Welcome to my Asylum!

A place to empty my head of the random musing and mumblings that populate it on a daily basis.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

The to-do with To Do lists....

So, I suddenly had a thought today, "I wonder how long I have left to complete that To Do list I posted on her, way back when.  Seems the deadline passed 2 weeks ago, so lets see how I did shall we? (cough, not that well!!)
 
First off, there were 55 things, rather than 50.  And its been 516 days...
 
That should average out at one thing off the list every 9.38 days (thank you trusty calculator!)
 
The list is reposted below and frankly is a sad testament to the ways 'life' gets in the way of, well, 'life'!
 
Red = not done
Orange = started and abandoned half way for no reason other than I am a lazy arse, frantically busy working mom of 2....
Green = done
 
 
By my calculations, they add up to the following
 
Red = 27 (49%)
Orange = 15 (27%)
Green = 13 (24%)
 
So I did only a quarter of things on the list, but I did get another quarter underway.  Half have gone untouched and I notice that most of them are to do with eating habits and fitness (old habits die hard I suppose).
 
Most of the items related to the kids though, are either started or done, as are many of the things around the home.
 
So, I suppose this highlights that I spend more time and energy on my family, kids and home, and less time on me and my health.  Good in some ways. bad in others.
 
So lets see.... it's September 25 today, my 8th wedding anniversary tomorrow, so lets have the anniversary as the new start date and New Years Eve as the end date.  Gives me 97 days to see how many more I can either get underway or completed.
 
Here's hoping....
 
 
 
50 Things to Do in 500 Days
Start: April 27th, 2011
Finish: September 7th, 2012

Projects

1. Paint Dining Table and Chairs
2. Sew and repair all items in the sewing basket that have now been waiting over a year!

3. Paint Playroom with Mural
4. Scan old photos and put some on Facebook
5. Put all photos into new albums and only keep the good ones!
6. Finish embroidery on Sparks bag for Freyja
7. Make personalised crossstitch item for both girls in time for Christmas 2011 FAIL!!!!


Kids

8. Finish Baby Book for Freyja (now 6 years old)
9. Get Baby Book up to date for Rosie
10. Create Family Tree for kids
11. Finish 1st Year Photos for Rosie
12. Make a Fairy house for the girls in the garden
13. Spend a Mom day with Freyja getting hair done / Nails done without baby coming too.
14. Volunteer for a day (maybe Thanksgiving) with Freyja to teach her how fortunate she is.

Health & Fitness

15. Get weight down below 170 lbs (Was over 200 when I went in to have Rosie)
16. Run a 5K - Signed up for May 8th!
17. Run a 10K - August or November depending on how long it takes to get fitness level up.18. Incorporate fruit or vegetables into Lunch and Dinner every day for 2 weeks to get into the habit - hopefully then I'll keep doing it.
19. Don't eat chocolate or ice cream for a month (now this one will be hard!)
20. Get up to running 2 km instead of just walking and alternate running and walking up to 10km
21. Take a Belly Dancing or Pole Dancing class
Family

22. Go on a family vacation (at least twice/yr.)
23. Take a spontaneous weekend trip to somewhere close
24. Get family pictures taken
25. Go on a picnic.
26. Go on a nature trail with kids.

Personal

27. Write in Blog at least once a week.
28. Put together a photo collage for both sets of parents and my grandparents of me, DH and the girls
29. Write a letter to my Dad (He's been waiting a long time for this)
30. Write a short childrens story for the girls
31. Finish reading "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies"
32. Finish the Dragon crossstitch I started when I was 19 (I am now 35 and it will only take a few hours to finish)
33. Get dragon cross stitch framed and put up with pride of place.
34. Take a cooking or painting class.
35. Make a will and set up what would happen to kids in W.C.S.
36. Write a letter or make a video for kids for them to have of me if anything happened.

Finance

37. Save some money for a visit back to the UK next year.
38. Save to RESP's for girls (Now set up finally!)
39. Set up RRSP's for me and DH.

