Wednesday May 25, 2011 -

So, today was my doctor's appointment and I weighted myself and I have put on two pounds! I write it down in my book and then I notice something odd. February I gained 2lbs, March I gained 2lbs, April I gained 2lbs, and May I gained 2lbs! WTF is going on here? My clothes are looser and I feel so good about myself. I asked my doctor and she said with all the walking I am doing, and the fact that I used to be very muscular (I used to life weights), I am losing inches but gaining muscle. So, it is good in one sense but bad in another LOL I can't win for losing in this game of life!

My doctor doesn't know what to suggest because I am losing inches with walking but I am gaining muscle and not losing weight! I can either slow down on my walking so I don't gain too much muscle or keep things the same and lose inches. Oh crap I don't know what to do…. Do you have any suggestions?

Saturday May 21, 2011 -

Woohooo we went to stave Lake today and went mudding but it was cut short. Our friends five-year-old daughter had a urinary infection and was screaming in pain from the minute we got there. I know it wasn't her fault but it sure put a damper on things when all you can hear is her screaming because her mother is too friggin lazy to take her to the doctors and leaves it up to their dad when he gets them to take care of it.

Eventually she did go pee and the pain stopped but this was after everyone had packed up and was on the way home. I don't blame her it wasn't her fault at all!

The best part about the trip was that some other friends of ours came up there in the wife's daily driver, a 2010 Ford Explorer WHITE with two week old tires on it, and said he was going to go through the mud! His wife was like no friggin way!

On the way up to Stave Lake they got a flat tire so Jason fixed it with a tire plug for them and then got them back on the road. I said they should take the tires back and tell them that they sucked because you were driving along and it got a hole in it LOL

Once up at Stave Lake he did actually take her truck through the mud puddles, but not just any mud puddles, the one and only mud puddle that had broken three trucks before him lol He got stuck in there and had to be pulled out and nearly creamed the truck when he got out because he forgot to put his foot on the break LOL His wife was like, "Ok you stupid @#%$in English Man get out of my truck!" She was laughing but you could tell she was pissed at him LOL

Dave took his monster truck through there and he broke his drive shaft. Before that Jason took his truck through and his engine tried to suck the air filter into the motor and he was limping out of that mud hole. The air filter was about an inch high and squished when he showed it to me, they are normally four or five inches tall and defiantly not squished! Good job they all carry spare parts for a bunch of different trucks.

What a day, what a day! But it was all in fun and once everyone saw that Miss Madison was ok the BBQ that was supposed to happen at Stave Lake continued on at Dave's house.

I did get my walk in today when I was walking around the mud flats taking pictures of the various trucks and people getting stuck or just wondering around in general.

Thursday May 19, 2011 -

I was going back to my old stomping grounds when I was a teenager today and I was excited to show off where I lived when we moved to Canada. The only problem was that it seems if you leave an area for even a day they change it all around and you cant even find where you went to school because they have built roads and condos and apartment complexes around the areas you used to walk to go to school. My piece of advice to anyone going on vacation for any length of time is to get coordinates to you home because when you return there will probably be a shopping mall where your neighbors house used to be and a traffic calming device (aka a round-a-bout) where the end of your driveway should be, don't say I didn't warn you!

Anyway before we even got to the doctors office we nearly got killed, I am serious! We were driving down the freeway and they are doing a lot of construction and there was a metal three pronged bracket type thing on the road and we are going at a fair clip in the HOV lane at about 90kms. The truck in front of us cleared it because he was higher than our car but we hit it before we could even react to it!!!

First it hit the radiator and took that out and then it bounced back under the car and put a hole through the front cross member and shot out to the drivers side and hit the cement barrier and came back and hit the drivers door about a half inch below the open window, which would have killed Jason instantly if it had been just that bit higher. Then it went back under the car and hit the gas tank and dented it and then took out the exhaust system before settling in the other lane. It all happened so fast that we had hit it before we even realized what it was. We couldn't have dodged it as there was traffic in the other lane and to stop would have been too dangerous because we had a fast stream of cars right behind us.

