July 31 - Sometimes Make A Right

  I was running late this morning as I had to be in earlier than normal.  So at about 10:30am when I found a gap to duck out to Coles, breakfast ended up being two wholemeal crumpets with a little margarine and Vegemite followed by a Panama Passionfruit.
 

  Work was definitely a little less stressful today and I finally worked out what to do about a journalling issue I'd been worrying at.  I also got a few unread emails dealt with which always fills me with a sense of having done something because I can see the number of outstanding items reduce before my very eyes!  The morning was also brightened considerably by Mr Smart's amusing coining of the word 'halfiversary'.

  Lunch was a nice big serve of broccoli soup topped with one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese torn into little pieces and served with two slices of toasted Bürgen Soy-lin bread spread with a little margarine.

  After lunch I finally got the good news that the person I have been trying to hire as my fill-in right-hand gal has accepted my offer!  Woohoo!   It still leaves a lot of organising to do tomorrow but I have definitely breathed a sigh of relief.

  I celebrated with a whole navel orange for afternoon tea, eaten over the staff kitchen sink, the orange oil and scent of the juice filling the air.  One of my colleagues, who has recently left for greener pastures, always ate his orange at 3:00pm in that manner so it gave me pause to think fondly of him and wonder if he wasn't at that very moment, eating his orange somewhere else, but with me all the same.  A nice ripe orange is a lovely thing.


  After work I headed toward Malvern to eat a light dinner with a friend, TwoWrongs.  He and I met at the housewarming party of a mutual friend about two years ago, we share some common interests and opinions and I've certainly counted him among my friends all that time, but today was the first time we'd actually met since then.
  Although I did not end up getting time to get on the cross trainer tonight, I did walk a total of 2km up and down a gradual slope to get to and from TwoWrong's place to Grill'd.
  I had the 'Baa Baa' Burger which they describe as "Grilled 100% grass fed lean lamb, avocado, tasty cheese, salad [baby cos lettuce and tomato], relish & herbed mayo".  I had it on their 'Traditional' bread, a wholemeal/white blend.

The Grill'd 'Baa Baa' Burger - It was delicious!

  Grill'd are kind enough to keep nutritional information on all of their burgers and according to them my burger was 2660kJ or 636 calories.  Every time I write "kj or cal" I quietly think to myself 'I'll take calories, there are less of them'.  That's not to be flippant, I just don't see why we need two damn systems to count the same thing!
  TwoWrongs had a steak sandwich along with their delicious chips and herbed mayo dipping sauce.  I did not order chips, nor did I succumb to their charms, even when nominally offered.  We also stopped on the way back so TwoWrongs could have a latte at a nice cafe/restaurant but I stuck with water.
  He has an impressive collection of Australian and British comedy on vinyl!  And I was very excited and grateful to receive a copy of the entire collection of episodes of I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again!  We sat around talking of anything and nothing and before we knew it was 11:00pm and a work night for both of us (and always a blog night for me or I seem to get complaints!) so off home I went.
  I missed taking my after dinner blood sugar reading as I hadn't thought to bring my meter with me and hadn't thought I'd be out so late but I'm not overly worried as I've not had a single high reading in a week now.
  At this point my masses of cleaning and moving furniture seem to have gone by the wayside.  I'll have to make a concerted effort tomorrow night to ensure that on Thursday I only have the strenuous furniture moving left which the wonderful Mr Smart has offered to help me with.  It is now 1:00am; definitely too late to be up on a work night!
  Until tomorrow,
  Jess

July 30 - Overwhelmed But Breathing

  Work today was overwhelming.  It wasn't a particularly bad day when I try to look at it objectively, it was just one of those days I seem to be drowning in paperwork that never ends.  Things got done, but not things I wanted to get done.  My Mum came to have lunch with me and say goodbye so I must apologise if I seemed distracted.  I was.  By the end of the day I felt exhausted, disheartened, constricted and on the verge of tears.
  The first real moment of comfort came from the CD/MP3 player in my car on the way home.  It was in the form of the repetitive playing of Breathe.  It's the kind of song you expect to hear as the soundtrack to a slow-motion London criminal shoot out.  It's hardly a relaxing piece of music but there is something soothing in the constant throbbing hum of the bass line and as the hardly-dulcet tones of Maxim Reality and the grating nasal whine of Keith Flint filled the space I did indeed begin to breathe.

  Home is a little overwhelming at the moment too.  There is so much to be done that my brain has a tendency to just ignore it and do nothing.  I can list a hundred things that need doing but simply by virtue of volume of choice, I seem incapable of picking one thing to start on.  Some days I feel like I can handle anything the world throws at me.
This was not one of those days.

  Breakfast: Yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.

  Lunch: A Subway six-inch, wholegrain bread toasted ham & turkey sub sandwich with old English cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles and one squirt of honey mustard sauce (normally they put three lines of sauce).
  According to the Subway Interactive Menu my sub was approximately 1430kj or 342 calories, not too bad really.
  Mum said she was glad I was having a six-inch sub and that my Dad would see that it was a good and satisfying choice that he too was capable of.  It was indeed an enjoyable and relatively satisfying meal so it is for his amusement that I confess, I really wanted a foot-long meatball sub (but for comparison, that would've been 2290kj or 547 calories).
  Afternoon Snack: One dried apricot half, two brazil nuts, two hazelnuts, two pecan halves and four almonds.  It's a good thing I portioned these; they are quite moreish.

  Dinner: Lean Cuisine Creamy Salmon & Dill Pasta.  It was cold today, I was feeling in need of instant comfort and this is my favourite instant meal.  Despite the fact that it looks very little like its advertised picture, it still tastes good.  It is creamy, it does contain plump pink lumps of salmon throughout and the flavour of the dill has not been lost to the freezing and microwaving process.
  Dessert: A passionfruit and thirteen pecan halves.  It was that or a Magnum ice-cream!

