What, vacation is over?

I have to go back to work on Monday.  Not looking forward to it.  Not that I don't enjoy working or the folks I work with (they are fabulous), but I've been home for the past week and really enjoyed spending some time with the girls and just relaxing.  And sleeping in; and watching the french cooking channel because the Food network is not free this month and the french one is.

I did go to the gym a couple of times, got weighed at Weight Watchers and lost another 2.4 pounds (total so far is 9.8 lbs) YAY ME!!!  Actually, it was really funny: went I entered the info into the WW etools, I first got a Congratulations!! You have lost weight again!! message.  Then I had a message saying "you are loosing weight faster than recommended.  Please slow your rate of weight loss."  And all I'm thinking is "are you *%^$# kidding me???"  I'm going to keep going while the going is good.  I know that this rate will not continue indefinately so I'm going to take advantage of it while it lasts. 

Anyway, I guess you can say I've reached my first goal of 10lbs.  Only 50 more pounds to go:)

'til next time

What, no pound of butter?

Ok, so my title is a little lame, but it is kind of self-explanatory if you've previous posts.  Weight loss this week totaled 0.6 lbs.  A little disappointing to say the least but not exactly unexpected. Not that I've been going 'off-plan' as they say.  No, it's that time of the month and most women put on a couple of pounds as you approach the end of your cycle.  By this time next week, I should be a couple of pounds lighter; although I suppose it says something that I was still down in weight.

Been going to the gym regularly and working on my running.  I am working steadily towards 5 minute jogs separated by 5-6 minutes of really quick walking.  I keep making a running gag that I want to run a 5k race but I think I really do.  I think it would give me a real feeling of accomplishment.

So, maybe the Ottawa race next year will have a new runner in the 5k field... you never know.

'til next time.

More pounds of butter?

So, its the day after my official weigh-in and I am happy to announce that this week I lost 3.8 pounds.  This means that in two weeks, i've lost 6.8 pounds.  This also means that I am just over 3 pounds away from my first target of 10 pounds and will hopefully get there next week.  Yay me!!!

Though both Brian and I seem to be doing well in this weight watchers thing, Emma is not.  Well, that's not quite true.  Twice this week she came to the gym with us and actually rocked it out on the elliptical glider.  However, she was supposed to come with me this morning and was too busy being lazy. "my legs won't move" she says... actually she yells is more accurate. So I ended up loosing my patience with her and just left and went to the gym on my own.

Anyway, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill which included 3x4:00 minutes of actual joggin.  I feel like this week I might be able to try jogging for longer and see how it goes.  Considering that when I first started I couldn't run for 30 seconds and now I'm running for 4:00 minutes at a time?  Pretty Cool.

'til next time

Democratic process... really?

So I don't get it.  Ronnie's day camp has a board of directors, and as a group we meet to discuss various issues; sometimes we even decide on things.  For example, it was decided that this year, no employee would use her personal vehicle to transport the kids to and from the various outings. 

Because we have to use an adapted bus, the cost of the outings can be quite prohibitive.  For example, tomorrow they are supposed to go to the beach and the price is $20/kid for 18 kids + shadows.  Unfortunately, only 4 kids have signed up for the outing.  So, rather than cancel the outing, we get this notice asking for our approval to have one of the girls who works at the daycamp drive Ronnie in her car... after the BOD decided this was not acceptable.

It becomes a matter of insurance: I'm not sure that the daycamp insurance would cover this type of activity if there was an accident and I'm pretty sure their personal vehicle insurance would not cover it either.  We could ask the girls to have this added to their insurance for the summer but then the camp would have to reimburse the girls the cost... As a non-profit, we just don't have the money for that.

Anyhow I call up the coordinator and sort of ask 'where you not at the meeting that this was discussed?...' and she says 'yes but I called this person (who happens to be the president of the Board) who said to do it anyway - just get the parents to sign this waiver;'.. I mean seriously... didn't we make this decision?  If your going to ignore the decision made by the Board, why discuss it at all?  I don't get it.

Needless to say, Ronnie is not going on the outing.

I'm done venting now:)

til next time.

 

Girly issues?

So, for the last couple of days, members of the Angelman Connection on Facebook have been talking about our Angel girls and girly issues; i.e. periods. Its very interesting to see what all the others parents are thinking about, what they doing for it and how they are dealing with it.  Many of the parents have chosen at one time or another to put their daughters on either the pill or the shot - be it the shot that is like the pill or the one that suspends the period. 

We've long talked about it and I always said I would get Ronnie the shot that suspends her period.  I'm still leaning that way.  Partly because I don't want to deal with it but also for her own protection.  And cleanliness.  Most of the comments have been that it is no big deal, just like a poopy diaper but I guess I'll have to see that to believe it:)

And shaving.  Apparently the girls all find shaving fun and that it tickles the armpitts.  I hadn't really thought of the shaving aspect.  Knowing Ronnie she'll probably find it funny too.

