These ones have virtually grown themselves. We've barely had to lift a finger.
Someone else likes them, too ... but heaven forbid that he actually eat one!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
First harvest
I love radishes.
These ones have virtually grown themselves. We've barely had to lift a finger.
Someone else likes them, too ... but heaven forbid that he actually eat one!
These ones have virtually grown themselves. We've barely had to lift a finger.
Someone else likes them, too ... but heaven forbid that he actually eat one!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
A picture says a thousand words?
Yesterday it occurred to me that I'd not sat down and done any painting with E for a while. So I pulled out some nice new paints and textas and off we went.
The first portrait the little lad offered up was of his dad:
I especially like the fact that one ear is red and one is green.
Then there's his Christmas star (which I'm thinking might actually look alright on this year's Xmas cards - if I get around to doing any).
The piece de resistance, however, has to be this:
Me: "Ooh, that's a nice picture, E. What's that one called?"
E: "It's called Grumpy Mummy."
I kid you not. I'd best starting saving for the poor child's therapy right now...
The first portrait the little lad offered up was of his dad:
I especially like the fact that one ear is red and one is green.
Then there's his Christmas star (which I'm thinking might actually look alright on this year's Xmas cards - if I get around to doing any).
The piece de resistance, however, has to be this:
Me: "Ooh, that's a nice picture, E. What's that one called?"
E: "It's called Grumpy Mummy."
I kid you not. I'd best starting saving for the poor child's therapy right now...
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Law of attraction
I stumbled upon this bright yellow book at the library recently - how could I miss it? It is called, and I am not kidding, Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting - The Astonishing Power of Positive Feelings. Not the best title, but it's proving to be an interesting read.
It was published a couple of years ago, well before the force that is The Secret, but it is essentially the same idea: the law of attraction. In a nutshell, the book says we are all basically energy and we give off energy. We emit energy at different frequencies and... you know the rest.
You get back what you give out kind of thing.
The book is a little repetitive - I guess it's just reinforcing a point - but I've been giving its premise a bit of a shot. The results have certainly made me sit up and take note. Here are a couple of the things that have happened in the past few weeks:
* I was worried about losing my job, since I'm not a permanent member of staff. Very worried, to the point that I was getting upset about it at work. After the worst morning (tears in the office) I read a bit of the book in my lunch hour, felt a lot better, had a quick cheapie massage ... I get back into the office to have my editor usher me into his office and reassure me that all is OK.
* I was feeling pretty OK about my finances - a couple of invoices had been paid in one chunk ... then the quarterly childcare rebate ... which I had completely forgotten about!
* Having decided I was in dire need of some decent summer clothes I walked into Myer at lunchtime yesterday and tried on the most beautiful pink dress. It is just one of those rare pieces that fits so perfectly. Amazing. So I say goodbye to big chunk of the childcare rebate and walk out happy!
* Go to Greek bakery to pick up some fresh Turkish Delight - I ask the lady for a kilo, she puts some pieces in a box ... it is exactly one kilo. Exact.
* Trying not to focus on feeling isolated in my position in the new office ... when my colleagues ask me to lunch. Nice.
* Driving home tonight I was thinking about how I won two competitions recently and how it was probably because I believed I was going to win. I haven't been thinking about comps much lately and it occurred to me that it might be in my interests to ... walk to the mailbox. Lottery cheque is waiting. Not the big one, but still a win!
What do you think? Sheer coincidence? I don't know ... but I don't think so.
I choose to believe that there is definitely some magic to the power of belief.
It was published a couple of years ago, well before the force that is The Secret, but it is essentially the same idea: the law of attraction. In a nutshell, the book says we are all basically energy and we give off energy. We emit energy at different frequencies and... you know the rest.
You get back what you give out kind of thing.
The book is a little repetitive - I guess it's just reinforcing a point - but I've been giving its premise a bit of a shot. The results have certainly made me sit up and take note. Here are a couple of the things that have happened in the past few weeks:
* I was worried about losing my job, since I'm not a permanent member of staff. Very worried, to the point that I was getting upset about it at work. After the worst morning (tears in the office) I read a bit of the book in my lunch hour, felt a lot better, had a quick cheapie massage ... I get back into the office to have my editor usher me into his office and reassure me that all is OK.
* I was feeling pretty OK about my finances - a couple of invoices had been paid in one chunk ... then the quarterly childcare rebate ... which I had completely forgotten about!
* Having decided I was in dire need of some decent summer clothes I walked into Myer at lunchtime yesterday and tried on the most beautiful pink dress. It is just one of those rare pieces that fits so perfectly. Amazing. So I say goodbye to big chunk of the childcare rebate and walk out happy!
