So what's new??

Not a whole lot really. Weather is still doing it's thing - cold one day, mild the next. Had another storm pass right by us over the weekend and while other areas of the Maritimes got slammed with snow, we had heavy heavy rain. Not complaining. No shoveling that shit lol :)

In other news - back in December our new recreation/ice rink opened - Queen's Place Emera Centre  - it really is an amazing place - most people walk in, take a look around and promptly exclaim "it's like we're not even in Liverpool anymore!"  It's true really.  The new ice surface is NHL regulation. You can sit and watch a hockey game and NOT freeze your butt off because the place is heated :D  Great new fitness center. And a walking track.  Now.  When I first heard there was going to be an inside walking track I laughed..."why would anyone want to PAY to walk inside". 

Yea, not saying that anymore LOL A little over a week ago my friend Susan dragged me over to walk with her one day.  And I've been hooked ever since :)  Instead of paying $2 per walk, I paid the $20 for the month. I go twice a day, morning and evening.  I do usually 22-24 laps each walk which takes me approx 35-40 mins.  22 laps equals about 5 kms.  So I'm getting darn close to 10 kms in a day. Go me!!  I usually take Megs with me in the evening. We each pop in our Ipods, crank our tunes, zone out and boogey. It's awesome.  I'm hoping by the end of summer to be able to pay for a full years gym membership.  Please don't ask me what got into me. lol  No, actually it was more of a bit of a scare with my diabetes and blood sugar numbers, and finally deciding to do something about my health.  I've pretty much given up my Tim Horton's coffee addiction. (used to get 4-5 larges a day! - now I might get ONE every 2-3 days!) Still smoking, but not as much. One addiction at a time please :)  So far I think I'm doing pretty darn good if I do say so myself :)

So that's things in a nut shell. :)

Its been an odd Winter so far...

one day it's freezing cold, you spend the day trying to get warm and stay warm. The next day? Like today?? It's sunny and mild, you've got windows opened enjoying what could almost be compared to Spring like.  Odd. We've had hardly any snow so far this Winter...and when we DO get any, it's nearly always followed by rain. And then those lovely mild temps. Everything is green still.  We've had 2 storms so far in January, both with dumping a rather big amount of the ugly white stuff on us.  And both times, upon waking the following day it's all gone.  I'm not complaining. Trust me! lol  I'm rather enjoying this weather.  Here's hoping February follows suit. :D

In Kid news....both doing well, school going great, no complaints from either of them or me. yay :) In Alyssa news...as part of her 2 year culinary program, she has to complete a 600 hour co-op, starting in April, ending before she returns to NSCC in October - we've kinda been in limbo wondering where in the heck she was going to do this, she had even been thinking about moving up to Cape Breton with her grandfather (if he was agreeable that is!) and finding somewhere up there to work....BUT....Friday night she was at work and her boss Jeromy asked her if she wanted to do her co-op there. YAY!!!  She's thrilled, I'm thrilled. Whew! AND she gets paid for the co-op, so that means 600 guaranteed paid hours.  I'm thinking - hot damn that's your tuition paid for in the Fall. She's thinking HOT DAMN...a car! LOL  Maybe we can compromise and get a nice 2nd hand car and maybe half the tuition paid?? 


And in me news?  nothing new really to report. Same ol', same ol'.  I am however in the process of joining our local Lion's club...my friend Crystal is a member and has been after me to join for a long time now...I finally caved lol.  Went to my first meeting last Monday, just need to fill out some paperwork, and yea. That will be me, Lion DonnaLeigh. :D

Depression:

  Dictionary.com's description is as follows:

noun

1. the act of depressing.

2. the state of being depressed.

3. a depressed  or sunken place or part; an area lower than the surrounding surface.

4. sadness; gloom; dejection.

5. Psychiatry . a condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason. 

 

It's symptoms can range from one extreme really to the other.  You're sad. You cry a lot. You're unhappy most of the time. Nothing you do brings you happiness or peace.  But it goes well beyond that for some people. It becomes so much a part of your life you feel as if you'll never escape it.  Most people wouldn't be able to tell if someone was depressed - not it that person hides it well.