Home & Organization
40. Clean oven every 2 weeks so it doesn't get so horrible
41. Set up Chore Chart for me, DH and Freyja so everyone does something to keep on top of things
42. Organize Playroom
43. Organize Office Space and get rid of stuff that really is not needed
44. Organize closet and get rid of big clothes so I can't 'grow' back into them.
45. Go through memory boxes and condense them down before they take over the house.
46. Have a Garden Chore chart for the summer / fall
47. Plant seeds for flowers and veggies and grow garden with Freyja
48. Go through house and get rid of EVERYTHING we don't use - if you don't ever use it, you don't need it!

Food
49. Get a Box freezer for the basement
50. Create a 2 week meal planner and use it to shop and cook
51. Create a batch of freezer meals
52. Use herbs and veggies from our own garden and MAKE SURE THEY DON"T DIE!
53. Cut out as much processed food as possible
54. Retrain Freyja to eat without the use of Alphagetti, Chicken Nuggets or Ketchup (again this one may prove impossible)
55. Cook a new recipe each week from one of the many cook books we have.

Friday 20 July 2012

It's been how long!!

Ok, it would seem I have been getting a little lax in my posting. In my defence, I have been taking this day by day with what has been happening with Freyja, and really that, in many ways, defines my life right now.

We have our diagnosis of ADHD, and each day we work around how she is behaving (or not) and figure out how best to do things.

We are still doing the usual stuff, and we have had some lovely (busy) days lately.

Freyja turned 7 years old in April and had a beach party. It was an indoor beach party, in our house, as her birthday is at the beginning of April, and usually that means snow in Calgary, though this year, it was actually quite sunny until the afternoon, with no snow on the ground.

I gave them a bit more free range this year, but maybe I should have kept it more structured, as I think they were wondering what to do for a bit. They had a kids inflatable pool filled with balls instead of water, played a game of marco polo round the living room, and invented their own version of beach volley ball with the beach ball, and later balloons. I got them all a craft to do, a suncatcher which they each painted, though half of them forgot it and I still have them at home, and of course there were the presents and cake.

I have some pictures, but as the girls were all dressed in swimsuits and bikinis, I won't be posting them on here, but there are some pictures of the food and the cake I made!



Not a bad cake considering that the morning of her party she changed her mind about how she wanted it decorated!

May brought us Rosie's second birthday, just a few family friends, but a lovely day nonetheless. It's amazing to see how much she has grown and what a little individual she is already. Freyja was a fab big sister and helped her open up all the presents, then handed out cake to everyone. It's great to see her developing as a big sister.



June was a month of many changes. School ended and summer began. It was also the end of Sparks and the end of routine. Freyja got a fantastic report, which was a boost for all of us. It's been a busy few months, and a hard few months but we are beginning to find our way now, at least I hope so.

I go into more detail about the day to day struggles in my other blog, but the short version is that in April and May we tried a medication and the side effects were awful. It was, bluntly, two months of Hell. We were all at breaking point. We decided to stop it, had two weeks meds free and realized that wasn't working either, so we started on new meds. Three weeks in and things are going pretty good. There are good days and not so good, but none of the extreme stuff. The late nights and lack of structure that summer brings probably doesn't help, but who doesn't struggle to get their 7 year old to bed when the nights are light and the neighborhood kids are still out playing.

For now we will take it day by day and look forward to our vacation and the new school year ahead and all it brings.

Friday 2 March 2012

Wedding memories

So, I am member of a Moms forum online, based here in Calgary (www.calgarymomscommunity.com if anyone wants to check it out) and someone asked the question today about weddings. What do you remember, where, when, who etc, the good and the bad, and frankly I just remember too much for a teensy little forum post, so decided I would post here. It will serve as a reminder to me and as a story for my kids.

Lee and I got married in Langley Castle back in England. It was a medieval border fort so really consists of only a couple of 'rooms' on each of three floors. Our wedding was in the room on the first floor, our wedding night suite was on the second floor, and the reception room was on the top floor.

