Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Videos I Promised

April 30, 2011

Just a quick update to let you know that I have put up the videos and the links are below!

Stave Lake Playing on April 16th, 2011

Stave Lake East Clean Up April 23rd, 2011

My Tattoos

Let me know what you think of them :)

The Royal Wedding

Ok I am sure you have all seen or heard about the Royal Wedding by now. I don’t know how many of you stayed up to watch it on TV or not but I did. I am going to point out a few things that amused the heck out of me about the wedding.

The hats were one of those things that had me thinking “What were you thinking when you stuck that on your head?” Did you see princess Eugenie’s hat? It looks like antlers gone wrong. She couldn’t even sit up straight in the car because her antlers were too big and were hitting the roof.

The Beckhams looked fabulous though didn’t they! Victoria designed and made the hat herself and it did look very classy.

Did anyone see when Prince Charles stepped out of the car and wiped his nose with his right hand and then proceeded to shake hands with people right after? That was so gross but it made hubby laugh. Yes hubby was the one that said I am not staying up to watch that…. Yea right he so did stay up!

I am not sure if you have seen the picture that is floating around the Internet where they are on the balcony and Kate is bent down in front of William. Let me just say I thought it was hilarious. Google WTF royal wedding and it should come up!

The queen looked kind of grumpy but then again if I had to wear some of the hats that she owns I would be grumpy as well.

Before I got on I should tell you a little secret, I am Royalty as well so I can say the things I say.

Okay, now onto the wedding itself. Wasn’t her dress just fabulous? I thought it was very nice. Pippa’s dress was nice as well and I loved the fact that she had flower girls and pageboys.

Can you imagine reading the 22-page booklet that was sent out with the invitations on what can be worn, should be worn and what is a big no-no? No low necklines. No wearing white. No sports jackets. Men must wear their uniforms if they are in the military and that is just to name a few.

If you know me at all you know I would be the one wearing a white plunging neckline with runners. LOL Oh that was one of the other things, the ladies have to have heels on their shoes.

To me that is way too many rules for my liking. I would have a simple wedding that would have few rules.

The venue would be somewhere in the woods and the only way to find it is using a GPS and a 4x4 truck.

Clothes MUST be worn unless you are a Chippendale’s dancer then no clothes are needed.

Runners are a must because I don’t want anyone falling down when their heel gets stuck in the grass or dirt.

Gifts are accepted and are a must. Nothing like towels or cookware, I want gift cards and cash, houses, cars etc. I asked my mom what you would buy Kate and William and you know what she said? She said Penicillin because they already have everything else LOL

The food would be simple. For finger foods I would have chips and dip, veggies and dip, my moms mixed veg and ham rolls, chicken strips, deep-fried zucchini and a few other things that I cant think of right now.

For the main meal I would have deep fried chicken and fries, hamburgers, smokies, baked and roasted potatoes and tons of different salads. Oh and super fresh baked buns with butter.

Nothing fancy for this chick. I have been married before and had a simple; self-catered wedding and liked the wedding hated the guy LOL

You can get everything you need for about $150.00, depending on how many people you invite, at Dollar Giant! You can get plates, cups and tablecloths and napkins all the way to table decorations there. Talk about cheap, but what you save on the wedding you can use somewhere else!

Can you imagine Kate and Williams wedding if they were on a budget? LOL none of this pomp and circumstance crap it would be a BYOPC (bring your own plate and cup) and sit on the grass LOL

I think Kate and William will be great for the Monarchy because they will bring it up to date and get rid of some of the million year old traditions that are so stuffy that you think you are looking at a silent movie.

Did you know that the palace hire lip readers for all of their big ceremonies to see what people are saying? I thought that was funny and would love to know what was seen LOL

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 30, 2011

Friday, April 29, 2011

City Gave Me An Award

Friday April 29th, 2011

The last day of the week and then it is play time with the trucks… I hope!

That also means that if it is playtime with the trucks that I have to get all my work done today for today and tomorrow…argh! I should delegate some work to all of you lol how well do you think that will go over?

You in the back there, you can do the dishes.

You looking around to see who is doing dishes, yes you, you can do the laundry and that includes the three bathrooms laundry as well as the bedrooms.

Why are you snickering? You get to sit down and proof read all of these * drops a pile as thick as two volumes of encyclopedias into your hands *, oh you stopped snickering now eh!

You there, no not you the one next to you that is trying to leave. YES YOU! You are going to vacuum the house and the stairs.

You standing in the VERY back, you can clean the bathrooms!

Anyone else that does not have a job step forward because you are going to go grocery shopping for me and then come back and make dinner for the family!

*Whew * that was tough work delegating all my chores. I think I need a nap now! Just kidding. I still have plenty more work to do today that I don’t think anyone else would want to do. I have to write a 500-word story describing what is going on in a picture that was sent to me by a magazine I am write for.

Tonight hubby called me and told me he was spending the night at his buddies because he was going to work roofing tomorrow. I guess this weekend we are not wheeling on two days but maybe on one day! Well, one day is better than nothing I guess! Plus I have to drive his daughter over there because his friend has his kids this weekend and they need a babysitter for when they are working. That means I have to drive an hour and a half to drop her off and then an hour and half to come back home.

Ok I just got back from going to see hubby and dropping off my youngest stepdaughter there to baby sit. Before I could leave, I had to take the kids down to the corner store to get a slushy because hubby mentioned that I was going to be there soon and the kids love me to death LOL So, I load up the kids and a booster seat for Miss Maddy and off we go down to the store. They live way back in the middle of nowhere so walking to the store is totally out of the question.

Madison is 5 and Mackenzie is 9 I think. They always try and pull a fast one with me by saying that they always get this or that with their slushy, I am wise to that now though and told them if they pulled any crap I would dump their slushys out and they would get nothing LOL They zoomed in the store, got their slushy and waited for me at the counter. Hubby and their dad could not believe how good they were for me because they ALWAYS get conned into buying like three treats for each of them and then they have to decide what treats to get … suckers! I just say you get one thing and that’s the facts JACK! They know I don’t put up with crap and will do as I say! Ahhh but they are adorable and even though Madison cannot say my name properly I love the way she says it LOL

It is now 10pm and I just got in from the trip. Man there is a lot of weirdo’s in the bigger cities! I am glad I live in the smaller town where we know all the nutters and I am the president of the club!

Oh damn I almost forgot to tell you; I won an award from one of the cities that I held a clean up event in last year. The Mayor of the city called me and asked me to attend the city hall public general meeting, as he wanted to give me something. Talk about nervous! I took my mom to the meeting and he awarded me with a certificate of appreciation for my efforts to improve their city and the environment! I got a certificate and they said they are going to send me a plaque with the same information on it for my wall. The City Hall was packed and I was called up to receive my award! I got a standing ovation and I wanted to crawl under a rock I was so embarrassed. I am used to being recognized because of my writing but to be honored by a city was something else again! Pretty cool eh!

Well, I am going to go because I am taking care of my neighbor’s two dogs and they need to go out for a walk before they mess on their floors.

I hope you had an awesome day and got to go for a nice walk like we did. Yes we danced around the cemetery again and this time I didn’t think anyone was watching us but there was one of the parks guys watching us and when we went back to the truck he was clapping LOL Yup, that’s how we roll around here!

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 29th, 2011

Thursday, April 28, 2011

My Explanation

Thursday April 28th, 2011

Wow it is nearly the last day of the month! I can’t wait for that because then I can add up my steps and see how far I have walked. Do you write down how many steps you have taken each day? If so, do you add them up at the end of each month? I do that because I want to try and better each month’s totals.