  It's now just passed 10:00pm and there is a creaky cross-trainer with my name on it.
I regret not exercising earlier, but I just wasn't up to it when I arrived home.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a sunnier day, in weather and in disposition!
  Jess

July 29 - Meet The Parents

  This morning Mr Smart and I went out for breakfast with my parents.  We went to The Arena at The Glen.  I pored over the menu remembering the night before.  I declined juice or a milkshake, I declined 'The Big Breakfast', I even passed on the delicious Eggs Benedict with its creamy hollondaise sauce.  I settled on two scrambled eggs, wilted spinach, bacon and dark rye toast, lightly buttered.  I only ate half of the toast.
  After breakfast Dad left us to return to work and Mum, Mr Smart and I went on to do a spot more furniture perusing at Super AMart.  After much testing and retesting and dithering and endless patience on the part of Mr Smart, I ended up making a purchase.  I bought a 3-seater couch with chaise lounge, a tub chair, two small ottoman cubes and a new mattress for my bed all to be delivered on my next scheduled day off.
  As a result of that purchase the remainder of my week will largely be trying to clean out the rooms affected to leave enough space for the incoming goods.  Maybe I will do some before and after photos!
  One home Mum and Mr Smart had a tea and coffee respectively and we all had a bit of a sit.  Mr Smart suggested watching The Prestige but regrettably that didn't work out again due to timing.  It will have to be the very first movie I watch on my new couch!
  Mr Smart and I left to return him home and decided on the way that lunch was in order.  We decided Salsa's would be nice which led to a mix up due to the very nature of geographical familiarity.  I turned into The Glen as we passed as that is the closest Salsa's to me, whereas Mr Smart had been thinking of Northland as that is the closest Salsa's to him.  We continued on to the Northland Salsa's as then we could take our purchases to eat at Mr Smart's.
  Northland parking was bedlam!  We ended up being near the food court but on the third level of the car park, and I was cajoled into agreeing to take the stairs.  Two flights down, two burritos purchased and two flights up, we continued on to Mr Smart's.

  Salsa's describes my burrito as "Texan beef, coriander & lime rice, salsa fresca, cheese, ranch sauce and lettuce"  This Salsa's franchise gave you a choice of a plain or wholemeal wrap too so we both opted for wholemeal.
  A Salsa's burrito is a damned heavy object and is probably the worst choice I've made all weekend.  I still enjoyed it, but I recognise that another Baja Steak Bowl would probably have been the better choice nutritionally.

  Things were back to normal for dinner though. 
A portion of chicken breast with no skin on and a healthy portion of green salad, a smaller of potato salad and pesto chicken pasta salad.
  Bertie and my nephew joined me, Mum and Dad for dinner too and afterwards, Toy Story 3 and loads of Lego play were had.  I had a hankering for something sweet so I've just destroyed that desire with 10g of Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.
  It's been a big weekend and I have certainly faced some food challenges but I still feel I actively made choices that were, if not good for me, at least better for me than I would've made in the past. 
I'm still learning and assessing my choices and I'm lucky to have a fantastic support crew with me for this journey.  I'm glad I went out and enjoyed myself this weekend, but I'm equally glad that I feel I won't have trouble getting back on track!
  Jess

July 28 - Dinner at Squire's Loft

  Last night was a birthday dinner for one of Mr Smart's close friends at Squire's Loft in Albert Park.  It was a fun and rambunctious evening, much wine was drunk (though not by me), and much food consumed (I'll admit I helped there).
  I found the place ok having checked it out earlier on google maps.  I can't be the only one who "drives there" first on google maps to get the landmarks memorised.  I managed a quite brilliant parallel park and teetered over to the restaurant on my tiny kitten heels.  Yes, even kitten heels make me teeter.  That's what happens when you put 121.7kg on to heels when it is used to the comfort and solidity of Blundstones.
  Mr Smart and some other friends were already seated so I joined them.  We were on a long thin table and all seated on the same side which made conversation a little tricky at first, but it wasn't long until others arrived and sat opposite me.  They were a very friendly bunch of people so even being the newbie of the group I didn't feel left out for a moment as one might fear.
  On to dinner!  It was delicious!

  From the left we have a serve of chargrilled vegetables (pumpkin, mushrooms, zucchini and capsicum), a side salad with a light dressing, 250g of pork ribs, creamy garlic sauce and about 400g of beef ribs.  Mr Smart ordered the beef ribs with black pepper sauce (not pictured) and chargrilled veg and I ordered the pork ribs and the salad and we agreed to split the lot so we got a bigger variety.  I ate all of the meat pictured (though bear in mind what you can see of the pork ribs is literally half bone) and half of all the veggies.
  And dessert, for it wouldn't be a birthday without one:

  That is gluten and dairy free orange cake and a cup of black tea.  Mrs Birthday Boy is going to send me the recipe but from memory it is 3 oranges, 350g sugar, 3 eggs and I can't remember how much almond meal.  The recipe makes 24 pieces that size.
  A big thank you to Mr and Mrs Birthday Boy for inviting me and including me in the celebration.  I had a wonderful night and I hope you did too.  Happy Birthday!

July 28 - Shopping Expedition

  The day started off a bit earlier than my usual Saturdays.  The clunk of Dad shutting the front door on his way to work brought me out of deep sleep and though I tried to return,
I managed only a small while longer.  Breakfast was yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.
I was tempted to cook an egg but I know I am going out for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow so I restrained the urge.

  Once Mum woke up I got on the cross trainer and did my forty minutes.  It felt good again after having the last two days off.  With that done, I cleaned the rabbit cage and clipped her nails with Mum's assistance.  Had I mentioned the bunny before?  Her name is GoGo and she's a grumpy old sweet little thing.  A white Netherlands dwarf rabbit with pink eyes and a twitchy nose.
  After I'd showered and eaten a nut snack pack to keep me going we headed off for the Snowgum Outlet at the corner of Dandenong Road and Blackburn Road.  We browsed, we tried things on.  I tried two black dresses, both of which made me look like a roly-poly sack of potatoes.  In the end Mum bought nothing and I bought a bright blue long-sleeve top and a bright green short-sleeve polo.
  Next we nipped around to Super AMart to ogle the furniture.  I showed Mum the Monza couch I was thinking of, but it's still not quite right.  So we wandered around testing sofas and dining tables and arm chairs and mattresses and avoiding the attentions of the various corporate seagulls vying for our potential custom.  That's a touch mean perhaps, I've found the staff there really helpful and pleasant thus far, but there was an air of hunger today.
  Just as we were leaving I spotted the Nix Small Corner Suite.  It's shaped like the Monza but a bit deeper and a bit wider!  I may have to return tomorrow to place an order for that and a new mattress!  Then I just have to decide which room it will live in...
I sense some changes in store for my house!

