This topic contains 24,245 replies, has 806 voices, and was last updated by Cinque 6 minutes ago.
Cinque, I just saw your post which came after I signed off. I am glad you are managing your illness so well, and also that despite not being fully 5:2 at the moment, you are making good vegie food choices. This sounds like such a good plan for your recovery. It is also good the stress of Christmas has bypassed your front door. Long may it last. Hope your bee finds your zucchini flower … there’s such synergy in that.
Anzac enjoy every moment and every mouthful. Memories are being made and that’s more important than worrying about weight. Plenty of time for that next year and without the worry of wondering how you are going to manage while you are away.
FD today and I need to reset but taking note of my own advice this is Xmas and lots of temptations all made by me 😱. Rum balls, mince pies, meringues, I can’t seem to help myself. I’ve given some away, not many, to friends and neighbours but still have way too many. Once Xmas/New Year is over hopefully I will have given more away.
Putting a cake together this week for a friends 70th and taking it to our Pilates Xmas lunch on Thursday as a surprise.
Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend.
I’ve had a good day. Got shopping and a Bunnings trip done first thing, then a walk with a friend. I spent the afternoon making 5 batches of shortbread dough – glad to have that task done. I’ll bake it next weekend once the heat wave has finished.
Lindsay, once your girls are producing lots of honey you could do honey themed gift packs. When I got to thinking about it there are a few things made from honey – nougat, honey biscuits, Jewish new year cake and of course a jar of honey. (I must admit the market I went to last night had nougat and that got me thinking out the lovely things we make from honey.)
Intesha, I hope the 70th cake turns out exactly as planned. I’m sure it will be a lovely surprise.
Cinque, sorry to hear you are still having such difficulty with CFS. I am pleased that you are able to step away from the business of christmas. Well done sticking to the veggie target.
I went to a local twilight market last night and picked up a couple of small things as gifts. But what really caught my eye was a stall by a lady who makes dolls, doll houses and toys. Not the sort of thing I’d normally notice, but this was quite special. Her doll houses were tiny suitcases which you opened out to create a room. All of the tiny things were movable for a child to play with and rearrange (and probably lose). The attention to detail was just amazing. These cases are about 20x30cm. What I found incredible was the level of detail in such tiny things – that dachshund is no bigger than my little finger.
https://imgur.com/a/T3aUbEK
Enjoy what remains of your Sunday.
I thankfully don’t have to cook – just reheat some baked veggie frittata and add a little salad.
Anzac, welcome to Britain! I hope you continue to enjoy your awesome holiday. Do you get Maxx updates? Is he still speaking to you?
Cinque, I’m sure you’ll soon have your rhythm all sorted out. I wouldn’t worry about missing the Christmas stress. People really get into decorating their homes with lights here. The live aboards, including us, have Xmas lights on their narrow boats which reflect on the still night water. That’s the extent of our involvement in Christmas this year.
At last, the time stamp to the left makes sense and I can actually tell when people posted.
It’s a FD for me. Sunday rolls around quickly. OH did mutter something about ‘Sunday lunch at the pub’ but I reminded him that Monday fasting isn’t an option this week because the marina is hosting ‘Bangers and Crackers’ night tomorrow. The English do seem to enjoy standing about in the cold after dark but I’m sure it will be fun.
I’m feeling a little hungry this morning. So what? It’s just one day. Weight crept up to 58.1kg this week and I’m never, ever going back to where I was. Keeping vigilant at this end of the scale is easier for me than tackling it when the damage is done. I’m looking forward to a Hairy Bikers’ chicken tikki tonight.
Friends on our former street in Perth have told me that the screeching scrotes next door broke their lease and moved out and the investor owners have the house up for sale. And those temperatures! I don’t miss that one bit. I must say that Christmas feels more convincing for me at 5C than 42C.
LJ, I’m going to check out your suitcase photo when I sign off here. It sounds intriguing. Was it a FD? I couldn’t tell from your post. Hope you’re going well. P.S. Just looked at the photo, that is awesome.
Has anyone heard from Merry? Hoping she and Mr M are well.
Merry Christmas to all and a healthy, happy 2020.
Good morning, it is strange to look outside to cool drizzle as Australia is starting its worst heatwave. Thinking of all the people that will suffer it most, and of bushfire threat.
Lindsay, little tots do make for early dinners! Good to hear from you, and lovely to think of that childhood among semi wild places. I guess spring is the best time for the bees? or is the new queen friendlier, but less productive? I hope they can keep their hive nice and cool through the hot days. What lovely Christmas gifts you are making. The best sort of gifts!
I’ve only celery, cabbage and a butternut squash left to make meals out of so I am about to do some meal planning and will have to face the shops again.
Intesha, you make those beautiful homemade gifts too, and ofcourse that means temptation all around. Good luck eating only what you will enjoy most. Cheers to your 70 yo friend, they are lucky to be getting one of your cakes.
Ooh LJoyce, everyone is cooking Christmas goodies. Shortbread was one of our Christmas staples too.
Those suitcase dolls rooms are just exquisite! I bet they are a delight to make too. What a special gift they would be.
Hi Thin! Christmas lights on the water, so lovely. And yes, you will tackle that upward creep well before it becomes hard work. It must be so enjoyable to be back into the Christmas climate you grew up in.
I miss Merry, hoping you are still reading, Merry, and sending you good wishes.
Well I am off to check my recipe books for some lovely veg filled dishes. Best wishes all.
PS My first zucchini is almost ready to pick, and yesterday’s blossom DID get fertilised! Thankyou bees!
Good afternoon.
I spent a couple of hours in the garden this morning, weeding, watering and then spreading out 2 bales of straw mulch. I wanted to get the soil protected before the week long heat wave.
Thin, long boats with christmas lights sound rather lovely.
Enjoy the bangers and crackers evening – actually standing about in the cold does sound inviting frankly! I’m envying those of you having a cool northern hemisphere christmas.
Cinque, I hope that zucchini is tasty. I have half a dozen that are a day or two away from picking size, so I need to get recipe hunting too. If you find anything yummy please the share the recipe.
After my energetic morning of gardening I’m planning a lazy afternoon of reading. Although I do also need to write a few christmas cards. Thankfully I don’t send many these days.
I might also make one more double batch of shortbread dough. Despite the large amount already in the fridge I don’t think it’s enough for all the gifts I use it for.
Hi everyone, finally back on the forum.
After a LOT of NFDs, finally managed a CD today. Gradually assessing the damage. Two pairs of jeans still fit, and my summer trousers are designed to be a bit looser, so no problems there, but brakes on from now. Thankfully, all the pre-Christmas festivities are finally over, with nothing more until Christmas day, and that will not be a heavy meal, so there is hope for December yet. I would like to see the scales about 1 kg DOWN from the start of December, rather than 1.5 kg up, as they are currently. One victory – threw away some “goodies” that I can well do without.
Read all the posts, but can I remember them?
Intesha, sounds like, with your baking, you would be the “good fairy” of Christmas. Hope your 70th birthday surprise for your Pilates friend goes down well on Thursday.
