I had an interesting night last night! I have been going to a “Biggest Loser” club in town – I need some motivation to shift these kilograms that seem to want to hang onto me. Anyway, the girl doing the talking was talking about labels and how you didn’t really need to read the labels when you were losing weight if you were doing “their program” (Herbalife) because if you just stuck to what they said, you’d be right. Not much help to me – I’m allergic to Soy, and their shake program is Soy based! She really didn’t have a clue what she was saying, yet she was standing up and lecturing other ladies on how to lose weight?
It got us to talking about oats and porridge for breakfast. Plain oats are much better than the instant type oats as they are less processed. BUT – they take 5 or 10 minutes to prepare. That’s 4 – 9 minutes longer than the quick style ones. I piped up and said that it didn’t have to be such an ordeal – you could soak your oats overnight in the milk or the water, they’d be parcooked overnight and then it would be much faster in the morning. One lady then proceeded to tell me that she was just too busy to be organised like that, and how hard it all was, so I then sat back in my (rather uncomfortable I might add) chair and just listened to what people were actually saying.
It got me thinking. Is it so hard being a bit organised? I work long hours, I start at about 7 and finish between 4.30 or 5.00 pm most days, with a half hour drive each side of that. In winter it’s dark when I leave, and dark when I get home. Is it so hard to spend a bit of time getting organised so that it saves you time in advance?
You all know that I’m a huge fan of my freezer. I’m always making yummies and sticking it in there, just to pull out later when I need it. I put sandwiches, curries, even a bit of leftover lemon juice or coconut cream or milk in there. You never know when you need that bit for something. You might spend an hour or two making sandwiches on a Saturday or a Sunday, but surely that’s better than spending half an hour each night making sandwiches every night of the week, when you’re already busy???
As I was listening to these ladies, I was having almost an out of body experience. Was I so organised, or what? I don’t think I’m particularly organised at all. I do know however that if I don’t have breakfast and lunch ready to go to work with me when I leave in the morning, I will have to buy both of them. Buying means leaving the factory by car which is such a pain in the arse! Maybe the alternative (buying) is so much more difficult that it makes the norm (getting organised and getting my lunch and breakfast ready the night before) the easier option?
As I was listening, and thinking, I also pondered how on earth I managed to have the time to be a bit organised at home? I work long hours, so does Ken. He doesn’t do a lot of the cooking – that’s my domain, because I just love doing it.
I make the time. Simple as that. I do a couple of jobs at the same time – I will be cooking the dinner and making enough for lunch the next day as well, and perhaps either making a sandwich or pulling one out of the freezer. Last night I cooked dinner while I folded up the washing that I’d brought in off the line and aired on the kitchen table. We don’t watch TV. Truly – we don’t watch TV often at all... Friday night I like Better Homes & Gardens and Escape to the Country, and Saturday night I love to watch Pete on the ABC at 6.30 pm (Gardening Australia – ok, Peter Cundall’s retired, but I still call it Pete). That’s all I know that’s on TV. The whole lot – don’t watch anything else, and I don’t always watch those shows either. The TV might go a couple of weeks or even (god forbid) a month without being turned on.
I don’t think it’s extreme. It’s just not what we do. Ken and I sit and talk to each other while I prepare dinner. He’s happy to chop or stir or whatever I ask while I do the rest, and it just happens. I don’t think it’s organised, it’s just how we work. That’s the way it is.
Maybe “being organised” is a state of mind, not a condition?
Sue & Richelle came over last night. Stripe got a bit over the top – she wouldn’t leave poor Richelle alone. I had to rescue her. (Richelle that is!!!)
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| Stripe's comfortable. Not so sure about Richelle though! |
I have had an eventful morning also today. I took the recycling and the garbage out to the bins on the street because today’s bin day, and discovered that one-eyed Kermit was still under the handle of the recycling bin. I couldn’t leave him there – he would have wound up in the truck! So – I wet my fingers and removed him to the back yard. Then I was coming round the corner to the front of the house, and found a better home for him, so I went back to the back yard and got him and popped him in the plant at the front of the house. Much better! Might see if I can catch something tonight for him to eat – I don’t know if he’s eaten much lately at all, seeing as he’s been living under the wheelie bin handle for a few days!
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| One-eyed Kermit. He looks like he's winking at us! |
Then, having moved house (twice) for the frog, I went to work. At the one lane bridge between me and Cooran, they seem to be doing some bridge repairs, and there’s a Stop/Go man on one end and a woman on the other end.
They stuffed up. I was allowed to go and because they’d pulled me up quite a distance short of the give way line, I couldn’t see what was around the corner, but I assumed that the Stop/Go peoples had their shit sorted. They didn’t. Woman on the other end let a car go through, even though man on my end had let me go. Because they’d pulled me up around the corner, I was doing about 40 kph when I reached the bridge, and saw that there was another car on the bridge as well. Put the brakes on. Actually, slammed the brakes on, and then given that I was actually on the “give way” end of the bridge (despite there being stop/go people supposedly in control) I backed off the bridge. I then vented my spleen at the man who’d let me go and again at the woman on the other end. Told them that if they had a job to do, take it seriously and do it otherwise get off our bridge and let us regulate the traffic according to the give way sign. They could have killed someone in a head on collision! Grrr.....
Okay – vent over. Day is good – it’s bright and sunny, and all is well with the world. (**breathes deeply.....)