Could the day get any worse? I mean a three + hour drive to see the doctor, getting the shit scared out of us on the way there, trying to find the damn doctors office because you cant see the numbers on the buildings and nearly get a ticket because you pull a U-turn by the cop shop that has moved since you were last there, spending $4.00 on parking for an hour and only seeing the doctor for ten friggin minutes… oh tell me something is going to go right!!!

Well, the doctor said that Jason has to go in for a MRI scan at the hospital in North Vancouver, which means that it is another day off work for Jason, and then surgery which is another god knows how long off work with NO PAY! This trip cost us over $150.00 because we spent $50.00 in gas and then the lost wages of Jason's. The doctor says he has about five degenerate disks in his back and after the MRI they will see which disk to fix to get the most bang for your buck!

Some doctors don't care that you live hours and hours away when they schedule things for you they just want it convenient for them. I mean we have a hospital that is maybe 40 minutes away that can do the MRI but he wants it done down there. I was so close to telling him to pay for the friggin gas and time off work for Jason then we would do it but I kept my mouth shut, for once lol

The best part about this trip was that we went Geocaching on the way home and found another six geocaches that I wouldn't have been able to get because we don't usually travel that far.

Wednesday May 18, 2011 -

I love getting packages in the mail! Today I received my eight geocaches that I am hiding for the BC parks; now the fun begins as I decide where to hide them in the parks I have chosen to cover. Four of the caches are going to be placed way up on a forest service road where there are some forestry camps that people camp at… you know I am going to love that drive! I might even take my terrified-of-the-road mom along for the fun of it LOL She trusts my driving and on the forestry roads but she always freaks out when we go close to the edge of the roads which I think is funny because the roads are totally safe, well, for the most part!

I can't wait to place those caches but I have to wait until the end of the month so I can put gas in my truck to go up there. Hubby gets paid on the 31st so it looks like I will be June 1st before I start to place my caches; good job there is no deadline right now.

Monday May 16, 2011 -

So today was one of those days that if something can go wrong it will, and it did! I got a call from Nadine's doctor asking me to come in with her later today, no problem, as I was free in the afternoon. My truck wouldn't start when it was time to leave so I had to figure out what the problem was by myself, fortunately it was just a loose battery connection and I was on my way shortly. As usual I was late and we only live like 10 minutes from the doctors office, but she is always running late anyway so technically I was on time!

Anyway, we get in to see her and she comes in and said, "We were all shocked about the results! You have a rare benign bone tumor under your knee cap!" Umm say what?

She has a Chondroblastoma, which is a rare, benign tumor. Of course Nadine only heard the word tumor and I could tell she was going to freak out so I told her it was a zit under her knee cap and she seemed to settle down. Most people forget that Nadine has the mentality of an eight year old because she is sixteen years old.

The next step is to have her seen by a specialist at Children's Hospital in Vancouver. None of this is cheap btw. To travel from here to Vancouver is going to be about $50.00 in gas plus Jason's lost wages because he doesn't get paid if he doesn't go to work and then trying to find parking, won't even touch that one!

So now it is a waiting game to see when she gets in and gets this all sorted out.

It was funny when her dad came home though because I had run out to the store to pick something up and all she told him was that she had a tumor and I would explain when I came home! LOL Well I get home and Jason is like she has a WHAT? I told him to calm down and after explaining it to him he was much happier and told Nadine not to tell people she has a tumor like that because it freaks people out! LOL

Two bad news days in the month is all I can take and we still have to go and see the specialist about Jason's back/neck/arm later this week!

I am still going for my daily walks because that is what is keeping me sane during these hellish times!