The wedding was done to a medieval theme to match the location, dress was flowy, medieval type design with long draped sleeves etc. My mother also wore a similar style dress but in a tie dyed purple velvet. We had medieval music at the ceremony and in the background at the reception.
Despite being such a formal venue, and having 70 people there, it was so laid back and relaxed.

The night before my parents and grandparents, my maid of honour and I stayed at a nearby B&B.

Memorable moments (Imagine Mr Bean gets married at Fawlty Towers and you may have something akin to the catalogue of disasters that was our wedding):
  • My wedding fell on the same weekend as the annual half marathon in our region so by the time my bridesmaid and I made it out to the countryside in the traffic it was dark.  When we got to the area where the B&B was we got lost. By the time we got there, dinner had finished so all we could have was a grilled cheese sandwich. Get our room to find out that it is not a twin after all and me and my bridesmaid have to share a bed! Not really conducive to a restful night. I felt like I was 8 again and spent the night giggling and reminiscing.
  • Morning of the wedding got up to find the breakfast room full of runners and their supporters so had to wait an hour to be seated. Just got my breakfast on the table when my hairdresser turned up so she started on my mother and grandmother first. Finally finished breakfast and rushed to get my hair done where my mother started to fluster. I love her dearly, but she gets stressed out and flustered at events, and my wedding was a BIG event for her so I think she started to fluster the minute she woke up!
  • Me driving to the castle in my car in the drivers seat with jeans, a shirt and a veil on as my hair was done, but the tiara kept hitting the roof of my tiny car so my bridesmaid was changing gear for me while I was ducking and holding it in place - everyone shout CHANGE!!
  • Me getting annoyed at my mother while I was getting dressed at the castle because she was getting flustered and hot and her makeup was running so she took my makeup while I was getting ready, and then asked me to do her eyes for her - lovely photo taken at that point by the wedding photographer of my being fastened into my dress by my bridesmaid and me looking so grumpy.
  • My Dad takes my Mum and leaves me to finish getting ready. At this point she apparently walks past my very nervous groom, he says 'Hi Ann, hows it going?' - She replies "I don't know if there'll even be a wedding at this rate!" and walks away. Cue panicking groom who now thinks he's being stood up (she still denies to this day that she said it, however, I know my mother.... she said it without even realising - Lord, I love her)
  • Wedding time arrives and my dad walks me slowly down the stairs, waits at the door to the wedding room, smiles at me and squeezes my hand with tears in his eyes, the doors open... and I am jet propelled, warp speed down the aisle to my waiting groom with a speed that implies he couldn't wait to offload me - he was also very nervous!
  • The wedding passes in a haze of vows and stuff I can barely remember, and sadly, the video recorded by my brother in law does not help in this, as he stood in the worst possible place, where you can hear shuffling, whispering and coughing of the wedding guests, and pretty much nothing of me and Lee.
  • On to the photos - the photographer takes what seems like a million photos of me (have I mentioned I was 3 months pregnant, in a full length dress, on a September day that was pretty warm, and I had been experiencing dizzy fainting fits in the weeks running up to the wedding) so it felt like an eternity. Also I hadn't eaten for hours and really hadn't managed much breakfast due to nerves and wanting to rush for the hairdresser.
  • Speaking of food, it's time for the photos with the groom and best man. Where are they? Oh there they are, demolishing an entire tray of canapés. I'm a bit peckish myself, could I have some? Oh, I see, there's none left! Grrrrr!!
  • On to the wider family shots. Where is Lee's Uncle, Aunt and Cousin (plus one)? Anyone? No one remembers seeing them? Oh, so they didn't turn up then.... CRAP!!!! I have a seating plan with all four of them on one table with another couple - now that couple are going to be seated alone.... CRAP!!!!
  • Finish photos, smile at guests, shake hands, invite them to take a glass of champagne, excuse yourself from company, hitch up dress and leg it up 2 flights of uneven stone stairs to the function room at the top. Re-write part of seating plan, move name place markers and find staff to remove 4 chairs so it looks like it hasn't all been screwed up. Hitch up dress and leg it back down one floor to the suite so I can go to the bathroom (after all I am 3 months pregnant and it is nearly 2 hours since I had a chance to pee - though due to the lack of food and drink anyone (did not) think to get me, I am also not exactly hydrated. Hitch up dress and leg it back down one more flight of stairs to guests just in time to hear the call for everyone to go upstairs for the reception meal.  Use walking up stairs with my Grandad as the decoy for the fact I am too breathless to head up faster.
