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Sunday Gratitude – August 30, 2015

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My boys start school this coming Wednesday.  Can you see me dancing and whooping?  No, no, it’s not what you think.  It’s not just that they are going to be out of the house five days per week.  It’s because we will start to have a reasonable schedule!  Me, especially!  I’ve been out of control with these late nights and late wake-ups.  I feel I could be doing so much more but when you start so late…

I shall not lament on my shortcomings as this is a positive post.  I shall focus on the good stuff!  Such as this delicious Strawberry Shortcake, Julia Child’s French version!  Only one itty-bitty piece left!  Mind you, we were 15 noshing on it!

French Strawberry Shortcake in the making
Julia Child’s French Strawberry Shortcake

Gratitude List

  1. Love it when the whole family gets together.  Thanks, Tracy, for getting Mom to come down and having us all over for a serious over-eating escapade!

  2. So happy my dentist was able to squeeze us in despite my boys’ tardiness.

  3. How sweet is Frank to name me his “Maître D” for his latest “Dance” musical!  He says it’s because I participate a lot; I say it’s the equivalent of having a big mouth and overly giving my two cents’ worth!

  4. Super happy I’ve got two brand-new meals clients who picked up their very first batches this week-end.  Fingers crossed they like them!

  5. A lot of laughs and serious conversations and things happen when getting together with Patti.  We’ll remember this one for a while, eh?

Gratitude Sunday – August 23, 2015

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After a two-week hiatus, back to my Sunday Gratitude ~ not that I haven’t been grateful all this time, just haven’t written them down here in this blog!

It’s still a whirlwind of adjustments, waiting, learning to do things, and coping with Estate crap while still moving forward.  I’ve been learning new skillz (such as trimming trees and hedges and bushes)!  The pool is almost always clear ~ so hard to do in this heat and humidity but I managed to keep it from getting to the point of no return.  The front yard has been tackled and is almost picture-perfect.

I am so looking forward to the school year starting so that I can back into a normal rhythm.  These late nights (chatting till 2:00 am!) and late wake-ups (often past 9:30 am) are wreaking havoc with my inner clock!  Need to bring things back to some sort of normal.

Tonia
Left
Right
Roasted pepper hummus, fried egg, avocado, tomato wrap

Gratitude List

  1. Feels great to be writing my blog again and reading all the great comments left by my readers.

  2. So happy to Skype with Ms Raye and catch up on each other’s happenings.

  3. I love when a friendship pops out of seemingly nowhere ~ starts with a simple hello and next thing you know you are chatting away till the wee hours of the morning.

  4. Thanks for letting me use your face, Tonia, for my MK makeup class.  You look beautiful! (Not just because I did a fabulous job… 😉 )

  5. Speaking of Tonia, what a short and sweet run we had.  Too bad you didn’t pick up Christopher sooner so you could stand in my doorway for an hour while your car was running.  We had to meet so soon to your moving to Edmonton.  Thank goodness we have FB!!

  6. And who would not love that wrap?  I swear I could (and often do) eat one every single day!  Roasted pepper hummus, avocado, broke yoke fried egg, tomatoes… Yum!

Sunday Gratitude – July 26, 2015

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I cannot believe my boys were both willing to go “up north” (really is north-west, if we wanna get technical) to my mother’s in Lac-des-Plages.  It is funny how life happens.  We (the sisters) used to go up north to our grand-mother and now our kids go up to visit theirs!  We never would have expected this to be the case but it is so, and I get a kick out of it.

Another wonderful week has come and gone in the blink of an eye!

Hanging at Mom’s
Brutus Inspiration
Brutus Cake

 

Gratitude List

  1. So happy my boys agreed to go up to Mom’s for a few days (I remember when I was 15-17 and I didn’t feel like going up any more…)

  2. Was great to see my cousin Alyson, her husband, Eduardo, her brother Peter and my great-aunt (her mother) Gilberte, my aunt Nicole up at my mom’s as we rarely see them.

