Saturday 27 September 2008

Retail Therapy

I went shopping to Sainsbury's on Monday!
I came home and twiddled my thumbs.

I went shopping to Sainsbury's on Tuesday!!
I came home and twiddled my thumbs.

I went shopping to Sainsbury's on Wednesday!!!
I came home and twiddled my thumbs.

I didn't go to Sainsbury's on Thursday.
Instead I typed 3,000 words.

By Friday, I could see the irony!
The subject? Retail therapy.....My problem? Writer's Block!

Somehow, discovering polystyrene-free pizza proved just the ticket as did falling for the temptation of frozen pies, ready-made sauces, 30 chocolate mini-donuts, a huge tube of Smarties and six cans of cloudy lemonade.

Not my normal purchases, research only. I guess there's nothing like experimenting with other products to expand the mind and keep the cogs in motion. Not sure I could keep it up though, my recycling bin might groan with the strain and I'm already a few pounds heavier!

Anyway if you're looking for polystyrene-free pizza, try the Goodfella's range in the frozen department. Absolute Genius!

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mrs A,

Sorry to read about the "block". They say a change is as good as a rest. Maisie's and justGai's blogs are a breath of fresh air in the Zero Waste world. New blood refreshes. Just ask Count Dracula!

If you are tense relaxation may help. I do a kind of self-hypnosis. It involves slow deep breathing, with the mind only on the breathing rhythm, with a gradual relaxation of all the body's muscles. You sink into the bed (use a bed).

As for weight gain, take up running to burn-off the calories.

Anonymous said...

Hey babe,
I'm with John - writers block doesn't call for 'trying' to write, it calls for something totally different.

It's like TRYING to meditate, or TRYING to sleep - totally useless and only gets your stressed. You just have to let go and let the words and inspiration come to you.

I know that sounds scary when you have deadlines, but honestly, trying to write when the creative flow is stuck upstream somewhere is like flogging a dead horse.

Let's hope the words come to you now. Just trust they will and great news on the pizza. (although not the weight gain, perhaps).

You know we're all here rooting for you,

Have a great weekend,
mrs G x

Almost Mrs Average said...

Thanks John - I find I can't rest though. Instead I go in search of cake. But cake's not good. It just adds to the calories, as did wandering around the supermarket. As for running, well I have a long lost relationship with exercise, except for chasing after the kids ;-D

I have faith that everything will get back to normal. One of the things I found when I took up the zero waste challenge was that I lost about 19lbs through changing the way we we shopped and the way we ate. I've never really blogged about it, because I can't ignore the fact that it might have been down to blogging.

So one way or the other, those extra pounds should be shifted very soon, even if it's down to the speed of typing. ;-D

Thanks Mrs G - and thanks for being at the other end of the phone last week. The effect of little T's emotions were really hard to manage and took over my whole thought-process. I'm glad to say he's now much better, which helped tremendously. Once he was settled, I was settled. And going off to the supermarket was ironically the solution I needed as were the 24 mini-donuts I ate in one day...I'm a naughty naughty girl! No wonder my weight shot up accordingly LOL ;-D

Karin said...

I get caught out by Sainsbury's pizzas everytime. I only shop there occasionally and think it would be nice to have a change from Waitrose pizza this week . . . until I get home and find the polystyrene in the box. Waitrose fresh pizza have cardboard support for the base.

Anonymous said...

Hi again Mrs A,

Losing weight is part of Zero Waste in that Ready Meals are avoided. Fresh food is better in every way.

The thing about self hypnosis is that it provides a routine to follow, once learned. You can switch-off all thoughts which otherwise can race and prevent sleep.

Did you not like the "fresh blood" and "Dracula" joke? Dracula refers to no person, living or dead, but to the undead, from Transylvania.

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi John - feeling slimmer already...until I reach for the freezer that is ;-D

LOL - I always struggle with jokes but I did chuckle at Count Dracula, I also popped over to see Just Gai to make sure she wasn't looking "drained". It's her big week this week, so she needs all the blood she can keep ;-D

katyboo1 said...

Hiya

A couple of thoughts. I usually make my own pizzas, thus saving on any packaging. Kids really like to help. Nigella's recipe is a dream. Although not that helpful if you want pizza immediately due to having to wait for yeast etc.

When we're in a rush I have come up with a cunning plan. The kids like very thin crust, very little sauce. I buy a packet of tortilla wraps from the supermarket. Yes, they're wrapped in plastic, but there is less waste because you get about eight wraps per packet. The kids smear tomato puree on and add what they want (obviously we use pre cooked meat) and then we whack them under the grill for about sixty seconds. Crispy, bubbling hot pizza they can do nearly all themselves. Also tastes rather delicious.

Sorry to hear about the block. Can't help, as I'd go for exactly what you did myself :)

Anonymous said...

I'm a horrible mum; I take a slice of thick bread, put tomato puree on it, add grated cheese and then whatever topping LMG wants and call it pizza.

It works every time! Now when she goes to a friends house and has the 'real thing' she tells me 'their pizza isn't like yours at all' :D

Mrs G x

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Karin - Great to see you again and thank you so much for letting me know about Waitrose pizza. I haven't had one for ages but they are great the fact that they've got a cardboard base is even better. :-D

Hi Katyboo - my, you domestic goddess. Next time I'm in Leicester I know where I'm heading ;-D Thanks for the tip about the Tortillas. That sounds so cool and I can recycle plastic film in my area so even better. :-D

Hi Mrs G - LOL, poor LMG, but eh, it works. It's taken my lot ages to learn to like pizza, but they are now warming to the whole thing. I wish I'd thought of the bread trick a while ago. Could have saved much time and effort, having attempted to make the "real thing". We'd make the pizzas then I'd end up eating all of them. As with Katyboo's tortilla surprise, I'm up for the easy option now ;-D

Karin said...

Good to see your writer's block seems to have gone, Nearly Mrs A. Apparently it's all down to your chakras - or so I was hearing in my yoga class. If you know which exercise to do you can remove whatever it is that is blocking your energy flows. Well it might not actually apply to writer's block, but as I don't know a lot about chakras, you never know.

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Karin - thanks for the top advice. I've got a lot of pretty crystals dotted in a bowl, so maybe it's time to find out what they really are and if they can help too. One way or the other, I'll be ready for it the next time! ;-D

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