The Help by Kathryn Stockett

If you haven't read The Help yet, then you are missing out on a great read.

From the minute I picked this book up, I was engrossed.  The main characters are 'Skeeter' (Eugenia Phelan), Aibileen and Minny; between them the story of The Help is told.

Skeeter was raised by the family's black maid and through this experience writes about the truth of how black maids are treated as second class citizens despite the pivotal role they play within the family unit.

Aibileen is a black woman working as a maid, raising her white employers daughter (Mae Mobley), who she adores.  Through her story anyone can see the bond between maid and little Mae Mobley, who looks upon Aibileen as a mother figure.  Aibileen bravely instills values of self worth, kindness and anti racism into Mae through her stories. 

Minny is definitely the most entertaining character in the book, she is quite outspoken which has caused her to be fired from many jobs.  Minny works for Celia Foote, who is regarded as white trailer trash by the other society ladies in the story. Despite Celia's best attempts she simply doesn't fit in, showing that discrimination can be at so many levels.  Minny and Celia form an unlikely bond through a shared tragedy of their own, it was their story that I found most intriguing.

Now a major motion picture, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, is one of those 'must reads'.  Set in the 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi, The Help delivers a unique insight into the plight of the black maids, their families and the struggles they faced during a time of political unrest and change.  This book is an easy read, once you pick it up you won't be able to put it down until it's finished.

Highly recommended 9/10

Noom - Day Two

Today went better than yesterday on 'Project Noom'.

According to the Noom calorie counter I consumed 1550 calories, which is a vast improvement over the 2300 calories consumed yesterday.

This was probably helped by the fact that I haven't drunk any wine today, nor have I eaten any of those absolutely moreish Anzac biscuits that my husband insists on buying from Couplands Bakery.  If I didn't know better I'd be certain that he does this to deliberately sabotage my diet attempts... I will expand on this topic on another day!

Each day the Noom app pops up with a new tip or mini goal.

Today's was a blog post in their forum (link below)
http://www.noom.com/blog/2012/06/01/this-week-in-weight-loss-news/
The take out I got from this was about not eating in front of the TV.  Probably a bit obvious in some ways, but a timely reminder nonetheless.

Noom also wanted me to record my waist measurements, but didn't provide anywhere for me to record this information within the application, so I had to record it manually elsewhere.  Which begs the question, why on earth not?  If I had recorded my measurement in Noom, then surely that could be graphed or my progress tracked for further motivation down the track?

The other thing that seems a bit odd, is that Noom allows the user to record their water intake, but again, does not seem to do anything meaningful with this information.

Apart from that, I'm really happy with the idea of a mobile phone application prompting me to 'do the right thing'... it's quick and easy to use, and I feel quite satisfied with the idea of ticking off my exercise each day and recording my calories.  It's that 'front of mind' stuff, keeping the weight loss goal firmly in the conscious.  That's got to be all good.

Onwards and upwards :-)

Noom - Day One

Yesterday I set up my new android phone weight loss app - Noom.

It prompted me for all sorts of things, including what exercise I would be doing to achieve my weight loss goals.  Sure I want to start walking and a girlfriend and I are going to start doing Zumba soon, which should be hilarious, but for the meantime, I just wanted to get the basics down, which is horse riding in the weekends, and using the rowing machine at least three times midweek.

This morning when I woke up I was greeted with a reminder that I needed to ride for an hour (riding is something I love doing, so I was unlikely to forget tehe).  It felt really odd, ticking off an activity that I normally do and don't consider as exercise; but I want to be able to look back on this information in the weeks to come to see how the increase in exercise has contributed to my overall weight loss success.

Had a lovely ride (actually I was out for nearly two hours - so entered in the extra time for extra brownie points).  Tomorrow being Sunday, is another horse riding day, I'm sure that will be a doddle.  However, it's next week that I'm dreading... when I have to get back on the rowing machine.  I'm afraid I have a bit of a love hate relationship with that apparatus!

Despite the fact that I got a big tick for exercise today, I've done less so well in the calories consumed department.  According to Noom I have already consumed 1000 of my daily allowance of 1190* calories! I can see that I've got a bit of work to do in that department !!

The allowed number of calories is calculated on how the amount want to lose each week*

Kicking the Jenny Craig Habit...

After being on Jenny Craig for the best part of 18 months I think I might just about be ready to kick the habit.  Well almost?

JC was great to get rid of the bulk of the weight, but now I'm seriously struggling to shed those last few kgs.  A new approach is in order.

More exercise is definitely needed, as well as eating less generally.  I tend to be a 'mindless eater' and I'm sure this is one of my big downfalls.

