Updated on April 4, 2020
DAY 8: FASHION FRIDAY ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND CHEERY!
Hi Friends,
All dressed up and nowhere to go lol! But what fun and how great it felt just to feel human again! And to wear lipstick and eye shadow. I danced all day! When my quarantine is finished next week, I can’t wait to go out for one long breezy walk by the ocean. I’ll be 10 feet distant from others so no worries there as the beach is huge. Yay!!
I just had to do a fashion blog today. After days stuck inside the house, I needed to cheer myself up, and what better way to do that than with clothes. The brighter the better because Easter is on its way. The weather, though cold, is bright and sunny. Pink was the colour calling me today so off I headed in search of all things bright and cheery and Spring-like!
Outfit 1: Aritzia grey duster coat, a gift from my daughter, Victoria. I love it as it is so versatile and accommodating. I teamed it up with a cream body suit which I got at Winners on clearance months ago before my No More Stuff Challenge began. By the way I will be hitting the 6 month mark next Wednesday on that challenge! Can’t believe it! How time flies, so hopefully it will do the same with Covid 19!! The pink fur is Club Monaco. The shoes were purchased in Ireland last Summer and I found them under the bed during my recent visit. I bought them in Dunnes and what a find! Great for a Summer I am looking forward to! Belt, Gucci. Jewellery, Model’s own lol!
Outfit 2: I love the above jacket. I bought it about two years ago in a super Designer Consignment shop on Wicklow Street, Dublin. It’s called An Siopa Ella. It looks better in real life as the colours are so pretty. It’s an Italian label, called MSGM. Designer is Massimo Giorgetti who took his inspiration from Yves Saint Laurent and Coco Chanel.
Outfit 3: I love this Ted Baker classic silk jacket. It is bright, fun, cheerful and you can dress it up or dress it down. Again, look how versatile that all in one cream body suit is? And super slimming and elongating for a 5 ft 3 ins. small fry like me. I used to be 5 ft 4 ins. but I lost an inch somewhere along the way! May find it on the beach! That’s a crazy quarantine joke lol!!
Hope you like!
Hugs,
Patricia xx
Posted on April 3, 2020
DAY 7: TASTY THURSDAY
Hi Friends,
I find cooking and filling my home with happy aromas is very therapeutic, especially now when I’m in quarantine. I was asked for my yummy banana bread recipe. I have several tried and tested banana bread recipes, depending on who I am baking for. I’ve done the gluten free bread, sugar free bread, regular bread with a full cup of white sugar, but since sugar is a dirty word these days, I am sharing a very delicious recipe today that does not use any white sugar, and as Martha would say — it’s a good thing!
YUMMY AND HEALTHY BANANA BREAD
3 ripe medium bananas mashed (the riper the better)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. baking soda (not baking powder!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
Optional add-ins: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Method:
In a large bowl beat the oil and honey together with a whisk, add eggs and beat well. Add in milk and mashed bananas. Add the baking soda, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and whisk to blend. With a larger spoon, stir in the flour, just until it is all combined. At this point, I add in the chopped walnuts. I personally prefer them to chocolate chips, which I find too sweet. I also like the crunch of the nuts!
Sometimes I like to use an extra banana and slice it on the top of the banana bread mix. When the banana bread is baked it looks very professional! Another time I might just add a few chopped walnuts and place them on top of the mix before putting it into the oven. Again, it looks delicious and delivers extra crunch!
Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees celsius). Bake for 55 – 60 minutes until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for at least 30 minutes on a wire tray. Enjoy!
Updated on April 2, 2020
DAY 6: WEDNESDAY WORDS
Hi friends,
It’s Wednesday, Day 6 of quarantine, and it’s all about the words today! Wednesday is ruled by the planet Mercury (Mercredi in French). It rules Communications of every kind, so I thought I would share some of my favourite quotes, prayers, and bedside books. Hope they get your day off to a great start and fill your hearts with peace and love. For me personally – and I can only speak for myself, I have found my Faith to be the rock I cling to, especially in these unsure, fearful times. God plants seeds of Peace in the garden of my heart. I know he will do the same for you. Let’s share the LOVE today!
“Choose faith in the face of fear.”
~Dominique Sachse
“Hope and Fear cannot reside in the same space. You can only invite one
~Maya Angelou
“Being a person of hope means waiting without being afraid of the dark, the silence, the emptiness. It is in the emptiness, the darkness and the nothingness that hope is brought forth.”
