Mar 31 - Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

  This is GoGo's favourite time of year of course.  She gets to get out of her cage and run around delivering Easter eggs to girls and boys under her jurisdiction.  See that's how it works, each bunny looks after the kids in their own areas, just like Santa and his helpers.  Of course, GoGo is the real Easter Bunny.

  I have been promising Mr Smart for quite some time that I will attempt to make Eggs Benedict for him at home.  We often go out for him and knowing how to make it at home ourselves would save a lot of money and time.

See!? Perfect!

  Mum agreed to oversee so first I set about making the Hollandaise sauce.  Boiling water on a simmer with a glass bowl over it, melting butter, separating eggs and juicing lemons then whisking, whisking and more whisking!  I'm glad Mr Smart helped with the whisking and pouring, I'm not sure I'd be able to tackle the preparation solo but in the end, we had a lovely thick smooth deep yellow Hollandaise sauce.
  Next it was on to poaching.  Mum explained the process and timing, I pre-boiled the water in the kettle and then poached two eggs at a time while frying the bacon.  When the bacon was crispy, the eggs were ready!
  I can't believe it took me this long to attempt it, it was so simple in the end.  Mr Smart was a very happy camper and at end of service Cafe Jess had four satisfied customers.
  Today was the last day of March so since we hadn't done one yet this month, Mr Smart and I were resolution bound to do a bushwalk today.  Mum and Dad decided to join us, and Bertie, Tricky and my nephew also decided to come along for some fun and exercise.  We all met just above the car parks at Ferntree Gully National Park and decided that today we would tackle the Living Bush Nature Walk.
  The walk starts over a little unobtrusive bridge, hidden slightly behind a playground.  It was drizzly today so the track was a little slippery but lush and green, filled with birds and bugs and all manner of life.  We saw fantails and finches, sulfur-crested cockatoos and kookaburra among others.

  The most interesting creature we happened upon during the walk though, was a land yabbie (or more technically Land Crayfish).  They like moist areas so you do tend to see them mainly in Victoria and Tasmania in the rainforest areas.  If you are walking along a track and see a hole about the size of a five-cent coin surrounded by little mounds of mud, that's probably a land yabbie burrow.  It's rare to see one completely out of their burrow though.  It was a real treat!  This one was about an inch long, head to tail.  They are not a very big crayfish I'll grant you, but at market price at least they'd be cheap!

  My nephew stormed through the walk, leading most of the way despite the calls of, "Slow down or you'll slip!" eventually proving correct.  We made sure he got to be first back across the bridge and of course he raced straight onto the playground to continue burning off energy!  The rest of us took up resting 'supervisory' positions while Mum and Bertie walked down to the cafe to fetch coffees and hot chocolates.

  After enjoying a rest and sharing a drink or snack together we headed back to our respective bases for the rest of the day.  Not long after we got back to my place, Mr Smart headed back to his place and I was left to finish my blogs, eat a yummy dinner with Mum and Dad and try to relax.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was two perfectly poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce and three rashers of short cut bacon followed by a 17g Cadbury Dairy Milk hollow egg and a small bunch of green seedless grapes.
• Exercise was the Living Bush Nature Walk at Ferntree Gully National Park.  It was a 2.83km walk completed in just under an hour according to Runtastic.
• After walk snack was a dried peach half, a dried pear half and about six assorted nuts.
• Afternoon snack was a Cadbury Creme Egg and six Cadbury Dairy Milk mini solid eggs.
• Dinner was approximately 230g raw weight Coles Argentinean-style beef steak with sweet potato fries and a green salad with olives and an olive oil and balsamic glaze dressing.
• Dessert was six more Cadbury Dairy Milk mini solid eggs and a hot Milo.

  So a busyish day once more, but at least both the meals I ate were home made today.  It's a step in the right direction.  I can't believe tomorrow is my last day with all my family around me, that's quite a sad thought really.  It can be frustrating having so many people in the house when I'm so used to living alone and doing my own thing but at the same time, I love these people so I never want to say goodbye.
  Jess

Mar 30 - Piggies!!

  I went to sleep very late last night, knowing that my nephew was being dropped off around 8am.  When the knock at the door came I opened my eyes and thought, 'No, it can't be, I've only just shut my eyes', but of course it was.  I opened the door bleary eyed and took my nephew inside to the couch.  Dad was awake, so the three of us huddled up on the couch under blankies and watched Over The Hedge.
  We eventually all awoke, breakfasted and got ready for the day.  The plans for what we were going to do today changed about a dozen times before people finally decided which was a little frustrating for me as I tried to finish up yesterday's blog.  In the end we headed off to Chesterfield Farm, which ended up being a rather fun way to spend the afternoon.
  We arrived just in time to see the sheep dog demonstration.  A beautiful white border collie named Finn was our dog for the day.  A gorgeous animal with a charming demeanor, he let all the kids pat him and sat patiently for photos.  Later in the day we also saw a cow milking demonstration and they let all the kids have a go at milking Honey the cow before hooking her up to a milking machine.  My nephew was one of the few kids who managed to get a decent squirt out of her!
  We also saw other dogs, rabbits, ducks, geese, deer, cows, guinea pigs, snakes, Shetland ponies, ostrich, emu, sheep, goats, chickens, a clutch of eggs layed in a pile of wool, and llama (one of which spat on Gub in the special condescending way that only llama can).  But for me of course, as a lifelong lover of all things porcine, the stars of the show were the piggies!!