Neilithicman’s sons suffered the trauma of a day without the internet, awww! By the way, I did post my thoughts on “The Obesity Code” a couple of months ago – found it somewhat boring, fairly repetitive, and it didn’t add anything much (for me) to what I’ve learned from Dr M’s books, plus some reading online. Jason Fung’s youtube videos are far more informative, possibly because of the need to be concise.
The book “The Complete Guide to Fasting” did have some helpful bits, so it was worth reading. My “hold” at the library finally came up. Don’t think I’ll buy it, though, but thanks for the hint on how to do it, CalifDreamer.
Anzac65, Happy very belated birthday! Sounds like you’re having a great trip so far. Are you and thinatlast catching up during your time in Britain? That would be awesome.
LindsayL, sounds like Ruby is bringing you and OH lots of joy, some aggravation, and lots of obligatory exercise – very good for the waistline.
G’DayfromSA, great to hear from you again. Annoying to be finishing the diploma not long before it may not even be useful to you in your job. Have you heard anything about redundancies yet?
LJoyce, hope you’re feeling better and have kicked that chest infection from here to Sunday. Pity about the lack of medical help re the lower back problem, but from what others have been posting, maybe checking out myotherapy may be an option to help the pain?
Speaking of being ill, how are you doing now, Cinque? I was concerned to read of the CFS relapse. So frustrating, especially when you would prefer be out and doing rather than resting.
Sorry for those I’ve missed/ forgotten. Re me – I’ve had to seriously re-assess where I’ve been at recently, so I decided to apply for a 1 semester break from my doctorate studies, the first half of next year. Not only do I need to focus on losing weight first, I also have stacks of “jobs” sitting at home which have been waiting to be done for the past couple of years, if not longer. Now the data collection phase of the doctorate is complete, it’s a good point to put a temporary “hold” on the study, to try to clear the decks at home in other areas. Plus I was getting more and more stomach pain. I told my doctor I was sure it’s just been stress, but he’s still asked me to have an ultrasound and a CT scan. Sigh! Just thinking about it is twisting my stomach up into knots, so I think I’ll close.
Catch you all again next time, and from here – onwards and downwards!
A quick post. I have the little girls with me, and Rosy is beside herself. Despite her 1 hour walk/run this morning (guilty confession … I didn’t even hear OH leave the house before 5) she is doing every naughty thing a puppy has ever done. She’s jumping up, taking off with the tea towel, chewing the cushions. And just coming back, after an accident with a glass of milk, shattered glass everywhere, glass splinter in my foot, and a battle to keep Rosy from licking up the milk, glass shards included!
Betsy, a great decision to take a semester off. You’ll almost surely come back to your PhD with renewed insight and energy. I did this a couple of times when I was writing my dissertation. Once my OH had cancer, and the other my DD was desperately ill. There was no way I could focus. But I think in the end, my work was the better for it. You may find, as I did, that not having the pressure of writing and supervisor meetings gives you some freedom to reflect on the data. I hope so. Those stomach pains don’t sound good at all.
Cinque the hive does seem friendlier, but I am adopting the ‘interfere as little as possible’ approach to beekeeping so haven’t been in the hive much. I haven’t harvested yet this week – it’s been too too hot, and as I’ve looked at the entrance to the hive they are clustered on the exterior, which apparently is a sure sign that they need to cool down. It is cooler here today – down from 40 to 30 – so maybe later today, which is the first moment I’ll have in this hectic week. Maybe Miss 6 can sit Rosy ….who created such chaos last time we harvested honey.
LJ the doll house is exquisite. How talented some people are. I don’t suppose you have the name of the lady who makes them? My little girls have the doll house my Dad made for me, and I passed on to my DD, but my DS now has a baby girl and it would be such a lovely present for her in a year or two.
Intesha, Christmas is such a difficult time, food wise. I’ll be glad to see the back of it, frankly, for that reason. Almost impossible to avoid those Christmas cakes and fruit mince pies. And as my OH so indelicately puts it, after he’s had too many dried fruit treats, ‘I could take this house to the moon’. I’ll stop there. My ‘plan’ (probably my 10th this year) is to get past December 27th, then restart in earnest. I am hanging in there, not gaining but not losing, and I figure there’s no real reason to wait til 1 January.
Thin what a lovely picture you paint of your life now. I miss you friend. I know you are still in our cyber world, but I liked to think of you tucked away in Perth. So, the noisy neighbours are departed. Off to share their selfish, noisy world with other poor folk. Not right is it? We have had a very peaceful year, once the noisy foul mouthed boys up the front had their lease terminated. The people up there now are …normal. They sit on the verandah and have dinner and talk and laugh, all at normal volume and nary a four letter word to be heard.
OK I’m off to the do the kindy run. I’ll still have Miss 6 for the day (DD had a 5 am start), but she’ll have her nose in a book which will give me time to wrap presents and restore the Christmas tree, which Rosy seems determined to strip of every little round ball. We have the little wooden decorations we brought from Italy and Portugal up high on the tree, but she has knocked it over a couple of times trying to get to them. Remind me – how long does puppyhood last???
Happy day all.
Good morning everyone, fast day for me! An easy one with plenty of soup I think.
I have just given my garden a water, only boy zucchini flowers but hoping the bees took their pollen to whichever nearby garden also has zucchini plants, and kindly donated pollen to my plant yesterday.
LJoyce I have my classic four zucchini recipes: zucchini slice, zucchini with meatballs, zucchini soup and roasted ratatouille. I didn’t have zucchini plants last year, so I am so looking forward to a summer of those recipes! I mention this all the time and, if I remember rightly, you do the same trick, picking them when they are small so they are tasty and such a lovely texture and avoiding the dreaded zucchini glut to a great extent.
Betsy what an excellent decision, even though it must be hard to know it will all take longer than planned, a break is what you need. Lindsay is so right that you will have a great perspective when you get back in to it.
I do hope the stomach pains settle down now that the pressure is off. For once I hope that the stress has caused such pain, because you are doing something about the stress. I am also glad your doctor is following up every possibility.
Hooray for having some space where you can concentrate on your health and doing all the good things.
Thankyou for your kind words. I am improving I think, I still have to push myself with little things ie I went shopping yesterday so I want to be at home today, but I need cat food very soon (shop in different direction) and need to avoid going out in the hot weather tomorrow. And since I am getting the cat food, is it sensible to also nick up to the Asian grocery that sells the yuba I like? Ha, no matter where we are on the health and work scale there are decisions to be made about priorities!
Lindsay, you managed a very impressive post inbetween granddaughter and puppy duties. Eep broken glass and all. I do hope you have a happy day with all the little mad dears and Christmas wrapping.
Yes, cross the rough ground lightly… ie the feasty days til Christmas is over. What a lovely idea to be looking forward to a great fast day after December 27th.
Best wishes to the bees.
Quacka, I’m thinking of you <3
Cheers everyone
Good morning.
I’m home from a walk and a trip to the P.O. and chemist before it heats up. I will be out in the 40+ heat the next couple of afternoons though as I’m taking my uncle to the hospital today and have a city lunch and afternoon physio appointment tomorrow. Thank goodness for air conditioning in cars.
Lindsay, sounds like you have your hands full with the 2 girls and a naughty fur child – you might need to put a toddler’s play pen around that tree until Rosy grows up.
