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 New Year!!

Here we are at the start of another year.

I have been taking a break from blogging and journaling since I got back from our Big Lap.

So many things have been happening, I just didn’t have time or energy to blog and even my poor journal has fallen by the way side.

So here is a quick update….

We got back in November and hit the ground running…

November 21st Sweetpea turned two and we had an afternoon tea, in the meantime we started cleaning the back deck which needed cleaning and finished the garden boxes which have been nick named “garden coffins” they are that shape.. we planted them with Daphne, a tomato plant, a gardenia and an Australian native I am still to get a rose for the other Grand daughter.

We had Wedding rehearsal on the Wednesday which was the 25th and had a final look at the space where we would be setting up the reception etc. I also got my eye brows waxed and tinted and my nails done, a little bit of spoiling after roughing it in tents for two months.

Sunday 29th November 2015.

Still cant quiet believe I haven’t written about this yet, I am guessing after my Grand babies births this was so far the greatest highlight of my life. My first born got married. We still don’t have the wedding photos back yet but I’ll share a few of the ones I do have.

The Bridal party,

Left to right… Stewie, Bride-Jasmin, Groom- Brett and Ella.

My new Son-in-law Brett and my beautiful girl.

 

“Aunty Jazzy” and flower girl “Sweetpea”

I’m not sure what she was doing here but I love that face!!

 

Mother and Son dance.

 

Page Boy, and Son of the happy couple
“Squishy”

 

This is my cousin and her family and my first ever photo bomb, taken by the photographer!!

 

Escorting my girl down the aisle.

This is going to be a wall shot!! taken by our photographer Gabbie Hine.

I escorted her down the aisle and I don’t know how many people I had telling me what a blubbering mess I would be.. I shocked them all and even myself when I didn’t cry, not even during my speech which actually made a few people laugh! I made it through, my goal for the night was to do my speech without A- crying and B- inserting umm or errr in too many places In fact I didn’t stumble at all! I was so proud of myself and then my Brother Bill made me cry before the night was out but that wasn’t about the wedding so it’s not counting!!

After the Wedding we had Squishy’s 2nd birthday party and then fast came upon us Christmas.

Christmas…. hmm, if you were reading my posts in 2014 you might have read that I do not like Chrtistmas, I don’t like the commercialism of it all.. you stress and worry and within minutes it’s all over and the day goes on. But this year I decided to embrace the festive season and even suggested we have lunch at home… *sigh* sometimes I’m such a fool and this highlights it all.. Next year (or this one anyways!) I’m not having Christmas in fact plans are being made to go away for a month to Tasmania camping.

We decided to have lunch at our house, so the Bloke cooked a turkey our first ever and roast pork. My cousin and her family came and brought chickens and potato salads. We also had hot vegetables and roasted potatoes and pumpkin and gravy, and then the weather heated up to 39C and we all baked along with the food!! There was a wild fire about 1.5 kilometres away and e sat on the back deck, fighting away flies and fanning away the smoke.

The turkey and roast Pork were a huge success and we were happy with how they turned out, but the rest of it I didn’t enjoy! I find that you rush around waiting on everyone and making sure the house is clean and the presents are wrapped and then the whole day is over and you rush around doing the dishes and the floors and getting rid of a mountain of wrapping paper. I “tried” to embrace it and failed I don’t enjoy it, I’m not doing it again!!

As soon as all that was over we took off to Bel Far Niente for a few days to unwind from all that madness… which lead us to New Year EVE!

This year we went camping with some good friends to Ballarat. We have been to Ballarat a gazillion times and so I wasn’t terribly excited to go camping there, but it just goes to show be careful of judging, because we had a great time. The caravan park we stayed in “Goldmine” had a great solar heated pool which we gladly spent a lot of time in and out of. The bathrooms were clean and well cared for, there was a camp kitchen and  plenty for the kids to do, so My Bestie and I were able to sit and crochet and chatter or read our books or just lounge around, it was HOT!! We stayed there until Sunday 3rd January.

So that brings us up to now and New Years Resolutions.. I make them each year I kind of look at them as “goals” and I check back on them often. So this year I made three.. easy ones…

1. Gain my diploma in Biblical studies. (I need to do 144 units, so far I’ve finished 3)
2. Become a vegetarian ( we had raw roast lamb on 1st Jan 2016- normally I don’t mind it a little bit rare but this was too much blood and it made me feel quite ill, and then I got this thought it my head a snippet of some bible verse about God being the lamb and the blood of the lamb.. and that was enough for me.. I quit meat on the spot!)
3. Read 50 books for the year.

