I have been busy with one thing and another. Which includes the treadmill and walking. I did slip and fall last week on the ice, so have been cautious with my walking. Luckily I didn't really hurt myself. My knee is all bruised up, but really my ego/pride was more bruised. So because of that I only logged in 25 miles last week, I normally log in around 30 miles.
I have decided to try the treadmill again and have figured out a way of walking, burning calories on it, without it trying to kill me...LOL I start off at incline 5, working my way up to incline 7 then working my way down to incline 5 again. I can burn 400 calories in 40 minutes and walk 2 miles doing that.
Anyway, it means I have managed to lose 24lbs in 11 weeks, so I have 1lb to lose before I have my telephone appointment with the doctor on December 21st. Hubby has also lost 21lbs which is a bonus. This 25lb goal is of my own setting, not the doctors.
Could I murder a chocolate bar.....of course!! We both have Lindt chocolate advent calendars to help with my sweet tooth. I look forward to eating my one chocolate every day.
I will say there are more mini chocolate balls in it, than anything else. It's a bit of a disappointment when you open the day's door and all you get is a mini chocolate ball. I had hoped they were all full sized truffles.....
So there you go, a bit of an update. I have blood work done this week, so it will be interesting to see if my numbers have come down for my diabetes. I am guessing so due to the weight loss. You can tell now that we have both lost weight, so it is encouraging. We just have to keep on with it.
Saw this over on Mother Earth and thought what a good way to use up some old t-shirts........
Full instructions here Back when dd got married, both of us bought a fascinator from Blair Nadeau. She has just released her 2017 Celestial Wanderer Collection; it is gorgeous. I struggled to find one photo I liked the best as I love all the collection but did think this was pretty:
The shoulder chains/necklace is something I have never seen before and are equally as pretty:
This next link is for the Canadians......do you remember Zellers? Remember when all the stores closed down? Well there are still two Zellers stores open; one in Ottawa and one in Etobicoke.....they are not your usual Zellers stores though, they are more like clearance stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters. You can read more about them here.
And finally my dream job has been posted online: A chocolate tester for Cadbury's, you can read more about it here. Just wish it was here in Canada not the UK. Can you imagine taste testing all that chocolate?
Aira (pronounced Ira) was born on March 30th in New Zealand. You can't really see much of her there, but she is snuggled under the quilt I made her, wearing the hat I knit her.
The fabric I used for all her things is Fox Playground for Free Spirit. It's an older fabric and is harder to find now. Below is a burp pad, change purse and a pixie basket.
I also made her a wet bag.
So imagine my surprise when there was a knock on the door on Monday and the mail lady was delivering me a box. Imagine my delight when I opened it and found all these goodies inside!!
I LOVE, LOVE chocolate, so am delighted with all these goodies. I may or may not share some of them...LOL However if I am not about for the rest of the week, you know I ate them all in one shot and now have a horrible migraine!!
Why you ask, well last night she decided to eat a full box of Pot of Gold Chocolates and a box of After Eight Mints................so she is suffering.......I totally forgot about them, as they weren't open. She has been up and down all night and I have no sympathy for her at the moment!!!!
Then to add to it all, I had her to the vets on Saturday, again, as this time she has an urinary tract infection, so along with the antibiotics and I got three months of her allergy pills, that came to another $220+. So those two vets visits cost over $300.
I know by the sorrowful look in her eyes I should have sympathy but I haven't as it was her own daft fault.................
Actually she did me a favour, as I don't like Pot Of Gold Chocolates, and although I love mint and chocolate, I really don't need to eat anymore chocolates at the moment!!
I did 30 minutes of exercise on the Wii Fit. Very proud of myself, I even managed to score a couple of more games for completing certain exercises. I have discovered though my sense of balance is way off, as it keeps telling me I am "unbalanced." What the Wii doesn't know is how "unbalanced" I really am!!!
I have fallen in love with the ski jump thing on there and am not too bad at that. I did the basic running game, thought I was going to collapse while doing that, but I did manage to keep up with the fella in front of me though.
The music and talking irritates the heck out of Molly though. She doesn't do a full howl but just whines while I have it on.
Also I was busy snow blowing today, as the bloody wind was blowing a gale and filled in the driveway again, so more exercise for me.
So I would say an hour of snow blowing + 30 minutes of being on the Wii = plenty of exercise for one day!!
How many Quality Street did I eat...........I could say none, but we all know that would be a big fat lie, now wouldn't we!!
Not at all pleasant, however at least it didn't snow, like it did last week in the Prairies.
