In Retrospect - Third Quarter

Another 3 months down - I felt I was stagnating somewhat (for various reasons) for most of these 3 months, but I've had some forced forays out of the comfort zone in the last month or so.

Food.  My new favourite green thing is kale.  I now order it for every delivery.  So far it's only been cooked in stir fries so if there are recipe suggestions out there, speak up!  I've been a bit more creative with biscuit flavours too (even more since the previous biscuit post), and have more ideas up my sleeve.  And having milk (and now, fish as well) delivered weekly is wonderful.  I hardly need to go to a supermarket now!  Plus all that feel-good feeling of helping local farmers - what's not to like?!

Domestics - Indoors.  Just little things.  My brother's stereo has been at my place for ages, but I gave it back to him yesterday.  This means I have cleaner lines in that area (good) but no radio (not so good).  I downloaded an app but it appears to have problems in iOS 6...  The radio in my bedroom still works so that might just have to do me for now.  I bought different cleaning products last week, too - I'd run out but forgotten to reorder.  I really like this new variety (brand name 'method').  The new arrangement of the living room has stuck.  It is more open, and all the students and parents seem to like it more.  I guess it's staying.  And I have new pictures by the stairs (although some of them have fallen down - need bigger hooks).

Domestics - Outdoors.  Whoa - garden!  Some of my older outfit posts have photos taken in the courtyard, and you can see the jungle qualities present.  And the shade/lack of light.  Now, it is much barer, neater, sunnier.  Plus, I have green things growing and not just a few square metres of paving.  I like.  This has also brought back my gardening mojo (at least so far).  Fingers crossed for more edibles other than herbs. 

Me.  I feel I've had a bit of a makeover lately.  New hair, new glasses, new goals for life.  I've been contemplating that which was previously inconceivable.  And I've started doing things, like telling people if there's a problem, or asking people to sign a petition for something I believe is really important.

Other Little Things.  I actually downloaded iOS 6 for my phone - I feel like I have a new phone.  This was not a disaster.  I can now deal with chocolate that is not broken evenly (well, usually).  I am a bit more careful what I share on the internet.  You may have noticed the absence of Spending Reports - this is because I haven't bought any clothes or accessories for 3 whole months.  This began as a "let's see if I can do this" and now it's in that "how long can this go on" phase.  I even tried on a dress at my favourite Lifeline last week, but decided against it.  Having just seen my shoe collection en masse I suspect it's time for a wardrobe cull.  I've started ordering things online more.  It seems we've started a dinner party tradition with the group from church (we had one last night - they're fabulous!).  I started another blog.  I can run with far less brain preparation than before - and even do better than if I had more brain preparation.  Weird.  Oh, and I've been reading a book series out of order.  I've read them all before (I don't think I could have coped otherwise), but read #3, then #2, #4 and again #4 (couldn't sleep one night last week at the coast).  Blaming it on the library...

So, although parts of these 3 months have seen me huddled in a corner, I have changed a lot of my surroundings and person and way that I am. 

Monday's photo:

Dinner last night was indeed fabulous.  Dessert was all homemade of course - lemon tart with raspberry and lemon sorbets and (lactose-free) vanilla bean ice cream.

Today's photo:

I am very pleased with this pot of herbs.  The basil has had a resurgence recently, the parsley isn't dead, and the chives (newbies) are still alive.  The whole thing looks like an explosion of green.

The Glasses and the Hotspot

Over the last couple of years (in which I haven't had an eye checkup) I've noticed my eyesight deteriorating somewhat.  I'm not at the running-into-walls stage yet (except for this one time...) but I knew I needed a stronger prescription.  Last week, I had my first checkup in about 5 years.  Although the optometrist assured me that the deterioration was perfectly normal for that length of time, I still felt a bit low.  However, I decided to consider glasses as an extra accessory.  I've had a couple of pairs of glasses before now, which I wear to watch tv (especially the Simpsons) and read music when I'm tired or the light is poor or the print quality is not great.  The new pair came in at the end of last week, and I've slowly started wearing them more often.

On Sunday, I wore them to church.  For the first time.  Combined with the new haircut, a few people didn't actually recognise me.  I did enjoy being able to see people who weren't in the first 10 rows - it can be awkward meeting people who I've only just noticed but have been coming for months, and sometimes I get a shock thinking someone I wouldn't expect to see is there when it turns out to be someone totally different.  And it's really nice to be able to see again.  Unfortunately whenever I think that, I also think of a totally terrible joke.

The other news is I'm using my Personal Hotspot for internet right now.  About a year ago, a student came into her lesson very excited.  She was one of 3 sisters I taught in a row, so the mum would sit in the car with them while they had their lessons one after another.  One night, they'd discovered the Personal Hotspot in the iPhone - so you can use your phone's 3G to provide WiFi for other devices.  They showed me where to find it too (this girl dragged me to the car so we could find it) and tonight is the first I've actually made use of it.  Handy.