That’s a star for me right there because this morning I got onto the tready and I did it because I wanted to. Yeah. I’m having trouble believing it, too.

I actually didn’t go on the tready yesterday because I felt like crap. Headache, sore throat, blah. I was worried that I’d finally fallen victim to the killer cold  that almost had Beloved taking a day off work a couple of weeks ago. I took some painkillers for the headache and a bit of echinacea for the coldie feeling and trooped on, but decided not to push it with the tready. Anyway, maybe it worked, and maybe I wasn’t getting sick at all, but I felt good this morning and onto the tready.

Then Beloved and I went to the shops. I actually got him to buy clothing which is always an amazing thing, and we stopped off for lunch. Well, I chose falafel because it’s so totally yummy. The guy asks if I want a regular or large size and of course my brain immediately defaults to “large” but fortunately Beloved is there and orders a regular. Before I can do any damage (such as suggesting that I want chips with that, and baklava too, please,) I go off and locate a table for us in the food court.

I had to go to work then, and instead of a sensible dinner, I ate toast and jam. When I got home, there was leftover pizza. I know 3 slices is a lot, but it’s also a lot less than my usual 6, plus garlic bread. There were 5 slices of leftover pizza, but I only cooked the 3. I was still hungry, though and I said I wanted more and Beloved said “no you don’t” so I didn’t. I drank some water instead and I had a milk drink. I don’t want this to be all about deprivation, so that when (notice I said “when”) I get to my goal weight I decided to start eating “normally” again. I want this to be the new normal.

But it did feel good to say no.

So glad  you all liked the ahem decorative item on Friday’s blog. :-)  Utterly touched, BigProf, at you choosing one of my lines as inspiration. Thank you.

We buried some more bokashi today, and I planted 4 little rosemary bushes that have been living on my balcony. One of them was a cutting from my Aunty Helen rosemary. Aunty Helen was my favourite Aunty and I was so sad when she died. At her funeral we were each given a sprig of rosemary ah, Rosemary, that’s remembrance and I planted mine and it grew. I’m sad to say that Stella the maniac sheep went on a destructive (and possibly self-marinating) rampage in which Aunty Helen’s rosemary was destroyed, but luckily not before I’d broken a bit off and struck that as well. So it lives on. I have another self-sown strawberry in my balcony garden, and another self-sown kiwi fruit. The last kiwi fruit went really well until I planted it out and the dog dug it up. I have no idea why she dug it up, but I’m going to make sure this one fares better.

Now, the hole in my roof has a flue in it. We’ve had this fireplace in the corner of our loungeroom for years and been unable to entice a plumber to come and do this one little job. Fortunately for me, Beloved is as handy as they come and today was the day. He cut a hole in the roof, with me standing behind him on the ladder holding the vacuum cleaner up to the saw, the pair of us wearing breathing masks, as we think our roof is made of asbestos cement and we didn’t want asbestos dust and mesothelioma. Now we can finally use up all the firewood we have around the place, and a cosy open fire these winter evenings.

Here’s a lovely wintry picture of cottoneaster berries. They’re a noxious weed here, but they do look pretty.