Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • Thin – if you click on the blue drop down arrow at the top right of the Quordle page it gives you your daily stats, it also does the same on the practice page. Took me a while to find it too. My current fave is Antiwordle!

    Good morning everyone , been a but slack posting, I do a quick read as the emails come in, thinking I’ll post later when sitting having a coffee, famous last words! I forget ! I’m forgetting a lot lately, no I don’t think it’s alzheimers, I just do things out of habit and don’t register it. Thank you all for asking about Monty. He has settled beautifully and the boys 🐶🐶 are fabulous with him. He follows me around ike a puppy, then naps then reappears for a chat or cuddle. He can be quite vocal😃
    I’m having a lot of sleeping issues, either awake most the night, or get 1-2 HR increments of sleep, then wake again, hence being tired throughout the day. Usually having a Nanny nap after lunch, I just feel my energy leave me, and need to sleep, often for an hour or more, but do wake refreshed. Yet, the last few mornings, I slept well past my acceptable 😂 wake up time, as in…9;45…10:15 😳not that I have to answer to anyone, but it’s so annoying, I’m losing most of the mornings by the time I have my coffee then shower. I’m not eating wholesome meals only light and low cals and think that’s my problem. I had zucchini soup from the freezer last night, and wonder if my eating is the issue.
    I haven’t checked the scales, yet know when doing 5;2 my fasting days usually always led to sleepless nights.
    Have a lovely day everyone, I’m hoping to get into some sewing today…hoping….🌻CG

    Good afternoon.

    Turn & Cinque, I really didn’t need a longer list of daily work puzzle, but I give them a go. They may need to be replacements for the games I do now rather than additions.

    Neil, Glad you are managing to stay active and lose weight while your wife continues to recover.

    CG, I perfectly understand your dilemma with poor sleep, late starts to the day and feeling like you’ve lost the morning before doing anything more than having a leisurely morning cuppa. That is my daily lament too. It does sound like you have a lovely support crew of pets to help you through your day. Enjoy the sewing.

    Thin, the small segment of my family that exchange Haighs easter eggs with me, is the same small group that just lost their mother and grandmother. I think my cousin’s daughter in NSW just needed to keep that tradition going this year. I’m not sure if this is going to continue as she hasn’t posted easter eggs to me before. I’m about to post an easter card to her and her husband with some money in it, with the hope that they can maybe go out for brunch on easter Sunday – as the rest of the family in S.A. will get together for brunch (another firm tradition). I suspect her sister will have sent her some chocolates. Her mother would certainly also have done that in previous years, but I doubt her father will remember to do that.
    So while I agree with your sentiment about dropping hints about no chocolate (I have expressed my with that they keep the amount of chocolate modest), this year is definitely not the appropriate time to try and upset family tradition. They’ve lost too much lately.
    This has never been an issue with my niece and nephew as I always give them each a easter card for their family with $200, with the express wish that they will spend it doing something fun as a family. As my niece’s kids are adults now, they normally use it to get together for dinner and family time over easter. The money usually pays for quality seafood that would beyond their budget otherwise. My nephew does something fun with the kids that they’ll enjoy – last year they took them go-carting and on a camping trip the easter before that. I started doing this as I have so few memories of doing fun things as a family growing up – my dad was self employed and always working, so spending time and money just having fun with the kids on a long weekend was not something my parents did. I want my niece and nephew’s kids to grow up with lots of memories of fun things they did together and time spent together as a family, but I understand the budget doesn’t always stretch to these things.

    I’ve been delaying today’s errand to the post office, but will head there shortly.

    Hello to everyone else, hope you are doing ok.

    Turn, thank you!

    Cinque, I opened that 32 word one and immediately closed it!

    Neil, great news on the weight loss.

    CG, it’s awful when sleep is disrupted. I’ve had 30 years of sleep deprivation (snoring & insomnia) although OH took steps to lessen the impact and I wear ear plugs. When I started 5:2 though, I was tired by 8pm and slept so soundly on the FDs. I hope you can get it sorted out – in the past, I found that a good walk in the evening instead of screen time helps.

    LJ, I understand all that you say and not wanting to upset the traditions. Easter is clearly a big tradition in your family (whereas I hadn’t even realised it was this week until our conversation). That’s a very generous gift to enable your family to spend quality time together. All I can think of then is freeze the ones you receive and re-gift them next year. Just kidding.

    It is an odd thing that people so close to us don’t seem to ‘get’ it. OH was fondling lavish chocolate boxes in the last town and asking if we should get them for my birthday (weeks away). Utterly ridiculous after seeing firsthand my lifelong struggle with being overweight and how I maintain my healthy weight now. That’s why I was asking who was giving you Easter Eggs.

    *Oh, next week, sorry.

    Morning all

    I watched an interesting documentary last night. It was “Living with Bulimia” with Freddie Flintoff It was pretty sad what he went through and is still going through. He’s 6’4″ and just over 90 kilos and was saying that he thinks he’ll always be overweight because he’s not the “ideal weight” for his height” He’s in excellent shape but still views himself as fat. He used to purge after almost every meal while he was playing, but these days he just works out obsessively. He says he has 9-10 gym sessions a week and does at least an hour each session.

    The saddest part for me was when he was said he was thinking of reaching out for help when the England cricket team hired a dietitian. He said if anyone could help him he thought it would be her, but when she was introduced to the team she said “I worked with lots of female athletes who were bulimic but I know I won’t have that problem here with you guys” The rest of the team started laughing and so he shut up and kept it to himself”

    Working from home again today, I’m here for the rest of the week and then back in the office next week before the upcoming Easter Holidays next Friday.

    Well have a great one everyone.

    Neil, it’s shame that eating disorders have primarily been associated with females.

    I had a good FD yesterday. My weight is almost back where I want it to be.

    Good morning,
    Note to self: it is a mistake to have breakfast and coffee too early.

