Butterfly mug

Wednesday:

Not much to write about today. I had the day off and spent part of it shopping for summer clothes for the kids (most of which I'll probably have to take back if they don't fit!) as we are visiting Queensland soon and it is much hotter there, and they both seem to have grown out of all their clothes. I might not have time to shop with them before we go. Early spring weather in Sydney wavers between cool and warm.

For myself bought a new mug for work. It has a weird-looking handle, but is comfortable to hold.

I've been doing some more gardening. So much to do! And have been spending a lot of time working on my novel. Still not actually writing the text yet though! I keep having thoughts about what religion is like there, the animals and plants, how you domesticate a cave dragon, what motivates my characters etc. I want to get all the backstory worked out. I struggle with making up good fantasy names, but I can't write properly until I do. I can't get inspired while calling someone X or 'father' or 'girl'. I'm well advanced on that side now and feeling pretty good about it.

I see my doctor tomorrow after a month on Duromine (phentermine). I lost 3kg in the first two weeks but then nothing since, in fact I've struggled to not regain. So I'm not sure what she'll say. I'm sleeping better and feeling better, so I'd like to stay on it for a while longer.

Spring

Monday:

Yay for Spring! First day of Spring yesterday and it was a lovely warm sunny day. It was also Father's Day, so the family (Tim's side) met in the park for a picnic ... along with about a million other families! It was quite lovely to get out.

Then today, as I had the day off, I spent a couple of hours working in the garden, and I have the blisters on my hands to prove it!

My boss called about the roster this week, I'll be working in the other library (not where I was last week), and she asked if I'd like her to take my milk over since she was going there. Only a couple of us have milk in our tea/coffee so there wouldn't necessarily be any there. I was just going to buy more but I'm getting rather paranoid. Are they all watching me to make sure I don't waste milk? I'm sure they are all just trying to be nice to the new girl! Maybe I should just offer to be a designated person to keep both offices supplied with milk...

I'm trying to get started writing my new novel. I wrote one a couple of years ago but I feel I can do a lot better the second time. I've been thinking about the plot on and off for a year or so, and the past few weeks I've been taking it more seriously and working out names and backstories etc. Time to write the actual words! It is fantasy fiction (again).

Back

Monday:

It looks like I will start my new job on Wednesday if they can get the paperwork through on time. It's the same position as I did for my work experience so I should be able to jump right in, and hopefully less than 30 mins drive away. I'm still a little worried about it being full time, and I don't know my shifts yet, but I'm trying to focus on the happy and exciting aspects. I guess I'm nervous! I've got my useful notes together, and my 'work' mug for tea. I've used it for over 20 years, ever since someone gave it to me in a Secret Santa at work. I use a cup and saucer at home, but this mug is small and delicate so I like it. Amazing it's lasted so long.

I'll have to plan for extra cooking at dinner to have enough leftovers for lunch for everyone.

On Saturday I did some vigorous gardening, hefting bags of soil around and digging out entrenched recalcitrant weedy plants in preparation for putting in some new shrubs. After an hour of hard work I was gently spreading the soil around with the edge of the spade when bam! a horrible back spasm hit me and I nearly fell over. I've never had back issues before except for soreness from bad posture at a desk all day. This was like my whole lower back was clenched up. Painful. It's weird that it happened then, not when I was doing strenuous work, but I guess I was bending and twisting? I held myself up with the spade and waited but it didn't seem to be fading. After a few minutes Tim wandered outside so he helped me to the garden furniture so I could sit. The worst pain went after about 15 minutes but it is still a bit sore two days later after hot baths and massage and heat packs and pain killers. Sunday morning when I got out of bed it took me 5 mins just to shuffle to the bathroom. I probably need to strengthen my core - I've had non-existent stomach muscles since having kids.

I dropped to 15mg Duromine for a couple of days but started 30mg again today, although it probably wasn't the dosage's fault that I was stress eating! I weighed 72.1kg this morning, a gain of 0.1kg. I feel back on track today.

