Today I Got Creative

Wayne came home from work and, as per usual, he took his dirty work boots off in the dining room after trailing dirt in from outside.

I've stopped nagging him about it, but that didn't seem to make a difference. So I took my mother-in-laws advice and started making signs.

He hasn't seen them yet because as soon as he got home he had to go out again. I thought I would get creative with what I had on hand which were the kids markers and construction paper.

Whats more annoying? A sign you see all the time? Or me constantly repeating myself? I guess we'll find out! :)

Dirty boots in the dining room..

"Holy Halloween" - Notice the hole behind the picture. Its been like that for over a year now.

Annabelle Turned ONE!!

Annabelle's birthday today was a blast! This girls and I had so much fun all day. We started out by singing "HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNABELLE" all morning long. We got them all dressed up in their party dresses and we played around all day.

Bubbles are always so much fun!

My mom took Brooklyn for a walk to the mailbox to send out some mail and on their way home  they ran into the mail carrier who just happened to have a few big packages for us to open. They were birthday gifts for miss Annabelle from Wayne's parents and they were super cute! She got a new bath toy book, a ball and a Dora the Explorer Ty beenie baby!

Chocolate cake is even more fun!

Daddy's Girls!

When Wayne got home from work he went out to grab some hot and ready pizzas and a birthday cake. While they were out, I ran down to the basement and got some of our birthday decorations we happened to have on hand. My dad and his girlfriend stopped in for cake and we all had a nice time opening some gifts and watching Annabelle eat the most sugar she has ever seen. It was priceless!

All in all it was an incredible day and I think everyone really enjoyed it!

Video of Annabelle's First Birthday Cake

Crazy cake faces!! Mmm Good choice on the cake by the way Wayne!

Actually, maybe not. Annabelle got a new winter hat, that I'm pretty sure she was none to impressed with. But I think its super cute! :)

I guess she didn't want the hat to give her hat head and ruin her pig tails

Chemo Break

The biggest side effect from the treatment that I'm on is depression and anxiety. Well, I started an anti-depressant as a preventative in December even though I was feeling good at the time. I know I was high risk though because I was only 2 months post-partum and have a history of mild depression and anxiety as well.

So I started my treatments in mid-January (at the cancer clinic -  5 days/week, 3-8 hours/day, 4 weeks) and I got through that easy-peasy except that I was SO tired. Then, I had a small break after the four weeks were up. Six weeks later I started the low dose of this medication which is an injection I give myself at home 3 days a week (Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday - gives me a whole weekend of being drug free which is awesome).

Anyway, I guess my body is extremely sensitive to everything. The psych. Dr at the cancer clinic used the term, sensitive limbic system. Anything seems to make me a little crazy now and being on the anti-depressant was a bit much.

 I'm sort of cleansing my system now and taking a break from all of my medications. Even my anti-seizure. I'm replacing it with green tea in the morning and chamomile in the evening. I even started growing my own chamomile tea.

I'm starting to feel a lot better, but I think I will have to do my shot again tomorrow. I will just push myself through the icky symptoms and get on  with my life. But I think getting of the anti-depressant is a huge step in the right direction! :)

Also, I've come across a group called i[2]y. Which is the "I'm Too Young For This: Cancer Foundation". Its pretty great because I fit right into this category and also want to help others out who are in the same boat. With all my Steeped Tea stuff I have decided that the i2y cancer foundation is going to be a charity I support that way. I'm pretty stoked about it! :-)

Learning to Knit

So I've picked up my needles and yarn. I've read books and I've watched videos.

The book I've started with is called Knitting for Dummies  and it seems prettty basic and easy right now. But I've always had trouble learning anything from a book. I always need to be shown how to do it so I can apply it.

So then I got some help from KnittingHelp.com and my cast-on started to look a lot more normal.

Since I started out using black acrylic yarn, it was sort of hard to see what I was doing, so I decided to switch to my Knit Picks yarn made of 75% cotton and 25% wool in an ivory colour.

