-Thomas A. Kempis
"Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
-Author Unknown
"Live every moment, Love beyond words, Laugh everyday."
-Author Unknown
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| Here are a couple cute pics Jana sent me by text of her kids this past month. Beau lost his very first tooth a couple weeks ago… and was pretty pumped. Mariah is always dancing and kicking her legs in the air… she had something to celebrate this past month, too… she took her Grade One CDTA Tap exam and got a wonderful score of Highly Commended on that, making her Grammie D pretty darn proud! ...YOU GOTTA LOVE IT! |
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| The kids and their dog, Jazz, were all excited to reunite after their little get away for a week to Vegas. We kept Jazz and he was a good doggie, ...but I was also excited to downsize our life back to just our doggie , Shuffle once again! |
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| The day after Jazz returned home again … our lives began a different kind of turmoil! What began as a dishwasher leak last November, caused many renovations to begin… from new floors in our kitchen to the front door including main floor bathroom. There ended up being more water damage than expected so I was doing dishes in bathroom while kitchen was torn apart, now we wait on bathroom renos… due to undiscovered water in there at time of insurance claim. (More on the big renos… in the blog below!!!!) Once again... Gotta Love it! |
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| One of the diversions for me this month was a visit with my good dance buddy, Brenda and her hubby, Vern. My niece, Rowen, performed in a big number at this year's STARS OF HOPE fund raiser dance show to raise money for cancer research. Later that week Brenda took that same group of dancers to compete and perform in Disney World in Florida… and they just recently got home after an amazing and fun trip… Gotta Love it! |
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| While our house was in chaos and torn apart we chose to do some painting too! Our good friend DAN, came on very short notice to paint our entire kitchen, a week or so later… we decided to paint our bathroom the same colour as the new kitchen colour… Brian did the edging and I painted the rest of the bathroom. Thanks to Dan for doing our kitchen… he did an awesome job! I do love the new colour, too… called "Touch of Grey" |
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| While our house was torn apart and our kitchen next to non functioning… our good friends, Jacquie and Bob invited us for a pre-valentines' meal at their lovely home. They love to entertain and pay close attention to all the little details from decor to delicious-ness… and they are such gracious hosts! Thanks to them for a nice night...Gotta Love it! |
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| We also shared an evening out with good friends, Joan and Gerry dining at Manos's restaurant. They shared a very thoughtful little Valentine Date Night gift with us as well as a nice evening of friendship and catching up! Also I received a Valentine in the mail from both of my kids in-laws… You Gotta Love that! A Pugs and Kisses card from Nels's parents, Nancy and Arvid. A crafted card from Caro's parents, Colette and Jean-Paul. I loved and appreciated all those special gestures… thanks from the bottom of my heart to all of them. |
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| Jana and Nels gave us a cute bedding set with pugs on it for our spare bedroom as a gift for looking after their Dog, Jazz for a week… It looks PAWS-itively adorable on the bed… and it is the room where the dogs and I slept for that week, too. Our date night gift had a cute card, some valentine jelly beans, some m&m popcorn, chocolates, gum and a movie theatre pass. I also received a cute little colourful and thoughtful gift in the mail from my cousin Dawn… a colouring book and pencil crayons, all packaged in a polka dot brown envelope... along with a lovely special card. Thanks to friends and family near and far… Gotta Love it! |
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| Valentines Day… I snapped a selfie of Brian, Shuffle and me! I even made some Valentine cookies in spite of kitchen disorder!! They were pretty tasty, too, if I do say so myself!!! We enjoyed a day full of LOVE with family and friends! |
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| Also on Valentine's day… I shared an afternoon tea with former dance student, Stephanie and her sister, Shauna. These two girls have recently had babies… Stephanie has a little girl, Daelyn, and Shauna has a little boy, Jackson. The girls are dance studio owners in Toronto now, so were just home visiting their mom, Sharon… so glad they connected with me, too, I enjoyed the visit and meeting the new adorable babies! Gotta Love it! |
