20 Thursday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
happy to have the fish back in the house…
I talk to them…
they swim around and look hungry…
I feed them and they race around gulping down the food… but they are company…
the tiny ones are currently living in a bowl because they might be food for the others if they went into the tank…
but they appear to be growing…
19 Tuesday Apr 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
yesterday I turned 65…
was very special to be in New York with my girls…
went for a walk after midnight… because we were in NYC and you can… wandered by the 9/11 memorial and found the Charging Bull… went to bed around two…
we headed down to the cold-pressed juice bar in the hotel once we woke up and before starting out on our last day in the Big Apple… was able to have an all vegetable juice which was a great way to start the day… I’d been eyeing the bar since we’d arrived… later came across a creperie and had a portobello, Gruyere, thyme and truffle oil one for the second part of my breakfast… yum… at lunch had freshly made motzarella, prosciutto, radishes, a fried asparagus with cheese pizza and half of a pear Bellini… snacked on a piece of coconut chocolate cake… and our final meal of the day was steak with mashed potatoes, and a tasty salad topped off with pecan pie…
was pleased with the options and able to eat small portions of each so felt treated and good at the same time, lol…here is a collection of our fun day…
our feet, hand and bags as we were cramming our stuff into as little space as possible, ready to go through customs with all of our goodies… including treasures from Carlo’s Bakery… a wall covered in purple purses in Brookfield Place… dinner at Prime in La Guardia… cheers at Eataly… and more cheer with our dinner…
received this great phone case from the 100,000 step girls… we’d seen this as we were riding the Big Bus Hop-on Hop-off… they searched everywhere to find one with the subway map on it but when they weren’t successful they found this one…
had texts and phone calls from my boys… also received this handmade card…
all in all a pretty wonderful way to celebrate;-)…
30 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in health, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Advent, big girl pants, calendars, chocolate, diabetes, drugs, food, grandsons, Lindt, plan, Star Wars, treadmill
tomorrow is the beginning of Advent…
yesterday I sent home Advent calendars for everyone… there was a Starbucks one for my daughter… Kinder Surprise ones for the little boys… a Lindt one for the oldest grandson, and a box of Russian Mints for my son-in-law…
usually they have to share so the little boys were very pleased…
I arranged for a friend of my daughter in Ottawa to pick up a fancy Lindt calendar for her…
and we also got a Star Wars one for my son-in-law there…
great fun to arrange the surprise for her because she sends calendars to a number of people every year… she has been sending them to me since she moved away… I’m still looking for the magnetic covers that go on top of muffin tins that she sent four or five years ago… I put them away very carefully, sigh…
this year the little boys got a parcel in the mail from her so they will have chocolate and another treat each day…
on Saturday the youngest helped fill up the drawers in my reindeer calendar with chocolate raisins… this year I won’t be having any of these, so when they come over on the weekends they will share all of the days that have passed… one in particular is very large, so they are already anticipating opening up that one, lol…
last year I got a lovely collection of different sized boxes, which I managed to save and remember where they were… they were picked up on Saturday and I am hoping that the Advent fairy comes by tonight with the collection of filled boxes…
a friend recently asked how I was managing my new food regime… and wondering what I was missing most… as I thought about it I realized that I’m not really missing anything… I still have chocolate, just much less often, and in smaller amounts… I eat everything, but try to plan the not-so-good items a bit farther apart than previously and in smaller quantities… the biggest change I have made is to plan my meals out the day before… this helps me keep on track and I don’t get surprised with a meal arriving and I haven’t got any idea, so make poor choices… and finally I eat lots of vegetables at every meal… most days it works great… now and then, not so much…
I don’t want to take drugs for diabetes if I can possibly manage it, so that really encourages me to eat well and get on that treadmill or take a walk every day…
13 Tuesday Oct 2015
Posted in health, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized
feel like I haven’t been as good as I should have about eating lately…
yesterday, besides a lovely turkey dinner, I ate three cookies, sigh…
took the rest of them to the office this morning so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat any more of them…
my new doctor has advised that he doesn’t want me to take any blood sugar readings, because they can cause additional stress… I wonder if it causes more stress for me when I don’t know what my levels are…
today I got back on track… had a smoothie for breakfast… with berries, yogurt and spinach…
doesn’t look that great, but tastes good and is healthy…
for lunch I had some salmon with wild rice, and fresh veggies…
for my supper I had turkey leftovers, with reheated mashed potatoes and cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and turnip… instead of gravy, I decided on stuffing…
been doing some research and have discovered that reheated potatoes have a resistant starch when consumed… also using Pro-Activ margarine which helps lower cholesterol…
hope I can stay on track…
02 Friday Oct 2015
Posted in health, life, technology
Tags
big girl pants, Blaze, Delta, food, gazpacho, MyFitnessPal, smoothie
every day is a test to eat as well as possible…
