Quitting, babies, IVF and making the best of it.

It's a "Spring thing", I'm sure of it.
Statistically speaking, more people make large changes in their lives during spring than in any other season. So,...at the risk of repeating myself, Monday (tomorrow) is the day of saying goodbye to the cigarettes, the day of getting our bodies healthy for IVF treatment in January, the day of saving cigarette $$ towards new house and most importantly, the day of reclaiming myself.
Uni is finished for the year so I quite literally only have to worry about going to work and coming home each day.
The major reduction in stress-load should mean I have time to clean, to cook, to garden and to walk...this is the plan at least...
This afternoon I shall remove all uni materials from sight, re-make beds, and clean the house. It's not nearly as much fun in this abode though. In the marvellous old days of being "Burra-folk" cleaning the house and cooking was sheer unadulterated pleasure. Here, it's something that has to be done. period.
Oh how I yearn for our old house and garden. It's a grief.
This garden must be fought with every inch of the way. No beautiful surprises in the garden. What is there is only there because I put it in. No surprise saffron-caps in autumn, no pear-tree theatre, no enormous garden beds bursting forth with veges and vines. No, I am not happy in this property. I don't sparkle and there is no room for quilting, entertaining, or quiet contemplation. There is no fire, no gently sloping garden curves, no happpiness.
Perhaps this is what they call "despair"...?

19kgs in 17 weeks

This is a christmas countdown thing. Having had the usual fatty-wak-up-call of 'OHMIGOD-is that-actually-ME????' in photos, I have decided to lose quite a bit of poundage.
I'd like to say I'm only doing it for health reasons (and I am kinda, my BMI is 30.7 which makes me officially obese), but truly I'm just after rediscovering the 'hotness'.
Sorta.
So, it's back to dear od Weight Watchers, counting points and weekly weigh-ins and such. However, I did lose 9kgs on the programme last time, so I figure it will prbably work again.
I have a few things in mind that will motivate me;
* My sister in laws wedding in december (=lots of photos...)
* Increased fertility
* Swimming season returns...
* Soo many pretty summer clothes that look shite on fat people
and other noble concerns.
Truly, even If I can shift 10kgs or so I'll be (reasonably) happy. Want tummy fat to be a distant horrible memory, want to wear jeans and like it, want to put on a cozzie without major mental trauma, want my husband to be able to lift me without doing his back in, want to wear pretty things, lots and lots of pretty things!
So there it is. This blog will now be used for weekly weigh-in update and such and will therefore become quite dull to most everyone. So Ner.

Like a flag unfurled

I have the theme music of 'Against the Wind' running around my brain like a naughty toddler. Just when I think it's asleep it pops up again. In other news the 'i' on my keyboard now requires pressing with approxmately twice as much pressure as every other key to get it to work.
I cleaned the cottage for the inspection that never happened and I suspect I'm being frozen out due to non-attendance at fund-raising gala thingy. This is highly unfair as reason for non-attendance was financial. Now resent freezing people for expecting me to part with my last $20 rather than use it to get to work as I must.
I have exactly 6 days of teaching left before holidays and am going to mark them down with a big aggressive red permanent marker. I am going to bed tonight seriously worried that trees will fall through my roof due to gale force winds howling about outside.

The Veganomicon is better than every other book ever.

It is.

Last night (for my birthday) Mr cooked up a broccoli-polenta [pan-fried squares], a braised seitan/kale/brussels with sundried tomato and red-wine and an awesome pear/snow-pea sesame sprout salad. It was all from the http://theppk.com/ (that's Veganomicon grand-central) and it was gorgeous!! I mean, lip-smacking-why-isn't-my-stomach-bigger-so-I-can-fit-more-flavour-in? kind of delicious.

Broccoli polenta sounds odd, but it just makes the polenta go "rar!!".

So, this morning, being suitably impressed and inspired, I made their chickpea/quinoa pilaf and their chilli-chocolate Mole sauce to serve over steamed veges. The Mole is OHMYGODAWESOME. IT's 'Like Water for Chocolate' awesome, it's a mouth-gasm x 300.

So, I very very highly recommend that anyone who feels like making a Vegan happy buy this tome and start creating. So far, everything we've cooked from it has been utterly fabulous!

In other news, I did quite a decent beef seitan the other day, and quite a decent chicken one a couple of days later. I'm still no buddhist master of mock-meat, but it's certainly getting there!

I am having very definite fantasies about holding a dinner party in the next school holidays...I think my good friends probably need a vegan experience they will remember...

I think the menu will look like this

Entree: Sesame pear salad

Main: Broccoli polenta rounds served with choice of braised seitan in red-wine or Mole

Dessert: thick caramel pudding with hot sauce and soy ice cream

between coughs

I coughed alot. then tried sleeping in a sitting-up position, then lay down again, cos it just made me cold, then dreamed of a mansion, Hugh Laurie, hiding from people, bench-sex, a foldable car that was unpacked when we got to Dunedin airport (it needed hoising down though,-he told me to wait at the top of the hill while he fixed it), a leisure cruise where a werewolf and I had a stand-off with a pencil and a hand-drill and then decided, very reasonably, that we'd just be friends and NOT try to kill each other again. Other werewolves were very impressed with our forward-thinking.
Then I coughed a lot more.
Now it's Black-Bean veges and tofu for dinner or Schnitzel and mash....am having trouble with decisions due to severe lack of undisturbed sleep.
Have discovered that honey and cinnamon in hot water is a truly lovely thing but that doesn't help my motivation to clean the house. I'm not pregnant again, but am going to spend a couple of hours studying statistics while the rain falls in great wintery gusts outside.
Would walk to petrol station to get firewood, but think walking in rain with bronchitis may be silly. Will wear 3 jumpers instead and drink litres of tea.
In other news, Dale stole my mojo, but admitted it -so everything's alright now.

Pickering's on holidays

And I'm between everythings. Not pregnant, am studying, am working, not happy.
Am endeavouring not to be pissed off at everyone, but am failing dismally.
Note: Am not pissed off at lovely Mr. Mr has to now wait until 'reasonable Cath' resurfaces. This will happen....eventually...but he's the only one likely to stick it out.
These are some of the reasons one gets married.

Choking on the sun

I have 300 bazillion Jerusalem artichokes to give away to intrepid foodies/gardeners. Please please please take them off my hands. I like the little buggers, but not THAT much.

Also planted foxgloves, primulas, pansies, jonquils, snow peas, sugar snap peas, NZ spinach, Kale and brocoletti for winter growing and am completely packed and organised for Caloola. Away for a blissful week of long walks, family time, biking around Burly Griffin and such. Toorah and be back in a week:-)