06 Friday Mar 2026
Posted in business, family, food, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
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beloved, big girl pants, blessed, burgers, family, floats, food, fourteen, grandson, memories, moments, Technology, time, widow
last night we celebrated my beloved who departed fourteen years ago…
as always, some days it seems like yesterday, and others so long ago…
hamburgers and floats were eaten here and via the internet…
so thankful to have family around for these celebrations;-)…
02 Monday Mar 2026
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
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always with me, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, family, memories, moments, passed, remembering, widow
it is the beginning of March and I realized I hadn’t remembered that this week marks 14 years since my beloved passed…
at first I felt bad because I hadn’t remembered, but then I realized how often I think of him during each and every day and no longer focus on the day he died…
10 Tuesday Feb 2026
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, family, flowers, food, hearts, memories, moments, romantic, time, treat, Valentine decorations, while, widow
yesterday morning, I spent a little while wandering around the house and adding in Valentine decorations…
in the living room (adding to the table which I did a few days ago), on the stairs…
in the bathroom, and the den…
on Valentine’s Day, I will make something special for my dinner, not sure what yet… my beloved and I would maybe have had steak and lobster or some special treat…
he was very romantic and always got me a rose and some little present to celebrate the day…
I’m always happy to do a bit of decorating around the house, and then spend time thinking about him on Valentine’s Day… I have been so blessed;-)…
15 Thursday Jan 2026
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
apples, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, crisp, family, food, housemate, moments, snow, vacuum sealer, widow
my housemate decided to make apple crisp with all the apples he purchased and then forgot to eat, lol…
I found a recipe and we peeled, cored, and sliced what felt like a ton of apples before they went bad…
next he mixed in the sauce and then used the vacuum sealer to package two bags of the apples…
when he decided to make the apple crisp, he gathered the ingredients for the crisp portion, put everything together and baked it in the oven…
it came out delicious… reminded me of my beloved whose favourite thing to bake was apple pie;-)…
04 Thursday Dec 2025
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
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beloved, big girl pants, birthday, blessed, Christmas stocking, family, grandson, memories, moments, Technology, widow, widowhood, WordPress
as I sit here quietly in the living room I am thinking of two big events that took place in the last few days…
the first was a congratulatory note from WordPress… on December 1st, 2012 I began writing about my journey into widowhood… and have continued that since then, moving into commenting on my life…
the second was today, which would have been my beloved’s 77th birthday… this year we had burgers here, one of his favourite foods, while the kids in Ottawa had an apple galette… he loved apple pie… we had a video visit between the burgers and galette, lol…
my grandson is going to use his Christmas stocking for the first time…
I sure do miss him🤗…
03 Wednesday Dec 2025
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, Christmas tree, decorated, family, lights, moments, ornaments, purple, restrung, widow
spent Sunday setting up the Christmas tree…
first I had to move the plants in the front window to other spots and move two tables out of the way…
then I spent some time removing two strings of lights… one that didn’t work and one that I restrung on the tree…
then, six or seven boxes came upstairs and were gone through to see what was in them and decide on the theme for this year’s ornaments…
chose glass pieces that have rarely been out since my beloved’s passing…
once it was decorated, I was advised that it needed more purple🤪… can you believe it, lol…
so I added more purple…
07 Friday Nov 2025
Posted in business, family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
afford, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cleaners, family, house, memories, missing, moments, tea towel, widow
my tea towel on the stove, folded very nicely by the cleaners who were here a few days ago, reminded me of how blessed I am…
for years we couldn’t afford a cleaner…
but for the last number of years I’ve had a company come in once a month to do the basics which makes me feel like the house is mainly clean, lol…
I am ever thankful to my beloved who made this wonderful gift possible;-)… I continue to miss him every single day…
22 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, carpet, family, grandsons, moments, nature, project, replaced, weather, widow
since the spring, we’ve been working on a few projects outdoors and one of them involved removing a rusted out planter from the front steps…
next was to be removing and replacing the carpet which has been on those same steps for thirteen years…
I remember a friend of mine coming and replacing it while I was in hospital, not long after my beloved’s passing… it was such a treat to walk up the tidy steps when I returned home…
over the last few winters the carpet has been breaking down, particularly from my shovelling I think, lol…
we emptied the rusted out planter and dumped it right into the garbage can, kind of in pieces… we had a new one all ready to go but planned to wait for the carpet to be removed and replaced before putting it on the top step…
we picked up carpet and glue… next we planned a day when we had help to remove the old carpet and lay down the new one… unfortunately, it rained for most of that day, but during a break my housemate was able to remove the old layer…
that was on July 21st… it looked dreadful but we anticipated that it would happen soon…
every single time we planned to get the job done, it rained… I was starting to believe my grandson is a rain magnet…
well, yesterday, September 21st, it finally happened…
scraping, glueing, and laying down the carpet took a good portion of the day and there are a few bits that need to be trimmed…
can’t walk on it for a few days, but it already looks a thousand percent better;-)…
19 Friday Sep 2025
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, electrician, family, fuses, memories, moments, power, widow
the power has gone off a few times over the last few days… only for a few seconds, and only in some parts of the house…
the only way to know for sure was the stove and microwave both flashing or showing 0…
many years ago we had an electrician tell us that there are two fuses that cover half the house each, but I couldn’t remember where they were, lol… my beloved had always dealt with those issues…
we called an electrician and he turned up early in the evening…
he knew right where those fuses were located (in a big gray box!) and then had to search online for where to find them as the electrical supply stores were already closed… so happy he found them and was able to pick them up and change them…
apparently this is an old way of putting electricity into houses, lol…
of course our house would have it, 🤪…
31 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, family, friends, gate, gate door, helpers, moments, plywood, repaired, sticking, widow
when my beloved’s boyfriend repaired the side gate door, it stuck a bit when closing…
I didn’t mind as it was a way to keep the door open without needing a bungee cord to hold it open…
the other day, when he was helping us transport the plywood for the dining room dresser project, he noticed that it was sticking…
he arrived the next day with his tools, removed the door, and sawed off a little piece…
once he sanded the bottom he reinstalled it and it now opens and closes beautifully…
I am blessed with so many helpers…
herbiggirlpants 