This beautiful lady's name is Ginger.

Me patting Domino and Winston.  I had found Winston's 'sweet spot'

Winston trying to suckle on my knuckle.

Momma pig enjoying a good hard scritch behind her bristly ear.

  I was in hog heaven!  Pig's are such lovely creatures, and very intelligent.  When I got in with the two little piglets they were a little skittish at first but then I found their sweet spot!  Soon both Domino (a white and black female) and Winston (a ginger and black male) were cuddling up to me like they never wanted me to leave.

  The sweet spot is much the same on pigs as it is on dogs, you start scritching there and they just lay right down to let you get into it.  It's almost involuntary but they definitely enjoy it.  At one point I had the two of them laying side by side.  After I had a good long play I reluctantly left the pen.  They stood on their little back legs and grunted at me.  I put my knuckles through the wire to give them another little pat and they pushed at them with wet piggy noses and then starting to suckle on them.  I ended up with little piglet bite marks on both hands.  They were so cute!

  Over in some other pens we Gub and I noticed that one, a dark grey sow, had been segregated.  We weren't exactly sure why until Gub, a vet, administered the back pressure test.  The pigs reaction to gentle but firm pressure on her back was to arch into it indicating she was in heat, a very good reason to segregate her from the others!

  After the trip to the farm we went separate ways to run errands and do our own things for a little while.  Mr Smart joined the fray shortly before dinner and we all met up at TGI Fridays at Westfield Southland for dinner.  The service was a bit slow, drink service in particular, but the food was good and my nephew was kept amused with free crayons and colouring-in sheets.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a toasted hot cross bun with butter and two Koko Black speckled chocolate quail eggs.
• Lunch was two slices of toasted Bürgen wholemeal and seeds bread spread lightly with butter, with a 300g spicy mexican chipotle tomato and black bean soup.
• Afternoon snack was four more Koko Black speckled chocolate quail eggs, two small solid Cadbury Dairy Milk Easter eggs, two Ferrero Rocher and one 17g Cadbury Dairy Milk hollow Easter egg.
• For dinner, my wonderful generous Dad took us all out for dinner at TGI Fridays at Westfield Southland.  Thank you Dad!  During dinner I had two lemon, lime and bitters soft drinks and...
• For entree I had three 'loaded potato skins', potato skins with cheese and bacon and sour cream, and two of Mr Smart's buffalo wings with a celery stick and dipping sauce.
• For main course I had the 'championship BBQ pork cutlet'.  It's a pork cutlet (a nice thick juicy one as it happened) grilled with Cajun seasoning, served with onion rings, BBQ sauce and cheesy mashed potatoes.  I also had some of Mr Smart's chips.
• For dessert I had the unexpectedly huge 'popcorn brownie sundae'.  It is warm brownie chunks with hot fudge and caramel sauce, vanilla ice-cream, sticky toffee popcorn and whipped cream.  I spooned off almost all of the whipped cream before tackling it.

  Another indulgent day.  It's very hard not to be when everyone is around and celebrating.  Easter only comes once a year I know, but that doesn't mean I have to spend all three days on a bender.  I have had a few reasonable meals in amongst all the Easter eggs but I'll be glad when they're all eaten, preferably by other people!
  Jess

Mar 29 - A Very Good Friday

  Off to a great start to the day with the table already set for Good Friday breakfast.  Hot cross buns, butter (real butter) and Easter eggs!  I made myself a lovely hot strong cup of Darjeeling tea and toasted two hot cross buns in the toaster oven.  While they browned  up under the glowing red elements I made a small selection of Easter eggs, two 17g hollow eggs, two tiny solid Crunchie eggs and two solid Cadbury dairy milk eggs.

  After lunch I headed off for lunch with Mr Smart and family.  Lunch started with a delicious slice that a friend of Mr Smart's sister had brought, a white chocolate and macadamia blondie (like a brownie but vanilla instead of chocolate).  I had about three pieces, it was so good.  This wasn't a great choice, I should have just had one, but today was a "yes" kind of day.

  Meals in Mr Smart's sister's household are always amazing and delicious, and this time I even got called in to help!  Apparently, according to the silver-tongued Mr Smart, I cook the saganaki so much better than him.  Yup, he suckered me in with flattery that cheesy.  So after we ate an entree of oysters au naturale (I had five, with lime juice) I got the kefalograviera fried up into saganaki to go on top of the salad, while Mr Smart's brother-in-law cooked all manner of things on the barbecue.  We had salad, prawns with a little chilli kick, snapper fillets with lemon and parsley, sausages and chops!  I had one small fish fillet, one large spicy pork sausage, two helpings of salad, and about nine prawns in the end.

