Celebrating Jennifer (June 21, 2026)

Woke up to another rainy day.

It was just pouring out there.

These two were snuggled up in the basket together - so sweet.

Jen is coming up to bring her cats to Rob to watch while she goes to PEI  and tomorrow is her birthday so I decided to do an impromptu dinner.

I backed a banana sour cream cake - it is a family favorite and I haven't made it in a while.

It's so easy too.

Then I got a lasagna on the go.

Jason wasn't feeling the best today so he kind of chilled and hung out with Eden.

He usually does all the cooking when we have family dinners so I hope it was a nice break for him.

He did give Eden a bath.

I sorted through all of the toys and picked out all of the tub toys,

Eden had every single one of them dumped in the tub with her.

She was so excited to see Jen and snuggled right up to her and even let Jen brush her hair and put ponytails in it.

Everybody enjoyed the lasagna.

Freya had two slices but she mainly ate the noodles and left the meat sauce behind.

She just loves pasta - we should really make it more often for her.

Eden didn't eat a whole slice but she did eat some.

The faces this kid makes - cracks me up.

Time for cake!

Rob, Kody, Morgan, Kalem and Whitney all came over as well.

Zepplyn called Kody too wanting to drop by and see everyone so we told her to come on over.

We had a game of Drawful at Freya's request and visited for a bit then around 7 Jen hit the road for home.

Kody too.

The girls didn't want to go at first but Kody was able to convince them.

These too are so cute together.

A selfie with my sweetie pie before she left.

Morgan and Kalem.

The pregnancy is really causing her a lot of bloating and so she isn't always feeling the best.

She's nearly half way there, hopefully it let's up for her.

Ethan has his first girlfriend - he sent a picture to Jen which she shared with us.

She gave me permission to put it here too.

I can't believe how grown up he looks.

Where oh where has the time gone?

After everyone left, I cleaned up.

It didn't take much because we used disposable plates - my kind of clean up.

Then I had a long relaxing bath.

I'm getting my hair colored after work tomorrow and I can't wait.

I'm feeling like I'm looking so old.

I did get all of my steps in today.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Rainy Day Activities (June 20, 2026)

I woke up super early this morning and I couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up.

I had a quiet morning - it was nice.

Around 9, Freya and Theia showed up - they were starving they said so I made them pancakes for breakfast.

It was a rainy day outside so we decided to take the girls to Whitecourt to go swimming.

We invited Kody to join us, he said no at first but when we were on our way there, he texted to say he was coming so he met us at the pool.

We swam for about an hour or so then everyone was hungry so we went to Boston Pizza (Freya's pick).

The kids just seem to love it there. 

Kody, Eden and I.

Theia, Freya and Jason.

I had a thai chicken salad and it was really good but the heat kind of snuck up on me and I could only eat about half of it.

We stopped at Walmart for a few things and the girls wanted to check out the bikes.

Eden tried in this spiked helmet and it was totally her personality.

We would have got it but it was 50 bucks and she already has one.

Jason researched it and you can get accessories for helmets so we may order her some spikes for the one that she has.

I guess Eden was taking foot selfies on the drive home.

We dropped the girls off at Theia's - Freya is spending the night there again.

Kody called to see if Eden wanted to go home but she wanted to spend the night with us.

Missed my steps again.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Friday Things (June 19, 2026)

I got out for a little walk this morning to the road and back at work.

It was fairly nice out and it is supposed to rain all weekend so I figured I'd get some fresh air in while I could.

It was a busy day and I ended up working through lunch so I didn't get out for a walk again.

The girls came over after work (Mom and Dad were both working).

Freya was off playing with Theia as soon as she had a chance.

Eden was upset because she wanted to go too so Jason distracted her by baking a cake with her.

Freya always loved backing with Jason - now it looks like Eden does too.

It was a quiet evening, Freya and Theia were back and forth until around 8 then they went to spend the night at Theia's.

I did a little more organizing in the basement, got stuff ready to take to donate tomorrow in case we go to Whitecourt.

Then we just had a chill evening.

Crystal and Randy have this play set in their backyard that they want to get rid of - we were talking about it last weekend when they were over so Crystal sent some pictures.

We thought we would take it over to our place for the girls.

Crystal said we could have it, we will just need to take it apart and move it over then put it back together again.

Jason wanted an idea of what it looked like.

It is supposed to rain all weekend so it likely won't happen before our vacation but hopefully we can get it done when we get back.

I didn't quite manage to get all of my steps in.

I still feel like the Ozempic is working already - the food noise is gone.

My appetite seems the same but I'm not constantly thinking about food which is fantastic.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Ozempic Journey Begins (June 18, 2026)

Since I am going to be starting my Ozempic journey today, I wanted to do a weigh in just to document my starting weight.

 

I was 243 lbs 

I had a physical therapy appointment in Whitecourt today - I got there a little early so I had time to stop in at the pharmacy to pick up my Ozempic prescription and have the pharmacist give me my first injection.