Today Manda and I went for our two laps around the cemetery and this time we both had mp3 players and were dancing around the laps! If anyone saw us they would have thought we had escaped from the loony bin or something. I don’t really care what people think because I am getting in my exercise and enjoying the time I have outside and my music! If nothing else turn your mp3 up and dance your way around the block, people will look at you in a whole new light and you will smile and wave and keep on going because you are having fun!

As you may have noticed, if you have been keeping up with my blog posts, I have been adding entries once a week or so. I have a very good reason for that just let me think of one ok LOL Seriously though, I haven’t been having much time on the computer lately so I have been handwriting my blog entries and then typing them up when I get chance. I have been keeping them in the date order by backdating them so they are still on the right dates that I wrote them, just not the day that I actually post them LOL

This time of the year is one of my busiest for my family and me. I have several Geocaching events that I am holding which requires a lot of prep work for each different one, not to mention all the begging letters I have to send to get a few door prizes for each event.

Then if I am not holding an event, there are other events that I go to for Geocaching because I am the Ambassador for the area that I live in. Then we get to the 4x4 association events that we are attending and all the other fun things like ridge running with the trucks that we do on the weekends etc and I am hardly home.

That is just the weekends! During the week I am running from doctors appointments to hospital visits to surgery. Then I am the photographer for the Senior Peer Counselors events that are weekly and I have to make a slide show and data disk for them each week.

Somewhere in there I am also working on finishing three different storybooks and also writing for several magazines. Oh and I always take time out for walking daily!

I am not complaining at all just explaining that why my posts have been several at once, which will continue until later this year when things start to slow down again. Don’t worry though you will still get a blow-by-blow account of how my day has been and anything that I have learnt that day I will defiantly share with you!

I hope you understand and continue to read my blog post!

Plus, today was Mandas birthday! We celebrated all day long with going shopping and going out for lunch (I couldn’t afford dinner so just me and her went to Wendy’s for lunch) and then for a visit with my mom and a walk. Just because it was her birthday does not mean she can get out of going for a walk LOL

My mom had made her a birthday cake using an angel food cake and vanilla jello pudding. It looked awesome but unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of it before she brought it home and the kids dug into it lol I could take a picture of the crumbs that are left but it wont do the cake any justice!

Do you have a tip or trick that can help me post more often? Please share it if you do.

That’s it for me for now! Hope you got your walk in today!

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 28th, 2011

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Stitches Out Today

Whoop! Today I get my stitches out and I am looking forward to that because I think I tore a stitch or two at the clean up on Saturday.

Back from the doctors office and I am not a happy camper LOL I got my stitches taken out but there is a small area that hasn’t healed yet so I still have to steri strip the area and keep it covered. Not only that, I showed her a huge gouge I got on Sunday when I was climbing over a log that had two nails sticking out of it, and she says oh you get to have a tetanus shot today as well as your vitamin b shot.

I tried to talk my way out of the tetanus shot but she said, and I quote, “I know how you work and play! You are getting the damn shot because you live on the edge of that thing we call life and you are always out in the bush with rusty stuff!” LOL Yup I love my doctor because she is so funny. Still had to get the tetanus shot in my right arm and my vitamin B in the left arm, man I felt like a pincushion!!!

On the brighter side, the thing she removed from my back will take about 3-4 weeks to come back so I have to wait that long to get the 100% positive that it is cancer, even though we are 90% sure it was. Oh well, you only live once eh LOL If you are being puzzled over what the heck I am talking about, you need to read my http://7ladybugs.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-day.html blog that tells all about it.

My back is a bit tender now that she took the stitches out but I suppose that is just the body reacting to her removing them, plus it isn’t really fully healed yet. I can’t wait for it to be fully healed because I have to have a shower with tape on my back so that it doesn’t get wet! If you want to know what it feels like, get a friend or partner to stick some duct tape on your back and then have them rip it off, just like waxing only with duct tape and no hair being removed LOL

After the doctors appointment I went and picked up my mom and brought her back to the doctors’ office because Manda also had an appointment about 15 minutes after mine. I figured I would pick up mom while Manda was waiting and then I wouldn’t have to go back and forth all the time and we could just go straight for our walk.

Just as we are heading for our walk, it starts to rain really hard, my mom said she didn’t think she would walk in the rain but said she would sit in the truck, which was fine by me as I was going for a walk whether or not she came along or not.

When we got up to the cemetery the sun was shinning and there was clear blue sky! My mom even didn’t wear her jacket because it was so sunny and hot that she didn’t need it at all. It was amazing at how the weather had changed from one side of the mountain to the other. I didn’t mind one bit though because I was walking and getting in my steps for the day!

How was your day today?



©2011 7Ladybugs
April 27th, 2011

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Socks and Shoes

Tuesday 26th, 2011

Ok I have to tell you this right off the bat! You know I bought socks yesterday, well they were on sale and the package was 6+1 bonus pack. When I opened it today to pair them and put them in my sock basket, it literally meant 6 pairs +1 LOL I have one extra sock! I am sure it is a mistake but none the less it was funny as hell to me when I was counting the socks, then recounting and looking all over the floor and on the bed in case I misplaced one.

I am going to talk to the manager of the store today and let her know, she will get a kick out of it as well. Living in a small town you tend to know everyone and everyone knows you, so I do actually know the manager of the store and know she has a great sense of humor. I will let you know what she says about it when I get back!

I am planning on going for a walk this afternoon with Manda and my Mom. Mom had her cancer check up today and from what she just said on the phone, she is cancer free again! Five years for both my parents being cancer free! I think it is awesome!

Mom is really pumped to be out walking and is even trying to get my dad out walking the small section of the cemetery but he is very unstable on his feet and super super slow, so unless he walks by himself I don’t think he will be coming with us as we have a nice pace going and we can walk the entire thing in seven minutes now where before we would take fifteen minutes and we would be out of breath half way around.

I am thinking we should knock it up to three laps pretty soon as the two laps are getting too easy for us now.

Oh that reminds me, did you know that if you are walking daily that you are supposed to get new walking shoes every six months? I didn’t know that but now that I do I will treat myself probably at the 500-mile mark. Right now I am using the Skechers Shape-ups, which are very comfortable but only good for walking on flat surfaces. I have very weak ankles and when I wear the shape-ups I have to be careful walking because I twist my ankle very easily or I will go over on my ankle. Even though I have had surgery to correct the problem I have to still be careful because the next time they do surgery on my ankles it will be to put in plastic parts and I don’t think I want to have to explain why I can not go near fires or I will melt LOL

Do you wear special shoes to walk or are you like me, whatever is handy you put on? The only reason I have the Shape-up shoes is because my moms friend bought them for me at Christmas when she found out I was doing the 365 walking challenge and knew I couldn’t afford them.

Well, I am off to go for my walk, and it looks like it is going to be just Manda and me today as mom is stuck in traffic and is running late. That means I can listen to my mp3 player and walk!!!

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 26th, 2011

Monday, April 25, 2011

Monday April 25th, 2011

Nothing amazing happened today. It was basically a day of rest and cleaning up after the wreck of a weekend we had.

I did manage to get some of the videos completed that I was making of our 4x4 trip, the clean up and of my tattoos.

So many people have asked me about my tattoos and what they look like that I took pictures of all of them and made them into a movie. It looks pretty cool actually and you will get o see it when I have uploaded it later this week.

