A lot of the Americans that I know “try” to pick on me because I’m Canadian!  Well I figured that I would post this up (I received this as an email) for them…… Enjoy

Oh and I have a couple of posts coming up soon… if I can find the time!

So, 
What do we Canadians Have to be Proud of?

1. Smarties (not in the USA )
2. Crispy Crunch, Coffee Crisp (not in the USA )
3. The size of our footballs fields, one less down and bigger balls. 
4. Baseball is Canadian - 1st game June 4, 1838 - Ingersoll, ON
5. Lacrosse is Canadian
6. Hockey is Canadian
7. Basketball is Canadian
8. Apple pie is Canadian.

9. Mr. Dress-up beats Mr. Rogers
10. Tim Hortons beats Dunkin’ Donuts
11. In the war of 1812, started by America , Canadians pushed the Americans back past their White House. Then we burned it, and most of Washington ….. We got bored because they ran away. Then, we came home and partied….. Go figure.
12. Canada has the largest French population that never surrendered to Germany …
13. We have the largest English population that never Ever surrendered or withdrew during any war to anyone, anywhere. EVER! (We got clobbered in the odd battle but prevailed in ALL the wars) 
14. Our civil war was fought in a bar and lasted a little over an hour. 
15. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary, he slept in and missed the whole thing. He showed up just in time to get caught. 
16. A Canadian invented Standard Time. 
17. The Hudsons Bay Company once owned over 10% of the earth’s surface and is still around as the world’s oldest company. 
18. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in under 3 minutes. 
(That’s more information than I need!) 
19. We know what to do with the parts of a buffalo. 
20. We don’t marry our kin-folk… 
21. We invented ski-doos, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers, insulin, penicillin and the telephone. Also short wave radios which save countless lives each year. 
22. We have ALL frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it. 
23. A Canadian invented Superman. 
24. We have coloured money. 
25. Our beer advertisements kick ass (Incidently… so does our beer)

BUT MOST IMPORTANT !

The handles on our beer cases are big enough to fit your hands in with mitts on.

OOOoohhhhh….. Canada !!

Oh yeah… And our elections only take one day!

What a weekend!  You know the expression “waiting for the other shoe to drop”?  Well I feel like I’m dodging a bunch of shoes that are falling on my head!!!

1) At the beginning of last week we did Tristan’s site change.  A few hours after, Tristan took his bath.  When he got out I noticed a red bump where his site was.  I thought maybe it was insulin build up.  I let it go but I checked it in the morning.  It was still there.  The pump was hard and sensitive to the touch.  Plus the area around it was turning red.  I applied some Polysporin on it and sent him to school.  That evening it wasn’t better.  I emailed his CDE about it and I included a picture.  She said that it wasn’t insulin build up.  She said that she was concerned that it was the start of an infection.  She suggested that if it didn’t get better we should take him to this pediatrician.  That was on Wednesday evening.  On Thursday it seemed less red and it wasn’t so sensitive.  So we decided not to take him to the pediatrician.  Thursday night the redness was back and it was sensitive again (really sensitive).  Took him to the pediatrician on Friday…. yup it’s an infection.  He’s now on antibiotic for 10 days plus we had to give hot baths 4 times per day.  We have to bring him back this afternoon so that his pediatrician can make sure that the antibiotics are working.  This really sucks because Tristan won’t let us put his site anywhere but his buttocks!  Oh and of course, the antibiotic are messing up his blood sugar…. a couple of weeks before his A1C!!!!  Fantastic!

2) On weekends the boys are always allowed to sleep in the same room.  When we switched Connor to a “big boy bed” we bought bunk beds.  On weekends Tristan would sleep in the top bunk.  Well it finally happened!  On Saturday night Tristan was on the top bunk screwing around….. I had yelled up to him to come down.  I had just stepped outside on the back porch when I heard a big “bump”… I was thinking what the hell was that noise?  I open the door and I hear Tristan screaming!  I ran upstairs and there he is….. he fell off the top bunk!  Bumped his head and broke the bed!  I got him calmed down and back in his own room (there was no way he was going back in that bed).  I put a cold washcloth on his head and tucked him in.

