A Matter of Choice

You have read that correctly,  the title of this post is indeed Slimming World Fruit Pasta.  You are also perfectly entitled to think that I have gone completely crazy as you wouldn't be alone in those thoughts.  Over my Slimming World years I've tried many things, some only once and others that have become a staple part of my diet even when I'm not following the SW plan.   Lots of them are very sensible,  things that many people like that I'd just never thought to try before such as butternut squash, cous cous, and spinach all of which I regularly enjoy now.  Some of the things are more 'diet-y'  like cauliflower rice or courgetti (not that I've tried that, but I would be happy to) and some are a bit more odd such as lasagne doritos,  or 'Smash potato scones'   but I've never been more amused by a suggestion than I was when I saw a photo of Fruity Pasta on pinterest yesterday.  The idea of fruit and pasta isn't new of course,...

 Do you ever find yourself on social media scrolling with a sigh? I'm sure you have seen posts that make you feel like you could be better, that others are fitter, tidier thinner, more beautiful, wealthier, loved, or just generally happier than you.  This time of year can be the worst, when it looks like everyone is having a better time, with huge piles of gifts, perfect decorations, happy families, matching PJs, and beautiful happy children baking cookies.  It's not unique to Christmas of course, summer evenings at the beach, family BBQ's, birthdays, exotic holidays,  cute kids, loved up couples, beautiful people and inspirational houses can have the same effect all year round.  There have been times where I've had to step away from the phone, when it all feels a bit too much.  Times where I was perfectly happy until the beautiful happy photos slowly chip away at your peace and start to make you feel like things should be different, everything needs to be ...

My Sunday photos today were taken earlier this week on a walk along the beach path in Pernera.  I walked alone with the plan to listen to music along the way but ended up enjoying the sound of the sea too much, it turns out I also don't really like not knowing what's happening around me, it really makes me jump if someone walks up behind me!  There was a lovely feel of spring in the air, and lovely to see a few gorgeous yellow flowers along the way and feel some real warmth in the sun.   I love this time of year in Cyprus,  when it starts to warm up a little and the promise of everything coming back to life.  Winter is always quiet and I always feel that this time of year is full of anticipation - Carnival and Green Monday is usually around now, or very soon,   and after that it all seems to begin.  Of course this year like last is looking to be very different, but we can only hope better days will be here soon. 

Originally published on 'Talking on Eggshells' at the start of January, just before the 2nd full lockdown was announced in Cyprus.  As the UK and many European countries head back into a full lockdown it's hard at times to think of anything else.  Everyone has an opinion, for or against lockdown,  schools closing or not,  vaccines good or bad and so on.  But whatever your opinion on the subject, it is what it is and like it or not we have to make the best of it.  There was a lot said at the start of the lockdowns in March last year about using the time productively,  to get fit, learn a new skill, reorganize your home and so on.  For me at the start I tried to embrace this and loved the inspiring posts I saw online.  It kept me going in a strange and scary time and helped me focus.  Being productive gives me a sense of achievement and I've always worked on the theory that even if it doesn't cheer me up, at least I've done something ...

Another one of my 'Talking on Eggshells' posts, which if you missed it was the 'other' blog I briefly started and then decided to ditch.  So as not to lose the few posts I'd published I decided to move them over to here - hence the 'New Years' post in February.     I've always loved New Year, the very start of them at least. Many a New Years Day has been hungover to varying degrees, but once we recover from that I love the new beginning.  I love a new calendar,  writing in the birthdays and any plans that have been made for the year.      As much as I love Christmas I like to get the decorations away, have a good clean and feel like we are back to 'normal'.  I'm not one for making a long list of resolutions, but I do tend to have some in mind at least each year.  I never plan to start them immediately though,  I think that's a recipe for complete failure, for me at least.  It doesn't seem to be mentioned much these da...

