At last!!!.....

After waiting for so long the tomato turned purple or as close to the picture on the tag when I bought it. I guess the hot weather all week helped in the process.

I had it for salad with the golden and red cherry tomatoes. So sweet and fresh tasting. I picked it an hour before I was going to eat it.

Just before I picked it.

After I picked it. The cherry tomatoes get ripened every few days or so. I just pick what I can eat for that meal.

The inside is not what I expected but so sweet. I will wait awhile before picking the rest as the inside might be different.

Roast pork which I had with the tomato salad. Just put mango chipotle dressing and it was good.

I will cut some up and make fried rice with it for tomorrow. I gave half of it to a friend of mine in the building.









A milestone.......would have been....

Thirty years ago today, in the late afternoon I got a call from my sister telling me that they will be dropping off my niece, Alysia at my place. She was going to the hospital as she thought it was time and the baby will come soon.

Three or four hours later I again got a call and she said she had the baby and it was a boy. I thought she was joking so I said why are you the one calling. She said she was being wheeled to her room and passed by the nursing station so she asked if she could use the phone. Gosh, no cell phone then!!!

I asked her what she named him....Gino Aldin. I remembered we drove to the hospital just to see Gino. We brought his big sister with us.

From then on, I helped with babysitting after my sister went back to work. I enjoyed it but three years later they had moved to Whitehorse. Once or twice I visited and babysat the kids when the parents went on a holiday to Hawaii. I was only staying for 3 weeks and ended up staying 3 months and on my way back to Yellowknife, I brought with me Gino and Alysia to visit grandparents.

When they moved to Toronto, we did not see a lot of each other although we got a chance to visit a few times. I think I have missed his teenage years, which is also the time of the break up of his parents marriage. I believe that was also the lost years in a sort of way with his relationship with his sister.

I have not seen such a very close relationship between siblings. When they became adults, they were closer than ever. I have been lucky to have spent such a close relationship with him when I stayed with them 5r years ago. A Christmas and New Year that was memorable. And I also have the honor of having been asked if I wanted to go with him on a holiday to the UK but had to decline because of my health at that time. This has been a big regret of mine.

Today, he would have been 30 years old and I wonder what could have been. I guess we would always wonder. His sister had posted stuff of what he would have been or what he liked or get, with all the technology now.  What musical group he would like? Would he be in a relationship? Would he be thinking of marriage and children? Would he have kept his business? I guess there would be lots of questions but we all know, there would be no answers.

Being 30 is a big milestone and he was gone too soon. Although we miss him a lot, I am quite happy that I have wonderful memories of his laughter, his jokes, his off key singing, his cooking sometimes and some of quirky things about him.

Wherever you are, please know that you have been loved by your family, relatives and friends.

Happy Birthday, Gino!!

My favorite picture of him

He grew up to be a really good and decent human being. This is how I would always remember him.

This was one of three songs played at his funeral service.

My driving list....

Just to shock a friend.....I do listen to all kinds of music.



Lazy weekend....

The weather is nice but I am feeling a bit lazy today. I am on the second day off the diet and wondering what to eat. I watered my plants and there were ripe tomatoes. So I picked them and had it with my salad. They were so sweet.

The hot air balloons are back but only two this afternoon. I was planning to go to the market but I am on this strict diet and don't need any fruit or vegetable.

I read my book out on the balcony to try and get a bit of a tan. I took some pictures. I did not want to go out as I did not want to sabotage my diet.

So it has been a boring day, watched tv and play games online.

Hope you had more exciting day than I had.

The yummy bread and butter pickles

One of three pepper plants, there must be 9 peppers on this plant alone.

Still have not turned purple though I think it is close.



Diet final update.....

Here goes.... as I have posted before I am not expecting to lose 10 pounds. First day I lost 2.5 lbs, second day was 1.5 and last day was 2 lbs----a total of 6 lbs which to me is  realistic. Today I am on my regular eating day but will watch it very carefully.


I had 1 toast for breakfast with peanut butter and half a mango and a cup of tea. I had 6 peanuts for snack. I am having half a ham sandwich for lunch and a plum. I am not sure what to have for dinner, I think I will have the steak as a celebration. The other lady who is on the same diet lost .2lbs on her second day, so she is a bit disappointed. Maybe she will make up for it today.


I will be back on the diet after 4 days but will only post after the final day. 


Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Diet update 2.....

Last day of the of the 3 day diet and happy to say I lost pounds and will have a final update tomorrow. I don't know if I will make the 10 pounds loss but I hope to be close to it.

At lunch, it was 5 crackers and hard boiled egg and tea. Tonight is tuna which I now hate and cauliflower and beets which I also do not like. But looking forward to cantaloupe and 1/2 cup of ice cream....yummy!!!

The lady who is dieting with me lost 3.2 lbs after the first day so she did well. It is nice dieting with somebody and the whole staff knows and very supportive and we have lots of fun. 

I don't know how long I will be on it but for sure will do it one more time as I have all the food I need and do not want to waste it.

