Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) Hi all. I am still typing with one hand. I get to go see a plethora of doctors next week. Our spring bid is coming up at work and if I cannot get back to work before May I will not be able to bid a shift. I sincerely hope I am back before May. Humanity is funny, here I am, at home resting and complaining. When I am at work all I want to do is be at home resting! I have been told this could take months to heal. Enough about me.


Carolin, I am hoping you have more good news regarding your nephew. Is he progressing quickly or will his recovery take a long time? Again, please send our love and prayers to them all. (Carolin) He is still in the hospital but starting to get antsy and wants to go home. The meds he is on are helping but his body is slowing adjusting to them and it will take a bit of time for the side effects to calm down. My mom has been out there for just over a week now and my sister says things are going well. My cousins baby girl (only two months old) has been in the hospital near us for the past week because of a virus. She has been in isolation and on oxygen as the doctors try different things to get her breathing under control.



Here at the home front all is well the little one had the flu last weekend but is back to her normal self. I have been feeling a cold coming on for a few days and as of Friday I have officially given up to the cold. I feel like I just had a cold and now another one. So much for taking my plethora of vitamins this winter. I guess I shouldn't of missed three days this week :(



Sunshine, how's it going? Busy, busy busy I bet.


Well, one more semester to go and Hubby and I will see the older one graduate from high school. It's an incredible feeling. All Hubby and seem to do these days is reminisce about when the kids were little. They are good memories and it's good to look back and see all of their accomplishments before starting the next stage.


Hey Carolin, did you come up with a new "handle" for your twenty year old yet?

(Carolin) Well its been almost a month using my new face care regime.http://http://www.arbonne.ca/ I really like the day and night moisturizer. My skin is much smoother and more uniform in colour (not so blotchy). I also like that at the end of the day my forehead doesn't feel greasy like it used to. Same as in the morning my face doesn't feel heavy. I was hoping these products (day and different night moisturizer, cleanser, and scrub) would get rid of the ashy dry skin flaking I suffer from especially in the winter months. Well it hasn't totally got rid of the dry flacks but it is not as bad as it has been in the past. I have also been using the shampoo and conditioner on my hair, and I find my hair does not get as greasy as soon as it used to. Normally I would wash my hair Sunday morning (example) and by Monday night I would start feeling the itchy, greasy feeling on my scalp. Now I don't notice that till Tuesday and it is never as bad as it used to be. I have also used the body wash but unfortunately my allergies started to react and I had to go back to my pears soap. Cathy I can't seem to change the colour on my paragraph.

One month almost finished in this new year of 2012!

(Sunshine) I hope that everyone is feeling better soon. When someone you love is sick everything else seems so unimportant. I wish everyone a very speedy recovery. Nothing knew around here just work, kids and wedding plans. The days seem to be flying by. My sister has been really emotional especially as the wedding date draws nearer. I think that she really misses my mom in all of this process. We are all tying to help out and fill in but unfortunately there is no substitute.

Have a goods week everyone!

Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) Hi all. Sorry I have been absent. My arm is very frustrating and my right hand and arm are getting tired from doing all of the work. I go back to the doctor's on Monday. I will let you know any update. (Sunshine) I hope that you will be feeling better soon.


Carolin, how is your nephew doing??? I hope there is good news. Is your mom out there now? Please pass on our prayers and best wishes. (Carolin) Yes he is still in the hospital and will be for a while still. My mom arrived in Calgary late Wednesday night, she will be there for three weeks. I have been to speaking to my sister regularly and things are moving along. She was looking forward to Mom coming to help out. He is in our thoughts and in our prayers.


ey Sunshine, how are you organizing you life these days. What was the final decision with the dresses for the wedding? Life is busy but good. I worked my first Sunday shift this weekend and it was ok but I am not use to my family being home and me working. It is such a weird feeling. With regards to the wedding dresses, The younger girls and my older sister purchased their dresses from a bridal store in the area and they will arrive at the end of February. The bride and myself are having them made by a seamstress and they are coming along. SO much to do and so little time. It's almost February and with trying to coordinate all of our schedules, it seems as though I blinked and January is already gone. I am already making schedule requests for the month of March.

The little one has the flu which started after school yesterday. It has been a rough 24 hours with her. She has been able to keep water down today. I got her to have a bath (man she stunk!) and she is laying on the couch watching a movie now. She even she said she was a little hungry. That flu has been going around now for months. I hope that she is better soon.

I think I had more but I can't remember now.


Hope to see you all sooner than later.

Catch Up Fridays

(Sunshine) Hello everyone. How is everyone doing? Cathy,I hope that your arm is feeling better. Carolin, I hope that you are feeling better as well.

Yesterday we had my father in law's 78th Birthday. (WOW)The girls were just commenting on how cute their grandparents are. I was saying that I would love to grow old and be just like them. They are so happy and so sweet. Miss Teen Sunshine says that they are always so calm and she never remembers a time when she has seen them speak or act in anger. I need to be more like that on a daily basis. I have my mostly calm and happy days but then I can turn into miss crazy person for a while. Thank goodness the craziness doesn't last for long and I always apologize later but I would rather not have those moments of craziness to begin with. Any suggestions? Have your kids go live with the in laws for awhile, you will be calm and they will be crazy.

