Merry Christmas

Sunday:

Merry Christmas everyone!

We spent the days leading up to Christmas cleaning the house, shopping and cooking, ready for Christmas for 20. We all got involved in icing the gingerbread, here is a selection.

We were very happy that both the window and the shade sail for the pool were finished in time for Christmas. Depending on the time of day, the sail can shade anything from a thin sliver to most of  the seating area and up to a quarter of the pool. It has definitely helped ward against sunburn already, we are swimming every day with temps in the 30s. Yesterday the air was 36 and the water was 34! Almost like a bath. We were thinking of getting an image printed on the sail - a phoenix flying overhead - but it was delaying things too much so we decided to just get the plain canvas.

On Christmas morning it was up early for presents. We usually host Christmas lunch but this year we switched to dinner (evening) so we had a relaxed morning examining our presents and having an indulgent breakfast.

The afternoon was chaotic as family came and went at different times - to swim, to share presents, going home again to finish their dinner contribution then come back. It wasn't so much fun, Tim and I would have liked to be in the pool (in between tending to the turkey) but had to take turns waiting in the house to let people in. Actually when I did have a swim it wasn't much fun either due to the little girls, but more on that later. Then there was a lot of waiting around for 20 people to be ready at the same time to open presents together. Like herding cats.

Finally we all sat down to dinner together and that was lovely. As usual everyone contributed... more or less. The two unreliable branches of the family didn't bring what they said they would (of course) which was kind of funny after the mini texting war over what they wanted to bring, especially over the trifle! Only two of us provided dessert instead of four, and they didn't seem to bring much else instead. But there was plenty of food anyway, just my turkey and roast vegetables would be enough for a normal dinner and there were lots of other contributions. The turkey was tender and delicious, the secret is lots of butter! Here you see it half carved.

We played some board games in the evening. The little kids were all very tired and cranky and over-sugared by that point so were eventually taken home to bed.

On Boxing Day we cleaned up the mess from the day before (Tim's aunt had done some washing up, but basically we do it all and are also left to somehow fit all the rubbish and recycling in our bins, it takes weeks to catch up with stinky food waste stored in the freezer - oo another little gripe while I'm here one person took leftover prawns home at my suggestion BUT shelled them here and left the shells and heads in our bin! All the bulky stinky bit for us, gee thanks) then everyone came back for lunch to celebrating Tim's father's birthday. We cooked some BBQ and had leftovers from Christmas, and I made another dessert and bought a cake. Then more board games and swimming in the afternoon. The little kids were all still really overtired, one threw up (too much junk food?) and were generally out of sorts.

Oh my goodness, a word on the little girls. Emma is 5 and Eliza is 4. Emma doesn't have firm control over her emotions and there are frequent tears and tantrums. Eliza thinks she can get away with anything as long as she has a big cheeky grin on her face. Together.... well. Apart from making a huge mess and the dizzying changes from best friends to hated enemies, this holiday period they found the box of Christmas Crackers and sat down and opened every one, and then much worse when somehow unobserved they pulled all the almost-ripe peaches off our dwarf tree (and put them in one mother's bag, clearly intending to take them home) which has wasted half of them as I don't think they will ripen - the whole year's carefully watered crop! So annoying! In the pool they need constant attention of course, they both have swimming lessons but they are only little. They constantly swim out too deep then have to grab on to someone, and if that someone is not strong (Jasmine or Aiden) or a good swimmer (me) then we all nearly drown. Jasmine is a good swimmer but can't do much while trying to hold up a child in each arm. And the parents do nothing, usually tending to the younger child in their arms (we have 3 two-year-olds). I usually avoid disciplining other people's children, but if they are in my house or pool I guess I'll have to start. I was really pissed off about the peaches and did tell them not to do that again.

I was exhausted by the end of Boxing Day and I was really wishing people would leave. Some hung around to well after I wanted to be eating dinner (leftovers) and collapsing. They might have been hoping for an invitation to stay but I needed down time! Finally got them out. I spent most of the following day napping, completely worn out from days of cooking and cleaning and general chaos. I feel like I didn't enjoy it all as much as in previous years. Maybe I'm getting too old to host two days in a row. And the family gets bigger and bigger.

The few days since then it has been really hot, we stay inside as much as possible. I had to do some grocery shopping Friday morning and went at 9am, it was already scorching. Quiet days reading and computer games all morning, board games together in the afternoon (we got five new ones this Christmas!)then a swim. Even with the shade sail we don't risk swimming in the middle of the day, although lying in the hammock in the shade is nice. Family are coming over this afternoon for a swim and then the usual Sunday afternoon Dungeons and Dragons and dinner, it won't be all 20 though! Probably 8-10, I never know for sure.  

View

Wednesday:

I had a job interview yesterday for a Saturday-only position in a library in the city. It’s not ideal but I need some experience for my resume. It’s a long commute, not the duties I prefer, only one long day a week, and I’ll see my husband even less than I do now. But it’s definitely work I am qualified for - customer service. The interview seemed to go well, I was able to answer all the questions and I nailed the role play of showing a pretend customer how to borrow an e-book (they offered me time to prepare for that which I declined, I use that app all the time at home to borrow from my own library!). The library itself was lovely, only two years old. Actually I didn’t get to see much of it, I was taken straight to the interview room and when that was over I was put in a staff lift that deposited me outside!

Exciting today, the window is being installed in our back room to give a view of the swimming pool. It will get more light into the room too, but mainly I wanted to be able to see out.

We had a very late night on Monday. My niece had her dance concert and it was 45 mins drive away and went until 10.30. So late for the little ones! And for me, with my job interview the next morning. Emma is only five, in the youngest group who don’t do that much, but the oldest dancers were 16-18 and the concert overall was excellent. Worth seeing even if my niece wasn’t in it!

On the weekend we went to another niece’s 2nd birthday party, then to an Acrogym Christmas party at Flip Out - an indoor trampoline warehouse thing. Neither was air conditioned (Flip Out had fans that everyone crowded in front of) so it was a long stinking hot day that I didn’t really enjoy at all. I don’t deal with heat well. Also even the little bit of junk food I ate (two mini doughnuts) made me feel worse. I wanted to be home in the air con or the pool!

Only two weeks until Christmas!

Winding down

Thursday:

Jasmine and I have been down for a few days with a horrible stomach bug. As usual, we probably caught it from one of the family kids who was here on Sunday and apparently up all the night before vomiting... 'but he's fine now, really, I wouldn't bring him if he wasn't.' Sigh. On the Tuesday Tim had to stay home and look after us both. Nearly recovered now, although Jas is home from school for her third day and she also isn't going tomorrow as there's an excursion that would get her back too late for another commitment. Nearly a whole week of school missed! But all exams are over and there is only a couple of weeks left of the school year so everything is winding down anyway.

There are a few end-of-year and Christmas parties the next two weeks. For the kids, not me. Aiden has his 'graduation' party tonight for the end of Primary School.

I've done almost all my Christmas shopping, quite a lot online this year, now I need to start thinking about the food - which is pretty much the same every year even though we're doing dinner (evening) this time instead of lunch. We host so I do the turkey and roast veges and a dessert and everyone brings something. The last two years there has been a war over who gets to bring the trifle. I don't even like trifle so I couldn't care less. I told them they can all bring trifle if they want. I'll just have the Toblerone cheesecake that I make! My husband's mother was English, so they all seem to like trifle and ham and mince pies and all that stuff.

Excellence again

Monday:

The state final of Acrogym was on Saturday, and Jasmine and her partner Rebekah came 4th! Excellent result. Jasmine and Elise were 7th last year so that is a great improvement. Level one last year, level two this year, we're expecting her to definitely go up to three with that result. Nearly on the podium! The air conditioning in the gym was broken and it was 33C outside so it was a long hot afternoon, worse down on the floor for the acrobats in their long-sleeve leotards. I think quite a few of the kids were struggling due to that. Jasmine's partner made a few mistakes. Still a great result.

Today Aiden's school had its Excellence Awards, he won in Mathematics for his class as he did last year but also received a special science award (only two for the school) with a lovely medallion from the nearby nuclear science research facility. My father-in-law used to work there, and is not allowed to talk about it. We're so proud of Aiden! Only a few more weeks of Primary School. Jasmine is also getting excellent results in her school work.

My weight is currently 74.5kg. I've started the CSIRO low carb diet, but fruit is so gorgeous this time of year I'm not being as low carb as I'm supposed to.

I'm getting to the gym two or three times a week, not too bad but I should go more. On the other hand, it's keeping me out of the garden as morning gym class time is the best time to be out working in the garden - it gets too hot later - and the gym doesn't have lunchtime classes. The garden is suffering from a bit of neglect, everything is growing crazily and needs attention.

I haven't heard anything from that TAFE library job but I have an interview in a week for a position at a public library on Saturdays, which mostly suits me ok as Tim is home with the kids. Of course it would interfere with various things, but I need to get some experience on paper so I can get a proper job. It's in the city in a well-to-do area near the harbour, pictures on the library on the internet look lovely. Travel would be over an hour each way, but at least it is near a train station. Only one day a week advertised, but you never know what it could become.

Personal Trainer

Thursday:

I had to cancel/postpone my second session with my personal trainer today because I am sick. I took a deal of 3 sessions with a PT for $50 when I joined the gym. The first session with ridiculously tall young man was a fitness check, he got me to do various exercises to see how many I could do and also took my pulse after things. I'm not sure what future sessions will involve. I haven't been doing great getting to the gym; twice a week and that includes the PT session and a 20 min walk on the treadmill. Need to do more classes. I have made it to a couple of Zumba.

My weight peaked at 74.8 kg, I've fought it back down to 74.3 kg. Not happy with it.

Aiden turned 12 on Saturday, he had a party at Underworld Laser (running round in the dark shooting at the other team) followed by a pool party back here with friends plus family. It all went well. We were lucky with the weather being reasonably warm on the day, it was a hot winter but has been a mostly cool spring.

I can't believe he is 12 and starting High School next year! Bought his books and uniform this week. He hasn't hit his growth spurt yet so all his friends are about twice his height. The school had to order shorts for him in a smaller size than they usually carry. He certainly doesn't look like a High School student. He got did an exam and got into the extension stream at the High School (classes for brainy kids) so he is obviously academically ready - except his hand writing - but his organisation skills aren't there yet.

I've started thinking about Christmas and bought quite a few presents yesterday.

Back at the gym

Tuesday:

Wow, I didn't realise it has been more than two weeks since I've posted. Is that the longest ever? Just keeping myself busy.

Jasmine had her first State Trial for acrogymnastics and did really well. Third overall (second in Balance, fourth in Dynamic) - through to the State Final in December! All the worries about her inexperienced new partner were needless.

I ummed and ahhed about joining the gym after my free trial, it seemed difficult for my fitness level and if I get a job I probably won't be able to go. But a week at home, bored and putting on weight, changed my mind! (74.0 kg yesterday) So I joined up on month-by-month basis. Yesterday I did a Body Pump class for the first time in years and it was fine (with very light weights) and today I did Zumba again - definitely my favourite. My legs are pretty sore!

I had the blood test and as expected I am not intolerant of gluten. If anything, I felt better while eating it! Maybe the extra fibre? I put on weight though.

I've been spreading out my last few Duromine, one every few days. I have one left. It will be a challenge keeping my eating under control, especially as exercise makes me hungrier. But I won't miss the dry mouth!

Zumba

Tuesday:

I weighed 72.5kg yesterday, same as last week. I have my blood test for gluten tomorrow, so this is my last bread day. Except I might have it for breakfast tomorrow before the blood test, so that will be a half-bread day. I don't intent to give up bread/carbs entirely but eating four slices a day for a month has been more of a trial that you would think. I don't think I react to gluten, but I have been feeling heavier and more sluggish than when I eat mainly unprocessed/lower carb foods.

Jasmine and I were sick yet again over the weekend. It was a weird one, on Friday afternoon my heart rate went up over 100 even though I was sitting quietly, and stayed up for a couple of hours. I could feel it racing, and I felt trembly and weak. I was a bit worried. I blamed it on Duromine, although it's never had that effect before. But the next morning Jasmine's heart rate was over 110, lying in bed, and like me could feel her heart racing. Her normal rate is very low because she is athletic and fit - around 55 I think? My normal is an unfit 80. (We both wear fitness trackers, which is how we know our heartrate.) For both of us the heartrate went down and the illness moved on to headaches and tiredness for a couple of days. Clearly a virus.

I was supposed to start work yesterday, but I emailed them on Thursday (again me contacting them, should have been the other way around!) and they had no news, they still want me if the freeze lifts but in the meantime I should keep looking for other work. Lucky I'm not desperate for work/money! Nothing much else around at the moment, except Library Assistant jobs (below my training, but I'd do it for the experience) who want people who can work evenings, which I can't. Or jobs right over the other side of Sydney, with an impractical amount of travel time.

On the weekend I signed up for a 5 day free pass at my local gym, and received the confirmation by email. I didn't go on Monday because I still felt a little unwell, and they called me to ask when I was coming in! Now that is proactive. I went today, to a Zumba class. It was exhausting but fun. I am very unfit. I used to do some Zumba many years ago, all the routines were different of course. I am good at picking up choreography though. My old gym went more hip-hop, which I didn't like, this one was all Bollywood and Latin which was great. The gym has all the usual Les Mills classes, Body Pump, Body Step etc.

I has poured rain pretty solidly for a couple of weeks (all school holidays) and the garden has loved it after a long dry spell. I think columbines look like little fairy dresses.

Nothing to say

Wednesday:

Again, I have very little to blog about this week. I forgot to weigh myself on Monday but I was 72.5 kg yesterday, down a bit. We are all feeling well again, but it's been pouring rain nearly every day these school holidays so we haven't done much. Tim has taken this week off. Jasmine has lots of Acrogym holiday practices. We've continued with the board games. Yesterday we went and saw "The House with the Clock in its Walls" which was good. I'll let you know when I have something else to say!

Oh, and I haven't heard anything about that job. I was supposed to start next week, I have to assume they can't hire me because of the hiring freeze, but I think it is very rude of them to not check in with me occasionally even if it is without any new info. I was the one who contacted them a couple of weeks ago!

We have organised someone to put a shade sail over a portion of our pool, but haven't heard back from either of the people who were supposed to give us quotes for some other work. I was only able to get those two to even come out and look. It's been around three weeks. Not having much luck with Sydney tradesmen.

Acrogymnastics

Wednesday:

Jasmine had her Spring Cup on the weekend for Acrogymnastics. It's the first competition of the year, a small invitational, with the State Trials starting in three weeks and the State Finals at the start of December. We were a bit worried this year, she did so well in level one last year but she has a new younger partner this year for level two (they compete as pairs or trios, Jasmine is the 'base' doing all the lifting and Becky is the 'top' - her partner of last year grew and is now a 'base' herself). But we needn't have worried - they came first in Balance routine and second in Dynamic routine - first overall! There were about nine pairs in her class, the State Trials of course will be much bigger. 

