Tulip's Tantrums

Life carries on. Regardless of what happens, the next minute, hour, day passes by regardless whether we're ready or want it. Adapt and move forward. There's no time to look back. Just finished chatting with Darrin's uncle Bill. We stayed with him when we went to Holland. He's a tall man; I think he's 6'9" or 10" ... regardless, he's got a head up on me. He wears Levi's 501 in a 36 with a 38 inseam! He has trouble finding them there so I've ordered him a couple pairs and will ship them over. It will still be cheaper than anything he can find there.  It will be nice for him to have some new duds. Darrin gave him a pair of Silvers that are only a 36 inseam, but are longer and fit him. They look great. Unfortunately, those are the only ones. We can't risk buying him a pair only to find out they're too short. Things with Darrin and I are good. Darrin's working with Nason right now, helping establish their safety program as well

It has been an eventful couple of weeks in the world. All of it sad, IMHO. Paris had terrorist attacks on various parts of the city on Friday, November 13th. ISIS has claimed responsibility. Here's a timeline of things. Beirut and Baghdad were also attacked a day before. France has declared war against ISIS and has asked their allied brothers to join in standing together and annihilating this atrocious terror group. Here at home, the people elected a Liberal government with Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister. His big promises were to legalize pot, pull our fighter jets out of the ISIS/ISIL/IS conflict, middle class tax cuts, and bringing 25,000 refugees into our country. Actually, I'm not sure about the refugees, but it's going to happen before the end of the year, so we might as well talk about it. One little pet peeve I have about Justin: quit saying "ah" so many times when you speak. Maybe some toastmasters would be in order. Refugees . PM Trudeau is hel

Here I sit. Typing on my blog. 12:30 A.M. and I've been up since 11:00. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to sleep soon. Staying up all night is just nuts on my body and mind. I've suffered from insomnia for a year or so now, though not consistently. I think a lot of my problem is medication - it's a side effect in 4 of my meds. Why I didn't suffer before, as I've been on these meds and at the same dose for a few years, instead the side effects are just coming out now? I'm actually getting tired and don't want to miss this opportunity. Toodles!

I've been up since midnight. That's not too bad. Some nights I only get 2 hours before I'm awake and raring to go. I'm going to try a new medication, so hopefully that will help. Alex Johnstone . What an interesting lady. She's a Hamilton school trustee. She is running in the federal election for the NDP. She did not know what Auschwitz was, reportedly saying "she had no idea that it was a notorious Nazi death camp." Where was she during history class? Must've been sick that day. Derek Saretzky . The monster who is accused of killing Terry Blanchette and his beautiful baby girl, Hailey. Saretzky was taken to hospital with sources telling the media that he had attempted suicide. Supposedly he's in a Lethbridge hospital in a medically induced coma. TURN OFF THE MACHINES! Let what he started be finished; he doesn't deserve to live. The Farmer's Almanac claims to have been right 80% of the time for its yearly weather predictions. That

I want so badly to touch and hug and love Ariya right now. I'm feeling horrible about a little, tiny 2-year-old baby whose Daddy was killed and she taken by a monster. Her body was found last night. Broken and void of life. Stripped of everything she could've been yet never will. A horrendous tragedy. Our baby Ariya with Opa: Baby Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette: RIP little one.

I really wanted to put some of the news up yesterday, but had to go to bed. LOL Let's start with a picture of Peanut. That's always good news. Here she is with her Daddy. Onto the news. Stonehenge : Archaeologists have found more large stones about 3 km away from the original site. I wonder how many other treasures are buried beneath the surface. Tattoo artist Flavia Carvalho is tattooing victims of domestic violence as well as cancer survivors. She does incredible work and helps these women move forward with their lives. Godless Parents . Very interesting article on religion and how it affects families. It was a great read. While I have no problems with friends and family who believe in God, I feel that although I respect them and their beliefs, it's not reciprocated. Open mindedness isn't for everyone, that's for sure. Nick Bateman . OMG what a beautiful man. He's only 2 years older than Dre though! LOL Makes it hard to think anything

Darrin and Braunt have worked in town for one and three years respectively. Now we're going back to them being out of town. I'm pretty used to it; we're veterans. Breanna has Ariya to care for and is pregnant and just isn't used to Braunt being gone anymore. It will be a bit more of an adjustment for her. Thankfully, Ariya won't really be affected. She's too little to have concepts of time. Let's hope these separations go quickly and we get them back on home jobs soon. Ariya. My Peanut. A busy little girl. Always on the go. And talk? She's never quiet! Her vocabulary is so big! Bre works a lot with her to help Ariya learn. My favourite word she says is BUPPIES!!! That is Bubble Guppies in Ariya's language. Haha Speaking of Bubble Guppies, Ariya's a fiend for them! Here's a clip  Bubble Guppies 2015 . What's in the news? Politics, politics and more politics. I'm so tired of it already. For whatever reason, Prime Minister Har

I've taken up colouring. Adult colouring is all the rage right now. It's supposed to be better than meditation! So I got some books and some pencil crayons and away I go. So far I've done 3 pictures (they're a lot harder than the kids colouring pages!) and I have truly noticed how calming it is. I spend a little time every night working on it; I find it relaxing and quite enjoyable. I'm no better at it than I was when I was 5, but it's fun nonetheless. ;) Here are a couple of my masterpieces. There's also colouring online, but I just can't into it. Something about clicking to colour just doesn't work for me. One bit of big news for our family: Braunt and Breanna are expecting a baby in March! Ariya's going to be a big sister!! We're very excited and can't wait to meet him/her. Here's a picture of Ariya when she found out the "good news" from the pregnancy test she's holding. LOL

