Hello Crackers. Again, a bit of a short pop-in as I must phone an out of province friend who is hard to get hold of. MITM, I've been continuing with my yard work and my back is quite sore from so much bending and raking. But I wanted to get it done as there is a pickup of yard materials (leaves, twigs, branches etc.) this week and then not again for four weeks. There is never an exact day given, just the week of.... So I had to get as much done as possible by the first of the week. I'm quite pleased with how much I've done and have set out 14 large yard waste bags (and they were heavy as the leaves are now very compacted - some were the max I could carry!)) as well as four containers filled with twigs and branches. I have not yet tackled my pond but had a huge surprise when I saw two goldfish that had survived the winter! I was amazed because I thought they were dead or taken by a bird or racoon early last summer as I never saw them after early July. I can not even recall if I put in just two or three fish as in recent years I have not had fish because it is a lot of work to winter them in the house but last year I put in a couple because I had someone who said they would take them at the end of the summer. Now I will have to somehow catch them before draining the pond and cleaning it. It has been excellent weather here although yesterday afternoon was actually too hot to comfortably work in the sun at 24C. Today has been more moderate but still nice. I have a few primroses in bloom and some lungwort (ugly name for a very nice plant) as well as hyacinths, perhaps my favourite spring plant because of their fragrance. Today I also had my Writer's Group meeting in the afternoon.
MITM, you comments on depression were very informative. The DEFOE formula I think could be helpful for anyone. There seems to be a lot of media attention here to the issue of the importance of sleep and I have said before how disturbed sleep patterns always impact my eating. I'll try to see if I can access that complete Guardian article. Also MITM, can you tell me what "sleepers" are?
I must leave off for now but regards to all Crackers.

It was a bit cool and dull here but my sister called in and asked if I wanted to go with her to a garden centre. Of course, I said yes and we met another sister there. The garden centre is about half hour away and one of the biggest and best in the whole region. They specialize in perennials and trees and shrubs as well as having a lot of accessories. It is so easy to spend money in a garden centre and I bought three plants for my cement alpine basin as well as another large perennial that likes shade and flowers very early in spring (have forgotten its name as it is new to me). I bought my sisters each a plant too. I looked at a very pretty garden flag as the one I have now is quite faded from being exposed to the weather. I decided not to get it today as I thought it rather overpriced but may change my mind if I don't see another I like at other garden centres.
I haven't posted about my recent meeting with my Doc so will do so now. We discussed my appointment with the dermatologist and the treatment she suggested I could have. My Doc is willing to get me an appointment with another physician who specializes in skin cancers; however, the wait time may be considerable. After ten days, I phoned her office to hear if she had an appointment time but was told I might not hear back with even that for two months- rather upsetting so I am left considering if I should go for that treatment from the cosmetic dermatologist. I don't see my family Doc for three weeks but think I'll wait to see if she has got me an appointment with the specialist.
Good to see you are able to log in BM and LMV. Regards all.

Good Afternoon Crackers!

Apologies for my absence but I have been busy last week...

Like you Bracken I've been working hard in the garden. I have cut the grass for the first time (which I can't recall ever doing mid April!) but the hillsides are now a glorious green. The promised rain did not arrive until the weekend, the hot weather continued and then overnight it became bitterly cold with fresh snow on the mountain tops.

I have taken down 2 window shutters, sanded them and given the first coating of paint. Once I sanded the first I suddenly realised there was now no going back and felt quite daunted at the task ahead! However once the paint dried (and I do like painting I find it very therapeutic!) my confidence returned and the husband gave his stamp of approval - he's just grateful I'm doing it and not him and we've agreed they can only look better!! I'm setting myself a target of 2 a week, that's roughly one side of the house a month so I'll be finished hopefully by the end of the summer.... I've also made a hasty start on the wood shed as I have a climbing rose and a clematis trailing over one section both of which have suddenly burst into life, so I realised I needed to move quickly before it was too late. The rest of the shed I will sand first and do a proper job but in my own time.

And then this weekend we have worked around the clock catching up on our schlipfkrapfen orders which thankfully we have completed so we're back on track.

Well although I've been occupied all week painting and weeding does not burn many calories alas! Yesterday morning was the first my husband got out of bed and felt 'normal' no aches and pains. It has taken him 2 weeks to recover from his 'cold'. So he insisted upon dragging me up the mountain for our usual Sunday walk which we haven't done in weeks. Because it was so cold I put on my cords which I had put away - they were so tight across my thighs, I was wearing all the chocolate I had guzzled this past month! And the walk itself, the climb was so hard going for me I struggled and felt so unfit and yet the husband had no problems! A bit of a wake up call - I need to fit in some aerobics to my everyday life be it walking or salsacising no excuses or it will be a case of use it or lose it!

