Step 2

 

My daughter and sister came for a visit. The pair of them ganged up on me (but in a nice way) and decided that I should forget about weight loss and concentrate on my fitness instead. They believe that better fitness will reduce my blood pressure, and I don't think they're wrong. So we started with walking! There's a nice walk near me that's 5 miles - though the first time I took my sister we kind of went a bit wrong and walked 7 miles instead. In the few days she was here we walked miles and miles. Next to the beach, around the lake, through the country park! However blood pressure already improving so I just need to keep it up! Libby also loved all the long walks and managed them no bother at all. Honestly, you just wouldn't know she was ill. Obviously I will aim to eat healthy in line with the exercise but I'm not on a diet. Let's just see what happens. I'm still taking cold showers and now I've added walking! I'm getting there.

So cast your mind back to last year. We were doing a taste test of mulled wines? I bought a really expensive one (make that an expensive 3 bottles) and it tasted rank? I think I upset the proprietor but she refunded me for everything and told me to bin the other 2 bottles? Well... I didn't. It just didn't sit right that this wine, which had received so many reviews from famous chefs and TV shows, could taste so bad to all four of us that tried it. Anyhow, we had family and friends over on Saturday so I decided I'd open another bottle and let everyone try it! Off I went into the kitchen (we were sitting outside) and a few seconds later I let out an enormous scream. The wine literally shot out like a volcano! It spurted up to the ceiling (that's the picture above) and I thought it wouldn't stop. Me and the kitchen were covered in wine! And it smelt vile. I think we can safely say there was something wrong with this wine. Longer story shortened - I rang the company, I explained about what happened and that I wanted to return the third bottle for them to test. After my spiel she admitted that they had had a new bottler who bottled the wine cold instead of hot, which meant it was still fermenting (no shit Sherlock?).  She had since received other complaints but at the time of mine she hadn't had any others and didn't realise at that time of the problems that the bottler had created! Anyway she will send me a 'proper' bottle this coming winter (free of charge) and I can't wait to try it. Whoop whoop! 

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others.

PS my ceiling is stained but it's ok as we also have a water stain from something else so the ceiling already needed a repaint. Oh the joys lol