 

I am one of those people.  Surprised?  I think many people would be. To look at me, I don't think anyone would be able to tell. But I am.  I was diagnosed with depression 11 years ago.  Four months after my mother passed away from cancer, I sat in my Doctor's office, crying uncontrollably. Crying for no reason. The tears just exploded from my eyes and would NOT stop.  My lovely Dr just smiled at me, reached for a box of kleenex, handed them to me and waited for the rush of emotions to calm down enough so that I could speak.  It took a while if I remember correctly.  I can remember the conversation as if it was yesterday.  "I do this ALL the time." "I lock myself in the bathroom for hours crying" "I hide down in the darkened basement and I just cry" "I'm not sleeping well anymore - I either want to sleep all the time, or not at all"    He looked at me with kind understanding eyes and said "I can tell you exactly what's wrong - you're suffering from depression. It's completely understandable considering all that you've gone through with your mother.  Depression comes in all shapes and sizes and for all kinds of reasons. I can help you"  

 

And he did.  He wrote me a prescription for an anti-depressant. A mild one, none addictive.  It turned out to be the best thing ever.  I called them my "Happy Pills"  I spent the next 4 years needing them. I got through my grief of losing my Mother, only to lose my husband 2 years later.  It's been a rough road, these last 11 years.

 

 Most of my close friends & family know. Most of them understand. Not all mind you, but most.  My depression has gone beyond the just feeling sad all the time.  The last year or two it has progressed to actual physical pain.  I ache all the time. My neck, my shoulders. Headaches.  It's not fun. But I cope. I have no choice but to cope.  I'm grateful for everything I have been blessed with in my life. I'm trying to make the rest better. But it's hard when most days, the most you can cope with is just getting out of bed and getting dressed. When the entire day disappears without you noticing.  When the hours of your life turn into days, then weeks, then months and you can't do anything about the time you've lost. 

That's my life.  Why did I decide to share this today? Not really sure other then it's been on my mind lately. January is a "bad" month for me.  Both my Mother and my husband Pat died in January.  So if I'm not talkative, or chatty, or in the mood to be sociable, maybe this will help you understand.

What is a Hero?

by definition, a hero is described as: 

~ a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal

Such as, shall we say - a war hero. Anyone who serves his or her country, who goes to war, who fights for the freedoms of others.  A hero.  Someone to look up to, to give thanks to - agree?  I would.  What a would NOT call a hero??  Someone who CHEATS on his wife, lies to his children, LIES to his community. Who no longer is man enough to provide for his children.  That my friends is far from a hero and will get no praise from me.  That person should be ashamed. Ashamed to wear that uniform, ashamed to call himself a father. He and the other.....well, I shall refrain from saying what I'd like to say, and just say.....person should both equally be ashamed and most certainly shouldn't be holding either of their heads up too high, considering what they both did.  And the only other thing I shall say?  Karma baby, karma.  I have great respect for her.  She seemingly takes her time in doling out what others deserve but she does eventually give it where it hurts.  Here's hoping She socks it to 'em :)   And enough about that :)


Not much happening with me. Same ol' same ol' unfortunately.  We are about to get hit with our first snow storm of the year....yay??  Yea not so much.  NOT looking forward to this at all.  I don't want snow yet. I don't want snow at all!!  Snow reminds me too much of Christmas - my favorite time of the year right??  Only I'm not looking forward to it at all this year...if we were in our own place it would be different...I'd be getting ready to decorate - only all my stuff is still stuck in a storage unit. Please dont get me wrong, I'm grateful for the roof over our heads - I just wish it was our own roof, kwim?? *sigh*  Oh well...I keep thinking...this too shall pass. It cant get any worse right???????   But I *DO* have a bit of a funny to tell...with money being so tight, I thought it best to finally break down and have the conversation with Megs that I've been putting off...you know the one....the "Santa" one.  You see, yes she may be 12 and a half years old, but I firmly believed she still believed in Santa Claus...because *I* certainly hadn't told her - and she hadn't asked ME about him yet.  But I also knew that Christmas was going to be a bit slim this year...so I thought it only fair to tell her.  So Saturday afternoon I sat her down and we had a talk:

Me: So, Megs - what do you want for Christmas?
Megs: I really really want a digital camera.
Me: well ok then, good to know!

Me: uhhhhh Megs - I have to ask you something........
Megs: (looking paranoid) What? I didn't do it.....
(LOLOLOLOL)
Me; No no, you didn't do anything, I just need to ask you a question - honey - do you still believe in Santa Claus???
Megs: Pfffft - not since Grade 4 Mom....so - are you getting me a camera???

