Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • Good evening everyone. I’ve had a good FD today, so am hoping for a little more weight down tomorrow at weigh-in.

    Yesterday was a NFD, unfortunately, rather than a CD or TDEE (which for me means the calories I’ll be allowed to eat when I reach maintenance) and I think I am leaning in your direction, Thin – rice is nice, but not nice for my eating. Unless it’s Basmati rice, it has too high a GI and just makes me feel hungrier.

    What happened, you ask? Well, I enjoyed my satay chicken for dinner last night, and it came with rice so I ate the rice too. Alack, within about 90 minutes I was SO hungry, all bets were off and I ate too much. Just managed to stop before going over my daily allowance. It was okay – this morning I weighed the same as yesterday morning, so no damage done, but…. the hunger was severe, and the same as last time I ate rice. It might have been better had there been more protein with it, but as it was – no, no more!

    Penguin, chuckled at your comment, and yes, (to you and Neilithicman) for someone only 154 cms tall, there IS a weight below 60 kg. I need to be 59 kg to have a BMI of 25, and I’m aiming for 52kg, which will be a BMI of 21.9. Not sure whether I’ll get down that far, as I haven’t been 54 kg since I was 14 years old, but it’s my ideal weight.
    By the way, have you been doing any kind of push-ups to work on upper body musculature? Even against a wall can be helpful. And invest in a couple of hand weights. Mine are only 2 kg; you’d probably go for 3kg or 5 kg (if not higher), and you can give the upper body and arms a good workout.

    LindsayL, glad there has been progress in the food department for OH, but sorry he has still other foot problems. How frustrating.
    Isn’t decluttering SO satisfying?! One benefit for me of my time off from study has been the opportunity to make my home tidier and more liveable. It feels great.
    Naughty Rosy, but well-taken photo. Are those your chickens behind her?

    Agree with Neilithicman, LindsayL and Turnabout – ridiculous actions and comments from Djokovic, and surprising maturity from Nick Kyrios.

    Turnabout, hope the blue sky won the battle, after all your rain.

    Thin, I was also amazed at the lack of sense seen on the beaches of Dorset/ Bournemouth; reminds me of Bondi Beach a few months ago. Give people an inch and they take a mile! Maybe they’ll have to close the beaches for a while, as they did in Sydney and Melbourne.

    LJoyce, hope you have good fortune with the travel agency and don’t lose too much of the money you’ve already outlayed.
    Lovely carrot picture. Rainbow carrots indeed.

    Anzac65, well done Maxx for his good behaviour. Your apprehension beforehand was understandable, but like children who misbehave at home but are angels when out, he starred for you. Yay!
    Glad there were fewer meetings today, and hope they stay at a more manageable level.

    Enjoy your weekends, everyone. If I have a good weigh-in tomorrow morning, you’ll definitely hear about it! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Stay well, stay safe all.

    Good morning,
    Cold Saturday morning,
    Slept better than I usually do, so feeling great.

    Anzac, omg, there should be a law against 10 meetings in a day. How dare they do that to you. I hope you are having a kind and restorative weekend and finding lots of (non junk food) (maybe even non food?) treats for yourself.

    Happy Birthday Mr Anzac. Excellent fish and chips are a wonderful treat!

    Turn, that Moroccan meal sounds wonderful. Hoping the scales are nicely down for the weekend.

    Yes, Squatter is a very Australian game. I liked it better than monopoly (because my oldest brother and sister would always rip me off quickly when we played monopoly, giving me the lesson about capitalism the game was designed for).

    I also find I need to drink coffee at the early part of the day (drinking some right now) or it keeps me awake at night. And if I haven’t eaten (hello fast days) and especially if I am a bit dehydrated, I can get that nasty shaky, edgy, heart thumping reaction. Hence I start the day with water and tea, and coffee after breakfast.

    LJoyce, oh dear the uber delivery waste. A friend who lives in the innercity often finds bags dumped, when the deliverer hasn’t been able to find an address. So glad you could resist that unplanned delivery!

    Hooray for sunshine!

    Hi Neil, good work at the gym. I like rooibus tea, but not as a substitute for coffee haha. I might buy some though since drinking plain water makes me so cold, this weather.

    Hooray for that burst of energy, and the wonderful feeling of your body doing its thing properly.

    2.

    Betsy you are doing a lovely job, saying goodbye to the seventies.
    So disappointing that the bad cholestrol climbed. But hooray for statins.

    I’m glad you enjoyed the flowers.

    Aren’t we a mad species. 6 coronavirus hotspots in Melbourne and the entire country is panic buying toilet paper again. I agree, well done the supermarkets responding quickly.

    Penguin, so glad Mrs P enjoyed the flowers. Any chance of training you up to appreciate them? I might need to stick to novelty flowers.
    Much sympathy for the side effects settling in, but hooray if that means the treatment is doing its job.

    Lindsay, hooray to hear from you, and what lovely bits of news. Except that Mr L is still having such trouble with his foot. I do hope they can work out how to ease it.

    You are doing brilliantly with my technique because the way I do it is ‘3 things’. Seven was a stretch, and five is impressive.
    Hooray for decluttering. When I do it, it makes me feel SO good.

    Well done on ‘up and down’ weight wise, in comparison to ‘up and up’. Hope you get a nice downhill run very soon.

    Hello Miss Rose! Ready for anything.

    Oh dear, our rising covid19 numbers. Hopefully the blitz of testing does the trick. Darebin still only has a couple of cases, and they are up the far end of the Darebin area, so I feel even less effected by the spike than I did the other day. But I wore my mask again yesterday when I had to get another couple of things at the shops. It is my new practice.

    The whole world is learning, too often the hard way, which decisions work best to manage the pandemic, and how careful we need to be. Leaders make a huge difference, but it is our behaviour that counts most.

    Neil, at least those coffee slips involve calories from milk, very good source of calcium etc. And plenty of research that coffee has health benefits.

    I made such a yummy fish curry the other day. Well, more a lovely turmeric and lemon flavoured broth (also hing, chili, black cumin and fresh coriander) with the fish in it. I will definitely make it again.

    And I can’t believe you sports lovers haven’t mentioned the great Southern Hemisherite triumph! Cheers for us hosting the Women’s FIFA World Cup 2023!

    LJoyce, fingers crossed you get a good reply from the travel agent.
    Kick those scales!

    Beautiful picture of the rainbow carrots. I was remembering how the orange ones were bred in the Netherlands and celebrated William of Orange, which made me wonder why he was William of ORANGE. And I found out! https://www.quora.com/Why-is-William-III-of-England-known-as-William-of-Orange

    Anzac, Well done to Maxx at the cafe. What a wonderful success.
    You know it is time to put your foot down re work pressures, when it is affecting how well you can eat. Keep the pressure on those bosses, they need to do better. Saying ‘it should calm down soon’ is not good enough! And ha, send them a bill for extra consultancy when you are getting other teams in order.

    I found a great piece of research ๐Ÿ˜‰ about the cause of insomnia, that I wanted to share with everyone who has had trouble sleeping. Brilliant. Very scientific. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbUvgoGUEAABaky?format=jpg&name=medium

    Betsy, good discovery about rice in your diet.
    I think it is those people who work in the fields all day who need a big serve of rice for their meal. Little sedentary me needs about a spoonfull, and that had better be brown rice.

    Haha under 60 is definitely the go for us shorties.

    Well I am going to have a second pot of coffee, with a big glass of water first in the hope that protects me from adverse reactions! And then I am going to try for 5 things at a time tidying up!

    Cheers all!

    Good afternoon all.

    Thought I’d better write my post before I dive into the cooking for tomorrow’s family dinner.

    As I mentioned, I emailed the travel agent yesterday to check on the status of the tour I had paid a deposit on. She said that Globus had cancelled tours until the end of August but not beyond yet (mine starts 13 Sep). She’s expecting a decision on their September tour in 2-3 weeks. Hopefully they decide before the rest of the money is due, as it means I’d get the deposit back – only $250 but I’d rather not lose it if possible.

    Lindsay, your experience with the doubter in the deli was not dissimilar to my supermarket expedition yesterday. There was a trio of people chatting and blocking the entrance to an otherwise empty supermarket isle. I waited to the side for someone to create a path for me. The male in the group stepped aside and then looked at me as said “coward”. I was not amused. If we are lucky, we may find a cure for the virus, unfortunately there will never be a cure for stupidity.

    Betsy,I also never eat white rice either, unless I’m eating out and even then I try to leave it on my plate. Lots of calories and virtually no fibre – it’s the only grain I can think of that is almost fibre free. For me fibre is the whole point of eating any grains. I find the best way to avoid the rice is to cook some veg to have with the meal rather than rice or other grains – that way I feel nicely full. (Having some bags of frozen veg in the freezer can make this a quick microwave task.)

    Cinque, yes I was also very happy to see the football world cup news. Soccer is the only version of football that has rules I understand (quite similar to hockey actually, which I used to play). Not something I watch regularly, but I do if Australia is playing.

    Anzac, do you think it would be acceptable to decline those meeting invites for topics outside of your responsibility – if you mentioned competing work deadlines.

    Hello to everyone else. Hope you are having a good day.

    Today was going to be yet another FD (I’ve already done 2 FD500s and a 1000cal day this week). I couldn’t face it, so it will be a NFD. I need to rethink how I go forward as I’m doing a lot of FDs but my weight is going nowhere.
    Despite the annoying scales, my fitbit is at least giving me good news each day. I’ve managed to exceed 10,000 steps every day this week. Happy about that, especially after I discovered Qantas was giving out frequent flyer points for linking my fitbit steps to their app. It might be a while before I can use them though.

    I better into the cooking now. I have cobbled together a menu which should keep everyone happy – not themed by cuisine as I usually do. Just good warming winter recipies. If I can get some the chilli con carne, the passionfruit pudding and some of the other prep done today it will stop me panicking tomorrow.

    Have a nice weekend all.

    Morning all. I haven’t seen the London tribe for months. They are coming today so it is raining. Plan A was that we would assemble in the garden. We will fudge some kind of separation in the house, which with young grandchildren could be tricky.

    Betsy, I have something called a picc line in my left arm – a valve into a pipe which runs inside the arm and into the chest through which they pump the chemo. I asked about exercise and the response was a very wary “be careful”. I suppose I could exercise the other arm which was stronger to start with.

    Cinque. I have always liked flowers, but from my grandfather and father I absorbed the belief that good ground is for growing food and that if you have to buy veg you have got it wrong. In the last few years I have put in a few flower beds and have become foolishly satisfied with my success with “Bishop of Llandarf”. Stupidity seems pretty international. We seem to have become a nation of enormous street parties that descend into violence. The town I am hoping to move into is still split into village like areas so I am hoping to avoid that.

