Soaping on a Saturday Afternoon and Mum’s Boots

I didn’t write yesterday. It was soaping at my sister’s day and afterwards she and I went out for dinner, so by the time I got home, it was all I could do to shelve my soap before I got ready for bed. It was a great day. We each made a batch of soap and much measuring and pouring and mixing and talking and laughing was done. Also some eating of cake and drinking of tea.

I took lots of photos of course.

Welcome!

Mum and my sister in the prep stage. 

oils and equipment everywhere.

miscellaneous things

Mum’s friend in her funky soap-making smock.

Mum’s groovy (and very protective) boots

Careful measuring

mixing the oatmeal into the oils

soap in moulds

Fresh soap

My pure oatmeal soap, setting.

It was very good fun, and then today, I unmoulded my soap and cut it into chunks. The container I used made for thick chunks and I couldn’t decide whether to have short, fat blocks of soap, or longer, slimmer soaps, so I called for help from Andy and the kids. It was a tied vote, so I did half of one and half of the other. We’ll know which is best in practice when we use them I guess.

I’m imagining how soothing these will be on our skin.

All the soap, curing in the cupboard. Just so satisfying 🙂

 

Today was a fairly relaxed day. Late in the afternoon, we harvested some more of the endless supply of cherry tomatoes growing in our garden.

They’re rampant and show no sign of slowing down. This is just a portion of what is a tomato jungle. Some are propped up with stakes, others have just taken over whatever they’ve been able to scramble up.

But the tomatoes taste fantastic.

 

 

Last Night’s Dinner and the Neighbour’s Tomatoes

By the time we’d finished swimming yesterday, I felt hungry. It’s a new feeling, this hunger. Not that I’ve never felt it, just not quite in this way, for quite a long time.

I never let it happen I guess, always filling myself up, tamping down my energy, my feelings, uncomfortable thoughts. So it feels strange, not awful, just strange. A sort of emptiness with claws. I don’t let it last long, I want to be in charge of what I eat, not eat because I feel ravenous and out of control.

So, dinner. I started cooking when we got home. I’d already planned it, so there was very little thinking to be done, a little like being on auto-pilot, which works for me. Therapeutic cooking or something.

Steak, salad, mushrooms. Easy. What made it even easier was that I’ve discovered that I can throw all the mushrooms into a casserole dish, with plenty of garlic, a tsp of butter and seasonings, and just let it do its thing while I make the rest of the food. What results is an almost impossibly rich, fragrant, meaty bowl of yumness!

Our youngest boy proclaimed dinner to be pretty much perfect, hooray 🙂

 

 

This morning, after a rushed, partly shouty getting ready for school time and a drop off to each school, kisses, hugs, coming home for my breakfast, I met the neighbours for the first time….and they gave me tomatoes. Mmmmm…..tomatoes……

                            

Frozen Grapes, Vege Garden and the Countdown!!

With two days left until the launch of this, my first round of Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation, I think….I hope…that I’ve covered everything, to set myself up for success.

I’ve bought a diary and put important dates, including exercise times and types into it. I’ve scoped out my local park for distances and places to stretch. I have a space lined up for those rainy days when I’ll be doing indoor exercise and my new sports bras are even now, winging their way across the seas to me from Bravissimo in the UK. (This is because I couldn’t find any in my size locally) I found an app called Mapmywalk, which is absolutely great for telling me how far I’ve walked and how long it’s taken me.

What else?

Oh yes, I made a meal plan and went shopping. Interestingly but no doubt obviously, I spent only two thirds of the money I’d usually have spent and still managed to get everything I need for a family of four for the week.

When we moved into this house, and have I mentioned how much I love this house? We discovered what looked like an unused vegetable garden in the corner of the yard. Since then, between it and the compost bins, have grown what looks like a million cherry tomato plants and a huge vine with big yellow flowers, which I think is probably pumpkin but I’ll wait and see what fruits.

This was very encouraging and I immediately went and bought tools, fertilisers, compost and soil, to re-invigorate the vege patch. Since I haven’t actually ever grown a successful vege garden before, I also did lots of online research and youtube watching and I hope the seeds that arrived in the post today, from Boondie Seeds, are going to find a happy home with us, providing lots of fresh food and further decreasing the shopping bill.

I got a catalogue from Eden Seeds too and it’s gorgeous. Just looking at all the bright, fresh, vitamin laden fruit and veg lifts my heart and makes me smile.

Then there’s this;

Grapes for freezing

These are in the freezer for the coming week. They’re on special in Coles for $2 a kilo and they’ll be perfect for when I feel like something sugary after dinner.

The deal here is that I’m setting myself up for success. I want this to work. This is me, giving myself the gift of preparation.

Oh and I took before photos……which were every bit as awful as that sounds….BUT….one day soon, I’m going to look back at them with love and thanks.