The stinker. :)

Wow.....2 months since I posted last??

eeek! I knew it had been awhile, but 2 months? wow! Been a few changes as of late...the girls and I moved out of our rental house back in August - its a long story, the shortest and least complicated explanation would be the landlord had an offer on the house, I made very quick plans to vacate said house, offer fell through...but at this point I had most everything packed, had a storage unit arranged, and my very dear friend Crystal offered to take us in for a bit. So that's where we are now. Been trying to get some assistance from the local housing authority for a low rental house. What a f*ing joke THAT is. So who knows how long we'll be living here. Its working out well so far. May that continue!

School started 3 weeks ago - Alyssa started her course at NSCC (Nova Scotia Community College - Lunenburg campus) in the Culinary arts program. She LOVES it. HATES getting up at the ass-crack of dawn to be out the door by 7:15am, but oh well LOL She's doing great so far :) And Miss Megs started grade 7 at the Junior high - so far so good :) She just had her first school dance Thursday night and had a great time :)

Ive been trying to find a job with not much luck - hard to find employment when half your town's businesses are closing up shop. The latest casualty was our Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant - last Saturday evening head office showed up and informed the staff that the following day at closing they would be closing for good. No other warning then that. Nice eh? Our store was one of 9 apparently across Atlantic Canada to have it's doors closed for good. Alyssa's still working at Lane's but has had her hours cut big time - from 5 nights a week to 3 *sigh* told her to count herself lucky she still HAS the job and hopefully she can get some more hours in soon.

My friend Tim has started a new blog - Queen's County History - I've known Tim a very long time (22 years now I think - he's one of Pat's cousins and I met him way back when Pat and I first started going out together in 1989!) and he's always been very much into history - especially family history - he's the one you go to when you need to find out something about your family! lol Anyway, check out the blog - it's awesome!

uggggh - it's hot!

I think it's safe to say that summer is finally upon us - the heat! Oy the heat! The older I get the more I really dislike the hot humid days of summer, spending more and more of my time patiently wishing and waiting for Fall to get here. That's sad isn't it? Yes, yes it is. I know.

Not much going on here with us this summer - Alyssa is working (yay) and Megs will do the usual - spending most of her time off visiting her various friends. No real plans other then some trips to the beach to try and escape the heat and invading our friends who own pools ;)

Some pics of the girls from their Graduations :)

This is Miss Megs walking in with her class:

and myself, Alyssa and Papa:

Alyssa receiving her scholarship from her Papa :)

and for her birthday, Megan got to have her hair colored....yay!

So like - HI!

Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged here - I have a hard enough time finding stuff to write about for one blog let alone 2, but with the demise of Quietwhisperings.com I'm now back here...at least its free, right? *sigh*

So, what's new? Well - on Wednesday (the 29th) BOTH my girls graduated - Megan from grade 6 and JC Wickwire Academy, and will be starting Jr High in September. And Alyssa graduated from Liverpool Regional High School - receiving one bursary - "The West Family Bursary" in the amount of $1000.00!! YAY! :) The best part of that was, her Papa was/is here for a visit and HE was the one who presented it to her!! Awesome no?? :)

Earl and Kathleen have been here since the 28th, leaving in the morning...they've kept themselves pretty busy with it being Privateer weekend here and all which is a good thing :)

Wow....do ppl still come here?

I have to say yes since I can check my stats on the visitors that hit here lol and I've not blogged a thing for over a year. A year!! That's sad! Very very sad! It's not that I've stopped watching tv or movies, or reading books - I guess I've gotten blogged out, eh?

I still blog - but just at one place now - http://www.quietwhisperings.com - but maybe I should start paying attention here again. I won't make any promises tho! lol

I'm still here!

I know it doesn't seem like it, but I AM here - I've read a few new books that need to be reviewed, as well as a ton of movies, and some TV shows to report on, but I've gotten very lazy in the blogging aspect of my life. I always seem to slow down once school winds down and the girls are home again - that's mainly because Alyssa and Megan hog this computer and I rarely get a chance to be on it!

It's a Charmed life...

Ahhhh, the girls are in Heaven now. Why you may ask? Because I made the trip to B'water yesterday and picked up the seventh season of Charmed on DVD. We love this show! Only one more season to own and we'll have them all :) Course, there is nothing else being watched on TV at the moment except the Halliwell sisters LOL

Crazy dogs...

we had a ton of snow today - and why does that make the dogs turn into insane creatures that feel the need to try and bury themselves in it? I mean literally?? lol Tigger will get his nose right into the snow and inch his head deeper and deeper into it. And both he and Winnie feel as if they need to eat every last bit of it while they are outside! I really need to get some video of it.

