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Showing posts from 2015

Post the World

Let me take you back to January 2015.  I had to drive to Calgary as I had a specialist appointment, it was just me and the baby in the car I was looking at the scenery as I drove and my brain was thinking, not just about driving but about a thousand things. I was thinking how I was sad I wouldn't get to see my friend because the baby was sick and I didn't want to spread his germs, I was thinking how pretty the mountains looked, I was thinking the roads were so much better than the last time I'd made that drive and I was thinking that I wish I could send post cards and get post cards from people from around the world. I remember when I was a teenager I used to get those chain letters in the mail, and annoying as they were it was kind of fun to send off letters and to get so many letters in the mail.  I loved the idea of passing along Luck, because that's what all those letters were about, if you mailed that letter to 10 people you'd get something you wanted so why

Happiness!! Friday Five Link Up

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I'm linking up with Mar on the run , Eat Pray Run and You signed up for what again for their Friday Five Link up.  Today we are talking about our Five things that make us happy. It's like a loaded question, I mean the honest answer is life... but more specifically what about this life makes me happy. So I started thinking about it, there are many things in my life that make me happy, surprising, or not, they aren't things that make me happy, but activities and people. 1) FAMILY: My family makes me happy. Yes they can drive me crazy, they can frustrate me to the point of wanting to run away at times, but I LOVE them and they make me happy.  How do I know they make me happy?  Mostly, because I recognize that without them I'd be very sad.  Very few people in life can make me smile and feel genuinely peaceful and happy like my family is able to.  So Yes my number one thing that makes me happy is my family. 2) FRIENDS: I love girl time, I love hanging  out with m

Be-YOU-tiful: Beauty blog, BeYOU(TY)

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The word beauty is interesting because it contains some very important information right in the word.  YOU.  You can't say the word beauty without saying the word you in fact beauty is a direction as well. It tells you to Be-you-ty.  I am an english teacher and I know that beauty is an adjective, a word to describe a noun, but what it we started to take beauty as a sentence, that would be a direction from the world.  BE YOU TY(thank you) Beauty or being beautiful is more about being your authentic self.  Be True to you, stop trying to be what you think others want you to be.  It's such a hard lesson to learn at a young age, but if you can take these words and accept them to be true, it will change your life! Stop trying to be like the popular girl in school, stop trying to be like your best friend, stop saying you like everything your boyfriend likes so you can be 'closer', instead look inside yourself and discover who you are.  The funny thing is these people who you

Good Bye my Muffin Top

So it's been awhile since I last posted. Things have been changing and at some points in the last few weeks I have felt incredibly overwhelmed and ready to quit life... I have been struggling to lose this baby weight and nothing was working, not adding extra exercising, not watching what I was eating or eating by portion size, it was all just driving me insane.  I needed to do something, I needed to get more energy, I needed to dig myself out of my deep dark hole. I knew about the Release program with Good bye my Muffin top I'd inquired about it a few years ago, but I was planning to have another baby so probably starting a protocol like that wouldn't be the best time.  But I kept in contact with these ladies and I participated in some Yoga in the Parks with them and went to some of there support meetings.  I really connected with their way of thinking.  I hated that at times I hated my body, that I would body shame myself and they talked about accepting your body for

Working versus Passion

Why do politics have to get in the way of you working your passion?  I love my job, I love what I do, and the results I see daily from helping coordinate programs for those in my programs.  It's so rewarding!! But then politics get involved, be they provincial politics or just plain office politics, and then my passion is smothered.  It's not that I can't do my job in and around the politics, I can, but then the changes I think are necessary for moving the company into the next phase are never brought forward.  Because I can be a very good big picture thinker, but I can also break down the big picture into segments like a puzzle so that we can develop that big picture. I tend to jump the gun a lot, bring things forward that aren't as well thought out as they could be, especially on the fly or off the cuff, as they come to me.  Sometimes my verbal diarrhea is hard to stop, especially when it's something I'm quite passionate about. So here's my little De

