Category Archives: health & happiness

hate mondays?

26 Monday Nov 2007

Posted by in food & drink, friends, health & happiness, home, life stuff, nablopomo, retail therapy, sevilla

≈ 9 Comments

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Actually, I don’t hate Mondays at all. In fact, I have quite a nice Monday schedule these days, starting with an 8.30 yoga class, followed by a bit of food shopping and then home to do the marathon cooking thing for the week that I first talked about here (still doing it – it works great!). I don’t have any English classes on Monday morning, which makes it possible. Then after I’ve done cooking and Nog has finished his morning classes, we might go out for a pre-lunch beer or vino. After lunch Nog goes off to his afternoon classes and I have an hour or so to obsess on the internet take care of a few things before my first class of the afternoon. On Mondays I usually work from 4.45 – 9-15 pm.

Anyhow, today it turned out that two of my afternoon classes had to reschedule so I was free from 6pm, and so after obessing on the internet doing a few chores I sent a text message to Nog asking if he wanted to meet me at the half-way point between his classes and home, as I had a couple of things I felt a sudden need for (comfy slippers and a new sweater). So I hopped on a rental bike and was at the mid-way point shopping centre in about 15 minutes. Found both comfy slippers and a gorgeous Liz Claiborne 100% cotton sweater (that I couldn’t afford, but I also almost never find 100% cotton sweaters here so I decided – ah, fuck it), and then met up with Nog to do a little pre-Christmas digital camera reconnoitering.

The plan after we finished was that we’d take rental bikes back to Catalina for a glass of wine before going home for dinner, but for some reason Nog’s card wouldn’t work, so we decided to have a race (me on the bike, him taking the bus) to see who’d get there first. Nog was there about two minutes before me because a bus came straight away and I had to stop for a red light. I’m totally loving this rental bike thang, especially as the first half hour is free.

Anyhow, got back home and I went – eek! I haven’t posted anything today! And so, here I am.  🙂 Just heating up some stew I made this morning (which was inspired by this one we had at La Estrella the other day) and then we’ll curl up on the sofa with hot stew, fresh country bread and a couple of cats to watch an episode of The West Wing. Then it’ll be a nice hot shower before getting into fresh sun-dried sheets (Monday is also ‘clean sheets day’ at casa az) . . .

How was your Monday?

the cat’s in the bag

24 Saturday Nov 2007

Posted by in animals & pets, health & happiness, home, life stuff, nablopomo

≈ 11 Comments

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If only it were this easy . . .

Been trying to get Sunny to the vet’s for his annual check up and blood test, etc since about September. But with our new work schedules, my inability to lug around 7 kilos of lurve in a large plastic cage ( for fear of putting my back out) and the new pedestrian streets in the centre of Sevilla (making taxi access quite difficult) it’s been proving to be a bit of a challenge. Especially as Sunny’s blood test requires that he doesn’t eat from about 9pm until the test, which means getting to the vet’s first thing in the morning, which basically means this can only be done on a Saturday. Except Nog now has a new class on Saturday mornings and I seriously cannot carry the massive beast on my own, not even as far as the nearest taxi stand.

So we started looking at other options from the practical (buying a new ‘back friendly’ cat carrier) to the ridiculous (stuffing Sunny into our little old lady shopping trolley). No luck finding a cat carrier with shoulder straps that Sunny would fit into, and when I tried him out in the shopping trolley, wheeling him around the apartment, it turned out as expected – no way no day!

Then we got a message from Nog’s Saturday morning student saying there had been a sudden death in the family, so no class. And so, we’re off to the vet’s sometime just after 10 o’clock.

Going to bed without feeding the boys their evening meal hasn’t been too much of a problem so far, as we’ve been out for most of the evening. Now it’s just after midnight and Nog’s gone to bed leaving me with two very sad pointy-eared angels pathetically moaning here beside me as I type. And so I am also off to sleep … and really dreading the 7am wake-up call from los gatos. I think Nog & I are both going to have to feign sleep until at least 9.30 in order to keep our sanity – wish us luck!

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the pilates instructor from hell

20 Tuesday Nov 2007

Posted by in health & happiness, life stuff, nablopomo

≈ 7 Comments

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It was definitely not your typical pilates class . . .

Back in June I revamped my nothing ventured blog because this time I was determined to start making those necessary life changes and feel back in control of my life. Luckily public humiliation is no stranger to me (loads of practice taking the BBC News Quiz at Archie’s every Friday) as not many of those well-intentioned intentions have become, shall we say, second nature here at casa az. Yet.

Well okay, I have continued going to yoga three times a week and (usually) go upstairs to ride the dreaded exercise bike for 10kms afterwards, but I hadn’t gone back to pilates classes as intended, mostly because when I tried it last year I just didn’t enjoy the way the class was taught. But then I found out that we have a new pilates instructor at the gym and today I decided to check her out . . .

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DIY diagnosis

14 Wednesday Nov 2007

Posted by in health & happiness, nablopomo

≈ 6 Comments

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Kit to spot serious illness early

A home testing kit that spots early signs of disease anywhere in the body could be available within 10 years, according to a leading scientist.

The simple blood test is being developed to allow people to screen themselves for life-threatening diseases, including a variety of cancers and dementias, before they develop any symptoms.

In many cases, a quick diagnosis significantly improves a patient’s chances of recovering from an illness.

The article goes on to say that spotting serious illnesses early could pose ethical issues. For example, finding out sooner that you have something for which there is no known treatment could just cause extra anxiety. Should people in this situation be told? How might it affect their jobs, insurance rates, etc? In short, do you think that DYI diagnosis would be a good thing?

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simple back therapy

10 Saturday Nov 2007

Posted by in health & happiness, life stuff, nablopomo

≈ 6 Comments

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Simple therapy ‘best for backs’

Paracetamol and keeping active are the best cures for back pain, according to Australian researchers who warn that other treatments do not work.

A Lancet study of 240 back pain sufferers found anti-inflammatory drugs and spinal manipulation did not make any difference to recovery time.

I love this study because it backs up (no pun intended) what I’ve known for about 25 years. That the best thing for lower back pain is just continuous gentle movement and occasional painkillers, though I do sometimes take an anti-inflammatory for the first day or two.

And that’s it! No muscle relaxants, no bone-crackers, no nuthin else is necessary.

It’s kind of like having a cold. If you rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids and take aspirin your cold will last for about 7 days. If you do none of those things it’ll last a week.

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