Friday 17th January - worth waiting for...

 

Bara brith, well buttered, with morning coffee! Somehow I managed to wait two whole days before cutting into it. This is a titchy piece; I don't think that ara brith or generous application of butter forms any part of a slimming diet. Rather than go without, I froze most of the loaf and am just having a very moderate quantity. 

I'm back on track after the Christmas indulgence, maybe. It doesn't do to be too definite about this. As long as I end the week a little, tiny bit, lighter than when I began it I'm content.

I'd like two be half a stone lighter. Seven pounds. One hundred and twelve ounces? I think so. 

I'm better if I visualise things;

One pint of milk weighs one pound and five ounces, or 21 ounces. So I'm trying to lose the equivalent of... a bit more than five pints of milk.

I'll be glad to stop carrying all that around with me!

I'm still having chocolate o'clock; we've eaten all the Christmas chocolates and just one minstrel won't make much difference, surely? 

.....

Brussel sprouts, and roasted parsnips

For lunch, I shredded some of the remaining Christmas brussels as finely as one would for coleslaw and stir fried them in a very little oil. Then I added a little Marigold brand vegetable stock powder and a dash of boiling water to finish them. Oh me, oh my. I only prepped ten sprouts; we could have eaten half as much again. The oil I used was a mild chilli infused olive oil.

I also used up the last of the Christmas parsnips, peeling, chunking, parboiled (microwave) and roasting in the airfryer again in just a dribble of oil. Oh me, oh my again! I confess a fair number never made it onto the dinner plate, they were that good...

Both those side dishes will be happening again.

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Today's portion of Psalm 23 was 'he leads me along the paths of righteousness for his name's sake'.

Thursday 16th January - more for the charity bag...

Another 'rescue' from my father’s flat was a selection of random note cards, with and without envelopes. I've sorted through them, recycling the ones that I disliked enough that I wouldn't want to use them. I've already used most of the rest, replying to condolence cards.

The remaining cards provided the impetus to sort through one of the many 'miscellaneous stuff' drawers which I knew had my own selection of random cards. In passing I took time out to revisit photographs which had been just stuffed in with everything else, and separate out a tiny silver charm, some candlesticks and a few other odds and ends to join the growing stash for the next charity shop drop. Win, win!

All the cards and envelopes are together in one box, and some more things sorted into keep, chuck, donate. Fairly effortlessly too.

....

On Tuesday I put out bird feeders for the first time in months and months. I didn't see any birds using them yesterday, but occasionally I'd notice the sunflower seed feeder gently swinging in the very still air - promising, I thought.

Today there was another clue; two fat pigeons waddling around under the feeders... and all of a sudden here came the birds! Flitting from the apple tree nearby and a thick evergreen shrub. I need to get my binoculars onto them to work out, with the help of a guide book what they are. I'm no birdspotter, but I think there were sparrows and blue tits. I know we also have a wren and a robin in the garden.

....

BB is very subdued this evening. The first stage of dealing with the projected dental programme involved an extraction, today. The dentist managed this pretty quickly and painlessly, once he had allowed for BB having hypermobility. 

This is when your joints are far more flexible than the normal, and can affect one mildly or more severely. One unexpected side-effect which he only discovered recently is that local anesthetics at the dentist don't work as normal; you need a bigger dose, and they take longer to work properly. He rather wishes he had known about this 60 years ago...

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Psalm 23 so far; 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he keadeth me beside the still waters.

Today's phrase; He restoreth my soul.

Wednesday 15th January - I wasn't surprised...

that after all that activity yesterday today turned into something far less busy.

I mean, I could have been doing all sorts of things... but I chose not to. I dealt with one job that had been rather hanging over me. I persuaded myself to see how much I could get done in an hour, and at the end of the time, well, it seemed a shame not to carry on when I had so nearly finished it. Done! And I feel all the better for it.

I've done a little more January stitching for the cover story collaboration with Ang. I know I'm hedging around the next stage, which isn't completely sorted in my mind  yet.

....

BT came and converted us to fibre this afternoon. BB has been preparing for it for a while; excavating the socket where the thing would have to plug in, checking the configuration of whatever the old thingy was and making sure he had sorted out the passwords. He did a fair bit of running around while the BT man was doing the actual work - it would have been handy to know the new thingy and it's associated thingy each need a power socket, for example. Then more running around checking everything still works. (It does). 

...

My contribution was to cook supper; egg-fried rice. Quick and easy, especially if you use a sachet of microwave rice. 

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Now we are both relaxing for the rest of the evening. 

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Psalm 23 for today; 'he leadeth me beside the still waters'. No hurry, no rush, no noise and clamour...