On hate and love

Hope your weekend was good.  The weather has been mild and I have been able to meet up with a couple of friends for walks.  We have also been exchanging gifts.

I was at a dinner party this past weekend and a beautiful rose was given to each lady to take home. 

Lady Fi has a wonderful quote from Martin Luther King as her blog header.  It is so true and at Christmastime with discord in many families, something to at least think about. 

'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. -- Martin Luther King Jr.'

 Browsing through Pinterest I came upon this article with a happiness formula:  letting go + acceptance + gratitude.  Letting go involves no overthinking, just be.  Acceptance is when you are okay with things as they are, no need to have control or to try to change things.  And of course, gratitude is thankfulness for what you have.  I enjoyed the read.

Sunday Sketches - Baby

Welcome to Alexandra's Sunday Sketches. This piece is called 'Baby', done in watercolour pencil and crayon on good quality coloured cardstock (6" x 6"). It's based on a photo I saw in the newspaper, it screamed 'paint me'.

Chocolate chip brownie cookies

Daughter L made these chocolate chip brownie cookies sprinkled with sea salt and sugar last weekend for a cookie exchange party that she was attending. She made these using a pack of brownie mix and added some flour and chocolate chips. I like her creative topping!

Here's a batch she made just for us, it was chewy and delicious:

Paint Party Friday - My Party Ornament

Welcome to Kristin and Eva's Paint Party Friday! I drew my party ornament for you today, isn't she glamourous? It's done on good quality coloured cardstock (6" x 6") in acrylic and fine point marker.

Here is a photo of the piece so you can see the metallic finish on her shoulders.

And here is the actual ornament, it was a challenge trying to recreate all that black tulle:

Healthy Food Tip

These are some gold beets I saw at a grocery store the other day. Have you seen them before? The prices at this store tend to be on the high side.

Son K and I were at another grocery store on another other day and there was a lady dispensing smoked salmon samples.  She had crackers topped with hummus then a sliver of smoked salmon.  It was delicious.  She mentioned the hummus being a healthier alternative to cream cheese.  I will have to remember this.  I had also read that hummus is a good alternative to mayonnaise that you would spread on sandwiches.  It's certainly worth trying, don't you think?

Great Results

I'm sharing my healthy snack with you today, a handful of blackberries, seedless grapes and there were 3 pieces of light marble cheddar cheese on the plate! It's completed with a glass of 1% milk.

Husband M had a successful checkup with his doctor last week. His A1C reading was 7.2, down from 9.2 just two and a half months ago. These are his blood sugar test results. The doctor would like to see that number under 7 but was surprised at how well he was doing in such a short time. She was all prepared to raise his medication which is what she does for so many people. She took notes on what he was doing as she wanted to inform her other patients. He told her that for him, the 2 diabetic clinics she had sent him to were invaluable as he learned a lot there. He had switched from granola type cereals to one we found called Fibre 1 by General Mills. In his favour, his blood pressure and cholesterol are normal. M's next checkup is in 3 months, so hopefully things will still be on track!

In other complications, M remembered his needed an ice breaker tool and promptly went out and bought one. Remember that we are giving him one for Christmas as a surprise! I had to tell him, so he will return the one he bought and the surprise will be in what kind it was and what this one looks like.  I can nag him for weeks about other things on his todo list, they never get done, go figure!

Creative Tuesdays - Old World Christmas

Welcome to Creative Tuesdays! My piece is done in acrylic on good quality green cardstock (6" x 6"). I used some of my Christmas ornaments for reference. The little boy is dressed in suspenders from a time past, as is the snowman in his retro outfit complete with a top hat.  I hope I have created a sense of an 'Old World Christmas' here.

I was listening to this 'beat the bank' type of contest on the radio yesterday and a man took all the risks and won the maximum $10,000 prize!  When asked what his plans were for the money, the first thing he said was that he would donate a large portion to the incoming Syrian refugees.  That was so heartwarming to hear, I was expecting him to say the more usual stuff.  He sounded like a young man but it's hard to guess from the radio.