Keeping up appearances.......

Honey_Bear

• No computer after 9.00 pm and light out by 11.30 pm; Tick.
• 5 fruit and veg a day; Probably not, but vast amounts of homemade pea and ham soup again, mushrooms, courgettes and sultanas. There may have been half a dozen dates as well but that might have been the day before. My memory's shocking at the moment.
• Keep a careful record of floury stuff eaten so that if I get a reaction I can work out what's making it happen; Tick. I'm so much more conscious of this now that as soon as I felt the old familiar tiredness creeping up on me that I cut right back on bread etc.
  
• Electric toothbrush once a day at least; No. Bad Honey Bear again.
  
• Write all Christmas cards and do all the obvious Christmas shopping by 30 November so December is just the fun stuff. Didn't finish dealing with the apples, so I still haven't started them.
  
• Clear the filing tray and the in tray by the end of the month. Because I've been feeling so much better I've been ignoring my desk for weeks and it's all bit chaotic. Filing as I'm going at the moment.
  

Honey_Bear

• No computer after 9.00 pm and light out by 11.30 pm; Went to bed super early to watch Unforgotten on my computer and sadly then decided playing Mahjong was a good idea. Half and half tick-type thing.
• 5 fruit and veg a day; Probably not, but vast amounts of homemade pea soup, lots of tomatoes, leftover roast parsnips, apricot and should have had some dates but I forgot.
• Keep a careful record of floury stuff eaten so that if I get a reaction I can work out what's making it happen; Tick. Bad day after scoffing a huge pile of Twinks after I baked some for OH and found them utterly irresistable. That, coupled with a ham sandwich was enough to bring back the old familiar feelings so I've nixed the gluten for a day or three to get back to feeling okay. There's no doubt it takes several days to work out of my system if I o/d on it.
  
• Electric toothbrush once a day at least; Yes, so Good Honey Bear again.
  
• Write all Christmas cards and do all the obvious Christmas shopping by 30 November so December is just the fun stuff. Found the box of cards in the attic and brought a pile of them down, and made an up to date listy of one group I'm in a card swap with. Now I can't find my Christmas file which belongs in the filing cabinet and I had it a week or so ago. Grr.
• Clear the filing tray and the in tray by the end of the month. Because I've been feeling so much better I've been ignoring my desk for weeks and it's all bit chaotic. Filing as I'm going at the moment, but I've managed to not file a bead from a lightfitting that I seem to have been moving around the house for quite a long time (why don't I just refit it?) and the name of a website OH has given me which belongs in a ... oh hell, I'll deal with them both. I've already found a home for the third thing that's been knocking around for days.
  

Dolphin1

Update for yesterday...

1) I had chocolate cravings so a few pieces of a chocolate bar eaten (resisted the whole bar though so I've put it out of sight for next time I get chocolate cravings).
2) Meal plan for the week already done.
3) Back exercises not done.

joeyjimbles

Well done everyone on persevering. I've managed to keep on keeping on too - even did the make up thing for girls' lunch today. And that in itself is a new thing. I know a few ladies who all work from home or do part time work and we now have a bit of a thing going with coffee or lunch every Friday and its rather fun. Last week was coffee at someone's home and today was lunch in a great cafe, lovely food and not expensive, and it was good to go out. Next week its coffee at my house.

Can't remember where I got up to - but this week I've added nail strengthener, eye cream, serum (aldi), foot scrub and pushing back cuticles (fingernails). And in all honesty its only adding about 10 minutes to my morning routine and about five to my evening one.
However I do have a problem. I suffer occasionally from psoriasis on my upper back and I keep it at bay mostly by using Liz E@rle shampoo and conditioner and that french olive oil shower gel/body moisturiser (savon de marseilles for preference but whatever TK M@xx can offer) but I've run out of the moisturiser - does anyone have a substitute to suggest that isn't too perfumed or chemically, and obviously not too pricey.

With the chocolate cravings, would those low calorie hot chocolate sachets help? I remember in the days when I did like chocolate, I used to use them when I was trying to keep my weight in check but needing that fix.

Dolphin1

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Well done everyone on persevering. I've managed to keep on keeping on too - even did the make up thing for girls' lunch today. And that in itself is a new thing. I know a few ladies who all work from home or do part time work and we now have a bit of a thing going with coffee or lunch every Friday and its rather fun. Last week was coffee at someone's home and today was lunch in a great cafe, lovely food and not expensive, and it was good to go out. Next week its coffee at my house.

Can't remember where I got up to - but this week I've added nail strengthener, eye cream, serum (aldi), foot scrub and pushing back cuticles (fingernails). And in all honesty its only adding about 10 minutes to my morning routine and about five to my evening one.
However I do have a problem. I suffer occasionally from psoriasis on my upper back and I keep it at bay mostly by using Liz E@rle shampoo and conditioner and that french olive oil shower gel/body moisturiser (savon de marseilles for preference but whatever TK M@xx can offer) but I've run out of the moisturiser - does anyone have a substitute to suggest that isn't too perfumed or chemically, and obviously not too pricey.

