composting…

23 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by in business, family, life, technology, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

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…

bricks…

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in health, life, moments, nature, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on bricks…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

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…

trivets…

21 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on trivets…

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Monday is our usual night to gather… we have been doing this for years… last week we got to talking about Chinese food and decided to have supper together this week… Monday evenings are already blocked off in everyone’s calendars, lol, so changing the time was fairly simple…

we each offered up our favourite dishes, a menu was circulated by email, adjustments were made and a person chosen to order and pick up the dinner… times were chosen and rides were organized…

we had hoped that my grandson would join us as he was expected to be here to collect Indi to use on Tuesday… unfortunately things changed and he couldn’t join us…

it was wonderful to have the time to prepare for dinner… I had fun digging through my dishes and finding tea pots and cups; a variety of chopsticks and stands; and various trivets to put the food on when it arrived…

we had a lovely dinner and tons of great conversation… it was a wonderful treat to share a meal… finished the evening with more conversation, coffee and a lemon cake…

life is good…

 

frozen…

20 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, health, life, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

a few days ago I cooked chicken thighs from frozen (just took thirty minutes) and then white rice in the Instant Pot… both came out nicely…

had a lovely dinner and visit with a dear friend… good to catch up…

was laughing to myself because I completely forgot to take a picture of my plate as supper was later than expected…

earlier in the day I tidied two drawers in the dining room…

hope this desire for tidying and reorganizing continues…

saje…

19 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on saje…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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…

signing…

18 Saturday Jan 2020

Posted by in business, family, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on signing…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

recently I spent an hour with my finance guy signing what felt like a million papers… felt sorry for all the trees we destroyed…

complicated business to start collecting locked in RSP money… of course I didn’t remember to take a pic of the very large pile of papers that were taken away, lol…

these are just a few of the ones that were left for me…

good thing he understands this stuff and can explain it so well…

I will be thanking my beloved every day as the reason I am able to retire is due to his pension which came directly to me on his death…

slightly…

17 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on slightly…

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been waiting for a slightly warmer day to top up the hot tub…

it has been running low since I got home and I haven’t been out to sit in it because when it is low it sprays all over me which isn’t that nice…

around noon I removed the dryer vent and put the hose through it… then I went outside and slid between the hot tub and the pergola so I could reach the hose and put it into the tub…

back downstairs to turn the water on and then seven long minutes out in the cold as it filled up;-)…

actually the seven minutes went by quickly and I was able to pop back into the house to turn the water off, return to the outdoors to remove the hose from the hot tub and get back into the basement to collect the hose and replace the vent in the hole in the wall that was letting in a fair bit of very cold air, lol…

now for the waiting game… it will likely be a few days before it warms back up to 103, my favourite temperature… it takes so long because the tub is only plugged in using a regular outlet…

maybe a Sunday hot tub…

enjoying…

16 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on enjoying…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

saw the most amazing sky tonight as I was walking through the house…

it always amazes me when I just happen to look out and see a gorgeous sunset or sunrise… there are so many moments that we miss because we aren’t looking, lol…

here is one of the photos that I took, just before my camera advised me it was exhausted…

I am feeling that a pattern is appearing in my days… I am getting up around eight or nine and then having a relaxing breakfast… today I had some chicken soup I’d made a few days ago in the Instant Pot… I hadn’t tasted it when I made it so was pleased with it this morning… I’d woken up with a stuffy nose, so chicken soup seemed like a great start to my day…

for my lunch I had some of the Mexican Chicken Soup I’d made at the same time…. I will make this again as it is very tasty…

a bit later I spent some time working at cleaning out a kitchen drawer… even went as far as putting a liner in as well… took a while for everything to dry and be ready to go back into the drawer and a number of things hit the garbage and pass-me-over box…

reading, watching tv, tidying, napping and cooking take up the rest of the day…

so far I am enjoying the relaxed quiet days…

decluttering…

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on decluttering…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

had a very productive and enjoyable day…

spent time in the morning decluttering, deep-cleaning and reorganizing a rolling cupboard that my beloved built many years ago…

felt very pleased with the outcome… got rid of some stuff and made space for the Instant Pot;-)…

then had a delightful visit and some treats with a dear friend…

followed by some reading and a few phone calls… caught this sun dog as I looked out the window;-)…

enjoying the moments in this new portion of the journey;-)…

sauté…

14 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in family, food, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on sauté…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

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…