It's Spring time here!!

Winter past and here comes Spring!

It is a sunny start of our spring with no patches of cloud could be seen. The sky is so clear and blue. Spring is one of my favourite time of the year second to Autumn. I like the weather that is just only mild not hot and humid for I am not a big fan of summer and there are so much to see around. The grasses become greener and all the flowers and trees are blooming with beautiful and vibrant colours. They seem so happy and come back to life after being with the cold weather for a while. The sweet fragrance of flowers, which is everywhere, and the chirping of the birds are so inviting and a perfect time to explore outside and enjoy the day. Weather is getting better and I am getting excited.

I will now look forward to our morning walks with hubby after dropping the kids off to school. And this time, I took my camera with me so I can get pictures of our first day of Spring to get something to show you. I was so thankful to God that it wasn’t raining like yesterday that it was cloudy with light showers. I am glad that I was able to take few pictures as most of the plants are just starting to come back to life, some are just threatening to and some are just maybe about to occur. These flowers I took are actually late winter and early spring bloomers and the rest are all year easy bloomers.

However, on this beautiful season, is the time also to keep myself busy. My garden needs a good make over and the thing that it has overgrown with weeds requires a great deal of work and time. It has been neglected during the whole winter season and some of the weeds are growing rapidly. And this time that I am planning to plant some veggies, I will start doing the works that are needed soon. There are extra hands around to help me so that is not a big problem. I hope I can finish my garden in just no time so I can start planting the veggies that I am longing to plant. I have few plants also that need re-potting. Whew! What a busy life ahead!Besides my garden, I have to sort out some things in the house that we don’t need this time and do a bit of September.of clean up. With all these things, it will keep me pretty busy for a while and probably the whole of September.

Time to refresh and welcome the Spring and Summer seasons.

I got a slower connection

This is anticipated sometimes to happen if month’s end is approaching,that our internet connection will be less quicker. But most of the time, we still have the full speed connection of our Internet provided hubby doesn’t do much downloading.It still the 29th and our connection is slower than normal. The speed will be back to normal at the very beginning of next month. So, that means that we can start to enjoy the full speed this coming Monday. Seems a long wait to me. Of course, I still can post comments in my other sites with this connection but I have to wait for extra minutes just to download the site. It takes time, actually, and I try to avoid surfing to sites with so many graphics and pictures that sometimes it reaches me to the point of giving up the downloading. I cant spend longer time in the computer and this annoys me but I cannot do anything about it except to deal with it..hehehe.

We are on a limited plan at the moment with a cable connection. We stick to this plan even though our Internet provider frequently offers us a good deal of a higher limit access, which is quite expensive than what we normally paying. I think it worth the payment to upgrade the connection to something satisfactory especially if you are fond of downloading so much stuffs unlike us that we only download stuffs that are needed and kinda important to us. Hubby and I discussed this matter and decided to stay in this plan because oftentimes, we don’t reach our Internet limit. This is the main reason that is actually stopping us to upgrade our connection. We don’t want to waste money to something we don’t always use. And this time that hubby is so crazy about this Microsoft Train Simulator that he is installing in his computer which he downloaded from the internet is the main reason that our connection reached to its limit.. This particular software took a great deal of Internet connection. He is so crazy about this stuff that there were few nights he even forgot the time for bed..hehehe.. Well, this is only not very often and hope not any more for the coming months.:)

Kick-start Soup Diet Recipe

So here we are, as what I had promised in my previous post, I am going to share you a Kick-start Soup diet Recipe which we got from a friend . I thought to share this healthy recipe because who knows someone out there is interested to try this. Hubby is enjoying it for lunch and dinner with a toast of whole meal bread.

Ingredients:
3 tomatoes
2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
2 cans of liquid stock (beef, chicken or vegetable)
2 cups of water
1 packet of vegetable or French onion dry soup powder
1 bunch spring onions
1 bunch of celery, including leaves
2 cups of green beans
3 green capsicums
1 kg carrots
2 stock cubes (chicken, beef or vegie)

Method:
In a saucepan boil all the ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer with stirring occasionally until the soup is thickened .Serve with toasted bread. .
If you want a smooth texture, you can blend the soup in a blender or stick mixer.

I hope you enjoy it!

Our weekend

Unlike most weekends, we didn’t have any particular plan to do except just to enjoy whatever the day would bring us. We just simply stayed at home and did some of the daily routines. Glad that on Saturday before noon, I was able to finish my 3 loads of washing. Even though the sun was in an "on and off" mood, I was so glad that all the clothes I hung in the clothes line were all dried enough, and sorted them after. I did some of cleaning around the house too and cooked hubby a special healthy diet soup for lunch which I gonna share you later.

