Christmas Countdown - 2018

[SnowDog]

Thank you, SnowDog. So soon after losing Gloria, it's even sadder.

The new lights will probably look a lot like the old ones! But I'll try to take a photo to post. I usually string the lights the afternoon before Thanksgiving when I get home early (fingers crossed) from work. Then after Thanksgiving I decorate the tree at leisure.

I have some work to do before I string the lights: I usually replace all the purple bulbs with white ones. The mix of colored and white bulbs is really beautiful. I bought a couple strings of white so I could use the bulbs.

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Oh that's beautiful!!! Goodluck with the neighbor, fingers crossed it all goes well!

 

[brent]

In Ottawa as well! We were without power for about 51 hours, so we lost all our food. Luckily, my girlfriend's parents live in an area that did not lose power, so we were able to charge our devices and get a few hot meals.

Absolutely insane damage. I'm very thankful that I only lost some food and did not have any actual damage. Could have been a lot worse for sure!

Good to see there's another Ottawan here, Bran! We also lost our food here. Glad that you were able to have a safe place to go. It really could have been a lot worse. I could see the funnel cloud that hit Gatineau while walking home from teaching in Ottawa. Many of us were very lucky.

 

[brent]

Happy Anniversary!
That is terrible about the tornados...hope there is less damage than anticipated.


So Sorry, Merry for your loss.
Hope you can catch up on your sleep this week!

Thanks, SFM! I hope so, too. As much as I like getting paid days off, I do like my job!

 

[brent]

Thank you, Brad!


That does sound sweet

Glad that the research went better, and the organizing went well too!

Chipster (love his name!) sounds like quite a curious and helpful guy, bless his heart.



Good Morning, Solice~
Hope you are feeling much better today <3
Stay cozy and get plenty of rest!
{{{hugs}}}



That sounds like a cozy night! Hope you enjoyed~



Good Morning, Martine~
Hope you are able to get some more rest today. Enjoy your day off!
Prayers for David~
Have a great day!


Happy Monday, HmG~
Hope your errands go well, and that you have a great start to your week!
Have a great day!
xo


Merry Monday, nmc!
Hope that work goes well at the neighboring store today, that is nice of you to help them out.
I bet you're looking forward to your days off.
Hope that you guys have a nice day!


Good Morning, brent~

How scary! So glad you guys are okay.
Prayers for all affected.

Congrats on an excellent run!

Happy Anniversary to you & Kim!


Keeping you and your community in in my prayers!

Thank you, snowflake, on all accounts! We had a great day. I'm still a little tired from my run, too!

 

[brent]

Glad both of you are safe and sound. I saw the images on the news, such devastation. Hard to believe it happened here in Canada. Hope everyone affected will get all the support they need quickly.

Thank you, Martine! It was hard to believe, especially on the final day of summer. There are and were so many volunteers and first responders out helping immediately. Everyone here is very proud of how we've already bounced back from the devastation.

 

[MerryCarey]

Oh that's beautiful!!! Goodluck with the neighbor, fingers crossed it all goes well!

Thank you! (On both counts!)

 

[Holiday]

Good morning MMC!!! It sure is Monday!!!!!!!

Not much to report. Was a nice (but way too fast) weekend! Friday night we watched "Book Club" at the lake. So funny!!! Saturday we watched the Buckeyes & then a Christmas dvd of old Christmas sitcom shows - I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Frasier, The Brady Bunch, Wings, Taxi, Family Ties, & Andy Griffith. It was kind of a girls weekend! We sure had our fill of pizza. LOL

I ended up staying with mom last night b/c my sister who was supposed to stay with her has the flu. Yuck! Mom sure doesn't need that. She had a rough Sunday but today seems much better.

I'm at job #1 now & will probably head to job #2 this afternoon. My allergies are horrid....all I really want to do is nap!!!

It's a cool & dreary/spitting rain day! Sounds like an excellent movie night to me!!

