It's Spring

Now that I've spent winter hibernating its time to get out in the garden and do the spring planting.

We have had a very busy last couple of months with the moving of our business back to our home and learning to cope with diabetes.

I have now lost 16kg, this puts me below 100kg for the first time in I don't know how long... the dietitian says this a dangerous time when you can go backwards. I hope to keep going down. My next goal is 95kgs.

I was a size 24-26 for so long that I have no small clothes in the wardrobe, so I have been scouring the op shops for smaller sizes so I don't have to buy new. But these sizes are popular so there aren't many around.

We have two new additions to the green house. They are our chickens Berta and Rose. We bought them at Bankstown Markets not knowing if they were boys or girls, it looks like we may have been luck enough to score girls. I have been told they should be laying in a couple of months. They are the most effecient garbage disposals, better than the worms. Steve isn't coping with them leaving little parcels all over the concrete. The two cats are terrified of them, which is a good thing, Kirby use to eye them up as a meal when they were little and now he runs away from them.

Well my baby has just got out of bed so I had better go and feed her lunch, before she wakes her brother and sister.

Will write again real soon.

Tracie

Diabetes...

The other thing I have been doing in the last 4 weeks is coming to terms with Type 2 Diabetes. My father is a type 2 diabetic as well. I was diagnosed 4 weeks ago and since then I have been working at trying to loose weight and get my blood sugar levels down.

I have now read quite a few books on this disease and I'm trying to manage it as best I can. Last Saturday 20th June I went to see a dietitian, the one thing he said to me is that we aren't going to manage the diabetes we are going to get rid of it.

This is very positive and I can say that I'm of the first eating plan that I have ever been on that doesn't leave you hungry. He was adamant that I eat at least 6 meals a day and they must be at the same time each day. Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner and Supper.

The eating plan must have no sugar and no fat. I have enough fat in my body I don't need to cook with fat or eat fat as this will only add more. I have alway been against eating "diet" stuff, as some of the chemicals leave alot to be desired, since my diagnosis, this has change a little and I am now eating and drinking some of the "diet stuff" in moderation. Diet Jelly is just fantastic to get rid of any hunger pangs and gives you a sweet treat. I also discovered diet Bundaberg Sarsparilla when I was in the supermarket the other day and this is a great treat with my diet Bundaberg Ginger Beer. I haven't eaten a lolly or chocolate since my diagnosis, I think i have broken this habit. My health is more important than both of these things.

I will stop boring you with my woes.

Oh and by the way I have lost 5 Kgs since being diagnosed. This is the first time in a few years I have been below 110kg.

Have a great day...

Tracie

Time

Where has the last 2 months gone? I haven't posted for awhile as my life is really hectic and we are going through lots of changes. Firstly due to the economic downturn we are going to have to close our shop. Business has been real slow for months and months. I'm still going to do scrapbooking classes but at home. I have a great group of ladies who regularly come to classes at night.

I have also got myself 2 other jobs to try and help make ends meet, I'm a Nanny for a family of 3 children, 2 year old twins and a 6 month old, two days per week. I also work 3 days a week at Funtime 4 Kids at Menai, making coffee, serving food and general duties. I love both of these new challenges, but I love funtime the best. At Funtime there is time to interact with adults and children alike, and I love a chat.

This has kept me very busy over the last two months, I will try to write more often but at the moment my time is very limited.

Have a great day...

Tracie

Things I have been doing

Yesterday we spent the day in the garden. We have started to get our winter beds ready for planting. We planted, Snow peas (this is our second attempt, the last lot did no good at all), parsnips, turnips, beetroot and onions, we are still harvesting beans, zucchinis, chillis, raspberries (it is so nice to walk down the backyard and pick a fresh raspberry), I'm still waiting for my lemons to ripen, how long do they take?? We have radishes coming out of our ears, they are so yummy. Thats about it for the garden at the moment.

I'm cooking up some home made stocks at the moment and the house smells delish. Chicken stock and Lamb stock. Once the lamb stock is cooked I'm going to make up a hearty lamb stew, that should keep us going for a few days. The chicken stock is going in the freezer so I don't have to use bought stock. I have about 20 litres of stock bubbling away on the stove with lots of good wholesome bones in it. The cost of all this stock would have been no more than about $15.00 if I bought this much store bought stock it would cost me about $53.00 I think this is a great savings and a lot less salt in it.

The stock is now all finished. I made some JOOK (rice porridge with chicken, rice dried turnip and other things) for dinner. Jook (have no idea of the spelling, I spell it how I say it) is a chinese soup made with rice and it is thick like porridge. We love it here and my MIL usually makes it, I have made it once, it's a really filling cheap meal, you can have it for breakfast too but we like it for lunch or dinner.

Better go now,

Tracie

Hello all who read.

I know I have been slack, I haven't posted for quite a while. Life around here is extremely hectic. To loose weight and to exercise Steve and I have taken up delivering junk mail. You wouldn't do it for the money but I tell you what, the exercise is well worth it. I have been walking for 1 hour a day up hill and down dale. All the areas around here are a bit on the hilly side, so even though I can't walk too fast due to posting things in letter boxes the hills get my heart rate up.

Steve sprained both of his ankles on Good Friday, so he hasn't been out walking with me at all. We generally have both of our areas completed by now but with only one of us able to walk we still have one area to go.