Tomorrow night, I will enjoy steak (small one) tomatoes from my garden and pickles I got from a co-worker's mom who makes them every summer. It was so yummy that one lady ate a whole jar for breakfast this morning...yes a medium jar.

Maybe, just maybe, mango for dessert. Hope the results tomorrow is good.

Diet update.....

Well, the first day is over and I survived it. I enjoyed the 1 cup of ice cream and hated the beets last night.
One of my co-workers is on her first day and we are having fun hating the food we have to eat.


Good news is I have lost though I won't say until I finish the 3 days of dieting. I know now why this diet works,. the food I have to eat are crappy and so I can't eat the amount they recommended so I lose the weight. Anyway, it is only for 3 days and I will just have to watch what I put into my mouth the next four days until I go back to 3 days of more dieting.


One lesson I learned is to weigh myself every morning so I know if I have gained and know that I have to be careful of what I eat. 


Now I am looking forward to two hot dogs for tonight's dinner and 1/2 cup of ice cream plus the veggies.
At least there is something to look forward too. I did not realize, two hot dogs would excite me. 


So until the next update.....I am hoping for really good results.

On a diet....

I have gained weight since I started this job almost a year ago. As a diabetic I cannot be overweight and need to lose weight soon. So today, I started this diet and will see how I do with it. There are a few foods that I am not keen on eating but will do my best to follow it strictly. The only nice thing about it is, it will be for 3 days and I go off it and then can go back after 4 days depending how much I need to lose.


It is from the American Heart Association. It is almost like a regular diabetic diet, mostly the breakfast menu. For supper I am allowed vanilla ice cream which could be the highlight of the day. For lunch I had toast and tuna and never realized I did not like plain tuna. So the third day supper has tuna so I am not looking forward to that.


Lunch for tomorrow is cottage cheese which I don't like that much but better than plain tuna. So hopefully I will lose the weight and when I see my doctor, I will escape being put on insulin. I am petrified of needles so I have been trying to keep my weight and my blood sugar level on track.


By the weekend I will post if it has been a successful diet. 

A beautiful day....at last!!!

Finally, a very beautiful day, weather wise. I got up early and gone shopping (grocery). I go every other Saturday as I do not like grocery shopping but it is a necessity. I have to eat. I was done by 10:30 am.

This is my produce for the next two weeks. I paid $30 for all of these. I am getting good at buying just enough that I don't throw anything that has gone bad.

Finally the tomatoes will be ready to eat.

Still waiting to turn purple....howlong?



A game of cricket.



Postscript

Well, I have found out the reason for the appearance of those hot air balloons. CTV is launching a new station CTV Two and I believe it is mainly advertising. No wonder there were always two CTV balloons. Since the launch will begin sometime late August, I am sure they will still be out there for a few more days. It is nice just watching them especially after supper.

It is the end of another week and I am not feeling too great so this will probably be a quiet weekend although I would like to see the movie The Help with a friend. If I feel lazy, I would like to go out to the El Salvadorean restaurant and try the menu. I have heard a few good things about it.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

PPS

Just as I was leaving my building's parkade, what do I see but the CTV hot air balloon so close to the building. I wanted to go back to my suite and take a picture. Anyway, I will still have a chance this weekend.

What the?.......

I don't know what is going on or if it is Hot Air Balloon week. For the past 5 days, there has been the daily appearance of hot air balloons over the river valley. They are there in the morning before 7:00 am and also just before 6:00pm. One time just one and at other times, I have seen five. It has been nice watching them just before I leave for work.



My driving list.....

After a long wait, I finally changed CD and listening to different genre of music....still the oldies after I could not get online the station I listen to at work.



A day in the life.......

It was a short but busy week and so I was looking forward to the weekend. I was sick and tired of doing newsletters for the properties I have in my portfolio and rewording ads. There comes a time when you ran out of words to describe a suite or the lobby or the grounds.

Saturday, I woke up early even though the thunderstorms the night before kept me awake. A friend and I had a date to go for lunch. But before that, I had to water my plants, do my 3 miles on the treadmill now that I don't walk to work because of the rain. I was listening to the news and heard that for the month of July, there were only 4 days we did not have rain. No wonder my plants are not doing well.

A shower and time to gert ready. She picked me up and went to Moshi, Moshi which serves Japanese and Filipino food. I had my camera with me and as usual forgot to take pictures. But the lunch  was good. And then on to shopping, this time just for food and we looked at stuff over at Giant Tiger as they have the slow cooker on sale...half off. I got ingredients for puffed wheat squares, this is one of my guilty pleasures and I could eat half a pan if I do not watch myself.

I went for a short walk by the river valley and took my camera. So it was not a busy day but just enough things to do, I did nto get bored. I managed to squeeze some reading on the balcony in the afternoon .

So how did you spend your weekend?

Hot air balloon over the river valley.

One of my green peppers plant which I almost yanked out thinking there was no peppers but they were hiding. So I have about 15 peppers from 3 plants.

Still waitng to turn purple.

Cherry tomatoes...there is still hope.