    LJ. We are opening up for travel. Unfortunately the list of destination countries changes frequently as Covid re-appears.

    My body seems to be in yoyo mode. I am bouncing up and down by perhaps 2kg every few days. This morning I am down. An entirely unsuitable eating day with the kids will probably have me up again.

    Good afternoon all from this sunny but cold Melbourne day. I’m planning (note planning, not committed yet ๐Ÿ™‚ ) to go out this afternoon and do some pruning in the garden as there is no rain forecast for the day. We’ll see if I get there. The roses and fruit trees need doing.

    Penguin, I understand the problems of a picc line, as I had one when on chemo for breast cancer. I was told not to move my arms about too violently, especially not above my head, so gently gently does it. Maybe resistance exercise rather than movement would work?

    Ah, vegies, wish I could, but I’m not growing them to feed the possums.

    Cinque and LJoyce, the only rice I have at home is Basmati rice, because it has a relatively low GI. Usually when out I only have a little with lots of protein and vegetables. My fault this time. I bought a Woollies satay chicken and rice meal, and of course the white rice was obviously NOT Basmati rice. As LJoyce wrote, I should have skipped the rice and just had added some vegetables to the chicken.

    I actually have this really neat, very long list of items I downloaded a few years ago from the internet which has the GI counts of most popular foods. That’s why I tend to eat light rye sourdough bread, as it’s one of the few breads with a lower GI. Amazingly (to me, anyway), raisin bread also has a fairly low GI, but it’s not a bread I eat often.

    Cinque, yes, it’s good that the Darebin cases are well away from where you are. I phoned my eye specialist’s a couple of days ago, checking if they are still seeing patients, as they’re in Ivanhoe, and so far so good. I’d had to defer my appointment from April because of Covid-19.

    LJoyce, let’s hope the travel agent’s info comes through in time for you to get your refund. $250 is a few weeks of meals, so not peanuts.

    Oh, before I forget, I weighed in yesterday morning at 69.4 kg, had a NFD then weighed in this morning at 69.3 kg, Go figure!? I’m hoping to be below 69 kg by the end of the month, so tomorrow and Tuesday are going to be FDs, maybe Tuesday a FD800. We’ll see if I make it.

    Stay safe, stay well everyone.

    Freezing Melbourne morning, but sun out now.

    Oh dear the Melbourne covid19 numbers! Hopefully we will see the results over the next few days of the increase in restrictions from last Monday.

    I remembered (fast day Sunday and about to make dashi) someone asking me about dashi It is Japanese stock, usually made from kombu seaweed and bonito tuna flakes. I have had all sorts of conflicting info on how long to leave the ingredients in. Currently working on : kombu, about 12inches worth, let sit then bring slowly to the boil and remove before it has boiled much. Bonito flakes, doesn’t seem to matter, boil away, but I prefer them strained out. Anyone who knows better, do tell me!
    But my last batch was particularly nice. Added shiitake to give extra flavour while soaking them ready for the soup. ๐Ÿ™‚

    LJoyce, your menu sounds great.Yum yum. I hope you were able to get all the cooking done pleasurably, and best wishes for a wonderful dinner.
    I am so sorry you get abused at the shops. Just awful.

    Penguin, I hope you had a great day with the London tribe, and were able to keep distancing well enough. And lots of hand washing.

    I do agree about growing edibles. I loved my daughter’s response, when she was 4 and we moved to a new home so I was planning a garden. She wanted me to grow strawberries and asparagus. And I did.
    But there are some flowers I particularly like to grow, most of them are edible, most are scented, and all of them feed the bees. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Those stunning red dahlias, just gorgeous. It will be a bit irrelevant for me to post you a bunch of them though. Haha. But I already have an idea for my next contribution.

    Wow, it must be so weird having that line in your arm all the time. Sensible definitely, but does it ache? I guess it is a good sign that you are going up and down with your weight. I hope it was yummy food with the grandkids.

    Well I am off to see if it is warm enough to have a cuppa in the sun.
    Best wishes to you all today.

    PS Betsy, just saw your post. Yay for being able to enjoy basmati rice. Hope you can get some lovely gardening done in the sunshine. Cheers for the scales, they just love you being under 70kg!

    Good evening all

    The hordes have left and I am now resting my weary feet while the dishwasher deals with the clean up for me. We start at 5pm as it’s a school night, which means that everyone can head home around 8pm.

    I need to learn to cook a bit less. I always over cater, but I really overestimated this time. There was way too much food even for 10 people. Luckily some were very keen to have leftovers to take to work for lunch tomorrow and I also sent a big doggy bag home for my great nephew’s girlfriend who was working afternoon shift at the children’s hospital. Despite that there was still a lot of containers added to the freezer. It was already pretty full, so I definitely won’t be cooking for a while as I try to get through the meals and soups in there.

    I had a modest main course of roast butter chicken, harissa couscous-quinoa and broccoli and roast pumpkin. Unfortunately I really overdid it with the puddings. I’d made 2 self saucing puddings – passionfruit (baked and chilled) and also blueberry which was hot from the oven. Most of the family tried both as did I. Very indulgent, probably over indulgent actually.

    I’m doing a 500cal FD tomorrow – very necessary!

    Penguin, I hope you had a wonderful catchup with kids and grandkids – something to cheer you up and tire you out all at once.

    Betsy, wonderful that your weight continues to fall each day. It shows that you are managing to stay within limits even on NFDs, which is very impressive, given the large number of FDs and CDs you are also doing each week.

    Cinque, I often find myself needing to look up ingredients that you mention, as I’ve not heard of them before. Tonight it was kombu. You really are adventurous with your foods.

    Time for a cup of decaf tea and then bed I think.

    Take care.

    A good day yesterday. The granddaughters are old enough to grasp the concept of open arms meaning a virtual hug.

    Cinque. I had a small local anaesthetic when they put in the line and didn’t feel it at all. It is located in a position where I don’t bump it, so after about 20 minutes I had forgotten it was there. My concern is that it goes into the biceps and I’m not sure about retaining or rebuilding the muscle around it.

    LJ. The cheering up had to go the other way – the family are more stressed about this than I am. But yes, good to see them. They are only about 145 miles away but to get there means going around London on the orbital M25 motorway which has been described as the largest linear car park in Europe, so the problem is journey time, not distance. Yesterday they were 90 minutes late arriving because of road conditions. That was not a surprise which is why we had prepared a cold meal.

    We are hearing reports about Covid re-surfacing in the SH. It seems to be extremely persistent. Our Government is now talking about local lockdowns in that event. Possibly first in Leicestershire where the figures are up.

    I startled myself this morning. I was giving the car a very overdue wash when in the mirror I saw a head wearing shades and a baseball cap with hair coming out of it at every conceivable angle. I started to turn before I recognised my Covid self.

    Hello all, I wrote this 12 hours ago but had no signal so will try again now:

    Sunday FD, I’m making Chicken Bhuna for dinner. If it gets any cooler, I’ll be cooking it on the diesel stove.

    Anzac, yes, last week, we enjoyed temps in the low 30Cs, the Brits were all moaning it was too hot. Nice trip to the cafe with Maxx!

    I agree, the scenes at the beaches, including those at my home town of Brighton, were alarming. You can’t legislate against stupidity. My general take on people’s reaction to covid remains unchanged from my initial observation. No sense of civic duty for a pandered generation that’s never had to fight for anything. (Yes, I do like sweeping generalisations, ha ha!).

    Cinque, I hope those goons in your vicinity get their act together with the help of the army. Maybe we should make them JOIN the army!

    Penguin, from one of your recent posts, I feel I might have missed that you’re now experiencing some side effects from your treatment. I’m hoping it’s just the change in energy levels that you’ve mentioned before. The line in your arm sounds unpleasant but makes sense. I believe you told us before that the treatment could be extended until October – is there a break coming up? I hope the biopsy and blood test brought you some good news. How lovely to have your family visiting today. Have you been busy packing boxes in anticipation of the move or do you get ‘people in’ to do that? I imagine it’s a well-oiled machine either way with all the previous moves under your belt. Thanks for the heads up on dentistry.

    Whether OH is granted another six months stay on re-entry – or even if re-entry would be permitted, would be solely at the discretion of the official who greets us. At Gatwick, there was no human seen and we didn’t even know how much time had been granted by the machine. At Birmingham, the fella was adamant ‘not a day over 6 months’. You can’t use a tourist visa punctuated by trips out of the country as a means of staying permanently so nipping to Ireland could be seen as trying it on.

    LJ, Iโ€™m assuming youโ€™d decided against travelling to N. America regardless of the travel agencyโ€™s stand on it? Losing $250 is irritating but a small price to pay for your safety and wellbeing. Iโ€™m guessing youโ€™ve already investigated whether you have the right to demand your deposit back under these circumstances.

    PS Penguin, LJ, I’m so envious of your time with family. Today it was 15C. Diesel stove back on!

    Good morning from a cool but half sunny Whakatane.

    It’s been a really mixed bag of weather over the weekend, when it has rained it has been dreadfully heavy and the storms pretty violent knocking out power and some surface flooding. When the sun came out yesterday morning it was 20’c! Oh well, not much we can do about the weather?

    Back to basics for me today after the scales are up after the weekend, didn’t think I had overdone it either, so something is wrong, so back to the drawing board. Do feel like my emotions are all over the place, not sure how much of that is actually being here in the winter?

    Anyway, enough of my dour mood, glad to hear about all the family get-togethers over the weekend, sounds like a lot fun and hard work LJoyce! Funny how you mentioned having a cold meal prepared for you family Penguin, my Mother always does the same when we are there and getting to theirs from somewhere else, we just never know what time it will be because of traffic!

    Sounds like the typical British summer Thin, hot a few days then a cold one! Hope your plantings are coming on well?

    Well done on those scales Betsy, go you! Did you manage to get the garden pruning done as you hoped?

    Must be time some coffee I think, enjoy your Monday everyone,

    Turn

    Morning all

    Turn, did you see any of the tornados that hit during the weekend? I hear there was one near where you are now in Tauranga which ripped off a roof.

    Thin, I agree wonder if the response from the youth would be any different if this pandemic was like the swine flu that affected mainly younger people rather than those over 60. I’ve even seen some from the younger generation harshly refer to Covid19 as the “boomer-remover” There really is an air of selfishness about the way some people are reacting to the virus.

    Penguin, HA, is it time for a home haircut? break out the pudding bowl and the scissors

    Ljoyce, we always have the overcatering issue when we have family gatherings, despite having a few hungry teenage boys at the meals, there’s still tons of food left over afterwards.