Monday morning there was some stunning clouds in the sky with such great height. Here is a photo I took of one:
The sunrise was stunning Monday morning. I took this photo.
I did manage to get some grass cut after supper, otherwise it was a quiet day around the Acreage. I put the 200th recipe into the "book" today. However after talking to the publishers, I have input them in incorrectly so now have a mountain of editing to do. I have input them in with paragraphs, so all the paragraphs have to go. Not a huge deal really, but a tedious job none the less.
As you know I love chocolate, so thought I'd post some chocolate quotes, from this site:
A new British survey has revealed that 9 out of 10 people like Chocolate. The tenth lies. - Robert Paul
A chocolate in the mouth is worth two on the plate.
Anything is good and useful if it's made of chocolate.
What is the meaning of life? All evidence to date suggests it's chocolate.
Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.
Nuts just take up space where chocolate ought to be.
Momma always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. - Forrest Gump
Life is like a box of chocolates - full of nuts!
There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate. - Linda Grayson, The Pickwick Papers
After a bar of chocolate one can forgive anybody, even one's relatives.
The bank of friendship cannot exist for long without deposits of chocolate.
There are only three things in life that matter - good friends, good chocolate and, oh dear, what was that other one?
Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton
Other things are just food. But chocolate's chocolate. - Patrick Skene Catling
Once you consume chocolate, chocolate will consume you.
Too much of a good thing is simply wonderful! - Deborah Fox-Rothschild
A little too much chocolate is just about right.
The three best pleasures in life are scratching, sneezing and eating chocolate.
Any sane person loves chocolate. - Bob Greene
Chocolate makes everyone smile-even bankers. - Ben Strohecker, chocolatier
Anything tastes better dipped in chocolate.
Chocolate doesn't make the world go 'round, but it sure does make the trip worthwhile!
The best things in life are chocolate.
Money talks. Chocolate sings!
Chocolate is nature's way of making up for Mondays.
Coffee makes it possible to get out of bed, but chocolate makes it worthwhile.
Chocolate is not a matter of life and death - it's more important than that!
If chocolate is the answer, the question is irrelevant.
Dip it in chocolate; it'll be fine.
If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.
If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?
Chocolate is a serious thing! - Counselor Deanna Troi, Start Trek: The Next Generation
I first read this over at Cambridge Lady's blog, its a bit of sad news for everyone, especially those of us who are chocolate addicts. It seems that the Karft Company in America is taking over Cadbury's in the UK, read about it here Now why that should upset the chocolate addicts amongst us, is that its a well known fact that all American chocolate tastes like cheap cooking chocolate (sorry but its true you guys), so if they play around with the formula or even worse make the chocolate bars in the States and ship them back to the UK all will not be good.
If I am buying imported chocolate it has to be made in the UK. There is a difference between the taste of Cadbury's chocolate made in Canada and made in the UK, and the UK winds hands down. It is one thing I do believe that the UK does better than us North Americans, and that is make half decent chocolate. I was talking to a guy who works in a chocolate factory and he was saying that they have brought out Dove chocolate over here based on British chocolate, as its a lot creamier than the American rubbish. Again not a huge fan of Dove chocolate, but won't say no to it.
Now on a more serious note with this, as per the news release the people are worried about losing their jobs in Britain as Kraft is known for cutting jobs and saving costs, so need to be aware of that as well......still worried about how my beloved Cadburys chocolate will taste though?
I was watching Breakfast Television on Tuesday morning, while I was doing my ironing and this week they are featuring You Tube videos of local people and they featured this lady, who has a spectacular voice. I can see big things for this lady, where are you Simon Cowell!!
On Tuesday while I was taking the garbage bin out of under the sink, the phone rang. So I left the garbage bag in the middle of the kitchen and went to answer the phone. Stood talking on the phone for ages in teh family room, and heard Molly pottering around in the kitchen. She had got into the garbage and I had, had soup for my lunch on Monday and it come in a bag, so Molly was licking out the bag, and it resulted in Molly having an orange face!!
Molly is not going to be happy on Wednesday morning as I am putting her in the shower with me!!!
Did you put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today?
Today's Money Saving Tip:
For organic weed control, use regular black and white newspaper, 5 sheets or so thick, and lay it over the garden and then dampen with a hose. The paper will break down and add organic material to our clay soils that will make it easier to dig in as well as a happier place for the plants to grow. You can start a garden with this same theory by just weed eating the grass down to almost nothing and laying the paper over top of the freshly "wacked" area, wetting and then cutting a hole in the paper to plant!
I think you know that I am willing to taste test anything that has to do with chocolate, as you know I am awfully concerned about what sort of chocolate you eat and wouldn't want anyone to have an adverse reaction to it.
