Creepy and Greedy, and Don't Be Surprised if you Live Here...

Yes, this will be a rant post :)

Creepy: I have a wonderful blogging friend who has 5 kids on earth and one in heaven. Nearly every post/picture either on FB or on her blogging site has something do with their girl. Her cover photo has all of them at her grave. Don't get me wrong; losing a child is awful, and I am not saying to "move on" and "forget" her, but you have 5 other kids! Enjoy them. Plus, it is a bit creepy to keep your profile picture of you and your girl for over a year. And no one wants to see your daughters grave in every picture. Just saying.

Greedy: I don't like greedy people. Especially people who already have lots and clearly don't need it. One thing that really gets me riled up is multiple baby showers for one (pregnant) mom. Another thing is baby showers for ladies who are on their 2nd and third babies (or more. Yes, my mom had a baby shower for when J and V (and S, too, I think) where born, but that 8 years after her last was born (A and J are 8 years apart) and V got one because she was the first girl born after 3 boys, and it was a HUGE surprise!). I can kind of see it if it your first baby that city; church, etc. You have new friends, and they all want to share in your excitement. Or if it is your first gender after you have the opposite gender. I get it. I do (kind of). But there is a blog that I am following where a couple who adopted a girl nearly 4 years ago (they didn't know whether they could or they couldn't have kids; they just chose to adopt), and who are now having their first Bio-baby. She has been complaining (in my view) that things will change once the baby arrives, and how she will miss just just being the three of them. Yah, boo hoo. My sympathies. She also talked on how long it took them to become pregnant, which was a year. If that. Again, boo hoo. But here is where it gets me; she has had TWO baby showers in just a couple of weeks! First off, who needs more than ONE baby shower per baby? Also, the family isn't supposed to host the shower, and certainly not the mother (grandma to baby)! And why would they give her not only one but three (a diaper shower as well as two gift showers) when she had a baby girl (this is also a girl) not even 4 years ago. Honestly! People are so greedy! I mean, if you want to get together and get the family something large, like a crib or gym membership (ok, that is mean, but you know what I mean)? Or have them give gifts to a woman's shelter (or even better? how about helping someone financially who is trying to adop or do IVF, etc?).

Don't Be Surprised if You Live Here: Every year it's the same. People who live in hurricane or Tornado alley, or places that clearly have deadly storms every year always seem surprised that they get those horrible and deadly storms. I am sorry, but if you live in areas where are volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tropical storms, you need to expect them, plan for them, and don't be surprised when they happen. Yes, earthquakes happen in BC, but they are not deadly, and don't cause damage. Wildfires happen in our area, and a bad one happened 10 years ago,  and it was horrible, but those big ones don't happen very often (yes, we do get wild fires, but they are usually pretty contained). All I am saying is that if you live where there tornadoes; be prepared for it, and don't be surprised when and if it happens. That being said, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone that is involved. No ONE deserves to have their home and lives ripped apart. It is a sad time, don't get me wrong. I have to laugh because every year at least one bad tornado happens, and everyone seems surprised. Umm...you live there, you should know and plan for those kinds of storms. Or at least expect it.

A General Life Lately Post and "Let's Be Friends Blog Hop

I haven't done a LBF blog hop in awhile, so when I saw it was going on today, and when I decided to write a post, well, I thought those were a great combo. So, I am linking up with Tiffany for this weeks

So, what is new with us? Not really too much, but I kind of like it. With me working so much last week, it is nice to lay low for a bit. I have had a sore neck for nearly a week now. GRR! Not sure why or what is up with that. It seems to OKAY, but still sore, and I have been taking muscle relaxants like they are candy. Ok, maybe not that much, but I take at least 4 every 24 hours. I also am loving T!ger Balm. Love the stuff! I hope it goes away before my ladies retreat.

