All God's Gifts Around Us...........

I am now back from my very enjoyable holiday with my youngest and his family and, as promised, here is a follow up from one of my previous posts The Monkey Made Me Do It

You may remember that in that post, I shared with you, my dear Bloggeroos, my struggle to come to terms with my secret addiction to Coco Pops.

Well, I said I would give them up - and I did!

Not only that, but I have managed to stay 'clean.'

I did have one really bad day when I had to call my BFF Carol to come round to my house.

There were no Coco Pops in my pantry, but by the time she got here, I was standing in my kitchen holding a bowl of cornflakes, very tightly to my chest.

After she had whacked me three times with my Vileda Pro Mop and promised me a Wagon Wheel, I resignedly gave her the offending cereal, and she dropped it in the wheelie bin outside.

Phew! - that was a VERY close call!

Anyway.............where was I going with this tale?

Errr, oh I remember...........

All those Coco Pops have done untold damage to my body.

The only way I can get into my best pair of jeans is to lather me bum in Nivea Creme and gently ease them on, lying flat on the bed, using my three, very best, tortoiseshell handled shoe horns.

So, I have decided to get fit and drastically alter my diet.

Most importantly, I need to get back to my "Five a Day" fruit consumption.

Before I share my new diet with you, I would just like to share this old picture of me and my little pals placing our fruit and veggie offerings on the Harvest display years ago.

No! I'm not the one holding the marrow.

I donated 2 tins of Heinz Spaghetti and a bunch of rather limp celery.

The picture was taken at the Lincoln Salvation Army Harvest Festival 1967.

I'm the one with the black buttons down the front of my dress. (I wasn't wearing my Junior Soldier uniform, as I'd attended an Anglican Baptism earlier that day.) The little girl standing next door but one to me, with only her cute little head showing, is my Ickle Ditder Mandy.

Three of the other girls weren't only friends - they were also charges of my Mumsie's, as she used to be a Childminder. (Or "Auntie" as we called minders in the 1960's !) The three of them were sisters and had many cousins, one of whom was called Glenn.

I went on to marry Glenn in 1975, and he is the father of my two sons.

Although we divorced in 1994 and Glenn has since remarried, he is still very much part of my family. He still visits my parents, invited them to his wedding last year and remembers to give cards and presents to them for birthdays and Mothers'/Fathers' days. Glenn and his wife Rosemary are also invited to our (very frequent) family gatherings.

Anyhooo...........I digress.

Here is my 'Five a Day, Get Fit' Diet.

You must consume at least five of the following, one from each group...............................

APPLES GROUP

ORANGES GROUP

BANANAS GROUP

STRAWBERRY GROUP

GRAPES GROUP

If you tire of the fruit, you can add any of the following......................

Of course, changing my diet won't solve the problem on its own, so I have taken up a new, very sporty hobby.......................

It's called "Extreme Ironing" - D'ya think it'll catch on?