    Neil, I was just about in tears reading your post. Hooray for that brave man, Freddie Flintock (who even I have heard of), talking about it publicly.

    Country Gal, so much sympathy with the sleep issues, but hooray for waking refreshed. That is the best thing. Refreshing sleep is a great way to spend a morning!

    But I hope you can incrementally walk your sleeptime back until you can have your mornings awake again.

    Hello to Monty and the dogs.

    LJoyce haha, the other one my daughter gave me is squareword https://squareword.org/
    omg it makes my brain work hard.

    And Thin haha too.

    Turn, have fun with antiwordle, I did it once. 😉

    The one I tried for a minute and freaked out my own brain is a version where you can change the length of the word from 4 – 11 letters. I started with 6 and eep after working 5 letter words for so long, I felt sea sick. (Plus the word was SHEIKH, which didn’t help).

    Sending best wishes to everyone

    Hi all,

    Just wanted to let everyone know that due to OH’s diagnoses of further health issues and numerous upcoming surgeries, my study, trying to get the business up and running and everything else that has now landed on my plate in the last few months, I will be skimming through posts when I get the chance and only reading posts relating to weight loss and health. It’s not that I’m not interested in the general conversations of the group, it’s just that there is too many non weight loss conversations for me to keep up with now.

    So apologies in advance as my posts will just be a quick update on progress and a bit of input around others posts on weight loss related topics.

    2kg to go to reach my second goal weight of 59.9kg – yes an odd number but I wanted to moved from the 60’s to the 50’s for the first time in my adult life. So that is a total of 22kg weight loss since July 2021.

    Progress the last 2 months has been slow due to what is going on at the moment and I have minimal time for exercise but as always my eating habits are still on track, but I do find my weight loss stalls when I don’t do regular cardio and strength training.

    I should have my Cert IV in Fitness (Personal Trainer) studies completed within the next three weeks and then I start on the Diploma of Weight Management and Nutrition. Hoping to have my business up and running before the end of this financial year.

    Happy Friday everyone and I hope the Easter Bunny brings you some good quality chocolate and for those in SA I hope its Haiges xx

    Wow G’day, with 5;2 and your fitness knowledge, no wonder you are so tiny! Good luck with your studies, but sorry to hear of your hubbies health issues. It IS a lot on your plate, including the worry, but inner strength comes out of the blue with determination so I’m sure you will manage🌻

    My weight loss just ain’t happening …..yet….but it will. I must admit it’s not getting my full . cooperation but at least I’m not gaining. Exercise is a no-no due to my spinal issues, even getting to my letter box seems like a marathon some days. Walking cripples me with spasms. But I live with it, and concentrate on what I CAN do, like cuddle Monty 💖 he is the most loving, magnetic creature, 😂 he follows me everywhere, including the loo, so I have to be so careful going outside making sure he stays in. My boys 🐶🐶 are fabulous with him, and he already smooches into them💝so it’s a-love-in going on here, like living in the 60’s 😂😂
    Anyway, back to my chores, stay well and happy everyone enjoy your day, Cuddles 🌻CG

    Working backwards through the posts, so apologies if I need to opt out before I reach the top.

    Gday sorry to hear about your OH’s health issues – great you have maintained your resolve to hit the fifty somethings ….best wishes to you both.

    Cinque OH saw his opthalmologist yesterday, and he saw no deterioration in his already poor sight….and feels that the fuzziness could pass once the immunotherapy is over (which could be a year or more away). So hard at the moment for him, but something to hang on to.

    Thin, honestly. Your OH. Aren’t they crackers, men? You have to laugh (ruefully).

    I sympathise (empathise, actually) with you CG and Cinque and others with sleep problems. Years of being a journalist, with odd shifts, some starting at 4 am, some finishing at 5 am, etc etc ruined my sleep patterns and I’ve never been able to get them back. And now we know sleep deprivation adds to weight gain. Sigh. I was bemoaning my increasing belly fat to my myotherapist and she told me something interesting – cortisol (from stress, presumably) causes fat to accumulate around the middle.
    I didn’t know that. All I have to do is sleep better and worry less, and I’ll be good to go. haha.

    LJ what a lovely thing to do – the younger ones in your family must love having some ‘splash’ money to buy or do things they can’t normally afford. And yea for family traditions – even those that involve chocolate. and Haighs chocolate to boot.

    Turn I’ll give antiwordle a go …but am not confident.

    Neil, I remember Fred Flintoff when he played – what a sad story. We never know, do we, what people are going through on the inside.

    OK today’s another lovely lunch day – my oldest (well, longest) girlfriend is having a birthday so we are revisiting the lovely La Belle Vie where OH took me last week for our anniversary. I hope it’s as good this time. The food is so uncomplicated – I can make good choices, and enjoy every mouthful (although I haven’t decided yet what to do about the creme brulee).

    Calif you’ve been in my thoughts – hope everything is okay with you.

    Ditto Anzac ….you are going down a troubled road, but I wish you could meet my OH and see how well he is doing on the same path.

    Have a great weekend all.

    Hi friends

    Sorry for a long absence, every day just blurs at the moment. Mr Anzac is very unwell due to side effects of the radiation and I’m just holding everything together somehow. My healthy eating has gone out the window but I plan to get back into it from tomorrow. Mr Anzac can only eat a limited range of food tomorrow and then has to completely fast on Sunday (after breakfast) ready for the surgery on Monday morning. So this week has been all about his favourite foods and of course I have joyfully helped to prepare and eat it all

    I only read a couple of posts back, sorry, but thank you Lindsay for your encouraging words about your OH

    Sorry to read about your OH’s health issues G’day, and I have you in my thoughts too Cali

    Please send oceans of positive thoughts for the surgery on Monday. We are also praying that he wont need chemo – not just because of the side effects but that will mean he has his ‘external plumbing’ for 3-6 months instead of just 6 weeks. But whatever it takes to make him better

    Hope everyone is ok, sorry for the doom and gloom post

    Good morning everyone,

    Gday, you are doing great!
    Lots of good wishes to Mr Gday, Is it mainly heart problems? I can’t even imagine how hectic your life must be. Best wishes to all of you with all of it.

