Category Archives: family

cookies…

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on cookies…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

a few days ago I dug out my sugar cookie recipe…

I’d had a conversation with a friend about how great my sugar cookies tasted… I’ve made thousands of them over the years, mainly when the girls were in school… I would produce cookies for their classrooms for each and every holiday that occurred…

she suggested I might like to make some for Valentine‘s Day;-)… and also volunteered to lend me a heart-shaped cookie cutter…

I thought I had one so didn’t take her up on the offer…

on Sunday I decided to make them and discovered that I did not have the appropriate cutter…

I went online, found a few different sized heart templates and made a cardboard heart-shaped template…

then I made the recipe and laughed throughout the whole process because it didn’t seem familiar at all…

it took a while as I used a knife to outline each one, but they came out pretty good…

I’d given away all the food colouring and sprinkles a while ago, thinking I wouldn’t need them…

the cookies look rather plain… but taste delicious…

then I had some fun packaging them up for a few gifts…

and enjoyed some with my kids and BS buddies;-)…

bonbons…

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in family, food, life, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

a few days ago I received my second Advent All Year parcel from my daughter… (here’s the story of the first one)…

in it were a beautiful handmade card; my favourite Raspberry Chocolate bar (including one for my grandson, who also loves it); and a box of bonbons she chose from a recent visit to Soma chocolatemaker… the box had the coolest extra packing paper as she mentioned she would be mailing it…

one thing I’ve learned from her is that great bonbons need to be eaten quickly before they expire… particularly when they are made with only fresh ingredients…

so, every morning I’ve been choosing one and eating it before I have my breakfast…

such a delicious way to start the day when my taste buds aren’t muddied with other flavours…

I am blessed;-)…

plans…

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in family, life, loss, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

had some plans to head out to get some things done this morning…

but, it was really cold and none of them had to happen, so I decided to stay home…

got dressed, first time in a few days… did some work on the computer and read some of my current book…

also wound the clock which hasn’t been going for a few days…

nice to hear the ringing… reminds me of my mom and dad… this clock came from their apartment…

aquarium…

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in family, life, moments, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on aquarium…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

had the best time watching the videos we took when we were in Maui…

gave the card, from the GoPro we rented, to my daughter when we came home and just got my copy when I was in Ottawa…

spent quite some time trying to get photos from the videos and eventually found the option to save a single frame as a picture;-)… that was entertaining…

the smile on my face says it all… snorkelling was such fun and being in the giant aquarium with the fish and turtles was amazing;-)…

such a lovely reminder of the wonderful time we had in and under the water…

also, there were photos that my daughter took of me on the stand-up paddle board…

need to spend a bit more time working on balance…

such wonderful memories;-)…

composting…

23 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by in business, family, life, technology, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been trying to be a little more caring of the planet…

while in Ottawa I was reminded of their recycling programs…

garbage is only put out every second week and cardboard and other recyclables are collected on the other… composting happens every week…

my daughter has been green for many years and she is an example for me to follow…

she has been composting and using cloth (not paper) towels for years… hers snap together and roll up like regular paper towels…

I am going to stop using paper towels… I’ve watched a few programs recommending ways to accomplish this… going to give it a try…

I’ve gathered some face clothes and dish towels that weren’t being used much… I have the clean ones on top of the microwave, ones I am still using on the counter, and a bin for the ones ready to be laundered…

already I can see that I am reusing them more even before putting them into the bin…

saje…

19 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on saje…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

actually went outside for the first time in at least a week…

walked to the “A” and met my grandson for breakfast… had a lovely meal and conversation…

from there we headed out to do some errands… bought some rollers at Saje… been trying to get there since I got back from Ottawa… picked up Sleep Well, Peppermint Halo and Pain Relief… I used the first two while I was away and will give the third one a try for some of the pain I’ve been experiencing in my knee…

was able to replace a Google Hub to get the correct colour… it was one of my Christmas gifts… but I did see a Lenovo Smart Display 10″ with Google Assistant… going to look into that a bit more in case it would do more of what I want than the Hub…

Indi finally had a bath and a few groceries were purchased, including a cute new plate…

I have been enjoying using different plates to eat from and I think this one will be a great addition…

home, put away the groceries and my grandson took the car… the plan was that he would come back tomorrow for dinner…

then it was afternoon nap time, lol…

signing…

18 Saturday Jan 2020

Posted by in business, family, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on signing…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

recently I spent an hour with my finance guy signing what felt like a million papers… felt sorry for all the trees we destroyed…

complicated business to start collecting locked in RSP money… of course I didn’t remember to take a pic of the very large pile of papers that were taken away, lol…

these are just a few of the ones that were left for me…

good thing he understands this stuff and can explain it so well…

I will be thanking my beloved every day as the reason I am able to retire is due to his pension which came directly to me on his death…

sauté…

14 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in family, food, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on sauté…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

a few days ago, after doing a lot of research, including a conversation with my Ottawa kids, I went out and picked up a wifi Instant Pot…

I decided to cook a whole frozen chicken… it didn’t go quite as well as hoped, but eventually the chicken was cooked… I boiled some potatoes to go along with it as they had gotten a bit soft and were growing eyes while I was away, lol…

yesterday the wifi connected rather easily… now I can turn it on, off, or give it directions from my phone, lol…

my grandson and I plan to have dinner together on Monday evenings as he will be using my car on Tuesdays for the next while… we’ve decided to try Instant Pot recipes every week…

last night we made chicken thighs with baby potatoes… next time I’d use a bit less liquid, but it was tasty and moist… and we had fun using the sauté option on the Pot;-)…

today I picked up a recipe book as it didn’t come with one… eventually we should be able to find recipes online but this Instant Pot Bible is going to be helpful as we learn more…

looking forward to some fun dinners…

insta…

12 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on insta…

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I’ve seen lots of ads for the Instant Pot, but felt that I didn’t need another appliance in the kitchen…

and now that I’m retired I have all day to prepare food…

but… my daughter showed me hers and told me all the things it can do which made me think about it more seriously…

apparently, it could replace my egg cooker (which is currently not working), be a rice cooker (which I’ve wanted), act as a crockpot (which I have, in purple), act as a steamer, sauté things, keep things warm, and even be a sterilizer…

we made salmon (from frozen) and smashed potatoes with spinach in about half an hour… and it was delicious…

we also made white and wild rice with chicken thighs (again from frozen) in about 45 minutes from start of prep to eating…

and mushroom soup, and risotto…

think I just might have to buy one now that I am home…