* Go to Greek bakery to pick up some fresh Turkish Delight - I ask the lady for a kilo, she puts some pieces in a box ... it is exactly one kilo. Exact.
* Trying not to focus on feeling isolated in my position in the new office ... when my colleagues ask me to lunch. Nice.
* Driving home tonight I was thinking about how I won two competitions recently and how it was probably because I believed I was going to win. I haven't been thinking about comps much lately and it occurred to me that it might be in my interests to ... walk to the mailbox. Lottery cheque is waiting. Not the big one, but still a win!
What do you think? Sheer coincidence? I don't know ... but I don't think so.
I choose to believe that there is definitely some magic to the power of belief.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Some kilos to kick
I have been thinking about weight a fair bit of late. This is how the weight-loss process works for me: it begins as a niggle, then bothers me and bothers me some more until I think, "Right, I am going to lose some weight" and then I make a start. I am always pleased with how I go and, without fail, I think, "Why didn't I start earlier?".
I'm almost at the point of starting again on a weight-loss kick. I did Weight Watchers most of last year and really loved it. It's the second time I've done WW and frankly it works. Very well. Slow and steady weight loss, great recipes, easy to make new habits.
It's just the getting there ...
I'm nearly motivated to begin all over again.
***
I'd done WW before E (in fact, up until I fell pregnant with him). I think I lost about 7 kilos, which took me to 62 kilos. For someone my height, 62 is bang on a BMI of 25 and, well, just feels good. Not fat, not skinny - just right.
Of course, after having E the weight issue hung around for a while. The expectation that the kilos would "just fall off" with breastfeeding did not (unfortunately!) materialise. Bummer.
So I got back on the WW horse. At my first weigh-in I was 69.9 kilos. I chipped away at it for six months or so, just eating well and doing mild exercise (I don't do gyms - walking and cycling only, thanks).
At my lightest I was 58 kilos (two kilos under my goal weight of 60). And damn that feels good. I'd not been that light for a few years, the compliments flow, the energy improves, all is hunky dory.
After at a while I started loosening up. I experienced this wondrous sensation of being able to have "bad" weeks of not watching my points, consuming lots of wine and STILL remaining the same weight. Could this be my new weight set-point, I wondered?
HA!
Sadly, no. The "I'll just eat whatever" mindset remained while the low weight did not. Like boiling a frog, it crept back on slowly, slowly. And I've had no motivation to actually halt the process, despite all the hard work I put in to actually lose the weight in the first place (how frustrating!).
I am one of those (unlucky) people who put weight on round the stomach. It's never an issue round the bottom or the thighs or really anywhere except the middle.
I was reading the Sunday paper last week and I saw a little piece about the government launching a campaign to encourage people to decrease their waist measurement for health reasons. It said women should have a waist measurement of no more than 88cm. This made me pick up a measuring tape - to find that my waist measures 92cm.
I was shocked.
Then two more things happened last week that made me think about my weight. We had people from MBF come to our work and set up a "free health check" in one of our meeting rooms. So off I went: blood pressure good, resting heart rate (52) excellent, BMI: 26.5. Err, not great. Then he measured my waist and got 92cm ... at which point he informs me the optimal size of my waist is not 88cm, it's in fact 80cm. Sheesh, 12cm feels like a lot to lose.
Later that day I received a catalogue from Ezi-buy in the mail. I flicked through it and came to the size charts. According to this catalogue, my waist measurement means I ought to be wearing size 18.
Hmmmm. Okaaaaay. I am actually wearing size 12 clothes (admittedly some are tight round the waist) and some size 14s.
You would think that all this would be enough to make me take all 65kg of myself back to WW. But not quite - as I said, something in my head will click (and probably soon) and it is then that the process will begin again.
In the meantime I am still processing what happened to me yesterday. I was walking E in the stroller by the river, on our way to meet Shaun off the train. Four old deros were sitting by the river, swigging cheap wine and swearing at each other. (Thankfully it is rare to see deros round our place, but it does happen).
I was walking along, minding my own business and admittedly wearing a skanky old pair of shorts and a stretched-old old grey t-shirt when one of them yells out at me: "You've got a fat arse."
Eh?
Head down, keep walking.
Then he yells it again: "Hey, you've got a fat arse."
Lovely. Really lovely, Comment clearly meant for me, as I am the only other person in the park.
Ignore, ignore. Drunken idiot. I don't have a fat arse! Never have had one!
Anyhow, Shaun was brilliant and told me that of course I don't have a fat arse, that the old fools were clearly blind (drunk?).
