31 Wednesday Dec 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, cotton, crochet, crocheted, dishcloth, moments, purple, Technology, try, widow
the other day I ordered some cotton and a new crochet hook…
it arrived yesterday…
I am going to try to make some dishcloths as soon as I remember how to make a square, lol…
30 Tuesday Dec 2025
Posted in garden, health, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
today, I finished my hundredth book of 2025…
I am very happy… I would have done better except for one book which I didn’t like, so kept on putting reading off, lol… but I did finish it…
so many of the books were enjoyed in the garden over the spring, summer, and fall;-)…
I need to work on putting a book aside, without finishing it, if I don’t like it, lol…
29 Monday Dec 2025
Posted in life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, door, door handle, family, fixed, grandson, housemate, loosening, moments, oven, widow
went to finish the chicken soup, and noticed the oven was on, so I tried to open the door and the handle came right off…
it had been loosening before and I would just tighten it…
my housemate and I couldn’t put the handle back on because the oven was hot… we left it to cool and then tried again…
when we went to open it, the inside sort of separated… I was hoping this allowed us to get to the window that we could clean…
unfortunately, it was not the one, although we did clean this portion…
next he went out and bought some loctite to make sure the handle stayed on… we weren’t able to get to the really messed up window, but the important thing was to get the handle back on the door, which was being held closed by the stepstool…
now it is fixed… we will see if it comes loose again…
28 Sunday Dec 2025
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
appetizers, big girl pants, blessed, busy, Christmas, family, food, grandson, mid-day, moments, shrimp, weather, widow
my grandson usually arrives here on Christmas day around noon…
our current tradition is to have appetizers for our mid-day meal as he may have already had breakfast and will be heading out for dinner a bit later in the day…
we had wandered the aisles at the grocery store picking up things that looked fun…
we had shrimp dumplings, fancy cheese fries, tempura shrimp, wontons, veggies and dip, sausage rolls, and a shrimp ring… lots of shrimp on that list, lol…
this year we did stockings for each other, which was great… it has been many years since I had a stocking…
it was filled with a great many treats…
then the second round of presents were opened, and I was royally spoiled;-)…
although he only had a few gifts he was very pleased with them…
we sat around and visited before he had to leave for his next engagement, lol…
I truly am blessed to have this thoughtful young man in my life;-)…
27 Saturday Dec 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
adventure buddy, big girl pants, blessed, driver, Elf - The Musical, mesmerized, moments, MTC, volunteered, widow
this week my adventure buddy and I volunteered at MTC a couple of times… both shows were sold out…
it was the first time either of us had done this and we enjoyed the experience… there are around 20 volunteers at each performance and you have the opportunity to choose which of the spots you would like to work at…
there were people from every age and even the littlest kids were mesmerized;-)…
we saw the show from both sides and were pleased because it was so different depending on the side, and who was in front of us, lol…
we were especially lucky to have our own personal driver for both shows…
kind of look like twins;-)…
26 Friday Dec 2025
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas morning, dripped, moments, strawberries, waffles, whipping cream, widow
on Wednesday I made waffles to have on Christmas morning…
of course a few were too filled and the batter dripped out around the edges, lol…
most went into the freezer, but two stayed out for the morning…
fresh strawberries were sliced into a jar and a teaspoon of sugar went in as well…
in the morning, the cream was whipped with the immersion blender and one waffle went onto a baking tray to warm in the oven…
then, everything was combined for a delicious breakfast;-)…
25 Thursday Dec 2025
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, Christmas Eve, face-to-face, family, memories, moments, Technology, treat, video, widow
all the jobs were done and the living room set up for our morning video call when I went to bed at 11 pm on Christmas Eve…
put my head down thinking I might nap for an hour and then have a Christmas hot tub around midnight…
woke up at 5:15, yikes… apparently no hot tub for me…
laid back down, didn’t really sleep, and got up at 6:30, lol…
made tea and texted a video of me banging pots and slamming doors, (possibly like I used to do when the families would be here overnight, so they would get up), to the kids in Ottawa…
we met and had a lovely time opening gifts and enjoying all of the loot…
what a gift to be able to meet with them face-to-face…
such a lovely Christmas morning;-)…
24 Wednesday Dec 2025
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
baton, big girl pants, blessed, cookbook, family, famous, moments, spinach dip, Technology, widow
had a bit of a giggle this morning when I went to make my ‘famous’ spinach dip…
I haven’t made it in ages and decided to check the recipe to be sure I remembered it correctly… took me ages to find where that particularly recipe was located… NOT in the recipe book I’d prepared a few years ago…
eventually I remembered that it was in the Baton cookbook that I’d help prepare when the girls were maybe ten and twelve🤪…
hadn’t forgotten anything and it turned out great 😊…
looking at that cookbook now reminds me how much things have changed in thirty years… at the time it was very well done… now I think it looks rather dreadful… although the recipes are excellent, lol…
23 Tuesday Dec 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, concrete, family, moments, nature, plows, shovelling, weather, widow, windrow
as my housemate was leaving the driveway on Sunday, the plows came down the street so he wasn’t able to leave…
he was quick to get a shovel to start shovelling through the windrow… he headed to the sidewalk and they saw him and did a bit of extra snow moving so he didn’t have nearly as much as imagined…
the plow drivers were amazing in how they move the snow… by the time they were done, there was just a small windrow to be moved before he could leave…
so happy he was here because you have to move it immediately before it turns to concrete and then I would have gone out to move it;-(…
after he left they came down the other side of the street… the first plow moved the snow up over the curb and the second one went exactly along the edge of the curb to clear it up…
they have great control over their equipment…
22 Monday Dec 2025
Posted in family, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, Blizzards, grandson, moments, nature, neighbour, snow, snowblower, weather, widow, wind, winter
we’ve had our first blizzards of the season… they sort of happened over two days…
Thursday, a good amount of snow fell and then the winds came… later the snow stopped and returned the next day with more wind…
I had to cancel two outings, so was able to stay home and watch through the living room window…
on day three my housemate spent over an hour shovelling the sidewalks and driveway… there was a lot of snow🤪…
thankfully, a neighbour a few houses to the north came with his snowblower and dealt with the area closest to the garage which saved another hour of shovelling…
the back door had about a foot of snow covering it and the deck… now it is all clear…
we will see how long that lasts;-)…
herbiggirlpants 