OK so further to the last post..

..I called around to a few places myself to see if I could talk with a counsellor. I wanted to make sure that I was dealing with Millie properly and that I wasn't setting her back at all. I found out that we have an "ART Therapist" for children in town and I spoke with her on the phone. She seems fabulous and thinks that we/she can help Millie figure out a "plan" of what she can do when she is feeling anxious or paniced. Without seeing her, the Therapist can't tell if it's general anxiety or seperation anxiety - either way, she figures with some work we can get her back on track. Each day we try to keep things predictable, calm, and happy so that she feels secure, etc. We are on a wait list for this therapist so I am hoping that we can get in to see her sooner than later.. until then - we will continue with this.

Also, this pic was from the weekend, Oaksie was at a sleepover and Millie wanted to play a game so.. I set up this wash line and Millie played "laundry day" for about 2 hours with me. She would wash the clothes in her washer machine (she just got new batteries again so it's like a new toy!), then hang them to dry in the sushine, and spray them with "fresh linen" scented bathroom spray. Ahh what a great day... it really was so cute.. as you can see.. the sun was very bright out by the wash line.. hence the sunglasses!

I seem to have misplaced my parenting handbook ~

For the last 8-10 days Millie has really been going through and extremely rough patch. She has every single classic sign of GENERALIZED ANXIETY. She has been suffering from excessive and uncontrollable worry. She seems to worry about things like the future (where we are going to be), being on time for appointments, health, school performance, crime, change in routines, and family matters. She seems to worry when there is really no problem or any realistic circumstance to cause the worry. Mostly she's good when she's distracted but as soon as her mind relaxes - it's back to the same panic mode. It has been really hard on all of us - especially her but for us, it's horrible just having to worry about her feeling so helpless, you know? She doesn't want to be at school or daycare, or with Collin, she worries about what's happening in 20 minutes, 3 hours, tomorrow, constantly - her muscles are so tight and she is so tired. Poor thing. Usually with general anxiety, it could be any event from the last 6 months that has triggered this, not just something from last week.
I am going to see the family doc tomorrow - hoping that he can set us on the right track or confirm that we are doing the right things with her. So as I said before, where the hell is the chapter on kids and stress? *sigh*

Just a few new pics..

All is well here.. just thought you'd like another slideshow!

Art in the Park

An artist friend of mine offers kids Art classes on Saturday afternoons. Last saturday was to be an "Art in the Park" theme but since the weather was chilly -- they met up in the local Arts Unlimited building instead. The kids (and me) painted old chairs for the local library. They wanted them to be interesting and unique - the kids had a great time cause they could do anything they wanted.. it really was cute. Here's some pictures to enjoy!

The post weekend weight in...

Well all weekend I have been eating Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack.. like I was supposed to. All the while I was freaking out thinking... "There is a lot of food going in.. I don't know if this is going to work". So this morning I stepped on the scale (There's one here at the office - we don't have one at home) and guess what??????????????????

I'm down 3 pounds!!! What the heck.. this might just work!

Appt w/ the nutritionalist

I desperatly have needed a hysterectomy for the last 4 years, my Adenomyosis is getting worse with every cycle. The doctors have said they will do it as soon as I am at a certain weight. I also am still hoping to get my breast reduction done.. and again there.. need to be at a consistent, "pre-baby" weight in order to get the best results.
Well, it's high time that I figure out what's up with my weight. As most of you know I have struggled with this for years but it seems like things are getting worse not better. I think a lot about all the reality shows of late -- the "biggest loser", the "x-weighted", etc and often ponder if this is my "ROCK BOTTOM". This is the point where I say I can't take it anymore... I'm not sure if this is what that feels like but... I think I'm there.
About 5 months ago I got an Ellyptical trainer and have been doing Cardio at nights, some core excersizes on the yoga ball, taking some classes, trying everything from a soup diet to Slim Fast.. ++ plus the last 3 months I have joined the gym. Me and a friend go 3-4 days a week at lunches.. and for all of that effort... I have lost a whopping... 10.5lbs. I know.. granted that is nothing to scoff at, it's great.. but.. what I need is to lose 80 lbs so the little 10 doesn't seem so big in comparison.
So.. I decided to see a nutritionalist as that is definately a key to success that I have been "thinking" I was doing right. She had me track all my food for a week, and low and behold.. I'm not eating enough. ?? How does that KARMA work?? I have been averaging only about 800 calories a day so my body is in starvation mode.. so all the while when I have thought I was eating small portions, etc.. I have been scaring the sh*t out of my body and it has been storing it all to fat. LOVELY.
So the new plan is to .....

