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RE: Dancing to a different drummer - 5/30/2007 9:36:18 PM
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agapetos
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Ummm... well, the lavender bush that I thought had died seems to have gotten it's act together because when I looked at it today, there were green shoots on it! Makes me wonder about the 2 I binned! Ah well, never mind, they are gone now! I bought a gardening magazine yesterday and it had an offer for 5 lavender plants, free, I just pay postage, which is reasonable. The magazine also mentioned that a national store (and there's one not too far away) sells some vegetable plants and I'm thinking of checking it out.
I've just watched a documentary and it's made me so angry. It was a follow-up programme about a 19-year-old girl who weighed 34 stone and had an operation to reduce the size of her stomach (I think it was gastric bypass, not banding). The initial programme went through her life and mentioned the trauma she'd suffered (at age 12) when a relative died ~ and it was then she started 'comfort' eating. This all came out before the operation but the surgeon went ahead with the operation anyhow (despite the fact she could die while she was having it).
Six months or so later (this is the follow-up) she's lost weight, but not enough. Her surgeon decides to write to her gp and have her referred for therapy. Why? Because the operation didn't make her stop 'comfort eating'! It was actually bizzare at one point because she was in the supermarket with her mother (she still lived at home) and her mother suggested buying some crisp (potato chips) because she'd had a bit of a rough day or two. The girl didn't want any and said so but the mother kept on at her, suggesting 'low-calorie' ones instead. The mother said later that her daughter didn't understand there was a difference between the 'high-calorie' foods that she shouldn't eat and the 'medium to high calorie' foods that she could 'get away with.
I'm not suprised the girl has a problem with food with a mother who is standing suggesting unhealthy foods to her (she wanted her to have pizza too).
Anyhow, the girl went for therapy and from what I could gather, it helped her understand why she felt the way she did about certain situations and showed her how far she had come from having the operation. She seemed to have gained a lot more confidence (partly through college courses she was doing, partly through therapy and partly through losing weight).
But what made me angry was that the thing that got all the credit was the surgery.
I have serious doubts about this kind of surgery. I know that some people are simply bone idle and eat the wrong things but some (like this girl) needed help coming to terms with her lose ~ and she wasn't getting it from her family. I suspect that if she had had the therapy before the surgery she'd have been able to lose weight on her own. Not as fast, but she'd have lost it. It would have saved her (or her family) a lot of money.
I think there are circumstances when this type of operation is necessary, but I think it should only be done as a last resort, it's not a quick fix. A course of therapy (to see if there are emotional problems), going to a dietitian to learn good eating habits and regular exercise (and this doesn't mean running the nearest marathon, walking is an excellent form of exercise) need to be done first.
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Wisdom is not using them in fruit salads!
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RE: Dancing to a different drummer - 6/5/2007 7:35:46 PM
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agapetos
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I saw the psychologist on Monday and while it was a hard session talking about some painful issues, it was good and while I know that God is walking with me through this time, I'm thankful that the medication is there too. I believe that if you get the right medication it will help you cope with the rest of your life while you're walking through painful memories. If we need surgery we have generals or locals so we don't feel anything. Why not get some help with emotional pain too (I'm not talking about numbing emotional pain, just dulling the edges a little)? My views, I know others have different ones. There are other steps we can take ~ I planned something that could keep me occupied without taxing my brain after seeing the psychologist ~ to make paper plant pots! Only temporary of course, but that's what I want. From old newspapers so they decay, so it's recycling too 
I made about 30 of them! I thought I'd give my beans a head start before the raised beds arrive and put them in that. Even if the beans aren't appearing at least they should have started to sprout.
Before I went to the psychologist I went to a diy store that is en-route and picked up some moss for the baskets on the plant stand and my eye caught sight of a collection of pretty deep blue flowers so I bought those to go in them. I have a lot of blues and purples in my garden so they should fit well. In addition to making the pots on Monday night I planted the top basket on the plant stand and started on the bottom, but ran out of the moss lining 
Hmmm... went a little crazy today I think. Saw my psychiatrist this am and then went into the next town over to look at some pots for stuff in the garden...
Wasn't going to buy that much honest 
But they had fuchsia (buy one, get one free), which I adore and some really healthy looking herbs and I needed the extra moss for the plant stand thing I have and the WD40 is supposed to stop slugs climbing up the sides of pots....
