A Full Day with my Crickets

 Getting ready to make the gingerbread train with children's Christmas music in the background....I think the muppets were singing around this time.

 How's my spackling job?!

 Now let's compare.....see the resemblance?  How on earth is someone supposed to even remotely copy what's on the box?!  That icing (even after kneeding it in the bag) was not maleable....it clumped and then when I had to spread it, it didn't want to stick to the cookie.

 They are both so photogenic!

Cheeeeessssse!!

I'll have a Blue Christmas......

The Beginning of the Christmas Decor

This is the first year that the tree colours didn't include green and red.  Took a little bit of convincing by me, but success was to be had.  It's not completely done yet....my sister is bringing over her blue snowflakes and we may go shopping for some more decorations still.

 This is my dad's village.  We used a smaller table this year but placed it in front of the front window, which is different than all other years.  There usually is fluffy snow but instead we used a table cloth as the table is smaller.

And here is the dining/eating area.  Mom has collected reindeer and snowmen stuffies/ornaments so that's what's on the hutch.

The close-up.

A New Blog

http://acreativerealist.blogspot.com/

Here's the link to my semi-new blog if ur interested.  It's not as populated as this one and probably won't be but it's something for me to keep track of my 'creative' moments.

Pesto! I LOVE pesto!

http://cookwithcampbells.ca/en-ca/Recipes/creamypestochickenbake.aspx

Here is a link to the Creamy Pesto Chicken bake recipe from the Campbell's soup website or soup can.  I love the pesto part, and the pine nut part, oh, and the panko bread crumb part.  I highly recommend this recipe for a family of if you're single, left overs are great too.  That's my intention with making this as mom isn't into eating many carbs right now and it has penne noodles and panko in it.

 Pardon the not so "artsy" photo, but I had to try some when it came out of the oven.  Note the pine nuts!? Mmmm....

Herrrrrrre'sssss Melis---sa

Hmmmmm...what to write about?

I'm sitting on a chair in the livingroom with 16:9 on the tv.  The first part of the show was about a polygamist family in Bountiful and how they've broken away from the traditional beliefs of the polygamist beliefs and have their own church in Bountiful of about 500 people.  The husband, Winston, has 1 wife and over 100 children!  Craziness if you ask me.  He's had more wives at one time before though...over 30 I believe.  The children in this family don't wear the long dresses or dress pants/shirts.  They wear everyday clothing that other children their age wear anywhere else.  Some of the girls are even dating.  One of the wives will be going to school to train as a teacher.  These children aren't pressured to marry early either....if a daughter wants to go to school, live in Toronto and marry in her mid-30's, then go for it, says the dad.  But nevertheless, he's still being investigated (polygamy) by the Supreme Court of Canada and it's being decided whether polygamy should still be illegal.

Onto a less-hearted topic.  I've officially finished the 2nd course of the hCG diet and since the first time being weighed in June, I've lost ~31 lbs (according to scale at Dr office).  On the scale at home, it says I've lost 36 lbs.  I'll stick with the latter number as I still weigh myself daily.  Sure I've gained a couple since the diet has ended but I'm planning and anticipating on maintaining this weight.  I NEED to.  I've already been eating 'non-diet' stuff but the weight number has been stable.

I've been thinking (yup, again) about changing up the career/job from what I have right now.  There's a couple reasons why I'd like to change:
1.  change of pace
2.  enter into a different way of life a.k.a. change it up
3.  get a way from the 'regulation' changes of pharmacy, it hasn't been laid out yet, the changes

My thinking is going towards parole officer.  I'd have to do a degree program of either psychology, sociology, criminology, social work.  I'd choose criminology.  I'd done 1 year already in 1998 but I'd need to (want to) redo that year anyways.  Maybe I'd be able to get out of the english class though....that'd be nice.  I don't know what the pay scale is for parole officers (PO) but am still looking into it.  I've had a long-time interest in the criminal industry.  Did that sound wrong or bad?  haha....I'm talking about the criminal system, prisons, looking for reasons why people do certain things.  I'm really interested in mental illness/es as well.  Sometimes that can be the reason too, not always though.  Anyhoo, what I'd have to do is apply at CNC in PG for fall 2012, here's the problem, I'm going on a 5 day trip to California in the middle of October with family.  I really don't want to put that off but I also don't want to miss classes either.  And I really, really want to go!  Priorities eh?  I wonder if I can start in Jan 2013 rather than Sept 2012?  Something to look into.
until then....