It's tricky, all this stuff, isn't it? My rational mind tells me that 65kg is really not that much overweight. But since I am someone who has blood pressure issues, I feel I ought to watch it, for my heart's sake. I also work in an image-conscious industry, and a competitive one at that. Come to mention it, almost everything is competitive these days.
Anyhow, I know what I need to do and, you watch me, I will do it. Just in my own time.
***
Meanwhile, some happy snaps of the lounge-bouncing kidlet. Who definitely doesn't need to lose any weight.
I'm almost at the point of starting again on a weight-loss kick. I did Weight Watchers most of last year and really loved it. It's the second time I've done WW and frankly it works. Very well. Slow and steady weight loss, great recipes, easy to make new habits.
It's just the getting there ...
I'm nearly motivated to begin all over again.
***
I'd done WW before E (in fact, up until I fell pregnant with him). I think I lost about 7 kilos, which took me to 62 kilos. For someone my height, 62 is bang on a BMI of 25 and, well, just feels good. Not fat, not skinny - just right.
Of course, after having E the weight issue hung around for a while. The expectation that the kilos would "just fall off" with breastfeeding did not (unfortunately!) materialise. Bummer.
So I got back on the WW horse. At my first weigh-in I was 69.9 kilos. I chipped away at it for six months or so, just eating well and doing mild exercise (I don't do gyms - walking and cycling only, thanks).
At my lightest I was 58 kilos (two kilos under my goal weight of 60). And damn that feels good. I'd not been that light for a few years, the compliments flow, the energy improves, all is hunky dory.
After at a while I started loosening up. I experienced this wondrous sensation of being able to have "bad" weeks of not watching my points, consuming lots of wine and STILL remaining the same weight. Could this be my new weight set-point, I wondered?
HA!
Sadly, no. The "I'll just eat whatever" mindset remained while the low weight did not. Like boiling a frog, it crept back on slowly, slowly. And I've had no motivation to actually halt the process, despite all the hard work I put in to actually lose the weight in the first place (how frustrating!).
I am one of those (unlucky) people who put weight on round the stomach. It's never an issue round the bottom or the thighs or really anywhere except the middle.
I was reading the Sunday paper last week and I saw a little piece about the government launching a campaign to encourage people to decrease their waist measurement for health reasons. It said women should have a waist measurement of no more than 88cm. This made me pick up a measuring tape - to find that my waist measures 92cm.
I was shocked.
Then two more things happened last week that made me think about my weight. We had people from MBF come to our work and set up a "free health check" in one of our meeting rooms. So off I went: blood pressure good, resting heart rate (52) excellent, BMI: 26.5. Err, not great. Then he measured my waist and got 92cm ... at which point he informs me the optimal size of my waist is not 88cm, it's in fact 80cm. Sheesh, 12cm feels like a lot to lose.
Later that day I received a catalogue from Ezi-buy in the mail. I flicked through it and came to the size charts. According to this catalogue, my waist measurement means I ought to be wearing size 18.
Hmmmm. Okaaaaay. I am actually wearing size 12 clothes (admittedly some are tight round the waist) and some size 14s.
You would think that all this would be enough to make me take all 65kg of myself back to WW. But not quite - as I said, something in my head will click (and probably soon) and it is then that the process will begin again.
In the meantime I am still processing what happened to me yesterday. I was walking E in the stroller by the river, on our way to meet Shaun off the train. Four old deros were sitting by the river, swigging cheap wine and swearing at each other. (Thankfully it is rare to see deros round our place, but it does happen).
I was walking along, minding my own business and admittedly wearing a skanky old pair of shorts and a stretched-old old grey t-shirt when one of them yells out at me: "You've got a fat arse."
Eh?
Head down, keep walking.
Then he yells it again: "Hey, you've got a fat arse."
Lovely. Really lovely, Comment clearly meant for me, as I am the only other person in the park.
Ignore, ignore. Drunken idiot. I don't have a fat arse! Never have had one!
Anyhow, Shaun was brilliant and told me that of course I don't have a fat arse, that the old fools were clearly blind (drunk?).
It's tricky, all this stuff, isn't it? My rational mind tells me that 65kg is really not that much overweight. But since I am someone who has blood pressure issues, I feel I ought to watch it, for my heart's sake. I also work in an image-conscious industry, and a competitive one at that. Come to mention it, almost everything is competitive these days.
Anyhow, I know what I need to do and, you watch me, I will do it. Just in my own time.
