Author: Snoskred

Mug Friends

5 Comments Posted on June 6, 2016June 5, 2016 by Snoskred

Laura over at The Occasional Nomads wrote a post about mugs the other day. It has inspired this mug post from me. It also inspired a winter-clean-out of the mug cupboard! As you can see above, we had more mugs than space.

The truth is, our coffee machine does not have a lot of height for mugs. All the tall mugs had been pushed to the back of the cupboard because they are too difficult to use. Supervisor Kitty appeared, as she always does when anything is happening in the kitchen –

Under her careful supervision, I pulled all the mugs out of the cupboard and now you can see why many were stacked on top of each other –

How did all of these mugs ever fit in that cupboard? I have no idea. When I pulled them all out, I realised that every mug has a story to go along with it – where it originally came from and memories from times they were used. Some of our mugs were gifts – some wanted, some most definitely not wanted. Some of our mugs were purchased in an attempt to find the perfect mug, but when it came to using them they did not live up to expectations.

The Other Half and I made some difficult decisions – to say goodbye to some much loved mugs and send them off to find homes where the owners might have a coffee machine with more height available, or maybe they drink instant and don’t have to worry about the height of their mugs.

The brown and white mugs were part of a dinner set but the handles are weird. Not a fan. The mint slice mugs were a Christmas gift. The cartoon cats were a gift from my Mother, but these are super tall and thin and do not hold a lot of coffee. The need more coffee set are very small – good for the afternoon coffee, but one of them is now chipped. The other four were an unwanted gift and they are too small.

Mugs are in constant danger in my kitchen. Life is a daredevil adventure for them! There is a reason many of my plates, cups and bowls are plastic.

These are some of the too tall mugs that I would have loved to keep but am letting go of. We simply do not use them. Here are the goodbye mug friends all packed and ready to go to their new home –

And here is the mug cupboard when the task was completed.

There was even space for the non-mugs to reside in their own area. Measuring jugs, plastic mugs which I usually use for making chicken stock or reheating soups..

Much better! I did keep some tall mugs which you can see at the back because I sometimes use them for tea plus they have sentimental value. This has actually turned into two posts – I will tell you about the keeper mug friends next week.

Home

FriYAY Fireside Kitties

4 Comments Posted on June 3, 2016June 2, 2016 by Snoskred

The weather has turned cold here. The kitties are all about finding the best place in front of the gas fire.

kitties

Goal Met, Part 1

4 Comments Posted on June 1, 2016May 31, 2016 by Snoskred

You might recall me telling you what my goal was for 2016 back at the start of the year. It was pretty simple –

Eat less, move more.

I had also set myself a personal weight loss goal of losing 15kg by June. I achieved my goal on the 27th of May, yay!

Eat Less

I limit myself to 1200-1400 calories a day. Since meeting with the dietitian, the calories I am eating are better than they have ever been. I’m on a high protein diet. I’ve switched out white foods as much as possible – aka I rarely eat bread, pasta or rice, potatoes have been switched for the lower GI sweet potatoes.

I’ve begun to see food as fuel for my body and I am much less likely to eat poor fuel these days. I prefer my protein shake to a hamburger. I gotta tell you, I love that protein shake. I would say irrationally love it, but my love for it is NOT irrational, it is quite sane, because that is great fuel for my body.

What does eating less look like? Don’t worry, I still get my dark chocolate treats in there.. ;) for those wanting to know, here’s a recent day.

You’ll note breakfast is a weird amount of 32 grams – I do actually weigh it out. My stomach is not a morning stomach. It really does not like a lot of breakfast. This particular cereal is quite fluffy and my eyes say whoa, that is enough! When I eat the Weetbix Protein Bites for breakfast, I do get a full serving of 40g. I switch back and forth between these two cereals.

The protein shake is very filling. I used to eat a lunch which was 129 calories but I can no longer fit it in most days, because I have mostly moved my exercise to mornings and I have my protein shake just after exercise. It keeps me full until dinner time.

