Works For Me Wednesday ~ Backwards Edition (Beginner Vegetable Gardens)
Folks, I need your help.
I’m about to embark on a journey of (potentially) mammoth proportions.
I’m starting a vegetable garden - Dum dum dum DA!!!!!
Okay, here’s where it stands. I haven’t grown anything edible (or inedible, for that matter) in many, many years. I once grew a tomato plant to about a metre high but it died before producing fruit. Just so you know, this is the level you’re working with, LOL. So why on earth a vegetable garden now? I just got the bug. I want to see if my black thumb needs to be severed or if there’s hope for a resurrection!
Oh, and it seems likely that this’ll be a container garden. I’m looking for alternative (and frugal!) options for containers and other gardening supplies.
So, some questions…
- Best (ie, EASIEST!!!) beginner vegetables to grow? (Tomatoes are a given)
- Suggestions for alternative containers?
- Best overall vegetable gardening tip?
- Sources for cheap gardening supplies? (Bearing in mind, the US chains aren’t down here, but we do have some equivalents)
- Best vegies to grow to provide a good ‘bang for our buck’ for the kids?
Trust me. If left to my own devices, I’d probably end up eating weeds…
Cheers,
Lizzie
Introducing…Binder Basics!
Most people know that I’m a bit of a Home Management Binder nut. I collect links to others’ binder tours and use printables all the time at home to retain some order to the chaos.
A few weeks ago I realised I had this great big bulging Favourites folder filled with stuff relating to Home Management Binders, printables, Household Notebooks, you name it - and I realised, wouldn’t it be kind of fun if I threw it all up in a new blog for others to share?
So like a crazy obsessed person I have been on a mission this last month or so to get a working site up and running, converting all my old printables to reflect the new site’s URL, scouring Bloggityville for more binder tours and a great deal more. Binder Basics is the end result of all that ‘collecting’!
It’s still pretty new (just one post up so far), and I’m still in the process of adding more links (send ‘em my way folks!) but I hope you find something useful there. There are loads more features in the works including sections on price books, the family cookbook - well, loads, LOL. They’ll gradually begin eeking their way out of my brain in the next couple of months. From here on out, any Binder-y/home organization post I do will go there instead of here on Lizzie’s Home. It keeps things straight in my own head - which has enough trouble as it is!
Oh, and if you know of any other binder/household notebook tours, or other neat sites relating to that topic, contact me using the email on the new site :)
Enjoy, and leave a comment over at the new digs!
Cheers,
Lizzie
Wanna Scare Yourself Stupid?
Do a Google image search on chicken pox.
‘Nuff said.
Cheers,
Lizzie
Live Well Wednesday ~ Sheepish
Folks - that button in my sidebar has been mocking me for months. Since March 12th to be exact, since that was the date of my last Live Well Wednesday post. I didn’t remove the button because God knows I needed the reminder!
So here I am. Flawed in all my glory. Again.
The particulars, in case anyone is interested: Three kids have left more lumps and bumps on this poor body than I care to count. Things are going south when they should be holding steady at the equator, so to speak! I’d like to lose around 20 kg (44 lbs), most of which has appeared in the last three years.
You know what I hate the most about being overweight? Clothes. I hate looking at clothes in stores, I hate doing the laundry at home knowing nothing I have fits ‘just right’. I hate the friend (not really C!) who recently had a baby and at 9 months pregnant named a weight that was more than I was back when I was slim!
I think a lot of the reason why I stop and start so much with this weight loss thing is that I feel it shouldn’t matter how big (or small) my body is. I’m smart enough to know that there are clever marketing tricks at every turn, telling you you’re not slim enough, not rich enough, not career-minded enough. I pooh-pooh 90% of it. My worth isn’t tied up in any of it. And yet, it’s really, really hard to escape the body image thing. Just going by sheer practicality - I can’t buy the clothes I want because of my size. I’m not grossly overweight but it’s obvious I’m packing more than a few kilos away for the winter and despite most manufacturers producing clothes in my size, one of two things usually happen. Either my size is conspicuously absent from the rack (all the other girls my size fighting over it, I suppose) or if it’s there, the cut, the design, the general ‘look’ of the garment just doesn’t suit me.
I’ll give you an example. Skirts. I haven’t worn one in years. I have (thankyou dear mother) the genes for wide child-bearing hips and big ol’ thunder thighs and prefer longer skirts (ankle length). But do you think I can find one that fits well? In my youth, I wore them all the time. I was the Dress Queen. Then I became a mum. And the Age Of The Jeans rolled right in. It’s not that long skirts aren’t out there in my size - there are some - it’s that I think they all look hideous on my body. I’d rather look plain and boring than up to date and completely ill-dressed style-wise. I’m also ‘amply-endowed’ and prefer v-neck tops with a bit of a sleeve. All the cute summer tops, even if they are available in my size, tend to be cap-sleeved (yeah, lets cut the batwings off dead centre and make ‘em a feature! It’s the hot new look of the season!) or made from a sheer material requiring a tank top or simple spaghetti-strapped number to go undernearth to keep your undergirdings ‘overwrapped’. The ‘girls’ need more support than the teeny bras whose thin straps would be the only arrangement to actually work under a spaghetti-strapped tank top! I know it’s not the faux pas it used to be to show your bra strap in public and there are even add-on straps specifically-designed to be ’shown’ but come on. Unless they make wiiiiiiide, comfy (padded), industrial-strength clear straps for real women, no thanks. Plus it’s called underwear for a reason.