It's been about four weeks since I restarted my gym membership and I've been twice, less than an hour of exercise total. Partly due to having the flu, but mainly I just don't want to go. I'll try to get there tomorrow with my sister-in-law if my back is ok, for a gentle oldies class that has replaced Zumba (shakes fist in annoyance) but then I will cancel my membership. If I can't make myself go when I'm unemployed with all the time in the world, there is no way I'll manage it while working full time and still being a good parent (and taxi service for the kids!). But I need regular exercise, as my sore back is emphasising. Dance at home with the Xbox and walking in my lunch break maybe. I enjoy both those things.

Last weekend at family dinner there wasn't really enough roast meat to go around, this week everyone dropped out of coming over except my father-in-law so there are plenty of leftovers (you can't really divide up a leg of lamb before you cook it). I do wish I knew before about 3.30 in the afternoon how many people were coming for dinner! Some number between just the four of us and 19 people. Most often around 12. But at least it motivates us to clean the house every Sunday.

Plant attack

Monday:

After Easter Show and Easter eggs, and it being that time of the month, I am up 0.2 kg this week. Never fear, it will go again quickly. As long as I manage a moderate chocolate intake! So much Easter stuff in the house.

A couple of garden-related things happened today. I went outside for about two minutes, and reached over some bushes to move a pot. Half an hour later I had a stinging rash up the inside of both arms. It only lasted an hour or two, but it was weird because I’ve dealt with those plants many times over the past two years and not had a reaction. It was a fern, I think, that got me; with little bronze hairs on the stems. When my arms started to hurt, I realised I had the hairs stuck all over my shirt. Maybe they only attack at a certain time of year.

Then Tim was out the front mowing the lawn when our neighbour came out with a chainsaw and asked if we’d like him to trim the tree between out properties (but on our land). It definitely needed a trim, branches were trying to take over our driveway and some were too heavy for the tree and collapsed on the ground. And it was blocking the water meter. So we said yes, but of course Tim had to stay and help drag the branches around and we had visitors arriving so he was all filthy and sweaty while they waited. And the tree has gone from full and bushy to rather bare at the bottom. I don't think Tim is entirely happy, but I am satisfied with the result and we didn't have to pay anyone to do it.

We had family over in the afternoon for Dungeons and Dragons, and then friends over in the evening so it was a busy day. I ate a lot less 'junk' (some Doritos and a chocolate marshmallow bunny) than I used to, but more than I should have. As usual these days, the bunny (sugar!) made me feel a bit sick. I never learn. Or maybe I do. A couple of times in the past few days I've taken only one or two bites of something sweet then decided I didn't want it so didn't eat it.

I haven't done any gardening (or any other exercise other than unavoidable walking) for two weeks while I had the flu, need to get started again tomorrow as I no longer have that excuse. The weather will be cooling again which makes it easier. I don't deal well with the heat.

It is my Poppa's 100th birthday coming up in May. My mother's father. 100! Still living in his own home without any assistance. Getting pretty deaf now and rather hunched, but otherwise fine. He's amazing.

The dreaded lurgy continues

Monday:

This week I only lost 0.2 kg, another puzzlingly small amount considering I’m eating way less than my tracker says I’m burning. I’ve decided not to ask my doctor for another script for Duromine, no point putting up with side effects and possible dangers when I’m not even losing weight on it! If I ever try it again (don’t know if i will) it would have to be after a much longer break than the two months I waited this time. It’s disappointing, because it did work well for me last year. I had one pill left but didnt bother to take it today.

Well, I shouldn’t complain too much, I’m now 72.6 kg which is 12.1 kg less than I was around six months ago, and the lightest I’ve been for years. I’ll continue trying to lose without the help of an appetite suppressant.

