Cooking

I used to be about the worst cook you could have known. K has tipped down the toilet at least one wheelbarrow full of my ghastly concoctions each year for the past 16 years. Last time he made me look into the toilet pan at the five litres of spinach soup I made just because I felt like green soup. It was laughable.

This past year I have just made the effort to actually slow down and make myself follow the recipe correctly. Plan ahead, be patient, get ingredients ready etc etc. There have been some very inedible items produced - but I am almost there.

This Sunday I am making banana cake, chocolate chip cookies, bread, Lasagne, a beef curry of sorts (always a worry) and some nice roasted tomato and capsicum soup. The problem in our house is that we all eat differently. S likes pasta, pasta and pasta (but not if it looks like spaghetti), K likes curries, cottage pies, dahl and I like soup (vegan) so generally we eat three different meals each night so I find it so much easier to make most of it on a Saturday and Sunday and freeze some and so on. S will eat pasta every night without fail. Last week he had lamb fillets and said he found it too meaty.

As long as I am left alone and not put under any pressure I can cook happily. I just enjoy improving on what I learn each week and it has taught me to bring my head to my own space and relax. Being forced to cook from scratch and to not use any packaged, process and chemically laden foods has brought about the change.

Oh, and reducing the risk of toilet blockages has been another benefit.

Ciao
LC

What is a bargain?

You know, I may have mentioned that I may be a tiny bit addicted to Ebay. Today two more parcels arrived in the post for me. Lovely purple, shimmery skirt. Gorgeous new embroidered twin set. Such lovely bargains and so nice to know that in the mail there is something waiting for me. The added bonus is that it is at a small fraction of the new cost. Now, I do feel the tiniest bit self indulgent at the rather large amount of clothes buying I have done - but I actually have a very valid and justifiable reason for buying my clothes on Ebay.

It is eco friendly. If I were to always buy new, then I would ultimately be contributing to more cotton farming, sheep whatevering and factory pollution and then land fill.

Maybe I will feel less of an eco vandal.

Ciao
LC

Friday Night

I like Friday's.

They mean I am going to have some time out on the weekend.

And do what I like.

That is always a nice thought. It may not always come true - but I like to think about it.

Ciao

LC

Deep Blab.

School is a funny thing. Some people had great days at school and others had the most awful times. I am sure I fluctuated between the two. But mostly I think it was not the best time. Too many primary schools certainly did not help with making me feel part of anything. High school was a strange place of much prettier girls than I and boys who seemed to like them and not me. I think perhaps not having good family support as a teenager certainly led to my feeling of being an outsider and being bothered by it. S feels like and outsider but it does not cause him any angst because he has support from parents. Whilst I do not blame my parents for my sense of isolation in teenage years, I cannot take all the responsibility for those feelings as I was so unaware of anything on an emotional level.

Having said all of the above, I do get the impression that school not any easier now. Different pressures coming from so many other areas of life. Twenty five years ago the things that may have been deemed as teenage problems would have been bullying, passing subjects, difficult family life going on, teenage drinking and having a ciggy behind the toilets, teenage pregnancy and fairly mainstream concerns such as that. Now it seems so much more complicated. Feeling unattractive, bullying in the form of sms texting, my space msn, physical and manipulative bullying, drugs of a wide variety, divorce, single parent households combined with seriously low income. Feelings of low self worth and the lack of good mentoring to help children through that. Eating disorders are so much more widespread, feelings of not fitting in with mainstream "fashionable looks", being fat, not liking sport. Sexually transmittable diseases are on the rise in teenagers which can render the female sterile in later years and she will only know when she cannot conceive. Promiscuity which in itself is not so bad, but what drives it is pivotal to the long term attitude towards relationships which are filled with jealousy, mistrust and insecurities.

Parents not being at home so much with their children because lifestyle choices somehow dictate the pursuit of money has to be the most important factor in having a good life. The more money one has the more the idea of happiness via material goods is perpetuated. Often it is not until someone "has it all" that they realise that they may not have what makes them happy. By the time that penny drops, children have drifted away from the family unit, spouse may have had enough and is planning a life elsewhere or, worse still, the huge debt via credit cards, personal loans and mortages becomes the biggest monster of all in the life of someone who started off with the best intentions. Big house, triple garage, private school, big tv's, chef's kitchen, pool, latest fashion - the list goes on and on along with the debt of maintaining it all. All of it based on some sense of having to be validated via ownership of stuff.

So, is school better now? Not necessarily. Is being a teenager easier? I wonder. Are we happier in society? Apparantly not. Do material goods make one happier? Not always.

Is happiness truly found within? Ask the Dalai Lama.

Are sausages and mash on a Friday night as yummy as a pizza? S tells me yes.

Are children really, really important creatures in our big and overcrowded world? Yes, yes and yes again.

So, why don't we make them feel that they really are? Maybe because no-one bothered telling us and we have forgotten how much more meaningful being a child would have been if someone had all those years ago.

Am I blabbing? Yep. Do I care what anyone thinks of my blab? Apparantly not since I am just about to upload it.

Ciao

LC

Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat

Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat
Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, FatFat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat

I am having a fat day.

Ho Hum

Ciao

LC

Quick Note of Shame

Okay, okay. I admit it. I have been neglecting my blog for so many weeks. But things have been busy with work and other things. And I had a few weeks of feeling a bit disinclined to do anything constructive. I believe that as it was right in the middle of miserable Winter I just hit a low frame of mind. But I am picking up again and back on track looking after myself.

Being a human being is such a lot of work if you want to get it right. Whatever right may be.

I have been busy the past few weeks and I have been very, very naughty buying things on Ebay. Tops, jeans, shampoo, make up etc. But, in all fairness, I have been selling as well so the outgoings have matched the incomings so I don't feel too guilty. K is kind of annoyed that everytime he goes to the post office box there is a parcel for me. At least my parcels are small. The other week he received a bike frame from USA. A bit bigger than my top from the UK I think!.

Here is something I bought from Myers as a treat and it has been getting used a lot. I love it. In fact, I have just cooked a delicious chocolate cake with it tonight - well it is still in the oven. I licked the spoon a bit much after I finished and as a result I have the most frightful stomach ache and if it weren't such an unpleasant thing to do, I would vomit. Instead I shall just drink water and flush it all out. So, this is my wonderful Sunbeam Mixmaster. I love looking at it. Enough even to take a picture!

Soon I will add to my Blog. Update my life and do my very best to be more consistent.

Ciao

LC