you see what i mean about the lovely saturday morning

Over the weekend I succumbed and bought both a rack and a basket for Corey-the-bike and it really made the world of difference to the commute this morning.

Both add a bit of weight and it definitely will take a little getting used to as the centre of gravity has changed completely, but my back is extremely thankful.

Lugging a laptop, even a quite light one, a complete change of clothes, a wallet jammed with coins and occasional groceries on your back while riding a bicycle is not to be recommended.

This week I would actually like to develop a plan for the next couple of weekends. We have some totally not fun household maintenance tasks to cover off before ThePalace(OfLove) falls down around our ears.

I also need to stop watching home improvement / home renovation programmes, because it gives me way too much of a hankering to do stuff, or more likely get people in to do stuff – and we’ve been spending quite enough already thank-you-very-much.

And I’d really like to knock over some of the posts that are kicking around it my head. When I sit down to write something in the evening, I’m already in bed and eyes are drooping. In retrospect that no internet in the evenings for a month has had a long-lasting impact on me, I’m rarely on the internet until just before bed and have little time to really write (would that I was doing something productive with that time!).

Oh and I’d like to settle on some sort of needlepoint or embroidery pattern for my challenge (#41).

That’s probably enough to be going on with.

from yesterday’s run

Today marks SIX MONTHS (SIX!) since I quit drinking alcohol.

Yay me!

I won’t lie – there have been a couple of occasions where I have been tempted to have a glass of wine, but it’s definitely not worth going down that path because I won’t be able to have just one and I’ll end up fat and grumpish. 

It’s much harder to stay away from chocolate, which I quit at the beginning of the year. Every time I encounter a block, in the supermarket for example, it takes all my powers to resist buying it and all of its brethren. Even just writing that makes me long to run down the servo and grab some. 

Willpower, I (mostly) has it.

The last bastion of the not drinking challenges lies ahead in the next couple of months – Melbourne for a weekend.  The chocolate? I don’t think that craving is ever going to stop.

I got out for a 7km run this morning (exciting). The weather was completely glorious and perfect for running, I do adore autumn!

Lest you think I have miraculously found form, the run consisted of walk/run intervals and occasional stops for photos. I was suitably knackered afterward.

I made Jamie Oliver’s Beef and Guinness pie this evening – which was pretty gosh-darn great. The new oven cooks pastry spectacularly well – everything turns out so evenly golden and perfect. 

While that was going on I watched football with Don and completed my work-work. It was pretty mindless stuff and I felt much relieved afterward. Monday me will be Very Happy with Saturday me.

Saturday me has no real idea what is on the agenda for Sunday me – save meal planning and grocery shopping, which … zzzzzzzzz.

peace in our time

I cycled to work four days this week, which is a little over one hour of pretty solid cardio a day – which is really really really making a difference to my mental health. I’m still quite terrified before each outing, but I guess that keeps me alert.

I’m no further on that weekend Action list. This is a not entirely ideal because it’s 10:30pm on Friday. 

I was briefly considering entering the Mother’s Day Classic on Sunday, but then I was a bit like “do I really want to pay $60 to go for a 4km run?”. Actually no, right now I do not. I will run around the neighbourhood though – hopefully – if not raining.

I’d also like to try to find a rack for the back of Corey-the-bike. I’m all good with the backpack ordinarily, but adding my work laptop on Friday evening kills me!

And maybe I’ll take a look at my 50 list – because time is slipping away!

rather nice to wake up to

I think I need to make a plan for the weekend, else I’ll just fill my time with housework – and while some needs to be completed, I’m definitely not keen on it being the only thing I accomplish! Mojo, please return.

Work has been work. I’m slowly (very slowly) divesting myself of stuff that should have been handed over years ago, but which wasn’t because there was no-one capable of taking it. This feels very, very good indeed! Giving myself six months to rid myself of it all entirely.

It’s occasionally starting to feel as though we may actually and finally  become a functional organisation (though of course it still teeters on the edge of completely bonkers more often than not)

I’ve not really done much in the way of something nice for myself each day as I’d planned to – must get onto that from tomorrow!

I don’t want to turn this into a flurry of buying things just so I can cover off an action item, so I’ll have to be a bit creative.

I’ve only really just come back from holiday – how can I be in a rut already?

Alright, I get the message, you don’t need me to help organize anything anymore 🙁 I’ll always be available in your pocket if anything changes!

We’d been testing the Our Home app for equitable household task allocation amongst the offspring during the last week of our holiday, but it had fallen into disuse for a max of three weeks.

I’m not sure that I’m keen on my software 1. pretending to be sentient and 2. being so whiney.

You may remember our excitement when we discovered fresh habaneros and jalapeños at the fruit and veg back in January 2016. 

We never really did find that much to do with them and stuck them in the freezer, but I sacrificed a couple of each for seeds with the idea that I might get myself a regular supply.

I was not terribly scientific and planted a bunch of seeds in the same pot. A couple eventually sprouted into very fragile plants, and only one survived. 

Because I’d planted them in the same pot, I had no idea whether it was a jalapeño or habanero until the leaves became very very large – whereupon the InformationSuperhighway informed me they were the habaneros. This was probably the less ideal option because who knows what we’ll do with them?

Nonetheless, they survived the benign neglect of our vacation and are producing fruit! So exciting!

I still have no idea quite what to do with them. But I have a mind to try drying them. Will report back.

Well I managed one nice thing! 35km bike ride to my favourite tree and back. I think I am slowly improving at hills, but there’s quite a bit of the way to go.

As for the other four – not so much. I did make a rather nice beef stew with parsley dumplings, a batch of chicken stock and knocked a bunch of ironing of the list. All very good, but not entirely what I had in mind when I promised to do five nice things!

Maybe I’ll try for one a day. With the week coming up, I think I’ll need it.

Ride pix below (it was super-windy):

around the corner

After a short run and a quick grocery shop, I spent a good while tidying the garage, washed a few loads of delicates, watched home improvement programmes with Joan and took a slice out of my left index finger while attempting to remove the skin from pork belly.

I don’t think any of these really can be included as one of those five nice things I was going to do for myself.