So yeah - as much as we all like to say body size doesn’t matter, it kind of does, to a degree. I’m neither here or there over my actual weight, but its no picnic on the clothes front and - lets be honest here - I’m not the ‘wife of his youth’ my husband remembers. And quite apart from all that, I’m a ticking time bomb in regards to family history of heart attacks (both parents, one died from it)…and I’d really kind of like to be around for a second childhood alongside my grandkids.
I turn 29 in a few weeks. Here’s what I was thinking. My present to myself is to begin on the road toward a changed attitude about food and fitness in general. On Monday I began a ‘non diet dietplan’. It was actually included as a little booklet on the back of a magazine at the checkout. I flicked through quickly in the store and it warranted a purchase so into the basket it went. At home, I was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity and good nutritional sense and decided to give it a try. They give you a choice of a few different breakfasts, plus an outline of what should be present in a nutritious lunch and dinner and apart from that, you are on your own - which is a good thing. It also gives a concurrent exercise plan that is very easy to follow and I’ll be starting that next week. Freedom plus a little bit of guidance. The suggested meals and meal components do well for this little red hen who either goes hyper-vigilant, counting every single calorie or super-loose, counting and tracking nothing at all because it all ’seems too hard’. This seems like a better fit.
I did ‘okay’ on Monday, and alright until three-thirty-itis hit yesterday afternoon, after which I went cuh-razy and ate all the wrong stuff, but I am back on the wagon today and so far so good. I’m over the whole calorie counting business for now. I’m trying to concentrate on that ol’ chestnut of portion control and better snack and meal choices. It is HARD to switch off from old eating habits! BUT two days in a row now I have had an awesome breakfast and have rediscovered the joy of a sweet tasting apple. Out of habit I was slicing those up real thin to get the ‘eating bits of things’ hit (hard to explain, but when you dip your hand back into the bowl several times it kind of feels like you’re snacking more like you used to, ie, the ‘bad’ way, and it tricks your brain just a smidge - did that make sense?) Yesterday I was pressed for time so grabbed an apple on route to grocery shopping and it was delicious. Has a lot to do with the variety of apple I guess - I chose Golden Delicious - but it has definitely left me more receptive to a whole piece of fruit as a snack.
I am struggling a little with the appetite thing though. I knew it would happen - always does - I’m still craving the amount of food I used to eat….you know, that whole ‘eat till you’re stuffed’ thing. I was kind of enjoying the feeling of being able to eat until totally satisfied. Now I have to stop before I get there and of course that is plenty of food but it will take some time for my body to adjust its appetite. In the meantime, I am controlling my cravings in part by drinking lots of tea (fools my tum into thinking its full) or hot chocolate (low fat stuff) if I’m reallllly struggling. I still don’t like yoghurt much but I’m trying. Yoghurt’s a funny thing, isn’t it? I’m not sure if it’s the same in the States but here’s how it goes down here. You can choose either full-fat, low-fat or diet yoghurt. Full fat contains like a bazillion grams of fat and more calories than a snack that size should have. Low-fat (of course) reduces the fat content but usually doesn’t do much to the calorie level and they tend to begin adding artificial sweeteners to make up for the difference using low-fat milk makes to the taste. And then diet yoghurt is just plain NASTY. Tastes completely unnatural to me but has the lowest fat and lowest calories. There are variations between brands on all three levels but it kind of boils down to a choice between flavour and calories - there are a few ‘okay’ brands that are a fair compromise, but nothing to write home about. Perhaps down the track when the cravings are more under control, my tastebuds will change sufficiently to allow me to enjoy the low-fat stuff more. In the meantime, I’m eating it mainly because it’s a healthy snack and I need to eat more of those.
Goals For The Forseeable Future
- Don’t give up!
- Begin and continue with the supplied exercise plan - at the end of the twelve weeks I want to be able to run completely around the school oval without stopping - perhaps even two laps. Don’t know the distance, just that it is long!
- Keep busy at home - more housework equals less time to eat/think about food and includes a bonus exercise component.
- Less computer time. Too easy to mindlessly snack.
- See no. 1.
Wish me luck…
For more Live Well Wednesday participants, just click on the button above :)
Cheers,
Lizzie
Today, In Lizzie’s World…
Did you know that it is indeed entirely possible to be so tired that the area around your eyes puffs up to Epic Bee Sting Proportions?
I actually had to check - no missed bee sting (and I’m not allergic to anything either). My face probably looks like my poor, befuddled brain feels after just three hours of sleep. I should have napped today. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Instead of depositing my weary body back in bed after the school run this morning I found myself stuck in the classroom helping tie strings to kites. Okay, so my manual dexterity isn’t all that crash-hot at the best of times, but throw in several extra waking hours and my fingers just would not work this morning. Then after that, I had to go to the supermarket. Lots of impulse buying, you can be sure. Came home. Pottered. Mostly I ignored the breakfast dishes. Decided I’d better take a nap before I collapsed but then, O Stupid Internet, you sucked me in. I checked my eleventy-six email addresses and found myself typing out a lengthy reply on a forum on the issue of private health insurance. Yeah, ’cause my head is totally in the right place for that discussion. Then I looked at the clock and watched it click over from ‘comfortable stretch of time in which to take a nap before I have to leave to get the kids’ to ‘Will half an hour do the job?’ to ‘Good grief woman! Sleep when you get to the school!’
Sigh. Sleep. It mocks me (Nothing whatsoever to do with the fact I stay up too late. No, not at all….)
My answer to all this fuzzy-headed blech-ness? SUGAR. Lots and lots of sugar.
The answer to the massive downward sugar spiral I’m bound to be enduring riiiiiiight about the time the kids walk in the front door?
Lots and lots of PARACETEMOL.
Cheers,
Lizzie (*snore*)
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