What's in my Kitchen?

I visited Rhebs’ blog this morning and I had the shock of my life when at the end of her entry she asked four of us to show what’s in our kitchen.  After reading her entry my reaction was “uhuh.. I have to do my act here in cleaning my fridge and cupboards so it won’t show how messy it is”, LOL!  So since today is my day off and we’ve been having severe weather once again (remember I wrote in my previous entry we’re having a bad weather every other day, well, today we have it again!), I just decided to stay home and clean our kitchen for almost half a day.  You see, I’ve wanted to clean our fridge long time ago but I always keep on procrastinating, so it has been so messy for a very long time.  So okay, since I have cleaned our fridge and pantry today, maybe it is good enough to show it here, so here are some of our healthy and not so healthy stuff in our kitchen cupboard/pantry and fridge:

         

I do my grocery every weekend or at least every other weekend when our supplies are getting low.  I always make it a point that everything that I buy are nutritious because obviously we both need to eat healthy.  Typically, what’s most in our freezer are chicken, fish, ground turkey, frozen vegetables (i.e. mixed veggies, brussels sprouts, green beans and corn) and frozen fruits (blueberries and strawberries).  We rarely have beef and pork but we sometimes buy it especially when there’s a good sale at the store.

When I was still in the Philippines I don’t actually care what kind of bread I buy for as long as it can be eaten. Lorin taught me to eat whole grain breads and to forget about the usual white bread that I have get accustomed with back in the Philippines.  Our milk has always been skim (non fat milk), we always have grape juice in the fridge for papsy and meJ.  Well, he was advised by the doctor to drink red wine but since he’s not fond of alcoholic drinks, he just opted for grape juice.  I always have yogurt for our smoothie every Saturday morning and I use them sometimes for my breakfast with blueberries and a piece of medium banana and a coffee.  I always have different kinds of cheese handy for my cooking or for eating.  I love pecorino romano cheese on my pasta, there’s the ol’ parmesan cheese, low fat shredded cheddar cheese and my newly found favorite Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese which I often pair with a few pieces of wheat thins for a snack when my stomach is grumbling and asking to be fed.

As usual there’s the eggs and also egg substitute.  We rarely use butter and if ever we need one we always grab for the ever reliable Smart Balance.  Orange juice is for Papsy’s breakfast, I rarely drink it because it’s sugary.  There’s got to be always fruits in the house for another easy grab when hungry or for my Saturday morning smoothie.  Lunch turkey breast meat is always present for box lunches, Low Fat Mayo, Canadian bacon (lesser fat than the usual bacon), turkey bacon (when papsy misses the good ol’ fatty baconJ ).  There are different kinds of vegetables in the crisper and always present are broccoli, celery and carrots (the three of them are always a must, I don’t know why). Ready for serving salad greens are also always present, but I have other veggies there right now that were on sale in the store the other day so I bought them.  On the door side of the fridge are my salad dressings, jellies for breakfast toast, medium cheddar cheese, tofu, tableya from the Philippines that I still have to use (if it’s still usable, LOL!) and different kinds of cooking spices. 

For breakfast cereals, we always have an oatmeal in the house, ready to eat cereals like cheerios, honey bunches of oats, grape nuts flakes (we’re out of it, I don’t like to buy it when it’s not on sale), shredded wheat, etc.  That Quaker Oatmeal Weight Control is a new found favorite of mine because it only has 1 gram of sugar and 7 grams of protein (3 pts. for my WW).  The regular oatmeal is always added with frozen blueberries and milk.  When I am trying to save my daily points for WW, I always opt for that as a meal for breakfast because it’s 0 pts. (paging, Geri).

As usual canned goods cannot be missed out.  What we always have for canned goods are tomatoes, beans (pinto, kidney, black, etc.) and tuna in water.   Lorin loves all kinds of tomato based dishes, so I always have them ready.   Others are just for the heck of it.  Several spices are also present plus the usual, vinegar, low sodium soy sauce, extra virgin olive oil and such.  Present also are my different kinds of teas and other drinks.  Maybe some of you are looking for the rice, of course we do have it but we only have brown rice and white is rarely used and I don't think I have it right now.  Also, potatos are always handy for baking.  They're not shown here because I'm already getting tired

Anyway, Rhebs, thanks a lot for asking me what’s in our kitchen because you made me clean it and now our cupboard and fridge are both roomyJ.