Today, I met up with a friend (co worker) for coffee. I couldn't find my phone, so I thought I had just left it at home. I ran errands (I mean, I went for another coffee, and got my bangs trimmed), and came home, only to find out that I had dropped my phone in the parking lot (probably as I was getting out of the car), and a VERY nice lady had taken it inside (while I was still there) and the Barista had texted my mom (yay for contacts!), and then Mom called home and let Anker know that it was there. So, suffice it to say, I was VERY thankful and happy that a) there are honest people out there and b) that it was found unbroken!

I got my bangs cut today. They were driving me nuts, and I want to wait for awhile before I cut the rest of my hair, so it was just my bangs today. I also spent time on the patio reading magazines today. It was SO lovely!! I still have yet to change into my Capri pants full time.

Yesterday was a home day. I stayed home and just relaxed all day. Loved and needed it. I did manage to make dinner and take the garbage and recycling out, but that was the extent of my productivity.

Sunday, I went to church alone (hubby hasn't gone in months), and then went out to Milestones for lunch with my friends, who were so sweet, and paid for my meal. I didn't take any pictures, but ma was the food DELISH! If you have a Milestones in your area, you should get the Knife and Fork French Toast. YUM! Ended up going to Walmart to grab a few things, and ran into a friend, and ended up going for coffee at McD's. We had a nice visit, something we hadn't had just the two of us in awhile. I came home and laid down, as my neck was sore, and watched movies. I hadn't seen the Jane Austen Book Club yet (I got it from the library), and it was surprisingly good. I changed the sheets on our bed and folded clothes.

Saturday was spent watching PVR'd movies all day. I did manage to get out for a few minutes to have coffee with my friends, but it was a home day other than that. I chatted with my friend for an hour, which was great. I had two nights of little sleep, which is unusual for me. Thankfully, last night was a much better night.

Friday,  I asked Anker to drive me to Walmart to grab a few things. Then we came home and I laid in bed for the rest of the day. It was a good weekend, and a quiet one, which was just fine with me.

Sunday Social

Linking up with Ashley this week for Sunday Social!

 

 

1. What is your biggest driving pet peeve?

People that drive in the SLOW lane. I have done this, but it is usually because I am about to turn left, and I do at least d the speed limit.

2. What is your biggest blogging pet peeve?

Word verification is such a pain. I also wish people would follow me when they clearly know that I follow their blog. But I guess that isn't a pet peeve so much as something I wish would happen.

3. What is your biggest shopping pet peeve?

People who are SLLOOW, either with their shopping cart or just standing there (esp in the aisle).Umm...figure out what you are doing!

4. What is your biggest general pet peeve?

                                                              Arrogant People.

 

5. What is your most irrational fear?

Chickens. Although I will say I don't feel that it is irriational, since I was attacked by a rooster at age 3 or 4. True Story.

Next week's questions

1. Who do you call when you need to vent?

2. Where do you go when you need alone time?

3. What is your favorite alone time activity?

4. What us something we should all stop and read right now?

5. Who do you wish would read your blog that doesn't already? Family? Celeb?

What A Person Can Say

Happy Sunday...! I am going to post about Sunday Social in a bit, but I came across this blog posted in/on my FB infertility group, in which she shared about what you CAN/SHOULD say to someone who is experiencing infertility. I thought it was great, so I wanted to copy it here. You can also go here and here to know what NOT to say to people who are experiencing infertility.

This is from my blogging friend Brandi's blog. Again, I don't take ANY credit for this..

10 things you CAN say to someone who is battling infertility

1. "I can't imagine what that must be like". 

Because it's true. If you haven't been through infertility you don't know the pain that's associated with it. Just like losing a child, or a loved one, or anything hard, or horrible we go through. 

If you are battling years of infertility, someone who took 3 months to get pregnant saying 'I know how you feel' just is irritating because they don't. 

2. "Can I do anything for you?".

90% of the time, you won't be able to. But when you are feeling like doing your everyday activities are a struggle and you're having a hard time finding something to be happy about, a friend genuinely saying "I don't know how this feels but I know you are in pain - can I do anything?"... that means a lot.

