There is a hard frost this morning, well there would be wouldn't there, it is still officially Winter and it is the UK. The time now is 7.36am and already we have had car horns blasting and engines being revved up. Over these last couple of years two VERY undersirable families have moved in opposite and they just do not give a damn about anyone....it starts with self respect, clearly something these people do not have!!

I woke up at just before 5.00am to go to the loo. My husband gets up at 5.30am so inevitably I wasn't able to doze back off. When my hubby got up I jumped under the shower, I wanted to get ahead of myself this morning...plenty to do.

After I kissed my hubby bye I finished off getting sorted and then downstairs to the first thing on my menu.....♫DUM DUM DUUUUM♫....OH DEAR! The lemon and ginger shot....oh my! I remember a few days ago when I first tried the lemon and ginger shot.....it was horrendously face scrunching and knee wrenching but I decided I couldn't dismiss it after just drinking it once.

I went into the kitchen and grabbed the lemon, citrus juicer, chopping board, knife, ginger and grater. I cut the lemon in half and juiced that, then I cut, peeled and grated the ginger on the microplane grater and squeezed with all my might to get as much juice from the ginger as I could straight into the glass; I got quite a bit. I gave it a stir and brought the glass to my face....i'll sniff it first I thought, YUCK..OH! actually it smells like lemon...as it should. I took a sip with my face already scrunched up in anticipation that I was not going to be able to stomach it, first thought was...YEUUK - only because I was expecting to taste it the same way I did the first time.....mmmmm actually, it's alright, I took a gulp - not too bad, I took another gulp, or what I felt was a gulp...it was a big lemon :) - a tad cringy, I took that last bit - WOOoo - the last bit was a little more cringy again but not bad at all and it is doing me such a lot of good! I will drink it again tomorrow morning. Come to think of it, I have NEVER liked fresh ginger...heehee

After drinking the lemon and ginger shot I went into the livingroom but then went back into the kitchen for a drink of water, just a little thing I do after drinking any citrus because the citrus can damage teeth, anyway, when I went back into the kitchen all I could smell was fresh cut roses, strange thing is, I don't have any fresh cut roses in my home...ummm so I am putting the lovely smell down to the fresh lemon and ginger...NICE!

My Food Today:

7.30am Lemon & ginger shot

Feelings

Forward

Housework

Back later today.

What is it with my post two days ago? I have had a huge influx of hits on that post; 'Late Night Early Morning'.

Today had been rather quiet with me having a morning nap. I didn't hear a thing when I was asleep, not my phone ringing or Adam coming home...nothing! I must have needed a nap, maybe it was down to being more active the day before...I don't know.

I haven't eaten a great deal today, just not one of those hungry days :) I have made progress on my menu plans which I can put into force as of tomorrow, might be a good thing actually for a few reasons: I will eat more and not allow myself to get overly hungry and end up eating processed rubbish :)

Feelings
Very tired but felt great after a sleep. When I get too tired my visions isn't the best (I do wear glasses) probably the same for everyone actually.
I am feeling more focused and starting to get more into my routines again but slow and steady wins the race and by that I mean that I am not making myself go all out on all my routines, I am slowly adding them in, just bits at a time.

Forward
Start following my menu plan. I will probably end up altering things as I go along with what fits into my life.
Must do a big grocery shop this week! Love that!!

My food today:
7.00am Banana
1.30pm 2 Bananas and 1tb of Whole Earth peanut butter (no sweeteners)
4.00pm Half a slice of a crust of bread spread with margarine...not good!
7.30pm Custard cream biscuits....NOT GOOD AT ALL!

See what I mean about not eating enough and allowing the processed rubbish to creep in and especially as the day is coming to an end? SO! I am doing something about it and I have finally started my menu plans....that is the way to do it!!

Housework today:

• Laundry....a daily thing
• Clean bathroom inc loo
• Clean downstairs loo
• Clean a radiator (yesterday job)
• Clean 1 kitchen cupboard (will have to do tomorrow)

I am feeling a slight soreness in my body from the housework exercise, I'm not complaining, it is a good thing, it means I have moved my body more that usual...WooHoo!

I am planning on incorporating my beauty routine into my days as of tomorrow :)

Well, I think that is all for today. I will be back tomorrow.