On another topic, went to the gym today and managed to jog my way through 3 songs on my Ipod.  YAY ME!!!

'til next time.

Did I have a breakthrough?

So another day off from work and Emma and I went to the gym.  She did 20 minutes or so on the elliptical glider and I did 30 minutes on the treadmill.  But this is where I had my breakthrough.  After about 10 minutes of really quick walking, I put up the speed and managed to jog my way through one song.:); then I rested for about another 8 minutes or so and did it again!! Managed to jog my way through another song... I've never been able to do that.

In the past when I tried to work my way up to jogging, I managed to run for about 1 minute and then rest for a few; but I found it hard to pick up the pace and do it again.  That I was able to do it not once but twice today is huge.

Oddly enough, I think I'm happier about this than the 3 pounds I lost.  Maybe because its something I can qualify... I'm very proud of myself. 

'til next time.

How much does a pound of butter weigh, anyway?

So today was my first official 'post-joining' weigh-in at Weight Watchers and drum-roll please: -3.1 pounds.  Yup, I did say 3.1 pounds down.  I'm now only 6.9 pounds away from my first 5% goal (which tells you way more about my current weight than I really want to, but...).

I'm trying to figure out how I feel about that number: on one hand it's validatation for the work I have put into this during the past week and that the work has actually paid off; on the other hand, I'm a little disappointed.  Because of the work I put into it this week, I was sort of hoping for more.  It also feels a little disconnected.  Like its not really real?  So I'm thinking I'm going to be one of these weird people at the grocery store and pick up 3 pounds of butter and try to realize that this weight has been eliminated from my body.  Ewwww, that just sounds gross but you know what I mean.

We did go to the gym last night and rather than do yoga, I did the treadmill and some light weights.  I'm actually glad I didn't do the yoga - tells me how much I enjoy it:).  That's it for now.

'til next time.

Sushi anyone?

So today was a day off from work so I dragged Emma to the gym with me to do the Zumba class.  I have to admit the poor kid looked way out of her element but I am very grateful that she came with me.  She just needs to loosen up a little when she does the hip shakes but ...

On our way back she made a wonderful suggestion: how about we share a platter of Sushi?  So, despite my misgivings seeing as I'm trying to loose weight and all, we stopped and picked up a 16-piece sushi plate and shared it out.  We added some cut cucumber as well and it was wonderful!!  Figured out later that even with pasta for supper, I'm still below my 29 point target. 

You know, I'm going to be brutally disapointed if my first official weight-in doesn't have at least a 2 lbs drop... Hopefully all the hard work and food calculating will pay off.

'til next time.

Why track food?

So part of Weight Watchers is this food tracker thing where you have to write down everything you eat and it automatically calculates your remaining points.  I have 29 points per day and a weekly allowance of 49 extra points (which everyone has).  You can also track your activity and everytime you do something physical, you get points depending on the intensity.  Then you can trade your points for extra food points if you need it.

I kind of like the point value system.  It helps me to  evaluate what i want to eat within concrete parameters.  I have a limit which I have to aim to reach and not exceed.  It makes it easier for me to evaluate and choose my food.  Like today, I really want a hamburger.  So I've traded in a couple of activity points because I am over my limit (the burger is 8 points) and have decided not to have the glass of wine I wanted.  I'm over my target by 4 points but I have a crap load of activity points that I haven't touched and this barely skims the top of my extra weekly allowance of 49 points.

Anyway, I'm being very anal about it now 'cause its just the first week.  We'll see if I keep it up:)

I also went and did a Zumba class again today so I racked up even more activity points.  I even suggested to Emma that we go for a hike tomorrow... Wow, I wonder how long this motivation/intensity will last???

'til next time.

Sore calves and shoulder anyone?

So yesterday my hubby and I went to our Wednesday yoga class.  It was the first time in a couple of weeks for me as we were at Disney and somehow didn't make for a week or two before we left. 

You know, I really do look forward to the yoga class but hate the skinny witch while I'm in it.  When I'm done, I usually feel like I've really accomplished something difficult.  And don't let anyone tell you yoga is some kind of Zen-like thing: its damn hard work.  Anyway, not long into the class we did our first downward facing dog (pose that makes you look like an upside down V) and my shoulder started to burn.  This is not the first time this has happened so today, I went on WebMD and self-diagnosed it as shoulder tendonitis:)  According to WebMD, I have to rest the shoulder and strengthen it using light weights.  Oh, and one of the backward poses while I was on my knees (can't remember what it is called) pulled both my calf muscles - they are really tight...  I guess for the next little while I'll have to keep to Zumba or the treadmill. 

Also today, I decided to join Weight Watchers.  My weight was what I thought it was but hoped it wouldn't be (and no I'm not going to tell you).  I think for me to be successful, I have to change how I perceive and choose my food.  Overall I don't think we eat badly, we just eat too much of it.  Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.  Night off from the gym and didn't walk the dog 'cause my calves were freaking aching;)

'til next time

Zumba anyone?

