I saw a physio when I was low on money for neck issues and it was soo worth it. Every now and then I get pain again and the same prescribed exercises and self massage work to fix it.

That doesn’t good. At first I thought you sort of just strained it by leaning to one side or something but this sounds like next level pain.

If you the pull something you need to let it rest and take pain relief and you shouldn’t work the muscles.

Hopefully the physio can advise you better.

Well done surviving! Great work this morning, be such a relief to feel like you’re over the hump.

My aim today is to make a cake. It will be a vanilla cake with lemon curd and cream in the middle and icing sugar sprinkled on top.

I’m going to tidy my flat and do some writing. Maybe build a model of a lorikeet

Currently out for a walk to get a coffee. I had to cancel my gym membership because they kept putting the price up, so I’ve got my ankle weights on to make it a little harder. When I get back home I’m gonna do a little workout, have the evening shower and then read until we’ve got to go to a friend’s for dinner

Went to a physio for the first time in my life. It was alright. Sad that I need
a professional to tell me that on a physical level I really need to take more time off because the body is holding a lot of stress.

I definitely need to be frugal but decided I’d treat myself to a coffee nearby. And I went with my instincts to Eden Espresso - turns out I’ve been here before. I love this place, it’s so cozy and friendly and not like a lot of the other stuck up “brunch” places around Malvern. One of the staff recently had a baby and there’s a basic-ass a4 printout in Calibri saying “it’s a boy” with a photo of the grinning dad and I just love that enough regulars care that they’ve put it there. In fact some old nannas are asking him right now how the kid is going (“growing like a weed”) and whether he’s sleeping through the night (“yes, surprisingly”). It’s so wholesome.

Frustratingly I have work to catch up on today from zoning out on Thursday and Friday due to stress, (and Wednesday from Huge Psych Session), but I’m definitely planning a day of sick leave for next Wednesday when I’ve cleared out my current backlog.

I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I’ll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now. After I remove the ice pack, I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower, I use a water activated gel cleanser. Then a honey almond body scrub. And on the face, an exfoliating gel scrub. Then apply an herb mint facial mask, which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an aftershave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.

I am dyeing my hair today! I am so excited. Haven’t refreshed colours in ages. Purple locks, watch out!

Going to work on my Lego backlog with the kid. BOM is forecasting a cold and miserable day today.

Tidy flat, cleaning. Washing is drying in the dryer. Mate might visit. Self care sounds good, might get some epsom salts and do another mask / bath plus use my nice skin care I’m saving cos less income. Walk to the beach will be in there somewhere also. I love the sea air from the waterfont at st kilda. The bay is not quite like bass straight like where i used to live, but I always had to drive there. Now it’s 7 minutes walk and it’s still beautiful clean air.

As nice as Hongohones’ idea of a beachwalk sounds, I am definitely feeling too tired and my jaw too achy. But I do want to get back to the beachwalks.
Will tackle more of the cross-stitching with more podcast(s), then a shower with the new shampoo and some of the coffee body scrub I’ve had for ages but never used sounds good. Will try a face mask later.

hammock. fire. reading. wine. snooze. cricket.

I will be watching my Geelong cats play and just chilling. I’m going to make a small cup of coffee so I’m not up all night.

I’ve just had my peanut butter toast so I’m already in self care mode.

Exercise. Also I was inspired by you lovely people to put on a face mask. It’s not a real facemask; I’ve got a cleanser which doubles as a facemask if you leave it on a bit longer. Then most of the day will be spent relaxing and getting ready for school and work.

A face mask is probably what I can manage today. I’m dead tired, username totally checks out as I have some health conditions that require iron infusions every so often and I’m due for another one, so my energy is low.

Ooohh that could have been a dead man walking right there.

Make sure you never ask him to buy bread or eggs. You just know what’ll happen.

Is he still alive?

What a rotter! Make him replicate them to understand the error.

