05 Wednesday Jan 2022
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
bathroom, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cavalry, family, happy, lightbulb, loss, moments, proud, Technology, widow
for the first time since my beloved left me, I was able to change a lightbulb in the bathroom…
doesn’t sound like much, but I have tried numerous times without success and had to call in the cavalry to fix the problem…
but, I did it;-)…
felt like one of those big girl pants moments…
01 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
Baileys, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, coal, cookies, dinner, family, first-foot, flowers, friends, lobster, memories, moments, movies, New Year's, purple, remembering, Rose Parade, steak, widow
had a lovely New Year’s day…
I watched the Rose Parade which was something we’ve done with my parents for years…
dear friends stopped by to first-foot me… and brought the usual coal, orange, cookies, alcohol, with a beautiful card… and a gorgeous bouquet of orchids and allium… my bouquet from last week is just on its last legs so the timing was perfect…
orchids are one of my favourites and allium was one of my beloved’s…
after that, I made a delicious steak and lobster meal for my lunch… it is usually the meal for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day dinner…
I decided on lunch so the day would be easier… and to broil instead of barbecue as it was so cold out…
it turned out delicious and then I spent the day watching movies…
and carrying the flowers from room to room, lol…
25 Saturday Dec 2021
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, family, food, garage, gifts, happy, joy, memories, moments, remembering, sadness, sleigh, vacillating, weather, widow
today I’ve been vacillating between joy and sadness…
joy at spending time this morning online with the kids in Ottawa as we opened our gifts;-)… they were in the sleigh, lol…
sadness that I am here alone, even if at my own choice…
joy, at spending time with my grandson and his girlfriend in the garage around the fire pit exchanging presents…
sadness that my beloved isn’t here…
joy, that my dinner was delicious… my favourite roast chicken, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and turnip…
it looked a little beige, but tasted delicious…
sadness that I wasn’t able to see the rest of my Winnipeg family…
and back to joy as I remember I am home safe and healthy on this Christmas Day…
yup, up and down…
04 Saturday Dec 2021
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, family, memories, moments, remembering, steps, stocking, trees, widow
had a quiet day… spent it remembering all the wonderful Christmas and birthday memories with my beloved… he would have turned 73 today;-)…
just last night I hung up his stocking at the top of the stairs once the small trees were on the steps…
I did giggle a bit, because he had trouble with his balance and he always felt the stuff on the stairs took up all the space on the steps…
I made burgers and fries for dinner which was one of his favourite meals…
it was delicious…
lots of wonderful memories;-)…
04 Thursday Nov 2021
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
babies, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, condo, family, fish, garden, goldfish, memories, moments, nature, pond, preparation, tank, weather, widow
I have been working on the fish condo for weeks now… spent a good portion of a day cleaning the fish tank… lots of scrubbing and emptying…
I researched a second tank and we went out and got the tank and two pumps so that they were on the ends as opposed to the back of the tanks…
after numerous measurements, we set the new tank up on the counter along the North wall of the dining room… then the bottom was filled with rocks and water and the new pump set up… this tank will be for the baby fish as the other tank won’t be able to hold all of the fish…
I worked with my grandson and we were able to move the big tank to the spot beside the small tank… it looks good there and it almost appears like one single very long tank…
after putting river rocks in it, I ran the hose from the outside tap through the house and was able to fill it up in nine minutes… it probably took me that long to fill the small one as I used a pail and walked back and forth to the kitchen sink for that one, lol…
had a bit of an issue with the pump as there wasn’t quite enough room in the large tank for it on the edge, but we were able to remove a piece of plastic and now it fits perfectly…
once the water was in and circulating for a few days we began catching the fish… we have been at it for quite a while… we started on October 22nd and today I think we caught the last one… I had to break ice for the last few collections, lol…
it was quite a process because since about the middle of October the water has been brown as leaves have fallen into it so it has made spotting fish difficult…
we also brought in some of the water lilies, which hopefully will survive until next spring when they can go back into the pond…
the tanks look great and I am pleased with all of our work…
we have 12 large fish and 14 babies;-)…
16 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in family, food, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, bones, clean, domain, empty, family, fish, fish tank, memories, moments, widow
I have spent a good portion of the day working on the fish tank… it was always my beloved’s domain…
the rocks have been removed… and there were a lot of them…
before supper, there was just a little bit of water in the bottom and I finally got that soaked up… it is empty;-)…
I fried pickerel for my dinner and found two or three bones in it, which made me think of my beloved again…
if there were any bones at all, they would be in his fish, lol…
and he would have made the world’s best French fries to go with it;-)…
funny that I would make fish after working on the tank all day, lol…
15 Wednesday Sep 2021
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, building, coffee table, happy, moments, Technology, widow
I’ve spent the last two days building a coffee table… well, putting it together, lol…
I’ve been thinking I would like one where the top lifted so that I could work more easily on my laptop as well as use it to put my plate on when I am eating in the den…
I spotted one a few weeks ago and decided to order it… yesterday, it arrived, in a flat box… it hadn’t said anything about that when I ordered it but I figured this is how it would arrive…
I learned, after about 45 minutes and some YouTube videos, how to change the bit on the cordless drill… I learned that a rubber mallet is a handy tool, and I shouldn’t get rid of it… I learned to read between the lines when following picture directions… I also learned that it isn’t likely going to work out perfectly the first time…
but, after two days, and a lot of putting in and taking out of screws, I have a table that I am very happy with…
I’ve been thinking how my beloved would have had it together in a short time, and also how proud of me he would be…
11 Saturday Sep 2021
Tags
beach, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, coal, family, first footing, happy, lobster, memories, moments, nature, remembering, treasure, van, widow
we took a trip to the East Coast in 1988 or 1989 – amazing what I forget these days, lol…
the four of us, plus my beloved’s mom… we had bought a tricked out van and the trip was great…
when we got to the coast we had lobster at every stop because the four of us loved it… George’s mom couldn’t figure out why we kept eating it as she didn’t like it that much, lol…
while we were there, we found a beach that had coal all over it… we had such fun collecting a bagful to bring home to use for first footing…
I’ve been down to one fairly large piece for a a few years now, so I’ve been careful with it…
as I was working away in the garage, cleaning, sorting, dumping stuff, I found the original bag filled with a whole lot more…
what a treasure, so exciting…
29 Sunday Aug 2021
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
had a burst of energy and spent a couple of hours in the garage cleaning…
was able to give away a few outdoor games to a neighbour… filled up the garbage and recycling bins… and cleaned off about half of the bench and one shelf…
thinking about painting the bench purple;-)…
every little step feels like progress;-)…
24 Tuesday Aug 2021
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, dinner, family, flowers, food, garage, garden, Grandpa, moments, mum, mums, plants, tablecloth, weather, widow
had a lovely dinner tonight with the kids…
they brought me a bunch of mums for the garden… I had been collecting parcels for them over the last few weeks, so we traded, lol…
we ate in the garage as it was a bit cool out and rain threatened… I am still nervous about having people in the house for any length of time…
even put one of the plants on the table to provide some ambiance;-)… looks good with the tablecloth, but we won’t mention all the “stuff” that is everywhere…
we spent time remembering how grandpa knew where every single thing was located and planning the organizing and decluttering that has to happen…
herbiggirlpants 