So last night, I tried my very first Zumba class. It was absolutely crazy - people were dancing and yelling and getting very excited.  It was like being at a party.  It was a little wild.  I have to admit that I've never sweated so much in my life.  Did I like it?  You betcha (as Sarah Pallin was fond of saying).  It was alot of fun and there was a really good vibe to the class.  There were so many people and everyone was sweating; fat, skinny, young, old; it didn't seem to matter - everybody was sweating.  Will I go back again?  Just for the sweat factor, you betcha.  I felt like I sweated off about 10 lbs and was utterly exhausted by the end of it.

Tonight is yoga.  I hate downward facing dog... Yoga is one of these things that I look forward to but I hate it when I'm doing it.  When the class is finished I feel like I've accomplished something hard.  Weird... Actually yoga is very hard.  You are using your body as resistance and frankly, when you're no skinny minnie, that's not easy.

Anyway, survived day 3 of our new fitness routine but I have to admit I'm looking forwad to actually eating a meal tomorrow night.

'til next time

Healthy routine?

So today is the 2nd day of a new fitness routine; at least I hope it will be a fitness routine.  Although since its day 2, it might be too early to call it a routine but one can always hope.  I'm going to go to the gym tonight and try a Zumba class.  It looks kinda fun so hopefully it is.  And on Thursday, I'm going to weight watchers to see what the deal is.  We're bringing the dog on brisk walks and trying to avoid too much junk food. 

I'm actually really worried about setting a goal.  There is only been one time in my life that I was successful at losing weight (and I lost over 50lbs) and I didn't really have any expectations with it when I started.  Anyway, I'm going to try to take it one day at a time (which is not my forte) and see what comes.

Wish me luck:)

Oh, and Disney World.  We did all four parks and stayed for the fireworks at all of them except Animal Kingdom because they don't have fireworks (it would scare the animals) so it made for very long days - out by 9am and back at the hotel by 10:30.  After walking around all day it was exhausting...  Poor Ronnie was so funny.  We'd get back to the hotel and put her in bed and because of the tight hotel sheets, the poor kid couldn't move.  The only part of her that could move was her eyes...  On our last day there she was useless... Kept waking up then falling back asleep.  She actually slept through about 1/2 the flight which was great.

I'm having a very hard time deciding which was my favorite park.  We also went to Universal Studios which was really cool.  Hogwarts is definately worth it and the rides there were phenomenal.

Oh, and the shows... next time I talk about the shows.

That's it for now.

Its been a long time

So I haven't written in here for a long time and part of it is because I just didn't have anything worthwhile to share.  But I'm coming to the realization that by trying to make it worthwhile to potential readers, this blog has lost complete meaning to me.  So, here is my resolution:  I will write for me and hope others find it interesting.  If not, then maybe my kids will one day find it embarassing:)

Almost two weeks ago now, we came home from our very first family vacation.  I should specify that it was out of town family vacation.  Actually we went to Disney World.  And you know what?  It was amazing.  Going into this trip I had absolutely no idea of what to expect but evertime we turned a corner, we were surprised and pleased.  Take the accessiblity:  we stayed onsite at one of the resorts (Port Orleans French Quarter) and it was very nice.  Each room had its own door from outside and we had a view to a wonderful little garden.  Very peaceful.  There was one bus stop and every ten minutes or so a bus for a different park would arrive to pick people up.  As we have a wheelchair, we were the first on the bus.  It was actually kind of funny because at first I didn't realize that being loaded on first was the way it would work.  I was apologizing to people because we were getting on the bus before them but my husband finally said "stop - look at the sign.  It says wheelchair access first...".   

Once inside the park it was the same thing.  We had a guest assistance pass which basically let us into  what they call the FastPass Queue and we managed to do most of the rides.  Ronnie and Emma loves them all and for Ronnie, the wilder the better.  My favorite ride was The Tower of Terror.  Scared the crap out of me but it was fun.

'til the next time.

Mother's Day isolation

I've finally managed to break out of the 'mother's day isolation' cell.  What is the 'mother's day isolation' cell you wonder?  Well, when Emma was little, all she understood is that this was a special day to honour mommy and that mommy was not supposed to do any work and have some peace and quiet.  She also understood that breakfast in bed was de rigeur.  So, from the time she was about 2 years old, my mother's day began with being isolated in my bedroom.

I was not allowed to go to the bathroom,was not allowed to get out of bed, was not allowed to stand at the doorway and just talk to her and her dad as they made breakfast.  I was stuck in my bed and would get yelled at at the first sign of mutiny on my part.

At first it was kinda fun but then it became kinda boring and then it felt isolating.  In her head she was respecting the 'mother's day' tradition, but for me I was in my bedroom by myself with no one to interact with because no one else was allowed in there with me after coffee and breakfast were delivered. 

So this year I've broken out of the cell.  Just got up and sat down at the kitchen table and practically dared anyone to send me back to my room.  Thankfully, I was allowed to stay out and enjoy my kids and hubby and they waited on me hand and foot - well, not really but you get the picture.

