to be for your birthday next Friday, and a whole year to wrap up the next 10. So glad you are keeping on keeping on.
Tortoises are cool!

Cali I love logging on in the morning and finding your post from another timezone. And it is always a lovely feeling to donate a boot full of stuff to the op shop.

We had a great day on the Business Plan yesterday. It is as much a document to let people know what we are about, as our plan of action, so the work has been to communicate the concept well. I was called out for too many capital letters and too many superlatives, but at least I kept my exclamation marks in check!! ( 😉 ) Looking forward to making all the amendments today.

The thunder is more distant at the moment.
Day before Fast Day for me.

Best wishes to everyone.

PS No emojis in the Business Plan!

Morning all. up to 40 in nearby Ipswich today, which means we’ll be in the high 30s. Yuk.

Thank you for the thoughts. Hopefully, better news after our appointment today. I would hate you to think it’s all gloom and doom though. We do have some funny moments. Like just now, when he picked a pink shirt to go with a pair of green shorts that he thought were navy. Very colourful! My very well dressed OH would be mortified to go out looking so mismatched. And yesterday he actually put the towels etc away, after taking them off the line. First time in decades of marriage that he’s ever done that – he’ll take them off but leave them in the basket for me to sort….so we were able to laugh about that.

Did anyone watch Diet Testers last night? Yikes! Surely I’m not the only one who shuddered at the idea of eating afterbirth for weight loss? And a diet of baby food? Or bland food with little fibre? Or the champagne diet? I am also amazed at what many of the people on those diets eat. OK we all have our issues with food, in one way or another. But one chap from last week’s program loved uncooked cake mix. I mean, that’s not just scraping the bowl after baking. He was eating a bowl of it.

I’d better go and get dressed – we are meeting up with my eldest brother and SIL soon for a coffee before the dr’s appointment. They moved back to Brisbane about a year ago, and it is wonderful to have them close again. I have another brother who lives a suburb away, who’s just back from Europe, and it’s very comforting to have him and his wife back.

Calif really interested to hear how your elections go …. what an interesting time to live in America.

Enjoy your day, whatever it involves.

I read all the posts this morning and now, some hours later, I can’t remember what I read.

Lindsay, great job losing 14kgs! You kept that quiet. Hope this week turns out to be really good for you and Mr L. and that you have something special planned for your significant birthday. If it makes your OH feel any better, my OH dresses like that and he’s fully sighted! (OK to be fair, he doesn’t own any pink shirts but he’s shocking for mixing grey tones with browns).

CalifD, I can’t seem to find, ‘The Americans’ on Netflix. I’m now down to 59.3kg so I might even see the 58s before the Silly Season Challenge commences.

Interesting times in the USA indeed. Not to mention Australia. Following the relentless, nightly reporting of the rape allegations against Kavanaugh, the story that his accuser has admitted totally fabricating the allgations to destroy his chances of being confirmed to the Supreme Court goes largely unreported here. Unbelievable. (I don’t necessarily support his politics but feel sickened about what he and his family have been put through).

Cinque, I’ll be with you tomorrow. Good luck with the business plan. That editor must be top notch to find any problems in your writing. You are one of the best punctuators I know. Excessive exclamation marks notwithstanding. I love reading your error-free posts. It is so hard to notice one’s own mistakes. I published a book a couple of decades ago and, despite hiring a professional editor and scrutinising it several times myself, it still contained one error. It killed me to spot it after going to print.

Intesha, you’re asking yourself why you keep doing FDs at this stage? Take a look in the mirror! You have encapsulated the horror of dementia in one graphic sentence. I’m sure it’s very distressing for you and your Dad to witness that behaviour. What devotion he shows to drive there every single day. And he’s still driving! I bet her level of care is all the better because of the frequent family involvement though. When you embark on the mass cookie baking/decorating for Christmas gifts, do they get frozen when complete?

Quacka, 600gm down is nothing to be sneezed at. Well done! My loss with 5:2 was a steady 500gm per week. One or two plateaus along the way – usually of my own making such as during the Christmas season.

