I'm Back (sorta)

Hi ya friends!
Its been so long. I had a very rough time these last 5 months. I was diagnosed with chronic headache/migraine disorder and had some CRAZY with all caps PMS symptoms, perimenopausal perhaps.  The up side is I have some preventative meds that are working well, some bioidentical hormone therapy that is preventing the crazies and I'm feeling MUCH better.
Thank you all for the kind words you posted when i was so unwell.
I am continuing my volunteer work at the animal rehabilitation center and my sub work at the kids school. I am making a Harry Potter Monopoly game for my daughter and a Hunger Games (Mocking Jay) jean jacket for same daughter. We just bought a house so I am purging the house of years worth of crazy purchases and starting to box up the rest! I don't know when I will blog next but I wanted to touch base and say hello to everyone and let you know that I 'm still enjoying your blogs and facebook status updates.
xoxo

updates

Hello Lovelies!
I've been AWOL for a while and I've missed so many of your daily adventures!
Congratulations Kelly on your epic weight loss and your bikini!!! You are awesome.
Holly, I'm sorry to hear about your Nana.
Here is the latest with me. Since Nov. 2011 I've been suffering from a variety of symptoms from migraines, anxiety and palpitations to daily headaches and hormonal craziness.  In addition to everything else that life throws at you.
 I have now been diagnosed with Daily chronic headache and menstrual migraine. I have fallen into a bit of a depression wondering if I will ever feel "good" again. I was frustrated that I couldn't do everything that I wanted to do and that I wasn't having painfree days, and I worried about how I would manage the future if it involved daily pain. However, I have found a new medication that is helping with the daily headache and so far haven't had a migraine in 2 weeks , although the medication makes me bone -weary, exhausted for several hours a day, I'm trying to learn when I can take it so that it minimizes the headaches but also minimizes the exhaustion.  I am grateful though for so many things as I have met many people on fb who suffer so much worse than I do, with chronic debilitating migraine pain and terrible side effects from the medication they take,   People who don't have the money to pay for their meds, who's insurance doesn't cover the number of meds they need, people who don't have family/friends who will help them, people who have been living with this terrible disease far longer than I have.
I don't know what the future holds for me, for my headaches/migraines, my quest to become a Holistic Health Practitioner, to become a home owner. I do know that right now i'm not in a place to continue blogging. I won't continue to blog when I'm feeling unhappy/scared/unsure... I don't want to burden all of you with these feelings - we all have our demons to overcome. So when I am in a better place I will return and hopefully you'll still be around.
Happy summer to all of you!!

Quickie

Okay - migraines are gone for this month. I have 3 choices to make before my TOM to try to control the migraines. A birth control with hormones that flux, this is what I was on for YEARS, it allows me to go period free for 3 months at a time, thus avoid the hormonal migraines, a birth control with fixed hormones that many migraineurs have had luck with - nuva ring. Anyone tried it? Down side, a period every month but this will probably be my first try. Then the crazy one, procardia, a bp med that is used as a migraine preventative BUT and here's the insane part, I have LOW bp, like 91/63. So if I take a bp med it may lower my bp even more, FUN FUN FUN, then I may pass out - did I tell you I suffer from occassional anxiety?! But its ok 'cause I'll probably have to take a salt pill to raise my bp to counteract the preventative! Look out birth control here I come.
I still have chronic tension headaches but I can manage these.
Lately I've been reminded of how lucky I am to be able to take a pill to get rid of my migraines.  My mom's friend and neighbor died 4 months after being diagnosed out of the blood with pancreatic cancer, I learned of two young boys at my kids school who are battling cancer, I learned of a young mom near us who was diagnosed with ALS while pregnant 2 years ago.... So today, I feel good so I will ROCK this day on the bad days I will baby myself and not feel badly about it!
In 30mins my mom and dad (who are in town, YEAH) and I will garage sale, then I'll take my dd to tennis lessons and then I will finish a paper, the last one to renew my teaching certificate AND then I can get into my holistic health practitioners box of books, dvds, cds..... to start myself down my new path. 
A few more random things, my friend Lanie Panie is on a new path too, if you are interested in health check out her blog http://healthyschmealthy.blogspot.com/2012/06/after-2-12-weeks-of-iin-training.html

Kelly has inspired me to press the checkout button at Athleta.com to buy this cute skirt that makes me feel FUN, in razzle purple http://athleta.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=46842&vid=1&pid=214985

Here is my most pinned pin on pintrest this week. http://pinterest.com/pin/86131411593920966/

Have a great weekend lovelies!!