I wanted to see how to do it then I also had some questions for him about side effects.

I have some concerns but also, I'm excited to get started.

The first thing they do at therapy is dunk my hand/wrist in wax and let it sit like that for about 15 minutes.

Then I do a series of exercises that they gave me to do.

It's kind of boring, I have my phone so I can try to watch videos or play games but I have to count what I'm doing and I get mixed up a lot so I normally don't even bother with the phone at all and I just concentrate on the exercises.

Then I also do a series of exercises with this little gadget.

I do my whole hand then I do each finger individually.

She bumped me up to the next weight on this one today too.

It's going pretty good, except for my pinkie - it's pretty weak.

I just do what I can though.

I stopped and picked up some pork dumplings for my lunch and ate them on the drive home.

They are so good - I think I might actually like the ones that Jason makes better but these are really delicious.

A Mama grizzly and her three cubs crossed the highway right in front of me on the drive home.

It's always so exciting to see - this has definitely been the year of bears so far.

I was really tired when I got home.

I cleaned up, did the dishes, made myself an iced match latte then I was going to have a bath but Freya ended up calling and wanting to come over so come they did.

Eden actually wanted to sit and snuggle with me which is a rarity so I took advantage of the opportunity.

I mean it's not really snuggling but she was sitting right next to me - it's about the best I get from her.

Freya and I worked on some math homework.

She's learning how to subtract 10's so Jason cut out a bunch of cardstock to make numbers so we could show her in a more visual way and I think it helped somewhat.

The girls put on a little dance show for us before they left.

Eden's moves crack me up.

There were lots of kisses and hugs and I Love You's from the truck again as they were leaving.

We are so blessed to have them!

I don't know if the Ozempic has kicked in already but I didn't feel like snacking at all this evening.

Here's hoping.

I did not get all of my steps in.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Golf Tournament, Mini Binge, Puzzle (June 17, 2026)

I had another super busy day at work today.

We were having a golf tournament this afternoon at work.

I hadn't planned on golfing but I had thought about hopping in a golf cart and just driving around to visit everyone.

But the weather wasn't great and I had so much work to do that I just ended up working for the whole day then I went out to join everyone for supper.

We had burgers, fries, potato salad and it was very good.

I love the fries they have out there.

Kody had texted to say that the girls wanted to come for a visit so on my way home, I let him know and he ended up getting to the house the same time as I did.

Freya had her friend Eliza with her and they went and called on Theia as well.

They were thrilled to have a chance to play together.

Eden got Papa's phone and was watching some Paw Patrol.

She was a little upset when Kody left to go home.

Then when it was time to go home, she didn't want to leave Papa.

We promised she could come back tomorrow though and then she relented.

I finally got my phone back from Freya so I had to take a picture of my sweet girl.

I don't get as many pictures anymore because as soon as they come over, one of them commandeers my  phone.

Eden wanted us to walk her out to the car, she kept wanting one more hug or one more kiss from Grandma and then Papa.

Freya too was giving us hugs and kisses.

When they finally did drive away, Eden's window was rolled down and she had her head stuck out the window and she was yelling out 'I love you, I love you'.

It was just the sweetest, dearest thing ever!

I found this puzzle at the second hand store the other day.

I looks old - I really like the image.

It's called Family Outings and it's a 500 piece.

I didn't feel like doing much else so I spent the evening working on it.

I got it finished - it had a piece missing then one other piece had been kind of cut up or something.

I don't mind though, I just enjoy the process of doing the puzzle, as soon as they are done, I take them apart right away anyhow.

I must admit that with the idea of starting Ozempic tomorrow, I had a little of a binge today.

I had a couple of cookies, a small bag of chips and a bear paw.

Maybe not the best decision and it wasn't the craziest binge but tomorrow, it will be back on track.

I did not get out for a walk today, I worked right through lunch then the girls got here the same time that I got home so it just didn't work out.

I could have/should have gotten on the treadmill.

Again - tomorrow I will make sure that it happens.

But for today, I did not make my step count.

One thing the doctor told me about the Ozempic is that it is really important to be active.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Lilac Season (June 16, 2026)

Well it's back to rain again, at least the weekend was nice.

 

My lilac bush finally seems to be doing well.

I dug this up out of my grandmother's yard back in PEI and my brother drove it back in his truck all the way across the country so I could plant it here.

It even has some blooms this year - I love lilacs so this is very exciting for me.

It was a busy day at work - I had to catch up on emails from yesterday then it is my meeting day as well.

I had a doctor appointment today to chat with him about this wart that suddenly appeared on the bottom of my foot out of nowhere and to discuss possibly starting a GLP-1.

I feel like a failure for not being able to get a handle on my weight by myself so I've really been struggling with this decision.

But then I've also been thinking that my weight has been an issue for me since my teens so around 40 years and if there is a medication out there that can help me, why keep torturing myself?

The doctor basically said the same thing to me.

He said that people try to manage things on their own but there comes a time when they need medical assistance and that's ok.

