Just Nicky

Friday January 11, 2008

So blogging every day really hasn’t gotten off the ground. I think I can be excused for the last few days, though, due to camping and so on.

I camped. For one night. And I didn’t self-combust. On that basis I’m cautiously optimistic that i will camp again. Soon.

In fact, I quite enjoyed going camping. The camping ground is right on a lovely beach so it would be very hard not to like being there. My idea of bliss would be to set up on the beach in the morning with our little shelter, a picnic blanket, some drinks and nibbles and a book or two and stay there all day. It’s not entirely feasible with the kids, but I’m looking forward to giving it a go at some point.

The only issue I really have with camping comes down to the fact that I hate living in other people’s space. On a camping ground other people’s space is everywhere - particularly when they encroach into your site. I’m just not good at communal living. The less I have to share with the general public, the happier I am. But, hopefully, with a bit of practice I’ll get over it sufficiently to get away with Mark and the kids every now and then.

Today my main objective is to have a quiet day with Leila and our good friend the airconditioner. I have to take Indi to the vet at some stage because she has swollen ears - very strange. But that will be for later, when Mark and Finn get back.

And now we’re on a diet January 7, 2008

To add to the New Year, onward and upward type of theme I have going Mark and I have embarked on another round of the CSIRO diet today. This time we’re not going to follow the menus. We’re more following the vibe.

I’ve been trying to lose some weight for the last couple of months and getting nowhere fast. After Leila was born I lost all the baby weight quickly and was very chuffed about it, but when I stopped breastfeeding my metabolism slowed down and my eating didn’t. I’ve put a few kilos back on. It doesn’t sound like much but it’s enough to push me close to going up a clothing size into territory I’ve never been into before. Aside from not wanting to buy new clothes to fit my expanding girth, I simply refuse to be that big.

Of course there will be exercise happening as well. While Mark’s home I’m going to aim to go for a walk every day and see if I can maintain it once he goes back to work. I also have that cheapie gym membership I’ve yet to use. I’ll see if I can get there next week and start going once or twice a week.

The List January 6, 2008

1997 Reading List, Part 1 by kristykay22

Here goes (in no particular order):

Of Cats and Men, Short Stories - Nina de Gramont
The First Casualty - Ben Elton
The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole - Stephanie Doyon
The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith
Three Dollars - Eliot Perlman
44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith
Blind Faith - Ben Elton
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
31 Songs - Nick Hornby
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst
Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs
The Weather Makers - Tim Flannery
Buddhism for Mothers - Sarah Napthali
The Artist’s Way - Julia Cameron
Walking in this World - Julia Cameron
The Naked Buddha (audio book) - Venerable Adrienne Howley

That’s not all the books on the shelves that I haven’t read. It’s just the ones that either I’ve bought for myself, or been given or ones that Mark’s read that I’m interested in. I’ve actually started 3 or 4 of them in the past and abandoned them for various reasons, so they’ll get another go.

I’m into the third book of the His Dark Materials trilogy and enjoying it. I’m wondering, though, how they’ll get around the religious imagery in the second and third books if/when they are eventually flimed.

I’m going to put together a viewing list for myself as well. Obviously I’ll end up watching a lot of the movies on Mark’s summer viewing list, but there is some divergence in our tastes so my list will be mostly things that I know he won’t be interested in. I’m going to make a bit more of concerted effort to follow the TV shows I really like this year. With our hard-disk recorders AND the Foxtel box you’d think I’d never miss a thing and yet, I do. So I’m going to make an effort to manage them better because it frustrates and annoys me to find I’ve missed a favourite show AGAIN!

One thing my viewing list won’t include is The Great Muppet Caper Movie (or whatever it’s called). That doesn’t mean I won’t be watching it, though. I’m about to give in to repeated pleas of “Mum, will you cuddle up to me?”. I’ll see if I can get away with reading and watching at the same time…

Sad

I can’t express how sad I am for Joanna.

I’ve spent years expecting that I would lose my parents before my contemporaries simply by virtue of the fact that they are older than the parents of everyone else I know. Yet my niece lost her dad suddenly 4 years ago and my nephew lost his mum to melanoma a couple of years later. And now Joanna has lost her mum. I am confused and saddened by the unfairness of it at the same time as I am humbled by my own good fortune.

As always, I can only echo Mark and say that we are here. Day or night. Big or small.

A stumble January 4, 2008

One of my resolutions that I didn’t post was to write a blog entry every day for the month. I missed yesterday.

