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Sarcastic Siri

26 Mar

I must say it’s fun to play with Siri. Silly mundane tasks to set the alarm, check the headlines or deep thought provoking questions about life which she cannot help me.

Siri can be downright sarcastic too at times. After asking Siri to set my alarm one night, I politely said “goodnight”, and she had to remind me of the time, implying it’s way too early to go to bed. Ish… Ish…

Not wanting to give her the satisfaction, I asked some other questions which I was certain she could not answer. But Siri, being Siri questioned me instead. The exchanges were priceless I must say.

All in good fun and very entertaining.

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Rescuing My Caterpillar

25 Mar

Of late, caterpillars have become very fascinating to me. It’s so fun checking on them every morning and evening, and taking pictures of them. Honestly, I like it when all the leaves on the Calamansi Lime tree gets gnawed on and even hubby doesn’t mind this.

Munch Pot 5.0 before it evolved

Munch Pot 3.1 doing a vertical stand

3.1 up close

The munch pots are growing and happy. Munch Pot 3.1 have grown beautifully and even 5.0 have evolved. So now, it’s 5.1.

What a cutie 3.1

5.1 on Friday night, having evolved

But on Saturday morning, a slight mishap occurred and we couldn’t find 3.1. Oh no, it’s gone! Lunch for the birds? I couldn’t accept this so we looked and looked. And lo and behold, it actually fell off the tree onto the ground. Oh dear…

Poor 3.1. I wonder if it’s traumatized?

5.1 looking good

Looking disheveled but hopefully not traumatized, hubby picked it up with a bamboo stick to place it back on the branches. I thought our little deed was whimsical, rescuing a caterpillar that some people consider a pest. I hope 3.1 will be okay and evolve to its next stage. It was still okay on Saturday afternoon when I checked on it again.

Unfortunately after that, the last two days as we stood in front of the Calamansi Lime tree to scrutinize every branch looking for it, we cannot find Munch Pot 3.1. Sniffle…

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On Track, Part 3

22 Mar

It’s Friday and the weigh-in day to gauge my progress. It’s Week Four of the weight loss challenge and I am thrilled to say, being on track and staying disciplined is actually quite a fun and uplifting thing to do when you see the results!

I thought I wouldn’t fare too good this week because mid-week, I met up with friends at the bar for dinner and drinks. Two drinks to be exact, a glass of white wine and half a pint of Kronenbourg 1664 beer. I even snacked in the office this whole week, and had one Kisses chocolate yesterday without guilt though.

I do notice it doesn’t matter what I ate, just as long as I don’t go overboard, but when I ate that was critical. This is the essence of the 16/8 diet after all. The next day after that bar visit, I maintained the 16 hours window with a later lunch than usual. And this morning, standing on the bathroom scale, it’s a number to be proud of. Officially, from 25 February until today, I have lost 4.1lbs! Woo hoo…

I am now 1.6lbs away from my set goal weight. Although it’s not 15lbs that I had mentioned that got me started on this challenge, losing 4.1lbs in total is quite an achievement by itself within a month. So proud of myself. Of course, if I stuck to the three months time frame, and knowing now this works, 15lbs is not impossible.

But perhaps once I do get to shedding the balance (1.6lbs), I will take a break and decide later if I want to embark on the second phase to lose more weight because I like how I feel now. We shall see.

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Munch Pots, Part 2

21 Mar
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Munch Pot 3.0 in the morning

Munch Pot 3.0 has evolved and is now 3.1! What a beauty I must say. Within a day, in the morning, it was still its old self; then that evening when I got home and checked on it, it has morphed into a glorious green caterpillar. And to my delight, we found another caterpillar on the same tree, 5.0.

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Munch Pot 3.1 in the evening

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Eat ’em and poop

But sadly, I cannot locate Munch Pot 4.0 on the other tree.

Now 3.1 and 5.0 have grown very fast, being munch pots that they are. And when they eat so much, they poop just as much too, as evidenced by this morning’s photographs.

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Munch Pot 5.0

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March Madness All Over Again

19 Mar

March is the month for sports that I enjoy. There’s the golf Iron Challenge at my club at the end of the month which I am preparing for and then, there’s the college basketball NCAA Tournament which has started after the regular season ended.

This is the fourth year I am following the March Madness schedule and putting my two cents worth to predict the winners for both the men and women’s games in the draw.

M1’s university has made it to the NCAA Women’s Division 1 bracket again. For the third consecutive year, six Pac-12 teams made it. And of course, I will be rooting for her school. The first round games start this Saturday.

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Munch Pots

18 Mar

This caterpillar business is so hard to keep track! Last Friday, Munch Pot 2.1 could not be found at its usual spot on the branch of the Calamansi Lime tree. I suspect the final same fate as Munch Pot 1.0 has befallen 2.1. We couldn’t find any cocoon on the tree.

