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

I’ve had a lot of things to be thankful in my life, but one thing in particular I’ve never really thought about is my family’s health. That’s not to say that there haven’t been any health issues, but, we’ve been blessed in the sense that we’ve never been touched or have had to mutter the word “cancer” to describe anyone’s health problems in my family.

To be honest, I’ve never known many details about any type of cancer – just the very basics through the media and conversations and stories heard from others. What can I say, I’ve never been touched by it first hand through friends and family, that is, until recently.

Jamie & I met online, in a graphics yahoo group at the end of 2004. We kept in touch through the years, and bonded a little more as the years went on. I was drawn to her as a person of various reasons, but one of those reasons that interest me the most was that she had 5 children (at the time) and I loved hearing stories about her and her family. she was one of the busiest people I knew. I feel a bit awful for this, but I can’t even remember when our friendship took the next step – but my friendship with her has been like no other. Though we’ve never met face to face, I’m proud of the friendship I’ve created with her and even prouder to be able to call her my best friend! We get each other on so many levels, and I’m truly thankful for having the opportunity to join that group in 2004! I love her like a sister! I’ve even been blessed with being “present” during her pregnancy of her 6th child, Sarah (born 01/2008). That little girl is a treasure, and I love her like she was my niece! I think she’s brought Jamie & I even closer together.

But poor Jamie – She’s had her fair share of medical problems. I can’t even begin to list them all, which probably if I tried, I would forget half of them, and who knows, I may not even know all of them. As if it wasn’t enough, doctors found a lump on her thyroid during her pregnancy with Sarah, and continued to grow a lot after having delivered Sarah. She went in to get the lump checked out, and they tested it for cancer, and she was in the clear (for now anyway) but needed surgery soon after the biopsy to take half of her thyroid about 1.5 months ago. As if that wasn’t enough, she went back in to see the surgeon for a follow-up on the surgery, and nothing could have prepared her for the news she received afterwards – cancer was found in half of the thyroid they removed after dissecting & examining it more closely after surgery. When I heard the news, I was so upset, sad and mad at the same time – why couldn’t they spot the cancer before hand through the biopsy. A few days shortly after hearing this news and trying to deal with it on some level and trying to get used to the idea, she had to have a 2nd surgery to remove the rest of her thyroid.  I felt terrible that I couldn’t be there during the time she needed the help and support the most after the surgeries. I wished (and still do) that I could have been there to help her take care of the kids, do her housework, run errands, and take care of her so she could rest – whatever she needed. It was very hard for me having my hands tied behind my back.

The chemo treatment procedures haven’t even begun yet but what she has and will go through continues to run on the back of my mind. I’m really nervous for her – she’s one of the strongest people I know, and I know that she’ll pull through it all, but I’m scared for her and her family, and how it’s all going to effect them and play out.

It’s on my mind so much… I can’t seem to be able to act on the things I want to do to show my support and even possibly raise some funds for her. I’ve got a block, some kind of funk and I just can’t seem to shake it off.

It’s not much, but the last couple nights, I’ve felt like being creative… but my energy wasn’t into making my usual pixel siggies or make a new wordpress theme – I wanted to, really did, but my head just wasn’t into it – so I started thinking of ways I could output some creative juices and somewhat entertain my worries…

These were the result:

On some level, creating these have put my mind somewhat at ease – I don’t think anything could fully do that right now, but I’ll have to settle for this for the moment in hopes that it’ll inspire me to do more and take a stronger role into helping Jamie & her family out.

If your interested in downloading & displaying your support on your site too, please do so by clicking here.

Resources – Research – Info – Support

http://www.thyroidcancerawareness.com

http://www.endocrineweb.com/thyroidca.html

http://thyroid.ca/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thryvors

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thyroid

The day is off to a good start so far. I woke up to hearing my cell phone ringing faintly… I had my purse next to the bed with my cell phone in it, but by the time I fumbled to get it, I missed my mom’s call even considering the extended rings I put on it so that I could pick it up before the cell phone did. So my mom called the home line, and I answered cautiously (there’s no caller id on the bedroom phone) to make sure it was my mom, and not some creditor again. It was definately her and I sighed with relief. My cat, Booty, I was still lying on my ass (I was on my tummy), even throughout the conversation I had with my mom as I slowly woke up and finally kicked my cat off my hump once I hung up.

