Category Archives: health & happiness

the week that was

11 Sunday Apr 2010

Posted by in blogging, cats, change, health & happiness, home, hope, internet, tapas, twitter, work

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Since last Sunday’s multi-tasking az post lots has been going on. The best news is that I’ve been hired for that part-time social media job I told you about, and I am so thrilled about that. We had a four-hour meeting on Friday and got a lot done. My new client is happy with my work and this is very good news indeed.

Other news is a bit up & down. One of my four students has told me they have to stop classes mid-May because of work obligations. Nog has managed to at least pay his share of the rent this month, but I’ll have to pay for the bills and food. I sure hope things pick up for him next month. Then what was supposed to be a quick vaccination job at the vet’s  on Friday ended up costing 100 euros!  Okay, part of that was stocking up on Azar’s special prescription diet food. But it turned out that Loki’s feline herpes is acting up again, which meant getting some very expensive medicated eye gel for him. But that should be it now until he gets his balls cut off in July. For the record, Loki gets just as hysterical in the cat cage as Azar does. Go figure.

The happy news of the week was Azar’s 15th birthday. He’s been enjoying eating asparagus ever since (tis the season) and is looking very fit. Other great news is that I booked my first tapas tour! Well, the first paid one – god knows I’ve been doing them for years. So that’ll happen in a couple of weeks. Oh, and Manolo (of Málaga apt fame) called to tell me about a seminar being put on by the chamber of commerce about marketing online next Thursday and asked if I wanted to go with him – reckon that should be very interesting and will fit right in with my new job. Seems like I am making connections all over the place these days, so who knows? Maybe those five jobs will start coming together after all. It certainly feels like things are opening up at last.

How was your week?

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wet feet

18 Thursday Feb 2010

Posted by in health & happiness, home, sevilla, shoes, weather

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Here I sit all sniffly. Have foregone my pilates class this morning because I didn’t think going out into The Rain with already wet sneakers would do my shivery self any good, nor would my head take very kindly to hanging upside down with its current plugged-yet-drippy sinus condition. So damn. I probably should have got some cheap rain boots last October. Getting two colds in one winter is pretty much unheard of around here. I blame wet feet.

Keeping my feet dry has become an ISSUE. It’s bad enough having the clothesrack almost constantly set up in the livingroom, but once shoes get soaked it’s very hard to dry them out properly when the humidity is stuck at 100%. My only other pair of wearable shoes (an old favourite pair of Campers) have cracks in the soles, which cannot be seen but which let the rain seep in quite nicely. I didn’t want to invest in a new pair of shoes this year in case it was MY LAST WINTER, and now sandal weather should be back by the end of the month. So nothing really left to do about it but complain.  😉

Rain, rain, go away …

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starting over

01 Monday Feb 2010

Posted by in cancer, change, diet & nutrition, health & happiness

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The other day I read that mister anchovy had shed himself of 50 pounds since last October, basically by following a low-cal, low-carb diet. And he inspired me to try the same. As most of you know, I’ve been whinging about being overweight for years and have started various eating/lifestyle change plans without any weight loss success. Well, I did lose about ten kilos after the emergency op, but that is hardly an ideal weight loss method. And so, for the past ten days I’ve been seriously low-carbing to see how well I could stick to it, and it turns out that it’s pretty easy to do (though I did allow myself one slice of toast yesterday).

So starting today I shall add low-cal to the low-carb plan and see how that goes. There are just so many reasons that a low-carb diet makes sense, especially for cancer survivors. And for the past month I’ve been going to the gym five days a week (doing pilates and cycling as well as yoga) so I think I’m all set up to finally do this for real. I’ve been wearing this uncomfortable “fat suit” far too long…

Wish me luck!

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care package

28 Thursday Jan 2010

Posted by in birthdays, friends, health & happiness

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This is apparently “make az feel totally special” week. My buddy Taliesin has been re-building my online store, (he also came up with the BEST new header this week!), and yesterday I got an amazing birthday care package from Sledpress, which you can see above.

First of all, more BioFreeze!  Sled had sent me a couple of tubes a while ago when I had a serious “back outtage”, and now I have even more. I just love this stuff, which is not available in Spain. It’s freezing hot and does wonders for clenched tense muscles.

Also, a chokecherry & blackcurrant antioxidant supplement that I’m very interested in trying out (I seriously cannot deal with goji berries) … I’ve been given a 60 day supply so I shall report back mid-March. It looks like very serious stuff.

And what looks like tiny purple Japanese sandals are actually “massage thimbles” – how cool is that??? I think these are actually for Peter, who very kindly gives me a short foot massage most nights before I go to bed in order to help with the awful neuropathy I still have from the last bout of chemo. And can I tell you? OMG!!! P tried them out on my poor  suffering feet last night and it was … well, it was kind of like aaaaaaaaarrrgh!, but I also didn’t want him to stop. Heaven.

The pièce de résistance is that little spiky blue ball, which I believe is going to become either my best friend or worst enemy, and possibly both (this is best explained over here). All I need now is a rug!

Sled … muchísimas gracias, amiga.

azahar rising

27 Wednesday Jan 2010

Posted by in art, cancer, friends, health & happiness, hope, love

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Just yesterday I was telling you how I am constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends, and then this came in the mail … a paper collage made by healingmagichands. Not only is it beautiful, but I could feel the love and caring that was put into creating it and it made me feel very special indeed.

This piece has been in my mind for several weeks, but it took a long time to gel. I don’t know that I necessarily need to explain this work, but my “artist’s note” would say something about the power of will and strength overcoming shadows & ill health. The vine along the left side is sort of the continuity of life as the struggle goes on, growth does not necessarily stop and in fact, the struggle may even nurture grown. At any rate, the vine gains in strength as it rises.

I call this “azahar rising”.

Thanks so much, Ellie.

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