  It was nearly 2pm by this time so we were both a bit peckish.  We drove up to The Glen and Mum bought us lunch in the food court.  The Glen has a Salsa's now!  I had a Baja Steak Bowl which normally has grilled steak, onion and capsicum, coriander and lime rice, salsa fresca, sour cream, southwest sauce and lettuce.  I declined the offer of guacamole as an extra and I even said "and no sour cream, thanks"!
  With tummies happy, we went on to Autograph so I could get some nice new dress jeans.  Mum saw some nice looking leggings as we went in and I was able to remark with a smirk "Sorry Mum, they don't come in your size."  It's not obvious since they changed their name but the stores used to be called after the sizes they stocked, 16-26.
  I tried on the new Easy Fit Bootleg Jeans in short length (Yes!! Short leg lengths people!) and decided the size 22 was still the right choice for now.  I could get into the 20 but sitting down would've been uncomfortable.  I got a pair in dark blue denim and a pair in black.  I'm going to wear the black ones and a pretty top for dinner tonight.
  Tonight is a birthday dinner for a close friend of Mr Smart's so we are all off to Squire's Loft for dinner.  Now, I'm not about to sit at a steakhouse and say 'I'll just have a salad'.  I can't think of anything more dreadful.  I might eat ribs, I might have potato, I will most likely have salad too.  What I am going to do is enjoy myself and stop when I am full.
  That's it for today, I'm not hopping on again at midnight to tell you how dinner went, you'll just have to tune in again tomorrow!
  Jess

Me Looking All Pretty For Dinner

July 27 - Family Pizza Night

  It's already just gone midnight here so this will be a quick entry, tomorrow's will be late too as I'm going out to dinner with Mr Smart & Co.
 Breakfast was yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.  I used the last of the yoghurt this morning and actually remembered to buy a new pot today when I left work!  Woohoo for my memory working for me instead of against me.  My morning snack was half a dried apricot.

  Lunch was a toasted sandwich of two slices of Bürgen Soy-Lin bread, a little smear of Rosella Reduced-Joule Fruit Chutney, about 85g of shaved silverside and one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese.  My lunch time fruit was a granny smith apple, cored and cut into eight pieces.  I like the way they look like rays of light emanating from my sandwich.
  My afternoon snack was 10 assorted unsalted nuts and a panama passionfruit.  I knew dinner would be a little later than normal so I tried to bulk up my afternoon snack a bit.
  Dinner was a tradition dating back to my childhood, family pizza night.  For as long as I can remember, Dad would make the dough from scratch, rise it, knead it, roll it, and spend an entire evening making many pizzas.  As we got older the tradition evolved into adding your own toppings to your own customized pizza and now we make customized pizzas but share with everyone else.  In that capacity, I felt a little left out (though not through any deliberate intention on my family's part).
  Here is my effort for the night, before cooking and after:

  It has a wholemeal Khobz wrap base and Dolmio Classic Tomato Salt-Reduced Pasta Sauce, fresh mushrooms, red and yellow capsicum, sliced kalamata olives, shredded ham, four thin slices of Don Mild Salami and light mozzarella cheese.  Oh, and one anchovy, which Mr Smart insisted on via text message.  I also had a few small bits of barbecue chicken and a Bundaberg Diet Ginger Beer while it was cooking to stave off the tummy grumbles.
  Ok, the feeling a little left out thing, I couldn't share with anyone else.  By the time we got to Bertie's place it was already 7:30pm and the last thing I eat before dinner is usually around 3:00pm.  I was ravenous.  My Dad making dough takes a while and my base was of course pre-made so my pizza could be assembled immediately, which also kept the oven use spaced out.  So I did.  I made my pizza and cooked it all while Dad made the dough.  By the time I was eating my pizza everyone else was only just assembling theirs.  I also couldn't share because I was deliberately avoiding the thicker doughy base, the abundance of salami and cheese, salty preserved champignons and sweet tinned pineapple that I loved so much.

  One way in which I felt very included though was that Bertie, knowing I was being good, had not opted to get high-fat nibbles like brie and crackers and had made a big fruit platter for dessert rather than baked goodies.  My dessert portion of that platter was a tamarillo, six green grapes and six cherries.  She thinks I'm insane enjoying tamarillos, and I'll grant that they are somewhat an acquired taste.  They are exceptionally tart.
  I didn't get to my cross trainer again today, there was insufficient time between getting home from worked and being whisked off to Bertie's by Mum and Dad.  I will definitely be getting on it tomorrow though so that I don't feel awful for indulging tomorrow night.  I keep thinking 'I could just have the salmon steak' but I can't help but think I might be tempted by the ribs instead.  Everything in moderation I suppose.
  Until tomorrow, although technically it already is tomorrow!
  Jess

July 26 - Call Me Irresponsible

  It's 11:00pm as I begin my blog for today.  Normally it's done by now and I'm heading for bed.  Normally I've done my exercise.  Normally I'm avoiding delicious fatty chicken skin.  But today was a little different.  Not too different, just a little.
  Breakfast was the normal yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers and I've remembered to get tomorrow's berries out of the freezer and into the fridge.  I was pleasantly surprised to find myself running a little ahead of time this morning so I emptied the rubbish and recycling and pulled the bins to the curb knowing I'd be home late tonight.  This is a bonus as I often forget bin night.
  I went to the Priceline Pharmacy today and got my paperwork sorted out and got a new batch of test strips for my blood glucose meter.  I interviewed one applicant for my right-hand gal's maternity leave and then had lunch.

  Lunch was a toasted sandwich of two slices of Bürgen Soy-Lin bread, a little smear of Masterfoods Corn Relish, about 85g of shaved silverside and one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese.  My lunch time fruit was a golden delicious apple, cored and cut into eight pieces.  I don't know why but I don't like whole apples nearly so much.
  Because I'd got a new set of test strips I decided to check my blood glucose levels after lunch too for the rest of the week.  It was fine today.  I'm not going to put the figures in every day but I'll publish a little table of results at the end of the week for my diabetic educator at any rate.  After I had that check out of the way I had an Afourer Mandarin for my afternoon snack.
  I did a second interview late in the afternoon then headed to the shops to get wraps, a barbecue chook and salady things for dinner for Mr Smart and me.  Yes folks, I forsook exercise and put off blog writing just so I could spend time with Mr Smart.  So you can call me irresponsible if you like, but you won't catch me regretting it for an instant.