And I wouldn't mind them playing in it - if they weren't long haired Shelties. They get really wet. Dripping, sopping wet. And they both detest the hair dryer - and where's the first place they make a bee line for when they come inside?? MY bed that's where. lol

wellll....I did the switch....

nothing seems to have blown up? Or disappeared? *knock on wood*

Should I or shouldn't I??

Switch this blog to the newer beta version that is? LOL I've held off for the last few months, but now I'm wondering if I should? I don't want to mess this place up LOL My last blog screw up was HELL to fix! lol

Not doing much of anything this weekend - maybe paint some. Or clean. Or....nothing maybe? I really do have to start the plans for my new closet. Which will be chronicled in depth on my home renovation blog It's so much fun having all these places to write at LOL

Eating better...

That is my goal for 2007. Eating better, eating healthier, making better choices, and finding new foods that not only bring variety to the dining room table but also are better for me and the girls.

I'm always trying to find new things that will be good for us, and I've been finding a lot of information about Goji Berries. These fruit are grown in the Tibetan and Mongolian Himalayas and are one of the richest sources of antioxidants you can find out there.

Studies are now showing that people you eat the Goji berries on a regular basis are known to rarely suffer from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, or many other diseases that commonly afflict people of the Western Civilization. Something to think about, don't you think?

Available in the actual berry form, you can also buy it as Goji Juice too - which would probably be the best way for my girls to take it. I could probably just serve it to them and they'd be none the wiser! Tell a kid you are making them eat healthier might not be an easy thing, right? lol

And at gojiberries.us you receive free shipping on any order over $40 too! Save some money while getting better! Works for me :)

LoudLaunch - Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis. View the LoudLaunch campaign release this post was based on.

What a mess

The girls slept downstairs in the family room last night, camping out with all their pillows and blankets and the dogs. It looks like a bomb went off in there. LOL Both the dog crates, crap all over the floor, dishes, one very large popcorn bowl...they are both going to be very busy later getting it all cleaned up! And Alyssa has exams starting on Monday, she has to find some study time in there somewhere too. Fun times, fun times! lol

Good day today!

Ended going to B'water today and bought Winnie a new crate - now I can get the loaner back to Linda! Also picked out some new dishes, another set of silverware (as mine keeps disappearing) and a couple shirts and a hoodie. Was a good day :)

Karen stopped up after school for coffee, Val was here for about 15 mins, and we had a surprise visit from a couple cute guys :D

Making sense of Windows

Do you sometimes wish you could better understand how programs work on your computer? Do you know everything you should know about such programs such as Windows? or Vista - which is a new product put out by Microsoft? I often wonder if I'm not missing out on all the benefits of Windows XP and here's a great chance to figure it all out.

Marc Lion, a Microsoft MVP (and just what *is* a MVP? Well that would stand for Most Valuable Professional) has a great thing going on his web site - Vista & Office 2007 Preview Videos. He is offering to you, at great prices, valuable DVD's on such computer programs as Windows Vista, Word 2007, Excel 2007, Outlook 2007, and Fire Fox 2 just to name a few. And by great prices - not just the low low prices he has listed on his site either! You can take advantage of an awesome deal he has going right now - you can buy ALL the products he has listed on his page, and YOU choose what price you want to pay. How awesome is that?? But you must act fast to take advantage of this huge blow out sale!

Visit his site and see what all he has to offer. I think you'll be very glad you did!

LoudLaunch - Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis. View the LoudLaunch campaign release this post was based on.

Miserable day here

snow, then freezing rain, and now just rain. UGH roads are a mess - the dogs are loving the snow tho, they really don't care as long as they get to play in it lol If it gets colder again tonight, I doubt there will be school tomorrow double ugh LOL The kids are praying there isn't any and I'm praying there is! HA!

Great clothes that FIT!

I hate trying to find clothes that fit properly - if they fit in the waist then they are miles to long and the legs are 20 times to wide.

Same goes for shirt and blouses. To get them to fit right around the bust then the entire shirt ends up being 2-3 times to big all round. I'm so glad to have finally found Eris Apparel Their clothes are made to fit women with average size bodies, but with fuller chest size. Perfect! At Eris, you'll find beautiful clothes that fit the way you want them too.

LoudLaunch - Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis. View the LoudLaunch campaign release this post was based on.