The science of nature.

Interesting.

I just finished reading (yesterday) a book on weight loss that advocates food combining and natural hygiene. One of my new years resolutions is to look after my body much better, which has been complaining to me of abuse for over a decade now, and which I have been abysmally ignoring, so weight loss and healthy eating are very much on the agenda.

But what is food combining and natural hygiene, you say? Both are rather controversial, and not at all supported by a lot of the scientific community, but I thougth it was worth a look anyway. If it didn't make sense, there was no way my logical brain would accept it.

Food combining advocates the separation of foods into groups which are easy for your body to digest together. So fruits should not be eaten with anything but other fruit, meat and carbohydrates should not be mixed together in a meal, but meat and veg or carbs and veg are fine.

Natural Hygiene advocates eating the types of foods we are biologically designed to eat, as well as a lot of other stuff. Ie, vegetables and fruits, like the Apes do now. They advocate becoming vegans in other words.

Well, I'm not sure I agree with a lot of what they say. The whole combination thing is complete hooy to my mind and as for Natural Hygiene we've been eating meat since we lived in caves and if we haven't adapted to digest it by now I'd say natural selection would have insured we'd have died out rather than thrive as we have. But they have something in the 'eat as natural as possible and eat as much veg and fruit as possible'. All diets say that.

The thing is, since reading it I now feel completely and very happily justified in chucking milk and dairy. Well, I've been allergic to milk all my life, so that really wasn't a hardship. I've trialled a couple of milk-substitutes recently, and found one based on rice that I quite like, more than I like milk actually, so that determination was rather easy.

And on ordering a salad for lunch today I avoided the meat section of the salad bar. That too was no real hardship; I've always had to make an effort to eat red meat. For a few years I refused to eat it at all, and only really started to 'enjoy' it when I could afford the very top quality cuts, and then only by always slathering them in a large helping of wholegrain mustard. But in the UK you can pay over £30 a kilo ($45 Aus at today's exchange rate, but it used to be a lot higher!) for fillet steak, so I've really cut back. Chicken, yes I eat it regularly, and I do enjoy a good roasted chicken, so I'm not going to give that up any time soon. But fish... well, I eat that only once a year at the most. Doesn't help that I'm allergic to shell fish and bad experiences in that arena have lead to a general distaste for the whole variety.

The whole food combination thing I'm also very suspicious of, but the one thing the book says you really should do, above everything else, is eat fruit for breakfast. I've heard that before too. So I'm going to try it.

Anyway, my problem seems not to be quality, but quantity. My diet is not horrible, but I eat far too much of everything. I eat far too fast and so never recognise when my body is full. I've read in more than one book that the way to lose weight is actually to be come conscious of what you are eating and how much.

So, here is my new eating regime (gleamed from various books, not just the one I finished yesterday!):

1. Eat only fruit for breakfast.
2. Cut out milk and reduce the rest of the dairy section (Very easy and really good for me in terms of my allergies).
3. Avoid processed meat and reduce other meats (Not hard, already done!).
4. Look after my wonderful machine; listen to my body, eat only when I'm hungry, eat slowly, chew each mouthful to liquefaction, stop eating when full, try to exercise daily.

Let's see how long it lasts... :s

New Year, New Rules.

This year may herald very big changes for me. It might be the last year I live in England. It might not. The Visa Gods have yet to decide. But regardless of my location, I am determined to make a few changes in my life. I have in the past overcome a couple of good obstacles, but I still have a couple of large ones to be encompassed.

So, my goals for this year are quite all-encompassing:

1. To live within my means, and pay back all I owe.

2. To look after this wonderful machine, my body, and let it become the weight it should be.

3. To experience as much as I can and say yes to new experiences, especially to those things that scare me.

4. To blog about all of my experiences and to finish writing a book. Ie, Write, Re-Write and Submit!

5. To open myself up to finding new friends and love and to learn to enjoy socialising.

Some old, some new. We'll see how we go.