Came back downstairs and started thinking…. that bunk bed is pretty damn high.  What are the chances of him having a concussion?  So of course paranoid mom comes out and I start doing a search online.  Found an article talking about the seriousness of injuries from falling out of a bunk bed.  Concussion being pretty mild on the list of possible injuries.  So I went upstairs and got Tristan out of bed.  He was going to stay up with us for a while so that I could keep my eyes on him.  He was complaining that his head hurt.  About 1h30 after the fall, he was really pale and he said his stomach was hurting.  He even went to get a bowl because he thought that he would vomit.  Well of course vomiting is 1 sign to look for.  We decided to call the pediatrician to make sure that we didn’t have to bring him in to get checked out.  She (the temporary pediatrician helping Tristan’s regular pediatrician) said he should be fine but to keep an eye on him.  She said to wake him up around midnight and ask him some questions and then again around 4am.  So anyways… he is fine!

3) Yesterday around 8:30pm the phone rang.  You have to understand that everybody knows that you don’t call my house that late.  With the hours that we work, we usually go to bed right around 8:30pm.  I checked the caller ID… it came up as Kissimmee.  Well I knew that it was my parents.  I figured something was up.  I answered… it was my dad.  I knew right there and then that something was wrong.  He was calling to inform me that my mother was in the hospital.  Some of you may remember that my mom had lung cancer a couple of years ago.  She beat it and is now in remission.  A few months ago she had a heart attack.  She made it through that with flying colors.  The symptoms that she was showing yesterday were the same that she showed before her heart attack.  So now we sit and we wait.  They are suppose to run some tests on her today to try and figure out what is going on.

My parents are Canadian.  They don’t have American health insurance.  They do have travelers insurance but at this time, we don’t know what the insurance will cover.  Chances are if my mom needs surgery, my dad will have to put her on a plane and send her back to Canada.  He can’t take the chance of driving her back.  My mom speaks some English but she’s not really comfortable.  I can just imagine how uncomfortable she is in the hospital.  The doctors and nurses are English.  This really sucks!

Alright so if you follow me on Twitter you know that I started P90X on Monday.  Let me tell you it’s freaking hard!  Anyways my friend Donnie, on my first day, started telling that I was going to quit and that I should go eat a cookie….. ya taunting me!  Well that did go over very well….. I’m really good at giving it back.

Well of course, I challenged him to start the program and see how he liked it.  He accepted my challenge.  He will be starting next week.  But that wasn’t enough for me.

See this is Donnie

Do you see those pecs?  Do you see any fat on that stomach?

What about his leg?  Do you see any fat?  Arm?

So the challenge was 90 days of P90X.  This big buff dude against little out of shape me!  Please.  That is not fair.

I figured that I needed a reward.  I met Donnie while I worked with his wife Jennifer in Florida.  Their daughter Mackenzie was Tristan’s first friend.  We haven’t seen them in almost 4 years.

I thought that since he had so little faith in me, then he wouldn’t have a problem agree to fly over for a visit.  Well I was proven right.  He has no faith in me whatsoever so he was very happy to agree to the visit!  I am very happy that he agreed because I will last the 90 days!  There is no doubt in my mind.

So that being said, Donnie knows that he has to publically acknowledge this agreement.  So here it is Donnie.  Now I just need you to leave a comment here that you agree to come for a visit after the 90 days is completed and I have shown some results.  Those of you who are curious, I will emailed Donnie my measurements so that he can see the results.

So to all my friends out there…. I need your support.  Words of encouragement would be appreciated.  Oh and feel free to let Donnie know that he will lose!  Don’t worry, he’s a big boy he can take it!

****** Update******

This morning (2/05/10) I got the following message from Donnie.

Donnie ***** commented on your link:

"I tried the link but couldn’t post. Just go ahead and have a slice of pizza and get it overwith. No since in putting off the inevitable…you’re just gonna quit after 30 days anyway. LOL"

There it is.  Public acknowledgement of our deal.  Now you can’t go back on it Donnie!  And of course, you see from his message what I have to deal with! LOL

Wish me luck guys.  See you soon Donnie.  Oh don’t forget, you will be flying into Burlington VT airport.

So this week, both of my kids had me laughing…… I mean really laughing so I wanted to share.

