Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Visit with Mom

Wow, it's been awhile since i've posted to Blogger but have to say that time away from the internet is only a good thing!!

Our visit was wonderful, albeit too short. I am thankful, however, for the time we had. Mom and Doug are going to come up next summer with the motorhome to do some camping and fishing....YAY!!!!

We couldn't ask for better weather and thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of it. Our Prince Rupert trip had the best weather too and it was a great trip. We checked out the shops in Cow Bay and Atlin Terminal. We were disappointed though that Smiles was closed but had a good lunch at Breakers.

I miss Mom and living close enough to be able to just pop in for a visit or a cup of coffee and a good bs session. I feel we are reconnecting again and it feels good. Love you Mom and miss you already!!

Here's some pics of our visit:

Mom and Doug at Breakers Pub


A little Highway visitor:


Stop along the way to Rupert:

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Blogger vs. Facebook, growing old, my Mom and fear

So i've been kind of negligent lately on Blogger. Not because I haven't wanted to be but Facebook is a novelty and has been a wonderful tool for finding family and friends I haven't been in touch with forever. It's good for sending a quick message, posting a note, poking someone and letting a whole network see in one click what's going on instead of them checking out your page all the time.

However, I do miss blogger because it's a great place to just put down thoughts, feelings, recipes, meal plans, vents, pictures and just connect with friends and family I have here too. There is no comparison between the two, they're both great online communication tools with totally different features.

The last month has been one of much turmoil and decision making. From a previous post you know i've gotten a full time job and i'm excited for a new beginning. This is going on in other parts of my life too. Hal and I are no longer trying for a family (actually haven't been for a bit) but now i've started back on the birth control pill as a measure of prevention and the hormone balancing act it will do with PCOS symptoms that are way out of control. In regards to PCOS and Insulin resistance that i've got going on he's now put me on Avanda-Met. Initially he put me on Metformin 7 years ago. It worked amazing at first BUT I was also more active, food aware, etc. and I lost 35 lbs. Now with PCOS you never know when things are going to go out of whack. Somewhere in there we tried to conceive and managed to twice but lost both in miscarriage. With those, the loss of family members, stress, etc. I gained back most of that weight and had no motivation to get active, poor eating and voila....Met quit working and I quit Met.

Last fall I asked our dr. about Avandia and he said to try it, well by December i'd put on 8 lbs...NOT GOOD!! I went off everything and had this whole idea that drugs were not required, only kidding myself of course. Periods have been irregular, a bit of depression and irritability, obvious excess of unwanted hormones, etc. This week I went back to see him, told him that i'd quit Avandia and natural stuff and was sick and tired of PCOS, couldn't he just take out my woman parts, dip the whole body in wax and riiiippppppp it off and while were at it lets do a whole lotta lipo with one condition....part of what came off the front had to go on the back to give me an ass!! Thank god he understands my humour and we had a good laugh over that. He said that women parts were not coming out as it's better to have them in there doing a bit of something then to depend wholly on hormone therapy, that it has to be frustrating to have a disease that you need to lose weight on to make the symptoms ease BUT it's really difficult to lose that weight because of Insulin resistance and the whole hormonal fluctuations. He also said that I am retaining way too much water! Hello?!?! Please tell me there's at least 80lbs of excess water in this hot bod!! LOL On a good note with all this other stuff going on my blood pressure is excellent, heart still ticking, cholesterol and all that other stuff is good.

Enough about health...MY MOM IS COMING THIS WEEKEND!! It's so exciting to know she's coming to visit and even it's a few days that's such a blessing. We're planning on a trip to Prince Rupert as she and Doug would really like to visit while they're here. They will head to Prince George on Tuesday or Wednesday morning for Doug's granddaughters graduation and then back home to Vernon by Sunday.

We've come quite aways and it's nice to hear that she's tuned in most times when we talk on the phone now. May 21st is a hard day for her as it's my deceased brothers birthday but she said that she's focusing more on how thankful she is to have had him for 16 years because she really should have only had him for 2 but God blessed her with 14 extra years. She misses him and says part of her heart will always feel empty because he's gone but she's got the rest of us too and that keeps her going.

I can't even begin to imagine as a Mother how hard it must have been to watch your child die before your eyes and not have any control over it. It shows me that she truly is a strong women, she carried on after he died and did the best she could to keep it together. Thinking about it some days must have been very difficult to even get out of bed but she did. She kept living, loving and was able to laugh again without feeling guilt. I try not to think of the day that we lose Mom and the emptiness that will fill that part of our hearts. It was hard losing Dad but we had Mom still and even though we're adults there are times I still feel like her little kid, she's going to keep us safe, she's going to reprimand me for rocking on the legs of the kitchen chair or burping rudely, etc. I'm a grown woman but there are times I want nothing more then to feel safe in the arms of my Mom, cuddling with her on the couch like we did as kids, or waking from a night terror and there was Mom arms ready to scoop me into a hug and tell me it was alright, the monster wasn't going to get me, that it was okay she was there to protect me. There will come a day that I will cradle Mom in my arms, scare the monsters away and tell her it's alright. That day I will be strong, it is the days that follow I fear the most.

XO Pen


ps: hopefully this post has not been too confusing, this was total free writing.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

For all you wonderful, amazing women!! May your day be filled with many blessings, love and lots of happy memories.




Friday, May 11, 2007

Changes

As some of you know i've been offered a full time job and have accepted it. I will be back doing Accounts Payable and Receivables. I will definitely miss my job working with Pauline, Henry and the gang. I said to Pauline today that she'll have to be sure to put the following in the job requirements "Must be willing to make a complete fool of oneself and have a great time! No singing skill required!"

I feel like i'm leaving part of my family and also have a bit of the 'new job' jitters. It will be fine and there is a few weeks to get used to the idea.

However, onto other stuff....THE MALL IS TURNING 50!! We are going to have Birthday cake, live entertainment by our Kitimat Idols and Adrian (Elvis) T., the Totem pole will be open for viewing, photo archive displays from the last 50 years and there will be balloons! This is happening on Saturday, May 19th from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Off to bed for now and will be back tomorrow to catch up on the blogs.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Update in our world

wow, it's been crazy the last couple weeks! We've got the boat in the water, Hal and I will take our maiden voyage together tomorrow and i'm so excited!!

I have to say that Parker is absolutely adorable *I know already said it but he truly is!* and Kali Joy, well I love her more and more. She's turning into quite the individual and never ceases to bring a smile to your face. Shari and Doug are truly amazing parents who create beautiful babies too. Once again Hal and I say "Congratulation on the birth of your little son!"

In our world now Hal and I have completely changed our way of eating because of his health issues that have come up.

I'm generally eat a very healthy diet but my dearest was a late night snacker, grilled cheese, bacon n' eggs, kinda guy and now that he's found out his cholesterol is high he's on board with me. Needless to say this has made heart healthy cooking a whole lot easier. We now consume way more vegetables and are purging all the sugary, junk food out of the house.

I now walk with Cleo every night and have managed to get in a few morning walks with her plus Hal and I have been doing yardwork/spring cleaning.

I've lost 6 of the 8 lbs I gained over winter and right now am going to be happy with that loss and keep doing the same for another two weeks and then hopefully kick it up another notch.

Wishing you all well and will try to post more often. I have to say that the girls got me hooked on Facebook and i've found relatvies and friends whom i've been out of touch with for quite some time and it's been fabulous!!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Introducing Parker!

Here's the little bundle we've all been waiting so impatiently for. We'll let Mom and Dad fill you all in on the stats but it can be vouched that he's adorably, huggably, kissably sweet!!