A chuckle to brighten your day

There were two buddies, one with a Doberman Pinscher and the other with a Chihuahua. The guy with the Doberman Pinscher says to his friend, "Let's go over to that restaurant and get something to eat."

The guy with the Chihuahua says, "We can't go in there. We've got dogs with us."

The buddy with the Doberman Pinscher says, "Just follow my lead."

They walk over to the restaurant, the guy with the Doberman Pinscher puts on a pair of dark glasses and he starts to walk in. The bouncer at the door says, "Sorry, Mac, no pets allowed."

The man with the Doberman Pinscher says, "You don't understand. This is my seeing-eye-dog."

The bouncer says, "A Doberman Pinscher?"

He answers, "Yes, they're using them now; they're very good and protect me from robbers, too."

The man at the door says, "Come on in."

The buddy with the Chihuahua figures, "What the heck," so he puts on a pair of dark glasses and starts to walk in.

Once again the bouncer says, "Sorry, pal, no pets allowed."

The guy with the Chihuahua says, "You don't understand. This is my seeing-eye dog."

The bouncer at the door says, "A Chihuahua?"

The man with the Chihuahua says, "A Chihuahua?????? They gave me a Chihuahua?!"

Not much going on right now

I know, I know, I am tardy in my blogging, but when a person hasn't been anywhere, or done anything exciting, there really isn't much to say.
I could rant about having to have repairs done to my car, and whine about how I really do need a new one, and how much I would love to take a trip back to my homeland, and how now would be the time to win the lotto so I could afford a new car, a trip or two, and could retire, but I won't rant right now *grin*
Mr C has a saying " I guess we just have to be good lookin' instead of rich" hmmmm! I think I would like to try rich for a while. At least the sun is making an effort to shine today, brightening up the day, and my grumpy mood.
Yesterday I checked out the movie section at the small local library, and discovered DVD's of BBC Masterpiece theatre, I rented one and started watching it last night. Being born and raised in New Zealand, I am familiar with BBC productions on the telly (TV) and this particular DVD brought back all the memories of series I used to watch many years ago. I hadn't realized how much I miss the British shows, so I intend on making another trip to the library to see how many more of these types of DVD's they have for my entertainment.

Roast vegetables

About 1-1/2 cups each of yellow squash, onion, carrot, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, all thinly sliced or broken into small florets, tossed into a plastic baggie with Mrs Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning, garlic powder, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Toss all around in the baggie until well coated then pour onto a foil lined baking dish and bake.

I use my small counter top convection oven, and cook the veggies at 400 F until they are just tender crisp, as I will reheat them in the microwave later on. There are less than 100 calories per one cup serving of these very tasty vegetables.

We are ready for Spring

Here in western WA we have had some nasty weather. Yesterday they were forecasting for lots of snow starting around 4 to 5pm, well it didn't hit in some places until about two hours later. I changed my hours of work so I could drive home at 5pm with the idea that I can see the snowy roads better in daylight. Well, I was lucky to be able to get home on bare roads, get settled in and wait to see when the snow will arrive.
I went to bed around 9 pm, and still no snow, I got up at 11pm and looked out the window to a beautiful sight of a yard blanketed in soft fluffy snow.
Sometime early this morning, it started to rain and some of the now melted, the rain stopped and the wind came up so there is still quite a lot of snow around our place to melt away. I know that by the time I drive the main highway later this afternoon, the roads will be clear of this mess. Across the pond, in the Seattle area, they are having to drive very slushy freeway, and icy, slushy side roads. We will all be thankful when Winter leaves us, and spring arrives on our doorstep.

JANE SEABROOK is an illustrator and designer who lives in Auckland , New Zealand . In recent years, her artwork has focused on paintings of wildlife for the Fury Logic series of books. She shares her life with her husband, two teenage children, and a growing menagerie of assorted animals.

My kind of Saturday afternoon

I spent the morning doing my chores, then this afternoon I brought firewood inside and lit the fire.
Mr C was away for the afternoon so I decided to spend the hours in front of the crackling fire reading. I made a pot of my favorite tea placed it on a tray and took it into the living room to sip on while reading. What a perfectly wonderful way to spend one's day when it is too cold and wet outdoors to do anything.

Salad for dinner

Now that I am counting calories, I have decided to eat 'light' for my evening meals. This salad consists of black rice, avocado, apple, tomato, green onion, and Annie's fat free mango dressing. I also grind plenty of black pepper into the salad.
As I am a sweet tooth, I need dessert, so I satisfy my cravings with a Dreyer's frozen fruit bar.
All this for 341 calories

Enough already!

My goodness, I don't know what came over me! Early last year I did a good job of tracking my daily calories via My Fitness Pal and managed to drop some pounds, then I just stopped making the effort and paid for it by gaining the weight back.
Of course it didn't help that I had three falls this last year, and was, and still am, in pain quite often. Today I go in for ex rays to see if we can track down the source of my discomfort.
January the 3rd I decided I have had enough of feeling sorry for myself, being depressed about my weight gain, and eating more to console myself, and went back to tracking my calories, and what a difference in my attitude. I think it all comes down to being accountable, as I record my progress on Fitness Pal for all to see, and who wants to fail, when people are watching *grin*
I really like My Fitness Pal as it is free and there is a great community of support. If you are interested in losing a few or many pounds, stop by My Fitness Pal and check out their site.

First sunset of 2011

What a beautiful way to end the first day of 2011