Oops my regular blogging didn’t last long

I’m so bad!

Ok we are camping in Tasmania now. We made it on our long awaited trip and as we boarded the ship we got a text saying due to a Covid out break our check in pass had been canceled and we had to reapply while on the ship before we could get off 😬 So we reapplied of course!

The latest out break is actually in our neighbourhood but thankfully we have a large family and had spent time with them all prior to boarding the ship- so Thursday we spent all day with our Star Son at hospital appointments. All safe there!

Friday we had spent half a day with our eldest son and Grandson in the country at Castlemaine, so all good there.

Saturday our daughter in law and grandson came down to visit so my eldest daughter and her three children came over and we all walked to the end of the court and went to the park to play, so all good there and then finally Sunday we spent all day at home and we walked the dog, prepping for our trip, so all good there!

I thanked my D-I-L for visiting us because otherwise it’s probable that we WOULD have gone to that shopping centre and possibly have been exposed to the virus hence ruining our trip! Instead here we are in Tasmania enjoying everything it has to offer!

Monday we were on the ship at 7.00am and we opted for the day sailing with no cabin so that we could save money, we prefer to spend it here. We had breakfast and then walked around the ship- masks were required until you were out on deck, it was chilly and grey we didn’t stay out there long. We read our books in the lounge on level 9 and at 12:30pm we went to see a movie “Rams” an Australian comedy. Then we had a casual lunch, wrote in my journal and read our books. Ship docked in Tasmania at 6:00pm but we were in the exit line for an hour and forty minutes, each person had to be temperature checked and processed, and my Bloke has NOT got a patient bone in his body! Finally we drove six minutes down the road, where we had pre-booked an overnight cabin to stay in. So we went out and found a KFC and got dinner, shower and bed, exhausted 😴

Tuesday dawned fine and sunny so we quickly popped down to the supermarket to buy our fruit and vegetables and bread, you cannot take any of that stuff interstate with you, they check before you get on board! We knew that so we don’t bring any. By 10am we were on the road to start our six week trip.

We got to our first spot called South Croppies Point about lunchtime. I was nervous because a review l read said “4Wheel Drives only” yes we have a 4WD BUT that doesn’t mean l want to use it lol when we got to a particularly sandy churned up piece of track l suggested the Bloke let me out for this bit and l walked.. l mean Fitbit says l should do 250 steps an hour anyways so lm just getting my steps! The Bloke found us the spot and l very nervously watched him back in the camper, l really should give him more credit he’s never failed us yet!!

Us on the rocks!

He’s part Billy Goat l think!

I spy Ursula and Priscilla

What a view!

So we stayed there two nights we would have stayed longer but bad weather was coming and you know that churned up sandy track?! Yeah well l didn’t fancy being bogged in that.

Thursday we moved to a little seaside town about an hour and a half away called St Helens. We’ve been here before to the same caravan park simply because we are allergic to bad weather! So we booked a cabin, brought pizza, did some laundry, had a shower and a reasonably good night sleep.

Today we awoke to bright sunshine and blue sky, there was a lot of rain and heavy winds overnight so we made the right call there. Today we moved to Doras Point it’s a free camp, no direct water views or water access but we can hear it and we have a lovely serenade of frogs! Today the weather has been stunning and we’ve been out and about exploring. We’ll stay here until Monday and then move on.

I’ll try and update more frequently but if l am missing too long feel free to pop over to our Facebook page and follow along there.. https://www.facebook.com/ursulasultimateadventures/

I am much more active there, loads of photos and videos as well. If there’s anything you’d like to see or know about Tasmania let me know and l’ll do my best to share it!!

Day 4- Life..

April 2019- my 17 year old son was playing football and hurt his knee. Hurt is an understatement he did the trinity of Knee damages, his ACL, his MCL and his Meniscus it couldn’t be much worse. That simple fall in the first 20 minutes of the first game of Football for the season. Seemingly innocent and yet.. here we are almost two years later dealing with that bloody knee!

The first time (yep l said “First time” it’s getting worse!) there a blog on my page somewhere about the horror, l still feel sick when l think of it and all the emotions of those six months come back easily. He ended up having three different surgeries and then got Golden Staph blood poisoning. Horrific!

