Category Archives: husband

Share Your World 2016 -Week 14

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….thanks Cee for some great questions this week

If you could hire someone to help you, would it be with cleaning, cooking, or yard work?

Hands down, I’d want someone to help me with the cleaning. I’d love to have someone clean the bathrooms, wash the floors, dust and vacuum. We already have a family of young boys who cut our grass once a week and we love to dabble in the garden. My husband is an excellent cook and he loves cooking for me and for family and friends. I don’t mind cooking either.

What makes you laugh the most?

A good joke, a funny movie and watching my granddaughter feeding herself.P1000868

What was your favorite food when you were a child?

I loved food and was definitely not a fussy eater. It may sound odd but I loved creamed spinach and my dad made a tasty spaghetti with ground beef and peas in a brown gravy. When I was about 11 or 12  my mom learned how to make a real spaghetti meat sauce with tomatoes and that quickly became a favourite meal for me. Truth be told I don’t think I had one favourite food. I loved cabbage rolls, chicken a la king, chicken pot pie, homemade burgers, fruit torts with whipped cream, ice cream and most cakes and cookies.

List at least five favorite flowers or plants.

I love the following flowers: sunflowers, tulips, Peruvian lilies, irises, carnations, roses, daisy mums and Gerber daisies.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for some beautiful weather last week before winter returned. I enjoyed a wonderful day with the family in Hamilton on the weekend, despite the blizzard we had to drive home in. I’m grateful that I didn’t break any bones when I slipped on the ice when I was going down the concrete steps in front of my house on Monday. Earlier in the day all of the snow on the sidewalks and pathways had melted but there were a few wet patches that froze later in the evening and that’s what caught me by surprise when I took the dog out for one last walk that night. Thank goodness for strong bones and a good amount of padding.

I’m also grateful for the support from my husband on our weight loss journey. He’s lost 10 pounds and I’m down 8 1/2. There are 96 days left before the wedding. If I can lose 1 pound every four days I should be able to lose another 24 pounds but I can’t think that far ahead. One day at a time.

Cheers!

Share Your World 2016 – Week 13

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….lucky week 13

Are you left or right handed?

I’m left handed but I’m able to do a lot of things with my right hand. I write and draw with my left hand. With my right hand I knit, play ukelele, bowl, bat, golf, throw a ball, play tennis and control the mouse and scroll bar on my computer. With both hands I can iron, use scissors, brush and blow dry my hair and use a saw.

If you had only one TV, would you prefer the TV in the living room or another room?

We only have one TV and it’s in our TV room in the basement. We didn’t want it in the living room because we didn’t want it to be a distraction when we have company. Too often we’ve seen people go straight for the TV instead of sitting down and having a conversation. They might as well stay home. I also don’t like having a TV in the bedroom. When we were younger, we’d fall asleep and wake up to the white noise of the test pattern on the TV. I guess I’m aging myself. Today’s generation doesn’t even know what a test pattern is.

Have you ever participated in a distance walking, swimming, running, or biking event? Tell your story.

When I was younger long distance walks for charity were all the rage. In high school I walked 32 miles around the city to raise money for a charity I don’t recall. I do remember collecting pledges for every mile walked and stopping at check points to verify that I’d walked that leg of the walk. We started early in the morning and I finished at city hall, and it was already dark. I remember there being hundreds of people waiting at the finish line and when I arrived the first thing my father did was hug me and step on feet. Ouch!

Four years ago I ran my first 5k run. I worked with a group of young girls at school and we participated in Girls on the Run. The first year I did this I had just started to lose weight and was down about 18 pounds but by the end of the run I thought I was going to die. I think I had a bit of a panic attack and couldn’t stop crying. The following year I did it again but this time I was down 30 pounds and I had been running more consistently. It felt great.

I’ve done one other running event after that, two years in a row. The Railpath Run in the Junction raises money for The Stop to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community, and challenges inequality. This particular run I’ve done with my oldest daughter who lives in the community. It’s a lot of fun and both times I’ve done the community walk/run portion. This year I was only going to walk the course but once I started I couldn’t stop running. I’m not very fast but I’m consistent.IMG_6303

Complete this sentence: Love is… 

• a smile from my granddaughterIMG_7725

• flowers waiting for me when I arrive home from work for no special occasionIMG_6031

• when the whole family gets together

• the dog greeting me at the dog, her whole body gyrating… she’s so happy to see me

• my husband hugging me and playfully teasing me

• my husband’s home cooked meals

• my husband’s complete acceptance of all my flaws and imperfections

• my father’s weekly phone calls

• the pride I feel when I speak of my children’s accomplishments

• continuing to worry about your children’s well being even when they’re adults

• is get togethers with close cherished friends

• is supporting family and friends in good and bad times and in sickness and health

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week I was grateful for a short work week and a very long weekend. I was grateful for two days of beautiful weather and being able to get out for a long hike with my husband through High Park.