I’ve had the flu continuing most of the week, mainly aching back and general fatigue. I felt mostly better by the end of the week and since we had a cooler week I was able to get a lot done in the garden, but then I started feeling really tired again yesterday and woke this morning aching all over worse than ever! And at bedtime Jasmine said she was feeling sick.

Aiden went back to school (starting year 6) on Tuesday, and Jasmine (year 9) on Wednesday. Jasmine’s actual birthday was on Tuesday so it was just the two of us. We went out to lunch and saw the movie Pitch Perfect 3 (again). Her main present from us was a set of handstand bars for gymnastics - not as impressive as that sounds, they are two low stands like little footstools that you can grip which is more comfortable than hands flat on the floor. Jasmine’s final birthday celebration was an extended-family dinner last night. I didn’t enjoy it much because I was starting to feel sick again but didn’t want people to know because I had just served food I had prepared! Hope it wasn’t germy.

On the days I was feeling well I spent hours out in the garden. I had an exciting moment when I realised I had just disturbed a wasps’ nest in a neglected corner. I ran for it, and didn’t get stung. Over the next couple of days I made several lighting attacks with a can of spray, eventually the big paper nest was empty. I rarely use poisons but make an exception for wasps and red back spiders. Everything else gets to stay - as long as it’s outside.

My niece Emma started kindergarten last week, and as both parents work some days and they are still sorting out after-school care, I’ve been booked in for a few days of babysitting spread over the next few weeks before Ping’s parents become available. I find Emma quite exhausting - she is so full of energy! And today was tricky because I was feeling pretty awful and I also had to get Jasmine to dance lessons. But of course I am happy to help, and they don’t often ask me to babysit. I picked her up from school - the same one Aiden goes to, but he usually rides his bike as it’s not that far - and we kept her entertained for a couple of hours. It must have been ok as she didn’t want to leave when her mother arrived.

Hopefully Jasmine and I both feel better tomorrow.

More active

Monday:

Today I weigh 73.6 kg, a loss of 0.4 kg this week. I’m quite disappointed with that, considering I kept my calories low all week. But I did eat too many carbs, didn’t drink enough water, and didn’t exercise because I continued to feel a bit sick and dizzy on and off through the week. I don’t know if it was a virus or side effects of Duromine. Oh well, I just keep going from here.

Today was more active than I have been all week. I did over an hour of gardening, mainly weeding which isn’t very strenuous but it was something, and the really good thing was I wasn’t getting dizzy every time I straightened up like I did last week. Tim and the kids joined me for the second half of that time and we got the whole back and side yards weeded which was a real achievement.

In the afternoon we all carried junk down to the curb, the pick-up I arranged a couple of months ago has finally come round so we’re finally rid of the broken wheelbarrow and miscellaneous other stuff that wouldn’t fit in the bins. Or we will be assuming the council collect it tomorrow as arranged.

I also did the grocery shopping! So I spent a lot less time sitting than I have for the past week, which can only be a good thing.

Hot weekend

Saturday:

I started the day with some really sweaty and strenuous gardening. Tim always mows the big front lawn but the new turf by the pool is up too many stairs to take up the big petrol mower and I insisted on getting a little push mower so I often do it (Tim sometimes does). It's super hot here so I went out early but it was still blazing hot, especially pushing the mower and stooping to trim edges. It may not sound like hard work but it was! I only got it half done but the heat was too much for me by then I was getting bit dizzy.

I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep last night but not as bad as the first night I think, and still dry mouth today but again not as bad as yesterday. Still good energy and appetite suppression.

Sunday:

My aunt and uncle (on my dad’s side) came visiting for lunch and brought three grandchildren (my cousin’s children) similar ages to my kids. It was over 40C so the kids were in the pool most of the time but none of the adults even wanted to step outside. Tim’s dad and Jo came over too, which was great as it spread the talking around a bit. Five hours can seem quite long! The kids all had a fantastic time though. I hope no one got too sunburned, we made they keep applying sunscreen.