He had a pic line in his arm to deliver drugs straight into his system, he had weeks in the hospital and then six more weeks at home with “Hospital at home” nurses in every.single.day!! As a result he missed time off school and was unable to finish his final school year, another crushing blow.

April till August we dealt with his #bloodyknee as we all fondly called it. MRI’s, surgeons, Dr’s, blood tests, X-rays, heart scans, my poor boy had them all and l was with him every step of the way. My husband would drop me off at 7.00am and he’d go to work and then get back at about 6.00pm we’d supervise his dinner (or go buy him something to tempt him to eat!) and then leave at around 8.00pm and drive 45 minutes home. We were all wrecked!

Finally he was off the crutches and almost walking normally, he’d gotten a temporary job with The Bloke’s company to make himself some money and decide what his next steps should be. He decided he’d like to be a Builder and so we found him a man who was willing to give him a trial and he started working. We wondered how his knee would hold out and the answer was.. it didn’t!

In April 2020 his knee collapsed on him and he came hobbling home, it swelled up it was hot and l was more vocal this time! The first time l let my husband and my son and the football coach make decisions l didn’t agree with THIS time l did not! I called the physio and got him in l told him “l think he’s done it again” all three of them tsk tsk’ed me and said “it’s probably nothing!” Until the Physio started working on it and l saw his face fall and l knew!! He was in X-ray pretty soon after. He saw the Surgeon the next day!

This time he had torn the ACL because the Surgeon suggested that the graft had been weakened by the infection. So immediately blood works were done to make sure there was no Golden Staph present and he was booked in for surgery in March.

And then Covid came! Star Son gave up his dream job because his knee buckled as they were carrying a window and he almost dropped it! Surgeries were cancelled and then he was downgraded to “Elective” and he ended up having to wait until October 2020. And due to very strict covid conditions we had to leave him at the door to hobble into the hospital and be admitted for surgery, all by himself!! That was the hardest day of my life waiting to hear how it went. The surgeon called us to say all had gone better than expected and he would be gone in two days. My husband was his nominated visitor so he went in and sat with him for only an hour and we face timed so l could see and speak to him. I was in the car in the car park!

So from October until today he’s been back and forth for appointments and physio. He started his dream job he’s doing an apprenticeship with my Son in law as a builder and because his boss (our son in law) has followed the drama every step of the way he understands about the appointments and physio and everything needed for Star Son to heal. Today he had an appointment with physio who said he’s doing really good and a bit above where he should be. Then he saw the surgeon this afternoon he is also happy with his progress and so for now we can breath a little easier.

We went out for lunch to celebrate we had to kill a few hours between appointments.

Lunch here!

Lentil Burger and Wedges

Labyrinth at the hospital, with the constellation “the Southern Cross”

Every time we come here l walk the labyrinth and pray for good results!

As parents do we ever stop worrying about them? I think the older they get the more worried l am. Then of course you become a Grandparent and the level of worry goes up a notch!!

Happy 2021

Here we are first of February already.. wow where did that first month go?

It’s been a crazy few years and l’ve not been good at blogging l need to get better so l’m adding this to my “to be done” list. I’ll aim for weekly but we’re about to go for a six week camping trip to Tasmania so it might be more frequent.

Firstly let’s do a quick up date…

2020 the year of Corona it was also the year that The Bloke aka my husband retired from his job. His plan has always been to retire when our youngest finished school which happened abruptly when he did his knee the first time.. yes you read that right “the first time” because he did his knee a second time albeit a slightly less vicious way! Still required surgery which was put off due to Corona until October and he’s still having physio for it.

So February 28 2020- The Bloke retired and to celebrate that AND his leap year birthday AND our wedding anniversary – yep l married him on a leap year (method in my madness because now every four years we honeymoon again!) this triple celebration took us to Bali for 9 days of bliss. While we were in Bali my adult children kept us up to date with “home stuff” including the need to bring home toilet paper because the shops were going crazy. We laughed how ridiculous until we stepped OFF the plane to an almost deserted airport and it was quite eerie. We were one of the last flights to make it back before mandatory quarantine. We found toilet paper and went about “retired life” a camping trip, then another one, the plan had been to meet friends from QLD and do a camping trip along the Murray river… and then Covid hit!