  We had great fun throughout the day, watching Mr Smart's nephew play, and chatting and laughing.  I love relaxed gatherings like that.  Everyone had a great time and after lunch we congregated around the lounge room and had cups of tea and some more blondie slice.  I had two more pieces and it was extremely yummy dipped in tea!
  As the afternoon wended on Mr Smart Snr started to get a little weary so Mr Smart took him home and I followed soon after.  It was one of those sleepy afternoons so we curled up and had a nap for an hour or so before it was time for me to head off to my next foodie feast.
  It was around 7pm-ish I think before I got to TwoWrongs' house.  When he got to the next save point in Bioshock Inifinite (totally steampunk game by the way) we went out to eat at this cool California-style Mexican place in Hawthorn, High Tech Burrito.  It's run by a native San Franciscan and the burritos are precision rolled!  I had the Cabo Supreme which had my choice of meat (pork carnitas), fresh guacamole, melted cheese, pico de gallo, line sour cream, in a grilled flour tortilla and we shared some corn chips with hot salsa and some of there 'nuclear' salsa.
  While we eating we were gobsmacked when the god of all hipsters came in.  He had white-blonde hair, pasty pale white skin and a slight build, white pants, black belt, white Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt and chunky white square rim glasses.  He was utterly amazing and we both imagined that normal black-clad hipsters must all fall to their knees in worship at the mere sight of this godly creature.  When he opens his mouth, surely the most beautiful music must come out.. but don't worry, you've probably never heard of it.

  We headed back via Cold Rock Ice Cream for dessert!  It's a cool place.  They have cold stone boards and you pick your ice-cream flavour(s) and then you pick your 'mix-inx' like peanuts, chocolate, lollies and then put it on the rock and smash the mix-ins into it and through it.  I had the double-chocolate ice-cream with white Freddo frog and fruit tingles.  It was really good.

  After that we went back to TwoWrongs' and listened to a whole heap of Shpongle.  Shpongle are a psytrance (psychedelic trance, a type of electronic dance music) group from England.  I'm not big into electronica but the band included jazz flautist Raja Ram and so most of their music includes flute, and there is certainly something soothing about the repetitive nature of the music.
  We had a good evening chatting and listening to music and it was rather late before I thought, 'Oh dear, I have a small child arriving to my house in the morning' (my nephew), so I headed home with two borrowed DVDs (My Neighbour Totoro and Porco Rosso both from the Disney of Japan, Studio Ghibli) and a new found appreciation for psytrance.
  Jess

PS: I also had one glass of champagne and cranberry juice with lunch and one Koko Black speckled quail egg (Easter egg with a praline centre and crispy coating).

Mar 28 - A Long Short Week

  This work week was only four days, but boy was it a long one.  I'm glad to see the back of it.  I managed to get the bare bones for an effective end of month done, but there is so much I haven't learned yet that I'm sure I've missed plenty of things.  As long as I've worked out what I'm supposed to be doing by end of financial year I'll be happy, but that is terrifyingly only two and half months away now!  I am guessing I may be putting in some longish hours between now and then.
  I stayed back after work tonight and had a very long and interesting conversation with my boss and the Duty Manager before heading home to eat my favourite dinner as prepared by my very own Mum!  The dish we refer to as 'fettucine' in my family, is in fact more accurately 'spaghetti alla funghi'.  It's spaghetti with a dark grey sauce of mushrooms, bacon and olives, and it is utterly divine and extremely satisfying.
  After dinner, I realised that I had better make a nice clean space for Gub to sleep when she got home tonight.  Mum and Dad are both here now, so they are occupying the spare room in full.  I'm in my room, so that leaves my office.  My office in which the majority of the floor hasn't seen the light of day for the better part of three years.
  I sat on the floor and began the sort and chuck process.  I was amazed at how much I was able to throw away, how disconnected I've become from some possessions and mementos with the passing of time.  In a few hours, my office became the cleanest I can ever remember it being.  My desk is still a hideous mess of paperwork, but I feel less daunted by it now.  I might even begin to tackle it over Easter!
  When I had a sufficiently spick and span looking corner I took a photo and texted it to Mr Smart.  The response came back "Whose office floor?",  "Mine!" I sent back, slightly bemused that he might think I was cleaning anyone else's office.  "How was I supposed to recognise it? ;)" was his cheeky response.  I took it on the chin and laughed.  The floor has never been clean in the entire time we've been dating.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was two slices of toasted Bürgen wholemeal and seeds bread with Nutino chocolate hazelnut spread (getting in to the Easter spirit early).
• Morning snack was two yellow-flesh plums and a 17g Cadbury Dairy Milk hollow Easter egg.
• Lunch was a Baa-Baa-Burger with a small chips and herbed mayo dipping sauce from Grill'd at QV.
• Evening snack was a single tiny solid Easter egg.
• Dinner was spaghetti alla funghi with a little parmesan grated on top served with a mixed salad with a balsamic and olive oil dressing.

  Tomorrow is Good Friday so the breakfast table is already set with hot cross buns, butter and Easter eggs!  I'll have to remember not to go too nuts though as I'm having lunch at Mr Smart's sister's place too!  I make it a general rule that hot cross buns are for Good Friday only.  The supermarkets might like it if we all started buying them in January when they start selling them, but I bought mine today and I intend to fully enjoy them tomorrow!  Have a wonderful Easter break everyone.
  Jess

