dark…

08 Thursday Oct 2015

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first thing this morning when I went out to the car it was dark…

  
really dark… it was extra early as we had an event first thing…

found the darkness a bit sad… a reminder that soon it will be cold and dark so much of the time…

  
the good part of it all was that the traffic was light, lol…

couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be like… did have the heat on in the car which was nice…

was thinking it was going to rain but it didn’t during the day…

on the drive home it was overcast and did spit a bit…

 the traffic was light again, as I got to leave early…

excellent start to my long Thanksgiving weekend…

mugs…

07 Wednesday Oct 2015

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a couple of weeks ago I picked up a set of four Rob McIntosh mugs…

  
I had bought these same ones about six months ago for my daughter who lives in Ottawa … had to wait quite a while for someone to take them to her… decided I really liked them, but when I went back they didn’t have any…

when I found them the other day I was very happy… I kept one at the office for me…

  
shared one with a colleague…

  
and brought the other two home for my collection…

was very proud of myself when I managed to reduce my collection by two, to make way for the new ones…

  
very happy that both of these were adopted by friends… one sent me a note saying she was enjoying her morning coffee in it and thinking of me:-)…

  

I have a wide variety of mugs and when people are over I have them choose the mug they would like to use for their coffee, tea or hot chocolate… bit of a tradition here…

vote…

06 Tuesday Oct 2015

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took this picture first thing of one of the cannas which was blooming… had cut the two spent blooms off when it came into the house on Sunday…

  
stuck the stalks into another pot to let them finish drying so I might be able to plant some seeds in the spring… then I spotted this…

our election is coming up and everyone was supposed to receive a voting card in the mail…

I haven’t received one…

have lived in this house for over forty years… have voted in every election since I was old enough… always had the appropriate documentation for each of those elections…

went online to see if I could figure out what to do in this situation… checked the voters list and I am on it… but couldn’t find a phone number to speak with a live person, or an answer to my question about what to take to the polls to be sure I can vote…

tonight I found this in my mailbox…

  
hope I have read it correctly… planning to vote at the Advance Poll on Friday as I am off, and it is at the Community Club which is just a few blocks from the house… 

will take my ID and go early in case there are any problems…

tonight I took another picture of the same flower…

  
beautiful with the light shining on it…

looking forward to voting and making my voice heard… hope everyone else who is eligible makes use of this right…

news…

05 Monday Oct 2015

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good news… my eyes are in good shape… saw the eye doctor this morning… surprised me with a field test… thankfully it came out okay… always nervous when taking one… 

sky was changing every time I came out of a business…

  
met with my finance guy and my investments are doing fine as well…

then off to pick up a few groceries… had a lovely wander around at Costco… didn’t even buy much that wasn’t on my list, lol… finished up at Safeway where I picked up the other items for Thanksgiving dinner on the weekend…

on the drive home the sky changed yet again…

  
at least there was a bit of blue in it…

had a nap after all the groceries were put away, and then made a couple of pita pizzas for dinner…

  
delicious…

now to plan what I will eat tomorrow…

transitions…

04 Sunday Oct 2015

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early this morning the sky was beautiful with some lovely clouds…

  
checked on the morning glory and mandevilla… still trying to bloom even though it is getting colder as we transition into the fall season…

  
not long after that, caught a Flicker at the pond getting a drink…

  
the weather wasn’t so great and for the rest of the day, it was overcast with a bit of rain now and again…

when the kids came over, the boys worked to catch and bring in fish…

so far we have four or five fish who have made the trip into their winter condo… the rest were doing a great job of hiding… there must be at least a dozen left out there…

  
lovely to have some buddies in the house…

the guys also brought in some of the pond plants and they look nice in the front window…

 
will be interesting to see if they make it through the winter… 

busy…

03 Saturday Oct 2015

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worn right out…

worked on a project first thing…

  
my daughter picked me up and we went to IKEA to purchase a table and chairs for their new house…

  
it is a housewarming, anniversary and Christmas gift… 

rushed over to the other side of the city for a volleyball game…

  
had to get reacquainted with the rules, but enjoyed watching it… bonus was that they won this one…

