Sitting here in my dishevelled kitchen I’m briefly thinking that maybe I should be scrubbing my cupboards like a good little 1940s housewife (I’ve noticed some suspicious solidified ikky drips) . Alas my brain is not wired in that way… I can always find other things to do, usually involving food or Facebook.

Today, while I write this, I am making several 1940s recipes including lentil sausages, cheese potatoes, farls, cheese and lentil pie and preparing a bag or organic kidney beans so I can cook those up tomorrow. In the 1940s with meat being in short supply, it was vital to get protein from beans and lentils as well as dark leafy green vegetables.. Beans and lentils are protein rich and there is as much protein in  4 oz of dried kidney beans as there is in a 4 oz steak!! (I just checked the nutritional information on my organic pack of kidney beans!)

I also scrubbed out my fridge yesterday (well maybe I am a closet housewife on occasions) and filled one of my shelves with fresh organic produce such as kale, spinach, celery, apples and some non-organic veg too (I should start growing a victory garden to offset the organic vegetable bill) … people ask me about the expense of eating so much fresh veg (a fair percentage of it organic). I have to say that I may spend a little more but there are many other areas I am saving in by eating based on a 1940s ration. It evens out and the way I look at it is so far, touch wood, I take no medications of any kind, and that saves money too!

But apart from today I’ve had a great couple of weeks! I completed the “Relay for Life” walk for cancer on June 1st with my work colleagues and we walked from 7:30 pm until 3:30 am on and off. It was a great event, the first time I had been able to participate (thanks to losing weight I can now walk pain free and not get out of breath!), my son Josh came home again for a visit and …… (drum roll)

…..”a literary agent in New York, is going to sign ma blog!! Woo Hoo@!!!..”

That means I have to get my arse into gear, get the rest of that 100 lb lost by October 1st and the rest of the 100 recipes (35 lbs and 35 more recipes). Oh and of course over the summer we’ll be working on putting together a proposal to send to publishers (inc St Martin’s Press who e-mailed me initially) and then just keep our fingers crossed…

If I’m honest I’m overwhelmed with the thought of pulling this all together BUT this means so much to me, I am passionate about what I started and will finish. Am under no illusions that I’m a good writer but I know the premise of the 1940s Experiment is a good one and looking at it clinically, a marketable project. If my book gets published then I will have achieved what I wanted to do and that is to share the information and lifestyle changes I truly believe in….

Finally, Pixar has restored my faith in humanity (sorry this is not 1940s related but in a way it is)… remember those women during the war who went to work during WW2…yes those ones that picked up tools, built aircraft, worked in factories, worked on farms, worked agricultural machinery, rolled their sleeves up and did, what was perceived as a “mans job”…

They did those jobs and they did them well too…

Well PIXAR have finally brought to the front a princess character that doesn’t wear pink, or comb her hair all day under the sea, or pander to every whim of a handsome young man. She fights against societies expectations of her role, she breaks out of her confines by symbolically ripping the seams of her dress as she picks up the weapon of her choice, a long-bow, and proves her worth. She fights against what she perceives to be unfair expectations of her role as a traditional woman and a traditional princess…..

Yes, this is just a movie, but I am pleased to see a strong princess (Merida) not afraid to be herself, who realizes this importance…

I have a Merida… she is strong willed, she has strong beliefs, she is focused and determined on the things that are important to her and  I do believe she can do anything she wants to do in life… she is BRAVE

I am today, just realizing, how lucky I am…