sparkly…

01 Sunday Jan 2017

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this morning the table was covered with glitter as we toasted the new year over breakfast and then fixed a few things around the house before the kids headed out to visit with friends…

I set the table and prepared for our family New Year’s dinner of steak and lobster… we used to have it on New Year’s Eve but it has morphed into New Year’s Day…

used the Ferrero Roche tree as the centrepiece, as well as our dessert, lol… had fun setting the space up… even put out some glow-in-the-dark bracelets…

groups arrived at different times and last to arrive was the working son-in-law who joined us just after seven and headed right out to the garage to barbecue the steak and lobster…

it was beautifully done and went perfectly with the baked potatoes, escargot stuffed mushrooms, fried Brussels sprouts and Caesar salad…

the dessert tree was a hit as well… the kids cleaned up and we had some fun tasting chocolate…

photo by @thedevils3


fun time… as they were leaving we lit sparklers for them to enjoy…

above 2 photos by @peacecyndi


blessed to be able to spend time with the whole family as the year begins…

toys…

31 Saturday Dec 2016

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got some fun toys over the last week…

first this cool leef gadget… it sticks into the phone and copies whatever is on it, then plugs into the laptop and copies the contents onto the computer… it also acts as storage for my phone…

very quick and easy… think that it is going to be much simpler than connecting a cord to the computer and trying to find the phone before being able to copy over photos and other data… such fun;-)…

also got a much larger hard drive so my computer will stop telling me it is out of room… possibly it thinks I take too many pictures…

and last, but not least, a chromecast… 

just learned about this a few days ago… it streams media from the phone or laptop… I can now watch Netflix from the bedroom, using my phone… very cool…

picked up everything now so that my son-in-law could get it all working before he heads home from holidays…

testing it all to be sure I can work it without any problems when I’m on my own, lol…

hands…

30 Friday Dec 2016

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the out-of-town kids have been staying elsewhere but a few days ago they slept over and in the morning we walked to the “A” for breakfast…

had to get a picture of them walking down the street holding hands…

my beloved and I held hands whenever we were out and about… it is one of the things I miss the most…

the “A” is my son-in-law’s favourite place for breakfast and George really liked it as well… we often had breakfast there on weekends….

breakfast was lovely and we enjoyed our walk back to the house…

with the cold and snowy weather I haven’t been out walking nearly as much as usual…

stoneware…

29 Thursday Dec 2016

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stopped in at The Stoneware Gallery this afternoon…

my, oh my… what fun I had…

came home with three beautiful pieces…

this small plate was my first pick… the colour is such a wonderful shade of purple… and it looks like it has a spiral pattern…

then I found a small shallow bowl with a purple dragonfly…

the final piece was this large stunning bowl in various shades of mauve…

haven’t purchased any pottery for ages, so felt like I hit the jackpot…

now to reorganize the shelves to make room for them…

tasting…

28 Wednesday Dec 2016

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last night we spent some time preparing chocolate tasting packages…

we prepared six of them… two for us and four to do with some of the kids’ friends while they are here…

it is a bit of a process… first my daughter chose which bars to use… first tasting was chocolate from Central and South America…

then we wrote down which bar was used and wrapped a few small pieces of each type in foil… because you usually taste five or six pieces they don’t need to be big… so the bars go a long way…

numbered them and put them into bags…

then we had our tasting… we paired it with a California Square red wine… in the end, the wine wasn’t that great a match, but the chocolate was delicious…

it was also great fun to do the prep work… 

going to look into finding a better wine to pair with the next batch of chocolate…

roaster…

27 Tuesday Dec 2016

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cooked the turkey in my mom and dad’s WearEver roasting pan… 

it must be fifty years old because they had it when I was a kid… looked it up online and noticed that it was called vintage, lol… I can still see my dad lifting it out of the oven with whatever delectable food was inside it… 

that, along with their WearEver knife set, which hangs in the kitchen, and never get used, were treasured family possessions…

haven’t used the pan for a few years as the turkeys have been small and have fit nicely in my enamel roaster…

this turkey was a bit bigger so needed the larger container…

it does produce the most beautiful gravy… a lovely rich brown colour, even though there aren’t lots of bits stuck to the bottom of the pan… also makes the best nuts and bolts…

George had written our last name on the side for when we took it elsewhere doing catering… it was lovely to see his handwriting…

made me think of all the dinners we have cooked during our life together…

wonderful memories…

crafting…

26 Monday Dec 2016

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today I started turkey soup and worked on a craft project which my daughter gave me for Christmas…

the soup has simmered all day and soon I will separate the broth from the meat…

the crafting was fun… started with a box…

opened it to discover everything I would need to produce a Ferrero Rocher tree…

took out the bits and pieces…

pretty cool set up… way better than glueing them together, lol…

couple of levels done…

nice, eh… okay, okay, so all I did was put the chocolates on the layers, but it looks great…

my kind of craft… will use it as the centrepiece for New Year’s dinner…

I love Ferrero Rocher, but shouldn’t be eating them… will be great to have my family’s assistance in getting rid of them, lol… they are very helpful that way…

Ziggy…

25 Sunday Dec 2016

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felt a bit sad for our friend Ziggy this morning… he looked very sad as we put him into the hot almond milk…

but sure was tasty… 

had a wonderful day filled with fun, family, special moments and lots of treats…

ended with delicious turkey and all the trimmings…

the boys did a great job of cleaning up and then we devoured a chocolate Christmas tree;-)…

photo by @peacecyndi…

turnip…

24 Saturday Dec 2016

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yesterday and this morning got the food prepped for Christmas dinner…

peeled and cut up potatoes and turnip… my dad insisted on turnip water to make the gravy… felt it added just the right flavour… so I cook turnips for every holiday meal, lol… a few of us even eat the turnip…

thought I was done and then remembered the stuffing… broke up the bread while watching tv and then finished it while I was making my supper…

this morning I cooked and blended the cranberries…

picked up the Ottawa kids and now we are at my daughter and son-in-law’s house for a Christmas Eve sleepover…

quite a few presents under the tree…

I’m home with the kids…  the big boys are out watching the new Star Wars movie and the girls are doing last minute shopping…

deciding…

23 Friday Dec 2016

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one of my projects this Christmas was a gift for my colleagues…

after considering what to make for them, chose mouse pads with some of my photography… the pictures were from our visit to Atlanta in June…

once the photos were chosen, and the pads produced, I had to pick which one went to which person… sometimes I have the individuals choose, but decided this time to pick for each one…

set out the pictures and then used little notes to be sure I had just the right one for each member of the team…

once the decisions were made, I prepared a card and wrapped each one up…

at the end of the day on Monday I put them into their mail slots…

it is such fun to choose, prepare and give gifts… so blessed to have the time and resources to do this…