First to suffer was our weekly visits to my M-I-L in her nursing home facility. We had planned to go more often now that The Bloke was retired. Of course we understood the reasoning but l don’t know if she ever understood. In April she left the world, my Sister-in-law and niece were with her, My husband got to see her briefly and l got to peep at her through the window. So heartbreaking and of course new Covid rules meant no funeral. One of my Star Son’s friends offered him consolation in the form of a puppy and welcomed Roxy the Staffy into our family.

Then #lockdown became a thing and the start we had a 8.00pm- 6.00 am curfew and a few shops closed. Worse was coming. We camped in the front yard for Easter! We were able to walk an hour each day so we walked with the puppy l really think this girl saved my mental health during lockdown. I really had a hard time being locked in the house with two adult children a Grandma daughter and a newly retired husband, my art failed me for the first time l couldn’t even escape into Art, I’d go to my studio to do art and then sit there and cry or clean in the end l just stopped l haven’t done any art since April 2020. Instead l got a note book and took up journaling again because my head was so full of conspiracy theories and rubbish Covid stuff l also deleted Facebook and just curled up with my journal and my books.

In June they released us and at 8.00am we were gone, we went up North into New South Wales and toured and visited some friends near the Queensland border. We had to be home for my Daughter’s 30th birthday on July 6. So the closer we got the worse the news got. Finally she called and said “My party is canceled we might have to go back into lockdown” at that point we were back on the Victoria/ New South Wales border it was day 16 of our trip and we literally tossed a coin.. do we go back up to our friends in Northern NSW or go home and risk lockdown again? The Grandma in me yelled “Home and Grandbabies” and so we went home.

Lockdown2 came quickly and more severe, one hour a day to walk outside, only one household person could do shopping, everything closed and no one allowed into your homes. I couldn’t even see my Grand children, thank goodness for FaceTime. In the end we would meet out the front of the house and walk to the park. But even that was limited in the amount of people allowed to gather.

June- November such a horrible time. We camped in the front yard, we ALL distance educated a very active 6 year old, we gardened, we read LOTS and watched heaps of Netflix! We could only go 5 kilometres from home so we got to know our neighbourhood very well walking the dog.

November we got unlocked but we were only allowed to travel within our State and so once again we packed up and ran away!

We came home again for Sweetpea’s birthday and our Grandsons birthdays in December. We still had rules about gatherings and how many people in our homes etc. We are STILL wearing face masks it’s certainly now how we planned to spend the first year of The Blokes retirement.

But Australia has been here a long time and will be here a long time still so we have time.

January we stayed home to spend it painting the inside of our house, taking three or four day breaks occasionally to clear the paint fumes and go camping.

Our first big trip is to Tasmania on 8th February until March 20th. Then we’re on baby watch as we await the birth of Grandchild number 7!

My word for 2021 is FREEDOM…. (I will never take the ability to walk out my front door for granted again!)

My New Years resolutions (Yes l make them every year!) is ….

* Do yoga every day ( I hurt my back so I’ve had a week off – already broke this one!)

* Read 90 books (last year I got 85 done)

*Camping Goal is 100 nights! That’s a minimum number!

Then l added one more challenge for #the100daysproject I’ve decided to do #100daysofme it started on January 31st and I plan to do something special and nice for myself every day for one hundred days and I’ve just decided to document it right here so that I can be accountable… will you help me by reading and commenting to keep me on track.. maybe suggest some ways I can spoil me..

Day one #100daysofme #the100daysproject l restarted my yoga after hurting my back a week ago, I did #YWA for back pain and I did a workout for back pain with my new friend Pahla B who does workouts for Women over 50. I had been going great and was on day 12 of her Walk off the weight series but I guess I pushed myself a little too hard workout with Pahla in the morning and then Yoga with Adriene in the afternoon. Ouch! After my exercise I also gave myself a foot soak with listerine, apple cider vinegar and hot water.. lovely! I hit my 2.8 litres of water goal and kept my calories under control. Day one was a success!!

So if you are still reading… l hope you’ll follow this new adventure, share ways l can spoil myself. Also l am currently doing three reading challenges l’ll do another post about that later but feel free to share your favourite book l am always after book suggestions. I’ll do some book reviews too!