    Cinque, yes that was me asking about the dashi, it sounds pretty good.

    Betsy, continued congratulations for your continued success on the scales! Go you good thing!

    I had a decent weekend, the weather was pretty crap so I didn’t get the outside work done that I was hoping, but I did manage to get out for a couple of rounds of frisbee golf when the drizzle eased off, so I was happy with that. I avoided alcohol and most junk over the weekend, I did have a few carbs, but I’m trying to be a little less strict over the weekend, I find that if I try to be too strict on non fast days, the I usually cave in after a while and go on a huge binge, so I allowed myself a little bit of naan bread, a couple of pieces of toast, and a couple of rows of chocolate over the weekend, and I managed to stay well within my TDEE limit.

    I’m fasting today with a couple of kiwifruit for a snack, a small portion of leftover veggie risotto for lunch, and a chicken leg and veggies for dinner. I’ll put in a good gym session today and tomorrow and see if my new eating regime has had any impact on the scales for my regular Wednesday weigh-in on the 1st July.

    Good morning from a drizzly cold morning that is just now starting to clear and the sun poke through

    LJ, I am beyond incredulous and downright angry at that man calling you a coward. I would like to hand him a gun with one bullet in it and call him a coward for not pointing it his stupid dense head and pulling the trigger. Glad you had a nice time with the family and your cooking sounds delicious. I always over cater too โ€“ I figure itโ€™s better than people not having enough.

    Iโ€™m glad you had a lovely day with the family Penguin and yes, we are watching some of the antics in the UK from our perch down here with concern and much head shaking. Not that we donโ€™t have our own idiots but those pictures of Bournemouth beach made me shudder. I did laugh about your mirror incident. I look like a long-haired overweight hippy right now despite being to the hairdresser a few weeks ago. This is because I am not styling my hair at all and it is a bit curly but mostly frizzy and currently down past my shoulders. At 54 years old it is NOT a good look!

    I had a good weekend with lots of activity โ€“ mostly on Saturday as I worked for half of Sunday to try and get on top of things. Grrr. Scales were the same this morning as they were Saturday morning so thatโ€™s good.

    Cinque, I canโ€™t drink coffee after lunch either, as it keeps me awake. I had two dreadful nightsโ€™ sleep on Friday and Saturday so resorted to some chemical help last night. I slept in the spare bed upstairs and Mr Maxx joined me (I have an old sheet that he can sleep on) and we both slept well.

    Betsy, you are going down steadily and that is such an achievement. I am aiming for the low to mid 70โ€™s but I am a little above average height and big-boned.

    Rosy is just too cute for words Lindsay

    Very worried about you Cali โ€“ are you ok? You too Quacka, we havenโ€™t heard from you in ages. Please post, even just a line to say you are both ok.

    I hope you are ok too Intesha.

    Have a great day all

    Good afternoon all

    I’ve had a slow and quiet start to the day. I feel tired and a bit seedy after the flurry of activity on the weekend and my over indulgence on high fat foods last night. My brain isn’t quite connecting properly – a sugar fog I think.

    Penguin, despite the awful traffic, I’m glad your family arrived safely and you had a lovely time together.
    You are right, we do have some small pockets of Covid re-surfacing – in a couple of outer suburban areas of Melbourne. They are currently handling it with a localised communication and testing blitz. We haven’t gotten to locking down suburbs yet, put the state premier has indicated that it’s a possibility if the current approach doesn’t work.
    It does sound like a haircut is overdue, although I imagine going to a hairdresser is not a wise risk for you right now. Would you trust Mrs P with the scissors?

    Thin, the family time was lovely and such a treat after so many months.
    The visa situation sounds complicated, especially as you own your boat and can’t just leave it for a lengthy period and head back to oz. I hope you find a solution soon.
    As to my travel plans, I am unlikely to be allowed out of the country, even if the tour company decides it will run Canadian tours in September. You might not have been aware that the international travel ban here doesn’t just stop non-residents from arriving, it also stop Australians from leaving. The only exception is humanitarian and compassionate exemptions – which have an official approval process. Basically Australia has been locked down since March and the government has said that this is likely to stay in place until at least the end of 2020. When they do open it they have also said that they would start with a few countries (like NZ) that have the infection well managed. It means Australians can still come home (if they can get a flight) but they can’t leave again this year.
    I certainly intend to travel – hopefully next year. Where and when will probably depend on whether there’s vaccine or successful treatment yet as I can’t see that there will be a safe way for me to travel unless one of those eventuates. Getting adequate travel insurance is also an issue as the industry has decided it won’t offer covid cover – I hope that will change to be an optional (and expensive) extra cover option, as otherwise it would deter many potential travellers.

    Anzac, I have had many of those bad hair days too in recent weeks. What’s the point of blow drying and damaging my hair if nobody will see it?
    I have similar issues with caffeine and sleep. Not coffee for me, but tea. I have found that any caffeine beyond about 5pm is an issue. I had one night last week where I felt like a pot of earl grey tea in the evening, so I had 2 cups and barely slept that night. Lesson learned!
    Although I always err on the side of generosity when it comes to catering. I think the reason it gets out of hand with this particular family group is that I need to deal such a variety of likes and dislikes, so I need to make sure there is at least one dish that each person will be happy with. However, I could certainly have made smaller quantities of the many dishes I made.

    Turn, glad to hear that your van and you survived those storms, or tornado as Neil called it. You are lucky your van stayed in place if the winds were that powerful. Hopefully you’ll now have sunny days as compensation. Will you continue to head north soon for a warmer climate?

    Neil, I am doing the same as you today. A FD with fruit as a snack and some leftovers as a FD meal – a scoop of chilli con carne with veg for me.

    There was an extra guest last night. My niece’s husband was allowed home for a 6 week break from his job at a mine in the north of WA. He’s been stuck in WA since March, working 4 weeks straight (of 13 hours days) and then having a week off in Perth. It was all getting a bit much for him and the separation was also taking a toll on the family here. They hadn’t told me he’d come home unexpectedly, so when he arrived at the front door with my niece last night it was such a wonderful surprise. There was of course, plenty of food for an extra guest!

    Cinque, I suspect our posts will cross so I’ll say hello now.

    Hello too to everyone else who is ready but not posting. Hope you are all well.

    Have a good day all.

    Hi everyone. Iโ€™ve been reading all of your posts but just seem to be stuck in a difficult place weight-wise. I think part of the problem is cooking and eating as a form of entertainment since weโ€™re still staying at home. Many things like dine-in restaurants and hair and nail salons are open in California now, depending on the county, with restrictions on table distancing and such, but many people think everything is back to normal. So we just donโ€™t feel safe being out. Northern California still has much lower numbers of cases than Southern Calif though. Our governor made face masks mandatory in all public places or in outdoor places where social distancing isnโ€™t possible. Unfortunately, in our county many people are thumbing their noses at the mandate and many stores arenโ€™t enforcing the face mask rules. I look at Australiaโ€™s numbers of cases and see that your total number, since March, is less than todayโ€™s cases for Florida for a single day. Thatโ€™s how badly weโ€™re doing here.

    Penguin, Iโ€™m glad you finally have had a chance for a family get together. Too bad traffic was such a problem for everyone to get there though. Regarding your pandemic hair, I cut OHโ€™s hair for the 3rd time a few days ago. It was much easier than I thought it would be, just a little bit at a time. Maybe you can convince OH. Itโ€™s good to hear you are getting through your treatments without any really bad side effects. I think tiredness is pretty normal.

    LJ, it sounds like your family get together was a big success. I always cook too much too, especially for celebrations. Itโ€™s always nice to have leftovers as long as you can squeeze them into your freezer. Youโ€™ll have lots of ready meals for the coming weeks. It seems so unreal that just a few months ago we were planning for your visit here and now everything has changed so drastically. Iโ€™m ready for this pandemic to be over. Enough already! Itโ€™s like the whole world is on hold.

    Cinque, the dashi broth sounds like a nice alternative to miso and a good base for other ingredients. I will have to try making it. Iโ€™ve given up on caffeine completely lately since I suffer from insomnia too. I like your drawing explaining how insomnia works. ๐Ÿ˜ Funny, but it almost seems reasonable, doesnโ€™t it?

    Thin, your news about the travel visa for OH is very disconcerting. Do you know how long you would have to be away in order to return? Do you still hold British citizenship since you were born there? The rules seem complicated. Owning the boat there makes it more so. If Ireland is an option, at least it wouldnโ€™t be too far. I would not want to spend a lot of time in a plane given the Covid situation.

    Anzac, sorry your job is getting so crazy again with all the meetings. Just when you thought everything was going to calm down. Itโ€™s nice to hear that Maxx did well on his restaurant visit.

    Lindsay, Rosy is so big now! Those long legs. Loved the picture of the chickens in the background. Does she ever try to chase them?

    Neil, Turn and Betsy, itโ€™s good to read your posts. I need to get some sleep now, so have a good day and stay safe!

    Hi Cali, lovely to hear from you.
    I’ve been following the US news and have gathered that you’d still be hunkered down at home as it’s just not safe to be out except for essential trips with a mask, like food shopping.
    You aren’t only one struggling with food. I’m not doing any better with my weight and I don’t even have the excuse of being stuck at home any more. When you said it feels like life is on hold, I agree and I think that’s part of the problem. It’s hard to get my head back into my usual food mindset when life still doesn’t feel normal.
    I too have been thinking about the delay to my travel and visiting plans and still feeling very regretful about it. That I don’t know how long they’ll be delayed for makes it even more frustrating. As I mentioned in my reply to Thin, Aussies aren’t even allowed out of the country at the moment and it’s likely to be 2021 before that changes to any real degree. I will get there – just not making any promises about when at the moment.
    Take care.

    Good evening all.

    Yesterday’s TDEE became a NFD. I did some hard work in the garden (yes, actually persuaded myself to get out and do some) and felt a need for extra calories. That’s actually a poor excuse, as I was equally busy in the garden today, and have stuck to 850 calories.

    I’ve decided that from now on, Sundays will be designated as a NFD day, as I haven’t managed a TDEE day on Sunday for the past couple of months (so about 1800 calories, or a bit less). I’ll try keeping to the 3 FDs each week, maybe allowing one to be a FD800 (or thereabouts. Today’s was 850 cals) and the other three days will be TDEE days at the calorie count I will need to settle on once I reach my goal (around 1550 cals, provided I maintain my current exercise level), rather than 2 weekdays being CDs.

    I’ve been trying to make it tighter, but that’s not what this WOL is about, and to be honest, I haven’t been able to stick to it, anyway.

    On a positive note – all the front roses have now been pruned, and the area tidied (yesterday) then today I raked and swept up all the loose leaves at the back, plus pruned the lemon tree. Very satisfying to get that done.

