Saturday, November 28, 2009

Uni results

Yesterday I learned by Uni results - I achieved a Distinction in Editing and a High Distinction in Writing Short Narratives. Yay!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I can exercise

I just started back at the gym last week and I have been going to exercise classes but taking it pretty easy - partly because I haven't exercised for nine months and partly because I've just got over being sick for the past two weeks. Today I was expecting a fairly relaxing class, when I used to attend this one it was billed as being for the unfit, the elderly, the injured etc - usually a bit of aerobics and using the fitball and those stretchy elastic things. But they seem to have completely changed it, it is still a varied mix of whatever the instructor has come up with for the day but it was HARD. Half aerobic step, half pump weights; lots of lunges (ow) and lifting (ow) and running up and down on the step (collapse).

But you know what? I did it! Lower step and lighter weights than some others, and I slowed down a bit at the end, but I got through the class. I sweated and went all red in the face and my thighs went all wobbly but I DIDN'T DIE! And I didn't give up and leave. So today I learned that I can do it after all. I am rather proud of myself.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Pizza

Today I learned that half a pepperoni pizza has nearly 1000 calories. Oh dear. And I was going so well this week.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Worst Shoes Ever

Today I learned that, yes, they can make women's shoes even uglier than the previous award winner; those ones with the high heel bit coming from the middle - the arch of the foot - rather than the back. Looked very precarious and uncomfortable. Today I was flicking through a women's magazine and saw a picture of some actress or whoever wearing blue shoes that defied normality by leaving the pinky toe sticking out sideways. It made her feet looked deformed. Like someone who needed special shoes with a hole cut in the side because her weird little toe can't be contained by a normal shoe. By the caption, this seemed not to be the case. If I was forced to wear something like that by my sponsorship agreement I would be scared of always catching my poor toe on everything I walked past.

Maybe this is the exciting new thing in shoes. I am certainly no fashion expert. But somehow I don't think it will catch on.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Holding back the tide of fat

When I was going to the gym, I often felt it wasn't worth it. I dragged myself there three times a week or whatever, get the toddler into the creche and leave him crying and trying to hold on to me, get changed into gym gear, exercise, shower, change back into normal clothes, pick up toddler, go home. A huge chunk of my day and for what?

I wasn't losing any weight, although that was my goal. Waste of time. And then this year I was really busy and wasn't often making time to go to the gym. So I cancelled my membership.

And put on 8 kilograms (more than 16 pounds) in nine months. And feel completely unhealthy and rotten and tired all the time.

So, even if you think that bit of exercise isn't doing anything, it is. It is stopping you getting worse, if nothing else! I am going to rejoin the gym and lose this extra 8 kg and then some more. My short term goal is 5 kg by Christmas. 5 kg in 5 weeks is a big ask but I can do it. I believe in me!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Capsican

Today I learned that the thing about not touching any sensitive areas after chopping chillis applied to capsicum too. Probably not as badly. But the skin under my eyes is currently stinging and burning.

Anyone in America, I think you call them bell peppers. The big red things.

So I am going to wash my hands very very carefully before I do anything else with them.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Pasta sauce

I have often thought it a shame that there are only two base pasta sauces (that I like, at least), tomatoey ones: lasagne or bolognaise or with chilli and olives for example, and creamy ones: well, anything where you add a big pour of cream. I find an olive oil or butter based sauce a bit bland no matter what bits you toss in. But today, reading through a pasta recipe book from the library, a whole new world opened.

What you do is, you cook your roast or steak or venison-stuffed partridge if you are that way inclined, and then you use the meat juices to roll your cooked pasta in. How excellent is that! I usually avoid wasting delicious meat juices (and fats) by cooking some zucchini or spinach or something in the pan, but I never thought of using pasta to sop up the flavour.

Of course on the down side you now have two meals to deal with at once. The book suggested using the pasta as a entree and the meat in the main course, but that sounds like a recipe for massive overeating to me. Good if you have visitors I suppose - except then the entree and main would taste the same ... oh I'm hard to please I know. Just have to be strong, I guess, have small portions with lots left over for lunches the next day.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sickness and Health

Did I read somewhere recently - or maybe I saw it on Oprah or similar - that you shouldn't marry someone until they have looked after you while you have gastro. Yuck but true. It's important in a partner that they love you enough to look after you while you are all gross. This weekend, as I lay sick in bed, my husband looked after me and our two little kids and cleaned the whole house ready for the carpet cleaners coming tomorrow morning. Amazing.