  I used the Wattle Valley Wholegrain Soft Wraps which were tasty but a little on the small side.  It was quite difficult to encapsulate the filling wholly at times, though one could say that had more to do with the quantity of filling!  My first one had cos lettuce, coleslaw, half a chicken breast with skin on and cucumber slices.  I also won't deny, I did munch on a little extra skin as I made the wraps.

  My second wrap was going to be about the same but with the other half of the chicken breast however... I made the mistake of asking Mr Smart if he'd like a little stuffing with his next one and was informed that no, he wasn't very fond of stuffing.  My brain had a little fritz moment at the realisation that Oh. My. God. All that stuffing and no one else wants any!?!  Apparently my brain could not comprehend such luck, so my second wrap was essentially the same... honestly....

  Fortunately I was restrained when it came to dessert.  I only had six longan.  I know there are eight in the picture but I only ate most of them.
  After dinner we watched a great movie,
Pete Smalls Is Dead.  Brilliant, and I'd recommend it to anyone even vaguely interested in quality films.  It also had a really cool soundtrack.
  Mr Smart evilly tried to tempt me to stay on for a second film, The Prestige, and if tomorrow was my day off I do believe he'd have succeeded.
  So as I sign off today it is 11:40pm and I think this is the fastest I've written my blog yet!
 (So a certain Granny may have to forgive any errant errors she spots.)
  Farewell for now,
  Jess

PS: Started my new book last night, Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton.

July 25 - Whole Lot Of Broccoli

  I am looking forward to bed tonight.  I think it may have something to do with the fact that I stayed up until 1am last night to finish my book, We Need To Talk About Kevin.  It's fair to say that some of the thoughts provoked by it were keeping me up later and later so I was keen to get it finished and move on.  It certainly made me think a lot and I found it to be interesting and well-written.
  For breakfast I had two slices of Bürgen Soy-Lin bread toasted with butter and Vegemite because I forgot to defrost my berries again last night!  Mr Smart will no doubt be shaking his head and wondering why I haven't yet cottoned on to the fact that my phone is capable of issuing forth reminders at the appropriate time.  I am aware it can of course.. I'm just not there yet!
  My mid-morning snack at work was a panama passionfruit slurped up in the kitchen.  I noted that the seeds loosen the riper they are.

  Lunch was a toasted sandwich comprising two slices of Bürgen Soy-Lin bread, a little smear of Rosella Sweet Mustard Pickles, about 85g of shaved silverside and one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese.  I rounded it off with an Afourer Mandarin.  It was a good mandarin; seedless, sweet enough and easy to peel.
  My after noon snack was one of the snack packs I made up last night.  That is, one dried apricot half, two brazil nuts, two hazelnuts, two pecan halves and four almonds.  All of those nuts are skin on, non-salted and the dried apricots are the aussie-grown Angus Park ones.  I tried to space them out to stay full longer.

  I luckily remembered to visit the doctor on the way home from work.  Though perhaps not luckily for her.  They had computer problems at their office today and I imagine it must've been quite a long and frustrating day for her.  She did very well to be running only 15 minutes by that time of evening.  Though I think I may have mentioned before, I never mind waiting for my doctor because at least she treats you properly and with care and close attention.  The test I dropped to Dorevitch yesterday morning showed that my kidney function is fine and she re-took my blood pressure which today was a much more reasonable 130/95, still a little high on the diastolic but I'll get it down eventually!
  I got home and there was a surprise in the letterbox for me!  A CD I had ordered and forgotten about, Old Crow Medicine Show.  They are quite popular at the moment and I can't remember where I heard it, but I came across their song Wagon Wheel which was what made me order it.  The whole album is quite blue-grassy so Dad and I enjoyed it while I chopped up a kilogram of broccoli!
  By the time Dad got here after he'd finished work, I had finished the cross trainer and was about to start on the broccoli soup preparation!  A kilogram of broccoli, as called for by the recipe, is about five heads (or at least five of what pass for heads in the supermarket these days).  I used my Borner V-Slicer to do the stalks but the florets still needed a rough chop by hand.  I think I will need to give in and get a proper mandoline at some point.  My point is though, a kilogram of broccoli is rather a large pile before it becomes soup!  The soup was done in about an hour and made four generous serves.

  While we ate our soup and lightly buttered rolls Dad and I watched the first episode of a 3-part BBC series called Harlots, Housewives & Heroines.  The first episodes focussed on the mistresses of Charles II in the 1660s.  It was quite interesting and a bit tongue in cheek in spots too! 
  After dinner I went through my mental diary for the next few days and realised I would have no time for eating the 'spare' two serves until Monday so I therefore put them in the freezer.
We shall see if they return to the light of day in the coming weeks!
  Until tomorrow!
  Jess

July 24 - Quick Dinner Wins Out

  I woke up early, deprived of the warm cocoon of my bed by the need to drop a sample at Dorevitch on the way to work.  I didn't get out of bed immediately on being alarmed into consciousness though, first I turned toward my bedside table and pricked my finger.  My blood sugar was 5.4!!  The normal range is between 4.0 and 6.0 so what I'm eating is already having an effect.
  Breakfast was youghurt, berries and fibre toppers.  I thought I'd mention too.. All Bran list the serving size as a half a cup of fibre toppers, but I have always only had a quarter cup.  Half a cup and the yoghurt just wouldn't be enough moisture to combat the blandness.
  Work was work.  It was my invoice entry deadline today so I was furiously keying away most of the day.  Normally I do it week by week but this month my desk just seems to be getting buried.  I just can't keep up at the moment.  Partly that's been unexpected absences like the lawyer thing and medical stuff but I think it's also partly that once things get messy, I'm never sure where to start.  This can be a big blocker to starting anything.
  I had a passionfruit at morning tea and then, since I'd not prepared lunch and didn't feel like assembling anything, I opted for Sushi Sushi at lunch time!  I tried to cut down on the amount of white rice by only having one hand roll (crispy salt and pepper squid) and salmon sashimi with a small tub of mayonnaise, and I did eat all the carrot too.  I had a tamarillo after the fishy course and then a small lightly ripe banana for afternoon tea.

