Mamie Allie's Place

Just a blog by myself MamieAllie (Alicia) where I share photos, family history and just life in general with family and friends.

Thursday 29 February 2024

February Musings

 

Happy Leap Day!  Look at that the second month of the year is nearly over.  All around a pretty warm February at that.  Today is actually a cold day but tomorrow it is going back up once more and will stay there, so any snow that came yesterday will be gone in a puff. 

What did we do this month?  Nothing much, honestly.  Hubby caught a cold (probably all the up and down with the temperature helped) and one thing about getting older, you don't get better as fast as you did.  Actually it is all the little things that happen that drive me nuts, you know, aches and pains that you never had before that suddenly show up and hang around forever.  Sheesh, this senior stuff really is a challenge.  I suddenly now know what was going on with all those grumpy seniors I met in my 20s and 30s and I am really sorry I didn't take time with them.  It is just that sometimes all the stuff that comes with aging really pisses you off.  

Hubby and I did check out a coffee shop way out nearly in the middle of nowhere called The Perks of Norfolk.  It is past the village of Waterford 


 It has a lovely breakfast, light lunches and baked goods plus their coffees, including specialty ones. We enjoyed the breakfast and thought it is also a great middle of the way place to meet our friends from Brantford for breakfast.  I hope we get to do that when spring comes.  

Read a lot of cozy mysteries this month, which of course is the thing to do in the winter although as I said before sitting outside on the balcony reading in the summer is pretty great too.  My favourite series has finally added to my collection with the 26th book in the series.  The Miss Fortune Mysteries and I have to say I completely enjoyed every page.  There have been some that by the time you get to this number the stories seem to be a rehashing over and over with the same tired jokes, but the ladies Fortune, Gertie and Ida Belle are still a blast and the stories are still pretty different.  I can't wait for the next book in the series as a hint of what is coming was in the final chapter of this one and I think it will be another fun read.  

Still working on my peace blanket but it is slow going as I cannot do more than a row or two before my hands say enough but I am sure it will get finished in March.  

So, dear family and friends, we are doing okay and taking things day by day.  Here is to the next month, hopefully spring will be here without little puffs of winter along the way.

It's called being a senior


Wednesday 31 January 2024

January Musings

 

Well, here we are already at the last day of January.  The month kind of flew by even with the weird weather.  I decided to continue my blogs with more of a once a month kind of thing (unless things get busy for some reason) now that the family history and photos have been shared and saved.  Being retired means that the day to day stuff is pretty quiet.

 I am enjoying many cozy mystery series from my favourite authors.  They are favourite because they are those that I would read the series more than once because they are just so fun with interesting characters that you come to love.  

I enjoy the Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle, the Tea Shoppe Mysteries by Laura Childs and her Scrapbooking Mysteries too.  I enjoy the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries by Miranda James and the Quilting Mysteries by Mary Marks.  The Rachel Prince series is a great read too, but the bargain of 10 books for .99 cents was what caught me first and I was happy to find I really enjoyed them too.  Still waiting on the next Miss Fortune series book to come out, I think it is number 26 by Jana Deleon.  

I saw an ad on Facebook and I normally ignore those but this one was really special and so I ordered it for hubby.  

I ordered it for our 35th wedding anniversary and it came the day before.  I was so excited to see it that I just couldn't wait one more day and gave it to him the day before.  

Don't tell his brothers because I think he is thinking of giving one to each of them for their birthdays.  https://makezbrightgifts.com/ 

Putting in the link if it is something that you might be interested in.  I was very impressed that they made the mug and got it from California to our home in Canada in just a week and a half.  Good service, but they are a bit nuts when it comes to promo emails that can come several times a day if you let them.  

Still dealing with estate stuff, especially probate because you have to wait on everyone else.  Couple other things could be handled quickly but the rest has to sit and wait.  I really can't wait to file the final taxes and close those accounts.  Another fun thing was that they had sent a carbon tax refund to the estate account and then a few weeks later I got a notice to give it back for reasons they say are listed on the back of the notice.  Since it was addressed to the Estate of... I assume it is because she is dead.  So went in a paid that back.  


Tigger is still very interested in watching the birds on the TV and will watch for hours.  

https://www.youtube.com/@RedSquirrelStudios 

Bet dogs would like the squirrels that show up too - LOL


I think we have seen the sun only two days here and it has been very foggy and cloudy with only a few days of snow that melt shortly after it arrives and lots of rain.  More like March weather instead of January but it is what it is.  

And so that was our quiet January.  Hope you had a peaceful one too.




Monday 15 January 2024

Monday Musings - Quiet and Peaceful

 

Wow, amazing how quiet days just slip by and I realized that I hadn't posted any blog in awhile.  The picture here is what I did with the beautiful Christmas card that hubby gave me.  We normally don't do Christmas cards to each other anymore as, well, we said most things they say and we let it go.  Hubby said he knew we weren't but this one just stood out to him and when he read it, he knew it was everything he wanted to say.  After I read it, I just knew that I couldn't just put it in a drawer after the holidays were over.  So, I got a little frame at the dollar store took off the ribbon and For my wife off the front.  I typed up the words from inside the card and printed it on a Christmas style paper.  I cut out his signature and my name he wrote to add to the finished piece and tucked it all into the frame with a mat around it.  I think it turned out rather well.  

I wrote last week about Tigger watching bird videos that are made for cats to watch and now she has gotten way smart about the whole thing.  This morning I held up the remote and she looked at it and turned around and sat down in front of the TV as I turned it on, then waited while I put on her bird video.  


Last night I was listening to Spotify on the TV and Tigger came out of the other room and sat down looking at the TV and then at me.  She sat there and looked at the TV and then at me until I got the message, I had expected her to get tired of waiting for me to change from the music and go and eat something but she didn't move until it was just the way she wanted.  We have never had a cat like this one ever.  


 I even tried it in the bedroom and there she jumped to the dresser so she could check behind the TV and made sure no bird or chipmunk had gotten behind there when they leave the screen.  Once she was sure she came back onto the bed and watched them.  

Really, really cold today after the snow squalls that we had.  No real amount of snow is on the ground, maybe an inch or so.  It is -13C or 9F here this morning.  Most of our windows are frozen shut.  You know I really am not that fond of being told what the wind chill is.  When we were young they just said what the temperature was and left it at that, being told that it feels colder really is telling me what I already know.  Bundle up it is cold.  Then again, when we were F before C we thought that +9F was pretty good out there, cold but doable, now hearing that it is -13C makes it seem colder in some way.  As a kid we were out playing the snow at -5F/-20C and thinking nothing of it.  Now kids are kept inside.  


 Hubby made supper last night, it was an old staple of his.  Mac and tomato juice.  Yes, now we use the curly kind of mac noodle and a bit more ground beef, small green onions but tomato juice is a must.  Still a favourite of our girls. 

I like ground pepper on mine.  Guess what is for lunch today!  I actually had never had it before hubby made it for me and I was sure that I wouldn't like it but it has truly become a favourite in our home.

So, all in all a pretty quiet winter week with fun cozy mysteries to read and a cat watching TV. 

Happy Monday!


  


 

February Musings

  Happy Leap Day!  Look at that the second month of the year is nearly over.  All around a pretty warm February at that.  Today is actually ...