New Year's Eve 2013

Will you stay up tonight and wait for the New Year?  We are in a deep freeze here (-12C).  It warmed up a bit on the weekend and I went for a walk with my friend S, but we were slipping and sliding along, quite scary in fact.  I did take a few photos below:

This is a shot of the trees after the recent ice storm. As I mentioned, it was thawing a bit that day and the ice was starting to fall off the tress. It was still quite pretty.

This is what it looked like on the ground beneath the trees as the frozen ice fell off the branches.

Red Velvet Cookies

Daughter L went to a party on the weekend and made these red velvet cookies to take with her. They were baked with cream cheese icing in the middle and were moist and delicious. She drizzled melted white chocolate chips for the topping.

The February 2014 issue of Chatelaine Magazine has an article in the health section that says "simple acts of kindness increase joy and reduce social anxiety". 
So in my mind, it's actually being selfish to be kind. It can be just giving someone a well meant compliment, or just saying hello. Then you get this boost of well-being.  How about that?

Sunday Sketches - Sunset from the window

This piece is entitled 'Sunset from the Window'. Sorry if the pinks aren't showing up too clearly in the scan. It's done using watercolour pencils in my journal
 (5"h  x 7"w). Happy Sunday Sketches!

Recent Snowfall

I took daughter L for her dental checkup yesterday morning.  We were running late, so I didn't have time for my morning coffee.  Fortunately the dentist has one of those popular Tassimo coffee maker machines, so I chose one of the swiss hazelnut packets.  The coffee was nice and hot.  Do you have one of those machines?

Here are some photos I took from one of the first snowfalls (well, before that big ice storm).

Paint Party Friday - Sailboat Sunrise

This is a sketch in my journal done with watercolour pencils (5"h  x 7"w). It's called 'Sailboat Sunrise'. Happy PPF!

Boxing Day

Hope you had a warm, safe and wonderful Christmas! The Lindt creation dessert chocolates above are divine, with Tiramisu, Caramel Eclair, Meringue, Millefeuille, Creme Brulee, Chocolat Fondant and Brownie selections. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! Have a safe and wonderful day!

Christmas Eve

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!  We ended up losing power on Sunday evening and planned to stay overnight with friends as temperatures were supposed to dip to minus 15C overnight.  Son K had an idea to call the house from time to time to see if the answering machine would pick up.  It eventually did and we decided to return home.  It had been more than a 24  hour outage.  Fortunately we did go home as we had left a lot of things running such as the TV and many lights were still on inside the house.

Here are some photos from the dinner parties we hosted this past weekend.  We were lucky as the weather took a turn for the worst the day after the last party.  Daughter L does a good job of making and presenting the appetizers.  The first photo is 'figs, gorgonzola, honey and thyme' that I found on 'Inside a British Mum's Kitchen'.

Ice Storm

We had quite the ice storm on the weekend. I woke up Sunday morning to this:

As pretty as it was, one of the trees in my backyard had split in several places, the branches of all the trees were covered with ice and weighed down,  touching the ground. Many people in the city lost power, we were lucky.

Sunday Sketches - In the Trees

Welcome to Sunday Sketches! This is a page in my journal (5"h  x 7"w) in watercolour pencils, inspired by a composite of some photos I took. I decided to make the birds red in honour of the season!

Santa's Village

Daughter L is home for Christmas, yes, it is busy around here! We had a wonderful dinner party last night and another one tonight.

Santa's in evidence at most malls now, as pictured below:

According to this article in the newspaper, 'stop at just one serving of popular Christmas desserts'. It compares the calories in Christmas cake, gingerbread cake, red velvet cupcakes and suggests that you are better off eating the red velvet cupcake! Good to know as I like that one. I also like fruitcake, but it's good to know how many calories it has.