Sunday May 15, 2011 -

I was trying to catch up on many things but never got around to doing half of them today because either the kids or hubby was always interrupting me! I did manage to get some of my blocks painted for a puzzle geocache that I am making, I might even post some pictures of them when they are totally finished, just incase I have some silent readers that are geocachers close to home LOL Don't want to tip them off on the puzzle before it is published.

May 7th and May 15th 2011

Saturday May 7, 2011 –

It was my clean up event today and as I said yesterday, it rained and rained and rained and then rained some more!
I still had a good turn out of volunteers though and it made the clean up go pretty fast. I had scheduled the clean up from 11am until 3pm but we were finished by 2pm and that includes giving out the door prizes.

In total we picked up 270kgs of garbage today and that includes a barrel of grease that someone had thrown down a ravine with half of the grease still in it. That was gross because when we picked it up the grease oozed out and we had to scoop up as much as we could and then report it to the city.

Once hubby had gone around picking up the garbage and taking it to the dump, I did one last drive around of the area and found a few more bags of garbage that he didn’t pick up so I guess I will be heading to the dump on Monday before I go to city hall to drop off my dump receipts.

For the final total I am hoping we beat last years weight of 330 kgs of garbage and right now it doesn’t look like I will as the dump run hubby did was only 270kgs. In a way I suppose that is good because it means people are not throwing their garbage out of the window as much lol

I will have to let you know the final weight on Monday when I get the total.

This is the car trailer that isn't quite full yet but you get the idea about how much we picked up!

Saturday May 14, 2011 –

Today Manda and I had to go and pick up one of my BC Parks geocaches that I placed there in 2008. BC Parks work together with the BCGA (British Columbia Geocaching Association) to promote their parks. So, BC Parks have given us permission to place geocaches in there parks that coincide with major BC Parks events, e.g.: BC’s 150th Birthday, their 100th Anniversary, Year of Science etc. Well I have to take out the cache that was for BC's 150th Birthday.

While I was up in the area we decided we might as well find a few geocaches while we were there. The first one we went to find we ended up not finding because the owner had taken the cache to be repaired and not listed it on the web page, but after that we found six other caches in the immediate area and then time was running out so we had to hurry back so I could go to the grocery store on the way home.

While in the grocery store, after picking up burgers for dinner, we walked down the ‘International’ isle and Manda and I both stopped dead in our tracks and cracked up laughing at what we saw.

Oh you read it right LOL

Have you ever seen that kind of soup before? I know I haven’t ever seen this before. Just what does it taste like? And if I don’t think it tastes like cock can I call them and tell then that this soup doesn’t taste like any cock I have ever had? LOL Can you imagine the call they must get about this soup? I would love to be the customer service rep for this soup; I could have so much fun with it!

Me: Welcome to the Cock division of Soupy Central. How may I help you?
Customer: Hi, I bought some of your cock and it tastes a bit salty.
Me: Really? Did you swallow it or spit it out?
Customer: Pardon?
Me: Did you swallow the cock or spit it out? If you spit it out then it must have been really salty and I will tell Guy to produce it with less salt. But if you swallowed it then there is nothing I can do about it because you ate it.
Customer: Oh I always spit things out like that.
Me: I take it you aren’t married then huh!
Customer: How did you know?
Me: Just a guess because if you keep spitting the cock out then no guy will want you!

A commercial for Cock Soup

OMG I could have way too much fun there! I think I should find their address and send them a resume and see if I get a reply back from them LOL

Friday May 13, 2011 -

My neighbor came over today to ask if I could drive him and his nephew to the dentist that is about half hour away. Of course I said I would drive them but I was a bit hesitant to drive them incase they were wanting me to stay and bring them back, but it worked out well because I just had to drop them off and they had another way home after the appointment.

After that I picked up my mom and Manda and went for a walk around the cemetery, as it was a beautiful day. We were tempting to walk around three times but we figured twice was enough for today as it was rather warm.

