Nostalgic Moment.. its a long one!

Im feeling Nostalgic... I know what your thinking oh brother here she goes again.. I have to admitt that what triggered this trip down memory lane is watching the series finale's of That 70's show and Will and Grace. Corney eh? I guess the topic of the shows kinda got me thinking, about life. I mean on both shows friends and family reached cross roads in life and took the necessary steps to move forward. I guess this is a truth that goes beyond the tv to real life. We all make a journey around this world. I have been watching all these real life stories unfold.

I think about where I have been and how I have got to this point in my life, all the things that shape me and my world view. I have been blessed with many gifts in this life in the form of friendships. I think its one of lifes great honours to see the people you love evolve , grow and realize their potential. I have friends so dear that are both here in my life and those that are across miles. The stories of each of their lives has helped me to develop all the parts of myself.

I think back to a small town where I met this crazy red head (and you know who you are hee hee) We used to be 14 year old kids stalking boys at the local motel.. we would dream about the days ahead and not look at us all grown up your on your way to Africa to change the world in your own way, and Im trying to understand my world here in Bowmanville. I hope you know that I love ya whereever you go in this world!

I think back to yet another small town where I met a girl who could sing, and had the cutest blond boyfriend I used to be so jealous of your talents. Now your still the best singer I know and to think that you have done the most amazing thing.. you have raised two beautiful sons and are making all those you know so proud of all the things you have accomplished and overcome. I remember all the little things, the dairy queen sundaes, the failed baking attempts, the kareoke- who could forget the kareoke! Whenever I hear that song " I Hope you Dance" I think about the last time we sat in my house with both my parents alive and waiting to watch us move on with life. I think they would be proud!

I even think about people who were there for a season, I think of my college buddy the girl who taught me to be a little "bad". We may have only lasted for a few seasons but it has its purpose, you taught me how to be my own women and F*&$% em it they didnt like me. Those days were fun, much tequiella, much dancing, much fear to face the medical world. Now I've heard that your off in your own world doing well, I would like to think that perhaps I gave you a little softness to see the lighter side. I owe you the thanks of balance you showed me how to be both my best self and laugh at the human side. Thanks!

Then there is that girl with the little white car, the girl who knew all the words to grease, the girl who predicted from the first day that Barry would be my husband.. I should have just listened to you and saved myself much heartache of the endless search for "the one" that was right there all along. Our mutual love of country music, our talks about life, and everything in between- Im sure you remember the Sudbury trip? LOL I learned alot from you! It has been a pleasure to watch you grow, you had your heart broken and it was hard to watch that pain in your life. Now its so amazing to know you as an adult to watch you take some new exciting steps I am honoured to still be such a big part of it all. I look at you now and see an adult! Its scarey but I guess we both are.. but we still know how to have fun- lets not forget that.

I know that this is long but I just have to keep going cant leave out the players in the story of my life. The theres the girl with the big glasses, the one that I was "warned" would not be a good person to hang out with lol. One of the few people who has had the joy of being my roomie. Those where speical days I will always treasure that fun time. Im sure I could list 100 things we have gotten ourselves into. I will always remember the blue lagoons, the talk girl and Myles. You have taught me to slow down I get so ahead of myself and want to jump into things and you showed me how to think it through. I have had the joy to watch your story unfold from teenage girl to cool college chick to gardening wife and "doggie mummy". The story gets better with time.

Who could leave out the only girl who thrives on the grossest of my medical melodrama! The only person who wanted me to keep a crappy homecare job so that I could tell you my drama. I will however never forget you letting me cry the blues from under the covers in your bedroom over my job woes, I can think of one stormy night you got the call in Kingston- and I have to say that our talk that day is perhaps the reason I made it to being a nurse you got me through my wits end. I have seen you go from library book "collector" to classy professional women. However I think that you and I can still sit back with a bottle of jacob and regress to perhaps a slopper self, once in a while. Your loyalty over the years is rare and special to keep close by. Just remember I am a very good "buddy" canadate!

The theres that farm girl, she can out run me for sure, and Im sure that she could get up earlier then I can ever hope to. All the laughs and fun adds a speical dimension to each and every memory. I recall a young girl who would throw on garbage man overalls to go dumpster diving, or have a crazy "farmers" party. I can hardly believe that life is so different- your gonna be a mom! Its super exciting and Im so happy for you! I cant wait to meet that special little someone thats gonna be a a little piece of your fun personality.

Oh gosh I have to say that life would be no fun at all without that dark haired girl on 2 center who kept me sane in my final days! You came through for me on my big day and were an amazing support, I think from you I have learned how to be more assertive, how to stand up for myself as a professional and as a person. You are my never ending source of entertainment and good times! Who can forget the bathroom stall and the drunken labour nurse pledge! Or the near miss deliveries where the two junior nurses were the only delivery people in site!

Then theres that crazy nurse who helped me pick the lice, yes the lice! I dont think that there will ever be another person who knows more about that time in our lives then us. We shared a time of real growth, we went from students to professionals during those summers. Who could forget the bagel binges, the "its your turn to get the door", Moggy's got an emergency call 911! Your this prostar nurse now with all this amazing drive and these goals. You have helped people all over the world and for that I admire you. When we get together Im still the "pink daisy" and your still the melon ball! that will never change even if we are 90!

The of course I know that if hes reading this hes like hey! What about me? Well of course I have not forgotten about that skinny boy. The guy who gave me grief in english class and got me kicked to the front. The guy who has taught me an appreciation for all things star trek not "track" by the way for all you non trekies! There are just 1000s of things that you have brought to my life. So many memories how do you pick just one. The days at your house in the elephant spray pool, the saturday night scanner sessions. The big prank that scared you! Then of course theres your first horse back ride, your first snorkling experience. I recall with laughter the night we brought you home after your 19th, and dumped you on your bathroom floor.. I guess since then I have returned the favour the odd time! You have given me the most love and joy. Its gone from a story about you to the story of "us". From a first kiss to a ring to a marriage. The story just grows and gets better everyday. I cant wait to the day that we have our own little people to tell our stories to. We are so lucky to be surrounded by all these people who are the characters that add to the story of our lives. I have to thank Mrs kirbys history class for being the outlet that cemented our friendship, if it were not for a whole semester of boring modern western I dont think that alot of important foundation would have been made. So when our kids say they dont see what the point of taking this class or that class is we can smile and give them a good reason to stick with it! I love ya baby you make my world worth the journey!

Oh gosh please dont be mad theres so many people who deserve to be part of this post, but I feel like Im at the Oscurs and theres a guy with a big cane trying to pull me off the stage. Anyway to everyone who has or does create the story of my life I say thankyou for sharing your life with me and for being part of this story. I cant believe that so many steps have been taken to get to this point, there are changes in the next few years for all of us.. Im sure around every corner but lets never forget where we came from, it was far to fun to lose it!. Good night everyone my fingers are super tired!

Nostalgic Moment

Hippies take it all!

I give a salute to my favorite hippies- Tyler and BJ! Tonight they out witted the frat boys for the million buckaroos!! It was close there was a point where I wondered if brawn would over take brains... but in the end our tree hugging , peace out, beard growers won!

Good Luck Tyler and BJ! I hope that there is plenty of peace love and grooveness to keep ya going!

Update on LSC (life style change)

I have decided to stop calling my eatting habits a "diet" . I dont need a diet they clearly dont work, most poeple on diets fail and gain back the weight. Even myself has in the past had the mentality that I would "diet" lose the weight and then I would just go back to eating what I want. Not so joe. Im gulp.. getting on in my later 20's and my metabolism is certainly not the same! I never had a great one to start but I guarenettee that its worse now!

Anyway so its not a diet its a lifestyle change. Things this week (being the last two days lol) have gone well. I have eatten well, went to the gym and drank enough water. Now I just need to work on getting more sleep, Im bad for staying up late. I think it was probably a little bit over zealous of me to state that I would post here each day about my health journey so instead I think I will just do it at least a couple times a week.

