King Arthur and Her Knights by K M Shea

I am going through my kindle, and trying to read more of the saved books, rather than buying new books every time I get a voucher (such as for Christmas).


So, I chose this book because I was interested to explore the idea of King Arthur being a woman.  I didn't expect this book to start in modern times, and it is actually due to Merlin's magic that a woman is unexpectedly taken back in time, and told she is to be the new king.  Only Merlin and her closest knights are aware of her real gender.


The blurb says:

In a place and time not her own, one woman must risk everything to protect her life, her kingdom, and her heart.

Britt doesn’t want to be a leader, and she definitely doesn’t want to pretend she is the legendary King Arthur. But history has other plans.

A magical summons back through time lands Britt into the schemes of the surprisingly young and handsome wizard Merlin. He has some bad news: the real Arthur has disappeared, and the sword in the stone has chosen Britt to take his place. 

But life in ancient Britain isn’t safe. The kingdom is fragmented, with enemies on all sides, and there’s little chance for mercy if Britt’s real identity and gender is exposed. Britt will soon find herself fighting for her life again and again on behalf of her people.

And then there’s Merlin. Focused on his goal to unite Britain, he’s oblivious of Britt’s growing feelings for him. Or so she thinks. But what future can they have in a world that only sees them as monarch and confidant?

Don’t miss this collection of the first three stories in the bestselling King Arthur and Her Knights series plus exclusive bonus content not available anywhere else.

The finished King Arthurs and Her Knights series is based on Arthurian legends and lore. It is sprinkled with humor, love, and more than a dash of magic. If you enjoy strong characters and tales about the Knights of the Round Table, check out the King Arthurs series today!

I found it a bit difficult to get into initially, mainly because it wasn't what I was expecting.  I would also say that I don't think I'm the intended demographic; I would say this is more a book for teenagers or young adults, but still can be enjoyed.  It is easy to read, however, and the books are much shorter than I expected.  I think there is scope for the author to either expand the books a bit (delve into the lives of the characters a bit more), or collate some of the books together.  But was enjoyable enough that I have just purchased the second set (books 4-6) in the series.

Listen to your body!

That's my own advice I should be taking.  And it is a good thing to learn.

Yesterday I had a... I'm hesitant to use the words "bad day" because with the 2B Mindset, there are no bad foods, just foods that you should eat less of as they may not be as nutritious as other foods.  Yesterday, I did not eat as I know I am capable.  I snacked, cooked (reheated from frozen) beige food, and snacked some more.  At the end of the day, I did eat some slow cooked stuffed peppers, but my stomach was so full and bloated that I didn't enjoy it.

Taking the positives, the salt content of the food meant I more than surpassed drinking my water target. It didn't have a good effect on my bowels either, and when I woke up this morning, my body was crying out for vegetables, fibre, nutrition, anything!

Today, I have eaten better: a delicious ham and egg salad.  And when I prep my food for the week, I need to prep more - I enjoyed my homemade mix and match salads, so need to cut enough veg to last the full week, not just 3 days.

I also need to work on my triggers and feelings regarding eating.  It's no surprise to me that I post that I'm eating well, and then immediately self sabotage.  Healthy eating is more than just knowing what you should or shouldn't eat - if it were easy, nobody would be overweight or malnurished!  I need to tackle what is going on internally too.

Back in the swing of things

Term-time is up and running, and we're back running around after the girls and all their dances and activities.  I am trying to make the most of the time I have, so am currently being good and am sat in the dance studios with my laptop writing this post!

My tutoring has started up again after the Christmas break, as has all the girls' home education groups, leaving me little time at home for everything I need to do, including exercise.  It's now Wednesday, and I for the third day in a row I have no managed to BodyGroove, as I have not had 30min spare.  Technically, that is a slight lie, because I could have tried to wake up earlier, or stay up later, in order to fit it in, but I am someone who needs a lot of sleep. But, I'm not giving up on it.  I do enjoy it, I have noticed it working my muscles and I am losing weight.  I just need to squeeze a bit more out of my day.

I am eating well at the moment though.  The 2B Mindset is firmly implanted in my brain.  I am easily drinking my 90oz of water daily, and for the past 3 days I have had "mix and match" salad for lunch, from the prep I did at the weekend.  I have discovered I didn't prep enough, as I ate the last of the cut cucumber and pepper today, and ate the last of the hummus. I still have portions of vegetables that I can use for the remainder of the week, and some couscous left, but when I meal plan this weekend coming, I will need to prep even more food.

