I was sitting in bed last night thinking how nice it would be to have a bar of chocolate.  The dreams have stopped however: the first week I kept dreaming that I ate sugar, or popcorn, or something that made me have to start all over again.

Now I'm just dreaming about aviation and buying goats in Ireland.  I'm not sure why.  Is it a sign ?

It's now day 10 though and I have been cheat free.  I'm not 100% sure whether the steak the other day had any additives, but if that's my only doubt, I think I'm doing well.  This being a five day trip, I've done well to pack almost all of my meals, and last night I managed to get an apartment style room in Canberra.  

This meant that I had fresh salmon with my boxed homemade coleslaw last night, and this morning L will come over to my room for a breakfast of the inevitable eggs and spinach.  We are together for the full five days which is nice.

However there is a cyclone, or something similar, heading towards us as we speak so I am feeling less than favourable about tonight's flights.  I guess we can't always have it easy.  And apparently it is 2.4 degrees right now.  Ouch.

I'm managing to pick up a lot of overtime with the the current crewing shortages, which is great for the house build but not so good for Lily... So I'm thinking I need to spend some more time with her over the next few weeks.  Five day trips are all very good... But not as a habit.

5 day trip

Day one of a five day trip...

Two hours sitting on the ground in Gladstone.  I got artistic on the whiteboard.

 

I had to do something.

Also the sunset was pretty awesome over Redcliffe.

 

I'm now sitting in the bar waiting for my meatballs and cabbage to be heated up (they have a microwave).

House again

Very little to say about the house except that there is clear daily progress.

 

See? It's got joiny stuff between the plasterboard now.  

Last night after church, I popped over there with a couple of my church friends.  K seems pretty positive that she wants to live with me now so that's very exciting - just one housemate left to find!  Hopefully we can find somebody who works well with the two of us.

Exciting ! 

Day 7

It's day seven and therefore time for an update.  Lily woke me at 0330 to go to the bathroom, then refused to actually go, and five minutes after coming back to bed, threw herself at me (she had been relegated to her own bed for cleanliness reasons) and started helping and crying and shaking for all she was worth.  This continued in cycles for about five minutes: me stroking her, trying to feel her body for "hurts" and the yelping/crying/shaking combined with diving head first into my lap for comfort.  Eventually this slowed down and she was content to lie with her head on my arm, still shaking fitfully.  I tried to get some more sleep but every time I opened my eyes I saw her lying there, eyes wide.  She did at last relax, and we slept until seven - late for me.  

This is the identical thing that happened a week ago where I took her to the vet (post episode) and they declared a possible ant bite.  Considering she came back inside and curled up for five minutes this time... And then imploded... I'm not so sure.  It's a Sunday so I might need to wait til tomorrow to give them an update.

And now I need to change my sheets.  Not exactly my first priority at 0330 when she was spazzing out!

Anyway, it is now day 7 of Whole 30 and it is going well.  I'm getting used to (but not really enjoying) black coffee, and last night at the cinema I drank water and ate some cashews and raisins.  Javi made fun of me the entire evening, trying to make me eat pizza and have a drink, going on about how life wouldn't be worth living without sugar and alcohol etc, but Michelle took my side.  And of course, I stood to my guns.  If I can make this 30 days, it will be the first food challenge I've actually completed: I am determined.

I'm making breakfast now (zucchini, spinach and some form of eggs) and am then going to the block to meet the final concreter.  That's about it in news! 

More stuff

It's been a busy couple of days, and therefore I haven't blogged.  However, Lily decided to wake me up at 0500, so we went for a quick run (only 2k because I'm lazy) and are now waiting for it to be a reasonable time before starting on breakfast.

At lunch, I'm going to Ceri's house, and taking with me a roast chicken.  We were going to have lunch out, but this Whole 30 thing meant I couldn't find anything on the menus to eat !  Last night, at Connect group, I took a bowl of fruit salad with me and so that made not having the cakes and chocolate easier.  Thank God it's only 30 days (day 4 today).

Cravings have been very light so far: mainly because I haven't had any time at home sitting around : the last five days I spent down route in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, with a cheeky Portmacquarie thrown on the end.  The weather has been miserable, with severe icing and turbulence forecasts wherever we flew, low cloud, drizzle and icing speeds making me feel like I was home in Ireland - no diversions, thankfully.  We almost hit 3 cockatoos on take off out of Canberra one morning, which wasn't very Irish: I almost rejected the take off but then they decided to move a little so we continued.  

 

Sydney, and a little glare from the window

The problem with not comfort eating is that it makes me think more about my emotions instead of just drowning them in chocolate, so that hasn't been easy.  I mean, not craving but feeling a little emotional?  Maybe people should avoid me until this is over ! 