I will share with you the reader my menu today just to keep me honest:

B: 1 egg white, 2 slices of weight watchers bread (translation mideget bread), yogutr and glass of milk

L: Veggie soup, chicken breast, grapes and yogurt

S: apple and rice crackers with cheese

D: potato, chicken ( I eat polutry alot!) mixed veg plus another bowl of veggie soup ( made it myself very low cal and well lets just say it cleans ya out!)

S: fat free pudding

So thats not bad at all comes to under 1500 cals which is a nice range to be in for weight loss.

Im gonna do this, I want to lose 15 pounds by the end of June, that will put me back in my old size thats how close I am to two summers agos clothing! just 15 pounds and Im back on track. I have to keep perspecitve and do this! So dont hesitate to give me a kick in the butt every now and then! I sometimes need it!

Grey's Sad-atomy

Let us all say a sad goodbye to Grey's Anatomy till September. I just spent the last 2 hours on the couch crying while watching the season finale.

Let us say goodbye to Deni Izzy's ailing heart transplant boyfriend, who went through a season of trauma, faced numerous surgeries, several heart failures and a near miss transplant only to recover ask Izzy to marry him and finally have hope for the future... then while happily reading a magizine throws a blood clot and dies. yup nice way to go! So Izzy is a basket case and I myself was right next to her in the basket during this whole ordeal!

Let us say goodbye to Izzy medical career for putting Denny into heart failure on purpose to get him moved up the transplant list and stealing him a heart. Poor lost Izzy I feel for the girl caught between the medical issues and her heart- I of course cried when she confessed to her deeds!

Let us also say goodby to "doc" the loyal friendly dog that beloned to Both Merdith and Derek- unfortunatly he developed cancer and had to be put to sleep. Another moment of weeping on the coach for me!

Let Us say goodbye to Burke's surgical career as a top heart surgeon- now after his gun shot wound he may never pick up the scapel again. Poor Burke, let us hope Christiana can get over her emotional insecurities and be the girlfriend she wants to be!

Finally let us say goodbye to Derek and Addisons marriage after he had sex with Merdith in an empty patient room!

I must say that the hospital I work at holds way less interesting drama! Yes it is sad I now must wait till September to see all my favorite people come back and entertain me. It is indeed a sad-atomoy day!

The rest of yesterday

Well things went well yesterday with the diet. Then disaster struck... we went bowling last night wtih Julia and then some how ended up at dairy queen! eek! had a blizzard. So that was not exactly part of the diet but I figure not bad overall.

Anyway thats just a quick confession

Weight update

So sticking with my promise to share my healthy lifestyle endeavers I am gonna give you an update:

Weigh In: I knew this would be bad Im up 4 pounds from my norm

Mini Goal: lose 4 pounds by end of May

Meduim goal: 10 pounds by July long weekend ( I lose very slowly)

If we get to that I will set a new goal


Todays Menu so far:

brunch: egg white omlette with spinich and peppers
2 slices of weight watchers bread
glass of milk

Snack: banana and yogurt

Dinner : out but will make good choices

water : 4 glasses, 4 to go!

Mothers Day Tribute

Its that time of year again, for me its a bitter sweet day- Mothers Day. I have wonderful memories of my mother and how great her love for me and our family was, but this is mixed with a little piece of sad. I wish I could take her for a Mother's day tea or give her a nice bunch of lilies. I used to always get her Yardly's English Lavender perfume. She loved it.

There is alot I could say about my mom, too many memories to count.. So this mothers day I try and look at what she gave me - the gifts that I try to carry and let live on through me. I can definately say Im not perfect but I try to carry her values with me. She gave me compassion, the ability to love, the ability to laugh at myself. She taught me about God and the bible. I remeber sitting with her as a little girl and she would say prayers with me and read from the bible. When I was scared about monsters or bad dreams she would pray with me and remind me that God was gonna take care of me. She gave me a love of animals, dogs espcially- just ask Barry and he will tell you that I cant walk by a pet store without going in and talking to the puppies. She taught me how to make beef stew and dumplings- that was something she used to make for my dad and I.

It was the combination of the complex values and simple things that she used to make me the person I am. I hope that most of the time shes watching and proud of me. So today I will share one of my favorite moments: when I was in grade 1 we lived in Ajax and right near the school so she used to get me ready and kiss me goodbye I would walk up the street and she would run upstairs to the bedroom window and watch me on my way to school. She would call out Bye Cherie I love you. I would wave back and say bye mom I love you. So every now and then when I feel a warm breeze or the sun on my face i feel like shes at heavens window saying Hi Cherie I love you. I look up at the beauty of the day and I say Hi mom I love you too.

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -- George Washington (1732-1799)

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there, just know that every little moment with your kids (big or small) will be forever in their memory and treasured. I hope that someday I can give the kind of love I recieved.

Help Ive fallen so far off the wagon

I have fallen off the wagon. The diet wagon that is. Most of you know that I have been doing weight watchers for about 3ish years. I have had some sucess losing 70 lbs. I have in the last 2 years managed to keep 50 of it off, but I have not had any luck losing the 20 I had regained and then some. I have no idea where I have gone wrong. It used to be so easy but it would seem that not only is it getting harder to lose its getting harder to keep it off.

So I have been off the wagon for about 2 weeks, I have not gone to the gym I have eatten crap food if its bad fo ryou I have eatten it. Anyway I have reached a point where I feel like a slug, I feel fat, and my pants are starting to feel snug. All of these things point to Cherie needs to get back on the wagon. I dont know why its so hard, I find Im good all day , then I snack at night. I go to the gym cause i feel I "have to" not because I enjoy it, therefore it creates a feeling of gym resentment. I find in order to lose weight I have to have a strict diet and exercise at least 5 days a week. So its a cycle I do this well for a while lose a few, then I get fed up and tried of this regiment and I fall off the wagon. There for I usually manage to stay in the same range. However this time I find that I am having trouble getting the motivation to get back on track. So I thought I would try a new idea, I am gonna use my blog as a journel to keep me honest about what Im eatting and doing. So I am gonna try and come on here and bare my diet soul to the world in order to keep honest. I lose weight best when I eat whole foods, low glycemic carbs, and limit my sugars. Plus exercise. Sounds like a party eh? Anyway heres my pledge for this week:

I will drink 8 glasses of water a day
I will exercise at least 4 days this week
I will eat healthy foods
I will limit snacking
I will only eat when Im hungery

Im gonna give this a try. Now Im not so bold as to post my weights on here eek! Too scarey! So instead I will weigh in tomorrow and I will post how much Im up from my norm, then I will post the changes every saturday.

Alright Im gonna get back on the wagon.. its hard work but its worth it! So now that Im done complaining I will think about the nice bike ride Im gonna go on tomorrow. Stay tuned for my weigh in, its not gonna be pretty I can almost tell you how much i weigh at any given day. If only chocolate was calorie free!!! Good luck to me!

Home Safe and Sound

Im back from our great capital. Was a very productive couple of days. It taught me 2 very important things: Accreditation is very confusing and its gonna be a long year! We have an accreditation date set for Nov 2007. If you can believe it we are actually supposed to be starting the process now 18 months away! Like yikes! How scarey is that? I found out that this "process" involves all this stuff that we do for a year to prove we have quality indicators and all this "language" that adds up to : you are doing a good enough job for the gov to say your "ok". Anyway at the end of all these months of papers filled with stats (my very least favorite thing in school), you have to go through this intense 2 day interview where these people called surveyors come out and analyise everything from A to Z. They interview everyone. My general take is that they are scarey people we probably spent 30 min discussing their needs for the interviewing days. We must provide them with lunch, coffee, refreshments, an IT person on call for their computers, a driver to take them to any locations of other services that we provide, a paper shredder, 2 separate rooms to conduct their stuff. Binders of stats and info neatly ready for reviewing. I am like Oh my God! the lord himself is coming to visit perhaps he will bring the queen, Britney Spears and maybe even Simon cowell with Ryan Seacrest! Thats how it felt. These people are serious, they dont smile they dont have personlities, they just have pens, note papers and pocket protectors. But the nice thing is after 18 months of work we will have the relief of a quick turn over time of knowing whether we got accreditation status or not: a mere 45-60 days (give or take). yup no stress there! The accreditation to help you get why Im sort of stressed is basically the future of my existence in this nice world I live in now. No accreditation= no contract, no contract= no agency, no agency means Cherie is the newest Walmart greeter in town. So this may not be the last thing you hear on this "accrediation" word. Oh the other thing I learned while away: Dont try to argue with a Russian coffee shop owner about whether the specifications to your "latte" are really coffee or not. It will only end in a poor coffee and getting a very grumpy service person.