Paint Party Friday - Tea Party for Tracey

This art greeting card is done in acrylic on textured pink cardstock (5 1/2" h x 4 1/4"w).  It was created to celebrate our own Tracey Fletcher King and we are having a virtual tea party for her at PPF today!  It's a wonderful initiative by Kristin and Eva.  Do stop by and see the tea-themed collage they have created for this special occasion!

The painting is a copy of Kay at Musing's rose.  She was experimenting with Photoshop on some roses her aunt gave her and I thought I could paint one of the effects.  Kay kindly gave me permission to paint it.  I thought the pink would be symbolic on this occasion as Tracey is fighting breast cancer. 

Gingerbread House

This yummy gingerbread house is a gift from a friend.

CP24.com is running ads to solicit donations for their CHUM Christmas Wish fund. This one's so touching. Son K volunteered there one year packing gift boxes.

The Christmas List

We were at Milestone's restaurant the other night and son K took this photo of our shared dessert called 'The Cookie'.  There was a jalapeno or some other kind of hot pepper in our salsa which was a part of the appetizer.  I must've bitten into a seed, it was so painful until it finally wore off thanks to the ice cubes in my drink!  Has that ever happened to you?

I was talking to the friendly receptionist at the gym recently.  I asked him if he had his Christmas list all ready, and what did he ask his mom to get him.  He said 'I'm a little old for that now, but I want a car and a new girl'.  I said, 'what happened to the old girl?'  He replied 'I don't have one'.  I laughed and asked how old he was as it sounded just like what my 18 year old son would say.  He is 21.  These young men are all alike, lol.

The Navel Orange

Some good news, all the better to start off the holidays. Daughter L was offered her dream job starting next July 2014. She was recruited out of the university. We are all over the moon and it's a big worry off our minds! She worked really hard competing for the job.

I was at the grocery store and one of the (Filipino?) clerks was replenishing the stack of navel oranges. She told me I should choose the ones with a navel, as pictured. I think she called it the 'mama' orange. She said it was much sweeter then the ones without an obvious navel. Who knows? I figured it couldn't hurt to choose those ones. And they were quite sweet.

In other news, Gigi was eventually able to leave a comment on my blog.  Blogger was asking her for authentication information then it stopped, so all is well!   I had mentioned the problem in this post.

At The Weekend

Christmas Cake

It was a busy weekend.

I was at a tea party on Friday night hosted by a girlfriend.  We all brought small desserts to share.  Our hostess has a 38 year old daughter and a 36 year old son, with no grandchildren.  In February of this year her daughter's boyfriend invited both parents to lunch and asked their daughter's hand in marriage.  They had been dating for 6 years and have a dog.  The answer was yes.  He whisked her off to Paris and proposed by one of the famous bridges there.  Oh, I love these kinds of stories!

The next morning, an old friend came by for a walk in the freezing cold.  I asked her if she was sure we should do this.  It had to be at least -8C (18F).  Anyway we bundled up and had coffees at the local Starbucks.  We reminisced about our old jobs in the computer industry where we first met 27 years ago.  We worked long hours there and collected lots of overtime.  We learned a lot.  Then husband M and son K joined us for lunch afterward.  My friend told me about this new kind of heating pad called light relief that I think I will order from Amazon, it sounds comforting for cold, achy joints.  Or even if you don't have cold, achy joints.

On Sunday morning, I met my friend S for a walk.  She gave me some wonderful Christmas cake pictured above that we have already started eating. It has a wonderful rum flavour, and is full of fruit.  Then I went off to church.  They will be having a big Advent confession evening, before Christmas.  We were given an 'Examination of Conscience' leaflet in the newsletter to help us prepare.  It is basically the Ten Commandments.

We met some good friends for dinner later that night.  It was a tiring weekend.

Sunday Sketches - Seasonal Touch

This journal page is just a seasonal touch for Sunday Sketches. (7"h  x 5w") in watercolour pencils.

It's been bitterly cold in the Toronto area the past few days with snow on and off. The malls are jam-packed.  Starting at midday even during the week, the parking lots are already full!

