August 31 - Letting My Hair Down

   Got up and straight on the cross trainer for 42 minutes (Buffy S3E14), and then ate my breakfast of yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.  The Coles brand is very very tart.  Berries are tart to start with but these are making me wince!  I tried microwaving the berries this morning, just for 30 seconds, to see if that would help.  I also added a little sprinkle of slivered almonds but it was still a bit too sour.  I may need to revert to the three berry mix or add a drizzle of honey in future!  Also, this was the healthiest thing I ate all day.

  Once I'd got dressed and ready for the busy and fat/salt/sugar filled day, I prepared the Chocolate & Pretzel Slice into its presentation boxes for distribution to various destinations and had a small piece of it for my morning tea.  Oh god.. it's so good.  It is dense and deliciously chocolatey and I will not be making it again for a long time!  The temptation would just be too great.
  After that I had a spare half hour before I had to head off so I called my mate Teddy in Boston.  It was great to hear his voice again.  We email a lot but with the time difference and different work schedules it can be really hard to find a time where we are both home and able to spend the time on the phone.  Friendships can be hard to maintain at such a distance, but we manage.
  At 11:30am it was time to head off to word for my right-hand gal's farewell lunch.  I set off via Captain Cupcake's place (she received the first batch of chocolatey goodness) and got to work in time to help set up.  We had Garlic Pizza Bread and two types of pasta (Ravioli Bolognese and Sundried Tomato Penne Pollo) and sandwiches and the Broccoli Salad and a Green Salad and M&Ms and Malteasers and Chocolate & Pretzel slice (I had two more pieces) and Lemonade and Coke and and.. we still managed to have leftovers which makes the Duty Manager happy as he's got lunches and dinners for the weekend shifts.

 

   It was a fantastic lunch and we all ate too much and made merry and reminisced.  We had a couple of contractors join us, and a retired manager dear to our hearts, and a much missed ex-team member.  It was awesome to see the team whole gathered and enjoying each others' company.  One of the most awesome things about where I work is that we don't have to have official 'team building days' because we build our team simply by enjoying being together.  Celebrating our wins, sharing our losses, we do it all as team and therein lies our strength.
  I headed off after our long lunch to head down to my accountant in Frankston (happy to recommend her if anyone needs an accountant).  I had allowed an hour for it but these days everything is so hooked in that she was able to download almost all the data she required and prepare it before my arrival.  She only really needed me there to add anything different from the previous year and specify the amounts I donated to which charities and to sign the completed return!  As a result the appointment only took 30 minutes.
  It seemed a waste of time to go home so I just drove straight to Jack Johnson's place.  We had a takeaway/movie night planned.  As a result of leaving earlier than expected however, I beat him there and had to wait a few minutes on the front door step.  He was home pretty soon after though and I was promptly introduced to his two furry feline friends and stowed a stash of chocolately goodness in his fridge for him to enjoy at his leisure
(I certainly didn't want to indulge in any more).
  The movies never quite eventuated but they are now at Jack's place for a non-specific "next time".  What we did end up doing was playing Rockband on the XBox.  I was chuffed to discover that while I can only manage the easy level on the 'guitar' I am able to capably manage expert level on the microphone!  Yay for being able to sing in key!

  We ordered and collected dinner somewhere along the line in between our rock star stylings.  I ordered Spicy Salt & Pepper Squid and Jack ordered Seafood Combination Flat Noodle stir fry.  Both were nice and the order came with free Prawn Crackers (of which I ate way too many).
  After more Rockband my increasingly hoarse throat (especially after Chop Suey by System of a Down) and Jack's increasingly cramped hands we settled in to watching some TV.  Jack had a couple of seasons of an adult cartoon called Archer which is a James Bond-style piss-take of the spy game, where Stirling Archer is the son of the owner of the Isis spy agency.  It is very funny in an 'oh so wrong' kind of way.  I headed home after about 8 or 9 episodes and got in about midnight.
  I know this wasn't a great day food wise and that certainly showed up in my blood sugar reading for the evening.  However, I knew this day was coming up so I was good all week in the lead up and I will go back to being good again in the morning.  Technically, it is morning now (and Spring!), so I am going to bed before I run out of night!
  Jess

Stealth Kitteh says "O hai"

August 30 - Fun In The Kitchen

  I ran a bit late for work this morning, about 15 minutes, thanks to my new book.  There it was, sitting there all "read me, read me" on my bedside table.  I'll admit it, I'm hooked, I want to know what happens next.  I will just have to be more strict with myself from now on.  No morning reading!
  Fortunately I was still at work in plenty of time for a meeting with my Ops Manager and the supplier who takes care of our grease waste.  I'm pretty lucky where I work.  Most office workers don't really get their curiosity indulged by operational staff, but my Ops Manager is happy for me to tag along and be as involved as my curiosity dictates.  I really appreciate that about him.
  Apart from that bright spot, work was pretty lack lustre.  I got a fair bit done but none of it was particularly thrilling.  With all deadlines done for the month I usually have a couple of slow days so they are where I do the boring housekeeping tasks.
  Tomorrow is my right-hand gal's last day so even though it is my day off I will be going in to join the team for her farewell lunch.  She is pretty much catering her own lunch (to be sure she gets what she wants according to her) but I said I would make Broccoli Salad (not as healthy as it sounds) and Chocolate & Pretzel Slice (exactly as healthy as it sounds ie. not very).
  So after exercise and dinner I cleaned up my kitchen, put on a load of dishes, wiped down benches and assembled ingredients!  First up, Broccoli Salad!  I got the recipe for this salad from a girl I used to work with who now runs Thread Den in Fitzroy.  A very crafty lass.  She made the salad for the team Christmas lunch one year and we've all been making it ever since!