    Country Gal, hmm, doesn’t that weight loss need our full attention these days! Lose concentration and bam.
    So not gaining is good.
    (I think I went up a clothes size just by having a bad week)

    Lindsay, hooray for Mr Lindsay’s eyes, and hooray for hope. Oh and another hooray for him doing so well with it all.

    Couldn’t we all do with more sleep and less worry!
    That little bit of info about cortisol and organ fat does not help!
    😀 😀 😀

    I hope La Belle Vie came up trumps again!

    LJoyce, just wanted to second what Lindsay said about your gifts to your family, so thoughtful and wonderful.

    Anzac, oceans of good wishes everyday, and a deluge on Monday. I have a candle ready to light then to help too. <3
    I am glad you had a wonderful food week, and my heart goes out to you now you must get ready for fasting and dealing with all the surgery and treatments.
    A friend had a few months with that external plumbing a couple of years ago, and it is amazing how manageable they can make it. Whatever it takes.

    Cali, so many good wishes to you and Mr Cali too.

    Best wishes to everyone

    Anzac, just a quick note to wish you all the best with Mr A’s surgery on Monday and I’m very sorry to read that the radiation has made him so unwell. Fingers crossed that chemo won’t be required. Thinking of you my friend and stay strong.

    P.S. Today’s wordle in two! (Lucky first guess).

    Hi all, on the move again in a couple of days so will post again soon with more chat to everyone. I just wanted to say Hi Anzac, sending loads & loads of best wishes & good vibes over the ditch to you for your husbands surgery tomorrow. Hope all goes well and no chemo will be required.

    Speak again soon, enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone,
    Turn

    Turn, hello. To where are you moving? I meant to ask you last time where you empty your toilet thing – is it called a cassette? You mentioned parking at a race track. FD for me on a sunny and slightly warmer morning. Chicken Paprika leftovers from Wednesday’s fast for dinner. New potatoes for OH’s bulk. I’m feeling a lot better about my weight now. It was only 2kg but concerning to be nudging my trigger weight so frequently. We hope to move through Nottingham today, only two locks so it should be a cruisey day.

    A very quick note to wish Mr A a good outcome tomorrow.

    I’m just heading out to an Asian banquet for a birthday dinner – definitely not Fast800 today.

    Will try to post properly tomorrow.

    All the best Mr A for tomorrow, and Mrs A, that your worries are alleviated. Awful time for you both, but plenty of prayers from here and love from friends and family, it all helps to stay positive 😘
    Been very piggy this weekend 😳went out for lunch today and had fish, chips and salad, having the seniors meal is quite small, yet plenty for me, but nibbled when I got home, grrrr, so FASTING tomorrow! Gotta get back on this wagon. Have a lovely week everyone, stay safe and well, enjoy the little things in life, they are precious 🌻CG

    Good evening all.

    Oh dear, it’s taken me nearly an hour to catch up on all the recent posts. The chat line has been busy. Well, I’ve been busy, too, actually getting some of my study done, so my posting may become erratic.

    Interesting conversations re Wordle. I downloaded what I thought was the Wordle app, but as I can do as many word puzzles as I choose each day, I suspect it’s a “knock-off” version. Still enjoy it though.

    Thin, no offence taken. Enjoy your quieter lock movements.

    LJoyce, lovely looking soup. I plan to cook up another batch tomorrow and see if I can get something closer to what I’m looking for. Not that the other wasn’t tasty, but I’d still like to improve it. I like the idea of adding shredded chicken (and I’d add tofu as well) to make it more a meal than just a soup, but not for FDs.
    Haigh’s chocolate?! Aaggh! Little bit by little bit, if you can.

    So far this month I’ve lost 800 gms (0,8 kg looks better). If I can maintain that I’ll be down 2.4 kg for the month, which will make me happy. I’ve already noticed that my “emergency” bigger jeans are starting to feel a bit loose and I can fit into some of the next size down now, so definite progress.

    LindsayL, congrats re Rosy’s success, but my sympathies re Mr L’s eyesight. Sure hope it clears once the treatment is over. Sounds like he’s not coping all that well with the radiation therapy, which is disappointing. Fatigue that you can’t shake is normal, but if it’s more than that, my prayers for improvement once the radiation therapy finishes.

    Anzac65, Best wishes to Mr A for the operation tomorrow. I’ll be praying that it goes well for him. It’s a very concerning time for you, too, and your eating, with him, of his favourite foods is entirely reasonable. You’ll restart once the current stress eases a bit.

    G’DayfromSA, Sorry to read of Mr G’Day’s ill health. You’re certainly a busy lady at the moment. I hope your studies and business start-up go well.

    Neil, good to read that you’ve worked out an exercise regime that works with the current weather, and that your wife’s health continues to improve.

    Turnabout, a move – north or south? Which is better as the winter weather approaches?

    Countrygal1, good that Monty has now settled so well with your 2 dogs, and that you’re enjoying having him so much.

    Cinque, sorry to read of your insomnia. And yes, being tired makes it so much harder to control one’s eating, as I’ve found to my cost on occasion.

    It’s getting late, hope there’s no-one I’ve forgotten. Stay well, everyone.

    A quick post, as I shoot out to the doctor’s for the last of my B12 injections.

    Anzac, you are in my thoughts this morning. I hope Mr Anzac’s surgery goes well, and that he’s soon home with you recuperating.

    LJ I am sorry if I’ve given the wrong impression. My OH didn’t cope with his first treatment, but now he’s moved on to the immunotherapy, he’s doing well (and paticularly since he’s been given his voice back). We were at another dog show yesterday, and it was wonderful to see him participating and engaging with other people, rather than sitting quietly in his chair dozing. He does get tired, but I am sure that is normal, and hopefully when the treatment ends, the side effect that is affecting his eyesight will fade. Fingers crossed.