I had to go to the doctors on Friday to get my blood results back (monitoring my thyroid, it is fine) but the report showed up my blood sugars are high as is my iron intake. My first reaction was but I don't eat sugar conveniently forgetting Easter, my birthday, my wedding anniversary... but the iron reading really surprised me because when I'm in Austria I only eat chicken on a Sunday (when the husband cooks) as I won't handle meat and tuna and mackerel once a week. In fact I've always been concerned I don't get enough iron. I have to return again this week so I will ask just how high it actually is, which I was too stunned to do. The sugar after being in denial I concluded a bit like my exercise regime, my eating habits may have lapsed too as I started looking at the sugar content in my everyday foods - no I don't eat sugar! I'm currently well over the recommended 25g a day.

Bracken - my 'sleepers' are railway sleepers or railway ties as they are known in the US. Mine are wooden and my husband was given loads as payment for a cooking job and my father cleverly used them to make a retaining wall, garden bed borders and edging on the rockery he designed and laid 20 into the front grass bed as being surrounded by open fields here, the grass is nothing like an English lawn! It kept my father busy and occupied one summer long ago and it fits very well with our house. Concerning your doctor's appointment I too like PB would hold out for the specialist one.

PB - So pleased to hear your singing went well I was thinking of you as I watched the Queen's celebrations. And I hope your appointments with your mother go well.

LMV - I need a partner on the dance floor!

BM - hope it won't be too long before you rejoin us.

Right I must go and count my schlip before I go for my walk with my friend - new week, new start!

Be good Crackers!

P.S. Remember when I posted 'time has stood still' up my mountain well I was very wrong we are going backwards if the Presidential results are anything to go by with the Far Right coming top in the 1st round of voting... unbelievable.....

I am a Grandmother again. Maisie was born at 11:48pm last night (25th). Mum and babe are doing well. She weighed 7lb 2oz. Xx

BM, so glad to hear you have good news. Congratulations. 7.2 pounds is a perfect weight so must be a great relief to you and your daughter.

Great quote, MITM. It sounds as if you have truly got the bikini business sorted in more ways than one - great fit and great attitude. I hope your daughter does drag you to the pool so you can enjoy it. PB, congrats on the loss you posted.

Hello Deborah - and welcome back. Its good to hear from you and know that you are making small steps to recovery. Also lovely to know that Mum and baby are doing well - that must give you some relief too. A quick pop in is all it takes I hope to let you know that you are watched for daily and we are very glad to have you back (i'm sure I speak for all of the crackers).

My day yesterday was not so fabulous although the witch queen did, finally, announce her retirement (to a room full of people who then avoided eye contact!). The thud of the lead balloon hitting the floor was palpable as there was no chorus of 'oh no, how will we manage with out you?'

I can't stop now as I should really be getting dressed and ready for work now so will pop in again later (after I've voted - although my local area its just for a police commissioner which is a waste of money in my opinion - but it is my right to vote and I won't ever not vote.

take care Crackers

PB xx

Good Afternoon Crackers!

I received a (dieting) email from Becks this week which got me 'thinking'....

Quote:- 'Thoughts are just thoughts. Thoughts are not necessarily facts and just because we think something, doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Some thoughts are 100% true, some thoughts are 100% false; and some are somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, we can't control the thoughts our brains create, but what we can control is whether or not we act on them.'

I've been thinking too much of late....

Because of that mark on my lip as I pondered what it was I searched on the internet. Ha! That search led me to really look inside my mouth with a mirror and I was very surprised to discover my cheeks were covered in white markings that didn't hurt and had I not had that lesion on my lip, I'd have been totally non the wiser to their presence. The same day as that was removed I had an appointment at the dentist, drew her attention to these 'markings'. The young dentist dismissed it as an infection and prescribed a strong mouth wash. I went to England and I returned and the mouth wash had not cleared it up. So as my husband needed a sick note as he had flu on my return, I went too and showed my local doctor. He seemed to know what they were (could have picked it up by a virus on money) and said it would clear in 3 weeks. So I mentioned well I've had them since February. I honestly don't think he believed me! Gave me a tube of homeopathic cream but then got excited when he read my medical notes and remembered my so called thyroid problem, that never was. When had I last had it checked? After the hospital said I didn't have a thyroid problem and never had, never again. So he asked me to return to take a blood test. Which I did with a young doctor. Returned to her for the results when she told me my sugar and iron levels were high. Checked my mouth, said to continue with the cream and come again in a week. On that morning, I woke and realised I have marks on my tongue. The young Dr took one look and although the mouth, ear and throat specialist has no free appointments for months, tomorrow I'm going with my husband and if he hasn't time to fit me in, they will send me on to the hospital to take a biopsy. I shall be thinking of you Bracken yet again.