In 2015- I did a challenge with Reannon and Pip Lincoln  to “Read Australian Authors” and I did and I loved it I only read three non Aussie books all year, but I found I have a huge pile left still of Australian authors so I am continuing that on again this year. So I’ve made a Good reads Goal to read 50 books… here is what last year looked like.. 2015 in books

Anyways so that brings us up to date and hopefully I’ll be back into regular blogging to keep you up to date with whats new for 2016…

 

Sunday in my world…

Sundays are free from A-Z blogging, and Sundays are free in my Bible study group.. Actually we’ve had this whole week off Bible Study” gearing up for Monday (tomorrow) when we start the hardest book in the Bible so I am told..”The Book of Leviticus” I’ll let you know next Sunday when I’ve done a week.

I am kind of glad that Sundays are free because today was the first day of “Football season 2015” My Star Son has been playing Football… (Ok let me clarify, its AFL- Australian Football League see here: http://www.afl.com.au/) since he was 5 years old, he started “Auskick” as soon as he started school, he has only ever wanted to be a “Football player” he is now 13 years old and in Secondary school and is still wanting to be a Football Player.. It’s hard to watch him get crunched and smashed and today our first game back, he was hailed on and torrential rain and icy cold winds, he’s been sick the last two weeks with a heavy cold, and I begged him not to go, but he “didn’t wanna let the team down” his “other family” today as I stood there rugged up and shivering, I could have cried for these boys, sliding around in the mud, and for my Star Son who was so sick he could barely croak on Thursday and had Thursday and Friday off school home sick.

Here’s me.. Before the hail, the wind was cold but the sunshine was nice, 10 minutes later it was a very different story!!

Today I read a post here : https://janetisawesomerthanyou.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/life-choices-at-16/

Written by 18-year-old Janet from the UK, and I totally agree with her, it’s too hard to ask someone when they are 16 what do you want to be when you grow up? Really? They havent lived yet, give ’em a break!! None of my children except 13 yr old “Star Son” who had the idea and has run with it.. We’ve tried to lead him in other directions but no, it’s all about football. but we have asked him to think of a job “Just in case” the football scenario doesn’t work out, so he’s thinking sports medicine or physio or something to do with Football.. It’s all good, he’s young, for now we’ll go with the football..

Start of the game, first game of the season, it HAILED!!!

Five minutes later, gale force winds and sunshine. In Melbourne we have this saying “If you dont like the weather wait five minutes it’ll change” today it sure did!!

So that means Tuesday night and Thursday night 5:30-6:30pm we got to training, and stand around in the cold and watch him do his warm ups, cool downs and laps of the oval, handball practise, tackle practise, its cold out there! So my Bloke sick of my complaining, has started going to work earlier and finishing earlier on those days so he can come home and take “Star Son” to training, my Bloke is a gem!!

With the first four kids I missed out on the “Sports” and extra curricular, the children had friends and went out and did usual teenage things, so I was congratulating myself on avoiding the “Sports Mum” tag.. And then along came “Star Son” crazy sports kid, he can play any sport and excels at it.. In Primary School they did a golf section in Sports class, he blitzes it, left-handed and all, cricket, tennis, basketball, then he joined a soft ball team and did really well at that, Basketball, funny, he’s not tall, yet! It’ll happen, it did for his brothers, and all of those sports he played and loved but it’s always been football. This is the child that can watch American basketball on TV and tell you the player, his position and where he’s from and any other little piece of information. He’s like a walking spots encyclopaedia!

When he started playing football he was 9 yrs old, real football for a team I mean, he joined “Rupertswood” because its close to home and I have to take him to training and I don’t drive, so the closer the better, our colours are Navy Blue and Gold and our logo is a shark.. Weird that sunce we are NI where near the ocean, why we have a shark is beyond me.. But we are Rupo through and through. I do not tolerate winter well, so I whine, I try every year to convince myself to embrace winter, and every year I fail miserably. So my Bloke brought me a Rupertswood Jacket, which I wear very proudly. At the start of Will’s sporting career, people introduce themselves and say “Oh so which one is yours?” We proudly reply “Big Will” until you know our son, his nick name is so funny, he’s still one of the smallest ones on the team.