3. "I love you".

As an infertile women, sometimes you really don't love yourself. Your body won't do what you've spent your whole life up until this point thinking it was made to do... so being reminded that you are loved is pretty powerful.

4. Remind them you care.

Let them cry on your shoulder. Send them cards or notes. If you are both religious let them know you are praying for them. It's one of those hard times when there isn't much you can do but offer support - think about what support you'd offer a friend who lost a loved one. Someone going through infertility is mourning. Grieving for the child they want so desperately but no matter what they do, can't have. Any women going through infertility has so much love for this much hoped for child that it's hard to describe. Just knowing that they have a friend they can count on to be there lifts a heavy burden to know they aren't alone. 

 

5. Don't forget them on Mother's Day.

 With all of the joy and celebration of mothers day, people tend to forget about women who cannot become mothers. Christmas and Mothers day are incredibly painful times for infertile women. It's everywhere! Mothers Day is a beautiful celebration, however it's so painful for those desperately wanting to be a mother but cannot. Having to silently carry your grief to not 'ruin' the mothers day of those you love is a hard thing for a infertile woman to bear. Let them know you haven't forgotten them. Not saying "I know you'll be a mother some day" or "You can mother in other ways" (please don't say that!) but more like, "this weekend must be really hard, just want you to know I love you and that you are an amazing woman".

 

6. Listen.
Infertility can be really lonely. Let them vent, cry, talk - as much as they need. Also respect when they don't want to talk about it. Caring questions about how things are going are a genuine show of concern but if the question is answered short and quickly, move on and don't continue with probing questions. She might be doing all she can to hold it together because she really doesn't want to talk about it today.

 

7. Support their decisions. 

Whether that means the type of treatment, stopping treatments, no treatment. No-one can endure all that comes with fertility treatments forever and at some point, a very hard decision about stopping will come. This will come with a grieving process and if they make that hard choice, support them and don't try to change their mind.

 

8. Hope with them.Don't pull out your crystal ball and say "I know it'll happen soon". Tell them "I hope it happens for you soon".

 

9. Keep inviting them to family / friend events.
Don't not invite them to your baby shower or birthday party (etc etc) because you think it might be too painful. That only further isolates them. Infertility is full of ups ad downs and only they can know if they can cope that day. Even if they are having a hard time they still love you and your baby and want to celebrate with you. They might say no 9 times out of 10 but continuing to invite them shows that you still want to share your life with them.

 

10. "That sucks".
Because it does! When it feels like every other person you know in the world with a uterus is able to have a baby when they want... it sucks! It's nice to have other people acknowledge that fact once in awhile.

A Wedding and a Very Interesting Easter Wknd

I thought I would combine two posts in one, since both of them are going to be kind of short. Two wks ago today, I attended a wedding of a friend of mine. To be honest, we aren't extremely close, but we were pretty good friends a couple of years back. I was almost 100% sure I was going to be going alone, since Anker doesn't really know her very well, and didn't know her new husband at all (I only met him once). I don't mind Anker not going to things if he doesn't know the people very well. He also wasn't feeling well, either, so I didn't mind going alone.

It was her second wedding and his first (she has two kids from her previous marriage), so the wedding was a bit fancier than I would have expected for a second wedding, but it was a very nice ceremony, a beautiful day and a great reception. The wedding was held outside on the University Gardens. Met up with friends btwn the ceremony and reception, and grabbed a coffee a Starbucks and headed to the reception. I am so glad that there were a few people that I knew, so I had someone to talk to. There is nothing worse than going to a wedding where you don't know anyone.

Here are some of my favourite pics from the day.

                                                      Little Miss walking down the aisle.

                                                    Her son walking her down the aisle.

                                                          Signing of the registery.

                                                                    Mr. and Mrs!!

                                                One of my favourite shots of these two.
                                                  The best ceremony shot I could get.

                                                             Cupcakes!!! Yum!