   When I got home from work, pretty much straight on the cross trainer and sweated away the annoyance of a desk that never clears itself.  Then I was ready to think about dinner.  Now I bought all the ingredients for making a big batch of broccoli soup but by the time I got off the cross trainer I was ravenous.  So I made a quick dinner instead.

  Dinner was a corn wrap with low-joule chutney, one slice of Bega Tasty cheese, two slices of rindless short cut bacon and two fried eggs (fried with no oil in my super non-stick mini pan) then I finished it off with 20g of Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.  My dad is currently visiting so rather than just the food I thought I'd show you him eating his wrap, since I made the same for us both.
  After dinner I had every intention of making the broccoli soup ready for tomorrow but instead I ended up making some healthy snack packs.  Each snack pack contains one dried apricot half, two brazil nuts, two hazelnuts, two pecan halves and four almonds.  I think they will make a longer lasting afternoon snack that a piece of fruit.  I also ran the dishwasher so that I'd have clean equipment for broccoli soup making tomorrow night!

  Two hours after dinner I took my blood sugar reading again, it was 6.9!! The normal range for two hours after eating is anywhere under 7.0 so I was really pleased with that.  It does make me wonder if maybe the high reading I got that kick-started all this was maybe anomalous due to my consumption the day prior but we shall see as we go on.  Apologies if the photo grosses anyone out but I think it's a very cool machine and I thought you might like to see a test strip in action!  You only need to touch a droplet of blood to it and it sucks it straight on.  It's very quick and very clever.
Thanks to Dad for wielding the camera.

  That's it for today, tune in tomorrow for more adventures in attempted healthy living!
  Jess

July 23 - By The Pricking Of My Thumbs

  Something healthy this way comes!
  Ok, I'm paraphrasing, but liberties with The Bard aside, I have a cool new toy!  Sure it stabs me twice a day, but it does allow me to have live updates on my blood glucose levels.  The pen thing, that's a 6-needle cartridge wielding Multiclix Lancing Device and the little doohickey with the screen is the Performa Blood Glucose Meter.  The little bottle with the cap on contains Test Strips.  One end speaks to the Meter, the other end is where you stick your droplet of fresh squeezed blood!
   So obviously I saw the diabetic educator today and she was really helpful.  She gave me the whiz bang handy-dandy monitor and lots of information on how the particular type of diabetes I'm looking at works (Type 2).  Essentially, my pancreas is a bit sluggish.  It is therefore producing low-quality or defective insulin leaving too much sugar in my blood stream.
She weighed me and, assuming the scales at her clinic are out as much as my doctor's, confirmed I have lost 3kg since the start of July. Yay me!
They also checked my vision in both eyes and that's all good too.
  The only thing that came up weird was my blood pressure... They got 180/120 with a heart rate of 84.  Now the heart rate seems possibly right but there is no way that my blood pressure was that high.  I was calm, collected and only slightly worried about being two and a half hours late for work (I had no idea it would take that long).  In a resting state like that the highest it's ever been was 130/90.  The nurse who took it felt that it was inaccurate too so I'll get my doctor to check it on Wednesday night.
  The good news is, she's very pleased with all the changes I've made so far especially the exercise as it apparently 'wakes up' a sluggish pancreas.  And she is helping me understand further changes I can easily make with what I'm eating.
  One of the cooler pieces of printed information I got today is this life-sized representation of my ideal dinner plate and what food groups should be on it.  The diameter of the white circle is 21.5cm.  On the back it also has suggested foods and daily food plans.  I find it very helpful and I'm going to find some way of keeping it in the kitchen.  With that in mind, I have laminated it to keep it clean.
  I got home, pottered about a bit then convinced myself to get on the cross trainer.  Today Buffy was attacked by parasitic mind-controlling bug baby things.  They looked suspiciously like larger versions of the parasitic mind-controlling bug alien things in the Star Trek TNG episode 'Conspiracy'.  So... now that you've all been made even more aware of my nerdiness, on to the day's consumption!
Breakfast: Yoghurt, berries and fibre toppers.

Lunch: Homemade pumpkin soup and a Coles Bakery Rustic Roll lightly buttered (same as yesterday's dinner but without the sour cream as that was going to be messy to transport to work) and a passionfruit.  My blood glucose two hours after lunch was 9.0 which is higher than I though it would be as after my breakfast I was only 6.4 but I guess that might come down to the bread roll.

Afternoon snack: A small slightly green banana.

Dinner: Homemade pizza of a wholemeal Khobz flatbread, Leggo's Pizza Sauce, shredded ham, six slices of beef salami, mushrooms, broccolini, red capsicum and Mainland Finely Shredded Light Tasty cheese.  I know I've photographed the pizza's about a billion times already but they all look different!  Pizza: Now with red blobs!

  I think that's it of significance today.  I'm still finding dinners are my weakest spot, mainly because I really don't feel like cooking when it's sometimes 8:00pm by the time I've done my exercise.  Thank you Jodes for the Broccoli Soup recipe though, will try that one out soon I think!

  I just want to say too what a big support this has been and how great you all are for reading and sending me your ideas and even just telling me you enjoy reading.
  It's all really helping and here's hoping that I can keep my momentum going!

  Jess

July 22 - Replacing and Renewing

   I got my hair cut today.  It was getting a bit long and shaggy.  I got it cut around the end of May but the problem was that they had cut it wet.  Curly hair really needs to be cut dry.
  When they cut it wet they either don't take enough length off because they are worried about how much it will spring up when it dries, or they completely forget about the spring up and take to much off.  Also they never thin it out enough when it's wet because they can't tell where the fluffy bits are.  So here's the re-cut, thinned, layered and curls as bouncy as ever.