The Coach was trying to get to know the kids and thought that although Will was small he had a big heart so he nick named him “Big Will” and it stuck, the coach, the trainer, the runners and all the parents can be heard cheering “GO BIG WILL!!” On any given Sunday. I am the “quiet” parent, I don’t yell or offer suggestions, that’s why they have coaches, and anyways I don’t even like football that much, but I love my Son and I support him. So hardly anyone knows who I am other than “Big Will’s Mum” and I’ve been called that numerous times… Oh so you’re Big Will’s mum…” Yep that’s Me, so I decided if that’s who I was I’d get it on my Jacket! I got it embroidered on my lapel. Then when my Mother-in-law saw it and asked why the Bloke didn’t have the same, he said he had not brought himself a jacket, so she said to me “Kim go buy him a jacket and get Big Will’s Dad on it” so we did!

Today “Big Will’s Dad” was goal umpire so he wore a long white coat and waved flags every time they scored and he cheers the loudest when his Son kicks a goal. i told a little bit of this story today in reply to another blogger Judy’s post found here: http://edwinasepisodes.com/2015/04/18/episode-295-whats-in-a-name/

Judy was talking about nick names and I told her the Story of “Big Will” and I wanted to share the photo of our jacket with our nick names embroidered on it.. Everyone has nick names in our family,some of us wear them proudly.

So besides the football today, we have the weekly shop, I HATE shopping, my Star Son said to me as we were doing Christmas shopping and I groaned at him, “Gosh I HATE shopping, I just hate it!”  He looked up at me and said “Wow Mum, just wow” I asked him “Why wow?” He replied and he was 12 then!! “You are the only girl I have ever heard say that!” Such wisdom!! This shopping was just our weekly food shop, so we all make  a menu of the weeks meals, I think this week we have

Monday- chicken schnitzels with mixed vegetables on a bed of mashed potato

Tuesday- I am cooking corned beef in ginger ale, in the slow cooker, but shhhh, don’t tell Star Son he hates anything out of the slow cooker even though HE loves corned beef,

Wednesday- The bloke has opted to cook Pork chops

Thursday- Meatloaf, one meal that every single person in my house will eat!

Friday- Star Son has Youth group, so its Quick and easy night,  means left overs or something super quick, like pasta and a can of tuna, with a banana and a handful of nuts on top!

Weekends, I don’t usually plan for because we never know who’s home or what plans might pop up.

Once the menu is done we make the shopping list and once that is made we can work out where to go… milk and bread and canned things and loo paper is Aldi, sometimes we will get meat there as well, for the rest of the shopping list it’s either Coles or Woolworths, today we did both.

Then I decided that it’s so cold and wet and raining I would make a pit of the Mother’s Vegetable soup, I used to hate it when I was growing up, but then when I was a young Mother I asked her for the recipe and have been making it ever since. The whole house smells delish when I make that soup, and so as soon as Star Son and Amber heard about that they both vetoed the soup idea… So they could have whatever they wanted but they had to make it, ha ha!!

In the pot on the stove.. Yumminess this way comes!

Look at that ham hock!! Yum!

Dinner was very yummy, with fresh bread and real butter and oh the smell! Yummy!!! Sweetpea was very brave and sat up in her high chair and tried a bit of everything, unlike her Mother she is at least willing to try new things.

                                                  Started her off with some bread and ham

It turns out that she really loved the carrot and parsnip!! What a good girl!

So that was our Sunday… How was yours?

New recipe.. Sheppard s pie

Ok Confession time..

Of course I’m made shepherds pie before but I’ve usually used a mix and then added the meat and the mashed potato.. this time I decided to try it from scratch because I am trying to clear out the deep freeze and minced steak was in plentiful supply.. so what to make?

• Spaghetti ( I didn’t have the sauce mix)
• Meatloaf (I didn’t have the sausage meat)
• Hamburgers (Star son hates mine I use onion in the mix)
• Shepherd’s pie! Bingo I had all the ingredients!

So now I’m wondering what’s the difference between “Shepherd’s Pie” and “Cottage pie” let’s go and see…

Ahhh ok, so… “Shepherds pie” is made with Lamb and “Cottage Pie” is made with beef… so I literally stuffed it up I used beef LOL

Never mind… here is the recipe I used..

