Weightingfor50's Blog

Quick post tonight, and get ready to “awwww’ again.

I made us birds in a nest for breakfast today.  Today’s mascot is our androgynous Pat.  We call him/her that because I think he’s a boy, Dennis thinks she’s a girl.

I had a banana during the morning.

Lunch is becoming boringly predictable, I had a sandwich thin (with ham, light cheese, arugula, mustard and relish), some veggies and an apple.

This afternoon, I had a pack of weight watchers crisps.

After work, I walked to my yoga studio and sign up for the next challenge.  Starts on Sunday and I’m ready!  My knees are too.  I think….

On the way, I took a few color shots….

….and then I saw these…..

…and I walked by this park.

Nothing too out of the ordinary?  Not yet….but this little part of a BIG park is going to become a Community Garden!  The city approved the proposal this week.

Dennis and I were part of a community garden for years.  Sadly, it became more of a business than a community venture over time, and some of the folks who ran it took it WAY too seriously.  Being around continual complaining and militant ‘garden commandos” took all the joy out of it, so we left.  It’s not easy to get into the gardens in the city, there are many condo/apartment and tiny townhouse dwellers all wanting to get their hands dirty.  We were in the right place at the right time, and looks like we are either getting a plot or are at the top of the waiting list for this new area.  So excited!!  We may soon be needing one of these funny signs ourselves soon.  Fingers crossed!

As I carried on my way, I got pretty excited when I saw these….

…and more of them…..two adults, and I counted over 30 babies.  Guess some had been placed here, and the adults took them in as their own.  I have NEVER seen so many goslings in one place at one time.  AWWW!

…then the 2 adults gathered all the babies, and voila…..

…DOGPILES!!!!

Aren’t they adorable????

When I got home, we had a super quick dinner of chicken hot dogs and a salad (arugula with croutons, dried cranberries, fat-free feta, sunflower seeds and greek dressing)

SO happy the long weekend is here.  I have an appointment in the morning, so will be doing a “self weigh in” and will get back to weight watchers next week.  I feel pretty confident the scale will go down.  Maybe not by much, but a bit.  I’ll report back.

Now, I have a date with my Friday guilty pleasure ‘Say Yes to the Dress’.  Happy Weekend to all!

I’ll give a quick menu rundown, then get to the colourful part of the post.  Breakfast was a bagel thin with an egg, a slice of light cheese and some ketchup.

I had a few grapes during the morning.

Lunch was almost the same as yesterday, a sandwich thin with turkey and arugula and some veggies. (cucumber, carrot, snap peas and the only thing that made today’s lunch different from yesterday…a few cherry tomatoes)

I had 1 oz of almonds during the afternoon.

And dinner was a veggie burger on a wheat bun with oven “fries’.

I felt like I’m fighting a bit of a cold today (though I’m remaining defiant that it won’t progress to anything) but got some exercise by walking the long way home tonight.  As the title says, there were pops/bursts of colour everywhere.

The first wasn’t just colourful, it was fragrant.  The smell of lilacs takes me right back to being a kid, we had lilac trees all around our yard.  I may not always remember to “stop and smell the roses” in life, but I ALWAYS “stop and smell the lilac” because it evolves nostalgic memories for me.

Lilacs weren’t the only flowers out there.  I know I’ve posted blossom shots before, and I probably will again, but they’re so beautiful I just can’t resist.

Our neighborhood resident sand sculptor has fine tuned his latest creation.  (not particularly colorful, but impressive nonetheless)

There were pops of color hanging in a tree….

…pops of colour on the ground.  (uh oh, hope someone comes back to claim these little shoes)

There was a cute sign that made me laugh….

and some critters……this squirrel’s tail looks like a feather.  Just sayin’…

…this dog’s tail looked nothing like a feather, and was very waggy….

…and if I was very superstitious, I’d be concerned because not one, but TWO black cats crossed my path.

So happy tomorrow is Friday, and its a long weekend for us this weekend.  Wonder what pops of colours I’ll see before then.  Anyone have any big plans for the upcoming weekend?

