Just thought it was awesome! I love it!

Dr. Norris Chumley recently added a new blog post discussing Kirstie Alley’s new “Big Life” television series on A&E.

Here is my own blog comment to his post and review about the show:

I think Kirstie Alleys Big Life show is sort of like a car accident… you just can’t turn away in fear you might miss something. I actually can’t determine if I like the show or not just yet, though, I suppose, since I would like to watch it again, in that sense, I do like it.

What bothers me is her all her whining about wanting something easy and not really willing to do the work she needs to to lose the weight she wants to. It’s like she expect that a weight loss fairy will sprinkle her with skinny dust overnight. It would be nice… I want that fairy too… but we all know that it won’t happen!

I don’t know, it might be too soon to tell, but after only seeing the first 2 episodes, I felt disappointed in her, like she isn’t prepared to lose the pounds again. I don’t think she’s in the "I want this so badly and I’m going to do whatever it takes!" mindset yet.

I do enjoy her humour, but her weight loss humour and constant bashing of herself as she sees photos of herself taken from the paparazzi is not a very good start to weight loss. I think she needs some therapy as well, so that she’s not back at this point in her life AGAIN in the future. She has a really awesome support system, and she needs to fall back and use it a lot more, which would also include her wonderful talented trainer!

I really hope her attitude changes for the better, or else, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to sit and watch someone fail before they’ve even really begun the journey. But I wish her all the best of luck!

I intended to have a super lazy weekend… staying in PJ’s, no house cleaning, no worries… just a lazy weekend doing whatever or nothing. Usually my weekends are filled with shopping for the household and visiting at my mom’s, and I just felt like I needed a calm and quiet weekend at home and spend time with hubby.

Saturday pretty much turned that way, it was a good lazy day, the best I’d had in a while. It was enough of a rest day to feel energized on Sunday. I got a call from my step-dad on Sunday morning asking me if I wanted to hitch a ride with him after he’d pick up some cigarettes and a few things in town so that I could come visit for the afternoon. I was still sleeping when he called though, which was about 11:30am, and he said he’d be over in about half an hour, and then my mom made him give me an hour to get ready. I was happy when he then changed his ETA to 12:30 because I wondered just how quickly I could get my ass in gear to get dressed and eat breakfast – I don’t like to be rushed, especially on a Sunday, but an hour, I could handle.

When I got there, my mom wasn’t dressed yet, and I wasn’t feeling well for the first hour or so of being there. I had horrible back “ovary” pain, and had to lie down on the couch until my 2nd dose of Ibuprofen would finally take effect. My mom got dressed and about an hour later, I finally started feeling better. We’d planned to take a walk in the woods, but we both didn’t feel well enough to go out and do that yet but wanted to take in some fresh air, so we took out a couple blankets and pillows and sat outside on the picnic table and just enjoyed the winter sunshine. My step-dad and I took a few pictures too.

View Full Album

The wind was cold so my mom and I went in the house to warm up for a bit and find something better for her to wear. And then we went out for a little walk around their neighbourhood by starting off through a ski-doo trail in the woods at the back of their yard, and then walked a loop back to the house on the neighbourhood road instead of back on the trail. We took it slow, and stopped a couple times to catch our breath and just enjoy.

We felt really good when we got back to the house and finished our walk and felt proud that we’d taken the opportunity to do so even though neither of us were feeling the best to begin with. We felt empowered. Even though it wasn’t much, the point is, we did it.

Finally, we had an early dinner and just hung out and she brought be back home before it was totally dark around around 6 or so, and I still had the rest of the evening to spend with hubby and the puppy.

It was a pretty good weekend all and all, and I think just what I needed to feed my soul.

Next week, it’s my mom’s birthday on Thursday, February 11th, and Valentine’s Day the following Sunday.

I’ve been trying to think of something special to do for my mom. She has taken me out for dinner once or twice for my birthday, so I thought I’d treat her to the same.

At first I thought of going to Siva’s Restaurant, which is where we went for Peter’s Dollarama Christmas Staff dinner. It was our first time there. We had a great time, the food was good, the service was great, the staff were friendly. They had great food choices for the buffet, and they also had the Pasta Bar opened the evening we went – though, the night we went, I didn’t know we were to go to the pasta bar after eating from the buffet, so I had a plate full from the buffet counter alone, and didn’t return for anything else, I was stuffed. Ever night of the week, they have a special, like all you can eat ribs/steak buffet, a fish & chips & steak bar, roast beef, crab leg & pasta bar. And that’s all apart from everything else available on their menu.

Ever since we’ve been, I knew we’d just have to go back again some time, and try to bring my mom and step-dad some time. I thought maybe this would be the perfect occasion for that, but, it all depends on our finances next week.

I thought maybe the least I could do, was to bring my mom out for a late birthday brunch, just the 2 of us. But now it’s a toss up between Siva’s or maybe Boston Pizza. I guess I still have time to think about it.

I’m not sure what kind of present to get her, I’m not sure what she would want. She’s always in need of clothes and never buys for herself, so maybe I can get her a gift certificate to Penningtons like I did last year. She seemed to really like that.

