Mourning...

I have been absent for some time....but I'm mourning the much to early death of my friend. She fought hard, for eight months, but in the end cancer won. Deirdre was diagnosed with a very rare type of cancer, small cell carcinoma in the cervix, so rare that in 2010 out of 11,000 cases in the USA of cervical cancer, only 100 women had this particular kind of cancer...scary statistics.

There are so many things I want to say about Deirdre but it all boils down to one thing, Deirdre was an angel here on earth and I will miss her forever.

She was quite often present at one of the famous sister parties...after all she was the point to the pyramid!

Rest in peace Deirdre and fly with the angels in Heaven.

The lay-about and the troublemaker...

This is the layabout....

...and this is the troublemaker...

Simple pleasures.....

In this very busy life of mine there a few jobs that I take true pleasure from but which were a real chore to me in my past life...

Really basic things like cooking a simple meal... I used to like cooking fancier meals and found simple everyday meals a bit humdrum but now that I cook for a living I look forward to simple meals. We had such a meal last night, a stir fry of leftover steak, some mushrooms, zucchini and red pepper in a black bean sauce with rice. It was really lovely!

Monday ramblings...

...as the owner/operator of Magpie's Diner,almost every minute of my day it spent on the business...why oh why did I ever complain about my EASY work at home job.

You would think that working on my feet all day I would be able to loose weight or at least not gain any weight...but you would be wrong. After two years of hard work all I have to show is weight gain and really sore feet, willpower is not working for me so I'm thinking of starting PGX...thoughts?  

I went to the doctor about my foot, he thinks it's a weird form of planters fasciitis so he put me on prednisone, a strong anti-inflammatory steroid, worked wonders on my back, tennis elbow, and all sorts of pain and aches but my foot although not as sore, still hurts, so back I go on Tuesday.

I know that exercise is key but with my sore feet I can't get out walking, and if I do a 90 year old can walk faster...and exercise is key and must fit it into my daily schedule. There are only two types of exercise I can think of that will not hurt, swimming and biking. I'm not a good swimmer but I figure that if I jump into the deep end, dog paddle out a few meters, I'll work so hard at staying afloat that I should get as much exercise from not drowning as I would from swimming laps. After about 30 minutes of trying to stay afloat I can make my way to the stationary bike...just love the thought of biking to nowhere...

Of course my diet plays a huge part in all this...well lack of diet...I used to eat lots of veggies and fruit...now I survive on cold fries, tomato ends, bread crusts and broken eggs...yum!

So time for a change...as I write this I'm just finishing a donut and coffee with cream...in my old life I ate the occasional donut and drank my coffee black...so my first change, no donuts and back to black...

Then ... I will stock the fridge with lots of fruits and veggies, right now my cupboards and fridge are empty except for dog food, cat food and olives (for my martinis)...

Start exercising...I know I should start today but I work from 11am to 9pm...so I'll go to the gym tomorrow...after I buy new runners, a bathing suit and some new shorts, ugh!

Well one thing at a time...Happy Monday everyone!

A doll for Mia...

This is my first attempt at making a Waldorf type doll, I followed the instructions here. Waldorf dolls are usually made with all natural materials, mostly cotton and wool. But I decided to make this at the last minute for my granddaughter's birthday so I used what I had on hand...now that the doll is finished I know I should have used wool. I used polyfill stuffing for the body but cotton and wool for the head which makes the doll top heavy...

These dolls are very cute, very huggable and Mia loved it...many more are on the way Mia..

Waiting to board...

...the ferry to Powell River and it's cold outside, -7 with a brisk wind...my face is frozen as I try to catch the waves pounding the shore.

Happy Birthday...

Mia did not want to wear her birthday hat but Seiko felt very stylish with it....