So for the past week I have kept myself exceptionally busy; gardening, painting, sorting out drawers anything so as to no have time on my hands to stop and 'think'. As Becks concludes 'we can't control our minds. Our goal is to get really, really good at responding back to our sabotaging thoughts and not giving into them.' Which, until I've seen the specialist I'm trying to put to the back of my mind what it could be and wait until I have all the facts before me.

The good news after receiving the bloods results I started logging my food on here which I've never bothered to do before! The reason I wanted to see with my own eyes how much sugar and iron I'm getting daily. As I thought, I'm not getting anywhere near a 1/4 of what you should have a day of iron (let alone over) but the sugar has been a real eye opener - I never took into consideration for example vinegar so I have swapped my balsamic to herb vinegar and no sugar! A few other tweaks here and there and I've gone from double what I should be having to the right amount. And because I do eat 1500 calories a day and I don't like seeing my calories go into the red, I've been salsacising to bring it down to 1200 and the pounds have just dropped off! So I'm now finally back at my target weight again after 4 months of struggling and 2 weeks of serious calorie counting!

Right I've waffled on long enough. So nice to see you on here again BM hope to hear from you again very soon.

Be good Crackers!

Hello Bracken - yes the awful fire in Fort McMurray has been making the news here - it is quite an extraordinary thing and quite difficult to imagine a whole town going up in smoke - so many people made homeless and losing everything they hold dear - my thoughts are with them. To be fair its a relief from the elections which is in itself fairly awful to admit to. Here we only had to vote for a Police Commissioner - a role which I think is a terrible waste of money but my heart won't let me spoil my ballot so I had to vote some way. Luckily, I finally found some information about the candidates and so was able to make a relatively informed decision.

MITM what a worry for you - but try not to let it get to you. Mum is being investigated too at the moment -however, here when they suspect cancer (however, unlikely) there is a 'two week wait' system which allows us to be investigated within two weeks of seeing the GP - and yet there are people out there who want to destroy the NHS. Its so frustrating - I had a friend telling me that basically he had no sympathy for the junior doctors - on the basis that he had to work weekends (he's a driving instructor). Such a total lack of understanding of the role of the doctor is quite difficult to deal with as I didn't want to be rude. As far as the iron is concerned - having a high level of iron is probably not a bad thing surely??? most people are low on iron because they don't eat enough iron rich veg or meat. I always have a high count though (I get checked when I give blood)

Well done on reaching the goal weight though as that is really positive.

I've had a very busy morning and will have a very busy afternoon. I made bread last night then this morning I cleaned and tidied, cleaned the fireplace, hovered and dusted through and mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors as well as cleaning the bathroom (shower, bath, basin). Now I'm cooking some cocktail sausages, then I must make some cheese straws and some biscuits for the guests I have coming this evening. I've also been to the nursery and bought some veggie seedlings and a last batch of potatoes to plant. The garden has, thanks to a few days of sunshine, started to come to life, although my tomatoes started flowering rather too soon. I need to buy cucumber seedlings and courgettes then I'll be complete!

Tomorrow I'll have to iron and make a chocolate cake for Sunday - so a busy time. Never mind its quite satisfying.

Work remains unpleasant but at least I see very little of the witch queen.

Well that's all for now - take care all!

PB xxx

Good Afternoon Crackers!

Just a quick pop in as I'm on my 'lunch break' but I have to paint a shutter before my friend arrives for our walk...

Thank you for your kind thoughts PB/Bracken. I certainly have no complaints about the state of the health service here in Austria. Although I didn't see the specialist until a week after my village doctor said I should go - that was by my own choice as I wanted to wait until my husband was free and could accompany me. However I'm very relieved to report nothing sinister! This doctor explained (in excellent English) the cause is unknown but is probably the result of an autoimmune process with an unknown trigger. There is no cure - may persist for years, occurs mostly in middle aged women (thank you!) but quote 'reassurance that the condition is benign is considered initial management' (you don't say!) and I'm delighted therefore with that information combined with the most hideous cream ever, the 'marks' are finally disappearing.

Nothing like a little health scare to make you sit up and suddenly appreciate your life!

PB - are you planting your vegetable garden yourself this year or do you still have your gardener? Yesterday evening the husband and I were out because the moon was in the right position for planting onions, carrots, radishes. It has suddenly gone very cold here unlike in the UK so I still haven't done my balcony flowers there is even a chance of snow on the mountain tops this weekend!

Right well I must return to my paint brush....

Be good Crackers!