LJ, have fun with your rellies. I love haloumi but couldn’t factor it into a FD.

https://imgur.com/a/DYDcf6F

This is my kitchen at the moment 😳

How do you make the decoration on the last photo, Intesha? Can you not raise the height of your work surface (by doing the decorating elsewhere) so as to protect your back?

I didn’t participate in any MC activities for the reasons already stated. The first thing out of DD’s mouth when she came home was that a horse died. I was busy all day though and, when I nipped out to the P.O., it was fabulously quiet everywhere. Our local deli (nicknamed ‘the robbers’ by locals) had a lot of sample food out and no customers around. I grazed my way round the whole store – various cheeses, followed by stone fruit in the next aisle and, finally, some sample sweet treats on the way out. I only bought $4 worth of apples and I felt as if I’d had lunch by the time I left! Hope everyone’s had a good day, fasting or not, betting or not, grazing or not. Especially you Anzac & Quacka! And Mr & Mrs L.

Day after fast day 68.7. Get a bit despondent the weight is not going down but at least it is steady.

Thin it is called cake lace. It is made with a special mixture and then smoothed onto cake lace mats which come in various styles. Cooked at a very low temperature and gives a whole new look to cakes and biscuits. Very delicate to work with.

Here is my first attempt with cookies I made for my Mum’s birthday. Also cookies I made to go with grandsons Lightening McQueen cake.

https://imgur.com/a/as4RI1f

Pilates this morning and then more cookie decorating.

Have a good day everyone.

Wednesday, 7.30 am. and it’s still hot hot in Brisbane but with cooler weather coming tomorrow. Bring it on! I’m having my first killer coffee of the day, and before I make a second I wanted to post with the very good news that there’s been a marginal improvement in OH’s healing. The surgeon yesterday said he saw ‘definite improvement, although slight’, before discussing the surgery option. He was very kind and gentle – my OH pointed out that he may be the one without sight, but I’m the one who’s carrying the load – to which the surgeon responded, ‘that’s why I am asking both of you’. How can doing a bit extra even begin to equate with being without sight. The surgeon discussed the surgery risks, and how now that he can see natural healing beginning, it would take longer, but should continue. We won’t know how much sight my OH will have, but it is a little, so that’s a positive. It was always going to be my OH’s decision, and he has opted to wait for our next appointment next Tuesday, and the surgeon will re-evaluate then. Good news. I feel like an elephant just got off my chest and I can breathe again. So today is a FD, and I feel like I can now get back on the horse, to quote Merry.
Thin we had lots of things planned for my birthday – including a week in Melbourne, special dinner and weekend away with our kids and their kids. We will probably still go away with the kids, but the rest can wait. A birthday celebration is hardly important in the scheme of things. ..time for that later.
Cinque my 3 brothers and I used to jostle for the cake beaters and bowl, but a mouthful was usually all we got. Your Auntie Edie sounds like the auntie every child should have … and I bet she never made a packet cake in her life.
Intesha those biscuits look exquisite. Too too beautiful to eat. Do you use a hot water bottle when your back is bad? I do, every morning, no matter the weather, to ease a chronic back injury, and it really helps.
Quacka, peach, prosciutto, feta and rocket sounds like a fabulous salad – would it work with mango, do you think? (no peaches here yet).
LJ that dinner also sounds delicious – haloumi has such a great flavour. My little Mr 4 calls it the squeaky cheese.
Good day all.

Chapter 2

Lovely fresh Wednesday morning in Melbourne with a very happy garden, everything doubled in size yesterday!

Lindsay, I also wanted to say how glad I am that you have a couple of dear brothers close again. That is so precious.

And I am also listening for the news of the US midterms. What times we are living through!

Thin, it is horrifying to read that one of the women who accused Kavanagh fabricated her story. So awful for him and his family, for politics, and so terrible for those brave women who were speaking up, about him, but also in general. As if it isn’t hard enough to be believed without someone lying about it for political ends.

I know several people absolutely enthralled by The Americans series, as much by what it says about families as by the espionage story.