• eat more (every 3 hours) and of course make them healthy choices
• drink water more consistently through the day
• try to sleep more too - I am only getting about 6 hours of sleep now, and that's just craziness!
• add more cardio and less weights to my workout routines

At this point I am only working on a 2 week goal so I dont' get overwhelmed. I will see how it goes, but I must say -- I haven't felt this optimistic in quite some time. So.. posting this is mostly just a bit of therapy for me, getting it out there, making it real by being accountable.. but you are welcome to read on and anticipate updates.

It is possible to be busy doing nothing special

And that's precicely what we have been doing. Just humming along, not up to much - hench the lack of posts, I guess. We are back to work and school and schedules, etc and that seems to keep us as busy as we ever want to be.

Collin had a flu-is/cold-ish virus and he was sick for at least 8 days (3 of them off work - which is HUGE cause he never takes days off). The girls and I for the most part averted that disaster and didn't get it... until last week - It hit me hard and I was off work for 1 day then back - I didn't get it as badly as Collin. Millie has a snot nose and Oaksie has remained fairly healthy. Of course as of yesterday Collin is back to the body aches again so hopefully he doesn't get too bad again. Not sure if he could take it!!

In other news - Oaksie finally lost her first front tooth... so cute... So with the one that she had to have pulled further back and that - she is little gappy tooth redneck! Gotta love this age.

We have also been going on some snomobile trips with friends and family.. just last Sunday we were "trying" to go ice-fishing at Cluculz Lake. Well we took the 25 minute drive to get there and per the men it was "too windy" so we decided to go to Cobb Lake. (which after getting lost and driving back and forth up the highway and back.. is about a 1 hour drive.. in actuality only 15 minutes) The two other men that we were travelling with got stuck in the snow prior to even getting to the lake. So our Sunday afternoon fish trip turned into a 3 hour "dig out 2 pick-ups" extravaganza!! It was funny. Of course - all forestry workers, all 4x4 trucks.. stuck - having to phone a friend with an even bigger truck to save the day. The kids and me sat in the truck at the junction to direct the hero's to the site of the rednecks! While we were there WAITING.. we took some pictures of a feller buncher that was there.. it was cool for the kids!

New look for 2007

Whatcha think? I am trying to get 2 minutes to update but for now here just a quick "HI" - we had a great x-mas and New Years.

Merry Christmas to all...

Well it's my last day of work today, and thus will be my last day with high speed, wonderous internet access! So it will be my last little comments before Christmas...

#1 on my list is Gisele --- THANK YOU so much for the picture of you and Ken! I was so pleased to see it when we opened the package up!

#2 thanks to my wonderful husband Collin who is 30% more into the Christmas spirit this year and is really holding us together (LOVE YOU BABE!)

#3 YIPEE - Oma and Opa are here... the kids are having such a great time with them.

#4 Congratulations to Wade and Cathy with their new babe "Wynne" - she is so gorgeous and what a great 1st Christmas you will have!

#5 thanks to everyone who sent us pictures and/or letters for Christmas - they are so great to receive!

#6 we are certainly wishing we could be with Collin's family in Boyle this year too.. (if only we could move Boyle, AB to Prince George, BC!!)

#7 Here's to hoping that 2007 is just as filled with excitement as this year was!

#8 for anyone that I didn't have an address or forgot (jeez I hope I didn't), here's our family photo for 2006......

We have a new family photo...

