Not a Bad Week

Good Morning, and welcome to another A Little Bit of Blake. I’m actually in a reasonable mood this week as the past seven days have not been bad – with only patchy occurrences of the usual crappiness that has dogged my life the past year.

Firstly, big thanks to everyone who has contacted me about the Amazon Ad course. Yes, it was complicated, but I’m sure it would be less so to anyone who isn’t me. I’ve shelved it for now, but I’ve kept the four ads running and will be keeping an eye on them. I’m also planning on running ads for most of my books here in the UK. I’ve been advised that the US is a tough nut to crack for British authors so it’s a good idea to run ads in the UK as well. If nothing else, it will be useful to see how identical ads perform on the different sites.

Now, the diet. That has been the other thing people have been contacting me about and thank you for all your words of encouragement. Yes, I am still sticking to it and haven’t missed a single dieting day, nor cheated on one. As you may remember, I had to write my blog on Wednesday last time because I would be working from Thursday morning to Saturday evening so wouldn’t have the time. As I weigh myself every Thursday morning, that meant I couldn’t share the results of my first week of dieting.

Climbing onto the scales, my heart was in my mouth. Had I lost any weight? Had a solid week of dieting every other day made any difference? The answer was, yes, it had. I’d gained a pound. At first disappointed, I then thought back to when I did this diet all those years ago and remembered that the same thing happened.

Your body can take a while to catch up with what you are trying to do. Plus, as a woman, there are so many other factors to take into consideration when assessing if you’ve gained or lost weight. What knickers are you wearing? Thong or granny pants? How heavy are your earrings? Are you having a big hair day? Stuff like that needs to be thought about. So, I didn’t lose heart. I wrote the weight down in my diary with (+1) written beside it and continued with the diet.

Last Thursday I was even more nervous as I stepped on the scales. A small gain the first week I could deal with, but if I put on anymore after two weeks of serious dieting I knew I would be disheartened. The needle spun and settled on the dial. I’d lost four pounds. Yay. A good solid start. Very happy with that, and it’s given me the necessary boost to continue.

I worked Monday and Tuesday this week, and the shop was very quiet. I think the company has overestimated how long sales mania would last because despite there still being a few bargains to be had, no one is buying anything. Being the very last week of January perhaps the money has run out. Credit card bills for Christmas are now coming in. Energy prices look set to rise again and food continues to rocket in price. Hard times are coming for us all.

Wednesday I walked to the doctor to collect my hayfever medication. Normally, I would take the car, but as I am determined to try and be more active where I can be, I decided to walk. It was a nice day, bright, crisp, and breezy. After the doctor, I wandered back through town and went into Marks & Spencer. I had been given a £15 gift card for them from my favourite niece for Christmas and as I’m desperate for bras – mine had all fallen apart in the washing machine – I decided to treat myself to one, or two, depending on the price.

The end of the sales was on, so it was like a glorified jumble sale in the lingerie department. Mismatched underwear sets were crammed higgledy-piggledy on the racks, and you took your chances trying to find the size bra you wanted in a style you were comfortable in. Picking out a few likely looking candidates, I slunk into the changing room. Assuring the very nice assistant that no, I did not need any help trying on a bra, I listened as she advised the lady in the cubicle next door.

Tactfully and gently, she told her that she might need to consider going up to a 44GG to get a better fit and would the lady like the assistant to go and see if she could find her one.

I thought my job was bad, I would not want to have to tell ladies that their boobs were squishing out the sides of their bra because they’ve been deluding themselves as to how large they really are.

Anyway, discovering a couple of nice bras that fit comfortably, I was happy to find they were in the sale at £16 each down from £30. So, with my £15 voucher, it meant I only paid £17 for two nice bras. Result! For any guys reading this blog, you have no idea how expensive it is being a woman.

After that, I wandered into Tesco Express to stock up on fruit and salad for the week, then went home. I had a friend calling around that afternoon for coffee and whilst I was in Marks & Spencer I had picked up a delicious looking coffee and walnut cake. It was an eating day so I thought it would be a nice treat for us.