***
Meanwhile, some happy snaps of the lounge-bouncing kidlet. Who definitely doesn't need to lose any weight.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
MISSING
ONE SMALL WHITE (WELL, GREY REALLY) MONKEY, ANSWERS TO THE NAME OF BOBO
LAST SEEN IN A PLAY CENTRE IN EARLWOOD, NSW, WHERE HE WAS TAKEN AT A SMALL BOY'S INSISTENCE.
SORELY MISSED BY LITTLE CHAP WHO LIKES TO SLEEP WITH HIM.
REWARD FOR RETURN = BIG GRINS FROM HAPPY BOY.
(Amazingly, he DID manage to go to sleep for his nap without Bobo - something of a first. Must have been really tired. The good thing about Bobo being so, err, loved is that no-one in their right mind would want to keep him. I just hope the play centre staff don't bin him before I can get back there.)
Why is that that the two toys E has adored in his life have both been white?
***
Damned polenta. Why is it so tricky to make? I never seem to get it right. I got the most lovely Jewish cookbook at work last week and I tried to make the polenta gnocchi in it.
Disaster.
Too squishy to shape!
We now have polenta, um, sludge for dinner.
Mmmmm.
LAST SEEN IN A PLAY CENTRE IN EARLWOOD, NSW, WHERE HE WAS TAKEN AT A SMALL BOY'S INSISTENCE.
SORELY MISSED BY LITTLE CHAP WHO LIKES TO SLEEP WITH HIM.
REWARD FOR RETURN = BIG GRINS FROM HAPPY BOY.
(Amazingly, he DID manage to go to sleep for his nap without Bobo - something of a first. Must have been really tired. The good thing about Bobo being so, err, loved is that no-one in their right mind would want to keep him. I just hope the play centre staff don't bin him before I can get back there.)
Why is that that the two toys E has adored in his life have both been white?
***
Damned polenta. Why is it so tricky to make? I never seem to get it right. I got the most lovely Jewish cookbook at work last week and I tried to make the polenta gnocchi in it.
Disaster.
Too squishy to shape!
We now have polenta, um, sludge for dinner.
Mmmmm.
Monday, October 20, 2008
If a watched kettle never boils, does a watched garden never grow?
I think I need a new hobby, because my current one is driving me a bit batty. I decided a little while back to take over our vegie patch because Shaun sometimes does infuriating things like tip an entire bucket of water over the tiniest seedlings, flattening them in an instant.
So I weeded, pulling out great handfuls of grass and mint (that stuff is prolific!). Then I conditioned the soil patch by patch with my Bokashi.
I know gardening is supposed to be relaxing and good for you - and I definitely think it is - it's just that I go and look at mine about four times a day. Just in case there's been any, you know, triffid action from the tomatoes.
This is my problem (and it doesn't only relate to the vegie patch, sadly): I have no patience.
I want results - and I want them now!!
It is over the top to sprinkle seedlings with water three times a day, isn't it? And to gently smooth the soil around them? Thought so.
And part of the problem is that I (of course) went completely overboard and as a result my small vegie garden has:
rocket
lettuce
tomatoes
beetroot
squash
zucchini
pak choy
radish (another weed!)
... and today I bought some basil to plant among all this.
My problem is that I've planted various seeds over a few weeks, then a) I've forgotten where I've planted them (luckily it rains) and b) I am unsure exactly what's a seedling and what's a weedling. I suspect I have pulled up a couple of perfectly good baby vegies.
The answer may be a self-imposed ban. I need to restrict myself to just checking the garden every few days. Perhaps then I will see some actual progress!!
So I weeded, pulling out great handfuls of grass and mint (that stuff is prolific!). Then I conditioned the soil patch by patch with my Bokashi.
I know gardening is supposed to be relaxing and good for you - and I definitely think it is - it's just that I go and look at mine about four times a day. Just in case there's been any, you know, triffid action from the tomatoes.
This is my problem (and it doesn't only relate to the vegie patch, sadly): I have no patience.
I want results - and I want them now!!
It is over the top to sprinkle seedlings with water three times a day, isn't it? And to gently smooth the soil around them? Thought so.
And part of the problem is that I (of course) went completely overboard and as a result my small vegie garden has:
rocket
lettuce
tomatoes
beetroot
squash
zucchini
pak choy
radish (another weed!)
... and today I bought some basil to plant among all this.
My problem is that I've planted various seeds over a few weeks, then a) I've forgotten where I've planted them (luckily it rains) and b) I am unsure exactly what's a seedling and what's a weedling. I suspect I have pulled up a couple of perfectly good baby vegies.
The answer may be a self-imposed ban. I need to restrict myself to just checking the garden every few days. Perhaps then I will see some actual progress!!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)