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…
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…
07 Wednesday Jan 2026
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, hoarfrost, moments, nature, nonetheless, rime, trees, walk, weather, widow
went for a walk the other morning and admired the gorgeous trees…
I’m not sure if it was hoarfrost, or rime, or something else, but it was beautiful…
the ones on my street were lovely;-)…
this one was clearly snow but beautiful nonetheless;-)…
and this morning there was more beauty…
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;-)…
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;-)…
23 Tuesday Dec 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, concrete, family, moments, nature, plows, shovelling, weather, widow, windrow
as my housemate was leaving the driveway on Sunday, the plows came down the street so he wasn’t able to leave…
he was quick to get a shovel to start shovelling through the windrow… he headed to the sidewalk and they saw him and did a bit of extra snow moving so he didn’t have nearly as much as imagined…
the plow drivers were amazing in how they move the snow… by the time they were done, there was just a small windrow to be moved before he could leave…
so happy he was here because you have to move it immediately before it turns to concrete and then I would have gone out to move it;-(…
after he left they came down the other side of the street… the first plow moved the snow up over the curb and the second one went exactly along the edge of the curb to clear it up…
they have great control over their equipment…
22 Monday Dec 2025
Posted in family, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, Blizzards, grandson, moments, nature, neighbour, snow, snowblower, weather, widow, wind, winter
we’ve had our first blizzards of the season… they sort of happened over two days…
Thursday, a good amount of snow fell and then the winds came… later the snow stopped and returned the next day with more wind…
I had to cancel two outings, so was able to stay home and watch through the living room window…
on day three my housemate spent over an hour shovelling the sidewalks and driveway… there was a lot of snow🤪…
thankfully, a neighbour a few houses to the north came with his snowblower and dealt with the area closest to the garage which saved another hour of shovelling…
the back door had about a foot of snow covering it and the deck… now it is all clear…
we will see how long that lasts;-)…
21 Sunday Dec 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, Emergency, furnace, Gas, Hydro, leaking, moments, Technology, water heater, whiff, widow
for the last few days we’ve caught a whiff of gas smell in the basement by the gas water heater and gas furnace…
today I called and was advised they would send someone out within a few hours…
the person didn’t arrive for four hours, but between only three people on shift, and dealing with a real emergency, it took a while to get here…
they always ask if it was gas that I smelled, and I always assure them that it was… I have quite an ability to smell things that others can’t… my grandson says I have the nose of a bloodhound, lol…
when they arrived, they checked the outside gas meter and the pipes for the furnace… both of which were fine…
once inside, they began checking all of the spots where there might be a problem… they came upstairs to say I did have a good nose because something in the furnace had come loose and was leaking gas…
after getting some tools and the furnace getting turned off, they fixed it and then pointed out that on this type of furnace, a piece is held together by magnets and may not close exactly as it should… so if there are future leaks, this piece may need to be replaced 🤪…
but they did say calling the emergency line was the correct thing to do…
herbiggirlpants 