  The recipe turns this:
2 to 3 heads of broccoli, raw
1 cup of fried bacon pieces
1 cup of grated cheese
1 cup of craisin
1 cup of whole egg mayo
  You can add pine nuts to the top too if you like but I chose to garnish with broccoli stars this time!

  Into this!
  The broccoli is not cooked.  You just cut it into little pieces and small florets then mix through the fried bacon, craisins and cheese, then add the mayo and keep mixing until it's all got a bit of a coating.  Then refrigerate overnight.  You can eat it on the day if you like but it does gain something from being in the fridge a while.

  Next up I took 800g of dark chocolate (two blocks of Old Gold Original and two blocks of Old Gold 70%), 400ml pouring cream, 6 egg yolks, 60g of pretzels and a sprinkling of sea salt flakes and turned it into:

  Chocolate & Pretzel Slice!
  The recipe is a little tricky in that it involves boiling cream without burning it and mixing egg with hot liquid without cooking it but I'm pleased to say I did it successfully!
  I even managed to get through all stages of cooking it without tasting the chocolate.  I only allowed myself a small taste test while I was cleaning up the cooking implements. 

   My cooking escapades finished around 11pm and then I cleaned up and laid away the dishes from earlier and put the new ones from cooking on.  Then I remembered in time that it was bin night so I emptied all the bins and dragged the relevant two to the curb (must remember to add that to Thursdays in my weekly planner).  And then, and only then, I was able to come and start tonight's blog!

Food and exercise for the day was:

• Breakfast was yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.  I switched to the Coles brand mixed berries today.  They were a lot cheaper than the other lot and they have redcurrants to boot!
• Lunch was almost the same as the rest of the week, but I'd run out of cucumber! A Mission wholegrain wrap spread with a heaped tablespoon of Yumi Hummus and topped with three slices of Aldinga Turkeys 97% Fat Free Smoked Turkey Breast Roll (about 42g) and a big handful of rainbow salad.  I also had a kiwi fruit with skin on, a tamarillo and an Afourer mandarin.
• Exercise was 42 minutes on the cross trainer (Buffy S3E13).
  
• Dinner was homemade bolognase sauce with wholegrain & veggie coloured pasta spirals (55g dry weight, still needs reducing but nearly there) and a sprinkling of Mainland Finely Grated Light Tasty cheese mixed through.
• For dessert, I tasted the chocolate off the beater and bowl as I cleaned up!

How on earth did I get through this section without tasting!?

  It's another big day for me tomorrow and it's already past my bedtime.  I have exercise to do tomorrow morning before cutting up delicious chocolate slice and heading off for lunch, an accountant visit and dinner with a friend!  Here's hoping I get through it all!
  Jess

August 29 - Freedom!

  Freedom!  Freedom!  Freedom!
I'm not talking freedom in the truest sense.. more the sort experienced by a dog who's finally getting to go walkies or a bird with clipped wings allowed out of its cage for a stroll.  But at any rate, I got to be out in the sunshine today!  For once I didn't spend the whole day cooped up in my concrete bunker of an office!
  I had reason today, to escape the confines of my four white walls and head down to Knox on my lunch break.  It was only swapping one shopping centre for another, albeit briefly, but the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the birds were singing and I was too.
  I don't think I can adequately describe how gleeful I felt with the sun shining on me.  My driver's side window was wound down, the wind whipping through my hair making it looks all "windswept and interesting" as Billy Connolly puts it.  And the volume on my music was turned up loud enough to offend those around me if they happen to not like bluegrass.

The view from my car park screamed freedom.

  It wasn't so much about the destination but the getting to make a journey.  It felt almost like playing hookey.  My business there was swiftly concluded and I returned to the car, but even though there was little point, I climbed that grassy hill and was rewarded by this photogenic little chap.  He let me take a good twenty or so shots, and only flew off as a jogger came down the path toward him.

Warble dammit!  I miss that sound.

  The trip back to the office was no less enjoyable for knowing it was soon to be over.  When I arrived back I parked in the Level 3 car park at the far end and overlooked the view of the surrounding suburbs and the ongoing development.  The wind and sun reminded me that summer is coming, and for once, I'm actually looking forward to it.

  Deadlines done and another ride home.  Even with today's to-do list sitting on the seat next to me I still almost forgot to pull in at Officeworks on the way home.  The auto-pilot is strong with this one.  But I remembered with a block to go and stopped off.  Toner is not cheap.  It's a $200 Printer and it takes a $100 toner cartridge!  At least it doesn't need replacing terribly often.

  As I turned up my street, a SOLD sticker hoved into view.  Looks like I will have new neighbours soon.  It was passed in at auction so I wonder what it ended up going for.  I can't imagine it will be a long settlement as my old neighbours already moved out a couple of months ago.  I might have to look into wireless headphones for the TV.  That way I can still enjoy late night and early morning Buffy without keeping anyone on the other side of the wall awake.

  To cap off a lovely day, this evening before I started writing tonight's blog, Mr Smart was able to find time to play three rounds of Ticket to Ride with me.  Now before I get gushy, on with food and exercise for the day!

• Breakfast was yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.
• For my morning snack I had an Afourer mandarin
• Lunch was the same as yesterday and the day before that!  This is actually a good thing, despite perhaps being dull to read as routine helps me stay on track and within a budget.  A Mission wholegrain wrap spread with a heaped tablespoon of Yumi Hummus and topped with three slices of Aldinga Turkeys 97% Fat Free Smoked Turkey Breast Roll (about 42g), 10 slices of Lebanese cucumber and a big handful of rainbow salad.
• For my afternoon snack I had a tamarillo and a passionfruit.
• Exercise was 42 minutes of Buffytastic action (S3E12) on the cross trainer.
  