Snow Storm

Every other day since last Sunday, we're having a snow storm and it's getting to be a pattern.  I wasn't expecting that we will be accumulating heavy snow last Sunday (the weather forecast said it's only going to be at least 2"-3"), to the point that I was forced to shovel our walkway and part of our driveway at work.  Yes, shovel snow at work, you’re reading it rightJ  Well, that day we have accumulated at least 6” of snow in a few hours of heavy downpour.  I have no choice that day but to do it because we don’t have maintenance or housekeepers on Sundays.  Visitors and families of our residents were coming and going and I was the only one who can possibly do it because the receptionist can certainly not go out of the front desk because she has to answer calls and attend some of the emergency situation that may arise from our independent residents.  The caregivers cannot also lend a hand because they have residents to attend to, so, I had to do it to avoid any accident.  Anyway, that was the first time I ever shovel snow and it surely wasn’t an easy job to do.  It was so cold out and yet underneath my 3 layers of clothing (plus the jacket) my sweat was flowing.  Every time I finish plowing the snow from the other side of the walkway, I had to go back to the other side again because there was an accumulation of snow again. It was a pain in the rear end, that the next day all my muscles were strained! L

So okay, last Monday the sun showed up and I was so happy, but in the afternoon we had some flurries again.   The next day (Tuesday), another snow storm came AGAIN and accumulated several inches of snow.  Good thing I didn’t have to shovel the snow that day because our maintenance took care of itJ

 

Anyhow, today was quite a challenge and I was almost in tears because my car got stuck in the snow and it wouldn’t run!  I was able to back it up from our apartment’s parking slot but when I was ready to drive it to work it wouldn’t run because those darn tires were stuck in an almost 8” of unplowed snow! I was wondering where those darned apartment maintenance were hiding and why they cannot clear the driveway, I was already panicking because I was late to work and the car was blocking the driveway.  Good thing there wasn’t a single car behind me and I was able to ask some help from the contracted personnel the apartment complex have hired to clear our walkways.  Bless his heart he tried everything to help me just so I could have the car running but I can’t get it to work.   So I decided to give the key to him and just let him park it again in our spot and I walked to work!  I am so grateful that my work is only a crawl away from my house ‘cause if not, I will surely be calling in. 

Yes, I admit it amazes me to see all white in my surroundings during this time of the season, but if you come to think of it, it’s quite a hassle especially driving.  When I am on the road, I always make sure to be very careful and look after some of the looney tunes around me.  When I feel like they’re in a hurry for their life, I would usually just stop on the side of the road and let them do whatever they desire to do with their life.  Yes, snow is pretty………..Pretty scary especially when it melts down and turns into ice.

Ciao now 'cause I have to work my way to bed.  Have a great weekend all!

Post Birthday Update

As you may have known, I celebrated my birthday last week and I am now one year older but getting younger, LOL!  Kidding aside, I had a very good birthday.  Since it was my day off that day and the weather was not as bad as previous weeks, we both decided to travel down to the valley and spent the weekend with my mother-in-law.  We were supposed to have a birthday dinner on my birthday, but since we arrived quite late, she just suggested that we have the dinner the next day.  Sure enough we had it the next day and instead of us paying the bill, she paid everything!  She said it was my birthday, so she had to treat us instead of us treating her for my birthdayJ  I tell you, I really consider myself lucky having a mother in law like her.  I know some of of you are also as lucky as I am but I feel so blessed to have her because I grew up without a mother and having a mother in law like her is considered a jackpot for me.  Just look at this card that she gave me; it just melted my heart to read what she wrote and was also kind of surprise that she again inserted some cash on it.  I tell you, it's quite hard to argue with her about these gifts that she gives us on special occasions; we would always tell her not to give us anything but she always does it anyway.

 

Yesterday, I had another birthday celebration again.  My friend Marilyn, who always stood up like a mother to me, called before my birthday last week and told me that we’re going out along with her sister Sue and our common friend, Trish, for my birthday.  But since we spent birthday weekend with my MIL, we just decided to have the celebration yesterday.  She treated me to a Mexican Restaurant over here in Bend and I did receive gifts again from them (oh what a lucky girl I amJ).  As I was telling them yesterday, I feel so loved and it’s such a great feeling!

To my family, relatives and friends who greeted me happy birthday, thank you so much and it’s really a blessing to have you all in my life.

