Planning for NYE

So am getting there, healthwise.  Still feeling dizzy and peaky though.  Got through the day on near normal energy but had to have a nap at 7pm ish.  Really needed that.  Being sick is pants.

On other news we are getting Guinea Pigs for Bub.  Well he is 8 now and loves animals.  Am rather a fan of Guinea Pigs to be honest  - they were my first pets too.  I am concerned about them though - being warm enough.  They don't have winter coats because they have been born and bred and lived indoors.  Hope they are OK.  There really isn't anywhere away from drafts in our garden.  I bought a huge tarp to cover their hutch to help keep them warm.

And we actually have a plan for NYE.  Some friends are coming to visit from London.  They are into cooking and so already we have a feast... in fact we just have to do the lamb and buy nice bread.  They are bring snacks and starters and dips and wine.....  I am going to make a Jamie Oliver recipe of lamb roasted with aubergines and onions with a tomato sauce.  Or something like it anyway. 

Wish I felt 100%.  This has to be my most wine free Christmas ever!

And then its kind of all go till Bub goes back to school.  We have a trip to Easbourne to go to the Panto then up to Suffolk to see my folks and do Christmas there....

Getting my Energies Back

Thank GOD I am feeling better.... not totally, still a bit dizzy and needing the occasional sit down (lie down) to regroup.  But definitely feeling more able to DO THINGS.  I hate being ill.   Luckily I am not ill often.

So, here this blog is and always was a little bit of a tracker.  And its that time of year to do the reflection stuff and the looking forward stuff and goal setting and all of that.

I am definitely going to give the Whole 30 a punt quite soon for example.  So I will track that progress here and share how I get on.

The whole working lots, then Christmas - then SICKNESS - thing has made the house feel out of control and I need to tidy up.  Especially in my teeny tiny workroom.

I need to  do a sale of paintings as I have too many and I want to paint more.  I really ought to sort out the bookshelves too.

I have a lot to do.  Feels like too much! haha! So I need to do a review of it all and work out what to do when and what can really wait.  The clear up part of it can't wait.

We will be back on the whole tracking of the budget thing in January as that part of Christmas went into some kind of orbit financially.  Though I do admit I got some very nice gifts! I kind of like being like that  -splurging extravagantly then spending a while afterwards tightening the belt.

Before I do the Whole 30 thing I am going to be spending most of January doing the "finishing off things I started" stuff.  Which will involve eating a lot of the stuff I have lying around - rice mainly - I don't eat it much and for some reason I have lots of packets of it.  Things like that.

Ah well, you know me, just thinking on my fingers.  Type and think.... no strategy here...  Laters! am off to tidy!

Sick for Christmas, Health Kick for New Year?

So  - I have been really sick this Christmas.  I still am.  I am feeling  a bit better.  Hence I am writing this..... also it has to be said that since this morning I have not been able to utter a word.  I lie.  I have been able to breathe a few words out.  But even that hurts so there have been few.  And I feel starved of the ability to communicate.  I started writing a really long response to someone who asked how I was feeling on facebook and I realised it was because I hadnt been able to talk all day.  It reminded me of when I came back to the UK after my first foreign exchange and it was just so easy to chat, I chatted with everyone who would listen! no more having to really concentrate to say and understand simple things....

Today has been like me writing notes, my family not being able to read my writing, or needing glasses before not being able to read my writing.... sigh.  I mainly just used sign language or just didnt say anything. 

I have a sore throat.  A very very sore throat.  I really thought I would be better in a day.  But I really have been ill.  And missed a lot of what I was looking forward to this Christmas.  It wasn't totally bad.  I opened gifts I ate Christmas lunch.  I watched Dr Who and Strictly Christmas special.  But no socialising and lots of naps because my energy tanks after a wee while. 

 So here I am blogging again.  And also, its that end of the old year start of the new one.  And I have been thinking.  One of the things I am going to do is "get good at making speeches" - I found myself, in my head, advising someone I am working with to do this,  and realised that perhaps I should listen to that advice myself.  I have some opportunities to talk about my Creative Processes and how that can relate to being more creative in general... and that is going to be my start point.  Secondly I like a bit of a health challenge.  Last year i gave up sugar for 8 weeks - that book "I quit sugar" did it for me.  A friend was doing it and I felt I wanted to try it.  Also at the time, my husband was prediabetic and doing nothing about it and I felt helpless.  I figured I could see how hard it was, or just do something instead of wishing he would (hasten to add that he has now changed his eating habits immensely and credit to him) but primarily it was this mission I had for myself about "building strength" I felt it would build a kind of strength of mind.  Actually since then - no one in our house really eats sugar any more.  And its actually really easy.  SO this year, I am thinking of this Whole30 thing.  Its just 30 days.  And you can't eat a lot of things.  Like no sugar (easy!) no grains, no legumes, no alcohol, no dairy.... am assuming no cafeine, no additives.... so its pretty full on.  But I have met one person who tried it and loved it.  And one person in real life is enough to make me at least want to try it.  I do have a nutribullet now.... and it would be a challenge.  Am a little daunted.  At the same time quite keen.  What do you think? I'd love to have some Whole30 buddies...