I did buy some pots. Dark green ones. Two rectangular ones and 3 square ones for my herbs (I have 3 kinds of mint and apparently they do better in separate pots because of the different scents. But mint can be quite invasive anyhow and kill of other plants that share it's tub or take over in a garden. I already have ground elder, I don't want mint too! Although it smelt wonderful coming home on the bus. I also bought 5 round tubs for the lavender whenever it gets here. I figure that it'd be easier to keep it in those than plant it in the ground and have to move it next year if/when (I probably will) get the raised beds.
So when I got home I finished the tiered plant stand, though I'm not really happy with it, but hopefully it will look better when it's grown and mellowed some. I dug the herbs that I had in my planter up and repotted them in one of the rectangular pots (except the mint) and planted my new herbs in the other one (except the mints!). I decided to keep the old ones together just incase there was some mint root mixed in (and the mint root had spread through the compost a lot). Then I planted my fuchsia in the plant stand. I would have liked some lobelia but I didn't see any yesterday or today, but I suspect that they'll have sold out.
And tomorrow I'm going to a local garden centre to (hopefully) get some compost to fill the raised beds.
_____________________________
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not using them in fruit salads!
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RE: Dancing to a different drummer - 6/7/2007 7:29:34 PM
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agapetos
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Had a really funny time getting the compost yesterday. I had thought about getting 150 litres but I decided that would be a nightmare to move so decided on the 75 litres. Which was just as well cos the garden centre didn't have 150 litres! They did have 75 litres on offer (3 for 2 ~ I got 6 bags) though so I loaded my trolley up and found I could hardly move it . Went through check-outs and was asked if I wanted help getting it into the car (was tempted to tell them I was walking and could they come pick the trolley up!), but as I hadn't met up with my friend I said not at the moment, but I would shortly. Came out of the garden centre and realised there was a slope up to get to the car park. I did quite well at first.
Honest!
But then one of the bags started slipping so I stopped to put it back more securely. Here's some advice. Never, ever, ever stop when you're pushing something heavy up a slope because it's really hard to get going again!
My friend came through check-outs and we asked for some help and then pushed the trolley over to the car (after being advised that the back may drop ). We got them all in though and made it home safely. They're sitting in the garden now waiting for the beds to come.
I was doing something in my garden yesterday and one of my neighbours (with the same surname as me) came down and gave me some veggie seeds (radish and rocket). The radish is quick growing (the ones I got aren't) so I got those into a bucket and put a tray of rocket seeds in. When they've grown I shall give some to her.
I went into my kitchen this morning and thought I heard someone outside, so I opened the door and saw a delivery van stopped. Thinking he was getting out I waited for a few (seconds) and then shut the door. I opened it again several minutes later, sure that he was going to deliver something to me, but he drove off 
Maybe tomorrow .
I had an email from the containers I'm thinking about buying. They're going to be around £12/pair (around $24US) which is much cheaper than I thought. I may order 2 and see what they are like before deciding, but their description on the site makes them sound really good. I figure I can put 2 somewhere in the garden, even if I never buy any more! They have smallers containers as well that can stack on top of each other. I may start off with them next year for strawberries
I did some weeding where I'm going to put the beds. Not much, just pulling stuff up mostly and making sure there was nothing sharp that could tear the liner. I'd felt really tired after the past 3 days ~ physically and emotionally so just wanted to take it easy today.
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Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not using them in fruit salads!
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RE: Dancing to a different drummer - 6/19/2007 3:35:19 PM
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agapetos
Posts: 5369
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Ahhh ebay, so exciting, so stressful, so much cheaper!
I won the compost bin I was after ~ although some rotter put in a bid about 10 minutes before the end which put the price up. I can't complain though, I still paid less than half price and even with postage it was a good deal. I think I payed with paypal (first time I used it so who knows ) so should get the raised bed and bin towards the end of the week. Which means I need to move the compost that I bought the other week, but haven't yet used and clear some ground to put the raised bed on.
My bokashi bins arrived today. Bokashi bins are a form of composting. You put the food (raw or cooked, including meat, fish and bones) into a special airtight box and cover it with a special bran after each addition. Once the box is filled you let it sit for 2 weeks and then either bury the contents in your garden or add to a regular compost heap. The tubs aren't very big and can sit in the kitchen. They're not supposed to cause any bad smells because they're sealed most of the time. We shall see. I didn't add any bones to it, but did add some trimmings of pineapple which I'm figuring is kind tough! You get some liquid from them ~ there's a little tap at the bottom of the tub, that can be used as a plant food or down drains to clear them. Right now I have plenty of plant food, so will probably use any I get on the drains.
