Embracing the New Year

Soon we will say goodbye to 2011 and prepare to dip our toes into the untested cold water of 2012.

I'm a little hesitate to let go of 2011. For one, the education system seems to be dead set in it's ambition to steal all my kids from me.

We have two kids off to school next year. So it will just be little Tilly and I left behind. And while I am looking forward to that, it makes me sad to see the kids grow up so fast.

There are new things to deal with. Lunch boxes to be made each and every single day. Pick up and drop off every single day. A new routine. New friends. The new logistics of organising the lives of three small children.

And each year life changes, the kids grow older, more independent.

And I am so grateful to have been able to stay at home with them.

Tis the Season to be Cranky

Christmas is meant to be a joyful time of the year. But come on. It never is. Have you been to the shops in the weeks leading up to Christmas? Or for that matter, on the roads?

If only our disposition matched the joyful tunes of the Michael Buble Christmas Album being played in double storey shopping centres. We should be gliding around happily, chewing on rum balls, singing carols, smiling at strangers, looking lovingly at our own family and being all festive and stuff.

But instead all I see is mayhem. Wives barking at husbands. Husbands yelling at their wives. Queues of angry customers arguing who was next in line. Mum's yelling at their children. Children crying because they got yelled at. Getting shitty at that lady in front of you with the goddamn pram who won't get out of the way. (sorry it was probably me). People walking SLOW. Lots of stressed out angry shoppers pissed off with everyone and everything. GET ME THE F*** OUTA HERE.

And what about the carpark? As if the actually shopping centre isn't bad enough. The carpark is the most undesirable place in the world to be during Christmas week. As the 5000 cars appear en masse to occupy some 2000 bays available, things are going to get nasty. BEEP!! HONK! Multiple zooped up Commodores accellerating and breaking with force giving the passengers in the car spinal injuries. All in the name of getting the best car bay. You know the one. Right at the entrance in the shade. Everyone has gone mad.

The roads are busy and everyone's stressed. No one lets anyone "in". It's a no mans land and it's every man for himself here. Everyone is in a rush and no one gives a crap about anyone else.

I think I may be a victim of the Christmas Crankies. I had an appointment to pick up my new pair of glasses at Specsavers on Monday and totally lost my shit at the lady who served me. My glasses weren't ready to be picked up. I was rancid. After allocating my children to an alternative adult, taking 30 minutes to find a car bay that wasn't in Iraq. I was totally pissed. Not because they weren't ready. But because I AM GOING TO HAVE TO COME BACK HERE AT SOME POINT AND DEAL WITH ALL THIS SHIT AGAIN.

So Christmas is here and I urge you TO CALM THIS SHIT DOWN. What are you stressed about? Christmas? What? It's not the end of the world if you forget to get Aunty Berryl a present. A box of Cadbury Favourites is highly underated so go directly to Coles and get a few of those. Leave your cranky pants at home. How about you try and enjoy the lead up to Christmas as well as the actual day. Get all festive like and joyful. Walk around the shops with your egg nog. Smile politely at strangers. Dang it. Offer them a sugar free treat. Let that granny cut in front of you in the line. Afterall isn't that what Christmas is all about?

If I start, everyone will soon follow my lead surely. Anyone. Anyone?

Coconut Oil Changed My Life

I've talked a lot on this blog about my Sugar Free life and I have discovered some new foods and fats that are good for me and I never knew it.

Like that Saturated fat is good for you. It doesn't make you fat. It helps you lose weight. It helps you absorb the nutrients in your food. It makes you feel fuller and more satisfied with your meals. Let's not forget that it also TASTES BLOODY AWESOME.

At first I couldn't quite believe it. It went against everything I had been told about healthy eating. I was pissed off. With doctors. Researchers. Dieticians. Everyone who we thought we could trust.

But when you think about it. It totally makes sense. The low fat revolution began after some dimwit in 70's published faulty research about saturated fat. His research found that Saturated Fat make us fat. But it was all dodgy and was not a comprehensive study. Soon word got out and the low fat revolution began. But woah! Wait. What a surprise. We all got fatter. Like. DERRR. Of course we did. He was wrong.

I've tried eating low fat before. Like all the time. I would avoid the fat as much as I could. I've bought the low fat butter, low fat cheese. I've spent hours cutting the fat off meat. Being stingy with the butter in baking. Buying Skim Milk. Passing on the cream. Skimping on the oil. Skimping on the fat means you lose a lot of the flavour. 

And remember Low fat is almost always paired with a higher sugar content which makes it even worse.

So this is how I have come to discover Coconut Oil. Extremely high in Saturated fat and very good for you. I have the Niulife brand which is Organic, cold pressed,  raw and unrefined. Open the jar and you want to swim in it, it smells delicious. 

I eat a tablespoon a day straight out of the jar. The texture was a bit weird at first but I got over it. I started putting it on my skin. Putting it everywhere and anywhere and then I had a lightbulb moment.

I have struggled with the kids skin. Harry has had terribly dry skin since birth. It gets really bad in Winter when he itches and itches and draws blood all over his body. It's horrifying. I have bought EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN lotion at the chemist that has the "Dry Skin" "Eczema" buzzwords on it to no avail. Nothing really works. His skin just doesn't seem to absorb anything. 

Tilly's Eczema seems to have gotten worse since she got older. She has dry patches and lots of redness around the skin folds. I flat out refuse to use anything the doctor will prescribe. (Since becoming Sugar Free I am suspicious of everyone and their motives. Perhaps I've been brainwashed).

I ran quite a hot bath for the kids the other night. I was all out of their normal QV wash. What could I use? Hmm. Any commercial soap will flare up their skin. So I grab the magic jar of Coconut Oil and scooped a tablespoon out of it and let it melt into the hot bath. They sat in the bath for a good half hour. They got out and I could instantly feel their skin hydrated. I've done this every night and the results are ASTOUNDING.

Harry's skin feels soft and supple to the touch. He's stopped itching. There are no dry patches. All the dry patches on Tilly's skin have gone. She still has a little redness but it has definitely improved and I would expect that the disappear as we continue with the Coconut Oil baths. Afterall, it's only been a week.

So I'm writing about this in the hope that it will also help somebody else. Because having a blog kind of helps with that. 

I know, I know... I'm such a giver.