Everyone, have a GREAT day!!!!

 

[HomemakinGirl]

Good morning, everyone!

Schools are closed today in Ottawa. Three tornadoes touched down within a 25-kilometre (17-mile) radius of my home on Friday. We were without power for 26 hours. About 10,000 others were without power for 50+ hours while about 3000 are still waiting for their power to return. My school board sent an email yesterday telling everyone to be safe and stay home until they can assess the damages today. Apparently, a tornado hasn't touched down in Ottawa since 1894. Crazy stuff! About 25 houses or so were completely ruined and a couple dozen more have extensive damage. All is fine in my neighbourhood.

In other news, the Army Run was yesterday. I ran the 10km race and came 9th out of about 7000 people and set a personal best time of the past 15 years of 37:26. I was amazed that the organizers were able to keep everything going with all the distractions. I believe about 40,000+ people raced in four different races.

Lastly, Kim and I celebrated our first anniversary yesterday! We had a delicious dinner and had some champagne when we returned home. It was a nice, quiet celebration with Simon. We purchased each other gifts of tickets for different events. Kim bought me two tickets to so the LA Kings (my favourite hockey team) play the Ottawa Senators here in Ottawa on Saturday, October 13th. The tickets are right beside the Kings bench! I bought Kim two tickets to see The Nutcracker on Friday, November 30th! We're both excited for the events!

Well, that's about it. How about that Milestone tomorrow? And, you know what could be following that Milestone? I'm so excited! The Most Wonderful TIme of the Year is soooooooo close!!

In Ottawa as well! We were without power for about 51 hours, so we lost all our food. Luckily, my girlfriend's parents live in an area that did not lose power, so we were able to charge our devices and get a few hot meals.

Absolutely insane damage. I'm very thankful that I only lost some food and did not have any actual damage. Could have been a lot worse for sure!

I’m glad you are both okay, prayers for everyone affected by the tornadoes.

Brent, congratulations on the race and celebrating your first anniversary!!!

 

[HomemakinGirl]

Happy New Week!

A BUSY weekend, getting errands done and working on personal projects with pre-Christmas deadlines ... I didn't get enough weekend. And not enough sleep last night. A next-door neighbor has some new security lights that glare right into our bedroom window until midnight. We're going to have to ask her to reset the timer to shut them off earlier, or move them. And, sadly, an aunt phoned me from Maryland to tell me that another of my aunts had passed away last Tuesday, but no one thought to call me until she did.

But the happy part of the weekend was going to Lowes and stocking up on GE Christmas lights. Nice, fresh stock to put on the tree this year!

I’m so sorry to hear about your Aunt MerryCarey, sending hugs.
I hope your neighbor can do something about those security lights soon and that you can catch up on some sleep tonight!!!

 

[MerryCarey]

I’m so sorry to hear about your Aunt MerryCarey, sending hugs.
I hope your neighbor can do something about those security lights soon and that you can catch up on some sleep tonight!!!

Thank you for both kind wishes!

 

[Holiday]

Happy Friday! September has been so busy for us that I swear I blinked again and POOF there goes most of the month. We are taking our daughter to see Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker tonight as an early birthday present. Managed to pick up a couple more small Christmas gifts for the kids. I am starting to run out of room to stash all these gifts lol. May need to start hiding some in my office at work. Have a great day!

I hope you all enjoyed the concert!! FUN!

 

[Holiday]

It’s really good!!

Here is the recipe I use-
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/raisin-sweet-potato-bread/

Sounds delicious!! And I accidentally bought self rising flour for moms house - I'll have to give Mandy this recipe!

 

[HomemakinGirl]

Happy Monday, HmG~
Hope your errands go well, and that you have a great start to your week!
Have a great day!
xo


Merry Monday, nmc!
Hope that work goes well at the neighboring store today, that is nice of you to help them out.
I bet you're looking forward to your days off.
Hope that you guys have a nice day!


