today I finally made it to Total Wrapture for a pedicure…
I’ve been waiting for a while but things hadn’t fallen into place until today…
it was time to give my nails a rest, so I kept my socks on while I waited for my appointment as I wouldn’t be having them painted…
the last few times when I’d had the paraffin treatment, it seemed that the polish came off sooner so I haven’t had it for ages… since I wasn’t having polish I decided to have the paraffin treatment…
it was lovely and my feet felt so soft afterwards… also nice to leave without worrying about smudging toes, lol…
they will have a good break without polish and will be ready for colour when I start to wear sandals again…
I’d had a conversation with a friend about how great my sugar cookies tasted… I’ve made thousands of them over the years, mainly when the girls were in school… I would produce cookies for their classrooms for each and every holiday that occurred…
she suggested I might like to make some for Valentine‘s Day;-)… and also volunteered to lend me a heart-shaped cookie cutter…
I thought I had one so didn’t take her up on the offer…
on Sunday I decided to make them and discovered that I did not have the appropriate cutter…
I went online, found a few different sized heart templates and made a cardboard heart-shaped template…
then I made the recipe and laughed throughout the whole process because it didn’t seem familiar at all…
it took a while as I used a knife to outline each one, but they came out pretty good…
I’d given away all the food colouring and sprinkles a while ago, thinking I wouldn’t need them…
the cookies look rather plain… but taste delicious…
then I had some fun packaging them up for a few gifts…
today, I walked to the Park, had lunch with friends, and walked home without any pain in my knee…
it is the furthest I’ve walked in months…
the weather was cool, a bit breezy, and snow fell gently as I walked… I left in lots of time for my lunch date so I didn’t have to rush… I’m finding that as long as I don’t try to walk too quickly I am good…
and what a treat to have lunch and a visit with two wonderful women…
good to get out and move… was very happy and pleased that the sidewalks were clear and not icy/slippery…
a few days ago I received my second Advent All Year parcel from my daughter… (here’s the story of the first one)…
in it were a beautiful handmade card; my favourite Raspberry Chocolate bar (including one for my grandson, who also loves it); and a box of bonbons she chose from a recent visit to Soma chocolatemaker… the box had the coolest extra packing paper as she mentioned she would be mailing it…
one thing I’ve learned from her is that great bonbons need to be eaten quickly before they expire… particularly when they are made with only fresh ingredients…
so, every morning I’ve been choosing one and eating it before I have my breakfast…
such a delicious way to start the day when my taste buds aren’t muddied with other flavours…
went out on a shopping expedition today with a friend…
checked out the Fromagerie Bothwell on Provencher… I thought it was just a cheese store, but it isn’t… it has all manner of other locally produced goodies as well… I picked up some De Luca’s pasta sauce, a pepperoni and cheese snack, soft goat cheese, and some of their marble cheese…
from there we went along the street to Chocolatier Constance Popp where I picked up some coconut dark chocolate macaroons (delicious), a sugar-free bar, a coconut and lime bar and finally a Manitobar to send to my daughter… that was fun…
back to St. James to check out Winners/Homesense… found a number of items which had been on my shopping list for a while… a cute little backpack, thermal socks, salt for my grinder, a soap dish, a lemon squeezer and a small container for my bedside table…
a gift from my daughter… she is planning to send me something regularly throughout the year — instead of an Advent calendar that just comes in December;-)…
how lovely is that…
I love all the pieces it is made of, but the little bird is a reminder of the wonderful morning we spent at Mer Bleue feeding the chickadees…
my goal for the Spring is to train my chickadees to eat from my hand… this is a wonderful reminder…
Monday is our usual night to gather… we have been doing this for years… last week we got to talking about Chinese food and decided to have supper together this week… Monday evenings are already blocked off in everyone’s calendars, lol, so changing the time was fairly simple…
we each offered up our favourite dishes, a menu was circulated by email, adjustments were made and a person chosen to order and pick up the dinner… times were chosen and rides were organized…
we had hoped that my grandson would join us as he was expected to be here to collect Indi to use on Tuesday… unfortunately things changed and he couldn’t join us…
it was wonderful to have the time to prepare for dinner… I had fun digging through my dishes and finding tea pots and cups; a variety of chopsticks and stands; and various trivets to put the food on when it arrived…
we had a lovely dinner and tons of great conversation… it was a wonderful treat to share a meal… finished the evening with more conversation, coffee and a lemon cake…
herbiggirlpants 