  My day was a relatively lazy one.  I spent the better part of the morning on the internet playing Teddy's new email game "You so totally would" in which I'm presented with pictures of two aging rock stars and directed to choose which one I'd least object to shagging.  He only got me to pick Iggy Pop by placing him opposite Joseph Merricks (The Elephant Man).  It makes me laugh when he creates these odd little games.
  I did venture out of the house in the afternoon obviously, if only to go to the hairdresser, although it ended up being more.  I went to Target after my haircut as they've had all of their homewares marked down this week.  I bought a VS Sassoon Hair Dryer which is actually for drying a difficult piece of my food processor, though now that I have one I might also use it for my hair.  I also bought a 6 cup muffin pan (the really large kind) and a new bed sheet/quilt cover set and some extra plain pillow cases.
  What I had actually gone looking for, but they did not have, was a new slow cooker.  About three weeks ago, my slow cooker died a death.  That picture is of the base of the crock pot through which delicious chunky pea and ham soup had seeped.  Though to be fair, I think the slow cooker was older than me!  It was a hand-me-down from my parents and even after I washed it, I could still put my head over it and smell the spicy fragrant waft of decades of Dad's curries.  So alas, time to get a new one.
  The frontrunner at the moment is the Breville Fast Slow Cooker.  It can slow cook, pressure cook and steam! I think the steam function in particular would be very useful going forward.  It is also a Choice award winner.
  After Target, I went to Woolworths and did a spot of grocery shopping which came to rather more than I'm used to!  I think it was due to some of the extra-ordinary items I got this time.  I got some Bundaberg Diet Sarsaparilla and Bundaberg Diet Ginger Beer and some Carman's Classic Fruit Muesli due to my parents upcoming visit; I got some new plastic storage containers for organising a few piles of outgoing objects and also a whole heap of different nuts for making up into little snack packs.  Apparently nuts make a good between meal snack GI-wise.  Hopefully the diabetic educator confirms that at my first appointment which is tomorrow at 9am!
  I did manage to do a little more laundry today and I'm gradually tidying the kitchen one item at a time.  Progress is slow, but finally visible.  I also had a quick video chat to my granny in her nursing home room courtesy of my Dad and his laptop which was a bit of a bright spot.  And I did a spot of proof-reading for Mr Smart which I always enjoy.  I didn't exercise today but that's ok, I'll get back on it tomorrow.  I did eat pretty well today and here is the summary:

Breakfast: Yoghurt with berries and fibre toppers.
Lunch: A wholemeal Khobz wrap, microwaved a little, spread with about 30g of Danish Feta, baby spinach, the leftover lamb roast re-heated, a spoonful or two of the cold pumpkin soup (which is pretty much just pumpkin puree) and some pine nuts to finish it off.  It was delicious, and unlike other times, the Khobz wasn't too dry.  This was partially due to warming it up in the microwave but also because the feta and the pumpkin provided enough of a creamy texture within.
Afternoon drinkie: My last 200ml Aranciata Rossa (though they were on special at Woolies today so I did get a new six-pack.
I felt I needed it after such a long shopping trip!

Dinner: Homemade pumpkin soup served with a heaped teaspoon of light sour cream in the centre and garnished with a sprig of fresh thyme and a Coles Bakery Rustic Roll lightly buttered (yes, with real butter).  I must say, even though I'm only cooking for myself, it's kind of fun to use this as an excuse to garnish food and make it look all pretty.  Though clearly from the use of the fantastic plastic, I didn't see fit to use it as an excuse to make extra dishes!
Dessert: 20g of Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.

  So that's pretty much it for the day from me.  I got really stuck into my book last night so I'm keen to read on tonight.  I will be sure to tell you all about my first trip to the diabetic educator in tomorrow's blog.
  Until then!
  Jess

PS: A big Happy Birthday to my good friend Giggles and also a thank you for the Quesadilla Recipe.  It's certainly versatile and recipes for one are very helpful indeed!

July 21 - A Half Day

  Last night (and a good portion of today) were lost to a determined sleep.  I awoke groggily with only ten minutes of morning remaining.  Apparently my body doesn't like living on 6 or 7 hours sleep a night during the week, either that or the quality of the week night sleep has been poor.
  I didn't much feel like exercise when I woke but after a while sitting on the computer checking emails and things and wondering what I would do with the day I suddenly felt more like it, so I got on the cross trainer after all.  I figured that while it's ok to have the occasional day off, if I've any urge to do it at all I should grab that desire with both hands.  It is helping me develop a good exercise habit after all.

  After that of course I showered, got dressed etc. and by then it was 2:30pm so unsurprisingly I was feeling a bit peckish.  I had a toasted english muffin, one side spread with pate and one side spread with Vegemite and a slice of Bega Tasty cheese.
  Then it was on with bringing in the laundry from last week and balling up hundreds of pairs of socks!  While I was outside doing this I could here the sounds of children rather closer than normal.  I stood on tiptoes and spied some unfamiliar faces in my next-door neighbour's yard.

  When I got home last night I noticed that this sale board had been erected on their property (which adjoins mine), so I put two and two together and realised that it must be an open inspection!  So I pootled over to see what they'd done to the place and what the asking price was.  It's going to auction in three weeks time and they are wanting bids above $290,000.


  After that I went off to the local Super AMart furniture store.  I've been thinking about a new couch for a while and they had a corner lounge with a chaise that looked good.  It wasn't too bad; firm enough, wide enough, nice colour (raisin/brown).  The only thing that put me off was that the non-chaise seats aren't very deep, mind you that does mean my back is kept from slouching.  I was also looking at a new mattress since I've been sleeping on the same cheapy now for about 10 years and it's definitely seen better days.  The sales man Brian was very helpful and answered all my questions so I made sure I got his card so I could be sure to return to him when I'm ready to make my purchases.
  When I got back my new load of laundry was ready to put out so I got a little more sun time for the day.  I really like these cool sunny days.  I don't burn in them so readily and it's surprisingly refreshing to be outside.  I wish there were more days like today (and that I didn't sleep away half of them).
  I then set about getting ready to make dinner.  Seasoning my mini lamb roast (366g raw) with rosemary, lemon and garlic, peeling and slicing up pumpkin and sprinkling it with cumin seeds.  A granny smith apple cored and halved but not sprinkled with sugar though the urge was there.  I let that all cook away for about 50 minutes at 180°C (350°F).  The lamb was a perfect rare!

  I sliced up all of the lamb and put about half into a plastic container with some of the juices and put that into the fridge for tomorrow's lunch.  I quickly steamed a pouch of Steam Fresh veggies and pulled the smallest bit of pumpkin out of the oven and added them to my plate. Then the finishing touch was a small dollop of Masterfoods Mint Jelly.  It's just not roast lamb without it.

  The remainder of the pumpkin had stayed in the oven with the apple to continue slowly cooking at  130°C (265°F).  Once dinner was demolished, the apple was removed and became dessert!
Baked apple with yoghurt and berries.  It was delicious and though ice cream might've been more decadent, I barely noticed the acidity of the yoghurt once it blended with the sweet self-caramalised apple.