It was probably because I was experiencing a stumble of another kind. I hit a kind of low and bumpy patch and was beset by depression and anxiety and was too busy trying to think of ways to hide to write a blog entry. I don’t know that it has passed, but I certainly felt better for going on our drive yesterday and (fingers crossed) I’m improving today.

This bout was triggered by a small, silly moment and I think I felt all the worse for knowing that. Mark had to explain something on the computer to me. I’m not good at taking direction and I’m all the worse when it comes from someone close to me. Some words were exchanged and I instantly felt small, stupid, useless and really anxious. (Just typing that has made my throat close over, but I’m not going to dwell) Once in this state all I wanted to do was go to sleep, to hide away. I have Mark’s gentle bullying to thank for dragging me out of the house yesterday and getting me into the sunshine and close the beach, which can only be good for the spirits.

Today is about not backsliding so I will be keeping busy with things that will help my frame of mind. I might put that reading list together, or attack another cupboard, or both.

All my best ideas are the ones I’ve stolen January 2, 2008

The Golden Compass (2007) by Rockyblizzard

We went to Borders today, but I didn’t buy any books (apart from the one on CD) because I have so many at home that I haven’t read yet. While I was browsing it occurred to me that I should make a reading list for myself to work through and set myself the goal of not buying any more books until everything on the list has been read.

Then it occurred to me that this is very much like Girl Detective’s annual reading challenge. And I figured that if I was going to steal someone else’s idea it was a pretty good one to pinch. Mark has done something similar with his Summer Viewing list.

So sometime in the next few days I’m going to post a list of the books I plan to read this year. They’ll all be books I already have here in the house and I will not buy any more books for myself until they are all read.

I’ve made a start with the His Dark Materials trllogy that Mark gave me for Christmas. I finished The Golden Compass yesterday. For the record, it’s really, really good.

Christmas Part Two January 1, 2008

It’s in his genes by Nicky P

I just realised that I forgot to post about our second Christmas. Yes, Christmas for us is a 2 day extravaganza - Christmas Day with Mark’s family, Boxing Day with mine. It’s incredibly tiring, but much less stressful than trying to see both families in one day, or having to decide which family we won’t see this year.

This year we gathered at my brother’s farm out in the boosh. He has large number of acres of bushland, most of which is regenerated bush and the rest of which is home to a collection of alpacas, chooks, a couple of llamas, a couple of dogs and, I think, some sheep and maybe a geriatric horse or two. Down a dirt road that our talking map couldn’t find, it really is very rustic.

Unfortunately we were all a bit tired to enjoy it all or be good company, but it was a lovely day. Finn was interested in the alpacas, although I don’t think he fully understood what they were. And even though he’d have loved a ride on the backhoe with Rob he emphatically refused it and made do inside with a bit of a sit while Rob and Mark reattached our car’s number plate. Leila, for her part, was just charming and cute and lapped up all the attention.

Now I just need to work out how to pace ourselves better for next year.

Feeling Resolute

It’s that time of year and, as pointless as I think it is, I can’t help myself but make some resolutions. I’m setting the bar fairly low this year in the hopes of improving my chances of success.

Firstly, Mark and I have agreed that we want to reduce the amount of processed foods in our diet and eat more healthily - notwithstanding the leftover NYE chips we’ve been eating today … and the leftover cheesecakes.

Just for me, I want to:
* get into an exercise routine based around going to the gym regularly - even if it’s only once a week - and walking the dogs most days.
* declutter the house. The place is packed to the gills with stuff we don’t use. It’s time to make space for new stuff we won’t use (that’s a joke by the way).
* do a good job of being president of the kinder committee. I still don’t know what possessed me to volunteer for the job, but having taken it on I want to do it well.
* do some more study by distance education. Having taken on the kinder stuff, the most I think I’ll be able to manage this year will be one subject at a time but that’s better than letting it go altogether.
* make better use of my time which translates into spending less time on the internet or watching telly and more time *doing* - playing with the kids, studying, gardening, spending time with Mark, etc.
* get a handle on my sleep. Leila sleeps through the night about 95% of the time so I can’t blame her. I’m the one who has sleep issues. I have trouble either getting to sleep, or staying asleep, or getting enough sleep so that the days when Mark is home are bogged down by me sleeping in or having to go off for a nanna nap. I think the answer maybe keeping to a fixed bedtime and getting up time as much as possible.

The more I think about New Year’s Resolutions, the more I want to come up with, but those are really the highlights and probably give me plenty to be going on with.