It's been awhile!

Well, it's been awhile since I blogged. Just trying to make the time to do it. Anyway, Easter was great! The Easter Bunny came and scattered eggs all over our new back yard. Dave's mom Lia came and also our friends Suzanne, Mike and Jared. The hunt was for both Jared and Ryan. Of course Bud knew exactly what to do as he is a seasoned egg finder. This is Ryan's first year doing this sort of thing. When I woke up in the morning it was pouring rain. I thought, oh great, I'm not going to be able to do the hunt, but then the skies cleared and actually peaked out some sunshine. I did however put all of the candy filled eggs into sandwich baggies so that the candy wouldn't get wrecked. Call me anal. Anyway, Mike recycled, and will use them in his shop. Thanks Mike. I made a ham, lasagne, crab & artichoke & spinach dip. Suzy brought me some beautiful daffodils. Thank you Suzy! I always LOVE flowers. Dave actually bought me some beautiful Tulips which I just threw away today. He even got me a card. How thoughtful eh? Anyway, I hope my guests had as good a time as I did that day! Thank you Jared for being such a good sport about it all and letting Ryan find a few eggs too! Look at his loot! Ryan grazed on his loot for a few days. Finally between all of us, we've managed to clear it all out of the house! Oh, except for some chocolate that Oma gave Ryan, which I have hidden. hehehe

Today was a 'task oriented' day. Suzanne, I know you're smiling when you read this. Anyway, Took Ryan to school, and for the first time, had time to stop at Tim Horton's for a decaf on the way. Instead of taking off after dropping Ryan off, I put Shane in the stroller and walked into Yarrow to the post office. I was sending Dr. Mackie some dictation tapes. It's just easier for me to get Dave to pick them up from the office since he's in Abbotsford everyday working. I keep forgetting to put the tapes I've erased into his lunch box to return. So I decided to mail them. I had five. I got back to the school with tonnes of time to spare so I hopped in the van and drove into Chilliwack to return the movies from the weekend. We rented, Fun with Dick and Jane, and Derailed. Both were pretty good flicks. Then for some reason still had time, so drove by the house and to the mailbox to get the mail, then back to Yarrow. Still had time to kill before his pickup so I drove up and around Majuba Hill. What a glorious day it was today. Windows down, shades on, light breeze. Just awesome. Except for my foot was just killing me. Damn arthritis. Got to the school with still 15 minutes to spare. Just chatted with some of the moms before the kids were let out. Chenoa has asked me over for coffee on Wednesday which will be nice to visit. From school, we went directly to Oma's. I nursed Shane as by this time he was starving. Lia made me a sandwich and a pop and we sat and visited for about an hour before we headed to Linen's n Things. In their flyer was a sofa slipcover for $29.99. I had the 20% coupon. How could you go wrong? I asked a sales clerk and apparently they were all sold out my noon on Saturday. I was SOL. I did get some hand towels for the downstairs bathroom. Hard to match that green. I got a cream colored one and a celedron colored one. It will do. We all then went to Tim Horton's at West Oaks, had a coffee and a doughnut. Shane was a quick one today, he grabbed the plate and flung it on the floor, smashing it into a bunch of bits. Yikes. Sorry. Took Lia home and was home by 3:50. I am pooped! I went on Linen's N Things.com and bought the Sofa slipcover, but all they had left was Sage. The loveseat one was 59.99. No thanks. Our family room couch is the one that needs help anyway. When we had cats, they attacked. It looks like crap. Anyways, can't wait for that to come. I have to say that I have totally gone on an Ebay frenzy. I'm not even going to list the things that I've bought as there are too many and I want to go watch Prison Break now. Catch you all on the flip side and be sure to get things done this week while the stars are behind us!

Planning for the future...

We may not have much, but what we do have has to end up in the right hands when we're gone. This is something that I have learned with my dad's situation. He did have an old will but some 'loser' tried to fake a will and take it all. It's a morbid topic, but if you don't inform your loved one's of your wishes, it can be all taken away without you knowing it. I believe my sister Joanne has finally gotten the ball rolling on getting my dad's sorted out. Of course the laws are different from province to province. Here in B.C. wills are registered, where in Ontario, they are not. Good fact to know.