• Dinner was a pan-fried honey, mint and rosemary marinated lamb fillet with leftover salad.  It was a big piece of lamb, it was deliciously rare and I ate the whole thing.  The salad was not so hot the second day.  I think the dressing it makes it go all soggy in the fridge.  I still ate it, I need my veggies.

  Tomorrow promises to be a pretty busy day so I think I'll head to bed early-ish for once.
I doubt sleep will find me terribly quickly though.  Not when there is a book to read!
Goodnight dear friends!
  Jess

August 28 - Measuring Up

  Managed to do everything on my list again today!
  I dropped a broken 2-Way radio off for repair on the way to work.  It had a bit of an argument with a motor vehicle yesterday but it did make it through with surprisingly little damage (other than the whole not working anymore thing). I still managed to get to work on time which is bonus considering how hard I find it to get up in the morning these days.
  My right-hand gal was a mix of terrified and elated today at the realisation that she only has three more days of work before maternity leave.  It's nice to see her looking forward to it even though I'll miss her input on a lot of things.
  At lunch time I remembered to go to Fish Pier and get snapper fillets.  Except, they don't sell it as fillets.  What they do is weigh you a whole snapper, then if you want it filleted, they will fillet it to your specifications on the spot!  So I picked my snapper, which turned out to be $11.20, and then LOP! off came his head!  He was skinned and boned right before my eyes (or almost before my eyes, I had to duck and peek through the glass).  They offered me the bones and head for stock-making if I was so inclined, but I said no.  I'm not a big fan of food that looks at me.
  The afternoon passed pretty quickly.  I got my little deadline for today out of the way and managed to get some old computer equipment donated to a local charity, Youth Education Support Inc.  Their website is currently under construction, but essentially what they do is provide educational support to young people in the form of equipment, tutoring, etc.  They run a really nice Op Shop in Mahoneys Road too.  They are a great local charity run by very passionate people so it was nice to be able to help out.
  Once I got home it was straight through to the kitchen to make a big bowl of salad.  The salad was a base of baby green oak leaf lettuce, baby red chard, baby rocket and baby spinach with red capsicum, Perino Sweet Snacking Tomatoes, peeled strips of carrot, Lebanese cucumber and diced avocado.
  Luckily Bertie had arrived and let herself in by the time I got up to the avocado because I am hopeless at dicing them, they always end up kind of mushed when I do it (though she did show me a different way of doing it so maybe I'll be ok now).  While Bertie did that I made a vinaigrette of equal parts Mendez Olive Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Tania Balsamic Vinegar and a heaped teaspoonful of Beerenberg Bavarian Mustard.
  Then I pan-fried the fish fillets in a spray of olive oil and 5 minutes later, dinner was served!  I must say, I've decided that fish and salad is pretty damn easy once you've had a go at it.  I'd always worried about cooking fish but I think I'll be a little bit more adventurous with it from now on.  Big thanks to Mr Smart for giving me guidance on cooking times.  My nephew, not to be left out, had fish fingers and as much salad as Bertie and I could convince him to eat (which was not a lot, but we tried!).
  After dinner Bertie and I made a skype video call to Gub.  It was great to have the sisters three together, if only virtually, and our nephew was able to show Gub all his new Toy Story 3 mini-figurines.  He's been getting these chocolate eggs with them inside and for once, he's more interested in the toy than the chocolate!  He practically ignored the chocolate tonight. I had to make Bertie eat it so I could stop looking at it because it was just too damn tempting.

  Gub had to run off to have a late morning coffee with a friend so that left Bertie and I down to measuring me up.  I feel like I should apologise for the entirely unappealing picture of my left arm but I thought in the interests of honesty, I would show you all at least a bit of what was measured.
  You might have to look at the big version of the photo to see them but we put some dotted lines on so you could see where we took the two arm measurements.
I hate my upper arms more than any other part of my body.  I can live with a big bum, a wobbly tummy and thunder thighs, but flappy arm wings?  They disgust me.
  Believe it or not I am feeling physically ill at the thought that very soon you'll all see this picture.  I have promised myself that if I ever get down to a reasonable weight and stay that weight for a year that I will allow myself cosmetic surgery to remove the excess skin from my arms.  Ok, I need to stop thinking about them.
Here are the measurements taken in full:

Neck	41.5 cm
Left Upper Arm	43.0 cm	Right Upper Arm	43.0 cm
Left Lower Arm	27.0 cm	Right Lower Arm	29.0 cm
Bust	130.0 cm	Torso	119.0 cm
Waist	113.5 cm	Hips	137.5 cm
Left Thigh	75.5 cm	Right Thigh	74.0 cm
Left Calf	51.0 cm	Right Calf	52.0 cm

And here is my food for the day:

• Breakfast was yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.
• For my morning snack I had a large Kiwi fruit with skin on.  It was a little unripe yet, so tart it made my cheeks suck in!
• Lunch was the same as yesterday, a Mission wholegrain wrap spread with a heaped tablespoon of Yumi Hummus and topped with three slices of Aldinga Turkeys 97% Fat Free Smoked Turkey Breast Roll (about 42g), 10 slices of Lebanese cucumber and a big handful of rainbow salad.
• For my afternoon snack I had a tamarillo and an Afourer mandarin.
• Dinner was a pan-fried snapper fillet with salad.  I even had seconds of salad and there was still enough left to have tomorrow with my lamb fillet!  I also had a glass of Peter Lehmann Princess Moscato with dinner.
• Dessert was a bowlful of strawberries.  The full quantity had been 500g strawberries to 1 tablespoon of white sugar sprinkled on top.  I had about a third of that (Bertie loves strawberries).
• Exercise didn't happen today in amongst everything else.  I will just have to see if I can squeeze some in on Sunday instead.  But I made good food choices it seems because my blood sugar was down to 5.7 two hours after dinner!  My fingers are a bit sore though, it took me six goes tonight!

