A Little Behind

I have been a little behind on blog posts lately, okay you got me, I have been a lot behind !  Good reasons though as I have had a Family Reunion, my daughter-in-law, grandchildren, and a best friend all visit us last week, and I feel I have been just darn busy.

I had a one month follow-up appointment with my Doctor yesterday.  I have lost 20 pounds since February (oh it is soooooo slow coming off).  He is very happy with the progress I am making, and have made, telling me I am a *star* patient (now that makes one feel pretty good, even at the best of times).

I feel after years of being on a roller coaster ride, I have been given my life back, and most days it feels really damn good.  I still experience small bouts of anxiety, however have not had a "full blown" anxiety attack since I have been on the new medication of mood stabilizer, Lamotrigine.  I could resent the fact I was not diagnosed until this late in life, but why do that when we can only move forward, and this I believe I am now doing in a better frame of mind.  I still have "bad" days, but everyone does so I would never expect to be an exception to the rule, even though I am sure I would kinda like not have any "bad" days ... *smile*.

I barely got any photos at this year's Masterson Reunion, however I had no problem getting my Uncle Reg to pose for me.

Here you go Uncle Reg, your honorary mention ! xo

From left to right, Briar, Chloe, Liz, Aiden & Connor.  They had a great time staying with us and got to spend two glorious weather days at Sauble Beach.  The Tuesday evening Poppa & I took them all to see Ice Age at the Drive-in movie in Owen Sound.  Precious memories in the making it was.

For the past month I have been walking early in the mornings, trying to be out of the house before six a.m., as it is cooler and I love trying to "catch" the sunrises.  My girlfriend, Shannon, went one morning with me, since I was not to take her photo, I have shared a photo of the view I am blessed with each morning I walk.

That was pretty much my last week in a nutshell, or should I say the "highlights" of it, as there was lots more then just this going on I am sure ... you know, the usual housework, meetings, Aussies, etc...

Speaking of Aussies, here are a couple of "fun" photos of two our our Aussies:

Bandit is pictured here with our rescue kitty, Paisley, who we acquired at the end of June.  His look is one of "really, you are going to leave me alone with "it" again!".  Never a dull moment with a kitten in the household.  Rob and I have never had a kitten before, as in the past we have adopted older cats, our one living until she was 15 years old.

This is a very rare photo of Portia in Paisley's bed, and Bandit is his, as Paisley usually monopolizes the "big" bed all to herself.

The other day I captured a great video of Paisley and Portia playing together, which can be viewed on The Checkerboard Aussies' Facebook page, by *clicking* HERE, and scrolling a bit down in the newsfeed.  Like I said, never a dull moment usually at our house.

Tomorrow afternoon I head into the Owen Sound Hospital for the "dreaded" mammogram.  Unfortunately it is a very necessary thing to have done, and because of my Mother, her sister, and both my sisters having had cancer, it is really important for me to go to my yearly appointments.  After the experience with my Mom having one at 80 years old to find she had aggressive breast cancer.  Yes you are never too old to have a mammogram !

After my appointment I am heading down to New Hamburg to my son & daughter-in-laws.  We have a friend getting married Saturday.  Rob has to stay behind to "hold down the fort" so to speak, and look after the Aussies and kitteh.  I have offered to take photos at the wedding, should they not have anyone else.  This offer was readily accepted so I hope I can manage to take a few nice photos for them.

Well I think I have managed to catch up with myself, so this is all she wrote this day, Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard.

Truly Blessed

It wasn't only a month a go or so that I had ran into my friend, Diana, who I used to volunteer with when I was part of the VON SMART Exercise Program a couple of years ago.  Diana share with me about her Niece, who resides in Scotland, telling me that she had Bi-Polar and had also suffered for years.

Diana told me her niece, Angela, had written a book and when they were going to go back across the Pond she was going to get a copy of the book for me.  Well..... this past weekend in pulls Diana and her husband, Alex.  She had sent for the book and had it mailed over here for me !!!  Yes, I am truly blessed with wonderful caring friends and family.

Angela's book gives her personal experiences first-hand through her writings and poetry.  Can You Hear Me Now? is available online by *clicking* HERE.

Thank you Diana ! now the holiday weekend is behind me I can now take some time every day and begin digging in to reading Angela's book, Can You Hear Me Now? Finding My Voice in a System That Stole It.

I can somewhat relate to Angela in the respect of finding healing in her writings, as I know blogging these past years have been therapeutic for me at times, plus it gives me something to look back on where I was at certain times in my life.  How do you reflect back on your life? do you keep a journal? photo albums? scrapbooks? 

I am certain I have mentioned before how hard our well water is.  There is iron and magnesium in it, and not sure what else.  Even with a Water Softener it still isn't as soft as I think it should be.  We have sent a sample of water away to determine exactly what is in it and what system we can purchase to take some of the minerals out of it.

In the meantime our bathroom still needs cleaned of the rust stains the well water leaves behind, and this is how I combat it.  Never the most pleasant task to be done in the house.

Cleaning the bathroom is not on the top of my list of the most favourite things that I want to do, however someone has to do the "dirty work" and my name got picked for the job !  

Even though my feet are very bruised from all the walking I have been doing the past couple of weeks, I never tire of the view on my very early morning walks ..... this morning was no exception.  I do love sunsets, but I also LOVE the sunises I am so fortunate to witness most mornings.

Temperatures have been sky high this Summer, with very little rain here.  We have been trying to stay cool by running our little window air conditioner on the cheap hydro times which is from 7 pm until 7 am each day.  Other then that we keep our ceiling fans going constantly to keep the air flow, and our windows all closed up to keep the heat OUT where it belongs.  Sleeping hasn't been too bad, as there has been a couple of nasty nights, however nothing we can't live with.  I do NOT want to complain as I am NOT a Winter person, so Spring, Summer & Fall suits me just fine.

It really is a bonus when we go out in our vehicles, as of course they are air conditioned ! and out on the motorcycle is even better if we ever find ourselves any time to do so.

How do you "beat the heat"?

I had some "happy" mail today from my blogger friend, Lynn.  We have been exchanging note via snail mail the past couple of months (thanks for initiating Lynn), which has been fun to get.  Lynn has a Foodie Blog that you may find & enjoy by *clicking* HERE.

I don't think I can ever say enough, "I am truly blessed with such great friends and family members, who most certainly know who they are.  Thank you xo

Not much more to say this day, Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard.