Almost spring

 It's two weeks until spring here and the weather has started warming up. We have a garden that needs soooo much work that I find it overwhelming unless I just focus on one little corner at a time. I find it hard to motivate myself to do anything. But when I do, it is lovely to get out in the sunlight, and move my body. And it's nice to see one little area, however tiny, all tidied up with weeds gone, overgrown plants clipped and intruding grass pulled out of garden beds. I usually hate sunbathing (hot and boring) but one warm afternoon I lay by the pool for a long time, I think my body was craving sunlight and vitamin D!

Covid numbers are getting worse here in Sydney, nearly every day is a new record for most cases since the pandemic began, 478 new cases today and deaths every day. Lockdown is predicted until November. I'm still not working, Tim works half days (can't work from home), the kids do school online. Jasmine is starting exams online tomorrow, HSC Trials (exams set by the school, they contribute a significant part of the 50% from the school half and the actual HSC exams set by the state count as the other 50% of the final mark.) She is coping very well, considering.   

Aiden and I both had a cold (tested Covid negative) a month ago, I got better but he still has a horrible cough. The doctor won't even see him without another more recent negative test but we've done a couple of phone consults and she says it's normal and not to worry unless he feels feverish or coughs up rusty or green phlegm. I hate to hear him though. If it goes on another two weeks we're to get a chest x-ray. 

I've started doing cross-stitch bookmarks as a lockdown hobby.

Hello 2021

 Monday,

I’m wondering if it’s time to retire this blog, it’s been 10 years and I rarely post now. But I suppose there’s no harm in it being here if I want it.

Australia continues to be relatively lightly touched by COVID, any time there are a few cases all the state borders close. Masks have finally just been made compulsory in Sydney. I am still out of work, still hoping I can go back to my dream job otherwise I’ll have to start applying elsewhere. Some places are hiring again. At Christmas we were allowed ten guests plus children, which worked out exactly for us.

We just went ‘away’ for a week, less than two hours up the coast for a beach holiday. It was mostly warm but not swimming weather with a fair bit of cloud and rain - probably lucky for us as on our last day it was finally beach weather and we all got sunburned (except Tim who spends more time outdoors so has more protective tan). It doesn’t matter how careful we are with 50+ sunscreen, hats, Tshirts etc; two hours in the sun is too much. The other days we went for walks, ate, and played board games.

We’d been trying for about 18 months to get our dismal front yard landscaped, finally found someone who actually followed up their visit with a quote and the work is now nearly done. Retaining walls, new plants and turf, and most importantly steps up to the front door instead of just the steep slippery driveway. Oh, and a decent mailbox!

I went to a specialist about my foot pain and numbness, they now think nerve damage, possibly from years of pre-diabetes but a third of cases are of unknown cause. The specialist told me to lose ten kilograms (the amount I’ve gained during COVID semi-isolation) before I see her next in three months. That depressed me so much I went and ate junk. Two of the three months have passed and I now weigh more than I did then. I am on and off the CSIRO diet which is mainly large portions of vegetables with moderate amounts of everything else. Obviously not sticking to it at all.

This morning, just back from our holiday, I was 86.8kg which I believe is my highest no -pregnant weight ever. Not great.

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!

Frog

Tuesday:

This is why I don't use poison sprays in the garden. I've named him Morris.

Garden

Sunday:

We all spent the morning in the garden planting everything. We also bought some solar-powered lights and we recently got a couple of sun lounges. There is still a bare corner and we need to mulch everything, but most of the work out there is done! It looks lovely. And of course it will only improve with time as everything grows.

Then in the afternoon and for dinner we had lots of family over. Of course we showed off the garden! We've promised a pool party next hot weekend. And it was Uncle Matt's birthday (Tim's cousin). So there was cake. And chips. I didn't eat a lot over my calorie allowance, but some of those calories were definitely unhealthy. Which made me feel yuck. It's not as easy to resist the bad stuff (or food in general) as it was when I started taking Duromine.

Plateau

Friday:

I know weight plateaus can happen for no apparent reason and it's normal, even if you are doing everything right. I will start losing again eventually. But it's so frustrating! I am the same weight I was 12 days ago, with only small fluctuations in between. After a week I thought there were reasons, on four days I ate 1500 or 1600 calories instead of my target of 1200 so apparently that was enough for maintenance (even though I was burning 2000 calories a day), and I wasn't well so I wasn't exercising. But this week I'm back on track with eating, and I'm doing a lot of really strenuous work in the garden. Yesterday about four hours - carrying buckets of rocks and big bags of manure, digging, raking, sweeping, planting, laying out watering system, setting up trellis, up and down stairs. Dripping sweat, muscles aching.

And overnight I regained the 0.3 kg I'd lost, back up to 78 kg. Back to where I was 12 days ago. How can I not lose weight, eating 1264 calories and burning 2534? Arg!!!!!!!!

I'm assuming my body is holding on to some of the water I drank yesterday, it can't be fat regained.

We spent the morning at a garden centre. We took both cars! Didn't exactly fill both with plants, but bought a lot. Aiden counted them later, and including the ones we put in already there are 50 new plants in the backyard. So I think over 30 today. I planned what to buy and thought it would be enough, but now they they are placed where they are to go (but still in their pots at the moment) I think we need a few more. Need to move them around a few times before I'll be happy with final placement. I didn't do any planting today, I did the grocery shopping in the afternoon then was feeling a bit tired. Carrying them out the back and giving everything some water was enough for today.

Meanwhile Tim went over to his dad's in the afternoon to help out. Jo came home from hospital today so I guess she is much better. Jasmine also seems to have recovered except for a constantly running nose.

Tropical

Sunday:

We went to a plant nursery yesterday and bought as many weird and interesting tropical plants as we could fit in the car.

Then we spent a good chunk of today planting them. It took a long time because no matter how much we work the soil beforehand, when we dig holes for plants we find yet more rocks, roots, and now a lot of shards of broken terracotta pots for some reason. And curl grubs.

Anyway, we got enough to go along one fence out by the pool, about a quarter of the total area we need to fill. The plants are still quite small of course, but in a few years they will be crowding each other in a lush tropical kind of way.

We did get an unpleasant surprise when we got home yesterday and I checked growing conditions for bromeliads, which we bought in flower (in the top picture the weird pink spike in the middle and the two with gold star-like flowers) - it turns out they only flower once, when they are fully mature at 3-4 years old, then die! So three of our plants will only live through the summer then drop dead. They are supposed to send out 'pups' (baby plants) as they die so maybe we will get some little ones in years to come. We also bought palms, several varieties of cordylines, and bird's nest ferns. It looks nice already. We need to get some mulch next, then move on to the next section. The part we did is the shadiest, other fences get a lot more sun.

Vegetable patch

Saturday:

Today I had Tim home to help me with the vegetable patch. He attacked the bed with a pick and managed to break up the rocks/compacted soil deep enough for my little seedlings to survive. Lots more rocks emerged, of course. They breed in the dirt. Jasmine and I planted out the baby vegetables.

They don't look like much yet, but they'll grow! Tomatoes, jalapeno chilli, capsicum, beans, peas, snow peas and cucumbers. I have some herbs to put in pots at the end but I accidentally put the potting mix in the garden bed along with the manure yesterday. I'll get some more on Monday. 

Jasmine's ear and throat seem to be all better, although she still has a runny nose. 

We are going to run the pool heat pump for the next few days and see how much it warms up the water, a heatwave is predicted for the middle of next week, up to 31C!! That is summer temperature, not the second week of spring! Maybe Tim and I will get to try out the pool. But not if the water is still freezing. 

Where does the day go?

Monday:

I am down another 1.2 kg this week which I think is pretty good. Of course I would love to be one of those people for whom weight just falls off when they do the right things (eat less/stick to healthy food/exercise) but I can't compare myself to those people who lose 5kg or something in a week on Duromine - especially since their starting weight was probably much higher. 1.2 kg is great, and 3.5 kg in two weeks is even better! I doubt I've ever lost so much so fast. My face looks better already.

Also I have almost none of the side effects (or only mildly) that plague other people. At this point I'd recommend Duromine (phentermine) to anyone wanting to lose weight, as long as it's approved and prescribed by your doctor who says it's safe for you, but with the caveat that everyone has a different experience and it may not be right for you.

