Jo, that lady you described doing the home cooking sounds like a weight loss program we've got here called Lite'N'Easy. Basically you order the meals you want based on the program they provide, and it gets delivered to you. Unfortunately it ends up quite expensive. For someone like myself, who's got such a tight budget, I don't have the money to blow my stardard budget just on those meals alone, let alone all the fresh fruit and veg, household goods etc. Marc is cooking slices such as brownie and caramel slice, biscuits etc. My mum is involved in a "hobby" shop that sells all homemade stuff, such as clothes, wallets, lamps, kids toys etc, and she provides cakes etc. Because at Christmas it gets quite busy, financially Marc can do quite well. This is only temporary, and he'll have to seriously start looking for another job after Christmas. What we'd like to do, which is just starting to become quite popular, is in-house catering. Where you go to someone's house and do the cooking for them when they've got people over. The ideal thing is that you could cater to each person's budget - if they don't have a lot of money, you could just cook the food and leave it for them to serve. However, as a person's budget increases you can start to do more for them - set up the table, serve the food, wash the dishes after, etc etc.
I've heard that it can take more that 48 hours to readjust, so you hang in there. Remember that you are eating in a way that is not "normal", but a chance to cleanse your body, so it is bound to be difficult. But hopefully it will show positive results!
We don't have grouse and stuff, but we do eat turkey at Christmas time. I think it gets farmed. We've got it in the shops, but it's not really in demand until Christmas. We have it with the roast pork as part of Christmas dinner. My favourite is my grandma's turkey soup! She's promised to pass down the recipe to me so I can make it in the future for the family. Problem is I might start making it all year round it's so nice!
This time of year is beginning to become rather full-on. I've just had my birthday, Josh is about to have his, then it's Christmas, then Marc's birthday in Jan, and Bec's in Feb!!!! My budget is begging for mercy! We've made a list of what we're getting everyone, and we're going to buy one present a week to space it out a bit more. Josh is asking for lots of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. He's been a big fan for ages, but went off them for a while, but now he's fully into them again. Really good because it would be a shame for his set to go to waste, but difficult cos the stuff's so darn expensive! Luckily we don't have to worry about Bec too much this year - a couple of empty boxes in bright crinkly wrapping paper will do her!
Do you guys watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? It's hilarious! We just wish we had a team like that here. Our house, and my husband, could do with a makeover!!!! That's why I want this garage sale. I've decided "out with the old, and in with the not-so-old!" Because we're renting, we can't paint or anything, but we can at least have nice furniture!!! Part of the problem is the house is small, but we make do. We went and had a look at a few second-hand shops today to see how much stuff is. We want to buy a couple of wardrobes that we can put on either side of a chest of drawers. But most of the nicer wardrobes were at least $200 each. And drawers were sometimes more! But, we'll keep looking at see what we can find.... I just hate the fact that all our stuff is mismatched and was old and worn when I inherited or bought it nearly 10 years ago. You make do because you have to, but if I don't have a change, I'm gonna scream!
I LOVE reading. I don't get to do it as much as I used to, but when I was single and childless, I used to sometimes stay in bed all weekend and read read read. If I got into a really good book, I wouldn't stop reading until I finished. These days I have to contend myself with chapters at a time mostly. Everyone now and again I rebel and retreat to the bedroom for "time out"! ha ha
My weigh in is on Wednesday. This last week has been a bit up in the air, and I haven't kept track very well at all. It's so hard to keep motivated when you feel tired and headachy. But I DID go for my walk today, and even weight lifted my water bottle to tone my arms!
I'm off to bed. Bec had another bad night last night. Oh, I can't wait until she outgrows this!!!!!
Bye!