For Bonnie

Here is a picture of Theresa, she looks great she is all baby and that little one is right out in front. If you look closely at the picture you can even tell that the baby's back and bum are on Theresa's right side and the feet are curled up on the other side. She is getting very uncomfortable and impatient at this point.

Her due date is February 5th, so any time now would be fine by her. I called her today and gave her the good news. The baby blanket is off the needles and all the ends are sewn in. The baby can come anytime now as it has a cozy blanket to be wrapped up in.

I bought the fabric for the back of it and it is in the dryer now. I hope to get it sewn on tonight and then I will post a picture of it for you. I am going to ask Mariana if I can use her camera, it will take a much better picture than my phone will.

Paul's cousin had a baby last night around around 5:30, 2 weeks early. A healthy handsome boy weighing in at a little over 7 lbs. I think a SMALL pair of booties might be in order. We may go to visit them after I get off work on Saturday.

One more thing and then I may go start a new project. Paul and I started a De-Tox program, it is called the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox. It is for liver, kidneys, lymphatics and colon. I am to lazy to find a link for you now, but I will try a little later. I am off to check the laundry and browse through knitting books!

New Hardware

Friday was Paul's birthday and I wanted to get him a BlackBerry for his gift. I was not sure if we could afford it or if he could use it.

As it turns out a girl I run with works at omega Cellular and she set me up with a smokin' deal. I got him a BlackBerry for $150.00, they have a new model in that was very fancy and way more than Paul would ever need. They were clearing out the old ones, so that is what I got for Paul. This meant a change in our service provider and new phones for myself and for Gran and Harvey who we keep on our family plan. My phone and Gran and Harv's phones were free.

Wait it gets better! Our bill will be $60 less a month than it was with our previous server and that includes the fees for the data stuff on the BlackBerry. How cool is that. Kim took great care of us and threw in a bunch of extras, she set us up with chargers for home and for the car, free cases and everything else you can think of. I would send anyone to her, she is well informed and very helpful.

My new phone is a camera phone!! This means I am no longer photoless for you! I took a picture and emailed to myself via the phone and here I present to you my very first phone photo:



The quality is not great, but it far better than nothing at all. It takes video too, but I have not tried that yet. Truth be told I have never even made a phone call on it or put a phone number in the memory yet.

Yawn, Stretch, Race!

I am trying to come out of hibernation mode today. I need to pick up my boot straps and just get going round here.

I have not actually been idle. I did get in a work out both Wednesday and Thursday. I even worked on Thursday. I have been playing with the kids and shopping for Paul's birthday gift. I have been knitting my fingers to the bone in an effort to finish the baby blanket by the 31st of this month.

The Baby Blanket
You remember the schedule? 6 little rows per day and the knitting will be done by the 31st. It sounds so easy doesn't it? Only 32 rows to go and the whole thing is done. Then it is the the simple matter of blocking it and sewing a back on it. I have been weaving the ends as I go so that little dirty job is done already. The problem I am having is this: The last row of blocks is the hardest, it is the same as the first row of blocks (How on earth did I ever think I could do this after I did the first row of blocks?) The first and last row of blocks involve the dots, the dreaded dots. They are only dreaded because I think the baby will be here at the end of the month and would like the blanket done by then. I have 23 different strands of yarn per row right now, it makes the last set of blocks a little slow going. I have only 22 rows of color work to go and the last 10 rows are of a single color, a simple seed stitch. I can hang in there.

I also seem to fight this weird energy when I am almost done with a large project. It doesn't matter if the project is knitting, it could be painting the kitchen or doing the accounting at the office. When you get down to the very end and you have cruised along at a good pace the universe suddenly slows things down. It increases how fast the time goes go by and throws obstacles in my path to slow me down. Am I the only one that feels this?

Let's look at last night for example. Paul had hockey and I had the kids. They usually go to bed really well, but I was feeling anxious to sit down and get some knitting done. The kids did not settle down until 9:00, at which point I realized I had a load of laundry sitting in the dryer that needed to be folded. I got that done and sat on the couch to knit. A look around the front room and saw that a tornado had struck and the room was a mess. I could not relax until I had that cleaned up some...And on and on and on and on it goes. The good news, I got in 7 rows!

The bad news: today is busy and we have plans this evening for Paul's birthday can I get 5 rows in today? Do I dare dream of 6 and stay a row ahead of schedule. Forgive my obsession, I am in training for the Knitting Olympics I will be knitting a pair of socks for the games. Mom, Shannon have you signed up yet??