Our dog, Frances, was very ill ten days ago so I’m very grateful that she’s on the mend and pretty much back to her old self. I know she getting better because she actually wants to go outside and walk but the vet told us to not exercise her too much. That’s a hard thing to convey to a dog, especially one as active as Frances.

I’m also very grateful for time together with the whole family (not including our son in London) during the Easter weekend. We had a wonderful dinner here and our granddaughter provided us with a lot of laughter as she fed herself sweet potatoes and cauliflower.

This week I’m looking forward to another short week at school (4 days) and more success on the scale. I’ve lost 6 1/2 pounds this past week and look forward to more healthy eating and walking. My husband is doing this with me so it makes it so much easier. I’m starting to look at clothes for the wedding this summer and I’m hoping to lose another 20 pounds. I think that’s pretty doable in the next 13 weeks.

For more Share Your World posts check out Cee’s blog.

Share Your World 2016 – Week 10

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…..it’s Thursday and I’m home trying to get over a cold

I don’t like waiting so long to get to Cee’s challenge but it seems like I’ve taken on more than I can manage at the moment so something had to be put aside temporarily. That something just happened to be writing for my blog. I’m trying to rest today so that I’m not sick over my March Break. Plans include drawing, reading and answering the following questions.

What would you ask for if a genie granted you three wishes?

I would ask for good health for me and my family. My second wish would be enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life and take two or three trips a year.  My last wish would be for on going happiness for my children. If they’re happy and I’m healthy what more could I ask for?

What experiences are most meaningful to you?

The experiences that are most meaningful to me are those that involve my husband and my family. They would include getting married, buying a house, having my children, going on vacation, having a great job and watching my children grow up and sharing their happy moments.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was very young I wanted to be a nurse. At the age of 12 I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and not just any teacher but a family studies teacher. I held on to that dream all through school, occasionally contemplating about going into medicine but my first choice was teaching. Well I did become a family studies teacher and did that for 15 years and then switched to become a guidance counsellor for two years and then a grade 5 homeroom teacher for 14 years and for the last 4 years I’ve been the librarian and art teacher.

Complete this sentence: The best day of my life was….

I can’t pick just one. My wedding day, the days my children were born, the day we bought our house, the day I got my first teaching job, the days when my daughters got married, the day my son got engaged and the day my granddaughter was born.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for spending the day babysitting my granddaughter last Sunday. My husband had a lot of medical tests done this week and I’m grateful that everything looks good and that his cancers are still in remission. We have the green light to proceed making plans for our trip to Italy this summer. We’ve had warming temperatures all week and the rain that we were suppose to get didn’t arrive until today so we’ve experienced very pleasant days.

After tomorrow our March Break begins and I’m looking forward to a week of rest and relaxation. We haven’t made any plans other than seeing our children. Maybe we’ll take in the museum or the art gallery and I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot of walking.

Walking, the Bike Show, Drawing and More Walking

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….Saturday was a great walking day

The temperatures are starting to rise but not enough for the snow to become a slushy mess. That will happen later today and definitely tomorrow as we head into double digits above the freezing mark.

Saturday was perfect for a long walk with the dog. Frances loves the snow. We did walk through the field with her but for the most part we stayed on the paths where the snow had been shovelled or had already melted away. It was a fun morning and I was able to play with my new camera. We came across a sad little snowman and I tried shooting it from different angles.

When we got home I checked my fitness device and discovered we had walked about 6000 steps. Not our longest walk but it was a good start to the day. I made us a hardy breakfast that I knew would sustain us through lunch and then we got ready to take a trip to the bike show.

Every year at this time, The Toronto Bike Show takes place at the CNE grounds. It’s a very busy show and we had to park a fair distance from the building but that was okay because we knew we were going to rack up a lot more steps. My husband was a little disappointed in the show. He felt that there wasn’t as much to see this year. The show certainly is quite large and if you’re in the market for a new bike there were some deals to be had. I think because we had been at the show last year it felt like there wasn’t as much in the way of new products or at least things that were significantly different from the year before.