I was really excellent with my food until just after they left when I shovelled in some chips. Then poured the rest in the bin. Not too much damage.

Tim’s brother is putting up a shed in his little backyard, apparently it had to be today (hottest Sydney day in 158 years in many suburbs) because he is going back to work tomorrow. So Tim is over there now in the afternoon heat helping. Crazy.

Last night I finally got a good night’s sleep. A bit queasy today at times, and still dry mouth but not as bad.

Taming the grass

Friday:

I was planning to get serious about my food from 1st January, but then found two good reasons not to wait. On Wednesday night we were at Nick & Ping's and did a bit of a Just Dance game, and my niece Emma insisted on watching all the replay videos. Oh my goodness I'm still so fat. It always surprises me, especially since I've lost a bit of weight recently, that I am a lot fatter in reality than I am in my head. Mirrors, photos, and apparently videos all ambush me.

Then I weighed myself Thursday morning to find my weight, which had stayed pretty steady over the Christmas indulgences, had suddenly caught up with reality too and jumped up a fair bit. I was unhappy with the number. So I decided not to wait another four days to stop eating so much junk.

I spent an hour and a half at least in the garden, working on the garden beds that don't yet have an edging of rocks so the pampered lawn has really invaded. I turned bits like this:

 Into this:

It was quite hard sweaty work, the grass had put down lots of roots along the runners and took a lot of effort to rip out. Next cooler day I'll work on getting the rock edging in.

We had people over in the afternoon for a swim and Tim's dad also dropped in with Jo, and Jo's daughter and granddaughter, on their way home from spending Christmas with Jo's family. I put out lots of leftover chips and chocolates but only ate a little bit of cheese, a few grapes, and one Lindor ball. I call that a win! Calories good for the day.

I had a really bad sleep last night. That operation I had a year ago to remove fibroids fixed the heavy periods but didn't take away all the pain. It gets bad each month the week before my period, and I was lying awake in a lot of discomfort for quite a bit of the night. Still aches today. It's 34 C here so I'm tired and sore and hot and not feeling very happy. Still staying away from the bad food though. We still have some in the house but it should be all finished off on Sunday night. Anything left after that will go in the bin.

Grumpy's wife

Thursday:

We have two kinds of weather at the moment, blazing hot or stormy. Neither is particularly good for gardening (but great for the garden) and the grass has got very long. I went out the back, considering a bit of a mow by the pool, but I could feel the hair on my arms crisping up so decided against it. But I was pulling a few weeds as I wandered around when there was movement beside me and I jumped about a foot into the air.

It seems Grumpy has found himself a wife! She's hiding between the rocks in the shade of the passionfruit vine. She was probably sunning herself on the paving tile before we startled each other.

I wasn't very impressed with Grumpy, he stayed still while I watched but the moment I turned away he scuttled off behind the shed, leaving her alone to face the human. I know almost nothing about lizards but I'd already decided that Grumpy was male and this new one is bigger and more blue/grey, (he's more brown) so that is good enough for me to label her as the female (and maybe pregnant because she is fatter!) Wouldn't it be lovely if they had a family.

I'll have to think of a name for her. I'm not going to call her Mrs Grumpy, how old fashioned and sexist!

I had a swim by myself this afternoon because I knew we wouldn't have time after school (but I might suggest an after-dinner swim if it's still hot). I say "swim", I mean I mostly sat in the water or moved slowly around. The only place in the shade in the water at that time of day was in the grotto, a sort of cave under the waterfall which has a ledge under water to sit on and another ledge out of the water that you can put things on. The water feature sticks out all around, so to get my book there I held it in my mouth and dog-paddled over! Dried my hands on my hair then sat and read in the shade, rib deep in cool water. It was lovely.

