Happy Fathers Day! wow what a loaded sentance for me. *Sigh* without trying to sound like some pathetic, love deprived kid that was probably dropped on my head a few times, I really, really hate Fathers Day. I tried to tell myself this morning, today is going to be about Mitch, and not my dad. So Hailey and I let him sleep in, made him a card and tried to make some "pancakes" to eat this morning. The pancakes were a total epic failure, FYI if you try to subsitute soy flour for regular flour they not only will stick like a bastard to the grill but they will not cook in the middle. So I had to clean up the gigantic mess of the failed pancakes to make room to cook up breakfast #2. Slow start to trying to make today a gooder to say the least. I also decided that I will change all diapers, you know to be nice... and today of all days H decided she is going to drop multiple loads. WTH? oh well try to be positive, today after all is Fathers Day. Ugh maybe it's just be and the enormous load of guilt I feel every year when I wake up whether or not if I am going to make the call to my dad, it makes me want to puke a little thinking about it. I know about 4 years ago when I did decide to suck it up and make the call he didn't even bother coming to the phone to talk to me. Just makes me want to go and hide in a hole for the whole day and forget about it. I did however call over to the house about an hour ago and they all were not home (well minus the lazy slacker that lives plus all his children that must be visiting, one of them answered the phone all snotty because she knew why I was phoning and probably got a real sick kick outta telling me nobody was there). I did have a heads-up (plus an invite to hang out at the farm with them all this afternoon, but I gave Mitch the option to go or not as today is his day) that they were going to be out at Lana and Neils, so I called over there to which they hadn't arrived yet. So now after making 2 calls, to do something I don't want to do I will have to make a third call if I do actually want to complete this years painful obligation. Ack I hate the guilt, and I wish I could just not care... where was my gene for this particular skill that my brothers seem to pick up so naturally? Oh well time to go and get ready and appreciate a man that treats me like a daughter anyway, my awesome father-in -law. Suck it up princess, sometimes dead beats are dads. Life's a bitch and then you die....
L
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo
Hailey and I were at the Edmonton zoo this morning for a meet up playdate with one of my mom group mommies, and I want to state for the record the Edmonton zoo sucks. Not only does some of the animal exhibits boarder on animal abuse but everything there is just so outdated and old. It just breaks my heart to see the sea lions in their concrete "tub" no bigger then my kitchen, or the monkeys in their concrete enclosures that are no bigger then my bathroom, while the gophers have more real estate then they know what to do with. I know that the Valley Zoo got a huge cash infusion to do some upgrades on the property (probably thanks to good ol' Bob Barker and his public exposure on how sad our zoo facility really is) but I really don't know how much can be done with a lot of the animals that already have lived there since the 70's. We met a cockatoo today that the handler mentioned that she had no idea how old the bird was, she figured the little guy was about 30-40 years and he had been there since 1978. Makes me wonder what else they don't really know about the animals they have there. Speaking of Bob, Hailey and I were watching the "Lucy the Elephant show" today and I really don't think that poor elephant has that much left in her, and his insane pressure to move her to a sanctuary somewhere just might do the poor girl in. I'm in total agreement that Lucy should be somewhere better for her, somewhere bigger, better and with friends, but I'm not for moving her and stressing her out just to appease some crazy Hollywood nut job. I just know that there is no way that the zoo would give her up without too much of a fight simply because there isn't anything there really worth paying almost $20 for me and Hailey to get in. I'm pretty sure that I can go find some gophers, sheep, and ducks somewhere else and probably have a better time. Maybe I'm just a little jaded as most of the animal enclosures were still closed and we really didn't get to see very much, but that seemed to be the case last year too when we went. All I can say is that we are very much looking forward to our trip to Calgary where we will be able to see a lot more, and hopefully not feel the urge to "Free Willy" as we walk out of the gates.