Got up to checking my emails and chatting a bit with Rae and jammin to some yahoo launchcast tunes… pretty much a daily routine. Rae made me go make some breakfast while she went to get her roast prepared. Gotta love it when friend’s remind one another to eat. We’re just weird that way, but sometimes that reminder really does help.

Since the new year, I’ve been eating fried eggs and toast a lot. Which might not sound like the healthiest I suppose, but just the fact that I’ve been eating daily since the start of the year, is a big turn around from how often or how late I would actually ate something before. Just the simple fact that I have awesome pots and pans to cook with now makes all the difference in the world too. It’s no longer a chore to make myself breakfast, but I still need that occasional reminder at times.

This morning I made my usual 2 eggs, 2 toast, but this time, with a slice of fried bologna. I kept what Paul McKenna (see previous post) had said last night in mind, and I wondered if this breakfast was actually going to be too big once I found myself trying the techniques that he taught.

I removed myself from all distractions. I pressed mute on the TV, I shut my music off, shut off my monitor, etc. I didn’t blindfold myself, but I did close my eyes while chewing. I put my fork down after every bite. After the first and second bite of actually chewing a little longer than usual (at least 20 times or so), I found myself really tasting and ‘mmmmm’ing my food. I couldn’t believe I was actually MMMMM’ing! That never happens with just a simple breakfast unless someone else makes it. I was really shocked at myself. I continued to eat, savouring every mouthful, chewing slowly and often, and paying attention to my stomach and “listening” to the full signal.

Needless to say, I ate ONE of 2 eggs, ONE of 2 toast, and didn’t even touch the bologna! Mind you, I did have a glass of iced tea with my breakfast, which I’m sure helped, but WOW, I’m so impressed! I’ve put the respt of my breakfast aside, with a plate over it so the cats won’t have at it and I’m gonna eat it up and eat the rest later. After I put it away uncovered, I was tempted to just devour it and eat the rest, but I told myself “out of sight, out of mind”, covered up and told myself I was full right now, and that it would still be there later… and since I did that, it hasn’t really fizzed on me that it is actually there even though I’m talking about it now.

I’m commited to trying these new techniques, and again, I look so forward to seeing the rest of those episodes!! I only hope that I’ll be able to find the episodes online at a later date! That would be wicked… I could make a DVD for her, so she could watch the episodes too.

—

Also, I just want to wish a quick Happy Birthday to one of my bestest friends, Bonnie!! Happy Birthday, girl! I hope the day is as wonderful as YOU really are and deserve!! I love you!!

And Happy St. Paddy’s to you all!!

siggie by RaeRae @ DISBME AT

I recently found out that 2 of my girlfriend’s (Bonnie & Heather) share the same TV “boyfriend” (I’m sure with other thousands or millions of other women). That handsome man would be, Mr. George Stroumboulopoulos!! A very attractive Canadian icon, who used to have a position on Canada’s Much Music station (think of it as Canadian MTV), and now has his own show, The Hour, on CBC. Although I’ve always been a big fan of his, he’s always been easy on the eyes and I enjoy watching his show every now and then… I wouldn’t go as calling him my TV “boyfriend”.

But it got me to thinking, who would I consider as my TV boyfriend? I do find George very funny at times, and his brains are SUPER sexy to see watch in action because he’s such an incredible celebrity interviewer.

But, I would much rather spend an hour watching my boyfriend Craig Ferguson! I enjoy his salt-n-pepper hair, good looks and Scottish charm, but most of all, love the way he makes me laugh out loud every time I watch an episode of his his Late Night show! If I could have DVD collections of all his shows, I’d be sure to wake up the neighbors with my laughter! It takes me everything for me to try and decrease the volume of my laughter so that I don’t wake up, Peter. I would definately choose him over George ANY day!! Any man that can make my gut hurt from laughing is my BOYFRIEND!

H A P P Y

B I R T H D A Y

T O

M Y

B E S T E S T

F R I E N D,

R A E R A E !!!!!!!!!!

I hope this day treats you as special as you really are!

May all your wishes come true!!

Love you hunie!!

Hugs and Smooches,

siggie by Karen

Tags: Friends, happy birthday