Randoms

I spent some time today after my appointment wandering around downtown and looking through stores. I hadn't been to in years (The Golden Buddha [which I don't necessarily endorse], and Castles and Cottages and the other two (Jardine's Domaine & Desert Rain Giftware) I hadn't been to before! It was so fun to not really have a schedule. Yes, I spend a lot of my time wandering around stores, but I usually just got the dollar store, grocery store, and sometimes, our local thrift store. Of course, the stores I went to to today were much too much expensive, but it was fun to wander around. #shoplocal

 JD was opened in 1944 as a hardware store, then it morphed into a sports store. Then, a couple of local people went in together to buy in 2008, and the sports section is up at SunPeaks, and Anthony  (I follow him on IG, so clearly, we are friends!!), and his business partner turned it into a more upscale fashion boutique.

This store is owned by a family in our school, and I have been wanting to go there for years, and I finally went! I love it! I wanted to by #allthethings!

This sign I am sure has been around for 50-plus years. I love it!!!! The store I went to is in the background. Fun fact: I got my weddings shoes at Kennells' Shoes! Our family has pretty much kept them in business, I am sure!! They have amazing service, and if I wasn't so poor/cheap all the time, I would frequent them more! I haven't gone to Golden Buddha in years, and I probably won't again, as there are a lot of witchcraft/spiritual stuff in there. I just remember my friend and I going when we were young, and we got some fun stuff there.

I, of course, have been spending time at Starbucks (though I am "behaving" and not going as much), and at the library. I love my time relaxing and "doing my thing". My mom asked me why I love to spend time at Starbucks, and I told her that it was the atmposphere.

                                 The first time (I think) ordering a London Fog. It's different!

                                   A strawberry frap with some mocha drizzle? Yes, Please!

Our school had its annual Pajamarama Night Thursday. I always say I am not going, but I somehow always end up going. It is fun, and I get to eat cookies and drink milk, so that's cool. The kids from K-3 go to the school in their PJs, along with their stuffies and blankets, and they get read a story in one of 4 classrooms. They rotate (12 minutes each time), and then they get cookies and milk at the end. It is really cute! The kids, parents, and staff love it.

I did a "mini-makeover"to our bedroom. It was basically cleaning it up a bit, putting some extra pillows and stuffed animals on the bed, and cleaning up my chair (which, shockingly, I haven't used since said clean up), and throwing lights on the headboard, but you would be surprised at how good it looks!!! It was cheap and cheerful (and hello..reusing lights from the tree!), so I call it a win.

I spend 4 hours the other Saturday, taking down the fire hazard that was our tree, and I ended up cleaning a bunch of other stuff, too. Parts of the kitchen, and under our bed. Wow..you cannot unsee under the bed!!! That is a whole other level of cleaning!

If you have been following me for any length of time, you know that I love my holiday-themed socks! Halloween, Christmas, Valetine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, you name it! And yes, I wear them no matter what season it is (except from April-October, where I generally don't wear socks!). I do love my fun/holiday socks!

Our local Swiss Chalet just closed down. I did go there a few times, and I liked it, and it was always quite busy, so I was surprised and a bit sad when my friend told me it had shut its doors.

One thing that I have been doing is going to some FB travel pages and taking a screen shot of a beautiful place, and then I save it to my phone to use as a screen saver :)

I went through my friends' list on FB the other night, and probably about 5 or so of my friends' on my list were dead, so there's that. I have had a lot of friends over the years, b/c of the FB games that I used to play. I am SLOWLY paring them down.

I had a forced 72 hr break from IG last weekend. It wasn't my fault, I swear! They blocked me from posting/liking/and commenting! Weirdly enough, I was still allowed to do IG stories! I really have no clue what I did, but I have a guess (again, not my fault!). They never did get back to me to tell me what I "did". I have to admit, though, although it was maddening (mainly b/c I had no idea what happened), it was kind of nice to have that forced break. It was nice not to be constantly (or feeling like I have be to constantly) "on". I did do a few stories, though. You know..for my fans!

I have been doing a QOTD on FB. I am happy to say that I haven't forgot a day yet! Head on over to check them out. I might even post a few here in a post or two (or 5!).

We had a goodbye taco-luck (see what I did there??) for our new temporary teacher who was covering for another new (from last school year) teacher's mat leave (mat leaves are 1 year here in Canada). It was delicious! Everyone brought something, and there was more than enough to go around.

I have been going to my friend's place to hang out with her and her cat every week, as I am going to be house sitting in March while they are away.

I did errands a couple of days this week (after work). I always love getting things done, and off my list (and mind). It makes me feel more accomplished.

We have to get a throttle body thing fixed on our car, and it is one of the few things that is not covered by warranty, soooo, we are dragging our feet on that. Thankfully, the car still runs fine.

I got a free 2 week trial of a skin care regimen the other day, and yes, I still need to try it out. Riversol is giving away a free two wk trial to anyone who emails them to ask! I think it is open to only Canadian residents, though. I should really try it to see how my skin does with it.