    Now my big bin is full. Still have three roses and some fruit trees at the back to prune, and that will have to wait. My body is aching, so a few days of less vigorous tasks will be appreciated. Next Monday, my study resumes, so I will be applying myself to that from then on.

    Penguin, great to hear from you. With your picc line, are you sure that washing the car was a good idea? I guess if you did most of the work using your other arm it would work okay. I used to get chemo once on Friday every 3 weeks (only 4 treatments, fortunately) and had to go to the hospital the other Fridays to get the picc line flushed through. Do you have to do that, or is your chemo frequent enough for that not to be necessary?
    Loved the pudding bowl suggestions from others for your haircut – maybe see if your OH will be willing to give it a go, then send us a photo?

    CalifDreamer, great to hear from you and know you’re staying well. I think you’re being very wise in continuing to take precautions. We’ve got a small outbreak in Melbourne now, mainly because of extended family gatherings once the restrictions were eased (and where social distancing, etc., was ignored). Very minor compared with what’s happening over your way. Stay safe!

    Turnabout, sounds like the weather has not been at all nice to you. It’s a good thing you stayed put, as trying to travel wouldn’t have been pleasant. Hope you soon see the last of it and will be safe to move further north.

    LJoyce, what a lovely family gathering you had, and wonderful that your freezer is thoroughly stocked with goodies for you to enjoy. I am still trying to find some hot cross buns (apple and cinnamon) I bought before Easter and froze – haven’t been able to find them since. They’re somewhere under all the other food…. somewhere! ๐Ÿ™‚

    By the way, I agree with Anzac65, very rude comment to be made to you, and I’ve been thinking up all sorts of responses you could have made back (of course, nothing comes to mind at the time, which is frustrating). My favourite was “And you’re a bully”, but in truth I don’t think I’d ever say it, and you come across as a real lady, so wouldn’t say it either.

    Anzac65, I am so envious of those folk who are taller than me. There is so much more flexibility in weight loss and TDEE calorie count. I have to be at 59 kgs just to reach a BMI of 25. Once you tip over into the 80s, you have only 15 kg more to lose (“only” is a relative word, it can seem like forever) while at 69-70 kg, I have to lose another 17 kg or so to be in the middle of my BMI range. However, we’re both working on it, and we will BOTH get there.

    Neilithicman, you are also doing well. Good for you!

    Thin, I hope some solution is found quickly re OH’s visa. Were you aware that this could become an issue when you moved to the UK? Let us know how it pans out, please.

    Cinque, yes, the virus numbers here are on an upward trajectory and about 30% of cases are in young people, which may indicate lack of care re social distancing. Let’s hope some sense reigns, and there is movement down soon. I suspect it may be a few more days before any improvement is seen. meanwhile, we just have to keep being sensible in what we do and how we do it.

    Interesting discussion re the effects of caffeine. I have to avoid caffeine now after about 3 p.m. in the afternoon. In years gone by? Never affected me whatever the hour, but how that has changed!

    Getting late now, so goodnight everyone.

    Good morning,
    Not as icy here this morning, but for some reason Miso the cat is not prepared to go out. I’ve been out a couple of times to tip the (nutrition dense ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) kitchen slop water on my garden. And my garden now has some coriander plants that might be growing! I bought a bunch with all the roots matted tgether from their clever hydroponic growing, and just sawed them apart and planted them in different parts of the garden (After cutting off the leaves which were yum yum). It would be lovely if they grew. So far so good.
    Yes, I am cleaning the kitchen. Only managed to mess it up yesterday, plus I was on a munchie rampage, in a home with no munchies (thank goodness). Well no terrible ones, I had a cob of sweet corn, a bowl of junket ๐Ÿ˜‰ and I must have needed almonds as I ate a couple of handfuls and this morning I am back to normal, and back to 4 hours between meals, I hope.

    LJoyce, what a lovely family dinner, with a surprise guest too, so just as well you didn’t undercater. Hope you are feeling well today.

    Ha re the dashi, it has taken me years (five nearly) of having my fast day miso soup, to get into making it somewhere near the way it is meant to be made.
    I am glad to be getting seaweed in my diet, it is quite a wonder food.

    I am similar with drinking tea too late into the evening, it doesn’t stop me from sleeping, but it does wake me up for loo visits!

    Penguin, I am glad that the line in your arm isn’t much of a hassle for you. I do hope your family were reassured after being able to visit. It is so hard being far away from someone you care about who is going through something serious.
    Haha re your mad hair. Nearly ponytail time ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Well Betsy and I are in the epicentre of the coronavirus resurfacing in the SH. It was a shock having the daily number almost double yesterday. I really wish Australia had gone for an elimination strategy (looking at you, New Zealand) rather than suppression. It will drag on and on and on until there is a vaccine. Hooray for the states who have been able to eliminate it, may that status continue.

    But I do think of the places where it is still raging, and know how lucky we are to be dealing with a comparatively tiny outbreak.
    Cali, I do keep being amazed at California’s numbers, and feeling such sadness for the people suffering all over the country. I know that in Texas some hospitals have reached capacity and that is an awful sign. So glad you are in the safer north of your state.

    Living with the constant stress is hard, and you do need to just ‘get over the rough ground as lightly as you can’ until you are in a safe enough place to make some guidelines for your health. (But do keep posting anyway!)
    Yes, that insomnia sketch was so funny because it was so relatable. It was put up in a science account on twitter and I loved the researchers who nodded sagely that is was good science.

    Thin, that chicken bhuna would be wonderful! I want some!

    It does seem to be young people who are catching Covid19 this time round. It may knock some sense into their heads without them having to join the army, haha. But hopefully it will also mean there are not so many hospital admissions and, best of all, less deaths. The government is getting its messages directed to them, and making sure that communities who don’t easily get news reports have better messaging too, in community languages and through appropriate channels. Hoping that will end this spike and avoid another.

    Oh my gosh, good luck getting a kind Official greeting you, and another 6 month visa.

    15c top forecast here today too!

    Turnabout, that rain must be hard to handle in your van. No wonder your emotions are all over the place. Ooh those naughty scales. I am sure they are just in a bad mood. Don’t let them affect you badly, if you can possibly help it.

    Neil, good work. July tomorrow!

    Anzac, your scales are in the same bad mood as Turn’s are! I think your hair sounds wonderful! So glad you (finally) got a good nights sleep, and I hope you had another one last night.

    Betsy congratulations on getting out in the garden, what a lot you have got done! And fingers crossed the extra calories didn’t exceed the energy lost by too much.
    Good luck with your new regime. Always the best decision, to adjust what isn’t working.

    Interesting news that triple cotton masks not only protect others from the wearer, if they are infectious, but give the wearer about 70$% protection from others. Mine are two layers, but have a pocket inbetween where I can put a medical grade insert – or just another layer of cotton.

    Well, Miso the cat has been out and back in, and the kitchen got a bit tidier between paragraphs. I had a late breakfast, which is good, and so I will have a late midday meal because I will wait 4 hours. (2 pm!). What wonderful things will I manage to do before then? Off to find out.

    Best wishes all

    Hi all, quick post as work is frantic

    FD today, going well. Had a good CD yesterday so my week has started swimmingly

    So glad to hear from you Cali, thanks for the post. Glad you are ok; it must be so scary over there right now

    Maxx disgraced himself this morning. He was sniffing around off-lead at the Rugby oval when he just suddenly loped up the bank, through a hole in the fence and off! Dear God. We ran after him and couldn’t find him for several minutes and there is a road not far away. His ears were turned off as he didn’t come back when we called. OH found him finally bimbling around on a grass verge. He did that a couple of times as a puppy but has never run off like that for the past 2 years. WHY???? We will have to watch him more closely….and just when we thought we had finally turned a corner as his recall has been going well and he is more engaged with us on walks now.

    Yep Betsy, we WILL both get there – you are really inspiring me ๐Ÿ™‚

    Gah, three minutes until the next meeting, will try and post more later

    Good afternoon everyone.

    I’ve been giving some thought to how to restructure my eating plan, as my NFDs are still an ongoing issue and are undoing the good work I do on FDs. Despite doing ADF in June I lost no weight so it needed a rethink. I am not finding it hard to do more than 2 FDs each week but I continue to struggle to keep the treats out of the NFDs. I have felt inspired by Betsy’s new plan. Although I refuse to count calories, so I will adapt the idea to 2 x 500calFDs and a 3rd FD up to 800cal. Three days will be no frills NFDs – filling and balanced meals, with 1-2 pieces of fresh fruit as snacks. The seventh day of the week will be a NFD without those limitations and that will allow me to accommodate social events. I have found that when I indulge in a little extra on most NFDs it adds up to quite a lot extra over the week. If I can confine it to a single day it’s likely I will consume much less of those discretionary high cal foods – much harder to do in a single day. This plan feels very doable so I’ll give that a try in July.

    Cinque, I have days like that when I have the munchies all afternoon and am bemoaning the lack of snack foods in my house! Funny, I always reach for the container of almonds too. I am slightly worried that there is some icecream left in the container I bought for Sunday night – not something I can usually be trusted to have in the house.
    I love the description of Miso’s brief and tentative trips outside on cold mornings – frankly I don’t blame her.

    Anzac, I’m sure the episode with Maxx was terrifying, most dogs have little traffic sense unless they’ve hit by a car.
    I’m sure you’ve had a bucket load of advice on the issue, so please feel free to ignore the next bit. But I might as well share what I’ve observed from next door. I hear my neigbours in their back yard with their black lab every afternoon practicing obedience behaviours for about 20 minutes or so, followed by play time and a walk. She is fairly well behaved, although still likes to jump up on people she knows occasionally despite all their efforts. I try to remember not to respond when she does that – although it’s hard not to.

    Betsy, after all that pruning, you should have an excellent crop of roses next season.
    I was a bit shocked when you said your studies resume next week. It seems like no time since you decided to take a semester off. I hope you are looking forward to getting back to your thesis.
    I am similar when it comes to finding the right reply to unexpected/unkind comments or bullying behaviour. I find I mentally freeze and find it impossible to respond as I’d like at the time. Of course I can usually think of a dozen responses in the days following.

    I have another food challenge day. I’m going to the Marion Club for dinner with my neighbours tonight. Due to covid it’s a limited menu and there aren’t a lot of good options. I’m thinking a steak and a side of green veg. It seems to be the only thing that’s grilled rather than deep fried.

    Take care all.

    Good evening everyone. No more loss since Sunday, so 1.6 kg for the month – not the 0.6 kg per week I had been getting, but hey, it’s a loss and I’m happy with that. July is another month.