    Bety, .8 in the right direction is a good loss. And seeing your jeans loosen is even better. Great work.

    Turn, such a lovely mobile life. Ditto Thin.

    OK, off I go. I”ll check back in later.

    Quick post as I have 5 mins before I join a Webinar.

    CountryGal – I don’t do 5:2 anymore as it no longer works for me. When I joined this forum in Feb 2017 I was doing 5:2 and went from 76kg to 64kg in 6 months. However later that year I met my OH, we started going out for lots of meals and I began to consume alcohol again, along with hitting menopause. The weight piled back on to the point where my weight in July 2021 was the heaviest I have ever been, over 83kg, despite still doing 5:2. I had been slowly moving towards the ketogenic way of eating for awhile so decided to do it 100%, extremely low carb, no alcohol etc and that’s how I have lost the weight in the last 6 months, as well as increasing cardio and strength training exercise. I also do intermittent fasting and have a daily eating window of 4 hours, between 1pm and 5pm. Every couple of weeks I do an extended water fast, anywhere from 36 to 72 hours to create autophagy.

    Cinque – Yes ongoing heart issues, plus waiting for a knee replacement (knee gives way after just a few steps now), has been on the wait list for 2 1/2 years for the knee replacement operation and have just been told it will happen within the next 3 months – fingers crossed but they told us that last year and then when he went in for heart surgery they removed him from his place on the knee replacement waiting list and put him back down the bottom of the list – boy was I angry about that. Other issues include degenerative discs of the spine, with 2 disc’s completely disintegrated and arthritis in both hips. Nothing can be done about the last 2 issues. He is on the strongest pain medication available and it offers no relief whatsoever, so he is in constant severe pain, lucky to get an hours sleep here and there, and mobility is severely limited. The problem is we are unable to get a medical practitioner to take control of his overall health issues, each keeps handballing to one another, one won’t do anything without a referral from or to another etc, no one talks to each other and his GP (who I think should be taking the helm) does bugger all. I want MrGday to change GP’s but he wont….grrr.

    Ooops got to go, webinar is starting, my best wishes and thoughts to those and their other halves who are going through health issues at the moment x

    Afternoon everyone

    Wow you’ve all been busy on here.

    Gday, You’ve done so well! Good luck with the last 2 kg needed to get into the 50s.

    Lindasy, I hope your lunch went well.

    Betsy, I’ve seen quite a few of the knock-off apps, it seems to be the way with online games these days. One appears that is popular and then within a few months you see whole hordes of clones coming out.

    Ljoyce, good luck with the buffet. They are my weakness, especially when they bring out the lemon fish or the sweet and sour pork balls.

    Cinque, I think it’s cheating when wordle put in words that have letters used twice or obscure words like Sheikh.
    Turn, no doubt you’ll end up somewhere else that I’ll be hugely envious of as always 😉

    Thin, Paprika chicken and new potatoes sounds pretty good. Smoked paprika is my favourite spice and I put it in most of the meals I cook.

    Countrygal, you and me both. I caught up with some friends and ended up eating fish and chips, sweets, icecream and coke. The next day I had an AGM for our frisbee golf club and they provided pizzas and soft drinks. Now I’m feeling bloated and guilty. I’m going to do a three day liquid-only fast to try to break the compulsive sugar/carb eating. I’ll just stick to miso soup for the next 3 days.

    Well back in the office again this week. I’m looking forward to having 2 short weeks in a row and then a week off afterwards. I’m hoping to get a whole lot of tasks done during my holiday (finishing off sanding/painting, cutting the hedges, harvesting our pumpkins, other general stuff I’ve been procrastinating for a while) and get out for a couple of bike rides.

    Well have a great day everyone.

    Buggar! Just lost my post 😡😡
    Lindsay, I’m on the Vit B course too, how often did you have the shots? I’ve had my first, not sure when the second is due…..
    Heartfelt wishes to our long list of sickies. Side effects often seem worse than the original problem. We put ourselves in the hands of the medical profession hoping they know best. Good luck with everyone doing-so❤️
    G’day thank you for all that info, you certainly know how to steer the course. I think with being in so much constant pain, everything seems too much of an effort for me. Other than heart issues, my symptoms are almost identical to Mr G’day. So much spinal issues including a cocktail of arthritis. I’m listening to my body more now, not fighting it when it needs to rest. The burning pain is so controlling now, I just give up. Morphine and Lyrica including strong pain killers fill my belly before most food 😳but I am conscience of what I eat and try to be healthy but my weight isn’t moving, one way or another. Yes I’d like to lose 5K this week 😂😂 but it ain’t going to happen.
    Neil good luck with your resolve and just fluids, your a better man than I am Gunga Din! I love life getting in the way, it’s wonderful being a part of the forbidden fruits and enjoying 😃
    I wanted to join the local bowls club who are desperate for members but having such issues with my back, would be too unpredictable so I’m part of a coffee club with some lovely local ladies, if I’m crook, and can’t go, I’m not letting any team down. What’s that old saying, my Mum used to say it, You cut the cloth……..?
    Have a lovely day everyone, no matter what it brings, with so much heartache and uncertainty in our world, we have so much to be grateful for 🌻CG

    I forgot to add to Mr GDays list ongoing hernia’s (2 operations in the last 6 months – another one scheduled in the coming month) plus some other smaller issues which are impacting on the bigger issues.

    Morning all

    Well that was one of the easiest fast days I’ve had. I had a black coffee in the morning, black earl grey tea for morning tea, miso soup for lunch, I couldn’t help myself from eating a few blueberries as I was picking them after work, then dinner I had a bowl of miso soup and I threw in some bean vermicelli to bulk it up. Total for the day was around 400 calories and I only really got hunger pangs for a few minutes around midday. I’m going to be doing similar today and tomorrow to try and break my cycle of coming home, hitting the cupboards and eating all the food. I’m guessing the next couple of days will be a bit harder, but I’ll try to push through.