That's it for today folks.  Tasks done, berries defrosting, time to make my list for tomorrow then call it a night.  I have a brand spanking new book to start!
  Jess

PS: I recommend you read Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton.

August 27 - Sustainable Weight Loss

  Well I weighed in this morning at 116.9 kg.  That brings total weight loss to 9.8 kg which is an average of 172 g per day or approximately 5.3 kg per month.  The Queensland Health Guideline for shaping up document says that gradual sustainable weight loss should be between 1 and 4 kgs per month.  I'm guessing I'm a little ahead of the average due to the fact that my changes in eating habits, while relatively easy to accomplish, have been quite dramatic.  It's good to know what's recommend though, so that I don't get discouraged as my weight loss naturally plateaus (which it will from time to time).
  I am already doing a lot of what the document recommends but the one helpful thing that I keep forgetting to do is to take my measurements so that I can see how much I'm losing in terms of girth.  Hopefully Bertie can help me with that tomorrow if either one of us remembers.  I have noted it on my planner so hopefully that will jog my memory.  At any rate, I believe I will need new trousers soon but I'm reluctant to run right out and get a new wardrobe in case I keep shrinking for a while!
  I got compliments from three colleagues at separate times today saying they could see a physical difference!  I also had a lovely email with words of encouragement from JW who appeared in my life as my counterpart at one of work's suppliers but has grown to be a real friend.  The support everyone in my life has shown me has just been amazing and I really appreciate it.  I hope you're all still here if/when times get tougher.
  So did the weekly planner help today?  Yes, I believe it did.  Without it I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten to do a load of laundry tonight and I certainly would have forgotten to take my lamb fillet out of the freezer.  Now the washing is hung up and drying and the lamb fillet is slowly defrosting in the fridge for my Wednesday night dinner!  The planner also helped me keep on track with shopping only for what I need.  I'm sure I will tweak it a bit more as time advances but it's definitely already been a big help.

  I thought I'd go through today's diet and exercise a little differently.  I always want to be honest about what I've eaten but I don't always want food to be the primary focus for my blog entries (even though obviously it's a crucial part of the blog).  I've still photographed the main meals and recorded everything I've eaten but I've just run through it in brief.

• Breakfast was yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.
• Lunch was a Mission wholegrain wrap spread with a heaped tablespoon of Yumi Hummus and topped with three slices of Aldinga Turkeys 97% Fat Free Smoked Turkey Breast Roll (about 42g), 10 slices of Lebanese cucumber and a big handful of rainbow salad.  I also had a passionfruit, a tamarillo and and Alfourer mandarin.  The Yumi Hummus is my favourite brand.  It's got quite a strong sesame flavour which I love and it's also dairy and gluten free.
• For my afternoon snack I had half a dried apricot, four almonds, two pecan halves, two brazil nuts and two hazelnuts.
• Exercise was 40 minutes on the cross trainer to the tune of Buffy S3 Ep11. 
• Dinner was a bowl of homemade Pumpkin and Carrot soup sprinkled with a little Mainland Finely Shredded Light Tasty cheese with two slices of toasted Bürgen Wholemeal & Seeds bread thinly spread with butter.  Which was followed by 17g of Balance dark chocolate with cocoa nibs.

  So that's it for another day, I've made out my to do list for tomorrow from the weekly plan and I'm looking forward to seeing Bertie for dinner.
  Jess

August 26 - Planning Ahead

  I woke up and finished yesterday's blog while Mr Smart slept on and then got ready for the day ahead.  I didn't have breakfast straight away because I felt like something a bit different.  I showered, dressed and drove Mr Smart home.  On the way back home I stopped in at the Glen and went to the restaurant in David Jones.  I sat down, ordered myself a cooked breakfast and enjoyed the liberating feeling of eating out by myself.  I've only really done it once before, it was less daunting the second time around.

  I enjoyed the Vegetarian Breakfast which includes scrambled eggs on buttered sourdough toast, a grilled half tomato, rosemary fried mushrooms, wilted spinach and onion jam.  Also, I added bacon because everything is better with bacon.  I also had a big calcium fix, an iced coffee.  I remembered to say "no icecream, no cream" this time so it was just 600ml (approx) of delicious cold milky coffee.  Yummy!
  After breakfast I pootled down to the other end of the shopping centre to Woolies and got some ingredients for making soup and some supplies for the week ahead.  I did pretty well budget-wise and got out my remaining weekly self-allowance for the week.  This month, for once, knock on wood (tap tap tap) I am running on budget!  I was slightly annoyed that they didn't have any Kent pumpkin, I had to resort to Butternut which I generally find a bit bland but never mind.
  It was a really lovely day today so when I go home I opened all the windows and gave the house a good airing.  I left everything open until it started to get cool again later on.  I got a load of dishes underway, swept the bathroom and put out new bath mats then started my soup making!  Today's Soup: Pumpkin & Carrot
  I took 1.65kg of peeled Butternut pumpkin, chopped it into medium-large chunks and put them on oven trays lined with baking paper.  I added two small quartered onions and two smashed cloves of garlic.  That all went into the oven at 170°C for an hour.  While that was roasting away I put 500ml of chicken stock into my big non-stick pasta pot and added four finely sliced carrots and a little big of grated ginger (maybe a teaspoonful).  I slowly cooked that until the carrot was disintegrating then took it off the heat.  I had a medium mostly unripe banana around this time for afternoon tea/lunch.
  My dishes were done by this time so I dried and laid them away and got some laundry underway.  Woohoo.. the thrilling life I lead when I'm on my own!  Actually, I don't mind having a day set aside to do chores and pre-cooking etc. and the thought occurred that I need to do better planning out of my eating.  So I created a weekly planner!  I will try to follow it as best I can and refer to it each night so that I don't forget what things I need to do or buy the following day.  Any suggestions for improvement would be appreciated.