I did manage to get all of my 365 Challenges updated in my book. I have a binder and like for the walking one I write down how many steps I take each day on a piece of paper and then when I have time I transfer it to my binder. The same goes for my photo challenge and my writing challenge as well. My desk is covered with pieces of paper with things written on them or binders with stories that need to be finished or edited etc. I even have a binder that is full of manila envelopes for all of my odd scraps of paper. When I don’t know what to do with a piece of paper or I am cleaning up my office for a quick clean, I just put all my pieces of paper into an envelope and date the envelope so I know what day I chucked everything in there and then I have a clean desk and an organized ‘Mess Binder’ that sits on my shelf. It has big letters on it saying M.E.S.S, which means Mom’s Everyday Scraps of Something LOL Once in a while I go through those scraps and transfer the info to a book incase I need it in the future, then shred the scrap of paper.

Not that you would know this but I took a break from writing this and went for a walk with my mom and then went shopping at the local store for some socks that do not slide down under your feet when you are walking! I think that is my biggest pet peeve about socks! You are walking along at a nice pace and your sock slowly slides down and under your foot and then bunches up under your instep and it feels like you are walking on rocks or something. Then you have to stop and fix your sock and no sooner have you fixed one the other decides to do the same thing! I have them beat now, I bought new socks that are those anklet socks and they are guaranteed not to slide down!

My mom only managed one lap for her walk today because it was hailing too hard and it kept hitting her in the head and driving her nuts. I went for the two laps and had a great time playing in the hail and listening to it crunching under my feet as I walked.

Do you walk in the hail and rain? Or are you a fair weather walker? Be honest now lol

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 25th, 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Dinner

Today was supposed to be a family day that included all of us going over to my parents house for a nice turkey dinner, but that didn’t happen as it should have.

Jason was working out on his car, there was something wrong with it and he had to fix it before Monday because he had to work, when his friend called him and needed to be rescued from Stave Lake where his truck blew up. It never fails, when we have plans something always manages to wreck them.

Anyway, because my hubby is a nice guy and knows what its like to be stuck at Stave Lake with a broken truck, he cleaned up his mess outside and then took Justin to go and get the car hauler. The car hauler is at his buddy’s house loaded with Corporal Beemer (the 4x4 BMW), which had to be taken off manually because they are working on the motor and it isn’t in car.

Hubby and Justin missed out on dinner doing this recovery because it is about an hour and a half to his friends place to pick up the trailer, then another half hour to find the trucks trailer tires (its mud tires are too big to put on the trailer, they hang over the edge too much) and then about an hour to get up to the mud flats.

My mom would not let them miss the meal totally so she made up a plate of food for both of them for me to bring home with me. We celebrate the British way and that is having your ‘turkey dinner’ at around 1pm. We have turkey, roasted potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, mashed potatoes, gravy and cheese sauce. I can’t eat most of that, but I do eat the turkey, roasties, and some boiled potatoes that they make for me.

It took the guys eight hours from leaving here to when they got back home. It was a long day for them and they really appreciated the food when they got all cleaned up.

After dinner, I drove my oldest daughter home and then went with my mom for our daily walk. Even though it was raining it was still nice to go for a walk and feel the rain on my face as we walked. It smelt so fresh and rejuvenating to walk today in the rain, it could have been the fact that I had turkey but I don’t care it was still nice to get out and walk.

It is soon coming up to the end of the month and I cannot wait to see how many miles/kilometers I have walked this month. I have been doing extra walks when I can, like parking further away from where I am going and walking the rest of the way.

How was your Easter? How do you celebrate it? What do you have for your dinner?

Hope you got your walks in today

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 24th, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

How I Spent My Saturday

I was excited about today because we get to go on a FSR (Forest Service Road) and clean up all the crap that others have left behind, plus I would get to take my new truck up there and see how well she does in the bush!

We had a bit of a later start to the day than I had hoped for because, even though we were ready to go on time, a neighbor that wanted to chat about something stopped us. Have you ever tried to get away from someone when they are talking and you know you have to be somewhere? I didn’t want to be rude but I could see the time was ticking by faster each time I looked and I ended up telling them that I had to leave as I was late!

With a full tank of gas I drive the 94km to the staging area of the clean up and get signed in, got our door prize tickets and pick up some gloves, garbage bags and some water and off we went. We drove about three kilometers and met up with some fellow geocachers that were also helping with the clean up. We decided to stop and help them clean up this one area that was just off the main road.

We were there about an hour and picked up thousands of shotgun shells and other debris that was in the area. We were not even making a dent in the crap that people were leaving behind. The funniest find was a mannequin that someone had been using for target practice. No fear everyone, the person that was aiming for this did a crappy job LOL They grazed both arms and hit the left thigh once! The rest of the body was bullet free but the tree that it was leaning against was another story!

It was a beautiful day but picking up garbage and shotgun shells were playing hell on my back and Manda was having a tough time with it as well, but we mustered on and helped in any way we could.

When it was lunchtime, yes they fed us as well; it was smokies with all the fixings with your choice of juice/ pop or water. I didn’t get to eat any of them as I was not too sure what was in the ‘chicken smokies’ and I wasn’t going to risk getting sick while out on the trail. I did have loads of the free water though because it was the brand that I normally drink.

After we were all fed and rested a bit we went back out there and everyone was talking about this one place that was a real mess. It was the place that Manda and I had started to clean, but ran out of bags after filling four of them up, after we went for a potty break up the road. We were happy to go back there and clean up and even go further into the area than we could before as there were two trucks and four guys shooting off guns there when Manda and I were there.

The guys that were camping/ shooting there were packing up pretty quickly when they saw six plus 4x4s pulling up and stopping next to the side of the road. They pretended not to understand English but you knew they did because when we moved into there area they felt so bad about all the shotgun shells and bullets and other garbage that they started to make piles of the shotgun shells by using a stick and trying to sweep them into a pile. It was hilarious!

Manda and I were in so much pain that we grabbed a plastic bag and sat down while we picked up the thousands and thousands of spent shotgun shells that people left behind. Someone asked me if I was taking a break and I said no I am picking up shotgun shells and saving my back from injury by sitting down doing it. They thought it was smart but to be honest I think I pulled a stitch when I was pulling the garbage bag up a bit.

We, Manda and I, were cleaning an area about ten feet square and even though we had filled two garbage bags full of shotgun shells, you couldn’t tell we had really done anything!

The worst part about it was that we found about 30 bullets that had not been fired in the fire pit! I am not sure of the mentality of some of the people that come up there but I am doubting that they have that many brain cells to put live ammo in or even near a fire!

From 10am until 4:30, with only an hour break, we cleaned up part of a forest service road, and you couldn’t even tell it was done at all except for the dump trucks that were driving in and out of the area full to capacity with trash.

In total I think there were about 100 4x4 trucks there and easily 200 plus people that were helping to clean up. This even was put on by the BC 4wheel drive association and local geocachers. Hubby had to work so he missed this event but he did show up at about 3pm to help for the last hour. While hubby wasn’t there I had the perfect opportunity to sign him up as a member of the 4x4 association that he has always wanted to be a part of. I borrowed the money from Justin because I didn’t have any cash on me and in the woods they don’t accept debit!

So, when hubby showed up I gave him his Easter present which was the membership and he was super happy about it, plus I get to write for the magazine anytime I like now that he is a member!

Before we left the event they had a door prize draw for all those that showed up. Hubby left to go home because he wanted to rest (his back is still hurting and so is his arm) so he gave me his ticket. I won a Back Roads Map book (I now own four of them) with my ticket. Manda won a 4ton hydraulic jack, and hubby won a 4x4 association hooded sweatshirt. Justin didn’t win anything but he wasn’t right bothered at that point because he was tired and the sun was bothering his eyes (he has blue blue eyes).

The Map book is on my desk (I already have a new one in my truck and so does hubby), the sweatshirt hubby wears and the hydraulic jack is in my truck because I don’t have a jack in there and it wont work on hubbys truck because it is so high.

