I’m green, very green …

I’m a frustrated homemaker. Have been all my married life and – dear heaven – that’s a damn l-o-n-g time!

This morning I made the bed. I sometimes don’t bother to do a proper job of it and I know many of you don’t either. So don’t get all judgemental!  LOL!

I brought out clean towels for the bathrooms and admired my handiwork with a contented smile on my face. Those who know me well will know that I have not had much time in recent years to do these little tasks; the current domestic worker usually did that for me.

Getting back to the green. My immediate family were taken aback by my decision to replace the dirty beige colour on single feature walls in 4 rooms with a muted green that I love. The risky behaviour on my part has been rewarded, IMHO.

The pic shows the work-in-progress in our bedroom. Antique pictures will hang above the bed; I’ve just got to research which box they are packed in! Our single garage is still packed full of unopened boxes and I am only allowing one box at a time into the house for unpacking and *further* donations to local worthy causes…..

The duvet cover will be replaced by a new cover in white or very pale cream made by yours truly. Just don’t ask me when! The floral tapestry cushion was bought with a substantial outlay of Euros in France! Once again, the greens tone in beautifully with the other greens in the small room.

The second picture shows part of the feature wall in the living room – a definite work-in-progress. The stuff dumped on the writing bureau will be replaced by a nice lamp and a jacaranda wood framed circular mirror made by John  Early of Dargle in KZN will hang above it.

As you may have already deduced, I am really enjoying feathering my new little nest!

 

 

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Re-locating ….the news is out…..

Sooo… here we go……. on the road again…..

I remember that my paternal grandparents were always moving. Or so it seemed to teenager Eileen. Usually moving around and staying with my parents and their siblings. I also remember watching in fascinated horror as my diabetic granny injected herself with a steel torture instrument loaded with insulin several times a day.. but I digress as usual. That is a story for another day.

We live a profoundly privileged life and we have recently been given the choice of either staying where we are in a (too) spacious home with a garden or moving to a considerably smaller home in a gated security complex. With the years going by, we’re not getting any younger so it made perfect sense to accept the opportunity to move back across town. We will be returning to Milnerton and will have the pleasure of living closer to our sons and their families. The fact that these children are keen on the idea gives us great pleasure; we can’t be too terrible as parents and in-laws! Right? Right? LOL!

There comes a time for all of us when we need to scale down and de-clutter.  However, talking about it and subscribing wholeheartedly to the principle are two totally different things! It’s bloody hard to toss items one has had for years. And don’t give me the hoary old “If you haven’t used/worn it in a year, out it must go”. It’s not as cut and dried as that. I won’t be cutting down to “4 mugs, 4 plates & 4 spoons” as cheeky middle son suggested! Yes, grateful that I don’t have to go that far. 🙂

My business will continue as normal with a slightly changed focus. More news on that soon.

Anyway, this is the first advice to many that I interact with on social media. More to come as the weeks go by. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

#2015HereIAm … Life begins.. #Banting #LCHF

I wrote earlier today about a new Banting book out in South Africa.  In the foreword to this book, Dr Gail Ashford writes about the difficulties encountered in the lifestyle changes and challenges that 100% Banting imposes on us.

Hopefully neither Dr Ashford nor Marion Makepeace will object to me quoting the foreword here on my little blog.

These are the challenges I wrestle with every day and I am learning to take my progress day by day. To look at the next 5kg loss and improving health markers &  not the final destination of this odyssey.

#2015HereICome … The odyssey continues

As they say, even if you walk slowly you’re still lapping the guy on the couch!

#2015HereICome … Sunday morning weigh-in showdown!

For years, I have logged my weight first thing on a Sunday morning. I do sometimes weigh in during the week as well but it’s probably not a good thing to do if the results checked on a daily basis are likely to throw one off course.

I can say with honesty that I do not get all upset if I have gained weight. I will ALWAYS know why I have gained!! 😦

Readers who honour me by subscribing to this blog will know that my Odyssey has been a ‘mixed bag’ of a spectacular (if I say so myself!) success of 25kg lost and then a stumbling, erratic climb in weight. All indications are that the fancy shmancy scale will show that I have regained everything plus more this morning. Hating to disclose that!