This particular dinner I like to call savoury beef, it is delicious. If I’m too full after dinner, I might skip the chocolate or the other snacks that day.

The rice cakes mentioned above are amazing and have stopped my craving for potato chips entirely. Oranges are in season at the moment so I am eating one a day and enjoying them, sometimes I might switch that out for an apple and in summer it was mangoes all the time, with some greek yoghurt.

The only thing I don’t log is cooking oil – I don’t use much – and spices – I use plenty but the calorie amount is negligible, and I log my two coffees as one coffee in the morning, just to save some time.

Move More

As you saw here on the blog with my recent 5 week challenge posts, I’ve got move more down to a bit of an art at this time. For 5 weeks, I either walked 5km or burned at least 500 calories each day.

The Next Goal

I would like to lose a further 10kg by the start of October. If I manage it, I will reward myself with fake skydiving! ;)

I also want to add in more yoga and pilates before and after treadmill workouts. I did a pilates class which broke me for a week, so I want to build up slowly before trying another class.

2016 Goal, health

Beach Walk Day

2 Comments Posted on May 30, 2016May 23, 2016 by Snoskred

Unlike the protected beaches of Jervis Bay, Seven Mile Beach gets the full force of wind and waves. Some days the sea spray appears like a hazy fog blanket. We only walked just under 6km here on the 22nd of May and by the time we were done, my glasses were completely covered in sea spray, not to mention my eyeballs and face felt like they’d been sandblasted. Hey, some people pay big money for that kind of effect!

Still, it was an absolutely gorgeous day out there. 24 degrees C (75F or so) and the wind was warm, not cold.

Each beach here has their own character, their own different kind of sand, different shells that wash up, different sea items. This beach has a sparkle to it which is difficult to capture with the camera. It is like someone hid glitter in with the sand.

That was our best attempt. It does not do this glittery beach true justice. For that you need to go there with your own eyeballs, I think. :)

This area here is sometimes opened up to the sea. This photo looks back towards the Shoalhaven River. If you look at my track of this walk, it looks like we walked on water for much of it. However we were quite safe on the sand. :)

beach walk, New South Wales

FriYAY Kitty Day

6 Comments Posted on May 27, 2016May 26, 2016 by Snoskred

Supervisor kitty discovered our retro Caroma bathroom stool that almost every Australian household seemed to have, back in the 70’s and 80’s.

I have no idea where this thing came from or how it found its way into our household. I secretly suspect these things travel in packs at night, populating themselves into houses where there is not a Caroma bathroom stool presently living.

Ours gets used for so many things. Changing light bulbs, haircuts and hairdye-ing, and now it seems to have become a kitty perch. Really what Happy wants is a series of plastic stools at varying heights, so she can pick and choose where to sit and supervise our kitchen work.

I turned around and saw her sitting here, and doubled over laughing, because she was giving me her unique improbable kitty face.

kitties

Healthy Chicken Strips

9 Comments Posted on May 25, 2016May 23, 2016 by Snoskred

Traditional crumbed chicken is something my grandmother taught me to cook when I was growing up. It was one of the very first dishes she taught me. It involves love, time, and a lot of effort, plus plenty of eggs and butter. I can never make it without thinking of her.

Love, time, and a lot of effort are not always something I have on hand. So when I discovered Healthy Chicken Nuggets at Skinnytaste, I thought I would give them a try. They turned out awesomely and The Other Half was a big fan.

Me personally, I wanted a strip rather than a nugget, because I was the one crumbing them. And he didn’t mind what format they arrived in, as long as they got in his belly. I now make a big batch of these on Sundays, and he takes some for lunch each weekday.

I have tweaked the original recipe somewhat. Here is how I make them, step by step with pics. This is not a recipe where I use exact amounts, myself. You will get messy making this!