We are all sick... again. Tim came home Friday with a hacking cough and runny nose, I started to feel ill Sunday afternoon, Aiden yesterday. Jasmine has a sore throat but otherwise is ok so far. It is so annoying, I feel like we've hardly had a well day this winter season. The germs go round and round. 

My weight was much the same this Monday, 72.8 kg I think. 

I'm two weeks into eating four slices of bread a day to see if I react to gluten. So far it seems like I don't (which is great!). I've had stomach pains twice, both times after eating more heavily processed carby foods - 2 min noodles, and chocolate biscuits. My mouth ulcers flared up once, almost immediately after eating half a packet of Mentos (chewy fruit-flavoured lollies). The inside of my cheeks felt shredded. I've always associated it with eating sugar. I'll keep going with the bread, although it doesn't really fit with my idea of an ideal diet, so I can have the blood test and be sure, but it seems like it's not gluten. 

School holidays have started, but with us all sick we haven't done much. Today Jasmine rearranged the games shelves (into age/difficulty levels) and pulled out some board games that she doesn't remember ever playing - some I don't remember playing! We used to buy them regularly and have been given quite a few over the years but play on computers more nowadays or play the same few games over and over. The kids and I played two this afternoon, Mindtrap and Dominion (haven't finished Dominion, it said 30 mins on the box but that was a lie!), both good. Still eleven more in the pile to play - we have a lot of games! About 50 currently on the shelves (not including the 11 + 2), and that is after a cull when we moved here. And several boxes of 'Magic the Gathering' cards. The only one I really dislike is chess. I don't have the patience. 

Medieval faire

Tuesday:

On Sunday we went to a medieval faire; the whole extended family (Tim's side, obviously, my side of the family are into tennis and.... other sports maybe? Tim's side are into the whole fantasy thing.) We'd never been to one before, but it turned out to be a really big event. The parking stretched far enough away that they had a free shuttle bus to the gate.

I had the green renaissance dress I'd bought recently and a couple of others in the family dressed up, maybe a quarter of the people at the faire were in costume. Tim wasn't dressed up but he tried on chain mail armour there. Very heavy!

There were lots of stalls selling costumes, plastic swords and bows, real swords and bows, art and pottery; demonstrations of blacksmithing and other medieval crafts; and the main arena with knights in armour fighting with swords and pikes, people carrying eagles, madrigal singing, stuff like that.

I wish I could show you but out internet has been incredibly bad for about a week, don't know why, so I can't upload pictures. Or play games. Or just about anything else that takes much space. Need to investigate what is going on. [edit: managed to add photos]

My big regret is that we didn't see the jousting. It was kind of why I went in the first place! But we got there a little too late to see the morning session, and my family wanted to leave before the late afternoon session. Sad face. I didn't put up much resistance, we would have had to wait around more than an hour and we'd seen everything else already, the kids were getting bored and Jas and I had had a bit too much sun, but I wish I had. We would have stayed if they knew how much I wanted to.

My weight had been a bit down all week but on Monday was back up to 72.7kg, reflecting the big weekend.

I did my last volunteering session at Aiden's school library, unless this job falls through (don't know what is going on at the moment) I'll be starting there next term. And Aiden goes to High School next year.

Oompah

Saturday:

It was my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday party today, he chose to celebrate in a German restaurant in the city. There were Octoberfest celebrations so it was... exuberant. Three and a half hours of loud oompah music, sauerkraut and pork belly. I didn’t eat that much actually, there’s only so much pork fat a girl can handle. It seemed odd to go all the way into the city (not fun for Tim who has to commute every day) when there is a restaurant with exactly the same menu nearby, that we went to on his birthday last year, and my throat is really sore from trying to talk to people over the noise of the crowd and the music. And a very long time for the little kids to sit and be good. But it was Nick’s choice and I think he had fun.

I’ve been eating the four slices of bread every day (and enjoying it!) and for the first time in ages I haven’t had any abdominal pain! Bit soon to tell, but that seems like it’s not the gluten causing my pain. I have had mouth ulcers, but they have flared up immediately after eating chocolate not bread. So... sugar, like I’ve always thought? Don’t know.

Aiden was home sick Monday and Tuesday, Jasmine on Friday. She still wasn’t feeling great today, but sat through the party and all the travel We have plans for tomorrow, but we’ll see how she is. I’m not going to put her through another long day.

Gluten

Thursday:

I continue to get lots of pelvic/abdominal pain, even though I had my uterine fibroids removed, so I am no longer sure it is reproductive-organ-related. I saw my doctor yesterday (a different one, they get a new female doctor every six months as part of their training) and we talked about the possibility it could be digestive-tract-related. I had not realised until some internet research this week that I have a number of symptoms indicating possible Coeliac Disease or gluten intolerance. Apart from the abdominal pain, I have lots of joint pain, frequent mouth ulcers (which I had related to sugar, but maybe it's gluten), fatigue, and I don't seem to absorb vitamins well from food (eg I have to take Vitamin B12 despite eating lots of meat, and I've had other unexplained deficiencies in the past). I'm not jumping to any conclusions, just looking for answers.

So that the gluten test will be accurate, I have to eat four slices of bread a day for four weeks before a blood test and then maybe a bowel biopsy. Eating bread certainly isn't a hardship, but I do worry that it will derail my lowish-carb weight loss efforts, and if it's actual Coeliac Disease then every bit of gluten is doing my body real damage. I've decided to go ahead with the test because I definitely want an answer about my abdominal pain and other symptoms. And avoiding gluten is considered a bit of a fad (loved the joke that Californians are so afraid of gluten that you could rob a bank with a bagel) but for people with Coeliac it is a major issue leading to serious health problems and gluten has to be strictly avoided. (And even if  a person just feels better without it, why sneer at them for that?)

I had a lovely roast chicken roll for lunch, and garlic bread with dinner. Yum. I didn't have any stomach cramps after yesterday's bread, but I had a horrible sinus headache in the evening and this morning. No idea if it was gluten making my existing hayfever worse (because it encourages inflammation) or unrelated. I haven't been gluten-free prior to this, just lowish-carb, so I don't know if the increase will make a big difference to how I feel.

Access to our front door is currently only up a fairly steep driveway and this is an issue for some older or unwell visitors (like my 100-year-old grandfather, or my father-in-law's partner Jo who has lung cancer and therefore compromised breathing). We're planning to have stairs and a railing added next to the driveway and we've had two contractors come out to have a look. One very pleasant youngish well-presented clean young man who ummed and ah-ed and looked very uncertain about everything, as if he'd never tackled that particular type of job before. And one somewhat older man with work-stained clothes and dirty boots who was casually confident and looked like he built stairs every day. We haven't got the quotes yet but I'd feel a lot more comfortable trusting the second guy!

Uncertainty

Monday:

My weight was 72.8kg this morning, up a little bit, but on the other hand my waist measurement was down a centimetre to the smallest it's been since I started measuring.

Aiden is home sick today. He has all the symptoms of what Tim and I had already been through over the past couple of weeks. I hope he bounces back quickly.

Unsettling news today, my future-employer let me know there has been a freeze on recruitment and my paperwork is sitting with HR. She seemed hopeful, I think...? I don't know if I should start looking for work again. I was supposed to start in four weeks when someone goes on maternity leave, but nothing was officially signed yet. I've already wasted six weeks if it falls through. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to send out applications if there is anything advertised, I'd hopefully know about this job by the time they were doing interviews. It's a bit disheartening, I thought I had this position lined up!