Good Morning, brent~

How scary! So glad you guys are okay.
Prayers for all affected.

Congrats on an excellent run!

Happy Anniversary to you & Kim!


Keeping you and your community in in my prayers!

Thank you so much Snowflake ~
Wishing you a great day as well!
xoxo

 

[Holiday]

Thanks friend. All I can really do is laugh about it to myself. Get this, I ended up making 4 trips in 2 days back and forth to DMV, but, I finally got my new tags and registration card! Yea!!!!!

Been there, done that!! Such a pain!!!!

 

[snowflake22]

Good morning MMC!!! It sure is Monday!!!!!!!

Not much to report. Was a nice (but way too fast) weekend! Friday night we watched "Book Club" at the lake. So funny!!! Saturday we watched the Buckeyes & then a Christmas dvd of old Christmas sitcom shows - I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Frasier, The Brady Bunch, Wings, Taxi, Family Ties, & Andy Griffith. It was kind of a girls weekend! We sure had our fill of pizza. LOL

I ended up staying with mom last night b/c my sister who was supposed to stay with her has the flu. Yuck! Mom sure doesn't need that. She had a rough Sunday but today seems much better.

I'm at job #1 now & will probably head to job #2 this afternoon. My allergies are horrid....all I really want to do is nap!!!

It's a cool & dreary/spitting rain day! Sounds like an excellent movie night to me!!

Everyone, have a GREAT day!!!!

Happy Monday , friend~
Glad to hear that Mom seems better today!
Your weekend sounds like it was a lot of fun!!
Hope that you get relief from your allergies soon~
Hope things go well at both jobs today
Have a great day!!

 

[snowflake22]

Thank you so much Snowflake ~
Wishing you a great day as well!
xoxo

Thank you, HmG!!
XO

 

[nmc42088]

Good morning MMC!!! It sure is Monday!!!!!!!

Not much to report. Was a nice (but way too fast) weekend! Friday night we watched "Book Club" at the lake. So funny!!! Saturday we watched the Buckeyes & then a Christmas dvd of old Christmas sitcom shows - I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Frasier, The Brady Bunch, Wings, Taxi, Family Ties, & Andy Griffith. It was kind of a girls weekend! We sure had our fill of pizza. LOL

I ended up staying with mom last night b/c my sister who was supposed to stay with her has the flu. Yuck! Mom sure doesn't need that. She had a rough Sunday but today seems much better.

I'm at job #1 now & will probably head to job #2 this afternoon. My allergies are horrid....all I really want to do is nap!!!

It's a cool & dreary/spitting rain day! Sounds like an excellent movie night to me!!

Everyone, have a GREAT day!!!!

Hope your sister feels better and that your moms day is better today

 

[Holiday]

Good evening my friends and Happy Friday wishes to you all. It's feeling more and more like Fall, especially in the evenings lately. I was driving earlier on the way home from the DMV and I was taking the back roads. I was super surprised to seeing leaves falling from the trees and also laying on those old country roads. The ma-pa roadside stands have pumpkins, cornstalks. mums and apple cider for sale everywhere. I came home and made our first real wood fire in the fireplace tonight.

In reality, it was really a little too warm for it in the house, but it sure did look and fell so nice. The popping sounds, sparks, hot coals on the bottom of the fireplace and the wood smell, yes, the Fall has arrived... We then decided to bake a couple batches of chocolate chip cookies, which I may say are quite warm and very yummy!!! I hope your evening is going well and I hope you have a nice night.

I miss having a real fireplace!!!

 

[Holiday]

please pray for those in the Ottawa area where a tornado touched down last night.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/tornado-hits-ottawa-gatineau-area-damaging-buildings-and-flipping-cars-1.4104466

*prayers*

 

[Holiday]

A high of 89 yesterday. A predicted high of 68 today. Hello Fall!!!! We’ve missed you!!

I hope everyone has a great day!!!

Crazy weather change, huh? From shorts to flannels, overnight!