The Business Plan meeting went very well. Thankyou so much for your compliment about my writing. I do such a lot of editing, woe betide you poor readers if I didn’t get a chance to read through and fix things up before posting. But it is amazing how many words, phrases and sentences we were able to cut out to make it even better, and I am hoping you will find more! (There will always be one left over!)

What was your book? A tale of your wonderful travels? Dingo dog training?

LJoyce, Your meal sounds so wonderful. I have only just got into haloumi. I tried it and it reminded me of the little blup of milk a baby regurgitates after a big breast feed (don’t ask me how I think I know what that tastes like!) and fried. I wasn’t sure if I wanted more.
But then I made a big chicken salad and adding pan fried pieces of haloumi just set it off perfectly. I plan to have a summer full of such salads!

I do hope you got everything done and had a great evening, and that now you are having the pleasure of a leisurely breakfast with your sister.

Quacka I realise your dreadful sleep was probably to do with the heat and humidity. I do hope the thunderstorm cooled everything down and that tonight will be great for sleeping.

What a yummy salad. Baby spinach would be excellent instead of rocket. Enjoy a good strong day today!

And yes Lindsay, Good to hear to hear of the laughs you and Mr L are having.
It is so easy to take a whinge out of context, but it is important to hear each others whinges too!

Well, I think I have probably filled up an entire page with this mornings posts. It is 9:16 am and I am hoping that Fast Day = Productive Day. I am off to give it a go.

Lots of good wishes to everyone.

Oops no, I am not finished! Two excellent posts.

Lindsay woot! woot! I am so glad. I am going to light my best candle just to celebrate. But I’ll add in good wishes for even more sight regained than you will let yourselves hope for.

It is even more exciting than the crocodile story!

And LJoyce, no leisurely breakfast! Aha about where the champagne diet comes from. What excellent advice from your dietitian, and such a wonderful reminder of what a great year you have had to be successfully moved, a couple of kilos lighter and less stressed, even with Christmas in view. And picking zucchinis!

I’m off to get my killer coffee too. Cheers now.

P.S. Cinque, I have sent you a link to my book on the Amazon website, FYI.

Are the ones in the individual plastic bags those that have been through the heat sealing process? I’m in awe. I can’t even bake a cookie. Not that I’ve ever tried. (Fortunate really because I’d definitely be eating them all). It’s lovely that you have this outlet, Intesha. It would be such a conflict of interest for me. I’d have to try something artistic that I couldn’t stuff in my mouth – sand art, perhaps?

An upholstery business? That sounds interesting. I do wish we could all get together one day. Well, it would have to be a whole weekend at least!

P.S. Cinque, while out walking I realised that I’d hadn’t commented on what you said about the lying woman’s actions destroying the credibility of women who are having trouble with their stories being believed – interestingly, this was my OH’s first comment too.

OK, less chit chat and on with the downsizing ……. how I love gumtree and the people I meet through it!

And just while on the subject of salads and haloumi…….a chopped watermelon, grilled haloumi and basil salad is one of the greats – so fresh, so healthy. I also use mint sometimes instead of basil. Equally good.

Hi everyone, I have been AWOL so have had a lovely time catching up with your news. I missed you all terribly 🙂

We had a fantastic day at the races in Sydney yesterday. It’s an annual event with my closest friends; we all take the day off work and either go somewhere nice for lunch or go to the actual races in Randwick. We ate and drank too much, had a few wins and a few losses but such a great time. I’m thankfully able to work from home today so I could have a nice sleep in. It was extra nice because Mr Mad Maxx the puppy was in the kennels overnight as we don’t like to leave him alone all day. So we didn’t have our usual little furry wake-up call at 5.30am and we actually slept for 10 hours! I feel amazing despite too many champagnes yesterday. We did miss him though and it’s nice to have him home. OH went and picked him up and when he got to the back door and saw me in the kitchen he nearly launched himself through the screen door! He bounced around the house for a while and kept running back and nuzzling us then running off again in sheer happiness.

Today I am having a very low-cal NFD and will have my FD tomorrow and hopefully the day of excess yesterday won’t have too much impact on the scales. I actually weighed the same this morning but I know my body and it will catch up with me tomorrow.

