I need that rolling eyes smiley again

My dickhead of an ex did it again!!!!!

I bought a dress!

I bought a dress last night for Chris's Farewell dinner on Friday :) I'm really pleased with it! First store I went in!! I bought it in Cleo or Cloe or whatever it's called! I tried a few on :) And I kept having to ask for smaller sizes :) OMG it's such a boost to your self esteem :)

It's felt so good lately. I lost my belt for a few weeks and my pants were falling down badly and then I found my belt and put it on and I said to Lloyd 'Oh - I need you to put a new hole in my belt!!!!! It doesn't fit'!! And he said 'No Jane, You need to buy a smaller belt'!!!!! And I was like OMG He's right!!!!!! I need a smaller belt!!!!!!! I need a smaller belt!!!!!!

Then this weekend I found the suitcase of clothes from last year that I packed away and some of the clothes refused to fit me last year because I had gained so much from those horrid meds. My soccer shorts and my capris from a couple of years back....well I tried them on and they all fit!!!!! EASILY :)

I know this doesn't mean much to some of you.....but I've struggled with my weight for several years now...I've been on and off of drugs for migraines since my early 20's and for the most part they have made me gain weight. I come off the meds and struggle to lose some of it and then have to go back on them only to gain all of it and then some back again....and then with 5 pregnancies (and extended breastfeeding NEVER helped me lose weight EVER) I just gained weight. I tried Weight watchers, I ran almost daily last year and still managed to gain 30lbs because of the migraine meds I was on.

I don't believe it is healthy for a person of my height to carry so much excess weight. For me it isn't about looks. My weight doesn't effect how I feel I look but it does effect how I 'feel' health wise. It effects how I move and breathe and how active I feel I can be - and I LIKE to be active.

I am not keen on clothes shopping much either so the fact that I have a closet full of clothes that didn't fit bothered me too!!! It's so nice being able to fit into these barely worn clothes again :) It's like having a whole new closet again :)

I weigh in on June 23rd at my annual physical. It will be interesting to know what I weigh. Haven't weighed in since January. I still have weight to lose. I'm no way near at goal. I'd say I've still got 20lbs to lose until I'm at a weight I'm happy to stay with. So I'm taking it easy......eating healthily, being active - kayaking, walking, gardening, swimming at the lake, being outdoors, enjoying summer......

In the Fall once the basement is finished we'll have a gym in the basement so I can work out down there.

I love Topamax :) Thank you Tanya for the recommendation :)

My Nan

My Nan fell last week and broke her arm, she is in a nursing home in England recovering at the moment. She broke her arm in exactly the same place as Susannah broke hers a couple of years ago. Obviously though, because my Nan is 97 it won't heal as Susannahs did. Susannah broke hers on the trampoline so I sent my Nan a Get Well card and asked her if she had been bouncing on the sofa!!!

My Nan will have to be assessed before any decisions will be made as to whether she will be able to return to her own home or not.

In her own home she is supposed to wear a special necklace with a button on it that she can press to call emergency services - but of course she leaves this necklace hanging in her bedroom - so when she fell she couldn't call anyone and she was lying there until her neighbour woke up and her calling for help. I hope that if she returns home that at least this has shown her that she NEEDS to wear her necklace! I think all old people are the same though because Lloyds Grandad is the same! I think its really common for old people with these systems NOT to wear the necklace part! Maybe a bracelet would be better - is there a reason they don't have it on a bracelet? Is it more likely to get broken in a fall?

The picture above shows Nanny last year with her youngest Grandchild - my Uncle and Aunt had a wonderful surprise baby girl - Leah - who is younger than the youngest Great Grandchild :)

Bertha's back!

On Saturday evening Bertha was brought back!!! Then on Sunday Lloyd was able to get a lot of the grass cut!!! What a difference!!! He couldn't believe how FAST Bertha cuts the grass compared to the little lawn tractor we used last year - it cuts 3 acres in an hour!!! Woohoo :) Not bad for a little tractor!

Caramel apples.....

