Fast or slow

I almost made the entire 60 hours but this morning at the 55 hour mark, I caved and broke my fast. My last fast was 44 hours so I feel that I exceeded! Honestly, I felt great until I woke up in the middle of the night feeling hungry and a bit sick… luckily I had prepared a jar of chia pudding with blueberries before I went to bed. I could have powered through the next few hours, but I was in a weakened mental state in the middle of the night… I ate half of it and crawled back into bed. 

I think my body likes these longer fasts as I felt fantastic and had more energy than I've had for a while. My mood was also good. I didn't feel deprived and honestly, for the most part it was very easy. I drank tons of coffee, tea, and water which kept me well hydrated and staved off the hunger. Oh sure, there were times that I was starving, but that usually only lasted several minutes and then I'd be fine. It wasn't much worse than a normal day when I'm trying to eat healthily.

This morning I ate the rest of the chia pudding, chased down with a protein drink, then a bit later I had a banana with peanut butter. For lunch I had broccoli, soy beans, roasted mushrooms, pumpkin seeds and tofu - I'm eating to rebuild my microbiome :-)

Fingers crossed that I got the health benefits from this longer fast! It is supposed to be excellent for my immune system and overall health - my hope is that it will prepare me for the onslaught of germs on the cruise!

The weather has blessed us with another few days of temps in the double digits - today's record setting high is 21C! Carm managed to eek in another round of golf which is a blessing as he hasn't been able to for 3 weeks…

Countdown to cruise! We dragged the suitcases upstairs yesterday so I can see what's what. I've started trying on outfits - I'm happy with some, but others, well, they'll be okay I guess, but they are strongly in the 'middle aged' woman on a cruise vibe. The purple 'sausage' dress actually looks a lot better than it did and so does the black cocktail dress. I re-tried on the sequin dress and gold silk gown and they are good too, so a win all around!

Awesome!

"55 hours!"

"chia pudding with blueberries - oh so delightful"

"crazy late October weather"

"dresses fitting"

hibernate

Summer is officially over - the trailer is back home and winterized. Anything that can freeze has been brought into the house, leaving just a few odds and ends to sort through over the next few days. Earlier in the week, the forecast had been for rain for today, but Mother Nature was on our side with not a cloud in the sky. Oh sure, it's chilly and a bit windy, but overall a great day to bring the beast home.

We were blessed with a few more nice days so we spent Thursday and Friday at the villetta, getting a last hurrah before the long winter. 

Next: figure out what clothes I'll bring on the cruise and start getting the house and pets ready to be in Christina's capable hands - we leave in less than 3 weeks! Ackkk!

Awesome!

"home safe and sound"

"winterized!"

"extra sunshine"

"hot bubble bath with sun streaming in the windows"

Test using gmail to post

It's another case of you can't get there from here... blogger and google docs are no longer working together... so now I have to write my post in Google Docs, copy and paste it into gmail, send the mail to blogger, go into blogger app, open the new draft and publish from there. So an extra step which makes NO SENSE! I tried editing directly in the blogger app but some of the keyboard was not working, although it seems to be working find now? WTF!!!

Yesterday we were sitting in the villetta, huddled against the cold as the furnace rumbled. It only took half an hour to get it up to a bearable temperature which I think is pretty good considering it was 52F when we arrived. We were given a hand by the sun which was streaming into the windows - an unexpected blessing as the forecast was for clouds all day.

So yes, it's that time of year! We'll eek out another few days and then we'll be home for 7 months - yes, SEVEN MONTHS! Ack! We had a blessed summer and fall though - I think I spent just over 20 nights here this year. 

I have to mention the weather though! We had unseasonably warm weather at the beginning of the week so took advantage of that to get the garlic planted! 154 cloves were carefully dug into the ground with Carm doing the lion's share of the work, I was basically just decor, handing tools and cloves as required while he got his hands dirty. 

I think it was in the mid 20s when we did the work.

Last week I spent a night here without Carm so Kirsten, Mom, Nissa, and I could have a 'girls' night 😀 I took advantage and hung out by myself for a while - I'll miss having a little getaway! Not that I have anything to escape from, but sometimes an afternoon puttering in my little villetta is exactly what 'the doctor ordered'... 

It's always been my happy place!

I've started getting a bit more energy and have felt my spirits reviving the last few days, but weirdly have also been struggling with some anxiety at the same time… bringing the trailer home is a big trigger, and then our Caribbean escape is coming up quickly (3 weeks today) - leaving the house and pets is hard for me!

Yesterday morning I ended up walking for 75 minutes and even had a bit of energy leftover to dance around the house a bit! Yippee!

Olaf and Steph gifted me an Ancestry kit for my birthday - the results are in! I'm 34% Scottish, 32% Norwegian, a bit of Swedish, Northern England, German, and surprisingly 1% Italian! I am truly a mutt! But most importantly, I'm more Viking than my Viking cosplay brother! Maybe I'll have to get some duds so that I can play the part. Although maybe a kilt would be more in keeping with my ancestry!

Last night we had a congenial supper around the little table in the villetta. Lots of laughter, although I felt a little tinge of sadness that it will be months until we are back here again.

Today, after coffee and a walk with Kirsten, Carm and I went into town for lunch and a bit of retail therapy. There are lots of cute little businesses in the downtown area - I scored a few little finds 😀

So, home and winterize tomorrow… pool away on Sunday… then it will be time to start trying on clothes and figuring out what I'm going to wear on our cruise - AND hopefully, the two dresses that inspired this vacation, still fit!

Awesome!

"cosy in a sun spot"

"getting the garlic planted on a beautiful October day"

"blue October skies"

"first episode of 'Only Murders in the Building'"

"supper in the villetta"

"a walk down the road"