Now back to Steve's sprained ankles. We were out at Cronulla with our good friends who had come down to visit us from the Newcastle area for Easter, we had only just started the walk along the esplanade to South Cronulla when Steve had his fall. Silly thing was looking out towards the horizion and didn't see two small steps and went crashing down in a heap. We got him up and he told us he was okay, so we continued on our walk. When we got to South Cronulla, we got some nice and very expensive fish and chips for lunch, $70.00 for the five of us, am I the only one to thing this is ridiculously expensive for fish and chips. The shop was packed with a queue out the door and they still had the hide to put a 10% surcharge on top of the price.

After we had sat down to eat our lunch/dinner Steve went to get up again and was in agony. His ankles had seized up on him and he was in a great deal of pain. I offered to walk back and get the car and bring it closer but he said he would be right and hobbled on. He spent the next two days with his feet elevated being waited on hand and foot.

He went to work on Tuesday and is starting to walk alot better.

Bye for now.

Tracie

Aussie 100

I saw this on Belinda Moores blog and thought I would give it a go. Why not do it your self and let me know so I can read it

Tracie

The things that are bold are the things that I have done...

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited The Great Barrier Reef.
5. Stood under the stars in the outback, the real outback – think Uluru.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to the Gold Coast’s theme parks – anyone, you take your pick.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sung a solo. (only if the shower counts)
11. Bungee jumped, jumped out of plane, been paragliding or hang-gliding, hot air ballooning – you get the idea, you’ve been hundreds of metres about earth in a seemingly flimsy contraption.
12. Visited Melbourne.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Had a child. Raised a child. Worked with children.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Been to the Snowy Mountains.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Visited the Brett Whitely studio in Surry Hills, Sydney.
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Been backpacking.
23. Taken a mental health day.
24. Been buried in sand with just your head and toes sticking out.
25. Held a possum, kangaroo or koala – or any other native Australian animal.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Been in a fun run. (does cycling count)
28. Been on the Blue Mountain cableway.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.(both)
31. Played, or watched, summer cricket.
32. Sailed, kayaked or canoed our beautiful waterways.
33. Seen the Daintree.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Visited an Aboriginal settlement or mission.
36. Learned a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Toured the Sydney Opera House.
39. Tried rock climbing (indoor or outdoor), abseiling or just simple bush walking. 40. Visit Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art.
41. Been to the Tamworth Country Music Festival. (see post below)
42. Sunbaked at Bondi.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Broome.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone fishing.
49. Seen Tasmania’s old growth forests.
50. Been to the top of Q1, on the Gold Coast.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Driven the Great Ocean Road.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Norfolk Island.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Guide biscuits.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone jet boating.
66. Visited Port Arthur.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Australian War Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Federation Square.
74. Been on the Murray River.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Travelled, or climbed, over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Three Sisters at Echo Point, Katoomba.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited St Mary’s Cathedral, in Sydney.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Been to Hermannsburg.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited Parliament House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Saved a pet.
95. Been to the site of the Eureka Stockade.
96. Swum in The Whitsundays.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a mobile phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Tamworth Country Music Festival 2009

On Thursday 22nd January 2009 my friend Amanda and I headed off on our annual pilgrimage to the Australia's Country Music Mecca Tamworth. When we left home on Thursday morning it was 27c in my lounge room at 5.30am. As we were driving north it was getting cooler and the rain started at Singleton and never stopped until we were the other side of the Great Dividing Range. We stopped in Murrurundi for morning tea then we continued on to Tamworth.

When we go to Tamworth we stay with a lovely home hospitality family, they open their home for us and they are very welcoming.

We had a very busy day planned for Thursday first we were seeing Troy Cassar-Daley at the TREC and the we were seeing "Cash only" at the Longyard Pub.

Troy was fantastic as always and he has a new album coming out in April. I will be saving up for that. I have all his albums and I just love his music.

Troy Cassar-Daley at the TREC

Our Friend Wendy in "Cash Only"

at the Longyard.

"Cash only" was great, the fellow that sung Johnny Cash's part sure did a great job as did Wendy and all the others.

We went back to our accomodation after this show and crashed.

On Friday we had another busy day so we had a early start, Our first Stop was the Big W shopping centre here I was meeting a blogging buddy Tracy from Sunnycorner Farm It was so nice to meet her, Tracy bought us a coffee and we had a lovely chat.

Thanks again Tracy.

Tracie (me) and Tracy

When we left Tracy we went in to Big W to see Adam Brand. Amanda wanted a photo with him and here it is...

Amanda and Adam Brand

We then had to rush down to Peel Street to see Jonah's Road .

Jonah's Road

They are a great group have a listen on you tube they are worth it. They are really nice Blokes. We had lunch with them the next day and then watched them again at this spot in Peel Street

On Friday night we headed to "The Pub" to get a good seat so we could see Travis Collins.

Before seeing Trav we watched the Jazzer Talent Quest. This was just fantastic, there are alot of talented youngsters out there.

Travis Collins

On Saturday morning we went to the cavalcade (street parade). We saw some of our favourite Country Music Stars but most of them weren't there which was very disapointing. The cavalcade wasn't as good as last year.

On Saturday afternoon we went to see Kirsty Lee Akers launch her new album. She is a great little singer and well worth the listen.

Kirsty Lee Akers

We left early on Sunday Morning and we stopped at Murrurundi on the way home for breakfast. this is a yearly stop for us and the brekky is delicous.

A couple of very hot Country Music Fans

I hope I haven't bored you all too much.

Have a great day