Bad Days again

I have to write this here because I can't do it anywhere else.  today was day 6 of migraine world. they go away for a day  but they come back and the postdrome fog and depression is bad, now my neck aches from all the migraines and my emotions are so unstable I can't stop crying which makes my head hurt and that makes me cry more.  My doctor says I will stable out when my hormones stable out but I feel that i might go crazy before that happens. I want to take the birth control pill again b/c they'll make the migraines go away for a bit, yes I know they are a class 1 carcinogen but even cancer sounds better than the emotional hell I've fallen into. CRAZY with all caps I know.

Tonight my youngest has a double header ball game, then another game tomorrow, I have to help with field day tomorrow and then drive my oldest to a competition all day Saturday.  Maybe these responsibilities are a good thing, otherwise I might curl up in my bed all day long.  Where did the happy days of good health go?

Have a good day my blogger friends, I'm off to fight the craziness, maybe it'll help to keep moving (teacher gifts to buy, baseball gloves to buy, hair to cut/highlight, toes to paint, knox to buy for synchro, house to clean, paper to write for course - there really isn't time for crazy).

Just a quick edit not - I'm starting to feel a little better, no more tears for now. Getting some shit done.

Whatcha Reading

I don't have a WTF Wednesday like Laura and Drazil - except for a WTF is with th e4 migraines I've had in the past week. Enough already! HORMONES!!!! Seems I'm not in perimenopause after all, I'm fertile as ever. WTF that's scarier than starting early menopause!!!

I'm trying something a little different here. In an attempt to avoid the 2 courses I have to finish (not my health practitioner courses) I am reading. Here's what's on my kindle today.

So, I recently finished the story of Scott Bolzan, "My Life Deleted"
He is an ex NFLer who slips in the bathroom at work and winds up with the worst case of retrograde amensia his doctors have ever seen.
To the best of my knowledge he still hasn't regained any of the memories of his life before 2008! FREAKY! Its an interesting story of becoming aware of yourself. Inspiring.

I have also succombed to the hype that is "50 Shades of Grey"
After hearing many ladies talk about how great this book is supposed to be, erotica, porn for women..... I decided it certainly couldn't hurt, and could possibly help (if you know what I'm saying!) so I bought the kindle copy.
So 85pgs into the book (which has 514), I'm interested. Christian Grey is THE man. So far nothing earth shattering but  the author paints a very controlled, in charge, confident picture of this man that I'm falling for him too. Strangely, I keep picturing him with grey hair even though he's described as having copper colored hair. Maybe its the title. Have you read it yet?  I'm not sure about it, as I flip through the pages I'm catching snippets of dominence.....  but that's about 30 pages from where I am so I'll update you as I go.

Bunch of Randomness

 Ahhh its been a while. We've been crazy busy with sports. Here's my little man at the plate. He hit a double the other day and he's the youngest on the team. Most of the boys are a year older. Proud Mama!!

This is his very cute, very young coach.

I feel so old. At least I'm not old enough to be his mom (almost but not quite).

These are my babies. They were orphaned and now we're fostering them. The little critters need to be fed every 1hr! What the hell was I thinking!!!!!!

Health stuff

I've been doing really well now that the doc suggested I use progesterone cream as I'm off the bc pill. Its been helping alot with the anxiety I used to get and the headaches but yesterday I got a migraine and dumb ass that I am, I tried to use 2 excedrin and then extra magnesium and then a peppermint stick to get rid of it b/c I don't like taking prescript meds. Well of course I ended up having to take the max dose of my migraine pills and then had palps all night. I think I slept from 1:30 - 4:30 only. Needless to say I'm an emotional basket case this morning. I still don't have my bloodwork results back from my doctor but my hormones are definitely doing something crazy.