Summer Fun to begin!! Friday Five

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I'm again linking up with Mar , Courtney  and Cynthia  for their Friday Five, I'm a day late, as well I took a mental health break from life just trying to get readjusted to going back to work again after being off for a year!! It's harder than you'd think!! Today's Friday Five is all about my Five Favourite Activities to do in the summer, so here they are!! 1. Camping!   This is new for me, I was never much of a camper, I did enjoy it when I was in high school and lived 30 minutes from the nearest lake, and I even camped in a tent! But as I got older the people I was friends with either didn't like camping or basically we couldn't afford it, so I lost my desire to camp. I for sure lost my desire to camp in a tent!! My husband loves camping, in a tent or camper he's fine either way.  He also likes camping in the bush, like not by a lake!  I don't understand it, I need to be by a lake or some body of water to enjoy camping, just sitting around an

Dear Prince T

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It feels like only yesterday the doctor put you in my arms all wrapped in a blanket. I was so confused when Dr. Du Ploy announced your weight, because I was sure you were going to be bigger.  But you were the perfect size!! You were and still are perfect. It's been the most amazing year with you in our life! You bring joy to everyone around you!  Your smiles are contagious and there is always a hint of mischievousness behind your eyes. You have the same determination that your older brother, Lil Man had, but you have the chill disposition that Chandler had. If anything you are a very nice hybrid of your two older brothers, making you your very own person. You love music and love to dance. Anytime music is on you are singing away and dancing to the beat. You have great rhythm already. Though you aren't walking yet, you definitely motor around crawling.  You are up stairs constantly and are always looking for an escape route.  It is your new favourite game!  If you&

Kids Yoga

Back in April I signed Lil Man up for Yoga. My boy is a very active little guy and sometimes I think he needs to learn tools to help centre himself.  Since Yoga has been so great to me ( I'll get back at it I promise once I get paid) I thought this might be something that Lil Man would enjoy. I was right!! He loves it, every Tuesday he is ready to go hauling my pink yoga matt out of the van, taking his friend Miss S's hand and off they go into 45 minutes of yoga bliss.  He loves it so much, he comes home and 'teaches' me yoga.  I am hoping he can find a few poses he feels comfortable doing when he is getting worked up at school.  He will sit in a meditative pose from time to time, so who knows. The Kid's Yoga is offered at Universoul .  It is such a great facility and it offers so many unique and fun classes. If you haven't checked out Red Deer's newest Yoga studio you should stop in!!  Starting June 2 they have another 4 week Kids Yoga class and Lil

It's Coming......CHANGE

I live in a province that has had the same political party in charge for 44 years.  That's a long time for any one party to hold government.  And they haven't had a bad run, for years they were the party to get things done to make the province money, they got the province through some recessions, honestly they weren't all bad.  Ralph Klein was an amazing leader, but he had a pretty transparent approach, he told it like it was and he connected with the people.  Not to say that people were always happy, but the years speak for themselves, they were in power for a long time so they must have being doing something right. Then Ralph resigned, I was new to Alberta so at first I didn't quite get it, I mean so what a politician was leaving politics big deal, open the door for the next crook.  (I know they aren't all crooks and most go into it meaning well, but all the political red tape changes people)  Then we had some years with a revolving door of new Premiers, and the

Let's talk about Suicide

There are a few things I rarely do on this blog, because I don't want this blog to turn into that kind of blog, I want this blog to be fun, with fun tips and interesting things I do with my family.  It's a way they can look back and see what happened over the years and stuff.  So I don't usually post anything political even though I have very strong views, and I don't usually post anything about those harder subjects either that parents have to face.  But today I'm going to talk about Suicide because it Sucks!! On Monday there were 4 suicides in Red Deer.  Four families lost loved ones who were close to them, four families now have to face the reality of a world where that loved is not here.  And it SUCKS!! It sucks when you don't know the families because if  you are human you can empathize and you know they are going through hell right now.  It sucks even more when your kids were acquaintances and you have to talk with them about why someone would make that