I started the day off really well with raw BUT because I wasn't organised....YET! I didn't go raw all day.
I am going to have a look through my favourite raw meals and plan what to have for tomorrows meals. I STILL haven't done a menu plan....I NEED TO GET ORGANISED!!

My food today:
11.30am Banana
1.30pm Banana
2.30pm Persimmon
4.00pm A bought salad which consisted of chicken and bacon and a dressing...TUT!
7.00pm Banana
8.15pm 6 Crumpets, toasted and local honey

I had rather a productive day today and I succeeded in getting nearly everything done that I planned to do, except for cleaning the kitchen radiator which I will do tomorrow, so no problem there.

Housework

• Clean 1 window, inside and out.
• Clean 1 window blind. (I cleaned the worst blind in the whole house; kitchen blind)
• Clean 1 radiator.
• I also cleaned the patio doors inside and out which is one of tomorrows jobs.
• I also done 3 loads of laundry

Tonight  after all my jobs were done I coloured my hair, I used a slightly lighter colour which might help as the grey roots come through again, I am hoping that they wont be as noticeable as quickly because of being slightly lighter...time will tell.

Feelings
Feeling good about getting most things done and especially that my grey is now covered...I feel I look younger again :)
Feeling a tad let down with myself for not being orgainsed...must do better!

Forward
Get organised..plan!

Well that is me for today, short and sweet but I will be back tomorrow.

The last time I looked at the clock last night it was 2.38am and I was still awake, that is rapidly becoming the norm. 
I was up and showered at 10.00am this morning. I came downstairs and decided to eat custard cream biscuits, quite a lot of them, I felt a tad sickly after them....bleurgh. For our evening meal my family insisted that they only wanted chips from the chippy...AGAIN! As you can imagine, I was not happy about that but I let them talk me into it and also to me having yet another bag of chippy chips with batter sprinkled over them.

This afternoon whilst in Asda my middle son, Adam bought me a present of a bag of giant Milky Buttons, these are one of my weaknesses. I didn't eat them straight away which made him feel that I wasn't happy with them, which of course I was very happy at his thoughtfulness, they were a present from my son, so after eating chippy chips I proceeded to eat the bag of Milky Buttons and now I feel like a big fat pig!!
I have insisted that although I appreciate all they do and want to do for me they are helping me more by letting me eat as much raw as possible because that makes me feel better. If that still doesn't work then I am going to flatly refuse to eat processed foods any more!

A healthy grocery shop

I write the day of purchase on some of the packets that don't have it on so I always know how fresh it is.

I also bought hair colours; L'oreal Excellence crème 2 for £8 at Asda at the moment. 
My hair has an easy inch of grey growth, I don't think I have left it this long between colourings before. 
After I have done my housework and taken down my kitchen blind and cleaned that and the window I am then going to colour my hair.

Feelings
I am feeling constipated again, and heavy, and I have also noticed over these last two days that I can't seem to get my words out properly.

Forward
Better eating tomorrow and beyond. Back to routines hence that I am going to clean my kitchen blind and window. I am hoping to start my exercise on Monday, commencing with Slim in 6.

Nighty Night

I had a lie in this morning until about 10.30am. My husband doesn't work on Fridays so we can have a lie in.

I am going to make some nut butters today, and later I want to make some more jewellery, oh! And of course do some housework, other than that nothing else is happening today.

I will pop back later, even with the slightest update.

*UPDATED*
It is now 7.35pm and I am here to end my day. I have a headache coming on...boohoo, but first I want to say that I didn't have the lemon and ginger shot this morning because since drinking the shot yesterday morning I have had to visit the bathroom a tad too often yesterday and today...TMI - I want things to settle down before I try another shot, it will also be good to see that when I have another lemon and ginger shot if it again sends me to the bathroom because it is detoxifying or if it is a coincidence and is due to something I ate, or maybe I have picked up a bit of a tummy bug, having said that, I do confess to eating chippy chips and a small bar of chocolate this evening, so I suppose I am well enough to eat the wrong foods for my body.
I did eat two YUMMY persimmons this morning. I always start the day off good but then as the day progresses I tend to go off track. I SERIOUSLY NEED to get on and create my menu plan!!!