Here’s to 2021! Did you make any resolutions? Did you start any new habits? Come on tell me all!!

My Granddog Roxy we took her camping last week! She’s such a Grandma’s girl!!

Lots of stuff…

Last week I went to the Doctor for my yearly check up.. seriously I never get sick enough (usually) to need a Doctor…Each year at the start I get my blood work done just so I know what needs attention.. there’s a history of liver (well, in their cases it was self-inflicted) and Diabetes type two.. which got my Dad in his early 50’s and because I’ve had two “Gestational Diabetic” pregnancies they say if I don’t watch out I’m in line for it as well… Umm… NO! I love chocolate too much!! Of course these days they have sugar-free everything but that’s not the point I don’t want to be restricting myself. I want to be healthy enough to jump on a pane at any age and go overseas without worrying about which medication I’ll need at what time… especially if it’s avoidable!

So last Friday I had the blood work done and went back yesterday for the results. Because as you might know I’ve been doing “the Daniel Plan” more details  http://www.danielplan.com/  And in November I went “cold turkey” on Coffee, Sugar, Dairy and gluten…. I didn’t read it right.. too much speed reading.. you were only supposed to do that for four weeks and then re-introduce things.. I went for eight weeks… I’ve brought back in breads in small quantities.. as for the coffee and sugar I don’t miss them as much as I expected.. yes I miss the “habits” of having a cup of Coffee.. but not the taste or sensations.. I’ve introduced “Green Smoothies” every day and that means plenty of greens back into my diet. And I make healthier eating options. My weight has stalled at 70 kgs (154.3 pounds) but that only means that I have lost 5 kilos and that’s a good thing. So anyways my problem has been tiredness.. I go to bed tired, I sleep like the dead, I wake up tired and by mid afternoon I need a nap.. so I wanted to see if the blood work would tell me something, maybe I need some iron?

The Blood tests came back perfect! and not only that, it’s been two years since I’ve had them done and it tells me that they are even lower than they were two years ago.. so the Daniel Plan is working. As for the “Spare tire” she reassured me that “menopausal woman” I HATE that word.. usually gain up to 10 kilograms and no matter how much you diet and exercise most won’t lose it until the “change” has passed… I wonder how much longer I’ve got to wait? I do remember however at my engagement party to my first husband how big my mother was, she had stacked on heaps of weight, and had to wear a size 16… and then five years later when you see her with my first born, she is slim to the point of skeletal.. so obviously that’s what was going on there.. According to the blood work I have been in “active menopause” since 2011, that’s four years… I wonder how much longer?

So Yay! all the bloods were good and she said “Whatever you are doing.. keep doing that EXCEPT!” and here’s where things get bumpy.. my leg has been doing this weird thing, throbbing and painful and it gets really hot.. so I asked her about that and she asked “Is there a history of blood clots?” well yes because my sister had a blood clot in her leg years ago. So she looked at my legs which (to me!) looked normal.. but she said “I’ll just measure I think one of fatter than the other” hmm… yep! a whole centimeter bigger.. how did I miss that? So she’s sending me off for ultrasound on my lower leg, but then she asked “if I do THIS, does it hurt?” As I almost hit the roof YES that hurt…” Oh okay, well maybe it’s your Achilles tendon then?” Since I was going to Physio next anyways she wrote him a note and asked him to look at it.. and off I went with an order for Ultrasound.

By the time I got to Physio which is for my shoulder.. (headaches be gone!) he said “it’s your left leg isn’t it? I can see it’s fatter than your right?” Self conscience much?!

He measured it and suggested that it could be my Achilles but unlike the DR he didn’t touch it..he’s given me some exercises to do for four weeks, and then if it’s still painful I’ll go back and he will work out a plan, but he did say to go do the Ultrasound anyways to rule that out and ask them to send him a copy as well.

But the BIGGEST Blow for the day was.. the only way to heal this is to rest it and it could take months! M-O-N-T-H-S !!! well I don’t drive I walk everywhere.. this is not good.. then stupid big mouth me told him, “You know last week between Monday and Friday I walked 54 kilometers” (33.55 miles) he was typing and he stopped and spun around and asked me ” you did WHAT?!” so I repeated it and he shook his head “NO Kim! that’s far too much walking!” but then he softened the blow with “You are looking great I can see your new plan is working but that’s too much!”