Pool party

Sunday:

We had beautiful weather for our pool-warming party. Sunny and hot, but not too hot. But exhausting. Such a busy weekend! I am resting my tired feet now as I watch Love Actually.

After a morning at a four-year-old’s birthday, we spent Saturday afternoon in and around the pool. We enjoyed a swim but Tim and I were also trying to get the backyard perfect. Mowing the lawn, trimming the edges, weeding, finishing the mulching, cleaning the pool. Then Sunday morning we concentrated on the inside of the house.

People were slow to arrive but by lunchtime we had more than 30 people here, including quite a few kids. Some were in the pool while Tim manned the BBQ and I prepared the other stuff. Then we had a huge spread for lunch, and then Tim and I got to enjoy time in the pool with more people than we’ve had in there before. Other people sat in the shade in our lovely new garden and talked. There was also interest in our VR (virtual reality) headset back inside. Most of the non-family left around 4 (which was the official end time) and the remainder tucked into afternoon tea. As usual I over-catered  and we’re left with a fridge and pantry full. And everyone brought drinks so we’re left with more than we started with!

Everyone agreed that we have a beautiful pool and provided a lovely lunch, but then they would say that anyway wouldn’t they!

I didn’t get sunburned (a first!) but Jasmine was out in the pool all day and is very fair so she’s rather pink tonight, despite frequent applications of sunscreen. And Tim burned his nose yesterday. One of our guests spent a lot of time floating around on a blow-up pineapple and I think she was turning pink too. I hope no one suffers too much.

Turns out most of the part of my side of the family that lives in Sydney is going down the coast this year to spend Christmas with my cousin Lara, who married this year (or was it last year? Not that long ago, anyway). They are taking Poppa, my 99 year old grandfather, with them. So I won’t be seeing them for Christmas. That is two years in a row. Since my mother and my aunt died it seems the family has drifted apart. I no longer have a conduit for gossip or family news, I have to chase it. I thought I’d see them more often since moving to Sydney, but without mum I actually see and hear from them less. To be fair, I didn’t invite any of them to the pool party! I’ve arranged with a cousin that we’ll go out and Poppa at the same time so at least I’ll see a few people then. I’ll invite my brother here on Christmas Day as usual.

So, after today, do I dread weigh-in tomorrow? No, not really. I don’t generally overeat when with a group, I’m more a secret-eater type. So I didn’t eat more (or not much more) today despite all the piles of food. The left-overs are more of a danger.

Dragon

Tuesday:

We had a visit from a dragon today. I was out gardening and I had just edged around our resident blue-tongue lizard Grumpy (I wasn't scared of him, I just didn't want to disturb him) who was out getting some sun, when I saw a flash of extremely fast movement go up the rock wall and over the lip of the pool. So I walked around to the other side (no sudden movements) to see a water dragon clinging to the wall, unsuccessfully hiding from me.

It's a mineral pool, so it's not exactly drinking quality but shouldn't hurt him/her. It is good to know that despite us ripping just about every original plant out of the backyard and being a construction site for a year, the wildlife is still happy to live here.

I did an exam this morning, I do that subject online and it was multiple choice so I got my results straight away - 100%! It's worth 50% of the total for that subject - Copyright. So yay.

I thought 100% was pretty good, but then Jasmine came home and said she got 103% in her Spanish exam by getting everything right plus some bonus marks. Snotty kid.

Someone noticed

Sunday:

Big day for me today - someone noticed my weight loss! My cousin-in-law (Tim’s cousin’s wife) was here for dinner and we were chatting in the kitchen. She said I was looking really good and obviously had been working hard. And later as she was leaving she said I needed to buy some new clothes. So that was lovely.

I’ve been dividing my time mostly between study and gardening. Weeding and mulching and potting up a couple of hydrangeas to go outside our bedroom window. I put in my application to do that internship. I’ve also been doing a sweaty hour of Dance Central most days. I have to have two showers most days, after the morning dance session then after some afternoon gardening. Sweaty and filthy!