For August 27th to September 2nd

It's not a hard and fast plan, just a guide to help keep me on track.  Hopefully it will help me to eliminate those nights where I don't know what to make for dinner, and remind me to be good when I know I have something 'naughty' coming up later in the week.  It will also hopefully help me plan not to try to do too much in any one week.
Now, back to soup making!
  After one hour of cooking I checked the pumpkin and turned it.  I removed the onions and added them to the stock/carrot mixture then put the pumpkin back in the oven for another hour.  More laundry, more working on my planner and thinking about buying a kindle.
  Once the pumpkin was finished cooking it went into the pot with the carrots etc. and my stick mixer got a work out!  Another reason I don't like Butternut pumpkin so much is that when you roast it, it seems to get a kind of skin on it like sweet potato does.  Just as I'd finished giving it the first round of whizzing, I got a call from Gub.  She was giving me her flight details for December!  Can't wait to see her!  But back to whizzing.  I put the pot back on the heat and gradually added another litre of chicken stock and brought it almost to the boil before serving.  This still made a pretty thick soup and a lot of serves, eight to be exact (one of the containers has two serves in it)!

  So dinner was one bowl of homemade Pumpkin and Carrot soup with two slices of toasted Bürgen Wholemeal & Seeds bread thinly spread with butter.  I had also prepared 500g strawberries sprinkled with one level dessertspoonful of white sugar but I've decided to save them until Tuesday night so that I could share them with Bertie and my nephew.
  So that's it for today, I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning so I'm hoping that will be evidence of the mostly good week I've had.  I will let you all know tomorrow.
  Jess

August 25 - Food with Friends

  Woke up when my alarm went of at 9am.  Most of the time I don't need an alarm for 9am but I've been so tired this last few weeks that I figured I'd set it as a precaution.  I had breakfast: yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.  I did actually forget to get the berries out last night so I zapped them in the microwave for a minute.  It changed the texture a bit as they released a lot more juice that their slow defrost in the fridge produces, but it still was a pleasant breakfast.
  After catching up on facebook, emails, imgur, abebooks newsletters and Erik T's zombie apocolypse blog I got into my work out gear and got on the cross trainer.  I like to get it out of the way early in the day on the weekends so that anything fun I'm doing is not impeded upon.  After my Buffysworth of exercise was done I got into the shower and minor disaster struck!
  The hot tap came off in my hand!  Luckily my dad always felt his girls should be able to look after themselves so I looked at the problem (the lock nut had come off the stem) and was able to temporarily fix it with some thin nosed pliers.  I only temporarily fixed it as I really wanted to get showered and leave for lunch!  I think
  I've been very good with my food and exercise this week, you may have noticed, but that has a pay off.  The pay off has been the knowledge of my impending all-you-can-eat chinese lunch date at Noodle Kingdom Box Hill with Captain Cupcake.  She got one of those online coupon deals.

Round 1

  It was quite clever how they did it.  In order to reduce on wastage from people with eyes bigger than their stomachs they said you could order two items from the Snack/Dumpling Menu and one thing from the Noodle Menu and then if you finished all of that you could re-order.  For our first round of ordering we had Steamed Shanghai Pork Dumplings (I ate 3 of the 7), Fried Stripped Noodle with Beef (of which I ate about half) and Pan Fried Chicken and Prawn Dumplings (I at 3 of 6).  The pan fried dumplings were a clear favourite with both of us.  We got through the first lot without too much groaning.

Round 2

For round two, we ordered Steamed Pork and Shrimp Buns (I ate 2 of 4), more Pan Fried Chicken and Prawn Dumplings (again, I ate 3 of 6) and Combination Seafood Fried Noodle.  The second noodle dish wasn't as enjoyable and we were getting pretty darn bloated by that stage.  I was happy enough to admit defeat before we finished it.  I did overeat, but I knew I would a week ago so I feel that I made appropriate allowances for it.  I didn't need to untie the waist strap on my jacket though,so I did better than in the past.
  I dropped Cupcake home and went on to my place where I was promptly encouraged to leave again and go round to Mr Smart's.  Tonight Mr Smart and I babysit his two year old nephew.  He is adorable, a very bright and happy little boy.  It wasn't long into tonight's episode of 'In The Night Garden' that he marched himself off to bed.

