Oh My Goodness......

Oh my goodness more snow! Thank goodness it was just a light dusting but its very depressing now when we see it falling. All the air expels from the body in a very low groan. We are forecast a bit more but hoping that it won't materialise! The ground is pretty muddy which means a house full of mud, from the dogs. So now we have mud & soot. Yep just can't wait for the spring!

Oh my goodness, Mini is on heat & feeling low. Bless her she is so much better this time. She is still eating really well & enjoying chasing & playing in the garden but mainly sleeping in front of the fire. She has commandeered the dog bed where normally she curls up on the sofa. When Kammi gets in the bed Mini stands over her trying to bully her out, doesn't work so well now as Kam is suddenly a lot more confident.

Oh my goodness, I have put on sooo much weight during winter. I have been needing to diet for the last two years. I have gained a lot quicker, since giving up smoking, & now its become a mountain to climb, but I will do it. I want to feel sexy again but also I need to be healthy again, I am suffering & this is not a good thing when you are past mid life. I don't know about others but I still feel inside like I am 25! My body lets me down in being able to enjoy & I have had enough of feeling ugly & having no clothes that look good anymore. All dieters both men & women will tell you we have to want to do it for ourselves not for partners & people calling us names. One ex friend I had loved to tell me how enormous I was, over & over all day long. even Nigel had to have a word with her, without me knowing, & he is not confrontational unless pushed big time! Said ex friend couldn't wait to tell me & proceed to make it a big thing about how fat I was lol, sad really that people feel it necessary to put others down to make themselves feel better. Good job I handle humiliation well outwardly.
So I am now ready for climbing the mountain of weight loss & fitness. I do eat healthily mainly. I just enjoy lots of coffee with sugar & the occasional cake. The worst is enjoying baking. How will I cope? Everything will be drained of fat & I will be baking my own version of low fat cakes that I can count in my diet. I follow Slimming world, its fantastic if you have a large appetite, which we do & love naughty but nice treats again which we do!
Watch this space, D day is Monday 12th March!!!!

Oh my goodness We had such fun mixing it up with the Bulgarians on Ladies day. What a great night they put on in the pool restaurant. I call it that as I don't know the name & it has a swimming pool in the front that we go to in the summer, this year I will be using it to tone up Woop!!!! The best exercise! Anyway, the place was packed solid. We were very fortunate that they had one table that wasn't booked for the night. We had started at the Venesia in Polski T, but all the tables were booked ahead of time, unheard of!!! So off we went all dejected & what are we going to do? I said I would just cook us dinner but Nigel was very determined so stopped on the off chance. We walked into an empty restaurant, bar one table, but all the rest were laid up. I did not want to go in but was really pleased we did as there was just one table (for 6) that was available. We were very happy. I like this place, the girls are helpful & the food is nice. It is a proper Bulgarian place, the staff do not speak English & the menu is only in Bulgarian with no photo's. We enjoy the challenge of ordering & working out the Cyrillic. We ended up with Shopska salata x 2 (I did try for a Russian salata but they didn't have it), Chicken Kavarma & a pork Kavarma Potatoes & pikolitos with garlic & cheese. Very nice it was too. The only thing we did not enjoy was the dessert which was pancakes filled with choc. We came to understand there was no ice cream to have with it & ended up with jam spread over the top :-( I think we could have both coped with that except it was stone cold which made the whole thing very unpleasant! Mind you this has not put us off going as it would some people as we know it was due to them being so busy. The great thing about Bulgarian restaurants is the atmosphere, they really know how to have a good time. They all get up to dance, it will start with a couple or 4 from one table dancing traditionally holding hands in a circle. Then a couple from another table will join in then another, well you get the idea. In the end the whole restaurant is full of people dancing while holding hands of a stranger, BRILLIANT!
 
Oh my goodness garden fun is on its way. We are trying to organise what to do & where. First we inherited some wine barrels when we bought this house Yipee! So Nige is/has cut them in half & painted the metal bands. We will stain the wood & bring it back to its gorgeousness & then we have to decide where to put them & do we fill with fruit bushes or flowers???? We have a new Peach tree to plant & 2 each of blackberry & Raspberry bushes. I also have wild flower seeds & I just can't make up my mind what to plant in them? We have said Yovo can have 500 m2 land out the back to plant potatoes & we will use the other 500 m2 (not sure on the m2, but you know what I mean) we will have a third of his spuds as the water bill will be ours, I can live with that :-)

Our barrels, just wait till you see the transformation

Oh my goodness, so much work to do. I have been devastated by the work that needs to be done, not just normal clean up here oh nooooo, this is Bulgaria not suburbia! Every year we know we will be faced with 2,000 m2 of weed growth, weeds that grow to over 6' tall, bind weed, chick weed & lots of other invasive weeds. There are weeds that leave stalks which look like bamboo cane. We have an understanding now, it took a while, but every area which is not used for growing veg or flowers is cut down with the brushcutter. This then ends up looking like a grassy area & is a lot cheaper than paving. The pool area is being created this way, the front too until we can afford to pave it. It will need to be paved as our door opens right into the garden & in the summer its a dust pool. In the rain it is a mud bath & the dogs just ruin the flowers so something has to be done once we have the finances, off course! The barns need attention, the stone walls need repairing after the snow & there is a wall which is next doors but acts as part of our boundary which is collapsing. They are away so we have to repair it before we end up open to all & sundry!

A lovely Chicken Korma that I can have as part of my diet woop!

Right I am off to sort out recipes for my diet, Slimming world alla Joanna as I cannot buy half the staples used in UK, which makes it a little more difficult but very interesting. I think its the fresh cooking & coming up with ideas that keeps me on track. I do wish I could buy fat free fruit fromage frai Muller lite yoghurts & 0% Greek yoghurt which I love!!!!! Right off in search of slimming world baking recipes!