So I am housebound for a few days to rest it up and then off to Ultrasound and we shall see what happens.

Oh the joys of getting old huh??

 

NaBloPoMo- Day 30…Resolutions…

Friday, January 30, 2015
Are you still keeping the resolutions you made at the beginning of the month? Why or why not?

Ok, I had to go back and read what I’d written, it feels like a life time ago when I wrote that post and yet it’s just a month.. what a busy month it’s been.. so here is what I originally wrote:

• Go “deeper” with the Lord
• 2015- Aussie author reading challenge (Thanks Meet Mike for this idea) http://meetmeatmikes.com/2015-a-year-of-australian-writing/
• 2015- The Year of New recipes I will try a new recipe every two weeks (maybe every week we will see if I can involve the family) Thank you to “She who rambles” for that idea http://shewhorambles.com/2014/12/09/the-year-of-new-recipes/
• Continue with “The Daniel Plan” http://danielplan.com/

 

How am I going?

I am STILL going Deeper with the Lord. I am loving it too.

I have finished 5 books for the “Aussie reading challenge” and onto my 6th… as well as reading my Christian books as well.

The year of new recipes… I’ve made one new recipe so far, but as things start to calm down a little bit in my house I will revisit this goal and get back to attempting them fortnightly.

The Daniel Plan– has been half-hearted although I am still loosely following it.. I am STILL off coffee and tea. It’s been about 15 weeks. I re-introduced my soy linseed bread, but not to the level I was previously having it. I am still choosing “Gluten free” products when I need to. I have also upped my walking so that I am doing more steps. I am maintaining 70 kgs, I have three to lose to get to my goal weight and I will re-start The REAL Daniel Plan on 1st February. The good thing I’ve been doing through is “Green Smoothies” which I started as a “Green Smoothie Challenge” and found them a nice easy way to eat so much fruit and veg, well drink it really, and since I’ve always struggled with breakfast the Smoothies are great for that hurdle as well.

This prompt has been great to remind me of my goals…

 

 

Are we there yet? and here’s one I prepared earlier..

Are we there yet? http://livinginafrica.net/are-we-there-yet-challenge/

Here’s one I prepared earlier..over the holidays I had this gorgeous boy my 13 month old Grandson down at our holiday place with us, his Mum works full-time, and he wasn’t sleeping the best by 6.30am he was wide awake and didn’t want to sleep.. so Grandma sacrificed my sleep (I’ll sleep when I’m dead I guess!) and we went walking. This particular day the path besides the beach ran out so we wandered in land and found this reserve and followed a long winding deserted path, I must admit thoughts of murders and hidden bodies flashed through my head! Oh! I meant me getting murdered and my body being hidden!!

Anyways somewhere along the way (I kept telling myself, just go to the next clearing, or the next bend or what’s over that side?) we came to a wooden path way over the salt marshes where they are trying to get the salt marshes to regrow… so that is today’s sign!

Nablopomo… habits.. Wishing you had one?

Thursday, January 8, 2015
Tell us about the habit you wished you had. What stops you from trying to build it into your daily life?

A habit I wish I had… I “kind of” wish that I had a regular excercise habit. I start off walking and usually do really well but then that too slips away. I never excercise other than walking, but now I am doing the “Daniel Plan” one of the five F’s is “Fitness” and I don’t have any.. I have plenty of workout DVDs and I can walk kilometers a day happily (when I am in the mood) but I don’t have a fitness routine and somethings I “think about it” and I know that I’d lose this last 3 Kilometers a lot easier if I moved it a little bit..

What stops me from trying to build it into my daily life? Its hard! It hurts! But then again the usual “No pain no gain” maybe I should try again??!

at a loss…

D’uh silly me.. I am still on “holiday mode” my Bloke is home for another two weeks and so I am lost as to what day it is etc ect. So I just logged on to check what NaBloPoMo prompt I had for today and also yesterday (D’uh yesterday was Saturday I was at the Wedding!!) I had missed..only to realize we don’t do prompts on Saturday and Sunday.. so the good news here is.. I have not missed anything!

So now what to write about?

Let me tell you a little about the Wedding.