Best mother's day ever.

'til next time.

Epiphany - we hope?

So, following my last post Emma finally did her studying for her french dictation test and guess what?  She scored a 93%!!!  Had to stop myself from saying "i told you so".  The good news is that she did acknowledge that the studying made a difference.  She actually studied her verbs for the next test without us having to hound her to death. 

What a difference that made.  It was so nice to get her to do this without having to push her into it.  Now we just have to keep on her butt and get her to keep it up.

On another note:  Happy mother's day!!

'til next time.

I'm over it now

So, my last post wasn't friendliest on the face of the earth but we were NOT have a very good weekend.  Things have turned around some although we are still having some issues.  I must admit however that I'm starting to dread any sentence that begins with the words "um, I know you are not going to like this but...".  It always leads to something she's forgotten to do or a test she's failed or something she's lost.  She's lost her freakin' shoes for God's sake.  How do you do that? I ask her.  Didn't you notice when you were barefoot???  Seriously, when I say she lost her shoes I mean she lost at least one shoe.  We had to go and get her a new pair…

Anyway, as I was saying things have gotten a bit better this week.  The daffodils are blooming, the grubs that are eating our grass seem to have gone back underground, Ronnie is learning how to move her wheelchair at school and Emma is approaching the end of her first year of high school and realizing that organization is not such a bad thing.

She’s starting to realize I think that some of the crappy grades she is getting are the result of her not being organized or just simply not keeping track of deadlines.  She studies the wrong verbs for a French test; she has a dictée and doesn’t take note of the website she’s supposed to look at; she’s absent from school and is too embarrassed to ask her friends or the teachers what she has missed… Not noting deadlines however is a big one.

And frankly, she doesn’t do so well under pressure.

So now she has one month to up her grades (French grade in particular) and she’s going to have to start keeping track of things.   Maybe we should have intervened earlier but I think it’s a lesson she needs to learn.  Also, we’ve tried to intervene and get roundly told off.  So now we’ve asked her to write down in her agenda deadlines/work that needs to be done on a daily basis.  No facebook, youtube or anything else until she gets herself back on track.  We won’t let her slack off this time.  The last thing she wants to do is fail her semester. 

I’m sure it will work out but she’s such a smart kid; she can do so much better than she is now.  I think she got used to not having to try and it is a hard habit to break.

‘til next time.

Teenage angst

Who knew this would start the day after she turned 13?  It has been such a roller coaster and I can't figure out where it started.  Emma has always had body-image issues and we've always tried to counter it.  We try to tell her to be confident and that she doesn't look as big as she thinks she does but like every other adolescent out there, we are always wrong and she is always right. 

Today I seem to have hit my limit.  She is rude, obnoxious and uncooperative.

We went out shopping for t-shirts because we will be going away this summer and she needs to clothes that are appropriate for the weather.  Unfortunately, the only thing she wants to wear is black t-shirts and jeans.  Oh, and a hoodie.  It is 71 degrees celcius in our house and she's trying to put on her hoodie... I tried to get her try to put on something more appropriate and it was very nice and age appropriate.   She was utterly horrified, said she looked huge and was almost in tears.  She then went on about how she is fat, horrible, ugly and just worthless... so we've spent the rest of the day with her in a slump and everyone else trying to work around her and behave in a normal way.

I'm exhausted, fed up and out of patience. 

When I was a kid I was always told that I was worthless, useless, fat, ugly and that no one would love me.  I swore that I would never do that to my kids.  And I haven't.  We have both taken incredible pains to ensure that we try to put across positive messages.  I don't know where this behaviour of hers comes from.... I just don't get it.

That's it for now cause I could keep writing but it wouldn't accomplish very much.

Too much Tofu

So as I've written before my hubby is a vegetarian.  I however am not.  I am a very reluctant vegetarian.  It certainly feels like we've eaten alot of vegetarian meals this week; at least my colon certainly feels like we have (too much info i know) but now that warmer weather has arrived I'm wondering if I should go on a tofu-strike. 

It feels very ungracious to whine because he does most of the cooking but I'm tired of tofu.  I don't really like it and yet I have to eat it several times a week.  Although he understands I always get this 'but I didn't put alot in the meal' said when i start pushing it off to the side of my plate. I think we need to find some new recipes; some without tofu.

We did try this Seitan once and it was worse than tofu...

Now BBQ season is my favorite season.  Beef, porc, chicken all marinated in different sauces with potatoes cooked on the BBQ are wonderful.  Add in salad and BBQd vegies and that sounds wonderful.  In fact, I think we will BBQ for supper tonight.

Gotta go start the meat marinating.  GO MEAT!!

'til next time.

Playing Possum

As I zip through Facebook checking upates and reading all the various blogs Ronnie patiently sits in her wheelchair waiting for someone to pay attention to her.  I poked her in the arm with my finger and she just stared at me as if saying "yeah, and?". 