I have concerns about the muscle loss and possible hair loss too.

The doctor said that I need to stay active to help with the muscle loss which I already am but I can bump that up and I will need to work in some weight lifting too.

He prescribed me Mounjaro and while I have some concerns, I'm looking forward to getting started.

We have no pharmacy in town so I called down to the pharmacy in Whitecourt to arrange getting it delivered.

I asked if they had a generic version available yet - they said they did not for Mounjaro but they do for Ozempic.

The Mounjara would be 357.00 per month, the generic Ozempic is 103 so no brainer there.

I called up to the hospital and asked the Doctor to change my prescription which he did.

Then I called back to the pharmacy and since I have to go to Whitecourt on Thursday for a physical therapy appointment, I decided just to pick it up then.

That way, I can ask the pharmacist some questions and they can also show me how to do the injection myself.

So all set - we'll see how it goes.

I'll do a weigh in on Thursday morning to track my starting weight.

After work, I finished sorting through all of the toys downstairs and took a few things down to the dump.

Tomorrow I'm going to sort it even further and decide what to donate (which is going to be a lot), what to send to the trash and then what to keep and how to store it.

It feels good to get things done.

The girls came over later in the evening for a short visit.

Freya had my phone the whole time so no pictures.

Eden wanted to play cops and robbers, I love how she says it.

She tells Jason your a robber and I'm a robber and Grandma is the cop.

Then the go and steal the 'candy' and as she's running away with it she goes "hee hee hee" in this diabolical little laugh and it is so stinking cute.

Got all of my steps in!

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Weigh In Day and Physical Therapy Begins (June 15, 2026)

Today is Monday and that means weigh in day.

I have not been following WW so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I was 242.8 lbs so that's up 1 lb since last week.

As you can see, I've definitely been trending up this year.

I don't know why I'm struggling so much and just can't seem to get my s%^! together.

I've been going back and forth on maybe trying a GLP1 and then feeling like that's a cop out and I should be able to do this on my own.

I've done it before many times - I know if I can just get a few weeks in that I'd be good - it isn't really so hard once you get into the right mindset but I just can't seem to do it.

So I made an appointment to go talk with a doctor about it tomorrow.

I'm scared of some of the side effects, like muscle loss and hair loss but I'm also so tired of feeling heavy and unhappy in my own body.

I've been on the struggle bus with my weight since my teens and I just don't want to think about it anymore and if something can help me, then why not?

He may not even prescribe it to me but I'm at least going to put it out there.

Eden woke up coughing and hacking this morning, she did not sound good at all.

I was going to drop her off to Morgan but I didn't want to pass her sickness along if she has something so I decided to stay home from work and just let her have a really good little sleep in.

I got Freya up and ready - she was in a good mood this morning despite the late hour that we went to bed.

Jason stayed with Eden while I took Freya to school.

Eden ended up sleeping in really late, like close to 11 am when she got up.

I was able to have a nice relaxing bath.

When she got up, I got her some breakfast (pulled pork).

She seemed to be feeling much better, no coughing or hacking or anything.

I just washed her little princess dress yesterday and she noticed it hanging in the closet so wanted to put it right back on.

I think she would wear this every day if I let her.

I had an appointment at 2 in Whitecourt to see the physical therapist so I was going to drop her off at Morgan's seeing as she didn't seem to be sick.

She wanted to sit on the swing for a while before we left - she loves the swing.

She and I stopped at the Super A to get a few snacks for her and Whitney then I dropped her off and headed to Whitecourt.

I got there a little early so I popped into the second hand store at the mall and found some puzzles and a few little dresses for Eden.

My therapy appointment went way longer that I expected.

They went over some of my history, asked a bunch of questions then did some testing to see where I'm at with my wrist currently.

I lost a lot of muscle mass on my forearm, on my hand under my thumb and under my pinkie.

My range of motion is comprimised as well.

He said we'd work on getting my motion back first then move onto getting my strength back.

He got me to grip this thing to measure the strength of my grip.

On my right side it was 50 lbs and on my left it was only 2 lbs.

So I have some work to do.

They put my hand/wrist/arm into some parafin wax and let it sit for about 15 minutes then they gave me these exercises to do.

They went over them and showed me how to do each move then they let me get to it.

There was a guy sitting at the table with me doing hand/wrist exercises as well so it was kind of weird but we both just looked at our phones and didn't really talk.

After I finished up the exercises, they got me to do another set of exercises with this gripper thing then when I finished up those, I was good to go.

They want me to come back later in the week so I think I will.

I made an appointment to come back Thursday at lunch time.

I stopped at Walmart for a few things afterwards and it was after 6 by the time I got home.

I had a quick supper then was off again to a Mission Possible meeting.

That ran late and didn't finish up until close to 9 so that was pretty much my whole day.

While I was scrolling at the physical therapy office, I came across pedicure trends for 2026 and I really liked this one.

I did not manage to get all of my steps in today.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!