Thanks to the current run of disgustingly hot days, I've done some work on my Old School Is Cool cross stitch from CloudsFactory. As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't have all the floss colours required for this project, so I purchased the ones required online. Now, this isn't a whinge about paying for postage because I have no issue whatsoever with that, it's a bit of a whinge about the size of the parcel!
So I purchased nine skeins of floss from Spotlight. Now unless you're ordering a huge amount of floss, it pretty much weighs nothing, however, it arrived in a 3kg bag!!!! Not only did the postage cost almost as much as the contents, but nine skeins could have been posted in a much, much smaller bag. Apart from the ridiculous price of postage, imagine how many people aside from myself are purchasing floss online from Spotlight and are being posted this size bag, which is then thrown into general rubbish and goes into landfill! In the future, I'll no longer be ordering floss from Spotlight unless I'm purchasing other items which require a box that can be recycled.
Rant over, onto my progress. I've finished one out of five cassette tapes and started a second. I still haven't decided what titles I'll put on them as yet, but as those are backstitch and I leave that until the very end, I've still got plenty of time to think about it.
This is my first-time stitching on opalescent aida and I'm not sure I'll stitch on it again. You can't see the sparkles in the photo, but they're there. Some of the sparkles are also over the holes and create some resistance on the needle and to the floss. The aida itself also has a sticky feeling, liked it's coated with hairspray... Who knows? Maybe by the time I finish, the feeling will no longer be an issue for me.
Our new Annette Sym - Symply Too Good To Be True recipe books arrived as well, we also ordered the Healthy Snack Bible and for some reason, it was missing from the order, so I've emailed them about this. Apart from this book being missing, the newly revised editions are great! Both the photos and instructions are clearer, and the nutritional information tables have extra information as well. So if you're wanting to change your diet as well as controlling your portion sizes, I can't recommend these books enough!
My poor, poor blog! Only one post last year and none in 2016! What can I say? 2017 kept me busy and quite preoccupied. I plan on making a more concerted effort this year to blog. Trust me, there were many times last year when I wanted to blog, however, I chose not to as I didn't want to commit to re-starting when I wasn't sure I could follow through lol
So committing to this blog for 2018 isn't a new years resolution, I don't do those lol I do however set goals!
So what are some goals for this year? Well, my first two are:-
1) Making an effort to write posts for this blog even if they're about absolutely nothing (just so the blogosphere knows I'm still alive and kicking because I know you all fret when I'm not about lol) :)
2) Lose weight. Yeah I know this starting to sound like a resolution lol It isn't! I've never been one to be overweight in the past, but I am now and changes have to be made. I'm not talking about going on a diet because diets are temporary and "fadish", I'm talking about making a sustainable lifestyle change (to quote a friend). I'll add more goals as I go along, that's the difference between goals and resolutions, they're not set in concrete, they can be added, changed or removed completely.
How am I planning on my lifestyle change? Well, prior to owning the shop my wife and I used to cook from Annette Sym cookbooks. Somewhere along the line we cooked less of her food and ate more junk or became a little blase with our diet. The long hours of owning the shop - I believe had quite a bit to do with this.
We own books 1-7 of the original versions and they were all revised at the end of last year, so yesterday we purchased the full set of the revised editions. You're probably wondering what's so special about her books? They're no fuss recipes, the ingredients used aren't obscure - use them once and push them to the back of the pantry type ingredients, each recipe has a Nutritional Information Table, there's a wide range of cuisines, they contain recipes for snacks, breakfast, lunch, dinner, sweets, cakes, drinks, etc. Last but not least, her books are endorsed by Diabetes Australia.
I think one of the problems today surrounding food and diets is that there's so much information at our fingertips online. The issue is that it isn't all correct! Everyone wants a quick fix and that's what so many of the fad diets promise. To be healthy, it just takes a bit of common sense. For our body to function correctly, it needs to be nourished properly. Forget the low fat, high fat, no sugar, high protein, no protein diets. They're simply not sustainable! Look at portion control and eating a wide variety of veg, fruit, protein etc. As well as getting up off your butt and moving a bit more. Food is the fuel that powers your body, a cliche I know, but it's true. For the record this isn't a sponsored post, just my experience in using Annette Sym's "Too Good To Be True" recipe books. If you're interested in what she has to offer, there are some sample recipes on her website.
Okay, I'm outta here! I'll catch you next time!