My beans are coming up I'm still unsure about my tomatoes though ~ well, one is gone so I'm guessing slugs got it  but I can replace it. The other one looks like it's grown some, but is still tiny. I'll give them a bit longer before giving up on them. Everything else seems to be growing well.
I saw my doctor today because my right ear has been bothering me. I have an ear infection in my left ear Which has happened before
Saw the psychologist yesterday which wasn't a lot of fun for various reasons ~ I'd only got 3 or 4 hours sleep and had a thumping headache on top of that. I did make her laugh when I made a comment about a doctor I used to see who had long hair. When I was chatting with friends about which doctor I saw they all seemed to make the comment 'Dr X with the long hair' and telling Alison yesterday, I said that I'd begun to wonder if that was actually part of her name! She laughed.
I think tomorrow is a not doing too much day. I've got stuff to do around the house and garden but I'm not going to go into the next town, or to the diy store as I was planning on doing. I want to be able to think about what I'm going to be buying and my brain is a bit foggy right now. I also need to check something out in the garden as a possible solution to my watering problem
< Message edited by agapetos -- 6/19/2007 6:36:33 PM >
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Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not using them in fruit salads!
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RE: Dancing to a different drummer - 6/21/2007 6:10:53 PM
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agapetos
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Well the beans I started in paper pots finally made it into the raised bed . Looked quite strange to suddenly see things growing in it after 5 minutes!
I telephoned my local council today to ask why the compost bins they sold at a subsided price were all so big. The chap I spoke to was really nice, and told me they didn't make 'em any smaller! I pointed out the error of his thinking and added there wasn't going to be much composting going on if there was just a lil pile of compostable material in the bottom of a big bin and they needed to think of single folk with small gardens.
Then we moved on to some slightly different bins that are meant to be really good. One is a food digester (it gets rid of food but doesn't create any compost) and the other creates compost. They're here. I asked him if he was aware that the company my local council send people to to get them sell them at about 25% discount. At the moment my council are running a special deal where they're 80% discount. But if you go to the site, they sell them cheaper than the councils offer! He didn't know that and muttered about postage differences. I said they were the same. I had been thinking about getting the composting one, but you need to buy it a lil winter coat and they run rather expensive ~ they're also quite big and you need to have a certain amount of garden waste, wasn't sure that I could get that.
When I started looking for composters though, I came across this one and thought it was really cute. By chance, I saw it (at a much reduced price) in ebay and grabbed it (it was a 'Buy it now'). I'll use both of the bins that I have because I'll have to put stuff somewhere while one is composting down ~ and this way I can totally empty one by putting stuff that isn't completly composted in the other. I have a friend that does this (actually, she has 3) ~ most of her garden is grass so she doesn't really need much compost (just needs to get rid of stuff!).
Hopefully my crazy plan will work though
Went back to the docs yesterday. Woke up in the am with an eye that was sore and puffy and when I called the surgery, they told me to go in and gave me a docs appt (though I was expecting to see the triage nurse). She (not my usual doc) gave me some drops and told me to go back in a few days if it wasn't better. It looks a bit less puffy (I think) but is still somewhat uncomfortable.
My raised bed didn't come today, which I was kinda hoping for, but I never got round to the gardening because of my eye. I do feel much more rested though, so maybe it was a good thing it didn't come. Amazing that a few good nights sleep and restful days can do for you isn't it?! God really had a great idea when He suggested we rest sometimes.
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Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not using them in fruit salads!
My blog
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RE: Dancing to a different drummer - 6/27/2007 8:01:15 AM
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agapetos
Posts: 5369
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You know I read some of the other blogs and I read Sharon-Marie's (WhiteRoseBlessings) today. She asked quote:
Where were you in 1990? What were you doing? How were you doing? Anything different from then, compared to now? Sharon-Marie... I have a hard enough job figuring out where I was yesterday, let alone 17 years ago
At a guess though. It was probably around this time that I'd just been offered a new job. It meant a lot of commuting but it was a job where most of the people were wonderful. Had a couple of problems when I was there, but I also received a great deal of support and it's proved an encouragement to me even today.
