Ooops...I missed a week...& then some!!

Gee, this working for a living really sucks! Seems like I have no time at all left to myself which is not good with all the plans I have now that the nice weather is here. Just can't seem to keep up with the laundry/housework & I've barely made a dent in the weeds. Thank goodness I haven't been stuck on the lawn tractor yet!
Princess Sassy & my better half have been taking turns doing the grass cutting.

It's been busier than usual around here. Miss Misery is excitedly awaiting for
Prom Night on June 1st. Princess Pouty gave her a gorgeous dress that is currently being altered & shortened. Hopefully, everything will be perfect when we go to the dressmaker's Saturday to check it out & bring it home. Then, it's off to the mall with her boyfriend Nifty & his Mom........he needs to find a suit to wear to her Prom.

Great news!! Princess Pouty has announced the date of her wedding......it will take place on April 12th, 2008. She's very happy that everything's falling into place. The Church & Hall are booked, as is the photographer, DJ & the limo. Dress shopping will start in a couple of weeks so that she can decide on the colours she wants for her special day.....then the bakery can finalize plans for her wedding cake. The food is also planned. Now we just need to finalize the guest list & attend to all the other details that need attention.

I finally have a day off tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be terrific & I'll be able to go for a ride. If not, guess I'll get back to the laundry room & try to make a dent in the mountains there, lol.

Will try to be more consistent with this blog. Please be patient......it's all new to me.........& some days I don't feel I have anything worth writing, then days go by & Miss Misery asks me whaz'up with the blog. Hopefully I'll get better at it as time goes by.......

Have a great week, & I'll be back!!

To Miss Misery

OMG.................here I am still drooling over last night's wonderful dinner
we had at Princess Pouty's place...........that I completely let thoughts of
food overrule love, lol.

After a late night.....I was heading off to bed at 1am this morning.....when Miss Misery popped into my room to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. She handed me a home-made card done in my favorite colours & wrote me a lovely note straight from her heart. What a wonderful way to go off to sleep, thinking of her precious words,
and revelling in her hugs & kisses!

This daughter of mine sure knows what I need & when I need a little something
extra and she sure knows how to make sure that I feel her love. I only hope
that in the busy~ness of our daily lives that she knows in her heart how much
I truly love her (& her sisters' & Dad too, of course). Miss Misery is definitely a ray of sunshine & warmth in my life!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

What a lovely sunny day even though it's not as warm as I'd hoped for. I hope Mothers everywhere enjoy today & do whatever their hearts desire. Me....I'm just chillin'.....having a lazy day napping, reading, playing on the computer.

I'm also enjoying my thoughts from last evening when my Princess Pouty had us over for a belated birthday dinner/Mother's Day dinner. What a nice treat~not cooking dinner!! First
Princess Pouty made pasta (my favorite) with a twist~she used pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms, garlic, 3 kinds of sauce, more garlic & fresh mozzarella cheese. Cheese garlic bread & sauteed shrimp (in garlic & butter, of course) rounded out this lovely dinner, with ice cream cake to finish it off. My girls gave me a gift certificate for my favorite Greek restaurant, a gift set full of spa stuff, a magazine & a totally beautiful Mother's Day Card that was long & hard for me to read through my tears..............all my girls are awesome..........and really made my heart swell even more with the love & pride I've always held for these beautiful creatures.

At touching moments like this I really wonder where they came from & how I was so lucky to be their Mom. They are rays of sunshine in our lives and moments like these definitely outshine the not so pleasant moments all parents & kids go through. Times like these are treasured and definitely remind us how awarding parenting is..........

Think I'll sign off here.........shouldn't have reread the card again........tears are threatening to take over. Must call Princess Pouty and thank her again for last night........and call Princess Grace to see if she'll be home for dinner tonight. Princess Sassy got someone to cover her shift at work tonight so I don't have to do any driving.........hmmm..........I think I hear the mango rum calling my name!

