My HCG Journey

Well here it is day 18 of my HCG journey-I have lost a total of 11 lbs!
Wow I should be more excited than I am today-but I am very tired from my apple day.
I can feel the difference in my shirts already and so that makes me excited.
Honestly this in not easy and I pray that I might remember all that I am going through so when I get to maintenance I can keep the weight off permanently.
I am very grateful to my brother Gary and his family for leading out in this and being my coach.
My prayer is today that I will NEVER have to do another apple day!!!!
I am off to the store to look for Hershey's coca powder to make some chocolate delights!
Sounds good and they say it is legal on all phases of the HCG-so will see.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

What Boy or Grandma Can Refuse a Mud Puddle?

How many times do you hear a mom say "don't jump in that mud puddle! You will get dirty."

I used to say those same things to my boys until one day I heard a child-help  speaker ask these questions

• Is it life threatening?
• Is it morally threatening?

 I realized in order to stay sane and allow my boys to grow into productive men that I would have to change my thinking and start asking myself " if it is not life threatening and it is not morally threatening then why not?"

I soon learned that a little dirt was a good thing for making good boys.

 Recently I have been reminded of this "dirt thing" as I watched my husband and a neighbourhood friend working with a "bobcat" (not an animal but rather a large tractor) moving an enormous pile of dirt from one spot to another. It was like watching our boys using their toys in the sandbox in the backyard so many years ago.

Boys need to be outside and digging in the dirt, splashing in the mud puddles and coming in worn out from having had fun building and creating.

You will find that if you can lighten up and enjoy the muddle puddles with them life will be easier on everyone.

As a side note I have tried to buy each one of our grandchildren the boys and the girls a pair of rubber boots so they could go out and play in the mud puddles and  the rain.
They also each have their very own umbrella which is a must have kid item.

 Recently I went out and bought myself a PINK pair of rubber boots so I can go Muddle Puddle splashing too.

Grandma Lives Far Away.com

Grandma Lives Far Away .com

This little blog is designed for all those grandmas and grandpas who indeed live far away from their grandbabies.

So much modern technology is available today that grandmas and grandpas should never feel distant from their grandbabies.

  Times were so different when I was raising my 5 children with my husband in a small farming community in southern Alberta than they are today.  My mom lived in Ontario 3000 miles away. It was too expensive to make a phone call and letter writing took at least a week to get across the country, so I was basically on my own.  When I did get to phone home once every few months my mom was so concerned with the cost and kept saying “we needed to hang up soon”.

Those days were very lonely for me and for my children. They never got to know their grandparents. So it was that I vowed to make a concerted effort to go the extra mile so that my grandbabies would always know who I was and who we the grandparents were.

With some creativity and modern computer technology I really feel like we have succeeded in achieving that goal.

We often return home to find  messages left on our telephone answering machine  from our 5 year old granddaughter in Vancouver, Washington just saying, “Grandma I love you”.  The latest was “Grandpa I just called to say “happy Father’s day”.

We were fortunate to have access to a computer with a Web Cam-they are so very inexpensive these days and very easy to run? Every home should have one and possibly you even have one that is built into your computer.

Make sure that your grandchildren also have access to a web cam so you can view each other on a daily basis.

There is a program called SKYPE that is free to join and gives you web cam access all over the world.

Here are some fun ideas that we have used to develop a stronger relationship with our grandchildren who live far away.

1. 1.      Sing songs together-we started singing simple songs like “The Wheels on the Bus” and we added familiar things like mommy says, Grandma says, Grandpa says etc. etc.
2. 2.    Find bright colored picture books from the library to read and show the pictures to the grandchildren and talk about the story when they are young and don’t have long attention spans.
3. 3.     Draw pictures and hold them up for the grandchildren to see and have them do the same for you
4. 4.     Grandpa was on a business trip to Trinidad not long ago and went to the local department store where he bought a special book to read to the grandchildren from his hotel room-so when you travel make them apart of your journey
5. 5.    Our granddaughter recently had her hair cut and the first thing she asked her mom was could she go home and show grandma and grandpa on the computer
6. 6.     We have played games like I Spy With My Little Eye- remember you can see what is in their house behind them and they can see the same in your house and behind you. Keep it simple.
7. 7.    Make up stories and let them add parts.  We started one one day about a princess named--- and she lived in ---- and ate--- etc. etc. They love this activity.
8. 8.     We each take pictures with our digital cameras and then send those back and forth so we can see what is happening as well as we have actually walked through our new house with our laptop with the web cam showing things.
9. 9.     We have hooked up the web cam and shown the snow out the window-they don’t have snow where they live
10. 1. Some days we just visit-we just sit and talk so we can see each other!

Being a 'FAR AWAY' Grandma is a tough thing at times.

The question is often left on my telephone answering machine asked by my precious little ones "GRANDMA ARE YOU THERE?"

So I have decided to create this blog to assure them all that YES GRANDMA IS HERE AND WAITING TO HEAR FROM EACH OF YOU AS OFTEN AS YOU WANT TO TALK!!!!

What a blessing to have these precious little ones who love you unconditionally and want to talk.

I fear that the day will come when Grandma is just an old woman that no one wants to have to talk to or listen to.

It has been my goal to create a strong enough bond that as we all age I will hear the phrase"GRANDMA ARE YOU THERE UNTIL I AM SAFELY DEAD".