It's fall/autumn but .........

The weather is still warm but when I looked out my balcony, I noticed that the trees have turned yellow. I know it will turn cooler soon.

Thanksgiving will be upon us in about a week. I am spending it in Yellowknife and people ask why. In all honesty, I had to use a friend's leftover Aeroplan points and it just had enough to get me to YK. That is before the points expire. It would be nice to see friends and relatives again. Hopefully, it won't snow while I am there.

I am doing clean up of my closet and donating clothes I have not worn in a year. I have packed some shoes and purses. It is nice to purge and then later on buy a few.

Our office is moving and we are busy packing. I am almost finished and the movers will move everything this Saturday. My new office will be a lot smaller so I have to try and be creative where I put stuff in and make use of the space, however small it might be.

Autumn colours



Enjoy the weekend, everyone!!



To market, to market.....

Last Sunday, I decided to go to the market early in the morning. I have no particular list of what I was going to get, just whatever was fresh and good. So I saw a lot of nice produce and got a lot so I won't be going shopping this coming weekend.

So here is a list of what I got....

5 lb bag of potatoes

1 small bag of baby carrots

1 canteloupr

3 peaches and cream corn on the cob

1 bag of sweet onions

2 red onions

1 pkg of blue berries

4 granny smith apples

4 gala apples

5 plums

5 kiwis

6 limes

2 mangoes

1 napa cabbage

1 regular cabbage

1 bag of navel oranges

1 bag of white mushrooms

2 asian eggplants

2 zucchinis

1 jar of salad dressing

1 pkg mixed baby greens salad

4 grapefruits

1 pkg of snow peas

4 garlic heads

ginger

a bunch of green onions

All for $41.00 and few cents

I consider that really great. I did not get tomatoes or peppers as there is an abundance of it in my balcony and they are coming out of my ying-yang. Freezer full of tomatoes for future sauces.

My peppers were seedless from one of the plants and it is nice just cutting it for stir fry or salsa without having to bother about scraping the seeds.

I still have lots of cherry tomatoes - hopefully enough till next week.

Seedless peppers



Great weather......summer again!!!

I knew that we were going to have a spectacular weekend....weather wise that is. We are expected to go to 25 today and 30 tomorrow. My cherry tomatoes are still ripening and I just can't eat them fast enough.


I will try to get some fall pictures tomorrow. The trees are starting to turn colours. I baked banana loaf last night and made puffed wheat squares today. Later on, I am going to bake bread and buns. I am still watching what I eat and very careful that I do not over do it with stuff I like.


My son is moving so I am helping him get organized. I am also teaching him to budget. I do not understand these young adults, they just have no clue about saving at all. 


I am going out in the balcony and enjoy this warm weather. It could be the last, I hope not.


Enjoy the weekend. We, working folks deserve it.

TV watching....

It is fall and start of new shows and old shows coming back. I don't watch a lot of shows except when it comes to Food Network. I am glued to the tv for all these cooking shows.

So I watched Dancing with the Stars because of all the hoopla and controversy about Chaz Bono. At least he can dance. Usually I like watching to see how each star develops into a real good dancer. I hate it when the worst dancer is not sent home because he/she is popular. I guess it is still a form of popularity contest.

I enjoyed watching Carson and hope he stays there for a long time just for the entertainment.

Then I watched X Factor which is like America's Got Talent and American Idol combined so I hope it will not be boring as I have not watched AI for a few years.

I don't know  the schedule of the other new shows coming but will find out this weekend. I hope I find one I am really interested that I will watch every week. Sometimes they are on here late and I have no interest staying up late just to watch a tv show, unless it is Friday or Saturday.

Happy watching everyone.....What new shows do you think you will follow each week.

Lazy, relaxing weekend....

I know I have some kind of writer's block, just can't think of anything to write about. I spent the weekend watching tv, relaxing and I have done a bit of cooking, enough that I have food in case I get tired or just don't have the time to cook. And since I am still watching what I eat, I did not want to bake althoug the urge is always there.

Keeping the weight off and maintaining it, is a bit difficult though I am used to it. Blood sugar has been really good for the last ten days so I am happy about that. The threat of being put on insulin will just be that; a threat, as long as I keep my sugar level stable.

Tomatoes are ripening so fast now, I have been giving them to friends to enjoy. Peppers are almost the same and I am making stuffed peppers sometime this week.

Also, I did something really courageous, I applied for a job in another country. It is in property management and I will be ecstatic if I get an interview. Really a nice country.....tropical weather. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Have a nice week, the weather had been ok....did a bit of a walk yesterday.