FITNESS ADVENTURE…

To keep myself fit and healthy is always my goal all these years, so I always try to exercise and eat healthy foods.  My problem is even if I eat healthy foods and sometimes cheats on the side with my sweet treats, my weight hasn’t been going down, and instead it’s going up!  When winter started, my energy level was very low and I was always tired to do any exercise or go to the gym, in short I became a lazy bum.  But anyway, before the New Year, I became hooked to watching the BIGGEST LOSER and that show became an eye opener for me and realized that I certainly don’t want to be BIGGGGG!!!  So even if I felt so tired after work, I always make it a point to drive over to the gym or do my exercise at home using my weights, ball and my Turbo Jam DVD.  But no matter how hard I exercise, my weight wasn’t going down at all.  So 3 weeks ago, after I was inspired about Geri’s weight improvement by joining Weight Watchers, I also decided to join Weight Watchers just for the heck of it (just kidding).  Good thing about weight watchers is they teach you how to eat the right way and you’re allowed to have treats (but I don’t really abuse itJ).  Anyway, after one week of watching what I eat with the combination of my exercise, I lost 5 lbs.!!  That was considered a milestone for me and I was really happy about it.  On my second week though (which last week), I only lost 1 lb.  But still, I was so happy about it considering that when we spent the weekend with my MIL, she was feeding us like hogsJ.

I am hoping to reach my weight goal in 3 months and that means more exercise, portion control with everything that I feed myself and no slacking!!  Also, having an online fitness buddies like Ger, Rhebs and Mel will make me inspire more to reach my goal.  Good luck to us, ladies!

Have a great weekend all!!

Goodbye '07, Hello '08!

Whoa!  How’s everyone doing nowadays?  At the neck of our woods it’s cold and snowy as usual.  Our Christmas and New Year surely was considered a silent one; we didn’t spend it with my in-laws because the mountain passes were not safe at all for travelling.  So as expected, we still have to open Christmas gifts from my in-laws and we still have our gifts for them with us.  We’ve always been planning to travel and visit them especially my mother-in-law, but every time we’re supposed to leave on a certain day, there would always be a severe weather warning and we really don’t want to risk it, except of course if there’s an emergency and we really need to travel.

Santa Claus aka “papsy” has been very generous as always with his gifts.  I got my new digital camera (of course!), a Jack La Lanne power juicer, a very nice top and several other stocking stuffers. 

We had a white Christmas on Christmas day and it was great because in my four Christmases over here in the US, and three of them being spent in the valley (where my in-laws are), we never had a white Christmas over there. We were invited to a dinner at a close friend’s house on Christmas Day.  It was good because I didn’t fix anything and the hostess firmly told us to come hungry because she was having a prime rib steak for dinner.  After we had our dinner and opening of gifts, we all decided to drive all the way to the cinema house and watched “The National Treasures” of Nicolas Cage.  The drive from our friends’ house to the cinema was such a pain in the rear end because the snow was pouring so heavy.  The most painful of all was when it was time to drive back home because our wind shield was so icy and poor papsy had to do the scraping and unfortunately we didn’t have a de-icer in the car!  But anyway, it was fun and we have arrived home safely and stuffed from the Christmas dinner and the bucketful of pop corn in the cinemaJ. Christmas Dinner with the Rowland's and the Goddard's scraping the ice from the wind shield

New Year’s Eve was as usual nothing compared as to how it is celebrated in the Philippines. I just fixed a special dinner for both of us, baked a pumpkin pie as our dessert and gathered all the round fruits that Ate G reminded me to have for New Year.  Around 7:00PM after our dinner, I went to work and joined my well loved lolos and lolas for their New Year’s Eve Party.  By 9PM I was back home and waited for the ball to fall in NYC and woke up after I heard a few revelers with their phyrotechnics.  I did not bother to go out and see how it was because I know it wasn’t as fancy as it is when it’s the 4^th of July.

ICY ROADS…..

