a girl without fallopian tubes had a baby!
my brother got his results really fast and he’s okay. the polyp was benign.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
it was my last day of work and now i’m on summer break. we’re going camping starting tonight.
what a relief and an AMAZING to start the summer.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
we’re headed to Bon Echo Provincial Park this weekend for a 4 day camping trip.
we’ve planned a few camping trips this summer since it’s the first time in a few years that i don’t work on weekends -YIPEE!
bon echo is a 4 hour drive from our place – a little bit southwest of bancroft ontario. the park is known for the 1.5 km long sheer rock face that rises 100 metres above Mazinaw Lake and features over 260 Aboriginal pictographs – one of the largest visible collections in Canada.
there a number of hiking trails –
Abes and Essens Lake Trail – 3 interconnecting looped trails: Clutes 3.5 km (1.5 hours); Essens Lake 9.6 km (4 hours) and Abes 17 km (7 hours) moderate to difficult.
Some sections offer panoramic views that are particularly spectacular in fall. Hike for a day or camp at one of the five campsites along the trail (campsite reservations required).
Bon Echo Creek Trail: 1 km (40 minutes), linear, easy
Take a leisurely walk along the Bon Echo Creek.
Cliff Top Trail – 1.5 km (1 hour), linear, moderate to difficult
This trail is only accessible by water. A ferry service (fees apply), will take you to the start of the trail. Canoe and kayak rentals are also available. Stairs and a pathway take hikers to the top of Mazinaw Rock to three observation decks overlooking the lake.
High Pines Trail – 1.7 km (1 hour), loop, moderate
Hikers pass a variety of forest and wetland communities including tall pines, groves of hemlock and quiet forest ponds.
Shield Trail – 4.8 km (2 hours), loop, moderate
Follow a section of the old Addington Road as it penetrates the rugged landscape of the Canadian Shield where you will see hardwood forests, cedar lowlands and a beaver swamp.
Pet Exercise Trail – 1.4 km (1 hour), loop, easy
Let your furry friend off-leash on this designated pet exercise trail.
canoe routes –
Kishkebus Canoe Route – 21 km (6 hours), loop, moderate to difficult
This day paddle takes you past Aboriginal pictographs to the still waters of the nature reserve on the east side of the park. Please note: there is a 1.5 km portage.
Joeperry and Pearson Lakes
Spend a relaxing day paddling in motorboat free lakes or reserve one of the 25 backcountry campsites. There is a 500m portage from the parking lot to the launch. Joeperry Lake also features a natural sandy beach.
Mazinaw Lake
Launch your canoe or rent one at the lagoon and you can paddle on Mazinaw Lake. Head over to Mazinaw Rock to view one of Canada’s largest visible collections of Aboriginal pictographs.
Mississippi River Canoe Route – 104 km (5 days), 17 portages, moderate
For more information on this route, contact the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority
this is the first time our campsite will be on an island so we’ve had to pack light! we’ve done a great job to pack tightly and efficiently. gear is gear and there are some things you just can’t get around – tent, sleeping bags, clothes. food though, food is a big one.
thanks to pinterest i found good lists of foods to pack for camping light. “instants” like potatoes and oatmeal. “shake and pour” pancakes.
one trick i liked was “omelette in a bag”. you add all your toppings and eggs to a steamable ziplock bag and boil in water for the campfire. great idea!
campfire quesadillas. make ahead and grill in foil. perfect!
just because you’re camping doesn’t mean you must eat junk. yes it’s easy to pack and eat junk but it’s just as easy to eat healthy and well!
our camping menu is as follows –
Dinner Saturday – Instant potatoes, steak, HP sauce, green beans (pre-steamed)
Sunday breakfast – omelette in a bag, pastries, instant coffee
Sunday lunch – grilled cheese and fruit
Sunday dinner – chicken quesadilla, sour cream, salsa
Monday breakfast – fruit, pancakes, instant coffee
Monday lunch – corn on the cob and mac and cheese
Monday dinner – roasted garlic and baguette, lipton noodle packs
Tuesday breakfast – oatmeal, fruit, instant coffee
Tuesday lunch – eat on the road
Snacks – trail mix, brie and jam, marshmallows, oatmeal cookies, rice cakes
as you can see, it’s pretty easy to eat well even when you have pack light and fresh. we have two meals with meat (we will be bringing a small cold soft cooler). every meal has fresh fruit or veggies. we are taking bananas, apples, oranges and cherries as our fruit. they all have a skin to protect them and clean and easy to eat. i love to eat berries usually but they are soft, spoil fast and are staining if there is an “accident” in the food bag hahaha. all the veggies can either be grilled or boiled.