weekdays, I usually start with a smoothie… pretty easy to make and goes down fairly quickly… been using plain Greek yogurt with a fruit yogurt, frozen fruit, spinach and almond milk… I use my immersion blender and drink it right out of the measuring container it gets made in… I try not to use too much sweetener so don’t put any in the smoothies which is why I include the fruit and fruit yogurt…
lunch today was a treat…
met my daughter at Blaze in the Delta… had a steak sandwich with a small goat cheese, quinoa and chickpea salad…
nice… not sure I’d order the salad again, but I really like their beet salad… there’s something about the place… remodelled not long ago, but it has a kind of cold atmosphere…
had a square of a small chocolate bar mid-afternoon… usually if I have a snack, it might be almonds or a few chips…
for supper had kale and quinoa bites with cauliflower and asparagus mash, radishes and a quick gazpacho…
try really hard to balance off, particularly if one meal is not as healthy as it should be…
record my food intake in the MyFitnessPal app on my phone… stayed in my calorie range…
pretty good day…
09 Thursday Jul 2015
Tags
basil, big girl pants, Chamberlyn's, food, lunch, pizza, yum
great food today…
met a good friend for lunch at Chamberlyn’s in Winnipeg Square and had Crepes St. Jacques…
very tasty, even with the tomato in it, lol…
just saw a chef on tv the other day saying just try it the way we made it for heaven’s sake… so that’s what I did… reminded me of The Garden Creperie which was one of my favourite restaurants a long time ago…
had a wonderful visit too, catching up on each other’s lives and events…
tonight decided to use up the last few left-over whole wheat tortillas from Sunday’s tacos for my supper…
so, picked basil, cut up Brie and some tomatoes, and put the “pizzas” on the pizza stone in the oven…
when I took them out, added a little drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper and then gobbled them up…
yum… finished my dinner with a handful of peas which I shelled and ate one at a time…
been doing a much better job of using up everything in the fridge and pantry and having less go bad and into the garbage…
gosh darn those big girl pants, lol…
19 Thursday Feb 2015
Tags
today’s soup was a hit… next time I wouldn’t put the cilantro in until the very end and I would strain out the lemongrass… it was a bit fibrous-y… great flavour and the tofu tasted fine… it was called Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut soup) and I would happily make it again…
saw the doctor this afternoon… she was pleased with my blood sugar numbers… have lost twenty pounds since the end of November and she is pleased with my exercise regime… I was very excited when she took my blood pressure and it was 120 over 70… woo hoo…
had supper out at the Clay Oven with my son-in-law and picked up a few things at Costco…
trying some different options for an evening snack… tonight I am having an orange and some walnuts… fruit is back on the list of things I can have, yum…
22 Monday Dec 2014
Posted in health, life, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, catching up, eating, food, healthy, lunch, snack
had lunch with a friend today… we usually get together once or twice a year so there is always lots of catching up to do…
after reviewing the menu I picked something that was healthy and included a salad…
it felt awkward to take my blood sugars in such a public place, particularly as I was worried that my friend might be upset by the process… but, managed to do it inconspicuously which made me feel good…
for my supper I ate very healthy… our BS group was meeting to celebrate Christmas and everyone was bringing something to snack on, so I wanted to be able to taste things…
had a wonderful time sharing treats and small gifts… baking, tourtière, chocolate, oil, an ornament and cooking utensil… all thoughtfully chosen…
a great time with these amazing women who have been part of my life for twenty-five years…
eating has risen much higher on my horizon… now I have to think about everything that goes into my mouth…
16 Tuesday Dec 2014
Posted in life, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, chicken, food, good, potluck, preparing, safety pins, visitors
this morning at work I had to borrow some safety pins to make sure my pants didn’t fall down… they fit fine when I bought them… apparently I am losing a bit of weight, lol…
pinned up pants…
had some visitors this evening and we wandered around the house and checked out some of the items I am trying to divest… happily they walked away with a shoe rack and are thinking of at least a couple of other things…
then I spent some time removing the meat from the bones of a chicken, thinking all through the process of my colleagues who will be enjoying this chicken tomorrow at our potluck…
chicken, ready to go…
only last night I was talking with a group of women about taking the time when preparing food to think of those who will be enjoying it… I always find that it makes the task much more enjoyable for me and I think people can sense the effort I have put into whatever it is I am making…
life is full, and good…
05 Friday Dec 2014
Posted in life
Tags
been doing very well with my blood sugar levels…
getting up and eating breakfast before leaving the house is difficult… I have to do it because I can’t take my pills with water, so have to take them with breakfast as that is when I have to take my levels…
also finding the time to gather items for a proper lunch and snack for the rest of the work day takes a bit of time too…
it is going to be important to have lots of choices available in the fridge and to plan for supper before I leave in the morning, or organize that the night before…
last night, when I tasted the apple pie, it was very sweet… funny that in one week my taste buds have changed…
shrimp, wild rice, mushrooms, kale and broccoli salad…
hope that soon I will feel less tired… still having trouble finding things to drink as I cannot use any type of sweetener at this point… at work I’ve been having water with lemon in it, but by the time I get home I am kind of done with that…
George would be proud of me for wearing these big girl pants, even when I don’t want to, lol…
herbiggirlpants 