Be-YOU-tiful Blog: Hair 101.2

So the last blog I talked about the hairstyles I've had through the years and which were my favs and why.  I don't think I posted one that I didn't like and really there haven't been any, just ones I like less because of the problems they bring (styling wise).  But today I want to talk about what I think makes beautiful hair and how to have beautiful hair. I think the best hair is healthy hair!! It's not about the coif, it's about how healthy it looks, if it looks greasy or brittle maybe we need to fix that but hair doesn't have to have a fancy style, up do, whatever it just has to be healthy. I suffer from dry hair.  It drys out really easy and then it gets frizzy. I have a natural wave (that's what I call it) so it has these kinks in it and can drive me crazy!! But the worst is when my hair feels dry, because then it makes me feel like it's unhealthy and that's when my split ends seem to multiple.  I use Hair masques and deep conditioning c

I'm losing it!!

I'm seriously losing it!! Now not everything is telling me that I'm losing it, but the most important indicator is saying I'm losing it and that's what's important! I feel conflicted by this news, I mean for years I've depended on the balance to let me know where I was and now I can't count on that, everything is off balance and nothing is being correctly indicated in that area. Now I've found a new way to test and it's almost compulsive the way I use this tool to check what I've lost, but at the end of the day I'm losing it!! Now any of you who read my blog on a regular, semi regular basis probably have guessed to what I'm referring or are least know that it's not my mind (let's be honest I lost that a long time ago).  I'm talking about my journey to physical health and I'm getting there and losing the unwanted extras that have attached themselves to my body. The SCALE, that horrible thing that rates how your body r

Friday Five: It's all in the Brand!!

Well today's Friday Five with Mar, Cynthia and Courtney is all about Brands that we love.  I sort of struggle with this topic because as much as I appreciate brands, I am always looking for a deal and deals and brands aren't always synonymous with each other. So I am that girl that will buy the knock-off because it's that much cheaper, but there are a few brands I love and I can definitely say it has a lot to do with the marketing.  So here are 5 Brands I love!! 1) Anything Saskatchewan Roughrider!! I'm a prairie girl and I love me some CFL and I LOVE the Roughriders!! During the CFL season I bleed green!! This isn't a brand per se, but this company has invested a lot of marketing into it's brand and it's become a recognized name around the world.  I have found Saskatchewan Roughrider Wine from Chile.  Yeah it's made it's mark around the world!! So I love anything Saskatchewan Roughrider, if it's got the S Flag in it I probably want to buy it!

Be-YOu-tiful: Hair 101

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I'm going to do a few blogs on things that contribute to outward beauty.  I think beauty is a package deal, inside and out, so your outside has to match your inside and sometimes, just sometimes the outside is easier to understand than the inside so let's start easy.  Let's talk about finding your Hair. Wait, wait, I know it's on top of your head (yes I have voices of my friends making smart ass comments like that, so I answer those voices in this blog).  What I mean is how do you find the hair style that goes with your personality.  In my life I've had many different hair styles, and hair colours.  Any time I've changed my hair I've loved it (I love change, I thrive on it) but there are some hair styles that I like more than others. Here I had long blond hair for my wedding, it was great!! I am pretty proficient at doing various up does and it always allowed me to have different styles. Funny tidbit, I didn't think my hair was that long when it was

11 Months, seems like Forever!!

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I remember getting Lil Man's school calendar in September and thinking it was going to be forever before May hit, 9 months away, and yet here we are two weeks out of May and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Prince T has grown into a delightful baby!! He's mostly happy, quite stubborn but easy to get along with, he just knows what he wants and he knows how to get it.  He's really started doing some neat things now.  He's not walking yet, but he's pulling himself up and standing with assistance, he claps, he waves hi and bye and he still blows kisses.  He loves his brothers and he enjoys spending time with Daddy. There are some marked differences between him and Lil Man when Lil Man was that age.  Prince T doesn't fight sleep, he lays down for his naps without fuss and sleeps well during his naps. He's still taking two naps a day and he is in bed by 7 every night.  He's a creature of routine.  Lil Man wasn't quite this easy, he'