                                                                    The candy bar.

 Her hair was amazing! She is a hairstylist herself, so I think she enjoyed getting her own hair done all pretty for a change instead of her doing others' hair.

                                                          The candy bar with lights.

                                                                 The garter!

                                  I pinned my hair up. It took a half hour, but it was worth it.

                                                                Their first dance.

The following pictures are taken by Evolution Photography. I take no credit at all for these pictures.

 The bride has her own Kanzashi business. She does hair accessories, with these designs. She decided to go and do her bouquets this way. What a neat idea!

                                                              Her bouquet. Isn't it gorgeous!

                                                   Her FB page, Anjer Kanzashi Designs. You can read a bit more about her business here. No official webpage.

All in all it was a nice wedding, and I was gad that I was invited and went :) I think the best part of the wedding was watching everyone dance, and listening to the great songs!! I stayed for as long I as I wanted to, because if Anker had been there, he would have wanted to have left way earlier than I did, so I enjoyed hanging out :)

Now on to last (Easter) wknd.

Easter has never been a big holiday in my family. Obviously, Spiritually, it has been, but not as a family get together type of weekend. Mainly it was because Easter usually always fell in April, when the sheep were lambing, which is the busiest time of year. The ODD time, we had a special dinner, and in later years, we would do a Seder supper. Sometimes, we kids would get an egg or two, and maybe we would hunt for a few eggs (maybe), but it was never the focal point of the weekend itself. I was hoping to at least get Easter Sunday off, though.They ended up needed me for the entire weekend, so when I knew that I would be just working and sleeping, I told Anker to head on up to the ranch that weekend. He went on up, and I stayed back and worked, ate and slept. I worked parts of 10 days in a row. Let me tell you, when those days were done, I was exhausted!!! I also worked an afternoon/evening shift the other day, as well. So, that was my weekend. I did manage to have some chocolate, and an Easter Dinner at work (eating at 10:30 at night is awesome, just saying). It was probably the most interesting Easter (or any LW) Weekend that I had ever spent. But it was a good one. And hey, I made money, which is always a good thing.

And that's the update on the wedding and Easter Weekend! I think that about updates everyone on our lives thus far. I will probably do an infertility/childless update either tonight or tomorrow.

A Trip to the Ranch

Just watching movies on TV that I have PVR'd, and hubby is knitting, so I thought I would do a blog post or two (or three?).

The first weekend of April, I decided I needed to get away for a couple of days, and hubby didn't really feel like going with me, and I had a few days off (not scheduled) work, so I decided to head out. I had a great 2 days away, that I very much enjoyed.  I think Anker enjoyed his time alone, too.

After seeing the movie Noah (which I reviewed on here...), I left around 7:30. After finding out at the edge of town that I forgot my purse, I went home and started out again. Got in around 9:30, just in time to go to bed.

Sunday was a nice day. I helped Mom make Cadence's birthday cake, and went out to the lambing pens. Went to church, came home, ate lunch and had birthday tea. Put a sort of out of control fire and had supper and then had a nap, as I was going to help Vienna with the night shift (lambing doesn't take a break). This year, they did things a bit different for the night shift. They usually have one person who does the nights, but this year, that person wasn't available, so my siblings took three-4 hour shift stints. Vienna's was the middle shift 11-3am. I took my laptop, and watched some Big Bang Theory, and helped her with what needed to get done. I think I am getting citified. I have forgotten pretty much everything about country living...lol. I had a bath, and went to bed. Just hung out in the morning, and left around 12.

Here are some pictures from the wknd:

                                                                   The birthday girl!

                                                       The sheep eating their supper.

                                                                      Twins!

                                                                 Aren't I cute?

                                                                          Triplets!!

                                                                  Bi-Racial baby!!

                                                        The semi-out-of-control fire.

                            Hanging out in the sheep wagon with my laptop and magazines.

                                                       Vienna helping a ewe give birth.

                                      A few other ewes wanted help out the new mom.