I say I would ike a latte with skim milk and half the esspresso. Half the esspresso? He says in a think accent, I say yes half please. Then its not a coffee he replies. I say it is to me can you make it? No No to me it is not a coffee you are ordering. I say : I like it that way can you make it? He looks at me puzzled as though its mission impossible. I say again: can you make it or do I walk a block to Second cup, then he says why do you want only half the esspresso? I say that I cant sleep at night and its now 10pm. So he says why dont you get a decaf? I say can you do that? He says yes I say fine. He walks away to make it muttering to himself in Russian. The next morning he sees me and says something to his helper walks away from me at the counter and then the non english person takes my order. Which I loudly announce that I would like a regular latte with all the caffeine they have as its now morning and I want to be awake. The girl just looked puzzled.. but I know the coffee nazi knew exactly what I was saying!

Anyway thats it for me: oh one other piece of good news! I really did win a spa package and its a grand one might I add! we are talking head to toe pampering! I cant wait!

Updates

Hi all

Well I just thought I would write a quick update. Its gonna be a busy next few days. Im working at the hospital 12 hr day tomorrow - its been a while!! I hope I dont fall asleep from the sheer early hour that I have be be up!

Anyway other then that I thought I would share some exciting stuff Im going to Ottawa on sunday till tues. Im going with my boss for a work related conference. We are starting the year long process of acreditation simply put we make our agency look as good as we can shine it all up then the ministry of health does this big interview/review and gives us (hopefully) there fine stamp of approval. This will improve our future odds of being the best at what we do. Anyway it should be cool we are gonna go on the train on sunday and its gonna be neat to learn all the stuff. Plus it does not hurt that its all paid for by the company!!!

It also appears that I have won a spa package through Barrys work. He entered a draw and there was a message tonight saying he had won.... now if you all recall there was a time not long ago when I was fooled by barrys tricky work collegues. I am not dumb enough to get tricked twice. I say fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! So I wont be excited about this till the actual papers are in my hand. I hope its true- and if the work people have struck again then well they will have to face my rath! However thats a whole other blog! Well night everyone stay tuned for more excitment from my life!

Meeting Jill, grey hair and the kids next door

Well I can imagine that reading the title has lead to some curiosity to my readers. Allow me to explain: I will start with what is currently bothering me the neighbours to my left have two "tweens" you know what Im talking about that ackward age between 10-13. In the past we have not really seen much or heard much from these kids, however much to our horror the parents of the "tweens" have bought them a full sized trampoline. How did we first discover this? Barry and I had gotten home from a long day at work and we were changing out of our work clothes... now I dont know about you but I tend to walk around in my underware at times. This was one of those times Barry and I were looking for our comfy clothes and not properly attired. So Barry walks into the living room which faces our backyard. The only thing you can see is the fence next door and the yard so we had the curtains open- not expecting to see anyone Barry walked out half undress shall we say and was startled by the popping up of a head of the annoying boy next door. Every few seconds we would see this head pop up and disturb our privacy. Needless to say we ran and closed the curtains to avoid giving the first peep show in our neighbourhood. So to our delight the trampoline has brought friends to play and much noise. Infact at this moment they are playing on it with loud loud teeny bopper music (not even good teeny bopper music might I add). The most annoying part is that the song keeps stopping and then the same 1 min segment is started over again. Again and again it plays. I know that if there are any parents in the crowd you are probably thinking we are just not intouch with the world of kids- well your right we are not. Yup I am at this point in my life a self proclaimed "DINK" So until that changes I will continue to hate this trampoline and think of ways I might be able to get it out of our lives. (Im open to suggestion also)

So now going back to the weekend. We had a great weekend, got alot of stuff done in the garden and around the house in General. However a startling discovery was made... Barry and I were on our way out to meet Missy for dinner when as we are getting ready to go he standing behind me says" what is that and proceeds to rip a hair out of my head. After giving a yelp of discomfort for the lost hair I notice that the hair that he has just pulled out does not seem like mine. I mean Im a dirty blond this hair appears almost white... but no that cant be it has to be that its just highlighted and apearing platnium. I did go into this state of denile for a few minutes but it did not last as I soon had to fast the awful truth.... Barry had found a grey hair. My first real grey hair. My youth is dead my life has taken the down ward spiral.. Im getting.... *sweating*, gulp, Im getting OLD! So Barry being the wonderful and supportive husband that he is was good enough to do a search of my head and notify me that not to worry there was more where that one came from. Apparently they have infiltrated my world and I can no longer deny that age is slowly tightening its grip on me, whats next wrinkles??? I cant even think about that right now.

Lastly but not least my dear friend Missy had an unfortunate case of mistaken idenity. We were meeting her for dinner on the weekend when she was approached by 40ish looking male with a werid afro typ hairdo and a nice beer gut to ask her if she as "jill" She gave it some thought and decided that no indeed she was not Jill. The man walked away disappointed. Then of course "Jill" did appear. Jill was a 40ish looking year old women. I think that guy was dreaming. Why he thought that my 20 something friend could possibly be the women that was clearly his blind date is beyond me. All I can say is keep dreaming buddy cause Jill has left the building!

Anyway thats all I got in my head so Im drained now. Later people!

Our First Bike Ride

Its saturday afternoon and Barry and I just got back from our first bike ride. In case people had not heard Barry and I bought some new bikes in hopes to increase our fitness level and just have some fun. I had some high ambitions. I thought that we could do 60min no problem.. well I hate to admitt that i may have been wrong about that.. we did a respectable 36 min but it was hard work! Especially coming up Elephant hill Dr! It was fun and the weather was great but we were tired at the end! I guess we will have to work our fitness up to that 60 min I was hoping for. All and all not a bad start to the bike, except my bum hurts from the seat....

My first week on call

It has been my first week on call for my job. WHen I mean on call I carry this cell phone around between the hours of 4:30pm-8:30am. So that families and nurses who need help outside of office hours have someone to call. I have given this phone a name, I call it the"bat phone". The bat phone will spend hours silent as long as you are not trying to do anything, but the minute you decide to get groceries, watch a show, go out somewhere - that is when it will ring. Its like it knows when the worst possible time to ring is and does.

I have been very frustrated with this phone I spent monday night on the phone from 7pm till 11pm. The calls start to come anywhere from 5am to 7am. Its got to be the most stressful thing. You take your job with you 24/7. Thank god its only very few and far between that I have had to take the phone. I have been yelled at, sworn at and hung up on this week. familes dont like it when there nurses are sick. So they tend to not just shoot the messanger they tend to slaughter the messanger.

Anyway I have one more night then I will not see the bat phone till the end of June. Im glad for it to be over as its hard to really have a normal life with it. I know its necessary and a part of my job but I guess its one of those things that you have to just accept as part of the job. I have tobe grateful as I could still be on nights at the hospital fulltime and that would be much worse!!

Life is good nothing to exciting Barry and I are gonna go look at some bikes tomorrow and hopefully pick some out and start getting out more. Well I know that my blogs are not as funny as my counter part but I promise as soon as the inspiration hits I will write. I have begun to wonder if I have any fans anymore as none of my friends comment on my bloggs. I love it when peeople say hi and let me know they are listening through the comments, gives me a reason to write. So show me your out there and say hi once in a while! Night everyone

Some pictures just for fun

Well my inspiration for blog writting has not been great this weekend, so instead I have decided to give you all a little taste of what barry and I have been up to lately....



Here is my wonderful husband doing his best impression of a pirate... if he had a mullet he could be an Oshawa pirate! Perhaps something to strive for!