I’m very glad it was yesterday and not today. Yesterday was very hot and humid but we were inside thankfully. We arrived before the gates opened and then my wonderful OH sprinted up the escalators, out-running men half his age, and secured a table upstairs right near the window so we had a great view and air-conditioning. But today it is raining very heavily so it would have been a nightmare as everyone would have crammed inside. Lucky.

Thanks for your commiserations about my car. OH went and got some quotes today and it’s not quite as bad as we thought. The first guy wanted $2,800 but the next one said $2,000 or $1,500 for cash. We’re taking the $1,500 of course. It’s still not good but we thought it would be more than double that.

Wow Intesha, your baking and decorating is incredible. I wanted to crawl through my screen and taste one!

Lindsay I was so happy to hear there has been some improvement, even if small. It means the healing process is underway and I hope your OH can avoid more surgery if possible.

Thin, thanks for asking after me in my absence. It is so nice the realise that you are missed – just like I missed you all yesterday and most of today. That is very good advice about checking your TDEE and tracking what you eat when things aren’t going well. It is exactly what I did 2 weeks ago and it made me realise that I was still mindlessly grazing and exceeding my TDEE too often on NFDs and once I stopped that I saw much better results. I’m still tracking what I eat every weekday on a spreadsheet – so 3 NFD’s and my two FD’s and then relaxing more on the weekend and not tracking. It has helped enormously.

How exciting that you wrote a book! I always wanted to and in fact through my whole school years I was only ever going to be a writer/journalist. I received a few awards for creative writing and did very well in English. But then life happened and I ended up in Banking at age 17 and eventually moved into project work and am now in banking technology. That is so ironic as I remember a conversation with my long-suffering maths teach who was very determined that I would pass (I was HOPELESS at maths) and he was tutoring me in the lunch break and I said to him ‘why do I need maths? It’s not like I’m ever going to work in a bank’. HA HA. I don’t regret anything but I do still want to write a book one day. I live for reading – my OH says I inhale books rather than reading them. Anyway you have inspired me to look into it all again soon.

I too wish we could all get together one day but we are pretty well scattered both across the country and all the way to America.

I’m so sorry to hear about your sleeplessness Quacka, I hope tonight is cooler with all this rain and you can get a good nights’ sleep. 600g is a great loss

Cinque, glad your business plan meeting went well. Are we allowed to know what sort of business you are considering? If it’s a surprise that’s fine but I thought perhaps because I’m new I don’t know about it and the others might. I loved your comment about the cake mix too – I could just picture the 7 of you lining up for your turn. I have one sister who is 8 years older so I don’t know what it would be like to have such a big family. Wonderful I’m sure 🙂

LJ what a wonderful conversation and outcome from your trip to the dietician. And what a great and successful year you have had. I loved reading that it is better to focus on what IS working rather than what isn’t and it has helped with your confidence. That is what I’m looking forward to the most. I put my dress on yesterday for the races and was so unhappy with how I looked but I firmly told myself it will be very different next year and just go and enjoy myself.

The trip to the Op shop sounds like fun Cali and it’s always nice to have a clear out. I’m looking forward to taking all my big clothes to one when I lose the weight. Wow, I just typed ‘when’ and not ‘if’ without even thinking. That is a huge turnaround for me. Interesting. It’s because of you all and your incredible support and tales of success

Gloucester NSW
(7.45pm Wednesday)

Hi everyone. First real FD today, for November, and it’s gone really well – nearly had biscuits with morning tea coffee, remembered FD, so put them back in the tin. Had miso soup and water to keep hydrated. Had evening meal then OH just offered a Magnum icecream and I refused! – today’s a success!!! Feels good. So glad to have my mojo back – it means so much.

Hoping all others who may have recently struggled, get to feel good again real soon – thinking of you all and wishing you well!
Enjoying everyone’s posts. So nice to know we are all happy to help each other in this WOL, and share our experiences – thank you all!

So sorry, no time tonight to respond to any posts – maybe on the weekend!

Enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now xx

Thin, I hadn’t come across your book before because I didn’t realize you had written one but I just ordered a copy. 😊.
The TV show The Americans is streaming on Amazon Prime, not Netflix. I see that Amazon Prime is available in Aus, but I can’t see if that show is included. It may be like Netflix where the shows are sometimes different. They have a 30 day free trial of Amazon Prime. There is a Prime original series called a Jack Ryan that’s excellent and only 8 episodes. https://www.amazon.com.au/prime You can probably see more of what’s offered on the Aus site. The Americans is 6 seasons of about 13 episodes each.

Lindsay, I’m glad to hear that OH is having some improvement with his vision. It sounds like the decision on more surgery doesn’t have to be made just yet. Since the healing is helping, it sounds like waiting might be a good thing for now. I hope things continue to improve.

Intesha, those cookies are exquisite. Such patience you have to do the intricate decorating! I showed your photos to OH and DS and they both asked if there was a way to preserve them and frame them or something. It would be hard to eat anything so beautiful.

LJ, so sad that your niece’s daughter broke up with her boyfriend of 5 years. At her age that must be devastating. I’m sure your cake will be very much appreciated.

I fell asleep on the sofa, watching the election returns tonight. I’m happy that the Democrats won back the House. Wish they would have gotten a majority in the Senate too. Election results are still coming in. This country is so deeply divided on politics these days and it only seems to be getting worse. That isn’t a good thing.

Anzac, the races in Sydney sound like fun. I had to smile hearing about Maxx coming home from the kennel and being so happy to see you. Dog’s are so funny that way. Half an hour must seem like an eternity to them when we go off to shop, judging by how happy they are when we return.

Hope everyone is having a good morning. I hope I can sleep in late after falling asleep and then being awake for 3 hours.

Hi Cali,
I hope you get some good sleep tonight. I popped up an article on the science thread about lack of sleep dehydrating us. No wonder I need about 4 litres a day!

Interesting times in your country, and for the rest of the world in consequence. Great to see the diversity of people who got elected.

In my last post, the two excellent posts I mentioned were the ones that came through while I was writing. (It rather sounded as if I was congratulating myself).

Thin, I like what you wrote about maintenance.
My two fast days keep me in line while I sort out healthy eating on the other days. I would like to think that I will sort it out, but thanks 5:2, it doesn’t matter if I don’t.
And maintenance allows my old, weight ravaged body, to keep recovering, which is another bonus.
And because I need to be careful and mindful to eat well on a NFD it is quite an exercise, and makes Fast Days feel like a holiday. (Fast day: cuppas, some with milk, through the day, and miso and vegetable soup in the evening. Easy.)

Lindsay, so glad you are back in the zone. Hopefully everything will be easier now.
Ooh another haloumi dish to try. I can sneak in a bit of watermelon under my ‘no fruit’ rule.

Anzac, so glad you had such a wonderful time AND a great sleep when you got home! I do hope you start writing your book soon!

I am VERY happy to talk about my business (I have to sit on my hands a bit not to talk about it more!).
The idea is: If we want people to eat well, let’s make it easy for them.
We want to set up a not-for-profit cafe-restaurant that sells yummy, healthy, affordable meals. Actually, a system of cafes (we want to be as big as Maccas), but we are concentrating on the first one. I can say ‘we’ because I do have people helping. I’ve spent all year trying to write a business plan, gradually reaslising that none of the templates suit us, and the main focus for the plan is to communicate the concept and show that we have thought it through and can make it work. This is our website http://www.yamdaisy.com/
Once I have got to the next draft of the plan I will be looking for people to read it and give feedback. Hint hint.

My big family (equal parts wonderful and dreadful)! One cake a week, taking turns. One bowl, one spoon, and my mum was as good as yours at scraping it clean!

Oh good grief it is 9am already and another post through (Good morning Anzac! 🙂 ) but I had to get a coffee and keep writing (if you all didn’t have such interesting things to say, I would write less, truly!)

LJoyce,
I do hope your niece loved the cake and the comfort. So much growing up she has done in tandem with someone who she has now broken up with. Good wishes to her.

You are right that the ‘French Women Don’t Get Fat’ philosophy isn’t a silly crash diet hook. (but so many of the ones they use for the ‘two week’ participants are). Hmm, that might be what went wrong.