Happy New Year All!

Christmas 2011

This was my very first Christmas by myself. Not bad really, for 35 years worth.

I managed not to be morrose at all though. I had my own tree, I called the family, and spoke with them on Skype for a good couple of hours and then I watched movies and did a lot of needleturn and went on a 'London Walk' walk of Dickensian London.

That was quite amazing - there was easily 100 people in my group of tourists, (the photo shows as many of the group as I could catch - no there weren't any other peoeople around, just us!) and there were five or six guides on the day. Obviously not much to do in 'ole London Town of a Christmas day. It was truely strage to not see a single red bus the entire day though. And the rain held off until the very end of the tour, which was lovely.

And then I cooked a proper christmas dinner. It even included roast potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots - although I managed to undercook the carrots and overcook the brocoli but never mind - it's really quite hard to judge food preparation times for just one person when I'm so used to cooking for many! Entre was Bree and specialty cheeases and complimented by a Jacob's Creek Shiraz/Cab-sav. And I even had my own little christmas pud with custard and brandy butter. So the food compliment was achieved.

On boxing day I caught the Doctor Who Christmas special, which was indeed special. Humany-woomany tears! Lovely.

Aunt Millie's Garden Blocks 9-14

I've been remiss in my showing off of this wonderful quilt. It really has taken me far too long to get it done, but then I've had great excuses!

Here are Blocks 9-14. I now only have blocks 15 & 16 and the borders to do. Mind you, it'll probably take me another year just to do the borders! Sheesh they're big. And I have to decide which of the duplicates to put on the quilt and which to make into cushions. But that's a problem for when I've finished all the blocks.

So here they are:

Block 09, finished December 2010


Block 10, finished January 2011


Block 11, finished July 2011


Block 12 , finished November 2011


Block 13, finished December 2011


Block 14, finished December 2011


You can see I got inspired after going to Houston - but I'll tell you about that in another post. :)

It's been a while...

I've been doing things and not blogging about them for quite a long time now. It's been a busy year but I haven't written the blog because writing it was becoming a chore and something to be guilty about, and there are so many other things I could do voluntarily that would make me happy rather than guilty, so I did those instead. Simples!

But while doing NaNoWriMo this year I realised something very valuable about this blog; It forced me to write regularly. And that act of writing regularly, turning over my accumulated impressions of the world around me and filtering the rubbish from the stuff that could make good compost, gave me a wonderfully rich and fertile ground for my imagination. This year during Nano, I ran out of inspiration. I could not get excited about the very few ideas I had because I had no others to link them to.

I had neglected my garden, I didn't turn or contribute any nutrients to the ground and weeds grew and strangled it. I was only hit by inspiration at the very last minute, and that wasn't particularly original inspiration. A new take on another's tale in fact.

For as long as I've been doing Nano, I've been doing this blog. I didn't realise the two went hand in glove. Of course, I could have written my own stream of consciousness in a diary or some such, but that doesn't force me to edit as I go along, and it somehow is not so sharp a stick for producing regular work.

I did a lot relating to writing this year, I've been particularly studious in fact, but I concentrated all my efforts on revision rather than on creating any new content, and I feel the lack most direfully.

So, I am going to try here on in to be a more faithful correspondent. It's for my own good after all.

Hello again world!

Baby it's cold outside....

I was just sitting here trying to warm up my hands and thought - this is silly! I'm wearing gloves, have a jumper on, am wearing my uggs and am snuggled under multiple blankets - why am I still cold? I put the heater on and then had a look at the weather forcast just in case...

This would be why:
The little x's on the clouds for this evening? That means sleet and / or expected snow. Nice.

In other news, I've managed to reach the 40k mark in Nanowrimo. This year has been a slog uphill all the way. Not so easy the fourth time around. Keep your fingers crossed I'll make it to the finish line! :s

Nano has begun.

9903 words written so far, so not a bad effort.

