I’m really very against buying pre-packaged cake and baking mixes, preferring to bake from scratch, so I have no idea what possessed me to purchase bread mix from ikea a couple of weeks ago.

May because I dig crazy bread? Maybe I just really dug the giant milk carton packaging?

Sunday was dreadfully, unbelievably rainy and so it seemed just the thing to bake bread and eat it warm with butter. mmmmmm … butter.

The instructions were really simple.
     ❶ shake the container to loosen up the contents
     ❷ tip in 600ml of 45oC water
     ❸ shake 45 seconds
     ❹ pour into greased loaf pan
     ❺ rest 45 minutes
     ❻ bake one hour at 200oC

xxx

Steps 1 and 2 were pretty simple, but step 3 went a little awry. Shaking for 45 seconds did pretty much nothing to combine the ingredients – I was forced to employ a wooden spoon and almost break my hand while stirring everything together.

xxx

Step 4 went swimmingly (though I did need the assistance of a spatula to get the mix out):

xxx

And after 45 minutes had risen a little and was into the oven:

xxx

After an hour – bread!

xxx

Hot bread with butter!

xxx

But how did it taste, you’re wondering?

Yeah, no. Really pretty dreadful – flavourless, dense (not in a good way) and very stodgy.

And went straight into the bin.

I’m declaring this one a massive fail – lesson definitely learned!!

Well, that was a weekend! The huge amount of wild wind and torrential rain meant no golf for Don on Saturday and my fun run today was cancelled.

The weekend looked pretty much like this:

Saturday morning:

Sunday morning:

Sunday night:

Apart from a brief foray to grab groceries on Saturday morning, we pretty much stuck to the indoors (though poor Joe/Frank had to work this afternoon).

There was making of a hearty windsor soup and beef stew + parsley dumplings¹.

And there was also a whole lot of reading on my part. The aforementioned completion of war and peace yesterday and today I knocked over dan lyons: disrupted – ludicrous misadventures in the tech start-up bubble (pre-ordered after reading this excerpt); and started on paddy manning: born to rule – the unauthorised biography of malcolm turnbull. There are about 10 more books sitting on my kindle which have been patiently waiting for me to get to them.

Now I am catching up on a smidge of worky work – this Sunday night working is becoming a bit of a nasty habit which I’ll have to break.

Despite being being unable to leave ThePalace(OfLove) and with little exercise happening, I actually feel super-relaxed – so maybe I do need to do away with that lengthy ActionItems list on occasion.

And I was going to write that we appear to have miraculously survived all the this rain leak-free, it was at that point that water started dripping from Bessie’s ceiling. Grar! 

xxx

¹ super-extra awesome with the addition of celery and potatoes

War and Peace: fin!

I was compelled to do a victory lap of ThePalace(OfLove), high-fiving the inhabitants.

(and HolyGoodness! Epilogue 2 was exceptionally hard going.)

Back in Feburary I began an experiment to treat the venous lake on my lip by rubbing castor oil into it for five minutes twice a day.

45 days in and it seemed to be going pretty well, so I kept at it, but I couldn’t really tell how the process was going. Some days the spot seemed to be disappearing, others it was as big as ever. You’d be surprised at how tedious it is to massage oil into your lip for 5 minutes twice a day. So I dropped down to once a day and then gave up altogether after about 8-9 weeks.

Then a couple of days ago the lovely C asked for a progress update in the comments. I was kind of chagrinned because I hadn’t really persisted with it – if I’m really honest 5 minutes is nothing. I could read or listen to an improving podcast or dance about to a couple of songs in that time. And hey, science!

Anyway this is what it looks like today (it is really hard to photograph):

bad photo by me

better photo by Don

I’ve said this before but it is really confronting to see your old lady skin all in focus and up close and personal – wear sunscreen, kids!

Honestly, I’m still not sure if there has been any change. And I suspect that it might change size and darkness depending on the weather conditions – but I am not sure.

Really, I think I should give it another crack, but I’ll attempt to be a little more scientific about the whole endeavour. For a start, I need better progress photos to keep me going because I feel like this might be a really long term project (like 6+ months) and maybe actually measure it with calipers to ascertain if it is shrinking.

So here goes:

Measurements:
height = 5mm
width = 3.5mm

Lots and lots and lots of rain this evening – thankfully, most of which started after I arrived home.

There’s a severe weather warning for QLD & NSW tomorrow amd Sunday – which doesn’t really bode too well for Don’s golf tomorrow or my 5km fun run on Sunday. 

It also doesn’t bode particularly well for harmony when 5 adults are trapped inside by the weather – though fortunately we all have our own little nests to escape to.

