Haysom's Earth Hour

You will be happy to know Keith and I participated in full with our Earth Hour night. We not only turned every thing off we unplugged everything other then the fridge and deep freeze.

We didn't go into the fridge at all during the evening nor did we use any electronic device even if it was not plugged in. That had been my choice. In case you are wondering what I am talking about..just google earth hour for all the information but the gist of the matter was every single person was to turn everything off by unplugging for one hour.

Keith and I got the emergency candles out throughout the house and then we got our Domino game out. We played in the candlelight and had a blast!! and even when it was past the hour we kept going. It was nice for a change, no TV, no computers, no cells or phones ringing 24/7.

But do you know what saddened me the most? Was the fact that we have treated this planet so badly that we now have to do this to try and put a band aid to over the owie. I think this Earth Hour needs to be advertise more and earlier so others can participate. But all I can do is do it myself, help my family do their part and go from there.

Blue Jeans

Ok I am so fed up with trying to find blue jeans it is maddening! I love wearing blue jeans I could wear them every time I went out if I could but I have one pair. ONE.. tons of shoes and purses but one pair of jeans. Why you may ask???? well cause designers can't get it through their thick heads that one size does NOT fit all.

Ever see those women's magazines where they have an article that states "Perfect fitting jeans for every size"? Well they lie. They never have any that fit me. Let me state the problems in getting jeans for me:

1. I have 36" inseam which is pretty impossible to get women's pants past 34" if you can even find them in the first place never mind with 36" legs.

2. My waist is actually on top of my hipbone. That's not possible you say. Yup it is. Ask those who I have to prove it to - ask any salesclerk that has argued with me that it isn't possible.

3. My waist line is a lot smaller then my actual hipbone measurements so to have them fit properly across my butt so I can actually sit down in them, they leave a big gap at the small of my back which annoys me

4. I REFUSE to wear low risers. That is just gross and I will not lower my standards by wearing pants that show the end all be all of my backside

Get the idea? When I was first starting to lose my weight I didn't want to keep buying brand new clothes as they would be too big in a month's time so I started shopping at Salvation Army (which has AMAZING clothes!!). Lo and behold if I don't come across a pair of jeans that I must have made in my previous life!! They still even had the tag on it so obviously someone had bought them then got rid of them without wearing them but they had obviously been made for JUST ME!

The inseam is exactly 36 inches, the back does not gap, the top of the inseam sits perfectly where it is supposed to be, they never ride up, I never have to hitch them up cause they are sliding down and they are the perfect shade of faded blue. Well after 4 years of wearing them almost non stop I have known for some time that I need to replace them. Not very easy. I thought fine they are made by the Gap so I can just go there and buy them. They are quick to tell me they no longer make that kind as not enough sales were made to warrant them continuing the line!

Are you kidding me???? What happened to all the ones that did not sell? Are they sitting in some warehouse somewhere? Can you check please? I don't know, I don't know and no I can't check for you. Good thing I am not a Gap customer cause service like that I can do without! I finally found a pair the other day that were almost long enough (almost being the operative word )and fit across my hips and today I wore them when out with my daughter shopping. And the afternoon was spent, tugging them up, pulling my shirt down to cover the gap at the back, pulling at them down my legs cause they kept riding up every time I sat down.

Sigh... back to the drawing board :(

temperatures

Ok I am so seriously tired of this weather and obviously so is everyone else according to all conversations with family and friends throughout Canada and US lately. You know how you always hear that no matter how bad things are things are always worse elsewhere? Well I decided to google temperatures and right now in Vostok, Antartica it is -61 degrees without windchill!!!!! Hmmmm not so bad here anymore!!

saga of the eyeball

All right so here is the scoop of my eyeball. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about let me bring you up to speed. About 3 weeks ago in the middle of the day I started getting bright constant flashing in the outside of my left eye. I usually get 'Auras and ziggly lines" before a migraine so assumed I was going to get a whopper although I have never had flashing lights. Remember the parties from the 70's that had strobe lights? Now don't pretend you are too young to remember those!! But all of a sudden after about 5 hours or so of this constant flashing, it stops to be replaced with a black splotch in the middle of my eye. I thought I had some old mascara still on my eyelashes so washed my face but nothing. By the next morning it was still bugging me so I went to the walk in clinic to get it checked out. She felt there had been retinal detachment so suggested I went to the ER.

So off I go, they checked me out and sent me to see an opthamologist. He checked it very carefully and explained to me that there had been no tears in the retina and that I been very lucky. He said the black splotch was actual debris from the membrane and that my body would reabsorb it and it would be all fine.

Fast forward to this week and I had my doctor send me to see a 2nd opthamplogist for another opinion as my splotch was still there. I knew my eye strained was still there and added headaches. He did another through check and this was his explanation:

When you are young the back of your eyeball is the consistency of a tennis ball. When you get older the consistency turned to something like jello or jello pudding. Still solid but kind of "sloshey" that if you had it in a box and walked around with it the contents would be sloshing around in the box. Eventually what would happen is this pudding consistency would weaken and start pulling away from the back of the retinal wall at the back of your eye. When you really are getting older this what was once a tennis ball is a pool of liquid. He said it upsets him when other peers say debris will reabsorb leaving patients thinking in a couple of days you will be all and when it doesn't happen they get upset.

