This is what I’ve been busy with lately…. I’m almost done with my home made gifts and I just need to package them up now.
The relishes are three different type: Beetroot and Ginger, Cranberry and Apple and Spicy Eggplant.
I think they look quite cute all lined up with their tags…
I also made marsh mallows and peanut brittle and packaged them up:
I’ll add in the little candles I embossed last night and some cookies and that will be me sorted for Christmas gifts.
Here’s a round up of random events and thoughts running through my head currently
Not really, but he had NO idea what to get me (subtle hints don’t work on him post-brain injury) and so I pretty much asked for it and then he proceeded to tell me on the phone that he had bought it. Five years ago he would have hated the man he’s become, but it is sort of funny.Well that’s all the randomness this brain can come up with for now. I hope everyone is having a lovely lead up to Christmas like I am.
I keep getting asked how I’m losing the weight and I think most people seem to expect some sort of easy solution, like diet pills or liposuction or something by the way they look disappointed with my reply of “diet and hard work”.
In the last three months I have lost 10 kgs, which is a very, very good feeling. I’m thinner now and fitter than I was two years ago and I know I’m going to keep going down as I’m in a good routine and not getting injuries or anything.
So what have I been doing? I haven’t been on a strict training diet (yet, though I may do it come January to move things along a bit) but I have managed to find a fairly good ‘lifestyle’ eating plan. This works for me better psychologically, but I do treat myself occasionally, which is actually good for you body I think anyway. The main secret is that I cut out sugar and this is really good for my brain and subsequently my waistline. I don’t enjoy sugar at all anymore so this sort of makes it easy. I eat fairly balanced portions of protein and carbs, but I could probably cut down my carb intake a little and I have mostly increased my vegetable intake to more than the 5+ a day servings. Though, lately with this medication I am not always hitting that as I still feel a little sick sometimes.
Training-wise, the new gym membership is GREAT, I’ve seen results in less than a month and I want to continue. It is so good to have someone meet you and motivate you and you’re accountable if you’re slacking off too. The training to failure concept is really good and I don’t have any injuries either, which is a bit of a miracle as before when I was training on my own my right knee was giving me a lot of trouble – it hasn’t been a problem since I started at this new gym. I’m also running a couple of times a week for about half and hour or so, I’m not sure of the distance yet as I haven’t driven the route and checked my kms. But I am enjoying running, which is only about the third time in my life I have been able to say that. I’m still biking as well and I’m trying to use my bike for errands to the mall nearby etc to save on petrol and up my exercise level. I also get out on the weekends before 7am usually and go for a bike road up to Cornwall Park, near my place which is really beautiful and relaxing.
So no easy answer, but if I can figure out how to keep up this level of activity in my 30s then I will be happy. Looking half decent in jeans again (they are almost too big actually) and being able to enjoy getting dressed in the morning is also amazing. I wanted to get down to 75kg before the end of the year and I am sort of on target for that, though Christmas may disrupt things a little. My next goal after that is to get back to 70kg, which is what I weighed before my life got chaotic 5 years ago. I think I can get there!
I’m still soldiering away making my gifts for Christmas and still have a bit to do! I made these little albums the other day and I think they turned out quite well.
They fold out like this:
And I stuck pictures on the white and red portions.
In the spirit of the Advent Conspiracy and generally just helping those less fortunate this Christmas, I went along to help out the mammoth undertaking to pack up 5000 boxes to be distributed to those in need in our wider community.
I got there bright and early and was one of the first people set to work – my job was making up the boxes and I have the blisters on my hands to prove it!
Here is a shot with all the food waiting to start to be packed. We fundraise and the bulk purchase, so the quality is high and we can do more boxes.
And here are a few thousand of the boxes ready to go out to the waiting distributors. We worked with many organisations, such as Women’s Refuge and the Salvation Army, not just in our own city but cities nearby too. I’m so proud of the way it was organised and that so many families will get a nice treat on Christmas day too.
At the moment I am bogged down in research mode for my business as I’m expanding the concept a little after some very good advice from a good family friend who happens to be a wedding planner. This means I sheepishly went to the library last week and got out a bunch of bridal magazines, I couldn’t quite face buying any from the shop. Funny that I still felt like people were checking out my wedding ring finger as I checked the mags out though.
The whole wedding world is pretty fascinating, my flatmate and I sat around watching Christmas in the Park (which we didn’t actually make it to on Saturday night) last night and reading the mags and talking about the dresses and stuff that we liked. Joyce made the comment that, if you’re a practical person, it is hard to justify the cost of weddings. I totally agree. And my business idea is one that would definitely save budget savvy brides some money as well.