Solar panels

Monday:

I ate really well all week, then stuffed myself with junk on the weekend. This morning I was down 0.6kg to 72.5kg, but I had dipped much lower before the weekend. I felt physically awful this morning, too. My body does not like junk food, even if my mouth does!

Wednesday:

The solar panels are being installed on the roof today (and maybe a bit of tomorrow if they don't finish). I have to be home because they need access to the roof cavity sometimes. It is so loud! Drilling and banging and people walking up and down the tiles. But it will be worth it.

A worker just came in to use the bathroom (oops, I haven't checked it since the kids left for school and my son doesn't have the best aim...) and she was dripping sweat. We've had some warmer spring weather but today is an anomaly - it is 30C! Very summery. Just one day though, back to 20C tomorrow.

Mind tricks

Tuesday:

My brain was weird today. There was a product I’d seen a couple of times and was considering buying (ok, it was another handbag, but that isn’t relevant to the story) and this morning I decided to look at it online. I couldn’t find it on the maker’s website, or the website of the department store where I’d seen it. I was very sure of the brand (which had other bags quite similar) and could picture exactly what it looked like but I didn’t know the name of the specific item (they give them names like  “conscience”, “Angela”, or “splendiosa”).

I tossed my net further afield. Maybe the range had been superseded and that’s why it wasn’t for sale any more. Different online stores, Amazon, scrolled through over 2800 items on eBay, joined Pinterest. Nothing. Didn’t exist. Had never existed. But I’d seen it, touched it, in person! At the most a couple of months ago, probably less. I wasn’t giving up now, after about three hours of searching. I called the maker’s nearest store, as the experts. Nope. She doubtfully pointed me towards the most similar items, looked though their recent range, nothing like I described.

I have come to the conclusion I mashed together a bag from that maker and some features from a completely different brand. But the scary thing is I was so sure! I can still see it in my mind.

I’ve seen a demonstration (maybe on an old Oprah episode) testing a group of bystanders after a “thief” ran past chased by the shouting “victim”. Many of the bystanders couldn’t describe the thief accurately - and a lot of them mentioned features of the victim instead! Or if another person suggested something they would agree, even though it was false. 'Memories' are easily implanted. Humans are so unreliable.

Spring

Monday:

It doesn't really feel like spring! We had a mostly very mild dry winter but the last couple of weeks have been cold and rainy and these first few days of spring have been the same. The farmers desperately need the rain, so I guess I can put up with it.

My weight was 73.1 kg this morning, up a bit more. I really suck at controlling my eating when I'm sick. I was just getting over one illness when Tim brought home another one. But I am feeling better now.

It was Father's Day yesterday, Tim and I were recovered enough to have everyone over for family dinner. So many little kids! Well, they seem to fill the house anyway! The littlest three cousins are all about to turn two years old, and the princesses are four and five. They are either best friends or fighting and crying. Either way, they are loud!

Medieval

Monday:

I had decided to never buy clothes online again after a couple of unsatisfactory purchases, but then I decided I needed some medieval dresses and it is very hard to find them anywhere else. I chose three, from a costume shop (they are costumes and therefore much cheaper but not as good quality as a real medieval dress would be) with the intent of keeping them all if they looked good but sending back any that didn't. I've learned to base my size choice on my hip measurement, not my waist measurement.

They are all much too long of course, and will need to be hemmed up, but aside from that the fit was very good. The green dress looked great:

The purple dress didn't suit me at all (I sent it back):

The black and red 'vampire countess' looked nice but the weird grey flap hanging from the waist is uneven and I haven't decided what to do about it. It would not be easy to just remove. In the promotional picture it doesn't overlap the red stripe down the front at all, that would have been much better, on mine it goes too far and meets off-centre. But overall the dress looks nice and I'm keeping it.

Why do I need medieval dresses? My family goes to Comicon and places like that and all wear costumes, I've never been but I may go one day. And it's just nice to have a costume ready for any occasion that may come up.

My weight was 72.4 kg this morning.

I came down sick (again) on the weekend. It's been a trying winter in that respect. We had to cancel D&D and family dinner.

Thursday:
I am starting to feel better but Tim came home from work yesterday feeling awful and went straight to bed (very very unusual!) and is home sick today. I have some sores in my mouth that I don't know if they are from this illness, or dry mouth from Duromine (which I've stopped for the moment), or from too much sugar; but there is one on my tongue that is quite painful. It woke me a couple of times in the night feeling like a needle dipped in acid had been stuck in the tip of my tongue. Ouch.

Aiden will be starting High School next year and he's doing an 'Extension Exam' this morning to see if he gets into the top class. Jasmine didn't get the chance as we moved here right at the end of the year just before she started High School so they put her in the second class originally, but she was moved into the extension class the following year. Aiden is very good in maths and science areas and he has a great imagination, but his handwriting is like a five year old and I hope that doesn't hold him back. We've been working on it at home, and at school of course.

Handbags

Thursday:

I’ve always been a person who owned only one handbag. When it wore out, after maybe five years or so, I’d buy a replacement. Always a smallish over-the-shoulder style, reasonable quality (ie real leather) but nothing too pricey. I wasn’t much into fashion, and who wants to transfer all their stuff from one bag to another all the time? If I could get away with it, I'd shove keys, phone and a credit card in my pockets and go without a bag at all, or if I needed to carry a lot I'd use a backpack.

Suddenly I’m reading fashion magazines (and giggling quite a bit at the ridiculous things that surely no-one would ever wear), watching Project Runway, and buying multiple handbags. I own five! I know that is nothing to some people, but it’s a multitude to me. Still nothing pricey, I can’t justify spending $500 (or $5000!) but maybe I’ll get to that stage eventually.

It started with needing new clothes and shoes because I was returning to the workplace. And because I’d lost weight, I looked better trying things on than I had for more than ten years. My nice aqua handbag was still good, but I decided I needed a larger bag as well, and used that while in work placement. It was black, so a couple of weeks ago I bought a more summery blue and white one for variety. Then yesterday I bought a small vibrantly purple shoulder bag - and because a second bag purchase was half price also got a cute black one with gold bees on it 🐝. Five bags!

Maybe I need a pink one...

I’ve solved the ‘transferring things’ problem by putting essentials in a little mesh insert, so I only have to move that with my wallet and keys each time instead of a mess of small items.

Is it normal to match your clothes to the handbag you want to use instead of the other way around?

Hayfever

Monday:

My food choices have been terrible this week. Not only too much junk, but also hardly fruit or vegetables. I’ve been affected badly by hay fever for a few weeks, I hardly ever get serious symptoms but this year the entire state is in drought plus it is very windy so pollens and allergens are everywhere even though it is still winter. When I was buying some medication the pharmacist told me everyone is bad this year. When I feel unwell I generally turn to ‘comfort’ food which does not help my body heal! I need nutrients, not over-processed frankenfood! Determined to do better this week.

My weight is up more than a kilogram to 72.9 kg.

Tim has asthma, luckily he doesn't seem too badly impacted by the conditions although other asthmatics I know are. But he is a heavy breather while asleep (not only now, always) which I find very frustrating. We don't have a spare room here for me to retreat to. My current solution is to have a 'daybed', Aiden's old bed tucked behind the three-seater in the lounge room. The kids (and visiting children) love lying on it during the day, and I can stumble out there when the loud breathing gets too annoying. I mainly use it on weekends when I would love to have a sleep-in but never can with Tim beside me - and he always sleeps in on the weekend, he needs it after a tiring week. It means I don't start the day full of resentment that he gets to sleep in and I don't.

