My week off

I had a week off work last week. I’m very bad at using leave. Normally if I have a week off I spend the entire time trying to have a ‘proper rest’. The issue is that I’m not sure what I mean by a proper rest. Do I mean sitting and doing nothing? Curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and book? Meditating? Having cleared all the jobs on my list?

I never know what time to get up. Should I set a time for each day? Or force myself to go back to sleep? Should I go to bed later then usual?

I always come up with a ridiculous job list. Just like I always pack loads of paperwork to do on long journeys and then don’t bother to look at it. Just have the joy of moving it from A to B and back again.

So last week in change from the norm I was busy all day every day. I got up just after Dear Heart had left for work. Then I had breakfast. On a couple of days I went to my allotment first thing. On other days I stayed at home. Apart form clearing out the pantry none of the things I id were really major projects. Just day-to-day stuff like doing loads of washing, going through bank statements and washing the recycling boxes.

In between I relined my winter coat, hennaed my hair and packaged up all the Christmas gifts I have bought so far. I stopped for tea breaks and lunch breaks now and then, making sure I really enjoyed sitting down with my book and something warming for a quarter of an hour or so.

I didn’t plan my week to be like this it was just the way it turned out. But I didn’t feel exhausted or panicky or that I should have been making better use of my time once. I enjoyed being in the moment and undertaking the tasks I was doing.

My conclusion is that I don’t do very well at taking things easy. I like to be busy. My grandmother used to say that she was not made to be a lady of leisure. I found that I was so keen to get on with things that I didn’t want to go to bed. But I made myself go so that I could get a good start in the morning.

I’ve also often found that I snack all the time when I am on leave. Not so this time. I assume it was a combination of being occupied (and not bored) and stopping for regular breaks.

Strangely though I was less interested in looking at the Internet. I didn’t post here apart from the first day. I used twitter a lot less. I didn’t check any of the blogs that I regularly visit. I did use my computer in the evenings to type my nanowrimo instalments

I’m going to try and apply this process of getting up early and having lots of small tasks to do during the Christmas break. If it proves to be effective I should start January feeling fabulous.

The five a day diet

Back in 2005 the Guardian did a focus on healthy living (although I have no doubt that they've looked at the subject since). One piece challenged 3 volunteers to eat nine a day and see how they got on. Amit's comment really sums it up for me

"To fit in nine portions, you have to have breakfast, otherwise you end up with too much to eat later in the day. You have to drop the junk snacks, which I am fond of. You can't even think about a nice bag of crisps when you've still got an apple or a banana to eat on top of your lunchtime sandwich. "

Fitting in five a day has been on my mind recently. I was really very keen on a few years back when I looked at my (then vegetarian) diet and realised that I wasn't consuming much in the way of fruit and veg. After a few months I had gotten into the habit and stopped worrying abut it. However, I recently purchased Glamour (just for the Benefit lip gloss - this was before the days of The make up diet) and it had an article about five a day.

I realised to my horror that I had slipped. This was mainly due to eating more than five on some days and rather less on others. I got to work on making a few alterations to my diet and discovered that if you are eating your quota you don't have room for much else.

The problems of what a portion was has continued to plague me. I have a handy portion guide on the side of my fridge. However what do you do when you have a bunch of 18 radishes and (according to the chart) a portion in 10? Do you eat 9 on each occasion? Or 10 in one go and 8 later? Eat all 18? Buy more radishes? What exactly does a bowl of salad look like and how does a bowl translate into the square, deep container that I am putting my lunch in?

After faffing around with bowls and the like a simple solution presented itself. I would just weigh the stuff. My 8 radishes that I prepared as a snack for today turned out to be well over the required 80g. I rather suspect that yesterday's carrots were a great deal more than 80g.

So I'll carry on using the scales, work at that 5 a day and maybe (very unsure about this) try 6 a day at some point in the future. I do agree with Helen in the article though - eating this takes some planning! But do Iahve anything that much better to do???

Twas a cough that carried her off

I really do have the most frightful sounding cough. I'm really uncertain as to what the best remedy is. A hot toddy? Enchinacea? One of the homeopathic remedies that have seemed to do the trick in the past? Some kind of mustard poultice (one of my ancient household management type books must cover how to whip one up)?

I must say I'm feeling rather wobbly although less feverish than last week. My colleagues are suggesting that an afternoon nap would do me the world of good so I suppose I should go home before my barking gets me mistaken for a seal or a large dog and I get sent to the zoo/Battersea/Outer Hebrides.