Let’s hope it not another 1 in 100 year storm – this would be our third such storm in two years I think. I really used to love the sound of rain and rain on the roof in particular, now after our unpleasant experience with (now fixed!) leaks, I just tense up and worry about ingress of water.

I think there will be a good deal of knitting and reading on my Action Items list.

And on with 2016.

As at 02/06 I’ve actually read seven books – horrifying because this time last year I’d read almost double this number.

January
⛑ Wrapped up the delightful and also silly Patricia Wentworth: Miss Silver series:
   ⚬ Poison in the Pen
   ⚬ The Gazebo
   ⚬ The Fingerprint
   ⚬ The Alington Inheritance
   ⚬ The Girl in the Cellar

⛑ Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace

February
⛑ Alex Duncan: It’s a Vet’s Life – wee break from war and peace for something light and silly – and read all in one sitting.
⛑ Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace – hated every character and wished we’d fast forward a century or so (they’d soon be sorted out then).

March | April | May
⛑ Charles Duhigg: Smarter Faster Better – The Secrets of Being Productive – loved The Power of Habit so was excited to read this, but sadly didn’t find it as engaging (to be honest can’t even remember most of it).
⛑ Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace – more struggling through March – the entertaining crib notes at shmoop.com got me through. Rather more interested in April and May.

I’ve long admired the currently reading list on the sidebar of the excellent ganching’s blog.

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I’m totally stealing this idea and putting together a list of books I’ve been reading relatively recently. I figured I’d start with 2015 (which is kind of relatively recent) because I had a whole bunch of blog posts to assist with compilation. And perhaps this will shame me into getting a wriggle on with War & Peace.

53 books! A heck of a lot better than my current five (at 01/06) for 2016!

So, the detail – in rough order (and please indulge my bullet points)

Note that links are to amazon, but definitely not affiliate links or anything of that sort):

January
⛑ Marion Coutts: The Iceberg. Loved. This absolutely blew me away.
⛑ Karen Joy Fowler: We are all completely beside ourselves. Loved. I so did not expect the twist.
⛑ Sarah Waters: The paying guests. I didn’t hate it, but I liked the Night Watch much, much better.
⛑ Liane Moriarty: Little Big Lies. I really didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. She really nails the Australian primary school ecosystem. Light, fun read.
⛑ Marie Kondo: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. Actually, I may have read this in late December. Bonkers – but her approach has definitely influenced the current round of decluttering. Is there anyone on the planet who has not read this yet?
⛑ India Knight: In your prime. Some of this didn’t apply to me (teenage children, aging parents). I’m never quite sure how I feel about her bossy, all-knowing way of writing. I veer from thinking “fabulous!” to the complete opposite. The content didn’t stay with me.
⛑ Liane Moriarty: The husband’s secret. I bought this because I’d loved Little Big Lies. Definitely not as good – characterisation still spot on though.

February
⛑ Stuffocation: Living More With Less which seems to have put me off reading for a while.

March
⛑ essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less which I found interesting(ish) – premise being that you probably should not say yes to everything.
⛑ getting things done, I know – I don’t know who I am anymore either.
⛑ I’m still plodding through wolf in white van. After January with loads of reading, this is quite disappointing.

April
⛑ I am still making my way through getting things done. I read two pages in bed and my kindle falls on my face because I am asleep. That is not to dismiss it because there is some very good stuff in there.

May
⛑ completed getting things done.
⛑ wolf in white van finally finished and I can’t say that I loved it.
⛑ I really, really enjoyed the power of habit.

June
Absolutely nothing

July
⛑ The memoir of our new chairman – expected to be the most hands-on chair in SML history. Very accomplished and interesting man and I feel this gave a pretty good insight into what we can expect. I’ve met with him once and he was incredibly astute. Very Interesting times ahead.
⛑ Malcolm Knox: supermarket monsters – The Price of Coles and Woolworths’ dominance – This sums up why we’re not shopping at Coles/Woolies. Felt it could have used a bit more
⛑ Jennifer L Scott: Lessons from Madame Chic – 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris – pretty fluffy. She ain’t no madame thingy
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Jimm Juree – Killed at the whim of a hat – cute! not quite so charming and delightful as Dr Siri, but nonetheless very readable (if you like this sort of thing).
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Jimm Juree – Grandad, there’s a head on the beach – also pretty cute! Timely, as we’d only just been discussing the ethics of buying what are probably slave prawns.
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Jimm Juree – Axe Factor – (I was on a Jimm Juree roll here!) this one was not quite so good as the previous two.
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Dr Siri – six and a half deadly sins – charming and delightful as ever.
⛑ Sarah Hepola: Blackout – Remembering the things I drank to forget – bought this after reading an extract in the Guardian. It was very good.