BOX WINE AND FORTY CREEK
of course we can’t forget the beverages!!!! tetra packs and plastic bottles are ideal for camping.
wine choices are very limited, in 1L packs anyway, but i found a red and a white from Italy that i’m giving a try this weekend.
I also found some helpful compilations while i was searching for camping food ideas. one is 22 essential diagrams for camping. some very helpful information in this one. the other is just fun tips and tricks for the campsite.
to all my Canadian friends – have a SAFE and FUN Canada Day long weekend! to the rest of my friends have a safe and fun regular weekend hahaha
🙂
keeping going friends. you CAN do it!!!
i’m just in tears with this story. watch the video near the end of the page.
keeping going friends. determination, optimism, perseverance. you CAN do it!!!
xoxox
it’s been 4 years and we still don’t have a family so we’re making this scenario work for us by planning for our future and we’re now income property owners!
the market in this area is RIDICULOUS right now. after losing out on even seeing a few good ones at the start (because they sold the same day they were listed) and switching to a new agent we finally got to see 5 places over the last week and the 4th one is the one we got.
i have to say, wow, it’s incredible to see how others live. i’m not judging. it’s just very interesting.
it was weird looking for an income property after purchasing our own home. i found myself able to see past colours, clutter and dirt but i still had my standards that i was holding each house up to. the agent kept saying, “you don’t have to live here”, but i did think of the quality of tenant we’re looking for and i kept thinking if i was renting, i would rent because of this, this, this…
in any case you see have a few duds before you get a gem and really we were very lucky that we only had to look at 5 houses to find our gem.
we put in our best offer right off the bat. we knew that there were 2 other offers submitted before ours so we had a good idea of what we had to do. we ended up offering almost $6000 over asking. we aren’t having a home inspection. we didn’t put in a closing date so they could tell us what works best for them. our agent presented at 11:30 p.m. last night. they had him call to tell us they had another offer and that they were apples to apples. we responded with “that’s it. final offer”. i think they realized that they had a great offer and stopped pushing for more and in the end our deal was the one they chose 🙂 our agent was there until 1 a.m.! poor guy. (mind you, he did just make about $4000 for 10 hours of work).
this home was the best on the street. pride of ownership just oozed out of it. it’s near a big shopping area, transit that goes into our city and down south (Toronto). minutes to the highway. good school zone.
closing date is august 7th.
now comes the hard part. finding a tenant. choosing a house of this caliber makes it a little harder to kept the “it’s a rental” mindset. ideally i would like a young, professional couple with no pets. next would be a young family still preferably with no pets. we’ll see.
i’m in charge of “marketing/selling” the rental so anyone out there that is a landlord with any suggestions when listing or choosing a tenant i would LOVE your input.
i definitely need to do some research. or A LOT of research hahaha. the first thing we’ll do for sure is join our local branch of the Ontario Landlords Association.
here it is 🙂
I’m really worried.
my brother came to me not long after we arrived at my parent’s and said, “hey sham, I’ve got bad news for ya”. my first thought was, “something has happened to a friend. ..”. then he says, “you’re going to have to have a colonoscopy”. my grandfather had colon cancer when he died at age 91. my father has been screened for years and goes for the procedure every year. my brother ‘s dr. told him he needs to be screened and any siblings need screening as well. she said that his kids will also need screening and that should start at age 27. then he says, “I had one yesterday. they removed a 3 cm polyp. the dr. said from her experience it looks cancerous. I’ll find out in a month”.
oh my god. what’s going on? did that just actually happen? I was sick to my stomach.
then we just went out front to plant trees.
I stopped a little wHile later and asked him if he’s okay with all this news? he said there isn’t anything he can do, so they’ll just wait and see.
it’s the truth but it’s scary as hell.