There were lots of bikes with large attached carriers, Dutch style, fat bikes, racing bikes, electric assist bikes, bicycle accessories, booths promoting bicycle tours and races and bikes for the littlest of riders. We came across a little boy (11 months old) who was checking out a bike that he could be riding in a couple of years.

As we walked back to the car my Jawbone Up signalled me that I had reached my goal of 10,000 steps for the day and it was only mid-afternoon. We rang up our oldest daughter and found out that she was home and happy for some company so we headed over to her house. We had a nice visit with her. At one point I suggested we go for a walk in her neighbourhood but my husband was content to just sit for a bit.

After a couple of hours, we continued on our way home and arrived just in time to take the dog for another walk. Correction…. I took her for another walk. This one was considerably shorter and I would be doing this at least one more time before I went to bed.

We enjoyed a simple supper of left overs and then started watching the new season of House of Cards with Kevin Spacey. I can only do this for couple of hours before I need a change of scene. I made my way to my sketch books and art materials which at the moment are on my dining room table. I watched a few more art lessons on my computer and then I cracked open my sketch book and got my ink and pen ready to draw. I came across a photo of a cow on one of the blogs I follow and decided that would be my subject for the day. I’ve always wanted to draw cows so today was the day.

IMG_7690

After posting this sketch on Facebook for my daily sketching challenge I took the dog for one last walk and then did the dishes. I can never leave dishes overnight so no matter how late it gets I end up cleaning before crawling into bed. I checked my walking progress and was happy to see that for the day I had taken 14 270 steps. Ten days in a row now I’ve reached my 10 000 steps/day goal.

How was your weekend? Did you reach any goals or do something interesting?

Time to get ready to visit our other daughter in Hamilton. We’re babysitting today. Yay!

 

 

Share Your World 2016 – Week 7

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….thanks Cee for hosting Share Your World

What are you a “natural” at doing?

I think I’m a natural at teaching art to young children and reading stories to them.

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Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?

I like multiple levels in a house. I find climbing stairs helps keep me fit. Maybe as I get older I’ll prefer a one floor house.

What was your favorite subject in school?

In school my favourite subject was Family studies. I’ve always loved practical hands on classes.

Complete this sentence: If only the rain..

….would happen only at night.

What are you grateful for from last week and what do you look forward to this week?

I’m grateful for my daughter’s wonderful wedding a week ago today. It was a beautiful and simple ceremony at City Hall. Afterwards we walked to a very nice bar down the street and toasted the girls with Prosecco. Dinner wasn’t until 6:00 so we stayed at Drake 150 for about an hour and then we headed to Terroni’s for the reception. The guest list was very intimate with only 26 family members and very close friends in attendance. The food was fabulous and a wonderful time was had by all.

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On Saturday I paid a visit to my friend Maria and brought her some goodies for her birthday, Valentine’s Day and Family Day. On Sunday my husband treated me to a very nice lunch at Snug Harbour in Port Credit to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The meal was fantastic.

This week I’m looking forward to pyjama day at school, the dance for the kids on Friday and hopefully seeing my granddaughter on the weekend.

Back to Normal

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….what a productive day!

Yesterday I started the day with a very long walk with my husband and Frances, our Super Dog. It was extremely cold but we extended our walk and when we finally got back home, I had already exceeded my goal of 10 000 steps for the day. We were suppose to go to Hamilton to visit with our daughter and her family but the plans changed and they were coming to us instead.

Time to clean-up. I started in the kitchen, moved to the bathroom and washed the floors. I was hoping to get to the living room but they arrived early. We enjoyed a simple lunch together and then they had to leave to visit family on his side. B’s dad had not met Winnie yet so we volunteered to look after Lucy (their Bassett hound). This meant a another  walk, albeit a short one. When that dog doesn’t want to go any further she puts on the brakes and there’s no budging her.

When the two dogs settled into their own quiet spaces I decided it might be a good time to clear away the remaining Christmas ornaments that were piled on top of the coffee table in the living room and on top of the piano. I pulled out all the boxes from under the stairs and started to reorganize the stockings, ornaments, lights, candles and Christmas cloths and skirts back into their preselected bins. When I returned the boxes to their place under the stairs I must have hit my head at least three times when I was backing out of the closet.

Frances is enjoying the new ‘normalcy’
The only evidence that we celebrated Christmas and will probably be around for awhile

Once the decorations were all put away I vacuumed up any remaining pine needles from the carpet and washed the hardwood. I also decided to polish the piano. Seeing that I’ve haven’t done this in years the wood practically drank up the polishing cream. When I was done it felt good to get so much accomplished.