I have school work to do, and not the fun, holistic kind I'm so excited to start - here's the box of books that arrived on Sat!! I'm being disciplined and not opening it until I finish the other two!

A New Direction

I have been a teacher for almost 18 years.  I am finishing up 2 online courses to renew my teaching certificate in this state, as I used to teach in Canada.  I'm not ready to give up on my chosen career after spending soo much time, energy and $$ getting here but I amd moving in new directions.
After a variety of crazy minor health experiences this past year I've come to realize how much I value healthy alternatives to modern medicine. Believe me I'm not against modern medicine, I have lots of fabulous, reliable meds in my cabinet but I love that I have choices through Eastern medicine that can help much of what plagues me.  SO I am going back to school (online, study in my pjs school) to become a Holistic Health Practitioner, GCNM.
I'm so excited to learn more about vitamins, minerals.... Here are the modules I get to study.

Module I
Basic Human Anatomy
Medical/Herbal Botanical Terminology
Toxicity and Detoxification
Dietary Guidelines

Module II Orthomolecular Nutrition
Weight loss
Alternative Healing Methods
Alternative Diagnostic Methods

Module III Environmental Medicine
Energy Work
Body-Mind Medicine
Drug-Herb-Vitamin Interactions

Module IV Common Ailments: Prevention and Treatment
History of Herbal Medicine
Eastern Medicine
Western Herbal Medicine

Module V Botany and Plant Identification and Harvesting
Making Herbal Remedies
Materia Medica/Therapeutic Herbalism
Business Procedures & Jurisprudence

Module VI Case Studies Consultant’s Guide to Analysis

I get to make herbal remedies in Module V and I have to send one in for grading!! All I can think about is Potions class in Harry Potter (I'm such an HP geek). 

My box of books and CDs.... should arrive in 1 week. Can't wait to show you everything I get!!!

BYOC - Bring Your Own Crazy!

BYOC - Bring Your Own Crazy!

1. Do you have any Mother’s Day traditions?

• We used to go to my moms for dinner but then we moved 5hrs away so now I try to find a fabulous gift and card to convey just how wonderful she is and send it to her. For me - often it involves buying plants and hoping my hubby remembers to take the kids out shopping for me - last year I took matters into my own hands and took the kids to pick out a pandora charm and bought myself a pandora necklace.

2. Do you take a daily vitamin? Why or why not?

• Several in fact. I take Magnesium, feverfew, B2 and B6 because they are supposed to help prevent migraines. I also take CoQ10 and fish oil - I really believe they are helping me stay at my current weight as they improve the efficiency of your metabolism. I have a love hate relationship with modern medicine and try to be as natural as possible.

3. Do you wear perfume every day? If yes, what kind?

• I don't wear much lately since my migraines gave me trouble but when I do I love Diamonds, Princess and a Mary Kay one - Bella

4. When you walk or run or work out outside – what do you take with you?

• MP3 player and my phone. I'm not gone long enough to need a water break - 3.1miles and often I run a 1.1 mile loop past my house 'cause my kids are sometimes home when I go.

5. Repeat question. Summarize your week.

• Its been pretty good. I am up to date on all my courses. I did have a migraine but the meds cleared it up so that's ok. Bring on the weekend.

Happy Harry Potter Birthday

My oldest turned 11 this month and had a Harry Potter themed birthday yet again. (3rd or 4th year running!)
However, because I love HP too we went gung ho.
Here is the marshmallow fondant I made to cover the cake. It looks just like regular fondant but because its only made out of marshmallows and powdered sugar it tastes SOOO much better!


This was the cake. I say was because it fell apart and we had to turn it into cake pops.

Here's the large cake pop Snitch

And here are the regular size Snitch cake pops.
I covered them with edible gold dust, then added the gold
sprinkles.  I think they turned out ok - and tasted
good too.

Kelly asked about Butterbeer so here it is. I found a recipe for Butterbeer - cream soda and butter flavoring. Some kids drank it, it wasn't like the Butterbeer at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios but it was ok.

These little hand santizers went into the loot bags. I created HP potions using an idea from Etsy and my own ingenuity. There was Doxicide, Wolfsbane, Skel-Gro, Amorticia - Love Potion and Polyjuice. My DD loved them and insisted that I make a full set just for her!