Now that we have children, it's important to Dave and I that we get our wills in order so that our kids are teken care of. Like I said before, we may not have much financially, but what we do have we want our children to inheret. Marco is going to take care of all the details for us. Anyone need a good lawyer? He's the man. He is my bosses brother-in-law. Great guy! Also, just found out that my bosses sister Karen works for Marco at the Agassiz office. We chatted for a bit and she's sending us the paperwork to get the ball rolling on getting our wills done. It feels good to know that we're getting things in order.

On another note, Anu's mom and dad are going to be coming to the house on Wednesday to set up an RESP for Shane. I have one through them for Ryan. I put in just the minimum of $25 per month and hopefully someday will be able to afford more. At this point, I feel that something is better than nothing. My child tax credit just covers the investment. At least it's going to the kids and I'm not wasting it away on something stupid. I feel good knowing that I have that in order now too.

At this point, I may not be able to do a lot physically, but I can at least do these little planning things. That puts my mind at ease. It's funny the things you learn to understand as you get older. The things your parents or grandparents told you, you would understand when you grew up. How cool is that? Next thing on my agenda, when finances permits is life insurance. We do have it for the mortgage but outside of that, I believe we need more. In due time I guess.


Cheers,
Tara

My Positive and Negative Lists

Suzanne suggested that I make a list of Positive and a list of Negative so my therapy with Alex is more focused and directed. I would guess that this list will never be complete and will probably have to edit every once in a while but this is what I have started with. This post is for my soul purpose......no comments needed.

Positives

Dave
Kids
New house
Family
Good Memories
Mom and I used to play lots of games together
Mom and I would play games for DQ treats
Every Saturday was cleaning and grocery shopping day so Sunday was for us
Remember making tea for mom
Dad and I rode the motorcycle into Vancouver, he took me to see Clash of the Titans
Ben's Market
Remember sitting in A LOT of new cars, pushing all of the buttons, and wanting a TC-3
Camping/fishing as a kid with Grandma and Grandpa at Lac Le Jeune
Spring and summer break with the Schusters
Horse racing
Graduation
Wedding
Childbirth
Parties
Joanne's cottage
Walk of Fame event where I got to meet Keifer Sutherland

Negatives

My body pain
Death of my mom - 1988 - 34 years old
Death of my grandma - 2006 - 84 years old
Death of my dad - 2006 - 73 years old
Death of my grandpa - 1983 - 64 years old
Death of my uncle Denny - 1973 - early 20's
Death of my aunt Denyse - 1983 - ????
Dad was an alcoholic
Remember mom choking me when I was very young until I passed out in the spare room closet
Remember several times being harassed by dad when he was drunk and came home late
Remember fighting with dad when he was drunk after mom died and me moving out
Remember mom and dad fighting to the point where dad took a swing at mom, ripping her pearl earring out of her ear. We left that night and stayed in a hotel.
Mike stealing money from me to party. That was the end of our relationship.
Working two jobs to support Mike and I while he "hung out"
Couple of car accidents
Feel ripped off having this pain, not being able to do all the things I had planned for after we moved like working out, taking Shane for walks in the new stroller, and working in the yard, and tending to the house.
Had trouble conceiving Ryan - took 2 years after many procedures and surgeries
Ryan's traumatic birth - 5 days of labour and emergency c-section with lots of drugs
Post op infection - hospitalized for 3 weeks, 6 weeks home care, lots of drugs
Feel ripped off, feel like I missed a lot of Ryan's infancy

Pain.....

Can pain cause depression?
Definately has caused me frustration......and a few tears.....

My Pain,

Worse the last two days - Weather?
Both of my hands - right is worse than the left.
It hurts to write and type
The pain in the right hand is worse in the thumb into the wrist
All other joints in both hands are quite stiff
Can't grasp anything - causes severe pain
Skin is hyper-sensitive to touch - skin seems sore
Pain seems to be migrating - I have the odd sharp pain in my upper arms when lifting overhead
My feet are killing me - left is worse than the right
Left ankle has sharp radiating throbbing pain into my foot
There is no flexion or extension in either my feet or hands
Hurts to walk, sort of just lumber side to side
Walking up stairs or from a sitting to standing position, my knees get sharp pains
All finger and toe joints are super stiff and tight - almost like water retention tight
Has woken me up in the middle of the night the last two nights
Literally wake with tears in my eyes every morning.