So to help with all of that, today I downloaded the Noom Weight Loss Coach App to my android phone.  Noom is touted as the intelligent weight loss app... looks pretty easy to use too.

It was quick and easy to set up, Noom prompted me for my vital stats, weight, height, start weight, desired weight, exercise plan etc.

Once set up, Noom will prompt me to complete exercise and record details of what I have eaten.  At this stage I am just using the free version, but there is a Noom Pro version which has quite a few more bells and whistles.

It will be interesting to see if this works!  I'll keep you posted on the progress :)

Good on ya Overland Footwear :)

There's a sequel to my blog post; I am the Guilty Shopper in which I mentioned that I had bought some simply stunning boots from Overland Footwear.

Well the very next day, I got an email from Overland advertising their latest specials and smack bang in the middle of the email was a picture of my new boots, greatly reduced by $50!

Given that I purchased two pairs of these boots, you can imagine my reaction... I wasn't happy at all.  Thinking I had nothing to lose, I sent an email to their head office, voicing my concern, but not really expecting much of a response.

So I was very pleasantly surprised when I checked my emails yesterday to find that not only did Overland take the time to reply, but they will reimburse me the difference between the special price and what I paid for the boots.

Good on ya Overland... this is a fine example of customer service at it's best !

Prawn, Bacon & Tamarillo Salad

This salad was given to me by a very dear friend.

Not only is it quick and easy to prepare, it's looks super impressive if you're having people over for lunch and it tastes great!

Ingredients

• Uncooked prawns shelled (2 cups)
• 4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
• about 5 tamarillos (flesh scooped from skins)
• 1 avocado
• lemon juice
• about 10-12 cherry tomatoes halved
• 1 pack of fancy lettuce
• 3 spring onions (finely chopped)
• salt and pepper
• knob of butter and some garlic to taste
• balsamic vinegarette and dressing (I used a mango dressing) to taste

Method

1. In a large bowl place the lettuce, tomato, spring onions and tamarillos
2. peel avocados, slice, add salt and pepper and toss in a bit of lemon juice, then add to other ingredients
3. fry the bacon until crispy, put on a paper towel to absorb excess fat
4. in a clean pan add the butter and garlic and when hot add the prawns and cook through, allow to cool slightly
5. Put all ingredients into the bowl and toss through with some balsamic vinegarette and dressing to taste. I used a mango dressing which gave a bit of sweetness to compliment the salty of the bacon and tangy of the tamarillo.

Serve on a big platter or in individual salad bowls with some freshly heated bread and your favourite sauvignon blanc. Truly delicious :)

Blog Monetization

I've dipped my little toe into the world of Blog Monetization. More out of curiosity than anything.  Curiosity as to whether it is possible for a casual blogger like me to actually make money from blogging.  And how long it might take.

The first step was to set up my blog.  And define what topics I want to actually blog about.  At first this was going to be a weight loss blog, but as I started blogging, I quickly realised that my posts were more about the consumption of food than abstinence!  Clearly this blog is a work in progress, but I think I have some pretty broad headings now, so this blog is about lifestyle, food, rural living etc etc. 

I then submitted my blog for indexing on google as well as on other search engines.  This makes the blog easier to find, and therefore more people have an opportunity to read it.  More readers means more traffic, and for monetization of a blog, more traffic is key.  Use of social media tools such as twitter, facebook and linkedin are also part of helping this process along.

After that I signed up to Blog Distributor.  Blog Distributor is one of many companies who offer 'paid blogging' assignments.  I've had 5 jobs so far.  The rate of pay varies depending on the popularity of your blog - as my blog gathers momentum then the amount offered is likely to increase. I also hope that the frequency of jobs also increases over time, as the one job offered per week is not setting me down a path to immeasurable riches!

Paid blogging assignments is just one way of monetizing your blog.  Other methods include Google adwords and agreeing to place adverts on your blog for other advertisers.  Offering products or services for sale through affiliate marketing is another option.  Amazon would be a major player in this area, it's easy to become an affiliate member of Amazon and direct potential customers to their website, to gain a small commission for anything sold.

Is it possible to make money from this blog?  It's early days yet, but I'll definitely do an update in a few months time with a progress report.

***

On a final note:
I read an article the other day that said it takes two or more years to truly establish a blog.  Clearly perseverance and regular posting are key.  But it appears that the choice of blogging platform plays a critical role too. And it's here I've possibly gone wrong. Most serious bloggers are using wordpress, this blog is on the google blogspot platform.  What do you think?  Should I be transitioning this blog across to wordpress?
I'd love to hear your comments and feedback.