The past two weeks there has been a substitute instead of the usual teacher-librarian at my son’s school. This morning there was no-one, and it was still dark and quiet. I went in and turned on some lights and the computer and sat there for half an hour just in case. Generally class 4G are being taught research skills and borrowing books on Monday mornings, and pairs of children return books for their classes, which I scan in and return to the shelves. Today only one class apparently didn’t get the memo and returned a few books for me to process. It was kind of weird sitting there in the gloom (I didn’t bother finding light switches for the whole library). But it got me out of the house for a nice walk there and back. I hope the teacher-librarian is ok.

Another week

Monday:

Another new week. Doesn't time just roll on by! This morning my weight was up a little more, 71.7 kg (I think, I kind of forgot before I wrote it down). Still working on that. It's that time of the month when I eat more chocolate. And everything else. Even when taking Duromine.

I'm still taking the Duromine (phentermine) but I have one or two days without it each week, to have a break from the dry mouth or if I'm sick or occasionally if I sleep late and don't want to take it late because it might affect my sleep that night. I'm trying to increase my exercise; did dance and walk yesterday, walk today.

I did my volunteer duty at Aiden's school library today, then grocery shopping, then an afternoon of bills and paperwork. We chose a solar power company, based mainly on the quality of materials they use. We've decided to go with more solar panels than we expect to use (there were differing opinions about whether this is a good idea or not); it helps future-proof us if we need more later, our electricity company pays for excess power that we send back into the grid (not as much as we pay them for electricity!!) which helps cover our night-time non-solar usage cost, and solar power that we sent to the grid that someone else uses helps save the environment because the electricity company isn't burning as much coal or whatever. Bigger up-front cost, of course. But it only takes a few years to pay for itself. And we're helping the environment! And therefore our own health. You can get a battery to store excess day-time power to use at night, but they are not cost effective at around $14000. We are better off selling excess to the grid.

Solar

Friday:

We've been planning to get solar panels on our roof for ages, this week I finally got around to doing some research and asking a few companies for quotes. Prices have come down a lot in recent years and the government also offers a large rebate which works out to around a third of the total price. I had long talks with several companies (over the phone; they look at images of your roof throughout the year to see if you have shade problems, ask about your electricity usage etc) and learned a lot! We haven't yet decided between two companies, but there was one we definitely won't be going with.

The guy seemed nice on the phone, and the quote was the cheapest, but my research showed that they use the lowest quality materials on my list. He wanted to call me back the next day but I said to at least give me the weekend to talk to my husband before we made a decision so he said he'd call Monday. He asked me to give a deposit on the spot to fix the quote and make sure it didn't go up (with other companies the quote was valid for a month without a deposit!) and that he'd give the deposit back if we didn't use his company (what is the point of a deposit then?) which I declined to do. Then despite me asking him not to call until Monday, I have received a 'follow-up' text from someone else at the company and it seems I have been put on their subscriber email list because I've also received advertisements about their latest deals. To be fair, I suppose neither text nor email are technically a phone call! I've blocked their number on my phone and unsubscribed from the email list, and sent messages on both mediums that we won't be needing them thanks. Maybe it's just me, but it feels more like pressure than customer service.

Lots of books

Monday:

My weight wandered back up to 71.5 kg this morning. By the time I start at this job it will be the middle of spring, and I'm excited about buying more new work clothes, but I would love to lose a bit more weight before then. I really really need to get exercise consistently into my life - and keep it there even when I start work!

My tiredness of last week morphed into illness on the weekend. Headache and dizzy and backache and jelly legs. Sometimes I was nauseous and didn't eat much, other times I was bored with sitting around and ate too much. I'm feeling so much better today though. I made some lovely chicken soup for my lunch.

I'm back volunteering at my son's school library on Mondays. Last week the teacher librarian was there but as usual was teaching a couple of classes so we don't really get time to talk much. There was a lot to do and I was there most of the morning, when I tried to leave she asked me to help a little longer (which was fine). Today she wasn't there, another teacher who I don't know (maybe a sub) was running the class and only said hi and left me to it, but there wasn't much to do at all and I left after less than an hour (it's only supposed to be half an hour anyway). I realised when I got to the shops that I'd left my handbag stashed under the desk at the library (my car keys were in my pocket, and I often don't carry a bag, just essentials in pockets, so I didn't notice) and I had to go back for it. Luckily not too far.

Tuesday:

I went into the city today to buy some books. Doing the cataloguing revealed some gaps in our collection; sometimes we hadn’t finished buying a series but quite a few gaps were where people had borrowed books and not returned them. I asked around last week but none turned up so I decided to replace some favourites. I went to my two favourite bookshops; Galaxy which specialises in sci-fi and fantasy (12 books) and Dymocks which is more general, and has a three-story store in the city (5 books). Very heavy! When I got home, 2 more had arrived that I had ordered online secondhand! Now I don’t know what to read first - and I was already in the middle of three before I bought these new ones.

Job Offer

Later Thursday:

I got a job offer! Apparently I was first on the suitability list. They offered the temporary position starting in October replacing someone on maternity leave for 9 months. This position was mentioned at the interview I had but I said at the time that I could only do part time so I surprised at this offer. Wasn’t it full time? I asked today. Only 30 hours a week, which I can manage. We are still sorting out what shifts I would do, but it seems like I have a job!

It’s only a temporary position, but that’s ok. It will help me get the next job. And it’s further away than I would like, driving through traffic, but on the other hand I don’t have to work during school holidays (because it’s a library for college students, and they have minimal staff or close during holidays) which solves any problem of what to do with my own children.

I no longer feel like I’m in limbo.

Limbo

Thursday:

I’ve been having a really low energy week. I was exhausted on Sunday after cooking all day for the family dinner, but thought nothing of it as I’d tried a new recipe which is always stressful - it turned out well - in the midst of a house full of excited children. But then I felt the same all Monday, and kind of depressed on Tuesday. But the last couple of days I’ve embraced it. If I’m tired, I’ll just enjoy reading and watching old Project Runway. I’m in Limbo at the moment; finished my studies but not yet in a job, so it makes sense I feel a little adrift. I keep myself busy with things like sorting my photos and doing my home book cataloguing project, but they are not the same as having a real purpose to your days.

I’ve also been thinking about writing another book. I sent my first manuscript to a couple of publishers last year (no response) before deciding it wasn’t the best I could do. I’m really proud of myself for writing a whole novel and I love it but it has its faults. I can do better on my next attempt. I’ve had a few ideas for quite a while, but now I have concepts that tie it all together and I really should start writing.

Aiden is away at school camp at the moment. In Canberra, where we lived until two years ago! He should know many of the places they are visiting quite well. Questacon, the interactive science museum, for example - we had an annual pass there for many years. I just wish they weren’t there in the middle of winter, it is much colder there than here in Sydney. It can be miserable down by the lake where most of the public buildings are when an icy wind blows over the water. They had to wear full school uniform, which I’ve never seen for camp before. Extra layers underneath! I miss my baby, but it does mean I can sleep in in the morning! Jasmine gets herself to school without assistance,  only Aiden has to be dragged out of bed.

On the List

Tuesday:

I received a nice letter today from the person who interviewed me for the TAFE library job (almost identical to what I did for work experience, in a different location). I was “successful” in my application and have been put on the list. Now I just have to wait for a job to become available - hopefully part time in one of the closer libraries in the group of 8. She didn’t say how many other people were on the list or how far down my name is! But at least I have been deemed suitable.