Usually, one of the first photos in my Wednesday posts are Michelle’s famous hand/finger.  Today, I’m starting with “hands” of a different kind.  Neva gave Michelle a run for the money today…..the photo below could be captioned ‘talk to the pink paw” while I stretch then roll over!

But don’t worry….Michelle’s hand made an appearance too!  This is her best “look at my free download” pose!   And she wasn’t rolling over when I took this picture.

Before the hand silliness, I had an english muffin, 1 tbsp almond butter and a banana for breakfast.

My lunch was veggies (snap peas, carrots, cucumber), a sandwich thin with turkey and arugula and some grapes.

Later in the afternoon, I had two light Laughing Cow wedges with rice cakes.

Happy to report my bruised, scraped knees are finally healing, and I’m hoping to be back to yoga by the weekend at the latest.  But today, my exercise of choice was a walk.  Does anyone remember the song ‘Smoke on the Water’ or am I just really old????

This goose was unfazed by me walking right beside it.

Where is my little gnome when I need him?

When I got home, I tried a few of these corn puffs that we got in Bellingham.  They are very good….and will likely be on the “buy these” list next time we venture over the border.

Dinner tonight was barbecued pork with two salads made from “veggie remnants” that needed to be used up.  I made a slaw with napa cabbage, a carrot, a scallion and some dried cranberries tossed with Bolthouse honey mustard dressing and we had a cold baked yam in the fridge, so I mixed it with scallion (again), red pepper, half an avocado, a little greek yogurt and some celery.

That is Wednesday, laundry and our little white flipper are calling, and both need attention.  Question of the day….Do you remember “Smoke on the Water”? 

It is election day here in British Columbia.   I’m a firm believer in voting, no matter who you vote for….so off I went today and cast my ballot.

Quite the building in the background, no?  It is a beautiful Ukrainian Orthodox church that regular readers have likely seen before.  It is even MORE spectacular at night when the stained glass windows are illuminated from inside.

There were some lovely flowers on the grounds too.

I also passed one of our favorite neighborhood cats, Sinbad.  I hadn’t seen Sinbad in a few months, and did wonder if something had happened….but he’s back!  Seems a little skinnier, but awwww.

I liked the shadow he cast too.

That is the points of interest for the day, now here is the point friendly menu recap:

Breakfast was same as yesterday, an almond milk/banana/frozen berries smoothie with an english muffin and 1 tbsp almond butter.

I had half a cup of pineapple during the morning.

Lunch was a bento box with cucumber, carrots, pickles, 2 oz lean sausage, 1/4 cup spinach/kale dip from Trader Joes and a pack of rice crackers.

When I got home, I had half a beer (that we got at Trader Joe’s) and we tried some of the Sweet Potato pop chips and Trader Joe’s “Cowboy Caviar” all acquired in our cross border trip a couple of weeks ago.

And dinner tonight was leftover chili topped with scallions, fat-free sour cream and shredded Cabot reduced-fat cheddar.

I may have a little frozen yogurt in a while…but right now, I’m going to wrap this up, hit publish and go and have some quality couch time with Dennis and Neva.  Back tomorrow…..

Hope everyone’s week started well!!  This will be a speedy post, it’s late, its a “school night” and I’m ready to get to bed.

I have a new and tacky mascot to introduce you today.  Isn’t he dreadfully hilarious?  (I added a little border flounce to make the photo look a LITTLE more appealing. )

This morning’s breakfast was a smoothie made with almond milk, banana and frozen strawberries as well as an english muffin and 1 tbsp peanut butter.

I had a little leftover fruit from yesterday’s brunch during the morning.

Lunch was kale salad with fat free feta, nutritional yeast and grapes – and an apple.

During the afternoon I had some cucumber slices and a pack of weight watchers snack crackers.

After work, I met my good buddy Pat, who lives in Victoria for dinner.  (she and I passed on the ferries on the weekend!  Usually we see each other in Victoria, so tonight was a nice change)  On the way to meet her, I took a few interesting shots….