Thursday May 12, 2011 -

It was finally confirmed today that the reason Manda is having jaw pain is because she has TMJ (it does not mean Too Much Jizz as I said LOL) Temporomandibular joint. It means the cartilage in her jaw has rolled up on itself and it stopping her from opening her mouth really wide. (I am sure you can imagine what I said it was from! LOL) No one really knows why it happens but the outcome is the same… surgery! Oh not just any surgery it is surgery that is considered cosmetic surgery and has to be done by a dentist with a doctors degree and it is NOT covered by medical.

It gets even better as well, there is a specialist in Vancouver that can fix it for her but first you have to have a consult with her and her waiting list is about four or so months, no big deal right…. WRONG! The consult is 10 minutes long and costs $375.00 and that is only for the consult! Then the surgery you have to pay for out of your pocket again and all the crap that goes along with that!

So, for the consult it would end up costing us $550.00 because $50.00 in gas, the $100 Jason would be losing for having a day off work and then the parking and the consult fee! I turned to Manda and apologized and said I just can't afford it Manda! It kills me to say that because I know she is in pain but we just don't have that kind of money kicking around.

I phoned her regular doctor when we got back and she told me to not worry because there was no way she was going to let us pay that kind of money for something that should be covered and that we would treat it the best we could with exercises and pain medication.

I am so coming back as a doctor when I die so I can be a rich bitch!

Wednesday May 11, 2011 -

Even though it was pouring buckets down today we still did our two laps around the cemetery. Yes we got soaked but we had fun puddle jumping and walking.

One thing I hate about the rain is that no matter what jacket I wear it always ends up looking like I have peed my pants. When the water drips off my jackets it always makes my pants wet and it is annoying as hell LOL Do you have that problem with your jackets or is it just me? Please lie to me and tell me you have the same problems LOL

Tuesday May 10, 2011 -

OMG you would have died laughing today when we were on our walk. My mom is such a hoot and when we were walking around the cemetery today we saw these mushrooms growing at the base of one of the many trees that are scattered around the area.

Mom saw them and without missing a beat she said, "Ooo I wonder if they are Magic mushrooms?"

I was like, "WTF Mom! That's all you can think of to say about the mushrooms? Not about the color or shape or where they are growing?"

She couldn't walk because she was laughing so hard and so were Manda and myself!

Of all the things my mom could say and it was that lol now you have to picture this, a little old gray haired lady walking around and then saying that! OMG it was too funny!

Monday May 9, 2011 -

Remember the garbage I picked up after hubby had gone to the dump? Well it was 70kgs of garbage that I took in today for a grand total of 340kgs of garbage we picked up. That means that we beat last years total by 10kgs. In some ways it is good and in many more ways that is bad.

Good because we win the 'Heaviest Litter Collection' award but bad because people are still using the great outdoors as there own dumping ground. Frustrating as anything for me because when I put on an event I hope we don't pick up a lot of garbage which will mean that people are being more respectful of the area, it never happens that way though L

Do you do anything to help keep the environment clean?

Sunday May 8, 2011 -

Whoop! Today for Mothers Day I get a stereo put in my truck J I know to some people it doesn't sound like much but trust me it is a HUGE deal!

Right now my stereo consists of my MP3 player and a set of MP3 player speakers, you know the small ones that lets you use your MP3 as a stereo! The sound sucks on them and the volume is so low you can't hear anything unless all the windows are rolled up and you are sitting in the front seat!

Hubby took the stereo out of my old car (Tammy) and put it into my truck (Bethany), but the only problem is when it was in Tammy we used to call it Tammy Tunes because no matter what CD or USB you hooked into it, or whatever song you were listening to, Tammy would skip to another song and then play as much as she wanted and then go back to the original song LOL That's why we called it Tammy Tunes because she chose the music.

Now that it is in Bethany (my truck) we were thinking that we might have to call it Bethany Beats if she does the same thing. Wouldn't you just know it, now that the stereo is in Bethany it works perfect without skipping or missing songs and then going back or just not playing entire cd's. Before anyone says this let me please state that NO the stereo was not on random play!