I haven’t heard back from the cataloguing dream job so I’m assuming I didn’t get an interview due to my lack of experience. I’m checking for jobs regularly but there are not many to apply for.

My weight was back down to 71.1 kg on Monday, my body really wants to be that weight! It was great that I only took a week to lose the holiday weight.

I will be babysitting this afternoon, but I’m not sure who! My sister-in-law asked me to mind one niece while she does something with the other - but it seems I didn’t take in whether I’ve got the one year old or the five year old. It doesn’t really matter, except for which toys and books I pull out. Oh well, I’ll see when they get here.

Baby photos

Saturday:

I've spent the past couple of days putting together a collection of favourite family photos, which I plan to print out. I haven't printed physical copies for a few years! We lost a lot of photos once when a computer died, so it's good to have backups and physical copies of the best ones. And I'm scanning in some of the old prints so we have both physical and online versions!

So hard to choose favourites among the dozens of baby photos. I know everyone thinks their own children are cute, but honestly mine are the cutest!

Clearly they take after me!

Dentist

Wednesday:

The Duromine is definitely working again. Reduced appetite, increased energy, dry mouth, slight nausea. I lost the holiday weight after only two days of eating less, so I guess it was mostly water! I certainly peed a lot. I did notice while we were away that my hands were puffy and my wedding ring was no longer loose like it has been for a while, back to normal now. And my face looks better, not grey and droopy. I think my body and face were trying to tell me not to eat so much.

I saw the dentist today to have two fillings of little cavities he found last check up, before the holidays. I was really worried about one as it was on the back of my back tooth and I have a strong gag reflex! I suggested that he let me sit in a more upright position as it's often the water filling my throat that is a problem, it was more difficult for him but it paid off. I only gagged twice. Win! Spent the next few hours with my face half numb worried I was drooling.

My garden thinks it is spring already. (To be fair, camellias flower in winter.)

It's going to look amazing when it really is spring!

Port Macquarie

Monday:

I think I'll save this morning's weigh-in until the end...

We spent last week at Port Macquarie on holiday. We hadn't been there before, but had to find something at short notice as we weren't sure which week Tim could take off work and our usual places were booked out. Actually we haven't been away longer than a weekend since moving to Sydney nearly three years ago! Installing the pool took all our money and attention. Port Macquarie is four and a half hours away (plus stops for lunch etc), north of Sydney, just far enough that it doesn't book out as quickly as the closer tourist spots. Population of about 45,000. It was lovely! We were so lucky with the weather too, 23C nearly every day - in the middle of winter! - clear and sunny.

Sorry a lot of the photos are so glary, the sun was so bright! The beaches were really interesting, lovely golden sand with outcroppings of sculptural rocks.

On the first day we went for a long walk, two and a half hours (there and back) along the beaches and through little sections of bushland. We could see the spouting and splashing of whales not too far out. We got as far as the rainforest café but I was too tired to face the rainforest walk, we had lunch and walked back. I was exhausted!

The kids and Tim collected 'staves of power' - walking sticks that they retained for the whole holiday. I think there was the Staff of Awesomeness, the Staff of Light and Dark, and the Staff of Art. I had a 'poking stick' on the first day but preferred to walk unencumbered.

The kids had a dip in the hotel's heated pool in the afternoon - very brave of them as 'heated' barely took the chill off. There were plenty of other children in with them. The adults wisely all sat in deck chairs and stayed warm.

There were several restaurants within walk of the hotel or else we drove five minutes into town. The food was really good everywhere, hardly a disappointing meal. I had dessert most nights but usually shared with Jasmine. We bought some supplies and had breakfast in our rooms most days. Also plenty of snacks - like the Haagen-Dazs ice cream!

On the second day we drove back to the rainforest area and walked around the 1.3 km raised boardwalk, it wasn't very inspiring. Just scrubby Australian bushland in winter. We weren't far enough north for the pretty stuff. We went into town for lunch and walked along the shoreline, there was a long series of rocks painted by locals and/or tourists - often recording visits to the area. One had dates every year back to 1993.

Later the kids played on the beach opposite our hotel, sandcastles and gymnastics and paddling freezing feet in the ocean. I perched on one of the rocks and enjoyed the fresh sea air.

The third day started cloudy so we went to mini golf - the clouds cleared pretty quickly and I wished I'd taken my hat! Another bright sunny day.

I had slept really well the first night but then had two bad nights so had an awful headache. Tim thought it might be withdrawal (from Duromine/phentermine) but that didn't seem likely to me since it had been more than a week since I'd taken any. Wouldn't withdrawal happen sooner? I slept fine after that so it was only one bad/grumpy day. 

More beach play in the afternoon, and into town for dinner where we found this wall. My angel daughter:

Saturday was the only colder day, max of about 17C. In the chilly morning we had a good walk along the shore in town, and went to the two (very small) local art galleries. Many buildings had these weird graffitied koala statues in front of them - the rainforest walk had several. I checked the website and there are 62 in all, every one painted differently by a local artist as a sculpture project to celebrate the iconic Australian animal.

We thought about going horse riding, or to a movie, but ended up deciding to go whale watching in a boat. In terms of seeing whales up close, it was amazing. We zoomed out to where two 10-metre long humpback whales were dawdling along, they head north this time of year to warmer waters to have their babies before heading back to the chilly south for better feeding. One did some lovely water dancing for us.

Well, actually all the splashing was not for our benefit. The guide explained that all the breaching and tail slapping is by the females to summon the males. And it worked! In about 20 minutes we had six or seven arrive, with dolphins who apparently like to ride the bow waves in front of the whale's snouts (noses?), jostling for position. They were all around and under the boat. 

Unfortunately by that point Jasmine and I were in no position to enjoy or even watch what was going on. The sea wasn't particularly rough but it was a small boat (12 passengers) which rolled and yawed a lot as we putted along keeping alongside the whales, so by then Jasmine and I were both miserable with seasickness and making use of the bags provided. Urg. At least I had been ok for the first bit, I think poor Jasmine was slightly queasy right from the start and it just got worse and worse. She never got out of her seat. The last half hour was horrible for us both. 

Also it was freezing cold out on the open water, even in the heavy waterproof ponchos provided, and I was terrified when we were going fast to and from the whale area (I am not good with speed or heights/depths) especially when the driver put in a few extra zips and curves for fun. So overall I was very glad to get back to land! I felt ok as soon as my legs stopped trembling. At least Tim and Aiden had a great time. And we certainly saw some whales!

On our final morning we had breakfast at a café right on our beach.

Then we went back to a little tea shop where I'd fallen in love with this cute set the day before - you can't tell in the photo but it is impractically tiny - the teapot probably holds one normal cup full and the six cups each hold a mouthful! But fun for sipping the choc-mint tea we bought there. I just had to have it. There is a teeny goldfish in the bottom of each cup, revealed as you drink. I plan to bring it out as a joke, next time I serve visitors cups of tea. Or they might be a good size for nuts, blueberries or other small foods.

Finally the long drive home. It was a great holiday, but I do love home! And my own bed.

Tim is back at work today, the kids return to school tomorrow.

So this morning I weighed 73.2 kg - up 1.7 kg from last week. No surprise there! I did a lot of eating over the past week. Lots of walking, too, but not enough to offset the calories. I'm back on Duromine today, hopefully the break of over a week will help trigger a reset so it works for me again.