Here is my sweet sweet boy, he was so tired the night of Barrys Bye Bye Blacks party (he had too much beer) that he need to "sleep it off"

This past weekend we had a cute house guest stay overnight, Bently Lucyk! he was a great house guest (often more obedient then those who live in the house!) He had lots of fun with his friends scooby O Mally and Mr Columbo... who ran in fear! Here is a shot of the "boys" just hanging out!

Its all part of our master plan.. first visit a play hamburger the next one will be from Wendys! Columbo will show him how to order.

Welcome to Bermuda!

Today was a rainy day, rainy but good. It all started last night when we were in Zellers and I was randomly looking at items when I saw it... the patio furniture of my dreams! Its called "the bermuda" collection. Its so beautiful its like a brown wicker type style, with a brown tinted table, with beautiful tropical seat covers. Not only is it the nicest patio set I have seen this year, but its the most comfortable!

The patio set is large enough that we had a fair amount well... lets say alot ofd trouble getting it into the car. (see Barrys blog for the random act of kindness blog that compliments this one).

Anyway we got it home and I am soo excited to get a sunny day I want to set it up on the deck and have an oasis of paradise! I cant wait!!!! Its sad at 29 these are the things that excite us. Of course the forcast is predicting 5 days of rain which will delay our set up.

Other exciting news is that we are planning a May long weekend trip to Brockville, while we are there we are gonna hop over to New York for a little shopping... can you say Victorias Secret, Old Navy Outlet, JC Penny!! Soo excited!! Anyway thats all my exciting news for now. Im gonna go dream of my new Bermuda patio set!

Hospital Reflective Moment

Ok I did a 12 hour night shift last night. Im off for easter monday which is a very good thing. I just want to point something out: I love my day job, I love it so much I want to make out with it! (just kidding I know thats kinda werid!). Anyway I like the hosptial and its nice to be causal see my friends and keep up my skills.. but having said that today I feel like a dirt bag I had forgotten how it feels to stay awake all night- not at all good for the body. I feel sick and bloated and unhealthy. I dont have any idea how I did this full time.

Also Barry and I are so close that its hard to be away for a night from him(dont puke I know its super sappy), my working this day job has been really good for our relationship, giving us time together in the evenings and weekends. Its given us consistency and a routine that has been refreshing. So Im thankful today for all my blessings. God has really taken care of me he knew that I would have gone crazy if I had stayed in my old job full time. I am greatful for the life that I have been given and Im trying to live it to the fullest. Anyway just a little presleep refection I thought I would share. Night everyone!

The Party

Im on my way for a little sunday breakfast but I did not want to disappoint my fans. Barrys bye bye blacks party was a success. I rolled into bed at around 3am, as did about 5 stay over night guests. Note: the below picture is in no way alcohol induced. I am actually proud to say that I had one glass of wine and felt completely uninterested in any more. So I was just having a great old time with my own natural party abilities!! You will notice the fur collar, this was a symbol of my coolness for the night. I was much like a pimp mama with my fur!! Of course as always proving that I am in deed the dancing queen.

Happy to report that there was no vomiting by my husband or any other guests. Stay tuned for more details... Im off for a post party breaky!!

Happy 6 months anniversary to us!

Happy anniversary to us! We have been married for a whole 6 months! I cant even believe that time has passed so quickly!! I looked at the clock today at 2pm and it all came back to me how crazy nervous I was waiting to go down the isle, how excited I was to have all my friends and family present watching us have this amazing day. How emotional I was about just well everything! It was to this point the best day of my life! I cant even sum up how great it was in one blog. So Im 6 months in on the married journey and Im loving it, Barry is a great husband, wonderful loving partner and just my very best friend. Barry and i have so many secret jokes, looks and laughs Im sure that people think we are a little mental. Thats ok we are enjoying the journey of getting to know each other more and more are we go on through life.

We did not buy each other anything exciting for easter/anniversary ( I would not let Barry buy me any chcocolate as Im down 8 pounds and want to keep that off). However we are gonna treat ourselves to The Herongate dinner thearter. They have a good play coming up so to celebrate we are gonna do that instead of chcocolate or treats.

Anyway I just wanted everyone to know (whether your married or getting married or thinking about it) that 6 months later its still as good and keeps getting better and more fun as each day goes on. I love ya honey!!

Bye Bye Blacks, Barry and Beth

Tonight is the BBBBB Party (see title for meaning). Barry my love has finally quit his job at Blacks! After 8 years of toil he is finally done. No more double shifts of working all day at Minacs and then working in the evenings at Blacks. Its time had come. So to celebrate I am having 20 or so crazy blacks employees over to my house for a night of BBQ, fun and whatever else that can happen! I have gone to the store and invested in a bottle of my fav Jacobs Creek... "hello Jacob". I am sure myself and Jacob can find a way to entertain our selves tonight.

So while I must say goodbye to a life of discounted developing and frame and join the world of those who pay the ridiculously expensive prices of Blacks (I can finally say that now! hee hee). I will however have a good trade off in the form of spending more evenings with my wonderful husband. Perhaps we can now go to walmart to develop pictures (gasp!) No i doubt that barry would ever let me do that, once I bought a frame from somewhere other then blacks and well lets just say it wasnt pretty!!!

Stay tuned for more details and perhaps even a picture or too!!!

Day 5 Plague slowly loosens its grip

well Its day 5 Im still at home, I have not really left home since friday for longer then an hour. I think my brain has had enough TV to do it for a while. I am however starting to feel better. I still feel like tired and weak but not coughing as much and no fever for the last 24 hours. So I must be on the mend, Im also feeling hungery again so that has to be a good sign also. Im trying to rest so that Im well enough to go back to work but Im feeling a little cabin fever like.

Anyway I have less then the normal amount of exciting things to say... what can I tell you ah let me take you through my day:

7am- Barrys alarm goes off multiple times and wakes me up

8am- Barry is gone to work so I go back to sleep

9am- Columbo jumps on me cause he wants to play- I however dont want to play and shove him off the bed

10am- must pee bladder has reached capacity

10:10am- move down to computer check email

10:15am- move to couch to watch tv watch Ellen and bits of the View

12pm- awake must have fallen asleep

1pm- get up think about lunch, dont feel like going up stairs instead decide to go online.

so I think you get the picture its been a slow day, Im not feeling 100% but Im feeling like perhaps I need the stimulation of the outside world, the pets are just not the greatest conversationalists. Anyway thats all from the center for disease control. I bid you all a good day!

Day 4 the Plague continues

Day 4 and the plague continues. I managed to get to the office to find I was sweat soaked and coughing. So I was promptly sent home. Anyway a trip to the clinic just in case there was any doubt about my illness they said you have the flu go home and dont leave your house till wed. So Im gonna camp out on the couch. My only the hope is that the outside world can survive without me for the next 2 days. So I say goodbye world hello couch that will be my womb for the next 48 hours. Im crawling in .. see you soon.

Influenza fun or no fun?

Im writing todays blog in a lime green colour that makes me think of having the flu. I have the flu it hit friday and has persisted with high fever, coughing weakness and endless piles of tissue. I have not been to work since thursday, was supposed to work last night at the hospital but unfortunatly was too sick to leave my couch. Im in a state of utter sick hell. I want to sleep but the hacking cough is not really letting me. Gingerale and popsicles are my friend, my husband is staying far far away from me as though I have the plague .. which of course is not far from the truth.

So ask influenza fun or no fun? I say no fun, no fun at all. Im going back to my spot on the couch that has an indentation from where I have lay for the last three days, where my only friends are my germs.

Lifestyles of a Nurse Manager

Do you ever feel like when you get to work you should just sit down and wait for someone to sit on you cause you are a toilet awaiting a poo dropping? This has been my week apparently one thing I am learning about my job is that Manager is a term that is used to descibe less popular terms like: Complaint department, Shit scooper, employee punching bad... you get the picture.

