Near the hotel

The thing with Rome is that you just never know what historic landmark

you might stumble on....

 if you head south on Via del Babuino or Via del Corso

you will stumble on Piazza del Populo or Place of the People

it is a huge Piazza were you can take multiple pictures.

On the South end there is the Leonardo da Vinci museum.

This is one of my favorite sight! The Spanish Steps bare of people!

A very rare sight!
The Spanish Steps were about 7 minutes from our hotel!
I am so glad my co-worker recommended this place!

On the top of the stairs there is the Trinita Dei Monti (the Trinity of the Monts).

A lovely church, not as popular as other sights...free to visit (a plus)

Be careful when climbing or descending the steps as there is a lot of wear

and you could loose your footing very easily.

The rain just stopped, so it is a matter of minutes before

the tourists descend on the Spanish Steps like a swarm

of locusts!

I probably already mentioned this...but you do not need to book super expensive tours

in Rome. If you have mobility problems I recommend the Hop on Hop off tour and it is

relatively inexpensive for Rome ...about $36 U.S.

until next time......

Have a great night!

Rome! Finally!

This is the trip I has been waiting forever for.

My Dad used to tell me that we had to go together before he was in a wheel chair.....

unfortunately he never made it. I was able to transfer his huge frequent traveler's points to my account and this was the final trip.

I had been to Italy 3 times with my parents and the last time was in 1974 or 1975.

We spent a week in the Historico Centro or the historical center of Rome. Yes it can be full of tourists, but there are plenty of small streets to discover and shop at.

This is the Victor Emmanuel monument.

It was was built in his honor since he was the first king of an

unified Italy.

That is a must see! Do you need to go inside? we did not.

 The thing to remember is that Rome is a museum, so

if you are travelling a budget...you don't need to pay for tours.

you can see amazing art in the streets just like this beautiful doorway.

 Or this fantastic fountain.

where do you see this/ in Rome of course!

And you can enjoy lazy delicious meals in these quaint terrasses in the street.

if everything goes as planned (it might not), I will do a series of posts on Rome.

Great restaurants, my hotel, cheap deals...

Thank you and good night!

Roadtrip!

Well actually not a road trip but we actually took the plane! To Toronto!

I probably blogged about this before but, after my Dad passed...I received a letter from Aeroplan addressed to him telling him his points were about to expire! Yikes.

He had been wanting to transfer them to me for a couple of years, but every time I wanted to look into it he was tired, or didn't want to look into it.

So I called and they transferred the miles to my account but I had until December 31st 2017 to spend them....

in 2017 we went to NYC...great trip!

I sent Veronic to NYC and Atlantic City. Last week Toronto and in May ROME!

So more about the Toronto trip.

I had been to TO in 2004 on a business trip...but did not see much.

                                lots of fried food at 7-11


So this time it was more of a recon trip....I like to visit a place for the first time and walk as much as I can....and we did just that!

Whenever I plan a trip I use TripAdvisor a lot. and this time I listed a lot of restaurants near us.

We ate a 5 restaurants and only one was a dud...but anyone can have an off day!

we also visited a really cool botanical garden! and that really boosted our spirit....since this Winter keeps going ON and ON and ON...

 I slept so well in that huge bed!

 Corned Beef hash at Fran's Deli

so delicious!

 I was really happy to see fast food carts!

And food trucks!

The CN Tower!

We also saw the Canadian Walk of Fame, old Cabbage town and the Eaton Center.

I do have more pictures but as you know I still have issues with downloading pictures....so the Botanical Garden pictures will be hopefully available soon so I can post them!

Until then stay safe and keep on thrifting!

Seen around

Life is pretty good right now.

I try my very best to do everything right at work, 

to cook light, healthy and low salt....

But I must confess...it is not always a success...

last night I cooked a supper that tasted of nothing even if I put effort in it!

OH WELL! LOL 

IT HAPPENS!

 Look closely ....the 2 whippets have onesies...

WORD

 This bowl is so sad....

I did not bring it home

 Found a new friend for my pink friend....

The pink one is vintage. The green one came originally from 

the dollarsatore was priced at $1.50...the sticker was on the bottom

but I got her at Goodwill (Renaissance) for 75 cents

so a win for me!

So this picture I did not bother turning because sometimes a girl

is just tired....

This is a mold/casserole that I found in one of my Dad's crate

Someone identified it on Facebook but I forgot the name...

I am in a weird place mentally...I don't know why or how

Have a great night peeps

hugs to all!

New finds

So February in Canada means a visit to the financial adviser or contributing to your RRSP

if you have one.

I don't really like parting from my hard earned cash but in the long haul but

I will get a tax reduction...

Near the financial adviser's office there is a Value Village!

Of course I had to stop!

Scored these vintage new Horizons Blue Pyrex Fridgies for

a big ol' $3.97 canadian! woot

Now I am on the hunt for the Horizons Blue 503....

Rollercoaster

a couple of months ago my fur baby Yoda was diagnosed with arthritis in her hips and the vet asked us to think  about starting treatment....

Then we had the broken ankle and heart attack to worry about.....

Last Thursday we went to the vet, started the treatment and the vet suggested some blood work because with a diabetic cat...it is good to check once a year

 Friday night we get the vet's call and it is not good news...her platelets are very very low. The vet wants to double check with another test. If it comes back super low again then she needs to be hospitalized in an emergency animal hospital because it is the weekend and our vet is closed on Sunday.
She will need round the clock care because she is at risk of spontaneous hemorrhages.

Can you imagine the shock I had? As much as we love her we both agreed that if this was the case, it was time to cross the rainbow bridge....

She's diabetic, has chronic diarrhea and arthritis we did not want her to suffer.

We cried a lot on Friday night. Saturday we bring the cat to the vet, they take blood and go back home. And we wait and we cry, we watch tv, we cry, we wait....

I needed comfort food bad! Here one of them is Kraft Diner or Kraft Mac'n'Cheese as it is call in the US. With ground beef, parsley and green onions....delicious

but that doesn't heal that big hole in my heart....

at 3:00 pm the phone rings, neither of us wants to answer it....yes it is the vet. Yoda's platelets are  450 not 20, they are perfectly normal! The lab messed up!!!

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? I felt such joy! A huge weight was lifted, I danced!

And then I felt really tired and a good long nap with Yoda!

I can feel Spring in the air!

Can you feel it?

I can!

Even if the soil is full of snow, even if the temp is low....I can feel it

The sun is setting later and rising earlier....

And it feels GOOOOOOD!

My steps are lighter, my spirit is soaring higher.....I feel so light!

Even If I have concerns about the snow on the roof.....

I am making plans to paint the kitchen, the bathroom, the guest room (my office)....I am also looking at companies that can come and look at my plumber's basement because of the moisture...and last year I was screwed over by a local company...

On a brighter note I found  a frog to hold my scrubber.

We call her the big mouth frog. Of course I could not resist glueing

google eyes on her!

This is PIA (Pyrex in Action). I was making beef and snow peas

with assorted asian veg.

The frog is kinda scared....I might need to call Mulder and Scully.

Today was DH first day back at work.

I am happy to report every thing went FINE.

Gotta love the everything went fine thing...

I love a workday where everything is smooth.....