Embroidery of Thoughts

EVERYDAY IS A WINDING ROAD

WHAT'S KEEPING ME AFLOAT THESE DAYS:

1. LONG EVENING WALKS: has been a bonding time for me and hubby after each day's work. It's always great when the sizzling heat cools off in the evenings, perfect for strolls or long walks. We take this time to talk of stuff like plans in life, how our day was. Sometimes, it's just a play time for both of us, to relax and let go our the day's weariness. I think it's a great practice, not only it is healthy, it's therapeutic by clearing the mind and relaxing the body.

2. 30 MINUTE INDOOR EXERCISE: this is what I do when I don't have a lot of time for the day. I would do atleast a 30 minute work out stretching, combination of yoga, aerobics and simply stretching. Sometimes I would do it for less time, but I always feel better if I did it. It always helps when I play an audio book on my computer and play it and listen to it because I would actually work out because I focus on listenning that I don't notice the time, unless of course when I am at a rush.

3. MY BACKYARD GARDEN: Well, this is what I am so into right now. What can I say, it's gardeening season. I have had gardens in the past, and this year I have focused planting more vegetables and herbs. I have green pepper plant that's bearing three small peppers right now. There's a Cayene pepper beside it which is also full with hot peppers. I have some okra with blooms, shallots, green onions, yellow onions, garlic, spinach. I have already harvested some of the baby spinach twice for salads and burgers and sometimes "tinola" with some of the pepper leaves. Water crese - I was surprised when one of my friends came over I showed her the water crese and she is not familiar with it. She is from the Southern part of the Philippines, I guess it could be a reagional thing. I grew up eating water crese, so I thought I would plant some. I just placed some of the ones I bought at the Asian store in a glass of water, I chose the ones with roots already sprouting, it's easier to grow that way. After three days, I planted it in regular pot with potting soil. It is an aquatic plant, so it needs a lot of water and it's suppose to be full sun, but I just placed it in a hanging basket in the shade with some sun and it grew wild. I already harvested the new bud. The thing is, the more you cut them, the more new buds come out. And pineapple plant, I have two big pineapple plants. I just cut them off from the tope of a fresh ripe pineapple that I bought at the Asian store, placed it in a glass of water and waited till the roots came out then plant it in a pot. It's growing nicely now that it's warm. I brought them in during the winter including my citrus plant. I just planted some lemon grass, all I did was buy them at the Asian store, get the healthy looking. I peeled the outer layer soaked them in water for about a week, and the roots were out. Then I planted them in a deep pot since it would grow big and tall like a tall grass. And I have my grape tomatoes on the side with some of the fruits turning red. As for the herbs, I have rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley. The parsley survived the winter in a pot which I left just in our backyard. Now it's seeding and very tall. I also got some caladiums that I lined them up by the edges of our backyard, They are actually coming out now. Aside from them, I have some hanging baskets of Asparagus ferns and pothos. I am actually surprised to see that the christmas cactus bloom in summer. But well, I can't complain. I thought it only blooms in December. So, there I'm pretty proud of my plants.

4. AUDIO BOOK: I just dicovered audio books. I have just finnished "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova, started "Life of Bees" but haven't finnished the entire story. It was just so sad. And right now I am listenning to "Tuesdays with Morrie" I haven't read the story yet. I started with learning Spanish in audio, now I have explored novels and other stuff.

5. RUNNING: Has always been a must, but now, I would do it atleast twice or three times a week as long as I do some other form of work outs. But you know how schedules can be messed up. So, I do it whenever I can. There's no better feeling after a long run and the cleansing effect of sweating.


6. CHATTING WITH FRIENDS: It could make my day just to be able to chat with my friends, sometimes just to pass time, but also I find that it feels so much better to be able to speak to them in person or over the phone as compared to just chatting online. I mean, there's the difference between hearing them laugh compared to just seeing the "lol" or those laughing emoticons. But of course for friends who are that far away online chatting could suffice unless you are willing to spend on long distance or overseas calls.

7. TRIP TO THE ASIAN STORE: Everytime I go to the Asian store I know that most of the things I buy would be for myself. Some of the foods that I cook, hubby eats them of course, but mostly it's for myself. Lately, I have been seeing green mangoes. And yes, I bought some many times now and I mean firm green mangoes. It is hard to find them in the regula grocery stores. It was more expensive than the ripe mangoes though. Hubby actually like green mangoes, not when soaked in spicy vinegar or salt, but he eats it plain.