Classic shepherd’s pie

0:10To Prep

1:05To Cook

15INGREDIENTS

EASYDIFFICULTY

4SERVINGS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, trimmed, finely chopped
• 500g lamb mince
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 500ml (2 cups) Campbell’s Real Stock Beef
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 4 (about 200g each) desiree potatoes, peeled, chopped
• 40g butter
• 125ml (1/2 cup) milk
• Melted butter, to brush

• Method

1. Step 1

   Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add lamb mince and cook, stirring to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until lamb changes colour.

2. Step 2

   Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until combined. Add stock, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Taste and season with salt and pepper. ( I also added some frozen mixed vegetables to hide them from the family!!)

3. Step 3

   Meanwhile: cook potato in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Return to the pan with the butter. Use a potato masher or fork to mash until smooth. Add milk and use a wooden spoon to stir until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

4. Step 4

   Preheat oven to 200°C. Spoon lamb mixture into a 2L (8-cup) capacity ovenproof baking dish. Top with mashed potato and use a fork to spread over lamb mixture. Brush with butter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until mashed potato is golden brown. Serve immediately

Recipe from: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/2335/classic+shepherds+pie

And here is my end result.. which was totes delish!

                                                                                                                           in the pan cooking away

 

individual ramekins

with their mashed potato on top ready for the oven!

So Although technically not a “new recipe” it is for me since I cooked it all from scratch!!

Green thumb Thursday..

Well I haven’t done one of these for a while, Shame on me.. there are a few of my challenges I’ve been missing out on but we will catch up eventually..

Today it’s hot we are almost at the end of summer and I’ve run out of home-grown cucumbers.. so we ate a shop brought one, but I was able to (finally) go out to the garden and pick some tiny Roma tomatoes and though they be small they are juicy and delicious!

The garden is starting to look the worse for wear, the cucumbers have been harvested and are dying off.. ready to be pulled out and dug over in preparation for the next crop.

Here’s how they looked and they tasted amazing, sweet and juicy, I think better than the shop brought ones and I will definitely grow them again.

The Zucchini failed. I think something ate them because they just disappeared.

The Carrots died off, I waited a day or two too long to plan them out.

The strawberries were small and juicy, the few we got, but they can keep growing for later.

The Purple capsicum has got a tiny purple capsicum

The basil did well and we were picking and using that in spaghetti sauces.

The Roma tomatoes were small bushes, I am not sure I didn’t keep the label that came with them maybe they were meant to be “mini” I’m not sure but the tomatoes off the bushes are small, pop them into your mouth whole small.. but they taste good, warm and like sunshine.

The Corn is still growing and the “ears” of corn are getting bigger, I can’t wait to try them but I don’t think I’ll bother planting them again, they are an ugly plant and too messy for my liking.

Broccoli- disappointment, I am totally not sure what I did wrong, if indeed I did anything but it never produced the large heads of broccoli like you see in the shops.. and then it went to seed and just looks horrible.

which leaves the sweet potato.. it’s got my stumped as to when to harvest that one, since it’s a ground covering plant, obviously (d’uh) the potato is under the ground but when does one know when to harvest it? Bizarre.

The Mint, has kind of died off which says something because everyone warned me that mint is like a weed it takes over the whole garden blah blah..

it’s been a fun experiment and I will try a few of them again..

I will try carrots again, we eat a lot of those, I will try cauliflowers and maybe less tomatoes but better quality of plants, remember I brought that punnet of 3/4’s dead tomatoes and nursed them back to health.. maybe I’ll buy only one or two next time.

Home grown basil!

Green Smoothie recipe…

POMEGRANATE CITRUS PUNCH

The Pomegranate Citrus Punch green smoothie is a great energy and immunity booster. Once you master the art of seeding a pomegranate, you should celebrate with this antioxidant-rich green smoothie.

Serves 2

---

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups spinach, fresh
• 1 cup orange juice, fresh squeezed
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 bananas

INSTRUCTIONS

Blend spinach, orange juice and water until smooth. Next add the remaining fruits and blend again. If you have two fresh oranges, feel free to add them to blender rather than the orange juice.

It was surprisingly yummy!!

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 February day five… attempted disaster..

Thursday, February 5, 2015
Tell us about a dish you attempted to make that ended in disaster. Have you ever re-attempted the meal?