BUT you'll have to wait for it in the mail! HA - I know that's mean, but I just had a look at them and I wanted Collin to be able to pick which one he liked the best before I publish anything! I will however give you a tidbit of the girls.. They look so much more grown up all of a sudden, how does that happen?
I am beginning to feel a bit more in the Christmas spirit~

.. more house pictures...

I posted some pics quite some time ago.. right when we were buying the place - mostly outside pictures, but now when I was taking some pics of the bathroom renos-- I got a few inside shots.

This is our entry - with new paint job (Grassland Green)..

This is the kitchen/dining room area.. the main plan is to paint the walls Merlot and the cabinets will be white much like the bathroom ones. We are also replacing the range overhood fan and the countertop range. Eventually...

This is just looking the other way from the kitchen/dinning room area.. this is our table + our reading by the fire area..

Next is the living room, and you can see the entrance in the background..



Then the officey/workout/sewing/playing area... it's cluttered but it works.

There are certainly other areas of the house but pictures just don't do the rooms justice, they always look funny, so until I get some better shots.. this is it!!

El Bano is new - o

House reno's are so much fun (not really) but when you are on the uphill portion of the battle it is so rewarding. I really have to thank my sister for helping me get the bathroom done. She is a perfect cutter inner and so she helped with the first coat and after some drama, and no cell phone coverage, she also did the second coat. YIPES - still sorry about that sis! I am sorry that I didn't take a before photo of the bathroom cause holy crap that wall paper was UGLY.. this is the after shots.. envision it minus the clutter and seashell toilet seat, and add some baseboards -- oh and a shower curtain that I am sewing myself with fabulous fabric. The color is chocolate fondue.. very cool and the cabinets used to be hideous dark wood.

LOCAL STARS

The girls made the local newspaper yesterday...

There was a town-wide book fair at the local library. The books sold there were $1 a piece with all the proceeds going back to the library. They had a lot of fun filtering all sorts of great stories! They were the first kids to arrive and were into the kids books ASAP! It was quite cute. I can't help but love their adoration for books. The library also has a great romp/play room for kids so even Mommy had a change to paruse the other books. It really was a good time.

long time, no type

Last week I took a "Programming with Python" course in Prince George. It was very in depth and l......o.....n.......gggggg, but good. So I stayed in PG at the Treasure Cove Hotel & CASINO. It was nice. Collin had the girls back and forth with my mama and I came back Friday. Millie had been sick with the FLU the whole 5 days that I was gone, poor thing. Over the weekend we painted and did some renos, I got the Flu Monday/Tuesday but am back on track now! Hope everyone was well while I was away - I've got some catching up to do.

Trick or Treat?

Happy HALLOWEEN everyone! Today is looking rather snowy outside but still feels like Halloween. Especially after the sugar filled potluck here at work!

Here's a pic of Millie dressed up as an "Orange Ribbon Witch" We got black hair spray and painted her nails black too! She is having lots of fun dressed up today at daycare. They are having a Halloween party in her Kindergarten class for 2 days.. one yesterday and one tomorrow so Millie is lucky to get 3 whole days of Witchiness.
And here's Oaksie, she is going as a witch this year too - only her costume has purple ruffles all around the hat. Her cape is rather gothic and is sheer with purple embrodery all to the ground. She feels really grown up and loves to practice her cackle... Of course this picture was from last night just trying things on.. she was buck naked in this thing.. today she is wearing a black shirt and jeans underneath! Wish you all could be here so we could knock on your doors!


The picture below is of Oaksie and her best friend Kimberly at their Brownies Halloween party from yesterday!

And my sister Tracy.. as a fairy princess! She looks so good, she is a SPARKS leader for Millie's unit.. I am sure they had a great time!

Freakish snow storm..

