Sunday, April 29, 2012

I seem to be writing now about once every 1-2 weeks.  We can’t seem to keep up with our lives at the moment, everything just seems to be so busy.  I did so well with my running regimen when I wrote last time and then we got that nasty weather and we got busy with packing and other things and I only got out for my run once last week.  I did do some of my Wii exercises in lieu of running when the weather was bad and I have been keeping with my calorie count when journaling what I’m eating.  Nevertheless, I got really frustrated when I weighed myself this past week and I have gained 0.7 kilograms.  This is the norm for me, I basically have to exercise 2-3 hours a day in order to see any change in my weight whatsoever.  Oh well, I will not give up, I will just try to get back on track this week.  I should be running 2 minutes and walk 1 minute for 10 sets which I will start this week.  I just have to be patient and hopefully the 5-10 pounds I would like to lose will come off by July 21st!! 

We have been babysitting the grandkids this weekend while Breanne and James are in Windsor as James was the Race Director for a race he organized there which had over 200 runners registered which was an awesome turnout.  We took the girls out for a long walk this morning and then later to watch David run 15K in the Billy Taylor race here in Guelph.  It is a beautiful sunny day out but still has that nippy cold wind.  I hope soon it gets warm and stays warm.  I’m really ready for the warm weather to get here and sick of all this cool or cold stuff that seems to be the norm right now.  Selena is having her afternoon nap and Annika is playing quietly with papa.  Once Selena wakes up, we are taking them both to the Butterfly Conservatory in Cambridge.  I understand now why we have kids when we are young; it is pretty exhausting and I think we will be thankful to see James and Breanne return later this afternoon.  They are both such good kids though; they go to bed and sleep and eat and are definitely not whiny; so it is a pleasure being with them, just exhausting keeping them busy!

We took a look at our condo (through the windows again) on Friday and our kitchen is now in and I am quite happy with my cupboard choice although Brian seems less so but to him a kitchen is a kitchen and he really doesn’t care too much about colors and what they look like, as long as they are functional and do the job they should do!  I am just dying to get into the condo to walk around so hopefully they call us soon to go through our last walk-through before closing at the end of May.  We are starting to get packed now and have got a rid of a few more things we don’t want.  We are going to have a neighborhood garage sale on May 26th, and anything that doesn’t go then, we are going to ship off to the Thrift Store. 

One other thing that we just found out this week is that my dad does have a fractured sternum from the car accident he was in.  He was just not getting over this pain in his chest very quickly, so the doctor did a chest x-ray and he definitely does have a fractured sternum.  There is nothing they can do other than just keep him comfortable with pain medication and over time it should start to heal and he will feel better.  Unfortunately for dad, that seems like a long time as he really struggles with the pain when he coughs or sneezes or has to use those chest muscles to pull himself up out of a chair etc. 

So that is all our news for now; will update again in another week or two!

April 17, 2012

Well, life is certainly zipping along at a fast pace.  Here we are now halfway through April, six weeks before we move and three months before David/Jenn’s wedding.  Last weekend Breanne and I went out to look for a “mother of the groom” dress at Le Creme downtown Guelph and I actually found a dress!  It was the second dress I tried on and although I was more critical of how it looked, Breanne kept saying it was the one; so after trying on a few more that were definitely not for me, I tried the one on that Breanne liked and admitted to myself that it was the one and thankfully it was one I could buy off the shelf and didn’t have to order.  I even bought some jewelry to go with it at the same time!  Now all I need are the shoes.  You have no idea how happy I was to have that over with!  We have so much on our plate right now, that worrying about where I was going to get a dress and/or shopping from store to store certainly wasn’t appealing; so this is one huge stress I don’t have anymore. Of course, for Brian (as for all men) it was easy.  David booked an appointment at the tuxedo store, and all the men including the fathers go there for half an hour, pick out a tux, get measured and their done!  They don’t even have to buy shoes, that is also included in the Tux rental.  Women definitely have it harder than men! 

So now I have a goal, I HAVE to lose 5-10 pounds in three months.  My dress fits but it is a bit snug and would look so much better if I lost a few pounds; so this week I have started back to running and I am starting from scratch and building up from there with the Running Room Program; so I have started with 1 minute run, 2 minute walk – 7 sets; then subsequent weeks I add 1 minute until I’m running 10 and walking 1 – 10 week program.  I also found this awesome app for my I-pad that counts calories. All I do is put in the bar codes for any foods I eat and/or add in food portions and it calculates calories, proteins, carbs, etc.  It even calculates how much I should be eating (RDI) in a day for my age, gender and whether you want to maintain or lose or gain weight.  It has to be one of the best apps ever and is so quick to enter things.  If even has calculations for foods eaten in restaurants. So in 3 months I hope to say goodbye to 10 extra pounds! I just have to stay motivated now!