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| We were invited to Jana and Nels's place for Valentine's Supper. After a stop to see my mother-in-law, Blanche in hospital… we were well entertained by Mariah and her friend, Drew… making up dances… and later by all the kids and the dog, out for a little evening skate! Beau and Jazz were really into the skating outing… we didn't last long there but glad we got a few pics. Thanks to Jana and Nels for yummy supper, too. Oh I also taught Drew and Mariah how to do the dance from the 70's called "The Hustle!" GOTTA LOVE IT… I loved the whole day! |
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| We got a chance to go watch some hockey with Beau on another day as well. He is quite the little skater… and loves when he has an audience to watch him play! Love it… love him! |
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| Last week we picked up Beau from his daycare and took him to Boston Pizza for supper and back to his place where he played for a while till his daddy got home. His mom was away once again … this time for a shoe convention! Beau loves his lego and his dog as you can see here! |
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| Saturday Mariah went with her great Auntie Bev to volunteer at another dog adoption for "WE ALL NEED A RESCUE"… (WANAR). The little dog she is shown with here was named LUNA… not only did she love her… Brian fell in love, too. Brian was really wanting to adopt her and bring this doggie home with us… but I knew we had enough with all the doggies we are related to already… not to mention all the other things going on in our world at present! oh You Gotta Love IT!!!!!!!!! |
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| It is no secret that Brian LOVES dogs… and the dogs in our life LOVE him, too! Above he is seen with the two we lived with together while Jana and Nels were away … our dog, Shuffle and their dog, Jazz. The bottom left pic is Brian looking like a hopeful kid at the dog adoption when he wanted to bring little puppy, Luna, home with us. Instead I bought a colourful ball for Shuffle and we brought that home instead… and Shuffle is loving it! |
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| Last week we had to go let out our grand dog, Jazz a couple times… here are some pics I got of Brian and Jazz together… they are such good pals! ...gotta love it! |
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| This past month we have had a few visitors as well as a few outings. Good friend, Robin popped by a while back to see us. We have been to the hospital to see my mother-in-law, Blanche, a few times. We met friends Bob and Jacquie for a coffee and dessert at Calories. And we have been to Fuddrucker's for breakfast a few times… here is a pic from yesterday's visit with Alex, Robin and Ella… across from them we sat with Bob and Jacquie. We always enjoy visits there while we have our Sunday breakfast. |
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| With our friend, Bob's birthday coming up… we decided to treat him and Jacquie to a birthday supper at Red Lobster last week… all tasty!… and a fun escape from our reno chaos here at home!!!! You gotta love it! |
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| Here is a look at the start of our new cupboards and temporary counter space… still more cupboards to come and a new counter top, too! I am very happy with the new floor… it freshens things up and it doesn't have warps to trip over like our old water damaged one did. You gotta love it1 |
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| Sometimes it's the little things that keep me going from one day to the next. Like winter BBQ's… fresh colourful flowers… great TV shows like this one… featuring awesome dancing in tribute to the 60th Anniversary of Disneyland which aired on TV last night. Sometimes I need to get out and just wander through the stores… the other day I took a pic of this little dish in INDIGO which states… "Embrace Change"… I thought it suited our current circumstance, so snapped a photo of it! |
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| February is definitely the month of LOVE… and although our lives have also had lots of turmoil this past month too… it is LOVE that has got us through it all. Here are just a few LOVE- related things on display here year round… you gotta LOVE it! Thanks for popping by my February blog post… I normally write one more often, but we have been pre-occupied around here as of late! I do like to share some of the goings on in my life as they unfold and believe me there have been many things just these past few weeks going on here as you can see in the photos above. Brian had a surgery only one month ago and was told he would likely require at least 6 weeks to recover. I cannot get over the miraculous recovery he has made already. He is not only healing well… but gaining his weight and strength back day by day. It is so nice to see him feeling so good again. We have had lots