It was just an easy and predictable day and on the evening, hubby and the kids watched a family movie that was on in one of the local channel. It was kinda hilarious and the kids loved it while I read a paperback of one of my favorite authors. After the movie finished, the kids went to bed and I continued my reading while hubby switched on to another channel to watch the Olympic live coverage. It was a Basketball Gold medal match between Australia and USA women but I was so engrossed of my reading that I didn’t even bother to take a look the moment it started. Glancing the game for the first time, I noticed that Australia was leading which was quite a good relief for us. While I continued my reading and finished few chapters, I heard hubby muttering some disappointments watching the game. As I glanced the game again , Australia was far way behind with the score of the Americans and continued to climb up and seemed unstoppable. Actually, not a challenging game to watch and there’s no point to watch it any further .Obviously, USA won the medal in a smooth and easy win over the Aussies with the score of 92-65. The loss was a tremendous disappointment to them and the whole of the Aussies. Of course, Australia worked hard for the game, as they always did. It was just the gold was not really meant for them this time and always for USA . Well, I just hope by next Olympic with the help of Lady Luck will be their time to enjoy the triumph that USA is always enjoying for many Olympics now.

We went to bed about 2:00 in the morning.That was quite a long and disappointing night for us. But at least, I finished the paper back I determined to finish the night and enjoyed the story immensely.

Well done, Dorothy!

It's another big day for Dorothy. A day that she has been waiting for. So excited, for tomorrow, she is going to receive her second Bronze award for this year. She received her first one before the first school term ended. It will be given to her tomorrow during their Friday school assembly, a weekly assembly to give merit/sport awards and recognitions to deserving students. Different items from students are also presented during the assembly.
Bronze award is awarded to students who have earned three star awards . A star award is awarded to students who have shown commitment to responsible attitude and behavior at school.
Well done, Dorothy. We are very proud of you.

Sorry for Colin..

I am touched about this humpback whale calf that was spotted in The Basin, inside Sydney’s Pittwater. Colin, as what they call him, was abandoned by his mother and was first seen few days ago when he tried to suckle into boat thinking it was his mother. He is still young and believed to be few weeks old. Without the mother’s milk for days , Colin will starve to death. A rescue team made an attempt to save by guiding him out back to the sea but Colin reappear the following day.

Since Colin is now on poor health condition and rapidly deteriorating, he will be put down tonight. After careful assessment by wildlife and veterinary experts around the world, they came up to a decision to euthanasia him.

We feel sorry for him. We could not do anything to save him.

I had a cracked heel

I hardly noticed it until I felt a bit of pain every time I walked. When I checked out what was making me feeling uncomfortable and bothering me, I noticed that my right heel was starting to get cracks. It was my first time to have them and I had no idea what was the cause of it or the appropriate treatment, my heel looked so dry and I thought to myself that it was probably the cold weather that made it dry and cracked. And to my surprise while surfing in the internet, I found out that it is actually the dry skin that is the common causes of it . Its appearance too indicates zinc and omega-3 fatty acid deficiency and having thick or callus skin around the rim can cause it too. I am sure the latter didn’t cause it for I don’t have it, anyway. I use skin moisturizer lotion every day after my shower and most often I don’t include my heels and that was the cause of the dryness especially during this cold weather.

I went to the chemist right away so I can apply something on it to prevent it from getting worse for I saw few people who had serious cases of cracked heels, it looked deep into the dermis, looked too painful and sometimes lead to bleeding. Of course, I don’t want that to happen to me. The lady in the chemist gave me a Scholl Cracked Heel Cream which was to be applied twice daily with assurance of visible effects within 3 days. She even told me that if it doesn’t show any progress after 3 days, I should go back there and she will give me another cream and an expensive one. But glad, it worked fine for me after few days of treatment. The cream is good, effective and cheap. I am now very careful and even apply moisturizing lotion to my heels after having a shower to prevent from having it again.

Our Dinner

This is our dinner tonight. I always love to make shepherd's pie for this is everybody's favourite and yummy too. So easy and quick to make. I used lamb mince instead of beef mince for it is more flavoury and somewhat tastier when it is cooked. Since I am not talented in the kitchen, i just simply used this Continental Sheperd's Pie Recipe Base which I got from the shop and follow the simple direction at the back of the packet. All I have to add are only potatoes, milk , butter, oil, onion, lamb mince water and carrots. And to have extra flavour top it with tasty grated cheese and bake for about 30 minutes in 200C oven.