After I took Lucy for her ‘short’ walk I noticed the most amazing moon hanging over the city so when I returned home I took my new camera, set it on ‘hand held night shots’ and returned to the park, without the dog, and tried to capture that image. I posted a few of these shots on WPC.

P1000142

Later in the evening, G and her husband and the baby returned. We spent some more time together. While B helped me with my camera and cleaned up my computer, my husband played with the baby. She gets stronger every time we see her and she desperately wants to crawl and loves to stand when you hold on to her.

I now know a little bit more about my new camera and I was given some very useful tips about keeping my computer virus free. I updated some of my software after our company left and I was able to write a post for this blog before I went to bed. By the time I did finally go to bed I had logged 17 000 steps for the day. Not bad. All being said and done, I had a very productive day despite a nagging headache. Wonder where that came from? Haha!

Stroke of Midnight

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….where was I and would I have preferred to be somewhere else?

That is the question posed by the Daily Post today. First of all I have to admit that I have not been out for New Year’s celebrations for several years, preferring to stay at home and watch the ball drop from the comfort of my living room.

This New Year’s Eve I definitely would have preferred to be somewhere else. I wasn’t at home cuddled up on the couch. I was sitting in a dark waiting room at the hospital with my husband, watching a preselected channel on the television. At least it was the coverage of Times Square and the view from the room allowed us to see some of the fireworks that went off at the stroke of midnight.

For the last three days, I’ve been back and forth to the hospital waiting for our adult son to be wheeled down to surgery to repair a broken arm. It finally happened at 8:45 last night. The surgery was successful and at 1:15 when he was returned to his hospital room he was wide awake and chatty. Once I was assured that he was comfortable and had everything he needed at his fingertips I said my goodbyes and made my way home.

Definitely an unforgettable New Year’s Eve but one I’d prefer not to repeat.

Happy 2016 to the blogging world. Wishing everyone good health, happiness and peace in the world.

Carol

Share Your World 2015 – Week 50

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….thanks Cee for 50 weeks of great questions

Favourite thing to photograph? Write? Or Cook?

I love photographing nature. When I discovered the macro feature on my camera I’m became somewhat obsessed with taking close-ups of flowers and seed pods and when an insect appears on the subject, I’m in heaven.

I like to write about my daily life. It’s like keeping a personal diary that I share with the world. I’ve dabbled in Haiku which I quite enjoy.

I like baking but I don’t do very much of it because I would eat it and be even heavier than I am. I’ll probably  do some Christmas baking because I like to give it to my neighbours and friends.

Did you like swinging as a child? Do you still get excited when you see a swing?

I’m not sure that I really liked it as a young child but when I got older (preteen) we used to hang around the swings and challenge each other to go as high as possible. I can’t say that I get excited when I see the  swing sets in my neighbourhood. The thought of going on one actually makes me a bit nauseated.

What has surprised you about blogging? 

The biggest surprise about blogging is that I’m still here, almost four years since I started. I’m also surprised how my focus has changed and how many photo challenges that I take part in.

List at least five favorite desserts.

I have to admit that desserts are a weakness. When I’m good I can go without for a long time but once I start eating sweets it’s a slippery slope. Here are some of my favourite desserts:

Anything with fruit – apple strudel (authentic is the best)

– apple or fruit crisp

– fresh fruit torte with whipped cream

Poppy seed cake

Creme Brule

Key lime tarts

Bread pudding

Ice Cream with fruit and whipped cream

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for a wonderful dinner and time spent with a group of friends last Friday. On Saturday I got out for a long walk with my husband and dog and I managed to log over 15 000 steps for the entire day. On Sunday my family and I drove out into the country to a Christmas tree farm and cut down three trees for each of our homes. It was a cold and dreary day and the first time that I’ve done this when there was no snow on the ground. Afterwards we went back to my youngest daughter’s place in Hamilton and warmed up with coffee, gluehwein, hot home-made soup and grilled sandwiches.

Today the girls played in the West Conference Finals for basketball. They won their first two games and in the final game they lost in a very good game, 16 to 14. It was a difficult loss for them because it was so close and they missed out going to the city championships because of one basket. On the plus side they earned a second place banner for the school.

This week I’m looking forward to hearing the choir sing at the Holiday Concert. We’re having our staff party on Wednesday and on Saturday I’m attending another Christmas dinner with another group of friends. Friday is the last day of school and I have about a week to finish my Christmas shopping and get the house ready for family get togethers. The thing I’m looking forward to the most is seeing my son on Monday. He’ll be flying in from London, England and spending about two weeks with us.