We all got sun kissed while working even though we were in the shade part of the time, nothing major just a slight golden color to make us look healthy!
I will post the video when I have it uploaded.

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 23rd, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

It's Friday! Friday!

Today Manda and I went on our own adventures! We went 4x4ing in my truck to get one of my geocaches that needs to be archived, as it is B.C Parks policy to only have them in the parks three years, then you have to move them.

The only problem with this cache is that it is hard to get to and there is usually snow on the ground way into May, we took a chance on grabbing it today because we were both bored but also hurting too. I know most people would rest up and all that but I am the kind of person that is always on the go and I love an adventure, plus my truck wasn’t dirty enough yet LOL

Anyway, we drive about an hour along the paved road up to the campground and the gate is locked. Hmm should we turn around or go onto the dirt road and see if the back gate is open? Dirt road it is! We drove about a kilometer in the snow and mud but then I realized that I hadn’t told anyone where we were going and I didn’t have anything in the truck if we were to get stuck. So, I turned the truck around, had a play in the snow with the truck, and we headed back to the locked gate.

I should tell you why the gate was locked so you will understand better. There was about two or three feet of snow still in the park and my geocache was about a mile down the road. With my back stinging and Mandas shoulder hurting we were not going to tempt fate and walk through the snow to retrieve my container! It can wait until the snow melts!

But the trip was not a waste; we did find two geocaches that did not belong to me on the trip! I wasn’t planning on grabbing any geocaches but these ones were right next to the road we were on and I really couldn’t pass them up.

After that we drove home and then when we saw my son wasn’t home we went up to the dirt bike track where he flags the races to see if he was still working. He was flagging his last race so we went for our two laps around the cemetery while we waited and then I gave him a ride home instead of him riding his bike home, plus he bought us dinner!

Well, tonight I am going to bed early because I have to be up early to go to a clean up event that is about an hour and a bit away from here.

Did you get your walk in today? I did and even though I didn’t feel like doing anything other than lying down I managed to push myself to get in motion.

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 22nd, 2011

Thursday, April 21, 2011

My Quick Rant!

Thursday April 21st, 2011

So, I went to pick up my check from the office and this time I DOUBLE checked with them that they knew they were to be mailed from now on and not deposited or picked up. I tell you I think the government needs a kick in the pants and some regular people working there, the ones that GET that if your check isn’t there it means no food on the table. The ones that GET that if your check is not in the mail you cant pay your rent. The people that GET that we feel bad enough without being talked down to each time we have a question! That’s my biggest beef with my disability office, they talk like they are all better than the people on the other side of the counter because we are all misfits and broken and are not worth a toss!

If I worked in that office I would not give people a hard time about asking if they know of any doctors taking new patients, or asking if they know where a food bank might be that has some formula for their baby or any of the simple questions that they are asked daily. Hell, I pay them for their answers and damn rights I want a good answer and not to be passed over, maybe next time I will withhold YOUR paycheck and see how YOU like it!

Sorry about that rant but I had to get it off my chest! The people on my side of the counter are always pleasant and form an orderly line, hold spots for the elderly that can not stand for long or help someone that can not see too well or hear that good, I think that makes us BETTER people than the ones on the other side of the counter that the government pay for!

Anyway, I got my check (finally) and was going to go home but then I remembered I needed to pick up a few items while I was in the big town (not our little 1 store town). Then I remembered I had to go all the way across town to deposit my check to come back to the other side to get groceries! My back at this point was starting to sting a bit but I did what any mom would do, I pressed on!

Not only did I press on I got all my chores done and shopping done in record time and made it home just before the kids did.

After the kids came home, I picked up my mom and went for our usual two laps around the cemetery. Manda didn’t come with us today as she was still having issues with her shoulder. It wasn’t a particularly nice day but it wasn’t raining so that is a bonus!

Did you walk today? How long did you walk for?

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 21st, 2011

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wednesday April 20th, 2011

Today was not a good day from the moment I woke up! Manda hadn’t slept well last night and I couldn’t fall asleep until about 3am. Then I find out that my disability check was not mailed out to me but was instead forgotten at the office and I would have to pick it up tomorrow!

Manda had the Laparoscopic surgery yesterday and one of the side effects is shoulder pain.


You may experience some gas pains from residual carbon dioxide that may remain in your abdomen following the procedure. This pain usually presents as shoulder pain or sharp pain underneath your diaphragm. The pain is usually transient and will disappear in a day or two.


So Manda was crying as she was in pain and I really did feel bad for her but I couldn’t do anything other than tell her to walk around for a bit and then lay down, or fart! I know it sounds funny but it is true, if you have gas trapped in your body fart it out or burp it out LOL

Anyway, about ten minutes before I had to leave for my surgery to remove the ‘friend’ from my back, she came up screaming in pain and I couldn’t do anything. I tried phoning a few people to come and sit with her but no one was home and I really couldn’t cancel my surgery, as it was important. So, I gave her a couple of Tylenol 3’s and told her to stay upstairs and I would leave the door unlocked so her brother and sister could just walk in when they got home. She agreed with that and off I went. I felt really bad leaving her but what could I do? I had to take of me as well.

My surgery was pretty straightforward and even though it took about 45 minutes to remove the ‘friend’ and stitch me up, it was relatively painless. I have 4 stitches in my back and they are in a place that makes leaning against anything hurt! Why is it you never have surgery on a place that you never use or never gets in contact with things in daily life? Argh! Oh well, it is out of my and has been sent off to the lab!

Now I am home and I get to make dinner in a few minutes. I am only making Spaghetti and meat sauce because it is the easiest thing to make when I feel like a Mac truck has hit me! Plus, my son can help me in the kitchen as well because he loves to cook so maybe I can convince him to do most of the work!

So, now we have Manda down for the count and I am down for the count as well. It will NOT stop me from walking though and I know I might have to take it slower for Manda for a few days but we will not miss out on our walks!

So, did you do your walk? What would stop you from going for a walk?

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 20th, 2011

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tuesday April 19th, 2011

Manda had to go in to the hospital for Laparoscopic Discovery surgery today, which means I am let loose, unattended in the hospital for about six hours and I am LOVING it!

My first stop is in the Surgical Daycare area to drop Manda off and make sure they stick and IV in her so she has to stay put. My next stop was the elevators and hit every floor, just to see what’s on them. You never know when you will need to know where something is.

I am talking about the new Abbottsford Hospital/Cancer Clinic. They made it huge! We are hanging out on the Fraser section today for Mandas surgery, but I have ventured into the Cheam, Sumas, Baker, Matsqui and Yale sections today as well. They are all color coded and have unique shapes that go along with the colors, so you cant get lost if you know your colors and shapes. There are fish, wheat, mountains and others ones too.

Right now I am back up on surgical daycare in the recovery room with Manda. In every waiting area there is a TV and on the TV is the Canucks hockey game. So, even though I cannot see the game from where Mandas bed is I can hear the game. From the sounds of things they are sucking right now!

Well, it is time to take Manda home and then make dinner, so I will end this now and write something more tomorrow.

Did you get your walk in today? I did! I walked around each floor of the hospital and each section!

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 19th, 2011

Monday, April 18, 2011

What A Day

Today was a different kind of day for me for many reasons. I actually slept in and nearly missed my doctors appointment, totally something I would not normally do.

My doctors visit was a bit more difficult to deal with as I found a mole on my back and has only been there about three months and I was just getting it checked out now.

Before I tell you the outcome of the doctors visit I must explain something. I have had three separate 3rd degree burns on my back from falling asleep in the sun, so my biggest fear was the big C word. Last night I had hubby check it out and he said that if I was worried that I should get it checked out because it wasn’t there before.

