Bella

My husband & I went to Ottawa on Wednesday for a short vacation and, while visiting a friend, we ended up adding a new dog to our family. Our other dog Fluffy likes her very much. The cats aren't as enthusiastic.

Bella is a 7-month old Bassett Hound that needed a new home. Isn't she a pretty girl?

On vacation

See you all next week.

Alkaline foods

I came across an article about Alkaline Foods from a blog that I subscribe to that really piqued my interest. It explained the health benefits of keeping a balanced PH level in the blood by offsetting the ingestion of acidic and alkaline foods.

I've never heard of this before but I thought I would try it and see if I derive any health benefits from it.

In order to display the foods in table form to print for reference ease in the kitchen, I made up a PDF file, which you might like, too. I have made it available for downloading here.

The original article: Alkaline Foods
By: Debra Hallum
URL: http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22177/68745-alkaline-foods

10 random list stumbles

There are so many lists out there on what to do, where to find things, how to do things, etc. Here's my random list of interesting lists. I hope some of them will prove to be interesting and helpful to you, too.

10 Awesome Fantasy Series That Are Not Potter or LoTR

13 Things You Must Balance in Your Life

22 Most Useful Free Applications for Your PC

50 Ways to Help the Planet

16 Prestigious Schools that Offer Free Online Classes

Top 10 Toys You Wish Your Mother Never Threw Away

10 Easy Steps To Advanced Photography Skills

Who Knows What About You? 25 Free Tools to Find Out

100+ Language Learning Websites

8 Ways to Kill Clutter in 5 Minutes

Oye como va

Short and sweet

While stumbling, I came across a perfectly lovely, illustrated story. It is called The Saddest Bear of All by David Guy. It will only take up a minute of your time.

I encourage you to read it and hope that you enjoy it.

My balcony

Apartment Therapy Chicago posted my question on how to decorate my balcony.

I'm overwhelmed by the responses, which you can find at http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/good-questions/good-questions-ideas-for-decorating-the-balcony-077903

Everyone's ideas were brilliant. The exercycle is history and I will lose the storage area behind the tomato plant (wood divider). The idea of the roll-down blind instead of the umbrella is inspired.

You KNOW a bench/love seat will be residing on that deck as soon as it warms up. It's such an obvious choice!

I'm also going to work in as many of the other suggestions as possible. I'm a lousy gardener so I can't vouch on the safety of more plants :)

Picked by slaves

Put down that winter tomato. It was probably picked by slaves!

Gourmet Magazine online has an article online written by Barry Estabrook called Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes that is a must-read.

Keep an eye on where your produce comes from and when it is showing up in the grocery store. I live in Ontario, Canada so, when I see hothouse tomatoes grown that are a product of Canada, I'm pretty sure no slave labour was involved in the harvesting of them.

10 vegetarian stumbles

YIKES! My husband and I made the switch. I don't know what you would officially call us but we've decided we won't eat anything with a face.

A few weeks ago, I received the current National Geographic magazine. There was a picture of a turtle being held by someone and it seemed to me that the turtle was screaming. Underneath was a caption about the probable destination as turtle soup. The initial impact of that photograph was startling. It continued to haunt me for weeks while I kept noticing what I was consuming. I talked to my husband about it and he thought it was a good idea for both of us to discontinue eating meat.

We are experimenting with vegetarian products and recipes. Here are some of the internet resources we have come across while bumbling through our new lifestyle:

Mayo Clinic: Vegetarian Diet - how to get the best nutrition

American Heart Association: Vegetarian Diets

American Dietetic Association: A New Food Guide for North American Vegetarians

Better Health Channel: Vegetarian Eating

Foodbuzz: Vegetarian Recipes - submitted by members

Nibbledish: Vegetarian Recipes - submitted by members

Allrecipes: Vegetarian

GoVeg

Vegetarian Times

Fat-Free Vegan Recipes

Facebook

I think this is hilarious!