  3. Sooooo happy it is Quebec’s “Construction Holiday” as I didn’t get off where I should have and ended up crossing the city at rush hour – which was minimal as everyone’s on vacation!  Otherwise it could have taken me three instead of two hours to get home.

  4. Love that my cousin Marc ordered a “Brutus” cake for his buddy and it turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so meself!

  5. Julie came over to pay for her MK stuff and stayed ~ for a glass or more of wine ~ till her friend Kelly came to join us ~ till their husbands came to get them and then asked me to join them at their house for dinner.

  6. I totally lost control of my pool (green is such a nice colour, when it’s not the colour of your water!!!) and Robert kindly shocked it for me.

Gratitude Sunday – July 19, 2015

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The days seem to flow one into the other, no distinct beginning nor end.  Must be summertime!  I can’t seem to make it to bed before 1:30-2:00 a.m. and, when nothing is on the agenda, with no alarm clock to wake me, I don’t get up before 8:30-9:00 – and on really lazy days, 9;30.  I’m taking advantage of this particular rhythm while I can – before reality comes back to bite me in the butt and I find myself needing to rejoin the official workforce in some capacity.

This is the week-end that we would have found ourselves packing up the trailer, getting all frazzled while trying to ensure we didn’t forget anything, doing any last-minute stuff, tempers flaring (why oh why did preparing to leave for two weeks always bring out the worst in everyone?) to finally leave for two weeks of camping in Cape May with my sister and her family and whichever friends decided to join us.  Said sister is down there as we speak and there is a little wistfulness on all our parts that that particular era is over.  I’m taking the boys and Zeke to my mother’s for a few days of beach, fishing and do-nothing!

Its a Bedard Sangueech

Past and Present  “The Bédard Sangweech”

Gratitude List

  1. Last Saturday when I mentioned my pool woes to my friend Mario, he, first gave me shit for not calling him, then told me he would pass by and see what he could do.  Well he could do all right!  I now have a functioning pool that cost me a mere case of beer!

  2. My lovely neighbour Ivan stepped in and offered his hose to help fill my pool.  It’s only 15′ in diameter but two hoses went a heckuva lot faster than one!

  3. I finally treated myself to a much-needed massage and have realised that I will be needing a few more treatments as my shoulder has been particularly achy.  Merci Martine!

  4. Got invited to a BBQ on Saturday at Giselle & Dany’s.  What a great group of friends they have and all made me feel welcome.  To think 34 years ago, Dany was my prom date!  Thanks for inviting me, Gigi!

  5. Got my chicken delivery from Serge and Elise and they even ordered a lunch for three!  Better still, I got an email from Serge telling me they totally enjoyed it.  So great to get feedback like that!

Sunday Gratitude On a Monday – July 13, 2015

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I was so enraptured by participating in Frank’s “Alternate Ending Challenge” and reading the other submissions that I completely forgot to write my Sunday Gratitude Post!  OK, OK, I lie.  Truth be told, I don’t like to post more than once per day so I made the decision to play with Frank and his readers rather than write my little weekly post.

So, after a week that felt like I never left the kitchen other than to shop for more food or deliver the goods, I can officially say I’m glad to sit on my duff and just breathe.  Plus, it’s been +30ºC with a humidex making it feel more like 36ºC (that’s 100ºF for you Americans…) and my pool is dead ~ for now ~ that about all I have the energy to do is exactly that.  Sit on my duff. 😀

I was supposed to participate in Joy’s photo class and haven’t been out to take a single shot so far!  I have to check, but I think they are already finished… 😦  No matter, I was participating as an alumni, but still.  I did manage to go in and see what was going on a bit… sigh…

Catering

Gratitude List

  1. I’m getting quite good at organising my time with the catering thing.   Tuesday and Wednesday, I had both breakfast and lunch to deliver so that meant a lot of going back and forth and needing to be most prepared.  I delivered everything on time.  Woot!

  2. Got great feedback on all the food, even the carrot cake I, um, had “issues” with!

  3. Iain started his new job as busboy in a restaurant, which meant getting him dressed for the job.  We found all we needed at one store.  So happy!