The black was just a wee bit tough to start with, espcially since it was so dark in here last night. I can't seem to get past the casting off stage. Maybe now that it isn't so late and the sun is shining brightly I can figure this thing out.

Western Fair

This weekend my in laws took the girls and I to the fair. It was an amazing time. Now that Brooklyn is old enough to go on the rides she seemed to have a blast. Annabelle couldn't get enough of all the sights. My mother and father in law are both awesome for taking us. It really was a great day and I can't wait to go back again next year.

Brooklyn and I going down the super giant slide



Annabelle getting her glitter tattoo



After she got her face painted

Annabelle and Grandma on the pony ride

Social Networking

Trying to get the word out is tough man!

Follow me on Twitter
Add me to facebook (my profile)
Join my facebook group 
Check out the new Steeped Tea blog.

xo
Jessica

New Blog

I started a new blog today for my "Steeped Tea" business.

The link address is http://jessicastea.blogspot.com/ and I just spent about 3 hours trying to figure out blogspot so that a blog can look nice. It's not really done yet either but I'm pretty excited about getting this going.

"Steeped Tea" has their own website up and running of course and their link is simple http://steepedtea.com/

I just got an order of our brand new catalogues that you can look through on a PDF file.

Anyway, it's 2:30 in the morning and I should probably get some sleep so I can get up early with the girls and still feel half decent. I think tomorrow we're having a playdate with the little girl who lives behind us. Should be a fun day! Hopefully the weather is half decent, but I don't mind having a relaxing day tomorrow if its not.


Hope you're having a wonderful September! :)

xo
Jessica

Steeped Tea

I'm so excited about my new Steeped Tea Catalogues! I just got my first copies of them and they're wonderful.

I also read a review written about me which made me rather happy. It was on (of course) LondonMoms written by one of the women who help run the site.

If you are curious at all about Steeped Tea just send me an email or join my facebook group.

I am a firm believer in loose leaf teas as a "cure all". Nearly any ailment can be fixed or reduced by drinking lots of green and white tea. Well, except of course for insomnia, but that can be cured with camomile. I started selling tea because I needed money, now I sell it because I believe in the benefits that come along with it. I tell anyone and everyone to drink tea, even if they don't plan on buying it from me! :)

Anatomy Lesson

Today I was feeling very "off". I've been put on a new medication that will reduce my anxiety and it seems to be helping since I was actually able to have a good sleep today.

I napped from about 4 in the afternoon until about 11:00 tonight. It was a good sleep and I woke up feeling very rested. But now, it is 2 in the morning and I don't feel very tired at all. I may have to tire out my body by going for a walk or something, but its just so late.

I tried reading a little bit. And actually, that helped. I was reading Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff and it is a great book. Even if you know nothing about yoga or don't have a keen interest in even trying yoga, this book would likely change your mind. Its a super easy to follow text book about why yoga is so good for the body. It's unbiased and not spiritual (really), its just the basic anatomy of yoga - hence the name of the book.

Its a great starting point if you want to feel healthier and happier. I want to try and replace all medications with yoga, walking and healthy eating, but of course that is something that would take a long time to do. I have to start out slowly and carefully.  But I will get there! :)

No Contact Lenses

I can't really sit and focus on the computer until I'm able to see a little better.

Once I get my eyes fixed, be it glasses, contacts etc, then I will be able to post more again. As of right now though, I will be coming on briefly to post only on Twitter because those are only quick passing thoughts.

For those less computer literate, the link to my twitter is: http://twitter.com/busyjessica

If you aren't currently using Twitter. I highly suggest you join. You don't have to post, but you can get a streamline of information from anything you choose, be it a friend, YahooNews, CNN, a hobby you enjoy, you just have to search for what you want to know and follow the profile that interests you the most. You can organize different lists as well so it can make things even easier to follow. :)

Take care for now! zo

Slow Down

If you are rushing, you aren't taking your time to realize everything thats going on around you.