I saw a documentary last night on Radio Australia – didn’t you used to work for them? Were you based in Australia or overseas?
As to the suitcase dolls houses. I did pick up a business card from the lady and it has the following details on it:
facebook.com/minizbyme
MinizbyMeStore.etsy.com
Not sure if I mentioned it before, but the cases were $125 at her market stall – so a significant cost, but not unreasonable for the amount of hours it would take to create all those little pieces.
Cinque, I discovered a giant zucchini hiding under the leaves this morning – I had no idea it was there. I’m usually thorough at checking them so I can pick them young. I might spiralise this one as I have a leftover serve of pasta sauce in the freezer. I must try your idea for roasted ratatouille too, I’ve only ever made it on the stove top. I won’t be making zucchini slice – I just finished the last piece of one I made a few days ago. I hadn’t thought of soup as I rarely eat it in summer, but frozen soup will keep until autumn so that’s an option too.
Betsy, it’s always worth being sure about symptoms, so I think the GPs caution is a good thing. It sounds like a semester off will be a good reset for you. You seemed to get busier and busier over recent months and the effect of that on diet and sleep can be quite detrimental to your health. I hope just knowing you are having a break reduces the stress you are feeling.
An idea for anyone who is given non-perishable food gifts before christmas and would rather it wasn’t in the house providing daily temptation. Make up a hamper from it, with some extra things if necessary, and put it under one of the charity trees in the shopping centres. I have trouble throwing food out, even if it’s something I don’t want to eat, so gifting it gets me over that hurdle.
My food intake has been cautious and mostly controlled, though not always under 800cals. Thankfully there have been no further serious binges – like the chocolate chip episode! I have a lunch to go to Wednesday so I’ll just order something that appeals that isn’t too calorific. It’s an Italian cafe so I’m thinking veal.
Have a nice day.
Good evening all from scorching South Australia. It’s 10pm and still 37 deg. Have just endured 2 days of 46 deg and the next 3 are expected to be 47 and 48 in the closest regional centre to us and we are always a few degrees above that where we live. I’m working from home the next 3 days so have no reason to venture outside besides checking on the animals and garden and making sure both are hydrated.
I’m determined to win the lotto so we can pack up and move to Kangaroo Island, retire by the sea and enjoy a more pleasant climate. Dream on Gday….
I’m with you Cinque. Not much Xmas fanfare here either. Not that fussed about it really. Put the tree up for MissD and that’s about it. No Xmas show invites this year, OH family still not speaking to us so just the 3 of us at home for Xmas day again – same as last year.
Paving contractors turned up today. A week late but at least they have started. Due to the heat they are working 6.30 am till lunchtime which is understandable in these conditions. Both paving jobs are under verandahs so at least they are working in the shade and not in the direct sun.
Hope those experiencing the hot temps are managing to stay cool and for those living in temperatures under 30 degrees at the moment I am green with envy….lol. Bye for now
GDSA, commiserations on the horrible heat up north. Maybe you need to rethink that move to the city. You could live in the cool temps of the hills or barossa and commute to Adelaide. There’s quite a few country towns that are commutable to Adelaide these days. Not as remote as where you live though and I know it’s an expensive option.
I’ve been out all afternoon – not the best thing on such a hot day but I’m home in the cool now.
I had a nice lunch in the city and was very happy with my steak and salad choice. I managed to eat half the steak and I’m very proud of myself for leaving every single chip on my plate – my lunch companion made short work of those!
I saw the physio this afternoon and gave him my back scan report. He was much more hopeful than I had been feeling, which really helped me as I realy do prefer to see my glass as half full – it helps me persevere with things. He also completely redid my exercise plan as I need to focus on building core and glute strength using exercises that don’t require weights – the new exercises are all easy to do without causing back pain. Over time this will give the damaged part of the spine the good muscle support. I feel good about this too as I have been too scared to do many of the exercises with weights from my old program as they seemed to aggravate my back. He also said it would be a good idea if I incorporated some gentle yoga sessions to maintain my range of movement. I haven’t been doing yoga lately but I do like it and it will be good to have safe things to do indoors when the hot weather prevents me doing much walking.
I also asked him about what I should be careful with. Thankfully it was a short list – lifting anything over 10kg or digging holes in heavy soil. He was sensible to give me gardening examples as that is where I’m likely to overdo things.
So despite the horrible heat it was good day.
I’ve just finished watering the front garden. I hadn’t planned to do the back garden tonight (apart from pots) as it didn’t really need it. But there were a couple of gasping birds that were clearly hoping for me to put on the sprinkler so they could have a shower, so I obliged. Their feathers are damp and fluffy now and they look much happier.
Have a good evening, stay cool.
Good evening again. 24 hours since my last post. 51.8 here today. We lost 2 of our laying hens despite them having plenty of water and shade the air temp was just too much. Tonight I rigged up a soaker hose to hang along the rio fence that separates the ducks and the chooks so I can turn it on intermittently during the day and it will spray a mist of water for them to cool themselves.
Not looking forward to what the next 2 days will bring.
Good morning from a blessedly cool day between yesterday’s nastiness and tomorrow’s horror.
Gday, how I wish you could have today at Melbourne’s temperature. Oh your poor chooks, I read your post last night and have been thinking of them with such sadness. The misting is a great idea, I hope it works beautifully.
(I can’t believe your paver layers are there working at all, my homehelp was only allowed to do half an hour of gentle cleaning, with us 10 degrees cooler than you, and inside.)
LJoyce, I am SO glad to hear the good news and advice from your physio. Cheers for building up that core strength.
Oh those hiding zucchini!How do they do it?
The roasted ratatouille is so good. More taste and texture, I find, once I tried it I have not made ratatouille as a stew again. I have a recipe, but, as you guessed, it is basically the idea of the veggies as a tray bake. Let me know if you would like the recipe though.
Well I had a good fast day, and then a worse food day yesterday as I was minding Miss3 while my daughter nicked to the shops, and made some popcorn, and started eating it before I remembered I am Ms 7 veg.
After she went home I measured my waist and was very disappointed to see I have put on a couple of inches around it! I fell in a heap because I thought I had been doing such a good job with my food. I made some more popcorn, I was feeling a) that I needed to comfort myself and b) willfully self destructive. I think I would have gone to the shop and bought chocolate if it wasn’t so hot and I was so exhausted.
But hooray, later on I remembered that I had been noticing my tummy, and realised that if I had measured it a couple of weeks ago it would have been even bigger. So that cheered me up and, even though yesterday would hardly have made 6 veg, I am back on track today feeling like I am doing good things and especially happy I am feeling I can do my fast days again. I’ll have another fast day tomorrow.
Hoping today is a good one.
GDSA, so sorry your chooks succumbed to the heat. I hope the spray helps today.
Cinque, your reaction to the waist measurement sounds exactly like my reaction to scale weight.
I have kid food challenges today too as I’m looking after the kids this morning rather than tonight. Even in the heat they will probably want to go to the bakery.
I must rush – have to leave shortly.
Have a good day and stay as cool and hydrated as possible.