Mar 27 - Moments of Calm

  Work was busy today, really busy.  I just keep hoping time will slow down a bit so I can do more than is actually possible in reality.  I have to be really careful to grab moments of calm during the mad rush of the day.  Emotional eating is a big problem for me, and stressing out over work is a huge potential trigger.  This is particularly risky at the moment as I don't seem to have settled myself into a lunch routine yet.  I've been trying to be relatively good but often failing somewhat.
  One of the ways I've been trying to stymie the onset of emotional eating is by ensuring I maintain my regular breaks and keep my blood sugar steady.  Skipping breaks, snacks or meals only stresses me out more so I've learnt to prioritise them.
  My usual workday morning consists of reluctantly dragging my arse out of bed then reluctantly dragging it out of the shower then rushing about getting ready because I shouldn't have taken so long doing the first two things (admittedly the shower counts as a moment of calm but I digress).  Today was no different really excepting that Mum drove me to the train station which was lovely (Ta Mum!).  But in all that rushing, for breakfast I stop.  I focus on what I'm eating, I sit down and eat it very deliberately.  I stop watching the clock, I make peace with missing a bus or arriving ten minutes later to work than I thought I might.  It's a zen way to start the day.
  Morning snack is usually just grabbed at my desk, but I still enjoy what I'm eating.  It's more about keeping my hunger levels low and my blood sugar steady.  Luckily I love fresh fruit and nuts so it's easy to keep that healthy and I do sometimes use it to pause and check facebook or something like that for five minutes.
  At lunch time I make sure I take at least 30 minutes away from my desk.  I eat somewhere uncluttered with paperwork, preferably with sunshine and non-work related distractions.  It clears my head, and I can return ready to work with refreshed.
  Afternoon snacks, like morning, are similarly eaten at my desk, but since it's usually an apple, I have to walk 50m to the kitchen to use my nifty apple core and slicer.  It enforces another momentary pause and I take a somewhat childish glee in eating my apple in uniform slices rather than chomping on it whole.  I don't know why, I just feel happier when the core is no longer there to be eaten around.
  Dinner of late has been fuel for the fire rather than enjoyable so that's something for me to work on as a well-prepared tasty dinner for one can be very enjoyable.  Last night was lovely, but then eating with company is always more fun.  Cooking for company is also more fun, and easier.  Tonight I had dinner out with Mum and Mr Smart at Cafe 58 which was really fun and relaxing.  I even indulged in two big glasses of Moscato since I wasn't driving (I know, I'm such a lightweight).
  Before dinner though, I had a really lovely moment of calm.  I google mapped the trip to the restaurant from work and realised that it would be easier and better for me to walk there rather than piss around trying to get to a tram to travel all of three stops or so.  I texted Mr Smart to let him know I was on my way.  He was also walking there from uni and our paths would, with a little wait on my part, cross at Melbourne Museum.
  I arrived, I sat on a long comfortable concrete bench in dappled shade, I took my handbag off my shoulder, slipped off my shoes and swung my feet in the hot afternoon air, and watched the world go by.

  It was only fifteen minutes or so, but just sitting quietly and not thinking of anything in particular did me a world of good.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was two slices of toasted Bürgen wholemeal and seeds bread with Vegemite and two slices of Bega So Light tasty cheese.
• Morning snack was a dried pear half and a Johnathon apple.
• Lunch was a serve of beef lasagna from Mambo Italia.
• Afternoon snack was a red-flesh plum.

• Exercise was an approximately 2km walk from work to Cafe 58, pausing at the museum to wait for Mr Smart to join me.
• Dinner at Cafe 58 started with prawn crackers and two large glasses of Be.Luscious Moscato.
• Entree was the Cafe 58 entree platter: chicken satay skewer, minced beef in betel leaves, rice paper rolls, spring rolls and curry puffs with satay sauce, sweet chilli sauce and Vietnamese sweet and sour sauce.
• Main course was coconut rice with pork spare rib hot pot and basil chicken.

• Dessert was three and a half chocolates from Shocolate: half a basil truffle, a berry truffle, a vanilla truffle and a salted caramel truffle.  Basil is still my favourite but the salted caramel is a close second!

  Mum and I ate dessert once we got home after dropping Mr Smart off home.  She went on with reading her Jack Reacher novel and I decided to enjoy some light multi-tasking.  Sometimes the blog itself becomes a stress but I decided tonight that it wouldn't be (hence its somewhat rambling nature this evening).
  Currently I am spread out on the couch blogging on my netbook, I have while writing, watched my recording of this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala (favourites are Tommy Little, Steve Hughes and Hannah Gadsby), played Words With Friends with Mr Smart on my phone, chatted with Mum, chatted with TwoWrongs on facebook and listened to my Laura Marling album.
  And I feel calm.
  Jess

Mar 26 - Chef Extraordinaire

  Not a long blog today, things were a little busy this evening so I'm already well past bedtime.  Work went well today, though I am going to be late on my accruals deadline and things most definitely felt overwhelming.  Sometimes I wonder if people really mean it when they say they don't expect me to work miracles!  Then again, maybe they just don't realise how long some things take.  I guess you don't unless you're the one doing them.  Still, I look at my desk with papers everywhere and I can't help wondering how the hell people with clean desks do it!?
  A nice interlude at lunch time, Mum came to have lunch with me and pick up her car which I had driven in for her.  It was a gorgeous day today.  Distinctly warm, but with a lovely breeze which flowed right through the part of the food court we sat in.  A bonus of Mum coming by today too was that I could grab groceries and she took them home for me.  I had something special and delicious in mind for dinner tonight.
  I caught the train home, I got a seat as I did the 10am start again today.  I've started to pick up a copy of the free, I hesitate to use the term, 'newspaper' mX.  It gives me something mindless, very very mindless, to read on the ride home, but more importantly it's free lining material for the bunny cage.  By the time I got home, Mum and Gub were ravenous and I was more than a little peckish myself.
  On went a pot of boiling water, in went wholemeal pasta spirals, on went my much-loved Analon frying pan, in went bacon pieces and crushed garlic, two and a half zucchinis grated soon added to the mix, a sprinkling of chilli flakes and cracked black pepper and a sixth of a cup of grated parmesan (Grana Padano).  Stir until it's hot and the pasta is cooked.  Toss together in bowls.  The whole thing takes about 8 minutes.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic fruit and nut muesli with a sixth of a cup of All-Bran Fibre Toppers with Paul's Smarter White milk.
• Morning snack was a white-flesh nectarine and a yellow-flesh plum.
• Lunch was a large-size container from Sumo Salad which had half pesto chicken and avocado salad (rather light on the chicken if you ask me) and half pumpkin, feta and beetroot salad.
• Afternoon snack was a Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced.
• Dinner was wholemeal pasta (about 67g dry weight) with zucchini sauce.
• Dessert was 20g Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.