With the chocolate cravings, would those low calorie hot chocolate sachets help? I remember in the days when I did like chocolate, I used to use them when I was trying to keep my weight in check but needing that fix.

Thanks for the suggestion about the hot chocolate sachets but not keen on them and don't think they would satisfy the cravings. Thankfully, I don't crave chocolate very often (it's normally cake ) but when I do I find that it is better to just have a couple of pieces because if I try and look for something else to satisfy the cravings then I can eat lots of other stuff and it still doesn't work and I've consumed more calories in the process .

I'm afraid that I can't help with the body moisturiser, I don't use any .

Honey_Bear

joeyjimbles wrote: »

I suffer occasionally from psoriasis on my upper back and I keep it at bay mostly by using Liz E@rle shampoo and conditioner and that french olive oil shower gel/body moisturiser (savon de marseilles for preference but whatever TK M@xx can offer) but I've run out of the moisturiser - does anyone have a substitute to suggest that isn't too perfumed or chemically, and obviously not too pricey.

I'm not enough of a girly-type I'm afraid to have anything to suggest other than Vitamin E cream or Aqueous Cream but I don't know if either of those would be suitable. They're not going to make you feel 'pampered' (a vast tub costs a couple of quid) and I've no idea if they're suitable for your skin condition but they're fabulous if you're looking for an effective moisturiser. Healing vibes for you, and I hope you find something that suits you.

Honey_Bear

There are two months that I find deeply depressing and November is one of them. My motivation is at rock bottom but at least having to contribute a post here means that I'm not allowing myself to turn into a complete slob. Good on you Happy for starting this, but I'm more than a little concerned that you haven't been posting. I hope all is well with you.

• No computer after 9.00 pm and light out by 11.30 pm; Tickish, I think.
  
• 5 fruit and veg a day; Bit hit and miss. Thank goodness for dried fruit. Without it I'd be struggling to even think of five a day.
• Keep a careful record of floury stuff eaten so that if I get a reaction I can work out what's making it happen; Tick. Had a bad reaction after an extreme over-indulgence on the Twinks front. Back on the GF bread and limiting myself to pizza once a week and GF the rest of the time which is a real bore. The only good thing about that was that at least I know I can manage some ordinary floury stuff without having a problem. It's definitely a cumulative thing.
  
• Electric toothbrush once a day at least; 'Yes no but no,' as my grandmother used to say.
  
• Write all Christmas cards and do all the obvious Christmas shopping by 30 November so December is just the fun stuff. Found the Christmas file! Next job is to prune the Friends list for 2016 - I've cut back massively over the past few years and each year I can cross a few more off thanks to phone calls and F'book etc.
  
• Clear the filing tray and the in tray by the end of the month. Because I've been feeling so much better I've been ignoring my desk for weeks and it's all bit chaotic. I need to get stuck in to the In Tray.

Dolphin1

Honey_Bear wrote: »

There are two months that I find deeply depressing and November is one of them. My motivation is at rock bottom but at least having to contribute a post here means that I'm not allowing myself to turn into a complete slob.

I agree, November is a depressing month despite it being my birthday month but apparently I'm not allowed to move my birthday to the summer . I have completely lost my motivation. I am still sticking to my targets as much as possible but not keeping track any more. I'm still going to post but I'm giving up the daily updates for now.

Good luck Mrs Honey Bear with sticking to it.

Hope you are ok Mrs HappyNow.

Dolphin1

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Keep a careful record of floury stuff eaten so that if I get a reaction I can work out what's making it happen; Tick. Had a bad reaction after an extreme over-indulgence on the Twinks front. Back on the GF bread and limiting myself to pizza once a week and GF the rest of the time which is a real bore. The only good thing about that was that at least I know I can manage some ordinary floury stuff without having a problem. It's definitely a cumulative thing.

Are you sure that you shouldn't be tested for Coeliac Disease? There are some advantages to being diagnosed and if you do have it then you really should go completely gluten free so that you don't do any long term damage to your body. It is far more common than you think.

HappyNow

*strolls nonchalantly in, hands in pockets, reads how well everyone else is doing, blushes to deep crimson*

Hello, I am here! We have had storms and floods over the last week or so and although the house has stood up to it, the stables and internet have not. One horse has been ankle deep in water after every rainstorm and we've been using snow shovels every few hours to try and make it fit for her to stay in at night, poor thing. She's fine - we found it more worrying than she did!

Because we're in the middle of nowhere we can only get mobile internet - provided by a mast which is also in the middle of nowhere at the top of a tall, wet, windy hill. Grrr. It seems OK again now but we've been without connection on and off for days, meaning I've had to work from the office rather than home, meaning I couldn't be home to shovel water from the stables. Manic.

The good news is that a local company are attempting to relay fast broadband from rural property to rural property around here, so us country mice might finally get a good connection. It's been going on in the background for months, and it looks like it could be sorted by Christmas. So exciting (although I am in a two year mobile contract costing £15.99 per month, so I'll end up paying for both, but it will be worth it).

Loads more to say but I have to get to work - just wanted to drop in and say all is well! Back later x