So, the doctor checks it out and it is multi-colored, irregular borders etc etc and it is skin cancer. I am not as scared as I thought I would be but that could also be because it is being removed on Wednesday and then it will be sent away and we will get a 100% sure verdict. Right now though, it is showing all signs of being skin cancer.

After the doctor’s visit, Manda and I went for our usual two laps around the cemetery, yes I still did my walking even after that news.

I couldn’t call hubby at work and tell him because I didn’t want to ruin his day and plus they had a water pop break and he was dealing with two and a half inches of water everywhere in the cabinet shop he works in.

I did tell him when he got home though and the only thing he said was, “are you ok?” I laughed and said yes they are cutting it out on Wednesday. He wanted to take the day off work for that but I reminded him that we couldn’t afford him to be off! He is such a sweetie!

The day wasn’t a total loss though. Manda and I went and got tattoos! I had two cover-ups done; I now have two roses where Chinese characters used to be. Manda got angel winds with a halo on one side of her chest and on the other side she has devil wings with horns and a tail. Manda paid for them, as an early mothers day gift to me and an early birthday gift to her.

I even got one of my ladybugs fixed up as he lost part of his spots in a 4x4 accident when a tree came up and whipped me in the arm! Now Bob (that’s his name) has his spots back!

These are my before tattoos



These are my roses cover ups :)



©2011 7Ladybugs
April 18th, 2011

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday April 17th, 2011

And yet again I thought I would have a nice relaxing day, yea right! I tried sleeping in, that didn’t work so I got up early. I tried to get my blog updated from yesterday, that didn’t happen because our friend Bill needed my hubby and son over at his house ASAP to help move something and he needed my to help him with some computer games.

Three hours later and it is three o’clock already and I haven’t done anything!

I shove a load of laundry in the washer, tell the kids to load the dishwasher, and then I go over and pick my mom up to go for our daily walk. I figure if the day is messed up already I am not going to miss out on my walking!

Other than hubby getting a new 35-gallon air compressor from Bill, that’s what they had to move, and me getting my walk in, nothing really has happened.

Did you have a good weekend? What did you do?

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 17th, 2011

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Stave Lake

We had an awesome day at Stave Lake today celebrating my stepdaughter’s birthday.

The link is for the video I have up on You Tube if you would like to watch it.
Stave Lake Video


For those of you that do not know what Stave Lake is I will explain.

Stave Lake is apart of BC Hydro's Stave River hydroelectric project. The Stave Lake reservoir is bounded by the Stave Lake Dam. Downstream is the Hayward Lake reservoir and the Ruskin Dam. Many recreational activities can be enjoyed in the area, from boating, fishing and swimming, to picnicking, hiking and mountain biking.

We go to the mud flats and they are about 13 or so kilometers up from the dam. Many 4x4ers and dirt bikers that like to go out and have some fun use the flats. When the water is down there are many deep mud holes to drive through and get muddy. The mud is like nothing I have seen or felt before, it is like industrial mud and it stains your clothing, that’s why you don’t wear your nice shoes or clothing to go there.

There are actually three areas of the mud flats but we mainly play on the second flats, or main beach, as that is where our friends are, and you always need a friend if you get stuck LOL

Some of the mud holes are three or four feet deep and when you get someone that doesn’t know where the deep holes are, they get stuck. That’s usually when you find out exactly who your friends are and who will be your new friend. For that reason, we only go to Stave to play when we know who is up there and if any of our friends are there.

In our group this time there was Dave and his huge truck, hubby and his truck, myself and my new truck, my stepdaughter and her truck and her hubby and his truck. Oops I almost forgot someone, Dan and his truck was there as well.

Dave and Jason were out playing in the mud before I even had chance to get out of my truck. They both got stuck, which is really part of the fun of going. Rikki-lee (my step daughter) took her truck through a few mud holes but nothing she couldn’t get out of. Dan did a few donuts but his truck is too low to go through anything major. I didn’t take my truck out in the mud holes because it needs new bushings in the front and I cannot afford to have it broken even more!

Manda, Nadine and Rikki-Lee were sitting in the back of Dave’s truck as he was driving though the mud puddles. The girls loved it and even though they got drenched in mud, they stayed in the back if the truck asking for more!

I did meet up with a guy I have known for about 15 years or so when we were up there. He is a tow truck driver and his wife and I used to flag for the RCMP at accident scenes, which is how I met them. I was shocked to find out that his wife had passed away due to cancer complications about five years ago. He couldn’t remember my last name and the RCMP wouldn’t give him any information even though they knew we worked together for the RCMP, damn confidentiality clauses! That’s why I was never told about it because he couldn’t remember my last name. Anyway, it was awesome hanging out with him and hubby and Dave now have a new friend to talk truck parts with! Or maybe that’s not a good thing… I don’t know right now!

At the end of the day, many stuck trucks later, Dave broke his drive shaft, Dan got stuck in a mud hole and got pulled out and needed a high jack because the idiot that pulled him out, pulled him onto a huge rock and his transmission was banging on the frame. That happened just before we left.

After we left, some guy in a truck was not paying attention in the dark and tried to go horizontally through a vertical four-foot mud pit, his truck did a nose dive into the mud hole.

Rikki-Lee decided to gout for a midnight mud puddle drive (they camped the night up there) and she ended up submerging her truck in the hole that NO ONE goes near because it has a steep drop off in the middle. Her hubby pulled her truck out but not before ripping the bumper off his truck.

Oh the good times at Stave Lake!

Even after all the walking around we did up at Stave Lake, I drove home, dropped off the kids and picked my mom up for our daily walk. The only thing was it was dark outside and the moon was huge! My mom is scared of the things that go bump in the night even though she is a Clairvoyant. I thought she was going to back out of our walk because it was dark and we were in a cemetery, she didn’t back down but she said we would only walk around the center part that you drive around! I was fine with that as I was tired. I don’t think I have seen my mom move so fast as she did when walking around there! She was spooked and I was amused as anything, I did get my bonus walk in though so that was good!

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 16th, 2011

Thursday, April 14, 2011

My week in brief!

I am going to try and update my blog on this weeks happening.

 

Monday was a great day because I had to go to town that is about 45 minutes away. I know I sound like a nut bar for saying that it was a great day because we went into town, but you didn't let me finish! LOL

 

The reason it was such a great day is because I was combining my week's worth of running around into one day and also I was going to grab some geocaches that were in the general area of our trip.

 

My mom went with us as we were not going to be walking around the cemetery as we normally do but in town there is this really nice duck pond and it just so happened to have a geocache that we had not found yet, so we got our walk in and found a geocache all in one location. The other geocaches were within a four-block radius so we didn't have too far to go to grab them either. Manda and myself grabbed the other caches as my mom was cold and wanted to sit in the truck. We grabbed 4 caches for the day and would have had a fifth one but we couldn't find an area to pull off the main road to grab it.

 

After Geocaching we went and did our business dealings at the Government office and then went on to pick up a beautiful gift basket from one of the food stores and some swim passes from the leisure center. I just have to prod a couple of more businesses into committing to donate something for my May 7th clean up event and I will be all set and then I can concentrate on the August and September events that I have to plan.

 

 

Tuesday I took my stepdaughter to get the results of her knee x-rays and they couldn't really see what they wanted to so they are sending her for a CT scan on April 26th at the hospital. They did say that they saw some wearing on the kneecap and some other things that were minor but nothing that would cause her knee to be so painful. I am hoping she doesn't have my hubbys knees as he has problems with his knees from when he was a child and we cannot get any health history on him as he was adopted at 2 years old.