L
L
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Bad Neighbour
On the scale of good neighbours I will out right admit we are probably a 1.5. Giving us points only for waving at our imitate neighbours when they are outside, shoveling a little past our property line in the winter, and making sure our lawn in up to snuff in the summer, pretty minimal effort from us I know, making it kinda sad being that we have been in our house five years next month. I always just kinda blamed it on that we are by far the minority on the block and since nobody else was making any sort of effort it was how it was in our neighbourhood. Between the garbage collectors across the street with 100 different vehicles, the anal retentive retired couple right next door to the junk collectors and the multiple family homes we weren't too worried about being friendly.
Things have started to change. First off the neighbourhood "hoarders" have moved... or I should say evicted from their house, and the story goes remortgaged too many times for them to afford. Which probably should be the most exciting thing about living here on our block as now there is actually parking on the street in front of our house if we were to have guests over, and we aren't fighting for space with the garbage trailer anymore. Hooray for not having to call the by-law people anymore! (ooohh should I deduct a point for being the nasty neighbours that call by-law??) But something happened a couple weeks ago that I never thought would happen, we actually met the anal retentive elderly couple that lives right across the street from us. For years Mitch and I called them the "crazy people" that were out the second it would snow sweeping the snow from their driveway in the winter and central vacuuming up the leaves in their planter in the summer. The dude always seemed a little on the creepy side as he smokes every 15 mins on his driveway watching everything that goes on. But I have to honestly say that they are actually not creepy or weird, it's really funny what having a nice conversation with someone will do after creating a whole image of them in your mind for five years. The guy actually came across the street and helped Mitch and me with a large box (we bought Hailey a sandbox) and carried it for me into the backyard. We got to talking and eventually his wife came over and we stood there talking for awhile. Now I wave to them when I see them out, add a few more bonus points to my score? Which is getting me to the reason I decided to blog about this today, Mitch actually went and asked a guy if we could borrow his lawn mower! From zero to hero in the neighbourhood I tell ya! Our lawnmower crapped out last year right before it snowed and we were about to go and buy a new one, but since Lynne bought a new one last year and her new place (yes she already found a new home approx. 2.5 blocks away from us) won't require a lawn mower we are just going to wait to buy hers off her. So it was either load up mom's from her house bring it over and back or just suck it up and ask one of the locals. Wow how have things really started to change in a matter of 3 weeks!
I hear Hailey bear, time to go get her up from her nap,
L
Things have started to change. First off the neighbourhood "hoarders" have moved... or I should say evicted from their house, and the story goes remortgaged too many times for them to afford. Which probably should be the most exciting thing about living here on our block as now there is actually parking on the street in front of our house if we were to have guests over, and we aren't fighting for space with the garbage trailer anymore. Hooray for not having to call the by-law people anymore! (ooohh should I deduct a point for being the nasty neighbours that call by-law??) But something happened a couple weeks ago that I never thought would happen, we actually met the anal retentive elderly couple that lives right across the street from us. For years Mitch and I called them the "crazy people" that were out the second it would snow sweeping the snow from their driveway in the winter and central vacuuming up the leaves in their planter in the summer. The dude always seemed a little on the creepy side as he smokes every 15 mins on his driveway watching everything that goes on. But I have to honestly say that they are actually not creepy or weird, it's really funny what having a nice conversation with someone will do after creating a whole image of them in your mind for five years. The guy actually came across the street and helped Mitch and me with a large box (we bought Hailey a sandbox) and carried it for me into the backyard. We got to talking and eventually his wife came over and we stood there talking for awhile. Now I wave to them when I see them out, add a few more bonus points to my score? Which is getting me to the reason I decided to blog about this today, Mitch actually went and asked a guy if we could borrow his lawn mower! From zero to hero in the neighbourhood I tell ya! Our lawnmower crapped out last year right before it snowed and we were about to go and buy a new one, but since Lynne bought a new one last year and her new place (yes she already found a new home approx. 2.5 blocks away from us) won't require a lawn mower we are just going to wait to buy hers off her. So it was either load up mom's from her house bring it over and back or just suck it up and ask one of the locals. Wow how have things really started to change in a matter of 3 weeks!
I hear Hailey bear, time to go get her up from her nap,
L
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Breaking the habit, giving up sugar
Three months ago a friend of mine posted some really disturbing youtube videos outlining the true nature of sugar and what it does to your body. Being that I am a total sugar junkie, and was left a little sick by watching the videos (I guess ignorance was really working for me). A few factors went into the decision to challenge myself to make some serious changes, these videos were a good start.
