Next steps; grip-relaxing bimbling, and avoiding the temptations

edinburgher

Thanks for the wine mention, I doubt anything with % off is a thing in Scotland these days! 

Suffolk_lass

edinburgher said:

Thanks for the wine mention, I doubt anything with % off is a thing in Scotland these days! 

  I forgot. I bought their reserve douro and two of the Provencal Rose. Even then, my wine rack is too full, but mostly this is empty (kilner type) preserving jars, ready for the summer produce production line to store without freezing! 

edinburgher

I'm actually finding myself very uninspired by the sauce at the moment, a welcome side effect of Mounjaro. I have drunk over the last week (holiday and I thought it might lower my stress levels), but was 24? Days off before that. 

Suffolk_lass

We had not had a drink for months (since February, what with health and dieting) but Mr Sl wanted to know what his new body set up could tolerate. It turned out (so far) that 0% Guinness is the least impact, and we had a single glass of Rose each over two nights (then I had the rest...) without adverse effects. Everything in moderation really.

I hadn't appreciated you had gone the Mounjaro route. I understand it changes your tastebuds (as does the Michael Mosley 8-week LBSD) - I just did this - again - it is really the only thing that keeps the weight I lose off me. I started about 5 pounds heavier than when I did the big loss in 2016, and ended this period lighter than when I had to start taking steroids when ill during pregnancy. Our fridge looks pretty healthy but we are both still the top end of overweight verging on obese if you take any cognisance of the NHS BMI calculator. I resent the fact it takes no account of muscle-mass and the local nurses rely on it without doing so either. I know I remain fat but Mr Sl is not. A little residual paunch will disappear once he has properly healed and is allowed to lift again. For me, I fast a fair bit, fining that one meal on a breakfast plate suits me on those days. Enough about weight! I want a solution to baggy skin as I get older...

I got stung under my arm while tending my friend's bees with him yesterday, I swear it was the bingo wings thing!  I squashed it, so my fault. Right, another antihistamine this morning as the histamine is whizzing round my body and even the insect nibbles are itching again!

edinburgher

Mounjaro is still relatively challenging unless you couple it with a decent understanding of what food is good for you, fairly sweeping changes to your diet and more movement. It allows me the mental quiet to continue with what are pretty swingeing changes. 

I admire you with your Mosely diet and I know that my mother swears by it, too. She, however, is short and birdlike and very much didn't appreciate how challenging it is to follow when you have the starting weight of a professional rugby player. She was quite dismissive when I mentioned Mounjaro and to be honest, it has made me feel somewhat distant from her Mrs E's side of the family have been far more understanding, have asked questions and expressed an interest in considering it for themselves. 

I definitely think that I will be better able to deal with conventional dieting and calorie restriction etc. when the kids are older and less sleep disrupting and/or when I'm no longer in a stressful job. I definitely don't recommend local government to anyone wanting to avoid stress eating!

Maybe bee stings are a way to tighten skin, I know it sounds daft but so does botox...

Suffolk_lass

Bees
We are starting to come to the end of the beekeeping mayhem that is the swarm season (traditionally 12th July) so I might get a bit more of a chance to update on here. I met my friend at his apiary this morning at 06.00 to avoid maximum wasp nuisance and also minimise beekeeper overheating.

A quick check of my little colony there and they still have capped brood in the super that has yet to emerge, so we left them to it and did not go further. His swarm (from our garden) is underway and they are happy bees, now starting to cap a full super of honey from the adjacent hive (where we suspect a lot of the bees are too old to cap the cells). We could see them "balling" wasps and bringing in pollen so left it at that.

His biggest hive is quite a lot easier to handle now it has two fewer supers and the bottom one is not drawn, with neither of the other two capped. There is a new queen but she hasn't really got going and at least four frames of undrawn foundation frames in the brood box. All a bit ominous. We might have to unite them, or they may dwindle. We just need to be sure they are not tolerating a drone laying worker. The old comb is in such a mess it is hard to tell.

We went on to my out, out apiary, where I have three colonies, with one very small. Next week I think I shall boost them, if they are still alive (I made their entrance much smaller with some duct tape this morning). Both the other two are strong and balling wasps.

That was enough. Home just after eight and on to other tasks

MSE related
We are picking daily now, so self sufficient in homegrown veg at the moment. My courgettes are way behind everyone else's but still trickling in. Potatoes lifted, carrots being pulled as needed. Onions drying, garlic plaited and hanging, raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants are all ready.

I made Courgette soup with the last of the shop-bought carrots, some celery, onion and two large zip bags of frozen 2024 courgettes! All whizzed and in the fridge. Baked bread yesterday.

I shall need eggs (as run out) and a bottle or two of pop to make wasp traps with.

I have just had a conversation with the water company to demur from lifting our monthly DD from £34 to £47. Even though they increased the price by 19% in April, our deficit was only £26.37 for the year to July. So the helpful lady took a one-off payment of £40 to put us in credit and reduced the planned £47 to £40 monthly. I have made a note in my magic spreadsheet as I won't remember what why or when next year!

On the upside, I won £500 and £50 on PB this month (I've never won £500 before!) and Mr Sl won £100.

Right, time to get back to getting the motorhome prepared for a trip (it is now taxed, insured and serviced, with a new water pump and cam belt too). Plenty of annoying little jobs to do before we go (de-spidering is my pet hate)

Enjoy the weather!

EssexHebridean

Oh excellent PB winnage there SL - good that it's going to folk we "know" in months where we're not winning ourselves!

Your courgettes are streets ahead of ours which are still small and just starting to flower - that said, MrEH did say that he thought we had a "God Rush" starting to form on one plant, so we may be shortly heading for pickings. 

foxgloves

Good news on ERNIE's largesse this month, though I have to say he was a stingy beast to us! I'm sure your courgettes will get going at usual courgette rate very soon. I picked a load more yesterday & left them on the work surface with strict instructions to Mr F (who was Wednesday night's chef) to leave them out for me & to USE THE OLDER ONES AT THE FRONT OF THE VEG BASKET. You can guess which ones he used! I've got a nice dhal going in the slow cooker today & am going to make an additional chunky veg curry to go along with that, so there will defo be a significant courgette content in that!
F

edinburgher

Fantastic PB win, think we only ever got the minimum!

Watty1

Great PB win (nothing here, so I'm trusting ernie is planning a biggie soon).