Miss Misery has been busy today creating a blog for her good friends that are taking off for Europe & Ireland for the next year. I'm sure they'll have wonderful adventures over there &
am looking forward to reading about them. I'm not sure when they'll be able to start writing as they have a million things to do before taking off Tuesday..........but I'm sure it will be worth the wait. Miss Misery will probably explain more about it, but here's the link she gave me.

http://thebackpackers.blogspot.com

Happy trails, you two, & I hope you both have the time of your lives!! You will definitely be missed around here but everyone will be able to keep up with your adventures. Hopefully, you'll be back home before you know it...........but if you decide to stay in Ireland don't expect too much peace & quiet! I'm sure many of your friends will be saving up to head over to visit with you two...................Have a blast!!!

from Miss Misery's Mom
(& the rest of the Family too)
.............XXXXOOOO

Dynamite Anyone????

Here it is, Friday night, and I haven't done anything more around here except 3 loads of laundry........well, I finished a book & started another one.......totally enjoying the weather
on the back deck this morning. I can't believe in 2 days off of work that I didn't accomplish more. Guess I'll be working my butt off tomorrow morning trying to get the house into shape. It's supposed to be a great weekend weather-wise........so I'd better get cracking so that my
Honey & I can try to get in some riding. There's several charity rides this weekend that I'd like to go on. (My Honey & I leaving our oldest daughter's place.....the Cool Parents, lol)



Got to go shopping with my better half today to buy a new dishwasher. Our old one was recalled due to a problem that could result in an electrical fire. Since it was going on 8 years old we opted for the $75.00 we were offered by the company involved instead of having a repairman come out to fix the problem. The dang thing was leaking badly and falling apart anyways........so now I have a lovely new one & I'm very happy that the inside is stainless steel instead of the cheap plastic that stains & retains not so lovely old food smells, lol.

Took Miss Misery to get some photos developed today after picking her up from co-op. She
needs to finish a project for the end of the month and had some great pictures from the last few outings with the members she volunteers with. I must admit that I greatly admire Miss Misery's natural abilities to be able to work with these young adults with special needs. I think that she's amazing with them and they seem to love her too. I'm very excited for her to do her college course in Social Work. I think that she'll love it and do an amazing job once she gets her diploma. Social Services will luck out in getting this gem of a young women in their midst.

Before leaving the mall, we decided to stop at the shoe store in hopes of finding a pair for Prom. No such luck today.......but Miss Misery scored a leopard/cheetah print purse and matching wedgie sandals. My, but what a fetish she has for purses..........but she doesn't ask for much. Although I don't understand the extent of her love for purses, I do occasionally try to indulge her. I do believe that she was grinning all of the way home thinking about them. Guess we'll give shoe shopping for Prom another try next week so that we can get her dress altered for them.

Well, guess I'll sign off here........gotta get some sleep so that I can get up fairly early tomorrow & tackle this house........or maybe get some tanning/reading done by the pool.....sigh......the next major overhaul will be getting a new liner for the pool........never a dull moment.

Have a good weekend everyone. Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there.......enjoy your day!!

I Survived the "Big 5-0"

Hey Everyone,

I'm back & I survived the "Big 5-0" last Friday! I lucked out and had the day off work,
so my better half took me to New York for a long weekend. We left Friday, in honour of
the big day.....as well as in honour of the 1st National Female Ride Day. We rode to
Alexandria Bay where I celebrated with a couple of mango rums' on the rocks (and nothing
to eat at this point which wasn't too bright of me, lol) Since I'm the "DD" at 99.9% of any
fun stuff due to Mom's Taxi Service, I am so totally a cheap drunk (great on honey's wallet though). We had to wait in the bar for our dinner table, so naturally I had to have a drink.
I wolfed down the whole (small) bowl of popcorn that the bartender left with our drink order.
I was a good girl and managed to nurse my Long Island Ice Tea through-out the entire dinner(it's amazing that the bartender could tell I needed food, lol). After we got back to the motel
I passed on the nightcap & basically went to bed. Must have been all that fresh air during the ride........I was asleep by 10pm.

