back…

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

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sore back today… might have had something to do with carting all the Christmas decoration boxes up and down the stairs…

but, the space looks fabulous:-)…

had imagined that by the end of the day it would be better… unfortunately not the case, which made for a long day…

  
this wonderful sky greeted us on the way home… 

dragged myself to aquasize and was pleased to make it through the session… didn’t do any twisting…

back home and had supper in stages… started with smoked goldeye and tomato, cucumber and avocado salad… once it was cooked enjoyed a yummy sweet potato…

tasty… now to rest my back…

  
part of the stairway decorations are small wooden trees which George made many years ago…

change…

07 Monday Dec 2015

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had to make two trips out to the car this morning so that I could get everything changed over and in the proper places… now the trunk has the grocery boxes and bags as well as the safety equipment, and the glove compartment contains the registration and maps, and most importantly, there is change available for grocery carts, lol…

  
Shadow looked pretty good in the parking spot at work…

tonight when I arrived home and came out of the garage I saw this…

  
the back door was open… 

the cleaners had been in the morning and likely took out garbage, but I was a bit nervous to enter… what if someone had actually broken in… yikes… 

I called the owner of the business as I went into the house and she stayed on the line while I walked through all three floors to be sure there was no one besides me there… 

luckily it was a warm day so nothing froze… basement was fairly cool, though…

had a visit with my amazing friends, and treats…

  
these are the leftovers that I am going to have to eat over the next little while… yum… only had a small handful of nuts and bolts and stopped at two shortbread cookies…

got a lovely picture of snowflakes on my way up the stairs…

  

glitter…

06 Sunday Dec 2015

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excellent day…

found the cookies I’d been searching for… got a glittery outfit for an upcoming event… and spent a wonderful afternoon with a friend while we decorated the main floor…

  
so nice to have someone to work with and bringing another eye to the project…

having lived here for over forty years it had become a bit ho hum to put out the decorations… having a designer’s view brought new life to the space…

  
my Advent boxes have taken on a more prominent place, even though they are in the same space, lol…

put George’s stocking in the drawer in the living room table… I think this is a great place to display it and feel his presence…

  
as she was leaving my friend noticed all the glitter on her face and laughed as she described being covered in glitter the whole of the Christmas season when she had her shop…

as the afternoon has turned into evening and it is dark outside it is even more beautiful… I love the glitter of the lights everywhere…

  
these trees drop sequins and glitter everywhere… they go into a special bag so as not to distribute glitter throughout the whole house…

the kids came for supper and brought me cherry surprises – cookies our dear friend and neighbour made every year for our Christmas dinner…

after they headed home I spent time sitting in the living room enjoying the space, and listening to A Jann Arden Christmas while writing my post…

feeling peaceful as we move into the busy days of the season… happy my shopping is complete and the parcels wrapped… just need to add some ribbon to finish them off and see how many I can fit under the trees…

  
anticipating many gentle moments as I remember so many special Christmas seasons with my beloved… 

Shadow…

05 Saturday Dec 2015

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woke up very early and was able to enjoy the sunrise… 

  
caught this out the upstairs window…

took this picture of the car as I was heading out this afternoon…

  
you can see the sun shining on the hood… there is very little snow on the ground and it was plus 4 as I drove away…

then I headed to Birchwood Toyota… signed lots of papers… sorry trees…

  
took a walk in the amazing warm weather… what a treat we have been enjoying…

got a new licence plate…

  
and drove away in my new Corolla…

  
her name is Shadow… she is blue crush metallic in colour and if she is in the shade, she looks kind of purple…

got a call just over a week ago from my car dealer wanting my vehicle… ended up with the 2016 model at thirty dollars less a month… pretty good deal…

after picking her up I ran a few errands and started getting used to her… heating system is a bit fancier and the big splurge was a car starter… not really sure I need that as the car is usually in the garage, but when I’m out it will be nice to start warming up before I get in…

felt a bit sad to leave the old car behind, as I’d only had it for two years, and it was the first car I got on my own…

as I was driving home I thought back to the first new car I drove off the lot…

it was forty-eight years ago and I drove a beautiful Chevelle home that day… I had bought it together with my dad… can remember the fear that I would drive into something or another car would drive into me… didn’t want to get the first scratch on it…

drove that car for over eleven great years…

another big girl pants kind of day… but it was more excitement than anything else today:-)…

FaceTime…

04 Friday Dec 2015

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very happy the day is nearly over… been a long one…

this morning the sky was quite lovely… got a few pictures as we were driving to the office… also enjoyed the sun streaming through the windows throughout the day…

 
had supper with all the kids… technology is an amazing thing… we FaceTimed over burgers… we had A&W and they had Burger King… besides a teenburger, I had a few onion rings and two of their apple pies…

  
have had this picture on my phone for quite a while but hadn’t found the right time to use it… today seems like the right time… George loved to bring me orchids all the time and so when I see them I always think of him…

  
this has been blooming for weeks…

haven’t been able to talk about him all day… not even over dinner… our usual pattern is to share some grandpa stories during our meal, but I just couldn’t do it…