Oh this is a good one… one of the children was having a fund-raising event at school and she was in charge of a large cake and cup cakes. So I had spent ages making the cakes and left them on the stove top to cool…. someone let the dogs in and our Golden Retriever “Avalon” came inside and smelt something yummy.. and a few minutes later when we came back to check on the “cooling cakes” we found the Golden girl standing up on her hind legs at the stove, she’d eaten half the large cake (the bit she could reach!) and a few of the cup cakes..  needless to say the Girl child burst into tears and yelled and screamed. My Bloke ended up going to the supermarket to buy cupcake mixes and I had to start all over again!

The Next day she made $25.00 for the “Cystic Fibrosis” fund-raiser so it all ended well.

NaBloPoMo.. February day 4- Favourite Dinner.. recipe included.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015
What is your favourite thing to make for dinner?

Living in a house as I do with an eclectic family.. meal times can sometimes be a war ground. We have always tried to make it the meal where everyone sits down together and discusses their day and it’s our “coming together time” When all the kids were little this was possible because “We were the boss!” so they ate what we said and they didn’t complain, well, yes they did but they were children and so they ate it anyways. One son, he hated tomato and whenever he ate it we were suspicious.. well it turns out all these years later that the DOG under the table ate the tomato.. of course “Blue Dog” would eat anything so that made sense.

Another child, also a boy child always needed to go to the bathroom during dinner… then I find out that he was flushing the bits he didn’t like down the Loo after securing them in his serviette… and I never noticed!

One girl child hated vegetables of all sorts but she would stay there and until she finished them rather than argue.. it’s a different matter now though, and is it funny how HER 14 month old girl child adores vegetables and will always choose to eat them first before the rest! It skipped a generation obviously!

So back then cooking dinner was easier we had a weekly plan and each night on a given night we would have certain things.. Monday Steak, Tuesday pasta etc ect.. but then Mumma Bear got bored and was tired of feeding prescribed meals each week, so I shuffled it up. Then I got the idea to ask the Children “What meal would YOU like this week?” five children, five meals plus one each for the Bloke and I.. perfect.. it worked for a while, then they started moving out, moving back in, switching rooms, switching houses and who knew when who was going to be home, some worked late and so I had to cook meals that could be re-heated easily.

Then it came to shopping time and they were not home to help plan so I just started doing the menu each week and shopping for that and then the complaints started, “I don’t like that, this or the other”  my reply was “bad luck eat it or go hungry!”

I have found one meal out of all the years ONE MEAL that is sure to garnish applause and cheers and self invitations for dinner when it’s announced.. my famous meatloaf!

Meat loaf, good old fashioned meat loaf. A time or two we have changed the recipe and no one has approved so we go back to the old fashioned recipe which was first put out by The Australian Women’s weekly magazine when I was about 10 years old I remember my sister getting her box of recipe cards and she cooked meatloaf and everyone loved it then, so I asked for the recipe and eventually I got the box of recipe cards too, but I only ever loved the Meatloaf the best!

So now I’m going to share with you.. my famous meatloaf recipe.. the children ask “How come your meat loaf tastes so good Mum?” and I always replied “Because it’s made with love!” I love to see them eat and if meatloaf is what it takes then I’m a happy Mumma!

 

Meatloaf with Barbecue Sauce

http://www.aww.com.au/food/recipes/2003/9/meatloaf-with-barbecue-sauce/

8

Serves 4

Cuisine type: Traditional
Cooking time: More than 1 hour
Course: Main
Cooking method: bake
Season: All year round

INGREDIENTS

500g sausage mince
500g minced steak
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 onions
2 teaspoons curry powder
salt, pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup water

Sauce:
½ cup water
½ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
30g butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice

METHOD

Combine sausage mince, minced steak, breadcrumbs, peeled and finely-chopped onions, curry powder, salt, pepper, parslety and lightly-beaten egg in bowl. Beat until mixture is well combined. Gradually add milk and water, continue beating until mixture is very smooth.

Shape meat mixture into loaf, place in greased baking dish. Bake in moderate oven 30 minutes. Remove from oven, carefully pour off any surplus fat. Pour sauce over meatloaf, return to oven, bake for further 45 minutes, basting frequently with sauce, serve hot with vegetables or cold with salad.

Sauce

Combine all ingredients in saucepan, bring slowly to boil, reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes.

I serve this delicious meatloaf with creamy mashed potatoes and to sneak in some extra veggies I put pumpkin and potatoes together and mash them, and serve them with steamed carrots, broccoli and cauliflower… this meal is the only one that the Children will eat all the vegetables as well. If you try it I hope you love it as much as we do.. let me know in the comments section below!