My Nephew from my ex-husband’s side got married yesterday. My Officially “ex” sister–in-law stumbled over how to introduce me to her friend, but we decided to go with “sister-in-law” because I divorced her brother and not her.. I had a sense of Deja-vu because a few years ago I went through the same thing with my other “officially” ex Sister-in-law, and we just decided on “sister-in-law” who cares what they call me, I just glad that they call me at all. I am glad that I was able to maintain these two women and their children in my and my children’s lives.

So yesterday Rob married his princess Ashley at the “Vibe Savoy” hotel in the “city” also known to everyone else as “Melbourne” but when you live in Victoria I think most of us call it “the City” My Bloke and I decided a month or so ago to book a room and make a weekend on it, so we could have a night off children etc ect, plus it kind of starts the new Year off on a good footing, We are re-establishing “Date nights”

Date nights are one night or even day a month (we alternate months and do not do our own birthday month) we chose to go out somewhere “kid free” we did this about two years and then one time we didn’t have a baby sitter so we took “Star son” on a “Date day” and also invited my Mother-in-law, so it was the Bloke and I and my m-i-l and our son, double “dating” we went Ice Skating!! It just kind of turned into a “foursome” for the rest of that year because Star Son and M-I-L enjoyed it so much and who can deprive people of fun… then I stopped it because I wasn’t getting any alone time with MY bloke!

This year I am re-establishing “Date Nights” and it means JUST THE TWO OF US! So I got my Bloke a really cool calendar made for Christmas, each month has a personalized photo of either him and I or the three of us (Bloke, Star Son and I) and November had Grand baby Sweetpea and December has Grand Son Squishy. My Plan was to put a restaurant voucher or some kind of “date” voucher on each month… well you know that saying about “Mice and Men”

The best-laid plans of mice and men often goawry (from a poem by Robert Burns- who knew?!)

Anyways I am digressing.. the point of the poem, was… that I did not get to fill each month with “vouchers” of any kind. A) I didn’t have enough cash. B) I didn’t have enough time and C) probably most important there were not many choices in Sunbury.

He got a Gift card from the local cinema and a Voucher for “Taco Bills” so that’s two date night planned. Plus on the way home from the wedding we decided to agree that last night at the wedding classes as a date night.. how so?

• We got dressed up and went out of the house
• Technically we had “no kids” even though the two daughters were at the Wedding they went home.
• We had “Dinner”
• We danced and enjoyed ourselves
• We stayed at a fancy motel the whole night!

Close enough for me. So the Bloke has taken care of January’s Date Night.. a Night out at the Vibe Savoy, wanna have a look? :https://www.tfehotels.com/brands/vibe-hotels/vibe-savoy-hotel-melbourne

getting ready to go downstairs to the wedding

Robert concentrating on his vows.

the beautiful bridesmaids, with their lollipop bouquets

lollipops!

Ash and Rob each poured sand into this frame to signify their lives starting together

Groom and his Dad Chris

Parents of the groom my Sister-in-law Deb and Chris

Beautiful Photo.

All the Cousins, daughter number one is far left and daughter number two next to her.

The New Mr and Mrs Findlay enter the reception.

Yesterday it was so hot in Melbourne, it got to 43C (113F) for my overseas friends. It was so hot! and I didn’t drink enough water clearly because I had the worst headache, we left early and were in bed by 11.00 pm. But we had a great night out.

This morning we didn’t need to check out till 11.00 am so we walked across the road to Southern Cross train station to DFO and found the food court for breakfast.

Bacon and Eggs for the Bloke and for my Raisin toast with a cappuccino. My first coffee in 8 weeks and I did not enjoy it and so obviously the removal of caffeine from my diet has been the right decision.

On the way home I had to catch up with my “instagram challenge” a photo a day with Chantelle (Fat Mum Slim) http://fatmumslim.com.au/ and today’s challenge was “I hear” so I was thinking, what a pity I did not take a photo of the trains while I was at Southern Cross, then I thought ok, we’re bound to pass a tram, I’ll get that, nope, so my very smart husband says “What about a plane?” detoured home past the Airport! The first plane coming into land was too fast, so he says “here comes another one” but we were too early, so my Husband says “Once around the round about we go” he traveled rather slowly, until the plane was directly over us and I snapped this.. all I needed to do was add the caption! The things my long-suffering bloke does to help me get my Challenges done on time!!