I received my TAFE transcript in the mail, it's not my actual Diploma but it says I've passed everything (which I knew of course) so at least I have proof I can show potential employers. Still hoping to hear from that 'perfect job' this week and get an interview.

Nightmares and hunger

Thursday:

So this Monday my weight was back up to 71.2 kg (same today), regaining what I lost the week before. I've been hovering around this same weight for about three months now. Definitely time to take a break from Duromine (phentermine). It's clearly not doing anything/much anymore - except maybe helping me maintain - and my body needs a break from the dry mouth and high blood pressure. If/when I start it again later hopefully it will work again. I'm not sure why my doctor is so keen for me to keep using it - expect for the maintenance - when at the moment the negatives seem to outweigh the positives. Duromine isn't magic, it's just an appetite suppressant, it's still probably doing that a bit but I often eat for reasons other than appetite!

Monday:

My goodness Monday again already. Well this morning I weighed 71.5 kg, up a little. After a couple of days with no Duromine I definitely got a lot hungrier - actual hunger with my stomach making lots of grumbling noises - and I have been eating more. So I guess the pills were still suppressing my appetite before. It’s also the middle of winter which makes ‘comfort food’ more appealing. I’m hoping the hunger will settle down.

The other change is that my peri-menopausal night sweats and bad dreams started up again, as they always do when I stop Duromine. Better sleep was one of the best things about the medication. Usually without the Duromine I have one episode a night, three or four nights a week, where I have a weird frustrating dream and wake up drenched in sweat. And that happened Saturday night. But last night was so much worse. Really horrible bad dreams all night, usually they are just frustrating but these were everything from being scarily followed at night, fighting off aliens on a space ship with both sides getting heads blown off, having to deal with a really horrendous blocked overflowing toilet at my Grandma’s house, and finally my son getting dismembered in a car accident - that was so horrible. Seeing his arm lying on the road. I can deal with the hunger and no weight loss but these dreams made me want to go back on the pills! But my body seems to have a history of ‘catching up’ on all the missed night sweats whenever I stop Duromine, hopefully it won’t last. Does that mean my brain somehow ‘needs’ to process these dreams/thoughts as soon as the medication stops blocking them, just like my body wants to catch up on eating more?

Too firm

Thursday:

The website for my TAFE now says my Diploma was 'published' on 30/06 and the transcription done 02/07 so I should receive it soon! I'm thinking about joining a recruitment agency, there are a couple that specialise in Library and Information Services, but was waiting to get my Diploma. And maybe I'll wait to see how the two jobs I've already applied for go. I know the first one has spoken to my referees. The second one (the one I super really want) closes for applications today, not sure how long they will take to review the applications and call for interviews. I should look back and see how long they took last year when I applied there for a Library Assistant job … ok they took about two weeks from when applications closed to let me know I didn't get an interview, they later called and offered casual work which I couldn't take because it was evening. So I should wait around two weeks before starting to wait anxiously for a call.

Sunday:

On Friday our new mattresses were delivered. Ours seems a lot firmer than it did in the showroom, and we aren’t thrilled about that. But I assume it will soften a bit with time (not too much!) It has a swap guarantee if you don’t like it, but they don’t let you swap in the first week, so they must be used to people panicking and sending mattresses back unnecessarily!

Tim’s and I were both sick during the week, but seem ok now. Main symptom was extreme fatigue. I’d sit down and not want to get up again for hours. But I felt all perky today and full of energy. I walked up to the shops with Jasmine to buy a few things, then we made dessert for tonight (lemon cheesecake). Family came over in the afternoon - and this week everyone came. House full of children! So loud but in a happy way. Most stayed for dinner (and cheesecake 😆). V knows I’m trying to lose weight and asked if Sundays are my ‘cheat’ day. I was too embarrassed to say I have lots of ‘cheat’ days! I only said that I prefer to call them ‘treat’ days instead.

V is a bit overweight herself, she was playing on the floor with the kids and Emma said ‘you look like you have a fat tummy’. She just laughed, but when Ping came in V said ‘your daughter just said I have a fat tummy’ and Ping said something like ‘oh sometimes she’s too honest!’ Honest?! I can see where little Emma gets her tact from!

Plague

Wednesday:

When family came over on Sunday, I wasn’t doing dinner so it was just the boys for Dungeons and Dragons, but as usual my brother-in-law brought five-year-old Emma. It was clear she wasn’t her usual self. She lay on the lounge, coughing and whining for daddy, and watched TV for three hours. I was quite angry at Nick for bringing her when she was obviously sick - both for her sake and for ours - (of course I didn’t actually say anything to him, I avoid confrontation like the plague, or apparently even more than I avoid the plague) and guess what, now I’m sick. Not happy!

Oh well, I can’t argue with the timing. I got to enjoy my birthday.

Birthday!

Monday:

Happy birthday to me! 48 today. I like to think of it as 'going up a level', i.e. gaining experience, wisdom, skills etc, not as losing something (youth).

Seeing the doctor on Friday seems to have reignited my enthusiasm for losing weight, and despite it being my birthday weekend with restaurant dinner (with cake) on Saturday night and people over in the afternoon (with snacks) yesterday, I have lost weight this week and I am down to 70.3 kg. That is an official loss of 1.3 kg but last Monday's weight was a blip and I consider it an actual loss of 0.8 kg (still awesome) from my long plateau of 71.1 kg. The thing with the treats was, I didn't overeat. I had 2/3 or less of my restaurant meal, half my slice of cake. A few snacks yesterday. I enjoyed what I ate and stopped when I was no longer enjoying it enough to justify the overfull stomach/gaining weight. That is true progress.

I exercised hard for an hour on Saturday, including lots of big arm movements, and yesterday my upper back muscles were very sore! I felt quite proud of myself.

We went shopping for new mattresses for everyone yesterday morning. Our current ones are all pretty old, and Aiden had a few night-time accidents when he was younger... I did research online first to narrow down the choices and find End Of Financial Year sales, so we only went to one store and lay on a few beds instead of traipsing around all day. It will be a couple of weeks before they are delivered. Exciting!

Birthdays in this house always start with everyone piling into the big bed so the birthday person can open her/his presents. Because it was a work/school day, that was it for the morning, everyone had to leave. I made my own bacon and orange juice. I don't usually drink juice, or anything other than water and tea, but freshly squeezed is so good! Perfect for a special occasion. Then I faffed around on the Internet for a while instead of exercising, before going out.

I had thought of buying myself a new handbag, but the only ones I really liked were around $500! Maybe that is normal, I’m not really a handbag connoisseur (I own two, one big one small) but I couldn’t justify it to myself considering I don’t actually need a new one. When I do get one, I want something with a bit of personality. Regardless, I had a good time wandering around looking. I did buy a couple of books and some little pastries to share at home. I had a light lunch - anticipating afternoon tea with the kids and dessert tonight.

Oh, one thing I did that I got a lot of pleasure from, I went to the Lindt chocolate shop and chose myself some chocolates. They have a big display with bowls of all the different flavours of truffle balls and other individually wrapped treats. You can purchase by weight, or you can fill a gift box as full as you can get as long as the lid still closes and stays on, and the gift boxes were on special. I spent quite a long time carefully filling the littlest gift box with mathematical precision - I weighed it when I got home and I did very well! With the discount, I paid a third what I would have by weight. I haven’t eaten any yet, I just like gloating over them.

We already went out to dinner on Sat, so we’ll have one of my favourite dinners at home tonight and a quiet night in where it’s warm. It has just started raining so I think that was a good choice!