Gday, I’m so sorry to hear about your chooks and the heat. The hose mister is a good idea. I hope it gets the rest of your animals through this hot spell. 51.8 is hard to even imagine. I think the highest heat I’ve experienced was 47 or 48 and that was when visiting Arizona. That felt unbearable. Good to stay indoors with some kind of air conditioning during that kind of heat. I hope it didn’t cause any fires nearby.
Cinque, how could you tell that your zucchini blossom had been fertilized? Did it have a big silly grin on its face? 😋 This isn’t a good time of the year to have a CFS flare-up but It’s good to hear that you’re having some success treating the symptoms because you now know how to deal with them. I’ve been somewhat of a hermit here too, at least socially. With all the construction stuff finally done for now except having to wait for shower doors to be made and installed, I’ve been working on applying 2 coats of sealer to the grout, having to wait a couple days between the application. It’s not difficult, but even the low voc water based sealant has enough smell to give me a headache. Wearing a face mask helps for a while but I breed like I can’t breathe after a while.
LJ, those suitcase doll houses are beautiful! I bet it would be fun to try and make something like that. I’m glad to hear you have some new exercises from your physio. It’s easy to overdo it if you’re using the wrong muscles. A couple weeks ago I was helping OH move a chest of drawers that had a separate top and bottom piece. It was heavy, but not something that would have been a problem a year or two ago, but I haven’t been exercising much and just picking up one side of the top half and moving it a couple meters has made my lower back and hips and knees feel sore for the past couple of weeks. It didn’t start hurting until the following day. I clearly need more exercise on a consistent basis!
Betsy, your decision to take a semester off sounds like a good plan. Maybe your stomach pain is due to stress. That can cause all sports of intestinal distress. It’s good your doctor is ordering a scan, just to be safe.
Lindsay, Rosy seems to be causing complete chaos with the Christmas tree. I second LJ’s suggestion of a toddler gate for this year. Broken glass around pets is really scary. We’ve dropped cups and dishes over the years on our tile floor and the glass shards can travel so far. Trying to vacuum everything up and keep the dog contained can certainly cause a lot of distress. I’ve found tiny pieces of glass under the refrigerator months later when moving it. Puppies are like little kids in that they seem to have endless energy.
Thin, isn’t it something that your former noisy neighbors are finally out of your old Perth neighborhood? I bet everyone was glad to see them go. Your boat with all the Christmas lights sounds lovely. I’m glad you’ve been able to spend some time with your daughter. You must miss her, even though she’s having wonderful adventures with her new job. How does she like the UK?
I hope you get relief from all the hot temperatures soon. We’ve barely gotten above 10 or 11 the past several days with colder temps at night. So maybe you could send a little of that heat this way! I seem to always feel cold lately and have been wearing layers of fleece clothing and warm jumpers. I’m hoping for a warm Christmas while you’re all probably hoping for a cool one!
Penguin, Merry and Klondi, where are you?
So pleased the regulars are able to keep the thread buzzing along. I was scanning posts to see what you’re all up to and saw G’day’s 51.8 and thought, wow, that’s a big weight loss. On closer inspection, I see this is the temperature. Good grief, that’s truly awful. We’ve been hearing of Perth’s record temperatures from friends and not missing that at all.
Lindsay, yes, I’m still in your cyber world! Hilarious what your husband said. Tell him it could be worse, he could be living within the confines of a narrow boat! My OH could power it through England’s 2000 miles of canals right now. Mince pies have been banned.
LJ, lovely idea about the food hampers. When we go into the larger towns, it’s alarming to see people sleeping in shop doorways. It must be very tough in this weather. The Bangers and Crackers night was fun, there was a large fire burning to keep us warm. The bangers were teeny and swamped by a huge white bun which I discreetly pitched. OH impressed me by bringing me one with no sauces. By the time I decided to succumb to a second, they were all gone. There was a lot of mulled wine – and too many mince pies and chocolates.
Cinque, good to hear you’re well enough to resume FDs. I bet the grandies are bringing you lots of good cheer.
CalifD, your temps are about the same as ours. 12C today – a heatwave! DD loves it here, not that she has much time off to see anything but she’s very happy with her job and work colleagues and learning a lot.
I haven’t done my Silly Season Challenge this year. I forgot all about it until it was too late. Keep strong everyone – it’s just a day. It’s just a meal.
Absolutely devastating in Sydney. My son and Family evacuated from their home in Bargo. They are here with me. so so sad about the firefighters injured and killed.
happier note my cake went down ex exceptionally well.
https://imgur.com/a/cR6WNtB
Too upset to post more. Hope everyone else are safe and keeping cool. Take care.
Hello everyone on this dreadful day for our country.
Horrible news to wake up to, Intesha. It is hard to comprehend what NSW is dealing with at the moment, and so sad to know of people hurt and killed while working so hard to help. And so many more houses destroyed. Sending all good wishes to your son’s family and all the people of Bargo, I do hope things will be better than feared. I am so glad you have them safe with you, it will be a precious, squishy Christmas.
Gday, I can’t imagine what it is like for you. The heat will have been relentless for you. It is so hot and dangerous where you are. Sending you cooling wishes. Sending wishes to the chooks too.
We have 44C forecast for Melbourne today, so my next job is to water the garden. It is fast day for me, lots of drinks of water.
LJoyce, you are so right, I tag teamed your experience. I’m right now and feeling like having a fasty fast day today. I hope your bakery expedition went well and that you and your garden stay cool in the heat. Just hearing Adelaide had its hottest night. Cruel.
Haha Cali, my zucchini did look fat and shiny and very pleased with itself. But yesterday I noticed the top end was wilting, so I picked it. But that means I have had my first feed of zucchini (stirfry) so that was special.
Hooray that the construction part of the renovations is done! Oh dear watch out for those fumes, I hope you have fans on. And yes I think we would each happily give you 10 degrees off the top of our temperatures, so watch out for a fierce blast coming your way!
Thin, lovely to read your post. So glad that DD has settled in happily.
It must be a good thing that you didn’t even think of your Silly Season Challenge coming in to Christmas. You have several years of strategies up your sleeve if you need them.
Okay, off to water the garden, soak the yuba (yes I finally got to the shop!) and have my morning coffee. Jugs of water ready and icecubes in the fridge.
Take care every one. It will be a hard day to get through, take it easy.
Quacka, sending love.
Good afternoon all.
Intesha, the fire news today was appalling. I am also sorry to hear that your son & family have had to evacuate. I hope their home is ok to return to. It’s good that they have you and your dad as a haven to go to.
Cali, good to hear from you, I was wondering if you were ok.
How is that bathroom coming along. With the cold weather you are experiencing (hard to imagine here at present), you are going to need a bath tub to soak in.
Thin, I’m very glad you had a good time at the Bangers and Crackers night. Avoiding bread as usual I see – good thing too as they’d never use a good wholemeal or rye sourdough it’s always some mass produced pappy white stuff.
Enjoy the treat of having christmas with our daughter.
Cinque, this heat wave seems to have created some agitation for the Victorian state housing body to provide air conditioning to tenants. It may take a while, but if that eventuates it will make summer more bearable.
Hope you are keeping the garden watered and your veggies alive.