Because Emma and I drive to the train station together in the morning, my morning schedule has completely changed.  Beforehand I would be gone to work before the girls were even awake.  Now, I make Ronnie's breakfast and get to see her before Emma and I leave. Anyway, it always makes me laugh when we go to wake Ronnie up and she plays possum... She lies on her side facing away from the door with her head under one of the pillows and curled up like a question mark.  You rub her back and say her name softly and then she sort of half rolls over and blinks her eyes at you.  The you say "good morning Ronnie" and she rolls away from you and curls up tighter with her head back under the pillow.

Then while she is eating her breakfast I sit down beside her and put some makeup on and finish my coffee.  Everynow and then I'll look over at her and she's just staring at me... I have no idea what she's thinking but its almost like she's accusing me of something.  Maybe she thinks its my fault she has to wake up?? Anwyay, I'll look back at her and ask "what?"  Then she usually just smiles at me and looks back at her dad for her next bite.

Just makes me think that as different as we think our kids can be they are just kids... they play possum just as well as so-called "regular" kids.

'til next time

Happy birthday Emma

Happy birthday to my little girl.  I can’t believe that she is 13 years old.  This post will be a sort of open letter to her on what can be a difficult birthday:

On this day, I want to reiterate something I said to you in the car this morning:  I am very proud of you and I am very proud to be your mother.  You are entering a stage of growth that is traditionally one of boundary stretching and rebellion and the discovery of who you are.  You also start to seriously think about what you want to do with your life and what you think your priorities will be.

What I want to tell you is this: you are a wonderful person with an incredible sense of humour.  We as your parents get to see and enjoy the “crazy girl” and when she comes out nothing can stop her.  You also gifted with a very wide dramatic streak.  Once you learn how to use it, you will feel as if you have more control of your emotions and will realize that it is okay to show joy and sadness without losing yourself completely.  Your friends and family love you for who you are.

You also have an innate talent for words.  You paint incredibly vivid pictures with them and whatever you choose as your future career I hope you will continue to choose your words with impeccable style and grace. 

Be proud of who you are; you are worthy.

I love you.

Mom

Doggie seizure

So, we woke up on Saturday morning with out adorable beagle/cocker spaniel mix having a seizure on our bed.  She was lying between my husband and I and next thing I new he jumped out of bed saying "crap; mia's having a seizure".  I sat up, looked at the dog, glanced at him frozen at the end of the bed, and picked up the dog and placed her on the floor.

It lasted about 3 minutes which I think is pretty average for her.  She seems to have one every 4-6 months.  This time at least, not everything came leaking out of her (if you can read between the lines).  The vet doesn't want to put her on medication until the seizures become much more frequent and she suffers some longer term neurological damage from them.  Right now, she just becomes blind for a while and walks around like a caged animal bumping into everything.

Mia was a rescue animal that we adopted almost 2 years ago and we knew she had vision problems when we adopted her.  Unfortunately, we didn't know about the seizures... that might have made a difference at the time but we couldn't exactly bring her back after, could we?

The vet did a full neurological workup and blood tests after the first seizure and could come up with no medical reason.  But there are two theories:
1) heredity: some breeds of cocker spaniels are prone to seizures
2) trauma
We've often wondered where she can from and are sort of balanced in the middle of the two theories.  The vet seems to be leaning towards trauma - she also has signs of having had babies and she was just over a year old when we adopted her.

Oh well.  she recovered well although the vision in her left eye is completely gone and has been since the last seizure, she was back to her normal behaviour by mid-afternoon... the joys of parenthood:)

'til next time.

To old for day camp?

So I might of mentioned in a previous post that I am on the board of director's of a non-profit whose mandate is to run a day camp for children with disabilities.  Anyway, last week we had a meeting and one of the topics that has come up repeatedly in the past year is age; how old should the kids be and can the kids age-out?

We thought we had hashed this question out a few weeks ago but at last week's meeting, one of the board members didn't want to ratify the minutes because the age limit is officially sanctionned to be 21 in the minutes.  Now, I fully understand this gentelman.  He is really the nicest guy but he and his ex-wife do not exactly get along and their son is now 22 and in his last year of formal education.  He's getting very worried that his son will not have a place to go come summer if we age him out at the day camp and his ex-wife is not letting him on her plans - they really do not get along.

Anyway, we had agreed that kids had to be under 21 at October 31st which is the legal age of education for people with special needs in Quebec.  Now it feels like we've made an exception for him because he is a board member by allowing his son to come for this summer - he is finishing his last year of formal education after all - but I'm not very comfortable with this decision.

Do we really want such a huge age gap (from 6-21) even tho these kids are special needs?  It really becomes a question of services and what is out there for young adults.  Hopefully this is something that will become more obvious as Ronnie gets older because the reality is that i will be in the same spot as this guy is now; except I'm hopeful that Brian and I will still be on talking terms:)

'til next time.

