06 Saturday Sep 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
getting rather used to using Uber…
Friday, I took three, lol…
I appreciate how quick they are… each one today arrived within two minutes of my ordering the ride…
the cars were clean and the drivers were friendly…
I also appreciate that I know the cost from the beginning and don’t feel any stress if traffic is slow or detours needed…
05 Friday Sep 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bendy bus, big girl pants, blessed, dentist, drive, family, memories, moments, morning, Ottawa, small, widow
such small things give me joy;-)…
this morning, on a drive downtown to the dentist’s office, I spotted two different bendy buses;-)…
since I first saw one in Ottawa, while visiting my kids, just seeing one brings me happiness, lol…
great start to the day…
03 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, differences, family, fun, grandson, hamburgers, le burger, moments, online, Technology, treat, widow
went out for le burger week…
started at Kristina’s on Corydon, where we had a Saginaki Lamb burger which we shared…
it was a mix of beef and lamb and was delicious… we ordered fries to go with it and they were also very tasty… the wait staff were efficient and friendly… we even got a piece of cake with our bill…
a lovely atmosphere… hadn’t been there for a long time but will try to get back there again soon…
next, we went to the edge of St. James to Original Joe’s where we shared the Big Pierogski which came with fries…
they brought it on two plates for us, so that was nice…
it was a good burger and we ate every bite, lol… the fries were fine and our server pleasant…
certainly a different vibe, and a bit dark… probably showing my age, 😂… interesting to see the difference between a privately owned restaurant and a chain on the same evening;-)…
we did spend quite some time online, deciding on which burgers we’d like to taste and where we wanted to go…
it was a fun outing and I thoroughly enjoyed it;-)…
28 Thursday Aug 2025
Posted in business, garden, health, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, moments, nature, plants, terrace, The Leaf, walk, water, water feature, widow
this warm sunny morning, as I was walking up to the Leaf, I took a quick walk through the new water terrace which is located just outside the front area, between the Leaf and the Gardens at the Leaf…
I am looking forward to a longer visit next time I am there…
there are no fish, but the frogs have already made it their home;-)…
and look at the size of these pumpkins in the Kitchen Garden;-)…
26 Tuesday Aug 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clean, cut, drawers, dressers, family, fishtanks, fixed, friends, moments, normal, open, paint, plywood, projects, repair, sort, widow
a big project over the last week was fixing the three dresser drawers along the inside wall so that they would open…
a while ago, a pump was leaking from one of the tanks and the water ran down the front of the drawers… the other problem was the weight of the tanks on the dresser…
we started by emptying the water in two tanks and then removing them… after that the three drawers were yanked out, lol…
a 2×6 went under the corner of the dresser to raise it up a bit, and then the edges of the three drawers were cut down a little which means they will open easily in the future…
while the drawers were out, I went through them one-by-one (as well as the three next to them) and made piles for saving, giving away, and garbage… then each of the six drawers was reorganized… that was like a whole different project, lol…
then we got help to pick up a piece of plywood to go on the top of the dressers, it was cut, after which the pieces were painted and put on top of the dressers…
after all that work, the fishtanks were cleaned, and then put back (another project, lol)… in the next few days, they will be filled with water and the pumps started to clean the water before the fish come in…
at last the living and dining room have been returned to normal;-)…
21 Thursday Aug 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blades, blessed, company, family, fans, fixed, help, list, moments, power post, projects, snaking, Technology, thermostat, widow
yesterday was a great day;-)…
my company magically touched the power box beside the pond and got it working…
we need a short extension as the pump in the pond has moved a little further away, and I will be very happy to remove the orange extension cord that has been snaking through the grass, lol…
I’d been hopeful that the photos which have been sent to my electronic frame could be copied before deleting from the frame, but it was clear that isn’t possible…
then, three rooms got new fan/light combinations to replace the thirty-year-old ones that were beginning to break down… my job was to join the blades to the connecting hardware;-)…
the thermostat, which since it was installed two years ago, hasn’t been able to run the fan continuously when the furnace was off was finally fixed, yay…
so happy to remove these items from the project list;-)…
19 Tuesday Aug 2025
Posted in business, garden, life, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Blue Morpho, butterfly, espaliered, magnolia, moments, nature, scent, The Leaf, tickle, widow
such fun today when I was at The Leaf…
in the Mediterranean biome I took a few photos of the stunning magnolia flowers… there are two trees… one is high up and the second is one of the espaliered trees along the windows;-)… sadly, too far away to enjoy the scent…
when I was in the Butterfly Garden a friend decided to visit me and tickled my neck for a few minutes…
great day;-)…
16 Saturday Aug 2025
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, famous, food, friend, garden, macaroni and cheese, moments, reading, treat, weather, widow, world famous
went to the grocery store first thing on Friday… good time to go as it wasn’t busy and I got my shopping done in less than thirty minutes…
once home and everything was put away, I set out the cushions and spent a lovely time reading…
received a call from a friend driving through and invited them for supper… then I spent the next while preparing my world famous, (well family and friends anyway), macaroni and cheese;-)…
once that was done, I went back to my book…
my company arrived, we had a short visit in the garden, ate the delicious mac and cheese, and off they went… all inside an hour;-)…
had a plan to take a photo of the finished pot, but forgot, lol… did remember to take a picture of my plate… packed up the leftovers for another day;-)…
tidied up and enjoyed the garden as I read outside until it got dark…
lovely treat;-)…
08 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in business, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeder, blessed, garden, glass, metal, moments, nature, sliding, squirrel-proof, squirrels, widow
the red squirrels have been able to fit inside the frame that is supposed to protect the squirrels from getting to the seeds…
I wasn’t particularly worried about them sliding into the feeder until I looked at the feeder today, sigh…
they have eaten through the plastic and pretty much destroyed the feeder…
so, the next feeder needs to be only made of metal and glass, because plastic cannot win against squirrel…
06 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, fence, garden, gate, housemate, impact drill, moments, project, sunk, Technology, wheel, widow
our most recent project was fixing the back gate… one end had sunk down and it was dragging on the ground, making it difficult to open and close…
day one, session one, involved removing it from the fence and cutting a portion off the bottom… at the end of the day we put the garbage and recycling bins in the opening so it didn’t feel so open, lol…
session two was removing nails and finding a board to go from corner to corner to help keep the gate from sagging as well as one to go along the bottom… and purchasing screws and a gate wheel…
day two, session one, involved figuring out the angle of the cross board and reattaching all the pieces… and purchasing an impact drill…
we aren’t going to talk about how someone gave away the first one, sigh…
session two involved reattaching the gate to the fence and making sure the wheel was in the correct spot… sounds easier than it actually was, lol…
and job done…
this will make taking out and returning the bins much easier in summer and winter;-)…
herbiggirlpants 