I hear…

 

Apparently overnight while we were dancing, there was a huge storm.. who knew? and so I checked my garden first thing on arrival home my baby Teenage vegetables continue to grow well and as I was checking.. look who I saw?

      two baby “Things”  stupid me planted Zucchini and Cucumber side by side so I don’t know which is which haha!

                         Whatever they are, they are growing and I am so proud of them! we also have more baby Strawberry, woo hoo!

So it’s been a big weekend and a wonderful start to 2015!

How was your first weekend of the year? Did you do anything special? or go anywhere exciting?

 

NaBloPoMo January 2015…

Thursday, January 1, 2015
What are your resolutions for the new year? Tell us how you picked them.

Yes! as a matter of fact I do make them and 9/10 I do keep them or make them happen. Last year was the exception but we’ve covered that in another post.

This year I made less but they will go “Deeper” which is my 2015 word.

• Go “deeper” with the Lord
• 2015- Aussie author reading challenge (Thanks Meet Mike for this idea) http://meetmeatmikes.com/2015-a-year-of-australian-writing/
• 2015- The Year of New recipes I will try a new recipe every two weeks (maybe every week we will see if I can involve the family) Thank you to “She who rambles” for that idea http://shewhorambles.com/2014/12/09/the-year-of-new-recipes/
• Continue with “The Daniel Plan” http://danielplan.com/

Go Deeper with the Lord– this one has been calling to me for a little while, I don’t know yet how I am going to accomplish this. I don’t go to “Church” and at first it worried me, but then speaking to Pastor Frank and also reading Joyce Meyer’s book “How to hear from God” they both said that going to church is not the ONLY thing to do to have a good relationship with the Lord. So I am going to have a meeting with Pastor Frank when the kids are back at school and work out “How, where, when and what?” I need to do to make this goal happen. All my studies have been great and I have learnt a bunch, made some new like-minded friends, but ALL the information says that unless you have a buddy to discuss this stuff with you are missing out, there in lies my problem, no “real life” Christian buddies.

Aussie Author Challenge– is going to be fun, last count I did of my “Aussie Author” collection was 19 books. I’m happy with that.

The Year of New recipes– Like Reannon said I have a gazillion cook books that look nice on the shelf but are not doing anything for me. So time to start using them, I have also got a few paleo sites that I want to play with and lots of “Grain free, dairy free” recipe sites.

Continue with the Daniel Plan– I feel like I need to go “Deeper” with that and it bloody includes excersize which I HATE! Not very christian of me, but I feel that my progress would be so much better if I did something more than walking, so I am thinking time to crack out the Zumba and other gazillion work out DVDs that I have collected and “Suck it up Princess” if I start now, by the time winter hits I’ll have my metabolism under control enough that I wont gain the usual 5 kilos over winter! When I hibernate!!

So they are my New Years Resolutions and I’m sure you’ll hear more about them as the year goes on. If you want to join any let me know I’d love to have you along.

 

Weight loss Wednesday.. update..

Update on my Diet and health and fitness program “The Daniel Plan” find out more here: www.thedanielplan.com 

This week I felt much happier with what the scales were saying, I am official down to 69 kilos (152 pounds) so I am down 6 kilos (13 pounds) and over all I have lost 12 inches from various parts of my body, so I am happy with that result, in six weeks.

Today I made a batch of “Quinoa breakfast bars” and a batch of “Nut free bran muffins” they have dates in them I want to call them Date muffins. Following the recipe I have worked out enough to last me for 11 days  (two pieces each morning for breakfast) when I am not doing my “Green Smoothies” I was so surprised at how easily they turned out following the recipe in “Paleo Cooking from Elana’s pantry” see her website at: http://elanaspantry.com/

This morning I had a green juice, it contained pear, apple, orange, celery and kale. The first time I’ve used kale it didn’t taste too bad. In January I am starting a 30 days Green Smoothie challenge and I knew Kale was one of the ingredients I needed so I got a head start. I am freezing the muffins and quinoa bars, and then you just zap them into the microwave for 30 seconds and add a drizzle of Maple Syrup.. yum!