When you catch a cold, your body tries to fight it and so you try to fight it. But why fight it? Because that is how we are programmed to think. We are programmed to think the cold is BAD. But the cold is not bad. The cold is just our bodies response to a new bug in our system. If you take good care of your body, you may catch a cold and not even know it.

 If you show your body love by sleeping when you're tired, drinking when you're thirsty, eating healthy when you're hungery, thinking positive when you feel negative, cooling off if you feel hot, warming up if you feel cold, and resting/relaxing/meditating/watching tv -- what even helps calm you.

Then you will rid yourself of the negative feelings and start to feel healthy and happy again. "Fighting" a cold is a very agressive way of treating yourself, but giving into your bodies signals is much more rewarding in the end.

Your body is just telling you to SLOW DOWN AND TAKE IT EASY! :)

The Most Enlightening Day Of My Life

My mind has been opening. It's a slow process, but its finally starting to lead me in the right direction. It's taken a LOT for me to realize where my path in life is intended.

During the past 4 years I have:

1. Met a man who was positive and laid back -- we were together for just over a year and then;
2. Moved out of my parents for the first time in my life to live all the way across country to Panorama Mountain Resort
3. Immediately got pregnant and spent my pregnancy at Panorama, away from family and a proper medical care center (since I am epileptic, I was considered a high risk and the closest town's hospital wasn't equipt to deal with it.. but having no stress throughout my pregnancy lead to me giving birth to an extremely healthy baby)
4. While away at Pano, both of my Grandmothers passed away. Both of which I was very close to, and sadly was unable to attend their funerals.
5. We moved back to Ontario when I was (according to doctors) 7 months pregnant so that we could have enough time to settle ourselves when the baby came. My predicted due date was July 8th 2008
6. We found and bought a small townhouse (thanks to my father who was in a financial position to help us out) with the closing date of June 4th (I would have been 8 months pregnant at the time, giving us another month to prepare the house to move it.
7. June 4th at 2:30am my water broke. Wayne had to leave the hospital while I was in labour so he could pick up the keys to the house. My lovely family and family in law prepared the house for us. Although, we didn't have any furniture to put in it. We borrowed things that we wanted (couch, kitchen table, cutlery).
8. I was in labour (not painful labour, but labour none the less) for approx. 40 hours and June 5th at 6:30pm Brooklyn was born.
9. Since I was considered a high risk pregnancy because of the epilepsy and now the baby was born at 35 weeks gestation (one more week and things would have been "fine") the doctors and nurses wanted me to stay in the hospital until they were sure our breastfeeding relationship was well established.
10. June 8th I was released from the hospital. I stepped foot in our house for the first time as it's owner with my brand new baby. 2 hours late was my baby shower at my dad's. It was HUGE. There were so many guests. Each and every person that was there was special to me in some way.
11. 6 blissful months later (Dec. 2008) I became pregnant again - although, I wasn't aware of the fact until Feb. 14th. 2009 - had an incredible pregnancy again. Better than the first.
12. When I was 8 months pregnant I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma.
13. Annabelle was born on her due date (September 21, 2009)
14. Two weeks later I went in for surgery and the results were not good. At that point I was stage III

I could still go on from that point, but I'm not going to. The list is already getting very long and I am starting to lose focus (focus is so important).

I could get into detail about each event listed about but I'm not going to because this would be the longest blog entry ever written. If there is someone (anyone, even you) out there who is interested in more details, you're welcome to ask me anything at all. I'm very open.

Today was the most Enlightening Day of my life for reasons I can hardly express. I'm so happy and its as though the world is all just falling into place. I feel as though I understand humanity all of a sudden. I understand what causes war and violence. I understand why people are negative. I understand why people get sick. I understand why people are mean. I just GET it.  I am so blessed that my eyes are opening to this.

Everyone's eyes can open to this. You just have to pay closer attention to the world around you. Everyone needs to just slow down.