So far, I have managed to keep on top of the Bible readings - I'm aiming for 50 chapters a week.  We had our first meet on Tuesday, and we discussed the verses that spoke to us, and spent some time praying for each other.  Even though we're going at a much faster rate than I anticipated, I think I will get a lot out of the next 6 months.  I had planned to use my study Bible for the readthrough, but I find that I do most of the reading when I am taking my younger daughter to bed (we need to stay with her until she is asleep).  So, I'm reading the Bible on  my phone, highlighting the verses there, and then going through my actual Bible to copy up my highlights.  Only on the second week of the year, but it's working so far.

I'm also reading less than I would usually, as a combination of not having to wait for my children all the time (some days I leave them at dancing or gymnastics whilst I do other things), or because I'm using waiting time to do something else, like writing right now!  I do have 3 books on the go, though: 1 Christian inspirational, 1 non-fiction, and 1 fiction, so I haven't stopped reading altogether - perish the thought! - just getting through books a bit slower than usual.  That said, I am starting to really get into the fiction book I'm reading, so I may end up giving up a few hours sleep for that.

Note to self:
If I can give up sleep for reading, I can give up sleep for exercise. 
I am important and I am worth it!

Can you make money from blogging?

For me personally, up to now the answer has been no. 

That's not a surprised to me, as I know I haven't been putting in the hours that some people do. I am not expecting to make megabucks, or become famous, or anything like that, though a bit of pocket money would be nice.  This blog was set up to see how far it would reach, because my elder daughter wants to blog and vlog when she is older.

As expected, my main audience is in the UK and USA, and I know I have a friend in Australia who checks in.  What has surprised me is the size of the audience I have in France, Germany and India! Bonjour, Guten Tag and Apologies to any Indian followers that I do not know how to speak, let alone write, any of the languages from India.

One of my friends, who admittedly works harder than I do, started a blog at a similar time to me.  Rather than be anonymous, she regularly shares with all her friends, and has lots of followers both on the blog itself and on her Facebook Page.  I, on the other hand, have many fewer*: Follow this Blog, Like my Page and share with your friends!

*Is it Much Fewer, Many Fewer, Much Less or Many Less?  I feel it could be any of them except many less.  Fewer is for discrete objects, and people are discrete rather than continuous - I hope I don't come across half a person, for example! 

Anyway, back to my friend.  She gets sent products to review and keep - why haven't I thought of that!?! So any authors out there, who want me to review your book, I would be delighted to read and review them.  Any writers (cooks/chefs/other) of cookery books, especially ones purporting to aide weight loss, healthy eating, low carb etc I will definitely like to review and try out some of the recipes.  And anyone else who wants me to review anything, please get in touch, or I might have to do it the hard way, and actually write to publishers, manufacturers, and promoters myself.

It has sparked a thought, that I have had in the past, before I even started up my blog, about joining Amazon Associates.  It is actually much easier than I thought, and I can now say "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases".  I just need to go back through my blog, updating everywhere I have linked to an Amazon book.

Low Carb Revolution by Annie Bell

With the subtitle of "Comfort Eating for Good Health", you know the Low Carb Revolution will be full of tasty, hearty meals.  I was given this book for Christmas, which was a nice surprise as it fits well with the 2B Mindset.


Last night I decided to try "Chicken and aubergine tagine traybake".  Due to copyright I can't share the actual recipe, but it involves chicken thighs and aubergines, in a tray and baked...

It was delicious! Definitely one to make again and again.  It was very easy to do, and I have never had aubergine taste so good.  I wasn't keen on eating the preserved lemons, but they did lightly flavour to other ingredients such that I won't be omitting them.

And to add to my pleasure, this morning's daily weigh-in, is the lightest I've be so far this year.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Weekly Update No1 (I hope!)

Ok, so I'm crap at tracking.  I do track my weight daily, as I like to use the scales as a tool, and learn from decisions I have made yesterday to hopefully influence my new day and the new decisions I have to make.  Tracking what food I eat, how much water I drink, and what exercise I'm doing is much more difficult for me.  Whether it be that I'm too busy, I forget, I can't be bothered, or all three, sharing the minutiae isn't a habit I have yet.  Maybe it's because I'm an introvert so think nobody is actually that interested or cares much about it; or maybe because my subconscious thinks I'm setting myself up for a fall?  Whatever the reason, it is difficult for me.  So instead, I will try to do a weekly update.  It won't include all the details but will look for the positives, and be honest about the learning opportunities.