The nephews are simply adorable! J is a riot...talking LOTS, and can point to items in books if you ask him to. He loves the book "Good Night Moon", and he loves saying "hush".  He can say my name, so that is super cool! H is doing well. He is constantly talking, and asking questions. Sigh..sometimes, I say that Aunty needs quiet time now :) But, he is really a delight to hang out with. He got me into a new shot on NF called Zumbo's Just Desserts. He loves his cooking shows!

It snowed HARD twice last week! And yes, I had to shovel. Twice. At least it is good exercise. I even shovelled a few other parking spaces one night. Our neighbour was really sweet and shovelled for us last Friday, though, which is nice. Then the snowplow came and did the rest this week. And now, it has all melted! Did I mention that last week, one of the kids said that it was almost summer? Yah, not yet, buddy!! I wish!!

Speaking of Spring, I got a new reusable bag from Walmart that says "Hello Spring" on it. One can hope!

Last Sunday, I had me a big old bowl of popcorn, and I watched a couple of Hallmark movies (I think?). Y'all, I love me some popcorn!!

I have made not one, but two good dinners in a fiscal week. Then, I realize why I don't make dinner very often, and it is because it takes all.freaking.evening. The first dinner was a sheet dinner (with three sheets); veggies, potatoes, and breaded chicken (kind of like chicken nuggets, I guess), and it was really good! I also made my own version of Chicken Parmesan. It was really good, and even Anker liked it! He went back for seconds!

 The top is actually the last yummy dinner that I made, which was my version of chicken parm.

This was the first about two weeks ago....my version of chicken nuggets and I added some shrimp. I made a sheet dinner (which actually took three sheets), and it was pretty good!!!

Anker gave me a portable mini blender for Christmas, and although I had used it before, I have started using it more, and I love it!

Our neighbour next door to us moved out (not the annoying one, he is long gone!), and our new neighbour is moving in this weekend. She works at our local grocery store, so we kind of know her.

Why did Blogger change? The new interface is annoying. I find it confusing, and when I click on a blog to view it, it redirects me. Grrrr...:)

My laptop has been giving me issues (when I am online). It has been happening since the Election Day, so I just blame t hat. It will be fine for awhile, then I will have a few days where I can only be on it a few minutes, and then I have to restart it.Then, it will be fine for a few days or weeks, without any problems. It's weird. Speaking of weird things in the computer land...a few months ago, the cord to my laptop stopped working. So, we asked Anker's sister and husband if they could send us one (they are our computer go-to people), so they did. It was fine for awhile, then Calico threw up, and it just so happened that she was in our room when she did that....and it threw up all over the cord and laptop. It hit at just the right spot on the cord for it to short out, and thus, it stopped working! So, being as I just asked them to send me one, I didn't want to ask again so soon, so we decided to try the old (new current one) again (it is being held together by duct tape, and it was having issues making contact), and lo and behold...it worked!! Maybe the other one will work now? Hmmm.....

I have stopped reading books again. Or rather, I am in the middle of two books (DS, and another one that I started months ago), and I just haven't gone back to them. There are a few people that I follow on IG/FB, and they read 3 books a month (or more), and they have kids! And I think, "how do they do that? Why can't/don't I read that much?" Surely, if they can read while they have kids, then I should be able to read more than I do?

Did anyone feel that January was a million years??? It seemed to draaaag on this year.

Our electric hand mixer died a noble death this week. I need to get a new one, or we might splurge and get a stand mixer. We did get one for our wedding, but we never used it. I think we might have to invest in one, though. We have so little counter space, I am not sure where we would put it....I guess it could live in the cupboard.

So, our Valentine's Day was pretty low-key, which was to totally fine. We hung out (I had the day off..Yay!), and we relaxed. I watched a movie called "Mary Magdalene", which I am still trying to figure out (if it was Biblically sound or not), I cleaned up a bit, I did two loads of laundry, and I ran a few errands, and then Anker made a souffle, and I added a salad to my plate, and it was a meal. It was pretty good! We watched something on YT (Anker has been watching things that I usually find boring on YT for months), and we had Champagne and chocolate. Nothing too fancy. Oh, and he did get my coffee ready for me in the morning, and he cleaned up a bit yesterday, as well as this morning. I got him a card.

Speaking of watching boring things...I love my husband, I do...but does anyone else understand the reason why people would watch things like electronic videos (how to).....and people opening up packages, and people playing arcade games? I cannot think of anything more boring that that. I know that there are a ton of other people who like doing this, but I don't see the appeal in it. But then, I watch Hallmark movies, and not everyone likes those, either.

I am trying a Cold Brew at Starbucks right now, and it is really good! They have a special Valentine's Day drink that they made up that I didn't see yesterday. It definitely has a bit of a kick to it. I might be up for hours!

I am doing the worship slides at my church tomorrow, and my friend might come with me. Maybe Anker..we will see.

I also got some new samples from Shoppers Drug Mart, and some new skin moisturizer primer from Nivea that I have been eyeing for a few months, but never felt that I could afford it (I still can't, but I need some primer under my foundation...when I wear it...as I find that any foundation I use feels heavy on my skin),  and two eye liners from Annabelle, and I am looking forward to trying them. I actually had run a few of my eyeliners down, so it was fun to buy some! It is also a Canadian company, so that is cool! I love supporting local whenever possible!

I think those are my randoms for the last few weeks. I know...my life is so scintillating!