These little cereals were set up for the morning. I didn't manage to get a picture before the girls got to them so this is what was left over.

All the girls had a great time and its over again for another year.  I think we're renting a place for son's birthday, I really only have the creativity and energy for one full on birthday! :)

Nike workout - its AWESOME

This is the starting screenshot. Notice
yesterday I was only able to finish 6mins
of the 15 min ab burner workout!

Here is a great workout app my sister badgered me into trying and I'm so glad she did.
Its called Nike Training Club and the best part is its FREE although I would have paid for it now that I know how great it is.



Add caption

 Here is the next screen. You get to choose your workout. Get Lean is high interval cardio drills, Get Toned is light weights and intervals, Get Strong is higher weights, Get Focused is 15min workouts targeting trouble spots






This is the ab burner screen. I did this (ok 6mins of this) yesterday. One cool feature is that you can import your own music from your library to play while you work!
Another great feature is that it has a video clip of the move you are supposed to be doing so you know if you are doing it correctly. Awesome!

 Here is part of the core crunch workout. I haven't tried this one yet - gotta rest my abs today.

I don't work for Nike, they're not paying me to review this app (too bad)..... I just tried it and loved it.
Get Focused Leg workout today - wonder if I'll complete more than 6mins!

Let me know if you try this too!

Tomorrow its Harry Potter birthday bonanza - snitch cake, potion hand sanitizers, and wizard wand tag!! Betcha can't wait!

BYOC

BYOC - Bring Your Own Crazy!

It’s Friday – so it’s time for BYOC – Bring Your Own Crazy! We answer 5 questions to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break! Copy to your own blog and enjoy!


1. Do you have any siblings? What is your relationship with them? Good, bad, ugly?
I have a baby sister (4yrs younger). She is my bestest bestest friend. We talk everyday and then text and email too. She is my everything and I'm soo glad. Sometimes I wonder what my kids will do without a sibling of the same sex. My hubby hardly ever talks to his sister.

2. Let’s talk pizza. Do you prefer homemade or restaurant? What toppings are your fave?
Store bought. Usually Little Ceasars

My kids are picky eaters so we usually get pepperoni but I love Canadian (with pineapple, bacon and ham).

3. When is the last time you cried – in sadness and in joy?

My dr thinks I'm in perimenopause - I only know that means that once a month I should lock myself in a padded room. So those were big freakin tears this week.

In joy? I'm not sure - probably watching Evan Almighty - physical comedy cracks me up.

4. Do you own a gun – one that is specifically yours? Do you know how to use it?

No - I've shot air guns at the lake but I'm not interested in hunting so I have no other reason to own one, especially with kids around.

5. Repeat question. Summarize your week!

 

It started off CRAZY - the biggest hormonal meltdowns, with no sleeping at night ever!!!! But its tapered off and finished nicely. My beautiful baby turned 11 this week and I started back at yoga.

 

happy Friday my friends.

 

 

Celebrity Look Alike

A Momma's A A A Momma's Desires and Pacifiers is having a linky party about who your celebritity Doppleganger is.  Who do people say you look like? Which celebrity?

This website paired my pic up with these famous actors. Here's the website http://celebrity.picadilo.com/

Here are the pics. I can see Patricia Clarkson (although she is OLDER)

Match: 75%	Match: 74%	Match: 74%	Match: 74%	Match: 73%
Patricia Clarkson	Taylor Swift	Celine Dion	JK Rowling	Bridget Fonda

My Heritage.com also paired me up with Bridget Fonda

I don't know what do you think?  When people tell me I look like someone usually it is this one on the bottom but I can't remember her name or the no boobs baywatch girl on the right in the top photo.  My bestie says I look like Julie Bowen. Hmm I'm ok with that too! Who is your celebrity doppleganger?   FYI I'm still trying to get to 25 Followers so I can treat myself to a custom blog design. Sign up follow along.

And the kitchen sink

I tend to ramble and today will be no exception, I'm just going with the flow.