  I'm happy a few things worked out nicely today.  I created a brand new whizz-bang dinner which everyone loved,  I was able to successfully install some new RAM in my own computer and I managed to proof-read everything in my inbox on time!
  Jess

Mar 25 - The Big Issue

  I headed into work later than normal today.  I can start any time between 7:00am and 10:00am so I thought I might try out the 10:00am start today.  I set my alarm for 8:00am last night thinking "Oh yeah, you'll probably just wake up at seven anyway.."  Nope!  I was sound asleep until it went off.  This BPV thing has really knocked me about it seems.  Well that and the minimal sleep I allow myself on a regular basis.
  The train I caught just after nine was still pretty busy, but there were still seats available.  When I asked, a lady was nice enough to move her diary for me so that I could sit forward facing.  I say nice enough, but really I think it's a bit cheeky to be using extra seats for your personal possessions on what was quite clearly still a pretty full train.  I wanted to sit forward facing as though I felt up to going into work today, I am still being very careful.  Hanging my head down and lifting it suddenly up, or moving my head quickly to the side are both still not terribly comfortable and I don't want anything to set it off again.
  Heading into work later was a different experience, more relaxed at any rate, which resulted in two unexpected benefits and two minor events.  The two unexpected benefits or 'mini-joys' were that the sun was already up when I left home which made me feel warm and happy and, I got to see a dog on the train with its owner, a friendly lady in a red and white striped top with tattoos of Dr Seuss illustrations up and down her arm.
  The first of the two minor events, both of which involve helping strangers in some way, was that as we pulled out of Parliament station, first stop on the underground City Loop, I overheard a passenger nervously ask someone if he was on the right train for Melbourne Central (which is my stop).  He sounded like he had no idea where he was so when we both got off I asked if he needed help finding his next port of call.  He responded that he was a newbie from Auckland NZ and needed to find another train to Tottenham.  I'd never heard of Tottenham so I took him to the main station area and helped him find which line it was on, worked out which platform he needed to go to and explained how to get to it and then went on my way.  It felt good to be friendly and helpful.

  The second minor event was that I bought the Easter issue of The Big Issue this morning from a friendly well-spoken elderly lady on Swanston Street.  The Big Issue, for anyone who doesn't know, are an independent, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting and creating job opportunities for homeless, marginalised and disadvantaged people.
Click here for the full story.
  I like The Big Issue, it's an interesting magazine, it's only $6 and I know that the person selling it gets to keep half of that for themselves.  I really support the aims of The Big Issue as it gives people a chance to do something productive to rescue themselves instead of begging on the streets.  I decided today that I would aim to buy The Big Issue every week.
  Work was a whirlwind of activity and I felt thoroughly defeated during the morning.  I felt blah for pretty much the whole day actually but I got through it.  I did indulge in a lunch purchased from BreadTop in an effort to cheer myself up a bit.  It worked.  I sat in the window of the office with the sunshine streaming through, read my copy of The Big Issue and thoroughly enjoyed my lunch break.  There was a little piece about the Melbourne Ska Orchestra in this issue.  Methinks I shall have to find some way of seeing them!
  I had a good run at the capex accruals in the afternoon, so I felt a bit more on top of things by the end of the day.  I think it's about the only thing I've managed to get in on time thus far.  They weren't perfect, I discovered two issues after I looked at some older items in a bit more detail, but they're nothing that can't be fixed in time for next month.
  The office gets rather quiet from 5:00pm which isn't altogether bad.  It's one of the side-effects experienced from a late start though as my work day didn't end until 6:30pm.  The late start does get me home rather late, but again the train voyage was a lot less hectic and I had a forward facing seat for the whole trip.  I think for sanity's sake I may start doing the later start more often.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic fruit and nut meusli with Jalna Vanilla low fat yoghurt and a sprinkling of craisins, sunflower seeds and slivered almonds.
• Morning snacks were a yellow-flesh nectarine, a dried pear half, two Brazil nuts, two pecan nut halves, two hazelnuts, two cashews and four almonds.
• Lunch was (clockwise from top-left) a barbecue pork bun, a pork floss bun, a double sausage bun and a pineapple coconut bun.  This is also in fact, the order in which I ate them.
• Afternoon snack was a Royal Gala apple, cored and sliced.
• Dinner was 200g of Sweet Solanato snacking tomatoes.  I still prefer the Perino snacking tomatoes but these were a nice change.
• Dessert was 20g Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.