Anyway this week I have had 4 unpleasant people disrupt my quiet office world. Oh yes things would be great if left to my paper work and solitide. But no this is the real world and people have issues, they have them from 8:30-4:30 pm mon-fri. Oh dont get me wrong I know they exist all the time I just get to deal with them in these hours, and of course when I come in the morning there are usually 10 plus calls with people who have "issues". So I spend a good part of the day dealing with them. However having said that I do want to make it clear Im not complaing or asking people to feel bad for poor office Cherie quite the contray I realize that different jobs have different challenges. Im just finding that Im learning about these new situations and how to best handle them.

Lets take stock of my week:

I have had an angery parent tell me that I am sending her incompetent nurse and she does nto sleep at night and basically this is all my fault

I have had a nurse take my head off after I requested that attend an enservice on patient transfering- after all she has no issues with this shes perfect... right.

I have had a school teacher call and tell me that we at my office have single handedly ruined her year with our awful nursing schdule in her class. Yes ha ha! My evil plot worked after months of planning I have finally driven her over the edge! (like I have time for that!) After all we are not here for the kids we are here to make your life better right? Yeah no! Um perhaps you need to go on summer vacation school is just getting too stressful for you. (sorry to any teachers in the bunch I love you all just not the particular one that does not look at the world from any perspective then her own almighty stand point).

And my all time favorite nurse calls me three times in a day frekaing out about something and I tell her Im dealing with it, finally on the final call to me I believe my words were "Sally you need to calm down Im looking into the issue and I will get back to you" apprently when I said this I was being condesending to her- even though she was frekaing out on the phone and being a baby. However she did call my boss and tell her that she felt I was being condesending. Thankfully my boss knows what a retard this person is.

Anyway I leave you with one final bit of humour: I have been preparing a report to hand out to the nurses about some new guildelines, my version was quite dry so Barry was kind enough to write this version of my report for your enjoyment:

DATC has some new reporting guidelines. They are designed to make more work for you, the nurses out in the field, and less work for us, the managers. As you well know, we the managers are extremely busy and are often unable to field calls from you, crying and boohooing . Perhaps now your time will be spent filling out more paperwork instead of crying to me about your lives.

You should always remember you nursing motto. I care, you care, we care, congratulations you’re a nurse. Thank you.

Thanks Barry for the humor thats exactly how nurse managers think! lol

Happy Birthday Mom

I feel guilty... I have been going about my day and doing things and I realized that I have forgotten something important. I thought that there was a bit of an itch today, something that was making me think about my parents more then normal, then of course I realized it- today was my mom's birthday. I guess sometimes for me I try not to dwell on thoughts of them that might make me sad, like a birthday that wont be celebrated.

However I of course want to acknowledge my dear mom, she deserves that. I have another confession to make I have not been to the cemetary since November 2004. That was the day of my dad's funeral. I just have not been able to bring myself to go, it doesnt mean that I love them any less... I just find that its hard to go. Anyway I feel that I should go, so my plan is when the weather gets nicer Im gonna go and plant something to make it prettier. I dont know if others have been going but I should go, they are gonna put up the stone soon, so I should go see it. I was listening to a song today it was a country song today and it sort of struck how I have been feeling lately:
I raise my hands, bow my head I'm finding more and more truth in the words written in red They tell me that there's more to life than just what i can see I can't quote the book The chapter or the verse You can't tell me it all ends In a slow ride in a hearse You know I'm more and more convinced The longer that i liveYeah, this can't be No, this can't be No, this can't be all there is When I raise my hands, bow my head I'm finding more and more truth in the words written in red They tell me that there's more to life than just what i can seeI believeOh, II believe

I think that my mom and dad would be happy to know that I do believe that there is more to this life then just what is seen. I truely believe that when you take your last breath its just the begining, your onto the next step. So I hope that my mom is having a wonderful birthday in heaven with my dad, my aunt Audery, uncle Sam and my grandparents. I hope there is cake and gifts of joy... I hope they are watching my life unfold and are proud of what I am trying to become. The greatest gift I can give them is to honour the beliefs they have given me. So Im trying- baby steps, trying to sort some stuff out. So Happy birthday mom blow out your candles and smile. I love you.

Apparently Im the April Fool

Good day everyone. I want to share with you a little story. A few weeks ago my husband and I signed up for a contest to win a trip to the Juno awards. So yesterday barry calls me at work and says "Oh my God theres a message at home you have to call and check it!" So I call home and there is a girl named Jennifer from CTV promotions is calling to tell me that she has some good news for me about the Juno contest that we entered. I start jumping up and down in my office and yelling "im going to the Junos!!" People are watching coming out of there offices as I jump around like a fool. So I call the number the girl left (still in shock and shaking with excitment!). Everyone is watching me and the girl "jennifer from CTV promotions" says I have wone 2 round trip tickets to the Junos with air fare, 500 dollars spending money, backstage passes and a stay at a nice hotel! I was so excited (by this time everyone in the office is in my office). So I get told that a limo will pick us up and take us to the airport tomorrow morning (today) at 9am. I have to answer a skill testing question and its who is hosting the Junos I yell as loud as I can Pamela Anderson! She tells me I have won!

So barry calls me back and I tell him the news Im still yelling and carrying on. And he says what if this was all an April Fools Joke? I was like not even hearing him still yelling... Im like what! hes like Happy April Fools. I wanted to kill him! Anyway I have since forgiven him but I do have a long memory and I will find my revenge not just to him but to "all" those at minacs who were involved! You know who you are watch your back!! So I will sit in my basement and watch the Junos... boooo!

The end is in sight

Well I can finally say that the end is in sight. The bathroom may soon be mine again. I have spent the last almost month in Barrys wasteland bathroom. Its dirty grimy and boy like, but I have endured.. sadly I have come to the place where I take more enjoyment showering in public at the gym then in my husbands cave.

Anyway just to review I mentioned a while ago that I had some goals that I wanted to work on. I thought I would update you on that. On the going to they gym front I have been going for the last 2 weeks 5 days a week. I go every morning and work out for an hour. I have been for the most part eatting very well. I am now down 4 pounds - thats almost half way to my May goal of 10 pounds. We are almost done the bathroom and starting to think about the next project.

I am starting to do some causal hours at the hospital just to keep me up to date on all that hands on nursing. Anyway Im totally boring today and have not much to report. Im sure that Barry is gonna write some really funny ironic blog, so Im not even gonna try for humor today. Some days ya got it and some you dont. Today Im just in a boring place, a happy content place but boring none the less.

New computer and other news

Hi Everyone, well I have been lazy these last week or so and Im have not taken the time to write in my blog. So whats new in the Bates household. We are finally finally going to paint or bathroom today! How exciting is that!!! Im pretty excited! That means that we are nreaing completion. We just have to do the floor (or rather or friends dad will do it for us) and put up the new light fixture that we bought. Im so excited! The bathroom is gonna look soo good. We have already decided what our next project will be: the living room, we are changing the very thing that first attracted me to the house- the walls. They are done in a painted Faux finish - which I love but believe its had its day and needs a face lift. So we are gonna paint it and then replace the carpet with new carpet. Alas we were gonna do hardwood or even laminiate but with the stairs it was way out of our price range. Anyway some new paint and some new carpet and that room will shine!!

So last night my dear husband and I went to Best Buy to look at some new flat panel computer monitors and he wanted a DVD burner. We priced them and it was gonna be more then half the cost of a new computer.... so here I sit on a brand new cpmputer- how this happened Im not sure. Anyway Barry sold his old one so it was doable. Barry works so hard often 6 days a week and I felt like he deserved to get something that he really wanted. So Im happy that he has his new computer.

Oh other news! I am excited to tell you all that Im returning causally to the hospital! I had expressed interest to the management that if there was ever a posting to let me know. Anyway They said there were 2 but that they had so many internal applicants that they could not hire me back this time. So I was shocked to get the message that I had been accepted! Im very excited I love my new job but I miss the action and babies in the hospital. Its a very easy commitment only 2 shifts in 9 weeks. so thats not bad at all. Plus a little extra cash never hurt!! Anyway that will give me some exciting stories again (for those of you who thrived on my tales!) I also think maybe it will give me my baby fix .. but it also might just make me want to have one who knows!! Anyway Im excited I am so lucky I have the been granted the best of both worlds my day life and my hospital drama!!