    Hope you’re all doing well. Just checking in. LJoyce, sounds like your new regime and mine are fairly similar. I just keep a mental tab of my calories, rather than writing anything down. I’m fairly aware of how many calories things have.

    Anzac65, that Maxx! How scary having him escape from you like that. Glad he was safe. Are you still having lots of meetings? How annoying. Hope they ease off in number soon.

    Cinque, joining you in commiserations re Melbourne’s Covid increases. I’m thankful I’m not in any of the lockdown suburbs. Hope the coriander grows for you.

    Catch you all next time, and stay safe!

    Woo!!

    Finally some movement on the scale. I was down 0.9 kilos to 90.0 kg on the dot. Looks like cutting out the alcohol, cutting down the milky coffees to non fast days and a new eating regime is working. Thank you July ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Good morning.
    Congratulations Neil – small things really do make a difference don’t they?

    Betsy, you are on a roll….good to have this downward spiral before you come back to your thesis.

    LJ I was appalled at the comment in the supermarket ….probably a good thing you didn’t have a ready response. Anyone boofheaded enough to make the comment in the first place, could have turned quite nasty. It’s quite rattling, isn’t it?

    Anzac, these dogs of ours! Just when we think they are growing up, they surprise us all over again. How scary for you. Rosy shredded another bed the other night … I dutifully restitched it, but when we went to find her blanket last night (always taken from her first thing, because of the shredding) it was nowhere to be found. She’d dragged it from her bed down the back steps right down into the back garden. The sprinklers had doused it, so we had to improvise last night. OH beat her up at 5, so she didn’t get a chance to do more damage.

    Good luck with the coriander Cinque ….a tricky little number.

    Betsy my ‘chickens’ are garden statues….aren’t they divine? I desperately wanted chooks, but can’t really have them because we go back and forth to the island, so my DD bought these for my birthday. They are cast metal, and so so realistic.

    Cali very good to hear from you, and know you are okay although the situation is not. How dreadfully concerning.

    Penguin, glad you are managing your treatment and you were able to have the visit with your family. Any progress on the relocation?

    Thin, have you made any decisions about where to go when OH’s visa expires? Your British status doesn’t give him right of abode? What a crackers situation. I don’t know if it has changed, but it seemed very unfair for men. eg my Australian friend who was married to an English man for a nano second, got permanent right of abode (the marriage broke up 30 years ago, but it transfers from passport to passport), but my brother, married to an English woman and residing in the UK for more than 20 years, couldn’t.
    Intesha, Quacka, G’day, Turn, Crazy hope you are well.
    Back to my editing – I’m on the home stretch, but have another Masters thesis to complete by Friday, so head down.
    Enjoy your day all.

    Good morning,
    Here is your flower for the day, Penguin, nice and early so you can imagine wearing it to your appointment and amusing (?) the staff.
    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/64/92/2b/64922ba3440891a11edd6f14830ed51d.jpg

    Anzac, your work is too frantic! Just sayin’.
    And so is Maxx ๐Ÿ˜‰
    But we are so glad you managed to find time to post here, and hooray for a great start to the week. May it continue. You will be so delighted at the end of the week.

    LJoyce, I am angry on your behalf at those scales of yours. How can it possibly be that you aren’t losing weight nicely. It just isn’t fair. I hope the new pattern works. (My nice pattern foundered for a few days, but now has picked itself up again).
    I do hope your dinner last night was great fun and worked for you, foodwise.

    Miso the cat just jumped onto the heater and turned on the child lock which resets the thermostat to low. Not quite matching Rosy and Maxx’s tricks, but still makes life an adventure! Haha.

    Betsy 1.6kg loss for the month was a triumph. Three cheers!
    This week is just being snarky. Won’t you feel great if you lose over a kilo next month too! Down to the 67’s. 65kg will be in sight!

    Yes, I am so glad neither of us are in lockdown suburbs! My daughter’s home is, so that will be frustrating. But a small price to pay for getting over the horrible spike.

    Neil, Hooray for July. Keep rocking it!

    Lindsay, another Master’s thesis! Well, they are lucky to have you. Keep up with those back exercises! (and note to me too, to do the same).
    I’ve just checked my coriander plants and 6 out of 8 of them have new leaves growing, so that is good.

    Well, I’ve managed to write a shorter post today, haha, I’ll leave off now and start getting the house (flat) ready for my home help angel to clean.

    Cheers all. Fast day tomorrow.

    Hi everyone, well another month rolls around. I have struggled Like everyone else, must be the colder weather making us all hungry and our bodies craving for more fuel to compensate. Having said that I am 2kg lighter since the beginning of June so not all doom and gloom. 63.7 this morning so slightly higher than when I posted last.

    Back to the gym this morning for the first time since March. Felt good to be back into it although my Pilates teacher was doing a zoom class every week.

    I know we are all struggling in our various ways but the theme is we donโ€™t give up and I get so much inspiration from all of that.

    Not much happening in my life. Dad had a fall yesterday in the house so nothing too serious but we still have to call an ambulance as I canโ€™t lift him.

    Still nothing on my refund but Iโ€™m told it could take up to 14 weeks, itโ€™s only week 10 since it was requested. LJoyce Iโ€™m sure they string it out as much as possible due to the amounts they have to refund.

    Best wishes and enjoy your day.

    Afternoon all from a sunny, warm & finally dry Whakatane.

    Yes, did hear about the tornado in Tauranga Neil, didn’t hit here but the storm was pretty violent. Bumped into a woman here yesterday who is staying in a cabin until the weekend as her apartment was hit by lightning, power outage and a flood apparently and her insurance is getting it all fixed up so staying here in the meantime! We had more heavy rain Monday night so the ground is well soggy now. How is your weather going? Did you get any snow with this last southern snap, see Canterbury got it earlier today, now the Cook /strait ferries are cancelled and high winds forecast for Wellington, no doubt we’ll get it in a day or so. Well done on the weight loss and good luck with dry July, did consider it too, but not in the right head space right now!

    Miso sounds as much of a character as the other two we have on here Cinque, cheeky little devil! But gorgeous.

    I bet your heart was in your mouth Anzac with Maxx running off like that, I am sure he eventually looked at you as if nothing was even wrong? I also think your work schedule is crazy mad and shouldn’t be allowed, I do hope they are paying you well enough? So glad to hear the week started well with the weight loss, long may it continue.

    Well done on the pruning Betsy, those plants will certainly thank you for a haircut come spring. And on the weight loss, that’s great, you must be chuffed?

    We were startled awake this morning by the Armed Offenders Squad who were after a male and female in a cabin about 100 metres away from us. One of the dogs was behind our van whining, (there were another two that I could see!) another copper just two metres from our window, aiming his rifle at the cabin door. They finally came out about two hours later, apparently it was a drug bust and the guy had several warrants on him, pretty scary though at 6am, and so loud! The whole immediate area was in lockdown. A great way to see a fabulous sunrise, first one I’ve seen in ages, haha

    We have decided to stay put for a bit, just hope the weather settles a little? Good news for me getting back to basics, 800gms down so far this week, so all that snacking and evening picking at the wrong foods really does make a difference along with portion size. Well pleased with that.

    Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday everyone,

    Turn

    Good evening all. It’s late, so quick check-in.

    Going okay, disappointed not to lose anything after 2 days of “mild” FDs (850 & 900 cals). A further FD880 today, so here’s hoping I’ll finally see the last of the 69s and welcome the 68s. See the doc tomorrow about my blood test results, and not looking forward to his comments about my cholesterol, but … oh well.

    Intesha, great to hear from you. Scary when older folk have a fall – my brother and wife had her brother in a granny flat post-stroke, and they had the same problem, couldn’t lift him and had to call an ambulance each time he fell. If it has to be, it has to be. Don’t sweat it.
    Hope the refund comes soon. And, great that you’re persevering with your weight loss.

    LindsayL, those chickens look really realistic. I wasn’t sure from the photo if they were real or not.
    Still editing the doctorate thesis, to be followed by a master’s one? – rather you than me. Good luck with it.
    How long do you think it will be before Rosy grows out of her puppy chewing? Must be so frustrating at times.

    Neilithicman, hurrah for finally movement on the scales – DOWN. Yay!

    Cinque, loved the “flowers” you send Penguin. You are so clever finding them all.
    Sorry that your daughter is in a lockdown suburb. Will you be able to Zoom the grandkids?

    Turnabout, with the weather you’ve been having over there, sounds like staying put for a bit is a wise move. Let’s hope there are no more drug dealers in your vicinity. That must have been scary. Were the police at least polite enough to alert you, and warn you to stay put?

    Okay, enough. Good evening LJoyce, Anzac65, Thin, Penguin, CalifDreamer, GDayfromSA, and anyone else lurking – Crazyartist, Merryme, Klondi, you are all missed. And anyone else whose name has temporarily escaped me. Stay well, stay safe.

    Just a quick pop in. 62.9 this morning. Never thought I would be strong enough to persevere, goes to show what a lot of encouragement and sensible eating can do.

    Betsy I meant to comment on your cholesterol. I too fought going on statins and couldnโ€™t believe I had high cholesterol after losing a significant amount of weight. In the end my Dr, who was also reluctant putting me on them especially knowing my adversity to medication, said it could save my life and prevent a heart attack. No one in my immediate family has high cholesterol so it was unfortunate that I had it.

    Good morning, sitting here trying to get my mind around it being a fast day. One hour at a time today, I think.

    Turn, what a fright that break of dawn police operation must have been. I hope you felt safe through it all.
    So glad you had some sun and warmth yesterday, as well as a beautiful sunrise!
    I hope the heavy rain system calms down a bit before it gets to you.
    Well done on a big loss this week! You are doing brilliantly.

    Intesha, nicely done! Down into the 62’s. Lovely work in the depths of winter.
    How hard for you, and your dad of course, having another fall. He is doing well that he manages not to break bones etc.
    Hooray for getting back to the gym.

    Betsy, the good day will show up soon. There is some interstellar lag between your intake and what shows on the scales. A few more days! Well, hopefully today you will get your reward.

    I will zoom (well, facebook video) the girls lots. My daughter is remarkably unfazed by it, although relieved that school and kinder will be open after the holidays .

    Turn, Betsy, Intesha, you are my inspirations today. Thankyou! One hour down ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Ooh and I am going veggie shopping as soon as it opens (in one hour). What fun. I am out of everything.

    Cheers all

    Morning all.

    Congratulations Intesha – what an achievement, particularly in tough times.

    Betsy, I hope the doctor’s appointment goes well. You’ve done your best to avoid the statins, so if you trust your doctor, I guess you need to take the advice.
    I am only committing three days to the masters. I am trying to get my head around the new APA style guide …it’s changed since I finished my PhD, and I don’t find it particularly easy to understand (or follow), or even particiularly logical. The work is more interesting – from the Medicine faculty, so that’s a bonus. Are you using APA?