    Countrygal, A coffee group sounds pretty good to me. I like playing frisbee golf for a similar reason to why you don’t want to join the bowls team. It’s a sport you can play socially without the pressure of having to show up for competitions and possibly let your team down.

    Gday, that’s quite a list! My parents are getting to the point where everything is starting to wear out. My mother especially has had back surgery and two knee replacements in the last few years.

    Well back to work I suppose. Have a great day everyone and happy fasting to those of you joining me in a fast day today.

    The quickest hello before grandkids arrive.

    Anzac, thinking of you so much and hoping the op went well and Mr Anzac is recovering. https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2019/11/GettyImages-129309452-2000.jpg

    And good wishes for all those partners battling complex illness and conditions xxxx

    Not to mention those of us trying to keep our symptoms managed, like trying to keep an octopus in a string bag.

    Neil hooray for an easy fast day. I tried yesterday but it turned out to be a normal eating day. Sigh. Luckily there is next time.

    I finally heard from the community centre and my support group idea is go. Now I am trying to fill tedious online forms, covid training, police checks etc. Wish me luck!

    Cheers friends,
    I will write properly soon as I can!

    Lost my post and I’m not going to write it again but the main thing was to say congratulations Cinque. And anxiously awaiting news from Anzac.

    Hello friends

    Quick update. My poor Mr Anzac is not going so well. No-one should have to go through what I witnessed him go through last night. The ended up having to ring the surgeon who arranged for ICU to come. I won’t go into the gory details but it is very very hard right now

    I’m so grateful for your prayers and positive thoughts. Keep them coming please

    Anzac I’m so sorry to hear that, it’s often harder on the loved one watching, try to stay positive, he’s in good hands 😘

    Hi all from a very warm and sunny Mosgiel, just outside Dunedin.

    Obviously, you’ll know exactly where we re situated Neil, at the A n P Showgrounds not far from you. Fabulous autumn weather, although we are planning to go to the famers market in the morning and it looks like it could be a bit wet around the edges? OH won’t mind as long as he gets his bacon butty!! I sometimes think it’s the only way I can get him to go!

    Anzac, so sorry to hear your news, stay strong, keep positive, sending lots of prayers and hugs and well wishes, I am sure you will both get through this.

    CG, In answer to your question from a while ago, we live full time aboard our caravan and move around as and when, usually whichever way the wind blows & the sun shines, but we do intersperse our travels with some house sitting. Often it’s just a way of getting to spend time in an area where we struggle to park up with the van. A lot of the Freedom Camping spots around the country have disappeared with No Camping bylaws being introduced by local council, local government and Central government rulings, I don’t think the powers that be will be happy until all of them are gone and the only place you can stay will be at a fully commercial campsite or in an Association Park. It suits us at the moment though. We both love dogs & cats too, having had both whilst house living ourselves, and it’s a great way to look after them and then hand them back, bit like kids really….your dogs and cat sound like a lot of fun, pets are such great companions and wonderful sounding boards.

    Thin, we do a have a toilet cassette, you are correct, usually needs emptying every 3 days or so, depending whether we are here much or not. We, or rather OH, empties it at a Dump Station, often located on site or public ones are sited in towns, provided by the local council, along with potable water usually. So we will often roll into town and fill with water before going to a site and park up, too expensive towing all that extra weight. We have a filter attached to the kitchen sink to purify water from the tanks, but we also have a Brita jug we use from water bottles we fill at water stations. Both of us drink at least 1.5/2 litres water per day. We are staying here over the long weekend, then up to Christchurch as OH has routine health appointments, then we’ll carry on north to Kaiteriteri where we over wintered last year. I’m just hoping & praying for a dryer winter?

    My weight is still in the 65’s, was hoping for a kilo lower but had a couple of hiccups this week, and nothing to do with chocolate either! Off out to a BBQ at a friends place up in the hills later this afternoon, will also see her son, whom I haven’t seen in years, and his wife & three children, none of whom we’ve ever met, should be interesting? Market in the morning, local rugby game tomorrow night, and a hot smoked eggs benny waiting for me on Sunday. Hopefully I’ll not have climbed into the 66’s by Monday or Tuesday?

    Enjoy the rest of your Easter everyone

    Anzac I was very sad to read your post. Things can seem quite desperate during all of this. I hope the issues are resolved and your OH starts his recuperation, and you can get some peace.

    CountryGal, I had B12 shots, 3, each a week apart. I’m yet to feel the effects, if I’m to be honest.

    Congratulations Cinque on making progress on your idea. I think it will be a fabulous support….I wish I lived nearer.

    I am struggling with my weight – in the face of other stuff, it doesn’t seem as important. Ive regained some of what I lost, but nowhere near all, so that’s a good place to pause for a while. Kicking myself though when I try on some of the clothes I had altered last year, and they are just a wee bit squeezy. I’ll get back to it when I can. In the meantime Im being mindful and trying to inch down little by litte. I just don’t want to say no, when OH suggests coffee or lunch out. He put up with my anti-social ways very well last year, but since he got ill it doesn’t seem fair to be constantly denying him things he enjoys.

    Hope your Easter is happy and safe friends.

    So sorry Anzac. Thinking of you.