  Dinner over, appetite well and truly sated, I returned to the kitchen once more to finish up the pumpkin.  With the addition of 500ml stock, half a teaspoon of crushed garlic and a generous sprinkling of dried rosemary it was whizzed into pumpkin soup in a manner of minutes.  That will be my dinner tomorrow night and lunch on Monday most likely!
  It's only 7pm now so I'm not sure what I'll do with myself for the remainder of the evening.  A load of dishes perhaps, cleaning up the spare room for the arrival of my parents during the coming week, pottering about my house and desk trying to sort out the various piles of crap that keep accumulating.  Or perhaps I'll just go to bed and read my book.  Only starting something will tell!
  Have a lovely night all, and a happy Sunday,
  Jess

July 20 - Nananananananana Nananananananana Batman!

  Up at 8 o'clock to get my exercise out of the way early.  It was my day off today so I didn't want to go out and have fun then have to come home and slog it out.  Also... I may have had a somewhat desperate urge to see part two of the Buffy episode.

  While I was cooling down I was craving a cooked breakfast so I decided the berries would keep in the fridge another day!  I toasted an english muffin while in my tiniest non-stick frypan I cooked up a single egg, a slice of Bega Tasty cheese and a little shredded ham.  It was a scrumptious improvement on McDonald's and really didn't take very long at all.
  After that I got showered, dressed and ready to head off for a day of fun with Mr Smart.

  Mr Smart made us a lovely lunch of prawn curry with rice and roti.  I had one of the roti and a bowl of rice with curry and just enough juice to make the rice flavoursome!  We ate and mused on possible modifications to future incarnations of the dish while half-watching Bargain Hunt with Tim Wonnacott.  I love the show but I'll admit I preferred it when David Dickinson was the host.
  Our appetites now sated, we set off for the city, walking to the nearest bus stop.  We'd no sooner left when we were detained by Mr Smart's neighbour which was a pleasant enough occurrence but it did make us almost miss the bus.  Luckily there was no other traffic about and Mr Smart was able to signal our intentions to the bus driver who was then kind enough to stop while we crossed the road.
  Off we went, o'er hill and dale and alighted on another hill to switch to a city bound tram.  I really like travelling by tram in daylight.  It clickity-clacks and hums and bounces it's way past interesting shops, restaurants and parks.  I have time to watch the world on a tram and the things you spy inspire conversations and ideas; like "Lets try that restaurant" as I point out the window which then leads to a discussion of why it's not really fair to lump so many cuisines under the one Middle Eastern label despite the similarities.
  Before getting to the IMAX to see The Dark Knight Rises, Mr Smart needed to drop into uni to grab a book for the coming semester so I got an intimate student-guided tour of the campus.  So many beautiful old buildings, so many statues and sculptures.  Did I want to see the most amazing entrance to a car park in the world? Why yes I did...
This is the pedestrian access to the faculty car park.

  Isn't it amazing!?  Isn't it a gothic masterpiece!? Complete with ivy covered wall and dark foreboding interior, tucked away in a corner.  The whole campus in fact, even including a couple of starkly ugly 1970s architectural black spots, is a secret oasis of art and green in the hubbub of the city.  Now obviously, being one of the foremost universities in Australia, it's not exactly a well-kept secret, but I'd never known and was delighted to see it all.
  We then wandered down towards the museum but strolled at a leisurely pace as there was still plenty of time before the movie.  Luckily, Mr Smart harbours the same dread hate of being late to anything as I do, so I know we'll always have plenty of time!
It's a comforting thing to know.

  A particular pause had to be made at the corner of Grattan Street and Erskine Lane to capture an image of this flower.  The garden was full of native flora like proud fluffy deep yellow Banksias and spiky red Grevilleas so I'm assuming it's a native too, but I'd never seen it before and thought it was quite striking.  An image search on Google did not reveal its identity to me so if anyone happens to know what it is, please let me know.
  We arrived at the museum still with plenty of time and descended into the underground IMAX cinema.  We milled around for 20 minutes or so and were then seated.  Mr Smart has a knack for picking a good spot and had booked us tickets right in the middle of the row.  Not that it would've mattered too much I think, the screen is 7 storeys high!
  I will not reveal a thing about the movie itself, let it never be said that I've issued forth a spoiler, but I will comment on the cinema experience.  This was my first time ever at an IMAX and it was something to behold that's for sure.  We were in row D which is quite close to the front as you'd imagine, it was sometimes hard to know where to look when the screen pace was rapid!  The sound too was super-sized and reverberated throughout your mind, the bass shook your whole body at times!  I enjoyed the movie and it was an amazing, if exhausting experience.  I would love to go and see one of the nature documentaries they show on it.
  As we filed out of the cinema through the crowd of people awaiting the next screening, I overhead a merry band of trolls say loudly and clearly "Wow.. Superman showing up.  I didn't see that coming."  Luckily I don't think anyone was likely to believe them.
  We ascended into daylight, or rather twilight, and set off to catch the return tram.  I of course headed in the wrong direction momentarily due to not realising that we'd be catching a different tram back.  It was 5:15pm when we boarded the rush hour tram.  Sardines anyone?  Still, it didn't take long for the tram to get roomier and we clickety-clacked our way back.  I even managed to catch a sunset glimpse of the city from Ruckers Hill.  It's a beautiful view and one that Mr Smart made a special point of showing me some months ago.
  Once returned we had a rest, took in an episode of The West Wing, and once I knew rush hour was over, it was time for me to head home.  I had three pieces of leftover homemade pizza for dinner and a granny smith apple for dessert (thank you Jack).
  I have no particular plans for the remainder of the weekend and certainly no desire to rise early tomorrow so I shall head to bed, turn off my alarm clock, open my book and read until I get sleepy.
  Goodnight all,
  Jess

July 19 - A Blast From The Past

   I know!  I didn't think I'd photograph this breakfast again so soon either but I tried a new berry mix today.  This one was McCain Baby Strawberry Berry Mix.  I was excited but it seems to thaw slower than the other mix so some of the strawberries were a bit crunchy and as you can see from the still white yoghurt, there was less juice in this one.  I'll finish the pack I have but I don't think I'll get this mix again.  Also, Target has 50% off towels and bath sheets this week.