Someday I will have my camera back so I can post pictures for you.

Shhhhhh

I am catching up on much needed sleep. I hope the snoring does not bother you.

Need a Smile?

Here take two:



This is Mary with the Snowman. He may be the best snowman I have ever seen. He lives across the street from up. I saw a little girl out with her mom building one day, they only had the bottom done. I love him, he makes me smile every time I drive down the street.

Paul should be back from his visit with his family tonight. He will not get in until after the kids go bed. That is to bad, they are missing him. I ask the kids every night when they go to bed to tell me what there favorite part of their days were and what the sad parts were.

Last night went something like this:

"What was the sad part of your day?"

Kids: "Dad not being here."

"What was your favorite part of your day?"

Kids: "Dad being home tomorrow."

"What am I chopped liver???!?!"

We had a nice laugh and a snuggle after that.

I am a bit tired, but other than that things have gone well. Quentin has a terrible cough that wakes him up quite frequently in the night. He comes and gets in bed with me to keep me awake for a while. I think I have gotten about 8 hours sleep in the past 4 nights. I am ready to go home and go to bed.

I am busy at the office today, so it will go by fast. I am just taking a break for lunch. Tomorrow things should return to normal. I need a good nights sleep and work out and I will feel better. I feel funny today. You know how you feel tired from no sleep yet restless because you have not enough exercise. My body is in a bit of a catch 22. I figure a good nights sleep tonight (I will ask Paul to get up with Quentin) and get up early and exercise tomorrow and I will be back to my usual self.

I don't have my camera back yet. That picture is one Marianna took. I may ask to take a few pictures with her camera so I can show you my socks and the progress on the baby blanket. I am trying to finish it by the end of the month. I think I will see if I can get in a few rows during the rest of my lunch hour.

Trading Up?

Or down? Paul had to go out of town for a few days and so I am working at the office today.

We had quite a bit of snow last night so this morning has been a little slow. Not the good kind of slow. There is slow where you can actually get some work done on the accounting and there is slow where every time you sit down to get something done a patient walks in. Slow enough to be bored and make the day very long, but not slow enough to get anything productive done.

We had to ask a few friends for help with the kids. I know I am blessed with good friends and a wonderful family, but it really helps you when you are in need and so many people offer to help you out.

The Giggle Queen has the kids today and tomorrow too, she just volunteered when we said we need a helping hand. I also have help from Debbles, and Miss Model Mac. Theresa even offered to take the kids if we need it, she is 38 weeks pregnant with her first baby and is at the uncomfortable stage. All our staff and friends at the office have offered to help with the kids. I even called another hockey dad and asked is he could take Sebastian to hockey for me tomorrow and his response was, "Is it okay if I pick him up around 2:30?"

The giggle queen met me at the office this morning to trade cars and pick up Quentin. She teased me a little bit. She said, "Let me get this right, I am handing you the keys to my sports can and I get your minivan and 3 kids in return." I told her I am not sure if I trading up or down, but I think it's down in my book. You all know how much I miss the kids when I have to work all day.

I had better go eat lunch, this afternoon it may get busy. The snow just stopped falling, people are going to get out and start to shovel their driveways. That means sore backs and busy afternoon.

Quote of the Week

I am trying my best to get back into the swing of things. I did not forget about the quote of the week, there was just nothing that really made me laugh, until yesterday.

Yesterday was Sebastian's 5th Birthday. He had so many wonderful things to day that I have two quotes for you courtesy of Sebass:

"Mom, now that I am 5 I am in kindergarten aren't I?"

Try to explain the whole school year thing to a 5 year old that thinks he should be done with pre-school now that he is 5. He had me laughing all day. I did not realize how much he was looking forward to being 5.

"Mom, now that I am 5 how many numbers are you? Are you like, 15???!?! That is so many!!"

I wonder if he can even wrap his mind around the fact that his poor old mother is 35.

I am sorry to be pictureless for this post but I had to send my camera into the shop. The back light on the LCD display has died. Apparently it is an easy fix, but the closest electronics place that works on a Canon digital camera is in Vancouver. I asked them to rush the work if they can so I can have the camera back before we go to Jamaica.

I would love to share with you pictures of Sebastian's gifts, but there aren't any. His favorite was from Grandma Elayne and Grandpa Darryl, they sent him this very cool sleeping bag with a blow up mattress he loves it. It was the first thing he opened and it had to be all set up and played with for 20 minutes before we could open anything else.