Well thats all for now Hope everyone has a great weekend! Cheers- oh and a speical shout out to Sam on her 25th birthday! See ya at the party Sammy!!!!

Kudos to Barry today!

I give Kudos to my husband today! He is awesome. I was supposed to come home after being out with some friends and prime the bathroom and I come home to find that he has primed the bathroom all himself! I was so impressed! He is turning out to be the best handyman!

Also I was even more impressed that he on his own without any help has learned how to rewire light switches! Barry has not had anyone to teach him how to do these things and Im really impressed at how he has been able to figure out things and just do it. He is a quick learner and just knows how to get things done. Im so proud of him, hes taking such good care of me and out home. Anyway I just thought that he deserved to be acknowledged. Great work honey keep it up!!!

Things that make me smile

I thought I would take a minute to post some pictures that make me smile. These are just a small sample of what I have to be happy about, but even these small things are great.



My husband - living out his dream to have a big dog! very cute!


Currently these are my "children" sometimes even with these ones there are night time feedings and waking! This is as close as they get!

a great memory, this was one of the last pictures taken of us together, it was thanksgiving. Dad saved me from burned gravey! I was trying to impress Barrys family with my cooking! Im glad he was so happy, and that he met Barrys Grandparents to this day that is a great blessing to me.

Humanity

Its funny, one day you feel like writing a blog about how the toilet paper on the roll looks and the next you find yourself reflecting on, well everything that brought you to where you are. This is one of those days. I have found that March has been a werid month, I have found my moods to be all over the map and I have found myself looking at my life.

Sometimes I find myself looking around me thinking that I am this poor example of humanity and that everyone is so much stronger, together and wiser then me. However sometimes you get to see a glimpse of life, you see people around you experience true joy and true sadness. It makes you stop and shake your head and say wow here i am so focused on myself that you forget that there are people out there with needs just like your own. Once you take the time to open your eyes and see what those around you are doing you realize we are all human- I know thats such a hugely obvious statment but sometimes I forget that under the skin and bones and "vitals" that I know how to take, is heart and feeling. I sometimes forget to look at those things. I feel a greater sense of peace knowing that even though we all lead separate lives we sometimes come together and touch each others hearts. Im very glad that the people in my world have touched me and I have hopefully touched. Does this blog make your brain hurt yet? I know that it might not make much sense but it makes sense to me.

Another thing I have been thinking about is God. I feel like I have shut off this tap in myself. Alot of people may not be aware that I came from a very spiritual place. I as many know had some stuff happen in my life over the last few years that made me shut down and it felt like if I let myself be aware of God, or about what that means that I would let in this pain about my family, it felt like if I acknowledged God I had to acknowledge the begining and the end- that death comes and so it has in my life. All those things remind me of parents, and for a long time that was too much. I am lucky to have a friend that recently made me remember that. I had it in my head but I had not verbalized that I well I missed my spiritual side. I perhaps at one time did not have a balance in my life and I was very extreme in some of my views and thoughts, but I believe that there can be balance that includes God. I also know that i was raised in the most loving home my family gave me this God given life they just breathed into me truth and life and taught me how to love. They taught me what God means to us as people. Now Im not preaching to anyone Im just saying my thoughts, I just feel like as I start to think about kids I try to think about the things that I found important in my upbring and I want to make sure that I give those to my family. My parents greatest gift to me was knowledge of God- I need to find my way back to that how can I ever give life to another person without giving them the most important aspect of life - the spirit. Dont worry Im not gonna shave my head or join a cult or anything like that. Im just thinking maybe theres room for God maybe I need to let him in again. I have been scared to think about it scared to think that if I let God in more it will make me feel sad about missing my family. However I would rather chose to think that it would honour them and they would be so proud looking down from heaven. Again not to worry Im still Cherie I just am Cherie who is starting to be touch more with her feelings- I still like red wine...... but so did Jesus so I guess we are in good company!

I have been so narrow minded. Im so blessed yet I complain so much. I have the greatest people in my life- I have the most real people the most true people. Even though we all struggle at times its nice that we can always support each other. Its such a gift to love that sometimes I forget that loving people is sometimes the best you can give- I hope that I can aim to love my friends and family more... complain less appreciate more. I hope that everyone in my life who reads this knows that I feel honored to have you add to my life. Anyway I guess thats enough spilling my guts. Hey what good is a blog if you cant use it to say whats on your mind. I hope you sleep in peace tonight good night.

5 months...

Hi Everyone,

Well today is my 5 month wedding anniversary. I don't know if you really celebrate that sort of thing but its a nice little land mark for us. We have been having a lot of fun as a married couple, planning our summer mini trips, attempting to struggle through home renovation: by the way my list and plan to work on the bathroom has not yet happened. I just find Im so tired by the time I get home from work that I don't want to do anything. So I have to go hard core on Friday and get that bathroom ready to paint. My goal is to have this bathroom done by Easter, Lets hope that we can do it!!!

Barry is great, Im learning more and more about him as time goes on. He always suprises me like tonight he had tidied the kitchen- which was a big help to me. Its great we are definitely in a good place. Talking about having kids has just been a natural progression, we just have become more comfortable talking about it. That's not to say that we are gone rush into anything just that we are getting more comfortable with the thought of it. I think that's the first step. I still have stuff I want to do. I guess there is not magical formula for readiness.. I kinda just hope we know when we are ready.

Anyway Im off to watch some TV and get ready for bed! Happy 5 months to Barry and I!! only 7 more till our one year.. then what will I call my blog I wont be a newlywed anymore!! who knows! night everyone.

Lets get back to business

Well I think we can all agree too much drama for 1 week! I have obviously made some errors and Im ok with admitting that. Anyway Im ready to get back to the purpose of this blog to just be me and share my life with my friends.

Thanks for all the support from my friends who saw how I was feeling about the comments. I have put my blog settings back to just letting my friends post ( I really do like when you all leave your comments). Anyway this blog is now monitored by a blog security system so that if I need to I can track who writes in my blog. I hope this will not be necessary.

I started this as a fun way to destress and share, and thats what I want it to be. If your not on this blog as a friend please dont post. If your not someone who is actively in my life I know I cant stop you from reading but have enough respect to keep your thoughts to yourself. Thanks everyone! Next blog topic on a lighter note: Barry and Cheries dream to go on a vegas vacation!!!

Deep Thoughts and all the crap in my brain

Well it has been a while since I have written but I think that the weather this weekend has made me do some thinking. Barry and I have been talking quite a bit in the last while about babies and family and just evaluating what matters to us.

Of course it has always been the plan to have kids but I think now we are ready to put a plan in action. I know I know not everything is plannable nor is it always go according to plan. But there are things to think about. For myself to have a child (not really soon so dont get too worked up people) but for us to start to plan there are some things that we need to do to be ready:

1. Physical readiness: I have been slacking on my diet and not really pushing my exercise. So my goal is I want to lose 40 pounds by the fall, I want to be in good physical shape before I try to have kids. So that means healthy eatting and more exercise- I know I wont be perfect and i know that there may be a bowl of ice cream somewhere in there so Im realistic. So start I want to lose 10 pounds by the end of May. I think thats a modest doable goal. I also want to start taking vitamins and just looking after myself and helping Barry to focus on his own health. We want to be good role models for our kids. We are gonna get some bikes and try and get out more this spring and summer

2. Home Readiness: We are gonna finish the bathroom we started and try and work on making our kitchen a little nicer, and giving our home some outdoor care. The end of that goal involes transforming Barrys office into a furture bedroom, so that means saving money for a new window.

3. Finacial readiness: we are trying to get some bank stuff sorted out to help us save more for the future and tidy up our spending so that we are more prepared to live within a smaller budget (kids cost money). Also save money for the extras like the new window we need.

4. Emotional readiness- this is a big one! I dont know how to put it into words (this is a whole other blog really!) but we need to just talk and research and just get more comfortable with the process.

