five!

02 Sunday Feb 2014

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today the littlest guy turned five… can’t believe it… his mom is away on a trip right now, so the guys were having a boys fun weekend…

we chatted on FaceTime this morning at which time he advised me that he wanted homemade hamburgers and salad for supper… our family tradition is that you get to choose your dinner… all very nice except his daddy and I had been planning ham for dinner, lol…

they came over just after lunch time and he, his daddy and I went shopping for the birthday dinner ingredients…

riding under the grocery cart...

riding under the grocery cart…

 

he decided he was riding underneath the cart, and seeing as it was just the three of us, we didn’t complain, and his method of travel brought smiles to the faces of most of the people who passed us, lol… 

 

birthday cake...

birthday cake…

 

we spent quite a bit of time in the Bakery section while he examined every cake and finally made a decision… based completely on the strawberries on top…

once we got home all the boys headed out for a birthday hot tub and I started working on supper, although Jeff had already made the burgers… the interesting thing about all of this is that the little guy has been going through a no meat phase…

birthday dinner...

birthday dinner…

we had barbequed burgers, with cheese and lettuce, homemade French fries and salad… the French fries were definitely not up to Grandpa’s standards and we discussed what he might have done differently that made his so good… our other special treat was chocolate milk that we picked up while we were out…

then we had the cake, which looked way prettier than it tasted, lol…

here’s what I wrote last year on his birthday…

this year I was thinking about the turmoil in my work situation when he was born, and how within weeks of his birth I was out of work… at the time it was tremendously stressful… although, had that not happened, I wouldn’t be working at the wonderful place I am now..

ups and downs in the journey…

MBlog 2014…

01 Saturday Feb 2014

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my head is filled with all the bloggers who spoke at today’s blogging conference…

heard about five ways of being – useful, original, confident, excellent, social…

asked “what do you want people to know about you” and told “keep doing it”…

link to your blog on Pinterest… group boards… collaborate…

be trustworthy and consistent… respond to comments with encouragement…

write for yourself… “tell the truth”… “pretend you are good at it”…

set aside the time…

keep legalities in mind…

treat the camera like a person when doing videos…

yikes… now to find the nuggets that speak to me… what a great day…

health break this morning...

health break this morning…

blogging…

31 Friday Jan 2014

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tonight I was at the reception for MBlog 2014…helped everyone find their nametags and then listened and took a few pictures as people networked.. then we listened to a panel talk about blogging and other forms of social media…

it was great to see speakers and participants whom I had seen at our first MBlog event in 2012… and there were lots of new people to meet as well…

had a conversation with a woman who is setting up a website for the over 50 crowd… she is interested in connecting with my blog… will be interesting to see if that goes anywhere…

do love the serving staff at The Fort Garry… it is one of the few places around that makes sure they offer the goodies to everyone, including those who are looking after registration… tonight the young man who was serving the hors d’oeuvres made sure to come out and offer us goodies as well… they were delicious… got a photo of the dried apple slice with cheese and nuts on it… yum…

apple cheese nut appetizer...

apple cheese nut appetizer…

met a fellow who is looking to find his inspiration or the fun he used to have when he started blogging…

had quite the giggle on the ride home as we remembered the last conference and how there had been snow plows everywhere on the roads and the number of places where we got stuck behind them… which really slowed down our ability to get home…

no plows tonight…

twitter…

30 Thursday Jan 2014

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tonight I attended a seminar on Twitter for Business… I signed up for Twitter about a year ago and have tweeted all of 36 times, lol…

the class was great…  I learned some basics from @cendrinemedia in a fun and interactive manner… while we were looking at her page the tweets were racing down the screen…

I think I learned enough to understand the basics and really start tweeting on a regular basis… there is a lot to learn but Cendrine encouraged us to keep the handout filled with the information she shared, and just get started…

tomorrow we have our blogging conference – MBlog2014 and I am planning to do a bit of tweeting during the event… hope it goes well, lol…

earlier, had lunch with a good friend… we ate at a restaurant that sadly is closing on Saturday… I ordered the most requested item on the menu and enjoyed it very much… my friend had the soup which was very good as well…

 

enchiladas for lunch today...

enchiladas for lunch today…

 

going to bed now because it is going to be a very busy few days…

busy evening…

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

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not very often that I have visitors in the evening… well, other than Monday nights, lol…

tonight I had two different ones…

possble picture for the purple wall...

possible picture for the purple wall…

a colleague dropped off a picture for me to check out and see if I want to use it on the new purple wall… thinking I like it, but will need to have a look at it in the daylight…

very shortly after that a friend stopped by to pick up the car to use while she is in town over the next few days…

I had made tea, but both women had things to do and places to be, so I had to drink the tea all on my own…

during the day my contractor friend was by and painted the new door upstairs purple… it looks amazing… so then I had to stage the room to get a picture for you…

purple door in the bedroom...

purple door in the bedroom…

made me giggle a bit… for quite a long period in our life I had red everywhere and it drove George a bit batty… I wonder what he would think now as the purple slowly creeps into the house room by room…

sometimes wearing those big girl pants is kind of fun…

the moment…

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

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this morning as I was leaving the house I looked up and there was a sliver of moon and Venus shining brightly… it was just gorgeous… didn’t have an opportunity to get a picture…

we talked about how beautiful it was and enjoyed the moment… my colleague had enjoyed catching glimpses of them as she was on her way to pick me up…

moon a few night's ago...