Despite the dreadful heat I managed to do nearly 8000 steps today. I walked to the shopping centre and spent a lot of time looking for all the little things I still needed (ribbons, gift tags, containers for the home-made baking gifts and a few little extras for the kids).
I also went to the bank to get money as some gifts and I bought a packet of balloons. I got the cash in small denominations and I’m planning to put it into the balloons so that the receiver has to pop their balloon so their cash falls on them like confetti. There are some family members I always give cash to, so I try to be inventive each year about how to present it.
Hope the heat eases in your area soon. The lightning has just arrived here but it’s still hot and windy – not good for the fires. It should cool by morning here I hope.
Thoughts going to all of you as Australia burns and I sit here watching it rain through the portholes. Can hardly fathom some of those temperatures. Intesha, you have your family safe and sound with you, that’s the most important thing. I have a friend who recently purchased a house in Sydney, no threat to her new home yet but she’s close enough to be struggling with the smoke. That’s an amazing cake you’ve achieved.
LJ, you spoke too soon. I succumbed to an orange and chocolate loaf. ‘Just a taste’ led to so much more and the sugar addiction was my undoing. Drat. Absolutely not worth the 400g weight gain. FD on Sunday now even more essential. Can I get on your Christmas present list? I like that balloon idea – falling like confetti – lucky them, even in fivers, that’s a tidy sum of cash to make confetti. I hope they don’t all pop them together and squabble over whose is whose!
Cinque, aren’t you clever growing a lovely, fat zuke.
CalifD, thought of you last night as I made an Amazon purchase. I nearly had to contact my cyber friend in California to help me work through all the clutter on that busy page. Very efficient though, my order has been despatched already. I spent the rest of the evening unsuccessfully trying to work out how to change my email contact details on their site (from 2001). Three hours of my life I’m never getting back.
Slow down and stay cool everyone.
Good morning.
It’s now cooler here and I hope that change is now heading east to provide some relief. I’ve just opened all the doors and windows to let fresh air through the house.
Hello Thin, I’m sure a FD will take care of the chocolate-orange bread.
Glad you figured out Amazon. I hope you managed to update you address as well as your email – otherwise someone in Perth is going to receive your purchase.
You might be right about the cash fight, although they know how much they get. I’m only doing the balloon trick with the kids, adults get a $50 note with a box of cherries and bag of homemade shortbread (per couple).
It’s possible I won’t be able to go to the cherry farm on Sunday and get the cherries that I rely on as christmas gifts due to the fires. I may have to put a cherry IOU in the christmas gifts.
I weighed myself again this morning, but my efforts to stick near 800cal did not bear fruit this week. I lost no weight. Never mind there’s always next week.
I’m baking many trays of shortbread today (and trying not to eat it). I made the dough last weekend and refrigerated it. As today is the coolest day we’re getting before christmas it’s baking day. I’ve got at least 20 trays to bake and they take 30 mins so it’s going to take many hours.
Take care everyone.
I’m first reading about the fires here as our news has nothing but impeachment news 24/7. He’s impeached but will probably not be removed from office no matter what he does. Shaking my head…
Intesha, I hope your son and his family have their home to return to. It’s good the temps have finally cooled down some. I hope that helps to get all the fires under control. Gday, how many km north of Adelaide do you live? I remember that you told us once, but I forgot. It seems the temperatures are a lot higher there. I hope they managed to get all the work done on your home..
Intesha, that cake is absolutely stunning! The colors are beautiful and so delicate. I could imagine in being served at the table in Downton Abbey.
LJ, that’s a lot of shortbread to bake! I hope the weather cooperates. I’m thinking of making a dessert for Christmas that starts with a shortbread base, lemon squares or lemon bars. Have any of you ever made them? OH’s mum used to make them often and I loved the sweet and tart flavors. I don’t know why I never tried making them. I guess it’s because desserts aren’t my expertise. But the recipes look pretty easy and there probably isn’t a lot that can go wrong. https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Super-Easy-Lemon-Bars-2256547?prm-v1
LJ an thin, I did all my Christmas shopping online at Amazon. Once you’ve set up your account and address book it’s easy. Having a Prime shipping is very convenient if you buy a lot from Amazon. Many items now are received the following day.
I finished almost all the grout sealing today. One more coat on a couple of areas Sunday and that part will be done. I ordered some honeycomb style shades that can be bottom up or top down, for the two windows. Ordering them online and installing them ourselves is a fraction of the cost of having someone come out to do it. The shades should arrive the second week in Jan. The shower doors should be installed Dec 30. Then it’s just a matter of finding the quartz or granite for the countertops. I will be so glad when it’s finished. I wonder if Quacka is finished with hers?
Cinque, hope you’re getting through the hot weather without any extra discomfort. I imagine that the heat makes it more difficult.
Hope Penguin, Merry and Klondi are all doing well. Hope to see them back here soon.
Hi Cali, those lemon squares look lovely. Here lemon curd tarts are popular and your slice looks the same – just made in a rectangular tray rather than a pie plate. I’m sure it will be wonderful – I love just about anything with a lemon or lime flavour.
It sounds like your bathroom reno is moving forward, although probably not at the pace you’d like. It will be worth it once it’s finished.
I have just removed the final biscuit trays from the oven – it’s taken 7 hours. I’ve ended up with 300+ biscuits. I made lots of plain shortbread – as traditional fingers and also christmas tree shapes. I also made flavours: passionfuit and almond; cranberry; chocolate and pecan with white choc chip; and chocolate and glace cherry. I also made my first ever batch of snickerdoodle cookies. I know they aren’t techincally a christmas biscuit, but with sugar and spice coating it felt christmassy. There are also a couple of people who make their own shortbread, so I need an alternative to give them. I found a recipe that used both cinnamon and cardamon. The aroma while they were baking was amazing.
Did I manage to do all that baking with out tasting – no (who was I kidding, thinking I’d manage that) – I ate 3 biscuits. I think the snickerdoodle was my favourite – I’m a such a cinnamon fan. I could easily have eaten more but I’m worried about whether I have made enough for all the gifts this has to cover. I ate the wonky ones that I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving away.
Time to relax now with a pot of tea – and no more biscuits!
Hi everyone, greetings from Paris!
It is so awful to read about and watch the horrendous fires and heat at home. Intesha, I hope your brother’s home is ok
Thin, I did wave to you when we arrived in London. Maxx is having a ball at his pet resort. They post pictures almost every day and he looks happy and well cared for. He has free range access to a large yard and there are dogs of similarly sizes with him
I thought we would love Paris but so far not so much. It doesn’t help that there is a complete public transport strike that is limiting our activities. We had to cancel a trip to the palace of Versailles today as we just couldn’t get there. We knew the French would be a bit arrogant but honestly they are collectively a very cranky bunch! We loved London to bits as even police officers said good morning and everyone was polite and respectful and friendly. I’m sure a couple more days here will see us fall under Paris’s spell
We love how Christmassy it feels with the cold weather and beautiful lights and decorations in the ship windows
I’m averaging just over 15,000 steps per day. One day we did 24,000! There’s a lot to be said about walking; there was an evil set of scales in our London hotel bathroom and curiousity got the better of me…..and….if they were accurate I’d lost a bit! My new black pants feel a bit loose too. We skip either brekky or lunch probably every second day so that’s helped too.
