14 Wednesday Jan 2026
Posted in family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
advent calendar, big girl pants, blessed, calendar, moments, nature, phases, phases of the moon, weather, widow
one of my Advent calendar items was a phases of the moon one page calendar…
it is very cool and it has taken a while to decide where to put it…
it finally went on the bathroom door…
it is the one place that I pass all the time…
11 Sunday Jan 2026
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, binge, blessed, books, favourites, JD Robb, moments, Nora Roberts, organized, widow
been on a decluttering binge… who knew…
started in the computer room closet and found some comforters to give away…
next I sorted the JD Robb books I’ve recently received and put them in order… there are still a few missing, but the collection is nearly complete…
and then I went through the Nora Roberts library to see which ones I could let go, lol…
I really enjoyed the trilogies, so was able to gather a fairly big pile of others to give away;-)…
10 Saturday Jan 2026
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, Christmas, dishes, family, grandson, moments, putting away, step-stools, widow
spent a little bit of time in the kitchen…
went upstairs and brought down the regular mugs and changed them out for the holiday ones…
next, with help from my housemate, I changed out the dinner plates and saucers… it is always a bit of a process as one set comes down from the top of the cabinet and the other goes up…
step-stools are involved and I am always surprised at how much the Christmas plates weigh, lol…
06 Tuesday Jan 2026
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
got a ride to Ultracuts for a haircut… apparently the last time I was there was early October which explains why my hair seemed to have grown like crazy…
had to have the top trimmed a second time as it was still a bit long;-)…
what a difference a trim makes…
I feel much more tidy;-)…
04 Sunday Jan 2026
Posted in family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blowing, family, leaf blower, moments, nature, shovelled, snow, weather, widow
Saturday morning I wandered around the house going to each window to look out and take photos of the beauty outside…
it snowed a lot overnight, but the lovely light kind of snow… the trees were gorgeous…
sometime later my housemate was outside blowing the steps and sidewalks…
he doesn’t like to be photographed, lol…
on his return home later he made sure the driveway was shovelled…
I truly am blessed;-)…
01 Thursday Jan 2026
Posted in health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, first-foot, hot tub, moments, picky, weather, widow
prepped my first-footer bag with a few additional items… besides the usual coal, an orange, and a little bottle of Bailey’s; added in some cookies, a toonie, salt, and chocolate…
then, just after midnight, I put on my coat and boots, walked around the house from the backdoor and first-footed myself;-)…
I used to be very picky and insisted on a dark-haired male, but have come to the realization that a dark-haired woman is equally as good;-)…
after that I changed and went out for my first hot tub of the new year…
the temperature was -32° C with the windchill, but once I got in, it was quite lovely… it was overcast, so no stars, and I could hear fireworks going off in various areas, lol…
what a lovely way to begin the year;-)…
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…
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;-)…
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;-)…
herbiggirlpants 