As part of the relaxation of lockdown in Cyprus primary age children (and those in their last year of high school) return to school today after the latest covid measures shut them all down again.   We saw it coming in December as our cases were rising so it was no surprise to anyone that they did not open as planned after Christmas.  Home schooling was a 100% better for us this time round, although we are so glad to see them back in today.  Last year home school was a nightmare with tears and tantrums, and the kids weren't much better, but for a host of reasons this time was so much easier.  I think main reason was that it was less of a shock for everyone, I wrote about getting up for school when I didn't have to and reading it again reminds me how strange everything felt back in March last year.   Of course schools were not prepared and there was so much uncertainty everywhere.  This time round Leo had online lessons from 8 am till 10:30 am ever...

Winter in Cyprus is always very different to summer, we expect it to be quieter in Ayia Napa and positively sleepy in Protaras,  and we are used to seeing empty beaches free from sunbeds and closed bars and restaurants.  When we looked into moving here we were told that the east coast closes in winter and it wouldn't be a suitable place to consider moving to ( I think her company only dealt with Paphos properties).   I was really annoyed by the comment, how ridiculous I thought - surely the people who live there manage to survive! What she meant was that when the season ends many businesses close between November and April, although that would only be a problem if you are trying to live like a tourist all year round.   Of course the airports are currently closed to all but residents and essential travel, and all the bars and restaurants are closed until further notice and we realise just how much life there usually is in the winter months.  Usually we ...

After starting a new blog to be able to rant and write about more about things on my mind I cheered up and my first post came out all cheerful, but I was feeling like it was not acceptable to be cheerful so had not wanted to put it 'publicly on here'  Maybe one day I'll progress to not putting a 'disclaimer' on how I feel!  Here's the 2nd 'Talking on Eggshells' post (written 15th December 2020 so apologies for the mentions of Christmas)  So where to start with my shiny new blog? The overthinking is going well and I've had so many post ideas pop into my head in the last 24 hours that I now don't know where to start!  I thought it strange that I've felt happy / excited about it, and one of the reasons I started 'Talking on Eggshells' was so I could talk about things that made me sad or angry without worrying so much about people I know in real life reading it all so easily.  I forgot though how I love a new thing, even if one of the thi...

 At the end of 2020 I decided on a whim to start a new blog.  Five posts in I realised I just needed to give this one a new lease of life instead of giving myself another blog to run so I stopped it before it had a chance to get going.  So here is the first of the five posts from what was going to be 'Talking on Eggshells'   Many years ago I started writing a blog, it began much like this one with no prior planning and no plan as to where it was going.  I knew nothing about blogs, websites or social media other than how to put a few random pics on facebook.   While I've never gone viral or become a famous blogger, all these years later my blog is still known - by friends, family, neighbours and 'blog friends' worldwide and because of this I find myself always overthinking what I write these days.  I never tried to be anonymous with my blog, and to be honest I'm not even sure I'll be able to pull it off with this one but I would love to be abl...

Despite blogging here for many many years,  at the end of 2020 I decided on a whim to start a new blog.  I thought about it for all of a couple of days, threw a template together and plucked a name out of thin air.  Why? 5 posts in on the new blog and I'm asking myself this very question.  I started this blog way back in 2009 in what now seems like another lifetime,  I've had highs and lows with it since then, times where I posted like clock work, and times where the posts have been few and far between.  There have been many times when I've considered ditching the whole thing, either just stopping or even taking the whole thing offline but I think it's an amazing achievement and I'm quite proud that I'm still going it seems a shame to ditch it now.  I would have never believed you when I started that I'd still be here over 1100 posts later and more than 1.3 million page views.  The thing is, when I started no one knew about it, I had no followers ...

Here we are in the second month of 2021. I hope you all made it through January relatively unscathed? What a strange time it is,  and what a strange mood I find myself in now it's February.    I'm happy to say I'm ok, which is pretty good I think considering.  I'm neither sad or bouncing off the walls happy, we are plodding along in our own little world and getting through it ok.  Home school isn't the best thing of course but the last 2 weeks have been a thousand times better than the previous lockdown so I'm feeling very grateful for that.  We have fallen into a routine of sorts with Leo getting on with his online lessons,  he's not really enjoying them but does it all without fuss and I'm proud of how he's handling it all.    Louka generally has worksheets to complete, and I usually have to sit with him to give him encouragement the whole time but if I give him 100% then we are muddling though them together with a bit of  Google trans...

