Life's Whirlwind Adventures

I haven't gone camping in years, not since high school.  I kind of lost my appeal for camping shortly after then, especially after being spoiled because some of my friends had family with cabins at the lakes so camping was not my idea of fun, unless it was in a powered cabin. Otherwise, forget IT!! Not doing it, not interested.  But my husband likes to camp, so we compromised and have camped a little since we've been together. Those first few camping trips were in tents, and I hate tents!! I can't get comfortable, I'm always too hot under the sleeping bag, too cold out of the sleeping bag and my trick to just stick one leg out of the covers doesn't work either because that leg just freezes while the rest of me sweats.  So we camped on the way down to California for our honeymoon for a couple days but that was the last time I have camped with him. Then his parents got a camper now I can camp in a camper. It has 'beds' and offers four walls and their campe...

2 weeks of drinking water Well as you have come to realize I am not a fan of drinking water, it was my least favourite thing to do, I'd much rather a pepsi or orange juice, but those have "empty" calories and water is good for me. So about four weeks ago I began my water drinking challenge , click the link to read about that, and two weeks ago I posted an update with a picture, and I actually admitted to liking water.  and here is another update for you. I'm now craving water! CRAVING it!!!  If I don't get at least three litres in a day, I wake up the next morning with a terrible headache, so in rode to avoid that I drink water, every day, all day long!! I like water, especially iced water!! But I'm even drinking water that is room temperature now! What is wrong with me???? Nothing actually, absolutely nothing is wrong with me, I am just giving my body something that it 3 weeks drinking water needs and it is giving me what I need. Regular bowel ...

A good friend of mine recommended that people read Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages.   It was a book that had helped her through a tough time in her marriage and she felt that it was an amazing read!! I appreciated her candour and even though I am not having difficulty in my marriage at this point in time, there have been times when things weren't always great. I had decided that I should read this book based on her suggestion, because one of my beliefs is that marriage is work, it's not fairy tale stuff. You need to work at love to make sure you don't fall out of it. I would like to see the trend in divorces changed, I want my boys to know that marriage is something you have to take seriously and to work on every day. So last week I read this book, I also took out his other two books, one for children and one for teenagers.  There are times when I struggle with speaking the other love languages and I am trying to ensure that my boys always know that I love th...

Since Lil Man turned four we have been putting him in the unparented swimming lessons, that would be the Sea Otter Level.  He did the level in the fall with his brother, but wouldn't do the front glide so he had to repeat.  He did another round in the spring and did not pass again, so we signed him up for the summer and he actually did worse than he had before.  I was fed up, because I know he can do it, but he was always jumping and playing while the instructor was working with other kids so I had a sneaky suspicion he was playing the instructor and claiming he was "afraid" and wouldn't do what they were asking.  I decided that after spending all that money on group lessons I may as well do a private lesson to see if that would help him. So last week Lil Man had his first private lesson at the Dawe Center.  He did phenomenally!!! He was able to play and goof around but because he was the only kid in the lesson he got 30 minutes of 1:1 instruction. I spoke t...

When Ebay first came onto the scene, like years and years ago, I had gone on and ordered a thing or two, but really I didn't get it and I had no interest in continuing with it, then the other day happened.... I was perusing Ebay for some Pandora charms for my bracelet, because I recalled a friend of mine telling me how she had scored a Pandora charm for $6.  I thought that was a steal of a deal and hey maybe I could find a deal like that as well.  And deals I found, like hundreds of them, and so I did what people do on Ebay, I bid on an auction or two.  Or five or six!!  I bid on the auctions as a hey maybe I'll get them, but I'm not going to bid too high because I'm just testing the waters here..... but I still won two auctions, it was incredible actually. I was super excited, because it felt like I had won. Not just purchased something, but actually won something. I think that's part of the high of Ebay, you feel like you are winning, and they tell you you won t...