I skimmed your posts as OH hates me spending too much time on my phone – understandably; no-one wants to spend their holiday with their face in their phone. But I do miss catching up with you all!
I’ll post some pics soon
LJ, I was so sad to hear about your CT scan results. It sounds very similar to what my Mum had and she suffered terribly
Cinque, so happy you are able to keep the Chrissy activities to a limit. I hope you are ok
Quacka – jogging seems to make you happy so keep it up. I hope your Dad is ok
Lindsay – hope the pup behaves on Christmas day. So cute
Cali – glad the Reno’s are going ok
Neil, hope Fiji is/was fantastic
Betsy – good idea to take a semestar off.
G’day – so sorry to hear about your poor chooks. I can’t believe the temperature was over 50 degrees.
I’m sure there are typos – apologies!
Hi to anyone I missed. If I don’t get to post before have a totally awesome Christmas everyone
Birthday camel ride https://imgur.com/gallery/Ruq2tps
Maxx saying ‘come on boys and girls, let’s cause some chaos’ https://imgur.com/gallery/ihn5GFa
Eiffel Tower https://imgur.com/gallery/BzG6qs7
Just a quick catch up today (I’m recovering from doing some shopping yesterday),
Hi Anzac! So good to hear from you and see the pictures. Excellent number of steps. How nice to think you can have the holiday of a lifetime and make your waistband looser. Isn’t life wonderful.
LJoyce congratulations on all that shortbread. Te snickerdoodles look great too, they make me think of the Dutch Christmas cookies that are so nice with sweet spices in them. Congratulations on not adding to your weight. Things are a bit impossible at this time of year, but not long until it is over.
Ooh it would be lovely to have airconditioning installed. I used to say that it took several days for my flat to heat up, but with these big temperatures it soaks into the brick walls and then diffuses into the rooms the next day, so I have struggled the day after 40+ degrees.
Nice and cool here today, but still so much stress and fire and work to be done all over the country.
Thin thanks for your good thoughts. It is devastating to see the damage of those two big fires in NSW and that the whole of the Great Dividing Range is under such threat. And then there is the damage of the smoke to Sydney and Canberra and all the way to NZ. I thought of you when hearing of the fires in WA, even though you are not there anymore.
Ha Cali, I can imagine there is not much room on your airwaves for our fires at the moment.
I love lemon slice, but the one I used to make is much thinner than yours. Because the lemon topping was so sweet, in my recipe, I made the base of a crisp pastry without sugar. Ooh but I loved it though and the tart bite of the lemon is so nice when there is lots of food being eaten.
Congratulations on the grouting, isn’t it a satisfying job! Good luck finding the right quartz for the countertops.
Gday, I am keen to hear from you.
Intesha it is hard to work out what is happening for Bargo now. Hoping there is no bad news.
I had a good fast day on Friday and an 8 veg day yesterday! I am getting better and better at it. But no veg with my breakfast today so I will make up for it with lunch and my evening meal.
Cheers all.
Just an update. The Bargo fires are still watch and act. My son and family went home Friday night and packed the cars ready to leave at a moments notice but although the fires were at the bottom of their street all was okay. Yesterday because of the conditions they left again before it got to the evacuation level and just as well they did as most of the roads and highways were cut off.
They may go back tonight but it’s still a very volatile situation.
I have been stress eating but determined to have an FD today.
Good afternoon everyone.
I’m just taking a break from a busy few hours of gardening, cooking, cleaning and wrapping the first of the shortbread gifts. I’ve just stopped for a relaxing cuppa. I will also go for a walk with a friend later this afternoon.
Intesha, I’m glad to hear your son had the wisdom to leave early. I hope the cooler weather actually helps the fire fighters.
Anzac, lovely to hear from you and thanks for the pics. Looks like Maxx is having a fun holiday too. I love the colour of that jacket you are wearing in the Paris photo. Just in case we don’t hear from you again until after Wednesday, merry christmas. I hope you have a lovely christmas day which is free of cranky locals.
Cinque, I hope you do get aircon. It would be a lengthy process I imagine to retrofit to all public housing, but I hope the current push for change bears fruit.
Hopefully you are picking some veg and managing to meet your 7 a day target. I though of you this morning when I picked lots of peas and a couple of zucchini – which I’ve turned into a “cream of green” soup for tonight.
I’m doing my first 500FD in a while – I don’t do them when I’m aiming for 800cal every day, which I have for the last 3 weeks. I’m looking forward to it after yesterday’s excess of biscuits, choc-mint log, sausages, bread… I’m afraid my evening fell into a big heap diet wise. As I have several eating out challenges this week and I do want to enjoy some treats, I decided that I needed a couple of normal FDs in addition to trying to keep my calories low on the non-social days.
I was meant to go to the cherry farm this morning but we had to cancel as although the farm is free from the fires the access roads are not and they only want locals going through. Buying cherries is hardly essential travel so we postponed. If the roads are open by Tuesday I will go up then – I have orders from other family members who were also relying on getting cherries today. If they are still closed then I’ll need to give a cherry IOU to the family member who usually get a box as part of their christmas gift. I’ll get it to them after christmas.
Have a nice day, try not to get to stressed or busy if possible.
Good morning,
Monday fast day for me. Cancelling out a feast last night that started with a lovely dinner at Noodle Kingdom but continued when I got home. Oops.
Intesha, thanks for the update. I hope they are home again with a few days of reprieve before the next evacuation. It is such a strain and so daunting that it might go on for the whole summer. I hope you got a good fast day in yesterday, sometimes it is good to concentrate on a simple thing like fasting when stress is bad. But I also hope you are feeling less stressed.
Thinking of SA too, it is awful to hear of the destruction in the hills.
LJoyce, good idea to concentrate on a couple of good fasty fast days among the social duties. I hope yesterday went swimmingly. And fingers crossed you get to the cherry farm, and they don’t taste too smoky.
Good grief it is Christmas Eve tomorrow.
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Hi Cinque, Your dinner venue last night sounds interesting – I love noodles.
The cherry farm shop reopened today so I will be able to go up tomorrow morning. They are short of staff as some of the people who normally work there are directly affected by the fires.
I went to a christmas morning tea thrown by a neighbour. Fan and calories had by all! I’ve just had 2 shortbread with a cuppa and have had to talk to myself sternly when I wanted to return for more.
I’ve pulled a tub of aloo gobi from the freezer and tonight I’ll airfry some tandoori chicken thighs (also frozen coated in their marinade). I should get dinner for 2 nights from that.
Special Aussie Christmas Wreath for you Cali!
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Hi all, catching up briefly.
Thanks for the encouraging words from a few of you re taking a semester off from study. My stomach is still tying itself into knots sometimes, so… I had the ultrasound my doctor ordered last Friday, and heard from the surgery this morning. They want me to see someone there soon, not urgently, but soon. Frustrating that my own doctor went on leave from Monday (I thought he was off from Christmas day) because he’d said I just would need to phone him, then continue with the CT scan if he felt I needed it. He’s already ordered it, but I was to wait on the ultrasound result first. I think the U/S probably showed fatty liver disease (which I developed as a side-effect of breast cancer meds), but they said they couldn’t tell me over the phone; I have to see someone. Sigh! So I’ve made an appointment to see my own doctor early January, and go from there. If anything, I think I may need a gastroscopy, but I’ve been trying to lose weight first, hoping it wouldn’t be needed. We’ll see.