  With him asleep there wasn't really to much to babysitting apart from sitting.  Mr Smart's sister had left an undressed salad (and ingredients for dressing) and a couple of snapper fillets in the fridge for us for dinner.  I set the table and got water and things while Mr Smart made the dressing and pan fried the fish.  He even cut up little lemon wedges.  It was a lovely meal, all light and fresh, especially after such a heavy lunch.
  After dinner Mr Smart started on some study while I watched The Avengers (lots of fun) and beyond that, he started making me watch Joss Whedon's Cabin In The Woods.  When Mr Smart's sister got home from dinner I didn't hear her come in and I nearly jumped out of my skin!  I hate scary movies but I will admit that I want to see how this one turns out so I shall probably reattempt it at some point.
  We drove back to my place and it was already midnight when we got here so we went straight to bed rather than slog it out to finish my blog on the day, hence the 'late' publication.
  Hope you all are having a lovely weekend.
  Jess

PS: My little green machine Hester turned 50,000km today, just as I pulled up to collect Captain Cupcake.  I'm not sure why it made me smile, but it did!

Hester is named after my second cousin who lives in England.

August 24 - Conquering Human Nature

Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature. 
- Charles Dickens

  I think it's pretty safe to say that none of us will ever conquer human nature even if we do occasionally manage to subdue our lusts for sugar, salt, and fat.  In part that's due to the fact that we don't really have an adequate definition of what constitutes human nature.
  It's all very well to look at someone's behaviour and say "well that's just human nature" and receive nods of acknowledgement from all those in earshot, but recognising it doesn't define it.  Is it the demonstration of our frailties, our vulnerability, our predispositions, our capacity for love, lust, anger, hatred, selfishness and selflessness?
  The Wikipedia entry states that "Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally, i.e. independently of the influence of culture." but of course there is no list of specific thoughts, feelings or actions that encompass this.  Is it human nature to eat to excess?  Or is that simply a remnant of our biological past?  Eat while the getting is good, for soon we may hungry again.
  I don't know of too many things I do that could be classed as independent of the influence of culture either.  Upbringing, education, peer groups.  All influences of culture.  And anything I do that is instinctive, well.. it's instinctive, not what someone would describe as human nature in conversation.  You wouldn't say "Sorry I hit you but you snuck up on me and my human nature took over".
  A bit of a ramble perhaps, but I just wasn't sure I agreed with Mr Dickens.  Perhaps what he should have said is:  Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered your waistline.  That at least, is much easier to agree with.

And now a quick run down of the day:
  Breakfast: Yoghurt, berries & fibre toppers.
  Morning Snack:  A Honey-Murcott mandarin and a nut snack pack (half a dried apricot, two pecan halves, two hazelnuts, two brazil nuts and four almonds).
  Lunch:  A slight variation on this week's norm.  A toasted sandwich of Bürgen Wholemeal & Seeds bread spread with Masterfoods Corn Relish and topped one slice of Bertocchi Triple Smoked Ham with the fat trimmed off (about 73g) and one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese.  A toasted sandwich is always lovely on a cold day.  I also had six thick slices of cucumber, a small Kiwi fruit with skin on and a tamarillo.
  The fire alarm went off at work today, not exactly a false alarm but nothing dangerous either.  The boys quickly identified the cause and everything was deemed safe so we didn't have to evacuate (yay!).  I go into a cold panic every time that damn thing goes off.  There has never been anything really bad happen, but it's just the thought that something could.  It took me a good couple of hours to feel calm again.  It never used to bother me but about a year ago when I was going through a lot of personal stuff it induced an actual panic attack (my only one ever) and I've never really recovered from that feeling.  The noise makes me feel terrible every time.
  I had every intention of doing my exercise as soon as I got home from work but then I got chatting to Mr Smart online.  As he is wont to do, he asked a question that deserved an answer.  That led to a further hour of interesting and enjoyable conversation.  After that I went and got changed into my work out gear but just as I was finishing that I got messaged by a girlfriend of mine.  I have not asked her what name she'd like to be known as so for now we'll call her Chook.  (It's an affectionate term, just ask my Dad).   Anyway, Chook and I hadn't caught up properly in a while so I figured it was already late and started cooking my dinner while talking to her.
  For dinner I had another serve of my plain but hearty bolognese which I served on a mix of wholemeal and coloured pasta spirals (65g dry weight) and a sprinkling of Mainland Finely Shredded Light Tasty cheese.  I need to experiment with the dry weight of pasta, I reduce it from last night but 65g was still a pretty damn big bowl of pasta.  After that I had 17g of Balance dark chocolate.  I am pleased though, I managed to turn down a Lindt ball at afternoon tea time.  I put it in my drawer for a rainy day.
  Chook and I had a pretty good long catch up but eventually it was time for her to sleep and me to write!  And now that I have finished writing, I'm going to go and take my pills, brush my teeth then get on the cross trainer for a little late night Buffy!  Thank goodness I still don't have next-door neighbours!  They might think my nocturnal habits very strange.
  Jess

PS: Today's photo challenge was "Inspiring Thoughts" so I thought I'd share my take on it.

It's one of the things I generally believe to be true in life.  It's certainly not 'all you need' as The Beatles had it, but it is a crucial element of a happy life.

August 23 - Mild Burst Of Productivity

  Started the day with yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers for breakfast.  I haven't forgotten once this week!  And I've even already put tomorrow morning's serve in the fridge.  Because I'm using the big bags of berries now, I'm putting the serve straight into my breakfast bowl which also saves me time in the morning.
  I didn't snack today which was odd but I didn't miss it too much.  Lunch was a sandwich of Bürgen Wholemeal & Seeds bread spread with a mixture of rainbow salad and a sixth of a Reed avocado and topped one slice of Bertocchi Triple Smoked Ham with the fat trimmed off (about 73g), one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese and six slices of cucumber.  I also had a tamarillo and a passionfruit.  Lots of yummy tart fruit!
  As I left the centre today I had to stop and wonder, where did my lovely spring day go?  It was balmy and sunny when I left for work and by the time I was heading home it was dark, dismal and wet!  Also, why the hell do my Australian Gourmet Traveller magazines only arrive on wet days?  And why do they wrap them in such flimsy plastic!?  This is the second month in a row I've had to dry it in front of the heater and pry apart the soggy pages!
  I suppose really that's just typical Melbourne weather, but it was a damn nuisance.  On the plus side, the letters beneath, shielded by my soggy mag, were bone dry.  Handy, as one of them was a rather important piece of paper.  Yes folks, I received my Divorce Order today.  Sure it was granted on Saturday of last week but it's still nice to have the proof in black and white (and red).