Basically he said there is nothing he can do. They will not go in to remove the debris. I said I have to wait for this "middle stage" to work and turn into liquefaction (no word of a lie that is what it is called). He did say that my left eye has perfect vision, better then perfect vision actually. My right eye has not so good and has astigmatism really bad what every that means.

So now I have an eyeball that used to be a tennis ball now is a bowl of jello pudding and am waiting for it to get a water ball.

How as your week?

Taking Chance

I don't normally post movie reviews as there usually isn't a whole lot of worthy movies out there these days but last week Keith and I watched one. It is a true story called "Taking Chance" by Keven Bacon. I am including a trailer but it is by far the MOST ABSOLUTELY MOST heartbreaking, tear jerker movie I have ever seen in my entire life.

It begins with a soldier's dying in combat in Afghanistan. Then it continues with the transport of the body home and the steps that goes from death to being returned to their parents continents away.

There is one scene that all of a sudden a trucker drove by the hearse with the Lt. Colonel in with the deceased soldier and all the other drivers knew that was a dead soldier in that hearse and he passed the hearse and went around the corner with his lights flashing at every car coming towards the hearse and one by one they turned all their headlights on and turned around to follow them back to the hometown to give me a soldier his welcome home. I don't want to give more of the movie but if you don't watch any more movies please see this one. You will regret not ever seeing it and it will touch your entire life if you do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehWAxdLSoQM&feature=related

best of face time with Facebook

Ok I know some people have a thing about Facebook..that they can't be bothered with finding people with their past etc etc. I was like that for a long time as well. But as most of you know my sleep is pretty much non-existant so I decided to try it out in the middle of the night one day. It was more difficult for me as all of my female friends would have been married and with not knowing their married names I was steimied.

But then I noticed one day that someone had their maiden name down along with their married name and I thought uh huh!! So over the next while every I started finding as well as being found from school mates as well as friends from Regina.

Some were just a one or two messages people and yet others were chatters every day, sharing pictures etc. Now you know I had decided last month that I was going to work harder at doing face to face time rather then online. Well this past week, I did some face to face time with 2 of my school mates. One I had seen at our 10th year reunion but the other I had not seen in 35 years since we left school. She had been at the same reunion but we had each been there different nights of the weekend.

We talked for hours but we finally seperated to go our different directions. It was a couple of hours of "Remember When" and who did we have secret crushes on in high school. Ironically all of us had just recently gone through medical nightmares and we had that bond in common although personally I would have loved to have bonded in some other way then with breast cancer but we had something to talk about.

I was told that things haven't changed much in 35 years that I still like doing all the talking... seriously... I do not talk THAT much! hehehe When we hugged hello and goodbye it wasn't this citified stuff that people do these days of hugging but no body contact. Our hugs were small town people hugs.. the kind that you squeeze on tight to never let go, smiles are genuine full face smiles not these little fake smiles that somehow never reach your eyes. It just reminded me of some of the benefits of small town raisings and I miss it. Leo and Carol.. this was a day I will not soon forget!! Although NEXT time I suggest you both stand on a stool instead of making ME scrunch down so we were all the same height.

Yeah for Facebook!

Up and Down like a yoyo

This week has been one filled with turmoil and one I do not care to repeat. I got a call from one of my brothers on Thursday to tell me my favorite aunt from my dad's line had died. Her cancer had come back and it was agressive. One of my brothers and I were distraught to say the least. Then the next morning my mom calls me again but this time she tells me one of my uncles on my mom's side that I was close to had also died. She asked me again about what I talked to her last year when she came to visit when I had my surgery. I explained the plan of salvation again to her and about eternal families. My words seemed to bring her comfort as she wasn't crying when we hung up. But it didn't help me at that moment as what was in my head was not in my heart.

That very night, one of our daughters in law was baptized in our church by our son Jody. She was in her long white dress and one point she was standing on her own, being very quiet and I could sense the Holy Spirit around her protecting her. I just wanted to cry and hold her.

At 3:30 that morning I got another phone call and by this time I am not wanting any more bad news but it wasn't. IT was telling us about our new granddaughter. After I got off the phone, there was no possible way of going to sleep so I laid in bed and thought about those 4 separate items in my life that had happened in a 3 day period and how ironically they all pertained to the Plan of Salvation that I so firmly believed in.

It reminded me that we all have steps to complete before our roles are done. We have to be born on earth, we have to be baptized, and we have to die. Not too many can say they honestly went through the same in the space of a 3 day period. As I still lay there I realized I am a fine example of "it's not always enough to have faith in Heavenly Father - you also need to have faith in His timing" Not always remotely on the same chapter let alone same page.

I spent the rest of today thinking about this Plan of Salvation and how it affects me personally and I will endeavour to work it out of my head so that I can be of better service while I am still here on earth.

Ad we now have 14!!

I would like to introduce you to my newest granddaughter Aoibheann (pronounced Ee-veen)Bree Holly Siever was born 03:38, 1 March 2009 in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. She weighed 3 kg (6 lbs 10 oz) and was 48 cm (19 inches) long.