moon a few night’s ago…

reminded me of last night and the conversation we had at BS… how important it is to enjoy the moment, because there is no certainty about the next moment in anyone’s life…

this same conversation took place at the last gathering of my Reimagining friends… and how I am trying to find time each day to be in the moment and realize how special that moment is…

made me think of all the snow and very cold weather we have been having and a comment that a friend put up on Facebook about not wanting to hear anyone complain about the heat in the summer, lol… we are very good at complaining about whatever weather we are experiencing…

on the weekend I took a few pictures of the garden, with the waterfall rock nearly covered with snow… someone reminded me that in 1997 we experienced more snow than this, and another person talked about the winter of 1955-1956 when the there was twice as much snow as we have now… yikes…

snowy back yard...

snowy back yard…

when I am sitting out there in the spring and summer enjoying lovely weather I will be able to remember how beautiful and pristine it looked before and after the bunny and squirrels had made paths across it…

purple…

27 Monday Jan 2014

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this morning, I helped my contractor move the couch, after having moved all the breakables out of the living room before he arrived…

before the paint job...

before the paint job with furniture out of the way…

I headed off to work around 10:30 and he started to paint the end wall… you guessed it – purple…

after the paint job...

after the paint job…

when I arrived home about 7:45 this evening, there it was in all its glory.. I just love it… when we picked the paint on Saturday it took all of three minutes for me to make a decision and I was worried a bit yesterday as to whether it was the correct shade of purple… the name is Morpheus, which I hadn’t looked at until after picking it… I do find that the name can affect whether I like a paint colour or not…

I feel as though I am morphing into a new person and when I looked the name up, this is what Wikipedia said:

Morpheus (/ˈmɔrfiəs/ or /ˈmɔrfjuːs/) is a god of dreams who appears in Ovid‘s Metamorphoses. Morpheus has the ability to take any human form and appear in dreams. His true semblance is that of a winged daemon, imagery shared with many of his siblings. Starting in the medieval period, the name Morpheus began to stand generally for the god of dreams or of sleep.[1]

after painting the wall, he installed the sliding barn door upstairs in the bedroom… it isn’t painted yet, but it looks wonderful… the two bi-fold doors were both removed and this new door slides on a track and can cover one or the other opening… the only time I close the bedroom door is if the boys are over and I need to change clothes… otherwise it will cover the closet door… already the room looks more spacious…

my son-in-law and I had done quite a bit of work finding the track and runners and then he found an old door at his house that we could use… he was all ready to get working on it when family health issues drew a halt to the project… but now it is up thanks to his planning, and my contractor…

looking forward to the final work to get the door finished and the closet repaired and painted as well…

 

more snow…

26 Sunday Jan 2014

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last week Jeff came and snowblowed the driveway, back yard and sidewalks… it was a wonderful treat to get home and have it all cleaned up…

snowblowing sidewalk...

snowblowing sidewalk…

since then it has snowed at least three times, so while they were here today he went out and did it again… got a few pictures… usually it is dark or I’m not here when he does it…

blowing the street in front of the house...

blowing the street in front of the house…

it was very windy today so he was pretty cold by the time he came in…

earlier the boys spent some time with me and we put away some of the Christmas ornaments and trees in the basement… its been on my list of things to do, but I just haven’t had the energy to get that job done, so it was great to have their help and get a good piece of it finished…

racing cars...

racing cars…

then the little guys had great fun with the race cars that Uncle Ron found in his stocking, but then left here…

not sure when we have had this much snow… certainly not for many, many, years… right now there is only a tiny piece of the waterfall rock visible in the back garden… the house should be warmer than usual because there is at least two feet of snow all around the foundation… great insulation, lol…

lovely day…

25 Saturday Jan 2014

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had a lovely day…

went for a pedicure first thing with Crystal… then we picked some paint for one of the living room walls… on to the mall for some presents for a new baby girl…

had lunch at the Food Court and then I headed off to have my hair purpled and cut, stopped for gas and returned home for a nap and a bit of sports on TV…

picked up again, and got to hold the baby and visit with her family… finally ran a last errand in the falling snow, and home…

heated up the leftover soup from lunch and watched some great TV…

the only thing that wasn’t lovely was that the polish on one of my toes got smooshed and looks bad, lol…

smooshed nail colour...

smooshed nail colour…

 

family history…

24 Friday Jan 2014

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was talking about being prepared for the worst today with someone and it brought to mind some of the information that you need to save and share for your family…

recently one of my daughters asked about a condition and whether anyone in our family had it… made me realize that I should have paid more attention to my parents when they talked about health issues…

I knew that there was some arthritis in the family, but not what type and exactly who had it… there is diabetes in the family as well but not sure I can remember who had it…

clearly I should have made actual notes about these things when our parents talked about them… now they are gone and I have no one to consult about who said what about which illness…

this is important information for my children and even their children… I am going to spend some time writing down what I can remember regarding our elders health issues and put it in my When Mom Dies folder so that the kids have this information available as they need it…

if you still have elders, do ask them about these issues so you can share as needed with your health care providers, or the providers for your kids and grandkids…

the obligatory picture...

family…