November cookie exchange

Still waiting for it to get truly cold, it rained today so there's mud everywhere which is horrid. It's been hard to get the motivation required to get Christmas off the ground this year and I am sure that's weather related.
Tomorrow I am at a cookie exchange which was a great idea three weeks ago when I signed up for it, not so great this morning. The prospect of whipping up 6 dozen cookies broke me out in a cold sweat, but Pinterest prevailed and today I discovered the beauty of cake mix and Kool whip and peppermint chocolate chips. Voila I have managed 6 different cookies and impressed myself actually.
I had some help to be honest, Lily hung around and got involved which turned it into a great afternoon.

M&M and confetti cookies

 Peppermint and white chocolate bark

Lemon crinkle cookies

My little sous chef

Oh and I discovered how incredibly easy it is to make fudge too - go me!

And then I went to the barn and hung out with the cuddliest horse on the planet:

Here's one from September with his pal Tommy, they are a funny pair:

I know I will regret this statement come mid February - but here goes - "bring on the snow!", it looks all kinds of wrong to have a lit snowman on the lawn when its still green. There its out in the Universe now!!!

my trip to England

Its raining outside - buckets! But its warm, at 12C I think its one of the warmest November 13th I have seen since moving to this spot on the planet.
I feel thankful that I have a window at work, the sound of the rain against the glass is soothing (although frankly it can stop by the time I need to leave work, please and thankyou)

So I had a week in England recently and it was pretty nice actually.
It was warm.
People know how to drive and I mean they know. I zipped around in a Kia Piccanto and navigated narrow streets and congestion pretty expertly if I say so myself. This is entirely due to the way English drivers conduct themselves and also due to my traffic jam attitude of "lets bypass the time of sitting here by gazing around at my surroundings" - namely the English countryside outside of Arundel - its beautiful there. (And I really miss stiles and footpaths and I was stuck right next to one - happy days).

I took in (in awe) the 89p price for 2 litres of milk at Asda (how are farmers feeding their cows?) and the 3 pounds for a bottle of wine - 3 pounds!!!
And it wasnt any old wine either, this is wine I would happily drink and did!
I discovered too that I had forgotten the depths of English bath tubs differ to Canadian ones. I nearly broke my leg stepping down way further than I had expected when getting out and taking a slide across the floor.

I ate way too much chocolate and spent way too much time getting lost. It was a case of "yes I can drive to Lingfield, absolutely" and then the realization that I can no longer remember which village is which and there is some distance between Lingfield, Cuckfield, Ditchling and Faygate. I had to resort to GPS and then I couldnt easily recall the best and fastest routes. I was a true tourist in my home country.

So back to here in Nova Scotia. Its raining, its warm, its windy and I am wondering if having winter tires put on in October (new ones too) was the smartest choice.

Halloween and my Fitness pal - yes they dont have to be mutually exclusive....

So I have failed dismally at really enjoying Halloween at its finest. I didn’t make toffee apples, I didn’t dress up (walking around in my Wonder Woman onsie under my winter jacket doesn’t count when you have short blonde hair!) I didn’t make my children amazing outfits and I didn’t manage to watch a Halloween horror movie – AT ALL!

I have come to the realization that my horror movie options are a tad limited. I cant do these new fangled ones with “jump scenes”, I can’t do chase, I cant do gore, I can barely do paranormal and that’s limited to pots and pans moving around on their own and absolutely does not include scenes of people twisted into abnormal grotesque shapes as they fight off some demon. I cant watch anything that suggests that 3am is a dangerous time to suddenly and for no reason wake up at night…

I decided to watch The Conjuring as it had almost 5 stars but sensibly opted to check out the trailer on you tube first. I didn’t make it through. Waaay too freaky for me.

So with a lack of easy to watch Halloween horrors on Netflix I gave up. Nothing on there that I can deal with. No Poltergeist, no original Amityville (the new one is hideous), no Scream, no Jeepers creepers, no Stephen King anywhere at all….

Girls were happy though, they came home with an abundance of sugar and fat laden treats that now mock me because I am not allowed them. I have decided to have a “good” November so that I can enjoy December (in a conservative eating fashion admittedly but still EAT without too much guilt tacked on)

We are now on November 3^rd. 3 days in and I am updating my Fitness Pal religiously and climbing stairs at work like theres no tomorrow. I am embracing the 10 minute brisk walk from where my car is parked to the office and back (so 4 lots of that trip each day – get in!) and trying to ignore my inner voice that pipes up that its easy NOW of course as its not actually what one would call “cold” yet. I gleefully complete each day on that bit of software and its promised me each day so far that “if every day were like this you would lose like 10 pounds in 4 weeks” Now this all sounds good but I have in fact seen this before and I think it lies frankly to keep you going. Still that completion each day is still something to look forward to.