  • Everyone sits down to a lovely meal and quaffs champagne (except me, as I am 3 months pregnant and my sister in law who is about 6 months pregnant) especially the groom who is getting lightly toasted by my side. We giggle as we watch Lee's son Dan, then only a young lad of 12 push the barley in the broth up the side of the bowl and attempt to eat around it - he has no idea what it is, and therefore we are clearly trying to poison him!
  • The meal ends, everyone is full and happy, and mostly brimming with joy and alcohol. The speeches begin. The best man makes a lovely speech, which I can remember none of, but manages not to mention anything embarrassing or illegal about my new husband in front of my grandparents (huge sigh of relief!) Then my dad gets up. My Dads speech makes me cry. He tells a story I had never heard of when I was born. I was 6 weeks early, tiny and sick in an incubator and he and my Mum had been told I likely wouldn't make it. He said he put his hand in the incubator and my tiny hand gripped his little finger with incredible force and he knew I would make it. He said I was a fighter, determined and fierce, and that no one would guess that day what I had been through. I cried. Dad cried. I think everyone shed a tear. Sadly, I was so much of a mess after that, I didn't really hear Lee's speech, though he was so nervous it was very short and consisted mainly of thank yous to best man, bridesmaid, family etc. We cut the cake and that was pretty much that for the day time.
  • Downstairs a vintage Rolls Royce awaited Lee and I, and a coach tour bus waited for the guests. We all hopped in and made the half hour journey to the city of Newcastle where the night time event was held. The coach got there first, followed by me and a wobbly Lee in the car (there was a bottle of champagne in the car and he was drinking for two with me being pregnant).
  • Into the hotel lobby to be greeted by my flustered mother saying that one of our family friends had not been given the disabled room, so I apologise to my family and friends, send them through to the function room (which it turns out they are still setting up) and go to the reception desk to raise merry hell and get my guest's bedroom issue sorted.
  • Next stop, the function where people ate, drank, ate some more, drank some more, drank a little too much and the dancing began, mainly a highland fling performed by the 2 Scottish gentlemen who were guests (one Rangers supporter, and one Celtic and they both survived the evening with teeth intact and happy memories) and a Pub Quiz which was, in hindsight, probably best not run by the best man who was now inebriated and chuckling over each of the completely incomprehensible questions.
  • Lee and I at this point departed quietly and climbed into our limo back to the castle, in which there was another bottle of champagne. Hurrah!! Hubby drinks for 2 again until we arrive at the castle where we pour him out and I walk him upstairs.
  • We decide to take a bath, which is enormous and big enough for about 6 people, thankfully though there are just the 2 of us, I put a little bubble bath in and get in, lay back and relax, new hubby gets in, slips (on the bubble bath he says, nothing to do with the 4 bottles of champagne that have come his way that day, not to mention the beer) and whoosh, down like a sack of potatoes, water flying and me trying to drag him out from under the water before he drowns. Bath is abandoned and we adjourn to the wonderful, enormous and comfortable bed - maybe a bit too comfortable, as we were both asleep in minutes.
  • We wake up in the morning and start to pack up our things, though it is still very early, and dark. The room has the arrow slit windows that most functioning castles had, so the source of all indoor illumination is electric light. Lee goes into the bathroom, switches on the lights and bam! shorts the electrics in the whole castle. No light, nothing!!! Arrrggghhhh!
  • We dress in the dimly lit bedroom as dawn allows a teeny bit of sunlight into the room and head downstairs only to find there are no staff. By the time someone arrives, we have everything packed and in the car and are patiently awaiting breakfast and electric light, not necessarily in that order. Turns out the receptionist got a ride to work with the chef, who that morning happened to sleep in.
Funnily enough, while I remember every single one of those things that did not go according to plan, all my guests were amazed by what a good day it was. I was asked if I had used a wedding planner, told I should become one when they were told I did it myself. Told how wonderful it was and how they had never been to a wedding that went off without a hitch before.... Had we been at the same wedding???