Brilliant Brownies

I made these gluten free brownies earlier this week from a recipe in the latest issue of Chatelaine magazine. They are called 'brilliant brownies'. They are amazing, but I don't want to give the recipe due to potential copyright restrictions. For the most part, it uses ground almonds, egg whites, icing sugar and cocoa.  It was really quick to make. It's healthy but still fattening!

Paint Party Friday - A Seasonal Piece

My good friend Gigi has been encountering this roadblock for the past few days when trying to comment on my blog:

'Christine,

This is what I saw when I hit "publish" on my comment to your post today:

Do you want to pass your http://gigihawaii.wordpress.com/ identity to https://draft.blogger.com/?

It asked for my real name and said:

Trust this site with your identity?'

If you encounter this problem please don't publish, just send me an email instead. I'd still love to hear from you. Hopefully I can get to the bottom of this.

This is a seasonal piece done in my journal, (5"h x 7"w) in watercolour pencils. I saw this large, beautiful wreath in a restaurant, hung above a table.  It looked something like this.  I loved the effect. Happy Paint Party Friday!

Ethical Consideration

My friend S knows the family in the story below which recently ran in the Toronto Star.  This couple had a new baby in the hope he can save his sister from leukemia.  I told people I knew about this, and one of my sisters remembered a similar story which ran several years ago. She found it and sent it to me.  Another friend who is a psychologist said the idea of having a baby to save your sick child is totally wrong and that it didn't bode well for the newborn. It's interesting because in this older story, the 'Parents stirred outrage 20 years ago when they conceived her to donate bone marrow'.  What are your thoughts on this?  After watching the older story, I was moved by the love that motivated it. 

Here is the story that ran in the Toronto Star on the weekend.
New brother brings love and hope to sister with leukemia.

Here is the similar story that happened 20 years ago which my sister found:
Born to save sister’s life, she’s ‘glad I am in this family’.

Another Holiday Party

BCE Place, Downtown Toronto

Husband M, Son K and I attended a holiday party at the home of an old friend this past Sunday. She will turn 70 next year and is as lively and energetic as ever. I was sad to learn one of her friends passed away last year at 84. He left his wife behind, they had no children so she lives alone now. She was quite dependent on him. It would almost be better if she had passed on before him, but it doesn't work that way.  My friend told me they were horrified that this lady now keeps her husband's ashes in her living room and will tell visitors 'There's Henry'. I actually don't have a problem with that.

There was a couple there, the husband was 75, he told me he suffered a stroke 25 years ago.  It explained why the left side of his face was paralyzed.  He said he had 4 heart attacks that same year.  They told him he had to quit smoking and drinking.  Now he walks and talks normally.  In fact, he entertained the group of 15 with rowdy jokes for a good part of the night.

I had to ask one of the other couples if they go to my church.  Sure enough, it was them.  I had seen the lady in church a number of times as they are quite active there.  I kept wondering where I knew her from.  She has known my friend for 33 years and I have been seeing her on and off over the years at the parties but I couldn't place her!  It's a small world.

There was one other couple around our age who we knew, so it was good to catch up with them.  K entertained himself on his smart phone and loves any kind of party.

It's a busy time of year, but great to connect with old friends and meet new people.

Shopping

Son K went shopping with some friends on the weekend and took the nice photo at the mall.

Remembering some snippets of conversation from my husband M's holiday office party on the weekend. It was funny when a co-worker remarked on the fact that he's always wanted a wine rack. He finally got one and remarked on how he can't keep it stocked with any bottles! He keeps drinking them. The wife of another co-worker friend was telling me cute stories of her 8 year old son. He told her there were 4 girls who liked him at his school. However he was having a problem. 'Mom, I can't marry them all! What am I going to do?' The mom said she found little love notes from the girls stuffed in his backpack. He was playing video games at the time and she asked him if he wanted to keep them. He said distractedly 'no, you can just throw them out'. Another time, his dad went to get him early from school and discovered that 2 little girls were in the principal's office for a timeout, apparently fighting over his son! This little boy is already so popular with girls, lol.