I’d appreciate any good gift ideas. Maybe you’ve gotten your mom a present in the past that she really loved and wouldn’t stop talking about it? Help a girl out.

siggie by Christina

1. It’s actually 12:15am on Wednesday now, but I’ve been so sidetracked with the birth of baby 19 of the Duggar family of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, I’m only now getting started. I’ve been crying like crazy since I saw that tiny little baby… she is SO precious! I am so happy for them, and though she was born in December and almost 2 months has passed by since her birth, I sincerely hope her health is progressing fast enough to have the Duggar family be a normal family back in their own home again.

2. I’ve been thinking a lot about getting back into a routine exercise program. I really enjoy the walking DVD’s though, and that’s what I’ve been thinking about the most. I wanted today to be the first day of starting this routine again, but I woke up feeling pretty lousy and with a really sore back. It took 5 Ibuprofen and a couple Midols, and about an hour later, I was feeling a lot better. I was pretty much pain free for the afternoon and part of the evening, when I had to take another small dose of Ibuprofen, and just another again.

3. I’m finding myself having to take more Ibuprofen because I have days where the medication doesn’t even touch the pain, and I’ve had to miss work because of it. So, my mom advised that I should simply just take more to find the dose that best suits me and makes a dent in the pain, and that I can get the most amount of time without taking another dose since I’m finding the smaller doses aren’t lasting very long at all.

4. I thought the week would go on slowly, but we are already the end of Tuesday/Wednesday early morning, so that’s not half bad. Once Wednesday is over, it’s usually smooth and easy sailing, and the end of the week is much easier to visualize.

5. We started another new Canadian project at work tonight. It’s a lot like the project I worked on last week, so I’m flying through it like a feather in a breeze. I love it. The whole evening went so smoothly, and I got so many completes, I barely even noticed the 5 hour shift pass by. I love it when I’m kept busy enough and that happens. The surveys are about 15 minutes or so a piece, and I’m getting about 2-3 completes done an hour… so it really makes every hour pass by quickly. I’ve not had time to check email, check Facebook, read a magazine or any other little tasks I can find to occupy my time between calls.

6. Peter has a full day of work tomorrow… with not just one job, but he’s working both jobs. He’s at the grocery store from 8am to 4pm, and Dollarama from 4pm to 8pm. He’s going to be so hungry and exhausted when he comes home probably around 8:30-9pm. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes to bed not long after he gets something in his stomach. Which is too bad, because we won’t see each other very long in the morning, and I finish work at 10pm and won’t see him for very long between the time he comes home and heads to bed. Ah well, at least we will be spending the entire weekend together.

7. I had a dream about a hometown friend Monday morning. I messaged her on Facebook to tell her about the wicked, wicked but exhausting dream I had. Her and I don’t talk very often anymore, we are both simply busy with life, and her with her 2 boys, one of them still being a baby. *Note to self, find picture of the baby and wedding picture* She said she’ll be going to our hometown for a visit, and since I only live 3 hours away and she’s coming from Southern Ontario TO Northern Ontario, Timmins is basically on the way, with a bit of a detour off the main highway. She’s planning on going for 3 days, but she didn’t say when they would be going… so I’m thinking it could be as early as this weekend. We haven’t seen each other in forever. I’d even say… about 8-9 yrs, goodness, it’s been so long, I can’t even say for sure. The last time I saw her, she met Peter when we visited my hometown, and she had us over for dinner. I think that was in 2001 but I’m not even sure. Through the years, keeping in touch has dwindled and dwindled as every year has passed by, but we’ve always managed to send one another a Christmas card, Birthday card… Last year I got her wedding reception invitation, a wedding picture of her and her hubby, and then a picture of their newest son, Anthony. I’m looking forward to seeing her, but, I’m already nervous doing so since it’s been so long… so much our lives have changed since we’ve been teenagers. We’re like completely different people, so it’ll be almost like getting to know her all over again. But I do hope that we can reconnect again, and basically start our friendship all over, and be able to lean on one another like we once did. I really do miss those days, and I guess that dream was just a way of reminding me of that.

8. Strange how things come up back in the light in our lives. I like to think that maybe we are in need to have another in each other’s lives again. I’ve always said that people come in and out of our lives for different reasons. And sometimes, the people who we’ve lost touched with on purpose or by accident, come back into our lives for a different purpose than the original one. And sometimes, it’s to lend a helping hand in some way, us in their life, or them in our life.

9. Another routine I’ve been meaning to get back into is going to bed at a reasonably good time. Considering I typically get off from work at 10pm, I’m thinking 12:30am-1am isn’t too bad. I love my 8-9 hours of sleep in order to function properly the next day, so I’m thinking getting up at 9 or 10 is a good time to get up and have loads of time to get things done before I even have to think about work getting started in the early evening.

10. Time for me to start implementing the 2nd routine. It’s 1:09am and time for me to scoot to bed, get some good shut eye, have me a little drooling session my pillow, dream beautiful dreams, and wake up well rested for a whole new day! But before I do, I’ve got a load to transfer to the dryer… because as you know, a woman’s work is never done!

Happy Wednesday! Have a wonderful week!

siggie by the talented Donnelle