Arelkade, someone else getting their mojo back. I’m so glad. I do hope you had a really good Fast Day and feel great this morning. Catch you on the weekend!

Intesha, I hope you have wonderful grandparents day at the kids school. What fun.
There is no end to your wonderful cookies! Excellent.

Anzac, all power to you sticking to your Fast Day today. You will feel so good tomorrow morning.

Quacka, I have just seen your post. Hmm, maybe just take a lesson from yesterday and ACT as if you had a tummy bug next Fast Day!
No eating tape worms or raw chicken. Ok?
Hooray for a good night’s sleep, and I hope you start feeling well soon.

Best wishes everyone.

P.S. Hello Quacka, another 600gm off, yay! Cinque, another excellent post from you! Wow, a Yam Daisy Chain! Intesha, great reindeer cookies. That’s it from me.

Good morning. 8.30, drizzly rain, and much cooler today – down to max 24. Very happy about that because apart from being totally lethargic when the temps get to the high 30s, I don’t have many summer clothes in my current size. I’m not going to buy more – we are off to the snow on Christmas Eve, so won’t get the wear out of new summer things.
LJ I was tongue in cheek when I said we could outrun dangerous things – I can hear my back screaming even when I mention the r word. Good for you if you can run, no matter it may not be in textbook athlete style.
Intesha hope you have a great grandparents’ day – how old are your grandchildren?
Quacka another 600g? That is great work. Sorry you aren’t back on your feet still, but hopefully time is all you need. Did you hear on the news this morning that the government is having some sort of parliamentary inquiry into sleep deprivation, its effect etc. and will be holding public meetings.
I had a great FD yesterday. Great. I stuck to the plan, had heaps of veges and have been rewarded this morning. Oh I so love 5:2. I am back on low carb, 16:8 to complement it (yes, a tough regime, but after Tuesday’s positive news, I feel I can manage it to get past my pre-Bali weight by my birthday next Friday).
We are off to see Stephanie Alexander at the PowerHouse tonight. We have been a bit housebound lately, but I don’t think that’s good for my OH’s wellbeing at all, so this one will be good because it’s mostly listening. We are going with my two lovely brothers and their wives, so will have a glass of wine before we go in. Just one glass. It’s good to get back to some semblance of ‘normal’.
Good luck with your FD today Anzac – your day out on Tuesday sounds like a lot of fun.
Cinque I tend to agree about the French Women ….their focus on quality over quantity. I read a book by an Australian journalist who married a Frenchman (mmm…..Mostly French, I think it was called, and I can’t for the life of me remember her name) who was surprised not only by by what her in-laws ate, but the little amounts of it they were satisfied with.
Then I remember a French woman I worked with in Beijing. ‘After 40 darling, you can have your face or your figure’. Her point was that we line if we are too slim when we are older. I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point, but I’ll keep trying.
Best wishes for your day all.
(and missing some of our regulars – Sybs, Julie, Penguin – are you still reading?)

I’m joining you on an FD today Gday. Enjoy your walk – I’m doing one too at lunch time.

Lindsay how lovely that you are getting out and about tonight and having a lovely night with your OH, brothers and SIL’s. Enjoy the wine, gosh you deserve it. Glad too that you are back on the 5:2 bandwagon, you are an inspiration.

LJ, I was an aunt at 16, 18 and 21 and it is great being the ‘cool, young’ one! I imagine that growing up in a rural area would have been difficult and lonely. We both share a love of books too. We definitely do not have a shared love of gardening; I leave all that up to my green-fingered OH but I hope you have a nice day out there today.

Quacka! So sorry to hear you are unwell and I’m 100% with you about not doing FD’s when I’m at home. I need to be at work with my mind elsewhere and not in the more relaxed atmosphere at home plus not watching OH, who is a big bloke with a big appetite, eating normal meals. Congrats on another 600g

YamDaisy is such an amazing and wonderful concept Cinque! I have been devouring your website. And it is so great to have big dreams – as big as maccas! No problem, it will happen. I can’t wait to follow your journey going forwards

Thin, I was so saddened to read that your mother left when you were 9. I can’t fathom what that must have been like and then to have to almost become the pseudo mum if I am reading correctly between the lines? My Mum’s Mum died when she was 16 and as the eldest daughter she had to take over. One of the saddest things she ever told me was how her mum came out of hospital (she had a heart problem and knew she was dying) to teach Mum how to cook a roast dinner.