Okay, enough about me –
Intesha, scary for your son and family, so sad for the lives lost both in NSW and SA. I just keep praying for rain and God’s mercy on our land. Even Melbourne will have 3 consecutive days of really hot weather at the end of this week.
Not like yours, GDayfromSA, so I hope your misting plan has worked to save your chooks.
CalifDreamer, great that nearly all the renovations are now done. Such a relief!
Anzac65, pity about Paris being a disappointment. People have said that if you at least try to speak some words in French, Parisians are more friendly. I hope you eventually get to the Palace of Versailles. I’ve been there, but we only wandered around the gardens, and didn’t pay the extra fee to visit the Palace.
thinatlast, have a great Christmas with your daughter.
LJoyce, what a marathon day of cooking. I’m amazed that you managed to stop at 3 biscuits! I’d have been eating biscuit dough and thoroughly enjoying it – but not the results the next day 🙂 It’s great that your physio has been able to work out a better exercise regime for you, and I hope it keeps the back pain under control.
Cinque, I’m glad you have a bit more energy now and are able to get a few things done.
LindsayL, your dog sounds like a really mischievous puppy – shades of the young Maxx! Fortunately, they do eventually mature. Have you raided your bees yet?
Everyone is writing about all their eating plans – just reading it makes me feel hungry. For me, so many feast days are thankfully now behind me, and only a meal for Christmas night to get through. I’m thinking I may try a 3-day fast afterwards, to try to get things moving in the right direction again. It’s much easier when it’s really hot, as fluids are the main course on the menu. Just have to avoid ice-cream.
And on that note, have a great Christmas everyone, including Merryme, Klondi, Penguin and Neilithicman, and anyone else who’s been MIA recently. I’ll be watching Carols by Candlelight tomorrow evening, and busy Christmas night, so probably back on Boxing Day to read all your tales of joy and (eating) woe.
Betsy, How awful that you cannot find out what is actually wrong until you can see a doctor in the new year. I’m sure that’s not doing any good for your anxiety levels.
If fatty liver is a problem it is curable by a lower fat diet and weight loss – I know this because it happened to my body. I will keep my fingers crossed that any other issues can be easily resolved by your doctors.
I’m heading up to Kenton Valley Cherry Farm this morning – If I can get through, as I’m not sure which roads in the fire zone are closed – it seems to change every few hours.
The fire flared up with stronger winds yesterday afternoon, but I’ve checked the CFS site again this morning and it looks like there is only one fire anywhere near the cherry farm that is still large and out of control – it’s north west of the cherry farm and I’ll be coming in from the south, so I’m hopeful. The cherry farm also posted on their facebook page that they checked with the CFS and the police before reopening the farm shop yesterday as they knew it would bring car traffic to the area.
Have a good day all. And if I don’t get a chance to post tomorrow, have lovely christmas with whomever you choose to share it with.
A beautiful morning at my place, a cool breeze is playing through the house and it is sunny outside. I have zucchini plants flowering, my tomato plants are ridiculously late but are growing strongly and, just when I thought I wouldn’t have basil this year, my daughter bought me a lovely pot of seedlings, late again, but if I am lucky I will get pesto! As Betsy said, nasty summer is approaching (well, you weren’t quite as rude about it), how grateful I am that it has taken this long for it to hit here.
Good fast day yesterday and I am going to have yummy mushrooms and tomato on toast for breakfast. I feel like I have had one of those cool brain changes and eating mostly veggies every meal has become normal and desired. Yes, I do say that inspite of my carb feast the other night, haha, even big brain changes go up and down. Okay, okay, I will wait a bit longer before I say it so confidently, but goodness me I feel better from eating so many more veggies, and 7 serves a day is not a huge target any more.
LJoyce Noodle Kingdom is a treat, as you go in you pass the people making the noodles, so everything is fresh and wonderfully cooked, quite spicy, and the sauces are not too sweet for me. Inexpensive too. Hard to make half the meal veggies though!
What lovely dinners you have pulled out of the freezer! I am enjoying a cauliflower and spinach curry I made so much! Yum yum Indian food.
Betsy, good to hear from you, I had to look up fatty liver disease because, although I have heard about it, I don’t know much. How dreadful that meds caused yours. One page I read said it is a life long disease, while others said it is reversible. Is this because once damage is done it causes life long problems, but if it can be caught earlier it is reversible?
I do so hope that they can do something about the awful pain, and that the time you are giving yourself allows you to do all the lifestyle things that can make a difference. So frustrating that you need to wait to talk to your doctor, but on the other hand I am relieved that it was not an ‘urgent, come and talk to your doctor straight away’ diagnosis.
Enjoy your Christmas meal, that three day fast sounds like a nice way to end the feasting season and move into your precious semester of being good to yourself.
Hoping you are finding some Parisian pleasures Anzac, when I was there (40 years ago!) my treat was finding little galleries along the Seine. But rude people and logistical disasters do make good stories!
Best wishes to all the rest of you, I can imagine how busy you all are with Christmas time. Let’s all wish ‘Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All’.
Off to shelter my basil seedlings on their first day in the garden. Bye.
Happy Christmas eve everyone. We’ve had a few days of mid 30 temps, currently the low 40s now and then back up to the high 40s again by the end of the week. We lost another 2 laying hens (total of 4) in the last few days of the heatwave last week. Over the weekend we had smoke from a bushfire that was burning about 30kms away from us.
During the heatwave we lost internet for 2 days, had intermittent mobile reception for 3 days and on Friday no electricity. Because it was 45 degrees MissD and I couldn’t stay home with no airconditioning so we decided to drive 100kms to another town to do some shopping at a shopping centre. On the drive home we struck a huge dust storm that was so bad the sky was black, we couldn’t see anything in front of us, it was very scary and creepy and lasted about 45 mins. Was very glad to find the power was back on when we arrived home.
How’s this, at 5.30pm today, Christmas eve, our gas bottle run out for the kitchen stove….lol. Luckily we had planned a bbq for lunch tomorrow and oysters and scallops for tea as it’s just the 3 of us. The oven has gas hotplates and electric oven and grill so it’s only the hotplates that will be out of action until Friday when we can order delivery of a new bottle.
I’ve just baked OH’s favourite dessert – meringues. As they contain so much sugar they are usually a no go food in our house so as a treat i make them for Xmas day only.
Well the pavers contractors came…..and went again. Did 2 days work, packed up their gear and said they had another job to go to. That was 6 days ago and haven’t seen or heard from them since. So paving is half done and OH is not impressed at all.
I can’t remember who it was now but someone asked how far North of Adelaide I am – approx 350kms.
Hope everyone enjoys tomorrow and Santa brings you lots of goodies. Take care everyone x
Morning all
I’m just popping in to wish you all a merry Christmas. We flew back in at 7pm last night and then had do our groceries because we had no food in the house. I weighed in this morning up 1.4 kilos, hopefully I’ll drop that back off after Christmas when I get back to my regular eating pattern.