                                     Here are the triplets sleeping at night. Aren't they sweet?

If you are my friend on FB, you will see more of the pics of the weekend on my page.

Girls/Sisters Trip/Getaway!

This trip happened about a month ago, but since I am a bit behind in blogging, I am just now getting to this post now.

My sister is going far, far way for midwifery training and needed to renew her passport, since it would expire while she was there. Since the place she is going to is a developing country, where English isn't it's first language, she decided to get to done before she went over there (did you know that you have to write a letter if you are renewing it before it is due, saying why are you renewing it at the time?). Since our lovely town doesn't have a PP office (you send it through Service Canada Office, or mail it), and it can take awhile to get it done, she opted to go to the next town over, which I will call KT. I suggested that we make it a girls trip! I guess I beat her to it, since she was going to ask me, anyway.

Cause neither of us have driven in KT and we wanted to make it more fun, we asked our SIL Cady to come along! It was such a great 32 hours away, and I really needed it. We had a great time together, had lots of laughs, some great talks, and of course, yummy food!

When we got to KT, we went to the PP office first. I think we gave the poor officer who was also the info/please-don't-have-your-kids-play-on-the-chairs guy, as we talked...a lot. We were in and out in about 45 minutes.

Then it was time for food!! We decided to try Woodfire Bakery. (it doesn't even have their own webpage or FB page..odd..I have just linked a review). It was VERY good. I had their corn chowder and tho VERY salty, very good. I also had this odd looking (and tasting) chicken sandwich. It was ok, but not great. I would go back, though, if only for the atmosphere.

We then went to the mall. I love KT's mall. It is bigger than our biggest one here, and so neat to wander around.  I will say that I was very good and didn't buy much. We all went our separate ways, and met up at,  you guessed, it Starbucks.

Cady then wanted to go to Value Village, because as she said, different crap, same store! I bought a nice tshirt, and enjoyed wandering around (FYI, all VVs have the same smell, no matter where you go).

Then it was off to our aunts (we were all so poor that we couldn't afford a hotel, plus our aunt is pretty easy to find...even I could find it, and I have only been there a few times). She was out helping a friend, but our cousins were there, so we had supper, and chatted, while playing The Game of Life. Such fun.

They have more sibs, but one is in S. America, and one was in S. Africa at the time. After an ok sleep, we woke up and chatted with Aunty R, and had the best Breakfast Egg Muffins EVER! We also brought some Cinnamon Buns!

                                                Yes, these were homemade..and SOO good!

                                                  Cinnzeo Cinnamon Buns. Yummy!!

After our goodbyes, we went to a store that Vienna wanted to check out, and then went on a hunt to find (no thanks to Google Maps) some Curly Horses. Ok, we didn't see THESE curly horse, but we saw some similar. Cady has been allergic to horses since well, forever, and she had heard of people who are allergic to non curlies do just fine with CH;s. Well, after a somewhat crazy drive and some off roading, we finally found the farm. It was worth it, that's for sure. Cady did great, and the horses were so cute!

Aren't they adorable!!??

After our trip to the farm, we made tracks back to home. After a quick stop at Wendys for a late lunch, we started on our way. It was a great time away, I hope we can do it again before Vienna leaves this summer.

Sunday Social

 

 

1. 5 songs you'll listen to the rest of your life

1."My Heart Will Go On" Celine Dion (I know, I am a geek)

2."Mary's Boy Child" BoneyM (yah, it's Christmas, but I still love it)

3. "The Dance" Garth Brooks

4. "Majesty" Darlene Zsech/Delerious

5. "How Great is our God-World Edition" Chris Tomlin.