Sad thoughts aside, you must be so chuffed with your downsizing. It’s my number one job for my two week Christmas holidays. We have ‘stuff’ everywhere and it has to go!

Oh no Gday, I feel your pain. We have been renovating on and off for 15 years and full time for the past 6 or 7. Don’t start me on Tradies…honestly how they run a business and make money is beyond me

Good luck getting everything finished as well as going well in your studies. Get on that horse right now!!

Rant anytime, we are here for each other 🙂

Friday morning in Melbourne, it is grey and still but not really cold. The wonderful birds are sounding extra loud, and the summer crows have arrived.

Thin, what a lovely and profitable lot of downsizing.
Ha yes, a Yam Daisy-Chain is just what we want.

LJoyce, what a stunning feature tree your myrtle will be. And didn’t they pick a great name for it!

I agree with you that anger can be the healthier emotion for your niece, we all need high expectations of how we should be treated.

My first zucchini flower this morning!

Lindsay, was it a wonderful night at the PowerHouse? Surely it was!

I have to disagree with the Frenchwoman’s saying ‘face or figure’ in my case. The extra weight made me jowly and fat necked, my eyes disappeared and my hair looked thin. I’m preferring my wrinkles!
But I am always glad to see someone whose face looks pretty with the extra weight, I am sure it would be a comfort.

Gday, your pea and ham soup reminds me of the delicious one my sister makes. What good food to be eating! I hope it was a great Fast Day.

Anzac, thankyou for that lovely response to YamDaisy.

So many stories of trauma and loneliness in family, it breaks my heart how hard some people have it. I had to do a lot of recovery from my family too, but I never learned to make a Sunday roast! I did learn lots of worrying ways of relating to food though.

Oh dear, those tradies. Much sympathy to all of you.

Haha Cali, you really are an Amazon woman! I hope your health is good at the moment and you are getting all your steps in and some nice meditation in that special room of yours.

I have another busy day and will have Miss 4 overnight tonight. Fingers crossed that not only she sleeps through, but I do too!

Best wishes everyone.

Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday dear Lindsay!
Happy Birthday to You!

Someone please add some music clef icons for me.

9am Fri, Adelaide

Good morning all.
I am waiting at home all day as I’m expecting deliveries – I’ve had a flurry of spending money over the last week. My new Kitcenaid mixer (with several attachments) arrives today, as does my new fridge. I’m a bit excited. This is my last hoorah when it comes to spending, I’m in saving mode now so I can get the mortgage paid down quickly.
The “all or nothing” attitude that I seem to have with food also applies to things like money. I’m either in spending or saving mode. When in saving mode I tend to go to extremes to avoid buying anything that isn’t essential.
This is what should be arriving today:
https://www.petersofkensington.com.au/Public/KitchenAid-Artisan-KSM160-Ice-Stand-Mixer-w-Ice-Cream-Bowl.aspx I have also bought the food processor and mincer attachments for this, which allowed me to give away both my old stand mixer and my food processor. The new arrangement will need less bench space. It’s also much prettier than my old kenwood mixer! That shouldn’t matter, but let’s face it – it does 😀
https://www.fisherpaykel.com/au/kitchen/fridges-freezers/fridges/activesmart_-fridge—790mm-bottom-freezer-523l.RF523MRDX1.html
I got very very good deals on both purchases (saved about a third on RRP).

I was very tempted to buy a new Smeg kettle and toaster which are a similar colour to the mixer but I decided to wait a while. I should get enough money as christmas and birthday presents to pay for those.

Lindsay, happy birthday (if it’s today – I read it as being next Friday). I hope you had a fabulous time at the Stephanie Alexander show.

Anzac, get well soon. A weekend of rest and extra fluids might help.