We left for Lake Placid the next morning. The mountain roads were great..........not too much traffic yet.........sunny weather but still kinda chilly. We were supposed to head further south but I mentioned that a couple of drinks & a jacuzzi would warm me up real quick.....unfortunately the only hotel at Lake Placid that was open & had a jacuzzi wanted almost
$500 US per night. I decided that I'd settle for a hot shower & some more mango rum drinks & that kind of money would go much farther if spent on other things.

Didn't get much warmer Sunday, but we both came home with great wind burns & slept like rocks after riding all day from Lake Placid to get home. We managed to stop for HOT coffee & yummy blueberry fritters for supper ~dang travel centres are way too busy to wait for a hot meal on Sunday evenings. Made it home about 9PM...........and were pleased to see that the kids saved some pizza for us..........I didn't even have to cook & made it to bed by 10pm. Although I slept very well, the morning came far too early for me! 2 more days then I have a 4 day weekend (wow, 2 long weekends in a row..........better make the most of it before management notices how my hours have been........that will be the end of long weekends, lol)

The kids were pretty good while we were gone. They managed to get some housework done for me in spite of their social obligations.........they must have been bored & missed us.......it's not too often they volunteer to do chores.......I'm lucky if they get time to do their own laundry, lol.

Anyways, Miss Misery will be home in a few minutes. I haven't seen her since Thursday, so
I'll stop here for now. I need to ask her how to add some other Stuff to my blog........haven't been around lately for her to "roll her eyes at me" when I ask dumb stuff about computers, blogging, etc. Just kidding.............she's pretty patient with me.......even if she explains things to me far too fast for this old, un-technological mind to keep up with....ha ha.

Thank Goodness for XanGo

I’ve so been dragging my butt the last few weeks…just cannot seem catch up on my sleep. Trying to enjoy any downtime from work by riding (even though I should start the yard & garden cleanup) involves too much intake of fresh air. After the winter months staying holed up in the house I’m finding it a bit hard to adjust to the wonderful weather. By the time I’m off work my body is telling me that it’s nap time…as if I were a little one again. It hasn’t helped that my supply of XanGo was pretty much exhausted so I hadn’t been taking it lately. Thank goodness this month’s order came in and I’m getting back on track with it again.

XanGo is a nutritional food supplement in beverage form that’s full of anti-oxidents & anti-inflammatory properties. It’s made from the entire mangosteen fruit which is also known as the “Queen of Fruits”. Very popular in the eastern world, XanGo is the company who finally was able to patent the use of the whole fruit for this beverage & brought it to the western part of the world. Now it is sold in 18 countries worldwide by internet sales only. I took the “30 Day Challenge” almost a year ago and was so impressed with it that I decided to start my own business as a distributor of this wonderful tasting beverage. It’s recommended to be tried over a 3 month period so that your body can get used to the product & you can adjust the amounts you take to suit you personally. You only need ounces per day for average health concerns, but the downfall I found with my family was that it tastes so good that they drink it by the glassful instead. It’s a good thing that taking too much will definitely not hurt you, and for those on medications, it will not interfere with them either.

I found that a lot of my customers would go on the 30 Day Challenge and decide against it. Within 2-4 weeks, most of them came back to me with wanting to get back on the product again. While using it, many didn’t seem to see any differences, but sure noticed differences once they stopped drinking it. A lot of people refer to it as their “Happy Juice”, and like me, are totally amazed at how it improved their energy & stress levels. I also like that it helps with my arthritis & it has decreased my downtime when suffering from migraine headaches. In fact, I’ve just realized that it’s been months since I’ve had a migraine. I usually lose at least 2-3 days when I have one and then it takes me several days to get back to normal. With XanGo I’ve been able to function pretty much as usual in spite of the migraine since it’s so much milder than I’m used to.