Feelings
I am feeling more tired now since eating the rubbish for my evening meal and like I said above I have a headache coming on and I am feeling achey in my neck which could be down to the headache though.

Anyway, that is me for today and I WILL be back tomorrow and back on track!

I am still very much a novice at this jewellery making, only recently I have been getting into creating jewellery on a more regular basis.

Here is my latest few jewellery items. I have a lot to learn and especially with rings, as you will see.

When I am good at making jewellery then I will list them on Etsy or Ebay. I will have to check if I need any type of insurance first to be able to sell hand made jewellery.

Today I made a lemon and ginger shot; neat lemon juice and fresh ginger juice....OH MY! Did that make me knee bend up when that was going down....OOOOWEEEEE - how DTM drank a huge jar of neat lemon juice, I will never know.  I am going to try to persevere and try a detox with this. I started to feel refreshed soon after drinking it, but then....OH DEAR! Shortly after that went down I was in that bathroom :\  I have also had to blow my nose a lot today since drinking the lemon and ginger juice....It certainly seems good for detoxing :)

My cat was poorly this last month, for the month but over this last week she is much better and ruling the roost AGAIN :) Below you can see she is totally relaxed. She needs grooming also and I normally groom her when she is lying down, she just loves it.

Below my son, Adam started grooming Princess..Oh! And she is Princess by name and Princess by nature....she is spoilt rotten :)

I am going to be posting daily again and getting more and more on track with EVERYTHING!!

BACK TOMORROW!! 

WOW! How quickly did that go by?!....AMAZINGLY QUICKLY!!

Just a quick update as it is now 9.07pm. I am feeling REALLY good and HAPPY and I have been all last week and still am, something is changing in my mind, not sure what but it is! I have been making jewellery, making new recipe's and keeping on top of things in general....I LOVE IT!!!!!

I will be back either later tonight or tomorrow morning with my latest jewellery creations.

Well, I bought some new batteries for my Fitness watch, so that is now all sorted for exercise and walking.

I received my raw food haul from Raw Living and Indigo Herbs

I succeeded in crushing the kale chips into tiny little pieces :( Oh Dear!

I also received a parcel today for 'Slim In 6', not for the diet plan AND exercise but for the exercises, I will have to be careful with my knees but this routine looks pretty good. I intend to continue doing our morning walks also.

One other little thing I purchased recently are jicama seeds. We can't buy jicama here in the UK so I am going to try my hand at growing these. The seeds were quite pricey at £5 + for seven seeds but hopefully it will be worth it, bearing in mind, I am not green fingered...oops! I will have to Google it :)
And that is pretty much the end of my hauls of late until whenever.

I still need to sort out a raw menu plan for myself.

Today has consisted of mainly housework. I am rather tired today so I am thinking an early night might be in order.

Back tomorrow peeps! :)

I have been trying to upload these photos since Friday evening but they just would not upload, so I asked my youngest son to upload them through his computer and they went on...woohoo. I think the problem is with my computer :(

We done our big grocery haul and I also had a bit of a shopping spree on Friday (Valentines Day) and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I don't have spending spree's often.

Above, New bedding....BEAUTIFUL!

I bought new lined curtains for my livingroom. I have hung them and they are GORGEOUS! So much better than our previous livingroom curtains.

I also spotted milk bottles with stoppers that I am going to use for my nut milks.

New tea, coffee and sugar containers. The LED lights are for my conservatory. My husband attached them just along the edge of the ceiling of our conservatory, they are SOOO pretty in the dark and a nice delicate feature.

A turbo brush for cleaning awkward little spaces, and lots of other bits and pieces.

Haul

Back later with todays photos and update.

February already! :) I popped out this morning because I wanted to buy a couple of pairs of trousers. These trouser aren't expensive but very comfortable and great for walking in. I bought a size 20 and a size 18...amazing because the bigger the clothes the more they cost; the size 20 was £7 and the size 18 was £6...another good reason to lose weight; clothes are less expensive because less fabric is used in making them, it is a bit prejudice against the larger lady.

After going into town for my trousers my husband and I went along to Asda for some groceries. I still have some groceries to put away but for now I am here typing this. My hubby is at our eldest son, Michael's home helping him with his motorbike. My hubby will be bringing our eldest grandson, Michael back with him because little Michael stays here every Saturday until Sunday night :)

I hunted my Fitness watch out which I am going to use when we do our daily walks.