You’ll need –

Chicken to crumb. I use breast chicken cut into strips.
If we are eating it for one meal I will use 250g of chicken for each person.
Extra virgin olive oil to lightly coat the chicken.
Baking trays lined with baking paper to place your crumbed chicken onto.

For the crumbs –

Breadcrumbs of your choice.
Parmesan cheese.
Parsley.
Black pepper.
Any other herbs you like to add.

Mix these items together on a large plate. Don’t use too much cheese. When you’ve made it a few times, you’ll know how much is best.

Set the oven to 200C and get it warming, while you do the crumbing.

Place the chicken into a bowl with some olive oil, and then smoosh it around until all the chicken is lightly coated. Take the chicken out of the bowl and lay it on a plate so any excess oil can drain off.

Add the oiled chicken to your crumbing plate. Turn the chicken over, pushing it down into the crumbs to coat it. Do this to each side of the chicken until all sides are covered.

Lay the crumbed chicken on your baking tray. Once the tray is full of chicken, place in the oven for 15 minutes, then take the tray out and flip them over once. Return to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes. If you like them crispy on the outside, do 20 minutes each side.

These are great to have in the fridge for a snack, they can be eaten hot out of the oven or cold out of the fridge. I recommend making a double batch each time and saving the other half for lunches. ;) Or making a huge batch like I do each Sunday, for weekday work lunches for The Other Half.

health, recipes, Snoskred Faves

Bushwalk Day

8 Comments Posted on May 23, 2016May 11, 2016 by Snoskred

When the weather started to go cloudy and cooler, we started our bushwalking season. These kangaroos above were in the carpark when we arrived.

The Banksias were out, and they were absolutely gorgeous.

We crossed a river and there was a cute wooden bridge where people could sit and watch the water go by.

I have no idea what these native flowers are called but they are so beautiful. Does anyone know?

We ended up at Bristol Beach – it was super windy so no beach walk, we headed back into the bush instead.

Our bushwalk track on the map. You park at the carpark at Green Patch and follow the signs for Telegraph Creek nature trail. We added the loop to Bristol Beach.

exercise, Jervis Bay

Scam Warning – Nocturne

15 Comments Posted on May 20, 2016May 19, 2016 by Snoskred

Here is yet another scam job email. It should be noted that these posts help thousands of people each week who arrive here on the blog after searching the web for email addresses, phone numbers, or text from these emails.

Thank you to JP who sent this new scam to me via a contact form. I know these posts are somewhat boring for regular readers here but I hope you won’t mind – it is for a great cause.

We would like to offer position of Administrative Assistant at our company. Please, find more information about us and this position below.

Nocturne is a leading distributor of finest designer goods. Currently it is one of the most important specializing in online sales. With more than 5 years of experience in the designer goods industry. We offer a continuous renovation in our collections, following the latest trends in each country and season, thus satisfying the demand of clients. We always keep in mind that prices are an important factor when it comes to sales.

We are looking for a responsible person in Australia who will be ready to incur all necessary activities. Our candidate should be highly motivated. We believe that the experience is not the most important thing. The key to success is a fresh look and bold ideas!

The main duties of Administrative Assistant:

– Helping Entity’s Sales Department as a special projects support
– Data entry and other functions as specified in the instruction
– Running reports for all completed deals and wire transfers
– Providing overall administrative maintenance such as making of letters, processing purchase orders and transaction reports etc.
– Emailing correspondence every day

Hours: Full-time or part-time schedule possible. Your schedule can be irregular. For a part time variant – you will spend 3 hours per day average, from Monday to Friday.

Salary: Essential pay for a part time job is 840AUD on a weekly basis
plus 5 percent commission. Full-time job pay is 1300AUD on a weekly basis plus commission.

You will be on Probation period for your first month.

I’m sending you Application Form and short presentation of Nocturne(you can
find it attached to this email). You can find full job description in
the brochure(pages: 9-18). Please read it carefully, complete and send
it back to me via email or by fax +1-832-524-7454. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thank you,
Paula Hanson

This is 100% a job scam.