Hello Crackers. A brief pop-in as I am waiting for my niece to call so we can discuss Macbeth in preparation for an essay she has to write in class tomorrow. I had a lot of running around today along with an appointment at my family Doc's. I wanted to get to as many places on route as I could. I got to the water garden place and bought some water lettuce and water hyacinths for the pond. I also got to a kitchen shop I had been wanting to get to. I was able to find a spiralizer (I believe that is what they call it) so I can prepare some veg like zucchini in the shape of pasta (3 shapes including spaghetti). I have seen these devices used on tv shows several times to recommend using veg prepared like pasta, along with some real pasta as a way of cutting down starches and thus calories. I'll let you all know how well It works! I also got to a so-called 'beauty supply store' to buy a new hair straightener which I have needed for some time. All week it has been threatening rain but none has really materialized so I had to do a major watering of all plants tonight. Take care all.

P.S. Whilst the field is as green as my profile photo sadly the sky is very grey!!

Good Morning Crackers!

Thankfully it finally stopped raining and on Sunday we were blessed with sunshine for the BBQ. On the menu Bracken there was a whole suckling pig, pork chops, rack of pork, sausages and grilled turkey with ginger and lemon and the grilled vegetables were courgettes, peppers, mushrooms and there was potato salad. There are 2 live in Serbian helpers at the farm caring for the old folk (who are very frail) who were trained as pattistiere chefs so they made the cakes for the afternoon. It was a success, my husband's cousin who was hosting was very pleased. I wasn't so pleased with all the revolting clearing up I had to do after my husband had finished prepping at our place; 180 people that's a lot of work trays and with my dislike of meat I was almost throwing up whilst washing up!

Not that, that stopped me from scoffing cake all weekend long and regaining 2 pounds of sugar! However I drew the line again Monday and yesterday I started logging again and I threw myself around the garden with the lawn mower and I managed 11,202 steps.

Today my daughter has her first AS exam in History. She is very nervous as am I, but only because anything less than an A she will be disappointed with because of the amount of hard work and effort she has put in! Could be another long summer ahead awaiting the results!!

Well as the lovely weather is not going to last - tomorrow promises to be exceedingly cold which is hard to believe looking out of the window today, I shall now head for the garden.

Be good Crackers!

Afternoon Crackers!

Bracken perhaps you and I should take over this blog and rename it 'The Weather'!! It is not so much cold here today as grey, damp and drizzling - absolutely miserable! My husband assures me we too have sunny weather coming tomorrow oh yeah...

However I finished all my mowing yesterday (10,294 steps), my second circuit of the garden this year and my first up in the jungle where amongst the weeds, as high as your knees are 3 gooseberry bushes which are coming along nicely (LMV how are yours doing?) and far too many blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes for my liking or use. My front garden flower beds look so lovely and then you glance up and on the top level of my rockery, above my ground cover rose bushes is this overgrown fruit garden! But no more!

This year I have 2 lawn mowers - I have flymos living on a slope (sent over from England) but mine which was old, wasn't gliding as it should so I invested and treated myself to a new model which is like a little spaceship flying around with me on the end! I'm using that one on the lawns I tend to and attempt to nurture and the old one at the back of my house which is wild with shrubs and in the jungle!

So true what you said about exams Bracken. The daughter was well prepared but she said she felt sick whilst waiting to go into the hall with her friends who were getting themselves into a state. At first glance at the questions she feared the worst. But planned and got started and then 1/2 an hour in she had from no where what she thinks was a panic attack, she thought she was going to be sick then and there, her hands started shaking and she didn't know what she was writing but told herself to just keep going. Somehow pulled herself together for the 2nd question. Of course afterwards she realised it wasn't a hard paper at all for her, so was upset and cross with herself... Silly girl did not have breakfast that day, she never misses breakfast so I'm sure that played a part too. Fortunately this year they are only AS exams not A-levels. Her teacher reassured her and said to think of this as a mock as her reference for universities will reflect her excellence and predicted grade (A) - if you could lose weight with stress I'd be a rake!!

What lovely news Bracken and plenty of notice to give you time to find the perfect outfit and to get to the desired size, no excuses - Operation Wedding Outfit it is for you!

Right it's under the terrace for me now to complete my final 2 shutters of one side of the house. I had an exciting moment whilst walking across the field of buttercups with my sister-in-law at the weekend, normally I approach from a different direction and the 2 willow trees block my view - but there stood in the distance our house and I could spot the 2 shutters I hadn't yet painted because the others looked so good!!! Even if I do say so myself!

Be good Crackers - or if you're being naughty do tell us!! Bracken and I we're missing our Cracker friends!

Oh PB I'm so sorry to read your dreadful news - I do feel for you. Stay strong you are better than that job and those horrible work colleagues.