 

After that visit and Mandas doctors visit (she had an appointment right after my step daughter to combine the visits!) we picked up my mom and went for our two laps around the cemetery. Considering yesterday was raining and bitterly cold today was the complete opposite. It was hot and the sun was shining and the birds were chirping as we walked.

 

I don't know about you when you walk but I am planning my next days agenda, even though I am holding up my end of the conversation I am still thinking about what I have to do and how can I combine trips to get the most out of my gas mileage. So, my mom was talking about some seniors meeting she went to and how the seniors were boring and not paying attention etc etc. I asked her if she was paying attention and she said, "Yes I was paying attention while I was doing my knitting!" GO MOM!  I tend to lose interest when she is talking about her 'senior courses' that she goes on because all they do is talk about how to make a Will, how to make sure your spouse is comfortable after you are gone, the benefits of being cremated over being buried. The last one I would personally want to go and listen in on and then just ask questions to see if the old folks are paying attention LOL

 

Wednesday was one of those days that just flew by and I hardly had time to get anything done because I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off! In the morning I was supposed to go for a walk and then go to the resort town close by and pick up some things for my event, that didn't happen.

 

Mom was late coming back from one of her meetings, which threw everything off kilter. I wouldn't have had enough time to go to the resort and then come back, only to go back out there for our walk and it would be too late to go and pick up the items when my mom got home.

 

Morning plan = scrapped! So now we are in the afternoon plans and they are getting all messed up now because I received an urgent phone call from a friend that needed my help at around 2pm. So, pick up mom, go for a one lap walk because we were running out of time, and then drop mom at home and then the dog at our house and then fly over to my friends house. It is 2:30pm and I am trying to get there and get back before 3pm when Nadine gets home from school so I can let her in. Got to my friends house at 2:45 dealt with the issue and left at 3:05 and made it home by 3:12… yea I know I might have been speeding a bit but there also could have been no traffic LOL I am not telling you which it is though!

 

Which brings me to today. Without getting into too many details, I am not feeling the greatest today and it is because of my IBD.  If anyone has IBD then they will understand that you either have the trots or you are constipated… I would much happily have the first of the two right now! Enough said! I am sure you have figured it out. I am just so tempted to eat something I am not supposed to just to get things moving again LOL

 

These last few months have been hell on my system as I can not eat things that I used to be able to eat and every time I try something I should be able to have, I cant have it!

 

I am not sure what I am going to do when we go camping because I can not live on rice and chicken while in the middle of no where! If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them. I can only eat: White rice (not minute rice), chicken, canned chicken but only the no name brand in the yellow can, whole wheat bread once in a while, no name corn flakes and So Good Soy milk. I cannot eat fruit or most veggies, as I cannot digest them. I can eat Potato and carrots as long as they are peeled and cooked to mush. So, any suggestions on how I can jazz it up a bit for camping? I take a chicken stew with me that I make from scratch but stew for 2 weeks … Argh! 

 

So, if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them and trust me, none are too silly to mention! I am a little nervous going camping this time because of the problems I have been having the last little while with food, so I am turning to you, my friends, to give me some suggestions.

 

That's how my week has been. How has your week been? Have you been walking lots and sticking to your diets?

 

©2011 7Ladybugs

April 14, 2011

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Rust In Pieces Tammy Tempo

Such a sad, sad day for me because my car, the ford tempo (aka Tammy Tempo) was sold for scrap and picked up on a tow truck. I know most people don’t get attached to their cars but damn she took us to places where you wouldn’t expect a car to go. That was also why I wasn’t allowed to drive her on any of the forest service roads anymore.

Oh the stories she could tell of how we went on forest service roads and hit rocks and banged around the bumpy dirty roads having fun and being sneaky. Then getting home before hubby so he wouldn’t know we were out on ‘those’ roads LOL

All the geocaches we have had the fun finding, and some we didn’t find but still had fun driving through swampy fields or rivers to try and get them!

Ahhh the good times that tempo and me had. Not to mention the numerous police activities we were called out to attend. Or the police chases we were involved in. Maybe I should say that I am a volunteer with the police department so you don’t think that I am causing trouble or anything lol We did the chasing not the other way around…well ok there was this one time LOL Just kidding.

Now I have Bethany the Blazer to take me from place to place and enjoy the open roads with and play in mud puddles.

I will miss your stutter when you don’t want to go into gear. I will miss the fact that you choose the music on the radio and cd’s and listen to what you want, when you want Tammy.

I will miss how you like to collect mud in odd places and then when hubby checks under you, you poop in his ear and make him cuss at you LOL

I MISS YOU TAMMY! Rust in Pieces!

Moving on now, We did two and a half laps around the cemetery today and the only reason we did two and a half is because my mom decided she wanted to look for her friends husband that had recently passed away. I wont tell you the comments Manda and I made because some people may not find the humor in them, let me just say my mom was laughing so hard she had to stop walking at one point lol

After we located his grave, she was happy then said, “oh I didn’t know she was that old!” She was talking about her friend that is still alive but her birth is still on the double gravestone. Go Mom!!

So, that’s the short story of my day. Please tell me you did something exciting today!

Today was a busy day. We had to do the recycling because it was beginning to over take the hallway from the kitchen to the computer room. We had separated most of the recycling but there was some that still needed to be sorted. I am not a big fan of sorting my recycling so I have set bags that things have to go in, do you think the kids could follow along with my plan? No they just chuck the things into a bin and then I get to sort it out!

An hour later we are finished at the recycling place and off to pick mom up for our daily walk around the cemetery. It was just starting to rain as she got in the truck and I was debating if we should go for a walk or wait but as we were driving the rain stopped and the sun came peeking through.

We walked twice around the outside of the cemetery and we didn’t even notice that we had done it. I think that means we are getting used to walking that distance and we should up it to three times around, I am not doing three times for another few weeks yet as my mom is slow at walking and I like to walk a bit faster so when she speeds up we will go the three times around.

As you know, if you have read my first posts, I am doing the 365 day Challenges in several different subjects. I am doing the Photo Challenge, the Walking Challenge, the Writing Challenge and also the Geocaching Challenge.

I was catching up on my paper work, I keep track of my pictures, walking, photos and writing in a binder, and I wanted to see how far I had walked in the month of March. I started to add up the steps and then converted them to miles and kilometers and was totally blown away. In 31 days I walked 116.3 miles or 187.2 kilometers! I average about 6 kilometers a day and I didn’t even notice it.

My daughter and I love to walk because it makes us feel better and energetic, so walking is something that we do all the time and also a lot of apparently!

So, as you can see, I am still walking everyday and loving every minute of it as well.
The photo challenge is going awesome as well because we pick a piece of paper from a jar and then you have to take a picture of that subject that day. We found that we were taking totally stupid and random pictures for our pictures of the day before we put subjects on pieces of paper into a jar. Now we choose and have to think out side of the box for some of them but it is fun nonetheless.

The writing daily has being going great as well. I write something either directly to my blog or on paper and then I will do an update of the days events when I get time. I have written about five new chapters in the children’s book and have brought out some of my long forgotten stories to edit and compile into a Children’s bedtime story book. I think I have about ten or so short stories for the book but I am not finished with it yet so it might end up with twenty short stories in the book or maybe less, who knows.

Well, that’s how my day has been going, how was your day?

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 10th, 2011

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Another Busy Day

Today was a busy day. We had to do the recycling because it was beginning to over take the hallway from the kitchen to the computer room. We had separated most of the recycling but there was some that still needed to be sorted. I am not a big fan of sorting my recycling so I have set bags that things have to go in, do you think the kids could follow along with my plan? No they just chuck the things into a bin and then I get to sort it out!