The morning was spent visiting the library, grocery shopping and watching the finale to Game of Thrones (very exciting), then lunch and another hour in the garden moving dirt around. Tim inexplicably filled the wheelbarrow with rocks on the weekend, so I had to use a bucket! Lots of trips back and forth. A cup of tea while studying my garden design library books, the kids come home from school and I spend an hour helping Jasmine revise for a Maths test tomorrow, then pay some bills, take Jasmine to dance lesson and it's time to make dinner... where does the day go? What about my own homework that I planned to do? And the baskets of laundry that need to be folded? And a couple of phone calls I wasn't looking forward to (oh deary me, have to put them off again) and all the other stuff.

I got about half of the things on my to-do list for the day ticked off, is that a pass mark?

Butter and sugar

Tuesday:

We made sure to take advantage of a lovely day today. We spent quite a bit of the morning in the garden. We did some satisfying hard sweaty work trimming the shrubs each side of the driveway, weeding, and generally tidying up the front. Then had ice cream! Then there were a couple of wooden toilet roll holders that I bought online and which unexpectedly arrived as raw pine, so I bought some wood stain and the kids sat outside and painted one each, which they seemed to enjoy a lot. They also created wands with sticks, glue and wood stain.

When tidying up I got some stain on my hands and washing with soap left a tacky residue. I remembered an old trick of my grandmother's and used butter and sugar. Worked a treat, leaving smooth clean hands. Of course you have to then wash off the greasy butter. Sugar is an excellent abrasive. Salt would probably work too, or even sand. But I like butter and sugar.

Aiden bites his fingernails and always seems to have his hands in his mouth. Today we bought some of that nasty stuff you put on your nails. Oh how he hates the taste! He has to go spit in the sink and rinse his mouth. So hopefully it will work.

We went up to the library for my book group, which was nice, the kids sat in the kids' area (surrounded by books, but playing their tablets, growl) while I chatted to the other ladies for an hour about this month's novel. They are all of my mother's generation or older, it becomes more obvious when they talk about training for nursing in the 70s, or how they need an audio reader because they can no longer read print. I guess they are the only ones who regularly have a weekday afternoon free. It doesn't matter anyway, I enjoy talking to them.

Two companies sent people out to give us quotes on removing trees in our backyard. Most of the plants are ugly (in my opinion, their parents probably think they are lovely) but I will try to keep some of the nicer ones like this which is small enough to move:

Jasmine made cookies. Nice day.

Of course I paid for the gardening later. Aching muscles and creaky joints!

Seventeen: camillias

Thursday:

I found today a lot easier with no cravings for anything, even things that were readily available. But I still miss real tea (ie with sugar). It was such an enjoyable ritual drink for me. I'd always have a cup after everyone had left for the day, and sometimes when I got home from a trip out. Calming and relaxing. I'm sticking with the sugar free version because I don't want caffeine withdrawal right now, but I don't enjoy it at all. It doesn't seem to have the same emotional impact. Amazing how half a teaspoon of sugar makes so much difference. Oh well.

Today's excursion was to the Camellia Gardens. It's not just camellias, there are lots of different plants on a steep hill with a duck pond at the bottom, pleasant winding (rather mossy) paths. Today was rather cloudy which made the gardens seem a bit dismal, but we wandered around for a while and got our fresh air and exercise for the day. That hill was steep on the way back up!

A camellia in bloom:

 The duck lawn at the bottom:

It would have been a nice spot for a picnic if everything wasn't so grey and damp.

Tomorrow is going to be a challenge, Jasmine is off with her friends all day and staying for a sleepover, I'll have to entertain Aiden all by myself! They play so well together that usually I just provide meals.

Two: courtyard

Two:

Still both feeling yuck, Tim home from work again. He had a horrible night, I think the cold is affecting his asthma which is usually well controlled. Hopefully we're on the mend now.

What I ate:
Breakfast: rotisserie chicken, cucumber, orange, tea
Lunch: cold roast lamb, reheated roast vegetables, tea
Dinner: satay chicken and vegetables on a bed of wom bok (Chinese cabbage)

Water: 12 cups

It looks like a lot of meat but I have a little meat with a lot of vegetables, I like to have protein with every meal. Sometimes it will be eggs, cheese, yoghurt or nuts.