Update

I have finally lost enough weight to be below the "bad" number (200).  Amazing for me!  I'm 198.6 lbs as of this am.  I even cheated yesterday in a semi-big way so it's crazy how I only gained 0.2 lbs.  I ate New York fries and gravy, a skinny latte, and 1 homemade bun.  I won't do that again cause ya never know of the results.  My last injection was yesterday and for the 3 days after I still eat 500 calories as the injected hormone is still lingering in my body so just need to give it time to get out.

This wknd is Canada's thanksgiving wknd.  We will have our dinner on Monday.  I work all wknd and on Monday will be home after 4pm.  Should be quite the feast.

Well that's all for now.

Another Blog

I created a new blog yesterday called "A Creative Realist". http://acreativerealist.blogspot.com/  I'm not sure what that title means but it kinda jives with this blog.

I have posted some pics of the cards I've made in the past couple years, as well as some scrapbook pages and recipe boxes. 

Take a look.  I hope to keep it updated as I make gifts, cards etc. 

A Brief diet Update

My 2 gorge days were this past Fri & Sat.  I gained 2 lbs from those days.  I weighed myself before the gorge days and based on that number I have lost 5 lbs.  I'm below my last injection weight in July too.  Mom has now lost 3 lbs.  It's a very good thing to see her have results. 

The downside is I don't feel very good with the low calorie diet.  I feel lethargic and just not very enthused about doing it this time but perhaps in a couple days, when I get a food routine happening because I'll be at work I may feel better.  I've had 2 days off with not much activity except being on the computer, perhaps that's why.

HCG diet - revisited

Tomorrow I will be starting another course of the hCG injection diet.  I'm only doing 23 days this time and am aiming for a 23-25 lbs loss.  The twist?  My mom will be doing it with me but she'll be using the drops instead.
I don't think I'll be journalling daily about the diet this time...perhaps a couple times a week instead. 

Mom and I went grocery shopping today to have stuff for our 2 gorge days.  I grabbed caramel & toffee crunch ice cream, reece pieces, 2 large muffins, garlic alfredo sauce for a pasta dinner, and pizza pops.  I already have tortilla chips and salsa.

I can't wait to lose this next amount....I'm hoping to weigh between 185-190 lbs and that would be awesome!  Then I'll go clothing shopping!  And if all goes well my last time to do the diet will be in the new year and I should be around 150-160 lbs.  This goal is actually in my sights!

Ziplining in Sooke, 2011

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Whale Watching in Tofino

Whale watching in Tofino....Those survival suits sure were hot!

 There were a couple bunches of otters but when our boat came close, they disappeared under water except just one.  A while back, an environmentalist boat had come and was tagging the otters and putting them back in the water so now they're a bit spooked by boats and don't stay around when they appear.

 Grey whales

 Check out my 'comb-over'! Was very windy with the speeds we travelled at.

 I didn't know we'd see sea lions so it was a nice surprise.  They were very vocal letting us know "don't get too close".  They were huge!  I enjoyed watching them the most.

The beginning of sunset.

Humpback whales too.

 A nice sunset.

On the Road to Tofino

 This was a nice rest stop on the island hwy on the way to Tofino.

 Our picnic lunch we ate at the rest stop.  "Surfer dudes" at Chesterman Beach. 

 I wasn't actually at Long Beach but had to identify where I was anyways;

plus "Chesterman" was too long to spell out and take a picture of.

 

Check out the 'head depot'....click on picture to read about it. 

 We went to the Wickinninish Inn for a gourmet breakfast.  The breakfast was $19, homemade juice $4, and coffee $4.25....a total of $27.25 each (exclud tax & tip).  Seriously?!  Coffee....$4.25! 

The lady that gave me my spa treatments said it's made of gold....wouldn't doubt it. 

Check out my pedicured toes...pretty!  Love the coulur.



Victoria, Ziplining and Beacon Hill Park

 Sept 2nd, Diana and I were off to the ferry to Victoria.

  

The Empress Hotel at Harbourfront

Outside the Parliament building

 Ziplining in Sooke.

The 2nd picture is of a 1000 ft line

  Beacon Hill Park.  A weather was superb all day.