At Home With Mom

This weekend was all about my Mama!  Being that it was not only Mother’s Day yesterday, but also her birthday!  Happy Birthday, Mama!

Hilariously I only took a picture of her giant card and the traditional annual hanging basket I brought her.  One year we might actually take pictures of US! 

While I let her sleep in yesterday morning I decided to take Chibi on another stroll around my childhood neighbourhood.  We have already walked around my old high school in the snow and last month we took a wander to the nearby mall so this time I decided to head for some nature and took in the Colliery Dam Park in Nanaimo. 

When I was a kid we used to have to climb over a huge, scary fence and run through a field (we were sure there was a mean bull in there!) to get to the park from my house, but now the field is gone and houses have been built, and along with those houses came a proper pathway right to the entrance of the park.

So much development has gone on in the area that I was not entirely sure what to expect at the park.  I’m happy to report that it’s still just as lush and beautiful as ever!  In fact, I don’t remember it being this nice when I was a kid! 

In high school phys ed we occasionally had to run from the school to this park, through the trails and back down the other side.  We HATED the ‘Dam Run’.  After walking through it yesterday I now realize we had no idea what we were talking about!  It’s gorgeous.

No trip down memory lane is complete without a trek through the school field.  The Dogwood trees are in bloom right now and I’m in love.

Not a bad way to spend a gloriously sunny morning at home!

Rewind: Friday

Friday ended up being a bit of a gong show.  The morning started off as planned…rise and shine nice and early, walk the doggies, coffee with Michael, and settling in for a nice morning of work on my laptop surrounded by the dogs.

Before packing up my stuff for the day I even found time to walk the dogs again and leave Michael a baked treat for his weekend.

Of course I stole two of the cookies for the road.

So glad I stole those cookies because after leaving his house to head up island to my Mom’s I made a wrong decision as far as which route to take and wound up stuck in long weekend traffic for over an hour.  I was starting to worry I was cooking poor Chibi it was sooooo hot in the car…and my AC picked right then to crap out.  Booooooo.

We finally hit the highway and got moving but I still decided to stop at the Malahat viewpoint for some fresh air and to let Chibi do some business.

And then we powered through for the next 1.25 hours to Mom’s house where I demanded immediate sustenance.  Hello Greek yogurt and berries!

Earlier in the week I had asked Mom if we could skip our usual ‘girl’s-night-in Chinese take-out’ and eat a healthy dinner so she stocked up on lemon chicken, new potatoes and salad fixin’s. 

Mama grilled the chicken and boiled the spuds while I compiled the bigass salad full of mixed greens, cukes, tomatoes, green onions & cheddar.

After dinner she surprised me with an ice creamy treat!  The infamous Magnum ice cream bars.  nom nom.

Quite deeeelish but you won’t catch me coughing up my hard earned piddly paycheque for these.  I’m not entirely sure how they decide ice cream prices but sometimes it’s a little crazy.

After dinner we settled in for a cozy night in the living room with a movie and the doggies.  Mom’s new little man Buster is quite a cuddler.  I asked him to teach Chibi a few cuddling skills.

I promptly fell asleep 30 minutes into our movie, so now I’ll never know what happened to poor Jake Gyllenhaal.  Sad.

Last Week

Some healthy.  Some not so much.

Fresh orange in my smoothie?  Don’t mind if I do.

Coconut syrup arrives at Starbucks.  Love.

Aussieland treats.

My wallet doesn’t love these Coconut Mochas, but my tummy does.

Twisted Sifters.  Must test all cupcakes the island has to offer!

Fried Chicken.  The dinner of Mother’s Day champions.  And lazy girls.

Someone get me a salad.

Two Fer One

Ya, I just posted but I have time to actually get back on the right timeline…so you get another blog…for free! 

Tuesday was a bit of a race around so not much got documented. 

Another cute Starbbies mug at Mom’s.  Like Daughter, Like Mother! :)

She also invested in some of my beloved Squirrelly bread and some Crofter’s jam.  It ain’t Supercrack but it was still mighty tasty!

 

For lunch I had my leftover Keg deliciousness…

 

That’s a side plate…just so you know I’m not totally silly!

And then things sort of fell apart from there.  I had a full work day, then packing and racing out the door to be heading back to Victoria at a decent time.  By the time we got into the car we were both starving so made the quick and easy decision to get A&W. 

I shouldn’t beat myself up because it’s really the first fast food I’ve had this whole trip, but my eating has been sooo unhealthy that I do feel bad.  My Teen Burger was deeelish though!

I’m now staying at my friend Nicole’s place as she’s in the Navy and away this week.  So kind of her to offer me her place!  I was happy to cuddle into a real bed with episodes of HIMYM on my laptop and a much enjoyed bowl of Cheetos. 

This morning I had to meet my realtor yet again so I ate my way through a small bowl of granola with skim milk while I got ready…

On the road he and I shared a KitKat and he got me a Diet Coke because we were both thirsty, frazzled and in need of caffeine.  When we finished up I got him to drop me at the mall so I could get a coffee…

And grabbed lunch in the food court to bring back to the apartment.  I opted for Greek because it seemed one of the healthiest options…

What a good deal!  $8 for this HUGE Greek Salad (could use more feta, but lots of yummy fresh veggies!) and a very tasty chicken pita wrap also loaded with veggies and really good tzatziki sauce.

Who knew?  I may have that again tomorrow!

It’s been about 5 hours and I’m now sitting here pretty hungry for dinner.  My options are either tuna on toast, pb on toast, or another trip over to that food court.  The mall is only a block away but anything else is too far to walk from here.

Have I mentioned how glad I am that I’ve at least been doing a fair amount of walking?!  Because in 10 days I’ve only had one workout but eaten the calories of a trainload of people!  I am so totally looking forward to getting home and back to the gym.  I kinda miss my strength training!!