Can you spot the 4 leaf clover?????

….neither can I!   HA!  Sorry….

This fountain looked pretty….

…as did this “new growth” bamboo.

And tulips with water drops (it rained here for much of the day today) are always worth a look.

We went for Japanese food, and had miso soup and split 3 rolls (a spicy tuna roll, dynamite roll and dragon roll)

We hadn’t seen each other in months, so focused much more on catching up that photos.  We also drank a ton of tea, and pretty much closed the restaurant down.  As a result, it’s bedtime, so I’m just going to hit publish and call it a night.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!  To all Moms, but especially MY Mom, Jennifer!

I took this photo at the ferry terminal this afternoon, and it says it all!

More on the ferry in a sec, I’ll just rewind to the rest of the day first…..

We made my mom a special lunch today, but when I got up I was a little hungry, so had a banana and a hard-boiled egg.  William Shakespeare posed with them.  “To peel, or not to peel…that is the question…”

After breakfast, we had Mother’s Day celebrations.  Guess who forgot the “Happy Mother’s Day” gift bag?  My parents had some Christmas bags though…so I “mommed” it up a little with a springy butterfly plant ornament and a felt tulip clip.  Not particularly appropriate, but funny!

Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom AND my Dad!

We were joined by a few hummingbirds at a feeder in my parent’s window.  These little birds are pretty amazing.  Photo credit to Dennis!

We were also joined by a small statue of David, censored for family viewing!

My mom request birds in a nest, turkey sausages and fruit for her lunch.  Ask and you shall receive Mom!  We also had mimosas – today they are called “Momosas” – which not only was celebratory, it covered off cocktail Sunday! (we also melted a little Cabot cheese over some of the “nests”)

We finished off with little tiny cheesecake bites.  (I had two)

Cheers to Mom!!!!

After lunch, I did a quick walkabout of my Dad’s garden.  It truly is a work of art, these photos don’t do justice to all the work my Dad puts into it year round.  Early in the season, but still colorful and peaceful.  Enjoy…

..if you look VERY closely, you can see a PERFECT hole in this tree.  It looks like it has been drilled out, but in fact, it has been pecked out by a woodpecker.  VERY impressive Mr. Woodpecker!   (Woody is helping me show you)

After the garden, we had to head off to the ferry and come back home.  It is never easy to leave, but life is in Vancouver…for now.

We had a little time to kill at the terminal, so I did a little walk around the kiosks from the artists who display their wares there.  Some lovely, some pretty cheesy. 

We were happy to finally be put on the UPPER car deck on the ferry (we’ve been in the bowels for the last few trips we’ve taken) that give us better views and sea air if we stay in the car.

You can see it was a rainy, windy afternoon, but here are a few photos anyway.

We had a few “boredom” snacks….leftover grapes from lunch and I had a handful of Dennis’ chips.

When we got home, we toasted our Moms one last time with a glass of wine.

Dinner tonight was a GOURMET SPECIAL!!!  When I was out with my Mom this morning, a grocery store in Victoria were promoting lower fat, natural chicken wieners. (so they’re NATURAL ‘beak and foot’, as opposed to NATURAL ‘hoof, lip and as*&hole’ of a pork hot dog.  HA!!  I will never forget a woman I used to work (eons ago) with talking about the bits that are used for wieners….it’s lived with me to this day, and I rarely eat them.  However, the ingredient list of these are decent, and I gave them a try.)  We also had a Caesar salad with fat-free dressing, light Parmesan and croutons.

Can’t believe the weekend is over…but alas, it is, and alas, its time to get ready for the week.  I’ll leave you tonight with this shot I JUST took from our deck, of tonight’s sunset.

Hope your weekends were good.  Anyone do anything exciting!?   What is your take on hot dogs?

Hi from my parent’s home in Victoria.  Our day started out bright and early to get packed to come away for the weekend.  Neva wanted to come with us.  AWW…

We grabbed an egg sandwich at the ferry terminal for breakfast.

