Tending Tuesday - Produce is amazing

After being away for five days, I came back and saw all the different fruits and vegetables from Jeff's garden.  I have so many photos to share that I won't write as much.  I have so many days to catch up on my blogging but this weekend was a little tough for me but after my post yesterday, I am back on track.  I hope that I did not disappoint some of you.  Jeff is really good at tending all these plants.  I just like to pick them and cook them.

Sweet Basil

Cherry tomatoes

Second squash to be harvested

First yellow squash harvest last Thursday

Roma tomatoes waiting to turn reddish color

Monday Memories - Seven Years Ago

Sickly Saturday - Need some R&R

There's only two reasons why I don't have any new posts.  I am really busy with enjoying life or I am not feeling good.  Sometimes it's just my body telling me to slow down and take it easy.  Since Tuesday afternoon I have been under the weather and didn't really know what hit me. Some pain on the left side, then no energy, no appetite and just no bounce.  I slept most of Wednesday.  Then in the evening a bit of nausea plus one episode of heaving.  I woke Thursday feeling a little better and got on the scale - lost a couple of pounds.  Then a realized that I had the massage appointment that maybe I should have cancelled but I didn't.  Maybe it will help me feel better so I went. OMG that revived me and felt like that my bounce is back, not 100% but enough to enjoy my day.  I got home and just watched golf for the rest of the day.  The relaxation continued all day Friday with more golf on TV and eating a little more but still in small portions.  A little bit slow with everything because it seems like the energy gets used too quickly.  Then I saw Jason Day slipped and fell on the ground.  I watched and listened.  Maybe he has Meniere's Disease.  They were talking about his dizziness and that he has gone through MRI, blood work, etc.  and everything came back negative.  I did go though all of that with my specialist telling me the results are negative but he is diagnosing it as Meniere's.  It's amazing that there were a lot of injuries during the 115th US open.  The course is so different, difficult, desert like, and brown.  I am hoping that either Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, or Dustin Johnson wins on Sunday.  On a happier note, look at the first plum from the tree that Jeff planted in our front yard.  There's also peaches and apricots that are starting to have small fruits.

Talkative Tuesday - Can't stand it

QUIET PLEASE, that's what the volunteers at any major golf tournaments have in their sign and they actually say it.  This is when any of the professional golfers tee off, whether it's the first hole or the 18th hole, the rule apply.  I think it's really just courtesy to other players in your groups to be quiet for a few seconds.  Some golfers are not bothered by any noise of any kind.  For some reason, I don't know how to block the noise.  I am really contemplating on wearing headphones and listening to my favorite music.  But it would still be noise.  Lately it bothers me more and more.  It bothers me so much that it actually affects my swing and the direction of the ball.  I'm not good to begin with so any more distraction to what I am trying to achieve really messes up my game.  Yesterday, I had to say out loud, "I'm going to hit anytime now", and although they heard me, I could still hear them whispering.  I don't understand because when they are ready to hit, I stand very still and am very quiet.  Now I am thinking I should just find other group or just tell them to Shut up.  I am sure after a few times I would say that, they will get the hint.  Well, that's my venting today.  My apologies for not making this post a little more exciting. By the way, I have started to leave the putting green as I am done.  Maybe it's a bit rude, but I believe talking when someone is hitting is worst. 

                                            

Frustrating Friday - UPS hater

Sometimes in life you learn from making one mistake but after today, I have learned another lesson. NEVER EVER EVER USE UPS for shipping in the USA or CANADA or where ever you live.  A few days ago, I mailed a package to my daughter using the Staples as they are the agent for UPS.  I have been using this place to ship my packages for Canada and the US.  Most of the time it is being sent through US Postal Service which by the way might be a little more expensive at times but it has not failed me.  While this UPS  seems to just cause so much frustration and aggravation because most of the time all they blame is Staples and they are not very helpful at all.  So this particular package is going to cost twice as much because of this brokerage fees.  In all the years that I have been sending package to my daughter, this is the first time they are charging the receiver this fee.  After my phone call with UPS, I told my daughter to just pay it because if I tell UPS to send it back, they want me to pay for the return shipping or if I don't want to pay this fee, the package will be just abandoned.  I ask them why Staples did not mention this ever, their response is "they should advice you.  Each time I return to Staples to tell them my issues, their response is "you should call the UPS customer service.  It's just going in circles.  I don't really understand the brokerage fees, I believe it's just a way to tack on more cost to make that extra bucks that they didn't charge you to begin with.  So you feel that the shipping cost was reasonable but if you don't have a broker, then you are assigning UPS to be the broker which boils down to the same company charging the shipper to hold the box for a while and then pass it on.  I normally don't use this word "HATE", but now I am going to use it over and over.  I should have learned from the last shipment not to use UPS but the Staples employee convinced me that it's the best way to go.  Best for who - UPS???  If you are reading this, I hope that you use other courier/shipping company whether in the USA or Canada.  Maybe your experience is not the same but I seem to recall last Christmas that some of their employee were stealing Christmas gifts from the homes they are delivering to.  This is my story and I am sticking to it.