  4. So nice to get away for a coffee with Tonia on Wednesday after my last delivery.  Hell no!  I did NOT want to have coffee at MY house; I did NOT want to look at that kitchen for a couple of hours! She gracefully agreed that coffee would be much better at Starbucks!

  5. Had a lovely dinner at Dominique and Mario’s, sitting on their balcony, enjoying their fabulous company, delicious food and wine, enhanced by the most perfect breeze, helping to, not only keep us cool, but keep the bugs at bay as well!  (Apparently Chicago is not the only “Windy City”; Lachenaie is pretty darn breezy too!)

  6. Though Robert was not successful in fixing my pool, I am so very grateful he came over and tried, despite his being tired.

 

Sunday Gratitude – May 24, 2015

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What a week!  I feel like I did oodles of stuff and yet not really (!)  Been feeling happy and had to share that yesterday.  I think I’ll be doubling the list in the near future – well, adding another 50, not another 100!  Though who knows?  I may find even more things that make me feel joy.

Bye bye trailer
Death and the Maiden

Gratitude List

  1. The Zinger is sold!  It took a couple of weeks but the trailer has a new owner.
  2. Ever so thankful to François for allowing me to park it in his field during that time.
  3. Went to see Les Grands Ballets Canadiens rendition of “Death and the Maiden” with TAZ. What a wonderful ballet.  Thanks Cathy!  Any time you need to get rid of tickets, I’m your girl!
  4. We had a great Mary Kay make-up practice session at Anouk’s.  Lots of laughs and the models seemed to enjoy what we did to their faces!  Gaining more confidence with each session.
  5. I have this lovely friend from high school whom I see once in a blue moon ~ once every year or so!  We were long overdue and I was quite pleased to get a ring from him this week. It’s funny how some people you can just continue the conversation with a huge lapse of time in between! Merci Marc!

 

 

Gratitude Sunday – May 16, 2015

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It’s funny how some weeks I seem to have no time urge to write and others, I just let ‘er rip!  I thank you all for your kind words for yesterday’s post.  I sometimes have my moments and just “blurt” it out onto the “page”.  I am touched by your kindness, dear Readers.

Magnolia
Tulips

Gratitude List

  1. I must thank Julie for coming over and being my model for our Mary Kay “Glamour Night”, even thought the whole Mary Kay thing is NOT her thing!  You came for me, and I am touched. (I would have encouraged you to sneak out the back door but you beat me to it! 😉 )
  2. I created my MK website not three days ago and yesterday got a call for an order!
  3. Not only did I deliver the goods to my new customer today, I actually sold her the career.  Never saw that one coming.
  4. So happy my cousin Melanie reminded me that “Bessie” was playing so I could at least PVR it – would have forgotten otherwise and would have been so peeved (still haven’t watched it, so no spoilers, please!)
  5. This may sound funny but I’m so glad I took time to read.  Two fabulous books read, one after the other and now I’m trying to figure out which one is next!

(Anarette:  Please forgive me, I promised you Elvish (Elvian) stories for today but I forgot today was Sunday – I don’t like to post twice in one day (unless it is a reblog) so I promise you will get it tomorrow!)

Gratitude Sunday – April 26, 2015

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Was a mostly wet week but that’s all good.  The little tiny bit of snow that may have existed under piles of cedar has finally disappeared.  There were spurts of sunshine and one must take advantage of those, that’s for sure!  Stories were written and read, movies were enjoyed with each of my boys and all in all, another good week.

Monday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Marcel
Marcel

Gratitude List

  1. Iain got to learn how to change tires with his Godfather.  So grateful there are many male influences hanging around to teach my boys “guy stuff”!
  2. Got great feedback on my little writings ~ always feels good to get confirmation.
  3. Got to spend an evening with each one of my boys, just the two of us, dining together and watching movies.
  4. On Wednesday’s walk, between rainfalls, Zeke and I ran into this fabulous older gentleman who just regaled us (OK, just me) with stories.  All it took was a “Bonjour” and he was off!  He had the greatest smile.  Such a dapper fellow!
  5. Not only did the tires get changed on the old clunker (sorry Iain, I mean, your future fabulous car…) we got a meal to boot!  Thanks Tracy & Sébastien!

