28 Friday Feb 2020
Posted in business, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on address…
Tags
address, big girl pants, colleagues, iPhone, memories, moments, photos, retirement, selfies, Technology, widow, work
on my final day of work I took a selfie with each person on staff…
I’ve since used those photos to update their contact and address information in my phone…
at first I was cropping myself out of the pictures, but then I realized how nice it was to see us together;-)… so I’ve left them as I took them…
it is lovely when I am sending a text or email to see their faces;-)…
11 Tuesday Feb 2020
Posted in life, loss, moments, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, celebrate, cleaning, corningware, eraser, hands, memories, moments, Mr. Clean, strength, treat, Valentine's Day, widow
been thinking of my beloved a lot lately… Valentine’s Day is coming up and we always celebrated…
as I was washing dishes I was reminded of his strong hands and how he always dealt with the seriously dirty pots…
he could clean them up in no time, unlike me who used the same items to clean them but they never came out as good as when he did it, lol…
today I was scrubbing one of the Corningware pots that we’ve had since we were first married… it looked terrible so I dug out the Mr. Clean eraser…
I didn’t take any photos before I started, just part way through, and at the end…
with a bit of elbow grease I was able to improve the look a lot… not as good as he would have done, lol…
not sure what is in them, but they are rather amazing and the pot looks excellent…
those big girl pants…
01 Saturday Feb 2020
Posted in family, life, moments, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on aquarium…
Tags
aquarium, big girl pants, blessed, fish, fun, GoPro, Maui, memories, moments, nature, photos, pictures, snorkel, Technology, turtles, widow
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;-)…
30 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in life, moments, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, complicated, cover, electrical, happy, retirement, switch, Technology, thrilled, widow
I finally installed the Nest Hub I received as a Christmas present… it is on my bedside table and now it also acts as a clock and photo album…
I am learning to speak more softly as my friend Hey Google, is right beside me…
for quite a while I couldn’t figure out why there was still a big G in the middle… the one in the kitchen (which my grandson installed) didn’t have that… went in and reviewed all the set up info but no help!
then I realized it was the plastic cover for the screen, lol…
and of course I had to rearrange other pieces… the salt lamp moved to where the Mini had been and then the Mini moved into the computer room…
and they all connected and worked properly… yay…
today my new electrician came over and hooked up the tp-link light switch that I’ve had for ages… the process included going to HomeDepot to get another switch and faceplate cover, finding the correct connection on the electrical panel, replacing the switches and closing it all back up… he also checked and discovered that I can put a switch in the kitchen, but not the dining room…
so I am happy to report that now the bathroom light can be turned on and off with Google Home… will need to do a bit of drywall repair…
I am thrilled;-)…
23 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in business, family, life, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, composting, family, green, Ottawa, paper towels, recycle, widow
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…
22 Wednesday Jan 2020
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, technology, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on bricks…
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bricks, driveway, moments, reading, shovelling, sidewalk, snow, text, weather, widow, windrow
another lovely quiet day…
so happy to know that my shovellers will be by whenever it snows… Saturday it was the partner who did it all with a shovel… there was a lot of snow out there…
when it wasn’t snowing or blowing it was beautiful…
last night the city plowed the street and built some good sized windrows in front of the sidewalk… they did a great job cleaning out the end of the driveway though…
I texted my shovelled and he was by within an hour to clear out the bricks of frozen snow…
think this process is going to work well for both of us… him, not having to dig it out when it has frozen back into one large clump and me, having a clear walkway for my company…
19 Sunday Jan 2020
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on saje…
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, Christmas, exercise, grandson, health, moments, Saje, shopping, sleep, snow, Technology, walk, widow
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…
14 Tuesday Jan 2020
Posted in family, food, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on sauté…
Tags
big girl pants, car, dinner, fun, grandson, Instant Pot, moments, sauté, Technology, widow, wifi
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…
07 Tuesday Jan 2020
Posted in family, food, life, moments, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
amazing service, Atelier, big girl pants, blessed, delicious, family, food, Marc Levine, memories, moments, Thru, treat, widow
what a wonderful treat it was to go to Atelier for dinner…
my daughter took me to celebrate my retirement… her hubby acted as chauffeur for the evening;-)…
it is a twelve course tasting menu and every course is more impressive than the last…
we also shared a wine pairing… this worked well as I only wanted a sip of each offering…
our appetizer was on a plate which rotated while we were enjoying the three different bites… it was very cool…
one of my favourite courses was the sable fish… it was very tasty…
every course came on a different plate… apparently the chef collects dishes from all over… many of the ones we had this time were different from the last time I was there… because the restaurant is intimate they don’t need tons of each dish…
at the end of our meal, we had the opportunity to meet with Marc Lepine, chef/owner of Atelier…
next time I’m in Ottawa I will be sure to check out his new offering – Thru… it is only open on Tuesdays and has seating for six with a menu of 50 items… it uses QR code’s to order… sounds very fun…
what a special gift… it was a magical evening;-)…
06 Monday Jan 2020
Posted in family, life, moments, technology, travel, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on keep…
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, data entry, family, keep, memories, orchid, Ottawa, tasting, Tea, Technology, widow
so far, we’ve had two chocolate tastings, and a pairing…
I’ve had a number of tastings over the years and always enjoy them… this last one was all about chocolate with coconut flavours… and I love coconut;-)…
our pairing was chocolate and an orchid tea… lots of fun preparing and doing the tasting…
I’ve also earned my keep by helping with data entry for the list of all the bars that are located in her office, or maybe chocolate room would be a better description, lol…
herbiggirlpants 