    Mmmm, Rosy and chewing. Possibly it is boredom ..she wakes in the morning and it’s still dark, so away she goes. But often it’s her pinching stuff so we chase her. On the advice of the breeder, I now keep a favourite toy apart, and when Rose takes shoes, etc, I tempt her with the toy, saying ‘swap Rose, swap’. Anyone who could see me in the pitch dark, squeaking a chewed fluffy toy and asking her to give up her treasure would think I was cracked….and they’d be right.

    Cinque I am sorry your DD and littlies are back in lockdown ….just when we thought it was getting safer. Is it for a month? Good work on the coriander. And Miso deserves a category all of her own – clever and a trickster too.

    By the way, did you get a big blast of warm air from the north a couple of days ago? That was me, sighing with relief, when I read you practise the 3 items rule, not 7. So much more sensible. My big reorganisation is going well …. I finished my storage pantry (Ooh, those beautifully stacked shelves) and I’ve finished the kitchen pantry too. Another tall cupboard of shelves and drawers has been reorganised and now all my mother’s and grandmothers’ vases are stacked right up the top, so I don’t have to get rid of them but they are out of harm’s way.

    OK time to get organised. My window cleaner is coming soon, and a fence builder to build up the fence on one side of the courtyard. Rose hasn’t discovered yet that if she steps up on the BBQ, she will be able to walk over the fence behind it …but it’s only a matter of time. Improbably, the builder’s name is Sean Connery, but he’s a Kiwi, and not Scottish. It does make me laugh though when he calls and my phone announces him.

    Turn, what a wakeup call! Extraordinary, the lives some people live. Hard to go back to sleep after that.

    Hi everyone

    Just wanted to quickly pop in and say hi and let you all know that I am ok. Thank you to those who asked after me. You are truly dear to me xx

    I am still not fasting as am struggling to get this acid reflux under control. I have been exercising so am controlling my weight but I admit it has still crept up a little higher than I would like. I’ll just keep persevering.

    Have quickly skim read all the posts that I have been missing out on. I’m sorry to hear that some of you are having a difficult time with your weight and other issues in your life. I think it is a common thing with all this Covid stuff that has been going on and we all need to remember to just be kind to ourselves.

    On a sad note, my father passed away a few weeks ago. He was in a lot of pain at the end and it was really hard to see him like that. It was still a shock to the system when I received the call even though I knew it was coming but I was just glad he wasn’t in pain anymore. The pain is all ours now.

    I am thinking of you all often and miss being a part of this great group. I’m hoping to come back to some form of fasting when I get the acid reflux sorted out. I’ll try and post on here more regularly.

    Take care all, look after yourselves and stay positive through these times.

    Quacka
    XX

    The quickest of posts, to extend my sympathy to you Quacka. Such a difficult thing, losing a parent. Yes, good he is no longer in pain, and I hope you can take some comfort from that. Take care, be kind to yourself, and know that in time, the lovely memories overtake the more recent ones. My Dad died after a long illness, and we are now able to talk about him and share some of his foibles with affection, rather than the searing hurt when he first passed. hugs to you.

    Dear Quacka, I am so very sorry to hear about your Dad. Lindsay said it very well; that time is your friend and the awful pain you have now will eventually be replaced by all of the beautiful memories. I am sending cyber hugs and positive thoughts.

    A sad day all round. I found out this morning that a girl I’ve known for 30 years passed away this morning from bladder cancer. She is one of my closest friends close friend and I met her many times. She was only in her late 50’s and leaves a husband and child. Just too tragic

    2020 is turning out to be the worst year ever ๐Ÿ™

    Good evening all.

    Cinque, you were right – the scales this morning were on 68.8, so finally a move DOWN, yay!

    Quacka, so sorry to read of the loss of your father recently. As others have written, it really hurts now, but that pain will ease.
    Re the acid reflux – does reducing your food intake make it worse? I find that eating more, and weighing more makes mine worse, and now I’ve lost some significant weight, the reflux is much less. Just a comment.

    The doctor’s appointment was okay. He’s not making me start statins yet, though he’s concerned about the cholesterol result. I have to have another test in 3 months, then see him again and we’ll discuss it. In the meantime, I will have to more diligently limit my NFD indulgences, in particular ice-cream. Sigh! Better to be healthy.

    Intesha, my reason for fighting statins is that I already have quite a bit of foot and hand pain from osteo-arthritis, and from what I’ve read and heard from friends, statins often have the side-effect of increasing joint pain. Admittedly, it might not happen, but I will have one more go at bringing my cholesterol down myself, and if that fails, I guess statins it will be. I understand all the heart risks, having had both a mother and older brother with high cholesterol and each having multiple heart attacks.

    Cinque, great that you’ll be able the Zoom the grandkids. Hope you found some suitable vegetables; seems that panic buying is now extending to them now, too.

    LindsayL, hope the fence is built up before Rosy clues on to its possibility as an escape route.
    Yes, I am using APA Referencing in my doctorate. I have the APA version 6 book, which often isn’t a lot of help, but also have a summarised version from one of the local unis which gives me nearly all the guidance I need to reference things accurately.

    Anzac65, so sorry for your loss of a friend, too.

    LJoyce, you haven’t posted since the 30th. I hope everything is okay?

    Thin, any solution found yet re OH’s visa?

    Neilithicman, how are the scales treating you now?

    Hi to everyone else. Keep well, stay safe.

    Quacka, my deepest sympathy for the loss of your Dad. It has only been 14 months since my Mum passed and it leaves a hole in your life. The thing that gets to me the most is that I will never see her again even though we had already lost her a few years ago to the dementia it doesnโ€™t lessen the pain.

    Be kind to yourself and remember the memories of the good times.

    Morning everyone

    Intesha, sorry to hear about your dad’s fall. I’ve heard there are online videos of simple exercises for the elderly that are supposed to improve balance and reduce falls, perhaps that may be something he could look into when he’s feeling better after this fall?

    Quacka, sorry to hear about your dad’s passing. I hope you can get on top of the reflux soon. Did you ever get a test for the H pylori bacteria I think I mentioned a few months back? My wife had really bad reflux and she turned out to have the bacteria, a course of antibiotics later and she hasn’t had issues since.

    Turn, We didn’t get any snow, it was mostly in Central Otago. We just got miserable rainy cold grey weather. I’m on holiday next week and the nasty weather is supposed to continue ๐Ÿ™

    Anzac, more bad news, sorry to hear about your friend, this year really is going down as one I would like to wipe from the history books.

    Lindsay, Sean Connery is your builder? When you offer him a cup of tea do you ask if he wants it shaken not stirred? ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Betsy, I only weigh myself once a week so I don’t know how the scales have been treating me yet, but my waist measurement was down by 1 cm to 87 cm (37ยผ inches) so I’ve got to be happy with that. Although on my last non fast day I did have a slip and ate what seemed to be almost my own bodyweight worth of chocolate. I had a fast day yesterday and hefty gym session where I managed to run 8.6 kilometers in my 45 minute session, so hopefully that will counteract the chocolate binge.

    Last day of work and then I get one week of holidays, so hopefully the weather forecast does not come true and we’ll be able to get out and about during our break.

    Have a great day everyone

    Good morning everyone,

    Quacka, thankyou so much for letting us know how you are. Life is changed for ever when a parent dies. Sending so many heartfelt wishes that his legacy, and your dear family, can comfort you. https://img1.goodfon.com/wallpaper/nbig/4/d4/tyulpany-krokusy-iris-cvety.jpg

    I’m sorry that terrible reflux is still ongoing. Are you all small meals and going for a walk after eating? At least, not lying down.
    Feel free to post here about the things you are doing at the moment, we miss being in touch. Otherwise, hoping you are in a space to get back to fasting soon, and we will see you then.

    Hi Lindsay, haha, some more warm air from the north please! Yes, 3 things are much easier than 7. Sometimes I am down to 1.

    The reorganisation sounds wonderful. What a pleasure. Good luck with the new fence happening too.

    It is 4 weeks lockdown for the suburbs affected, including my daughter’s, and hopefully that will be enough to bring numbers under control. Otherwise it will go longer, and more suburbs might have to join. Hanging out for today’s numbers, with fingers crossed.

    While issues with safety factors at quarantine hotels brought covid back into the community, the relaxing of Covidsafe practices in families spread it, and then it looks like the mad shoppers etc have spread it even further. I do so hope that everyone gets back into gear, and keep social distancing and hygiene practices going. Everywhere! All the time! The whole world!

    Anzac, so sad to hear of the death someone you knew so well and long, cancer still kills so many people, so young. Thinking of your mutual friend.

    Betsy, hooray. So glad you got a move down, And hooray that you have another stay before the statins are called for. All power to you.
    Ice cream is a good one to cut out. (Maybe you can have a nice one in a couple of months). Luckily there are plenty of other delicious foods for us to eat.

    Hi Neil, hooray for a nice little centimetre gone from your waist. Oops re the chocolate binge. I hope that at least you managed to enjoy it while you were eating it.

    Turn, Betsy and Intesha’s inspiration helped me though until mid afternoon and I got a lovely shop done for veggies and also visited the op shop. But then, oh dear.
    It might be that I am more effected than I realised by a bit of a family issue my sisters and I are discussing how to respond to. I am feeling ok now, and looking forward to feeling hungry between meals today. My sisters and I are having our zoom session in a couple of hours and I think it will be good to talk together (it was emails yesterday).

    LJoyce, hoping you haven’t posted because you have been doing lovely busy things, but sending you good wishes in case it is ill health or similar. Missing you!

    Hello to everyone else and sending you best wishes from cold grey Melbourne.

    Cinque, I certainly enjoyed the chocolate, although I got a big energy crash the following day and regretted the decision.

    Is there any truth to the rumours going round that the new coronavirus cases stemmed from some people in isolation sleeping with the security guards? They mentioned on the news last night that that was one of the possible explanations that officials were investigating.

    Hello everyone, happy Friday. Where has the week gone?