Watch this space... I am hoping to be able to report in at the end of this month that this time it told the truth.

early October in this house

I am writing this whilst staring at the trio of baby pumpkins on the dining room table. The remains of this bad boy are also in my line of vision (the remains equals the cupcake case btw)

I know I should have ironed the place-mats but on a good weather Thanksgiving weekend who has the time?

Its been a good one. The weather has been ace - today is REALLY warm and has allowed me to go and see to the horse, go for a 10km bike ride and walk the dogs. I needed all that exercise frankly to enable me to snarf that cake down.

So a mini update:

Loving - the weather, my new boots, pumpkin pancakes
Wanting - Starbucks pumpkin spice latte - that desire started last week but there is no Starbucks on the west coast of Newfoundland (where I was) - FML

Feeling - tired still from the whistle stop tour of the West Coast and the boat ride that got me there. The overnight one where I got no sleep and suddenly decided that I had a fear of being on a boat.

Sunrise at Port aux Basque as we arrived (it was mighty early!)

Watching - Blood and Oil - new awesome series on CTV and Quantico (that had all the makings of something good but so far the jury is out) oh and the new series of Nashville.
Wondering - if I will ever be in a position to own a home in Florida (one can dream on right?!!)
Knowing - that I could never ever ever ever ever live in the UK again. If I had to I dont think I would ever get over it.
Enjoying - evenings in the hot tub. The weather is perfect for it.
Re-finding - my love of running. Its a slow return but by jove its a return!!!
Changing - the house slowly to Fall. I managed to change around the living room to red

fall weekend day

It's been a gorgeous Sunday. A typical Fall day here in Nova Scotia and I got some photos of our road, which I love.

I managed to spend some quality time with Ace, with my friend ( yeah whilst grocery shopping but that still counts right?) and walking the dogs. I feel kind of sad still that Autumn is now here, I am just not ready. I don't want to let go of summer yet.

Raining and the love of horses

It's raining, like a goodun outside and I love the sound. Last night it was hot still at 10pm and the wind was as Chloe put it "roaring" outside.
For someone who wants to be a meteorologist she really doesn't like any extreme of wind or rain, that could be a deal breaker in that kind of career... Anyway, the windows were open all night as I insisted on it and it was great.
It went on all night and now it's rained all day, it's raining now as I write this, the tap tap tap against the side of the house.

I managed to get up to the barn this evening to a bunch of wet horses. No riding this evening but just being there was truly enjoyable. I saw this earlier and it's one of many very true little ditties... I think I have experienced everything in there including the crazy horses.....

September

It almost nearing the end of September and so heres a quick run down:

Feeling - definitely cooler at night although the days are still lovely and warm. I would say its now crisp at night, yes thats the best word for it.

Listening to - Taylor Swift 1989 - I love it, I think its my guilty pleasure. Especially Wildest Dreams.

Into - overnight oats for breakfast, the current fav is apples, sultanas, cinnamon and greek yoghurt with chia seeds (I am SO healthy!) and coconut almond milk. I read earlier that the second ingredient in that milk is actually sugar so I am thinking of returning to an old love - Silk Soya milk after finding out that it is in fact not actually dangerous for me.

Working - too hard on budgets, I love budgets but I am not a fan of cramming it all into one week, it removes some of the love....

Craving - nothing actually, I just had to think about that and I figured that if I have to think that hard then there cant actually be anything although I would rather love a good nights sleep right now.

Wishing for - a return to running. I miss it and the pounds have crept back on. I need to get my shit back together and make a return.

Enjoying - the world of horses again. I love the being at the barn at night with the smells, the sounds, the ambience. Being able to get a great response from a horse when you ask him to do something, having a great ride where you achieve something together, theres no feeling like it.

Appreciating - my children, I am so lucky to have them.

Waiting for - Nashville to return tonight, the DVR is set as its on way too late for me and then Blood and Oil starts this weekend and something called Quantico that looks wildly exciting. Its the return to Fall TV shows and they had better live up to all the advertising hype.

Wondering if - the pumpkin in the fridge will be ok to make into pumpkin pancakes on saturday morning when its sat there all week. The pumpkin pancakes rock!

A couple of photos from a few weekends ago, we were getting ready to go out to an English tea party

And the latest one of our house, note the leaves are still green, long may they stay on the trees....