   Am I happy about it?  Sam and I weren't happy together and reconciling our differences didn't seem possible or desirable so divorcing was the right thing to do, but I also don't think divorce is really something to celebrate.  I am glad that it's all over, signed, sealed and delivered.  Now let us never speak of it again.

  After doing the cross trainer, I cooked! 
I took a 500g jar of Raguletto Pasta Sauce with Basil and Red Wine, 500g of Coles Extra Lean Beef Mince, a 400g can of Champignons and about 120g of fresh mushrooms and turned them into a pretty plain but hearty bolognese which I served on a mix of wholemeal and coloured pasta spirals (75g dry weight) and a sprinkling of Mainland Finely Shredded Light Tasty cheese on top.  It was very satisfying and made three extra serves, one for tomorrow and two in the freezer.

  Chuffed at my ever improving ability to take care of myself, I experienced a mild burst of productivity.  I emptied the bins including cleaning out out the historical items from the freezer, I put on a load of dishes, unpackaged my new armchair with storage ottoman, vacuumed up the loose packaging guff, put the bulk of the packaging in the bin and dragged the bin to the kerb.
  It really didn't take all that long, half an hour or so, which left me wondering what the hell stops me from doing it more often.  I think the fact that there always seems to be too much to do overwhelms me, so rather than pick up just one thing, I resort to doing nothing.  Sometimes knowing that helps me overcome it, sometimes not.  Luckily tonight it did.  Hopefully as I do more things, it will get easier and easier to just do them.
  Jess

Tonight's Blog Music: Old Crow Medicine Show*
*Warning: Contains large quantities of bluegrass.

August 22 - Buzzwords & Banana Bread

  This morning it was hard to get up but I managed.  I had my yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers for breakfast and drove to work.  When I got to the intersection of Springvale Road and Burwood Highway there way a broken down truck in the middle lane.  The traffic actually behaved itself and we all got past it pretty quick.  I was pulled up right next to it at the lights though and I thought my car looked pretty cool reflected in the big shiny dented hubcap.
 Today was our annual Business Plan meeting, in which we review results of our People & Culture Survey and make our Action Plan for the following year (so there went the entire morning).  The buzzwords flew thick and fast.  Actually, in all seriousness it was one of the better 'future planning' sessions I've been to at work, they seem to have got the format to feel a little more personal this year.  My team is pretty good and we kept our goals realistic and relatively interesting.

  My right-hand gal catered the event as usual (she's only got 1.5 weeks of work left, Oh god!!).  She filled the boardroom with temptation as far as the eye could see.  Just look at all the leftover temptation!!  The session went for two hours from 9:30am and therefore covered my usual snack time.  I had one slice of the banana bread with no butter and that's all.  Willpower for the win!

  By the time it was over and everybody dispersed it was lunchtime already.  Today's lunch was a sandwich (again, yes it's feeling boring for me too!) of Bürgen Wholemeal & Seeds bread spread with a mixture of rainbow salad and a sixth of a Reed avocado and topped one slice of Bertocchi Triple Smoked Ham with the fat trimmed off (about 73g).  Accompanying the sandwich were six slices of cucumber, four ripe strawberries and a dozen red seedless grapes (the healthy leftover temptation).
  The afternoon was taken up with typing out the Action Plan that I scribed in the morning session.  Oh joy!  It was a good session as I said, but living it the whole day through is rather taxing.  I had a Honey-Murcott mandarin for my afternoon snack and a small very ripe Kiwi fruit with skin on an hour or so later because I was still hungry.
  Just before I left work for the day I got an unexpected phone call from Jack.  I had sent him a text this afternoon wondering if he was free on a particular weekend (we had previously discussed the idea of a Marx Bros movie night).  I was surprised to see him call rather than text back until his very bemused voice said "Hi... I don't recognise this number."  We had a laugh, made our plans and then I left to head home.
  By the time I got home I was drained, I was hungry and I felt like giving it all up in favour of a thick crust cheesy pizza.  I sure as hell did not feel like getting on the cross trainer, in fact I felt well and truly crappy.  I flicked on my computer and chatted to Mr Smart for a bit and eventually realised I should just do it rather than feel disappointed in myself.
  Part of the crappiness, I realised as I was on the cross trainer, is internal muscular pain.. kind of like cramping but more vague.  I honestly think it's me feeling things like my stomach shrinking and my muscles toning.  It's a very weird sensation.  In fact as I write this, my stomach has that weird empty feeling you get when you realise you have done something terribly terribly wrong but are powerless to stop it.  For example, the last time I remember feeling it, I had accidentally deleted every price in the system of the hardware store where I worked.  After the cross trainer of course, I did feel a little better.