Day camp planning part 2

So I was right.  We all went to this meeting for Ronnie's day camp and all the documents for our upcoming annual general meeting were ready.  I would certainly hope so, I've been working my ass off getting them ready.  All was ready except for the financial statements.  "I tried and I couldn't figure it out so I stopped".  And then we all stared at her blankly.  So now we have to hold another meeting next week to figure this part out.  We need a financial statement for the year and projections for the upcoming year.  Oh well, I think I might just be sick for that one....

On a different note, I went to the gym on Wednesday and have upped my game a wee bit.  Rather than just walk on the treadmill I am now walking for 4 minutes and jogging for 1 then walking for 4 and jogging for 1... you get the picture I am sure.  Anyway, my hope is to eventually get myself to run for 30 minutes straight.  I guess I will have to be patient (not one of my virtues:)) and build it up slowly.  The good news is that when I put my jeans on this morning I didn't need to lie down on the bed and suck by tummy in to zip em up.  YAY FOR ME!!!

Emma had a good week and was having a lot of fun with one of her friends that slept over on Wednesday... who the heck puts a ped day in the middle of the week??? Apparently her school did.

Ronnie is Ronnie and as usual is just plain sunshine.

Brian is still vegetarian.. drat that man...

'til next time.

Day camp planning

Tonight I have to go to a meeting for Veronica's day camp.  It is a not-for-profit community organization and I am the secretary on the Board of Directors.  The day camp is specifically for kids with disabilities AND most particularly for kids that cannot be integrated into their municipal day camp; or for kids whose parents choose not the integrate them into their municipal day camp.

I'm hoping the meeting doesn't last as long as last time - it went until almost 11:00pm... I was one tired duckling the next day.

Anyway, we are planning for the annual general meeting which is to take place in two weeks and I feel like I've done a crap load of work in preparation for it.  I revised all the registration forms (both english and french); prepared all the health information forms (again in english and french); revised the agenda, and put together to book of resolutions.  This doesn't include preparing the minutes of the last meeting and the agenda for tonight... Hopefully Karine will have prepared the financial statement.  It's the only thing she has to do but it seems to be right complicated; she has a difficult time understanding that we need up-to-date financial statements at every meeting including what has been cashed/deposited not just a balance.

Then there is the one lone guy on the committee.  He's very nice and seems to be quite knowledgable but somehow he escapes with nothing to do.  We need to organize a big ticket fundraiser and I've started looking into something I think is quite original; maybe we'll see if he can lead that facet.

Anyway, I hope the meeting goes well and that there are no surprises.  Will let you know.

'til next time.

After being victim to the blue-screen-of-death, my computer at work had to be re-imaged and I lost all the pictures I had on it.  So I've been having fun the last couple of weeks going through some older USB sticks with pix of the girls, Brian and myself.  Found some really cute ones of Emma when she wasn't being such a snooty pre-teen (not that she ever does that...) and some really cute ones of Ronnie.  I guess looking at my kids every day, I stopped noticing how much they've changed over the years.  Ronnie has changed even from the front pix of this blog which I only started a few months ago. 

Here's a pix of me and the girls at a replica Iroquois village taken this summer but Emma's hair is no where near that short anymore.  Anyway, all that to say that kids change so quickly in looks and personality that just when you think you now them inside out, they change.

I'm so glad that they are mine... my life is all the better for their being in it.

That's my philosophical statement for the day:) 

 'til next time.

The generosity of kids

I have to admit that the title of this blog is a little sarcastic.  Emma has been sick and she has generously shared her germs with me so now I am sick... We are supposed to go to her school tonight to watch a presentation of Othello done by the Bardolators (student Shakespeare group) but I don't think I'm going to make.  It's too bad because 1) Emma wants to audition for them next year and be part of the Bardolators and 2) if is a fundraising thing for her trip to India.

However, the reality is that my eyes are leaking, my nose is leaking and I'm hot and cold all at the same time.  I'd be annoyed if someone was there and looked like me so I think I'll spare the innocent bystanders and not go.  We have a sitter anyway for Ronnie, so I think I might just go do the groceries and eat a light meal by myself.  Less money for the sitter but at least the other play watchers won't have to sit through me sniffling and blowing...

On the up side, I received our first gift cards from the fundraising thing and have gotten a couple of order for coffee.  This is going to be a looooong fundraising jaunt but I'm sort of encouraged.  Hopefully we won't have to outlay too much cash ourselves.

Oh, and I've confirmed our vacation to Disney and Universal Studios.  Got our plane tickets and was a little disappointed that Emma was so calm about it but she says she's not looking forward to the flight.  She'll have a spaz when we get the tickets for Disney and Universal.  Can't believe we are actually going to do this.  Wow; it will be an adventure.

'til next time.