What's cooking?

Since I have been on a diet, it seems like I have not done a lot of cooking/baking. But I still am doing these things but not as  much as before. Yesterday, I decided to make empanada but tried a different recipe for the dough. It turned out really well.

While looking over the weekend flyers, I noticed that butter is on sale at Shoppers Drug, the regular price there has always been the lowest so I always get my butter from there. And lately I have also been getting baking items and some other stuff as when they are on sale, the prices are really reduced.

My sister already told me I have to cook/bake particular dishes when I visit her this Christmas so I am trying to see if I can find better recipes but most of the time I stick to my tried and true recipes.

A different way of cooking adobo, I pan fried it first and then simmer on low heat and it came out nicer and with nice browning.

I took a picture of this fried egg as the yolk was really orange and not the bright yellow we are accustomed to seeing. And I don't know but it tasted a lot better.

This was part of the diet I was on and I sort of look forward to it as I could not stand tuna. I am still on a diet but almost the diabetic one.

Puffed wheat squares which I love but brought most of it to work for the ladies.

I wanted to make some brownies but will wait since I did not want to sabotage my diet. I have gotten the results of my lab tests and the best news is that my LDL (bad cholesterol) is .97, yes you are reading that right. If it got any lower, I may be the only person I know of who almost have no bad cholesterol. Isn't that amazing?

Since the weather had been really nice most of the week, I have done a lot of walking even today I had walked about 15 blocks, 6 of that with a bit of rain.

Hope your weekend was enjoyable or at least productive.



Almost fall but summer weather

I can't help but post something about the weird weather we are having. It is September and in July we had really crappy weather. The past weekend was so warm and this week we are going to be with real summery weather. Yesterday was 27, today will be 30 and tomorrow will be 31.

How is that for weird weather. But I guess we should just enjoy it as I have heard on the radio yesterday that we are going to have an unfriendly and nasty winter.

My tomatoes are doing very well and will pick a lot of it this afternoon. I had picked a lot last Saturday and gave it to Jared and I am sure he enjoyed it with his salad.

So I am going to enjoy this weather while it lasts. Go out for a walk to the Legislature at lunchtime.

Enjoy the short work week.

My playlist.....

These are music I listen at home.



Update.....

It had been 18 days since I went on a diet and a few people were asking how it is going. Well, I have  lost 8 lbs and have kept it off. Thanks to the wonderful support of the ladies at work. I am not doing the 3 days on and 4 days off diet. I am on the regular diabetic diet but I am cutting down a bit on the carbs.

I have a target weight in mind which is according to the chart with regards to how much one should weigh according to height and I want to reach the right fat ratio, BMI. I believe that I will reach my target as I do not want to be on insulin. I am petrified of needles and it is bad enough I have to poke myself everyday just to check my blood sugar.

My doctor was happy with my blood sugar and blood pressure the last time I saw and now I will go to get my lab tests for cholesterol.

A nice and warm weekend and I have gone for short walks. The weather will be warm for the next week according to the forecast.

Next update will probably be in about 3 weeks.

Tickets.....tickets and more tickets....

Friday is usually a fund day as it is the end of the week and start of the weekend. Fridays get better especially when it is a long weekend.

Yesterday, was a slow day and just before lunch it got a little bit interesting and exciting. One of my resident managers called to ask if anyone wants to go to a concert at Rexall Place. As my office is located across the hall, we do not find out about things like this until a few staff are already interested.

So when I went to the other offices across the hallway, I found out that there might be tickets to the Josoh Groban concert. So I said, I am really interested. In the meantime I called the resident manager I was interested and she will try to get 2 extra tickets for me. After lunch, I got an email from her confirming I have my two tickets. The other lady was still out for lunch and did not she got the other two.

But she was not sure now she could go, so she told me she was going to give me her two. So by mid afternoon, I was trying to call two more friends to go.

It was fun but I am not really a fan, I like his style of singing. We got good seats but a bit far from the main stage but he has another smaller stage set up mid way on the floor level. As this is the Straight to You Tour, most of the songs are from that CD. He sang old songs as his encore songs. All in all a good concert.

I must confess, I was more interested for next week's tickets which would be harder to get. Maroon 5 and Train together. But I had told Tracy, I want those tickets. Her husband works for Northlands and could get tickets ahead of time but I did not realize Maroon 5 was going to perform here. So I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Have an enjoyable long weekend!!!!