PLEASE Don’t Tell Them!

When the scammers find out their scam company name is listed here, they will simply change the company name. Thousands of people find these posts and find out that the job is a scam via my site and others that warn people of these scams.

So – please – do not tell scammers that their company name is listed here or anywhere else on the web as a scam – it will take them mere seconds to change their fake details and their new details will not be easily searchable for any future victims to find.

How Do You Know This Job Is A Scam?

This is a fake job scam. You can read more about how these scams work at Scamwatch.

In this case it seems they are direct depositing stolen or fraudulent funds into the bank accounts of scam victims. The money will appear to be legit to begin with. They will ask you to transfer funds to them via Western Union or Moneygram. It may take up to a year for the transaction to be reversed but it WILL be reversed and when it is, you will be required to pay the money back to the bank.

I gave them my bank account details?

If you gave them the account name, BSB and account number, they can easily print fake cheques with that information. You definitely need to speak to your bank about this ASAP.

In this particular instance, you may find they deposit a sum into your account – or they may send your account a payment from a stolen credit card. If that happens, DO NOT touch that money, because eventually the bank will reverse that payment.

If it were my bank details, I would close that account as a matter of great urgency. Speak to your bank as soon as you can, and they will likely advise you to do that.

I would advise anyone caught out by this scam to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and also to Scamwatch via this form. The scam victim may be able to sort out a deal with the bank where the bank pays some – or all – of the losses.

More About Scams

You can see my collection of fake cheques collected from fake job scams here – Snoskred made 5 MILLION DOLLARS online this year!

You can read more about internet safety and scams here – Internet Safety & Scams – What You Need To Know.

Angry Snoskred, job scams

The Stairs Challenge.

3 Comments Posted on May 18, 2016May 11, 2016 by Snoskred

I was challenged by The Other Half to include some stairs at the start of our Huskisson walks. These are not your average stairs. They are probably 2-3 floors high, very steep, and in some cases a bit overgrown.

I can now do all 7 sets of steps without having to stop at all. It is a great way to kick off a workout.

exercise

The Five Week Challenge – Week 5

3 Comments Posted on May 18, 2016May 17, 2016 by Snoskred

The final week of the challenge, finally!

Awesomes over the past 5 weeks –

– smashing my goals – sometimes by double
– seeing the dietitian
– seeing the exercise physiologist
– getting lunches back on track
– eating breakfast every day
– trying protein powder for the first time
– trying peanut butter powder for the first time
– adding in a protein smoothie each day
– getting out and walking a lot
– moving exercise up to between 10-midday VS afternoons
– sleeping way better
– getting a bushwalk in
– getting back on the kayak
– walking 2x 10kms
– many sets of beach stairs run down and back up!
– buying water shoes and taking up aqua jogging
– learning to quiet the voice in my head who says “You can’t”
– kept going when I wanted to stop x many times
– bought proper sweatbands
– eating better fuel

Friday May 6th

I walked 10km, followed by an entire hour in a hot tub. Because I deserved it. :)

Saturday May 7th

A 6.5km walk, not including this little worm trail when we went to a store.

Sunday May 8th

Monday May 9th

Todays run/walk – first 5km running and walking, then a 3km addon of slow walking while I watched the finale of The Good Wife. Which was SHITE, same as the last two seasons have been.

Tuesday May 10th

Some quite nice personal bests for me on todays run/walk. 7.25 for the first km, 39:36 for the 5k. That is the first time below 40 minutes for me. Thanks to the NBN, for pissing me off so much!

Wednesday May 11th

Today’s workout brought to you by Get Lucky by Daft Punk which played twice! It was a bit.. weird. I did a new personal best for the 1k. After that, I struggled somewhat to keep up with the time I set for yesterday. I ended up at 40:22 for the 5k, and then I did a cool down 1.5km walk.

Thursday May 12th

The final workout for the 5 week challenge. 977 calories burned in the pool today.

exercise, Jervis Bay