So I saw the dr on fri and she said yes all my troubles recently with anxiety, headaches... Could be pre menopause but it wouldn't make much difference we'd still be looking at treating the symptoms... Hmm ok but at least I'd know why I felt crazy which for me is HUGE.
She also said it could be food related which I keep hearing but iwas convinced that my headaches/migraines wern't food related that I've always ignored it but several people incuding my GP, and the naturopath I saw recently suggested I try the elimination diet so I halfheartedly tried it. Friday was my first day.
I did have coffee with sugar but no cream. I cut out all other sugar, and all wheat/gluten.
Holy hell. I didn't have anxiety AT ALL. I'd forgotten what it felt like to have my body relaxed. My head hurt less too! Saturday my anxiety was way less even though I anticipated a migraine due to my TOM. no migraine either - although I did up some of my preventative supplements I think the diet may have helped.
Today I fell off the wagon with regards to sugar. I had several cookies I made for my dd's bday (she's 11 today) I had a pb Easter chocolate and now I'm up when I should be sleeping b/c my anxiety is back and my head hurts. Doesnt take a brain surgeon to connect the dots. If cutting out sugar and gluten makes me feel that much better I'm all for it. I'm going to keep experimenting and watching how I feel.

My DS has been having trouble with his belly lately. When I started this blog last year he was having lots of issues with his belly, it turned out to be constipation but we did have him looked at for celiac too, which they said he wasn't. Well his belly pain is back. Especially after eating pizza - gluten, wheat, cheese.... All can irritate the belly/bowel, all can cause constipation and then he gets anxious. Oh Lordy, I've transferred my anxiety to my baby.
I've put him back on his Miralax, I'm having him cut out gluten and wheat although he did eat a donut tonight and some nachos tonight. I'm hoping we can nip this in the bud before he really starts to get anxious about it and going to school becomes an issue. I made him some glutenfree chocolate pancakes this am, although I did let him eat Dino eggs cereal b/c sometimes oats are tolerated ok even though gluten is an issue, I think tomorrow we'll skip that. Maybe I'll make eggs.

More rambling...
My dr would like me to stop taking the pill, she wonders if it's making my migraines worse, again me, with my Greys anatomy degree felt they were helping, when I got migraines during my TOM, starting my pills again always helped. What I didn't understand is that the b/c pill is now classified as a class 1 carcinogen.
http://www.jillstanek.com/2009/08/did-you-know-the-world-health-organization-ranks-the-pill-as-a-group-i-carcinogen/
I can't link it properly from my iPad. But basically we know that the pill can cause cancer. I've been on it for almost 23 years! Another no brainer, time to try it without. I may have to blog about the discussion I have with my DH, he is vehemently opposed to having a vasectomy.

Well honey it doesn't cause cancer! :)
happy early Monday morning everyone!

Out of the mouths of babes

Quick post today - the inlaws are coming, I'm working this am, seeing Hunger Games this pm and somehow have to help the kiddos with hw before school pack lunches, get my smoothies ready (I'm doing the elimination diet) and make the inlaws bed. Holy crap I'd better get moving.

But this is worth sharing.
First my kids have been enjoying listening to Bill Cosby. He's hilarious and clean. A perfect combination.

So the new catch phrase around our house is, "I'll smack your face right off!" That and Brain Damage.

Enjoy a good laugh this morning.

 So the other day we're out in the driveway playing a little makeshift tennis and my SON says stop making me run I have Vagina. I said WHAT, you have what?! Meanwhile my daughter is just about having contortions, she's laughing so hard.

My son says vagina, my heart is pumping hard.

Ahhh Angina. Thank goodness, I thought the doctor checked for a vagina when he was born!

Out of the mouths of babes.

Happy Wednesday.

Ten Things Thursday

1.We are in the great white north visiting family for a few days. I can't get enough of my family!!!

2.  I love pictures like this that show how little my children were in relation to how big my husband is, especially now that they are catching up to him ( my DD only has 2.5 inches til shes as tall as I am!).

Thankfully - no hot flashes!

3.  My sweet boy shaved his head to raise funds for Cancer research. My DD's bff raised over $1100 and shaved her head. Isn't that awesome! As an 11yr old girls there is NO way I would have had the confidence to do that.