    I am down 500g so far this week so pretty happy about that. 90.3 this morning so very tantalisingly close to getting back in the 80โ€™s. Best FD for ages yesterday, 700 calories and my dear OH got fish and chips from up the road and I managed to restrict my thieving to 4 small chips from his plate

    That was a scary raid Turn, glad you are ok. My work is crazy but yes I get paid very well I must admit. I know banking isnโ€™t known for high salaries (unless you are an executive) but after 30 years I have managed to build up knowledge and experience in a niche area that is, thankfully, very much in demand for banking IT projects. So the last 10 years we have been able to be a one income family which is fantastic because hubby suffered terrible anxiety when he was working. He was a sales rep but inside all he ever wanted to do was design. He did 2 years at TAFE to become and architectural draftsman but couldnโ€™t find work in that area. Anyway, since โ€˜retiringโ€™ he has single-handedly turned our run-down house into an architectural dream home. Our backyard is like a resort and has a fully functioning outdoor kitchen and a beautiful pool. We have an private outdoor bath and shower that feels like you are in the tropics with huge rocks and plants and inside now is stunning. It has been back-breaking at times as he does it all himself (apart from the occasional plumber or electrician) including carrying tonnes of soil and rocks etc down from our backyard to the street below where he had a constant stream of large bins. So anytime work drives me crazy I remember that I am actually lucky to have it and it allows a great work/life balance. I canโ€™t fathom how we got by when we were both working full time.

    Betsy, yay for the 68โ€™s!

    I hope you can get your family issue sorted quickly Cinque. Sorry to hear your daughter is in a lockdown area

    Neil, another holiday! Hope you have lots of fun with the family. Ha ha haโ€ฆ.shaken not stirred.

    We had such a lovely day yesterday โ€“ 23 degrees in the middle of winter. The wind was even warm and it was stunning. Back to 17 today

    Lindsay, another thing I try when Maxx nicks something is to throw a few pieces of kibble sharply down on the floor so he drops whatever it is and gobbles up the food. I also do the same swap exercise that you do. He has been really good on our walks for the past week (with the one big exception of the running off). I think the extra focus and training is working. His kibble has had to be reduced due to the extra treats during training and he knows it! He gives you a look as if to say โ€“ are you SERIOUS? I yam STAH-VING.

    I had to get my car serviced the other day so we had to leave him at home which is something we do rarely. We drove to the garage in OHโ€™s car and I drove mine home. I took a peek up the side stairs to find this https://imgur.com/a/oYeGkx2

    Who says dogs canโ€™t show emotion on their face? What do you reckon he is saying?

    Have a great day all. Hi to everyone I havenโ€™t mentioned

    Good afternoon all.

    Sorry I’ve been MIA, life got a bit busy – it’s a long time since that’s happened. It’s going to stay busy for a couple of weeks as I have extra babysitting during the school holidays and a few more medical appointments (some I had delayed while it wasn’t safe). Not to mention my social life is starting to return to normal.

    Quacka, my heartfelt sympathy for the loss of your dad. I’m thinking of you and hoping you get to spend some time with family in as you deal with your grief.

    Intesha, Betsy, Anzac, well done on sticking with the plan and keeping your weight loss going even on those tough days.

    Neil, it’s only a rumour, no idea if it fact or fiction. There is an investigation underway into how the community spread occurred from quarantine cases.
    Hope you have a wonderful holiday and get plenty of time in the sun that you’ve been lacking lately.

    Turn, I see you are staying put for a while. I hope that means there is lots of lovely scenery to explore where you are now.
    That raid sounds terrifying. Vans do not provide a lot of protection. Glad you got though it safely.

    Lindsay, I bet your fence builder gets tired of the questions and jokes.

    Cinque, it’s very unfortunate that your daughter and grandkids will be isolated from you for a while. You may have to go back to the online chats until this latest infection is under control.

    I had a call from the travel agent yesterday. My Canadian tour is now cancelled. The offer from the tour company was either a refund of my $250 deposit, or leave the money with them and they’d increase it to $400 to be used on any Globus tour within 2 years. After a short deliberation I elected to take the refund. I didn’t want to be locked into a particular travel company – especially as I hadn’t wanted to do their tour in the first place – it had just been the only one that had available places that suited my schedule. I imagine it will take a long time for the refund to come through but that’s ok.

    I started my new eating plan this week and so far it’s going well, although I really had a battle yesterday to stick with a no frill NFD. I was arguing with myself for most of the morning and afternoon about whether I was actually hungry and did I really need that snack. Hopefully the NFDs will get easier. As usual the FDs are fine. Next week I have two lunches out and I’m going to have to decide in advance which will be a no frills NFD where I chose my meal very carefully and which can be my one free NFD with a bot more leeway for meal choices.

    I need to get back to the housework – I’m a bit behind this week and am taking advantage of a day at home to catch up. I really needed to get the washing done, as I was down to one clean windcheater and a dwindling supply of clean underwear. Thankfully that disaster has been averted.

    Have a good day all.

    Good evening all.

    It’s been freezing cold day here today, so apart from bringing in the garbage and green bin, I’ve stayed indoors. Still managed a 55-minute walk though, so that was okay.

    I had a strange FD today – ate something at about 2 p.m., was thinking that my FD was morphing into a CD, but then didn’t feel hungry so have eaten nothing else for the rest of the day, staying healthily under 500 cals.

    Neilithicman, I guess you don’t call a maximum of 9 degrees freezing (?), but it is here – cold, wet, hail. A great day to stay indoors.
    By the way, I am guessing you meant a waist measurement of 97 cms? 87 cms is just over 34 inches. Well done anyway.

    To add to what LJoyce wrote, it seems there has been a major failure in use of infection control protocols at at least one quarantine hotel. The government chose to use private security, rather than the offered trained personnel used in other States. No problems elsewhere, but major problems here. Yes, it seems there was some fraternising going on, plus incorrect use of PPE (some security guards claimed to have been given only 5 minutes training), plus workers going from shifts out to be Uber drivers, and so it goes on. They shared the virus with family groups and then out into the wider community.
    Plus, it’s thought there may be a “super spreader” among the workers, as one particular virus genome has been detected in various sites in the west and north of Melbourne. Usually the virus mutates slightly from person to person, so clusters can be identified by the virus genome present. That means having only one genome present means the origin was one person. Hope all that makes sense. If not, ignore it – just interests me as a previous medical laboratory scientist.

    Anzac65, Are you sure that distracting Maxx with Kibble is a way to get him to drop things? It may be training him to see taking things means being rewarded. Just a thought.
    Loved the photo. My interpretation – “So, you think you can just go out and leave me here, huh? Don’t think you can come back to a happy Maxx, because I’m not!” ๐Ÿ™‚

    Cinque, I hope the family issue can be resolved at your Zoom meeting tomorrow with your sisters. Stress can have such a negative effect on eating control (as I painfully know!).

    LJoyce, well done for sticking to your eating plan. It will get easier (says me who still struggles! ๐Ÿ™‚ ).
    Good that you will get your deposit money from your trip refunded. Maybe next time you’ll be able to get into the tour you really want.

    More dietary comment – I think I will have to seriously rejig my overall eating content. Not the plan – I think it’s doable and it’s what I mainly do now anyway – but what I organise to eat on NFDs and TDEEs. Ice-cream in particular needs to disappear from the menu, except maybe one day a week, and more protein, vegetables and fruit needs to be added. Working on it!

    Stay well stay safe everyone!

    Morning. Nice, Betsy, to wake up to your late night post. I managed to hold off until 5.50, even though Rose started tapping at 3.30. My neighbour has sensor lights that flood the front of her house (and our bedroom, even though we have timber blinds) and wake the dog. Grrrrr. I am not sure if she leaves them on because she is nervous, or if they are super sensitive. They moved here a year ago, but the husband went straight away back to China for his business, and she is here alone with two small children. Poor girl – not much of a life.
    Betsy, icecream is one of my favourites, but it’s a no no really. My blood sugar shoots up if I have one, particularly in the evenings. Good thing Lindt doesn’t have that effect.

    I’ve had a few good days, and hope to get through the relatively quiet weekend.

    LJ I am sure the builder has heard all the jokes – although Neil, yours was a cracker….tea shaken not stirred. He is doing a great job and Rose will need ropes and chains to scale it. We have gone taller than we expected, because after he had started, a new neighbour came over to explain they were building up the level of their back garden, which would have meant a bit less privacy for us. Not now – whoo hoo.

    Love the picture of Maxx Anzac. What an expression! Rosemarie has just shot past me with the teatowel in her mouth, but if she thinks I am chasing her around the garden in the dark, she is mistaken. She’s been doing better with her come command, but not when she’s fresh up and there’s a chase game to be had. Hope the teatowel survives – I got it in Italy.

    Cinque hope you are able to sort out your issue and it doesn’t cause you too much upset or pain. It’s not a good time not to be able to see people face to face.

    Betsy, coming back to APA. Did you know the new APA 7 was published in October last year. Just a heads up. It’s got changes to referencing and other adjustments for more inclusive language, and for our transition to more electronic sources. I finished my Master’s thesis edit late yesterday and shot it off to her, and got an email last night saying she was still using 6. Not sure yet how we’ll resolve that.

    Anzac, hurrah for a well paid job, that allows your very creative OH to escape the stresses of work and create your own private haven. A little less stress for you would be good in that mix, but it seems you two have found an ideal situation.

    You probably know by now that I am gradually removing plastic from my life, where ever possible. I’ve had another great find. It’s a bar of shampoo/conditioner, from a small Australian company. I was sceptical …but have used it twice now and it is great. Yea! Another 14 plastic bottles gone, over the life of the bar (if you’re interested I’ll tell you the brand…don’t want to do a product promotion on this forum).

    Happy weekend all.

    Good morning and welcome to the weekend. I am up earlier than usual to greet it.
    I have been very lazy with the cold mornings and am often not up until 9am! But school holiday babysitting starts at 8am on Monday and I’ll have to be up at 6:30 to get there in time. So I’m getting my body clock used to an earlier start – 7:30 this morning.

    Anzac, the look on Maxx’s face was priceless. That’s one seriously unimpressed dog.

    Lindsay, it must be so frustrating for someone who has spent a year putting together their thesis to discover that the style guide they followed has changed and they have to edit the whole thing according to new guidelines. I’d have a few choice words to say if that was me.

    Betsy, I agree with your thinking about removing treats like icecream from being a regular treat on NFDs. I remember my dietitian’s advice on discretionary foods – they should be occasional not every day, although that advice is easy to say and hard to follow at times.
    If you’ve been able to incorporate icecream on your NFDs and still lose the weight you have I’m very impressed. I know I couldn’t be trusted with the portion control required for that. The idea of eating a single small scoop of icecream just somehow doesn’t work, I’d be back for a second… and a third!
    The only treat food I can safely keep in the house is a block of dark lindt chocolate. Because it’s slightly bitter I find it easy to stop at 1-2 squares and I don’t feel like eating it that often.