Our condo is looking good; all the painting is done now, baseboards and doors are up, ceramic tile is down at the front door.  The rest of the floors are going to be hardwood (except the finished basement which is carpet); so that will probably not be done for another couple of weeks so that the workers do not damage the floor.  When we went through our walk-through in March, the site supervisor told us that although hardwood floors are beautiful, they are a nightmare for him as he has to “babysit” it so that they don’t get damaged, so I’m sure he was not pleased that the whole house is hardwood.  On the outside they have poured our patio at the back and have the stairs in up to our balcony. I will have to get a couple of pictures this weekend and will post on my blog.

Brian has actually started to do some packing and we had the moving company over yesterday to give us an estimate on moving us; so things are falling into place and I can’t believe we are only 6 weeks away now.  I am definitely not looking forward to the actual move but am looking forward to getting settled in our new place and especially being just down the street from my kids’ homes.  It is going to be awesome being all so close.  Oh yes, and another thing we did last weekend was buy a dining room suite!  We have put in our order and it will be ready in about 8-10 weeks!  Now we just have to buy some living room furniture but we are going to wait until we actually have possession so we can visualize more of what we need for the room size. 

Health-wise, Brian is great and we are all doing well and excited for life!  We are truly blessed!

HAPPY EASTER

Brian and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and hope that you are enjoying your Easter weekend.  Here in Ontario, the weather has been nice and sunny although still on the cool side with a cold breeze.  I love the spring though and seeing the buds come out on the trees and perennial plants starting to sprout; it is like a fresh new start to life and saying goodbye to the winter.  We certainly can’t complain about our winter this year though, it has been a very mild winter indeed. 

We are looking forward to our Easter today; we are heading off to church with David and Jenn this morning and then heading over to BJAMS for Easter “brunch”.  We were going to pick up my dad today so he can celebrate Easter with us but unfortunately dad just called to say he is just not up to coming as he is still suffering with chest pain from the car accident.  He has started some physio to see if that will help but it looks like it is just something that is going to take a while to heal. It certainly has gotten him down though and I hope that it starts to get better soon.  He feels that he really needs to stay put so that he is not moving around so much and pulling at those chest muscles. My prayers today will be for my dad and that he soon gets over this chest discomfort. 

To all our friends and family, have a very Happy Easter! 

March 28, 2011

We had a safe trip home from Florida and we ended up stopping only once for the night.  We had planned on taking two nights overnight before we left but we ended up driving 12 hours on Thursday which only left 9 hours for the next day, so we only needed to stop the once.  We brought Mavie (Breanne’s Bichon) home with us so that it was easier for James and Breanne on their ride home.  Mavie, as usual, was as good as gold all the way home, and I was able to get my “dog fix” in since Breanne and James were not going to be home until Saturday.  They too made it home safe and sound on Saturday after 3 days on the road and apparently the girls were very very good travelers although Breanne really hates long car rides.  I think I am starting to get used to them since we have done the Florida trip quite a few times now.  Brian and I share the driving so it is not as tiring when one person does the majority of it.  I quite enjoy driving though, so I’m happy that Brian doesn’t mind me sharing in it. 

We had a good time in Florida and it was really nice to get away but as usual with me, I was glad to be coming home and it was such a pleasure sleeping in our own bed, going to our grocery store where I know where everything is and sitting at my own desk and my own chair in my office!  I certainly missed having Mavie though once Breanne and James were home, so my dream of getting a dog in the fall is still alive!  Brian is very very slowly coming around to the idea although I know he would prefer not to but is willing to give in if I keep bugging him.  He will love it when we finally do get one.  I now have a breeder in mind so as we get closer to the right time, I will be contacting her. 

We went over to see our condo and it is really coming along now.  All the outside brick is finished and all the drywall is done on the inside.  Unfortunately we can’t get inside now as the doors are locked so peeking though the windows are our only option.  Two months to go and we will be moving in!  We just have to get motivated now to start packing but we both seem to be procrastinating on that front. 

I was very happy to get home to see that my dad, brother, Bob, and sister-in-law, Gwen, seem none the worse from their car accident.  Dad has been suffering quite a bit of chest pain from the airbag injury and he is having to take pain killers but hopefully that will gradually start to get better.  I took him to our family doctor who said that airbag injuries are usually quite severe – she said although airbags are great life-savers, it is just like getting hit head-on by a bull and some people get fractured sternums and ribs from the impact.  At least dad or Bob did not receive that severe of an injury from the airbag and just have bruising and muscle pain which will diminish over time. 

On Brian’s health, he had scheduled blood work at the Cancer Clinic on Monday and we had a bit of a scare as Dr. McCarron (our hematologist/oncologist) phoned to say that the blood work is showing abnormal liver functions, specifically the bilirubin; so to be on the safe side, she has scheduled Brian for an ultrasound on Thursday.  She told us not to worry that she is just erring on the side of caution to make sure there is nothing wrong with the liver or gallbladder and that this abnormal result is more “chemo related” than cancer related, so it did calm our fears a bit.  It still though reminded us that we can’t get too complacent that he is going to be fine; we do realize that he will now have life-long follow-up and we are just grateful that the doctor follows every little abnormality and nip anything in the bud before it goes into something more serious.  Once again, we feel very fortunate to have such a caring and concerned doctor and a Cancer Clinic that can get tests and scans done quickly and we are not waiting weeks or months.  I must say that we are very impressed with the care that Brian is getting that’s for sure.