I know it’s the time of the year for icy roads and I should not be complaining at all because it’s expected anyway.  Yesterday, when I went to the library to pick up my reserved borrowed books, my car slid before I was able to park it.  Good thing I was the only one on that side of the parking lot and I really felt grateful that I did not hit anything at all.  I was suppose to go to Victoria’s Secret after picking up my books because they’re now having their Semi-Annual Sale, but after I had that incident of sliding, I chickened out and decided to just go back home and read my books.  Unfortunately, after I turned left on a corner from the library on my way back home, my car slid again and it was so scary because I thought I was going to crash on the post.  I was only driving about 5mph on an icy road (that road hasn’t been sanded at all and the ice was I think 2 or 3 inches thick all over) and I was able to maneuver my steering wheel as hard as I can to my right without using my brakes.  After the car had stopped I felt like I have grains of sweat flowing over my whole body, LOL!  I know it wasn’t funny at all but it was such an experience and papsy reminded me once again never to be driving at all when roads are slick and icy.  Well, I surely did learn my lesson and will never do it again.

Have a great 2008!!!!

The Real Reason For the Season

This video is very timely for this season and I vote for this as the best ever posted in YOU TUBE this 2007.   

The real reason for the season are not the gifts we're giving away or receiving this Christmas.  Christmas has been too commercialized nowadays and some of us tends to forget that JESUS is the real reason why we're celebrating this season.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year all!

"What do you want for Christmas?"

This is what my papsy asked me last night and I quickly replied “a 10 megapixel digital camera, diamond earring and a brand new 2008 Toyota Sienna Limited (of course the latter is very impossible to be grantedL)…”  He immediately butts in, “is it alright if I’ll just buy you an 8.1 megapixel?” And I said, “heck, no! That’s what I want and no compromising, good thing I didn’t ask you a 12 megapixel!”J 

So you think I’m a Queen_Bee_atch?  Of course not, I’m just trying to be upfront and honest. And besides he was asking me, so he got the best answer from meJ.  What made him pop up the question?  Well, I was surfing the net last night and looking at cameras and I think he got the hint that I wanted to replace our historic 3.1 digital camera, LOL!

So have you guys done some of your Christmas shopping?  I am planning on it day after thanksgiving (Black Friday Sale) but I don’t know what I’m gonna get because we’ll be in Roseburg thanksgiving day and some of the stores I’m planning to visit doesn’t have branch there, bogger!  But anyway, I’ll be watching the ads in the paper this coming week and I hope there will be good buys in store for me. 

Got to go for now, have to run for some errands and it’s my de-opJ, so I’m going to scout for something interesting in the stores today.  Happy weekend all!

Illegally Blonde

Our Halloween Party at work was surely a hit and everyone did have fun all day with almost all of the employees as well as the residents wearing their best outfit for the day.  I have been to two Halloween party at work and never did I participate in dressing up because I wasn’t just into it.  This year is quite different because I am part of the management team and we’re kind of required to dress up, so it was really hard for me thinking what I should wear.  I certainly did not like to wear a witch or anything that pertains to evil due to some personal convictions and I also do not like to spend a whole lot of my hard earned money for other stupid costumes.  So I asked one of my co-workers what she thinks will work for me that doesn’t require too much spending and over dressing up, and she suggested “why don’t you be a blonde?  You will definitely look good on it!”   So lo and behold I listened to her suggestion and I certainly became ala Reese Witherspoon’s LEGALLY BLONDE, este, ILLEGALLY BLONDE!  Sure enough I did not spend a whole lot on it; I only bought the wig and wore some make up and office attire, that’s it! 

It surely was a hit and most of them did not recognize me at all when I came to work yesterday morning.  I was really feeling and acting like a blonde and they really had a kick out of it!  It was fun and I got a lot of compliments from everybody and some even suggested that I should change my hair color!  I don’t think I will ever be doing that because I certainly love my original hair color.  But anyway, it surely was a lot of fun.

My Better Half (Because I'm the Worst Half :) )

This tag is simple. If you feel comfortable and your better half does too, you can post a picture of him in your blog (but if not a description will do).

In-in instructed me to do this, so In, here’s what you requested and hope you don’t get bored, LOL!

Okay, my bitterJ half’s name is Lorin aka “papsy” or “papi”.  We met online (where else?) in 2002, met in person in 2003 and finally got hitched in 2004.  Papsy is the kind of guy who takes baby steps (not because of his knee problemJ); I mean all decisions are being thought of and planned really well before he jumps into something.  Yeah, it took him quite a while to decide whether to get hitched or to just stay single all his life.  He told me that he’s really having regrets not meeting me 10 years ago and be as happy and always being fed well as he is right now.  Yeah right! 