When: Yesterday

Where: Connor’s bedroom

Guilty party: Connor (3 years old)

Scene: I had just woke him up from his nap.  I had him on the floor to change his diaper…. he’s not potty trained yet… yes I know it’s horrible…. yes we are working on it…. yes I’ve put underwear on him and then cleaned up the mess… yes I’m using a timer…. look the kid is resisting! :)  Anyways…. so I’m about to change his diaper… I pull the straps off and WOW we got a little pee “hard on”.  He notices at the same time as I do… here is our conversation

Connor: Mommy (hand reaching for the ummmmmmmmm affected area LOL :)) there’s something wrong with it

Me: No honey there’s nothing wrong with it, you just need to go pee, come on let’s go to the bathroom

We take a trip to the bathroom, he, of course, pees.  Back in his room, on the floor as I’m putting his new diaper on

Connor: Mommy there’s still something wrong with it

Me: There is????  Well what do you think is wrong with it?

Connor: I don’t know, it’s a monster!

LMFAO!!!!!

When: Today

Where: Our car

Guilty party: Tristan (6 years old)

Scene: We had just put gas in the car.  Tristan was trying to say the word pollutant but he couldn’t pronounce it well.  So we were correcting him and trying to help him say it properly.  Alls of that was because he was trying to tell us that gas was a pollutant.  Here is the conversation.

Tristan: So gas indicates a pollutant.  And pollutant indicates pollution.  And pollution indicates gas!  OHHHHHHHHHH you see it’s a cycle

Adam and I: ummmmmmmmmmm

Tristan: So what does indicate mean anyways!

LMFAO

Silly kids!  We are all busy with work and life and kids and husbands/wife…. but you know what?  These are the best years.  Enjoy your kid’s innocence.  Once it’s gone… it’s gone!

We have been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to blog about anything!  So I figure that it would be appropriate for my first post of the new year to be about wishing all of you all the best for the year to come.  I wish you all health, happiness and everything else that you desire.

Looking back at 2009 I can honestly say that it was a good year.  My mom remained cancer free which is great.  Adam and I remained employed which I am grateful for.  I know that with the economy a lot of people were not as fortunate as us.  The boys have been healthy and happy.  We got to see some of our dear friends which was priceless.

Looking forward to 2010 there are a few things that I would like to see happen:

1) A cure for diabetes! (yes I know it won’t happen but hey, I can hope :))

2) A promotion for Adam and I (hoping for a raise in salary, advancement, vacation and maybe different hours)

3) Adam has been working on different ideas for his podcast (current and future) and I hope that this year brings him everything that he wants in that aspect

4) I want my whole family and my friends to remain healthy

5) I would like to license my idea

6) I would like a new project.  Not sure what yet but something new and exciting would be nice!

7) Happiness

8 ) I would like to continue to establish relationships with other D families.  I would also like to meet new D families

9) Better control of Tristan’s diabetes, better A1C

10) Something new…… excitement, something different, something out of the routine!

I haven’t been able to write lately but I do have at least 4 posts coming up.  So stay tune!

A very wonderful person gave me this award.  Thank you Shamae!  If you don’t know who Shamae is, you should really get to know her.  Check out her blog!  You won’t be disappointed!

If you are like me, you are often too busy to sit down and really think about things that you love.  This gave me the opportunity to list 5 things that I love.  So here we go….

1) My family/friends: They are the most important thing in my life!  My husband Adam can be a pain in my butt at times but I love him! :)  He always supports me and has my back.  He may not always agree with me but he has my back no matter what!  My children…. I don’t think that I could love anybody more than I love those 2 boys.  They make me want to be a better person.  My friends for being who they are.  They are such an important part of who I was, who I am now and who I will become.

2) Working from home: It’s winter, it’s cold, there’s snow/ice on the road….. and I get to sit in my home office and watch! :)  My commute is a whole 7 seconds and the only traffic jam that I encounter is when Adam tries to leave the office as I’m coming in!

3) The online D-Community:You guys are amazing!  I am so happy and proud to be part of such a wonderful group of people

4) Technology and research: Where would we be without it!  Technology has made, amongst other things, managing diabetes easier and research…. because research WILL cure my son!

5) Online shopping: I live in a small town…. with a Walmart and a Kmart that’s it!  If it wasn’t for online shopping, I would have gone crazy already! :)  Ok so I’m a little crazy now but it would have been a lot worst! LOL

Now I’m suppose to tag 5 more people to receive this award.  But I’m not going to do that.  Why?  Well because I think that I was one of the last one to be tagged so anybody that I would tag now has probably already been tagged.  Second because a lot more than 5 people deserve this award.