stopped off for a few groceries after the game and picked up a basil plant… going to keep this one in the house… the ones that were on the deck didn’t do well with the frost last week…

  
had a lovely barbecued steak for dinner at the new table…

  
I don’t get much cooked on the barbecue these days, so really enjoyed it…

after dinner we sat around their new fire pit… beautiful end to a very busy day…

  
my son-in-law drove me home and I am headed to bed…

  

food…

02 Friday Oct 2015

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every day is a test to eat as well as possible…

  
weekdays, I usually start with a smoothie… pretty easy to make and goes down fairly quickly… been using plain Greek yogurt with a fruit yogurt, frozen fruit, spinach and almond milk… I use my immersion blender and drink it right out of the measuring container it gets made in… I try not to use too much sweetener so don’t put any in the smoothies which is why I include the fruit and fruit yogurt…

lunch today was a treat…

  
met my daughter at Blaze in the Delta… had a steak sandwich with a small goat cheese, quinoa and chickpea salad…

  
nice… not sure I’d order the salad again, but I really like their beet salad… there’s something about the place… remodelled not long ago, but it has a kind of cold atmosphere… 

had a square of a small chocolate bar mid-afternoon… usually if I have a snack, it might be almonds or a few chips…

  
for supper had kale and quinoa bites with cauliflower and asparagus mash, radishes and a quick gazpacho…

  
try really hard to balance off, particularly if one meal is not as healthy as it should be…

record my food intake in the MyFitnessPal app on my phone… stayed in my calorie range…

pretty good day… 

velcro…

01 Thursday Oct 2015

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yesterday was filled with lovely messages from my colleagues…

among them came an email with an ezine article from Pauseworks.com…

it talked about how we act like we are covered with teflon when given compliments… we tend to brush them off… 

and we treat negative comments like velcro… letting them stick…

this certainly rang true for me… 

I remember years ago, having performance reviews that were filled with positive comments… but a single, not so positive, one would gnaw at me and I would forget or ignore all the good stuff…

for some time now I have been working hard to accept positive affirmation without putting a but into my response…

yesterday I accepted all of the comments… and soaked them up…

then I added them all to my comments folder in Outlook… great place to pop into and read when a day isn’t going so well…

  
the sunrise this morning was lovely…

  
sunlight on the top of the trees on the other side of the house…

just happened to look out at the exact moments to catch the beauty…

grateful…

30 Wednesday Sep 2015

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today I celebrated six years at my current work… I was so excited that I barely slept last night…

  
had been thinking for weeks about what I could make as a thank you gift for my colleagues…

decided on coasters with some of my photos on them… 

  
had a hard time choosing the pictures… going through my albums I needed thirteen but picked about fifty… decided to make them all, lol…

  
that was a good plan because I wanted everyone to be able to pick one they liked, not get stuck with something that didn’t speak to them…

spent time on Pinterest looking for a good process and then spoke with my daughter about best practices…

  
tried Modge Podge on a few, but that didn’t work… was very nervous about trying the resin but it was very simple once I got the hang of it…

as I worked, I thought about which person would choose which picture… I was right for about half…

  
my workplace is pretty special… I have been able to expand my “job” to fit my skills and likes and that is quite wonderful…

my colleagues are all great people who care about one another and the people we work with… 

in my work life I have been blessed… I haven’t really seen my positions as work, more as a calling… and this position has been no different… 

I am forever grateful to have these people in my life…

dumplings…

29 Tuesday Sep 2015

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made the chicken soup yesterday… been waiting all day for my supper because it was chicken soup with my mom’s dumplings… and they came out exceptionally well…

  
yum… I may have had two bowls full, lol… 

I am doing a good job of planning my meals the day ahead so I don’t have to make last minute decisions, which might not be the best food choices… because I was having the dumplings tonight I was careful not to eat any bread products today…

started the day with a lovely view out the front window…

  
the trees are changing colours and dropping leaves at a very rapid pace… 

it went below zero last night and a few plants in the front flower bed were hit, but it looks like the mandevilla and morning glory survived…

  
happy about that…