He got a great hockey shirt from Marianna, this he immediately put on. He also got an I-Dog robot that listens to music with him, and a set of legos that builds animals. Layne got him a Spiderman action figure that he has spent a lot of time playing with as well.

We had a great day, I can't believe he is 5! Happy Birthday Sebastian.

Advice and Rodent Doctor

Today I am following Mom and Shannon's advice, my family is very wise.

Paul was out of the house by six this morning. Quentin woke up and crawled into bed with me around 6:30, he snuggled with me for a little a while and then I got up and turned TreeHouse on for him. I went back to bed, not to sleep, but to follow the advice above. I just laid there snuggled under the blankets for a while.

The next thing I knew it was about 7:30 and PJ came in and had a snuggle with me. She got bored and went to join Quentin. I snuggled back down to get more of doing nothing in and then Sebastian woke up and came in and snuggled me for a few minutes. What a perfect morning.

I did finally roll out of bed around 8:30. I did what any well snuggled mom would do, I brewed a pot of coffee and made chocolate waffles for the kids. It's 10:30 now and the kids are full and happy and I am drinking my last cup of coffee. I will round up the kids to run some errands with me I think we are in for a relaxing day. All in all I have to say my family gives the best advice ever!

Remember the guinea pig? Well the little girl brought her guinea pig in to see me yesterday. Can you imagine waiting in your chiropractors office with 4 other patients, 2 of which are people, one who is a boarder collie and one guinea pig? It was a busy, fun day at the office.

The guinea pig had somehow hurt her back, she was sort of all scrunched up, you could see in the midback where there was a lot of muscle spasm and she was very sore there. Sadly she has some nerve damage into her lower extremities, she has bowel and bladder control, but no muscular control over her back legs. She is very frustrated with her body, it won't do what she wants it too. I used the activator to adjust her and there was immediate improvement in the muscle spasm, you could see her back level out right away. She also gained some control of her right back leg, but I think there will permanent nerve damage, especially on the left side. She is otherwise quite healthy and happy. I told the girl who brought her in to watch for improvement and if she felt the guinea pig was getting better to continue to bring her in at no charge.

It is interesting treat animals and see how they respond to chiropractic care, they respond very quickly and very well. I can tell you in one or two visits whether I can help an animal or not. Animals tell you exactly what is wrong with them and they rarely carry any emotional baggage, so you can see them clearly. By that I mean how they physically represent is how they actually are.

People tend to carry so much with them, they may come in complaining of midback pain, but that midback pain is not always due to an injury to the midback. It could be anything from the crappy food they are eating, to the mortgage payment due yesterday, or from grief they have not dealt with from a loss 15 years ago. There is a physiological response to all of our daily experiences, whether that experience is physical or emotional in nature. We store so much in our muscles and our bodies, health comes from so many things in our lives, minds and hearts.

Animals tend to have less variables, they have a good consistent diet, they are not worried about money, how the car is running ect. This is not to say that they don't have an emotional component or a stress factor, but it is not near like we put on ourselves as humans. I enjoy working with animals in my practice and have learned many valuable lessons from them. Of course I enjoy and learn from my two legged patients as well.

Spent Weekend

I have not blogged for a few days, this is not because I was terribly busy or anything. I was having a bit of a tune up done on both computers. I took in our home computer and my laptop and had our computer wiz move some programs around for me and recover some lost music files and get everything I wanted moved from the home computer onto my computer.

I had all our photos put onto an external hard drive and now I can delete all the pictures off the computer (that should free up lots and lots of space) and I can store the external hard drive in our safe deposit box and if the house burns down I will still have all my treasures. See, I was not busy but I was keeping the computer wiz busy.

I dislike when my weekend is spent before it even gets here. Here we are on Friday afternoon and my weekend already feels like it is gone. I am taking the kids to a Blazer game tonight, we will meet Paul there.

Saturday morning I start training for another 1/2 marathon at 7:00 a.m. from there I am off to work until the afternoon. Paul has plans to go to a Blazer game Saturday night and he has Ski Patrol all day Sunday. Mary has plans for a sleepover at a friends house tonight and will be staying over at a different friends house on Saturday night. She has some homework to get done in between all that, including some cooking projects for school.