Ever since I watched the episode of "You've Gotta Eat Here" that highlighted Modern Jelly Donut in Calgary I've had a huge craving for donuts (and as much as I love Tim Horton's Donuts they just don't satisfy).  So part of our Saturday trip to Calgary include a stop at Modern Jelly Donut. Getting around Calgary is always a fun time, but apparently my navigation wanted us to drive one block and turn, drive another block and turn. My hubby was getting frustrated, especially since we were in his big truck, not always the most fun vehicle to navigate around a busy city centre.  But we arrived at 5:30 (they close at 6). I ran in, thinking that because of the time they would be mostly sold out and I'd be lucky to find a couple varieties of donuts to try, let alone the flavours that I really wanted.  But, Lady Luck was on my side and I found not only that they had a good selection left but the top two I had wanted to try were still available!! Win for me!! ...

It was a rainy, overcast Saturday so the original plans of golfing were kiboshed and new plans had to be made.  Hubby thought we might like to go to the Science Center in Calgary, I was game so we got ready, loaded ourselves into the truck and headed on down to Calgary. Lil Man was very excited o be at the science centre. I'm not actually sure he really saw anything he was all over the place, but there were tons of smiles and even more questions then usual.  My four year old loves to ask questions, he asks so many questions on a daily basis, that I wish I knew someone who did brain scans to see how his brain fires.  His train of thought is seriously all over the place. We walked through the whole centre top and bottom, it was quite humid and warm in there which made it a little uncomfortable, but Lil Man loved the exhibits, especially any that had to do with water. He also enjoyed the magnets, and the electric stuff.  At one point he said to anothe...

One of the things that Dr. Brene Brown has you focus on in her book is "how do you DIG Deep?"  Now her definition of DIG deep isn't the traditional definition, it's not about how hard you work, or how far you push yourself to accomplish a task at hand, digging for more energy just to finish a task.  It's looking at things in three stages Get Determined Get Inspired Get Going K wrote:  How do you traditionally "dig deep"? Do you just keep pushing until your near the burn-out point? Can you think of a time in your life when you used a WHOLEHEARTED approach to dig deep? My response to the question was this:  I have myself done the Dig Deep where I just keep pushing and pushing to complete things, but there has always come a point where i have to take what's not done and blow it away. Ususally something gets left undone and I used to feel guilty about it, but now I don't.  as to the wholehearted approach to dig deep, I try to focus on what...

It's been two months since our Teddybear joined the family!! It's been a busy two months and there have been some interesting adjustments that we have made.  Your big brother, who used to be the baby,  has taken on his role as Big Brother with love and grace. It's taking him some getting used to that Mommy can't jump every time he calls, but he loves you and is trying to understand. He has even verbalized that now that you are here I can no longer call him Baby.  My Baby is now Teddybear,  Lil man is now my little boy. As for you my sweet little Teddybear, you are a sweet, bright eyed, happy little baby.  You've started smiling (not for the camera) and we've even gotten a laugh out of you. The air is doing a number on your sinuses as you seem to have allergies, but you tolerating the nasal aspiration and you continue to look around in wonder at the world around you!  You've started holding your head up more and more and even now are enjoying some time i...

I am currently reading "Gifts of Imperfection" by Dr. Brene Brown in a book group on Facebook. It's actually my first book club that I am in and I really like this.  I love reading and I love discussing books that I have read with others who have read them as well.  I've spoken of them before, but I'll speak of them again, Good-bye My Muffin Top has started this book discussion and I am thrilled that I decided to jump in and read the book.  I'm almost finished the book and I sort of wanted to share with you what I have learned from this book.  My Ahha moments, things that I realize I need to continue to work on and things that I have already put in place. So I am going to share with you some quotes/ questions the girls posted on Facebook and my comments to these questions.  At least this is my idea about  these posts, there will probably be five or more, they may or may not be all next week (I'll actually be camping next week so I have to get all my blog...

Here's my new idea, and I think it's an interesting idea, I would like to have my blog be a bit more interactive so I would like to open myself up to answer questions from my readers. YOU! What would you like me to write about? What would you like to know about, about me, my thoughts on a subject, whatever... you get to direct the blog. So this is how it will work.  Once you finish reading this blog leave a comment at the bottom of the blog.  I'm not sure if you have to have a google account or not, but if you do send me a message by twitter or Facebook to let me know and I'll figure something else out.  The reason I want the comments is so that other readers can see that I am not just blogging but actually following through so the next time I do this maybe they will want to participate as well.  Then once you have commented I ask that you please share this blog, on Facebook or Twitter.  That's all, pretty simple!! Here's the other little detail, my blog is ...