Be-YOU-tiful: Defining Beauty

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What it beauty? What makes a person beautiful? Who decides what the benchmark for beauty is? These are all questions society struggles with on an universal level.  But every culture, every society, every group has it's own definition which makes defining beauty one of the hardest tasks I've ever encountered.  Beauty is very subjective and we each have our own parameters for what makes someone beautiful, the funny thing is it's not often centred around physical beauty. I've struggled with this term for most of my life.  I've never had self esteem issues that I wasn't physically attractive, but I've had self confidence issues that maybe I wasn't my best self and that others were better than me.  My friends were skinnier, better at fashion, funnier, had better hair and so on and so on.  And my battles have changed from year to year but they've helped me define Beauty for me. Here are some of the big triggers of low self confidence for me! 1) I&#

Welcome back from Easter Break

It's been awhile since my last blog!! Not my longest break by any means, but a break none the less.  The last two weeks have been Easter Break in Red Deer.  The first week had the oldest son off and the second week the youngest was off.  I also had my nieces for the second week as they were off school as well. Needless to say this was a busy household and I was exhausted!! I really don't know how people with lot's of kids do it!! I admire them, I mean I have three which is what I'd consider a do-able number.  Especially since there is an 11 year gap between my oldest and middle child.  So I really only have two children and a teenager, and my middle child, Lil Man, is becoming more and more independent each day so that leaves just the baby. When my nieces were here they are 3 and 8 years younger than my oldest so they fit right in the middle of my kids.  I then had 5 kids from 16 to 10 months!! Scary thing is they could have all been mine with the age gaps.  I love

I Don't Need to Drink the Kool-aid

I like to surround myself with people that have different view points on the world because as they share their view points it broadens my view of the world.  Maybe that sounds selfish, but I feel that when we stop trying to see different points of views we become stagnant and closed minded and I don't want to be closed minded or seen as judgemental.  I guess I should clarify a couple things before I start. Closed Minded individuals, for the purpose of this specific blog, are those individuals who refuse to see things from another perspective.  They grab onto a view or belief and anyone who does not agree with them 100% are classified as stupid (which is not a true use of the word).  They also push their viewpoint on you vigorously and when you give them facts to refute their claims, they mention their expert and how they wish their expert could set you straight.  Closed minded individuals live in a very black and white world, it's black or it's white there are no colours

Week 9: Running to SeaWheeze!

Ok I know we missed a week here, but there was literally nothing to report.  I went through a lazy stage, and I just couldn't shake myself out of my funk.  I even binged on some terrible foods and then almost as soon as it started I was ready for it to be over and we are back in the saddle again. My neighbour may be a huge inspiration to this as well.  In December she got a treadmill (I hate those things, but...) and after her birthday she decided that was it she was going to use the treadmill every day and she has, even if its just for 30 minutes, she gets on that treadmill and gets to work. It's been 11 weeks and you can see a difference already and because she has done it every day it's become a habit for her!! I sat and talked with her this weekend and I was inspired, I need to kick my work outs up a notch and need to get them to become a habit, something I just do every day.  I can't not do them, I have to do a little something everyday, it's the only way thi

Favourite Spring Time Foods Friday Five Link Up

I'm once again linking up with the girls from DC.  Make sure you check out Mar , Cynthia and Courtney 's blogs and the other bloggers who join up!! Today's topic is Favourite Spring Time foods. I'm stumped, literally stumped, I didn't know there were seasonal foods, I mean I know fruits and veggies have seasons but for favourite foods I am not really sure.  This took a lot of thinking, a lot of deciphering what I consider spring foods. 1) Barbecue!! Anything really, I love Barbecue foods and I love them more in the spring or summer.  My husband barbecues all the time, every season and that's new for us. Growing up the Barbecue was only ever fired up in the spring or summer so I think that's why I love Barbecue in the spring and sumer. 2) Jello:  Mostly the red jellos, but I love jello! It's definitely something I make more in the spring than any other time of the year.  It's super easy and fun for the kids. 3) Ice Tea.  I know technically n