Well Friday it started to snow about 7 am and never stopped until last night. It was that we slushy gushy terrible snow that just stuck to everything. Collin actually flipped the Jetta onto it's side on Friday on his way home from work. Thankfully, the only damage was to a hub cap.. lucky. I am so glad that he was not hurt.
So here are some pictures.. though they don't do it any justice, of what our place looked like. The snow was so wet and so fast. We got at least a foot of snow overnight! A bunch of our trees were bent right over with the weight. Quite a few of them had the tops snap off and crash to the ground. Of course, this really gave Collin a chance to use the UGLY TRUCK to plow snow. So he was quite pleased. +++ he also got to get out the skidoo and rip around! We were out of power for the better part of Saturday but had a good time anyway. And the kids of course loved it cause it was perfect snow man weather.
So to sum it up - thank goodness for electricity and wood heat, and mittens.. we couldn't have made it without you.

Is it possible..

that I have run out of things to say?

I have not posted since Oct.12 and it is now the 20th and still, I've got nothing. Which for me is a phenomenon that I am not familiar with. I seem to have something to say or some event to talk about but this last week.. nothing but static.

So - I guess I'll just have to post about not posting and call it a day! Have a good weekend all!

Tony the CAT

We have a new kitty! We were really sad when our other cat Charlie died. And so we realized that we still had our other cat Jazzy - who was really aloof and pissy but had just this summer FINALLY turned into a decent mouser and was actually affectionate. The the day we got to move into our place, after 2 1/2 months of living there in the yard, she disappears and has not come back. I think she was eaten by something... so last Friday, Collin & Millie went to the SPCA and adopted a new cat... TONY. He's a 2 year old orange tabby.. he is still a bit shy but he's coming around. Oreo has officially been put in her place and get the full hiss/scratch routine everytime she is within 3 feet of Tony. It's actually kinda funny.

My nephews

It occured to me (after a bit of help ;)) that I haven't really posted all that often about my nephews. Mitchell is 9 and Brendan is 3. They live about 5 minutes drive from us and so we are lucky enough to get to see them all the time. I can remember when I was growing up, we didn't have all that many cousins around. I used to just adore the times when we would go to Summerland to visit Aunt Jess and Uncle Pete. Dono and Jason were so different from us back then and we got along so well as kids that it was THE GREATEST times when we got to hang out with them. We got to torture them a bit too.. tricking them into playing with chickens feet and other stupid Vanderhoof stuff! ( I still laugh about that Dono!).

So it's really cool that our girls get to have that kind of relationship with their cousins on a daily basis. Almost as if they are brothers and sisters. It's very neat. The four of them get along so well (most of the time) that it is cool seeing them together. Are they cute? I guess I get to live vicariously through Tracy as to what it would be like having boys and vice versa for her and girls!

Nechako White Sturgeon - Endangered

Nechako White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative (NWSRI)
Dwelling in deep pools of the Nechako River is a survivor from the age of the dinosaurs - the Nechako white sturgeon. This mysterious creature is the largest freshwater fish in Canada, and has existed relatively unchanged for millions of years – surviving volcanic eruptions, ice ages and climatic upheavals. But the Nechako white sturgeon is now swimming in a current of change that is taking it to the very brink of extinction. It is ranked as Critically Imperiled by the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre and is an Endangered Species according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).
In the last 50 years, the Nechako white sturgeon population has dropped from what some scientists believe was a minimum of 5000 fish to less than 600. And the vast majority of those fish are more than 30 years old. The lack of younger fish means that sturgeon are either not reproducing successfully or that the young are not surviving to adulthood. As sturgeon do not begin spawning until they are 15 to 30 years old, the lack of young sturgeon in the Nechako means that an entire generation is already missing. (An exerpt from the Recovery Website http://www.nechakowhitesturgeon.org/sturgeon/).

As part of the recovery initiative, the local school district works with Fisheries to involve kids of all ages in this process. Earlier this year, a mother sturgeon was caught and since sturgeon spawn only once in a 2-6 year period, they (Fisheries) took full advantage. 5000 juveniles were raised and released into the Nechako River on Oct. 3/4 here in Vanderhoof. My girls each got to number, name & release a sturgeon of their own into the river. It was so cool!



So here go "Squirmy" & "Jackie" to grow into full sized sturgeons! Which by the way are a HUGE fish. Largest ever recorded was 1500lbs. And something over 15 feet long.. YIKES. They are very cool, and very prehistoric.