So for Mothers Day, hubby made this girl very happy by installing some tunes in the truck so she can be bop while 4x4ing! The kids got me a nice gift basket that had foot cream, hand cream, perfume, chocolate, some bath scented items and a nice card. Plus my son made me an awesome dinner using only chicken breast, plain potatoes and chicken gravy. He knows cooking for me is a challenge but he asked if I could have this or that before doing anything and I have to say it was very delicious and mmmmmmmm so good!

How was your Mothers Day?

Friday May 6, 2011 -

Today I ran around rounding up the last of the donations and getting everything organized for tomorrow's event. I am hoping that it doesn't rain but if it is anything like last years event it WILL rain.

Thursday May 5, 2011 -

So I am calling the last minute companies to check when I can pick up their door prize donations and half of them tell me that they do not want to donate anymore. Argh! It pisses me off so much when a company will say "yes we can donate some of last years key chains or lanyards" and then they decide they don't want to be bothered with the paperwork, which by the way, I have always done for them with my donations sheets I hand out.

One good thing did come out of this though, we got the local chocolate place to donate some yummy oh so gooey chocolate to the event. (Not that I have opened the box or anything but DAMN! They are good!) I actually bought a half slab of their fudge and OMG it was almost as good as sex!

Wednesday May 4, 2011 -

Today we were feeling pretty good and decided to do 2 laps in the morning just Manda and I and then in the afternoon we did 2 laps with mom as well. Talk about feeling the burn LOL Now that we know we can do four laps we are going to try and do that every other day or so just to keep things interesting.

Tuesday May 3, 2011 -

Today I had my check up with the doctor about my back and some other things. They haven't received the pathology report back on the 'thing' they removed from my back but my doctor is pretty sure it was cancer.

While I was at the doctors though I weighed myself, and damn me, I lost another pound somewhere on my walks LOL I was floating the rest of the day and I didn't tell anyone about my weight loss because I didn't want my daughter to feel bad about not losing weight this time around. Some would say by telling her it would encourage her to lose weight but it really doesn't work like that. Manda gets upset when she doesn't lose weight and then the self doubting comes into play and I don't think she needs that right now.

Have you lost any weight recently? Good job if you have and keep up the great work. If you haven't lost any weight it is ok there is always tomorrow to start again.

Monday May 2, 2011 -

I have been gifted some Filter Queen vacuum bags and filters but I have to pick them up in the town that is about 45 minutes away. I went yesterday but they were not home and they didn't leave them in the mailbox as they said they would. So, I wasted time, gas and part of the day driving to get them. I did not waste the whole trip though as there is a duck pond very close to where we were going so instead of walking around the 'bone yard' as my mom calls it, we walked around the duck pond and enjoyed the ducks laughing at us as we walked through their poop!

I seriously do not understand how ducks and geese can poop so much in one area. I once told someone that the reason Canada Geese have white on the tip of their poop is so they can see it in the dark and not step on it LOL They believed me. Go figure eh!

There used to be a Canada goose at this park with orange feet and legs. Now you know someone's Momma was not faithful for that to happen. It was the funniest thing to see and also weird as well. I will try and find the picture I took a couple of years ago of the goose and post it for you to see.

Sunday May 1, 2011

Today was the day that I added up all my steps and then figured out how far I had walked in the month of April. I was trying to beat my March totals but as you can see I was disappointed and fell short by 40 kilometers. I walked 91.5 miles or 147.2kms in thirty days.

I know I am hard on myself but I would rather beat my steps taken each month so I can compete with myself to do better. Nothing I can do about it now though is there. I am going to have to buckle down and try to beat the April steps by at least 40 kilometers.

I am walking everyday so I know it isn't that I have missed a day or anything of walking, maybe I just didn't walk as far as I thought I had … or maybe my step counter was acting up on some of the walks we did. Oh well, onward and upward!

How has your walking been? Have you been keeping up with the walking everyday?