Well got to go start cooking for today, have a nice relaxing day everyone
Happy Christmas all from New Zealand! Still here and lurking, will write more in the New Year, just wanted to wish you all lots of laughter and happiness with your loved ones over the festive season wherever you are in the world. Thank you for all your support, friendship and conversations through 2019, stay safe everyone,
Turnabout
Hi all
I have been totally off the radar so not sure who is active these days. I’m still on 5-2 and maintaining quite well. I hope everyone is happy and well and enjoying special times with the people who are important in their lives. I am lucky enough to have all my family around me and appreciate all the good times we have.
I’ll try and catch up over the summer and be back on the forum again.
May 2020 be awesome.
It’s still Christmas Eve here but most of you are already enjoying Christmas Day. So Merry Christmas to all of my dear fasting friends! https://naturetime.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/christmas-raccoons.jpg
Intesha, I hope your son and family won’t have to be evacuated again. Maybe these really high temperatures are just a fluke and the weather will go back to a more normal level. Rain would be good. The fires look very scary.
Cinque I love the Aussie bird wreath! Thank you. So beautiful!
Betsy, I wish you didn’t have to wait for those ultrasound results. Not knowing creates so much anxiety. But they did say it wasn’t urgent, so that’s a good thing. Prayers that everything is quickly corrected. I hope you’re managing to have a nice holiday.
Gday, that dust storm and electricity outage sounds awful! And now having to wait until Friday for a new gas bottle. Thank goodness for grills, so you can still do some cooking.
We spent several hours visiting with OH’s family and will have a couple friends here tomorrow. My lemon squares tasted very good, but I left them in the oven a bit too long so they were hard to get out of the glass baking dish. They didn’t look done when they actually were. Next time I’ll know better. They were quite tart, which I like. I don’t even want to think about the calories. Thank goodness for fasting when these celebrations are over!
LJoyce, Cinque, Anzac, Penguin, Klondi, Neil, Quacka, Turn, thin, Crazy and anyone else I’ve missed, have a wonderful Christmas.
Hi Folks
I’ve just signed up to the forum as it’s crunch time for me. I REALLY need to lose some weight and keep it off.
I’m 63 years of age, Type 2 Diabetic and the Dr has finally put me on Metformin (and statins) and I feel like I’ve failed myself. Despite watching what I eat and exercising, the weight and the blood sugar levels have gradually crept up over the years, so I think it’s time to take some definitive action.
(I’m located in gorgeous Hobart).
Look forward to ‘talking’ with all of you.
Good morning all.
I hope you all had a lovely christmas day and are recovering gracefully today!
Cali, Penguin, Thin and Anzac I hope you are still enjoying the tail end of your chrstmas day.
My christmas went well. Even having to deal with my sister, with whom I have a prickly relationship, went much better than I feared it would. I spent the morning at my niece’s with my sister, niece, nephew and their spouses & kids. Then I went to Aldgate in the hills to my cousin’s daughter for a christmas lunch and afternoon with my dad’s side of the family. Unfortunately my cousin was taken to hospital early on christmas morning. They initially though she’d need surgery – which would have been risky as she’s 6 weeks into a 6 month chemo program so her healing ability and infection risk would be problematic. Thankfully they were able to fix the problem without surgery so she should be allowed home by tomorrow. It was also a bittersweet christmas as we expect this to be my uncle’s last christmas – he has terminal cancer. (It’s not been a good year for health news for this family.) I felt doubly sorry for my cousin as she was in hospital, so missed her dad’s last christmas.
I did follow through with my plan of hiding the cash gifts inside balloons that needed to be popped to release their cash. I only did this for the kids and they loved it. I told them to hold it above their heads before they popped it as it might be the only time in their life they had money raining down on them! My great nephew insisted someone else did the popping so he could put his hands over his ears when it went bang. It was a good thing to do – it really lightened the mood.
On the food front, I feel like I’ve nothing but eat for 3 days. I went to bed last night feeling fat and bloated. I’m doing my second 500cal FD for the week today before I go back to my daily 800cal plan. I haven’t weighed this morning as I think the damage done since Monday would just be depressing. I’ll keep weighing Saturday as usual.
I am about to head up to the hills again to a friend’s place and we will do a hills walk. She lives near Belair National Park and there are a lot of nice walking trails through there. I will be able to track it all on my new fitbit which my nephew and his wife gave me for christmas – with a purple band! (They know my colour preferences very well.) My age is showing – it has taken me over an hour to get it all set up and I’m still not sure I know how to work the fitbit properly. At least I’ve got the basics working, I’ll figure the rest out later.
Well I’m heading off for that walk now.
Have a nice day everyone.
Hi Jelly bones.
The fast 800 is a great way to start off this way of life. You restrict your calories to 800 per day and stick to the Mediterranean diet, which is mainly fish, eggs, nuts, fruit and veg, oil, and lean meat (no sugar or processed food)
I found it helpful to do time restricted eating too, that’s where you eat your calories in a limited time window. I did 8 hours, so I ate all my calories between 11am and 7pm, 2 meals of around 300-400 calories and a 100 calorie snack.
Michael Mosley recommends doing it for 2 weeks then reassessing. I ended up doing it for 12 weeks because I found it really easy after the first horrendous 3 days when your body is adjusting. I then switched to a 4:3 fasting regimen, and now I’m on 5:2.
I went from 131.5 kilograms on the 23rd January this year to 87 kilograms a couple of weeks ago.
Good luck and tune in to this forum regularly, everyone here is very supportive and some have been doing this way of life for a long time now so have a great knowledge.
Good afternoon,
I am very slow today after a lovely, but big, day yesterday with my daughter’s family.
Klondi, SO GOOD to see your post and to think you might be able to be here more regularly soon.
Welcome Jelly Bones! My tip (once you have looked at the 800 a day for a couple of weeks option) (and at TRE Time Restricted Eating) is to do what seems easiest and most sustainable. You can always make changes later to ramp it up if you aren’t losing quickly enough to keep motivated, or ramp it down if what you are trying seems too hard or complicated.
About time we had a Tasmanian join us, so do keep us up to date with what you do and how you go so we can cheer you along.
You are doing a wonderful thing for your longterm health!
Cali, Merry Christmas for today, so glad you enjoyed the wreath.
LJoyce, so good you had such a lovely Christmas (even with that tricky sister there). The raining cash was a wonderful idea!
It must have been a bittersweet family feast when there has been so much bad news. Memories are made of this.
Haha that new fitbit, I wouldn’t know where to start. I hope it gave you a lovely step count!
Neil lovely to have you home and posting again. You will make short work of that weight gain,
I have continued to feel happy about my food intake. 7 serves of veggies a day just doesn’t leave much space for anything else. I caught a few episodes of a new Jamie Oliver series on TV ‘Jamie’s Ultimate Veg’ which was full of great ideas. I hope they replay it soon so I can see the whole thing (can’t stand 10play). I am totally confused about what day of the week it is, so I think I have missed a fast day this week. I will plan to have one on Sunday.
Best wishes all.
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Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
Michael looks at the Horizon special, "What's the Right Diet for You" and tells us which diet they say is best for him.
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12:43 am
15 Dec 19