Papsy and his 3 other siblings were brought up really well by two amazing parents.  Too bad I wasn’t able to meet my father in law because he died several years ago.  Papsy is the kind of guy who is very spiritual and gentleman (pero medyo bastosJ).  He’s a very good provider but he can be so frugal in a lot of ways.  For him, it’s not important to impress other people with what you have (the fancy things) but instead he has this belief that he would rather have some saved money for the future and for rainy days than to be paying all these expensive things that you can see around.  In short, simple living ang dating, LOL!

Plans 20 to 30 years from now, I cannot say anything about that but hopefully by that time we’re still both alive and kicking and healthy as we can be, LOL!  Kidding aside, we cannot really plan ahead that long but instead carpe diem!

For me it’s really a blessing and I thank God that He has given me the right person in His time and not the timeline that I planned for myself when I was still younger.

I not am tagging anyone because I’m pretty sure that most of the person I have in mind has already been assigned by In-in to do this assignment, LOL!

Tag Again

I got this tag from Lola Tekla and as a good follower, I am doing what she commanded me to do, LOL!

Instructions: Each player starts with 7 random habits/facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

* A - Age – 36/2= 18 nyahaha!!!

* B - Band Listening To Right Now: none

* C - Career: career free

* D - Drink or Smoke: neither of the two

* E - Easiest Friends To Talk To:

* G - Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms: First

* H - Have a Boyfriend: happily married ang lola nyo!

* I - In love: with my papsy

* J - Junk Food You Like: Tortilla chips with bean dip and hot chunky salsa

* K- Kids: Nada

* L - Longest Ride Ever: Manila to OR

* N - Names For Your Future Kids: Dayunyor or Dayunyura? LOL!

* O - One Wish You Have Now: To be a millionaire,LOL!

* P - Phobias: earthquake

* Q - Favorite Quote: "Happiness cannot be travelled to, earned or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experiences of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude”

* R - Reasons To Smile: when I think of something funny

* S - Sleeping Hours: 12MN, 1AM, 2AM….

* T - Time You Woke Up: 7:15AM

* U - Unknown Fact About You: I don’t know

* V - Vegetable You Hate: none

* W -Worst Habit: My being a procrastinator

* X - X-rays You've Had: chest, dental, mammogram

* Y - Yummy Foods: everything that I fix, naks!

* Z - Zodiac Sign: I'm a Capricorn, mwehehehe!!!

Seven things about me: 1. I’m kind of irritating and a pain in the rear end sometimes (LOL!), 2. generous, 3. others tend to misunderstand me sometimes because I don’t talk much (I’m a very quiet person), 4. I love to start a project and never finish it (like my cross stitch, crocheting, etc), 5. A spiritual person 6. Compassionate 7. Loyal person

It's getting so darn cold!

Fall/Autumn officially started last Sunday (Sept. 23) and it’s getting cold over here at the neck of our woods!  Summer and sunny days officially bid farewell and we’re here again for the cold mornings and night time.  It was only today that I recognized the leaves turning orange and in the next month I’m pretty sure that trees all over us will look like they were dead again.  It’s funny because when I first got here (I arrived winter of ‘04) I thought those trees without leaves were really dead and I was even wondering why they kept it standing and why they don’t just cut those trees off since they looked dead to me.  Only to find out in the following spring time and was also kind of surprise to see the leaves growing back again and that they were not actually dead as what I thought J.

While driving down to the fitness center this morning, it was raining like cats and dogs and was tempted to finally turn the heater on because I was chilling inside the car.  Anyway, the whole day today has been cold and we’re expecting some rains and possibly precipitation of snow in the next few days.  Finally took our sweaters and jackets out today because I know for sure that cold days are here to stay from here on.

Time flies so fast.  This coming Monday is October again and I really dread the coming of November and December because that surely will be a busy months for most of us since we’ll be preparing for Thanksgiving (for some of us living here in the US) and Christmas again.  I already did my shopping for our shoe box gifts to Operation Christmas Child. Hubby and I always look forward to it because it has already become a tradition for him to send shoe boxes of gifts to Samaritan’s Purse for needy children in the third world countries (including Philippines).  I enjoy the shopping part and I always make sure that the gifts we are inserting in every box are something that a child can use and not just something that are kind of trashy or junk. 

Hokei, can’t think of anything to write anymore so I won’t keep much of your time again.  Have a great weekend, all!