Anyway this is just a start, stay tuned!

6am and Im awake whats up with that?

Its 6am and Im wide awake! What is up with that? Im having a very strange week. I have no idea what has brought on this whole weridness. I have been in talks with the mangers at the hospital I used to work with, Im hoping to get back on board causally. I dont know if that will be an option but I think I need to have some hospital time. I need some adventure and action, again part of this is due to the fact that I miss the moms and babies I used to work with. So iM hoping that there will come some answers about this and that I can have a chance to do what Im stil passionate about. Again I love my job but its not exciting. Im not wanting to go back on a full time basis I like the lifestyle I have, but I definatly want the option to go and use my nursing skills. Im really hopeful that this will happen.

Oh I hope spring gets here soon before I go bonkers, Also my theory is if Im back with the occasional shift in the hospital I will get my "baby fix" and stop thinking about them outside of the hospital. Im thinking thats whats wrong with me Im just missing my maturnity. Say a little prayer for me that they have some causal job openings and that I get one! Im gonna go lie down for an hour try and sleep.

I think I have Cabin Fever

Well where to begin? its alot easier to blog I find when one has issues. I think I have issues. Not like serious issues but issues all the same. Today I have been grumpy moody and depressed. I ate chocolate tonight- yes I ate chocolate and lots of it! Did I mention chips to? I hardly eat like that anymore and I had alike a good break down. Im sure I will be seeing my friend the 4 pounds back this week.

I am trying to figure out whats bugging me. To start my bathroom resembles the inner circle of hell. I have a working sink I cant shower or pee in there, so Im forced to use the "boy bathroom" its gross, and cold. So that puts me in a mood off the bat. While I like my job I find it a little isolating I dont have much interaction with people and Im feeling like I miss that. I used to have so much interaction and now I dont, and the only interaction I have is generally with people who want to bitch at me. I like my co -workers and Im greatful for the job, but its just beena slow week and I am feeling bored.

Ok Im just gonna say it: Im having some baby confusion. Now all you baby freaks out there who have been saying I will be the next one and wishing fertility on me dont freak out. I just am feeling like its all around me everywhere I go its babies, my co workers are pregnate, I have friends who are prego, and even unlikely people are now talking about the potential to become parents. Now Im so confused I dont feel ready I like my freedom to a degree, but a part of me feels its like the next step. I also feel like I want to be more finically ready, and more ready with the home stuff. Ugh! Go away babies go away! I thought I would go to the mall tonight to get it off my mind- what is there babies! Babies in strollers, babies in arms. Its unavoidable, I even came on line and noted that a blogger I read about now and then has had a baby. Why is this in my head? I never gave a crap about timing, If something has turned my biological clock on I think I need to hit snooze cause this is freaking me out! Even my husband is freaking me out! Hes like well just let me know when your ready. EEK! What is that! Im sure this is all a phase Im bored and its winter blues. Nice weather is coming and then I will be back out enjoying life and Babies can again take a place in the self marked: "later".

Ok Im gonna go take an antacid, I ate too much.

I have No bathroom

Well the home improvements continue, Barry and I have made good progress. I have finished stripping the wall paper (THANK GOD!) and Barry assisted by removing the toilet and then helping to sand the walls and fill the holes. But sadly we are out of motivation and need some additional stuff to move to the next phase- that will mean next weekend we will paint! So until then I am living in a bathroom that has only a workable sink. I have to go down to Barry's dungeon bathroom for usage of toilet and shower. I don't know if any of you know about Barry bathroom- but it is the area I refer to as the "hot zone" the center for disease control has taken swabs and we are awaiting results. Anyway I'm forced to spend a week in its use. I don't know what's worse, not showering or showering in there. I hope that I make it through the week, as I don't know if I will survive the bathroom experience. Anyway the renovations are going well no major problems yet. We are slowly increasing our handymen skills (we have a book!). Hey everyone has to start somewhere right! Stay tuned!

Im going in!

Prepare yourselves! Im gonna work on my bathroom! Thats right without anyone forcing me, holding me at gun point or threatening to take away my tv watching time. Im gonna go scrape my little heart out! Note: This is also a diet technique. I have lost 4 pounds in the last 4 weeks not alot but they say slow and steady wins the race. So by working on the bathroom it leaves way less time to snack on treats. Wish me luck more details to follow!

Flip this Bathroom!

I spent part of tonight watching some of those home improvement shows and I started to feel motivated, I started to feel powerful! If these common people can renovate then why not me? I have been in the process of redoign my bathroom, but so far all that has entaled has been taking some wall paper off- so tonight I decided to do some more work. I spent an hour on one wall and in all that time all I got done was removing the glue. Note to people: wall paper is never a good thing after 1989, and it is certainly not a good idea in a bathroom. So after an hour of scraping wiping and washing the wall I gave up. Rome was not built in a day nor will this bathroom be redone over night.

So I will try to share my joureny with this bathroom as I make advancements. My goal is to have the wall paper all scraped down by next weekend. Lets see if I can get my lazy butt to work on it! I wish I was rich I would just hire people to do my work for me. Oh well back to my scraper!

Just a General Update

Well I dont have much creative to say, but I feel that I should write a blog as I have been slacking lately. Whats new that I can tell you about? hmm well Barry and I went to Brockville on the weekend and visited his nan and pop. We had a nice time very relaxing and fun.

Work is going well, although I find myself at times bored, but I have come to the realization that this bordom comes from the fact that I used to have alot more people interaction in my job and now I have alot less. I am used to alot of disscussion and I guess its just adjusting to the different environment. Also in the old office we were kinda clustered together, but now that I have my own office its quiet. Again all things I will get used to. Im feeling more independent in my job role I feel like I know what Im doing and that I can take more of lead role in some of the interactions. Sometimes I miss the old schdule work a few days off a fwe days. However its nice to have nights and weekends off. Its all a trade off but a worth while one.

Im enjoying the gym at lunch, its a nice routine, I have lost 3lbs in the last 2 weeks, its not alot but its a good start Im into more of routine which will hopefully help me make more weight loss strides. How am I feeling right now? kinda in a funk I dont know why Im just funky Im tired and I feel like blah.

Anyway I know this is possibly the worlds most boring blog entry Im sure it could win a boring blog entry. That is all I promise to get some spunk next time.

Help Bring back the goatee! Your Comments count!

As you can see from this picture my hubby was sporting a nice goatee for a while. I really liked it thought it made him look older more mature. Alas he did not agree and has since shaven it off. I think that my blog readers need to speak up! Post your comments here and help me convince him to bring back the facial hair! Say yes to Facial hair today by leaving your comments! Come help me with my cause! Thank you.

My Funny Valentine

How could I resist on this hallmark holiday to post a little bit of mushy sentiment about my husband? The answer is I couldnt help myself! This is a picture of Barry my new husband. In fact we will be married a grand total of 4 months tomorrow! Thats so exciting!! Barry bought me some lovely pink roses that I have displayed on my kitchen table, Im so lucky to have such a nice guy, and not just for the obvious reasons, kindness sweetness and cute- but for all the little things. He makes me laugh, he knows the very spot Im most ticklish and never hesistates to use it when we go to battle on our couch watching our favorite shows. He makes the best chili and we have the best bedtime talks about our day. Yes Im very content life is good, I sometimes feel guilty like things are too smooth and I dont deserve to be so happy. But I am and I wont question it I will just enjoy the blessings. I love you Bareclaw!! Happy Valentines Day! This weekend we get to go to Brockville and see Barrys family I love these trips its so nice to spend time with these wonderful peole they make me feel so invited. Im looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend visiting.
My Bareclaw! How cute!

Looking Forward to Friday

Well if looking back at these shots from the past is any indication of the fun that is planned to be had on friday night then yahoo look out! I feel like I have to have a bit of fun now while I can still call myself "in my 20's". I mean 30 is literally walking towards me with a big black hook prepared to grab me and carry me kicking and screaming to middle age! I plan to go out with a bang! Anyway Im looking forward to kicking back and relaxing! Hope to see all that can make it to Tequilla Willys in the shwa on friday! Cheers!