I actually bought this in 2009 and have never really used it but come Monday it will be upon my wrist :)
Oh! By the way, myself and my youngest son, James done our walk again on Thursday...WhooHoo! So that was 4 days in a row of walking...WooHoo.

I am hoping to get some raw goodies made. I was looking up Larabar recipes yesterday which I will be making, and hopefully some kale chips and crackers etc.

I took some body measurements yesterday which I will post along with weights, I will do that later today or tomorrow.

That is me for now. I might be back later today or tomorrow.

This is the third day of doing the walk and I have to say that it felt more painful on the legs, my shins were very sore but I did not give in and we walked the full distance, and then some :) not much more but possibly an extra 1/4 mile.

I had a banana for my pre walk snack. I haven't had anything else yet but juicing is on my menu for today, or most of the day.

Yep, I was up bright and early and out the house at 6.55am and walked the same walk :) It felt harder this morning because my legs were already sore from yesterday, but walked it I did :) AND GUESS WHAT? I'm doing it again tomorrow morning!

I am thinking of drinking juices and smoothies tomorrow, actually I am thinking of drinking juices because I can never think of what to eat except for salads. I have stacks of raw food recipe books and DVD's but for some reason always end up eating salad...SOOO! What I am going to do is create a menu plan for me. I am also going to choose some things that I want to make over this coming weekend and get some things into that good ole dehydrator; crackers, kale chips and maybe make some things for the freezer. 
Russell James' course has a module on meal/menu planning, a good place to start me thinks.
Creating the menu plan will take me a day or two but when I have it sorted I will blog it here.

I love having plans, rota's and being organised! I love to know whats what.

I confess to taking a 2 hour nap after my walk this morning, I hate napping but it was needed :)
Nothing really to report about today, infact, these last two days have been rather quiet.

Thankyou to Serenity Love Sincere Peace Earth  for your very kind and encouraging comments, I truly appreciate them :)

I will be back tomorrow, as quiet as it may be :)

I was out walking at about 7.15am this morning with my youngest son, James. We walked about 2 miles, pretty good going considering I haven't done any kind of lengthy walk for a few years. Within a few seconds of getting back I could feel it in my legs and small of my back....I MUST BE SOOO UNFIT!
We are going to do this walk of 2 miles about 3 - 4 morning per week :)
It was still dark when we went out this morning and just starting to get light as we got back.

After getting back from our walk I got changed and then I made myself a smoothie consisting of: pineapple, banana, coconut water and a pear...YUM!

*Updated*
I stayed raw all day and ended on a salad for my evening meal.

Back tomorrow :)

Oh! Yes I am. I am because I am getting back on track as of tomorrow, Friday 17 January 2014...WooHoo

I done our big grocery shop yesterday, Wednesday so I am well stocked and for some reason excited:)

I placed a small order to 'Detox Your World' on Wednesday which arrived today; 24 hour delivery...FABULOUS!

I also received, 'Shazzie's Detox Delights' recipe book for free...so nice of them AND that's not all! I received a voucher code from 'Detox Your World' for £15 off my order...WOW! How absolutely LOVELY of them!!
I have one friend voucher code for anyone that wants to use it. I think it can be use internationally. This code will have to be used by January 31st. Let me know in the comments if you would like it!

Tomorrow I am going to have Tomato and Basil soup. I bought the soup from Costco. It has no preservatives in it AT ALL! Which is good and it is a good gentle introduction back to raw.

Thankyou to Serenity Love Sincere Peace Earth  for your lovely comment. I have left a reply in my comments. I did try to leave a comment on your blog but it wouldn't let me (
Thankyou again xo :)

I am going to be blogging daily now!

Back tomorrow.

I started today with a banana and date smoothie.

A lot has been happening and I was trying a different eating plan which is good and it was good for my loo stops...TMI :( but I just can't keep away from trying to be raw, so here I am again! :)

Okay then, I turned 48 years old last week and also last week I was told that my sister-in-law died BUT! I wasn't told until nearly a week later...yep! That is what my family are like with me and I am done with the lot of them.