  I was a bit vague today, hence the number of photos I forgot to take.  At least I remembered the most important bit, the indulgent lunch.  Also, I ate tomatoes for dinner because it was nearly 10pm when I realised I'd forgotten to eat dinner.  Why did I forget to eat dinner?  Because Mum arrives tomorrow, so I changed the spare room bed sheets, washed the stripped linen and hung it out, did a load of dishes, sorted a box of fruit and veg from next door and generally tried to pretend that I'm a good housekeeper most of the time despite all evidence to the contrary.  I am pretty impressed that I got it all, and the blog, done before midnight.  Maybe I'll get my super woman cape someday after all.
  Jess

Mar 24 - Run For The Kids

  My mobile went off at the ungodly hour of 6:00am.  I rolled over and got out of bed and headed to the shower.  I clunked around grabbing clothes out of the wardrobe, I got dressed, I ate breakfast, got my bag together.  Through all of this Mr Smart did not stir a wink.  He later claimed that what woke him was the teensiest whisper from me of "Bye, be back soon" as I headed out the door at 6:30am.
  I drove in to work and collected my Team Layla t-shirt from my desk, put it on and caught a tram down to The Queen Victoria Garden's Floral Clock on the corner of Linlithgow Avenue and St Kilda Road.  Here the team congregated before heading to their assigned zones for the event start.

  There were 35,000 participants in this year's Run for the Kids; Team Layla is one of the biggest teams at around 50 people.  Sensibly, they stagger the start times from 8am but you still have to go to your zone at that time.  There are green, purple and white zones for the short course of 5.5km.  Green and purple zone people generally run or partially run the course, whereas white zone slow-coaches like me walk it.  The blue, yellow, orange and red zones are for the insane people who like to run the long course of 15km which includes jaunts through the Domain Tunnel and over the Bolte Bridge.

  It was a great morning for it, cool to begin with but clear skies.  I made it to the Start line at 8:33am and off I went.  All of my work colleagues forming part of Team Layla today were doing the run so I was on my own.  This was not an altogether bad thing as I tend to find walking easier when I'm not also trying to carry on a conversation.
  The walk took me across the Swan St Bridge and up the Exhibition Street extension to Flinders Street, then up St Kilda Road to Birdwood Avenue, up Birdwood a ways and then u-turn back to the finish line at 9:44am.
  I won't know for a while what my official recorded time is but it will be pretty close to my estimate.  It's about 4.6kmph which I'm pretty happy with over that distance.

 Just beyond the finish line they have an electronic tag retrieval station, basically a kid with scissors that cuts your electronic shoe tag off.  They issue every participant with an electronic tag when they register to collect everyone's official times.  They are activated and deactivated by walking over electronic grids at the Start and Finish lines.  It's quite a clever way to do it en masse.
  As soon as my shoe tag was handed in I walked straight to the tram line and onto a tram back to my car.  I didn't want to keep Mr Smart waiting.  I made it home with sore feet and stiffened thigh muscles and wondered aloud if Mr Smart was hungry.  I certainly was.  We decided to head to Arena at The Glen for breakfast, or in my case - second breakfast.
  The Glen has a local sparrow population and they are very cute, sitting on the backs of chairs while people eat, scoping out crumbs and other such likely morsels.  I know from working in shopping centre management myself what a bane they are to property managers but I'll to personally thinking they are adorable.  One of the other diners had tossed a small chunk of toast onto the chair opposite her and a likely feathered fellow swooped in to collect it.  Mr Smart smiled with amusement and momentarily eyed off my leftover toast, but he restrained himself.
  Once we'd finished our late morning breakfast, Mr Smart collected up his things and headed home to continue his day's study and I was left to begin the mountain of chores left undone due to my bout of vertigo (and also my extreme reluctance to do housework).  I put on a load of laundry and sat down at my computer to check my email while the washing machine ran.  As soon as I logged in to facebook I realised I had something else on today too!
  I hung out the laundry, grabbed a few things and headed down to Bertie's for her Tupperware party.  It was a relatively small gathering, six people, one of whom was my ex-sister-in-law (whom I was happy enough to see and catch up with).  The Tupperware consultant was friendly and not pushy, I got a little prize for demonstration of product knowledge as did most of the others, and she made two dips for us to try using the Tupperware products.  True, both could have been made without the Tupperware, but it was a nice demonstration nevertheless, and tasty too!
  I didn't get too much, in the end I spent $67.  A ridiculous amount of money for four small snack tubs and a pair of kitchen scissors, but I didn't buy anything I didn't need (thank you Mr Smart for being my acting financial conscience in that regard).  But I did learn a new use for one of my existing Tupperware containers which was good.  I headed home not long after the demonstration, once my nephew had finally agreed to give me my goodbye kisses and cuddles, four year olds can be very difficult creatures it seems.

  Today's food and exercise were:

• Breakfast was a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic fruit and nut muesli with Paul's Smarter White milk.
• Second breakfast was the Arena big vegetarian breakfast.  Two poached eggs, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, hash browns and dark rye toast with fresh-squeezed orange juice and a cappucino (with no sugar!).  I only ate half the toast and half the spinach.
• For afternoon snack / remainder of the day, I had Toblerone dip with marshmallows, raspberries and strawberries followed by freshly made tomato, feta and basil dip with wafer crackers, nacho cheese Doritos and some marinated feta and Yumi's sweet potato and cashew dip that appeared post-photo.