We are horrendously short crewed at the moment, which, without going in to too much detail, has meant a ridiculous amount of disruption, so I'm working day to day expecting things to change.  Thankfully on Tuesday when I was called out to go back to Canberra they gave me three hours' notice to get some food together: and B came by on his way home from work to pick up Lily to take her to her second home in Ferny Grove.

On the house front, Mr Will the Builder Man called again to say he was concerned about the neighbour's house looking identical to mine with bricks and facade: and therefore could he edit the porch a little.  He seems to be very proactive at getting things done and done right : the last request was could he change the style of grouting as my choice wouldn't look as good as his.  I have got one quote for a landscaper and two for the driveway, and am meeting the second landscaper this afternoon.  Busy, busy.

 

It still looks the same to me

That's about it for the last few days... I'm Northbound tomorrow for another overnight, disruption permitting, so poor Lily only gets one day at home. 

Edit: as I forgot to publish this, here is an updated inside the house picture:

 

It actually looks almost livable!

Also, the chicken I baked for Ceri and family was amazing.  Pretty happy with that, and Floss put on a really epic salad: I never knew you could use epic as an adjective for salad, but it truly was.

When we got home, Lily had a haircut, (long overdue) and then I went across to a couple's house to see if I wanted their furniture. They are leaving AUS for Ireland, of all places.  I managed to snap up a lovely bed set for the spare room (mum and dad you're all sorted) and potentially dining table , coffee table , etc , but I need to get back to them on that.

And now I have another House Invoice to pay...

The whole 30

Well as far as the Whole 30 goes, day one was an unmitigated disaster.  Having told myself I didn't need to celebrate my birthday yet again due to celebrating a couple of times in the week leading up, I packed my bags full of healthy food and set forth to Melbourne.  

This all went swimmingly until we landed in Canberra, where we were joined by new cabin crew, who had noticed it was my birthday on Facebook, and therefore came loaded with birthday gifts: lattes for each of us flight crew and a caramel tart for me.  So very kind of them, although I was groaning inside. JM, the FO, agreed that if I had been half way through the detox, I could've just thanked them, taken it up to the flight deck, and donated it all to her, but as it was day one, I decided (I know, another excuse) just to push it back one day and enjoy the treat.

Yesterday, on the other hand, went very well.  I did a big shop at the fruit & veg place, the fridge is now chokka, and I finished off the day with a cup of tea and handful of Medjool dates.  Conceivably as good as candy.

I also met with a landscaper yesterday who is going to organise a quote for the new house.  He suggested that I ask the builder if I can keep the leftover bricks: and he will use them to border the gardens.  Great idea!  If only there were enough to build a raised bed also!

The brick laying is all finished (and they remembered the wiring in the pillars) so I presume the render could be next.  Not being a builder though, I could be surprised.

Today I am going to lunch with Ceri.  We were going to eat out, but I can't find any food compatible with the whole 30, so I'm going to roast a chicken, make some salad and mayo, and take it over to his house.

Melbourne, birthdays and Whole 30's

Tomorrow is my birthday, and also day 1 of the Whole 30.  I don't know if I can do it, or indeed whether I really want to do it, but I do know I need to stop making excuses and do something!  Maybe I should start with positivity and say "yes, I can" instead of doubting myself but hey, I know myself better than anyone else, right ?

It is easy to use stress and emotions as an excuse for eating, and I'm good at doing that.  What I'm not good at is having control over it all, so we shall see!  My suitcase is packed full of healthy food and off we go.  

I went for a massage (my birthday present to myself) yesterday and now feel horribly sore, (I thought it was supposed to make me feel better?) so my birthday morning plans of going for a Melbourne run might not happen.  But then again, they might.

Yes, I'm in Melbourne, for the first time ever.  I'd like to explore the place a little but I just got to my room and it's 2200, and I check out at 1030 in the morning.  Limited options, considering the hotel is literally at the airport.  You walk out of the domestic terminal, cross a road, and there you are.  The hotel staff aren't the friendliest.  I asked Receptionist #1 if there was complimentary water.  She said no, but if I signed up for some program, I would get two bottles free.  Receptionist #2 butted in rudely with "crew aren't eligible for that program."  So then having taken my bags up to my room I remembered that I had forgotten my charger, and went back down to see if they could procure one.

Receptionist #2 had a very brief look and said no.  Receptionist #1 said she thought there was one, and Receptionist #2 disagreed.  This took awhile.  Eventually Receptionist #1 took matters into her own hands and looked for the charger (it was there).  Receptionist #2 said she was putting a $50 charge on my room that would be deleted if I returned the charger.  "Really?" Said I, incredulous.  "Well apparently it's thought of as stealing," said Receptionist #1 sarcastically.

Anyway...

Tomorrow I'm off to Canberra, which I've been to before, although getting there is another thing altogether.  North-East-ish?  Oh and to start off with, I have no idea where the crew room is... Aaaaaany-who...

If I don't post again it's because I failed to make it to Canberra.  Ha ha ha.