Last week I cut down from 1 sachet (3g, less than a teaspoon) of sugar in my tea to half a sachet. And this week none. I'm determined to follow this diet properly this time.

I did some guitar practice today after none since I brutalised my fingertips a few days ago. It made me feel like I achieved something today.

Our little courtyard area is looking lovely at the moment. The row of large shrubs along the fence turned out to be camellias. This is the view from my kitchen sink:

And they smell lovely. Did you know that you make tea (normal black tea) out of camellia leaves? Probably not these particular varieties. The flowers don't smell like tea though.

Two days of "perfect" eating! I look forward to being well enough to add exercise. I think a little walk tomorrow. I have an overdue library book, so that gives me a destination.

Photos

Tuesday:

We finally got internet last night! So I'm spending some time this morning catching up on Facebook and blogs and emails - in my own home! I find I haven't taken a lot of photos of the house as such, particularly since it is still pretty chaotic with full and empty boxes everywhere, but here is some of our friendly wildlife.

This is one of the two kookaburras (Australia's famous laughing bird, a type of kingfisher, its call really does sound a lot like a laugh and also like its name: koo-koo-ka-ka-ka-ka) that visits regularly. The previous owners put out meat for them and apple coated in sugar for the parrot types (not sure how healthy that is!), I hadn't planned to feed the birds but how can I resist when they come and ask?

 A magpie, very common bird which can get a bit aggressive in breeding season. Tim often gets swooped at when on his bike. I do like this one because it will take food right from my hand.

 Sulphur-crested cockatoos just outside my back door.

 A butcher bird, another meat-eater who comes to the window and calls me.

My children ready for their new schools. They are going to different schools, for the first week I drove/walked them but from yesterday they rode their bikes alone. Aiden's school is only one long block away so I shouldn't worry, Jasmine has my old phone and texts me when she gets to school. I still had a nightmare Sunday night about it though! I dreamed Aiden was only five (he is nine now) and separated from me in a crowd and I couldn't follow into the lecture theatre because I wasn't registered... woke feeling very anxious!

We spent most of Sunday furniture shopping. We came home with a couple of very bright fluffy rugs.

We were actually looking for a new kitchen table. Ours only seats four and is looks very small in the big room. We will be hosting Sunday dinner for Tim's family every second week, alternating with Nick and Ping (grandpa gets free food every week!) which means eight people plus a toddler in a high chair - and she is growing up fast. So we need an eight seat table minimum. Ten is huge but maybe an extendable one? I really liked this table:

but it's too French Provincial for Tim. It's my favourite style, but I agree it's a bit girly. Most other tables that we didn't hate were more solid respectable things. Nice enough, but not exactly exciting. We really need one before Christmas so it will have to be next weekend.

We went to Nick and Ping's this past Sunday for dinner. Lovely to have family so close.

Another thing we want is a pool! I need to get someone to come out and assess our backyard. I'm worried that it is expensively rocky, with lots of trees to clear (and I think there are laws about planting new ones when you remove native trees) and difficult access up the narrow side of the house. Have to see what they quote.

The previous owners left lots of the quirky little elements they had in their garden, which I love. I'm surprised they left this one, which apparently represented their four grandchildren:

There are lots of others, like this chicken.

I've been for a couple of walks around the neighbourhood. There are some very impressive houses. Like this one:

But think of all the cleaning! No, wait, if you had a house like that you would have a maid or something. Anyway, I'm happy with our house.

My desk looks out into that courtyard next to the kitchen (the same angle as that first photo), so I just went out to feed to kookaburra who came and sat on the roof and laughed at me. I hope it's not a problem that I am giving them cooked meat - leftover roast beef with various spices. They don't seem to be complaining. It is a lovely spot here at my desk.

I am still a tiny bit unnerved here alone sometimes when all is quiet and there are little noises around the house or outside. I've planned my escape route for it a homicidal maniac breaks in.

Well I do have other things to do today, so I'd better get on with it. More unpacking awaits!