You may say; well, of course, wouldn't every husband/wife? Apparently not. My mother has often complained that my dad wouldn't even cut her toenails for her when she was nine months pregnant with twins and couldn't even see her own toes, let alone reach them with scissors. (They are divorced now, by the way.)

So lesson for the day, don't marry someone until you know that they really will be there in sickness as well as health, in adversity as well as happy times.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Word of the day

I couldn't think of anything that I had learned today, so decided to fall back on the faithful dictionary.

nucha - the back or nape of the neck

Lets all remember that one shall we?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

To Get Well - See a Doctor

Well, obviously, you might say: to get well - see a doctor. But I mean it in the sense that no matter how long you (or your child) have been sick, no matter how obvious and revolting the pus, rash, laboured breathing, rapid heartrate, whatever - the moment you sit in front of the doctor all symptoms disappear. What rash? Um, see this kind of faint pink dot here? A moment ago that was a pox covering my whole body. My child who is currently jumping up and down on the examination table looks quite well to you? But I promise he has been bed ridden with a hacking cough for a week!

This rule also works with getting plumbers to come and look at your faulty dishwasher (nope, looks like it working just fine to me ...) and techies to check your computer which miraculously works the moment they come to look over your shoulder.

I'm not sure what the lesson is from this. If you don't go to the doctor, you will stay sick; if you do go you have the expense and embarrassment but walk out cured.

Weird Families

I didn't get to post yesterday because I got home so late, but what I learned was that there is nothing more interesting than other people's weird or tragic family stories! I was at dinner with a group of ten people I had recently completed a months-long work project with, we all got along very well and the chatting was loud and congenial. It was a long table, so it was hard to talk to everyone at once; there were always between three and five conversations going on at any one time. Until, that is, someone near me mentioned obsessive behaviour and I revealed that my brother has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Suddenly I had everyone's undivided attention. All other conversations stopped as I was questioned about the manifestations of my brother's disorder and what caused it and how it affected me.

I used to think that I was the only one with a weird family and tragic childhood, but the more you get to know other people the more you find out that just about everyone has something. A mother lost to MS after years of slowly losing control of her body and mind. A cousin dying at 24 of anorexia. Years of sexual abuse by a family member. A father who threatens to shoot you if your mother leaves him. A father who turns out to be not your father after all. Most people have had something strange and horrible happen in their family, and I think it is quite normal that other people are fascinated by it. It makes them feel not so alone.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

WoW

Well today was a public holiday here in Canberra. Nominally 'family and community day' or some such, but in actual fact so that we can all be home to watch the Melbourne Cup on TV. It's only been a public holiday for a few years (used to be just Melbourne city itself) and the caterers are all complaining that they are losing money because there are no big work functions for the race any more as everyone is home. So the public holiday is being discontinued. Oh well, hope everyone (other than the caterers) enjoyed it while they could.

Because my husband was home I got a bit more free time than is usual on a weekday and this afternoon I learned how to do ToC (normal, not heroic). Seems easy at first, then you realise it is a death trap. At least, it is if you get Paletress the Confessor. If you get Eadric the Pure it's a doddle. And if you don't know what I am talking about well ... I'm tired and going to bed. I'll explain it another day.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Don't Shop When You Are Hungry

Today I learned - or rather I was reminded - that you shouldn't shop when hungry! I found myself doing the grocery shopping just before lunchtime after a busy morning with no morning tea. I filled the trolley with lovely fresh fruit and vegetables. Still hungry. Chucked in a packet of scrumptious-looking apricot delight. Hmm, still hungry. Added a packet of Corn Chips to the pile. That's odd ... I'm still ravenous! Better grab a packet of Tim Tams as well. Why isn't this working? No matter how much lovely food I put in my trolley, I am still starving. Went through the checkout and there is a bread shop. Oh the delicious smells. Time to buy a cheese roll. And shovel in handfuls of grapes and a couple of Tim Tams on the way to the car. Finally I get home, right on lunch time, with plenty of healthy left-overs in the fridge. Funny, I'm not hungry any more ...

Finally spring

Today I learned that you can wait for six months for warmer weather, and then whine when you get too much of a good thing! 2/3 of the way through spring we finally got our first hot day here (28.5 inside my house, not sure what it is outside) and I am hot hot hot - but not in a good way. I am rather worried about summer if I can't even truly enjoy the first day of real spring. Having the oven on for a couple of hours for a pre-planned roast doesn't help.

But it's not really true that I didn't enjoy it. Picnic in the park (in the shade) for lunch was lovely, and I know I have air conditioning I can turn on if I need it. The backyard is in bloom, the lawn is looking neat and a little shocked after its haircut, the windows are open to the fresh air. It is spring!