I didn’t dance today, I had a headache and was a bit tired. I’ve had a sore spot beside my nose for a few days, I think I might have a bit of a sinus infection in there. It woke me in the night, and was hurting on and off today. I’m sore in a line under my eyebrows too - where the other sinuses are. I took it a bit easier today, but I still spent time working in the garden! And hosted a family dinner as usual.

Feeling thinner.

Blue ribbon

Sunday:

We spent Saturday morning at a family birthday party, Lucy was the first of our new babies last year and she just turned one! The party was very nice but it is really pissing me off that no-one has noticed my eight kilogram weight loss yet! I'll go out somewhere feeling like I'm quite a bit thinner, but come home feeling like I must look just the same. Well I can see the difference.

We all spent Sunday morning working in the front yard: pruning hedges and pulling some of the weeds from the lawn and trimming edges and raking. Tim and I did about two and a half hours and the kids helped for most of that. It was a good workout.

I went over to our neighbor's on Friday to ask about getting something in writing that they are ok with the noise from the heat pump, Craig was away but his wife whose name unfortunately I can't remember said she would talk to him. I'm hoping that will be resolved soon. Today she saw us working in our front yard and brought out some warm apple muffins she'd just made and had a chat. So she is willingly to be friendly and repair any awkwardness or bad feelings.

Sunday afternoon was the highlight of the weekend. Jasmine had her trial for the State acrobatic gymnastics competition, she and her partner got a blue ribbon (the highest rank) and are through to the State final! It was a much bigger event than the little one a couple of weeks ago, with a lot more competitors, and held at an enormous Olympic-fitted gymnasium. Everyone from Jasmine's acrogym school did well. I know Jasmine certainly worked very hard. We are so proud!

Frangipani

Sunday:

Yesterday I was crushingly exhausted for no apparent reason, although sickness has been going around the family (Lucy's first birthday party was postponed from this weekend because of it and the only person able to come to dinner here tonight is my father-in-law, everyone else is sick). I sat in front of the TV all day and fell asleep there both morning and afternoon. Even when I was awake I felt foggy and exhausted.

Today I am much better. Tim and I moved the frangipani up to the backyard. We were going to buy an advanced one for that corner until we found they are about $1500 for a decent size tree, but luckily the previous owners had left one in a pot, which it had overgrown and its roots were delving though the pot holes into the ground. It had also slumped over at some point so was growing sideways. I thought the back corner had been dug over but it hadn't, still full of rocks and roots! So that was a fair bit of work preparing the soil then getting a reasonably mature tree out of its little pot and safely into the ground. It looks great, very architectural.

It looks very bare (and interesting) in winter, it is just about to burst into leaf and then flower. In summer it will look something like this random picture from the internet:

It has beautifully scented tropical flowers like this.

I'll plant some things around the bottom to fill out that corner a bit. 

I also started to tackle the little shady area behind the house that is lined with tree ferns. They look great and help shade the back of the house, but they had a lot of dead fronds. I worked my along about half, until I got too filthy and itchy! 

I did some study in the afternoon for my upcoming exam. It's my favourite but also most difficult subject. It was great to get back into a topic I enjoy after that last assignment!

My night sweats came back almost as soon as I stopped taking Duromine. Three times in the past five nights I've woken after a frustrating dream, drenched in sweat. Yuck. And my craving for unhealthy foods is fully back too. Weird to compare how I felt about junk food most of the time on Duromine when I could take it or leave it! Now I definitely take it. Yet I've actually lost weight this week. 

Kids are back at school tomorrow.

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.