I think I will get downstairs and see if I can get in workout while the kids are having quiet time and then I will try to get in a few rows on the baby blanket. I am still trying to get it done before the baby comes in about 1 month. If I can finish another row of blocks this weekend I could have it done on time.
The kids have gymnastics Saturday morning and Sebastian plays hockey Saturday afternoon. I will take the kids skating on Sunday morning and out for hot chocolate afterwards. And that is my weekend gone before it has even started. It does sound like fun though doesn't it?

Guinea Pigs and Jamaica

A funny storey for you:

Today while I was grocery shopping my phone rings. I answer it and it is the receptionist from our office. She tells me a patient of mine just called wanting to know if I could adjust her Guinea pig, it seems he has a sore back and knowing I worked with dogs the patient figured I might be able to help the Guinea pig out. I told Hennie to tell the patient I have never adjusted a Guinea pig before but if her Guinea pig would like to volunteer to by my Guinea pig I would give it try free of charge. Dr. Doolittle at your service, I will let you know if I adjust the animal and how he responds to care if I do get the chance.

For the past year Paul and I have been saving money to go on our honey moon. I know that we are coming up on our 6th anniversary but never mind that. We booked our trip last week and we are going to Jamaica. I have always wanted to go there and I am I so excited I can hardly wait.

Judy and her sister Noella will be here to watch the kids together and Paul and I are off to Jamaica. The Linfields are joining us for their honeymoon too, they are not as on the ball as we are they have been married for 18 years, (they were 9 and 10 years old when they got married ;0 ) We got a great deal at www.vacationselloffs.com here let me show you where we are staying click here to check it out . The trip was cheaper than I thought it would be, we are going for $2000. Each. That includes airfare and well everything. How wild is that?!?! We leave here on the 16th or 17th of February and will be gone for a little over a week.

I have never done anything like this trip in my entire life and I am very excited. Did I already say that??? I am worried that I will miss the kids the kids something awful, but they will be in good hands. Worst case scenario is we come home and find Noella and Judy tied to the kitchen chairs and the kids jumping on the couch and eating all the chocolate chip cookies they could get Grandma Judy to make. I will ask Debbles to check on everyone and see if they need any help (she likes chocolate chip cookies too and probably ties a better knot than Sebastian does)

Manic Monday

Today has been an odd day. First off I have felt weird since I had the flu. I feel okay in the mornings but by mid afternoon my stomach is one big knot and I feel like I need to curl up into fetal position and stay that way for the rest of the day. I have not been able to eat much since I have had the flu so exercise has not been happening. I will be glad when this thing has passed entirely and I am feeling myself again.

While Debbles and I were picking the kids up at school this morning a crazy thing happened. Debbles was helping Layne get into the mini and all of the sudden a van slammed into them. (Not me!) I guess a woman was ready to drive away with her grandkids and she threw the van into reverse instead of drive and slammed right into the front of the mini.

By some miracle no one was hurt and the only damage done to the mini was a shattered window and it needs a new license plate holder. I have no idea how the passenger side window was shattered when the mini was hit from the front. Maybe the the door slammed shut, but I don't think it did. Needless to say it scared the heck out of poor Layne. She rode to the house with me she was not very excited of climbing back into the mini just then. She will be over that in a day or two.

As if that is not enough of the oddities for you Miss Model MacKinnon was fired from her job today! She was given two weeks notice by her boss, would you like to know why she was given notice? She was given notice because she asked that her hours be cut back because she was not making enough money to support herself and her family and she wanted to explore some other career opportunities and still help out the store owner. The store owner by the way is an old friend of hers!!! I don't even think the owner has any legal grounds to let Miss Model go. I will spending my shopping $$ in another store from here on out.

If today held this much weirdness what will the next full moon have in store for us?

The kids played a funny game today too, PJ dressed in Sebastian's clothes all day long and Sebastian wore PJ's clothes all day. They even traded underwear! They had a great time and made each other and me laugh quite a bit over it. They got along really well today. Perhaps tomorrow I will win the lottery.

Foul Illness

We had a foul flu in the house the past few days. Quantum had it on Tuesday and he threw up a few times and then was done with it in less than 8 hours, the lucky child.

Paul was the next one to get it. I worked for him on Thursday because he was feeling so poorly. He was so sick he even failed to watch the hockey games that were on TV while he was home. Now that's sick.

I got home at 5:30 in the evening just in time to miss Paul and PJ getting sick together, one in the toilet and the other in the bathtub. Not pretty. By 6:00 I was getting sick myself and Paul was helping to get everyone else cleaned up. Poor Paul, although he was not feeling well himself, he was the best off so he got stuck helping the kids as I could not get away from the toilet long enough to be of assistance.