Being very skeptical of this product when I first was introduced to it, I was very nervous when I woke up at 3am one morning with a full blown migraine. I actually stood in the middle of the kitchen, painfully trying to decide whether to go to the medicine cupboard or the refrigerator. I really wanted to give the mangosteen juice the benefit of the doubt, but was very chicken to do so. My migraine was so bad and all I wanted to do was to basically knock myself out to try to sleep it away…which usually is an impossible thing to do. I caved & went for my medicine, but also took 1/2 a milk glass of the juice, and hoped for the best. I was very surprised when I actually got back to sleep (laying down, not uncomfortably upright in a chair) for another 4 hours! When I woke up I “hit the bottle for another shot” & went back to sleep again. This went on for the rest of the day, and I was pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning with a very mild twinge of the remaining migraine, and shocked at how much energy I had. I had no trouble fuctioning normally that day…the first time ever in my history of migraines that I didn’t lose days of that week.

Miss Misery also uses this juice. However, like many teens, she jumped into this with both feet & then became “forgetful Jones”. But while she was regularly using it, she noticed several small things improving. She had more energy, and her joints didn’t become swollen as often as they used too. I’m trying to remind her to start using it more often though, because we did notice that difference.

I’m so glad that this product is available to Canadians through the internet. This product benefits the entire body from head to toe. Everyone has different experiences, however, but they all have the same thing in common…they want optimum health. Some experience minor benefits, some experience major benefits. I’m happy with what it has done for me & hope that over time my body will realize even more benefits. If any of this interests you, feel free to check out my website…you don’t have anything to lose, but may have something to gain!!

I'm New to This

I've decided to join my niece and my daughter in the blogging world. My daughter, Miss Misery, practically forced this on me - I guess she thinks I need something "new" in my life to pass the time, considering I'll be 5o this time next week!

Although I’m closing in on the Big 5-0 in less than a week…I sure don’t feel that old (unless you count how my bones feel in damp or extremely cold weather). I can’t believe that my kids are growing up so fast. As most of the mothers out there know, time sure flies when you’re raising a family…there’s never enough time in a day. Even though it seems like “just yesterday we brought them home from the hospital”, in a blink of an eye they’ve gone and grown up on us and are embarking on their own lives, or are pretty much well on the way to doing so.

Our oldest got engaged last November & has been living with her fiance for several years. They bought a house together a couple of years ago which is only about 10 minutes away on the backroads. With their work schedules & busy lives we don’t nearly see enough of them, but now that the weather’s nicer I hope that will change. Our second daughter just finished her 1st year at college taking Medical Administration & is looking forward to banking some money working over the summer. One more year at school for her, then I imagine she’ll look for a place on her own once she has a real job. Daughter #3 just recently was accepted at college for Social Service Worker. It’s a two year program, but since she doesn’t drive yet she’ll only be home on the weekends. This will seem quite strange to her Dad & I since the first two girls commuted to school from home. We were able to get a nice place for Miss Misery a couple of weeks ago. The people who rent the basement apartment seem really nice and MM seemed quite comfortable with them. The bonus is that a friend of hers from her old public school will be sharing the apartment with her. They both are ecstatic that they have roommates that they know well & are looking forward to their new adventures on their own…although I know that MM is still a bit nervous about living on her own. She’ll only be about 45 minutes away so will be able to come home every weekend.

Our youngest will be 15 next month & is doing well at school. She’s been working part-time since September at a fast food joint & started another part-time job today at a kennel. Unfortunately, living in the country limits your job choices...not too much call to have tanning salons or spas on every corner! Once she’s 16, I’m sure that she’ll go for her licence immediately & save to buy a car so that she can have more choices of places to work that would be more appealing.

As for me, I went back to work in October, working at Tim Horton’s. Seemed like a little extra cash would be a good thing what with a wedding not far off in the future & two in college... and it won’t be long before our youngest will be getting ready for college herself. I started off working the midnight shift because I’m normally a night owl, but found that I missed my better half far too much & also missed out on too much with our girls. Seemed that any time off work was spent trying to catch up on my sleep. After five months of that I gave up & switched to day shifts...by then my sleep patterns were so messed up that now I have no problem starting at 5:30am. It only took me almost two months to actually sleep through the night again instead of waking up every 20 minutes. I actually have a life with my family again, which is a great thing!