Health worries

Tuesday:

Things were looking very worrying here this morning. My father-in-law Des was very sick with the flu, and went to the emergency room last night with a high temperature and possible pneumonia. His partner Jo is just starting chemotherapy for her lung cancer which is obviously going to make her feel even more rotten than she already feels, and she needs to be driven to and from the hospital twice a day and probably help with meals and stuff too. Her family lives in another state. So they were in a pretty bad situation. Of course we were all going to rally around and help out, drive Jo back and forth and cook etc. Luckily we have few commitments this week and don't live too far away, Nick and Ping too but they have two young children. But we got news later in the day that Des is feeling much better and they seem to be able to cope without us for the moment. We're available if they need us.

Jasmine is much better today too and even went to her acrogym practice. I think she had hayfever, Tim and I have had symptoms too. All that spring pollen.

Tim and I spent a lot of today in the garden, more digging and digging and digging. My hands are stinging and sore from wielding a shovel, and Tim has a blood blister from using the pick. I rather enjoy wrestling with the stony soil. I hope to buy lots more plants tomorrow.

Stall

Monday:

I didn't lose any weight this week, in fact I'm 100 grams heavier than last Monday (I don't really consider that a gain, that's a tiny fluctuation). It's disappointing of course, but there was the nausea I was trying to combat with frequent carbs all week, and two parties on the weekend where I wasn't in control of the food served and where there were no good choices at all. I feel back on track today. 

If anything I'm most worried that I have stalled right on that 78 kg mark, and have not yet broken into virgin fat. Again. 

78.1 kg.

It still looks better than 84.7 kg. 

I think no-one has noticed my weight loss yet (or at least hasn't mentioned it) because I am often around this weight. My shorts from last summer fit perfectly. I'm at the lowest end of my 'normal' weight variation.

Hay fever has hit here, going outside is a bit of a risk! We're all affected to some extent. Jasmine either has bad hay fever, or has the flu, not sure yet. I hope she recovers quickly.

More digging in the garden today. Tim does the back-breaking work first with a pick, then I go along with the shovel trying to incorporate some manure into the dust and rocks. Another trip to the garden centre soon for more plants. 

Party

Saturday:

We did some gardening in the morning, and while Tim was digging out yet more tree roots he found that they were attached to a big tree stump under the ground! When we had the land cleared for the pool, several large trees had to be removed, and they ground the stumps down but only to 20cm below ground level (I think). I had to get someone to come and completely remove one stump that was in the way of pool construction, but this one was left. We'll just plant around it. It will rot down eventually. In fifty years or something.

We had a lovely swim in the afternoon. With the heater only on for a day and a half in was still a bit cool in the water but you got used to it. Lovely hot day. The weight I've lost makes a big difference to how I feel in my swimming cossie. We're going to work hard on the garden this week while we're all on holidays and then have a pool party the next hot weekend.

In the evening we went to a birthday party, one of Tim's lesser-known cousins. It was a 1920's theme, some people really dressed up but we just wore our best approximation of flapper fashion from what we had. The party was fine but the food was awful! It was dinner time, there wasn't a sit down meal but plenty of finger food, little pies and mini quiches and deep fried stuff etc. Unfortunately, as well as all being terribly unhealthy it was all cheap inedible frozen food bulk purchased, that none of my finicky household could eat. Even the pre-sliced cheese was horrible. On the other hand, the dessert table was magnificent! I had to have something (not home til late) so my dinner was a spring roll, a couple of handfuls of chips and some petite fours. The macarons were delicious. I'm sure I had plenty of calories but I didn't feel like I'd eaten a single nutrient. Oh, except one fresh raspberry that I ate off a little tart then threw the tart away.

I did take a Duromine tablet in the morning after only one day off, no nausea all day. Tim and I are both having some hay fever symptoms so I don't know if that was affecting the queasiness. Either way, hopefully that has passed. I've been eating too many calories for much of the week and I weigh the same today as I did Monday. Only one more day to see some kind of a loss this week.

More rocks, and a lost dog

Friday:

I feel completely better today, yay! But Jasmine is still home sick, not yay. However, by late afternoon she seemed a lot better so yay.