  Once I got home I started writing the blog, did a spot of proof-reading for Mr Smart and a spot of logical analysis for Earnest but that was about all else for the day and I am definitely ready to hit the hay now.  Work is going to be super busy tomorrow I expect, but hopefully I'll be able to deal with the challenges despite the two days I missed last week.
  Jess

Mar 23 - Surprise Visit

  I'm pleased to report that I was feeling much improved this morning.  I rolled over when I woke but the room didn't spin nearly as much!  I still took it easy today, slept late, engaged in sedentary pursuits.  The spinning still hits if I jerk my head or if I bend forward and then straighten up again but it's definitely much improved.
  It was mid-afternoon when I started having a little chat with Mr Smart.  He was pleased too hear of my improvement and that I was considering going to my Run for the Kids walk tomorrow morning and he had a suggestion for the remainder of my day.
  Given that I am most likely non-contagious now and he was more likely to get study done at my place rather than at the soccer, he had decided to forsake the soccer and come over for the evening.  Yay!  We did watch the soccer on TV and unfortunately it was not a good result for Victory so I think he was quiet happy he hadn't gone in the end.
  After the soccer, we watched episode 22 of series 1 of the original Star Trek, 'Space Seeds' which is the prelude to the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan which was next on our agenda.  I had to laugh when I saw Kirstie Alley playing a Vulcan Leiutenant.

  Today's food was:

• Lunch was three Jamie Oliver fish cakes (two plain crispy pollock, one crispy pollock, sweetcorn and cheese) with some sweet potato mini gems done in the AirFryer.  This was followed by 90g of Roaming Cow strawberry yoghurt.
• Dinner was a delicious takeaway from Raju's Indian Restaurant.  We had an entree of papadams, samosa and tandoori chicken with raita, mint chutney and tamarind sauce then a main course of garlic naan, saffron rice, Raju's chicken chutney and spinach lamb.  The spinach lamb was extremely yummy!  The lamb just fell apart with a prod of the fork.

• Dessert was two little Gulab Jamun and a teensy glass of Frangelico on ice.  Mr Smart put a sticky note on his glass so that we'd know which one was his.

  It was a just a quiet evening at home, watching movies, each of us doing our need tasks, study and blogging, but it was really lovely to finally get a cuddle with my Mr Smart.  Even every day tasks are somehow more pleasant in the right company.
  Jess

Mar 22 - BPV Apparently

  My head was still spinning this morning so at 9am when they opened I rang the nearest doctor's office and made the earliest appointment I could, 2:40pm in the afternoon.  Groan.  So I schlepped back to bed, curled up with Pengi clutched tight to my chest and tried to sleep.  I managed a few hours thankfully.
  I got up again just before noon, got myself ready and walked to the bus stop.  Taxi's are expensive and I already have my myki all loaded up so I figured that catching the bus was the most sensible option.  I certainly still didn't feel up to driving.  Luckily the doctor's office is on the same bus route so it was relatively painless and I made sure to cross at the lights to minimise how much head checking I had to do while walking.
  I arrived at Brandon Park a good two hours before my appointment so I had some lunch, wandered aimlessly about KMart looking at Lego and DVDs (I bought Rango).  And then went to the doctor's office.  This doctor's office is a bulk-billing clinic so as you would imagine they are constantly running behind.  I arrived an hour early for my appointment and the receptionist exclaimed this.  "Yes," I replied calmly, "but I'd like to be seen on time so I've arrived early to ensure I'm ahead of anyone who wanders in without an appointment between now and then".
  I wasn't at my most polite, but I was correct!  An hour later at 2:37pm I was in with the doctor.  She checked my ear canals, my pulse and blood pressure, my chest and breathing, made sure I had to hearing loss or tinnitus, and checked how and when I was experiencing the dizziness and/or spinning.  I was quite pleased with how thorough a job she seemed to be doing.
  The diagnoses in the end was benign positional vertigo (BPV) which is tippified by spinning during sudden movements of the head.  It's often caused by a viral ear infection, though there can be multiple causes, and there isn't a cure as such, but she was confident my particular case would clear up on its own and she gave me a prescription for Stemetil (prochlorperazine) to aid with the dizziness symptoms.
  She said to discontinue it immediately if I noticed any of my face muscles seizing up (yikes, not so much a side-effect as it is an effect!) and to come back and see her if it wasn't cleared up by Monday.  The next steps if it doesn't clear up on its own are a tilt-table test and an MRI, neither of which is to be hoped for but it's nice to know what the options are if things don't improve.
  I made my way home on a bus that was swiftly crammed with bloody high school students.  It wasn't all bad though, being unsteady on your feet in a moving vehicle is a lot easier when you are packed in like a sardine.  No where to fall really.  When I got home I ordered a part for my computer online, then settled on the couch with dinner to watch Strictly Ballroom.  It had definitely been a while since I'd seen that one.  It was just as sweet and funny.
  I couldn't sleep again, having slept most of the morning away, and still being pretty dizzy as the Stemetil seemed to have a limited effect, so I found myself in an old chat room haunt.  It was good to catch up with a few old chat friends and nice to have pleasant chatter feeding back to me.  The good thing about most chat rooms is you get insta-friends and insta-sympathy.  I recognise that it's not always sincere, but it can be very comforting if you are feeling rotten.  I felt ready to sleep by about 2am so off I trundled to my waiting Pengi, another great comfort.