The ferry was REALLY busy, and we felt lucky to get on the boat, despite being put down in the bowels of the ship with all the vans, trucks, tour buses and trailers.  Oh well…

It was a pretty bleak morning, so the view from a higher deck likely wouldn’t have been spectacular, but I did move up and take a few shots during the crossing.

Believe it or not, the little dot that the arrow is pointing too was a seal.  Luckily there was an ad on the boat itself that showed what they look like close up.  My camera is powerful, but not THAT powerful. 

Once we got to my parent’s place, we had lunch….I had half a bun with turkey, some coleslaw, pickled beets, a hard boiled egg and a piece of sausage roll.

Dennis and I spent a couple of hours downtown having a walkabout.  Here are some of the shots from that.  I LOVE the humour in this sandwich board….

We were lured into a “mystical” shop by the smell of incense, and I became a little smitten with the fairies.  We also pulled our “wisdom card” and got a message….

…and words of wisdom on the ground.

…questionable artwork on a wall…albeit funny artwork…

…and standard Westcoast artwork not far from the above…

Dennis and I found some new friends….

…there were wares of all kinds in stores and windows.

Interesting forms of transportation….both the vehicles themselves and the outfits of the scooter riders…

We made our way down to the Empress Hotel and Parliament Building area….

…there were buskers and artists…..

…more forms of transportation (with pulses) and a statue (without a pulse)

After our walk, we stopped for a beer….

..and had our picture taken (seems our Asian friends ‘The Chins’ joined us.  Oh well.. )

Speaking of Asian friends, we went out for Chinese food with my folks tonight.  I opted for the relatively point friendly hot and sour soup, and beef lettuce wraps.

Look at my fortune…ooooh….I wonder who it is!

It’s been a nice day, but I’m made a horrible omission.  My parents were in NONE of today’s pictures.  I assure you they are here, alive and well, and there will be photographic evidence of that tomorrow.  In the meantime, to all the Moms out there….Happy Mother’s Day weekend!  Let the spoiling begin!

Happy Friday!!!!  I don’t know if I believe the message below, but I like the image.

My day began with a bagel thin topped with light cream cheese and smoked salmon trim.

Today’s snacks were cherry tomatoes (this afternoon) and an ambrosia apple (this morning)

Lunch was ALMOST the same as yesterday, Trader Joe’s gazpacho (yup, I had Spanish breath again) and a sandwich thin with prosciutto, light swiss, mustard and arugula.

I was out running some errands at lunchtime, and saw these pillowcases.  They were very expensive, but I was thinking, if I was ever motivated, I could buy some fabric paint and a couple of plain pillowcases and design my own.  Still…clever idea and they are fun!

I also saw this sticker on a truck.  Funny.

After work, I ran a few other errands, and got home a little late.  I poured myself a glass of wine…

…and when I took the photo, I saw a big crack in the glass.  Repour, retake…no crack!

And for dinner, I just picked at a few things on hand that needed to be used up.  I sliced a bun, had some Trader Joe’s spinach/kale dip, a couple of pieces of ham, a spoonful of potato salad, pickles and some apricot stilton (from Trader Joe’s)

I’m still picking at it….and will now hit publish.  I have to get some things ready – we’re off to my parent’s place in Victoria tomorrow.  Sorry Neva…you’re staying behind this time.  No need to get you packed too!

Have a GREAT weekend all!  Back tomorrow from Victoria.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, and I’m sure many bloggers get the same…but lately, I’m being spammed out the wazoo in the comments on this blog….most are simply offering me a place offshore to park my funds, designer handbags at a discount (most being Coach and Louis Vuitton), ways to enlarge my penis, several offers in foreign languages that look Russian and Arabic (likely how to enlarge my penis if I was Russian or Arabian – just a speculation on my part) and several unwarranted and unsolicited compliments along the lines of “good formula” “informative”  and “I like”.

Today, as I was emptying the spam folder (I check every few days because some legitimate comments are dumped in there) I saw this:

“your article is like a big tree, and we can squat in your tree together for happiness”.