8. COOKING: I love to cook. When I have a lot of time I always cook at home and avoid going out. I don't know what's with me, but when I am cooking I might be so focused that when hubby doesn't make a sound he startle me everytime. Then he would say " Maybe I should wear dog or cat collar with the bell on it, so you would know when I am approaching." I don't know, I guess my mind just wanders off when I am cooking that I don't notice what's around me. Now, hubby whistles whenever he comes to the kitchen.

9. CUP OF COFFFEE: I was never a cofee drinker until lately. I tell you, it's addictive. I get headaches now whenever I don't drink coffee. It really makes me high sometimes, that I have started to reduce my intake.

10. GRILLING OUT: It is also grilling season, cook outs. I was able to find out a way to marinate foods for kabobs just like they do back home. Well maybe not totally, but I would say 90% to 95%. I found a BBQ marinate, it's one of those Mama Sita's in a bottle. Works for me, I still add stuff to it but I like it.

11. HANGING OUT BY THE BACK PATIO: When the sun is down and our back porch has cooled down, I love to hang out by the rocking chair which was given to me by a friend. She told me she actually used the rocking chair when she had her kids, the kids are big now. Not that big or older, but she told me she used the rocking chair to rock them when they were babies. And I thought yeah, I would like something like that when I get to have my own. I probably have mentioned this before that I love screened porches. Unfortunately, with don't have screens with our porch now. Maybe in the future.

12. OCASSIONAL TRIPS TO THE MALL: I sometimes go to the mall to get away from the blistering sun. I mean, it's cool there, I can hang out, walk around, window shop, people watch, browse at stuff, maybe do some shopping, okey a lot of window shopping. Well, I try not to come out of the mall with truckloads of stuff.

12. THE IDEA THAT AS LONG AS THERE'S LIFE THERE'S HOPE: Like everyone else, I have my bad days and my great days. That's the reality of life, and as long as we live we will live through different flavors of emotions. And realizing that sometimes it's okey to feel bad, that sometimes it's okey to have a bad hair day, that we are not alone that other people may be in worst conditions, we can better live through knowing things can get better.


WHAT'S KEEPING ME COOL THIS SUMMER:



1. SMOOTHIES: It has always been my practice to make smoothies when the weather gets warm or hot like the weather we are heaving right now. I love the combination of fresh fruits. I love it with yogurt. I got a big tub of plain Dannon yogurt and add a few spoonfuls in my blender.

Here's a recipe that I like:
1 ripe banana
4 pieces ripe strawberries
a handfull of blueberries
3 tbs yogurt
4 scoops watermelon
ice cubes, a handful and a half maybe

Just add them all in the blender and enjoy. I don't add sugar, the banana and watermelon sweetens it, make sure they are all ripe since the strawberry can be tart. You can add some liquids like milk or chocolate milk or fruit juices, but the watermelon juice is just fine with me since I don't use a lot of ice. That's it and viola! cool refreshing healthy smoothie.

2. GREEN MANGOES: It's a Pinay thing... I guess. I have read that green mango can be used for salads or pickles as a substitute for papaya.

3. DANGLING EARINGS: Lately I have been into these hanging sparkling earings, not the hoop ones but the beads. Well, they are in fashion right now especially this summer, even with necklace and bracelets. I even have one anklet.

4. FRESH FRUITS: I am into fresh ones, I seldom eat the ones in cans. I think for fruits, fresh is the way to go. I love pineapples, strawberries, watermelon,bananas, cantaloupe, blueberries, honeydew, peaches, apples, pomelo.

5. NATURAL HAIR CARE: Lately, I have been trying to find natural home made recipes for hair care and I came across this mayo treatment for hair:

1 C Olive oil
1 avocado
1 can coconut milk

Peel avocado and blend it with all the ingredients. Apply on hair for 1 hour then rinse. This is a pre-was treatment so after rinsing your hair, shampoo as usual. I Like the result, so try to do it twice a week. Sometimes I just use coconut milk.

Another that I do is just combine equal parts of coconut oil and lemon jiuce. Apply to hair 15 minutes before washing hair.

posted by Unknown @ 8:29 AM