I got an email from the librarian who interviewed me a couple of weeks ago, asking me for my referee contact details. So that is a good sign, I am obviously still among the contenders. Hopefully a part time position will become available.

Birthday dinner

Saturday:

I did an hour of sweaty dance exercise this morning - and was tired the rest of the day! But I’m glad I got my body moving. I planned to do half an hour, but I was trying to get five stars in a new song and I couldn’t give up until I got it. I was so close every time - six or seven attempts in a row! I kept thinking I’d get those extra points next try.

It will be my birthday on Monday, so we went out to dinner with the family tonight. The Mediterranean food was really nice, and Ping brought a lovely chocolate cake. But a gift bag with a bottle of Limoncello (lemon liquor, I don’t know why people keep giving me alcohol I hardly ever drink!) got knocked over on the tile floor. I didn’t realise it was broken until I saw the liquid gushing out all over the floor. Both slippery and sticky! The wait-staff mopped it up for me, and took away the bag of broken glass.

I wore a special-occasion winter dress that I’ve only worn two or three times since I bought it about five years ago, but I think it might need to be retired. It was a bit loose and kept slipping off my shoulders. It’s funny how the clothes I thought most flattering when I was bigger now don’t make me look so good! But it’s all relative - I still look better now in a baggy dress than I did then in a well-fitting dress. I like being thinner!

Lasers

Friday:

I put that job application in, and now I'm trying not to stress about it too much. I really hope I get an interview.

I saw my doctor this morning. My blood pressure is not too bad 130/something (still not ideal, but lower than it was) so I got another script for Duromine (phentermine). But I've been plateauing at around 71.1 kg for about 10 weeks now, so we talked about some strategies to get the weight loss started again. Like reducing snack portion size, and walking with weights. I've never tried that, I feel it might be a bit annoying to carry weights, arms swinging, while trying to enjoy a walk. But I'll give it a go. My main issues are that the food portion sizes and eating when I'm not hungry have crept in again.

Another thing I've never tried before - today I got laser hair removal on my underarms. The first of 8-10 monthly sessions, assuming I don't react badly. It hurt much less than waxing! Little hot jabs as each hair was vaporised. Very quick, she just ran the thing back and forth over my skin - didn't need to do individual hairs like I was expecting. It's a small area so it's ideal to try it out. Imagine having smooth armpits forever! It's around the same price per session, but after the full course I should never need it again so it works out much cheaper really.

Library Thing

Monday:

This morning my weight was 71.7 kg, up more than a kg from last week, but I think this is a false high due to a salty meal at a restaurant on Saturday night. I was around 71.1 kg most of the week, so I'm back up to my plateau weight. I'm not feeling any real urgency about losing weight. I have a lot of nice clothes that look good and I feel quite healthy. But nevertheless I would be healthier another 10 kg or more lighter, so I'll be a bit more focussed.

I'm working on another job application. The last one (that I haven't heard back from yet, and actually I don't want the current job as it's too far away and full time but hopefully I will be on the Order of Merit for future part-time/closer positions with that employer) wasn't too stressful because I wasn't desperate to get it, although of course I did want to impress. But this current one could hardly be more my "perfect job" if I wrote the description myself. Close to home, part time, my favourite duties - cataloguing. I really really want it! I fulfil the "essential" requirements but not the "desired" - like 3 years experience! So my application needs to be enticing to even get an interview. Then I have to convince them in person that recent classroom training is as good as workplace experience. I did get 99.6% in the relevant subject!

I've also been playing with a website/app called Library Thing. It keeps a record of all the books you own (you can scan in the barcodes) and it downloads information like title/author, reviews from the web, and cover art; it's a social platform so you can interact with other people who have similar book collections. It can be as simple or librarian-level complex (like Dewey Decimal numbers) as you like. You can record your own tags, ratings, reviews, put books on your waiting list to read, record when you finished reading it, all sorts of things. You can even set up a mini library site to record people borrowing your books! I need that, we never get ours back from family. I've been scanning our collection in, I'm up to over 1000 books which is probably about two thirds of what we own. Some older books don't have barcodes or even ISBNs so they take longer to type in, and then of course adding ratings and reviews takes much longer when I get to that. Plenty to keep me busy.

I've been sorting and weeding/culling (and dusting) as I go so the bookshelves I have finished look lovely. We have quite a few rows doubled up - books in front of other books - so we've decided nine big bookcases (plus little ones in the kids' rooms) isn't enough. Most are in what other people would use as a dining room. I think we can squeeze two more in the lounge room.

My sister-in-law was here for dinner last night, we were wearing the same pants and I realised I owned an almost-identical jumper so I went and put it on - and my Ugg boots. Twins!

All done

Thursday:

Today was my final day of work placement. I spent most of the time creating a PowerPoint with information about the library to play on a loop on the big screen behind the desk. I enjoy doing the cute transitions and animations. And we had a little farewell morning tea for me. The head librarian was there for once, but more importantly Lyn who is my favourite librarian. She spent a lot of time training me, but was nice enough to say I’d contributed more than I’d been given. I hope I get to work with her some time in the future. I left them a little cyclamen plant as a thank you, they thrive in cold conditions! I won’t miss the chilblains.

I have all my results for individual subjects now, so I’m all done. Just need the actual piece of paper to say I’ve graduated. I can update my CV from ‘soon to be’. Now the job searching begins in earnest. And no excuse not to exercise a lot more! I went for a lovely walk yesterday. I need to get out more, whenever it’s not pouring rain. It’s been very wet lately.

Home and final assessment

Monday:

A couple of important things happened today. Firstly, Tim came home after nearly three weeks in the US for a work trip! I didn’t mention it while he was away because I don’t like to advertise when I’m alone in the house. He was in Washington DC and Virginia. I misread his itinerary and thought he would be home in the afternoon, and was still asleep when there was a knock on the door this morning. Luckily he wasn’t expecting me to pick him up at the airport! He seems to have been most impressed by seeing squirrels cutely running around, something his US associates laughed at him about.

The other thing was I had my final assessment for my Diploma of Library and Information Services. My supervising teacher Julie came to my library and had a chat with my workplace supervisor Lyn, with me there, and they both said lovely things about me and also said they would give my contact details to someone they know needing a Library Technician for some casual work. Then I demonstrated my chosen task, cataloguing, to Julie and gave her a tour of the library to show I knew where everything was. It all went really well and I’ve seen the feedback they both wrote about me. In the past couple of days I’ve also got results for two assignments, so I’m just waiting on results on the last two. And I’m working two more days, but no pressure! I wanted to finish out the week to learn as much as possible.

My weight this morning was 70.6kg, down 0.8 from last week, so that is also good.

A couple of bad-ish but kind of funny things happened as well. When I first got to work I went to the staff bathroom. As soon as I sat down the whole toilet seat slid sideways, broken off from the base. My hands flailed wildly and I saved myself from falling onto the floor but have a bruise where my arm met the metal toilet paper dispenser. Not the best start to the day.

Usually I have two cups of tea a day, one with breakfast and one at lunch or in the afternoon. I don’t drink coffee or cola so I’m not used to a lot of caffeine at once. Today I’d had a cup of tea with breakfast but had another one when I got to work to warm up and to recover from the toilet incident. I’d just finished that when Julie arrived. Lyn got out a fancy tea set and biscuits and I felt like it was the polite thing to share a cup (and a biscuit) that I didn’t want at all. Three cups of tea in an hour certainly kept me alert, but I spent most of my assessment needing to pee.