    Morning all, Turn what a fabulous life style you have, like Thin, free as Gypsies, you are so lucky to have O/H’s compatible to do it with. I think I have cement in my feet, just content with my home and country living💕my weight hasn’t factored into my day to day thoughts for a while, other than when something I want to wear has shrunk in the cupboard 🤭but appetite levels are quite low, no huge pig outs or sweet cravings but golly I’m having trouble committing this time😏
    I’m heading down to Melbourne later, will settle my 3 boys 🐶🐶😸in at my sons, then get ready to go out tonight for our family dinner to celebrate my Granddaughters 21st birthday 😡 then back home tomorrow. I’m hoping to miss most of the holiday traffic as it will be here by now and tomorrow don’t expect much at all. They showed the huge lines of traffic an the news, people heading away for Easter, awful time to be on our roads.
    Have a lovely Easter everyone I hope our sickies are improving and from an old hippy, pray for peace and love 🌻CG

    Good morning everyone,

    Anzac, so sorry to hear that things have been awful for Mr Anzac. Thankyou for letting us know, but oh dear, right when we want our medical services to be acting at their absolute best, it sounds like you were let down. I do hope things are settled and improving.
    <3 <3 <3

    Turn, best wishes to you, I hope it was a brilliant BBQ, it sounds like it would have to have been.
    I hope you can enjoy some lovely eating without too much damage.

    Lindsay, ofcourse your weight is not your focus or even at front of mind at the moment.
    Time to ‘get over rough ground as lightly as possible’. Every little bit of ‘good habit’ you can do is a bonus, and fingers crossed you have lots of little bonuses on the way. Each one does help to make things easier.
    Sending good wishes to Mr Lindsay.

    Neil, More good wishes to Mrs Neil, I hope she is still recovering nicely.
    Gday, Good wishes to Mr Gday.
    Cali, thinking of you and hoping your household is without too much stress.

    CountryGal, I hope you have a wonderful celebration tonight!
    Lucky you are travelling the opposite direction to most people, and in the centre of the break, not at each end.
    I think I am like you, and 5:2 has become focussed on the 5 days and good habits for them, and getting in a good 2 days fasting a week is more of a struggle but great to do as much as possible.

    Kudos to people with kids, I had my grandchildren on Thursday and didn’t manage to navigate around pizza. They make eating well so tricky! Yesterday was better, today is going to be good!

    Hello Intesha. Merry I wonder if you are reading. Hello to everyone who hasn’t posted for a while, we would love to hear from you.

    Cheers Thin, how is Spring? We’ve got Autumn half over but today is warm.

    Off to see if I can do some tidying….

    Ciao

    Good Evening all.

    Anzac, I’m hoping that Mr A is now getting the correct medical help and can start recovering. Thinking of you and sending best wishes for the situation to improve.

    It’s been a very hectic week for me and will remain busy during the school holidays.
    I couldn’t manage Fast800 this week so I did 5:2, but with meals out and the influx of easter chocolate, some of the NFDs have been over the top. This coming week will also be 5:2 and then I’m hoping to be in the correct headspace to go back to Fast800 for a while.

    Hello to everyone else. I hope you are managing the difficulties that life is throwing your way. Take care.

    Hi all

    Sorry I didn’t mean to make it sound like the medical people did something wrong. It was just the impact of the surgery having a very traumatic, physical and mental impact on Mr Anzac. We’ve had a very awful few days but today a small glimmer of hope. He had a CT scan and blood tests and everything is healing beautifully and the blood tests all clear. It’s just the terrible nausea and pain and mental impact on my normally EXTREMELY mentally strong man. Today the stomach tube via his nose came out and so did the side drain. He was allowed solid food and rang me to say that he managed a few mouthfuls of a sandwich and some cake. But the best news is there was some positivity and hope in his voice. He has lost 10 kilos in less than one week sadly – some of which will be what they removed during surgery but this was his first mouthful of solid food in a week

    Must rush, visiting hours soon!

    Anzac, thank you for keeping us informed. The last part of your post signals a rainbow during the rain. Now for the sun to shine through. Thinking of you. Have you quit your job or are you taking time off? Take care of yourself.

    Cinque, thank you for asking, spring is wonderful. Daffodils, tulips and beautiful blossoms everywhere. Lambs skipping about and racing their twins across fields. And 19C! Long days are here at last.

    LJ, good luck with the chocolate minefield. A pity that so many people in your life include adults in the Easter choc giving. I don’t think I’ve received chocolate at Easter since I was about 10.

    CG, how’s the sleep pattern/energy level going? I hope you had a safe trip to Melbourne for the 21st.

    Turn, thanks for answering my questions. It’s great that facilities are set up in towns for caravaners. And that you fill up on your way in to avoid lugging the extra weight. What a shame that all the remote camping spots are gradually being removed. OH and I travelled round Oz for a year before settling in Perth and only went into a campsite once. There was (is?) some obscure law in WA stating that if you’re within 16km of a camp ground you must go into it. We ventured down a short peninsula and were compelled. It was the worst night of our entire experience, generators running, dogs barking, kids squawking, loud adults, bright lights. We have fond memories of driving until we found a ‘great pozzy’, pulling over, setting up camp and knowing that we could be the only humans within 100km. Those days may be gone forever.

    Hello everyone else.

    Hello everyone,
    Going fine here with a bit of school holidays grandma-ing and still working on those forms!
    My garden is very happy to have had hours of gentle rain/drizzle and I have been out shifting about chard and rocket seedlings.
    Yes, yes, I’ll do the forms next!

    First, HOORAY to hear of Mr Anzac doing better, and relief that it wasn’t the medical system stuffing you around, but so much sympathy that he was in such a bad way. I hope today is better still.

    LJoyce, sending you best wishes with your grand aunt-ing, which I am guessing is what is keeping you busy this week. I hope it all goes swimmingly.

    Thin, you speak of the Spring of my childhood books, they were very UKcentric!

    And you remind me of my camping days. Out bush! The only time I remember being in a campground, we were in a tent and it was mostly caravans, all the weird television lights and sounds coming out of all the caravans, instead of hearing the bush at night. 1980 I think.

    Well my Sunday fast was a fast, and I am back to good days.

    Ho hum, I have taken photos of my four pieces of identity, as directed, and a photo of me (took one, went and put some make up on, and then took another 😉 😀 😀 )
    Plus I have transferred my email with the links, to my gmail, so my ipad can get it (not very well set up here) and next I will have a go at filling it in.

    My theory: if I keep doing one more step, I will eventually get it done!