Texting when sick

For those of you without a pre-teen/I-am-1-month-away-from-being-a-teen-daughter, I'll let you in on a little secret: they are utterly hysterical when they get sick.  Okay, I guess it depends on the kid in question and the situation itself.  Sometimes Emma can be totally unbearable but this time she's just funny.  She keeps sending me texts and I can't help it; I went from feeling bad that we sent her to school to sharing with the co-workers to laughing hysterically:

1) "my throat hurts and it now feels like I'm going to cough up blood - can't someone come and get me? - sigh"
2) "plz.... now I'm dizzy.  i ate pudding and i my throat still hurts"
3) "sigh, barf, ouch"
4) "No, I was 2 busy being in a slump when I woke up my hand was like impaled and now theres something coming out of it and ryan said it looked like a cocoon..."
5) my favorite so far: "my throat really hurts and now it feels like theres a hard lump in it and I think its larengitis but no one wants to come and get me.... sigh"

Poor baby...

'til next time.

A new week begins

So as my husband so skillfully cooks our vegetarian dinner (sweet and sour soba noodles with asparagus), I contemplate the week to come:

1) I have to finish my prep for Ronnie's day camp - the annual general meeting prep is in one week and as the Secretary I have to produce a bunch of documents;
2) Emma has to finish her product for the upcoming Invention Convention (some kind of bird house contraption that I hope won't make the birds seasick) and while I don't have an active role in that, we will need to drive her to her friends house and make sure they have the time to finish it and the report;
3) also make sure that Emma has time to type up her short story.  Her class has written short stories and they will be going to some elementary school to read them to some of the students.  Again I don't have an active role except to try to make sure she stays calm... a job for someone much more patient than me believe me...
4) have to attend a production of Othello being given at her school for fundraising.  The grade 7 parents will be hosting a dinner theatre next year so we have to attend to find out how it works... she will be serving and clearning.  Ha!!
5) somewhere in there both Brian and I want to take some time to get to the gym.  I'm still to new to the gym to have garnered any benefit (ie weight loss or tighter flab on my arms) but hopefully this will come with time.
6) every other little job that my husband and I do around the house that keep it running on three wheels...
7) find time to be with me and my hubby... and to tell him I love him.

There are probably plenty of other things I have forgotten but that's all I can think of for now.

'til next time.

Yay!! The carnivores won one back

OMG, I can't believe how long its been since I've written in here!  I'm now trying to decide if my life has just been soooo busy that I couldn't find the time or if I had just run out of inspiration.  Whatever the reason, I'm back and I hope to get back on track.  Although I think daily posts are probably ambitious, I will try to post at least once a week.  I think even I can manage that.

So the last time I posted Emma had decided to try being a vegetarian.  Well, that lasted about two weeks which was about 10 days longer that I would have thought.  Actually she did pretty well considering I was trying to get her to eat all the ickiest stuff... tofu fake meat; tofu vege paté... it was actually kind of funny.  I think I had decided that if she was going to be vegetarian there was not going to be any halfway about it; it was whole hog or forget about it... after about 2 weeks she decided she was done.  So the scales of balance have resettled with 2 vegetarians and 2 carnivores.  All is well in my world :)

'til next time.

Why 2 is alot like 12

So yesterday we went to the local YMCA to check it out; we are thinking of joining.  As much as I'd like to lose weight and get in shape without help, I am starting to come to the realization that it is not going to happen if I don't do anything to help myself out.

Anyway, afterwards, we went to Tim Hortons for coffee and a donut (ironic, no?) and I'm looking at Emma and she has frosting on her face.  So I'm like "you have frosting on your face kiddo" and she swipes at it.  A few minutes later, she again has frosting on her face.  We started to laugh and made a joke about how much being a 12 year old is like being a 2 year old.  Here's a list of what they have in common:

temper tantrums; they think they know it all; they ignore their parents; they have temper tantrums; they have food on their faces; they say "I love you" all the time; temper tantrums... Did I say temper tantrums yet?

When they are two years old they are learning their boundaries and discovering how far they can push them and their parents.  When they are twelve years old, they are once again learning their boundaries to see how far they can push them and their parents.

It's taken us a while to figure that out but now that we have, we've managed to take hold of the drama and the behavior.

God I hope 13 is not like 3.... 3 was wayyyyyy worse 2...

'til next time.

Another vegetarian; sort of

So Emma has decided that she wants to try being a vegetarian for one week – although she will make an exception for bacon! 

So Brian is trying to make some new dinners that are vegetarian friendly and interesting for everyone.  On Monday, we had an Orzo Minestrone stew which was really tasty.  Instead of meat he added some chickpeas and it was really nice.  He also added some spicy red pepper tomatoes (canned from Aylmer I think) and they have a quite a quick to them.  On Tuesday we had something called Buddha’s Delight which was veggies and noodles.  It was okay but a little bland.

Then last night we had pizza for supper.  It was only about half an hour later that I realized that Emma and I shared a pizza and that it was not vegetarian pizza… Emma looked at me and said “it had bacon, duh”. 

