I have to be honest, writing this became a bit of a chore last year. There's only so much for me to talk about when you don't actually do anything. I'm sure it got quite boring for people reading it as well! Sorry about that!
So I thought I'd do a weekly round-up maybe, as I can't quit cold turkey! Except I have had no motivation to even write that!
So I figured I would write whenever the mood takes me and go from there! I'm sure you won't miss me too much!
So, what have I been up to? The honest truth - not a lot! Lots of cleaning, tidying and gymming! We are actually back at the gym and have gone every weekday morning (except Wednesday, of course) for the past two weeks! We also haven't been drinking since the 2nd Jan and so combined, we're feeling good! Except the usual aching from the gym, but that's good pain, allegedly, so can't complain!
My last mouthful of wine until at least Feb 14th! We may decide to stay off the booze longer but at the minute, 6 weeks is a good time for us! Plus I REALLY need to hoover the carpet!
The biggest thing for me, so far this year is that I have been able to smell and taste things a little! I know that sounds really weird but I normally have no sense of smell at all. Which therefore limits my sense of taste somewhat. I discovered this with what a lot of people would consider the best smell in the world. Cooked bacon.
I was only having cereal but I asked Paul to cook a rasher for me to see if I could taste it as well as smell it and I could!
This has continued from the 3rd or so to date! Two weeks of being able to smell stuff! It's a bit overwhelming! The downside of this is that I have REALLY bad sinus pain. I haven't had face ache like this since I had the operation on my nose nearly 4 years ago. Oh, and there are the nosebleeds. Epic nosebleeds. So you know what? It's not worth it. If they continue I guess I'll be going back to see Treebeard (the Ear Nose Throat specialist...see what I did there?) and see what he says. If they want me to have another operation, I will have to think about it. I don't think I want to go through all that again. Plus we watched a new episode of Big Bang Theory last night (my new go-to tv show as I haven't really watched it before) where Leonard has to have his deviated septum fixed. That's kinda what I need doing. Seeing his post-op look (even though fake) reminded me of how horrible it was, so I don't want to go through that again.
Yep - unattractive. Horrible. So I don't want to go through that again unless there was over 80% possibility that I would get my sense of smell back for good.
I am also wearing the same jumper as I type. I need new clothes. :)
Anyway, back to life.
We started looking for new healthy foods this month to try to save a bit of money and eat better. We (when I say 'we', I mean Paul) has been making 'Overnight Oats' every morning for the past couple of weeks for breakfast and they're...interesting!
They don't taste wonderful. They don't taste of much at all to be fair (that's not just my opinion, Paul agrees too) even with fruit in them but they keep both of us full until lunch time! No desire at all to snack on anything! So it's worth eating something blah!
They're oats in almond milk and fat free vanilla yogurt with chia seeds and a bit of cinnamon. Then leave overnight. Before eating, add whatever fruit you like (blueberries are my choice) and devour!
My Secret Santa gift arrived. I had an IOU on Boxing Day and sure enough, it came through the post!
A collection of kitty poetry! Lovely!
On the back of the gift tag...
£60 of free wine! When we're not drinking! Plus we're not new customers. Boo. I might give it to T if she manages to not drink all of January! There's an incentive!
So life ticks on in the Kirkham household. Seriously, nothing new to see here! The cats are fine as ever. Barney's very naughty at the minute, mostly in the early hours of the morning. Probably because he's hungry, but nowt we can do about that, pal. You're still on a diet!
They've both taken to the shelves for the first time in a long time. Probably because I've tidied them so there's space! Maia likes the shelf next to me on the sofa...
It's a good spot to get a cuddle or two from me, plus she can see what I'm eating and try to steal some!
Barney made space for himself on the other set of shelves, on one much higher up. I was a little afraid of the shelf buckling under him but it's fine. He knew he was being naughty but there he stayed for a little while. Naughty sausage.
Still, when he cuddles your hand while he sleeps, you can't stay too mad!
Yesterday I took a delivery of January's Cat Hampurr! I was quite excited about this! The kitties were equally excited!
Inside were a couple of different types of dried food (we will use a little treats so as not to overly dilute the light food they're on at the minute), some Thrive dried meat treats which they LOVE (but apparently stink!), a thick bag on catnip and a catnip toy. Which Maia couple wait to get her paws on!
I tried to get a pic of everything in the box. The cats would NOT let me. The lure of the nip is just too strong!
This is Freddie the Fish, from Beco Pets. It's made from recycled plastics and fully recyclable. Plus it's stuffed full of apparently excellent catnip. It made Maia drool so much, I had to put it to dry after about 10 minutes!
Barney approved of the nip.
I had to put the nip and the rest of the treats away, but of course, I couldn't deny them the box. Which was left unattended. The gorgeous purple tissue paper also became a toy in itself, however. Must have been in close proximity to the catnip!
Roly Poly Barney belly! There's shreds of purple all over the downstairs floor this morning. I think they've been trying to make catnip scented ticker-tape!
I get these boxes every other month. I am tempted to get them every month but I can't justify the expense at the minute. We'd also end up with a lot of food that may not be conducive to the cats losing weight! The up side of what we get in these boxes is that it's good quality food, rather than the cheap crap that they used to eat. So I know I'm not feeding them bad things, but the vet says diet so diet we must. They both seem to have more energy since being on their diet, which could be a combination of better food and also losing a few ozs. Long may it last! Playful Barney is a fairly regular occurrence, but playful Maia is a joy to behold! She's 9 next month, which I know isn't really old, but it doesn't happen very often so I need to make the most of it whenever I get chance!
So that's all really for me so far this year. Rather miserable, I know. We don't really have any other plans for the rest of the month either! Just cleaning, tidying etc. I am determined to be more house proud this year and actually complete some projects in the house I have wanted to do since I bought it. Which is nearly 7 years ago. Houses are expensive!
So I guess I'll see you soon! Maybe!