    Cheers all

    Cinque, good morning. I was fasting with you on Sunday but forgot to say. Another 600g down this morning but would have preferred 900g. Pleased to hear that you’re back to good days. Re: the form filling, my empathy. I went through the same rigamarole for my bus pass (it would have been easy for anyone else). Applied make-up as the first photo looked horrid. But then couldn’t make my web cam connect to their form. Instead I uploaded a reasonable portrait photo of me in the garden in Perth taken a few years ago by DD! Make-up seems a bit silly on a boat but I wore it all day anyway. My pass arrived last week. Good luck with yours (form-filling, not bus pass).

    Camping in Australia is just the best. It’s the real Australia. Even the Nullarbor is fascinating. We’d come from California where you’d need to be pretty far into the desert to avoid a cop banging on your window and shining a light inside to move you on. But I do recall some great trips to the Anza-Borrego in OH’s Kombi van. Apparently, I won his heart with my leek and potato soup. Food motivated even then!

    Hi everyone, nice that Thin & Cinque are fasting 😃our 21st weekend was anything but a fast. Fabulous night, Indian restaurant in the centre of Melbourne, fortunately a set menu, as I wouldn’t have a clue what to order😂 I was sitting next to my son-in-law and we waited for each other to go first in tasting things😂some needed the fire brigade standing by 😂but most was very tasty even though we didn’t know what we were eating 😂😂 one I think was Tandoori cauliflower, it was delectable so am investigating recipes on the web, mind blowing task, strange herbs or flours used, and so many different recipes !
    The following morning my daughter took me out for breakfast……, so cosmopolitan 🥴…and it was lovely having that one on one time together ❤️We are very close, but the last 24 years of me living in the country has mad it difficult to “just blow in for a coffee” gee I miss that😢
    Oh, and Monty 😡he sung to us all the way down AND back in the car! Next time I will have a sedative available for him before car trips. I go to Peter Mac, our cancer hospital in Melbourne but stay the night at my sons so he will have to get used to car travel! Little darlin’ !
    Easter Monday here, and they just showed the traffic jams heading home from my area 😂😂glad my trips were in the in between days, so missed all that☺️
    Have a lovely week ahead, prayers to our recovering sickies and carers, a very stressful time, but one you will soon be looking back on.
    Stay safe, don’t let others negativity ruin your day….🌻CG

    Good evening all.

    Sorry to have been MIA longer than intended. Caught a heavy head cold before Easter, and am only just starting to feel human again instead of all cloggy. Fortunately not Covid, according to 2 RATs and a PCR, but I still missed church both Good Friday and Easter Sunday, which for me was very disappointing. Oh well.

    Weight? Was 2 kgs down on the start of the month yesterday, but back up 0.6 kg today without any good reason. Again, oh well, the general trend is down. If I can be stably at least 2 kgs down this month I’ll be happy.

    Anzac65, do hope Mr A is now doing better. Him being able to eat a little is an important first step.

    G’DayfromSA, those awful waiting lists for surgery! Hope Mr G’Day can get his knee replacement quickly.

    CountryGal1, poor Monty! He obviously doesn’t approve of travelling, and poor you, having to cope with the sound for so long in the car, both ways. Good you survived the Indian cooking. I avoid anything too spicy, so generally don’t eat much Indian food.

    Turn, hope you are able to settle into the same winter “stabling” that you had last year, and indeed, with much less rain.

    LJoyce, hope you’ve managed to control the urge to eat all the Haigh’s chocolates in one go. They are SO yummy!

    LindsayL, good that the current situation for Mr L is positive. Hope it stays that way.

    Thin, the beautiful sights of spring to enjoy. What a blessing!

    Neilithicman, How is your wife now?

    My stomach is calling out for food, so I’ll stop now and go eat. I was so glad to only lose my sense of taste and smell for 24 hours.

    Goodnight everyone.

    Hello friends from a balmy sunny Sydney. Rain is coming soon AGAIN I’m afraid

    Mr Anzac has totally turned a huge corner. Saturday night it was a Mt Everest operation to get him out of the chair and back into bed. When I arrived on Sunday arvo he was chirpy and able to get up and walk around the room without too much effort. When his dinner arrived and he gently scoffed roast chicken and steamed veges with much gusto and it made my heart sing. He walked me to the lifts and it was amazing that he could improve so rapidly (not complaining!).

    My good eating turned to pot for about the last 5 days and I am too afraid to get on the scales. Stress eating. Not helped by well-meaning friends who dropped in ‘care packages’ containing nothing but rubbish food which of course I ate because it was there. GAH! So I am launching back into it from today

    Thin – I didn’t stop working but I negotiated flexible hours. I worked three weekends in a row leading up to the operation giving me 6 days ‘in the bank’ and so only needed to do a few hours each day last week to stay on top of things. I finish around 3.00pm and head to the hospital for about 3 hours each day. I wanted to take a leave of absence but Mr Anzac asked me to try and keep going as we didn’t want to start draining our savings unnecessarily

    Take care all, sorry for not having time to respond to everyone. Your lovely words and thoughts are so very appreciated

    Hello,

    Mr Anzac news is GOOD! Hooray!
    Go Mr Anzac.

    CountryGal, what a weekend, and what a nightmare trip. I’ve never had a cat who was happy in a car. (But then I never tried to get any of them used to it.)
    I do hope you find a good recipe for tandoor cauliflower. So yummy. I have a recipe but I don’t know if there might be better ones (and you always miss the smoky heat of a real tandoor).

    Betsy, that cold sounds really nasty. So sorry you missed the Easter services.
    I hope you get your mojo back quickly now.

    I have just had a good lunch but my brain thinks I need to keep eating. I’ll see if I can calm it down with a nice cup of dandelion coffee.

    (Still working on the forms, just about to link to Services Victoria for the fourth time and do the 7th try of getting them to accept a photo of my birth certificate. Wish me luck.)