August | September
⛑ stuck on Martin Edwards: the golden age of murder, which I’d had exceptionally high hopes of – sadly I don’t find it terribly well written and not particularly engaging. Maybe time to abandon it and move on to the rest of the virtual stack.

October
⛑ Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen: The Rabbit Back Literature Society. Can’t say I was a huge fan of this. I suspect I’m missing a whole lot of Finnish context. Heather and I bought this at the same time. He finished it way before I did because I was persisting with the golden age. Discussing it afterward we found we were both a bit “ummm … what exactly was that?”
⛑ Michael Connelly: Nine Dragons (Harry Bosch). I got this ages ago as a kindle deal for $0.98 cents. I’ve been recommended the series by a couple of people and had mostly enjoyed the tv series (it had All The Tropes! some quite terrible acting in parts). But I really didn’t feel the love for the book.
⛑ E C Bentley: Trent’s Last Case This was one of the many books I made a note of from Golden Age of Murder. It was very of its time and quite silly. I was particularly pleased by the concept of having to explain rear-view mirrors and finger-prints to the layman. Truly the past is another country.

October | November | December
⛑ The delightful and also silly Patricia Wentworth: Miss Silver series:
   ⚬ Grey Mask
   ⚬ The Case is Closed
   ⚬ Lonesome Road
   ⚬ Danger Point
   ⚬ The Chinese Shawl
   ⚬ Miss Silver Intervenes
   ⚬ The Clock Strikes Twelve
   ⚬ The Key
   ⚬ The Traveller Return
   ⚬ Pilgrim’s Rest
   ⚬ Latter End
   ⚬ Spotlight
   ⚬ Eternity Ring
   ⚬ The Case of William Smith
   ⚬ Miss Silver Comes to Stay
   ⚬ The Catherine Wheel
   ⚬ Through the Wall
   ⚬ The Brading Collection
   ⚬ The Ivory Dagger
   ⚬ Anna, Where Are You?
   ⚬ The Watersplash
   ⚬ Ladies’ Bane
   ⚬ Out of the Past
   ⚬ Vanishing Point
   ⚬ The Silent Pool
   ⚬ The Benevent Treasure
   ⚬ The Listening Eye

How on earth can it be the end of May already? I know I say this all the time, but this year has gone incredibly fast. I do kind of miss last year’s routine of tracking my goals each month, may have to institute something similar for the remaining months of the year.

June looks to be fairly action-packed:
– more changes afoot at SML – and hopefully I’ll be able to finally reveal that exciting opportunity
– a 5 day course (3 days + 2 days) – which will involve written assessments. Eeep! we all know how well that has gone in the past (already I’m panicking)
– 5km fun run on Sunday (please don’t rain)
– long ride (hoping to push it to 90km) on one of the weekends (please don’t rain)
– at least one pilates class (okay for it to rain)
– Public Holiday!

And I need to revisit the 50before50 list because I’m pretty sure I’ll have to rejig or replace some of the items – unlikely at this point that I’ll run 100km of fun runs in 18 months, for example. Don’t want to set myself up for failure by pursuing something I’m out of love with. Isn’t it fascinating how your interests or desires can change entirely in 6-12 months?

The next 546 days are going fly past and I’ll consider it a massive achievement if I even get 1/4 completed at the current rate of progress, so I’d best get a little more serious.

For the first time in I-don’t-know-how-long I’m quite satisfied with my size¹. It has taken lots of hard work and discipline to get here and I’m pretty proud of myself for keeping at it. 

I don’t usually weigh myself regularly, so when we arrived in our hotel in Melbourne earlier this month I jumped on the scale, expecting to see something between 50kg and 54kg. 

I was pretty horrified to read 58kg, and it threw me into a bit of a tailspin of the ZOMG! I am getting fat type.  I’m between a size 6-8 (I think that is a 2-4 in US sizes) and getting smaller would be both ludicrous and unhealthy. 

Intellectually I knew my reaction was completely ridiculous, but because I can’t visualise what I look like, I had to go and take a photo of myself as reassurance that I didn’t need to start reducing calories right now!

Clearly I have some issues here I need to resolve, but there will definitely be no more jumping on any scales for me!

xxx

¹Sure I have tons of the usual jiggles, sags and wobbles of a lady my age who has lost a bunch of weight, but hey, I’ve got pretty clothes to disguise them.

This afternoon we went to Costco for the first time.

The humanity!

Sydney traffic being what it is, it took a good long while to get there and once there it was insanely crowded and we bought a bunch of stuff that we probably didn’t really need.

I can’t say I’ll be in a hurry to return in any sort of near future. Rather makes me appreciate our more expensive little SupaIGA.