So what I want to know from my readers – how much did you spend on your wedding?
How much on invitations?
What would you do differently or what are you planning if you are not married yet?
What colours do you think are the nicest?
And yes, this all feels quite strange considering I’m probably a long way from walking down the aisle! I just needed to get this off my chest and show that the stack of mags by my bed is purely for research only.
Last night I went to a women’s night at my flatmate’s church, where we were entertained by the lovely Jan Maree who is an award winning NZ Comedian. She managed to be touching, hilarious and moving all at once and I really enjoyed her routine even if I laughed a bit too hard at the ruder bits (it was in a church, I think I felt a normal amount of embarrassment).
We were also shown how to make some lovely Christmas craft projects and how to put together wreaths with fresh flowers and leaves. I would love to do this, but I’m not sure I would end up with anything that looked decent and the only greenery I seem to have in my garden at the moment is Silverbeet (Chard) which is threatening to take over the world going by the size of it. Anyone know what to do with silverbeet and spinach when it goes to seed by the way?
Oh and they gave away this lovely Christmas CD which has a bunch of famous NZ musicians on it and fabulous art work. I really wanted it, but it wasn’t in my budget this week so I was extra pleased when my flatmate won it! Yay, I get to listen to it too. What a great fundraiser for Plunket as well.
Most importantly we were spoilt with a goody bag on our seats when we arrived, see:
What I liked in particular was the Tanning Moisturiser by Skin Food, it’s a very good value range and is paraben free. I’m going to try it when I jump in the shower this morning.
And we also got some silver nail polish that feels very Christmassy, from Karen Walker to promote her paint range.
Can you tell I love free stuff?
I’m not sure if I mentioned that I was going to the Neurologist last Friday, at my own expense, to get a second opinion as the guy I was sent to in August was a bit of an idiot. Anyway, the appointment went really well and I’m looking forward to getting the report back from her. She spent a whole hour with me and gave me a good pep talk as well as some good advice, so I almost feel it was worth the $350 I had to pay to see her! It was totally a miracle that I got the appointment so quickly, most specialists don’t work in January here and head off to the beach, so I didn’t expect to see anyone until February.
She also suggested me going on some medication, which I immediately turned down and said no to. But the more I thought about it the more I thought it might be worth a try. Apparently low Seratonin levels can contribute to the same sorts of symptoms that a brain injury can cause. Probably the low Seratonin levels also can be caused by the brain injury, funnily enough a hit to the heat can effect your chemicals in it.
I have been on the meds since Friday and I have to say that I’m NOT a fan so far. I’ve been pretty nauseas and have had an upset stomach and feel a bit drugged and fuzzy in the head. This is on a really teeny dosage too. I know I have to give it two or three weeks to really start seeing the benefits, but at the moment they are going to be a long few weeks. And I’m meant to be writing my business plan and organising myself for Christmas too in this time. Sigh.
They also mean that I won’t be able to drink at all on Christmas day, not unless I want to be rolling drunk and serve my guests raw food (raw turkey is not part of the raw food movement, methinks) so I will have to restrain. This is going to be very hard with a flatmate who has access to amazing wines from all around the world that we are planning to food-match. Doh.
I’m tempted to go to this holistic medical practice here and see what they advise, they have doctors and naturopaths (and really sensible, non-quacky naturopaths) who work together and see if they can advise a more natural way to raise my seratonin levels. If I had any money left I think I would do this. Any other advice out there anyone can give me?
Funnily enough, I had been feeling pretty good prior to the medication, not really needing afternoon naps much and losing weight. This feels like a huge step backwards so far.
I have been reading Mary’s Owlhaven blog for quite a few years now, she has a big gang of kids from around the world and I’ve loved hearing all her stories about adoption and frugality and their life, even though my own life couldn’t be much more different.
Her post today really resonated with me, I was that kid with my head buried in a book constantly too. Books and words were my saving grace growing up a lonely kid in the country – being able to escape into a different world to my own kept me going. She is giving away a Sony Pocket Reader and I would really, really love one (I’ll even pay the postage to NZ if I win!) as it would make it so much easier to travel and read and not have to cart so much around.
I shared this quote on Mary’s blog:
“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment”
from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which I studied when I was 19 in my first year of University in English Literature. I love the timelessness of Austen and how her ‘truths’ still apply so much in our modern world, even though we as women have so much more opportunity and power.
And the second half of the competition is to share another quote on my blog, so in honour of the bookish girl who still lurks inside of me here is a quote from my favourite red-haired girl:
“We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.”
Anne of Avonlea, L M Montgomery.