I had time before she arrived to clean out, lay and light a fire in the lounge and vacuum the ground floor. I’ve been trying to save money by not putting the heating on when I’m alone in the house. Previously, when we didn’t have a lodger, we would save money by lighting a fire in the evening as we were spending it in the lounge so didn’t need to heat the whole house. But my current lodger works a 9-5 job, so I must ensure the house is warm by the time he gets home. After all, he doesn’t pay to freeze to death.

This has meant no saving money by lighting a fire. I’m normally fine not having the heating on during the day and, if I’m busy doing housework, that warms me up. But, if I’m sitting at my laptop writing, editing, or working on social media, I get very cold. The temperature has dropped in the UK since the New Year, and I end up frozen to the bone.

Then it occurred to me that rather than putting the heating on during the day, why didn’t I light the fire? If I was sitting in the lounge for most of the day the fire would be more than enough to keep me warm. I could simply let it die out late in the afternoon as the heating came on to heat the house for the evening.

I must say, it does feel deliciously decadent having a fire alight during the day, and there’s something about working with the crackling of the fire in the background.

Anyway, my friend turned up and was thrilled to find the lounge toasty with a real fire blazing away to beat the chill of the day. I offered the cake, but she was too full of lunch to want any, so I cut one small slice for myself. We chatted, and the hours flew by. We hadn’t seen each other since the beginning of December so there was a lot to catch up on.

After she had left, I looked at the cake. I knew if I left it out I would want it. So, I sliced it all up into small pieces, wrapped them individually, and froze them. On an eating day, I can pull a single piece out to have with my lunch as a treat, without feeling tempted to scoff the lot.

I have noticed since being on the diet that my shopping bill has decreased significantly, so that’s another benefit. I usually shop weekly and spend about £40, but other than £11 spent on dairy, fruit, and salad in Tesco Express, I didn’t need to shop at all this week. I’m thinking if I organise myself, go through the freezer, and write a monthly menu – I can maybe do one big shop at the beginning of the month for all the non-perishable groceries I need which I will collect by car. Weekly, I will only need to walk to my local store to buy fresh things. Saving money and getting a little exercise. It’s those small changes that add up.

It’s the end of the month this weekend and the end of Dry January. Once again, I’ve easily stuck to it, although there have been one or two occasions when I found myself longing for a glass of wine with my dinner. Not desperate, just missing having a glass of wine.

Thursday the boiler man came to service my thirty-year-old boiler and check out the pressure gauge. I’d noticed the needle had crept into the red and was worried it might be an issue. He took the boiler apart, cleaned, adjusted, and did various mysterious things to its inners, before saying it was all fine – just old – I know how you feel, boiler. I’m hoping to replace it this summer. What with the recent 50% increase in energy bills and another increase threatened of yet another 50%, getting the most energy efficient boiler I can seems like a smart plan.

It is very worrying, the way the cost of living has jumped up, yet our wages haven’t. How much more can people take? When it boils down to a choice between eating and keeping warm, what are we supposed to do? If things continue the way they are, then it won’t even be a choice because we won’t be able to afford either.

After lunch on Thursday, and in line with my determination to move about a bit more than I usually do, I went out into the garden, swept up all the fallen leaves, and sawed up my old wooden bench ready to burn on the fire. I felt fine in the evening but when I woke up on Friday my arms were so sore I couldn’t lift them above my head!

Friday afternoon I had my usual fortnightly zoom chat with my local authors’ group, which was as entertaining as ever. It’s so nice to have this group of like-minded writers to chat to – not just about books, but everything that’s happening in our lives – the good, the bad, and the ugly! After the meeting, I made a big pot of chilli beef and a tray of spicy paprika potato wedges. I had a portion for my dinner, which was delicious, and the rest I parcelled up into individual servings and put in the freezer.

And now it’s Saturday. After my three easy days, I do feel wonderfully rested. As if I could take on the world. I don’t know if it’s purely because I’ve had some downtime, or the extra exercise I’ve taken, or my new healthy eating plan, or all three combined, but I feel the best I’ve felt in a very long time.

A shorter blog this week. I need to make my monthly meal planner and write a shopping list of everything non-perishable I will need to see me through the month. I also want to make a few posts ready for social media for those days I’m working.

Hope your week has been as good and I look forward to chatting with you next Sunday.

Julia Blake