So if you haven’t been tagged, consider yourself tag!

Well I always enjoy getting to know people better.  That includes people that I know on Twitter/Facebook.  So Tony at Blogging Diabetes figured that I would answer these questions… he was right!

1. Do you like bleu cheese?  Sometimes… on wings.  But definitely not my favorite cheese

2. Have you ever smoked?  Yes…… alright Tony, I know I know LOL

3. Do you own a gun?  Moi?? No but my husband does

4. Favorite type of Food?  Oh that’s hard…. Italian, Mexican and Thai.  Sorry, can’t just list one, wouldn’t right! :) 

5. Favorite type of music? Rock… but I will listen to almost anything except country, jazz, classical, rap….. alright so I’m picky!

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Love hot dogs… yes I know what they are made of… I don’t care!!!!  Give me a hot dog with ketchup, mustard, relish, onions and cheese any day!

7. Favorite Christmas movie? National Lampoon Christmas Vacation!  It’s a must while decorating the Christmas tree.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? ummmmmmmm COFFEE!!  Lots and lots of coffee

9. Can you do push ups? Sure, why not!  But they probably won’t be perfect but I can do them… hey I’m proud of that!

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?  My watch… any watch, love my watch.  But it’s not a Rolex!

11. Favorite hobby? Reading.  Wish I had more time for it.

12. Do you have A. D. D.? What’s this about?  I was doing something else, I can’t concentrate on that right now…. No I don’t have A.D.D!

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Yes, reading glasses

14. Middle name? Don’t have one!  I’m French Canadian, we don’t have middle names!

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: 1) How can I make this funny?… I can’t really 2) why did Tony think that I would answer this… more importantly, how did he know that I would? 3) I really don’t feel like doing anything today

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Coffee, water, red wine

17. Current worry? How a certain situation will play out and what the backlash will be!

18. Current hate right now? Hate?  As in singular?  Can’t answer that right now, my list is too long, will have to get back to you.  But in general….ignorance!

19. Favorite place to be? Somewhere nice and warm and sunny with good family and good friends

20. How did you bring in the new year? LOL I was sleeping!  Worked that day and was working the following day!  Can’t function on only 3 1/2 hours of sleep!

21. Someplace you’d like to go?  Hawaii

22. Name three people who will complete this.  Shamae, Nancy and Courtney

23. Do you own slippers? Yup wearing them right now

24. What color shirt are you wearing? orange

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Sure, why not

26. Can you whistle?  Yes you could call it that

27. Where are you now? Home

28. Would you be a pirate? Only if I had too

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?  LOL I don’t sing in the shower or at least not out loud!

30. Favorite Girl’s Name?  Brooklyn

31. Favorite boy’s name? I have 2 boys… won’t answer this question

32. What is in your pocket right now? Wearing PJ’s no pocket

33. Last thing that made you laugh? Husband missing the chair when he sat down! Now that was funny LOL

34. What vehicle do you drive? Mazda 5………… hate it

35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? Hurt my knew while playing softball… sliding to home base… well worth it, I was safe!!!!  Blood under kneecap… crutches for a week or so :(  Really cramped my style! LOL

36. Do you love where you live?  NOPE!!!!  Town is too small, nothing here and people are…… well I won’t finish that!

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 3 – I guess average.

38. How many computers do you have in your house? 5, 2 laptops, 2 netbooks and 1 desktop.  What???  My husband’s a geek, what can I say!

39. If you changed your job, what would it be?  If I was younger and stuff, I would be a lawyer… I love to argue!

40. If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?  1)A cure for diabetes obviously, 2) to be rich so that I can have more quality time with my kids and enjoy life more 3) for my family and friends to be safe and healthy!

This past Saturday was wonderful!  Tristan was diagnosed in 2005.  This was the first year that I heard about World Diabetes Day on November 14th!  We were so happy to be part of such a special day.

On Saturday, we went to my parents house.  We were celebrating both of the boys’ birthday.  Connor’s birthday was November 8th and Tristan’s birthday is November 24th.  We also took this opportunity to celebrate World Diabetes Day.  Everybody was wearing blue!!!  My cousin and her family showed up (surprise for me) and they also were all wearing blue.  I was very touched.

It was amazing to see all the messages on Facebook and on Twitter.  I mean the online D-community really got together and did something great.  I am already thinking of next year!

