Busy Week...

What a week! As any reader here will know, I don't exercise... not in the traditional sense. Instead, I have devoted myself to healthy eating and lots of housework. My home has never been so clean and tidy... only I'm wondering how long I can keep this up for! There are no more cupboards that need cleaning, no more doors to scrub... the carpet is being worn away with vacuuming every day, and the house smells permanently of orange scented polish.  There's an advert on the television (here in the UK) that asks how people would score your loo. Mine was probably around a two out of ten... bad! Now it's a ten plus! I spent four and a half hours on Thursday, scrubbing every part of that bathroom - ceilings, pipes, bath, walls, toilet, sink, floor, skirting, window blind, toilet seat... not an inch was spared. How awful it was, thought I, that I had let dust settle upon my skirting boards! Next to tackle was the bedroom. I just can't sleep, so I thought that maybe changing it around might help. It took four hours to change around that heavy wooden furniture, unloading drawers and cupboards and then re-stocking them again. I was shattered! Just gone midnight, I snuggled under my clean sheets... and didn't sleep a wink! I have no idea what's wrong! I do prefer the bedroom as it was before the 'big tidy'... but it's cleaner and tidier now - and I cant watch television in bed any longer (which is a very good thing). Still I cannot sleep. All that hard work, all that change... all those calories burned :) but still no sleep.

Still, no sleep means that I am getting things done. Last night I prepared todays meal and went grocery shopping online for some ingredients for a few meals as well as the rest of the items I need to make this and next years Christmas cake ( I am so behind with the preparations this year!). I painted the top of my jewellery box (it's a big stand-alone piece of furniture), and rubbed the edges with gold buff to make it a bit shabby-chic. Next I caught up with all the washing, watched a couple of episodes of "Once Upon A Time" and then started a big cooked breakfast for my darling hubby, as it was by then nearly 9.30am.

Still no rest for the wicked... I've been preparing meals and cooking all day!

Chinese noodles, asian barbeque chicken (for tomorrow), carrot cake with frosting, raisin and cinnamon bread, potato-bake crumble, braising steak stew, a spice mix for goat curry, sweet chilli pork crackling and plain pork crackling (it's in the oven right now!)... and clearing up after everything too. All in all, I've spent over six hours cooking and cleaning today! My kitchen is still spotless, and I really have no idea what I shall do for the next few days!

I'm sure I'll think of something.

I'm a bit nervous about my weigh-in tomorrow - I succumbed to a small slice of carrot cake WITH the frosting on top. I don't think it's the actual food that fills me with calories... it's the weight of the guilt I carry! lol

WARNING!!!
Photographs of gorgeous food ...

The carrot cake (with clementine and cinnamon) and cream cheese frosting...

and the beautiful (half-eaten by daughter and her boyfriend) raisin and cinnamon bread -

Still hot from the oven!