So, at the end of week 1, I have done some Body Groove everyday! (barring the 1st)  Most days have been between 20-30 minutes, and it really is good fun.  There's a surprising amount of ab-work that goes into dancing, and my muscles have really been feeling it when I wake up in the mornings.

I have been drinking plenty of water, and regularly hitting my 90 fl oz (3 bottles) goal.

My food has been up and down.  I have been making some good choices: I have made egg fried cauli rice a few times, I have chosen to eat a salad for lunch or when in a pub I chose to eat a starter with a side salad.  Eating well at home seems to depend on how busy/lazy/stressed I am, as those are the times when I'm more likely to cook something that just requires to be shoved in an oven, or to order in.  I need to pre-prepare food for the week, when I have more time on the weekends, so I can throw together something healthy quickly, without too much thought. Some points to learn from, include listening to when my body is full (at the Murder Mystery party I went to, I ate a curry with a whole naan, and then still found some space for birthday cake) and yesterday, after the meal in the pub we returned home with two Cakeaways.  If you haven't experience a Cakeaway, it is not as simple as a cake that you eat at home.  Rather than a 'normal' sized slice of cake, these slices are a good 8 inches tall, and 3-4 inches wide at the back.  When we returned home, we shared some of the cakes between the four of us, my husband took the girls to bed, and I mindlessly ate until I realised what I was doing... On the positive side, I did stop eating, before I ate it all and put them in the fridge and today when the others were eating the cakes, I didn't have any because I knew I had my share yesterday. Think positive!

As far as weight, I had put some on over Christmas, as I expected I would, and this week I have lost 1 kilo.

Januhairy

I saw the Januhairy campaign for the first time on BBC News and its ethos fits into why I consider myself a naturist - promoting real bodies (or body hair in this case) in order to promote true body confidence. 

I think it is important for men and women to realise what normal, natural women's bodies look like - in particular, that there is no such thing as "normal".  Additionally, we live in a patriarchal society and it is important, that as women, we learn to determine what things we are genuinely choosing to do, and what things we do because we feel we have to, due to pressure from society.

Some aspects of this are easy or difficult for different people.  For example, my mother never leaves the house without her "war paint" on, as she puts it.  I, on the other hand, rarely wear make-up unless going out and wanting to feel a bit extra special.  I have been told by my mum that I should wear make-up daily as I would look better (this was especially true before my Papilopustular Rosacea was diagnosed and treated), however I believe that I'm not there to make other people feel good about looking at me.  If I don't look how you want, don't look. Simple.

If we go on to talk about hair, I'm a bit of a Hairy Mary.  My hair is dark, strong and grows fast.  I've got a sensitive nose, so am very conscious about whether I smell or not (especially as some people say that you can't smell yourself until BO is really bad) because I can always smell me, even after I've come straight out of the shower.  As such, I always shave under my arms, so there is nothing for the bacteria that creates BO to hold on to.  I don't do this for other people, but for myself because it makes me feel clean.  Though I don't hold on to it myself, I've heard other women say similar about their pubic hair.

Leg hair, however, is something totally different and is where my confusion/conformity/hypocrisy kicks in.  I don't like shaving my legs, I really don't.  It takes up too much time and effort, imo, and women's razors are far too expensive. I have discussed this with my gorgeous husband, and he would be happy for me to not shave my legs - it's up to me.  However, I can't.  I can go for winter without shaving my legs, wearing trousers or thick tights all season.  I have even started being brave (for it is brave for me) and started going swimming without shaving my legs; figuring that if my legs keep moving, then nobody can see the hairs anyway.  I can't, however, wear a skirt with bare, hairy legs.  I can't.  I would like too, but years of conditioning means it's too big a step for me at the moment.  The closest I can get right now, is to share a quick snap of my lower legs on anonymous blog.

So kudos for all the women taking part in Januhairy, whether it be a month-long experiment, to raise money for charity, or a longer term thing.  I hope that one day I can join you, and that in the future my girls do not feel the same pressure to conform to an idealised image.