~Sr. Stan
Centering Prayer:
O God, I adore you at the centre of my being. Please draw me inwardly by the greatness of your love, so that I may taste your peace which surpasses all understanding and that little by little, I may come to understand what it means to be lived in by God. Please heal the wounds of my lifetime, body, soul, and spirit as I lovingly wait for your presence and action within me.
Amen
Morning Prayer:
O Lord of the Universe, O divine spirit of creation, O Jesus, Lord and holy pattern of my life, forever and ever I bow to you.
Amen
I love having an assortment of easy read comfort books like the above in my bedside drawer. They are true comfort food for the soul and help me drift off into a nice deep and easy sleep.
Hugs,
Patricia xx
Updated on April 1, 2020
DAY 5: TIDY-UP TUESDAY!
Hi friends!
Did you know Tuesday is ruled by the planet Mars? (the French word for Tuesday is MARdi) Yes! It’s always a high energy day for me, so I decided to strike while the iron was hot and tackle all those pesky little pot holes of junk around my house. The ones I had been putting off for months and years!! No excuse now! I’m grounded! Ha Ha Ha and still managing to stay reasonably sane.
I accomplished so much today that for a moment it felt like a normal day again! Nothing has felt ‘normal’ for weeks now, so the secret my friends is to Work, Work, Work!! Keep yourself busy. It just goes to show if your mind is not fully occupied, it can be pretty destructive! Hence the importance of jigsaws, colouring books, reading material, writing, crosswords, patchwork quilting, word searches — you name it! Anything to keep your mind occupied! Unless you are a Zen-like highly evolved Goddess, which I am not!!
All that pent-up energy got released as the sluice gates of my life re-opened for business. Floors all over the house got washed, dust disappeared, rugs were vaccumed, sinks were cleaned, shirts got ironed, prayers got prayed, food got cooked, my medicine drawer got sorted out. I had to discard years of expired products. Embarrassing how old some of them were!! What was I doing these past few years? Does it take a disaster like Covid 19 to make me clean out my medicine drawer? Apparently yes.
By day’s end I was both exhausted and exhilirated. I had earned my lavender epsom salts bath and sank into it with gusto. Nothing like a hard day’s work to end the evening on a high! If you’re currently suffering from a bout of cabin fever, now you know what to do lol! Get that mop out and dance around the floor with it!
Hugs Galore from my home to yours!
Patricia xx
Posted on March 30, 2020
DAY 4 — MONDAY MUSINGS: IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS.
Hi Friends,
In these daunting days, I hope you’re fighting the good fight and doing everything in your power to keep your sanity! Short of climbing the roof, and swinging down the banisters a hundred times a day! It’s vital you do, because stress and gloomy thoughts can hack the immune system and wear your engine down. If social isolation is supposed to help the world, then we must ensure the cure isn’t worse than the disease. Perspective is what we need, not paranoia. And of course the knowledge that this too will pass… Amen to that!!
In quarantine, my life is currently devoid of humanoids, so the back garden is the place to hang out. There’s a lot of weeding to be done, and a dog to be let loose. Besides, how can you be gloomy when surrounded by such beauty? Colourful Spring flowers smiling at me from every direction. Cheery daffodils, colourful tulips, crocus, and yes! a pink hyacinth, the exact same as my happy hyacinth in Ennis, Ireland. What joy! The realization that some things never change is soothing to the soul. Nature and animals are oblivious to what is going on in our world. Hanging out with them is a recipe for Hope.
This is my 4th day in Quarantine — 10 more to go, and then it will be Easter!! Don’t know about you, but I think this March has been the longest month in history and I can’t wait to see the back of it, and for our world to return to normal. Again, stay connected!! We don’t want this social isolation thing to become the new norm. Imagine how absolutely miserable our World would be! No hugs, no coffee dates with friends, no shops, no restaurants — NO LIFE!! Hell to the ENOOOO!! Fight for the right to stay Human!!
Quarantine certainly does make you appreciate all the little things you once took for granted. You have more time on your hands and less on your feet and thoughts become things. Maya Angelou once said “Fear and Hope cannot occupy the same space. You can only invite one in”. I know which one I would invite. Hope. Without it, we are lost!
Several things which gave me hope today!
My Spring garden and puppy love, Coco.
Knowing that nothing stays the same. This too shall pass…
The fact God is Good and shall take care of everything.
The belief that people are incredibly resilient.
The understanding that Time heals all things!
Hugs Galore from my home to yours!
Patricia xx