Either a bird came down and had it for lunch or it could have fallen off the branch because the pelting rain was too strong for it to hold on tight. I am disappointed. Munch Pot 2.1 is no more. Sigh…

But while we were searching for it, we found a new baby. Munch Pot 3.0 I guess. The tiny hairy fella measured at only 1cm and have grown since then. It’s funny, people take care of plants and here I am ‘taking’ care of caterpillars. On top of 3.0, I found another one, 4.0 at another Calamansi tree. This one’s a wee bit bigger.

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Meet Munch Pot 3.0

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Munch Pot 3.0 have grown since the first sighting

 

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Munch Pot 4.0

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Up close and personal with Munch Pot 4.0 the munching machine

Let’s hope both 3.0 and 4.0 live longer than the others.

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On Track, Part 2

15 Mar

I thought I was going with one ten-pounder at gym on Monday but instead my trainer pushed me to use both the ten pound weights for most of the routines. Dang. That night I thought I would suffer and would continue to suffer for the next two days like always. Amazingly, this did not happen.

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The upper body did not ache to high heaven at all. I held up okay but it did take some effort to walk up six flights of stairs the next day at work when the elevator was not working. I could feel the acidic burn on the thighs and butt. Double dang.

But it’s all for a good cause. After all, no pain no gain, right? There’s a good feeling because it was an achievement, being able to handle both the manly weights.

Only certain routines I went back to my four pound weights and they felt so puny and light. Peanuts… hahaha.

Oh… and my weight? As of today, it’s 0.4lbs up from last Friday’s weigh-in and I suspect this slight increment is due to the three orange cookies I ate after dinner during the window to eat. They were calling out to me and I couldn’t resist. It’s okay, a little indulgence won’t derail me, I am still on track.

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Munch Pot 2.0

12 Mar

Our garden is just a wonderful place for the creatures that come visiting. Birds, treating our place as their private kitchen, come daily to feast on the bird seeds put out for them. There’s also squirrels that bound through the hedges happily like their little playground. One of the squirrel, a rascal, will eat official pet number one’s leftover dog food or boldly come into the house and help itself to bananas (if we have this) on the kitchen counter.

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The garden thrives because hubby has the green fingers, not me. I hardly venture out because I stay indoors in my little area to do my carving. Even if I do go out, it’s more at the terrace to do mostly sawing, hammering, cutting or drilling, never beyond the tiled boundary for gardening. So it was a bit of a surprise when I discovered the habanero plant has grown as tall as me! And the chillis are plentiful. I have shared so much of our harvest with friends and family.

The thriving garden also had us discovering a new caterpillar! This time on the Calamansi Lime tree at the side. I wouldn’t have known if hubby didn’t tell me. You could say it’s Munch Pot 2.0.

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This time I decided to take its measurement with a ruler to keep track of its growth. As of now, it’s 2cm long. I hope this little fella will grow well and won’t disappear mysteriously like Munch Pot who used to be at the Calamansi Lime tree in front of the house.

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On Track

11 Mar

It’s been two weeks on count if I consider 25th February as the official start date of my challenge to shed some pounds. There were temptations and distractions along the way but I stayed focus.

But in order to achieve my goal, I adopted the 16/8 Intermittent Fasting, an interesting and easy diet to follow. I don’t have to eat certain food or avoid my favorites to achieve what I want to achieve.

It basically involves an 8-hours window to eat and fast the remaining 16-hours. The hours one sleep are considered as part of the 16-hours. Not that tough to follow, isn’t it? And there are tons of explanation on this out there on the internet.

So the whole of last week, I brought salad lunches to work and kept to the 16/8 formula and I could see the difference visually – on the tummy and waistline.

For comparison – on Week One, with all those dinner occasions in a row, my weight fluctuated but did not increase because I was mindful. By the end of Week Two, despite a missed gym session, I lost 2.6lbs because of the 16/8. It was very encouraging.

Over the weekend however, I did not follow the 16/8 as I don’t want to be such a stickler with a regimented routine.

During the two days – I had lunch with the family (on Saturday) and a game of golf (on Sunday) followed by the usual after game meal plus some whiskey. This resulted in a slight increase in weight by Monday morning. But I’m not worried because if I stay disciplined, I am on track to achieve my goal.

Tonight at gym, I will continue my weight routine with the ten pounder.

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A Hiccup on the Challenge

8 Mar

It’s unfortunate that my challenge mission was interrupted on Monday. A minor hiccup because work was on a tight deadline. And as much as I wanted to do gym to rid myself more of the guilt than anything else, we couldn’t finish the artwork and get home on time. Oh well…

But I don’t feel so bad because this whole week, I made super healthy lunches for the both of us. Lots of greens, bell pepper, baby tomatoes and chick peas (and tuna was added for two days subsequently). The salad lunch was oil-free, fibre-loaded and enough to fuel us until dinner time.

It may be only a few days but I do feel better and not so heavy. I am sure if I keep at this for another week or so, coupled with gym and golf, I will shed (the pounds) effortlessly. A positive sign and on track on my challenge to lose the extra weight piled on me by the bathroom scale.

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