*WARNING RANT* AND I DON'T CARE ANY MORE!
WHEN I WAS YOUNGER TO NOW
My mother wouldn't buy me sanitary protection when I was young, I had to pinch my sisters and then I had to ask my boyfriend for money for them...that boyfriend is now my husband of nearly 32 years.

She used to take the shower fuse out of the electrics so I had to have cold showers, and this went on for YEARS! Until I left. My siblings had hot showers. Often I would catch them in the shower with all that gorgeous steam billowing from the shower. Mother would then take the shower fuse back out and keep it in her bag.

Mother actually put padlocks on the food cupboard, fridge and freezer and said it was because I was eating 6 loaves of bread a week...I was never in and I was losing weight at the rate of knots because I was never in, I had just started going out with my boyfriend (husband) and he was more important, as they are! :) but she accused me...AGAIN!
Of course my brother had a key to the locks and my siblings were allowed to get the key from Mother. 
Who could possibly eat 6 loaves of bread a week anyway??!! When I did get in in the evening she had made the evening meal but she always ate half of what there was on my plate, so of course I was losing weight; I couldn't get into the food cupboard or fridge for breakfast, I didn't get given lunch money and she ate half my evening meal.

Mother said to me years ago after I was married, "I only come to visit you out of duty" and those are the exact words.

After I was married, when I was only 16 years old and yep! I married young and nope! I wasn't pregnant, anyway, I received a letter from the solicitor to collect my cheque for £600 for compensation for an injury I got, excited I phoned my Mother and her very words were, "Linda, you get that cheque and I want nothing more to do with you".

She walked away with a dinner service and a pressure cooker from my Wedding presents on my Wedding day.

Mother buys my siblings Christmas etc presents but not for me or my little family.

She lived 45 miles away and whenever she visited she charged me £5 for her petrol. My Dad worked away and Mother would always make sure she took the £5 visit petrol money from me when my Dad wasn't around.
These are just a few things...there are a lot more!!!!

When I told my Dad about some of these things, the way she used to treat me he was furious. When all of this was going on my Dad was completely oblivious to it ALL! I never spoke to my Dad about it at the time.

My Dad phoned my hubby about a year before my Dad passed and apologised to my hubby for not knowing about this and if he had known he would have done something about it.
About a year before my Dad passed away was when I told my Dad about these things.

My siblings go to London to watch shows and stay in a hotel and don't invite me.
My siblings and their husbands all go on holidays together, BBQ's together, parties etc and never invite me or mine.

My Mother re-married and told me and my hubby to wait at her house rather than us go to her Wedding. Mother accused me of going through her private papers, I just WOULDN'T DO THAT! But to be accused :(

A few months ago Mother was talking about a kitchen fire we had when I was little, I asked how it started and she replied, "I'm not sure, I think it was you who started it!" and then her husband chipped in and said, "just blame, Linda" ....AMAZING!

I had a pulmonary embolism when I was 24 years old and when one of my Aunts (who took my gran to the hospital) walked in she said, "I don't know why everyone is sad, none of us like her"......shocking! Isn't that awful?
My sister told me about this when I was finally awake but still in intensive care because my sister was in the waiting room when my Aunt walked in and said that....amazing what some folk are like. I was clinically dead when I had the pulmonary embolism and that is what folk say....NOICE!!
Mother came into the intensive care room and all I could hear was her moaning on about her problems....talk about blood boiling, I was ready to try and shout, "someone get her Out OF HERE!!"

The recent is my brothers wife falling ill on the 1st January but I get told about it on the 5th January, nearly a week later and it was my sister that told me and she said, "I just want to keep you in the loop, Linda but"....) and those were her very words and she kept saying, keeping me in the loop.....like I was some work colleague.
Mother finally rang me to tell me about it on the 6th January....who am I?!?!?! Just someone they know!!! And this has finally made me accept it.
I love to bury my head in the sand and not accept things but I am on my way to 50 years old when am I going to realise if I don't accept it now BEFORE I am 50?!

There is loads more but I wouldn't have the space on blogger to list it all.
My husband calls me, Mushroom...he said because I am kept in the dark and fed with shite....sorry about the swear word!!

I truly don't know why they are all like that with me but I am not a glutton for punishment anymore as Mother once told me, "Linda, you are a glutton for punishment"......ummmm

Nighty Night.

BACK TOMORROW WITH A HAPPY RAW LIFE!!!