I was heading home from the grocery shopping this morning, only a few doors away from my house, and there was a dog sniffing around on the road. A little black and white spaniel that I hadn't seen around here before. It showed no inclination to move. I stopped, it didn't budge. I rolled the car a bit closer. The dog looked up at me through the windshield and wagged its tail hopefully. I honked. It stood there staring at me. I live in a narrow street and when there are cars parked on both sides, as there was here, there is no room to go around. If you meet a car going the other way, one of you has to find space to pull over to the side to let the other pass. Even a little dog was a formidable barrier. And I was pretty sure the poor thing was lost. I was going to get out of the car but then a man came over from a nearby house and called the dog which ran to him. It obviously wasn't the man's dog, we shrugged at each other and I drove on. But then I felt guilty. I'd just handed responsibility for this lost dog over to someone else. But I had groceries to get into the fridge and a sick child at home, and I had a car sitting in the middle of the road. I hope the dog was wearing a collar with a tag, or at least microchipped (which is compulsory in Australia) and it wasn't too much hassle for the man.

In the afternoon I got stuck into some heavy gardening work. I'd already mostly weeded the area beside the house that I am going to use as a vegetable patch, it used to have plants in it but after various heavy machinery drove over it (and over, and over, and over) to get to the backyard we were left with a heavily-compacted wasteland with a few weeds. Oh, and lots of rocks, just like everywhere else on this property. Today I picked up another bucket-full of rocks, then spread out several bags of manure and compost and dug it in and raked it out ready for planting tomorrow. It looks quite nice (smells a bit manurey though, as Aiden pointed out, and so did I until I had a shower) but the problem is when I was digging I kept hitting rock only a few centimetres down. Big rocks, like maybe attached to the earth's crust. There is not enough soil over the rock, in about a third of the whole bed, to really sustain anything. I'll get Tim to have a dig tomorrow, he may be able to pull out a few boulders. Otherwise I'll be planting around those areas, maybe putting pots on top!

I was totally exhausted after an hour and a half, had a shower and fell asleep in my chair. But I feel like I actually got some exercise today, first time this week.

Turf

Saturday:

This morning the rolls of turf arrived. We didn't know what time they would come, and it turned out to be while we were still in bed! I put on ugg boots and a jumper over my pjs and went out to direct the guy with the little forklift. He got them up the slope of our front yard, but Tim still had to carry them one by one to the backyard - and they weighed at least 10 kg each. Some a lot more, it depended how much dirt was attached to the grass.

Tim took Aiden to his tennis lesson and I measured the width of the grass rolls - the website had said 45 cm but they were 60 cm! This threw out all my levelling/smoothing calculations and I spent the next hour moving more dirt around.

When Tim got home we got stuck into the turf laying. It took about three hours. The grass is mainly a two-roll-wide strip around the pool, with an extra area in one corner for seating.

Before:

Neat rolls waiting in the shade:

And after:

Doesn't it look great! I was getting sick of looking at bare dirt. There is more than you can see in that picture as it goes around three sides of the pool, and Tim had to do a lot of cutting to fit them around the curves so it was a lot of work. Tim did all the carrying and cutting, I just helped place them, but I was still utterly exhausted by the time we finished!

The bare patches next to the fence will be filled with tropical plants, but we should probably wait until there is no danger of cold nights so they have a year to establish before they have to deal with winter. You can grow select tropical plants in Sydney ok but it does get a bit cold for them in winter so not a good time to plant.

While we were still working outside the heater guy came - luckily I had warned him that we might be out the back and if no one answered the door to come through the gate. He replaced the bits that needed replacing so we have a working heater again - although I don't know if we'll need it, it was beautiful today and is going to be 28C tomorrow! It will probably get cold again for a little while though before spring really kicks in.

I don't know if the plants are worried though, we have beautiful freesias popping up all over the place:

And our little peach tree in a pot is in flower:

Spring is a beautiful thing.