4. I'm having a tough time with anxiety these days, and chronic tension headaches so I met with a Naturopath today to discuss natural remedies. I was glad to hear that I am taking all the right supplements. She did suggest that at 41yrs old its not completely unheard of that I could be going through perimenopause. Although that freaked me out, I googled menopause symptoms and several of mine fit. Honestly, I'd be thrilled to find out that that's whats at the root of the craziness I've been going through. I have a dr.'s appt nx Friday so I will definitely be asking for some blood tests to rule it out.

5. In the event that I'm not in perimenopause, I'm considering going back on a low dose anti anxiety. I hate the idea, but I hate the anxiety even more. I tried prozac, that just made me sleepy. I have also been on Celexa, that made me zombie like, not sleepy but no emotion good or bad. So I'd love to hear any experiences you may have good and bad with meds.

6.I'm following a blog recommended by Holly about a young mom who was just diagnosed with cancer. Her ability to find the positive in the horrible is truly amazing. You might want to check it out and flood her comment box with positive thoughts and prayers.

Future blogs: glow in the dark easter egg hunt, pintrest crayon art, all natural cosmetics, my first castor oil plaster. Yes folks you'll want to tune in for that one!!



I survived the weekend!

Phew!! Its over. I hardly ever look forward to a weekend being over but this one was BUSY.
My hubby was away in Vegas (wish my job rewarded me by taking me to vegas!!! - stay-at-home-moms everywhere unite!!!)
Since I got sick last year I get very anxious when he's away, thankfully my parents arrived on Thursday and stayed the whole weekend!!! Yeah mom and dad. That meant that dad took my DS to baseball on Saturday (it was a whole 40degrees!!! ) so my mom and I could ferry DD to the tv station at 7:30 for her interview (Whoot Whoot) and then to her synchro meet for the rest of the crazy day and lets just say that a full day in the humidity of the pool is more than enough to make my head ache like a jackhammer convention but I had my peppermint stick with me and was able to control it. I suffered with anxiety through the night and the rest of Sunday. I wonder if the anxiety is my body's way of saying that was really hard work fighting off the migraine!! Or it could be my body saying you ate too much crap food stop it now. Wish I spoke body language.
Anyhoo my DD won a gold medal for her routine ( she was the only competitor in that category but who cares) she was really excited and had a great time. All this despite her TOM (she's not quite 11yrs old!!!) and an ear infection. What a trouper.
 Her suit looked good although as you can see there was another swimmer who had the same type of suit - but hers was professionally made. I love how perfect it is but I prefer my DDs.

 Here the older girls are knoxing my daughter. They put warm gelatin ( or knox) all over their bun. This makes it glossy and hard! The girls were fabulous helpers. I'd never done this before so having them take over was wonderful. They came to this competition and spent the whole day there even though they weren't swimming this time. I think I told them 100x how wonderful they are.

Here is the other head piece I made, its the golden snitch for a Harry Potter solo routine.











Here is the video of her swimming - its a little over two minutes long.

This was my weekend. Oh finished off by more baseball on Sunday! I'm living the dream. Actually I am, wouldn't have it any other way!  Spring Break this week
Happy Monday everyone.

My Pintrest Love Affair

Here is the the scarf I finished yesterday from Pintrest. Its just felt, cut into 6 circles of varying size and sewn close together on a long scarf size of felt. Isn't the color gorgeous!!! I'll have to take  a pic when I actually wear it!

Here are my next projects!

We are going to try this over spring break when my niece and nephew arrive.

This will probably happen for my DD's bday party in April.

A Fork Ring - can't wait to scour the garage sales this spring for funky forks to turn into rings!! Couldn't you do this with spoons too?!

Ice Cream  AND you get to eat the bowl. What can be better?!

My folks should be arriving any minute on their way home from Florida. They weren't supposed to arrive until nx wk but my sister was diagnosed with a blood clot, above her collarbone that is affecting her right arm. She's only 38 so my parents are obviously very worried about her and want to be close by. They all hope to be able to come down for Easter still. We'll see how she responds to her blood thinners this wknd. Crazy stuff - at least her spirits seem to be good still.

Ahh the parents are here - happy Thursday everyone.

Easter decorations!