I wasn't a Christian then. That didn't happen until 1998. Quite possibly one of the better decisions that I made in my life
Wasn't living the this part of the country. I left where I was and spent some time in the US and then came to the area I'm in now. Moved around quite a bit, until I got my own home. The moving around wasn't fun, I prefer being settled. Moving was probably another wise decision though 
Didn't have a cat back then. Do now
Can't think of anything else to say about that!
~o~O~o~
My raised bed and one of the compost bins arrived today. I emailed the other guy about my second compost bin but haven't heard anything yet. Grrr Not sure what I'm going to do with the bed at the moment. I don't want to go putting compost in it without anything growing. I have checked it all though and it's fine. It's nicely boxed so can sit in that until spring.
There have been torrential rainstorms here over the past few days. One dam is close to being breeched and if it goes many small villages will be devested, also a nearby city will be affected (a power station may be flooded). Water is gradually subsiding in many places but it's slow and often contaminated ~ and more storms are expected this w/end. There've been lots of evacuations and some (4 that I'm aware of) deaths. People are often prepared for this kind of weather in winter, but not in the middle of June. It's been said that we've experienced 2 months rainfall in 2 days.
The slugs and snails have been enjoying my beans (and carrots) but I'm working on something that'll hopefully limit the damage some. One of my tomato plants is thriving (the other is literally gone, but I've just replaced it. And I have beetroot, radish and lettuce growing well (despite the snails and slugs).
My eye is still a bit sore and red and I'm going to go to the docs tomorrow, just to have it checked. I don't think it's anything serious, just uncomfortable. I have been wondering (still) if it's a stye, but it doesn't look like one (from memory) so I'm not sure. Styes can be caused by stress. Did wonder if seeing the psychologist would be enough to cause it.
Talking of seeing her... I am trying to keep reminding myself that talking about things can't be any worse than actually experiencing them. Memories can be very painful to relive, even good ones sometimes, but none of them can hurt more than the actual event ~ and if I survived that, I don't see why I can't survive the talking and healing.
Watched a movie yesterday about a Scottish guy who went to the US, became a preacher and worked in Washington just before and during WW2. He seemed quite inspirational. He wife had TB for several years but recovered. It was only after hearing him preach about something that she realised that God could heal her, but it didn't matter (to her) if He didn't. I've got the preachers name and will look him up later.
I moved my lounge around some yesterday. I'd been thinking about doing it for a while but never really got there. I've decided that I like what I've done so far. Have yet to finish it.
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Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not using them in fruit salads!
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RE: Dancing to a different drummer - 7/6/2007 9:15:38 AM
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agapetos
Posts: 5369
Joined: 4/11/2005
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Seems to have been a while since I posted.
Not a lot has really gone on. Had a bit of a rough week, but I think that was the therapy more than anything else. It can only get better
I saw my doc (again) about my eye and she said to stop using the drops because that could be causing it to stay red It's still red even though I've stopped using the drops If it's not any better I think I shall pop back next week. Strangely though, when I got some other medication and flipped through one of the info sheets, I read that it could cause conjunctivitus
I had coffee this morning with a neighbour who I've met on and off over the years, but never got together for coffee. Her front garden is about 3x the size of mine and her back garden is vast. Was really nice to chat to her and meet her husband.
I've decided to get some slug traps. Hopefully they should arrive tomorrow and I'll be able to start using them. I was talking with my neighbour about slugs and she said that she put saucers of beer down (apparently slugs like beer ) for them. She went away and when she came back, she heard from the neighbour who was keeping an eye on her house that some hedgehogs and beaten the slugs to it and were drunk Fortunately, my slug traps are covered, so hopefully I won't get any drunken hedgehogs I do still have some beans so hopefully, with the traps, they will survive! I've ordered some attractant too, but if that doesn't come tomorrow, I shall buy a can of beer
We had 'French Day' last Saturday. We're twinned with a town in France and once a year, at the end of the arts festival, we have French Day. Generally it's just a whole load of stalls from local charities and such. I met a lady I know from the WI (there was a stall) and bought one of her tomato plants ~ and she gave me another for free. They're still alive! I bought a video and dvd as well ~ can't remember what they are
I'm really pleased about my bokashi composter. It seems to be working well and the first bucket is nearly full. I'll be very disappointed if after I've filled it and let it sit, it goes bad. I've ordered some more bran, though I do | | | |
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