OMG…I’ve stumbled on the key to happiness in my spam folder!!  No more inner searching, figuring out my place in life, taking on yoga challenges to try to find some peace in my soul….I’ve been doing it wrong all along.  Apparently, all I need to do is find a big tree, find a friend/partner, squat in the tree and boom….internal happiness!!!

That does prevent a BIT of a challenge today as my banged up knee is getting better, but squatting right now would be very very painful.  SOOOO  next week, when I’m back to health and flexibility, I will indeed find said tree, find a friend, squat and rejoice thereafter!

In fact, as a public service, I’m going to designate one day next week as “Squat in my tree” day.  That day, will be one week from today, Thursday, May 16th!!  If you choose to participate and find inner happiness yourself,  please ensure photos are taken and sent to me, and I will make a wonderful “Squat in my Tree” gallery.   Oh, the happiness I’ll be spreading!!!!

So to the spam folks who sent that, you have unknowingly brought happiness to me and my fellow squatters!!!   Namaste, Ohm and I can’t wait for the photos!!!

That is next week, but now, I’ll look back on the day’s menu.   I had a smoothie with almond milk, banana, frozen peaches and protein powder for breakfast.

During the morning, I had a cup of berries.  The pieces of cauliflower “bread” was my afternoon snack.

Lunch was this “over the border food find”….

….with a turkey and light swiss sandwich with mustard, chutney and arugula on a whole wheat sandwich thin.

The gazpacho is really delicious, but I must admit, I had “Spanish Breath” for the rest of the afternoon.  Ariba!

When I got home, I poured myself a glass of white wine.

Dennis grabbed dinner on his way home…since neither of us felt like cooking.  (what is with this indifference????  I need to get my mojo back.  Maybe the tree squat will help. ) We had thai food from our favorite hole in the wall thai take out place.  It was a combo of yellow curry, steamed rice, pad thai and a spring roll.

I’m so happy tomorrow is Friday.  This has been a funny week and it’ll be nice to put it behind us and move on.  Happy Friday to all of you!!!

Had a bit of a “meh” Wednesday.   I had a hard time mustering up enthusiasm, motivation and interest in pretty much anything today.  And I get angry at myself when I get like this….I have many, many things in my life that I’m grateful for and to be excited about.  But today, well, it was just “meh”.

Before I went to meet Michelle, I had a bagel thin with 1 tbsp peanut butter and a banana.  (same old, same old “go to” breakfast.  Meh)

Michelle’s famous hand was wielding a hot teabag this morning.  To clarify, she did not swing it at me.  Thank you Mi!

Check out the decal…this is just one of MANY MANY money graphics that completely cover a bus shelter.  Very eye-catching and very clever.  Bummer it’s not real and we can’t just peel off a hundred-dollar bill now and then.

During the morning, I had a cup of berries.

I met my Warrior friend Sharon for lunch today.  Even though there is no Warrior Dash here this year, so we won’t be running together, she’ll always be my Warrior Friend!!!    We went for sushi, I had gomae spinach, a spicy tuna roll, and a “Hot N’ Roll”.  The Hot N Roll is a spicy tuna roll topped with spicy pickled vegetables and jalapeno.  Hot indeed, and so tasty!

I did a little emotional eating this afternoon.  I was offered pieces of chocolate toffee cluster.  And I took them.  And after that, I took a few more.

Sadly, the knee injury that resulted from my epic pavement dive on Monday is still a complete and painful mess, so I didn’t feel ok to go to yoga.  I’m crushed, because with these days lost, and not being in town for the weekend, I don’t think I’m going to succeed in my challenge.  Booo.  I’ll get in as many practices as I can, likely next week, will start a new challenge at day 30 and just try again.  sigh.

Neither of us felt very creative in the kitchen tonight, so we had breakfast for dinner.  Turkey sausages, scrambled eggs and toast.

I’m sure I’ll be back to myself tomorrow.  For now though, Survivor is on, and this little girl needs some attention.