  I got to work at 7:40am this morning!  Normally I am just managing to slink out of the shower by then.  The phone upgrade at work went well.  The technician was great and coordinated it all so that we barely noticed any outages.  I didn't realise how much work was involved!  He was there from 7:40am to 3:40pm!  At least I don't have to worry about the photocopier upgrade tomorrow, it's my day off so I'm going to IMAX to see the new Batman movie with Mr Smart!

   Lunch was a corn wrap with Rosella fruit chutney, one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese and some double-smoked ham, lightly toasted in the sandwich press.  With cucumber sticks on the side and a tamarillo for afters.  The tamarillo was not friendly with my lips which must have a small split in them somewhere.
It stung for quite a while!


  I left work at 5pm and rushed home, got changed immediately and on the cross-trainer with Buffy.  It was a two part episode today.. curses!  I didn't have time to watch the next part today as I was expecting company for dinner.  A blast from my past.  His code name of choice, Jack Johnson.
  Jack and I were at high school together.  It's funny, we ran in the same circle of friends but were never really friends ourselves.  We'd say 'Hi', happily greet the other, hang out as part of the group but we never really did anything minus the group.  So why then would I invite him to dinner, this person who apart from occasional bumps into I have not seen in 17 years?  Because sometimes I do these things.  And I'm glad I do.
  There were many tales told of school, and our lives in between then and now.  Woes and joys we'd experienced separately but similarly.  It's not possible to catch up on 17 years in one short evening but the words flowed easily as did smiles and half-laughed groans.

   We had homemade pizza for dinner, a Khobz wholemeal flatbread with Leggo's Pizza Sauce, salami, shredded ham, mushrooms, bocconcini (half as much as the other times because I cut each bambini in half again) and broccolini stalk.  All washed down with 200ml of delicious sweet Sanpellegrino Aranciata Rossa.


  Mid-way through dinner we flicked on Bill Bailey : Part Troll, a stand-up comedy DVD.  It was well received and hearty guffaws emanated from both of us.  Bill Bailey is one of those comedians who just creates an alternate universe on the spot and takes you along for the ride.  I find him extremely entertaining.
  Jack had work in the morning so it was an earlyish night but a good one.  I see no reason to prevent it happening again sometime.  As he yelled out the codename 'Jack Johnson' over his shoulder on the way to his car I knew it sounded familiar, though he claimed to have no idea who it was.  Google was therefore called upon.
Here then for your optical and aural pleasure is 'the real' Jack Johnson.
  Until tomorrow friends,
  Jess

July 18 - Mixed Bag Day

  I'm happy with my day overall.  It was definitely and mixed bag and tomorrow already feels daunting before it's arrived, but I'll let you each judge by your own perceptions.  First off a little happy happy joy joy moment!  I stepped on the scales last night, 123.7kg which means I've lost 3kg since I started 18 days ago.  Eeeee!
  It was very hard to get out of bed this morning.  It was warm and toasty all cocooned in my doona with no sneaky doona thief to wrest me from it.  But still, that persistent 'beep beep beep' every eight minutes couldn't be ignored forever.  So it was up and into my daily marathon hot shower where there are no beeps to spoil the illusion of a warm eternity.  By that time though, consciousness intruded and reminded me I was actually expected to turn up at work occasionally if I wished to continue receiving a salary.

  Naturally I had forgotten to defrost my berries, so it was a toasted muffin with Nutella for breakfast.  I'm pretty sure Nutella should be on the naughty list but while it's in the house it will gradually get eaten and assist in the prevention of chocolate binges.  The urge to eat chocolate and roll up into a ball will be particularly strong this week so it's probably not a bad thing that I have Nutella as a fall-back position.
  Work was more resumes from 9am - 11am and then the horrible realisation that today was the cut off date for submitting my comments on my team's performance reviews.  Argh!  So three staff reviews full of glowing praise later I finally had an hour left to actually do something productive!

  Lunch was in there somewhere.  I had a corn wrap with double smoked ham, a small tomato and one slice of Bega Tasty cheese (the last slice of the full fat, next box will be the light stuff).  I toasted it in the sandwich press and that improved the quality and flavour of the corn wrap somewhat so there may be some hope for them yet.  A small banana and a passionfruit were also enjoyed.
  I also went shopping at lunch time.  It was unbelievably cold in the office today!  Only 16°C at 11:22am.. I know that because my right-hand gal had snagged a thermometer by this point to monitor our misery.  This of course meant that I needed a better coat!  So three tops and two cardi-coats later I was back and warmer for it.  I bought 5 items of clothing and spent less than $50!  Thank you Millers!
  Straight after work I got changed into cat-safe clothes and headed to Mr Smart's.  I realised two things last night, 1) if I don't splurge once in a while I will just find this all to hard and quit and 2) tonight was the night I needed to splurge.  Fortunately, Mr Smart is very supportive and suggested a great little Indian place on High Street called Maharaja Tandoori Cuisine.  They start you with a poppadum each with some tangy mint chutney and sticky sweet tamarind sauce while you peruse the menu.  Their poppadums had caraway seeds in which was a lovely added flavour boost.  The rest of the meal follow photographically:

Chicken Tikka and Samosa

Daal Makhani, Lamb Rogan Josh, Butter Chicken, Raita and Mango Chutney

See Mr Heinz!  This is what delicious chunky Butter Chicken looks like!!

Scrumptious tiny hot sweet Gulab Jamun.

  Mr Smart, ever the charming dinner companion, saved me from myself on several occasions and limited my walk home to mere waddling, rather than rolling.  That's right folks, I may not have got on the cross trainer today, but I did walk to and from the restaurant.  Sure, it's only 600m each way, but it's the principle of the thing!
  I was grumpy of course at having to leave Mr Smart's company but regrettably I have an early morning tomorrow.  Surely 6am should not be allowed to exist!
  So as you can see, a mixed bag.  On the one hand, I pigged out and didn't exercise.  On the other hand, I pigged out and didn't exercise.  Tonight certainly squished the cravings I've been fighting off for a week so I do feel like it will be easier to get back to business tomorrow.
  Jess

PS: I should explain the cat-safe clothes yes?
Meet Pizza Cat.  Isn't she adorable!  She's also very funny and happily meows at me whenever I arrive.  I'm informed it's because I fuss over her with unlimited pats.