    (Thin, so nice to hear I am not the only one running to the make up shelf 😀 and in the end they demanded I take a photo as I was on line, sigh. )

    Anzac, that’s great news. What a relief. Any idea when Mr A will be allowed home? Don’t work yourself into the ground. Pffft to well-meaning friends!

    Betsy, sorry to hear about the cold. One spin-off from vigilant mask-wearing is not catching other people’s gross germs. Not that I ever really had colds very often but OH hasn’t been sick since this all started.

    CG, I love Indian food. We’ll be going to a Nepalese/Indian restaurant for my birthday this week. We’ve had their takeaway during lock-down when here before but haven’t been inside. Can’t cats be left to their own devices at home for an overnight trip? (Genuine question as I know nothing about them).

    Cinque, I’ve never heard of dandelion coffee. Good luck with the forms and uploads. I used to be so on top of all the IT stuff in the early nineties but everything seems a chore now. I never wanted to spend my life keeping on top of IT upgrades that supposedly make my life easier – but don’t.

    All is quiet and peaceful after the Easter parade of fibreglass cruisers. The weather was glorious prompting many weekend boaters to come out of their marinas. I planted two tubs of violas and they look happy. Lettuce seeds that I planted only four days ago are already poking up their little heads.

    Morning all

    Weigh in this morning and I was down 900g. I’m still well above where I want to be but I’m down almost 2 kilos in the last 3 weeks from where my weight had been hovering. I shot from 99 kilos up to 103.7 after my wife’s surgery but I’ve managed to reign it back in to 101.8 today. At least I’m moving in the right direction.

    My wife is still making slow but steady progress. She said she felt tingling in her lips on the paralysed side yesterday so hopefully that’s a good sign.

    Thin, two tubs of violas? I’m imagining the musical instruments in pots now.

    Cinque, I’ve heard of dandelion tea but not dandelion coffee, what is that?

    Betsy, great you’re feeling better now. I hardly ever get sick, so when I do I always feel like I’m dying (or is that just because I’m a male so I get man flu 😉 )

    Countrygal, I could probably give you tips about what to order. My wife is Fijian Indian and I cook Indian meals probably about 3 or 4 times a week. Tonight I’m going to make a curry with some young pumpkins from our garden, red lentils and coconut milk. The boys will polish off the naan bread I usually make and I’ll stick with just the curry (or maybe just a taste of naan 😉 )

    Ljoyce, I know what you mean, Easter is a difficult time. It’s also the time that we usually get together as a family to celebrate all the March and April birthdays in the family at once because we have so many of them (both my mother and father, my wife, my son and my nephew) I stuck to good food for the main meal, but had 2 helpings of my kryptonite….pavlova. I also had a crack at a cream egg and a couple of marshmallow eggs. Too much sugar!

    Sorry for anyone else that I missed, but I hope you’re all having a good short week.

    Catch you all later

    Anzac, great news! Hopefully he will continue to improve as quickly.

    Neil, ha ha, musical flowers. They almost doubled in size before my eyes after potting them. Good job losing the excess weight. And hurray to Mrs N. developing some sensation. Yum to the curries. As for cream and marshmallow eggs, yuk, yuk, yuk!

    Hello,
    Still working on the forms! Unbelievable. I need to go to the post office because the Service Victoria technology could not read my identification.

    All held up by a migraine yesterday (such weird visual crystal edged zig zaggy blob in my eye).
    (Better today, just a ghost remaining)

    Neil, what a wonderful tingle for Mrs Neil! I do hope there is more sensation every day. Clever body!

    I hope Mr Anzac is continuing to improve and everyone struggling with illness and conditions, are having a good day.

    So, what are we about? 5:2! That’s what.
    I’m having a good non fast day today.

    Best wishes to you all

    Morning all, Cinque, I get exactly the same migraines too. I get cluster migraines which can plague me for weeks,then nothing for months. Those “lights” you saw are called a halo. They are usually my first sign, blindness, blurred vision too. I have very strong migraine meds which if I take at that first j sign, can stop the pain kicking in. Often a good lay down in a darkened room for a few hours, then I’m good.😃I hope it doesn’t become long term for you. Often too, it can need neck manipulation from the phisyo ☺️
    Another cold snap today, good inside day to catch up on laundry duties, ironing etc. Perfect soup weather too. I hope our sickies are all on the mend and feeling the benefits each day.
    Monty has become the house boss, like most cats 😂sleeps with us, cuddled into Bobby & Rocky, so my menagerie is very peaceful. 🌻CG

    I’m a long-time migraine sufferer as well. It really irritates me that I can’t overcome it especially as it has the psychosomatic tag. I was prescribed all the industrial strength meds in early years but never take them now. In recent decades, if I quickly took two dissolving panadol at the first ‘aura’ (visual disturbances), I could usually hold them off and the visual disturbances would disappear after about ten minutes and it wouldn’t progress. Or so I thought. Turned out to be a placebo.

    About five years ago, I had a discussion with a neighbour who’s a flight surgeon in the Air Force. He told me that he had pilot patients reporting migraines that would just pass after five minutes – complicated situations to manage in that profession. I tried taking no panadol to see if they just passed naturally – and hey presto, they do. So now, I just close my eyes and wait it out and they generally clear after a few minutes. Only rarely do I get the full monty which is utterly debilitating – severe visual disturbances as you both describe, numbness in lips and finger tips and the most frightening to me, inability to form the words I want to say. They rarely actually progress to a ‘headache’ but they are just awful too. After that comes nausea, vomiting and finally a huge appetite.

    As for the cluster headaches, my GP said this can be overcome by taking a pre-emptive panadol every morning after the first incidence to break the cycle. Whether he was humouring my obsession with having the panadol on hand (a supply in the cars, handbag, bathroom), I can’t say. Commiserations to all sufferers, Horrid.

    On the bright side, I am finally into the 58s after a lovely FD yesterday. Yes Cinque, we are about 5:2 here!

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