So that’s my catch-up for the end of March.  We are now getting closer to David/Jenn’s wedding and they are doing a great job of organizing everything.  We are going to be working on the invitations this weekend and get them sent out in April; Brian is going with David and his attendants to get a tux ordered this weekend and I still have to find some time to look for a dress!  

Saturday, March 17 – Car Accident

I feel so thankful that my brother Bob, his wife, Gwen, their dog, Holly, and my dad were not badly hurt in a car accident on Saturday.  Bob and Gwen had decided to take my dad out for a nice leisurely car drive in the Brantford area on Saturday when a totally obnoxious drunk ran a stop sign and hit Bob’s car on the driver’s side (front part of the car) and then took off.  A couple of young men chased the two people in this car down and made them return to the scene of the accident. The woman was so drunk she could hardly stand up and her male passenger still had a beer in his hand walking back to the scene of the accident and when he saw the police, he put the can of beer behind a fence but the lady that took in Holly saw him do this and pointed it out to police.  What an angel she is!  It is absolutely unbelievable that people have not a care in the world for what could have happened and how devastating it could have been for our family.   Meanwhile, the police, fire department and  3 ambulances were called to take all three to the hospital.  My brother was not able to get out of the car and the fire department had to cut the driver’s side door off to get him out.  I thank God that all their injuries were minor – sore chests and stomach from seatbelts and air bags deploying in order to keep them from serious injury.  A kind woman who lived nearby took in Holly since they were all put into ambulances to be taken to the hospital.  My brother, Roy, drove to Brantford to pick Holly up and then proceeded to the hospital until they were all released.  They did keep dad a few hours longer than Bob and Gwen as they wanted to make sure that his chest pain was just bruising from the trauma and not something more serious.  As Bob said, if they had been just a couple of seconds later getting into the intersection, the accident could have had devastating results for both he and Gwen being on that side of the car. It certainly has shaken them all up as I am sure you can imagine.  So from starting out as a leisurely Saturday afternoon drive, they did not arrive home until 1:30 early Sunday morning.  I felt helpless being away in Florida but Roy was keeping me well informed.  We will be leaving for home this week and I will be happy to get home again.  Holidays are nice but there is nothing like home especially when something like this happens.

Here is a picture of Bob’s car (it is totaled) and obviously will need to be replaced with a new one.  I hope they throw the book at the driver of the other car and she loses her license for life. 

DOWNTOWN DISNEY

We decided to take the girls to downtown Disney today and had a fabulous time! One nice thing about being a grandparent is you are in a position to splurge and we made our Annika into a fairy princess today – she elected to be Snow White!  The girls were so good and we had a lot of fun!  I put a small video together below. 

The weather has been great this week, temperatures in the low 80s and lots of sunshine.  The time is going by quickly, only a week left to go now and then back to reality.  I hear the weather at home has been great, so I hope it continues like that once we get home. 

Three visitors to our Condo…..looking for food!

Our little Snow White!

Then she had her face painted!!!

River Island at Orange Lake

The time certainly seems to be passing by quickly, one week has gone by already.  The weather has been pretty good with a bit of rain on Friday and more rain on Sunday but the temperature is high 70’s, low 80’s, so perfect for our liking!  We have been taking a lot of walks around the place we are staying and the kids are loving the playgrounds they have.  Annika and I had an unfortunate accident at the playground the other day though and it bothered me for days after.  I was carrying Annika and had my sandals on and I wasn’t watching my footing and I thought I was on the narrow sidewalk around the playground but my foot went over the edge and down I went with Annika in my arms.  It happened so fast I couldn’t do anything and Annika fell flat on her back and her head thudded on the concrete; the sound to me was deafening and I was so afraid that she had fractured her skull.  Of course neither Breanne or I slept that night worrying about Annika but as it turned out, she must have a pretty hard head as she has had no residual effects from the fall other than a bad scrap on her elbow and I twisted my knee but it seems to be on the mend now.  So, note to Janet, she never ever carries the children while she is walking!  If anything had happened to Annika due to that fall, I would never had got over it. 

Brian has been getting back to his training although he is finding it quite difficult especially with the running.  He has gained weight though since the chemo, so it is going to take him a while to feel good when running again.  I keep telling him to just take baby steps, it will come back soon as he already has a good base. 

Yesterday, we went to Orange Lake, River Island which has a great play area for the kids as well as a lazy river.  We had a lot of fun there and here is a video that Breanne put together which is also on her blog.  I will update later this week.