What's new? Well, all's going pretty damn good for us. Certainly can't complain about anything. I'm trying to be more mindful and considerate. It goes pretty good except sometimes when I'm driving. I'm not sure why stupid people are allowed to drive, but I certainly don't feel anything happy and peaceful toward them. LOL Dre and Jo are all settled in and it seems like it's been like this forever. It's going well - we have no tension or anything - just a few friends sharing a pad. They're saving like crazy, so that's all that matters. Django, Sebastian and Pinchy, our grandcrabs, are doing well. Sebastian molted and lost a leg, and Django's disappeared so he's probably doing the same. Pinchy was out for a few hours when they first brought them over from their place, but then he buried himself and hasn't been seen since. They can stay hidden FOREVER it seems. I worried that they had kicked off, but I guess it's just what they

Can you believe it's June already? Where's the year gone? I had a bunch of things planned for the spring and now that's gone. There are things to be done this summer but I'm going to blink and it will be gone. Then I'll be getting ready for x-mas and it will all be starting over again! Things have been pretty good for us. Everyone is healthy and happy and shouldn't complain about much. There are many others who have it much worse off than us. Ariya stayed over tonight. She's being a bit restless. Not sleeping as well as she usually does here. I know her teeth are bothering her - she broke 4 molars through all at once! What a trooper. She's snoozing with Opa right now, but in her chair, and I hope they both stay asleep for a while. What is this world coming to? Judging by the news, not a hell of a lot of good. There's crap happening all over, including our country. Hurricanes, earthquakes - lots of natural disasters - and even our first torn

It is with great sadness and a broken heart that I let you know Lucy passed away at noon on Tuesday, May 19the, after a brave bout with liver disease. Lucy was always a joy in our home. From the time we got her and put her in a cup to show how little she was until she was a full grown 4 1/2 lbs, she was a good dog. Welcomed people to our home, sat with them for lovings, comforted them and passed on her love. She will be so very missed. She's at peace now. We went to the farm yesterday for a January to May birthday bash. It was nice getting together with everyone. Beersbee, bocce, football and baseball were played, and the kids had a blast going down the redneck water slide. Even Ariya got in on the fun by going down and then playing in puddles. Drey and Joanna are moved in now, although they still have a few things to bring over from their old place. I'm excited to have them here and know we're helping them buy a house. Makes me feel kind of warm and fuzzy. Tyler

Well the vacation was amazing. The resort was great, the staff were incredible. We came home feeling pampered and relaxed. Here's a copy of my review . We missed the kids and Ariya while we were away and kept in contact through texts and Skype. We had to go to the lobby or pool for good internet, but we made it work. Ariya got so excited when she saw Opa that she kicked the computer and turned it off! LOL Did you follow the election and NDP's sweep of our province? People are were so pissed off at Prentice and his budget and calling an early election; I'm sure many felt they had no choice. I, for one, had a difficult time deciding. I've been a PC since I started voting many moons ago. While I haven't always agreed with what they've said and done, nothing was really that bad to change my mind. Well, there are a number of things the PC's have pissed me off about in the 3 years. The budget and early election were the icing on the cake. I was (am) so angry t

This is the start of a good, healthy meal. LOL Darrin and I are heading to Punta Mita, Mexico on Saturday. He really needs a break - and I get to ride along on his coat tails. We're completely unprepared this time. I'm still buying things we need. LOL Well, everything can be purchased there if we forget it here. Everyone's doing well. Ariya stayed with us for a week while Braunt and Breanna went to her sister's wedding in Cancun. They had a good time but really missed little Ari. Peanut was such a good girl. No tantrums, ate well, slept well. All in all just a great visit. Toodles!

Katrina's words really spoke to me. From Jennifer Pastiloff's website . JOURNEY TOWARDS SELF-ACCEPTANCE. FEBRUARY 14, 2015 By Katrina Willis. My relationship with food and with my body is complicated, slippery, broken. My ability to deal with it from a place of reason and intellect waxes and wanes. No matter how it may or may not manifest itself, I will always have an eating disorder. Just as rape is not about sex, eating disorders are not necessarily about food. For me, it is a hole that needs to be filled; an endless, confusing journey toward self-acceptance and the ability to say without second-guessing: I am worthy, I am whole, I am enough. It is about control, or lack thereof. It is about shame. ** I can’t be trusted around food. I don’t trust myself to prepare it. I don’t trust myself to eat it. When other people cook for me, it feels safe. And I know what they choose for me is better than what I might choose for myself. I am constantly at battle with

I'm over a month late, but happy new year! I hope your best of 2014 is your worst of 2015. Life is busy as always. Ellie and I volunteer at the airport on Fridays now. We walk the strip and meet people and talk with them. They pet Ellie and perhaps get rid of some anxiety or tension. Today we spoke with an airport employee who had to put her two dogs down last June. She teared up petting Ellie and telling me about it. I think it was good for her to get it out without fear of being judged. It helped. The kids are all doing fine. Drey and Jo are staying busy working and running their house. Kier and Tyler are still with us. They've got their down payment and just put an offer in on a house!! They're playing the back and forth bartering game, but that should be over soon. We're so excited for them. Braunt, Bre and Ariya are all doing well. Braunt's working hard and Bre works equally as hard at home. Ariya. Oh my Peanut. She is getting so big! She started walking