 

Gratitude Sunday – March 1, 2015

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Oh thank GAWD!  February is OVER! Does that mean we’ll get warmer weather and a sign of spring?  I’m not asking for much… just maybe a little closer to zero Celsius would be nice.  Don’t want to be too demanding… They are predicting +1ºC on Wednesday.  I will not, however, get too excited.  Still, it would be a nice change from the nostril-sticking-together, to-the-bones, rather-stay-curled-up-in-flannel cold we’ve had during this past month.  All over the country (and our neighbours to the south of us) records were broken for cold.  Apparently, it was the coldest February in 115 years.  One hundred and fifteen years!  Seriously.  No wonder we were all bitching in harmony.

OK. I promise not to complain about the weather unless it truly forces me to.  I am a fairly tough broad and can handle pretty much anything but it was just getting a little ~ much.

This past week there were plenty of moments to be grateful for.  It’s funny how this gratitude thing works.  I was thinking that I had spent the week curled up, miserable and sad but as I look back, there were mere moments.  This gratitude thing really does work.  You can’t help but feel better, more positive if you are focusing on the good instead of the bad.

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For our concert, the music started, Bryan took the microphone and turned it to the audience and we sang the whole first part… It was AH-MA-ZING!

Gratitude List

  1. Thank you Cathy for inviting me to be your date to the Bryan Adams concert – and for dinner at Ye Olde Orchard Pub!  What a fantastic evening: great show, super company and good food.

  2. I am so glad I remain friends with my ex-boyfriends – especially when they are in the legal field and know what I need to do, help me fill out what needs to be filled out, register what needs to be registered and transfer what needs to be transferred.  I cannot thank Daniel enough for his help these past two months and know he will be there for what still needs to be done.

  3. I finally got a chance to make the “high-heel cupcakes” that I’ve been dying to make ever since I saw a picture of some.  Fun stuff.  Thanks Anna & Yolanda for the orders!

  4. Is there anything better that a hot bath by candlelight?  What a way to warm your bones when nothing else seems to work!  I don’t indulge that often as I have a ridiculously huge tub (for 2) which completely empties the hot water tank of hot water before it is completely full!  Good thing too, because by the time it is full, only cold water is coming out and I would scald myself!  I know because I foolishly thought I would get in before it was full. Yeah. No.

  5. So happy for Patti & Georges that they got their house!  ‘Twas a nail-biting supper before our movie night (The Kingsmen) waiting for “the call” which finally came announcing that their offer was the winner.  Fun stuff!

Sunday Gratitude – November 16, 2014

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Gah!  I fell behind on my NaBloPoMo!  I was supposed to post on Friday, yesterday and today!  You’re getting two for the price of one today…  I’ll just have to suck up that I missed the deadlines…. dang.

This week was a wonderful week.  My sister went to pick up our mother on Sunday night to bring her back on Monday to spend the week with us.  We just love passing her around from sister to sister!  We got to take her to the movies, for lunch, made her dinner, went to see our niece’s art at Expozine…

I got a chance to go down memory lane, thinking of my Dad when I brought my youngest to the famous Wilensky’s for a Wilensky Special (one cannot have anything else! Especially when one hasn’t been in, oh, twenty years!

Gratitude List

  1. Being able to have Mom over for a week, tossing her from one sister to the other!

  2. Spending quality time one-on-one with my boy.

  3. Having a Wilensky’s Special (fried baloney sandwich!), thinking of Dad, being able to share this with my son.

  4. Eating a fresh, hot bagel, right out of the bag from Fairmont Bagels.

  5. Having a friend – Lucy – get you a contract for a lunch at her firm.

  6. Through word-of-mouth, getting yet another “family meal” contract.

  7. Not getting the office job – who wants it if they don’t even respect potential candidates enough to call them and let them know they didn’t get it?