I’m really struggling with this news. I feel queasy. on the verge of tears.
this can’t really be happening.
i’m finally getting out of my funky mood rut, although i am still have moments of short temperedness from time to time. it’s like a rush of frustration that i don’t see coming and i can’t stop.
saw this today and just had a “YEP” moment the instant i read it.
that’s our real estate agent.
she never used to be but that was before she had a baby… at 47! ya. she’s got a 19 year old, a 17 year old and 15 year old and now a 18 month old baby, well toddler now. she thought she was going through menopause and found out she was 5 months pregnant.
life is cruel! hahaha
anyhoo, she blew us off for viewings last saturday. then messaged us 9:00 p.m. last night let us know we had no viewings booked for this morning…(we thought we had 4 or 5 to see) a little frustrating seeing as we’ve had this booked with her since last friday.
so, as of today we’ve switch real estate agents. we ended our relationship with our agent nicely but there were a few things i would have liked to mention to her. the new agent is local, he’s the son in law of my parent’s friends. he already gotten some of the new houses we’ve found booked to view on friday.
in the meantime we’ve lost out on 5 houses which have sold since last thursday…
oh well, it could always be worse… she could have had TWINS! LOL
today was my first day back to work. 5:45 alarm wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be but i still snoozed 3 times hehehe.
it’s good to be back to work. we’re planning our quarterly (and end of year) parent meeting/fun night for thursday so that will be very time consuming this week. we will be making fishing rods out of sticks and “catching” fish with magnets, making kites, having a water balloon toss, playing with the giant parachute. we’re going to try our first attempt at “cloud dough” and we’re going to dye it with jello packs. we’re going decorate cupcakes and have a scavenger hunt. all this in a two hour time span but what i’ve learned (or been reminded of) working in child care – kids can do A LOT in short amount time! haha little buggers 😉 thank goodness for PINTEREST!!!
i have 2 weeks of work and then it’s summer vacation. i feel so weird about this. i am sure my husband will love to continue to not have to do any housework and i know he loves having dinner looked after every night. i just feel weird that i won’t be working and he’s still got to get up on a beautiful, sunny day and go sit in a windowless office all day. i feel kind of guilty that he allows me to have a carefree job and make less money doing it and he doesn’t resent it… to be honest, i am sure if the shoe was on the other foot i would probably be pretty jealous. he has talked about shifting gears and taking a new career path someday so i hope i will be able to look back on these days that he’s giving me and support him as thoroughly as he has supported me.
we’re also on with other life projects and we’re getting back into the real estate game! we’ve shifted gears and are now looking at newer homes with less renovations to have as a income property. we have 5 to look at on wednesday. nothing keeps your mind busy like checking out houses!
i think that acquiring a rental property will really help to give these last few years a different meaning. no, we don’t have children yet and the pain of that is still very real but it means we are able to make a great investment towards our future. we are in the position to achieve something most 31 year olds can’t – owning TWO homes. i haven’t believed in this saying for a while now but we’re going to try and make “everything happens for a reason” work for us.
i was curious about the timeline of my FET last year so i looked back on the dates just now.
given the grouchy mood i’m already in, i really shouldn’t have done that.
it looks like it took 18 days of prep last time. started october 8th and had my transfer on october 25th. geez. that really sucks. so if i get my next period (so messed when you’re looking forward to your next period when you’re still on your current one…FML) on the 14th of july (35 day cycle) then my transfer won’t even be until july 31st… if it’s longer than 35 days, which GUARANTEED it will be, then that’s into AUGUST!
i really should have just figured this out on a different day, in a better mood..
i could seriously rip my hair out right now. i feel like i’m being choked.
i’m going to get a beer.
134.4 and i have ABS again! bahahaha
i’m about 2 pounds shy of my pre-IVF weight and i am very happy about that. i still don’t feel up to exercising since i have a gurgle in my chest and still have some difficulties breathing but i’m wasting money on my Y membership and just want to get back in there. maybe aquafit today? ya, definitely aquafit today.
i’m so emotional. i didn’t cry once while waiting for IVF stimming. i didn’t cry once during stimming. i teared up a bit when the nurse was doing my IV for my egg retrieval and she said, “we’re going to get you that baby you’re dreaming of”. that really hit me hard in the moment.
now i’m 2 and a half weeks past retrieval and i’m a basket case. i’m crying at everything and i’m getting very short tempered with my husband.
god. it’s been over 2 years of this crap. i wish these hormones would just calm the fuck down!!!!
Hello My Name Is TUBELESS 