An hour later we are finished at the recycling place and off to pick mom up for our daily walk around the cemetery. It was just starting to rain as she got in the truck and I was debating if we should go for a walk or wait but as we were driving the rain stopped and the sun came peeking through.

We walked twice around the outside of the cemetery and we didn’t even notice that we had done it. I think that means we are getting used to walking that distance and we should up it to three times around, I am not doing three times for another few weeks yet as my mom is slow at walking and I like to walk a bit faster so when she speeds up we will go the three times around.

As you know, if you have read my first posts, I am doing the 365 day Challenges in several different subjects. I am doing the Photo Challenge, the Walking Challenge, the Writing Challenge and also the Geocaching Challenge.

I was catching up on my paper work, I keep track of my pictures, walking, photos and writing in a binder, and I wanted to see how far I had walked in the month of March. I started to add up the steps and then converted them to miles and kilometers and was totally blown away. In 31 days I walked 116.3 miles or 187.2 kilometers! I average about 6 kilometers a day and I didn’t even notice it.

My daughter and I love to walk because it makes us feel better and energetic, so walking is something that we do all the time and also a lot of apparently!

So, as you can see, I am still walking everyday and loving every minute of it as well.
The photo challenge is going awesome as well because we pick a piece of paper from a jar and then you have to take a picture of that subject that day. We found that we were taking totally stupid and random pictures for our pictures of the day before we put subjects on pieces of paper into a jar. Now we choose and have to think out side of the box for some of them but it is fun nonetheless.

The writing daily has being going great as well. I write something either directly to my blog or on paper and then I will do an update of the days events when I get time. I have written about five new chapters in the children’s book and have brought out some of my long forgotten stories to edit and compile into a Children’s bedtime story book. I think I have about ten or so short stories for the book but I am not finished with it yet so it might end up with twenty short stories in the book or maybe less, who knows.

Well, that’s how my day has been going, how was your day?

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 9th, 2011

Friday, April 8, 2011

Day with the 'boys'

Friday April 8th, 2011

Manda had a great idea today; lets take Gizmo's friend for a walk with us! Benny, Gizmo's buddy, likes to pee on things and was worried about him being in my new truck and peeing on the seats. Benny is a little Pomeranian that lives two doors down at our friends place.


Unfortunately, Benny jumped into the truck and made it perfectly clear that he was going on a car ride and a walk with his buddy Gizmo, and no one was going to stop him!


I wasn't in the mood to argue with the dog so I got his leash from his owner and off we went on our car ride and walk.


Gizmo was sitting nicely on the back seat and Benny was being a retard hanging on the window. He learnt pretty fast that standing on his hind legs fully stretched out to stick his head out the window on leather seats is slippery. Yes, I turned a corner and Benny ended up on the floor and gizmo was looking at his friend like, 'you retard you shouldn't stand on the seats! She has a bad sense of humor and will purposely turn corners or stop suddenly to make you slide off!' Come on it was funny watching the little fur ball roll off the seat and then jump back up super fast incase he missed any air! LOL


We get to where we were going for our walk and noticed that the place we normally walk there was someone there with his or her dog off leash. We were determined to talk them for a walk and decided to walk around the big oval in the middle.


Benny has to pee on every blade of grass and slows our walks down considerably, but it was fun all the same. He has only got short legs so he looks like a cartoon character zipping along to keep up with Gizmo!


We did make the boys walk twice around the center oval because they were being good and by the time we got back to the truck on the second trip both boys were slowing down, which means that their energy had been spent!


This is Benny looking out the window on our drive!

Doesn't he look so adorable!



Gizmo being the smart guy and sitting on the leather seats!



Gizmo blowing kisses!



Benny on top of the Pet Stand poopie Bag stand!




Look at the boys smiling with Manda.

©2011 7Ladybugs

April 8th, 2011

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Hubbys Doctors Visit

Ok so we finally got the results of hubbys CT scan back. At the C3-4 level there is a mild disc bulge but no herniation. At the C4-5 level, he has calcium spurs and they are producing a noticeable narrowing of the right and left intervertebral foramina, and contacting the anterior surface of the dural sac. Disc bulge is associated but no herniation.

Wow that actually made me sound smart and medical then didn’t it LOL I actually copied it from the report. Basically we were told that he has arthritis in his neck and some calcium spurs in the neck from the arthritis. There is nothing that they want to do right now, because if he goes to physiotherapy (at a cost of $60.00 a visit) it might help it and ease the pain. Like we are made of money and can afford to shell out $60.00 for a 30-minute visit! If he has time off work he doesn’t get paid so he would be losing pay just to spend money we don’t have. Catch 22 eh!

The doctor was good though he told us that there might be some useful exercises on line that we could use for the time being and gave me a few terms to look up to find the specific exercises to help not hinder.

If nothing helps it get better and it persists then we have to wait for an appointment with a specialist that is about four hours away from where we live. He has the shortest wait time of a year apparently! The doctor that fixed my back when I was paralyzed is booked solid for the next while otherwise I would have suggested him he was awesome!

Yes I did go for my walk today with my mom and daughter. We decided to go twice around the perimeter today, as it was so nice outside. I am thinking that now we can do it once around without having to drag my mom along, that we should increase our distance to twice around the cemetery for the next month or so and then just keep increasing it.

Well, that’s about all my news!

Hope you went out for your walk today and enjoyed the wonderful sunshine that we have been having… unless your weather is crappy!

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 7th, 2011

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Mystery Noise!

Today I had to wake up early, because my youngest daughter has a doctor’s appointment about her knee. One day this week I am sleeping in and I don’t care what happens! So, I asked Manda to wake me up at 9am so I would be able to get ready and have breakfast etc before Nadine’s appointment.

I drag my sorry butt out of bed and head to the bathroom. I hear my hubby chuckling at something on his computer and it doesn’t register that he is still home and I go and get my clothes and then get dressed.

What are you doing out of bed and all dressed? He asks me.

What are you still doing home? I replied.

Its only 5:15am and I don’t leave until 5:50am!
Oh ok! I say as I shuffle past him. It still hasn’t click in what he said about the time!

I check my mail and then go to get my breakfast.

WHAT? IT’S WHAT TIME? I yell at him LOL yes the light came on, it was way too early to get up!

Oh crap now I will try and go back to sleep. Hubby comes in and opens the bar fridge in our room and drops a can of coke on the floor! I am never going to get to sleep. Then the dog decides its time to cuddle with mom while she stays awake.

I am just drifting off to sleep when I hear this. …Sound. I am not sure how to describe it but it sounds like someone saw wood with a saw. I am trying to figure out where the damn noise is coming from when it stops. Oh well it stopped so now I can go back to sleep.

Again I am just drifting off to sleep and this noise is back. This is now driving me totally nuts because I cannot find out where it is coming from. I have checked all the electronics in the room (and we have many), I have checked the alarm clocks and the mp3 players that were charging and nothing is making that noise. Just when I think I am getting closer to finding it, it stops!

Now I am wide-awake and pissed off because I can’t go back to sleep and I can’t find out where the noise is coming from. Then I hear my daughter and son upstairs, and they are not quiet in the mornings. They may think they are quiet but they aren’t! It is now 7:45am and there is no way I am going to be able to get back to sleep so I get up. Just as I am leaving the room I hear the noise again and damn me, it’s the dog snoring! Guess who is not sleeping next to me tomorrow morning LOL

So skipping ahead a bit, we make it to the doctors and find out she needs x-rays on her knee because she has a meniscal tear. The only place that does x-rays is in the next town over and I really don’t feel like driving out there right now! I tell her to go back to school and I will pick her up after school and go to get her x-rays done then, she is happy with that and that will give me time to phone my hubby and ask him if he wants to take her tomorrow or if he wants me to take her today. Guess where I went after school!