Today my sister and future brother in law are possibly others are on there way over and next week I have my sister's 49th birthday. Things are getting very busy around here and they will only get busier as the wedding approaches.Why are you the person doing the hosting?

Everything else is pretty much the same. Mr. Sunshine was home for about 24 hours and he left again yesterday evening. The girls are doing well and I am working five days this week. It will be my first Sunday shift in about eleven years. It will be really weird to be at work on the weekend.

(Carolin) It was the first week back to work (school) after the Christmas break and it was a LONNNNGGG week. My nephew is in the hospital (for the past two weeks) and is expected to be stay there for another few weeks. My sister is feeling the stress, my Mother and I have been back and forth and have decided my Mom will spend three weeks out west to help my sister. She flies out this coming Wednesday. I also spoke to a church close to where my sister lives and they made the family dinner on Friday and will help out with meals until it is no longer needed. My sister said the meal was great. I will mail a cheque to the church as a donation to thank them for all their help. I first tried to get help from restaurants and caterers but could not get what I wanted (simple nutritious comfort food meals for a large family). That was very thoughtful of you. I hope that your nephew will be feeling well soon and ready to return home.

Well another week is about to start and though it is early I think I will go to bed. The teenager and I were at a family baby shower all afternoon and it seems to have worn me out.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Catch Up Fridays

(Sunshine) Hello to everyone. I hope that everyone is doing well. Its a busy time around here as my sister is getting married in about 7 weeks. We are in full wedding preparation mode. Its been a long time since I have been so involved in such a big and important event. Its kind of exciting. I am getting excited about all things that have to be chosen. There are so many more options since the Internet, availability is so accessible. (Carolin)Have fun planning the wedding. I am sure it will be a fun day for all. (Cathy) Did you get those dresses?
I can't believe that we are already here, January 2012. Is time really passing by so fast or does it just seem to go faster as we get older in life? Faster as we get older!

Miss Teen Sunshine is hoping to go for her licence by the end of this month. I hope that she passes. Tell her she will beat the older one. I told him about Miss Teen Sunshine and that he only had a few days left if he wanted it before her, lol!

Little Miss Sunshine is finally clear of the flu and the congestion. She was practically sick for the entire month of December.

(Carolin) Glad to hear it, though since we got together Wednesday night for coffee I have not been feeling great. I feel cramping and nausea's on and off all day but mostly at night, so my sleeping is interrupted.

Mr Sunshine is travelling, travelling, travelling. We may see him a few days here and there throughout the month of January. I know that there is travelling on his schedule for February as well. I am just too scared to ask how much.

School starts back on Monday and so does work. I have very much enjoyed my two weeks off and for the first time am not looking forward to going back to work. I have work I am supposed to do over the break and procrastinated so much it is only half done. Hopefully once I am back in the swing of things I will feel better.

I am officially teenage free! Yes, the teenager turned 20 on January 2nd, and the little one does not turn 13 for 14 months. The husband and I have time to replan, regroup and recharge before we have to go through it again. I can't call the teenager, 'the teenager' anymore so I need a new name, any suggestions? (twentysomething?)

I was having a conversation with my 20 year old (that doesn't have the same feel to it), we were discussing skin care. We were talking about how dry our skin gets over the winter months. I find that it doesn't mater how much moisturizer I put on parts of my face get dry and ashy looking. So we have decided to try a new line of products. I bought a bunch of stuff from Arbonne. http://https://www.arbonne.ca/. The facial line for the 20 year old and a similar set of products for myself (the mature women). I started using it yesterday, and noticed that by the end of the day my face (mostly forehead) did not have a heavy greasy feeling. And again this morning when I woke up my face didn't feel heavy like I needed to wash it right away. The daughter said she was going to start today with her products and we will see how they work over the next three months. They were more expensive then the stuff I usually use but if they work then I think it's worth it. The only things I am doing different (then I have in the past) is I am supposed to exfoliate my face (gritty cleanser) twice a week and I now use a day moisturizer and a different one for night. I think I can handle that. Also I will starting taking a pack of vitamins made for women, again hoping to help keep my spirits and energy up over the winter months. Do any of our fellow benchers use the Arbonne products? And if so what is your opinion compared to cheaper drug store lines?


I use nothing special on my skin but I do try to drink more water than tea and I find it hard to do. Thanks to Sunshine for setting up the blog. We went skiing on Saturday and the weather was great but the snow conditions were slushy. So, I wiped out, (first time in years) and actually hurt myself. I have "neurapraxia" on/with/in??? my left arm. I am typing with one finger with my right hand. I am off work because I cannot type onehanded fast enough and everything at work needs two hands and arms. I hope it doesn't last too long. Not a great way to start the new year.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Catch Up Fridays

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family.

It has been a very quick 2011. Where has the time gone.

I hope that the New Year brings joy and happiness and good health to everyone.