And now, Lee and I find that all those things that 'went wrong' were actually what made the day so memorable and fun to remember. So while it did not quite follow the plan, I wouldn't change it in any way.... well, maybe we'd hire a professional for the video so we could remember the actual 'Wedding' part!!!

    Thursday 1 March 2012

    My name is Lisa and it has been 3 months since my last confession...

    Well, pretty much three months and a blog and confession are so similar in my mind, cathartic ways of cleansing the mind and soul so you can continue on without necessarily forgetting, but without the excess baggage of guilt, worry, emotion dragging along with you daily.

    It has been a busy three months in our household.  Christmas came and went with a great deal of screaming, squealing and throwing of wrapping paper.  And that was just me and Lee....  The kids enjoyed it too!



    The new year rushed in where angels fear to tread (look at me mixing up my similies with nary a care! Or should that be metaphor?  Maybe a mixed one?)  New Years day was my beloved husband's 40th Birthday!!! We celebrated with a family dinner and a cake that looked like Boba Fett's helmet (and if I do say so myself, I didn't do too bad a job on it!)



    Well anyway, we got into January and headed through it far to fast for my liking, though with not much snow, which in Calgary in winter is a blessing (though a curse for the farmers when spring and summer roll around).  Bizarely its been snowing up a storm in the UK and the rest of Europe with temperatures plummeting, while I have been waltzing around in a shirt and light jacket.  Mother Nature is having a bit of a lark this year I think.

    February brought Valentine's day, hearts wherever you looked, which was a bit of an omen as it turned out as Lee got taken into hospital from work one day with a suspected Heart Attack. Yes, my only recently turned 40 valentine was given aspirin, nitro-spray and a referral to a cardiologist.  Happy Valentines!!

    He had the cardiologist appointment yesterday.  Thankfully (after 2 weeks of near endless panicking and little sleep on my part - oh how much better he coped than me) he was given the all clear.  Heart good, Blood pressure good, cholesterol and blood sugar amazingly good.  But - told to stop smoking (again) and lose weight.  Apparently the tablets he takes for stress may be acting less effectively, hence allowing him to feel like he is having a heart attack when he is under stress.

    Which brings us to the most recent thing.  Our eldest daughter, the fabulous tornado in a tutu, Freyja is having more and more issues with behaviour and anger, so I finally admitted that we were not coping so well by ourselves and we needed help - especially in light of Lee's stress issues.  I duly made an appointment with our family doctor to explain my concerns, her anger, her nightmares, her ADHD like tendencies and he refered us to the relevant department who in turn referred us to the Paediatric Behavioural Development Clininc yesterday telling us it would be a 10 week or so wait to hear.  Today I got a call from them and appointment on Monday (today is Thursday).  They actually wanted to give us an appointment tomorrow but our work couldn't do such short notice!  I don't know whether to be pleased or worried - do they think its so bad they need to rush her in?

    So anyway, to keep my mind clear on that score, I have started another blog http://the-defiant-ones.blogspot.com/ to remind us where our journey began and find out where it takes us, and for Freyja to hopefully look back on it with pride in the future at what she overcame, and for us as parents to perhaps look back, make a sigh of relief and take pride in what we survived....

    And last, but hopefully not least, in my ongoing effort to get fitter, lose weight and support Lee in his efforts to do so too, I have joined a gym and will be starting a blog on that too to track my progress and inspire me to keep going.  Happy March 1st - hopefully the beginning of good things to come - even if it is a bit overwhelming at the moment!