 

2. 5 things on your bucket list

1. Re-visit Europe

2. Visit Eastern Canada

3. Visit Eastern US

4. Go on a Road Trip at the last minute, and not have any plans

5. Win the Lottery (hey, I can dream, right?)

 

3. 5 celebs you'd love to hang out with for a day

1. Carrie Underwood

2. Bethenny Frankel (I don't know why, I just kind of like her)

3. Princess Catherine (uh, duh!!), and Baby George, of course!

4. Anyone from the cast of Grey's Anatomy

5. Anyone from the cast of Big Bang Theory

6. Anyone from the cast of Y&R

 

4. 5 things you always carry in your purse

1. Keys

2. Phone

3. Pads (hey, you never know!)

4. Meds (usually)

5. Pocket Calender

 

5. 5 books on your reading list

1. Winners By Danielle Steel

2. Power Play By Danielle Steel

3. 12 Years a Slave By Solomon Epps

4. UnGlued By Lysa Terkeurst

5. Fifty Shades of Grey By E.L James

 

6. Share the last 5 pictures on your phone 

These are not in order, but they were all taken in the last week.

                                                            Chocolate Bunny.

                                                          Homemade Cottage Cheese

                                                         KitKat loved my smoothie.

                                             Homemade Ricotta Cheese made my hubby.

 I went to work with some Classics the other night.

Five on Friday!

Yes!!! I am still alive! I know you all have missed me!!! I have lots of blogging posts to catch up on. But for now I will do FoF.

1. A new LED/Flat Screen TV.
I am sure we were the last people on earth to have a tube TV as their main TV. Well that changed awhile back. We got our tax refund a couple of weeks back, so we decided to use that to buy a tv that we have been wanting for awhile. We love it!

2. My New Favourite Drink at SBX.
I am REALLY (ok, i fail every day, but I try), am trying to lower the sugar in my diet..so the other day, I got a steamed milk with two sugar-free shots of vanilla. Ok, it's no MM, or Mocha, but it will do.

3. Chocolate. Lots of it.
I had a lot chocolate last wknd. My aunt gave me a dark chocolate bunny to eat over my night shifts last wknd. Since I am not a fan of DC, this was easy to do (not eat it at once). But it was very good. I ate his ears the first night, the belly the second night, and I still have the bum to eat. Poor Topsy Bunny.

I also got three C@dbury Creame Eggs. I ate one every night. Yum!

4. A Fixed Computer
Hubby Fixed my computer. I heart him.

5. Equ@te's Version of J0hnson's Lavender Baby Wash
I got it a few weeks ago. I love it. Seriously, that is now my new favourite bubble bath and body wash.

Life, etc

The day before KK got sick, bubby wanted Boston Pizza for supper. When hubby wants to go out (other than to a fast food restuarant), you don't say no. So off we went! We had a very yummy supper. I had Seafood Fettuccine, and hubby had a stromboli. Both were excellent, and we had Chocolate Explosion for dessert. Yum! Ok, maybe I already had written about this...oops!

A couple of weeks back, Anker and I saw the movie Noah, and we weren't that impressed by it. Hollywood totally got it wrong, tho it did say that God punishes sin, and God shows mercy. But other than that, it was disappointing. But it was a movie date with hubby, so that was nice.

A couple of wks ago, my friend and I went to Cora's Breakfast and Lunch for lunch after church. It was SO good! I am (usually) never disappointed! If you love fruit, crepes, eggs, pancakes, and MORE fruit, this place is for you!!! I had the April '89. A crepe with custard and fruit inside!!! The only complaint I have is that I am not a huge melon fan, so I wouldn't have the melon fruit inside the crepe, but other than that, it is really good.

Last Sunday, the same friend and some other friends and I went back, and it was CRAZY BUSY!!! It has been open for 3 years, but you would think that this was opening wknd. I had the chocolate brioche French Toast. It was good, but I remembered why I hadn't gotten it in awhile. I loved the fruit on it, though.

Yesterday, hubby and I ran errands, and he was craving a donair, so we went to Opa's of Greece. Our Donairs were amazing, and SO GOOD!!

                                          And of course, I had to have Baklava. YUMMY!!

That is about all for this post. I would write more, but I am needing to sleep, as I work tonight :)