Sebastian started the game about 9:00 that night and Mary joined in the family fun around 1:00 in the morning. We ran completely out of clean sheets somewhere around 2:00 am and I spent the entire night on the bathroom floor. A good time was had by all.

Friday came to find Paul and PJ feeling better, but sleepy. Paul went to work and stayed home with the sick family. I started to feel better around 5:00 last night and was even able to get a couple of crackers to stay in me. Mary fell asleep about 6:00 last night and was still sleeping when I left for work this morning at 9:00.

Everyone seems to be feeling better today. I am very sore from laying down so much. My back is killing me. I think a day of work should do the trick to get me feeling better. I just need to move around and get the blood flowing. My stomach does not feel great yet but I am sure we will all be top notch after one more good nights sleep.

Well, I am off to go to work now. I wish this post was not quite so gross for you! I promise to do better tomorrow or maybe even later today. I have to go to work now.

Gifts

I have been meaning to share with you some of wonderful Christmas gifts before it gets to late. I was spoiled this yeat by my faimly and freinds. The gifts seen below are from my mom and sister. They sent me some great knitting books, I love knitting books. The yarn you see in the picture is my mom's gifts to the kids. She sent the yarn and a pattern for a hoody. The rest is up to me. I think she is sending me a valuable lesson in gauge. Big yarn=fast knitting. She is still teaching me things I need to know.



These beautiful champagne glasses are from my mom. She sends Shannon and I a set of Waterford crystal glasses every year, it is always one of my favorite gifts.



Paul surprised the heck out of me and bought me a lap top. I have started blogging from the laptop and I love it. It is fast and wonderful and I am using the heck out of it and enjoying every minute of it. See how spoiled I am.


Thank you all for your wonderful gifts. I had a wonderful holiday season.

Gifts

I have been meaning to share with you some of wonderful Christmas gifts before it gets to late. I was spoiled this yeat by my faimly and freinds. The gifts seen below are from my mom and sister. They sent me some great knitting books, I love knitting books. The yarn you see in the picture is my mom's gifts to the kids. She sent the yarn and a pattern for a hoody. The rest is up to me. I think she is sending me a valuable lesson in gauge. Big yarn=fast knitting. She is still teaching me things I need to know.



These beautiful champagne glasses are from my mom. She sends Shannon and I a set of Waterford crystal glasses every year, it is always one of my favorite gifts.



Paul surprised the heck out of me and bought me a lap top. I have started blogging from the laptop and I love it. It is fast and wonderful and I am using the heck out of it and enjoying every minute of it. See how spoiled I am.


Thank you all for your wonderful gifts. I had a wonderful holiday season.

Ski Bunnies

We took the kids up to the ski hill yesterday. We got up there around 10:30 and played with them until about 1:30. This first picture is of Paul helping Sebastian into his skis so that he can hit the slopes while Paul teaches PJ. I came along to play with Quentin and take some pictures of everyone.




Sebastian amazed me by taking this lift, called the carpet, up to the top of this little hill and hopping right off and skiing down all by himself. He was at the bottom ready to go again before PJ and Paul had even made up the carpet. I have video of Sebastian skiing down the hill if you want to see it just shoot me an email and I will send it to you.



Here is a photo of PJ and Paul getting ready to hop on the carpet, Quentin rode on the carpet loft too, he liked to ride it up and run down the hill. PJ skis in a harness with Paul. She can ski on her own but she doesn't stop. Paul puts her in the harness so he can slow her down until she gets better control. She had a great time, but wanted a rest after about 45 minutes.



Here is my favortie part of skiing, the hot chocolate. Sebastian wanted to do a few more runs and PJ was ready to rest so Quentin, PJ and I hit the pizza place and the coffee house. We watched out the window for Paul and Sebastian to meet us. We were so busy looking out the window for them and people watching that snuck up right behind us.



Does Sebastian look like he had a good a time? He loves it. It would be great if Paul can get him up to the ski hill a few more times this winter. The kids are such a good age to learn this kind of thing. They need to learn while they are fearless. It scares me a bit just watching Sebastian fly by me. He goes so fast!



After all the skiing (or being pulled around on a sled by your mother) all the hot chocolate and all the fun it seems a nap was in order for Quentin. I took this picture on the ride home, that kid knows how to make the most of his car seat.



A good time was had by all!