 Happy new year!  We had a nice New Years Eve,  on the last day we were able to visit other peoples houses.   It was a sudden announcement that had come in with just a few hours notice on the previous Tuesday but New Years Eve had been given as an exception to the rule.    Which was good for us as it meant we were still able to celebrate as planned with my parents.  We opened our memory jar  and the boys really enjoyed opening up all the slips and reading out the memories. It took a lot longer than I thought it would and there were a fair few in there that we had all forgotten. It went down so well that we've already started again for 2021.  We'd printed out a few quizzes and puzzles to be completed throughout the evening, and some questions to get everyone talking about the year.  Of course a lot of answers were covid related, especially with questions such as 'Most Challenging thing this year'  and 'An unexpected obstacle thi...

Christmas was always going to be strange for many people this year, for some a little strange would be more than they could hope for of course but I'm staying away from the absolute sadness and horrors of the world like I've always done on my blog.     I'm talking about the people I know and know off in Cyprus, those who would have traveled back to the UK, or elsewhere,  those who were expecting family to come here, those who would have met friends for Christmas dinner in a restaurant, or had a large gathering at home.  Our restrictions changed mid December and a 9 pm curfew came into place. Soon after  all bars and restaurants had to close.   We were allowed to have up to 10 people in our houses  (but randomly only 2 people could meet outside).   Most Christmas events had been cancelled, so no markets, school shows, parties etc.   All the towns still put up the Christmas lights which were lovely to see as long as you were...

Here we are in what is usually the strange week of the year between Christmas and New Year, when you you're not quite sure what day it is, and you feel vaguely guilty about sitting around doing nothing, feeling like you should probably be eating more healthily, drinking less and getting outside more.  2020 may not have given us much but it's made me feel a lot less bothered by this week!  I love Christmas and the whole run up but every year around this time I feel a little uncomfortable,  happy but also like I *should* be doing something - getting outside for a lovely winter walk,  especially when people are doing in through snow and frost and we usually have gorgeous blue skies over Christmas (the rain comes in the next couple of months)  But this year I am not being lazy, I'm just being sensible by staying home!  I've made peace with over eating and drinking,  assuming we are about to enter into another full lockdown we can reacquaint ourselves with ...

Last year we went to a great Christmas party at a friends house, as well as yummy food, silly games and a few drinks we took part in my first ever proper 'Secret Santa' Our Santa's all did well,  my gift was a Memory Jar along with a fancy pen and colourful papers to record our best memories throughout the year.  Of course this time last year I'm sure my secret Santa had no idea of what was to come, assuming that I would easily fill the jar with days out, parties, weddings and memorable moments.   It would have been all to easy to leave the jar empty, I'm sure after all that many people have started a similar jar in more 'normal' years and failed to fill it as the months go by, and 2020 hasn't given itself the best of times for people to look back on with fondness.  However, I have managed to pop quite a few memories in there since January. They are mostly simple things that made me smile on the day they happened,  things like meeting a friend, or everyo...

I used to join in with many blog link ups and tags but they either happen less or I read fewer blogs these days.  However I came across this from Life As Kim and thought I'd relive the good ol' blogging days.  How did you spend last Christmas? As we usually do, at home with the boys and my parents. For the last few years we've had Christmas at ours rather than my Mum and Dads,  they live in the same apartment building so it's not a massive change but as soon as we got a dining table large enough for us to all sit round I declared that Christmas would be ours! How are you spending this Christmas? Same as usual,  we are lucky here in Cyprus that although pubs and restaurants are closed until 31st December we are able to meet in groups of up to 10 people in private residences so the 6 of us are fine  and our day will be the same as it would be in a normal year.  What’s your most memorable Christmas memory? Well, that's an impossible question as there are ...