Avocado Accolades and Stalkers

As I was typing my last entry, from the corner of my eye I detected someone depositing something in the mailbox.  What could it have been you might ask?  Why, it was my Love Actually screenplay!!!

A fine treasure indeed!  Maybe I can convince the local high school to use it for their next play!  Not my copy though ... and it goes without saying that certain roles would be best left out (yes, I would be referring to the characters played by Martin Freeman and Joanna Page!)..and Sam is a little young for High School, as is Daisy the 'lobster'!  Hmmm...not such a good idea after all, is it!

Welcome February!

The groundhog is promising an early spring!!  Hooray!  My kids had a day off of school on Friday which wasn't as relaxing as any of us would have hoped.  We are having new hardwood floors put in throughout the house and were busy packing and moving furniture and other belongings to the garage, playroom and office.  At least it got them away from sedentary lifelessness situated in front of the X-Box or Wii!! 

On Saturday we all went to the Winter Market that my friend Jackie alerted me to.  I bought leeks, potatoes, beets and some organic tea leaves.  John and I took a break on Saturday night to see a movie with Carla and Steve.   We saw Silver Linings Playbook - an excellent film!  John laughed at me as the credits were rolling and I commented on how the ending was very reminiscent of the scene at the end of Bridget Jones.  That's the Darcy I fell for - not  Fitzwilliam Darcy of "Pride & Prejudice", but Mark Darcy.  One of the most romantic scenes in film, when Bridget runs desperately after Mark upon discovering he had read diary entries wrought with disparaging comments - she then finds herself standing in the street in her knickers, snow falling, feeling sullen - when, there he is...emerging from the bookstore with a brand new diary!  Fresh diary, fresh start.  And he hands her the diary and envelopes her inside that trench coat of his....Ahhh!  Yes, that is where my infatuation with Colin Firth (Darcy) began - with that one scene!  In Silver Linings Playbook, it's Pat (Bradley Cooper) running in the street after Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), and instead of a diary, he produces a letter professing his love!  I won't mention any more in case you haven't seen the movie yet, but please do see it!

Sunday was Super Bowl.  John went to the pub to watch the game with his buddies and I stayed home to help Kristen work on her school project and finish prepping for the contractors.  We had pork chops and beets for dinner.  For dessert I tried something new - Sweet and Sour Blueberry Parfaits from the "Flat Belly Diet Cookbook".   I prepared this in stages so the kids wouldn't see what was going into it.  There was lime, avocado, ricotta cheese, honey, blueberries and mint.  I knew if they saw the avocado they wouldn't even try it!  Carla and Melissa - I tried avocado and I liked it! (I actually sang that in my head to Katy Perry's "I kissed a girl and I liked it).  Of course it may have helped that it was disguised among other more likeable flavours - mint, lime.  The kids weren't raving about this creation by any means, but they did eat it, and after another 14 tries and they'll come around, right!!!

I would hereby like to dedicate my most recent success to the avocado!  On Monday I went to Curves and was glad to see that I had maintained my weight of 142.25 lbs.  Then I went grocery shopping and tested my blood pressure which was...

Yup!  120/85!!!!  Can you believe it?  I was stunned!  I actually reached the ideal 120!  My diastolic could still be improved but it's in the normal range!  You don't know how elated I was!  I actually kicked up my heels and paraded aisle to aisle with a broad smile plastered on my face!  I can't wait to share the news with my Diabetic Nurse at my next appointment!

I've come to enjoy shopping for groceries and discovering new foods - primarily produce!  I used to detest grocery shopping and would procrastinate until I could send John out to do it.  But now, I relish my routine and find it a pleasureful experience.  One of the new things I discovered this week were these

Fuji apples from China.  There is nothing natural about an apple with a bleached (no, it wasn't a sticker!)Chinese symbol emblazoned on it!  No way was I paying for this!  But it wasn't too long ago that I would have fallen for this otherwise 'healthy' gimmick!
Last night for dinner, I made salmon and some mixed baby potatoes.  There are actually purple potatoes!  Remember the song,

Making a purple stew -whip-whip, whip-whip
Making a purple stew-bee-doo-bee-doo-bee-doo,
With purple potatoes
And purple tomatoes
And even a purple you! 

This week has been crazy with the renovation undertow so my dinner menu had to be revised.  We had French toast for dinner tonight.  I also brought out some sugar snap peas figuring the kids would have fun popping them open and scooping out the peas.  For dessert I gave them what was called "Marvelous Melon" from Costa Rica to reminisce about our trip there a year ago.  I think the melon was just a cantaloupe.

I am still enjoying my Colin Firth biography.   You know, Colin is more than a pretty face - from what I've read thus far, he seems a kind-hearted and genuinely passionate and ethical man.  When filming "What a Girl Wants" (Lane, I still have to see this one!) he had a stalker following him everywhere.  When Colin spotted the lady in her little red suit, he would say, "My stalker's here" and go over and say hello.  Oh how I admire that Lady in Red!!!

I am a known arachnophobe!  Colin had to act alongside some eight-leggers while filming "Trauma" and "Nanny McPhee", and at one point stated, "I'll take the ants and the spiders over the stalkers!".   Oh, how my heart broke over this news!!

Now I must erase images of creepy crawlies from my thoughts and replace them with visions of Mark Darcy to induce a gratifying slumber!  Sweet Dreams!