    I’m still following the program I pilfered from Betsy (thankyou Betsy) and it’s still working well so far. I did my 3 FDs this week – 2 under 500 cals and one that ended around 600. Today is another no frills NFD so this will be a greater test, although I haven’t woken up with the thought of food on my mind which is a nice change.
    My food plan for the day is:
    Lunch: chilli con carne, spicy harissa flavoured couscous-quinoa and some airfried zucchini
    Dinner: a bowl of vegetable soup and a toasted pesto, mushroom, tomato, zucchini and cheese sandwich
    Snacks: banana, apple, cups of tea and possibly a small handful of almonds

    One thing I have continued with most days is to have my main meal at lunch time. I still think it helps, although I find I have to plan better as I am not always organised enough in the mornings to get a main meal ready that early. At the moment it’s not challenging as I have lots of frozen meals, including leftovers from Sunday night. I just have to include a little extra veg to go with it.

    We have rain forecast here over the weekend but it looks like there’ll be some breaks where I can go for a walk.

    Have a lovely weekend everyone.

    Good afternoon,
    Cold here, but I have had a good morning. Slept in (woot!) (You must have passed the baton LJoyce), went for a walk with the 3yo energiser bunny who lives in the flats. Didn’t wear him out, but maybe gave his parents a head start for the day ๐Ÿ˜‰ , and made a batch of that yummy Nigerian stew.

    And I have had a particularly wonderful midday meal, with roast veggies topped with the bean stew and a small serve of my beef and rhubarb stew too.
    LJoyce, I think we are finding it similar. It really suits my constitution but I do need to have it planned well in advance!

    Haha Neil, everyone else has answered your question. The Premier won’t confirm anything, saying leave it for the results of the inquiry, which almost certainly means most of the rumours are true.
    Makes those two visitors driving unchecked across your country seem like small fry!
    Waiting for today’s figures, but relieved we have kept to 70, + or – 10, so far. It gives me hope we can manage it quickly.

    Anzac, woot! a nice half kilo gone. So excited about you getting to under 90kg. Maybe this week! Onward and downward. You deserve it.
    Ooh that picture of Maxx, do give him a big hug from me.

    Once Mr A has finished with your home, I bet there are community groups who would appreciate his skills, if he was able to volunteer them. (I would love to get him on board for designing YamDaisy Cafes! But that project is in hibernation at the moment).

    We had a good natter about our tricky family member on zoom. I was just about to write ‘families, who’d have them!’ when I remembered it was my lovely sisters doing family best, who both brought up the issue, and dealt with it. So hooray for families.

    LJoyce, good news that you are being nicely busy and social again. And that your eating plan is working well so far. About time. I do hope it continues, you deserve a good run.

    Hi Betsy, don’t we walk briskly in this cold! I bet you went a good way in 55 mins!
    Giving up icecream for a good while is such a nurturing and kind gift to yourself. It will help you lose weight, have less pain, avoid statins, look even more gorgeous, be so comfortable in your clothes, sleep better, live better. I hope you can delight in it.
    I bet you get yourself a wonderful menu sorted.

    Lindsay, oh dear re those security lights. I’d guess they are super sensitive… they always are!
    Well done with that shampoo bar! I have been meaning to try one, so I would like to know your recommended brand.

    I’m going to make eggplant dip (eggplants and tahini both needing to be used) but it is soup for dinner and a fast day tomorrow so it can sit in the fridge, developing its flavours, til Monday. When I might eat the whole batch ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Thin, are you stuck in the Nevernever somewhere?

    Cheers everyone, best wishes for a wonderful healthy weekend. No icecream for anyone. Except maybe Penguin. Haha, bye now.

    Hi everyone

    Day one of my holiday and itโ€™s fricken cold, wet and miserable outside. Iโ€™ve got the log burner fired up, some beetroot relish cooked, some braised beef cheeks in the casserole, and weโ€™re all going to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie. I guess it could be worse ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I went to the farmers market this morning to grab some supplies. Iโ€™m loving the local seasonal veggies. Beetroot, silverbeet, spinach, parsnips, coloured carrots, leeks, pumpkins, squashes, etc. Perfect for soups, stews, casseroles, and other inventions ๐Ÿ˜‹

    Oh and I did mean 87cm Betsy, I just got my calculations wrong on the inch conversion.

    It seems a while since my last post. I’ve just read them all in reverse order and that’s taken me so long that I’m getting tired, ready for bed now. So I’ll probably forget most of what I wanted to say as usual.

    Cinque, Betsy, sorry to have read in the news about Melbourne’s lock-down. With the numbers relatively low, and a good track and trace system, it should be easy to keep on top of it. We’ve had our first city (Leicester) placed back in lock-down as the rest of the country turned out today for haircuts and pints – not us.

    CalifD, we’re like you, not keen to go anywhere. I still get anxious in the grocery stores. I don’t know where anything is, am still unfamiliar with the products and don’t even care about prices any more. I just try and get in and out as fast as possible while dodging people who still don’t know the difference between six inches and six feet.

    LJ, good news that you got your refund (or will get it). I was wondering how they could not have given it if Australians can’t leave the country.

    Anzac, nice Maxx photo. And good to read that you’re doing well with your food choices.

    Quacka, so sorry to read about your dad’s passing. Beautifully put that ‘now the pain is all ours’. I hope that pain turns to happy memories soon.

    Neil, how nice to have another holiday. Sorry it’s so cold. Those local farmers’ markets sound great.

    Turn, what a scary set of events right outside your door. Once when we were camping in WA, we had the SAS (or similar) blasting through the camp in the middle of the night looking for escaped prisoners. A little difficult to get back to sleep!

    Lindsay, well done for removing plastic from your life. I try to remove it from the canal but I’m currently on a mission to get the Canal and River Trust to educate the Great British Public about the perils of feeding bread to wildfowl.

    Hire boats and boaters who don’t live aboard were allowed out to play today for the first time in three-four months. During lock-down, we’d exchange a wave through the porthole with other boaters when one would pass every few days or so. Today, I’d say about thirty boats passed and I realised the practice would have to stop.

    Thanks to all who commented/asked about OH’s visa thing. It’s complicated – because there isn’t a visa for what we want to do. No, nothing is automatically granted based on marriage to a British Citizen. Most spousal visas applications are denied which is disconcerting since it costs upwards of ยฃ3k to apply. As Lindsay said, it’s unfairly slanted against men. This was not the visa we wanted anyway but may be the best choice now – although under normal circumstances, one has to apply from outside Britain so it could be denied on that basis too. Betsy, yes we did know that standard visitor visas were only valid for six months at a time and planned to go to Europe for a couple of months in between (as we did in Jan/Feb). We didn’t, of course, anticipate covid and all the travel uncertainty it would create. Sorry, that was much too long a ramble, but the uncertainty is starting to spoil our time here.

    Anyway, FD tomorrow. All is well on that front at least. I have something in the freezer, can’t remember what, and OH will have pork chops.

    Penguin, hope you’re going well.

    Take care everyone.

    A quick hello,

    Sunday Fast Day. Hoping to fill it up with a walk and a henna of my hair. Hmm, that isn’t much, fingers crossed I have recorded a few things worth watching!

    Neil, I hope your family enjoys your snuggly holiday. What wonderful food. Life is good there.

    Thin, my heart goes out to you and Mr Thin living with the anxiety about your visa. I do hope you can find a good solution. Hooray for remaining cautious when covid is still so active in England. Hoping DD is keeping well too.
    Fast day buddies today.

    My heart is full of Victoria’s news where the covid has spread to some high rise public housing blocks and so they have been shut down for 5 days with everyone needing to keep to their rooms. So hard for the worried residents but good to see the govt undertaking to look after them with understanding of how many vulnerable people and families are living there, and the community rallying too. The big jump in numbers yesterday means that the whole of Melbourne might need to go back into lockdown. Hoping that we can avoid that.

    Best wishes all.

    A quick hi to unfortunately report that I am laid up with a very painful lower abdomen problem. I went to the hairdresser yesterday and I always like to walk as it is a lovely walk, about 40 mins, and i need the exercise. Mr A and Maxx walked over with me. As we started out I felt some pain but shrugged it off. Long story short, by the time I was walking home by myself I was bent over with an awful, localised pain.

    Doctor said it could be one of many things and sent me home with a referral for a CT scan tomorrow and instructions to monitor the pain and if it increases to go to the hospital. Thankfully it is not as sore today so avoided that.

    Anyway I mustn’t move more than necessary so stuck on the couch with my legs up and the heater on. I’m actually having a big catch up with work as it is taking my mind off it. Poor Mr A is on dog duty, cooking duty, grocery shopping duty (for us and my Dad), housework duty etc. He makes this amazing chicken and vege soup from scratch, including bone broth. I won’t eat it because it has chunks of all the veges I dislike. So the dear man took the pieces of shredded chicken out, blended the rest, and put the chicken back in. It was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten! My Dad raves about it all the time and poor Mr A seems to be constantly cooking chicken soup all through winter. Now he has a new problem: me! I’ve just had a second bowl and it’s like healing fluid

    Please send positive thoughts that it all turns out to be nothing

    Sorry, all about me again. Will post more cheerily later today or tomorrow

    Hello all.

    Thin, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you can get a suitable visa soon for MrT. If the UK is anything like here, residency visas can take many months (or even years), especially when visitor visas are overstayed – here I think it’s an automatic no when that happens. I hope you get a good outcome.
    We saw the news about Leicester here too – I’m glad your government is keeping on top of this. I hope the Leicester lockdown provides a cautionary reminder to those who want to get out and about not that you have more businesses open.

    Cinque & Betsy, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you too, that the current shutdown will be enough and you won’t end up with the whole metro area shut down.
    It did seem risky to me that those in the lockdown suburbs were allowed to leave the area for work. Surely this defeats the purpose of a lockdown by spreading the virus to other areas through those workers.
    I do feel especially sorry for those in the large Flemington public housing blocks who are now quarantined in their own small apartments – it’s especially difficult to be confined so tightly with no access to a park or garden.

    Cinque, I’m fasting with you today. Hope yours is successful. I’m planning a walk too and I’ve just picked my rhubarb crop to stew with some stevia.
    Neil, I’m sure the Family couch snuggling is fun, but I do hope you get some sunshine soon.

    Cali, happy 4th July – I think it is still 4th over your way.

    I have an early start tomorrow as I’m babysitting. That means walking to the local bakery with the kids for lunch. When I babysit them in daytime, they have very much come to expect (and look forward to) that. It makes it a challenging NFD. The healthiest option on offer is usually a chicken salad roll that still contains way too much white bread.
    The kids are very predicable, they always want a hot dog, chips and a doughnut. I must remember the hand sanitiser as the kids eat everything with their hands.

    Have a nice Sunday all.

    Anzac, our posts crossed. Wishing you a very speedy recovery.

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