Abigail had been asking to make caramel apples for ages, so on Friday she made some with Susannah for an after school snack! She couldn't wait for Susie to get home from school so that they could make them! Here they are enjoying them on the porch!

This mornings visitor...

Lloyd snapped these pictures of our American Goldfinch who was the first visitor to the feeders this morning...he beat the woodpeckers this morning!!!! Lloyd was up early too and grabbed the camera to get these pictures for you :)

Sex and the City - update

Looks like there are five of us heading to Sex and the City on Tuesday. Tess, Charlynn and myself are going, then my friend Samantha and her friend Tracy (who was at Samanthas Chinese night a few weeks back) were already going....so we may hook up with them and maybe they can join us for dinner and then we can head to the movies together!

Charlynn probably can't make dinner but we can meet her at the cinema for the movie :)

Yay - what a fun evening!!!!! And I can't wait to see Charlynn as it's been AGES since I've seen her!!! :)

So if anyone else (yes you lot with the PATHETIC excuses (lol) change your minds and decided to come along then we'd love to have you join us!!! And yes Mom and Dad too funny will your flight land in time???????? ;)

And Andrea, I can't BELIEVE you'd rather be in Vancouver than come to the movies with us ;)

Sex and the City - Tuesday Night!!!

Tess and I are going to see Sex and the City on Tuesday night - the 6:50pm showing in Sherwood Park. We're meeting a little earlier probably to grab something to eat - probably at the food court or somewhere lol - no idea actually as we haven't figured that out or discussed it - maybe Montanas - Tess?????? Have you thought???????

Anyway, would anyone like to join us for the movie/ something to eat/ both?????????

It would be great to have someone else join us :) We can't wait to see the movie at last!!!!!

Feel free to post here or email me JaneThorpe@syban.net

Waterfowl...

Blue Winged Teal Duck

Greater Scaup

Ruddy Duck

Spotted Sandpiper

And anyone know what this last duck is? It has red above its bill so it doesn't match any of the ducks in my Alberta book of birds.....

Red Winged Blackbird

Lloyd and I were supposed to go kayaking for datenight on Wednesday but with the children sick and both of us not feeling well either, we didn't want to risk it, so we just went for a drive instead and took the camera out. We drove over to the wetlands on 225 and took some pictures of the waterfowl there.....and we took some pictures of the redwinged blackbirds that so many of you like. We thought maybe we'd buy some of the plants they love so much..the rushes...and see if we can attract them to our pond next year........

My Thursday...

.......started at 3am when I started dreaming about a spider on my arm...I kept brushing it off only to awake realizing t wasn't a spider but a mosquito that had been feasting on my arm and I had FOUR nasty bites on my arm!!! BIG ones!!! It had also bitten Lloyd twice on his back! It was then swollen and on the ceiling so I woke Lloyd up and he squished it and it was FULL of blood YUCK!!!

Get up early and dye my hair and shower it off and then atruck pulls up when I am NAKED!!!! Rush to get some clothes on and go down stairs and the carpet layer is here WHAT?????? he is not due for three weeks!!!! He hasn't even confirmed a date with Lloyd - he said he would phone Lloyd and confirm a date ut that it would not be for at LEAST three weeks as he is fully booked up!!!!!

So he comes to the door and I go downstairs brushing my hair as I go (which is wet as I just got out the shower). He has opened the mudroom door and sees that Lloyd has not done the prep work on the mudroom floor for the linoleum (obviously as it is like cheap plywood and the kids will get splinters so we are not doing it until like two days before they are coming to do the linoleum and he said NOT FOR THREE WEEKS MINIMUM so Lloyd has not done it yet - so this guy is NOT happy and he comes to the door all agitated and says why ahs the floor not been done and they are here to do the floors and it was all booked and my husband knew it was today and he has spoken to my husband several times and it was on the board at work to come today and why was it on the board if it was not today and why did I not know it was today and he starts ranting and starts acting all weird and looks ready to start throwing things and OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!

