yesterday I was sitting in the living room watching the snow fall gently outside as I prepared to do some reading…
thinking of how blessed I truly am as I send healing thoughts to so many in my circle and beyond who are struggling with difficult times…
having good health, a comfortable home, food to eat, and companions during these wintry days is life-giving and it is important to remember what a good life I have…
many people start their New Year’s Day with a cold plunge;-)…
I like to start with a hot tub… it was beautiful out, the sun was shining, there wasn’t much wind, and the chickadees were busy at the feeders…
a lovely way to begin the year…
I took out the fancy selfie stick and set it up to get a photo of me in the tub, even though Google told me it felt like -20° Celsius… which it didn’t, lol…
I did look at the plunge tub for a hot second as I walked past it, lol… if my housemate had been home I might have gone in…
the Mediterranean biome smelled of rosemary and there were many of the plants growing all over the area… the Celebration installation was bright and shiny, with tons of lights on the trees and I was struck by some of the snowflake and icicle ornaments, so cute…
the many holiday trees, poinsettias, and amaryllis were beautiful;-)… the succulent tree is eye catching and I took quite a few photos of it…
I always like to visit the wollemi pine, a very rare tree known as the dinosaur tree…
sadly, we didn’t spot any butterflies in the Shirley Richardson biome…
a lovely visit…
what a treat to have this amazing place here in the city… a great replacement for the old Conservatory;-)…
last winter I was having trouble zipping up my boots… they still fit fine, but it was getting more and more difficult to zip them up… I tried running a candle up and down them and then being sure to zip them closed as soon as I took them off, but it was still a worry when I went to put them on…
I purchased these boots Dec 2, 2015, so they didn’t owe me anything, but I didn’t want to replace them…
not long ago, when we were at Rona, we found a spray (similar to WD40), and used it on the zippers…
they work perfectly now and I am very happy about that;-)…
yesterday, I put some up on the bedroom window, after I took off the screen… I covered one completely and did half of the second one so I could still see out…
I was thrilled to discover that the bubbles for these two panels were heart-shaped;-)…
been wanting to wrap the door with fabric, like ribbon on a present…
consulted with a friend and went online to find just the right fabric…
was looking for silver, but in the end ordered some glittery tulle…
it arrived last week and I decided on a plan…
first I removed the curtain that had been hanging over the window and replaced it with bubble wrap to act as insulation;-)… that was fun and it is just held there with water…
next I unwrapped the glittery tulle and figured out how much I needed… I tied it but with the knot on the inside of the door and I realized it needed to be on the outside, so I undid it and then redid it the other way…
then it looked a bit empty so I dug out a wreath made from three others… removed one and hung the other two on the tulle…
and to finish it off, hung a glittery bow on the inside…
yesterday morning the furnace people arrived around 8 am, just when they said they would… the temp had made it up to 18°C…
people came and went, bits and pieces were removed and then the new high efficiency furnace made it into the basement after tarps were laid down to protect the stairs… Harry worked all day, with helpers coming and going as needed…
it took two of them to get the heavy oldie out of the house…
I was out for the afternoon and when I arrived home the temperature was at a toasty 20°C…
the basement was perfectly clean, all of the bits and pieces which had gone into the backyard were gone and the vents had been raised so the snow shouldn’t be a problem in the future…
and this pretty thing was snuggled into the space… reminds me a bit of Barbie, the barbecue;-)…
I am very pleased with the whole process and would happily recommend M1 Mechanical for furnace replacement or repair…
the furnace has been misbehaving for nearly six weeks…
it started when my Nest app advised that the furnace had been off a number of times over a few weeks starting early in November and suggested I be in touch with a technician… this had never happened before…
I contacted the usual company and they said as long as it was working they couldn’t tell what was wrong… they booked me for an annual maintenance appointment which wasn’t until December…
since the beginning of December I have listened to the furnace starting and stopping close together, a sound which was certainly new… different from previous problems when it had stopped due to snow plugging the vents…
when the technician came for the annual checkup they advised that the furnace needed to be replaced… apparently it is 37 years old… it was working fine while they were here although it was doing a bit of the on-and-off business…
I called another company for a second opinion and on Friday they agreed that it needed to be replaced before too long…
Saturday when I got up, the temperature was 14.5° Celsius and it took hours for it to even start raising the temperature in the house… I was worried it had finally stopped;-(… eventually it made it to 17° C… Sunday it stayed around that temperature…
Monday it was down to 16° C and was quite chilly, lol… I called and a new install was scheduled for Wednesday…
Tuesday, it was 14.5°C when I got up… I raised the dial on the thermometer to 32° and it took a very long time to start to warm up…
then it got too hot, but I was afraid to lower the temperature in case it stopped working again… eventually I lowered it to 22 before bed…
herbiggirlpants 