Holiday Party

We went downtown to my husband M's office holiday party on the weekend. It was fun mingling with his co-workers, some of whom are personal friends after many years.  I was talking to these 2 ladies for a bit and it seems they do a lot of online shopping.  A lot of places have free shipping if you spend over a certain amount and it saves time and is very convenient.  One of them said she does a lot of bidding on Ebay and gets great deals on quality items.  Do you shop a lot online?  It makes sense, but I don't really do a lot of it.

 K has exams at his College this week, stressful days, amidst all the seasonal preparations. He has a learning disability so I am very involved helping him study. We will welcome the holidays!  It's also time to register for the second semester and looking at all the new courses is a bit daunting.  We have to decide on the right course load.  And daughter L will be home from school in a few weeks.

Sunday Sketches - November Coneflower

For this week's Sunday Sketches, I'm showing a journal page in watercolour pencils (7"h  x 5"w). It's inspired by what the coneflowers looked like a few weeks ago, I'm calling this the 'November Coneflower'.  It's perhaps a sparse beauty.

Yawn

Here's a good one from Plowing Through Life, it had me in stitches!  It's funny because I recently and accidentally discovered my Vaio laptop has a camera.  And it snapped me mid-yawn, it wasn't pretty, lol.  Have a great Saturday!

Paint Party Friday - Decay

For PPF, I did a sketch in my journal (5"h  x 7"w) using watercolour pencils. It was inspired by a couple of decaying leaves I noticed on my front porch.

Gift Card

I got this Starbucks braille gift card for a friend. She is not blind, but I thought it was interesting. The card has braille lettering reading 'Starbucks'. 

Waffle Fries and Guacamole

This is a Canada Post mailbox all decorated for the holiday season!  My cards have mostly been mailed out. Do you mail cards out?  Unfortunately Canada Post is losing money as mail continues to fall.

In other news, Kentucky Fried Chicken is set to roll out their Mexican fare mid-December in downtown Toronto. It's a world first. Read more about it here.
It's a new KFC 'select' outlet where they will serve grilled chicken burritos, waffle fries and guacamole. They are trying to compete in changing times.

My husband and son are quite sad due to the recent death of Paul Walker, the fast and furious star.  I never watched any of the movies but they did.  

At the Blood Lab

This is a shot of my sister's cat, she has the most amazing green eyes! However, she was eating the spider plant next to her, not sure if that's even good for her.

I had gone over to take my mom for her monthly blood test. The doctor monitors her blood clotting levels as she has a heart condition. Our local blood lab gets busier and busier. This time we waited over an hour for her test. We were number 85 and they were serving number 59 when we got there. It really depends when you get there as the crowd ebbs and flows. Fortunately we got seats after a little while.

The lady sitting next to us said it was her first time at this lab and wondered if it was always so crowded. A man came in with a lady. It seemed he was feeling dizzy and he needed some tests. The attendant apologized and told him he had to take a number. Someone gave him a seat and he promptly fell asleep. Maybe he should have gone to emergency. Then a couple of cute pre-school aged kids came in with their caregivers. They wore the cutest winter hats, reminding me of how my daughter would always pull hers off. One of the kids was the cutest little boy. His mom had made an appointment for a DNA test for the boy. Hmm. It was hard to keep him entertained while they waited in the crowded lounge. At one point, I heard him say 'mommy, you're mean!' She denied it as she restrained him. He said 'yes, you are'. His grandma was there and helped to keep him occupied as only a grandma can do. Happily, our number came up and then it was time to get on with the rest of our day.