The x-ray place was still open and amazingly not busy. Nadine was in and out before I even had time to steal the Readers Digest… oops I mean read the Readers Digest index LOL

She has another appointment next week with the doctor to go over the test results and see what can be done for her knee. So far we have: Manda having surgery, Jason may require surgery and Nadine may require surgery, I am just hoping that they are not all on the same day at different hospitals! If they do I am stealing an ambulance so I can play with the lights and sirens and get between the hospitals quicker.

So, that’s how my day has gone! How has your day been? Oh and in between the doctors, x-rays and life, I did get a walk in with my mom. It was a weird day for weather around here; we got pelted with hail, snow, rain and sunshine! But we still walked!!

©2011 7Ladybugs

April 6th, 2011

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Waitng Can Be Fun!

If you read yesterdays post then you know I had to go back into the town that is about an hour away to drop off some letters and do some crap at the disability office. That was the plan anyway!

We drove into town and I figured I would get the disability crap over and done with then I will have more time to do my running around. I am just glad that we were there for 10:30am because the disability office was packed full.

They have decided that instead of people checking in and waiting to be seen they will mix it up a bit and add that you have to take a number to be seen. I follow the rules and pull out a number from the machine and I am number 93! Woohooo I think. It shouldn’t be long now. Then I look up and see that they are only on number 77! Oh shoot me now would ya!

On top of me being the millionth person to be seen, they only have one person out of the five that should be there working, everyone else went on early lunch/coffee break.

I take a seat with my daughter and prepare for the wait. I am not a waiting kind of person because I get fidgety so I go and take another number, just because I can! Well, then the lady sitting next to me said that some people have come in and taken a number and just dropped them on the floor, and that I should go and hunt around on the floor for a better number. I was about to get up from my seat when I felt Manda pull on my hoodie and tell me to sit down LOL She knows I would have had too much fun pretending to look for my contact lens that I dropped (which I don’t own!) and I would encourage others to help me find it! Come on everyone in there is grumpy and getting them involved in something is amusing to me and also fun for them, well, ok … maybe more fun for me but still!

Anyway, I didn’t get up from my seat because of Mandas death ray stare that told me if I moved I would be dead… next time I am going to see if she would actually kill me LOL If you don’t hear from me send flowers LOL

Some more people come in and take numbers and then smile, look up at what number they are at and then back at their own number and back up at the number they are on now LOL It was like one of those hidden camera pranks that people pull on others! It was awesome! I just happen to mention to this one guy that Manda was drooling over that there was a sooner number than his 103rd ticket on the floor if he wanted to go look. Manda wanted to crawl under a rock and I wanted to bring out my camera! What? It was funny!

That guy went down a couple of thousand points in Mandas eyes when he was on the floor looking for a number.

Then in walks this lady that must have been 80 years old but tried to dress like she was in her slutty 20’s. She wore (oh yea I am going to describe it to you so you can gouge out your eyes too!) hot pink spandex pants from the children’s section I am sure, a pale pink poofy ski jacket and a fluffy white scarf. The pants went into crevices that should not have had clothing in them (I am sure you know about the camel toe… if not then google it!) and you could tell she had on nothing under them. * Shudder *

She was about 5 foot 4 or so and weighed like 90 pounds soaking wet. She had white blonde (not gray) poofy hair, although she might have been electrocuted I am not sure, and when she opened her mouth she sounded like a sailor! WTF is this sh*t? Hey lady (meaning me) do you think I have time to go to the courthouse to check see if someone is still in jail? She smelt funny, like she had bathed in expired perfume, so I told her yea she had plenty of time LOL Not to be out smarted she took eight of the numbers from the roll, just incase she isn’t back in time!

First of all, I could have told her that yes there are people still in prison and secondly, that taking eight numbers will not slow down the sequence of numbers. Does she think that if they call one of her eight numbers that the world will just stop until she comes back? She was a weird one!

When my number was called I stood up and yelled BINGO! Manda wanted that rock again to crawl under! So, after a two-hour wait and laughing at the number game I had started with the tickets, it was my turn to see the grumpy lady!

Oh hell no you are not going to be grumpy after making me wait for two hours! I asked her if she was having a good day, she said how can I help you! I said you could help me by not being grumpy! She smiled! I told her what I was there for and she said that I could have phoned the information in! WTF! I was told when I did phone in that I couldn’t phone it in! She smiled genuinely and said “some people are lazy around here and don’t want to type!”

She was laughing by the time I had finished with her and I am sure the next person was very grateful that I was before them, because she went from all business to being actually human and caring!

So with that behind me, I am now running behind schedule AGAIN and I still have to get out about six or so letters. I have to race around to the businesses that I need to drop the letters off at and then I managed to drop off a couple of letters off at places I had forgotten about as well.

Thinking I have plenty of time I am taking the scenic route (as apposed to the freeway) back home and then I notice I am following a school bus!! Oh crap I am going to be cutting it close getting home!

This time I get smart and drive through our town and pick my youngest up on the way home, I am not late that way! After I dropped the kids off at home I went and picked my mom up and we went for our daily walk around the cemetery. It was windy and cold but that just made us walk all that more quicker!

Did you walk today?

©2011 7Ladybugs

April 5th ,2011

My Update

This is just a quick update to let everyone know that I am fine. I just haven't had too much time at my computer lately. I will explain tomorrow when I post my enteries from Sunday and Monday :) 
I may not be writing on here but I do write with pen and paper so I will type all that up and send it along :)
 
 

Monday, April 4, 2011

Never Enought Time!


Today I was woken up early because I had to take Manda into the hospital for her pre-op blood work and check in. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was at a close hospital but it was at a hospital that is nearly two hours away and the traffic sucks because they are always doing roadwork.

I figured if I was heading out that way anyway, I might as well come back through the next town over and drop off some door prize donation request letters at the same time.

We got to the hospital in plenty of time and had to pay $4.75 for parking for two hours. We went in and she was taken in pretty quickly to see the pre-op lady and we were out within an hour. Why they tell you to buy a two-hour pass is beyond me. Then I find out on the day of her surgery I have to pay $8.75 for a twelve-hour pass, I think they think I am made of bloody money!

Driving from the hospital I noticed that they have changed the road pattern. If you want some fun, put a round a bout in the middle of a busy road and watch the confusion on peoples faces. For extra fun add two lanes of traffic going around the said round a bout and then all hell breaks loose LOL

This particular part of town they haven’t just added one round a bout with one lane of traffic, they have added two round a bouts with two lanes of traffic on both! The number of cars I watched driving around and around and around because they got into the center lane and didn’t know how to get out of there LOL I am a bulldozer when it comes to round a bouts; its my turn and I am going, deal with it!

Anyway, we made it to the town where I wanted to drop off the letters and after dropping off the first letter I realize I have to pick up a few things from the grocery store. So, I do a quick grocery shop, sixty dollars later, and then I realize that it is nearly time for my youngest to be home from school and she doesn’t have a key and my son isn’t coming home after school as he is catering.

Yea you know I was speeding on the way home and made it into the front door with the groceries just as she walked in with her friend. Talk about cutting it close eh!

So, now I have to go back out there tomorrow and hand out some letters and go to the disability office to hand in some stupid receipt that they sent me instead of keeping it!

I am not going for my walk today because I have already walked 5.1 miles and I am plain pooped out!

How was your day? Oh please tell me it was more exciting than mine! LOL

©2011 7Ladybugs

April 4th ,2011