Category Archives: health

Shadow…

05 Saturday Dec 2015

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woke up very early and was able to enjoy the sunrise… 

  
caught this out the upstairs window…

took this picture of the car as I was heading out this afternoon…

  
you can see the sun shining on the hood… there is very little snow on the ground and it was plus 4 as I drove away…

then I headed to Birchwood Toyota… signed lots of papers… sorry trees…

  
took a walk in the amazing warm weather… what a treat we have been enjoying…

got a new licence plate…

  
and drove away in my new Corolla…

  
her name is Shadow… she is blue crush metallic in colour and if she is in the shade, she looks kind of purple…

got a call just over a week ago from my car dealer wanting my vehicle… ended up with the 2016 model at thirty dollars less a month… pretty good deal…

after picking her up I ran a few errands and started getting used to her… heating system is a bit fancier and the big splurge was a car starter… not really sure I need that as the car is usually in the garage, but when I’m out it will be nice to start warming up before I get in…

felt a bit sad to leave the old car behind, as I’d only had it for two years, and it was the first car I got on my own…

as I was driving home I thought back to the first new car I drove off the lot…

it was forty-eight years ago and I drove a beautiful Chevelle home that day… I had bought it together with my dad… can remember the fear that I would drive into something or another car would drive into me… didn’t want to get the first scratch on it…

drove that car for over eleven great years…

another big girl pants kind of day… but it was more excitement than anything else today:-)…

FaceTime…

04 Friday Dec 2015

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very happy the day is nearly over… been a long one…

this morning the sky was quite lovely… got a few pictures as we were driving to the office… also enjoyed the sun streaming through the windows throughout the day…

 
had supper with all the kids… technology is an amazing thing… we FaceTimed over burgers… we had A&W and they had Burger King… besides a teenburger, I had a few onion rings and two of their apple pies…

  
have had this picture on my phone for quite a while but hadn’t found the right time to use it… today seems like the right time… George loved to bring me orchids all the time and so when I see them I always think of him…

  
this has been blooming for weeks…

haven’t been able to talk about him all day… not even over dinner… our usual pattern is to share some grandpa stories during our meal, but I just couldn’t do it…

  

traditions…

03 Thursday Dec 2015

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drinking a cup of tea and thinking about our family traditions over the years… I like to celebrate everything I can, lol… holidays, birthdays, special events in our lives… usually with a family dinner…

  
one tradition has been around birthdays… on your birthday you get to choose what to have for dinner, and the family gathers to celebrate… on the day and always with gifts of course… 

used to involve making the favourite food – roast chicken, mashed potatoes and stuffing; homemade macaroni and cheese; all the way to steak and lobster…  but over the years we have also brought in favourites, or even gone out for dinner… 

  
tomorrow marks the fourth birthday celebration for George since he died…

the tradition for his birthday now involves burgers from a local joint topped off with milkshakes and apple pie… all of which were his favourite foods… the kids who aren’t here join us by skype or FaceTime and we share memories over dinner…

you’d think after nearly four years that it would be easier, but I have felt myself moving into a sad place over the last few days… I make sure to focus on the good times as much as I can, but I still miss him so much and have moments of deep sadness… I embrace them as well as the good ones…

tonight both of my girls have checked in to see what our plan is and to let me know, in their own way, that they know it is hard for me… and I know it is hard for them…

  

feet…

02 Wednesday Dec 2015

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stopped in at the grocery store on my way home…

really just wanted to get home and have a nap, but I was out of fresh veggies so took the time to pick some up… 

once home I put some chicken and squash in the oven and cooked some asparagus…

 

dinner was yummy and I ended it with a single piece of Lindt White Chocolate with Coconut flakes… can’t get that bar very often…

on Monday I went looking for new boots as the ones I’ve been wearing have been hurting my feet… got boots and a new pair of my favourite ECCO sandals as well…

   

happy because they were all still on sale…

the boots look good and are very comfortable… particularly like the fact that they have two zippers which make them easy to get in and out of…

I wear the sandals all through the winter because they are so comfortable… before I found this brand my feet hurt all the time… now they are happy…

herbiggirlpants…

01 Tuesday Dec 2015

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today marks 3 years since I started herbiggirlpants… 

as I was sitting out in the hot tub tonight, gazing at the stars, I was feeling a bit sorry for myself… happy that I have kept up blogging on a regular basis, but feeling that I haven’t done as much to help others who are going through the loss of a loved one…

also missing my beloved…

the Advent fairy came this morning with a box full of boxes… spent a few minutes before leaving the house lining them up on the counter…