So because of that I bought the following couple of packets of chocolate biscuits. One because they reminded me of the chocolate biscuits from Britain, two they are new out and I haven't seen them before, oh and three they were in flavours I like.
Firstly the crunchy caramel biscuits, well I actually didn't like these much. Okay if they were the only things to eat, then yes I would eat them, but the chocolate tasted like cheap cooking chocolate to me. So I probably won't buy these ones again, although dh liked them. So I guess he'll be taking one in his bait/lunch pail every day.
Now as I am a chocolate/mint fan I knew unless the chocolate was really bad I would love these, and guess what they are YUMMY!!! The mint filling sort of reminds me of the middle of Aero bars without the bubbles. These are a winner..........must ask my friend who is a buyer for Loblaws, if they are bringing out a chocolate/orange flavour, then all my dreams would have come true...LOL
Love Molly to bits, but her lastest thing is to get up just after 5am wanting out for a pee and possibly a poop, I don't check. Meanwhile I can't get back to sleep, so by mid afternoon I am on my knees, bone weary.
So here she is laying in her basket.
Here she is looking sleepy........I wonder if it has something to do with getting up too early????
Finally we have a few of these birdies coming to the bird feeder. I think it is a Black Capped Chickadee. One swooped past Molly, and lets just say Molly wasn't impressed.
"O"Come All Ye Faithful" by The Celtic Women, a beautiful rendition of a classic with lyrics so you can all sing along.
Gosh its been cold, the wind was terrible again on Friday. At least there was no more snow. On Saturday morning, think of us digging out the end of the driveway, as the snow plow has made it difficult for us to get in and out of the driveway. Infact I haven't left the house since Tuesday. Dh drives a pickup truck and he had a heck of a job getting into the drive. Mind you I shouldn't complain we could live in Yellowknife where its been MINUS 50oC!!!! See this link
Now for the funny story. Back at the end of November I went to the Lindt Warehouse store, I posted about it here Acouple of the things I bought were chocolate Christmas tree decorations for dd. Anyhow, when the beginning of December came around, I didn't think I was going to see dd before Christmas. One night I had a chocolate craving (I actually have a craving for chocolate most days...LOL) so I decided I would nibble on dd chocolate decorations. Next night I had the same craving, so ended up eating the second package.
Fast forward to the beginning of last week, and dd anounces she's coming up on Sunday, which is great, however I am now in a panic as she would be expecting to pick up her chocolates. Luckily for me, dh was working at the office on Friday and it just happens to be up the road from the warehouse, so I persuaded him to go and pick a couple more packages up for me. He also picked up a couple extra packages in case I had a craving...............of course I'll have a craving!! That was so nice of him though, wasn't it?
This ones a bit different, as its more the video than the music. 40,000 LED Christmas Lights dance Carol Of The Bells. I would so hate to live next door to these guys it would drive me potty, but it would be neat to see.....
Make sure you check out some more of their videos as there are many more.......
So I made a trip to the "big" city on Tuesday, as I had some errands to run. One place I went was to Mississauga, so I figured as I had to sort of pass by the area, I may as well call in at the Lindt Chocolate outlet store, as I needed to get some chocolate deocrations for the Christmas tree.
I picked up these boxes of chocolates, to give as gifts, or to eat ourselves, not sure yet!!
Hear are the chocolate decorations....
Now all their Halloween candy was on sale, so I picked up a couple bags of them, they were only $2.60 per bag, and of course I had to taste them just to make sure they were alright, as I wouldn't want any harm to come to anyone.
You'll be pleased to know that after sampling a few of the Halloween candies, they are fine, but I do feel I should try a few more, just to make sure!!! By the way all that lot cost me under $45, which is a great deal.
It was super foggy on Tuesday and it made for hard driving. I do admit to being one of those drivers who barely stick to the speed limits; however on Tuesday I stuck to, and or drove under the speed limit, as you could barely see in front of yourself.
A bit of a funny story also. I was sitting on the toilet minding my own business on Tuesday morning when the house started to vibrate/shake. I am thinking what the heck, or words to that effect. It turns out they were working on the shoulders on the road, and they had the big rollers pounding it down. That was all very interesting, as it was something I wasn't expecting!!
Now dh had to drag me kicking and screaming into the store to buy these............
We have a Lindt factory outlet close to home, and we were passing. All that cost me less than $13, now I know I need that like a hole in the head. Oh and the sad thing is, it all expires by the end of July so we have to eat it all up by then............actually I'd be really surprised if there was any left by the end of next week....LOL