I wanted to share some pictures with you guys.  Enjoy!

We had this cake made for Tristan.  I know the 6 is confusing.  It’s not 6 because he’s been diabetic 6 years…. it’s 6 because he’s going to be 6!  Yes I know, I should have gotten a candle showing the number of year that he’s been diabetic but it completely slipped my mind!

This is Connor on his birthday November 8th.  First one is before the cake… yes we knew he was going to get all dirty which is why he’s not wearing a shirt! :)  The second picture is with his new Buzz Lightyear pj.

These pictures were taken on November 14th.  My husband showed his support by painting his toenails blue.  My beautiful goddaughter wearing blue!!

Lots of blue!!!!  Blue Blue blue… notice the blue nail polish

Birthday cake!!!!  This cake was selected by Connor (even if it says Connor and Tristan on it) because Tristan will choose his special birthday cake for his “friends” birthday party on November 21st.

Also I wanted to remind everybody that today is the last day to email me your pictures of how you celebrated World Diabetes Day for your chance to win this cool nightlight.  So far, we are winning…. even though we are not participating!!! LOL

I hope that everything had a great World Diabetes Day.  It is such an important day.  I also think that it’s important that we keep our “awareness” efforts up all year long.  We need to continue to educate people and make people understand that we need a cure.  Now!

Today my baby is 3 years old!!!  I can’t believe how quick time flies!  Anyways, this is going to  be a long post so prepare yourself.  It’s also a venting post!

I was so mad this week.  Connor received his first birthday card…. it was from my mother-in-law.  Guess what she gave him for his birthday?  Nothing…. that’s right, nothing!  Why does this upset me so much?  Keep reading.

We have been living in New York State since June 2002.  She lives about 6 hours away.  She came to visit once!  If my memory serves me right, she has never ever seen Connor.

2 Christmas’ ago, we invited her to come spend the holidays with us.  She accepted, talked to Tristan about it and got him all excited that she was going to come and visit him.  She never came…. she never called.

Adam’s parents divorced when he was young.  Adam lived with his father.  What she pulled 2 Christmas’ ago, she pull on Adam’s birthday when he was a child.

Last year, either 2 days before their birthdays or Christmas (I can’t remember which one) she called us.  She wanted to send us money so that WE could go shopping for presents.  We told her no.  What did she send?  Gift cards.  Ya, children love gift cards!  It’s so much fun to open!!

She wanted to come and visit when Connor was like 1 week old.  She wanted to bring 8 (or around that number) dogs with her!  Now we already have 2 dogs.  When she brings her dogs, ours have to stay in their house because she has little rat dogs.  We told her no, we couldn’t deal with all of that with a newborn baby.  I, of course, got blamed for that one.  I was the one who didn’t want her to bring her dog….. hello…… your son was part of that decision!

When I first got with Adam, his mother was so cool.  We were much closer to her than his father.  Boy has that changed.  His father is part of the boys life as much as he can.  He comes and sees them at least twice per year.  He never misses birthdays or Christmas.  When Tristan was born, we decided that his mother would be grandma and his stepmother (she raised Adam from the age of 4 on) would be called by her name.  We figured that it was out of respect for Adam’s mom.  Honestly, we were so wrong!  His stepmother is more of a grandmother to these boys than Adam’s mother will ever be.  His stepmother has earn that title and I will gladly refer to her as their grandmother and have the boys call her grandma!

I have such a respect for Adam’s father and stepmother.  I can now see how they did everything that they could to “emotionally” protect Adam when he was a child.

I understand that my mother-in-law may not have money to give the boys a birthday present.  That’s fine.  But it’s when you take everything together… it’s not fine anymore.  And in all honesty, I don’t think that it’s a money issue… I think that it’s priority issue. 

I can’t, and won’t allow my children to be disappointed by her.  Obviously my children (her only grandchildren… ever) are not a priority for her.  She prefers to put her animals before my children.  That’s fine and it’s her choice.  I wish her all the best in her business.  But until that changes, WE (yes we, Adam and I have discussed this… not my decision only… but I will still be blamed for it) have decided that she can’t be part of their lives.  It’s sad and I feel sorry for her.  She is missing out of so much… they are such great kids!  But I don’t see any other way.

I know that this post will somehow get back to her and we are fine with this.

Now, back to my son’s birthday….. stay tune for some pictures!