  

traditions…

03 Thursday Dec 2015

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drinking a cup of tea and thinking about our family traditions over the years… I like to celebrate everything I can, lol… holidays, birthdays, special events in our lives… usually with a family dinner…

  
one tradition has been around birthdays… on your birthday you get to choose what to have for dinner, and the family gathers to celebrate… on the day and always with gifts of course… 

used to involve making the favourite food – roast chicken, mashed potatoes and stuffing; homemade macaroni and cheese; all the way to steak and lobster…  but over the years we have also brought in favourites, or even gone out for dinner… 

  
tomorrow marks the fourth birthday celebration for George since he died…

the tradition for his birthday now involves burgers from a local joint topped off with milkshakes and apple pie… all of which were his favourite foods… the kids who aren’t here join us by skype or FaceTime and we share memories over dinner…

you’d think after nearly four years that it would be easier, but I have felt myself moving into a sad place over the last few days… I make sure to focus on the good times as much as I can, but I still miss him so much and have moments of deep sadness… I embrace them as well as the good ones…

tonight both of my girls have checked in to see what our plan is and to let me know, in their own way, that they know it is hard for me… and I know it is hard for them…

  

feet…

02 Wednesday Dec 2015

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stopped in at the grocery store on my way home…

really just wanted to get home and have a nap, but I was out of fresh veggies so took the time to pick some up… 

once home I put some chicken and squash in the oven and cooked some asparagus…

 

dinner was yummy and I ended it with a single piece of Lindt White Chocolate with Coconut flakes… can’t get that bar very often…

on Monday I went looking for new boots as the ones I’ve been wearing have been hurting my feet… got boots and a new pair of my favourite ECCO sandals as well…

   

happy because they were all still on sale…

the boots look good and are very comfortable… particularly like the fact that they have two zippers which make them easy to get in and out of…

I wear the sandals all through the winter because they are so comfortable… before I found this brand my feet hurt all the time… now they are happy…

herbiggirlpants…

01 Tuesday Dec 2015

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today marks 3 years since I started herbiggirlpants… 

as I was sitting out in the hot tub tonight, gazing at the stars, I was feeling a bit sorry for myself… happy that I have kept up blogging on a regular basis, but feeling that I haven’t done as much to help others who are going through the loss of a loved one…

also missing my beloved…

the Advent fairy came this morning with a box full of boxes… spent a few minutes before leaving the house lining them up on the counter…

  
I love presents, which might be why I enjoy Advent so much, lol… day 1 was a lovely purple ball for the tree… which I haven’t put up yet… have plans with a friend to decorate this weekend… excited to see what suggestions she has to change things up…


this is a picture of what the missing magnetic covers looked like… I was able to download it from Facebook this morning…

thinking of so many who I know who are struggling with health issues these days… 

Advent…

30 Monday Nov 2015

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tomorrow is the beginning of Advent…

yesterday I sent home Advent calendars for everyone… there was a Starbucks one for my daughter… Kinder Surprise ones for the little boys… a Lindt one for the oldest grandson, and a box of Russian Mints for my son-in-law…

  
usually they have to share so the little boys were very pleased…

I arranged for a friend of my daughter in Ottawa to pick up a fancy Lindt calendar for her…

  
and we also got a Star Wars one for my son-in-law there…

great fun to arrange the surprise for her because she sends calendars to a number of people every year… she has been sending them to me since she moved away… I’m still looking for the magnetic covers that go on top of muffin tins that she sent four or five years ago… I put them away very carefully, sigh…

this year the little boys got a parcel in the mail from her so they will have chocolate and another treat each day…

  
on Saturday the youngest helped fill up the drawers in my reindeer calendar with chocolate raisins… this year I won’t be having any of these, so when they come over on the weekends they will share all of the days that have passed… one in particular is very large, so they are already anticipating opening up that one, lol…

last year I got a lovely collection of different sized boxes, which I managed to save and remember where they were… they were picked up on Saturday and I am hoping that the Advent fairy comes by tonight with the collection of filled boxes…

a friend recently asked how I was managing my new food regime… and wondering what I was missing most… as I thought about it I realized that I’m not really missing anything… I still have chocolate, just much less often, and in smaller amounts… I eat everything, but try to plan the not-so-good items a bit farther apart than previously and in smaller quantities… the biggest change I have made is to plan my meals out the day before… this helps me keep on track and I don’t get surprised with a meal arriving and I haven’t got any idea, so make poor choices… and finally I eat lots of vegetables at every meal… most days it works great… now and then, not so much…

I don’t want to take drugs for diabetes if I can possibly manage it, so that really encourages me to eat well and get on that treadmill or take a walk every day…

tacos…

29 Sunday Nov 2015

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boys slept in until eight this morning… then happily watched cartoons on tv until their mom arrived about 8:30…

we went out for breakfast… second day in a row for me, lol… today it was Perkins for eggs Benedict… the 55 plus portion for me, which is just the right amount…

more shopping and found these adorable battery powered salt and pepper mills… had to bring them home… they are so cute…

  
now I have to figure out where to put them because they are too tall to fit in the cabinet where the old ones were, lol… but I can get rid of the older ones…

for our supper tonight we had tacos… only the little boys and their daddy came, but everyone loved them and had at least three each…

  
I used a ground vegan product instead of meat… very tasty and easier than cooking hamburger… no one even noticed the difference… we also had some refried beans, which we adults enjoyed… the boys don’t like beans of any kind…

I love feeding them tacos because they always eat well and there aren’t any complaints… there is lots of lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, avocado and sour cream to go with the soft and hard tacos that they like…

tonight they had milk with their supper… I usually offer juice boxes because I don’t think of drinking milk as I really dislike it, but they think of it as a treat, ugh…

another of their favourites is Subway sandwiches… they would choose that over burgers nearly any day… 

wonderful that they enjoy healthy foods…