I was having trouble deciding what to blog about this morning but I really wanted to write. So I picked Easter.
My sister and her family, and my mom and dad are coming for Easter!! I'm so excited. Its been 2 months since I've seen my parents and I never see my sister enough. It will be chaos at the house with 6 adults and 4 kids running around but I really do hate the quiet for too long (remind of that when I blog monday morning about how i LOVE the quiet).

I am decorating the house for Easter and picking up little trinkets to put in the kids eggs instead of chocolate (gotta be healthy!)

These are Cascarones! Think paper mache eggs filled with confetti. The mess will be enormous but I cant wait to see the look on the first unsuspecting victims face when they have an egg cracked on their head!!

I picked these little bunnies up at Tuesday Mornings. My table cloth is green like the ribbon around their necks so I think it will look really pretty on the table together.

This is not pretty but with 4 kids going on an egg hunt we had to keep fairness in mind. I don't know if you can see the black initials on the eggs. Each egg has an initial on it so the kids know if its theirs or not. The blue A's are for my boy, and the pink A's are for my niece.

Can you see the purple boot?! I have two spring boots that I fill with flowers. LOVE them!  I've gotta open the curtains to the right of the flowers so they'll lean that way. 

My hubby is tolerating the "clutter" :). I love it!!

Here are a couple of things I'm hoping we have time to do next week before the family arrives.

Isn't the flower arrangement beautiful?!!!   The other pic is of Easter Egg cake pops! But I still have to make sugar cookies like this for DD's competition this wknd first.

Happy Tuesday folks. Hope its a great one!!

Another quickie!



The bathing suit is finished! And just in time, her first competition is next wknd!!
I think it turned out great for my first time and I can't wait to see her compete.
What do you think?

I had a major migraine episode yesterday and am slowly recovering today. The day after is a very slow, depressing, foggy kind of day for me. Especially if I've had to take pain meds in addition to the max amount of migraine meds. The GOOD news is its been 3 wks since my last migraine AND I've been keeping a headache journal which shows that my tension type headaches ARE responding to my chiropractic adjustments (YEAH), my last migraine happened on the day I took my first birth control pill of the pack and so did yesterday's. That helps me anticipate and therefore react faster. The month before that I didn't get a migraine but I did have some serious anxiety. Hmmm I do think they're related.
I found two great blogs from women who suffer frequent migraines and their attitude is wonderfully uplifting! That is dearly needed when I'm feeling down as I do in the post drome phase.
A Daily Headache here and Rachel here.  Rachel creates her own loose tea. I bought some from Etsy and it arrived this week (great shipping Rachel). She also sent some calming tea to try too. I was soo excited to buy a tea infuser!!! I did try it yesterday with a bit of sugar. It didn't cure the headache but the Amerge almost didn't cure the migraine either so I'm not disappointed. I'll try again in three weeks when I start my next pack of birth control pills as a preemtive strike!!
Well my happy family is outside enjoying this weather, playing tennis, I think I'm feeling well enough to join them.
Stay tuned tomorrow - I'm off to the wildlife rehabilitation center!! We took in some baby foxes this weekend!! Can't wait to see them.
Happy Sunday!

St. Patty's Day Visit!

I have so many ideas for blogs that it was hard to decide what to write this morning. But I went with the most recent events.

I haven't seen my sister and her kids since Christmas so we planned a "meet you in the middle" St. Patty's Day visit. She drove South and I drove north and we met in London, Ontario.

It was fun, fun, fun.
Here are the treats we brought.

My sister bought us green tees from Old Navy.

My son and I made these pot o gold treat bags from Pintrest.

These little pics were from Pintrest. You print a picture of someone's face, I chose our family, laminate them, then use dry erase markers to add whatever grafitti you want. The kids had a lot of fun with these while waiting for dinner.

 Saturday we went to the Children's Museum, a little gem in London. They had shamrock cookies for the kids to decorate, a McDonald's playset for the kids to pretend they worked at the Golden arches, a fossil dig, a space center, an old fashioned school house, an egypt exhibit (complete with mummy - see below) and so much more.

Finally we headed back to the hotel for nap time for the youngest and waterslide time for the oldest.

It was great to see the kids and my sister, although we've decided that maybe next time we should have a spa date, just for the moms!!

Happy Tuesday lovelies!