So on Sunday to make things easier for Emma I roasted some vegetables and made them into a sandwich.  I sort of grilled the sandwich afterwards to make it like a Panini. Did she appreciate it?  No, she didn’t.  Said the sandwich was crappy.  Ungrateful chit…

Anyway, the downside for me is that I’ve been temporarily abandoned by my meat-loving buddy.  Oh well, as long as I don’t have to eat tofu more than twice a week and that I can still get my chicken, beef or porc a couple of times a week I’ll be happy.

GO MEAT!!

‘til next time.

Approval process for adaptation

I think we are almost done with this adaptation thing.  One day this week (I can't even remember which day now), Brian met with the occupational therapist and the woman who drew the pictures for the bathroom, to go through the work and the discrepencies.  The main one is the floor of the shower - at one spot near the top corner of the shower stall, the floor of the shower is flush with the bathroom floor.  We now have to place a towel on the floor to stop the water from coming out of the shower.  The other issue is one of the floor tiles kind of pops when you stand on it.  According to her (she who knows all things... NOT), it is either because there is an air pocket under the tile, or the contractor didnt put enough mortar to hold the tile in place. 

Fixes: the contractor will be told to match a bullnose kind of tile to the floor and install it near the corner where the floors are flush - we hope this will stop the water from coming out.  As for the tile that pops, she will mention it to the contractor but unless the tile cracks or the grout cracks, there is not much we can do.  It would not behoove (what a word) anyone to have to remove all the tiles to fix it.

At this point, all we have left to do is to wait for the contractor to come back and install the bullnose, and then we should be done.  Thank God... Although, now that I think about it, I won't have anything to complain about.  Don't worry I'll find something.

That's it for now. 

"til next time.

Ronnie gets clean

OMG - we gave Ronnie her first shower EVER in our bathroom.  What a kid... She absolutely loved it.  And who could blame her?  Nice little waterfall on your back, wonderfully clean hear without knots... the only downside for her is that she probably did get to spash around like she usually does in a bath.

And her hair, it was the weirdest thing.  Usually after her bath when I comb her hair she manages to jam both hands in her hair and I'm constantly pulling them out.  This time, she never even touched her hair.  It was really weird.  Nice though because this morning it was still sikly soft and untangled so it was really easy to put it into a ponytail. 

Patio door and window are being changed today and that is it.  We are done!!! Thank God 'cause I'm pretty sure that Brian is at the end of his rope with all this crap.  Poor guy - he's been so patient and has done all the liaising with the contractor and the stupid pretend architect.  No we just have to get her to sign off on the project and we will officially be done.

Oh happy days!!

'til next time.

Oh joy - to take a shower again

So, I've taken my first shower in our new washroom and although it is weird to shower in a stall-like enclosure versus a bathtub, it was a nice experience.  My only disappointment is the water pressure.  To respect environmental and water-conservation standards, the contractor had to install a low-flow showerhead so the water pressure kinds of sucks... but is was really nice to have a shower and not worry about what water is leaking into the basement.

We did discover that there is a difference between a shower curtain and a bath curtain (shower curtain is longer) and that we will need to purchase said shower curtain as well as a squeegee-type implement to wipe the floor.  This will ensure that the water that does come out of the shower stall doesn't stay on the tiles but is returned to the stall.  Would have been nice to know about this first but...

The next test will be giving Ronnie as shower.  We have the new seat without a seat belt as the CLSC are worried that she will slide and suffocate despite our insistence that she is NEVER, EVER left alone in the bath.  Apparently they are not worried at all that she will fall over/out of the seat and conk her skull open on the floor.  Frankly that's more likely to happen than her suffocating because of a seat belt.  I suppose their stupidity can be blamed in ignorance but I wish they or whoever the bosses are didn't make blanket decisions based on minimal information.  There is a big difference between a geriatric person who is loosing their skills and a child that is gaining skills. And  child that has no sense of danger - none whatsoever.  Whoever said ignorance is bliss doens't know these idiots.

We also have a really cool light.

"til next time.

Adaptations part 3

So, we are now at Day 6 of the bathroom adaptation and it has moved along fairly quickly.  The four of us spent several days last week at a local hotel while Brian drove back and forth to let the construction crew in and then take pictures of the progress at the end of the day.  The girls and I holed up in the hotel and got addicted to "Say Yes to the Dress"... seriously how much money can people spend on a wedding dress????

Anyway, since I decided not to let the stress get to me I almost feel like I don't really care anymore what the bathroom looks like.  Well I do but I don't...  Anyway, the designer made another huge mistake (flue for the furnace goes right up the middle of the bathroom) which in the end affects to total available space and it looks kind of silly (will try to include a picture soon) but we will make the best of it.  Emma thinks that the space is now the perfect hiding place for a serial killer.  I think she watches too much Criminal Minds.

Anyhoo, Brian is home now while they paint and handle the last finishing touches.  Ronnie's room has been painted and he says it looks like the inside of a lilac - can't wait to see it.  It will be funny to see her expression tonight about the change in paint colour. 

Have to say that I'm really looking forward to a shower.

"til next time.