David

Glad that David is feeling better now and able to attend his pre school. Yesterday, he was complaining of tummy pain and headache that before we went out to take a bush walking trip, I gave him Panadol. He had a bit of temperature too and not eating his breakfast. We thought not to proceed with our plan so he can have a rest but David insisted that he really want to go and was even so excited.

As we were in the bush, i kept on checking him and gave him plenty of water to drink. He was feeling better obviously for he was enjoying our trip and never complained of anything else. I made sandwiches for us for lunch and he ate all of his share which was also a good sign.

When we arrived home, he went straight to his computer and played for awhile. But when I checked him few minutes later, he felt asleep right on his computer desk and was even still holding the mouse. I noticed that he had temperature again and right away, i gave him another dose of Panadol and quietly moved him to his bed which is right beside his computer desk. He went back to sleep without saying a word and looked so tired and sleepy.

While I busied myself preparing our dinner, I heard David chatting to his Dad who was in the computer room opposite his bedroom. So, I thought to myself that he's feeling better after all. He never complain of any pain since then and back to playing happily with his sister.

Aiming for a good & healthy life

Since last Monday, hubby and I had a good walking exercise. Every morning, we walk down to take the kids to their school and come back taking the other way around. The other way is quite longer which makes about 40 minutes walk for a day, which is good for us especially to hubby. He is having a strict diet this time because he is overweight and needs a good exercise too. A dietician is checking him every now and then. And as prescribed by his dietician, he has to have Optifast mixed vegetables soup for lunch and Optifast milkshake coffee in the morning. Optifast products are nutritionally complete and high in fibre and so easy and convenient to prepare. Dinner time for hubby is quite a feast as he can enjoy whatever I cook for us. But most often, I prepare steam or baked vegetables with roasted, baked or grilled meat, which are quite healthy too. Sometimes I specially prepare a slice of baked/grilled salmon fillet for him which is recommended also by his dietician as it is high in protein, high Omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D^[5] content.

Because he is a full time worker and works on night shift, I was becoming to worry of his intake but he said, there is nothing to worry about as these Optifast products are very good and he doesn’t even feel hungry, tired and such. His snacks include, bananas and oat and wholemeal biscuits with a cup of tea.

Last Saturday, his weight was 110 kgs. On Tuesday his weight was down to 108.60 kgs and today he is 107.80 kgs. It is quite amazing how this Optifast products work plus a good exercise in the morning and eating healthy foods. It is just for a short time and we are seeing good results. I hope he can come down to his main target losing 10 kgs in 2 weeks and be able to maintain a good and healthy life.

My plants on winter time

We are on our last month of our winter season and spring time is just around the corner. Nights are still freezing and frosty which mean that I still have to do my afternoon and morning ritual in the garden…hehehe Well, because these frosts can kill the plants. So, I have to cover them before the night comes to protect them and take off the cover every morning so they can enjoy the sunlight. Sometimes if I am so busy, I forget to take off the covers ..hehehehe… but glad they are doing well despite of my forgetfulness.

I got mango seedling just newly planted before the winter came and glad that it is still looking good and thriving. I really love this plant and it is been such a long time that I was longing to have one. In fact, I was able to grow seedling out from the mango I bought in one of the shops here but unfortunately, it died from frost few years ago. Since then, I didn’t have one until a friend of mine gave this mango seedling to me. Not a gift but it something that she didn’t want anymore. She moved to another apartment where there is no place for her to plant it. I was so happy that I planted it right away in the ground not waiting for the appropriate time when to plant it. I guess, I was just being excited.

I use a big plastic bag with holes in it to cover my mango seedling and net to cover some of my other plants. The net is not as good as the plastic bag as its got tiny holes in it where some frost can get through but at least my plants have something to give them little protection against the frost with nothing to worry in the morning.

My Lunch

I was enjoying a chicken soup (tinulang manok) at lunchtime with vegetables in it. I just felt something that was warm for the cold day and so I thought to make soup, tinulang manok. Glad that it was also our shopping day so I was able to buy some ingredients that were needed for my soup.

After sorting out the things that we bought, I hurriedly prepared the ingredients for I really wanted to have it before I go back to school to pick up David. I chopped chokos from my garden, onion, garlic and cut chicken into pieces. I also washed and roughly chopped few Chinese bok choy.And to have an extra flavour, I used tinulang manok seasoning mix which I bought from a Filipino shop here.

Hmmmm.. I nearly finished two bowls of it with rice, of course:)