Cherie enjoying her favorite martini yummm!


Missy and I having a toast at our bachlorette party in October!! We were of course the picture of perfect by the end of the night!! ha ha

Cuba: A tale of a drunken night

I want to share a story with you all:

Once upon a time on an island in the sea there was a girl and her husband on vacation. They spend their days on the beach and their evenings taking in the local events. One night the lovely couple decided to go out to dinner to one of the local resturants. At dinner the waiter brought some wine for the two to enjoy. However the husband said "gee I dont drink wine" so the wife being the kind and generous women did not want to put it to waste so she said "why I will drink your wine" the husband replied "but wife you have your own wine to drink" The wife with a happy glint replied "dont you worry about me I can drink them both no problem". So the couple had a nice dinner full of wine and talk and food and more wine. Finally by the end of the meal the wife noticed that perhaps she was not as steady on her feet as she had been "oh" she exclaimed "I think I may have had a glass to many". On they went back to their room with a light hearted step and lots of laughs.


The couple arrive back at the room and the wife by this time was quite shall we say "happy" So for some reason that Im sure at the time made perfect sense the wife decided to crawl inside the closet and sit down when her husband asked " why are you in the closet dear wife?" she exclaimed "cause I want to explore, Im like Dora the explora" Yes yes you can see how this makes perfect sense right?

As the night progressed the wife found herself less and less interested in sitting up talking and more intrigued by the floor below her.... and the rest they say is history.

A picture is worth a thousand words...... someone pass the tylenol.

House Guests who eat cat litter

I have to tell you all a funny story. I love to have guests over, guests of all shapes and sizes. So last night we decided to have our dear friend Julia over and her new son Bentley. Bentley is perhaps the cutest most well behaved puppy. He is still learning and despite his parents great influence he still like all children does things once in a while that his parents don't expect.

So Bentley was a good boy the whole night watched movies with us and played with my dear Mr Columbo. We were getting tired and the room was warm, so we fell asleep. Poor Bentley with a puppy bladder had to pee, so he found a nice soft spot of carpet and went. Not a big deal puppies pee. So Julia being the good mom she is went to clean up after her boy, knowing that part of his training was to not let him see her do this clean up. So we closed the door and locked him out for a minute. In that short time Bentley discovered a hidden treat, a little something to nibble on. It might even become the latest craze in dog treats..... He discovered our cat scoobys litter box. There is Bentley rubbing and digging his face in the cat litter. We were all shocked and horrified by this action so Julia takes him and tries to wipe off his face. However Bentley appeared to be chewing on something. Much to Julia's horror when she opened his mouth there stuck to the roof of his mouth was a nice chunk of cat litter. It was quite the site of gagging and removal attempts, when Julia had done all she could and retreated the the bathroom to gag in private, Barry gagging took a turn. Finally the majority of littler retrieved from the mouth Bentley none the wiser as to the fuss over him having a late night snack. All and all Bentleys first trip to our house made him worthy of a blog entry dedicated just to him. So I say this: Bentley I'm sure the litter was tasty but perhaps you should stick to dog treats, however if you want more I have a cat whose more then happy to "supply " You with treats. Julia he's too cute you know he's welcome here anytime... We just wont offer him litter next time!!



Bentley after the litter lunch, seconds anyone?

More Cuba

Hi everyone, I know that I have not written much lately, but I wanted to share some Cuba pics with you. I tried to post a blog yesterday and my whole blog almost got lost in cyber space. I could not access anything all day long I was in total panic that I had lost my out let! Anyway I just wanted to share some pics. We had a great trip it was very relaxing and just what our honeymoon should be!! Enjoy the pics!




Barry and I on a small island, we took a boat to the island and then went snorkling... however after the guide was yelling at some of the other tourists about putting their equipment on right and constantly barking nazi like orders to Barry to put his face in the water he decided that he was out. So off to shore he went.. poor Barry no underwater adventure for him.

This is my totally hip cool husband. Isnt he cute girls? Notice the tan you would almost think hes latino! Watch out Marc Anthony!

This of course is me, I also get very dark and could give JLo a run for her money! Its like between Barry and I we are like body doubles of this famous couple! We are CherBar! Im gonna have t-shirts made!

How romantic! A true profession of love written in the sand!

Me walking on a sand bar when the tide is out. This was perhaps one of the most peaceful moments I have felt in a long time. It made me feel very centered, forgeting all the crap of life that sometimes gets in the way.

Cuba Part 1: Planes and Panic Attacks

This Picture was not taken on the plane beacuse Im Obvioulsy to happy for that to be the case. So lets talk the flight to Cuba: I had spent a week or so worrying/preparing myself for the big event. I had all the necessary things: alcohol and drugs thats what it takes me to get on the plane. So as if its not bad enough to have to wait in the airport for the plane our situation was even longer. Picture it its 5:30 and we should be on the plane, but there is no crew and no plane. The airport dude announces that there is a delay with the crew and that we would be leaving soon. So I go ahead and take my perfectly timed drugs for the flight. Then a short time later the airport dude announces that we are going to be delayed due to our plane having "mechanical difficulties" Yeah thats just what the panicked flyer wants to hear! So they told us we would be getting a new crew, however the plane would be delayed for like 3 hours! Stuck for 3 hours in an airport with nothing to do but worry and hope that they find a non defective plane. Oh but for our trouble they gave us 5 dollars in airport vouchers thats about enough to get you a soda at the airports highly priced food stops. I am happy to report that I did not panic on the way down, Barry helped me keep calm, with a game of tetrus and a hand massage. The ride home was another story, but you will have to wait till a future installment of the CUBA.

A Taste to tie you over

Hi Everyone, Ok I know that I promised great blogging about my trip. However bear with me I have been off for 10 days and I just had my first day back to work in my new office with a door!! Anyway Im quite tired and I know that it will take me some time to explain the whole trip in the best way possible. So Im just giving you a taste with this picture of me and my better half. This was taken on an island off of a beach called half moon beach. We went the day to snorkle, however I was the only one who ended up making it out in the water (more on that later). Anyway it was great we had fun and a much needed rest. So have no fear give me a few days to get my act together and I will have more tales for you.

On an unrelated matter I have a thought for those of you out there (feel free to comment) How do you feel about public showers at the gym? Im trying out a new gym nearer to my work, I bought a 1 month membership to try and see if I like it. So I went on my lunch for a work out and all went well until I hit the change room. I got in there to go shower and much to my distress there were no shower stalls but rather one big open room, it was like a ballroom for showering. Just this big open echoing tiled room with shower heads coming out of the wall side by side. So you can imagine that being that Im not one for public nudity I was in rather a jam needing to not be sweaty and needing to not be nude. The other horror was that all the naked people that were wondering around were well old flat jack breasts down to there knees. EEK! So I thought well I cant look much worse then that (perhaps better gravity still likes me for the most part) So I thought what the hell. So I wrapped my towel and walked to the shower head in the ball room. I quickly whipped off my towel jump under the shower and did a speed shower. However I had this old lady talking to me, she asked if I knew how to adjust the water. I did not and thought that would be the end, but not she proceeded to talk to me now I dont know abotu you but her being naked and my being naked really broke my social boundaries of comfort. I managed to hurry away saying I needed to go to work. This night mare is only going to get more real so I pose this question: My boss and I enjoy working out on our lunch together, how close is too close is it rather uncomfortable for my boss and I to see each other naked.. my thought is yes, and tomorrow we go to the gym I have no idea what I will do, can I shower in my clothes? Anythoughts to help would be appreicated!!!

Back From Cuba

Hi all

we are back from Cuba! Had a great time! Lots of sun shine white sand and blue water. Anyway I just wanted to say stay tuned I will update my blog more in the next day or so! I hope all is well with my loyal fans.

Upcoming topics of interest:

Plane rides and panic attacks
nicknames for people at our resort
Cuba: is the food bad or is it really bad?
Turning 29 and its effect on alcohol consumption
Scuba its not for everyone
Pictures of the trip