Cinque, congrats on the arrival of the first zucchini flower. Very soon there will be many each morning! The “face of figure” did apply to me. I lost my double double chin and fat face and have many more wrinkles, especially on my neck. But then I have plenty of loose skin elsewhere as well. Like you I don’t mind the wrinkles, I’d prefer them to the excess fat.

Cali, the thing I found worked well when choosing tradesmen was to ask everyone I knew for personal recommendations. Sometimes I had to wait a while for them to be available, but they did a good job and didn’t overcharge. If I know someone who’s used a contractor and they are happy with the work and the price, it goes a long way to reassuring me they’ll be ok.
I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of the dark leaved crepe myrtle, it is really new to the market. I was quite excited when I found it as I don’t really care for the yellow-green leaf colour of the traditional crepe myrtles.

GDSA, commiserations on the tradies issue. I suspect in a country town you have quite limited choices. Even tradies who do good work always seem to underestimate how soon they’ll be available and how long the job will take. They must take optimism classes as part of their trade school I think.

Thin, there’s nothing wrong with not being a baker. The world would be boring if we were all good at the same things.

NFD for me, like the other Thursday fasters, my FD yesterday went well.

Friday afternoon 12:15pm

Good afternoon everyone

Firstly Happy Birthday Lindsay. Hope you are having a lovely day.

I have just finished lunch so thought I would catch up and write a post while I let my food settle. I made sushi with cauliflower/broccoli rice instead of white rice. It turned out really well and was so filling – I think even more filling than traditional sushi! I took a pic so will post it later.

Weight this morning was only a tiny bit up after a very careful NFD yesterday. Today I made a big step in my 5:2 weight loss journey. I have finally given my big clothes to Vinnies. I think I said I was going to do it last week. Well I made the first step and actually put them in the car so they have been riding around with me for a week. Today in the charity bins they went. It was a good feeling.
Yesterday my lady boss made another comment about how much weight I have lost and how well I am doing. It made me happy although a little embarrassed. I don’t know why. Lol
My bosses are a married couple around 60 years old and it was from them that I first learned about 5:2. The man boss was complaining one day about this diet his wife had him on and then later I saw my lady boss had a book on it in her office. It was a long time later that I started to research into 5:2 as I was one of those who could ‘never’ go without eating, not more than at least every three hours, usually less. So funny I can now go all day without eating although I am very hungry for dinner when it is time.

Anzac so glad you had a great FD yesterday! It’s lovely to have that light feeling and know that you did it! Well done.
Maxx, so so cute!

LJ how exciting! A new fridge and mixer. My huge cookie batch from last weekend was supposed to be beaten with a stand mixer. I only have a hand held one but quickly understood why the recipe said use a stand mixer. It was hard working all that mixture with the hand held, and that was before I added the 5 cups of flour!

I won’t even get started on tradies. Luckily I have a father in law who is very handy and has helped us out a few times. He has also taught OH a lot and given him confidence to do things around the house, not that he has much time for that.

Zucchini flowers! Yay!
I have been out in the garden early this morning to pick tonnes of kale and also spray dipel for the nasty caterpillars. They were smashing the kale and since I sprayed the first time the kale has gone berserk. I have a shopping bag full of it. I am going to try and pickle some. Anyone ever done this?
We have one zucchini that has come up in the middle of one of OHs garlic bed. It has small flowers but not yet open, I expect they will this weekend. I have planted cucumber seeds twice and both times they have been eaten. We had run out of snail bait but we have a big bag of it now so I planted some more this morning. We already have two plants and should pick our first (curly) telegraph cucumber this weekend.
Tomatoes are doing great and I reckon we have about 50 chilli plants, if not more. We love chillies and many have self seeded from last year. I make chilli sauce when we have lots and also pickle them.
OH loves to grow capsicums but they have been a bit slow this year. They have just started to take off and he is planning to put a net cage over them to keep out the fruit fly. Last year we had a bu,per crop that got anihilated by fruit fly. I still saved plenty by cutting out the bad bits and grilling them to get the skin off then freezing them. Phew! It was a big job but they were yummy.

Oops now I have gone on and on lol.

Hope everyone is doing well and hope you all have a lovely weekend x