I'm long overdue on this post. I guess the reason for my silence has been because the last half of 2019 had a series of misfortunate events, of which, I wasn't particularly keen on sharing here. A brief list of what went down: 

• As you might have read, our house and garage were broken into in August. 
• While visiting my Mom in her backyard, someone came through her garage and stole her purse with all her identity and credit cards.
• My car was hit and spent 2 weeks in an auto body shop. 💵
• Our sewer line backed up and we had to get a new line put in, which involved tearing apart our newly renovated basement bathroom. 💰
• My tooth broke and I had to get it extracted and an implant put in. 💸
• But worst of all, and the main reason I've been quiet is that Chris' Dad passed away suddenly in November and it left me, well, speechless.

There were other things too that made me wonder if someone was secretly poking a miniature Carrie doll somewhere, but I tried to focus on what I was grateful for and searched for ways to deal with those challenging times in a productive and more positive manner. I didn't play the victim card, which is good practice when life isn't going swimmingly.

That said, there were some fun moments like when I tried my hand at making Meatball Pie ~ 

It was so yummy. I don't have a recipe link as I was kind of winging it, but if you're interested in making something like this, you can find similar recipes online. It's a definite crowd pleaser, just add a fresh salad to balance the richness. 

My Mom and I also prepared for a talk we did at WellSpring regarding our plans to co-create a children's book. Judy is doing the illustrations and I'm writing it. Public speaking is not our forte, but it was a great opportunity to clarify our vision, work on the purpose of the book, and in the end, I think we did alright ~

In October, we had our 3rd Annual Chili Cook-off with 5 entries this year. Our neighbours, Sandy and Whitney, who host the cook-off, won this year, which was well deserved. We placed second (damn it).

My Annabelle Hydrangeas had a great autumn after a summer of rain ~

In fact, most of autumn was mild and lovely, which made for a fun Halloween ~ 

In November, Chris and I started hosting a Dungeons & Dragons game night with 4 other friends and hired my nephew, Emmett to be the Dungeon Master (basically the game organizer in charge of creating the details and challenges of the adventure). 

We're still playing every other Saturday. I don't know how long we'll continue as it's a tricky time commitment thing to organize, but it's been a lot of fun so far. 

Our nephew, Jonny turned 18 in November too so we celebrated at Sea Change in Beaumont, which is a great place for beers and awesome Mexican food. 

Mom and I were also busy throughout those months making new jewelry for an artisan sale, private party and our open house in December.  

And when Christmas approached, Chris and I decided to put up our little Christmas tree, the first time since we adopted Mickey. 

Apart from the occasional sniff, to our surprise and relief, Mickey wasn't that interested. He's much more a hanging out in a box kind of cat than in a tree ~ 

Christmas Eve was strange. We've spent the last 19 years going to Chris' parents' place for Christmas Eve and then when his Mom passed, going to Chris' Dad's so we really didn't know what to do? Chris had to work and in the end, we just decided to stay in that night, have a nice meal and watch a movie. But I will have to think of a new tradition for us. Hopefully he'll get the day off next year and we can maybe go to an early matinee and then Hot Pot or Dim Sum...

Christmas Day was lovely. Chris slept in and I went for a long walk through the woods and by the river. It was a beautiful morning, calm, crisp and sunny ~ 

When I came home, we exchanged a few gifts. The hot sauce pack was a big hit and Mickey went to town destroying the tissue paper the gifts were wrapped in~

And then, I finished watching the movie we started the night before (I fall asleep to every movie we watch at night 🙄😬). Btw, the movie was "Bridgette Runs a Marathon". Have you seen it? It's quirky and sweet and we both really liked it.  The rest of the day we relaxed and went in the hot tub and then headed over to my Mom's for a big Christmas dinner with the family. I brought a ham and Mom cooked the perfect turkey ~ 

On New Year's Eve, Chris and I made a fire out back and burnt our regrets from the year so they don't follow us into the new one.

Afterwards, we soaked in the hot tub and ordered Indian food. A peaceful end to a rocky year.

 Cheers to you Ken. ❤️