to live through as well… what was going to be a floor replacement due to a water leak in our dishwasher pump last November... has snowballed into many other home renos as well. We now have new flooring installed in kitchen and hallway to front doorway…and this week will have new flooring in our main floor bathroom, too. Due to more water leakage than expected… our bottom cupboards and dishwasher and kitchen sink all got removed for two weeks. We then had to use the main floor bathroom for dishes doing! But when that floor was torn out… water damage was discovered in there, too… and the list of renos extended… so to keep this shorter I will list in point form what will be done and or has been done in this extended renovation… -new kitchen flooring (which followed installation of a new sub floor) --new kitchen cupboards, and desk, all with new handles -new counter tops - new sink, dishwasher, and over range micro wave -freshly painted walls and new blinds -flooring continues to front door and will include the main floor bathroom -new toilet and vanity in bathroom -new wall paint in bathroom -new doors on bathroom, broom closet, and door to basement along with new door knobs to each -and many little incidentals along the way!!! Not all of the above have been completed yet… but like I say… it is crazy how one thing has lead to another… and the house has literally been torn apart on the main floor for the past over 3 weeks… so we are living in chaos … Thank goodness for our love and senses of humour we are coping and dealing with it all. Brian and I have really embraced all the home reno shows on TV lately and actually find ourselves picking out more ideas for our house from those… too bad we do not have an endless supply of money!!! Thanks to Blanche, though, for helping us towards the reno we are on. We had no idea what we were in for with that wee dishwasher leak back in the fall. Water can do very significant damage!!! You gotta love it… how one thing just leads to the next! We are grateful that Blanche is getting the care she needs in hospital and that my two sisters-in-law,Bev and Brenda, get up to see her daily… and we get there when we can as well. We hope she will soon be living in a home with the care she needs for the next phase of her life. Life never gives a person more than they can handle… and a lot of the time it is in one's attitude how well things can go. The winter here this year has been abnormally milder than most… so that has been a plus! You gotta love it! I do love to write my blog, as it is a form of therapy for me… a way of recapping the fun things and the little things that make me stronger along the way. 2016 has sure got off to a RIP-ROARING start… from birthday celebrating early January ... to hospitals and surgeries… to dog sitting and babysitting grandkids and cheering them on in their daily life… along with spending time with loved ones in our lives…. to dealing with Brian's on going health issues… and now the RENOVATIONS... which we were not really planning on, but into it now love it or not! I do wish we could afford more and we could turn our 80's dated upstairs into something better, too… but that will have to wait another decade or two! I know there have been things during this long blog posting break I took that maybe didn't make into my blog… my mind is actually foggy reviewing what we have crammed in this past while. I do like to mention celebrations upcoming as well as past…. I do hope everyone had a day filled with Love on the 14th as you celebrated Valentine's Day… on the 15th I hope you shared time with Family as it was Family day. My friend, Ella's dad, Bill turned 101 on that date, and he doesn't look a day over 80… WOW! He was celebrated on his birthday with his dear family. This coming weekend, our friend, Bob, has a birthday on February 28th. Next week my friend, Ella, will be celebrating her milestone 60th Birthday, on March 1st. So I will wish them HAPPY BIRTHDAY as I likely will not get to another blog before then. Thanks for stopping by to check out some of the many things we have been up to lately… oh and thanks to all the people who have made it easier to deal with all the stuff we are going through. I have to say all the trades people we have had in our home this past few weeks have all been great too. There have been a lot of them and the people who have guided us through the reno all have been amazing. YOU GOTTA LOVE IT! On that note… here is my rhyme of the day! What a month this last one's been, So many dimensions I have seen. From surgery to recovery… and doggie days, From water damage on to home reno craze! Valentine fun and so much more, Lots of love and stuff to adore. You gotta just love how things expand, From one little thing to something grand. Sometimes life's journey takes a wee turn, So that we can fix and also learn. For all those things... LOVE is the best way, To help you through life… day by day! |
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