Four days ago actually. I'm nowhere near as psyched about it as I have been in the past. Probably because I'm working all the hours available to me, including Saturdays, and I'm just really, really tired.

I also peaked a tad too early in my preparation. I was rearing to write the story around the first week of October, and the fact that I had to wait a further three weeks to start dampened my ardor just a tad.

I'm thinking that this could even possibly be the first year I don't succeed. But then I know I'm damn stubborn, so I'll probably get there in the end. It might be just by the skin of my teeth...

There is one other rather cool thing I'm doing this year, which I'll have to rave about in another post 'cause I'm falling asleep right now and it rather requires enthusiasm to rave, but I must and will tell you all about my adventures with a speach-to-text software package I'm playing with. It's really saving my fingers.

Anyway, need to sleep. Will report back later.

G'night.

I feel like a two-year-old.

My mouth hurts. Ha, boy is that the understatement of the century.

Several weeks ago, as I reported here, I had a tooth extracted. At the time, the damn bugger didn't want to come out, it was happy where it was thank you very much. The poor dentist-lass was yanking at it for a good 15 minutes before it would even budge, and in the end, some bits of the roots broke off rather than leave their comfortable home.

The dentist couldn't remove the pieces, or perhaps didn't want to given I was already white and shaking all over, as there was too much blood etc in the way. She told me that the pieces would eventually erupt on their own, like any new tooth. I thought, fair enough, they must know what they're doing, I'll go along with that.

Idiot.

Well the first piece erupted successfully, although it spent a good five days cutting my tongue to ribbons before it would dislodge itself. Enamel - the stuff that coats your tooth - is the hardest substance in the body, and this was a very sharp, broken shard of enamel.

But the second shard would seem to be a lot bigger than the first and it has somehow managed to migrate under the skin to lie along the inside of my jaw in a prime position to get bumped every time I move my tongue. It has started to erupt and has got to the point of cutting up my tongue, but will go no further. It is making my mouth bleed daily, but it won't come out. It's been nine days now, and I am sick to death of it.

I can't eat, I can't talk, I can't swallow, I can't drink and I can't sleep on that side without causing myself excruciating pain and tasting copper.

If this is what a kid feels when her teeth come through, I can totally sympathise with and understand all the screaming. Please feel free to scream your head off kiddo, I wish I could, because I know it f***ing HURTS!

Edit to add: Not copper; Iron. Blood tastes like iron. I honestly don't know why I said it tasted like copper, except that that's the commonly held belief. I'm not common. It tastes like iron.

Cat and Printer

This is hilarious!

And so exactly how I relate to technology sometimes!

Butter for the King...

There is a guy at work called Jon, but I have it stuck in my head that his name is James, as that's his surname and also the name of one of my cousins and, lets face it, my memory resembles a swiss cheese. Unfortunately, I call him James to his face - regularly.

It's become a bit of a standing joke, and the poor guy is very nice about it. Today for the umpteeth time I did it again, and after yelling at myself and startling him I started reciting 'James James Morrison Morrison', which is the first line of a poem by A. A. Milne - of Winnie the Pooh fame - called Disobedience.

One of my other, older workmates was damn impressed with my referential knowledge and recited the rest of the poem for us. Thus encouraged, out of the unfathomable recesses of my mind, I then proceeded to recite my favourite Milne poem for his edification, and to general bemusement all round.

Since it's stuck in my head, here it is for you too. I always make a big show out of the 'Oh Deary Me!' bits so try to imagine them in my voice accompanied by lots of over-acting... :D

The King's Breakfast
by A. A. Milne

The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now
Before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told
The Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."
The Alderney
Said sleepily:
"You'd better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead."

The Dairymaid
Said, "Fancy!"
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very
Thickly
Spread."

The Queen said
"Oh!:
And went to
His Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

The Queen said,
"There, there!"
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
"There, there!
I didn't really
Mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer,
And butter for his bread."

The Queen took
The butter
And brought it to
His Majesty;
The King said,
"Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down the banisters,
"Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"