Bargain Shopping

On the weekend, my friend S asked me to meet her at a store still running their Black Friday sale. Yes, Canada has started running Black Friday sales in an effort to keep shoppers buying local. Toronto is close enough to the US border that people will drive to Buffalo, NY to bargain shop. Anyway, S always knows where the good deals are. So we got some $100 comforter bedding sets for $30. I hadn't intended to purchase bedding, but a deal is a deal after all. The set  includes a comforter, pillow shams and a couple of decorative cushions.  Wouldn't you know it, S is going to return hers because she thought the set also included sheets!  I'm happy with mine pictured above.

Camel

Wow, welcome to December!

For Sunday Sketches I did a sketch of a camel in the desert.  It was inspired by a photo I saw on Ercotravel India's blog .  It's done in watercolour pencils in my 'new' (5" x 7") art journal pictured below.

This old journal has been lying around the house for ages and I finally decided to use it.

art journal

A Fun Game

Here's a good one I saved from Plowing Through Life. Lol.

Here is a fun game from Google called Dr Who's 50th Anniversary, in honour of it. The premise of the game is 'those dastardly Daleks have stolen the Google letters and we need Doctor Who to retrieve them'. If you have kids who like video games, they might enjoy it! I had trouble retrieving even the first letter G.

Paint Party Friday - The View

Welcome to Paint Party Friday!

I found this old art journal (approximately 5" x 7") in my stash and decided to start using it for sketches.

Here is a sketch of the view from my window, from a photo taken last month. It's done in watercolour pencils.

Vegetable Tray

Happy Thanksgiving to our US neighbours!

mini sweet peppers, snap peas

This was my lunch the other day, using leftovers from my husband M's Grey Cup Football party. I got this delicious vegetable tray from Costco containing some different ingredients. There were some miniature sweet peppers and some sugar snap peas in addition to carrots, tomatoes and broccoli. I had also bought a large tourtiere meat pie. I didn't even know you could eat snap peas raw like that and they were crunchy and delicious. So were the sweet peppers. I thought at first they were hot peppers.  It came with a garden ranch dip.

Snow Tires

I took my car in to the service centre to have the snow tires put on.  I asked the serviceman if he was new there.  He told me he started in May.  Prior to that he worked at a similar place.  But he had moved as he wanted a job close to home.  He has been in the business since he was 19 and he is now 36.  He seemed happy in his job.

This place has a complimentary shuttle service.  They use retired men to run the service and they are always full of interesting conversation.  On my way home, we spoke of the upcoming Pan American Games next summer, all the bad mayors, all the road construction, you name it.  For the return trip to get my car, he made good points.  For example, people shouldn't complain about the snow because the people who work in the ski resorts are happy, it's good for their business.  I learned that the service centre is slow in January and September.  January because everyone's broke after the holidays.  September because everyone's broke after dealing with their  kids' school expenses!  It's the same for all the stores and they have to run sales to keep their cash flow going.  Then we decided the restaurant and grocery business (and indeed even my hairdresser) is happy at Christmastime because  all the parties and festivities bring in a lot of business for them.  The summertime is also a good time for the restaurants.  Indeed his daughter has a restaurant and hires a lot of students in the summer.  It all works out when they have to return to school in the fall as business slows down.

So these are the interesting tidbits for today, I think I learned something.

Advent

Here's a good one I got from an email!

And here is a neat ping pong game you can play, but you have to be really good to beat the computer!

I went to church on the weekend.  The deacon gave his sermon using a Samsung tablet!  He faltered a couple of times losing his place as he moved his fingers over the 'pages', but his message was clear by the end!  Good for him!   Plans for the Christmas pageant are underway.  Advent starts next weekend, right after the US Thanksgiving.

Healthy Snacks

My husband M was on a business trip to the U.S. last week. He brought back some healthy snacks. One of those says it's a wheat free gluten free snickerdoodle cookie, it was so delicious!!  It's from WOW baking company. There is even a blueberrycrisp energy bar there along with some fruity snacks.  It's nice that there is a switch to healthy snacks everywhere now.

 M had a Grey Cup (Canadian) football party yesterday at our house with a bunch of friends.  Wish I was a sports fan.  Apparently the game was not exciting, too bad.  But everyone had a good time.

