19 Saturday Dec 2020
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
had some fun watching the visitors to the feeders today…
saw chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers at the front feeders… at one point all three were there, although only the woodpecker decided to pose, lol…
lots of sparrows as well as this guy on the deck…
at the end of the day, the sky was stunning…
nature was everywhere;-)…
18 Friday Dec 2020
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, colourful, dinner, food, grandson, happy, lunch, moments, shop local, treat, widow
had great treats the last few days…
on Wednesday I ordered sushi for my dinner from Sei Sushi... it was so nice, although I missed my grandson who is my usual sushi partner, lol…
yesterday, I spent time in the morning making mashed potatoes so that when I warmed them up at supper they were better for me… I even made gravy to go with the chicken… it was delicious… although a more colourful vegetable would have looked prettier…
today I had a charcuterie board from Modern Plate Catering for my lunch… it was fun to set all the bits out on a tray and make it pretty…
fun to have a treat;-)…
14 Monday Dec 2020
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cap, cold, family, grandson, health, hoodie, nature, sidewalk, snow, swept, widow
yesterday my middle grandson came over to shovel for me… there wasn’t too much snow, but after the last snowfall, everything froze and the sidewalk was crazy icy… I didn’t want that to happen again, lol… there had been a skiff of snow and I had gone out and swept the sidewalk just the day before…
it was cute watching him put his hoodie up over his baseball cap, which he had on backwards, lol… of course there were earbuds in as he listened to his music while doing the job… he did have gloves because I couldn’t give him grandpa’s to wear which often happened before when he forgot…
he did the front, the driveway and all of the back decks and pathways… the garage camera even got a few photos for me… he was happy to get the December payment which will help with his Christmas gift shopping…
it was wonderful to see him, even though it was only through the windows… and now all of the spaces are cleaned…
05 Saturday Dec 2020
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, deck, garden, happy, hot tub, light, memories, miss, moments, nature, Technology, time, widow
sitting in the hot tub last night, remembering my beloved on what would have been his 72nd birthday, I was reminded of all the fun things we have done together during our forty plus years…
I’d been wanting a hot tub since our anniversary many years ago when he rented one for a weekend, but we couldn’t afford one until 2009…
once I chose the one I wanted, he built a deck to put it on, and then a deck to go in front of it… easy to get to, it is now perfect for dips… he never loved the hot tub the way I did, but wanted me to be happy…
when we had friends over (you remember that, right?) for a hot tub, if we needed a drink or towel or anything, we’d bang on the wall of the house and he would come out to see what was required, lol… he’d also take photos when I wanted them…
with the new security light/camera on the garage, I have to go to the side door of the garage and turn off the power so that the light doesn’t keep coming on while I’m in the tub… thankfully the deck goes right there so it is easy to get to and from…
some of our best talks happened late at night in this hot tub… I sure do miss him…
03 Thursday Dec 2020
Tags
61st, beloved, big girl pants, birthday, celebration, commemorate, family, friends, memories, moments, surprise, time together, widow
it would have been my beloved’s 72nd birthday tomorrow… we’ve commemorated it a number of ways over the years and this year I plan on dinner from Modern Plate Catering, with my Ottawa kids on Google Duo…
we’ve had some wonderful birthday celebrations over the years…
one of my favourites was his 61st birthday… he was recovering from quadruple bypass on his 60th, so we couldn’t do anything special, lol… on his 61st we had dinner out at Fusion Grill with his boy friends and their partners…
during his illness he had three particular friends who went for walks, coffee, talks and visits with him on a regular basis… it was such fun to spend time with them all together… it was a great surprise for him and everyone had a lovely time…
last night I spent ages searching for this picture and did not find it… this morning it came up in my Facebook memories, lol…
fun to remember some of those special times… makes the days happier;-)…
02 Wednesday Dec 2020
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, blog, blogging, eighth, family, memories, moments, Technology, time, widow
yesterday marked eight years as a blogger and WordPress reminded me in the evening…
kind of amazing to think I have been writing nearly every day for all that time… it started with information about all the challenges and things I learned after my beloved died… from needing numerous death certificates, to knowing the right answers for insurance forms, to how to get the car transferred to my name, to setting up an estate account at the bank… there were so many things that I didn’t know I didn’t know and had to figure out…
I wanted to help others who might be going through similar circumstances…
it has moved from that to sharing a view of my journey as I move through life without my other half…
those big girl pants continue to be difficult to get into some days…
30 Monday Nov 2020
Posted in health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fishing line, friends, moments, plants, steps, swag, Tea, treat, visit, weather, widow, yard
had a lovely front yard visit with a friend who dropped off some items from an online fundraiser…
before she arrived I put one of the deck chairs out by the bird feeders… she sat there and I sat on the steps… luckily, we each had our own tea, so that kept us warm…
got two poinsettias and a swag for the front door…
after she left, I spent quite some time hanging the swag on the door… there is quite a bit of fishing line holding it up, lol…
it was nice to have a face-to-face with another person…
29 Sunday Nov 2020
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
bakery, big girl pants, blessed, bread, delivery, freezer, groceries, La Belle Baguette, moments, options, out-of-stock, widow
yesterday, I had two deliveries…
the first was from La Belle Baguette and included croissants, butter tarts and sourdough bread… I was hoping for scones, but they aren’t baking those just now…
I am so happy that they are doing deliveries on Fridays and Saturdays now that we have been shut down again… I shared the croissants and enjoyed my chocolate one… it was delicious, as always…
I had other things planned for dinner, but decided on a grilled cheese with onion and bacon… yum… the rest of that loaf will be cut up for stuffing and popped into the freezer…
the butter tarts were put into the freezer, either as a treat for me, or something to have should anyone drop anything off and I want to send something home with them…
a bit later in the day, my groceries from Save-On-Foods arrived… these days it takes four or five days for delivery and more items are out of stock… but, nearly everything gets here…
I am blessed to have these options available… and happy to do a bit of local purchasing where I can…
24 Tuesday Nov 2020
Posted in business, health, life, moments, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, cold, family, moments, present, trouble, weather, widow
got in a bit of trouble when I mentioned that I had purchased a fuzzy vest…
I was reminded that there are just a few weeks until Christmas and I should not be buying things for myself…
it did remind me of how my beloved would do that and it would really tick me off, sigh…
but it is cozy, and I did need the warmth, lol…
23 Monday Nov 2020
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, journey, moments, new ways, process, safe, Technology, tires, widow
our new process when the kids come by is that they leave whatever they have brought for me on top of the hot tub, while I stand inside the back door…
then I put the items I am sending with them onto the front steps and come into the house and watch out the front window…
they were here today to put the summer tires into the garage, return some mugs and drop off meds for me…
feels safe and also gives me an opportunity to see them;-)…
herbiggirlpants 