  Today's food was:

• Lunch was a toasted chicken strip foccacia containing two chicken strips halved lengthways, cheese, tomato and spinach, followed by a passionfruit and white chocolate scone from Baker's Delight.
• Dinner was a Turkish burger from the Kebab Joint containing, mildly spiced mine meat with traditional herbs and spices served with caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce and tomato sauce, followed by a chocolate brownie.

  Hopefully I'll feel better in the morning.  I'm supposed to be doing my Run for the Kids on Sunday morning but goodness knows how I'll go now.  Please donate to Team Layla anyway if you would like to support the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday appeal as it is a great cause, and big thanks to those of you who have donated already.
  Jess

Update: It is now Saturday morning and I am still dizzy when I move my head sharply, but otherwise things have definitely improved!

Mar 21 - Stop The World, I Wanna Get Off

  Dizziness as a symptom, particularly as a sole symptom, really sucks.  I can't really go anywhere or do anything without the room spinning and even the slightest of head movements takes a while to settle down from again.  It's doubly frustrating knowing that I have so much work to do in my new role and it's sitting there not getting done!  I really want to be there doing stuff.  I like fixing messes, not contributing to them.
  I went to sleep dizzy last night, and I woke up still dizzy.  I definitely couldn't drive anywhere and I hazard a guess I wouldn't have been safe getting myself on a train either.  The dizziness is least when I'm upright and worst when I'm lying down.  I did still manage to get some extra sleep this morning though, by propping myself up on an angle with a number of large pillows.  I have to be careful about doing that though because of course then the possibility of injuring my back comes into play.
  I'm having no trouble eating which is good, and I have no blocked nose or sore throat today, but at Mum's behest I tried steam inhalation anyway.  It succeeded in making me very hot, and gave my skin a good clean but didn't have much else of an effect.  That's good in one way though.  If steam doesn't help, that points more towards inner ear infection than to blocked sinuses so at least it's something to go on.  Only one way to find out I guess, so if I'm not feeling better tomorrow I will be off to the doctor.

  Today's food was:

• Lunch was a toasted cheese sandwich comprised of two slices of Abbott's Village Bakery harvest seeds & grains bread and three slices of Bega So Light tasty cheese, along with fourteen Perino snacking tomatoes.  Followed by a 'dessert' toasted sandwich of two slices of Abbott's Village Bakery harvest seeds & grains bread with Nutella (or Nutino in this case).  Both sandwiches had margarine on each slice for that extra crispy sandwich surface.
• Dinner was two Jamie Oliver crispy pollock fish cakes and some sweet potato gems done in the AirFryer.  Doesn't the name just make you giggle?  Crispy pollock is exactly what you would have if Jamie Oliver got sunburned.
• Dessert was a 170g Dairy Farmer's Thick & Creamy 98% fat free vine passionfruit flavoured yoghurt with slivered almonds and a dried peach half.

  Now I'm going to watch TV, and then try (in vain I expect) to get some more sleep.
  Jess

PS: Thank you to everyone who has been playing Words With Friends with me today.
It  has proved to be a pleasant distraction.

Mar 20 - Blerg

  I woke up with a sore throat this morning.  Not only did it make for a crappy day at work, it also meant that I didn't get to see Mr Smart today.  I was going to go and have dinner with him at his sister's place tonight but I didn't want to get him or his family sick so now I don't get to see him until next week because this Saturday is the Victory vs. Glory match.
  Work was difficult.  I tried not to get too close to anyone.  I ate my lunch in a far off corner.  I don't want to make anyone else sick but I'm too damn stubborn to stay home around my invoice entry deadline (which is tomorrow).  I got a fair bit done, but it was tricky to focus especially when I started getting a little woozy towards the end of the day.  Good thing I decided to take the train after all.  I really hate being sick.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was 125g strawberries with half a teaspoon of sugar, a quarter cup of Carmen's Classic fruit & nut muesli and 90g of Roaming Cow strawberry yoghurt.
• Snacks throughout the day were, two cups of Twinings green tea with lemon, a yellow-flesh nectarine and a Granny Smith apple.
• Lunch was a small pasta carbonara from Mambo Italia.  I wanted something warm, creamy and easy to swallow (no jokes please, it hurts to laugh).
• Dinner was a 300g tomato, lentil and bacon soup with a toasted cheese sandwich (two slices of Abbott's Village Bakery harvest seeds & grains bread and two slices of Bega So Light tasty cheese) and four baby roma tomatoes.

  I think I did pretty well with my eating today considering how rotten I was feeling.  Oh no wait, I was trying to conveniently forgot about the

• 10 Assorted Tim Tams
  (5 Turkish Delight, 3 Dark Choc Orange and 2 Dark Choc Mint).

  Yes I acknowledge I was comfort eating, yes I acknowledge that I binged and yes I will even acknowledge and admit that it didn't help and just made me feel crappier.  Oh well.. live and learn.  At least there are substantially fewer Tim Tams in the house now, and I won't be eating any more of them.  Gub you must eat five original Tim Tams when you are back next week, Mum I expect you to polish off the three remaining mint ones.
  I am now going to switch off and chill out.  I am going to experiment tomorrow with a later start time in order to a) see how it changes the commute and b) get some extra sleep if at all possible.
  Goodnight all.
  Jess

PS: Really weird, some guy on the train forgot his bike when he got off at Westall station.  How the hell do you forget your bike?