 

Thirsty Thursday - A different type of garden

Everyone knows about our drought and the new quote regarding front and back yard.  Brown is the new green.  Most of the homes have started changing their lawns to other types of materials that does not require water.  The water restrictions is that you can only water your plants/grass/yard before 800 am or after 800 pm.  Some of the plants that we have planted just would not survive because they need to be watered more.  Jeff has been really great about conserving water in a lot of different ways.  The other day after golf I noticed a yard in another neighbors.  

Maybe something like this would also work.

We might have to do something like this to our front yard and get rid of the grass.

Surprise Sunday - Friendly Canadian

It was a very nice surprise from one of my Canadian girlfriend when I got her text last night saying she was in San Francisco.  We use to work together for many years.  She was not just a co-worker, she is a very good friend outside of work.  Of course she is one of my younger friends as I am at least 12 years older.  Her name is Shari or some of our close friends calls her Shera.  She was visiting family in the bay area and she also had a chance to stay at her uncle's place in Northern California.  We talked about old times and what's the latest with life in Canada as well as what's like in the place where I use to work.  Unfortunately it seems like everyone that I work with would prefer to retire sooner than later.  This makes me feel really great about retiring early.  Although I miss some of our friends that we worked with, I don't miss any part of my work.  I am sure they will just put in their time and hopefully retire early like me.  The only regret is that I forgot to take our photo during her visit and I also forgot to ask her to sign my guest book for CPBB.  

Shari is the one in the middle (taken at my retirement party 2010)

French Open Friday - It's almost over

After a couple of weeks of early morning tennis matches, I am glad that it's all over.  A little bit disappointed this year's open because my favorites were eliminated at the quarter finals. Some of the matches were really exciting but when you are able to skip through commercials, then it makes it quicker to breeze through all the talking as well.  Although the final matches are not my favorites, I am still interested in watching them this weekend.  My guess is that Novak will take trophy for the men's and really I don't care who takes the women's as long as it's not the player that I dislike the most.  If you have been following my post, you will know who I am talking about.  After this weekend, it'll be another month before the next tournament starts - Wimbledon.  I am so glad that Jeff has a DVR to record all these early morning matches.  Even the US open is three hours early which means I have to record it also.  When I use to live in Canada without a recording system, I would try and get up really early to watch some of the match.  Sometimes they will repeat some of the matches later in the day.  For now it will be golf tournaments until Wimbledon begins. 

 

 

Trying Thursday - Flowers survival

Our next door neighbor gave me a beautiful ORCHID flower plant for my birthday.  All I can think of is how I am going to try and keep it alive.  It's so beautiful and I am afraid that I am not going to be able to care for it.  She told me to keep it in an area where there's a bit of sun, not direct sun.  Then she said, only water once a week.  As you know I have one plant that has survived for three years.  But an Orchid is such a delicate plant with an amazing flowers.

Maybe I can give Jeff the responsibility of caring for this new addition.  I will keep my readers posted on how it is surviving.  A couple of months ago we bought a really nice Hydrangia.  So far the squirrels have not snacked on it.  It's actually surviving in our backyard.  I noticed this morning when I was checking some of Jeff's plants, there are some flowers and some growth on the squash.  We hope that they too will survive and not get munched on by the squirrels.

Willingness Wednesday - Healthy meals

When Jeff and I starts gaining weight after a vacation, we would try and have healthier meals.  It's not that our meals are not healthy, it's portioning and not having late night snacks.  Since I cannot just cut down my daily calorie intake, I can return to measuring again some of the food that I tend to eat a little bit more.  As for Jeff, he has to cut down the amount of carbs.  So no more rice, pasta, potatoes and bread.  I have to make sure that the meals I prepare do not have the above.  There's plenty of vegetables (salad, grillled or stir fry) that accompanies the chicken, pork, beef and fish.  For my meals, I would just add a little of the R,P,P,B and eat the same main dish.  We do a lot of grilling and or steaming.  It's hard only for a few days, but after that we are quick to adjust with the changes in our meals.  Adding fruits to the daily meals are not different since we are already used to it.  I believe the hardest for Jeff to resist are his mom's cookies, cupcakes and any of the baking items I make.  This means no baking for awhile.  We hope we can continue this until we get down to the targeted weight.  June is a good way to jump start on eating healthy.