  As I heated up my 280g 'Balanced Serve' Lean Cuisine Thai Green Chicken Curry with Rice for dinner, I phoned my Granny and Grandad.  It was nice to catch up with them, I miss all my extended family over in Adelaide.  It's such a small family over here now, just me and Bertie, her husband and my nephew.  Anyway, the Lean Cuisine was tasty and filling and not overly dissimilar from the picture on the box this time.  And after that I had a 17g serve of Balance dark chocolate with cocoa nibs.
  I took a couple of extra blood glucose readings tonight so I thought I'd share them to demonstrate the effects of exercise and food.  At about 6:50pm while I was chatting to Mr Smart I wondered whether the crappy feeling could be low blood sugar.  Nope, it was 5.4, perfectly normal*.  Then I did my cross trainer and took it again after my cool down.  Now it was low at 3.9 just after an hour later.  Then I ate dinner, white rice being a primary ingredient in this particular Lean Cuisine and two hours later it was back up to 7.1 grrrrrr.  So exercise = good, white rice = bad.
  I feel like I will have nothing left to eat soon!  Though, saying that reminds me that I should make my appointments with the dietitian soon.  I'm nearly ready to do it, just a little longer getting the hang of doing things on my own, then I can start to tackle meal planning and increased cooking.
  Jess

*Normal fasting range is between 4.0 and 6.0 and
 two hours after eating should be below 7.0.

August 21 - Early Starts & Vampires

  Well I did it, I got up at 6am and got on the cross-trainer!  I wasn't very happy about it but the early morning Buffy was at least partial compensation.  I ate my yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers while I cooled down and then went through the rest of my normal routine.
  I got to work in plenty of time and I was bloody exhausted.  I was looking forward to doing my morning ritual, fill the water bottle, check emails etc. but no internet or email!  Argh!  It was kind of a weird day at work for all of us as external web access wasn't restored until like 3pm.  Luckily I could still work as all the internal web access was fine.
  The morning passed mercifully swiftly, though there were a lot more calls in that first half hour than I've ever had before!  I spent a lot of the morning trying to understand how a particular value had been calculated.  I got there with help from my fabulous accountant friend who emailed me (and explained) some crucial information I'd been missing.
   With no internets to amuse me at lunch time I ate in the lunch room with the paper and our maintenance man.  It was nice to have a chin wag for a change.  Today's lunch was a sandwich of Bürgen Wholemeal & Seeds bread spread with a sixth of a Reed avocado, topped with one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese, one slice of Bertocchi Triple Smoked Ham with the fat trimmed off (about 73g) and six thick slices of cucumber.  And a Honey-Murcott mandarin and a passionfruit.
  The afternoon was similarly swift in its passing and 5pm rolled around before you knew it!  Captain Cupcake arrived promptly as I finished as we had places to be tonight!  About a month ago, Mr Smart had alerted me to the Darebin Libraries Event 'Investigating The Vampire Metaphor' so we headed off to Mr Smart's place and then the three of us went to have a quick dinner beforehand at Noodle Kingdom.

  We had Deep Fried Squid with Spicy Salt & Pepper (and some of the chilli bits were indeed very spicy though Mr Smart still insists my chilli tastebuds are wussy), Beef with Chinese Broccoli (I ate lots of the broccoli) and I also had one of the Steamed Vegetable & Mushroom Buns (kind of nice but not a patch on Steamed Barbecue Pork Buns).  Thank you Mr Smart for a wonderful meal from both Cupcake and me.
  With just enough time left in hand, we proceeded to Preston Library where Narrelle M Harris, was to enlighten us with her ideas on the vampire metaphor in literature, modern fiction, TV and movies.  The talk was about how the vampire metaphor has changed with time and social circumstances from being a metaphor for fear of corruption in Bram Stoker's Dracula right up to being a metaphor for big oil's stranglehold on fuel supply in the 2009 film Daybreakers (which I am going to see sometime soon since it sounded very cool).  She was a really interesting speaker.  Passionate about the subject, well-researched, good sense of humour, and very open and friendly.  She obviously knew her stuff and was quite passionate about the subject matter.  I wrote down several of the titles she mentioned in order to grab a read later.
  The only moment my face fell, which amused Cupcake and Mr Smart no end, was when she revealed that Buffy's mother dies.  I'm only up to Season 2!!  Though as Mr Smart remarked, that's a risk you take watching a 15 year old show.  There is a statute of limitations on spoiler alerts it seems.

  After the talk there was an opportunity to buy Narrelle's books, and given her funny slightly sarcastic style, I took a punt and figured I would most likely enjoy her work.  For a small sum I came away with Showtime, a book of four short stories.  For a slightly larger sum Mr Smart bought The Opposite of Life.  My book was inscribed "To Jess. Remember: listen to your mother."
  On our way back to Mr Smart's we discussed the content of the talk and the various characters that we'd seen in the audience which then continued over cups of tea until it was definitely starting to be home time.  I drove Cupcake back to her car at Forest Hill (though I nearly drove straight home on auto-pilot) and then continued on home.

  I was supposed to take a photo of 'A Stranger' today for my photo a day challenge and I kept forgetting to approach some random person and ask if they'd mind being my subject.  I got home around 10pm, backed the car in and got out and when my automatic light flicked on, two strangers fortuitously awaited.  I grabbed my camera, fired off two shots, my automated light timed out and flicked off and when it came on again a second later they were gone, leaving me momentarily wondering if I'd imagined it.  I've seen the ginger one once before, but the grey one was a complete stranger!
  I'm off to bed now and tomorrow I will not see 6am.
  Jess

PS (Added the following day) I forgot to add that I had a nut snack pack at morning tea time.  I had written it down on my notepad as the internet was down so I couldn't sketch out my blog during the day.  But of course I forgot to take my sticky note home with me!  The nut snack pack is 1 dried apricot half, 2 pecan nut halves, 2 hazelnuts, 2 brazil nuts and 4 almonds.