Happy New Year!

     I woke to a beautiful sunny day with a glorious white sparkling covering of snow, but......oh, so cold! This is often the way - when the skies are clear the temperature drops dramatically. Today started at -14C and only got up to -9C so it was mostly an indoor day for me. I did spend half an hour clearing the driveway and the exercise did keep me warm, but I was happy to come inside for lunch and a piping hot bowl of tasty soup.

   I had a very small weekly shop yesterday as I am trying to eat out of the freezer this week. I figured it was a good opportunity to make sure nothing is lurking in there from days gone by and I will start to restock it in a week or two. Yesterday was the last piece of fish and today the last two chicken thighs are roasting with some vegetables. There is still some ground beef to use up and bacon slices so that will take me through the weekend. Also, I have pretty much used up all the alcohol purchased for the Christmas and New Years celebrations so plan to have a "dry" January. I was invited to the Markham family on Tuesday and took the last bottle of red wine as grandson was cooking a brisket - his claim to fame, he is an aspiring chef - and it was very tasty. 

   As far as New Year resolutions go, my main one is to plan to downsize from a house to a flat or condo. This past year I have found the upkeep of the house, and especially the garden, has been a bit overwhelming so will try to get my head around living in a smaller space. And getting rid of the accumulation of junk acquired over the 27 years since my last move!

   

Snowed In!

    Lots of fun yesterday when the family (daughter and hubby, and three grandkids) were over for the Christmas meal. Everything went smoothly with only a couple of mis-steps, and lots of leftovers for me to eat in the coming days. I did send half of the plum pudding and some custard home with them as it was a big one. Gifts were exchanged although we had agreed to keep it simple this year, and quite a bit of wine consumed by the adults. Oldest grandson has reached drinking age but declined to indulge as he hasn't acquired a taste for it yet. Plus he was the "designated driver"!

   It started snowing and blowing a hooley early this morning so I haven't ventured outside. The snow is piling up on doorsteps and around windows, making any excursion outside pretty near impossible. It should stop soon and I will try to go outside tomorrow and view the damage, and see if I will be able to clear it with my little snowblower. It will depend on how deep the drifts are. Luckily I don't have to go anywhere until Monday. By that time the roads should be cleared. Meanwhile I have a new puzzle on the go and some books to read.

    It looked like we were going to have a green Christmas but it snowed overnight, very wet and heavy but, luckily, only a couple of inches, so not too much of a struggle to clear the driveway to get the car out. It should hang around for at least a couple of days. 
I had a couple of last minute errands to run today but I think (and hope) I have everything for the Christmas guests. 

   

     Had to post today so that I could include my favourite Christmas song which no one else seems to favour - Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas".

Snow And More Snow

    It started yesterday so I shoveled that. Then more overnight and I was out at 8:30 as I had somewhere to go and needed a path for my car, but it was still snowing. Got home around 1:00 p.m. and after lunch and a nap I was out again to clear off enough room on my driveway to park the car. I will finish the rest of the driveway after I post this. Snow is forecast several times over the next few days so this is far from the last of the shoveling for December. Some years we hardly get any snow until after New Year! And then there are still three more months of the darn stuff. The only positive aspect was that it wasn't very cold, around the freezing mark, but it is forecast to be -12C overnight tonight which is why I want to get it done now.

  I had some help, one of the neighbour's kids, which made a big difference but she (yes, it was a girl) has her own driveway to keep clear, so I can't count on her always showing up. Now I am in a quandary whether to pay her as she is still in High School so is probably saving for further education. I will wait and see how often she helps me then give her something although she very well might refuse it.

    Friends from the Seniors' Centre had planned a meal out today but, sensibly, we cancelled as the roads were really quite slippery. We'll reschedule at a later date although it's always hard to find a day when everyone is available. In any case we all had a huge feast last Friday at the Mandarin buffet so can do with skipping the overeating for a few more days!