The young guy he was with was so calm and looks so used to this behavious and was just watching my hummingbirds at the feeder and was obviously used to this guy getting it wrong and losing it lol!

There was no way Lloyd got it wrong and I explained that he had not phoned Lloyd back the way he had promised he would and he had not confirmed a date with Lloyd and I had no idea why our address was on the board at work but even if they ahd suggested today we would not have agreed as I already had plans for the 29th (I was supposed to have breakfast with Val and her Daughter today which was planned WEEKS ago and had the children not been sick I would have been there but I don't want to give Vals Grandson their germs) . Anyway the younger guy agreed that it was the older guys mistake and that they could take the linoleum back the warehouse and rebook! The older guy didn't back down and admit that it was his fault at ALL but a couple of hours later he left a message on Lloyds machine saying ther was a 'mistake' on the board at work and that he would rebook for two weeks time!!!! But what pisses me off is he did NOT apologise!!! Yet he was so aggressive and he was rude about lloyd and blamed Lloyd for it all yet it was HIS mistake!!!! He should apologise not least for his behavious yesterday and how rude he was - I am so glad that young guy will be here when they are here! I think I will be out while they are here in two weeks time as I do NOT want to be here while they are here! I am so glad we can lock the house and they can only access the mudroom and not the house so I can go out and leave the mudroom open for them.

So that was the start of my wonderful day!

Then Lloyd came home and we had to take Rosie to the vets so Lloyd dropped me and the children in town at the track meet so we watched Laurie in his race while he went to the vets to drop Rosie. After the race we went to the mall as I had to get some birthday gifts for parties the kids are going to the next few days. Then Lloyd had not eaten at all so we went to get something to eat but just as we were about to order, all the lights went off in the mall and the fire alarms started going off. Within seconds all the stores stared to lock their doors and the mall had to close quickly and we all had to leave the mall! Turns out the power grid in Sherwood park had gone off! No idea how or why. But all the fast food places in the north end of Sherwood Park had to close and all the traffic lights stopped working so it was chaotic everywhere ad emergency vehicles started rushing off to some place....

So we ended up having to drive down to Wye Road to Dairy Queen to get Lloyd something to eat.

I have no appetite any more so I can't eat much so I ended up eating just the fudge lumps out of a small Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard - I can't even eat half a blizzard any more....a small one - just the lumps is about all I can manage lol - last year I could easily eat a whole medium one lol! YUM!!!

Raced back to pick up Laurence. Raced back to the mall which was finally re opened. Got the presents. Raced home. Laurie showered after his trackmeet. Packed Chris's camping stuff up. Fed the kids. Picked Chris's friend up from South Cooking Lake. Drove out to Miquelon Lake and got them settled at the campground. Drove home and got the dog crate. Drove into Sherwood Park and got Rosie from the vets. Drove home and watered all the plants outside. Can't believe that it rained by our mail box and in South Cooking Lake yesterday but NOT at our house!!!!. Exercised the dogs and saw to everything outside. Bathed Sam. I soaked in the bath.

Bed.

Still not herself...

Abigail still isn't herself.....today she is whining constantly....driving me crazy...yesterday she had no choice but to go wherever we went and because we had to go out here there and everywhere all day because of the way the day evolved, she just had to come along....but as you can see, she wasn't quite herself. Luckily Lloyd came home from work mid way through the morning so I had help to get everything done.

Brothers and friends..

Knights of Columbus

Yesterday Laurence ran in a trackmeet in town against oter schools in the Catholic school division. He was in the 'throw in' and and the 200 metres. Yesterday was such a bad day for us that we weren't able to stay and watch both of his of his events but while Lloyd was dropping Rosie at the vets, we were able to stay and watch the 200 metres. Laurie ran really well but there was tough competition and despite running as fast as he could, he came 4th. Abigail raced over to the side of the track to give her brother some kind words of support!

Beetle

This beetle was climbing around my honeysuckle yesterday so I caught it while it was looking at me on the frame the honeysuckle is attached to!