What an exciting day

Tuesday:

We had professional photos taken of the house this morning, so we did our best to remove all traces of human habitation. Not so much real cleaning or packing, more stashing stuff we actually use away in drawers. Hide that shampoo! The buyers must not know we have hair! Get rid of the dish drainer, there must be no evidence that we wash dishes in this house! Etc. It does look nice with everything hidden away, not an easy way to live though.

Then it was time to switch into home-buying mode. Tim made an offer on the house we want. They called back with a counter offer. After discussing it with me, Tim accepted their counter-offer! So exciting! Our purchase is contingent on an acceptable building and pest inspection report, which will be available on Thursday. Assuming that is all good, we have a house!

As I have said, the home's flaw is that it is smaller than others we were looking at. Actually most of the rooms are a good size but it is missing one room so I won't get a study. Since I work from home, that is a fault. But hopefully in a couple of years we can build on another room at the back for Aiden so he will get a bigger bedroom before he's a teenager, and I will get the study then. In the meantime, my desk will be in a nice corner looking out into the garden.

Aside from that one flaw, which perhaps I have harped on too much, the house is really lovely. It has the best bathrooms of any house we have seen and a nice big kitchen. The whole house felt very welcoming. I felt it even from the pictures on the internet, and Tim agreed as soon as we walked in. Very well maintained. The garden doesn't have much lawn, it is mainly native trees and shrubs and flowers in chaotic profusion, fun to explore, like a tiny bit of natural bushland. The previous owners (who are retiring to a country town, I guess they are moderately elderly) were obviously keen on wildlife, they had feeders out for the birds and even cubes of meat for the kookaburras (which usually eat snakes). We saw a beautiful rainbow lorikeet in a flowering grevillea tree out the front as we were leaving. It is in a quiet dead-end street, walking distance to shops and the library and possibly to the schools. Lovely!

Tim and I are both utterly exhausted emotionally. Time to collapse. But it was a very exciting and productive day.

.. And extra bit of exciting news, Tim's cousin has just purchased land near where we are moving to. He was previously an hour away. Lovely family gathering.

Garden

Thursday:

We had the gardeners here for a couple of hours yesterday and all day today. Usually they just mow the lawn and prune the shrubs, but this time they were getting the gardens ready for selling the house. New plants, lots of mulch and new gravel. It looks wonderful. Tim had thought their quote was a bit high, but about twelve hours work with two men plus plants and mulch and it suddenly seems reasonable. I think it really adds value to the house. I'll take a photo in the light tomorrow - but I should have taken a "before" shot too! It wasn't terrible before, but it looks great all spruced up.

Still haven't heard from the bank and I have no idea what is taking so long. The loans guy acknowledged my request but I'm wondering if he's been out of the office for a few days. Or busy. Or sick. He has pre-approved the amount we can borrow but needs to approve each house we are interested in, I guess so that we are not borrowing more than it is worth. 'Cause then if we went bankrupt and had to sell the house, the bank wouldn't get their money back. I think that is what it's about.

Tim at last has everything in writing from his employer so I need have no lingering fears that the move is going to fall through.

Tulips

Sunday:

Today we went to the Tulip Top Gardens. It is less than half an hour away, a private garden out in the country. When we first saw it, ten years or so ago, it consisted of plentiful but slightly boring tulip beds laid out around a house on a large property. Over the years the owners have gradually cultivated the valley below the house and now it is a beautiful protected area with tulips and pansies and flowering fruit trees and sweeping lawns and a waterfall and gravel paths. The area around the house itself is no longer accessible, so they have their privacy back, but for four weeks a year the valley is open to the public (for a small fee). It is really lovely, and it was a great day for it.

They can't make a lot of money, certainly not enough to pay for all the work that goes into it, and they even let kids in free and had a free sausage sandwich at lunchtime and free tea & coffee and a two-piece jazz band entertaining the visitors!

Tim's father was still visiting so he was with us, we had a picnic on the grounds and wandered around for a couple of hours then grandad went back to Sydney and we came home. My dad is arriving tomorrow. He thinks. Plans are still a bit liquid.

I am fully well again (yay! I was only sick for a couple of days this time) but Aiden is still recovering. We thought he was better yesterday but after an excursion to ten pin bowling and then a play in the park he had a bit of a relapse and went to bed very early after a couple of bites of dinner. He seems ok today so maybe he is over it now.