I bought several Christmas gifts on the weekend, they are playing lots of Christmas music on the radio and the malls scream gift shopping with their tempting displays. And the weather became freezing cold along with snow!

Sunday Sketches - Festive Dress

I've done a Festive art greeting card on gold card stock for Sunday Sketches (6"h x 4"w). I saw a photo of a model wearing this pretty dress and loved how it swirled about her legs. Are you getting into the holiday spirit?

Bitcoin

Lol!

Just a few thoughts for today.  Canadians are happy in their jobs, according to this article. And I keep reading about 'bit coin'. According to this article 'Bitcoin is a completely decentralized form of virtual currency that enables direct payment over the internet by skipping the middleman, which is usually a bank or credit card company. Transactions are safe due to cryptography used to prevent double spending, counterfeiting, or theft. Users can use bitcoins for a variety of real transactions.'  Things are changing fast, now we are talking about digital money.  Of course this will bring its own problems that will have to be worked out through trial and error.  One of my sisters said she heard the money is not traceable so drug dealers like it.  Apparently you can already get bitcoin from kiosks in Vancouver. 

Paint Party Friday - Leaf in Shadow

For Paint Party Friday I've done an art greeting card (6"h x 4"w) 'Leaf in Shadow', inspired by a leaf that blew into my front door the other day. I took a photo pictured below and went from there! Thanks to Valerie at Bastelmania for the gift of some good quality cardstock!

A Chance Encounter

McCafe Latte

I was at my local McDonald's yesterday, decided to get a small latte, skim milk and whipped cream, a good compromise don't you think? An older senior lady sat quietly at the table next to me. I decided to ask her if she was collecting the stickers on her cup. It's a fun promotion and if you get 7 stickers, it entitles you to a free medium drink of your choice. She said she did have a couple of stickers she had saved.

She mentioned she lived alone, that her husband had passed away a month ago, he had heart valve problems and died in his sleep at home. We both agreed we wouldn't mind dying this way. He worked up until the day he died. It was revealed that he had compromised their business due to gambling debt and felt he had to keep working. As it is he had left their affairs in a mess. There is no life insurance and she will sell her house, which will pay for other accommodations once she decides where to go. Admittedly, the house is too big for her alone anyway. She doesn't have many friends left these days so she didn't think it mattered staying close to home. Her husband was 82 and she is 81. She has children living with their own families, one at the other end of town and one living up north. The one at the other end of town visits her weekly.  She was very 'matter of fact' about the whole thing, as opposed to being upset. I think it was good for her to talk to a sympathetic ear. Indeed her problems are not unique in our aging population.

I bid her goodbye and we both hoped we would meet again.

Fancy Egg Breakfast

My daughter L sent me this food photo of a fancy egg breakfast she made recently. She said you just lay a slice of ham inside a medium muffin baking tin. Then you drop an egg into it and sprinkle some fresh dill on top. Bake for about half and hour and pour it on top of some toast! Doesn't it look restaurant quality?

Simple Foods

My daughter L has a roommate at school who is a very good cook. She believes in using  fresh spices, herbs and ingredients. L told me she now loves dipping bread into a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. She is also eating lots of salad (romaine lettuce) mixed with a similar dressing. The simplest meals are the best!

The Circle of Life

I got this funny one from Martha at Plowing Through Life.

We went to a potluck dinner at the home of some old friends on the weekend. I happened to make a decent eye of round roast in the crockpot, so we took that along and it was a success. Their grown kids happened to be home and it was nice to see them. We met the older girl's boyfriend, a nice young man. They are recent university graduates and have started new jobs.  I suspect it's just a matter of time before the wedding invitations come in, the circle of life you know.

I asked the young couple how they met, it turns out they went to elementary school together, from about grade 5 to 7.  At the end of high school, a group of them who have always kept in touch decided to get together for a reunion.  They have been dating since then!