The reasons for losing my way on the Odyssey are legion and would fill a dozen posts. I will spare you all that pain!

In future posts though, I will refer to the various factors that caused my wandering off the path; that is what an odyssey is, not so?  🙂

Have a great Sunday xx

#2015HereICome … Nothing in this world …

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

– Calvin Coolidge

#2015HereICome – Beginner exercise 1

 

So, it’s Boxing Day and dear spouse (henceforth to be known as WJJ) is sitting, chilling and watching the first day of the SA/West Indies test at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth. A rude interruption from me rolling in a very dusty “Big Blue Ball” (BBB). A couple of years ago, I used this ball as my office chair and I still have the pictures to prove it!   Also lugged into our living room is the “mini trampoline” or rebounder as they are also called. WJJ’s face was a picture!

My plan is for us to sit on the BBB for ever-increasing periods while watching DSTV. A sort of penance for watching our favourite channels?!  LOL  I am an “app’ addict and have a great timer on my phone and my tablet. I will monitor the planned increasing times spent on these very basic exercise resources.

The rebounder is also an excellent beginner resource to start us off walking on the flexible surface. I know from experience that my dormant calf muscles protest quite ferociously if I just walk. Obviously, we will not be bouncing around wildly and injuring ourselves bouncing right off the darn thing!

Also hidden in my Dad’s old tool box, which we use as a coffee table in this room, are some hand weights and stretch bands. But that will be a story for another day!

 

When did it become OK? Just when?

So, I ask again, when did it become OK? Just exactly when?

Just what am I on about now?

Yesterday, we spent several hours at CT International airport. On the Saturday before Christmas it’s not a good place to be. The place was heaving with people who were heaving themselves along….. as in lumbering along with their obese bodies no doubt protesting quite strongly.

Of course, there were many folk of healthy weight among the masses but, it seemed to me, that every second person I saw was obese to morbidly obese. Lumbering along with that peculiar rocking gate of protesting bones and muscles slack with lack of exercise….. Or traipsing along with muffin tops offending my eyes. (Maybe I’m just prudish and old fashioned with that one!)

I will refrain from including myself in any pics at this time, but my family companions looked pretty good!

Sitting in the Spur, watching the planes come and go (I love doing that), I also observed people come and go from the various tables in the restaurant. One family in particular came directly into my line of vision and I covertly observed them for quite a while. Grandparents, morbidly obese, trying to squeeze into the benches at their big table. The granny, I wondered about her. What did she look like when she married the old man? Slim? trim? Or already plump on her wedding day?  The oupa; I imagined him just eating whatever was put on the table in front of him at home. The children, ‘30/40-somethings’, severely overweight. The son; maybe it was rugby muscle now overtaken by fat. The DIL; very plump indeed. Maybe she was trying to control her weight? Who knows? Lastly, the grandchildren. Not yet in High School. Seriously podgy and pasty looking from lack of sun & exercise. Perhaps that was the saddest part of the picture in front of me. The grandchildren.

Why do I keep thinking about the grandmother? Should she have informed herself and controlled the diet & habits of herself and her spouse? Which, in turn, could have inculcated better eating habits in her son? Maybe she is in fact informed but just could not get control? You know, somehow, I don’t think so. I think she just gave up on the calories, the ‘low fat everything’ that was supposed to help her slim down, the never-ending diets, the never-ending failures.

The food choices that family of six South Africans made yesterday were ill-advised to say the very least. And I, for one, will never give up on myself and my quest for permanent, sustainable healthy weight. I will never give up on my Odyssey.

Listen up 2015! Here.I.Come!

I’m enjoying a short period of less hectic days and this will continue for a couple of weeks. Bliss! Trying to get office stuff done quite promptly in the morning and then indulging myself for the rest of the day.

As for many of us, 2014 was a mixed bag – the proverbial good, bad and the ugly. I wrestled the entire year with my weight and worrying health markers.

A battle plan is in progress for 2015 and I will be sharing all here on this neglected blog. Not easy to bare one’s soul for the whole world to see but I will be doing this anyway.

I would so love to have you join me as the odyssey continues……

This pic sorta says it all!  🙂

DEFINED INSPIRATION

http://www.helpdiet.co.za/blog/letter-of-gratitude-to-prof-tim-noakes/