  
I love presents, which might be why I enjoy Advent so much, lol… day 1 was a lovely purple ball for the tree… which I haven’t put up yet… have plans with a friend to decorate this weekend… excited to see what suggestions she has to change things up…


this is a picture of what the missing magnetic covers looked like… I was able to download it from Facebook this morning…

thinking of so many who I know who are struggling with health issues these days… 

Advent…

30 Monday Nov 2015

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tomorrow is the beginning of Advent…

yesterday I sent home Advent calendars for everyone… there was a Starbucks one for my daughter… Kinder Surprise ones for the little boys… a Lindt one for the oldest grandson, and a box of Russian Mints for my son-in-law…

  
usually they have to share so the little boys were very pleased…

I arranged for a friend of my daughter in Ottawa to pick up a fancy Lindt calendar for her…

  
and we also got a Star Wars one for my son-in-law there…

great fun to arrange the surprise for her because she sends calendars to a number of people every year… she has been sending them to me since she moved away… I’m still looking for the magnetic covers that go on top of muffin tins that she sent four or five years ago… I put them away very carefully, sigh…

this year the little boys got a parcel in the mail from her so they will have chocolate and another treat each day…

  
on Saturday the youngest helped fill up the drawers in my reindeer calendar with chocolate raisins… this year I won’t be having any of these, so when they come over on the weekends they will share all of the days that have passed… one in particular is very large, so they are already anticipating opening up that one, lol…

last year I got a lovely collection of different sized boxes, which I managed to save and remember where they were… they were picked up on Saturday and I am hoping that the Advent fairy comes by tonight with the collection of filled boxes…

a friend recently asked how I was managing my new food regime… and wondering what I was missing most… as I thought about it I realized that I’m not really missing anything… I still have chocolate, just much less often, and in smaller amounts… I eat everything, but try to plan the not-so-good items a bit farther apart than previously and in smaller quantities… the biggest change I have made is to plan my meals out the day before… this helps me keep on track and I don’t get surprised with a meal arriving and I haven’t got any idea, so make poor choices… and finally I eat lots of vegetables at every meal… most days it works great… now and then, not so much…

I don’t want to take drugs for diabetes if I can possibly manage it, so that really encourages me to eat well and get on that treadmill or take a walk every day…

tacos…

29 Sunday Nov 2015

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boys slept in until eight this morning… then happily watched cartoons on tv until their mom arrived about 8:30…

we went out for breakfast… second day in a row for me, lol… today it was Perkins for eggs Benedict… the 55 plus portion for me, which is just the right amount…

more shopping and found these adorable battery powered salt and pepper mills… had to bring them home… they are so cute…

  
now I have to figure out where to put them because they are too tall to fit in the cabinet where the old ones were, lol… but I can get rid of the older ones…

for our supper tonight we had tacos… only the little boys and their daddy came, but everyone loved them and had at least three each…

  
I used a ground vegan product instead of meat… very tasty and easier than cooking hamburger… no one even noticed the difference… we also had some refried beans, which we adults enjoyed… the boys don’t like beans of any kind…

I love feeding them tacos because they always eat well and there aren’t any complaints… there is lots of lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, avocado and sour cream to go with the soft and hard tacos that they like…

tonight they had milk with their supper… I usually offer juice boxes because I don’t think of drinking milk as I really dislike it, but they think of it as a treat, ugh…

another of their favourites is Subway sandwiches… they would choose that over burgers nearly any day… 

wonderful that they enjoy healthy foods…

project…

28 Saturday Nov 2015

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out for breakfast and did a bit of shopping with my daughter…

had a nap and watched some figure skating and skiing on tv…

ordered supper in with the kids and saw the Snowbirds out the front window… they were here as part of the Grey Cup celebration I think…

  
watched my grandson find all the purple rocks in the coffee table… “there are a lot Grandma”…

  
he told me all about the birthday party he had been at this afternoon where they got to hold frogs and lizards and snakes… got the bed ready and our project done…

  
hardest part was getting the cardboard off the chocolate covered raisin container…

we worked very well together and had fun counting and talking about nice things we could do for others during Advent…

  
project complete and one of us is in bed watching tv… 

not me this time as I am waiting for his brother to arrive from a different birthday party… 

frost…

27 Friday Nov 2015

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last night I was quite excited to look out and see that the solar powered lights glowing…

  
that means the sun had been shining during the day…

  
really enjoying the sunlight as much as possible… today I was commenting on the sunlight streaming through the office windows…

was very pleased tonight when I arrived home and looked at the garage windows… had to get out my phone to take a few pictures…

  
a few years ago I was at a friend’s house and got some amazing shots of hoarfrost on her garage windows… so these pictures reminded me of that special evening when we decorated her living room for Christmas…

  
frost is amazingly beautiful…

as I walked up to the door my phone chirped with a text from another friend who had just cuddled up on her couch with a crocheted blanket I had made for her a year or so ago and wanted to tell me how she enjoyed it… 

lovely memories to finish off a long week…

red…

26 Thursday Nov 2015

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been getting lots of compliments on my hair lately…

  
made me remember back to the first time I coloured it…

had been working in a very toxic environment and was trying to wear red every day… red is a colour that makes me feel strong and I really needed to find strength wherever I could… didn’t have that many red clothes so I decided to have a little bit of red put into my hair…

never been coloured before, but I was desperate to feel some type of protection…

it was just a tiny bit at the front of my head which could hardly be seen, but I had red on every day… helped make me feel stronger as I struggled to get through those very difficult days…

not long after I got out of that bad spot I decided to put purple in my hair…

tried a few systems that I put in myself, but the colour would wash out with every shampoo…

eventually found a place that used allum and had my hair professionally done… seems silly to dye such short hair but it lasts a long time and doesn’t leave any colour behind on towels or pillows, lol…

have tried having a tiny bit in and other times there has been a lot… outside in the sun it always looks amazing…

my hairdresser did a great job this time and it looks very nice…

does make me giggle when someone says “I like your hair” because I don’t even think about it anymore… it is just part of me…

interesting how we get to a certain place in our lives…