If you are interested google; Sugar: The Bitter Truth. It's about 90 mins and if you can make it through the sciencey part the rest will be smooth sailing.
Well I wouldn't exactly say that we have totally given up sugar in this house, but over the last 90 days we sure have made an extraordinary effort to slay the "white devil" from our diet. Mitch and I made the decision together that we were going to try the unthinkable, ditch refined carbs and eliminate sugar from our diet and see what happened. Good thing he was on board with me too, as there would be no way on this earth that I would be able to stick to avoiding all the delicious foods that were part of our everyday life. All I can say is three months down and 20 pounds lighter I feel great. Minus the little road bump that included a total "carb crash" that lasted for three days as my body went through withdrawal (that really sucked and I wish someone would have mentioned it as being a normal response to cutting out refined carbs) It's surprising how really good I feel and that I don't miss the loads of pastas, perogies, grilled cheese sandwiches, ext which were definitely a staples here. I'm not going to lie we joke almost every night on who is going to go pick up the blizzards... I guess once a sugar fiend always a sugar fiend. It's been amazing on all the products we have replaced in our house for a home-made version. Not only do they taste better, I know that they are better for us. Eating on the run or having us over for a BBQ has already proven to be a bit of a challenge, although I don't want people to worry about how difficult we actually are, making it work is causing us to be a little more creative when we are out with other people. While Mitch is out there shouting from the rooftops too everyone he talks to about the simplicity of eating a low carb diet, he forgets to mention how hard it actually is to stick to it sometimes. I'm glad that we found something that works for us both, and that with the incorporation of running three times a week it's a lifestyle that when we get off the program (oh yeah I know that we will eventually go off the wagon) that we can take some things from and we will keep in our regular everyday lives.
I guess the bottom line is we have to keep a careful watch over what we eat, and what we feed our families. I think the more you know the better decisions you can make for yourself. That being said, have a wonderful summer everyone enjoy everything that comes with the warm weather... just in moderation ;)
L
If you are interested google; Sugar: The Bitter Truth. It's about 90 mins and if you can make it through the sciencey part the rest will be smooth sailing.
Well I wouldn't exactly say that we have totally given up sugar in this house, but over the last 90 days we sure have made an extraordinary effort to slay the "white devil" from our diet. Mitch and I made the decision together that we were going to try the unthinkable, ditch refined carbs and eliminate sugar from our diet and see what happened. Good thing he was on board with me too, as there would be no way on this earth that I would be able to stick to avoiding all the delicious foods that were part of our everyday life. All I can say is three months down and 20 pounds lighter I feel great. Minus the little road bump that included a total "carb crash" that lasted for three days as my body went through withdrawal (that really sucked and I wish someone would have mentioned it as being a normal response to cutting out refined carbs) It's surprising how really good I feel and that I don't miss the loads of pastas, perogies, grilled cheese sandwiches, ext which were definitely a staples here. I'm not going to lie we joke almost every night on who is going to go pick up the blizzards... I guess once a sugar fiend always a sugar fiend. It's been amazing on all the products we have replaced in our house for a home-made version. Not only do they taste better, I know that they are better for us. Eating on the run or having us over for a BBQ has already proven to be a bit of a challenge, although I don't want people to worry about how difficult we actually are, making it work is causing us to be a little more creative when we are out with other people. While Mitch is out there shouting from the rooftops too everyone he talks to about the simplicity of eating a low carb diet, he forgets to mention how hard it actually is to stick to it sometimes. I'm glad that we found something that works for us both, and that with the incorporation of running three times a week it's a lifestyle that when we get off the program (oh yeah I know that we will eventually go off the wagon) that we can take some things from and we will keep in our regular everyday lives.
I guess the bottom line is we have to keep a careful watch over what we eat, and what we feed our families. I think the more you know the better decisions you can make for yourself. That being said, have a wonderful summer everyone enjoy everything that comes with the warm weather... just in moderation ;)
L
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