Yuuuuuup. I’m gonna need to confiscate that. For, uh, testing purposes. Gonna need to make sure it’s not poisoned.

Well done Peelers. I can imagine a slather of butter. Oooooo yuuuuummmm.

That looks so good!! Give my congrats to the Mini-Peelers! It looks scrumptious 🤤

Yeah. Was a real bummer tonight. I put in a movie instead and playing games for the night.

you missed some cricket. it ws still pretty sad.

At this rate you should be Goddess_Sunshine.

Sunshine lollipops and rainbows everywhere 🌈

Rainbows and crumpets

It’s totally okay to feel anxious. Try to breathe deep and slow, it’ll be okay. Be honest and it ought to work out.

Im sorry you’re stressed out right now. Sending good vibes friend

It’s very rare to be rejected at this stage. Centrelink have already decided you have 20 points in one table, they’re largely just confirming it. Usually it’s a very short call (<10 mins) with an outcome in 6-8 weeks.

If you vape weed, you can dump leftover after-vape it into box cake mix to make sleepy time space cake (Lower THC, higher CBD). Weigh how much you put in before hand so you’ve got an idea of how much weed per slice of cake in the final product. Err on the side of caution when eating weed.

I do not understand the fascination with box mixes. It is so damn easy to measure out 2 cups of sr flour, 250g butter, 1 cup sugar, a bit less than 1 cup liquid etc. Using the same cup for all measurements. Also, for a really nice lemon cake, add the finely grated zest of a lemon to your flour and stir it in. Save the juice for making the icing. Where it really shines.
Wherever it says butter in a recipie, you can sub with marge. Even better, half marge and half lard. Lard is one of the best fats for cake making - really luscious texture and cake keeps better. Harder to mix in - best to use a stand mixer if you have one.
Butter cake is best cooked in a medium to medium/low oven for 1 hour or more. It’s not a sponge where the raising agent is stiffly beaten egg white - which is best done in a hotter oven. Chocolate cake is the standard butter cake mix with 1 tablespoon of cocoa/drinking chocolate added to the flour and 1 more tablespoon of liquid.
Roll chopped fruit (any sort) in the flour mix before adding liquid. Stops the fruit from all settling at the bottom of the cake tin during baking. Works especially well with fresh cherries. And strawberries. And raspberries.
Use castor sugar not the regular white sugar - dissolves a lot faster and the cake bakes better.
You can turn regular sugar into icing sugar by whizzing it up in a food processor with the sharp blades in.
Vanilla essence is made from pine bark chips? I stopped using it entirely when I found this out. Be damned if I’ll cook with mulch. Extract is the way to go. More expensive, but you use a lot less and the flavour is better.
GREASE AND LINE YOUR CAKE TINS!!! Olive oil spray is revolting and doesn’t really do the job. Butter or marge is much better. One lump the size of an unshelled hazelnut will do most standard cake tins. For fancy, or if you want the cake to keep fresh out of the fridge, then a crust lining works well. Grease tin as per usual, then mix up 1 dessertspoon of sugar with 1 dessertspoon of flour. Tip that into the tin and tap the tin all around to distribute the mix evenly over all the surfaces of the inside of the tin. Tip out excess. This gives the cake a wonderful brown caramelized crust over all of it bar the top, and keeps the cake fresh for longer.
Cakes cool quicker if you put them upside down on the cooling rack. This also helps level the top which is handy if you don’t want to cut off the top before icing.

Box cake isn’t a sin but can always take more stuff. A dash of real vanilla or some lemon zest will change it for the better. Ditto on the skewer test, it should pull clean and be warm on the lip. Springform tins are God but if using something complicated like a Bundt butter thevever living fuck out of it! Never try to ice something that isn’t cold.

Fondant is revolting, fuck that shit make sugar paste!

Google ‘melt and mix cake recipes’- no more effort than a packet mix, much better results, and you know exactly what ingredients have gone into your (delicious) cake.