When I first found my house, the house I am currently living in, I loved the kitchen.  It was so big and had so much space, so much more space than my little town house kitchen and I just loved it! Then we moved in, and it was just the three of us, it was a little crowded, but manageable and things were ok.  Then we had the baby and need room for Lil Man's things, high chairs, bottles, cups, bowls, plates etc.. it was getting a little cluttered.  Then we started hosting family get togethers and so many people were always in the kitchen ( I don't have an open concept house), it was ridiculous how crowded it was and I started to resent my kitchen. I couldn't get anything done in it and it was just a big area of wasted space as far as I could tell.  I didn't have a functioning pantry, my cupboards didn't go all the way to the roof but they didn't leave enough space at the top to at least store some of the larger counter top appliances like crock pots and such.  T...

Growing up in Northern Saskatchewan a girl can become pretty spoiled when it comes to lakes.  There are so many good clean lakes within an easy 45 minute drive that you just think that everyone must have this luxury.  And it is a luxury, let me tell you, because not everywhere has this benefit and if there is one thing I miss more than anything, it's living in such close proximity to so many great lakes.   (Saskatchewan you have amazing lakes) Now that I live in Central Alberta, I've had to make some adjustments to my lake habits.  I was a girl who would go to the lake any chance I got and I would be in the lake swimming for hours and hours, now not so much.  Mostly because I don't find the lakes here that appealing to me.  Again I blame Saskatchewan for spoiling me, but the closest lakes to my current living space aren't as good as back home, they are good, just not as good.  I think Sylvan Lake is pretty, it's a cute lake town but it's always s...

It's been a busy month of June.  Busy getting over the baby blues (hormones), end of school, preparing for summer, and just getting into a new routine that works for the boys and me.  I hate saying I am busy, I've actually stopped using that word when people ask me how I've been or however they phrase the question. I legitimately tell them what I am doing or have been up to, because just saying "I've been busy" is a cop out that's like saying you don't have time to give to someone that is expressing an interest in your life and that's not fair.  (this is totally only relevant for me and I do not judge people who still answer "oh I'm so busy" when I ask how they are doing, I realize they have not come to same understanding as I have)  All of this is not to say that we haven't been doing things everyday or most days because we have it's just that I don't want to have my life defined as busy.  But I'm off on a tangent now...

If you haven't read my first blog about drinking water, well this will be news to you, I HATE water, if you have read that blog, well it's old news! But I have stuck to my conviction to drink three litres of water a day.  I think I've had one day where I did not reach the three litre minimum but one day in 2 weeks that's not bad and I didn't let it stop me from continuing on. After one week of drinking 3 litres of water a day I've started infusing my water with lime juice from fresh limes and lemons.  I'm going to try some other fruits as well, to see what it's like, and maybe that will help me drink even more water. Here's some news, there is a bottle of Pepsi in my fridge, it's been there since Monday when hubby got home from camping and I haven't opened it, nor have I even been tempted. Ok I was tempted once but I filled up my water bottle and drank that instead!! The history behind this big revelation..... If there was a a pepsi...

Here is a dirty shameful secret I am going to share, I have a temper, and usually I an control it without incident, but every once in awhile it flairs and I see red and then I have a mini explosion and then i feel the worst guilt EVER!!! The worst of it is, though, these temper flairs are always directed at my kids or loved ones.  And its always the proverbial straw that broke the camels back that does it.  Its never a big thing it's always the last little thing that tips the scale, but I think that's how life is at least my life.  The trouble with my temper is that I have a hugely long fuse and many times things can improve and the fuse expands, but when things don't improve and my nerves continue to be rubbed raw on a daily basis, eventually the dust blows the bomb and it's a big bomb. It's a lot of yelling, a lot of theatrics, a spank may be involved. (Oh if you are going to pass judgement, go right ahead, but I am not going to pay any attention to those nega...