Break from blogging........

Today I had what was supposedly my final eye check up for my cataract surgeries. This week I had been having porblems with both my eyes and I was going to ask a lot of questions. So at 1:30 I was at the eye clinic and having the check up and I complained about the problems I was having.

My doctor decided to do a bit more checking up and found I had torn retina, not just a small tear but quite big that I had an emergency laser surgery. I went straight from the eye clinic straight to the retina clinic and had it done.

Again I am trying to heal and I have decided not to blog for two weeks or until both eyes have completely healed.. If I had not complained about what I was feeling, the tear could have turned into detached retina and I could have gone blind. That sort of scared me but was told by my retina specialist that at times this happens after cataract surgery. I have to be careful and make sure I see the doctor right away if I experience any symptons of any kind and get to the doctor right away.

Thanks to Raquel who picked me up at the clinic after the surgery and drove me home. I really appreciated what you have done and made sure I have dinner. Both my eyes are blurry at the moment.

Will be back once I am ok.

They came back.............

In 2006, a lot of things happened in my life which affected me greatly, Life threatening illness, betrayal, family upheavals and job change. I was going to take time off from work and try semi-retirement. On move out day, I did not know what to do with my plants and it was winter.

I called my nephew who lived in St. Albert and his girlfriend and asked them to take the plants which they did. One plant was so tall, it broke when we were putting it in the truck. What was left was just a stump with one leaf. Soon it grew well and was almost as big as when it broke. Fast forward to a few years and Anthony and Jodi were moving to BC and could not take the plants so they called and asked if I would take back the plants. I did and when I was moving, the plant broke and again was just a stump with one leaf. Below is a picture of the plant. It looks like, nothing ever happened to it.

The plant today as healthy as it was in 2006 and the same size.

At the same time in 2006, I stayed a short time with a friend of mine. When I left for Toronto, I left my dressy winter wool coat in their coat closet. For some reason or another, I have not had time to pick it up or for her to drop it off at my place. I don't live too far away from her. On Friday, the coat came back, The black gloves I left in one of the pockets were still there. Below is the picture.

The coat finally is back!!

Rewind, Reconnect, Reminisce

Rewind to 1970 in an all girl's college in Manila. Young ladies sitting outside the school lobby waiting for their next class. The topic of conversations could be where to go to eat lunch, what to do in the weekend and whatever was happening in someone else's love life.

The bell rings and we go up to our next class, Philosophy. The professor is a bit late and there is a policy that if a prof is late, students can leave after 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes after the hour, we start to leave and made sure we take the stairs on the Herran street side so we won't meet the prof on his way up to the room.

We were a group in the Psychology department and sometimes we were a wild bunch. There was 9 of us.
Wynna, the real smart one did not do a lot of the stuff which now, we would be embarrass to admit. Last year, one of ladies in the group was in California and for a real strange circumstance, I found out her sister is a good friend of my cousin. I called her and we had a chat and I found out Wynna is now the President of the college we went to, although it is now a coed university. We emailed each other and she invited me to attend the 100th anniversary of our college next January. Although we don't email regularly, I know I can always mail her any time. Wynna, congratulations on the new job which I believe is very rewarding for you and that you are doing a good job.

Have you ever?

Have you ever bought a dress, gone home and wore the dress to an event and the next day return the dress to the store?

I heard this a while back being discussed in the office and could not believe it.

On the menu.......

These were some of the dishes on my menu the last few days. Just simple dishes cooked from what I have or bought to prepare for lunch or dinner.

A simple beef stir fry, easy and fast and light.

For fast weekend lunch...flatbread with leftover jerked chicken and mango salsa.

Roasted pork leg...it was bought cheap at Save-on-Foods and I just roasted it with Santa Maria seasoning and it turned out, crispy skin and meat was perfectly cooked....not dry.

The best way to use left over roast pork (lechon) is to make paksiw na lechon which tastes even better after a few days. Good served with just plain white rice.

Once in a while I get lazy on the weekend and this was what I had for lunch with gravy made from the drippings of the roast pork, yummy.

The week that was.........terrible and incredible

The week that was  started on a terrible note. The weather got a bit colder again but we could handle that. Monday when I got to work, we noticed that it was cold in the office and it was....there was problem with the heating. It was sooooo cold that we worked the whole day with our coats on. One younger staff had her toque on and her hood up. I decided to walk home even if it was -22 degrees!!!

I passed by Rexall drug store to get 2 boxes of tissues and a can of pineapple I needed to do square. Then on to my building. I realized then as soon as I got into the lobby that something was wrong. They had a water pipe burst and it was like small waterfall inside the elevators. To wait for it to be fixed or start going up the 23 floors was my dilemma. I has no idea how long it will take to get  it repaired so I had no choice but walk up. I was wearing my long winter coat so it was a bit uncomfortable going up, I decided to take if off and carry it with my Rexall bag and my own big tote bag.

I told the office staff I was going to take the stairs and I have my cell phone and I will call her if I start getting chest pains to call me an ambulance. To my surprise, I got to my floor in 17 minutes!!!!! And  I was not huffin and puffin. I guess my walking 16 or more city blocks everyday got me in better shape.

The week got better and Friday, two of my close friends and I decided we were going out and then come back to my place to talk and reminisce. We were still in the restaurant and we were already having a fun time remembering all kinds of stuff. We came back and made turon for dessert and continued with reminiscing and we were laughing so hard and loud I had to close my patio door. It was also time for serious venting and discussion. They left my place at 1:00am. Marissa and Raquel, what a really great time we had. We are going to do it again.